Street Fighters: Evolution of Tanks in Urban Warfare 

Hi Tanks Nuts - We hope you enjoyed this video. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.

Tank in 1918: I'd rather not enter urban enviroment. Tank in 2118: I'd rather not enter urban environment.

Brilliant as always! The tactical deployment of the F bomb was well timed, useful, and added significant value!

I served my time in an Infantry battalion - 6 months as a Rifle Platoon Leader and 18 as the Antitank Platoon Leader - before I was allowed to escape to where I belonged in a tank company 1) As the AT Platoon Leader, I set up a three day course for each rifle platoon in organizing and operating tank killer teams in close environments. I used Riot City as my urban environment while Ft Lewis had plenty of training areas with thick vegetation which canalized the tanks onto roads and trails so they could be ambushed. The division commander was impressed enough by it, that he told my battalion CO that it was "good training" and I got a commendation. in my 201 File. In addition, every AT Platoon Leader in the division had to attend a special week long course to learn the Gospel and take it back to their battalions to run their own battalion's courses. Those were the days! 2) When I first encountered the M1 tank in Germany as an Armored Cavalry Troop commander I was amazed to find it didn't have an infantry phone like te M48 and M60 series vehicles did. When they finally installed one in the early 2000's as part of tehe TUSK upgrade, my reaction was, "About time, damn it!"

I just cant get enough of Mr. Copson presenting anything. He could probably narrate paint drying and I would soak up every second of it haha Edit: Dont mean I dont like your other presentors but I just really like his cadence and choice of words.

Talking of blast from a firing tank gun, I suspect as an infantryman you would not want to be standing by a tank when the ERA gets hit. As a sailor on ship going down to the Falklands, I made the mistake of standing above and behind a Charley G 84mm recoiless gun when it was fired, it made my eyes water I can tell you. I enjoyed the video thank you.

My dad crewed an M50 Ontos in Vietnam. Thank you for mentioning this often forgotten vehicle!

Another quality Tank Museum video to see out a Friday, absolute bliss

Excellent video with a refreshingly blunt yet accurate assessment of the challenges, benefits and options of using heavy armour in urban areas.

The production quality on this video is really good, well done to the team!

Got to visit the Tank Museum this week for the first time. These videos are even more impressive when you get to see the machines upfront. Very much like the frank delivery.

I always enjoy this man's lectures. They're less like a boring lecture I have to come back to several times to finish and more like a encouraging lesson from a likeable, respected and down to earth senior NCO that soldiers had better listen to if they want to live.

Excellent video. I really appreciated the use of long periods of history to explain the same lesson rather than a focus on a single conflict.

great video as always, May not learn something new, in every video, but finding British crews using concrete training rounds against snipers in buildings was a VERY interesting fact.

Another brilliantly explained deep dive into an aspect of tank warfare. Thanks so much for this.

Top notch. I had been waiting for a great rundown on tanks in urban warfare and hadn't realized it.

The production value of these videos just keeps going up! Particularly liked the focus shift when Mr Copson talked about the ECS on the Scimitar

The tank Crews of WWII absolutely hated having to drive through a building with a tank. Basements, something people tend to forget about. The sheer weight of a modern tank compared to those old tin buckets. I'm guessing crashing through a building is completely out of the question now. Then think about the big city. The ground is basically Halo. Basements, maintenance tunnels, subway tunnels and there's also a lot of old structures from the original City. Sitting underneath all the modern constructions. I would just be too terrified to drive through a big city.

16:21 I genuinely spat my tea out 😂 Another very excellent episode . Tank you TTM 🥰

Imagine the last sight you see in the world is a flash of light and the words "PRACTICE ROUND" growing to fill your field of vision

This is really great. Thanks again Chris and The Tank Museum!

When I was a conscript in the Bundeswehr a million years ago, on an exercise in northern Germany, at one point during basic training I found myself in the undergrowth with a buddy, a couple meters behind a Leopard II from some completely different outfit. The tank was rummaging back and forth beneath a tree for some reason, much like a wild boar digging for acorns or truffles. And for the first couple seconds we thought it was kinda funny. They obviously had not the slightest clue we were there. Then it dawned on us how dangerous this was because chances were they wouldn't even notice if they accidentally backed over us, not even if we were screaming at the top of our lungs. And we cheesed it. Later I found out that some tanks actually have a telephone on the rear for infantry to communicate with the tank crew, and I have been wondering ever since how they avoid getting squished, and how many have been run over while trying to use that phone. Regarding weaknesses, at one point I saw a Leopard II standing around in the barracks, and a thin maintenance door in the middle of the left side was open, and behind it seemd to be the oil filter. You could probably penetrate that flimsy panel with an assault rifle, and it would be blown completely to bits if anything stronger happened to hit that spot. And I couldn't help wondering, wasn't that design a massive oil loss waiting to happen, and eventually cause the engine to seize up.

Wonderfully produced and presented.

This latest series is a logical, sequential, considered, and informative course upon the disparate topic of tanks. Very much appreciated. Thank you.

Great video! Very informative! Thanks!!!

An engaging and informative presentation. Straightforward, no nonsense, well researched and documented.

Most enjoyable narrative, direct simple to understand and delivered with authoritative military impact

Excellent presentation, as always from Tank Museum, but this one was particularly good and timely.

It was a wonderful explanation of tanks fighting in urban areas and infantry necessary existed nearby tanks for fighting nearly enemy infantryman .. thank you for sharing

Yet another excellent, very interesting video - Chris Copson's presentation style just gets better and better.

Interesting video! Learned a couple of things like the communication systems installed so infantry/tanks can communicate to each other. Also never knew what TUSK stood for until today so that was a cool learn.

Met a Sgt from the tank corps at bovington he was in Iraq and said he saw some action I stupidly asked what happened.we had a t72 round bounce off the front ....what happened then I asked.he with a smile said well we sent one back 👍🇬🇧

Very interesting stuff, especially while we are under going humongous changes in warfare due to AI/drone technology. Seeing heavy warships attacked by swarms of cheap $10k drones has got to be puckering butt holes. BTW, cities are usually built on rivers, and 74 ton tanks can't cross most bridges.

This Video is really great! I actually gotta say its one of the best ones so far.

using practice rounds as slugs to take out snipers has to come close to qualification as "swatting a fly with a buick"

Thankyou sir, very clear and precisely executed content.

Definitely the tank museum’s best presenter, thanks

A very interesting and well presented video. Much of this was not news to me but I was unaware of many of the more modern tech improvements.

Excellent and informative as always..........All of your presenters are great but I really like the 'gravitas' of this Mr. Copson.

Another fantastic tank chat. Very informative and interesting. Chris Copson is a superb narrator/ tank exert I have learned of a new rating as well 'The F-Off Factor'💪💪💪💥

Don’t know where you got the information about Strykers but I operated 2 years in Iraq with Strykers and they were never replaced by tanks or Bradley’s. The threats we faced over there all Armor vehicles were in danger of being destroyed. In fact when it came to survivability from IEDs the Strykers were better suited because of their ground clearance

Excellent video!!! Hope to visit the Tank Museum soon.

Excellent, as always! Thanks!

What a great video. Thanks for the content

Another quality lecture from the headmaster!

Most informative. Thank you.

Top-notch presentation. Excellent!

Very well done, and I say that as someone who did their military history PhD dissertation on urban warfare. Interesting note from WW2, the US Army's doctrine for urban warfare got the role of armor fundamentally wrong, saying it really didn't have much of a role, leave it for the infantry. Thankfully, US forces in Europe learned some valuable lessons when fighting in the bocage country around Normandy, where the hedgerows greatly restricted viability. The infantry and armor learned they needed each other, and very close cooperation was essential. When some of those same units then battled through Aachen Germany, they applied those same lessons. Doctrine eventually caught up, with the revisions to US Army field manuals in the early-1950s.

This is gonna be great!

What an insightful video! Thank you

During GW II, as an armourer on Harriers. We were loading HES GPS guided 1'000lb's and dropping these on targets in BUA's, ie taking out tanks hiding in side streets with no collatrel damage. When called in for a strike for the SAS, they weren't impressed that it didn't go 'BOOM!'.

Thanks for the great video!

This new breakout for subscribing etc is so much better than the overly-chripy "ding ding" old one.

good job sound person audio was butter nut!

Thank you. Excellent video.

very much enjoy this new format

Very engaging, as always.

Excellent video!

I really enjoyed this video!

Thank you for your work

Fantastic content!

amazing video!

this video was not long enough, did not have enough information. It was too interesting. so pls do make more.

These modern battlefield videos are amazing

You guys are awesome!

Innovative use of a concrete-filled round in order to limit damage to just where it was required sounds a very 'British' solution 😉. Remember seeing the spent concrete rounds on the ground along the coastal tank gunnery range in Dorset (the cliff-top Right-of-Way was open most days).

Excellent video....thank you!

Very interesting, as always.

Awesome video!

Excellent piece.

Excellent presentation - thanks again for these weekly nuggets of gold. One point though. 2:28 onwards - you might want to wipe your feet next time instead of leaving those footprints - the cleaners will have your guts for garters ;)

This is why i think it's really important to have a big mixture of military grade ATV vehicles that are highly maneuverable, and adaptive in urban scenario's. Mix in tanks alongside group swarms of a ton of highly mobile small vehicles and i think it can be very beneficial for the manner in which a military could conduct themselves in urban environments.

well made video & interesting! :)

Combined force training has to happen for todays forces to be effective, thanks for excellent vid

I enjoyed the people running and hiding from the camera frame. But I also enjoyed the entire video. Lol

Fantastic video.

1000 like :) I was actually thinking about this topic the other day

No mention of the Trophy system ?

Very interesting and informative

Imagine some poor Sniper getting drilled by a Concrete training round !..that sure would ruin his Day..Great vid as always.

As a rough guide, I would say that tanks under 40 tons stand a chance in urban areas. Those over 40 tons will struggle with tight streets & narrow weak bridges.

Great video.

I also remember watching saving private ryan and how a well placed 20mm cleaned the Tiger off like a Mr. Clean magic eraser.

Such a great video

We definitely trained in “All Arms warfare”. As a tank commander I could direct the various assets of the battlegroup to overcome the objective. We had an infantryman use the tank telephone, he stated “Enemy to you front, get out of here”. Unfortunately the driver heard the conversation and thought it came from the commander and high reversed over the Grunt. Understand that when a tank advances in to position it will reverse out of that position, to avoid exposing in vulnerable areas.

Great content.

Which tank were you referring to in part ‘issues of climate terrain’? Is it similar for all MBTs?

Superb video, nothing else to say.

The challenges of urban combat are enough to make you appreciate hard-kill active protection systems like TROPHY. Can’t kill what you can’t hit.

Subscribed baby bring more tanks!

Very interesting 2 things I was unaware of was the upgraded survivability kit on the tanks such as that Japanese buzzer & the phones on the Chieftans & Abrams but also that the British employed tactics of using practice rounds to knock out certain rooms or areas in a smaller radius.

We didn't get into the first person headsets for look thru the tank vision. Or talk about systems like trophy. Maybe a second episode on the latest tank and vehicle upgrades. Thinking Israeli kit ect

Spot on

Nice, good information

Great Video, but during the fight in Sadr City, in Iraq the Strykers weren't withdrawn to be replaced by the Brads and Tanks. We still had them doing all kinds of combat and supporting missions.

Wonder if there's likely to be any return to heavier tanks in future, just for the urban warfare setting? Sounds like fighting in cities like this is where older designs with multiple weapon pods and thick armour would actually be useful (in conjuction with modern sensor and other tech removing/limiting the need for extra crew), as the maneuvering isn't such a priority. I may be looking at it too simply though

so, to preface this, I only know Milsim and Arma 3 things; While I was trained by people who are vets and deployed or are currently enlisted, I understand it isn't like real life and all but with that all said, I still enjoyed doing combine arms with the abrams crew as an infantry and calling out "Do not stand behind the tank, this is your first and only warning, Second warning is the tank reversing."

Two of my Uncles were infantry in the ETO. From reading the history of one uncles regiment. Tanks would pop up from time to time where the Tanks would slow down to carry infantry near the point of contact. So the tanks would have infantry support. One reference was the tanks were used as rolling pillboxes in urban areas

I liked video before I watched it because I knew it was going to be gold. . . and it was.

Before watching the video, I could've never been a tanker. As infantry you can maneuver to get out of a kill zone. As an analogy, even if your foot is badly hurt, you can still limp to cover with the help of somebody. You lose a track, you might not be able to even shoot in all direction because there could be rubble that only allows you to traverse the turret 60° to the right. Oh and you're stuck there until the situation dies down a bit to and a recovery vehicle can get you out.