I was wondering if anybody had information on the various World War One land torpedo designs? I included pictures of the Torpiller-Terrestre, Wickersham, and Simm's Land Torpedos.
Hello, this subject has interested me for along time. I will share a few website on the subjects in question.
For the Simms Land Torpedo, check out Tank Encyclopedia:https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww1-gb-simms-land-torpedo/
For the Wickersham Land Torpedo, here is a little information: https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2018/06/22/wickersham-land-torpedo-usa-1918/
The other is the La torpille electrique Gabet et Aubriot: https://weaponews.com/weapons/13918-land-torpedo-aubriot-gabet-torpille-electrique-france.html
I have also attached a little information in French, Also try to find the GBM N 118 French Magazine October 2016, it has a great article on the Gabet et Aubriot and my favorite Torpille terrestre Schneider Crocodile'
I wanted to share these series of photos {PART ONE} of the trial of the Crocodile Schneider Torpille Terrestre, plus two interesting pictures with the experimental flame thrower unit attached.
"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
"flamethrower Land Torpedo ?" yep, even in ancient times the engineering corps of Alexander the great had constructed a similar to a "land torpedo", it was a simulacrum of a war horse on wheels that was ridden by a simulacrum of a warrior holding a pike, when the war horse was launched at the enemy it threw fire from its mouth
"Torpedoing the Enemy's Trenches as a Preliminary to Infantry Attack" is a short but powerful article on the possibility of drone strikes in 1917. Actually, it was more like a wire-guided war robot, steam-driven, trundling across No Man's Land in a whirl of steel wheels and steam, guided from one trench to attack another, on the other side. The thing doesn't look so functional, given the varied and terrifically uneven ground it had to traverse with a heavy (and explosive) load and its carriage and powertrain. In a way it reminds me of a Bangalore torpedo, except mobile--on the other hand, the Bangalore actually worked.
Ironically, the torpedo was being operated across land from one land-submerged army to another; the colorful cover of this issue pictures finding submarines by air patrol, and then eventually killing the sub with an air-launched torpedo.
I am not completely sure due to my limited operational knowledge of the Crocodile Schneider Torpille -Terrestre, it seems I have read that they were used in specific locations, some with success and others in varying degrees of failure. I am sorry as to where I read this I am not completely sure, but I believe it was on the French forum {Forum Pages 14-18} https://forum.pages14-18.com. Unfortunately I have not been successful in finding the thread. Hopefully some of our French colleagues may be able to help in your inquiry.
All the Best
Tim R
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