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00:00The
00:30The South of England on a sunny summer's afternoon, an exhibition of tanks and armoured vehicles
00:47draw the crowds.
00:48These military vehicle enthusiasts and a fascinated public take great pleasure from the vehicles
01:01of 50 years ago.
01:03Fun is had by all, rides are given, and the tanks once more rumble through their paces.
01:18In this tranquil setting, it's easy to forget that these machines were once the harbingers
01:24of death in the most terrible conflict known to man.
01:35The brutal realities of the battlefield can bring out the very worst aspects of human ingenuity.
01:42The best minds are used for the worst of purposes, as scientists and engineers strive to do
01:48to dream up new ways to kill, maim or terrify their enemies, as any small advantage is relentlessly
01:54exploited in the desperate search for the vital winning edge.
02:10Sometimes fear alone is enough to overcome an enemy.
02:13This was certainly the case with flamethrowing tanks.
02:19These gruesome weapons had their main tank guns replaced with a flamethrower, which could
02:24fire a jet of flame for up to 50 yards.
02:27This was not a particularly accurate or even an effective weapon, but both sides used them
02:41in World War I.
02:42They were designed to be used to winkle infantry out of strong defences, pillboxes and bunkers.
02:50But the main weapon was fear.
02:53The flame gun fired an inflammable mixture from a 100-litre tank, which was enough to fire 82-second bursts of flame.
03:01A flame-throwing tank is nothing more than a tank that should resemble a regular tank.
03:09And the reason they wanted them to resemble regular tanks is you just don't want to stand out on the battlefield.
03:14If you stand out, particularly if you have a full load of jellied gasoline on board, that's not a good thing to have.
03:21I guess the most effective use of flame tanks was that used by the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific against the Japanese.
03:30The Japanese would get into these reverse slope defences.
03:33They would not come out.
03:35You couldn't get them out by any method other than to use the flamethrower.
03:41And if you can put that flamethrower behind armour, so much the better.
03:47To the infantrymen crouched in their foxholes, even the smallest tanks project an aura of invincibility.
03:54Rolling relentlessly onwards, they seem like an unstoppable armoured juggernaut, the very essence of armoured might.
04:05They appear so invulnerable and impersonal, it's easy to forget that inside the vehicle, there are men just the same as any others.
04:14With the same fears and emotions which run through every soldier on the battlefield.
04:21In many respects, these emotions are heightened because the tank gives the protection of its armour, but imposes a host of other restrictions on its crew.
04:30Inside the tank, visibility is severely limited.
04:39The interior is cramped and noisy.
04:42The crew are acutely aware that their vehicle is a prime target for every enemy weapon on the battlefield.
04:48With their own stocks of fuel and ammunition aboard, they knew that one hit can turn the tank into a blazing inferno.
04:58There is also the danger that infantrymen might get close enough to attack with anti-tank weapons from unseen hiding places.
05:13The main sources of danger for tank crews in battle are chiefly the lack of visibility from inside the tank.
05:23If you can imagine, you've got narrow vision slits that allow you to see a very small area directly in front of that slit.
05:29And you've got a number of those around the vehicle, but there are always blind spots.
05:34For most armour of the period, they don't move a lot quicker than a man running.
05:41And a man running with any sort of anti-tank device is going to be able to outmanoeuvre you at any phase of the battle.
05:49Under favourable circumstances, placed in good positions with their strong frontal armour facing the enemy,
05:55the crews of the German tanks of World War II had good cause for confidence.
06:03These Panthers of the later war years could withstand most guns on the battlefield from all but the closest ranges.
06:18This is the massive Jagdtiger, which saw action in 1945.
06:22It still bears the scars of battle.
06:26We can clearly see on this surviving vehicle where allied shells have hit but failed to penetrate the armour.
06:37Once inventory tank hunting teams got close to the tanks,
06:41or enemy tanks were able to manoeuvre into a position to fire at the weaker sides or rear of the tank,
06:46the picture changed dramatically.
06:52The all-conquering armoured hull could just as soon turn into a steel coffin.
06:57The drivers of these American tanks also have a good field of vision, as long as they keep their heads fully exposed outside the vehicle.
07:12When the commander stood in the open hatch of his tank, he too enjoyed an excellent view of the battlefield.
07:21But when the bullets started to fly, the commander and driver had to retreat inside the vehicle, closing their hatches behind them.
07:28Once the tank was battened down, the crew had only a very limited view of the outside world.
07:36With their diesel engines roaring and weapons firing, the heat generated inside the tanks was oppressive.
07:41In battle, the noise, the smell of sweat, smoke, fear and cordite can only be imagined.
07:51Not only is it a claustrophobic world, unbearably noisy and uncomfortably cramped,
07:56but the severely restricted view made it difficult to spot targets or to defend against enemy tank hunting teams.
08:04The tank which is battened down for battle condition, to see anything at all is extremely difficult, especially for the driver.
08:13He only got very low set slots to look out, and he can see very little.
08:19He has to rely on the commander to a great deal, who is sitting higher, and he got vision slots in his turret to look all round.
08:26And he could advise them if there's any trouble ahead.
08:29In World War II, these tank hunting teams were trained to move up close to enemy tanks to disable them.
08:37Occasionally, they would climb onto vehicles themselves and set anti-tank mines or drop grenades into exhaust outlets and any open hatches.
08:50As it was designed to fire over long ranges, the main gun of the tank was useless at close quarters.
08:56To combat against infantrymen who got too near the vehicle, tanks were equipped with grenade dischargers, which could be operated from inside.
09:12Frequently, however, teams of infantry got close enough to climb onto the vehicles themselves.
09:17In those circumstances, the crew of the tank had to either clamber out and engage the enemy with small arms,
09:24or rely on supporting infantry and the other tanks in his unit to spray his vehicle with machine gun fire to kill any infantry clambering aboard.
09:33The turret of a tank is very much like a mobile pillbox, with only the minimal openings for weapons.
09:46The armour gives protection, but severely limits visibility.
09:50In desperate situations, there was a small opening called a pistol port.
09:55There are several ways of defending yourself. First of all, of course, if the infantry is silly enough to come from the front, you just run over them with your tracks.
10:06On the other hand, normally, they would come from behind and from the side.
10:09And to defend yourself against approaching infantry from the side, you got a certain opening in your turret, which is known as a pistol port.
10:19You punch out a plug, which opens the hole, poke your pistol through or your machine gun, and open fire on either side.
10:26And that should keep them at bay.
10:29And, of course, the early Russian tanks, for instance, also had a pistol port at the rear against approaching infantry from there.
10:35Tanks of all nations tended to mount at least one or two machine guns for close quarter defence.
10:46Some tanks, in fact, mounted as many as six.
10:49But in addition to these, smoke projectors, which could lay a smoke screen, mine layers, grenade launchers,
10:57and even light mortars could be built onto tanks for close quarter protection against infantry or anti-tank gun crews.
11:10The Germans used a cement-like paste called Zimmerit all over the sides of the vehicles that would be reachable by anyone attacking the tank.
11:19And its purpose was to stop magnetic mines being attached.
11:25At longer ranges, there were other dangers.
11:29Concealed anti-tank guns were the chief menace.
11:32One well-placed shot could blast the tank to fragments.
11:36These guns were a difficult spot and could be camouflaged very easily.
11:40In order to give tanks protection against enemy guns, they need as much armour as possible.
11:51Ideally, every inch would be covered in thick steel plate.
11:55However, the crew need to be able to see out of a tank, so vision slits and hatches had to be allowed for.
12:02The engines need air intakes, and exhaust pipes need to allow the fumes to escape from the engine.
12:07These weakly armoured parts of the tank are where it is most vulnerable.
12:14And they were the favourite aiming points for lurking anti-tank guns.
12:21From the confines of a tank, anti-tank guns were often impossible to find until it was too late.
12:28As the war progressed, the calibre and power of anti-tank guns increased from the relatively weak 37mm gun seen here,
12:42which was used in the first years of the war,
12:45to the awesome power of the high-velocity 88mm.
12:49The 88mm was originally designed as an anti-aircraft gun,
12:58which needed to generate enormous power to fire a heavy shell thousands of feet into the air.
13:03When the German infantry discovered that this powerful gun could also be used to fire over a flat trajectory against tanks,
13:22a devastating new weapon was born.
13:24The massive velocity of its armour-piercing shells spelled death for thousands of Russian and allied tanks during the years from 1939 to 1945.
13:36The German 88, as we see here, was basically designed as an anti-aircraft gun.
13:47And during the early days of the war, they found out that it was very successful against pinpointed targets, bunkers and such alike,
13:56and of course against tanks.
13:58Direct sights were added, which you don't have on an anti-aircraft gun usually, were added,
14:02and several other changes done to the gun, and it turned out eventually to be just about the most successful tank and anti-tank gun there ever was.
14:18Throughout the war, the 88 was the most feared adversary for all of the tank men in the allied armies.
14:25The only drawback of this awesome weapon was that it was very cumbersome and needed to be towed into action.
14:30But once it was deployed in concealed and camouflaged positions, it was a deadly mess.
14:48Anti-tank guns were just one of the many hazards faced by the tank men.
14:51As the war progressed, all sides developed lightweight portable anti-tank weapons of steadily increasing killing power.
15:13The Allies had the bazooka, and the Germans had the deadly Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck.
15:24These weapons were only effective at relatively short ranges, but they gave infantry teams a tank killing capability,
15:31which made even the strongest tanks vulnerable.
15:33These German soldiers are stalking Allied tanks through a French village.
15:42They are ready to engage with their Panzerfausts.
15:45They first allow the leading Allied tanks to rumble past, before carefully choosing their victim.
15:51The tank is destroyed.
15:59A huge investment in engineering, time and resources has been claimed by a single soldier with a simple weapon.
16:06Infantry anti-tank weapons worked on the principle of the hollow charge, which was designed to melt through the armour of the tanks and explode inside the vehicle.
16:23In order to defeat these weapons in Allied hands, the Germans found steel skirts would use up the energy of the missile in penetrating the steel outers, leaving the tank itself unharmed.
16:40They may have looked cumbersome, but they worked in practice and became standard issue for all medium tanks from 1943 onwards.
16:48A lot of the German vehicles, especially later on in the war, as more powerful Allied tanks came about, had thin layered extra armour called Schurzen.
17:03This has the double advantage of maybe deflecting an armour-piercing round, but more particularly it would dissipate the power of a hollow charge shot.
17:12It hasn't got great velocity, so if it burns a hole inside of an armour sheet that's outside the tank, it's very good protection for inside.
17:23The five-man crew was the standard for all German medium and heavy tanks.
17:28The crew of a Tiger consisted of the commander, who was in charge of the vehicle and selected targets.
17:41He also fired the turret machine gun.
17:46Next came the gunner, who sat next to the commander and targeted his enemies through his gun sights.
17:51In many respects, he was the most vital member of the crew.
17:57In battle, every shot had to count.
18:01The flight of a shell is affected by many factors, including wind direction, rain, snow and other atmospheric conditions.
18:09The gunner had to gauge the range to the target, allow for any climatic factors and compensate for the speed of any moving targets which were more difficult to hit.
18:18One miss could allow an enemy tank to get in the first vital shot, which spelled death in the 10th tank duels of World War II.
18:28The main 88mm armament of a Tiger was aimed and fired really as a result of a team effort.
18:34It was the job of all members of the Tiger's crew to use their vision devices to identify potential targets and to report them to the commander.
18:41The Tiger commander would then prioritise the target and would give orders to engage it.
18:48The gunner would traverse the Tiger's turret using a hydraulic system controlled by a foot pedal and would then aim the gun using a binocular telescope sight and would then fire the gun using an electrical ignition system.
19:02The difference between tank guns of the Second World War and today is that frequently today's tank guns are stabilised so that as you're driving along you can fire as you go.
19:15The tank guns of the time wouldn't allow for that. You had to stop the tank allowing yourself to be vulnerable to being shot at and lay the gun on the target and fire.
19:26Positioned on the opposite side of the turret from the gunner was the loader. He did the heavy manual work of loading the gun.
19:39The loader was responsible for selecting the correct type of ammunition from the ammunition bins which were included in the Tiger's structure and using an automatic or semi-automatic loading system to load the gun.
19:51After each engagement, he also had the laborious job of emptying the shell cases and restocking the tank with the cumbersome rounds for the main gun.
20:06Inside the hull, towards the front of the vehicle, sat the driver.
20:10On his right was the radio operator who fulfilled the vital communications function. He also manned the hull machine gun.
20:21The usual practice was for the crew of a tank to paint a white ring around the gun barrel for every enemy tank destroyed.
20:31Some crews were so successful in this practice that a thick white ring had to be painted, representing 10 kills.
20:39The most successful commanders proudly carried an array of kill rings like so many strutting peacocks.
20:45With the noise inside a tank, communication is very difficult. To communicate with other vehicles is almost impossible.
20:56The German engineers solved the problem by an internal intercom which linked the crew and allowed them to communicate via headphones and microphones.
21:05German practice at the time was to use a throat mic which had two little microphones up against the side of your throat and you would press those whenever you wanted to speak to the rest of the crew.
21:20If you then switch the radio set over, that will also allow you to broadcast to the rest of your unit.
21:25The headset has a pair of headphones on so it muffles a little bit at the sound of the engine but it's a very, very loud engine anyway.
21:34For communications between the tanks themselves, all German machines were equipped with radios.
21:41In the early war years, there were no such refinements on the Russian side.
21:46In a T-34, strangely enough, as good as the tank was even from its very beginning, the communication was very poor because it had no radios which is a normal way of doing things.
21:59The T-34 actually, the early ones, the commander had to get out of his turret at the east half way and wave two flags about, one red and one green one I believe, and give signals like ships at high seas, you see.
22:11And that's how they changed directions or whatever he wanted them to do, which was very primitive and it didn't work very well.
22:19It was only much later, for instance the tank behind me, the T-34 stroke 85, the bigger one, had proper radio and radio contact within each crew member and of course to headquarters as well.
22:32The superior communications gave the Germans a great advantage, which compensated for their very real disadvantage in armour quality.
22:41During World War II, most German tanks started the conflict at a disadvantage.
22:48The puny 37mm gun was initially used to equip the Panzer III's, which were then Germany's main battle tanks.
22:59The same 37mm gun was also carried by all of the Czech made 38T tanks, which, in 1940, were Germany's most numerous tanks.
23:11These guns were insufficient to penetrate at all but the shortest range, and even the upgrade to a 50mm gun, such as those carried by these Panzer III's, was still not really sufficient.
23:22Only the 75mm gun of the Panzer IV and Sturmgeschütz battalions were really suited to the demands of the modern battlefield.
23:34But even then, it had its limitations.
23:36The short barrel of the 75mm gave the shells only a limited velocity, which was effective against the thinly armoured tanks of the early war years, but proved to be totally inadequate when the Germans met the superior Russian tanks during 1941.
23:52The T-34, at its time, was by far away the best tank the world had ever seen.
24:01It was absolutely second to none.
24:03The shape is followed even to this day, the outline of a tank.
24:07It was the matter, so to speak, of all modern tanks.
24:10It was just right in every respect. The guns, the armour, the speed, the lot.
24:19To compensate for the low quality of the guns, the Germans further extended their technological lead by introducing special command tanks,
24:27which had the main guns removed to make room for additional radio equipment.
24:33Command tanks are basically factory or battlefield conversions of ordinary gun tanks,
24:40which are used by relatively senior tank commanders, squadron, company, battalion or regiment commanders,
24:48to observe and to coordinate the actions of their subordinates on the battlefield.
24:52Command tanks generally mount extra radios, wireless sets, for these purposes,
24:59and in order to incorporate these extra wireless sets and sometimes extra wireless operators,
25:05something usually has to be removed from the tank.
25:08Generally speaking, this is either ammunition, which is extremely bulky, or the main armament of the tank itself.
25:14Obviously removing either, and particularly the latter, considerably disadvantages a command tank on the battlefield.
25:20The cohesion which came from a smooth flow of commands was one of the obvious reasons
25:26that the inferior German tanks of 1941 and 1942 were able to overcome the superior T-34s and KV-1s.
25:43These command tanks soon drew special attention, and attempts were made to disguise them with dummy guns.
25:48A command tank is frequently without a main gun, so that it was made to look a little bit like the appropriate tank with a length of wood or pipe.
26:01Even where a dummy gun was used however, usually the extra wireless antennae, which were installed on the tank to make the extra wireless sets work effectively,
26:10were another way with which the enemy could identify enemy command tanks and knock them out.
26:15This disconcerting factor was not mitigated by the rigid German practice of numbering their tanks in sequence,
26:22starting with the commander's vehicle, which frequently carried the number 001 displayed prominently on the turret.
26:31A sure invitation to enemy gunners.
26:34By 1943, a command vehicle was no place to be.
26:49Inventory had, by now, developed extra killing power in the form of magnetic mines, bazookas and the Panzerfausts.
26:54These deadly weapons could all blast through the armour of a tank, but the Russians found that the simple expedient of a bottle filled with petrol, lighted and thrown onto the engine decks, could disable even the largest tanks.
27:09Their tank hunting teams soon became very adept at wielding this single improvised tank-killing device.
27:21The tanks, which the Russians stalked so effectively, were designed to do two jobs on the battlefield.
27:27The first was to engage and destroy other tanks.
27:32The second was to attack inventory and artillery targets.
27:43In essence, the successful engagement and destruction of enemy tanks was a matter of the simple application of brute force.
27:55Elementary physics tells us that force equals mass times velocity.
28:07For the job of destroying other tanks, the tank needs to be able to fire the heaviest practicable shell at huge speeds.
28:15This produces enough force to punch through the armour of an enemy tank.
28:18Explosive power alone has little value against the thick armour of a tank.
28:32What gives the missile its penetrating power is the enormous velocity which punches through the armour of enemy vehicles.
28:39Armour-piercing rounds, very simply, tend generally to be solid shot.
28:46By which I mean a shell which is essentially metal with a very small explosive charge.
28:51And which relies upon a very high velocity and the enormous pressures and heat created by a round impacting armour.
28:59In order to burn their way or melt their way through the armour of say a turret or a tank generally.
29:06And to splatter around inside, either destroying equipment or killing or injuring the crew.
29:13Very occasionally, it was found that armour-piercing shells were travelling so fast,
29:17they passed straight through enemy tanks and through the other side without damaging the vehicle or its occupants.
29:29A variety of high-explosive anti-tank rounds were therefore developed,
29:33which were designed to first penetrate the armour of an enemy tank, then explode inside the vehicle.
29:38This fine balancing act was rarely achieved in practice,
29:43and it is debatable whether the small amount of explosive contained in the shells
29:47was much more effective than the massive kinetic impact of a high-velocity round.
29:58Against inventory and field guns, the tank needs to be able to fire a high-explosive round.
30:04Here, the speed of the shell is less important.
30:06What matters is the weight of explosive packed into the warhead.
30:11The bigger the shell, the bigger the explosion.
30:20To reach over walls and intervening obstacles,
30:23a plunging trajectory is the best method of attack against infantry,
30:27hiding behind obstacles in buildings and trenches.
30:31High-explosive shells, generally speaking,
30:33have a hollow cone into which high-explosives is inserted.
30:40And the point of these is to detonate and to throw out a lethal stream of metal splinters,
30:47which are particularly useful against infantry out in the open.
30:51Of course, high-explosives are also useful for destroying non-armoured targets
30:54because of their explosive force.
31:03With the space taken up by the main gun, the crew and the engines,
31:07there is surprisingly little room in a tank for the ammunition,
31:10which was vital to survival on the battlefield.
31:12Most tanks could hold enough shells for around 90 shots,
31:16tightly packed into every conceivable space.
31:20Most commanders favoured a mix of 40% high-explosive and 60% armour-piercing.
31:26But it was often a matter of a personal assessment of the likeliest target to be faced on a given mission.
31:32Getting the balance right was a crucial decision.
31:38Armour-piercing rounds were useless against infantry,
31:42and high-explosive would not penetrate tank armour.
31:46Having a large stock of the wrong kind of ammunition effectively left the tank impotent.
31:50These anti-tank gunners are attempting to clear infantry from a building without the benefit of high-explosive rounds.
32:05In slow motion, we can see the straight trajectory and high speed of the shell,
32:10but the effect on the building is minimal.
32:13A high-explosive round would have been devastating.
32:20In battle, many experienced crews could fire one round every five seconds.
32:27So not surprisingly, ammunition supplies could quickly become exhausted, rendering the tank helpless.
32:38At this delicate juncture, the tank commander was faced with a crucial choice.
32:43Either leave the field to rearm and refuel, or await resupply in the field.
32:47The bulky tank ammunition could not be transported on foot, and required a vehicle to resupply the tanks.
33:00Trucks were too vulnerable to be sent into the fighting area,
33:04so the Germans developed a special turretless tank, called a munitions schlepper,
33:08to carry out the dangerous job of ammunition resupply on the battlefield.
33:12To ensure that ammunition supplies were used wisely, German tanks were forbidden from firing on the move.
33:21The prescribed tactic was to strictly engage enemy targets from a static position.
33:27This made aiming much easier, giving the gunner the best chance as he lined up his target on the middle triangle of his gun sight.
33:33To help him in his task of judging the flight of his shells, they were equipped with a tracer element,
33:43which produced a trail of bright light to help pinpoint the path of the shell as it flew towards its target.
33:48The tank crews prayed that their first shot would hit, turning the enemy vehicle into a flaming mass as the fuel and ammunition exploded.
34:02A miss could mean their own destruction by return.
34:09The prospect of the awful death of men trapped in a burning tank haunted the tank crews.
34:16It was a nightmare prospect, which dogged their every moment.
34:19In all of the major tank battles of World War II, from Poland through North Africa and into Russia,
34:27the black columns of smoke from burning vehicles can be seen hanging on the horizon like gathering storm clouds.
34:35All too often, they marked the funeral pyres for their hapless crews.
34:39Death or injury could come to the tank crews from a myriad of sources.
34:53It was not always necessary to even damage the vehicle.
34:56One other ever-present danger for tank crews were metal splinters caused by hits on the outside of a tank.
35:02As the outside velocity of the impact was converted into violent internal energy,
35:10these deadly fragments were blown from the inside of the turret,
35:14where they would fly around the inside of the tank, slicing through the bodies of the crewmen,
35:19packed together in their claustrophobic world.
35:21In many early tanks, such as these 38T Czech tanks in German service, there was a further danger.
35:35The rivets used in the construction of the tanks were particularly dangerous.
35:40The violence of a hit on the outside of the tank would cause the heads of the rivets to ricochet around inside the vehicle.
35:46This was also a major problem for the British tanks of the early years,
35:51which were also of riveted construction rather than cast steel.
35:55And many horrific injuries were caused by flying rivets from shots which had not actually penetrated the tank.
36:01Another ever-present danger for tanks was less spectacular but equally deadly.
36:20Anti-tank mines could be placed in great numbers to protect a defensive position.
36:24These mines would support the weight of a man without detonating, so infantry teams often passed by unsuspectingly.
36:32But as soon as the weight of a tank was present, it exploded with tremendous force.
36:38Although tanks were sometimes destroyed by mines, the most frequent result was that they lost a track.
36:54This resulted in crews having to leave their vehicle to attempt to repair these massive iron tracks in the heat of battle.
37:00The job of testing for mines and clearing a path through them was the job of the pioneer sections.
37:10Occasionally, this ritual task was overlooked.
37:13At the vital battle of Kursk, General Heinz Guderian, the inspector of armor in the German army at the time of the crucial battle, was left livid with rage.
37:29His new Tiger tanks had rolled into action through uncleared minefields, with the result that many of his most effective machines, the spearhead of the army, were rendered immobile by a threat which could easily have been anticipated and cleared.
37:46As the war continued, each surviving tank in the German panzer divisions became an increasingly valuable asset.
38:00As battlefield losses rose, the war ravaged German factories which were being pounded day and night by Allied bombers, could no longer keep increasing the supply of war vehicles to match those destroyed.
38:16Although production rose year on year, during the crucial years of 1943 and 1944, losses of tanks rose even faster.
38:27But provided it wasn't actually blown apart or completely gutted by fire, many battle-damaged tanks could actually be repaired and brought back into service.
38:36For the Allies, with their limitless supplies of men and material, this was a less pressing issue.
38:46But for the Germans, it was a vital matter.
38:49It was a source of great frustration to many German tank crews that Hitler himself placed a priority on the production of new tanks over the supply of replacement parts and engines.
38:59In many cases, old tanks could easily have been brought back into service at the front line with a regular supply of spare parts and engines.
39:10This would have been easier and more efficient than manufacturing then shipping a complete new tank all the way from Germany.
39:17In the desert war, Rommel's tenuous supply line was even more difficult.
39:28It became essential to recover as many damaged or broken down vehicles as possible.
39:34While this was also a factor in British thinking, it was a less pressing issue as the Eighth Army was comparatively well served with replacements.
39:53Control of the field after the battle was vital for Rommel.
39:56It allowed the Afrika Korps to salvage Allied and enemy machines alike.
40:06Controlling the battlefield after a tank battle is finished is vital for either side.
40:11The chief reason for this is that most of your vehicle casualties are recoverable.
40:17If you've got a small hole through the middle of your tank, it's usually made a mess of whatever's inside.
40:21But the more common type of tank casualty would be a missing track link, damaged tracks, damaged suspension that's prevented the tank from moving.
40:32Most of those tanks are very easily recoverable with just half an hour's work.
40:38In Russia, it was becoming equally vital for the Germans to keep control of the battlefield after an engagement.
40:44The mechanically simple Russian T-34s could often be salvaged.
40:54German crews, like these, frequently drove captured T-34 tanks into action.
41:02During the course of the war, 40,000 T-34 tanks were manufactured, more than double the capacity of the entire German tank industry.
41:10By 1943, in Russia, as in North Africa, it had become an overriding necessity for the Germans to retain control of the battlefield.
41:20Otherwise, tank losses could never be made up.
41:26With the huge weight of the later war tanks, such as these Tigers, immobilized tanks could often only be moved by the power of another Tiger.
41:34The heaviest tractor in the German army was the 18-ton F-3, but it took three of these, harnessed together, to move one broken-down Tiger.
41:45And in the midst of the battlefield, the tractors were highly vulnerable to anti-tank rounds, high-explosive shells and the hand-held weapons of the infantry.
41:53Tiger tanks, which each weighed about 60 tons, and which were prone to a range of mechanical and electrical failures, certainly suffered from problems.
42:06In addition, they were extremely expensive, valuable assets that could not afford to be wasted.
42:11Because of this, recovering Tiger tanks was particularly important if they were knocked out.
42:17There were a range of options available to the SS and the army tank battalions, which operated Tigers.
42:22Most obviously, they could use their own gun tanks to tow other tanks out of trouble.
42:27The problem was this, that it tended to cause electrical or engine or transmission malfunctions in the Tigers doing the towing.
42:33Alternatively, unarmoured half-tracks could be used, but unfortunately several of these needed to be used to tow a single Tiger.
42:42And because they were unarmoured, they were vulnerable on the battlefield.
42:45Quite clearly, what one required was an armoured recovery vehicle that could tow a Tiger on its own, and which was capable of operating in intense combat conditions.
42:55Once again, the solution to the problem was to develop a specialist recovery vehicle, known as a Bergen Panzer.
43:01These machines dispensed with the turret and replaced it with a box-like wooden structure.
43:08They were designed to run quickly up to disabled tanks and tow them away from enemy reach.
43:13Every tank carried heavy towing cables, ready to be hitched up to a recovery vehicle or a friendly tank.
43:21Most sensible commanders went into action with their cables already hooked up, just in case.
43:31Tanks look incredibly robust, but in many respects they are surprisingly vulnerable.
43:38They require high maintenance and are prone to break down.
43:41They also shed their caterpillar tracks with infuriating regularity, especially in thick mud, when crossing obstacles or as a result of anti-tank fire and minefields.
43:51The tank tracks, as you might guess, are the most important parts in a tank ready to get you along.
43:59And they have to be changed.
44:01For instance, if one link just breaks, one pin has to break and you haven't got the track anymore.
44:06Or enemy action, trucks are often hit by enemy shells, damaged and have to be changed eventually.
44:12It's a very hard job and takes a lot of effort to do it.
44:17The whole crew is involved and I've never done it myself under enemy action, but I shudder to think what it would take.
44:25These German tank men, rushing to replace a heavy track in the thick of the action, had ample opportunity to curse their ill luck.
44:36But it was an all too commonplace event.
44:39Despite the myriad of dangers, the tank was the queen of the battlefield in the wide open spaces of North Africa and Russia.
44:47In the first four months of the war, the Germans discovered that there was one environment in which tanks should never be deployed.
45:00The built up areas of towns and cities.
45:03There, they became especially vulnerable to lurking infantry and anti-tank guns.
45:12The Germans learned this lesson as early as the Polish campaign of 1939,
45:16in the battle for Warsaw.
45:18But despite all of their previous experiences, these mistakes were repeated at Stalingrad, Kursk and in Normandy.
45:26Some commanders continued to commit tanks in towns right up to 1945.
45:36In 1944, these destroyed German tanks littered the streets of Villers-Boccage.
45:42They were destroyed by concealed British anti-tank guns when they grew too confident and rolled into the town after a period of conspicuous success in the open fields around the town.
45:54This page from the 1945 US handbook on the German army illustrates how this massive Jagdtiger tank destroyer, unwisely deployed in a town, was destroyed by the simple expedient of a Molotov cocktail dropped from the upper window into the open hatch of the tank alone.
46:18But it was not just the Germans who suffered.
46:22Even the mightiest giant, it seemed, had its limitations.
46:27In the last month of the war, this lone soldier sets out to destroy a Russian tank.
46:32His smile suggests elation and pride.
46:35Or maybe it's just the relief that he has survived, and soon it will all be over.
46:39It's just the relief that he has survived, and soon it will all be over.
46:49His smile suggests elation and pride.
46:52Or maybe it's just the relief that he has survived, and soon it will all be over.
46:58It's just the relief that he has survived, and soon it will all be over.
47:28The relief that he has survived, and soon it will all be over.
47:32The military shows you have the right to lose weight.
47:34What happened?
47:37I don't have to lose weight.
47:38I don't have to lose weight.
47:41The military shows you have to lose weight.
47:45Is this a good thing?
47:47The military was not the best.
47:49The military was not the best.
47:52This was a great man.
47:55The military is going to leave the office today.
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