Engineering and Combat Engineering Vehicles.Allied or Axis

The Madras Sappers & Miners work on a 'corduroy' road east of Kohima, on the Jessami track, August 1944. Timber provided a cheap way of producing a reasonably durable road surface for those hard-to-reach areas where mule or air transport was not enough.

 

US Army Engineer driving bulldozer while rebuilding bridges on the Volturno River demolished by retreating Germans during WWII

 

I found a rear shot Razin!!!! . See the two shamrocks on the back of the turret on # 124?


German M15/42

 

The German 294th Infantry Division used that as a symbol.

 

The Jerry can would be relevant to these vehicles. Could accept water or gas. The British equivalent was called the Flimsy.


When the British Army first saw the German fuel cans during the invasion of Norway in 1940, the British immediately saw the advantages of the superior design.


The interior was also lined with an impervious plastic, first developed for steel beer barrels that would allow the can to be used for either water or gasoline. The can was welded, and had a gasket for a leak-proof mouth. The British used cans captured from the "gerries" (Germans) - hence "gerrycans" or "jerrycans" - in preference to their own containers as much as possible.

The Jerry Can



the British Army were equipped with simple rectangular fuel containers: a 2 Imperial gallon (9 litres) container made of pressed steel and a 4 gallon (18 litres) container made from tin plate. While the 9 litre - 2 gallon containers were relatively strong, they were expensive to produce. The 18 litre - 4 gallon containers, which were mainly manufactured in the third world, were cheap and plentiful but they were not very robust. Consequently they were colloquially known as flimsies.

While adequate for transportation by road in Europe, the flimsies proved to be extremely unsatisfactory during the North African Campaign and severely hampered the operation of the British 8th Army. The transportation of fuel over rough terrain often resulted in much of the fuel being lost as the containers were easily punctured. The resultant leakages also made the transportation vehicles liable to fuel fires.

 

What do 5 gallon gas cans have to do with engineering vehicles?

 

I agree T.A. The subject of the thread is clearly stated " Engineering and Combat Engineering Vehicles.Allied or Axis ".

 

Tank With Mine Detonator Crosses Bridge American soldiers of the 25th Armored Engineer Battalion experiment with a tank outfitted with a mine detonator as it crosses a river on a steel treadway floating bridge. This is in preparation for crossing the Rhine River shortly in the future. Germany[?], ca. 1945.

 

They supply gas to engineering vehicles. & would be carried on engineering vehicles.

 

Photo of the Aunt Jemima under test-probably in England 1944

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Steve

 

And yet has nothing to do with the subject . Engineering and Combat Engineering Vehicles.Allied or Axis. Might as well mention a tollbox. Those are carried too.

 

Thanks Jeff .

 

Note the projecting plate on the rear of the tank. This is to allow a second tank to help push the mine roller tank.

 

When did they replace the flails with the rollers?

 

Im not sure when. I know that the Soviets were using them in 1942 and 1943. The British were using the flails from the start due to it being cheaper and lighter but used rollers too. Ill look around and see. Unless someone more knowledgable then me can help .

 

The US tested a number of alternatives to the flail. The problem with the flail was that it raised alot of dust, didn't always set off every mine in its path, threw alot of debris onto the vehicle using it including the occasional mine, and really did alot of damage to the ground it was used on making it unsuitable for clearing say, a paved road.

The US tried rollers like Aunt Jemima which proved marginal due to their weight. These frequently got stuck in soft ground immobilizing the vehicle. Plows were also tried. These proved more successful and generally are what nations used today.

The Soviets tried rollers and plows and still employ both. They first started using such equipment about the end of 1943.

 

The U.S. T3 scorpion was used at Anzio and the drive toward Rome by 6617th mine clearing Co. (16th Armored engineers) Ist Armored div. In all a total of 41 were made. It was decided that they were unsatisfactory by the users in service.
View attachment 5640

The U.S. Army used British M4A4 Crab flails in NWE and Italy in 1944-45.
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The U.S.M.C. had an improvised Flail unit in November 1944, whether it was actually used I don't know but it was probably tested on Bouganville.
View attachment 5642

T5E3 Mine ploughs were deployed to the Pacific theatre but I've not seen any photos of them in use.

A M4A3 Flail tank was developed in Japan for use in Korea -number unknown.
View attachment 5643
I would like to see some more photos of the Korean War Flail.

The T1E3 and T1E1 mine roller were used in NWE from Sept.1944 to at least Feb. 1945

Ensure 202 mine roller was used in Vietnam on M48A3 tanks.

Steve

 

Would you rather use the Allied mine clearers or these? LOL

http://www.ww2f.com/battle-europe/24491-minenkommando-d-nemark-german-mine-clearing-denmark.html ​