► Photothread: Allied Vehicles in German Service

[peeved]

Hi Max,

Could well be the Intava White at Finnish Malmi airport which was in German use for most of 1941-44. Appears to have a bilingual "No smoking" text: "Rauchen verboten" on the left and "Tup(akoiminen) k(ielletty) on the right [Could in principle be "Tupakointi kielletty" or even "Tupakoitseminen kielletty" but IMO the text justification supports the first option.]

Markus

[Maxschnauzer]

Hi Markus,
Thanks very much for that fascinating information. Come to think of it Finland boasted a large number of American vehicles pre-war. Had I known of the Finnish pedigree I would have posted it in the Finnish thread.

[Maxschnauzer]

Dalahaye Type 103 in Luftwaffe service:

[SIS 5]

Hi,

here an interesting pic of a captured Ford, converted to an AA gun portee. But I cannot ID the exact type (source of the pic: an expired ebay auction).

Regards

Bert

[Maxschnauzer]

Dalahaye Type 103 in Luftwaffe service:

Sorry, should have been posted in French vehicles thread.

[Maxschnauzer]

Hi,

here an interesting pic of a captured Ford, converted to an AA gun portee. But I cannot ID the exact type (source of the pic: an expired ebay auction).

Regards

Bert

Hi Bert,
I think our friend Bill Murray has a plausible theory here in this thread:http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showt ... 518&page=2 which he can hopefully elaborate on for us here.

[Bill Murray]

Hi Bert/Max:

Ha!!

This photo now comes up again for identification. Believe it or not, I have followed this pic since 2006, 9 years now, and nobody has been able to say "It is this..........".

Based on my observations last year on the MLU Forum, I am still of the opinion that the base vehicle is a Ford Marmon Herrington supplied to one of the Commonwealth countries. Just to restate some of my reasons............

1. The vehicle is either a 1938 or a 1939 model and only the Commonwealth countries had Ford MH models of these years. Most other countries got such Fords in 1940-1941 in this particular configuration.

2. One issue I have with the this observation is that the front fenders/mudguards do not seem to be cut back "shaved" as most of the Commonwealth vehicles were for more tyre clearance. Bit of a problem there and could lead us to possibly think it was originally a commercial vehicle.

3. Coming back to the Commonwealth theory, I now believe it has dual rear wheels after playing with the photo and the tyres are surely of a British style, not American, not Benelux, not French, not Hungarian or Romanian.

4. The grille guard still baffles me. I have looked at soooooo many photos of various trucks with this equipment and I can only say that it matches the USA 1938-1940 style and no other. This is a complete mystery as no US vehicles of this vintage were used in Europe/Middle East theatres.

5. I still think the drivers' cabin has been cut off from either a normal cabin or perhaps one of the Commonwealth open cabins.

6. After looking many times at the gunners, it looks to me like the one operating the wheel that moves the gun to the right or the left or up and down may be sitting over the passenger seat on the left side which could mean that the vehicle is RHD which again may indicate a Commonwealth vehicle.

OK, enough for this time. I hope that someone will be able to solve this one as I cannot up until now.

Bill

[Maxschnauzer]

Bill,
That is a great piece of "forensic analysis". Sometimes there is no absolute proof so one must go with the preponderance of evidence. Masterful!

[Maxschnauzer]

Bedford MWD at Dunkirk, 1940.

[Bill Murray]

Thank you for the kind words Max..........

But, in order to validate my "enthusiastic amateur" status as opposed to being any kind of expert, I must make a few corrections to my post above.

Romania and Hungary both did have 1938-1939 style Ford trucks as well, including some Marmon-Herrington variants.
The photographs in my files show the MH variants with an open German style cabin with half doors, completely different from the ID photo so I don't think that is the answer.

I will continue to try to get a proper identification.

Bill

[Clive Mortimore]

Hi,

here an interesting pic of a captured Ford, converted to an AA gun portee. But I cannot ID the exact type (source of the pic: an expired ebay auction).

Regards

Bert

Hi All

I recall reading somewhere about the South Afican army having gun tractors similar to the Australian ones. Could this vehicle be a South Afriacn one? Sorry I cannot recall where I read it.

[Sturm78]

Hi all,

I am not sure: Chevrolet M1938 ??

Image from EBay
Sturm78

[Bill Murray]

Correct, Sturm.

Bill

[Sturm78]

Thanks, Bill

Sturm78

[Clive Mortimore]

Hi Bert/Max:

Ha!!

This photo now comes up again for identification. Believe it or not, I have followed this pic since 2006, 9 years now, and nobody has been able to say "It is this..........".

Based on my observations last year on the MLU Forum, I am still of the opinion that the base vehicle is a Ford Marmon Herrington supplied to one of the Commonwealth countries. Just to restate some of my reasons............

1. The vehicle is either a 1938 or a 1939 model and only the Commonwealth countries had Ford MH models of these years. Most other countries got such Fords in 1940-1941 in this particular configuration.

2. One issue I have with the this observation is that the front fenders/mudguards do not seem to be cut back "shaved" as most of the Commonwealth vehicles were for more tyre clearance. Bit of a problem there and could lead us to possibly think it was originally a commercial vehicle.

3. Coming back to the Commonwealth theory, I now believe it has dual rear wheels after playing with the photo and the tyres are surely of a British style, not American, not Benelux, not French, not Hungarian or Romanian.

4. The grille guard still baffles me. I have looked at soooooo many photos of various trucks with this equipment and I can only say that it matches the USA 1938-1940 style and no other. This is a complete mystery as no US vehicles of this vintage were used in Europe/Middle East theatres.

5. I still think the drivers' cabin has been cut off from either a normal cabin or perhaps one of the Commonwealth open cabins.

6. After looking many times at the gunners, it looks to me like the one operating the wheel that moves the gun to the right or the left or up and down may be sitting over the passenger seat on the left side which could mean that the vehicle is RHD which again may indicate a Commonwealth vehicle.

OK, enough for this time. I hope that someone will be able to solve this one as I cannot up until now.

Bill

Hi Bill

Were any 1939 Fords shipped to the USSR? The reason I ask this is the long grass/wheat/barley that has be cut and used to "camouflage" the truck is not something normally seen in photos of North Africa where the Germans would have encountered a Commonwealth Ford.

Yours

Clive