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Tactical Wars
  • 4 months ago
For educational purposes

In many theatres of operation during World War Two, men did battle from afar. Bombs dropped from the skies, torpedoes fizzed from submarines, long - range artillery rained shells, tanks blasted through cities.

Many battles, however, were fought at close quarters and it was here that the infantry looked to the power of small arm fire to gain the upper hand.

This episode compares and contrasts some of these weapons, highlighting their development and use by all armies involved in the war.

The weapons under review include Mortars, Landmines, Bazookas and Hand Grenades, and some of the most feared instruments of war ever invented.

3D graphics and animation is featured to illustrate the workings and capabilities of the weapons and there are interviews with historians and military authorities.

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Transcript
00:12The German army which fought during the Second World War was one of the most effective fighting
00:18formations that the world has witnessed. A frightening blend of military skills and
00:23innovative tactics brought victories stretching from the coast of France to the depths of
00:28Soviet Russia. By the summer of 1942, Hitler's armies stood victorious from the gates of
00:35Stalingrad to the sands of the deserts. In March of 1945, however, the German military
00:44machine had met its match. Superior allied forces were pressing in from every side, but
00:50there was still a great deal of tough fighting before the Wehrmacht would be forced to lay
00:55down its arms.
01:15And that was really exciting.
01:39In April 1945, a new manual was prepared for issue to American troops
01:44going to fight against Hitler's forces in Europe.
01:47This amazingly detailed document still survives today
01:51and provides a unique insight into how the Allied forces
01:55viewed the capability of the German forces they were fighting against.
01:59The first thing they were taught was never to underestimate such an experienced opponent.
02:11An outstanding characteristic of the German nation
02:14is its fondness for everything connected with militarism.
02:17The Germans believe that only the offensive can achieve success on the field,
02:22particularly when combined with the element of surprise.
02:25German military literature for the past century
02:28has emphasized the need for aggressiveness in all military operations.
02:33The Germans have been thoroughly aware of the psychological component in warfare
02:37and have developed systematic terrorization to a high degree.
02:42A highly trained officer corps and a thoroughly disciplined army
02:45are the necessary elements to implement this aggressive philosophy.
02:50The Wehrmacht used a variety of weapons and tactics to suit a huge variety of combat situations.
02:57As the nature of the war changed, so the weapons and tactics used evolved to meet these changes.
03:07One ever-present task was to capture and hold towns from enemy forces.
03:13In attacking a town or village, the Germans employ flanking and encircling tactics.
03:19They attempt to cut off water, electricity, gas, and other utilities.
03:23While carrying out the flanking maneuver, they pin down the defenders with heavy artillery fire and aerial bombardment.
03:31When it is necessary to make a direct assault, the Germans concentrate all available heavy weapons,
03:36including artillery and air units, on one target.
03:39During the fire concentration, the infantry assembles and attacks the objective
03:44immediately upon termination of artillery fire.
03:48Tanks and assault guns accompany the infantry
03:51and with their fire immobilize any new enemy forces which may appear.
03:56The immediate objective of the Germans is to divide the area occupied by the enemy.
04:01These areas are then isolated into as many smaller areas as possible
04:05in order to deny the enemy freedom of movement.
04:09Where possible, the Germans blast holes through the walls of rows of buildings
04:13along the route of advance, in order to provide the infantry with covered approaches.
04:18These passages afford protection for bringing up supplies and evacuating casualties.
04:24Houses are cleared to defenders by small arms fire.
04:28Streets are avoided as much as possible by the Germans,
04:31who infiltrate simultaneously through backyards and over roofs.
04:35They attempt to further the advance by seizing high buildings,
04:39which offer dominating positions and wide fields of fire.
04:44When a section of a town is occupied,
04:46the Germans close up all side streets leading from the occupied area,
04:50block all exits of houses, and then begin a house-to-house search
04:54with details assigned to special tasks,
04:57such as mopping up roofs, attics, basements, courtyards, and staircases.
05:03The cities, towns, and villages were very important for military operations.
05:08They were centers of population, and they were centers of production,
05:12and so control of these meant control of enemy people
05:15and of enemy manufacturing capacity.
05:18But more than that, they were important for tactical reasons,
05:22because towns and villages are centers of the communication net.
05:26They are nodal points in roads.
05:28And armies operate along roads,
05:31and their supplies and communications must operate along roads.
05:34So control of towns and villages means control of roads.
05:38That means, to a degree, control of the battlefield.
05:41If you're trying to defend the road and the railway,
05:45you go to the town that the railway is passing through,
05:48or you go to the town that the road is passing through.
05:50You've got houses to hide in, houses to hide behind,
05:54you've got construction, you've got walls, you've got ditches.
05:57They're the perfect place to defend against an attacker.
06:00It's very hard to fight through a town,
06:02and the road and the railway always go through the town.
06:07One significant development in giving the German infantry superior firepower
06:12was the development of a lightweight machine gun
06:14which could be easily transported on foot.
06:16The MG-34 machine gun was the first proper all-purpose machine gun
06:22that saw service with the German army.
06:24It could be used in the light machine gun role
06:27by making use of the attached bipod.
06:29But it could also be converted to the heavy machine role
06:32in which it used a specially designed tripod.
06:36With this machine gun,
06:38German infantry squads could combine both firepower and mobility.
06:43The MG-34 was approved for usage just prior to the start of World War II.
06:49It is proof of its popularity
06:50that around 350,000 of them were manufactured by the war's end.
06:56During the First World War,
06:58the machine gun in a defensive position
07:00was found to be tremendously powerful.
07:03But the First World War machine gun
07:05had a crew of five,
07:07was rather large, heavy,
07:09and not at all portable.
07:11Machine guns like the MG-34 were portable.
07:14They fire regular rifle ammunition.
07:17And you've got bags and bags
07:18of regular rifle ammunition throughout the army.
07:20And you just pop it in these belts.
07:23And ordinary, small subunits
07:26can have a lot of firepower.
07:28They just carry these things with them.
07:30You throw it on the ground on a bipod,
07:32or you even fire it from the hip.
07:34It's easily handled.
07:35You don't have to dig it in.
07:36And you have a massive amount of firepower
07:39for even the smallest infantry subunit.
07:45Alongside the MG-34,
07:47the submachine gun also made its appearance
07:49early in World War II
07:50with the introduction of the MP-38-40,
07:54better known as the Schmeiser.
07:57Ironically, the man often credited as the designer,
08:00Hugo Schmeiser,
08:01actually played no part
08:02in the development of this weapon.
08:04The MP-38 weapon employed steel pressings
08:08that simplified manufacture.
08:10It was first and foremost
08:12designed for mass production.
08:15The usual wooden stock
08:16was replaced by a fold-away skeleton stock
08:19that made the weapon a favorite
08:21with vehicle crews.
08:22The rate of fire was around 150 rounds per minute,
08:26with a maximum range of around 1,850 yards,
08:30although the effective combat range
08:32was around 200 yards.
08:34The weapon was popular
08:36with the German forces and the Allies
08:38who prized captured examples.
08:40One serious drawback
08:42was that the Schmeiser
08:44had an alarming tendency to jam.
08:47The submachine gun
08:47is essentially a fast pistol.
08:51It fires a small pistol round
08:54with a small charge
08:55and a big, fat ball,
08:57and it doesn't carry a lot of punch,
08:59but it will cut a human being up
09:01into small, easily manageable chunks.
09:03And if you carry a submachine gun
09:05along with you,
09:05you fire it from the hip,
09:07you hold down the trigger,
09:08you're spraying a lot of fire,
09:10and it's easy to resupply,
09:12easy to use,
09:12and it gives you
09:13just the right amount of firepower
09:15for close-in fighting
09:17between people who are moving around.
09:20The Schmeiser was the weapon of choice
09:22for reconnaissance patrols,
09:24which usually consisted
09:25of a non-commissioned officer
09:27and three or four men
09:28charged with the responsibility
09:29of obtaining information
09:31on the location of enemy positions
09:32and minefields.
09:34They generally avoided contact
09:36and retreated when fired on.
09:38The opposite was the case
09:40with combat patrols.
09:43As a rule,
09:44the combat patrol
09:45is commanded by a sergeant
09:46who has under him
09:4715 to 20 men
09:49organized in two equal sections,
09:51each commanded by a section leader.
09:54These are raiding patrols,
09:56and their mission often includes
09:57bringing back prisoners of war,
09:59since combat patrols
10:00are often sent out
10:01to test the strength
10:02of enemy outposts.
10:04If an outpost proves
10:06to be weakly held,
10:07the patrol attacks,
10:08occupies the position,
10:09and remains there
10:11until relieved
10:11by troops from the rear.
10:13If the position
10:14is strongly garrisoned,
10:16the patrol attempts
10:16to return
10:17with a prisoner of war.
10:21The Germans equip
10:22their ground battle
10:23reconnaissance patrols
10:25with machine pistols
10:26and one or two
10:27light machine guns
10:28that are used
10:29to cover the patrol's
10:30approach or withdrawal.
10:32Engineers often are attached
10:33to guide a patrol
10:34through German minefields
10:36and to clear away
10:37through enemy wire or mines,
10:39artillery support
10:41is given in the form
10:42of harassing fire
10:43put down just before
10:44the patrol reaches
10:45its objective.
10:47Sometimes the artillery
10:48fires into adjacent sectors
10:50to mislead the enemy
10:51as to the actual area
10:52to be reconnoitered.
10:54In other instances,
10:56artillery and mortars
10:57that have registered
10:58during the previous day
10:59shell during the night
11:01the area to be reconnoitered.
11:03As soon as the barrage
11:04is lifted,
11:05the patrol advances
11:06under cover of machine gun fire
11:08from flanking positions.
11:11As the war dragged on,
11:13the highly effective
11:14MG-34 machine gun
11:15was further improved
11:17by the introduction
11:18of the MG-42.
11:20Combat conditions,
11:22especially those encountered
11:23on the freezing steppes
11:24of Russia,
11:25had shown that the MG-34
11:27had some flaws.
11:29It was a superbly made weapon,
11:31but the high-quality design
11:33meant that it could not cope
11:34with the extreme cold of Russia
11:35or the dust of the African desert.
11:39Its replacement,
11:40the MG-42,
11:42could be produced quicker
11:43and in a more cost-effective manner
11:45than its predecessor.
11:47The ranges were similar
11:49to the MG-34,
11:50but the one big improvement
11:52was the higher rate of fire.
11:55The MG-42 could be fired
11:57at a rate of 1,200 to 1,500 rounds
11:59per minute.
12:00This produced a distinctive sound,
12:03much like the sound
12:04of ripping cloth,
12:05and this weapon
12:06was much feared by the Allies.
12:10This was a very durable
12:11and popular weapon
12:13that incorporated simplicity
12:14with effectiveness.
12:17It is regarded
12:18as the best general-purpose machine gun
12:20that was made
12:21during the Second World War.
12:23Veterans recalled using this gun
12:25on the Eastern Front in 1943.
12:29The German machine gun
12:30could not do anything
12:31because I didn't manage it.
12:33The weapon was done
12:34It started to fly
12:35and then,
12:36the German machine gun
12:37the German machine gun
12:39workedRight
12:40in hugeactivation
12:41in plain cold weather
12:41kaum noch,
12:42especially the
12:43during the war
12:44world's war
12:44machine-gewehre Typ 42.
12:47Before we had a type of machine-gewehre 34,
12:50which slowly shot,
12:52and the 42,
12:55the holes just out the hole,
12:58so that the ammunition was all.
13:00And these machine-gewehres were also very
13:03very sensitive against sand and sea.
13:08One of the main types of combat terrain
13:10faced by the German forces
13:12were the endless forests of Russia.
13:15It was here that they developed tactics
13:17which were later to be put to deadly use
13:19in the forests of Germany
13:21against the advancing Americans.
13:23When attacking in woods,
13:26the Germans usually divide the area
13:27into company sectors.
13:29The Germans stress constant reconnaissance
13:31to discover the most weakly manned
13:33enemy position.
13:34The company usually deploys in wedge
13:37formation when advancing.
13:39In order to achieve surprise,
13:40the Germans often leave the roads
13:43and advance cross-country.
13:45As soon as the point of the wedge
13:47of the company is in sight of the enemy,
13:49the Germans creep forward to close
13:51combat range, always keeping contact
13:53with adjacent and supporting units.
13:56The company then storms the enemy's position,
13:58using the greatest possible number
14:00of hand grenades, explosive charges,
14:03and close combat weapons.
14:04The advance elements attempt to break
14:07into the hostile position as deeply as possible,
14:10the body of the wedge widening the penetration
14:12on both sides.
14:15The company commander then decides
14:17whether to roll up the enemy position
14:18on the more important flank,
14:20or to hold the ground until reinforcements arrive
14:23before continuing the attack.
14:27From Finnish troops, the Germans learned
14:29a successful method of using mortars in woods.
14:33The mortar observers, accompanied
14:35by a telephone operator, move with the advanced element.
14:39The line back to the mortar crew
14:41is exactly 200 yards long.
14:44One man is detailed to see that the line
14:46does not get hung on the way,
14:48and as far as possible runs in a straight line.
14:50When the advanced element contacts the enemy,
14:54the observer judges the distance
14:55from himself to the target
14:57and adds the 200 yards to the mortar range.
15:00Bracketing of fire for adjustment
15:02is considered too dangerous
15:03because of the close proximity of friend and foe.
15:16Forrest could have a very considerable impact
15:19upon battles for the very obvious reason
15:21that they provide an awful lot of cover
15:24for any defending force
15:26and create problems for an attacking force.
15:28They are also often, probably most of the time,
15:33impenetrable for medium or heavy tanks,
15:36and so any advantage in armour is lost.
15:40And artillery too do not perform so well in forests
15:44and even shelling forests.
15:46The trees provide a kind of blanket effect
15:49for the explosion of shells.
15:52So forests constitute a fairly natural kind of defensive belt
15:57for determined soldiers to occupy.
16:00It's also, of course, very unnerving for the attacking force
16:03because the amount of cover that is offered
16:05means that they can be fired upon
16:07and they just don't know where the firing is coming from.
16:10The advance therefore stops
16:12while they try to ascertain this
16:14and it becomes difficult to get it going again.
16:19One weapon that was particularly useful
16:21for fighting in forested terrain
16:23was one of the most influential weapon designs
16:25to emerge from the German forces in the Second World War,
16:29the assault rifle.
16:31The concept was to combine the best features of a rifle
16:34in terms of range and accuracy
16:36with the rate of fire of a machine gun.
16:38It had been noted that the majority of clashes in World War II
16:43took place at ranges under 1,000 metres,
16:46so accuracy over longer ranges could be sacrificed.
16:50The result was the MP-44.
16:54This weapon made full use of the pressed steel
16:57which made manufacture easy and very cost effective.
17:01It had the capability to fire single shot
17:03or full automatic fire like a machine gun.
17:06It made use of a smaller 7.92 millimetre round
17:11that was known as the Kurtz round
17:13which did not have the range of the longer round
17:16but was ideally suited to the new weapon.
17:19The ammunition was contained
17:21in a detachable 30 round curved magazine
17:23which was accurate up to around 800 yards.
17:27This innovative weapon came with some strange variants
17:30including a curved barrel attachment
17:33that allowed the weapon to fire around corners.
17:37The MP-44 was well received by the troops
17:41and tens of thousands of them were produced
17:43by the end of the war.
17:45Assault rifles were a sort of halfway house
17:47between an ordinary rifle and a submachine gun
17:51and they had a number of the virtues of both.
17:53Because they were a bit bigger, a bit heavier,
17:56a rather longer barrel,
17:58they had some of the accuracy
17:59and the range of an ordinary rifle.
18:02But they also had a very rapid rate of fire.
18:05Ordinary rifles are designed to be fired
18:08by holding them right up against your face
18:10so that you can aim better.
18:12And that's no good if you're trying to run
18:15because you can't aim
18:16and if you try to run while holding a rifle against your face
18:20you're not going to run very well
18:22and if you trip and fall
18:23you're going to cut your face in half.
18:25So the idea behind an assault rifle
18:27is you're firing rapidly
18:29ordinary rifle ammunition
18:31but you're firing from a rifle that you can hold at your hip
18:35so when you're running you can still fire
18:37you can indeed provide your own covering fire
18:40by holding down the trigger
18:42and firing rapidly on the assault.
18:45So the assault rifle is designed to be used
18:49during the last phase of an attack.
18:50When you're exposed, you can't take time to aim.
18:54You don't care if you can bring that rifle up against your face
18:57and aim with it.
18:58You don't want to aim.
18:59It is a specially designed weapon
19:01that enables you to run that last few meters
19:04while giving yourself covering fire.
19:08Although pistols, rifles and machine guns
19:11made up the principal infantry weapons,
19:13a variety of other weapons were employed by the infantry squads
19:16fighting at the sharp end.
19:19The most effective of these was the landmine.
19:26The German forces developed a multitude of designs
19:29that changed during the course of the war
19:32and grew in number as the war progressed.
19:35This terrible weapon was used in two major variants,
19:39the anti-tank and anti-personnel mine.
19:43The anti-tank mine usually consisted of the teller mine.
19:47This was a circular metal device
19:49measuring 12 inches in diameter
19:51that held around 12 pounds of explosive
19:54inside a pressed metal case.
19:56The fuse was situated in the center of the mine
19:59and was set off when a pressure of 200 to 400 pounds
20:03was placed upon the device.
20:05The weight of a vehicle pressing on the igniter housing
20:08would set off the striker,
20:10which in turn would set off the detonator
20:12connected to the main explosive charge.
20:15The teller mine went through various design changes
20:18which gave increased armor penetration capabilities.
20:22They were capable of penetrating between 20 to 30 millimeters
20:25of the thinner armor on the underneath of a tank.
20:30When someone is driving in a tank,
20:33it doesn't take them long to realize
20:36that ordinary small arms fire does not affect them.
20:40They hear small arms fire
20:42dinging off the hull of the tank.
20:44They hear shell fragments ringing off the hull of the tank.
20:47And they start to get a feeling of invincibility.
20:49And this encourages them to behave
20:51in a classic armor cavalry kind of way.
20:54They're hard-charging guys in the armor.
20:56An Israeli general once said
20:58that a tank soldier thinks at 60 miles an hour
21:02because he's used to the idea
21:03that he's just got to cruise on ahead.
21:05He doesn't care what's in his way.
21:07If you insert anti-tank mines into that environment,
21:12then suddenly the tanker is worried.
21:15So the effect of the mines really is to slow down in advance
21:20because soldiers have to go in front of the tanks
21:22with bayonets, tapping through the ground,
21:25looking for the mines and then lifting them.
21:28This creates a very slow advance.
21:30And of course, it creates an advance too
21:32which goes forward in lanes about one tank wide.
21:36You can't have a very wide front of advance.
21:39Now both of these factors, a slow advance and advance into lanes,
21:43plays into the hands of any anti-tank guns
21:46who are cited to cover the minefield.
21:49And so the minefield is effective when combined with anti-tank guns,
21:54and of course also machine guns to slow down the work
21:58of the unfortunate chaps who are trying to find the mines.
22:01More feared by the infantry than anti-tank mines were anti-personnel mines.
22:07They came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
22:11One mine in particular struck fear into the allies.
22:14This was the S mine.
22:17This device was a metal cylinder-shaped weapon
22:20that contained a large number of ball bearings.
22:23It had a spring attachment that was designed to hurl the mine
22:26about three feet into the air and then explode.
22:30The ball bearings would then be propelled outwards
22:32and into any surrounding infantry.
22:35The explosive charge, which weighed around six to seven ounces,
22:39was situated in the center of the device
22:41and was set off by pressure or by a trip wire.
22:47There was also the glass mine
22:49that held the explosive charge inside a glass bowl out a casing.
22:54When detonated, the charge was thrown upwards.
22:58The B stab mine and the shoe mine were similar devices in principle,
23:03but they were contained within wooden boxes.
23:05The stab mine had a wooden pole attached to the top
23:08that activated the mine when disturbed.
23:11The shoe mine was another terrible device.
23:14A square wooden box that was crushed on impact,
23:17setting off the device.
23:21The majority of the anti-personnel mines were made of materials like wood,
23:26which were difficult to detect with conventional mine detectors.
23:30The pressure needed to activate these various anti-personnel devices
23:34varied between six to 35 pounds.
23:39These anti-personnel mines and the anti-tank mines had effects upon the enemy,
23:46which one can broadly call discouraging, of course.
23:50You can put them on roads, and this denies the use of the roads to the enemy.
23:54You can put the personnel mines in houses, footpaths, in all kinds of places.
24:00You can booby-trap a great deal of material.
24:03You can booby-trap weapons which have been left behind
24:08because soldiers are inveterate souvenir hunters.
24:11So a tasty German helmet or something can be booby-trapped.
24:15Really nasty ingenuity taking place here.
24:20Anti-tank and anti-personnel mines are not only useful for their nuisance value
24:25and making it difficult to attack because you don't want to drive your tank down a road,
24:29for instance, because it might be mined,
24:31because you might not want to march your soldiers through a field in case it might be mined.
24:36It's got that nuisance value, but it's got more.
24:39If you take some white tape and you stake out a piece of ground
24:42and you hang up a sign that says, Achtung meinen, beware mines,
24:46then the enemy might not go through that field.
24:50So you can use mines to channel the enemy
24:54and have him come against you on the ground that you choose.
24:58You can focus the enemy by using anti-vehicle and anti-personnel mines
25:03to make them do what you want them to.
25:08To assure the greatest possible effect,
25:11minefields normally are laid out in definite patterns.
25:14The Germans make an exception to this practice, however,
25:17in sectors where they do not intend to undertake offensive actions.
25:22There they disperse the mines irregularly in the areas between defensive positions.
25:27A number of anti-tank mines are laid in the forward edge of anti-personnel minefields
25:32to prevent armoured vehicles from detonating the main belt of anti-personnel mines.
25:36The forward edges of minefields of all types often are sewn with explosive charges
25:42placed in wooden boxes fitted with pressure fuses.
25:45These act as both anti-tank and anti-personnel mines
25:49and discourage the use of detectors to locate the mines.
25:54Forward of most regular fields, and particularly in front of lanes,
25:58mines may be found widely spaced or scattered at random in unmarked groups.
26:03Mines are also laid in spaces running out at right angles from the forward edge of the minefield
26:08to damage vehicles moving along the field in search of lanes.
26:14As the war progressed, the designs and effectiveness of the mines changed.
26:19The anti-tank mine design produced two notable variants.
26:24The first was the Riegel Mine 43.
26:28It consisted of a long metal case measuring around 30 inches
26:32that held around 9 pounds of explosive.
26:35The design concept correctly assessed that a longer device
26:39was more likely to be driven over by an enemy vehicle.
26:43Three pressure plates were situated at each end and in the centre.
26:47The weight needed to detonate the mine varied from 440 pounds at each end
26:53to 880 pounds in the centre.
26:57The second main anti-tank variant was the magnetic anti-tank mine,
27:01known as the Haft-Holl Ladung, but it took a brave man to use it.
27:06It consisted of a conical-shaped device that had three magnets attached to the bottom.
27:11The mine needed to be attached to a tank by hand,
27:15at which point the fuse would be activated using a striker.
27:19There was a five-second delay on the fuse,
27:21and the mine was capable of penetrating just over 100 millimetres of armour,
27:26which made it a very effective tank killer,
27:28if a man could survive long enough to use it.
27:33Applying these mines to a tank sounds a very dangerous business.
27:37But in point of fact, so long as there are no enemy infantry accompanying the tank,
27:42the odds on the attacker are perhaps a little better than might be imagined.
27:47The point about the tank is that the interior is very noisy,
27:51so you don't get much sound from outside, and vision is very limited.
27:55There are a small number of vision slits and a small periscope.
28:00But tanks don't see very much of what is going on outside,
28:04so it does become possible to get close to it
28:08when you approach it from the side or from the rear and deliver the charge.
28:14And the tank, though not killed, is deactivated.
28:19One notable tactic employed by the Germans to make better use of the older Teller mine
28:24was to place two mines on top of each other.
28:27When they were detected, the soldier would attempt to remove the mine.
28:31This would activate the lower mine, with devastating consequences.
28:36There was a constant battle going on between mine layers and mine sweepers,
28:44with each trying to out-guess the other,
28:46and a great variety of anti-personnel and dirty tricks devices being used.
28:53For example, when you realise that one mine could be put on top of another,
29:00you put a string around both, looked for a nearby ditch,
29:04jumped into it, pulling the string, so that the mine would go off.
29:09And unfortunately, the mine layer would have thought of that ditch nearby,
29:13and put an anti-personnel mine in it, waiting for you.
29:17Another favourite was to put the earth down,
29:19and then put the impression of a tyre track over it,
29:22so it looks as though it's perfectly safe to drive over it,
29:25because someone else has done so.
29:28Another is to put layers of earth rather thinly spread, not packed down, over a mine.
29:35And if it's about two feet deep, several vehicles will go over it,
29:39before the earth is sufficiently compacted to actuate the pressure pad and detonate the mines.
29:45A really very personal, very bitter, and of course very nasty war,
29:50because all of these things are going to maim, even if they don't kill.
29:56One weapon that has always proved a favourite with the infantry is the grenade.
30:01German grenades came in two distinctive classes.
30:04The first was the stick grenade.
30:06This device measured 14 inches in length,
30:09and consisted of a wooden handle that had a metal head screwed to the top.
30:13There was a pull cord running inside the length of the handle.
30:17The user would unscrew a metal cap at the bottom of the handle and pull the cord.
30:22This would activate the fuse that would ignite the six to seven ounces of explosive
30:27after a five second delay.
30:29The metal head would disintegrate and be thrown out to a radius of around 45 feet.
30:35The actual design of this grenade allowed it to be thrown further
30:39than the conventional allied pineapple grenade.
30:44Later versions of this grenade incorporated an additional fragmentation sleeve
30:48over the top of the metal casing.
30:51The Germans also produced their own egg-shaped grenade,
30:55known as the Eierhandgranat 39.
30:58This was a small smooth case device that contained the explosive,
31:02but it never proved as popular as the stick grenade.
31:06Grenades provide the infantry with a form of indirect fire,
31:11a rather limited form, but very effective.
31:14They're very good for targets where you can't view them directly,
31:17where you can't open direct fire upon them.
31:20You can lob a grenade over an obstacle,
31:23you can put it over trees, over a building, or whatever it is,
31:27and you can deliver it without exposing yourself over a range of about 20 yards or so.
31:33That's the great value of them.
31:35Hand grenades are useful when you're clearing trenches, for instance.
31:38The enemy's entrenched. The Russians were really big on digging themselves in.
31:43They're very good at entrenching, and if you're going up against an entrenched enemy,
31:47you don't want to do it by walking or running towards him,
31:51because he'll kill you.
31:52So the Germans realized, they knew from the First World War,
31:56that you stand far away, you take out your potato masher or your little egg-shaped grenade,
32:01you throw it in the enemy trench, it goes bang, and you go in and bayonet anybody who's left alive
32:07afterwards.
32:08It is a simple, effective weapon, and it extends the range of the ordinary infantrymen with a high-explosive weapon.
32:18In the latter stages of the war, the German forces were faced by superior models of allied tanks.
32:24To combat this growing menace, they developed hand-held anti-tank rocket launchers, which proved very effective.
32:32The first type was the Panzerfaust, or Tank Fist.
32:37This was a hollow metal tube, which contained a charge in the middle, and a hollow charge grenade at one
32:43end.
32:44This grenade had a series of thin metal fins that sprang out into shape after firing to stabilize it in
32:51flight.
32:52The hollow charge grenade was very effective, and could penetrate up to 140mm of armor.
32:59This meant that it could defeat anything in use at that time.
33:03This was a one-shot weapon that had a crude trigger and sight, and it first appeared from mid-1943.
33:11The next development in anti-tank weapons was the Panzerschreck, Tank Terror.
33:17Officially known as the Rakuten Panzerbush 54, this was a copy of the American bazooka that the Germans had first
33:25come across in the desert of North Africa.
33:27It fired a thin-stabilized hollow charge 88mm rocket that was powered by a charge contained in the tube.
33:35The trigger was an electric type, and the range of this weapon was around 110 yards.
33:41It could penetrate up to 100mm of armor, which was more than adequate.
33:47The metal tube had a thin shield attached to the front end to protect the user from the hot exhaust
33:53gases.
33:54The Panzerfaust and the Panzerschreck were very effective if the missile actually hit the target.
34:01However, they were short-range and not very accurate weapons.
34:05The Panzerschreck, which we can regard as the equivalent of the American bazooka, was a crew weapon.
34:13A two-man crew operated it.
34:15You might have a third or fourth man giving cover, carrying rockets and so forth.
34:20It could fire repeatedly. The tube was good for several shots.
34:24The Panzerfaust, on the other hand, is a one-shot, throwaway, disposable weapon.
34:29One firing and that's it.
34:32But it is even simpler and easier to make than the Panzerschreck.
34:37And so, literally hundreds of thousands of these things were produced in the last months of the German Reich.
34:44An anti-tank gun cost thousands of Reichsmarks to make.
34:49And it took hours and hours of skilled laborers' time in a complex factory.
34:54It cost ten marks to make an anti-tank rocket launcher.
35:01By the end of the war, when German resources were low, they were able to make them out of cardboard.
35:05They were very cheap, very easy to build, and they were easy to use.
35:10They would print the instructions for use on the rocket.
35:14And everybody was able to pick it up, read the instructions, and fire it.
35:19There's a big sign on the back that said,
35:21Danger!
35:22Flame!
35:23Keep away!
35:24Or words to that effect.
35:25And people knew, stay away from the back of these, generally.
35:30The result is that any kid trying to defend Berlin from the oncoming Russians could be handed an anti-tank
35:37rocket launcher and told,
35:39Fire it at the enemy.
35:41It was not enough in its own right for the German forces to have effective weapons.
35:45The choice of good positions remained vital in the war against the allied tank armies.
35:52In constructing a defensive position, the Germans stress construction of obstacles and anti-tank defenses.
35:59Anti-tank ditches are dug in the area between the main line of resistance and the artillery positions.
36:05They are built in an uninterrupted line to avoid leaving passages that can be exploited by the enemy.
36:10All crossings essential to assure the maneuverability of friendly troops are built so they can be blown up at the
36:17shortest notice.
36:18The Germans are aware that obstacles of any kind are effective only when covered by fire from various weapons.
36:25Consequently, there usually are trenches behind the anti-tank ditches from which machine gun and anti-tank gunfire can cover
36:33the entire length of the tank obstacle.
36:36The employment of close combat anti-tank teams supplements the anti-tank defense.
36:44When the hostile tank attack is repulsed, the anti-tank guns move to alternate positions.
36:58There are really two points to remember considering infantry attacks on tanks.
37:04The first is that although the tanks look big and invulnerable and terribly dangerous, the view from inside them is
37:12very poor.
37:13A tank is half blind at the best of times.
37:16So if an infantryman is camouflaged and sits still, then it is very difficult for a tank from 30 to
37:2440 to 50 yards away to see and identify him as a target.
37:29And at 30 to 40 to 50 yards, the tank is within the lethal range of the infantryman.
37:35Point two is that although the tank looks big, tough, steel plated, dangerous, invulnerable, in point of fact, it's got
37:43several weak points.
37:45Sometimes the infantry would be able to throw a hand grenade at the track of an attacking tank and the
37:51explosion might disable the tank.
37:53In the long run, that's no good. You want to destroy the tank.
37:58The Germans also developed a lot of specialized weapons.
38:02The Germans manufactured a very effective blinding bomb.
38:06And what you'd do is you'd throw this at the enemy tank, it would explode, and it would blind the
38:12driver and the gunner and the commander of the tank,
38:15and they would be unable to continue to fight the tank.
38:18That would enable you to get in close, and maybe when you were in close, you'd be able to use
38:22these little, they had a little thing that was shaped like a CD, except it exploded.
38:27And you'd put this through the vision slits of the tank, bang, everybody inside is dead, and the tank is
38:33no longer a threat.
38:34So the ordinary infantrymen, even without anti-tank guns, or anti-tank rockets, had a lot of specialized equipment designed
38:43to kill tanks.
38:46Faced by overwhelming numbers of allied and Russian forces, the German forces were inexorably being forced onto the defensive.
38:55In the latter stages of the war, the towns which they once had conquered now had to be turned into
39:01strongholds.
39:03The Germans regard towns and villages as excellent strongpoints, particularly if the buildings are masonry.
39:10Towns also are regarded as excellent anti-tank positions because of the considerable infantry-artillery effort necessary to neutralize them.
39:19In defending a town or village, the Germans locate their main line of resistance well within the built-up portion.
39:26The edges of the town, which provide easy targets for artillery fire, are believed to be too vulnerable.
39:32The main line of resistance is laid out irregularly in order to develop flanking fire, and every effort is made
39:39to conceal its location until the last possible moment.
39:43Minor strongpoints are maintained forward of the line in order to break up attacks and provide additional flanking fire.
39:50Cul-de-sacs are organized and attempts made to trap attacking forces in them for destruction by counter-attacking mobile
39:58reserves.
39:59Entrances to buildings are blocked, and all windows opened so as not to disclose those from which fire is maintained.
40:07To avoid detection, the Germans fire from the middle of the rooms and frequently change their positions.
40:15When houses collapse, the defense is carried on from sellers, and rubble heaps of destroyed areas are organized into strongpoints.
40:25There were several reasons why the German forces were so stubborn in defense.
40:30These can be regarded as strategic and also as tactical.
40:34At the strategic level, it should be remembered that Hitler, from 1943 onwards, was issuing a stream of no retreat,
40:42hold the line orders to his generals.
40:45If you didn't obey the Fuhrer, the very least you could expect was to be relieved of your command, but
40:51he had other ways with the SS of making your life very uncomfortable indeed.
40:55A second reason is the Germans had worked out a very effective defense plan.
40:59They had moved a long way away from the static trench defense lines of the First World War, which were
41:06really simply targets for bombardment.
41:09You put your troops into the trenches, and they get destroyed by bombardment.
41:14The answer is, of course, dispersal, and the Germans became masters at the art of defense in depth, relying not
41:23so much upon manpower, but upon firepower.
41:26Lots of machine guns, mortars, and minefields, backed up by artillery and anti-tank weapons further back.
41:35Another reason is, of course, that the German infantryman was perfectly bright enough to know that he should do the
41:42fighting in France or in Russia.
41:45Because if he kept retreating, sooner or later, the fighting would come home to Germany.
41:50And especially in regard to the Russians, the German army had done such terrible things in Russia that they could
41:56be quite sure that the Russian army would do the same things to them.
41:59German soldiers realized that they had just raped this man's daughter on the kitchen table of his house in Russia,
42:08and now that man was coming back to get him.
42:12And he was going to do just as bad or worse to the Germans just as bad as they'd had
42:19done to them.
42:20The Germans knew exactly how brutal they had been to the Russians, and now they expected more, and they expected
42:29it on the sacred soil of the fatherland.
42:32The Germans knew how evil they'd been, and they knew that the Russians were coming to do evil to them.
42:45The Germans said, fighting from defensive positions was aided by the presence of the mortar, which was the other main
42:51infantry weapon that could be transported by the soldiers on the ground.
42:55It gave the men in the very front their own artillery.
42:59German mortars came in three main sizes.
43:02The 5 cm, 8 cm, and 12 cm.
43:06The 5-centimetre light mortar model 36 was a two-piece weapon consisting of a base plate and a barrel.
43:14It could fire the 2-pound fin-stabilised high-explosive bomb to a range of 550 yards.
43:21This weapon was really too light for most combat situations, and an improved weapon came in the shape of the
43:278-centimetre medium mortar model 34.
43:31This three-piece mortar consisted of the barrel, base plate, and bipod.
43:36It could fire the 7.5-pound high-explosive bomb to a distance of 2,600 yards and was much
43:44more effective in combat.
43:46The last in the range was the 12-centimetre heavy mortar model 42, which was introduced for use over greater
43:53distances, such as those on the Russian front.
43:57It could fire the 35-pound bomb to a maximum distance of 6,600 yards, but both the shells and
44:05the mortar itself were too cumbersome for mobile use.
44:09The mortar became important in the First World War and in the Second World War really because it's the infantry's
44:16own artillery support.
44:17Mortar crews follow very close behind the front-line infantry, a matter of a few hundred yards, and they can
44:24respond very quickly to the immediate situation facing the infantry.
44:29So fast response and closeness to the action is important.
44:33The other thing is that mortars can achieve a very fast rate of fire.
44:38You can fire mortar shells at the mortar bombs at the rate of one every six, seven, eight seconds, if
44:45you have them lined up.
44:46It is just a matter of bang, bang, bang, bang.
44:48And if you have a group of platoon of say four or six of these mortars, you can lay down
44:55a really devastating fire pattern very quickly.
44:58Another point to remember is that shells usually come in at a rather low angle and they explode and they
45:06throw their penetrating force forwards.
45:09Mortars come down almost vertically and therefore the circle of lethality, or the area of lethality, is much more circular
45:18and is something like 25 to 30 yards or more depending upon the size of the mortar.
45:24So these things can be easily whistled up, easily focused on the enemy, and they are very lethal when done
45:32so.
45:33Mortars were particularly useful over short ranges and proved an invaluable asset in the defence of the towns and villages
45:40of Germany itself.
45:42In the case of fairly small villages, consolidation of the place itself is usually deemed sufficient.
45:49For larger localities, an outer defence system is constructed in addition to the inner defences.
45:56The perimeter ring position is the most important part of the inner defences and consists of one or more continuous
46:03trench systems, each with a deep main battle zone.
46:06The forward edge often is beyond the outskirts of the village unless this creates unfavourable conditions for the anti-tank
46:13defence, in which case it is within the village itself.
46:17Artillery and heavy support weapons are employed as whole units in support of the perimeter ring position, although single guns
46:25may be detached for the defence of strong points and roads.
46:29The nearer the fighting approaches the inner ring, the more likely it will be that the Germans will split up
46:34the support weapons units for close cooperation with infantry assault groups.
46:40As the tactical and strategic situation continued to deteriorate, the German forces increasingly had to fall back on the ad
46:48hoc formations known as battle groups in an effort to maintain some form of resistance.
46:58Battle groups normally are organised for the execution of some specific task in the withdrawal, such as a local counter
47:05-attack or the defence of some particular feature whose retention is necessary for the security of the main withdrawal.
47:12Battle groups, which the Germans employ for offensive and defensive as well as delaying missions, vary in size from a
47:20company or two with attached close support weapons to a regiment or several battalions reinforced with tanks, artillery, anti-aircraft,
47:29engineer and reconnaissance elements.
47:31In all cases, the Germans seek to make them as self-sufficient as possible in combat.
47:37In actual practice, however, the composition of German battle groups appears often to have been dictated less by the theory
47:45of what units should be put together to form a self-sufficient combat force than by the demands of an
47:50emergency situation which commanders have been forced to meet with the insufficient and normally disassociated units at their disposal.
48:03Battle groups were used very extensively by the German army in the course of the Second World War.
48:08They could be of almost any size, from 50 to 100 men to upwards of 1,000.
48:14Essentially, they were an all-arms group.
48:17They combined mortars, machine guns, grenades, of course, the whole range of hand-held infantry weapons.
48:26They were used to seal off penetrations made in the German line by attacking Soviet forces in particular.
48:35They were often a mark of desperation, grabbing together whatever units were immediately available in the neighbourhood and putting them
48:44together into an effective composite fighting force.
48:49The Germans have to think of a war on two fronts.
48:53They will always be outnumbered.
48:55Therefore, they must have excellent weapons, because they're going to be outnumbered, and they must have excellent methods to make
49:03use of these weapons.
49:04The Germans never supposed that excellent weapons were enough in themselves.
49:09They always knew that more important, really, than the weapons is the way you use them.
49:14They only were, and they were impressed from all of the weapons.
49:31They were known to be outnumbered by a weaponолist.
49:31They were killed by a weapon.
49:32They were killed by a weapon.
49:32They were killed by a weapon

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