Mikel2 Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/second-world-war-tank-found-5362389?fbclid=IwAR2j6rHPEHY8gLCJInu2L2YqltbjlJ0fe8tGG3-UWaRiGWqLviwkKItmZSE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 They might want to clear it up with the MOD, seeing as they probably still own it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougRichards Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Stuart Galbraith said: They might want to clear it up with the MOD, seeing as they probably still own it... The US (under lend lease) may want it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 I think there was an option that if we wanted to keep something we could buy it from them. That would be really amusing if that came into play. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougRichards Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Stuart Galbraith said: I think there was an option that if we wanted to keep something we could buy it from them. That would be really amusing if that came into play. In US dollar equivalents from 1944 translated directly (not with inflation) in Pounds Stirling today. I mean you may be able to buy it yourself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin-Phillips Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 The article says they recovered a tank. So where is the tank then? Must be well camouflaged, I see an LVT-4 Water Buffalo... 🤨🙄 Nice to see the vehicle (and potential subsequent ones) recovered. I just hope it ends up somewhere that can/will look after it rather than allow it to rust away which happens pretty quickly if left exposed to the elements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendist Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 In their defence they did write 'tank' in the head line which, I believe, is not the same thing as writing tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R011 Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 11 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said: I think there was an option that if we wanted to keep something we could buy it from them. That would be really amusing if that came into play. In part, that was what the post-war loan was for. retained equipment was paid for at ten percent of it's original cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 Pretty sweet deal really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R011 Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 This is the loan that supposedly crippled the UK's economy for a generation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendist Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 Was this loan needed or would the UK have done better, in the long term, without it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 7 hours ago, R011 said: This is the loan that supposedly crippled the UK's economy for a generation. Yeah well, better than Jackboots through Whitehall, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbo Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 (edited) 13 hours ago, R011 said: This is the loan that supposedly crippled the UK's economy for a generation. The British were very keen on delivering military equipment to Denmark and other formerly occupied countries in Europe once they were liberated. It was seen as an integral part of British policy to have the liberated countries contribute to the occupation of Germany and to make them more dependent on Britain for military equipment as both a foreign policy goal and an economic goal. In 1945, the Danish Army was looking very much forward to recieving US made Jeeps as their light utility vehicle, but once the UK was presented with the bill from the US, the jeeps were replaced with British made Austins - the "Tilly" - resulting in some very long faces in the Danish Army....... That started a long journey towards getting Jeeps for Danish Army, that didn't end until 1950 with NATO and MDAP. Edited May 3, 2021 by cbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 Although to be fair to the Americans, they very nicely bought some Centurions for Denmark, so we all kinda won out of that one. Somehow you cant imagine DOD procurement being that unpoliticised these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R011 Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 Much of the equipment of the Canadian Army Overseas, five divisions plus, ended up in Belgian and Dutch hands right after the war as it wasn't worth it to bring it back home given the Army was being drastically reduced back to its peacetime strength of one very spread out regular brigade group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 That makes sense. I remember in a 1980's edition of Wheels and Tracks there was a selection of Grizzly's (and I think Priests?) that were surplused out of the Portugese Army (they had been in reserve for years). Weapons collectors were ecstatic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R011 Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 (edited) AFAIK, the Grizzlies were not deployed overseas during the war. Not many were made and we had enough Shermans from British stocks. I suspect they were exported post war after we had reequipped with M4A2E8 and Centurions. Edited to add: Some quick checking shows that 55 Grizzly gun tanks, 40 Grizzly APCs and some Sextons were sent to Portugal as part of a NATO Military Aid package. Edited May 4, 2021 by R011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbo Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 On 5/3/2021 at 4:02 PM, Stuart Galbraith said: Although to be fair to the Americans, they very nicely bought some Centurions for Denmark, so we all kinda won out of that one. Somehow you cant imagine DOD procurement being that unpoliticised these days. Well, the Americans were acommodating when it fit their purpose and Denmark was part of NATO. Until then, they were not particularily cooperative. Not unlike the British in the 1945-1949 timeframe. Which is of course perfectly OK, as long as one recognizes the amount of self-interest involved when those two great nations dealt with the world . As for the Centurion procurement not being political, I guess that depends on what you mean by "political". After all, the US wanted Centurions ASAP, so the NATO partners and others sympathetic to the West could help save us all from Communism. The British wanted to drag out the production and delivery of Centurions for as long as possible, so they could keep their factories running at a steady pace, not compromising other sectors. AFAIK, the British won the argument and the Centurions arrived over a period of 6 years. It appears to have been a sweet deal for the British, not only getting US MDAP-dollars for the purchase and keep a US-funded production line running at the pace the British wanted, but also being able to sell the Danish Army a never ending issue of upgrade kits 😄. I'm sure the US would've like to have that deal for themselves, if not Korea and increasing needs elsewhere had overwhelmed US tank production combined with their new allies being less than amused when offered the same type of Sherman-upgrade that the US Army had rejected in 1942 (the M4A3E4) 😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted June 4, 2021 Share Posted June 4, 2021 Engines knackered, but other than that this old bus looks fairly solid. 3RTR markings, got a nagging feeling they crossed the Rhine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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