The German bridgehead at Nikopol (Dec 1943)

[notaire2]

Gutes Hochladen. Danke!

[mountainstandardtime]

Thank the good Lord that you nazi assholes were defeated. I wish every last one of you kraut cocksuckers were killed to the last man. Oh well I guess that means the entire country of Nazi fucking Germany. Too fucking bad. Rot in hell you facist scum pieces of shit.

[TheBlitz1]

@mountainstandardtime you know.... they can't hear you.... right?

[jackzero99]

@mountainstandardtime The war ended 65 years ago. Get over it you retarded cocksucker.

[aryonas]

Holy shit, some footage of an Elefant (Ferdinand) tank!!! That was awesome

[kakvotoiskash]

@aryonas

Porsche screwed up the Germans with his impractical designs,

The Ferdinand was very defenseless in close combat. It could reuse no spare parts from other machines.

The Russians were smart in that they could cannibalize their machines on the field, because they only used two basic engines and tracks.

[jackzero99]

@kakvotoiskash Most of the Porsche designs were rejected. Only 90 Ferdinands were produced.

[waldolala1964]

An important problem of the German Oberkommando was that they could not think in terms of defence, neither in weapons, nor in tactics. Moreover, the cost of repair of German tanks like the Tiger and Panther was excessive due to german quality thinking. Repair cost of the Sherman and T34 was far lower, as well as the production cost. Therefore, the replacement rate of tanks at the Allies was higher and therefore more effective. So, the war was a good lesson in industrial thinking.

[jackzero99]

@waldolala1964 The German defense tactics were great. They survived years against overwhelming odds on the ground and air. Their tanks were too complicated and expensive but that is the German mindset. They have never been good at mass production even to this day.

[ebola92]

@jackzero99 The Germans started their defensive strategy after Kursk, mid-1943. It then took less than two years for the Soviets to reach Berlin.

[jackzero99]

@ebola92 Two years of being constantly carpet bombed by the allies and attacked from the West, East, and South by overwhelming numbers of men, tanks, planes, artillery, and supplies. How long did the French and British last in 1940 fighting on one front against an equal enemy?

[trinitymike]

@jackzero99 Yet, they mass-produced the '88s' which were arguably the most effective artillery piece ever made.

[jackzero99]

@trinitymike They only built 18,000 throughout the entire war. The USSR built over 110,000 of their 76.2mm guns

[trinitymike]

@jackzero99 True...but the German weapon was far more versatile; It could be use in almost any role...AA, Anti-Tank, Anti-personnel, anti-shipping, Arty v. arty 'duels'...a much better weapon.

[modernmariorc]

why would germany fight other countries?

[SCHRUBBE1966]

It's never good to try and direct fire self propelled artillery at enemy units. Usually you don't last long. Current artillery doctrine in the united states army uses forward deployed artillery. They rely on mobility to shoot and move before the enemy can counter battery fire them. So yes the elephants were not very mobile during the battle of kursk which made them prone to direct and inderect fire. They lost a lot of them for im properly deploying them.

[sinsling]

The Germans actually understood the need for mobile artillery to evade counter-battery fire or air strikes, and devoted what resources they could towards it. Attempts began with conversions (like the Bison) and progressed to purpose built platforms like the Wespe, Grille and Hummel. The Ferdinand was a tank destroyer, not artillery. and so the doctrine was different. Although half their numbers were lost during Zitadel (approx 48), the kill ratio was an incredible 11:1.

[jackzero99]

@sinsling Only a few Ferdinands were destroyed in combat. Most of the losses were mechanical failures or had their tracks disabled by mines and eventually recovered.

[SCHRUBBE1966]

intresting theres an Elephant gun in the video. They really took it in operation citadel. Thats what you get when trying to use them in engageing tanks.

[ml191172]

Try to read a little on the topic before posting such nonsese. The elephant where a tanks nightmare given it could engage the tanks frommedium to long range. Thick armour plus the best antitankgun of the war..

However the elephants big drawback at kursk (where the german lost most of them ) was wrong deployment (no infantry support ), lack of close defence mg and it being prone to breakdown quickly in an offensive, fas movig operation wich the kursk battle was initially.

[juniorspivey]

Pretty awesome. Wish I knew German. I visited Nikopol just this year and saw some of the museums. Pretty neat.

[spritz0]

You have to love the SIZE of some of the German Tanks- absolutely staggering!!