The Sentinel: Australia's "Tank Meme"

Australia, against all odds, managed to produce a pretty good tank during World War Two. Well, at least in comparison to New Zealand's 'Bob Semple'.
Australian War Memorial Link: www.awm.gov.au/collection/REL...
The concept of this video was inspired by Potential History. Go check his channel out here for more cool "tank meme" videos: / @potentialhistory
Useful sources I used to create this video:
www.awm.gov.au/collection/133677
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentine...
• Tank Chats #73 Sentine...
If you enjoyed, please consider subscribing for more content like this!
#history #worldwar2 #ww2 #tanks #australianhistory

[@KA-dx2kz]

Can just imagine the mate designing the water jacket armour casing just giggling and then crying when it gets accepted.

[@macbrown99]

I have to imagine that he had a bet with his mate that he could get away with it

[@keek6542]

Tank'll pop like a water balloon lol

[@jonsouth1545]

How many soldiers would have painted the end purple if it had entered into service

[@heakhaek]

lmao

[@Ocker3]

@@jonsouth1545 "It's a special anti-rust coating Sarge!"

[@StaffordMagnus]

Perhaps you could do a video on the CAC Boomerang, similar to the Sentinal it was a home grown fighter, and again considering Australias lack of experience with aircraft design and production, wasn't a bad effort at all. By the time it entered service it was outclassed as a fighter, but found a niche as a ground attack aircraft.

[@PoorlyGraded]

Wow, thanks! First time I've heard of the CAC Boomerang. I'll definitely look into it.

[@tasman006]

My father during the war he was just in his mid teens made the bomb bands for the Boomerang fighter in a factory in Melbourne.

[@allangibson8494]

@@PoorlyGraded Australia’s 20mm cannon armed cropduster…

[@angusrogers9366]

@@allangibson8494 it was pretty impressive shame it was outclassed later in the war

[@allangibson8494]

@@angusrogers9366 The Boomerang was outclassed when it entered service as a fighter - it couldn’t catch the Zero at all nor most of the Japanese bombers. As a ground attack aircraft it really came into its own however.

[@CG-uo6wu]

being from Australia i found this extremely fascinating and we all feel pain in Holdens absents.

[@underconstruction7367]

Yeah mate

[@VECTOR8th]

G'day and so true Australia's own cars are gone

[@brettcoster4781]

As well as the M3 Grant and Churchill, we got the Matilda II (used in PNG and Borneo) and M3 Stuart (used in PNG).

[@tasman006]

The author made a mistake. Yes we got the Matilda 2, M3 Stuart and the M3 Grant. Later in the war and towards the end there was a tank trial between the Sherman and Churchill, the Churchill won and it went into service after the war. See link kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqTIgGWcZbx6esk

[@mutualbeard]

I remember seeing a tank at the Lancer barracks in Parramatta many years ago. I am no tank expert and don't recall it's name but what I do remember was the fact that it was cast. At first, I thought it was cast iron and would not take much to shatter but my father (an engineer) assured me that it was cast steel. It may very well have been a rare Australian made Sentinel.

[@pwillis1589]

I don’t remember a Sentinel at the Lancer Barracks but the Armoured Corps museum in Pucka has one as well as the Armoured museum in Carins.

[@traereid3173]

this is what happens when you let the engineers get on the beers before 6 o clock

[@genghiskhan7041]

The Sentinel wasn't a bad try, actually. It was better than anything the Japanese had, at least.

[@PoorlyGraded]

Fair point. It would've been really interesting to see how it could have preformed in combat

[@allangibson8494]

Given the Matilda 2 puréed the Japanese tanks in 1944, probably pretty well…

[@justaruztyspoon668]

If only the 1 tiger tank sent to them dismantled in a sub was never sunk, maybe japan would of got their shit together...

[@allangibson8494]

@@PoorlyGraded The much derided Bob Semple tank was better armored than the Japanese Type 95 Ha Go tank… Testing showed the Ha Go could be disabled with an antipersonnel land mine. The 9mm armor was a bit of a joke too.

[@IronSquid501]

Not a very high bar but yes

[@ihatethatyoutubedisplaysyo8106]

Why you gotta drive a knife into my heart by bringing up Holden

[@PoorlyGraded]

I'm sorry mate, but the grief will always be there. RIP Holden - always in our hearts!

[@blitzer3973]

On the topic of the 17 pounder, the Thunderbolt was the first allied tank to actual house the gun, well before the Firefly would and apparently was the inspiration for the Firefly because during the test with the 17 pounder there were a few British army officials and they took that idea back with them to help with the Firefly project.

[@Ocker3]

Once again the Poms just steal an Australian idea with little to no recognition!

[@blitzer3973]

@@Ocker3 bastards aren't they

[@Slavishcarp]

One still remains at the tank museum in Puckapunyal north of Melbourne, it was in the workshop when I was there and managed to get a peak at it

[@oisnowy5368]

Even if some parts of the Sentinel were perhaps less impressive; compare it to the tanks the Japanese fielded. Those are the things it would have to face. Against that, the 2 pounder would suffice.

[@rsm241]

Great video mate! Super interesting and I had no idea that an Aussie was the first person to design a tank

[@justsomerandombirdwithinte5896]

We all know the sentinel was made to wrangle hunstman spiders for the milk farms, gotta keep the populace strong and healthy after all!

[@glenchapman3899]

To bad it was not available for the Emu wars

[@mylesdobinson1534]

There's also 2 including a 17pdr at the Cairns Armour and Artillery museum as well as a Yeramba.

[@discount8508]

thank you for bringing Lancelot De Mole into light .....where most have ignored him for some bizarre reason

[@Regolith86]

Probably because he didn't really contribute all that much. Continuous tracks had been in popular use in the tractor industry for over a decade by the time the Brits invented the tank (with the idea itself going back to the 1830s), and it's much more likely that's where the idea for the tank's tread system came from than from De Mole's invention, which basically just replaced the tires on a vehicle with a tread system.

[@discount8508]

@@Regolith86 his contribution sat on their shelf gathering dust until 1916 when things got desperate ......dont make the mistake of thinking an armoured car is a tank .....an armoured car would have made 5m into that terrain before it got bogged

[@TomasFunes-rt8rd]

@@Regolith86 Yet the Guinness Book of Tank Facts & Feats places him at the place of honour as the man who got there first.

[@TomasFunes-rt8rd]

The Guinness Book of Tank Facts & Feats, which I was reading in the 70s, gave him his rightful place. It's probably a simple trip to Amazon or eBay away...!

[@HRHtheDude]

Good luck with your channel.

[@PoorlyGraded]

Thank you!

[@Da_man-lb7wn]

This channel is criminally underrated, lol. Hope you get good fortune in terms of viewership and the likes.

[@3dwrecker_4660]

RIP Holden Although the Bombadore can stay in the depths of hell.

[@nitesurfer]

not to bad at all and quite entertaining... i always wanted to subscribe to some hard working drongo with less than 50 subscribers and think.. i encourared them ... But really keep up the good work.. the more you produce the better it will be.. your kind of naturally entertaining ...

[@PoorlyGraded]

Thank you! Really appreciate it, I'm blown away at all the amazing support I've gotten from this video. I hope I can keep delivering more videos that are better quality each time :)

[@yeaman2996]

New Zealanders had Crusaders and some Matilda’s so they were pretty good but I know I know they didn’t make anything special, they just had the Māoris and the Hakka ;-)

[@geradkavanagh8240]

New Zealand made this special tank. from Australia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Semple_tank

[@michaelmclachlan1650]

New Zealand had quite a variety of tanks, whilst they didn't use the Matildas in action they did use Valentines on Green Island, some fitted with 3-inch howitzers removed from Matildas.

[@TomasFunes-rt8rd]

@@geradkavanagh8240 And so perceptive of them to name it "the BS Tank"...!

[@wufongtanwufong5579]

Another thing about the sentinel, was that during the war Australia had a shortage of zinc an important component when making armour. So they developed a new armour metal alloy that was just as good as zinc based armour.

[@nolesy34]

That's the only good things about war.. It forever forces innovation

[@LeeAtkinson98]

For your video endings, just make a opaque white layer over the screen and have a big D- appear and get circled in the same nice quick sharp fashion a teacher who's been getting the "disappointing" class 5 years in a row

[@alankohn6709]

You forgot to mention that the work done on the 17 pounder variant was used to design the 17 pounder mounting on the Firefly You should look into 'Big Lizzie' and Frank Bottrill who designed a vehicle using his own improved version of 'Dreadnaught wheels' intended for domestic and military use

[@robingallagher8605]

There are two Sentinels at the Australian Tank Museum in Cairns.

[@7thsealord888]

Good video. There was an experimental version of the Sentinel that had TWO 25-pounder guns mounted in the turret (I kid you not - I've seen pics of it). I think this must have been the run-up to the Thunderbolt. They didn't have the intended gun to experiment with at that time, but DID have lots of 25-pounders.

[@lachlancannard]

Yes, there were no 17Pdrs in the country at the time, so to test the recoil they mounted the pair of 25s.

[@Fiasco3]

Ya the 2x 25pder version was a test bed for the 17pdr. They were testing recoil.

[@traereid3173]

and whats more funny, is that when they were doing firing tests of the dual 25's, the tank was surprisingly accurate and didnt need to be re-layed after each shot. so who knows, if worst came to the worst and we needed to make more of the thunderbolt versions, they mightve been pretty damn decent in combat

[@frisho2190]

I will watch this channels growth with great interest

[@Basty5095]

this man is criminally underated

[@ravenof1985]

there is a sentinel at the puckapunyal tank museum and another at Armour & artillery mueum in cairns . i dont believe there is one at the war memorial

[@PoorlyGraded]

Ah, I missed the one at Puckapunyal in Victoria! Thanks for pointing that out. The one at the War Memorial is located at the Treloar Resource Center, not the AMW Main Building itself (according to Wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinel_tank ) Also, I looked into the one at Cairns and found that it has a cool story behind it: It was originally located in Melbourne until it was put on auction in 2014, where it was purchased by Wargaming - the developers of 'World of Tanks' funnily enough! It was displayed in Austin, Texas, for a while before being placed in Cairns. Wargaming even went out of there way to make a mini-documentary about it, you can check it here: wargaming.com/en/news/ac1-sentinel/

[@dagadeemeh1077]

Just subscribed and loving your videos so far. If I may offer some constructive criticism - own your jokes. It is hard enough to make history funny.

[@veli69]

you deserve more subscribers keep it up bro

[@haselnutcracker9447]

damn this is some good content, keep it up

[@joekingham5582]

Keep the videos coming mate, keep the ww2 memes alive!

[@Rawkus105]

Hey mate - just had this video suggested to me so it looks like the algorithm is picking you up! Subbed and looking forward to more

[@myday805]

It was also an Aussie, General Monash, who came up with the self contained tank unit and shock troops combat that broke the stalemate in France in WW1 and the Germans would use to great effects in WW2. I don't think it's a coincidence that it was the Aussies in Tobruk who were the first to stop the German blitzkrieg as many of the officers were students of Monash and could recognise his tactics when they saw it.

[@kristian4279]

Glad i stumbled upon this channel in all it's glory of 475subs.. This is gold.. definitely better than Four X

[@donnyanda3191]

great vid m8 keep it up

[@tasman006]

Not a bad vid you forgot the twin 25 pounder version but that is okay. Just to add on your vid at 6.24 you made a mistake. The American and British tanks we ended up with was the M3 Stuart which we used the M3 Grant which we hated and used for training and replaced it with an older tank the Matilda which we used in service. Matilda was still useful agianst the Japanese. Near the end of the war the Churchill vs Sherman contest happened with the Churchill winning the compitition for our next tank in service because of its great climbing abilities which suited New Guniea. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqTIgGWcZbx6esk

[@PoorlyGraded]

Ah, thanks for that! Wasn't aware of the whole 'Churchill v Sherman' Competition, but sounds super interesting. Glad to hear you enjoyed watching it.

[@dominictaylor8672]

The twin 25 per version was only created to test the recoil to see if the tank could a 17pdr

[@jdelark6428]

That twin 25 pounder version of the Sentinel seemed to be the genesis of the renowned GDI Mammoth Tanks :P

[@Xumak525]

You get my subscribe, Mr Budget historian.

[@zahylon5993]

Considering how the Japanese Tank industry went during the war, the Sentinel was a perfectly acceptable domestic alternative to fend off Japanese Armored Units.

[@jayartz8562]

Work on fitting the 17 pdr in the AC4 sentinel helped with the development of the Firefly. The Michell crankless engine was proposed, that's a whole other video there.

[@rowengarcia3852]

is the title a reference to potential history, if so then loving this channel

[@hydrogen18]

Cool videos, I hope you are able to make more

[@seanlander9321]

It’s a shame the Sentinel never saw service, particularly against the rubbish Japan was designing and building. The speed and armour of the Sentinel would have easily dealt with Nippon steel.

[@Cam64viper]

You did your best for sure! It was entertaining the whole way through, I'll be here to see how the channel grows ^-^

[@garynew9637]

Specimen of this in Aussie armour and Artillery museum in Cairns.

[@KinkniK]

That was an awesome video, very informative. Keep it up imkeen for more, cheers mate ☆

[@canadiandragon7069]

Would honestly love to see you do a video of the Canadian Ram tank

[@Millzee117]

Great Video, 🎉🙌

[@strafe8866]

great video

[@colonel_yuri]

the south african armoured car sounds like a good idea for harrasing supply lines.

[@Jarms48]

Thunderbolt or AC3 had a 25-Pdr. It was the AC4 that had the 17-Pdr

[@JMB177]

Never knew about these. What a rugged piece of engineering from down under its a shame they never saw service :(

[@rexbow3799]

More random history about military vehicles to fuel me.

[@mathewkelly9968]

Considering some of the other cringe pronunciation Yeramba was pretty close , certainly better than Simon Whistlers appalling Australian place name pronunciation. Ernt a subscription

[@PoorlyGraded]

Haha, thank you!

[@digger1900]

Hi great vid - The Australian Armour & Artillery Museum has a Sentinel Mk I, Sentinel Mk IV

[@EnduringFoliage]

Are there any abandoned Holden plants still standing?

[@dominictaylor8672]

Very interesting design even had the first power pack design of engines

[@brucebanner52]

Dual citizenship =/= True Aussie. In this age of ever diluting immigration it's important to remind foreigners that the government doesn't decide what you are, the citizenry do. Act Indian, guess what, still Indian. Otherwise, nice video on our tank legacy and the accents weren't all that bad 👍

[@denzelbeni-hobbs5652]

Go throw a tantrum Aussie is Aussie. Cry in your room while move people move in.

[@warhawk4494]

Great video lol

[@BeamRider100]

I only just noticed that the right star of the southern cross on the flag is higher than the left star.

[@robertb7293]

So. What I got out of this is that the thing everyone else calls a 'cruiser tank' is what Australia considers a car, but suitable for the Outback. And it was essentially just three Holdens and two guns wrapped in cast steel. But then we never bothered using it and just bought imports. About right.

[@thurin84]

2:40 incidentally a MKIV tadpole tank.

[@dekinnis]

rip our good old mate holden

[@discipleofdagon8195]

"Australia's industrial capacity at the time" *sigh*... R.I.P Australian refinement industries

[@Xenophon1]

The flamethrowing Shermans were the real crowd pleasers of the Pacific.

[@glenchapman3899]

I guess that depends which side of the flame you were on

[@ragin_4008]

You mention how we couldn't build a modern tank due to the lack of our car industry, yet you forget to mention that these tanks were actually built by NSWGR's Chullora Workshops. Theoretically, we still have the industrial capacity to build tanks, since our rolling stock industry is still alive and well. Also, it's just funny that the direct predeccessor of Sydney Trains built tanks.

[@Anima--L]

R.I.P Holden

[@montieluckett7036]

Bob Semple was a wise and far-sighted individual. He may have come up with a crap idea; but his idea was a stop-gap for the early war years when no other resources were available. Nor was the industrial development necessary to the times. All weaponry started from agricultural development tools. Iron to steel, scythe to sword, etc., etc., and so forth.

[@PoorlyGraded]

Definitely. Despite all the jokes made about the Bob Semple Tank, it is kind of impressive that New Zealand was able to pull it off in the first place. I recommend this video about it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKCpkpWGhKumfrM Its really informative and entertaining, mentions the same things you brought up.

[@allangibson8494]

The Bob Semple tank may be a meme but it would have come as a horrible shock to the Japanese as a self propelled bunker. It was actually better armored than some of the Japanese tanks…

[@supaorigamisensei]

I’d rather the sentinel over the bob semple tank any day 🤣 we also churned out some decent small arms too

[@genghiskhan7041]

"Most australian innovation ever: 3 Cadillac V8s". Yup, that famous Australian brand, Cadillac!!

[@ihatethatyoutubedisplaysyo8106]

It's the act of V8 swapping everything

[@gopnikoperator727]

as an australian the fist time you did the accent was funny

[@terrified057t4]

wait wait wait, hold the fuck up! Holden's gone?

[@allangibson8494]

Holden built their last car in 2017 and sold the last vehicle with a Holden name plate in 2020 (and then GM closed them down).

[@watsisbuttndo829]

There's no way that cooling jacket didn't get repainted once in service.

[@Alex-oz3pb]

dead on, mate

[@djcoopes7569]

"focus on manufacturing domestically" shame we lost that spirit post-1980. nowadays nothings made here anymore and the stuff that is manufactured here is made by french companies

[@andysvehiclehistorychannel]

I made a video on this last year it's a very unusual looking tank

[@unclemcpeanut]

A correction, other than those places mentioned that have the sentinal the Cairns tank museum has 2 sentinals a mk1 and mk 4 and a matilda no 3 mk1 dozer tank as well as several other tanks and artilary pieces, they also do cool videos about restoring the vehicles, kzbin.infovideos

[@pwillis1589]

The Armoured Museum in Pucka also has one.

[@erikz2754]

Goodday the one in Canberra is in the storage area with so much more terrific tank .

[@veli69]

also do you happen to have a dc server?

[@PoorlyGraded]

No, I don't. But that could change in the future, maybe.

[@smu1geee]

why did holden have to leave. im an australian, and i love the car. WE MISS YOU OL' BOI!

[@_ZimZam]

Fahkin lekker m8

[@RailPreserver2K]

In other words it came from a land down under. (Just play down under and you'll get it xD)

[@tomgaz9779]

GO PAULY!

[@yesterdayschunda1760]

wtf is with the tank @2:39? the rear end has a big extended section on the rear? Was that a late war upgrade after the Germans increased the width of their trenches?

[@Omba820]

My favourite non meme tanks (the bob semple is my favourite meme tank) is the sentinel

[@Ari.Atland]

Canada also made Valentine tanks.

[@koalaforesttankreyschool2656]

hay mate you forgot 3 veriants of the sentinel the ac3 a sentinel armed with a 25pdr and dual guned version of the ac3 with 2 25pdrs and a ac1 fitted with a long barrel 25pdr l/34 gun

[@kirishima638]

Australia made cars?!

[@glenchapman3899]

Yes - For a very long time actually en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry_in_Australia

[@koalaforesttankreyschool2656]

could you edit this video to add the 3 other veriants of the sentinel you missed

[@billsniff9146]

As far as i know there are 6 AC-1s left, in varris states. At least 5 in decent completion.

[@QuizmasterLaw]

"and their armoured hulls converted into farming vehicles" Australia: Secretly a UKRAINIAN colony!

[@tomasdawe9379]

Or is it the other way around?

[@thegoodaussie1968]

"slow and agonising death of Holden's" bro they literally left the country months ago

[@thegoodaussie1968]

Btw, Australia is one of the only countries to date that never used Shermans in service, we tested them but they were never used

[@thurin84]

"australia was the 1st country to invent the tank" [ANGRY BURSTYN TANK NOISES]`

[@ChernobylPone]

It needed some GUP characters

[@thepulle4722]

Not a bad video, but I spotted a few mistakes or other things worth mentioning, India did actually build an armoured vehicle in the form of the Indian Pattern Carrier. The tank at 2:39 is a Mark 4 Tadpole not a Mark 1. I’m pretty sure the Matilda 2 had a fully cast hull as well which predates the AC 1. It was also worth mentioning the AC 3 Thunderbolt, a variant armed with a 25 pounder gun

[@snebbywebby2587]

No, the Matilda isn’t cast as one piece

[@PoorlyGraded]

Ah, thanks for pointing that out. The Indian Pattern ACV looks really interesting, its a shame I missed it. Also, whoops! Didn't realise that was a Mark 4. I just googled "Mark I images" and that was one of the first results. As for the Matilda II thing, I'm not sure. All the sources I find about the Sentinel claim that it was the "first" -- maybe its because the Sentinel had a fully cast hull AND turret? Either way, the Matilda II is one of my top 10 tanks, so I might make a video about it in the futre. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for the comment!

[@thepulle4722]

@@PoorlyGraded Yeah I wasn’t entirely sure on the Matilda point as well, I just mentioned it as an example of another largely cast tank but I’m thinking now, as the first reply mentioned, it wasn’t a one piece cast like the AC

[@ScubesFTW]

I'd a called it a shazz wozzla!

[@tomherbert8858]

Didn't they slap two 25 pounders into the turret of one of these bad boys to test recoil?

[@wufongtanwufong5579]

lindybiege said this was not a very good tank. Thechieftainshatch responded No. but it's a lot better than other countries first attempt at a tank

[@leonaluceid2388]

no benis in Thunderbolt variant :(, sad

[@panzersquads5437]

Damn