What happened after D Day ?

[Signalman]

A lot of mentions of 79th Armoured Division are often captioned 'Canadian' because they were primarily working under command of II Canadian Corps and/or 1st Canadian Army for much of the period September-December 1944, so that might be the origin.

Nice pics of the Buffalo carpet-layer. I'd forgotten that one. I used to have Futten's history of the 79th Armoured Division, but foolishly loaned it to someone and never got it back. Another interesting conversion in that book was a diagram of a Buffalo II fitted with a deck for the carriage of 17pdr guns and trucks, but I don't recall ever seeing a photo of one, sadly.

XIVth Army in Burma used LVT 1s and there they were called 'Alligators'. I've also got some photos here somewhere of British Army LVT 1s being used during Ex JANZTEN (the first corps-level invasion rehearsal) in South Wales, 1943.

 

[Joshua Slocum]

Having read your post properly, the Westminster Dragoons took their Flails across Europe likewise the Crocodile. Read 'Flamethrower' by Andrew Wilson.

One of our teachers was in Crocodiles and they were using them to flame the huts in Belsen after the Typhus outbreak when they were liberated.

They have one in the tank museum, that fulfilled just such a purpose, along with some photographs of it in action

 

[Pteranadon]

I believe US forces had no interest in Hobart's Funnies for their own landings. can someone elaborate?

They did not for the D Day Landings, but they did borrow British Armoured engineers later. E.g. there were crocodile flame throwers at Brest.

 

[MOzanne]

Brutal Battle for a Dutch Island - Warfare History Network

A key piece of Dutch real estate needed to be taken if the port of Antwerp were to become useful to the Allies.

warfarehistorynetwork.com

 

[QRK2]

They did not for the D Day Landings,

Common myth I'm afraid - see Caddick Adams per #28.

 

[Pteranadon]

Common myth I'm afraid - see Caddick Adams per #28.

I was simplifying. I have read Sand and steel.
DD Tanks were used by the Americans on D Day. AVREs might have been handy but it would not have been easy for the US Army to take on Churchill tanks as a one off.

 

[AnotherBerliner]

A lot of mentions of 79th Armoured Division are often captioned 'Canadian' because they were primarily working under command of II Canadian Corps and/or 1st Canadian Army for much of the period September-December 1944, so that might be the origin.

Nice pics of the Buffalo carpet-layer. I'd forgotten that one. I used to have Futten's history of the 79th Armoured Division, but foolishly loaned it to someone and never got it back. Another interesting conversion in that book was a diagram of a Buffalo II fitted with a deck for the carriage of 17pdr guns and trucks, but I don't recall ever seeing a photo of one, sadly.

XIVth Army in Burma used LVT 1s and there they were called 'Alligators'. I've also got some photos here somewhere of British Army LVT 1s being used during Ex JANZTEN (the first corps-level invasion rehearsal) in South Wales, 1943.

Here's one from my library.

Apparently being trialled on the River Meuse by G Wing. It was divisional policy to set up specialist wings to deal with specific problems. G Wing was set up north of Maastricht in Dec 1944 to prepare equipment and techniques for the forthcoming Rhine crossing. It was here that the carpet-laying Buffalo was developed as well as the 17-pdr "portee".

For clarity, here is the diagram from the Futter book:

SOURCES:

Duncan, Nigel W. 79th Armoured Division - Hobo´s Funnies. Profile Publications, Windsor (GB), 1972. SBN 85383-082-7
**Pages 41-44**
Futter, Geoffrey W. The Funnies. Model & Allied Publications, Hemel Hempstead (GB), 1974. ISBN 0-85242-405-1
**Page 97**

I'd be very interested to see those pictures of British LVT 1s

 

[QRK2]

Nice pics of the Buffalo carpet-layer. I'd forgotten that one. I used to have Futten's history of the 79th Armoured Division, but foolishly loaned it to someone and never got it back. Another interesting conversion in that book was a diagram of a Buffalo II fitted with a deck for the carriage of 17pdr guns and trucks, but I don't recall ever seeing a photo of one, sadly.

Still got mine but had completely forgotten about it until I read this thread. I went though a phase as a schoolboy of converting Airfix kits to funnies based on his drawings .

 

[AnotherBerliner]

While I still have the scanner up and running, here are a couple of pics of the Buffalo carpet-layer from the Duncan book

 

[pimpernel]

Have a number of the Patrick Delaforce books, (Monty's Marauders 4th and 8th Armoured Brigades, The Desert Rats 7th Armoured Div) - specifically The Polar Bears (Monty's left flank) gives some descriptions of unit actions but only one picture p137 'The taking of Le Havre' of a flail and scissor-bridge going into action.

 

[Signalman]

While I still have the scanner up and running, here are a couple of pics of the Buffalo carpet-layer from the Duncan book

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Cheers! It's been years since I read up on it, but I seem to remember that it was the Recce Troop of the Staffs Yeomanry (the DD Regt) that was equipped with these vehicles. They also had some Buffalo IVs carrying airborne bulldozers for further improvements of landing-sites.

Sadly, I think my copy of the photo of the LVTs in Ex JANTZEN is lost, as it's not here. It probably died with my last laptop. The original photo is held by Tenby Museum and shows a pair of LVT 1s on the beach at Caldey Island. There is also a copy of the photo in the small museum/vistor centre on Caldey. There is a film on Youtube of Ex JANTZEN, so they might appear in there. Caldey is doubly interesting, as the landing jetty used today is a relic from Ex JANTZEN and is made from two prototype concrete 'barges' and might therefore be considered to be the embryonic 'Mulberry'.

Tenby Museum & Art Gallery » D-Day

(81) Exercise "Jantzen" - YouTube

 

[jim12]

That's 25th Armoured Engineer Bde crossing the Senio River, Italy, 1945.

Whilst they used many of the same vehicles as 79th Armoured Div (Crocodile, AVRE, Shermandozer, Churchill Bridgelayer) in NWE a lot was improvised and unique to them.

 

[Bacongrills]

I would have though laying carpet was a low priority in wartime, no one likes a cold floor on the battlefield but couldn't slippers be issued instead?