The 'Strange' British Tank That Used Anti-Submarine Weapons To Destroy Japanese Bunkers

Описание: In early 1945, Australian engineers took one of the most bizarre weapons of World War 2 and bolted it to the back of a tank. The Hedgehog anti-submarine spigot mortar, a British invention designed to kill U-boats in the Atlantic, was mounted onto a Matilda II infantry tank to solve the deadliest problem in the Pacific theatre: how to destroy Japanese log-and-earth bunkers that resisted every conventional weapon the Allies had.

The result was the Matilda Hedgehog, a vehicle carrying seven 65-pound mortar bombs packed with 30-35 pounds of high explosive each, capable of demolishing fortified positions from 200 yards away while the crew sat behind 78mm of armour. Trials proved the weapon worked. A salvo of three bombs completely destroyed a test bunker, stripping the earth, blowing apart the logs, and exposing the interior. But the war ended before any of the six vehicles built ever left Australia.

This video covers the brutal reality of fighting Japanese bunkers in New Guinea and why every existing weapon failed against them, the engineering story behind adapting a naval anti-submarine weapon for land warfare, detailed technical specifications of the Hedgehog launcher and the Matilda II tank, trial results from Southport Queensland in May 1945, comparative analysis against American flamethrower Shermans and the Churchill AVRE Petard mortar, the real reason the Matilda Hedgehog never saw combat, and what happened to the sole surviving vehicle.

Every specification cited in this video has been cross-referenced against Australian War Memorial records, National Archives of Australia files, and published military histories including Tank Encyclopedia's archival research by Thomas Anderson.

British War Machine explores the weapons, equipment, and military technology that gave Britain and the Commonwealth a decisive edge in the Second World War. New videos every week.