Kugelpanzer: The most bizarrely shaped tank in human history!

War often drives innovation. However, these innovative ideas are not always successful. Strange design prototypes for tanks are not uncommon in the past, but one of the strangest, and one that we barely know about, is the Kugelpanzer tank.

This is a spherical tank built by the Germans during the Second World War and captured by Soviet troops in Manchuria in 1945. Only a single prototype remains, and it is on display in China. Moscow at the Kubinka Tank Museum.

For many years, there was much debate about its use and strange shape, as it did not look like any other tank. Why did the Nazis build such an odd machine?

This is a spherical tank built by the Germans during World War II.

Prototype Kugelpanzer, what is it?

This strange tank is known from a single prototype that was captured by the Red Army in 1945 when they recaptured Manchuria. It is a relatively thin light tank, encased in only 5 mm of steel and moves by means of rollers measuring 1.5 meters in diameter.

This tank is built to the size of a single man inside. The driver will be able to see the battlefield outside through a slot and be able to fire the machine gun from his position inside.

The Kugelpanzer had a 25 hp two-stroke engine. The nature of this tank has many similarities with the engine of the motorcycles at that time. It is driven using a wheel that runs on an extension that protrudes from the rear like a tail, which can give it more stability.

After investigation, an article published in the magazine Russian Popular Mechanics suggested that this spherical tank is just a test version and will probably never be brought to the battlefield as a means of attack, because it only achieves a top speed of 5 miles an hour - about 8km/h.

The Kugelpanzer has a small wheel that protrudes from the rear of the vehicle for steering.

There is now a plaque at the museum where it is on display, stating that the Kugelpanzer was designed to be a reconnaissance vehicle. Light armor and a machine gun from the prototype meant it was unlikely to have a major impact on the Second World War battlefield.

It also makes sense to use as a reconnaissance vehicle, as it wouldn't need to be so fast in this role. Light combat missions won't be a problem for it, but if it encounters tanks during its operation, it will surely be destroyed easily.

Why is its design so weird?

While the Kugelpanzer's operational purpose can only be speculated, it is thought that in addition to reconnaissance missions, it is believed to be able to complete light combat missions such as artillery observation and cable laying. However, there is also an opinion that this tank can be created as a suicide vehicle, it can crash directly into enemy troops and tanks.

This would not have been unusual at the time as the Japanese also created a number of suicide weapons such as manned torpedoes, rocket-powered flying bombs and Shinyo motorboat units. However, this still caused a lot of controversy because this idea did not fit the way the Germans fought at the time.

In the past, Adolf Hitler had rejected many suicide attack strategies, because he believed that such suicide missions were not part of German warrior culture. Instead, unmanned vehicles are preferred, such as the V1 flying bomb.

It is suggested that this tank could be created as a suicide vehicle.

Theoretically, the large wheels and low center of gravity designed for the Kugelpanzer should be a boon when traveling through soft ground. This will help the vehicle to climb over obstacles such as ditches.

Germany is not the only country thinking this. Russia and the US are also said to have similar machine designs. For example, the US-designed Texas Tumbleweed tank was introduced in 1936. But through analysis, the Kugelpanzer may be more of a combat part of an infantry support unit than a member of a reconnaissance unit. .

In addition, the Russians also built a vehicle of similar style, built in 1915. It used a tri-wheel construction with a diameter of 9 meters - as opposed to conventional tyres. But development was abandoned after the 250 hp engine expected to be incorporated was not powerful enough to propel the tank across the country.

The Russians have also built a car with a similar style.

However, after all, we can only speculate about the strange events of this tank during the Second World War, since we have absolutely no evidence and records regarding the Kugelpanzer. Apart from its caption plate in the Moscow Museum, so far we have very little information about it.