Just got a small collection from eBay. Sadly it was from an album that was chopped up and sold individually so this is only a fraction of what was in it. Anyway, hope it's of interest. Abandoned British vehicles at Poperinghe.
They had time to photograph this Great War memorial (to the 18th Eastern Division) at Clapham Junction.
Rather grim photo of the interior of a British truck at Poperinghe. I wonder where those two poor lads ended up buried as "KNOWN UNTO GOD"
On the Menin Road near 'Clapham Junction' (as it was known in the Great War). it would appear that the gun crew is digging in beside Tram Lines, I'm assuming its not a railway line, is it?
Just got a small collection from eBay. Sadly it was from an album that was chopped up and sold individually so this is only a fraction of what was in it. Anyway, hope it's of interest. Abandoned British vehicles at Poperinghe. I've seen picture similar to this of abandoned british trucks and two things strike me about it: 1. The B.E.F. were forced to leave an incredible amount of equipment in France in 1940 2. One wonders how many of these trucks ended up serving with the Wehrmacht in Operation Barbarossa?
The Victors on the beach at Dunkirk. Here's a clearer shot of the French destroyer Adroit behind the Germans if anyone is interested.
Ger - yes, it is a tram line. True about the trucks, also many of the vehicles used by the DAK were also ex-Dunkirk I suspect. Andy, thanks for that. I wonder if the units can be identified on the trucks?
I see 2x34 and 1x47 - At a guess I bet they are RASC transport coys. Rich and Co are the best qualified to have a pop at them.
With the bar above, these are Corps Troops vehicles and the spear point of 1st Corps is visible on the centre Morris 15cwt. '34' was used by a machine gun battalion, logically 2nd Cheshires in this case but I'm open to correction and '47' would be a section of an RASC Supply Personnel company.
That's interesting about the Cheshires as I used to know a WW2 veteran who lived in Poperinghe, fought there in 1940, and served with them.
Samuel Burkes (sp) father fought with 2 and 4 Cheshires in France during 1940. His father is still alive. He's given him a shed load of info on Wormhout perhaps he maybe able to confirm.
1. The B.E.F. were forced to leave an incredible amount of equipment in France in 1940 It has been said that the German army had more Morris Commercials than the British army by Aug 1940
It has been said that the German army had more Morris Commercials than the British army by Aug 1940 It wasnt till I read about the Germans preparations for Operation Barbarossa that I began to be aware that a lot of the Wehrmachts transport capacity came from captured booty and from the occupied territories.
It wasnt till I read about the Germans preparations for Operation Barbarossa that I began to be aware that a lot of the Wehrmachts transport capacity came from captured booty and from the occupied territories. One of the problems pointed out by those Germans involved in engineering and who took part in Barbarossa was the spares problem to keep captured vehicles on the road and captured heavy weapons available for battle. It comes down to engineering.If there is a widespread design of weapons,it demands that a greater variety of spares are carried on to the battlefield.Minimise the inventory when it is possible as determined by availability,reliability and maintenance considerations and spares support problems will be at a minimum. The image of the dead in transports reminds me of one of our old maintenance fitters who served with the REME in the Western Desert.He served in a battlefield mobile tank recovery team and he said such images were commonplace in the desert.But they had a job to do. There and now photographs.I remember seeing an German soldier amateur cine film on BBC2 some years ago.The frames showed German soldiers helping themselves to grapes in the Charente as they swept south in the defeat of France.It was at a road junction, which I immediately recognised as a minor road which runs parallel to the Chateaubernard airfield outside Cognac and then meets the main road going south. An excellent view of the airfield and the FAF activities ongoing there.
The Len Deighton book Blitzkreig ( a good read, buttons Amazon secondhand ) goes into some detail on German army transport , and says the German motor industry couldn't keep pace with peacetime demands of the German forces and in fact they were going backwards due to accident/mechanical losses.
Paul, Excellent photographs and thans for sharing. The 3.7 cm PAK anti tank gun dug in on the tram line outside Ieper looks a little staged for the camera looking at the NCO standing. Regards Tom
