Much to our shame. But what should one expect of a man who gave a terrorist 10million dollars and said nice words over Castros corpse, to name but 2 of many disgraceful acts….
This is quite common to find all manner of war material on the former Eastern Front. As a kid growing up in Russia, my friends and I went into the woods all of the time during the summer (outside of Smolensk). In these woods particularly we found several helmets and a GAZ truck. However when I was around 14 a younger kid stepped on an old landmine and ended up dying. I was not allowed in the forest after that.
@@sacWeaponscalling it great patriotic war is kind of misleading. It was evil fighting against evil, fascism vs communism. There's nothing patriotic about that.
Thanks to some people on the internet, we know the actual history of this vehicle. It was a movie prop. Specifically, it was constructed in the 1970's for a "Great Patriotic War" (IE WW2) movie that was being produced by the Soviets at the time. The tank was one of several which were cobbled together out of parts of several surplus tanks from Czechoslovakia, as well as modern parts, and some recreated parts. The lower hull of the vehicle is from the rebuilt Panzer IV, while the turret, gun, and mantlet, are new construction made for the movie production. The vehicle was not motorized, but instead was used in a scene where a Russian T-34 tank 'destroyed' it. In that scene, the Panzer IV was pulled along by way of a cable in the front of the vehicle, riding on the BMP tracks. The final drive was disconnected from the shaft to allow it to free wheel. The interior of the tank was completely empty of all nonessential parts, and special movie demolition charges were put in place. At the climatic moment in the film, this tank is 'struck' by a russian tank's round, and explodes. Hence the damage visible on the upper part of the lower body of the tank. Since it was not a complete vehicle though, and lacked fuel, it didn't burn like a real vehicle would have, but did serve as a good movie prop. After the climatic scene, the vehicle was moved around and used for other shots, depicting further fighting and various scenes, and was given a number of other modifications, including having it repainted from Gray, into the color scheme we see it in now. It is not easily visible in the various photographs around the internet, but a large portion of this 'tank' is constructed out of thin sheet steel, to further facilitate moving it around easily, as well as allowing panels to be replaced as repairs are needed on the prop.
Do you know the Russian title maybe? I've recently watched some Soviet movies officially uploaded by Mosfilm to UA-cam but not seen such accurate Pz. IV in any of them. These movies are highly recommended though. "Liberation" (series of 5 films) probably has the biggest live action tank battles ever filmed. In Liberation 1 there are fires, tanks and airplanes (!) in wide plan up to horizon and tank jump scene on top of that. In Liberation 2 they have that too and deliberately drown a tank in the river to make river crossing scene more realistic. In Liberation 3 perhaps even tankman died for a movie. There is massive scene where several columns of T-34s cross a real swamp. Suddenly the path under one of them collpases and a tank with closed hatches falls completely under water and mud. It looks so convincing it could have been an accident and if that was the case they might not have been able to pull the driver out. On the other hand it could have been very well planned and the tank sent without a driver to roll on idle or a the driver had diving equipment.
Back when I was in the Canadian army, near the end of the Cold War, we were shown footage of Soviet troops on exercise, including an impressive hit on a moving tank. The intelligence sergeant present pointed out that it was illegal for Soviets to fire on another Soviet piece of equipment, that what we saw was an old German tank refurbished enough to run just well enough to be a target for an exercise such as we saw. It wouldn’t surprise me if that Panzer IV was just such an example.
That would account for the non functioning barrel and the BMP tracks. It also makes the case for saying this was a propaganda move by the Russians stronger.
Well your intelligence sergeant obviously lied to you since a shitload of old Soviet vehicle was converted into practice target. Hell, they even turn some MiGs into cruise missile and drone for that purpose
That would explain the missing KwK and the missing MG34 or 42 as well as the non standard camouflage. The national insignia is also nonstandard for the time. Just a small black cross, no white. Congrats on a plausible theory.
Nobody pointing out that ukrainians are painting Wermacht crosses on all their eqipment, new and old.... Also nobody pointing out their reenactments of Galizia division and buliding new statues for theor leaders,all om genuine SS Galizien uniforms from 1940s... There surely is no n*zi supporters there....
The ever new leases of life some German WW2 gear gets are too strange for words. Sturngewehre showing up in various conflicts decades after '45 are another example. As a German engineer, I take some pride in the apparent longevity of our products, but it is strange.
Not too strange when you consider the engineering. (Also some of the Russian equipment can last forever as well, like PPSH-41 if something ever goes wrong VERY simple to repair!)
the truth may be the first casualty in war, but there is always one rule to bank on.... those barking hardest physically nearest your house; are generally the biggest liars.
Congratulations on 2 million subscribers! Back in 2018 I subscribed and mainly your channel's content inspired me to go back to college to get my bachelor's degree in History so I can teach. To make a long story short, I'm almost finished(had to go at it part time). Thanks and again congratulations!
Thank you very much Dr Felton for making episodes like this. I'm 13 years old and I love watching all your videos and episodes. It fascinates me a lot. I love history a lot and a lot of the inspiration comes from you. You're videos contain lots of cool interesting information I never knew about. You are a true hidden gem in history. Hope you keep making videos.
@dougaldouglas8842 Well to be fair, missiles/rockets don't really do much without something vital to hit such as fuel, ammunition, or crew. As the tank was most likely completely empty of both ammo and fuel, the most a missile should do is make a big hole, crack the armour and leave scorches on it. I suppose the same is true of most projectiles, really, the most obvious variable is simply the diameter of the munition and by extension the size of the hole it leaves :D
@dougaldouglas8842 Warhead, yes. "Speed of the missile alone", no. Most anti-tank missiles are subsonic, they don't have nearly the velocity to kinetic kill.
most of the time, these tanks are just retrieved from where the battle occured regardless of how damaged it is, rebuilt to mock or look like the real version and in cases are even repurposed to use within some military festival march thing as well or to show off its history. i mean its still not that hard to get hold of world war 1 and 2 guns and equipment these days. theres a youtuber i watched and im about to watch again in a sec in which goes to these swamps and stuff where all the war gear were dumped and left in the earth or in the swamps and lakes to decompose. when it comes to swamps, they are surprisingly extraordinary in preventing rust and decay of these weapons. some weapons u happen to find in these swamps in the UK despite being there for what 80 years roughly, are still near completely new to this day with some minor damages.
As a 9 year old kid my auntie & uncle took me on a holiday to Dorset. On this holiday we visited the Bovington Tank Museum & not looking where I was going I somehow managed to bang my head on part of the Panzer IV tank shown at 4:36. It was painful & the metal was totally unyielding. I can still feel the hardness & shock of it as I write this now some 40 years later. The skin wasn't broken but a big bump came up like a golf ball. My Auntie Sheila went to the Tank Museum Shop, bought an ice lolly & told me to hold it on the bump as we continued around the exhibits.
It's amazing that so much of the German WWII equipment survived at all. After the war, most of it was rounded up and quickly scrapped. Especially the worn out or battle damaged equipment. Some of the still serviceable equipment was used in France and other countries until spare parts dried up.
Fun story… with a conclusion that this war equipment is fully serviceable for its designated purpose in 2023- as a decoy in active combatvodka zone. It worked did it not, attracting a RF capture?
East and West Germany reused many of the leftover armaments since both sides had to arm them as quick as possible. The Wehrmacht only split and changed uniforms they didn't dissappear when the cold war started
Hopefully someone will recover this Panzer IV and restore it. The boys at the Australian Armor and Artillery Museum have reatored to running condition german armor in far worse condition then this example.
I remember seeing the Panver IV at the Old Patton Armour Museum at Ft. Knox, Kentucky back before they combined the combat arms basic combat training to one base and not spread out all over the country. I think they did that in order to fill the ranks where there is need. I have seen fellow troopers go 11D or 11E to driving 5 ton trucks. I myself spent the first 3 montths at my assigned unit as a 11B on a M113. Best summer of my life! Germany in the summer of 1976 was a time where Bavaria had a relatively dry summer that year and, I spent it riding around Bavaria in the back of a M113 mechanized infantry. It spoiled because the next 2 summers were wet and gloomy. That's were learned to stay dry.
hey there. cav scout trained at knox in the last cycle of cold-war style tactics. the only way you saw any 11-series troopers is if they were airborne. "trooper" refers to a soldier serving in armor, cavalry, or airborne units. we're funny about this sort of thing, along with our special hats and boots, much like you guys are with your blue cords and EIBs. the patton armor museum is/ was perhaps the best armor museum in the nation, if not the world. we got to regularly see a bunch of the external exhibits on our marches from training to training, and we even got to take the tour, late into the cycle. spent a cold winter in korea in '04 as a M577 driver. not quite the same thing as a M113, but close enough. glad the heater worked really well.
Was stationed at Ft Knox from 1983-1985 with C Company, 19th Engineer Battalion, 194th Armored Brigade. Rode around in the back of a dump-truck. I do remember all those tanks on outside static display in Keys Park and the Patton Museum. Used to go on police calls to the park periodically and spent more time exploring all those tanks than picking up trash.
I was a very young 11C with the 2nd Armored Division out of Fort Hood, Texas. Our entire brigade moved to Wildflecken, Germany for a 6 month deployment in the spring of 1975. I was an M113 driver. My M113 was equipped with an 81MM mortar and I drove it all over Bavaria during Reforger 75. I still have vivid memories from that time. I loved being a "track" driver. I really miss driving my :track"!
Yaknow, maybe now that you mention it, it already *was* a parts vehicle for some other restoration project, if there was a bunch of em being sold for scrap from Syria.
I remember during the conflict in Afghanistan how many remarkable old vehicles and weapons were found. As a bayonet collector it was amazing to see the variety, origins and age of the weapons that were uncovered and quite a few found their way into the market.
in most countries, it is super hard to become a collector of war memorabilia. in the UK u 1st have to get permission to even search the area which practically are all owned by the military so it being their land or the governments claimed land is super hard to get the go ahead and unlike the US, in the UK u cant collect certain pieces of a gun, mine etc etc, for the possibility that the person can make a new one and restore it using multiple parts. usually its frames, spent cases, helmets, bolt triggers and even panzer rpg tubes that dont have certain things in and on it that your allowed to keep. i would say the best thing imo to collect is the gun frames because then u can have a rough idea of what specific gun it was and can picture what it would look like if it were built.
Or it could have been used as a movie prop at some point. If the gun barrel is simply a non-functioning piece of metal pipe, then it may have been just a cosmetic mock-up for the camera, then blown up for a shot, as Mark said there signs of explosives use. Movie crews are also notorious for getting their shots and leaving a mess behind for somebody else to clean up. But then what do I know… Interesting stuff as always from Dr. Felton
Absolutely amazing Dr. Felton! An actual panzer IV found in the Ukraine, and in somewhat decent condition! Hopefully somebody will make the right choice and It will be recovered, refurbished and become a museum piece.
Would love to have a Panzer IV. We'll be needing them pretty soon here in Los Angeles for self protection. Would go nice with the Porsche, Mercedes Benz and BMW motorcycles.
Usually he produces German quite ok. I guess he at least speaks it somewhat well. But any man interested in ww2 history should at least learn some German for fun in my opinion.
The chassis, turret, commander's cupola, and road wheels are definitely authentic. No question at all. It is missing a lot of parts as noted. There are collectors who would no doubt like to get this towed into their garage! What a project that would be.
@@thesupreme8062 Tracks are not correct, that is right, Mr. Felton already pointed that out. What I said was the 'chassis' is authentic. This means the hull, upper superstructure, road wheels and it looks like the swing arms to which the wheels are attached. Furthermore it would appear that this chassis is an Ausf. J model, as there are no side visors next to the drivers compartment. The person to ask in my opinion would be David Byrden, who is an authority on German tanks of WW2.
@@thesupreme8062 With some oxy fuel cutters and enough grinders you can repurpose tracks from lots of tracked equipment. This is how farmers have kept no longer supported tracked vehicles in service for decades. Russia is known to donate no longer serviced equipment for civilian use, but the civilians have to maintain it obviously which is how you wind up with "technical" armored vehicles from various parts and countries. It could have been demilitarized used on a farm, or used for target practice, anyone guess matters in this one. People forget ukraine was involved in WW2 so farmers were forced at one time to use armored vehicles for their own safety when demining land. I'm betting the barrel was added sometime recently from the lack of weathering/rust.
Russian here. Our reenactors would do anything for a find like that, and if they (hopefully) can get their hands on it, I'm certain they will restore it and use in reenactments like they do some other German and Soviet tanks (seen a Pz. IID and a Marder 3 myself).
I hope this one gets recovered and restored. Right now I'm following the restoration of a Stug 3 at an Australian museum. The thing was blow to pieces by the crew. It's amazing watching something so far gone be brought back from the dead.
just checking as this happens often.... "Australian?"....or maybe "Austrian" ?? If Australian.... can it be the guys at the The Australian Armour & Artillery Museum ?
i think your judgement is correct. Somebody had this relic in his barn and was slowly restoring it. It was placed as a decoy somewhere behind the front line. I am not quite sure why anyone who possessed such a thing would not understand its value, perhaps they did but enjoyed owning such a unique object enough to keep hold of it. The Panther in the German basement is a similar example.
in war monetary value is secondary. No tank is worth a human life. So I believe the owner didn't want to by the UAF ordered him/her to give it war effort.
Given that there were so many made (and they are still apparently to be found on the Golan Heights) and these are not as 'exotic' as the Big Cat German tanks, I am surprised that such a badly damaged one is worth as much as is stated in the video. Would be a fascinating project for someone with a suitable workshop.
German WW2 firearms are very valuable and they made tons of them, it doesn't surprise me that a mostly intact tank would be worth 2 million. If it has rare parts in good condition it might even be worth more to part out. I'm sure if it served in a special regiment or battle that would also increase the value.
I may be wrong, but I would imagine if this was a former range target, it would be in far worse shape than it is presently. Virtually every range target tank I've seen ends up looking like a rusty, bent and twisted colander.
Yeah. It's possible it could have been used for target practice with lighter weapons, like AT rifles, as those would not penetrate except the weakest parts, but overall, most likely not from a range.
I wonder: if they wanted to preserve a target for a long time instead of destroying it quickly, could they use target ammo that had simple soft steel projectiles instead of sabot, etc. That would match with the many pockmarks on the front.
Well, of course it’d be valuable. It’s a big piece of history, and anyone deeply interested enough to buy it would be willing to pay highly for the privilege of owning such a piece.
the old damage on the front and the new tracks support the idea that they just slapped those tracks on it to be able to tow it to a specific position as a decoy... but it belongs in a museum!
The “found on a range” theory fits with Occam’s Razor the most nicely. If rusted versions can be ignored for decades on the Golan heights, there’s no reason that one couldn’t make it through the Soviet era on a training range, and then be bounced around Ukraine for a few decades too.
I recall from my very brief experience at the range - used to train foot soldiers, no heavy weapons - that there were quite a lot of BMPs, old trucks etc. placed there as props. The heaviest piece our battalion had was an antique RPD machine gun. This kind of range won't damage the armour at all.
The replica they found was dragged out of a museum for a roadblock/bunker/decoy, so I would think this is the same. From a mile away a tank is a tank, could distract the enemy long enough to surprise them, plus they have to drag it out of the road to pass, meaning the convoy and troops are stuck and preoccupied.
Even stranger is the fact that current battles take place at almost the same locations as historic battles. The three battles for Kiev, are a good example.
The First Battle of Kiev was fought between July and September 1941. "Barbarossa" had begun on June 22, 1941. Stalin's Communist Red Army Horde lost about 700,000 men, including about 450,000 prisoners, during the battle. Many of the prisoners surrendered willingly. Many Russians had no desire to fight for the dictator Stalin and his Communist Party. Many Ukrainians, and other non-Russian nationalities, had no desire to fight for the Communists, or for the Russians. After over a year of war, the current Russian dictator, Putin, still has not managed to capture Kiev! By the way, during the war, Putin's dad served in one of Stalin's NKVD "Destruction Battalions" (filling mass graves?).
Looking at the damage on the plates it was defiantly used as a target practice at some point. I suspect it was dragged as a decoy. The Ukrainians had a lot of success in using all kinds of decoys. A couple of months back there was an embracing incident for Russia as they hit a HIMARS with Kinzal balistic missile. They braced all over the web about it and it turned out to be a wooden replica.
Similar with a 'Gepard' parked by a wood with a mysteriously static radar antenna. The Russians destroyed it twice: once the right way around and once in mirror image.
Listening to Mark Felton gives me at least the illusion of reassurance that all is well in the world and I am not living next door to an active war zone (writing from Warsaw).
Care to explain what makes this video great or the best? This kind of content could be made by virtually anyone with a video editing program, a microphone and a bit of time to read through online forums.
That's actually really cool to see the history of war standing among modern war like a tombstone, for them walking past that it probably looks more like a scar.
A very interesting find & perhaps appropriate that the Russian Army had to expend time & resources to capture it twice. Joking aside, in the late 1990's I was studying Russian (Language and history) at university, we had several native Russian speakers in our classes (an easy way to pick up points for your degree for very little effort), and I became very friendly with several of them. One of them came not far from Prokhorovka (her parents had been part of a farm collective) and she told me that the area was littered with the remains of tanks, half-tracks etc, and that they had been used for target practice in the years immediately following the end of the second world war. When they were no longer considered worthwhile for target practice they were just left in the fields, and crops were simply grown around them, the same at harvest time (no one had the equipment to relocate a Tiger tank). She sent me some photos of them after she returned to a very chaotic Russia. She also sent me some Waffen SS belt buckles, a couple of Iron Crosses, and the like which apparently were laying all over the place if you knew what to look for. Unfortunately, I lost contact with her after she got married and moved to Omsk with her husband and young family.
All the remains were removed by the government. You don't need some special equipment to remove a tank. Vodka babushka balalaika! But nice made up story, bro
@@hulking_presence Ну ничего такого в этой истории нет, у нас куча объявлений в интернет группах о продаже всякого металлолома времён ВОВ которое люди выкапывают, некоторые даже за счёт этого живут, так что в его истории ничего уж прям такого нет. Это можно перевести на английский
Tanslated from @user-bz4nm1rh5o Well, there is nothing like that in this story, we have a lot of advertisements in Internet groups about the sale of all sorts of scrap metal from the Second World War that people dig up, some even live off it, so there is nothing really like that in his story.
*HERE IN BULGARIA* they keep finding buried Soviet and German WW2 tanks - I think they have found about 100 so far. They were buried after they became obsolete and used as stationery guns along the borders. Then they were forgotten and became overgrown.
@@Lovey_18 Yeah there is a classic car restoration garage at Laka near Burgas, they have 2 T-34 tank barrels as gateposts. And atAleksandrovo there is half a Nazi viaduct, they literally built half of it and then started to lose the way and left LOL. At Kableshkovo there is some WW2-tracked troop transporter,. I dont know if its USSR or German. Things dont rust here cos the humidity is about 30%, so if you parked up a car in 1945 its mostly still intact except the mice will have eaten the interior LOL. So obviously old tanks and stuff just last indefinitely.
Couple of months back after looking into it I came to conclusion that it is fact the Czech hybrid. My first impression was that it's like the IV, but not quite, something's off and I had to find out why. All the little details clicked into place when I brought up the Czech model for comparison. I also watched a video of a restored example being driven, which was similar to the roadside attraction, though not the same tank. How and when it came to be in Ukraine remains a mystery. The countless hit marks on the hull gives an impression of the hull having been a test target (to what end, who knows), although the turret is unlikely to have been present at the time with the hull when it was undergoing the mauling. Could be that the turret was removed or from an another specimen. It's very unlikely the hits came from a battle.
The pipe used to replace the barrel strongly suggests that it was used as a decoy. The camo paint was applied at the same time the pipe was installed, because it's all the same on the tank hull, the turret and on the "barrel." It was positioned sideways to draw fire that would give away enemy positions, plus it would hide all of the missing hatches.
@dougaldouglas8842so it's basically an old person, bones aren't as strong as they used to be, was amazing in its youth, and would absolutely be destroyed by a modern antitank round
the green paint is under the balkenkreuz on the turret, which means that must have been painted at the same time, but why? and it looks like it got shot by some big shells too since they haven't been painted over, the kind of calibers i don't think they're using in this conflict it's very confusing
When they are done useing it as a decoy or roadblock it will still be valueable as spareparts. The paint looks rather new and it has to come from a museum or collector.
It's really fascinating that a PZKW 4 showed up in the current Ukrainian war. How relics tend to pop up out of nowhere seemingly. I must also say that if there was a really a tear in the fabric of time that would be creepy. Since I am also a science fiction fan.
Given the BMP tracks and faux cannon to me the decoy theory seems to be the most probable answer as Ukraine is using them in large scale. My personal guess on the origins of this machine: operation Barbarossa left behind thousands of hulks of german equipment, either destroyed or disabled in combat or simply abandoned by retreating forces. Maybe this one was kept thru the years as a target for military training and was brought "back to life" to serve anew, this time as a decoy.
@@joezephyr you have a point and I must admit that it didn't occur to me. However, as the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures. Military engineers are capable of retrieving disabled machinery, heavy machinery. They could conversely do it the other way round. Difficult, certainly. But not at all impossible.
"Thousands of hulks of german equipment" is exagerated, they only started with 2000 tanks scattered across 2000-3000km long frontline against an enemy which had 60 000 tanks at its disposal and ready to use.
Barbarossa did not have retreating forces leaving German equipment behind because German forces were not on the backfoot anywhere besides the Moscow region during Barbarossa, it only lasted until early 1942. It was other operations that saw Nazi Germany retreat and certainly not within Ukraine until quite a while later.
@@meowlionkatz Correct time travel Sucks. At first Einstein killed Hitler and we ended up with a German allied supreme commander (von Esling). Then the psychic Yuri did a shot in achieving world domination and ended up eaten by a T- rex while using his time machine. And finaly Cherdenko and Krukov traveleld again back in time to eliminate Einstein wich resulted in a 3 legged Japanese monster killer robot rampaging truh the countryside from Siberia to Europe.
The Cross is new on the side of the Turret. I would say within the last 5 years or so, as you can tell the paint quality is different. So your theory of it being someone's project makes sense and the Ukrainians used it as a Decoy. Would love to see it recovered and although it may be to far gone for restoration it would be good for parts, like the road wheels, turret etc... Another great job Sir!!!
I would not be surprised if the russians dragged that thing out of somewhere themselves to use it for propaganda..."Look,the Ukranians already have to use Nazi WWII weapons to fight our great,well equiped and led army"
Not at all surprising to see WWII material in Ukraine. I recently saw footage of the weapons cache inside the Soledar salt mine. There were stacks of crates of lend-lease M1 Thompson sub-machine guns still swathed in cosmoline and original brown paper wrapping. The number of Pulemyot Maksima PM1910 machine guns still in use is estimated to be in the hundreds. There's also video evidence of STG 44's being used in Ukraine. The weapon storage vaults in the east were both deep and well populated. And, just recently, the ruzzians are now using 90 year old GAZ-AA полуторка trucks for both tactical assault transport and logistics.
Congratulations on almost reaching 2,000,000 subscribers Dr Felton!!! I've been subscribed to your for YEARS and your videos are always the highlight of my week!!! Thank you!
I think Dr Felton mentioned in another video how the Panzer IV could have changed the war for the Germans had they continued to build it in numbers instead of the larger Tigers which requires 3-4 times more materials. Such an interesting tank in history.
I think the consensus though is that for the amount of fuel they had, the Germans needed fewer better thank than more ok tanks. They just never got the amount of quality to overcome the Allies Quantity.
The main reason was the Germans can't keep up producing Pz IV at the same amount as Soviets their T34-85, for example, and even the latest versions of Pz IV can at best trade equal with Soviets and Allies when Tiger was mainly a tank destroyer, and trades 3-4 to 1. Germans lost initiative in Moscow and Stalingrad before first Tigers joined battle
The panzer 4 has a more complicated hull per ton of steel than the latter tanks, it requires a great deal of craftsmanship and skilled labour in order to put together so many plates of armour at so many angles, and all of that for what? For a tank that isn't invulnerable to enemy fire? A single soldier armed with a panzerfaust can dish as much damage as a panzer 4, is way cheaper, and faster Then you can sprinkle a few heavier tanks at critical locations in order to create chokepoints to the enemy advance, while assisted by scouts and infantry. The intel the tank support gathers can make the tanks engage targets from a distance they cannot be retaliated at, and that's definitely a better tactic than just sending thousands of pz4's to the frontline unsupported
I don't remember exactly, but in Bulgaria or Romania, in the mountains, there was a whole warehouse of German tanks from World War II used for training purposes. I think this tank comes from that one
The US military has also used surplus tanks in exercises. Back in the 1980s during a NATO exercise at Spangdahlem AB, West Germany, USAFE had about 30 French AMX-13 tanks on the base for a large NATO exercise called SALTY DEMO. I think they all ran, as some of the Security Police (Military Police of the USAF) drove one around on the 4th 0f July on base. It leaked oil - a lot of oil.
I was really most in love with your time-space fabric theory for the tank's presence on the Ukrainian battlefield. I think you'd have the makings of a very watchable Netflix series there.
The decoy theory makes total sense. You want to get your opponent to waste ammunition destroying your fake tanks, guns etc or cause ground troops to direct around them, thinking they are avoiding a real tank.
I grew up in South Georgia (the state not the country) and the U.S army used to dump old gear in a swamp near the trailer park I lived in. Me and my freinds used to dive into the Bayou and find old helmets and Armour from around the vietnam era I think. We used to play soldiers with the gear we found and would sell it to other kids on the block. Fortunately, we never found anything dangerous like an unexploded grenade or anything, but we did find a box of old bayonets and a decomposed rifle. This wasn't too long ago either, this was in the late 2000s to early 2010s.
My second favorite German Panzer, the Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf H; such beautiful lines and smooth turret rotation, and that 75mm. This one needs a lot of love, maybe someone will adopt and restore it?
Vie se romu ukrainaan, kyllä se sieltä palautetaan romukasana. Saat lisä extrana (ilmaiseksi) kuvaselfien romusta, ja kuvan saat painattaa vaikka T Paidan etupuolelle.
Beautiful to look at, absolute horror to fight in, crammed and poor outside vision. Fraught with mechanical issues including having an underpowered engine starved for oxygen intake.
Natsit katselee sateliiteistaan kun ukrainalaisparat nousee näihin romuihin, ja sitten venäjä murskaa nämä natsien romut rautakasoiksi, paistuvat romujen sisälle hiilikasoiksi. Näin ne natsit ihailee ukrainan kansanmurhaa. Natsit oppi murhaamisen jo 2 mailmansodassa, samat vinkeet natseilla yhä. . Venäjä poistaa natsit tälläkertaa tarkasti. @@SMGJohn
The explosion was probably not caused by being used for target practice. I have seen videos and photos of tanks that were actually used for target practice and apart from the tracks being heavily damaged, the body still retained most of its lines, only the shaped charges of modern anti tank ammunition had pockmarked the entire surface into a mini moonscape. I would have thought such tanks would be torn apart being used as targets so I was surprised about all the tiny holes but no internal explosions.
I was driving from the bussines trip and suddenly there was a Tiger tank in the field. I was shocked and I thought I must be dreaming. Well someone made a good lucking replica as I read in the article online. You do not usually see many Tigers sitting in the fields in the villages around here :D
I'm pretty sure that the tank is a real Panzer 4 brought out of storage and turned into a decoy tank. I watched a video about a shop in Ukraine that is making decoys and I'm pretty sure I saw some German tanks in the workshop in the video.
I don't think it can be mistaken as any other tank type. I would look for serial numbers if I wasn't aware that any records will have probably been lost or destroyed long ago. I would be interested if anyone is able to come up with any information about the tank
My exact first thoughts were a decoy tank, either placed their specifically or the hull/hulk was found and modified to look like it was in service on site. Optics and observations can be sketchy on the battlefield in combat. A vague tank outline with gun barrel and tracks, in the heat and chaos of combat would definitely draw fire and might influence on the ground level decisions to the advantage of whoever placed it there.
well... for all intents and purpose, modern Leopards are sons of those Nazi tanks like the Panther and the Maus. And they sure looks a hell a lot like one under fire, I suppose...
I look at videos of yours, and others, showing gun camera views of B17s, FW190s, Panzers and T34s being obliterated and can't help but think, "There goes another million dollar relic." Funny how a few years and what seemed so expendable takes on a whole new value.
I've followed along with the war from before the start and have seen many amazing things in the world of military hardware so not much surprises me. Yes, I'll go with the decoy direction and by your description, functioned as designed with it's capture. No doubt, an area precisely targeted by it's defenders. The Ukr have shown great resourcefulness in building decoys which performed. There are some funny artillery hits on decoys floating around. Like a bomb hit a pallet factory, quite obvious a pile of wood. There's no reason you wouldn't pull all your tricks out for your very existence.
A time-travelling WWII Nazi relic was recently spotted in the Canadian Parliament, too!
This made me laugh so hard ahhaha
😂
Much to our shame. But what should one expect of a man who gave a terrorist 10million dollars and said nice words over Castros corpse, to name but 2 of many disgraceful acts….
@@MisterOcclusionFidel was 100 times more a man than Trudy
Lol
This is quite common to find all manner of war material on the former Eastern Front. As a kid growing up in Russia, my friends and I went into the woods all of the time during the summer (outside of Smolensk). In these woods particularly we found several helmets and a GAZ truck. However when I was around 14 a younger kid stepped on an old landmine and ended up dying. I was not allowed in the forest after that.
That took a dark turn real quick.
Apparently a work colleague of mine went over there to visit his wife's family, and dug old uniforms out of the ground...
@@Gerdienator I'm not the superstitious type but I am convinced those woods were cursed. So much carnage from the Great Patriotic War, so much death.
@@sacWeaponsThat wasn’t a mine… it was a German throwing a grenade.
@@sacWeaponscalling it great patriotic war is kind of misleading. It was evil fighting against evil, fascism vs communism. There's nothing patriotic about that.
Thanks to some people on the internet, we know the actual history of this vehicle. It was a movie prop. Specifically, it was constructed in the 1970's for a "Great Patriotic War" (IE WW2) movie that was being produced by the Soviets at the time. The tank was one of several which were cobbled together out of parts of several surplus tanks from Czechoslovakia, as well as modern parts, and some recreated parts. The lower hull of the vehicle is from the rebuilt Panzer IV, while the turret, gun, and mantlet, are new construction made for the movie production. The vehicle was not motorized, but instead was used in a scene where a Russian T-34 tank 'destroyed' it. In that scene, the Panzer IV was pulled along by way of a cable in the front of the vehicle, riding on the BMP tracks. The final drive was disconnected from the shaft to allow it to free wheel. The interior of the tank was completely empty of all nonessential parts, and special movie demolition charges were put in place. At the climatic moment in the film, this tank is 'struck' by a russian tank's round, and explodes. Hence the damage visible on the upper part of the lower body of the tank. Since it was not a complete vehicle though, and lacked fuel, it didn't burn like a real vehicle would have, but did serve as a good movie prop. After the climatic scene, the vehicle was moved around and used for other shots, depicting further fighting and various scenes, and was given a number of other modifications, including having it repainted from Gray, into the color scheme we see it in now.
It is not easily visible in the various photographs around the internet, but a large portion of this 'tank' is constructed out of thin sheet steel, to further facilitate moving it around easily, as well as allowing panels to be replaced as repairs are needed on the prop.
I guess this is comfirmed now what you wrote by ukrainans/russians. Video clip will be found at least tik tok
Do you know the Russian title maybe? I've recently watched some Soviet movies officially uploaded by Mosfilm to UA-cam but not seen such accurate Pz. IV in any of them.
These movies are highly recommended though. "Liberation" (series of 5 films) probably has the biggest live action tank battles ever filmed. In Liberation 1 there are fires, tanks and airplanes (!) in wide plan up to horizon and tank jump scene on top of that. In Liberation 2 they have that too and deliberately drown a tank in the river to make river crossing scene more realistic. In Liberation 3 perhaps even tankman died for a movie.
There is massive scene where several columns of T-34s cross a real swamp. Suddenly the path under one of them collpases and a tank with closed hatches falls completely under water and mud. It looks so convincing it could have been an accident and if that was the case they might not have been able to pull the driver out. On the other hand it could have been very well planned and the tank sent without a driver to roll on idle or a the driver had diving equipment.
The true hero of this story is you
The true hero of this story is you
Yeah knowing the film title would be awesome.
Ahh finally Germany sends the needed support to Ukraine! I hear that the Maus Tank was send to the frontlines too.
😂😂😂😂😂.along with a pile of bandages.
There's a lot of old stuff being used there. It's still pretty deadly
Ha!!! That's Great!!!
🐁
I understand that Germany is still holding out on Ukraine, refusing to send the Ratte tank, for fear of escalating the war.
The german wunderwaffe ain't so wunderwaffe anymore, even the mardars are burning nicely on the stepps. 😂
Back when I was in the Canadian army, near the end of the Cold War, we were shown footage of Soviet troops on exercise, including an impressive hit on a moving tank. The intelligence sergeant present pointed out that it was illegal for Soviets to fire on another Soviet piece of equipment, that what we saw was an old German tank refurbished enough to run just well enough to be a target for an exercise such as we saw. It wouldn’t surprise me if that Panzer IV was just such an example.
Sounds weird, considering that I've heard from some parents' friend that they had been using SU-100s or similar vehicles as targets for practice.
@@SamuraiAkechi Things probably changed post 1991 when the soviets were no longer in charge.
That would account for the non functioning barrel and the BMP tracks. It also makes the case for saying this was a propaganda move by the Russians stronger.
Well your intelligence sergeant obviously lied to you since a shitload of old Soviet vehicle was converted into practice target. Hell, they even turn some MiGs into cruise missile and drone for that purpose
That would explain the missing KwK and the missing MG34 or 42 as well as the non standard camouflage. The national insignia is also nonstandard for the time. Just a small black cross, no white. Congrats on a plausible theory.
Bro spawned 78 years late on wrong server
Dr Felton giving us historic entertainment is one of my favourite past time. Many thanks and love! ❤
"my favourite past time" ..........if that is a deliberate pun, referring to the fact Dr Felton is an historian, WELL DONE!!
@@JEROMEGELB like Brazil and ChileBeans Marching in German Uniforms , with ChiWowWow dogs on a leash , oooh ; for Real?
I left it There , like Biden they fooled Me , Achtung , they Fooled Me they told Me they were Germans
One of the best UA-cam channels.
Nobody pointing out that ukrainians are painting Wermacht crosses on all their eqipment, new and old.... Also nobody pointing out their reenactments of Galizia division and buliding new statues for theor leaders,all om genuine SS Galizien uniforms from 1940s...
There surely is no n*zi supporters there....
The ever new leases of life some German WW2 gear gets are too strange for words. Sturngewehre showing up in various conflicts decades after '45 are another example. As a German engineer, I take some pride in the apparent longevity of our products, but it is strange.
I agree with your good statement here.
Made in Germany.
Nice greetings from Germany. 🍀🇩🇪🍀
Weird how you claim to be a german engineer but you cannot spell "Sturmgewehr" correctly.
@@joonasnaski9513 Bro cannot fathom someone having a typo on the internet. "n" and "m" are right next to eachother just fyi.
Not too strange when you consider the engineering. (Also some of the Russian equipment can last forever as well, like PPSH-41 if something ever goes wrong VERY simple to repair!)
the truth may be the first casualty in war, but there is always one rule to bank on.... those barking hardest physically nearest your house; are generally the biggest liars.
Congratulations on 2 million subscribers! Back in 2018 I subscribed and mainly your channel's content inspired me to go back to college to get my bachelor's degree in History so I can teach. To make a long story short, I'm almost finished(had to go at it part time). Thanks and again congratulations!
That's awesome! You go man! I love Mark Felton!
Hey buddy I'm highly impressed..John from ohio
@@ironman98 thanks!
@@Johnjohn-dt6hw thanks!
Thank you very much Dr Felton for making episodes like this. I'm 13 years old and I love watching all your videos and episodes. It fascinates me a lot. I love history a lot and a lot of the inspiration comes from you. You're videos contain lots of cool interesting information I never knew about. You are a true hidden gem in history. Hope you keep making videos.
Encouraging to hear! I am 20 years older but still interested in it. Keep it up!
@@PHIL_123 I'm 65 and feel the same way. Professor Felton is the gift that keeps on giving!
I'm sure he'll like to read your kind comment 🙂
plop
"Your"
Interesting that these wars keep turning over ancient military stuff isn't it? Thanks for sharing, Mark.
@dougaldouglas8842 Well to be fair, missiles/rockets don't really do much without something vital to hit such as fuel, ammunition, or crew. As the tank was most likely completely empty of both ammo and fuel, the most a missile should do is make a big hole, crack the armour and leave scorches on it.
I suppose the same is true of most projectiles, really, the most obvious variable is simply the diameter of the munition and by extension the size of the hole it leaves :D
@dougaldouglas8842 okay bro.
@dougaldouglas8842 Warhead, yes. "Speed of the missile alone", no. Most anti-tank missiles are subsonic, they don't have nearly the velocity to kinetic kill.
most of the time, these tanks are just retrieved from where the battle occured regardless of how damaged it is, rebuilt to mock or look like the real version and in cases are even repurposed to use within some military festival march thing as well or to show off its history. i mean its still not that hard to get hold of world war 1 and 2 guns and equipment these days. theres a youtuber i watched and im about to watch again in a sec in which goes to these swamps and stuff where all the war gear were dumped and left in the earth or in the swamps and lakes to decompose. when it comes to swamps, they are surprisingly extraordinary in preventing rust and decay of these weapons. some weapons u happen to find in these swamps in the UK despite being there for what 80 years roughly, are still near completely new to this day with some minor damages.
@dougaldouglas8842 yeah true if it was hit by a russian missile then it'd be fine but there's a huge hole in it so it must've been something else
As a 9 year old kid my auntie & uncle took me on a holiday to Dorset. On this holiday we visited the Bovington Tank Museum & not looking where I was going I somehow managed to bang my head on part of the Panzer IV tank shown at 4:36. It was painful & the metal was totally unyielding. I can still feel the hardness & shock of it as I write this now some 40 years later. The skin wasn't broken but a big bump came up like a golf ball. My Auntie Sheila went to the Tank Museum Shop, bought an ice lolly & told me to hold it on the bump as we continued around the exhibits.
It's amazing that so much of the German WWII equipment survived at all. After the war, most of it was rounded up and quickly scrapped. Especially the worn out or battle damaged equipment. Some of the still serviceable equipment was used in France and other countries until spare parts dried up.
Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦 Death to the enemy! 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 Бандера герой. Bandera is a hero ❤️❤️❤️
Fun story… with a conclusion that this war equipment is fully serviceable for its designated purpose in 2023- as a decoy in active combatvodka zone. It worked did it not, attracting a RF capture?
East and West Germany reused many of the leftover armaments since both sides had to arm them as quick as possible. The Wehrmacht only split and changed uniforms they didn't dissappear when the cold war started
@@BaldGuyYoYo Nice bite!
This one was actually Zelenskyy’s happy place until someone found it
Hopefully someone will recover this Panzer IV and restore it. The boys at the Australian Armor and Artillery Museum have reatored to running condition german armor in far worse condition then this example.
Since it is now in Russian hands it is very unlikely that it will find its way to the west.
Kubinka can always house more trophies
We Aussies do have a history of 'acquiring' German armour, dating back to WW1. The only surviving A7V can be seen in in a Brisbane museum.
He clearly said the Russians got it, so go to the trophy museum there I guess.
We buy old tanks from anywhere on the planet. @@desertflower2919
I remember seeing the Panver IV at the Old Patton Armour Museum at Ft. Knox, Kentucky back before they combined the combat arms basic combat training to one base and not spread out all over the country. I think they did that in order to fill the ranks where there is need. I have seen fellow troopers go 11D or 11E to driving 5 ton trucks. I myself spent the first 3 montths at my assigned unit as a 11B on a M113. Best summer of my life! Germany in the summer of 1976 was a time where Bavaria had a relatively dry summer that year and, I spent it riding around Bavaria in the back of a M113 mechanized infantry. It spoiled because the next 2 summers were wet and gloomy. That's were learned to stay dry.
hey there. cav scout trained at knox in the last cycle of cold-war style tactics. the only way you saw any 11-series troopers is if they were airborne. "trooper" refers to a soldier serving in armor, cavalry, or airborne units. we're funny about this sort of thing, along with our special hats and boots, much like you guys are with your blue cords and EIBs.
the patton armor museum is/ was perhaps the best armor museum in the nation, if not the world. we got to regularly see a bunch of the external exhibits on our marches from training to training, and we even got to take the tour, late into the cycle.
spent a cold winter in korea in '04 as a M577 driver. not quite the same thing as a M113, but close enough. glad the heater worked really well.
Was stationed at Ft Knox from 1983-1985 with C Company, 19th Engineer Battalion, 194th Armored Brigade. Rode around in the back of a dump-truck. I do remember all those tanks on outside static display in Keys Park and the Patton Museum. Used to go on police calls to the park periodically and spent more time exploring all those tanks than picking up trash.
I was a very young 11C with the 2nd Armored Division out of Fort Hood, Texas. Our entire brigade moved to Wildflecken, Germany for a 6 month deployment in the spring of 1975. I was an M113 driver. My M113 was equipped with an 81MM mortar and I drove it all over Bavaria during Reforger 75. I still have vivid memories from that time. I loved being a "track" driver. I really miss driving my :track"!
I appreciate to hear you like to remember in that time - many greetings from Bavaria to USA :)
It is history that should be restored if possible, or as parts to make other Panzer IV's complete. I hate seeing history disappear.
Yaknow, maybe now that you mention it, it already *was* a parts vehicle for some other restoration project, if there was a bunch of em being sold for scrap from Syria.
One for Buce Crompton?
Thought The Russians had the Time Machine , Remember Took Out Einstein , jeez , Get your Stories Straight ; as JLo Says Get Right , man o man
If it didn't disappear it wouldn't be history.
If it saved one life it was worth it.
I remember during the conflict in Afghanistan how many remarkable old vehicles and weapons were found. As a bayonet collector it was amazing to see the variety, origins and age of the weapons that were uncovered and quite a few found their way into the market.
lmao there's even a video of talibans driving around a city on an italian L3/33 tankette
@@gian.4388i wanna see that video
The Americans found an FT in a scrapyard, and a complete one at the Afghan Ministry of Defense compound.
in most countries, it is super hard to become a collector of war memorabilia. in the UK u 1st have to get permission to even search the area which practically are all owned by the military so it being their land or the governments claimed land is super hard to get the go ahead and unlike the US, in the UK u cant collect certain pieces of a gun, mine etc etc, for the possibility that the person can make a new one and restore it using multiple parts. usually its frames, spent cases, helmets, bolt triggers and even panzer rpg tubes that dont have certain things in and on it that your allowed to keep. i would say the best thing imo to collect is the gun frames because then u can have a rough idea of what specific gun it was and can picture what it would look like if it were built.
@@unboxing_legend7708best way to get war memorabilia in the UK is to just buy it online
Or it could have been used as a movie prop at some point. If the gun barrel is simply a non-functioning piece of metal pipe, then it may have been just a cosmetic mock-up for the camera, then blown up for a shot, as Mark said there signs of explosives use. Movie crews are also notorious for getting their shots and leaving a mess behind for somebody else to clean up.
But then what do I know…
Interesting stuff as always from Dr. Felton
Absolutely amazing Dr. Felton! An actual panzer IV found in the Ukraine, and in somewhat decent condition! Hopefully somebody will make the right choice and It will be recovered, refurbished and become a museum piece.
I would imagine an awful lot of panzer 4,s travelled west through Ukraine in the late 40,s. Surprised more havn,t turned up.
Found in Ukraine* fixed the spelling for you
Decent condition?is thatw hat you call decent! wow.
Welp off to Kubinka it goes 😂.
Would love to have a Panzer IV. We'll be needing them pretty soon here in Los Angeles for self protection. Would go nice with the Porsche, Mercedes Benz and BMW motorcycles.
Hearing you pronounce the "Ausführung" better than most germans themselves was a weird but cool moment. Nice video!
1:10
Usually he produces German quite ok. I guess he at least speaks it somewhat well.
But any man interested in ww2 history should at least learn some German for fun in my opinion.
Dr. Felton puts my Freshman Year German to shame !
@@daminox Champion.
Dont look real ,paint
T amd cross have been added
His channel covers the best topics involving WWII info., just great.
I hope it's recovered and put in a museum!
Well the Russians might likely put it in Kubinka if they recover it.
I would love to travel there some day if I could.
The chassis, turret, commander's cupola, and road wheels are definitely authentic. No question at all. It is missing a lot of parts as noted. There are collectors who would no doubt like to get this towed into their garage! What a project that would be.
Its probably not authentic, the trackw are from a bmp
Movie prop I suspect.
@@thesupreme8062 Tracks are not correct, that is right, Mr. Felton already pointed that out. What I said was the 'chassis' is authentic. This means the hull, upper superstructure, road wheels and it looks like the swing arms to which the wheels are attached. Furthermore it would appear that this chassis is an Ausf. J model, as there are no side visors next to the drivers compartment. The person to ask in my opinion would be David Byrden, who is an authority on German tanks of WW2.
@@lastswordfighter This may have been a movie prop as you suggest, but it does not change the fact that this is an actual Pz IV from WW2.
@@thesupreme8062 With some oxy fuel cutters and enough grinders you can repurpose tracks from lots of tracked equipment. This is how farmers have kept no longer supported tracked vehicles in service for decades. Russia is known to donate no longer serviced equipment for civilian use, but the civilians have to maintain it obviously which is how you wind up with "technical" armored vehicles from various parts and countries. It could have been demilitarized used on a farm, or used for target practice, anyone guess matters in this one. People forget ukraine was involved in WW2 so farmers were forced at one time to use armored vehicles for their own safety when demining land. I'm betting the barrel was added sometime recently from the lack of weathering/rust.
Russian here. Our reenactors would do anything for a find like that, and if they (hopefully) can get their hands on it, I'm certain they will restore it and use in reenactments like they do some other German and Soviet tanks (seen a Pz. IID and a Marder 3 myself).
The re enactors can get to play In real life soon! Real ww2 rifles and helmets against a real enemy!
@@tiernanwearen8096why so toxic?
@maysef7722 it was a joke. This isn't the USSR I can joke as much as I want
@@tiernanwearen8096You can also joke in the USSR we are not North Korea😅
@@maysef7722 Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦 Death to the enemy! 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 Бандера герой. Bandera is a hero ❤️❤️❤️
What an extraordinary find and intriguing mystery. I'm sure Dr. Felton will get to the bottom of this. The game is afoot!
I left it There , like Biden they fooled Me , Achtung , they Fooled Me they told Me they were Germans
I hope this one gets recovered and restored. Right now I'm following the restoration of a Stug 3 at an Australian museum. The thing was blow to pieces by the crew. It's amazing watching something so far gone be brought back from the dead.
just checking as this happens often.... "Australian?"....or maybe "Austrian" ?? If Australian.... can it be the guys at the The Australian Armour & Artillery Museum ?
@@TheWilferch yes its them you can watch it being worked on at their you tube site
@@TheWilferch Yes, its Aus Armor.
The Russian museum in Kubinka has many modifications of this tank. There are even many prototypes, such as Maus and the mortar Karl.
YES!!!!
Thank you for returning the original intro, Mark! Love your content!
i think your judgement is correct. Somebody had this relic in his barn and was slowly restoring it. It was placed as a decoy somewhere behind the front line. I am not quite sure why anyone who possessed such a thing would not understand its value, perhaps they did but enjoyed owning such a unique object enough to keep hold of it. The Panther in the German basement is a similar example.
The Panther in the German basement is in no way a similar example.
This is a hulk, nothing more.
In france farmers kept them to sell as scrap when needed money
in war monetary value is secondary. No tank is worth a human life. So I believe the owner didn't want to by the UAF ordered him/her to give it war effort.
They probably stuck hardware in his face
@@1individeoOilfields Religion and Currency is worth Many lives instead
Given that there were so many made (and they are still apparently to be found on the Golan Heights) and these are not as 'exotic' as the Big Cat German tanks, I am surprised that such a badly damaged one is worth as much as is stated in the video. Would be a fascinating project for someone with a suitable workshop.
A Tiger would set you back 20 mil.
Olav sell to you vashink machine and carton of American cigarettes.....wery good deal!
@@kevinfox1780 Better keep the wazshinkmashine to make rockets and as for the cigarettes, I don't buy from war criminals.
German WW2 firearms are very valuable and they made tons of them, it doesn't surprise me that a mostly intact tank would be worth 2 million. If it has rare parts in good condition it might even be worth more to part out. I'm sure if it served in a special regiment or battle that would also increase the value.
Id definitely give up my 60s Mopars to restore a WWII tank!! Now to just come up with the other $1999999!!
Breaks my heart to see these relics being used and destroyed in the modern day. Same with seeing STG44s being used to fight. It’s a tragedy
But think of all of the legendary drones and go pros being born today!
Old guy opens the hatch and asks, "Is the war over yet?"
But he asks in German. Obviously.
Iz zee war over?
'Iz ze war over? I need to call mein old friend, Teruo Nakamura.'
@@chasejdmartin Sounds convincingly German to me.
That's exactly how they speak in all the old war films.
@@chasejdmartin nein 😂😂
I may be wrong, but I would imagine if this was a former range target, it would be in far worse shape than it is presently. Virtually every range target tank I've seen ends up looking like a rusty, bent and twisted colander.
Yeah. It's possible it could have been used for target practice with lighter weapons, like AT rifles, as those would not penetrate except the weakest parts, but overall, most likely not from a range.
I wonder: if they wanted to preserve a target for a long time instead of destroying it quickly, could they use target ammo that had simple soft steel projectiles instead of sabot, etc. That would match with the many pockmarks on the front.
@@donjones4719 Not sure... I think the whole point of them is to train with the ammunition they would actually use in combat.
Quite shocked by the price as a collectable.I didnt relise it was that big of a thing outside of museums.
Well, of course it’d be valuable. It’s a big piece of history, and anyone deeply interested enough to buy it would be willing to pay highly for the privilege of owning such a piece.
Who doesn't want a tank?
the old damage on the front and the new tracks support the idea that they just slapped those tracks on it to be able to tow it to a specific position as a decoy... but it belongs in a museum!
The “found on a range” theory fits with Occam’s Razor the most nicely. If rusted versions can be ignored for decades on the Golan heights, there’s no reason that one couldn’t make it through the Soviet era on a training range, and then be bounced around Ukraine for a few decades too.
If it was an old range target, it would look like a sieve.
@@bjornh4664 Not necessarily, could have used lower powered ammo in target practice.
I recall from my very brief experience at the range - used to train foot soldiers, no heavy weapons - that there were quite a lot of BMPs, old trucks etc. placed there as props. The heaviest piece our battalion had was an antique RPD machine gun. This kind of range won't damage the armour at all.
The replica they found was dragged out of a museum for a roadblock/bunker/decoy, so I would think this is the same. From a mile away a tank is a tank, could distract the enemy long enough to surprise them, plus they have to drag it out of the road to pass, meaning the convoy and troops are stuck and preoccupied.
Should have been put in a museum.
Even stranger is the fact that current battles take place at almost the same locations as historic battles. The three battles for Kiev, are a good example.
The First Battle of Kiev was fought between July and September 1941. "Barbarossa" had begun on June 22, 1941. Stalin's Communist Red Army Horde lost about 700,000 men, including about 450,000 prisoners, during the battle. Many of the prisoners surrendered willingly. Many Russians had no desire to fight for the dictator Stalin and his Communist Party. Many Ukrainians, and other non-Russian nationalities, had no desire to fight for the Communists, or for the Russians.
After over a year of war, the current Russian dictator, Putin, still has not managed to capture Kiev! By the way, during the war, Putin's dad served in one of Stalin's NKVD "Destruction Battalions" (filling mass graves?).
It's not that strange. While technology and weapons and sensors have improved, much of the terrain and valuable areas will be similar.
So close to 2 million subs! Well done Mark
It's been stuck at 1.99M for a few weeks... Maybe the search algorithm has avoided him for "reasons".
@@CA999I've noticed that 😂😂
Nolonger pops up on main page = Subscribed notification only😮😮
Yet Im forced to have History on for Algorithm 😂😂
Looking at the damage on the plates it was defiantly used as a target practice at some point. I suspect it was dragged as a decoy. The Ukrainians had a lot of success in using all kinds of decoys. A couple of months back there was an embracing incident for Russia as they hit a HIMARS with Kinzal balistic missile. They braced all over the web about it and it turned out to be a wooden replica.
Strange, never seen a wooden replica firing a salvo of missiles.
Similar with a 'Gepard' parked by a wood with a mysteriously static radar antenna.
The Russians destroyed it twice: once the right way around and once in mirror image.
@@darenzy Ukraine has real HIMARS AND fake HIMARS for the fascists to waste their multimillion dollar missiles on, what dont you get?
Listening to Mark Felton gives me at least the illusion of reassurance that all is well in the world and I am not living next door to an active war zone (writing from Warsaw).
Вы ещё в этих действиях почувствуете, ....если так дальше пойдёт....
Mark never fails to create the best videos, thanks Mark for another great episode! 🏆
Care to explain what makes this video great or the best? This kind of content could be made by virtually anyone with a video editing program, a microphone and a bit of time to read through online forums.
Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦 Death to the enemy! 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 Бандера герой. Bandera is a hero ❤️❤️❤️
@@pukovnikklefeldthen do it ?
Anyone can produce videos, it’s the content that counts! @@pukovnikklefeld
@@gerardobecerra7703а ему зачем это делать? Он только озвучил факт !
That's actually really cool to see the history of war standing among modern war like a tombstone, for them walking past that it probably looks more like a scar.
I' surprised the Russians didn't present it as 'evidence' they were really fighting Nazis!
Thanks for all the information packed episodes. My wife and i love watching them! Top notch!
A very interesting find & perhaps appropriate that the Russian Army had to expend time & resources to capture it twice. Joking aside, in the late 1990's I was studying Russian (Language and history) at university, we had several native Russian speakers in our classes (an easy way to pick up points for your degree for very little effort), and I became very friendly with several of them. One of them came not far from Prokhorovka (her parents had been part of a farm collective) and she told me that the area was littered with the remains of tanks, half-tracks etc, and that they had been used for target practice in the years immediately following the end of the second world war. When they were no longer considered worthwhile for target practice they were just left in the fields, and crops were simply grown around them, the same at harvest time (no one had the equipment to relocate a Tiger tank). She sent me some photos of them after she returned to a very chaotic Russia. She also sent me some Waffen SS belt buckles, a couple of Iron Crosses, and the like which apparently were laying all over the place if you knew what to look for. Unfortunately, I lost contact with her after she got married and moved to Omsk with her husband and young family.
It's insane that Russians are friendly even to those who worship the reich. They really are a naive people and you really are masters of propaganda.
All the remains were removed by the government. You don't need some special equipment to remove a tank.
Vodka babushka balalaika!
But nice made up story, bro
@@hulking_presence Ну ничего такого в этой истории нет, у нас куча объявлений в интернет группах о продаже всякого металлолома времён ВОВ которое люди выкапывают, некоторые даже за счёт этого живут, так что в его истории ничего уж прям такого нет.
Это можно перевести на английский
Tanslated from @user-bz4nm1rh5o
Well, there is nothing like that in this story, we have a lot of advertisements in Internet groups about the sale of all sorts of scrap metal from the Second World War that people dig up, some even live off it, so there is nothing really like that in his story.
its funny cause the ukraine killed about 2 million jews one year....
Holy moly I was not expecting that 2-3 million dollar drop. 😮
Kurt Knispel never died near the end of the war. He’s searching for a tank to ride into battle again.
*HERE IN BULGARIA* they keep finding buried Soviet and German WW2 tanks - I think they have found about 100 so far.
They were buried after they became obsolete and used as stationery guns along the borders. Then they were forgotten and became overgrown.
man thats awesome. so many treasures in the earth.
Pretty cool
@@Lovey_18 Yeah there is a classic car restoration garage at Laka near Burgas, they have 2 T-34 tank barrels as gateposts.
And atAleksandrovo there is half a Nazi viaduct, they literally built half of it and then started to lose the way and left LOL. At Kableshkovo there is some WW2-tracked troop transporter,. I dont know if its USSR or German.
Things dont rust here cos the humidity is about 30%, so if you parked up a car in 1945 its mostly still intact except the mice will have eaten the interior LOL. So obviously old tanks and stuff just last indefinitely.
@@piccalillipit9211maybe you could post a picture of it the next time you see it?
Classic Cars Built in 1945 Are Worth Millions in USA if it's Intact ofcourse 😅😅😅
Couple of months back after looking into it I came to conclusion that it is fact the Czech hybrid. My first impression was that it's like the IV, but not quite, something's off and I had to find out why. All the little details clicked into place when I brought up the Czech model for comparison. I also watched a video of a restored example being driven, which was similar to the roadside attraction, though not the same tank. How and when it came to be in Ukraine remains a mystery. The countless hit marks on the hull gives an impression of the hull having been a test target (to what end, who knows), although the turret is unlikely to have been present at the time with the hull when it was undergoing the mauling. Could be that the turret was removed or from an another specimen. It's very unlikely the hits came from a battle.
I love how this is better than most tank replicas in movies
Somebody launch a rescue mission and make a movie of it called - Saving Panzer Mark (IV)!
It will refuse to leave the battlefield
The first battle scene won't be for the faint of heart.
I guess being in a tank even an old tank can protect from small arm fire. Better then no shelter
Thanks Mark, always a great joy to watch!
The pipe used to replace the barrel strongly suggests that it was used as a decoy. The camo paint was applied at the same time the pipe was installed, because it's all the same on the tank hull, the turret and on the "barrel." It was positioned sideways to draw fire that would give away enemy positions, plus it would hide all of the missing hatches.
@dougaldouglas8842youbsaw that brittle armour and the internal explosion that took it out?
@dougaldouglas8842so it's basically an old person, bones aren't as strong as they used to be, was amazing in its youth, and would absolutely be destroyed by a modern antitank round
the green paint is under the balkenkreuz on the turret, which means that must have been painted at the same time, but why?
and it looks like it got shot by some big shells too since they haven't been painted over, the kind of calibers i don't think they're using in this conflict
it's very confusing
Also note that there are no hits on the side of the turret, that was supposedly facing the front
When they are done useing it as a decoy or roadblock it will still be valueable as spareparts. The paint looks rather new and it has to come from a museum or collector.
It's really fascinating that a PZKW 4 showed up in the current Ukrainian war. How relics tend to pop up out of nowhere seemingly.
I must also say that if there was a really a tear in the fabric of time that would be creepy. Since I am also a science fiction fan.
Given the BMP tracks and faux cannon to me the decoy theory seems to be the most probable answer as Ukraine is using them in large scale. My personal guess on the origins of this machine: operation Barbarossa left behind thousands of hulks of german equipment, either destroyed or disabled in combat or simply abandoned by retreating forces. Maybe this one was kept thru the years as a target for military training and was brought "back to life" to serve anew, this time as a decoy.
Its too heavy to transport as a decoy.
Even if it's indeed a decoy I think it was a static one since I doubt it could move on its own
@@joezephyr you have a point and I must admit that it didn't occur to me. However, as the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures. Military engineers are capable of retrieving disabled machinery, heavy machinery. They could conversely do it the other way round. Difficult, certainly. But not at all impossible.
"Thousands of hulks of german equipment" is exagerated, they only started with 2000 tanks scattered across 2000-3000km long frontline against an enemy which had 60 000 tanks at its disposal and ready to use.
Barbarossa did not have retreating forces leaving German equipment behind because German forces were not on the backfoot anywhere besides the Moscow region during Barbarossa, it only lasted until early 1942. It was other operations that saw Nazi Germany retreat and certainly not within Ukraine until quite a while later.
Today's value as is,,,2-3M?? Wow unreal!!!
Hopefully it will be restored and displayed. Thanks for another great program.
Dr. Felton, thank you for finding another long, lost forgotten relic from WW2.
Mark Felton is the Goat
You got to give it to the Germans for building such a battle worthy tank!
Thought The Russians had the Time Machine , Remember Took Out Einstein , jeez , Get your Stories Straight ; as JLo Says Get Right , man o man
@@meowlionkatz firstly , what are you on about ?? And secondly ,wtf is a "JLo" ??
@@meowlionkatz Correct time travel Sucks.
At first Einstein killed Hitler and we ended up with a German allied supreme commander (von Esling).
Then the psychic Yuri did a shot in achieving world domination and ended up eaten by a T- rex while using his time machine.
And finaly Cherdenko and Krukov traveleld again back in time to eliminate Einstein wich resulted in a 3 legged Japanese monster killer robot rampaging truh the countryside from Siberia to Europe.
@@Dont_Tread_on_Me448 JLo= Jennifer Lopez. If Meow is quoting JLo, you're not dealing with a genius here....
@@Dont_Tread_on_Me448 as to the Last Part of your Question , Exactly I Agree on that ; Kayne might Know
The Cross is new on the side of the Turret. I would say within the last 5 years or so, as you can tell the paint quality is different. So your theory of it being someone's project makes sense and the Ukrainians used it as a Decoy.
Would love to see it recovered and although it may be to far gone for restoration it would be good for parts, like the road wheels, turret etc... Another great job Sir!!!
I would not be surprised if the russians dragged that thing out of somewhere themselves to use it for propaganda..."Look,the Ukranians already have to use Nazi WWII weapons to fight our great,well equiped and led army"
The paint looks like household gloss !
The cossack cross is an ad hoc vehicle IFF identifier adopted by the Ukrainians in this war, much like Z was adopted for the Russians
@@AJ-qn6gd Yeah, that paint is fairly recent.
@@fludbludagreed. I’ve also seen a lot of swastikas on Ukrainian helmets and soldiers with tattoos of Hitler and Stepan Bandera.
It even has a compartment for the flux capacitor there in front of.
That Panzer IV looks like it took a modern Drone hit too.
As always, Dr Felton, thank you for a completely original post!
Not at all surprising to see WWII material in Ukraine. I recently saw footage of the weapons cache inside the Soledar salt mine. There were stacks of crates of lend-lease M1 Thompson sub-machine guns still swathed in cosmoline and original brown paper wrapping. The number of Pulemyot Maksima PM1910 machine guns still in use is estimated to be in the hundreds. There's also video evidence of STG 44's being used in Ukraine. The weapon storage vaults in the east were both deep and well populated. And, just recently, the ruzzians are now using 90 year old GAZ-AA полуторка trucks for both tactical assault transport and logistics.
Congratulations on almost reaching 2,000,000 subscribers Dr Felton!!! I've been subscribed to your for YEARS and your videos are always the highlight of my week!!! Thank you!
I think Dr Felton mentioned in another video how the Panzer IV could have changed the war for the Germans had they continued to build it in numbers instead of the larger Tigers which requires 3-4 times more materials. Such an interesting tank in history.
I think the consensus though is that for the amount of fuel they had, the Germans needed fewer better thank than more ok tanks. They just never got the amount of quality to overcome the Allies Quantity.
The main reason was the Germans can't keep up producing Pz IV at the same amount as Soviets their T34-85, for example, and even the latest versions of Pz IV can at best trade equal with Soviets and Allies when Tiger was mainly a tank destroyer, and trades 3-4 to 1. Germans lost initiative in Moscow and Stalingrad before first Tigers joined battle
More IVs manned but what men and fueled by what fuel? They would've done nothing.
Это утверждал Хайнц Гудериан. В своих послевоенных мемуарах.
The panzer 4 has a more complicated hull per ton of steel than the latter tanks, it requires a great deal of craftsmanship and skilled labour in order to put together so many plates of armour at so many angles, and all of that for what? For a tank that isn't invulnerable to enemy fire?
A single soldier armed with a panzerfaust can dish as much damage as a panzer 4, is way cheaper, and faster
Then you can sprinkle a few heavier tanks at critical locations in order to create chokepoints to the enemy advance, while assisted by scouts and infantry.
The intel the tank support gathers can make the tanks engage targets from a distance they cannot be retaliated at, and that's definitely a better tactic than just sending thousands of pz4's to the frontline unsupported
I don't remember exactly, but in Bulgaria or Romania, in the mountains, there was a whole warehouse of German tanks from World War II used for training purposes. I think this tank comes from that one
The US military has also used surplus tanks in exercises. Back in the 1980s during a NATO exercise at Spangdahlem AB, West Germany, USAFE had about 30 French AMX-13 tanks on the base for a large NATO exercise called SALTY DEMO. I think they all ran, as some of the Security Police (Military Police of the USAF) drove one around on the 4th 0f July on base. It leaked oil - a lot of oil.
I was really most in love with your time-space fabric theory for the tank's presence on the Ukrainian battlefield. I think you'd have the makings of a very watchable Netflix series there.
Yeah, gullible people love foolish theories, and the more ridiculous, the more popular and more profitable.
@@drengr2759 I don't see what being gullible has to do with a goofy story about time travel causing a WWII tank to appear in a modern conflict
Hitting 88mph in that would be freakish!
@@andrewthompson5728😂 Tank commander Georg McFly. I wonder who would play the German version of Biff.
@@PL-rf4hy Dolph Lundgren 😂
Thank you for exposing these monsters
Brilliant video,very informative as always!
The decoy theory makes total sense. You want to get your opponent to waste ammunition destroying your fake tanks, guns etc or cause ground troops to direct around them, thinking they are avoiding a real tank.
I grew up in South Georgia (the state not the country) and the U.S army used to dump old gear in a swamp near the trailer park I lived in. Me and my freinds used to dive into the Bayou and find old helmets and Armour from around the vietnam era I think. We used to play soldiers with the gear we found and would sell it to other kids on the block. Fortunately, we never found anything dangerous like an unexploded grenade or anything, but we did find a box of old bayonets and a decomposed rifle. This wasn't too long ago either, this was in the late 2000s to early 2010s.
Man i love these old finds
Also thanks for another great video
I imagine the Tank Museum could find a few parts to use off of it.
For similar reasons,
When I die, I want to be buried in the woods, dressed like a medieval knight
My second favorite German Panzer, the Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf H; such beautiful lines and smooth turret rotation, and that 75mm. This one needs a lot of love, maybe someone will adopt and restore it?
Vie se romu ukrainaan, kyllä se sieltä palautetaan romukasana. Saat lisä extrana (ilmaiseksi) kuvaselfien romusta, ja kuvan saat painattaa vaikka T Paidan etupuolelle.
Beautiful to look at, absolute horror to fight in, crammed and poor outside vision.
Fraught with mechanical issues including having an underpowered engine starved for oxygen intake.
Näin ne natsit tuhoaa ukrainan kansaparkaa...! @@SMGJohn
Natsit katselee sateliiteistaan kun ukrainalaisparat nousee näihin romuihin, ja sitten venäjä murskaa nämä natsien romut rautakasoiksi, paistuvat romujen sisälle hiilikasoiksi. Näin ne natsit ihailee ukrainan kansanmurhaa. Natsit oppi murhaamisen jo 2 mailmansodassa, samat vinkeet natseilla yhä. . Venäjä poistaa natsit tälläkertaa tarkasti. @@SMGJohn
@@SMGJohn visibility issues concerned almost all tanks. And it wasn't really until the heavier Tigers and Panthers that the engines became a problem.
I love your content. Keep up the great work Mr Felton
Tank history is fascinating. Oh the stories this old tank could tell !
The explosion was probably not caused by being used for target practice.
I have seen videos and photos of tanks that were actually used for target practice and apart from the tracks being heavily damaged, the body still retained most of its lines, only the shaped charges of modern anti tank ammunition had pockmarked the entire surface into a mini moonscape.
I would have thought such tanks would be torn apart being used as targets so I was surprised about all the tiny holes but no internal explosions.
You are the man! What a great video.
Thank you for the videos Dr. Felton. I may not be quite as interested in the contents of some closet but I always look forward to finding a new video.
Wow, very interesting. Thanks for sharing this!
I was driving from the bussines trip and suddenly there was a Tiger tank in the field. I was shocked and I thought I must be dreaming. Well someone made a good lucking replica as I read in the article online. You do not usually see many Tigers sitting in the fields in the villages around here :D
saw the title and thought they found the wunderwaffe secret time machine
Knowing Ukraine it probably belonged to a farmer....stored it in his barn in 1945 after towing it back with a team of 12 horses!
I'm pretty sure that the tank is a real Panzer 4 brought out of storage and turned into a decoy tank. I watched a video about a shop in Ukraine that is making decoys and I'm pretty sure I saw some German tanks in the workshop in the video.
I'd like to see that video. Do you have a link?
Sad that they are destroying history like that.
Cannot the Germans just give them a few extra leopards in exchange for them oldies...
Weird that they would be using a WWII German tank rather than making a fake wooden T-62 or something
@@hnorrstrom well... it's a useful scrap... it's not like it was doing anything...
I don't think it can be mistaken as any other tank type. I would look for serial numbers if I wasn't aware that any records will have probably been lost or destroyed long ago. I would be interested if anyone is able to come up with any information about the tank
My exact first thoughts were a decoy tank, either placed their specifically or the hull/hulk was found and modified to look like it was in service on site.
Optics and observations can be sketchy on the battlefield in combat. A vague tank outline with gun barrel and tracks, in the heat and chaos of combat would definitely draw fire and might influence on the ground level decisions to the advantage of whoever placed it there.
Exactly, esp the pipe as gun barrel and who knows what tracks.
Ukraine mechanical shops are constructing all sorts of decoys.
well... for all intents and purpose, modern Leopards are sons of those Nazi tanks like the Panther and the Maus. And they sure looks a hell a lot like one under fire, I suppose...
Awesome commentary. Well-done mate
I look at videos of yours, and others, showing gun camera views of B17s, FW190s, Panzers and T34s being obliterated and can't help but think, "There goes another million dollar relic." Funny how a few years and what seemed so expendable takes on a whole new value.
Hundreds of American made tanks were pushed over the side of ships that were in transit when the War ended.
Odd, I think of the poor soldier losing their life.
This tank will now be pressed into Russian service.
Thanks for the update on this unusual story.
Gem of a UA-cam channel
Mark Felton: "It is very valuable. Between 2 to 3 million dollars."
Zelensky: "Bring it back! BRING IT BACK NOW!"
Thank you Mark. I just love watching your documentary videos.❤
Dont watch this guys videos, they are plagued by false information
Now now, Dr. Felton. You mustn’t dismiss your own *TIME MACHINE* theory so quickly!
After all, you’ve often presented far stranger war stories to us.
That's something for Coast to Coast AM to discuss!
I've followed along with the war from before the start and have seen many amazing things in the world of military hardware so not much surprises me.
Yes, I'll go with the decoy direction and by your description, functioned as designed with it's capture. No doubt, an area precisely targeted by it's defenders. The Ukr have shown great resourcefulness in building decoys which performed. There are some funny artillery hits on decoys floating around. Like a bomb hit a pallet factory, quite obvious a pile of wood. There's no reason you wouldn't pull all your tricks out for your very existence.