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Breach German defenses on the Atlantic Wall
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- Panjandrum, a quirky piece of military history, was a massive, rocket-propelled wheel designed during World War II. British engineers came up with this contraption hoping it would help breach German defenses on the Atlantic Wall.
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Panjandrum, also known as The Great Panjandrum, was a massive, rocket-propelled, explosive-laden cart designed by the British military during World War II.
- World War II and The Atlantic Wall
- Designing The Panjandrum
- Testing Out The War Machine
- The Final Test of The Panjandrum
- D-Day Without The Panjandrum
The war against Germany had reached a stalemate by 1943. In spite of intense bombing raids, the Germans had failed to conquer Britain. At the same time, the Allies were struggling to gain a foothold in Europe. Fearing an invasion across the English Channel, the Germans had erected heavy fortifications along the European coastline. Known as the Atla...
What was the Panjandrum? Essentially, the Brits built two wheels, each 10 feet tall, and joined them with a hollow tube stuffed with explosives. Rockets attached to the wheels would propel the war machine toward German fortifications. In theory, the Panjandrum was amphibious. The Brits planned to approach the beach in a landing craft and launch the...
Powering the Panjandrum was a problem. To shoot the machine down the beach, the DMWD strapped rockets to the wheels. But the rockets didn’t always work, and some of them blasted off the wheel. The British learned about the prototype’s issues the hard way. In 1943, they tested the Panjandrum on a Devon beach. At first, the test went smoothly. The Pa...
In spite of the disastrous tests, the Brits kept working on the Panjandrum. By January 1944, the DMWD invited the top brass, including scientists, naval officers, and photographers, to witness the war machine in action. The test started out smoothly. With rockets firing, the Panjandrum rolled across the water and onto the beach. But then the test t...
Months after the Brits scrapped the Panjandrum, they successfully breached the Atlantic Wall and invaded Normandy. On D-Day – June 6, 1944 – over 160,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy. “We will accept nothing less than full victory,” declared General Dwight D. Eisenhower in an issued order. As feared, the daring invasion came at a h...
Jul 17, 2022 · In an effort to break through the German Army's Atlantic defenses, the British created the Panjandrum, which was a colossal failure.
- Panjandrum – the ultimate invasion weapon. © IWM (IWM FLM 1627) This ungainly device was intended to be used against the beach defences of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall.
- Krummlauf – the gun that fired round corners. The Krummlauf was a curved barrel attachment for the German Sturmgewehr 44 (StG 44) assault rifle, which enabled the weapon to be fired around corners.
- Maus – Hitler's giant tank. © IWM (STT 9485) The Panzerkampfwagen 'Maus' (Mouse), designed by Ferdinand Porsche, was the ultimate expression of Hitler's desire to produce an indestructible super-heavy tank.
- Covenanter – Britain's worst tank. © IWM (H 14346) At the outbreak of the Second World War the British army had three types of tank: light tanks for reconnaissance, heavily armoured 'infantry tanks' to support frontal attacks, and fast 'cruiser tanks' to exploit the gaps made in the enemy defences.
The Great Panjandrum. It was reported that the enemy beaches were defended by an enormous bastion of re-enforced concrete which was 10ft high and 7ft thick. This would have to...
Comprising a pair of 10-foot wheels connected by a drum axle packed with 2 tons of TNT, the rocket-propelled Great Panjandrum was intended to launch from landing craft and blast holes into German shore defenses — in theory, anyway.
Jul 5, 2024 · An attempt to conceal the River Thames from German bombers by covering it with soot failed due to the effects of wind and tides, although it did cause some confusion when the coal-covered waters were mistaken for tarmac during blackouts. The most disastrous project, however, was the Panjandrum.
