I received a direct email from a US citizen ( and former USAF veteran) who was born in Germany and was there as a child during the war. I have invited him to join this board...I hope he will.
Until then...here are his emails.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hi,
I am a survivor of the last days of WWII in Germany but on the "losing" side. I was eleven years old when it all ended. I ultimately came to the US, served four years USAF, am married to a former Air Force nurse and this is my country. There are many pictures still in the back of my mind and with progressive age I reflect more and more on them.
One of those pictures is a convoy of US army trucks (Maybe Red Ball Express???) that included CCKWs, DUKW's and tractor trailers, all loaded with all kinds of things including Jerry cans. Just for fun I have been searching for descriptions, designations etc. for many of these vehicles but cannot find anything on the tractor trailers that looked very much like the AFKWX. Of course, these vehicles did not have a bed, just a fifth wheel. The trailers were mostly wooden stake bodies.
Can you help and give me some leads?
One of the fascinating things that I suspect also is that the early CCKW engines did not have an oil pump but relied on the old "Splash Sytem" as used in the Chevrolet engines around the late 40's.
Many thanks, Alex in Lexington, KY
I believed that Alex was referring to 4-5 ton tractors, either the Autocar family or the IH family (M542). I sent him pictures of both from my files. Here was his response.
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Hello Bill,
Thanks for the come-back. Yes, those were the monsters that rolled past us in 1945. I will think about the message board.
Here is a little story. In May 1945 we were occupied in the house we lived with other families in Bavaria. We had two hours to get out. We got a place to sleep and eat with another family in a small house that the GIs did not want. Well we kids found much attraction in the Jeeps and weapons carriers that ground up our lawns around the house. The troops were from the 3rd Army Division (we did not know that then) but in general it was a motley crew. Many different uniform combinations and attitudes. One Jeep had "Indian Fighter" stenciled under the windshield and was driven by fierce looking Navajo or Apache for their officer, a captain. He had on the back fender box a card box with candy. Whenever he was around he handed out this candy. I was told by an aunt not to take any because it was poisoned. I believed that until I saw that my buddies were still alive and from them I also found out that the candy was actually German military stuff that he must have found somwhere and gave to us. So much for odd things that one hears during wartime. Take care and have fun.