Development of the Panzer Arm to 1939

Synchronising in with the World War Two channel as they go over the German invasion of Poland, a discussion of how the Germans went from "Bad Germans, no tanks!" to "What hit us?" in the period between 1918 and 1939.
The written article on Panzerjager referenced: worldoftanks.com/en/news/hist...
To be clear, Wargaming/WoT is not involved in this video, I just mention them for background.
Selected sources:
The Challenge of Change: Winton & Mets (Chapter by Corum)
Storm of Steel: Habeck
Frieser: The Blitzkrieg Legend
Panzer Tracts: Jentz & Doyle
Interview with Panzermuseum Director Raths. (Upcoming video)

[@DasPanzermuseum]

A video that pushes Beck, Seeckt and especially Lutz in the spotlight and trims Guderian down to proper size? We're positively delighted!

[@KenshiroPlayDotA]

Mein Gott, DasPanzermuseum is here ! BTW, do you have this uparmored cooking utensil used to grind or crush food, aka the Panzermörser ? :D Like say the M113 Panzermörser 120mm ?

[@princeofcupspoc9073]

Well you know, Gudarian actually LED his corp and army with the armored invasion of Poland, France (through the Ardenne!), and Barbarossa. Not just theory.

[@bbcmotd]

Can't wait to visit your museum, all the way from Russia. Hope you've got stuff in English

[@ShouldHaventJoined]

@@princeofcupspoc9073 which such actions dosen't mean he has earned the title of *"Father of the Blitzkrieg"*. He merely applied what others did in theory and lead the application of it in practice.

[@nerome619]

Sadly what we are going to get is contrarian posts from fake accounts that have suspiciously high number of subscribers e.g. princeof and alex here.

[@danschneider9921]

Back when I started interviewing WW2 veterans on all sides in the 90s, I had a WW2 Panzer officer who fought with the 38t in France, Yugoslavia and early in Russia tell me "For what we paid for them- they were acceptable until you took fire"

[@petrhouzar9551]

They actually didn't pay for them :).

[@morriganmhor5078]

Germans didn´t pay for 38t. It was the equipment of conquered Czechoslovakia.

[@marcusborderlands6177]

@@morriganmhor5078 that's the joke

[@anon-iraq2655]

@@morriganmhor5078 thats the joke, if u get something for free its acceptable no maltter how bad

[@michaelmiller7928]

I would attend every lecture the Chieftain held at a school if I could.

[@bohba13]

Same

[@billy4072]

lol! get over it.

[@CAP198462]

The Army national guard recruiter would just love to make that happen, honest. 🤞😆

[@dropdead234]

@@CAP198462 Can always use more Angry Nasty Girls.

[@variouscheeses]

Ah, I love it when a collaboration comes together.

[@jacobeberhardt1649]

Chieftain and Indy sitting in a tree. T. A. N. K. ING.

[@_Matsimus_]

Cheiftan! Would you like to do a podcast with me sometime??? :-)

[@d.austinvaughan773]

Surprised this hasn’t gained more attention. Two tankers from the British isles with extensive tank knowledge. Would be cool to see the modern knowledge of Matsimus and the ww2 knowledge of the chieftain.

[@aspiranttobeapatrioticcana6748]

L1A1/C1 Review when Mat?

[@ihatecabbage7270]

Hey, it's good army veterans with tank enthusiast shares their knowledge on this.

[@HandleMyBallsYouTube]

DO IT

[@TheChieftainsHatch]

Don’t see why I wouldn’t. Where in Canada are you? I’m in Toronto in a few weeks.

[@jarink1]

I would really like it if you kept the photos/illustrations on screen a little bit longer. This is especially true when talking about things like how the turret design of the Grosstraktors influenced the Pz II/III/IV turrets.

[@jarmitage2]

Pause video

[@coaxill4059]

It's a balance, you definitely want to have them on screen long enough to at least get a good glimpse. However, this whole video takes a lecture format. As a result, it seems it's made with the pause function in mind. The information is too dense and rapid to really get it all in one contiguous sitting.

[@jackryan2112]

Seconded: At 20:24 the Neubaufahrzeug is shown for 2-3 Seconds, at 20:38 followed by "Look at the shape of the turret". Why not let the picture there for that duration? Afraid people would look at the picture and not listen? It's not a classroom and neither a corpo meeting.

[@Tuck-Shop]

Yay a Chieftain video. The only guy to make a watch paint dry video and make it awesome XD

[@Sammakko7]

Alex Wade EKS DEEEE

[@DominusRexDK]

yeah that was actually a quite interesting video. oddly enough.

[@TheChieftainsHatch]

There is a sequel in the works, but I have absolutely no idea how to make it work, as it were. It does involve a German vehicle, however,

[@Tuck-Shop]

I am looking forward to watching it. 😁 No doubt it will be interesting and informative with that subtle humour you have mastered 😁😁

[@patrickcronin6829]

Thanks, Chieftain! I look forward to watching each type of video you make, but more so the historical ones. I appreciate that you fill in the gaps of what I already know and dispel the myths and misunderstandings that have sprung up over the years. What you do is important. Keep up the good work. 🎺

[@ajshell2]

Thank you for making this. Also, thank you for not adding any music to the background.

[@XShifty0311X]

Ah yes, a mention of the Magic Flak Bus.

[@SC0RCH3er]

If you want Lt vz. 35 and Lt vz. 38 inside hatch, those are usually (next to each other and yes, both in working order) in Lešany museum during a tank day (last saturday in august or first in september) and there are fine gentlemen in CS tank uniforms from that era who roleplay and talk about the machine / answer questions; pretty sure they would let you film whatever you need if you got in touch with the museum.

[@ravenouself4181]

Ah, Lt vz. 35 and Lt vz. 38 in their natural habitat.

[@kistler1994]

Looking forward to the episode about Czech tanks

[@RaduB.]

Me too!

[@falloutghoul1]

The Panzer 38t would be quite an interesting looking into versatility.

[@falloutghoul1]

Tell that to the Germans, who took thousands of them.

[@spankthatdonkey]

Interesting, but Len Deighton’s book Blitzkreig states the Czech tanks were far more widely used in the invasion of France? Did I read that wrong?

[@sako5751]

Great, the first cooperation video!

[@KICKASSoBASSIST]

Oh sweet glad your collaborating with world war two channel

[@1337flite]

Thanks Chieftan. Love your work out.

[@Bochi42]

One of your best. Looking forward to more like this.

[@randyburks3004]

I love that you have the Maus in the background.

[@user6008]

Wow, much information and very informative. So watching twice is recommended. Thanks Chief!

[@hun6444]

Thanks Chieftain, some good insights as always.

[@GrandMasterAbe]

Yes! Thank you, Chief!

[@AkosJaccik]

_No 38(t) Inside the Hatch-rewiev in the pipe_ - and so, eternal sadness creeps onto this joy-forsaken land of emptiness. :(

[@andrewp8284]

*Hello darkness my old friend*

[@BELCAN57]

Love the 38t in early war gaming.

[@HoH]

Found your channel via WW2, very interesting content!

[@richardwhiterose5655]

Love this format of videos

[@mcfontaine]

Brilliantly researched, thank you.

[@pcharliep61]

I enjoyed this video and am looking forward to the next.

[@jameshenderson4876]

Excellent as always. Very interesting. Thank you.

[@alanwoods2010]

I've read a lot about the development of the German armored forces and yet I still learned much from this video. Thanks for a well-done and informative presentation.

[@juanfervalencia]

thank you! I'm already expecting the next one, saludos from Colombia

[@Kohler794]

OMG!! OMG!! I'm gitty right now that you're working with Indy and the gang to make videos in collaboration with their WW2 channel! I can't wait for all of the videos that will come out!!! :D Thanks so much Nick!!

[@luciusvorenus9445]

Awesome! I was hoping to see The Chieftain working with The WW2 channel! Best of both worlds!

[@PMGF]

Faaaaantastic! Brilliantly insightful! Cant wait for more!

[@Johndavis-hi4qy]

What a wonderfully informative video! Thank you.

[@varovaro1967]

This is really interesting! Thank you.

[@TheFrankie380]

That will be an interesting series of videos! Great idea!

[@davidlyon1899]

thanx mr cheiftain for clearing up a few misconceptions i had about the mitteltractors.very interesting.

[@Durabeanz]

Very informative video! I look forward to more!

[@jumo004]

Well done Sir! Very informative.

[@ChopperMeir]

As usual a fantastic and well developed video. If only learning had been this interesting when I was younger

[@PNurmi]

Even though my military background is as a radioactive snipe, I still enjoy your videos like this one on the history of armored warefare.

[@ryancook6452]

Donald Palmrose radioactive snipe?

[@PNurmi]

@@ryancook6452 I was an US Navy officer serving as one of the Engineers on nuclear powered surface ships, trained under Adm Rickover's naval nuclear propulsion program. Snipe is a term for those who operate the enginerooms on ships (maybe only in the US Navy). I think the radioactive part is now obvious.

[@ryancook6452]

Ah, I'm not familiar with naval slang.

[@shimarinlogistics6616]

Pointing out a mistake you made: German Navy during WWI wasn’t called “Kriegsmarine”, but “Kaiserliche Marine”. (Timestamp: 1:48)

[@TheChieftainsHatch]

Fair Point.

[@PhilippReuters]

To be completely fair: it was called "Kriegsmarine" very often to better distinguish the fighting branch from civilian branches.

[@shimarinlogistics6616]

Or "Imperial German Navy', if you find German hard to pronounce (no offense).

[@shimarinlogistics6616]

Philipp Kriegsmarine was only formally established in 1935.

[@PhilippReuters]

I'm not saying that the Kriegsmarine formally existed, just saying that it was not uncommon to simply call the "Kaiserliche Marine" just "Kriegsmarine" way before that.

[@GIGroundNPound]

Great Vid Chief!

[@pandabuttonftw745]

Chieftain videos are always too short. You could make a 24 hour one and at the end I'd say "over already?". I really enjoy listening to you, thanks for your work over the years bringing these videos to the tank enthusiast community.

[@deadendfriends1975]

This just adds such value to these discussions

[@nexus8917]

I really enjoyed your nuanced critique of the Sherman Tank and would love if you wrote a book on it.

[@Electronick7714]

I would buy that in a heartbeat

[@billy4072]

"nuanced critique.".....oh yeh?? LOL ! you need a job mate.

[@Electronick7714]

@@billy4072 and maybe you should stick to yours since you seem to have so much time to nitpick people's vocabulary.

[@A.J.K87]

If you want to read a really good book on the Sherman tank now, I can highly recommend ''Armored Thunderbolt'' by Steven Zaloga. It details the M4's development and operational history during world war 2 and it also addresses a lot of the misconceptions about the Sherman. I think the book and the chieftain's lectures really complement each other.

[@captiannemo1587]

Armored Thunderbolt misses a lot of stuff as well. An 'book' on the M4 would more likely be an 2-4 volume 400-500 page per book set.

[@WilcovdSteen]

This is a really great talk! It really connected a lot of the dots regarding German tank development for me. I would just like to ask to leave the images up just a bit longer when possible. I love the backdrop but having more time to look at the tanks would have my preference. Looking forward to the next one.

[@alexfish3120]

Nice job! I actually learned quite a lot from it. My favorite part was when you talked about the German doctrine.

[@VonRammsteyn]

Excelent! I allways enjoy this historicals reviews expressed in that friendly way that only the chieftain have.

[@HillbillyHades]

Fantastic video! :D

[@degrelleholt6314]

Very nicely done. Thank you.

[@inisipisTV]

Yey! A WoT Chieftain's hatch of the Panzer I coming up, along with it's much missed Background Music, Whoopee.

[@danturner4709]

Another good one, thank you.

[@derekmcmanus1423]

Fascinating as always! 😀

[@vikingwarlord2453]

Great video mate

[@jaimejaime2930]

Very expansive and interesting good work sir.

[@KrautKranky]

Excellent lecture, thank you.

[@Hybris51129]

Great video and I like the idea of using that Shillelagh missile as a hat rack.

[@dancing_odie]

The panzer 38t is one of my favorite tanks. I would love to see an inside the hatch for it.

[@PotatoIsNotCute]

Love that Royal Tank Regiment patch(?). Hope you guys collaborate again as the war goes on!

[@WeirdSeagul]

i like the series idea. gonna enjoy watching

[@thecanadiankiwibirb4512]

Great video!

[@norbertblackrain2379]

Thank you for this great discussion of a very misunderstood issue .

[@A.J.K87]

I was wondering when the ww2 channel started how they were going to cover tanks. I was afraid that a lot of myths (the sherman comes to mind) would get repeated. But I can sleep easy now safe in the knowledge that the subject is in your capable hands :)

[@Verbindungs]

I am not going to say anything interesting but I let me say that I am impressed and admire your knowledge. It is both a pleasure and a challenge watching your videos. Good work.

[@andrewcoley6410]

Great stuff, thank you.

[@alanhays3033]

Excellent vid!

[@catfish552]

New half-hour Chieftain video: Yay! New half-hour Chieftain video that ties in with World War 2: YAY!!!

[@nickthenoodle9206]

Another great video.

[@76mmM4A1HVSS]

more pictures plz great work!

[@murderouskitten2577]

Have to say , Chieftain is exeptionaly good at telling story/facts in a manner is really interesting :)

[@chuckvan1568]

That's a nice collection of commander's coins in your background. Congrats.

[@robertascii5498]

Another excellent lesson, and once again...thanks!

[@wrongway1100]

"Internal debate was encouraged " Who would of thought that having a place of open discussion where people could freely express their ideas could lead to better tech.

[@wrongway1100]

The irony? They elected a leader who suppressed such things.

[@IloveBaguette]

Excited for the pz I video

[@norad_clips]

Oh! Fancy meeting you here!

[@Statusinator]

I've been looking forward to an Inside The Hatch on the Pz.I for a very long time. Hope you end up doing a II as well!

[@Boric78]

I learnt more than I was expecting here - especially about the early tank development. Good to see Guderain taken down a rung or two as well. That guy would have a serious PR consultant......

[@1protun1]

I would argue that LT vz.38 (Pz 38(t)) was never meant to be equal to PzIII so calling it a czech PzIII is a bit of a stretch. Maybe not called that in its early days, it was still a light tank hence its designation LT. As its competitor should be considered ST vz.39 (Praga V-8-H) which was medium tank with similar role on the battlefield as PzIII. But production of ST was cancelled after Munich agreement so it was not available. Germans tested the prototypes and came with conclusion that it had same armor protection as PzIII, but armor was riveted, it was a little bit less mobile and it had only less effective two-men turret. On the other hand ST vz.39 came with better firepower.

[@TheChieftainsHatch]

It may have been a stretch, but if Jentz/Doyle is to believed, that is how it was referred to at the time.

[@Dr_V]

I think they considered it equivalent to a Pz.III because it could fit the same role inside a German panzer division, even if it was slightly inferior in some aspects, not because the Czech actually designed it as such.

[@petrhouzar9551]

Also, PZIII is way bigger, that shows the difference: Length: 5.56 m vs 4.61 m. Width 2.90 m vs 2.14. Height 2.5 m vs 2,25 m of Panzer38t. Mass is around double (depends on version and armour). Engine is way more powerful for that mass in PzIII. 5 crew members in PzIII against 4 crews in Czech tank. This means the PzIII was actually a medium tank since the beginning (and the bigger tank means they could put a bigger gun inside - it ended with 75mm gun for infantry support and more armour).

[@beastboy0078]

Thank you chief

[@MrChiron12]

Amazing video

[@piggy201]

Hey, thanks for the videos you are creating. If you are interested in trying a Chieftan Hatch video with Czechoslovakian tanks, you can try Military History Institue in Prague's Military Technical Museum exposition in Lešany. It looks like they have a functional Lt. vz. 38, from the photos also, IS 2, ISU 152, SU 100, Leopard 1V... They are somehow partnered with WOT, so maybe that could help. But you probably are aware of that.

[@andrewevans2792]

good video love your content first time i've ever seen or heard a balanced history of the panzer arm other than guederian thought of it all praise guiderian thans for that i learned a lot from this video keep the videos coming

[@waltherr2331]

Our Lord & Savior, His Excellency, Tank Jesus* Speaks Again! *Military Vehicles & Weapons Jesus

[@boreasreal5911]

Still like Ship_Jesus and Fatso_Jesus aka aboosed_belgian more

[@JaneCobbsHat]

Hallelujah

[@eatthisvr6]

collab with gun jesus inbound

[@billy4072]

Rick, with the silent P

[@davekrab3428]

Ian can pass for JC, Chieftain's got more of janitorial vibe. IMHO

[@ryanwiseman9141]

30 minutes with The Chieftain; time well spent

[@yereverluvinuncleber]

A good one. My favourite period for tanks. The inter-war and early war years.

[@janjensen4453]

As usual an informative video from The Chieftain. But please let the accompagning photos stay on screen for just a bit longer. It makes things a bit easier if you don't have to pause the video everytime there's a picture

[@RaduB.]

Hello! Interesting and informative indeed! I especially appreciated the small myth busting stuff like the use of the 88s in AT role. Thank you.

[@cgaccount3669]

Thanks! Always interesting! Slight criticism of the video is the volume was pretty low... for my phone anyway. And the tank pics should have been full screen and visible a lot longer. ☺

[@Ruija27]

Great stuff

[@Ruija27]

What’s your problem

[@cammobus]

Great Video - Thanks

[@Wolf-tn7sz]

Whenever I hear Hans von Seeckt my mind immediately goes to the Sino-German Cooperation of the interwar years rather than his development of Blitzkrieg tactics

[@Paul-ie1xp]

I think you're starting to channel Lindybeige, and It's great stuff.

[@vigunfighter]

Nice challenge coin collection. Would make a cool subject for a video or series of videos, depending on how much of a story goes with each one. :)

[@stewartellinson8846]

An interesting and useful video which teases out a knotty and little known element of military history. It might be improved by using flow diagrams to remind us which of the various "light traktors" and "heavy traktors" etc became which PzKfpw vehicles. Also, you refer to a comparison between the turret of the PzKfpw III and IV and a predecessor's turret - might be worth showing that as a pair of compared photos. Anyway, good and informative stuff all in all and I look forward to the review of the PzKfpw I.

[@jessekandra1436]

Im excited to see where this series goes

[@bghyst]

Good video. You could slow the speed at which pictures are flashed on the screen. It’s nice to get more than a glance at them.

[@od1452]

Nice video. Thanks. I find it interesting that while some armies later were trying to protect their mounted infantry , the Soviets were also using Tank Descents.. infantry riding tanks..often as "points" of columns .. and on Breakthrough units with heavier tanks. These were more effective than I would have expected un-armored infantry to function.The infantry liked the tanks and the tankers liked the infantry.

[@porcelain_throne_godna3131]

I loved the information given on this video. Not only do I play WoT on the NA Server, but I play table-top miniatures with a focus on early-war (WW2). My intent is to play Polish and French battles on the table-top. Really enjoyed this video.

[@megamihestia4049]

Now that I *know* the Panzer IV and III episodes exist, I really want to see them. Dam you chief!

[@SilesianusMaximus]

Nice video. Quick note: It's Škoda, not Skoda. It's read like Shkoda (sh as in "ship"). Same goes for ČKD (ChKD, ch like in check).

[@fazole]

Which also means "pity" in Czech. To je Škoda.

[@SilesianusMaximus]

Actually the primarily meaning of "škoda" is "damage, loss, harm", from there "to je škoda" ("what a loss", "what a pity"), "škodit" ("to harm", "to be harmful") and "poškodit" ("to damage"). But in this case it is a surname of the founder of Škoda - Emil Škoda.

[@shawngilliland243]

@Silesianus: Thanks for sharing that linguistic knowledge of Czech with us!

[@Pfsif]

Nobody like a SmartyCzech.

[@bwcmakro]

heh, we have the word "škodit" (шкодить) in Russian as a colloquialism.