Hobart and his Funnies

If you're a WW2 military history nerd you'll know all about Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart (1885-1957).

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He's the bloke who came up with a range of tanks designed for specialised purposes, particularly for use in the D-Day landings.

There was one with a big reel of canvas which it laid down in front of it to prevent it, and tanks following, from getting stuck in the soft sand of the landing beaches. Another had a rotating cylinder of metal chains which thrashed the ground in front in order to explode any landmines in its path.

The DD was an amphibious Sherman tank, while the Crocodile was a Churchill tank with a flame-thrower.

Collectively these and a number of other designs were known as “Hobart’s funnies” but they proved useful.