1942: 21 anti-tank guns against 100 tanks - who won?

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Was the British 6 pdr ATG any good? How did it fare when attacked by the might of the Wehrmacht's panzers? In 1942, both sides found out in the famous action at codename 'Snipe' during the battle of El Alamein.
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Picture credits:
Snipe photograph
By JJ Harrison (www.jjharrison.com.au/) - Own work, CC BY 3.0,
commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Sniper painting image
By A. B. Frost - The North Jersey History & Genealogy Center Digital Collection, Public Domain,
commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Carriers image
National Museum of the U.S. Navy [Public domain]
M13 tank image
By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-783-0104-38 / Moosmüller / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de,
commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Pz IV F2 image
Mark Pellegrini [CC BY-SA 2.5 (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)]
Major-General Briggs image
By Berserker276 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
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[@kit6818]

German Friendly Fire: *Hans get on radio!* Russian Friendly Fire: *Shoots back* British Friendly Fire: "No hard feelings, but can you stop shooting at us?"

[@iansneddon2956]

Canadian Friendly Fire: "Sorry to interrupt, eh, but when you have a moment could you re-direct your fire at the enemy? Thanks."

[@homefront3162]

lol

[@astracrits4633]

@@TheBananamonger *BRRRRRT noises*

[@Zenmyster]

I thought that would be Canadian

[@KrolKaz]

Haha friendly fire jokes are hilarious 😂 😃 😄 😁 🤣

[@TheSecondVersion]

I like how he spends ages talking about the etymology of "Snipe," then casually mentions " *Woodcock* " and never brings it up again.

[@replytothisifyouhavedumb7250]

Birds need no etymology, they’re just called that. Why is it called that? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@ED-es2qv]

It was the first thing the guy saw that morning, and just named it. Nobody knows why.

[@liammacaodha4783]

Was woodcock occupied? Why even mark it on a map?

[@sandrafrancisco]

Now how much wood would a woodcock cock if a woodcock could cock wood?

[@daapdary]

Yeah, the Brits have funny names for birds, don't they? Here in the USA, the only time I ever saw a Blue Tit was at the zoo, when my mom spilled Berry Gatorade on her white shirt.

[@petrsukenik9266]

"there is no hard feelings at all but could you please stop kiling us" most british way to stop frendly fire

[@pashakdescilly7517]

are

[@ori5021]

Oh, I am so sorry love. I will notify the relevant authorities as soon as possible.

[@jasondifelice1559]

@@ori5021 Hilarious!

[@officermeowmeowfuzzyface4408]

Just following barrage protocol, can't stop until belts are dry and barrels need changing. And then one more belt each.

[@o00nemesis00o]

@Eisen Chao That's just the RAF

[@Puffin_777]

"Silenced him with a grenade." I get the image of the British rifleman just coming right up to him, shoving a grenade with the pin out into his mouth, saying "Shush!" And then walking away.

[@BrokenCurtain]

Isn't that the opening scene from "Batman: the Dark Knight"?

[@arthas640]

@@BrokenCurtain I think you mean "Britishman: The Pale Knight"

[@oldsteve4291]

If it had been a Scot he would have, crep' up an set right aboot him, hittin him in the heed wi the grenade till he quit his blatherin and lay deed, an no mistake.

[@rogerpartner1622]

More like. oy Jerry EAT THIS sonny Jim and don’t ask for more. 😁😇

[@IdarkphoenixI]

@@arthas640 "What doesn't kill you, simply makes you...." (Takes off mask to reveal Nigel Thornberry) "SMASHING!!!"

[@alexmiller4527]

When Turner's men finally withdrew they managed to bring out one of their 6 pdrs, carried on the back of the damaged truck along with the wounded. This gun, known as the Snipe Gun, now sits outside the Anti-tank Platoon office of 1st Battalion the Rifles at Beachley Barracks in Chepstow.

[@oliviermosimann6931]

Thanks for the info ! My Scottish grandad was an artillery gunner at that battle.

[@liamdownes1475]

Seriously? I grew up round there! I’ll make a point to visit next time I’m over there

[@muchosgracias3764]

@@liamdownes1475 Syndrome

[@whistlingbadger]

"If the armor is overmatched, it had a tendency to crack, and that's very disconcerting for the crew." It is this level of scholarly insight that keeps me coming back to Lloyd's channel.

[@harrypoon3410]

It causes a significant emotional event

[@liyifenn]

It causes them to be a little restless

[@theyonlycomeoutwhenitsquiet]

It causes momentary incontinence

[@mistermister1366]

It causes erectile dysfunction.

[@RandomStuff-he7lu]

@Senior Batman Diesel?

[@alikartal8426]

This guy is absolutely crazy. I saw the action in front of my eyes as if it were a movie, while he was describing who did what and when. He was just talking in front of a camera, but he made me see , no actually experience, what happened in a battle. Incredible!

[@vanpallandt5799]

exactly..for all his biases etc, that's exactly why he is so captivating to listen to

[@somethingelse4424]

@@vanpallandt5799 Biases? Well if you mean against the French, that's fair. For the most part he seems to have fairly middle-of-the-road, reasonable opinions on most topics. I can't remember anything he's said that struck me as biased.

[@vanpallandt5799]

@@somethingelse4424 well as a Taff and thus a nation that fought both against the French in English armies of Middle Ages and then aided by them agsinst the ancestral enemy😀, i do find both his and the more ignorant DM reader type comments on French military history a bit tiresome

[@somethingelse4424]

@@vanpallandt5799 I had to look up the meaning of Taff 😆 for some context... and I will concede to your claim of bias on those grounds. I was honestly concerned that this was going someplace else, and was bracing for some extreme right wing Tucker Carlson tier nonsense.

[@vanpallandt5799]

@@somethingelse4424 thanks..its surprising how many ppl in UK dont know term or as one person tried to claim it was a term of anti Welsh abuse..certainly not in South Wales, anymore than Jock or Mick is an insult in a military context

[@simonrisley2177]

He digresses, goes off-topic, is quite eccentric -- and endlessly watchable! I do enjoy his programmes!

[@danielshoudy265]

Same lol, partly why I enjoy his content… I imagine to one degree or another, that this is what people feel like I sound when anything remotely history related comes up 😆

[@moaimoai7977]

"Oh dear, seems this jeep is on fire" "Might as well get a pot of water boiling for a cuppa" "Steady on, chap!"

[@michelguevara151]

hold off a minute more and you can cook your eggs and bacon as well as get a brew on!

[@dattebenforcer]

Is that how you make tea without a microwave?

[@dylanperkins7939]

@@dattebenforcer Tea in a MICROWAVE?! You dirty bloody heathen! That is truly rubbish! Tea must be steeped, man! Steeped!

[@dattebenforcer]

Don't you just mix the powder with water and you're set?

[@dylanperkins7939]

@@dattebenforcer Good lord, he doesn't even have his tea in a proper bag! Though that is the way the Chinese did it, and they invented the stuff. Some Westerners do it that way as well, but you get little bits of tea leaves in your teeth, rather annoying... However, I do hope you mean powdered leaves, and not some dreadful artificial tea.

[@Eban11235]

I can only imagine the report. "What sort of tanks were they?" "Dunno, German?"

[@littlekong7685]

"Tanks that weren't on fire. Now they are tanks that ARE on fire."

[@ycart_tech6726]

Big. Steel. With guns on them.

[@rationalmartian]

They were rather warm scrap tanks saaaaaah.

[@randymagnum143]

@John Smith it they were moving, they weren't italian.

[@stevebuckley7788]

The German's didn't have many German tanks in Africa. Most of them were either captured enemy tanks or canibalised/improvised from transport vehicles.

[@TheSecondVersion]

"We have no source on the german tanks used, because it was so dark" (german voice: "Hans! Ze transmission is broken again!") Brit: "That's a panther alright."

[@austinm.9832]

In 1942, in North Africa, must have been a prototype.

[@AndrewLale]

No Panthers in N African campaign

[@davidelliott5843]

The German army used Panzer III and IV tanks in North Africa. Plus a fair few captured British tanks.

[@unknownip6741]

@@davidelliott5843 also some PzKpfw VI "Tiger" I believe that is where the famous tiger 131 was captured.

[@barthoving2053]

And some people rolled a critital failure on their perception check for a joke.

[@idanceforpennies281]

There's a Jagpanther at Bovington that has a neat little hole right through the heaviest part of the armour on the mantlet. That round (sabot) knocked out that tank. Fired from a 6 pounder.

[@TTTT-oc4eb]

The Bovington Jagdpanther came directly from the factory and never saw action.

[@diggledoggle4192]

@@TTTT-oc4eb think he may be confused with the Deutches Panzermuseum whose Jadpanther has its mantlet penetrated by a 6pdr sabot hit

[@jpmtlhead39]

That's not a jagdpanther,thats the tiger 131 captured in Tunísia,by the luckiest shot Ever. The Tiger wasnt knocked out in any shape or form,the crew that was very young when Saw that tiny Shell stuck on mantlet panic and just Run away with the Tigger still running. If it was an Experience crew they were able to solve that little problem and continue is mission. PS: never could have been an Jagdpanther because that machine didin't had a rotating tower,so there was no mantlet. Was a single huge block of steel,with the most Powerfull AT gun of the war, the Pak 43 8,8 cm.

[@jpmtlhead39]

That is the Tiger 131 captured in Tunísia. And he wasns't knocked out,he was still running in perfect order when the very young crew in Panic abandoned the tank. If was an Experience crew,they were able to solve the problem of that tiny Shell stuck there,and continue the mission. PS: Never could have been a Jagdpanther because,the Jagdpanther was a solid big block of steel with no rotating tower ,so without a mantlet. What he had,was the most Powerfull AT tank of the war.The Pak 43 8,8cm.

[@nerome619]

@@jpmtlhead39 Pic 5 down: hzes.blogspot.com/2011/08/day-28-deutsches-panzermuseum.html

[@Fede_uyz]

"Experiencing failure is incredibly character building" damn, i've been building my character incredibly well all my life!!!

[@Nightdare]

So do I, oddly enough people don't generally like my character

[@deltavee2]

Make no mistakes, learn nothing. Make mistakes, learn something. I've always taught my kids and the guys on my various staffs over the years "If you don't make mistakes, you're not trying hard enough!."

[@Fede_uyz]

@@deltavee2 absolutely, i was just making a joke of being a failure throghout your life, but i agree

[@HanSolo__]

@@deltavee2 Just learn them to make no mistakes at a first take. Its called intelligent, clever, skillful, improvising and adapting. They will never ever need to learn anything since they will get the needed knowledge right away while smart observing and some checking what s up at the google.

[@crustyolcoot6646]

I'm in good company then.

[@Hiraghm]

"which was a bit disconcerting..." I will forever love the British propensity for understatement....

[@linusverclyte4988]

Yep.

[@mrclive5]

Twas but a minor scuffle. 😉

[@12many4you]

I appreciate the slightly hyperbolic "forever"

[@eoghancasserly3626]

I believe us Irish have them beat. At the time people famously referred to WW2 just as "The Emergency". Not to mention that all out war in NI was and still is universally referred to as "The Troubles"

[@steinmaniac7920]

@@eoghancasserly3626 I believe my parents got the Irish beat: They just tend to call me a "genetic dead end", which is an understatement if I've ever seen one.

[@sebastianfalcon4400]

Everytime I see the length of the videos I ask myself how can you talk so much about a single subject. But then I enjoy the whole thing. I'm in quarantine right now so these are great. Thanks man.

[@davethompson3326]

6lb gun was "good kit"! Accurate, good range, decent punch and rate of fire & easy to conceal (bloody important for AT)

[@creanero]

Lloyd: after he's gone about a mile and a half in ROUGHLY the right direction Annotation: gives equivalent distance in km to the nearest millimetre.

[@mandowarrior123]

UK law requires compliance with accessibility for disablities, including being French.

[@haroldellis9721]

@@mandowarrior123 Well played.

[@stickemuppunkitsthefunlovi4733]

Yanks also need it..

[@neumi569]

"about 2.5km" would have done the trick, that's 1.55343 miles (just to be compliant to the UK law)

[@TheSecondVersion]

"Roughly" modifies "direction," not distance. They were off in terms of *degrees*

[@charlesflint9048]

Thanks for origin of the word ‘sniper’. Knowledge like this always puts things in a better perspective.

[@AlexFlodder]

@robert mcghie And I know why we had the snipe (or snip in dutch) on our previous currency.

[@gangsterno1880]

Only thing he wrong is that Snipe are for eating, they arent just shot for sport, they are a tasty game bird like pheasant and partridge.

[@michaeldarby3503]

Snipe are very tasty and closely related to the woodcock>

[@mandero8842]

funny isn't it. just when you have essentially fully considered yourself a certifiable knowledgeable 100% military/war nerd and then here comes good old lloyd to humbly put you in your place by teaching you one simple fact. a fact, I might add, of which you are ashamed at yourself for not previously already knowing.

[@jimsy5530]

@robert mcghie Double barrel shotguns came about in the 1860's or so, whereas this term dates from British India in the 1770's as a verb, and as a noun for a good shot from the 1820's, predating the shotgun by a fair while, so whilst your story is rather fun, it's unlikely accurate, or at least were attributed far later than the initial adoption of the terms. As an aside, the genus Scolopax includes both Woodcock and Snipe, the old species name for the common Snipe is Scolopax gallinago (now been changed to Gallinago gallinago, lit. looking like a hen). The Woodcock's species name is Scolopax rusticola, So, if they'd used the older Latin names for the birds, the areas of British deployment in this video would both have been called Scolopax. The English name 'Snipe' itself comes from middle-English, which in turn came from the Norse name for the moor snipe, 'mýrisnípa'. While we're at it, Snipe Eels are named after the bird, because their jaws look similar to the beak of a Snipe. All useless information, but interesting in the correct context, I suppose.

[@Brusselpicker]

"The British soldier is a strange beast, when all hell breaks out, he calmly finishes his tea, lights a cigarette, grabs his rifle, smiles and turns to you and says "come on then you wanker, what are you waiting for, you want to live forever.""

[@Nosmo90]

"Last one to die's a big girl's blouse!" - Captain Ash

[@drinks1019]

Nosmo90 that’s a US marine quote there at the end. During the Battle of Belleau Wood during WW1 a USMC gunnery sergeant was leading a charge up a hill and his men were pinned down so he turned to his men and yelled “Come on you sons of bitches, you wanna live forever???”

[@alexanderruckheim3870]

@@drinks1019 which is a quote used more famously by Frederick the Great of Prussia.

[@markhorton3994]

@@drinks1019 Actually that is every non-com to ever see combat. It was possiblely recorded on parchment that a Roman centurian named Bigus Dikus said it.

[@drinks1019]

@@markhorton3994 Bigus Dickus???? * holds back laughter *

[@slateslavens]

50:50 "Destroyed it much more than was entirely necessary". OMFG, I laughed so hard!

[@Colonelingus]

"I can go further!" Me: *Looks at time remaining: 30 minutes* Yesss

[@scottr291]

Lol your pic got me thinking of gremblo for the first time in years

[@Tankliker]

@@scottr291 I thought about erdogan XD

[@bernardoheusi6146]

Summing up this video: "THE 6 POUNDER WAS A BLOODY GOOD GUN DAMMIT!"

[@frontier164]

better than a PANTHER!!

[@GuitarsRockForever]

It was specifically designed for anti-armor, so it was pretty good.

[@alecblunden8615]

To the point where the US, which lives by the creed "Not invented here", adopted it and used it to the end of the war, despite development of better guns like the 17 pounder.

[@kokofan50]

Alec Blunden, the US has a particular set of needs for equipment: be able to work in every climate on Earth, be fairly easy to support, and be better than the enemy’s equipment.

[@vaclav_fejt]

Other than not mentioning the fact that the 6pounder was rubbish at greater ranges, Lindybeige is right. The 6pounder was great. At close range.

[@KanuckStreams]

Enemy strategy here seemed "they'll run out of shells before we run out of tanks, surely!"

[@simonspacek3670]

What a Russian style of attack. Sure, it worked at Stalingrad, but I still do not think that this is the most brilliant military idea in history.

[@kristofevarsson6903]

​@@simonspacek3670 It worked at Stalingrad because they had 9 million people, including civilians, to chuck into the woodchipper. What a senseless carnage. And a horrible tactic. I'm not bashing _you_ or anything, don't take it that way, I'm just amazed and disgusted how people can think Operation Meat Shield is profitable in any way.

[@simonspacek3670]

@@kristofevarsson6903 That is why I called it "not the most brilliant idea in military history." But Stalingrad was not the only place where they used that, very famous battle of the Dukla pass was more or less the same. People even say that Russians were giving equipment in special order there, one soldier got rifle, the next one got 5 rounds for it. And still they managed to win, because they had more soldiers then enemy has bullets.

[@NickRatnieks]

Victor Gregg's autobiography "Rifleman" includes his experiences during Snipe- he is the last survivor of the engagement. He later joined the Parachute Regiment and was captured at Arnhem and he was also in Dresden when it was bombed. A new edition was released for his 100th birthday and it is a remarkable life story culminating in his activities when the Iron Curtain fell.

[@FromaTwistedMind]

I heard an interview on BBC Radio 4 when his book was released, l had gone shopping but spent an hour in the carpark listening to his exploits, what a Legend & absolutely lucky fella to survive what he did. He certainly went through a lot that was horrific. I loved the fact that he was a decent working class bloke with a strong sense of right & wrong.

[@seancoxe3577]

Only Lindybeige could get me to sit still for an hour and listen to the recounting of a single action on a single day in a vast theater of operations. Great story, well-told, sir.

[@justrobin8155]

Great Courses Plus has a pretty great deal going on here. Anyone who would listen to nearly a full hour of a slightly unkempt and very enthusiastic British man talking about anti tank guns is almost certainly their target demographic.

[@nedisahonkey]

Unkempt? Fuck you, Lloyd is the perfect man and you're just jealous

[@dELTA13579111315]

@@nedisahonkey simp Just kidding lol

[@nedisahonkey]

I'm an unapologetic simp for Lloyd, full stop 😤

[@shurdi3]

@@nedisahonkey found the yank

[@skippysmom]

@@shurdi3 🤢

[@ianhenderson3078]

First time orcs and elves were used to explain WWII combat.

[@_DarkEmperor]

It is like reading Daily Gondor.

[@officermeowmeowfuzzyface4408]

except guess who the elves are lol bad santa or not

[@apalsnerg]

My friend's old history teacher always uses different scenes of LotR when talking about WWI and WWII. It seems to work quite well!

[@finnmcool2]

Of course they made tea! I mean, sure, they were under fire in the desert so you can't expect many creature comforts but there is no need to be completely barbaric.

[@douglasherron7534]

The British Army exists on tea and if the boys couldn't get a brew how could you possibly ask them to fight properly? (Please see "Asterix in Britain" for further explanation of this phenomenon...)

[@SuperMYSHKIN]

@@douglasherron7534 Asterix in Britain is a valuable historical resource regarding Anglo French relations. A great book.

[@douglasherron7534]

@@SuperMYSHKIN Certainly is. It should be 'required reading'for British and French politicians...!

[@knightowl3577]

My Uncle Alf was the driver of one of those carriers!

[@rooseveltbrentwood9654]

sounds like a far better man than Lilly Allen’s brother Alfie.

[@bryanbufton4358]

My uncle George was a brengunner that sat in them

[@Android_ELITE]

That whole "wet" bit is something I (as an american) had never heard. Much appreciated.

[@GoblinKnightLeo]

I've heard "wet blanket" used in that context here in the States.

[@siem3113]

I knew of the term but was nice to see the origin

[@nastrael]

@@GoblinKnightLeo Yep. Don't be a wet blanket. Alternatively stick in the mud.

[@dankmemes2354]

W E T

[@artificialavocado9652]

I too am American and Lindybeige might be the most British person to ever exist. (Insert British stereotype here)

[@terra2805]

I can't believe as a big history fan that it's taken me until now to discover this channel! I've been seriously binging on videos for the last 24 hours and this is now THE best history channel I've ever come across. Lindy is just brilliant at recounting these stories and even his multiple digressions keep me riveted. So much variety in terms of subject too. I've just come from watching "The white headhunter" to some of these WW2 videos. I absolutely LOVE it. 👌👍

[@tommink8379]

I didn't realize until now that snipe were real. Here in the US, a snipe hunt is proverbial for being given an impossible task because snipe don't exist. I'd always assumed the etymology of sniper was related to the ability to achieve an impossible shot

[@homelessEh]

waiting till 30 meters was how you "MADE" hard cover in a hard cover less landscape.

[@thevengefulpenguin]

I now feel obliged to buy a Universal Carrier, paint it black, fit a taxi light and get my Hackney Carriage license and call my self “The Battle Taxi”

[@thevengefulpenguin]

Charles Yuditsky Naturally, especially when British officers get free rides for not ducking

[@eazy8579]

Please do! I will fly to London from the Detroit just to take such a taxi

[@norwegianwiking]

And they are old enough they'll be road tax and congestion charge exempt.

[@kayb9979]

Driving a Universal Carrier is a real bastard. I admit that I am wet and a weed (Nigel Molesworth quote ) but my stronger companions had trouble with them too.

[@robinbennett5994]

Unfortunately the name has been taken by a Taxi company in the town of Battle (near Hastings, Sussex). I can only hope that he's a fan! www.sussexonthenet.co.uk/Battle/Taxi%20Firms.php

[@joe59788]

Snipe hunting in the US is taking a buddy into the woods telling him to stand around making a dumb noise for awhile to catch something that doesn't exist in that area. You leave him out there for a bit as a joke.

[@callofthewillman4469]

In Alaska we actually hunt snipe to eat, sone calm it woodcock

[@bennichols561]

Funny how language does that. It is a bird for me and something snipers do, shoot from a concealed position.

[@tet876]

leave it to the british to brew tea on a fire of blood, sweat and gasoline

[@thomasraahauge5231]

Whilst being blown to smithereens by a grueling barrage and endless machine gun fire: - It's ten to five, Sir! - Oh my, so it is. Carry on! - Yes Sir! Make no mistake: teatime is teatime 🧐

[@glynluff2595]

The fire was called a Tommy Cooker eventually applied to the Sherman tank.

[@DarthHippygaming]

The 6pdr interjection makes me sad I only have one like to give.

[@shanebisme]

I would like to point out that all British anti-tank guns were exceptionally good for the period they were first put in use. 2 pounder, 6 pounder, 17 pounder, each was amongst the very best for their role in the period they were introduced.

[@anthonyhayes1267]

Also the French may have had troublesome tanks, but their 25mm and 47mm AT guns were pretty solid

[@davidcoleman757]

Rorke's Drift with armor. Possibly my favourite action of WWII, brought to life with customary flair and digression. Thank you.

[@polotecnic7816]

over the last few weeks I've been watching "the world at war" lock down,lots of time. you have added so much detail to one small part of the war, in a mad English way. Thank you.

[@thebakerofbananabread3237]

I like this sponsor of yours Lindy, the 6 lb anti-tank gun, it has a lot of vintage style

[@run_it_straight829]

When an hour of listening to someone seems like ten minutes.

[@dELTA13579111315]

I was very shocked when I checked where I was in the video thinking I was only about 15-20 minutes in, and found that I was 45 minutes in lol

[@acarrot9868]

"The Italians had 1 gear going forward and 5 going back" Nah that's the French, the Italians had the flags of 60 different nations so they could switch sides whenever they wanted

[@GoSlash27]

I heard that was actually the Poles, not the French. The French were the ones with the flash cards that said "I surrender" in 70 different languages. Now... I've *heard* the French hate that joke, but I suspect they just hate Americans because we were the first ones to show their grandmothers what it's like to sleep with a winner who doesn't call her 'fraulein'. :D

[@lultopkek]

@Gian Grimaldi we are not going to see this happen very soon also. Don't worry & stay safe my friend.

[@mariosebastiani3214]

@no suky for u Start learning on some history books. You know, those made of paper? You'll discover how wrong you are.

[@jockking-turner5595]

My uncle Lewis, 6th Field Regiment, was there when the six miles of Montgomery's guns turned night into day at the battlefield of El Alamein. As a child growing up uncle Lewis would speak of places far away with names like Benghazi, Mingar Qaim, Ruweisat Ridge, and Mersa Matruh. Uncle Lewis was in on all the big battles in the desert war. Lewis a soldier whose war record documents are still sealed. Hopefully one day Lewis war will be told. R.I.P. LEWIS.

[@shorttimer874]

I was in the US Boy Scouts in the 1960s, and the new members of the troop had to go on a snipe hunt on their first outing. I didn't fall for that one though, due to at a much younger age my older sisters sent me outside to find the Waldorf for the salad. Several times.

[@jerribee1]

Sisters can be so cruel.

[@danielwyvern5]

Helped build a barn in my youth. Never did find that lumber stretcher.

[@fishofgold6553]

@@danielwyvern5 Ok Lancel Lannister, would you understand a breastplate stretcher reference if I made it? "GO FIND THE BREASTPLATE STRETCHER!!!" -Robert Baratheon

[@nigeh5326]

Lol love the sisters comment

[@craigmcdaniel5733]

My aunt ran the radiology department at a hospital. Initiation there involved sending new orderlies to the supply department to fetch some red and green Fallopian tubes.

[@northtexan95]

"Everyone one a coconut" is one of the most British phrase of all time.

[@Electracion]

The question is, was it being carried by an African swallow or a European swallow.

[@australianword3812]

@@Electracion oop.... I don't know that! *AAAAAAAHHHHHH*

[@HarryBalzak]

@Dokz Doesn't sound British to me either. Perhaps we are missing something.

[@WJack97224]

@North Texan95, I never heard that expression. Care to explain?

[@Tonys-Adventure]

It refers to the coconut stall at the fairground. You throw balls at coconuts some distance away and depending how many you knock over you win a prize.

[@johnwilson1094]

He has such a breathless, enthusiastic delivery. His presentations are great fun to listen to, if one can say that about a battle in which people are killed and wounded.

[@bookaufman9643]

A hat trick means the exact same thing in American / Canadian hockey. Three goals at which time anybody in the audience watching throws their hats onto the ice in salute to the man who scored the three goals.

[@johniksushibar165]

imagine if the troops had run out of tea....it really would have all been over

[@juststeve5542]

It'll be all over for whoever spilt the tea!

[@sirBrouwer]

It would have been what? Over.

[@youraverageteadrinker2744]

Well us brits do gain super powers from the stuff

[@johniksushibar165]

@Charles Yuditsky it,s allready in the army training manual, bottom of page 23 ;-)

[@sirBrouwer]

@Charles Yuditsky but then you need to be sure they actually have your tea. Otherwise they will turn to you.

[@Dragonman-dp2ft]

Took a shot every time he went on a tangent....I need an ambulance lol.

[@QlueDuPlessis]

Why would you do that? Nikolas is the master of tangents!

[@lindybeige]

Oh no! Please never do that! I should post warning.

[@HebaruSan]

That's the Lindybeige guarantee!

[@dropdead234]

You need a liver transplant.

[@tiberiusbrain]

It is a one hour video, man... Didnt you remember that tangent full of tangent because he saw gladiator helmets online he wanted to talk about.....

[@shithappens6887]

When you first said snipe I thought it was a misdirection. The American tradition of snipe hunting is usually meant to be a prank. You take someone at night to "hunt snipes". From here it varies person to person, but the one I knew, you would give someone a bag and a sturdy stick, and lead them out into the middle of the woods, "split up" and then just leave, and so they'd be out alone in the woods looking for snipes (unsuccessfully of course) while they went "snipe snipe snipe!" In a high pitched voice because "that's their mating call" while everyone else laughs it up back home or at the campsite. I didn't even know it was a real bird until recently, and you don't hunt them with a bag and a stick of course lmao.

[@hummel6364]

35:28 "Italian tanks had one gear going forwards and five going back." You guys make the exact same joke we make about french tanks, that's interesting.

[@frankanderson5012]

Hummel To be fair, if you take 1940, the French had some notable successes with their tanks. It’s just that they, like the British, were let down by their use and tactics.

[@jamieanaya6483]

@@frankanderson5012 to be fair the British were only really let down by their cocky worthless general "Monty" that guy was such an utter disgrace. For one no real general or leader goes off an puts men at risk like he did with market garden man f that guy he was a little cocky prick with such arrogance that in a line up he was off two feet his reply was to move his company and formation two feet to his position that little flair of arrogance paints the prick in perfect light and as for his disastrous plan of utter failure, notice he does it when we had at that point made up the largest number of allied forces so the way I see it that pos put many American GIs at risk and death and the biggest insult the cunt (that's right I said it) still felt he should been supreme commander ike by contrast was not so reckless or willing to put us or British soldiers at risk and was pressured to OK the operations market garden and to point out ike was a real leader and a great and underrated president. Monty was an asshole

[@jamieanaya6483]

Churchill gets a pass with me he was a badass smoke drank and was a sneaky fucker in the best way and our ally on top of that his speeches were passionate and genuine he would smoke and drink and just go on tangents like Hitler but better and with class plus his famous qoutes to a Nobel "I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly." Bulldog indeed

[@yereverluvinuncleber]

@@jamieanaya6483 That is the standard American viewpoint, Don't just reel it off, find your own opinion, one that isn't biased. You'll find the truth is quite different from standard stories you are taught.

[@jamieanaya6483]

@@yereverluvinuncleber first off pal part of what I said was a joke and that's clear or does your country. Not understand humor now I love the irony of you putting me in a group of the american stereotype let me break it down as to why your reply is hilarious and bias masking itself in morality but really its cowardice and pathetic attempt to scold my so called ignorance and your bias and child like attempt at asserting you're superior in intelligence. For one you don't know me or my opinions 2 would you be a real intellectual you would not come with a cute little statement hoping to cause me to be taken back by such god like intelligence so spare me instead you would have engaged and made it open to discussion of ideas without ego and need to belittle me my nationality and make bold claims to think you know what any general consensus that we may share pal because if you knew anything about america or its people you'd know some key points one what we are taught? You're cute our educational system is a joke no one teaches you shit and history is sadly a subject most do not care about so there is no ideology or bias when you're not even participating second I'm a minority in this country that puts me in a lower economic group where my kin are to busy trying to survive and make an honest living than unfortunately have time or drive knowledge that isn't a short term gain in money. But really I love history and study it for fun. In a broad subjects further making your ignorance amusing you basically just got on here KZbin where its def not a place where people have truly engaging discussions on subjects and wanted to assert you have a bigger peepee than I telling me what I said that wasn't a truth that you agree when it wasn't a truth of mine at all you just assumed and wasn't ann invitation to you and your answer to me which is nothing more than you wanting to say you're smart and I'm dumb and I should become better educsted. You called me out in the lamest way and you're the bias ignorant one who came at me with grounds of intelligence and used my nation in inadequate education as you portrayed it was a weak cheapshot and weak like you clearly are so maybe you should be the one to educate yourself and learn humility ey asshole? So don't tell me what I know believe or what I should do I don't go to your job smack the spatula out of your hand . glad we had this talk

[@chrisosh9574]

If you read the Rommel Papers, Rommel's diaries published after the war by his son Manfred. Rommel had a great deal of admiration for the Italian troops that came under his command. But not much for their senior officers and the Italian Generals who were mostly old school Italian nobility and who had little regard in any way for their men.

[@garethbaus5471]

That is interesting, didn't know Rommel had anything published.

[@chrisosh9574]

@@garethbaus5471 I was lucky enough to pick up a first edition at a flea market but copies are available on Amazon en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rommel_Papers www.amazon.com/Rommel-Papers-B-H-Liddell-Hart/dp/0306801574

[@banmadabon]

Again with the tired commonplace of Italians always surrendering...Italy won 7 out of 9 wars from its unification to 1945. So what? The fact that surrendered in the last and the biggest maybe can explain the survival of this rather inaccurate and offensive commonplace but a bit of accuracy in a history oriented channel is expected and respect to a people with a history like Italy is DUE.

[@farmerboy916]

@Colin Cleveland If I had to write one, it'd be that the generals didn't know enough/ weren't worth enough to trade. Maybe something like they could have the garlic for free, but the generals were only worth an onion each.

[@davidhimmelsbach557]

@Chris... That's NUTS, post-war revisionist drivel. Rommel held Italians in complete disdain. He wouldn't even slot them near his boys. He earned his P de Merit by capturing an entire Italian company in WWI. Hitler chose him for North Africa -- and the Italian theater -- PRECISELY because he knew of such sentiments. BTW, the French, Germans, Americans and British ALSO held the Italians in low regard. With rare exception, the Italians sent to Libya were from SOUTHERN Italy. Most could not read nor write. Their army boots were the first shoes they'd ever worn! That's why O'Connor found a sea of empty boots at the Libyan-Egyptian border during the rout. In the film "Patton" the title character tells the world's press that the Italians didn't know what a latrine was until: "I showed them." This was TRUE. The Germans, French, British and Americans were offended by Italian troops crapping all over the place. No latrines for them! The French hazed the Italians so badly that Bradley had to kick them out, to deploy American guards for said PoWs. No-one wanted to pull that duty, BTW. As for the Italian generals -- they hated their troops. The generals came from northern Italy, a totally different culture. They didn't even regard Sicily as being part of Italy. But then, Venice still hates Florence -- and vice versa.

[@british-sama7007]

"Oh bugger the tank is on fire"- a military Irish cowboy 2019

[@Gorbyrev]

Mind your head!

[@eze417]

Heh heh, I remember watching that one.

[@Lo-tf6qt]

"That vehicle offends me, remove it!"

[@british-sama7007]

@All my subscribers are in gulag yes

[@DavidSmith-ss1cg]

Ya think that Lloyd knows the Cheiftan?

[@59Gray]

An Excellent vivid description...Lindy is a gifted historian who places you in to the action whilst managing to keep the momentum of passion and detail, superb!

[@jasondifelice1559]

I especially like the "Monty Python" vibe coming from this guy.

[@goodpeoplefound7940]

I once heard something slam into my front door and I thought someone threw a rock, but instead I found a snipe had knocked itself unconscious. Pretty bird! a bit dumb, but pretty.

[@anthonyhayes1267]

Was it okay afterwards?

[@thomasraahauge5231]

Your door got sniped 🤣 I'll show myself out . . .

[@whelk]

Factoid: the 6 pdr was also produced in the US as the 57mm M1. Used for about 20 years after the war. Fine gun.

[@monteengel461]

whelk My Dad was in the 629th Tank Destroyer Battalion (self propelled), he did not think much of the 57mm anti-tank guns.

[@taggartlawfirm]

It’s a shame there wasn’t an HE rd (until way late) and that the 57mm wouldn’t fit in the Stuart turret

[@taggartlawfirm]

Every Boy Scout earns rifle and shotgun merit badge.

[@robertharris6092]

Wouldnt a 57mm be woefully underpowered by post war standards?

[@judahboyd2107]

@@robertharris6092 If a 37mm can kill a king tiger (allegedly), then I'm sure a 57mm would be just fine for a light tank.

[@danieferreira9094]

I could listen to this man for hours! I burnt my food because I forgot to stir! You make history live again! I salute you!

[@MnktoDave]

My uncle David served in a U.S. tank recovery battalion in north Africa, against Rommel. His job was retrieving blown up and/or disabled tanks and he never talked about it much, but he survived the war, and just turned 104 years old a couple weeks ago.

[@AI-cp1jg]

Perhaps the uncle has seen remains of soldiers during those recoveries. Those who have seen the horrors of war do not like to talk about them. The ones who like to talk about how he was brave during the war tend to be liars.

[@reigninoel]

Going off on a proper tangent and/or ramble is like an art all unto itself. Stay beige, dude.

[@popitrekker1543]

Before Lindybeige was sponsored by the great course plus: didn't care for or know about the scholars cradle After: finds myself silently critiquing my friends scholars cradle whenever they're telling me something

[@victoresan]

Your friend: "So me and Mary were standing there waiting to be called up and I..." You, internally: Terrible display

[@DONALDSON51]

The talk of officers not ducking reminds me of Rigsby in 'Rising Damp' talking about his officer in the dessert. Everyone was diving for cover but not the captain. He just leant back on his stick and said 'where do you think that one's coming from sergeant ?' . 'What happened to him?'. 'He got blown up by a shell'

[@miinyoo]

I think this is one of my favorites in the Lindy history series. A flipping good gun indeed, in the right hands at the right time.

[@quietone610]

"Death or Glory" Last time I heard about those, I was reading up on Warhammer.

[@MrsBishopsDoggyDeliNottingham]

Ore listening to The Clash. ;-)

[@douglasstrother6584]

"Snipe Hunt" is also American Slang for a fake, pointless or useless task.

[@yetanother9127]

Yeah, the Boy Scouts' snipe hunts are rarely the literal kind, and the term extends beyond the Boy Scouts as well. Nowadays, being sent on a snipe hunt _is_ a rite of passage in a sense, but it's less a character-building exercise and more a case of your colleagues having a laugh at your expense. Often the thing you're being sent to retrieve or inspect does not actually exist: a radiator hose for a '71 Volkswagen Beetle (which has no radiator), a water shot (submariner lingo for test-firing a torpedo tube without a torpedo in it), a box of grid squares (which are a feature of maps and not something you can really have a box of), the infamous breastplate stretcher from Game of Thrones, and so on.

[@johns7734]

@@yetanother9127 - I think that the Boy Scout version of the snipe hunt involves taking one of the Tenderfoots out into the woods and convincing them to wait in one location with a net while the others fan out to flush the snipes towards them. In actuality, the others just go back to camp and see how long before the poor Tenderfoot comes crawling back.

[@vsevolod1698]

www.dailymotion.com/video/x71a9zg

[@Oberon4278]

@@yetanother9127 My favorites are a left-handed monkey wrench, and prop wash. Prop wash is the air that's blown backwards by an aircraft's propeller, but it's common for new guys to be sent to supply for a bucket of prop wash. Another variant is the "exhaust sample," which must be taken with a large trash bag while standing behind a jet engine. You hold it open and catch a sample of the exhaust, which is then "sent to a laboratory for analysis." The fact that aircraft engine oil is occasionally sampled and sent to a lab for analysis (they tell you when to change the oil, it's not set) lends credence to this particular task.

[@cinnamanstera6388]

@@yetanother9127 Knew a mechanic who always sent the poor new guy from the parts store on a chase for a "double reverse chrome muffler bearing." The suppliers were in on it and it would go on for a while.

[@Huntress_Hannah]

Can you imagine being in the middle of the desert and you just hear someone yell “sink that destroyer!” Lmao

[@josephking6515]

The 6pdr that took out that first Tiger 1, had hit it on its side. The report that I read said that the crew had _stalked_ the Tiger to get into an advantageous position before firing. Interesting story @Lindybeige. I hadn't read or heard about that action previously so *Thank You* !

[@PPC4]

That was an hour Long?? Felt more like 15 minutes. So enthusiastic and enthralling. Well Done!

[@tSp289]

Felt more like half an hour to me but that's because I had it on 2x speed.

[@Jonesuk]

Italian soldier given a gun: Thanks, i hate it.

[@loserface3962]

the reason why italians didnt have good guns was it would reduce their ability to surrender.

[@t5ruxlee210]

Monty's "ace in the hole" was having just been proclaimed by Churchill as the best new thing since sliced bread (actually made his bones during the debacle by others in France), he was essentially fireproof for months to come. So he was in position to go when he determined he was ready, not when Churchill insisted, and thus waited until he was massively superior.

[@hobmoor2042]

I understand that Montgomery had served in WWI and seen the horrors of that war. So, he was not going to risk his troops until he was more or less sure he could quickly overwhelm the enemy in front of him. He didn't want to fight a war of attrition.

[@psilvakimo]

Monty's real ace in the hole was American lead-lease of which the British got nearly 60% of. Half of Monty's tanks were American, as well as nearly all of his transportation equipment. That is the only reason the eighth army was so well equipped. In other words, Monty's victory at El Alamein was bought and paid for by the US.

[@johnpeate4544]

@@psilvakimo Those fit for action at the start of Alamein totaled 1,029: 252 Shermans, 170 Grants, 249 Crusaders, 119 Stuarts and 194 Valentines. El Alamein was primarily fought by infantry with heavy artillery support in the way of 900 British25pdrs.DAF ground attack and bombers also flew many sorties against axis positions. Allied armour barely played a part because it was stuck in the minefields the Germans called “the Devil’s Garden”, until the final stages of the battle when the outcome seas decided. The Churchill’s were also introduced, performing well. They saw action in the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. This detachment, called "Kingforce", supported the attack of 7th Motor Brigade first with three tanks at Kidney Ridge (where one was hit "repeatedly" by anti-tank gun fire (including "friendly fire" from a British gun) and another took "a lot of punishment"), then the remaining five at Tell-el-Aqqaqir.The Churchills were fired on many times by Italian and German anti-tank guns, but only one was knocked out and partially caught on fire. One tank was said to have been hit up to 80 times. The final Crusader had improved armour and a 6-pdr gun. 6pdr armed Crusader tanks sliced through the Germans and Italians in the DesertA big problem was the US derived Liberty engine, which Nuffield eventually ironed out the problems. Its speed a was a great problem for the Germans. They had nothing that fast. Further, the Sherman’s were found to be shaky at first and consume huge amounts of petrol. _”At the same time it is only right to remember that much of Eighth Army had had little experience of warfare of any sort.The original 51st Division had been forced to surrender at St Valery during the Battle of France-to Rommel, as had not been forgotten-and its present successor had seen no action. Alam Halfa had been 44th Division’s first battle and its experiences then and thereafter had not been happy ones: 69th Brigade had not seen combat since it had been reformed in mid-September; 9th and 24th Armoured Brigades were totally inexperienced new arrivals; and 8th Armoured Brigade had been in action as a formation only in its unsatisfactory clash with von Vaerst during Alam Halfa._ _In addition, the new equipment reaching Eighth Army greatly increased the problems of inexperience-8th, 9th and 24th Armoured Brigades for instance all received their new Shermans too late to _*_gain any real practice with them before the battle began._*_ They also found that there was _*_a dearth of spare parts and many important items of equipment, such as compasses, were missing altogether._*_ The Shermans later gained a deserved reputation for reliability but in those early days when neither their crews nor the maintenance units were used to them, it is hardly surprising that, in the tactful words of Lucas Phillips, ‘several of them _*_were found to be mechanically shaky’._* _....As a crowning misfortune, the Shermans _*_revealed another defect_*_ which had been concealed by _*_the static nature of the fighting_*_ at Alamein: in these difficult conditions _*_they consumed what the Official History calls ‘fantastic quantities of fuel’._* _.....Currie’s brigade had been built up to 121 tanks of which seventy-two were Shermans or Grants and the rest Crusaders, but by this stage of the battle _*_a number of the Shermans in both 9th Armoured Brigade and 1st Armoured Division were very much ‘mechanically shaky’.”_* - Eighth Army's Greatest Victories: Alam Halfa to Tunis 1942-1943 by Adrian Turner In any case US commanders had Shermans and often failed miserably. Why? Further, where were the American tanks at Alam Halfa, Monty’s first great victory over Romnel? (Monty beat Rommel five times in N.Africa and then his armies a further two times after Rommel left) The British influenced the design of the Sherman. Though reluctant to adopt British weapons into their arsenal, the American designers were prepared to accept proven British ideas. British ideas, as embodied in a tank designed by the Canadian General Staff, also influenced the development of the American Sherman tank. British teams were in the United States in 1940 providing input on the designs of the Stuart, Grant, and Sherman tanks. A British brigadier named Geiger had a memorable meeting with the ranking general in the United States Army, George C. Marshall, to make sure his recommendations on internal layouts were incorporated. The US were eager to supply about 250 unproven Sherman tanks out of about 1,500 in total. The US were desperate to get the tank blooded in battle, so the British could do that for them. This was a great benefit to the Americans. The outdated Sherman on introduction was generally no better than British tanks, but more reliable being new. In fact it was worse than many especially the well armoured 6-pdr Churchill. The Sherman’s first showing was at El Alemein, as unproven it was pitted against lesser Italian units. The Sherman tank supplied was complex, as they never had a proper tank engine it had five Cadillac engines arranged in a circle, supposedly synched up - note: US forces never used this complex excuse for a tank engine - the Sherman was built from as many existing commercial vehicle parts as possible. The British worked with the makers to improve the complex engine and tank generally - the E8, the ultimate Sherman was derived from suggestions by the British. US industry could slam out tanks quickly on car type production lines. But WW2 changed so quickly, they made lots of tanks that were outdated on introduction into the field. The rigidmass production lines, fine for making civil products, or simple Jeeps, were not adaptable so much as the British lines were. Hence the US spent a lot of time & resources, adapting ready made tanks for field requirements - as many as actually made them on the lines. This puts the mas production myth into a more clearer perspective. The Sherman was an average infantry support tank, being outdated on introduction at the end of 1942. There were many variants of the tank, with the ultimate, the E8 (used in the film Fury), introduced just after WW2. The E8 made it rub shoulders with the best of the British at the time, the Comet, and the German Panther to a degree. Still inferior but trying. But at the war’s end the Centurion was way ahead of any tank, putting the likes of any Sherman model into antiquity. The difference from the first used by the British in North Africa to the E8 was vast to the point they were different tanks. They should have had differnt names. It was eventually reliable. The idea was to use as many parts from the commercial vehicle assembly lines to quicken its introduction, make it cheap and use proven reliable parts. They never had a dedicated, light & powerful, tank engine, which was a great disadvantage at first. Neither did the British until they introduced the RR Meteor in the Cromwell. The engine of the first batch, used by the British, was a clunky, complicated, arrangement of five Cadillac car engines in a circle. US forces never used this engine. There was so many of them made the US was throwing them at the British. The British used its chassis to make specialist tanks. The gun was small in the late war unable to match most German tanks. So the British adapted the chassis to install the Tiger busting 17-pounder gun, calling it the Firefly. So, take your “the yanks won Alamein for Monty” crap and shove it.

[@johnpeate4544]

@@psilvakimo Bought and paid for by the Americans? Tacit repayment of lend-lease was made by the transfer of technology. The Tizard Mission: _The objective of the mission was to cooperate in science and technology with the U.S., which was neutral and, in many quarters, unwilling to become involved in the war.The information provided by the British delegation was subject to carefully vetted security procedures, and contained some of the greatest scientific advances made during the war. The shared technology included radar(in particular the greatly improved cavity magnetron which the American historian James Phinney Baxter III later _*_called "the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores"),_*_ the design for the proximity VT fuse, details of Frank Whittle's jet engine and the Frisch-Peierls memorandum describing the feasibility of an atomic bomb. Though these may be considered the most significant, many other items were also transported, including designs for rockets, superchargers, gyroscopic gunsights, submarine detection devices, self-sealing fuel tanks and plastic explosives.”_

[@johnpeate4544]

Even Dorman-Smith’s (who was there before Monty) appreciation of July 27th read _’None of the formations in Eighth Army is now sufficiently well trained for offensive operations. The Army badly needs either a reinforcement of well-trained formations or a quiet period in which to train.’_ Eighth Army had to get through *half a million mines* and needed training. Monty wanted to wait until the full moon, and the end of September would have been too early. The next series of full moons was towards the end of October. Monty also wanted to build up for the break out and pursuit. The distances involved were vast. Monty understood the point of an attack isn't just to break through, you need to break through and then break out and leave your enemy stunned and have enough momentum to carry you through to your next objective. Monty had no time for WW1 like limited breakthroughs that would run out of steam after a few miles and let the Germans form new defensive lines. *Monty never outran his supply lines.* He would plan a complete breakthrough that wasn’t going to stop. _As in the campaign from Alamein to Tripoli, Monty’s intention was to resist opportunism and to defeat the enemy by retaining the initiative- building up his forces, and then ‘driving’ so hard that he could maintain sufficient momentum to reach his considered objective in one operation. Tripoli had fallen in this way._ _.....Monty was in his element. It was a repetition of Alam Halfa- and just as he had then astonished his staff by planning the offensive battle of Alamein while Eighth Army prepared itself for a defensive battle at Alam Halfa, so now he gave Simpson details of his forthcoming offensive at Mareth....._ _..The secret, as he had learned in the aftermath of Alamein and demonstrated in the battle for Tripoli, was not simply to follow up the enemy, but to prepare men, material and supplies so that, having once broken though the crust of opposition, Eight Army had sufficient momentum to smash its way through to its further objectives. In a letter of 2 January 1943 Monty had explained his tactical strategy to the CIGS, Sir Alan Brooke:_ _’My present situation is that the further I get from Benghazi, the more difficult my administration becomes. I have now got to the point where I cannot let the enemy go on drawing me forward slowly. My solution is to stand where I am, to spend up to 14th Janin building resources of petrol, supplies, ammunition, etc. and then to smash my way through to TRIPOLI in one big bound.’_ _This tactical strategy, so mocked later by romantic historians enamored of the pragmatic cut-and-thrust type of military manoeuvre, was Monty’s greatest contribution to the war in North Africa. The Allies under Eisenhower had attempted to exploit the success and surprise of their ‘Torch’ landing by piecemeal advance into Tunisia. Within a month of Anderson was confessing to Eisenhower he had reached a ‘point of “diminishing power” being at the end of a long and tortuous line of supply._ _..Lt-Commander Butcher, naval aide to the Allied C-in-C, noted in his diary he kept for Eisenhower. Overnight it looked to Ike like we would stalemated _*_and would have to begin the slow process of methodically building up, just as Generals Alexander and Montgomery did at El Alamein._* -Monty, Master of the Battlefield 1942-1944. Nigel Hamilton

[@toothlesssal5598]

Lindy talking about the 6 pdr. gun is like The Chieftain talking about the M4 Sherman

[@NotTheRealFishman4]

I swear i learn more stuff from lindybeige than i ever did in history lessons...

[@yvindblff5628]

That's because Lindy is great at introducing context, and at making that context interesting.

[@dusk6159]

You never bothered to study and be interested at least a bit in historical topics then.

[@Zathaghil]

Remember that he's at LEAST as likely to be wrong on lots of "facts" as History teachers in schools. He picks facts he agrees with and discards facts he doesn't. He's VERY much a British Nationalist, when it comes to WW2. A Britaboo, if you wish.

[@VainerCactus0]

Total War, Europa Universalis, Sabaton and Lindybeige has taught me all the history I need to know.

[@penhullwolf5070]

@@Zathaghil Lloyd is very well researched on the topics he covers and isn't restricted to the woeful UK History curriculum. He teaches pride in being British through good storytelling. Much better than the current curriculum which tells kids to be ashamed of their country. I plan to use Lloyd's videos as a teaching tool to home school my daughter.

[@artificialavocado9652]

Not to nitpick but Lloyd fails to mention the significant role fire arrows played in the 2nd Battle of El Alamein.

[@gazzaboo8461]

Indeed, the French also underestimated the fine British archers! Oops, wrong battle 😉

[@whtbobwntsbobget]

Yes and the third eagles on top of tanks. Exactly.

[@thomasraahauge5231]

*BACK SCABBARD* !!!!

[@sagasfromthesea4676]

I MEAN THEY'RE JUST SO COOL, LIKE LASERS!

[@PBRStreetGang68]

Amazing, really enjoyed listening to that. They should make a movie of this battle.

[@robertcarbno3914]

You give out an incredible amount of information in your broadcast extremely impressive and enjoyable.

[@greenatom]

The experience of a "snipe hunt" as an American kid: You were taken out in the dark with an empty pillow case, and left alone. You were told to hold the pillow case open, low to the ground, and yell "Snipe! Snipe!" This was supposed to lure the snipe into the sack.What exactly a snipe was, was left to the imagination. I imagined it as being a long weaselly creature. Your friends, who supposedly had left you alone, were a short distance away, watching, repressing laughter and waiting to see how long you would yell "snipe!" in the dark before giving up.

[@1Klooch]

Monty Python meets The History Guy.

[@paulhardbottle9982]

great retelling of the action, love your enthusiasm Lindybeige. give me a grin from ear to ear.

[@lultopkek]

Thank you so much for contributing your storytelling skills to the world.

[@skele3310]

it does seem significant that three battles, all at the second half of 1942, spelled the end for axis forces, in three different theaters, those being el alamein, midway, and stalingrad.

[@garethbaus5471]

If the axis had waited to bring the US into the mix until after the allied forces were more or less defeated it might have been somewhat different, even other military blunders being made.

[@Nightdare]

@@garethbaus5471 Germany wasn't winning before the US came into the fray They had victories, yes, but not ones that spelled a victorious overall outcome, the 2nd Battle of El Alamein was the end of the western desert campaign which was a clear victory for the British forces and even without operation torch, would in the long run have driven the Axis out of North Africa Especially since the Soviets were building up steam by this point

[@ingurlund9657]

@@garethbaus5471 They lost the battle of Moscow about the time America entered the war so they were not going to beat the Soviets. They lost Stalingrad and were therefore going to lose the war anyway even before American supplies to Russia became a torrent in 43 and 44. So America's involvement speeded up Germany's defeat, probably by at least a year, but they would still have lost to the Soviets anyway.

[@stevep5408]

Midway happened 6 months after pearl harbor which meant Japan had lost the war, it was just a matter of grinding them out of their island fortresses!

[@Kude1707]

Hitler lost the war in 1941 the moment he attacked Russia. The biggest issue to the German forces was Hitler was an inexperienced commander and refused to listen to his advisors. It has been documented he was hesitant and indecisive, meaning by the time he gave an order it was too late, there was no hope of Germany actually winning this war. Hitler was hell bent on getting Britain to surrender I think he took it personally when Churchill refused his alliance offer. The thought process behind the attack on Russia was if he won than Britain would surrender. TLDR: Germany was never winning due to inexperienced leadership.

[@dagobertkrikelin1587]

English not being my first language I appreciate your explanations of British idioms. :)

[@somersethuscarl2938]

There are an awful lot of them.......Sorry

[@davethompson3326]

@@somersethuscarl2938 (Transl - Not sorry :o) )

[@somersethuscarl2938]

@@davethompson3326 like I said there are an awful lot of them lamo

[@davethompson3326]

@@somersethuscarl2938 Living near York, I am broadly aware of that, I was making a humorous comment, bless your little heart

[@kerriwilson7732]

North American English speakers appreciate explanations as well.

[@bobfair2663]

They REALLY should make this into a movie!

[@PoetofHateSpeech]

Nope it wouldn't happen because white people would be the heros...unless they do the usual Hollywood thing and make all the British troops black

[@samditto]

@@PoetofHateSpeech cringe

[@PoetofHateSpeech]

@@samditto Hmm is that your cope fot the truth?

[@samditto]

@@PoetofHateSpeech seeing a pepe in the wild is like seeing a rat. Seeing a pepe in the wild trying to be taken seriously is like seeing a horrible comedian on the street asking for change. Clean yourself up and think about what you wanna be when you grow up kiddo.

[@PoetofHateSpeech]

@@samditto hahahahahahaha still coping I see. That's the whole point, pepe meme is a stupid old meme. But please continue to cope mate, it's funny 🤣

[@mattkaustickomments]

Haha, Lindy, the Boy Scouts on a ‘Snipe Hunt’ is an old practical joke - just a trick you play on the new guy. You set the kid under a tree at sunset, give him a bag, have him call out ‘Snipe....snipe!’ and tell him to throw the bag over the snipe when the bird walks up. You tell him everyone else will be flushing out the snipe toward him, but really everybody just sneaks back to camp. The idea is to see how long the lone kid will stay out there til he realizes he’s been had and makes it back to camp.

[@Getpojke]

Excellent presentation Sir! Like spending an evening with a favourite uncle as he regales one with tales of his time in the services. Stories of derring-do, camaraderie and a good brew under withering fire of the enemy. My late maternal grandfather was involved in the 2nd Battle of El Alamein, though he rarely talked of it, only really opening up about it towards the end of his life once I was a little older. So lovely to hear a slightly more upbeat version of it as many of the history books I used to furnish myself of the details he left out were slightly underwhelming of the bravery and gumption shown by the British in their planing and actions of the time. Always a pleasure to listen to you animatedly talk on a subject so obviously close to your heart. So I poured myself a small libation and settled down to an hour of a rather grown up, Boy's Own version of "Jackanory" with yourself as the host. Here's hoping that you continue your excellent output in 2020 and beyond.

[@whynotanyting]

I always love how often he goes on a tangent. Little tid-bits of random knowledge. Feels like a real conversation even though it's more of a monologue.

[@pascaldongen2981]

I go on and off checking ya content and it's always a pleasure to see your enthusiasm and thorough explanations.

[@virtualcolditz]

What a brilliant video, excellently descriptive and told with passion. It was almost like being there. The only thing I've seen outside Lloyd's channel here describing a battle with such passion was Clarkson's commentary on the St. Nazaire raid - and that's a real compliment :) Lloyd, have you ever thought of doing a piece on St. Nazaire? You'd be brilliant at it...

[@Svenswedenboy]

Something tells me that the 21 AT guns are British, and that they did win. Let's find out!

[@JohnsonTheSecond]

And that it was in fact only... three!

[@shanek6582]

Sven Olsson ikr, remember according to lindy German mg42 we’re so inaccurate they couldn’t hit a thing.

[@JohnsonTheSecond]

@@shanek6582 I think he said that they were mostly used for suppression, which makes sense. Of course, look at the D-Day landings, but they were very effective at suppressing people, a little more than being used as sharpshooter rifles.

[@rrobb9853]

@@shanek6582 As inaccurate as your grammar...

[@dermotrooney9584]

Well spotted. To paraphrase Churchill, Snipe wasn't the end, nor was it the beginning of the end, it wasn't even the end of the beginning. But it was the bit near the end of the end of the beginning. Probably. Sorry...

[@Ciderwinder]

Hurrah for more Warbeige episodes!

[@brancaleone8895]

specially in deserts that means extra beige

[@knightshousegames]

That snipe story just reminds me of that part in Up where the old man sends the kid on a snipe hunt

[@garethbaus5471]

I don't know about where you are from, but I know in the US most people have been sent on a sniper hunt at least once as a kid.

[@markstott6689]

The funnniest Snipe Hunt on a tv show is on Cheers where Sam and the guys send Frasier on one.

[@howardevans7384]

I love the fact that he has a copy of Judge Dredds shield with his name on it on the wall over his right shoulder .

[@Ambross_Fyshing]

Funny thing about the whole snipe hunting thing, when I was in the boyscouts the scout leaders took us on a few snipe hunts when I was really young and they described a snipe as kind of a brow haired mammal about the size of a skunk that lived high up in trees. I always thought that they had just made the whole thing up and that a snipe was just some fictional animal that had been made up for this kind of thing. so its pretty funny to learn that a snipe is actually a thing and you know ... a bird.

[@anthonyhayes1267]

I recall the same "snipe hunt" from my time in scouting.

[@anthonyhayes1267]

I recall the same "snipe hunt" from my time in scouting.

[@stephenbrown321]

Never heard of this action before. Thank you for bringing it to me!

[@chemusvandergeek1209]

I'd _heard_ of El Alamein, but never knew anything about it.

[@stevemcnair-wilson6106]

Excellent account. Very entertaining whilst informative. Its a shame history is not generally taught like this.

[@bpccmath251calculusiihitch4]

Lloyd, I hate to break it to you, but, here in the US, snipe hunting is a practical joke pulled on newer/younger male members of a family, club, or other close-knit group. The idea is to talk up how much fun it is, how many snipes the older members have taken, gradually turning to remarks such as, "Hey, we haven't gone on a snipe hunt in awhile. We need to go sometime soon"; thus, giving the unsuspecting new members the impression that a snipe hunt is a lot of fun. Then, the older members casually invite the newbies to go on the next hunt. Critically, a snipe hunt always occurs at night, and under the most dismal of conditions (rain, cold, mosquitos, etc.) You'll soon understand why. On the night of the hunt, everyone meets at a designated rally point (restaurant, pub, etc.) Then, the new member(s) are walked/driven to a position in a forest or a VERY large field where they are given their hunting firearms (or just b-b guns, depending on the ages of the hunters). They are told to make various noises (such as calling "snipe" or other nonsense sounds) that supposedly mimic the call of the snipe so as to attract the birds to the new members' location. They also are told that everyone else will go out into the bushes to flush the snipes toward the new members so they can kill the birds easily. After that, the new members are left at their stationary position, calling to attract the snipes, while everyone else high-tails it back to the comfort of a rally point to make sport of the poor souls left out in the bush "hunting" snipes. Eventually, the newbies catch on that they've been had, and head back also; if not, some soft-hearted soul eventually goes back out to bring back the butts of the monumental joke...for more laughter to their faces.

[@eruantien9932]

Interestingly enough, the 75 mm gun used on the Sherman, Churchill and Cromwell actually did better in high explosive tests (looking at radius and number of pieces of "lethal or disabling" shrapnel) than the 90 mm gun that was put on later US tanks. The 75 was a jolly good gun when it came down to all round performance. And another advantage the 6 pdr had over the anti tank guns that are around that 3 inch mark; it was smaller, and therefore easier to hide. Very important for an anti-tank gun.

[@GoblinKnightLeo]

And once they got HVAP the armor-piercing issue went away altogether.

[@sean640307]

The 75mm gun that was used in the Cromwell was actually the breech mechanism of the 6pdr, as that was the gun the tank was designed to fit. It was modified and rebarreled to fire the standard issue 75mm HE rounds. As a result if its heritage, it actually also has slightly better AP performance than the regular 75mm used in M4s & Churchills

[@2adamast]

"was smaller" the PAK 40 (75mm) was even 5 cm smaller, but ok

[@JessWLStuart]

The equivalent of "Wet" in US English is "Wet Blanket", i.e. the thing that puts the fire out (using "fire" to represent the thing people what to do). In my experience, a "Snipe Hunt" is an innocuous hunt that newly initiated people aren't aware doesn't exist. Snipe Hunts in the USA normally happen on camping trips.

[@hobmoor2042]

Wet (person) and wet blanket are different expressions in English. Someone who is wet is someone who does not have a strong character, or is not willing to do something that you think they should do because they are timid; a "wet blanket" is a person who spoils other people's fun by failing to join in or disapproves their having fun.

[@SaoPauloOrBust]

Nine shots, nine kills. An immaculate inning.

[@Hugh-Glass]

Great story of duty and an exceptional narration. I hope more like this exist, I'm subscribing. Thanks for the efforts.