Goliath tracked mine
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The Goliath tracked mine was a remotely-controlled, caterpillar-tracked, tank-like explosive devices developed and used by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War.
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 Kegresse, 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 explosives. The result was the Sd. Kfz. 302 (Sonder Kraftfahrzeug, ‘special-purpose vehicle’), called the Leichte Ladungsträger (‘light demolitions carrier’), or Goliath. The vehicle was steered remotely via a joystick control box, which itself was attached to the Goliath by a double-strand telephone cable connected to the rear of the vehicle. The Goliath carried a 60-kilogram explosive charge. 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 and difficult to repair in a combat environment, later models (known as the Sd. Kfz. 303) used a simpler, more reliable gasoline motor.
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 cutting 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 (less than ten miles per hour), 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].
See also
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