The Sherman Crab was a mine flail tank designed to clear a safe path through a mine-field by deliberately detonating mines in front of the vehicle; the design was first used during the North African Campaign in 1942.

Hobart's Funnies is the nickname given to a number of specialist armoured fighting vehicles derived from tanks operated during the Second World War by units of the 79th Armoured Division of the British Army or by specialists from the Royal Engineers. [1]

May 31, 2019 · The Sherman Crab saw first-service with British forces (79th Armored Division) before the U.S. Army received its initial examples. The Sherman-based Crab became the most widely-used mine flail tank of the entire war.

Feb 20, 2019 · A unique piece of specialist equipment that the 79th Armoured Division fields is the Sherman Crab flail tank. Its rotating flail detonates mines as the vehicle passes through a minefield, clearing a path for following vehicles. While perfect in theory, not every mine was destroyed and numerous flail tanks were lost in the process.

Jul 26, 2016 · From D-Day onwards flails were operated by 30th Armoured Brigade in the famous 79th Armoured Division. Our exhibit carries the markings of a Sherman Crab of the Westminster Dragoons.

Sherman CIRDs were issued as pilot tanks, on the scale of one per troop, to the three regiments of the 79th Armoured Division operating flail tanks in North West Europe.

Jun 7, 2012 · The regiment remained with 79th Armoured in North West Europe until the end of the war. The regiment was made up of a mixture of Sherman variants which included the Sherman Crab mine clearing tank.

Nov 10, 2023 · They had been one of three regiments in the 30th Armoured Brigade, the 79th Armoured Division’s mine-clearing force. On D-Day the bulk of the regiment had landed on Gold Beach in support of the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division.

This Sherman flail tank passes Saint Martin church, Creully at some speed leaving a cloud of dust behind it. This tank belonged to the 30th Armoured Brigade, 79th Armoured Division commanded by Major-General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart.

The Sherman Crab was 79th Armoured Division's prime mine clearance vehicle. Three regiments were deployed for the Normandy campaign. This highly detailed kit allows the vehicle to be built in its earliest form or with the lane clearing additions (as pictured), which were added as the campaign developed and clearance techniques refined.