The lack of available large-caliber weapons meant that the vehicle carried only machine guns - 6 x. In addition, there is an original corrugated metal construction designed to protect the operator from the pistol. Tanks are hastily arranged around a Caterpillar D8 bulldozer that has been in production since 1935. The tank was named after then-acting Labour Secretary Bob Semple, who came up with the idea of ?a New Zealand native tank to protect the country from a Japanese land invasion. When it became clear that these systems would not be arriving from Britain or the United States anytime soon, and were threatened by the expanding sphere of influence of the Japanese Empire in the Pacific, the two countries began to seek solutions within their respective borders.Ī number of efforts led to a now-neglected contribution to World War II land-based warfare - some useful, some completely forgotten - a key example of the latter being the "Bob Semper Tank" from New Zealand.
At the start of World War II (1939-1945), New Zealand joined neighbouring Australia in recognising that no country had a viable arms production industry - especially as far as tanks and related armoured vehicles were concerned.
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