lesson term euro friday the 7 th of november

 

 lesson term euro friday the 7 th of november 

 test 

 

words of the day :

 

 + surmise ( déduire) 

 

STEP 2 THE MACHINES  

 THE DOCUMENT IS HERE 

 https://www.pearltrees.com/private/id99402206?access=4789f964c22.5ecc1de.b76954556b0269ec97451ce1bbe7688d

PARTNER A THE D D SHERMAN AMPHIBIOUS TANK  whose aim was to allow tanks to float and reach the shores without being sunk

PARTNER A THE BOBBIN whose purpose was to create a road to allow the tanks to progress without sinking into the ground by laying some fabric on the ground and creating an artificial path 

PARTNER B THE BOX GINDER BRIDGE : was meant to carry a bridge which would be then set on the ditches and over obstacles to allow the progression of the tanks 

PRATNER B THE CRAB FLAIL whose purpose was to detonate the mines hidden in the ground and make them explode before the soldiers got caught

PARTNER C THE FASCINE AND PETARD  MORTAR 

the fascine was a bunch of twigs/ branches/ sticks ( baguettes) tied together which would be then dropped into ditching to enable the tanks to cross over  

THE HIGGINGS BOATS : landing crafts with a flat bottom and a ramp .

 

THE TRANSCRIPT 

 THE FUNNIES transcript
1.
Read and select vocabulary words you find mind boggling )
The Germans had been expecting an Allied invasion of France since 1942. They poured millions of tons of concrete into defences along the coast. It was clear that courage and conventional tanks would not be enough to crack Hitler's Atlantic Wall. The ill-fated Dieppe Raid of 1942 had proved how difficult an invasion would be. But lessons were learned. Creativity. Innovation. and technical ingenuity would be essential.
Operation Overlord of course was a success but there was one man who had huge influence on that success, Percy Hobart. Percy Hobart was a prickly character. He was a former Royal Tank Corps officer who had been retired in 1940 due to falling out with his superiors. He became a corporal in the Chipping Camden Home Guard when Churchill heard of his fate and had him re-enlisted into the army and following a successful command he was appointed to lead the 79th Armoured Division. He would develop specialised tanks and train the men for the invasion of Europe. Hobart was recognised as eccentric and difficult but he was a natural leader with a flair for innovation. It was under his direction that a family of vehicles known as Hobart's Funnies were developed, improved on and deployed. By looking at these models we can see how some of that specialised armour was going to be used on D-Day.
One of the most important vehicles of course was the DD Sherman. The idea here being that if you put all your tanks onto one landing craft and that landing craft is sunk, you're going to lose all those tanks. So by launching them further out, you're spreading your risks. Some of these tanks at least, launched about a mile out, are going to make it ashore and get onto the beaches. And the idea was they'd come to the beach, drop their screens, and then start engaging enemy strongpoints. The DDs that landed on D-Day, many of them were very successful. Of course we know because the sea was rough. On the American beaches, especially off Omaha, very few made it ashore because they were swamped on the way in.
And that also led on some of the British beaches to the landing craft coming in much closer to lessen the risk of those vehicles being sunk. Now those vehicles would be followed up by other vehicles such as the Sherman Crab or the Flail Tank. And a drum would beat and blow up mines on the beaches. They'd also rip up... barbed wire which was a secondary effect but really useful because it meant the following infantry had a very clear path to follow. Normally two tanks in etch along with the idea that they'd flail a wide enough pass for following vehicles to make it through to the seawall. We've got here an example of bobbin. Now bobbin was put together specially, it's basically a roadway that would be laid by a Churchill Avery.
And the idea there was on some of the beaches they realised there's blue clay. Now blue clay is very soft, they couldn't afford to have tanks or soft-skin vehicles sinking into the ground. They've had that problem before back at Dieppe, so by laying a roadway ahead of it, that would work its way up to the seawall. We've also got here the small Boxgerda bridge and again fairly fundamentally you can see here It's an Avery carrying a
bridge with it, it would drop the bridge against the seawall, back off and therefore you've got a standard Avery that can go on its way using its petard mortar. And one of the classic vehicles being used as well, here we've got the Avery with a fascine on and again landed by the landing craft, would drive up, go forward, come to the anti-tank ditch, drop its fascine and the the aviary can then move over it. And all of these Avris, of course, have got that whopping great big petard mortar, which is really a demolition gun, which can then take on enemy pillboxes, and it's stuffed full of demolition charges, Bangalore torpedoes, other engineering equipment. So again, their role is not over once they've actually deposited what they're carrying. They carry on with that attack.
All of this, of course, to get the infantry that are following across the beach. through the German defences so they can break into Normandy. The brilliant training of the 79th Armoured Division by Percy Hobart and this ingenious use of special devices on D-Day undoubtedly is one of those factors that leads to the success of the Allied invasion. In fact, it's Eisenhower who points out he thinks it's one of those key contributors to the success of the Allies, not only on D-Day but also in Normandy. And the 79th Armoured Division just doesn't pack up then. It's actually used throughout the whole of the Normandy campaign, throughout the whole of Northwest Europe, and by the end of the war is the largest armoured formation of the Western Allies in Europe. That was some achievement from someone who, at one point in 1940, was a corporal in the Chipping Camden Home Guard. Okay, now if you enjoyed that bit of film, or any of the bits of film we've made, if you'd subscribe to YouTube, that helps us a great deal, and more so if you'll support Patreon, because that's something that we really can do.
Thanks very much.

 homework read the transcript and select the words you do not know