I have 2 photo's of the air armada en route to the Drop Zone's for Operation "Market". I've been told they are both in Gheel - Geel, Belgium but I cant figure out where they were taken. If anyone knows where these 2 pictures are taken please do share. Thanks
Both from IWM collection THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45. © IWM (BU 919)IWM Non Commercial Licence American C-47 aircraft flying over Gheel in Belgium on their way to Holland for Operation 'Market-Garden', 17 September 1944. In the foreground is a knocked-out German Jagdpanther tank destroyer. American C-47 aircraft flying over Gheel in Belgium on their way to Holland for Operation 'Market-Garden', 17 September 1944. In the foreground is a knocked-out German Jagdpanther tank destroyer. THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45. © IWM (BU 920)IWM Non Commercial Licence Corporal Sid Walker of the County of London Yeomanry, 7th Armoured Division, with a knocked-out German Jagdpanther tank destroyer in the Belgian Town of Gheel, 16 September 1944. THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45. © IWM (B 10026)IWM Non Commercial Licence the church. American C-47 aircraft flying over Gheel in Belgium on their way to Holland for Operation 'Market-Garden' , 17 September 1944. THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45. © IWM (BU 918)IWM Non Commercial Licence
GoogleStreet view of same area. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.160611,4.990504,3a,37.5y,2.38h,97.26t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1saEQ9pc0kSlw9s1yQYKMHjw!2e0!6m1!1e1?hl=en
found this one too from the NAM http://www.nam.ac.uk/online-collection/detail.php?acc=1975-03-63-20-20 Gheel Church and village square with a 'brewed-up' Jagdpanther in the centre, 1944. Photograph by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, North West Europe, 1944. The Jagdpanther ('Hunting Panther') was a tank destroyer built on the chassis of the Panther tank and armed with a powerful 88 mm Pak 43 gun enabling it to destroy any type of Allied tank. From an album containing 266 photographs belonging to Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).
The Jagdpanther was from s.Pz.Jg Abteilung 559, which supported a counterattack of Kampfgruppe Dreyer on Geel with five Jagdpanther in the afternoon of 10 September 44. Geel had been captured earlier that day by the 6th Durham Light Infantry, 151st Bde, 50 Div. One of the Jagdpanther penetrated into the town as far as the market square. Upon rounding a sharp bend in the road, the Jagdpanther suddenly found itself confronted by Shermans of the Sherwood Rangers which were in support of the infantry. The story in Jack Didden's book 'Autumn Gale' goes as follows: .. the crews of both the Jagdpanther and the British tanks were taken completely by surprise. According to one account the Jagdpanther knocked out one of the Shermans guarding the market place but was itself hit in a track. Now the Jagdpanther couldn't move anymore. The crew then set fire to it and disappeared. The entrance to the market place was subsequently blocked and to free it two Shermans dragged the wreck into the park on the market square. There it stayed until 1946 when a scrap dealer cut up the Jagdpanther".
Geel is a lovely town and I would have immediately said the Market Square. There appears to be a floodlight pylon in photo 1 which might be the football stadium. The Church has a distinctive spire and I'd like to think that many of the buildings look very similar to 1944. They were always very hospitable to the RBL Hockley Pipe Band and Len Burrows, who was in charge of the burial parties creating the CWGC cemeteries in the area.
Good research, Pieter. General question, thrown open: Why would Sid Walker reserve the Jagdpanther, he didn't 'kill' it? Best, Steve.
I believe it would have been best if someone from the Sherwood Rangers had been used for the publicity shot... From Message # 12 in the link: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=142137 - an eye witness account. * Best, Steve.
Dear members Since a couple of years I'm doing some research about the battle of Geel and Mol in september 1944. I think it is a forgotten batlle and remains in the shadow of Market Garden. Anyway in those years I was able to collect a lot of pictures. Most of them come from a local named Willem van Broeckhoven. He captured a lot of knocked out tanks from the Sherwood Rangers. These pictures show lots of details and also the numbers of the tanks. I want to make a next step in my research and try to figure out who their crew was. So my question for you guys is: did they keep records of this? For exemple a sherman firefly was knocked out near St-Dimpna church in the evening of september 10th 1944. It has the number T212721 on it. All I know is that this tank probably belonged to a troop from C Squadron. Thanks for the help!
THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45 DESCRIPTION Object description An American C-47 aircraft, hit by flak returning from the Market-Garden drop, burns after crash-landing into a knocked-out German Jagdpanther in a field near Gheel in Belgium, 17 September 1944. And... THE GREAT AIRBORNE INVASION OF HOLLAND DESCRIPTION Object description Original wartime caption: The blazing machine after the crash
