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Evening Star, Issue 25620, 22 October 1945, Page 3

ONE OF ALLIES’ SECRET WEAPONS NOW REVEALED.—PIanning lor the re-entry of Europe began immediately after Dunkirk, and faced with the prospect of a major assault across the Channel, and the rivers which lay between the French coast and Berlin, it was realised that there was need for the assault infantry to he supported in the earliest stages by fire from tanks. So the: development of a swimming tank was put in hand, and the design adopted was known by the code letters D.D. (Duplex Drive). For seaborne operations D.D. tanks, launched from landing craft, can swim through fairly rough seas, and go into action immediately they reach shallow water. In still water a speed of four to five knots can be achieved. For their protection the crews wore a modified form of the Davis escape apparatus known as the A.T.E.A. (Army Tank Escape .Apparatus). D.D. swimming tanks led the assault on the Normandy beaches on D-Dav, and came as a complete surprise to the enemy, and in operations on the Scheldt Estuary and the Rhine crossing D.D. tanks again took the enemy by surprise. They were also used on the I'll be ami in the fina' operations in Italy. Valentine D.D. tanks are shown hero entering the sea as they leave the ramp of a landing craft about 3,000 yards from the shore.—British Official Rhofograph.