The story of our latest StuG III restoration is in large part the story of Canadian army officer Farley Mowat and his extraordinary adventures at the end of the Second World War.

When we began the restoration we had little or no idea of the StuG's history. There was a recurrent story that the vehicle had been recovered at the end of the war by the Canadians.  Beyond this we had little in the way of hard proof.  After several months of research we have now established how it came to be in Canada and a limited insight into its immediate post-war history.

At the end of the war Farley Mowat took it upon himself to assemble a collection of German equipment. He felt it important that Canada had a collection of vehicles and equipment to commemorate the achievements of its soldiers.   The final haul ranged from artillery pieces to tanks and even a live V2 rocket.  Having picked up this last item in the British Zone of Control they disguised it as a midget submarine in order to get past British check points.  Amongst the tanks were two German StuG IIIs.  Analysis of Mowat's post-war shipping manifest reveals one StuG with the serial number 96105. The gun was stamped with the number R540  An exact match for our vehicle.  The only information we have concerning its wartime service is that it was surrendered to the Canadian Seaforth Highlanders on or after May 8th 1945 in Amsterdam. 

Sadly Mowat's enthusiasm was  not shared by his superiors.  When the vehicles arrived in Canada the collection was broken up and dispersed to different bases across the country.  When the StuG arrived in Canada it was in driving condition.  It spent some time at Borden army base in Ontario before being transferred to Shilo in Manitoba and ultimately Sarcee Barracks in Calgary, Alberta.  At some point it was sold to a collector in the United States and in 2010 it arrived in the UK for restoration.  

What is intriguing is how long the vehicle survived in an operational environment.  It clearly bears the scars of combat and the chassis number indicates a late 1943 manufacture.  Hopefully we will uncover more of its history.  The German Order of Battle in this part of Holland at the end of the war was somewhat confusing and it will take some time to identify possible units to which the vehicle may have been attached.  We hope, however, to access the Canadian Seaforth Highlander war diaries to see if they may yield some further clues.