Solido 1:72 1943 Rheinmetall-Borsig Landwasserschlepper Assult Company 771: Russia

Landwasserschlepper (LWS) was an unarmed amphibious tractor produced in Germany during World War II.

It was clear that well before intending any amphibious operations, a specialized vehicle would be useful to carry troops and supplis from shore to shore. The Heereswaffenamt in 1935 was seeking a way in particular for Wehrmacht engineers (pioneers) to have such vehicle, called "Landwasserschlepper" (abbreviated in LWS) as a lightweight river tug capable of operating on land with good carrying capacity. It was mostly a riverine vehicle, able to provide the genie river crossing and bridging capabilities. Eventually, Rheinmetall-Borsig of Düsseldorf was retained for the design of a prototype. The company created essentially a motor launch hull mixed with a tracked boat as it had been given twin rear-mounted tunnelled propellers and twin rudders aft. When on land, it travelled on steel-shod tracks with four bogies per side. However the project dragged on in 1939 due to other priorities, but was relaunched after France fell, as it would be have used in Operation Sealion, the invasion of Great Britain through the channel.

Therefore the company sped up the process and eventually by the autumn of 1940 had develivered three prototypes. They were immediately assigned to Tank Detachment 100 to take part of Operation Sea Lion as planned. The idea was they would pull ashore unpowered assault barges during the crossing, and tow vehicles across the beaches to avoid them to be bogged down in sand. Afterwards, the LWS would have been used to carry supplies ashore during the critical six hours of falling tide during which all barges were grounded and unable to move. Towing a Kässbohrer amphibious trailer was part of the design. The latter was capable of transporting 10-20 tons of freight and the LWS had some capacity too. This was nitably to overcome the lack of storage and loading/unloading access of the LWS.