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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Cambrai Tank Museum.


nikp

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Just a quick reply.

 

I will tell you more when I get to grips with John's book.

Certainly the 4 crew mentioned in post #22 of this thread ,

were recovered from square 18D.

Which is where Deborah came to rest. ( more or less where the "F" of Flesquiries is printed )

 

 

2131345457_18D.jpg.ddc97a409364daef2640a2213673c052.jpg

 

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Pleased to know that I am not the only one who misses some form of description on the exhibits. We are not all experts but for the very uninitiated it would be a bonus. Nonetheless a fantastic memorial to the tank and its crew. Well done.

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I see that in a few months time things have changed. For the worse. When I saw the display of artifacts a couple of monhs ago I was wondering how long it would take for everything to be nicked. Visited this weekend and saw that the whole display was dismantled…..

 

 

 

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On ‎02‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 12:46, andrew pugh said:

Good Morning

Were all of the crew of Deborah killed when the tank was hit?

Regards

Andy

No.

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Hi Martin, you replied before I had a chance! Yes, the second location is the corrrect one - though they obviously came in from the opposite direction to that shown by the yellow line.

 

This is Deborah in roughly the same spot when she was being moved to the museum last July.

 

I hope you enjoy the book - there's plenty in it for anyone with an interest in the German army.

 

All the best, John

DSC_2330.JPG

Edited by johntaylor
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Hi Andy, the simple answer to your question is no - all the records show that four crewmen were killed when Deborah was knocked out, and they are now buried together in Flesquières Hill British Cemetery.  The commander 2nd Lieut Frank Heap survived and made his way to safety to with a number of crew - when we began researching we presumed that three men escaped with him to safety, since Mark IVs had an eight-man crew.

 

However when we traced the family of one of the dead crewmen, Lance-Corporal George Foot, his family still had the letter of condolence from Frank Heap in which he says "four more of my crew have also gone" [i.e. in addition to George].  This means that one more crewman was also killed, but we haven't been able to find out who this was, or when or why it happened.

 

Marco, thanks for the heads-up and hopefully you can get busy with your screwdriver and put everything back together again.  I'm sure no-one will notice.

 

John

Edited by johntaylor
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On 04/09/2018 at 10:02, johntaylor said:

same spot

 

Great Photograph John.

 

that should be up on the wall too!!

To be fair everything in the museum is just fine. 

 

 

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On ‎02‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 12:46, andrew pugh said:

Good Morning

Were all of the crew of Deborah killed when the tank was hit?

Regards

Andy

 

Andy, check out this page: http://tank-cambrai.com/english/tank/men.php

good question though!!

 

M.

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The webpage is based on our research but unfortunately hasn't been updated recently.  As stated in my previous posting, we now know that Gunner Walter Robinson was actually in the crew of D47 Demon - we were able to confirm this because his family in the USA still had the letter of condolence from his tank commander, 2nd Lieut James Vose.  Therefore the identity of the 'fifth man' remains a mystery.

 

John

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I know this is most tenuous and absolutly nothing to do with Cambrai BUT the replica is likely to be at the potteries museum in Stoke-On-Trent.

on 15th September 2018.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Martin Feledziak
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  • 5 months later...

Thanks for the information about the graves. 

 

I'm visiting the museum in May as part of a Leger Tour, and very much looking forward to it. I'll make a point of going next door to pay my respects as well.  

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  • 2 months later...

I made my visit last Sunday as promised, and what an excellent time it was!

 

The first view of "Deborah" as you go into the museum itself took my breath away and was a genuine "Wow" moment! This was followed by ground level views, which were also very impressive. Whilst writing this note, I've looked at my photos, and they are just as impressive a week later. As far as I can see, the artifacts have now been labelled; they're certainly not in the format that they were as per the early photos. 

 

We then went next door to the Cemetery to pay our respects to the crew members which again was quite emotional. All in all, it was a very good visit, and as it was the main reason why I went on the trip, I'm glad that I went. Both places are well worth a visit.

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