LAST EDITED ON Feb-03-22 AT 03:39 AM (EST)
 
>What, no bobbin? No fascine? No embridgement vehicle of any kind?
>And where, I ask you, is the Grand Panjandrum?

You yourself argued against the utility of the Panjandrum when discussing the Goliath, but that aside, they're not using them as engineering vehicles. These are specialist engineering vehicles used as melee tanks, or at least tankery at very short range. The girls' whole doctrine is that of Nelson: "Engage the enemy more closely". That giant mortar was only accurate to about 80 yards, the mine flail is used like an actual flail, the bocage cutters and Carrot spikes are used as anti-track ramming devices like that Japanese grenade-on-a-stick. The Duplex Drive Sherman is there to make flanking attacks from unexpected angles through things like rivers and such. If they were to have a Short Box Girder bridge on staff, as it were, they'd have to deal with a tank that couldn't do much else and was a sitting duck for the enemy. Plus, it was usually Valentines that were used for bridging... but. BUT. If they're gonna have a bridge vehicle, it's gonna be the one with the ramps for one specific reason that would not even slightly confer a military advantage.

Reinforcements are as follows:-

One (1) Churchill ARK (Armoured Ramp Carrier) equipped with additional demolition charges and PIAT launchers for crew of armoursporting pyromaniacs.

One (1) Valentine IX SADE variant, equipped with QF 6-pounder, 165hp variant engine, rocket jump boosters, no really, we've got contemporaneous photographs.

The Gap-Jumping Valentine is one of those projects that never really got off the ground (so to speak), with a few attempts involving a lot of upside-down Bren Carriers and one spectacularly unsuccessful attempt involving a Valentine. The problem, as it turned out, was that the rocket engines were causing a bowl-shaped depression in the ground upon firing, and this was what was flipping the UCs. Therefore, if you're not on the ground, that shouldn't happen! So the ARK is there not just to act as a bridging vehicle, but also as a literal stunt ramp.

Oh yes. It's Big Brain Time. Because what could be more fucking anime than the tank with a jetpack?

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