The Ugliest Most Useless Tank Ever Made
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- Опубликовано: 5 июн 2024
- New Zealand, 1941. With World War 2 well underway, a top team of government officials are gathered in the picturesque South Island countryside, chattering with excitement as they eagerly await the revelation of the nation’s brand new secret weapon: a fearsome tank designed to crush any Japanese attempt at invading its shores. Among their number, the man behind the machine, Minister of Public Works Bob Semple, promises it will be like nothing they have ever seen before.
And he’s right. An audible hush descends over the group as, suddenly, the strangest-looking armored vehicle they have ever seen emerges from the hillside. Trundling along at a painstaking 5 miles per hour comes an industrial tractor crudely covered with what appears to be corrugated roofing panels, looking more like a school project than a beast of war - it doesn’t even have a cannon.
Awkwardly grinding to a complete halt just to change gears, the 12-foot-tall monstrosity then wobbles onwards for a few more yards before hitting a bumpy patch, which sends her top-heavy structure crashing to the ground.
The silence is broken by a combination of angry outbursts and mocking laughter as the crowd turns to Semple for an explanation. Yet when he asks if anyone has any better ideas, everything soon goes quiet again. The Japanese army could arrive at any moment, and his tank was all New Zealand had…
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Don't mock tractors without guns. Killdozer was a marvel.
The YT channel PoPoMedic did a real good video of that incident and what led up to it. It’s short and worth watching
Marvin's Marvel
Thanks for surpringly in depth video of the Semple tank, explaining the whys and hows rather than just mocking it.
At the time NZ had a population of around 1.6 million and no heavy industry capable of even building a car, let alone a tank and still dosnt lol.
Desperate times call for desperate measures
I find him very smart and a person who did his best with what he had, "Adapt, overcome and persevere"....
once the japanese saw that new zealand had the bob semple they just turned around and went back, was no point even trying to invade.
He was the O.G. inspiration for the A-team
How dare he build a tank without a cannon when he had no way of getting his hands on a cannon! His country needed a tank. He built the best tank he could with what he had. He stepped up when no one else would.
Had Hitler prioritized a nuclear weapon, instead of numerous other projects that were dead ends, the Germans could of easily beat the US to a bomb.
Ukraine today though is an excellent example of asymmetrical warfare.
Also due to the mountainous terrain of New Zealand they had a natural advantage....but not with tanks.
One fateful battle going another way a short time in the future and this contraption would probably have seen action. I don’t blame mr. Semple for trying in this situation.
Anything is better than nothing
The greatest tank ever built.
Single handedly deterred the Japanese war machine from invading without firing a shot.
Bloody legend mate.
To be fair to bob, it’s not like they had a whole lot of better options available.
The tank which was so terrifying it single handedly made the Japanese cancel their invasion of Oceania.
Semple-Fi.
“Semple-Fi” 😂👌
Yeah, but it worked. The Japanese didn't invade!
He tried better than sitting on your hand
Fascinating story and great video. Many thanks 🙏
I knew this had to be about the Bob Semple Tank the moment I saw the headline. New Zealand used to have a 'Can do' or 'Number 8 fencing wire' attitude which we have lost to some extent over the decades. This was a good example of kiwis trying their best. Perhaps building rocket launchers might have been a better use of resources, but this tank is a part of NZ history.
If you’ve ever been shot at, you’ll appreciate how useful a rolling bulletproof shed would be
Too bad Marvin Heemeyer wasn't born in New Zealand back in the 1900s, he would have shown them how to build a tank off a dozer platform
I love the spirit of the thing. Military people will always say that we can do everything with nothing. He made something work with what he had. I am sure he could have built a beautiful tank if he had the equipment and the parts to do it with.
I can’t wait to see this in Girls und Panzers…
I think of New Zealander Earnest Ratherford and what he came up with for WW2 victory.
✌️❤️🇳🇿
This type of thinking from New Zealanders lead to things like Rocketlab.
I hope in reflection that Bob Semple is highly thought of in NZ.
It's called the New Zealand "Number 8 wire" mentality.
The Worlds Fastest Indian is a great movie of what Kiwis get up to in their sheds, then there's John Britten another fine example.
I think you mean greatest tank ever built
I think the Tank Museum did a tank chat on this.
Shame this is only a military channel. Like that is the only dark that ever happened.
The Soviets built something similar called the "Ni" tank. Not only did Japan never invade Crimea, but they managed to surround and capture the German 8th Shrubbery Division.
Hey, at least he tried. I admire that.
Just because you are unique doesnt mean you are useful.
How many 20 somethings need to hear that! 😅
@tHEHEAd1138 , exactly right! That would make them think, " maybe I'm not the special little angel my mama always said I was"!
If I was infantry with no armored support in a tight city setting seing that thing even when stationary shooting at me would be scary. As well with the all arround BREN gun protection making infantry attacks harder.
It would actually have been a good moveable weapons platform for urban warfare to some extent.
This should be in war thunder.
Some say that New Zealand still uses these tanktractors.
No one was laughing about a Komatsu years later.
well the waffle armor design is eye-catching too bad they didn't keep just one it could have been popular as an interesting modern art installation⚛😀
Something is always better than Nothing !.
More dignity in doing nothing to be honest.
@@Farquad76.547
It boosts morale to do SOMETHING.
I mean the next thing was constructing a machine gun from a .303 bolt action rifle...the Charlton...
and they made 1500 of those..because it worked!
YT vids on that...
Looks like a garden shed
No those were the APV's
That's a gag for a tank! 😅
Something is always better than nothing.
Instead of this of course, they could've just stolen some Italian tanks. Or invested in a few hundred Boys AT Rifles. Strikes me that this is definitely an Emperor Has No Clothes situation.
Reminds me of the 'Killdozer'.
Yep, weirder than weird
I cycle back from work at 4am at 12mph
How dare you insulting him so badly god damn😭
T-14 Armata?
I dunno, one of those weapon sim channels did a video about the BS, and showed it could stop an entire Sherman tank being fired at it traveling at hundreds of KM/h. I'm sure the video being released on April 1st is merely a coincidence for such a scientific video.
I expected to see Abbott
great vid. something from nothing. better than nothing
who bothers going down south for a little island, so why not make useless tank
We done what we could woth not much! Good old kiwi ingenuity. We still dont have much better today 😬
Well laughter can be very disarming and let's face the Japanese would be rolling on the ground in fits of laughter, making easy targets.
I don't know why but the thumbail gave me the impression that this thing was fucking gigantic
HERESY!
Original killdozer.
Bob semple is a tankette not a tank smh
tka all the way.if ya know ya know
It’s almost cartoonish.
Homemade tank
Waste of a tractor
Australia built its own tank. It was the sentinel tank. The AC4 sentinel was a great tank.
If you cant manufacture or import the raw metal needed....its pointless to build. They couldnt ship in from Australia or usa? Obv a risk uboat sinking the ship but still
It was said in this video Australia didn't have any as well. So New Zealand once again ahead of Australia.
Looks like what the russian tanks in Ukraine have devolved into...😂
You don't get your audience one damn bit, do you?
I feel like your running out of ideas. What's "DARK" about this? Like so many other videos lately your just presenting war stuff, like a war channel. But your channel advertises "DARK DOC's"
Just turn down your brightness level.😊
its you're ya dingus
@@DSWL_it’s it’s 😂
Ughhhh im so tired of the memes around this thing.