When Nashorns Hunted T-34s : Panzer Ace Albert Ernst's Unforgettable Feat at Vitebsk
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2023
- Albert Ernst was a German anti-tank commander who rose to prominence during WWII as the leading Nashorn Panzer ace.
He started using the powerful Nashorn in 1943. With this vehicle, he accomplished amazing things, particularly in defense of the Belarusians, earning him the nickname "The Tiger of Vitebsk."
His efficiency in battle earned him the Knight's Cross for destroying 55 enemy tanks.
the 88mm anti-everything gun
That was a 88mmL71 and not 88mmL56. Much more powerful and deadly gun in 1943.
88mmL71 were mounted on Nashorns, Ferdinands, Jagdpanthers and King Tigers...and also were a anti-tank guns.
Rokk n Roll😂❤
@@AKUJIVALDOAre you saying in 43 the L71 was more powerful or the L56?
@@wirelessone2986L71 definitiv 🎉
Infantry??
The Nashorn used the 88 mm Pak 43, the same used on the KingTiger.
The Shell had twice the propellant than the 88 mm shell used by the Tiger l.
Was the most Powerfull AT gun of war.
A real Beast.
Correct. It's like comparing a .30 Carbine cartridge to an AK-47 cartridge. Both are .30 caliber, but the chamber size is much larger for the 7.62x39 AK-47 cartridge.
It used the 88mm Pak 43/1 L/71 and was lucky enough to receive sufficient tungsten carbide cored round, the Pzgr. 40/43, was capable of penetrating 190 mm of rolled steel armour at a 30° angle of impact at a distance of 1,000 m.
Despite only 494 vehicles being produced as a stopgap in 1943 before production switched to the jagdpanzer IV, they still managed to create six Schwere panzerJäger Abteilungen with 45 vehicles each.
Having built a 1/35 scale model it is truly an awesome machine despite its armour vulnerability.
Well the Tiger I had a modified 88mm KwK 36 L/56 gun modeled on the Flak 36 which comparatively was slightly inferior to the larger 88mm KwK 43 L/71 mounted on the Tiger II and the Jagdpanther, Hornisse/Nashorn and Ferdinand/Elefant Panzerjäger‘s.
@@kiowhatta1 The Nashorn hold the Record for the longest tank kill of the war .
Almost 5 kms away he knock out a T-34/85.
The sheer power of that gun had no match since is introduction on the Battlefield until the end of the war.
I can't remember how many times I've reread Panzer Aces, but Albert Ernst's story has always been my favorite.
Probably the same as me, this guy was a 1st rate soldier and a good man
I have read Infantry Aces. Great book.
Yes, a reasonably good book. Its a pity that Kurowski was such a nazi apologist and resorted to embellishment and outright fabrication in many of his works. many of his books focused on "hero-making" at the expense of historical truth.
I started the book two weeks ago but I'm still on Becke...
Albert Ernt is the last one, starting in page 472
Incredible warrior
I'd never heard of the Nashorn until now. Thanks for posting. From the old Aussie.
0:23 nashorn and marder in same frame ! Very cool to see
The size difference is insane. Nice shot.
@@SlamraptorPzJg-1 wants to play
My Opa was a Panzerjager. He was in the 43rd Abteilung 1 company in the 8th Panzer Division. His vehicle was the Marder (which you can see in the opening scene of the video). He ended up in the Panzerjager IV L/70 towards the end of the war. He said his unit “borrowed” a Hetzer that never found its way home.
Did they take it from another unit?Never found its way back was it destroyed?
@@wirelessone2986 I’m not sure. I have a photo of it. I couldn’t find it on the equipment allocation for Panzerjager 43 Abt. Maybe someone can shed light. It’s a very good question
@@eshelly4205 Well alot of the detail is lost after they die..my grandad was 3RD AD 83RD RECON and there is sooo much I would like to ask him
@@wirelessone2986 absolutely my friend . I just wish I asked better questions when he was alive
Probably like it was in korea for my dad. Marines stole equipment from the army when they needed it.
Patience was everything to that commander.
They say that ‘patience is a virtue’…. I guess when you’re smack bang amidst the most hellish mechanised warfare humanity could devise to that point and the consolation prize for ‘getting it wrong’ may well be an AP suppository which ruins you and your crews day with blinding sheets of molten steal as an appetiser.
I’d max out my virtue stats in advance if were he too.
We scale modelers thank you immensely.
The correct German pronunciation is “naz-horn”, which means “nose horn”, which is the German name for the rhinoceros. Yes, the Germans named it the rhinoceros, or rhino, presumably because the 88mm gun stuck out so far in front of the chassis. It could also have been because a charging rhino is so dangerous and deadly. Anyway, it is NOT pronounced like the English “sh” sound, as in “shape”.
The Nashorn was named as such - or, rather, re-named - on Hitler's order, as he deemed its original suggestive name insufficiently aggressive. Its original such name was "Hornisse", or "Hornet", in line with certain other German armoured SPGs - e.g., Wespe (Wasp), Hummel (Bumblebee), Heuschreke (Grasshopper), & Grille (Cricket).
@@petermcgoldrick3872 Yes, I can’t imagine that Hitler was too pleased with “Cricket”, LOL!
yes i assume its a robot but its hurting my ears when is says Nash Horn lol
The Brits pronunciation is ridiculous: "Shtalin, Geshtapo."
@@dhss333 Actually, the Germans pronounce it “Geshtapo”. Anytime you see “st” in German it is pronounced “sht”.
The Nashorn was built on the III/IV Geschützwagen (as was the Hummel ) which married parts from both vehicles to make it a Sonderkraftfahrzeug ( special purpose vehicle ).
Literally every German armored vehicle was designated a “Sonderkraftfahrzeug”.
@@JanHoellwarth Almost every vehicle build for the Wehrmacht was called 'Sonderkraftfahrzeug', armored or not.
Germans and their way of bunching multiple words in order to make one long word.
I've always thought these were some of the coolest tank destroyers of WWII.
Thank you for this very informative vid. Never knew much about the Nashorn, let alone the ace mentioned. Learned a lot. 👍
Glad you enjoyed it!
Interesting and informative. Excellent photography job enabling viewers to better understand what/whom the orator was describing. Professional class A research project!!! Special thanks to the veteran tank crews. Sharing personal information/combat experiences making this documentary more authentic and possible. Fighting/perishing/surviving knowing certain death/debilitating wounds were often times possible. Yet still advanced forward regardless of the consequences. That's true grit style determination to succeed.
I saw an 88 at the WWII museum, it was overwhelming.
Never seen that footage of nashorn
There was a lot of WWII footage here that I've never seen before and I've seen quite a bit. Well done.
I was also very suprised.
Fantastic footage.
Quite the mish-mash of vehicles in here though.
Did exactly this in a game of Squad Leader in the 80s... I took out a whole column of T-34s with my three Nashorn! It was a great game that one...
Indeed it was. 👍
i played squad leader.. and advanced squad lead.. great games❤
В реальной жизни все не так 😂😂😂
I still have all the squad leader games, and a few other Avalon Hill games.
@@ottobaym01488ASL was pretty close, Otto. They got the “feel” right.
Disclaimer - I was a cadet at West Point, we preferred chart driven miniature rules but the squad leader games were close, and led to fewer “you can’t see that!” arguments.
How a video with so much information even exsist is beyond me!! How the old Film and text became aviable is almost impossible!! So much details!!
I often think the same when watching all this incredible WW2 footage we would have never seen if it hadn't been for this beautiful tool called Internet, and You Tube within it ! I keep downloading as many documentaries as I can , foreseeing the unfortunate possibility of Internet dissapearing from the face of Earth one of these days.... Just in case, you know.
... so many* details.
Good to see some different/new footage of the Nashorn and other AFVs. Some channels keep rehashing the same tank footage (eg a field full of King Tigers on manoeuvres), whether it’s relevant to the narrative or not. Nice job here, although not so keen on the AI voiceover.
Thanks 👍
Prounced as Nas-horn vs Nash-orn.
Nashorn also took down the early deployed Pershing, just proves 88 was truly unrivaled at that time.
After all perishing was twice as armored as compere to Sherman tank German guns can easily blow up them in theroy in single shot in turret by panzer4
was it a Nashorn or a Hetzer, which took down the Pershing...or did they both take down a Pershing or two? thanks!
@@winter15motivation44 After all, Pershing* was armoured twice as much compared* to Sherman. German guns could* easily blow them up in theory* ...
Thanks for the Update
Fascinating documentary story-telling here OP, also I think the editing job is right on the money as well. And repeatedly during the war on the Ostfront, a smaller number of German tanks were able to run large formations of T-34's in circles and blow them up one by one... so seldom is there a flattering picture of the expertise of Russian tank units big or small. But the Russian T-34, while an excellent tank overall, had many designed in impediments for most of the war. Maybe one T-34 in 5 had a radio, the rest had to play follow the leader. Also in the T-34, the turret floor did not revolve with the turret. This meant every time the turret was turned, the commander and gunner remained stationary and had to scootch in their seats, all the while trying to load, aim and fire!
The T-34 saved Russia but of course, it was far from perfect.
Saved Russia...but bro, at what cost ! They must have lost thousands and thousands of them ! And - as usual with the Soviets - all the losses figures released by them after the war don't even remotely reflect the true figures they keep under 7 keys in the Kremlin's vaults !
Thanks guys for making these great videos!
Glad you like them!
Hummel and Nashorn
An often forgotten Tank destroyer in ww2, overshadowed by something like Jagtiger, JagPanther and stugs
The Germans had two types of tank destroyer. Panzerjaeger like the Nashorn which had light armour and hopefully a big gun and jagdpanzer which had heavy armour. The first jagpanzer was the Jagdpanzer IV. It was at first to be called “StuG IV never art” to emphasises the KwK 42 L70 gun but Guadarian had them renamed. There seems to have ben an argument over whether the artillery branch would continue to receive these or whether they were allocated to the panzerwaffe.
First shot kill from 1,800m. !!
Albert Ernst would live to be 73, He passed away in 1986. Why do you not include this sort of information?
Great footage, awesome narration.
Such a great Channel here !
Exciting narration had me in suspense.
The tall siloette and thin Armor made it a dangerous vehicles in more than one way - the other dangerous thing was the 88/ l 71 gun - a real killer
Low silhouette wasn’t any worse than the Showman and some of the American tank destroyers. It was still almost twice that of a StuG
The tall silhouette* made it a dangerous vehicle*
The long barreled 88mm on the Nashhorns, Kraut tank killers were absolutely lethal to all Allied tanks at what deadly out to 3 000 meters.
I can not imagine the cold, maybe they just got used to it after a while
Great video 👍🏻
Great account of the battle!
Vitebsk, notable in my mind for two other things -- During World War II, the city came under Nazi German occupation (11 July 1941 - 26 June 1944). During Operation Barbarossa, 22,000 Jews, or 58% of Vitebsk's Jewish population, managed to successfully evacuate to the interior of the Soviet Union, thus saving themselves from the impending Holocaust. Much of the old city was destroyed in the ensuing battles between the Germans and Red Army soldiers. Most of the remaining local Jews perished in the Vitebsk Ghetto massacre of October 1941. The Soviets recaptured the city during the June 1944 Vitebsk-Orsha Offensive, as part of Operation Bagration.
Also, Vitebsk is where the Red Army intelligence services first discovered German archives detailing the heroic defence by its garrison of the Brest Fortress --- which was one of the places that took the brunt of the opening offensive of Barbarossa. Previous to this STAVKA in Moscow was unaware that the Brest Fortress held out much longer than they had previously thought.
Insightful look into the deployment of early TD's.
Great job!
Lesson learned. I been wondering why i had been so bad at WarThunder lately
Man these guys had balls of steel! To sit in there in an open top TD with the engine off while shells rain down. It's incredible that when a round penetrates a tank, not everyone will necessarily die and they can fight on. There is a movie called T-34 Iron Fury where a round goes through and kills the bow gunner but they get it together and fight on and win.
At close range the 8,8-cm-KwK 43 could easily over penetrade a T-34. The explosive fillment in the tank shell did explode after it passed the enemy tank armor twice and didn't explode inside the tank as intended resulting in much lesser damage.
@@gerhardswihla1099 It was from a Panzer III I think firing a 75mm KwK 37.
@@Spartan902 How do you come to this conclusion? Mine references is to the Russian night attack where two t-34 responded firing beside being hit by the 88. Didn't noticed that a Panzer III Ausf. N was mentioned.
@@gerhardswihla1099 Sorry mate but I was referring to the tank in the movie I mentioned. Not on the documentary.
Bolshevist propaganda...
Not like an Elephant, but like a Nashorn.
; )
Please observe is pronounced Nas-horn, not Nash-horn!!!
Otherwise my favorite tank!!!
Observe this video is in English.
I believe a Nashorn scored the only kill against a Pershing tank on the western front. Was early 1945.
Seem to recall that as well
Uhhhh by that time most of the German armor was out of fuel or destroyed..the Nashhorn was deployed heavily on the Italian front..My uncle talked about the GERMAN Artillery
@@danielmccoy8875 uhhhh, UA-cam: Mark Felton Productions
Nashorn vs Pershing
Germany 1945
According to Warfare History Network a Pershing of the 3rd Armored Division, a T26E3 named Fireball, was hit by three rounds from a Tiger and was knocked out on February 26 1945 in Elsdorf. Two crewmen were killed and the tank was later recovered, repaired, and returned to action.
allegedly a Jagdtiger killed one too but there is some dispute as to what actually destroyed the Pershing many claimed it was a Pak Gun of some sort because there was no sign of the killer when the area where the shot came from was searched. I'm not even sure if this story is true or made up but I read it a few years back somewhere.
When well employed and with good tactics the Hornisse was an outstanding weapon.
Vulnerable to artillery and air
@@coachhannah2403Infantry, too, if they get close enough.
@@tyree9055 - Yes, thanks.
The German was a excellent warrior with there technology and fighting nouse they were a good foe!
Great video
Thanks for the visit
It had a hybrid Panzer III/IV chassis. The Hummel (150 mm gun) used the same chassis.
The Hummel due to its 150mm gun was considered more valuable than the Nashorn. Little known is that the Germans did deploy APDS ammunition. The 150mm Gan could find something equivalent to in 88 mm FLAK 37 shell and, 105 mm guns goodbye something equal to 7.5 cm PAK 40. These didn’t use tungsten just ordinary steel.
God Bless Him!
Who is "him"?
It's not the Flak36/37 or Tiger 1's 88 mm, it's the Kwk43, like in the Jagdpanther or Königstiger
Great footage. The only remark - Vitebsk was not a village but a medium-sized town by that time.
I think Vitebsk is located in Bielarus, although the narrator doesn't mention where.
Vitebsk isn't a village. It's a town/city.
Flake 88 mm gun recorded a great and successfully printed finger designed gun during WW2
Well, quite.
Pz IV engine could not be described as powerful.....but great video 👏 with good narrative.
The tank had a good power to weight ratio, that's why the engine was powerful.
Great AFV but too few were made. Also had no overhead protection, the VT fuse in an artillery barrage would have been a serious emotional event for the crew.
First use of the VT fuse for artillery barrages was by the US in Battle of the Bulge, late 1944. It was never available to Soviet or German land forces in WW2, and don’t think operational for non-Western AA though Germans had some experimental designs.
Just sayin’. Of course all open topped TD’s were vulnerable. Trade off is improved crew access to the gun, ie, rate of fire.
"Those things could put a round in your hip pocket. ' a comment on the accuracy of the 88mm from an old fiend who had the extreme bad luck to be under fire from them.
I heard the same comment from a WW2 vet in 1970, they could put a round in your hip pocket
@@patricksodders3745 it was probably their largest sniper rifle in inventory
Records show on average a 88 crew would fire 20 rounds to get one kill.
@@snacks1184 That might be accurate . I was just repeating as first hand account I got from a fellow who had been on the wrong side of the weapon.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:03 🌄 *Introduction to Lieutenant Albert Ernst's combat experience*
- Lieutenant Albert Ernst's excitement about his first combat experience in the Nashorn tank destroyers,
- Description of the Nashorn tank destroyers and their mission in response to the Russian offensive.
03:06 🏞️ *Arrival at the Village of Vitebsk and battle preparation*
- The arrival of Lieutenant Ernst and his platoon at the Village of Vitebsk,
- Briefing and tactical planning for the upcoming battle against the Russian forces.
06:03 🚀 *Engagement with the approaching Russian tanks*
- Ernst's decision to wait for the right moment before opening fire,
- The intense engagement with advancing Soviet tanks, the precision of the Nashorn tank destroyers, and their impact on the enemy.
09:02 🔥 *Intensified battle and enemy retaliation*
- The continued exchange of fire with enemy tanks,
- The resilience and effectiveness of the Nashorn tank destroyers,
- Escalation of the battle as enemy tanks retaliate.
11:09 🌌 *Nightfall, enemy regrouping, and second attack*
- The transition to night, relocation of the tank destroyers, and collaboration with grenadiers,
- The surprise second attack by enemy tanks and Lieutenant Ernst's quick response.
13:20 ⚔️ *Final clash and victory*
- The final clash with enemy tanks, including the disabling of three tanks with a single shot,
- The successful defense, resulting in the end of the enemy tank assault.
15:11 🎖️ *Aftermath and recognition*
- Lieutenant Albert Ernst's remarkable achievement in the battle, credited with 14 tank kills,
- His recognition and award of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Made with HARPA AI
Interesting piece, even if the narration was awkward and poorly delivered. At least it was AI.
Fascinating account!!
just a small correction: Nashorn is the German name for rinoceros, and its pronounced nas horn, where letters s and h are pronounced distinguishly, and not as sh.
... are pronounced separate* from each other. distinguish = tell apart from each other, distinguished = outstanding/special, "distinguishly" = does not exist.
My grandfather died at Auschwitz. He fell out of the guard tower.
Mine died from typhus
I wish I was half as much of a man as my grandfathers were
nice
Thanks
"Unstoppable"?
It is really light armoured and have a very high silhouette.
They only had a chance at long range and/or in ambush position.
Still a formidable weapon when used with its drawbacks in mind.
There is one running Nashorn in the Netherlands (one of only three complete ones still existing).
As you say, consider your advantages and disadvantages. Do the same with your adversarys. Together this result in tactical guide how to engage. And if you can force it upon the enemy, you will prevail.
It’s not NASH HORN, it’s NAS HORN, translated Nose Horn, the German word for Rhino.
I appreciate the work that people put into making these videos possible. My chief complaint is that I'm sick of AI voices. I would rather hear a human being fumble and bumble, delivering the best narration he/she can. Maybe other people will agree with me when I say a genuine effort sounds better than a computer. I would be happy to lend my voice.
A "prehistoric elephant" is called a mammoth (Mammut in German). A Nashorn (rhinoceros) is a contemporary animal. And "S" and "H" are always pronounced separately in German. What is "SH" in Englisch is spelled "SCH" in German.
The Nashorn has the longest tank kill record.
How was the gun aimed side to side?
@geroldfirl they would have to move the tank left to right entirely, since it was a fixed turret.
@@Zach-bu6dv Seems like it would be hard to get any kind of accuracy with such a crude aiming mechanism.
@geroldfirl in a fixed defense and ambushes is where the excel. They just have to traverse the tracks, but most assault guns or fixed turrets like that, have a tiny bit of room they can move the barrel. Just depends. They're actually very useful. And they still use fixed turrets like that today. Maybe not always for tank to tank engagements though...
@@Zach-bu6dv Yes I would think a fine adjustment for barrel traverse in addition to the coarse adjust using the tracks would be necessary for precise gunnery.
Don't you mean prehistoric Rhino not Elephant?
Fun fact: Michael Wittman’s Stug was nicknamed “buzzard” as well
Outstanding work. Shame the didn't have better leadership.
I would say the Nashorn resembles a triceratops rather than an elephant. Otherwise, excellent work.
Nice film. What was the point of the Elefant/Ferdinand? Was that not essentially the same thing on a heavier, less reliable chassis.?
hello dan the Ferdinand was built on Porsches chassis of the Tiger 1 tank that was cancelled for the Henschel design. i believe wikipedia may have some info on the Porshe Tiger with its odd twin motor electric rear wheel drive, and did originally use the same turret and gun as the Henschel tiger 1.
Completely different missions though.
The Elephant was best at plowing. The weight of that thing... oiii
@@tomhoffa2681 Porsche*-Tiger. Designed by Ferdinand Porsche, founder of Volkswagen, and later of the namesake sportscar company.
AI commentary ?
Great video mate👍🇦🇺👍
Thanks 👍
My time to shine
Vitebsk, one of the oldest and fourth-largest Belarus city (fouded 974 AD) is not a village, nor was in 1943.
Strangely the Germans thought the Nashorn was not a Successful design, could have made thousands of em instead of big Cats.
Fantastic clip thanks, kind regards roy Bennett from Wollongong Australia
Glad you liked it!
At the start of video a t34 was running along it sounded like it was runing very smooth purring right along
... like it was running* very smoothly*
There are several stories of Herr Ernst and his men .
A: What shall we call our new tank destroyer? Admittedly, it looks a bit like an elephant.
B: Ok, then let's call it rhino.
The Elefant was the name of the later versions of the Ferdinand tank destroyer, and the word the authors of this narration were looking for is "mammoth". Still completely different from a rhinoceros.
Open top tank destroyers against all that artillery? Good luck!
Monstro
Nas - Horn.....Nose - horn....:)
How similar was the Nashorn to the Hummel? Could they have created a universal gun carrier for both howitzers and antitank weapons?
They indeed were basically the same (Panzer 4 chassis). The Nashorn got the 88-mm flak/anti-tank gun, the Hummel was armed with a 150-mm howitzer.
@@einundsiebenziger5488
The reason I was asking is because the Hummel is generally considered a very good vehicle, but the Nashorn catches a lot of grief for not being very good.
Isnt the Nashorn an artillery piece in the first place? Quite conveniant if you can turn it into a tank destroyer.
No that was the Hummel, same chassis different gun and purpose.
convenient*. If you consider that the 88-mm cannon was originally an anti-aircraft gun, this assumption is not wrong.
hell ya
Ernst's feat in here is featured in PSX game Panzer Front. You can play as him (Falken Unit) with the Adler/Eagle unit, although the Buzzard is nowhere to be found.
Bussard
Какой подвиг он нацист😂
Loved that game!
The Nashorn looked like an elephant.. which is odd for something called a Rhino.....
I like to see the white uniforms, they look cool and clean.
When u as a WoT player find out the nashorn was actually an op tank😂
Every german tank in WoT is mediocre compared to everyone else, fielding experimental trash and such thay is OP compared to the obsolete germans. .
russian bias after all
Years ago, the Nashorn was a pretty damn good TD in WoT. Still have my highest score and 8 kills in it. Nowadays, it's crap because WoT never updates its older tanks, they just keep adding clown cars, rocket engines, and autoloaders.
russian bias? far from the truth. @@crowbirdryuell
Less than 500 Nashorn were ever produced. Like everything with late war Germany not enough produced, not enough spares, not enough fuel, not enough aircover. When knocked out or abandoned rarely recovered and lost.
Fun fact. The average lifespan of a Russian t-34 was not even one full tank of fuel. That's right, on average, t-34s were destroyed or incapacitated via breakdown on average before they consumed one full tank of diesel
Do you have a favorite Tank,Tank destroyer or AFV?
Yes. My Favorite is the Sturmgeschütz. What is yours?
Jagdpanther. Ultimate.
@@FactBytes10.5cm, or 7.5cm?
7.5 cm, L/48.
@@FactBytes my favorite is also the Sturmgeschütz,specifically Stug III
I mistook this thing as a mobile howitzer cause it looks like the Hummel
wonder weapons.....even the MG42 was a wonder weapon of Arian Genius...Yamato Japanese are of ancient Arian Royal Pure Bloods
Though their gun was awesome,they stood really unprotected to shelling or airbursts,and their armour could ony protect them from small infantry projectiles.Not a mean feat of courage.Distance and sloping was their main advantage.Very useful in open European plains.Mostly useless at close quarters.Can't but stand in awe to their courage,marksmanship and professionalism.
Speaking of professionalism: You show none in your punctuation.* Commas and fullstops are always followed by a space.
They were the best
I know that it is impossible to have actual film footage of thee encounters and it’s wonderful to having moving pictures suggesting the events unfolding but as the video can’t match the narrative and that the film used shows winter conditions followed immediately by non snowy footage, it does become a bit confusing.
Full marks though for a well presented piece and thanks for making the effort to source the archives for the material shown.
thought i saw a t34 converted to a TD in the formation? Am I crazy?
Possibly. I noticed a big howitzer barrel that had a muzzle brake. I believe that was a SPG on a KV-1 chassis.