Eastern Front Tank Warfare 1944 - WW2 Documentary Special

In this conflict, we’ve seen armored warfare on a greater scale than anything before or since. Indy takes a look at some of the tanks slugging it out on the Eastern Front, from the long-serving Panzer III and IV, to the newer and more powerful Tiger and T-34 85, and the monstrous IS-2.

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Hosted by:Indy Neidel
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński
Community Management: Ian Sowden
Written by: Markus Linke, Indy Neidel
Research by: Markus Linke
Map animations by: Daniel Weiss
Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Artwork and color grading by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Marek Kamiński
Colorizations by:
Mikołaj Uchman

Image sources:
Bundesarchiv
Narodowe Narchiwum Cyfrowe
Imperial War Museums: P 233, CL 2557
SA-kuva 155186
RIA Novosti
National Archives NARA
Not Less O rEqual from Wikimedia

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
Break Free - Fabien Tell
Dark Beginning - Johan Hynynen
Imperious - Bonnie Grace
It's Not a Game - Philip Ayers
Last Man Standing 3 - Johannes Bornlöf
Last Point of Safe Return - Fabien Tell
March Of The Brave 10 - Rannar Sillard
Other Sides of Glory - Fabien Tell
Rememberance - Fabien Tell
Weapon of Choice - Fabien Tell

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

[WorldWarTwo]

What’s your favourite tank of the war, and why?

[gafeleon]

Just a quick correction, the SU-76 isn't built on the chassis of the T-34 but a lengthened T-70 chassis and while it has some limited anti-tank capabilities by 1944 the 76mm is mostly only useful for close support

Love your work

[Red_Four]

The Tiger 1 we have in the US Army Armor and Cavalry collection at Fort Moore was captured in a maintenance area towards the end of the North Africa campaign. Some of the parts on that tank contain serial numbers that belonged to around a dozen other Tigers from that unit.

[pennings]

OMG I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HOW WELL THE FERDINAND PERFORMED

[HistoryHussar]

Hungarian 1st Army received 10 Tigers in the Summer of 1944. They were effective in combat, but most of them would be lost within a few months, mainly due to mechanical breakdowns and a lack of fuel. Since the Hungarians did not have anything that could tow a Tiger (aside from another Tiger, which exposed both tanks to enemy fire), they proved to be too heavy and cumbersome to operate over the long term. By October, 3-4 were left, but we are not sure what happened to them.

[OneofInfinity.]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder Indy, the T-34/85 is a looker to me.

[podemosurss]

6:02 About tungsten, being Spanish, I remember hearing stories on the ways that our government (aligned with Germany) used to transfer them tungsten through the borders without the Allies knowing: It was in small ore chunks, the size of a fist, that could be carried easily. Children in border towns would be hired for extra cash and given those "stones" to play throwing the stones onto the other side of the border, where German agents collected those stones. They also tied them to dogs and made it look like a kid's prank.

[michaelmorley]

As The Chieftain has pointed out in multiple videos, the Panther also featured challenging ergonomics. It is a very difficult tank to learn to use effectively.

[Ralphieboy]

The USA sent some 225, 000 2.5 ton cargo trucks, 1, 000 locomotives and around 7, 000 railway freight cars. That not only freed up a lot of Soviet heavy industry to concentrate on tanks, but it gave them the logistical ability to successfully support deep battle.

[gunman]

I always like Special episodes like these, at this late stage of the war you can really see how tank warfare has evolved over time. Thank you Sparty and team as always!

[Maus]

To be fair to the PzKpfw III I think the torsion bars themselves stand the test of time as a great method in general, and the III's specifically seem to have worked just fine. What let down the running gear overall was the narrow track, and perhaps the smaller diameter of the roadwheels themselves compared to T-34

[nodirips_]

There is a mistake at 11: 43, the SU 76 self propelled gun is not based in the T-34 hull, it is based in the T - 70 light tank hull. The advantage of the " turretless tank" is that a bigger gun can be installed in the same hull. The T-70 tank features a 45 mm gun the SU 76 spg wich is based on the basic T-70 hull features a 76 mm gun.

[bmbjkqe]

Indy, I know you've got a lot of people behind you on the show (and they're amazing too), but I gotta hand it to you, I love your voice and delivery - even after 4 years (?) it's always spot on.

[carrickrichards]

Lendlease sent over 4100 Sherman tanks to the soviets. About half each 75 mm and 76 mm armed. 1st Guards Mechanized Corps, the 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps, 6th Guards Tank Army and the 9th Guards Mechanized Corps, were fully lend lease equiped. The Sherman was widely liked, much more than the 2850 other western tanks supplied in the Lendlease program (including nearly 1400 Valentines armed with 40mm or 57mm). The radios, trucks and spares (and 15 million pairs of boots) may have been as important.

[dbassman]

Thanks for another excellent video. BTW, the SU 76 was actually based on a modified T 70 chassis. Cheers.

[thanos_.]

FINALLY! Another special episode! I really missed these🥳

[althesmith]

Sometimes "good enough" is pretty damn awesome.

[Redmanticore]

7:03 to my knowledge the stug 3 had the greatest kill ratio of all tank models in ww2.
at only 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) tall it was easy to conceal. this was highly useful when setting an ambush and made for a small, hard to pinpoint target even after the battle started.

[ac]

In Siberia there were T-34 factories that was making 2000 tanks a month, soon as they were finished straight to the front.

[OuijTube]

I nearly snorted my morning coffee with that Lord Humungous opening