I befriended an old bloke aged 89 a few years ago. He was a "proper" time served Engineer of the old school type. It turns out he was part of the design team for the Centurion. He was involved in the design and making of the turret. In his National Service he was REME and post war he was seconded to the German army and was involved in their post war development of German AFV`s working extensively on the HS30. I found out that there was "Gate Guardian" type Centurion still in good nick nr Leyland. I took him for a ride not letting him know where we were going and he was gobsmacked when I parked up next to a Centurion. He only lived a few miles away in Wigan but was unaware of its existence. It was great to see him poring over it and pointing out relative pieces that were his forte all those years ago. Unsung hero.
I was given a "Dinky Toy" Centurion of wonderful cast metal quality when I was a kid in the 1950s. 65 years later, it is still "in service", sitting on my bookshelf guarding my treasure of story and knowledge. Thanks for this history.
Don Hayward: I also had one of those back in the 50s It was an excellent replica with it's rubber tracks. Alas, I don't know what happened to it. But didn't Dinky Toys make some fantastic models. Their attention to detail was amazing. Ahh...Halcyon days indeed!
I had the Dinky Centurion, well two of them and the tank transporter to go with them. When I see the images in this video it reminds me only of those tanks I had with their rubber tracks. Another really interesting watch from Mr Felton.
@@geoffbaker4452 I had the Thornycroft 'Mighty Antar' tank transporter, bought from Ward's, Cheap St. Frome for 17/6d, couldn't afford the tank as well.
As a 10 year old boy in 1957 I lived in Bovington Camp. My friends and I played cowboys and indians on the tank ranges behind our quarter. Sometines we joined forces and hid in the heather waiting to ambush passing centurion tanks. I remember one occaision when an approaching tank crew must have spotted us and turned the gun in our direction. We stood up and fired our arrows and toy guns at it as it passed by with its turret rotating to keep its gun trained on us. Those were the days.....
And today it would have ended up with a picture of an unhappy parent in a paper, a storm on twitter and Facebook and the MoD putting out some statement as it mentally hurt the children. They were the days.
@@hypergolic8468 Yep, they were great happy days. We'd be out all day playing with no worries so long as we were home by tea. We caught newts in jam jars (and put them back). Now we'd be breaking the law......
@@tonyb83 Pleased to know you put the newts back , nice little creatures , same with lizards , used to catch them as a kid but they seem to have become scarce these days sadly
I am an ex Merkava 2 commander, when I joined the IDF in 1989 we still had a whole division of Centurions in operation (Shot D). These marvellous machines carried more shells then our tanks and had higher degree of accuracy hitting the targets with their 105mm main gun. Every year the IDF carried a tank sniper competition, and every year the centurions won.
IDF Armour crews are probably the best in the world. I'm a Brit, Veteran but the battles the IDF fought and in 67 and 73 set the agenda for a Military so Professional that it punches massively above it weight, even when on the ropes and on its knees, it can fight multiple assailants and still ends up winning...Twice!!
@@mwnciboo You must be dreaming. Last month Israeli tank crews just walked away from five of their tanks on the Syrian border to go home for the weekend. Just deserted them. That's the state of Israeli training and discipline. Get into a fight with USA armor and they'd be toast.
I had the honour of driving one of these in 1966 in Hohne Germany. It was a true driver's tank, complete with crash (double declutch) gearbox, which soon developed the muscles in the left leg.
You only really needed the double de-clutching stuff when changing down gears. Changing up was a matter of taking your foot off the accelerator pedal, stamping the clutch down to instantly let it out again and pulling on one of the steering tillers all at once. That was the fastest and easiest way to go up the gears.
The funniest thing about the centurion was that, the smallest part had the longest name. It was called, SCREW RETAINING INTERMEDIATE FIRING NEEDLE WITHDRAWAL LEVER.
Had toy Centurions in my impressive backyard toy army, along with early Patton tanks. Fought many brutal engagements in Los Angeles against enemy toy soldier armies brought over by neighbor kids in the 1950's and early 1960's! Naturally, the Centurions were victorious. Loved the design as a kid! Thank you for the excellent video. Shout out from Oregon, USA.
@@paulthompson8613 What no Action Man (G I Joe) ? My dad wouldn't let me have one of those "dolls" as he called them but I fractured my arm and because I never cried when they set it he said I could have a present ! Guess what I asked for and got ?
@@paulthompson8613 No just the scar on he's cheek . Years later he was later found guilty of cowardice and was shot by my brother and I with our new air rifles .
@@royfr8136 No, the point he made at the beginning about fantasy was, as he described throughout the video, due to the fact that these iconic tanks never had opportunity to do battle as was intended. He took a total whiff on the obvious fantastic opportunity for a misleading intro.
It's Soviet contemporary, the T-54 was introduced about the same time. I know that the Israelis are using the T-55 modified as an APC as they use this insurance. They may have retired the t-54 variant. The T-55 was also recently used during the conflict in Ukraine. I'm not sure if the T-54 was as well.
Good observation. Centurion set the tone for the next 50 years of British Tank Design. A first of the three main new generations of tanks that arose at the end of WW2, as noted above. All those Tiger-killer-parameter designs endured very well. The bastions of the line for the Cold War. Which further developed into the monster MBTs we see today. You learn a lot when you beat a team that had form the way the Germans did back then. Only way to crack that nut was reduction to smithereens. Ferocious.
It's so nice to see that a ghillied up sniper has the same tastes as I. History, both generic and interesting, Airsoft and by extension Guns, and having nice weekend shooting others.
As a young lad living in Herentals Belgium in 1954/55, my father was the Senior ASM (Artificer Sergeant Major) in the REME: I was allowed to accompany my father on various Saturday mornings (no Monday to Friday work routines in those days) to the REME Workshops situated just outside Herentals. I recall seeing Centurion Tanks in the workshops undergoing maintenance. One particular Saturday morning a very lucky (and extremely chuffed) young lad (me!) was allowed to travel inside the Centurion Tank whilst it was undergoing engine and gearbox trials whilst ''off road'. I am now in my seventies but I recall that day oh so clearly - I was seated on the seat in the rear of the tank 'cabin', under strict instructions to remain still and keep quiet, which I did. Oh happy memories. Thank you Mark for your informative and bloody good series, well worth subscribing and supporting.
For the Australians, 58 Centurions had served in Vietnam; 42 had suffered battle damage, of which six were beyond repair, while two crewmen had been killed in action. 2 Centurions from C squadron 1st Armoured regiment, during the battle for Coral Balmoral FSPB; road rambled 160 kms in 2 days to respond to the unfolding action. Nui Dat to Lai Khe is it a record?
Upgraded Centurions ("Olifants') did a great job in Angola, though committed too late and in too small numbers (fortunately for the Cubans, Soviets and Angolans). 3 were lost, but not due to enemy fire. They were disabled in minefields and could not be recovered under fire. Two are still sitting there, east of Cuito.
Hold on! Are you telling me that a newly designed and built tank got off a ship and drove 400 miles!.... That's not fantastic that's unprecedented. No wonder it's still in use to this day.
Harvey ADAMS why wouldn’t they do it? It sure served as an hell of a trial to see if it was something worth for the British to start massproducing which they ended up doin
@@fishyc150 I don't like the chances of the Centurions sold to private owner's here in Australia then. I wonder how many are rotting away in back paddocks because they broke down from lack of use and correct maintenence and are now being forgotten about.
@@markfryer9880 sad isnt it. Takes a lot of "simple" maint to keep them tip top, but it has to be regular. We were constantly told "a stitch, in time, saves 9" a little regular maint stops engine or gearbox lift. We lost 2 of them in the first gulf. Search "avre explodes" and you'll see photos I took. Biggest explosion you'll ever see first hand. If interested I'll tell you the fuck up that lead to it 🤣
The file footage shows one of the Centurion’s great combat advantages: excellent gun depression, allowing them to take hull-down, reverse slope positions.
@@phbrinsden in 1973! Because of it's superb gun depression, the Centurion was ideal for defensive ramp battles! Now combine that with a DURABLE long range, super accurate and fast loading , rifled 105 mm gun with mix of 70 or so rounds, and you get a formidable fighting machine. It was priceless during initial defensive phase of the Yom Kippur War during the Valley of Tears and the big defensive battle around the vital strategic hills controlling Hushniyah in the southern sector.
That's why Israeli's still have them. All those miles driven around war-torn europe and very few failure's. Compare that to German tanks failure rate! OR compare it to U.S. Pershing tank! Very Well Done Brits! I think the Syrian army used some German mark 4 tanks. Maybe they met in battle after all?
My Dad was in REME in the 1950s for his national service and he drove and repaired Centurions amongst other large vehicles. He later joined the MoD as a draughtsman and worked on designing new components and armaments for tanks such as this.
After the war my dad was conscripted into the Tank Regiment at Catterick North Yorkshire. He enjoyed the tank regiment and he spoke fondly of his time there!
Fun fact... the cromwell killed by the centurion in Korea was my grandfathers... he was captured at the Battle of “Happy Valley”, the tank was “H for Halifax”. His commander, LT C G Alexander was killed by shrapnel from a mortar, leading to the vehicle sliding off the road in the dark and throwing a track, when they bailed out he didn’t have time to spike the gun to prevent its use by the North Koreans. Not that you’ll see this Mark... but if you do I’d be happy to get you some more info on it!
@freebeerfordworkers I actually don’t know exactly, I’ll have to ask my family, they may know! I think he was. I know LT Alexander joined my grandfathers crew just before the battle of happy valley since he didn’t ship to Korea with them
@@GamingwithHenry thankyou so much for sharing this fun fact! comments under Dr Mark's vids are always a good read after watching the vid, there are often comments from people who had relatives involved in the actions the videos are about adding greatly to Dr Feltons lessons.
I have been in battle with these tanks against t55s and t54s. Most of the fighting was no more than 50m because of the thick bush. I saw two centurions taken out in front of my vehicle, all the crews survived although some injuries. Up until then we were using just the infantry fighting vehicles with 20mm and 90mm. The 90s were needing several rounds to take out the tanks. However if you got hit by a t55 once it was game over. On one occasion a t55 was taken out by a 20mm only to be destroyed by the tank coming up from behind. The Centurion is a formidable tank. Glad to have had them with us to balance things out a bit. In total we destroyed 91 Russian tanks over a period of 6months.8
It's stories like yours that give a much desired personal view and practicality of the weapon that is presented in this video. Thank you so much I love your comment. That's the kind of information people like me want to hear.
The British Centurion is an excellent tank and served well beyond it's intended design parameters. It may have missed the opportunity to fight the German tanks but it proved to be a nemesis to the more modern Russian tanks when the outnumbered Centurions inflicted heavy damage and casualties to the Russian T-55 tanks during the 6 Day War and the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East.
That is not a concrete way to compare the tanks. No matter how good the tank is, their crews how to be professionally trained to handle the equipment. Tons of M1 Abrams have been destroyed in Yemen, due to improperly trained crews
@@PerditioTempus2591 In the case of the Saudi Arabian M1 tanks in Yemen, I saw a video of Saudi soldiers abandoning their camp during the Houti rebel attacks. They did not even use the M1 Abrams tanks and M2 Bradleys and simply abandoned them and ran as fast as they could back to Saudi Arabia. So the Houtis burned the tanks without any fight. That's how useless and coward the Saudi forces are. So my comparison for the tanks does not include the improperly trained or coward crews but assuming the tanks were in the hands of the professional and brave soldiers on both sides. That is why I am still correct with my comparison.
@@gerrycrisostomo6571 well that would mean you assume the in the Yom Kippur war and 6 day war, that the Tank Crews of the Centurion and Soviet tanks were professionally trained, if that were the case I'd like some proof please cuz that would be a pleasant surprise
@@PerditioTempus2591 Different people, you can't compare Saudi soldiers to Egyptian, Syrian or Jordanian soldiers. The Saudi soldiers don't have anything to fight for, similar to Italians in WWII.
This is fantastic. I’ve been flat on my back due to a work place injury, and getting quite bored of my regular UA-cam channels. I love the quality of these and how most of these stories I’ve not heard before, much less in this detail. Thanks for your efforts in digging up these gems. Fills in a lot of gaps in my amateur WW2 knowledge.
I had to invent a new method to treat the back injury that I have so I can totally relate. I enjoyed this channel myself for other reason. I don't think our children are taught history cuz I know I was not. I did not anywhere begin to appreciate what my forefathers went through until I started studying history.
Yes I agree. Imagine those poor allied tank crews seeing Centurion but still having to climb into Cromwells and Shermans. If only Centurion had been a year earlier.
Well, they did say it tested very well, they had worked out all the bugs. Makes me wonder how much sooner might it had gotten to the field if they weren't so persnikity
In Britain’s defence you could say the Germans paid a price for throwing there concepts into battle tho I must admit the brits should never have had to of played catch up the way they did when you look at history such as the German power displays right at the beginning you can tell they weren’t playing around the the first ww2 Panzers already displayed sign’s of advanced Development way beyond are tanks
From what I understand, the Centurion was one of the first tanks to have fully stabilized main armament both vertically and in traverse, increasing its accuracy when moving by a phenomenal amount, making it so much more lethal than it's contemporaries, whos main armament was only stabilized vertically, Feel free of course to correct me if I am wrong.
I believe some US tanks had a form of stabilisation before the Cent but the Cent had the first really effective stabilised Gun Control Equipment. It was all electric whereas the US went with hydraulics which used oil at high temperature at very high pressure to operate. This was a major fire risk and is only now with late model M1s have they introduced electric wheras all British tanks since the Cent were electric. The stabilisation on the Cent was excellent and gave it a real edge - I worked for the company that developed it and subsequent tanks. The T54/55 was also electric and when our engineers got hold of one in the 1980s were surprised at how well it operated albeit quite crude and basic. I served on the Cent and for its time there was no match - a great tank.
I think they should’ve employed a Citroën like hydropneumatic system to stabilize the weapons, rotate the turret, elevate the gun, clutching, braking, steering, actuate the transmission and power the suspension.
Centurion was slow (topped out at around 20 mph on roads) and had a very complicated gearbox and required a great deal of driver training. The Centurion also had a very limited range on internal fuel. Centurion had good armor and a good main gun and was upgradable to use bigger guns and more armor. When properly used and maintained it was a formidable tank and used with excellent effect by various nations such as India , Israel and various commonwealth nations. Probably the best tank of the Cold War era and it proved itself superior in combat against both American and Soviet tanks. Britain finally got it right in the tank department.
How is it that every episode achieves this degree of quality and detail? You simply became an youtube institution, Dr. Mark Felton! Thank you so much! Cheers from Portugal!
I served aboard the Centurion Tank from Jan7 1966 to Sometime in 69 when we got Chieftains to replace them, thats when I left the Army ! The Centurion was fantastic, It was warm in the winter because of the fans, had a brew pot and you could cook your tins of sausage and beans on the Auxiliary Generator's (Moriis 8 side valve) exhaust. It was slow, but with that 105mm I never missed as a gunner. Bit fraught in early stages of training. We had a MKI (17 pounder at Warcop) No fume extractor meant that after 7 rounds you could not see your hand any more than 6 inches in front of your face. Breathing was almost impossible !!! My troop Sgt was in Korea with MKI's he told us about one engagement where they fired 53 rounds !!! With resupply. The acrid smoke was dreadful, like breathing neat amonia ! 2nd test firing in a MK5 (20 pounder) Again didn't miss and it was so much more pleasant with the fume extractor. Apparently the main gun 17Lb was designed as an artillery anti tank gun fired from an artillery mounting, so didn't need any fume extraction. Everyone loved em, I did ! What an honour and privilege it was to have served aboard them.
It seems Dr Felton was finally been located and arrested by the Empire. So the next episode will be: Assault of Imperial AT-AT Walkers on Hoth in 3ABY and destruction of the Echo Base as the Rebel Alliance breaks the encirclement.
I can't wait for Mark Felton to do a video on the combat capabilities of this fully operational battlestation....(cough) sorry. On the DS2 Battlestation
"The frontal armour of the AT-AT was, of course impenetrable to most rebel weapons. However, there were some vulnerabilities that were understood by the rebel alliance"
@@Jamie-zs8ok "Everything was seemingly proceeding as Emperor Palpatine had foreseen. The Alliance fleet had fallen into a trap...caught between a fully armed and operational Death Star battle station and an armada of several dozen Imperial Star Destroyers, led by the Star Dreadnought Executor. However, the Imperial legion stationed on Endor's Sanctuary Moon didn't count on a guerilla attack from the local indigenous population. The insurgents' target: the Imperial garrison guarding the Death Star's shield generator..."
Another very good video Mark. My Father served in B Squadron, 23rd Hussars, 11th Armoured Division. The 11th Armoured was the only British Division to be fully re-equipped with Comets by war's end, with the famous 7th (Desert rats) being partially equipped. During his life he spoke very well of the Comets and especially compared to the M4 Sherman, which were the mainstay of the 11th and indeed all British Armoured Divisions during the Normandy campaign. He stayed on in Germany until 1948 so would have had exposure with the Centurion, but did not mention much about it.
I remember the Australian Centurion Tanks from when I was a young Soldier in the 70-80's, 1st Royal Australian Armoured Regiment continued to use them up until the mid 1980's, and they were deployed in Squadron strength in Phuoc Tuy province South Vietnam, during the Australian deployment there prior to 1973.
Centurion was a brand new generation design that would have obliterated anything that served in WW2 including facing down Tigers, but it was newer so hardly a surprise. However even much later tanks struggled when faced with the Centurion such as the T-62 and the M48! It was clearly a top class tank.
I know this is an old text, but it's interesting that our country, the US ofA, had difficulties in producing various weapons systems, such as the 'Sgt York' when we could have gotten the Gepard kit for M48/60 hulls for a good price, the Harrier, we finally gave up on domestic development, the M-26 to counter the German heavier armor, versus the Centurion. When you look at the incredibly long run of a truly distinguished piece of equipment, it's amazing, compared to the relatively short run of the Pershing. Their cross country mobility made them legendary, and the fore control system was exceptional, as discussed in Korea and Vietnam. The Russians had the ZSU-57 which seemed to work well enough in Vietnam, but our version was a horror story of military development.
There are videos on you tube about that battle. The main GUN (up and down range of motion ) of the Centurion had a big advantage over the Arab Army who had Russian Tanks (that had night vison ... not on the Centurion). The extended vertical range of the Gun (measured in degrees) allowed the Centurion to be high on hill and lower the gun to shoot the Arab (Russian Tanks). The Arab Tanks (Russian makes) could not elevate their main gun high enough to shoot back.
@@stevenhershman2660 ah those poor Syrians sure they have more modern tanks than the Israelis during that time and yet Israeli Centurions whoop their T-55 & modern T-62's asses
John O'Daniel, commanding the US 1st Corps, stated: "In their Centurions, the 8th Hussars have evolved a new type of tank warfare. They taught us that anywhere a tank can go, is tank country: even the tops of mountains."
As I'm sure you know, it was the Comet that provided a challenge to the Tiger in the last months of the war. I once saw a Centurion standing next to a Conqueror. It made the Centurion look chap and tinny, but the problem with the Conqueror was that its size and weight made it very difficult to transport. But it was certainly a fine looking tank.
Surprisingly enough, there was a time when the Centurion squared off against Panzers. Except this was not in Europe, but in the Middle East; when Israeli Centurions battled against Syrian Panzers in the Golan Heights during the Six Day War in 1967.
Imagine how Centurions would crush IS3s if facing them. T-55 and T-62 superb compared to ISwouldnt stand a chance. Guess not so scary as some may think after Berlin Victory Parade done by Soviets with staring the IS3.
Hello Steve my name is Pete I served in the Saint Farmer division in Germany 56 5758 I was in the Royal Army ordnance core 0FP which stands for ordinants Field Park we have 2010 ton trucks I have three in my charge I had all the gun barrels for the centurions.
Tiger I production ended in June 1944. So the Tiger 1 was declared obsolete by the Germans themselves 1, 5 years before the first centurions entered service. So it's a bit strange to celebrate the slight supiriority of the centurion. But what can we expect from some winy angloboos.
@@HaVoC117X To be fair and its difficult to comprehend on British armour from that timeperiod the Centurion was way more reliable and easier to field maintain/repair then the Tiger. What was the WD thinking a good tank that doesn't break down so often 🤦♂️
It was even better than that: Nazi ROCKET Monkeys. Reminds me of an old Rockstar game whose working title was ‘Super Monkey Tanks: GO!’ ( realised as ‘Wild Metal Country’).
When I was a young lad 1970s the first model I ever received a build was a centurion tank. Thank you for the wonderful presentation to this day in my heart it is my favorite tank and always will be.
Yes and he has presented a video on how the Syrian army obtained the Panzers and the subsequent deployment followed by their destruction in the Six Days War.
@@graemesydney38 , the reason lies in the quality of the crews and maintenance personnel and rampant corruption in the Arab forces. No tank design can make up the sloppyness of mechanics and the habit of mechanics to give away fuel and spare parts to relatives. The typical fate of a tank in an arab army of that time was getting abandoned in a broken down condition.
I think the Centurion takes this hands down. Its way newer, with a great gun. It would undoubtedly only be handed to veteran crews. So I think it would mop the floor with Tigers and King tigers.
@@johnburns4017 your full of it, you need to look at actual German analysis reports not post war French, or some so called western expert who is just regurgitating nonsense he or her has heard from a 2nd hand source. While certainly not as reliable as the sherman if a Tiger, Panther or even a Tiger II was properly maintained and had a properly trained driver they were good for far more than the 100-150km number always given. I've read way too much to remember the exact source but there is a record of a recovery panther that had around 4000km on the clock without failure of any piece of the drive line and it was estimated that half of that was while towing another vehicle
me happy as can be in my king tiger minding my business capping the point listening to Sabaton hiding from an IS 6 because that's how this game works and i get one shot in the turret mantle by a centurion. Me "well at least it wasnt russian this time"
This tank is crazy, the length of this tank's service was like having the tiger tank still serving in 2016-2017 and beyond if only it is not prone to breaking down and failures. Imagine a tiger tank upgraded for modern combat and fighting side by side with a leopard MBT, real crazy the length of this tank's service!
I thoroughly enjoy Mark’s videos. I have always been a history buff of sorts, especially WW1 and WW11, and he fills the bill for unknown information. Thanks.
I wonder what changed amongst the British tank designers when they produced such an excellent tank after so many failures? The crews seem to have hated everything except the Churchill.
It took them a very long time to decide what they actually wanted from their tanks and what they wanted them to be able to do, so they kept coming up with tanks that were very good at doing a certain thing but severely lacked in other areas. Eventually they realised an ideal tank needs to be balanced and able to do multiple things well rather than excelling in just one area
I understand that a new design team was formed with a clean sheet and all the old rules thrown out. This meant the rail width shipping requirement was able to be exceeded. When the wider the whole of the tank design fell into place. Probably the reason why the the tank was driven 400miles in Germany. They built a special road transporter later to carry it.
The biggest limitation and 'hand brake' on development was the availability of a suitable engine. The Centurion had a detuned RR Merlin but priority was given to engines for the RAAF and it took time for the industrial capacity to be worked up.
I understand that a new design team was formed with a clean sheet and all the old rules thrown out. This meant the rail width shipping requirement was able to be exceeded. When the wider the whole of the tank design fell into place. Probably the reason why the the tank was driven 400miles in Germany. They built a special road transporter later to carry it.
Centurions and Sherman fireflies were used by the Indian army successfully against Pakistani M47, M48 Pattons, Shermans and Chaffee tanks. They had killed more tanks than they had lost. India had used Centurions well into the 1970's. Mark felton sir please make a video on this. 🙏
I think the Centurion would easily have given most, if not all German tanks a run for their money. It was the one thing most German heavy tanks were not; reliable.
Had they focused more on engine development than weapon/armor development, either way it would go wrong. Though they were failures mechanical, they were beasts in the beinning
@@QuantumMechanic_88 Yes they were beasts but they are infamously terrible with being reliable. American tanks were designed to be reliable as they could not be brought home and fixed, the germans did not have that design issue. I'm in no way saying German tanks are bad, outside of their typically transmission issues written about by every millitary facing them and even themselves.
Laying the 17pdr gun on its side was a development used on the Australian Ac4 sentinel tank. Passed the the idea to British Sherman upgrade.This was used in the Firefly.
At 9:15 there is a mistake. There was no M26 "chaffee" that would be the M24. Your referring to the M26 "Pershing". The Chaffee was a light tank so it would make no sense to test it against Centurion.
I think the number designation is wrong but the Chaffee is correctly named. At 20(ish) tons, it compares to the Cromwell’s 27(ish) tons, and would explain the swampy terrain performance gap. The Pershing was similar in weight to Centurion. .
Its great to see a video like this. Too many people say if the war had gone on longer the Germans would have had this or that fantastic new bit of equipment. Imagine if we'd had Centurions a little earlier. They were used by the Israelis to great effect during the 6 day war against the latest Russian tanks. Not many people realise that the main reason Britain struggled with tank design during WW2 was down to the loading gauge of our railways. Tanks had to be transported by rail and our tunnels were narrower than those in Europe as we had the earliest railways. If only Brunel's broad gauge system had been adopted we could have had much bigger tanks - but nobody thought of that back in the early 1800s!
British railroad guage is an important issue & thanks for raising it. It often seems people want to compare opposing tanks, aircraft, ships without consideration of the constraints that forced their design or the circumstances of their use.
Man o man do I sure miss the old history channel. In the 90s it had awesome programs like weapons at war and tales of the gun to name a couple. Mr Felton reminds me of the days when the history channel still had good shows about actual history.
Mark, you forgot to mention what the Centurion did against the soviets' T-62 during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973. It essentially saved an entire nation.
I served during the cold war in REME. I served with the Queens Own Hussars at Catterick and 1st Royal Tank Regiment in UK and West Germany. Later I was posted to 11 Infantry Workshops REME Minden Forward Repair Group. The Centurion Mk6, 12 and 13 were my toys with the 1st Royal Tank Regiment in Germany. Later converting over to Chieftain Mk 3S which were initially targeting Iran as clients. Wer were newly equipped with the Chieftain and whilst on exercise in northern German had an Iranian sales team with us to evaluate the 3S. The 3S performed brilliantly with no breakdowns and the REME fitters troop played volleyball whilst the tankies were our in the training area. After the Iranians left the problems started with constant breakdowns. I was posted to 11 Field Workshops REME as part of their forward repair group, we supported three infantry battalions and the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, we were on constant call out supporting 3RTR. I went to Suffield in Canada on two occasions with 1 and 3 RTR and the work load was so great we would work 72 hours without sleep trying to keep the battle groups operating. Later I worked as an inspector at Royal Ordnance Factory Leeds building Chieftain and worked on the Challenger prototypes 4030 phase 1, 2 and three where Chobham Armour was first used. The Centurion with its Rolls Royce Meteor engine was one of the most difficult engines to work on. It was an aircraft engine based on the Rolls Royce Merlin. It used 4 pints of lubricating oil and hour and its twin spark plugs per cylinder frequently oiled up. To change the plugs was very time consuming particularly the exhaust plugs which were under the exhaust manifold an accessed after heat shields were removed. The twin magnetos were highly inaccessible and access through the access (kidney) plate from the turret. I have a fondness for the Centurion. The Chieftain was a pain in the arse with the Leyland two stroke main engine being very unreliable. The drive to the fans from the main engine fell off. The engine casting cracked and the whole fan drive fell off. At one time the drives were constantly checked for cracking. The remedy at the time was to shape bronze welding rod around the drive and coat it all in a very strong adhesive. The free wheeling fan drive hubs also seized through lack of lubrication. The Challenger prototypes has a twin turbo Rolls Royce diesel at which point I lost contact with my emigration to Australia. Whoever says that the Chieftain was the best tank is totally wrong. The Centurion had 250 modifications in its lifetime. When I was with them the Chieftain had over 2500.
All other things being equal, whichever one got the first round on target would probably win. That's where the quality of the tank crew would most likely decide the outcome.
Every formula 1 fan knows that any technical superiority you may have over the English will disappear as soon as a few of them disappear into their garages for a few days. (even quicker if they assign a Scot to the task)
Great story. I visited the real thing yesterday at the Tank museum in Bovington... interesting to see how the tank has evolved from ww2 up to today. The Centurion really does look pretty modern. Ironic that the British, having struggled to make a competitive tank throughout the war, eventually went on to produce arguably the best tank to emerge from the conflict. BTW, Bovington is well worth a visit. Aside from the tanks, the history and testimonies presented are very sobering.
Kriegsmarine: HOW ARE YOU GETTING THE MOST SUPPLY? Luftwaffe: We were bombing Britain! Eastern Front in 1942: We needed more supply lines! Afrika Korp: You guys are getting stable supply lines?
Erwin Rommel asks his logistics officer "how much fuel do my tanks have?" Supply Officer: "half a day" Rommel: "How much do the British have?" Intel Officer: "They have 6 days supply, sir" Rommel: "So what you are saying is we have 6 and 1/2 days of supply then!" About accurate. lol
I befriended an old bloke aged 89 a few years ago. He was a "proper" time served Engineer of the old school type. It turns out he was part of the design team for the Centurion. He was involved in the design and making of the turret. In his National Service he was REME and post war he was seconded to the German army and was involved in their post war development of German AFV`s working extensively on the HS30. I found out that there was "Gate Guardian" type Centurion still in good nick nr Leyland. I took him for a ride not letting him know where we were going and he was gobsmacked when I parked up next to a Centurion. He only lived a few miles away in Wigan but was unaware of its existence. It was great to see him poring over it and pointing out relative pieces that were his forte all those years ago. Unsung hero.
Thanks for honouring him Peter. All the best. 🇬🇧👍
Respect mate
Great respect!!😎💯💯🇬🇧
Is he still alive?
👍
I was given a "Dinky Toy" Centurion of wonderful cast metal quality when I was a kid in the 1950s. 65 years later, it is still "in service", sitting on my bookshelf guarding my treasure of story and knowledge. Thanks for this history.
I built the 1/76th airfix one .
Don Hayward:
I also had one of those back in the 50s
It was an excellent replica with it's rubber tracks. Alas, I don't know what happened to it.
But didn't Dinky Toys make some fantastic models. Their attention to detail was amazing.
Ahh...Halcyon days indeed!
I had the Dinky Centurion, well two of them and the tank transporter to go with them. When I see the images in this video it reminds me only of those tanks I had with their rubber tracks. Another really interesting watch from Mr Felton.
Still got mine from the sixties. The barrel's a bit bent, though. My big brother probably trod on it!
@@geoffbaker4452 I had the Thornycroft 'Mighty Antar' tank transporter, bought from Ward's, Cheap St. Frome for 17/6d, couldn't afford the tank as well.
As a 10 year old boy in 1957 I lived in Bovington Camp. My friends and I played cowboys and indians on the tank ranges behind our quarter. Sometines we joined forces and hid in the heather waiting to ambush passing centurion tanks. I remember one occaision when an approaching tank crew must have spotted us and turned the gun in our direction. We stood up and fired our arrows and toy guns at it as it passed by with its turret rotating to keep its gun trained on us. Those were the days.....
The tank commander must have decided to play around upon getting his sights on you.
And today it would have ended up with a picture of an unhappy parent in a paper, a storm on twitter and Facebook and the MoD putting out some statement as it mentally hurt the children. They were the days.
@@hypergolic8468 Yep, they were great happy days. We'd be out all day playing with no worries so long as we were home by tea. We caught newts in jam jars (and put them back). Now we'd be breaking the law......
Wonderful thanks for sharing!
@@tonyb83 Pleased to know you put the newts back , nice little creatures , same with lizards , used to catch them as a kid but they seem to have become scarce these days sadly
I am an ex Merkava 2 commander, when I joined the IDF in 1989 we still had a whole division of Centurions in operation (Shot D).
These marvellous machines carried more shells then our tanks and had higher degree of accuracy hitting the targets with their 105mm main gun. Every year the IDF carried a tank sniper competition, and every year the centurions won.
IDF Armour crews are probably the best in the world. I'm a Brit, Veteran but the battles the IDF fought and in 67 and 73 set the agenda for a Military so Professional that it punches massively above it weight, even when on the ropes and on its knees, it can fight multiple assailants and still ends up winning...Twice!!
I used centurion 105 and 165 (engineer demolition tank) in the 80s and took the 165s to the first gulf in 91.
@@fishyc150 "Follow the Sapper!"
@@mattcartwright8272 3 cheers for the CRE!!! 🤣
@@mwnciboo You must be dreaming. Last month Israeli tank crews just walked away from five of their tanks on the Syrian border to go home for the weekend. Just deserted them. That's the state of Israeli training and discipline. Get into a fight with USA armor and they'd be toast.
Another tale of Tigers and a celebration of Centurions. Who better to tell us than Mark Felton.
Wrong person
Chieftain
Very well said
@@youngpark9729 I agree
Tiger will blow centurion with the monster 88mm
I had the honour of driving one of these in 1966 in Hohne Germany. It was a true driver's tank, complete with crash (double declutch) gearbox, which soon developed the muscles in the left leg.
I drove the AVRE version for a few years until 1990. Nice tank but was showing it age a little by then, mostly its low speed was becoming a problem.
The original gear box was unsynchronised. Required a lot from the driver. 🙂
You only really needed the double de-clutching stuff when changing down gears. Changing up was a matter of taking your foot off the accelerator pedal, stamping the clutch down to instantly let it out again and pulling on one of the steering tillers all at once. That was the fastest and easiest way to go up the gears.
The funniest thing about the centurion was that, the smallest part had the longest name. It was called, SCREW RETAINING INTERMEDIATE FIRING NEEDLE WITHDRAWAL LEVER.
@@wayneholmes637 all was good until you've not missed the speed passage
The OLD joke in the Army is of course..... "He was in the Army when a Centurion was a RANK, not a TANK........"
I remember my late grandfather making that joke. Ex-Skins officer. Made me smile.
Had toy Centurions in my impressive backyard toy army, along with early Patton tanks. Fought many brutal engagements in Los Angeles against enemy toy soldier armies brought over by neighbor kids in the 1950's and early 1960's! Naturally, the Centurions were victorious. Loved the design as a kid! Thank you for the excellent video. Shout out from Oregon, USA.
I too was fighting that war over in Kent in the UK. Didn't realise i had an ally all those miles away ! ☺
@@keithrose6931 Had the same battle in Sunderland also involved captain Scarlet and captain Black
@@paulthompson8613 What no Action Man (G I Joe) ? My dad wouldn't let me have one of those "dolls" as he called them but I fractured my arm and because I never cried when they set it he said I could have a present ! Guess what I asked for and got ?
@@keithrose6931 Hope he real gripping hands and eagle eyes
@@paulthompson8613 No just the scar on he's cheek . Years later he was later found guilty of cowardice and was shot by my brother and I with our new air rifles .
9:17
Minor point: the M24 was the Chaffee, the M26 was the Pershing.
Absolutely love your content. The best ww2 history channel, period.
Actually, "Centurion versus Tiger" sounds like something from Roman games. TODAY AT THE COLOSSEUM, CENTURION VERSUS TIGER, WINNER EATS LOSER
I was surprised that there hasn't been a tank called the 'Gladiator' on that basis ...
@@Jester-Riddle And i don't think the Gladiator biplane would make a good match with them as CAS
" Are you not entertained?"...lol
Yes, that was the point he made at the beginning.
@@royfr8136 No, the point he made at the beginning about fantasy was, as he described throughout the video, due to the fact that these iconic tanks never had opportunity to do battle as was intended. He took a total whiff on the obvious fantastic opportunity for a misleading intro.
Without a doubt the best history UA-camr
What about Drach?
Crazy how "modern" the centurion looked compared to other ww2 tanks
It's Soviet contemporary, the T-54 was introduced about the same time. I know that the Israelis are using the T-55 modified as an APC as they use this insurance. They may have retired the t-54 variant.
The T-55 was also recently used during the conflict in Ukraine. I'm not sure if the T-54 was as well.
The Pershing & T29 say hello
too!🤔🤔
EXACTLY.
@@djcjr1x1 Both good, but not as widely used, or considered to be as capable.
Good observation. Centurion set the tone for the next 50 years of British Tank Design. A first of the three main new generations of tanks that arose at the end of WW2, as noted above. All those Tiger-killer-parameter designs endured very well. The bastions of the line for the Cold War. Which further developed into the monster MBTs we see today. You learn a lot when you beat a team that had form the way the Germans did back then. Only way to crack that nut was reduction to smithereens. Ferocious.
Dr. Felton has single handedly replaced the History Channel.
When a one person channel replaces a multi-million dollar TV channel because he teaches true history.
If you like him, you might also like thus channel:
The History Guy
@@bjmccann1 Yep subscribed to him as well! Great History content!
The History Channel is an oxymoron - more like the Aliens and Paranormal channel
@@Spookieham you forgot the pawn stars.
Mark’s tales never cease to amaze & captivate. Thank you.
I didnt expect you to be here kicking
@@infernalmaster9991 I never miss a Mark Felton release.
@@kickingmustang same
I always learn something new.....and I am a smartass
It's so nice to see that a ghillied up sniper has the same tastes as I. History, both generic and interesting, Airsoft and by extension Guns, and having nice weekend shooting others.
As a young lad living in Herentals Belgium in 1954/55, my father was the Senior ASM (Artificer Sergeant Major) in the REME: I was allowed to accompany my father on various Saturday mornings (no Monday to Friday work routines in those days) to the REME Workshops situated just outside Herentals. I recall seeing Centurion Tanks in the workshops undergoing maintenance. One particular Saturday morning a very lucky (and extremely chuffed) young lad (me!) was allowed to travel inside the Centurion Tank whilst it was undergoing engine and gearbox trials whilst ''off road'.
I am now in my seventies but I recall that day oh so clearly - I was seated on the seat in the rear of the tank 'cabin', under strict instructions to remain still and keep quiet, which I did.
Oh happy memories. Thank you Mark for your informative and bloody good series, well worth subscribing and supporting.
Mark, Gail Halverson, the Berlin Airlift "Candy Bomber" is still living and just turned 100! Would be a terrific topic THANKS as always
WOW REALLY!!!! Very glad for him.
The face of the Airlift!!! ✊
I knew his grandson. He was a missionary here in the Philippines and he told us about his grandfather
Wasn't he mentioned in Felton's video on the Berlin Airlift?
Definitely want to her that one.
Should organize a interview
For the Australians, 58 Centurions had served in Vietnam; 42 had suffered battle damage, of which six were beyond repair, while two crewmen had been killed in action. 2 Centurions from C squadron 1st Armoured regiment, during the battle for Coral Balmoral FSPB; road rambled 160 kms in 2 days to respond to the unfolding action. Nui Dat to Lai Khe is it a record?
Got C squadron's 039so it still lives.
Upgraded Centurions ("Olifants') did a great job in Angola, though committed too late and in too small numbers (fortunately for the Cubans, Soviets and Angolans). 3 were lost, but not due to enemy fire. They were disabled in minefields and could not be recovered under fire. Two are still sitting there, east of Cuito.
I was there during 1987, E Squadron School of Armour.
Hold on! Are you telling me that a newly designed and built tank got off a ship and drove 400 miles!.... That's not fantastic that's unprecedented. No wonder it's still in use to this day.
You really believe that bull...???
@@harveyadams5453 I used centurions through the 80s into the 90s. They were more reliable the more they were used. If left to sit they fell apart.
Harvey ADAMS why wouldn’t they do it? It sure served as an hell of a trial to see if it was something worth for the British to start massproducing which they ended up doin
@@fishyc150 I don't like the chances of the Centurions sold to private owner's here in Australia then. I wonder how many are rotting away in back paddocks because they broke down from lack of use and correct maintenence and are now being forgotten about.
@@markfryer9880 sad isnt it. Takes a lot of "simple" maint to keep them tip top, but it has to be regular. We were constantly told "a stitch, in time, saves 9" a little regular maint stops engine or gearbox lift.
We lost 2 of them in the first gulf. Search "avre explodes" and you'll see photos I took. Biggest explosion you'll ever see first hand. If interested I'll tell you the fuck up that lead to it 🤣
The file footage shows one of the Centurion’s great combat advantages: excellent gun depression, allowing them to take hull-down, reverse slope positions.
The Israelis showed that to great effect on Golan Heights, 1975
oh just like what British Centurion did in Korea not to mention the Israelis in Golan Heights
@@phbrinsden in 1973! Because of it's superb gun depression, the Centurion was ideal for defensive ramp battles! Now combine that with a DURABLE long range, super accurate and fast loading , rifled 105 mm gun with mix of 70 or so rounds, and you get a formidable fighting machine. It was priceless during initial defensive phase of the Yom Kippur War during the Valley of Tears and the big defensive battle around the vital strategic hills controlling Hushniyah in the southern sector.
That's why Israeli's still have them. All those miles driven around war-torn europe and very few failure's. Compare that to German tanks failure rate! OR compare it to U.S. Pershing tank! Very Well Done Brits! I think the Syrian army used some German mark 4 tanks. Maybe they met in battle after all?
With all that Gun depression it's amazing there's no record of PTSD ! (Before anyone flames me I'm a 37 year service Vet with PTSD.)
My Dad was in REME in the 1950s for his national service and he drove and repaired Centurions amongst other large vehicles. He later joined the MoD as a draughtsman and worked on designing new components and armaments for tanks such as this.
After the war my dad was conscripted into the Tank Regiment at Catterick North Yorkshire. He enjoyed the tank regiment and he spoke fondly of his time there!
Fun fact... the cromwell killed by the centurion in Korea was my grandfathers... he was captured at the Battle of “Happy Valley”, the tank was “H for Halifax”.
His commander, LT C G Alexander was killed by shrapnel from a mortar, leading to the vehicle sliding off the road in the dark and throwing a track, when they bailed out he didn’t have time to spike the gun to prevent its use by the North Koreans.
Not that you’ll see this Mark... but if you do I’d be happy to get you some more info on it!
Great true story
Thank you and especially your Granddad.
@freebeerfordworkers I actually don’t know exactly, I’ll have to ask my family, they may know! I think he was. I know LT Alexander joined my grandfathers crew just before the battle of happy valley since he didn’t ship to Korea with them
Why hasnt Mark added here!?? O_o
@@GamingwithHenry thankyou so much for sharing this fun fact!
comments under Dr Mark's vids are always a good read after watching the vid, there are often comments from people who had relatives involved in the actions the videos are about adding greatly to Dr Feltons lessons.
It’s amazing that content of this calibre is free for everyone
Thank you Dr. Mark!
I have been in battle with these tanks against t55s and t54s. Most of the fighting was no more than 50m because of the thick bush. I saw two centurions taken out in front of my vehicle, all the crews survived although some injuries. Up until then we were using just the infantry fighting vehicles with 20mm and 90mm. The 90s were needing several rounds to take out the tanks. However if you got hit by a t55 once it was game over. On one occasion a t55 was taken out by a 20mm only to be destroyed by the tank coming up from behind.
The Centurion is a formidable tank. Glad to have had them with us to balance things out a bit. In total we destroyed 91 Russian tanks over a period of 6months.8
What were you? 61 Mech?
It's stories like yours that give a much desired personal view and practicality of the weapon that is presented in this video. Thank you so much I love your comment. That's the kind of information people like me want to hear.
@@petercollingwood522 4sai
@@danielbtwd 5. But I was a clerk so never in the operational area or any kind of danger.
Well the Centurion knocked out T54/55s and T62s and still serves today in modified versions...I'd say it's a winner
In Denmark, Centurion were quickly replaced by Leopard 2's
@@privateerbouncher9622 really? Cause Denmark used them up till they retired it for Leopard 2. Even upgrading them to use 105mm L7's.
Old Romanian IAR-80s downed P-38J lightnings over Romania as late as 1944...
I am interested in your conclusion :)
Like the mk10
@Nonya Business what treaty requirements are you speaking of I have not heard of this at least as mentioned could you please tell me
The British Centurion is an excellent tank and served well beyond it's intended design parameters. It may have missed the opportunity to fight the German tanks but it proved to be a nemesis to the more modern Russian tanks when the outnumbered Centurions inflicted heavy damage and casualties to the Russian T-55 tanks during the 6 Day War and the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East.
That is not a concrete way to compare the tanks. No matter how good the tank is, their crews how to be professionally trained to handle the equipment. Tons of M1 Abrams have been destroyed in Yemen, due to improperly trained crews
@@PerditioTempus2591 In the case of the Saudi Arabian M1 tanks in Yemen, I saw a video of Saudi soldiers abandoning their camp during the Houti rebel attacks. They did not even use the M1 Abrams tanks and M2 Bradleys and simply abandoned them and ran as fast as they could back to Saudi Arabia. So the Houtis burned the tanks without any fight. That's how useless and coward the Saudi forces are. So my comparison for the tanks does not include the improperly trained or coward crews but assuming the tanks were in the hands of the professional and brave soldiers on both sides. That is why I am still correct with my comparison.
@@gerrycrisostomo6571 well that would mean you assume the in the Yom Kippur war and 6 day war, that the Tank Crews of the Centurion and Soviet tanks were professionally trained, if that were the case I'd like some proof please cuz that would be a pleasant surprise
@@gerrycrisostomo6571 That makes no sense.
@@PerditioTempus2591 Different people, you can't compare Saudi soldiers to Egyptian, Syrian or Jordanian soldiers. The Saudi soldiers don't have anything to fight for, similar to Italians in WWII.
Last time I was this early Centurion was on the march ... through Teutoburg Forest.
Touche...
Varus give me back my Legions
That’s not bad actually.
“Stwike him centuwion very woughly”
Yes, throw him to the floor!
@@davidmeyer6908
No, no, ... "thwo him to the flaw." 🤣
your father was a woman?
I will not have my fwends widiculed by the common soldiewy.
@Steve her name is intercontinentia
Thanks!
Last time I was this Early, the Luftwaffe had Aerial Superiority over France and Stalingrad.
@yankeesfor28
Last time I was this early, the crew of the Schleswig-Holstein was still steaming toward Danzig.
As we talk about France, nobody noticed there were the names of french booze written on those tanks : Chartreuse and Cointreau? 11:15
@@MalxaAza How do you think the Germans always first get their towels on the sunbeds.
Or That Luftwaffe have a plane
Or That We Feared Wolfpacks in the sea
why does this have this many likes?
The best history channel on UA-cam, at least for military subjects.
This is fantastic. I’ve been flat on my back due to a work place injury, and getting quite bored of my regular UA-cam channels.
I love the quality of these and how most of these stories I’ve not heard before, much less in this detail.
Thanks for your efforts in digging up these gems. Fills in a lot of gaps in my amateur WW2 knowledge.
I had to invent a new method to treat the back injury that I have so I can totally relate. I enjoyed this channel myself for other reason. I don't think our children are taught history cuz I know I was not. I did not anywhere begin to appreciate what my forefathers went through until I started studying history.
"Where was THIS 9 months ago then, eh?!" - every British tanker on seeing the Centurion for the first time
Yes I agree. Imagine those poor allied tank crews seeing Centurion but still having to climb into Cromwells and Shermans. If only Centurion had been a year earlier.
Well, they did say it tested very well, they had worked out all the bugs. Makes me wonder how much sooner might it had gotten to the field if they weren't so persnikity
In Britain’s defence you could say the Germans paid a price for throwing there concepts into battle tho I must admit the brits should never have had to of played catch up the way they did when you look at history such as the German power displays right at the beginning you can tell they weren’t playing around the the first ww2 Panzers already displayed sign’s of advanced Development way beyond are tanks
Perhaps they had remembered how the first Churchill tanks had been rushed into action too eatly
Well, the same with US troops seeing Pershing. Hoping if only they can get their hands on the tank months earlier. Instead of Sherman.
From what I understand, the Centurion was one of the first tanks to have fully stabilized main armament both vertically and in traverse, increasing its accuracy when moving by a phenomenal amount, making it so much more lethal than it's contemporaries, whos main armament was only stabilized vertically, Feel free of course to correct me if I am wrong.
I believe some US tanks had a form of stabilisation before the Cent but the Cent had the first really effective stabilised Gun Control Equipment. It was all electric whereas the US went with hydraulics which used oil at high temperature at very high pressure to operate. This was a major fire risk and is only now with late model M1s have they introduced electric wheras all British tanks since the Cent were electric.
The stabilisation on the Cent was excellent and gave it a real edge - I worked for the company that developed it and subsequent tanks. The T54/55 was also electric and when our engineers got hold of one in the 1980s were surprised at how well it operated albeit quite crude and basic.
I served on the Cent and for its time there was no match - a great tank.
It did but this made loading on the move a bit risky so was usually disabled.
I think they should’ve employed a Citroën like hydropneumatic system to stabilize the weapons, rotate the turret, elevate the gun, clutching, braking, steering, actuate the transmission and power the suspension.
There's one of these Centurians used as a gate guardian on a roundabout at Ormskirk/Southport way, very impressive piece of kit.
Centurion was slow (topped out at around 20 mph on roads) and had a very complicated gearbox and required a great deal of driver training. The Centurion also had a very limited range on internal fuel. Centurion had good armor and a good main gun and was upgradable to use bigger guns and more armor. When properly used and maintained it was a formidable tank and used with excellent effect by various nations such as India , Israel and various commonwealth nations. Probably the best tank of the Cold War era and it proved itself superior in combat against both American and Soviet tanks. Britain finally got it right in the tank department.
And as it's British, armor is spelt Armour.
How is it that every episode achieves this degree of quality and detail? You simply became an youtube institution, Dr. Mark Felton! Thank you so much! Cheers from Portugal!
Fascinating! That the Centurion's first combat kill was a Cromwell has got to be one of those cosmic jokes the god's of war play at.
Unfortunately the first raf pilot killed in action was shot down in his hurricane by a spitfire......
Never boring Mr. Felton, thanks again for updating history and filling in the gaps.
The man, the legend! Truly my favorite youtube channel!
I served aboard the Centurion Tank from Jan7 1966 to Sometime in 69 when we got Chieftains to replace them, thats when I left the Army ! The Centurion was fantastic, It was warm in the winter because of the fans, had a brew pot and you could cook your tins of sausage and beans on the Auxiliary Generator's (Moriis 8 side valve) exhaust. It was slow, but with that 105mm I never missed as a gunner. Bit fraught in early stages of training. We had a MKI (17 pounder at Warcop) No fume extractor meant that after 7 rounds you could not see your hand any more than 6 inches in front of your face. Breathing was almost impossible !!! My troop Sgt was in Korea with MKI's he told us about one engagement where they fired 53 rounds !!! With resupply. The acrid smoke was dreadful, like breathing neat amonia ! 2nd test firing in a MK5 (20 pounder) Again didn't miss and it was so much more pleasant with the fume extractor. Apparently the main gun 17Lb was designed as an artillery anti tank gun fired from an artillery mounting, so didn't need any fume extraction. Everyone loved em, I did ! What an honour and privilege it was to have served aboard them.
It seems Dr Felton was finally been located and arrested by the Empire.
So the next episode will be:
Assault of Imperial AT-AT Walkers on Hoth in 3ABY and destruction of the Echo Base as the Rebel Alliance breaks the encirclement.
I can't wait for Mark Felton to do a video on the combat capabilities of this fully operational battlestation....(cough) sorry. On the DS2 Battlestation
"The frontal armour of the AT-AT was, of course impenetrable to most rebel weapons. However, there were some vulnerabilities that were understood by the rebel alliance"
We should request a Mark Felton style history breakdown of some starwars battle as if its real history.
@@Jamie-zs8ok "Everything was seemingly proceeding as Emperor Palpatine had foreseen. The Alliance fleet had fallen into a trap...caught between a fully armed and operational Death Star battle station and an armada of several dozen Imperial Star Destroyers, led by the Star Dreadnought Executor. However, the Imperial legion stationed on Endor's Sanctuary Moon didn't count on a guerilla attack from the local indigenous population. The insurgents' target: the Imperial garrison guarding the Death Star's shield generator..."
This is the historian we're looking for.
Historians that perpetuate bullshit? Second time he calls Sherman tall.
Another very good video Mark. My Father served in B Squadron, 23rd Hussars, 11th Armoured Division. The 11th Armoured was the only British Division to be fully re-equipped with Comets by war's end, with the famous 7th (Desert rats) being partially equipped. During his life he spoke very well of the Comets and especially compared to the M4 Sherman, which were the mainstay of the 11th and indeed all British Armoured Divisions during the Normandy campaign. He stayed on in Germany until 1948 so would have had exposure with the Centurion, but did not mention much about it.
Another poor video. The Centurion never met a Tiger in combat so calling it the "Tiger Tank's Nemesis" is wildly preposterous.
Interesting. The Comet looked right. And was obviously the father of the Centurion .
I remember the Australian Centurion Tanks from when I was a young Soldier in the 70-80's, 1st Royal Australian Armoured Regiment continued to use them up until the mid 1980's, and they were deployed in Squadron strength in Phuoc Tuy province South Vietnam, during the Australian deployment there prior to 1973.
Let's just all pause for a minute and thank Mark for not taking life to seriously, First thing we see is him with Storm Troopers :D
All the cool UA-camrs stream in their game room!
I think down votes are coming from that and also from the whole consept of pairing two tanks that never saw each other :,D
Just brilliant, thanks, made my day
Centurion was a brand new generation design that would have obliterated anything that served in WW2 including facing down Tigers, but it was newer so hardly a surprise. However even much later tanks struggled when faced with the Centurion such as the T-62 and the M48! It was clearly a top class tank.
I know this is an old text, but it's interesting that our country, the US ofA, had difficulties in producing various weapons systems, such as the 'Sgt York' when we could have gotten the Gepard kit for M48/60 hulls for a good price, the Harrier, we finally gave up on domestic development, the M-26 to counter the German heavier armor, versus the Centurion. When you look at the incredibly long run of a truly distinguished piece of equipment, it's amazing, compared to the relatively short run of the Pershing. Their cross country mobility made them legendary, and the fore control system was exceptional, as discussed in Korea and Vietnam. The Russians had the ZSU-57 which seemed to work well enough in Vietnam, but our version was a horror story of military development.
But never the "Tiger Tank's Nemesis."
Looks like Mark Felton visited the wrong Imperial War Museum
LOL
😂 seems like Hawkins
Here's bragging rights for you. My partners dad went to school with Darth Vader. Well Dave Prose anyway.
Imperial Tour Guide: And here we see the mural of our glorious emperor destroying the evil jedi and separatist scum..
Chinless dweeb more like
Who in 1945 would know Centurion’s peak moment would happen in nearly 30 years later in 1973 in Golan height thousands miles from Europe
There are videos on you tube about that battle. The main GUN (up and down range of motion ) of the Centurion had a big advantage over the Arab Army who had Russian Tanks (that had night vison ... not on the Centurion). The extended vertical range of the Gun (measured in degrees) allowed the Centurion to be high on hill and lower the gun to shoot the Arab (Russian Tanks). The Arab Tanks (Russian makes) could not elevate their main gun high enough to shoot back.
The Eternal Anglo knew.
@@stevenhershman2660 as one always said
"Russian tank is the happiest tank"
"Why?"
"They dont have depression"
I love the stories on the Israeli successes with the Centurian in the Arab wars.
@@stevenhershman2660 ah those poor Syrians sure they have more modern tanks than the Israelis during that time and yet Israeli Centurions whoop their T-55 & modern T-62's asses
John O'Daniel, commanding the US 1st Corps, stated: "In their Centurions, the 8th Hussars have evolved a new type of tank warfare. They taught us that anywhere a tank can go, is tank country: even the tops of mountains."
Centurion's one of the best tanks of the 20th century!
Built a model of this tank back in the 50s as a kid. Still have great memories if this tank!
As I'm sure you know, it was the Comet that provided a challenge to the Tiger in the last months of the war. I once saw a Centurion standing next to a Conqueror. It made the Centurion look chap and tinny, but the problem with the Conqueror was that its size and weight made it very difficult to transport. But it was certainly a fine looking tank.
According to Nick Moran, of UA-cam channel 'Inside the Chieftain's Hatch', quote ' the Centurion was, pound for pound, the best tank ever built'.
You're full of it, my wife is the. best tank ever built!
@@paratrooper7340 :-) You'll need a panzerfaust if she ever finds out you said that ! ;)
Surprisingly enough, there was a time when the Centurion squared off against Panzers. Except this was not in Europe, but in the Middle East; when Israeli Centurions battled against Syrian Panzers in the Golan Heights during the Six Day War in 1967.
I think Mark has covered that as well.
Only the Mark 1V.
@@Paul-hy6rp Yes, he did.
@@d3vond
Seems like the same play as state of the art Abrahams vs outdated russian tanks at the Irak wars. Not really a suprise.
Imagine how Centurions would crush IS3s if facing them. T-55 and T-62 superb compared to ISwouldnt stand a chance.
Guess not so scary as some may think after Berlin Victory Parade done by Soviets with staring the IS3.
My dad was stationed in Germany during the 50s in a Centurion Regiment as a Radio Man. He loved them.
Hello Steve my name is Pete I served in the Saint Farmer division in Germany 56 5758 I was in the Royal Army ordnance core 0FP which stands for ordinants Field Park we have 2010 ton trucks I have three in my charge I had all the gun barrels for the centurions.
Centurion: I will destroy you.
Tiger: I don't even know who you are.
I can also see the Tiger responding:
I’m endangered! I belong in a museum!
@@Assassinus2 Don't worry. You will be. At a place called Bovington
Tiger I production ended in June 1944. So the Tiger 1 was declared obsolete by the Germans themselves 1, 5 years before the first centurions entered service. So it's a bit strange to celebrate the slight supiriority of the centurion. But what can we expect from some winy angloboos.
@@HaVoC117X To be fair and its difficult to comprehend on British armour from that timeperiod the Centurion was way more reliable and easier to field maintain/repair then the Tiger.
What was the WD thinking a good tank that doesn't break down so often 🤦♂️
@@HaVoC117X Well, we can expect the ability to spell correctly for a start.
Mark, you raised the bar for yourself with “Nazi Space Monkeys” and I’m still waiting for a title to top that.
The Japanese soldiers and killer crocodiles perhaps?
Yeah gonna be hard to top that title and thumbnail
It was even better than that: Nazi ROCKET Monkeys. Reminds me of an old Rockstar game whose working title was ‘Super Monkey Tanks: GO!’ ( realised as ‘Wild Metal Country’).
Nazi Space Monkeys? Sounds like something on the late late monster movie.
Now make a video about "Pigs in Space"!!
Unless you weren't born yet in the seventies...
When I was a young lad 1970s the first model I ever received a build was a centurion tank. Thank you for the wonderful presentation to this day in my heart it is my favorite tank and always will be.
While not the Tiger, Israeli Centurions saw action against Syrian Panzer IV's and Stugs during the 1967 Six Days War. They were no match.
Yes you are right mark also made a video about it.
Yes and he has presented a video on how the Syrian army obtained the Panzers and the subsequent deployment followed by their destruction in the Six Days War.
If the Israelis would have had the Panzer IVs and the Syrians the Centurions, the Israelis still would have won.
@@rudolfschrenk6171 a big call
@@graemesydney38 , the reason lies in the quality of the crews and maintenance personnel and rampant corruption in the Arab forces. No tank design can make up the sloppyness of mechanics and the habit of mechanics to give away fuel and spare parts to relatives. The typical fate of a tank in an arab army of that time was getting abandoned in a broken down condition.
I think the Centurion takes this hands down. Its way newer, with a great gun. It would undoubtedly only be handed to veteran crews. So I think it would mop the floor with Tigers and King tigers.
Lack of engine trouble is a huge give away that it would win. Tigers were plagued with those issues.
@@johnburns4017 your full of it, you need to look at actual German analysis reports not post war French, or some so called western expert who is just regurgitating nonsense he or her has heard from a 2nd hand source. While certainly not as reliable as the sherman if a Tiger, Panther or even a Tiger II was properly maintained and had a properly trained driver they were good for far more than the 100-150km number always given. I've read way too much to remember the exact source but there is a record of a recovery panther that had around 4000km on the clock without failure of any piece of the drive line and it was estimated that half of that was while towing another vehicle
This was the one we all played with as kids in the Dinky range complete with Tank Transporter.
Yes!
Centurian award goes to centurain tank since its best tank of century
TAKE UR HAT OFF SON, MARK FELTON UPLOADED A VIDEO THAT MANS A TREASURE
The US M26 was known as the Pershing, not the Chaffee, as you'd mentioned in the video. The Chaffee was the M24. I'm sure you're aware of that. 🙂
Well ahkchually moment
War Thunder Players playing Tigers: *Sweating Intensifies*
And now the Centerion is a 7.0
@@daygus1115 not the mk1
That's how I felt lol
me happy as can be in my king tiger minding my business capping the point listening to Sabaton hiding from an IS 6 because that's how this game works and i get one shot in the turret mantle by a centurion.
Me "well at least it wasnt russian this time"
@@The_Alt_Vault haha russian bias goes BBRRRRR
This tank is crazy, the length of this tank's service was like having the tiger tank still serving in 2016-2017 and beyond if only it is not prone to breaking down and failures. Imagine a tiger tank upgraded for modern combat and fighting side by side with a leopard MBT, real crazy the length of this tank's service!
I thoroughly enjoy Mark’s videos. I have always been a history buff of sorts, especially WW1 and WW11, and he fills the bill for unknown information. Thanks.
What happened in world war eleven?
The best historical WWII site on the Internet.
My favourite time of day, accurate historical education o'clock with Dr Felton. :)
I was just thinking the SAME THOUGHT a few seconds BEFORE reading your comment above. I agree 100%. I look forward to Marks videos !
I always learn so much from your channel. Keep up the good work.
“I’ll leave that one for you chaps to argue out in the comments below...”
Followed by the deafening roar of 960k keyboards.
For a 1945 tank, the Centurion design really looked ahead of its time. Its silhouette looks like today’s MBTs.
This channel is unrivalled - many thanks
I wonder what changed amongst the British tank designers when they produced such an excellent tank after so many failures? The crews seem to have hated everything except the Churchill.
It took them a very long time to decide what they actually wanted from their tanks and what they wanted them to be able to do, so they kept coming up with tanks that were very good at doing a certain thing but severely lacked in other areas. Eventually they realised an ideal tank needs to be balanced and able to do multiple things well rather than excelling in just one area
They got tired of making hapless contraptions like Valiant.
I understand that a new design team was formed with a clean sheet and all the old rules thrown out. This meant the rail width shipping requirement was able to be exceeded. When the wider the whole of the tank design fell into place. Probably the reason why the the tank was driven 400miles in Germany. They built a special road transporter later to carry it.
The biggest limitation and 'hand brake' on development was the availability of a suitable engine. The Centurion had a detuned RR Merlin but priority was given to engines for the RAAF and it took time for the industrial capacity to be worked up.
I understand that a new design team was formed with a clean sheet and all the old rules thrown out. This meant the rail width shipping requirement was able to be exceeded. When the wider the whole of the tank design fell into place. Probably the reason why the the tank was driven 400miles in Germany. They built a special road transporter later to carry it.
Man I can’t wait for your 1 million Subscriber video. I can feel it will be the mother of all WWII videos
This tank brings back memories of my youth as an 18 year old tank driver. I am 80 now but the memories linger on.
Which tank(s) did you drive?
Centurions and Sherman fireflies were used by the Indian army successfully against Pakistani M47, M48 Pattons, Shermans and Chaffee tanks. They had killed more tanks than they had lost. India had used Centurions well into the 1970's.
Mark felton sir please make a video on this.
🙏
That would be very interesting.👍🇳🇿
@@Colonel_Blimp ya.
@@Colonel_Blimp Israeli Super Shermans vs T-54/55 is also an interesting story
@@Colonel_Blimp oh. I forgot.
75mm Shermans were also used
9:16 small detail, M26 was the Pershing's designation, Chaffee's was M24. Very minor, loved the vid as always sir!
Glad someone else caught it too.
But now the question is "was mark talking about the Chaffee or the pershing?" I'm gonna assume the pershing
It is the Pershing.
Considering it is still in service today, I'd say it would have fared quite well.
I think the Centurion would easily have given most, if not all German tanks a run for their money. It was the one thing most German heavy tanks were not; reliable.
@@QuantumMechanic_88 yes? This is pretty much agreed apon by even the most fervent wehraboos.
Had they focused more on engine development than weapon/armor development, either way it would go wrong. Though they were failures mechanical, they were beasts in the beinning
@@QuantumMechanic_88 Yes they were beasts but they are infamously terrible with being reliable. American tanks were designed to be reliable as they could not be brought home and fixed, the germans did not have that design issue. I'm in no way saying German tanks are bad, outside of their typically transmission issues written about by every millitary facing them and even themselves.
@@QuantumMechanic_88 Most German heavy armour was notorious for gear and transmission breakdowns.
@@QuantumMechanic_88 Yes, is that a question. Over engineered and complex they were notoriously unreliable.
Mark if u read this your a bloody legend gg
Amen!
@Future_guareian5 Gaming, ur a youtuber also right
Ye lol
Dr Felton, this Cold War Veteran is still learning about the Cold War, thanks to you.
Laying the 17pdr gun on its side was a development used on the Australian Ac4 sentinel tank. Passed the the idea to British Sherman upgrade.This was used in the Firefly.
At 9:15 there is a mistake. There was no M26 "chaffee" that would be the M24. Your referring to the M26 "Pershing". The Chaffee was a light tank so it would make no sense to test it against Centurion.
Nice catch 👍
I think the number designation is wrong but the Chaffee is correctly named. At 20(ish) tons, it compares to the Cromwell’s 27(ish) tons, and would explain the swampy terrain performance gap. The Pershing was similar in weight to Centurion. .
Its great to see a video like this. Too many people say if the war had gone on longer the Germans would have had this or that fantastic new bit of equipment. Imagine if we'd had Centurions a little earlier. They were used by the Israelis to great effect during the 6 day war against the latest Russian tanks.
Not many people realise that the main reason Britain struggled with tank design during WW2 was down to the loading gauge of our railways. Tanks had to be transported by rail and our tunnels were narrower than those in Europe as we had the earliest railways. If only Brunel's broad gauge system had been adopted we could have had much bigger tanks - but nobody thought of that back in the early 1800s!
British railroad guage is an important issue & thanks for raising it. It often seems people want to compare opposing tanks, aircraft, ships without consideration of the constraints that forced their design or the circumstances of their use.
Another wonderful production.
Man the centurions are my favorite tanks, they just look so cool
Man o man do I sure miss the old history channel. In the 90s it had awesome programs like weapons at war and tales of the gun to name a couple. Mr Felton reminds me of the days when the history channel still had good shows about actual history.
My father drove a Centurion tank, together with others, around 1969-1973 I think it was. :D I would so love to drive one from his period!
Mark, you forgot to mention what the Centurion did against the soviets' T-62 during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973. It essentially saved an entire nation.
I served during the cold war in REME. I served with the Queens Own Hussars at Catterick and 1st Royal Tank Regiment in UK and West Germany. Later I was posted to 11 Infantry Workshops REME Minden Forward Repair Group. The Centurion Mk6, 12 and 13 were my toys with the 1st Royal Tank Regiment in Germany. Later converting over to Chieftain Mk 3S which were initially targeting Iran as clients. Wer were newly equipped with the Chieftain and whilst on exercise in northern German had an Iranian sales team with us to evaluate the 3S. The 3S performed brilliantly with no breakdowns and the REME fitters troop played volleyball whilst the tankies were our in the training area. After the Iranians left the problems started with constant breakdowns. I was posted to 11 Field Workshops REME as part of their forward repair group, we supported three infantry battalions and the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, we were on constant call out supporting 3RTR. I went to Suffield in Canada on two occasions with 1 and 3 RTR and the work load was so great we would work 72 hours without sleep trying to keep the battle groups operating. Later I worked as an inspector at Royal Ordnance Factory Leeds building Chieftain and worked on the Challenger prototypes 4030 phase 1, 2 and three where Chobham Armour was first used. The Centurion with its Rolls Royce Meteor engine was one of the most difficult engines to work on. It was an aircraft engine based on the Rolls Royce Merlin. It used 4 pints of lubricating oil and hour and its twin spark plugs per cylinder frequently oiled up. To change the plugs was very time consuming particularly the exhaust plugs which were under the exhaust manifold an accessed after heat shields were removed. The twin magnetos were highly inaccessible and access through the access (kidney) plate from the turret. I have a fondness for the Centurion. The Chieftain was a pain in the arse with the Leyland two stroke main engine being very unreliable. The drive to the fans from the main engine fell off. The engine casting cracked and the whole fan drive fell off. At one time the drives were constantly checked for cracking. The remedy at the time was to shape bronze welding rod around the drive and coat it all in a very strong adhesive. The free wheeling fan drive hubs also seized through lack of lubrication. The Challenger prototypes has a twin turbo Rolls Royce diesel at which point I lost contact with my emigration to Australia. Whoever says that the Chieftain was the best tank is totally wrong. The Centurion had 250 modifications in its lifetime. When I was with them the Chieftain had over 2500.
Tiger blows up Centurion, then immediately breaks down and catches on fire.
Both crews die.
From Dysentery on the Oregon trail.
The sole Irish Army Tiger Tank tries to blow up a Brit Centurion Tank.....but burns its lips on the exhaust pipe....
All other things being equal, whichever one got the first round on target would probably win. That's where the quality of the tank crew would most likely decide the outcome.
Every formula 1 fan knows that any technical superiority you may have over the English will disappear as soon as a few of them disappear into their garages for a few days. (even quicker if they assign a Scot to the task)
Brits in a shed resulted in the bouncing bomb and the Whittle jet engine.
@@raypurchase801 - not to mention Stilton : )
And Hobart's funnies.
@@tonyclewes8 Definitely.
Great story. I visited the real thing yesterday at the Tank museum in Bovington... interesting to see how the tank has evolved from ww2 up to today. The Centurion really does look pretty modern.
Ironic that the British, having struggled to make a competitive tank throughout the war, eventually went on to produce arguably the best tank to emerge from the conflict.
BTW, Bovington is well worth a visit. Aside from the tanks, the history and testimonies presented are very sobering.
9:20 perfectly sums up the whole situation. Also my new reaction gif :) They really broke the mould with the Centurion.
In that picture with the storm troopers I bet Dr. Felton is all like: “this isn’t the historian you’re looking for!“
Maybe he's upset someone and needs an armed gaurd.
Yeah, the History channel
The Centurion picture at 2:16 was taken at CFB Borden in Ontario, Canada. I used to climb all over it as a kid.
Hope you reach that well deserved 1 million subs very soon Mark, much love from Amsterdam!
I hope so too!
Last time I was this early, that Afrika Korps had a stable supply line.
"I leave logistics to lesser officers." - Erwin Rommel just before he ran out of petrol.
since when did Africa Korps had stable supply line.
Kriegsmarine: HOW ARE YOU GETTING THE MOST SUPPLY?
Luftwaffe: We were bombing Britain!
Eastern Front in 1942: We needed more supply lines!
Afrika Korp: You guys are getting stable supply lines?
Erwin Rommel asks his logistics officer "how much fuel do my tanks have?"
Supply Officer: "half a day"
Rommel: "How much do the British have?"
Intel Officer: "They have 6 days supply, sir"
Rommel: "So what you are saying is we have 6 and 1/2 days of supply then!"
About accurate. lol