The M22 Locust
of the Royal Army Museum has been restored by the volunteers of the depot
Vissenaken. After 4 years of hard labour, the M22 is today one of the
many driving tanks in the vast collection of the Armymuseum. In this section,
you'll learn more about the history of 'our' specimen.
Of course, we never can be a 100% sure about where it came from and what happened to it until now. But we'll try to reconstruct the most likely version.
We can be
pretty sure that it is one of the 260 lend-lease Locusts, delivered to
the British Army. We deduct this simply from the fact that it found its
way to Europe. Because of its presence on the continent, it could be possible
that it served with the Airborne troops from operation 'Varsity' (see
history), but that's pure guesswork...
Other
Locusts stayed in the States for training purposes and never saw combat.
After
war.
There has been going on a lively discussion in our printed magazine
'Tank
Museum News' about the Locust. Here we'll share some findings
with you:
"Three Locusts had been used by the Belgian Army from 1947 - 1948
on. One source states that it had been bought by the Vanlo Enterprises
from Antwerp, at the same time as the Shermans. Another oral source said
that they arrived by train from the British zone at the same time as the
Stuarts M5A1.
One written statement from the 2nd lancers mentions '3 light liaison-battletanks',
equipped with a 37 mm gun. The statement had been changed in june 1949
and reports then 3 tanks 'code 320' and six reconnaissance tanks with
37 mm gun. By a lack of other evidence, we suppose that the 2nd lancers
(at least on paper) had 6 Stuart and 3 Locust tanks."
"In
fact, the specimen of the Royal Army Museum (RAM) seems to have been used
as commando vehicle by the 3d lancers, as tell us testimonies of former
mechanics who recognized the vehicle by a bent bogie brace (I suppose
that it had been fixed during the first restoration - see pics lower).
It is probable that the 3d lancers for this purpose removed the
37 mm gun to make room for map holders in the turret, as for the installation
of a WS38 and WS19-radio."
Pictures: first restoration
in the 80's. Note the missing of the 37 mm gun and, if you take a sharp
look, on the left picture, the bent bogie brace.
First
restoration.
Also from the Tank Museum News: "According to the documents of the
RAM, the Locust had the number V58802 and came from the Park in Ans, and
had been donated to the RAM in the sixties. It was exhibited in the big
hall where today is the Air Museum (see pic).
When the planes arrived, the tanks (Churchill, Sexton, Locust) were put in the corners, others (Stuart, Humber LRC) in the triangle courtyard. The Locust was one of the first vehicles that had been put in the square courtyard, that is today the exhibition place for the tanks. The first volunteers restored the tank, installed again a 37mm gun and put it in the colours of the British 6th airborne."
Glorious
museum years.
After its first restoration, our Locust served already as a mobile collection
piece, which means that it could be used for 'sorties'. Those sorties
can be: war remembrance events, national holiday, tank meetings, museum
events, and so on. This makes it possible for the Army Museum to actually
go directly to the people, let's say a 'mobile museum'. I think it is
a great PR-machine for the Army Museum.
Pictures: sortie to Hélécine,
probably in the mid-eighties. The beautifully restored M22 attracts the
attention of an RTBF-televisioncrew.
Pictures: the M22 with airborne-crew
in the 'Parc du Cinquantentaire', where the Army Museum is situated, probably
at the occasion of a national holiday or a monument day.
I don't know
exactly why, but after a certain time there were some mechanical problems.
The Locust stayed for many years in the square courtyard of the museum.
The poor conditions in the square courtyard, meaning exposure to wind, rain and cold, made a thorough restoration imminent, and at end 2002, the museum decided to take it to the depot Vissenaken. By dismantling the vehicle to the smallest bolt, cleaning it and and stripping paint, new findings on our M22's history appeared:
German
markings.
To our big surpise, we discovered during paint stripping German markings
on the turrets outside hull. Quickly, they appeared to be a swastika (left
side) and a 'Balkenkreuz' (right side). The white paint wasn't visible
anymore, but its high degree of acidity left traces in the armour. As
you can imagine, we were quite amazed to find German markings on this
rare American tank.
The swastika
had been applied freely by hand, which we can deduct by its beams that
are not straightlined. This is in contrast with the Balkenkreuz, which
had clearly been applied with a stencil plate. Remnants of black paint
indicate that the center of the cross was black.
Picture: Example of a Balkenkreuz on a white background.
By its numbers,
we knew that the turret
was not the original one that came with the chassis. There could be a
simple and logical explanation, which is that the original was replaced
because of severe damage, but we can't be 100 % sure about that.
What we can be more sure of is that it had been in battle, or at least
submitted to small arms fire. We can see that by the multiple impacts
and scratches on the turret, due to automatic weapons or small caliber
gun fire. Some volunteers tried to find an answer by research in literature
and by asking the 'Pegasus bridge Museum' in France and the 6th Airborne
Division. Until now, it delivered us no valuable answer.
We have some theories about the turret and its markings:
1. During operation Varsity, the M22 had been captured by the Germans and used against its former owners. BUT the Balkenkreuz is applied too careful, which is not likely in those last days of the war. Moreover, pictures of other captured vehicles show mostly handpainted crosses, and almost never swastika's (only flags on top for air identification)!!!
The pictures show a captured T 34 with a swastika (probably
a flag) as air identification. The captured Firefly
has Balkenkreuz markings, but they seem not to have been applied with
a stencil plate.
2. More likely
is that the M22 had been used for training purposes, either in the U.S.
or in Great Britain (see M22 history). The Tank Museum News even states:
"During regimental exercices at the Belgian 3d lancers, the vehicle
had been used as 'enemy'." The Balkenkreuz had been applied by the
Belgian Army to make it look 'German'."
If it served during exercices as enemy vehicle, this would explain the
German markings. On the other side, it is dubious that the Balkenkreuz
was applied with so much care, and the swastika not ... but it is very
much possible that it is a 'fantasy'-marking of the M22-crew.
3. A third explanation is that the M22 was used at the end or after the war as a target for small arms practise, and that the markings had been applied for aiming. It surely would explain the impacts and scratches..
In my opinion, the second option is the most plausible. If you have more information or theories on this subject, please contact us.