Hobart's Funnies: D-Day's Weird and Wonderful Tanks

The tanks you never heard about.
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[@bronsonperich9430]

The Flying Dustbin launcher was what every PIAT wished it would grow up to be.

[@trooperdgb9722]

I thought the PIAT was the little brother of the Blacker Bombard! Lol

[@anarchyantz1564]

Imagine being in the infantry and you see a Sherman Crab coming towards your position across a field while it is in "mine clearing mode".

[@magnemoe1]

In the first gulf war the US used an mine plow, imagine an standard farming plow scaled up to snowplow size, it dig 20-30 cm deep and over 3.5 meter wide and throw this to an side. Have this come up behind the trench. The Iraqi mostly dropped their weapons and run. This unlike the flail does only work in soft ground like desert

[@TheFelmaster]

Better wear my brown pants to that fight :P

[@ChattahoocheeRiverRat]

Especially because typical infantry training talks about how, in a properly sized fighting hole / trench, a tank can roll right over your position and you'll be OK. I think the flails would change the situation quite dramatically.

[@markfryer9880]

@@ChattahoocheeRiverRat That's quite an understatement! You would certainly want a deep trench to lie down in to clear the flails and pray that none came loose as it crossed over you. I also suspect that you would be quite deafened and scared by the time the tank passed over you.

[@guhhhhh9032]

Even worse, just read a thing where wounded Allied troops got run over by a flail tank on the beaches of Normandy. Imagine being wounded and watching your own side's flail tank creep toward you.

[@brianartillery]

A subject that has fascinated me since I was a kid. The Crocodile was so feared, that there are reports of the crews of bunkers surrendering at the sight of one getting into position. It fired 'rods' of napalm like fuel, with some precision, being able to fire them through bunker vision slots and gun ports. A standard manoeuvre was simply to pull up to a bunker, and 'cough' unlit fuel on it. Generally, this was enough to empty the bunker. The tank still had it's normal main turret gun and machine gun, which it could still use.

[@twocvbloke]

The bridging ones always impress me, being able to build bridges instantly while on the way to blow some up... :P

[@MrScott1171]

The Bridge Layer and the Flail designs are still used today by many armed forces across the world.

[@richardsawyer5428]

The allied moto of "Steel not flesh" fits well here. Better to use a machine to beat the enemy than a human being. In addition to the Crocodile there was also the flame thrower equipped Universal Carrier known as a "Wasp". From an audiobook that I've listened to, it was used to great effect by the Canadians during their advances in Belguim, the Netherlands and Germany.

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

AVRE: “Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers”. From a former RE Armoured Engineer. Many variations of many of these vehicles are still in use.

[@nickthenuker7916]

I’ve seen the Petard Mortar variants referred to as “Atrocious Violence, Ridiculous Explosions”

[@Adjuni]

Hey, it it works, why scrap it?

[@Joshua_N-A]

Don't fix if not broken

[@hokutoulrik7345]

@@nickthenuker7916 the name of this particular weapon makes me think it was a play on the 'hoisted by their own petard' saying.

[@nickthenuker7916]

@@hokutoulrik7345 actually “petard mortar” is simply the name of a type of mortar, possibly the one that inspired that phrase or was inspired by said phrase

[@astridsactionrc545]

When I was in college, I wanted to build a “battle bot” based on the Sherman Crab.

[@brendansmith9677]

One of the things that made the crocodile so formidable was that it could still use it's main gun, which is something other types of flame tanks couldn't do. The Churchill was already a tough, powerful, and effective tank and the crocodile conversion made it better

[@hobbitreet]

One of the most enlightened men the 20th Century ever produced. Well done, sir.

[@JessWLStuart]

I wonder if the Bovington Tank Museum would have Simon do a 5 favorite tanks video?

[@mayoite160]

i was thinking exactly the same thing

[@tfodthogtmfof7644]

They have bunch of videos on their channel. I have even mail ordered Christmas presents from their gift shop. TheTank Museum is awesome in what it provides.

[@DouglasParkinson]

That would be fun to watch I reckon. He lives in Prague though, so I don't expect we'll be seeing that episode until the pandemic is much more controlled and travel restrictions can be relaxed fully.

[@mayoite160]

@@DouglasParkinson youtube's top englishman lives in prague?? my life is a lie

[@DouglasParkinson]

@@mayoite160 yeah, he used to live in the same county as me when he was younger, but he's since moved out there. It's fun hearing him refer to places I know

[@ericbouchard7547]

A correction for you, SideProjects; Dieppe wasn't a precursor for D-Day. Instead, it was a so-called "pinch raid", aimed at stealing a four-rotor Enigma machine. The scale of the invasion was intended to throw off the Germans (for, who in their right mind would throw several-thousand men supported by tanks, aircraft, and a couple hundred-strong naval flotilla at a well-defended port just to steal a fancy typewriter?) Evidently, it worked, in no small part because they didn't steal anything, so they didn't immediately start breaking codes.

[@noahwail2444]

And it was a bloodoffer on Stalins alter, him wanting the opening of the second front, witch the western allieds was incapable of at that point. Poor canadians..

[@paulstreet9162]

That would be news to me. Stealing a cypher machine would be the worst thing the forces could do as it would alert the Germans to the situation. There was a February 1942 paratrooper on a German radar site at Bruneval, France that successfully evacuated the electronics by sea. As for Dieppe, it was a mess with no clear objective. The Canadians jumped at the action as the army had not been active in Europe since the Second-BEF fiasco.

[@trevorhart545]

The ONLY "special" tank used by the USA in WW2 was the Sherman DD (Duplex Drive) NOT a Hobart Funny! This was designed by Nicholas Straussler in HURLEY, Berkshire who tried out models in his pond. The first DD prototypes were developed using British Tanks but were a failure. Straussler was a naturalised Brit born in Hungary. A Sherman DD Tank was found in the waters west of Salerno where Matt Clarke, US Army, landed on September 9th 1943. Hurley was also home to SOE Code Station Victor. It is on the opposite bank of the River Thames to RAF Medmenham where the photos from recconaissance aircraft were developed and used in the preparation of D-Day. There was a ferry across the Thames for transfers across the river.

[@dannyboyy31]

There are six sunken DD tanks in Studland Bay, between Poole Harbour and Swanage. They sank during an ill-fated D-Day training exercise in April 1944 whilst being observed by King George VI, Churchill and Eisenhower from a nearby bunker on the cliff top. Six soldiers of the Dragoon Guards lost their lives, presumably the driver of each tank as they would've been the last to try and escape the sinking vehicles. As a result, the DD tanks were released closer to shore on D-Day, but sadly still fell prey to the adverse weather conditions.

[@owenshebbeare2999]

The Americans made two mistakes: sending out the floating tanks too early, and not anchoring their Mulberry Harbour as designed, making it unstable.

[@ClassicFeta]

What a legend. May he Rest In Peace

[@tommy5675]

Am i the only one who thinks that Percys' Peculiars is a better name than Hobarts' funnies

[@TheOmegaXicor]

Your's has a ring of "yea, they're odd but good" there's has a ring of "this dude is crazy but sometimes he has a good idea, even if most of his projects are absurd". It is a quirk of English

[@oli3645]

And they can be abreviated to pp tank

[@littlefluffybushbaby7256]

If used in a Carry-On movie. "Carry On Percy".

[@william6682]

Yes!

[@ryanroberts1104]

Love that big roll of sticks for a bridge. Thought for sure the tank would get stuck in the ditch nose first!

[@Adjuni]

I want to make a highly inappropriate joke.

[@huw3851]

I wonder how many times that actually happened and they simply shredded the film.

[@ryanroberts1104]

@@huw3851 Americans didn't need propaganda, we had better weapons.

[@PastorOfMuppets91]

Excellent video! The Crocodile is perhaps my favourite tank of the war, and in general, the Churchill tank is very high up there. I think it's one of the more underappreciated icons of WWII tank warfare.

[@mayoite160]

good old "mountain goat". probably the best tank of ww2, even if nowhere near the most important

[@pnonnymouse4840]

In its early marks the churchill was not that good they were shewed in giving its name to the top politician as otherwise it might have been cancelled. When evaluated after the dieppe raid by the German technicians they were not impressed at all. They later marks VI or so were much better. The crocodile was effective but few in number. As to the best tank. No sorry depending upon how you define "Best" or even "Tank" for me, most effect on the war T34, most common T34, most feared Tiger II, most reliable Sherman, this is a heavy debate among tank nerds so you first need to define the rules of the debate. But the churchill rarely features. Too slow, heavy, too much maintenance , weak gun.

[@PastorOfMuppets91]

@@pnonnymouse4840 the Churchill was a slow heavy tank due to British doctrine. Keep in mind that the concept of a one-fits-all MBT was not an established thing yet, and tanks were still made to fit specific roles all the way to the closing stages of the war. That the Germans were not impressed by its features is mostly just a show that they valued other things in their tanks. The British prized their mid and late production Churchills because they were excellent infantry tanks. Their purpose was to serve as a sort of moving pillbox able to provide covering fire with its machine gun, blow up defensive positions with HE shells, or cover an advance with smoke rounds. It wasn't exactly the best AT tank because the British had other tanks for that purpose, as well as other AT teams. The Churchill also boasts one of the highest (if not the highest) survivability rates of the war, which is important when you can produce tanks faster than you train their crews. There are so many metrics to judge a tank that it's impossible to say which is the best in a war with hundreds of models made for the most diverse tasks. This means that you can find flaws in all of them, but what matters is how they impact their intended role. In that, you'll find that the T34 was crude and unreliable, but these things don't matter if you expect them to last only hours or days in active combat. On the other hand, the Germans made their tanks to last way longer than they actually would, and wasted precious resources and man hours in needless features and quality. Not to mention that their late heavy tanks were crippled by mechanichal faults and were hellish to maintain. Ultimately, it's a bit of a moot discussion, because the variables are too many to have a single top dog, or even a few. There were plenty of tanks that were great at what they were made to do, others not so much, and some were better at things they weren't meant to do.

[@pnonnymouse4840]

@@PastorOfMuppets91 yep like I said depends upon how you define "best" and even "tank". The later mark churchills with the 6lbr and other improvements were better than the earlier mk2-3 which the Germans evaluated after dieppe. Those they evaluated badly, in particular the weak tracks, poor speed, inadequately armed , the poor positioning of the hull mounted howitzer, straight unsloped armour etc. They thought it outdated throwback to a WWI designs. Some of these observations/faults were fixed improved upon when the german evaluation was captured and used to improve the tank. As an infantry tank the role it was designed for it did well. But for me not the best. For really bad tanks the Japanese and italians had consistently awful tanks due mostly to lack of development and most being pre war designed, and not upgraded.

[@OBIIIIIIIII]

The crab tool is still in use to this day, seeing loads of use clearing IEDs from Afghanistan

[@Joshua_N-A]

The plow is a recent thing?

[@hokutoulrik7345]

@@Joshua_N-A yup. They have the plow variants and a roller variant for vehicles like the MRAP.

[@rh451]

These look like the predecessors of the modern Assault Vehicle Breacher. It’s a Abrahams tank with a plow and the main gun replaced with 2 shots of rocket propelled 1/4 mile cables with 500 pounds of C4 attached in satchels. It can plow up mines and obstacles or blow them up.

[@littlefluffybushbaby7256]

There were also quite a few failures. By all sides. The US Bat Bomb, Soviet Dog bomb, Japanese aircraft carrier submarines and balloon bombs. The British had a huge catherine wheel mine-clearing device powered by rockets around it's perimeter, plus the sticky bomb that was more dangerous to it's user than to any enemy tank. Both of the last two were the basis of episodes of Dad's Army. The Germans had the Me-263 which was, in effect, an unintentional flying bomb. Or landing bomb to be more accurate. The fuel had two components and any mixing of the two was deadly. That's a ground crew job I wouldn't want to volunteer for. The pilot had to land it, with tanks full of vapour, on a skid. JFK's elder brother was killed when piloting a radio controlled plane bomb. There definitely should be a Darwin Award episode for some of the crazy things they tried.

[@davethompson3326]

Crocodiles retained their gun, the flamethrower was hull mounted, unlike other flame tanks like Sherman, PzIII, T34 etc

[@alyssinwilliams4570]

COOL. I had always wondered at the origin of the bridge-layer and flail tanks. All designed by one guy, eh? I salute you Major General Hobert. I do wonder, did any of the AVREs carrying the Petard mortar ever get *ahem* hoisted by their own petard?

[@davethompson3326]

There were pre Churchill flails, such a Matilda II, a bit underpowered Valentine DD and Bridgelayer were trialed

[@michaelemberley2767]

Hobart commanded the division, he did not design all the vehicles. The narrator continues this nonsense when he refers to the DD tank as one of of Hobart's designs. The DD tank was the brainchild of Nicholas Straussler

[@inisipisTV]

There's one story that David Fletcher told in the Tank Museum channel, regarding the Churchill's flying dustbin, where a group were using liquid Nitro-glycerin to clear a mine field. Short story, during fueling up, it blew up 3 tanks a couple of trucks, 50 soldiers killed and destroying a small Dutch village along it's undertermined citizens.

[@littlefluffybushbaby7256]

Go to your room

[@vandarkholme4745]

Damn this guy invented all the specialty tanks

[@deefenbakerone4369]

He didnt invent them but he had an eye for seeing equipment that when bought together would dramatically improve the chances of success.

[@stuartauld3193]

My Uncle Bert drove a CDL and a Buffalo. RIP lobbydosser.

[@arcturionblade1077]

Neat! I have the Brickmania custom Lego M4 Sherman and Crab Flail add-on sets. This video makes me want to dig it out (they're still new/unopened) and put it together this weekend.

[@BadJellyman100]

Send it

[@beachboy0505]

7:06 'the coolest weapon of all, the flamethrower tank 🔥 '.

[@markfryer9880]

Except if you were part of a Crocodile crew and were captured. Expect a summary execution to follow.

[@J3scribe]

Such wonderful ingenuity! Militaries still use chain flails for mine sweeping to this day. Just a brilliant idea.

[@StaceyIsles]

My grandad was a driver in a Churchill iv for the royal engineers and was at Juno, the AVRE that was found buried 20' under dirt and mud that's now displayed in France watching over the beach was his friends tank that particular avre was a bridge layer it got stuck and my grandads platoon had to ironically build a bridge over it so they could keep going

[@michaelhowell2326]

I'm a bit surprised that the Funnies like the crab aren't in video games. How can the resist the urge to flail a Notsee to death?

[@oopswrongplanet4964]

Crabs are in Company of Heroes; unfortunately the enemy tends to scatter rather than stand there and get flailed.

[@MrFreddyFartface]

@@oopswrongplanet4964 Company of Heroes 1 & 2 have Sherman Crabs, Sherman and Churchill Crocodiles, and Churchill AVREs with those giant petard mortars, they're all good fun

[@aleksanderpopov5060]

Great short video, thanks Simon

[@youtoob4life]

Yesss, I love the story of these tanks. Thank you for covering them!

[@radarmike6713]

If anyone wants to see the EXACT Hobart Funnies Sherman crab Mine sweeper in this video. It is at CFB Borden Ontario Canada. It is still and if I correct the Only original WWII D day spec. It is absolutely amazing to see I person. It still has the damage it received from enemy fire and mine damage.

[@Nomad77ca]

I played on that tank as a kid!!!

[@iansharp6593]

If anyone wants to see an original a petard Churchill from Juno Beach, go to Graye-sur-Mer, immediately west of Courselles-sur-Mer. It is one of 22nd Assault Sqdns tanks, call sign One Charlie. It was hit on D-Day as it tried to cross a flooded area behind the dunes at the back of the beach. Some of the crew were killed, the rest were all wounded. The tank was then pushed into the water and a girder bridge was pushed over it, using the partly submerged turret as a support, enabling tanks and troops to get across the flood. With typical irreverence, this was nicknamed Pont Avre by the Tommies. Some time later, the tank slid below the water and remained buried until 1976, when it was dug up and restored by French military engineers and put on display, close to the spot where it had been buried.

[@littlefluffybushbaby7256]

To be fair, the Buffalo LVT (BLT?) was American and I believe was only lightly used on D-Day and then only on Utah beach. So I'm not sure it qualifies as a Hobart Funny. Although, as the naration said, they were used extensively later, especially during the 'tour' of Germany. The DUKW on the other hand was used, but again, wasn't really that funny. Maybe just humurous. They also stuck huge 'snorkel' devices on the back of Shermans so they could wade ashore from the landing ships without the engine being swamped with fish and water. Quite a few troops landed with bicycles. For a nice ride through the French country side no doubt. It was June after all.

[@stephaniewilson3955]

The story is that all the tanks were supposed to be sent from close in but the US Captain whose ship was carrying the floating tanks was terrified of getting close enough to the coast to be effective. He sent them off too far out and they got swept away by the current. All the crews drowned. The British tanks landed by British ships all made it to the beaches and were very effective.

[@jonathanmatthews4774]

Yep. Same with the pilots ferrying the 101st and 82nd airborne divisions. They got scared of all the flak and rather than fly in a straight line allowing the paratroopers to land on target, they took evasive maneuvers, resulting in the paratroopers often landing miles away from their targets.

[@zoiders]

It wasn't just British tanks that made it ashore it was the funnies which are specialized assault pioneer vehicles. The Americans had been offered them and turned them down. Shermans alone would not have made it off that beach.

[@zoiders]

@@jonathanmatthews4774 They were not "scared" of flak they were taking flak and the drop was at risk. Their job was to insert paratroopers into combat, not get them all burned alive. The paratroopers re-organized after the scattered drop, marched through the night to their objective and still won. Thats because they were god damned paratroopers who were trained for such a scenario. No plan survives contact with the enemy.

[@randomname3109]

@@zoiders incorrect - despite high levels of training the American forces in teh West were 'green' and did not perform as well as anticipated. One of the biggest disasters for the allies was teh American landing at Omaha beach

[@zoiders]

@@randomname3109 Do be quiet. Everyone was green that day. Armchair generals making pronouncements about the conduct of Dakota pilots at D Day is just offensive.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

0:55 - Chapter 1 - Lessons from dieppe 2:05 - Chapter 2 - Percy hobart 3:20 - Chapter 3 - Hobart funnies

[@grabo917]

Awesome content as always Simon.

[@thepostman41]

Excellent episode. You could make a whole series on how each vehicle was used.

[@yoursotruly]

Tanks to you too!

[@lightningv46]

When I was a kid I used to read the Warpath books. Book 6 was about the crew of a Churchill AVRE, good series

[@PeterCombs]

The guy really thought way outside the box...and no doubt saved a lot of lives.

[@dogvetusa]

These are very awesome ways to combat some of the specific problems of combat.

[@trplll100]

I love this vid, these unique tanks are awesome.

[@whitetailfox1]

Wow these are all amazing I'm surprised that I haven't heard of him until now.

[@32shumble]

Hobart was also Monty's brother-in-law

[@russellfitzpatrick503]

What with Ian Fleming and his like in the 'dirty squad' the British armed forces used, as Chuchill noted, people who thought outside the box, to great effect during the later stages of the war

[@zoiders]

Flemming in reality ended up with the British equivalent of "The Monuments Men". A bit less commando like than he would have you think.

[@itarry4]

Churchill had his major faults but he was the right man at the right time. Not just his will and ability to inspire but his willingness to try some really off the wall stuff in the hope that it would work and help.

[@Florin500]

Don't know if this would be better suited for Biographic rather than Sideprojects but Emile Leray and his improvised bike should feature on one of the channels. Emile Leray survived the Sahara Desert by building a motorcycle from his broken Citroen 2CV in 1993.

[@Jo-xf4nt]

One of your best videos!

[@Bob1942ful]

Another story you might consider are the Turtle Ships of “The Admiral”.

[@larrylaurenzi1625]

I have heard this man’s name during my entire life, but in 57 years this is the first time I have ever seen his picture! Hobarts Funnies.

[@louiswilkins9624]

Great stuff

[@michaelhowell2326]

I've known about Hobart's funnies for as long as I can remember but for some reason I thought he was a civilian.

[@oldenweery7510]

Maybe you were thinking of Barnes Wallis, who developed the bouncing bombs in dam-busting in the Ruhr industrial valley?

[@garywheeler7039]

@@oldenweery7510 : what? there is more than one eccentric genius in Britain at the time?!!!

[@oldenweery7510]

@@garywheeler7039 Oh, yes! Barnes Wallis designed the geodetic, or "Geodesic," fuselage and wing structures used on the Wellesley, Wellington, Warwick, and Windsor aircraft of the Vickers Aircraft Company, used in WWII. Besides the "Bouncing Bombs" used for the dam-busting raids, he designed the Tallboy and "Grand Slam" bombs (deep-penetrating "Earthquake Bombs) used to sink the German battleship, _Tirpitz,_ and destroy hardened targets like anti-aircraft sites and sub pens. "Mad scientists?" Maybe so, bless 'em!

[@skyden24195]

This is probably the funniest video ever presented on Sideprojects. 😏🧐

[@nikbear]

The churchill funnies were still seeing service in the Korean conflict where the crocodile was especially praised 👍

[@nathanbanks2354]

I liked the way you showed so many different designs in 10 minutes. With some of your other videos, it feels like you're trying to stretch a 5 minute video into a 10-15 minute video. (I'm subscribed, but turned off the notification bell after a while.) Not sure if this is just my preference or if many people feel like this.

[@atlas9852]

"Hanz! It'z ze funniez! Get ze Panzerfaust!"

[@DouglasParkinson]

I doubt that would help haha Another KZbinr, Lindybeige, did a video on the Crocodile; the effective range for a precise panzerfaust strike was significantly less than the blast radius of the fuel trailer (correct name bowser) exploding. They were relatively short-range weapons.

[@Craftlngo]

the most important role on the succesful landing on D-Day layed in the role of the french Résistance giving the allied troops detailed information about the soil composition, slope angles, distances from the waterline to the cliffs and dunes and so on. A very elaborated system of signal transmission made sure those information reach their recepient

[@randomname3109]

🤣🤣 the French biggest contribution to D-Day was that they surrendered in teh first place

[@catcorisara]

Would love a video about the Indiana Bell building in 1930. They moved it with no interruption in phone service!

[@martinguerre8220]

Very informative

[@Idahoguy10157]

Hobart originated blitzkrieg doctrine. Guderian studied all of Hobart’s teachings

[@dtaylor10chuckufarle]

We stand on the shoulders of giants.

[@florians9949]

The Hobart’s Funnies were surely not funny at all for the german.

[@Joshua_N-A]

Crocodile.

[@TheMarkkatstevens]

It’s funnies as in strange not as in hahaha funny. English words very often have multiple meanings.

[@florians9949]

@@TheMarkkatstevens Common, just let me make the joke.😭

[@TheMarkkatstevens]

@@florians9949 what joke? Oh was your first comment a joke? Oh 😬😳

[@GuntherRommel]

Great video. And something I think isn't funny is this: neglecting to hit the notifications Bell. Do it for the Allies.

[@richardfroud8970]

Great video

[@ryateo1]

Wow. He was the Patton of mobile combat engineers.

[@simonjester0074]

Thx 😎 Very interesting

[@larrylaurenzi1625]

This man is a King.

[@Beryllahawk]

Now THAT is a badass. And a bunch of VERY badass tanks.

[@TheEvilCommenter]

Good video 👍

[@mayoite160]

great. i was hoping that you'd do this one - this could've been a longer video in megaprojects or biographics too. hobart's ideas were direct inspiration for the blitzkrieg btw you really should go to the tank museum at bovington and do some collaborations with them

[@jazzyj8850]

Simon, you continue to please me greatly!

[@QuillStroke]

Hobart also invented the Blitzkrieg Tatic, if the British Higher ups weren't so catty things might have been different. Certainly wouldn't have lost France in six weeks.

[@johntaylorson7769]

I've said it before and I'll say it again... Why have we not seen a Sherman Crab in action against a zombie horde?

[@leetbus]

these tanks were awesome i can't believe its not more famous

[@accutronitisthe2nd95]

AWESOME!

[@collincovid6950]

This channel and presenter are just the best, professional and entertaining, a real life piece of off the cuff entertainment

[@ehzmia]

If you think this is "off the cuff" go check out his Business Blaze channel. He is a cocaine fueled mad man.

[@collincovid6950]

@@ehzmia ?

[@ehzmia]

@@collincovid6950 This is a scripted channel with a professional demeanor. If you want to watch him "off the cuff" watch Business Blaze.

[@brankeane2830]

Hey I grew up near Chipping Camden! :D

[@VDPEFi]

Bloody hell chipping camden was the weirdest bumpkin evening out of my life.

[@alanmoss3603]

Only because you didn't arrive in a flail tank!

[@CorporalDan2312]

All I want for christmas is a .gif of all the simian fear grimaces that Simon makes on his thumbnails, compiled at high speed for me to spam people with.

[@A._is_for]

Ace? What a guy!

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Smoke me a kipper....

[@FortisKnight]

Very cool

[@kenhelmers2603]

Now that's thinking outside the box!

[@ogedeh]

Is that why the mixer with all the crazy attachments has the same name?

[@hereticpariah6_66]

😳! ....🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@Joshua_N-A]

Today it's the modern standard for engineering vehicles.

[@jeko32]

Need to do a video on the DUKW vehicle

[@hadesdogs4366]

Going back to the British conger go look up myth busters who used three liters of nitroglycerin In order to blow up a wooden wagon sky high, now imagine a fuel drum full of the stuff

[@RJM1011]

The Crab is what we should have used in Afgan and other places with so many mines and IED's.

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

There are lots of versions of the Crab used in modern mine clearance. Check out machines called ‘Aardvark’, for example. Unfortunately though there are a whole bunch of technical reasons why these machines aren’t 100% effective. Too involved to explain here. They are an aid to, but not a replacement for, manual mine clearance.

[@RJM1011]

@@bob_the_bomb4508 Yes I have seen that Aardvark machine working and even back in WW2 they still used other means and ways to find mines.

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

@@RJM1011 it’s my job…

[@madderhat5852]

Little know fact is he helped design Thunderbird 2 and it's pods 😉

[@silk1435]

Suggestion for video: the best submarines of ww2

[@MrFreddyFartface]

If you find yourself playing any of the Company of Heroes games, try running over a few Jerries with a Sherman Crab, see if they find it funny :D

[@fearoffema]

Brought to you by Raid Shadow World of Tanks Legends

[@hadesdogs4366]

Has anyone ever heard of the British conger If not it’s essentially a mobile bomb carried behind tanks Where a British universal/ bren gun carrier has its engine removed and is converted into a trailer, its equipped with one or two tanks of nitroglycerin m, a large fire hose and a rocket, the rocket is attached to a bit of wire and that wire is attached to a fire hose, when the rocket is fired much like a fishing rod the fire hose trails behind it, afterwards as the rocket either dies or reaches the full length of the fire hose, the fire hose is pumped full of a highly HIGHLY UNSTABLE LIQUID called nitroglycerin where just shaking the bloody thing will set it off let alone using it as an explosive device, the nitroglycerin is pumped down the hose until it’s full and is then detonated via a remote trigger where the explosion will cause a chain reaction blowing up a clear path of roughly one meter by about a hundred meters clear of land mines.

[@procatprocat9647]

Amazing! If I'd been alive during the war, I'd like to think that I'd be a FUNNY designer

[@Masenorris]

you should make a video on the yf23

[@Outside85]

So in essence, Hobart created all the tanks that do other stuff than fighting.

[@itarry4]

Simon do a video or at least a section of side projects on the The Livens Flame projector. That thing was a weapon that no one wanted to opporate let alone face.

[@paulqueripel3493]

I suspect channel 4's documentary on it will be on KZbin, if I remember correctly they recreated it.

[@itarry4]

@@paulqueripel3493 yhea it was a time team program that I saw.

[@kavemanthewoodbutcher]

MOAR TANKS

[@cesardiaz7277]

Can you do a video on the worlds oldest continuously operational ship?

[@alanhassall2471]

My granddad drove Sherman crab tank on d day and across Europe