Goliath tracked mine
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The Goliath tracked mine was an unmanned German-engineered demolition vehicle. Used by the Wehrmacht during World War Two, this caterpillar-tracked vehicle was approximately four feet long, two wide, and one tall. It carried around 130 lb (60 kg) of high explosives and could be used for many purposes, including to destroy tanks or infantry formations as well as to soften up buildings. In practice, it was generally ineffective against any kind of antitank weapons, essentially making it effective solely against structures.
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[edit] Development and use
In late 1940, after having recovered from the Seine River the prototype of a miniature tracked vehicle developed by the French vehicle designer Adolphe Kégresse, the Wehrmacht's ordinance office directed the Carl F.W. Borgward automotive company of Bremen, Germany to develop a similar vehicle for the purpose of carrying a minimum of 50 kg of explosives. The result was the Sd. Kfz. 302 (Sonder Kraftfahrzeug, ‘special-purpose vehicle’), called the Leichter Ladungsträger (‘light demolitions carrier’), or Goliath, which carried 60kg of explosives. The vehicle was steered remotely via a joystick control box, which itself was attached to the Goliath by a triple-strand telephone cable connected to the rear of the vehicle. Each Goliath was disposable, being intended to be destroyed with its target. Early model Goliaths used an electric motor but as these were costly to make (300 reichmarks) and difficult to repair in a combat environment; later models (known as the SdKfz. 303) used a simpler, more reliable gasoline engine.
Goliaths were used on all fronts where the Wehrmacht fought, beginning in spring 1942. They were used principally by specialized Panzer and combat engineer units. Goliaths were used most notoriously in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, as Wehrmacht and SS units were deployed to crush fierce Polish resistance by the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa). As the Poles had only a small number of antitank weapons, volunteers were often sent to cut off the command cables of the Goliath before it reached its intended target. A few Goliaths were also seen on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day, though most were rendered inoperative due to artillery blasts severing their command cables.
Although a total of 7,564 Goliaths of both models were produced, the single use weapon was not regarded as being successful because of its high unit cost, slow speed (only just above 6mph, or 9.5 km/h), poor ground clearance, thin armour that did not protect it from any kind of modern antitank weapons and vulnerable command cables. Fighting during the Warsaw Uprising showed that if the Goliath was not covered by suppressive fire its command cables could be easily-severed by a single determined combatant armed with nothing but a shovel. The Goliath did, however, help lay the foundation for post-World War II advances in remote-controlled vehicle technologies[citation needed].
A Goliath is preserved at the United States Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Chamberlain, Peter, and Hilary Doyle (1999). Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two, 2nd ed. London: Arms & Armour. ISBN 1-85409-214-6.
- Jaugitz, Markus (2001). Funklenkpanzer: A History of German Army Remote-and Radio-Controlled Armor Units, trans. David Johnston. Winnipeg, Manitoba: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, Inc. ISBN 0-921991-58-4.
- Jentz, Thomas L. Panzer Tracts, No. 14: Gepanzerte Pionier-Fahrzeuge (Armored Combat Engineer Vehicles, Goliath to Raeumer). S. Darlington, Maryland: Darlington Productions. ISBN 1-892848-00-7
[edit] The Goliath tracked mine in media
- The Goliath tracked mine is seen in the RTS game Company of Heroes.
- Two Goliaths are seen in the film Kanal. A Polish resistance figher is seen cutting the cable with a shovel
