Today in WW II: 20 May 1940 German General Rudolf Veiel's 2nd Panzer division reaches the English Channel at Noyelles, splitting the Allied defense.  More ↓
20 May 1940 Largest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, opens in Poland. Before liberation in 1945, about 1.1 million people died there, 90 percent Jews.
20 May 1941 Germans launch Operation Mercury, the Battle of Crete, the first airborne invasion in history.
20 May 1942 First African-American seamen taken into the United States Navy.
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M-3A4 Utility Hand Cart

The M-3A4 Utility Hand Cart was produced by The John Wood Mfg Company and was used by all branches of the services in World War II. The M-3A4 Utility Hand Cart was used to move ammunition and other supplies by hand when motorized transport or mules were not available or could not be used. Though designed for hand use, the M-3A4 was sometimes towed behind a jeep or Cushman Airborne Scooter.

The cargo area was approximately 32 inches long by 24 inches wide by 5 inches high. Adaptors were made so the cart could mount a machine gun or mortar.

Photo of a jeep and trailer at an airstrip in Normandy, just after the 6 June 1944 D-Day landings. The jeep trailer is an M-3A4 Utility Hand Cart. The aircraft in the background are identified as British Airspeed Horsa gliders
Photo of a jeep and trailer at an airstrip in Normandy, just after the 6 June 1944 D-Day landings. The jeep trailer is an M-3A4 Utility Hand Cart. The aircraft in the background are identified as British Airspeed "Horsa" gliders.

Marines of the 4.2-inch mortar company, 5th Marines, unload ammunition in support of the assault to retake Outpost Vegas, Korea, 1953. Because of the heavy incoming fire, trucks were unable to get to the company's mortar positions, so the Marines had to haul the ammunition up by M3A4 utility hand carts
Marines of the 4.2-inch mortar company, 5th Marines, unload ammunition in support of the assault to retake Outpost Vegas, Korea, 1953. Because of the heavy incoming fire, trucks were unable to get to the company's mortar positions, so the Marines had to haul the ammunition up by M3A4 utility hand carts.

M-3A4 Photo: Courtesy of Patrick Murman
M-3A4 Photo: Courtesy of Patrick Murman.

M-3A4 Utility Hand Cart
M-3A4 Utility Hand Cart.

M-3A4 Utility Hand Cart at the Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, OH
M-3A4 Utility Hand Cart at the Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, OH.

M-3A4 Data Plate. Photo: Courtesy of Patrick Murman
M-3A4 Data Plate. Photo: Courtesy of Patrick Murman.

Hand Cart, M3A4 manufactured by Omaha Industries Inc., 1944. Right photo shows detail of lunette with spade. Photos: Courtesy of Rich Weaver.

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