The original screw propulsion snow vehicle was designed in 1944, during World War II, by Johannes Raedel, a soldier of the German Army and veteran of the Eastern Front.

Raedel had observed that in the deep snows of Russia, tanks would dig out the snow under the tracks, and the tank would become high centered on snow pressed under the belly of the tank.

According to Siegfried Raedel, son of Johannes:

The vehicle idea evolved while looking at a meat mincer, also employing a screw type of compression. He convinced the OKH in Berlin to allow him to make a prototype of his concept machine. At that time, Austria was annexed to Germany already and he was dispatched to the Austrian Alpine Vehicle Test Center at St. Johann in Tyrol.

Using whatever materials were available, he built a working prototype during the period of February 10, 1944 to April 28, 1944. It was tested extensively. It was very slow, but it could pull one ton! It also possessed good climbing capabilities. It would penetrate about 30cm into the snow, but no more.

The photos below are of Johannes testing the vehicle in Tyrol. The woman and children were at a lodge at the top of a mountain, which the vehicle had climbed during testing.

Siegfried pointed out that "something in the order of thousands of tons of patent papers were taken out of Germany after the war. What amazes me though is the fact that both the US and Russia seem to have had access to these papers - and this during the Cold War period!"