14-017 Garand Picture of the Day

[Snafu]

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[CINDERS]

The um Medic is in a rather precarious position if the tank sprag's in his direction (Crane ops term for turning a tracked crane) only a guess what they are dodging perhaps either arty/mortar or sniper as the 2 soldiers at the rear of the tank seem indifferent to what's going on but as we were never there who knows hope they were all ok.

[Bill Hollinger]

And, not sure but the camera man appears to be hanging out in the wind.

[RT Ellis]

Intriguing image that can be interpreted in several ways. I have to say that I don't read "Sniper" into this but that is a possibility.

The "Tank" isn't a tank; it's a tank destroyer other than an M18, probably an M10, which appears to be "buttoned up" at least there's no sign of the crew. Doesn't appear to me the TD is moving. I'm sure that to a line infantry soldier in an urben combat environment anything that carried a gun larger than .30 caliber was welcomed.

I used to work with a man that was a parachutist with the 517th PIR and he described how he would hang buckets of grenades on the back of a tank, and as they moved down the street throw grenades into every building.

Everyone that wore the Geneva cross wasn't a Medic; stretcher bearers also wore the helmet and sometimes the arm band.

The soldier at right with back to camera appears to be carrying the collapsible canteen 1-quart, apparently hooked to the adjusting strap of his cartridge belt, or some other similar sized pouch.

[Thumper]

Something looks ominous in the window to the right?

[CINDERS]

I thought TD's M 10's were open topped and could not be buttoned up? either way something nasty is happening and a Red cross is not an insurance policy that you won't get sniped and Arty and Mortars and land mines do not give a toss who you are......

[Bill Hollinger]

That is an M10 TD.

[RT Ellis]

When I mentioned "Buttoned up" I was referring to the driver and radio operator hull hatches. All American versions of the tank destroyers - M10, M18 and M36 had open top gun shields.

[WarPig1976]

It's an M10 but the mantlet is wrong for an M10. Neat photo...

[RT Ellis]

From what I can get out of my references this is probably a Motor Gun Carriage M36B2, a varient of the M36 built on an M10 hull, with 90mm gun that in this example is missing the muzzle blast deflector. With all the crew stowage assembled to the exterior of the gun shield it's hard to tell the exact model, but is most likely an M36B2.