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I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Monday, March 20, 2023

6 comments:

Stephen said...

Those will confuse a future archaeologist. "Boy, but those mid-20th century people were tiny."

CyberKitten said...

By the looks of it they're American combat engineers looking over some left behind/unused kit after the Normandy beachhead had been secured. The German kit they're 'playing' with is called the 'Goliath'.

From Wiki:

The Goliath tracked mine (German: Leichter Ladungsträger Goliath, "Goliath Light Charge Carrier") was a series of two unmanned ground vehicles used by the German Army as disposable demolition vehicles during World War II. These were the electrically powered Sd.Kfz. 302 and the petrol-engine powered Sd.Kfz. 303a and 303b. They were known as "beetle tanks" by the Allies.

They carried 60 or 100 kg (130 or 220 lb) of high explosives, depending on the model, and were intended to be used for multiple purposes, such as destroying tanks, disrupting dense infantry formations, and the demolition of buildings or bridges. Goliaths were single-use vehicles that were destroyed by the detonation of their warhead.

So... essentially suicide drones!

Stephen said...

I was just reading about the Goliaths. They became inoperable, largely, but one American squad threw grenades at the mthey realized immediately that they were packing explosives. That squad perished, according to Carrel.

CyberKitten said...

We had *much* fun using them in Company of Heroes. All very random in effect but BIG bang when they went off.

As with much of German tech at that time - ground-breaking in many ways. The West is *so* lucky that they couldn't really get their act together in WW2.

Stephen said...

That's one I've been meaning to try! The steam sale is on, so I should take a look.

If Germany hadn't wasted its resources in Africa before the Russian invasion (or limited itself to one front!), who knows. I realize Hitler needed to keep the Italians happy, but they were useless.

CyberKitten said...

Me & a friend played Company of Heroes and CoH2 to death & enjoyed it LOTS. Just downloaded 'Generation Zero' from the Steam sale. It was only around £8 so even if I get a weeks play out of it I'll be happy enough. My main gaming partner has downloaded it too so we'll be trying it out later in the week. CoH3 will get picked up @ *some* point I think.....

Hitler made a LOT of mistakes from minute one. That's one reason why I question the whole 'kill him as a baby' scenario. There's a *very* good chance that would've made WW2 much worse!