May 2024 – Every month we release new videos about tanks and tank warfare on The Tank Museum’s YouTube channel.
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This month, we look at the development, strengths and weaknesses of German tank destroyers: from the17 tonne Hetzer to the massive 70 tonne Jagdtiger – the heaviest tracked vehicle of the War and Michael Wittmann’s rampage at Viller-Bocage and the Matilda I – The Little Tank That Did.
D-Day Tanks | Operation Overlord’s Strangest Tanks
An opposed beach landing is the most difficult and dangerous military operation it is possible to undertake. Anticipating massive casualties in the Normandy Landings, the British Army devised a series of highly specialized tanks to solve some of the problems – Hobart’s Funnies.
Named after General Sir Percy Hobart, commander of their parent unit, 79th Armoured Division, the Funnies included a mine clearing tank – the Sherman Crab, a flamethrower – the Churchill Crocodile and the AVRE – Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers which could lay bridges and trackways, blow up fortifications and much else besides.
In this video, Chris Copson looks at surviving examples of the Funnies and assesses their effectiveness on D Day and after.
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Matilda I – The Little Tank That Did | Tank Chat
In 1940, this small but well armoured tank was pretty much all that stood between the German Blitzkrieg and a battered British Army that was retreating to the coast.
Slow, small, and armed only with a machine gun, the A11 Infantry Tank (Matilda I) would achieve great things in its only significant battlefield action – effectively saving the British Expeditionary Force from annihilation.
At Arras on 21st May 1940, Matilda Is and IIs of 4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiment counterattacked the rapidly advancing 7th Panzer Division. In doing so, they successfully halted the German advance and unnerving Hitler so much that he issued an order forbidding further advances – thus giving the British and French chance to organize the Dunkirk evacuation.
In this video, David Willey covers the history of this diminutive and often ridiculed little tank which altered the course of history by saving an entire army.
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Villers-Bocage a British Defeat? Cotton’s Tanks Fight Back…
Michael Wittmann’s rampage at Villers-Bocage was just the start of a fight that was far from the great victory the Germans would claim it to be.
At 0930 on 13 June 1944, in the chaos that followed Wittmann’s fortuitous lunge into the British column, the men of the 4th Country of London Yeomanry lick their wounds and set up their defences.
They’ve been given the order to hold the Villers-Bocage at all costs – and will soon be fighting for their lives against a superior German force.
By the end of the day, a young Lt. Bill Cotton will have earned the Military Cross and a promotion to Captain. His Sergeant will earn a Military Medal and his Corporal a Distinguished Conduct Medal.
In the hype surrounding the career of Michal Wittmann – has the role of Bill Cotton and his troop been overlooked? Was he the real hero of Villers-Bocage?
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Evolution of WW2 German Tank Destroyers
Used extensively by the German Army of World War Two, the “tank destroyer” was developed to counter the increasing dominance of the tank on the battlefield.
Germany would field a massive 18 different types of tank destroyer in World War Two – compared with the 7 or 8 different types used by US, British and Commonwealth forces. One of these in particular, Sturmgeschütz III, would destroy more tanks than any other AFV in the entire conflict.
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