The crew of the M4A2 "Sherman" tank named "La Moscowa", belonging to the 2nd French Armored Division of General Philippe Leclerc. - The young girl probably was asked to pose with them. - Photo was taken between July 31 and November 1, 1944.

Tank named "La Moscowa"

Lt. General Charles de Gaulle, future President of France, reviews a party of Free French boy scouts in camp somewhere in Wales, September, 1940.

While De Gaulle was to become the embodiment of French Resistance, welcomed rapturously back to France during the Liberation, his early days in exile in Britain were difficult, and not just because of his difficult, friend-shedding personality.  He was as yet unknown back in France and, even in Britain, many French exiles were more than reluctant to accept him as leader of a liberation government-in-exile.  Even among French troops evacuated at Dunkirk there was a strong party demanding repatriation to France where, presumably, they envisaged serving the "legitimate" (actually far from legitimate) emerging "État Francais" under Pétain.  In these circumstances, I suppose that even inspecting Free French boy scouts (sons, presumably, of French parents in England who did reject the ÉF and Pétain) was a valuable photo opportunity.  That, of course, would change ... Best regards, JR.

Le General - the early days ...

French S35 medium tank abandoned on the battlefield, France, 1940.  The S35 was, overall, probably the best tank on the battlefield during the 1940 Battle of France.  However, it did have reliability problems and, in a number of respects, was not the easiest tank to repair.  Emergency track repairs were particularly problematic, as the trackbed shields obstructed access.  Hard to say precisely what has happened here - but the tank has certainly detracked on its left-hand side..  The disturbance to the shield may suggest that the crew considered trying to repair it on the spot, but judged the attempt impractical for some reason and abandoned the attempt.

The large gaping hatch on the left side of the S35 was the main point of access and egress.  The driver's observation copula was just that - an observation copula that lacked an opening hatch (a feature common to a number of French tanks of the period.  Apart from the limitations this placed on the commander in the course of evacuating the vehicle, this feature also had the disadvantage that it prevented the commander from operating with "open hatch" in appropriate circumstances.  This greatly reduced his observation capacity, and also meant that he would have had no sense of what was happening outside the tank in terms of sound.  Captured S35s pressed into German service were fitted with replacement German copulas that, of course, had opening hatches.  Best regards, JR.