Eric Bryan examines the only gun tractor small enough to fit inside the hold of a Junker Ju 52 aircraft. Popularly named the ‘motorcycle halftrack’, Kettenkrad translates as ‘tracked motorcycle’. Also called the SdKfz 2 or Kleines Kettenkraftrad HK 101, the Kettenkrad was designed in 1939 as a gun tractor which could pull artillery through boggy, [...]

Taken from our Bombing For D-Day feature by Thomas Withington, this map shows the railyards in France targeted by the RAF as well as the D-Day Allied landing spots. After initial scepticism from the likes of Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris, the vital Transportation Plan of 1944 was put in motion to great effect in preparation for [...]

The opening scenes of this Japanese WWII film throw us straight into furious action. Japanese troops holding the islandof Saipan are being hurled from their defences by US bombardment. Then, interesting contemporary footage of the assault plays as an American narrator explains that four months have past since the official surrender of the island. Next, we [...]

The Goliath Tracked Mine Standing at a mere 1ft tall and 4ft long, it must be assumed that the Goliath Tracked Mine was named with the same light-hearted irony as Robin Hood’s trusty, burly companion ‘Little’ John. The idea behind the miniature motor was inspired by the French vehicle designer Adolphe Kégresse after the Wehrmacht [...]

The revolutionary weapon that transformed anti-tank fighting in the final battles of WWII. After the first model was introduced in July 1943, the Germans manufactured a total of 8 million Panzerfausts (meaning ‘tank fist’) during the final two years of the Second World War. Simple in design and cheap to make, they could be mass [...]

One of our features this month deals with the importance of aerial photo-reconnaissance during the Second World War. To help explain exactly how this vital task was carried out, we included two illustrations  demonstrating the modifications which had to be made to the aircraft, and the methods they employed in order to ensure maximum accuracy. [...]