How the army tests their vehicles:

1. Climbing performance:

This picture shows the "slope hill" at the "Heeresversuchsgelände Kummersdorf", south of Berlin. In this area military equipment has been tested since the 19th century.

The "slope hill" is in use till today to test the climbing performance of military vehicles. There are several slopes, beginning with around 10% grade ("1 : 10" or 5.7 degrees), the steepest slope is around 70% ("1 : 1,66" or 35 degrees)

To prevent vehicles from falling down the hill, there is a winch house at the top of the hill. With a big steel rope they can pull each vehicle (even a main battle tank) to the top of the hill if something goes wrong during the test.

If you have installed GOOGLE-EARTH on your computer, click on the following link to fly direct to the aerial view of the slope hill:

GOOGLE EARTH aerial view

If Google-Earth is installed correctly, the link should start GOOGLE EARTH and the flight to Horstwalde automatically. Explore the surroundings!

2. Distortion:

On the "Heeresversuchsgelände Kummersdorf" there is also a "Verwindungsbahn" (distortion road) to test the distortionability of military vehicles.

VOLKSWAGEN Kübelwagen type 82 on the distortion road at Kummerdorf testing ground. No problem for the tiny vehicle.

Sd.Kfz 251 halftrack (modified Czech OT) on the distortion road. Note that the front wheels of the halftrack lost contact to the ground! The driver must take care, that the front axle doesn't crash down on the road again.

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