Can You Make a Sherman Tank Float?
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I'm Jake Brennan, and on the Disgraceland podcast, I explore the wild lives of rock stars and unbelievable true crime stories from music history. These are the stories you haven't heard, the kind you'll end up telling someone else. Like the time Paul McCartney spent in a notorious prison, or the bizarre crime Lady Gaga is accused of, or that time Blondie's Debbie Harry escaped Ted Bundy. Listen to Disgraceland on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On August 4th, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died. Then the rumors started and she died again. And now we're going to set the record straight and learn about the way Marilyn Monroe actually died, the third way. Pushkin.
D-Day has dawned. Under grey brooding skies, on grey storm-tossed seas, thousands upon thousands of grey warships are descending on the French coast. Ahead lies a broad ribbon of yellow sand. Codenamed Omaha Beach by the Allied military planners, in happier times it was a magnet for vacationers. But now the gently sloping sands are strewn with explosive mines, barbed wire and fearsome metal obstacles designed to rip apart any boat trying to land. Verdant green hills rise behind the beach and hidden amongst their folds are trenches, machine gun nests and cannon emplacements. This is Hitler's Atlantic Wall, part of the 3,000-mile chain of fortifications built from the Spanish frontier to the Arctic tip of Norway.
The Nazis have sunk vast sums of money, billions, into the project with just one aim, to stop any Allied invasion dead in the surf. The battleships offshore are hammering these fortifications with their big guns. But while the Germans are many things, they're not stupid. Their pillboxes are angled to make them impervious to these shells, whilst still giving the defenders inside a perfect sightline to shoot left and right along Omaha Beach. H hour is approaching, and when the first American troops storm ashore, they'll be at the mercy of this withering barrage. Running across hundreds of yards of open sand under German fire will be a task as murderous as anything seen in World War I. The death toll could be enormous.
And that's where an unlikely secret weapon comes in. We're aboard a landing craft with men of the 741st Tank Battalion. These tank crews are scheduled to hit the beach ahead of the infantry with orders to train their cannon on the German defenders, knocking them out before they can annihilate the poor foot soldiers following behind. The 741st's tanks won't be arriving by landing craft, though. In a cunning twist, these tanks will swim into battle all by themselves. The Germans have never seen anything like it. In the water, our tanks look just like small boats, says tank crewman Private Bill Merkert. We'll be a big surprise for the Germans when we come out of the surf. These special tanks are able to swim thanks to a set of propellers and a flimsy-looking canvas screen allowing them to float.
It's taken a huge effort to make these Sherman tanks seaworthy, but Allied generals think it's the best way to reduce bloodshed on the invasion beaches. But can you ever really make a 33-tonne tank seaworthy? Even by the standards of the English Channel, D-Day, June the 6th, 1944, is something of a washout. It's the worst summer weather in memory, and more akin to the storms of winter. The sea's pretty heavy, notes Bill Merkert aboard his DD tank. He'd never practised in this kind of weather. But more than three miles from shore, a yellow signal flag still goes up. The landing craft drops its ramp and Bill's Sherman tank clatters forward and into the waves. I'm Tim Harford and you're listening to another Cautionary Tale.
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