....i have the 1/35 DML firefly Vc and i was wondering whether they were ever attached the headrow cutters (Cullins device)? i see that some US shermans in normandy have them, but did the British used them as well?

.. many thanks.

Im no expert but i think the British did use hedgerow cutters on there Cromwells in fact one is included in the Tamiya kit .

I did some searching on the internet and apparently there is a pic of a British Sherman with hedgecutters in the Osprey book on the "Shermans in British service". And possibly a pic of a Firefly with the cutters in Mark Haywards book "Firefly"

Maybe one of the resident Sherman experts will be able to cast more light on the subject or maybe even have these books


Ian

Idon't mean to come off like an expert, because I don't know beans about the Firefly, But I would think that the Brits didn't have to deal with as much "hedgerow" country in thier Caan sector, and I don't really recall ever seeing British armor with hedgerow cutters installed.

Steve

I'm with MonkeyGun on this one. I've seen a couple of photos with brit shermie's that had cutters on them. I've also seen a few models with them on. Where I found the pics on the net escapes me but I'll see what I can dig up!

Haywards' Firefly shows a picure of one Firefly (pg93) with a Cullin , tank is a Guards Armoured Brigade " North of Paris" in Beauvaris(sic) August 31, 1944 after the breakout. he states that the picture is included because of the "Unique" nature of a Firefly photographed with a Cullin device. This is doubly logical: firstly the length f the gun means that the turret would need to be facing rearward to avoid jamming into the hedge (less than wise when attacking) and secondly the use of Firefly operationally would make it the least likely in a Squadron to find a Cullin useful. SOP in Normandy was or there to be one Firefly to 4/5 75mm equipped Shermans with the Firefly in the rear position and only to be used when faced with an opponent that required the effectiveness of the 17lb gun.
So yes it happenned but obviously rarely. hope this helps.
tony

thanks for the infos guys. i tried googling 'sherman-firefly-hedgerow' pics but came out nothing....



so there aren't many hedgerows in the Caen sector?




..... hmmm... those are some good reasons, guess they were pretty rare after all... any pics of the firefly with the device? thanks..

Mojimbo! Why not run up a map of France? Caen is in the eastern sector from the beachhead that Monty and his gang lay siege to, whereas the bocage country was to the west and then southerly ie. St. Lo, Marigny etc. Where the US forces were pushing to Brittany. Commonwealth forces were also there around Villers Bocage (They probably wished they weren't
HTH
Cheers
Brad

It did happen, but not that often.

As has been said already, the geography of the British areas of operation was more favourable for tank fighting.

British troops did fight in bocage country, in the area where they met up with US troops, but they found churchill crocodiles and sherman crabs more effective in dealing with hedgerows.