They were forerunners of the modern combat engineering vehicle and took their nickname from the 79th Division's commander, Major General Percy Hobart.

Allied units in Normandy would need to overcome terrain, obstacles and coastal fortifications if the invasion were to succeed.

General Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff decided in 1943 to create special units and assigned responsibility to armoured warfare expert Percy Hobart for the development of vehicles and training crews to use them in action.

[4] Bradley did request 25 flail tanks and 100 Churchill Crocodiles shortly after the demonstration in February 1944, and the British War Office agreed to supply them as well as British-crewed AVREs.

[5] Considering results of the US landing on Omaha Beach, Bradley's decision has been criticised as it was felt that use of the range of "Funnies" could have saved American lives.

Regarded as a powerful psychological weapon, this flame tank proved highly effective at clearing bunkers, trenches and other German fortifications.

The Churchill's main gun was replaced by a spigot mortar (known as "Petard") that fired a 40lb (18 kg) HE-filled projectile nicknamed the "flying dustbin" around 150 yards (140 m).

Also, small numbers of Churchill AVREs and Sherman BARVs were used until the 1960s, when they were replaced with similar vehicles based on the Centurion Tank.

The Royal Engineers subsequently used modified Centurion and Chieftain tanks that are designed to fulfill the same roles in battle as the Funnies.

Other nations developed their own armoured bulldozers after the war, such as the Soviet IMR variant of the T-72 tank, the US army's Rome plow, and the Israeli Armored CAT D9.