fonem ON THE BATTLEFIELD HOVERCRAFTS AND HUMVEES ENGINEERING GOES TO WAR Terry Burrows Lerner Publications Minneapolis
ENGINEERING AT WAR In June 1944 British and US soldiers began the biggest invasion in history The invasion was called D Day For most of World War II 1939 1945 France had been occupied by German forces More than 150 000 Allied troops landed in France on June 6 They needed supplies but there were no harbors for supply ships Allied engineers built massive floating harbors called Mulberry harbors These were towed to France from Britain and were operational within a few days They helped the invasion to succeed CLOSE CONNECTION Engineering is the technology of designing building and using engines machines and structures such as roads or fortifications Part of a Mulberry harbor is towed to France on D Day Together the two floating harbors were about 5 miles 8 long kilometers
The word engineer began as a military term In the fourteenth century an engine er built machines such as catapults and battering rams These machines were all called engines Medieval soldiers use a catapult battering ram and cannons to attack a castle These devices were all known as engines ADVANCING TECHNOLOGY Warfare has often led to advances in engineering World War I 1914 1918 led to the invention of radio communication World War II saw the development of radio navigation jet engines and the atom bomb After World War II the United States tried to gain more influence in the world than the Soviet Union a communist country based in modern Russia that existed from 1922 to 1991 The struggle between them was known as the Cold War 1947 1991 It led to one of humankind's greatest feats of engineering space travel 5
