Why were pieces of caterpillars welded to the back of British tanks of the Second World War

In the history of the Second World War, you can see a very strange thing. Pieces of caterpillars, handicraft welded to the brackets. These brackets were placed strictly at the rear of the caterpillar so as to be dragged along the ground. The question is what was it for? The British army during the Second World War in North Africa faced the Italians and Germans. In October 1942, another major battle was approaching with the African corps of Erwin Romel, who was nicknamed the “desert fox” among the soldiers for his numerous successful actions. The fighters of Bernard Montgomery were to grapple with the Germans in a decisive battle for El Alamein, a city in northern Egypt. Romel was a tough nut to crack, so the British decided to seize the initiative through stratagem. Despite the prevailing superiority of the British army, they prepared thoroughly for the second battle for El Alamein. The British decided to deceive the Germans by striking from the side from which they were not expected. There was a lot of work to be done to disguise the troops and mislead enemy reconnaissance. In preparation for the battle for El Alamein, 2000 tank dummies were installed in the south of the city, and 1029 real tanks had to be transferred several hundred kilometers north of the place of the future battle in order to hit the Germans in the rear. Most importantly, this should have been done unnoticed by the Germans. The success of the operation depended on a special group A, the operation was called Bertram. The tanks were disguised as trucks. From the air, they really looked like military transport vehicles. However, there was one problem, the tanks leave behind a characteristic track from the tracks. With a large accumulation of equipment, traces may be enough to be identified from a reconnaissance aircraft. This problem was solved by Jasper Maskelyne, one of the members of the special group A, who worked as a magician in civilian life. Maskelyne proposed making an impromptu device for erasing the tracks left by tank tracks. To do this, behind each caterpillar it was necessary to weld a bracket with several dangling tank tracks. Fragments of caterpillars dragged along the sand and almost completely erased the traces left behind the tank. The camouflage succeeded, and the British were able to deceive the German scouts. The Second Battle of El Alamein ended in Allied victory and was a turning point in the 1942 campaign. For donations: My paypal account Valuiskovst@ onlyfans (in process)