I was at School of Armour in 1989 and 1990. There were a couple of knocked out T 54/55 tanks there, taken out by APFSDS rounds. The Angolan bush is much more dense than South African bush, and the fighting took place during the rainy season up there, so the dense bush was covered in leaves. The skirmish took place at close quarters, where the SA troopers superior training and response times saw the enemy off. On two of the Soviet produced tanks I inspected, there was a single hole drilled through the turret, with two gauges, or divots nearby from the discarding sabot which barely had time to seperate from the 'dart'. That indicates how close the encounters took place. The gauges were about 5 -6 cms deep. There were also captured T34's there, probably T34 - 85's.
@@Lancasterlaw1175 No clue, sorry. I don't recall that there were any unit markings at all, this was 35 years ago. It was during Ops Modular or Hooper. I recall discussing the terrain and the bush with Major Les Rudman, but can't recall his story on the kills. In my defence, and this isn't a joke, he used to eat raw garlic for breakfast, so I couldn't concentrate properly. I recall that he had a signed copy of a book on the battle from Helmoed-Romer Heitman including photos showing how green the dense bush was. I apologize for my hazy memory.
@@malfiq Jeez, you're morbid. NO. They were used for evaluation, therefore when I saw them 2 years after their capture, they were relatively clean for being left outside. Someone, however, did decide to steal about 3 large ammo boxes of 7.62mm rounds and hide them in one of the T54/55 tanks until the search died down. Since I was not supposed to be there, and also because I swiped a metal Soviet ammo case from that tank, I could not tell anyone about the pilfered ammo. One of the T34's that was captured in Angola did indeed have the body of the Angolan tank commander within it, the rest of the crew having fled. A tank driver was tasked to move the tank, and did so, stopping at a temporary laager overnight, where he removed the body, and buried it in a shallow grave. If I recall correctly, the tank commanders nom de guerre was 'Geronimo'. There are known gravesites of a few South African soldiers that are stiil up there, and attempts are being made by ex-SADF servicemen to locate and repatriate the remains, part of this project will include trying find the Angolan tankers remains and return them to his wife. That particular T34 was not at School of Armour, but on display elsewhere.
Very interesting!! I did my South African military service during 1967... and were trained on the Centurian at the School of Armor.. Course T67. We did all the theory but never got the opportunity to do the practical. We were trained as Troop Leaders having to qualify as drivers / radio operators / gunners / and crew commanders. We then did the above training on the Sherman 17 pounder fitted with the 9 cylinder Lycoming radial aero engine. During subsequent training camps our Regiment ... Prince Alfred's Guard converted to the Panhard Armored Cars / and the South African version ... Eland ..using a water cooled GM engine. Interesting times!!
Nice video! Slight correction. No SADF tanks were lost in Operation Hooper, that was Packer when three Olifants ran onto a minefield In March-Aprill, 1988.
I was recently at the Armour museum at Tempe military base, I was lucky enough to see many SADF/SANDF vehicles including the Oliphant Mk.1, Mk.2, Mk.2 Optimum and the TTD
SA arms industry needs the business to not collapse entirely its probably cheaper all round to just buy it then to try and figure out a domestic solution
@@PhansiKhongoloza yes well considering the current 1 is the only one thats not tested its steel in proper combat it makes sense for it's arms industry to decline but still it's an expensive industry to break into it still be cheaper to simply buy it then to try and set up a local manufacturing supply chain in the UK
@@splashafrica That's no excuse. There is a huge market out there. Loads of potential customers. They've ruined it! Fucked it up along with the rest of country.
the ratel 90s where needeing several rounds to kill a t55 tank during modular and hooper and most of the kills were at less than 50m. That takes serious courage.
The secret of the Shot-Cal ( acronym for Continental engine) is the fantastic US made Allison transmission that fits perfectly into the power train. The entire power train, starting with the RR Meteor engine and the horrendous transmission where drivers couldn't engage the right gear at will was replaced, and the US made reliable Continental diesel engine significantly increased range. The difference was visible during the defensive battle on the Golan Heights on6/7/8 of October , 1973. The Shot-Cal battalions had a much longer range, and drivers could "dance" among the defensive ramps without any issues with the clutch and gear..
The oilie part in Afrikaans isn't really pronounced the same as oil is in English, its more extendended ooil, sounds more like awl than oil, let's try awl-i-phant the a in phant isn't pronounced as an A but more an Ah
Theres only 1 South African built vehicle in that war an APC equipped with a Ukrainian built 30mm cannon Estonia donated some armoured csrs that where SA designed but they are British built
@@wingtip76 saying that the Olifant (Centurion) was a WW2 vintage isn’t exactly correct, the Centurion Mk1 developed in WW2 was equipped with the 17 pounders same as the Sherman Firefly. The Olifant use the L7 105mm which was a late 1950s design which is nowhere close to WW2 level and is an early to mid Cold War design.
Drones actually did feature in Angela SA had them in the 80s but yeah warfare has changed significantly SA taught the world about mine resistance back then and today every army has some casper variant now the world is teaching us cyberwarfare and kamikaze drones
Ratel is (more accurately) pronounced RAH-till. It is Afrikaans for Badger. You can technically call it a Badger as well, because the export models have been called that.
there is an IFV that we are making called the badger so that would get confusing, it was designed to replace the ratel but money problems stopped production and they have only reciently started it again
@@craigbritz1684 the Boer s as in tribe or nation was the ones that fought the wars against the the then mighty Britain and defeated their 450 000 strong British soldiers , the word boer is also a reference to the South African farmer .
@@christobosman5710 Hate to break it to you, maat. But we only won the first time. The Second Boer War didn't go so well. It turns out that 450 000 is enough to neutralise 50 000 Boers, especially when the Boer's run short of ammo, food and equipment. Bloody Royal Navy. And of course it didn't help when Kitchener said "Let's invent concentration camps for the women and children!"
PLEASE SEE THIS COMMENT, I love panther to a huge extent, especially the idea of fall ones such as the paper tanks coelian or whatever but there ei some picture I have found, which originally I've only seen models based of off, which was similar to that of a berge panther but containing a shielded 2cm flak and not that of the early production ones rather it was a different shield entirely and was mounted onto the middle on seemingly the turret ring, the driver/ machine gunner had one big hatch over the front to exit that was open in the photo I found. I believe it was in 1945 in cezchosovlaika? Apparently although all I've seen is reddit talk about it, I would really like/love someone insight I to this one off,in my eyes at least, dream tank to some. Please provide me with something, make a video or something or if there's maybe a page about it on the encyclopedia
Good question. As apart from the Afghans, South Africa is the only other country to actually take on and defeat the the USSR and their proxies on the battlefield.
Making and Welding rolled homogenous armour is actually fairly tough, particually as you have to lift the entire hull to let gravity help do the welds. Some of the cast parts are equally tough. Problem is once you have built the heavy industry and experience for this, you may as well build a few thousand to make the investment worth it which is a hard sell to a cash strapped military with few armoured threats.
True getting good consistent weld penetration is vital to the hull integrity and not easy when dealing with the thick steel needed for tanks. It requires highly skilled welders top of the line equipment and excellent quality control procedures which rely on delicate sophisticated sensors to map the entire depth of the joint. When the Chieftains were built only Britain America Germany and the Soviet's were doing it and the Soviet's never got the consistent quality. This is why the Chieftain had a cast turret as the thicker steel and complex shape made welding too risky.
I find the aesthetic of modernized vehicles extremely interesting.
Yeah they’re pretty cool
Have you seen the Iranian M-60?
@@mathiasbartl903 yeah it looked kinda goofy
Keep your stiffy to yourself please 😂😂😂😂
Keep your stiffy to yourself please 😂😂😂
I was at School of Armour in 1989 and 1990.
There were a couple of knocked out T 54/55 tanks there, taken out by APFSDS rounds.
The Angolan bush is much more dense than South African bush, and the fighting took place during the rainy season up there, so the dense bush was covered in leaves.
The skirmish took place at close quarters, where the SA troopers superior training and response times saw the enemy off.
On two of the Soviet produced tanks I inspected, there was a single hole drilled through the turret, with two gauges, or divots nearby from the discarding sabot which barely had time to seperate from the 'dart'. That indicates how close the encounters took place.
The gauges were about 5 -6 cms deep.
There were also captured T34's there, probably T34 - 85's.
Did they seem to be Angolan or Cuban manned?
@@Lancasterlaw1175 No clue, sorry. I don't recall that there were any unit markings at all, this was 35 years ago.
It was during Ops Modular or Hooper.
I recall discussing the terrain and the bush with Major Les Rudman, but can't recall his story on the kills.
In my defence, and this isn't a joke, he used to eat raw garlic for breakfast, so I couldn't concentrate properly.
I recall that he had a signed copy of a book on the battle from Helmoed-Romer Heitman including photos showing how green the dense bush was.
I apologize for my hazy memory.
@@robert-trading-as-Bob69 Are there human remains inside the Soviet tank?
@@malfiq Jeez, you're morbid.
NO. They were used for evaluation, therefore when I saw them 2 years after their capture, they were relatively clean for being left outside.
Someone, however, did decide to steal about 3 large ammo boxes of 7.62mm rounds and hide them in one of the T54/55 tanks until the search died down. Since I was not supposed to be there, and also because I swiped a metal Soviet ammo case from that tank, I could not tell anyone about the pilfered ammo.
One of the T34's that was captured in Angola did indeed have the body of the Angolan tank commander within it, the rest of the crew having fled.
A tank driver was tasked to move the tank, and did so, stopping at a temporary laager overnight, where he removed the body, and buried it in a shallow grave.
If I recall correctly, the tank commanders nom de guerre was 'Geronimo'.
There are known gravesites of a few South African soldiers that are stiil up there, and attempts are being made by ex-SADF servicemen to locate and repatriate the remains, part of this project will include trying find the Angolan tankers remains and return them to his wife.
That particular T34 was not at School of Armour, but on display elsewhere.
@@robert-trading-as-Bob69 sorry, I was curious, thank you for the insights, it's very thought provoking.
Very interesting!! I did my South African military service during 1967... and were trained on the Centurian at the School of Armor.. Course T67. We did all the theory but never got the opportunity to do the practical. We were trained as Troop Leaders having to qualify as drivers / radio operators / gunners / and crew commanders.
We then did the above training on the Sherman 17 pounder fitted with the 9 cylinder Lycoming radial aero engine.
During subsequent training camps our Regiment ... Prince Alfred's Guard converted to the Panhard Armored Cars / and the South African version ... Eland ..using a water cooled GM engine.
Interesting times!!
Kortgat
Nice video! Slight correction. No SADF tanks were lost in Operation Hooper, that was Packer when three Olifants ran onto a minefield In March-Aprill, 1988.
These are beautiful tanks
Interesting South Africa mange to get their hands with a bunch of T-55 and improving their own tank technology, cool story 🎉
Serendipitous... ha ha...back in the day the secret agents knew what has to be done.
Same tanks ended up in Rhodesia did a video on them 😅
Thanks for the informative video. Haven't heard too much about the Olifant.
Mistaking South Africa for Tansania sounds like a very common, perfectly understandable and not at all suspicious mistake to me.
Yeah no, someone wanted SA to get those tanks🤷♂️👀
The accent is downright hilarious when he days "ollyfont." 🎉🎉🎉🎉
No your spelling is way more funnier than his accent 🤣 😂
Samwise Gamgee approved.
Rare occasion of South Africa using tracked vehicles
We love our wheels
Yeah the wheels were good for most of the battlefield
tanks are not good for long distances and high maneuver warfare, both of which SA specializes in
@@Ghoulza specialised *
@@dannyarcher6370 yes, ok specialised in.... :(
I will never forget seeing this beasts going on rail to South-West Africa through Orange Free state fields for the battle of Quito Cannival as a kid !
I was recently at the Armour museum at Tempe military base, I was lucky enough to see many SADF/SANDF vehicles including the Oliphant Mk.1, Mk.2, Mk.2 Optimum and the TTD
This was the most interesting one yet.
Arms embargo: "There we go; problem solved."
Someone with spare parts wants money: "Hmmm .... well .... maybe not solved."
My uncle was a tank gunner on one of them during his time in the army, he both loved and hated that thing with a passion 😂
The story of the T-55 tanks requisition in Durban deserves its own clip, as those tanks would later form the backbone of Rhodesian Armoured Corps.
Olifant MK2 next please
We will be publishing a video on the Olifant Mk1B first
An old factory in Britain was shut down and the local newspaper said we would now need to buy our tank ammunition from South Africa.
SA arms industry needs the business to not collapse entirely its probably cheaper all round to just buy it then to try and figure out a domestic solution
@@splashafricayou're obviously referring to the current government right?
@@PhansiKhongoloza yes well considering the current 1 is the only one thats not tested its steel in proper combat it makes sense for it's arms industry to decline but still it's an expensive industry to break into it still be cheaper to simply buy it then to try and set up a local manufacturing supply chain in the UK
@@splashafrica That's no excuse. There is a huge market out there. Loads of potential customers. They've ruined it! Fucked it up along with the rest of country.
Damn, that's the saddest thing I've heard all week. And we just voted another narcissistic moron into office this week
proud to write the first comment to this interesting video, more of this, please
I love OnlyFant Mk1A
Perhaps you should love the dictionary and learn to spell 😂😂
@@theunemployedtruckeryou didn't get the joke
SA military and airforce used to be great
the ratel 90s where needeing several rounds to kill a t55 tank during modular and hooper and most of the kills were at less than 50m. That takes serious courage.
I would love to see a comparaison between this and the Israeli Shot
The secret of the Shot-Cal ( acronym for Continental engine) is the fantastic US made Allison transmission that fits perfectly into the power train. The entire power train, starting with the RR Meteor engine and the horrendous transmission where drivers couldn't engage the right gear at will was replaced, and the US made reliable Continental diesel engine significantly increased range. The difference was visible during the defensive battle on the Golan Heights on6/7/8 of October , 1973. The Shot-Cal battalions had a much longer range, and drivers could "dance" among the defensive ramps without any issues with the clutch and gear..
One of the confiscated T-55s is at the South African Military Museum.
You forgot to mention they kept it in running condition.
When we used to produce top military vehicles
I was a toring tiffie at school of armour on these tanks 88-89
The Aw-lor-four-nt cracked me up, its Or- lee-funt
No it's "oily-fund"
@@gimmedat5541 Thats not how I was taught to say it
The oilie part in Afrikaans isn't really pronounced the same as oil is in English, its more extendended ooil, sounds more like awl than oil, let's try awl-i-phant the a in phant isn't pronounced as an A but more an Ah
@@Frog13799 Thats pronunciation you put is exactly how I meant it to be, Im just not good with words
Willy-phunt?
There's some realy old soviet tanks in Ukraine. I'd be interested to see them squre off against ths Olifant/Centurian. Thanks for the presentation.
Theres only 1 South African built vehicle in that war an APC equipped with a Ukrainian built 30mm cannon Estonia donated some armoured csrs that where SA designed but they are British built
World War Two vintage but I guess any gun is better than no gun.
Almost identical gun to 1st series of Abrams tank…… sufficient for everything up to the most recent ‘T’ tanks with appliqué armour.
@@robertpatrick3350 these updates basically brought them up to date with anything that came afterwards.
@@wingtip76 saying that the Olifant (Centurion) was a WW2 vintage isn’t exactly correct, the Centurion Mk1 developed in WW2 was equipped with the 17 pounders same as the Sherman Firefly.
The Olifant use the L7 105mm which was a late 1950s design which is nowhere close to WW2 level and is an early to mid Cold War design.
@@dannyzero692 yip, this is late 50's tech so not WW2, we upgraded them to be comparable for most tanks of the 70's and 80's
Must of been nice for tankers not to worry about drones
Drones actually did feature in Angela SA had them in the 80s but yeah warfare has changed significantly SA taught the world about mine resistance back then and today every army has some casper variant now the world is teaching us cyberwarfare and kamikaze drones
Ratel is (more accurately) pronounced RAH-till. It is Afrikaans for Badger. You can technically call it a Badger as well, because the export models have been called that.
there is an IFV that we are making called the badger so that would get confusing, it was designed to replace the ratel but money problems stopped production and they have only reciently started it again
Would the gm diesel happen to be a detroit diesel 8v92t or a 12v71
The T-55s were later donated to the Rhodesians who didn't have tanks of their own.
Wasn't the Olifant that huge double tank thing
That is why their is a saying , n Boer maak n plan , meaning , a Boer make a plan , and that is no bull shit .
What's a Boer?
@@craigbritz1684 the Boer s as in tribe or nation was the ones that fought the wars against the the then mighty Britain and defeated their 450 000 strong British soldiers , the word boer is also a reference to the South African farmer .
@@christobosman5710 Hate to break it to you, maat. But we only won the first time. The Second Boer War didn't go so well. It turns out that 450 000 is enough to neutralise 50 000 Boers, especially when the Boer's run short of ammo, food and equipment. Bloody Royal Navy. And of course it didn't help when Kitchener said "Let's invent concentration camps for the women and children!"
@@craigbritz1684 A small animal that takes a kak tank and makes it less kak.
@@christobosman5710you thinking of the 2nd war we lost that one we won the negotiation thanks largely to Jan Smuts
Israel and Jordan doing what they have always done to this day
"The Olofont"
cool
My only question is when is the tech tree for South Africa gona show up in Warthunder 😂😋
SA vehicles are in the British tech tree if i recall correctly
Since 2021
PLEASE SEE THIS COMMENT, I love panther to a huge extent, especially the idea of fall ones such as the paper tanks coelian or whatever but there ei some picture I have found, which originally I've only seen models based of off, which was similar to that of a berge panther but containing a shielded 2cm flak and not that of the early production ones rather it was a different shield entirely and was mounted onto the middle on seemingly the turret ring, the driver/ machine gunner had one big hatch over the front to exit that was open in the photo I found. I believe it was in 1945 in cezchosovlaika? Apparently although all I've seen is reddit talk about it, I would really like/love someone insight I to this one off,in my eyes at least, dream tank to some. Please provide me with something, make a video or something or if there's maybe a page about it on the encyclopedia
If you have the picture, you could send it to us via email: tanks.encyclopedia@gmail.com
We'll be happy to take a look.
Please investigate the correct pronunciations of key names, such as Olifant and Unita etc.
Why are they being embargoed?
Apartheid.
Good question. As apart from the Afghans, South Africa is the only other country to actually take on and defeat the the USSR and their proxies on the battlefield.
We procured them illegally we had sanctions at the time
Seriously I wonder why South Africa just didn't produce its own hulls. The technology of building a tank isn't exactly rocket science after all
Later vid as part of the TTD
The would but they needed tanks in a hurry...the war in Angola was getting very hot
Making and Welding rolled homogenous armour is actually fairly tough, particually as you have to lift the entire hull to let gravity help do the welds. Some of the cast parts are equally tough.
Problem is once you have built the heavy industry and experience for this, you may as well build a few thousand to make the investment worth it which is a hard sell to a cash strapped military with few armoured threats.
True getting good consistent weld penetration is vital to the hull integrity and not easy when dealing with the thick steel needed for tanks. It requires highly skilled welders top of the line equipment and excellent quality control procedures which rely on delicate sophisticated sensors to map the entire depth of the joint. When the Chieftains were built only Britain America Germany and the Soviet's were doing it and the Soviet's never got the consistent quality. This is why the Chieftain had a cast turret as the thicker steel and complex shape made welding too risky.
@@ianjardine7324 Well said!
What?
Why?
Whats with your accent? DuuuurBun ? Dur Ban
Naaaaa taaaal
It's an English name what a doos😅
SOUTH AFRICA GOT A SHOCK IN 1975 BY CUBANS.
Ok Ivan.
Mispronounced the name right off the bat
Get educated
Today all the tanks are fucked and neglected. All the so called sandf's vehicles are fucked. It's a joke.
They must be rusted up by now.
Good. Who do you want to invade? Lesotho was disaster last time we tried😅
@@KonradvonHotzendorf Who tried to invade Lesotho?
@@KonradvonHotzendorf Ja, because that was sandf not sadf