Quote:
Originally Posted by GJO
I am sorry if I inferred that WWII German tanks had diesel engines. At the time, I doubt if the average British gunner would have known the difference anyway. The smoke on starting up was probably from valve gear and upper cylinder lubricating oil. I guess the exhaust (and noise) was minimal compared to firing up an L60 engine as used in the 1970s Chieftain tanks. Incidentally, the ARS (Army Rumour Service) always held that the L60 (and this was a compression ignition engine) was derived from a German WWII design.
As a matter of general interest one of the things that my father remembers most about the German equipment that they overran during the advance from Normandy is that it was extremely antiquated - they encountered very few items of modern armour and a very high proportion of the German artillery and support transport was horsedrawn - the smell of dead horses haunts him to this day. The reasons for the latter could have been due to fuel shortages or the fact that the German high command had been taken by surprise but I think things would have been a lot tougher if they had deployed significantly more modern tanks.
By the way, while working in REME workshops, I enjoyed the privilege of working on Rolls Royce Meteor engines which were, IMHO, one of the best tank engines of the era.
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Wow! That would have been very cool! I did not mean to direct that to you, I have heard the diesel thing so much that sometimes I jump the gun. It is all good.
The one strange thing about the Whermacht was the fact that while it had very good tanks, and the worlds first half-tracks to be used as personnel carriers, these were for Panzer units and Panzergrenadier units. most artillery, as you mentioned, was still horse drawn. Part of that was due to fuel, part to the war situation, but a big part of it was the lack of planning on the High Command's part. They were so focused on tanks that they did not develop a truck like the Allies Deuce and a half. Heck, as a German WWII reenactor, I was shocked to find out how many motorized units had Bicycles instead of trucks.