Turning Captured Vehicles into German War Machines: The Genius of Alfred Becker

[@gunt-her]

What a fascinating character. Wherever he goes, his engineer brain sees the unrealized potential. Geniuses like Becker I would think are the reason the Germans were able to have an effective war effort for so long despite the numbers disadvantage.

[@SirJellyBean]

Yeah the Germans defiantly had some outside the box thinkers in all manner of engineering and the sciences .

[@AHappyCub]

Its the perk of having to rebuild the military from scratch, easier to justify untested and/or goofy looking design and tactics as long as they work as intended

[@leonehlers4574]

0:48 and​@@AHappyCub

[@leonehlers4574]

​@@AHappyCub1:20

[@Dilley_G45]

The reason Germany has a strong economy is not just the abundance of tradesmen and engineers but that for over a hundred years those guys were allowed to do their job without too much interference. It's not politicians or CEOs that made Germany powerful. Especially today

[@michaelneuwirth3414]

German, 60. Thank you for your video about this important man who is forgotten today! The appropriation of captured military equipment not only played an important role during the war, but was, in my estimation, already essential for the invasion of Poland in 1939. Even in the spring of 1938, the assessment that there would be a war in the next two years (by all parties involved!) would probably have been rejected as completely unrealistic, because the poor economic data of the Third Reich simply did not allow a rapid build-up of a larger German army in this period. A major war might not have been possible for the Germans until 1941/42, if one extrapolated the armaments production of the time. However, this was to change dramatically as a result of the Munich Agreement, which made the gradual occupation of the Czech Republic possible, as not only the entire equipment of the Czech army but also the local armaments industry could be appropriated. Within a few months, the fighting strength of the German army was increased by an incredible 30 per cent. The requisitioning of civilian cars and lorries from the occupied countries of Europe was also essential for the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. (Note added subsequently, Source: Wikipedia (German),"Zerschlagung der Tschechoslowakei") ... The equipment of 40 divisions of the disbanded Czechoslovakian army fell into the hands of the German Wehrmacht. In his speech to the Reichstag on 28 April 1939, Hitler named among the spoils: 1582 aeroplanes, 501 anti-aircraft guns, 2175 guns, 785 mine launchers, 469 tanks, 43,876 machine guns, 114,000 pistols, 1,090,000 rifles. Three of the ten German armoured divisions that carried out the advance through Belgium and France to the Channel coast in 1940 were equipped with Czech tanks. The Wehrmacht had hardly any heavy artillery at its disposal. The captured heavy artillery pieces from Czech production strengthened its fighting power. In addition, the Czechoslovak armaments industry was captured, especially the Škoda works in Pilsen, whose production, according to Winston Churchill, ‘from August 1938 to September 1939 alone was almost as large as that of the entire British armaments industry’. ...

[@SirJellyBean]

@@michaelneuwirth3414 amazing comment all good points and the Czechs were great arms producers there tanks were heaps and bounds ahead of many nations .

[@user-pt1ow8hx5l]

Yes. That infuriated Churchill back in 1938. That the Skoda works were handed on a silver plate to the Nazi's. Churchill believed, rightly one suppose, and your data bears out, that the Germans could have been 'strangled' by a bit of collective security. And Hitler removed from power. In 1938-39.... Alas...... So, thanks for the bucket list.

[@mark_sugar42]

@@SirJellyBean Czechs had a good start as they inherited most of the AH military factories. CZ was the main supplier of tanks to smaller countries in the inter-war period.

[@GoetzimRegen]

Germany was outpaced by Russia since 1938 because of the hidden mobilization and total war effort till Stalins death. The land lease program enabled the sovjet union to not have bottlenecks like the germans in the war effort, without land lease and the Siberian division the war would have be lost for Stalin. But even with all the loot, Stalin and Roosevelt where better prepared than West and Central Europe combined. In the end that made the difference. Witch out patchworking the german army, the war would have been much shorter with only a short peace. The problem even if Germany lost in 1940 is the huge build up in the east so that a possible endgame of Stalin conquering complete Europe from 1941 to 1944.

[@Briselance]

@@GoetzimRegen "that a possible endgame of Stalin conquering complete Europe from 1941 to 1944." Considering how the early part of operation Barbarossa, during the first few months, was for the Germans and their allies, a repeat of the 1940 Campaign, with them smashing through Soviet divisions, imagining Stalin conquering all of Europe between 1941 and 1944 is pure imagination. Because that would have meant that not a single country would have beefed up, or kept on beefing up, or beefing up even more than before, their military after a German defeat in 1940. The USSR was also deemed to be a threat, and a threat it was, the Finns could vouch for that.

[@Seifdaddy2]

Becker’s assault guns were mentioned by Hans Von Luck in his memoirs but he didn’t really describe them. So cool to hear more about them!!

[@SirJellyBean]

Thanks dude

[@rainerstahlberg2486]

I always wondered about the unorthodox vehicles Rommel inspected in films about the D -day.

[@martentrudeau6948]

Never heard of Becker before, but what a great man, he was resourceful, brilliant, a talented engineer, a brave soldier, and he had the Midas touch.

[@SirJellyBean]

Well said good Sir .

[@WgCdrLuddite]

Humble beginnings my arse. His father was a wealthy industrialist and Alfred was born with a silver spoon in his mouth

[@einfachignorieren6156]

​@@WgCdrLudditecope

[@ashleyupshall7641]

The logistics of what he achieved are very impressive.

[@SirJellyBean]

Very impressive I love the fact that he began the vehicle repurposing by himself without any support from high command .

[@aazz9676]

Which then mutated into a logistical nightmare.

[@portsmot]

indeed.logistics logistics.germans were good at logistics.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@portsmot Some Germans not all haha

[@spencereagle1118]

Interesting stuff. The US were known to re-use German vehicles, particularly tanks, but only modified so far as repainting/remarking them. US field mechanics at the Battle of the Bulge made a terrifying discovery when servicing the drive wheels of a Panzer tank, the bearing races had been made in Milwaukee on three months before. It was the start of uncovering just how many US companies had continued to trade with Germany throughout the war. Charles Higham's fascinating book 'Trading with the Enemy' goes into detail how companies like Standard Oil supplied U-Boats with fuel and how George Bush's father, Prescott Bush, paid the single largest fine given to an individual in US history for laundering German money. Henry Ford's German factories even continued to make trucks for the Wehrmacht, he incredibly claimed and won compensation after the war from Congress for damage to them from allied bombing.

[@SirJellyBean]

My god thats crazy those individuals committed treason , well that another rabbit hole i must go down I think you have given me a great idea for a future video good Sir

[@martentrudeau6948]

WW2 was just the continuation of WW1. War is profitable for the creditors financing the governments and corporations to wage war. "The borrower is SERVANT to the Lender." Governments and corporations are SERVANTs to the Lender, they don't serve the people they are supposed to represent.

[@warheadsnation]

Opel did likewise for General Motors. The trick was that the Nazis liked to partner with capitalists by pushing party members onto the Board of Directors (after all Jewish board members were expelled of course). American corporations protected themselves by replacing American members of German subsidiaries with new members acceptable both to themselves and the Nazis, leaving them as caretakers. This protected their interests no matter who won the War. As the GM CEO said before Pearl Harbor, when corporations are this large who wins doesn't matter.

[@lance8080]

Germans know good equipment when they see it.

[@thhseeking]

@@lance8080 For all the much-vaunted advances of tanks like Panther & Tiger II, the M4 Medium was a more reliable vehicle. And servicing the final drive was a breeze compared to the Panther &c. The Chieftain mentions it in some of his videos.

[@nigelconnor6960]

Quite a guy!! Not only did he command self propelled artillery units, he also designed/built his own equipment! Great presentation, thank you👍!

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou for the great comment

[@geoh7777]

What impressed me in the video is that after the war, Herr Becker set up his own business producing a very peaceable civilian product, initially "machines for the textile industry."

[@michaelbevan3285]

Becker had made a point of providing at least a 30% spares holding for each vehicle he sent out, so that each vehicle had a stock of spare track links or tyres and as much normal service items as he could find, knowing that once a vehicle went to the eastern Front, there was very little chance of getting fresh spares out to it's operators.

[@danielhughes7554]

A very good, simple, well presented and clear presentation of factual history. No going off in tangents, emotional music, or irritating A.I. narration ! Thank you for a KZbin video you can enjoy learning from !!!

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou for the kind words

[@michaelmayo3127]

Thus selfpropeled artillery piece, was born!!. The Germans and their ability to find talent within all ranks of their society and give talent the tools to grow, is unique.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@michaelmayo3127 they had some great ingenuity in there officer core.

[@ALEXANDER1318]

*Clears throat* Sir, the 1916 Gun Carrier MkI and the 1925 Birch gun would like to have a word or two with you. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Carrier_Mark_I en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birch_gun

[@aazz9676]

"The Germans and their ability to find talent within all ranks of their society and give talent the tools to grow, is unique." ROFLMAO oh wait your serious.

[@floriangeyer3454]

USED TO BE unique. Today we are a failed state and a marxist shithole.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@ALEXANDER1318 Very cool

[@TheRavenLord1]

Alfred is like a mad scientist. Instead of doing Frankenstein Monster, he’s doing military war machines.

[@SirJellyBean]

Yes indeed the man was mastermind when it came to engineering .

[@lucius6667]

Makes you think tbh what IF Becker and Speer had collaborated with Guderian to create a true Standard chassis design for all roles ​@@SirJellyBean

[@SirJellyBean]

@@lucius6667 good point tbh if Becker had been higher up in the military chain we could of seen a major improvement of Germany vehicles and most likely a simplification of the designs meaning more tanks .

[@lucius6667]

@@SirJellyBean could of seen the E series come much sooner or instead of just the Panther going into production we get DB Panzer basically a German T34 and Panther to replace the Pz3 and 4 with heavy support from the Tigers could of worked wonders when you also include the Easy to produce Pz38 Light tanks

[@SirJellyBean]

@@lucius6667 good points tbh so many amazing vehicles never got to the battlefield, I saw blue prints for an E series troop transport looked very dapper .

[@t5ruxlee210]

Gasoline powered movers had little to no priority overall in Germany because of the country's very dense coal fired railroad system and lack of domestic oil fields. Locomotives along with horse drawn delivery at shipper and receiver were efficient and cheaper. Their army on the march reflected this mindset. Col Becker's idea of repurposing the vast numbers of captured enemy trucks was a major achievement. It was very much helped by the fact that while they were the output of many different makers, their main critical repair components were fairly commonplace.

[@SirJellyBean]

Fantastic points good Sir.

[@DerAngriff]

" that while they were the output of many different makers, their main critical repair components were fairly commonplace." As I was watching this clip, it did strike me of the difficulty of keeping them going in the face of adverse environments. How would support elements keep these trucks, tanks, SPG's, half tracks etc going, when the parent manufacturer had been shut down and parts whittled away over the course of servicing of these vehicles? A logistic support nightmare...

[@SirJellyBean]

@@DerAngriff They did make sure every vehicle that was converted and sent to the front had around 30% of its total some of parts worth of spares given , they new these machine would eventually fail but made them last as long as possible

[@ronbdallas]

Great video about a genuinely creative and technically proficient engineer.

[@bobjohnston9154]

Becker was vastly underrated. A large proportion of the German armoured vehicles opposing the Allied Normandy landings were his captured French conversions. A remarkable engineer.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou kind Sir .

[@SirJellyBean]

Yeah he was fantastic in engineering and logistics , I was very impressed with his salvage teams work .

[@pyry1948]

I was fascinated by Becker ever since childhood, I love his PAK 40 and 105mm SPGs made using the FCM 36 tanks.

[@SirJellyBean]

He really is a very interesting figure

[@janetcohen9190]

Fascinating story on Mr Becker his engineering knowledge, skills, preceptions to salvage, re-use, save, improve what existed. Clearly Mr Becker a visionary even during war time in stark contrast to the M.O. financial, political, business, model fostering of modern consumerism. FFWD 80+ years contrary to what goes on now where PLM, planned obsolecence, designed to fail, etc have become ferventely promoted into prevalence under guises of "upgrade" , 'new', 'green', environmentally-friendly. Thus assuring wastes, squanderings, indetured servitude, massive imposed taxes, indebtings all plus interest / usury. Thanks for researching Mr Becker, and video presentation.

[@crownprincesebastianjohano7069]

Rommel spoke highly of him. He was able to equip a Panzer division when OKW was being quite stingy. I believe Becker was awarded the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords. Rommel originally out him in the for the proper Knight's Cross, but it was downgraded. Which is unfortunate for him considering his prodigious efforts.

[@SirJellyBean]

Yeah he contributed massively to the German war effort

[@MarkLucas-j9b]

Knights cross of the war merit cross is not really a downgrade, more of a difference in criteria for awarding .Still a prestigious award and rarer.

[@stephenlitten1789]

@@MarkLucas-j9b Yep. The KC-WMC is a non-combat award. With Swords was for military personnel and Without Swords was for civilians

[@TheMajorActual]

I ran across a mention of Becker on a WW2 forum once, several years ago, when researching "Beutewaffe", then found the Wiki article on him....and that was about all I could turn up, back then. Thank you for this.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou very much

[@cheesenoodles8316]

Great to know the back story. As a kid , found these adhoc armored fighting vehicles fascinating. Still do. Excellent video.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thanks good Sir .

[@Sashulya]

Thankyou for posting this fascinating story. Thankyou also for separating this rank-and-file officer's career from the whole geopolitical/ideological aspect of the regime he served under. It is too easy (and I see it far to often) to just brand every German an "evil nazi". A real innovator, an excellent administrator and capable field-commander, Lt.Col Becker is one of the few German officers I have genuine respect for. I would have loved to have interviewed this gentleman in his later years. May he rest in peace🙏 Big huge shoutouts to your channel!

[@SirJellyBean]

Thanks dude I appreciate the lovely comment .

[@RobertEHunt-dv9sq]

Excellent video. Thanks for posting. Very informative. Cheers from Texas.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thanks dude 🤠

[@sinisterisrandom8537]

I don't know what i should be more impressed by, the pictures used that i;ve never seen or the effort in the video, quite frankly WONDERFUL this was.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou very much very kind comment good Sir .

[@theknifedude1881]

Unfortunately my Audio is kinda hard to understand.

[@SirJellyBean]

Maybe it's my accent , try Mark Felton he has great stuff and better audio quality ill try to improve my skills for future.

[@russellnixon9981]

Really enjoyed this, knew nothing of this man, but he made a Signiant difference to the battle of Normandy. I have seen some of his mortised artillery but never knew who was behind their construction.

[@michaelbevan3285]

That last two vehicles in your video were interesting; a 20mm Flak towing it's Sonderanhangar trailer on a French chassis and a command vehicle on a French chassis.

[@SirJellyBean]

Yeah they are cool

[@tango6nf477]

I suspect that there were other people like him on both sides who were creative to a greater or lesser extent but never received the recognition they deserved. Hobarts "Funnies" are a good example. Very well researched video, well done and well presented.

[@SirJellyBean]

O yeah great on all sides I think Becker gets such praise as he alone got the ball rolling and he's relatively small force got 1800 vehicles converted which was a major saving grace especially for the forces in Normandy area .

[@bryanwheeler1608]

The South African Airforce flew Junkers Ju86 aircraft against Germany & somehow kept them in the air.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@bryanwheeler1608 bloody amazing lol

[@radiosnail]

Extremely interesting. Thankyou

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good Sir

[@janmale7767]

Very good thank you! I love innovation,this guy was very innovative!

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou dude

[@drdoolittle5724]

Brilliant - thank you for the hard work!

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou very much

[@amadeusamwater]

The Germans did a lot of salvage and reusing captured equipment. Becker appears to have led the way in that work.

[@SirJellyBean]

Yes a pioneer in that regard

[@marvwatkins7029]

A clever, innovative man.

[@SirJellyBean]

He was indeed

[@426baron]

The first ever German tank video we haven't seen a dozen time !! Excellent work, subbed.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou

[@MrMenefrego1]

A truly unique, outstanding, and informative production. I'm a first-time viewer and a new subscriber. With detailed productions like this, you should have 100-K subs in little time. Looking forward to your future creations!

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou a very kind comment 😁

[@owencrater7089]

I've a book on the 21st Panzer which covered Becker. This vid is a keeper on my play list for it's good to see the actual product that was discussed in the book. Great Job!

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou buddy

[@muhammadurrehman4221]

What an original thinker!

[@SirJellyBean]

Indeed

[@davidberlow9858]

This is a really great piece. It’s worth noting that the conversion from horses to fueled vehicles was greatly facilitated in the western theater by the fact that none of losing powers, including France, Belgium, Holland and the British in France destroying their fuel dumps and even national reserves, leaving them to be captured by the Germans, whose army was critically short of fuel from the Stuart of the war, thus the many horses. This fuel capture is supporting Becker’s earliest works, as he would not have been able to do so without a supply of fuel being readily available, while France had lots of grass and grains, and no fuel imports after 1940 except from Germany.

[@SirJellyBean]

Great info didn't know about the fuel not being destroyed a major mistake of the allies.

[@dondouglass6415]

What an amazing man... An enemy but resourceful genius.... Huzzah!! 😊

[@JamesSmith-qd4oq]

Great piece of history. Would have loved subtitles for the vehicles 👍

[@SirJellyBean]

Ill get on that in future videos

[@Blitz9H]

Well done Sir. The scenario played back loosely in Saving Private Ryan, the armor used were French tanks, and not a Marder III and Tiger I Modified French armor was used on the Ost Front as well. And some Char Bis modified as Flammpanzer were in Arnhem.

[@SirJellyBean]

O yes the modified Char Bs had there 75mm gun removed and replaced with a flamer a very cool flame tank

[@Blitz9H]

@historicmilitaria1944 Thank you. Excellent information. Much appreciated.

[@SirJellyBean]

@historicmilitaria1944 that's awesome info buddy

[@chrisloomis1489]

So interesting ; this is indeed frugality and creative thinking. Thank you for sharing this amazing man's history. Thank you Sir : Chris

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou kind Sir

[@aarotron2189]

I love that in steel division 2, 21st panzer is filled with beckers funnies

[@SirJellyBean]

O really ill jave to have a look I have SD2

[@bencejuhasz6459]

Greetings from Hungary! Excellent video on a rarely discussed subject.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good Sir .

[@bencejuhasz6459]

@@SirJellyBean If I may and I hope that I don't offend you. If I were you, I would practice on my German pronunciation. So people would understand who you were talking about or the places or the companies you were talking about. No offense to you, after all, I'm not fluent in German myself and there is a huge difference in between '25-year-old-me' and the 'current-version-of-me'. But I got corrected enough times to remember, that speaking German is not as easy as it looks or reads.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@bencejuhasz6459 yeah I know my pronunciation is terrible, it kinda my thing haha but appreciate the advice.

[@marlecmarine5393]

Never heard of him before, a really interesting video, the German army were lucky to have him......

[@SirJellyBean]

They were indeed

[@myronfrobisher]

Thank you for your superb presentation and thank you for your most excellent research - greatly appreciated !!!

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good Sir .

[@andrewsteele7663]

Great story, I had no idea who did the re purposing of the allied gear. I liked the story and the telling so much I have subscribed. Cheers

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good Sir much appreciated.

[@towgod7985]

Very well done and informative video! An awful lot of YT content providers should learn from how thoroughly comprehensive this video is! Cheers.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good Sir .

[@towgod7985]

@SirJellyBean my pleasure, keep up the good work.

[@michaelmayo3127]

Great research 👍👍👍👍

[@SirJellyBean]

@@michaelmayo3127 thankyou very kind of you to say

[@timothywood4402]

Great video and an amazing subject.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good Sir

[@selfdo]

Given that vehicle manufacturing involves 2:16 of special jigs and machine tools, when taking over non-German facilities, making a conversion of what vehicles they'd been producing was far quicker and less expensive than retooling for German equipment. This was particularly true with the Czech Skoda and Tatta factories. The Czech-made 38(t) was continued in production for the Panzerwaffe, constituting one-fourth of German tank strength in 1940. Ince the 38(t), though a workhorse, was obsolete since it couldn't readily take a larger tank gun, but the chassis was re-used as various self-propelled guns, tank destroyers, anti-aircraft vehicles, and command vehicles. The chassis was further reworked into a low-slung, purpose-built tank destroyer known as the Hetzer. Hard-hitting and difficult to spot, the Hetzer served well, taking a huge toll of enemy armor. After the war, the Communist Czech government continued production of the Hetzer, and about a hundred were sold to Switzerland, which kept them in service until 1971. The Czechs developed a version sporting the D5T 85 mm gun for Warsaw Pact use, but it was rejected in favor of the ASU-85.

[@SirJellyBean]

Fantastic info dude I appreciate the comment .

[@jamesmatthews1010]

That was a very nice presentation.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good sir

[@mikethibert3351]

Thanks! Enjoyed it a lot.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good Sir.

[@m.w.wilson234]

@17:08 "Afred Becker, Gesellschaft mit beschränker Haftung" GmbH means 'company with limited liability'

[@SirJellyBean]

I see thanks for that dude i must learn more German

[@LuigiHanzo-n4w]

pretty good job on ur presentation man - thnx

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou

[@nunocordovamarcos2961]

Wonderfully and very interesting video

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good Sir .

[@gunnyclaus8511]

Without knowing about Sun Tzu he followed one of the principles to the letter!

[@SirJellyBean]

Indeed he applied some great lesson from the Art Of War .

[@Analitique]

very nice vid thanks !

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou dude

[@travnickis1]

Excellent video.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good Sir

[@MrOlgrumpy]

Well researched and presented,thank you. I was not aware Bekker's history.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thabks dude it was a fun video to make .

[@ganndeber1621]

A very informative video, nice one.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good Sir

[@terryroots5023]

Brilliant video.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@terryroots5023 thankyou good Sir .

[@assessor1276]

Few people realize how much the Heer depended on horses throughout the war. Becker clearly made a big impact on modernizing the Wehrmacht - thankfully not enough for them to win.

[@Heike--]

Good thing that Europe survived for Islamic diversity to be imported on a large scale, mostly supported by Jewish NGOs.

[@DanielHammersley]

Becker & the Beute-panzers! :)

[@SirJellyBean]

Sounds like one hell of a band haha

[@DanielHammersley]

@@SirJellyBean lol. You may have the right of that sir :)

[@markbrandon7359]

actually the 1st Marders were armed with captured soviet 76mm at guns as the pak 40 was not yet in production

[@SirJellyBean]

Thanks for the info

[@markbrandon7359]

@@SirJellyBean For some reason the Germans were slow to get the Pak 40 into production as well as the 5.cm at gun

[@Corto237]

I enjoyed the video, sir.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good Sir

[@davidmawer6859]

Hi, I wanted to learn more about Becker so thanks for this video. Can you recommend a good book on the topic? Thanks, David.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@davidmawer6859 I used mainly online sources I tend to do that as alot cheaper than buying books , and I would just Google Alfred Becker and browse a few articles you'll get a good lay of his life fron a few perspectives, hope this helps

[@markdavis2475]

They liked the Scammell Pioneers they captured, too! The U-boat arm also used captured British Army short-pattern jackets.

[@SirJellyBean]

Lots of reuse i like it

[@warheadsnation]

In the early Nazi days, Hitler himself found a hoard of brown shirt-uniforms meant to be shipped to the German Army in Africa, stuck in an Austrian warehouse, and bought them. Thus the Brownshirts were born.

The Panther M10 used in the Ardennes.

[@SirJellyBean]

Awesome

[@infernalstormrider]

Very intrestìng video . Thank you👍

[@SirJellyBean]

@@infernalstormrider thanks dude

[@clintonrobinson8070]

Liked and subscribed, non ai videos are rare now and good to see.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thanks you good Sir .

[@davidjones332]

if we are being strictly accurate, the first self-propelled gun was designed by Walter Gordon Wilson in 1916 and fifty were ordered to mount either a 5 inch 60-pounder or a 6 inch howitzer. Despite both guns being successfully fired from the vehicle at Shoeburyness the British Army Ordnance Committee refused to accept it for service and the fifty machines saw use only as store-carriers. By WW2 everyone had forgotten about them.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@davidjones332 good info dude

[@comradephantomsoul3652]

These videos are nice I like them

[@SirJellyBean]

@@comradephantomsoul3652 thankyou dude

[@comradephantomsoul3652]

@@SirJellyBean they’re very informative

[@SirJellyBean]

@@comradephantomsoul3652 good happy to hear that .

[@JosephPercente]

Where did they ever find repair parts?

[@SirJellyBean]

From damaged vehicles they would savage and strip down for parts

[@andyc3088]

it's not corpse as in dead body but it's corps as in 'core'

[@SirJellyBean]

okey

[@koganinja100]

I read a book last year which I believe your viewers of this video would enjoy, It was Panzer Commander - The Memoirs Of Colonel Hans Von Luck - intro by Stephen E Ambrose. He was with 7th panzer later 21st panzer. He had quite a good rapport with British and later post war was part of a group which lectured with former allied commanders giving lectures on Normandy landings etc. I think your viewers would enjoy this book personally I found it very interesting as I used similar tactics to him in flames of war - use 88’s to blunt allies attack and use Marders to attack them in flank. Thanks again for a great video. All the best from down under Lewis Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

[@SirJellyBean]

Thabkyou for the great recommendations good Sir .

[@janwitts2688]

The French really let the Allies down by letting so much near mint material fall into axis hands..

[@SirJellyBean]

100%

[@dongilleo9743]

Interesting point I had not thought of. I'd have to look it up to be certain, but I would imagine that there was a provision in the surrender document the French signed in June 1940 that specifically prohibited both the French government and military from deliberately destroying or sabotaging infrastructure or military assets. With France under German occupation, and maybe a million French military personnel as German prisoners, there was sufficient threat of retaliation to stop any widespread destruction. I imagine there was some destruction of weapons, vehicles, etc under local situations, local commanders or authority, but my guess is they would be very limited. The fall of France happened so quickly(in military terms) in May-June 1940 that there would have been little opportunity. It would be difficult to tell soldiers to fight hard, that there was hope of victory, only to immediately tell them that all is lost, and to destroy their equipment and surrender. Again, the official policy and orders of both the pre surrender government and the post surrender collaboration government would be to not destroy infrastructure or military assets.

[@janwitts2688]

@dongilleo9743 I remember seeing pictures of rows of French armour sitting in factory yards and warehouses that had never been issued.. I'm fairly sure many of these were in parts of France that were overrun before the French illegal agreement with Germany.. really it would have taken some engineers only a few hours to place a few artillery shells into each vehicle.. wire them up and detonate them beyond use.. quite inexcusable, especially on the scale that happened.. as for whatever heavy gear was in the south, I don't know, except that the French still retained a lot of tanks in north africa and southern France till late war..

[@cartercrump3511]

Well done and educational as to, "Real Recycling"

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou dude

[@walthanas]

'Reinforced by mark IV Panther tanks"? Either they were Mark IVs (Panzerkampfwagen 4) or Mark V Panther tanks. There is no Mark IV Panther tank. I really enjoyed watching this video. It contains so much useful information, both about Alfred Becker and about the conversion of captured Allied material. Thank you!

[@SirJellyBean]

I think i said panzers maybe I said the wrong word , i did mean the Panzer 4

[@walthanas]

@@SirJellyBean Check the video at the 14:24 mark.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@walthanas I say mark 4 panzer tanks panzer 4s, maybe its my accent hard to understand at times

[@user-lw7om1sg1m]

Interesting story I knew zero on. Many Thanks

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou good Sir

[@markaxworthy2508]

Why was Becker still only a Major in late 1944? He was a WWI veteran who was a Captain in 1940. His promotion seems to have been glacial.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@markaxworthy2508 I believe he was lieutenant colonel by then I may have messed up his rank in my script .

[@jasonz7788]

Great job thanks 👍

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou

[@wargamingchina9174]

wow,well done,I smashed like and subscribed, cheers

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou dude much appreciated.

[@IronWarhorses]

Always wondered if there was one specific person behind all the crazy modified beautpanzers.

[@SirJellyBean]

He was a crazy genius hah

[@prof_kaos9341]

Excellent video. The use of Becker's "Funnies" can be seen on maps. At Leningrad with the neglected AG North or in Egypt. Initially, DAK had only 12x 88s, add Becker's 12x 155mm SPGs for a big bang, SPGs that, then, no others had. Lucky for 21st Pz Div Becker helped resurrect them after was lost in Tunisia

[@SirJellyBean]

Great info I need to look into north Africa more .

[@prof_kaos9341]

@@SirJellyBean your info filled a gap for me having studied N.Africa & death/resurrection of 21st Pz, The interesting mechanised arty, from Becker, his PanzerHaubitze 1940. Prob inspired the Brit Bishop SPG, KV-2 look-a-like with 25pdr.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@prof_kaos9341 very good points and doen the rabbit hole I go for more videos heheh 😁😅

[@jimcase3097]

Very cool 💯

[@SirJellyBean]

@@jimcase3097 thanks

[@chrishoff402]

To quote Sun Tzu, "Therefore, a wise general will strive to feed off the enemy. One bushel of the enemy's provisions is worth twenty of our own, one picul of fodder* is worth twenty of our own." In 1941 the only German Army vehicle that could penetrate the frontal armor of the T34 and KV tanks was the Jagdpanzer 1B, a Panzer 1 tank chassis mounting a fixed Czech 47mm anti tank gun firing tungsten rounds. The Marder IIs, which were Soviet 76mm anti tank guns mounted on the chassis of Panzer IIs and Czech 35T tanks probably saved the German army from collapse in 1942. They were critical in holding off Soviet tank assaults until the German arms industry could mount their own 75mm anti tank guns on Panzer III chassis and replacing the main gun on the Panzer IV.

[@SirJellyBean]

Very true without this captured weapons the T34 and KV1 was only stoppable with 88mm flak guns .

[@markaxworthy2508]

Very interesting. Is there a written source on Becker?

[@SirJellyBean]

@@markaxworthy2508 I used loads of sources tbh I like to read multiple for different views .

[@markaxworthy2508]

@@SirJellyBean Could you put up these sources for those wanting to follow up further? The best I have seen on Becker's work was an article in a defunct military history magazine that I have long since lost.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@markaxworthy2508 tbh dude I didn't save the pages I do like a big reasearch binge and just right my script ill train to retain sourced in future 🔮

[@markaxworthy2508]

@@SirJellyBean Good idea.

[@markaxworthy2508]

No. Many of the weapons captured were not outdated. The problem was spares, ammunition supply and integration into the logistics chain.

[@SirJellyBean]

Well many were outdated just like Germans tanks were far behind many other nations.

[@durbeshpatel3047]

​​​@@SirJellyBeanexactly, technically they are prewar designs, they are outdated by the start of the war when designs needed to be reworked. The odd caliber and parts designs being part of the obselecence that needed rework for integration.

[@koganinja100]

Great video I Wargame 21st panzer ( flames of war) both in Normandy and North Africa reason - Marders or as one of my fellow Wargamers call them my Frankenstein tanks😂 Have had some success with them and enjoyed building and painting them. Thanks again for the video. All the best from down under Lewis Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

[@SirJellyBean]

Thabkyou good Sir .

[@mark_sugar42]

I was surprised to hear that hardly any captured equipment was used until 1942. Yes, it was not standard and obsolete but better than horses and wagons.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@mark_sugar42 o for sure anything is better than walking also

[@larryswanson5953]

Crazy genius. The original Force Multiplier. You can tell how much he enjoyed his salvage missions in France, eh?

[@SirJellyBean]

Yeah he had a real passion for it I think .

[@JeffBilkins]

So this was the guy who keeps Tamiya etc in business with a billion vehicle variations.

[@SirJellyBean]

@@JeffBilkins Tamiya is thst a model company ??

[@MarkPulford-p7i]

Great video. The subtitled "headline" version is readible but full of typo errors. Nevertheless agree that the guy was a formidable engineer, creating some strange, Frankenstein style, fighting vehicles that must have caused a fair bit of banter between the adapted vehicle crews and the crews of German made fighting vehicles/panzers etc.

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou dude

[@whiskey_tango_foxtrot__]

Becker's requests for ever increasing petrol must have raised some eyebrows 😅

[@windjammer97]

Excellent, excellent video. Extremely interesting compared the usual ww2 stuff on here. 10 outta 10👌. I've seen pix of captured Brent Carriers used as mobile mortar teams in France for what it's worth

[@AHappyCub]

Speaking of goofy retrofits, theres a what if "blueprints" of british designed T-34 3-man turret with 17pdr and KV-2 with i think a 142mm howitzer

[@SirJellyBean]

That sounds awesome going to have to seek them out

[@luigifranceschi2350]

The German didn’t use trucks not because they couldn’t make them, but because they run on gasoline or diesel, which they were both scarce. They preferred carriages pulled by horses and mules for the last miles, while the longest part was covered by trains. This caused the disaster of Stalingrad, since the railway line was usable only til Kalach on the Don, and the last 70 km to Stalingrad were to be covered by the horses. When it became too cold for them they had to be withdrawn. Leaving the 6th army with very limited supplies, even before being surrounded. And when they realized the Russian plans surround them in the city, the German soldiers had no mean of transportation out en masse, except for their feet, which would have not been fast enough compared to the fast moving Russians that were relying on trucks , mostly given by US. Had they tried to withdraw they would have been caught in the fields with no protection from the Russian tanks. So their best bet was to stay, fortify their positions and hope to be bailed out by the rest of the Wehrmacht.

[@SirJellyBean]

Well it was a combination of lack of fuel and the struggle of industry to produce trucks , the amount of trucks needed compared to produces was quite a gap when you factor in maintenance and losses ,

[@richardwallace3204]

Good vid

[@SirJellyBean]

@@richardwallace3204 thankyou

[@Heike--]

Always wondered what the Germans did with the absolute masses of captured equipment they got. Recognize the self-propelled gun silhouette as "the good one" from the video game Panzer General.

[@samjoentess9168]

Fuggin Great subscribed Jellybean🥸

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou dude

[@41tl]

good video

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou dude

[@nicktozie6685]

Impressive

[@SirJellyBean]

Thankyou