The “Swimming” British Tank That Shocked German Defenses On D-Day скачать в хорошем качестве

The “Swimming” British Tank That Shocked German Defenses On D-Day

In the pre-dawn darkness of June sixth, nineteen forty-four, miles off the coast of Normandy, something unprecedented in the history of warfare was taking place. On the heaving decks of landing craft pitching in the rough waters of the English Channel, tank crews were preparing to do something that defied every intuition about what a tank could and could not do. They were preparing to drive their thirty-ton steel fighting machines off the ramps of their vessels and into the open sea, trusting their lives and the success of the greatest invasion in history to a canvas screen and a pair of small propellers. If the system worked, their tanks would swim through the Channel swells, emerge from the waves onto the beaches of Normandy, lower their screens, and open fire on the German defenses before the defenders had any comprehension of what was happening. If it failed, if the canvas tore, if the waves overwhelmed the fragile buoyancy system, if a single mistake was made in the complex sequence of preparation and launch, thirty tons of steel and five men would sink to the bottom of the Channel in seconds, leaving nothing but bubbles and the terrible knowledge that somewhere beneath the grey water, men were dying in darkness. This was the Sherman DD, the Duplex Drive swimming tank, one of the most audacious and technically improbable weapons ever sent into battle, and this is the story of how British engineering genius combined with extraordinary human courage to produce a weapon that would transform the calculus of amphibious warfare and help determine the outcome of the liberation of Europe. ____________________ Our videos are based on historical research using archival materials. Whenever possible, we reference books, archives, museum collections, and historical websites that preserve the legacy of agricultural engineering. Sources and References used for creating this video: Imperial War Museums – https://www.iwm.org.uk British Pathé WWII Archive – https://www.britishpathe.com The National WWII Museum – https://www.nationalww2museum.org Royal Armouries Museum – https://royalarmouries.org The Tank Museum Bovington – https://tankmuseum.org UK National Archives – https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk Library of Congress WWII Archives – https://www.loc.gov Australian War Memorial Archives – https://www.awm.gov.au Wikimedia Commons Historical Photos – https://commons.wikimedia.org