Some Canadian troops were issued MRC Body Armour for the D-Day landings. While most took them off, opting for mobility & comfort over protection, there are a number of after action reports where it was noted that the armour saved Canadian lives. So we know that the armour saw some use and success in combat.
I recall the Canadian military also trialed and armoured vest made up of hundreds of metal cast replicas of Justine Turdeau's, tiny, empty, hairless balls, but they were too tiny to be of any use. Much like the effeminate commie fuck attached to them.
the MRC body armour was developed in 1942, originally they wanted to produce 3.5 million, but only 200,000 were made by 1944, interestingly 400 were given to the SAS and as you said the Canadians were also supplied them on D-day.
I don't know which one would be bigger fuck you powermove, tell someone to storm beach via tiny boat under machinegunfire and arty, or do the same but given bulky heavy metal plate to wear also for sense of "false" security. I mean armor or not the odds are not on your side, so personally I would go with what ever attitude since the only way to survive such situation is to accept you're already dead. Rip those who falled in D-Day and in any pointless stupid war in human history we so like to wave around like it's no big deal.
The armor in WW1 either looks so cool like in BF1 or completely silly like in the first clip. The armor may have been a bad design for various reasons, but it was a good concept. If Kevlar or ceramic trauma plates was a thing back then then maybe armor could have been seen in a better light. But those didn't exist until decades later so nothing could really be done for the case of WW1. Oh well, it was a good idea, just not good in practice.
The thing is, Kevlar alone won't stop rifle caliber bullets, you need to combine it with either a steel or ceramic plate to have any chance of stopping a rifle bullet. But you are right, they had the right general idea even if their material science wasn't up to snuff yet.
I mean, even today armor is only as useful as it doesnt impede movement. Most nations still don't have reliable and lightweight rifle-caliber armor solutions.
Modern armor has a different role than that envisioned by WW1 big wigs. The generals back then wanted a walking tank to breach no mans land, that is impossible even with current technology. Modern armor improves survivability, changes a life ending injury into a treatable one. This only works on small scale when you can afford to quickly evacuate wounded and send them to modern hospital. On massive WW1 battlefields Kevlar an ceramic armour would only change instant death into hours of agony. Remember penicillin wasn't invented until 1928, there was no airlifts for evacuating wounded and best off-road vehicles were horses. Though cheap kevlar antistab vests might have help a little bit with bayonets and other close quarters stabby weapons.
I had no idea such heavy body armour was used as late as WW1, until I played BF1. Despite there being many historical inaccuracies in many games, Battlefield included, I was glad to learn this from the game
@@diegoaespitia Makes me wonder: How did they not see the disaster that was coming with their old doctrines in the presence of "new" weapons that were actually around for quite a while at that point. Shouldn't common sense have kicked in with the thought of "Hey, maybe sending concentrated infantry charges in front of machine guns is not a good idea..."?
@@mekingtiger9095 Ironic thing is concentrated infantry charges is what machine guns were made for taking on. Even so the infantry charges still win sometimes, but it would make more sense to litter the area with things to take cover behind and slowly move forward from cover to cover forcing the gunner to have to guess which one of you to pay attention to next.
The Soviets actually had a type of steel chest armour called Stalnoi Nagrudnik which was used during ww2, issued mainly to combat engineers tasked with clearing holes through enemy fortifications.
@@lucre113 The Red Army 100% used those vests, they had several nomenclatures but the most popular was the SN-42 version, which saw action during the latter half of the war. Stalnoi Nagrudnik is Russian for Steel Bib. They were 2mm thick steel breastplates, capable of stopping most submachinegun rounds. The Red Army used them with engineer and assault sapper troops.
I first thought of Monty Python then Ned Kelly. You shall not pass, laughing deep and hollow in that iron mask. Blood gushing from his foot and arm, trying to hold his gun steady, and firin' into us. Oh, they're clanging off his shoulders and they're clanging off his head, they fired a million into him, he should be lyin' dead, but the devil wore his armor and it does reflect the lead. Kelly keeps a comin', Kelly keeps a comin'.
Italian sappers had some very heavy armour to protect them against being hit while digging trenches which would have not looked too much out of place in the late medieval period. I believe this was more to do with the fact that much of their fighting was in the Alps rather then the flatter plains of France. Not sure about the the helmet of the Australian officer climbing out of the tank. British tank crews wore a leather helmet rather than the 'Battle Bowler' as shown in the shot from Anzacs. The tankers helmet was designed to protect the crewman's head against hitting objects on the inside of the tank as it bounced around the battlefield. It also protected the wearer from spalling caused by bits of steel flying off the inside of the tank when bullet struck the tank. The lower part of the crewman's face was covered by a small rectangle of chainmail which was also there protect to protect from spalling but this was usually removed by the wearer. If the crew had to abandon their tank they were warned to remove the helmets as more than one crewman was wounded or even killed because their leather helmet closely resembled that worn by the Germans. I seem to remember reading the Ned Kelly was the only one of the gang to wear a helmet but as there seems to be a fair number of variations regarding what did and did not happen with the gang this may not be the case. Not having armour on their legs was their Anciles heel. Pun intended.
That’s pretty interesting, I would like to let you know that the Australian officer in the tank- his name is Captain Barrington- isn’t actually a member of the crew and was instead just riding along to observe the combat effectiveness of the tanks in the show, so there’s some added context as to why he’s got a regular helmet. I don’t mean to nitpick it’s just that this is literally the only time that my intimate knowledge of the 1985 Australian Television Mini-Series ANZACS is actually relevant. I do agree, good observation!
Imagine being in the Brewster Body shields and seeing those in front of you die. That'd be terrifying. To think: "I'm wearing all this stuff, and it's doing nothing. I can't outrun their sights, I'm too slow. That's terrifying."
That scene from Many Wars Ago looks so eerie. Looks more fitting for the surface of Mars or the depths of the ocean, rather then a World War I battlefield.
1970's Ned Kelly was a cool movie because Mick Jagger (The Rolling Stones living legend) played the lead role. And In "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964), Clint Eastwood also used improvisation armor.
Random: Mick Jagger also plays the secondary antagonist in the film FreeJack which is an insanely underrated movie with Emilio Esteves and Anthony Hopkins
A cool costume detail I've only just picked up upon is, in "Solo" (Star Wars) there's some Stormtroopers covered in mud and dug into trenches. Those Stormtroopers use additional armour on their helmets in exactly the same way as the soldier in "Beneath Hill 60". It's the only time Stormtroopers in Star Wars are shown in trench warfare.
@@ExternalDialogue Haha, nice to meet a fellow member of the Pedantic Society 😂 The troopers I was on about are the the Mimban Stormtroopers, not the Imperial Army Troopers
You talking about the cuirasses? Those had always had dubious or mixed results against firearms as far as I could find. Even then, they were very heavy to wear (which is probably why they were only issued to cavalrymen), only protected the torso and the horse would very much have to protection at all. I suspect those things were more for protection against melee weaponry of the time when closing against infantry or engaging other cuirassiers than for actual effective or reliable protection against bullets.
@@taistelusammakko5088 Only for weaker pistols/handguns. Actual mainline muskets would penetrate cuirasses rather easily unless fired from a considerable distance.
@@mekingtiger9095they worked pretty damn well for most of their existence. It wasn’t until the latter half of the 19th century when their use became dubious. They could never stop a cannon ball, but they much more often then not stopped a musket ball (they were often specifically tested against muskets at close ranges). In the Napoleonic wars, the British considered winning an engagement against French cuirassiers an impressive feat.
There was a steel vest manufactured during the American Civil War that consisted of two overlapping spring steel plates in a cloth vest. It was actually effective at stopping the soft lead bullets of the time. The problem was that infantry had to walk everywhere and the added weight was intolerable. There were also endless jokes about “the man in the iron stove.” A few cavalrymen kept them but they fell out of use.
My youngest son, now a marine, loves ww1 stuff. In 2016 he saw the German trench armor at a show and well you guessed it he wanted it. So I managed acquire it. It's heavy. Really hard to move in it. He tried it on since he was thin.
There ought to be more sketches that ridicule it. You need next to nothing to sustain a head injury. Light hit of a sword, piece of rock launched by ricochetting bullet. Pebbles scattered around by mortar fire.
While the Brewster Body Shield would prove to be a failure, later American armor designs actually saw some level of success. Bashford Dean and his committee came up with several designs that showed some real promise. The heavy body armor was quite similar to the German design, and while it was ultimately rejected due to the high weight (something I can confirm as being too high for comfort) and a somewhat unwieldy design, the ballistics were quite nice and it would have worked well for roles such as sentries and machine gunners. They'd go on to make some fairly decent light body armor, alongside further protection such as full leg and arm armor, and if the war had gone on a few more years I imagine some fantastic designs would have come along (alongside designs in helmets, the Model 5 and Model 8 both showed promise, alongside the tank and aviation helmets they came up with)
@@thebigenchilada678 That would be the model 8, had a visor and much like the other helmets Dean and his team worked on, it was inspired by 15th century designs
The Dean armor likely would have done some real good. It would have been useless against rifle and machine gun rounds, but a lot of injuries and deaths happened from shell fragments which could often be stopped by relatively thin steel. That concept proved itself early on in WW I with the Brodie and other helmets. Especially when they started using Hadfield steel with a bit of manganese in it, they saved a lot of lives from artillery and mortar fragments on the cheap. I believe Dean's armor was to use that steel. I think stripped down to just the torso protection it would have come in around 15 pounds or so which is like half of what some of the modern battle rigs weigh. Even with a modest protective effect, when you spread that out among millions of soldiers, there would have been a lot of lives saved.
Funny about the increase in injuries - a very similar thing happened in World War II where they looked at planes that had come back from a mission and put increased protection on the places that were full of bullet holes. Forgetting that these were the ones that came back, and they should have protected the places full of holes that the planes who were shot down had. Go that's a clumsy sentence never mind.😁 There was also some armour that had tiny wheels that you got yourself in and crawled along behind it - like a tiny backless tank. Of course you couldn't see much and crawling doesn't do much for your ability to cross ground either.
It's called "survivalship bias" - people tend to focus on data provided by those who "lived to tell the tale" while overlooking those that did not. It's one of the most common human logical errors, and it's not that easy to overcome.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsqlooks like a Monty python scene lmao (Love your channel man, a lot of detail in short form content. You deserve more subs then you get!)
Those soldiers in "Many Wars Ago" do lay on the infamous Zodiac killer who ravaged San Francisco and parts of California in the 1960s. Wonder if the war movie was an inspiration for that killer?!
Not unless the Zodiac Killer was some sort of time-travelling magician, since "Many Wars Ago" was released long after the Zodiac Killer committed his crimes. ;)
The geman grabben/sappen panzer armor always fascinated me the most out of all ww1 armors that were made, and albeit rather specific but interesting thing to note (i believe at any rate) is i believe on the second pattern of the armor they made an distributed (albeit lower amounts) had hooks on the front as grenade mounts so they could easily be used
Interesting how even as late as Ww2 people were trying to stop bullets with steel/iron armor. The soviets famoualy gave some of tier assault troops and combata Engineer Steel beast plates, by all acounts they were like in street fighting but hated in any other setting. Maybe we could get a video on those?
There was always something reminiscent of the medieval wars in WW1. I remember thinking that at the museum at Verdun. Medieval in a grotesque perverted way. Creepy.
Armour had some use in WW2 as well. USA designed padded flak jackets for bomber crews for protection against shapnels ( and they are direct precursors to modern bulletproof vests ), and soviet union ( yes, soviet union of all countries ! ) used metal breastplate for it's assoult engeneer units. Apparently it was even fairly reliable at stopping pistol and mp40 rounds (tho tbh, 9x19 parabellum isn't the beefiest round in existance )
A couple interesting notes on personal body armour: Like the helmets of the war, the infantry body armour types devised by both factions were derived from historical designs, with the British prototype body armour system modelled after early 15th century cuirass & fauld designs while the German lobster plates were seemingly taken from late 18th and early 19th century sappers’ armour. Arm assemblies for the Allied designs were similarly modelled after early 15th century German mass produced arm defences known as “Alain Rivet Splints”. Highly experimental prototype helmets for infantry and tankers also were modelled after historic designs, with the Met Museum in NYC having several prototype pieces in its collection designed designed at the time by Bashford Dean, a prolific collector and scholar of historic arms and armour whose personal collections were contributed to make up a large part of the Met’s current arms and armour collection. Dean was commissioned by the US military to design personal armour systems for the war and many of his designs were rather unusual to say the least. One of his tanker designs slapped a bascinet-esque visor onto a helmet for use inside the vehicle to protect from internal shrapnel once the tank is penetrated…nevermind the fact that to be inside a WWI tank was to be choked with gas and ringing noise… But lest we think historical designs have no place in a modern battlefield, modern plate carriers are very similar to old style coats of plate and brigandine, being as they are shaped plates suspended in a thick fabric jacket.
WWI armor was often carbon copies of late medieval armor simply because this was the armor people were familiar with even though there were better manufacturing methods.
The biggest advancement came with heat treated steel, you could use much thinner cuts of metal to stop a rifle round. That and figuring out that covering just the upper chest that held your heart, lungs, most of your liver and spine offered the best survivability to mobility ratio. This made it so that you could go from 30 LB of immobile sheet steel covering your whole chest. To an 8 LB plate, or 6.5LBS for a swimmers cut small plate that sacrificed a small amount of liver protection for comfort and mobility.
This struggle of protection versus maneuverability was still going on when I was in the Army, both tours to Iraq we had TOO MUCH ARMOR. 08 09, 10 11. We had IOTVS all the Kevlar, front plate back plate side plates, Kevlar up top, plus our ammo, water, IFAK, weapon, uniform, boots, batteries, NODS, FLIC, we were like tanks, but it hindered movement. After my 2nd tour we learned from another brigade that had been doing Afghanistan pumps, they did not wear half the shit we did. Took all the kevlar out of there IOTVs, bassically made them plate carriers, ditched the side plates(Snipers in Iraq would aim for arm pits anyway avoiding the side plate). Armor is great, but too much, you cannot move fast enough.
That movie "uomini contro" is amazing and chilling. It's available in full lenght on youtube (in Italian though). After that attack the austrians on the other side shout in German "aufhören mit diesem Unsinn!" and in Italian "basta soldati italiani"
Knowing what I know about ballistics and the calibers used in WW1, any long guns would probably punch straight through any armor that wasn’t absurdly heavy. That being said WW1 diesel punk power armor would be awesome
The best armor was still the set used by the evil soldiers in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It stopped large caliber bullets at close ranges and Quatermain had to use blunt or sharp instruments.
I should be noted that french storm troopers in ww1 found some use with shields they could help against sharpnal and pistols and importanly in the melee during trench clearing. Lets bulky then full armor but some of the same effect
I have a feeling the effect of this armour may have been more psychological than protection. I would imagine it would be easier to convince someone to do sentry duty if you offered them this
Here's me watching tje clips you chose saying "Where's _A Fistful of Dollars?_ Where's _A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS??!!"_ Then you got me Johnny, you got me good! 😁 Thank you for researching, writing, and editing! We're not worthy.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq Mr. Eastwood was given si very many memorable lines throughout his career and he made them his own. "Deserve's got nothing to do with it" is in my household top ten. Everyone we've raised or have lived with has heard it. I met him once at a fundraiser hosted in his home. He was honestly a man a few words, but he had a lot of smiles.
There were silk bullet proof vests available at the time of WW1, they were effective against pistol rounds and light weight but very expensive. Archduke Ferdinand own one but was not wearing it at the time of his assassination. Not that it would have made any difference as he was fatally wounded in the neck.
@@brittakriep2938 Yeah they were mostly good against the relatively low velocity soft lead rounds favored in the concealable revolvers of the late 19th and early 20th century.
Both films are worth a look , colloquialisms are also interesting..the old double tap...Davey Jones Locker..Tommy Cooker, Tommy, Fritz ,Ivan..the list goes on cheers, Johnny...E...
Armor tech didn’t really struggle. It’s just that no one spent mass production levels of money on it. There’s been fabrics, metals, and composite armors that successfully functioned throughout the entire course of firearm history. There have also been plenty of good armor design concepts alongside the freaky looking ones and virtually everyone got some amount of testing with contemporary weapons. We should just all be glad a country like Germany didn’t outfit its infantry with shrapnel resistant armor. Something simple for reducing the lethality of enemy artillery would have changed the course of the entire war.
I am not sure about that. The problem was the tactics, the technology, resources, manpower and morale. Tanks, anti tank guns, trench conditions, better squad formations, explotation of advantages, lmgs, mobile infintary, use of aircraft.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsqone your welcome two can I do re@ct to your on my channel if I haven’t ask already three where do you get your research from just out of Curiosity
@@jordanmagpiebullet7978 Yah sure you can! Tag me in it so I can give you feedback. Most of my research comes from a combination of blogs, Facebook groups, Wikipedia, and museum websites. Museum websites like say the "Imperial War Museum" usually have the most trustworthy sources.
One thing armour of that type will do that most don't realise, is protect against shrapnel and explosion shockwaves. It wont protect you against machine gun fire, not even close. But it will protect against other things found on a WW1 battlefield
InRangeTV did a video about testing WW1 German Machine gunner armor. Given the great disparity between face hardened steel, vs mild steel, and the sheer availability of either at various periods in Germany during WW 1, this was not a bad test. Results? It provided psychological reassurance to the wearer, not much else. 😮😭🙁
When heavy cavalry troops were sent to trenches, due to ineffectivness of heavy cavalry at the beginning of ww1, they would sometimes keep their armour for some time, like french cuirassiers.
You just won a new subscriber, amazing video brother I really appreciated the fact that you put the name of the movies/ video game in the upper part of the screen
One of the tricks Australian troops used was the E tool seated in front of your crotch in its webbing. I own one and it is very hard cast steel. The stahlhelm plate fitted to the front of the helmet for sniper use was actually quite good. The sniper is not maneuvering so it suited that role. Nothing's forsure though.
You've got a clip at the end of this video from "A Fistful of Dollars" but it would have been great if you included the homage to this scene from "Back to the Future Part III"
Yet another great vid Johnny. I did some quick research on those poor, unfortunate armoured Italians, the ones who look like knights. As they left their trenches, their battle cry was "NEE!" 😉😜🤣🤣
I have never hear of body armor during second world war if you know what I mean. The first clip and the fact it is something that actually happened is incredible and creepy
“… it was discovered more injuries were reported as more men were living to report them” Bruh, the delivery of that statement is hilarious for some reason 😆🤣
I remember hearing that the British government conducted a study that found that a set or series of basic effective body armor would have lowered its WWI casualties by 1/3 OR MORE!!!
Assault troops were issued armour because it reliably stopped grenade fragments, a common close defence weapon. People deride it now but if you have to sit at the bottom of a glacis setting up a charge you take whatever protection given.
Why Not Zoidberg?
Because Zoidberg smells
Hooray! I'm useful! I'm having a wonderful time.
Woop woop woop woop!
Nobody's gay for Zoidberg.
"Young lady, bring me a sandwich from the dumpster ... and leave the maggots on!"
“Many Wars Ago” looks like quite a disturbing movie, based on these few clips. Interesting.
Walking like a tin can and Titan was sinking like a tin can!
Honestly if you wouldn't have said so I wouldn't have noticed how deeply disturbing that scene actually is
@@postpwnmaloneit’s weirdly creepy. The way they lumber like zombies
… also along with that creepy music at 3:14.
Thought it was Holy Grail for a sec.
Some Canadian troops were issued MRC Body Armour for the D-Day landings. While most took them off, opting for mobility & comfort over protection, there are a number of after action reports where it was noted that the armour saved Canadian lives. So we know that the armour saw some use and success in combat.
I recall the Canadian military also trialed and armoured vest made up of hundreds of metal cast replicas of Justine Turdeau's, tiny, empty, hairless balls, but they were too tiny to be of any use. Much like the effeminate commie fuck attached to them.
the MRC body armour was developed in 1942, originally they wanted to produce 3.5 million, but only 200,000 were made by 1944, interestingly 400 were given to the SAS and as you said the Canadians were also supplied them on D-day.
Covered in heavy metal armor while trying to land on a beach... what could possibly go wrong?
I just looked it up and the MRC body armor looks no more than a very early body vest design, nothing like the metal armor of ww1 @@fakshen1973
I don't know which one would be bigger fuck you powermove, tell someone to storm beach via tiny boat under machinegunfire and arty, or do the same but given bulky heavy metal plate to wear also for sense of "false" security.
I mean armor or not the odds are not on your side, so personally I would go with what ever attitude since the only way to survive such situation is to accept you're already dead.
Rip those who falled in D-Day and in any pointless stupid war in human history we so like to wave around like it's no big deal.
The armor in WW1 either looks so cool like in BF1 or completely silly like in the first clip.
The armor may have been a bad design for various reasons, but it was a good concept. If Kevlar or ceramic trauma plates was a thing back then then maybe armor could have been seen in a better light. But those didn't exist until decades later so nothing could really be done for the case of WW1. Oh well, it was a good idea, just not good in practice.
The thing is, Kevlar alone won't stop rifle caliber bullets, you need to combine it with either a steel or ceramic plate to have any chance of stopping a rifle bullet. But you are right, they had the right general idea even if their material science wasn't up to snuff yet.
I mean, even today armor is only as useful as it doesnt impede movement. Most nations still don't have reliable and lightweight rifle-caliber armor solutions.
The best armor is the first and second wave.
I mean, perhaps Ceramic Trauma plates could've been invented back then.
wait a minute, it was invented back then! well in 1918. ops
Modern armor has a different role than that envisioned by WW1 big wigs. The generals back then wanted a walking tank to breach no mans land, that is impossible even with current technology. Modern armor improves survivability, changes a life ending injury into a treatable one. This only works on small scale when you can afford to quickly evacuate wounded and send them to modern hospital. On massive WW1 battlefields Kevlar an ceramic armour would only change instant death into hours of agony. Remember penicillin wasn't invented until 1928, there was no airlifts for evacuating wounded and best off-road vehicles were horses.
Though cheap kevlar antistab vests might have help a little bit with bayonets and other close quarters stabby weapons.
I had no idea such heavy body armour was used as late as WW1, until I played BF1. Despite there being many historical inaccuracies in many games, Battlefield included, I was glad to learn this from the game
Same here, BF1 motivated me to learn all about ww1
they were still using 19th century tactics for a bit during WW1. charging with calvary, getting slaughtered
@@diegoaespitia Makes me wonder: How did they not see the disaster that was coming with their old doctrines in the presence of "new" weapons that were actually around for quite a while at that point. Shouldn't common sense have kicked in with the thought of "Hey, maybe sending concentrated infantry charges in front of machine guns is not a good idea..."?
@@mekingtiger9095 Ironic thing is concentrated infantry charges is what machine guns were made for taking on. Even so the infantry charges still win sometimes, but it would make more sense to litter the area with things to take cover behind and slowly move forward from cover to cover forcing the gunner to have to guess which one of you to pay attention to next.
Battlefield 1 elite classes share the same damage resistance towards damage no matter if your a sentry, a tank hunter or a dude with a club
The Soviets actually had a type of steel chest armour called Stalnoi Nagrudnik which was used during ww2, issued mainly to combat engineers tasked with clearing holes through enemy fortifications.
No they didn’t
@@lucre113 The Red Army 100% used those vests, they had several nomenclatures but the most popular was the SN-42 version, which saw action during the latter half of the war. Stalnoi Nagrudnik is Russian for Steel Bib. They were 2mm thick steel breastplates, capable of stopping most submachinegun rounds. The Red Army used them with engineer and assault sapper troops.
@@aaronrose3110 that’s misinformation
Troll, or source
@@gamerboi5651 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Bib
Another great clip contribution to wartime trivia. Mentioning Ned Kelly was also a bonus. Thanks, Johnny.
the robinhood of australia
I first thought of Monty Python then Ned Kelly. You shall not pass, laughing deep and hollow in that iron mask. Blood gushing from his foot and arm, trying to hold his gun steady, and firin' into us. Oh, they're clanging off his shoulders and they're clanging off his head, they fired a million into him, he should be lyin' dead, but the devil wore his armor and it does reflect the lead. Kelly keeps a comin', Kelly keeps a comin'.
@@davidkeeton6716 Monty Python? You mean the thing with the Holy Grail?
Italian sappers had some very heavy armour to protect them against being hit while digging trenches which would have not looked too much out of place in the late medieval period. I believe this was more to do with the fact that much of their fighting was in the Alps rather then the flatter plains of France.
Not sure about the the helmet of the Australian officer climbing out of the tank. British tank crews wore a leather helmet rather than the 'Battle Bowler' as shown in the shot from Anzacs. The tankers helmet was designed to protect the crewman's head against hitting objects on the inside of the tank as it bounced around the battlefield. It also protected the wearer from spalling caused by bits of steel flying off the inside of the tank when bullet struck the tank. The lower part of the crewman's face was covered by a small rectangle of chainmail which was also there protect to protect from spalling but this was usually removed by the wearer. If the crew had to abandon their tank they were warned to remove the helmets as more than one crewman was wounded or even killed because their leather helmet closely resembled that worn by the Germans.
I seem to remember reading the Ned Kelly was the only one of the gang to wear a helmet but as there seems to be a fair number of variations regarding what did and did not happen with the gang this may not be the case. Not having armour on their legs was their Anciles heel. Pun intended.
Oh, good observation! Thanks as always 👍
That’s pretty interesting, I would like to let you know that the Australian officer in the tank- his name is Captain Barrington- isn’t actually a member of the crew and was instead just riding along to observe the combat effectiveness of the tanks in the show, so there’s some added context as to why he’s got a regular helmet. I don’t mean to nitpick it’s just that this is literally the only time that my intimate knowledge of the 1985 Australian Television Mini-Series ANZACS is actually relevant. I do agree, good observation!
It was their Wounded Knee
Imagine being in the Brewster Body shields and seeing those in front of you die. That'd be terrifying. To think: "I'm wearing all this stuff, and it's doing nothing. I can't outrun their sights, I'm too slow. That's terrifying."
I know a lot of them knew this was not going to work. Even if the armour could have worked, "Ummm... Sir... What about our arms and legs?"
That scene from Many Wars Ago looks so eerie. Looks more fitting for the surface of Mars or the depths of the ocean, rather then a World War I battlefield.
1970's Ned Kelly was a cool movie because Mick Jagger (The Rolling Stones living legend) played the lead role. And In "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964), Clint Eastwood also used improvisation armor.
Random: Mick Jagger also plays the secondary antagonist in the film FreeJack which is an insanely underrated movie with Emilio Esteves and Anthony Hopkins
@@Space_Ghost_Hunter Freejack = a cool Movie. Estevez vs Jagger.
A cool costume detail I've only just picked up upon is, in "Solo" (Star Wars) there's some Stormtroopers covered in mud and dug into trenches. Those Stormtroopers use additional armour on their helmets in exactly the same way as the soldier in "Beneath Hill 60". It's the only time Stormtroopers in Star Wars are shown in trench warfare.
Star Wars is literally a children's franchise designed to sell toys, grow up
Um ACKCHUALLY they are imperial army troopers not storm troopers.
@@ExternalDialogue Haha, nice to meet a fellow member of the Pedantic Society 😂 The troopers I was on about are the the Mimban Stormtroopers, not the Imperial Army Troopers
@anthroimperzia3927 So you don't want Star Wars at all. Go read a 40K book instead then lmao.
Those aren't stormtroopers, they're imperial army troopers iirc
When I saw the topic, I immediately thought of "A fistful of Dollars.". I'm glad you didn't disappoint.
Some plate armors were still in use even before WW1. Particularly by the heavy cavalry units, but cavalry could only do some much in WW1.
You talking about the cuirasses? Those had always had dubious or mixed results against firearms as far as I could find. Even then, they were very heavy to wear (which is probably why they were only issued to cavalrymen), only protected the torso and the horse would very much have to protection at all. I suspect those things were more for protection against melee weaponry of the time when closing against infantry or engaging other cuirassiers than for actual effective or reliable protection against bullets.
@@mekingtiger9095they did work
@@taistelusammakko5088 Only for weaker pistols/handguns. Actual mainline muskets would penetrate cuirasses rather easily unless fired from a considerable distance.
@@mekingtiger9095they worked pretty damn well for most of their existence. It wasn’t until the latter half of the 19th century when their use became dubious. They could never stop a cannon ball, but they much more often then not stopped a musket ball (they were often specifically tested against muskets at close ranges). In the Napoleonic wars, the British considered winning an engagement against French cuirassiers an impressive feat.
There was a steel vest manufactured during the American Civil War that consisted of two overlapping spring steel plates in a cloth vest. It was actually effective at stopping the soft lead bullets of the time. The problem was that infantry had to walk everywhere and the added weight was intolerable. There were also endless jokes about “the man in the iron stove.” A few cavalrymen kept them but they fell out of use.
WW1 is such an interesting time. The change in tactics of war, the industrialization of weapons, the change in guns in general.
"Before men were small or big weak or small but Mr Colt made them equal"
My youngest son, now a marine, loves ww1 stuff. In 2016 he saw the German trench armor at a show and well you guessed it he wanted it. So I managed acquire it. It's heavy. Really hard to move in it. He tried it on since he was thin.
Awesome video dude i love videos about ww1 its often overlooked
Will add it to my list!
The men getting mowed down in the blocky armor is surreal
It's more effective if you don't put anything over your face, so you can show everyone how important you are.
There's no armor like plot armor.
There ought to be more sketches that ridicule it. You need next to nothing to sustain a head injury. Light hit of a sword, piece of rock launched by ricochetting bullet. Pebbles scattered around by mortar fire.
While the Brewster Body Shield would prove to be a failure, later American armor designs actually saw some level of success. Bashford Dean and his committee came up with several designs that showed some real promise. The heavy body armor was quite similar to the German design, and while it was ultimately rejected due to the high weight (something I can confirm as being too high for comfort) and a somewhat unwieldy design, the ballistics were quite nice and it would have worked well for roles such as sentries and machine gunners. They'd go on to make some fairly decent light body armor, alongside further protection such as full leg and arm armor, and if the war had gone on a few more years I imagine some fantastic designs would have come along (alongside designs in helmets, the Model 5 and Model 8 both showed promise, alongside the tank and aviation helmets they came up with)
Wasn’t the model 5 a literal knight helmet?
@@thebigenchilada678 That would be the model 8, had a visor and much like the other helmets Dean and his team worked on, it was inspired by 15th century designs
The Dean armor likely would have done some real good. It would have been useless against rifle and machine gun rounds, but a lot of injuries and deaths happened from shell fragments which could often be stopped by relatively thin steel.
That concept proved itself early on in WW I with the Brodie and other helmets. Especially when they started using Hadfield steel with a bit of manganese in it, they saved a lot of lives from artillery and mortar fragments on the cheap.
I believe Dean's armor was to use that steel. I think stripped down to just the torso protection it would have come in around 15 pounds or so which is like half of what some of the modern battle rigs weigh. Even with a modest protective effect, when you spread that out among millions of soldiers, there would have been a lot of lives saved.
Funny about the increase in injuries - a very similar thing happened in World War II where they looked at planes that had come back from a mission and put increased protection on the places that were full of bullet holes. Forgetting that these were the ones that came back, and they should have protected the places full of holes that the planes who were shot down had. Go that's a clumsy sentence never mind.😁
There was also some armour that had tiny wheels that you got yourself in and crawled along behind it - like a tiny backless tank. Of course you couldn't see much and crawling doesn't do much for your ability to cross ground either.
It's called "survivalship bias" - people tend to focus on data provided by those who "lived to tell the tale" while overlooking those that did not. It's one of the most common human logical errors, and it's not that easy to overcome.
lmao that beginning clip is hilarious
Mix of creepy and hilarious.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsqlooks like a Monty python scene lmao
(Love your channel man, a lot of detail in short form content. You deserve more subs then you get!)
Jacketed bullets are what ended metal armor mostly . Because soft lead isn't good at penetrating steel
Those soldiers in "Many Wars Ago" do lay on the infamous Zodiac killer who ravaged San Francisco and parts of California in the 1960s. Wonder if the war movie was an inspiration for that killer?!
Same look indeed during that murder by that lake. hmmmm Perhaps the Zodiac killer had served in the Italian army from WW1.
Not unless the Zodiac Killer was some sort of time-travelling magician, since "Many Wars Ago" was released long after the Zodiac Killer committed his crimes. ;)
The geman grabben/sappen panzer armor always fascinated me the most out of all ww1 armors that were made, and albeit rather specific but interesting thing to note (i believe at any rate) is i believe on the second pattern of the armor they made an distributed (albeit lower amounts) had hooks on the front as grenade mounts so they could easily be used
Interesting how even as late as Ww2 people were trying to stop bullets with steel/iron armor.
The soviets famoualy gave some of tier assault troops and combata Engineer Steel beast plates, by all acounts they were like in street fighting but hated in any other setting.
Maybe we could get a video on those?
True, but that's probably more for stopping bayonets and pistol rounds. I seriously doubt those would've stopped an 8mm Mauser round.
@@justalurker3489 very useful in city fighting where sub machine guns were particulary deadly and common
@bernardobiritiki Probably, who knows how it handled the spald from a burst of 9mm from an MP40 tho
There was always something reminiscent of the medieval wars in WW1. I remember thinking that at the museum at Verdun. Medieval in a grotesque perverted way. Creepy.
Yeah 😎👍
*Walks away cringing
The Fistful of Dollars scene was unexpected lol- solid delivery btw
Armour had some use in WW2 as well. USA designed padded flak jackets for bomber crews for protection against shapnels ( and they are direct precursors to modern bulletproof vests ), and soviet union ( yes, soviet union of all countries ! ) used metal breastplate for it's assoult engeneer units. Apparently it was even fairly reliable at stopping pistol and mp40 rounds (tho tbh, 9x19 parabellum isn't the beefiest round in existance )
It may take until the year 3000, when I come up with the perfect Zoidber quote.
Take care, and all the best.
A couple interesting notes on personal body armour:
Like the helmets of the war, the infantry body armour types devised by both factions were derived from historical designs, with the British prototype body armour system modelled after early 15th century cuirass & fauld designs while the German lobster plates were seemingly taken from late 18th and early 19th century sappers’ armour. Arm assemblies for the Allied designs were similarly modelled after early 15th century German mass produced arm defences known as “Alain Rivet Splints”. Highly experimental prototype helmets for infantry and tankers also were modelled after historic designs, with the Met Museum in NYC having several prototype pieces in its collection designed designed at the time by Bashford Dean, a prolific collector and scholar of historic arms and armour whose personal collections were contributed to make up a large part of the Met’s current arms and armour collection. Dean was commissioned by the US military to design personal armour systems for the war and many of his designs were rather unusual to say the least. One of his tanker designs slapped a bascinet-esque visor onto a helmet for use inside the vehicle to protect from internal shrapnel once the tank is penetrated…nevermind the fact that to be inside a WWI tank was to be choked with gas and ringing noise…
But lest we think historical designs have no place in a modern battlefield, modern plate carriers are very similar to old style coats of plate and brigandine, being as they are shaped plates suspended in a thick fabric jacket.
Yojimbo would have also been a good ending as well.
WWI armor was often carbon copies of late medieval armor simply because this was the armor people were familiar with even though there were better manufacturing methods.
Brilliantly cut together with amazing information! Keep it up
The clips from "Many Wars Ago" may be silly, but to me there is is still something surreal and serious about it.
1:54 is this what they call survivor bias?
These 5 min clips are so informing I feel like watched a documentary
The biggest advancement came with heat treated steel, you could use much thinner cuts of metal to stop a rifle round. That and figuring out that covering just the upper chest that held your heart, lungs, most of your liver and spine offered the best survivability to mobility ratio. This made it so that you could go from 30 LB of immobile sheet steel covering your whole chest. To an 8 LB plate, or 6.5LBS for a swimmers cut small plate that sacrificed a small amount of liver protection for comfort and mobility.
This struggle of protection versus maneuverability was still going on when I was in the Army, both tours to Iraq we had TOO MUCH ARMOR. 08 09, 10 11. We had IOTVS all the Kevlar, front plate back plate side plates, Kevlar up top, plus our ammo, water, IFAK, weapon, uniform, boots, batteries, NODS, FLIC, we were like tanks, but it hindered movement. After my 2nd tour we learned from another brigade that had been doing Afghanistan pumps, they did not wear half the shit we did. Took all the kevlar out of there IOTVs, bassically made them plate carriers, ditched the side plates(Snipers in Iraq would aim for arm pits anyway avoiding the side plate). Armor is great, but too much, you cannot move fast enough.
I just LOVE watching 5+ minute-well edited-videos covering these topics. Hats off for your hard work.
I thought that first shot of those guys in that crazy armor was a comedy.
That movie "uomini contro" is amazing and chilling. It's available in full lenght on youtube (in Italian though). After that attack the austrians on the other side shout in German "aufhören mit diesem Unsinn!" and in Italian "basta soldati italiani"
Never thought that movie was so famous in other countries
First clip looked like diverging out of Monty Python
Knowing what I know about ballistics and the calibers used in WW1, any long guns would probably punch straight through any armor that wasn’t absurdly heavy. That being said WW1 diesel punk power armor would be awesome
Being able to stop pistol and shotgun rounds was probably a significant tactical advantage when clearing trenches
@@hschan5976 issue there would be crossing no man’s land in armor to get to the tench to clear it
@@akanji8285 Yup. Which is why they worked for the Soviet Union in WWII but not WWI, when APCs and tanks werent yet a thing
I should start taking notes in these videos to add flicks to may watch list
so many cool movies
What do you call a famous lobster?
A LOB STAR
02:14 Sergeant York, with Gary Cooper. Excellent film!
Starting to think Johnny likes the ANZAC's mini series.
Crocodile Dundee lover.
The best armor was still the set used by the evil soldiers in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It stopped large caliber bullets at close ranges and Quatermain had to use blunt or sharp instruments.
I should be noted that french storm troopers in ww1 found some use with shields they could help against sharpnal and pistols and importanly in the melee during trench clearing. Lets bulky then full armor but some of the same effect
Dang French went gundam on the trenches.
Bullet proof vest!... The guy is brilliant!
I have a feeling the effect of this armour may have been more psychological than protection. I would imagine it would be easier to convince someone to do sentry duty if you offered them this
Here's me watching tje clips you chose saying "Where's _A Fistful of Dollars?_ Where's _A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS??!!"_
Then you got me Johnny, you got me good! 😁
Thank you for researching, writing, and editing! We're not worthy.
Got cha real good Ramon!
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq Mr. Eastwood was given si very many memorable lines throughout his career and he made them his own.
"Deserve's got nothing to do with it" is in my household top ten. Everyone we've raised or have lived with has heard it.
I met him once at a fundraiser hosted in his home. He was honestly a man a few words, but he had a lot of smiles.
But the real question is, you gonna pull dem pistols or whistle Dixie??
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq "Get off my lawn..."
There were silk bullet proof vests available at the time of WW1, they were effective against pistol rounds and light weight but very expensive. Archduke Ferdinand own one but was not wearing it at the time of his assassination. Not that it would have made any difference as he was fatally wounded in the neck.
Protected against Low Velocity lead bullets of large caliber, but against Fmj bullets in smaller caliber ( 7,63 Mauser)?
@@brittakriep2938 Yeah they were mostly good against the relatively low velocity soft lead rounds favored in the concealable revolvers of the late 19th and early 20th century.
Ned went down because his legs weren't armoured
Id love to see a episode on the armor of Australias legendary gunslinger Ned kelly
Edit: i mighta spoke too soon
There should be enough material that I could put something together!
Both films are worth a look , colloquialisms are also interesting..the old double tap...Davey Jones Locker..Tommy Cooker, Tommy, Fritz ,Ivan..the list goes on cheers, Johnny...E...
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsqPS..Journeys End film and play was excellent...the tunnellers of WW1 deserve a mention too...Commonwealth and German...
i love that historically idiots always use "there's more reports of injuries" as a bad thing when it means that there's more survivors.
Imagine being ordered out to battle looking like a doctor who villian and then just getting mowed down by a machine gun anyways.
Kinda reminds me of that mission in rdr2 (online story) where you get such armor and have to atack a fort in the dessert
Hi johny are you have.more content related to armor,sword and knight related in midle age ?
I LOVE THE THUMBNAIL LMAO
If you want to know more then Basford Dean's Helmets and body armour in modern warfare (1920) is the book to get.
A sentry kit is available near your location!
Armor tech didn’t really struggle. It’s just that no one spent mass production levels of money on it. There’s been fabrics, metals, and composite armors that successfully functioned throughout the entire course of firearm history. There have also been plenty of good armor design concepts alongside the freaky looking ones and virtually everyone got some amount of testing with contemporary weapons. We should just all be glad a country like Germany didn’t outfit its infantry with shrapnel resistant armor. Something simple for reducing the lethality of enemy artillery would have changed the course of the entire war.
I am not sure about that. The problem was the tactics, the technology, resources, manpower and morale.
Tanks, anti tank guns, trench conditions, better squad formations, explotation of advantages, lmgs, mobile infintary, use of aircraft.
Hey Johnny amazing job keep them coming and can I ask you something as will
Thanks man! What's up?
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsqone your welcome two can I do re@ct to your on my channel if I haven’t ask already three where do you get your research from just out of Curiosity
@@jordanmagpiebullet7978 Yah sure you can! Tag me in it so I can give you feedback. Most of my research comes from a combination of blogs, Facebook groups, Wikipedia, and museum websites. Museum websites like say the "Imperial War Museum" usually have the most trustworthy sources.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq one thank you two very interesting also your video are very informative to people like me how love military history
Ned ( Eamonn ) Kelly...Mick Jagger, s Oirish accent was...interesting..!!!.. nice one ,Johnny...E...😊
One thing armour of that type will do that most don't realise, is protect against shrapnel and explosion shockwaves. It wont protect you against machine gun fire, not even close. But it will protect against other things found on a WW1 battlefield
InRangeTV did a video about testing WW1 German Machine gunner armor. Given the great disparity between face hardened steel, vs mild steel, and the sheer availability of either at various periods in Germany during WW 1, this was not a bad test. Results? It provided psychological reassurance to the wearer, not much else. 😮😭🙁
When heavy cavalry troops were sent to trenches, due to ineffectivness of heavy cavalry at the beginning of ww1, they would sometimes keep their armour for some time, like french cuirassiers.
I guess this means the "iron man" in the Wild Wild West episode played by John Dehner could not have survived Jim West's bullets if it were real.
You just won a new subscriber, amazing video brother I really appreciated the fact that you put the name of the movies/ video game in the upper part of the screen
Thanks man! Welcome to the channel🙏
One of the tricks Australian troops used was the E tool seated in front of your crotch in its webbing.
I own one and it is very hard cast steel.
The stahlhelm plate fitted to the front of the helmet for sniper use was actually quite good. The sniper is not maneuvering so it suited that role.
Nothing's forsure though.
You've got a clip at the end of this video from "A Fistful of Dollars" but it would have been great if you included the homage to this scene from "Back to the Future Part III"
Some American Old West lawmen and outlaws used body armour, like Clint Eastwood does in the last clip.
Yet another great vid Johnny. I did some quick research on those poor, unfortunate armoured Italians, the ones who look like knights. As they left their trenches, their battle cry was "NEE!" 😉😜🤣🤣
and they brought all of the shrubberies
Chemico vests were the most interesting WW1 armour, fairly effective flak vests.
there's something purgatorial about the image of a dozen men in goofy metal coffins stumbling toward their deaths.
V for Vendetta - Ideas are bulletproof.
I can't look at Zoidberg the same, knowing it's used by Nogla...
Thumbs up for Zoidberg!
Great video!
"Let's all gather around the water cooler." "We are the water cooler." "Oh."
We are the knights who say 'NEE!'
At the Westpoint muesuem they have a set of knight style american trench armor with a flip up visor and everything
I feel like if I was running across No Man's Land, my ass would have found a steel shield.
Jolly good show Johnny!!!
Having to wear a steel coffin while slowly walking into machine gun fire must have been the stuff of nightmares.
I am an Italian enthusiast, so I had to watch that movie, thanks for revealing it's existence to me. It reminded me a lot of Paths of Glory.
very beginning of video. Armored dudes walking.
Me: Oh look its the knights who say neee before they evolved into such like fricken pokemon.
I have never hear of body armor during second world war if you know what I mean.
The first clip and the fact it is something that actually happened is incredible and creepy
American Navy had flak jackets, which is a form of a body armor.
The flak jacket was invented during WWII.
There were a few instances of body armor during WW2. They were rare to find on the field and only got used in specific roles, though.
“… it was discovered more injuries were reported as more men were living to report them”
Bruh, the delivery of that statement is hilarious for some reason 😆🤣
Excellent close out 👍🏻
The best armor is your self confidence.
Interesting improvised armour example worn by an officer in War Horse!
The problem with armour was it was so heavy you couldn’t move in it, it was counter productive.
I remember hearing that the British government conducted a study that found that a set or series of basic effective body armor would have lowered its WWI casualties by 1/3 OR MORE!!!
Because most of casualties during the war was artillery, so shrapnel and such.
It's a good point about increasing in reported damage. More people living and less people dying has been a result of many things, but sounds bad.
Assault troops were issued armour because it reliably stopped grenade fragments, a common close defence weapon. People deride it now but if you have to sit at the bottom of a glacis setting up a charge you take whatever protection given.