I'm stunned as to how big this tank is. He looks as if he's standing next to an exaggerated almost cartoonish representation of what a tank is. A great visual effect.
And you are correct. That is a ridiculously large, cartoonish tank. It's like when I drew a tank when I was a kid. Perspective was not a part of my vocabulary.
@@FahboyMan2549 The P.1000 Ratte ruclips.net/video/ciUNG-ajDro/видео.html Close air support makes these heavy tanks so vulnerable. People in War Thunder try to play the Maus but sometimes it doesn't even make it to the battle, is wiped out by bombs before it reaches the area. Too heavy, too slow. Even the PzKmpfw Ausf B (King Tiger) had a turret which was much too slow, it cannot react. Shermans and T-34/85s, or faster medium tanks can drive around it and knock it out from behind even with short 75mm guns. So costly to build, too. Flawed design. Modern tanks have much faster turret traverses, amazing really. They definitely fixed that problem now.
It always amuses me to see that the Tank Museum actually has someone who reads our comments; it makes me wonder what they make of our fascination with David Fletcher's moustache! :D
The little bits of footage of the tanks moving around the museum and the historical footage as well add a lot to the video! Thanks for making these episodes! Great job :D
tbh I don't understand people, who complain that videos are too long. If anything they are too short, you sit down with your hot drink, just get comfortable and it's already over. Kids have short attention spans today I guess
How difficult/expensive would it be to make two versions: A long version for the more detail-oriented crowd and a shorter, "Just hit the highlights lads" version? Might reach another audience.
Hitler upon seeing the pz3: ".....double it." >enthusiastic engineers create the Stug Hitler upon seeing the Panther: "Double it." >moderately worried engineers create Jagdpanther Hitler upon seeing the Tiger 2: "DOUBLE IT" >methed-up engineers create Jagdtiger Hitler upon seeing Maus: ".....give it a coaxial 75mm." >engineers realize they live in clown world, just roll with it
**You mention these terrible, misguided theories which are obviously destined to fail. But still the elites insist on moving forward with the bad ideas. This basic dynamic was common among 1940s era Nazis, and 1918 - 2019 era socialists!**
They are just monstrous though aren't they. I imagine soldiers facing these would feel a great sense of dread even if they only saw a knocked out Jadgtiger on the battlefield.
In the summer of 1980 I was a Marine PFC going through the Small Arms Repair Course at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. I was assigned to Area Guard one night. The post I was given was the Ordnance Museum. So after it was dark I was able to walk around all of the vehicles, and I climbed up on 331. It was pretty awesome getting a close up look at these pieces of history.
Thanks to David Willey and the team at the tank museum for putting these together. Really appreciate the time and effort you guys put into this. Top Class.
Still, they always struggle in several ways. Imagine then what the German mechanics faced in 1945 just trying to keep these beast rolling. Yes, they are impressive but the strategy was all wrong.
tragic that mr porsches contributions to the allied war effort have never been formally recognized. he should have a vc, a medal of honor, and an order of lenin at least.
In Otto Carius memoirs he recollects seeing a gun sticking out behind a building. In the end they fire at the building, penetrating the building and the tank behind it; an M36 Jackson, knocking it out instantly. That's how powerful this gun is.
It's a 5-inch gun. Closer to naval caliber than anything. Actually, I'm fairly sure they used it because they already had the tooling for making 128mm guns for destroyers. A few adaptations and the development of an armor piercing round, and that's all you need.
@@magisterrleth3129 "The choice for 128 mm calibre anti-tank gun was made because of the availability of tooling due to the use of this calibre for naval weapons." According to Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12.8_cm_PaK_44).
Just Some Guy Ok you're probably right but I keep imagining some engineer going "BIGGER! BIGGER! BIGGER THE FUHRER WANTS BIGGER TANKS" whilst frantically drawing on a piece of paper. All in German of course
@@Masada1911 If the choice is between a badly heated office in sennelager or sleeping in a snow filled ditch while the Russians shoot at you in Poland, i dont care what the Furhrers asking for i'm reaching for the pencil. You want heavier, OK! You want it semi-submersible, OK! You want wings on it? Difficult but OK!
@@voiceofraisin3778 Nah, wings are easy, it's flying that's hard. Stick a spoiler on that SoB, but I'm not sure down force is going to do it any favors.
It is absolutely incredible, how much Mr. Willey knows about all his exhibits - and he gives an ad hoc lecture packed with information - without any script. Thank you!
Awesome episode!!! You've got so much knowledge - and history - to share and these longer videos are very well appreciated. Most of us here are really into the finer details so don't worry about how deep and wide to go because we love it all! Also the restoration videos is a real goldmine and there simply is nothing like it elsewhere. Many thanks!!!
my dad saw two of them in action at March 1945 when they did the spring awaking offensive in Hungary. He said his panther was a killing machine, like the Tiger I , The Tiger II was called the life insurance, but this JagtTiger was not from this World, he remembered. This two Monsters took out a dozens Russian heavy IS from 3-4Kilometer and paved the way for them to advance. They kept them always in the rear and were called in on demand. Just to remember , the 1.SS Leibstandarte Panzer had have in 1945 just 64 vehicles with tracks! Not all were main battle tanks! But they fought against three Russian elite divisions.....
I am gratefull to these people for taking the time and investing the resources necessary to keep these amazing machines in good conditions and for giving us detailed information on their history. These machines are a very important part of our history and should never be forgotten.
@@akujirule8441 of course they were idiots for wasting resources on weapons with no impact on the war. And there are dozens more examples for this. And thats the point of the OP.
3 Hetzers could have been made for 1 Jagdtiger. Less height, less fuel, less likely to be stuck in soft ground, able to cross road bridges and more shells could be supplied to a Hetzer.
@@Phantom-bh5ru The Germans should have kept the Panzer III to use for StuGs, Panzer IV as a main tank, and poured all other resources into building Panthers. Tiger I, Tiger II, Ferdinand, Hetzer, Jagdtiger were all just a waste. They had the Pak 43 towed anti tank gun which is the same gun on the Tiger II for much much MUCH cheaper. Panther alone could go toe to toe with just about every allied AFV. Probably coulda cranked out 15 to 20,000 Panthers.
@@Phantom-bh5ru these tanks were crap just like the tigers. They couldnt travel anywhere without getting stuck or breaking. They were beautiful and magnificent but at the end of the day, the t34 and shermans did over 10x more in the war
@@mails5054 I mean the Sherman was made to do a little of everything. Germans made some for each category so comparing a Sherman to something like a jagdtiger is kinda unfair lol.
My vote is for Herman Goering, with a ego to make promises that he just couldn't keep, but Porsche did seem to have a truly strange concept of the real world.
Porshe: I have done so much wrong for the wermacht. Erhard Milch: Hold my beer German War effort: Oh Sh..t ! After the war. American generals sayd, that Milch have done more damage to German war effort than all Allied generals and spys together !
A clearly very knowledgeable speaker keeps these videos so excellent. Theirs a part of me that wishes none of these tanks survived. That we killed them all in battle! But the history behind them needs to be remembered forever.
Sherman tank commander after the tank next to him was blown to shreds, trying to jump out of his own tank yelling down the turret:" LEGO of my leg! LEGO!!".....there ya go.^^
These are great educational videos. I use them when I need historical references in building any kind of armor. The German paint video was awesome, it was extremely helpful in finding the right color schemes for German armor.
My wife stopped watching her artsy video as soon as she saw you standing next to the world's biggest stick of butter. Her eyes were demonstrating extreme suprise. Then I told her , "that tank is much smaller than the Maus." She's familiar with war thunder as we all play in our house . Sometimes the size and thickness of these vehicles is simply not realized til someone stands next to them. Excellent video please take care of our "mustache" . We here in Texas would knight the old timer, but that's not done. He will have to settle for a nice pair of jeans , snake skin boots and a neck tie .
Textbook case of "Awesome But Impractical". Fantastic gun, but put on a hull that's far too heavy for German resources/engineering/logistics to handle. And without a turret, removing the main armament to replace the transmission is an utter nightmare.
That picture of the soldier sitting astride the tank's cannon like a giant phallus is the epitome of "Toxic Masculinity"& his "Animalistic Combative Barbarity".I give you a BIG THUMBS UP!
The s.Pz.Jg.-Abt. 653 was extremely pleased with the Jagdtiger, they admired the strong armour and the extremely powerful gun. Being familiar with the Ferdinand/Elefant, they felt much more at home in the Jagdtiger than Otto Carius, who came from a Tiger Ausf. E and has zero experience in a tank destroyer. The s.Pz.Jg.-Abt. 653 also acheived much better results with the Jagdtiger because of this when compared to the s.Pz.Jg.-Abt. 512. It should be noted that the 1. Kompanie of s.Pz.Jg.-Abt 512 was mostly manned by people who had served on the Nashorn and Jagdpanther and was commanded by Albert Ernst, a Panzer Ace on the Nashorn, they too fared undeniably better with the Jagdtiger compared to Otto Carius' Kompanie
I completely agree. There is also a more than a little bit of Carius in his book blaming his personal lack of activity in 1945 on the JagdTiger. Pz.Jg.-Abt 512 often seemed more than a little shy about actually getting into action in 1945. I also always kind of disliked the idea of a Carius as the company commander blaming "lack of training" for the mistakes of the men under his command with the JagdTiger. In particular, if men in his company didn't know how to pull out of an engagement with the JagdTiger, that reflects very poorly on Otto Carius.
No reason a 12.8mm heavy TD with a rate of fire 1/3rd of a medium tank should be sniping Shermans in the West. The terrain rarely allowed for the range the gun was capable of and worsened all of the many deficiencies in the powertrain. In retrospect, the whole program was a Pyrrhic effort from start to finish; to quote a business expression, "little investment requires little returns; big investment requires HUGE returns". In short, investment scales logarithmically; I realize everybody loves to cite the KD ratio of the Elefant/Ferdinand, for example, and it does look impressive compared to other vehicles, but being that expensive means you need to kill a much higher ratio of tanks to make up for not merely the extra cost to build it, but the kills that COULD have been gotten with a lesser vehicle. Consider that most of the things an Elefant or a Jagdtiger killed could have also been killed by a StuG III or a towed 7.5cm AT gun, and at a much cheaper cost. To be blunt: none of the German heavy panzerjager vehicles killed enough or frequently enough to justify that standard.
I recall hearing about a company of Jagdtigers in the west that lost 11 of the tds for only one kill (Holland possibly). I think that they were scuttled by their own crews due to mechanical breakdown, immobility, or lack of fuel. That's a pretty lousy return on investment.
Great story telling David i love your presentation and story telling skills very much giving me a good overview and contextual circumstances of each and every tank you talk about. Your the best David !!! your my David Attenborough of the tank world, i would love to meet you when i visit. Your the best thing about the Tank Museum,
As always lovely long video packed full of detail! Keep it up! Need to get The Chieftain and David together to do the history and inside the hatch all at the same time.
It's a shame how Aberdeen can't or won't care about it's massive vehicle collection even if the vehicles are really novel. Most of them are just rotting away under the clear blue skies.
@G G What rotting are you talking about? Here's a Jagdpanther I saw in Kubinka the other day: live.staticflickr.com/4537/37583220904_c1cb9b1f7c_b.jpg Here's Jagdtiger: ic.pics.livejournal.com/tankist_31/83419838/5288116/5288116_1000.jpg
My Gf & myself visited the tank museum, bovington yesterday. We thoroughly enjoyed it there.....such a wealth of information, tanks & military hardware etc....Weve just booked Tiger Day for April 2020. :)
@W For something they didn't want to do, they sure did a lot of it. Sure, the rank and file probably mostly joined the party because they didn't want to be accused of treason, but the party leadership organized death camps and death squads and actions speak louder than words.
You always watch these tank chats and think, "Huh yup that's a tank and it looks pretty cool.", but then they show some of the pictures of real men capturing these vehicles and fighting in them and such and you think about it more and then it hits you that real people fought and died in and around and to these vehicles and you think about what it must have been like to fight in this way and it's very eye opening. Truly great tank chat as always. If y'all run out of money; rob a bank! Never stop.
@@lucasc5622 only an idiot can say, if the US Army offers you to surrender in mid april 1945 and spare your city from destruction, after witnessing how the Ruhrgebiet looks a couple kilometers to the north, you surrender
@Peter I am confused. Hasn’t this video shown rhat they shouldn’t have bothered making any at all? The whole idea was flawed ... same as the Yamato & Musashi for the Japanese navy.
@@lucasc5622 if it was a joke ok, but there are a lot of idiots out there, that actually believe, that sacrificing thousands of innocent is more preferable than surrendering
As was so often the case, it was a lot of over-engineering for no tactical advantage due to operational limitations and strategic influences. Like the FG42, which never came close to the value of the STG44 despite all the expense, the JagdTiger program never lived up to even the basic STGIIIg
@AKUJIRULE yes, you can definitely compare the FG42 and STG44. The latter was designed cheaply and inexpensively WHILE being designed around a new, lighter weight cartridge. The FG42 TRIED and FAILED to do what the MG34 and MG42 (and others from Czech manufacturers) were already doing. In the end it was an Over-engineered full cartridge design that didn't meet the sustained fire needs of a true LMG and didn't even achieve the results of the STG44 in a personal automatic weapon. Expensive, tiny magazine, inaccurate in full auto. Prime evidence of Germany's 'divide and rule' mini-empore. Imagine how much more could have been achieved adopting the STG44 years earlier
@@danepatterson8107 Nope, the FG was a paratroopers MG and rifle. It could be used with (I lack the right translation) opening shooting and closing shooting breach when semi or full auto, making it very precise and so easy to handle you could even shoot it full auto from the hips.The FG42 and the Stg44 a different types of weaponry.
@@void1968able You miss my point. The Stg44 was cheaper, and performed better than the FG42 (and Kar98) in every way. The FG42 produced a beautiful weapon that was a net negative for the armaments industry (too long to produce, too expensive, and inferior to the STG44). Same as these Over-engineered beasts vs. a Sturmgeschutz 3
I really enjoy watching these thank you for doing them! I hope they continue. Its also a great look at museum exhibits that most of us will never have a chance to see in person.
Imagine seeing/hearing these beasts rumbling down the road and firing. It had to be one incredibly scary sight as at that time we had nothing that could take a hit from that 128mm round.
Everything which is reasonable ends up being a roast of the Jagdtiger. It was utterly awful. Really pretty. Cool for games. But a disaster in real life.
@@lokenontherange Well it depends. It is barrely take part in battles in 1945. Germany is collapsing. No food rations. No fuel. No bridges no trained crew. No testing and spent 2 months without maintenance shop. No offense but you can see my point. It was barelly 5 tons heavier than kingtiger. No great but not terrible eighter. Even if it was not really a dream tank the vehicle never really had the chance to bring it's potential to the battlefield. The reliability ration significantly elevated in march. But then it was 2 moths before end.
@Superfly29rr Hardly a challenge if the enemy can't reliably penetrate your frontal armour, have turrets, have more reliable armour, and are some five times your speed. Just makes it more fun - if only because I'm not the one getting incinerated every time a heatfs comes through a recently developed frontal window.
Brilliant content as always, keep up the good work. Mr fletcher needs a section of the museum named after his moustache. Such a glorious fine piece of English engineering 👌
Another outstanding video, the brief wide shot of the lighting set up just shows that these aren’t just filmed but a lot of thought goes into their production. Well done guys.
Beautifully done video! Thank you for helping to make my Friday morning here in Colorado. I had not really considered building one of these in 1/16 RC ( as I already have a Porsche King Tiger looking for an upgrade and an Elefant RC Kit ) but looking at it again here, I will probably reconsider.
At the time the project started, it made perfect sense. They needed something serious to kill the IS-2 at long range. Running out of trained tankers and officers was probably not part of the plan.
I'm not sure it did make sense. What sense is there in building a tank so heavy that it breaks down every couple of miles and can only be repaired by sending it back to its factory to be disassembled in an enormous operation. A tank so heavy, drinks so much precious fuel, that even if it doesn't break down the crew ends up destroying it themselves when they abandon it after using it to destroy one single enemy tank. I'll take 5 Stug III's instead.
@@DrDrift-rl6cc They just didn't need that gun out in the field. It's stupidity. They probably only made it because Hitler himself demanded it. Real engineers would never have made such a thing.
@@Aethelhald no. They wanted it because they were preparing in advance for larger, heavier, and more powerful soviet heavy tanks. And because they wanted the superior tank the Germans would always try to one up what they believed the soviets would field, and thus resulting in massive tank projects like the Maus, jagdtiger and the E100
@@Phantom-bh5ru How many track-busting anti-tank mines could you produce in place of one Jagdtiger? They'd have been better off producing those instead. This is like when you see a 12-year old say "the Tiger was the best tank, it could destroy any tank!" Well, sure, technically that's true, but there is so much more to think about when putting a tank in the field than "can it destroy anything it comes up against?" Like: Do we realistically have the resources to produce these in large enough quantities to make a difference? (Spoiler: No) Do we realistically have the abundance of fuel to move these things around in the field? (Spoiler: No) Does it move fast enough to be effective in combat? (Spoiler: No) Is it mechanically sound? Can it travel more than 3 kilometers without breaking down and needing to be sent back to the factory in Dusseldorf for labour-intensive repair? (Spoiler: No and no) Can it travel over bridges without the bridge collapsing? (Spoiler: No) Can it travel up a slight incline without spontaneously bursting in to flames? (Spoiler: No) And so on and so forth. The best tanks in WW2 weren't the tanks that scared the enemy to death and could destroy literally any other tank they came across. The best tanks were those that you have the resources to produce in enough of an abundance to get the job done that needed to be done.
A typical example of their use was at the start of 1945, when - as part of Operation Nordwind - 16 Jagdtigers from the 65rd Heavy Panzerjager were unloaded from their railway transport, reassembled, and set out on a 90-km advance to contact. Ten of the Jagdtigers broke down and had to be destroyed during the march (being too heavy to recover), four were not fit to fight on arrival; and only two actually participated in combat: knocking out one possible Allied tank, and losing one Jagdtiger. Not a lot of value generated, for enough steel and labour to produce a battalion’s worth of Panzer IVs or a U-boat.
The Commander actually wanted to fully turn his vehicle on a hill and retreat by exposing his back. instead of reversing of the hill with the front to the enemy iirc. its been a while since I read the book.
Yes, it was hit in the back, not in the side. That was no lack of training, the was pure imbecility of the commander. I think a 10 year old in WW2 times knew where a tank got strong armor and where it got very weak armor and that you *never* show your weak spot to the enemy.
The Henschnel Tiger PzVIE was used for the tank version, but the PzVI(P) Porsche chassis which had lost out in the competition was used for the tank destroyer for this generation/role. 1354 PzVIE, and 90 StuG VI(P). Both had their own recovery vehicles - a conversion of 3 gun tanks for the VIE, and of 3 of the prototype chassis for the VI(P) The Tiger chassis was used to convert 18 gun tanks into the Assault Mortar role, and these did use the PzVIE hull.
When I saw those destroyed Jagdtigers, I was wondering what could have knocked them out, but then I remembered that they probably were blown up by their own crews when they broke down.
My guess is a) by the own crew after mechanical failure or b) from air by a plane or artillery shell. There are no reports a Jagdtiger was ever blown up by another tank.
Ground attack aircraft certainly could reduce the combat effectiveness of tanks usually more logistically; knocking out the railways used to move tanks over distance, destroying bridges and if the tanks were immune to strafing .50 cal MGs the fuel and ammo trucks certainly weren’t. Many a Tiger was just abandoned undamaged for want of fuel or ammo.
@@nomenestomen3452 I believe Otto Carius in his book talks about one being knocked out by Allied tanks, in fact the host of the video above cites the example. There are a couple of others knocked out by tanks as well. But with only 80 made, and the strategic circumstances in 1945, something like this is gonna break down or run out of fuel more often than be knocked out.
I believe they should have canceled the tigers including the tiger 1 as soon as the panther came out. Gave the planetary final drive machines that made the finals for the tigers to the Panthers.... (Panthers were supposed to have a planetary drive, lack of special types of machines meant they had to redesign the finals creating issues).... anyway and just convert all production to Panthers and jagdpanthers... keep producing stugs and pzIVs... although it probably wouldn't have made a difference in the end. Production still wouldn't have been able to be increased to make a difference.. but truthfully the Panthers pak42 7.5cm was able to kill anything. If they just had 3 or 4 types of tanks to produce and focus on then they could have focused on fixing the major issues alot easier and would have been able to probably fit the 88mm on the pather eventually because the planetary finals wouldn't be overloaded like the Panthers finals were
Regarding the Jagdtiger: I quote directly from Otto Carius "Tigers In The Mud: The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius", Chapter The Ruhr Pocket pp.206 - 207 - "Our equipment situation was quite complicated. The "Hunting Tigers" came from the Hindenburg Facilities in St. Valentin near Linz; the cannons, on the other hand, came from Breslau. The Russians had already advanced beyond that, however, so we were only able to equip thiry "Hunting Tigers" with cannons. Each company received only ten vehicles. In the final analysis, that was sufficient, since we couldn't man any more. The ammunition was drawn from Magdeburg. The ammunition details that picked it up had radios with them to report every stop. Our employment was that important to high command! The tanks were transported by rail to Paderborn. The companies were assembled there in Sennelager. We had the impression that we were considered the secret weapon that could still save Germany. When the assault guns ("Hunting Tigers") were calibrated in Sennelager, we experienced our first failure. Despite its eighty-two tons, our "Hunting Tiger" didn't want to act like we wanted it to. Only its armor was satisfactory; its maneuverability left a lot to be desired. In addition, it was an assault gun. There was no traversing turret, just an enclosed, armored housing. Any large traversing of the cannon had to be effected by movement of the entire vehicle. Because of that, transmissions and steering differentials were soon out of order. That such a monstrosity had to be constructed in the final phase of the war - of all times! A better idea for the travel lock of the eight-meter-long cannon of our "Hunting Tiger" was also absolutely necessary. It had to be removed FROM THE OUTSIDE during contact with the enemy! Locking down the barrel during a road march was necessary, of course. Otherwise the mounting brackets would have been worn out too quickly and exact aiming would have been impossible. All these problems were compounded by the fact that a tanker cannot feel comfortable in an assault gun. We want to be able to turn our weapons 360 degrees. If not, we have no feeling of security or superiority, but rather that someone is breathing down our necks. ...during calibration of the assault guns "Hunting Tigers"... We missed everything in such a manner that we were soon fed up with it. Finally, the ordnance technician checked the matter out, and everything then worked better. We discovered that the cannon, because of its enormous length, was battered about so much as a result of even a short move off the road that its alignment no longer agreed with that of the optics. That promised to be a lot of fun - things didn't want to work, BEFORE we even met the enemy! ...An incident occurred that proved to me how deeply the fighting morale among the men and the officers had sunk. My executive officer was pulling security in my "Hunting Tiger" in the piece of woods already mentioned. He had also taken my crew. Suddenly, my driver Lustig approached me on foot halfway from the front lines. I already had a bad feeling. The good man was completely out of breath and had to catch it first before he could report to me what had happened. His first remark said everything. "I almost slugged my tank commander just now! If we were still in Russia, he'd be dead by now!" He then explained what had happened. His vehicle was located with another "Hunting Tiger," well camouflaged, at the wood line. A long column of enemy tanks had driven across their front at about one and a half kilometers distance. Lustig now considered it a given that the tank commander would give the order to fire. Why else were assault guns there? The man refused to fire a shot, however. A heated argument started among the members of the crew. This strange officer justified his refusal to fire with the reason that he would expose himself if he opened fire and he would then draw the attention of the fighter-bombers! To make a long story short, not a single shot was actually fired, although this distance was practically ideal for our cannons. The enemy would have had no opportunity to endanger our "Hunting Tigers." It wasn't enough, however, that this strange officer didn't fire. He also ordered his vehicle to back up out of the woods shortly thereafter. It was then that he really did reveal his position. He was lucky that no planes were in the air at the time. He cleared out to the rear without notifying the vehicle commander of the second "Hunting Tiger" at all. That commander promptly followed, and both of them raced off as if the devil were behind them. Of course, no enemy was to be seen far and wide! Because of the careless driving of the completely inexperienced crew, the second vehicle was immediately disabled. The "fearless" Oberleutnant didn't worry about the vehicle at all. On the contrary, he obstinately drove on until his vehicle also became disabled. At least the Oberfeldwebel in the second assault gun ("Hunting Tiger") blew up his own vehicle. Lustig had then departed on foot and insisted that I forward his report to the battalion. In that phase of the war, however, it didn't make any sense anymore. Everyone had to decide for themselves whether they wanted to experience the end decently or as a louse. Troops from all different branches were lying about in the woods by the hundreds and waiting for the end. Their morale was completely gone. ...I fetched my "Hunting Tigers" and led them south to the next village. We soon noticed that there was still a war on. An American tank became a nuisance. I quickly brought a "Hunting Tiger" into position on the eastern edge of the village and personally drove in the Kubel to a small patch of high ground to gain a vantage point. The enemy had already reached Federal Highway 233, and five tanks were right before our eyes under the trees. The distance was barely 600 meters. I quickly grabbed one of my assault guns to give the enemy something to think about. The commander of the "Hunting Tigers," a Stabsfeldwebel without experience at the front, wanted to handle the matter himself. To be on the safe side, I first led him on foot to the high ground. I showed him the enemy and told him the distance, so nothing could really go wrong. It was like at the training area. The Stabsfeldwebel then went to his vehicle, and I remained to observe. The unfortunate man then made a fatal mistake. He didn't crank the cannon down to its right position until he had almost arrived on the high ground. Of course, the Americans heard the sound of the motor and reacted accordingly. Two of the tanks scrammed, but the other three opened fire. The Stabsfeldwebel's vehicle was soon hit in the front and hadn't fire one shot itself. Instead of finally firing, the lunatic turned around on the high ground when he simply could have rolled backward. When the Yanks had the broad side of the "Hunting Tiger" in front of them, they left our vehicle have it. It immediately went up in flames. Other hits followed, and not one of the six-man crew could save himself, probably because everyone got in each other's way. This example serves to prove that the best weapon and the greatest enthusiasm are useless when thorough basic training has not been conducted."
@ur mom The Stabsfeldwebel had no experience at the front - that was his first ever combat experience. The war was short for him. There was only the single Jagdtiger - Otto Carius was observing in a Kubelwagen and saw the entire disaster. He simply did not expect it to go so badly - he had planned on just doing it himself, but the Stabs insisted that he be the one to do it (probably because the war was nearly over and he wanted to have some combat experience, and it could have been his last and only chance really.) Otto walked with the Stabs up the hill and to the small patch of woods at the ridgeline, and then showed him where all the tanks were sitting. And then they walked back together. Stabs got into the Jagdtiger, Otto into the Kubelwagen. The Stabs just walked there on foot and knew precisely where to drive, where to park, and where the enemies were to shoot. He probably should have asked more questions but Otto seemingly didn't consider mentioning things such as, which tank to shoot first, how to roll backward and away, what to do when the tanks fire back and hit the Jagdtiger, and especially how important it would be to lower the barrel ahead of time (since it was the noise of the motors for the barrel elevation that the Allied tankers heard, alerting them to the Stabs position in the Jagdtiger). Before the Stabs could even fire a shot, he was hit several times by 4 allied tanks, 2 of the tanks escaped, and then he just panicked and the driver turned the tank sideways instead of just rolling backwards in reverse. And they all died in the fire. Otto says that it was probably because they got in each other's way while trying to escape. Basically, none of them knew each other, had worked together before, or been in combat. It wasn't Otto's crew, it was the Stabs own crew - all of them were straight from training and never had been to war yet.That really does suck - they just pulled up to the ridge and immediately got shot by 4 tanks. The guy panicked, he probably thought Otto set him up! But it was the noise of the barrel elevation motors which did it. Frankly, I think that Otto had been in combat for so long at this point that he had become battle fatigued, or combat shock syndrome - basically he had little empathy for people that were not really close to him and he really could have made more of an effort to ensure that such a thing did not happen. He does not even seem upset about it; the comment about how they burned alive because they got in each others way trying to escape, makes me think he was bitter over the whole thing. Just sick of seeing human life wasted. But that is not saying anything negative of him, it is just a fact. It's the difference between your first few weeks at a new job or living in a new place, and then 4 years later - the stuff that was interesting and exciting and new is just common, dull, and routine. He just could not think like a citizen, he was a soldier in every sense of the word. And really, what would it have mattered - he had witnessed so many tragedies resulting in death and mutilation as the result of people being put in situations where they have no control over the outcome - being attacked by allied bombers during an air raid, tanks and infantry killed in the open by ground attack aircraft, artillery barrages, landmines, hidden AT guns. The whole thing sucks. For everyone.
Watching a show about the Elephant tank and American army tankers were saying we struggle maintaining the Abrams 70 ton tank whilst controlling the battlefield it’s amazing the Germans did it with the Elephant which was roughly the same weight as the Jagdtiger.
I wonder how a Jagdtiger would go against an M2a Abrams in the open, daylight and flat terrain..... I'm guessing it would be massacred because the Abrams is so mobile.
Not to mention an Abrams could penetrate that armor... That said I'm sure you could do some damage to an Abrams with that 128mm but I really don't know, depends on distance as well as the Abrams can easily hit right where it wants to with great accuracy where the jagdtiger is manually aimed and may need a shot or two at greater distances
Unless it hit it in the turret ring a jagdtiger wouldnt do much to the front. The tank is meant to resist far more powerful shells than wwii 128mm rounds. The sides are still vulnerable of course. But no tank is history was ever designed with resisting 128mm side shots in mind.
I'm stunned as to how big this tank is. He looks as if he's standing next to an exaggerated almost cartoonish representation of what a tank is. A great visual effect.
Wait until you see the TOG II.
And you are correct. That is a ridiculously large, cartoonish tank. It's like when I drew a tank when I was a kid. Perspective was not a part of my vocabulary.
That's what I was about to say.
@@FahboyMan2549 The P.1000 Ratte ruclips.net/video/ciUNG-ajDro/видео.html
Close air support makes these heavy tanks so vulnerable. People in War Thunder try to play the Maus but sometimes it doesn't even make it to the battle, is wiped out by bombs before it reaches the area. Too heavy, too slow. Even the PzKmpfw Ausf B (King Tiger) had a turret which was much too slow, it cannot react. Shermans and T-34/85s, or faster medium tanks can drive around it and knock it out from behind even with short 75mm guns. So costly to build, too. Flawed design. Modern tanks have much faster turret traverses, amazing really. They definitely fixed that problem now.
@@PatriceBoivin except the video game is not even remotely analogous to real life.
It's been a rough day today. But a Tank Chat always makes things better!
It always amuses me to see that the Tank Museum actually has someone who reads our comments; it makes me wonder what they make of our fascination with David Fletcher's moustache! :D
agreed
Yep!
@Gerald Leonel well done
Totally agree 👍
The Germans even making 80 of these is CRAZY
Fr
The little bits of footage of the tanks moving around the museum and the historical footage as well add a lot to the video! Thanks for making these episodes! Great job :D
RUclips channels like this are the reason I haven't used cable In almost 10 years now
I agree :D
I love the new length of these episodes.
Fully agree!
tbh I don't understand people, who complain that videos are too long. If anything they are too short, you sit down with your hot drink, just get comfortable and it's already over. Kids have short attention spans today I guess
Yeah, I like the good analyzing long enough vid, mis the rough mustache though !
How difficult/expensive would it be to make two versions: A long version for the more detail-oriented crowd and a shorter, "Just hit the highlights lads" version? Might reach another audience.
Mr Mürk I might be more an issue of economics? But I fully agree, just take your time and flesh out the details in a calm thorough fashion, thank you
Hitler upon seeing the pz3: ".....double it."
>enthusiastic engineers create the Stug
Hitler upon seeing the Panther: "Double it."
>moderately worried engineers create Jagdpanther
Hitler upon seeing the Tiger 2: "DOUBLE IT"
>methed-up engineers create Jagdtiger
Hitler upon seeing Maus: ".....give it a coaxial 75mm."
>engineers realize they live in clown world, just roll with it
German tank development in a nutshell
Love it ! Would have loved to eves drop on those engineers and mechanics
Funny how people thinks that it all up to the fuhrer and in no way the german army had influence.
**You mention these terrible, misguided theories which are obviously destined to fail. But still the elites insist on moving forward with the bad ideas. This basic dynamic was common among 1940s era Nazis, and 1918 - 2019 era socialists!**
At some point, new tank designs actually need to take the curvature of the Earth into account. 😃
They are just monstrous though aren't they. I imagine soldiers facing these would feel a great sense of dread even if they only saw a knocked out Jadgtiger on the battlefield.
Walking through the grave of giants. Just dreading seeing one still alive
@@JoeWalker98 exactly
2:40 OMG WHO SHRUNK THE CURATOR?!
@Kabuki Kitsune The Gyro-Stabilized Sherman Syndrome strikes again!
Yes absolutely, I could only imagine the psychological effect of seeing this thing Rumble down a cobblestone Street towards you.
In the summer of 1980 I was a Marine PFC going through the Small Arms Repair Course at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. I was assigned to Area Guard one night. The post I was given was the Ordnance Museum. So after it was dark I was able to walk around all of the vehicles, and I climbed up on 331. It was pretty awesome getting a close up look at these pieces of history.
Yeah and that tank has seen better days😑
Great format excellent production, interesting and informative. Don't change a thing I love these videos.
Thanks to David Willey and the team at the tank museum for putting these together. Really appreciate the time and effort you guys put into this. Top Class.
Still, they always struggle in several ways. Imagine then what the German mechanics faced in 1945 just trying to keep these beast rolling. Yes, they are impressive but the strategy was all wrong.
tragic that mr porsches contributions to the allied war effort have never been formally recognized. he should have a vc, a medal of honor, and an order of lenin at least.
I wonder how many lives his hairbrained ideas saved.
@@Hartwig870 don't know
How many people died on average to a tiger
Then minus all of those lives by every tiger or tiger 2 he...worked on?
I missed the “allied” part in your comment and thought you were just a Nazi lolol
You're an absolute plonker.
@@jidk6565 henschel made those.
In Otto Carius memoirs he recollects seeing a gun sticking out behind a building. In the end they fire at the building, penetrating the building and the tank behind it; an M36 Jackson, knocking it out instantly. That's how powerful this gun is.
It's a 5-inch gun. Closer to naval caliber than anything. Actually, I'm fairly sure they used it because they already had the tooling for making 128mm guns for destroyers. A few adaptations and the development of an armor piercing round, and that's all you need.
@@magisterrleth3129 "The choice for 128 mm calibre anti-tank gun was made because of the availability of tooling due to the use of this calibre for naval weapons." According to Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12.8_cm_PaK_44).
The caliber also existed among their anti aircraft guns before the PzSfl V's 128mm Kanone was built, let alone the later Pak 44.
It has recorded kills at over 4000 metres, a remarkable feat for that time. Mark Felton has a couple videos about Jagdtiger engagements I think
I’m pretty sure almost any tank gun could do that. Buildings are very soft targets and a Jackson has 0 armor.
Thank you David Willey and all of you at the Tank Museum.
"Guys, I think we may have lost the thread somewhere along the line." -Some German engineer in 1943, probably
Just Some Guy Ok you're probably right but I keep imagining some engineer going "BIGGER! BIGGER! BIGGER THE FUHRER WANTS BIGGER TANKS" whilst frantically drawing on a piece of paper.
All in German of course
*S C H N E L L*
@@Masada1911 "Grösser! Nein, nicht gross genug!" ;) (my german isn't very good but what i'm going for is: "Bigger! no, still not big enough!" )
@@Masada1911 If the choice is between a badly heated office in sennelager or sleeping in a snow filled ditch while the Russians shoot at you in Poland, i dont care what the Furhrers asking for i'm reaching for the pencil.
You want heavier, OK!
You want it semi-submersible, OK!
You want wings on it? Difficult but OK!
@@voiceofraisin3778 Nah, wings are easy, it's flying that's hard. Stick a spoiler on that SoB, but I'm not sure down force is going to do it any favors.
1:47 stuff like this always makes me smile, knowing our ancestors could be just as immature
true
It is absolutely incredible, how much Mr. Willey knows about all his exhibits - and he gives an ad hoc lecture packed with information - without any script. Thank you!
No, Tank you
I was at the tank museum only yesterday. This tank is just massive . The king tiger is a pretty impressive beast too.
Awesome episode!!! You've got so much knowledge - and history - to share and these longer videos are very well appreciated.
Most of us here are really into the finer details so don't worry about how deep and wide to go because we love it all!
Also the restoration videos is a real goldmine and there simply is nothing like it elsewhere.
Many thanks!!!
The blueprints at 3:48 read "Tiger-Jäger mit 12.8 cm L/66". Because the Pak 44 wasn't powerful enough with just the L/55 long barrel :D
Or as I call it, The Heavy One That Porsche Saw Neccessary to Give a More Fragile Suspension System to For No Discernible Reason.
So THOT PSN GMF SS FNDR for short, then? :P
@@RugnirSvenstarr Now translate it into German!
@@Akm72 and yell it
@@Akm72 Der Schwere, den Porsche für notwendig hielt, um ein zerbrechlicheres Aufhängungssystem ohne erkennbaren Grund anzubieten!
Maybe Porsche was working undercover as a saboteur? Hmm...
Loved getting to see that very Jagdtiger and meet the curator himself back at the end of April earlier this year. Visit of a lifetime!
my dad saw two of them in action at March 1945 when they did the spring awaking offensive in Hungary. He said his panther was a killing machine, like the Tiger I , The Tiger II was called the life insurance, but this JagtTiger was not from this World, he remembered. This two Monsters took out a dozens Russian heavy IS from 3-4Kilometer and paved the way for them to advance. They kept them always in the rear and were called in on demand. Just to remember , the 1.SS Leibstandarte Panzer had have in 1945 just 64 vehicles with tracks! Not all were main battle tanks! But they fought against three Russian elite divisions.....
Germans was masters to make moving houses with guns.
Russian soldier: Sir there is a moving house coming towards us
I am gratefull to these people for taking the time and investing the resources necessary to keep these amazing machines in good conditions and for giving us detailed information on their history. These machines are a very important part of our history and should never be forgotten.
I’m so glad Germany had these vanity projects. Made the war easier to win for the allies and now we can marvel at these beasts👍
LOL "vanity project"
It is next generation TD/Assault gun, Germans weren't idiots.
After all, IS-3 was created to be frontaly resistant to 88L71
@@akujirule8441 of course they were idiots for wasting resources on weapons with no impact on the war. And there are dozens more examples for this. And thats the point of the OP.
@@Ganiscol look at the timeline they were produced, ignoramus. You are talking nonsense out of ignorance.
@@akujirule8441 the policy was made by idiots. The vehicle was intelligently designed
@@benjimain6 yeah
3 Hetzers could have been made for 1 Jagdtiger. Less height, less fuel, less likely to be stuck in soft ground, able to cross road bridges and more shells could be supplied to a Hetzer.
Only 3? Idk man if it’s only 3 hetzers I don’t this they would be much better. If it was like 5 extra hetzers then yea, but just 3??
good point, but a Hetzer cant one-shot a Churchill at 3000m! Apparently it didnt matter though haha
@@Phantom-bh5ru The Germans should have kept the Panzer III to use for StuGs, Panzer IV as a main tank, and poured all other resources into building Panthers. Tiger I, Tiger II, Ferdinand, Hetzer, Jagdtiger were all just a waste.
They had the Pak 43 towed anti tank gun which is the same gun on the Tiger II for much much MUCH cheaper.
Panther alone could go toe to toe with just about every allied AFV.
Probably coulda cranked out 15 to 20,000 Panthers.
@@Phantom-bh5ru these tanks were crap just like the tigers. They couldnt travel anywhere without getting stuck or breaking. They were beautiful and magnificent but at the end of the day, the t34 and shermans did over 10x more in the war
@@mails5054 I mean the Sherman was made to do a little of everything. Germans made some for each category so comparing a Sherman to something like a jagdtiger is kinda unfair lol.
Can we thank the Tank Museum for keeping this beast and the other tanks clean? I almost swallowed myself seeing the inside of the Jagdtiger...
Porsche done more to defeat Germany than one allied general.
yea, the guy was full of ideas that had no correlation with reality.
My vote is for Herman Goering, with a ego to make promises that he just couldn't keep, but Porsche did seem to have a truly strange concept of the real world.
Porshe: I have done so much wrong for the wermacht.
Erhard Milch: Hold my beer
German War effort: Oh Sh..t !
After the war. American generals sayd, that Milch have done more damage to German war effort than all Allied generals and spys together !
Hitler was horny for bigger and bigger machines.
@@yankee1376
Dank maymay but completely inaccurate especially considering how many projects Hitler had canceled.
I never truly realized how huge the Jagdtiger is until I saw someone standing next to it.
A clearly very knowledgeable speaker keeps these videos so excellent. Theirs a part of me that wishes none of these tanks survived. That we killed them all in battle! But the history behind them needs to be remembered forever.
Willey never fails to substantiate the tank chats, mentioning several of his sources along the way ever so often.
In spite of popular opinion around here, I prefer Willey to Fletcher. He's far more in depth.
I keep looking at the presenter, then at the house he’s standing next too.
excellent! thank you Mr. Willey and to The Tank Museum. I have been waiting for this one for awhile!
Another quality vid, loved it. That thing is HUGE, holy crap!
4:38 It should read Krupp not crap.
Nice Porsche Suspension, would be a shame if it was unreliable...
I mean.... at least it works better than most of the transmissions..... right?
@@Kar4ever3 not really.
@@venator5 That was the joke.
yeah bad bad german tanks, we all know allied got far superior tanks,giving nicknames like coffins by their own soldiers back then....jealous Teeboos
@@drachenoger7635 its because the allies could actually say how bad their tank was without getting shot unlike the germans
One of my favourite Tank Chats , one the best series on the tube 🤗👍
I would have never EVER thought I would heard the word LEGO in tank chats!
Sherman tank commander after the tank next to him was blown to shreds, trying to jump out of his own tank yelling down the turret:" LEGO of my leg! LEGO!!".....there ya go.^^
Another superb video. Educational, informed and clearly presented. Brilliant channel.
Again, you provide an incredibly detailed look inside the desperate and fascinating world of the German war machine toward the end of WWll.
How can you not like listening to an expert of a subject that has done his research, and has the REAL THING sitting there to talk about?
These are great educational videos. I use them when I need historical references in building any kind of armor. The German paint video was awesome, it was extremely helpful in finding the right color schemes for German armor.
...I'M SO GLAD YOU GUYS RE-PAINTED THIS VEHICLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s all history of sad times & grate men & women to whom we owe our very existence.🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻
That thing is huge!
Wow, I am from St. Valentin, Austria, where this machine has been built. Unfortunately there is nothing left of the factory but a plaque.
My wife stopped watching her artsy video as soon as she saw you standing next to the world's biggest stick of butter. Her eyes were demonstrating extreme suprise. Then I told her , "that tank is much smaller than the Maus."
She's familiar with war thunder as we all play in our house . Sometimes the size and thickness of these vehicles is simply not realized til someone stands next to them. Excellent video please take care of our "mustache" . We here in Texas would knight the old timer, but that's not done. He will have to settle for a nice pair of jeans , snake skin boots and a neck tie .
Lol'd at "world's biggest stick of butter".
I like the jagdtiger in war thunder is fun to play
@@leopard2keilergg561 Great fun if you are high BR and go hull down.
I wish War Thunder could give the Maus similar optics as the Jagdtiger has.
2ft shorter than the maus but still huge none the less lol.
Textbook case of "Awesome But Impractical". Fantastic gun, but put on a hull that's far too heavy for German resources/engineering/logistics to handle. And without a turret, removing the main armament to replace the transmission is an utter nightmare.
That picture of the soldier sitting astride the tank's cannon like a giant phallus is the epitome of "Toxic Masculinity"& his "Animalistic Combative Barbarity".I give you a BIG THUMBS UP!
Brilliant informative video with excellent exposure of this rare beast.
Thank you David for yet another fantastic piece of history explained.
Thanks
Thank you for your support @sizskie
The s.Pz.Jg.-Abt. 653 was extremely pleased with the Jagdtiger, they admired the strong armour and the extremely powerful gun. Being familiar with the Ferdinand/Elefant, they felt much more at home in the Jagdtiger than Otto Carius, who came from a Tiger Ausf. E and has zero experience in a tank destroyer. The s.Pz.Jg.-Abt. 653 also acheived much better results with the Jagdtiger because of this when compared to the s.Pz.Jg.-Abt. 512.
It should be noted that the 1. Kompanie of s.Pz.Jg.-Abt 512 was mostly manned by people who had served on the Nashorn and Jagdpanther and was commanded by Albert Ernst, a Panzer Ace on the Nashorn, they too fared undeniably better with the Jagdtiger compared to Otto Carius' Kompanie
I completely agree. There is also a more than a little bit of Carius in his book blaming his personal lack of activity in 1945 on the JagdTiger. Pz.Jg.-Abt 512 often seemed more than a little shy about actually getting into action in 1945. I also always kind of disliked the idea of a Carius as the company commander blaming "lack of training" for the mistakes of the men under his command with the JagdTiger. In particular, if men in his company didn't know how to pull out of an engagement with the JagdTiger, that reflects very poorly on Otto Carius.
No reason a 12.8mm heavy TD with a rate of fire 1/3rd of a medium tank should be sniping Shermans in the West. The terrain rarely allowed for the range the gun was capable of and worsened all of the many deficiencies in the powertrain. In retrospect, the whole program was a Pyrrhic effort from start to finish; to quote a business expression, "little investment requires little returns; big investment requires HUGE returns".
In short, investment scales logarithmically; I realize everybody loves to cite the KD ratio of the Elefant/Ferdinand, for example, and it does look impressive compared to other vehicles, but being that expensive means you need to kill a much higher ratio of tanks to make up for not merely the extra cost to build it, but the kills that COULD have been gotten with a lesser vehicle. Consider that most of the things an Elefant or a Jagdtiger killed could have also been killed by a StuG III or a towed 7.5cm AT gun, and at a much cheaper cost. To be blunt: none of the German heavy panzerjager vehicles killed enough or frequently enough to justify that standard.
I recall hearing about a company of Jagdtigers in the west that lost 11 of the tds for only one kill (Holland possibly). I think that they were scuttled by their own crews due to mechanical breakdown, immobility, or lack of fuel. That's a pretty lousy return on investment.
@@yyz4761 There never were any Jagdtiger in the Netherlands
@@jasoncarswell7458spoken like a true economist😀👍
Great story telling David i love your presentation and story telling skills very much giving me a good overview and contextual circumstances of each and every tank you talk about. Your the best David !!! your my David Attenborough of the tank world, i would love to meet you when i visit. Your the best thing about the Tank Museum,
Happy to hear him give a nod to gamers loving it :D
Another fantastic presentation from Mr David Willey, that is 21:12 of pleasure to our ears. Sheer brilliance in seeing inside this monster also!
Still my favorite WW2 German tank.
As always lovely long video packed full of detail! Keep it up!
Need to get The Chieftain and David together to do the history and inside the hatch all at the same time.
omg . i never knew the tank was THAT huge !! you almost look green screened in next to it ...great video Please keep them coming!
Very well done presentation on a remarkable vehicle. Thank you very much to Mr. Willey and the Tank Museum.
Another fine, long-form tank chat!
80 Jagdtigers. I just keep thinking how many Panzer 3s that could be if the resources were re-allocated.
First Jagdtiger killed by a bazooka. wow
I've seen 66% of all still existing Jagtigers still out there. This one and the one in Aberdeen Proving Grounds, haven't gotten to Kubinka yet.
It's a shame how Aberdeen can't or won't care about it's massive vehicle collection even if the vehicles are really novel. Most of them are just rotting away under the clear blue skies.
@@Szalami When I was there a tree was growing through a Grille prototype ...
@G G What rotting are you talking about? Here's a Jagdpanther I saw in Kubinka the other day: live.staticflickr.com/4537/37583220904_c1cb9b1f7c_b.jpg
Here's Jagdtiger: ic.pics.livejournal.com/tankist_31/83419838/5288116/5288116_1000.jpg
And you probably never will. Getting into Kubinka as a normal person is very hard, nigh impossible if you're not some kind of career academic.
@@kylegoodman5196 Just get a ticket and go, it's a regular museum
Otto's company lost all 12 in exchange for one tank kill...that's partially because they didn't try to breakout and just surrendered but still.
Despite how impractical it was, the Jagdtiger is such a badass vehicle/tank destroyer.
My Gf & myself visited the tank museum, bovington yesterday. We thoroughly enjoyed it there.....such a wealth of information, tanks & military hardware etc....Weve just booked Tiger Day for April 2020. :)
Ah Ferdinand Porsche. Great car designer, poor tank designer.
Pit Friend So bad it is fitting the Ferdinand was named after him.
@@cgaccount3669 Everybody was doing that in 1940s lmao
@@cgaccount3669 You said very ignorant and are fueling the nazi apologists
@W For something they didn't want to do, they sure did a lot of it.
Sure, the rank and file probably mostly joined the party because they didn't want to be accused of treason, but the party leadership organized death camps and death squads and actions speak louder than words.
Weren’t the Maybauch engines designed for aircraft ?
You always watch these tank chats and think, "Huh yup that's a tank and it looks pretty cool.", but then they show some of the pictures of real men capturing these vehicles and fighting in them and such and you think about it more and then it hits you that real people fought and died in and around and to these vehicles and you think about what it must have been like to fight in this way and it's very eye opening. Truly great tank chat as always. If y'all run out of money; rob a bank! Never stop.
Kinda crazy that they only made 88 of these and we had 4 of them in my small home town, until the commanding officer surrendered them to the Americans
get that officer shot!
@@lucasc5622 only an idiot can say, if the US Army offers you to surrender in mid april 1945 and spare your city from destruction, after witnessing how the Ruhrgebiet looks a couple kilometers to the north, you surrender
woah pete calm down, it was only a joke
@Peter I am confused. Hasn’t this video shown rhat they shouldn’t have bothered making any at all? The whole idea was flawed ... same as the Yamato & Musashi for the Japanese navy.
@@lucasc5622 if it was a joke ok, but there are a lot of idiots out there, that actually believe, that sacrificing thousands of innocent is more preferable than surrendering
How am I just finding this channel now? Awesome videos, this guy knows his stuff!
As was so often the case, it was a lot of over-engineering for no tactical advantage due to operational limitations and strategic influences. Like the FG42, which never came close to the value of the STG44 despite all the expense, the JagdTiger program never lived up to even the basic STGIIIg
I still would prefer the FG42 in my fantasy armory
@AKUJIRULE yes, you can definitely compare the FG42 and STG44. The latter was designed cheaply and inexpensively WHILE being designed around a new, lighter weight cartridge. The FG42 TRIED and FAILED to do what the MG34 and MG42 (and others from Czech manufacturers) were already doing. In the end it was an Over-engineered full cartridge design that didn't meet the sustained fire needs of a true LMG and didn't even achieve the results of the STG44 in a personal automatic weapon. Expensive, tiny magazine, inaccurate in full auto. Prime evidence of Germany's 'divide and rule' mini-empore. Imagine how much more could have been achieved adopting the STG44 years earlier
@@danepatterson8107 Nope, the FG was a paratroopers MG and rifle. It could be used with (I lack the right translation) opening shooting and closing shooting breach when semi or full auto, making it very precise and so easy to handle you could even shoot it full auto from the hips.The FG42 and the Stg44 a different types of weaponry.
@@void1968able You miss my point. The Stg44 was cheaper, and performed better than the FG42 (and Kar98) in every way. The FG42 produced a beautiful weapon that was a net negative for the armaments industry (too long to produce, too expensive, and inferior to the STG44). Same as these Over-engineered beasts vs. a Sturmgeschutz 3
I really enjoy watching these thank you for doing them! I hope they continue. Its also a great look at museum exhibits that most of us will never have a chance to see in person.
Brilliant informative upload ,thank you
I just love these chats, they make my day.
Imagine seeing/hearing these beasts rumbling down the road and firing. It had to be one incredibly scary sight as at that time we had nothing that could take a hit from that 128mm round.
Calm down it’s only a 28kg bullet wrecking your Sherman from 3500m away
Excellent as ever and a very clear analysis of the misdirection of the german late-war effort.
Could also be titled “20 minutes of Roasting the Jagdtiger”
Everything which is reasonable ends up being a roast of the Jagdtiger. It was utterly awful. Really pretty. Cool for games. But a disaster in real life.
@@lokenontherange Well it depends. It is barrely take part in battles in 1945. Germany is collapsing. No food rations. No fuel. No bridges no trained crew. No testing and spent 2 months without maintenance shop. No offense but you can see my point. It was barelly 5 tons heavier than kingtiger. No great but not terrible eighter. Even if it was not really a dream tank the vehicle never really had the chance to bring it's potential to the battlefield. The reliability ration significantly elevated in march. But then it was 2 moths before end.
@@lokenontherange like using it in 1940 in battlefield lol
@@kstreet7438 Or when you finally get it after 600 hours of grinding in War Thunder.
@Superfly29rr Hardly a challenge if the enemy can't reliably penetrate your frontal armour, have turrets, have more reliable armour, and are some five times your speed. Just makes it more fun - if only because I'm not the one getting incinerated every time a heatfs comes through a recently developed frontal window.
0:45 aww, just look at that smile 😄
Brilliant content as always, keep up the good work. Mr fletcher needs a section of the museum named after his moustache. Such a glorious fine piece of English engineering 👌
Bravo!!! Bravo!!!
Yes sir!!
Tank chats are incredible
Thank you!!!!!
Basically a 5" navy gun on tracks. We must give this German a wide berth.
maxsmodels one ping only?
Another outstanding video, the brief wide shot of the lighting set up just shows that these aren’t just filmed but a lot of thought goes into their production. Well done guys.
Jagdtiger , more like , Chadtiger .
Beautifully done video! Thank you for helping to make my Friday morning here in Colorado. I had not really considered building one of these in 1/16 RC ( as I already have a Porsche King Tiger looking for an upgrade and an Elefant RC Kit ) but looking at it again here, I will probably reconsider.
to the blokes that disliked the video: what didnt you like about it? i honestly want to know
Probably SJWs that hate anything german ww2
I am part German and I dislike German WW2. Though, I did not click the Dislike button. I can respect a good history video about tanks.
My best guess is that it is wheraboos that are mad that this isn't a masturbation video.
@@supakritpulmanausahakul1650 SJW?
@@mattsmith87 Social Justice Warriors- google it for better meaning than I can give.
whenever i'm bored of War thunder i just watch one of these videos and i'm hyped again!
At the time the project started, it made perfect sense. They needed something serious to kill the IS-2 at long range.
Running out of trained tankers and officers was probably not part of the plan.
I'm not sure it did make sense. What sense is there in building a tank so heavy that it breaks down every couple of miles and can only be repaired by sending it back to its factory to be disassembled in an enormous operation. A tank so heavy, drinks so much precious fuel, that even if it doesn't break down the crew ends up destroying it themselves when they abandon it after using it to destroy one single enemy tank.
I'll take 5 Stug III's instead.
@@Aethelhald if anything, they should have put the gun on a lighter chassis, open top even.
@@DrDrift-rl6cc They just didn't need that gun out in the field. It's stupidity. They probably only made it because Hitler himself demanded it. Real engineers would never have made such a thing.
@@Aethelhald no. They wanted it because they were preparing in advance for larger, heavier, and more powerful soviet heavy tanks. And because they wanted the superior tank the Germans would always try to one up what they believed the soviets would field, and thus resulting in massive tank projects like the Maus, jagdtiger and the E100
@@Phantom-bh5ru How many track-busting anti-tank mines could you produce in place of one Jagdtiger? They'd have been better off producing those instead.
This is like when you see a 12-year old say "the Tiger was the best tank, it could destroy any tank!" Well, sure, technically that's true, but there is so much more to think about when putting a tank in the field than "can it destroy anything it comes up against?" Like:
Do we realistically have the resources to produce these in large enough quantities to make a difference? (Spoiler: No)
Do we realistically have the abundance of fuel to move these things around in the field? (Spoiler: No)
Does it move fast enough to be effective in combat? (Spoiler: No)
Is it mechanically sound? Can it travel more than 3 kilometers without breaking down and needing to be sent back to the factory in Dusseldorf for labour-intensive repair? (Spoiler: No and no)
Can it travel over bridges without the bridge collapsing? (Spoiler: No)
Can it travel up a slight incline without spontaneously bursting in to flames? (Spoiler: No)
And so on and so forth. The best tanks in WW2 weren't the tanks that scared the enemy to death and could destroy literally any other tank they came across. The best tanks were those that you have the resources to produce in enough of an abundance to get the job done that needed to be done.
A typical example of their use was at the start of 1945, when - as part of Operation Nordwind - 16 Jagdtigers from the 65rd Heavy Panzerjager were unloaded from their railway transport, reassembled, and set out on a 90-km advance to contact. Ten of the Jagdtigers broke down and had to be destroyed during the march (being too heavy to recover), four were not fit to fight on arrival; and only two actually participated in combat: knocking out one possible Allied tank, and losing one Jagdtiger. Not a lot of value generated, for enough steel and labour to produce a battalion’s worth of Panzer IVs or a U-boat.
2:00 This painter is obviously paid by the hour.
Or he's taking maximum care.
He could paint the entire tank in a day , even with that rig he is using .
The Commander actually wanted to fully turn his vehicle on a hill and retreat by exposing his back. instead of reversing of the hill with the front to the enemy iirc. its been a while since I read the book.
Yes, it was hit in the back, not in the side. That was no lack of training, the was pure imbecility of the commander. I think a 10 year old in WW2 times knew where a tank got strong armor and where it got very weak armor and that you *never* show your weak spot to the enemy.
The Henschnel Tiger PzVIE was used for the tank version, but the PzVI(P) Porsche chassis which had lost out in the competition was used for the tank destroyer for this generation/role. 1354 PzVIE, and 90 StuG VI(P). Both had their own recovery vehicles - a conversion of 3 gun tanks for the VIE, and of 3 of the prototype chassis for the VI(P)
The Tiger chassis was used to convert 18 gun tanks into the Assault Mortar role, and these did use the PzVIE hull.
When I saw those destroyed Jagdtigers, I was wondering what could have knocked them out, but then I remembered that they probably were blown up by their own crews when they broke down.
German hubris.
Artillery is the god of war
My guess is a) by the own crew after mechanical failure or b) from air by a plane or artillery shell. There are no reports a Jagdtiger was ever blown up by another tank.
Ground attack aircraft certainly could reduce the combat effectiveness of tanks usually more logistically; knocking out the railways used to move tanks over distance, destroying bridges and if the tanks were immune to strafing .50 cal MGs the fuel and ammo trucks certainly weren’t. Many a Tiger was just abandoned undamaged for want of fuel or ammo.
@@nomenestomen3452 I believe Otto Carius in his book talks about one being knocked out by Allied tanks, in fact the host of the video above cites the example. There are a couple of others knocked out by tanks as well. But with only 80 made, and the strategic circumstances in 1945, something like this is gonna break down or run out of fuel more often than be knocked out.
This gun was so overkill. I love it.
wouldn't you be able to count the ferdinand as the tank hunting type of the tiger 1? even if its just the chasis of the porsche hulls
That's what I thpought. And the SturmTiger as the Sturmgeschutz version of the Tiger as well...
Well it's not directly the traditional Tiger hull is it? If they'd used any of those chassis to production build Tiger tanks, you'd be right though
I would count it.
Was thinking the same
They were based on the losing design on the Panzer VI trials, different vehicle.
In the Museum this vehicle has it's own gravity field. It's big.
Should've sticked to the simpler StuG.
STuG Life!!!
I am fairly sure Stugs in total had the greatest number of enemy tank kills of any German vehicle (having more than 88 of them helped :)
U could probably make 3 or 4 stugs out of the materials and man hours it took to build this monster
I believe they should have canceled the tigers including the tiger 1 as soon as the panther came out. Gave the planetary final drive machines that made the finals for the tigers to the Panthers.... (Panthers were supposed to have a planetary drive, lack of special types of machines meant they had to redesign the finals creating issues).... anyway and just convert all production to Panthers and jagdpanthers... keep producing stugs and pzIVs... although it probably wouldn't have made a difference in the end. Production still wouldn't have been able to be increased to make a difference.. but truthfully the Panthers pak42 7.5cm was able to kill anything. If they just had 3 or 4 types of tanks to produce and focus on then they could have focused on fixing the major issues alot easier and would have been able to probably fit the 88mm on the pather eventually because the planetary finals wouldn't be overloaded like the Panthers finals were
Lyk D'Nine excellent point. 4 stubs is a greater force than 1 Jagdtiger.
Oh what a dream to take a behind the scenes tour with any of the narrators! Tank nerd dreams!
Regarding the Jagdtiger: I quote directly from Otto Carius "Tigers In The Mud: The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius", Chapter The Ruhr Pocket pp.206 - 207 -
"Our equipment situation was quite complicated. The "Hunting Tigers" came from the Hindenburg Facilities in St. Valentin near Linz; the cannons, on the other hand, came from Breslau. The Russians had already advanced beyond that, however, so we were only able to equip thiry "Hunting Tigers" with cannons. Each company received only ten vehicles. In the final analysis, that was sufficient, since we couldn't man any more. The ammunition was drawn from Magdeburg. The ammunition details that picked it up had radios with them to report every stop. Our employment was that important to high command! The tanks were transported by rail to Paderborn. The companies were assembled there in Sennelager. We had the impression that we were considered the secret weapon that could still save Germany.
When the assault guns ("Hunting Tigers") were calibrated in Sennelager, we experienced our first failure. Despite its eighty-two tons, our "Hunting Tiger" didn't want to act like we wanted it to. Only its armor was satisfactory; its maneuverability left a lot to be desired. In addition, it was an assault gun. There was no traversing turret, just an enclosed, armored housing. Any large traversing of the cannon had to be effected by movement of the entire vehicle. Because of that, transmissions and steering differentials were soon out of order. That such a monstrosity had to be constructed in the final phase of the war - of all times! A better idea for the travel lock of the eight-meter-long cannon of our "Hunting Tiger" was also absolutely necessary. It had to be removed FROM THE OUTSIDE during contact with the enemy!
Locking down the barrel during a road march was necessary, of course. Otherwise the mounting brackets would have been worn out too quickly and exact aiming would have been impossible. All these problems were compounded by the fact that a tanker cannot feel comfortable in an assault gun. We want to be able to turn our weapons 360 degrees. If not, we have no feeling of security or superiority, but rather that someone is breathing down our necks.
...during calibration of the assault guns "Hunting Tigers"... We missed everything in such a manner that we were soon fed up with it. Finally, the ordnance technician checked the matter out, and everything then worked better. We discovered that the cannon, because of its enormous length, was battered about so much as a result of even a short move off the road that its alignment no longer agreed with that of the optics. That promised to be a lot of fun - things didn't want to work, BEFORE we even met the enemy!
...An incident occurred that proved to me how deeply the fighting morale among the men and the officers had sunk. My executive officer was pulling security in my "Hunting Tiger" in the piece of woods already mentioned. He had also taken my crew. Suddenly, my driver Lustig approached me on foot halfway from the front lines. I already had a bad feeling. The good man was completely out of breath and had to catch it first before he could report to me what had happened. His first remark said everything. "I almost slugged my tank commander just now! If we were still in Russia, he'd be dead by now!" He then explained what had happened. His vehicle was located with another "Hunting Tiger," well camouflaged, at the wood line. A long column of enemy tanks had driven across their front at about one and a half kilometers distance. Lustig now considered it a given that the tank commander would give the order to fire. Why else were assault guns there? The man refused to fire a shot, however. A heated argument started among the members of the crew. This strange officer justified his refusal to fire with the reason that he would expose himself if he opened fire and he would then draw the attention of the fighter-bombers!
To make a long story short, not a single shot was actually fired, although this distance was practically ideal for our cannons. The enemy would have had no opportunity to endanger our "Hunting Tigers."
It wasn't enough, however, that this strange officer didn't fire. He also ordered his vehicle to back up out of the woods shortly thereafter. It was then that he really did reveal his position. He was lucky that no planes were in the air at the time. He cleared out to the rear without notifying the vehicle commander of the second "Hunting Tiger" at all. That commander promptly followed, and both of them raced off as if the devil were behind them. Of course, no enemy was to be seen far and wide! Because of the careless driving of the completely inexperienced crew, the second vehicle was immediately disabled. The "fearless" Oberleutnant didn't worry about the vehicle at all. On the contrary, he obstinately drove on until his vehicle also became disabled. At least the Oberfeldwebel in the second assault gun ("Hunting Tiger") blew up his own vehicle.
Lustig had then departed on foot and insisted that I forward his report to the battalion. In that phase of the war, however, it didn't make any sense anymore. Everyone had to decide for themselves whether they wanted to experience the end decently or as a louse. Troops from all different branches were lying about in the woods by the hundreds and waiting for the end. Their morale was completely gone.
...I fetched my "Hunting Tigers" and led them south to the next village. We soon noticed that there was still a war on. An American tank became a nuisance. I quickly brought a "Hunting Tiger" into position on the eastern edge of the village and personally drove in the Kubel to a small patch of high ground to gain a vantage point. The enemy had already reached Federal Highway 233, and five tanks were right before our eyes under the trees. The distance was barely 600 meters. I quickly grabbed one of my assault guns to give the enemy something to think about.
The commander of the "Hunting Tigers," a Stabsfeldwebel without experience at the front, wanted to handle the matter himself. To be on the safe side, I first led him on foot to the high ground. I showed him the enemy and told him the distance, so nothing could really go wrong. It was like at the training area. The Stabsfeldwebel then went to his vehicle, and I remained to observe.
The unfortunate man then made a fatal mistake. He didn't crank the cannon down to its right position until he had almost arrived on the high ground. Of course, the Americans heard the sound of the motor and reacted accordingly. Two of the tanks scrammed, but the other three opened fire. The Stabsfeldwebel's vehicle was soon hit in the front and hadn't fire one shot itself. Instead of finally firing, the lunatic turned around on the high ground when he simply could have rolled backward. When the Yanks had the broad side of the "Hunting Tiger" in front of them, they left our vehicle have it. It immediately went up in flames. Other hits followed, and not one of the six-man crew could save himself, probably because everyone got in each other's way. This example serves to prove that the best weapon and the greatest enthusiasm are useless when thorough basic training has not been conducted."
@ur mom
The Stabsfeldwebel had no experience at the front - that was his first ever combat experience. The war was short for him. There was only the single Jagdtiger - Otto Carius was observing in a Kubelwagen and saw the entire disaster. He simply did not expect it to go so badly - he had planned on just doing it himself, but the Stabs insisted that he be the one to do it (probably because the war was nearly over and he wanted to have some combat experience, and it could have been his last and only chance really.) Otto walked with the Stabs up the hill and to the small patch of woods at the ridgeline, and then showed him where all the tanks were sitting. And then they walked back together. Stabs got into the Jagdtiger, Otto into the Kubelwagen. The Stabs just walked there on foot and knew precisely where to drive, where to park, and where the enemies were to shoot. He probably should have asked more questions but Otto seemingly didn't consider mentioning things such as, which tank to shoot first, how to roll backward and away, what to do when the tanks fire back and hit the Jagdtiger, and especially how important it would be to lower the barrel ahead of time (since it was the noise of the motors for the barrel elevation that the Allied tankers heard, alerting them to the Stabs position in the Jagdtiger). Before the Stabs could even fire a shot, he was hit several times by 4 allied tanks, 2 of the tanks escaped, and then he just panicked and the driver turned the tank sideways instead of just rolling backwards in reverse. And they all died in the fire. Otto says that it was probably because they got in each other's way while trying to escape. Basically, none of them knew each other, had worked together before, or been in combat. It wasn't Otto's crew, it was the Stabs own crew - all of them were straight from training and never had been to war yet.That really does suck - they just pulled up to the ridge and immediately got shot by 4 tanks. The guy panicked, he probably thought Otto set him up! But it was the noise of the barrel elevation motors which did it. Frankly, I think that Otto had been in combat for so long at this point that he had become battle fatigued, or combat shock syndrome - basically he had little empathy for people that were not really close to him and he really could have made more of an effort to ensure that such a thing did not happen. He does not even seem upset about it; the comment about how they burned alive because they got in each others way trying to escape, makes me think he was bitter over the whole thing. Just sick of seeing human life wasted. But that is not saying anything negative of him, it is just a fact. It's the difference between your first few weeks at a new job or living in a new place, and then 4 years later - the stuff that was interesting and exciting and new is just common, dull, and routine. He just could not think like a citizen, he was a soldier in every sense of the word. And really, what would it have mattered - he had witnessed so many tragedies resulting in death and mutilation as the result of people being put in situations where they have no control over the outcome - being attacked by allied bombers during an air raid, tanks and infantry killed in the open by ground attack aircraft, artillery barrages, landmines, hidden AT guns. The whole thing sucks. For everyone.
What a beast! As usual, great and authoritative material. Many thanks!
Nuts. Meanwhile, Centurion is trotting around Bovington...
Watching a show about the Elephant tank and American army tankers were saying we struggle maintaining the Abrams 70 ton tank whilst controlling the battlefield it’s amazing the Germans did it with the Elephant which was roughly the same weight as the Jagdtiger.
I wonder how a Jagdtiger would go against an M2a Abrams in the open, daylight and flat terrain..... I'm guessing it would be massacred because the Abrams is so mobile.
Not to mention an Abrams could penetrate that armor... That said I'm sure you could do some damage to an Abrams with that 128mm but I really don't know, depends on distance as well as the Abrams can easily hit right where it wants to with great accuracy where the jagdtiger is manually aimed and may need a shot or two at greater distances
Unless it hit it in the turret ring a jagdtiger wouldnt do much to the front. The tank is meant to resist far more powerful shells than wwii 128mm rounds. The sides are still vulnerable of course. But no tank is history was ever designed with resisting 128mm side shots in mind.