The high precision in which German tanks were designed and constructed was both their strength and their weakness. They were well armoured and able to shrug off a lot of allied rounds. But that made them big and easy to spot. Their turrets were well armoured, but slow to traverse. The mechanical parts were well engineered, but tolerances made too tight. If caked in mud, things would jam up and cease more easily that it would on, say a Sherman or Comet. When a German tank was damaged, it had to go to a repair shop to be fixed, taking it out of combat (sometimes those shops were hundreds of miles away). Most allied tanks could be repaired in the field, making the turn around time much shorter and putting the tank back into action much sooner.
And mostly every one of these was fixed and sent back on the lines to work...well up until those apocalyptic last weeks of the war. Some details of the stories from these days are like straight out of a Mad Max script.
The Allied repair shops were not too far behind the Allied lines and they moved forward with the progress of the Allies. I read a book by war correspondent Ernie Pyle called Brave Men and he spent several weeks with such an organization. The Allied logistical effort to supply and maintain the war effort gets little notice, but the success of the Allied war effort absolutely depended upon it and the demise of the Axis powers is directly related to the failure of its logistical efforts.
+1 Too often WW2 stories talk about divisions, armie and army groups. Thefighting of platoons & companies being reduced to a secondary role. Love you 'tactical approach'
That point exactly got my attention. Well, it is 20% less, thus it is still a fair reduction, still "thin" is not a correct word. 80mm is (if I am correct) thickness of the frontal armor of the later models of the Pz.IV. And just a few milimeters thicker than frontal vertical plate of the Comet's hull - if diagrams are correct.
It doesn't really give the full picture, as armor isn't just a single plate of steel or so, in reality there is of course more to it. For instance if it's sloped, the effective armor thickness often will increase. And the armor thickness need not be equal over the entire side of front either. The area near the gun can have some extra effective thickness for instance. So in practice the front could be more troublesome to get through then one might expect. Especially while having to face off against a longer range gun ready for you coming down the road. Meaning taking fire while you close, or trying to counter fire from further away, where your shots lose more energy and thus can penetrate less easily.
.."then quickly knocked out a Comet with three shots and and armoured car." I'm impressed but also baffled...I knew a Tiger had an 88mm gun, but I didn't realise it was also able to use armoured cars as a weapon against British tanks. Must have been a late-war expedient weapon system. (huge grin)....thanks again for a great video...really appreciating these tank vs tank descriptions.
cobalT But they only used thin steel on those and filled them with concrete to magnify the concussive effect when flung at an unsuspecting Sherman - rather like the airborne cow from The Most Holy Grail
lol.. yes, the ability to squeeze cars into the chamber and shoot it over vast distances was one of hitlers best kept secret. Volks-wagen beetle was developed as a projectile originally, but people found out it could also be used to make a ford owner laugh his ass off. And a ford owner without an arse, is a soldier less on the battlefield. Its complicated. But logical.
Ironically the places ( Soltau ,Fallingbostel , Munster ) were this all happened are Large military training areas for Leopard tanks - also the Panzer museum is located there too ( in Munster ) would recommend everyone to visit it . Salute from Germany .
Also,in my day,they were British Army bases,containing Cheiftain tanks,a lot of the times in ex Wehrmacht barracks.I was in Osnabruck with the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards
motorrebell.... Do you know if they got Tiger 231 running? I heard a rumor that they were trying to get it back in running order. Cheers from the States!
Another excellent video, Mark. You are setting the bar mighty high for the quality of your future videos. This vignette is both an excellent war story and an insight into how resolutely German forces could fight, even with defeat clearly in sight. Thank you.
Tiger vs 1 Comet could go either way depending on the terrain, element of surprise etc - Comet had a decent gun and was fast. More than one Comet against a Tiger (eg, two) should favour the Comets, again depending on terrain, element of surprise etc. As we see in the film, depends a lot on who gets the first shot in.
Do they still make them? I built some of the aircraft and a Panther tank back in the mid seventies while at primary school. It was during a Friday afternoon creative class.
The combat history of the Tiger in a nutshell. A Tiger wreaks havoc before ultimately being knocked out, but several more have to be destroyed by their crews due to mechanical issues or being incapacitated so that the enemy will not capture them intact.
What a story! Edifying and engrossing. Thanks for posting! A small point addressed, if you don't mind. "Thin" is a bit stretched when describing Tiger's side armor, which was the second thickest of all world war two tanks at 80mm. That is equal to the front of a late model Panzer IV. For comparison, Panzer IV's sides were 30mm, T34's were 45mm, Sherman's were 38mm (later on, many were upgraded with field mod appliques welded on of 32mm and/or 38mm over the hull ammo storage racks and turret sides).
Is anyone else binge watching Mark Felton Productions? These videos are absolutely phenomenal, I have been viewing them in sequence with infrequent stops only to have a drink, then it's back to the videos!
Great videos sir! Thank you for showing our history. I hope many more people see what our men and women went threw in past conflicts. Their heroism and bravery (on all sides) will not be forgotten.
Found your channel a few weeks ago, and ever since I started watching some of your videos. As it seems, I have to hit the thumbs up straight away after clicking on the video, the content seems to always be interesting informative videos, without over extending the time or bs ads during the video, plus all of the good information. Great channel, excellent job
Thanks for taking the time to research and put these videos together Mark. I only found your channel the other day and I really enjoy the way you talk through the topic.
I don't know where you've been all my life but your material is better than the History Channel. It's clear you do your research and your presentation is clear and straight forward. I've subscribed!
Impression of the end of the war on the German side: The constant search for any and all available units to toss into the Allied meat grinder. It's amazing that they were able to mount such an effective defense. Great video....yet again!
They didn't mount an effective defense though. In April 1945 the Allies bagged 1.5 million POWs alone, between 30,000 to 60,000 POWs a day, not to mentioned also killed thousands of Germans. The Western Allies were inflicting extremely lopsided losses on the Germans during this time, it just took time to cut a swath through the cannon fodder Germany was calling soldiers in 1945. The German defense in 1945 is one of the most pointless military campaigns in history. There are some estimates that Germany suffered war deaths of 1.5 million men between January 1st 1945 and May 8th 1945. In the whole 4 years of WWI, Germany suffered about 1.8 million military deaths. There was nothing effective about the German defense in 1945, it was a pure slaughter for the Germans, worse then anything Germans had ever suffered.
"The Comet, though Britain's latest tank, was no match for a Tiger - particularly in terms of armour protection". Pretty sure the Tiger's armour was about as effective against the Comet's 77mm as the Comet's armour was against the Tiger's 8.8cm even at "longer ranges" - especially when the Comet was using its APDS round. The Comet was faster as you pointed out and had a lower profile too. The Tiger's frontal armour wasn't as tough against British tanks in 1944/45 as it was in 1943 (still penetrable at close range by the 6 Pounder Mk V guns of this time) as the 17 Pounder had begun to be mounted in vehicles such as the Firefly, Archer, Achilles and Challenger (these received APDS in the later months of 1944 but these were more relevant when fighting Panthers and KTs) and tanks that still used the 6 Pounder such as some Churchills received APDS capable of penetrating Tigers at long ranges.
The wartime APDS round had accuracy problems. The U.S. and USSR didn't adopt sabot ammunition until much later, when the technical problems were irrefutably solved.
@@r.j.dunnill1465 Those accuracy issues were solved by the end of the war. The point remains that the Comet was capable of penetrating the Tiger from quite a distance even without APDS.
Love to see a 'what if' story on the Centurion. I read somewhere once that if ready by late 1944 the Centurion would have been more than equal to the Tiger.
Are you kidding me? The Comet Tank had almost as thick frontal armour as the Tiger 1! The 17 pounder and 88mm were practically on par with each-other in tank killing perfomance. Not only that, but tank engagements were never likely yo happen at such extreme ranges, especially not in the heavy forrests of Germany. To say the Comet was no match for the Tiger is insane.
Plus the Brits had mastered the accurate use of APDS by then, which could frontally penetrate the Tiger's 100mm frontal armour at 1000 yards (it could pierce 150mm armour at that range). In fact, the 77mm, even using APCBC , could pierce it with the wind behind it (100mm AP capability). Comet vs Tiger was no walkover for the Tiger. The Comet's greater manoevrability and turret rotation speed could be crucial factors. But one Comet could take out a Tiger, certainly, even frontally.
The Comet was alright I suppose. It's armour is only 30mm or so less at the front than the Tiger, but the reality is that its more about the firepower at this point and not the armour protection. For a stopgap tank, which is what the A34 Comet was, it wasn't all that bad, it was certainly a step up from the Cromwell, the tank it basically derives from albeit with a widened and lengthened hull and a different turret. It's a shame as the Centurion was actually a thing (on paper at least) by 1945 but it just didn't make sense to retool factories and start churning them out so late in the war when it was clear that victory was on the horizon. As usual Mark, a fantastic video. Well done and thankyou for sharing
Excellent presentation as ever, thank you! Unless I am very much mistaken, the videos images of Comet crews featured troops of the Fife & Forfar Yeomanry, not the RTR.
Slow down on that shot of those guys riding that camoflagued tiger. They are all literally 16-17 year old kids driving around on a tiger tank like it's no big deal. What a bad time to be a young man in Germany, wow
At distance the Tiger was lethal which was why it had so much success on the Steppes of Russia and Ukraine but in forests or towns, it could be easily swarmed by infantry and flanked by faster tanks. When people think of a Tiger they think of a hulking beast like Wittman's Tiger, blasting a convoy apart at close range. The big cats were to be used more at long range where slow traverse and flanking enemies weren't such an issue. It does make sense when you look at tank designs of the allies; the Allies took their time in developing the M26 Pershing and Centurion and were happy with the 17pdr anti-tank gun and the Sherman until quite late in the war. However, the Russians, like the Germans, went for big guns and thick armour like their SU-85/100, IS-2 and the SU-152. This was because they often had to face the Germans head on and in greater numbers.
I've read Carius's book, and I don't remember him calling Wittman a fanatical idiot. I wouldn't say he got lucky one time either. If anything him and Carius must have followed very similar approaches to tank combat. In the position of the Germans sometimes great risks have to be taken, like the one that resulted in the destruction of the Desert Rats column at Villers Bocage, like the one that got Wittman killed, and like the one that got Carius shot several times at almost point blank range by Soviet infantrymen while doing recon for his Tiger tank company.
Not sure where the above facts you have came from, however everything I have read and people I have spoken with in person all contradict what you have written. Whitman and his crews were regarded very highly within the German forces. It wasn’t all propaganda. He was a very brave and skilled tank commander.
@@TheIzroda My apologies, I have checked and you are right, Carius didn't say that, it was another German tank Commander and I confused them, I have edited my comment to reflect that. However, his bold tactic of pushing forward and expecting surprise did kill him, and quite quickly too. He found himself surrounded in a field and to this day it's not certain if it was a 17pdr or a Firefly or even a Hawker Tempest that managed to blow his turret off precisely because they all had a bead on him and at less than 1km away.
And by the end of the war what sort of maintenance were they getting? As for them getting bogged their tracks had lower ground pressure than a Sherman so if they got bogged a tommy cooker certainly would.
It's true the Germans did have some fantastic “ wonder weapons during the war but as you know they were just so expensive and this. Hugely impractical to be produced in a war like this. In a way some countries could face the same issues today with their hugely expensive main battle tanks due to the very limited ability to replace vehicles quickly.
In 1945 any logistics / maintanance support was basically non existant. Even this Tiger was most likely repaired with a part taken by "cannibalizing" a destroyed Tiger.
If you read a lot of accounts from the crews, support groups and maintenance teams you will find that these tanks were highly regarded by all. The reason they often broke down due to mechanical issues was because they were in constant use. Even the allied tanks especially the Sherman was prone to break downs, constant maintenance etc. the difference was in supply and engagement frequency. Plenty of books around now written by less bias authors and publishers that have been released in the last 10 years that back this up.
The Allies had both machines and men to replace/train quite easily , the Germans did not, and by this time had scraped the barrel dry, sending kids out with only a few hours training. The Tigers and Panther tanks were ideally suited to open countryside where their heavy frontal armour and powerful guns could be used to maximum advantage. With an experienced crew and used properly with support the big cats proved they could be game changers. Being deployed in towns with inexperienced crews, especially without any troop support will always be a one sided affair, as it will be for any tank, even today.
Excellent video as always, though I'm not sure how accurate your statement about the comets gun is... the 77mm high velocity cannon could fire a sabot round with higher penetration than that of the panther tank. And while the tiger DID have thick frontal armour (around 100mm if memory serves) it had very little sloping to it, giving the comets gun more than enough penetration to get through it. Just my thoughts anywho, perhaps you know something I don't!
fROMWWII Tank Gun Ballistics 77mm Comet No APDS that was a Firefly round But it could penetrate 135mm @ 1000yards Comet 102mm 14mm Tiger I 100mm 26mm Source Tanks of the World David Miller
Excellently presented. The best I've seen here on TH-cam. I surmise it was due to their training and discipline that those small German groups formed and fought on. After half a decade of fighting I imagine that practicality and reality did not come into the decision making process.
@@MarkFeltonProductions Be fair, yes had a BIG Spring but it was actually a spigot mortar and the spring also fired a cartridge in the base of the PIAT bomb (bet you knew that). The squaddies used to say firing it caused athlete's foot and halitosis - allegedly.
@@MarkFeltonProductions & not give your position away by the trailing smoke, etc. Yes, you have to be pretty close, but no closer than the Germans with their Panzerfaust.
The last Tiger referred to in this video is in fact F01, not F02. It's been referred to as F02 in the literature for a long time, but images have surfaced which leaves no doubt to its identity.
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There are more tigers knocked out for mechanical problems or mud than the ones destroyed in combat
That was due too poor maitinence and and mud but yeah true
The high precision in which German tanks were designed and constructed was both their strength and their weakness. They were well armoured and able to shrug off a lot of allied rounds. But that made them big and easy to spot. Their turrets were well armoured, but slow to traverse. The mechanical parts were well engineered, but tolerances made too tight. If caked in mud, things would jam up and cease more easily that it would on, say a Sherman or Comet.
When a German tank was damaged, it had to go to a repair shop to be fixed, taking it out of combat (sometimes those shops were hundreds of miles away). Most allied tanks could be repaired in the field, making the turn around time much shorter and putting the tank back into action much sooner.
And mostly every one of these was fixed and sent back on the lines to work...well up until those apocalyptic last weeks of the war. Some details of the stories from these days are like straight out of a Mad Max script.
The Allied repair shops were not too far behind the Allied lines and they moved forward with the progress of the Allies. I read a book by war correspondent Ernie Pyle called Brave Men and he spent several weeks with such an organization. The Allied logistical effort to supply and maintain the war effort gets little notice, but the success of the Allied war effort absolutely depended upon it and the demise of the Axis powers is directly related to the failure of its logistical efforts.
I wouldn't want to be on a tiger repair crew in wartime.
Love the small detailed stories of the war. Thanks again and keep them coming.
Thanks and I will
Me too!!
+1 Too often WW2 stories talk about divisions, armie and army groups. Thefighting of platoons & companies being reduced to a secondary role. Love you 'tactical approach'
"the bugger was waiting for them" best history channel on YT
I'm very pleased to read this
Great sentiment - you can imagine one of our brave lads saying to their commanding officer " the buggers still there sir " 😒
this is why the Brits are better at educational shows.
1:21 dude just rolling with his hat on backwards like a boss.
US:
*panzer 4* "ENEMY TIGER!"
*Panther* "ENEMY TIGER!"
*Brummbar* "ENEMY TIGER!"
*Tiger 1 & 2* "ENEMY TIGER!"
*T-34 beutepanzer* "ENEMY T I G E R !"
The remaining 2 comets ‘reversed quickly’ out of trouble 😂
no brit would ever admit to retreating, they simply tactically redeploy
@@Draious obviously.
Yeah they reversed quickly in -3km/h
it shows@@Draious
@@TheMAXIFOD yep we are not French, we step back to take in the situation and redeploy shortly after...
General Mud claimed more tigers than the comets
Wow, what a story from the German who escaped enemy lines and liberated 200 prisoners in his Tiger. I want to know more about that.
I bet there were either more than 200 at the start, and only 200 chose to stay 'liberated' or a fair few of that number chose to get lost westwards!
aren berberian
I wonder how many died.
“The bugger was clearly waiting for them!” - Dr Mark Felton, 2018
Dr. Felton was (presumably) quoting Lt. Johnny Langdon, mentioned slightly earlier in the narrative, that was not his personal comment.
@@maconescotland8996 Wondering the same.
Guy at 1:21 with hat backwards... Thug life
4 Tigers lost to non combat action.
Lol
They should have built more spare parts
Those German troops seemed awfully cheery for Spring of '45/
"Thin side armour" is not correct aplied to a tiger... its side armour still is 82mm thick, thats only 20mm thinner than the front...
Lol and he said the comets reverse quickly like..... they don't lol great video still
*80mm
That point exactly got my attention. Well, it is 20% less, thus it is still a fair reduction, still "thin" is not a correct word. 80mm is (if I am correct) thickness of the frontal armor of the later models of the Pz.IV. And just a few milimeters thicker than frontal vertical plate of the Comet's hull - if diagrams are correct.
@@mungo7136 yeah the frontal armor of both tanks were around 100mm
It doesn't really give the full picture, as armor isn't just a single plate of steel or so, in reality there is of course more to it. For instance if it's sloped, the effective armor thickness often will increase. And the armor thickness need not be equal over the entire side of front either. The area near the gun can have some extra effective thickness for instance.
So in practice the front could be more troublesome to get through then one might expect. Especially while having to face off against a longer range gun ready for you coming down the road. Meaning taking fire while you close, or trying to counter fire from further away, where your shots lose more energy and thus can penetrate less easily.
.."then quickly knocked out a Comet with three shots and and armoured car." I'm impressed but also baffled...I knew a Tiger had an 88mm gun, but I didn't realise it was also able to use armoured cars as a weapon against British tanks. Must have been a late-war expedient weapon system. (huge grin)....thanks again for a great video...really appreciating these tank vs tank descriptions.
Wait did you not know that all late war Tigers had a turret mounted ramp for launching armoured cars? Pfft, everyone knows that...
cobalT But they only used thin steel on those and filled them with concrete to magnify the concussive effect when flung at an unsuspecting Sherman - rather like the airborne cow from The Most Holy Grail
Using paint was better, :)
@browntau - that was a misspelling, the Germans had a tribok behind that Tiger and were throwing these armored cars at the enemy.
lol.. yes, the ability to squeeze cars into the chamber and shoot it over vast distances was one of hitlers best kept secret.
Volks-wagen beetle was developed as a projectile originally,
but people found out it could also be used to make a ford owner laugh his ass off.
And a ford owner without an arse, is a soldier less on the battlefield.
Its complicated. But logical.
Ironically the places ( Soltau ,Fallingbostel , Munster ) were this all happened are Large military training areas for Leopard tanks - also the Panzer museum is located there too ( in Munster ) would recommend everyone to visit it . Salute from Germany .
Also,in my day,they were British Army bases,containing Cheiftain tanks,a lot of the times in ex Wehrmacht barracks.I was in Osnabruck with the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards
@@stevenbreach2561 greetings from osnabrück. hope, you´re doing well :)
I'd pay good money to visit the Munster Museum.
motorrebell.... Do you know if they got Tiger 231 running? I heard a rumor that they were trying to get it back in running order. Cheers from the States!
Excellent content as always :)
Many thanks
Another excellent video, Mark. You are setting the bar mighty high for the quality of your future videos.
This vignette is both an excellent war story and an insight into how resolutely German forces could fight, even with defeat clearly in sight. Thank you.
Many thanks
*Tiger Vs The Comment Section*
I think that the Comet was a match enough for the tiger, when you put the combination of speed, firepower and armour together it's on par.
The Comets reversed quickly line really got me
"reversed quickly" at 3kph
Mark.You have a gift for story telling.I watch with bated breath.
Too kind
I totally agree - thrilling tales! Mark is really a gifted storyteller (and, most likely hard working, too)!
1:11 most of the people on that tank look about 15.
Finally a tankbattle with british tank comet in it. Keep up the great work!
To be fair the comet came to late in the war to fight that many tank battles
So glad I found your channel Mark. As a history nut I have been binge watching ever since. Keep em coming please.
Thanks for joining our merry band!
Tiger vs 1 Comet could go either way depending on the terrain, element of surprise etc - Comet had a decent gun and was fast. More than one Comet against a Tiger (eg, two) should favour the Comets, again depending on terrain, element of surprise etc. As we see in the film, depends a lot on who gets the first shot in.
Great job, SO nice to FINALLY hear some Comet action specifics! I've never encountered them elsewhere
Excellent! This is the first account of proper combat experience of a Comet I've come across.
I'll look upon my Matchbox 1/76 kit with new pride now.
Thanks
Do they still make them?
I built some of the aircraft and a Panther tank back in the mid seventies while at primary school. It was during a Friday afternoon creative class.
How come model tanks are at a slightly different scale to the 1/72 aircraft? I find it quite irritating that they're not quite the same!
@@markfryer9880 I made many planes, tanks and battleships back in the 1980s. Airfix and Revell were available in those days.
Wonderful channel. Those small scale battle reports are so refreshing compared to the usual grand scale which most of us know in and out.
The combat history of the Tiger in a nutshell. A Tiger wreaks havoc before ultimately being knocked out, but several more have to be destroyed by their crews due to mechanical issues or being incapacitated so that the enemy will not capture them intact.
Mark Your Excerpts are Superb, perhaps the Best I have ever Seen. You add so much insight into WWII Combat History. Bravo.
Underrated channel, keep up the great work
What a story! Edifying and engrossing. Thanks for posting!
A small point addressed, if you don't mind. "Thin" is a bit stretched when describing Tiger's side armor, which was the second thickest of all world war two tanks at 80mm. That is equal to the front of a late model Panzer IV. For comparison, Panzer IV's sides were 30mm, T34's were 45mm, Sherman's were 38mm (later on, many were upgraded with field mod appliques welded on of 32mm and/or 38mm over the hull ammo storage racks and turret sides).
1:11 Look all kids are young maybe 17 or 18.
Is anyone else binge watching Mark Felton Productions? These videos are absolutely phenomenal, I have been viewing them in sequence with infrequent stops only to have a drink, then it's back to the videos!
Great videos sir! Thank you for showing our history. I hope many more people see what our men and women went threw in past conflicts. Their heroism and bravery (on all sides) will not be forgotten.
More quality content from Mr Felton. Good work, sir.
Thank you
A Dr.Felton video a day keeps the depression away.
1:49 imagine how stuck those tigers must have been, with all the gear they had they still couldn't get them out in time
Found your channel a few weeks ago, and ever since I started watching some of your videos.
As it seems, I have to hit the thumbs up straight away after clicking on the video, the content seems to always be interesting informative videos, without over extending the time or bs ads during the video, plus all of the good information.
Great channel, excellent job
These short mini-documentaries are excellent!
I see a new Mark Felton upload, I like.
Thanks for taking the time to research and put these videos together Mark. I only found your channel the other day and I really enjoy the way you talk through the topic.
Very concise, informative and well put together. Thank you.
Fantastic story, race horse vs sumo wrestler.
It would be interesting to hear how the 200 pw's were liberated.
"The comets reversed quickly"
No, I don't think so
Excellent details, there must be so many of these encounters that happened during the war, thanks for sharing.
Excellent content and historical accuracy, as always. Keep up the good work Mark :)
Thanks. Will do
you are setting the bar for TH-cam History Mark Felton productions...very very good stuff.
Wow. I really didnt thought that the Comet was still (in some aspects) inferior to the Tiger 1. Thanks for the Great Video Mark!
I don't know where you've been all my life but your material is better than the History Channel. It's clear you do your research and your presentation is clear and straight forward. I've subscribed!
Impression of the end of the war on the German side: The constant search for any and all available units to toss into the Allied meat grinder. It's amazing that they were able to mount such an effective defense. Great video....yet again!
They didn't mount an effective defense though. In April 1945 the Allies bagged 1.5 million POWs alone, between 30,000 to 60,000 POWs a day, not to mentioned also killed thousands of Germans. The Western Allies were inflicting extremely lopsided losses on the Germans during this time, it just took time to cut a swath through the cannon fodder Germany was calling soldiers in 1945.
The German defense in 1945 is one of the most pointless military campaigns in history. There are some estimates that Germany suffered war deaths of 1.5 million men between January 1st 1945 and May 8th 1945. In the whole 4 years of WWI, Germany suffered about 1.8 million military deaths. There was nothing effective about the German defense in 1945, it was a pure slaughter for the Germans, worse then anything Germans had ever suffered.
Mark Felton: Good job selecting that footage. A lot of it is interesting stuff I have not seen before.
Nicely done. Informative facts and recordings lend credence to actual events as if one was there.
"The Comet, though Britain's latest tank, was no match for a Tiger - particularly in terms of armour protection".
Pretty sure the Tiger's armour was about as effective against the Comet's 77mm as the Comet's armour was against the Tiger's 8.8cm even at "longer ranges" - especially when the Comet was using its APDS round. The Comet was faster as you pointed out and had a lower profile too.
The Tiger's frontal armour wasn't as tough against British tanks in 1944/45 as it was in 1943 (still penetrable at close range by the 6 Pounder Mk V guns of this time) as the 17 Pounder had begun to be mounted in vehicles such as the Firefly, Archer, Achilles and Challenger (these received APDS in the later months of 1944 but these were more relevant when fighting Panthers and KTs) and tanks that still used the 6 Pounder such as some Churchills received APDS capable of penetrating Tigers at long ranges.
The wartime APDS round had accuracy problems. The U.S. and USSR didn't adopt sabot ammunition until much later, when the technical problems were irrefutably solved.
@@r.j.dunnill1465 Those accuracy issues were solved by the end of the war. The point remains that the Comet was capable of penetrating the Tiger from quite a distance even without APDS.
That soldier at 1:22 looks a bit out of context with that cap pointing backwards😂
Yo!!...Panzer crew in da area...
@mas360 it's Eminens German cousin xD
Every time I hear that opening music, I get excited to see the video...nice job again Mark!
Love to see a 'what if' story on the Centurion. I read somewhere once that if ready by late 1944 the Centurion would have been more than equal to the Tiger.
It's bad enough facing a tiger 1 on a PlayStation can only imagine one for real . Another gem thanks again mark
Mark, your line at 4:22 just made me crack up...!
Another great video
Thanks
A very enjoyable video. Many thanks. Better than the stuff we get anywhere else
The insanity of fighting on when ultimate defeat is absolutely certain.
Are you kidding me? The Comet Tank had almost as thick frontal armour as the Tiger 1! The 17 pounder and 88mm were practically on par with each-other in tank killing perfomance. Not only that, but tank engagements were never likely yo happen at such extreme ranges, especially not in the heavy forrests of Germany. To say the Comet was no match for the Tiger is insane.
Plus the Brits had mastered the accurate use of APDS by then, which could frontally penetrate the Tiger's 100mm frontal armour at 1000 yards (it could pierce 150mm armour at that range). In fact, the 77mm, even using APCBC , could pierce it with the wind behind it (100mm AP capability). Comet vs Tiger was no walkover for the Tiger. The Comet's greater manoevrability and turret rotation speed could be crucial factors. But one Comet could take out a Tiger, certainly, even frontally.
The Comet was alright I suppose. It's armour is only 30mm or so less at the front than the Tiger, but the reality is that its more about the firepower at this point and not the armour protection. For a stopgap tank, which is what the A34 Comet was, it wasn't all that bad, it was certainly a step up from the Cromwell, the tank it basically derives from albeit with a widened and lengthened hull and a different turret. It's a shame as the Centurion was actually a thing (on paper at least) by 1945 but it just didn't make sense to retool factories and start churning them out so late in the war when it was clear that victory was on the horizon.
As usual Mark, a fantastic video. Well done and thankyou for sharing
Great work and narration, sir! Well done!
Excellent presentation as ever, thank you! Unless I am very much mistaken, the videos images of Comet crews featured troops of the Fife & Forfar Yeomanry, not the RTR.
Awesome Mark and thanks.
Slow down on that shot of those guys riding that camoflagued tiger. They are all literally 16-17 year old kids driving around on a tiger tank like it's no big deal. What a bad time to be a young man in Germany, wow
At the 1:06 Mark
So many untold War stories like this yet to be told!
At distance the Tiger was lethal which was why it had so much success on the Steppes of Russia and Ukraine but in forests or towns, it could be easily swarmed by infantry and flanked by faster tanks. When people think of a Tiger they think of a hulking beast like Wittman's Tiger, blasting a convoy apart at close range. The big cats were to be used more at long range where slow traverse and flanking enemies weren't such an issue. It does make sense when you look at tank designs of the allies; the Allies took their time in developing the M26 Pershing and Centurion and were happy with the 17pdr anti-tank gun and the Sherman until quite late in the war. However, the Russians, like the Germans, went for big guns and thick armour like their SU-85/100, IS-2 and the SU-152. This was because they often had to face the Germans head on and in greater numbers.
I've read Carius's book, and I don't remember him calling Wittman a fanatical idiot. I wouldn't say he got lucky one time either. If anything him and Carius must have followed very similar approaches to tank combat. In the position of the Germans sometimes great risks have to be taken, like the one that resulted in the destruction of the Desert Rats column at Villers Bocage, like the one that got Wittman killed, and like the one that got Carius shot several times at almost point blank range by Soviet infantrymen while doing recon for his Tiger tank company.
Not sure where the above facts you have came from, however everything I have read and people I have spoken with in person all contradict what you have written. Whitman and his crews were regarded very highly within the German forces. It wasn’t all propaganda. He was a very brave and skilled tank commander.
@@TheIzroda You do know that the Brits got 70 Panzers out of 120 7Jun 1944. The Fireflys and Brit tactics were good
@@TheIzroda My apologies, I have checked and you are right, Carius didn't say that, it was another German tank Commander and I confused them, I have edited my comment to reflect that. However, his bold tactic of pushing forward and expecting surprise did kill him, and quite quickly too. He found himself surrounded in a field and to this day it's not certain if it was a 17pdr or a Firefly or even a Hawker Tempest that managed to blow his turret off precisely because they all had a bead on him and at less than 1km away.
the tiger wasn't a slow tank, its capable of reaching 28 mph fairly comfortably, and most were bogged down by the suspension.
Strange how German WW2 tanks are often praised for their design and yet they are often destroyed for being too cumbersome or mechanical failure.
And by the end of the war what sort of maintenance were they getting? As for them getting bogged their tracks had lower ground pressure than a Sherman so if they got bogged a tommy cooker certainly would.
Well because usually the Heavy german tanks is invincible on armor and gun when they encounter the british and american tanks.
It's true the Germans did have some fantastic “ wonder weapons during the war but as you know they were just so expensive and this. Hugely impractical to be produced in a war like this. In a way some countries could face the same issues today with their hugely expensive main battle tanks due to the very limited ability to replace vehicles quickly.
In 1945 any logistics / maintanance support was basically non existant. Even this Tiger was most likely repaired with a part taken by "cannibalizing" a destroyed Tiger.
If you read a lot of accounts from the crews, support groups and maintenance teams you will find that these tanks were highly regarded by all. The reason they often broke down due to mechanical issues was because they were in constant use. Even the allied tanks especially the Sherman was prone to break downs, constant maintenance etc. the difference was in supply and engagement frequency.
Plenty of books around now written by less bias authors and publishers that have been released in the last 10 years that back this up.
The Allies had both machines and men to replace/train quite easily , the Germans did not, and by this time had scraped the barrel dry, sending kids out with only a few hours training. The Tigers and Panther tanks were ideally suited to open countryside where their heavy frontal armour and powerful guns could be used to maximum advantage. With an experienced crew and used properly with support the big cats proved they could be game changers. Being deployed in towns with inexperienced crews, especially without any troop support will always be a one sided affair, as it will be for any tank, even today.
True, but open country made them vulnerable to aircraft and artillery.
Once again....slow turret traverse is the Achilles heel for a Big Cat
2:36 "liberated"
I wonder how grateful they were that the war was not over yet for them as they certainly must have expected when being captured... 🤔
"Thin side armor" Tiger front armor 100mm, side 80mm.
What are u talking about then? :D
Awesome war machine !! Very good i learn something new about tigers today !! Thx
I love your video's Mark! Thank you!
Love your work Mark. As always good job!
Tiger vs comet
Tiger : i see my eat
Comet : hell yeah... try to run...
Excellent video as always, though I'm not sure how accurate your statement about the comets gun is... the 77mm high velocity cannon could fire a sabot round with higher penetration than that of the panther tank.
And while the tiger DID have thick frontal armour (around 100mm if memory serves) it had very little sloping to it, giving the comets gun more than enough penetration to get through it.
Just my thoughts anywho, perhaps you know something I don't!
The comet also had about 100mm frontal armor
fROMWWII Tank Gun Ballistics 77mm Comet No APDS that was a Firefly round But it could penetrate 135mm @ 1000yards Comet 102mm 14mm Tiger I 100mm 26mm Source Tanks of the World David Miller
CONT: The Comet also had HE
@@jacktattis1190 I'm just going off Wikipedia and war thunder.
Both of which state that the comet had sabot.
@@jacktattis1190 The Comet only had 76mm of armor on the frontal glacis. The 102mm was only on the front of the turret.
Those prisoners were probably not happy to be "liberated"😠
That's what I was thinking. The risks some must have taken to surrender in one piece then this effing Nazi turns up.
"I was two days from retirement."
another great upload .. thanks
Excellently presented. The best I've seen here on TH-cam.
I surmise it was due to their training and discipline that those small German groups formed and fought on. After half a decade of fighting I imagine that practicality and reality did not come into the decision making process.
Your Chanel is always great!
Well done and best of luck with your channel.
I love that intro music. I hope You will never change It
@ 1:38 And some people mock the PIAT for being a spring fired AT weapon.
Indeed. Who needs Bazookas and Panzerfausts when you can use a bloody big spring - job done!
@@MarkFeltonProductions Be fair, yes had a BIG Spring but it was actually a spigot mortar and the spring also fired a cartridge in the base of the PIAT bomb (bet you knew that). The squaddies used to say firing it caused athlete's foot and halitosis - allegedly.
@@MarkFeltonProductions & not give your position away by the trailing smoke, etc. Yes, you have to be pretty close, but no closer than the Germans with their Panzerfaust.
Its not "spring powered" .
@@sean640307 depends on which faustpatrone your using since late production ones outranges ghe PIAT.
Best war documentary channel. Factual. Narrators English voice is perfect. Well done ol chaps!!
Max range of a PIAT 350m , Effective range 130m . Taking on a Tiger tank with 1...Give that man a beer and a medal
I think you'll find it was even more amazing - practical range of PIAT was in the 50-100m slot.
The last Tiger referred to in this video is in fact F01, not F02. It's been referred to as F02 in the literature for a long time, but images have surfaced which leaves no doubt to its identity.
Amazing video as always
Thank you
Amazing video, as always...
liking this channel... greetings from Mongolia!
Very informative film. Thanks
A brief and easy-to-understand report the tiger problem was mechanic and it was too heavy other thing it was scary tank.
@Boondock Saint Very heavy for good
reason.this was due to its substantially thicker armour, the larger main gun,.I like Tiger tank.
Always a pleasure to watch and learn!
“realized he was in the trees”
Queue the Vietnam Flashbacks*
Great video. One can only begin to imagine if the German's had been able to deploy larger numbers of Tigers and Panthers on the Western front.
>Comet
>Reversing quickly
Choose one.
Your channel and content are just SUPERB! :-)