Armored ramp carrier
The Armored Ramp Carrier (abbreviated to ARC) was a special armored vehicle of the Allied forces during the Second World War . The proper name of the vehicle was Ark (ark). Both names were used.
history
At the beginning of the Second World War, Great Britain had been working on the development of a bridge-laying tank with a scissor bridge for a long time . The project had to be stopped in the early years of the war because the resources were needed more urgently. However, the disaster of the Dieppe landing in 1942 underscored the need to procure obstacle-negotiating vehicles. By the end of 1943, an amazingly simple solution had been found, which was first used by Percy Hobart's 79th Armored Division .
technology
The hull of a Churchill tank was used , with the turret removed and a steel plate placed over the opening instead. A lane-width frame, lined with wooden planks, was attached over the chain sections. In the extension of these lanes there were two ramps each 1.05 meters wide and 1.72 meters long at the bow and stern. To cross an obstacle (embankment), the vehicle was positioned in the optimal position, then the ramps were lowered, creating an aid to drive up or over. The system also worked when overcoming ditches and streams; even two ARCs could be stacked here. This vehicle carried the designation ARC Mark I .
With the ARC Mark II , an improvement was made by extending the ramps to 3.8 meters each so that wheeled vehicles can also be used. The ramp and drive-over lanes on the right-hand side were also adapted in this regard.
The British 8th Army, operating in Italy, produced a stripped-down model in-house, in which the wooden drive-over lanes were omitted and the translating vehicles drove directly over the tub and chains of the ARC. This model was named ARC Mark II (Italian Pattern) .
Further developments
The work was then continued by commissioning the so-called Churchill Woodlark as a further model . This should fold down the ramps by means of a rocket drive, further rockets should reduce the impact of the ramps on the ground by recoil. This project did not get beyond the experimental stage.
Churchill tanks of the type Mark III and Mark IV were used. Apart from the weight of 38.5 tons and a crew of four, nothing is known about the technical data. However, they shouldn't stray too far from those of the Churchill main battle tank.
The US Army also converted some Sherman tanks into such ARCs, but nothing is known about the exact number of them. However, it should not have been very high either.
swell
- Chris Bishop (Ed.): Weapons of the Second World War . Bechtermünz Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-8289-5380-8 .
Web links
- Royal Engineers Museum (English)
- www.archives.gov (English)