Comet Tank vs Tiger Tank | April 1945 | Tank Duel

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In April 1945, the 11th Armoured Division established a bridgehead over the River Aller in Northern Germany near the town of Essel. Among the units in the bridgehead were the 4 King's Shropshire Light Infantry and the 3 Royal Tank Regiment, the latter of whom were equipped with Comet tanks. As the British sought to expand the bridgehead, the Comet tanks of the 3 R.T.R. became embroiled in a day-long tank duel with a German Tiger tank, callsign F01. Using Official Histories and archival documents, this video breaks down one of the final engagements involving British and German armour of the campaign.
This video is dedicated to the memory of George Wane, 4 King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 11th Armoured Division.
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Music licensed from Artlist.io
- Reflection by Oliver Michael
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NO PART OF THIS VIDEO MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM (REACTIONS OR RE-UPLOADED) WITHOUT THE PRIOR PERMISSION OF THE CREATOR
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28 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 563

@livethforevermore 3 года назад

What's your favourite tank from any period? For me, its the Sherman Firefly, although the Challenger 2 and Pershing aren't too far behind!

@iaminyourwalls2211 3 года назад

Renault FT 😳

@johnwick164 3 года назад

I mean, whomever says something else besides the tiger should get Polaned.

@ollyclass 3 года назад

Any of the British cruiser tanks from ww2 like the crusader, Cromwell and comet.

@Cobra-kw1yh 3 года назад

Not going to lie, the Leopard A1A2 has taken the place of my favorite tank othen then the Tiger 1 Also Love your videos!!

@melle9155 3 года назад

M1A2 for sure, best looking at least :D

@panzerjaeger4274 2 года назад

This is the first first-hand account of the Comet in action I have ever read. There are more photographs of the Comet in this short piece than I have ever seen before. Having restored and driven both Cromwell & Comet, this was an excellent 9 minutes of military history. More power to your elbow! Superb

@californiadreamin8423 Год назад

Check out Tank Commander by Bill Close who commanded B Squadron ( I think ) of 3rd RTR . I have the Kindle edition which I’ve just finished reading.

@empire-classfirenationbatt2691 3 года назад

Sometimes I put off watching these videos because often times when they're finished I know I won't find such quality anywhere else. I savor these videos. I really do.

@ELCADAROSA 3 года назад

Do you know of Drachinifel?

@MrKnoxguy101 3 года назад

Good kill for Sgt. Harding and his crew. Can only imagine what that must have done for the moral of 3 Royal. And with the Hawkers neutralizing those 88’s and that halftrack, Brits went to work that day. Well done.

@ScreechingPossum 3 года назад

This plays like a script for a horror movie... Monster shows up, kills hero's friends, hero's story isn't believed, monster comes back and kills even more, climax of hunting and killing the monster, and the hero is awarded at end

@ttrestle 3 года назад

Have you scene movie White Tiger?

@Andrew-xv7mz 3 месяца назад

The Tiger was a monster, indeed.

@darson100 3 года назад

Tiger F01 The last surviving Tiger of Kampfgruppe Fehrmann which was composed of tank school instructors and their training tanks. F01was damaged by a PIAT early on but was sent back for repairs. Now commanded by Unteroffizier Franzen, Tiger F01 went back to the front and slugged it out with the British Comets. Franzen and his crew managed to knock out a couple of Comets before their tank was disabled. All of the Tiger F01 crews were able to escape back to the tank school.

@TTTT-oc4eb 3 года назад

Franzen commented that he was thankfull to the British because they didn't "Besa" down his fleeing crew. British gentlemen - even i 1945. I think all of the knocked-out Comet crews survived, too. The sources seems to vary regarding one or two Comets knocked out.

@michellebrown4903 Год назад

@@TTTT-oc4eb it says one Comet was lost , an armoured car , and several other vehicles.

@lex1945 3 года назад

This channel deserves to have so much more subscribers!

@phill-don4832 3 года назад

I nearly commented that again myself before seeing your own. I know Mark Felton does a great job but LFE does it just aswell if not better. Makes no sense why he has such a small subscriber base?..

@chocachips 3 года назад

Ok Ill subscribe! Fair dincum stop twisting my arm!

@АмериканецвРоссии-и4б 3 года назад

Some of the older videos have well over a million views, 165k subs - it's growing :-)

@lightfootpathfinder8218 2 года назад

The video is put together really well but for me it's the accent that ruins it a bit. "Ferd royal tank regiment" 🤦‍♂️

@OzjishKahn 3 года назад

Thank you for this. I always wondered if Comets ever got to engage Tigers.

@medic7698 3 года назад

Very good video. Nice to see that you sourced contemporary war diaries. Also that you've got good, relevant, pictures. Thank you.

@reyvan3806 3 года назад

This channel is just awesome. More like this please.

@nbr1rckr 3 года назад

Not one for armored duels, but it's interesting to see a hole punched through the fabled Tiger tank like it's nothing. Keep up the good work.

@ollyclass 3 года назад

I don't know whever it was a tiger or a panther but apparently the first time the British faced it there was a 16 pounder on the back of a lorry that took a pot shot at it and it burst into flames.

@gordonlawrence1448 3 года назад

@@ollyclass It would have been a 17 pounder. The Germans used to call the Sherman "Tommy Cookers" to detract from their own taks brewing up.

@nicksykes4575 3 года назад

@@ollyclass That was a 6 pounder, there was no such gun as a 16 pounder. plus it would have been too large to mount on a lorry, same goes for a 17 pounder.

@mikemike974 3 года назад

@@ollyclass That was a 6 pound anti tank gun taking out a Tiger. The shot hit the base of the turret jamming the turret from moving. The crew bailed out. The Tiger was taken back to the UK and studied in detail. This Tiger is the reason the British modified the Sherman to take the 17pdr, creating the Firefly, as they realised a 6pdr couldn't really cut it anymore. This is the only working Tiger in existance and is at Bovington Tank museum. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kFQd8TYt6Ew.html

@ToddSauve 3 года назад

It is a round that went through the side of the Tiger. Armour was thinner there and on the rear. That's where you attacked them if you could. If you had a 17 pounder you could go for the front armour but it would be whoever shot first that carried the day. Michael Wittmann's 007 Tiger was doubtless killed by a regular old Sherman with a 75mm cannon, as the round went through the rear engine deck/vent area on its left rear quarter. Only one in four or five Shermans in Normandy were Fireflies. Wittmann's Tiger was only about 450 ft from the Shermans when he died.

@Digmen1 3 года назад

It was pretty scary when that British guy said that seeing the Tiger coming down the road was he most scariest thing in his life. I mean he was in a Comet, the latest British tank. What about the poor buggers in Churchills and Shermans.

@steve55sogood16 3 года назад

But they got it right, in the end! I'm assuming many knew, the uselessness , of trying to knock out a Tiger,from the front?

@joelackers5104 3 года назад

@@steve55sogood16 to be fair the comets gun shouldn't have much of a problem penetrating a tiger from the front (in theory a shermans 75mm can do it), but they probably didn't want to stay still and fire again while they have an 88mm pointing at them

@g8ymw 3 года назад

@@joelackers5104 Are you sure about that ? Sherman 75mm couldn' t knock out a Tiger at point blank range ( a hedge between a Sherman and Tiger in Normandy) The Sherman drawed up to a hedge only to see an 88 cannon peep through the hedge at them. The Sherman got 4 rounds off before the Tiger got it's first round off. Tiger undamaged. Sherman turret sliced in half

@joelackers5104 3 года назад

@@g8ymw with HVAP ammo the us rated the 75mm gun to penetrate 116mm of armour at 30 degrees(front of a tiger is mostly 100mm with some areas of 120mm so would relatively easily penetrate) but there are many many variables, that specific sherman was most likely firing different ammo and if the tiger is at any sort of angle the sherman cannot penetrate. But the point still stands that the comet with the 77mm gun should have no problems going through the front of a tiger 1 considering the 17pdr already had a reputation as a reliable cat killer.

@g8ymw 3 года назад

@@joelackers5104 How come that Brit Sherman couldn't? Also that gun was primarily for lobbing high explosive shells not tin opening

@zeberdee1972 3 года назад

Can you imagine being a Tank crew knowing that you tank is no match with a Tiger or a Panther , yet still going into combat with them !!! . And they did and still won , brave Men :-)

@mikeyoung7660 2 года назад

Even worse when you fire and your rounds just bounce off

@toddbradford4700 2 года назад

A British Firefly Sherman with it's 17 pounder gun could knock out a Panther or Tiger from any angle and at virtually any distance tanks typically engaged one another on the western front. Who destroyed who was basically a matter of who saw who first and got off the first well aimed shot. The myth of German tanks being invunerable to all aliied tanks is just that.....A MYTH.

@TTTT-oc4eb 2 года назад

@@toddbradford4700 The 17 pdr was dangerous to any German tanks, but not from any angle, no. A Tiger angled at 45 degrees had an effective front armor of nearly 200mm, too much even for a 17 pdr. British test against a captured also confirmed that the 17 pdr rounds had a tendency to shatter when they hit the Tiger at an acute angle. The turret front was also a tough nut to crack; mantlet + backup armor = 140 - 225mm effective armor. The Panther's glacis with slope was about 180mm effective armor - difficult for the 17 pdr. The turret was much more vulnerable.

@oscarkilby4033 2 года назад

@@toddbradford4700 That wont stop wehraboos perpetuating it though lmao.

@SiriusMined 2 года назад

In this video, a Comet took out a Tiger. I guess you didn't watch

@seanspeer9991 3 года назад

hear me out, but the life of Cpt Tom Moore,

@undeadtomatoes 3 года назад

@stephenk578 3 года назад

go on

@michaelwale9933 3 года назад

I thick his troop gave tank support to a commando unit in Burma if I'm not getting mixed up with another story I read

@garyarcher1849 Год назад

Surprising that an AP from the 77mm "bounced" off the frontal armour. At 500m the AP should have gone right through the 100m front plate or even the 110m turret. One can only guess that either it wasn't a clean strike or perhaps it wasn't an actual AP round. Considering they were supporting infantry in a heavily wooded area, it is more likely they were loaded with HE, coupled with the fact the crew were dismounted at the time, the Commander would have slid into the gunners seat, lined up the sights and fired whatever round the gun had been loaded with prior to the crew dismounting for tea.....

@davependrill2897 3 года назад

Another brilliant video. Respect.

@napoleonibonaparte7198 3 года назад

They just had to use tea-making terms for their diaries...

@Ralphieboy 3 года назад

...and I saw to my consternation that the enemy were pouring the tea first before adding milk!"

@davidjordan9759 3 года назад

I wish you'd been there, looking down the barrel of that Tiger - and being smart about those that did.

@PaddyMayneUK 3 года назад

This is very strange as at those ranges the Comets 17lbr short main gun is more than capable of penetrating the Tigers frontal Armour even firing standard APCR ammunition.

@Dalesmanable 3 года назад

The Comet did not have a 17 pdr. It looks like one because the 76.2 gun uses a shortened 17 pdr barrel. It’s rounds are shorter than 17 pdr rounds, have less propellant and lower penetration.

@jameslukaszewicz2029 8 месяцев назад

And still being able to take out this beast.

@Spaced92 7 месяцев назад

Yeah I'm a little puzzled, maybe put it down to reputation or embellishment.

@scorcher67 7 месяцев назад

@@Spaced92 deployed to more tactical advantageous position is my guess.

@scorcher67 7 месяцев назад

@@Dalesmanable still enough to deal with front armor of Tiger 1 .

@kevinmccarthy8746 2 года назад

I consider myself an Anglo file and so, love hearing about the British contributions to the war. Thank you.

@parrot849 3 года назад

I soon as I was able, I would’ve looked up the chap at Regimental HQ that had casually dismissed my initial radio report of Tiger F01 and “educated” him on the reality of things....

@geordie1032 3 года назад

An excellent video, very well put together. thank you

@TrickiVicBB71 3 года назад

Favorite tank? Well I don't every tank ever made but I do have a fondness to the Sherman Firefly. I remember downloading World of Tanks cause they had put it brand new into the game.

@oldgreggscreamybaileys6618 3 года назад

Yeah the British Sherman was the only good Sherman. Obviously the Americans were very restricted but the British made the Sherman in to a proper tank.

@TheDavephillips 3 года назад

Yeah! That 17 pounder long gun was wicked.

@unclej3910 Год назад

I play WOT. The issue i see is that in game, you are vs tanks that never battled each other in real life. Tiger vs Tiger, Sherman vs Sherman, Cavalier vs KV-I S, T-28 vs KV-I, etc. Although, the Tiger I and Comet are both tier VII.

@bilgerat6060 9 месяцев назад

The Comet main gun, which was comparable or slightly better than the Firefly gun, was quite capable of defeating the Tiger frontal armour.

@DakotaofRaptors 3 года назад

Can I make a request? I'd like to see you talk about the Marine Raiders and their operations on Makin Atoll and Tulagi.

@skelejp9982 2 года назад

I have such good memories of playing with the Cromwell, just like the Stug it provides perfect cover being so low, while being faster and smaller than most heavier opponents.

@hughdemorville5864 3 года назад

Great video thank you 👌

@lhkraut 3 года назад

I can not imagine the fear of seeing a Tiger head on and bouncing an AP round off of it. Then the anger felt when RHQ tells you they do not believe you. I am betting the person who said that rarely, if ever, rode into the unknown at the tip of the spear.

@iatsd 3 года назад

RHQ would very much be in the thick of the fighting. And having an AP round bounce off a Tiger, when fired from a Comet, would very much be unlikely. The Comet had more than enough performance to trounce a Tiger 1.

@lhkraut 3 года назад

@@iatsd of course it could beat the Tiger, except from head on. Or did this officer lie?

@iatsd 3 года назад

@@lhkraut You've never looked at the performance figures for the 77mm, have you? It could defeat the Tiger frontally. Several instances of it doing so within 11th Armd, as it happens. With APDS it would go through the front of a Tiger at 2000 metres. The officer wold have been trained on the round: he *knew* it *could* go through. It may well not have in that instance due to angle, etc, but it certainly *could* pen if it hit properly. His saying it *couldn't* is either a lie or a simple untruth to cover/explain his withdrawal.

@lhkraut 3 года назад

@@iatsd damn, you believe he lied. It was not a round that had a 100% success rate. I am not going to go back and watch the video, but I believe they said that they had to be within a certain distance for the round to be effective. There is no reason for this to continue. I believe his story, and apparently you do not. That should be the end of it.

@iatsd 3 года назад

@@lhkraut Yes, I believe he wasn't talking the truth. He was factually incorrect in his statement (He said couldn't, not unlikely or simply didn't), he would have have been trained otherwise, and the 11th Armd had encountered Tigers before with the Comet and dealt with them (granted, not his regt). I choose to believe the simpler explanation.

@ronti2492 3 года назад

I think the crew of that Tiuger were lucky the AP round from the Comet didn't ignite anything on its trajectory. If it had ignited ammunition, the temperature would have gone from 25 degrees to 2500 degrees pretty darn quick....as it was the 5 crewmen escaped, and with luck are either still living or died of old age.

@nor0845 3 года назад

Interesting vid. Thanks for posting.

@mudkoerfgen9843 3 года назад

Yep 👍 from Perth Australia & New subscriber 🙃

@asullivan4047 Год назад

Interesting and w. Excellent photography job enabling viewers to better understand what the orator was describing. Class A research project!!! Special thanks to veteran tankers/civilians resistance groups. Sharing personal information/combat experiences making this documentary more authentic and possible. Fighting/perishing/surviving knowing certain death/debilitating wounds were often possible. Yet still advanced forward regardless of the consequences. That's true grit style determination to succeed!!! By 1945 any chance for Germany to push back the advancing allies. Shortages of supplies slowly crippled the armed forces on both fronts.

@joaquingarciameschio9582 3 года назад

Great video! I just have 1 question, what does the "F" stands for in the overall numeration of the tank?

@RoBlackW 3 года назад

Its not of standard numeration (which would be 3 digits for company / platoon / vehicle). Instead this Tiger belonged to Kampfgruppe Fehrmann (Name of the leader of the Kampfgruppe) and all Tigers attached to this unit started by the letter F - the following digits were just the number of the vehicle. As a side note, all Fehrmann Tigers were basically Frankentigers, put together using parts from multiple different Tanks. So you have e.g. F01 was a late model hull with an early model Turret.

@joaquingarciameschio9582 3 года назад

@@RoBlackW thank you very much for the explanation, really appreciated

@RoBlackW 3 года назад

@@joaquingarciameschio9582 you're welcome... :)

@aussiemilitant4486 3 года назад

@@RoBlackW very good mate, good explanation.

@keithtanner2806 3 года назад

My grandfather was in the KSLI in WW1. They described themselves as the Kings Silly Little Idiots.

@Lassisvulgaris 3 года назад

British humour at it's best. Others are RASC - Run away, somebody's comming; RAMC - Rob all my comrades and REME - Royal engineers, minus education. On the rum jars, it stated SRD - Service rum, diluted.....

@scorcher67 7 месяцев назад

The 77 mm of The Comet APBC round if a clean hit should pierce the front of a Tiger 1 but I guess his at an oblique angle which did happen..However it made plenty of sense to back off and re-deploy to a more tactically advantageous position as engaging a Tiger front on unless you had to was rarely a good move.

@khrystree9233 3 года назад

Very good narrative on a small encounter which must have happened hundreds of times on the advance to Berlin . Not many men got to tell the tale of meeting a Tiger in the woods ! K

@michaelmelton3246 3 года назад

Great content! Thank you for this excellent Podcast. SEMPER FI!! 🇬🇧GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!🇬🇧 GOD BLESS AMERICA!🇺🇸😎👊🏻

@gazzavc 3 месяца назад

At the range Lt. Harding fired his AP round at the front of the Tiger, it should have had penetrated the armor. Tests on the 77mm gun proved that its penetrative ability was in excess of the 110mm Tigers front plates. My theory is that most likely the gun was loaded with an HE round as the troop was supporting infantry and had encountered large parties of enemy troops and were expecting to encounter more of them, hence the HE round up the spout. In the heat of battle would anyone have thought to check and see ?? Probably not.

@TTTT-oc4eb 19 дней назад

This was a meeting engagement where both parts were aware of the other, that meant that the Tiger driver could take full advantage of angling (yes, it was very much a real thing!), effectively doubling its effective armor. Also, the effective turret front armor of the Tiger I was much thicker than usually given credit for; the turret mantlet itself was 90-150mm thick (there are drawings online), but everything 125mm or thinner was backed up by heavy bars of 100mm turret armor, making the effective turret front armor 150-225mm thick. Also, British test on a captured Tiger I showed that the shell from the real 17-pdr would often shatter if it hit the side armor at around 40 degrees, even if it on paper should have gone through.

@internetexplorer7143 3 года назад

Can you do a video on the GSG9 rescuing hostages from Lufthansa flight 181 please, I would really love that. Keep up the good work mate, I really love this channel and all your amazing content.

@californiadreamin8423 Год назад

This is detailed in Tank Commander by Bill Close , which I finished reading yesterday.

@sowhoareyou 3 года назад

Hi, superb video! How do you animate the graphic parts of your vids?

@livethforevermore 3 года назад

For the graphics I use Adobe After Effects, sometimes Photoshop 👍

@ianmclean8728 4 месяца назад

No mention of range of engagement but it seems odd that he thought that he couldn't penetrate the armour of a Tiger 1, since the 77mm could in theory penetrate 110mm at 1000m with normal APCBC.

@TTTT-oc4eb 19 дней назад

@chocachips 3 года назад

Thanks that was a great telling! I can only imagine what it would have been like to see a tiger coming over the hill! And the awe if it were accompanied with other tigers!! That would be a brown pants day for sure!

@jwmurphyccsis 2 года назад

Amazing how one tank can cause three brigades to go around it and for an experienced tank commander to say it was the scariest experience of his life.

@petrmasek6353 5 месяцев назад

It seems that 77HV gun was far inferior to the 17pdr, because as far as I know, 17pdr had no problems to penetrate frontal armour of Tiger at 1000 metres.

@darkninjacorporation 2 года назад

Its interesting how in many reports of contact with German vehicles, their turret movements are described as "slowly" swinging their guns around at a target. I know many late war German vehicles did without any assisted turret traverse mechanisms, but I didn't know of any of the "big cats" having such budget cuts. Was there a reason for this?

@skulldozer1462 Год назад

I know in the Tiger the speed of the turret is dependent on how much power the engine is running so my guess when they described the turret as slowly moving is that the crew didn't put too much power on the engine or didn't use the engine for ambush purposes

@KartarNighthawk 9 месяцев назад

Late reply, but the German tanks generally have longer turret rotation times than their British counterparts. A Churchill with its electric rotation active could turn its turret 360 degrees in 15 seconds.

@robbabcock_ 3 года назад

Good stuff!

@ButlerS97 3 года назад

Please do a story on Captain Sir Tom Moore

@liquidstatedrive6514 3 года назад

I would love to see a video about the last stand of a KV-1 crew at the battle of Raseiniai

@tobijug Год назад

5.22. ant eye tank guns..... ant eye, what are they ?

@pickleballer1729 Год назад

4:40 The guy reporting numerous tanks being misreported as Tigers was not wrong. There were TEN TIMES as many Panzer IV's, which resembled Tigers but smaller, produced as Tigers, and yet there were more reported encounters with Tigers than with P IV's. No doubt MANY of those reports were just wrong.

@moskittf3157 3 года назад

Hi, I think this video is great! If you dont mind, I would like to ask for your permission to share this video to the other website in China. For the embarrassing reason that RU-vid is blocked from accessing in China. I will give sources of the original website. Thank you very much.

@simonsouthgate8374 3 года назад

We invented the Tank but by 1939 ours were hopelessly outgunned, by 1945 this was more or less the same case, we forget how many Comet, Crusader, Valentine and Churchill crews bravely battled against all odds.........We must never forget these all but forgotten men...............

@gordonlawrence1448 3 года назад

Not even slightly true. In 1939 the Germans were using 37mm guns at best and invaded Poland with mainly Panzer 1 and Panzer 2 which had machine guns and 20mm cannon respectively. The Panzer 3 only has a 37mm at that time and the panzer 4 a howitzer. The Matilda had heavier armour than any of them and a 40mm gun. That's why it was so effective in North Africa. The problem was 1 quantity 2 communication as at the beginning of WWII many British tanks still did not have radios and all German tanks did and 3 tactics. Also we were using 57mm (6 pounders) by 1940 in the Valentine.

@simonsouthgate8374 3 года назад

@@gordonlawrence1448 Really, well all that heavy armour we had as you point out was so effective we had to leave it in the fields around Dunkirk and in North Africa, well how many Shermans did Monty have and how many M3 Le Grants did he have along with the Shermans......What did the Nazi's call British Tanks.......ummhh I think History proves one right and one wrong or perhaps it was just our brave crews who were not up to it.........really....??

@gordonlawrence1448 3 года назад

@@simonsouthgate8374 How many tanks did we have in France? Do you even know? As for Shermans in North Africa just how many do you think we had? Or are you only going from Wiki? Cite your sources. Also read my post again I said NOTHING about tank crews.

@eldesso 3 года назад

You don't need great tanks when you have air supremacy, plus the logistics of the allies effectively increased the number of tanks as many knocked out tanks where back in action within 24hrs, furthermore tanks where rarely used against tanks and where primarily used as infantry support, not to mention the amount of AT guns the allied forces had.

@simonsouthgate8374 3 года назад

@@gordonlawrence1448 Yes I am going from Wiki......we were so superior as all the old archive footage shows, as all the testament proves.............oh and what was the numerical advantage in Shermans and others that Monty had to have...umhh.. Anyways nice talking to an Expert !

@schuletrip 3 года назад

I often wonder what the men on both sides of the War would think if they could see what has become of Europe post War.

@USN1985dos 3 года назад

The Allies would've become demoralized and the Axis would have fought harder.

@gordonlawrence1448 3 года назад

I have spoken to some of them and "bloody shambolic" was the reply of one of them. "A disgrace" was another and "we didnt risk our lives in a Fu(*ing war for this stupidity" was quite common.

@schuletrip 3 года назад

@@USN1985dos imagine you could bring them back, imagine they saw London or Birmingham nowadays for example. I think they’d have dropped their weapons and gone home!

@downsyndromehitler5697 3 года назад

@@schuletrip never would that generation imagine us giving away everything they fought for to the enemy without a shot fired. Pathetic self destructive generation too scared to have an identity or an opinion happily handing it all over to those that will slaughter us once in sufficient numbers.

@skepticalbadger 3 года назад

@@schuletrip GTF with your racist BS pal.

@redfish3216 3 года назад

Excellent video as usual. As mentioned before, the Tigers with the F designation belonged to the so called Kampfgruppe Fehrmann, named after Oberleutnant Fehrmann, who commanded the force of a total of 6 Tigers (F01 to F05 and F13). This was an ad hoc force scrambled together from the remains of whatever material and menpower which was available. The Tiger mentioned in this Video had an early turret but a late war hull. This Action is documented from the german perspective in the Tiger focused reference books by Wolfgang Schneider. Infact it is written in this book that it was not Tiger F01 that was knocked out by Comets near Ostenholz which in turn is near Essel, but it was F02. F02 was isolated by the rest of the Fehrmann Tiger force because it was damaged by friendly fire earlier on the 9th of April. It was driven back to the Support area to be repaired. The repairs took a day, so F02 took action alone on the 10th onward, being engaged with the Comets later (the 13th of April was mentioned) as desribed in the Video.

@woodybenjam 3 года назад

But the photos show F01 clearly on the turret?

@redfish3216 3 года назад

@@woodybenjam In Schneiders book there are a couple of pictures showing the Tiger. One of them shows the tank dragged to the side of the road. I really looked closely and its kind of hard to see but I think its F02. It almost looks like it was originally 1 but was changed to a 2 later... regardless its very interesting to see this exact event having been documented by British reports as well, and it matches very well. Edit: you're correct. Its F01, the Author was wrong with the numbering

@TankBuilders 3 года назад

Schneider got it wrong. TheEssel Tiger tank was F01. The commander subsequently walked a few miles up the road to the hotel which his father owned and sat out the final days of the war. Sensible man.

@petrsukenik9266 8 месяцев назад

Wait, how was comet not able to penetrate Tiger? 77HV round should gon straight thru

@JimHabash 3 года назад

Centurion set the mark for tanks after 1945, for me

@FairladyS130 3 года назад

So lets's just park our tanks here on a road and have brew up, nothing's going to happen so we won't bother covering any approaches. Villiers Bocage, rinse and repeat.

@lyndoncmp5751 3 года назад

Hmmm well Villers Bocage would still likely have happened even without a brew up. Even the British tanks that fired and hit WittmannsTiger, at least two Cromwells and a Firefly, all failed to penetrate it. They weren't all caught napping, and the half tracks and Stuarts on the road outside, that Wittmann engaged first, wouldn't have been able to do anything against his Tiger anyway even if they were ready.

@FairladyS130 3 года назад

@@lyndoncmp5751 Tiger's were vulnerable to side and rear hits from most of those tanks mentioned, that they were virtually indestructible is a myth. All a couple of tanks had to do was take up ambush positions to the approaches, that was standard practice in most armies.

@lyndoncmp5751 3 года назад

Dead on to the side yes (though still 90mm effective side armour due to its Brinell Hardness). Even if you are on the flank yet still angled you will have problems because the side plates will be angled. The Stuarts outside Villers were to its front. They still wouldn't have taken the Tiger out even if they were ready. Nor would the half tracks and Loyd carriers, so the damage outside villers would still have been done. A road block mass of wreckage and a halt to the advance. Then when Wittmann went into the town itself. The two Cromwells Wittmann met were alert and ready but again Wittmann was frontal to them and his Tiger quickly knocked them out. The second Cromwell actually hit WittmannsTiger twice supposedly but the shots bounced off. So really, nothing would have changed. Only the lead elements were drinking tea. Those in the town were not. They still didn't knock Wittmann out. Only after he already did what he needed to do was his Tiger immobilised, supposedly by an anti tank gun.

@FairladyS130 3 года назад

@@lyndoncmp5751 That's may have what happened but it all comes down to the correct tactical use and disposition of your AFV's. Stringing them out along a road does not qualify, particularly not when there has been no recce and enemy assets and locations are unknown.

@lyndoncmp5751 3 года назад

True, but don't forget, the Tigers were already there and waiting. They bivouacked the night in the lane parallel to the road out of Villers and could see and hear it all. The main road, going by the pictures of the destruction, was lined with trees and bushes etc so for most of it the British vehicles couldn't get off the road. I believe there was a recon done before but it didn't spot anything. Wittmann's 6 Tigers were camouflaged out of sight. They wouldn't have been seen. They couldn't have ambushed Wittmann as he was aware of what they were doing outside the town, though obviously he couldn't see what they were doing inside the town. The British thought they had gone around the outside of Panzer Lehr and that there was nothing at Villers. With a huge slice of bad luck, Wittmann's company only arrived there the evening before. Had the British advanced through Villers only one day earlier there would have been nothing there.

@232beachroad 3 года назад

i have thought the 17 pounder from a comet tank would have killed the tiger tank mk 1 with a frontal hit, surprised it did not. perhaps the German tank was lucky, because the 17 pounder was probably a better anti tank gun than the 88mm on the mk1 tiger ( well in the pictures it was a mk 1 tiger ) a king tiger I could understand having a problem penetrating frontal armour

@tonymanero5544 3 года назад

I thought the 77mm, a shortened shell version of the 17pdr, but with similar KE would have pierced the 102mm flat plate of a Tiger 1. Also, the Tiger 1 production ended in mid 1944 in favor of the Konigs Tiger which first appeared in the Normandy campaign with the initial round mantle turret.

@232beachroad 3 года назад

@@tonymanero5544 yes , precisely, that is what I am saying, it should have stopped the tiger 1 pictured in the video

@woodybenjam 3 года назад

You are both assuming that the round hit the armour perfectly straight on.

@232beachroad 3 года назад

no, I did say the tiger might have been lucky ,in my first comment@@woodybenjam

@bobterry6671 3 года назад

army-sgt-joe-ronnie-hooper Would be nice to see this on your channel

@Skyfox94 3 года назад

Just goes to show that, whilst the Tiger was no joke, it wasn't undefeatable either.

@chrisrowland1514 3 года назад

I agree but a 1v1 frontal attack against a Tiger is a death sentence for any allied tank crew

@pyrtwistPyrtwistWorldInMotion 3 года назад

The Tiger needed to be watching it flanks.

@232beachroad 3 года назад

are you agreeing with me or disagreeing with me?. in the photos with the commentary it is definitely a first generation tiger tank , first encounter in 1942 in Tunisia and 1 was knocked out by a British 6 pounder anti tank gun and that tank is the tiger tank in the film fury

@TTTT-oc4eb 3 года назад

Tiger F01 was a strange, "impossible" hybrid, a late production Tiger with some old features, like the commander cupola. Possible the only Tiger with this combination?

@tonyjedioftheforest1364 3 года назад

The Chieftain for me.

@farmerned6 3 года назад

just find a good hill to breakdown on, and then defend it

@Edward-ci8yl Год назад

My father was a tanker 3 rd armored division 33 battalion,got shot out of 3 Sherman's and got in the 4th.

@DaveSCameron 3 года назад

Wow scary days and heroes all!

@mwnciboo 3 года назад

Comet is my 2nd Favourite tank after the Centurion...Pretty much every other Brit Tank was average or awful, but those two were excellent - although Comet didn't serve long 1943 - 1958

@dietmarholtz188 3 года назад

How many did you serve on?? or how would you know they were awful

@MM22966 3 года назад

"Tae a Yorkie like ye, a 'ero is some kind of weird sarnie, nay a nutter who takes on a Tiger tank!"

@Edward-ci8yl Год назад

Pop took on a tiger ,took 3 shoots at it hit it didn't stop it!!!! Asked what he did next lol he said got the he'll out of there!!!!

@petergrose-jones9187 16 дней назад

Tigers just drivin around on their own.

@figmo4227 3 года назад

I don't understand why the crews weren't informed that their weapons on the comet could defeat the tiger frontally at combat ranges. Not saying I wouldn't have withdrawn aswell.

@figmo4227 3 года назад

@John Cornell history would disagree with you. Besides, playing top trump with any military vehicle is banal and pointless.

@figmo4227 3 года назад

@John Cornell thats combat for you, that isn't crew specifically angling their armour. Most encounters were also below 600yds anyway. And in combat it's not just tank on tank. Which is why comparison in this case isn't worth it. One vehicle may be at an oblique angle to another but for the other assets deployed the angle won't matter. Generally tank top trumps is utterly useless.

@TTTT-oc4eb 3 года назад

@@figmo4227 The Tiger drivers were trained to angle their vehicle at 45 degrees against threats. This would boost the front hull to 180+ mm and side armor to 140+ mm. The turret front (mantlet + backup armor) was effectively 140-225mm. The mantlet itself was 150-90 mm, but all thicknesses 125 mm or less were backed up by heavy bars of 100 mm armor. The Tiger 1 also had very good armor quality, much better than the Panther. British tests found that the armor performed 13-20+% better than expected from the sheer thickness. In this scenario (first encounter) the Tiger knew where the Comets were, so it could make most of angling the hull.

@figmo4227 3 года назад

@@TTTT-oc4eb Indeed, I have just read through Tigerfebel and there is the section about cutting the sausage. Fair enough I was wrong.

@thomaslinton1001 3 года назад

Why was this particular 17 Pounder incapable of damaging the Tiger I? (From pictures of the tank after it was penetrated by a shot to its left side, we know it was a Tiger I.) That gun could penetrate the thickest armor on a Tiger I at 1000 meters.

@valenrn8657 3 года назад

Comet's 17 pdr High Velocity (HV) gun shorter barrel and smaller charge cartridge configuration is the inferior version when compared to Challenger (A30)'s and Sherman FireFly's full-length QF 17-pounder anti-tank guns. Penetration is also dependant on the muzzle velocity which is influenced by the gun's barrel length and cartridge charge size. The gun design is important.

@thomaslinton1001 3 года назад

@@valenrn8657 In the World, vs games, the 17 pdr High Velocity (HV) (3 inch; 76.2 mm - sometimes referred to as "77 mm") was effective against late-war German tanks, including the Panther at medium range, and the Tiger. Fletcher, David; Harbey, Richard C., Cromwell Crusiser Tank 1942-1950, Osprey Publishing (2006). The "full length" 17 pdr ignited part of its propellant outside the barrel, producing only a violent flash.

@valenrn8657 3 года назад

@@thomaslinton1001 Video's witness account source contradicted your Wiki cited reference book. The "effective against late-war German tanks, including the Panther at medium range, and the Tiger" statement doesn't directly state direct frontal armor of a Tiger. Comet tank has 1,186 units. Sherman Firefly tank has 2,100 to 2,200 units built. This has the full-length QF-17 anti-tank gun. M26 tanks have 2,212 units built. M4 tanks have 49,234 units built, can take on Panzer IV. Russian T34 tanks have similar build numbers. Needs about 5 M4 tanks to beat a Tiger, hence effective strength is about 9846 units. VS Panzer VII Tiger II tank has 492 units built Panzer VI Tiger I tank has 1,347 units built Panzer V Panther tank has 6000 units built Panzer IV has 8,553 units built

@thomaslinton1001 3 года назад

@@valenrn8657 Anecdotal evidence is often questionable. The book Wiki cited is by two creditable, and well-known, historians of armor. If a tank is knocked out, is it less so because it was penetrated through armor that was not the thickest it carried? The "regular 17 pdr" is thus described; "The Ordnance Quick-Firing 17-pounder (or just 17-pdr)[note 1] was a 76.2 mm (3 inch) gun developed by the United Kingdom during World War II. It was used as an anti-tank gun on its own carriage, as well as equipping a number of British tanks. Used with the APDS shot, it was capable of defeating all but the thickest armour on German tanks. It was used to 'up-gun' some foreign-built vehicles in British service, notably to produce the Sherman Firefly variant of the US M4 Sherman tank, giving British tank units the ability to hold their own against their German counterparts." The shorter 17pdr HV: "The gun was still capable against opponents and firing APDS rounds, more accurate and consistent than APDS from the 17-pounder and 6-pounder, which were inaccurate over 700m and often ricocheted." Accuracy does have some value in an anti-tank weapon.

@valenrn8657 3 года назад

@@thomaslinton1001 Comet's 17pdr HV is a short barrel version when compared to Sherman Firefly's full-length QF-17 anti-tank gun.

@simonh317 3 года назад

Was the Firefly better than the 76mm Sherman? As a fighting vehicle not really, the gun was too large for the turret and the rounds were very big and the flash was exceptional . But - Firefly was present on DDay and the the Battle`s of Caen and the Normandie break out, to fight the big cats , whereas the 76mm Sherman wasnt. Thus the legend was born.

@Dalesmanable 3 года назад

In tank vs tank, the Firefly had massively more penetration than the 76 mm. It did though have the disadvantages of the longer barrel, muzzle blast kicking up dust, a poor HE round and potential flash temporarily blinding the gunner. The 76 mm was, all in, a disappointment to the point that some units preferred the 75 mm Sherman.

@lyndoncmp5751 3 года назад

As a tank killer the Firefly was superior. The Sherman 76 mm needed the very rare HVAP ammo to make its gun a good tank killer. Without HVAP the 76mm did not meet the required expectations by 1944/45 standards. The 17 pounder did, without the need for special ammunition.

@alexbowman7582 2 года назад

The Germans were usually fighting a defence war sitting waiting for the allies who were fighting an offensive war therefore the Germans had the advantage.

@AUDIABiQUATTRO 2 года назад

A comet cant pen the front of a tiger impossible! that tiger got very lucky

@casparcoaster1936 3 года назад

Any Tiger story is a treat, especially one where it loses the battle, especially after signal officer implying it's a myth. Still, there no muzzle break, like a tiger's 88 muzzle break... if i was gay, I would want to touch it, as I walked by... or maybe just bi.

@danielcruz8347 Год назад

Really believe this account that obviously well written by some ghost paper back author!!!!

@jameslukaszewicz2029 8 месяцев назад

The 77mm gun of the Comet was more than capable of taking out the Tiger. The officer retreating, obviously had 'Tiger Fever'. The Comet had the same armour frontally as the Tiger, as well as a comparable gun.

@jp-um2fr Год назад

I spent nearly 40 years with our MOD, and then Centurions were still in service. It amuses me greatly when a certain country seems to think their tank is invulnerable. Despite numerous RU-vid videos showing them blown to bits. There is no doubt Chobham armour is good (I worked at Chobham) but believe me even a German 88 of WW2 could destroy ANY tank if it pokes a hole in the right place - and they all have the right place.

@paulgrant7949 2 года назад

I can't believe the Germans were able to keep up such, sustained stiff resistance, on soon many fronts, for so long against the rest of the world! Says a lot about their army and their resolve!! Most armies would have folded like a hot Mars bar, against such unilateral aggression!!. Gotta love a good Tiger tank story!!!

@AnthonyTobyEllenor-pi4jq 4 месяца назад

Wittman and his crew would not have missed with the AP shell ! The Allied Tank Commander needed new underpants and to wash his bum after the surprise of seeing the Tiger coming towards him.

@frankanderson5012 2 месяца назад

Grow up. What are 13?

@CETGale 3 года назад

1 Tiger tank against many..... Imagine equal # of Tigers and Panthers to Allied tanks....... Easy German victory...

@helilivesmatter1075 3 года назад

The US Balistics Research Lab conduced a post war analysis into roughly 30 battles between the Sherman’s US 3rd and 4th tank divisions and panthers, For every Sherman lost, 3 panthers went down with it.

@CETGale 3 года назад

@@helilivesmatter1075 B.S. You are looking at fake # /news.... My grandfather was a tank commander in Pattons 3rd Army and he also worked as a mechanic early on... He said the German tanks were way better and they had to put a longer gun on them just to knock out a Tiger..

@CETGale 3 года назад

@@helilivesmatter1075 9 Shermans to 1 Tiger 11 T34's to 1 Tiger... The T34 was better than the Sherman so that probally fliped flopped....

@helilivesmatter1075 3 года назад

@@CETGale Nah, an in-depth government study which included experts in ballistics, tank combat, and armored warfare diving into how the Shermans performed against panthers which also used valid and cemented source material such as battlefield and regimental reports is unsurprisingly a better source than 'my grandad was a mechanic'. "9 Shermans to 1 Tiger 11 T34's to 1 Tiger", site your sources for that myth? Also no, the t34 wasn't better than the Sherman, its ammunition placement was dangerous, it had awful crew survival rates, poorer optics, much poorer ergonomics, worse reliability, worse communication equipment alongside all the negatives of it being purposely designed to be a tank that was disposable,

@youraveragescotsman7119 2 года назад

@@CETGale Arracourt and Dompaire. Panthers got massacred in droves by US and French forces during those battles, and they were massacred by short 75mm Sherman Tanks.

@makiwa 3 года назад

I don't care who wins I still Love the Tiger!!! Awesome!

@skyportalmusic7178 2 года назад

Jesus Loves You

@FrancisSullivan-j7t 8 месяцев назад

Comet,was NOT a good tank.

@28pbtkh23 3 года назад

Great video - thanks for putting it up and telling the story of this “small action.” It might have been small to most generals or historians, but to the men who were there it must have been terrifying to come face-to-face with a Tiger.

@lhkraut 3 года назад

Especially when you see an AP round bounce off of it.

@28pbtkh23 3 года назад

@@lhkraut - that must have put the fear of god into them.

@lhkraut 3 года назад

@@28pbtkh23 you know it!

@tricepsish 3 года назад

Please do a vid on the SBS and SFSG hostage rescue of Stephen Farrell from the Taliban

@minsapint8007 3 года назад

Brave men. Clever manoeuvre to destroy the Tiger.

@impguardwarhamer 3 года назад

it's very easy to look back at this and think they should have just stuck it out when the tiger first appeared, since we know that really a 17 pounder can penetrate the front of a tiger 1, but things are different on the ground. This kinda reminds me of then the first tigers in north africa lost to some Churchill's. People at the time arn't going to know in depth the effectiveness of their and the enemies vehicles, and especially not when they're new. The tiger crew in north africa may have been told their tank was great, but they're fighting an enemy they know has very thick armour and they know has a very good anti tank gun, they're not going to really realise what advantage they have. It's the same thing here. The crews may have been told they have a good gun, but they're fighting the infamous tiger, and they just watched their first shot do nothing. Of cause they're gonna bug out.

@eraldorh 3 года назад

Comets gun wasnt as good as a 17pdr from what iv just read but i was still surprised to hear it bounced off the front of the tiger, maybe they hit it at an angle.

@impguardwarhamer 3 года назад

@@eraldorh yeh its not quite as good but it should be plenty for just a tiger 1. But yeh theres plenty of things that can mess up a shot irl. Plenty of places you can hit where the armour happens to be angled, and lots of small areas where overlapping components makes thick armour

@nzmonsterman 2 года назад

A good video and great use of the maps. It shows what a good crew of the Tiger would achieve and why they were so feared. Even from the side ( the Hollywood weak point to kill all Tigers) you can see this first round went through but didn't disable it. That must have been a very stressful few seconds before they got the second and final shot in the Tiger. They were lucky the Germans hadn't placed support infantry down that side road. All these men from both side have my deepest respect. I can only imagine how it was for them and are pleased and thankful I have never had to experience it myself.

@SvensHistoryLab 10 месяцев назад

it is somewhat of a myth that you would have to shoot a tiger in the side for instance the QF 77mm HV gun on the comet could easily pierce the upper front plate and lower front plate on the tiger

@erwinsell184 9 месяцев назад

If you watch and read the memories of Lieutenant LANGDON HE CLEARLY SAYS HE SHOT AT THE TIGER WITH HIS 77 MM COMET GUN AT 600 YARDS WITH NO EFFECT AT ALL AND HE USED ARMOR PIERCING SHEL'S .DID YOU GET THAT PART OF A VETERAN TANK COMMANDER SAYING IT CLEAR ? THOSE ARE HIS MEMORIES ,COULD YOU PROOF HIM WRONG ?@@SvensHistoryLab

@scorcher67 7 месяцев назад

@@SvensHistoryLab absolutely .

@SNAFUDOCS 3 года назад

Very well researched buddy! I love seeing M-10 Tank Destroyers

@squeakycleanwithlouise4211 3 года назад

Amazing video as always, great to watch and learn about the last tank battle between these 2 countries of ww2. 💖👍

@jasonharryphotog 3 года назад

Good story that Cheers

@Trojan0304 3 года назад

Great research on small unit action. New to channel

@camrenwick 3 года назад

My favourite tank is the Centurion. Although there are many other I like too.

@darrennicol2442 3 года назад

There are many other tanks like it,, but this one is mine. Sorry, for some reason, reading your comment brought that line from Full Metal Jacket to mind. Not being a c$%#. I like the Centurion,too.

@simonweston939 5 месяцев назад

thought Comet had 17pdr which could penetrate Tiger frontal armour

@infinitystormsafire2425 4 месяца назад

Probably loaded a different round

@manteufel1964 Год назад

I'm a little sceptical as to the validity of this account. An AP round from a 17-pounder could theoretically penetrate the frontal armour of a Tiger 2 at short range , so should go through a Tiger 1 frontal armour like a knife through butter.

@KartarNighthawk 9 месяцев назад

Could have been that the shot missed instead of bouncing off, or that they fired the wrong type of round. Memory being what it is they wouldn't necessarily put it together correctly after the fact.

@itinn1 3 года назад

Just happened to be watching some of your other videos

@Blair338RUM 3 года назад

Well the Tiger I did bloody well.

@keithtanner2806 3 года назад

I have never understood why we made such little use, relatively, of the British 17 pounder gun which was every bit as good as the German 88mm

@hughbeastodonnell3733 3 года назад

The Tank Museum staff and Chieftain walk around series go over it if you're interested. It's a bit dispiriting, or was to me anyhow.

@TTTT-oc4eb 3 года назад

No British tank could take the big 17 pdr apart from the limited-production Challenger and Archer tank destroyer. It could (just) fit into the US Sherman (Firefly) and M10 (Achilles). Although quite many Fireflies (more than 2000) and Achilles were produced during the war, few were avalable at the opening stages of Normandy campaign, only 64 as of June 11th. It took the Centurion to find a proper British tank to put the 17n pdr in.

@philstaples8122 3 года назад

The motto of this is don't fuck with the black mafia even if you're in a tiger tank ;)

@commander31able60 3 года назад

so, Tiger F01 was alone, without infantry support? how did they get there?

@woodybenjam 3 года назад

Drove?

@commander31able60 3 года назад

@@woodybenjam boy that answers my question and then some. You see, I’ve always been under the impression tanks were crew-served weapons, and were carried into battle and assembled as needed. But they can drive? Who would’ve thunk?