Sherman to Stryker: Vehicles old and new help commemorate liberation of Mons

People in Mons have heard the clatter of tank tracks and the rumble of wheels once again as the Belgian town celebrates the 82nd anniversary of its liberation.

The Tanks In Town event, which is now in its 25th year, brought together a selection of military vehicles past and present to commemorate the Battle of the Mons pocket in August and September of 1944.

Second World War vehicles on display included the M4 Sherman, the Jeep and the White scout car – the Sherman being the most-produced US tank of the war, with more than 49,000 being made.

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Falaise success repeated

The inter-war period was represented by the M113 armoured personnel carrier and Patton tank, while up-to-date hardware included the cavalry variant of the US Army's Stryker armoured fighting vehicle.

The battle of the Mons pocket was the partial encirclement of German forces that took place during the Allies' advance from France and into Belgium following the success of Operation Overlord in June 1944.

Allied forces involved mainly US troops and Belgian resistance fighters, while the retreating German forces were a mixture of army and Waffen-SS.

Allied casualties were light, with 89 killed and 93 wounded, compared with 3,500 German dead and another 25,000 being captured.

A similar encirclement had previously taken place in the Falaise pocket as German forces attempted to withdraw from Normandy.

In both cases some Heer and SS troops did manage to escape, but at a huge loss of men and materiel, helping accelerate the end of the war.