Utmost respect for the cameraman there.
— Gareth🇮🇹 (@ErfinderRotwang) September 30, 2020
When the Nazis occupied much of Europe in the 1940s, they built 10-foot-tall concrete walls along the beaches to thwart invading Allies. To breach these walls, the British military came up with the Panjandrum, a rocket-powered device on two wheels that was filled with explosives. Aim it at the wall, and it would rush up and demolish it. Or that was the idea. A series of tests highlighted all the things that could possibly go wrong. Fortunately, those tests were filmed. Twitter user Dreadnought Holiday tells the story of the Great Panjandrum, illustrated with actual footage of the device plus unrelated memes that make the tale resemble a Three Stooges short. -via Metafilter
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It's speculated, though I'm not sure ever officially confirmed, that newsreel footage of these humorous failures was declassified and made public prior to the invasion specifically to reinforce the idea that it was planned for the more heavily fortified Calais area, rather than Normandy.
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