Libya / WW2 Tank unearthed at construction site

[mcspool]

Can I summarize as follows:

Very good, but I would alter it into a chronological order, like so for example:

 

A) Sherman M4A4

D) Chrysler manufactured

B) Production date: March 1943

E) Due to late production date the tank did not reach North Africa during the Desert Campaign. First use was only in Italy

 

Post WW2:

C) Converted to GM Twin Diesel Engines as the Model M4A2

F) Such type is known to be converted by the French (and possibly Egyptians) and to be used by Egypt

G) It was obviously used for target practising before it was abandoned in Tripoli

Thanks for sharing these photos!

 

- Hanno

Edited February 19, 2009 by mcspool

[Kuno]

...and now; who will add the spareparts list to have it running again ;-)

[ajmac]

It wouldn't be worth the bother, since as we have seen from the threads concerning Shermans: There are already the odd one or two around :-)

If it were a Tiger 1 or.... no..... make that ANY German WW2 armour the forward negotiation team from various collectors would already be resident an a Tripoli hotel!

As we know there is nothing that can't be restored, but you don't start with the worst vehicle if there are others around, or at least I wouldn't, it would be a waste of money.

[Kuno]

Was only joking. At least I tried to...

 

Just another thought came to my mind: If the Egyptians used that type of tank. Would it be possible that it was "collected" by the British during the Suez-Crisis, then brought to Libya - where the British definitely had tanks at that time - and used for target practising?

[ltwtbarmy]

On 2/6/2009 at 11:56 AM, Kuno said:

Tripolis was not defended by the Axis forces. The last stand was made south of Tripolis at az-Azizia. Might be that some tanks were lost there but not near Tripoli.

 

I remember a shooting range in Cirenaica. Bizzare thing - Amphibious tanks in the middle of the desert 😉 They were riddled over and over by bullets - the British planes from el-Adem AFB...

I was on these ranges in 2009. South of Ajdabiya and north of Ojala. I think they were LVT4s and apart from them, there were also some ex Malta Garrison Bofors L/70s all of which were used for target practice. I will trawl through my files and post pics of the most accessible items, and also ordnance which I came across in the area. I never went anywhere near the amphibious vehicles which were up on the hills in the area although they seemed to be much more intact than the ones I photographed. It was just too dangerous given the amount of ordnance lying around. The ordnance I photographed was located in the southernmost fringes of these ranges, in the area we were actually working in constantly, so actually had to be removed and was disposed of in one massive explosion, which unfortunately (or fortunately), I wasn’t present for! 

Edited July 24, 2020 by ltwtbarmy

[Rootes75]

Some very interesting photos there.

[David Herbert]

The LVT is an LVT3 not 4. The British army got some post war and operated them until the 1960's. They are easily identified by the cab windows being right at the front unlike the LVT4 where they are about four feet back. They have basically the same power train as a M5 Stuart light tank with two Cadillac V8 engines with Hydromatic transmissions in the sides of the hull roughly amid ships driving forwards to bevel boxes, then into a controlled differential unit that combines the drive and then shafts out to the final drives and sprockets. The track is like Stuart track but with scoops to give propulsion in the water.

David

[ltwtbarmy]

1 hour ago, Rootes75 said:

Some very interesting photos there.

Thanks, there was loads more stuff in the area. I had photographs of an italian army fort further south and across the main highway, artillery positions, a blown up Ford F30 truck which was 20 yards away from the anti tank mine pictured above, but unfortunately the computer it was all saved on was appropriated against my will by some locals when things blew up over there. I remember that my survey guys had camped near the blown up truck on top of a small mound which had a rubble wall around it. Remembering the old army trick of booby trapping an abandoned Laying Up Position, I went to the location, and sure enough, right under where they had parked their truck, was the mine! When they took me to the location after my insistence and a lot of piss taking at my keenie meenie approach, they nearly crapped themselves when they saw what I found. The area was right on the edge of a minefield which had supposedly been cleared in the 50s, but some were obviously missed! I suddenly became a lot more popular after that incident!

 

[ltwtbarmy]

55 minutes ago, David Herbert said:

The LVT is an LVT3 not 4. The British army got some post war and operated them until the 1960's. They are easily identified by the cab windows being right at the front unlike the LVT4 where they are about four feet back. They have basically the same power train as a M5 Stuart light tank with two Cadillac V8 engines with Hydromatic transmissions in the sides of the hull roughly amid ships driving forwards to bevel boxes, then into a controlled differential unit that combines the drive and then shafts out to the final drives and sprockets. The track is like Stuart track but with scoops to give propulsion in the water.

David

Thanks for correcting me on that. If they haven’t been removed I think there were more than 20 dotted around the area.

[Pzkpfw-e]

Some nasty stuff in those photos. The device with the red & white striped tape by it, looks very much like a Butterfly Bomb. They find the odd one around Grimsby still. The last death caused by one, was in Malta in 1981.

[ltwtbarmy]

It is an SD2 butterfly bomb. We were finding loads of stuff like that in the area. It seems that although the area was used as training ranges post war, and post 1969, during the war it was a battle area.

Edited July 26, 2020 by ltwtbarmy