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The special tanks of the D Day

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The special tanks of the D Day The special tanks of the D Day
When the date of the massive amphibious landing in Normandy was approaching, all of the German defensive line known as the "Atlantic Wall", intended to block the eventual invaders of the territories occupied by the Third Reich, boiled with work. Under the guidance from Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, soldiers and workers from the Organization Todt sowed the possible landing beaches with obstacles intended to impale and destroy the Allied LCT (Landing Craft Tank) before these could reach the shore. Tens and tens of thousands of mines should blow up the barges which made the most minimal contact with them. Wherever the mines were not enough, large artillery shells, placed with the fuze of the ogive pointing towards the sea, had been resorted to. The beaches, as the immediate coast, were sowed with deadly "Teller" plate-shaped mines, capable of immobilizing a heavy tank. More than five millions of "Schuh" mines were ready to entrap the Allied infantrymen, and Rommel expected to have enough time, before the landing took place, to deploy up to six millions of them. Also artillery pieces of every caliber had their threatening muzzles concealed inside cleverly camouflaged bunkers. However, many of these bunkers were still not finished, for the scarcity of raw materials had already started to oppress Germany. There was scarcity of steel, scarcity of metals needed for special alloys and, above all, an incipient scarcity of time. The Atlantic Wall was actually, as Marshal Von Rundstedt defined it, "a huge bluff... more for the German people than for the enemy... and the enemy, through its agents, knows this better than us". In this regard Von Rundstedt was wrong, but obviously he could not know it. The Allies overvalued this mastodontic complex of defensive structures, and they devised new tactics, strategies and weapons to overcome it. Among these, intended to both open a breach in the enemy defenses and protect the landing troops facilitating their mission, were the modified armored vehicles which would solve the most diverse problems, from the cleaning of minefields to the removal of debris, from the close support in the very frontline to the demolition of the most powerful fortifications. This article shows some of these valuable vehicles, which, because of their unusual appearence, were known as "Funnies".
SHERMAN DUPLEX DRIVE The Sherman Duplex Drive could be used either as a normal land tank or as an amphibious tank, capable of jumping into the sea at certain distance from the shore and to reach this one by "navigating" like a true boat. The tank was fitted with an extensible canvas curtain which greatly increased its size in the water. According to the principle of Archimedes, this would grant enough buoyancy to the tank. The eventual water leaks were expelled by means of a bilge pump and the propulsion was given by two propellers which could be attached to the engine transmission when needed. For the rest, the tank was a normal Sherman series tank. During the approximation to the beach, the possible machine gun projectiles which hit the canvas curtain would not compromise the flotability of the tank. Only a direct hit from a cannon could stop its advance.
SHERMAN "CRAB" This was another modification of the Sherman. In the frontal part of the tank a thick cylindrical drum, supported by two metallic arms and linked to the transmission of the engine by means of appropriate connections, was installed. This allowed the drum to rotate rapidly and, by means of chain strips attached to the rotatory drum, hit the terrain causing the explosion of the mines placed on it. Special deposits installed in the sides of the hull dropped plaster powder to delimit the cleaned area with two white lines. This type of tank made its first apparition in North Africa, albeit the minesweeper device known as "Crab" was back then generally installed in the British Churchill tanks. For nocturnal operations, the tank was equipped with special enclosed red lights, which were visible only for those who were directly behind it, which allowed the infantrymen to follow it safely.
CHURCHILL "CROCODILE" This interesting flamethrower tank was the only one of its kind which was used by the British Army during the entire conflict. The model had been taken from the flamethrower version of the Ansaldo L3 light tank, produced in Italy until 1935. In the Churchill heavy tank the flamethrower tube replaced the Besa 7.92-millimeter machine gun installed in the hull. The combustible liquid reached the flamethrower through an armored duct which ran beneath the hull. In the rear part it was connected to an armored tube which was bound to a towing capable of storing 1,810 liters of liquid along with the bottles of pressurized gas (generally nitrogen) necessary to obtain the flame jet, which could have a maximum range of somewhat more than 100 meters and could be expelled in either a single long jet or consecutive short jets. The towing, which was attached to the tank by means of an articulated joint which allowed to advance across rough terrains, could be detached from inside the tank in the event of an emergency situation.
CHURCHILL AVRE The AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers) was developed from the Churchill heavy tank by the Royal Engineers of the British Army. It was intended to destroy obstacles such as anti-tank structures, walls, bunkers and constructions in general. The standard main armament, which was a 57-millimeter cannon installed in the turret, had been replaced by a "Petard" 290-millimeter mortar. This one was fixed to the frontal plate of the turret in the same place where the standard cannon should be. Since the mortar was a muzzle-loading weapon, the operation of reloading it was made through a wicket which was located in the hatch of the second driver, through which the loader leaned out to introduce a projectile in the barrel. This mortar was capable of firing a projectile weighing 18 kilograms, of which 12 kilograms were of high explosive, to a distance of 70-80 meters, with a maximum rate of fire of three shots per minute. Its destructive power was notable.
CHUCHILL "CARPET LAYER" This was a modified Churchill heavy tank turned into an AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers). The standard main armament, a 57-millimeter cannon installed in the turret, had been replaced by a "Petard" 290-millimeter mortar, and a metallic structure had been installed in the frontal part of the tank. This one held a thick reel of strong hemp fabric which, as it was unreeled, was deployed beneath the tracks of the tank, which "extended" it to form a solid track. This system was used for creating penetration paths in terrains which were too soft or unsafe for heavy vehicles, such as marshes and swamps. The tank was often fitted with elongations in the exhaust tubes to allow for a greater fording depth, as in the amphibious Churchill tanks which had been used in the unfortunate incursion at Dieppe.
CENTAUR TANKDOZER The necessity of quickly opening tracks, even if rough ones, which were suitable for wheeled vehicles, or removing debris in areas which were still subject to enemy fire, gave birth to this strange hybrid of tank and bulldozer. It was simply a Centaur cruiser tank whose turret had been removed and which was fitted with a robust dozer blade, whose operation level was adjustable from inside the hull by means of a system of winches. Sometimes, these vehicles were used to push masses of earth against the loopholes of bunkers protected by low-caliber weapons, and obtained success even if this was a rather unorthodox method. On the other hand, to avoid rigid solutions imposed by whatever rules are considered infallible can be the only way of solving dangerous situations in war.

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