Other Forces

Potential Deathtraps of WW2 - Bob Semple Tank.

The Bob Semple Tank - New Zealand's response to the lack of supply of armour to secondary fronts in WW2. I know that this ... masterpiece has featured in the discussion forums In Here, but ... I could not resist. This vehicle attempted to make use of New Zealand's native strengths to produce an armoured vehicle. Hence - it consisted of an agricultural caterpillar tractor, upon which a ramshackle sheet metal fighting compartment was constructed. The result, unfortunately, was slow, unstable, and scarcely bullet-proof. I particularly liked a snippet I came across recently in a New Zealand source - in the course of preparations for a parade including these vehicles, it was discovered that they had a distressing propensity to cut out in the event of a gear change; and that it was advisable to conduct such an operation only when the vehicle was going downhill, and then, only very carefully. Fortunately, the Bob Semple tank was never used in action. This fact undoubtedly meant that some New Zealand lives were saved. Also, some Japanese probably avoided from dying with laughter ... Best regards, JR.