One thing I can't understand, and thats doing a 'shakedown' run just around the block, cos you just KNOW that when it comes to going somewhere REALLY important, something will fall off, or go belly up. So as the Kent Branch BSA lot were having their yearly ride to Dungeness, I thought I'd take my nice freshly restored Canadian WM20. The 100 mile return ride found a couple of things, the charging system isn't, the gearbox oil seems to be leaking out, somewhere at the back of the primary chaincase..?

And the clutch slips..! BUT, what a brilliant ride it was today, the Sun was out, and it was even very nearly warm, I seem to have the timing spot on too, which makes a nice change, I usually melt pistons..

Anyway, Baza57 was on his War machine, so here's a photo of em both...



The bike took me up to 55mph at one point, but it took a while, down to that slipping clutch, just need to get the panniers fitted now, and I'm ready for anything..

Nice day out. Tell me more about the "Canadian" angle- What unit, history? Why you chose to do it as Canadian?
Cheers, Vincent in Canada.

Why Canadian..? Why NOT..! They were with us at the start of the fun, them Yanks never showed up till later, I like being different, and I drive past Vimy Ridge each and every day of me working life...

And as them lot say, No Doot aboot it, I LOVE Canada, the Larch, the Red Wood, the Mighty Scots Pine..

I particularly like the burned-out Ju 88 on the beach behind.

...It's a good job that it was a BSA Club run or you'd never have been able to keep up on a side-valve with a slipping clutch

More Canadian troops at D-day than the septics.

More casualties pro rata population than the rest.

It just some made more fuss than others.

won't mention Dieppe.


On D-Day, there were 6,939, combatant vessels of all kinds. 79% of these were British/Canadian...16.5% were U.S. and 4.5% others....of the 135,000 who landed on the beach 75,285 were British/Canadian and 57,5000 were U.S. There were 3000 casualties on Omaha killed and injured...200 on Utah ( they landed on the wrong beach). Gold, 400....Juno 1000...Sword...630..... Of the Airbourne forces, 4,800 were British (60% participated in the fighting) ...13,000 were US (20% participated in the fighting).....???

It's a good job that it was a BSA Club run or you'd never have been able to keep up on a side-valve with a slipping clutch

Rik I think you will find they were held back by a Norton

I really don't like this..'There were more of us than them' line..and more particularly, comparing the levels of loss as if that might indicate differing degrees of commitment...That is in very bad taste in my opinion....

D Day was a joint effort by many nations with a common objective and they all did what they could...Poles, Czechs, Dutch, French, Canadians, Americans, British etc. etc. all participated and 'did their bit'..

With Rememberance Day coming up perhaps it might better to consider, recognise and reflect on the fact that everyone who was unfortunate enough to die for the liberation of Europe ultimately made exactly the same sacrifice, whatever their country of origin and in whatever numbers they participated....

My family lost someone KIA on D day and his death was neither more or less worthy than all the others, but equally to be regretted...Ian

Well said, Ian.

email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com

Well said Ian lad, let us also remember the Germans and their helpers, they too were only lads doing their bit for an idiot. And let's not have any more stupid waste of life wars...

Instead let em ride a bike with no suspension around the pot holes of Kent, a good few hours of that, and no bugger will want to fight..

No slight was intended on any participant, on either side.
I am glad Iwas not any one of them.

My grievance is with those that would distort history by shouting a bit louder than the rest.
There are children that believe only the USA took part in the landings, that
everything German was Nazi in both wars; or that Churchill was American.

So much disinformation from many sources.

As keepers of a tiny bit of that historical record those with an active interest in the period should ensure that accurate record of events is as important as what contract number goes on what bike.

History is being manipulated for ill intent, not just past history but the history we are making as we live.
By who, for why, and for what reasons are not for here I know.

Just my 2 penny worth.
I too have family members still in Tobruk, in The Hochwald forest somewhere, the latter just a few weeks into active sevice.


My 8th Army father, of the Die Hards, Alamein to Italy and Palestine, in the thick of it all the way, was, like many 8th army men I have spoken to, none too complimentary about some of his "allies",

'Lest we forget' is as true as 'lest we not remember '


"lets not have any more stupid waste of life wars"

no one will argue with that except we and our "allies "have been at war somewhere in the world ever since.

On a lighter note - can someone tell me what is the significance of the red oil tank caps on the bikes pictured, as I've not seen it before?
Scorp.

email (option): wm20@scorpionvideo.net

Is there any evidence of that? Red was normally a warning for something. Like the nuts on a split rim to stop a squadie undoing them instead of wheel nuts. Mostly post war I think. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

I always thought the red paint was postwar BS

As for making it easy for riders to check levels, have you not come across the army Daily Task system for motorcyclists?

In post-war British Army usage, filler caps were coloured red for petrol and yellow for diesel. I've seen no evidence of this practice on motorcycles during '39-'45. A red oil cap is likely to give rise to fuel in the oil.

It's also hard to pin down any of the declining number of wartime servicemen to recall that the nuts on split rims were red painted during wartime.

Much post-war practice when applied to wartime vehicles has distorted the historical record. It's really rare in period images to see a motorcycle marked with 'TP' on the mudguards, and the 'OMD' oil grade markings don't seem to have been the normal practice either.

The 1950s of course saw tens of thousands of under-utilised National Servicemen. The philosophy was "If it moves, salute it...If it doesn't move, paint it !"

probabley was post war as my bike was used by the army up till it was sold off in 1961....who cares thou, I,ve even got a siren fitted for a laugh

Kent, I'm proud to be a Canadian and honoured that you have chosen to do a Canadian M20. Of course you forgot to mention the MAPLE tree, our national symbol and the Maple leaf that was central on the Canadian Army insignias. Here's the 1st Canadian insignia that's going on my tank.



What did you put on the other side of your tank?

Vincent lad, COURSE I never forgot the Maple leaf, BLIMEY..! I've got TWO on the bike, the first one is on the tank, and here's a photo of it as the paint was still drying. BUT, due to one of them 'Rivet' counters telling me it was the *Wrong* year for that bike, I had another one done, and it's on the tool box...





And at the 'Risk' of upsetting even more people, I've done this bike as a tribute to ALL the Canadian men and women in ALL theaters of war, from the early days, to this very day. It seems to ME, that a lot of people have forgotten the lads and lasses from Canada, it's all American or British. So I thought I'd be different, cos that's the kind of guy I am..

It's like the idiots I work with, they moan about all the Polish people we've got in our company, taking all the jobs..? I ALWAYS point out that during the war, they fought bloody hard for us, in their Spitfires, we've got to teach these people it wasn't just Tommy Attkins, and GI Joe, Johnny Canuck did his bit as well..

Me too, I'm not a rivet-counter, I only want my bike to be more or less correct for May 1945 when I saw the 49th West Riding Division enter my home town of Amsterdam. I still remember the Polar Bears on some of their vehicles, so I painted them on both sides of the petrol tank.



But I would like to add that Maple Leaf too on the other side, and now I have to find a sticker or transfer here in the Netherlands.
Next year in Normandy I won't be there on my bike; too old unfortunately, but the WDM20 will at the disposal of any Canadian (or 'murrican, or Pommy, or Pole, or ...) provided I'll get it running before June

email (option): viaconsu [at] planet'dot'nl

Hans, too old..? TOO OLD.. You're never too old lad, my hero was a lad from Warrington, he rode his BSA A10 from there, down to the ferry at the bottom of England, over to Spain, then did the mountains around the alps, and finally settled at the BSAOC International in Holland..!

I asked him why..? And he said Holland was too near to where he lived, he was 83yrs old at the time.. Had a Lead shield over the magneto, so as not to upset his pacemaker, AND he camped all the way...

Too Old, INDEED..!

Well Kent, I'm 80 now, and until I had that stroke beginning of the year, everything looked fine, but now I have second thoughts. Fortunately I had urgent surgery and escaped miraculously with only minor inconveniences but I'm no Vale Onslow who went to get his cuppa with the Queen on his 100th birthday on his own SOS
But I admire that chap with his pacemaker...

email (option): viaconsu [at] planet'dot'nl

Has anyone any photo,s of captured British army vehicles with German insignia / unit markings ? did this happen or were captured vehicles just used and dumped when no longer needed.

The Germans put on their own markings...and painted the vehicles in the appropriate colours. I have a friend with an unrestored Triumph 5SW that was brought back from N. Africa and still has its German markings...Ian

Ian thats interesting I was offered a ratty old ex wd Matchless a while back with German insignia / unit markings but thought it had been done as a joke as it had been used as a track bike in it former life.

Although the German Army was know as a highly mechanised force, they still relied heavily on Horses as did many European armies. They made up their deficiences in transport and armour etc with captured machines. Many of these were French, British and Belgian as well as from other armies such as the Dutch. Here are a few recycled brit bikes....

Kent, sorry didn't notice the Maple leaf on the tool box at first, I thought it was a brass plate hiding in the shadow of the kickstart. As for the tank top Canadian flag, no worries there- in true Canadian fashion you will be required to ride on the back of the tank anyway and the paint will soon be worn off that area!