1 00:00:15,410 --> 00:00:29,370 Speaker 1: Pushkin d day has dawned, and the gray brooding skies 2 00:00:30,010 --> 00:00:35,930 Speaker 1: on gray storm tossed seas. Thousands upon thousands of gray 3 00:00:36,090 --> 00:00:41,170 Speaker 1: warships are descending on the French coast. Ahead lies a 4 00:00:41,210 --> 00:00:46,690 Speaker 1: broad ribbon of yellow sand, codenamed Omaha Beach by the 5 00:00:46,730 --> 00:00:50,490 Speaker 1: Allied military planners. In happier times it was a magnet 6 00:00:50,530 --> 00:00:55,690 Speaker 1: for vacationers, but now the gently sloping sands are strewn 7 00:00:55,770 --> 00:01:01,690 Speaker 1: with explosive mines, barbed wire, and fearsome metal obstacles designed 8 00:01:01,690 --> 00:01:06,210 Speaker 1: to rip apart any boat trying to land. Verdant green 9 00:01:06,370 --> 00:01:10,290 Speaker 1: hills rise behind the beach, and hid amongst their folds 10 00:01:10,290 --> 00:01:16,650 Speaker 1: are trenches, machine gun nests, and cannon emplacements. This is 11 00:01:16,890 --> 00:01:22,130 Speaker 1: Hitler's Atlantic War, part of the three thousand mile chain 12 00:01:22,290 --> 00:01:27,010 Speaker 1: of fortifications built from the Spanish frontier to the Arctic 13 00:01:27,170 --> 00:01:31,370 Speaker 1: tip of Norway. The Nazis have sunk vast sums of 14 00:01:31,410 --> 00:01:36,730 Speaker 1: money billions into the project, with just one aim to 15 00:01:36,850 --> 00:01:43,930 Speaker 1: stop any Allied invasion dead in the surf. The battle 16 00:01:44,010 --> 00:01:48,090 Speaker 1: chips offshore are hammering these fortifications with their big guns. 17 00:01:48,570 --> 00:01:52,290 Speaker 1: But while the Germans are many things, they're not stupid. 18 00:01:53,570 --> 00:01:57,410 Speaker 1: Their pillboxes are angled to make them impervious to these shells, 19 00:01:57,890 --> 00:02:02,450 Speaker 1: whilst still giving the defenders inside a perfect sideline to 20 00:02:02,490 --> 00:02:08,690 Speaker 1: shoot left and right along Omaha Beach. Each hour is 21 00:02:08,730 --> 00:02:13,090 Speaker 1: appro and when the first American troops storm ashore, they'll 22 00:02:13,090 --> 00:02:17,250 Speaker 1: be at the mercy of this withering barrage. Running across 23 00:02:17,490 --> 00:02:21,570 Speaker 1: hundreds of yards of open sand under German fire will 24 00:02:21,610 --> 00:02:25,250 Speaker 1: be a task as murderous as anything seen in World 25 00:02:25,290 --> 00:02:31,650 Speaker 1: War One. The death toll could be enormous, and that's 26 00:02:31,770 --> 00:02:38,970 Speaker 1: where an unlikely secret weapon comes in. We're aboard a 27 00:02:39,090 --> 00:02:42,570 Speaker 1: landing craft with men of the seven hundred and forty 28 00:02:42,610 --> 00:02:47,130 Speaker 1: first Tank Battalion. These tank crews are scheduled to hit 29 00:02:47,170 --> 00:02:50,330 Speaker 1: the beach ahead of the infantry, with orders to train 30 00:02:50,490 --> 00:02:54,130 Speaker 1: their cannon on the German defenders, knocking them out before 31 00:02:54,130 --> 00:02:59,170 Speaker 1: they can annihilate the poor foot soldiers following behind. The 32 00:02:59,170 --> 00:03:03,090 Speaker 1: seven hundred and forty First tanks won't be arriving by 33 00:03:03,210 --> 00:03:08,610 Speaker 1: landing craft, though, in a cunning twist, these tanks will 34 00:03:08,690 --> 00:03:13,930 Speaker 1: swim into battle all by themselves. The Germans have never 35 00:03:13,970 --> 00:03:18,290 Speaker 1: seen anything like it in the water. Our tanks look 36 00:03:18,490 --> 00:03:22,970 Speaker 1: just like small boats, says tank crewman Private Bill Murkert. 37 00:03:23,730 --> 00:03:25,690 Speaker 1: Will be a big surprise for the Germans. When we 38 00:03:25,770 --> 00:03:31,890 Speaker 1: come out of the surf. These special tanks are able 39 00:03:31,930 --> 00:03:35,210 Speaker 1: to swim thanks to a set of propellers and a 40 00:03:35,250 --> 00:03:40,610 Speaker 1: flimsy looking canvas screen allowing them to float. It's taken 41 00:03:40,690 --> 00:03:45,210 Speaker 1: a huge effort to make these Sherman tanks seaworthy, but 42 00:03:45,490 --> 00:03:48,650 Speaker 1: ally generals think it's the best way to reduce bloodshed 43 00:03:48,650 --> 00:03:53,570 Speaker 1: on the invasion beaches. But can you ever really make 44 00:03:53,650 --> 00:04:00,490 Speaker 1: a thirty three ton tank seaworthy? Even by the standards 45 00:04:00,530 --> 00:04:04,810 Speaker 1: of the English Channel. D Day June sixth, nineteen forty 46 00:04:04,850 --> 00:04:09,730 Speaker 1: four is something of a washout. It's the word summer 47 00:04:09,770 --> 00:04:13,890 Speaker 1: weather in memory and more akin to the storms of winter. 48 00:04:15,410 --> 00:04:20,010 Speaker 1: The sea's pretty heavy. Notes Bill Murkert brought his d 49 00:04:20,170 --> 00:04:23,730 Speaker 1: D tank. He never practiced in this kind of weather. 50 00:04:25,570 --> 00:04:29,010 Speaker 1: But more than three miles from shore, a yellow signal 51 00:04:29,050 --> 00:04:33,690 Speaker 1: flag still goes up. The landing craft drops its ramp 52 00:04:34,330 --> 00:04:39,450 Speaker 1: and builds. Sherman tank platters forward and into the waves. 53 00:04:43,730 --> 00:05:12,610 Speaker 1: I'm Tim Harford and you're listening to another cautionary tale. 54 00:05:12,810 --> 00:05:15,930 Speaker 1: The tank was a defining weapon of World War II. 55 00:05:16,890 --> 00:05:20,570 Speaker 1: German panzas had defeated Poland in the first weeks of 56 00:05:20,570 --> 00:05:26,650 Speaker 1: the conflict, then rolled across Western Europe. These clanking, clattering 57 00:05:26,730 --> 00:05:30,970 Speaker 1: guns on tracks that bested the mighty French army and 58 00:05:31,130 --> 00:05:36,170 Speaker 1: thrown the British back into the sea. The blitzquig tactics 59 00:05:36,210 --> 00:05:39,850 Speaker 1: of Hitler's tank commanders had taken them to the gates 60 00:05:39,890 --> 00:05:43,450 Speaker 1: of Moscow and had very nearly swept the British out 61 00:05:43,450 --> 00:05:47,250 Speaker 1: of North Africa. It was all very annoying for Prime 62 00:05:47,250 --> 00:05:51,450 Speaker 1: Minister Winston Churchill. During the First World War, he had 63 00:05:51,490 --> 00:05:54,570 Speaker 1: been in charge of the Royal Navy and had diverted 64 00:05:54,650 --> 00:05:58,530 Speaker 1: a fraction of its immense budget to fund the building 65 00:05:58,610 --> 00:06:04,170 Speaker 1: of so called land ships. These weren't ships at all. Rather, 66 00:06:04,610 --> 00:06:08,490 Speaker 1: they were primitive tanks, and thanks to forward thinkers such 67 00:06:08,530 --> 00:06:11,850 Speaker 1: as church the British had enjoyed an early lead in 68 00:06:11,890 --> 00:06:16,930 Speaker 1: the development of armored warfare, but this foundational work was 69 00:06:17,010 --> 00:06:22,090 Speaker 1: regrettably squandered at war's end. The defeated Germans were keen 70 00:06:22,210 --> 00:06:24,850 Speaker 1: to learn all about the tanks that had helped seal 71 00:06:24,930 --> 00:06:28,850 Speaker 1: their fate, but the British officer class preferred to return 72 00:06:28,930 --> 00:06:32,450 Speaker 1: to a more traditional way of waging war on involving 73 00:06:32,690 --> 00:06:40,370 Speaker 1: stirrups and swords and big beautiful horses. That neglect has 74 00:06:40,490 --> 00:06:44,890 Speaker 1: robbed us of all the fruits of this invention, lamented Churchill. 75 00:06:45,250 --> 00:06:49,210 Speaker 1: In the darkest days of World War II, these fruits 76 00:06:49,250 --> 00:06:55,170 Speaker 1: have been reaped by the enemy with terrible consequences. Churchill 77 00:06:55,610 --> 00:07:02,330 Speaker 1: adored adventures and adventurers. He loved bold schemes and unorthodox 78 00:07:02,410 --> 00:07:07,250 Speaker 1: thinkers almost to a fault. Angered that his army had 79 00:07:07,290 --> 00:07:10,370 Speaker 1: been left behind in the tank ray, the new Prime 80 00:07:10,370 --> 00:07:14,730 Speaker 1: Minister decided to back his hunch and promote one Percy 81 00:07:15,010 --> 00:07:20,930 Speaker 1: Cleghorn Stanley Hobart. Hobart was a fifty six year old 82 00:07:21,010 --> 00:07:24,970 Speaker 1: lance corporal in the Home Guard, a ragtag army of 83 00:07:24,970 --> 00:07:28,850 Speaker 1: old men and teenage boys who guarded against the Nazi 84 00:07:28,890 --> 00:07:33,370 Speaker 1: invasion in their spare time, occasionally armed only with carving 85 00:07:33,450 --> 00:07:39,250 Speaker 1: knives tied to broomsticks. Of course, Hobart hadn't always been 86 00:07:39,250 --> 00:07:42,210 Speaker 1: a lowly lance corporal. He had been a major general 87 00:07:42,250 --> 00:07:46,690 Speaker 1: in the regular Army and a fanatic about tanks. He 88 00:07:46,730 --> 00:07:50,450 Speaker 1: wrote about them, he talked about them, and finally badgered 89 00:07:50,490 --> 00:07:53,490 Speaker 1: his superiors into giving him command of a new tank 90 00:07:53,570 --> 00:07:58,570 Speaker 1: brigade to test his theories. The German high command rather 91 00:07:58,610 --> 00:08:02,690 Speaker 1: admired his work, copying his ideas so much so that 92 00:08:02,850 --> 00:08:07,210 Speaker 1: after one panzer exercise. It was said to have raised 93 00:08:07,250 --> 00:08:13,850 Speaker 1: a Champagne toast in his honor to Hobart. Hobart's fellow 94 00:08:13,890 --> 00:08:19,530 Speaker 1: British officers, however, found his dedication to armored warfare rather tiresome. 95 00:08:20,570 --> 00:08:24,170 Speaker 1: Hobo was drummed out of the army, and his many 96 00:08:24,330 --> 00:08:28,970 Speaker 1: enemies in the General Staff fought fiercely any campaign to 97 00:08:29,010 --> 00:08:34,370 Speaker 1: bring him back. Winston Churchill was not, however, a man 98 00:08:34,450 --> 00:08:37,730 Speaker 1: to accept defeat, so he wrote to the Chief of 99 00:08:37,770 --> 00:08:42,490 Speaker 1: the Imperial General Staff, this is a time to try 100 00:08:42,570 --> 00:08:46,690 Speaker 1: men of force and vision, and not to be exclusively 101 00:08:46,810 --> 00:08:51,610 Speaker 1: confined to those who are judged thoroughly safe by conventional standards. 102 00:08:52,330 --> 00:08:55,930 Speaker 1: Will you kindly make sure the appointment is made the 103 00:08:56,170 --> 00:09:02,970 Speaker 1: earliest moment. Further plots were hatched to have Hobart pensioned off, 104 00:09:03,490 --> 00:09:07,010 Speaker 1: but he survived them all and eventually found himself in 105 00:09:07,130 --> 00:09:11,130 Speaker 1: charge of a unit that was pretty experimental, even by 106 00:09:11,170 --> 00:09:18,610 Speaker 1: his standards. The seventy ninth Armored Division was unique. Its 107 00:09:18,690 --> 00:09:22,010 Speaker 1: role was to develop and deploy on the battlefield tanks 108 00:09:22,170 --> 00:09:27,050 Speaker 1: capable of quite remarkable feats. Feats all intended to allow 109 00:09:27,170 --> 00:09:32,930 Speaker 1: the Allies to crack Hitler's Atlantic Wall and invade Europe. 110 00:09:33,010 --> 00:09:35,770 Speaker 1: If there was a minefield in the way, Hobart had 111 00:09:35,770 --> 00:09:38,530 Speaker 1: a tank which was fitted with a rotating drum of 112 00:09:38,730 --> 00:09:43,690 Speaker 1: chains to flail the ground and clear the explosives. If 113 00:09:43,690 --> 00:09:47,290 Speaker 1: the Nazis had dug a deep anti tank ditch and 114 00:09:47,370 --> 00:09:50,050 Speaker 1: the seventy ninth could bring up a tank carrying its 115 00:09:50,050 --> 00:09:55,890 Speaker 1: own section of bridge, Hobart had tanks for every job imaginable, 116 00:09:56,370 --> 00:10:01,370 Speaker 1: able to blast and burn and generally overcome anything Hitler's 117 00:10:01,410 --> 00:10:06,130 Speaker 1: Invasion Beaches had to offer. These vehicles became known as 118 00:10:06,330 --> 00:10:14,410 Speaker 1: Hobart's Funnies, and of course included a swimming tank. The 119 00:10:14,450 --> 00:10:18,410 Speaker 1: idea of a swimming tank had been floating around for decades, 120 00:10:18,970 --> 00:10:23,850 Speaker 1: but under a cloak of secrecy, the British now perfected 121 00:10:23,930 --> 00:10:31,170 Speaker 1: the concept well almost To stay afloat, DD or duplex 122 00:10:31,250 --> 00:10:35,450 Speaker 1: drive tanks had to displace a weight of water greater 123 00:10:35,570 --> 00:10:39,610 Speaker 1: than their own weight. To achieve this buoyancy, a tall 124 00:10:39,770 --> 00:10:43,850 Speaker 1: canvas screen was erected right around the vehicle, held in 125 00:10:43,890 --> 00:10:48,930 Speaker 1: place by metal struts and inflatable rubber tubes. Even so, 126 00:10:49,690 --> 00:10:54,970 Speaker 1: the vehicles still rode worryingly low in the water. To 127 00:10:55,170 --> 00:11:00,530 Speaker 1: our eyes, DD tanks seem precarious, even a little mad. 128 00:11:01,290 --> 00:11:03,450 Speaker 1: The Shermans looked a bit like they were hiding at 129 00:11:03,490 --> 00:11:07,410 Speaker 1: the bottom of a big canvas bucket, but they seemed 130 00:11:07,450 --> 00:11:11,130 Speaker 1: to have impressed the British top brass. Since D Day 131 00:11:11,250 --> 00:11:14,970 Speaker 1: was to be a combined Anglo American effort, Churchill and 132 00:11:15,050 --> 00:11:21,370 Speaker 1: Hobart needed some American buy in. Hobart had overseen many 133 00:11:21,570 --> 00:11:25,810 Speaker 1: thousands of practice launches of swimming tanks with just as 134 00:11:25,890 --> 00:11:29,730 Speaker 1: single sinking, so he set up a demonstration for his 135 00:11:29,810 --> 00:11:34,650 Speaker 1: American counterparts. The US generals turned their noses up at 136 00:11:34,650 --> 00:11:38,930 Speaker 1: Hobart's other funnies, his flameed ower tanks and bridge layers, 137 00:11:39,650 --> 00:11:43,370 Speaker 1: but they rather liked the DD. They were fearful that 138 00:11:43,410 --> 00:11:46,810 Speaker 1: if a German shell struck a landing craft on D Day, 139 00:11:47,090 --> 00:11:51,930 Speaker 1: then four tanks would be sunk in one go. Swimming tanks, 140 00:11:52,090 --> 00:11:57,010 Speaker 1: being harder to hit, seemed to solve this problem. The 141 00:11:57,050 --> 00:12:02,050 Speaker 1: American generals instructed Washington to approve the immediate construction of 142 00:12:02,290 --> 00:12:05,570 Speaker 1: hundreds of the contraptions and gave them a triple A 143 00:12:05,890 --> 00:12:10,690 Speaker 1: priority rating at the same rating as the atomic bomb, 144 00:12:11,330 --> 00:12:13,930 Speaker 1: a sign of the high hopes many had for the 145 00:12:14,010 --> 00:12:19,130 Speaker 1: DD tank and the importance they placed on it. Now 146 00:12:19,170 --> 00:12:23,250 Speaker 1: that swimming tanks were rolling off the production lines. Training 147 00:12:23,330 --> 00:12:29,530 Speaker 1: could begin in earnest. Exercise Smash was scheduled for April 148 00:12:29,690 --> 00:12:33,610 Speaker 1: nineteen forty four and would be a rehearsal as close 149 00:12:33,690 --> 00:12:38,450 Speaker 1: to battle conditions as possible, complete with the firing of 150 00:12:38,570 --> 00:12:45,170 Speaker 1: live ammunition. Under the gaze of Winston Churchill, General Eisenhower 151 00:12:45,410 --> 00:12:50,450 Speaker 1: and King George. A force of DD tanks swam towards 152 00:12:50,490 --> 00:12:55,050 Speaker 1: a deserted English beach. We knew we weren't going to 153 00:12:55,090 --> 00:12:59,090 Speaker 1: make it, said one of the tank commanders. Wins in 154 00:12:59,130 --> 00:13:02,810 Speaker 1: the English Channel that day were reaching force four and 155 00:13:02,930 --> 00:13:06,730 Speaker 1: the waves were a meter high, causing the commander to 156 00:13:06,890 --> 00:13:11,730 Speaker 1: eye the canvas screen around his tank nervously. A great 157 00:13:11,890 --> 00:13:16,250 Speaker 1: wave crashed over the top, he said, and we sank 158 00:13:16,290 --> 00:13:24,170 Speaker 1: to the bottom. Six tanks were lost on Exercise Smash, 159 00:13:24,530 --> 00:13:29,810 Speaker 1: and six men drowned. A seventh tank got stuck on 160 00:13:29,850 --> 00:13:33,610 Speaker 1: a sandbar and was abandoned by its crew. It then 161 00:13:33,890 --> 00:13:38,770 Speaker 1: refloated and began drifting out to sea. Fearing it might 162 00:13:38,810 --> 00:13:42,250 Speaker 1: float off and be discovered by the Germans, the Royal 163 00:13:42,410 --> 00:13:47,650 Speaker 1: Navy blew it to pieces in the choppy waters of 164 00:13:47,690 --> 00:13:50,690 Speaker 1: the Channel. It was no small thing to turn a 165 00:13:50,770 --> 00:13:56,050 Speaker 1: tank into a boat, nor was it straightforward to turn 166 00:13:56,210 --> 00:14:10,850 Speaker 1: soldiers into sailors. Cautionary tails will return shortly on D Day, 167 00:14:11,210 --> 00:14:15,890 Speaker 1: the seas off Omaha Beach were running, if anything, even 168 00:14:16,010 --> 00:14:21,530 Speaker 1: higher than they had during the ill fated exercise smash. 169 00:14:21,690 --> 00:14:26,170 Speaker 1: Following those sinkings in April, the US Navy thought it 170 00:14:26,210 --> 00:14:29,450 Speaker 1: had been agreed that the DD tanks would only be 171 00:14:29,610 --> 00:14:33,690 Speaker 1: launched weather permitting, and that the tank crews would heed 172 00:14:33,730 --> 00:14:36,930 Speaker 1: the advice of its sailors before venturing out into the 173 00:14:36,930 --> 00:14:41,570 Speaker 1: winds and the waves and the wicked tide. Sadly, it 174 00:14:41,730 --> 00:14:45,130 Speaker 1: was never set out what happened if the soldiers and 175 00:14:45,250 --> 00:14:50,730 Speaker 1: sailors disagreed. Aboard the ships carrying the DD tanks of 176 00:14:50,810 --> 00:14:54,690 Speaker 1: seven hundred and forty First Battalion, The most senior sailor 177 00:14:55,330 --> 00:14:58,890 Speaker 1: thought it was obvious that the sea was too choppy, 178 00:14:59,050 --> 00:15:02,330 Speaker 1: but the army officers looked at the same rolling waves 179 00:15:02,810 --> 00:15:08,370 Speaker 1: and decided they'd take the risk. Everyone from Churchill down 180 00:15:09,170 --> 00:15:13,490 Speaker 1: nearly thought the DD tank was a splendid idea, and 181 00:15:13,570 --> 00:15:16,930 Speaker 1: after all the trouble and training, were the officers of 182 00:15:16,970 --> 00:15:20,130 Speaker 1: the seven hundred and forty First really going to give 183 00:15:20,210 --> 00:15:24,050 Speaker 1: up now because of a few waves. They had a 184 00:15:24,170 --> 00:15:35,330 Speaker 1: job to do. On other D Day beaches and even 185 00:15:35,530 --> 00:15:40,610 Speaker 1: further along Omaha Beach, Naval commanders were successfully arguing that 186 00:15:40,690 --> 00:15:44,410 Speaker 1: it was folly to launch the DD tanks, so their 187 00:15:44,530 --> 00:15:47,490 Speaker 1: landing craft were taking the armor right up to the shore, 188 00:15:48,530 --> 00:15:51,690 Speaker 1: but Private Bill Murkert and his comrades in the seven 189 00:15:51,810 --> 00:15:55,850 Speaker 1: hundred and forty first were ordered to set their propellers 190 00:15:55,890 --> 00:15:59,970 Speaker 1: spinning and swim the three miles or more to shore. 191 00:16:02,410 --> 00:16:07,170 Speaker 1: The swell was really big. Bill remembered. One moment you'd 192 00:16:07,290 --> 00:16:09,090 Speaker 1: ride a crest and get a view of the beach. 193 00:16:09,930 --> 00:16:12,130 Speaker 1: The next he'd be at the bottom of a trough 194 00:16:12,170 --> 00:16:16,130 Speaker 1: and just see water all around you. The D Day 195 00:16:16,210 --> 00:16:20,490 Speaker 1: plans were meticulous, calling for Bill's tank to land at 196 00:16:20,490 --> 00:16:24,970 Speaker 1: a specific spot on Omaha Beach. In calm weather, this 197 00:16:24,970 --> 00:16:28,450 Speaker 1: would have been most cinch, but against the seas that day, 198 00:16:29,050 --> 00:16:34,810 Speaker 1: even an experienced sailor would have struggled. The DD tanks 199 00:16:34,890 --> 00:16:38,930 Speaker 1: soon found themselves being swept off course, so the crews 200 00:16:39,170 --> 00:16:42,810 Speaker 1: desperately steered their craft to fight the wind and currents. 201 00:16:43,570 --> 00:16:47,250 Speaker 1: But this was a mistake no seasoned mariner would have made, 202 00:16:47,530 --> 00:16:51,690 Speaker 1: because by doing so, the tanks only exposed their vulnerable 203 00:16:51,810 --> 00:16:55,930 Speaker 1: sides to the butting waves. The struts holding up the 204 00:16:55,970 --> 00:17:00,490 Speaker 1: canvas screen started to buckled. Bill recalled he had been 205 00:17:00,610 --> 00:17:04,330 Speaker 1: standing atop his Sherman. I was bracing a struck, but 206 00:17:04,370 --> 00:17:06,850 Speaker 1: I was in no doubt we were in serious trouble. 207 00:17:09,210 --> 00:17:13,370 Speaker 1: Was soon proved correct. We were the first tank to 208 00:17:13,410 --> 00:17:17,370 Speaker 1: sink and went straight down with a big gulp, dragging 209 00:17:17,370 --> 00:17:21,530 Speaker 1: a couple of guys down with it. Twenty six other 210 00:17:21,730 --> 00:17:26,810 Speaker 1: tanks soon followed Bills to the bottom. Some soldiers bobbed 211 00:17:26,850 --> 00:17:34,450 Speaker 1: free in the chilly waters, but others sank with their vehicles. 212 00:17:34,490 --> 00:17:38,610 Speaker 1: Bill Murkert dragged himself into a half inflated life raft 213 00:17:38,650 --> 00:17:42,610 Speaker 1: to await rescue and reflected on the squandering of nearly 214 00:17:42,850 --> 00:17:48,290 Speaker 1: half of the entire DD force. That lost firepower could 215 00:17:48,330 --> 00:17:51,250 Speaker 1: have made a big difference to the soldiers fighting on Omaha, 216 00:17:51,650 --> 00:17:58,130 Speaker 1: he concluded. Nineteen year old Sergeant Ben Franklin was one 217 00:17:58,130 --> 00:18:01,890 Speaker 1: of those soldiers wading through the surf and sorely missing 218 00:18:01,930 --> 00:18:05,690 Speaker 1: the support of a Sherman tank and machine gun bullets 219 00:18:05,690 --> 00:18:08,370 Speaker 1: were hitting everywhere. Were scared of death, and there was 220 00:18:08,370 --> 00:18:10,530 Speaker 1: nothing I could do but duck under the water when 221 00:18:10,570 --> 00:18:13,090 Speaker 1: they came close and hold my breath as long as 222 00:18:13,090 --> 00:18:18,970 Speaker 1: I could. The young infantrymen reached dry land, but with 223 00:18:19,090 --> 00:18:22,810 Speaker 1: so few tanks to blast the German pill boxes and 224 00:18:22,890 --> 00:18:26,930 Speaker 1: machine gun nests, he faced a daunting sprint up the 225 00:18:27,010 --> 00:18:32,210 Speaker 1: exposed beach. In his bunker on the hill above, German 226 00:18:32,370 --> 00:18:36,050 Speaker 1: private Franz Gockle was able to train his machine gun 227 00:18:36,130 --> 00:18:40,250 Speaker 1: on gis like Ben Franklin, safe from attack by a Sherman. 228 00:18:41,690 --> 00:18:44,490 Speaker 1: The Americans had a lot of beach to cross. As 229 00:18:44,530 --> 00:18:49,210 Speaker 1: they swarmed towards me. I opened fire. The Americans fell, 230 00:18:49,250 --> 00:18:53,250 Speaker 1: and many never stood up again. I don't know how 231 00:18:53,290 --> 00:19:00,130 Speaker 1: many I killed. The lack of armor on that section 232 00:19:00,210 --> 00:19:04,290 Speaker 1: of beach is blamed for the invasion there grinding to 233 00:19:04,410 --> 00:19:08,610 Speaker 1: a halt, with the generals out to sea, pondering the 234 00:19:08,690 --> 00:19:14,730 Speaker 1: idea of abandoning Bloody Omaha altogether and sending reinforcements to 235 00:19:14,770 --> 00:19:18,450 Speaker 1: beaches where their tanks had more successfully cut a swathe 236 00:19:18,530 --> 00:19:25,330 Speaker 1: through Hitler's defenses. That didn't happen. The attacking troops on 237 00:19:25,450 --> 00:19:30,490 Speaker 1: Omaha Beach slowly but surely knocked out one German strong 238 00:19:30,610 --> 00:19:36,290 Speaker 1: point after another. The Atlantic Wall had cost Nazi Germany 239 00:19:36,410 --> 00:19:40,570 Speaker 1: a fortune to construct, but had held up the Allies 240 00:19:41,090 --> 00:19:45,570 Speaker 1: for a few hours at most, so the sinking of 241 00:19:45,650 --> 00:19:50,130 Speaker 1: the seven hundred and forty firsts DD tanks didn't lose 242 00:19:50,210 --> 00:19:53,570 Speaker 1: the Allies the Battle of Omaha Beach. That fight was 243 00:19:53,650 --> 00:19:58,970 Speaker 1: one but that are terrible and perhaps needless cost in lives. 244 00:20:03,570 --> 00:20:07,730 Speaker 1: One wonders why the concept of amphibious tanks was ever 245 00:20:07,930 --> 00:20:11,810 Speaker 1: serious the entertain in the first place, let alone given 246 00:20:12,010 --> 00:20:17,530 Speaker 1: top secret triple A priority, soaking up resources and manpower 247 00:20:17,650 --> 00:20:23,730 Speaker 1: badly needed elsewhere. Here's the thing about DD tanks, historian 248 00:20:23,890 --> 00:20:28,730 Speaker 1: John McManus told the We Have Ways podcast, they solved 249 00:20:28,770 --> 00:20:32,610 Speaker 1: a problem that didn't really exist. We had already worked 250 00:20:32,610 --> 00:20:38,210 Speaker 1: out how to bring tanks ashore. He's right. An official 251 00:20:38,490 --> 00:20:44,210 Speaker 1: Army report said the DD tank was not satisfactory for 252 00:20:44,250 --> 00:20:49,410 Speaker 1: the purpose intended. It noted that up and down the 253 00:20:49,530 --> 00:20:53,970 Speaker 1: D Day Beaches, the Navy had successfully delivered tanks where 254 00:20:54,010 --> 00:20:58,050 Speaker 1: they needed to be without significant losses to German artillery. 255 00:20:59,050 --> 00:21:01,770 Speaker 1: The fear that the fleet of landing craft would be 256 00:21:01,810 --> 00:21:08,610 Speaker 1: decimated proved unfounded. It was ironically the swim in that 257 00:21:08,730 --> 00:21:14,530 Speaker 1: wiped out many of the vital tanks. Zach Morris, author 258 00:21:14,610 --> 00:21:18,490 Speaker 1: of When the Beaches Trembled, notes that in the war 259 00:21:18,530 --> 00:21:23,010 Speaker 1: against Japan and the Pacific, where Incidentally, DD tanks had 260 00:21:23,050 --> 00:21:27,810 Speaker 1: been rejected. The US Navy had instead equipped small landing 261 00:21:27,890 --> 00:21:32,450 Speaker 1: craft with tank cannon. Thus armed, they could sail close 262 00:21:32,490 --> 00:21:35,970 Speaker 1: to shore and bring those guns to bear on the enemy. 263 00:21:37,210 --> 00:21:41,570 Speaker 1: Morris says the D Day planners were thinking, how can 264 00:21:41,610 --> 00:21:45,090 Speaker 1: we make a floating tank? They were asking the wrong question. 265 00:21:45,930 --> 00:21:48,730 Speaker 1: It should have been what can we take that already 266 00:21:48,770 --> 00:21:53,930 Speaker 1: floats and make it into a tank. This all rather 267 00:21:53,970 --> 00:22:01,370 Speaker 1: reminds me of milkshakes. Yes, you heard that correctly. Harvard 268 00:22:01,410 --> 00:22:06,250 Speaker 1: Business School professor Clayton Christensen used the example of milkshakes 269 00:22:06,690 --> 00:22:09,770 Speaker 1: to illustrate how people often set up off down the 270 00:22:09,850 --> 00:22:14,650 Speaker 1: road to solve the wrong problem. Christensen told of a 271 00:22:14,770 --> 00:22:19,450 Speaker 1: fast food chain wanting to boost its milkshake sales. A 272 00:22:19,450 --> 00:22:23,850 Speaker 1: sophisticated research project was launched to find out what customers 273 00:22:23,890 --> 00:22:28,290 Speaker 1: looked for in a shake, should it be cheaper, or 274 00:22:28,450 --> 00:22:34,890 Speaker 1: chunkier or more chocolatey. The recipe was then tweaked accordingly, 275 00:22:35,690 --> 00:22:41,890 Speaker 1: yet still sales and profits stayed flat. Puzzled, the fast 276 00:22:41,970 --> 00:22:46,170 Speaker 1: food firm brought in one of Christensen's fellow researchers, who 277 00:22:46,290 --> 00:22:50,050 Speaker 1: stood in an outlet and asked himself a strange question. 278 00:22:50,890 --> 00:22:55,290 Speaker 1: It wasn't what flavor do people like nor how much 279 00:22:55,330 --> 00:23:00,250 Speaker 1: do they want to spend? Instead, he asked what are 280 00:23:00,370 --> 00:23:07,290 Speaker 1: customers hiring their milkshakes to do. The researcher noticed that 281 00:23:07,570 --> 00:23:11,370 Speaker 1: half of all milkshakes purchased in the mornings by loan 282 00:23:11,570 --> 00:23:17,490 Speaker 1: commuters who bought no other products. Quizzing these customers, he 283 00:23:17,610 --> 00:23:20,170 Speaker 1: found that they had stopped in before their long drives 284 00:23:20,210 --> 00:23:25,450 Speaker 1: to work. They were hiring the shakes to fill their 285 00:23:25,490 --> 00:23:28,610 Speaker 1: stomachs for the next few hours, give them something to 286 00:23:28,650 --> 00:23:32,290 Speaker 1: do as they drove, and all in a convenient package 287 00:23:32,330 --> 00:23:37,210 Speaker 1: that would fit in their car's cup holder. Bagels, bananas 288 00:23:37,330 --> 00:23:41,130 Speaker 1: or doughnuts weren't nearly as easy to consume at the wheel, 289 00:23:41,930 --> 00:23:46,210 Speaker 1: and besides, they were guzzled down too quickly. The company 290 00:23:46,250 --> 00:23:49,930 Speaker 1: had wasted time and money on altering the taste or 291 00:23:50,050 --> 00:23:53,290 Speaker 1: cost of its shakes, when what it needed to do 292 00:23:53,450 --> 00:23:58,050 Speaker 1: was make the drinks more attractive to commuting motorists. They 293 00:23:58,050 --> 00:24:03,330 Speaker 1: should have formulated and marketed a breakfast drink a morning milkshake. 294 00:24:07,930 --> 00:24:11,330 Speaker 1: As Dawn Norma and the author of the Design of 295 00:24:11,490 --> 00:24:16,810 Speaker 1: Everyday Things, says, a brilliant solution to the wrong problem 296 00:24:17,330 --> 00:24:21,690 Speaker 1: can be worse than no solution at all. DD tanks 297 00:24:21,890 --> 00:24:25,450 Speaker 1: might have looked a bit rickety, but they were brilliant too. 298 00:24:26,610 --> 00:24:30,130 Speaker 1: A tank able to ride the waves then rise up 299 00:24:30,170 --> 00:24:34,490 Speaker 1: onto an enemy held beach to begin blasting away clearly 300 00:24:34,570 --> 00:24:40,050 Speaker 1: impressed everyone who saw it trialed it solved the problem 301 00:24:40,130 --> 00:24:43,010 Speaker 1: of how to make a tank float in calm seas, 302 00:24:43,810 --> 00:24:47,810 Speaker 1: But was it solving the real problem at hand, how 303 00:24:47,810 --> 00:24:53,650 Speaker 1: to invade Europe. Good designers never start by trying to 304 00:24:53,770 --> 00:24:57,690 Speaker 1: solve the problem given to them, says don Norman. They 305 00:24:57,690 --> 00:25:01,090 Speaker 1: take the original problem as a suggestion, not as a 306 00:25:01,130 --> 00:25:03,970 Speaker 1: final statement, and they don't try to search for a 307 00:25:04,010 --> 00:25:09,850 Speaker 1: solution until they've determined the real problem of The DD 308 00:25:10,130 --> 00:25:14,850 Speaker 1: tanks were ingenious and their crews were heroic, but in 309 00:25:14,930 --> 00:25:20,090 Speaker 1: hindsight it's all too easy to see that DD tanks 310 00:25:20,090 --> 00:25:26,530 Speaker 1: were an unnecessary diversion. It's widely agreed that if only 311 00:25:26,610 --> 00:25:30,290 Speaker 1: the seven hundred and forty first tanks had been landed 312 00:25:30,330 --> 00:25:35,170 Speaker 1: on Omaha Beach in the conventional way, many soldiers' lives 313 00:25:35,210 --> 00:25:39,650 Speaker 1: would have been saved. But that's not the end of 314 00:25:39,690 --> 00:25:44,050 Speaker 1: the story. D Day was just the start of the invasion, 315 00:25:44,810 --> 00:25:50,210 Speaker 1: and waiting in land was something more impenetrable and more 316 00:25:50,330 --> 00:25:56,970 Speaker 1: deadly than Hitler's beach defenses. The soldiers leaving Bloody Omaha 317 00:25:57,610 --> 00:26:02,730 Speaker 1: were about to enter a hellscape for which no ingenious 318 00:26:02,730 --> 00:26:08,570 Speaker 1: Sherman tank had been designed. Cautionary tales will be back. 319 00:26:16,290 --> 00:26:22,770 Speaker 1: Adolf Hitler, ever, the lover of garish and gargantuan architectural projects, 320 00:26:23,490 --> 00:26:27,490 Speaker 1: was convinced that the entire coastline of Europe could be 321 00:26:27,570 --> 00:26:33,930 Speaker 1: made impregnable. If only enough concrete was poured, the lands 322 00:26:33,970 --> 00:26:41,570 Speaker 1: he had conquered would become He decreed a festoon, a fortress. Field. 323 00:26:41,690 --> 00:26:46,210 Speaker 1: Marshal Erwin Rommel, the man Hitler sent to oversee the 324 00:26:46,250 --> 00:26:51,610 Speaker 1: defenses in France, took her more realistic view. Hitler was 325 00:26:51,650 --> 00:26:55,970 Speaker 1: living in vulcan cuckook sheim cloud Cuckoo Land if he 326 00:26:56,010 --> 00:27:01,530 Speaker 1: thought the Atlantic Wall would prevent an Allied invasion. Touring 327 00:27:01,650 --> 00:27:06,450 Speaker 1: the Normandy beaches before D Day, Rommeld quickly realized that 328 00:27:06,490 --> 00:27:12,530 Speaker 1: the much publicized Atlantic was far less formidable than Nazi 329 00:27:12,570 --> 00:27:17,530 Speaker 1: propagandists would have the world believe. There were great stretches 330 00:27:17,610 --> 00:27:22,050 Speaker 1: of coast where no fortifications existed at all, and many 331 00:27:22,050 --> 00:27:25,210 Speaker 1: of the completed bunkers were equipped with a mishmash of 332 00:27:25,250 --> 00:27:29,970 Speaker 1: weaponry and manned by substandard troops or foreigners from Russia 333 00:27:30,130 --> 00:27:34,570 Speaker 1: or Eastern Europe fighting for the Nazis only under duress. 334 00:27:36,890 --> 00:27:41,930 Speaker 1: Even had the fortresses of Hitler's ravings been real, many 335 00:27:41,970 --> 00:27:45,490 Speaker 1: of his generals doubted the military logic of the whole 336 00:27:45,690 --> 00:27:50,610 Speaker 1: Atlantic Wall project. These bunkers would be pommeled from sea 337 00:27:50,930 --> 00:27:55,170 Speaker 1: and air by the Allies, with the defenders trapped inside 338 00:27:55,250 --> 00:27:59,050 Speaker 1: until the invading armies overran them and took them prisoner. 339 00:28:00,090 --> 00:28:05,050 Speaker 1: It would be better to retreat inland, slowly, making the 340 00:28:05,170 --> 00:28:10,530 Speaker 1: Allies spill blood for every foot they advanced. The Germans 341 00:28:10,570 --> 00:28:14,330 Speaker 1: would be helped in this by a formidable defensive network 342 00:28:14,650 --> 00:28:18,450 Speaker 1: stretching miles back from the coast, and for which they're 343 00:28:18,690 --> 00:28:23,290 Speaker 1: not spent a penny. It was built not by German 344 00:28:23,410 --> 00:28:30,850 Speaker 1: engineers nor enslaved laborers. Instead, it had evolved over centuries 345 00:28:31,410 --> 00:28:39,370 Speaker 1: thanks to Norman farmers and landowners. I'm speaking of the Bokage. 346 00:28:39,450 --> 00:28:44,170 Speaker 1: The Bokhage was a patchwork of small fields divided by tall, 347 00:28:44,250 --> 00:28:50,250 Speaker 1: thick hedgerows and deep sunken lanes. Such a landscape was 348 00:28:50,530 --> 00:28:56,530 Speaker 1: easy to defend and a nightmare to attack. Coming to 349 00:28:56,570 --> 00:29:02,210 Speaker 1: the first hedgerow, said one American soldier, we immediately saw 350 00:29:02,370 --> 00:29:08,530 Speaker 1: death and destruction in its most violent form. A couple 351 00:29:08,530 --> 00:29:13,130 Speaker 1: of German machine guns cleverly positioned could cut anyone wandering 352 00:29:13,170 --> 00:29:18,090 Speaker 1: into the fields to ribbons. Sherman tanks could have tipped 353 00:29:18,130 --> 00:29:21,730 Speaker 1: the balance in the Alli's favor, but they simply couldn't 354 00:29:21,850 --> 00:29:26,730 Speaker 1: move in the Bokhage. These hedgerows weren't made of concrete, 355 00:29:26,770 --> 00:29:31,450 Speaker 1: but centuries of compacted dirt and a criss crossing tangle 356 00:29:31,490 --> 00:29:35,650 Speaker 1: of roots. The next best thing. Even a thirty three 357 00:29:35,810 --> 00:29:39,650 Speaker 1: ton tank couldn't smash through them. The best a Sherman 358 00:29:39,730 --> 00:29:44,250 Speaker 1: could do was drive up and over the embankments, but 359 00:29:44,330 --> 00:29:49,050 Speaker 1: in the process they might fatally expose their vulnerable bellies 360 00:29:49,050 --> 00:29:54,490 Speaker 1: to the enemy. One bitter two day battle saw the 361 00:29:54,530 --> 00:29:59,170 Speaker 1: Americans advance just half a mile through the Bokhage, with 362 00:29:59,290 --> 00:30:03,450 Speaker 1: more than four hundred tank crewmen killed or wounded in 363 00:30:03,490 --> 00:30:09,770 Speaker 1: the process. According to one gi many American tankers fled 364 00:30:09,810 --> 00:30:13,250 Speaker 1: the carnage. I saw dozens of them running like hell 365 00:30:13,370 --> 00:30:20,370 Speaker 1: for the rear. He recalled. Such panic is understandable. These 366 00:30:20,410 --> 00:30:24,650 Speaker 1: American soldiers had trained for months for the invasion, learning 367 00:30:24,690 --> 00:30:28,570 Speaker 1: how best to cross the beaches and neutralize the Atlantic Wall, 368 00:30:29,490 --> 00:30:32,290 Speaker 1: but no lessons had been offered on how to fight 369 00:30:32,530 --> 00:30:36,410 Speaker 1: and win in the Bokhage, and while much thought and 370 00:30:36,530 --> 00:30:39,130 Speaker 1: effort had gone into the DD tanks and the other 371 00:30:39,250 --> 00:30:44,370 Speaker 1: Hobart funnies, there was certainly no armored vehicles specially modified 372 00:30:44,770 --> 00:30:50,330 Speaker 1: to deal with these ancient Norman hedges. Although there had 373 00:30:50,370 --> 00:30:54,530 Speaker 1: been some talk before D Day about hedgerows, said one 374 00:30:54,730 --> 00:31:01,410 Speaker 1: American general, nobody anticipated how difficult they would be, so 375 00:31:01,610 --> 00:31:05,770 Speaker 1: just a few miles inland from Omaha Beach, the advance 376 00:31:06,210 --> 00:31:10,810 Speaker 1: ground to a halt. It had taken mere hours to 377 00:31:10,890 --> 00:31:15,210 Speaker 1: break through the vastly expensive Atlantic Wall, but for week 378 00:31:15,730 --> 00:31:22,890 Speaker 1: after week, the Americans struggled to beat the Bokhage. America's 379 00:31:22,970 --> 00:31:26,810 Speaker 1: mechanized army was at its best when performing great sweeping 380 00:31:26,930 --> 00:31:31,570 Speaker 1: movements with speeding tanks and trucks and jeeps, but it 381 00:31:31,690 --> 00:31:37,570 Speaker 1: had been slowed to a snail's pace and then stopped altogether. 382 00:31:39,330 --> 00:31:44,330 Speaker 1: We're stuck, complained one tank crewman. Things are going very awry. 383 00:31:45,290 --> 00:31:48,170 Speaker 1: The whole theory of mobility we've been taught of our 384 00:31:48,290 --> 00:31:53,290 Speaker 1: racing across the battlefield has gone up in smoke. In 385 00:31:53,370 --> 00:31:57,570 Speaker 1: the dark maze of lanes and hedges. The death toll 386 00:31:58,090 --> 00:32:01,890 Speaker 1: rose to an alarming level, and many of those untouched 387 00:32:01,930 --> 00:32:06,090 Speaker 1: by bullet or shell left the battlefield with mental exhaustion 388 00:32:06,770 --> 00:32:11,650 Speaker 1: so called battle fatigue, or simply lay down their weapons 389 00:32:12,290 --> 00:32:17,170 Speaker 1: and deserted. It wasn't clear that anyone in command had 390 00:32:17,210 --> 00:32:20,930 Speaker 1: the slightest idea what to do to break the stalemate. 391 00:32:25,330 --> 00:32:27,730 Speaker 1: Why don't we get some saw teeth and put them 392 00:32:27,730 --> 00:32:29,930 Speaker 1: on the front of the tank and cut through these hedges. 393 00:32:31,450 --> 00:32:35,290 Speaker 1: The assembled tank crews laughed at the suggestion. The men 394 00:32:35,330 --> 00:32:38,170 Speaker 1: had been brought together to brainstorm a solution to the 395 00:32:38,210 --> 00:32:42,250 Speaker 1: Brakhage problem, but few saw much merit in this suggestion 396 00:32:42,370 --> 00:32:47,130 Speaker 1: by their comrade from Tennessee. Wait a minute, said staff 397 00:32:47,170 --> 00:32:51,370 Speaker 1: Sergeant Curtis Cullin, defending the man. He's got an idea there. 398 00:32:52,850 --> 00:32:57,050 Speaker 1: The twenty nine year old Cullin mouled over the problem. 399 00:32:57,090 --> 00:33:00,250 Speaker 1: What kind of teeth could cut through a hedgerow that 400 00:33:00,330 --> 00:33:08,130 Speaker 1: had stood solidly for centuries? Steel teeth, presumably, But where 401 00:33:08,250 --> 00:33:11,810 Speaker 1: was there a ready supply of sharp and hardened steel. 402 00:33:13,410 --> 00:33:17,130 Speaker 1: Wasn't there plenty on Omaha Beach, suggested another member of 403 00:33:17,170 --> 00:33:20,810 Speaker 1: the unit. The Germans, he pointed out, had littered the 404 00:33:20,890 --> 00:33:26,610 Speaker 1: sands with so called check hedgehogs and Belgian gates, both 405 00:33:27,050 --> 00:33:33,850 Speaker 1: sharp steel obstacles intended to damage landing craft and vehicles alike. So, 406 00:33:34,050 --> 00:33:38,890 Speaker 1: without seeking any higher authority, someone was sent back to 407 00:33:38,930 --> 00:33:44,410 Speaker 1: collect these steel beams, and the process began to weld 408 00:33:44,450 --> 00:33:49,770 Speaker 1: them to the hull of a sherman. Cullin and his 409 00:33:49,890 --> 00:33:53,450 Speaker 1: comrades didn't know it, but they were engaged in something 410 00:33:53,490 --> 00:34:00,730 Speaker 1: with today call workplace innovation. The concept encourages business owners 411 00:34:00,770 --> 00:34:05,410 Speaker 1: to pay greater heed to the ideas of their workers, who, 412 00:34:05,650 --> 00:34:09,530 Speaker 1: after all, see the problems their companies face day after 413 00:34:09,650 --> 00:34:15,210 Speaker 1: day and might come up with nifty solutions. Workplace innovation 414 00:34:15,530 --> 00:34:20,610 Speaker 1: theorists promised that greater productivity and profitability can be achieved, 415 00:34:21,210 --> 00:34:25,530 Speaker 1: but only of employees a given permission to experiment and 416 00:34:25,610 --> 00:34:30,450 Speaker 1: a certain amount of space to manage themselves. That permission 417 00:34:30,850 --> 00:34:35,290 Speaker 1: is often not forthcoming, which is why back in nineteen 418 00:34:35,370 --> 00:34:40,290 Speaker 1: forty four, Sergeant Cullin kept his hedge cutting experiments a secret. 419 00:34:41,050 --> 00:34:45,850 Speaker 1: He feared the ridicule of the higher ups, and maybe 420 00:34:45,850 --> 00:34:50,210 Speaker 1: those officers would be right to laugh. Now, armed with 421 00:34:50,410 --> 00:34:56,770 Speaker 1: several sharp steel tusks, Cullin's tank slowly drove into a hedgerow, 422 00:34:57,490 --> 00:35:01,450 Speaker 1: and as always happened, it began to rise and climb 423 00:35:01,650 --> 00:35:05,450 Speaker 1: over the barrier, exposing its belly. It was lucky no 424 00:35:05,690 --> 00:35:10,250 Speaker 1: German was nearby with the bazooka, so Cullin put his 425 00:35:10,410 --> 00:35:15,210 Speaker 1: thinking cap on again. What if instead of driving slowly, 426 00:35:15,930 --> 00:35:22,090 Speaker 1: the tank driver went full pelt. We've got something that 427 00:35:22,170 --> 00:35:26,490 Speaker 1: will knock your eyes out. Putting down the phone, the 428 00:35:26,530 --> 00:35:31,210 Speaker 1: top us General in Normandy, Omar Bradley, hurried to Cullin's 429 00:35:31,290 --> 00:35:34,330 Speaker 1: camp to see what all the fuss was about. He 430 00:35:34,450 --> 00:35:37,330 Speaker 1: was greeted by a sherman that looked, for all the 431 00:35:37,370 --> 00:35:43,210 Speaker 1: world like some metal rhinoceros. The tank backed off and 432 00:35:43,330 --> 00:35:48,010 Speaker 1: ran head on towards a hedgerow, said Bradley. Its tusks 433 00:35:48,090 --> 00:35:51,490 Speaker 1: bored into the wall and the tank broke through under 434 00:35:51,530 --> 00:35:56,250 Speaker 1: a canopy of dirt. It had been a problem that 435 00:35:56,330 --> 00:36:01,010 Speaker 1: had baffled Bradley's army for weeks, but here was the solution, 436 00:36:01,530 --> 00:36:07,850 Speaker 1: and it was, in the General's words, absurdly simple. There 437 00:36:07,890 --> 00:36:11,530 Speaker 1: wasn't a second to lose us. Steel was gathered up 438 00:36:11,530 --> 00:36:14,490 Speaker 1: from the beach and a team flown back to England 439 00:36:14,530 --> 00:36:20,730 Speaker 1: to round up every available welder and their machines. Within days, 440 00:36:21,170 --> 00:36:26,370 Speaker 1: five hundred rhino tanks were ready for action, and soon 441 00:36:26,450 --> 00:36:30,850 Speaker 1: after sixty percent of all US tanks sported tusks with 442 00:36:30,890 --> 00:36:34,290 Speaker 1: which to break through the bockage and spray the German 443 00:36:34,330 --> 00:36:40,450 Speaker 1: defenders with bullet and shell. The stalemate was at last broken. 444 00:36:42,050 --> 00:36:44,290 Speaker 1: We could see that the Americans had learned how to 445 00:36:44,330 --> 00:36:48,850 Speaker 1: break through, said one German soldier, now put to flight 446 00:36:49,130 --> 00:36:54,730 Speaker 1: and retreating under heavy fire and constant air attacks. There 447 00:36:54,730 --> 00:36:58,690 Speaker 1: would be much bloodshed to come, but the Americans were 448 00:36:58,690 --> 00:37:04,090 Speaker 1: now trading lives for miles rather than meters gained, and 449 00:37:04,210 --> 00:37:07,690 Speaker 1: some of that was down to the Rhino tanks, the 450 00:37:07,690 --> 00:37:12,650 Speaker 1: brainchild of an ordinary soldier. The Rhino wasn't a product 451 00:37:12,690 --> 00:37:16,410 Speaker 1: of an arms company or a defense laboratory. It didn't 452 00:37:16,450 --> 00:37:20,050 Speaker 1: have the long development time, the huge budget, and the 453 00:37:20,090 --> 00:37:24,330 Speaker 1: triple A priority of the DD tanks. It was knocked 454 00:37:24,450 --> 00:37:28,250 Speaker 1: up in the field from scrap metal by men who 455 00:37:28,330 --> 00:37:31,210 Speaker 1: had an intimate knowledge of the problem they were facing. 456 00:37:32,410 --> 00:37:39,130 Speaker 1: The Rhino was well and truly mcguivered. There was a 457 00:37:39,130 --> 00:37:45,210 Speaker 1: little sergeant, said the Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower. His 458 00:37:45,330 --> 00:37:48,610 Speaker 1: name was Culin, and he had an idea. It seemed 459 00:37:48,650 --> 00:37:52,930 Speaker 1: like a crazy idea, but this thing worked, and it 460 00:37:52,970 --> 00:38:03,690 Speaker 1: worked beautifully. The key sources for this episode were Norman 461 00:38:03,730 --> 00:38:08,650 Speaker 1: D forty four by James Holland, Overlord by Max Hastings, 462 00:38:09,250 --> 00:38:13,450 Speaker 1: Beyond the Beachhead by Joseph Balkowski, as well as Ryan 463 00:38:13,530 --> 00:38:18,610 Speaker 1: Dilly's interviews with D Day veterans Bill Murkert and Ben Franklin. 464 00:38:19,490 --> 00:38:27,610 Speaker 1: For a full list of sources, go to Timharford dot com. 465 00:38:27,690 --> 00:38:30,770 Speaker 1: The Cautionary Tales as written by me Tim Harford with 466 00:38:30,810 --> 00:38:34,650 Speaker 1: Andrew Wright, Alice Fines, and Ryan Dilly. It's produced by 467 00:38:34,730 --> 00:38:38,810 Speaker 1: Georgia Mills and Marilyn Rust. The sound design and original 468 00:38:38,890 --> 00:38:42,650 Speaker 1: music are the work of Pascal Wise. Additional sound design 469 00:38:42,810 --> 00:38:46,610 Speaker 1: is by Carlos San Juan at Brain Audio. Ben A. 470 00:38:46,690 --> 00:38:51,170 Speaker 1: Dafhaffrey edited the scripts. The show also wouldn't have been 471 00:38:51,170 --> 00:38:55,370 Speaker 1: possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, Greta Cohne, Sarah Nix, 472 00:38:55,690 --> 00:39:01,210 Speaker 1: Eric Sandler, Christina Sullivan, Kira Posey, and Owen Miller. Cautionary 473 00:39:01,210 --> 00:39:05,170 Speaker 1: Tales is a production of Pushkin Industries. Do you want 474 00:39:05,170 --> 00:39:08,810 Speaker 1: to support the stories we tell on Cautionary Tales? If so, 475 00:39:08,930 --> 00:39:12,810 Speaker 1: you can join my new Cautionary Club at patreon dot 476 00:39:12,810 --> 00:39:18,370 Speaker 1: com Slash Cautionary Club for exclusive bonus episodes, newsletters, ad 477 00:39:18,410 --> 00:39:22,690 Speaker 1: free listening, and other exciting perks. Alternatively, you can join 478 00:39:22,730 --> 00:39:26,450 Speaker 1: Pushkin Plus on our Apple Show page for continued benefits 479 00:39:26,450 --> 00:39:29,210 Speaker 1: from our show and others across the Pushkin network.