I was interested to read Tom's remark about the relative merits of steel v rubber tracks on ice. In a contemporary account Tom Sloan of A Sqn 1 Lothian & Border Yeomanry records how cold that winter was but that their experience of rubber and steel tracks was somewhat different. 25th Jan 45 - "All in before long, but we could count on the rubber-tracks beating the steel ones by about 3/4 hour. It was every tank for itself – the more tanks we could get into harbour quickly the better: rest & warmth were essential if we were to keep operating at this rate. The Troop Leader often expected to have to go out to the rescue of either or both of the “steel-tracks”, but to the credit of their crews they “got there” every time under their own steam and in reasonable time; but their adventures on the road were too numerous to record here!" 13th Jan 45 - "The Troop was ordered to join “A Sqn” of the 4/7th Dragoon Guards. It was with some little difficulty that we traversed the 5 miles between them and us – our steel-tracked tanks already demonstrated how almost uncontrollable they could be on icy road surfaces. We found the 4/7th busy fitting extra “spuds” to their tanks to give them a firmer grip on treacherous surfaces. Thanks to our jib-arms we could not fit them to our Crabs." Steel tracks seemed certainly to be very poor on icy roads in his experience, Would there have been that much difference on mud/earth/grassland ? Would think that "spuds" or track extensions would have been more important on loose surfaces ?
As also is confirmed by the British veterans who fought in the Ardennes. There were many skids and crashes during this battle. Steel tracks on icy roads had no grip and turned vehicles literally into Curling Stones. The Bren Carriers were useless in the Ardennes and for most of the time left out of battle.Tanks had a difficult time. Those with rubber tracks fared somewhat better. Track extensions proved useful in snow and mud (loose surfaces), but could not save a tank on an icy road.
I understand that in Britain and elsewhere in northern Europe1940 was the coldest winter. Since then 1947 and 1963, I remember still sledging March 1947. Not WW2 I know: In January 1963 I was Mate of a Baltic boat, we had quite a battle getting through the southern Baltic. When we were approachiong the Thames we were diverted to Ipswich. That was a new port for us, so we picked up a pilot, who said: the Orwell is frozen so I am putting you to anchor. The old man looked across at me and said 'his wife is expecting a baby, so we are going up' - the ice was only a couple of inches thick. The local paper said 'British ship ice frees Ipswich'. There was still ice and snow in southern England when that baby was born, three weeks later.
I have seen a couple of references to what must actually have been an order for tracked vehicles to stay off the roads in early January 1945. Has anyone else? And as a general aside the Soviet opinion of British tracks seem to have been pretty negative. Also I'm assuming that most tracked vehicles had only steel tracks.
That's what actually happened. Have a look at the photograph here: 16th December 1944 Battle of the Bulge begins
Right! Speaking of 51 Highland Division, the bits I was remembering had to do with their anti-tank regiment. Jan 5 - "CO visited 243 Bty who were unable to shoot SPs owing to ice on roads making it impossible to move tracked vehicles" Jan 7 - some regimental movement occuring, "Roads being difficult owing to ice and snow, the move in places was somewhat chaotic" Jan 8 - "After a night when most main bodies spent their night on the roads owing to traffic confusion on icy roads, the Btys moved to their areas" Jan 16 - "SP of 241 Battery disabled after leaving the road and rolling down a bank"
Ah, that must have been the one on this picture. I still wonder what happened to the crew: To quote Ken Tout - of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry - with whom I spent several days in the Ardennes: "There was not so much difficulty in persuading the Shermans uphill, although even that progress was tortuous and halting, sliding, swerving. On the downhill stretches the machines took over and chose their own route, their own speed, their own destination. Drivers hung on to driving controls and hoped for survival. Commanders stayed in their turrets and prepared to jump. The rest of the crew ran alongside, often in peril from the sliding hulk, throwing logs, rocks, any odd object in front of the churning tracks to try to give these some grip in the snow or ice. In no way now could commanders order those delicate manoeuvers in the face of the enemy. It was straight up and down country, slide halt and blast the visible countryside with canon fire. And then begin the next incredible climb."
In the case of the Archer, the WD said no casualties, so perhaps the vehicle only ended up upside-down when it was being dragged out of the ditch. I also remember reading about some mixed feelings from the Guards who had the captured Panther "Cuckoo" as it could trundle along in the ice and snow much better than their Churchills.
