Engineering and Combat Engineering Vehicles.Allied or Axis

Did those german ones require the tank to drive over the mines first?

 

Yep. Fun huh? With the obvious results.


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For a nation that is considered to advanced that is a silly way of clearing mines. lol

Do you know if they ever changed the way they cleared mines, or did they not need to since most of the end of the war they were on the retreat?

 

Well the photos I posted are of vehicles used just after the war by a German POW unit used to clear mines in Denmark. I don't think they really had a choice on what they could use. Take a look at the thread I posted on it.

 

I missed that thread the first time as well as the link you posted here.

After reading the opening post by you, you can certainly see the Danish didn't hold ther Germans in high respect given that they mad the men line up in a line and advance across the minefield to make sure it was clear.

Did anyone ever come up with simply making a tank that was designed to do that job from a German perspective? Such as using heavier armour on the bottom and stronger tracks or was it just more reliable and better in the long run in terms of damage to the tank they way the Allies were doing it?

Why didn't they use the Allied mineclearers?

 

View attachment 5651
German remote cntrol mine clearer

2 experimental models examined by Britain and US forces
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Unknown type captured by the russians now at kubinka
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possibly there were none available, only the Crab and a few CIRD might have been available, but probably they were no longer being maintaned beyond what was needed for British reserves, more likely were the Danes aware of allied vehicles?

The French built a B1 Bis without a turret as a mine roller that may have been specifically to reduce mine fields rather than as a combat vehicle.

 

I think that the main reason was the availibility of Allied mineclearing equipment. It was easier just to use what was at hand. Unfortunately the equiment wasn't designed for the purpose.

 

looking at these Panzer 3 the roller system is similar to the centipeed rollers used by the British, which were primarily designed to set off AP mines. I would think that by running tanks over the field and disposing of the AP mines it would allow hand disposal of larger mines -except for the instances when the unfortunate towing tank hit one.

The military clearers such as Crab are only meant to clear mines fields tactically they are not thorough enough to return areas to civilian use. They often miss quite a few and sometimes cause damage to mines making further disposal difficult.

 

Here's a website that has some German civilian engineering equipment on it by a manufacturer:

English version home

The WW 2 era stuff is still a bit thin.

 

Thanks T.A. . Ill check it out.

 

This type AMRCR was one of the few rollers used by the British (lots developed few used), it was still around in NWE as a support to Crab units (fitted ot Churchills by then). Offically the Canadians had there own CIRD (canadian Indistructable Roller device) but although Sherman tanks were seen with the mounting brackets in NWE I don't know of any circumstance when they were used.

 

This looks like German equipment who most likely supplied Finland.