Rien van Liere, a son of the Dutch veteran of the pre-war Dutch army and the Post war "Prinses Irene Brigade", markets his father's book "Dutch courage" on our national sale website "marktplaats.nl" (ISBN 9789094005870, 560 pages, 1985, in Dutch)
While cross checking his fathers stories he identifies the big diesel monster his father rescued and put to good use in the chaotic days between August 11 1944 (arrival of the PIB on the Normandy beaches) and the liberation of the Netherlands. (May 6th 1945)
That's my Mercedes truck! van Liere explains in the book, and is seen here as 3th from left in the village of Grave, September 1944, behind the farm he lives at that time.
Apparently he found the halftrack in the forest of Bretonne. He was a car mechanic in the PIB. The Mercedes got the white 5 pointed star, and markings of the PIB and went with him to the Netherlands. He did some errands in Middelburg while they where there for the winter. Pulling 5 trailers of coal in one haul from Breda for the electricity plant. In the aftermath of the battle in the ardennes the next haul from Beeringen did not succeed.
In February 1945 an official letter from the British Army Administration, Vehicle Department London, found him. Subject: ”German Diesel Halftrack”. It was to be handed over in Antwerp for inspection. Diesel was a relatively new technique. The Mercedes being a very sturdy example. Maybe the one in the WVEE examination is the same machine.
| last revised: December 8 2025