The caption reads “Sherman of 21st Army Group guarding the hydro-electric powerplant down-stream from Dinant.”
I found this interesting as I had not come across this photograph before in the IWM archives, and Sherman I’s were limited to a few British units in NW Europe. Using reverse image search I found it on Wikipedia with the caption “A Sherman tank at Dinant. Capture of the electric power plant near Dinant. Photo taken and inherited from my mother, then living at the plant.”
This intrigued me more since it does not appear to be from the official governmental archives and instead a private collection (unless the person that uploaded it lied). And while it’s obvious this vehicle is a Sherman I, I can’t make out any identifying markings or unit information from here.
I was wondering if anyone here had the background to know what units might have been operating around Dinant at the time. Or maybe I’m misidentifying this and it’s actually an American unit. Any help would be appreciated, thank you all for your time!
Hello, I found this article Battle of the Bulge: Allied Support - The Tank Museum which states Tank is from XXX Corps 29th Armored Brigade which was a part of the 11th Armored Division could be from 3rd RTR, 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry or the 23rd Hussars I could not make out any unit markings except for a possible white star on the side of the turret and what appears to possibly be some writing on the side of the Tank itself.
Hope this helps.
TinyDog01
Thanks for the info! I did a bit more digging in the archives and found this IWM showing men from the 29th Armoured Brigade in the Dinant area. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any other visual proof of them operating in the area, but it’s a start!
Apologies for the spam but I am updating with more information as I find out. This is a scan from the book " The Black Bull: From Normandy to the Baltic with the 11th Armoured Division." But it shows that the 29th Armoured was assigned the Dinant area, specifically with the 3rd RTR. I’m just very confused because all my previous research has indicated that the 11th Amoured had no regular Sherman I vehicles in use.
You can tell because the commander’s cupola was on the wrong side of the turret and there is only one appliqué armour plate visible, which is correct for the left-hand side but not the right.
The tank appears to have a USA registration number on it, which kind of rules out it being British. The bags hanging from an add-on rail under the commander’s cupola also point to it being American: they don’t look British, and British Shermans didn’t often use this method of creating extra stowage space, but American units frequently did.
(13 minutes later: I thought I’d help Wikipedia out by uploading an unmirrored version … Bloody hell, what a bureaucracy has that place become )
Thank you for clarifying! This makes alot more sense I thought the image looked strange but couldn’t put my finger on it. When I see a rear stowage box I’ve assumed British but that seems to be so incorrect now. I need to brush up on my American shermans, thank you so much for clearing things up! I’m very interested now too, I wonder what unit this is
The bin on the back of the turret looks like it’s two steel ammunition boxes, one on top of the other, fixed to the rear of the turret. You can see a recessed part with a handle on the lower half. Also, if you look closely, you can make out the commander’s helmet in the open hatch, with the typical American ventilation holes in the crown.
The storage boxes on the bustle rear make me think British. Prior to the Ardennes attack, the 29th had turned in their Shermans and were to begin training on Comets. After the attack, they had to hastily retrieve their Shermans and get back into it. Perhaps they picked up a few ex U.S. tanks in the process. If the Shermans had been at a depot, there was probably a mix from various units, returns and repaired vehicles.
I kind of doubt it. The box is not one of the British types, and why would British crews go to the trouble of adding an improvised stowage box to the turret for a temporary tank they’ll have to hand back soon?
Yesterday evening, I asked Leife Hulbert about the tank in the photo. To my surprise, he hadn’t seen it before, but concurs that it’s an American tank with what looks to be ammunition boxes stuck to the rear of the turret.
He says it definitely isn’t British 11 Armoured Division because they used the Sherman V, not the I, and thinks (without a thorough look at which units were where) that it likely belongs to the American 2nd Armored Division.
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