Best of The History Guy: Tanks

From the History Guy Vaults, five episodes about armored vehicles. Nearly a full hour of the History Guy!
00:00 - Tiger 131 and the Battle at Guriat el Atach
13:26 - Oddball Tanks: Extemporized Armored Fighting Vehicles
26:40 - Mephisto and the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux
38:58 - The 1943 Battle of Thala, Tunisia
46:43 - Three Stories of the Dreaded "88"
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This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
You can purchase the bow tie worn in this episode at The Tie Bar:
www.thetiebar.com/?...
All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.
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The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered is the place to find short snippets of forgotten history from five to fifteen minutes long. If you like history too, this is the channel for you.
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Script by THG
#history #thehistoryguy #Tanks

[@samuelschick8813]

Every good story involves pirates, tanks, battleships and The History Guy.

[@krispypriest5116]

+1 Well said. Historian, bard, teacher and best of all......Our History Guy.

[@wyliehudson8396]

I recall about 12 years ago when I was younger and in better physical shape, i was using my athletic agility to participate in a favorite hobby of dumpster diving. I came across an interesting haul of items like glass lenses etc that gave me the impression such items came from the purging of a chemistry class. It made sense since I was diving at a college campus. One small heavy metal item was inside a once very attractive velvet bag. I wondered if it was part of a microscope, as it had 2 intact lenses 1 at each end and two grooved holes that appeared to have had screws. I simply put it with the entire haul without giving it another thought. As a recycle artist i made a mental note of the many items from that dive even tho a year had gone by before I got it all out to try and create something from that haul. The velvet bag item peaked my interest when I noticed letters and numbers engraved in it. Researching the info I discovered it to be a small telescope apparently having been part of a Sherman tank from 1943, truly among the koolest things I've found over the years.

[@89volvowithlazers]

The only dude who correctly wears "the bow tie" and looks good and natural wearing one. Rare indeed. History without question on point and relevant to all, human stories.

[@jamesray4999]

This is the best damn channel on KZbin.

[@mcm95403]

When I was a kid (late 70's) I remember seeing a documentary about the North Africa campaign. The thing that really stood out in my mind was a soldier wiping the dirt off the corner of a tank, cracking an egg on it and it INSTANTLY fried! Imagine what it was like to be inside these tanks.

[@ScoutSniper3124]

As a member of the U.S. Army I found myself fabricating armor in both Iraq (2003) and Afghanistan (2010). In Iraq my CO tasked me with welding up improvised armor for several 5-ton trucks. All I could scrounge in Camp Buehring Kuwait was 1/4" mild steel diamond plate, so that's what I used. A bullet would have gone through it like a hot knife through butter. I also manned the .50 bmg turret in one of these trucks from Kuwait to Baghdad. Our truck just happened to hold the entire battalions' excess munitions (AT-4's, claymores, crates of C-4, crates of grenades), so if we had taken fire, it's likely they would have never found much of us nor the truck. But the armor served its purpose to dissuade any attack at all. In Afghanistan, serving as a SOT-A member attached to an ODA (A-Team), we were posted in COP Penich, a small outpost near the Pakistan border. The terrain was such that we often found ourselves in the position of being near high ground so steep it was impossible to elevate the normal turret's machineguns enough to fire upon the enemy. The solution I came up with, and approved by the ODA Commander was welding an additional "Stinger" turret which not only gave overhead cover to the standard turret, but had another machinegun mounted behind and up from the turret gunner so he could transition from the main turret's gun to the stinger and fire straight up if needed. The armor I used was salvaged from blown up armored HMMWV's, and was this time actual armor plate. Improvised armor, even in the most advanced military on the planet, the U.S. Army, still exists today. SSG. U.S. Army (Medically Retired) Infantry / Sniper / SOF Intel (SOT-A), multiple tours

[@sithyarael6807]

Yeah if your deuce and half got hit with all that in it nothing would be left than a crater to show that y'all were there.

[@captainamerica3814]

Thank you for your service.

[@bartsanders1553]

An episode about tanks? You know what would make this even better? 🏴‍☠️

[@mitchellreid8534]

A tiny plot of ground where men fought and died. True words, if ever i heard spoken.

[@tango6nf477]

Hi HG thank you so much for mentioning actions by the British Army in North Africa. The campaign after the victory at El Alamein is not a very well known part of history. The Sherwood Foresters were one of our local Regiments as was the Derbyshire Yeomanry which also took part in savage fighting in North Africa. There are many memorials, in small rural villages to major cities in my part of the world which evidence the bravery and sacrifice of members of these Regiments in what was vicious fighting; it is as a famous Historian says, "History that deserves to be remembered".

[@eloiseharbeson2483]

Most people don't appreciate how rare this is. Tanks die hard when they die. "Brewing up" is how a hit that sets off fuel and ammo is referred to, and usually leaves a pile of scrap metal.

[@walterdebnam8021]

IDEAS ARE PEACEFUL, HISTORY IS VIOLENT!

[@dougstubbs9637]

I used to climb over Mephisto when it sat outside at the Old Queensland Museum on Bowen Bridge Rd., way back in the Seventies when I was a kid. My Father worked a short walk away, and during school holidays we’d go the The Museum, the hatches were welded up, never been inside. Now, fully restored, it’s behind glass in controlled atmospheric conditions, at the New Museum on The Southbank.

[@RetiredSailor60]

Good morning History Guy and everyone watching. Happy St Patrick's Day. Celebrate responsibly. 🍾 🎉

[@AbbStar1989]

Damn. Tanks are both awe inspiring and terrifying at the same time.

[@benjaminrees3687]

History Guy, you do so many brave souls a great justice in telling their stories. So many of these little known but important conflicts. Good on you Sir. I salute you

[@hilltopgypsy]

THG = THUG! He's the Original Bad Ass THUG, and truly someone who tries to keep our memories alive which makes him worthy of our honor and respect! As they say "You Go BOIEE! You a Thug, and worth being remembered!" Thanks for your efforts.

[@doitatit]

Visit the Brisbane Science and Natural History Museum and stand next to Mephisto ! It is awesome. The battle damage is clearly evident. The tank stood out side for years but thankfully it’s indoors now. Thank you History Guy, another great show.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIini4dthcaNoNE

[@Torahboy1]

I would love to see an episode of THG where he gives us all a tour of his study. There’s so many interesting looking objects behind him. I bet he could regale us with quite a few tales of what those artefacts are, and why he has chosen THEM to keep him company on his time travels. Also……. where is History Cat?

[@martiniv8924]

My father was in North Africa from 39’ (19 years old) until the allied landing in Sicily , he had got his first stripe for being able to start and drive a Caterpillar D8 Bulldozer (many shipped from the states) he had been in all this melee, recruited into the Staffordshire regiment, and part of the RASC, I found sometime back a video of ‘Tiger 131’ on KZbin with a short clip included of her being towed after capture by a caterpillar D8, the Mighty Tiger (56 ton ) being led into captivity by a just as legendary ‘Cat’ D8 Dozer (about 20 ton) I sometimes wonder whether he had a hand in moving Tiger 131.

[@davea6314]

My grandpa built Sherman tanks during WW2, long before I was born. RIP

[@jveebklyn1644]

My dad rode in one in North Africa and Italy. It wasn't great, but he preferred it to the infantry. Thanks to your grandfather and all others who worked hard to support the war effort.

[@davea6314]

@@jveebklyn1644 Yep. Maybe my grandpa built the very same Sherman tank that your dad rode in. RIP

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

Hey History Guy ,🤓👋 Happy St Patrick's Day!

[@NoManClatuer-pd8ck]

I really enjoy these extended compilations. You are a great story teller. Keep up the great work.

[@user-so5sz7sb3l]

Enjoying your videos, well researched and balanced. No bells and whistles, speculation or dramatic music, just the known facts. Thank you.👍

[@shittersful]

"Puddin Pie"... I just spit all over myself laughing....

[@schlirf]

As much as ALL Tankers have earned their laurels (with significant assistance from the glorious Scouts), folks have forgotten how important the truckers and trucks were.

[@VictorianTimeTraveler]

My great-grandpa drove a truck in the North Africa campaign in WWII. (he was a combat engineer but he was transferred to Logistics)

[@hatuletoh]

My great-grandfather, who enlisted at age 17, worked as a motorpool mechanic in France in WWI. Just a few weeks before the war was over in November 1918, a crank-start handle kicked back on him and broke him arm, so he got a head start on the trip back home. I have the medical travel pass on a string that he wore around his neck during the trip from the front, both to detail his wounds to medical any professionals along the way, and to show he had permission to be away from his unit. But despite not having been in actual combat he almost didn't make it home when he contacted the Spanish Flu and was quarantined for a month on a medical ship on the Mississippi River near New Orleans. But he survived, eventually he got married, and after some needling from my great-grandmother (probably during the Depression), he completed the paperwork necessary to receive a medical pension from the Army. For the rest of his life, he got $16 a month by check in the mail for his "war wound."

[@VictorianTimeTraveler]

@@hatuletoh wow. It is great that you know about your great-grandparents. (forgive the clumsy wording) My great-great-grandfather fought in World War 1. I don't know what he did I just know he was from Lueck because my family's tried to cover it up because he immigrated to Canada after the war, changed his name and ironically all three of his sons fought in the United States military Army Navy and Marine Corps in World War II and his daughter served as a nurse. (they had to dual US Canadian citizenship, that they gave up because they didn't want to fight in the Canadian military)

[@normalrationalguy1980]

Don't forget about the "crunchies". What's that you ask?! Simple, it's the sound grunts make as motor t runs em over

[@keithskelhorne3993]

@@normalrationalguy1980 and not to forget the slushsies , as the grunts swill out the dead tankies?

[@alancrews2066]

I very much enjoy your retelling of lesser known battles. Your enthusiasm for history is appreciated. Thank you.

[@felixmosca1051]

My dad's tank platoon (Co. "A", 749 TB, attached 63rd ID) was wiped out by German .88s on 3/3/45. I often wondered how they managed to knock out 5 tanks and hit 1 before the Sherman's could shoot back or take evasive action. Learning that the .88 could fire 20 rounds a minute, I think I finally have the answer.

[@TTTT-oc4eb]

Tiger 131 - the more famous a battle or incident is - the more versions (and even conspiracy theories) there are about it. Makes you think about how little we know about lesser known battles and incidents. The allies, both the Soviets, Americans and British actually had similar guns as the "88", but these were rarely used in the AT role, and furthermore the "88"'s mount was much lighter and more flexible. As for the trouble the "88" had against the KV-1, it was due to too soft armor piercing rounds. In 1942 the improved Panzergranate 39 appeared and would prove to be the best standard armor piercing round of the war. The Americans had the same trouble with soft AP rounds with their 76mm M1 and 90mm M3 guns in late 1944.

[@robinwells8879]

My wife’s paternal grandfather was there and right on through to the end of the Italian campaign. He was a gun tractor driver. Somewhat hard of hearing! Can’t imagine why! Incidentally, Itchy boots is touring through Morocco and the Atlas Mountains. Stunning!

[@gonzostrangelove6107]

I have been SCREAMING the importance of the defense of Thala for years. Thank you so much for this episode.

[@keithskelhorne3993]

Longstop Hill, a certain L/Bdr T ( Spike) Milligan was there . :) ( 56 Hy Regt , R.A)

[@terrydeason7453]

I love how you bring such emotion to the stories you tell. I hope that kids today watch and learn about really historical events. They need to know how much they owe to the older generations.

[@ChIGuY-town22_]

Great story, I have read stories of these battles for a long time. Thank you for bringing it to life.

[@Newtire]

I can’t tell you how much your programs interest me. Your research must be exhausting even though it’s obvious that you enjoy what you do. So, thank you for putting up these fascinating tales! I wonder if you could tell me where to find the “jingle” that is played at the end of your stories? It really “flips my switch.”

[@88njtrigg88]

12:36 T-shirt and jeans? You look younger now and more dignified. Love your videos.

[@ditzydoo4378]

Thank you for bringing the little guy and their contributions to the fore in your continuing series.

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

Hey Playboy🤓 👋 you are looking mighty Snazzy this early morning! Or should I say Bobby Dazzler 🍻I think my fellow classmates would concur !😉

[@samuelclayton4405]

Excellent program History Guy.

[@tracytrawick322]

Great piece of history, Cassarine pass, we're all familiar with.... The Battle of Thalia - not so much, as in never heard of it - yet it's history that deserves to be remembered. Without Thalia you don't fully understand the battle of Cassarine. As is typical, superb video!

[@johnbradshaw4963]

A fine story teller is similar to a great painter. Both artists bring the picture to vivid life like reality. I truly appreciate your fine gift with words!

[@MustangsTrainsMowers]

Tanks a lot for making this video. I’m sure you made tracks doing research for this.

[@currawongee1]

I remember looking at Mephisto as a child and thinking it was very odd as far as tanks go.

[@AndyFromBeaverton]

Imagine a time when something could be mass-produced in a factory, hit the battlefield soon after, and change the course of history,.

[@LazyFloridian]

Dude, great stuff. You make me THINK. Over and over.

[@sixty3caddy]

"Best of Tanks" You're welcome!

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

Tanks alot !

[@jduff59]

Hans Van Luck's book is a great read - I recommend it to all WWII buffs. He may make himself seem like an innocent casualty of war, but it's still an interesting book.

[@danielcombs3207]

Imagine managing a anti-tank gun and having to deal with a Tiger tank. That takes guts and coolness under fire. Brave British soldiers for certain.

[@mchrome3366]

Great fact based accounts of these specific battles. WW 2 was a collection of thousands and thousands a of individual fights which all need to be told to really understand what this war was like. I was guilty as a newbie years ago of watching a couple of videos and reading a few accounts and thinking I knew everything. Thanks for a great video.

[@MarshOakDojoTimPruitt]

thanks

[@budwilliams6590]

As a main infantry weapon, we had the M1 Gerand and Germany had bolt action rifles. That made the difference.

[@DavidSmith-ss1cg]

Naa-ah, The Allies won because Germany had HITLER micromanaging their war, and he just did an awful job; and the Allies did not. We had LOTS of idiots, but none were as "out-of-it" and yet completely in command. D-day succeeded because Hitler's minions were afraid to wake him up to ask for permission to move up the Reserves of Armor, which might have beaten the invasion if they were present and actually ON the Normandy beaches. The Allies deception(making Hitler - and his Generals - believe that D-day would happen at Calais) was why D-day worked.

[@vagabondquerier9375]

luv this! pls make more like this when you can.

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

Back in the Saddle Again Naturally

[@tigertiger1699]

Always always so humbled🙏🌹

[@nedludd7622]

In the first episode THG ends with "all too human". It was maybe an unknowing reference to the book by Nietzsche "Human, All Too Human".

[@michaelgalea5148]

Another great video thank you History Guy for sharing this with us. I always learn so much from you. Thank you.

[@marinetech262]

Excellent work sir. Excellent work.

[@user-py6oc4jo6c]

"History is the story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things."--Bob Bailey in Maine

[@davidkimmel4216]

Thank you so very much

[@joeobyrne3189]

Great compilation, really enjoyed it.

[@LongTrout]

[@detroitredneckdetroitredne6674]

Tanks for taking us on your adventure through time And hello from Detroit Michigan USA 94/275

[@TranscendianIntendor]

There could not have been a better editor of The Norton Anthology of War than Paul Fussell. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his First World War history "The First World War and Modern Memory." I have been likely to read Pulitzer winners ever since. What Mr. Fussell had to say about the use of the atomic bomb was not at all academic. (He said the closer you were to being one of the soldiers expected to invade Japan, the more you wanted it used and were glad it had been.) My earliest short story attempts were derived from books I had read or what little my father had to say about the war that he was in. There was a lot of fear of the "88". For the artilleryman aiming and firing the gun I cannot but imagine it would have been easiest to aim and there was a rational expectation whatever fired was going to hit where aimed or whatever something that got in the way. In modern war wherein the artillery is expected to do the majority of the destruction and killing desired the soldier is terribly impressed with how severe their luck influences their individual survival. Someone like Andy Murphy gave the individual soldier a little more morale boost since his survival could be ascribed to how great a rifleman he was. He must have been good as a gunslinger as well since I played one in the movies.

[@TM-ev2tc]

You should do a video on Howitzers or helicopters.

[@walterrider9600]

thank you

[@danh8302]

My grandfather was 1ad and fought throughout all of Africa and Italy. There is frustratingly much less available on North Africa. Any book recommendations? Thanks!

[@lyndoncmp5751]

Id highly recommend The Desert War Then and Now by John Paul Pallud for a comprehensive overview of the North African campaign. Its a beautiful coffee table sized book, heavy on photographs and light on needless text. Often, a picture can say a thousand words. The book tells you most of what you need to know. Concisely and accurately. 👍

[@domsphotography]

The North Irish Horse, which still exists as two Squadrons in the Scottish and Northern Ireland Yeomanry were Nick named “The one man regiment “ because between 1934 and 1938 that is all it consisted of one man a Major Sir Ronald D Ross Bt, MC.

[@chrisarcher5573]

This is probably my favourite of your videos

[@BasicDrumming]

I appreciate you, thank you for making content.

[@keithtorgersen9664]

Kind of funny, I live in Lancaster County, NE and we pronounce it “lan-cas-ter”, probably sounds very weird to the British. 🙂

[@aliceosako792]

Here's something I am curious about: a story I read many years ago claimed that one of the factors in the US armor defeat at Kasserine Pass was that several of the M3 tanks were mistakenly issued training/dummy rounds rather than armor-piercing rounds, and the error was only discovered after the fact. I have never heard this claim anywhere else, and was wondering if there is any documentation of this assertion.

[@molyminer007]

excellent explanation and story.Please allow me a small correction to the name of the battle. guriat el atach in arabic means the village of thirst, thus atach should be pronounced as el attach, which means thirst and also makes sense given the desert conditions.

[@alericc1889]

There are other Tiger tanks but 131 is the only ORIGINAL running Tiger.

[@Herlongian]

Imagine looking out at the countryside and seeing tanks approaching with bad intent. Imagine. What would you do? What could you do? Imagine.

[@robertmonaghan5420]

True... I Thank You.

[@chopsddy3]

Well done.👍

[@MR2Davjohn]

Please do a "Best of US Merchant Marines" History Guy episode. Thank you.

[@w.m.woodward2833]

Tanks.... a lot, THG!

[@stevepeyton9073]

Hey History guy All my life I've seen footage of Toyota Hilux pickups converted as gun carriers or troop carriers Tough ubiquitous little trucks

[@glencrandall7051]

I never knew there such varied armor during the first WW. Thank you for sharing.🙂🙂

[@rocksandcows3229]

Rommel.... You magnificent bastard, I READ YOUR BOOK!

[@garylister1592]

Love this

[@kearnsey64]

My old boss who was sent into the Buldge in January of 1944, was terrified by the 88. The Germans would fire into the upper pine trees raining down shrapnel and splinters into the ranks. The only saving grace was they could judge by the noise, where and when the shell would hit although not always accurate.

[@rogersheddy6414]

I can really tell you about a forgotten episode of history We always hear when we are told anything about the lost battalion of world war two about the japanese americans who rescued what was left. My Uncle William Evelyn boatman was awarded the silver star for his actions the day before the breakthrough. It was largely because of his endeavors that there was anything left to rescue. I used to have a citation for that medal which described what he did. First you can find the regimeal history that describes what they went through. The whole situation only occurred because the general was an incompetent, who had never commanded anything of substance until eisenhower appointed him to become the commander of the entire division. Hitler himself had been informed of the encirclement and was keen to see to it that his people destroyed the unit so that they would have a propaganda victory. My Uncle was given one of the 5 thirty caliber machine guns that manned the premature around his battalion. Here is why he received the silver star postumously. His sergeant placed him on the reverse slope of the hill to await any attack. On his own initiative, he picked up his machine and carried several cans of ammunition to a new Location on the forward slope of the Hill exposed to enemy fire. He then camouflaged the position and waited. Guess where the s s decided to attack? In the fight that ensued he killed enough germans to fill a truck. Literally a ton of germans. They figured out where he was and fired small arms mortars and grenades at him. S u n imagine he couldn't possibly have survived all that. But his action bought the unit time so that they bought men up to fend off the German attack and save the battalion. Bill gave up his entire future in order to save his friends. The level of his valor and the ferocity with which he fought deserved better than he received. But the general who commnded the battalion, in the midst of all the other controversy that surrounded this event, would have definitely drawn more attention to himself if Bill had received something like the Distinguished service cross or the congressional medal of honor from this action. So the general rests in peace in arlington National Cemetery, and Bill rests... in pieces.

[@jeffw1246]

On all the restored tanks and other heavy weapons I hope the main gun is operational as well. It's a crime to demil a tanks gun as if someone would try restarting the war with it. Like taking a famous historicaly significant pistol and cutting it up.

[@grapeape7284]

Tank Warfare Tunisia: 1943 has a fantastic Longstop Hill operation I highly recommend to anyone interested

[@jeffbangkok]

Good evening

[@jefftheriault3914]

That was a KV-2, by the way. The KV version that had the monster box turret, carrying the 152mm howitzer. And that was why it was such a good roadblock on level ground. On even a smallish slope, the turret would jam itself at the angle it was at. The PZKW MK I, II, III,and IV's and the CZECH tanks were routinely destroyed by the impact of that 152mm shell, if the KV gunner had time for an accurate shot. And if he had rounds for his main gun on board. It can be a fun tank in World of Tanks, but was a failure during the initial defense in 1941.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Raus was quite clear that it was a KV-1

[@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684]

The KV-2 in reality couldn't even fire its gun to the side as it had a tendancy to topple the tank over. Having a centre of gravity that high was a huge problem for it.

[@pyatig]

I was born in Odessa and had seen that tank. It was jokingly called НИ-1, на испуг, which roughly translates to “be afraid” lol

[@patrickfreeman8257]

Will somebody please point out to me the location of the "F" or even the "PH" in the word Lieutenant?

[@Blue-oh3te]

Dear The History Guy, how about Operation Frankton commando raid?

[@wayne1559]

how about a video about the "gun trucks" we used in Vietnam? they were successful

[@grantsmythe8625]

Tanks and submarines are fascinating.....but I would not want to serve in either. The possibilities of escape are somewhat limited.

[@dennistate5953]

Do you, our hero, tie that bowtie, or is it a clipon? Trying to learn how to be more like you.

[@lukehorning3404]

Did anyone else see that young handsome guy by the Tiger One Tank 😂

[@jasonshade2656]

Holy shit.. the first 35sec... Most are never known.

[@jedtattum9996]

the tank museum is in bovington dorset.

[@jeffreym.keilen1095]

As an armor crewman on M60A3 and M551 tanks, I really dug this doc. Tanx,History Guy. Keep up the good work. Tanker tough!🇺🇸👍👍

[@JohnTBlock]

How hard would it be to charter/commandeer commercial roll on/roll off ships? Would commercial carriers even WORK, in that roll? Lot of difference between a load of Hondas, and a load of Bradleys...

[@flinko99]

The best tank was, of course, the Renault FT.