My Grandfather was a StuG III driver and mechanic at Army Group South. He still talks tenderly about his trusty StuG "Langrohr" (long barreled Ausf. G). He liked to point out the comfortable interior, the vehicle´s reliability, good armor protection as well as armament and particularly the highly superior optics when compared to captured T-34s. He was a member of Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung (later Brigade) 228.
It's ridiculous how sir Willey manages to continue his talk for such an extended period of time without cuts in editing (as far as I've noticed). Excellent presentation!
Pity it wasn't edited though... referring to the StuG III as a tank many times among other inaccuracies. Most people these days don't care about standards though.
@@johnny_pilot He’s using that term because that’s the colloquial term for it. He goes over, in detail, that the stugs were formed as part of the artillery corps. You are a poor listener.
The PC is so off the scale history can’t be history. They skipped Chancellorsville and it was The Greatest Victory by Any AMERICAN General in History. 60,000. Defeated 132,000. Robert E. Lee was and is The Best American General in American History. It’s just not PC for “that” to be the case. That’s not History! That’s B.S.! Rommel was a great General but, they have to make it look like Montgomery “out smarted” him. I don’t want propaganda I want true accurate HISTORY!
@wakenbaker-uk A needlessly hostile comment, W. I've visited six or seven times over the years. Will definitely go again. The Museum is closed because of the coronavirus. RUclips provides easier access.
4 года назад+2
@wakenbaker-uk What's your problem? I'm a frequent visitor to Paignton Zoo, the Tank Museum, the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Longleat, the museums at the Portsmouth Naval Dockyard and several other locations. I'm expressing goodwill to people who make videos so that I can view museums on RUclips AS WELL. Well Done to the guys and gals behind Tank Chats. Keep up the good work, Tank Chats, thankyou for your interesting talks, and the same goes for their equivalent colleagues at other museums. I live 20 miles from the Museum. RUclips provides easier access. This way I can visit the Museum ten times a week plus in person on family days out.
I found a Canadian military museum for their Engineers had a tank in it. It had a story too interesting to share in RUclips and that exhibit has since been moved closer to their Capital City. I still use a CDF mountain warfare training area for vertical training and my speleology.
I hope we will see updated tank chats on Tiger, Panther, Tiger II, Ferdinand etc. Those old ones 5 minute long just aren't enough. I totally love these 20-30 minute ones though, especially the extensive tank chat on T-34.
What also is unmentioned in the article is that as the StuG was a tank under the artillery branch received "artillery" optics, and were much higher quality to the regular army tanks thus allowing kills at much further ranges. This allowed the 75L24 to be used to such deadlier results. Hitler may have blundered much of World War 2, but his call for a longer 75 gun was spot on.
Soviet armor was proving too thick for ordinary early war German tank types to deal with. What was called for is just economical way to have as many platforms toting a 75 on the field as possible.
Very well made information. In the early '70 I was an apprentice as an technical drawer in the MIAG factory in Brunswik. And we had to pass some practices in the manfacturing, and there although in "Halle 17", where these StuG were build in the 40ies. Later the Jagdpanther was manufactured on the same place. Back in the technical office I was glad to get access to the original drawings of the StuG and the Jagdpanther. Some of the former engineers were still there...
I spent some time crawling a round the stug III at the Littlefield collection (4days in all) and was very impressed by the layout of this vehicle and the production probabilities (cheap) of it , and how did the allies missed out on it. The only that would come close was the M50&50A1 Ontos which was well after WW2. I met some WW2 tankers when stationed in Bose Idaho ,they showed up at my "tank barn" ,4th tank Bn "C" Co. they talked about how much they hated Stugs and Hustsels (spelling?) because the Germans could hide under or behind anything so easily! If you can't see it you can't hit it!
@@kevinstewart449 Certainly in the later years when they were so effective in ambush. I want to say Military History Visualized has a video with the book. It details the German assault tactics when using them and how the Soviets countered.
Outstanding video! I'm obviously three years too late in just discovering this gem of a video, but I'm overjoyed at finding this site and overwhelmed by the quality of this presentation. I'm looking forward to watching many other videos from the Tank Museum. Thank you!
what not to love about it. Its like the gangsta of tank destroyers. I am every panzer be gangsta until the stug shows up unless elephants and big cats show up. Then Stug is like am I joke to you ? lol.
@@leeham6230 Early Spitfire and Hurricane is not that much far apart from each other in terms of performance. The gap is surprisingly un-huge though there is a certain gap. Add the fact that 190 did not particularly show up till about early 42, Hurricane is not a poor performer. Admittedely Spitfire was generally slightly superior to 109 while Hurricane was generally inferior. Hurricane is outdated design even for 1941 while Spitfire still had a lot of room for development. Obviously a superior performing plane but Hurricane has better aircraft systems and much easier repairs and more.
As well as the refreshingly unbiased content and lack of partisan flag-waving where anything military is concerned, I really like David's presentation style. Excellent clarity.
Thank you, David. The videos that you and the team are putting out are a real tonic in difficult times. The "Ask the Curator" from your study or garden are particularly welcome. Stay well, and best wishes to all at Bovington.
Please keep this up David. Despite having plenty to get on with motivation and morale has taken a bit of a dive and I'm sure its not just me that greatly appreciates your efforts.
@@delayedpilot yes I'm OK thanks I was a bit down at the hight of the (a bit over the top, lockdown, with hindsight) lockdown and l was imagineing what people who are naturally depressive must be like. I think that the tank museum and quite a few other you tube channels were aware of this and stepped up their game.
@@andrewpease3688 the tank museum's had to change things up as well because of the pandemic but I hear you its great content ,as you said about people with depression I suffer with it and things like this ordering ww2 books are a help doe ,there seems to be no end in site to this covid crap,hope you feel better than you where when you made the comment ,there some good content with people in the comments compared to other sites like boxing or mma sites a lot of clowns on there very negative so I don't bother getting involved I just watch the content because you make a comment and your called a casual or you know nothing. Smh .
Michael Wittmann began his run as a premier master of tank warfare (after serving for a time in armored cars) as commander of a Stug.III..Many of his tactics and methods carried over to his Tiger I commands, his close coordination between himself, driver, and gunner making for fast target aquisition and nimble maneuvers..all learned in his Stug III days.
Excellent. I recently found these Tank Chats. A great way to pass some time during the Covid19 pandemic. I look forward to a time in the near future to visit the museum in person. Thankyou David and team from not so sunny Sweden!
OH JA....i realy love these Tank Chats. this whole channel actually. The Tank Museum is maybe the reason to go and visit GB. THANK YOU VERY MUCH best regards from Germany and please just keep doing what u all do so damn good at The Tank Museum "!!!!!"
This particular Stug Ps531-44 located at Bovington tank museum was lovingly nicknamed by the Finnish troops as "Maija" quite common finnish female name especially for the time. Almost all the 60 odd Stugs or "Sturmi"s used by the finns were nicknamed with a male or female first name.
Have you noticed that dear Mr Willey talks about history in the present tense? You won't be able to un-notice now! A subtle but effective way of making the subject matter more important to the listener. I love these videos, keep up the good work.
The funny thing is actually that the German assault guns happened on the chassis of the 3er Panzer series and they no longer knew where we should use the band and from that U3 was developed because the Panzer III was more than inadequate in comparison to the Panzer IV or the assault gun version B, C, D or the Stug 4 on the PZ 4 chassis. Later, with the T 38 tank, there was the same thing that they made the Panzerjaeger Hetzer out of it, which was a damn good idea in itself, if only there weren't various defects that were on Tratten after a certain time.
You produce a first rate informational history piece. I watch your presentations every time I’m able. Thank you for carrying on during these difficult times.
I resided on small hill summit with my troop and learned to ignore requested fire missions of a tank battery. Never saw the type or crews. Just the vapor of discharges above trees between us. That was in my second year overseas and had volunteered again to serve. Was promised 2 hours of sleep every 24 hours but took what I could get.
The Finnish army 29 StuGs destroyed at least 87 soviet tanks for a loss of only 8 StuGs. Many of them during the summer of 1944. These StuGs gained the nickname "Sturmi".
Finland didn´t surrender because Soviet Union didn´t occupy Finland. Nations like Romania and Hungary surrendered to Soviet Union since they were occupied by the Red Army.
@@FinnishDragon The only occupation troops were in hotel Torni. 155 Soviet and 15 British members were in the Allied Monitoring Commission. They didn't get along at all with each other.
Due to the pandemic I didn't get a chance to travel to the Bovington tank museum this is another great way to see the vehicles with a very good description and presentation by Mr Willey.
Very astute observation about the uniform difference of Assault Gun and Panzer crews. The Stug' is close to my heart as my Great Uncle fought in one during WWII. Good video.
What a delightfully competent, clearly well-researched presentation. And, I can't believe it is free from the usual wartime hate propaganda and polemics. Thanks, David Willey, for a first-class lecture.
The Swiss still use these. I was staying in a tiny Swiss village when on Sunday morning I was woken up by one of these rumbling past accompanied by a section of Citizen Panzer Grenadiers from the village, strewn with infantry weapons.
Another couple things about the StuG. It's a damn fine looking machine with it's big slabs of rolled steel at a modest angle. It's smol and cute and makes me wanna take it home with me. It combines high quality with simplicity, the way an old school tank should be. And somehow despite having the engine in back-transmission in front setup it still managed to keep a low silhouette.
I'm lucky too, cause I live near the Sinsheim/ Speyer technic museum. There is siting a Stug 42, Hummel and Wespe, Pz III N, Pz IV G, Panther and Jagdpanther and a lot of Allied and Soviet stuff as well. A great number of famous planes and of course a Stug III G...
Thank you very much for this insight on the assault gun. Lots of people do not realize that this was a very formidable weapon! It surely isn't the cutest, but it did the job.
@@diggerpyNo, liters are 1.06 quarts, 4 quarts to the gallon, so 300 liters is about 88 gallons! (Did you make a joke, by cutting off the second 8, about adding a 0 to 300? I just realized I might be correcting something meant to be funny . . . . )
In my state of NSW, Australia. We maybe out of lockdown, upon the 11th. It's stuff like this and many others like forgotten weapons,and histories, which have kept me buyont and not losing my mind.
Definitely on the short list for best armored vehicle of WWII. Inexpensive, low profile, good armor, torsion bar suspension, great gun, good optics, good radio, good off road performance. One improvement would be wider tracks for Winter and mud. And like pretty much all German equipment, it could use some simplifications (see PanzerJager 38(t)) for faster production. One note. Logs and/or concrete are a mixed blessing. It would help with HE rounds, but not so much with AP or HEAP rounds. It may be detrimental, depending on exact angle, range, etc.
There's also applique armour between the tracks, which you can see on the vehicle in this video. Finns weren't too fond of Schürtzen (not exactly practical in forests) so they decided to simply move the armour on the vehicle itself.
@@wiryantirta Pile of logs near roadside is the most natural camouflage there can be in Finnish countryside. Schurzen plates would had lasted on place maybe 1 day on typical terrain.
20:48 If you look close enough there's a scary face that's been painted on the Pighead manlet; I'll say the crew who painted it understands the Stug Life, now hit it there Hans.
I would have liked to hear more technical factors like the elevation and traverse of the gun, targeting problems, hull down positioning, "shoot and scoot," etc. And something about the StuH42.
These guns were pretty much used as artillery , meat in the front and the stugs in the rear a few hundred meter or so (on a good day) not too complicated
@Mactrip100 probably refering because it never had a turret case so in essence the tank itself moved more so than the traverse ability of the fixed gun.
Great Video David! I am really hoping to get down to Bovington once the virus situation allows. Like you say, the big metal, Panther, Tiger, King Tiger get all the glory, the Stug does most of the work!
For reference, the US made 49k M4 Sherman tanks during WWII. For Germany to have a bit over 20% of those numbers with this one tank is quite impressive.
It's 10k+ production number is even more impressive if you think about how bad the German situation for raw materials and supplies were during most of WW2 and that while cranking out 11k StuGs and StuHs, they also made 8k Panzer IVs, 6k Panthers, nealy 6k Panzer IIIs, ect.. For a power in such an economically terrible postition, even considering the materials wasted on Ferdinands and King Tigers and Jagdtigers... still impressive.
One thing that always gives me a chuckle is that the Soviets lost more tanks in each of the years 41, 42 & 43 than the German tank product in the whole war... Another thing that made me chuckle was dispite telling us repeatedly that the stuG was not a tank, by the end of the video he is also referring to it as a tank. 😁
@@CS-zn6pp Well, it's appropriate in a more colloquial situation, once the concept is understood. Even in the German military, in the standardized TC commands to the driver, it's always called Panzer if it is any sort of tracked vehicle. IFV, SPG, doesn't matter. "Panzer - Marsch Marsch!" www.virtuelle-panzergrenadierbrigade37.de/index.php/de/2-uncategorised/42-handout-fuer-leopard-2
@@CS-zn6pp Cause the Stug was in the role, that former tank types fulfilled. In the last year of the war, the Stugs III and IV, were the backbone of the german amored forces. And about the soviet casualities... If the enemy has the better crews, communication, better guns and optics and more quality in general, you have to built much more tanks, which get much more killed. How did you think, the Bolshevics, suffered 17 million casualties? From throwing snowballs...?
I’m not sure why, but I’ve always loved these things. The pz.3/4 are great, the big cats are really cool, but something about a chunk of steel with a bunch of well trained goobers in it is just so badass. We always had abrams and Bradley’s to back us up when we needed it, but I can imagine how cool it would be to have a literal artillery piece attached to your unit for urban assaults, there to take out any hard points at any given time. We had to get shot at a lot and do a ton of back and forth over the net to get support like that.
The German production mentality is shown in the VW Beetle. If you look at a production run for a particular year, the beginning of the year is rarely identical to the end of the year. 1967 is a particularly diverse year with early, mid, and late year variations.
German car manufacturing . . . I remember a BMW 325i, very popular, with three completely incompatible fuel pumps in three different locations in a single year. Mixed production and no way of knowing which you needed to acquire to perform a repair, until you strip out the highly inaccessible fuel system from engine to the fuel tank itself!
@@yagdtigercommander Yeah, then they come little secondary details, like the MG shield on top; that's made out of a piece of the hull of a soviet BT-7, or the reinforcement bars above the roadwheels.
The real beauty of these videos is the narration. I would love to see Willey do videos on other military equipment e.g. Dreadnoughts in the First World War
Finland used the StuG III in 1944 quite a lot, and it was very effective. You can still see a WW2 Stug III very next to the Finnish highway in Parola next to the contemporary service tank, the Leopard 2A4. We salute the tanks everytime we drive past them.
The finns used them because they are better for defense rather than offensive, the germans should have stuck with panzer vl Panthers and stugs from 43 they would of put up a better defense and give them more time to build v2s and jets to win ,but it was probably to late by then
@@IvorMektin1701 the v1 could be shot from the sky or a plane could touch it and it would go nowhere ,v2s hit when they went of and did do damage and got kills and they were getting better all the time ,one was being made for usa ,don't try tell me what I know the v1s were getting shot from the sky , v2s could not be stopped when they were sent stop trying to each history to someone that does there research on the topic
@@IvorMektin1701 cost effective but ineffective some after read about them or watch some thing more ,its no good if cheap if they stopped getting through which they didn't England learned to deal with them lol
The German turretless tanks are always easy to remember as they almost always have the stats of the gun tank one generation up. So the Stug III has the stats of the Panzer IV, the Stug IV has the stats of the Panzer V and so on.
That spaced armor skirting it whatever it’s called is the coolest I think. That’s kinda how they “armor” space stations against micro meteors and stuff, several thin layers tho, as it hits each layer it spends some of its energy each time until it’s spent or stopped. I think here tho with only one layer the idea is more to tumble an anti tank rifle round like he said.
The skirting would have really upped the survivability of these. Especially with the versions they up armoured at the front, with that extra plating. Both hard to hit with the low profile and tough to crack open if it was hit.👍💪
I believe that Stug is borrowed from the finnish tank museum in Parola. The marking to the left of the Saukopf gun mantlet is definitely finnish. media2.riemurasia.net/albumit/mmedia/tl/9oz/dyx9/261218/1821051933.jpg www.andreaslarka.net/sturmi.html
@@cgaccount3669 not that I know of. I think they were scrapped. They were just too good so the Kiwis needed to deny anyone else getting a look at its superior design.
@@cgaccount3669 The Bob Semple tank was replaced by NZLAVs. Most of them are in storage, as the NZ Govt cannot afford to pay for the fuel to run them, even with a FlyBuys card. See: www.flybuys.co.nz/
Really? According to wiki he spent some of his early time in MkIII as well as Stug and at about a year in the Tiger. A tiger in target-rich environment should easily outscore a Stug.
@@dakkahead517 There were almost 10x the number of stugs for one thing, but overall stats don't apply here for we are talking about one man. Wittmann spent about 6 months in a stugIII, another 6 in a MkIII, and over a year in a Tiger1. Most of his kills were in the Tiger, with 24 kills in one day on the Ostfront and 16 on another. And of course later his famous day at Villers Boucage, where he got 13 tanks and many other vehicles in a matter of minutes. ruclips.net/video/utpXMVIM9Jg/видео.html
Hitler probably took great interest because he was an infantryman, and he knew from experience how useful it would have been to have that in different situations he'd experienced.
Very cool. I don't know why this idea isn't still used, as its a lot less expensive than turreted tanks and it could be better protected than most AFV out there. And its lower than most AFV out there now. Because if you look at this thing's kill count....yeah, with good tactics you can overcome the lack of a turret.
My Grandfather was a StuG III driver and mechanic at Army Group South. He still talks tenderly about his trusty StuG "Langrohr" (long barreled Ausf. G). He liked to point out the comfortable interior, the vehicle´s reliability, good armor protection as well as armament and particularly the highly superior optics when compared to captured T-34s. He was a member of Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung (later Brigade) 228.
Thats sick, and yeah the t-34s had polished metal (steel i think) as optics
Document those stories.
@@leriku2270t34 was a terrible tank
@@ClevorBelmont What do you mean?
@@leriku2270 sick that his grandad was in the Wehrmacht?
It's ridiculous how sir Willey manages to continue his talk for such an extended period of time without cuts in editing (as far as I've noticed). Excellent presentation!
Pity it wasn't edited though... referring to the StuG III as a tank many times among other inaccuracies. Most people these days don't care about standards though.
@@johnny_pilot most people don't care about YOUR standards*
@@johnny_pilot He’s using that term because that’s the colloquial term for it. He goes over, in detail, that the stugs were formed as part of the artillery corps.
You are a poor listener.
He knows his business.
Obviously Johnny P is more intelligent on the subject and could do his videos better.
being a better history channel then the actual history channel
Unfortunately, that doesn't take very much nowadays
Stay tuned for this evenings special on how the Ancient Egyptians got the plans for the Stug from alien explorers.
Wait a minute mate - are you actually trying to suggest that the History Channel has something to do with history . . ? Cheers!
The PC is so off the scale history can’t be history. They skipped Chancellorsville and it was The Greatest Victory by Any AMERICAN General in History. 60,000. Defeated 132,000. Robert E. Lee was and is The Best American General in American History. It’s just not PC for “that” to be the case. That’s not History! That’s B.S.! Rommel was a great General but, they have to make it look like Montgomery “out smarted” him. I don’t want propaganda I want true accurate HISTORY!
“History Channel”
The Tank Museum - providing essential morale services worldwide during times of crises.
Pat G and models don’t forget the models
@wakenbaker-uk A needlessly hostile comment, W. I've visited six or seven times over the years. Will definitely go again. The Museum is closed because of the coronavirus. RUclips provides easier access.
@wakenbaker-uk What's your problem? I'm a frequent visitor to Paignton Zoo, the Tank Museum, the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Longleat, the museums at the Portsmouth Naval Dockyard and several other locations. I'm expressing goodwill to people who make videos so that I can view museums on RUclips AS WELL. Well Done to the guys and gals behind Tank Chats. Keep up the good work, Tank Chats, thankyou for your interesting talks, and the same goes for their equivalent colleagues at other museums.
I live 20 miles from the Museum. RUclips provides easier access. This way I can visit the Museum ten times a week plus in person on family days out.
@wakenbaker-uk You're coming across as being a grade-A imbecile. Please stop now before you embarrass yourself any further.
I found a Canadian military museum for
their Engineers had a tank in it. It had a
story too interesting to share in RUclips
and that exhibit has since been moved
closer to their Capital City. I still use a
CDF mountain warfare training area
for vertical training and my speleology.
The aesthetics of German armor are quite exquisite. From the Stugs and Panzer IVs to the Panther and Tigers.
Very menacing.
Extremely mesmerizing
I hope we will see updated tank chats on Tiger, Panther, Tiger II, Ferdinand etc. Those old ones 5 minute long just aren't enough.
I totally love these 20-30 minute ones though, especially the extensive tank chat on T-34.
WOW I didn't even realize the video was that long
There's only so much you can say about some tanks. They're all basically big metal boxes with tracks and guns.
With an empty museum it’s a lot easier for them to do these longer videos...
I completely agree that the increased duration videos are more entertaining and informative regardless of model or country of origin.
I agree. Just purchased one of the museum tee shirts to support the effort.
What also is unmentioned in the article is that as the StuG was a tank under the artillery branch received "artillery" optics, and were much higher quality to the regular army tanks thus allowing kills at much further ranges. This allowed the 75L24 to be used to such deadlier results. Hitler may have blundered much of World War 2, but his call for a longer 75 gun was spot on.
Soviet armor was proving too thick for ordinary early war German tank types to deal with. What was called for is just economical way to have as many platforms toting a 75 on the field as possible.
Scissor scopes to range enemy better and more accurately:)
That's funny. My Son is sitting downstairs and build his new Cobi STUG III...what an coincidence.
Best wishes to all of you, stay healthy!
I pulled this up and have it looped it while I'm building my new Afrika Korps Cobi StuG III for my classroom lol
May I recommend the Bismarck. But pricey but worth it. COBI are a very good company with amazing models considering they're made of Lego
im doing a tamiya 1/35 stug 3 g at the moment and im doing a battle of the bulge one
Start early
Very well made information. In the early '70 I was an apprentice as an technical drawer in the MIAG factory in Brunswik. And we had to pass some practices in the manfacturing, and there although in "Halle 17", where these StuG were build in the 40ies. Later the Jagdpanther was manufactured on the same place. Back in the technical office I was glad to get access to the original drawings of the StuG and the Jagdpanther. Some of the former engineers were still there...
The real workhorse of the German Army right here. This is the armoured vehicle that allies on both fronts would have to face the most through the war.
The Soviets actually had a book detailing how to deal with these. It's clear they considered it very dangerous.
I spent some time crawling a round the stug III at the Littlefield collection (4days in all) and was very impressed by the layout of this vehicle and the production probabilities (cheap) of it , and how did the allies missed out on it. The only that would come close was the M50&50A1 Ontos which was well after WW2. I met some WW2 tankers when stationed in Bose Idaho ,they showed up at my "tank barn" ,4th tank Bn "C" Co. they talked about how much they hated Stugs and Hustsels (spelling?) because the Germans could hide under or behind anything so easily! If you can't see it you can't hit it!
@@daffyduck7336 I think you are referring to the 'Hetzer' (pronounced something like 'hat sir' for English speakers) which translates to baiter
@@yxada1998 Rule 1 I guess was find it.
@@kevinstewart449 Certainly in the later years when they were so effective in ambush.
I want to say Military History Visualized has a video with the book. It details the German assault tactics when using them and how the Soviets countered.
this man , need to make audio books - his voice is so calm .
Outstanding video! I'm obviously three years too late in just discovering this gem of a video, but I'm overjoyed at finding this site and overwhelmed by the quality of this presentation. I'm looking forward to watching many other videos from the Tank Museum. Thank you!
I absolutely love these videos. Thanks David for taking the time during these trouble times to produce this wonderful video.
Of all the fighting vehicles of WWII the Stug was always my favourite. Great video.
what not to love about it. Its like the gangsta of tank destroyers. I am every panzer be gangsta until the stug shows up unless elephants and big cats show up. Then Stug is like am I joke to you ? lol.
It's basically the Hurricane to the Spitfire. Sure, the spitfire was flashy and a brilliant plane, but the hurricane was the workhorse
Quite rightly so more bang for your mark$$
More Hurricanes than Spitfires in the Battle of Britain
@@wernesgruder1 Yup. It's scary to think that the poor British pilots had to fight FW-190 and BF-109 planes with their hurricanes.
@@leeham6230 Early Spitfire and Hurricane is not that much far apart from each other in terms of performance. The gap is surprisingly un-huge though there is a certain gap. Add the fact that 190 did not particularly show up till about early 42, Hurricane is not a poor performer.
Admittedely Spitfire was generally slightly superior to 109 while Hurricane was generally inferior. Hurricane is outdated design even for 1941 while Spitfire still had a lot of room for development. Obviously a superior performing plane but Hurricane has better aircraft systems and much easier repairs and more.
@@left_ventricle and in 1940 and later the Hurricane was a better gun platform. They never tried to put twin 40mm guns on a Spit !
As well as the refreshingly unbiased content and lack of partisan flag-waving where anything military is concerned, I really like David's presentation style. Excellent clarity.
Yep. Just facts
Pure 100% facts
No wehraboos in sight
@isdrevenge8764😮
Thank you, David. The videos that you and the team are putting out are a real tonic in difficult times. The "Ask the Curator" from your study or garden are particularly welcome. Stay well, and best wishes to all at Bovington.
The moment the tank museum starts selling Stug life t-shirts is the moment I buy their entire stock
@@Whatisthisstupidfinghandle Ontario Regiment Museum, prepare to be back-ordered!
Please keep this up David. Despite having plenty to get on with motivation and morale has taken a bit of a dive and I'm sure its not just me that greatly appreciates your efforts.
@@delayedpilot yes I'm OK thanks
I was a bit down at the hight of the (a bit over the top, lockdown, with hindsight) lockdown and l was imagineing what people who are naturally depressive must be like. I think that the tank museum and quite a few other you tube channels were aware of this and stepped up their game.
@@andrewpease3688 the tank museum's had to change things up as well because of the pandemic but I hear you its great content ,as you said about people with depression I suffer with it and things like this ordering ww2 books are a help doe ,there seems to be no end in site to this covid crap,hope you feel better than you where when you made the comment ,there some good content with people in the comments compared to other sites like boxing or mma sites a lot of clowns on there very negative so I don't bother getting involved I just watch the content because you make a comment and your called a casual or you know nothing. Smh .
history channel should be showing this stuff..oh wait i cancelled cable years ago because i got tired of pawn stars
"Best I can do is vaguely reference World War 2..." -Rick Harrison
What does pawning have to do with history anyway?
DOES HITLER USE BLACK MAGIC TO DESTROY DEMOCRACY. - History channel.
same... i mean.. what the heck is pawn stars
@@overlord4453 They sell things at Exceptional prices.
Michael Wittmann began his run as a premier master of tank warfare (after serving for a time in armored cars) as commander of a Stug.III..Many of his tactics and methods carried over to his Tiger I commands, his close coordination between himself, driver, and gunner making for fast target aquisition and nimble maneuvers..all learned in his Stug III days.
this man has a gift when it comes to talking about these things. i've met him once in 2017 when i was in bovi doing my challenger 2 drivers course.
Excellent. I recently found these Tank Chats. A great way to pass some time during the Covid19 pandemic. I look forward to a time in the near future to visit the museum in person. Thankyou David and team from not so sunny Sweden!
You’re producing videos as fast as I can watch them, thank-you for this
OH JA....i realy love these Tank Chats. this whole channel actually. The Tank Museum is maybe the reason to go and visit GB.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
best regards from Germany
and please just keep doing what u all do so damn good at The Tank Museum "!!!!!"
Thank you David for keeping us entertained when we are all stuck indoors. Stay safe.
This particular Stug Ps531-44 located at Bovington tank museum was lovingly nicknamed by the Finnish troops as "Maija" quite common finnish female name especially for the time. Almost all the 60 odd Stugs or "Sturmi"s used by the finns were nicknamed with a male or female first name.
Yes the Vikings too named their swords.
87 kill’s, 8 Stug lost. Some 28 participated in combat❤
Thanks!
I went to Bovington when i was about 10, I'm now 30 and this has become my bedtime story, a tank chat. Great videos keep em coming :)
Thanks David, brilliant chat, I am a huge fan of the StuG and have thought that we need something like this in our military today, cheer's
Can listen to this guy for hours ramble on about tanks, great work!
He could talk about the mating habits of snails, and it would be just as fascinating and educational. 😁
@@imrekalman9044i love mating. Also snails. So yes
Have you noticed that dear Mr Willey talks about history in the present tense? You won't be able to un-notice now! A subtle but effective way of making the subject matter more important to the listener. I love these videos, keep up the good work.
Love your stuff. We have a world famous WWII Museum in this tiny (800) people town of mine. We've been trying to get a proper WWII tank for years.
The funny thing is actually that the German assault guns happened on the chassis of the 3er Panzer series and they no longer knew where we should use the band and from that U3 was developed because the Panzer III was more than inadequate in comparison to the Panzer IV or the assault gun version B, C, D or the Stug 4 on the PZ 4 chassis. Later, with the T 38 tank, there was the same thing that they made the Panzerjaeger Hetzer out of it, which was a damn good idea in itself, if only there weren't various defects that were on Tratten after a certain time.
You produce a first rate informational history piece. I watch your presentations every time I’m able. Thank you for carrying on during these difficult times.
I resided on small hill summit
with my troop and learned to
ignore requested fire missions
of a tank battery. Never saw
the type or crews. Just the
vapor of discharges above
trees between us. That was
in my second year overseas
and had volunteered again to
serve. Was promised 2 hours
of sleep every 24 hours but
took what I could get.
The Finnish army 29 StuGs destroyed at least 87 soviet tanks for a loss of only 8 StuGs. Many of them during the summer of 1944.
These StuGs gained the nickname "Sturmi".
... and then Finland surrendered for the second time.
Finland didn´t surrender because Soviet Union didn´t occupy Finland. Nations like Romania and Hungary surrendered to Soviet Union since they were occupied by the Red Army.
@@FinnishDragon The only occupation troops were in hotel Torni. 155 Soviet and 15 British members were in the Allied Monitoring Commission. They didn't get along at all with each other.
You forgot to mention that several destroyed Stugs were destroyed by their crews for various reasons.
Saw a movie where finish soldiers were using stugs ,sort of a Finnish band of brothers,good see how other countries thought of ww2
David Fletcher is fantastic as you all can I'm sure agree however I believe David Willey is a superior presenter and I really enjoy his tank chats.
There's one in Parola museum in Finland. We had some StuGs.
Due to the pandemic I didn't get a chance to travel to the Bovington tank museum this is another great way to see the vehicles with a very good description and presentation by Mr Willey.
Very astute observation about the uniform difference of Assault Gun and Panzer crews. The Stug' is close to my heart as my Great Uncle fought in one during WWII. Good video.
What a delightfully competent, clearly well-researched presentation. And, I can't believe it is free from the usual wartime hate propaganda and polemics. Thanks, David Willey, for a first-class lecture.
Wonderful video. The StuG is one of my favourite WW2 armoured vehicles. Also very glad to see you chose a Finnish Sturmi for this video.
Lovely example outside the museum in Hamina, Finland. Got one at the museum in Parola, Finland too. That museum is well worth a visit
The Swiss still use these. I was staying in a tiny Swiss village when on Sunday morning I was woken up by one of these rumbling past accompanied by a section of Citizen Panzer Grenadiers from the village, strewn with infantry weapons.
A brilliant history of a fine and very effective vehicle. Good mention of the production difficulties and variations to type/models.
Thank you David.
I found the history of the Germans' quest for THE tank killer but it was there in service throughout the war (WITH the infantry) very interesting.
Another couple things about the StuG. It's a damn fine looking machine with it's big slabs of rolled steel at a modest angle. It's smol and cute and makes me wanna take it home with me. It combines high quality with simplicity, the way an old school tank should be. And somehow despite having the engine in back-transmission in front setup it still managed to keep a low silhouette.
Getting though lockdown one tank chat at a time, I'll have to go down to the museum again soon I'm so lucky I live close ♥️ 🇬🇧
I'm lucky too, cause I live near the Sinsheim/ Speyer technic museum. There is siting a Stug 42, Hummel and Wespe, Pz III N, Pz IV G, Panther and Jagdpanther and a lot of Allied and Soviet stuff as well. A great number of famous planes and of course a Stug III G...
Thank you very much for this insight on the assault gun. Lots of people do not realize that this was a very formidable weapon! It surely isn't the cutest, but it did the job.
Did he say 3000 liters of fuel? That's 792 gallons! Maybe 300. Another great tank chats video. Always educational and entertaining.
Yes, he added a zero. Fuel capacity was just over 300 liters.
thats 8 gallons! @@Modellbyggaren
@@diggerpyNo, liters are 1.06 quarts, 4 quarts to the gallon, so 300 liters is about 88 gallons! (Did you make a joke, by cutting off the second 8, about adding a 0 to 300? I just realized I might be correcting something meant to be funny . . . . )
In my state of NSW, Australia. We maybe out of lockdown, upon the 11th. It's stuff like this and many others like forgotten weapons,and histories, which have kept me buyont and not losing my mind.
"Ausf" is a short Version of "Ausfuehrung", meaning "Version". Keep up the good work!
Thx sir Willey, I love the chat and you have a very pleasant voice. Please be well!
Remember to decorate your StuG with samurai banners for maximum tankery!
You must learn to raise those banners in your heart instead of on the vehicle. Otherwise you'll pay a heavy price in battle.
@@zafranorbian757 true, so true
Some Latin and German graffiti also helps.
Don’t forget the hippo
Painting bright colors(e.g red)on your Stug is also important so that enemy sees you and you get the maximum fear factor.
Definitely on the short list for best armored vehicle of WWII. Inexpensive, low profile, good armor, torsion bar suspension, great gun, good optics, good radio, good off road performance. One improvement would be wider tracks for Winter and mud. And like pretty much all German equipment, it could use some simplifications (see PanzerJager 38(t)) for faster production.
One note. Logs and/or concrete are a mixed blessing. It would help with HE rounds, but not so much with AP or HEAP rounds. It may be detrimental, depending on exact angle, range, etc.
Ooh I was wondering when we were getting a Stug video! Wonder what will be coming up on tankchat 100
Thank you so much! I learned alot here!
The Tigers and Panthers where more an intimidating weapon, and they did its job! But at the end the Stug was the backbone of German army back then.
I have to wonder how useful a breakthrough tank really is when the German army was on the defensive 100 percent of the time after Kursk.
@@StephenYuan It would still have been an excellent ambush weapon.
Great clip as always, very informative. I could watch Mr. Willey or Mr. Fletcher talking about the paint dry on the wall and not be bored.
Orange trousers, dark blue jacket and beige cardigan. You can't teach style like that. 👌
Brown trousers mate
@@WozWozEre Definitely more of a burnt orange (to my eyes anyway).
Ah,the Michael Portillo look.😁
I could never pull that off but I’m not British either
@@Hillcapper1 As a Brit I think the Italians are best at the British country look..
When history is told by the professionals and not the propagandist [History Ch.]- The Tank Museum in action!
Shurtzen in 3rd Reich : stylish metal sides
Shurtzen in Finland : Pines
and added concrete armour.
There's also applique armour between the tracks, which you can see on the vehicle in this video. Finns weren't too fond of Schürtzen (not exactly practical in forests) so they decided to simply move the armour on the vehicle itself.
people to fins: "no Finland thats not what we meant by 'organic' armour'"
@@wiryantirta Pile of logs near roadside is the most natural camouflage there can be in Finnish countryside. Schurzen plates would had lasted on place maybe 1 day on typical terrain.
Such a great non bias informative video. Fantastic presentation.
Great work. 👍
20:48 If you look close enough there's a scary face that's been painted on the Pighead manlet; I'll say the crew who painted it understands the Stug Life, now hit it there Hans.
Such a magnificent presenter. Thank you so much for these. Love it
I didn't choose the StuG life...
The stug life chose me
....I was drafted by the Wehrmacht.
@@HerrGausF L0L
Stu G is a very good guitarist, check out Delirious
Living in a StuGsta’s paradise
Excellent documentary, very informative and the delivery was spot on! Highly impressed. Thanks very much.
I would have liked to hear more technical factors like the elevation and traverse of the gun, targeting problems, hull down positioning, "shoot and scoot," etc.
And something about the StuH42.
He talked about the Sturmhaubitze
For that find the Chieftain’s discussion if he has done one.
These Chats are mostly about the history, not the technical details. I am sure the other information is out there
These guns were pretty much used as artillery , meat in the front and the stugs in the rear a few hundred meter or so (on a good day) not too complicated
@Mactrip100 probably refering because it never had a turret case so in essence the tank itself moved more so than the traverse ability of the fixed gun.
I love the StuG, Hetzer and Jagdpanzer IV. Amazing innovation.
Hey, it's Maija. :)
Maija who?
@@Rvoid Maija haa... A Finnish Stug III that, named by her crew.
@@Kumimono Dangit it should have been Maija hee first... Thanks for the info, anyway.
@@Rvoid Hoo, forgot the sequence. :p
Great Video David! I am really hoping to get down to Bovington once the virus situation allows. Like you say, the big metal, Panther, Tiger, King Tiger get all the glory, the Stug does most of the work!
"Can be much more massed produced, in the German sense." LOL
For reference, the US made 49k M4 Sherman tanks during WWII. For Germany to have a bit over 20% of those numbers with this one tank is quite impressive.
It's 10k+ production number is even more impressive if you think about how bad the German situation for raw materials and supplies were during most of WW2 and that while cranking out 11k StuGs and StuHs, they also made 8k Panzer IVs, 6k Panthers, nealy 6k Panzer IIIs, ect.. For a power in such an economically terrible postition, even considering the materials wasted on Ferdinands and King Tigers and Jagdtigers... still impressive.
One thing that always gives me a chuckle is that the Soviets lost more tanks in each of the years 41, 42 & 43 than the German tank product in the whole war...
Another thing that made me chuckle was dispite telling us repeatedly that the stuG was not a tank, by the end of the video he is also referring to it as a tank. 😁
@@CS-zn6pp Well, it's appropriate in a more colloquial situation, once the concept is understood.
Even in the German military, in the standardized TC commands to the driver, it's always called Panzer if it is any sort of tracked vehicle. IFV, SPG, doesn't matter. "Panzer - Marsch Marsch!" www.virtuelle-panzergrenadierbrigade37.de/index.php/de/2-uncategorised/42-handout-fuer-leopard-2
@@CS-zn6pp Cause the Stug was in the role, that former tank types fulfilled. In the last year of the war, the Stugs III and IV, were the backbone of the german amored forces. And about the soviet casualities... If the enemy has the better crews, communication, better guns and optics and more quality in general, you have to built much more tanks, which get much more killed. How did you think, the Bolshevics, suffered 17 million casualties? From throwing snowballs...?
I’m not sure why, but I’ve always loved these things. The pz.3/4 are great, the big cats are really cool, but something about a chunk of steel with a bunch of well trained goobers in it is just so badass. We always had abrams and Bradley’s to back us up when we needed it, but I can imagine how cool it would be to have a literal artillery piece attached to your unit for urban assaults, there to take out any hard points at any given time. We had to get shot at a lot and do a ton of back and forth over the net to get support like that.
The German production mentality is shown in the VW Beetle. If you look at a production run for a particular year, the beginning of the year is rarely identical to the end of the year. 1967 is a particularly diverse year with early, mid, and late year variations.
German car manufacturing . . . I remember a BMW 325i, very popular, with three completely incompatible fuel pumps in three different locations in a single year. Mixed production and no way of knowing which you needed to acquire to perform a repair, until you strip out the highly inaccessible fuel system from engine to the fuel tank itself!
Absolutely SLATHERED with Zimmerit!
I guess you could say, when the restoration was completed on this tank, it was pretty much....
....Finnished :)
The China virus is funnier than you.
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Outstanding as always. So well researched, presented and edited.
As soon as i saw the rounded front of the STUG I knew it was Finnish. The finns poured concrete on those guys.
Yah neat to know i was wondering why it looked so odd for typical stug design.
@@yagdtigercommander Yeah, then they come little secondary details, like the MG shield on top; that's made out of a piece of the hull of a soviet BT-7, or the reinforcement bars above the roadwheels.
The real beauty of these videos is the narration. I would love to see Willey do videos on other military equipment e.g. Dreadnoughts in the First World War
Finland used the StuG III in 1944 quite a lot, and it was very effective. You can still see a WW2 Stug III very next to the Finnish highway in Parola next to the contemporary service tank, the Leopard 2A4. We salute the tanks everytime we drive past them.
The finns used them because they are better for defense rather than offensive, the germans should have stuck with panzer vl Panthers and stugs from 43 they would of put up a better defense and give them more time to build v2s and jets to win ,but it was probably to late by then
@@IvorMektin1701 the v1 could be shot from the sky or a plane could touch it and it would go nowhere ,v2s hit when they went of and did do damage and got kills and they were getting better all the time ,one was being made for usa ,don't try tell me what I know the v1s were getting shot from the sky , v2s could not be stopped when they were sent stop trying to each history to someone that does there research on the topic
@@IvorMektin1701 cost effective but ineffective some after read about them or watch some thing more ,its no good if cheap if they stopped getting through which they didn't England learned to deal with them lol
@@williedesmond8201
The V2 cost ten times as much as a V1 and delivered the same warhead.
@@IvorMektin1701 yea and the v2 always got through the v2 didn't it was shot from the sky you said it was more effective it was not
The German turretless tanks are always easy to remember as they almost always have the stats of the gun tank one generation up. So the Stug III has the stats of the Panzer IV, the Stug IV has the stats of the Panzer V and so on.
Seems that the Corporal knew more about tank tactics than many give him credit for
Fantastic chat. Well done! Keeping us entertained and educated during lockdown. Much appreciated!
5:35 Gewehr 43 in action
Thank you for making and sharing this video. Watched from New Zealand in Corona lock down.
10,000 stug 3s built vs 50,000 Sherman’s and 80,000 t-34s. Tough odds.
And add British tanks
That spaced armor skirting it whatever it’s called is the coolest I think. That’s kinda how they “armor” space stations against micro meteors and stuff, several thin layers tho, as it hits each layer it spends some of its energy each time until it’s spent or stopped. I think here tho with only one layer the idea is more to tumble an anti tank rifle round like he said.
The skirting would have really upped the survivability of these. Especially with the versions they up armoured at the front, with that extra plating. Both hard to hit with the low profile and tough to crack open if it was hit.👍💪
This particular vehicle is also half timbered - essentially it's a Morris minor estate car with attitude .
It doesnt even have any problems with a parking space ...
The Stug Traveller?
I believe that Stug is borrowed from the finnish tank museum in Parola. The marking to the left of the Saukopf gun mantlet is definitely finnish. media2.riemurasia.net/albumit/mmedia/tl/9oz/dyx9/261218/1821051933.jpg www.andreaslarka.net/sturmi.html
😂
A reason those mid-century British wood embellished cars were called “shooting-breaks”...
Always a pleasure to watch ,good job gentlemen
Bob Semple for the 100th tank chat.
I believe they just do tanks in their collection. Did any of the BS tanks survive?
@@cgaccount3669 not that I know of. I think they were scrapped. They were just too good so the Kiwis needed to deny anyone else getting a look at its superior design.
@@cleanerben9636 they only didn't adopt them, because they didn't want to insult God by being so powerful
@@cgaccount3669 The Bob Semple tank was replaced by NZLAVs. Most of them are in storage, as the NZ Govt cannot afford to pay for the fuel to run them, even with a FlyBuys card. See: www.flybuys.co.nz/
Excellent, length is just right. Learned a lot. Thank you.
This really helps detox the mind from political battles.
Brilliant very informative please keep up the good work. Thanks 👍 Paul
Michael Wittman got most of his tank kills in a STuG. Though I think he also said he thought getting ATGs was more important.
Prof_Kaos He said, that a PAK is worth five tanks.
Really? According to wiki he spent some of his early time in MkIII as well as Stug and at about a year in the Tiger. A tiger in target-rich environment should easily outscore a Stug.
Whitman wasn't even the best German tank ace
@@terraflow__bryanburdo4547 and yet the STUGs had more kills than the Tiger 2s ever produced. There are plenty of other factors to consider though.
@@dakkahead517 There were almost 10x the number of stugs for one thing, but overall stats don't apply here for we are talking about one man.
Wittmann spent about 6 months in a stugIII, another 6 in a MkIII, and over a year in a Tiger1. Most of his kills were in the Tiger, with 24 kills in one day on the Ostfront and 16 on another. And of course later his famous day at Villers Boucage, where he got 13 tanks and many other vehicles in a matter of minutes.
ruclips.net/video/utpXMVIM9Jg/видео.html
Informative and on point as always ! Great to see the StuG on the screen
Hitler probably took great interest because he was an infantryman, and he knew from experience how useful it would have been to have that in different situations he'd experienced.
Trench warfare that he ecperienced..... vs what the army did
Very possibly.
Very cool. I don't know why this idea isn't still used, as its a lot less expensive than turreted tanks and it could be better protected than most AFV out there. And its lower than most AFV out there now. Because if you look at this thing's kill count....yeah, with good tactics you can overcome the lack of a turret.
You didn't choose to watch this StuG video, the StuG video chose you.
Came to say something similar! Stug in video? I'm in. Simples. But I prefer the Hetzer TBH
Came to say the same!
@@foxyboiiyt3332 the Hetzer is so cute, but cramped. They could have made it square at the back to give it a little more space.
@@cleanerben9636 however the Hetzer gotta hetz😂
yah pretty much lol.
His shadow moving back and forth on the gun is strangely mesmerizing