WWII and tractors

JF in MI

Well-known Member
All this WWII talk and questions as to why it?s not about tractors got me thinking. I read a story years ago, and can?t remember where, about the battles for Attu and Kiska I believe (I could be wrong here). The army needed to move supplies over a valley to the next hill. That next hill was too steep to get anything up it so they decided on a rope type conveyor to pull sled loads up the hill. They needed to get a bulldozer (what they could get to the top of the first hill) down into the valley to use (presumably the PTO) to operate the conveyor. The problem was that the first hill was also too steep to get a dozer safely down to the bottom. They decided to roll two (it could have been more) dozers down the hill and they thought there might be enough usable pieces left over to reassemble a working dozer. After the ?tumbles? they found that they (at least one or more) still worked without repair. Anyone know or hear of this story or am I going nuts from cabin fever?
 
Wow, that sounds like a great story. Let us see if someone knows. I have heard and seen plenty of stories about how much equipment and the same thrown overboard when they headed for home. Just left everything.
 

The Imperial War Museum in London, when I was there had a number of Fordsons in various formats that were used in the war. There were a couple on tracks, there was a crane and various other up-fits built on Fordsons..
 
After WWI the military released excess equipment to the public sector which caused a recession and almost put some companies out of business. They didn't want to repeat that. IIRC
 
From what I understand, farm type tractors were also used to transport equipment during WW-2. I read or was told 50 Model A Allis Chalmers tractors are at the bottom of the Atlantic as a sub sunk the ship transporting them.
 
My brother served in the Marines in Korea in the early '50's. He said they needed to get a crawler (D2 or D4) across the river, so they rigged up 3 of them for underwater running and pointed them to the other shore. One made it out of the water there, so the exercise was considered a success.
 
Sounds like a story an old very dear friend told. He would tell stories all night if he could. They were all true he made them up himself. Thanks for reminding me of him
 
Not related to your story but I found this video on youtube a few years ago about soldiers doing field work with tractors on Guadalcanal.
Theres a couple of Fords. a Farmall and a little dozer of some sort that is really throwing the dirt with his plow.
youtube
 
Maybe a story; maybe not

Two ship loads of Case LA tractors were sent to Australia in 1944. They were desperately needed by farmers here, but not then needed for military purposes. One ship was sunk and the other shipload arrived safely.

One of my LA tractors is painted in military color and built in 1944. Supposedly it is one from the surviving shipload. Who knows?
 
My Grandad was stationed in attu and kiska. I wish I could ask him about it, he past away at age 99 six weeks ago. He didn't have many nice things to say about Alaska.
 

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