Dd Tank Origin -

Straussler, a naturalized British subject and a genius with mechanical things, had already made a name for himself with armored car designs. But this was different. He wasn't building a weapon. He was building a ghost.

But at Sword, Juno, and Gold beaches, the crews remembered Straussler's lesson: Don't fight the sea. Borrow its skin. They launched closer to shore. The canvas screens billowed. The little propellers whirred. And out of the grey, choppy water, the tanks rose like prehistoric beasts crawling onto land. dd tank origin

They came not as boats, but as ghosts. And behind them, the infantry followed, walking on ground that had, for one terrible morning, become solid again. Straussler, a naturalized British subject and a genius

The first test was a disaster. The canvas ripped. The tank took on water. It sank to the bottom of the Hamble River like a dead beetle. He was building a ghost

On a cold November morning, Straussler stood on the bank of a placid, man-made lake in Surrey. A Valentine tank, its canvas screen raised like the frill of a startled lizard, sat on the concrete ramp. The crew inside—three nervous volunteers—gave a thumbs up.

It worked.