He "that great combination of firepower... and the proven Panther tank chassis that is reliable and very well defended... the tank destroyer the German Army of the Second World War."
No.
Armoured triangle, but top trumps NONSENSE analysis. /3
He is still wrong about how tank destroyers are classified & basically states that according to his definition StuH is a tank destroyer etc, and other AFVs are not.
See prev thread on this... /4
Delaney states it's 'it become a very reliable gun platform, the best tank destroyer of the German army of the Second World War.'
This is the second time the phrase is stated.
Other AFVs are more effective than Jagdpanther. It is hard to know what to do with this. /5
Use of veteran testimony to push how fantastic it is.
A hugely complex topic, which is solely explored to push this 'greatest' view. /6
His Normandy coverage is dire.
Done in Land Warfare Hall no less, right by the very tired Normandy exhibition.
Lots of generic incorrect waffle in the 'Normandy' chunk, and it's first used mid-July 44 - not at the end. /7
Most surprising is how IWM ummm... have no clue who the Jagdpanther belonged to.
Also they think there are just two contestants, which shows real naivety.
There are other ways to ID AFVs than just date stamps.
Anyway. /8
Is it 'apex of the tank destroyer design'?
No.
Bovington's content is immeasurably better, but this racked up 26k views.
I am alarmed that IWM views such flawed, factoidal content as remotely acceptable. /9
ESPECIALLY
When their privileged position holding ALL the damn footage needed to make top quality WW2 content is so greedily hoarded.
We increasingly need a serious discussion about IWM's locking down of expired Crown Copyright images & film, to perhaps push monopoly. /end
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Norman buildings are built well, especially churches and farmhouses - as both sides discovered in Normandy.
This required creativity. /1
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#DDay80
In short, there was no magic solution to cracking defences in Normandy, sure AVREs had massive 290mm petard mortars but these were specialist assets.
Not always available, or in the right place at the right time. /2
German troops had better mortars than Second Army, and integral infantry guns in each Regiment. Due to problems developing 95mm the British lacked this capability & came to use attached Churchill V or other 95mm gun tanks to achieve this role.
4 August 1944
“PIAT! PIAT! PIAT!"
Lt Donald Harvey, 244 Field Company Royal Engineers, alongside D Coy 1 Oxf & Bucks.
Probably the best PIAT related quote of the Normandy campaign, said as a Waffen-SS battlegroup appeared behind a British battalion. /1
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I could go into this action in much more detail, but it's almost unbelievable - saving it for another day...
Soon.
A genuinely ridiculous scrap.
Moving on... /2
PIAT was the infantry platoon's principle manhandled anti-tank weapon. 1 per platoon. A real marmite weapon, most complaints stem from poor handling & faulty munitions.
One of the dullest, coolest, more bizarre and fascinating pieces of kit used in Normandy.
Which no one *really* cares abou5.
But I do, and you should too... /1
#WW2 #SWW #History #DDay80
Planning for Overlord and Neptune had a serious snag, how to get troops from LSTs onto the beach as simply ramming them up onto the beaches and dropping the ramp was known to damage the exceptionally vulnerable LSTs and felt to be unsustainable in the mid to long term. /2
LSTs were essential in sustaining Overlord's progress and were a subject of major headaches in the planning phase, and a real subject of friction when it came to launching additional amphibious operations such as Op Dragoon.
Loss of a single LST represented a capability nick. /3
I mean surely a bulldozer can't be a key component of Allied victory?
Wrong!
Let's have a look at the D-7 Dozer & Allied logistics in Normandy. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History #DDay80
First off, Normandy was a bit of a rural backwater.
The road network was no where near as developed as today, which incorporates many routes constructed/improved by Allied forces.
The land of William the Conqueror place for farming, fishing, market towns with a few railways. /2
21st Army Group had arguably the most enviable engineering services in the world, able to throw up bridges in under a day, construct massive hospitals, water points, fuel depots, pipelines, bypasses (frankly mini-motorways), airfields, command complexes... and much more. /2
What was it to fight in a 6 week battle of pure attrition, where all that mattered was the complete destruction of the enemy?
A battle where any movement could get you & your mates killed?
Well... /1
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Marksmen played a major role, as Ran Williams discovered when his 13 Platoon took over 7 Seaforths most exposed position.
Upon seeing the fresh lieutenant, the sergeant pulled out a machete, slicing off Ran's epaulettes and shoulder titles... /2
Snipers developed a particularly dangerous reputation, and Brigadier Michael Carver stamped on what he felt was 'particularly jittery' behaviour from 53rd Welsh early on, ordering that marksmen were now to be called 'isolated enemy riflemen'.
How did this piece of open topped herp-a-derp become the coolest piece of kit in infantry battalions scrapping their way through liberating North West Europe?*
I know you're curious...
Read on. /1
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The Universal Carrier came about in 1940 as a desire to streamline production processes & merge the Bren Gun and Scout Carriers' roles into a single AFV.
The former's name stuck and gained popular traction.
Bren Carrier (below) for Infantry Battalions' Carrier Platoons. /2
The Scout Carrier was intended to operate alongside Vickers Mk VI Light Tanks for Divisional Reconnaissance Regiments etc.
Various traits of both vehicles, bar the obvious Horstmann suspension, that carried over into the Universal Carrier are quite evident. /3