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79th Arm. Div, 1st Army Tank Brigade

Discussion in 'Information Requests' started by Clausewitz, Jul 24, 2004.

  1. Clausewitz

    Clausewitz Member

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    This is realy a basic question [​IMG]

    I have searched, but was unable to find wich veicules this unit had in June 1944.

    All I got was a reference to a "CDL", but I don't know what it is.

    Could someone help please.

    Thanks in advance

    Best regards
    Clausewitz
     
    Clausewitz, Jul 24, 2004
    #1
  2. m kenny

    m kenny Member

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    CDL= Canal Defence Light. A cover word for a large searchlight mounted on a tank (Grant in this case)These were intended to blind the enemy whilst your own troops advanced in the shadows.
     
    m kenny, Jul 24, 2004
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  3. TheRedBaron

    TheRedBaron Ace

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    Sure we have covered this before but...

    From Bovington...

    "Canal Defence Light, or CDL, was one of the best-kept secrets of the Second World War but like all secrets it spawned innumerable legends, many of which are with us today. And the trouble with legends is that they won't go away, indeed if they hang around long enough they become accepted facts.

    Even so the purpose of this piece is not to demolish legends but to look at another unfortunate result of excessive secrecy; unfortunate at least to historians. By an odd quirk of fate the only CDL tank to survive is a Matilda which is displayed in the Tank Museum. Yet if one were to rely on surviving records - & particularly photographs - for evidence, the existence of the Matilda CDL would be doubtful. The attached drawing, from an official (and highly secret) report and despite the fact that the artist got the proportions all wrong, is virtually all the visual evidence that there is.

    [​IMG]

    The best known CDL tank, the type used operationally in Europe and India, was the Grant. Plenty of photographs have survived but not an example of the real tank.

    Most mysterious of all, however, is the Churchill CDL. Surviving documentary evidence is limited to a stowage diagram and a chapter in Douglas Sutherland's book Sutherland's War (Leo Cooper 1983). Sutherland served as a tank commander in 152 Regiment RAC and the book includes a sketch of a Churchill CDL inadvertently illuminating the Prime Minister at an awkward moment."

    [​IMG]
     
    TheRedBaron, Jul 24, 2004
    #3
  4. Clausewitz

    Clausewitz Member

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    Gee!...

    What a waste of tank hulls! :D

    Thanks a lot!

    Best Regards,
    Clausewitz
     
    Clausewitz, Jul 24, 2004
    #4

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