Rare film from the "German war files" pack Uploaded only for research and informational purposes only. legal: I do not own any right on this film, nor I will keep it public if any copyright claim will be raised.
Nothing comes close this. Nothing ever will. These documentaries were made in the 1970's, 80's. Long before Internet misinformation and unqualified people giving their take on WW2 with an education of a potato.
@@neganrex5693 Precisely. I've thought of the MTV comparison before, that niche programming has limited audience and can't hold people for long periods at a stretch. Maybe both were doomed as mainstream cable channels.
Excellent footage of the 88mm being brought into action, 44:50 onwards. You can get a great look at most of the support equipment - for all you modelers looking for references!
AWESOME documentary! Usually people tend to "concentrate" on tanks or tank-destroyers, but forget that without proper fast "scout" vehicles, a "Panzerdivision" was virtually blind... Some of those vehicles became legendary, no matter they were suposed to "engage only forces of similar strenght", as they say at the 7th minute, like that "PUMA", that was very probably the BEST vehicle of its type of the whole war, and was used even after the war by many countries of the "Ally"-coalition (...France in first place, if I'm not much mistaken...). Some of the best German tankers and top "Panzer-aces" were sort of ..."brought up" and trained in scout units afterall (like - if I remember well - Wittman). BIG THANKS FOR UPLOADING! Have a nice day everybody.
wood1155 lol, Italians were not even ready for war during WW2, they got their .sses kicked quickly in Africa, they were probably the weakest Axis country lol.
I know that there are many out there that love the half-track. But they never had to drive one. Realize that they are powered by a track that has no ability to steer the machine. Both tracks are either in "forward" or "reverse', all steering is done by the 2 front wheels. Now plop that machine into mud, ice or deep snow. You might be able to go forward or back OK, but turning? Not so much.
During a hurricane in South Carolina a fire department used a half-track to help rescue people. My brother and I helped. It wasn't really that bad to ride in. Rough ride though, as the rear end basically has no suspension to speak to of. Was a seriously interesting experience
My point is Germany could not produce enough good heavy semi heavy trucks with a 2 front war.The Red Army,with their logistical support was provided by hundreds of thousands of U.S.-made trucks. Indeed by 1945 nearly two-thirds of the truck strength of the Red Army was U.S.-built. Trucks such as the Dodge 3/4 ton and Studebaker 2½ ton, were easily the best trucks available in their class on either side on the Eastern Front. The USA simply put was able to supply all its allies with trucks.
andrei paul Germany might have won if they hadn't declared war on the US on December the 10th 1941! Once they awoken the might of the US industrial military potential the war was lost. For Germany and Japan!
y The so-called "Blitzkrieg" of the German Wehrmacht was carried out mainly by the Pz.I and Pz. II combat vehicles in Poland and France . During the restructuring in 1940/41, the vehicle was no longer used as a battle tank, but as a reconnaissance tank. Due to the simultaneous reduction, there were 65 Type II tanks with a target stock of 200 tanks per division. In 1942, with a target stock of 164 tanks in total, only 28 Panzer II were planned. The following year the type was finally retired. Since the German armaments industry did not succeed in providing the Wehrmacht with the intended standard tanks of the types Panzer III and Panzer IV in significant numbers until the outbreak of the Second World War, the Panzer II with almost 1,100 were operational in the first two years of the war Vehicles the backbone of the German tank weapon. At the beginning of the western campaign, the divisions deployed there had 955 Panzer II at their disposal. At the beginning of the war against the Soviet Union in June 1941 there were just under 1200 vehicles; in May of the following year this number fell to 860 vehicles. [1] The Panzer II bore the brunt of the fighting in Poland and France and it became apparent relatively quickly that, like its predecessor, it was too weakly armed and armored and could only be viewed as a makeshift tank. It only offered advantages in street fighting because of its small size. Panzer II were also used to fight partisans. The total losses can be quantified as follows: 1939: 83 pieces 1940: 240 pieces 1941: 460 pieces By April 1942 a total of 921 Panzer IIs had been recorded as total losses.
I have watched a lot of WW2 documentaries and have never seen a series that goes as in depth and the video actually matches the veh/weapon they are discussing.
Thanks for uploading, but I wish the people who made the video had listened to it so they would know that the music is louder than the narrator. There are some people in the house that don't want to listen to the music while I'm trying to make out what the guy is mumbling about.
I think the narrator's script may lead to confusion with the weight designations of the half-tracks, which are really 3/4 track anyway, the various ton designations do not refer to the vehicle weight at all but the weight of the intended maximum towed load. There seemed to be no mention either that all the half-tracks also had a simple peg and slot arrangement from the steering box that progressively applied track brakes after a relatively small angle of the steering wheel.
I couldn't agree more. I have the whole series, and have only picked up one error in the whole thing. This series and the "Battlefield" series are among the best available.
An EXCELLENT video. WEll researched and a comprehensive coverage of the German vehicles. Don't worry about the negative comments:as some viewers aren't very bright.
chris hackney I mean, if he's going to call people "dumb ass kids who don't know anything" he should probably use correct grammar. Otherwise he looks like a dumb ass kid who doesn't know anything
sam8404 could be from another country and doesn’t have a perfect grasp of the English language, doesn’t mean they are a dumb ass. It’s the internet, you never know who someone is or where they come from.
Apologies for the long string of replies but I neglected to mention the array of Soviet heavy tanks, most importantly the IS-2 in my previous post. In addition the Soviet Union also fielded several self propelled guns such as the SU-155 which was designated a "Big game hunter" designed to knock out the German "Animal" heavy tanks such as the Tiger, Panther, Royal Tiger and Ferdinand (formerly Elefant). Finally ignorance of the Gloster Meteor does not diminish its importance.
Its nothing to do with the loss of scientists. They had plenty of the greatest thinkers in Germany during the war.Heisenberg was one of the greatest. German scientists Hahn and Strassman discovered nuclear fission in 1939 but it wasnt seen as a war winning priority. The fact that over a 100,000 people were needed to make the American bombs at a cost of over 30 Billion dollars it was never going to happen.Germany didn't have the manpower or the uranium.
Just a bit of editing to reduce the level of the background music would improve this. Otherwise, extremely interesting. I love seeing little bits of esoterica that you're not normally aware of; the air dropped fuel canisters to resupply the forward recon units was fantastic. I've never seen that before.
the tonnage given for the unarmored halftracks is NOT their weight. This vehicles were classified by the Tonnage they could pull. Hence the 18ton ZKW(Zugkraftwagen/motorized Vehicle for pulling) is to pull a weight of 18 tons.
I arrived at this video due to my fascination with the Kettenkrad. I was so glad to see the coverage and amazing video provided in this documentary. Thanks for this film.
That blockade had ended by 1919 (and in place by all btw with food shipments being allowed but delayed, heavily condemned in the UK by the opposition might i add so not "the general view" at all and was supported by all the allies and even demanded by some such as France), What i am on about was the major post war damages, such as the taking of German lands by France etc etc.
I thought the German army is criticized for still being 3/4 horse-drawn by the end of the war, let alone at the beginning. Germany made good use of the mechanized units that it did have, but it wasn't like they had more tanks and trucks than the Allies...they just use the ones they did have to better effect in the beginning. Notice how German artillery, with a few exceptions (such as 88mm Flak guns) were always mounted on steel wheels with solid rubber tires? These are called "low-speed" carriages, and are meant for speeds you'd expect being drawn behind a team of horses. Russian, British and US artillery was mostly mounted on rubber tires and equipped with shock absorbers. This is because their entire artillery arms (for starters) were designed and equipped for motor transport before the war even began. Trying to tow a low-speed German gun behind a truck would have shaken the mounting to pieces within 20 miles, and/or screwed the accuracy all up, even if the gun didn't go out of control or flip over the first time you hit a rough stretch of road. The Germans put their high-speed units to good use,, but mostly it was good armor tactics and coordination that won the day for Blitzkrieg, but most of the infantry and artillery still moved up in the same fashion as a forced march done during the Franco-Prussian war. The mechanized units just broke the enemy in areas and drove spearhead behind their lines, allowing the slower units to come in an mop up. Yet popular "knowledge" since WWII has been that Hitler built this highly modern, completely mechanized army, and this was how he beat the Allies, who had neglected to do this. That was not at all how it happened. Not only that, by the end of the war, the Allies armies were almost 100% mechanized, while most of Hitlers troops still marched on foot, most guns were still drawn by horses, and supply trains were still mostly horse-drawn wagons. Only the relatively few mechanized "spearhead" units (also often used as fire brigades after Russia started beating them in 1942) were given motorized logistic trains, because horse-drawn wagons couldn't keep up with mechanized units. Germany went through like tens of millions of horses lost in combat during WWII. How many horses did the US army loose during fighting, just out of curiosity?
The Germans used captured.French and British vehicles and they also used T34s that were abandoned and repaired they were always short of motor transport
+Jeffrey Rollings I see what you mean. Not sure if it is truly mounted on the left, if it is i'd like to know why. What i'm guessing is the documentary makers flipped the film during editing to make it look like all the traffic was going left to right, or from Germany to Russia. They are taught to keep the direction on the screen consistent and the shots before were left to right. Just a guess
Yeah they had some sexy war machine but their field transport during the entire war was heavily dependant on horses. During the Battle of the Bulge the US were able to move men and supplies quicker. The troops were not exhausted when the reached the front lines from marching - cold yes and initially low on supplies but this was soon retified because of their STANDARDISED mechanised transports.
Interesting and informative. Excellent photography job. Good investigative research. Good reviews of the different armored vehicles. 1st class documentary.
Would there be a market for a limited production run of the Sd.Kfz. 222 to the original drawings?Just wondering (Obviously engine,transmission and final drives would be sourced from a current production vehicle so as to comply with modern emissions and "Construction and use" regulations).Ideas anyone?
The Ford truck plant was taken over by the German Government before WWII started. Henry Ford was defiantly anti-Semitic, and admired the German Government's way of during business in the 1930's, but by the time Germany invaded Poland, he no longer had any control over the German Ford truck plant. Also, the German car and truck maker Opel was a General Motor's subsidiary, but the German Opel truck plant had also been taken over by the German Government before WWII. Check out the WWII Japanese Navy's Type “0” Transport Model 11. It was a DC3 built before and during WWII by the Showa aircraft plant under a Douglas Aircraft license.
Germany was far ahead of all of the Allies as far as technology at the beginning of WW2. Their Achilles heel was the lack of uniformity and ease of field repair. Simplicity is the greatest attribute of military equipment in actual war. This is why the Russian T34 proved to be the best tank design of WW2. I hate Communists but there’s no denying that the T34 was the best tank of WW2. Simple to build, simple to repair and simple to operate. Not to mention that it had great frontal armor. Hitler was constantly awarding military contracts to various companies that kissed his ass and as a result there was little uniformity of parts. Once his armor broke down on the battle field it was extremely difficult to quickly get the parts and get it back into the fight. Not so for the T34 and to a lesser extent the Sherman.
FFW to 3:45 if you want to see the proper beginning of this vid. Far too much waffle in the narration, but some great footage together with descriptions of the vehicles being shown.
Thank you 🙏, I’m a history nut, love ❤️ this video. I build models and now I’m going to have to expand my diorama of North Africa Corp, I new there were variants, didn’t realize how many, very informative, my hobby store is in for some work
No, it refers to the Greif Vogel, a legendary beast, the griffin, a winged horse with a falcon or eagle head. The other Rommel's command vehicle, another sdkfz 250/3 was the "Adler" for "eagle".
I couldn't agree more, looking at battlefield, what a great series. Although the fact they used the same slow music in every single episode wasn't something i was particularly thrilled about ;)
And the KwK 30, et al, are NOT "derived from the weapons carried on the Messerschmitt 109". The Bf 109E used two MG FF cannon, derived from the Oerlikon 20mm cannon, itself derived from the Becker cannon. The KwK 30 is derived from the Solothurn ST-5, and is unrelated although sharing certain similarities (besides both being 20mm autocannon). The later MG 151/20 is a totally different weapon altogether.
they were very well engineered and a lot roomier than the SKFZs. Very simple design using mostly off the shelf automotive components and flat plate sheet metal.
The eighth Air force was the sacrificial lamb of the western allies. As huge Soviet casualties racked up, the eighth Air force cause they Germans to retain 80% of 88s to be as AA units. The huge number of allied airman sacrificed served a very real, very important diversionary purpose as the western allies contribution to total war. It would have been a slaughter to allow 5x times the number of 88s to proceed to the eastern front of Germany!
I think they were surprised on how advanced a concept the T-34 was and how it outmatched anything the Wehrmacht had. The Panzer III and IV as well as the Tiger were concepts from the mid 30s, with their vertical armour. And given the results in western Europe, they were deemed "good enough". The Panther is the only german design actually made for tank vs tank combat and stood up against allied armour until the war's end. The long barreled Panzer IV and the StuG were stopgap measures, well done but flawed from the start.
Another comment I shake my head at....."....flawed from the start" The PZ IV was successful until the T-34 arrived....The Stug III was not a flawed design, they accounted for over 20, 000 Allied tanks destroyed alone. It was not a "Stop gap measure" but an intended design to counter enemy strong points, then only later became a tank destroyer. The PZ IV saw production till the end of WWII. The Panther was a direct result of the T-34.
ShamanKish Rommel at el alemien told his 88s to shoot at 800m since every British tank shot 600m or less that was the first day the Sherman was employed and it shot up to 800m he was low on supplies so he was trying to conserve ammo that was the main reason he lost that battle
In early 1944 when US General Doolittle told P-51 fighter pilots to stop flying in formation when escorting bombers and go directly after German fighters, the Luftwaffe lost over 17% of their remaining fighter force in just over 1 week. Goring was stunned & he speaks of this development as the beginning of the end because that signalled Allied air superiority over Germany. I don't dismiss the fact that the FW190s & ME109s were innovative fighters, BUT they were TOTALLY outclassed by the P51.
Fighting 3 other super powers with the same (UK) (USSR) or four times more (US) manufacturing capacity. Germany was basically fighting 6 other Germanys.
They produced a wide variety of vehicles, often to the extent of diluting their manufacturing capacity for another new vehicle, then -- particularly with the later tank designs -- came back with modifications that pushed their weight up and reliability down. And Gernany found itself having to employ its weapons outside of their intended purpose -- the Tiger was developed in response to a pre-war requirement for a heavy breakthrough tank; it was intended to be used in an initial assault, creating a breach in the enemy lines, which the regular panzertruppen would exploit while the Tiger units were pulled back to be refit and sent to the next schwerpunkt. Instead, they had to be used alongside the regular tank units to provide additional strength, kept in action far longer than their intended role, and acquired a reputation for unreliability when they could not be given their required maintenance.
The primary reason that the Germans did so well was NOT that their equipment was far superior to that of their opponents. Some of it was, but much of it was not. German discipline, training, armored doctrine, and tactics were the reasons. In other words, human factors.
wow, only 800 of the 8 wheeled reconaissance/armoured cars were made? seems like a pretty low number, i thought they were more common than that...is that correct, can anyone else verify that?
Good video. It is amazing how many vehicles (different types) were used by the Germans. 14,000 Ford trucks, haha. Me thinks old Henry made out pretty good on the war. Playing both sides against the middle. The other video about the mobile artillery is very good too. Ford didn't get to make any artillery. lol
This was interesting and I appreciate the upload. The background 'music' was very piercing; too bad it couldn't have been eliminated. It would also have been good if the images could have been frozen, even for a few seconds, when a new model is mentioned and a decent shot is available. i realize it's too much to ask for a caption of the model to be included. But this is niggling - Thanks again for uploading.
The iconic German hand grenade. That would also be a sweet piece for a collection. And I think so yes, it was a WWI design but it became very iconic of Luftwaffe/SS officer handgun. It was called the broom handle because of the way the handle of it looked, it looks like the butt of a wooden broom lmao.
This is without doubt the best documentary about German armoured cars and half-tracks ever produced.
andrew strongman do you know about another one?
Yeah, i havent found anything to top it yet, and it's been a few years
Nothing comes close this. Nothing ever will. These documentaries were made in the 1970's, 80's. Long before Internet misinformation and unqualified people giving their take on WW2 with an education of a potato.
No doubt.
Agreed
@HistoryChannel..... Plz take note ..... This is what an actual ww2 documentary looks like .....
miridian2012 agree
But where's Chumley???
miridian2012 "History Channel" is busy making trashy "reality" tv shows.
Sorry the history channel has went the way of socialist low IQ MTV. No history no music and few viewers.
@@neganrex5693 Precisely. I've thought of the MTV comparison before, that niche programming has limited audience and can't hold people for long periods at a stretch. Maybe both were doomed as mainstream cable channels.
At last a TV doc that actually refers to the footage on screen rather than just using it for eye candy.
Did you just call Nazi stuff Eye Candy 😅
@@trueKENTUCKY.. Just because it's nazi and/or German doesn't mean it can't be pretty, nice, cool etc.
The "German War File" series are really good and well researched without forcing a moral opinion on the viewer.
Excellent footage of the 88mm being brought into action, 44:50 onwards. You can get a great look at most of the support equipment - for all you modelers looking for references!
My favorite scene (29.50) is the German Shepard riding shotgun in the halftrack.
yup saw that one. very col
He was actually the vehicle commander
the german shepard was like HELL YEA!
Panzer Grenadier Blitzhound !
Germans even tried to make the speak and use them as soldiers... Very interesting topic if you look deeper into it
AWESOME documentary!
Usually people tend to "concentrate" on tanks or tank-destroyers, but forget that without proper fast "scout" vehicles, a "Panzerdivision" was virtually blind...
Some of those vehicles became legendary, no matter they were suposed to "engage only forces of similar strenght", as they say at the 7th minute, like that "PUMA", that was very probably the BEST vehicle of its type of the whole war, and was used even after the war by many countries of the "Ally"-coalition (...France in first place, if I'm not much mistaken...).
Some of the best German tankers and top "Panzer-aces" were sort of ..."brought up" and trained in scout units afterall (like - if I remember well - Wittman).
BIG THANKS FOR UPLOADING!
Have a nice day everybody.
It's not they forget it's just some people are very part time WW2 people and they concentrate on the main topics which is fine and understandable. 😅
As a kid when I saw pictures of the puma I thought it couldn't be a WW2 vehicle, it looked to futuristic. Still one of my favorite WW2 designs.
Damn the Germans had some sexy war machines!
Spoken like a *TRUE MOTORHEAD.*
Didn't get them far though! Literally speaking no oil meant no movement.
Yes...but really shockingly shite music!
DesolationAngel101 too bad their leaders (nazis) were evil animals.
wood1155 lol, Italians were not even ready for war during WW2, they got their .sses kicked quickly in Africa, they were probably the weakest Axis country lol.
Dear Military Channel-
THIS is a documentary.
great docu, only problem is when the music starts. its difficult to here the speaker. thanks.
It confuses copyrighted material detection.
Lee T. Walker what copyrighted material? Archive footage in the public domain?
BULLOCK what?
Crawled Out Of Plato's Cave dick
Crawled Out Of Plato's Cave insulting to dicks.....
This is probably the best Documentary series of WWII.
No! Battle Of The Bulge
Love the Schachtellaufwerk (overlapped interleaved) track design.
Very interesting review of important vehicles that are mostly overshadowed by Tanks.
Thank you for uploading these. Excellent documentaries with amazing footage.
I think so too. This video is just about engineering, so you shouldn't distract from this to policy and the ethical side.
Great document, the Wermacht had so many variations it´s a vast inventory some really great, like the Blitz or the puma
Guess it was a logistic nightmare tough
+MTXwhites for sure a real nightmare...
Absolutely love these German war files docs
Do wish the music wasn’t louder then the speaker
I know that there are many out there that love the half-track. But they never had to drive one. Realize that they are powered by a track that has no ability to steer the machine. Both tracks are either in "forward" or "reverse', all steering is done by the 2 front wheels. Now plop that machine into mud, ice or deep snow. You might be able to go forward or back OK, but turning? Not so much.
During a hurricane in South Carolina a fire department used a half-track to help rescue people. My brother and I helped. It wasn't really that bad to ride in. Rough ride though, as the rear end basically has no suspension to speak to of. Was a seriously interesting experience
They describe vehicles being produced in the hundreds while allies were turning out vehicles by the thousands or tens of thousands
These war file docs are very good i must say. Most informative and so much unseen footage, nice.
NICE PICTURES NOY OFTEN SEEN 👌 GOOD FULL DOCUMENTARY ON WHAT WAS PRODUCED .
My point is Germany could not produce enough good heavy semi heavy trucks with a 2 front war.The Red Army,with their logistical support was provided by hundreds of thousands of U.S.-made trucks. Indeed by 1945 nearly two-thirds of the truck strength of the Red Army was U.S.-built. Trucks such as the Dodge 3/4 ton and Studebaker 2½ ton, were easily the best trucks available in their class on either side on the Eastern Front.
The USA simply put was able to supply all its allies with trucks.
Germany made some bad ass vehicles...
Alex Sturm maybe, but they couldn't keep up with the Allied military production machine!!
Patton3003 Well, you said it correctly. Allies= URSS +UK+ USA; of course they couldn't fight alone against 3 countries.
andrei paul
then why plunge the country in an unwindable war?
andrei paul
Germany might have won if they hadn't declared war on the US on December the 10th 1941! Once they awoken the might of the US industrial military potential the war was lost. For Germany and Japan!
Patton3003 And yet your US waited untill 44 to actually help in war.
So shut it.Russia carried the war.
Great footage, we'll never see the likes of these vehicles again.
You will never see it on the history channel anymore. They only have dumb shit like MTV.
y The so-called "Blitzkrieg" of the German Wehrmacht was carried out mainly by the Pz.I and Pz. II combat vehicles in Poland and France . During the restructuring in 1940/41, the vehicle was no longer used as a battle tank, but as a reconnaissance tank. Due to the simultaneous reduction, there were 65 Type II tanks with a target stock of 200 tanks per division. In 1942, with a target stock of 164 tanks in total, only 28 Panzer II were planned. The following year the type was finally retired.
Since the German armaments industry did not succeed in providing the Wehrmacht with the intended standard tanks of the types Panzer III and Panzer IV in significant numbers until the outbreak of the Second World War, the Panzer II with almost 1,100 were operational in the first two years of the war Vehicles the backbone of the German tank weapon. At the beginning of the western campaign, the divisions deployed there had 955 Panzer II at their disposal. At the beginning of the war against the Soviet Union in June 1941 there were just under 1200 vehicles; in May of the following year this number fell to 860 vehicles. [1] The Panzer II bore the brunt of the fighting in Poland and France and it became apparent relatively quickly that, like its predecessor, it was too weakly armed and armored and could only be viewed as a makeshift tank. It only offered advantages in street fighting because of its small size. Panzer II were also used to fight partisans. The total losses can be quantified as follows:
1939: 83 pieces
1940: 240 pieces
1941: 460 pieces
By April 1942 a total of 921 Panzer IIs had been recorded as total losses.
I have watched a lot of WW2 documentaries and have never seen a series that goes as in depth and the video actually matches the veh/weapon they are discussing.
Thanks for uploading, but I wish the people who made the video had listened to it so they would know that the music is louder than the narrator. There are some people in the house that don't want to listen to the music while I'm trying to make out what the guy is mumbling about.
I found that ear phones help. I agree, the music is very distracting and annoying.
It's just the intro and outro. There's little music inside the vid.
I've seen all sorts of war documentaries, but never saw any of the footage utilized in this video. Very informative!
I think the narrator's script may lead to confusion with the weight designations of the half-tracks, which are really 3/4 track anyway, the various ton designations do not refer to the vehicle weight at all but the weight of the intended maximum towed load.
There seemed to be no mention either that all the half-tracks also had a simple peg and slot arrangement from the steering box that progressively applied track brakes after a relatively small angle of the steering wheel.
I couldn't agree more. I have the whole series, and have only picked up one error in the whole thing. This series and the "Battlefield" series are among the best available.
Indeed. Objective documentaries are a rarity these days.
I like this series because they are not repeating for the thousandth time same and same clips.
An EXCELLENT video. WEll researched and a comprehensive coverage of the German vehicles. Don't worry about the negative comments:as some viewers aren't very bright.
Harry Johnson And there just dumb ass kids, know nothings.
+Rick Velocity: that should read they're (they are), not there.
chris hackney I mean, if he's going to call people "dumb ass kids who don't know anything" he should probably use correct grammar. Otherwise he looks like a dumb ass kid who doesn't know anything
sam8404 could be from another country and doesn’t have a perfect grasp of the English language, doesn’t mean they are a dumb ass. It’s the internet, you never know who someone is or where they come from.
@@Thebigbun They could be from Mars. I wounder if they are full of dumb asses there like we have here..
No, he was saying how Ford and other American manufacturers built mules similar in design to the German half track trucks.
Both are equally formidable, and are not to be underestimated.
Those who do are left in complete defeat.
Great documentary thanks for posting
This doc is very good , maybe one of the best on this specific topic .
Apologies for the long string of replies but I neglected to mention the array of Soviet heavy tanks, most importantly the IS-2 in my previous post. In addition the Soviet Union also fielded several self propelled guns such as the SU-155 which was designated a "Big game hunter" designed to knock out the German "Animal" heavy tanks such as the Tiger, Panther, Royal Tiger and Ferdinand (formerly Elefant). Finally ignorance of the Gloster Meteor does not diminish its importance.
Its nothing to do with the loss of scientists. They had plenty of the greatest thinkers in Germany during the war.Heisenberg was one of the greatest. German scientists Hahn and Strassman discovered nuclear fission in 1939 but it wasnt seen as a war winning priority. The fact that over a 100,000 people were needed to make the American bombs at a cost of over 30 Billion dollars it was never going to happen.Germany didn't have the manpower or the uranium.
Just a bit of editing to reduce the level of the background music would improve this. Otherwise, extremely interesting. I love seeing little bits of esoterica that you're not normally aware of; the air dropped fuel canisters to resupply the forward recon units was fantastic. I've never seen that before.
This great series will be even greater, when it is colourised!!
even Odder, Maxim's Machine Gun was used by Every side in WW1, he made a fortune
I've built a few models of German halftracks because they are ridiculous. Great documentary. These are often overlooked in favor of the wunderwaffels.
How dare you insult sdk.frz 251
the tonnage given for the unarmored halftracks is NOT their weight.
This vehicles were classified by the Tonnage they could pull.
Hence the 18ton ZKW(Zugkraftwagen/motorized Vehicle for pulling) is to pull a weight of 18 tons.
I arrived at this video due to my fascination with the Kettenkrad. I was so glad to see the coverage and amazing video provided in this documentary. Thanks for this film.
Great video, thanks for posting it! I wish they had done one on Allied arms too.
That blockade had ended by 1919 (and in place by all btw with food shipments being allowed but delayed, heavily condemned in the UK by the opposition might i add so not "the general view" at all and was supported by all the allies and even demanded by some such as France), What i am on about was the major post war damages, such as the taking of German lands by France etc etc.
I thought the German army is criticized for still being 3/4 horse-drawn by the end of the war, let alone at the beginning. Germany made good use of the mechanized units that it did have, but it wasn't like they had more tanks and trucks than the Allies...they just use the ones they did have to better effect in the beginning. Notice how German artillery, with a few exceptions (such as 88mm Flak guns) were always mounted on steel wheels with solid rubber tires? These are called "low-speed" carriages, and are meant for speeds you'd expect being drawn behind a team of horses. Russian, British and US artillery was mostly mounted on rubber tires and equipped with shock absorbers. This is because their entire artillery arms (for starters) were designed and equipped for motor transport before the war even began. Trying to tow a low-speed German gun behind a truck would have shaken the mounting to pieces within 20 miles, and/or screwed the accuracy all up, even if the gun didn't go out of control or flip over the first time you hit a rough stretch of road. The Germans put their high-speed units to good use,, but mostly it was good armor tactics and coordination that won the day for Blitzkrieg, but most of the infantry and artillery still moved up in the same fashion as a forced march done during the Franco-Prussian war. The mechanized units just broke the enemy in areas and drove spearhead behind their lines, allowing the slower units to come in an mop up. Yet popular "knowledge" since WWII has been that Hitler built this highly modern, completely mechanized army, and this was how he beat the Allies, who had neglected to do this. That was not at all how it happened. Not only that, by the end of the war, the Allies armies were almost 100% mechanized, while most of Hitlers troops still marched on foot, most guns were still drawn by horses, and supply trains were still mostly horse-drawn wagons. Only the relatively few mechanized "spearhead" units (also often used as fire brigades after Russia started beating them in 1942) were given motorized logistic trains, because horse-drawn wagons couldn't keep up with mechanized units. Germany went through like tens of millions of horses lost in combat during WWII. How many horses did the US army loose during fighting, just out of curiosity?
The Germans used captured.French and British vehicles and they also used T34s that were abandoned and repaired they were always short of motor transport
The Puma is rarely acknowledge for it's invaluable service for the Werhmacht.
I use to have a bunch of these videos on VHS. They're just not making good documentaries anymore.
In my last Panzer General II campaign, two Sd.Kfz. 234 platoon's survived years of combat and were easily worth their weight in gold.
Surprised to see the motorcycle outfit at 9.16 has the chair mounted on the left.
+Jeffrey Rollings I see what you mean. Not sure if it is truly mounted on the left, if it is i'd like to know why. What i'm guessing is the documentary makers flipped the film during editing to make it look like all the traffic was going left to right, or from Germany to Russia. They are taught to keep the direction on the screen consistent and the shots before were left to right. Just a guess
Very nice documentary. Needless to say some of those same designs have been mimic by the Allies after the WWII.
Fun fact: the Sdkfz. 251 was one source of inspiration for the Star Wars Walker.
Yeah they had some sexy war machine but their field transport during the entire war was heavily dependant on horses. During the Battle of the Bulge the US were able to move men and supplies quicker. The troops were not exhausted when the reached the front lines from marching - cold yes and initially low on supplies but this was soon retified because of their STANDARDISED mechanised transports.
It's amazing how futuristic some of these vehicles look ,
The sloped armor is a blueprint for pretty much all subsequent armoured vehicles
Thank you for posting these different WW 2 Videos. WW2 TH-cam buff here!
Interesting and informative. Excellent photography job. Good investigative research. Good reviews of the different armored vehicles. 1st class documentary.
I never really ponder the half track, but this is very good.
Would there be a market for a limited production run of the Sd.Kfz. 222 to the original drawings?Just wondering (Obviously engine,transmission and final drives would be sourced from a current production vehicle so as to comply with modern emissions and "Construction and use" regulations).Ideas anyone?
you said it yourself emissions would be the killer. for the movies they use wooden vehicle or miniature models which are very convincing
I had no idea Ford was still building vehicles for Germany in 1944 or did I hear that wrong?
It's true and well documented
The Ford truck plant was taken over by the German Government before WWII started. Henry Ford was defiantly anti-Semitic, and admired the German Government's way of during business in the 1930's, but by the time Germany invaded Poland, he no longer had any control over the German Ford truck plant. Also, the German car and truck maker Opel was a General Motor's subsidiary, but the German Opel truck plant had also been taken over by the German Government before WWII. Check out the WWII Japanese Navy's Type “0” Transport Model 11. It was a DC3 built before and during WWII by the Showa aircraft plant under a Douglas Aircraft license.
The Germans had the best military technology. Way ahead of its time.
but the feckless bureaucrats got in the way of effectiveness
No, not really. Their tech was average at best.
The music is supposed to be in the background, hence “background music.”
Germany was far ahead of all of the Allies as far as technology at the beginning of WW2. Their Achilles heel was the lack of uniformity and ease of field repair. Simplicity is the greatest attribute of military equipment in actual war. This is why the Russian T34 proved to be the best tank design of WW2. I hate Communists but there’s no denying that the T34 was the best tank of WW2. Simple to build, simple to repair and simple to operate. Not to mention that it had great frontal armor. Hitler was constantly awarding military contracts to various companies that kissed his ass and as a result there was little uniformity of parts. Once his armor broke down on the battle field it was extremely difficult to quickly get the parts and get it back into the fight. Not so for the T34 and to a lesser extent the Sherman.
As Dr. Atwater said, "good enough will work"
Careful. You are making the Potential History fans angry.
FFW to 3:45 if you want to see the proper beginning of this vid. Far too much waffle in the narration, but some great footage together with descriptions of the vehicles being shown.
Thank you 🙏, I’m a history nut, love ❤️ this video. I build models and now I’m going to have to expand my diorama of North Africa Corp, I new there were variants, didn’t realize how many, very informative, my hobby store is in for some work
I can hardly imagine keeping a useful inventory of spare parts for all these machines.
Extremely interesting. Thanks very much for posting this.
The word 'Greif' on the side of Rommel's Sdkfz 250 meant 'take' or 'seize' - not 'Griffin' as stated.
Yep, it means "grip", like in wrestling ;-)
No, it refers to the Greif Vogel, a legendary beast, the griffin, a winged horse with a falcon or eagle head. The other Rommel's command vehicle, another sdkfz 250/3 was the "Adler" for "eagle".
*lol* That German Shepherd commanded that SdKfz very good. XD
I couldn't agree more, looking at battlefield, what a great series.
Although the fact they used the same slow music in every single episode wasn't something i was particularly thrilled about ;)
And the KwK 30, et al, are NOT "derived from the weapons carried on the Messerschmitt 109". The Bf 109E used two MG FF cannon, derived from the Oerlikon 20mm cannon, itself derived from the Becker cannon. The KwK 30 is derived from the Solothurn ST-5, and is unrelated although sharing certain similarities (besides both being 20mm autocannon). The later MG 151/20 is a totally different weapon altogether.
+justforever96 Well spotted. The KwK 30 was derived from the FlaK 30, and fired the same ammunition as the Flak 30 and the later Flak 38.
Didn't Rommel like US halftracks? I remember seeing a video where he was quite taken with one.
My uncle was in a American half-track under Pattons Command but ran out of fuel,hand to hand combat etc.
they were very well engineered and a lot roomier than the SKFZs. Very simple design using mostly off the shelf automotive components and flat plate sheet metal.
the music is WAY too loud
I liked it very much
llVIU Indeed
Sweegy Swag no, he says it like whoever originally put this series together made the music too loud in the mix
We can assume this is because this was cut in the traditional sense and then spoken over; there's no mixing when your audio is analogue.
I can hear everything and I'm half deaf.
The eighth Air force was the sacrificial lamb of the western allies. As huge Soviet casualties racked up, the eighth Air force cause they Germans to retain 80% of 88s to be as AA units. The huge number of allied airman sacrificed served a very real, very important diversionary purpose as the western allies contribution to total war. It would have been a slaughter to allow 5x times the number of 88s to proceed to the eastern front of Germany!
So the Germans used sloped armor for increased protection on their armored cars and halftracks, but were surprised when they came across the T-34?
I think they were surprised on how advanced a concept the T-34 was and how it outmatched anything the Wehrmacht had. The Panzer III and IV as well as the Tiger were concepts from the mid 30s, with their vertical armour. And given the results in western Europe, they were deemed "good enough". The Panther is the only german design actually made for tank vs tank combat and stood up against allied armour until the war's end. The long barreled Panzer IV and the StuG were stopgap measures, well done but flawed from the start.
Another comment I shake my head at....."....flawed from the start" The PZ IV was successful until the T-34 arrived....The Stug III was not a flawed design, they accounted for over 20, 000 Allied tanks destroyed alone. It was not a "Stop gap measure" but an intended design to counter enemy strong points, then only later became a tank destroyer. The PZ IV saw production till the end of WWII. The Panther was a direct result of the T-34.
Germans were surprised by T-34 because they had no previous information about its existence. Pretty clear that one.
ShamanKish Rommel at el alemien told his 88s to shoot at 800m since every British tank shot 600m or less that was the first day the Sherman was employed and it shot up to 800m he was low on supplies so he was trying to conserve ammo that was the main reason he lost that battle
Super great show. I like the fact that it is strictly informative without all the politics and B.S. Thanks for posting!!!
Take out the overwhelming load music.. Gud Lawd! Fantastic film footage.
Thanks for sharing just picked up a couple of these in 1/35 by Tamiya and AFV
I enjoy background music in documentaries. So if one *can get through the first **15:30** or so one can actually HEAR the narrator.*
Outstanding program but why the bloody music drowning out the narrative?????
In early 1944 when US General Doolittle told P-51 fighter pilots to stop flying in formation when escorting bombers and go directly after German fighters, the Luftwaffe lost over 17% of their remaining fighter force in just over 1 week. Goring was stunned & he speaks of this development as the beginning of the end because that signalled Allied air superiority over Germany. I don't dismiss the fact that the FW190s & ME109s were innovative fighters, BUT they were TOTALLY outclassed by the P51.
great video. Never imagined how many armored vehicle where involved how the heck did they lose??
Fighting 3 other super powers with the same (UK) (USSR) or four times more (US) manufacturing capacity. Germany was basically fighting 6 other Germanys.
They produced a wide variety of vehicles, often to the extent of diluting their manufacturing capacity for another new vehicle, then -- particularly with the later tank designs -- came back with modifications that pushed their weight up and reliability down. And Gernany found itself having to employ its weapons outside of their intended purpose -- the Tiger was developed in response to a pre-war requirement for a heavy breakthrough tank; it was intended to be used in an initial assault, creating a breach in the enemy lines, which the regular panzertruppen would exploit while the Tiger units were pulled back to be refit and sent to the next schwerpunkt. Instead, they had to be used alongside the regular tank units to provide additional strength, kept in action far longer than their intended role, and acquired a reputation for unreliability when they could not be given their required maintenance.
Logistics. Logistics. Logistics.
I think you would be surprised how many horse drawn trailers the Germans used and also horse drawn artillery.
The primary reason that the Germans did so well was NOT that their equipment was far superior to that of their opponents. Some of it was, but much of it was not. German discipline, training, armored doctrine, and tactics were the reasons. In other words, human factors.
wow, only 800 of the 8 wheeled reconaissance/armoured cars were made? seems like a pretty low number, i thought they were more common than that...is that correct, can anyone else verify that?
The 444 and 1806..fire power with tracks and spare tires, just like the 656
Good video. It is amazing how many vehicles (different types) were used by the Germans. 14,000 Ford trucks, haha. Me thinks old Henry made out pretty good on the war. Playing both sides against the middle. The other video about the mobile artillery is very good too. Ford didn't get to make any artillery. lol
Man, at 22:25, that looks like a modern day US Army Stryker vehicle. At least from my little knowledge. !!!!
This was interesting and I appreciate the upload. The background 'music' was very piercing; too bad it couldn't have been eliminated. It would also have been good if the images could have been frozen, even for a few seconds, when a new model is mentioned and a decent shot is available. i realize it's too much to ask for a caption of the model to be included. But this is niggling - Thanks again for uploading.
Excellent documentary just wish the music was a lower volume as it drowns the narrator out
At 8:01, dure looks like a young M. Wittmann in armored cars, latter to become the Black Knight.
background music is louder than the announcer's voice and then there is some German language that enters and then there is confusion.
The German “ArmouredCar” designers were way way way ahead of the times.
Just think what those engineers could do with the technology of today.
Without Lend/Lease the USSR would have caved.
I love this type of uploads, thank you you tube and geesusdb :)
The iconic German hand grenade. That would also be a sweet piece for a collection. And I think so yes, it was a WWI design but it became very iconic of Luftwaffe/SS officer handgun. It was called the broom handle because of the way the handle of it looked, it looks like the butt of a wooden broom lmao.
@51:23 - Did I just spot a naval officer, standing just left of center, on one of the half-tracks?
damn, why is the music this loud? not just this one but two of your others, too.
What are the rails or racks on top of some used for?