Thank you for watching my video! I really appreciate you taking the time to check it out. I hope you enjoyed it and learned something new. If you did, please like and subscribe for more content!
I work at the Omaha National Cemetery. We have a soldier who was part of the Utah D-Day landings who fought with the 65th Thunderbolts......M7 Priest......one of my fav graves to stop by, and say hello
@@eddiepz27 Thank you for taking the time for a comment and for your nice addition. I have been able to visit some military cemeteries and it is always very impressive. It is important to be able to remember the history of these people and to be able to pay respects.
It is stunning the US ended up producing war material like this in so short a time "The US was not prepared for a world conflict. The army was smaller than that of Romania. Fewer than 174,000 were in uniform, fitted with old WW I helmets, leggings and rifles designed in 1903....George C. Marshall would change all that". From Ken Burn's book 'The Roosevelts'.
It is indeed extraordinary how quickly that happened and also the willingness to help fight against evil. I come from the Netherlands myself and my fascination with the military world started because of the Second World War stories and the enormous heroic deeds that were performed to, among other things, liberate our small country. This would never have been possible without the enormous production from America.
The US started getting ready during the 1930's. Priority was given to naval vessels, carrier aircraft and land based bombers. The Army was downsized with officers and NCO's reassigned to the Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Projects Administration and the Civil Air Patrol. Ordnance and the Army Arsenal developed tanks, half-tracks and recon vehicles. The Federal Government started ordering the machinery needed to go into the factories that were scheduled to be built in 1940.
Mobile artillery was in infancy in 1939. In the American TV series Band of Brothers, there’s a scene in Part 10 after Germany surrendered and thousands German troops marching in military order to internment camps. The Germans were marching, while the Americans were riding in trucks and Jeeps. Pvt Webster, a real person, stands up on his truck and in English, screams at the marching German soldiers: “What the fuck were you thinking of, disrupting our lives and making us come all this way. Meet fucking General Motors. Meet fucking Ford. You’re still using horses. You stupid, stupid jerks.” He was saying, you want to conquer the world as the superior race, and here we are, riding in powered machines built in hundreds of thousands while your artillery and supplies are still pulled by horses. Industrial might win these kind of wars. M-7 Priest is just an example of industrial power and good enough engineering. The T-34 was an example excellent industrial design, bad turret design where the commander had too much to do, reliable if bad ergonomics engineering, but when built 30,000 with 49,000 Shermans, against 5,000 Panthers, 8,000 IV, 2,000 Tiger I and II, plus 4x P-51 and P-47 that were technically on par with 109 and 190, and better trained pilots in 1944, did the Nazis think the racial superiority was going to win over the number of guns pointing back at them??
Thanks for the response. That is indeed an incredibly impressive scene and happens to be my favorite series. I think you express the message from that scene perfectly and in an interesting way.
My father was Chief of Section in charge of three M-7 Priests in Normandy and Germany. Participated in 5 major Battles including the Battle of the Bulge. He talked about pulling an ammunition trailer behind the M-7 that you never seem to see in pictures. As one can imagine the shells required a lot of storage capacity.
@@randalljones1211 What an incredible piece of history! Thank you for sharing your father's story! The detail about the ammunition trailer is a nice addition to this video. It’s amazing to hear about these firsthand stories that add so much depth to the history behind these machines and the brave people who operated them. Your father’s service and experiences are a tribute to the courage and dedication of that generation.
The US led the world in oil and vehicle production during the 1930's while Germany had to rely upon imported oil and synthetic fuel made from coal. Most of the European farmers still used draft animals plus could grow fodder so using horses was practical for the German military.
Thank you for watching my video! I really appreciate you taking the time to check it out. I hope you enjoyed it and learned something new. If you did, please like and subscribe for more content!
105 MM was a big gun for the time - artillery. First time viewed and didn't realize that so many were produced. Thanks.
Thank you for taking the time to write a comment, glad you liked it.
I work at the Omaha National Cemetery. We have a soldier who was part of the Utah D-Day landings who fought with the 65th Thunderbolts......M7 Priest......one of my fav graves to stop by, and say hello
@@eddiepz27 Thank you for taking the time for a comment and for your nice addition. I have been able to visit some military cemeteries and it is always very impressive. It is important to be able to remember the history of these people and to be able to pay respects.
The British had a similar vehicle called the sexton, it used a 25pdr field gun.
Thank you for your comment. And you are absolutely correct, I have a video about the Sexton: th-cam.com/video/8YncMcH-Mr4/w-d-xo.html
It is stunning the US ended up producing war material like this in so short a time "The US was not prepared for a world conflict. The army was smaller than that of Romania. Fewer than 174,000 were in uniform, fitted with old WW I helmets, leggings and rifles designed in 1903....George C. Marshall would change all that". From Ken Burn's book 'The Roosevelts'.
It is indeed extraordinary how quickly that happened and also the willingness to help fight against evil. I come from the Netherlands myself and my fascination with the military world started because of the Second World War stories and the enormous heroic deeds that were performed to, among other things, liberate our small country. This would never have been possible without the enormous production from America.
The US started getting ready during the 1930's. Priority was given to naval vessels, carrier aircraft and land based bombers. The Army was downsized with officers and NCO's reassigned to the Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Projects Administration and the Civil Air Patrol. Ordnance and the Army Arsenal developed tanks, half-tracks and recon vehicles. The Federal Government started ordering the machinery needed to go into the factories that were scheduled to be built in 1940.
Mobile artillery was in infancy in 1939. In the American TV series Band of Brothers, there’s a scene in Part 10 after Germany surrendered and thousands German troops marching in military order to internment camps. The Germans were marching, while the Americans were riding in trucks and Jeeps. Pvt Webster, a real person, stands up on his truck and in English, screams at the marching German soldiers: “What the fuck were you thinking of, disrupting our lives and making us come all this way. Meet fucking General Motors. Meet fucking Ford. You’re still using horses. You stupid, stupid jerks.”
He was saying, you want to conquer the world as the superior race, and here we are, riding in powered machines built in hundreds of thousands while your artillery and supplies are still pulled by horses. Industrial might win these kind of wars. M-7 Priest is just an example of industrial power and good enough engineering. The T-34 was an example excellent industrial design, bad turret design where the commander had too much to do, reliable if bad ergonomics engineering, but when built 30,000 with 49,000 Shermans, against 5,000 Panthers, 8,000 IV, 2,000 Tiger I and II, plus 4x P-51 and P-47 that were technically on par with 109 and 190, and better trained pilots in 1944, did the Nazis think the racial superiority was going to win over the number of guns pointing back at them??
Thanks for the response. That is indeed an incredibly impressive scene and happens to be my favorite series. I think you express the message from that scene perfectly and in an interesting way.
My father was Chief of Section in charge of three M-7 Priests in Normandy and Germany. Participated in 5 major Battles including the Battle of the Bulge. He talked about pulling an ammunition trailer behind the M-7 that you never seem to see in pictures. As one can imagine the shells required a lot of storage capacity.
@@randalljones1211 What an incredible piece of history! Thank you for sharing your father's story! The detail about the ammunition trailer is a nice addition to this video. It’s amazing to hear about these firsthand stories that add so much depth to the history behind these machines and the brave people who operated them. Your father’s service and experiences are a tribute to the courage and dedication of that generation.
The US led the world in oil and vehicle production during the 1930's while Germany had to rely upon imported oil and synthetic fuel made from coal. Most of the European farmers still used draft animals plus could grow fodder so using horses was practical for the German military.