can any one put me in the right direction to find out more about the hobarts funnies as my granda drove one on d-day please i have an idea of what type he drove with what my uncle has told me so i would like to see them cheers Michael
Michael, he should have been in a Churchill AVRE. so is there a big difference you will have to go easy with not been totally clued up and all that sometimes i seem to just be muddling on with my searches
Hi Michael, Have a shufti here in the 'articles' dropdown menu: D Day Tanks and countdown to 60th anniversary of D-Day from the Tank Museum Bovington Good start on some of the Funnies. Assorted decent pictures of the many varieties of AVRE here: Churchill AVRE :: United Kingdom (GBR) :: Tanks Though they seem to have skipped the ARK bridgelayer/gap-filler and stuck with the AVREs. Not an AVRE, but definitely one of the Funnies: Did it go to D-Day? Can't remember off the top of my head. There's the flame-throwing Churchill Crocodile too. That would fit as a 'funny' that he might have driven. My personal favourite Churchill Funny is the Great Eastern: A frankly somewhat loopy bridge/ramp layer that used Rockets to deploy the whole massive thing in a couple of seconds. Mad though it sounds, it appeared to work, & some were issued to 21AG, but the only known 'operational' use was when one was fired off to celebrate the German surrender! I had no idea one survived. In Canada, apparently: Churchill Great Eastern Ramp More Churchill Funny pictures here: Specialbygge på Churchill
hello Michael a few links Mark IV Churchill Avre tank - History, technical details and picture Churchill MkIII AVRE Churchill AVRE - Wikimedia Commons
Michael- There were more than Churchills in Hobarts funnies like the Valentine - Sherman - etc- which he could have been involved with - BUT he did do a Churchill special course before he went to NWE so you might just as well stick with them - the churchills had all sorts - flame thowers - bridge layers - facine layers- avre's -Bangalores- etc Shermans mainly had flails and other mine clearing units - so there was a good range of non fighting units Cheers
he always said it was a churchill that he drove . tom did you see that i posted that thread that i was telling you about cheers michael
Office of Strategic Services film report on a demonstration of "Hobart's Funnies" Very good film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKTP5oBgd50
How embarrassing, one of my first threads and wasn't I a numpty :sign_question: Mind you I still ask stupid questions Cheers Fred for the video I haven't actually seen that one.