Tank Chats  

Hey Tank Nuts! What do you think of the Hellcat?

My dad was the main gunner on a M18 with the 661rst in the last few months of the war. His tank's name was the Coup de Grace and it appears at 12:33 in the video. That sure looks like him in the center top looking at the two women. Great picture. Great Dad.

This is one of those vehicles that just has attractive proportions in my opinion. It's just a good looking vehicle.

Props to the designers. The Hellcat looks modern even by today standards.

I saw an article about someone who restored one, he then entered it in car shows as a ‘43 (‘44?) Buick.

My great grandfather was part of a US Army tank destroyer battalion from June of 1942 until the fall of 1945 and he drove tank destroyers. He originally was a chauffeur for officers until they found out he had experience driving crawler tractors from before the war. He originally drove the M10 Wolverine in Africa, Italy, and Western Europe until his M10 got replaced by the M18 Hellcat in December of 1944. He would drive his Hellcat until the end of the war in Europe before being sent back home.

I read Hellcats were very successful fire support vehicles in Italy, because their high power to weight ratio allowed them to climb mountains where other armored vehicles couldn't go and the 76mm was accurate at long ranges. If you could get one on top of a mountain it could command all facing slopes within range. An armored vehicle doesn't have to be great if you have one and the other side doesn't.

I love how the staff at the tank museum can celebrate each tank for what it is, while still giving a realistic picture of the success or failure of the design. Thank you.

There was a tv show that showed restoring tanks many years ago. They found an M18 and fixed it up. They then found an old WWII vet who had commanded an M18 in the war. He had a great time going for a ride. It was a "reality show" so who knows how much was true? Good Luck, Rick

“I need your clothes, your boots and your Armoured Vehicle” David Willey 2022 Looking very cool next to the hellcat with those shades!

I love it when good historical explanations of tanks include mention of "Kelly's Heroes."

Absolutely gorgeous vehicle all dressed up. Great editing too, the black and white photos interspersed really add to the chat. Cheers boys

I was finally able to visit BTM a week ago... It was NUTS!!! I was especially impressed with the smaller part of exhibition, dedicated to WW1. Striking! And the cutthrough's of British Marks - just insane ❤️❤️❤️

M18 Hellcat was the Javelin ATGM of it's day.

Love the Boxing Gloves hanging on turret....Gives a new meaning to being prepared for Hand to Hand Combat.

During the Brest, France campaign, in August 1944, one M18 sank a German flak ship at a range of over a mile with only six shots.

My great uncle was in the 705th td battalion as a m-18 driver. He talked with great pride about his tank and it carried the crew through many battles but usually only as supporting fire. Bastogne was a very different story.

That moment when you've just finished writing an article on the M18 for your Tank Blog right before the Tank Museum uploads this video 😄

One of my favorites. I appreciated the great WWII period photos.

Absolutely one of the most gorgeously proportioned armoured vehicles of all time!

I love these films about various armoured doctrines, always my favourites. Thanks tank museu.

My dad drove this in WWII. He told me that as the war went on the crew would rotate stations. He loved driving, the speed of M18 was its main grace. They would sit in a low spot take a couple of shots and run.

That's a good looking unit right there. The tanks not bad looking either

My dad was a platoon leader in the 824th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Landed in Marseilles in Oct. of 1944 with half-tracks and towed 76mm. Months later they were upgraded to the M-18. The open turret design presented a close call for him, when a mortar round burst nearby. He brought home a piece of shrapnel that landed next to his foot. He saw action around the Siegfried line, in Heilbronn, and was part of the security detail at the surrender proceedings of Stuttgardt in April. Ended up the war in Austria. His TD's were mostly used as tracked artillery. He had commented how fast the M18s were, and he would tell soldiers hitching a ride to hang on tight.

As a former Heavy Antiarmor Infantryman (TOW), we regarded the men of the TD Corps as our direct ancestors in concept and mission. My company was part of 2nd Brigade 3rd Armored Division, and our platoons would be tasked to each of the teams formed from the two armor squadrons and one infantry battalion (which we were organic to). The basic concept remained, but we were tasked as the stand off anti tank element in the defense.

Thanks! love to sit and watch these!

A wonderful and insightful video! A favorite armored fighting vehicle I remember reading about, the M-18 was well designed and *fast* ,even if did not often fight in its intended role. Thank you to David Willey and all at The Tank Museum !! ☺

This is a good amount of research, many thanks for that, also, really great footage. Thank you David Wiley and team.

Yet another example of David Wiley's concise but hugely informative and apt explanations as to the 'why' of the subject vehicle that supplements and informs the presentation. He brings colour and nuance to something that could be "is tank, has gun, moves, works". Love his presentations.

Beautiful restoration job!

"Traffic problems? Drive away in the hot new 1943 Buick Hellcat, and leave those traffic jams behind! (Or at least in ruins.)"

You know a man is serious about his passions when he has steeltoed boots under his sundays pants. Just the sheer amount of knowledge comming out of this man is staggering. Highly appreciated, love from Holland!

This looks modern compared to most ww2 tanks. Great design.

Saw some abandoned ones in Bosnia in 1999 , at Gorazde . Engines had been removed. Seem much smaller in person. I understand that they fought on both sides, with other US and Soviet vehicles. In our area (UN) there were wrecks of T-34/85s, T-55s and Hellcats. At least two had been 90% buried by bomb hits nearby. I often wonder if they are still buried.

Loved seeing this at Tank Fest, one of my favourites!

I shake my head in bemused confusion at people who assess the effectiveness of armour by its performance in War Thunder.

I love the anecdotes of them actually effectively shooting and scooting during the Battle of the Bulge while M4's were fighting as static and short-lived targets.

Very effective shoot and scoot vehicle as proved in the Battle of the Bulge with the 705th .

Thanks

Both Looking good. Curator rocking those sunglases :)

Great video and presentation - Thank You!

My Dad was in US ARMY from 12/08/1941 to 12/20/1945 in the 804TH , T,D, he was a Driver IN M 20 GMCM3 M10 & M18 he love it his M18 .

Yes! I love the Hellcat!!

I've been waiting forever for this one!

My dad was a tank mechanic, among other things, with the 903rd Heavy Ordnance Battalion during WW2 from the Normandy Invasion all the way through to the end of the war. His unit was attached to the 3rd Armored Division and fought in almost all of the major battles the 3rd Armor was engaged in. He hated the Shermans, but liked the M18 Hellcats.

During the Korean War, Filipino Tank Ace Capt. Conrado D. Yap held the line with his M18 Hellcat against hordes of Chinese and North Korean soldiers at the Battle of Yuldong. He held the line until he was shot in the chest by an enemy sniper... He is credited for knocking out 13 Chinese and North Korean vehicles..

Awesome! And once again, you are Rocking those sunglasses good sir.

Thank you, very informative.

Harley Earl was also instrumental in the development of the first Corvettes(the car not the ships, although the car was named after the ships).

Thank you for this video from Canada

Just started watching this channel. Noticed the Mighty Jingles in the top right corner. Been watching his videos for years. Glad to see a familiar face. You all have some great content. Thank you for what y’all do.

Must've been early in the weekend: David had pretty bad sunburn by Sunday! It was an awesome show, and seeing a Hellcat frolicking about was really cool!

Loved it.

David looking sharp!

I love the lines of the Hellcat!

Thank you for some knowledge

Saw that very same Hellcat at the Victory show this year too! Great vehicle.

That's one cool looking David Willey! 🙂

I have been building and painting a little model Hellcat, it is one of my favorite WWII vehicles

One of my fav WoT vehicles, gets in position quick and able to deliver a surprise, lethal first hit.

Bloody beautiful vehicle the M18.

Excellent video 📹

My grandmother welded on the M18 at the Buick tank plant in Flint Michigan

The M18 has always been my favorite WW2 vehicle I think it’s just gorgeous looking

I was wondering when the M18 'Hellcat' would pop up, turns out the Museum don't have one apparently. Great video!

Love the narrator. Great video.

Thank you so much for this segment I find it very interesting how the US and the Yugoslavs seemed to be very interested in this style of thank the Australian tank museum has a M-36 that came from Yugoslavia and they switched out its power plant while in service there for a Russian T-35 diesel and it seemed to work very well. I’ve been trying to get them to do a piece on it but you beat them to it so to speak with this M-18 which is just an earlier version so thank you very much.

My grandfather was the tank driver in Company B 602 tank Destroyer Battalion.

So beautiful.

Nice!

snazzy shades mr Willey

Great tank chat as usual, lots of cool information about the M18. Though I was left wondering what the bucket (15:21) was used for?

Now this is the OG Hellkitty!

Best videos on the internet

Its such a nice looking vehicle, I wonder how many are left?

I LOVE the detailed explanation of tank doctrine and design philosophy behind the development of the tanks you feature. Any book recommendations on tank design doctrine, etc?

It's a gorgeous vehicle no doubt about it

It looks way more menacing than a lot of video game representations make it look. Really cool to see one of these

I think the real reason they didn't do their intended job except when the Germans were doing their masse armor breakthrough tactics they once so heavily relied on... was that the Germans were no longer capable of using those tactics against the American forces, and were stopped when they tried. It was the tactic the allies in general were worried most about, and they wanted to have it countered. The Germans had breakthrough armor doctrine, and the US had dedicated fast QRF to counter, which was eventually used with great success.

cool stuff

M18's played a major role in halting the advance of the "bulge" of December 1944. Their courage, speed, teamwork and 76mm gun gave some Nazis a very big surprise. We owe them a lot.

Love the shades ...

That’s a good looking Tank 🇺🇸

The Rogal Dorn looks like a hell of a tank!

Best looking tank ever. Fast, and hard hitting.

First of all i want to say i survived the mass genocides across Bosnia that was done by the Serbians (example srebrenica). Yugoslavia split up and Serbia did not like it and backed by Russia they attacked Croatia and Bosnia. Croatia had a military and so did Serbia while us Bosnians did not and had to fight basically civilians vs an army and supply ourselfs or use stuff we captured. Serbs wanted yo slaughter us and take our Land. We had a Sherman we captured in out town from the Serbs and it served us well. Now i live in USA and love history and many things especially Tanks! Thanks for these tank chats! Love em! I want to say, if Germany had these Hellcats instead of these huge Tigers they would not have lost the war so quick! Hitler made so many mistakes and the allies were lucky he did and thats why they did not want to assassinate him.

Looking good DW😎

Never knew about their service in Yugoslavia before. Interesting bit of information. Also I was wondering what that hole in the front might be good for until he said it was battle damage ...

Damn, that's a good looking tank.

I had to look several times, because that vehicle and the buildings and outdoor pavilion look just like the Army War College in Carlisle, PA.

As an outsider looking in, it seems to me that the US Army took the requirements for speed and firepower and applied them to tank design, such that all of the armored force / tank formations evolved into higher mobility units with better anti-tank weaponry, and wrote off high explosive delivery from tanks to a great degree, passing that mission back to the artillery, air force, and to some degree the infantry mortars. The need for rapid response anti-tank forces in turn still remains, but the need for rapidity means that the role is largely fulfilled by unarmored units... first the recoiless rifles mounted on jeeps, and later TOW and various other missiles from jeeps and helicopters. The need for a rapid response tank destroyer still exists, but technology has dictated that the means of achieving the need has developed in a different direction than what was originally envisioned.

Notorious for fins? Genius sir! He was a genius.

My grandfather was a hellcat driver in 771st TD battalion. Was wounded late in 1944 by a sniper while relieving himself, so the paperwork says.

I saw one of those run in Florida. Fast little bugger.

I have an Uncle I never met who served with the 603rd Tank Destroyers but died shorty after the breakout from Normandy during Operation Cobra. On August 8th, 1944, the 603rd was outside of Gousenou, France, when they received "considerable heavy fire" from the German held town that had been converted into a military fortress during 4 years of German occupation. Approximately 30 men were killed, wounded, or missing, that day and among them the Battalion Commander of the 603, Lt. Col. John G. Minniiece, was among the dead. On August 9th, after a buildup of more American forces outside of Gousenou over 900 Germans surrendered without a fight. HOWEVER - On August 7th, 1944, a day before the American forces first arrived outside of town, Germans forced 44 men, women, and children into the center of town and massacred them. I respect my Uncle for standing up to fight those types of people and I try to honor his memory. The sacrifice of my Uncle, Ernest J. Galles, and those like him, is not forgotten.

It seems to me that the reason it wasn't a very successful doctrine is because the German Army wasn't really on the offensive anymore once it finally got into service. It was a good idea but arrived too late, when the war was already pretty much won without them. The US had plenty of manufacturing capacity so I don't think it made that much of a difference to produce a few extraneous vehicles near the end of the war.

An interesting vehicle. Even though not strictly a tank, there was an example of the M18 in the display collection at the Greek Armoured Cavalry Recruit Depot when did my national service.

One of the best looking American AFVs of the war. Sexy stuff.

Its such a cute tank 🤩

One of my favorite armored vehicles, shame that the doctrine didn't work out.. Great video!