Rereading an old book, and speculating on Bovington's Panther's potential for restoration leads me to wonder: Does anyone know of a decent written account of Captain WJ Hadlow and REME 823rd Armoured Troops Workshop knocking up those Panthers & Jagdpanthers postwar at MNH? Got some scattered stuff in books, and a few web accounts, but comparatively little of real substance or depth on REME's manufacturing activities in Germany. Best web thing I've read, for those that don't know what was done, is probably this (sadly machine translated) Czech page: Google Translate - Valka.CZ (A way down the page, under 'PzKpfw V "Panther" - post-war lives') Perhaps possible he's in this Bovington Photo?: Bov's examples of his team's work: Welcome to the Tank Museum - Home of the Tank - Virtual Museum - Panther Welcome to the Tank Museum - Home of the Tank - Virtual Museum - Jagdpanther Sort of a Hirst-esque figure, but on a much smaller scale: http://www.volkswagenag.com/vwag/vwcorp/info_center/en/publications/2008/03/ivan_hirst.-bin.acq/qual-BinaryStorageItem.Single.File/Ivan%20Hirst%20en.pdf ~A
Unfortunately it doesn't say how many were in the "unfinished batch" of Jagdpanthers. Where did the one in "It Happened Here" by Andrew Mollo come from? Is that the Bovvie one???
I believe so, though memory fails. Pretty sure the Jagdpanther was in it - Individual machines are probably for the likes of MK to confirm .
Farley Mowat, famed Canadian author (The Regiment, And No Birds Sang), formed in 1945, completely without authorization, an ad-hoc unit of scavengers and other ne'er-do-wells which he called the '1st Canadian War Museum Collection Team. Described in his book My Father's Son, the unit proceeded to range across continental Europe to collect one of everything the Germans used in WW2 and ship it all back to Canada. It is really quite an amazing and comical tale. They arranged for the transport to Canada of several tons of German military equipment, including a V2 rocket and several armoured vehicles. (It is believed that some of these vehicles are on display today at the Canadian Forces Base Borden tank museum.)
'1st Canadian War Museum Collection Team Fantastic choice of name, and fine forward thinking. In fact, It all sounds enough up my street that I just ordered a copy from Abe. Cheers Tim.
Fantastic choice of name, and fine forward thinking. In fact, It all sounds enough up my street that I just ordered a copy from Abe. Cheers Tim. Adam, Good choice! I've read a little more than half of the 45 books written by Mowat but they are all on my list. I met him once and he is both a real character and a national treasure. He is one of those brave, outspoken individualists who defies authority. A true original like so many from that generation. And No Birds Sang is a must read classic. Wikipedia During the Second World War, Farley Mowat was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the Second Battalion, Hastings and Prince Edwards Regiment, affectionately known as the Hasty Ps. He went overseas as a reinforcement officer for that regiment, joining the Canadian Army in the United Kingdom. On July 10, 1943, he was a subaltern in command of a rifle platoon and participated in the initial landings of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily.[4] Mowat served throughout the campaign as a platoon commander and moved to Italy in September 1943, seeing further combat until December 1943. During the Moro River Campaign, he suffered from battle stress, heightened after an incident on Christmas Day outside of Ortona, Italy when he was left weeping at the feet of an unconscious friend, Lt. Al Park, who had an enemy bullet in his head.[5] He then accepted a job as Intelligence Officer at battalion headquarters, later moving to Brigade Headquarters. He stayed in Italy in the 1st Canadian Infantry Division for most of the war, eventually being promoted to the rank of captain.
Beginning on page 307, here is a little description of Mowat's 'collection' activities: My Father's Son: Memories of War and ... - Google Books
Stumbled onto a nice vid of Koblenz/WTS Panther being ragged about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OirI6FopuK8 From Capt. Hadlow's production line, to Shrivenham, and back to Germany - in nice order.
Report involving one of the 823 Panthers: From the Vault: Post War British Report on Panther (And since I'm here - Earlier report on captured 'Kursk' D: From the Vault: British Report on Captured Panther Tank )
