TRACKS, TANKS, AND PLANES AT THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE

HALF-TRACKS

HALF-TRACKS were particularly useful in winter warfare. With regular tires in front and tracks in back, these all-terrain vehicles could climb steep hillsides, stay operational in mud and on ice, and plow through heavy snow. They resembled a half truck/half tank and had mounted guns for self-defense. For the most part, half-tracks were not assault vehicles.

The American M2 half-track car was developed after the success of the French Citroen half-track. After World War I, it became clear that armies could no longer depend on horses and carts to transport troops in rough terrain or bad weather. The new armies would have to be able to move many soldiers quickly. The half-track car had a crew of two and could transport seven soldiers and their gear. It was agile enough to be used for reconnaissance. To keep it light enough to move quickly, the developers gave up heavy armor—though it still weighed nine tons, it could travel up to forty miles per hour. The shell was thin and the top was open, leaving passengers and crew vulnerable to explosives and machine-gun fire. By the end of the war, 13,500 M2 half-tracks had been manufactured in the United States and Canada and delivered to the Allied forces.

Demand increased for a vehicle that could carry more troops. The American M3 half-track was the answer. It could carry thirteen soldiers: a crew of three and a ten-person rifle squad. It could also serve as a weapons platform, equipment carrier, and antitank gun tow, and was used to carry the wounded to hospitals in the rear. More than forty-one thousand were made for service in the war.

The Germans also used half-track vehicles. The German SdKfz 251 was developed to keep up with fast-moving panzers. Many versions of it were in place during the war, including one that used infrared searchlights for night fighting.

 

FULL-TRACKS

SOME FULL-TRACK VEHICLES, such as the M29 Weasel, were specially designed to be light and fast to carry small groups of commando troops to the front, deliver supplies, or serve as ambulances or radio command centers. These tanks had to be light enough to be carried in an airplane and sturdy enough to survive being dropped by parachutes. The M29 could carry up to four people or 1,200 pounds of materials. In the winter, it could be used to pull sleds of supplies.

After the war, M29s were used in the Arctic and Antarctic to support explorers and scientists.

An American Sherman tank

TANKS

THE AMERICAN M4 SHERMAN TANK was a staple of World War II, used by U.S., British, Canadian, and Free French armies. It was a nimble tank, able to climb steep ravines, navigate through snow and mud, and move at about twenty-five miles per hour. German tanks, like the Mark V Panther and the Mark VI Tiger, were heavier. They carried more powerful guns than the M4, but the sheer number of M4s eventually overwhelmed the German tank force.

PLANES

THE P-47 THUNDERBOLT was a staple of World War II. It boasted eight Browning machine guns and could carry up to 2,500 pounds of bombs or ten rockets. Although large, the plane was excellent at diving, so pilots could accurately take out targets. P-47 units destroyed 86,000 railway cars, 9,000 locomotives, 6,000 armored fighting vehicles, and 68,000 trucks between D-Day and the end of the war in Europe.

The Piper L-4 was a small light plane mainly used for reconnaissance. It held a pilot and a scout, who radioed back the location of enemy units and artillery. Nicknamed the Grasshopper because it was nimble and could land and take off quickly, the L-4 was also used for courier services and to deliver officers and doctors to and from the front.

The German Luftwaffe gathered more than 2,400 aircraft to support the offensive in the Ardennes, including the heavily armored Heinkel He 111 bombers and the lightning-fast Messerschmitt 109 fighters. Even though the mountain fog and snow during the Battle of the Bulge precluded the use of significant airpower, the Germans managed to fly as many as 1,200 sorties on some days.

The P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bomber was a versatile plane during the war. The P-47D flew in Europe; the P-47N, a similar model pictured above, flew in the Pacific theater.