Nashorn vs Pershing, Germany 1945

Find out what happened when America's latest tank, the Pershing, went head-to-head with Germany's greatest tank killer, the Nashorn, during one of the last desperate battles in Germany in March 1945.
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Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Mark Felton Productions. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Mark Felton Productions does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.

[@captain0080]

I bet the driver's pants and underwear were also a total loss.

[@upyours83yearsago32]

The compartment must've smelled of stench.

[@SekTauBand]

washed out, and put back into service as well...

[@slick4401]

"It was a kind of tank sniper." Brilliant analogy.

[@bernardoheusi6146]

One dakka dakka but it was a LOUD dakka dakka

[@PvtRyan-ke4of]

First time I hear a foreigner pronounce Nashorn quite correct, my germans ears are pleased!

[@HaGirl10]

😊👍

[@volvo1354]

NasH-horn LoL

[@spacewurm]

I thought it pronounced Nash-WHORE.

[@oddballsok]

..and the subtitles make it "ASS-horn"...my day is complete..

[@thomaszhang3101]

Ja ja... extra beer ration for you.

[@yourtutor3329]

very professional program, my father was a STUG III driver, he felt very confident in his vehicle, he survived and im still here. Long live german engineering. pv ryan says a hes suprised a foreginer can pronounce things correcly, im finnish, my fathers fought the communists without knowing german, they called their vehicels "Sturmi" and they loved them. im greatful for the germans that they provided us finns with the machines so we could fight off the communists, long live freedom. Isänmaa tai kuolema

[@lifeafterourloss]

My god it hit right between the drivers legs, talk about lucky!

[@ASMR.GentleMan]

I think it was meant to mean "it passed right through His legs"...😬?

[@shartfuhrer4210]

A Fehr A documented case of the driver getting nutmegged

[@Maxcraft12]

Maybe the one occasion where getting tunneled is not so bad :D

[@jancz357]

his balls probably migrated iin his belly :D

[@reign_of_stuka8991]

well he's very lucky shrapnel didn't get him but ive not watched full video yet so dunno

[@_gungrave_6802]

not exactly showing confidence when American tankers name their tank fireball and it catches fire.

[@homemadethingies627]

American: *Sees Nashorn* American: "Tiger"

[@MorningGI0ry]

I say driver, what’s that shed doing hiding in that building and why is there a telephone pole sticking out of it?

[@fernandomarques5166]

Why did I read that in Squire's voice? Lol have a like.

[@chrisneedham5803]

"Telephone pole sticking out" do you say often or only after a drink?

[@farabee333]

Also a long pipe sticking out of that shed

[@PigletCNC]

@@farabee333 That's the telephone pole...

[@RustyPetterson]

Why is that shed so pleased to see us? lol

[@manilajohn0182]

I've studied military history for over half a century now, and I have to say that you never cease to amaze. Your videos are concise, to the point, and yet with abundant detail. You have my respect, sir.

[@winstonchurchill237]

Note to self: dont name your tank fireball otherwise it will go up like one.

[@feelsbadman4772]

I live 2 kilometers away from "Glesch" and it's pretty interesting to see some footage of my old landscape.

[@melle9155]

Excellent video again mark, love these WWII tank battle vids!

[@HaGirl10]

Me 2

[@carius007]

Me 2 as well

[@chrism2027]

I think as a German, the videos opened very well and I really like the Parsching tank as such.

[@rasdread0989]

The footage with the nashorn alongside some Marders are such a pleasing sight where'd you even get this? This is like rare gem

[@robbrady4649]

The tungsten carbide shell past between the legs of the Pershing driver ...and he got out alive? Lucky, lucky guy.

[@dougmartin8664]

Wow! The Nashorn was an awesome weapon. Used correctly, it was devastating.

[@shadowtrooper262]

But it can be HEable when it is flanked

[@moisesezequielgutierrez]

Classic Glass Cannon

[@Khabaal87]

4:23 I'm pretty sure the *12,8-cm-KwK 44 L/55* was even deadlier, the standard shell on average had about the same penetration as the *8,8-cm-KwK 43 L/71* but without tungsten(!) and much much higher explosive filling. That beast would have shredded the Pershing, leaving no survivors...

[@uselessgeneral1299]

Funny how the Fireball, which wasn't destroyed, resulted in 2 dead, but the latter M26, was completely destroyed, yet had none dead.

[@ghostmost2614]

Little Billy "Grandpa what's the scariest thing that happened to you in the war" Grandpa. "A German 88mm shell Grazed my sack" Little Billy "Are you s******g me?"

[@basderue512]

Do we know the fate of the Nashorn? Great video once again.

[@20mmGamer]

Yes, what happened to it?

[@blondknight99]

That Nashorn crew screwed up if they let a gaggle of enemy tanks get within 300 yards of them.

[@2157AF]

probably got shot up by a thunderbolt aircraft.

[@opairsoft8100]

blond knight that and then giving away there position by firing

[@leesaunders1930]

@@blondknight99 my thoughts exactly lol like the narrator says in the video it was a kind of "tank sniper". so yea firing until 300 yards range its rather confusing for a tank destroyer such as this.

[@cheesenoodles8316]

That was a great story on two rather rare tanks for WWII

[@CarLos-yi7ne]

There is a Nashorn being restored in the Netherlands. One of three still in existence today. Unfortunately they had in March a massive setback because of a fire which destroyed their workshop and heavily damaged the Nashorn, which was already in driving condition at that time. 😑

[@zavienyoung7117]

Thank you for such good videos, mark! So interesting.

[@shurikenstars]

Excellent video, the Nashorn.... what an under rated and little talked about AFV.

[@pingwenhung8327]

I don't see any record about the Dicker Max too xd

[@acuramattb4525]

What about the waffentrager? I had never heard of the thing before war thunder

[@KelvinDicksoncheckthisout]

Soo Warthunder Players on this Channel too?😃 Noice!

[@Galf506]

@@acuramattb4525 For good reason: it's a paper tank, never existed. There's many different "Waffentragers" out there, some (completely different from the one you're talking about) saw limited prototype action (like 1/3 built for combat trials.)

[@baizen1]

@@acuramattb4525 they were prototype weapons, never mass produced and deployed, unlike the Nashorn

[@JimFortune]

2:30 "Fireball" seems a bad choice of name for the thing you're going to be riding in. I thought the point was to change the other guy's tank into a fireball.

[@robertjohnson8938]

The Germans had some strong guns in their tanks

[@kevinanderson3849]

I'd never heard of this terrific German tank killer before...! Man, these Germans have no limits for surprising the world with the new war toys they were constantly coming up with...! The more I find about all those new and fantastic weapons they developed in '44/'45 (when they were supposed to be out of combat, with their factories demolished by air bombing ) the more I realize what a formidable job Albert Speer did with his Armament Ministry, increasing their war production to levels never reached before and developing new and amazing tanks, jet planes and cutting-edge submarines ... Most people don't quite realize how close we came to being defeated if the skies hadn't cleared over the Ardennes, thus allowing the Allied aviation to halt the German offensive on the Western front....

[@alorikkoln]

Sharpshooter Tank. That description really hits the nail on the head, haut den Nagel auf dem Kopf.

[@JuhaEerikki]

These Germany-America tank duels are so interesting stories. Even more so when rare beasts are involved. And congratulations for the 150K new subs in a matter of only few months Mark! :) Please keep the great historical WW2 videos coming! :)

[@hughbo52]

It seemed to always be difficult to get the facts about the role of the Pershing in WWII. Thanks for setting the record straight Mark.

[@TheMrVallex]

One detail to consider: a similarly hard hitting gun on WW2 battlefields was the 12,8-cm-PjK 44 L/55 , mounted on jagdtiger (heavy tank hunters, based on the tiger-2). That is a 128mm gun with capable of similar penetration as the gun mentioned in the video, but WITHOUT tungsten rounds. So one could easily say that this gun is the most powerful

[@justrandomcarsurbex3057]

Thank you once again for a good and interesting part of history, keep them coming :D

[@JB-rt4mx]

Interesting Nashhorn in one of the Panzer Aces books by Franz Kurowski...good read

[@sarjim4381]

Thanks for another epic late WWII armored battle story.

[@bigchungus4349]

I could listen to this guy talk for literal hours about tanks. Love your videos man!

[@delta999999]

I'm curious, if the Nashorn was cheap to produce why was it so rare on the battlefield?

[@DDay-vv9ec]

I'm getting to where I can only watch Felton documentarys.

[@jaydibernardo4320]

Yet another excellent video on WW2 battles that I did not know of. Perhaps a video on the design and production of the Pershing tank would be a great topic to cover.

[@undeniablelogic1963]

"the shell passed through the driver's legs" Ow.

[@thomasgreeney4150]

3usjdjdjdjdurudrjrujfjdjFjdhEhDjrJDufufujrjufjjdhFHFJFjDjdjjdjfjFriRiRIIJFJDHdjsJkdaidjsjdjdznmdmdjxjjxjdjdndnddjejsjdjjjdjsjnddjsjdajshndnddmmdsdjnddjdnnxjxnnxnnnmnx snjsnaaasjdjdjjjjdjddźzżznżnxnxnnxnxnznxnzixzjdjdjdjdjjdjdjdtgjxjhzhjlllkkesmddkdkdkdjfkfKfkdKDdsKKkKMOKDKiijjjjjbhjhhhyyyytttretasksiekurkrsspilslslsslammsmskskaķz'kkZlzlelzlskķlĺ

[@Daehawk]

US TC : "I see a gun with a tank hull strapped to it"

[@TonyA4766]

I could watch these videos all day long !!!

[@markhughes7927]

Somehow does the heart good to hear of low cunning beating cocky assurance! Glad the crew got out safely.

[@scatter1390]

Yet another fantastic video, Mark. Thank you and keep 'em coming. A couple of interesting things l noticed... @1.40. That is the famous Unteroffizier Kurt Knispel in the turret of the Tiger 2. He was killed 28 April 1945. @1.45. In the turret of Tiger 300 is Lt Richard Freiherr von Rosen....The author of "Panzer Ace". Von Rosen was company commander, 3 coy/Heavy PzAbt 503 in 1944. Survived the war...Obviously :)

[@berndf.k.1662]

I am pleased to notice that both British and American youtubers significantly improve their German pronounciation of which Marc Felton and Indy Neidell from WWII channel are ahead. Only in "Panther" they tend to pronounce a "th" although it' s just "t".

[@michaelwilliamson1392]

That's because the word panther is the same in English, but pronounced with the 'h.' If we were to use the English word for Nashorn, it would be Rhinoceros (or rhino).

[@tau-5samsara990]

Perishing got hit on its lower glacis where the armor was thinner but if that shot hit the Upper glacis/upper front plate a round of that caliber will have a 50/50 chance of penetrating or bouncing off.

[@Darrell1019]

Thanks for posting this vid. I'm happy to hear that the crew survived!

[@lexington476]

You left us hanging, what happened to the Nashorn and its crew?

[@justrandomcarsurbex3057]

They lived happy ever after :)

[@Rick2010100]

Like the most German tanks at that stage of the war - abandoned with a empty fuel tank and no chance of getting it refueled.

[@JimEwing516]

This says the unit ended the war in the Ruhr pocket: www.axishistory.com/list-all-categories/153-germany-heer/heer-other-units/4491-schwere-heeres-panzerjaeger-abteilung-93

[@paoloviti6156]

@@Rick2010100 I agree fully with you because in the final months of war the shortage of fuel, mainly in the west, became the worst problem and most of the AFV left around was simply abandoned but also shortage of ammo and whatever was running behind!

[@terraflow__bryanburdo4547]

It decided that it identified as a curvy French Maid and defected to great celebration and merriment for all.

[@doctim111]

I have seen the Köln Panther/Pershing footage many times but never realized the Panther had a round in the chamber and suffered a cook-off from the fire in the turret. Thanx!

[@martialme84]

EXTRA CREDIT to mark felton for getting most German words and names right! You are a rare specimen among native english speakers, good sir. This is in fact the reason, why i just subscribed to the channel. You pay attention to the details? I´m listening.

[@markdwyer314]

Top videos mate, love the detail and technical specs of the tanks and guns! Imagine being the driver of that Pershing.....Nashorn puts an 88mm round between the legs, wow!

[@edwardesparza133]

My grandfather served in the 33rd armored regiment in 1945. I would like to see more on this outfit.

[@peterszar]

You always have such interesting videos. The close up shots of the damage done to the Pershing were so clear.

[@CMDRFandragon]

With 230mm pen, yeah a Nashorn would face punch a Pershings 114mm mantlet.

[@RemingtonSVK]

And then the Nashorn got suicide bombed by P-47.

[@mic-ho1wt]

I think you've been playing too much warthunder. The values of late are derived from a formula, not historical values.

[@TheMinipily]

@@mic-ho1wt Seems literally everyone uses War Thunder's armor analysis and uses that for their facts, which really annoys me.

[@SFCKNZSD]

mic2139 yeah it would have been able to penetrate more than 210mm of armor at 1 km range

[@alwayscurious3357]

@@mic-ho1wt kids these days seem to forget that... Irritating

[@crazymoose9723]

As always, excellent vid Mark, greetings from Lima-Perú....!!!

[@slartybartfarst55]

Fantastic to see a Video about the Nashorn. Interested to know what was the end result of this encounter - did the Nashorn survive, for instance?

[@MihzvolWuriar]

Finally, someone giving the Nashorn some time, the most underrated combat vehicle in the WWII

[@SvenTviking]

It’s an open topped anti tank gun. Lethal gun, fuck all defence against infantry or artillery.

[@HappyFlapps]

The tank round passed through the lower glacis - between the driver's legs HOLY SCHNITZEL!!! Thank God it wasn't aimed a few inches higher! Bad way to go. Definitely the Greatest Generation.

[@chrislork240]

Clackers said it well - "Tank you for such good videos, mark! So interesting."

[@benschwader4537]

I just read "Another River and Another Town" by John P. Irwin, a gunner in a Pershing. Nice to see the vintage footage.

[@TyroneSayWTF]

Good stuff! I eat your videos up - the day they come out Mark. Keep 'em coming!

[@LordFred69]

my dad was in Patton's 3rd army; Wounded crossing a canal on March 22 1945.

[@m9078jk3]

One of my uncles also was in Patton's army too. His unit was involved with the liberation of Ohrdruf and they went as far as Czechoslovakia. He was "DRAFTED AS A PRIVATE THEN SERGEANT IN THE 3RD ARMY, 89TH INFANTRY DIVISION, 355TH INFANTRY REGIMENT,COMPANY 'G'. COMMANDED A MORTAR TEAM." That was a cut and paste from the National WW2 memorial about him

[@kittyhawk9707]

So fucking what ..what does that have to do with the battle between a Patton and a Nashorn... fuck all ..that's what

[@fudgedog123]

@@kittyhawk9707 laughing at this internet winner giving it the big one. From his laptop. In his bedroom.

[@mrandersson1082]

My grandfather's brother was a commander in a Nashorn company. He saw action on the eastern front and then ended it in the Ruhr pocket.

[@chrisbraun4201]

The Pershing crew survived that Nashorn shot: unbelievable.

[@corylemons7242]

I love your videos. You cover the individual battles and stories that were never told that made this Great War.

[@2serveand2protect]

@Mark Felton Productions MATE! YOU NEVER DISAPPOINT! YOUR channel is one of those, that you are HAPPY with, when you've clicked that "bell" notification! :D ...usually I get annoyed by new things being uploaded on the channels I have subscribed, but - MATE! - YOUR MATERIALS NEVER DISAPPOINTS!!! ...NEVER!... MY MOST SINCERE CONGRATULATIONS! ;) :)

[@docshred1787]

Always amazing historical info...who are you and where do you get your material? Keep them coming,

[@tomdonahue4224]

Literally "Nose Horn?" Rhinoceros. When I was a little kid, I was told an Ein Horn was German for Unicorn.

[@Rauschgenerator]

German language is full of descriptive put-together words, like "Schildkröte" (=shield-toad, for turtle), "Nacktschnecke" (=nude-snail, for slug) or "Handschuhe" (=hand-shoes, for gloves). As a German, I often find it hard to remember the correct English words for those things as they are not very graphic^^.

[@stonefox9124]

I’ve seen many of your videos now and enjoy all of them, not all documentaries are the same, I like your voice, video selection and tone. When will you move your material to DVD so we can have your entire collection of the war?

[@horaceball5418]

Excellent! One thing you never hear about, is how loud war must be. The personnel in the Pershing had to have gone deaf or nearly deaf you would think. Western Europe should be eternally thankful to the USA....agree?

[@Kullioking]

why? For claiming of ending WW2 even though the Russians endet it in Berlin?

[@stevenkeegan6260]

Very interesting. Another good video on a topic of special interest. Thanks for posting.

[@carius007]

Another beauty! Thanks as always 🍺

[@lostinpa-dadenduro7555]

Wow that Pershing crew got lucky, so to speak.

[@bigearl3867]

The Pershing was effective due to some special ammunition it had along with it's regular shells. This ammo was so it could deal with Tigers, and Panther tanks.

[@simonkevnorris]

I'm surprised that the Americans managed to get within 300m of the Nashorn. Was it bad placement or approached from an unexpected direction?

[@bigblue6917]

Surprise on both sides as neither tank had faced the other before. Lucky for the Pershing's crew as I think if the Nashorn may have fired a bit higher with the possibility of some fatalities amongst the Pershing's crew. So what happened to the Nashorn and its crew? You have to hope their fate was equally without fatalities.

[@venator5]

Hardly happy end for them.

[@vadimm3652]

You know a day will be good when mark uploads

[@BrettonFerguson]

Please do a video on the Laconia Incident. There are zero documentaries, only a handful of KZbin videos, and one BBC made for TV two part docudrama movie made about the incident. If you do a video on it, you should point out that was not the only time u boat crews helped British sailors whose boat they sunk. They often gave them food and water, and sometimes towed thir lifeboats to within sight of the nearest land. The Laconia Incident and subsequent Laconia Order brought a halt to the u boats rescuing stranded sailors.

[@joewall5138]

Would be cool if you made a couple of longer videos on battles or broader subjects in general. Great video as always

[@Sicklehead88]

i am very impressed by your german pronunciation, great job!

[@capslock3417]

Really nice video, enjoying every video from you very high quality and very high entertainment ratio!

[@CborgMega]

Extraordinary story! Thanks! And please, keep the good work in making these videos!

[@loganscott2299]

The Nashorn was an absolute unit, it was the sniper rifle of tanks.

[@yorenn]

Why is this age restricted?

[@MarkFeltonProductions]

No idea - I've appealed

[@samparfitt8563]

you always find the best footage

[@jc-hf1bk]

It's a shame that there's no info on what happened to the nashorn

[@jakobc.2558]

How? At 1:33 you can see a picture of a Tiger 2 Henschel destroyed by a shell threw its upper Plate! American soldiers are on top of the vehicle. What was the gun that destroyed it? What went threw the sloped 150mm of armor?

[@_kommandant_3055]

We don't know if they went through. More than likely it's just a deep hole that doesn't go all the way through since the Tiger II was known to never be penetrated frontally during combat

[@TheIzroda]

That's not a hole. It just looks like that from the old pic. That's the shadow thrown from the stand where the front light is supposed to be. See the white flag on top? I've seen this pic several times in WW2 books, and I'm quite sure it was always related to as a Tiger 2 abandoned by crew die to lack of fuel as far as I remember during the Ardennes offensive. You can even see different pictures of the same Tiger II where it's more visible it's not a hole, like one where a US truck drives past it.

[@CoreMaster111]

There are no holes in the front. This is Tiger 204 from schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 501 and was abandoned by the crew.

[@HaVoC117X]

I have heard a story about a Nashorn shooting through a building and killing a US tank behind it. Do you have any information about this incident Mark?

[@styrofoamx229]

You got that out of this world soothing commentator voice man, great vids

[@mrmaje1]

Today I've learned the german for rhino.....excellent, thanks Mark!

[@quaggg]

Oh my gosh! This is the first time that i have learned of Carbide being used as a core penetration element against tank Armour.

[@khuret1773]

Here we go again.... A tired Wednesday..then this pops up ...Fantastic

[@cdamauser1963]

thanks for the details, so often skipped over by others.

[@McRocket]

Superbly told story, IMO. Lots of information...but not too much information. Thank you.

[@SeventhSamurai72]

Great productions, excellent narratives, new information: you got the right stuff!

[@wazza33racer]

Seeing that Pak40 firing (forgotten weapons channel) is a BEAST.............let alone a Pak43!?!

[@BillHalliwell]

G'day Mark, Another interesting video on armoured vehicles. It was a good thing that the Nazis had so few of the Nashorns and a bad thing that the US had so few of the Pershings. It's hard not to think of the deaths and injuries among the Sherman tankers. Although I agree with 'The Chieftain's' assessment that the Sherman was a darn useful tank, it was their huge numbers that went in their favour and, perhaps, the Shermans could have been 'up-gunned' sooner. Had Patton had Pershings earlier, the battle of the bulge would have been a much shorter and less costly undertaking. Of course, I don't mean to detract from the courageous contribution of the US airborne and other ground forces in that battle. Thanks again for your excellent videos. Cheers, BH

[@paoloviti6156]

Again a very interesting video although I read somewhere that it was a Nashorn that knocked out the only Pershing of the war. Probably this Nashorn was handled by an experienced crew. I still find it incredible that only 20 M-36 was sent to Germany in the final months of war immediately proving it's worth despite being somewhat underpowered and having reliability issues yet having a powerful cannon and a thick armour. It was a tank that could easily been in production at least a year before much thanks to the criminal bickering among the generals that that thought that only the Sherman was needed...

[@Blazcowitz1943]

Not quite. The Pershing had a very troubled development and the Army wasn't even totally sold on the idea of it when they did send it to Europe because they still thought it needed more testing. It was mainly due to the heavy losses sustained during the Battle of the Bulge that they rushed the Pershing over because they needed something with more armor and firepower. Plus, from a doctrine standpoint, the concept of the heavy tank didn't really fit with what the U.S had going, with tanks viewed as offensive weapons used to support infantry and tank destroyers being used mainly for defensive roles, though in reality they were normally used as mobile artillery or like tanks.

[@explorer1968]

No turret and protected upper compartment, lightly armored? no much of a problem with that 88mm gun at its disposal..., the deadly tank destroyer Nashorn!!

[@joemasello519]

I never pass on one of your videos so I finally subscribed! Should have subbed long ago.

[@kevinlutz2679]

I like these lost or forgotten WWII stories.

[@evilfingers4302]

Another awesome upload, thank you Sir Felton!