German Decoy Tank

I found this Signal Corps image in Still Photos on 26 June 2009 at the
NARA.

The caption reads:

"LT Matin M. Latter, Cleveland, Ohio, examines mock
German Tank mounted on small two man tank near
Wissenfels, Germany. These tanks were used as
decoys to draw fire from allied planes. Lieutenant
Latter is with the Ordnance Battalion of the 1st U.S. Army."

Date: April 1945.

Photgrapher: T/5 Charles B. Sellers.

If anyone wants a high-resolution copy of this photo,
just let me know.


Dave

 

The allies did a similar thing. Prior to the landings at Normandy the allies carried out Operation Fortitude, the codename for the deception operations concerning the invasion. The operation was split up into Fortitude north and fortitude south and was part of the larger Operation Bodyguard which was the overall deception in Europe 1944. Some of the measures they took included tricking the Germans with inflatable or cardboard tanks and artillery.

 

In the African desert the British, using the stage magician Jaspar Maskylin (sp) did the exact opposite. They disguised tanks under clamshell outer shapes that made them appear to be transport trucks complete with covered canvas beds. That magic-man also "hid" Alexandria Harbor by transport it to a different location. This was accomplished by putting the real port under strict blackout, and lighting up another area with the exact same shape as Alexandria. When seen from the air, at night, the deception worked and the Luftwaffe bombed the dummy port over and over.

As I understand it, his "dazzle" search light system of hiding the Suez Canal from Luftwaffe night bombers remains a classified technology, still.

 

I wonder if this was actually used for infantry anti-tank training. It seems to be odd to create a decoy based on a tracked chassis which would be destroyed in the attack.

Here's another decoy from Normandy:
Dummy German Panther Tanks: WWII Photo Feature

 

I'm pretty sure it was.

A close look at the picture in the first post shows a resemblance to the T-34 rather than any German tank. The slope of the side armour, the shape of the turret and mantlet, and the length of the gun all seem to be based on the Soviet tank.

 

I guess almost certainly a training vehicle in the first shot too.
It might have been used as a decoy but I doubt that was it's primary purpose.

A not dissimilar T34 mockup recently posted on a.n.other forum, from the Bundesarchiv:


~A

 

The Germans should have made thousands and thousands of dummy tanks and placed them all over Normandy.

 

Why? The end result would have been the same... ANd it's not like a couple of extra dummy tanks would've prevented the destruction of the German forces there anyway. The 8th AF bombing campaigns were just to extensive to be fooled by decoys. Probably you'd just increase the ammount of bombs dropped in Europe by a bit.




Cheers...

 

I'm thinking about "dummy tank" battalions attached to every Panzer division. The Dummy tank would be painted like the real unit and be essentially ejectable shells driven by Kubelwagons during combat to disorient the Allies in counterattacks and defensive measures.

 

Were those two-man tanks a captured french type?

 

I wonder if they aren't built on captured Polish "tankettes", looking at the suspension and the strange "wedge" shaped front-end they look sorta like this one:

Goto:

Poland's TK and TKS Tankettes - World War II Vehicles, Tanks, and Airplanes

Perhaps with the turret either removed, or hidden under the "mock" hull itself?

The suspension doesn't look either French, or Czech, or Italian, or even Soviet small tankette. I know it isn't a Bren (universal) Carrier, but it might well be a captured Polish TK-TKS.

Just a guess of course!

 

Yes, prior to the landing on Normandy, The allies used dummy tanks to fool the germans into thinking the landing would be in calais

 

Lots of great photos online of some of the Allied dummy inflatable tanks.