- VonForhud

Here is the letter from the Danish soldier who rediscovered the 10.5 cm leFH 18(Sf) auf Geschützwagen Lorraine Schlepper in Irag.

Oddly there are not many days since I last thought about it when I saw my picture on a foreign armor forum

Yes it is me who took the picture back in 2005. It stood as a monument at the entrance to a bombed tanks or ordnance factory north of Basrah, not far from the remnants of a Saddam memorial. I was well aware that it was a rarity that stood there. I contacted the Bovington Tank Museum, Panzer Museum in Munster and armor museum in Samur. Bovington and Munster knew about it, Samur I never heard from.

Some weeks after I was up at it again, I saw to my horror that the side armor was removed. In 2005 there was a lot of wrecks around the landscape, vehicles from 3 wars, so there was plenty to look at. At that time also began to cut up these wrecks. Whether it was a start scrapping or on a local Arabs had taken sides with a roof or like I do not know.
I have asked several who have been there in recent teams, no one can remember it. It also became a "rogue area" (Full of insurgents) so it was not a place you just drive straight up to.

How it ended up in Iraq, yes it is a good question. I talked a lot with Ole Drostrup (of www.drostrup.com)about it. And our best guess is that it may have come with the little arms through the Germans did to Iraqis in 1941. Or from Syria? they had several former German armored vehicles in service after the war, the Panzer IV, StuG III, etc.. Perhaps as a gift from Egypt? The British had influence and bases in Iraq for sometime in the 1950s. Maybe they dragged it from North Africa? Conquest from the war with Iran? Yes, theories are many.

It is my best guess.


Very interesting that this issue is raised again. Hope indeed that it had been rescued.

--- Does anyone have any info about the Lorraine in Basrah?--