Replicating a photograph: the liberation of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, part 1

‘s-Hertogenbosch (colloquially Den Bosch), located in the south of the Netherlands, owes its freedom to the Welsh. The town saw six days of heavy shelling and fighting before it was finally liberated on 27 October 1944 by men wearing the red crown insignia of the 53rd Welsh Division.

Den Bosch was defended by the German 712. Infanterie-Division, which consisted of two battalions of the 732. Grenadier Regiment, one of the 745. Grenadier Regiment, three training battalions of paratroopers and Feldersatz Bataillone 347. The defending army had no tanks, but did have 30 guns including several StuG III tracked anti-tank guns.

The liberating 53rd Welsh Division was supported by Sherman and Sherman Firefly tanks of the East Riding Yeomanry (33rd Armoured Brigade), Cromwell tanks of the 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards (7th Armoured Division), Churchill Crocodile flamethrower tanks of 141st Royal Armoured Corps and Sherman Crab mine-clearing tanks of the Westminster Dragoons (both 79th Armoured Division), and M10 Wolverine tank destroyers of the Royal Artillery. 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Squadron also provided Ram Kangaroo armoured personnel carriers.

Arguably the best-known photograph of the liberation of ‘s-Hertogenbosch is this picture one of a father running past a Sherman tank with his two children under his arm. The tank is parked next to a petrol station which used to be located on the Willemsplein (Heetmanplein). Its walls are covered in bullet- and shrapnel holes and not a single window remains intact.

A picture I found on Pinterest shows the same petrol station in the 1950’s or ‘60’s. It is no longer there now, however.

I thought it would be a nice tribute, as well as a fun challenge to replicate the tank in the picture and perhaps also build a diorama for it. Starting with the unit the Sherman belonged to, the insignia of a green triangle above a black triangle on the left side of the vehicle belongs to the 33rd Armoured Brigade. The vehicle therefore belonged to the East Riding Yeomanry, which formed part of that brigade.

Next up was figuring out what type of Sherman it is. The backplate shaped like an inverted U is only found on the British Sherman I and II (M4 and M4A1 in American terminology). I thus picked up a 1:35 scale kit of an American M4 Sherman by Tamiya and figured I would customise it to represent the British vehicle.

The tank in the picture is not a regular Sherman with 75mm gun, however, but one fitted with a 17 pounder gun. This is clear from the gun crutch/gun travel lock on top of the engine compartment (to the left, underneath the number 3 on the turret bustle). The gun travel lock is used to fix the gun in place, so it doesn’t move around during transport. On regular Shermans it is located centrally on the front of the tank. Due to the increased length of the 17pdr gun, however, the Sherman Firefly was transported with the turret reversed and the gun pointing to the rear left. The gun travel lock was therefore moved to the rear left of the vehicle, as in this picture. The pictured Sherman is therefore a Sherman Ic Firefly. Doh!

Other telltale signs that this is a Firefly are a smoke generator and two mounts for a leaf spring that held the towing pintle in front of the back engine doors. Finally, there is the extended turret bustle, although this would be much easier to see on a side-view. To fit the much bigger 17pdr gun into the Sherman turret the radio had to be removed. A rectangular armoured bustle was therefore welded to the back of the turret to house the radio, which could be accessed through a large hole cut through the turret wall. (FYI, the Sherman Minutia Website and the Sherman Tank Site both contain a lot of info on all the tiny differences between the dozens and dozens of Sherman variants).

Instead of buying a second kit, this time of the Sherman Ic Firefly, I decided to purchase a conversion kit by Verlinden Productions. It includes a new resin turret, as well as some smaller details like the gun travel lock and an armoured plate that was used to cover up the bow machine gun. If I had figured all of this out before buying the Tamiya kit, I probably would have tried to find the rarer kit made by Dragon, which represents a Sherman Ic of hybrid cast-welded construction. I actually like the look of the all-welded Tamiya kit better, though, so in the end I may have accidentally stumbled upon the better, although a bit more expensive approach of building the Tamiya M4 Sherman with the Verlinden Firefly turret.

That’s it for now. I promise the next update will be less text and more pictures!