Article about: Hello, Here are some photos of a Sherman Mk4 tank turret recently recovered in West Berkshire, England. I would like to know what is likely to have caused the damage to the top of it? It was
Here are some photos of a Sherman Mk4 tank turret recently recovered in West Berkshire, England. I would like to know what is likely to have caused the damage to the top of it?
It was in a pit from a brick and tile works that closed in 1939. The bits of metal around it are probably nothing to do with it, some are the remains of a Willys Jeep trailer. Only American items have been found in this wood so far.
Although there are some strikes from armour piercing rounds they may have occured before the turret got there. The damage to the top is considerable; cracking and bending the metal inwards to leave a hole about 25cm across and sending a crease out to the personnel hatch aperture of about 3cm in height. There is still most of the white paint on the inside, so I'm geussing the damage was done in-situ, not on a tank, and so it's probably spare from a chassis that got upgraded.
As to who did the damage, I'm laying my bets on the 876th and 878th Airborne Engineer Aviation Battalion, IX Engineer Command who had a camp to the south, glider runway to the west, and their AT/grenade range to the north- T30 HMC gun armour hard target recovered!. D Battery 907th Glider Field Artillery, 101st Abn, and Gen. 'Nuts' Mcauliffe did spend a couple of months closer on the west, but they would have used the excercise areas the rest of the 101st used.
The large chunk missing from the right side and the cuts in the left were definately done with oxy-acetylene; if the left side had been damaged, one might think the right had been removed as a teaching aid or some such, but it's not so Ocham says it's the scrap man, but luckily he gave up.
Any ideas... aircraft bomb, demolitions bag, prop it on it's side and fire a 75mm pack howitzer at it? it isn't infantry AT weapon damage- plenty of that on the T30 for comparison.
hi jim
i've seen this turret before on another thread and like yourself it was suggested that it was used to train troops on demolition i don't suppose we'll ever know the exact details but it seems the most likely scenario,it's only my opinion but i doubt it was caused by anything other than a charge that was placed directly onto the turret by hand.
could you just confirm that it has been removed
cheers eddy
hi jim
i've just had a look and the other thread is on hmvf.co.uk,(excellent vehicle forum).if you look under american vehicles you'll find it, i'll post the location information on there so the thread should be at the top of the pile again.
no,thank you jim,
I've just read your post, an excellent well researched piece of history the kind of thing these forums are all about.
thanks again
eddy
Sherman turret hard target, US ABN in UK.
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