Greatest Tank Battles | Season 1 | Episode 4 | The Battle of the Bulge: Race to Bastogne
2021 ж. 3 Сәу.
274 507 Рет қаралды
In December 1944, German forces launch a surprise attack through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. This is the story of the American tankers who helped defend the American line against Hitler's final gamble on the western front.
The series show full heat of the mechanized war on screens, analyze arms, protection and tactics of tank troops, using realistic animation. Each series includes interview with participants of fights on both sides of battle. Military historians and other experts analyze tactics of fight and results of battles.
Stars: Robin Ward, Ralf Raths, Robin Ward #GreatestTankBattles #Tanks #BreakthroughEntertainment
This was a terrific series that I thoroughly enjoyed back when the History channel was actually about history. Well written, superbly narrated and more than fair in that the story is told from both perspectives whenever possible.
My favourite episode of them all. Man I do love 'Greatest Tank Battles'! Absolutely amazing. Thank you and God bless the veterans. 39:32 I will always remember this part of this amazing episode too. I have seen it a thousand times and so I will continue to see. I love The Greatest Tank Battles. Thank you! HISTORY! ONWARDS....
I’m actually happy that they left the Sherman as a memorial for the US tank crews that lost their lives.
Agreed.
It saddens me. 🙁 I would have removed it for scrap.
@@Venezolano410 why remove it for scrap?
@@Venezolano410 why?
@@Venezolano410 agreed
The 3rd Army’s race to relieve Bastogne shows why the Sherman tank was probably the best tank for the Allies. If the Germans attempted this race a lot of their tanks would have either broken down or ran out of fuel. Not the Sherman, they were more fuel efficient than the tigers and panthers. Transmissions were not only rugged and tough, but also easy to swap out in the event a transmission broke down. Sherman’s while not great tank killers early in the war, make up for it in being much easier on the logistics on fighting a war.
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Its a shame pretty much all ww2 vets are dead. Id love to sit down and hear their stories. My grandfather fought in korea and as a kid i didnt know it was as intense as it was. i wish i couldve talked to him about it before he passed. Much respect to all these guys.
There are still many thousands still alive….. 😂😂😂😂
Don't think any vet would enjoy talking about those horrors and get PTSD flashbacks. You can see that none of the vets in this video are particularly happy talking about their experience.
@@lostmusic99 ehhh idk some of them have a sense of pride I talked to many vets in my family it’s just certain subjects and topics you just don’t ask and it’s all about how you word it but I do understand your point
My thanks goes to my dad he died in 2005. Thank you man. Four major battles Including the battle of bulge! For bronze stars, White star among other things. Thank you for fighting against fascist. You won for the world man! Thank you dad and anybody else that was in this war .. Thank you all.🇺🇸👏🏽
What's your Day name and company.
15:03 I love the fact they say the Sherman has weak armor "Only 51mm," then show a German tanker claiming a Sherman bounced two rounds from a Panther before it was penetrated.
That was at a range of over 1000+ meters lol most tank battles in ww2 was much closer than that plus they hit the Sherman at an angel making it more like 75mm of armor…second shit hit the nuts
@@n55Rob pretty much just sheer luck on that second one. And yeah, was sloped for a reason, generally a problem with high volcity shells over long range. Slower shells at that range would arc more, negating some if not all of the sloping but the faster ones would have a flatter arc leaving the sloping more effective
I love greatest tank battles
It’s crazy to consider the men being interviewed are doing so because they simply had crazy luck and actually somehow survived that insanity.
Man. That's a pretty epic battle. All these battles are good.
One of my grandfathers fought in this battle George Jones RIP.
Great series,thank you.
Never get tired of watching and learning about ww2. Thanks and god bless all those involved.. who fought the axis.. especially the Canadians..
LOL!!! I laughed at the 75mm point blank and the kid still standing while the other 2 were probably vaporized lol
Heroes. Thank you.
the first season of greatest tank battle is to this day the best show about tank battles produced, the animations are absolutely great and the show itself is non biased which is very good
I was most impressed by the real footage of large explosions.
Wow, a compelling watch and everyone of the generation after mine should watch it nd think themselves lucky they didn't have to try to live through it. We must never forget the sacrifices of these people, watching this sharpens ones mind to reality. If this ever happened again, the current generations wouldn't have a clue, I don't think they would handle it.
They will never handle it, I am ashamed of my generation
@Karl heinze Krüger I can voice the same opinion as a 33 year old. However, one thing our generation lacks is true, deep (non-superfluous), great leadership. In America and all over the globe. We are the leaders we have been waiting for. Go out there and do the right thing, day after day, inspire others to do the same, and to recognize the evil in this world that charades itself as benevolence.. It isn't. Lead by example. The ones like us who are conscious of this will be the peacemakers and the leaders of many, to make this world a better place.
I remember reading a book that I think one of the soldiers of the 101st Airborne wrote. And my favorite dialogue from that book, one Airborne soldier saying to another "Yep, they have us surrounded, the poor bastards!" As if to say, "that means they have to attack us, and when they do, they gonna have a bad day!! As long as it's NOT overconfidence, nothing else compares to confidence! And that goes for not only the 101st but for the 4th armored div that "liberated" Bastogne.
Against the elements, the better armored Germans, we never gave up 👍🇺🇸🎗️
I can't imagine coming across a Tiger. Let alone the can opener that was the Jagdtiger.
It's a shame they didn't bother mentioning when they started talking about, and showing, an action with an M4A3E8 not bothering to mention it's improved features over the standard M4A3. Like it's slightly thickened frontal armor, superior suspension, wider tracks with better traction, superior ground pressure, wet ammunition storage...and most importantly of all the M1A2 76mm High Velocity cannon. For those wondering why that tank so easily knocked out the two German armored vehicles (which were shown to be tank destroyers) rolling alongside the captured Sherman that's why (if they actually were later model tank destroyers this would've been impossible with the standard 75mm gun except at extraordinarily short range), because it was carrying the upgraded high velocity gun. It was far superior for anti-tank use but saw less widespread adoption on American tanks until late '44 and early '45 as it had an inferior HE shell to the standard 75mm M3 Medium Velocity Cannon which was better against anything that wasn't a tank and could still knock out 4/5 of the German armored force (the German armored forced during the war being mostly made up of Panzer IVs of various models and similar. Not Panthers and Tigers as shown. Tiger 1s, Tiger 2s, Jagdtigers, Panthers, and Jagdpanthers made up only 1/5 of the German armored force throughout the war.).
Additional information is always appreciated, thank you.
That’s because they saved that info for a different episode. Almost like they wanted us to go “wait, that’s one’s different?” Leaving those who don’t know to wonder.
This was cool to watch
Good stuff
A cross country sprint to the battle...in freakin tanks. So badass. Sherman was a great tank
Best tank of WW2
what makes you say that? i was under the impression that the germans had much better armored tanks and better guns.
@@jasonr.9520 the German panther and tiger tanks averaged about 600km before breaking down. They usually had to be transported by trains to each front. The Sherman's drove all the way from the beaches of France to the forests of Germany In terms of logistics. Germans by far had the worst tanks
@manz7860 the Sherman was very reliable in terms of operation but in a head to head fight against the Panzer 4, Tiger, Tiger 2, or the Stug 3 they wouldn't stant a chance. The 88mm had insane range and velocity vs the 75mm. 2000m for the 88 and only 800m for the 75. We lost so many tanks but what we did is basically a banzai charge of tanks to overwhelm the Germans.
@@jamesburque5115 it's a good thing ww2 battles wasnt exclusively tank vs tank battles......Sherman was a better tank for winning wars. T34 also a great tank. But bogged down by planned obsolescence
My gr. grandpa was 2/327 GIR 101st Airborne during this battle.
@Charles Smith My Gr.Grandfather was 194th Glider Infantry Regiment 17 A/B Company D during this battle
my great grandpa was in world war 2 and was a mechanic for the united states army. i miss you great grandpa and i wish you could be here today to see me graduate from high school on june 11th.
Thankful for all your family’s service!!! God bless you all!
Ok
Being alone on the Frontlines in enemy lines, is scary
Imagine fighting in the winter.
my great grandpa was in this war
My great granddaughter was in this war... fought as a 5 star general at Stalingrad. Single handedly took out a Sherman Firefly with a katana. Then she 360 mlg no-scoped a zero fighter with a Katyusha rocket while riding a panther from the flight deck of the HMS Hood. Came home with a nasty case of trench foot. Later, she went through the entirely of Call of Duty Black Ops 4 single player campaign on veteran difficulty with only a Luger, then beat zombie mode. Then she deep throated a U-boat while fending off a banzai charge from her rear, while singing “We’ll meet again.” Truly the greatest generation.
My great grandpa was a tank commander and fought in this war
My mums dads brother was in France fighting the front lines
My sister knocked out 6 Sherman's in 1 day
flame, i respect your great grandpa. all of my support and love goes out to you.
I think the tank at 43:17 has been located, and identified.
24:30 "...any way we went on....."
I’m sure that haunted him until he passed. He already let those guys live then he had to blow them away with a 75mm at point blank.
Aw nuts. Was the reply to a surrender request. Confused the Germans for hours
It wasn’t even “Aw Nuts” it was literally just “NUTS” lmao makes it even funnier.
Would be a 15 minute program if it weren't for the 1o minute recaps... good though.
Especially for the winners. War is hell. What is it good for?
That sentiment is why the conferences at Locarno and in Munich ended so badly in the long term for the Allies.
A us soldier only seeing one tiger? That’s realistic. Man knows his tanks then lol
The Fear That came created A TigerPhobia and some Soldiers actually did mistake a Some tanks like a Panzer 4 for a Tiger 1
@@captainjacksparrowthehedge8186 yep especially the panzer 4’s that had the shutzen panels installed.
I honestly doubt he saw a Tiger with all the wrong ID's often made by Americans. Makes for a nice "war story", but likely a fantasy.
@@Bl00dMalice I say it was a Tiger because any Panzer 4 would have been destroyed if hit at that range by a Sherman
@@TheKep Panzer 4s did have a similar look to Tiger 1s just that Tigers were larger and had an 88mm
Little did the Germans know, the freezing temperatures would also effect there own survival rate
Major Albin Irzyk after the war became a brigadier general and died in 2018 at the age of 101 years old .
They are stories about American and Japanese sailors and pilots meeting up after the war, working as commercial pilots, and even becoming friends. I wonder if there are any similar stories about American and German soldiers or tank crews?
As a former grunt with the 101st I'd like to correct the guy who drove his tank all day/night and then said "we marched all night, that was a tough march" I think u mean tough drive cause u didn't hump any of it. Lol!
Well being stuck in a metal box in sub freezing temperatures for 24hrs straight doesn’t seem like a good time either.
Did the Sherman have heat for the crew inside?
My grandpa now I feel old
The WP round is also a devastating anti-personel weapon, comprable with napalm and maybe worse. Except that is never mentioned because of it classification as a chemical weapon. It's use against any infantry unit would be a war crime. This happened a lot. Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges.
Who knew the Germans waiting for bad weather to not let p47s fly the same as me hoping amarican aircraft won't bomb my panther in war thunder
White phosphorous, not just a smoke screen. Its a flamethrower projectile for burning out the enemy. And tbh its worse then being on fire set by a flamethrower.
This. There could be several reasons an AT crew would do this, if it was a sole panther in a field, it's not much of a threat. There were several forward observation crews that were tasked with recovering German armor for research. I concede it's a slim chance that is what occurred here, but the assertion the German tank driver made was incompetence. There wasn't an AT man alive that was oblivious to WP over AP. It was obviously intentional. I also find it hard to believe a WP round took his tracks out. I would presume the first round he took was probably AP or HE to disable the tank, and the WP rounds were to blind the tank. I think it's important to reflect that despite his fantastic story of Teutonic bravery, and the apparent incompetent cowardly US troops he mentioned earlier, he and his tank were captured which was in directly violation of his orders to destroy any abandoned armor.
@@c.j.1089 Anything with sufficient mass and speed can detrack a tank. Hell, just taking too sharp a turn can throw track on any tank. Track links are held together by pins, that while tightly secured if the track was tensioned right, are still the weakest single point to strike in any tank. A WP round, smoke shell, ect. could break track and disable a tank. Plus given the supply issues with the entrenched US units, it's not a stretch to say the WP rounds were all they really had left. The german tanker was speaking of how it appeared when they were advancing (Many times US troops believed the same things when seeing they caught the enemy off guard to the point of coffee being left steaming) and then the 'Teutonic' bravery of staying in the tank because that was the order, unless it was on fire. Was not telling of bravery. It was following the orders of staying inside the damn tank. Also, if your tank is on fucking fire, I severely doubt you're thinking about grabbing one of the hull mounted grenades to pull and set off as you're getting out. The training in all handbooks for if a tank was on fire, was to get the fuck out. Even today in most situations, priority is crew survival. If 'sensitive' ordinance or equipment is onboard, it's of secondary concern to the life of the crew. Internal destruction with fire is either assumed, or a grenade within is done only once enemy gunfire is of no longer a threat to the crew. Yeah, no one wants their tank captured to be studied in depth. But it's an accepted combat inevitability. All you need is a lucky shot to kill or knock out a crew and pull the guys out and drag or drive the tank back.
Both sides lost so much. But the good guys won thats what matters
This bloke is the luckiest in ww2 what a story, Spencer the .30 cal is jamed..75mm oh yeh ....
Can anyone tell me what tank that is at 5:57 smashing aside that cart? Its kinda got the hull front of a panther but the turret seems wrong
It does appear to be a Panther, but the turret is turned back. Unless someone says otherwise I’ll go with Panther.
It’s a bergepanther modified recovery tank.
Three shots to destroy a Sherman. The tank is not as weak as they keep saying.
The armor was not proofed against the 75mm Pak, which is unfortunate.
@@ThatZenoGuy 50000 made and 4300 destroyed...not too bad The legendary T-34....57000 built by 1945 and 44000 lost by the end of the war Yeah stop getting all your information from games and slanted history books.
@@darthbigred22 the sherman wasnt bad. However when compared to the big cats it was indeed inferior. an old vet put it like this. If you where on a ww2 battlefield would you rather be in a tiger or a sherman? The perspective changes when you have to trust your life to the machine all the sudden nothing else matter but that things ability to protect you
First time a shells bounced off a Sherman.
@@terrellfair9812 Well guess what happens when a Sherman gets hit: you yell "Shite, the bloody tank is on fire!" (If you're a Brit) or "Goddamn, the fucking tank is on fire" (If you're a Yank). You pop open the spring loaded hatches, pull yourself out in one heave as it's directly above you, and you get to live to fight another day in another Sherman, more experienced and ready to settle the score with Jerry. If a Tiger is hit you yell "Shieße, der Panzer brennt!", you try to open that heavy hatch with nothing but your own strength, assuming of course you were the driver, radio operator, or commander, try to pull yourself out at the awkward angle the hatch is placed relative to you, and hope it's not too late to help pull out Fritz the gunner and Hans the loader before they end up being burnt Wienerschnitzel. So possibly half the crew is dead and guess what you don't have a replacement Tiger waiting for you so your commanding officer tosses you a bolt action rifle or a single Panzerfaust and sends you back into the line as an infantryman. There's a reason why just 3% of American tankers were KIA as opposed to 16% of riflemen, and the Sherman was that reason.
Is there a copy of the video translated into Arabic?
So Hitier didn't figure he would need fuel for all those tanks. Oh no he was thinking like a dope Feen aaa I'll just take thier fuel when I get thier. Question is how you going to get there? What are you going to do with Antwerp when you get it? None of his allies would be able to ship anything in. Denial is bliss I suppose.
My actual grandpa was in this war.
Everyone’s grandpa fought in this war.
So is my cousin. He actually killed hitler.
When they realized the 3 inch short barrel gun on a Sherman M4 tank, just bounced shells off of Panther and Tiger tanks, why didn't the US replace the gun with a 76.2 mm 17 pounder high velocity gun the British mounted on the FireFly ?
because it wasnt a american gun and the americans didnt have ammo for it they did ad there own version of the 17 pounder but not many got converted during the war
If you read most tanker reports they actually liked the 75mm more because they encountered Antitank emplacements and infantry way more often that German armor. Big cats were fairly rare and the 75 was more than adequate to deal with the panzer 4.
The Firefly was a nightmare to fight in and the turret crews tended to come out with not having eyebrows. The E8 Sherman was only moderately fielded in part due to manufacture and the numbers initially being seen as too low to bother shipping across the channel. After that they were either given to new tank crews, crews that needed a new tank or crews that requested them. But over all, the other answers here are very much correct as well. Another reason that the 76 was disliked more by tank crews was the alteration to the HE shells, which weren't as effective due to a cut back in explosive mass to compensate for the velocity required for the round. You can only accelerate so much explosive mass so fast before you start running into problems unless you're using plastic explosives. Which were not being used in tank shells, and was mostly a new combat explosive to begin with. Used for demo charges more than anything.
General: God damnit! Our short barreled 75mm gun wont penetrate the German armour! Me: just... Make the barrel longer- or make the shells longer with more propellant. it'll become a higher velocity. General: no wont work, too simple. The British: let's try and ram a big 17 pounder gun that barely fits and needs to be put in sideways so it'll fit. Not to mention you'll need to make new mantlets, mounts, and we only can supply you with the ammo. General: give this man a promotion. He knows what hes doing. Me: ·c·
The smaller Sherman gun what a much better high explosive round. It was more effective at fighting infantry and clearing towns. Which was the Sherman’s purpose. Not killing tanks.
Is it just me or did they remove the battle of the bulge episode centered on the SS perspective.
Im pretty sure they removed it, unfortunatelly.
It was criminal what out tankers had to fight the German armor with! The leaders and officers that chose that didn’t have to fight with the Sherman’s. If they did I bet they’d of had better tanks.
Yup, just like your dentist saying "this won't hurt a bit'" just before he bores into your tooth's nerve.
I don’t know about that
Sherman 75 was more preferred by its crews because it's 75 he shell was devastating to at guns and infantry a more common threat than the panther and tiger
Wonder if Germany defeat at stalingrad was not turning it off war, or battle of kurst
We blew this kids arms off, eh well we went on
Why do people call them main battle tanks. Weren't tanks just light, medium, and heavy back then?
umm, the avowed enemy "stabbed you in the back"....
Has anyone else noticed that almost everyone in this series has blue eyes..?
What does that mean?
@@anatolilukanov7675 I don't know, it's just an odd coincidence I guess :o
WELL AMRICAN HAD AIR POWER AS WELL,,IF THE GERMAN HAD CHANC TO AIR POWER AND OIL AND GAS,,,WOWOWO,CUOLD BE VERY VERY NICE BATTLE
seems that some German soldiers that survived cannot let go of the loss and have an air of superiority still 😕
Afraid so, Germans never know when there beaten.
No one knows when they’re beat.
Actually… Japan… Japan knew lol Yeah they definitely said “Nope! We’re out! You win! Let’s be friends”
Content is good but damn all the ADs
If youre watching on a phone or tablet use the slider and go to the end if the video. Sometimes will be one ad there. Then in the middle of the video screen press the replay button. I cant get it to work on pc but is amazing on mobile. No ads 99% of the time.
Just add an ad blocker to your browser. For example, do a search on - Firefox ad blocker. Or you can use a browser called Brave, which blocks ads automatically.
Ii like how they think we all have the retention of a nat so they recap what you just saw a minute and a half ago just incase we all forgot what we were watching 😉
long live Deutschland 😎
German War in December 1944
If the germans managed to mass produce the Tiger like T 34 or Sherman then history as we are seeing now would have changed entirely...seeing one in front of you was itself traumatizing knowing that your tank with less armour and a low caliber not even capable of scratching the front armour of your enemy then tell about going face to face.They were like sitting ducks in front of tigers..
Still would’ve lost
Everyone is human I figure the Germans didn't see the need in killing a crew of men that doesn't want anything to do with it
Why you have to knock the food out of peoples hands . Geez just say eat on the way move move .
There where not that many tigers it was mostly King tigers
there were more normal tigers made than royal tigers
@@riptidegaming8876 in production numbers? yes, but during the Bulge, there was a larger count of Tiger II's than Tiger I's
More Ads Please!
Lmao
Fast foreward to the end of the video then click replay
he said hundreds of tiger tanks thats crap they simply did not produce vast amounts of tigers
There was quite a bit of tigers so I'm not surprised especially when there was more than 500 german tanks in that battle
They made 1354 Tiger 1's and 492 Tiger 2's.
@@sam8404 3/4 of each were deployed to the Eastern Front, not the Western Front.
@@ThatGuyOrby 150 of the 492 Tiger IIs were involved in the Ardennes offensive.
most of the german mk.5 and 6 never made it through the forest, weak gear boxes and they were too heavy. stupid, they should have stayed with the mk.4.
12:40 Hanz: szould ve kill it? Franz: nein… das sissy Sverman es too cute Big tanks: hahahahaha Sherman:….. soul crushed
They didn't show the jumbo or the 76 shermen
The did show a 76 sherman 37:12
Way to many commercials
YH,,ONLY OIL AND GAS,,IF THEY HAD IT THERE IS NO CHANC,FOR AMRICAN,,,,IT CUOLD BE DIFRENT KNOW
Why can't these channels use fucking miles instead of this kilometres shit.
This show was made using real data from the time, and you can't change the information, you guys need to chill Btw, this série was made in 2010 in Canada, so they dont give a shit about It. Go learn how to convert the values
Most of the world uses the metric system and not the imperial system.
IT NEVER MADE SENSE TO ME WHY THE MILITARY LET THOUSANDS DIE INSTEAD OF JUST MAKING A BETTER TANK OR AT LEAST A BIGGER GUN ON THE SHERMAN.
They did put a 76mm gun on the sherman which replaced the 75mm gun towards the later years of the war, it was called the M4A3E8 Sherman or the British Sherman Firefly, also there was the sherman jumbo that had better 75mm (I think) and had increased armor, also it took time shipping them all the way to Europe, but I understand what u mean though
Its really simple it's called Atlantic ocean.
For one, because its not that easy. Logistics and military procurement is a complicated process, and adding a new tank severally can greatly hinder that process especially when theres an ocean between you and the theatre of war. Two, because its wasn't at all that big an issue. Thousands of men weren't dying because Shermans where running into Tigers and Panthers. Encountering bothe wouldve been relatively rare until the very finale days of the war, and a well directed platoon of M4s could handle a Platoon of Panthers relatively easily. Ill also point out that the Sherman was a medium tank, and as such, by no means should be able to fight a Heavy one on one by virtue of only costing a sixth of what those big cats cost and consequently being less capable but easier to field. Thats the entire point of having different tank classes. Mediums are mainstay tanks. Heavy tanks are meant to be more powerful by nature so they can perform their intended roll: making breakthroughs and the like. Im not sure why people never realize this. Mediums are not supposed to fight heavies and win, and yet, throw a 76 on a sherman and suddenly it can kill a tiger or panther with relative ease. The shermans was one of the best tanks if not the best tank of the war in terms of all round usefulness and practicality. Its unfair that people dont acknowledge this because of well..nonesense.
The second-hand calculator implicitly kiss because stepmother identically admit under a nasty cold. barbarous, gabby shade
what a load of utter rubbish! is this for child cos sure can't be for adults
This documentary was for all ages as in the early 2000’s a lot of history buffs thought that it would be more interesting for people to see a battle in a 360 degree computer animation view
@@redbaronace19 all age groups up to 14 yr olds? But to purile for adults and need to get the facts right and stop being so over the top...the battle of the bulge was a slogging match,the American infantry and the artillary and the change in the weather were the ones that won the day...its misleading re that it was " europes greatest tank battle"
@@vickyking3408 look i don't know if you understand this or not but infantry mean nothing if tanks can mow down the field with MG's and kill all of the infantry sure the infantry did a good job but lets not under credit the armored warfare and yes the battle of the Bulge was one of the greatest tank battles during the second world war as it was a counter attack by the Germans and it took days for the Americans to break the lines. So i don't know if you are a dumb brain or what. due to the fact that this is called "Greatest tank battles" not the entire battle of the bulge so just mind your own business
@@redbaronace19 please do not Patronise me as i am fully aware of tank infantry practices, during WW2 and fully aware therefore of the limitations and certainly the limitations of the sherman tank I reiterate it was the infantry and the weather that defeated the germans!
@@vickyking3408 the problem is many people see the Sherman tank as the "worst tank of ww2" though that is not true by a long shot there were worse tanks preferably made by Italy that and without tank and aircraft warfare during ww2 things would have been dramatically different even navy warfare was important these were all important for the troops would have not been able to do anything if they did not have support from aircraft and tanks or even ship bombardment I am not Patronizing you im just stating that your kinda snotty about this documentary if you don't like it don't see it