Barracuda, the Bastogne Sherman Tank

[Jeeper704]

I just found out that part of the story was placed elsewhere here.

Sorry for putting it in double.

 

As far as I know, now you are able to climb into the tank too.

Everything has been taken out of it, so it is now an empty shell.

I don't know if this is true, but I'll go check soon.

 

Erwin

[Reg from the Bulge]

I just found out that part of the story was placed elsewhere here.

Sorry for putting it in double.

 

As far as I know, now you are able to climb into the tank too.

Everything has been taken out of it, so it is now an empty shell.

I don't know if this is true, but I'll go check soon.

 

Erwin

 

 

Erwin ,

 

I've been there yesterday and found no way to get into the tank . You can peep inside the tank through the shell hole on the left flank .

Maybe they'll open the turret later this year ? Don't know about that .

 

Reg

[Jeeper704]

Lennon,

 

Thanks for checking this out.

I only heard a rumor that it would be possible to enter the tank.

But I had my reservations with this as they - tourists and youngsters - might use the tank as a public garbage can (if you look into a barrel of one of the canons or look inside a bunker in the Ardennes, you'll know what I am talking about ).

 

Btw, I noticed that that tank got knocked out the same day Sgt. Homan K Jackson got KIA.

He was with the 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion - 4th Armored Division.

He probably was killed when an assault of the 4th Armored to widen the Bastogne corridor collided with an assault of elements of the infamous 1st SS Panzerdivision on December 30, 1944.

I adopted his grave which is at the Henri-Chapelle Cemetery, Belgium.

 

Erwin

[rennog]

As some of you might know , Martin ? The Tank on McAuliffe's Square has been put back in it's place after a full facelift .

Well I didn't knew that thx for the info, and thx for those nice photos it realy looks like just out of the factory.

Thx Jeeper704 for the background info on the tank I did not knew that as well

 

I added a pic from march 2004 from the tank

[Walt's Daughter]

As you can see, I combined the two great individual posts into one.

[rennog]

I got this picture by email this morning, unfortunately it's in french but it's about the tank maybe one of our fellows members with a better english then mine could translate the whole story.

Martin

[Jeeper704]

Translation of the article:

(hopefully, my knowledge of French is good enough not to make big errors)

 

History of the Sherman of Bastogne

 

This tank, named "Barracuda" was part of the US 11th Armored Division; it was hit by a German shell on December 30, 1944 in the Bastogne area.

 

It was removed from the battlefield, restored and placed on a base (pedestal?) at McAuliffe Square (famous for his "NUTS" reply to the Germans asking for the surrender of the encircled city).

 

After several years, the tank needed some serious (face)lifting; for that, the Army removed it from its base to transport it to the Rocourt Arsenal (Liège).

 

It was returned to us on MAy 23, 2007, rejuvenated, restored to take its place on a new base, next to the statue of the General mentioned previously here and at the foot of the "Freedom Route" marker.

 

On this occasion, the group "COBRA" (The Bastogne Remember Americans Group) and the city of Bastogne organise an exposition with the unique thme "the Sherman in all its ways" (paintings, models, pictures, children's drawings, etc).

 

Monique, my wife (well, not mine, the wife of the one writing this article, haha - Erwin) - artist/painter - painted a work you see here below which had some success.

 

Explanation: the young woman on top of the tank expresses the joy of the population for the return of "their" tank.

Why is the tank being pulled by the wild boars? Because, for our province (Luxembourg) the wild boar represents the strength, its motto "une ardeur d'avance" (sorry, don't know the right English for this one - Erwin) which is not a sentence in written in vain.

And besides ...... this tank has no engine!!!

 

So here is the humor in this painting.

 

Hope it is understandable.

 

Erwin

[Walt's Daughter]

Sounds good to me!

[Jeeper704]

Thanks, Marion, so ............ can I go back to being a Sergeant now?

 

Erwin

[Walt's Daughter]

I do love the boar pulling the tank. In fact we have a wild boar's head on our wall in our store. A gentleman in the area put it there a few years ago. I have to admit it's kind of strange having it on the wall but it sure does inspire conversation. Oh I digress, Sargeant Erwin...