Laurentz Dahl wrote:There is really no need to waste time on this nonsense. See
http://www.forum.codoh.com/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=014. "gas van" photo
15. A "possible" photo of a "gas van"
According to
http://www.zchor.org/GASVAN.HTMPicture found among Meir Holtzman' old photographs, December 1998. No notes on the back of the picture. It is possible it was given to him by an acquaintance and it is possible that it is the picture of the gas van in Chelmno.
I don't know the what the specific use of these vans may have been, however I feel very confidant that they were not "Gas Vans".
I will hazard a guess & say that in the last days of the war, they may have been used as a Mobile Command Post by the Divisional Stabs (Staff) complete with radios & map tables for plotting Artillery.
The Vehicles were in all likelihood supplied from the Factory in a "Total Knock Down Kit", just a Chassis & Driver's Cab, with the body being built by the customer, this was a very very common practice in the 1930's .
Customers usually had the bodies Custom built by "Coach Builders", yes the ones that used to make the Horse & buggy style coaches, it made sense, with the advent of the internal combustion engine, the Coach builders were fast becoming obsolete, it made perfect sense that their Wood Working Skills were put to use building Custom Vehicle bodies.
You'll notice a number of things about the bodies on
both Buses, both have
Vertical Slated 4" Wood Paneling above the Drivers Cab, the first is obscured by a canvas (??) covering, Both have 2 small windows close to the top of the roof, Both have what appear to be "Flashing", probably light sheet metal between the roof & the Side Panels, to stop water leaking in, at least in the second Bus Photo the Side Paneling is made up of 8" or 10" wood Panels, none of which is ideally suited to an operation requiring a "Gas/Air Tight" seal.
The second bus also appears to have an
Observers Hatch over the right hand side of the cab, so the Co-Drivers could keep an eye out for Enemy Aircraft.
This may have been an original Cab feature before the Wooden body was added.