Posted on 08/06/2008 8:14:43 AM PDT by cups
Scuba divers searching for hidden treasures at the bottom of the English Channel got more than they bargained for when they stumbled across two massive army tanks on the ocean floor.
The divers, who were eight miles of the West Sussex Coast, were left baffled as to how the Second World War tanks came to be at the bottom of the Channel.
But the mystery was soon solved after a lengthy investigation involving more than 80 dives at the site which is 65ft under water.
(has pictures)
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
It really took an investigation to figure out where the tanks came from?
Weird.
How could anyone be "baffled" by this, unless they were completely, utterly, totally ignorant of history?
If I had found them, I would immediately say "Oh these must have fallen off a ship during the Normandy invasion".
It's not rocket surgery.
They could have been American, Canadian, and British tanks. With all that rust and sea life built up on them. It’s very difficult to figure that inof out. I’m a diver and just now getting into wreck diving. All those little pieces of info are important to know
According to the way history is taught - or NOT taught - perhaps they thought the tanks were from our failed invasion of Britain in 1776.
Centaur IV
Centaur armed with a 95 mm howitzer
(with 51 rounds of ammunition).
This is the only version of the Centaur
known to have seen combat, in service
with the Royal Marines Armoured Support Group.
The vehicles were fitted with wading gear to
get them ashore.
Trunking waterproofed the engine inlets and
covers were fitted to the guns.
114 produced.
IIRC, part of the D-Day plans included floating tanks ashore. Perhaps these were two that attempted it and sank.
I saw a show on TV about these months ago (or other tanks)..they were fitted with waders as described above. The theory was that they got parellel to the shore and were swamped as they adjusted their course towards shore.
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