Excellent Wehrmacht WWII Footage for Historians and Dioramas.

[OldManModeler]

Enjoy. Plan. Make it happen and share it! In 1/72nd, 1/48th, 1/35th or 1/16th scale.



Yeah, everyone in the video is now passed on. Thru combat or natural causes. That is something to think about. Are you ready?

John 3:16

 

[kevin]

I can't get enough of these videos......too bad it's not in color.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[BarleyBop]

... yup, after the wow of the vehicles, the drama of the campaigns, the human side of things packs the biggest punch for me. These guys, like some of you guys, could just as easily be my uncle, my neighbor, my friend.

I read that in general, the German ability to salvage and retrieve battle damaged armour in the field was much ahead of the allies, especially in North Africa. I suppose they had to, given they didn't have the North American perpetual motion factories churning out replacements.

 

[OldManModeler]

... yup, after the wow of the vehicles, the drama of the campaigns, the human side of things packs the biggest punch for me. These guys, like some of you guys, could just as easily be my uncle, my neighbor, my friend.

I read that in general, the German ability to salvage and retrieve battle damaged armour in the field was much ahead of the allies, especially in North Africa. I suppose they had to, given they didn't have the North American perpetual motion factories churning out replacements.

So true! And the Germans had a harder time making their over-engineered equipment work. Kudo's to those maintenance crews that made that equipment work for the country that they served.

Look at Germany's halftracks in WWII compared to the US halftracks. The 251 and all the German HT were an engineering nightmare compared to the American M2 or M3 halftrack which was basically and 4x4 truck with a track put on the rear instead of tires. And then light armor added. Even Rommel was seriously impressed if you believe what is written about him and the Afrika Korp.

Or even a better analogy is the T34 with a Christie suspension system which the US finally used in the Hellcat and Chaffee and Pershing.
Most, if not all, tanks today use the Christie suspension system in one variant or another in tracked vehicles.

The over engineered overlapping panther and tiger variants tracks were a disaster. The Germans should have learned more from the CZ 38T after they conquered (annexed) that nation.

 

[Jakko]

I read that in general, the German ability to salvage and retrieve battle damaged armour in the field was much ahead of the allies, especially in North Africa.

Maybe in North Africa, but not once the heavier tanks started making an appearance. It took more than a single big half-track to tow a Panther or a Tiger, and the Germans never developed an armoured recovery vehicle with capabilities similar to the American M32 TRV, or a tank transporter like the M25 "Dragon Wagon" (the tractor of which could handle a Panther by itself, and probably Tiger too).

I suppose they had to, given they didn't have the North American perpetual motion factories churning out replacements.

The Germans had great trouble repairing their vehicles and replacing them in time because they shipped all of the more serious cases back to Germany for repair and rework at the factory, instead of having dedicated tank repair workshops some way behind the front like the Allies used. Very enlightening is reading passages from reports by PzJ Ferdinand units in Russia in Schwere Jagdpanzer by Spielberger, Doyle and Jentz, where the reports continually complain about the inability to get any work done because of having to find suitable buildings (factories etc.) themselves — ones not already used by other units at that — and then, just when they've set up shop, the order coming to pull out again because of the Russian advance.

My almost-local library had (no idea if they still do, I haven't been in there in at least a decade) a book about this, IIRC a republished US military report. I wish I could remember the title, though. It was very enlightening about the shortcomings of the German tank repair system.

 

[BarleyBop]

and then, just when they've set up shop, the order coming to pull out again because of the Russian advance

I think that just about sums it up, pretty hard to be efficient when you are on the back foot!

 

[Jakko]

Even if the front had been stable enough, the reports show they had great difficulty because of everybody working either at cross-purposes, or of all wanting the same thing (mainly buildings) for themselves before anybody else could grab it. A properly organised system of rear-echelon repair units would have been much more efficient.

 

[BarleyBop]

...when I finish my time machine, you can go back and tell them!

 

[Jakko]

I would go back and instead, collect paint chips of olive drab, dark yellow, panzer grey, and more

 

[OldManModeler]

I would go back and instead, collect paint chips of olive drab, dark yellow, panzer grey, and more

Right!^^^

I would go back and get the the Lotto numbers before hand. Then start a model kit manufacturing company with the won money and produce the obscure kits that we all want.

How about a 1/48th scale U Boat and US and Japanese submarines.... with FULL interior. And crew figures.

How about 1/35th and 1/16th scale armor kits all with FULL interiors.

How about obscure soft skinned WWII trucks in 1/35th.

How about full interiors with all kits and micro led lighting options.

I can wish and dream.

Be well. Model on.

Eric

 

[BarleyBop]

How about obscure soft skinned WWII trucks in 1/35th.

I'd settle for the North Africa subset! But I'm working on it!

pssst, don't tell anyone, but I just ordered: I guess my Italian streak isn't over yet!

 

[Jakko]

How about 1/35th and 1/16th scale armor kits all with FULL interiors.

Too much work I don't mind the occasional one, but the interior adds at least as much work again to the model as for the outside, and I already finish fewer models than I would like …

How about obscure soft skinned WWII trucks in 1/35th.

Too much work I don't mind the occasional one, but the interior and undercarriage add at least as much work again to the model as for an equivalent tracked vehicle, and I already finish fewer models than I would like …

 

[Col.Kilgore]

Great video! thanks for posting

 

[Steve Ski]

Awesome vids, excellent post!

From reading the comments and not being up on German maintenance logistical issues per se, and from my little bit of understanding, it appears the over-engineered systems were more trouble than they were worth in many cases. The old capitalistic system of competition for contracts to design and build a required system seems to have beaten out the over engineered massive bulky, heavy, but super powerful, armor systems. No, I would not have liked being in a Shermie, but rather a Tiger. However, if it ain't moving, what good would it be? And the sheer facts of numbers played a big role in that equation, to our advantage.

Regardless, those huge tanks were intimidating, no doubt.

 

[Jakko]

The old capitalistic system of competition for contracts to design and build a required system seems to have beaten out the over engineered massive bulky, heavy, but super powerful, armor systems.

Not quite Nazi Germany was a very odd type of state: on the one hand, it espoused socialist (in the real meaning of that term, not the modern American one) values, but on the other, it was strongly capitalist in giving the large industrialists and major commercial companies pretty much anything they wanted in return for their support. (That last bit was mostly pragmatism on Hitler's part, and one of the reasons why people like Röhm had to go once the NSDAP was firmly in power.)

American vehicle design was largely centralised, with the US government awarding contracts to companies to make the same basic design but often tailored to their specific abilities. Which is why, say, 2.5-ton truck all look similar but differ in their details, or why a dozen companies all produced Shermans tanks.

German tank design was initially centralised as well and worked much the same way, until they began doing competitive design for things like the Tiger and Panther, and then had the winning design built by several companies much as before. Where German procurement really differed from the American was in softskins: once the war was underway, they pretty much bought just about anything available in a slightly militarised form (much like the UK, in fact). Which greatly hampered logistics, and even such things as pushing stuck vehicles out of the mud … (because of unexpected issues like bumper heights varying widely between manufacturers).

 

[Steve Ski]

Lol, I would not have expected otherwise for you to pipe in on this Jakko. You're a treasure trove of intel, good form. I did say I wasn't up to speed on this, but my comments got a more precise answer, which is what we wanted. Yes, yes, you are correct on many aspects of this issue, so reach over your left shoulder, with your right arm, and pat yourself on the back, fine explanation. Don't go changing.

My point remains the same; "if it ain't moving, what good would it be?" Ruck Over, Bby!

 

[Jakko]

if it ain't moving, what good would it be?

That's where the US Army got things right, but then took it to extremes that ended up hampering its war-fighting ability. American tank designs were basically sound, because of there being just about no money for it in the 1920s and 30s, so the designers sought to develop things that worked and were reliable, and could be put into mass production if there was a need to. This is what lead to things like the vertical volute spring suspension: not the greatest ride, nor the best way to spring a tank, but reliable, maintainable and cheap.

The second part is that once the USA looked like it would get involved in the war, procurement of equipment was mostly done with the idea in mind that it had to be shipped to, and supported on, the other side of the world. In practice, this meant that the US Army was resistant to new designs because of the logistical tail they came with — whereas the Germans didn't have to consider logistics nearly as much (and/or were blind to it) and so were much more likely to develop entirely new designs to replace ones that were becoming obsolete. For the USA, though, this attitude was also part of the reason why new designs didn't make it to the front when they really should have, like the T26 heavy tank. That could have been fighting the Germans in the winter of 1944–45, and perhaps even earlier, but for a variety of complex and partly interlocking reasons including a lack of perceived "battle need", only made it there in March of 45.