The History of Half-tracks, by the Chieftain - WW2 Documentary Special
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 พ.ค. 2024
- Is it a tank? Is it a truck? No, it’s a half-track! Nicholas Moran aka The Chieftain stops by to cover this Frankenstein of a vehicle. He looks at their origins at the turn of the twentieth century, their heyday as troop transporting, artillery towing, flak gunning, jacks-of-all-trades during the war, and their sudden decline after the war.
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Hosted by: The Chieftain / @thechieftainshatch
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński
Community Management: Jake McCluskey
Written by: The Chieftain
Research by: The Chieftain
Map animations by: Daniel Weiss
Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Edited by: Miki Cackowski
Artwork and color grading by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Marek Kamiński
Colorizations by:
Klimbim klimbim2014.wordpress.com/
Mikołaj Uchman
Source literature list: bit.ly/SourcesWW2
Archive footage: Screenocean/Reuters - www.screenocean.com
Image sources:
Lombard log haulers, courtesy of Maine Forest and Logging Museum www.maineforestandloggingmuse...
Snowmobile, courtesy of the Peary-Macmillan arctic Museum, Bowdoin College www.bowdoin.edu/arctic-museum...
Fortepan - ID 72709
Bundesarchiv
Narodowe Archwum Cyfrowe
Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
Howard Harper-Barnes - London
Phoenix Tail - At the Front
Rannar Sillard - March Of The Brave 4
Hakan Eriksson - Epic Adventure Theme 3
Edward Karl Hanson - Spellbound
Johan Hynynen - Dark Beginning
Johannes Bornlof - Death And Glory 3
Max Anson - Potential Redemption
Fabien Tell - Last Point of Safe Return
Fabien Tell - Weapon of Choice
Howard Harper-Barnes - Underlying Truth
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
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Thanks to The Chieftain for writing and presenting this video! Check out his channel here for everything on tanks and other military vehicles: th-cam.com/channels/p4j9Y9L6jie44iZroCb99A.html
What is some of your more rare books on Halftracks, Osprey or Rundlassu? any suggestions welcome
I can’t imagine anything more German than individually unscrewing and lubricating every link in a vehicle track
Specially when said vehicule is designed to "ease" the logistic demands of an unit
German engineering is a case study for not being able to see the forest for the trees
I have seen guys polish and add gum using a heat gun to every lug on their knobbies for rock climbers.
-The Germans did not have access to natural rubber so it would be impossible to make a rubber half track that was durable enough.
-The Germans had developed synthetic Buna-S and Buna-N synthetic rubber (trading the patents with Standard Oil for which they obtained the right to TEL in return). These synthetic rubbers which produced a poor but tolerable Tyre but certainly not a track. Natural Rubber needed to be added in to the synthetic as is done in modern tires.
-Furthermore the lubricated links produced a track with half the rolling resistance, critical in fuel saving.
-Finally I doubt the links were terribly difficult to lubricate. I imagine you would lubricate the top half of the track on each side and them move the vehicle forward so you weren't moving at ground level.
-Non other than Heinrich Himmler was desperately trying to solve the problems of extracting natural rubber from dandelion flowers. The problem has only recently been solved.
@@williamzk9083The daisy rubber guy could really be given a great double-take intro as "The man who surpassed Himmler."
White Motor Company, Cleveland, Ohio. My mom's dad was an engineer (specializing in engines) at White. He didn't mention the T14. This is the story he did tell about the halftracks.
The US Army put out a bid for halftracks. The specs required an engine that was larger than the engines White produced. But the owner wanted in on the contract. My grandfather took the largest engine White made and tweaked every single thing about the engine to improve its performance (including the shape of the combustion chamber). He said he did this entirely by himself, including drafting the blueprints, to which he added "those recent college grads were useless: they didn't even know how to do drafting." [I still have some of his darting tools.]
White made the required number of vehicles for the Army's testing with that engine in it. He said that two other companies (apparently Diamond T and Autocar) also bid on the contract and did have large enough engines already.
After testing, the Army granted 1/3 of the contract to each company BUT all halftracks had to use White's engine. The other two complained saying the engine couldn't possibly satisfy the requirements. The Army showed them their data. The engine was better at everything including oil consumption.
When the army put howitzers in the halftrack, White's engine was replaced with a much larger engine from someone else (there is wikipedia page about the halftracks that has that info).
When they were building the halftracks, White's plant manager called my grandfather asking permission to replace the steel exhaust pipes with a cheaper and softer (easier to bend/machine) material. He told the plant manager that the Army intended to put anti-aircraft guns in the bed. The Army anticipated that the German aircraft -- once under fire -- would radio the locations of the halftracks to their tanks. The tanks would then speed toward the halftracks. The halftracks would hold position -- firing as long as they could -- until the tanks were "close enough" and then floor the gas pedal, revving the engine "all out" to get away from (stay out of range of) the tanks. The pipes, if made from softer material, would get hot enough for the vibrations/movements (during the dash to get away) to tear/break the pipes and the engine exhaust would vent directly into the engine compartment -- and that would set everything on fire. The pipes had to be made from steel.
Wallace Murray Kennedy, University of Toronto 1923 "A puck chaser for "School"". As a teenager, he joined the Royal Air Force (my mom referred to it as "running away from home.") and trained as a pilot. WW1 ended before he shipped out. His father owned a machine shop in Toronto and was spooked by him joining up. He and his dad did the Grand Tour after WW1 (not sure when). He took cars out to the farmland so he could take up the floor boards and watch how the mechanics/transmission worked while not running into anything. He moved to Detroit and started at Chevrolet in the drafting department. Finished up at GMAC (originally GM Truck and Coach in Pontiac MI).
Amazing
Interesting. My Mom's Father was a production engineer for International Harvester in the same period. A life-long conservative, he was disgusted that all the IH halftracks and trucks were going to the Soviets thru Lend-Lease.
Nice story
Good on your grandfather for telling the manager to stick with steel instead of saving money for the company at the expense of performance in combat.
@@HootOwl513 You can never make a good deal with a communist/socialist, they will eventually betray you every time. It is in their nature. Your grandfather knew the hard truth.
The Man, The Myth, The Legend! The Chieftain!
I think the man, the mythbuster, the legend is more accurate but fully agree with you enthusiasm!
A special on half tracks? Let’s go!
Are you my dad? 🥺
My thoughts exactly!
And many places you will be able to go, with tracks
So confused. Is this a joke suggesting a half track can't go where a tank can. Or that you can go where a wheeled vehicle can't?.... Or am I missing something
It’s an iconic looking vehicle.
There was an old half-track slowly rusting away at our local surplus yard when I was growing up in north Florida in the 1960s. I heard it previously had belonged to a logging company. I would occasionally play on it and dream of one day owning it myself, but then it disappeared. I never found out what became of it. Hopefully, someone with similar plans bought it and restored it to its former glory.
Decent chance, I suppose, they're pretty fascinating to certain mechanical types.
There is a guy up where I live who has like 5 and he’s selling one probably in the same shape that he took most the parts off of. And that’s valued at 10,000$ so I can’t imagine it was scrapped
Lucky kid!! I had to use an old hay wagon to imagine what you were playing on !!
When I was a kid(I'm 82 now), my father had a friend who turned a Model A Ford into a half track. The thing had 6 wheels. The front 2 were standard Ford steering wheels. The tandem wheels in the back were the driving wheels. When the going got really tough, he fitted them with extra long heavy truck chains, creating a half track. It was powered by a standard Ford flat head V8. He finally gave up on the half track chains because they kept breaking. But until then, that outfit could go anywhere in the mountains of Wyoming.
Good idea to make a show about halftracks. That topic is rarely talked about.
They always looked good on TV...
My grandfather drove a halftrack during the war as part of the US Supply Corps and he HATED the things, said they "drove like a brick." It probably didn't help that the IJA kept mortaring him every time he drove up to the front to deliver supplies - he earned 3 purple hearts this way.
Three Purple Hearts! That’s really impressive (and a bit scary). God Bless your granddad!
Sadly mortar attacks were one of the half-tracks biggest issues.
My Dad served on a halftrack in WWII. He told me that the machine guns were mounted on a rail which allowed them to track targets and concentrate fire on one side if attacked from only one direction. He also said his sergeant had them modify the ammo belts such that there were twice as many tracer rounds as normal. He said when they were attacked by a Bf 109, the amount of tracer rising up cause the pilot to veer off and leave. He also said that his battalion (1st Engineer Combat) retrieved a damaged and abandoned halftrack after a battle that had a 37mm anti-aircraft gun flanked by two 50 cal machineguns, all mounted on a turntable (possibly a T28E1 CGMC?). They fixed it up and put their unit markings on it but someone from an armored division noticed it as being one of theirs and demanded it be returned.
Nope,. "The M15 half-track, officially designated M15 Combination Gun Motor Carriage, was a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun on a half-track chassis used by the United States Army during World War II. It was equipped with one 37 millimeter (1.5 in) M1 autocannon and two water-cooled .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning heavy machine guns. Based on the M3 half-track chassis, it was produced by the Autocar between July 1942 and February 1944, and served alongside the M16 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage.". Sounds like your dad was aboard an M2, not an M3. as the M3 had no skate rail to mount mg's.
@@ROBERTNABORNEYfield modifications were not rare. I do not wish to argue, just put this out there.
I recall an anecdote from an American: "A latrine could be four walls and a seat, or it could have racks, lids, several doors. It all depends on how creative the engieers were and how much time and supplies were availible at said time."
37? What 37? I don’t see a 37 here, you’re confusing it for this 38 we have.
@@oskarnisson8211 Very easy, it's NOT a field modification. The M15 GMC was a STANDARDIZED piece of equipment, mounting 2 50 cals and a 37mm
The extra Tracers would definitely cause a “FIB" factor on pilot. Practically all small-arms are useless against planes (speed, range of target and most fighter bomber are armored) but, the heavy ground fire would definitely rattle any pilot doing a strafing run, thus mess his aim when he see "F*** I’m being fired at!"
Even today's snowmobiles use roughly the same technology just amazing how long some things hang around!
The half track, a truck for serious off-road use, brilliant. Much better idea than monster trucks on battlefield which have too high a profile and loud but can easily jump a panzer.
Now i want a history channel teir special about the big foot monster truck vs a panzer IV
Idk about you but the image of Grave Digger plowing through an infantry formation is infinitely cooler than a half-track mowing them down with a machine gun.
This episode is full of tension, track tension!
And lubricated pins. Don't forget the lubricated pins.
This is a refreshing detour from the apocalyptic conclusion to the war in Europe.
The Germans produced an armored Maultier, and a number of the armored ones had variations of the Nebelwerfer multiple launch rocket systems mounted on the armor roofs over the truck bed.
The advantage of half-tracks was that back in the 1930s and 1940s, anyone who knew how to drive a truck could drive a half-track with minimal training, which meant that a soldier assigned to one could be put into action quickly.
Half-tracks fell out of favor because they weren't as mobile off road as a fully tracked vehicle and they weren't as fast on road as a fully wheeled truck. That was one of the reasons why Britain created their universal carrier. When fully-tracked or wheeled infantry carriers began to be built, the days of half-tracks were numbered.
I think part of the reason they disappeared so rapidly after the war was because during WW2 Armor Doctrines were in their infancy and all the equipment being produced was designed mainly from 1918-1938. Countries were just using and fleshing out designs and doctrines they already had on the books so to speak. Combat gave them an idea of what worked well together and where improvements in tactics, equipment, and production could be made to improve combat effectiveness. By the time VE Day arrived, I’m sure with production capacities and sizes, it was determined that it was simpler -and as a result- cheaper to just design a fully tracked vehicle to carry troops and equipment. That over designing a front end for steering and also a tracked drive train in the same vehicle. You can accomplish all of the requirements in a Half-Track in a fully tracked vehicle for cheaper and more combat capable if needed.
Up until a few years ago the British National Grid Electricity infrastructure provider ran one or more White M3 half tracks, painted white in colour and retro converted to take large width cable drums for overhead electricity cable repair…
Yes! A full video dedicated to my favorite part of Armored history? And it's by the chieftain himself?!? You guys know how to make my day!
@8:51 That picture is the first time I have seen American half-tracks with their canvas tops in place.
Thank you for including it.
The Chieftain has reached the age where he already walks into random youtube channels...
What's funny is I just clicked on the thumbnail and didn't even realize this wasn't his channel until about halfway through the video
Finally another Timeghosts WW2 x Chieftain special! Grown to love these ;)
Very interesting video, I had the opportunity to go for a spin on a Sd.Kfz.2 (Kettenkrad), of course only on the back seat. We went through mud and steep hill climbs. Even though it weighs about 1,2 tons and only has 36 hp from a 4 Zyl. Opel engine, the gear ratio in offroad gear makes it go through anywhere. An interesting fact I also didn't know about it is, that the Radiator, which sits underneath the rear seats, functions as a heater for the rear passenger's legs, as the wind goes through it and heats up, it comes out through vents near your feet. But, as the Chieftain said, the maintenance is a big deal. Every few months or kilometers all of the needle bearings need to be lubricated, which is a hell of an effort. But the ride is definitely a unique experience I won't forget.
I'm envious. I'm a motorcycle buff and while I already have 3 bikes, I dream of one day owning a Kettenkrad.
Half-tracks have to be one of my favorite WW2 vehicles.
It's funny, they have some charm right? I don't know why. They are actually ugly. Neither tank nor car.
A colleague of my father owned a German half rack he used to take out to meetings and re-enactments. I had the opportunity to drive the thing and honestly it was great fun to drive. Those tracks pushing the thing forward no matter what the front is doing makes for some interesting steering.
speaking of the Linn Halftracks there is a fully restored example in the pioneer village museum in my town here in Australia. It runs and is a rather interesting machine to watch
I wheely think that this episode won’t get much traction.
we kind of lost track of the script ... -TimeGhost Ambassador
First time ive seen you out of costume. I had no idea lol!
Not half bad!
I see what you did there!
Booooo! Get out! Hahaha
I will miss this series. WW2 material is astounding. Great work as always.
The British Army's Scammell Pioneer Lorries, used as artillery tractors, recovery vehicles and tank transporters from 1936 carried tracks that could be fitted on the four rear driving wheels for extra traction. It worked reasonably well with the walking beam rear suspension.
0:16 Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from, Half-Track'd Joe?
Half tracks make awesome farm vehicles.
I need myself a 'Krad. I love the idea of that little thing.
Little wheeled cart towed behind it, be a great “honey, I’m going to the store” ride.
Same here, I've always liked the Ketenkrad. Somebody really needs to make a modern version of one. Keep the basic shape and layout but put in a modern engine (an electric motor might even work well) and replace the old wet linked tracks with dry ones and you'd have a winner. I bet it would make for a great ranch vehicle as well as something for people to just go offroading in.
@@Riceball01Quad bikes do the job.
My Grandfather was the gunner on a M16 MGMC, serving in the 778th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion(76th Infantry Div).
the chieftain is business in the front while mr neidell is party in the back. you can never see both of them at once, but it's always refreshing to see either of them. i dont even care if they are the same person with a split personality, i'm all here for it eitherway.
thanks for the informative episode, i once again got a whole lot of context to the quite basic info i already knew about the topic. who wouldve thought that the a modest little halftrack had the complexity of a dysfunctional panther behind it?
Thank you, Colonel!
Herr Oberst
When I was a kid in the 80's there was a person in our small Michigan town who had one of those Half Track conversions for his Model T Ford to make it into a big snowmachine. He used to drive us kids around in it during the Winter Snow Festival and he even let some of the older kids like me Drive the Model T which was Very different from a modern car.
Excellent job, Chieftain. And a tip of the cap to WWII gang for being smart enough to use him. Thoroughness that can't be beat.
Can't wait for the reports on puttees, tents and dog tags.
OKW: "OK but need more variants."
"We can do you an AMG and a Brabus."
"Can we also have a Kompressor version?"
"So long as it is only serviced by main dealer, otherwise warranty will be voided."
(Didn't Guderian get immensely annoyed by the fact that damaged vehicles often had to be returned all the way to Germany while T34s and US tanks were being fixed in rear echelons?)
That's because the Krauts didn't believe in interchangable parts - every vehicle was a different than every other . There was a tremendous amount of hand fitting. German production lines had vices files and hammers in numbers. Things that were absent on US lines - parts were made to spec and dropped into place.
@@ROBERTNABORNEY The strength and weakness of the apprentice-journeyman-Meister system of trade training. Not just German, also Switzerland. Strength - enormous depth of skills facilitating growth of the Mittelstand and today's German industry. Weakness - Meisters have no interest in deskilling which erodes their status, and each one prides his special knowledge which keeps journeymen wanting to work with him.
Meisters had uniforms to indicate their role and status. Having said that, so did my grandfather, a railway engineer in the UK. And he had his special pieces, the proof that he had attained the necessary skill level.
Thanks TG and Nick
Awesome breakdown! More of these need to be made!
After the M4 Sherman tank, I think of the White M3 half track as he armor of WWII. It’s just so iconic.
As a subscriber for both The Chieftain and World War Two, seeng both channels united in same purpose makes my heart glow with joy :D
Thank you. Another WW2 topic I knew little about and well presented too.
Land rover half track. Still used at Bovington.😊
Nick, you are a fount of knowledge and great images. Thank you.
On my Land Rover wish-list is a Centaur. But I think only 7 were ever built.
They are cool man
Awesome collaboration!
Every time I see a chieftain video I have a significant emotional event
Honourable mention to the Laird / Land rover Centaur. Close, but no cigar.
Thanks, every thing I didnt want to know, but was intrested in learning any how, my very best to you and yours. Leona
great info great video... but timing feels odd for this point in the WWII timeline...
It's the collab I didn't know I wanted but am happy to see!
Nice one, thanks guys.
Outstanding video and presentation.
Always interesting, always informative
Good video!! Keep up the good work!!
Most enjoyable and informative thank you.
Great overview of halftracks - iconic AFV of WW2.
it's good to see some our favorite people getting together sharing ideas an whatnot...👍
Thank you. That was most informative.
Love the level of detail. Enough detail to make it interesting but not so much to bog down the video. Thank you for another great video.
Very interesting. Thanks for the great video.
After WWII my father got a 1944 IH half track, lengthened the frame and mounted a backhoe on it. Which we used as an excavating contractor. I drove the half track between construction sites. The engine was an RD 450. I should have kept the vehicle for driving in city traffic.
always a treat when we get a Chieftain AFV special episode.
Thanks that was very informative and interesting.
Yay another Chieftain episode! I honestly had no idea there were so many varieties, halftracks are cool yet don't really tend to get the spotlight that other things do.
I've always wanted a Kettenkrad, they're adorable. :D
Loved your video. I always found half tracks of the particularly interesting subject Also, like your model collection.
Thanks a lot. Nice comparison. As a plastikmodeler find it very interresting.
Half tracks are my fave. Good show lads.
Sir, once again...
Outstanding!
Thank you.
o7
Great episode.
Interesting and informative. As always :)
The American halftrack is my favorite vehicle. It just captures something about America that regular trucks just don't
Simplicity design mass manufacturing always beats complicated machines with high tolerance matrices. The American half track was better. Supplied all the allies with great machines. Combat vehicles had a short life anyway. The american half tracks are still im use in a lot of armies including israelThe American half tracks are still in use in armies, including Israel. That's how good they are.
TANK you for sharing! Its amazing to see film reels of German equipment survived the post war and denazification.
Great stuff!
Thanks Chieftain. It is always great to watch and hear from you.
Thanks! Very interesting!
I remember when I was a kid, my dad got me a 1/35 scale model kit for a German half-track. One of those with a cage antennae over the top. Had a handful of DAK panzer grenadiers, complete with shorts and everything.
My granddad sometimes bought built, but unpainted, models for dirt cheap. One of them the same Sdkfz. Sadly impossible to paint the interior fully assembled.
There is a working locomotive half track built around 1908 at a museum, called the Lombard tractor.
Great research.
Thank you, sir. I knew very little of this. Schooled!
Years and years ago I was at the press launch for a game in the Panzer General series, which they held at a small-ish private WW2 museum. They had some working vehicles there, including an SdKfz 251which they drove us around in over a patch of farm-land. Other than an ancient long-wheelbase Toyota Land Cruiser with a similar seating arrangement, I don't think I've ever experienced another vehicle that was this uncomfortable for the passengers. I distinctly remember them warning us about the overhead armor-plates - and nearly everyone on the rear bench-seats then hitting their heads on those things once the terrain got a little more bumpy. Ouch! :D
Hurrah, I have been waiting for a video on half-tracks.
Mattrax in Northern MN started their company making a track conversion that bolted onto the rear drive wheels for use in heavy winter snow conditions on the big lakes for fisherman and resorts.
Well there’s Kegresse system (French, American, Soviet, etc), the British Horstman system (also used by the German SS) & the German interleaved setup. They cover most of them.
Always love seeing The Chieftain!
Very well done
It's been 5 years. But you are back
very interesting. thank you.
Amazing and informative as always, I salute You, Chieftain!!! Btw being a Belgian, Great work on digging out all that info I never got when visiting the War- , Bastogne- museums in my own homeland.. Great Great Work
Wow wow wow!
What a special guest!
Interesting and informative.
I like the "Best Dad ever" mug. I was wondering characteristics merited such an award. For me, I think applying the "Yes means yes, No means no" rule to parents as well as kids; while it didn't win many brownie point during application, certainly bought me some credibility in the long run.
People keep asking me about my "Africa" mug (which also tends to be bright orange)... Growing up in the Eastern bloc, we had very little access to western pop n movies. Once I have heard a snippet of Toto's Africa, and it took me 15 years to find the song. So, the cup is a reward for my OCD-level search.
Love half tracks great video
When we lived at the confluence of the Pearl River and Bogue Chitto River in southeast Louisiana, we had a neighbour who had a Korean War vintage half track. He would be busy during hunting season towing stuck hunter's trucks out of the bottomlands with it. He would only run it on public roads after dark due to "friction" with the local departments of roads. The rubber 'road blocks' would wear down pretty quickly, and were, by then, hard to come by cheaply. It was a hoot to ride in it. Nothing stopped it.
welcome back chieftain
now i want to build a 1/35 half track model of something, thanks to you!
18:52 holy shit that is some badass retro logistics. So much of what we consider "modern" is only modern in context.