A WW2 German Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer, tank destroyer recovered from the Baltic Sea. Another piece of history restored. See SzaryWilkExpedition videos for full version
Hetzer one of my favorite tanks didn't realize it's dimensions till I saw that tank retriever and that landing craft towing it. I kinda wish we had forgotten battle wrecks here. I'd love to have a Jagged Panzer or King Tiger or Stug.
Well, actually it would be pretty hard. From what ive read "only seven Tiger I tanks survive in museums and private collections worldwide. As of 2020, Tiger 131 (captured during the North Africa Campaign) at the UK's Tank Museum is the only example restored to running order."
I couldn't look a that diver standing right in the line of danger ( if the steel cable snaps , he is dead )... my friend's dad died this way, ( at work) during a "normal" ship maneuver in the Harbour of Genoa, Italy ... R.I.P. ... the securing line snapped , he was cut into two pieces ... and died instantly ... I could tell many stories of workers' fatal accidents , and many of them due to overconfidence ...
@@nickstocker5697 You NEVER forget a cable separating or clevis failing. I had a clevis fail while we had a track's front deck raised under load. There's no warning, and reflexes won't save you, it's moving too fast. No injuries, but that was chance.
Great job on the recovery. These battle relics, whether they are tanks, airplanes, or other equipment are in greater danger now if left where they are and exposed to elements and vandals, sadly. It's better to get as many as possible moved to museums before more are lost.
And the Hetzers wheels still turn, amazing! Presumably it was left on the beach and slipped progressively further into the sea ? Is any history of this Hetzer known?
Pretty sure thats a T55 based Recovery vehicle. The upper glacis had the classic T55 shape lol. Great work with the Hetzer....its roof and rear are broken but thats where its armour was really thin. Ooooh a PRP 3 Amphibious thingy...seen that in RHS mod for Arma 3 ^^
There were many tanks and other vehicles sunk at the coast between Kaliningrad(Königsberg) and Gdynia(Gotenhafen) because Germans were overrun fast by Red Army in the winter and fled over the ice on the Baltic sea. There are many eyewitness reports about tanks and artillery (german and russian) fighting on the ice during that episode - most survivors were walking with light luggage because the ice was not very thick everywhere...
very cool finds . it sure took a lot of power and tracks to pull that over the beach but hey at least the wheels turn thats a good sign. I hope someone fixes that tank up like it was new
here we have a Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer found in its natural habitat of the Baltic sea. Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer's do not like to be moved and can sometimes be a bit tricky. This has been an national geographic public service on the Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer please tune in next week for the marsh land T-34's
Patrick Grootens Yup, it's a Hetzer all right. These things were really handy. built on the chassis of the Panzer 38t, it had a very formidable 75mm main gun. They were also extremely hard to spot on the battlefield due to its tremendously low profile.
I saw that episode. They couldn't even cut a pig carcass in half after ramping up their gear to unheard of levels (way beyond an arrester cable). Seemed like even their extreme case would cause a lot of damage but was survivable.
Towards the later stages of the war on the eastern front there where huge stockpiles of damaged tanks awaiting repair. The main problem area was the turret as they took a lot of metal and huge metal works to produce. The tank hulk (lower part) seldom had problems so the solution to getting tanks out on the ground was to use the bottom half of the damaged tanks and mount rigid guns and rudimentary armour plating. Some where even made in the field by the forward engineer units who produced some
@MrAdster11 the armored conga line... its a brilliant strategy that has one wars from the ancient wars fought by the Mayans and Greeks and will be used when the Marines battle the space raccoons in 2059.
Hetzer suddenly fires, destroying vehicle towing it. Very old German tanker who looks like he's spent a significant amount of time in the service of Davey Jones climbs out of the hatch and paints a red star on the side of his AFV before walking back into the sea, never to be seen again. Only here, in the twilight zone.
hetzer is the well known term. if you know your german tanks, all tank destroyers were preceded by "jag" which classified them as a tank destroyer, followed by the vehicle that the TD was based on, the Hetzer was based on the Pz. 38t chassis.
What the chap was trying to say was that this is not a german vehicle at all, it was designed and built at the Skoda works in Czechoslovakia and was based on the older panzer 38(t) chassis that was built by Skoda in the 1930's.
@somebody1310 are you sure old son? it very much looks like the recovery version based on the T-62 chassis(the gap betwine the first and second road wheels is the clue)
Interesting vehicle. My guess is the vehicle commander probably realized there was no way to save the vehicle, so he did the next best thing to deny the vehicle to the enemy- drive it into the sea where it would not be easy to see or recover by the Soviets. Obviously, it worked.
Germans took a Czech medium tank 1930s model chassis cut the turret off it built that sloping armor on three sides and stuck a 76mm gun on it, at least that is what I recall of the afv. You might check out the Band of Brothers episode where the FJ counterattacks outside Carentan, I believe, to see an assault gun similar to this in action.
@dirtbiker4lfe lol. The T34 was a medium tank which couldnt destroy the Tiger(Heavy tank) unless it was really, really close to it. The best Allied AT guns of the WW2 were the British 17pounder, American 90mm T5, and the Russian 100mm D-10S L / 54 which was used on the Su-100 Tank Destroyer.
How cute a little Hetzer. This was about the last tank destroyer that Germany put into service in 1944. Sort of looks like a turtle being pulled out of the Sea.
