It's refreshing to see the more mundane, deliberate side of running a war. Slowly, step by step, the army crosses the river and takes another step toward its objective. The MP at the end was a great character study.
It's interesting to see the M5 13-ton high-speed tractor being used as a prime mover for a 105 howitzer at 8:53. You don't often see these WWII tractors in action.
The most shocking thing to me was, that at this point in the war, the US Army was able to use an armoured half-track not as a combat vehicle but as a supply carrier (11:02).
1:42 - Aircraft visible. You can tell it's Allied, since by this time the Luftwaffe was largely invisible. 5:03 - Pershing? 9:36 - Were the meat-wagons built on deuce-and-a-half chassis?
You’ll never see an operation like this again on the modern battlefield. There would be a swarm of drones taking out the bridge before the first pontoon was put in the water.
We have this little thing called air defense. Besides, good luck taking out a bridge with a puny drone. NAZI’s tried with artillery, divers, and attack aircraft, and failed. Two words - Combat Engineers.
@ Ukraine’s Drone Technology Is Complicating Russian Bridging Operations, Forbes, Sep 6, 2024. WWII was a long time ago technology has increased by leaps and bounds in Russia’s war with the Ukraine.
It looks like smoke generators, they dirty burn fuel to mask movements. The problem is the operation is dependent upon the winds, a slight breeze can shift depending upon the terrain, the suns heat, etc.
similar look especially from the front but this video has m18 hellcats, tank destroyers. The crossing has some rare beasts in it as pointed out by others, the tractor towing the guns are not seen often ,the hell cats and the m3 half tracks with quad fifty are all pretty rare in footage.
@@johnzajac9849 must have? Hell cat at 5 min 03 sec and another hellcat at 10:04, did not see M24? rarest of all is the M3 medic with the canvas top up. That is a rare sight.
It's refreshing to see the more mundane, deliberate side of running a war. Slowly, step by step, the army crosses the river and takes another step toward its objective. The MP at the end was a great character study.
It's interesting to see the M5 13-ton high-speed tractor being used as a prime mover for a 105 howitzer at 8:53. You don't often see these WWII tractors in action.
I live at Nierstein, German, where this Rhine crossing took place, only some hundred meters from my house. Great to see this footage now!
Great footage, thankyou. So many model diorama ideas.....
thanks for posting this stuff !
If Hitler had watched this footage he would have had a meltdown! Thanks for the history.
And there were no horses!
Thinking the same thing. How could you compete. Germany was still using alot of horses
The most shocking thing to me was, that at this point in the war, the US Army was able to use an armoured half-track not as a combat vehicle but as a supply carrier (11:02).
1:42 - Aircraft visible. You can tell it's Allied, since by this time the Luftwaffe was largely invisible.
5:03 - Pershing?
9:36 - Were the meat-wagons built on deuce-and-a-half chassis?
You’ll never see an operation like this again on the modern battlefield. There would be a swarm of drones taking out the bridge before the first pontoon was put in the water.
We have this little thing called air defense. Besides, good luck taking out a bridge with a puny drone. NAZI’s tried with artillery, divers, and attack aircraft, and failed. Two words - Combat Engineers.
@ Ukraine’s Drone Technology Is Complicating Russian Bridging Operations, Forbes, Sep 6, 2024. WWII was a long time ago technology has increased by leaps and bounds in Russia’s war with the Ukraine.
@6:50 it looks like they are making that white smoke on purpose to screen their movements. Is that correct?
It looks like smoke generators, they dirty burn fuel to mask movements. The problem is the operation is dependent upon the winds, a slight breeze can shift depending upon the terrain, the suns heat, etc.
The tank seen in this video is possibly the M24 'Chaffee'.
similar look especially from the front but this video has m18 hellcats, tank destroyers. The crossing has some rare beasts in it as pointed out by others, the tractor towing the guns are not seen often ,the hell cats and the m3 half tracks with quad fifty are all pretty rare in footage.
@@TP-ie3hj Nope. You missed it.
@@johnzajac9849 must have? Hell cat at 5 min 03 sec and another hellcat at 10:04, did not see M24? rarest of all is the M3 medic with the canvas top up. That is a rare sight.
Seeing all the death and destruction- what a waste of human lives and resources