Alternative History Armoured Fighting Vehicles Part 3
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A fascinating historical insight no doubt, but what has this to do with either a bit of Independence Day banter or AH AFVs? 🤔
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Is there anything worn under your kilt?
In WW2, a British newspaper (I think The Daily Mirror) reported an offensive in Tunisia under the headline "Eighth Army push bottles up Germans". A flagrant breach of the Geneva Convention.
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Well we (US) didn't really save them the first time, just provided the extra resources to help them win instead of getting a stalemate.
this is a kit that is available (60eu)
but i am assuming that at least this howitser could also be fitted to the lvt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3_howitzer
edit: probably best the M3A2 with shield(but without undercarriage):
edit2: even found kits of it, scalemates is a treasure trove again
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Having seen this latest offering, it made me go back and re-read your original post. I find that I must apologies for my misunderstanding having mistakenly assumed that you had mis-spelled the word ‘arse’ and written ‘ass’ instead. Now I see that you clearly did mean to write ‘ass’ and were actually referring to that annoying German habit of donkey kidnapping - sadly, something of a blight on their national character. Thankfully, this is not something I, or my extended family, have been subject to, as we don’t actually own any donkeys. Perhaps you have me confused with someone else. Nevertheless, your concern and that of the wider North American community and extended Commonwealth over the health and safety of those cheeky long-eared quadrupeds is noted and very much appreciated. 👍
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i wondered how long it would take to realize from what geolocation i was answering lol
OK, here's something to play with in the "earlier AFV development" genre:
Picture it, Konigsberg, 1905. It is Easter, and a wealthy Junker family has just finished dinner. As the women retreat to the place women retreat to to do things women do whilst in retreat, the men of the family sip fine brandy, smoke expansive cigars, and talk of the world. The old patriarch turns to his youngest son, Fritz, and continues a conversation he started before dinner. "So, tell me a little more about these modern forestry methods the Americans are using."
Fritz clears his throat. "The loggers and their equipment is not much different that we use here." Fritz has taken on the responsibility of managing some of the family's larger and more lucrative woodlands in the south and east. "Many of the loggers are in fact from Germany, or the children of emigres. Most of their logging in the north goes on during the winter. I took photos with my Kodak." Fritz hands a stack of pictures to his father, who looks at each and passes them to his other sons. The old man makes various grunting, tching, and hrummphing sounds to indicate his interest or contempt for what he sees. One picture elicits a small chuckle.
"What's this one, Fritz? Some sort of steam train for dragging sleds?"
Fritz knows exactly what picture his father is looking at. "That's called a Lombard, invented by a blacksmith in Maine. It's like a locomotive, yes, but doesn't need rails." The old man looks up at him, quizzically. One of his brothers takes the picture and peers intently at it. Fritz continues "It is a facinating machine. See, here, in the back. The driving wheels have been replaced with sprockets, like a bicycle, but larger. Much larger. And this chain, this wide chain, wraps around both, and has large cleats that grip the ground. It spreads the load out across a large area, and acts as a continuous roadbed."
"How does it steer?" asks his brother Otto.
"There's a sled bob under the front that the steersman controls with a big wheel, like an auto."
"Does it burn coal?" his another brother, Manfred, asks.
"I suppose it could," Fritz replies, "but they usually fuel them with wood, since it is plentiful and free."
The old man takes the picture back and looks at it some more. "Can it really haul all those sleds of logs at once? How fast will it go?"
"Yes, they ice the roads so the sleds move easier. They can run at perhaps 8 kilometers per hour."
The old man harrumphed. "Too slow. Our locomotives run over 200km per hour today."
"Yes, but it isn't a locomotive. Its something different, like a traction engine - it's able to do the work of 60 horses. And it's able to run on snow, or poor and unimproved roads in the summer. They can swap out wheels for the sled bob in the front, if they want. But they do so little logging in the summer months, it isn't too common."
Manfred looks interested now. "So, this thing will run in the summer, too? With wheels to steer it?"
"Yes, Manny. You look a little more interested now."
Manfred leaned back in his chair, took a sip of his brandy, and contemplated. His hand, tanned dark by the tropical sun, continued to swirl the snifter. "You know, we are working on the Central Line right now - we should be in Tabora in a couple years. It is rough going, slow going, and takes an awful toll on the draft animals and porters." He takes the picture and points at the Lombard machine. "This, or something like it, could drag a train of wagons along filled with men, supplies, equipement - on the savannah it would have no problems covering 100km a day, or more. We could leapfrog our way across the countryside, and start working on the difficult engineering projects like river crossings and cut grades before the main line arrives, so there would be fewer slowdowns. We could shave months off the project."
(For full disclosure, the picture is of a Phoenix Log hauler, which was a licensed version of the Lombard built in Wisconsin. I liked the picture better than the Lombard pictures I have found, so I used it instead.)
Picture it, Konigsberg, 1905. It is Easter, and a wealthy Junker family has just finished dinner. As the women retreat to the place women retreat to to do things women do whilst in retreat, the men of the family sip fine brandy, smoke expansive cigars, and talk of the world. The old patriarch turns to his youngest son, Fritz, and continues a conversation he started before dinner. "So, tell me a little more about these modern forestry methods the Americans are using."
Fritz clears his throat. "The loggers and their equipment is not much different that we use here." Fritz has taken on the responsibility of managing some of the family's larger and more lucrative woodlands in the south and east. "Many of the loggers are in fact from Germany, or the children of emigres. Most of their logging in the north goes on during the winter. I took photos with my Kodak." Fritz hands a stack of pictures to his father, who looks at each and passes them to his other sons. The old man makes various grunting, tching, and hrummphing sounds to indicate his interest or contempt for what he sees. One picture elicits a small chuckle.
"What's this one, Fritz? Some sort of steam train for dragging sleds?"
Fritz knows exactly what picture his father is looking at. "That's called a Lombard, invented by a blacksmith in Maine. It's like a locomotive, yes, but doesn't need rails." The old man looks up at him, quizzically. One of his brothers takes the picture and peers intently at it. Fritz continues "It is a facinating machine. See, here, in the back. The driving wheels have been replaced with sprockets, like a bicycle, but larger. Much larger. And this chain, this wide chain, wraps around both, and has large cleats that grip the ground. It spreads the load out across a large area, and acts as a continuous roadbed."
"How does it steer?" asks his brother Otto.
"There's a sled bob under the front that the steersman controls with a big wheel, like an auto."
"Does it burn coal?" his another brother, Manfred, asks.
"I suppose it could," Fritz replies, "but they usually fuel them with wood, since it is plentiful and free."
The old man takes the picture back and looks at it some more. "Can it really haul all those sleds of logs at once? How fast will it go?"
"Yes, they ice the roads so the sleds move easier. They can run at perhaps 8 kilometers per hour."
The old man harrumphed. "Too slow. Our locomotives run over 200km per hour today."
"Yes, but it isn't a locomotive. Its something different, like a traction engine - it's able to do the work of 60 horses. And it's able to run on snow, or poor and unimproved roads in the summer. They can swap out wheels for the sled bob in the front, if they want. But they do so little logging in the summer months, it isn't too common."
Manfred looks interested now. "So, this thing will run in the summer, too? With wheels to steer it?"
"Yes, Manny. You look a little more interested now."
Manfred leaned back in his chair, took a sip of his brandy, and contemplated. His hand, tanned dark by the tropical sun, continued to swirl the snifter. "You know, we are working on the Central Line right now - we should be in Tabora in a couple years. It is rough going, slow going, and takes an awful toll on the draft animals and porters." He takes the picture and points at the Lombard machine. "This, or something like it, could drag a train of wagons along filled with men, supplies, equipement - on the savannah it would have no problems covering 100km a day, or more. We could leapfrog our way across the countryside, and start working on the difficult engineering projects like river crossings and cut grades before the main line arrives, so there would be fewer slowdowns. We could shave months off the project."
(For full disclosure, the picture is of a Phoenix Log hauler, which was a licensed version of the Lombard built in Wisconsin. I liked the picture better than the Lombard pictures I have found, so I used it instead.)
They put flamethrowers and turrets from the M8 HMC armed with 75mm howitzers, on them OTL, forming the LVT(A)-4.
Thank you. I'll continue:
East African Railway Company
Dar es Salaam
May 22, 1906
Dearest Otto,
Let me be the first to congratulate you on your promotion to Captain and assignment to the General Staff - though with as long as it takes letters to travel from here to Berlin, I am no doubt well behind others. And extra congratulations at being posted to the Railroad Department, where that big brain of yours will be more useful than just filling out a fancy hat. It is complete coincidence that you and I are both into railroads now, though I'm perhaps a bit more hands-on than you at the moment.
Next time you see Fritzy, let him know his caterpillar-locomotives are proving their worth down here. The first four we brought over from America proved their worth during the construction of the Central Line last year - once we figured out what they could and could not do. Just so you know, they can't float - ha ha. They can haul a steam shovel and crew across hundreds of miles of unimproved grassland, and by the time the rail line gets to a road cut or other obstacle, the roadbed is ready for rails. The local porters have taken to calling them "Tembo za Chuma" - Iron Elephants. Thanks in part to them, we are making unprecedented time on our construction and are months ahead of shedule. There is probably a lesson in here for an ambitious young logistician to learn - but what do I know, I am only a lowly enginneer.
What might interest a military man like yourself is what some of my fitters have cooked up in the shops here. We have been having a bit of native trouble down here recently, which I know you've read about, and if you haven't Mother will be glad to inform you of all the myriad of dangers I face each day. In February, we lost one of our Tembos to an ambush. The engine and wagons were burned, and the crew and passengers either slaughtered gruesomely or taken prisoner and disappeared into the brush. This left us with only two Tembos in operation, and the new license-built versions from Union Giesserei won't be arriving for another two months. We were anxious about losing any more men or machines, but a solution has presented itself. One of our foremen is a Boer, and had seen a traction engine that the English fitted with armor during their war in the south. It took us about a month to assemble this, but I think you'll appreciate it.
There isn't much in the way of armor - it is just mild boiler plate on the sides and rear cab, only about 8mm thick. We were able to borrow a piece of actual armor plate a full 10mm thick from the shipyard here, which makes up the drivers door. It is more than enough to keep out the arrows and spears of the insurgent tribesmen, and is enough to stop the occasional musket ball. Heaven help the crewmen if the insurgents capture some mausers, though. We've had to move the conductor into the front compartment with the steersman, and install a telephone between him and the engineman for communication. There's also a telephone line to the wagons behind. We added some similar armor to one of the wagons, which we position at tail of the road-train. The Colonial government has given us a squad of Askari troopers for security, and have promised either a field cannon or Maxim gun if the unrest continues. The extra weight of the armor costs us a wagon of hauling capacity, but it has been though one skirmish so far without any casualties on our side. Naturally, the Askari troops have christened her "Vifaru," which means Rhinoceros. The thought is when the new centipede locomotives arrive from Germany, the remaining Lombard is armored as well, and dedicated security road-trains are built to protect our construction. Two Vifaru should improve our situation. If we can raise the third out of the Buhu River and refurbish it, I'll christen it Kiboko.
That's all for now, brother. I hope I can come home again for Easter, I do want to meet this mystery woman you mentioned in your last letter. Be safe, and in good health.
Manfred
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So, my German is pretty lousy, but google tells me that an engineer in Deutsch-Ostafrika working for the Ostafrikanische Eisenbahngesellschaft would coin the term Dampfhundertfüßer, and the machine above becomes the Gepanzerter Dampfhundertfüßer.
I've been trying to find a usable line drawing of an M2 105mm howitzer but so far no luck but I'm still looking.
In the meantime I drew a pic of LVT with a 75mm gun, not sure how well this would work out but it could give some support fire.
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