''Landwasserschlepper'' (LWS) was an unarmed
amphibious tractor
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...
produced in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Origins and development
Ordered by the ''
Heereswaffenamt
''Waffenamt'' (WaA) was the German Army Weapons Agency. It was the centre for research and development of the Weimar Republic and later the Third Reich for weapons, ammunition and army equipment to the German Reichswehr and then Wehrmacht
...
'' in 1935 for use by German Army engineers, the ''Landwasserschlepper'' (or LWS) was intended as a lightweight river
tug with some capacity to operate on land.
[Fitzsimons, p.1704][Hogg/Weeks, p. 306-307][Schenk, p.132-133]
Intended to aid river crossing and bridging operations, it was designed by
Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and arms manufacturer, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Its shares are traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
History
Rheinmetall was founded in 1889. Banker and investor Lorenz Zuckermandel
L ...
- of
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
. The
hull was similar to that of a
motor launch
A Motor Launch (ML) is a small military vessel in Royal Navy service. It was designed for harbour defence and submarine chasing or for armed high-speed air-sea rescue. Some vessels for water police service are also known as motor launches.
...
, resembling a
tracked boat with twin rear-mounted tunnelled
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
s and twin rudders. On land, it rode on steel-shod tracks with four
bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
s per side.
By the autumn of 1940 three prototypes had been completed and were assigned to Tank Detachment 100 as part of
Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (german: Unternehmen Seelöwe), was Nazi Germany's code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. Following the Battle o ...
. It was intended to use them for pulling ashore unpowered assault barges during the invasion and for towing vehicles across the beaches. They would also have been used to carry supplies directly ashore during the six hours of falling tide when the barges were grounded. This involved towing a ''Kässbohrer'' amphibious trailer (capable of transporting 10-20 tons of freight) behind the LWS.
The ''Landwasserschlepper'' was demonstrated to General
Franz Halder
Franz Halder (30 June 1884 – 2 April 1972) was a German general and the chief of staff of the Oberkommando des Heeres, Army High Command (OKH) in Nazi Germany from 1938 until September 1942. During World War II, he directed the planning and i ...
on 2 August 1940 by the Reinhardt Trials Staff on the island of
Sylt
Sylt (; da, Sild; Sylt North Frisian, Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian ...
and, though he was critical of its high silhouette on land, he recognized the overall usefulness of the design. It was proposed to build enough LWSs that each invasion barge could be assigned one or two of them, but difficulties in mass-producing the vehicle prevented implementation of that plan.
Operational history
Due to protracted development, the ''Landwasserschlepper'' did not enter regular service until 1942 and, though it proved useful in both
Eastern Front and
North Africa campaign, it was produced in only small numbers. In 1944 a completely new design was introduced, the LWS II. This vehicle was based on a
Panzer IV
The ''Panzerkampfwagen'' IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the ''Panzer'' IV, was a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161.
The Panze ...
tank chassis and featured a small raised armored driver's cabin and a flat rear deck with four fold-down intake and exhaust stacks.
[Trojca/Jaugitz]
''Landwasserschlepper'' remained operational until the end of the war in May 1945.
See also
*
Beach armoured recovery vehicle
A beach armoured recovery vehicle (BARV) is an armoured recovery vehicle used for amphibious landings.
There have been three different BARVs in British service since their introduction during World War II. They have also been used by Dutch and ...
*
Notes
References
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External links
Land-Wasser-Schlepper
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
Amphibious military vehicles
Soft-skinned vehicles
Landing craft
Research and development in Nazi Germany
World War II military vehicles of Germany
Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944