38TH & 7TH ARMD DIV, MELUN - BURNING TANKS; TRUCE MEETING NEAR BREST - LMWWIIHD231

[@jackwood8307]

Awesome movies! Thanks so much for posting them!

[@retiredguyadventures6211]

Interesting video. My dad was with the 903rd Ordnance Battalion Heavy Automotive Maintenance (HAMS) during WW2 in Europe. Told me a lot of stories.

[@MrMenefrego1]

Any you wish to share?

[@sageemma]

Note at 3:40 the burning and knocked out tanks are French S-2 SOMUA's. The Germans thought enough of these French tanks to use them in second line units. By 1944, however, their 47mm main armament and armor was inadequate against Shermans.

[@airfixguy2]

Thanks for posting. Interesting to see an M31 in action. Most of the footsoldiers are 30th division. This footage was actually taken more south from Melun, close to Montargis. Unfortunately due to what is generally known as progress, this crossroad is complete gone due to the newer D2060 motorway, and that part of the old N451 ( now D961) becoming a dead end road.

[@ta192utube]

That M-31 has it's turret 37mm and sponson 75mm aboard. I thought those were removed for a proper M-31 conversion. Could this be some kind of field mod of an M-3?

[@grobsop6688]

@@ta192utube it def is a field mod. The us tank divisons had m3 lee tanks as battle tanks. Must have converted one

[@grobsop6688]

@Terry Justice ummm

[@grobsop6688]

But we are discussing the converted M3 Lee. I know the obsolete french tanks were used by the germans.

[@Juubelimies]

I'd say that most of the infantry seems to be from 35th Infantry Division. The insignia matches.

[@tanakadingdong9170]

4:20 Tank shot from the back, the two german Renault tanks tried to escape while shooting backwards? Or armor piercing shell went trough both sides. They have a 37mm gun it won't hurt a sherman. Great footage because you see all the US equipment at once: tanks, command car, half-tracks, Piper plane, mortar team, machine gun team, radioman, riflemen, engineer officers walking around. The german with the white car came to surrender.

[@h.budoneill8282]

This was my dad’s unit and he was with it until Overloon, NL when he was wounded.

[@kennethcurtis1856]

Dad was with a heavy mortar unit with the 48th AIB.

[@hmm3597]

My uncle was in this unit, but sadly never made it home.

[@majorkursk780]

It was interesting seeing a modified U.S M3 Lee recovery version in action

[@kaa13]

August 22 th 1944, that was a tuesday ...the day my father has been WIA on the other side of France...Marseilles.

[@stevanb4481]

Unusual reel, showing an old Grant/Lee tank working in the ETO battlegrounds as a tank recovery wrecker.

[@dunemetal67]

At 4:00 that's a French Somua S35 tank(s)

[@budmeister]

No wonder why it looked familiar to me.

[@maddog502]

Beutepanzer Panzerkampfwagen 35-S 739(f)

[@fitt4393]

Amazing footage

[@dave.of.the.forrest]

a couple guys were wearing 35th Inf. Div. patch.

[@JohnMcMahon.]

@3:43 thats one strong soldier. 😉

[@df289]

The "Tommy cooker" as the Germans referred to the Shermans at 1.23 has a hedgerow cutter welded to it on the front , done in a hurry in Normandy. The tanks could not get through the hedgerows around Normandy and the roads were too dangerous. So they came up with these cutters for the tanks, which worked.

[@jeanskypert]

From 10:00 : German surrender in a Rosengart Supertraction 1939 Cabriolet

[@rosewhite---]

1:20 shows interesting variation on the bocage buster welded to front of tank?

[@SunnyIlha]

Very interesting. Looks like a giant two-pronged shovel.

[@davidmicheletti6292]

That burning tank appears to maybe be an prewar French tank?? I know the Germans took over captured French equipment , could this be one of them?

[@scruggs6633]

Yup, used extensively in the early days of the war in Russia and in the garrison units in the west

[@molotovb]

Ayup, the Germans reused absolutely anything that they captured.

[@76Schoeneberg30]

Yeah, looks like a french Somua S35

[@johnlawson2984]

At approximately 1:00 is that GI carrying a captured sword?

[@over2166]

5:32 what plane is that? Looks almost like a Fieseler Storch to me?

[@billdavis9623]

Couldnt be a bird dog, they didn’ fly ‘til ‘49 Its a piper cub

[@AngeLChrisT13]

Bonjour à tous, nous devons sincèrement reconnaître nos péchés et accepter le Seigneur Jésus-Christ dans nos vies. L’enlèvement de l’église est sur le point de se produire, laissant place à la colère de Dieu. Quiconque rejette Dieu le Fils Jésus-Christ n’a pas non plus Dieu le Père et connaîtra l’enfer éternel. Celui qui croira que Jésus-Christ ressuscité est le Fils de Dieu mort sur la croix pour nous sauver de nos péchés, aura la vie éternelle avec Dieu au paradis. «Est-ce que ta bouche affirme devant tous que Jésus est le Seigneur ? Est-ce que tu crois dans ton cœur que Dieu l’a réveillé de la mort ? Dans ce cas, tu seras sauvé.» ‭‭Lettre aux Romains‬ ‭10:9‬ ‭ Au Nom Puissant de Jésus-Christ Soyez Bénis ! 😊

[@grobsop6688]

Does anybody know what happened regarding the two destroyed somua tanks. Would be awesome to read some eyewitness accounts from that specific combat. Should be during operation Cobra I think.

[@jinmo2821]

The tank being towed is a French SOMUA tank.

[@kennethcurtis1856]

Dad was with the 48th AIB 7th AD.

[@haydenhancock4739]

This footage is of the 35th Infantry Division, not the 38th.

[@rickrowell8465]

Also the 6th Armored Division served with the 35th Infantry all through Europe, (not the 7th Armored Division.) It wasn't uncommon for the Signal Corp troops to get the names and numbers of the unit incorrect.

[@opoxious1592]

Even at this short trip with the Germans, they managed to indoctrinate the American driver with Nazi ideology. The U.S soldier give's a short Hitler salut at 11:20 😂

[@davidmiller4441]

idiot, that is called a wave of greeting to another u.s. soldier, dumb ass

[@rickrowell8465]

The lieutenant driving the car was only acknowledging the order to drive on from a superior officer.

[@df289]

Americans don,t get Irony.

[@Eire_Aontaithe]

@@davidmiller4441 You are the only idiot here.

[@Juubelimies]

35th Infantry Division insignia is shown on the sleeves of many G.I.s on the video

[@Juubelimies]

38th didn't even serve in Normandy.

[@ИгорьКрылов-э3ж]

Это не война, это топтание на месте! Теперь понятно , что Германия могла подчинить весь мир если бы не могучий СССР!

[@RCRWJR]

transladed: It's not a war, it's a trampling place! Now it is clear that Germany could subjugate the whole world if not for the mighty USSR!

[@kill.all.liberals6865]

just a russian troll, nothing to see here.

[@kill.all.liberals6865]

I know Russian, this low-life says that the Americans were "milling around" instead of fighting, as evidenced by this footage.

[@Derek0846]

Русские и нацисты были союзниками (пакт Риббонтропа Моллотова). Поэтому, пожалуйста, не говорите нам, насколько хорошими и храбрыми были русские. Вы думали, что получите половину Польши. Семена, которые посеял Сталин, Россия пожала (Смерть миллионов)

[@ИгорьКрылов-э3ж]

@@Derek0846 бурю , вызвали Мюнхенские договорённости Чемберлена , и «Странная « Война на Западе в 1939 … умиротворение Гитлера ни к чему хорошему не привело…

[@toddmcmullin5755]

French Tanks, must have been used by the Germans.

[@digibotdotcom]

At 6:12:12, time traveler with sunglasses.

[@omen828]

Germans should have given up when the beachhead was secure. They couldn't win and could have saved a lot of lives and ruination. Continuing the war was a crime.

[@charlesayache6801]

They were a huge crowd of fanatics strangers to any kind of logic and of compassion.

[@CharlesvanDijk-ir6bl]

Why do you think they tried to kill Hitler soon after D-Day?

[@johnjackson1106]

Love to hear what was said when the Germans surrendered?

[@keithjones3152]

ve vant to go America ,,, not the Russian front,, danker or something like that

[@bhcgirl7096]

Diebe und Mörder und feige dazu!!!

[@grobsop6688]

Almost feel sorry for the germans taking up the fight in outdated french tin cans

[@opoxious1592]

Grobsop i would rather think that the French resistance used these tanks, and were knocked out by the Germans.

[@grobsop6688]

@@opoxious1592 Umm no.. The germans used the surplus french tanks after the battle of France as training vehicles and light support for the garrisoned infantry divisions stationed in France. It was only until around the liberation of Paris the free french army used the outdated vehicles. The french army under allied command used american tanks. Look up 2nd french armored divison.

[@mawel1955]

Looking at this video, showing young American soldiers, I'm reminded of how shocked the Germans were when they interviewed American prisoners about why they were at war with Germany and whether they were familiar with the dynamics of European politics and history. First of all, few, if any, even knew where Germany was and where, for example, was Munich, the Ruhr or Berlin. As to the reason why they were fighting the Germans, most simply answered vaguely that Germany 'wanted to conquer the world' and that they had to be stopped. When asked about the Treaty of Versailles and Germany's treatment by the Allies after the First World War, none of them had any idea. When asked about Bolshevism, again, American POW's showed a shocking ignorance. When asked about the numerous crimes committed by the Bolsheviks, by Stalin, none of them would believe it. Stalin was their friend and ally, they told their captors, who was helping them 'protect the world from Germany'.

[@Chiller01]

How about when those Germans asked the Americans about how the Nazis were systematically killing Jews and other undesirables by the millions? Did they ask the young GIs about the murder of Allied POW’s at Malmedy or La Paradis or Abbaye d’ Ardenne & Chateau d’ Audrieau or the Poles at Zakroczym? Did those Germans ask the young Americans about the countless Nazi reprisal murders of French, Italian, Polish, Greek, Czech, and yes Soviet civilians including women and children?

[@mawel1955]

@@Chiller01 Your reply is rather garbled. Why would the Germans ask American troops about their (fictitious) slaughter of Jews in (fictitious) gas chambers? And you speak of the murder of POW's. What about the fact that American soldiers were routinely murdering or mistreating any SS men they took prisoner? Ever thought that was why they returned the favor at Malmedy? Regarding La Paradis, what about the fact that the British were using hollow point bullets, illegal under the Geneva Convention? And the fact that the British even had the nerve to raise a flag of truce then gun down the SS Men coming to get them? And regarding the other massacres, what are you crying about? What about the massacre of camp personnel by American troops at Dachau? What about the deliberate massacre of German civilians by terror bombing? What about the slaughter at Dresden? At Bremen? What about the mass rape and massacre of German women and civilians all through eastern Germany by Soviet animals? Drop your pious attitude. It's sickening.

[@Alfsp1]

Ok why would you by in bear feet casually walking around during a war ?

[@mrdiplomat9018]

Where’s the bear⁉️ I don’t see him 🤡🙄

[@theallseeingmaster]

Nice to see a 'tank retriever' in action; the German Army had nothing like it.

[@motorrebell]

The Germans had similar tanks for mechanical matenance- towing - repair service purposes ,check out the "Bergetiger" and "Bergepanther"

[@theallseeingmaster]

Those machines were the exception, not the rule; a stopgap measure. The machines were not mass produced, were they? The German Army had to send out technicians, onto a cooled battlefield, to recover their tanks (or killed, maimed or captured); the Americans just picked them off the ground and drove them to a centralized tank repair facility a few miles behind the action. The German Army had nothing like a tank retriever in their inventory and 'in their inventory' is the key phrase; these machines were part and parcel of an armored unit in the American Army; they were everywhere the American Army went.

[@lambhdeargh]

The Bergepanther was developed as an armoured recovery vehicle, it wasn't a stopgap measure but a dedicated recovery vehicle. They were issued to each tank unit, each unit receiving around two to four vehicles, so by that standard it was in their inventory.

[@williamlovelady7217]

theallseeingmaster , probably because the German tanks hardly ever got hit.

[@grobsop6688]

Its a modified M3 Lee, and the german army had many like it