Hi guys,
I need your help for a diorama.
The subject is the first landing of US troops at Omaha beach on DDay, in particular the 116th regiment- 29th inf. Division.
Now I'm building the tank: a standard M4 Sherman with deep wading trunks of 743th tank bn, wich supported 116th sectors, Dog and Charlie.
The tank belongs to company "A" (co."B" and "C" was equipped with Duplex Drive Sherman).
Now the question: you know the tank name on the hull side begins in the company letter ( "A" in my case), but I can't name my Sherman as I didn't find pictures about that company on DDay!!
Can you help me??
Thanks
Tom

Hi T,

Can't help with the tank name but if you visit

http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk/

You will find a lot of pictures that might help. Just go to photographs, type in D Day, select Black and White and Second World War - Then enjoy.

Al

Thanks Al,
I'going to see them...

Tom

Hello Tommaso:
I just looked at Steve Zaloga's "DDay Tank Warfare" He has some pictures of 741TB, which also landed on Omaha. In other captions, he says that pictures of Omaha are extremely rare. I don't know what that says about the likelihood of finding A co. 743TB pictures....

Thanks Roy,
I know... I also read S.Zaloga's Concord publications ("DDay Tank Warfare", "The Sherman at war", "US Tank battles in France", etc...)
but I hoped that maybe here someone had some more pics or web site links wich could help me.

Tom

Legend has it that almost all the film shot on D-Day at Omaha was put into a dufflebag and given to a colonel who was to take it back to England to be processed. As he was climbing the stairs on the nose of an LCI to make the return trip, a mortar or artillery round exploded nearby and he dropped the bag into the drink. Instead of trying to retrieve it, he decided to continue up the stairs, get off the beach and forget the bag.

LIFE photographer Robert Capa managed to survive with three rolls of film, which almost were also destroyed. Read about it here: http://www.skylighters.org/photos/robertcapa.html

All other photos you see on Omaha were taken on D+1 or later. Only Capa's pics survived (and barely).

Thanks Bob,
but it's not indispensable that photos date back exactly to 6th june 1944.
It would be sufficient to find photos of Co."A" 743Tank Bn. taken in France some days after landing (or in England some days before!).... but It's impossible!


Tom

I agree with Tom, as I am also contemplating building a tank of that company. Company A survived the beach and drove to Germany! Aren't there any pictures? Does anyone know if veterans are still around?

John A.

Gday Tommaso
Are you sure of your facts? I have a book stating that it was Co. 'C' 743d TB that had the deep wading Shermans, with 'A' and 'B' having all M4A1 DDs...
I can get you a pic posted of a 'C' company M4 on Dog White section of Omaha on the eve of the 6th... Appears to have lost a track, and already have most of its' deep wading gear removed...
Cheers
Brad
EDIT: Tommaso, I just re read one of your replies, and now know that you have "Tank battles in France"... Middle of P.6 on the left... "Ceaseless"... Either Zaloga is wrong in his captioning, or else you need to pursue A and B Co. for M4A1s with removed DD setup...

Brad,

I haven't seen "Tank Battles in France," but if you are basing your question on one caption of one photo in one book, you might want to rethink it.

According to Joseph Balkosi in "Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, 1944," the DD companies were B and C in both the 741st and 743rd. One of his chapters documents the recollections of the officers who made the decisions whether to launch those tanks at sea or on the beach. His presentation is in complete agreement with Jonathan Gawne's "Spearheading D-Day" (which, by the way, shows one of these wading tanks stuck in the sand somewhere on Omaha but you can't make out the name), not to mention Stephen Ambrose's "D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II."

Tom's on the right track...

John A.

Forgive me John if I came across all hoity toity as I can assure you it was not my intention...
My statement yes, was based on one pic and caption, but the pic alone displays the tank ID 'C-13' on the right of what would be the remains of the rear wading stack... The tank is not a DD M4, so we have a C company M4 with deep wading trunks in the pic so the only discrepency that I can see would be that it maybe isn't from 743rd TB??? ...
I'll include the accompanying text~
The Dog White section of Omaha Beach is littered with shattered vehicles and craft at low tide on the evening of D-Day, 6 June 1944. The M4 tank, C-13 "Ceaseless" is from Co. C., 743rd Tank Battalion and was disabled on the beach after losing a track. The other two companies of tanks from this battalion were M4A1 Duplex Drive amphibious tanks.
Maybe Steven Zaloga is in error with his TBs!!
Cheers John, and I hope you find your info, as this also would be of interest to me to model a Sherman from a D-Day TB...
Brad
EDIT::: John, I have perused further info and there is mixed reports about which 2 of either Able, Baker or Charlie companies were the DD M4s... The pic is my only 'visual' evidence, I guess...


there is no additional plate on the rear idler which would identify it as a DD... (I think this was to prevent throwing a track) Pure speculation, but maybe the crumpled rear would be where another vehicle has tried to push it clear of soft sand? {Did they have Barvs or 'dozers?} HTH

Hi, guys!

Well, Brad, I too could read an actually-non-existent attitude into my earlier reply. Apologies! Although I am still inclined to believe that the plan called for C Company to be outfitted as DDs. Of course, if that was the plan, it must clearly have happened that way in every instance, right?

But the picture can't be dismissed so easily. If the only clue in it had been a nickname like... well, "Clueless!" for example, one might say that maybe it was a Headquarters tank (truly an ill-advised name choice!), or maybe it was really a Utah unit (sorry, Utah guys - my own research on the other beaches is even less comprehensive). Maybe, too, this was a follow-on tank unit not scheduled to land in the first wave. The caption does say it was evening. But it is definitely a C Company tank, and it's definitely not a DD.

In the print version, can anyone make out anything on the tank in the background? And does anyone know what the function was of the two plates welded on the sides? I've been wondering about that.

John A.

hehe no worries John...
The welded plates are what is referred to as applique armour, and was found on 75mm 'dry' Shermans as extra 1" protection for the 3 sponson ammunition stowage bins.... The 'dry' refers to the initial method of storing the ammunition (later Shermans had 'wet' stowage which stored the ammunition in a special liquid which quelled internal ammunition fires) there is another on the left side of the hull... At the same time extra armour was welded to the front right of the turret next to the mantlet, where the internal thickness was less due part of the guin mechanism needing to clear the turret internally...
Also over the driver and machinegunners boxes plates were welded for extra protection...
As for details on the distant tank in the original print pic, I can't make out anything... Even CSI:Miami would struggle...
Cheers
Brad