Bedfords in use by the Germans that were left by the BEF, whole units were issued with british trucks, Austins, Morris CS8, Bedfords Ect, they even made trailers from the 1500 Cwt trucks they could not use. Original photos from my collection/book.
Interestingly I read this thread last night, and this lunchtime over a quiet (post lawn cutting) Sunday pint at my local, found an article in the Sunday Mirror regarding a Tiger Tank that was brought to the UK. Here is the link The heroic WWII mission to capture a deadly Tiger Tank from the Germans, is revealed for the first time - Mirror Online
This came in the post from Russia , last week. Truck 30 Cwt 4 Whl D GS Body Mark. Vauxhall Motors Ltd. 1939. Luton England. Contract No V3612. Still has the German field gray paint on it. At least part of the Bedford has come back. The other one i have is from Russia and a Bedford 3 ton Contract V3731. 1939, that i have had for a few years. They must have been only 1 year old when captured from the BEF. Keith
Hello keith, How on earth did you find those in russia? I'm looking for one of these but for a very early mw, i can get one cast from the original on my truck, but if i could find an original one............................ thanks john
Hi John, They dig bits up over there and put them on ebay, they dont come up for sale offen. Photo of bedford in German use captured from the BEF. Original photo from my collection. Keith
Hello Keith, Thanks for the information. Nice picture, thanks for sharing some of your collection with us on here. I've more pictures of the aeroscreen bedford being used by the germans than the british. I think the canvass on the back has come off a morris, or maybe homemade, i don't think the mw's were issued with rear hooped canvass till after dunkirk. There are a number of pictures showing the bedfords with rear hooped canvasses on in dunkirk but they never look to fit correctly. Do you have any other pictures of the bedfords with rear hooped canvass i'd be really glad to see them, or even with the flat sheet and no hoops. Most of the pictures i have show no canvass. I did notice you on another forum some time ago, but you and your fantastic picture collection disappeared, thank you again for sharing them with us :mademyday: Best wishes John
The Germans cleaned up everything that was not too heavy or too deeply buried in the sand. Either these items were re-used by the Wehrmacht, or they were used as scrap metal. Everything was sorted in "Sammelstellen", before being transported to the Heimat: Weapons: Motorcycles: Engines: Tanks:
But the pictures below (De Panne) show that they were quite good at cleaning up the beaches: Before: After: Jan
Only that one single unit ever used captured Cruisers from the Battle of France in the front line....and according to a good article in last month's CMV, they were all out of action in Russia for various reasons by the end of August at the very latest. A few more were used in testing - and some were used for anti-tank "training" by the Germans in preparation for Sealion in France and the Low Countries I.E. blowing them up I presume!
