Proto - Dalek Proto - Daleks were robotic drones based on Dalek casings manufactured by both British and German weapons factories for use in World War I and to aid the New Dalek Paradigm in completing the final stage of the Dalek Project . Proto - Daleks on the British side were manufactured in the factories of Lord Hellcombe , who presented one of them to some visitors as the latest weapon to win the war . The Eleventh Doctor was worried about what purpose the robot had . This Dalek recognised him as the enemy of the Daleks and tried to kill him and Edward Anderson . However , they succeeded in eluding the Proto - Dalek by escaping up a flight of stairs . The Germans had their own variation of the Proto - Dalek , produced in the factories of Erik Graul . Three of these Daleks were activated and attempted to kill the Doctor and his companion s , forcing them to escape on a submarine , which made these Daleks unable to follow them because they were made using primitive technology . Eventually , when the time came for the final stage of the Dalek Project , the factories of Hellcombe and Graul became automated , mass - producing legions of the mechanical Daleks . The robots were then ordered by the true Daleks to converge on a battle between British and German troops , and turn on the humans they were ostensibly created to serve in order to eradicate all evidence of Dalek intervention . Hellcombe sacrificed himself to destroy the German Proto - Dalek factory , while the Doctor reprogrammed the British Proto - Daleks so that they recognised true Daleks as the enemies . This aided the combined armies to destroy the true Daleks . All Proto - Daleks were destroyed by artillery barrage along with Daleks . ( COMIC : " The Dalek Project " ) Appearance . British and German Proto - Daleks were manufactured during the Great War , and thus looked like a real Dalek casing had it been designed using early 1900 ' s - era technology . Both variants used miniature tank treads for mobility , the eyestalks were much bulkier and camera - like , and were armed with variations of the machine guns used by their respective nations in place of the typical Gunstick . The casings were both painted in dull , military colours — khaki for the British , and dull green for the Germans . Both also sported manipulator arms similar to those used by true Daleks , but they were mounted on a pivot rather than a balljoint . Both variants of Proto - Dalek were very different in appearance , as a result of being created by different cultures : the British breed had only three globes on each panel of its lower half — with two bulky midsection rings replacing the upper set of spheres . The eyestalk was thick and cylindrical , while the dome lights were shaped like smaller glass hemispheres , and the mesh neck supporting the done itself had two thin metal bands wrapped around it . the British version have a Union Flag on their back mid section . In contrast , the German Proto - Daleks had a more striking appearance — the bottom half was adorned with several flat , hexagonal plates in place of the usual sensor globes , and the midsection sported an Iron Cross emblem as well as metal slats mimicking the solar panels of a real Dalek . The head section , too , sported some major differences : the dome itself had a point at the top ( mirroring the helmets worn by German troops at the time ) , and the lights were narrow , orange , cylindrical and larger than any true Dalek . Also unlike the British Proto - Dalek , the German version had no mesh in the " neck " section , and instead was just solid metal with several lateral grooves . Despite the sharp physical differences , both Proto - Dalek variants possessed identical attributes : they were impervious to bullets . Despite being claimed to withstand mortars , grenades and light artillery , a German soldier destroyed a German Proto - Dalek with a hand grenade and heavy artilleries and shell bombardment destroyed several Proto - Daleks . They were also not immune to real Dalek weaponry . ( COMIC : " The Dalek Project " )