The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Hobart's Funnies - January 9th, 2004

see educational sources

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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Hobart's Funnies

Necessity is the mother of invention, as the old saying goes; and in warfare, necessities can be urgent indeed. As a result, many technological innovations occur during wartime. The First World War brought us huge advances in aircraft design; the Second World War brought us atomic energy. But on a less grandiose scale, technical innovations occurred all the time in response to the immediate needs of the opposing forces..An article by Phil Llewellin in the June issue of Automobile Magazine recently brought some technical innovations that may not always have received their due: "Hobart's Funnies."

D-Day was the greatest amphibious operation in history. General Eisenhower's plan called for the Allies to put ashore 120,000 troops and 14,000 vehicles by the end of the first day. More than 6,000 vessels supported the assault.



Among the vehicles put ashore by the slab-sided landing craft were some of the strangest machines ever seen on a battlefield--and many of them had their genesis in an earlier raid whose name is all too familiar to Canadians: Dieppe.



In August, 1942, the Allies raided Dieppe with 6,000 troops and a force of Churchill tanks. They lost 3,500 men and most of their armor. One result of that disaster was further fortification of the French coast by the Germans, with steel and concrete obstacles designed to cripple landing craft, plus barbed wire, forts, pillboxes and huge, fortified artillery emplacements. But another result was a recognition by the Allies that they would need new, specialized kinds of armored fighting vehicles if they were to successfully invade France.



In March of 1943 Major General Sir Percy Hobart, who had commanded the famous British "Desert Rats" armored division in North Africa, was summoned to London to meet with General Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Brooke wanted to raise a new armored division charged with developing, training and using a variety of special-purpose armored fighting vehicles to lead the Allies into France. Hobart was put in charge of Britain's 79th Armoured Division, devoted to that purpose.

When the Allies hit the beaches on D-Day, many of "Hobart's Funnies," as the products of the 79th Armoured Division were known, were also thrown into the fray.



One of the things Dieppe had made clear was that a landing craft big enough to carry nine tanks was also a dangerously inviting target for enemy gunners, offering them the opportunity to eliminate a large chunk of the invading force's armour with a single well-placed shell. For D-Day, the answer was to build a tank that could "swim" ashore after emerging from the landing craft at a relatively safe distance from the enemy. Tanks had been floated before, but conventional flotation devices wouldn't fit in the landing craft.

The new solution for D-Day was a nine-foot-high canvas screen attached to the vehicles hull with a waterproof seal. Air-filled rubber tubes and a simple metal frame gave it a boat-like shape--and also enabled the tank to float, just as you can make a brick float by putting it inside a floating bucket. The canvas walls took no more space than the tank did on the landing craft, could be raised in about 15 minutes, and too only seconds to lower once the tank hit the beach.



In addition to their treads, the "Duplex Drive" tanks had two propellers, driven by the main engines, which enabled them to glide through calm water at a brisk walking pace. Unfortunately, they were vulnerable to waves. The U.S. Army, for example, launched 64 floating Sherman tanks off Omaha Beach. Thirty-two of those were intended to support the First Infantry Division; all but five of them sank.



Hobart's 79th Armoured Division, however, had better luck: 33 of the 40 Churchill tanks they launched almost three miles offshore of Sword Beach reached the shore. The canvas hulls looked so harmless that no case was reported of anti-tank fire being directed at them while they were afloat. The amount of armour successfully landed was thus doubled over what might have been expected with traditional methods.

Many other of "Hobart's Funnies" were also modified Churchill AVRE tanks (AVRE stands for Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers). One problem faced by armoured vehicles on the beaches of Normandy was areas of blue clay that could swallow vehicles. The solution was a device called the Bobbin: an enormous reel of course hessian cloth, reinforced with steel poles and carried on a frame at the front of the Churchill tank. As the tank advanced, the cloth unrolled beneath its treads, providing a relatively secure footing for itself and following tanks until combat engineers could provide a more permanent solution in the form of perforated steel plates.



Mines were exploded by tanks equipped with hefty chains that ended in fist-sized steel balls. The chains flailed the ground as the tank inched forward. These specially equipped tanks were known as "Crabs." The military still uses similar devices to explode mines: in the IMAX movie Fires of Kuwait, there's a scene of a mine being detonated by a remote-controlled device that also flails the ground with chains.



Among the defenses faced by the invaders were ramparts and ditches high and deep enough to stop tanks. But the Allies also had special machinery to overcome them, beginning with an armored bulldozer used to fill in craters and recover bogged-down machinery. Then there was the Fascine, a bundle of wooden poles about eight feet in diameter, lashed together with stout wires, sort of like really heavy-duty snow fencing. It rested on the front of a Churchill tank and could be released to bridge a ditch or form a step at the base of a wall. Unfortunately, it was so bulky it required the tank's commander to either operate blind or direct operations from the top of the bundle, not the place you wanted to be during a battle.



A more sophisticated solution was the Armored Ramp Carrier, built by, among others, the MG Car company. This was a turretless tank that had ramps attached to the front and rear that could be extended to almost fifty feet. . Other vehicles could roll up one set of ramps, across the flat top of the vehicle, and up the other set of ramps to scale all kinds of awkward obstacles, such as seawalls.



Finally, there was the SBG (Small Box Girder) assault bridge, a huge device transported on the nose of a tank that could be lowered to span gaps as much as 30 feet wide, and which could support loads of up to forty tons.



Not all of Hobart's Funnies were purely engineering-related. The most spectacular came along just after D-Day. Called the Crocodile, it was a Churchill tank whose machine gun was replaced with a flamethrower with a range of about 200 yards. The Crocodile pulled a trailer containing about 400 gallons of fuel.



The 79th Armoured Division eventually totalled almost 7,000 vehicles. It was disbanded on August 20, 1945, just five months after one of its amphibian vehicles carried Prime Minister Winston Churchill across the Rhine River. Field Marshall Montgomery wrote, "The record of the Division is unique and its contribution to the winning of the Campaign in northwest Europe incalculable."

Not bad for a bunch of "funnies."

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[Samwise]

I'm pretty sure I'm way past you in age.

Well...I am young for my age.

[Samwise]

Invalid Directory
Directory/Library/Samwise/Memory/Information does not exist, or you do not have sufficient privileges

[Victoria Delsoul]

Evening both.

Ready for the weekend?

I'm ready to rumble! LOL!!!

[snippy_about_it]

LOL!

[Professional Engineer]

LMAO

[PhilDragoo]

Major General Sir Percy Hobart

"Now, for God's sake, double-oh-seven, when you hit the beach, don't shout, "I've got the flailing crabs!"

"On second thought, old man, it may just be the thing to put Gerry off his game."

A limited number of these auto-bisecting Churchills was delivered to the 79th.

The tank would approach an enemy bunker at speed, split at the centre, go round both sides, and reform at the rear.

Churchill carpet device sans carpet.

Churchill carpet device type TLC

Churchill carpet device Type A

Churchill carpet device Type B Mk1

Churchill carpet device Type C Mark2

Churchill crocodile

Wedge Donovan uses a bulldozer to take out some Japs in this film.

This IDF driver has the pedal to the metal--
--his intel says Arafat is in the privy dead ahead.

[Valin]

So did you pick out a nice bookcase?
Yes, it comes next friday. 74x34x12 cherrywood. Of course it's already full1 What can I say, it's my one weakness...well that and chocolate covered cherries.

[SAMWolf]

Evening Phil Dragoo.

A limited number of these auto-bisecting Churchills was delivered to the 79th.

The tank would approach an enemy bunker at speed, split at the centre, go round both sides, and reform at the rear.

LOL. Now why didn't the Americans think of that?

[snippy_about_it]

"Now, for God's sake, double-oh-seven, when you hit the beach, don't shout, "I've got the flailing crabs!"

LOL. I swear Phil! I love your wit.

[snippy_about_it]

oooh. Sounds nice. No glass doors to keep out the dust?

[Valin]

No glass doors to keep out the dust?
One less thing to clean!
I don't DO windows. :-)

[snippy_about_it]

I just figured with all the time spent on FR there is no time for reading. I know my books are gathering dust.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[Darksheare]

"I've got the flailing crabs!"
Bad idea for a tagline bump.

[SAMWolf]

"I've got the flailing crabs!"
Bad idea for a tagline bump.

ROTFLMAO!!

[Darksheare]

I didn't do it!
*Chuckle*
No, I'm NOT using it as a tagline.
Yet.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. Was that a great line by Phil or what!!! That'll be one I never forget.

[Darksheare]

Yes, it was.
I'm not going to use it as a tagline.
Yet.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. Yet? Oh no, that could ruin your reputation. HA!

[Darksheare]

What reputation?
*chuckle*
The following is an (almost) complete list of my taglines so far:

"Where is your corkyndrill, your grimoire? If you do not bring them I shall take you to the Gaoul!"
"Talking to ones-self is a sign of impending mental collapse."
":\_Inventory. You can't carry anything, you're a computer!"
"Nothing but the sound of Tanks and Artillery."
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"I AM the grassy knoll!"
"I was betrayed into the hands of the Inquisition."
"A predator's eyes are always in front."
Late of Kentothe
A walking marble mechanoid.
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"Here I come to ... Whatever" -Mighty Mouse on Prozac.
"The ring! Put on the ring!" -Nazgul King
"If you think I have unending youth and vigor, you should see my portrait." -Dorian Grey
"Never trust a smiling cat."
"Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies."
"Never juggle coffee cups while flying."
"Just when you thought it was safe to wander the states alone. Hillary! 2, coming 2004."
"Cats don't ask. Cats take."
"Cats don't smile, they grin."
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"Rock and Roll Pumpkin. Say it again."
"Doc, did you see the size of that Chicken?"
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"Butterflies....."
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"I will defend your right to tell me I'm wrong to defend your right to tell me I'm wrong."
"I wish the locals would stop getting me mad. I'm running out of places to hide bodies." -Vlad
"Good news is: I have less nosy neighbors." -Vlad Tsepes
"Hoggle, if she kisses you, I'll make you a Prince. Prince of the Land of Stench!"-Jareth
"I see, a bad moon risin'.." "I've been mooned!"
"I've been mooned!"
"Herbert's henchmen happily harrassed hiding hairballs"-Sarah
"highly hopping hairballs hurting happy henchmen"-Sarah
"The 72 virgins are HAMSTERS!!"
This space has been banned by the Americans Against Taglines.
This Tagline has been deleted by the Americans for Socialist Improvement.
This Tagline has been deleted by the Americans for Socialistic Simians.
A pox of fleas on Saddam's testicles.
Nox Aeturnus En Pax
The Borg, the IRS of Star Trek.
The modern day French all have Grandfathers that said "Fraulein!" to their Grandmothers.
"No one ever accused me of being sane, well mannered, having good morals, or being nice before."
"Cheaper, Faster, Better. Pick any two."
"Clinton honesty for sale, write your own and Hill will take credit for it, cheap."
Iknow why the French don't wear deodorant. They snort it up their snotty noses and call it Nasalcrom
It's no use, the voices are on MY side.
Liberals are fodder for the Dogs of War.
I didn't say it wouldn't burn, I said it wouldn't hurt.
"Terrorist" is another way to say "target" and get away with it.
Ever try surfing FR while sitting upside down? Not for the soft of head, sorry DUers.
It's all part of a vast Rightwing Tagline Conspiracy.
This tagline exploits third world lint cartels and two hamsters in an exercise wheel.
Begone ye typo demons!! Begone from these dimensions and leave us aolne! I said laeve us aolne! Darn
I will not _____the Dems. I will not_____the Dems. I will not _____the Dems. I will not_____the Dems
Attention DU lurkers, a conservative group may be operating in your area.
You do not have clearance to see this tagline, Citizen
Where our tracks have passed, grass will never again grow!*
Hey, DU Urkers. When you stand on your head, does it go 'squish'?
Good, Bad, I'm the guy with the Nun.
FR, now at One Megathread strength.
Resistance is futile, but we may be placated with chocolates and shiny trinkets to add to our hord.
Shadows of the mind, vague whispers of memory when we pass by. Held precious until new life begins.
I'm young, at the top of my game, full of youthful energy, so call me Perfidious Rex.
You think I'm innocent, not wild. Take me and see how much I'm tamed.
Even as we speak, my 100,000 killer wombat army marches forth
Ignore the wombats, they're a diversion! My 3 million psychotic chinchilla army is the real threat!
I'm experiencing a negative reality inversion.
For the crimes of Heresy of thought, Heresy of word, and Heresy of deed, this tagline shall burn!
Saddam's next physical: The electric enema followed by a minor bit of squeezing and shredding.
The tagline you have loaded cannot be read. Please go back and try refreshing the page again.
There must have been some magic in that old silk head they found.
The gophers of vengeance are upon you!
I wanted to put a "Run! Hillary, Run!" bumper sticker on my car, but it'd cover my headlights.
Lead me not into temptation, I can find it well enough on my own.
Let's celebrate the Dem's top 10 in the charts of pain, vote Republican.
Democrat is between Demise and Demon in the dictionary.
I know all I need to know about you. That mysterious duck over there however...
This Tagline is out of order
"You left me drunk and naked, face down in the haggis." -Earl of the Broken Heart. Scene 0, Bac .10
This tagline has performed an illegal operation and will be shutdown.
"Why no, I've never seen a school of DU move in precision. I have seen them move in chaotic lunacy."
Tagline inoperative, switch to emergency backup tag.
System error. File 'tagline' not found.
Magic 8 Ball sez: This tagline has been tested on fuzzy dice and small furry animals.
This tagline deleted by AdMinimum Monsterator
"Does that mean I have to stop with the smoke and fogs from my incorporeal (Corpse??) form?"
"Stop the world, I think I'm gonna get planetsick!!" -Darksheare, kickin' back with a cup o' tea.
Which would be better, an artificial mind for a guy.. or an artificial guy for the mind?
Tagline dispenser. Insert quarter. [[|] Mash button. [button] Enjoy.
Crimes against children are crimes against the soul