For late-war German infantry tactics involving the StG44 (MP 44 / MP 43) check out our book: » The Assault Platoon of the Grenadier-Company November 1944 (StG 44) - sturmzug.com If Panzers are more your thing, check out our translation of the a 1941 regulation: » Army Regulation Medium Panzer Company 1941 - www.hdv470-7.com >> Errors & Corrections
My father was a panzergrenadier machinegunner with the 3 rd Panzerarmy,Armygroup Center. After a short training in Denmark he was shipped to the the eastern front october-43 only 17 years old. His introduction to the front was a veteran showing him three bodies on a tarp all with a nice hole in their forehead killed by sniper. The veteran told my father pointing at the bodies ,one at the time. "He was a machinegunner,he was a machinegunner and he was a machinegunner". My father told me that his legs went spaghetti. It was the veterans way of teaching my father that only when necessary have his head over the edge of the trench. Those replacements with only short training died like flies but my father managed to stay alive even though at the beginning he was set on winning medals for the fatherland so he volunteered for every mission. After a while surviving the missions he was seen as a bringer of luck so the others soldiers always wanted that he would participate in their missions. As he said "They took me along on all kind of shit". Fighting in urban areas was what he favoured least. They would work in teams of three. One moved and the other two covered the moving one. He told me when he came to a streetcorner he would shoot out a bit of the housecorner so he could rest his machinegun while spraying the street or be ready to cover the guy who was moving. He had a czech machinegun .Probably the same machinegun as the british Bren machinegun which is a licensebuilt from a czech machinegun. They used to sit on tanks behind the turret going in to the combat area and it happened that the tankhatch opened and one of the crew with a submachinegun pointing at them told them that it was time to get off the tank. Guess they had asked polite before with a bad result so the crew learnt how to do it the with a successful outcome. Maybe the crew didn't want to enter combat with a lot of soldiers on their tank hampering their combatreadiness or making them an more attractive target. He did get a more than fair share of fighting standing in the way of the russian offensive "Operation Bagration" summer 1944. He was surrounded by the russians in the town of Vilnius but managed to fight his way out. He was surrounded by the russians in a polish city by the Baltic sea and got evacuated by submarine which got attacked with depthcharges by a russian destroyer . He had made bayonetcharges towards russian machinegunpositions and much more.He told me when the russians had attacked and the germans counterattacked they had to have some soldiers who put a bullet or bayonet in the russian bodies so they wouldn't suddenly pop up throwing handgrenades or start shooting around them. After being a month behind russian lines he managed to get back to the german lines . Being only skin and bones he got two weeks R&R in Denmark. At the end of the stay which was end -44 or beginning -45 he was asked if he would like to go to the russian front or the west front. He told me that it was no choice as the russian front was so much more brutal so he answered west front. He was then sent to Paderborn to learn guerillawarfare (Rueckkämpfer) but as he said "The americans were near so it was getting out in the surroundings and start practising directly". They put together kampfgruppen with all sort of soldiers even from the navy. He fought near Paderborn and also at Kassel. He told me they were holding a crossroad when the got incoming fire from all directions thus beeing surrounded by the americans. They could fight their way out by blasting an american tank in the process but not without losses. Later 8 th of april 1945 he was captured by US 5th armoured division outside Springe. After that he went to Attichy as a pow and ended up in a prisoncamp at Reims. Being a pow had it risks also.He could have been killed many times as a pow but that would take hours to tell. He was released after the summer in 1946 returning to Germany.
@@Makrangoncias Glad you loved it. No unfortunately he didn't write a book or diary about it.Would probably be too painful. He didn't really like to speak about the war but during the years he could tell me about episodes and I could learn more and more about his days as a soldier as the years went by. He died 2017 at age 90 years old after living a remarkable life. A small wonder that he got that old after so many close calls he had. He took a shot through his collarbone,shrapnel trhough his leg and some shrapnel up his ass :). After the war he enlisted as a soldier in the US army in Germany for a short while. But he told me he knew sooner or later he would again be sent off to some war so he quit.I've seen a picture were he is in an american uniform and helmet with a crosman carbine in his hands. In 1950-52 he got a job in Sweden and emigrated. During a trip back to Germany he was involved in a serious caraccident outside Greifswald Germany. Both his friends in the forward seat a married couple were killed instantly. My father just barely alive with his skull cracked an eye hanging out spent a long time in german hospital.The doctors wanted to amputate his eye but one of the doctors told my father not to let them do it so he said no to it. He was also told that he would never be able to walk again but his stubbordness helped him and after a years training he could walk again. His eye was pointing in the wrong direction but he had read an article about Bob Hope how doctors had helped him with his eyes. So he did the same. He started wearing an eyepatch which he made a little hole in the front where the light came in and eventually it led to his eye pointing forward again. I have to write all down of what I know of my fathers history so it want be lost when I die. I can still rember hearing him say "As long as no one is shooting at me I'm happy".
Such a shame he never wrote it all down. There are so few first hand German accounts, and some of the best known ones are highly suspicious (Sajer’s memoirs, for example). Please do write down what you can and get it in print or at least on the web. As many details as possible, dates, locations, unit names, etc - with photos of any surviving documents and of course photos of the man himself. Otherwise this all ends up in the trashpile of history 🚮
@@sirrathersplendid4825 There is a german YT-channel bacuffz. He narrates diaries from german soldiers. It is in german though. My grandfather served in the HQ Coy of the 71. division as a fuel truck driver. They had a divisionn newspaper called "Das Kleeblatt" (The Cloverleaf) after the division emblem, a 4petal cloverleaf. It was published after the war, too. It contained after action reports and such. The division took part in the french campaign, Barbarossa with the end in Stalingrad. Affter the re-establishment they fought in Yugoslavia, and in Italy near Monte Cassino. Sadly those of my granddad perished after his death or even before, as much as I now. This should be a great source if they surviverd somewhere.
Oh, that's _military_ language, in any big one. For example, the American "101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)" gets parachute (airborne) training for historical and financial reasons -- the US Army has ways to get soldiers paid better than marines -- but is only equipped and intended for helicopter-based (air assault) operations. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Assault_Badge
I love the optimism in the training manual thay they would see the guns. Soldiers memoirs often say how they could take so many shots without any clue where they were coming from.
Also, it's very kind of the Russians to only oppose them with single, isolated guns that can be flanked with minimal effort. What if the Russians have TWO machine guns, and some riflemen? What is Hans supposed to do then?!
And training manuals are still like that. Ours always stated things like: After fighting the enemy successfully you sit back up and regroup and march onwards or if not you sit back up for an orderly retreat. I often asked then what to do if everything is a bloody mess and our tanks are on fire. Normal reaction of our officers was then either a dumb face and stating that the manual says nothing about that or that I should not ask so silly questions.
@@mightypirat9875 lol "After fighting the enemy successfully you sit back up" yeah, the manual was basically going through different stages and exactly that was written there as well.
@trainbomb This Comment of yours is a Bruh Moment 1.The Example they Talk about is with an Entrenched MG, no Mention of an AT Gun. 2.Isn't that already Obvious that an AT Gun,which was designed to destroy Heavily Armored Vehicles, is able to penetrate a relatively lightly Armored Vehicle? It wouldn't be different with Russian/American/British Mechanized Troops and a 7.5cm PaK of the Germans. 3.The Person making the Manual even knows that this would happen and lined up Scenarios which Include Smoke Grenades (AT can't really hit what it can't see),abandoning of the Vehicle and to drive the Vehicle towards Cover where only the Gunner on Top can see out of to suppress the AT Gun.
I really appreciate how you do your annotations and show your sources. I wish more youtubers who make informative videos would make them like this. It's really important, especially in this day and age, to know exactly where you information is coming from and that it's factual. Keep it up man! I love watching these during my lunch break!
Everyone who has ever served in the infantry knows that since the invention of man portable machine guns an infantry section or squad is just protection for the machine gun.
In my former outfit, the machine gun teams secured their own flanks using the ammunition bearers. The MG teams provided suppression for the rifle squads which were involved in maneuvering and assaulting the enemy. The riflemen were the bread and butter while MG, mortars, and rockets were support.
Agreed, a machine gunner on his own is useless, but part of a squad and protected he becomes mighty indeed. Battles in terrains that lack decent lanes of fire are the only places where those beasts aren't king.
there are sections in the various manuals on the whole signal / radio setup, I haven't had time to read them yet and I doubt many people would be interested at all. I mean even this video is doing very poorly.
@Lawofimprobability It is like logistics not particularly interesting and shiny, I wouldn't say "don't understand" more like "not really care", I know it is important, but I am also not really interested in it as well.
5:55 Can I suggest the smoke grenade provides obscuration / concealment, not "cover". That is the AT gun's view of the target is reduced but the smoke doesn't provide protection from any subsequent fire.
There are two stages to firing any weapon. 1. Acquiring the target, and 2. Aiming at it accurately. Smoke mainly disrupts step 1, preventing the enemy from being able locate the firer.
@@sirrathersplendid4825 Sure but it doesn't provide "cover". Smoke at best provides "concealment". "cover" and "concealment" have two different military definitions.
@@whya2ndaccount Agreed. It still makes it harder to hit the target, which I believe was his point. Colloquially you do say “under the cover of darkness”, which again doesn’t chime with the strict military definition.
@@sirrathersplendid4825 A military / Tactical channel should I think use the correct terminology, not colloquialisms. What next "take out" instead of "clear" / "destroy" / "secure", etc. All I wanted to do was to suggest a better wording. If that's unacceptable to you I have better things to do with my time.
Intresting how the tactics have not changed much: I have basic training as a mechanizedjaeger(Panssarijääkäri) in the Finnish defence forces. Basicly the principles are the same: fire and move, fast, powerful and do not stop. Only the carrier vehicles have changed. And they have gotten bigger guns.
@@Tankliker Like the one about Minensucher "Wer suchet, der findet. Wer findet, verschwindet." Or "Kaum gefunden, schon verschwunden" xD The Swiss Army uses rhymes like that as well ;)
training manual exercises; you go through the motions of the easy task to be able to the harder task. Also what are the chances that they travel alone?
Very kind of those AT guns to skimp on infantry support. Also, interesting that the on board MG is used against an emplaced AT gun but not an exposed one.
yeah, overall all the examples feel like wishful thinking - the situations feel super isolated, the half track is alone and the opponents are also alone - kind of weird tbh
@@Furman2137 those are type of "recon by force" scenarios, where a single halftrack or a set of 2-3 vehicles are caught by patrol or point defense. in actual battle ofc something like that wouldn't have any place, but between battles there are a number of small skirmishes like that and squad must be ready for that too
Danke. In the US army of Vietnam, we had not practiced squad tactics except advance, cover, and fire. So this is very good. It is most interesting and, even though I am 76, I will pay attention.
Great content as always. Looking forward to when you can get back into museums again. Would love to see a colab between yourself and David Fletcher on British tanks and their tactics at some point. Though even just doing it yourself would be great as it would provide good contrast to the German content you have already mad because, as you have mentioned, these systems are only as good as the opposition the enemy provides.
Nice, espessially the last example. But these examples as many in these instructions are like one in the universe and there are no other enemy and friendly forces in a battlefield. And i wonder how disguised and covered by riflemen AT gun can be outflanked like here and why same AT gun can`t at least hit halftruck or truck.
If the at gun hit then the squad will be dead so no point continuing the scenario. If there are supporting units they will be discovered while trying to flank the at gun at which point the squad will stay in place to bind the enemy, report back to the platoon and then on platoon orders either fall back or become the base of fire for a platoon attack.
@@TheSunchaster With an at gun hitting from the front the squad would have to be very lucky to survive. Only if the shell stopps at the engine do they have a chance. If the shell gets past that it will destroy the squad. There might be some survivors but as a functional combat unit it ceases to exist.
@@holoween8103 try to check out data about damage that tank crew getting after penetration. In case of German or American / Soviet lend-lease APCs, nvm. The damage will be sort of 1-3 will be dead, other get heavy wound, flesh-wound or even no wound. And it`s nearly same casualties if they will trap into covered enemy positions while outflanking. I mean also that, the situation itself means that Germans 1) did not good reconnaissance generally 2) get into enemy territory deeply and have no idea about forces in a rear or something else. If there AT gun or even hMG or ATR, there will be infantry. Надеюсь, понятно.
@@TheSunchaster average casualties for a KOd sherman were 2.6. Even just taking the same casualty rate without adjusting for the difference between the vehicles we get 5.2 casualties for the halftrack. Even if the entire flanking team gets taken out youre only looking at similar casualties. But like the atg hitting that would be the end of the unit as a combat capable entity. Also blaming bad scouting is strange since the halftrack in the scenario is the scout. Someone simply has to go first.
Very interesting but in truth those troops can only achieve success after continuous training, with a good experienced commander and surviving the first fighting or even a battle. Having a much needed veteran commander was becoming more and more a luxury in the final year of war. As I really enjoyed this video I just subscribed and looking forward to see your new videos 👍 👍
According to the Wrezsien 1939 magazine & wargaming model kit series, German squads only consisted of 8 men, prior to October 1939, because this was the maximum capacity of a Protze & other troop transports at the time. It would be interesting if you did a video on squad & platoon organisation, plus tactics, before October 1939, during the Polish campaign.
Motorized and half-motorized units with dudes partially or entirely mounted on trucks was starting to appear when budgets allowed. And with more tracked and/or armoured troop transports being introduced. This is a long period of transition, you could still find platoons of bike-mounted infantry around Europe into the 60's.
Great video and info as always. You deliver such an outstanding content, that your channel got mentionend in an article in the magazine of the german soldiers union "Die Bundeswehr": "Von Dolchstoß und Blitzkrieg: Militärische Mythen am Lagerfeuer" by Dr. Markus Pöhlmann of the Centre for military history and social science of the German Federal Armed Forces. Congrats!
Very informative. Some German WW2 halftracks have 2 MGs. (One front as mentioned and one at the rear) i think the rear MG could provide additional suppresive fire.
@5:52 this is not cover it is concealement. Just an observation, and in videos such as this one you'll want to be correct. Cover is protection (of various strength) against incoming fire, concealement is any kind of obstruction to direct line-of-sight but incoming fire could still hit you. Concealement only prevents the enemy from taking aimed shots, often resulting in the enemy not shooting at all especially from weapons with valued ammunition.
great video. it seems in all scenarios described the panzer grenadiers had force superiority... did the manual mention what to do when they dont have force supremacy? would it be disengaging? I feel a enemy squad + anti-tank gun is a greater challenge for an armored panzer grenadier squad.
Late comment but the panzer grenadiers were always expected to have the numbers advantage because that is what the strategy/tactics of bewegungskrieg (coloquially blitzkrieg) entailed. Panzers, supported by mechanized infantry, self-propelled artillery and air support break through weak points, cutting off supply lines and destroying targets of opportunity, thereby isolating parts of an opposing force. Infantry (mobile or otherwise) in conjuction with artillery (mobile or otherwise) and air support is then used to destroy the resulting pockets, divide and conquer, defeat in detail. Even if the enemy had greater numbers/assets in total, these strategies/tactics allowed the german military to punch far above its weight class by isolating enemy elements and defeating them by having more numbers/assets at the right place at the right time. When these strategies/tactics failed you see the german military take massive losses, example stalingrad. The germans overextended taking stalingrad and then had their own tactics turned on them. Soviet tanks broke through the weak flanks of the german thrust to stalingrad, cut off/encircled the city and the trapped german forces were then destroyed by a greater opposing force of infantry/artillery/aircraft, even if the total number of soviet forces in the region was exceeded by the germans. The germans tried multiple times to break the encirclement but due to the now divided nature of army group south, neither element of the army group could muster the strength to break the encirclement, even if the total numbers would suggest so. Basically most of the troops and assets were in the encirclement getting murdered and most of the supplies needed for those troops to keep fighting was outside the encirclement behind enemy lines, gathering dust. So, if a panzergrenadier unit encounters a superior enemy force then someone somewhere made a colossal mistake, either recon or the panzer spearhead or the guys in charge of strategy or it was just really bad luck/a combination of the above listed.
unfortunatelly the ambush did not really work out that way as shown around 4:15 cause not a single enemy truck / tank appeared, but and endless stream of those and the ambush would turn in a trap soon.
That's, why most of the manuals mentioned, focused on the platoon and company level. It would be extremely rare for a lone half-track to operate. Generally, a single squad is expected to only take on 1-2 targets anymore and they call in the rest of the platoon. A platoon takes on a single squad and the company a single platoon. In war, you don't want a fair fight.
If the half track was that close the forward gun wouldnt be able to hit it with the gunshield on it. I think most didn't have the gun shield though but one of the other MGs could suppress from the half track bed.,
So.... we the heck did the other two riflemen came from? I mean, it was said at the beginning of the video that 44 only two riflemen were left per squadron.
This is interesting in the context of saving private Ryan, where the American paratroopers engage a German half track and the grenadiers pretty much do none of this lol
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized I’m pretty sure they open up on the halftrack...the halftrack drives off the road, gets hit again with another bazooka round then the squad dismounts and gets easily picked off one by one. It’s a movie obviously but it always seemed kind of silly that they would fight like that
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized judging by the manual it would seem like would have deployed smoke, maybe used signal flare, move of the road and have the grenadiers fight from inside the halftrack not all of them pile out and get mowed down Again it’s a war movie and it always seems like the “bad guys” are always in a hurry to run into the bullets of the “good guys” lol
@@PelicanIslandLabs oh for sure...no question. I just always remembered that halftrack scene and this video about the grenadier tactics just made that scene even more cheesy
I love half-tracks. In my opinion some of the most versatile vehicles of the Second World War. Now, I know that this is a matter of personal taste, but I always liked the looks of the German half-tracks (especially the Sd.Kfz 251 and Sd.Kfz 11) better than those of the other countries. I used to own quite a few models of different variants when I was a kid and had a lot of room to store them ;)
I am confused. how many MGs had a armored Panzergrenadier squad? 2 or 3? the halftrack keeped one mg, when they dismount? flames of war (historic ruleset for tabletop) is claiming they had 3 MGs
Do the squad's MG 42s get mounted on the SdKfz 251? Does the squad possess four MGs or two? Fully dismounted except driver and co-driver the squad could use their own two mg 42s and then the co-driver still has the front (or rear) MG mounted for use, correct? I'd assume they had four, but with the Wehrmacht in '44 what was on paper wasn't necessarily so in the field.
Excuse me sir, why I can't find your video on the German Panzergrenadier Division as mentioned at 2:13 on the top right hand corner? Removed? Blocked by YT?
Here is the link: ua-cam.com/video/e2HD2ZTs_Kg/v-deo.html It seems it does not really work on firefox, in Chrome in worked, which browser were you using?
Bernhard, are you sure about the rifles for driver/co-driver ? It makes a lot more sense if the 2nd MG gunners had these rifles in case the MG42 had a malfunction (happened a lot) or the gunners had to reload/change barrel. The driver should be occupied with driving the HT and the co-driver had his own MG to play with.
I have a model of a 251/1D half-track with a MP40 in a wall rack just to the side and behind the seats for the driver and vehicle MG/radio operator. Confirmation that this is correct? No. My understanding is also that the driver and his assistant were not part of the squad but assigned to the vehicle. They would be under the command of the NCO of the squad using the vehicle. The US Army M3 half-track drivers were part of the squad although assigned as driver but then more Americans knew how to drive. I am not sure that was correct. The 251/1 half-track carries ten men plus the crew of 2. The US half-track carried 12 men plus the crew of 1. Since the vehicle machinegunner also operated the vehicle radio I suspect he and the driver are crewmen, not part of the panzergrenadier squad.
@@ODST6262 I wouldn't trust models. There has been a lot of misinformation spread by model companies. Still, it could be the squad leaders MP, since he would have been close to the driver to issue orders. But I agree on the the driver/co-driver NOT being part of the squad.
Was there any mention of Panzerfaust use? Were they deemed too precious to waste on an armored car, weren't given out on patrols or was that scenario mentioned precisely as what to do when Pzf wasn't available?
not in that part I read. I assume they trained with that equipment since the Panzerfaust was rather easy to use and if you are trained to do it with a geballte Ladung, with a Panzerfaust it should be way easier.
Excellent video! The assault on the prepared MG position clearly assumes that the MG will be static and not move out - also, why assault the AT gun from the rear, when it takes a great deal less time to manoevre and assault it from the side / both sides? Also, surely the AT gun would be supported by infantry, especially when in a prepared position, so you might get a nasty surprise when trying to get round to be behind it!
those tend to be HMGs. if the squad manning them moves out, then they're effectively neutralized. their new position wouldn't be able to shoot back at the half-track, and they might not even be able to bring their MG with them, which is probably destroyed by grenades by then. the panzergrenadiers only needed to get past them safely. wiping them out is not the objective. shooting at the MG position with their onboard MGs makes sure that they keep the enemy heads down. and then suddenly speeding past them prevents them from readying to throw their grenades at the half-track. as for the AT gun, there's no guarantee that the off-road terrain would be smooth enough for a fast flanking maneuver. there's a chance that the AT gun would get mired, and would be sitting ducks for the AT gun. in the examples, they showed hills, rough terrain, and marshes on either side of the road, making taking off-road maneuvers a risk. these manuals are useful specifically for these sort of cases. if there is a whole defensive line down the road (ie combination of AT gun and MG emplacements), or they're encountering a whole platoon, then they need more specific tactics. but for cases like these in the manuals, then they don't even have to think up of the tactics anymore, speeding up their reaction time. just my two cents
I‘ve also always been curious about recon forces, since a lot of these formations include Platoons, Companies or even Bataillons that are designated recon, but I‘ve never seen anything concrete about how these were used. The only thing I was able to find on YT was one video about modern doctrine, which notes that recon forces always tend to get roped into regular fighting which isn‘t supposed to be their job. I think one of the tactics reports you quoted from the eastern front also stated that recon forces need more firepower.
The trick with recon was to spot the enemy and then scoot before they could bring their weapons to bear. Wasn’t unusual for men to dismount from armoured cars and move up the final few tens of metres on foot to recce an enemy position. Recce forces also commonly had quite a few MGs allowing them to put down suppressing fire while they scooted or waited for heavier support.
@@SSN515 Not really, whenever they came up against anything like organised opposition they tended to get battered. As @jimchen said, rounding up and executing unarmed civilians was more their thing.
@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 Oh. I always heard that they had the highest kill levels as opposed to losses of any military formation in history. Gotta respect that Germanic aggressiveness and determination.
By the book yes. But soldiers being soldiers, they might have "found" an additional MG "somewhere" ... They also could have been short on MGs and had to dismount the co-driver's MG. By 1944 they would certainly have used Panzerfausts or Panzerschrecks to deal with armored opposition, though "geballte Ladung" and "Tellermine" never went out of fashion. There is always a certain "by the book" in contrast to "circumstances"; German armed forces, especially in the 2nd half of WW2, were more bound to circumstances than to the book. I highly recommend Bernard's video on "Panzergrenadier Divisions".
The vehicle was issued one machinegun. The squad was issued two machineguns. The "rear" machinegun was one of the squads possibly, but not necessarily on the rear facing AA machinegun mount. When the squad dismounts it takes its two machinegun with it leaving the two men on the half-track one machinegun. The one behind the gun shield.
One day you will have no related footage of the Panzermuseum, but you'll be legally obliged to mention them anyway because you're wearing a shirt bought there on that day.
So those 2 squad machine guns were mounted on the vechile when squad was inside the vechile (hardpoints on back and front of the vechile) OR the vechile had organic machine gun(s) in addition to 2 squad machine guns?
From memory the front MG was organic to the vehicle, the rear mount allowed the panzergrenadiers to mount one of their own MGs while in the vehicle. Could be wrong mind, memory can be deceptive.
@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 I was wondering about the same thing. Looking at pictures of the Sd.Kfz. 251 - I noted the little swing mount on the back. tanks-encyclopedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/SdKfz-251-1_AusfD_Russia42_HD.jpg So - the total # of MG's for the vehicle and the squad would _seem_ to be 3. One thing about them having two machine guns for the squad - is that with the vehicle - they could carry the extra stuff for the machine guns like spare barrels and ammunition more easily than a rifle squad. My guess would be that this was the reason rifle squads only had one. .
Yes. Germans, US, British etc. had and still have a standard seating arrangement. The SL for example is usually near the rear door to lead the men out of the vehicle or (I don't know the arrangement) he would be up near the driver and vehicle machinegunner to direct both and the assistant squad leader at the back to lead the squad out of the vehicle. One machinegunner would be on each side, likely near the rear door. The rear machinegun mount was the AA mount. However, if you stand on a seat you can fire over the side of the half-track. The squad leader can change the loading SOP in some circumstances depending on experience and the Platoon/Company commander's style.
Love these document reviews! It is great to know how people are trained. I hate when people spout off on how they think German troops were trained or what they would do based on their own country's training. People tend to fight as they are trained and they should be doing what you do here. Look at the actual training documents! Keep up the good work!
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized Yeah. Awesome to have some smaller campaigns. Though I am still waiting for the Coop. But they at least said that it'll be done soon recently.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
For late-war German infantry tactics involving the StG44 (MP 44 / MP 43) check out our book:
» The Assault Platoon of the Grenadier-Company November 1944 (StG 44) - sturmzug.com
If Panzers are more your thing, check out our translation of the a 1941 regulation:
» Army Regulation Medium Panzer Company 1941 - www.hdv470-7.com
>> Errors & Corrections
The I in hinder is pronounced like the I in hit. Think behindern without the be and final n.
@@billbolton hinder meets tinder is what you meant
@@typxxilps yup, maybe that's a better way to put it.
That doesn't work out
Why is it 4 days ago but the video has been posted 2 hours ago
"Half-track is driving peacefully"
Thus we're using the manual for mobile operations during Sundays.
MOSTLY Peaceful. The guys in the halftrack are starting fires in the name of Social Justice.
Wehrmacht while peacefully invading USSR was brutally attacked by the Red Army.
@Charles Yuditsky such a vicious guile. Nazi were supposed to kill communists, not vice versa!
@@dmh0667ify 8
My father was a panzergrenadier machinegunner with the 3 rd Panzerarmy,Armygroup Center. After a short training in Denmark he was shipped to the the eastern front october-43 only 17 years old. His introduction to the front was a veteran showing him three bodies on a tarp all with a nice hole in their forehead killed by sniper. The veteran told my father pointing at the bodies ,one at the time. "He was a machinegunner,he was a machinegunner and he was a machinegunner". My father told me that his legs went spaghetti. It was the veterans way of teaching my father that only when necessary have his head over the edge of the trench.
Those replacements with only short training died like flies but my father managed to stay alive even though at the beginning he was set on winning medals for the fatherland so he volunteered for every mission. After a while surviving the missions he was seen as a bringer of luck so the others soldiers always wanted that he would participate in their missions. As he said "They took me along on all kind of shit". Fighting in urban areas was what he favoured least. They would work in teams of three. One moved and the other two covered the moving one. He told me when he came to a streetcorner he would shoot out a bit of the housecorner so he could rest his machinegun while spraying the street or be ready to cover the guy who was moving. He had a czech machinegun .Probably the same machinegun as the british Bren machinegun which is a licensebuilt from a czech machinegun.
They used to sit on tanks behind the turret going in to the combat area and it happened that the tankhatch opened and one of the crew with a submachinegun pointing at them told them that it was time to get off the tank. Guess they had asked polite before with a bad result so the crew learnt how to do it the with a successful outcome. Maybe the crew didn't want to enter combat with a lot of soldiers on their tank hampering their combatreadiness or making them an more attractive target. He did get a more than fair share of fighting standing in the way of the russian offensive "Operation Bagration" summer 1944. He was surrounded by the russians in the town of Vilnius but managed to fight his way out. He was surrounded by the russians in a polish city by the Baltic sea and got evacuated by submarine which got attacked with depthcharges by a russian destroyer . He had made bayonetcharges towards russian machinegunpositions and much more.He told me when the russians had attacked and the germans counterattacked they had to have some soldiers who put a bullet or bayonet in the russian bodies so they wouldn't suddenly pop up throwing handgrenades or start shooting around them.
After being a month behind russian lines he managed to get back to the german lines . Being only skin and bones he got two weeks R&R in Denmark. At the end of the stay which was end -44 or beginning -45 he was asked if he would like to go to the russian front or the west front. He told me that it was no choice as the russian front was so much more brutal so he answered west front. He was then sent to Paderborn to learn guerillawarfare (Rueckkämpfer) but as he said "The americans were near so it was getting out in the surroundings and start practising directly". They put together kampfgruppen with all sort of soldiers even from the navy. He fought near Paderborn and also at Kassel. He told me they were holding a crossroad when the got incoming fire from all directions thus beeing surrounded by the americans. They could fight their way out by blasting an american tank in the process but not without losses. Later 8 th of april 1945 he was captured by US 5th armoured division outside Springe.
After that he went to Attichy as a pow and ended up in a prisoncamp at Reims. Being a pow had it risks also.He could have been killed many times as a pow but that would take hours to tell. He was released after the summer in 1946 returning to Germany.
I absolutely loved to read this story. Did he write a diary or a book about it?
@@Makrangoncias Glad you loved it. No unfortunately he didn't write a book or diary about it.Would probably be too painful. He didn't really like to speak about the war but during the years he could tell me about episodes and I could learn more and more about his days as a soldier as the years went by.
He died 2017 at age 90 years old after living a remarkable life. A small wonder that he got that old after so many close calls he had. He took a shot through his collarbone,shrapnel trhough his leg and some shrapnel up his ass :). After the war he enlisted as a soldier in the US army in Germany for a short while. But he told me he knew sooner or later he would again be sent off to some war so he quit.I've seen a picture were he is in an american uniform and helmet with a crosman carbine in his hands.
In 1950-52 he got a job in Sweden and emigrated. During a trip back to Germany he was involved in a serious caraccident outside Greifswald Germany. Both his friends in the forward seat a married couple were killed instantly. My father just barely alive with his skull cracked an eye hanging out spent a long time in german hospital.The doctors wanted to amputate his eye but one of the doctors told my father not to let them do it so he said no to it.
He was also told that he would never be able to walk again but his stubbordness helped him and after a years training he could walk again. His eye was pointing in the wrong direction but he had read an article about Bob Hope how doctors had helped him with his eyes. So he did the same. He started wearing an eyepatch which he made a little hole in the front where the light came in and eventually it led to his eye pointing forward again.
I have to write all down of what I know of my fathers history so it want be lost when I die. I can still rember hearing him say "As long as no one is shooting at me I'm happy".
Such a shame he never wrote it all down. There are so few first hand German accounts, and some of the best known ones are highly suspicious (Sajer’s memoirs, for example).
Please do write down what you can and get it in print or at least on the web. As many details as possible, dates, locations, unit names, etc - with photos of any surviving documents and of course photos of the man himself. Otherwise this all ends up in the trashpile of history 🚮
@@sirrathersplendid4825 Agree, this story deserves to be remembered.
@@sirrathersplendid4825 There is a german YT-channel bacuffz. He narrates diaries from german soldiers. It is in german though.
My grandfather served in the HQ Coy of the 71. division as a fuel truck driver. They had a divisionn newspaper called "Das Kleeblatt" (The Cloverleaf) after the division emblem, a 4petal cloverleaf. It was published after the war, too. It contained after action reports and such. The division took part in the french campaign, Barbarossa with the end in Stalingrad. Affter the re-establishment they fought in Yugoslavia, and in Italy near Monte Cassino. Sadly those of my granddad perished after his death or even before, as much as I now. This should be a great source if they surviverd somewhere.
Danke. These tactics videos are my favorite. You never know what the next christmas gift will be. Maybe a squad of Panzergrenadiers.
lol one of UA-cam's canned response options was "Happy holidays!" so here we go ;)
also nice reference to the 30 Panzergrenadier Commandments!
Hope you get Sd. Kfz. 251 instead of 250.
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized haha, nice that you got the reference!
I know! I got a squad of British paratroopers last Christmas and wasn’t familiar enough with their tactics!
@@projectpitchfork860 Unless you're in a recon company. Them little suckers can move! lol
2:35 "Which might sound odd, but it is just precise."
The German language in a nutshell, really.
Oh, that's _military_ language, in any big one. For example, the American "101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)" gets parachute (airborne) training for historical and financial reasons -- the US Army has ways to get soldiers paid better than marines -- but is only equipped and intended for helicopter-based (air assault) operations. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Assault_Badge
10:13 - "halftrack moves *_peacefully_* along the road"
laughs in Generalplan Ost
the peaceful Panzergrenadier boy scouts on their field trip, with their backpacks, homemade sandwiches and two MG 42 with 900 rpm
Yeah, who doesn't know that situation? You peacefully drive along the highway, and suddenly, there's a machine gun opening fire. Commuting sucks, man.
Just enjoying the scenery
its a halftrack of peace
But statistics show halftracks were peaceful %90 of the time so?
I love the optimism in the training manual thay they would see the guns. Soldiers memoirs often say how they could take so many shots without any clue where they were coming from.
Tank crews or regular infantry man?
Also, it's very kind of the Russians to only oppose them with single, isolated guns that can be flanked with minimal effort. What if the Russians have TWO machine guns, and some riflemen? What is Hans supposed to do then?!
@@markbelew1376 Retreat and get an adequate amount of firepower, most likely?
And training manuals are still like that. Ours always stated things like: After fighting the enemy successfully you sit back up and regroup and march onwards or if not you sit back up for an orderly retreat. I often asked then what to do if everything is a bloody mess and our tanks are on fire. Normal reaction of our officers was then either a dumb face and stating that the manual says nothing about that or that I should not ask so silly questions.
@@mightypirat9875 lol "After fighting the enemy successfully you sit back up" yeah, the manual was basically going through different stages and exactly that was written there as well.
So according to the final example, if they encounter an MG, then it just becomes a drive-by
With potato mashers.
@trainbomb This Comment of yours is a Bruh Moment
1.The Example they Talk about is with an Entrenched MG, no Mention of an AT Gun.
2.Isn't that already Obvious that an AT Gun,which was designed to destroy Heavily Armored Vehicles, is able to penetrate a relatively lightly Armored Vehicle? It wouldn't be different with Russian/American/British Mechanized Troops and a 7.5cm PaK of the Germans.
3.The Person making the Manual even knows that this would happen and lined up Scenarios which Include Smoke Grenades (AT can't really hit what it can't see),abandoning of the Vehicle and to drive the Vehicle towards Cover where only the Gunner on Top can see out of to suppress the AT Gun.
@trainbomb in real life first shoot always miss
I really appreciate how you do your annotations and show your sources. I wish more youtubers who make informative videos would make them like this. It's really important, especially in this day and age, to know exactly where you information is coming from and that it's factual. Keep it up man! I love watching these during my lunch break!
Glad you like them!
"My Schutzen made a kill." - Panzer grenadier CoH2
"Send them a gift basket."
"Clicking the click, clicking the fuckin click! Fuckin scheiße!" coh1
@@minhducnguyen674 “Schützentrupp, ready!”
@@gtu660 " One foot after the other Kinder!"
That's a bingo!
Thank you so much for the amazing content. I appreciate your non biased realistic view on the war. Please keep this amazing work up!
Everyone who has ever served in the infantry knows that since the invention of man portable machine guns an infantry section or squad is just protection for the machine gun.
In my former outfit, the machine gun teams secured their own flanks using the ammunition bearers. The MG teams provided suppression for the rifle squads which were involved in maneuvering and assaulting the enemy. The riflemen were the bread and butter while MG, mortars, and rockets were support.
@@realWARPIG Americans at it again I see. Where's your air support?
Agreed, a machine gunner on his own is useless, but part of a squad and protected he becomes mighty indeed. Battles in terrains that lack decent lanes of fire are the only places where those beasts aren't king.
@@realWARPIG Care to explain why?
I always love the tactics videos! Especially on vehicles!
Glad you like them!
Nice, more tactics videos are allways very appreciated.
Glad you like them!
there are sections in the various manuals on the whole signal / radio setup, I haven't had time to read them yet and I doubt many people would be interested at all. I mean even this video is doing very poorly.
@Lawofimprobability It is like logistics not particularly interesting and shiny, I wouldn't say "don't understand" more like "not really care", I know it is important, but I am also not really interested in it as well.
5:55 Can I suggest the smoke grenade provides obscuration / concealment, not "cover". That is the AT gun's view of the target is reduced but the smoke doesn't provide protection from any subsequent fire.
There are two stages to firing any weapon. 1. Acquiring the target, and 2. Aiming at it accurately. Smoke mainly disrupts step 1, preventing the enemy from being able locate the firer.
@@sirrathersplendid4825 Sure but it doesn't provide "cover". Smoke at best provides "concealment". "cover" and "concealment" have two different military definitions.
@@whya2ndaccount Agreed. It still makes it harder to hit the target, which I believe was his point.
Colloquially you do say “under the cover of darkness”, which again doesn’t chime with the strict military definition.
@@sirrathersplendid4825 A military / Tactical channel should I think use the correct terminology, not colloquialisms. What next "take out" instead of "clear" / "destroy" / "secure", etc. All I wanted to do was to suggest a better wording. If that's unacceptable to you I have better things to do with my time.
@@whya2ndaccount - Ok, don’t burst a blood vessel. I agree with you!
Intresting how the tactics have not changed much: I have basic training as a mechanizedjaeger(Panssarijääkäri) in the Finnish defence forces. Basicly the principles are the same: fire and move, fast, powerful and do not stop. Only the carrier vehicles have changed. And they have gotten bigger guns.
Always found Panzergrenadiers super interesting. Kein Mensch, kein Tier, sondern Panzergrenadier!
Is that actually a song? No man, no beast, we're the soldiers of the East! (just a try-out adaptation)
@@pwmiles56 it's a rhyme about grenadiers.
But there are more. German army loves to make jokingly rhymes about certain troop parts
@@Tankliker Like the one about Minensucher "Wer suchet, der findet. Wer findet, verschwindet." Or "Kaum gefunden, schon verschwunden" xD
The Swiss Army uses rhymes like that as well ;)
I've heard the worst enemy of a Panzergrenadier is the lawnmower. Eliminates your cover *and* your food.
Um die Ecke liegt ein kleines Supermarkt, und das heißt, Edeka
Assignment to a PzG Spitzengruppe sounds like an assignment to Himmelfahrtskommando.
Thanks, I was having a hard time visualizing the difference between mounted and Unmounted fighting. This helped clear it up
Sums up this whole channel: "May seem odd, but it's just precise"
I really like your channel, very good attention to detail, my new favourite channel!
Thanks youtube algorithm for introducing me to you!
I wonder what was the chance a panzergrenadier squad would meet a single gun in the open rather than an enemy infantry platoon supported by said gun.
training manual exercises; you go through the motions of the easy task to be able to the harder task.
Also what are the chances that they travel alone?
Very kind of those AT guns to skimp on infantry support. Also, interesting that the on board MG is used against an emplaced AT gun but not an exposed one.
yeah, overall all the examples feel like wishful thinking - the situations feel super isolated, the half track is alone and the opponents are also alone - kind of weird tbh
@@Furman2137 those are type of "recon by force" scenarios, where a single halftrack or a set of 2-3 vehicles are caught by patrol or point defense. in actual battle ofc something like that wouldn't have any place, but between battles there are a number of small skirmishes like that and squad must be ready for that too
Danke. In the US army of Vietnam, we had not practiced squad tactics except advance, cover, and fire. So this is very good. It is most interesting and, even though I am 76, I will pay attention.
No battle drills?
Danke für deine Arbeit
These tactics video are awesome! Thank you so much
Great content as always. Looking forward to when you can get back into museums again. Would love to see a colab between yourself and David Fletcher on British tanks and their tactics at some point. Though even just doing it yourself would be great as it would provide good contrast to the German content you have already mad because, as you have mentioned, these systems are only as good as the opposition the enemy provides.
Old British movies "kill or be killed" could provider desired content.
Sorry, that movie was "shot to kill", but I found way more stuff
ua-cam.com/play/PLEt1MkEhouTVQu1eHV0Tq_MOR1RvESt-h.html
once free travel is possible again, I very likely will do an extensive trip to the Tank Museum.
@@alexeysaphonov232 Interesting playlist. Will be sure to give it a look.
These tactics videos are so interesting and well done, I will be binging them.
Nice, espessially the last example. But these examples as many in these instructions are like one in the universe and there are no other enemy and friendly forces in a battlefield. And i wonder how disguised and covered by riflemen AT gun can be outflanked like here and why same AT gun can`t at least hit halftruck or truck.
If the at gun hit then the squad will be dead so no point continuing the scenario. If there are supporting units they will be discovered while trying to flank the at gun at which point the squad will stay in place to bind the enemy, report back to the platoon and then on platoon orders either fall back or become the base of fire for a platoon attack.
@@holoween8103 "If the at gun hit then the squad will be dead" - crew must be very unlucky. Only some of them or even nobody will be dead immediately.
@@TheSunchaster With an at gun hitting from the front the squad would have to be very lucky to survive. Only if the shell stopps at the engine do they have a chance. If the shell gets past that it will destroy the squad. There might be some survivors but as a functional combat unit it ceases to exist.
@@holoween8103 try to check out data about damage that tank crew getting after penetration. In case of German or American / Soviet lend-lease APCs, nvm. The damage will be sort of 1-3 will be dead, other get heavy wound, flesh-wound or even no wound. And it`s nearly same casualties if they will trap into covered enemy positions while outflanking.
I mean also that, the situation itself means that Germans 1) did not good reconnaissance generally 2) get into enemy territory deeply and have no idea about forces in a rear or something else. If there AT gun or even hMG or ATR, there will be infantry.
Надеюсь, понятно.
@@TheSunchaster average casualties for a KOd sherman were 2.6. Even just taking the same casualty rate without adjusting for the difference between the vehicles we get 5.2 casualties for the halftrack.
Even if the entire flanking team gets taken out youre only looking at similar casualties. But like the atg hitting that would be the end of the unit as a combat capable entity.
Also blaming bad scouting is strange since the halftrack in the scenario is the scout. Someone simply has to go first.
Something about hearing a strong German accent describing the workings of the Nazi military is so satisfying to me
Very interesting but in truth those troops can only achieve success after continuous training, with a good experienced commander and surviving the first fighting or even a battle. Having a much needed veteran commander was becoming more and more a luxury in the final year of war. As I really enjoyed this video I just subscribed and looking forward to see your new videos 👍 👍
You my friend are doing what i consider my dream job, hystory and military tactics :D.Good job!!
Particularly excellent Video & especially enjoyed the animation.
Thank you very much!
Fascinating.
TY for uploading.
Do one about panzer pioneers or regular ones that would be interesting! Keep up the good work fam!
According to the Wrezsien 1939 magazine & wargaming model kit series, German squads only consisted of 8 men, prior to October 1939, because this was the maximum capacity of a Protze & other troop transports at the time.
It would be interesting if you did a video on squad & platoon organisation, plus tactics, before October 1939, during the Polish campaign.
maybe motorized infantry, because regular infantry squads were actually larger than 10 men before October 1939, then reduced to 10 men.
Motorized and half-motorized units with dudes partially or entirely mounted on trucks was starting to appear when budgets allowed. And with more tracked and/or armoured troop transports being introduced.
This is a long period of transition, you could still find platoons of bike-mounted infantry around Europe into the 60's.
i love the visual element and examples you showed, say would there by chance be any plans on showing in a similar way for how they employed tanks?
see my Panzer Tactics videos, there are two.
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized ooo ill look at them now
Excellent stuff as always, thanks!
I wonder how often the marsh wasn't known until the squad was half way committed to trying to cross it in a flanking tactic?
Great video and info as always. You deliver such an outstanding content, that your channel got mentionend in an article in the magazine of the german soldiers union "Die Bundeswehr": "Von Dolchstoß und Blitzkrieg: Militärische Mythen am Lagerfeuer" by Dr. Markus Pöhlmann of the Centre for military history and social science of the German Federal Armed Forces. Congrats!
wow, thanks for the info! You mean the magazine "Y"?
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized No, "Die Bundeswehr" from the Deutsche Bundeswehrverband.
@@shantyman161 danke!
I don t want to be the lonely machine gunner taking the enemy by the front
Luckily, you'll have mate with pistol on your side
I have to be at work in 30 minutes and here I am learning about the tactics of panzer grenadiers
Very informative. Some German WW2 halftracks have 2 MGs. (One front as mentioned and one at the rear) i think the rear MG could provide additional suppresive fire.
Thank you again for the great vids!
@5:52 this is not cover it is concealement. Just an observation, and in videos such as this one you'll want to be correct. Cover is protection (of various strength) against incoming fire, concealement is any kind of obstruction to direct line-of-sight but incoming fire could still hit you. Concealement only prevents the enemy from taking aimed shots, often resulting in the enemy not shooting at all especially from weapons with valued ammunition.
yeah, I know, we don't really make the distinction in German if I am not mistaken. "Deckung".
The halftrack is the most inconic ww2 german vehicle in my opinion. Such a cool and usefull vehicle
great video. it seems in all scenarios described the panzer grenadiers had force superiority... did the manual mention what to do when they dont have force supremacy? would it be disengaging? I feel a enemy squad + anti-tank gun is a greater challenge for an armored panzer grenadier squad.
Late comment but the panzer grenadiers were always expected to have the numbers advantage because that is what the strategy/tactics of bewegungskrieg (coloquially blitzkrieg) entailed. Panzers, supported by mechanized infantry, self-propelled artillery and air support break through weak points, cutting off supply lines and destroying targets of opportunity, thereby isolating parts of an opposing force. Infantry (mobile or otherwise) in conjuction with artillery (mobile or otherwise) and air support is then used to destroy the resulting pockets, divide and conquer, defeat in detail. Even if the enemy had greater numbers/assets in total, these strategies/tactics allowed the german military to punch far above its weight class by isolating enemy elements and defeating them by having more numbers/assets at the right place at the right time.
When these strategies/tactics failed you see the german military take massive losses, example stalingrad. The germans overextended taking stalingrad and then had their own tactics turned on them. Soviet tanks broke through the weak flanks of the german thrust to stalingrad, cut off/encircled the city and the trapped german forces were then destroyed by a greater opposing force of infantry/artillery/aircraft, even if the total number of soviet forces in the region was exceeded by the germans. The germans tried multiple times to break the encirclement but due to the now divided nature of army group south, neither element of the army group could muster the strength to break the encirclement, even if the total numbers would suggest so. Basically most of the troops and assets were in the encirclement getting murdered and most of the supplies needed for those troops to keep fighting was outside the encirclement behind enemy lines, gathering dust.
So, if a panzergrenadier unit encounters a superior enemy force then someone somewhere made a colossal mistake, either recon or the panzer spearhead or the guys in charge of strategy or it was just really bad luck/a combination of the above listed.
Paradox entertainment needs to sponsor you - every time I view one of your nice videos - I end up playing a few hours of HoI IV.
thank you, back in 2016 I did a video on HOI IV, although I prefer HOI III: ua-cam.com/video/eyQmhrVKsc0/v-deo.html
Excellent, practical. This could have some use in reenactments, etc.
This remind me a lot of the American Grenadier training videos.
"After the enemy misses you, just casually run up to them and throw a grenade."
well i guess its fine since if the enemy actually hits with his AT-gun, you won't need a manual anymore.
Alright, time to try it out in Post Scriptum or Squad.
Me who's poor and plays Heroes & Generals: What are these high-quality games?
Good luck trying this with randoms.
@@comradefriendship Try Enlisted
Not as good as any of the games above but certainly interesting
@@W0DAN88 Bruh enlisted is way worse than H&G. Maybe
@@ANWRocketMan with randoms, you get them with mic and moving to where they should is already a blessing
He always explained so good n steady
I have noticed in a lot of allied military history that German "Advanced Elements" (Wehrmacht and SS) were also called "Recon Elements".
The road at 7:40 is east/south-east not east/north-east.
unfortunatelly the ambush did not really work out that way as shown around 4:15 cause not a single enemy truck / tank appeared, but and endless stream of those and the ambush would turn in a trap soon.
Gonna use this knowledge in my advanced squad leader board game.
Me learning Panzergrenadier tactics at 3am
Loll
These training instructions seem to ignore that the attacking AT or machine gun might have it's own flanking protection.
Quite severely. All manuals assume a somewhat ideal situation, but this seems somewhat extreme.
That's, why most of the manuals mentioned, focused on the platoon and company level. It would be extremely rare for a lone half-track to operate. Generally, a single squad is expected to only take on 1-2 targets anymore and they call in the rest of the platoon. A platoon takes on a single squad and the company a single platoon. In war, you don't want a fair fight.
@@HelloNurse678 yup.
If the half track was that close the forward gun wouldnt be able to hit it with the gunshield on it. I think most didn't have the gun shield though but one of the other MGs could suppress from the half track bed.,
another great video as always :)
Very interesting video never seen like this content
Thank You good insight
So.... we the heck did the other two riflemen came from? I mean, it was said at the beginning of the video that 44 only two riflemen were left per squadron.
For the 4:20 map was there no distance scale?
I was confused as to how the armored car crew didn’t see the half track
The Panzergrenadiers greatest enemy is the lawnmower. It removes food, camouflage and shelter.
This is interesting in the context of saving private Ryan, where the American paratroopers engage a German half track and the grenadiers pretty much do none of this lol
weren't they surprised in that scene?
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized I’m pretty sure they open up on the halftrack...the halftrack drives off the road, gets hit again with another bazooka round then the squad dismounts and gets easily picked off one by one. It’s a movie obviously but it always seemed kind of silly that they would fight like that
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized judging by the manual it would seem like would have deployed smoke, maybe used signal flare, move of the road and have the grenadiers fight from inside the halftrack not all of them pile out and get mowed down
Again it’s a war movie and it always seems like the “bad guys” are always in a hurry to run into the bullets of the “good guys” lol
SPR is a cheesy Hollywood movie.
@@PelicanIslandLabs oh for sure...no question. I just always remembered that halftrack scene and this video about the grenadier tactics just made that scene even more cheesy
Could you make a video on Operation Bagration?
yeah, planned for years, but I haven't come around it yet.
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized Many thanks. Until today I thought you had already made one lol
Question: As the majority of panzergranadiers squads use regular trucks, what changes in terms of tatics. I think you could cover that.
Well done.
Great break down.
I love half-tracks. In my opinion some of the most versatile vehicles of the Second World War.
Now, I know that this is a matter of personal taste, but I always liked the looks of the German half-tracks (especially the Sd.Kfz 251 and Sd.Kfz 11) better than those of the other countries. I used to own quite a few models of different variants when I was a kid and had a lot of room to store them ;)
I am confused. how many MGs had a armored Panzergrenadier squad? 2 or 3?
the halftrack keeped one mg, when they dismount?
flames of war (historic ruleset for tabletop) is claiming they had 3 MGs
The squad carries 2 and a third is mounted on the front of the halftrack that is impractical to remove/mount quickly in the field.
@@Rudipu Appreciate the clarification.
I wonder how halftracks deal in case of an air-attack, such as a fighter bomber strafing.
Richtig starkes video
An excellent video! Could you tell me more about the cone shaped magnetic chargers? What were they called, bitte? Guten Tag!
Hey do you think you could make a ww2 usmc squad tactics video
I'll use these tactics to dominate the raccoons outside.
not sure if it works on trash pandas
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized they're digging trenches outside my house, how do I deal with them?
@@Mewwiee1 liquid concrete or napalm.
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized thanks
@@Mewwiee1 paint ball gun
Do the squad's MG 42s get mounted on the SdKfz 251? Does the squad possess four MGs or two? Fully dismounted except driver and co-driver the squad could use their own two mg 42s and then the co-driver still has the front (or rear) MG mounted for use, correct? I'd assume they had four, but with the Wehrmacht in '44 what was on paper wasn't necessarily so in the field.
How common were smoke grenades in the Heer? How many would a German halftrack or truck normally carry?
It's interesting that the squad composition doesn't have an anti vehicle specialist. Maybe it's a recon element and meant to be lightly equipped?
Excuse me sir, why I can't find your video on the German Panzergrenadier Division as mentioned at 2:13 on the top right hand corner? Removed? Blocked by YT?
Here is the link: ua-cam.com/video/e2HD2ZTs_Kg/v-deo.html
It seems it does not really work on firefox, in Chrome in worked, which browser were you using?
Bernhard, are you sure about the rifles for driver/co-driver ? It makes a lot more sense if the 2nd MG gunners had these rifles in case the MG42 had a malfunction (happened a lot) or the gunners had to reload/change barrel. The driver should be occupied with driving the HT and the co-driver had his own MG to play with.
That caught me too. I wouldn't want to be the No.2 with just a pistol. Give the No.2s the rifles.
I have a model of a 251/1D half-track with a MP40 in a wall rack just to the side and behind the seats for the driver and vehicle MG/radio operator. Confirmation that this is correct? No. My understanding is also that the driver and his assistant were not part of the squad but assigned to the vehicle. They would be under the command of the NCO of the squad using the vehicle. The US Army M3 half-track drivers were part of the squad although assigned as driver but then more Americans knew how to drive. I am not sure that was correct. The 251/1 half-track carries ten men plus the crew of 2. The US half-track carried 12 men plus the crew of 1. Since the vehicle machinegunner also operated the vehicle radio I suspect he and the driver are crewmen, not part of the panzergrenadier squad.
@@ODST6262 I wouldn't trust models. There has been a lot of misinformation spread by model companies. Still, it could be the squad leaders MP, since he would have been close to the driver to issue orders.
But I agree on the the driver/co-driver NOT being part of the squad.
When you realize enemy usually comes with 100 armor cars
Was there any mention of Panzerfaust use? Were they deemed too precious to waste on an armored car, weren't given out on patrols or was that scenario mentioned precisely as what to do when Pzf wasn't available?
not in that part I read. I assume they trained with that equipment since the Panzerfaust was rather easy to use and if you are trained to do it with a geballte Ladung, with a Panzerfaust it should be way easier.
Fair play to the first machine gunner in those scenarios. Weighed down by an mg42 and a massive pair of balls! :-D
Excellent video!
The assault on the prepared MG position clearly assumes that the MG will be static and not move out - also, why assault the AT gun from the rear, when it takes a great deal less time to manoevre and assault it from the side / both sides? Also, surely the AT gun would be supported by infantry, especially when in a prepared position, so you might get a nasty surprise when trying to get round to be behind it!
those tend to be HMGs. if the squad manning them moves out, then they're effectively neutralized. their new position wouldn't be able to shoot back at the half-track, and they might not even be able to bring their MG with them, which is probably destroyed by grenades by then. the panzergrenadiers only needed to get past them safely. wiping them out is not the objective. shooting at the MG position with their onboard MGs makes sure that they keep the enemy heads down. and then suddenly speeding past them prevents them from readying to throw their grenades at the half-track.
as for the AT gun, there's no guarantee that the off-road terrain would be smooth enough for a fast flanking maneuver. there's a chance that the AT gun would get mired, and would be sitting ducks for the AT gun. in the examples, they showed hills, rough terrain, and marshes on either side of the road, making taking off-road maneuvers a risk.
these manuals are useful specifically for these sort of cases. if there is a whole defensive line down the road (ie combination of AT gun and MG emplacements), or they're encountering a whole platoon, then they need more specific tactics. but for cases like these in the manuals, then they don't even have to think up of the tactics anymore, speeding up their reaction time.
just my two cents
I‘ve also always been curious about recon forces, since a lot of these formations include Platoons, Companies or even Bataillons that are designated recon, but I‘ve never seen anything concrete about how these were used.
The only thing I was able to find on YT was one video about modern doctrine, which notes that recon forces always tend to get roped into regular fighting which isn‘t supposed to be their job. I think one of the tactics reports you quoted from the eastern front also stated that recon forces need more firepower.
The trick with recon was to spot the enemy and then scoot before they could bring their weapons to bear. Wasn’t unusual for men to dismount from armoured cars and move up the final few tens of metres on foot to recce an enemy position. Recce forces also commonly had quite a few MGs allowing them to put down suppressing fire while they scooted or waited for heavier support.
7:06 really from behind? what about friendly fire?
From behind? Did they mean from the flank? Cause that's a recipe for blue on blue
I thought the on board MGs doubled as the squad MGs. How many MGs are there between the halftrack and grenadieres?
Can’t wait for the Operation Bagration vid
Awesome, and i always thought they were used a long side tanks to give support.
that as well, but these are the basics for the squad. Cooperation with tanks is on a larger level.
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized Good info thanks from Australia 🇦🇺
Are we ever going to see a Einsatzgruppen training, organization, weapons, and tactics dissertation?
I think they were more into gunning down unarmed populations.
@@Jomchen Well,they were a viable German military organization.
@@SSN515 Not really, whenever they came up against anything like organised opposition they tended to get battered. As @jimchen said, rounding up and executing unarmed civilians was more their thing.
@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 Oh. I always heard that they had the highest kill levels as opposed to losses of any military formation in history. Gotta respect that Germanic aggressiveness and determination.
@@SSN515 I would be surprised if they didn't rack up a high kill to loss ratio, they were "fighting" unarmed old men, woman and children.
Where does the rear machine gun in the last example come from? Is it one of the squad machine guns?
I assume so, although not 100 % certain, since I can't remember reading it, but the vehicle was issued with one 1 MG if I remember correctly.
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized Awesome, thanks
By the book yes. But soldiers being soldiers, they might have "found" an additional MG "somewhere" ... They also could have been short on MGs and had to dismount the co-driver's MG.
By 1944 they would certainly have used Panzerfausts or Panzerschrecks to deal with armored opposition, though "geballte Ladung" and "Tellermine" never went out of fashion.
There is always a certain "by the book" in contrast to "circumstances"; German armed forces, especially in the 2nd half of WW2, were more bound to circumstances than to the book.
I highly recommend Bernard's video on "Panzergrenadier Divisions".
The vehicle was issued one machinegun. The squad was issued two machineguns. The "rear" machinegun was one of the squads possibly, but not necessarily on the rear facing AA machinegun mount. When the squad dismounts it takes its two machinegun with it leaving the two men on the half-track one machinegun. The one behind the gun shield.
@@ODST6262 You're right. As Bernard presents it, the crew was part of the squad. I'm not convinced about that.
One day you will have no related footage of the Panzermuseum, but you'll be legally obliged to mention them anyway because you're wearing a shirt bought there on that day.
So those 2 squad machine guns were mounted on the vechile when squad was inside the vechile (hardpoints on back and front of the vechile) OR the vechile had organic machine gun(s) in addition to 2 squad machine guns?
From memory the front MG was organic to the vehicle, the rear mount allowed the panzergrenadiers to mount one of their own MGs while in the vehicle. Could be wrong mind, memory can be deceptive.
@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 I was wondering about the same thing. Looking at pictures of the Sd.Kfz. 251 - I noted the little swing mount on the back.
tanks-encyclopedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/SdKfz-251-1_AusfD_Russia42_HD.jpg
So - the total # of MG's for the vehicle and the squad would _seem_ to be 3.
One thing about them having two machine guns for the squad - is that with the vehicle - they could carry the extra stuff for the machine guns like spare barrels and ammunition more easily than a rifle squad. My guess would be that this was the reason rifle squads only had one.
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Thank you.
Was there someone designated to operate the rear machine gun position? On a related note, was there a standard seating arrangement for the squad?
Yes. Germans, US, British etc. had and still have a standard seating arrangement. The SL for example is usually near the rear door to lead the men out of the vehicle or (I don't know the arrangement) he would be up near the driver and vehicle machinegunner to direct both and the assistant squad leader at the back to lead the squad out of the vehicle. One machinegunner would be on each side, likely near the rear door. The rear machinegun mount was the AA mount. However, if you stand on a seat you can fire over the side of the half-track. The squad leader can change the loading SOP in some circumstances depending on experience and the Platoon/Company commander's style.
Love these document reviews! It is great to know how people are trained. I hate when people spout off on how they think German troops were trained or what they would do based on their own country's training. People tend to fight as they are trained and they should be doing what you do here. Look at the actual training documents! Keep up the good work!
I just wanted to go start another Army General in SDII so I am all here for this.
Burning Baltics?
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized Yeah. Awesome to have some smaller campaigns.
Though I am still waiting for the Coop. But they at least said that it'll be done soon recently.
the last scenario can be concidered as the first drive-by in history