Sherman III - IPMS Canada

ACTION AT GAUMESNIL
PART 1 – THE ATTACK
A SHERMAN Mk. III of
The SHERBROOKE FUSILIER REGIMENT
forces would fan out to take their assigned
'A', 'B' and 'C' Squadrons
Phase One objectives.
of the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment and their
attached infantry
Phase 1 of Operation TOTALIZE, showing
routes of the various units
by Gary Barling, C#14,
IPMS Ottawa
BACKGROUND
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of Caen, planning commenced for Allied
forces to move south towards Falaise.
Well-sited German defensive positions,
in depth and covering approaches over
open ground, were the major opposition.
In a daring plan that called for a night
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armoured infantry carriers called Kangaroos and heavy aerial bombardment,
Operation TOTALIZE was designed,
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defences, and, second, to exploit the gap
with armoured forces moving south to
Falaise. The Second Canadian Infantry
Division would operate on the west side of
the Caen – Falaise road, while British and
Polish formations would be on the east
side. The main Canadian force consisted
of three concentrated columns of tanks
and carriers, preceded by groups of gun
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Once through the outer crust of German
defences, the leading Sherman tanks of
Vol.32 No.4, 2010
1
Major Radley-Walters receives
the Military Cross from Field Marshal Montgomery, October 1944
Map A
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17
kilometre south
of Gaumesnil, at
about 12:30 PM
on August 8th. It
was engaged at
close range (see
blue-outlined
area in Map ‘A’)
by the Shermans
of 'A' Squadron,
and by British
tank forces on
the west side of
the road, which
had also reached
their objectives
in the morning
2
and had also
prepared for the
Sherman IIIs of the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment, April 1944
German counterstroke. In the
The commander of 'A' Squadron,
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Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment, was a 24at least four of the Tigers were destroyed
year old major from the Gaspé, Quebec,
along with several Mark IV tanks and
named Sydney Radley-Walters. Joinself-propelled guns (one of which fell to
ing the Army in 1940, he would serve
Rad and his crew). SS- Hauptsturmfuhrer
throughout the war. He became Canada's
(Captain) Michael Wittmann, the newly
greatest tank commander and winning
appointed commander of 101 [Schwere]
the Military Cross and the Distinguished
SS Panzer Abteilungen (101st [Heavy] SS
Service Order in quick succession (Photo
Panzer Battalion) and a tank ace in his
1). He continued to serve after the war,
own right with some 138 destroyed enemy
rising to the rank of Brigadier-General and
tanks to his credit, commanded one of the
retired from the Canadian Armed Forces
Tigers. His Tiger and three others led the
in 1974. "General Rad," as he is fondly
attack, with Wittmann's vehicle moving
known throughout the Royal Canadian
north along the east side of the CaenArmoured Corps, became an icon to
Falaise road. During the engagement, his
Canada's armoured troops.
tank was struck on the rear of the left side
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On the night of 7/8 August 1944, The
detonated the ammunition and blew the
Sherbrookes formed up with 'A' Squadturret completely off the hull. Wittmann
ron on the left, nearest the Caen-Falaise
and his entire crew perished in the exploroad, with 'B' Squadron in the centre and
sion.
'C' Squadron on the right. (Photo 2) The
heavy columns of vehicles started to move
south at 11:30 PM, eventually breaking
through the German defences in spite of
confusion caused by dust, smoke and
the inherent problems of driving so many
vehicles in such concentrated groups.
Reaching the small village of Rocquancourt, the Sherbrooke squadrons broke off
to their assigned objectives: 'C' Squadron
to Caillouet, 'B' Squadron to a large quarry
and 'A' Squadron to the small village of
*DXPHVQLO3URQRXQFHG*RK0HK1,/
on the Caen-Falaise road. Rad moved his
force (six Sherman III's, his own Sherman
,,,WZR6KHUPDQ)LUHÀLHVSOXVVXSSRUWing infantry) into Gaumesnil in the early
morning, and sited them in preparation for
the expected German counterattack later
that day.
The main counterattack, a mixed
force of Panzer Mark IV and Tiger tanks,
came north from Cintheaux, about a
18
Recent research, including a detailed
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all known records of operations on August
8th, points more and more conclusively to
Wittmann falling to one of the Sherbrooke
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credited with the Tiger, but it was claimed
as part of the overall 'A' Squadron list
of destroyed enemy vehicles after the
engagement.
THE PROJECT
THE PROJECT
The aim of this project was to model a
vehicle of the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment representative of those in action at
Gaumesnil. The subject chosen was the
tank of the squadron commander, Major
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do not have any photographs of this particular vehicle. However, I feel that there are
enough photographs of Sherbrooke tanks
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WDNHQSULRUDQGVXEVHTXHQWWRWKH1RUmandy landings to give a fair idea of how
WKHVHYHKLFOHVZHUHHTXLSSHGDQGFRQ¿Jured (Photo 2). These, plus a little logical
artistic license will, I believe, produced an
acceptable result.
THE KIT
THE KIT
I chose the Dragon Sherman III (Kit
1XPEHU,WFDPHKLJKO\UHFRPmended by a number of reviewers, and
includes many parts with which to model
several ‘minor’ variations of the Sherman
III: cast and bolted transmission covers,
three different gun mantlets, two different
sets of suspension units and any number
RIVPDOOHUKXOODQGWXUUHW¿WWLQJVJLYHWKH
modeller much leeway in building this kit.
It's something like, "Building a Dragon
Sherman III is like a box of chocolates:
you never know what you're going to get!"
My problem was that I didn't know exactly
what I needed: there are so many minor
options available that I wasn't sure which
to use. General Rad was also unsure:
no surprise, given that we're speaking of
things that occurred about 66 years ago,
and that he went through about seven
tanks that summer and fall (mostly having
them shot out from under him). So, what
to do? Well, I gathered up all the Sherbrooke Fusilier tank photos that I could
¿QGKHOSHGLQJUHDWSDUWE\%DUU\%HOGDP
thanks, Barry!) and looked for any trends
in the vehicles: gun mantlets, stowage,
transmission covers, added trackpad
armour, turret details, stowage, markings…anything that would give me a lead
as to either what was, or at least what
was most likely. A few telephone calls to
General Rad resulted in more information
and guidance as the build progressed. In
the event, I came up with what I think is a
fair representation of General Rad's Sherman III: "CARIBOU I". Most of the parts
required were in the kit, but were marked
as ‘not applicable’ for the model that the
boxed kit represented. So it was with a
keen eye that I scanned through the parts
diagram to see all that was there and what
I could use.
CONSTRUCTION
CONSTRUCTION
The Hull: A photo of the Sherbrookes
in England shows both bolted and cast
transmission covers on their Shermans. I
was hoping to use a cast cover, and there
is one included in the kit. "[The cast cover]
offered better protection and made servicing of the brakes and transmission easier."
(Guthrie, see References). I'm assuming
that one of these tanks would have been
assigned to the squadron commander.
I experienced a problem getting the kit
IPMS Canada
FRYHUWR¿WEXWLWZDVP\LQLWLDOHUURUVXEsequently addressed on the Internet. The
cast cover slips slightly inside the leading
edges of the hull: I had thought that they
should form a butt join. However, I was
GLUHFWHGWRDVPDOO¿UPFDOOHG)RUPDWLRQV
which provides a resin cast cover designed for a number of Sherman models,
but not the one I had. I ordered one on the
strength of an email discussion with the
owner, who said that he had not tried his
cover with the Dragon kit, and that there
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ones. In the event, the only problem was a
gap between kit and cover on either side
(Photo 3a+RZHYHUDVD¿WWLQJRIWKHNLW
and resin covers to the hull
showed that the
position of the
drive sprocket
was virtually the
same, I opted
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with plastic card
(Photo 3b),
slightly trim the
front of the hull
(which brought
the resin
moulded-in bolt
bar neatly into
6
Added bolt head detail
place) and attach the cover
to the hull with cyanoacrylate (CA) and Tamiya glues.
3a
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3b
Fenders are provided in
the kit, but only as part of a
complete photo-etch "sand
shield" assembly (the model
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African 8th Army vehicle).
Fortunately, the Formations
cast transmission cover
comes with resin fenders for
the front of the hull. These
had to be tweaked to get
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cover, but a razor saw and
sanding stick made short
work of the requirement.
One feature of the
hull that is not provided in
the kit is appliqué armour.
Fortunately, I had a Tasca
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loft, and so I was able to
take the armour plate from
that kit, trace one onto a
sheet of 40-thou sheet
styrene, cut it out and sand
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Appliqué armour plate
Added bolt head detail
4
5
Vol.32 No.4, 2010
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shape. After applying it to the model, I ran
a narrow bead of Milliput around the outside edge, waited about ten minutes, and
then 'teased' the putty into passable weld
beads (Photo 4). I also remembered an
old set of Alumilite moulding materials, and
was able to mould a few extra appliqué
SODWHV$QG7+(1,IRXQGDIHZDGGLWLRQDO
extra plates lying in one of my spare part
trays! So ultimately, I have a home-grown
plate on the left, and two spares from (I
think) the Tamiya M4A3 kit on the right.
I also added bolt heads and rivets
punched from plastic card to the hull forward of the lead suspension units (Photo
5) and on the hull rear (Photo 6). The
latter are provided on the included PE set,
but the punched plastic versions were the
same size and (for me) much easier to
make and attach.
Turret: This is a pretty straightforward
build: main turret and lower attachment
ring, one hatch, one pistol port (open
or closed), a couple of periscopes and
antenna mounts. The main question to
be answered is, which of the various gun
mantlet assemblies do you want/need?
You have the choice of three, plus two
barrel protectors, one with extended 'ears'
and one without. It's the old buzz-phrase:
"Check your references!" I have a photo
of a line of Sherbrooke Shermans, and
they all had the early mantlets and barrel
protectors, so that decision was easy. I
had a protector from the Tasca Sherman
V kit, and used that instead of the Dragon
offering: the Tasca piece looked just a tiny
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The only problem I had (and it was a
small one) was that the mantlet assembly
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opening on the turret front, and there were
no 'stops' moulded on the inside of the
turret against which the assembly could
rest. I simply cut a few small pieces of
card and glued them in place just inside
the mantlet opening, then slipped the man-
19
perfect in replicating the type of tow cable
used by most AFVs in World War Two. I
improved the end cable attachments by
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end loop, and then gluing the end of the
strand into the other end (Photo 10).
7
Turret assembly and smoke mortars
8
tlet into place and did minor adjustments
while the glue was tacky. An overnight dry
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with the surrounding turret surface (Photo
7). I added a set of 4-inch smoke grenade
dischargers to the right side of the turret,
courtesy of a PE set originally destined
for a Valentine tank (Photo 8). Add the
machine gun barrel and its protector, some
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turret than the directions state), and a
plasticard aiming vane and sun compass
platform, and the turret was a done deal.
SUSPENSION
SUSPENSION
Tracks: The tracks are made of a
ÀH[LEOHDQGVOLJKWO\HODVWLFOLJKWEHLJHPDterial termed "Dragon
Styrene" or "DS"
tracks. They are well
detailed, T54E1 steel
chevron tracks, and
look quite convincing. I painted these
an overall "Track
Colour" from White
Ensign Models, and
then gave them a
wash of Rustall Black.
When this had dried,
I highlighted the bare
metal worn areas with
Tamiya Weathering
9
Master 'C' Silver and
Gun Metal. A touch of
20
Rustall rust and Migs Pigment weathering completed the track sections.
Suspension Units: These are not
as complicated as the Tasca Sherman
offerings, but they do present problems.
I separated all of the parts and painted
each one before assembly (Photo 9). In
this way, I made sure that all areas were
painted, rather than try to cover all of an
assembled unit, and it allows weathering
and dusting to be applied thoroughly:
some of the nooks and crannies are
quite well hidden! I didn't lose much time
with this approach, and I was assured
of complete paint coverage. Two areas
needed extra work: the axle holes in the
wheels needed widening, which was
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KROHVQHHGHGWR¿WWKHZKHHODVVHPEOLHV
to the suspension bodies really needed
widening – I needed a small bit from my
cordless drill to accomplish this task.
External Stowage: General Rad
clearly recalls a number of details regarding external stowage. In a telephone
conversation on March 19, 2010, he mentioned that his crew had two steel boxes
welded to the back deck for tool stowage,
that they carried at least one spare road
wheel, and they had a large folded tarpaulin: "We lived under that tarp for months!",
he laughed. He also recalled that they
had welded some small metal boxes to
the front fenders for stowage of the usual
odds and ends that tank crews acquire
over time. A combination of British and
American steel ammunition boxes met the
requirement nicely: Ultracast put out a line
of British Mk.I and II ammunition boxes
(among others), plus American medium
and heavy machine gun ammunition boxes. One each of the former went onto the
back deck for the larger stowage items,
while one 0.50" calibre machine gun box
DETAILSDETAILS
Tow Cable: A length of wire is provided for the tow cable. However, I used
a twisted strand of nylon, many lengths
of which can be found inside what is
known in the Army as ‘paracord', the
cord used to rig and pack parachutes.
The double twisted strand is almost
10
11
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IPMS Canada
went onto each front fender: having some
experience with them, I found that the
0.30" cal boxes are rather small for longterm stowage. Ultracast has examples of
the British boxes, and has posted photos
of them for reference: they recommend
using Modelmaster Euro Dark Green 1764
as a very close match to the boxes they
have (Photo 11). Having more paint than
I know what to do with, I mixed my sample
and airbrushed it on. The US boxes were
any variety of Olive Drab, readily available from several paint lines. As an added
bonus, these different colours break up the
monochromatic appearance of the vehicle
nicely. A spare road wheel from the Tasca
Sherman, an Ultracast water can and a
tarpaulin made from thick wine bottle foil
completed the external stowage.
Tools: A full set of well-represented
WRROVLVSURYLGHG¿WWHGDVJLYHQLQWKH
instructions. I sprayed Alclad 2 over the
parts after priming with Krylon gloss
black, and then brush-painted the wooden
handles and olive drab mounting points. I
drilled out the hole in the pick head, and
weathered the tools lightly with Rustall and
pigments.
MARKINGS AND
CAMOUFLAGE
MARKINGS
& CAMOUFLAGE
Painting7KLVZDVQRWDGLI¿FXOW
model to paint, as it wore only one colour 6WDQGDUG&DPRXÀDJH&RORXU6&&1R
15 Olive Drab Basic. This was "…similar,
BUT NOT IDENTICAL, in appearance to
the American colour. In use it remained
of dark green appearance, and troops
usually referred to it by that name…The
American colour was predominantly of
more brown hue and was readily distinguishable." (Starmer) I used the White
Ensign Model offering of this colour, but
a close match can be mixed from Humbrol paints as follows: 5 parts Humbrol
150 Forest Green, 5 parts Humbrol 159
Khaki Drab, and 2 parts Humbrol 33 Black
(Starmer). After overall priming with Mr.
Surfacer 1000 in the spray can, I applied
the initial paint coat with an Iwata Revolution spraying a paint/lacquer thinner ratio
of 10:7 at about 16 psi.
At one point late in the painting stage,
I thought that I'd made a major mistake in
the colour. Back checking Mike Starmer's
book (see References), I got the impression that the Sherbrooke Shermans might
very well have been delivered in US Olive
Drab, and kept in that colour. An email to
Mike with a photo of Sherbrooke Shermans taken on April 20, 1944 elicited
this response "The photograph shows
nice tidy, clean Shermans with no markings whatsoever, not even a WD [War
Vol.32 No.4, 2010
Department] number. So I think these are
repaints and thus I would expect SCC 15.
The picture may have been taken at the
CREME [Corps of Royal Electrical and
Mechanical Engineers] workshops before
issue to a unit. Fresh US vehicles tended
to show an American registration number
or an already allocated WD number and
other markings to do with shipping, storage etc. even plus stars. In this case go
with SCC 15. Remember that the issue
of an ACI [Army Council Instruction] was
often 4-6 weeks behind the action signal
due to administration time lag, all quite
normal."
Pigments: I used Migs Pigments
"Faded Allied Green" to add some depth
to the paint skin. I used the pigment, thinly
mixed with water, along the hull sides,
front and back, as well on the turret and
stowage box. This replicated light water
staining and streaking, and broke up the
monochromatic green surface convincingly.
Markings: All decals came from the
sheet enclosed in IPMS Canada RT 32/4,
and were applied in accordance with standard regulations, photographic evidence,
and discussion with General Rad. For
example, the large white aircraft recognition star was applied based on a photo of
a Sherman nosed over in a shell hole. It
shows a star of this type, and the marking
has been pretty much covered over with
dirt and grime. Whether this is due to normal wear and tear, or is a statement on the
lack of trust reposed in Allied air power of
the day, I do not know. As well, while tanks
in the various troops carried their numerical designation within their turret triangle,
,KDYH\HWWRFRQ¿UPZKDWLIDQ\GHVLJnator was carried by the four Shermans
in Squadron Headquarters. General Rad
seems to recall that they did not carry one,
and that the tanks were recognized by the
names painted on the hull. Accordingly,
and in the absence of any other information, I opted to mark the model with the
squadron triangle alone.
Dust and Blending: "A low ground
mist thickened the clouds of dust stirred up
by the hundreds of vehicles…" (Stacey).
With many accounts of Operation TOTALIZE mentioning the confusion caused by
heavy dust clouds on the night of 7/8 August, I applied a fairly liberal dusting to the
model. With decals applied, I airbrushed
a very thin coat of beige paint (6 parts
thinner to 1 part paint) to most surfaces,
especially the horizontal surfaces. I used
a mix of WEM Deck Teak with a few drops
of Track Colour to tone it down, but any
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medium-light beige will do nicely. I also
applied tan-coloured pigment ("European
Dust") to accentuate the dust effect, attempting to approximate the heavy dust
coating collected during the night's march
toward Gaumesnil.
Graphite. I used a small HB pencil
to highlight raised areas of the hull, turret,
tracks and suspension to replicate worn
and chipped surfaces. This effect was reinforced with Rub n' Buff Silver and Tamiya
weathering pigments as well.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
1RWZLWKVWDQGLQJWKHYDULRXVSURElems described, this was a pretty good
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inherent in the kit, I am sure that most of
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that I pushed the kit's envelope by using
aftermarket items and parts not designed
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that the model is a fair representation of
the CARIBOU I, the tank that General Rad
commanded during the action at GauPHVQLO$QGDVD¿QDOWKRXJKW\RXPLJKW
be interested to know that CARIBOU I did
not last long after Gaumesnil. Three days
ODWHURQ$XJXVWWKDW&ODLUH7L]RQ1RUmandy, it fell to the gun of a Panther tank.
REFERENCES
REFERENCES
iInterview with Brigadier General S. V.
Radley-Walters, OMM, DSO, MC, CD,
January 15, 2010.
iTelephone discussion with General
Rad, 19 March, 2010, regarding external
stowage and overall appearance of his
Sherman.
i0DUWHLQVRQ-DQG0F1RUJDQ0The
Royal Canadian Armoured Corps: An
Illustrated History, Robin Brass Studio,
Toronto, 2000.
iMantle, C. L. and Lieutenant Colonel
Zaporzan, L: The Leadership of S. V.
Radley-Walters: Enlistment to D-Day
– Part One, Canadian Military Journal,
9ROXPH1XPEHU
iMantle, C. L. and Lieutenant Colonel
Zaporzan, L: The Leadership of S. V.
Radley-Walters: the Normandy Campaign – Part 2, Canadian Military Journal,
9ROXPH1XPEHU
iBeldam, Barry, Canadian Vehicle
Markings, Volume 1: Unit and Formation Markings of the Canadian Army
Overseas, 1939-1967, Edition 6, privately
SXEOLVKHG.LQJVWRQ21
21
iBeldam, Barry, Canadian Vehicle Mark-
ings Volume 3: Serial Numbers, Names,
Squadron and Miscellaneous Markings of the Canadian Army Overseas,
1939-1967, Edition 4, privately published,
.LQJVWRQ21
iStacey, Colonel C. P., 2I¿FLDO+LVWRU\
of the Canadian Army in World War
Two, Volume III: The Victory Campaign,
4XHHQ
V3ULQWHU&DQDGD2WWDZD21
1967.
iGuthrie, S., The Sherman in Canadian
SPECIAL
THANKS
SPECIAL
Service, Service Publications, Ottawa,
1RYHPEHU
iStarmer, Michael, British Army Co-
ORXUVDQG'LVUXSWLYH&DPRXÀDJHLQWKH
United Kingdom, France and Northwest
Europe, 1936-45, privately published, Piddington, UK, May 2009.
THANKS
Brigadier General S. V. RadleyWalters, OMM, DSO, MC, CD, for his time,
interest and hospitality throughout this
project.
Thank you, General Rad!
BGen (Ret’d) S. V. Radley-Walters
Photos from the IPMS/USA 2010 Nats (cont’d)
Socializing at the hotel: (L to R): Bill Devins,
Randy Lutz, Pablo, and Mark Heyendal.
22
A 1/35 Sherman tank in a very unusual
presentation showing a truly ‘exploded’
view of the vehicle.
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