Even as a young kid to being 43 years old now. War has always blown my mind. The technology. The work and maintenance. The creation of these machines and the skilled men that operate them. The unimaginable suffering and brutal deaths or injuries.
@@kolloduke3341 well, the Sd.Kfz 181 Pz.Kpfw VI "Tiger I" ausfühung H1 and E can both carry up to 92 rounds of ammunition of which most of the types of rounds must be able to throw a nearly 9cm projectile at 980m/s, that is a **** ton of explosives
I had a friend he died 5 years ago he was serving by the Waffen SS, he was driving the Tiger and after the Kingtiger in Hungary unbelievable his fotos and the stories what he told to me I will always keep him in honor!!!
You do Know that these people were ordinary German citizens? That's like saying every American loves to burn women and children alive and every Russian is a brutal child rapist.... Judging a whole nation by the actions of a few makes you look like a narrow minded bigot... There is no difference between a German tank crew and an American one... A lot of them were even blood relatives. As a German I find it disturbing that some people still be leave this anti German propaganda bullshit...
17:08 Kurt Knispel, the biggest tank ace in WW2 (and probably of the world) He was better than Otto Carius and Michael Wittmann, he is not famous because he was a rebel, but he was an excelent tank commander
@@captjim007 Knispel had a long history of insubordination and did not comply with the regulations (long hair and long beard) so they never gave him the iron cross
Jash Loseher I thought I recalled watching a documentary that he was burried behind a church somewhere in Europe (Germany?), and that his remains have been since relocated to be honored in his home country of Czechoslovakia
My dad leaded a Sherman Tank Unit in Belgium, then Germany. Shermans were no match for the Tigers. He was a member of the Wyoming Cavalry (horses) and when the war broke out, they turned his horsemen Unit into Light Tanks crews. Guess that's the best they could do on a rush.
My grandad was an allied tank gunner in a firefly variant of the Sherman he said all tank crews were terrified of the tigers and even tho the firefly was supposed to be a match on paper you still had to try and hit certain weak points on a tiger to take it out which took time to aim at where as a tiger could just shoot you anywhere and you were gone
Tiger tanks had very old technology (squared off plating - no sloping/curved armour). So crews were trained to keep the chassis at an angle to the enemy, thus presenting the enemy with an angular profile, turning their squared plating into sloping/curved armour. Still today the Tiger I is regarded as the most menacing tank ever used in combat. 👍
@@idleonlooker1078 true about the angeling, plus the Sd.Kfz 181's hull when angled correctly is impenetrable to a Firefly as the thinnest point is now effectively 184mms, and the Firefly only has 163mms of penatration at 500m
Ultimate montage. Music is a masterpiece; Hans Zimmer, Thomas Bergersen! Must-watch for any WWII and tank enthusiast. I almost shed a tear. Schönes Werk! 💪
You have to imagine that you were taught in training that you are indestructible. As long as you fight at a distance, and stand properly to the enemy. The Tiger crews were tough as nails, it is sometimes said that they could not do anything,i think they would eat us all.
amazing beast of a machine ...pity to have so many tech problems...but is was way ahead of its time...german engineering at its very best....brutal but beautiful !!
There is actually another German tanker who scored more than Wittman. He is less known because he did not want to be noticed by many. He fought till the end in his Tiger ii.
@@shadowtrooper262 Youre right. Otto Carius survived the war with about 160-180 kills. Kurt Knispel died short before the war was out. Knispel was not that famouse because he was very critical against the Nazi Regime but he had more kills then Wittmann. He fought for Germany not for Hitler. On 9:30- you can see Otto Carius with the Iron Cross on his Tiger. Thank you for your critic.
All germans war machines are truly beautiful and yet terrifying! Imagine what allies felt when they saw/hearing the roaring sounds of this beast!? Mg42, tiger 1, king tiger, flak guns, bismarck. I don't like nazis, but not all nazis are evils. And their engineers are so genius!
German engineering on their tanks sucked. They could not easily be produced and were mechanically unreliable. They were out produced by the allies 100 to 1. And as many Tigers were lost to breakdowns as were knocked out. That isn’t something to brag about. 🤦🏼♂️
@@CH-pv2rz They were also facing off against four superpowers with quadruple their manpower and production capability and resources with incompetant allies and a madman leader. I think they did pretty good with what they had.
The wet mud on the Russian front would build up in the front double wheels and freeze overnight It would then expand and shear the wheel nut studs, The modification was to remove the outer front wheel and run them solo but only the fronts. There were 2 types of track for the Tiger 1, Transport Tracks which were narrow and which were fitted when the tank was being transported by rail this prevented any overhang thus avoiding the tank striking trackside furnishings such as signals, Bridges etc and the regular wide tracks.
It is really shocking to think that the vast majority of the men who appear in the video died, from a gunshot, a bomb or a grenade or they ended in the gulag, that their bodies are scattered randomly around and that the vast majority do not have a tomb or a measly inscription on their site. It is also shocking to think that practically all the vehicles were completely destroyed, dismantled and melted down, or simply abandoned inside lush forests, waiting to be found, if time does not consume them first.
You can buy a remote controlled 1/4 scale Tiger I - which includes even the thickness of the armour at scale! It weighs 250kg, and is so powerful it can tow small 4-door family cars!! The main gun fires blanks. Cost? About £10K. 👍
@@idleonlooker1078 If i had 10 Grand to spend on a Tank i would try to Updcale Again from 1/4 to full just so i could sit in the Turret and have someone drive me down to ASDA on a Saturday morning And as for the Gun on it Yeahh An 88 calibre Blank sounds interesting to fire !😉
@@danielgreen3715 Wanting to drive a real WW2 tank reminds me of that old guy in Germany who - up until recently - had an arsenal of WWII weapons - including an 88mm Flak gun. He also had an intact Panther tank in FULL running order which he'd last used in the 80s to clear snow from the village streets. Everyone in the village knew about his collection, as it was, it the local council that asked him to clear the snow! I''ve also read that some guys wanting realism have put pellet air guns into them - but I reckon they'd need to get police approval for that. There's quite a few clips on here showing these 1/4 scale tanks doing their thing.
It's so ironic really, the fact that it takes such a level of intelligence, manufacturing, engineering etc just to create these things yet their sole purpose is because we wanna kill eachother. Just think of the level of effort it took to create nuclear weapons because a few countries didn't like the systems another country on the other side of the world used to run itself.
fact that Franz Heurich newly promoted to the command of the 3rd Company had lacked the necessary battlefield experience to lead the attack. Wittmann was supposed to have said “I must go with them, for Heurich can scarcely cope” words that would have no doubt been etched on the minds of the survivors
Eren Aikokushin it's bad designed. German tank engineers still did not understand that flat armor is a stupid idea. Angling the armor would be more effective to bounce shells. Other nation did know
Nope. Tiger tanks had to stop driving if they wanted to shoot because these tanks had no vertical stabilization on their gun. Shermans had vertical stabilization so they could drive and shoot accurate at the same time.
The germans took recoil into account whrn building tanks. The holes you see at the end of the barrel of the Tiger 1 let lose a lot of the energy so the tank doesnt rock back and forth every time it fires.
The tank itself is stunning, with it's iconic shape and look. Even just seeing an outline it is recognizable, I await the day that a real tiger tank will be fully operational and do live test fires of the main 88 for the public.
The British captured one in Tunisia IIRC and bought it to their firing range. A 5 shot group at 1000 meteres produced a group inside a 16"X18" bullseye. Astonishing for it's day. I think also Zeiss made the telescopic optics for this tank so it had an amazing cannon (88mm/L56) mated with the best of the best optics.
Great video! As a military modeler and historian this footage is more valuable than gold! Still a lot of questions come to mind watching the footage with regards to the Tigers. I noticed a lot of them didn't have the Zimmerit coating or is it just the film itself? Also, tank S35(?) that was shown a few times is that a 2nd SS tank? If so does anyone know when that was shot? Just curious. But again a great video! Thanks mate for keeping history alive!
S35 was my fault, I dont know how I managed to edit it in several times... Zimmerit was stopped being applied to tanks during 1944 if I recall correctly as it turned out to be flammable.
@@kempet A clerk in the german war department in early 1944 realised that Zimmeritt was applied to repel magnetic mines and that the only army in the war using magnetic mines was the German army, Dohhh, Zimmeritt ceased being applied shortly after.
A Maybach V12,armour out of gods biceps...This was not just a tank,it was a locomotive that dradged security and pride behind it,a real wall wich a German slodire could walk behind in peace even if there was bombs,mines and bullets going off in front of the tiger
@@angelamagnus6615 The quality over quantity strategy didn’t work. For ever Tiger there was 10-15 Sherman’s or T-34’s. The Germans couldn’t over come those odds.
@@robertwood3970 I know that. But what can the Germans do? Producing more panzer iv or t34 copy cannot help in quantity competition. The point is to constantly innovate and get ahead of the curve. Like why Americans still use nuke despite winning the war overwhelmingly
@@angelamagnus6615 They would have been far better off producing the Panzer IV in huge numbers. The Tiger 1 and Tiger 2 put huge demands on there resources that they couldn't afford in the late part of the war. Besides by that time they didn't have the trained men to operate them and they were running out of fuel.
People talk about tank aces like Michael wittmann Bobby woll was his gunner it was Bobby woll that tuck the tanks out wittmann was nothing with out Bobby woll respect Bobby rip rest easy you earned it brother
Imagine being the crew of a T-34, and through the mist you hear the roar of an engine. It’s shapes became more pronounced and everyone in your tank begins to panic.
And vice versa. Tigers were taken out by t34s and Sherman's. Heavy tanks had advantages but they also had weaknesses. Everyone didn't panic. They had jobs to do and all combat is scary as hell unless you're a bit crazy
Very well stated. This thing was a horror on the battlefield. I seem to remember reading about the Tiger Flu when one appreared on the battlefield. A group of them....as they said in Monty Python "Run Away.........."
I wonder how many drivers thought it would be fun to drive into a house... only to fall into the basement. Cool to think we might someday dig one up lol
me laughts in every M4A3E8 me laughts in every M4A3E2 me laughts in fury me laughts in vielykie luki me laughts in every dive bomber me laughts with colt m1911
@@michaelkendall9716 I didn't understand, what you mean is that 56,000 reliable, crew-friendly, easy-to-repair machines with good 76mm and 75mm guns, wouldn't be able to cope with either 1150 tigers 1 or about 500 tigers 2? which were bloody creative for crews, too heavy, too emergency (probably most of them would not reach the battlefield), and very difficult to repair?
The Tigers' I and II were poweful tanks, but, with the almost complete collapse of the Luftwaffe by 1944, they were very vulnerable to air attacks, especially saturation bombing by B-17's and B-24's. Also, with Germany always short of fuel, these behemoths drank gasoline like a fat kid eats cake.
03:08 Gen. Cemil Cahit Toydemir and other officers of Turkish Army were invited by OKW( with Hitler's permission) to make an impression about Tiger I (503. Heavy Panzer Battalion)before Kursk Battle , Belgorod 26 June 1943.
Tulpar TURK Aslında yabancı askeri forumlarda ,bilgi olarak yabancılar tarafından veriliyor . Toydemir Paşa ve öbür subayların Sovyet cephesi, Manş taki Atlantik Duvarıyla ile ilgili İnönü ye verdikleri raporlar, Almanya nın soluğunun tükenmekte olduğuymuş, gezilerde özellikle negatif izlenim edinmişler, en önemlisi Almanlarda bunu anlamış
Tulpar TURK Haklısın, Almanlar yüklerinin bir kısmının bize patlaması için çok uğraştılar, Türkiye zaten 1939 dan beri Birleşik Krallıkla müttefikti, 1939 da büyük borç para aldık Krallık tan, ve en başından beri, durumumuzun İngilizler tarafından bilinmesi ama SSCB ile paylaşılmaması (tamamen gizli tuttular), bize sıkıntı yaratmıştır. Avam Kamarasındaki gizli tutulan oturumlar 30 yıl sonra açıklanınca, Churchill in bizzatihi kendisinin Türkiye nin elinden gelen ( Almanya aleyhine) her şeyi yaptığı itiraf edilmiştir. Hatta SSCB ile pozitif ilişkiler olmasa bile, Almanların tarafına (Bulgar sınırı), en az 800 bin asker, Sovyet tarafına ilave bir güç konulmaması, SSCB ye askeri üretim sahalarının altında büyük askeri yığma yapmaktan kurtarmak gibi Türkiye nin ( İngilizlerin tavsiyeleri), Sovyetler Birliğine faydası oldu. Ayrıaten, ilgin , alakan ve teşekkürün için özellikle teşekkür ederim
Besart Tota I wouldn’t say that. It was unreliable and a pig to repair. It was expensive and not built in large enough numbers and was very greedy for fuel. The tanks that won the war were those that were operational and available and in greater numbers thus allowing the battle to be taken to the enemy, for those reasons I’d say T34/Sherman-Firefly were the greatest tanks. Many saw action many years after the end of WWll.
Just because tanks have there problems in terms of reliability and other faults doesnt mean there not great. In a battle sceneio the Tiger 1 was very dangerous, capable of taking out multiple tanks on its own and take heavy hits from tanks Artillery, and AT guns for a for long periods of time. Men like Franz Stautdegger, Michael Wittman, Otto Carius, and Kurt Knispel proved how deadly it was. In terms of a battle, I would say its the best tank.
@@ArcticWolf00Alpha0 I agree. For those who complain about its cost, I like to ask them which tank THEY would pick to go into battle with. 😂 Cheap tanks are only good for people who think the lives of their soldiers are equally cheap.
@@ragnar704 Thanks for the reply, A lot of people say that Germany should have just built more Panzer IVs instead of Tigers and Panthers, but Germany wouldn't have had the manpower or time to train the crews for them, and they would've lost more time training them, the Germans were better off making a stronger and more effective tank with the highly skilled crews that they already had. Doing so would allow them to make larger stands against the enemy, The Panther tank commander Ernst Barkmann proved how effective highly trained crew members was against overwhelming numbers, just look him up and you will see. IMO the tank that i think was a complete waste of time was the Tiger II, but the Tiger 1...true war machine.
You could see why the yanks were terrified of the dreaded Tiger. You could see panic on a tank crew in the movie Fury before his Sherman had its turret blown off. I bet those yanks tank crew had POst Traumatic stress disorder and had nightmares and yelling out Tiger after waking up in bed. Hitler needed a knock out blow and he was delighted with his Tiger.
