The History of Half-tracks, by the Chieftain – WW2 Documentary Special
The History of Half-tracks, by the Chieftain – WW2 Documentary Special
Is it a tank? Is it a truck? No, it’s a half-track! Nicholas Moran aka The Chieftain stops by to cover this Frankenstein of a vehicle. He looks at their origins at the turn of the twentieth century, their heyday as troop transporting, artillery towing, flak gunning, jacks-of-all-trades during the war, and their sudden decline after the…
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Thanks to The Chieftain for writing and presenting this video! Check out his channel here for everything on tanks and other military vehicles: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp4j9Y9L6jie44iZroCb99A
Did I hear correctly? Ford-powered German half-track!
Is this a Banana Jack shirt??? I kinda got the fighter pendant to that! Awesome!
0:22 heres one for you .. would you rather an un armoured hmmwv in 2003 iraq or a m3 in 2003 iraq
Do quarter tracks next.
I always thought halftracks were a neat idea and had wondered what happened to them. I understand halftracks were used by the Israelis and Arab countries into the ‘70’s. Thanks for your inimitable review.
PS: Like the shirt, combining ground and air, all of them being US Army Air Force until 1947. No shirts with tanks or other armored fighting vehicles?
When I was a kid in the 80's there was a person in our small Michigan town who had one of those Half Track conversions for his Model T Ford to make it into a big snowmachine. He used to drive us kids around in it during the Winter Snow Festival and he even let some of the older kids like me Drive the Model T which was Very different from a modern car.
Correction: Americans didn't invent the snowmobile. A french canadian, Joseph Armand Bombardier, is credited as the inventor.
Where did you get that shirt?
Most enjoyable and informative thank you.
Land Rover developed a half-track in the mid 1970's called the Centaur.
Hi Chieftain. That White fellow had collateral competitor. Joseph Armand Bombardier built a model T based snowmobile in 1922 according to has Wikipedia bio.
Off the topic, weren't the British in the Boer Wars the first nation to use tractors in war. I believe they used them like the first tractor mentioned here for towing cargo, but they also used them to tow artillery pieces. In one gaming book an illustration suggested soldier rode them into battle as well, perhaps influencing the creation of the tank in WWI.
Love the level of detail. Enough detail to make it interesting but not so much to bog down the video. Thank you for another great video.
The US (French) 1897 is the same as the German (French) 1897?
Ive seen pictures of model t halftracks
A colleague of my father owned a German half rack he used to take out to meetings and re-enactments. I had the opportunity to drive the thing and honestly it was great fun to drive. Those tracks pushing the thing forward no matter what the front is doing makes for some interesting steering.
I recall seeing the huge Fowler Gyrotiller early half-track at the South of England Show many years ago. Google it, it’s impressive!
Half-tracks…..the "Cotton-Eyed Joe" of military vehicles…..
During the German list of half-track, when you mentioned one at the bottom of the line, and it wasn't what I was expecting, I started looking up the "half-track motorcycle."
Then you mentioned it at the end of that segment. I was relieved, since I wouldn't be the first person to point out bad research on any of your videos. (I would have been polite, but very disappointed.)
Great job on the presentation of the history, sir.
Chile & Brazil were fooling around with a new halftrack design APC in the late 80's & early 90's. The "Alercrán" by "Cardeon".
Iran had its "Shahid Farsi" halftrack thing too. Both of these designs look alot alike. Both are fully inclosed & amphibious. They looked good. I don't know what ever happened to these projects.
As I like halftracks, I wish these would have been put into production.
Loved your video. I always found half tracks of the particularly interesting subject Also, like your model collection.
I've allways had a soft spot for Half-tracks.
I remember the phrase, it's not running straight on the road, and it's not turning on the field.
Nice shirt. I bought the blue version at the USS Missouri museum.
0:17 – "Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from, Half-Track Joe?"
The British Army's Scammell Pioneer Lorries, used as artillery tractors, recovery vehicles and tank transporters from 1936 carried tracks that could be fitted on the four rear driving wheels for extra traction. It worked reasonably well with the walking beam rear suspension.
RAHHHH ROCHESTER, NY MENTIONED RAHHHHH
Well there’s Kegresse system (French, American, Soviet, etc), the British Horstman system (also used by the German SS) & the German interleaved setup. They cover most of them.
I was talking to some guys who had an American halftrack at an air show. They told me the ride was rough and the seats were Not comfortable. Very cool looking vehicles.
Thanks, every thing I didnt want to know, but was intrested in learning any how, my very best to you and yours. Leona
I want to hear about the educated dogs and monkeys.
The hardest thing for a parent to do is to discipline their kid even when they know they need a paddling. It would appear we have had a generation of weak parents who raised a generation of spoiled undisciplined girls who grew up to be narcissistic women.
Not mentioned in this piece was my favorite halftrack of WWII. While granted, it was never given an Army T Number, it was still produced during World War Two. To be exact, it was a soft-skin version of the M-2/M-3 Halftrack built by Autocar for lend lease to Russia as a 2 1/2 ton truck. Also not mentioned were the Halftrack Jeeps! The were developed for use by the USAAF in snowy conditions such as up in Alaska, and they DID receive T numbers, and a variant (built by Allis-Chalmers) was actually standardized as the M-7.
Chieftain! Comprehensive and detailed history. Did you explain "why" they existed, "Why" they were so valued, and "Why" they went away? Not really. Leave out all the codes and names of each model, and communicate what you know about the reasons and the motivations.