Was the Kettenkrad useless?
In this Jens Wehner and I talk about the Kettenkrad, particularly about its usefulness for the German military over the course of the war, yet, also about its value for the individual soldier. As such we discuss its capabilities, strength and weaknesses.
Disclaimer I: I was invited by the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr Dresden.
Disclaimer II: I was invited by the Panzermuseum Munster to Stahl auf der Heide 2019.
Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr Dresden: mhmbw.de/startengCover by vonKickass.
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Spielberger, Walter; Doyle, Hilary Lous, Jentz, Thomas L.: Halbkettenfahrzeuge des deutschen Heeres
Spielberger: Halftracked Vehicles of the German Army 1909-1945 (Spielberger German Armor and Military Vehicle)
Expensive and high-maintenance vehicle...in the Wehrmacht? I am SHOCKed I tell you! SHOCKED!
@dwiggins01 Are Porsche high maintenance? I read that 99% of them from the past 20 years are still in the streets.
Europe does not have the -40/-50 winter temperatures then the mud like the Soviet Union does. They were fine operating in their own country and the supplies lines were over extended and not equipped to handles the climates.
@@mecalpsha4473 The german vehicles performed much better under those temperatures. Rommel was able to run circles around the allies in North Africa (even so he was outnumbered), because the german tanks and aircrafts worked much better in those hot and dusty environments.The Luftwaffe was outnumbered over africa, but still managed to put up a good fight, because the aircrafts had much higher ready rates than the british ones. They had special modification kits for their aircrafts to operate in tropical climate like the Bf 109 F4 Trop Have you ever tried to cold start a Diesel engine at -40°. German tanks can exchange their coolant water to preheat a cold engine with the hot water of an already running engine. So the germans were not completely unprepared. Or why do you think they developed halftracks with excelent cross country performance? But the supplies lines were indeed over extended.
@dwiggins01 Have you ever worked on Cars? German, Japanese, French, Italian, American?? VW spare parts are darn cheap for older cars (at least in Europe) and german cars are in general quite easy to fix compared to other brands. IIf you buy luxury cars you have to deal with luxury maintenance cost. Buying the a car is only half the deal. What do you think will a high performance Porsche disk brake cost you as a spare part? Same is true for other non german luxury brands.
Freestyle In the States we have a similar expensive, high maintenance, useless vehicle, they are called Harley Davidsons
I always thought that the kettenrad looked like the result of a Panther molesting a motorcycle.
I rather like the idea of motorcycle seducing a Panther.
Actually a halftrack spending a night or two with a cheap to have motorcycle (The halftracks used interleaved road wheels well before the Kitty)
the love which has no name
Chotto matte kudasai
Your a Twisted Pup! Nice one and Cheers.
1 of 10 for cost, 3 of 10 for maintenance, 4 of 10 for needed, 6 of 10 for useful, 146 of 10 for cool factor.
Or cute factor too.
So it's just like my Mercedes Benz
2nd kind of cool is always a great excuse to have one.
Ja und this generates die Dieter score of 763.62. Guten Tag and now we dance.
Same score as the King Tiger?
Sit down son. When a motorcycle and a tank love each other very much ......
when a motorcycle transitions to a murdercycle
@@jasonhunt19201 that would just be a BMW mptorcycle with an MG34 or MG42 in a side car.
Yes, but nowadays it has to be mutually agreed to in writing. Otherwise the one might call "me too" on the other. Just sayin.....
One of the first hybrid vehicles 😀
It takes a lot of lubrication.
I dont care if it was useless or not I want one!!!!!!!
Be pretty cool to go down the shops to pick up the bread and milk lol. A friend of mine had a Bren gun carrier with rubber tracks. But regardless of that about 25yr ago he could no longer get registration to drive it on the road
I know, right? imagine how cool it would be to roll up to a biker bar on this!
You don't want one it's even worse you NEED one! A motorbike with tracks you can drive tru the lanes in your local supermarket to get the groceries. And outside you can rip and tear up the neighboorhood driving straight home because you need no roads.
@@obelic71 Yes. 1000% Yes!
As we are living our fantasies why decide, have both a bren gun carrier and a kettenkrad, together with a dingo for when you want to be more discrete!!☺.
Perfect for exploring a post-apocalyptic world.
yay, depression potatoes
good luck finding enough grease to keep it lubed lol
and after finding grease you gotta make sure yuu-chan doesn't try eating or cooking with it
Actually, it would be useless for exploring a post apocaluptic world. You'd be better off with an ex Soviet Lada, a Volvo 740 or earlier or even an east-german Trabant than a Kettenkrad.
SonsOfLorgar Get a load of this guy.
Useless? It looks pretty good for delivering the mail.
And christmas presents.
It was too small to carry a significant amount of supplies and too light to pull a large load.
there is a new version of Kettenkrad Here in Mini kzhead.info/sun/mM6knbWenYCPnaM/bejne.html
@@JohnRodriguesPhotographer It was used later in war as an aircraft tractor - particularly for jets. It was quite capable of pulling a load having been originally designed for logging and used by the Wehremacht to haul small antitank guns and run phone lines.
And travel the post apocalypse.
Don't bully the kettenkrad, it's doing it's best!
@ger du ; The battle was rigged from the start against it!
There is a New Version of the Kettenkrad kzhead.info/sun/mM6knbWenYCPnaM/bejne.html
Hi, Derpy! :D
who would be mean to a kitten cart? awww
Yeah it’s cool I like it 😀
Who is here from Gril's Last Tour? The use of a Kettenkrad makes complete sense because it is good for difficult terrain and the two girls are on an existential tour in the end of the world. They even drive up and down stairs in the anime too.
m.mangahere.cc/manga/shoujo_shuumatsu_ryokou/ the manga, enyoy It ending
Of course, it‘s actually terrible for the post-apocalypse, because where are you gonna get spare parts or lube?
@@raylast3873 :(
@@raylast3873 The story actually acknowledges that, and they eventually have to leave it behind because the engine breaks and it can't be fixed.
High-maintenance, expensive, not particularly useful and German, but that's enough about my wife. I want one of these!
Just another of the many reasons the Germans lost the war. For the British and Americans it was a very useful machine. It helped to keep the Germans from building effective weapons that actually worked.
😆
Hahahaha🤣
Ha !
Your wife has fewer lube points
It had a heater and you weren't marching. Of course they liked it.
I think it's main use would have been drinking rallies. Load a crate of open beer in the back, complete a course as quick as possible and drink what is left.
It had a heater????!!!!! .
@@BobSmith-dk8nw You learn fast that anything with an engine has a heater.
@@BobSmith-dk8nw I know eh! German and over-engineered? I'm SHOCKED!
@@TheDave159 Well ... yeah ... you can get heat off the engine - and for something like a motor cycle where you're pretty much sitting astride the engine ... sure - but that's not a real "heater" that would warm up the guys on the back of the thing. Although ... if these things were giving Ranking Officers rides - maybe they did have a heater ... I've spent to many hours freezing my ass off in worn out patrol trucks that were - supposed to have a heater - it just didn't work ... Trust me ... I (like anyone else who's been in the military) could go on and on ... There's the way things are supposed to be ... and then ... there's the way they are ... .
No it wasn't useless, it helped Yuu-chan and Chi-chan travel the barren wasteland and saved them from starving for an entire season!
Although that was a much thiccer Kettenkrad Also hello fellow weeb
What anime is that?
@@derptank3308 whats the reference? this taku can't place it.
Latemodeloldtaku The anime was called, I think, if I remember rightly, Girls on parade
@@casadelshed9128 thank you
In reference to pulling aircraft around, I believe this was in order to save valuable aviation/jet fuel that otherwise would be used up taxiing. In addition, 262's Jumo 004 engines had an atrocious service life, to the point that saving minutes taxiing would be worth it.
Exactly right!
Theres an anime about two girls driving around in a Kettenkrad. Cleary it was not useless but infact completely changed our future :D
love that anime it me go awhh
And it's pretty realistic that they had to constantly fix it
@@ctrlaltdebug need sause
@@jonathansibrian695 m.mangahere.cc/manga/shoujo_shuumatsu_ryokou/ there you have the manga, estoy it
@@jonathansibrian695the name is Girls’ last tour
It's such a delightful little contraption
this the kettenkrad Sparks JOY
It's cute but it needs an 88 and schurzen
This pretty much sums it up
It is good to have some light Kast over this interesting vehicle.
Useful for capturing control points and laying booby traps if you know what I mean.
Scorch earth FTW
it can go invisible too..
80 KPH is 50 MPH, which isn't that fast for a wheeled vehicle, especially a motorcycle. It is pretty fast for a tracked vehicle. If you had a smooth road and you yourself didn't have to lube the vehicle and replace all the worn-out parts, I don't see why it wouldn't be able to go 50 MPH -- for a while. Towing trains or 155mm long guns up mountain trails or whatever else it can do in video games is something else. But getting up to 80 KPH on a soccer pitch before crashing into the goal net should be possible. :-)
CoH :D
@@lwilton it can go faster with some defencive vet
Was the Kettenkrad useless? No! In the movie "Saving Private Ryan" Tom Hanks used one to draw the Germans into a battle.
Many years ago, I think the 1970s, I was told by an old US Forest Service retiree that they brought 200 of them over here to the USA for forest roads and other work. Could have been just rumour, but I'd heard stuff in the 60s that turned out to have been declassified in the 1990s... *shrugs*
A lot of these ended up on German farms after the war. I could see these being useful for Forest Service rescue or resupply.
I believe the Kettenkrad stayed in production after the war because those were widely used by the forestry service in several European countries. The US probably brought some over for military evaluation and forestry work. In 1995 I got to check one out at our local airport during an airshow that also had a WW2 German re-enactment group from Texas showing off that, a Hetzer and BMW R75 sidecar rig. They said the tank and bike were purchased in Europe while the Kettenkrad was bought at a US Govt. surplus auction. They drove the Kettenkrad with the front wheel off because those wore out fast and weren't needed for steering.
They were designed begore the war gor forestry services in Germany so it makes sense.
OK, I have period pics of the krad pulling 37mm gun, Arado and M262 jet aircraft, a trailer of logs, and even pulling a truck out of the mud. Now maybe they burned out the motors a minute after the pics were taken, but it looks like it can pull a bit more than we are giving it credit for.
Not a 37 mm gun, that was in US Army inventory.
Coiled Steel 3.7 cm PAK 36, fine. Same thing.
It could reliably pull this (Arado weighes between 8 and 10 tons), otherwise they wouldn't even attempt it. So it would undouobtedly pull a PaK40 (1.4 tons) without a problem.
@@bellator11 You think pulling an airplane down a runway can compare to pulling a trailer through the mud? Shit, man, you and me and a couple of our toughest friends could push an eight ton Arado down a flat, smooth runway. Twenty-eight hundred pounds up a hill? Probably not. I'm not saying the 'Krad isn't capable, mind you...
Coiled Steel the pak 36 was a 37mm gun from the Germans.
After watching this video, KZhead now keeps suggesting I watch more kettenkrad videos. Who knew KZhead had a seedy "kettenkrad" side of it?
So so happy that this channel came up in my KZhead recommendations, this is quickly becoming my favourite history channel regarding the Second World War from a very unique, entertaining viewpoint, and with no fear of "sacred cows" (they always make the tastiest hamburgers). When I got the service records of all my relatives that fought (and mostly were killed) during the war, my great-uncle's last posting was in a krad recce coy in a panzer-grenadier unit, so this video really interested me. I haven't even started going back to watch all the back catalogue of videos on the channel either, but am really excited about it. Keep 'em coming, great work!!
That thing has more grease points than a combine...
Mostly tracks.
Tractor tech has come a very long way. My uncle collects and works on vintage tractors and they are crazy to maintain.
More grease points than a Mexican
Years ago working at an oil change place, a guy brought in one of those trucks they pull whole trees out of the ground with. Got the big hydraulic spiky shovels of death or whatever they call them. I think I counted about 120.
@@chapiit08 😲😲
So, it served a need at the time but events overtook it. That is not unreasonable. It would also seem that it was not designed to be a point vehicle but to provide support services. The side car outfits were used as point vehicles and failed as such in the Greek campaign because the losses against the English riflemen on mountain roads were ruinous. The kettenkrad would have had immediate vindication in the Polish campaign as the roads broke up quickly under military use and at that time the military loads would have been within its capacity. One has, I suggest, also to remember that in the early campaigns it would have had its major use in the second line of advance. Later it would have been involved in far more fluid battle situations where it’s riders vulnerability would have become quickly apparent. Without doubt though a delightful piece of engineering.
One of the books I have on the Kettenkrad suggests that it was presented in response to a requirement for a light tractor that could fit inside a Ju52 for transport, intended to tow, as described in the video, the 3.7cm PaK. With the demise of airborne operations, that role for the Kettenkrad disappeared, and it got jobbed out for other roles, like cable laying and as a generic light utility vehicle. From looking at the German halbketten designs, having a lubrication point on each track link was standard, a case of German overengineering that the troops in the field then hand to deal with.
My grandfather managed to find an abandoned one and got it running. I have several pictures of him driving it. I always thought it was a very cool looking motorcycle/half-track.
I read somewhere that the Luftwaffe used a few kettenkrad as aircraft towing vehicles and literal bomb trucks (towing bomb limbers). That might make sense as (I believe) it was developed for the air mobile infantry.
I heard that too
These were also used to retrieve me 163 rocket fighters after they had landed, with the use of a complex lift and carry trailer, as the me163's wheels were jettisoned after take off.
@@chrisknight6884 Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
According to the sources I've read, it was the result of a requirement for a light artillery tractor that would fit inside a Ju-52 transport for airborne troops.
@@DmdShiva Interesting, but I do find this a little difficult to comprehend given the limited size and location of the JU52s cargo door. This would also be only viable if the the only field gun this machine could tow, the 37mm, would also fit in the JU52, not much point otherwise. Not being an expert on the carrying capacity of this aircraft I would not discount this until I can do more research. Thanks for the info.
It's not useless, it got two girls from point A to point B.
And it did it very well!
Thank you for doing a video on this.
Very neat bike they should make a modern one. Just for the badass factor
There are reproductions
Imagine a modern one with a light composite body and electrical drive. You could probably drift with it.
Look into the “ripchair “ tracked vehicle by Howe & Howe !
Basically a snowmobile. Give it ATV wheels instead of skis, figure out cooling the tread wheels (or just make them steel), bam, reverse Kettenkrad.
I guess the lack of pulling power was down to the engine, not a lack of traction?
Pulling power depends AFAIK very much on weight and friction. You could put a modern engine in and try to pull a plane with it, but the vehicle would just dig itself in...
@@edi9892 A Cessna 172 might be moved with a Kettenkrad without digging in yourself.😉 And as they told during the video, it was actually used to move Me 262 airplanes.
edi you're right, but when everything else is equal a low power engine will give you less pulling power than a higher power engine.
It's Torque, not Horsepower, that does the pulling. Horsepower is defined as Torque * Rotational Speed. If you take the output of your engine and gear it down to 1/2 crankshaft speed, then you've doubled the torque. (1/3 = trebled, an so on.) So, it's not only the power of the core engine, but its gearing that make a difference there. That being said, traction is, of course, very important - and also very dependent on ground condition. (Consider if you will, a 400 HP Muscle Car at a stop light, with an 60 HP compact car next to it - When the light changes, which vehicle pulls ahead? In summer, it's the Muscle Car. But, on a wet or snow-covered road, the Muscle Car will have broken traction, just spinning its wheels, and the compact car will easily pull away.) There are situations where a large footprint, with a low ground contact pressure, like wide tires, or tracks, will give you more traction, There are other conditions where a high ground contact pressure will give more traction. (Snow plowing, for example)
@@peterstickney7608 but when you have two identical Lamborghini, one with minimal fuel and no one on the other seat and the other fully loaded, I put my money on the second car when it comes to winning the pulling match.
This channel always presents an advanced and well thought out discussion. Thank you very much.
Thanks for explaining the origin of some of the more pertenant terms in text on this video. This was appreciated in addition to the informative talk.
Chiito and Yuri wouldn't call this vehicle useless. For those who get this reference.
It did break down at one point
The best use case was for exploring the post apocalyptic world by 2 girls.
Thank you so much for shedding light on this cute little mini tank, it looks awesome.
Chito and Yuu really know how much repair it needs
367 likes and 0 dislikes that's how girls take their last tour
Best post-apocalypse vehicle
That was beautiful series.
@@ctrlaltdebug Yeah screw Musk and his stupid Cybertruck.
Thanks to the Military Museum!!!
They are so cool! Excellent commentary. Vielen dank!
always nice videos! thanks!
Hehe, as an old signaller I was amused by the slight change of subject towards the end ;) Interesting to hear that signal troops of the era is something of a blank spot, but I have to agree that the topic of signals wouldn't be the most sought after video on here :-P
I had the chance to visit this Museum when I travelled Germany back in 2012. Went to Dresden to see (because I assumed there was) a museum about the terrible bombing of 1945. Found the museum by chance. Wonderful building and expositions. There's even a segment dedicated to the animals that were used in war at any point. Loved to see it featured here.
Agree 100%. The horses in particular took on a HUGE roll in the war effort. Of course, so very much about the eastern conflict was truly horrifying, especially for the dedicated teams pulling artillery, supply wagons, wounded soldiers, and everything else imaginable. Performed their duties thru blazing summer heat and Brutal -40 below zero Russian winter conditions just the same. Pushing thru endless kilometers while beyond exhausted and more often than not, while starving. It was ironically these animals that taught mankind what selfless sacrifice really is.
Absolutely. Also featured were Camels, used for transport like horses, oxen, just the same, but also geese used as alarms, manning fields, ostrich, used for transport of ''light'' materiel, and pigeons for courrier work. Animals were extensively used and they very much deserve their recognition in their use by man in their wars with each other. The poor creatures never knew what they were used for. @@LJWalter78
Nice video - two consistent themes that seems to pop up is the development or lack of development of engines and how some projects that have one or two interesting features but don't really fulfill some bigger goal still keeps getting resources.
I always watch all videos about this machine, many thanks for You for bringing up new facts about this cool vehicle. I would be very happy to see more videos from You about this cool thing.
I want one of these so I can drive around my neighbourhood like a boss.
Rescue stranded people and cars on the highway after a blizzard and be a hero
grats on getting referred via a Forgotten Weapons video Mr Not Visualised
Fascinating. Cool vehicle. I've subscribed. Thanks. 👍
This is the best WW2 site on KZhead
The coolness factor alone is enough of a reason for me to want to buy one of these beautiful machines.
The German half track system was insanely overcomplicated. The Chieftan has a good talk about it.
The Brits universal carrier was a better design for basically the same job. This thing is a bit of a dog's breakfast but I still like it.
Hoehner Tim, exactly what I was thinking. Given how simple the universal carrier was it would not surprise me if it was cheaper as well.
On board the Kittenkard
I would compare it to an sdkfz 251, given the overall weight of the universal carrier.
HaVoC117X , in terms of weight the universal carrier sits right between the sdkfz251 and the kettenkrad, roughly 3.5T with the sdkfz251 at roughly 7.5T and the kettenkrad at 1.5T. It left it small enough to be used as a company level run around, much in the fashion of a jeep, but armoured, which is where the comparison with the kettenkrad seems applicable.
@@ballagh LOL. I would call that double standard. First of all the universal carrier had a weight of 4t. The are many versions of the german halftrack system in different weight classes. The sdkfz 250 had a weight of 5t. Universal carrier's and sdkfz 250/51 were manly used as APCs and not like small traktors or Kradmelder. They were a totally different breed of vehicles.
The half-track system worked well for Richard Hammond in crossing Wales, kinda proved the system still works well off road even today.
I would love a signal corps video (or maybe I'm part of the minority that watches logistics videos)
It would be good to compare the Kettenkrad to the USMC mule motorized cart. I think the two machines had the same purpose to pull heavy equipment.
You can say the same for any 6x6 ATV in military use. It cant pull a lot, probably expensive, but can do stuff no other Vehicles can. Definitively useful for recon etc.
There is a nearby aviation flight museum in VA Beach, VA, which has one of these in running order for use.
It should actually be counted as a fully tracked vehicle. It can be run perfectly well without the front wheel.
I feel like they're seriously underestimating its pulling power of the Kettenkrad, I mean as they mentioned themselves the thing was used to pull aircraft as heavy as 7 tons. So it could undoubtedly pull a PAK40, the most common German AT gun, which comes in at 1.4 tons.
There generally aren't many hills on an airfield, and an airfield tends to have nice, solid ground where it isn't paved. Additionally, you don't want to go much over a couple miles per hour when towing an aircraft, so you can keep it down in bottom gear where you have the torque.
@@DmdShiva Well it obviously couldn't pull an Me262 across rough ground, but it is also 5 times heavier than a PaK40 and doesnt have giant wheels to ease towing it. A PaK40 generally shouldn't be a problem for the Kettenkrad, as long as it doesn't have to pull it through deep mud, but as mentioned here any truck wouldve failed too.
I have read that the Kettenkrad was designed for Fallschirmjaeger as a tractor. It was not to be dropped into combat with the troops but delivered via Ju 52 after a field was captured. Not certain on the accuracy of this though.
What a cute little toy. The one thing that really surprises me is the back-facing rear seat rather than a pair of side seats. I think you could face two seats in from the side, and that would have allowed the riders to face forward and shoot if necessary.
It was extremelly useful for civilians especially in jobs in terrain where you had to transport something very heavy. Because of this you can see a lot of them in Czechoslovakia after the war used for transporting logs in forests with bad terrain. P.S. when it comes to Kettenkrad towing Me262 and other planes, that was only done because of lack of fuel, so planes were towed to starting position by truck or Kettenkrad so that the plane wouldn't waste precious, high-quality fuel.
The Kübelwagen may be the only vehicle the German army produced during the war that was objectively reliable and low-maintenance.
Mk1 Pferd was also good.
@@Defenestrationflight What's that?
@@pistonar Horse 😂
@@DoddyIshamel Certainly more widely used, but still could not be parked and left. They require daily fueling and basic maintenance. It's also much more difficult to replace a damaged part.
@@pistonar Certainly hard to repair, people have been leaving them parked for thousands of years though. Also whilst needing fuelled at least it was a more widely accessible fuel.
Please do the video about signalling and how it integrated with the other parts of the army.
Thanks for this in English. It is appreciated.
Be assured, that once you have driven one, you are a permanent member of the Kettenkrad fan club. By the way, the vehicle that is shown in this video is static. The track is unbelievably tight and something would snap if it was actually driven. Whoever restored it got that part very very wrong. There appears to be the correct number of track links, but I suspect that there has been substitution of parts for the idler tensioning and they got the lengths wrong.
Maybe its just for show and not meant to duplicate a working machine...
@@ragazzi25 You do have to question their knowledge when they can't even depict the vehicle properly.
They may as well have just upped it into a half-track car sort of thing.
This would be so dope to drive around in
So that's what the girls were driving in the anime _Girls' Last Tour._
This video reminds me how important the jeep was to the American forces. It was cheap to produce and could go just about anywhere. In fact, we supplied the Russians with 50,000 of them.
The Kubelwagen was simpler and even cheaper, and could go much farther than any other 4x2 vehicle thanks to its low weight and flat underside
@@visionist7 Source? I can believe the cost or even simplicity, but the mileage? Never heard this claim.
@@damascus1111 by farther I didn't mean further ;-) Off road most RWD vehicles got bogged down but the Kubelwagen could often cross almost the same terrain as a Jeep, within reason.
Felice Graziano awwwwe okay so it’s cross country ability was better than that of the Jeep or 4x4’s. May I ask, if you know why that is?
@@damascus1111 basically it was made out of stamped metal with the engine out of the original Volkswagen. The Volkswagen Beetle was actually an idea from Hitler. So the average German could drive on the Autobahn
They built this Kettenkrad, but the Wehrmacht was insufficiently motorized. Only a small part of the Wehrmacht was motorized, the rest relied on horse, trains or walked long distances.
Motorized doesnt mean infantry riding trucks. It means heavy equipment being truck drawn, and supplies being truck transpkrted.
@airborneleaf TIK channel shows how they lacked enough fuel to run all those vehicles. Basically, by July 1941, they had a lack of fuel in Russia. We know Rommel always complained about lack of fuel. I've read some German soldier memoirs and those relate that the soldiers marched through Russia; sun-up to sundown, 6 days a week. They were in half rags by the time they reached Stalingrad.
This vehicle was an expensive toy, that worked. It didnt change the fact that the Wehrmacht lost a lot of vehicles, trucks and cars over the course of the war.
@airborneleaf To be fair, he had to truck fuel 1000 miles from Tripoli for much of the campaign. It takes A LOT of fuel to transport fuel, In Russia, the mud made fuel consumption increase exponentially because they also had to use tanks as tow vehicles.
@@fazole TIK is not famous for his great accuracy... As for German motorization, well, they began with the idea of mixed cavalry and motorized infantry units, but that didnt prove sucha great idea, so they concentrated their vehicles inzo purely motorized units by barbarossa. Non motorized units had their vehicles assigned to the baggage train, and as artillery tractors. This was indeed insufficent, so horse drawn supplie carriges were still in rather extensive use, but that is by no means unique at this point in time. In fact in the whole war the only forces to have completely motorized supply were the BEF and US expeditionary forces. As for truck bprne infantry, that didnt exist outside of dedicated manouver units, such as the infantry regiments of a tank division until the late fifties, anywhere. And I mean not in the US or Soviet army.
Very useful on an airstrip to recover Me163's after gliding in to land and then totally immobile and exposed to air/ground attack.
Americans might not know that a "lorry" is what they'd call a "truck".
Fronzel41 I learned what a Lorry was from Top Gear. Top Gear said we like to put dog houses in the front nose of our lorries. 😂
Fast Turtles Well said. I learned British English from Top Gear first but now KZhead has exposed Americans to much more British terminology. Hell, a third of the channels I’m Subbed to are British.
I don't see why we wouldn't know what a lorry is... We don't use the term often but whenever I seen it used its always referred to a truck... so unless its your first encounter with it, I think its pretty obvious from context alone.
It's not a word I knew in my younger years. But with youtube and just watching stuff from all over the world, I've learned quite a bit of British English. I'd say most Americans who watch youtube videos should know what a lorry is.
Truck sounds more virile than lorry.
You've said a few times that it was expensive vehicle. I've done some small research and it seems the cost was similar to the jeep - is it right?
Seba Jarosz yeah it seems fairly simple
Jeep was $738.74 How much was the Kettinkrad?
You can't compare prices of German military equipment due to how their economy was controlled. You need to compare manpower, time, tooling and materials required.
Do you take recommendations for topics to study? I belive auxilary powersources for vehicles in 2ww europe would be intresting subject to researce. What kind of options existed for civilians and military in low gas/oil supply situations? I know that some cars were converted to carbonmonoxide-powered by installing wood and coal burning units to them. How systematic/widespread these conversions were?
It is called producer gas if you wish to do homework on it. Even training tanks were powered by the stuff by war's end. Buses,private cars,other.
Gas producers or "charcoal burners" were very common in south eastern Australia during the war. Petrol rationing was very strict, but they had a lot of hardwood forests with trees up to 100 metres high. So many people assembled gas producers in garden sheds and towed them behind their cars.
There were a lot, because there was hardly any petrol or gasoline. Germany had hardly own oilfields. They used oil from Romania and tried to reach the wells in the south of the Sowjet Union, but that dit not work out well, They did work on synthetic fuel but it took a lot of efford. The gas generators needed a lot of attention from the drivers and demanded a lot of the vehicles they were build on. You needed the generator to be installed, sometimes on a 1 axle trailer but also it demanded space and load capacity for the wood.
@@bertnl530 but even with all those limitations, it got you mobile, here in Britain some vehicles were converted to domestic gas with a gas bag on the roof, only low pressure and a limited range but once again it was mobility.
@@CrusaderSports250 It was better then nothing ,that's for sure. Now people can laugh about it and look outside to their car of motorcycle, but lack of transportation is a killer. During the winter of 1944 the people in the cities of the WEst Netherlands (Amsterdam The Hague Haarlem etc, suffered of foodshortage. Partly due to heavy winter and confiscation by the German occupier, but also artificial as an act of rage. The railways had hardly any material left and lorries and big trucks were mostly confiscated or standing broke down by lack of parts or fuel. In such situations you are happy with every form of motorized transport. Here the city people had to ride like hundreds of kilometers by bicycle to find some food. No tyres anymore, so riding on bare metal, or they had to use small karts or prams, normally use for babies. Wlking for days in broken shoes. Jorse also confiscated. The lack of transportation costed thousands of lifes.
Thank you
I’d be interested in stuff on the Signal Corps. The US Marines learned at Guadalcanal that tracked vehicles were not good for cables laid on the ground. My father was a “wireman” and they trained him to climb trees. However the Russian Steppes aren’t very heavily forested. Did they have a trenching attachment for the Kettenrad? I notice that ditch witch makes walk behind trenchers with tracks.
I would imaging the German solution just being a line of troops to dig a hole, the vehicle lays the cable in the shallow trench and the troops fill it back in. Otherwise you could in theory add a plough to the front, cable at the back and have a second vehicle follow it to push the dirt back in
It's pretty useful in a post apocalyptic scenario, or.. so im told.
Or not. Any vehicle that's high on specialised maintenance is useless in a post apoc scenario.
@@SonsOfLorgar you didn't get the reference mate
Riqi Alka Must not be a man of culture.
I'd love to have Ketten-kun. I agree with Mr. Wehner, it looks like a lot of fun
They remind me of "Herman and Klaus" AKA "Craig Ferguson and Geoff Peterson". There I said it. Also great video, very informative.
Nice one.
Are the the engineering drawings for this in an archive somewhere?
hmm.. a hyabusa engine would pull along a modern version quite nicely >_>
You could check the US Patent office. They probably have the plans.
i would concur too with US archives as the NSU plant was in the US occupation zone.
@@1320crusier LS1 swap :)
A Brit 7.3 Powerstroke Diesel
Nice suit.
I would love to have one of these on our horse farm during the snowy winter months and the wet clay mud months.
I saw a photograph of a Kettenkrad being used as a mechanic's mobile toolbox.
maybe we can agree on something like a signals short? :P not that I wouldn't watch a whole signal corps series
It's good for carrying cute potatoes
I've seen this bike somewhere before only images though looks like it would be fun at bike rallies
Very very useful... Specially capturing point in company of heroes... Its fast....
Still an excellent potato chariot
Give me a kettenkrad, and I will put it to use!
I believe that NSU developed these in conjunction with OPEL for forestry work prior to any military use. If only I had one!
it was built for a use, they tried to expand its uses and it wasnt great for these. as an all terrain light vehicle with towing capacity this would be great for field work. using a 4 wheeler atv is perfectly serviceable for most uses but there are times particularly after heavy rainfall where a tracked vehicle would be much better. if i could get a modernized version of this i would take it.
Ingvar Kampfrad - The founder of IKEA
(Kampfrad means combat bike in German)
Good video, would be even better if you let the man finish his sentences. ;)
Totally sweet!
In his World War II memoirs, "Panzer Ace: The Memoirs of an Iron Cross Panzer Commander from Barbarossa to Normandy" (published in 2013), author Richard von Rosen recalls that, as a young Tiger company commander in late '44-early '45, the kettenkrad was extremely useful as a personal vehicle. He used it to travel between his platoons' positions, making inspections and issuing orders. He says it was especially valuable to him in Hungary, where the roads were poor (or nonexistent) , finding its cross-country mobility excellent. (By the way, I don't recall von Rosen ever referring to himself as an "ace" in the book, or being concerned with his "kill count". The title was likely mandated by the publisher.)
It's the best machine for 2 girls to use in a post apocalyptic world. Go check the manga/anime 'Girls Last Tour'. It could carry survival supplies, and goes over post apocalyptic terrain. No need for machine gun. The 2nd girl just fires a mauser rifle over the shoulder of the rider.
Look at the damn thing, it looks adorable
Even though they might not be the best vehicle for military use. I would pay grands to have one and drive around and make dash cam videos on off terrain with this beautiful half track motorcycle. Just fits like a glove on my designs requirements.
I've seen a photograph of a Kettenkrad towing a fighter across an airfield...? Maybe there were people pushing too. Must have been a bit like riding a quad bike.