Exactly! This was originally published in a bulletin. Since these bulletins were/are either used to convey new things or to remind everyone on a certain topic, at least some of the points were not followed. Also: These points are most likely taken from regulations, thus used to train new officers, who would not have the experience on the battlefield. Better to write it down and remind every officer now and again then having half of your column lost at a road-fork.
I was a mechanized infantry platoon leader (M2 Bradleys) with the 1/15 Infantry in Kitzingen, Germany during the Cold War and many of these commandments make perfect sense IF you use the perspective of an infantry commander. Remember, these commandments are for mechanized infantry when the idea was still relatively new and they were still trying to figure out how to make a foot soldier a mechanized one. I was trained to lead patrols on foot using a map and compass at Fort Benning. The experience of being put in the Bradley commander's hatch trying to hold on to your map trying to land nav while going at a 25 to 35 MPH pace while freezing rain it pounding you was a wholly different skill set. Merging soldiers on foot at an intersection is a whole lot easier to un-FUBAR than two convoys of motorized vehicles on small European streets. I see another trend in that the infantry were the prime combatants and everyone else was in support of them. They now had to movie with the tanks, protecting the them, and deal with dangers that moving foxholes present. (You can't just low crawl in an armored vehicle when the artillery hits.)
Well, I guess writing "You better put that jerrycan behind armor or else you'll go up like a bonfire" still sounds just a tad bit more motivating than the "We barely have enough fuel or the logistics to supply it for that matter, so you better put that jerrycan behind armor."
Well, I guess that Diesel (for the Soviet example of the T-54/55 outside storage bins) of JP-8 for the vaunted Abrams IS difficult to ignite. But German AVFs all used Gasoline, and I guess that this line in the Commandments came with a string of burned-out halftracks behind it.
The majority of German vehicles even in 43 did not have radios ( most were Kp.level and higher) , when they did, most were going to a higher net, not to other SDKFZ 251 or trucks. This is why the motorcycles were so important to Kompanie commanders. I commanded a 4 sdkfz 251 and one Hetzer group for years in WW2 reenacting and I can say the Krad messengers were gold.
@ Chieftain : The stuff you said you would take for granted from a commanders perspective is in it because of the ways the german army( Bundeswehr in my expierience& presumably Wehrmacht as Well ) instruction & punishment for disobedience Systems work: " If you don't write Down your procedures for specific Situations and Put it in a manual, you can't make the individual soldier responsible for stuff going wrong. Therefor if, for example you do not write down that the CO is not allowed to drive, some are going to do it. And if something goes wrong because of that, you can't make him responsible for it. And yes, i know this seems like Very germanic and pedantic, but that is the way German Army bureaucracy worked, works, and will work.
However: At one points one passes into "Procedures makes stupid people stupidier. And even smart people stupid." (Scott Weingart, EMCRIT-RACC). Perhaps not here, but it isn't far away....
@@MultiZirkon Not necessarily if your general level of veterancy has been greatly lowered thanks to the need to rush green recruits through training with the abolute minimum. Remember: This is the severely depleted Wehrmacht of the late war we're talking about.
I worked in manufacturing and we do not have any saying. None the less if you look at those warnings on the package of many products, you will see many that seems idiotic and that on one would be stupid enough to make those mistakes. In reality most of time those warnings were there because someone have actually done it. Never underestimate stupidity.
When you are down to what half your manpower being kids and retirees who just don't want to get shot from the front or the back that is a pretty reasonable explanation.
Apologies if it's been stated somewhere below, but an additional consideration we often forget is just how much of the Heer was still foot infantry at the beginning of the war. Shifting these officers into half-tracks, considering many Germans didn't even own cars at the time, would require training in the fundamentals that seem obvious in today's mechanized armies
Yes, if you read Otto Carius' memoirs (Tigers in the mud) you can see that even elite armoured units suffered from inexperienced and ill-trained commanders, let alone lower ranks.
I suspect the desire to restate "obvious" commandments might be a reflection on declining experience in the German Officers. Even if they are still receiving a complete course of training, I imagine new officers were finding themselves immediately at the front without any opportunity to hone their skills performing non-combat or "light" duties. Presumably the commandments included such obvious instructions to make sure an inexperienced officer didn't forget the fundamentals. I also imagine there were a fair number of officers rolling their eyes at how some of the "valuable advice" in the document was bleeding obvious...
I agree ...whats "obvious" to the chieftain , at trained experienced armour officer is going to be less obvious to some supply officer who has spent the war up to now in hamburg shuffling paper ...Poland France Russia ...the battles blunted the German armys spear point
Yeah, that was my thought as well. By 1943, the Wehrmacht had lost a lot of well trained veteran officers, NCO's and enlisted personnel that had trained up pre-war, and fought in Poland, France, Norway, Greece, Africa, and earlier in the Russian campaign. They were likely seeing increasing numbers of battlefield commissioned officers and NCO's who had never officially been back to Germany for advanced MOS training, and many of the raw recruits were possibly coming straight from basic training to combat units without any advanced infantry school let alone training as mechanized infantry. As you get into 1943 you are probably seeing increasing cases of someone who has managed to simply survive for the last several months suddenly being made a leader and their only real qualification to do it is that they simply have outlived many of their peers and they themselves really have no idea what they are doing or are really supposed to do and the number of officers and senior NCO's with real experience in the unit, who could teach them, are dwindling fast and there aren't enough of them to perform on the job training of all the noobs.
Good point. Another point, especially in the Wehrmacht in 1944 was: Veteran VCs from 1939/1940 did know this. But much of them were already dead, so many of the VCs in 1944 were quite inexperienced (and not as well trained as they would have been before the war) when they got to the front. This commandments were a form of guidelines to them.
and lets not forget, this is WW2 Germany we are talking about, they probably had manuals written up on how to wipe your own backside, they seemed to have written instructions for everything else. They were prolific manual writers it seems
@@RedtailFox1 Supposedly they still used to write everything and anything down until somewhat recently. It's hard to actually fact check, since the manuals aren't public and, officially, get destroyed after they're no longer relevant, but the jokes about commandments such as "One should expect darkness as night falls" still linger.
@@RedtailFox1 In my first week of AOBC at Ft Knox, we watched a video on how to brush your teeth. Apparently it was a TRADOC requirement. From one standpoint, I can understand, a man who has to be evacuated for an abscessed tooth is as much a loss to the unit as one who has been shot. But still, guys.....
@@KaladinVegapunk * points to german lieutenant out in the middle of bumblefuck nowhere of the russain countryside, who looks like he wouldn't know how to find his own ass if you gave him a flashlight and a manual, who also managed to March his entire platoon into a minefield even though it was specifically repeated several times over radio not to fucking March there * Yes, yes it was.
"So we now have a stranded first Lieutenant in bandit country in a tank on his own in the city." Well, he's screwed. Everyone knows LTs can't read maps.
I could never quite work out which way up those things were supposed to go. As an educated man myself, I deduced that all roads lead to Rome, and that maps look rather pretty when hung up. After all, when does eeny meeny ever fail?
Carbon 12 And no matter which direction you go, it always leads to either a road, town or water. There! Who needs maps? ( To be honest, the Boy Scouts taught land navigation better than the Army back in the 70s and 80s).
@TerLoki > Everyone knows LTs can't read maps. Well, actually they can - but not the way they're supposed to. And that's how the troubles begin. :-) That's why land navigation has been always one of my main priorities during my days as an NCO in the Austrian Army, be it in conscript training as a drill instructor as well as an instructor in the vbK ("Vorbereitende Kaderausbildung", the basic NCO training in my army days) or the EF (EF meaning "Einjährig-Freiwilliger" a.k.a. "One-year volunteer", i.e. the basic training for officer candidates mandatory to attend the three-year Theresian Military Academy to become a 2LT). Because: every soldier who doesn't know his whereabouts is at least useless, at worst a danger for himself and his unit, and in between a liability. It's also one of the reasons why I sometimes gave the 2LTs and 1LTs I served under as a platoon sergeant (yes, I was just a lowly 2i/c, but I never cared about rank if I was confident in being right) when they didn't show at least adequate land navigation skills. I did fail a number of students on not being proficient in that field and I did have to go through a handful of NJP hearings as well as three court-martials because of complaints filed by some of my NCO and/or officer candidate students, but in the end they all ended with me being cleared of all charges because my respective CO decided that I was right. Because if you're not capable of finding your way, you're unfit to lead. (And the funny thing is: I'm currently still obligated to serve ~50 days in the Army Reserve until the Green Machine will let me go, but every time I'm tasked as a platoon sergeant or am the most senior NCO in my platoon - every platoon leader so far still hands me the map and compass and asks me for a second opinion - and I'm proud of that.)
@@desert_jin6281 And, in addition to what you two have already said, there's another point. This was written at around the point where the first batch of German unit commanders with practical experience in mechanized warfare were starting to find themselves on the casualty lists with increasing frequency.
I have forgotten the exact quote and author but the critique runs along this line, "when reading Kant do not be alarmed at encountering ten words when one word will do".
I think you may be forgetting here that these are commandments developed during fighting on the Ostfront. That is, a place of utterly absurd distances that no modern soldier has much experience of. Hence, some advice may not ring quite as true. Also, some of the most obvious commandments are likely due to the fact that by 1943, formations were getting rather raw, undertrained replacements who needed many things spelled out to them. As I recall, PzGrenadiers were suffering particularly high personnel attrition. Especially among junior officers.
6:02 I don't know about Wehrmacht trucks, but on the VW Beetle (the old model, from pre-WW2 up to the 80s) the attachment point for the tow rope is actually mounted to the front axle, not the frame, so this seems to be somewhat common at the time at least in Europe (It's the same on other 40s/50s-era cars such as the French 2CV, though not with all of them). On the whole of the video, stating the obvious is actually always a good idea, especially during training. The authors of the brochure probably had seen reports of problems related to each and every one of those commandments. Keep in mind, new conscripts kept flowing in throughout the war, not only in Germany, in addition to replacements for some Panzergrenadier units coming from other branches.
Well, that may have beeen an issue, but it might have been as well an ancient wisdom of soldiery: "If you get the opportunity to doze off, take it." Because especially in infantry, paratroopers and special forces (i.e. the branches I do know from personal experience, so feel free to agree, disagree or add your experience if you're from another branch), one general rule is: "if you got the chance to doze off: Do. It may be only be for a few seconds or minutes because you'll never know when you might get the chance to rest, but take every opportunity you get." (I actually used to to drill that mindset into my conscripts as a drill instructor because I wanted my kids not only to survive, but to be their best when they were required to be on top of things.) So when you take a look at the speed with which the German Wehrmacht conducted its Blitzkrieg tactics while also relying on the not very tightly controlled use of methamphetamines (known e.g. as "Panzerschokolade"/"tankers chocolate", "Stuka-Tabletten"/"stuka pills"back then), you'll only reach one and only one conclusion: If a soldier gets the oppportunity to grab some Z's and isn't out of his mind already, he'll take it. Personal note: When I was a member of Austrian SF in the mid to late 1990ies, we were also issued on occasion with (very closely monitored, I might add) amphetamine pills to be able to power through extremely long and/or enduring assignments if necessary, and my teammates and CO's always praised me for being _extremely_ on top of my game when I popped a pill. And in early 2005 (after I left the army), I got diagnosed with ADHD and am now getting methylphenidate on a prescription. So just imagine how much the army would have profited of me if they would have found out about that a few years sooner and given me the proper treatment - they could have one of their most competent CSMs or RSMs by now. :-)))
Yeah well, the re-emphasis on the basics in these commandments is because of the high German casualty rates (especially among the combat leadership) and the fact that very junior leaders were being promoted regardless of whether they had been trained for the next position up. Fuel was a MAJOR issue for the Germans and it twisted the priorities of the strategic, operational and tactical thinking.
Exactly. Most of these 'obvious' commandments are hindsight obvious. Meaning they are obvious either when pointed out or something bad has happened because they haven't been followed. But a new officer leading from his faster halftrack might not exactly think of the trucks far down the column, because they are 'out of sight - out of mind' so to speak. And the solo recon vehicle isn't very obvious until you think about them actually finding enemies. A normal throught would be "single vehicles = more ground covered". Guiding the vehicles from the ground... only really comes up if the ground is understood to be a problem. Most people tend to overestimate capabilities if not well educated on the matter, thus bad ground is easily disregarded unless horribly obvious like tight fits.
I also find it interesting considering some of the Chinese tank loses in Korea resulted directly from an undamaged tank having its exterior fuel tanks ignited. The tanks couldn’t see out, and they were big and clear directions for UN tanks.
A couple of thoughts about the “most obvious commandments”, we are reading them 75 years of armored experience after they were written. This was new technology at the beginning of the war. They were developing armor tactics as the war progressed. The average German would not have had much if any experience driving as cars were not nearly as common as today. So new soldiers were learning very foreign concepts and would need reminders, even the veterans of the last war were fighting in a completely different technological environment.
In contradiction to that these aren’t random hacks, the motorized and mechanized infantry were the elite of the army, and thus their officers should be at the very least knowledgeable on vehicles, hell they train with their tank units in their armor divisions, or tried to, but the things that are straight wrong are just that, and I can fathom no reason they come to these wrong conclusions
@@looinrims Well, the german military was at this point in 1943 not as meritocratic as you´d think, often times ideoligy was more important than merit.
Firu the armored divisions were the elite, you don’t get placed there being pogs, that’s why they were so effective, fuck knows what’s up with some of these brain dead commandments
Darkstar Thanks Ha ha . Now I am Hungry again I ate at Arbys Yesterday . $1 Dollar Sliders snacks on the way to the Gun Show . Thank you Manager for discussing the commandments Bulletin .
Your story about the lost XO illustrates what a) the motorcycles are useful for (plus radio silence) b) the motorcycle at the head of the column is supposed to be used for, blocking off intersections (not many roundabouts in the Soviet Union in 1942, I would assume)
6:20 - *conjecture* the tow rope being attached to the axle, which is lower, might aid in pulling at an upward angle to the recovery vehicle - usually in Russia the mud gets deep, and the ditches low, so using a larger vehicle to pull a smaller one out, and at an upward angle at the same time, was possibly better than shearing off the axle as the frame got pulled in more of a forward direction over the ditch.
That meme of the "... officer with a map". Very true. Even worse when it's the officer in charge of calculating the targets for artillery. At least in my personal experience.
Re: #27 (23:05): I knew you'd say that. But think about the difference in vehicles: A tank is big, and it's all closed up, apart from the one hatch up top where you're sticking your head out. If a jerry can strapped to the side or the back somewhere leaks and catches fire, sure, it's no big deal and it's probably happening several metres away from you. But an Sdkfz 251 is rather small, and if they're strapping extra fuel to it, it's probably going on the side armour - next to an open roof from which a bunch of guys are supposed to be fighting. Even if burning fuel mostly drops to the ground, that heat, smoke, and flame is pretty close and probably quite distracting.
@@RobertLutece909 As the SD.Kfz 251 was pretty well armoured against tracer rounds fired from a machine gun/rifle except a .50cal, it's comes down to: outside storage will 100% burn when hit and inside storage could burn. Also important to mention that the wehrmacht used gasoline and no diesel which is not as easily inflammable as gasoline is.
6:50 As I understand it the first biker is meant to keep the officer informed about the status of his units in front of him while the second one is meant to deliver orders. I guess, this system was used because of dead spots, broken radios, dead radio operators, change in used frequencies or because not all vehicles had ben equipped with radios.
It is worth mentioning it took some time for all vehicles to be equipped with transceivers, most all vehicles had receivers but only leader vehicles had transceivers at outbreak
Uhm ... while these commandments might seem common sense, isn't in ww2 when most armies actually became motorised for the very first time ? So these commandments are derived from german experience in a mechanized war. What is amazing is that they drew so many correct conclusions that stayed true over the decades.
About the fuel - perhaps the threat of tracer fire igniting was more meant to scare the common troops, but the real reason would be that such a valuable resource would not get lost along the way, accidentally fall off, or even get stolen or sabotaged. At least imho.
What has to be remembered is that at this point of the war - 1943 - so many German officers were very recently promoted, rapidly trained and thus not very experienced in their positions, that some of these commandments, which to a trained officer as Mr. Moran may seem like common sense or basic knowledge, simply had to state in writing what the officers would have been taught, had they had time to go through a regular officer's training schedule.
When it comes to convoy, no matter the preparation, no matter the experience of the personnel, shit will happen! What was to be a "routine" 6-8 hour trip turned into a significant emotional event lasting 20+ hours.
Rule 8 as I (a German) understand it: The most strict officer leads... (I think not necessarily the company commander) The first Krad is supposed to help maintaining the convoy keeping it from separating, the second is to help with directions, so everyone turns the right way at e.g. crossroads.
8:50 Nudge the offender - We Didn't notice that one unit that We Didn't Know had merge with a different unit that We Didn't Know out of place That We Didn't Know. -well, Panzer Forwards... ;}
In my peacetime service (77-81) in a combat support unit (ordinance company doing mostly TOW/Dragon repair) I had to sit through many violations of "well duh" being ignored. Like the time an e-7 rearranged our deployment column so the fuel trucks were dead center with the wrecker being second. As for the radio thing I had to make seven calls on one issue to reach a certain section that was in field because the Sgt in charge opted to put the assigned radio operator to work replacing parts on a launcher. So my warning of a flanking unit came too late.
I get the feeling that you've had access to way better maps and means to copy those maps than the Germans who wrote those commandments. Giving the overlays to the platoon leaders is probably not an option when you don't even have a good map of the area. So in those conditions, it's probably a good idea to make sure your platoon leaders know at which village they need to turn, and what the exact spelling of that village is since it'll be written in Cyrillic.
Question to mjr Nicholas Moran: How much are we heading into evolution of medium sized AFVs? - A heavily armed and armored tracked IFVs like Lynx, CV90 40 or even 50, BMP3 - A medium weight IFVish chasis with a tank gun like Kaplan - A reasonably sized (and weight) MBTs around 42+ tones like Type 10, T-90M, Type 96B - all with a full size frontal armor and full size tank guns (120mm, 125mm). From both evolution 3rd gen or new ones of the next gen.
The thing with most of us germans, that we need some things written down specifically (especially for the army and more so for aspiring officers), because at some point people are getting creative and fuck things up. If you then try to charge them for their (sometimes and obviously horrendous[ly stupid]) errors of judgement, you can't, because there is no rule or law against it. Therefore, we have those rules (and still find a way to fuck arround it).
#27 I wonder if this is an indication of how valuable fuel was to the Germans at the time. Better to risk having the fuel inside than loose a couple of jerry cans worth to a guy with a sub machine gun. Fire is always a good way of motivating people.
In summer 43 the chances to get the Caucasus oil were already gone. The Germans knew that they had to make the fuel they have last to the end of the war.
As the SD.Kfz 251 was pretty well armoured against tracer rounds fired from a machine gun/rifle except a .50cal, it's comes down to: outside storage will 100% burn when hit and inside storage could burn. Also important to mention that the wehrmacht used gasoline and no diesel which is not as easily inflammable as gasoline is.
As a Tank commander/driver (trained to be both) I can speak for myself and say that when it comes to the point 11 (driver falling asleep) that me and most other drivers I knew in my unit fell asleep almost instantly when the tank came to a halt. Only to wake when hearing the magic words from the commander. (Tank go vroom or whatever). I myself honed my muscle memory of my tank to the point that when the tank wasn't moving and the commander was away on a briefing etc I was asleep and when the order to go was announced I had turned on the tank, put on the right gear and released the handbrake, all before opening my eyes. So yeah, sleeping driver I can definitely believe.
Generation Kill demonstrates a lot of these or other similar problems throughout the show. Great series. Especially good at demonstrating and proving that map meme you included.
Hey Chieftain! On Commandment 07 the front axle was suggested because on the old Opel blitz trucks the Germans were using the front axle runs through a hollow tube that is bolted to the suspension. the right-hand side was offset with a diff for the 4wd system and the axle itself was a 3 piece axle, the center was very secure, as well as rigid as it formed part of the front suspension assembly. This wouldn't work with other trucks they may have had though.
Allied soldiers too, especially after long moves that led straight into long contacts. I have no idea how many times I've read that exact scenario of kicking, etc, the drivers to keep them awake at the wheel.
One of the drivers in a unit in NI in the 70's had been driving for 78 hours streight due to a lack of drivers after a complete FUBAR handover where 8 of the drivers who supposed to remain were told they were to leave by a senior officer. He told me this used to happen a hell of a lot more back then than it does now (now was in the late 80's when I met him). So I was wondering if it would have been even more common for that sort of SNAFU in WWII. That could result in drivers falling asleep while moving. Just in case you a re wondering he "refused" an order for a further 6 hour drive on the basis of potentially endangering the vehicle, civilians, and other soldiers as he was so exhausted. The CO verified with his Sergeant and then told him to go and have a meal and a shower then sleep and be back in 4 hours.
Really enjoy your videos. I was wondering if you could make one on the day to day life of a tank crew?. Despite being in the army I know virtually nothing about where you guys slept or ate in the field. I do know you had handy BV's which made having a brew nice, but I have often wondered if you kipped inside, or on top or whatever. I was told you never sleep under a tank (sounds a good plan anyway) but apparently the can sit down during the night? Not sure if thats true or a piss take. Regards Wayne
On Number 11: "eingeschlafen" translated means "fallen asleep", but it could also mean slowed down (it is a german term for doing everything more slowly).
Panzergrenadier Commandment 31: Friendly fire isn't friendly! Commandment 32: Tracers work both ways! Commandment 33: If you find yourself running out of everything expect the enemy, then your in combat! o_0
Since you wrote “Can Openers” on American AT platforms, do you plan on doing other nations as well? Maybe go over some of the stuff you did here but in more detail?
"The axiom of the division was, 'night-marches are lifesavers'. It is true, however, that the question of when the men of 11th Panzer got any sleep was never clearly answered." General Balck, then commander of 11th Panzer in "Panzer Battles" by von Mellenthin. Lack of sleep is a thick red thread going through many accounts of German soldiers of the "Eastern Front".
@@Anderle52134 as a former conscript in 84/85 we had some big exercises. In 3 weeks you so tired you could sleep anywhere. You learn very quickly to grab shut eye at any possibility. After the exercise on route back to the barracks, many accidents happen. Especially US recovery tanks drivers had many. For some reasons those tanks were driven to the train loading ramp 20km away rather than placed on floats. I am amazed I did not crashed myself, was the driver for 0.5ton. Now think doing this for 6 years.
@@jantschierschky3461 There were times entire units could not be aroused from sleep after a short break. Add all the other things going on it is a wonder that any survived physically as well as mentally. I recommend Guy Sajer's "The Forgotten Soldier".
@@Anderle52134 I agree, I only got a taste of it. The story's I heard from grandfather and other veterans are amazing, just general hardship, disease, dirt, cold, heat, boredom, fatigue, hunger, thirst etc. With moments of terror and fear.
@@jantschierschky3461 I feel extremely fortunate to not have been part of this. The Western Front was terrible in its own right but can't be compared to the Eastern Front. War in Iraq, Afghanistan etc. were no walk in the park either for many but just skirmishes compared to the Eastern Front. Western Front to the Soviets though, whose sufferings were certainly on a similar scale.
2 MC is a splendid, still just in the Swedish armd forces. You can send one ahed to scout and traffic control and keep the second one to send orders whit to complement the radio. You just put your arm out of the window and the drive upp so you can shot your orders. Often the MCs run up end down the column. Stoping traffic in a intersection when the outher russ ahead to take the next one.
'reconnaissance by death' is a hilarious name to give it. If the vehicle didn't come back, what ever happened mustn't be good and we should avoid whatever that unknown is. Excellent reconnaissance technique.
#21, while it's not written as such, perhaps it's indicating that the Driver's MP could be lent to one of the Panzergrenadier who would normally be equipped with a Bolt Action Rifle depending on circumstance. When looking at infantry from all sides, section leaders were often some of the few who were issued MPs while other only had rifles, but would often hand them off to a subordinate Riflemen who could focus more on shooting, so that they could focus on command and communication. This is similar to the other rule mention where you don't have your commander as the one operating the MG.
Erma MP38/40 SMGs were designed to be fired from any opening big enough to get the barrel out of. The little lug on the barrel jacket was intended to keep the muzzle from slipping inside the vehicle. Could be vision slits. As for drivers firing in combat, read Zumbro’s Tank Sergeant about his tour in Vietnam. The drivers were popping up in their hatches to spray dangerous spots with their M3A1s. One of his tanks had scrounged an M1919A4 and welded a mount in front of the driver for similar purposes, also lone tank lone defense laagers with an MG for everyone. Crazy times they must have had.
SMGs were incredibly common in the soviet army, so not 'all sides' (hell they had entire battalions of SMG only equipped infantry). as for mauser rifles inside halftracks, thats how it worked before july 1944 (half-track crews were issued mauser rifles, intill july 1944 when they got MP40s). as for pistols, yes i know that panzergrendadier infantry had pistols so why wouldn't the drivers
@@matthiuskoenig3378 SMGs never have been the standard issue weapon of any infantry unit in the German Army. They habe allways been a limited issue item. PzGrens got an significant allocation of StGs once the became available but the K98k stayed the standard issue small arm until the end of the war. Drivers were not issued handguns. Handguns only have been limited issue for specific personel. For PzGrens this means machine gunners, vehicle commanders and officers.
The text really is literal. THe driver should be ready to use his SMG if he has to. This is not as strange as it sounds. Note: it does NOT say he should do so while driving. He should just be ready to use his SMG if he has to. For example if there is a supprise contact at short range during the passengers mounting or dismounting. In general the driver can not just drive away if he spots an enemey and feels like running away. He has to report to the vehicle commander, wait for his decision and after that has to do as he is told. This process can take several seconds. Better to "report" the close contact by firing at it. Hopefully supress the enemy and prevent a close assault or precise shot with a ST weapon. That is the idea. It beasically still done this way today. Only not the drivers keep their weapons ready but everyone who sticks his head out.
By year four of the war and 20+ ear infections later, I'd be surprised to find myself still sitting in the cramped vehicle, wearing a sweaty grimy headset, and listening to mind numbing radio chatter...
The_Chieftan You could make a series of videos of assembling one of those models while telling anecdotes of the vehicle while you do it. So people can build an listen to the video , surely this will also bring you new sponsors.
I imagine the seemingly redundant commandments were listed so when the newbies arrived at panzergrenadier school they got their list for help in training.
I think one needs to look at the relative flammability of gasoline vs diesel/jet fuel. The Swedes determined that storage of JP1 in Jerry cans along the tracks actually contributed to protection against shaped charges. Russian tanks stowed extra diesel hanging off the rear end. German half tracks ran on gasoline, a much more explosive fuel.
Donald Newcomb OTOH, diesel fuel or jet fuel can be atomised into a cloud of droplets that will then burn in an explosive fireball. See, for instance, the Ladbroke Grove rail accident en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladbroke_Grove_rail_crash
If you look at German tanks early during Operation Barbarossa you will see Jerry cans strapped all around the turret sides, in a frame over the engine deck (which included spares, munitions, food etc). This was due to a lack of transport to carry supplies even for first echelons let alone 2nd echelon support services. Germans relied heavily on cart horses and rail through the whole war. Burning fuel runs, flows, can find its way into little cracks and openings (it does mention tracer so smaller calibre is more common to puncture cans than explode them), since the fuel was stored around the turret and over the engine louvres there is a big risk of burning fuel running where its going to cause, shall we say "issues". You also have crews who are becoming less well trained and possibly less motivated or committed faced with a Tankers worst fear - burning alive in their steel coffin (they will have seen numerous examples of charred vehicles and crews).
@@DRNewcomb I'd say logistics, to stow full jerrycans anywhere you must have the fuel to put in them. The conclusion has to be that was the only effective way of taking the fuel with them.
A couple of notes, from the point of view of a civilian Military Vehicle / Heavy Vehicle collector: On motorcycle messengers - in 1986, we, in our 1918. FWD 3-toner, were the lead vehicle in the Military Vehicle Collectors Club (From before it became MVPA) World Convention Parade. (See also note about the slowest vehicle setting the pace - even the bicycles could beat us off the line.) Anyway - the convoy was about a mile long, of mixed vehicles ranging from the aforesaid bicycles through various Steuarts, Sherman's, and a National Guard M48A5. Of course, no radio Comms, and Cell Phones were but a dream. Since a Big Parade attracts Politicians, after rolling out, we halted in the center of Lowell, MA, for all the speeches and ceremonies - which also meant shutting down. This led to the realization that trying to get hundreds of vehicles ranging in age from 80 years on up up and running was not an instant process, and tieing up the center of a city with some broken civilian war machines was not good for public relations, we decided to make sure word was passed with a 10 minute warning. Since, in our planning, the motorcycles ended up well back, we made do with a relay of runners. Next time, we kept a bike or two up in the lead. The second note. At any Military Vehicle or Historic Truck event, the folks with the a wreckers/Recovery Vehicles have the most fun.
One thought: some of the obvious things now, such as "speed of the slowest vehicle", may not have been so obvious to all armies and the 1940s. Countries varied, and the USA was ahead of most then, but countries, and armies, still depended a lot on horses. So some things can be seen as an explicit caution against thinking motor vehicles are magic.
2:52 Rommel was probably why 25:44 maybe because Germans are a very literal people/culture???? Maybe because they had high loses of experienced troops and shortened training programs???
on #27, agree, the older M113 series APC of the US army went from internal fuel tanks on the M113, A1, A2 series to the external mounted fuel tanks on the A3 variant. Why? so that any fires would be on the outside of the vehicle.
I searched for images of German WWII trucks and many (e.g. Opel Blitz) looked to have lightweight bumpers. Only a few seemed to have front tow hooks. The front axle might well be the best place to attach a tow rope to the front of a truck. Possibly it was more effective in deep mud.
I expect that a lot of the items you mentioned about the guy on a motorcycle doing a job (ensuring every veh in a convoy is ready to go, etc) instead of just using a radio, were done because of units trying to maintain radio silence. EW isn't as sexy a combat capability as main bores on big tanks, but it can have just as big an impact on operations at times. Units disengaging because of fake orders on the net are probably an obvious example, but detecting an armoured regiment "netting in" prior to an attack does serve to get the defenders guns laid on defensive fire tasks and readying extra ammo. And counter moves matrices being dusted off in a hurry.
@@F1ghteR41 Well, actually that is exactly what it means. Just that I might not have used "energetic" in this context. Not easy to translate 100% the same meaning. "Energisch" as in "forceful, decisive", leaving no doubt. "Energetic" to me is like "powerful", in German "voller Energie". Anyway, I think, no harm was done :-)
Commendment 7: if you put the rope on the frame, the axel will get ripped of because the wheels where totally sunk in the mud. the mud was so sticky and deep, horses drowned in it. If you experience this yourself, you will understand half of the commandments on here. Commendment 8: you, as commander are in front of the column, the most energetic officer under your command is at the end!!!!! thats what the german text says. And to the "why does that need to be written down" part. We germans write down pretty much everything. You should read todays soldiers manual. it contains classics as :"At the end of the tree, the soldier has to stop climbing independently." or "at the depth (water) of 1,20m (around 4 feet i guess), the soldier starts swimming movement independently."
The storage of fuel on the outside could be about a combined arms situation, where the burning fuel is dangerous to the accompanying infantry. Also during the night the burning fuel would make for a nice target for the enemy anti tank gun. A classic example would be the Ind- Pak engagement on the night of 4-5 Dec 1971 where the fuel storage on the outside of the tank didn't help the Pakistani tanks or infantry.
I was thinking as well that the fuel situation for Germany was so terrible that they couldn't afford to lose any to small arms fire. No doubt some Soviets would target the fuel cans if they knew of their craving for oil.
Two fish in a tank. One says to the other. “Do you know how to drive this thing?” Serious the chieftain’s depth of knowledge and great presentation is great. Ian
Hi Cheiftain! Can you please do a special video about 1. Sherman variants especially the M51 Super sherman with the 105mm 2. Why oscillating turrets can't make a come back with modern technology? 3. the P1000 Ratte and is anything like that possible in the future?
In West Germany in the mid 80s as a member of the U.S. Army we did excercises in Germany (Reforger and ARTEP) that involved railheading followed by long night convoys. I drove a FAAR radar system mounted on a GAMA goat. My codriver (System chief) inevitably fell asleep. Trying to stay alert in a long convoy moving slowly with frequent starts and stops all while watching the convoy marker of the vehicle in front was exhausting. At one point an M1A1 didn't stop when the convoy did and ran over the equipment trailer and most of the jeep of a brigadier general. Dozing off the moment your mind wandered was a frequent occurrence.
7:00 Second Kradmelder is not at the back of your column, but at the tail end of the unit in front of you. This assumes, you are to follow that unit. He will wait for your column at crossroads to make sure you go where the other unit went. Remember that units are supposed to leave space between each other. And yeah, some points are lost in the translation. (German/Historian speaking here.)
Remember back in the 40s not many germans where used to automotive or ekectronic equipment. A vehicle commander was probably a farmers son who had driven a tractor. Actually, most farming was done with horses back then, so the ones familiar with driving before their training where not that many. Also in the second half of the war a lot of men where rushed into service with very little training. The last year most of the tank drivers was learning by doing on their way to the front.
@@Yora21 Thats true, but the wording would be a little off today I think. We would say "Der Fahrer hat geschlafen" and not "Der Fahrer ist eingeschlafen"
The use of motorcycle troops to relay information along, and holding together, the column instead of radios - wasn't that because there were no frequency hopping radios at the time & they needed to preserve radio silence? I don't know when the frequency hopping technique started, so do correct me if I am wrong.
Concerning Rule 27: Fuel was very precious for the German army in WW2. So I think this commandment makes sense given the specific circumstances the army operated under
As a student of the historic German military I will merely offer that it took years for me to disconnect my modern and American bias, the subject makes more sense as you ground yourself in the context rather than let hindsight blind you. A thing made more complex as one tries to use history to understand today and thus evoke a sort of foresight.
A Troop 2/7 CAV 4th ID Fort Carson, CO - 1988-90 (When men were men and Tankers trained at Fort Knox). I can attest that as a tank driver, I absolutely slept every time we stopped.
As for your point at about 10:05 you got that right I was there for 1 week only I wasn't even driving and I could observe the exact same behavior in spite of the fact that most of the major roads ways I was on seemed rather well laid out
Always figured I'd be part of the recon by death bit if the Soviets crossed the border while out scouting routes for the M60s. Our M114A1E1's were seriously underpowered, I mean what can you expect from 7 tons on tracks powered by a Chevy 283, and the combat load of 200 rounds for a 20mm that fires 400 rounds a minute wasn't going to suppress anyone for very long, would have been smarter to keep the M2 on them, good against anything but tanks just like the 20mm but we could carry a lot more ammo. Should have put a sign out in front of our alert area in Bamberg 'Caution - Speed Bump'
You have a very interesting channel, I wonder of you could give a narrative of a fictitious tank battle at some point in WW2, from either german or allied perspective. How far apart would the tanks be, before they would be thinking "too far away","gotta fight", "gotta run" ? Eastern front would have been different from Normandy, different from "the Bulge" , "Market Garden" , "North Africa". What happens before the first shot is fired, what happens after. What would be in the tank commanders mind
I think the "keep your extra fuel "in vehicle" is a reflection of 2 things. 1. Scarcity of fuel (lose your fuel during a move and you might get stuck). 2. Leaning on the armor (a 251 was practically bullet-proof for anything that wasn't .50 cal). I wonder if this changed with experience on the western front (where LATWs were quite common, and not as easy to spot as say a 45mm gun) I think some of the "obviousness" is a reflection that this is for newly minted company commanders who won't often have a veteran sgt to hold their hand (by this time, your good sergeants are leading platoons because there aren't enough lts. to go around). I think the comment about driver's guns might be more reminding a commander of his assets. "You have enough SMGs on the tracks to fit out an impromptu assault squad if the situation requires". I also wonder how much of the advise is reminding officers that vehicles are NOT animals and require different handling (stop start works much better since speed isn't usually as much of a limit as road space).
regarding the jerry cans on the outside: Is it likely that the reason they were advised not to carry the cans on the outside was to prevent the potential loss of fuel resource should they come under tracer fire? It would seem to play into the concerns around supplies.
I think it's a misunderstanding to see this as regulation or official doctrine. This was published in the "Nachrichtenblatt der Panzerwaffe". This was a news bulletin for the fighting units, which basically contained a mixture of morale boosters and practical advice "from seasoned veterans to newbies". It's NOT enforcable regulation; the magazine wasn't even delivered to many units and couldn't be backordered either, as they later apologize for, so it's clearly not mandatory "your actions will be judged by this" reading. The "30 commandments" article was published in the very first issue, and it seems (from looking at the inventory available in the last issue) they were under considerable pressure for the first issue to write one article for each category they wanted to feature in the magazine. For the second issue, they came up with just four articles (one of them being the announcement of a writing contest). So yeah, I strongly suppose the author tasked with writing the first Panzergrenadier article basically just went brainstorming for practical advice with whatever combat veterans he had available - which would explain the random unstructured collection of detail-oriented bits that make you go "shouldn't every commander already have learned this?"; this is clearly anecdotal information, as in "my unit once found itself with our asses out in the open because [...]". Not soon after in issue 4, they wrote another article on Commandments for the Panzergrenadier company leader, this time much more systematic and abstract, instead of focussing on how the drivers' submachine gun should be used or how to wear a radio earpiece. Issues 12-14 even expanded on that. Source (scans of all issues except for the first one, unfortunately - anyone have that?): www.sturmpanzer.com/Default.aspx?tabindex=5&tabid=620&item=3&sec=0
More people should see this. I think we are witnessing the birth of a myth here based on the misunderstanding that these come from a more authorative source than they do.
@@ineednochannelyoutube5384 Agreed. This might help to clear up why the mistake arrived: Found the issue one that Military History Visualized has been using as his reference (TsAMO 500, Findbuch 12480 Akte 137). The german document was available as a typewriter copy only, and it was captured by Russians. Many words are pencil-transcribed in cyrillic. So someone took this text serious enough to type-copy it, and someone else went through the trouble of translating this material. All that makes it look quite a bit more official than the nicely printed issues 2-18 of the same publication in the American archive - with propaganda Panzer drawing on the cover (available via the sturmpanzer.com link). wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/1935-akte-137-bersetzte-beutedokumente-zu-panzertruppen-sturmgesch-tzen-und-zur-panzerabwehr-verh-re-deutscher-kriegsgefangener-ausbildungsmaterial-merkbl-tter-u-a#page/28/mode/inspect/zoom/6
Regarding the jerry cans - could it be that fuel was considered more important/harder to replace than the men inside? It would tend to line up with don't use the radio as we have no fuel......
Could the one about jerry cans be due more to fear of losing the contents of the can which where in short supply? (for example if the cans where not secured properly to the outside of the vehicle.)
Sd.Kfz. 251 is currently high in my model queue, so I did thorough background check about its visual details recently. My theory behind rule 27 (jerrycans): The extra stuff (like pioneer tools, backpacks, jerrycans, spare wheels or track links) was often mounted on Sd.Kfz. 251 on the upper part of the hull, within a reach from inside (like here: i.pinimg.com/originals/a1/c8/9a/a1c89ac27e58dc3b4a4bc3a7813efe8e.jpg ). Given the thin armor, it wasn't impossible for the bullet to penetrate both the jerrycan and the half-track. Then, given the slope and the gravity, the fuel was pouring into the vehicle. And that is an undesirable result. Hence the rule.
Rule 0: Assuming that "everybody knows that" is a short dark road to a deep cliff of disappointment.
Exactly! This was originally published in a bulletin. Since these bulletins were/are either used to convey new things or to remind everyone on a certain topic, at least some of the points were not followed.
Also: These points are most likely taken from regulations, thus used to train new officers, who would not have the experience on the battlefield. Better to write it down and remind every officer now and again then having half of your column lost at a road-fork.
Exhar Khun "Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups" -- some guy in a film.
Especially in a mass conscription army
Also stated as "Common sense isn't".
Making sure is the enemy of stupid failures, broad assumptions are its ally!
I was a mechanized infantry platoon leader (M2 Bradleys) with the 1/15 Infantry in Kitzingen, Germany during the Cold War and many of these commandments make perfect sense IF you use the perspective of an infantry commander. Remember, these commandments are for mechanized infantry when the idea was still relatively new and they were still trying to figure out how to make a foot soldier a mechanized one. I was trained to lead patrols on foot using a map and compass at Fort Benning. The experience of being put in the Bradley commander's hatch trying to hold on to your map trying to land nav while going at a 25 to 35 MPH pace while freezing rain it pounding you was a wholly different skill set. Merging soldiers on foot at an intersection is a whole lot easier to un-FUBAR than two convoys of motorized vehicles on small European streets. I see another trend in that the infantry were the prime combatants and everyone else was in support of them. They now had to movie with the tanks, protecting the them, and deal with dangers that moving foxholes present. (You can't just low crawl in an armored vehicle when the artillery hits.)
Well said. Thank you for your service.
Scout Platoon 3/63 HHC. We formed up right next to you guys. 86-89
Well, I guess writing "You better put that jerrycan behind armor or else you'll go up like a bonfire" still sounds just a tad bit more motivating than the "We barely have enough fuel or the logistics to supply it for that matter, so you better put that jerrycan behind armor."
Well, I guess that Diesel (for the Soviet example of the T-54/55 outside storage bins) of JP-8 for the vaunted Abrams IS difficult to ignite. But German AVFs all used Gasoline, and I guess that this line in the Commandments came with a string of burned-out halftracks behind it.
The majority of German vehicles even in 43 did not have radios ( most were Kp.level and higher) , when they did, most were going to a higher net, not to other SDKFZ 251 or trucks. This is why the motorcycles were so important to Kompanie commanders. I commanded a 4 sdkfz 251 and one Hetzer group for years in WW2 reenacting and I can say the Krad messengers were gold.
@ Chieftain : The stuff you said you would take for granted from a commanders perspective is in it because of the ways the german army( Bundeswehr in my expierience& presumably Wehrmacht as Well ) instruction & punishment for disobedience Systems work: " If you don't write Down your procedures for specific Situations and Put it in a manual, you can't make the individual soldier responsible for stuff going wrong. Therefor if, for example you do not write down that the CO is not allowed to drive, some are going to do it. And if something goes wrong because of that, you can't make him responsible for it.
And yes, i know this seems like Very germanic and pedantic, but that is the way German Army bureaucracy worked, works, and will work.
US as well. "Show me the reg."
However: At one points one passes into "Procedures makes stupid people stupidier. And even smart people stupid." (Scott Weingart, EMCRIT-RACC). Perhaps not here, but it isn't far away....
Also makes sense from a leadership psych POV. Putting some "no-brainers"alongside new ideas might help overcome resistance to the new ideas.
@@jadotmoosman4136 possibly, yet i wouldn't know that bring no NCO or Officer
@@MultiZirkon Not necessarily if your general level of veterancy has been greatly lowered thanks to the need to rush green recruits through training with the abolute minimum. Remember: This is the severely depleted Wehrmacht of the late war we're talking about.
"What happened that thy needed to write it down here?"
As we say in law, "Every warning sign tells a story".
Or, in civil engineering, "Building codes are written in blood."
I worked in manufacturing and we do not have any saying. None the less if you look at those warnings on the package of many products, you will see many that seems idiotic and that on one would be stupid enough to make those mistakes. In reality most of time those warnings were there because someone have actually done it. Never underestimate stupidity.
Losses and recruiting of 16yolds happened.
"Do not give psychoaktive substances to the Bison." I would never have considered it before reading this sign.
Our elevators at work have signs in them saying “exit after door opens”, I’ve always wondered what happened that made this sign necessary?
04:13 At the rate of attrition suffered during the war it makes sense to give solid advice to inexperienced and eager commanders.
When you are down to what half your manpower being kids and retirees who just don't want to get shot from the front or the back that is a pretty reasonable explanation.
Apologies if it's been stated somewhere below, but an additional consideration we often forget is just how much of the Heer was still foot infantry at the beginning of the war. Shifting these officers into half-tracks, considering many Germans didn't even own cars at the time, would require training in the fundamentals that seem obvious in today's mechanized armies
When you're officers are having to call people 2 levels up the chain to ask how to do their job its probably a pretty good idea to state the odivous.
Yes, if you read Otto Carius' memoirs (Tigers in the mud) you can see that even elite armoured units suffered from inexperienced and ill-trained commanders, let alone lower ranks.
Yeah, German attrition was horrendous by 1943, and I'd say that this just illustrates how bad it was getting.
I suspect the desire to restate "obvious" commandments might be a reflection on declining experience in the German Officers. Even if they are still receiving a complete course of training, I imagine new officers were finding themselves immediately at the front without any opportunity to hone their skills performing non-combat or "light" duties. Presumably the commandments included such obvious instructions to make sure an inexperienced officer didn't forget the fundamentals. I also imagine there were a fair number of officers rolling their eyes at how some of the "valuable advice" in the document was bleeding obvious...
I suspect perhaps the bigger reason is that Making Sure is the enemy of failure, and assuming obviousness or common knowledge is its ally
I agree ...whats "obvious" to the chieftain , at trained experienced armour officer is going to be less obvious to some supply officer who has spent the war up to now in hamburg shuffling paper ...Poland France Russia ...the battles blunted the German armys spear point
Best advice I ever got came from a pack of rizlers there is nothing common about sense.
Yeah, that was my thought as well. By 1943, the Wehrmacht had lost a lot of well trained veteran officers, NCO's and enlisted personnel that had trained up pre-war, and fought in Poland, France, Norway, Greece, Africa, and earlier in the Russian campaign. They were likely seeing increasing numbers of battlefield commissioned officers and NCO's who had never officially been back to Germany for advanced MOS training, and many of the raw recruits were possibly coming straight from basic training to combat units without any advanced infantry school let alone training as mechanized infantry. As you get into 1943 you are probably seeing increasing cases of someone who has managed to simply survive for the last several months suddenly being made a leader and their only real qualification to do it is that they simply have outlived many of their peers and they themselves really have no idea what they are doing or are really supposed to do and the number of officers and senior NCO's with real experience in the unit, who could teach them, are dwindling fast and there aren't enough of them to perform on the job training of all the noobs.
@@chrisspencer6502 Mind sharing your piece of advice?
"This should be common sense," oh, Chief, you were in the military. You should know how dumb people in the military can be.
Good point. Another point, especially in the Wehrmacht in 1944 was: Veteran VCs from 1939/1940 did know this. But much of them were already dead, so many of the VCs in 1944 were quite inexperienced (and not as well trained as they would have been before the war) when they got to the front. This commandments were a form of guidelines to them.
and lets not forget, this is WW2 Germany we are talking about, they probably had manuals written up on how to wipe your own backside, they seemed to have written instructions for everything else. They were prolific manual writers it seems
@@RedtailFox1 Supposedly they still used to write everything and anything down until somewhat recently. It's hard to actually fact check, since the manuals aren't public and, officially, get destroyed after they're no longer relevant, but the jokes about commandments such as "One should expect darkness as night falls" still linger.
He skipped over the second sentence, that's the most important bit.
@@RedtailFox1 In my first week of AOBC at Ft Knox, we watched a video on how to brush your teeth. Apparently it was a TRADOC requirement. From one standpoint, I can understand, a man who has to be evacuated for an abscessed tooth is as much a loss to the unit as one who has been shot. But still, guys.....
A lieutenant getting lost, color me surprised.
Is that a common trope for officers haha?
I heard that😂
@@KaladinVegapunk * points to german lieutenant out in the middle of bumblefuck nowhere of the russain countryside, who looks like he wouldn't know how to find his own ass if you gave him a flashlight and a manual, who also managed to March his entire platoon into a minefield even though it was specifically repeated several times over radio not to fucking March there *
Yes, yes it was.
"So we now have a stranded first Lieutenant in bandit country in a tank on his own in the city."
Well, he's screwed. Everyone knows LTs can't read maps.
TerLoki Hey , I could read maps! Kinda like cartoons😎.
Lieutenants are worldly men/women and like to take sightseeing detours ;)
I could never quite work out which way up those things were supposed to go. As an educated man myself, I deduced that all roads lead to Rome, and that maps look rather pretty when hung up. After all, when does eeny meeny ever fail?
Carbon 12 And no matter which direction you go, it always leads to either a road, town or water. There! Who needs maps? ( To be honest, the Boy Scouts taught land navigation better than the Army back in the 70s and 80s).
@TerLoki
> Everyone knows LTs can't read maps.
Well, actually they can - but not the way they're supposed to. And that's how the troubles begin. :-)
That's why land navigation has been always one of my main priorities during my days as an NCO in the Austrian Army, be it in conscript training as a drill instructor as well as an instructor in the vbK ("Vorbereitende Kaderausbildung", the basic NCO training in my army days) or the EF (EF meaning "Einjährig-Freiwilliger" a.k.a. "One-year volunteer", i.e. the basic training for officer candidates mandatory to attend the three-year Theresian Military Academy to become a 2LT).
Because: every soldier who doesn't know his whereabouts is at least useless, at worst a danger for himself and his unit, and in between a liability.
It's also one of the reasons why I sometimes gave the 2LTs and 1LTs I served under as a platoon sergeant (yes, I was just a lowly 2i/c, but I never cared about rank if I was confident in being right) when they didn't show at least adequate land navigation skills.
I did fail a number of students on not being proficient in that field and I did have to go through a handful of NJP hearings as well as three court-martials because of complaints filed by some of my NCO and/or officer candidate students, but in the end they all ended with me being cleared of all charges because my respective CO decided that I was right. Because if you're not capable of finding your way, you're unfit to lead.
(And the funny thing is: I'm currently still obligated to serve ~50 days in the Army Reserve until the Green Machine will let me go, but every time I'm tasked as a platoon sergeant or am the most senior NCO in my platoon - every platoon leader so far still hands me the map and compass and asks me for a second opinion - and I'm proud of that.)
As to the reason for most of the more obvious points, remember that this was written by Germans for Germans.
... and at the beginning of mechanised infantry. It is obvious to us today because the Germans have learnt and written these lessons back then.
@@desert_jin6281 And, in addition to what you two have already said, there's another point. This was written at around the point where the first batch of German unit commanders with practical experience in mechanized warfare were starting to find themselves on the casualty lists with increasing frequency.
I have forgotten the exact quote and author but the critique runs along this line, "when reading Kant do not be alarmed at encountering ten words when one word will do".
You can always tell a German but you can never tell him much.
I think you may be forgetting here that these are commandments developed during fighting on the Ostfront. That is, a place of utterly absurd distances that no modern soldier has much experience of. Hence, some advice may not ring quite as true.
Also, some of the most obvious commandments are likely due to the fact that by 1943, formations were getting rather raw, undertrained replacements who needed many things spelled out to them. As I recall, PzGrenadiers were suffering particularly high personnel attrition. Especially among junior officers.
6:02 I don't know about Wehrmacht trucks, but on the VW Beetle (the old model, from pre-WW2 up to the 80s) the attachment point for the tow rope is actually mounted to the front axle, not the frame, so this seems to be somewhat common at the time at least in Europe
(It's the same on other 40s/50s-era cars such as the French 2CV, though not with all of them).
On the whole of the video, stating the obvious is actually always a good idea, especially during training. The authors of the brochure probably had seen reports of problems related to each and every one of those commandments.
Keep in mind, new conscripts kept flowing in throughout the war, not only in Germany, in addition to replacements for some Panzergrenadier units coming from other branches.
The falling asleep part might just be what it says. When the Pervitin wears off and you've been awake for days you may fall asleep rather suddenly.
Well, that may have beeen an issue, but it might have been as well an ancient wisdom of soldiery: "If you get the opportunity to doze off, take it."
Because especially in infantry, paratroopers and special forces (i.e. the branches I do know from personal experience, so feel free to agree, disagree or add your experience if you're from another branch), one general rule is:
"if you got the chance to doze off: Do. It may be only be for a few seconds or minutes because you'll never know when you might get the chance to rest, but take every opportunity you get." (I actually used to to drill that mindset into my conscripts as a drill instructor because I wanted my kids not only to survive, but to be their best when they were required to be on top of things.)
So when you take a look at the speed with which the German Wehrmacht conducted its Blitzkrieg tactics while also relying on the not very tightly controlled use of methamphetamines (known e.g. as "Panzerschokolade"/"tankers chocolate", "Stuka-Tabletten"/"stuka pills"back then), you'll only reach one and only one conclusion: If a soldier gets the oppportunity to grab some Z's and isn't out of his mind already, he'll take it.
Personal note: When I was a member of Austrian SF in the mid to late 1990ies, we were also issued on occasion with (very closely monitored, I might add) amphetamine pills to be able to power through extremely long and/or enduring assignments if necessary, and my teammates and CO's always praised me for being _extremely_ on top of my game when I popped a pill. And in early 2005 (after I left the army), I got diagnosed with ADHD and am now getting methylphenidate on a prescription. So just imagine how much the army would have profited of me if they would have found out about that a few years sooner and given me the proper treatment - they could have one of their most competent CSMs or RSMs by now. :-)))
Yeah well, the re-emphasis on the basics in these commandments is because of the high German casualty rates (especially among the combat leadership) and the fact that very junior leaders were being promoted regardless of whether they had been trained for the next position up. Fuel was a MAJOR issue for the Germans and it twisted the priorities of the strategic, operational and tactical thinking.
Exactly. Most of these 'obvious' commandments are hindsight obvious. Meaning they are obvious either when pointed out or something bad has happened because they haven't been followed. But a new officer leading from his faster halftrack might not exactly think of the trucks far down the column, because they are 'out of sight - out of mind' so to speak. And the solo recon vehicle isn't very obvious until you think about them actually finding enemies. A normal throught would be "single vehicles = more ground covered". Guiding the vehicles from the ground... only really comes up if the ground is understood to be a problem. Most people tend to overestimate capabilities if not well educated on the matter, thus bad ground is easily disregarded unless horribly obvious like tight fits.
I also find it interesting considering some of the Chinese tank loses in Korea resulted directly from an undamaged tank having its exterior fuel tanks ignited. The tanks couldn’t see out, and they were big and clear directions for UN tanks.
A couple of thoughts about the “most obvious commandments”, we are reading them 75 years of armored experience after they were written. This was new technology at the beginning of the war. They were developing armor tactics as the war progressed. The average German would not have had much if any experience driving as cars were not nearly as common as today. So new soldiers were learning very foreign concepts and would need reminders, even the veterans of the last war were fighting in a completely different technological environment.
In contradiction to that these aren’t random hacks, the motorized and mechanized infantry were the elite of the army, and thus their officers should be at the very least knowledgeable on vehicles, hell they train with their tank units in their armor divisions, or tried to, but the things that are straight wrong are just that, and I can fathom no reason they come to these wrong conclusions
@@looinrims Well, the german military was at this point in 1943 not as meritocratic as you´d think, often times ideoligy was more important than merit.
Firu the armored divisions were the elite, you don’t get placed there being pogs, that’s why they were so effective, fuck knows what’s up with some of these brain dead commandments
Love that shirt. You look like an Arbys manager from 1985. LOL!
@Charles Yuditsky Heh heh heh....Right! Great channel here. Watch every video from start to finish.
Darkstar Thanks Ha ha . Now I am Hungry again I ate at Arbys Yesterday . $1 Dollar Sliders snacks on the way to the Gun Show . Thank you Manager for discussing the commandments Bulletin .
I was thinking more Brotherhood of Nod :P
Your story about the lost XO illustrates what a) the motorcycles are useful for (plus radio silence) b) the motorcycle at the head of the column is supposed to be used for, blocking off intersections (not many roundabouts in the Soviet Union in 1942, I would assume)
6:20 - *conjecture* the tow rope being attached to the axle, which is lower, might aid in pulling at an upward angle to the recovery vehicle - usually in Russia the mud gets deep, and the ditches low, so using a larger vehicle to pull a smaller one out, and at an upward angle at the same time, was possibly better than shearing off the axle as the frame got pulled in more of a forward direction over the ditch.
That meme of the "... officer with a map". Very true. Even worse when it's the officer in charge of calculating the targets for artillery. At least in my personal experience.
Re: #27 (23:05): I knew you'd say that. But think about the difference in vehicles:
A tank is big, and it's all closed up, apart from the one hatch up top where you're sticking your head out. If a jerry can strapped to the side or the back somewhere leaks and catches fire, sure, it's no big deal and it's probably happening several metres away from you.
But an Sdkfz 251 is rather small, and if they're strapping extra fuel to it, it's probably going on the side armour - next to an open roof from which a bunch of guys are supposed to be fighting. Even if burning fuel mostly drops to the ground, that heat, smoke, and flame is pretty close and probably quite distracting.
@@RobertLutece909 As the SD.Kfz 251 was pretty well armoured against tracer rounds fired from a machine gun/rifle except a .50cal, it's comes down to: outside storage will 100% burn when hit and inside storage could burn. Also important to mention that the wehrmacht used gasoline and no diesel which is not as easily inflammable as gasoline is.
6:50 As I understand it the first biker is meant to keep the officer informed about the status of his units in front of him while the second one is meant to deliver orders. I guess, this system was used because of dead spots, broken radios, dead radio operators, change in used frequencies or because not all vehicles had ben equipped with radios.
And probably helpful with the "ruthless" throwing out of vehicles belonging to other units!
@@Fastwinstondoom
True.
Not to forget that marching under combat conditions could be ordered to keep radio silence.
It is worth mentioning it took some time for all vehicles to be equipped with transceivers, most all vehicles had receivers but only leader vehicles had transceivers at outbreak
Uhm ... while these commandments might seem common sense, isn't in ww2 when most armies actually became motorised for the very first time ? So these commandments are derived from german experience in a mechanized war. What is amazing is that they drew so many correct conclusions that stayed true over the decades.
About the fuel - perhaps the threat of tracer fire igniting was more meant to scare the common troops, but the real reason would be that such a valuable resource would not get lost along the way, accidentally fall off, or even get stolen or sabotaged. At least imho.
6:01 "This strikes me as being a great way to turn a truck into a bicycle."
Oh, that beautiful dry Irish sense of humour. :-)
... I feel fairly certain that you've always had a neck before. Did someone close a hatch a tad too quickly?
His camera lens looks smudged or out of focus.
My guess is, it is Christmas fat. XD
What has to be remembered is that at this point of the war - 1943 - so many German officers were very recently promoted, rapidly trained and thus not very experienced in their positions, that some of these commandments, which to a trained officer as Mr. Moran may seem like common sense or basic knowledge, simply had to state in writing what the officers would have been taught, had they had time to go through a regular officer's training schedule.
The commandments seem to indicate how dire the training situation for new crews was already in 1943.
When it comes to convoy, no matter the preparation, no matter the experience of the personnel, shit will happen! What was to be a "routine" 6-8 hour trip turned into a significant emotional event lasting 20+ hours.
Rule 8 as I (a German) understand it: The most strict officer leads... (I think not necessarily the company commander) The first Krad is supposed to help maintaining the convoy keeping it from separating, the second is to help with directions, so everyone turns the right way at e.g. crossroads.
8:50 Nudge the offender - We Didn't notice that one unit that We Didn't Know had merge with a different unit that We Didn't Know out of place That We Didn't Know. -well, Panzer Forwards... ;}
In my peacetime service (77-81) in a combat support unit (ordinance company doing mostly TOW/Dragon repair) I had to sit through many violations of "well duh" being ignored. Like the time an e-7 rearranged our deployment column so the fuel trucks were dead center with the wrecker being second. As for the radio thing I had to make seven calls on one issue to reach a certain section that was in field because the Sgt in charge opted to put the assigned radio operator to work replacing parts on a launcher. So my warning of a flanking unit came too late.
I get the feeling that you've had access to way better maps and means to copy those maps than the Germans who wrote those commandments. Giving the overlays to the platoon leaders is probably not an option when you don't even have a good map of the area. So in those conditions, it's probably a good idea to make sure your platoon leaders know at which village they need to turn, and what the exact spelling of that village is since it'll be written in Cyrillic.
And rather likely switched out by partisans.
I feel like this is more indicitive of the Panzergrenadier's mortality rate than anything else...
Armor units ran out of panzergrenadiers before they ran out of panzers, so one could argue this
Question to mjr Nicholas Moran:
How much are we heading into evolution of medium sized AFVs?
- A heavily armed and armored tracked IFVs like Lynx, CV90 40 or even 50, BMP3
- A medium weight IFVish chasis with a tank gun like Kaplan
- A reasonably sized (and weight) MBTs around 42+ tones like Type 10, T-90M, Type 96B - all with a full size frontal armor and full size tank guns (120mm, 125mm). From both evolution 3rd gen or new ones of the next gen.
The thing with most of us germans, that we need some things written down specifically (especially for the army and more so for aspiring officers), because at some point people are getting creative and fuck things up. If you then try to charge them for their (sometimes and obviously horrendous[ly stupid]) errors of judgement, you can't, because there is no rule or law against it.
Therefore, we have those rules (and still find a way to fuck arround it).
#27 I wonder if this is an indication of how valuable fuel was to the Germans at the time. Better to risk having the fuel inside than loose a couple of jerry cans worth to a guy with a sub machine gun. Fire is always a good way of motivating people.
I was going to say the same thing, with #28 being possibly about lack of resources, it seams likely the #27 has to do with losing fuel as well.
In summer 43 the chances to get the Caucasus oil were already gone. The Germans knew that they had to make the fuel they have last to the end of the war.
As the SD.Kfz 251 was pretty well armoured against tracer rounds fired from a machine gun/rifle except a .50cal, it's comes down to: outside storage will 100% burn when hit and inside storage could burn. Also important to mention that the wehrmacht used gasoline and no diesel which is not as easily inflammable as gasoline is.
As a Tank commander/driver (trained to be both) I can speak for myself and say that when it comes to the point 11 (driver falling asleep) that me and most other drivers I knew in my unit fell asleep almost instantly when the tank came to a halt. Only to wake when hearing the magic words from the commander. (Tank go vroom or whatever). I myself honed my muscle memory of my tank to the point that when the tank wasn't moving and the commander was away on a briefing etc I was asleep and when the order to go was announced I had turned on the tank, put on the right gear and released the handbrake, all before opening my eyes. So yeah, sleeping driver I can definitely believe.
I enjoyed Bernard’s vid and I enjoyed this! It’s great when you have this back and forth.
“Uh, guys, where’s our Lieutenant?”
Generation Kill demonstrates a lot of these or other similar problems throughout the show. Great series. Especially good at demonstrating and proving that map meme you included.
Hey Chieftain! On Commandment 07 the front axle was suggested because on the old Opel blitz trucks the Germans were using the front axle runs through a hollow tube that is bolted to the suspension. the right-hand side was offset with a diff for the 4wd system and the axle itself was a 3 piece axle, the center was very secure, as well as rigid as it formed part of the front suspension assembly. This wouldn't work with other trucks they may have had though.
11:52 I think you are heavily underestimating the amount of fatigue german units might been under during the war.
Allied soldiers too, especially after long moves that led straight into long contacts. I have no idea how many times I've read that exact scenario of kicking, etc, the drivers to keep them awake at the wheel.
Widespread German use of amphetamines would bear this out.
@D L interesting, thanks for the info.
One of the drivers in a unit in NI in the 70's had been driving for 78 hours streight due to a lack of drivers after a complete FUBAR handover where 8 of the drivers who supposed to remain were told they were to leave by a senior officer. He told me this used to happen a hell of a lot more back then than it does now (now was in the late 80's when I met him). So I was wondering if it would have been even more common for that sort of SNAFU in WWII. That could result in drivers falling asleep while moving. Just in case you a re wondering he "refused" an order for a further 6 hour drive on the basis of potentially endangering the vehicle, civilians, and other soldiers as he was so exhausted. The CO verified with his Sergeant and then told him to go and have a meal and a shower then sleep and be back in 4 hours.
#27 seems to be more about protecting the fuel,than protecting crew.Which by mid war i'm sure was getting scarce.
Really enjoy your videos. I was wondering if you could make one on the day to day life of a tank crew?. Despite being in the army I know virtually nothing about where you guys slept or ate in the field. I do know you had handy BV's which made having a brew nice, but I have often wondered if you kipped inside, or on top or whatever. I was told you never sleep under a tank (sounds a good plan anyway) but apparently the can sit down during the night? Not sure if thats true or a piss take.
Regards Wayne
On Number 11: "eingeschlafen" translated means "fallen asleep", but it could also mean slowed down (it is a german term for doing everything more slowly).
Panzergrenadier Commandment 31: Friendly fire isn't friendly! Commandment 32: Tracers work both ways! Commandment 33: If you find yourself running out of everything expect the enemy, then your in combat! o_0
Since you wrote “Can Openers” on American AT platforms, do you plan on doing other nations as well? Maybe go over some of the stuff you did here but in more detail?
K31owner I think the subject was easier to do as he had access to US army archives. Doubt he would get the same access with other nations.
Driver falling asleep is accurate translation
"The axiom of the division was, 'night-marches are lifesavers'. It is true, however, that the question of when the men of 11th Panzer got any sleep was never clearly answered." General Balck, then commander of 11th Panzer in "Panzer Battles" by von Mellenthin. Lack of sleep is a thick red thread going through many accounts of German soldiers of the "Eastern Front".
@@Anderle52134 as a former conscript in 84/85 we had some big exercises. In 3 weeks you so tired you could sleep anywhere. You learn very quickly to grab shut eye at any possibility. After the exercise on route back to the barracks, many accidents happen. Especially US recovery tanks drivers had many. For some reasons those tanks were driven to the train loading ramp 20km away rather than placed on floats. I am amazed I did not crashed myself, was the driver for 0.5ton.
Now think doing this for 6 years.
@@jantschierschky3461 There were times entire units could not be aroused from sleep after a short break. Add all the other things going on it is a wonder that any survived physically as well as mentally. I recommend Guy Sajer's "The Forgotten Soldier".
@@Anderle52134 I agree, I only got a taste of it. The story's I heard from grandfather and other veterans are amazing, just general hardship, disease, dirt, cold, heat, boredom, fatigue, hunger, thirst etc. With moments of terror and fear.
@@jantschierschky3461 I feel extremely fortunate to not have been part of this. The Western Front was terrible in its own right but can't be compared to the Eastern Front. War in Iraq, Afghanistan etc. were no walk in the park either for many but just skirmishes compared to the Eastern Front. Western Front to the Soviets though, whose sufferings were certainly on a similar scale.
2 MC is a splendid, still just in the Swedish armd forces. You can send one ahed to scout and traffic control and keep the second one to send orders whit to complement the radio. You just put your arm out of the window and the drive upp so you can shot your orders. Often the MCs run up end down the column. Stoping traffic in a intersection when the outher russ ahead to take the next one.
'reconnaissance by death' is a hilarious name to give it. If the vehicle didn't come back, what ever happened mustn't be good and we should avoid whatever that unknown is. Excellent reconnaissance technique.
#21, while it's not written as such, perhaps it's indicating that the Driver's MP could be lent to one of the Panzergrenadier who would normally be equipped with a Bolt Action Rifle depending on circumstance.
When looking at infantry from all sides, section leaders were often some of the few who were issued MPs while other only had rifles, but would often hand them off to a subordinate Riflemen who could focus more on shooting, so that they could focus on command and communication. This is similar to the other rule mention where you don't have your commander as the one operating the MG.
Erma MP38/40 SMGs were designed to be fired from any opening big enough to get the barrel out of. The little lug on the barrel jacket was intended to keep the muzzle from slipping inside the vehicle. Could be vision slits. As for drivers firing in combat, read Zumbro’s Tank Sergeant about his tour in Vietnam. The drivers were popping up in their hatches to spray dangerous spots with their M3A1s. One of his tanks had scrounged an M1919A4 and welded a mount in front of the driver for similar purposes, also lone tank lone defense laagers with an MG for everyone. Crazy times they must have had.
SMGs were incredibly common in the soviet army, so not 'all sides' (hell they had entire battalions of SMG only equipped infantry).
as for mauser rifles inside halftracks, thats how it worked before july 1944 (half-track crews were issued mauser rifles, intill july 1944 when they got MP40s). as for pistols, yes i know that panzergrendadier infantry had pistols so why wouldn't the drivers
@@matthiuskoenig3378 SMGs never have been the standard issue weapon of any infantry unit in the German Army. They habe allways been a limited issue item.
PzGrens got an significant allocation of StGs once the became available but the K98k stayed the standard issue small arm until the end of the war.
Drivers were not issued handguns. Handguns only have been limited issue for specific personel. For PzGrens this means machine gunners, vehicle commanders and officers.
The text really is literal. THe driver should be ready to use his SMG if he has to. This is not as strange as it sounds. Note: it does NOT say he should do so while driving. He should just be ready to use his SMG if he has to. For example if there is a supprise contact at short range during the passengers mounting or dismounting. In general the driver can not just drive away if he spots an enemey and feels like running away. He has to report to the vehicle commander, wait for his decision and after that has to do as he is told. This process can take several seconds. Better to "report" the close contact by firing at it. Hopefully supress the enemy and prevent a close assault or precise shot with a ST weapon.
That is the idea. It beasically still done this way today. Only not the drivers keep their weapons ready but everyone who sticks his head out.
By year four of the war and 20+ ear infections later, I'd be surprised to find myself still sitting in the cramped vehicle, wearing a sweaty grimy headset, and listening to mind numbing radio chatter...
I enjoy each and every one of these videos! Thanks for excellent work.
The_Chieftan You could make a series of videos of assembling one of those models while telling anecdotes of the vehicle while you do it. So people can build an listen to the video , surely this will also bring you new sponsors.
I imagine the seemingly redundant commandments were listed so when the newbies arrived at panzergrenadier school they got their list for help in training.
That Pizza Hut employee sure knows his tanks!
Rule 27: that sounds like a resource conservation thing given how they were struggling with fuel and such later in the war.
I think one needs to look at the relative flammability of gasoline vs diesel/jet fuel. The Swedes determined that storage of JP1 in Jerry cans along the tracks actually contributed to protection against shaped charges. Russian tanks stowed extra diesel hanging off the rear end. German half tracks ran on gasoline, a much more explosive fuel.
Donald Newcomb
OTOH, diesel fuel or jet fuel can be atomised into a cloud of droplets that will then burn in an explosive fireball. See, for instance, the Ladbroke Grove rail accident en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladbroke_Grove_rail_crash
If you look at German tanks early during Operation Barbarossa you will see Jerry cans strapped all around the turret sides, in a frame over the engine deck (which included spares, munitions, food etc).
This was due to a lack of transport to carry supplies even for first echelons let alone 2nd echelon support services. Germans relied heavily on cart horses and rail through the whole war.
Burning fuel runs, flows, can find its way into little cracks and openings (it does mention tracer so smaller calibre is more common to puncture cans than explode them), since the fuel was stored around the turret and over the engine louvres there is a big risk of burning fuel running where its going to cause, shall we say "issues".
You also have crews who are becoming less well trained and possibly less motivated or committed faced with a Tankers worst fear - burning alive in their steel coffin (they will have seen numerous examples of charred vehicles and crews).
@@DRNewcomb I'd say logistics, to stow full jerrycans anywhere you must have the fuel to put in them. The conclusion has to be that was the only effective way of taking the fuel with them.
Love your work and quite happy for the Tremors reference.
A couple of notes, from the point of view of a civilian Military Vehicle / Heavy Vehicle collector:
On motorcycle messengers - in 1986, we, in our 1918. FWD 3-toner, were the lead vehicle in the Military Vehicle Collectors Club (From before it became MVPA) World Convention Parade. (See also note about the slowest vehicle setting the pace - even the bicycles could beat us off the line.) Anyway - the convoy was about a mile long, of mixed vehicles ranging from the aforesaid bicycles through various Steuarts, Sherman's, and a National Guard M48A5. Of course, no radio Comms, and Cell Phones were but a dream. Since a Big Parade attracts Politicians, after rolling out, we halted in the center of Lowell, MA, for all the speeches and ceremonies - which also meant shutting down. This led to the realization that trying to get hundreds of vehicles ranging in age from 80 years on up up and running was not an instant process, and tieing up the center of a city with some broken civilian war machines was not good for public relations, we decided to make sure word was passed with a 10 minute warning. Since, in our planning, the motorcycles ended up well back, we made do with a relay of runners. Next time, we kept a bike or two up in the lead.
The second note. At any Military Vehicle or Historic Truck event, the folks with the a wreckers/Recovery Vehicles have the most fun.
One thought: some of the obvious things now, such as "speed of the slowest vehicle", may not have been so obvious to all armies and the 1940s. Countries varied, and the USA was ahead of most then, but countries, and armies, still depended a lot on horses. So some things can be seen as an explicit caution against thinking motor vehicles are magic.
2:52 Rommel was probably why
25:44 maybe because Germans are a very literal people/culture???? Maybe because they had high loses of experienced troops and shortened training programs???
on #27, agree, the older M113 series APC of the US army went from internal fuel tanks on the M113, A1, A2 series to the external mounted fuel tanks on the A3 variant. Why? so that any fires would be on the outside of the vehicle.
“Recon by death” is my new favourite term
Loved the Tremors reference 😂👍
Gotta love Burt
Burt Gummer is my Hero!
But let's not forget, at least once he was completely out of ammo.
James B You had to say that! Now I gotta buy more! Of course, that’s also why I have a sling.
17:11 This is a *very* American concept. They didn't always have shiploads of ammo, so tried not to waste.
"Auto-combustable resonance" I had to pause the video to laugh at that one!
"Auto-combustible reconnaissance", actually.
@@DmdShiva auto correct struck again. Lol
I searched for images of German WWII trucks and many (e.g. Opel Blitz) looked to have lightweight bumpers. Only a few seemed to have front tow hooks. The front axle might well be the best place to attach a tow rope to the front of a truck. Possibly it was more effective in deep mud.
I expect that a lot of the items you mentioned about the guy on a motorcycle doing a job (ensuring every veh in a convoy is ready to go, etc) instead of just using a radio, were done because of units trying to maintain radio silence. EW isn't as sexy a combat capability as main bores on big tanks, but it can have just as big an impact on operations at times.
Units disengaging because of fake orders on the net are probably an obvious example, but detecting an armoured regiment "netting in" prior to an attack does serve to get the defenders guns laid on defensive fire tasks and readying extra ammo. And counter moves matrices being dusted off in a hurry.
"Energischster Offizier" means "strictest officer"
That makes a lot more sense. Energetic seems like a mistranslation in this case
Thanks for that comment, I thought that the most energetic officer is used for hurrying the troops from the rear like a whip.
@@F1ghteR41 Well, actually that is exactly what it means. Just that I might not have used "energetic" in this context. Not easy to translate 100% the same meaning. "Energisch" as in "forceful, decisive", leaving no doubt. "Energetic" to me is like "powerful", in German "voller Energie". Anyway, I think, no harm was done :-)
Tell that to Bernhard then
Commendment 7: if you put the rope on the frame, the axel will get ripped of because the wheels where totally sunk in the mud. the mud was so sticky and deep, horses drowned in it. If you experience this yourself, you will understand half of the commandments on here.
Commendment 8: you, as commander are in front of the column, the most energetic officer under your command is at the end!!!!! thats what the german text says.
And to the "why does that need to be written down" part. We germans write down pretty much everything. You should read todays soldiers manual. it contains classics as :"At the end of the tree, the soldier has to stop climbing independently." or "at the depth (water) of 1,20m (around 4 feet i guess), the soldier starts swimming movement independently."
The storage of fuel on the outside could be about a combined arms situation, where the burning fuel is dangerous to the accompanying infantry. Also during the night the burning fuel would make for a nice target for the enemy anti tank gun. A classic example would be the Ind- Pak engagement on the night of 4-5 Dec 1971 where the fuel storage on the outside of the tank didn't help the Pakistani tanks or infantry.
I was thinking as well that the fuel situation for Germany was so terrible that they couldn't afford to lose any to small arms fire.
No doubt some Soviets would target the fuel cans if they knew of their craving for oil.
9:40 you just perfectly described the frustration of every truck driver ever that has had to deal with traffic jams.
Two fish in a tank. One says to the other. “Do you know how to drive this thing?” Serious the chieftain’s depth of knowledge and great presentation is great. Ian
Thank you for doing this Chieftain, much appreciated.
Hi Cheiftain! Can you please do a special video about
1. Sherman variants especially the M51 Super sherman with the 105mm
2. Why oscillating turrets can't make a come back with modern technology?
3. the P1000 Ratte and is anything like that possible in the future?
In West Germany in the mid 80s as a member of the U.S. Army we did excercises in Germany (Reforger and ARTEP) that involved railheading followed by long night convoys. I drove a FAAR radar system mounted on a GAMA goat. My codriver (System chief) inevitably fell asleep. Trying to stay alert in a long convoy moving slowly with frequent starts and stops all while watching the convoy marker of the vehicle in front was exhausting. At one point an M1A1 didn't stop when the convoy did and ran over the equipment trailer and most of the jeep of a brigadier general. Dozing off the moment your mind wandered was a frequent occurrence.
7:00 Second Kradmelder is not at the back of your column, but at the tail end of the unit in front of you. This assumes, you are to follow that unit. He will wait for your column at crossroads to make sure you go where the other unit went. Remember that units are supposed to leave space between each other.
And yeah, some points are lost in the translation.
(German/Historian speaking here.)
Remember back in the 40s not many germans where used to automotive or ekectronic equipment. A vehicle commander was probably a farmers son who had driven a tractor. Actually, most farming was done with horses back then, so the ones familiar with driving before their training where not that many. Also in the second half of the war a lot of men where rushed into service with very little training. The last year most of the tank drivers was learning by doing on their way to the front.
11:26 German here, it literally said "Most times its a driver that has fallen asleep"
Literally, yes. But it's also a very common expression to say someone didn't pay attention. And then something goes wrong and you have a delay.
@@Yora21 Thats true, but the wording would be a little off today I think. We would say "Der Fahrer hat geschlafen" and not "Der Fahrer ist eingeschlafen"
The use of motorcycle troops to relay information along, and holding together, the column instead of radios - wasn't that because there were no frequency hopping radios at the time & they needed to preserve radio silence? I don't know when the frequency hopping technique started, so do correct me if I am wrong.
Did you build all those model's? They look really good, you should do a video on them. Enjoyed the video.
Concerning Rule 27: Fuel was very precious for the German army in WW2. So I think this commandment makes sense given the specific circumstances the army operated under
This deserves a thumbs for the Tremors reference, the rest is just icing on the cake.
As a student of the historic German military I will merely offer that it took years for me to disconnect my modern and American bias, the subject makes more sense as you ground yourself in the context rather than let hindsight blind you. A thing made more complex as one tries to use history to understand today and thus evoke a sort of foresight.
A Troop 2/7 CAV 4th ID Fort Carson, CO - 1988-90 (When men were men and Tankers trained at Fort Knox). I can attest that as a tank driver, I absolutely slept every time we stopped.
As for your point at about 10:05 you got that right I was there for 1 week only I wasn't even driving and I could observe the exact same behavior in spite of the fact that most of the major roads ways I was on seemed rather well laid out
Always figured I'd be part of the recon by death bit if the Soviets crossed the border while out scouting routes for the M60s. Our M114A1E1's were seriously underpowered, I mean what can you expect from 7 tons on tracks powered by a Chevy 283, and the combat load of 200 rounds for a 20mm that fires 400 rounds a minute wasn't going to suppress anyone for very long, would have been smarter to keep the M2 on them, good against anything but tanks just like the 20mm but we could carry a lot more ammo.
Should have put a sign out in front of our alert area in Bamberg 'Caution - Speed Bump'
your forgetting the 20 can handle BMPs alot better then a M2 can, and high command had a great fear of the mass BMP 'horde' the soviets had.
@@matthiuskoenig3378 I'll agree to disagree on what would be more effective :-)
A Tremors reference? I see you too are a man of culture.
You have a very interesting channel, I wonder of you could give a narrative of a fictitious tank battle at some point in WW2, from either german or allied perspective. How far apart would the tanks be, before they would be thinking "too far away","gotta fight", "gotta run" ? Eastern front would have been different from Normandy, different from "the Bulge" , "Market Garden" , "North Africa". What happens before the first shot is fired, what happens after. What would be in the tank commanders mind
I'm not sure that's something that's really up my lane, honestly.
@@TheChieftainsHatch Thanks for the reply
I think the "keep your extra fuel "in vehicle" is a reflection of 2 things.
1. Scarcity of fuel (lose your fuel during a move and you might get stuck).
2. Leaning on the armor (a 251 was practically bullet-proof for anything that wasn't .50 cal). I wonder if this changed with experience on the western front (where LATWs were quite common, and not as easy to spot as say a 45mm gun)
I think some of the "obviousness" is a reflection that this is for newly minted company commanders who won't often have a veteran sgt to hold their hand (by this time, your good sergeants are leading platoons because there aren't enough lts. to go around).
I think the comment about driver's guns might be more reminding a commander of his assets. "You have enough SMGs on the tracks to fit out an impromptu assault squad if the situation requires".
I also wonder how much of the advise is reminding officers that vehicles are NOT animals and require different handling (stop start works much better since speed isn't usually as much of a limit as road space).
Do rules #11 and #12 imply that exhaustion (maybe from having been running on P for too long) was a problem in the German army?
No, the Germans weren’t methheads, it’s just a myth
The only comadment violated here is your shirt . Such a brilliant man ,such amaising armoured observations such poor wardrobe lol
regarding the jerry cans on the outside: Is it likely that the reason they were advised not to carry the cans on the outside was to prevent the potential loss of fuel resource should they come under tracer fire? It would seem to play into the concerns around supplies.
I think it's a misunderstanding to see this as regulation or official doctrine. This was published in the "Nachrichtenblatt der Panzerwaffe". This was a news bulletin for the fighting units, which basically contained a mixture of morale boosters and practical advice "from seasoned veterans to newbies". It's NOT enforcable regulation; the magazine wasn't even delivered to many units and couldn't be backordered either, as they later apologize for, so it's clearly not mandatory "your actions will be judged by this" reading.
The "30 commandments" article was published in the very first issue, and it seems (from looking at the inventory available in the last issue) they were under considerable pressure for the first issue to write one article for each category they wanted to feature in the magazine. For the second issue, they came up with just four articles (one of them being the announcement of a writing contest). So yeah, I strongly suppose the author tasked with writing the first Panzergrenadier article basically just went brainstorming for practical advice with whatever combat veterans he had available - which would explain the random unstructured collection of detail-oriented bits that make you go "shouldn't every commander already have learned this?"; this is clearly anecdotal information, as in "my unit once found itself with our asses out in the open because [...]".
Not soon after in issue 4, they wrote another article on Commandments for the Panzergrenadier company leader, this time much more systematic and abstract, instead of focussing on how the drivers' submachine gun should be used or how to wear a radio earpiece. Issues 12-14 even expanded on that.
Source (scans of all issues except for the first one, unfortunately - anyone have that?): www.sturmpanzer.com/Default.aspx?tabindex=5&tabid=620&item=3&sec=0
More people should see this. I think we are witnessing the birth of a myth here based on the misunderstanding that these come from a more authorative source than they do.
@@ineednochannelyoutube5384 Agreed. This might help to clear up why the mistake arrived: Found the issue one that Military History Visualized has been using as his reference (TsAMO 500, Findbuch 12480 Akte 137). The german document was available as a typewriter copy only, and it was captured by Russians. Many words are pencil-transcribed in cyrillic. So someone took this text serious enough to type-copy it, and someone else went through the trouble of translating this material. All that makes it look quite a bit more official than the nicely printed issues 2-18 of the same publication in the American archive - with propaganda Panzer drawing on the cover (available via the sturmpanzer.com link).
wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/1935-akte-137-bersetzte-beutedokumente-zu-panzertruppen-sturmgesch-tzen-und-zur-panzerabwehr-verh-re-deutscher-kriegsgefangener-ausbildungsmaterial-merkbl-tter-u-a#page/28/mode/inspect/zoom/6
Regarding the jerry cans - could it be that fuel was considered more important/harder to replace than the men inside? It would tend to line up with don't use the radio as we have no fuel......
Could the one about jerry cans be due more to fear of losing the contents of the can which where in short supply? (for example if the cans where not secured properly to the outside of the vehicle.)
Sd.Kfz. 251 is currently high in my model queue, so I did thorough background check about its visual details recently.
My theory behind rule 27 (jerrycans): The extra stuff (like pioneer tools, backpacks, jerrycans, spare wheels or track links) was often mounted on Sd.Kfz. 251 on the upper part of the hull, within a reach from inside (like here: i.pinimg.com/originals/a1/c8/9a/a1c89ac27e58dc3b4a4bc3a7813efe8e.jpg ).
Given the thin armor, it wasn't impossible for the bullet to penetrate both the jerrycan and the half-track. Then, given the slope and the gravity, the fuel was pouring into the vehicle. And that is an undesirable result. Hence the rule.