I am working on a Mark IV female and i am close to attaching the unditching beam to the back of the vehicle. Following the instructions i should fasten the beam by the chains and the pe-parts (for fastening it to the tracks) on the rail. But was that the way it was stored at the back in reality? When i look at pictures i can see different sizes of chaines at the back and sometimes i think i see rope or cable around the unditching beam. Who can explain how the unditcing beam was stored on the back, so when not in use and not attached to the tracks?
Thanks in advance,
best regards from Holland,
Willem
-- Edited by Willem Visser on Tuesday 19th of April 2016 08:16:49 PM
this picture. Is there a small chain attached to the two metal L-beams and wrapped around the unditching beam to hold it in place? I don't think the heavy chains alone will not hold the wooden beam in rough terrain.
The small chain holds the beam in place. Here, the dangling hook was to hold the small chain in place. Other tanks had just a strand of wire instead of a hook. And B Battalion at Cambrai used a different method altogether (see B28). But for most tanks, the small chain method seems to have been pretty standard. The big chains have no business in holding the beam in place.
