German POWs Trudge Past a Sherman Tank

Image size: 1600 x 1079 pixel. 120 KB
Date: Friday, 19 January 1945
Place: Höngen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Photographer: Unknown

German prisoners trudge past a Sherman tank of the British 8th Armoured Brigade in a German frontier village of Höngen, 19 January 1945, during Operation Blackcock. Operation Blackcock was the code name for the clearing of the Roer Triangle formed by the towns of Roermond, Sittard and Heinsberg. It was conducted by the British Second Army between 14 and 26 January 1945. The objective was to drive the German 15th Army back across the Rivers Rur and Wurm and move the frontline further into Germany. The operation was carried out under command of Lieutenant General Neil Ritchie's XII Corps, by three divisions, the 7th Armoured Division, the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division and the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division. The operation, named after the Scottish black male grouse, is relatively unknown despite the sometimes fierce battles that were fought for each and every village and hamlet within the "Roer Triangle". 

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8th_Armoured_Brigade_(United_Kingdom)
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205203000
http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/the-sherwood-rangers-in-january-1945.57430/

Canadian Tanks Landed at Reggio Calabria

Image size: 1600 x 1482 pixel. 289 KB
Date: Saturday, 4 September 1943
Place: Reggio Calabria, Southern Italy
Photographer: Alex Stirton

4 September 1943. This picture by Alex Stirton shows a tank from C Squadron of The Canadian Calgary Regiment is unloaded from LST F16 at Reggio Calabria on D plus one. The diary from Doc Alexander - a member of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps - reported: "Sept. 4: Loaded on LCT at 5 p.m. And sailed up the Messina Straits about twenty-five miles, then turned due East and sailed into the beach just north of Reggio. Landed at 10 p.m., a perfectly peaceful landing. Moved into the Town and bedded down for the night". A day previously, the Calgary Regiment assaulted the beaches of Reggio Calabria to little resistance and moved northwards with notable engagements in Potenza, Motta and Campobasso while supporting the 1st Canadian Infantry Division. During the World War II, due to its strategic military position, Reggio Calabria suffered a devastating air raid and was used as the invasion target by the British Eighth Army in 1943 which led to the city's capture. After the war Reggio recovered considerably.

Source :
https://docalexander.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/sept-3-4-1943-invasion-of-italy/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Calabria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King%27s_Own_Calgary_Regiment_(RCAC)
http://mapleleafup.tumblr.com/page/7

General Leclerc and French Tank Crew

Image size: 1600 x 1417 pixel. 633 KB
Date: Thursday, 17 August 1944
Place: Ecouché, Orne Department, Northwestern France
Photographer: Unknown

General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque (Commander of the 2nd French Armored Division) Speaks with crew members of the M4 Sherman - nicknamed "Auerstaedt" - of 1st Company / 501e Régiment de chars de combat (501e RCC), at Ecouché, Northwestern France, 17 August 1944. The crew members are: Bernard Gagneux (commander), Raymond Legrand (gunner), Robert Le Gall (machine gun driver), and René Perrot (driver). All of them wears USA work-overalls HBT (one piece herringbone twill): the first soldier wearing the first model of this suit, while the rest wears the second model. They were also wears US leggings and French berets. When the French army joins the Allies, in the principle they keep their uniforms, then they're started to use British uniforms and ended with US uniforms. They would use all kinds of helmets from all of these armies, mixed with French overcoat headwear and French badges and stripes. Leclerc himself wears a French cap, light-colored US shirt, USA Winter Jacket or Tank Jacket, and - as a distinctive sign - he also wear all kinds of British battledress or combat uniforms, while the pants and leggings is also a British one (in this case, by the look of the pocket button, it is possibly a 1940 Pattern).

Source :

http://www.panzernet.com/foro4/showthread.php?11073-Uniformes-mezclados/page3

M4 Sherman stuck in Okinawa Stream

Image size: 1300 x 1600 pixel. 787 KB
Date: Monday, 21 May 1945
Place: Wana Draw, Okinawa, Japan
Photographer: Alexander Roberts

M4A3 Sherman of the 706th Tank Battalion attached to the US Army's 77th Infantry Division, Tenth Army, stuck crossing a 5-foot stream. Other Shermans are behind it. Both the Americans and the Japanese could not maneuver in a constant torrential downpour known locally as the "Plum Rains." The tank commander looks on as the driver bales the tank out. Note "Pop" written on the driver's helmet. The tank would have to wait until a tractor could be available to pull it out. The 706th fought at Guam, Leyte, Ie Shima, Okinawa, and was back at Luzon in the Phillipines at the end of the war. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1055

M5A1 Stuart of 761st Tank Battalion at Coburg

Image size: 1600 x 1278 pixel. 677 KB
Date: Wednesday, 25 April 1945
Place: Coburg, Bavaria, Germany
Photographer: Unknown

On April 11, the segregated 761st Tank Battalion, attached to the 71st Infantry Division, Third Army, 12th Army Group, captured the town of Colburg, fifty miles from the Czechoslovakian border. Stiff resistance consisting of machine guns, panzerfaust anti-tank weapons, mortars, and even a few German planes, made the encirclement of Coburg an all-day battle. The 761st, 71st, and Combat Command B of the 11th Armored Division received the surrender of the city's mayor. In this view, an M5A1 Stuart light tank of Dog Company of the 761st moves through the town square to clear out snipers. Note the damage to the windows of the upper floor as they machine gunned the windows to kill any Germans hiding there. M4 Sherman tanks are in the background. After this action the 761st enjoyed their first fresh food and beds for weeks, liberating chicken, cognac, and feather beds from the townfolk. 

Source:

NARA (National Archives) #535534

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coburg1945.jpg

Sherman Tanks of 7th Armored in St. Vith

Image size: 1600 x 1166 pixel. 854 KB
Date: Wednesday, 24 January 1945
Place: St. Vith, Wallonia, Belgium
Photographer: Unknown

M4 Sherman medium tanks of the 40th Tank Battalion, Combat Command R, 7th Armored Division, take up defensive positions in a field near St. Vith after retaking the village from the Germans. The 7th Armored, in a less famous but equally heroic stand than Bastogne, was cut off from reinforcements (except for scratch units of the 106th Infantry Division, 9th Armored Division and 28th Infantry Division) in St. Vith on December 17, 1944. Faced with intermittent radio contact and a lack of supplies and reinforcements, the 7th Armored denied St. Vith from the Germans for five vital days. After regrouping and re-equipping in early January 1945, Combat Command B of the 7th Armored retook St. Vith on January 23. 

Source:

United States Army 

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii0082

M4 Sherman Mine Exploder T1E3 Clears A Road in Beggendorf

Image size: 1600 x 844 pixel. 302 KB
Date: Monday, 11 December 1944
Place: Beggendorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Photographer: Unknown

M4 Sherman medium tank Mine Exploder T1E3 (later designated M1 Roller) of 738th Tank Battalion (Special), attached to the 3rd Armored Division, VII Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group, clears a road of mines. The 738th was one of two tank battalions to operate the T1E3; both were broken up and attached to units as needed. Nicknamed "Aunt Jemima" for the resemblance to a stack of pancakes turned sideways, the pressure of the heavy armor discs would set off the mines; the discs had to be periodically replaced when damaged. The T1E3 lacked the off-road performance of the Mine Exploder T2 Flail (British designation Sherman Crab Mark I). The heavy discs were difficult to maneuver. The bumper on the back of the tank is for another tank to push the T1E3 because of the weight of the discs. Experimental versions were fitted with serrated discs, but only the T1E3 saw combat. Beggendorf was captured on October 6, 1944, but clearing mines continued throughout the war. Some areas of Denmark, Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany and other World War II belligerents are still mined; thousands of misfired shells and mines are dug up each year and kill or wound people to this day!

Source:

United States Army 

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii0081

Coldstream Guards' Sherman Firefly IC Guards Bridge at Namur

Image size: 1600 x 1040 pixel. 428 KB
Date: Monday, 25 December 1944
Place: Namur, Wallonia, Belgium
Photographer: Unknown

Lieutenant Robert Boscawen (March 17, 1923- ) left with radiophones, commander of 2 Troop, 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards, Guards Armoured Division, XXX Corps, in a Sherman Firefly IC Hybrid. Note camouflage cloth on the hull, extra road wheels, and tracks on front hull and turret. The number "52" is actually Tactical Number, not weight number (Sherman weight No.s would be "30" in black on a yellow circle). 52 refers to Regiment Seniority - British Brigades had their units ordered by seniority. Thus, Boscawen was part of 1st (Armoured) Battalion, Coldstream Guards, the second regiment of the 5th Guards
Armoured Brigade, Guards Armoured Division. Thus again, the Grenadier Guards were Senior "51", the Coldstrems were second "52", and the Irish Guards were junior "53". This tank, actually commanded by Sergeant Bastone (kneeling on right), and the rest of 1st Battalion cut off the German advance through the Ardennes to the Meuse. The IC Hybrid was an American-built late production M4 Sherman with a cast composite hull that mounted a specially designed 17-pounder 76.2mm (3 inch) anti-tank gun. Sherman Fireflies were the only Allied tank capable of penetrating the German Tiger and Panther panzers. As the situation on the Ardennes front grew critical on December 17-18, 1944, the 21st Army Group realized that the German offensive either targeted the port of Antwerp or Paris itself. Several divisions, including the Guards Armoured, were to reinforce XXX Corps. While scratch units of supply troops and light infantry were immediately rushed in from France, Holland and England on December 17 to secure the bridges and the vast supply dumps along the Meuse, heavy mechanized formations arrived on December 19. The 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards took up positions in Namur, one of the few remaining bridges. The masonry bridge had been blown by the retreating Germans in August 1944 and repaired by an American engineering unit with a Bailey Bridge. Boscawen survived hits on four tanks that were burned out or "brewed" during the war. The fourth loss, in April 1945, caused severe burns to him and his driver; the rest of the crew died. After recovery, Boscawen served in Parliament until 1992. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii0060
Correction from Rex Barrett through email (thank you!)