Soviet Bob Semple, the HTZ-16 | Cursed by Design

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Vehicles like the Bob Semple and the Killdozer are known to millions around the world thanks to both their lasting legacies as well as their improvised designs. However, these are only two examples of many armored vehicles built using civilian or military tractors. Today we look at one such design as we continue our journey through the early days of Soviet tank destroyer development. Stay tuned as we discuss the story of the HTZ-16, the Soviet Union's Bob Semple.
Sources:
Soviet tanks and Combat Vehicles of WW2 by Steven Zaloga: amzn.to/3qhgF8o
tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2-so...
tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/so...
www.tankarchives.ca/2013/05/s...
warspot.ru/6466-improvizatsiy...
NI Footage: • Odessa Tanks / NI - Al...
As well as help from Alex Tarasov
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Timestamps:
0:00 - 1:45 Intro
1:45 - 6:14 Earlier Armored Tractors
6:14 - 14:26 HTZ-16
14:26 - 15:34 NI/Odessa Improvised Tanks
15:34 - 16:37 Outro
#history #enlisted #enlistedgame

[@ConeOfArc]

Play Enlisted for FREE on PC, Xbox Series X|S and PS5: playen.link/coneofarc2023 Follow the link to download the game and get your exclusive bonus now. See you in battle!

[@Twiggo_The_Foxxo]

I hope it doesn't have the T-14 armata

[@rmcdudmk212]

Surprised you didn't swallow more Russian propaganda making this vid 👍

[@circleofsorrow4583]

​@@Twiggo_The_Foxxoare you saying that the T-14 is crap?! It isn't exactly as terrible as you say it is! Do some research!

[@theoneandonlyartyom]

feed the snail feed the snail feed the snail

[@rmcdudmk212]

@@circleofsorrow4583 keep sniffing Russian propagandist butt guy. 😂

[@zacharyjackson6776]

Of course New Zealand would export the license of their coveted Bob Semple tank

[@richardorta8960]

B. Semple ~ "See, the Russians agree with me!"

[@caposc.]

As soon the Soviet Bob Semple rolled in, the germans screamed in fear as it fires at a Pz.Kpfw. VI "Tiger" Ausf. E, it penetrates and kills the crew inside. The group of Tiger I's and Panther's fire at the Soviet Bob Semple. Their shots ricochet off the advanced armor. Suddenly, 10 more Bob Semples appear, and they annihilate the force, killing every gernan tank and Soldier. The battle of Dickcity was a disaster for the Wehrmact, and it led to the fall of Berlin.

[@theromanorder]

​@@richardorta8960he did acknowledge his idea wasn't a success but also never said ge failed because he did what he could with the limited resources he was given, I personally am proud of him for as he said 'when no one else would i did something to solve our problem" i wosh more then 3 were built Would be better for us historians

[@richardorta8960]

@@theromanorder Oh, I know. I respect the man for his work. I agree that they could have done more to help him as well.

[@womble321]

If you only had a rifle would you want to face it?

[@janprazak1002]

For those who forgot, on the old Kharkov map in World of Tanks there was an HTZ-16 hidden as a easter egg.

[@aymonfoxc1442]

Cool. I didn't know that.

[@ConeOfArc]

That's very cool. Had I known I would have included that

[@dse763]

Unfortunately, thanks to the Ukrainian war, the Kharkov and Minsk maps are unavailable on the latest WoT updates.

[@censoreduser]

@@dse763unfortunate

[@Dr.Silverwolf20]

I came here to comment this! I absolutely miss that little guy

[@sirsmeal3192]

Since these rarely make it into popular books on the war, this is an exceptional coverage. Thank you.

[@ConeOfArc]

Sadly with so little out there on these it's hard to say how accurate the information we have on them is. However the story definitely deserves to be told using what little we do know

[@sirsmeal3192]

@ConeOfArc Just include the sources "to pass the buck" and the source can be judged for itself.

[@Sawaame]

the inclusion of the killdozer was such a curveball i was NOT ready for 😭

[@hmmm4844]

Killdozer was the Strummtiger of the tractor/bulldozer based "tanks" 💀

[@nickcook2775]

Whenever someone asks me what the killdozer was, I’m just going to send them a screenshot of this

[@mannyperez7680]

First thing I thought when I saw the video thumbnail was Killdozer.

[@randomexcessmemories4452]

I love improvised AFVs. No matter how shitty they may appear to be, I will always have a soft spot for them.

[@MiliMo101]

It’s easy for men to imagine weapons and armaments but it is hard for man to think of beneficial things for humanity.

[@EdyAlbertoMSGT3]

@@MiliMo101 For example: An AFV that you can use to protect your people from being killed by other people or things

[@MiliMo101]

@@EdyAlbertoMSGT3 how about a afv that shoots magic mushroom and lsd gas clouds. The whole enemy army would be non lethally incapacitated

[@twu1909]

Retarded ass comment​@@MiliMo101

[@jimjamauto]

The NI tank appears as a player-controlled unit briefly in Men of War: Red Tide. Basically you have to clear AT guns for the tank support and you think you're getting T-26s or BTs, but it's a squadron of NI-1s

[@ignat198902]

By the way, one of the theories why NI-1 was named that way is that the inhabitants of Odessa have their own sense of humor, which often appeared in Soviet art, and not because they decided to call the tank in all seriousness bringing horror

[@larryfontenot9018]

Speaking of the Russian designs, which were thrown into combat against Axis invaders, that was desperation and it's no surprise they didn't do very well. My beef is with the people who look at Bob Semple's armored tractor, sneer, and call it the worst tank of the war. That's pure ignorance talking. Semple was a New Zealander, and at one point it looked like Japan was sweeping down the Solomon Islands on course to attack them. They had no tanks, and couldn't buy them from England because every tank England was building was going to North Africa or replacing the losses they'd suffered at Dunkirk. So Semple looked at what New Zealand had to work with and what the Japanese would be armed with if they invaded, and his solution was elegant under the circumstances. The first thing that has to be understood is that his armored tractors were NOT tanks. What he designed them to be is mobile machine gun bunkers that could stand up to Japanese rifles and machine guns, which were the primary weapons their landing forces would have carried. If the Japanese had taken port facilities and landed artillery, the tractors would have been easy targets. But as a way to get adequately protected machine guns to where they were needed fast enough to matter, I suspect that the tractors might have done the job well enough. Of course, that would only have lasted until and unless they ran into something other than a Japanese infantry platoon. Still, I think that's all Semple wanted out of them and they were better than the nothing they'd had before. I'm sure he thanked God that they were never needed.

[@sammyclassicstarfoxfan9827]

I still think the weapon arrangement on the Semple was awful, but otherwise i think it was fine for what they had.

[@aymonfoxc1442]

The Bob Semple was still an overly complex design with poor crew ergonomics and unecessarily heavily for the armour it provided as a consequence of that design. Plus, it was tall, slow, unstable and unable to turn as it drove, unlike other designs built on the same tractor. So, whilst I get the point you are trying to convey, I think it's fair to say the Bob Semple was still a bad design that didn't come near getting the most out of the little materiel that New Zealand had available.

[@danielspoon1234]

@@aymonfoxc1442 bro I'd have rather had something bad than nothing at all and I can agree with this fella provided they were not critically damaged the cat dozer is a very reliable platform like he said these shouldn't be looked at like tanks I've never seen anyone tell me how under armoured an universal carrier is or anything but yeah terrible vehicle to fight in but provided there not facing cannons they'd be better than nothing when you're in your last moment and you have nothing else are you meant to just do nothing to save being ridiculed for a poor effort or do you try?

[@aymonfoxc1442]

@danielspoon1234 I've seen a great many people criticising the universal carrier as something that was outdated, under-armoured and unable to sport a big enough gun - even though it was an interwar design and iterations of it were highly influential in Europe, North Africa, Asia and the Pacific. The thing is, that description doesn’t fit the Bob Semple, does it? I suspect that being assigned to a Bob Semple during an actual firefight would be more likely to get you killed than provide a defensive effect that some sand bags and a machine gun could not also achieve. All for the cost of numerous machine guns (most of which probably wouldn't even be facing the enemy and were in short supply) and multiple men. So, I'd rather be on foot in most circumstances (especially if the Japanese brought their island hopping amphibious Type 2 Ha-Mi tanks with them). Let's examine the potential experience of a Bob Semple crew member. The Bob Semple Tank Experience [forgive me but this afforded me the opportunity for some fun] Imagine being cramped in a confined space, laying down between sheets of corrugated iron and barely able to lift your head. You have an extremely limited field of view and it's hard to see past the barrel of your own gun. A crew member below you shouts “contact right” and begins firing his machine gun. There's a moment of terror as you realise you're in combat for the first time but you can't see anything. Bullets are peppering the manganese corrugated iron and soft steel hull of your machine gun toting tank. Shrapnel penetrates your comrade's gun shroud, blinding him as he screams. Your crew commander gives the order to turn the vehicle but as the driver kicks it into gear, it jolts to a halt because the overburdened powertrain isn't going downhill. If only the turret hadn’t been removed following trials. Sure, it made an already obscenely tall vehicle even taller and more unstable but the Bob Semple tank is still too heavy and unbalanced to handle the mountains of New Zealand. At least a turret could have brought its machine gun fire to bear on the Japanese soldiers that are now advancing up the street. Nevertheless, your driver persists and Big Bob turns to face the enemy head-on. Now’s your chance to prove your metal. You can’t really make out more than a blur but there’s a mass of tan coloured uniforms charging towards you; screaming all the way. As you and the gunner below you start firing, the Japanese start throwing hand grenades. The explosions shake the vehicle and rattle your nerves, whilst the blind man screams in terrified confusion. Soon, you have to reload and whilst you’re struggling to do so in your cramped position, an armoured car rolls around the corner.. your machine guns can’t dent that. Suddenly, a hail of heavy machine gun fire from the car tears through the driver and gunner below you. The blind man isn’t screaming anymore. In a panic, the commander shouts the order to retreat but he quickly realises the men in front of him are dead, the left hand gunner lies wounded and there’s no hope of saving his tank. He yells “abandon tank”, grabs his wounded junior and turns to access the rear hatch - finding the rear gunner dead behind him. As he drags the wounded man towards the hatch, he calls to you but he knows he needs to get this man to cover. Regardless, your commander falls dead as he pulls himself out of the tank and the wounded soldier dies of his wounds. As you try to slide yourself backwards to drop down to the main compartment, an unrelenting storm of withering small arms fire peppers the shattered hull. You find the entire crew is dead but before you have time to contemplate trying to get out and run for the relative security of a nearby building, the armoured car fires again. Its large calibre bullets tear through the metal of your Bob Semple - they also tear through your frail human body and you have time to realise your arm is gone before you lose consciousness.

[@danielspoon1234]

@@aymonfoxc1442 very cool

[@MadKlauss]

3:56 always amusing to me as a Latvian to see one of the very few pictures of Latvian 1930s armour being shown on videos.

[@andrewhopkins886]

to be fair it's very cool looking. Like a mix of post-apocalyptic and steam-punk. or diesel-punk I guess.

[@FifingFossil]

How much of them Latvia capture from Reds?

[@MadKlauss]

@@FifingFossil Well, the one in the picture is a captured Garford-Putilov armoured car but later on the Latvian army bought several vehicles and tanks from Germany and Britain, and even had a modernization program that was cut short by soviet annexation.

[@FifingFossil]

@@MadKlauss So you capture 1of them only during independence wars(against Reds and freicorps)? I'm intrested in baltics independence wars.

[@MadKlauss]

@@FifingFossil Yes, only 44 were ever manufactured by Imperial Russia.

[@GCho733]

The Blyat Semple.

[@StoneCresent]

Note: the name can also be romanized as KhTZ-16. The Х of ХТЗ-16 is sometimes romanized differently depending on the source language. For translating from Russian, Kh is the more common romanization.

[@ConeOfArc]

You do see it as KhTZ-16 but I was told that was incorrect and it should be HTZ-16 by Francis Pulham who knows far more than I do regarding Soviet armor.

[@StoneCresent]

That's all mentioned on the Wikipedia article for the Cyrillic Kha. I would love to hear Francis' reasoning for using an H over Kh and what romanization standard he uses or prefers.

[@ConeOfArc]

@@StoneCresent It was also how the Warspot article refers to it so I'm not entirely sure

[@krinnge]

I assume that KhTZ means Kharkovskiy Traktorniy Zavod (Харьковский Тракторный Завод), Kharkov Tractor Plant. Just like STZ is Stalingradskiy Traktorniy Zavod (Сталинградский Тракторный Завод), Stalingrad Tractor Plant

[@kurczakpl1866]

@@ConeOfArc Kh is an anglo-romanization and H is a slavic-romanization. Cyrillic "Х" in slavic lang is pronounced as slavic H or G and not some retarded anglo "H". Slavic "H" sound is romanized in eng as "Kh" and sounds like H in 'Happy" and not like "aych" or even like some military retards pronouce "Kh" in misslies like Kh-59 as "Key aych"

[@TheArklyte]

HTZ-16, Killdozer, Bob Semple, Disston... all just pale immitations of true battle tractor - Saint Chamond!:P

[@scrink9117]

No no no. You know thy were all trying and failing to live up to the raging success of the A7V

[@TheArklyte]

@@scrink9117 considering how famous it is compared to how many were produced, I'd say only Maus has higher meme status/time and resources spent on development ratio.

[@fartwimp]

Well to be honest I think it's one of the better looking improvised tanks of that war. Many improvised tanks in that war simply failed before battle or were disabled, knocked out or destroyed before having any impact at all.

[@OneMouseGaming]

Yeah, people can't tend to forget that a s***** And I use that with air quotes improvised vehicle it's better than none..... What did her stand what did it ever stood up to? Direct combat versus Japanese light tanks with proper cannons, no.... What if fit for fulfilled its job as a mobile machine, gun nest and anti infantry vehicle? I.e. Controlling the flood in spread of the Japanese. I think the bop simple tank gets the worst rap of any vehicle in modern military history and it's completely unwarranted. I don't see you coming up with tanks.

[@Serbian-Templar]

Funfact:the armor of the killdozer was a composote of first layer 15mm steel secound layer 100mm of reinforced concrete and a third layer of 15mm steel again,so it had like triple the armor and more effective armor than these interwar tractors,which fascinates me judging that it was completely homemade and had around the armor effectiveness compared to a French b 1 bis or even better,it only got disabled when it fell into a basement.

[@censoreduser]

I fear no man. But that thing (basement), it scares me

[@Passer__]

Because only one was made, during peacetime and almost 60 years later

[@T29Heavy]

I've always curious about rear turreted tanks since most rear turreted tank designs remained paper

[@chamberlane2899]

They’re neat, but rare for a reason. Armor and engines tend to be pretty heavy, so if you put them both in the same spot (the front) that can lead to issues with your suspension. Also means that front penetrations have a good chance of disabling/totaling the tank (though in certain circumstances, it can increase crew survivability rates). Also puts the hottest part of the tank where it’s more easily seen (assuming you aren’t driving backwards of course)

[@chamberlane2899]

That said, when I’m designing a fictional tank, there’s about a 50/50 chance of it featuring a front mounted engine

[@parodyclip36]

Only one I can think of is the Char 2C

[@chamberlane2899]

@@parodyclip36 Merkava is probably the most famous/successful one. You see no shortage of sci-fi tanks based on that design

[@enderjed2523]

This will certainly provide some ideas when the geometric update for sprocket releases in 4 days.

[@Hybris51129]

I love hearing about these home brew tanks. In the Far Cry 5 fan fiction I wrote I even included one as one of the cults vehicles. Basically a CAT bulldozer with a up armored cab a pair of M60's on the hood with two more mounted on top of the dozer blade that had I-beams welded to the blade for ramming purposes. It was slow and didn't hold up to 30mm anti-tank rifle fire that well but if all you had was an AR-15 then it would still be a threat.

[@CZ350tuner]

When you say that the Soviets only experimented with only one APC design, I'm presuming that you haven't seen the photographs of T-26 based APCs intended for transporting artillery crews around safely. These never saw production and were a modified adaptation of the T--26 ammunition carrier design (they installed "seats"). I have it in a book on Soviet 1930's experimental BT & T-26 variants, that was published in the 1990's. The book also includes photographs & technical histories of the telemetric T-26, a BT-7 armed with the 76.2mm. L.41.2 F-34 gun in the turret, citadel bodied BT-5 based command tanks, bridge layers, recovery tanks, T-26 based artillery crew APC, T-26 based artillery OP tank, mine clearing tanks, etc.

[@ConeOfArc]

I can't say I have seen those photos. I was mainly referring to production vehicles though not experimental stuff

[@mikehintz]

@@ConeOfArc From what I read, they were built by Soviet military cadets and had about 6mm of armor.

[@StazherEzhov]

And then there was the B-3 half-track armored personnel carrier, developed in 1944 based on the designs of the German armored personnel carriers, or TB-42, developed in 1943. And this is not taking into account lesser-known projects, many of which remained on paper.

[@FazekasPK]

Even the germans have mounted a great variety of armaments (usually towed PAK or FLAK guns) on top of captured soviet tractors. Those also worth a quick look into.

[@RadicalEdward2]

I love how all of the photos of the tractors look like either concept images for Twisted Metal vehicles or “real photos” in a WW2 themed ARG

[@Ab0veNatural]

As a latvian, I was completely surprised that you included out of ALL the armored cars on earth, specifically the Latvian one named Kurzemnieks at 3:55 , quite the pleasent surprise tho, being acknowledged

[@Thirdbase9]

Any mobile AT gun is better than no mobile AT gun.

[@danielboliva2731]

I wouldn't be surprised if the HTZ-16 is added in war thunder.

[@kittehgo]

Perhaps if they added a BR 0 🙂, they could toss all those "tanks" in there

[@OGTacitus]

14:43 "Na Ispug" directly translates into (to scare *enemy*) as sources i've heard about those - they mostly had mock-up canons and were unable to attack (well, mb with mgs)

[@Lomionz]

Literally this. Maybe later they got something to stick into the turret. But name implies that they literally were just made as psychological warfare. And also sources that i saw said that loud rattling, view of hunk of metal moving towards you and small arms fire was the initial planned use of the "tank".

[@rikkirattus]

I honestly can't remember if I've said this here yet, but your videos are great and the fact you have subtitles is simply so good. Too many youtubers don't include them and subtitles are such an important accessability tool for people and its just good manners

[@suddenlythatenderman5800]

glad to see he's moved on and just making some solid content

[@Imzeboss]

the SU Semple

[@nijivl]

Lmao

[@unsuisseegare1291]

The Blyat SUmple

[@IronSink]

6:33 ngl... This image somehow brough back memories of old WorldOfTanks...one that was actually fun

[@michaelhowell2326]

Got my fingers crossed for the Killdozer making an appearance.

[@theduke7539]

Bob Semple tank is the greatest armored weapon ever made, we should be so thankful it was on our side

[@omegon2540]

The only thing the soviet union had whoch rivals the terror of the bob semple is tbe russian winter

[@terraflow__bryanburdo4547]

No defeat will occur when General Frost joins Comrade Semple!

[@Colonel_Bryce]

Great video and interesting!

[@mathieugariepy2948]

Great video!

[@ThatGuy-mw4ol]

At least it has a cannon that’s a big upgrade over the semple

[@aperson336]

Just think about the strain the recoil would cause

[@aperson336]

I mean if you really think about it, a converted agricultural l tractor would be great for supporting roles (artillery, transport, tank destroyers, spaa) as they would already be produced and just needed to be up armored and up gunned, you could remove any unnecessary things (ie farming equipment) and it would already be built to deal with moderate weight. Of course it would have issues, but you are getting cheap armor quickly

[@xxunholyriotxx106]

Thanks for the good subtitles

[@Masterhitman935]

7:14 I love the disclaimer of error bars when it’s comes the sources.

[@pilotmanpaul]

Its so good even the Soviets bought the Bob Semple. Such an intricate and complex vehicle that changed tank technology forever. Tigers were no match against it.

[@alvarohernani6645]

I don't know why, but i recall it (or a similar model) being produced during the siege of Leningrad. Maybe it was another improvised armoured tractor

[@StazherEzhov]

In Leningrad, there was the production of KV tanks, at the Kirov Plant, plus the T-26, BT, T-28 (also previously produced there) and BA armored vehicles were repaired there. I did not come across photos or documentary data about armored tractors on the Leningrad front, but there were definitely improvised armored personnel carriers manufactured by the Izhora plant.

[@alvarohernani6645]

@@StazherEzhov i know it was in a book and i know where in the book and where the book is, but I won't go there maybe till October 😒

[@TheEvilpossum]

My name for designs like this is "killer tractor". A tank destroyer is really the ideal role for them after the trench warfare era. At least you can wait for an enemy to come to you rather than going cross country after them.

[@christopherjones8448]

At that point it would probably be better to just put an anti tank gun on a truck and hide it in the bushes somewhere

[@glatchikit]

Now that you did the Bob Semple and HTZ-16, there is one left: Kolohousenka

[@CBB-dg9jy]

I'd run this in Enlisted.

[@fritz3135]

6:00 there was also an APC, using the chassis of the T-26

[@johanwerne4254]

Very interesting!

[@AlEx-mj8ol]

A Great Video! In Russian "Vzyat' Na Ispug" means to perform awkward actions to pretend to be dangerous in order to take advantage over the opponent while it is confused and, thus frightened. The best translation I can give is "To take (advantage) over frightened (opponent)". Those machines were made of desperation and as correctly mentioned in video better than nothing.

[@alfredojimenez1608]

I love the new intro!

[@ravenouself4181]

Everyone gangsta until I make an improvised tank that uses Nokia 3310's as armor and ammunition.

[@T.A.S.C.3662]

Alright get yo bag and good video!

[@StrLab]

Soviets didn't had the need for APC in the '40s. Every tank was APC for them. Surely you have seen a T34/85 with a whole battalion on it!

[@lemagicbaguette1917]

Those troops were worse than bushes in War Thunder.

[@jangustl_wt2358]

Do you want infantery coverage for your tank or not? These tanks are all fitted with railings on the backside of the turret. Better behind an IS turret. There were the first IFV.

[@codenamehalo9847]

I recognize this Tonk from the Mobile RTS "World War Armies"

[@tankist_operator_6471]

Intresting video, to be honest at this point, you should make a video about all tractor tanks made

[@luispanaderoguardeno3306]

I would love to see something about improvised tanks and armoured cars used in the Spanish civil war.

[@otakubancho6655]

I heard Elbonia put in an order for ten of these for coastal defense!😆😆😆🤣🤣🤣

[@Chaffee_]

Could you create a video on the Ariete MBT series?

[@FluffyHellhound696]

XD i can picture one of those fighting off the Pz I during the early war days my gosh it would be Ltr Pz.1s and Pz.2s vs them HTZ 16s XD

[@patrickramosofmanila]

I’m a Semple man. I Bob Semple. I click like.

[@diegodamiani6112]

Hello man, can you do a video about the Rammtiger?

[@budnrobots2968]

Enlisted is great just takes time to get used to the graphical limitations and bot controls. Feels like you do indeed command your squad of rookies that you can’t know other than through limits of war

[@JohnPork-je1qv]

The Htz-16 looks like a vertically stretched Ho Ri

[@RadicalEdward2]

I feel like the Soviet APC later inspired the Soviet Flak Track APC from Red Alert 2 except it had a flak cannon mounted on top of it.

[@rivvabear9748]

*Gaijin when?*

[@nijivl]

Gayjin when

[@wallachia4797]

Gayjew

[@maineiacman]

You could have mentioned the STZ 5 tractor is drivable in enlisted. One of the maps is the tractor factory.

[@BenceNagy-ro5cv]

wait, I remember this because in the old version of world of tanks it was hidden in the house on one of the maps

[@ellestar7648]

The most correct translation of NI "(взять) на испуг" is probably "to deter", google translates full phrase as "take on a fright" It's not really fear, it's that you need some responce to a tank if you see a tank (even if it's not really a full-fledged tank). So it's more of a delay tactics, and that's what a name implies.

[@neromastic4512]

Would really wish to see the s-51 self-propelled gun

[@burningtank160]

Honestly the bob semple would have been effective against infantry, if they had adequate AT guns to take out the Chi-Has and the such

[@psychobeam99]

Im not even suprised the soviets converted a bulldozer to a tank. Thats like their entire tech tree.

[@natejones902]

From one who has moved a 75mm gun by hand/horses, a gun on a tractor is a nice upgrade. But question, are these tanks or mobile guns? Also its interesting they took the time to attempt a full track APC.

[@rendelbariuan7583]

HI ConeOfArc I wish you could read this comment Im here to suggest future videos if you dont mind Can you do a documentaries about the other Soviet obj. Tanks after the 2nd world war like the object 277 also the rest of the Is-tank series like the Is-4, yes this tank entered production but mots likely not used and forgotten unlike its sister is-3. Im crazy to know the story behind these tanks and no other channels had deeply explored abt these tanks, also no other channels can also do it better than you. Thx

[@Ghostmaxi1337]

The German army also looked after WW1 for a little gun carrier, including the WD 50 Ps Schlepper tractor, armed with a 7,7 cm FK 96 L/27 n.A. (and its competition L.S.K.)

[@sim.frischh9781]

Those improvised vehicles are the embodiment of the "It´s something" meme.

[@user-ys6dc6bz2y]

I would like to add about the SU S2 armored tractor, created in the fall of 1941 at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant on the basis of the Stalinets S-2 tractor and armed with a 122 mm M-30 howitzer, but as far as I know the only info about it is in russian, but there's an article by Yuri Pasholok on Yandex Dzen.

[@ConeOfArc]

I'm aware of that one just didn't include it as it will fit better into a video on improvised artillery vehicles used by the Soviets

[@MikeJames-kt5dw]

@@ConeOfArc I don't know how true it is, but I read that some military cadets made an APC out of a T-26 with 12mm armor I think don't know how true it is.

[@Xaxares]

Never imagined I'd find a tank that makes the Mathilda 1 seem swift in comparison.

[@tsclly2377]

They should have made a pto driven tracked gun wagon, thus retaining the tractor capability, lowering the overall height, increased utility and lower ground pressure.. Logistics are paramount in any army.

[@teerthrajtirpude1950]

NGL the tractors look like a scary villain from a kids movie

[@royalwolf7115]

You got to give Bob Semple credits for trying to make a functioning tank in a country where military industry does not existence. Plus, he did more to his country than almost 90% of the modern day politicians (he was a miner before going into politics). Many joked about the Bob Semple tank being absolutely dog shit and they were right. But what they failed to see, was a desperate man who's trying to find a way to save his country from an imminent invasion from the Japanese. New Zealand contributed almost their entire country to the commonwealth and left nothing for themselves in terms of defense. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour and tore through South East Asia like an unstoppable hurricane, both Australia and New Zealand were mentally prepared for the imminent demise of their own nation. The ONLY thing that stopped the invasion of Australia and subsequently New Zealand, was America's intervention in Coral Sea where they sacrificed the aircraft carrier USS Lexington to prevent the Japanese from controlling the Coral Sea. Had US lost the battle, not only would they get wiped out in Midway (4 IJN carriers vs 2 US carriers USS Hornet and USS Enterprise as Yorktown was sunk at Coral Sea), it would green light Japan's effort in invading Australia and New Zealand despite the great logistical difficulty (saying they were "bad" in logistics is a BIG understatement). In the end, Bob Semple tank was a complete joke, but it sure as hell was a great morale boost for the ANZACs.

[@siaratan9982]

The "Bonbenyev Samplyovic"

[@helterskelter416]

5:05 that's a 33% increase, not negligible, especially at those speeds. just still really slow.

[@CrimsonGuard1992]

Tiger Tank crews: "I fear no man. But that thing....that thing scares me."

[@myopickid4180]

Every nation should have their own Bob version

[@leponpon6935]

Looks like a pretty good "bob semple" design

[@sidgar1]

This is the Tonk's big brother, the Tenk

[@TheNicestPig]

Shouldn't the vehicle be the KhTZ-16 seeing as it uses the letter "X" which is also used in a lot of other Russian designations, most notably missiles like the X-22 (Kh-22) or X-35 (Kh-35)

[@SkyWriter25]

Just use the standard S stroke 1798 and write in "tank" where it says "tractor".

[@thomaslinton5765]

Do what you can with what you have.👍

[@jackrodgers232]

this thing is beautiful

[@zintosion]

7:53 Mmmm the forbidden taffy.

[@jack9573]

Just one taste

[@Wolfe_Blue]

Looks like the kill-dozer a little

[@joemungus6063]

despite the flaws, actually getting to the fight is super important lol

[@mmiYTB]

Apparently, the picture at 16:04 is from a postwar kolkhoz usage as a normal tractor, which kept the armor and gun.

[@ConeOfArc]

The caption I saw was it was abandoned and potentially being scavenged for parts. No clue if that is true

[@thomaslinton5765]

And what the Soviets "had' were the western Allies. If the Allies, primarily the U.S., had given Germany, rather than the Soviets: 19,000,000 boots of all kinds, including thick felt boots; more than 11,000 planes; over 12,000 tanks and tank destroyers; OVER 470,000 trucks and other military vehicles ; 1,911 steam locomotives; 66 diesel locomotives (Just 446 locomotives were produced in the U.S.S.R. during the war, with only 92 of those being built between 1942 and 1945.); 9,920 flat cars; over 1000 dump cars; 120 tank cars; 35 heavy machinery cars; close to half a million tons of rails and accessories, axles, and wheels (In total, 92.7% of the wartime production of railroad equipment by the USSR was supplied by Lend-Lease) ; over 4,000,000 tons of food; miles of field telephone wire to connect thousands of field telephones sent to the Soviets; many thousands of tons of explosives (equal to over half of Soviet production) thousands of tons of machine tools, electric motors, and other equipment to help the Soviets manufacture their own planes, guns, shells, and bombs; 1,500,000 wool blankets; 2,670,371 tons of petroleum products (gasoline and oil) or 57.8 percent of the aviation fuel including nearly 90 percent of high-octane fuel used - the eastern front would likely have gone poorly for the Soviets. Talk about neglected topics!

[@ConeOfArc]

The lend-lease program absolutely was a huge part of the Soviet defense. This vehicle would have been created prior to that though so it isn't something relevant to this particular video. I will definitely cover lend-lease, particularly the tanks, in future videos.

[@thomaslinton5765]

@@ConeOfArc Not intended as a criticism.

[@ConeOfArc]

@@thomaslinton5765 I know, just adding to your comment

[@lostinpa-dadenduro7555]

There can be only one. ⚡️

[@lemagicbaguette1917]

Yes.

[@FrancisFjordCupola]

Bob Semple based on a later (updated) design... is one of those things I didn't expect to hear during my lifetime. And, no, AI overlords, this is not a challenge to come up with worse.

[@Cashier-91001]

Can ya do t35 ? Cuz i forgot its history so can ya do it please?

[@redrust3]

Syrian Kurds built armored vehicles on the chassis of bulldozers and garbage trucks. Mostly used as battle taxis and wall breachers.

[@donttreadonmetal5073]

ZiS-41 next?

[@thesoulfury4591]

Gaijen when?

[@awesom6588]

They should add it as a reserve to warthunder lol