The Military Engineer | Pages of History | June

By the beginning of World War II, Percy Hobart was a major general and an expert in armored vehicles. Because of his unusual ideas, Hobart was forced into retirement in 1940, but after the failure of the Allied amphibious assault at the Battle of Dieppe, innovative ideas were in great demand. In 1943 Hobart converted the Churchill and Sherman tanks of his 79th Armored Division into engineering marvels dubbed “Hobart’s Funnies”. Some of these included the flamethrower Crocodile tank, mine-resistant Crab, amphibious DD and the enemy fortification destroyer, the Churchill AVRE. The Allies were impressed by Hobart’s work and his “funny” vehicles provided invaluable assistance during the Normandy Landings.

In this month’s Pages of History, you’ll be at the center of events that took place in different theaters of war. Karelia and Lithuania, the Normandy landings and large-scale battles in the Pacific Ocean: take part in battles with the vehicles corresponding to these historic battles and receive prizes. More information here.