Join our community of fans and supporters at thehistoryguyguild.locals.com!

As the Army was withdrawing from St.Vith my father was hit with shrapnel from a 88 shell. His right arm was barely attached and he was hit in the torso also. A man who served with him told me at my dad's funeral he still fought shooting with his left hand even though he was right handed and allowed them to remove four others who were even more gravely injured before he allowed himself to be evacuated. Dad never talked about his service and the three major battles he took part in. After 6 months at a hospital in the UK he was sent stateside to a VA hospital in Little Rock for another six months. I wished he would have talked to me about his experience then maybe I could have talked about mine. Now I am almost as old as he was when he died and I still miss him.

I'm sure painting a Tiger tank on the side of your scout vehicle would gain you some serious bragging rights down the road. Great story..

When I was about 10yrs. old I asked my grandpa how his hands and neck got so scarred up. I remember that he wouldn't answer me, and instead only gave me a strange, sad look and said he didn't want to talk about it. Later on, in high school, I asked my dad about grandpa's scars and he told me that in WW2 grandpa was an M4 Sherman tank commander. In Aug. '44 his tank was hit by an 88mm anti tank gun hidden in the edge of a forest. He said grandpa was the only one of his crew not wounded by the shell and he spent the longest few seconds of his life trying to get his wounded crew out of the tank before it began to burn. He was only able to get his gunner halfway out of the turret when the ammo started to cook off and he slipped from his grip and had to see the horror in the man's eyes as he slid down into the flames. My dad told me grandpa would never tell him how he got his scars either and that it was grandma who told him the story and she said it had taken many years before grandpa would even tell her the story of how he was wounded, as the memory was just too painful to recount.

My dad was tank commander in Patton's Third Army and was in this area and the battle of the bulge. Some things he will talk about others he won't. We forget all to soon what our solders gave for our freedom.

I'm from St. Vith. Thank you for this interesting video. When I go running or walk my dog in our beautiful forest, I have to think almost every time about the poor Germans and Americans who thought during this time in our forests.

So excited about this video. My Dad was in 741st tank battalion directing traffick in Saint Vith during the retreat and was the last tank out heading to the twin villages for a major battle. So proud of Dad who landed on Omaha with the 741st and fought all the way to Prague: two Purple Hearts and not yet an American citizen.

Belgian here, major good points for the correct pronunciation of the town St. Vith. That was spot on.

I've read accounts of this 'David and Goliath' fight and I hope THG doesn't mind if I add some details so people understand not only how the M-8 could triumph but also the raw courage it took for the M-8 crew to win this battle. When the Tiger tank commander realized the M-8 was approaching from the rear, he stopped his tank and began traversing the turret to bring his 88 to bear. Had he succeeded, the M-8 would have been 'brewed up', as the Brits called it, with a single round. Unfortunately for him, one of the weaknesses of the Tiger was a very slow traverse of the turret. (A Sherman tank could traverse its turret 360 degrees in roughly 50 seconds while a Tiger took over a minute and a half.) When the M-8 commander saw this, he ordered his driver to 'punch it', knowing he had to get very close, very fast in order to achieve the greatest accuracy with his gun. As THG said, the M-8 began firing at 25 yards. Even at that close range, however, the M-8's 37 MM gun could NOT penetrate the rear armour of the Tiger. What saved the M-8 was the accuracy it could achieve at that point blank range. The first 37 MM round 'cratered', or ate away, part of the Tiger's rear armour, reducing its thickness. (The Tiger's turret was still traversing to bring it's 88 to bear.) The second round, hitting the same spot, cratered the armour even more, further reducing its thickness. (The Tiger's turret had nearly completed it's traverse and was preparing to fire.) The third round, again hitting the same spot, was finally able to penetrate the remaining armour and 'brew up' the Tiger before it could fire. Had the M-8 not been close enough to achieve that level of accuracy, and had the crew not had the courage to stay CALM enough to achieve that level of accuracy, it would not have been able to destroy the Tiger. I've never been able to learn if the crew of that M-8 was decorated for their actions that day, but if they were not, I would call that a travesty of justice.

That men so young could show such courage and devotion sets a very high standard to match ourselves against. Thank you for this reminder.

My mother's cousin was airborne and was involved in helping to regain ground during the Battle of the Bulge and was in St Vith at the end of the battle. He died in Operation Varsity when his plane was hit by an 88 and exploded.

Ok, you did it again. I have yet to watch or listen to your short history lessons without wanting to watch or listen to another. Thank you so very much loving history enough to put the thousands of hours into these videos.

My Dad commanded an M8 in the Philippines and Japan. 302nd Reconnaissance Troop, 1st Calvary Division. Battle of Leyte, Manilla and Occupation of Japan. He loved them. Especially their speed. You are so right about their off road capabilities though. Growing up farming when we would get stuck he would always say: "It's nothing like getting a M8 stuck in a rice patty!"

I wish I had known this story when I was NCO in the US Army. The young Privates would always come up with "What If" questions. The story would have illustrated, You work with what you have in an intelligent way.

I was looking at faces very carefully in the video clips- my grandfather, Ben Remley, was in one of those small side battles (I think it was St Vith but I'd have to look up the Army's records), and was captured there by the Germans. He was a medic, and had lingered behind to care for men after his unit moved. At one point in that battle, he crawled into a burning tank to pull out an unconscious man. Got a Silver Star for it. He spent the rest of the war in a German prison camp. Was slightly over 6', came home weighing 130 pounds.

Great anecdote, read a lot about the 'Battle of the Bulge' but this is the first I have heard of this incident. Cool crew in that M8. God Bless em'.

Not desperation but calculation...and a heavy dose of inspiration. To the David's in a world full of Goliaths, well done! Great video!

Great story & very well told. This video is a perfect example of what I repeatedly tell my children: you should study history because history is always ready to teach you something. Bravo The History Guy!

What a great story, and I love the way you tell it! Very gripping!

My Grandfather (on my mom's side) served in the U.S.Navy between WWI and WWII. The only thing we know for sure is that he was assigned to a gun crew, his job as part of the team was to inspect the barrel quickly after the swab was put through to ensure that there was no burning burlap left in the breach that might prematurely detonate the next load. He awoke one morning to find that he had laryngitis but the engagement was going to go on with him or without him. After one of the shots the swab missed some burlap he tackled the loader since there was no way to make himself heard. Other than that he never spoke. They were told to keep the whole affair secret. I believe it was something in central America. He took it to the grave with him along with shrapnel in his hip.

Dad was with an 81mm mortar squd at St. Vith with the 48thAIB 7th AD. Thank you for covering the important, but often, battle of St. Vith.

What an amazing example of leadership! He knew his strengths, he knew the enemy's weakness and took full advantage of the situation! Great story Guy!

It teaches us the value of taking the initiative.

My father was a tank driver and part of the recon force for the 756th Tank Battalion during WWII. He told me many stories of some of their battles. He passed in 1991, but hearing these stories brings back a lot of great memories with him. Than you Very, Very Much.... Keep up the great work.

I see a similar thread here. My papa was on the USS England which the History Guy made a video about in which the USS England set a record which still stands today for most submarines sunk by a warship. His destroyer was eventually hit by a kamikaze, and he was seriously injured and watched many die around him. He never talked about his experiences in world war 2, that is until a few years before he passed, I asked him if I could interview him for a school project in which we had to interview someone who served in world war 2. ( keep in mind this was when I was in 8th grade like 20 years ago and WW2 veterans were still alive in very large numbers). I never saw my papa shed a tear my whole life, until half way through the project I noticed he was tearing up telling me about the day the plane struck his ship. He avoided talking about the war to everyone including his children, and I was told that the few times he spoke about it he would suffer nightmares for nights on end. I still feel very blessed he shared that with me. I wish I still had that project in writing. I can't imagine the horror he went through, which was clear to me after that discussion together how much it affected him. I actually felt bad afterwards, it was only then i was told about the effects of talking about it were. He was such a rigid and strong man, and to see that type of response from events that took place long ago, I can only imagine what he and the millions of others experienced

It sounds like OddBall had a kindred spirit in that M8! :)

I remember hearing of this story about this tank duel between M8 Greyhound armored car and a Tiger II during the later half of the Battle of the Bulge to summarize the battle, during a German offensive against American forces a Tiger II was able to push through American lines but in doing so it over extended itself. Nearby a M8 Greyhound's commander spotted the Tiger II, noting that the Tiger II didn't see his armored car he decided to sneak up on the Tiger II and fire a couple of 37mm APCR rounds into the rear of the tank where its armor was at its weakest with his M6 cannon. the nimble M8 was able to sneak up upon the Tiger II and it fired 2-3 rounds into the rear of the Tiger crippling its engine, the Tiger's commander now aware of the M8 tried to turn his tank's turret around to kill the M8 all the while the M8 was firing round after round into the Tiger's rear. by the time that the Tigers turret was almost completely turned around the M8 scoured a hit on the Tiger's fuel tank setting it ablaze (it probably could've been contained with FCS), the Tiger II's commander ended up loosing his none existent nerve and panicked ordering his crew to get out of the tank due to this. this only got him and his crew killed by the M8's machine gun. this story reminds me of a quote from a book called "The Art of War" in which its says "if you know yourself and you know your enemy, you shall not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but you don't know your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you don't know neither yourself nor your enemy, you shall fall in every battle"

My great granddad was 106th infantry mp platoon. They had just got in country a couple days prior to the battle of the bulge. The 106th was green as could be. His platoon took out a tank during the battle and gunned down an officers car that had got lost and drove through their checkpoint. St Vita was a hard fought battle, most of the Americans were barely out of high school and barely out of the USA in general.

another piece of history for us to enjoy.Thank you,History guy,I have watched over 50 of your videos and have gained much knowledge and enjoyment .Thank you so much.Steve in Clearwater,fl.

Please do a video about the destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Johnson. It and its crew proved size does not matter.

I had two Uncles that fought and only had a chance to listen to one of them. But no matter who we listen to either in person or on tv they always play down how they were almost killed by what they did. Meaning of course, their friends didn’t make it. Listening to him talk and what he went through will always stay in my mind. Combining that with the few others we had a chance to listen to makes a story of incredible courage.

When I was a kid I played the 1965 version of Avalon Hill's Battle of the Bulge game. In the early part of the game the Germans had overwhelming strength, vastly out numbering the Allies. But using the terrain and limited roads available the Allies just had to slow the Germans down until either the weather cleared so they could get air support, or enough reinforcements to stop the Germans. Learned a lot about what it really was like.

Great story! Another demonstration of audacity combined with sound knowledge and experience being able to overcome presumed advantage by exploiting the enemy's soft spots.

Scouts are JUST crazy enough to pull off defeating a Tiger. I've heard Bradley's were defeating T55's in Dessert Storm w/HE 25mm. If you ain't Cav...

My dad was wounded at St. Vith also, Rick. He was a dental officer attached to an artillery company but, as anyone who has served in the military knows, in desperate situations everyone is an infantryman. He was wounded on the 17th and evacuated to a hospital in Liege. As with many combat stories there is also a bit of humor and my dad loved to recount this one: He had size 13AA feet and had a terrible time finding combat boots that fit him and when he arrived at the hospital the standard procedure was to strip the soldier down and then replace his uniform, including boots, when he was returned to duty. He was just a 1st lieutenant but fought tooth and nail with the medical staff, most of whom out ranked him, until they agreed to tie his precious boots to his stretcher and then his bed so that he could keep an eye on them. God bless them both Rick,

I recently found out My great uncle served in Patton’s 3rd Nelson Moreland Brewer . Killed November 1944 by a unexploded ordnance when he exited his tank . He was a tester at a tank plant in Michigan and had a deferment but insisted on going overseas to serve in the field . I am trying to learn more about him , I am very proud of him. Thank you for your channel, I greatly enjoy it.

My grandfather was among the advance sniper scouts that was trapped behind the bulge. He was wounded and later rescued by General Patton.

So glad I have found your channel, some great moments from history well worth remembering.

My father was in the St. Vith area. He never told me about his experiences but mom did. Later after I was back from Vietnam in the Navy he did tell some. Never horror stories but comical situations which do happen. My Uncle told me his stories and even showed me pictures he had taken on the battlefield. He was in artillery.

This guy really overstates some of these events. By this time in the war M8 crews, Sherman tank crews, Bazooka crews, and many others were highly trained and skilled in the art of stealthy laying in wait and ambush for all size tanks, including Tiger tanks. On the other end of the continent, Red Army soldiers were doing it regularly with scout vehicles and infantry antitank weapons similar to, if not actually, the Bazooka. And it helped that the German crews were young, lightly trained, inexperienced, and unskilled. Not that this is not an example of phenomenal bravery, but it was happening every where all over the world at this particular slither of time in history. Point of fact: casualties are killed and wounded. Casualties do not include the category "caputured".

One other thing the story teaches is that armies shouldn't operate heavy armor without close infantry support.

Incredible story, wow, never would have thought it, but the M8 commander was smart enough the know his foe

God bless all the veterans who fought in WWII for the freedom of the world. My Dad was an MP up in Alaska looking over at Russia. I have just found this channel and am very glad I have. History is fascinating. Thanks for the video.

Never under estimate your opponent. This story illustrated that point exactly. Great job history guy.

Beautifully scripted and told. You have such skills as a raconteur!

Nice way to start my day - Five Minutes of enthusiasm and information! Thanks for sharing...

Flashback. I just came across this title in your catalog. A wonderful re-telling of an ultimate David-Goliath story, though the commenter below does add some interesting detail (if they are documented). Your comment about the M8 'returning to its previous position was wonderful. You have a true storytelling knack. Thank you.

There's a series on Amazon Prime called Greatest Tank Battles, an episode of which is all about this battle featuring archival footage and a series of 1950's interviews from the generals, CO's, officers and men (from both sides) who fought in the battle. One of the American officers was the son of famous singing cowboy, Roy Rogers, whose tank was the last one out of St. Vith.

I have never heard of this before this video. Thank you.

How about the steel butt of a M-1 Garand rifle against a German heavy tank? From the frontline soldier auto bio book "The Men of K Company", 1985,Leinbaugh and Campbell.( By memory) During the Battle of The Bulge, K Company was ordered to move out at night to a spot on the map and join up with some US tanks. It was pitch black due to a cloud overcast and very difficult to read the poor maps they were given. As they moved up a road they could hear the heavy tanks approaching. The lead Company K Sergeant went up to the lead tank and banged on its side with his rifle and yelled "You're going the wrong way!" The tank commander opened the hatch and said " Was ist los" . Then all hell broke loose. The Sarge ran and jumped into a ditch with a bunch of other guys. After his racing heart beat slowed down and he became aware of his surroundings, he realised that everyone else in the ditch was speaking German. The Sarge eased his way out of the ditch and disappeared into the forest The authors of "The Men of K Company" interviewed by phone as many of their fellow survivors of K Company that they could find, and stated in the book's foreword that they had enough material to fill 3 books, but due to economics at that time only one book was published. If that unpublished material still exists, perhaps an enterprising historian could find that material and publish it on the internet. - IMO another good book in this same area is " Visions from a Foxhole", 2004, Foley. Good book, bad title. Foley became a commercial artist after the war and has many sketches of what he saw on the front line during WW2 in the book. The 18y/o Foley enlisted in the US Army and after the near useless training he was sent to Europe. The very first day he arrived in Europe he was in a freezing foxhole on the Siegfried line, without winter boots. The book is a recollection of his horrible life on the frontline for 4 months. The book also gives reasons why many frontline soldiers never talk about their war experiences. - I have read 3 or 4 books about WW2 combat along the Siegfried Line and was very surprised to find that many of the rifle companies, such as in the two books mentioned above, suffered over 100% casualties. Soldiers would get killed, wounded, including self-inflicted wounds or have frostbite, emersion skin, pneumonia, etc., etc., and replacements would fill their position, and they would suffer the same problems and be replaced by new replacement soldiers. They had basically a conveyor belt of replacement soldiers. From the books I read, it appears the commanding officers considered the frontline soldiers to be nothing more than disposable scum. In many cases the frontline soldiers, who received the vast majority of the casualties, were given the worst of everything. Hundreds of frontline soldiers in the Siegfried Line area seeing they would either be killed or horribly wounded, shot themselves in the foot, to get out of the hell they had been forced into.

The way you surf the energy of this story is inspiring

Wow!!! ...mere seconds away from certain Annihilation - and to wipe out a Tiger tank!! That bold action saved SO many. That's David & Goliath stuff there.

brilliant as usual......have you covered Mad Jack Churchill yet? I think he's the only guy to kill an enemy, Nazi, soldier in ww2 using a long bow. He also started the craze for surfing up tidal bores

You teach me about a lot of things I had never heard of. Thank you.

I love how history guy tends to always choose really great true hero stories that illustrate how ordinary people often do extraordinary things. History guy is probably the best show on KZfaq. History Guys heart is in the exact right place.

If he only knew how good this is. Congrats on 1mil subscriptions. May you find happiness and success on your all of your future ventures. So elegant, so articulate. Your channel is one that contributes to global stability and you have helped me stay grounded through learning. Cheers to a million more! Thank you everyone for your hard work and dedication!

I wish my teachers at school were like you. Great video!

A fine example of how the opportunity if take even with inferior equipment the day can be won. A guy who lived down my street won a VC by knocking out a panther with a PIAT

I had heard this story before, but never with such excitement and detail. Thank you

You are, by far, one of the most interesting Historians, ever. You bring history to life with accuracy and enthusiasm, which I so greatly appreciate!

Wow...I had never heard of this...fantastic..!! Wasn't that Winter one of the harshest in many, many years? I suppose that this little engagement just got lost among all of the other amazing battles that happened in this famous Battle of the Bulge. Thank you very much for sharing this with us.

MORAL: It's not the enemy at your front you worry about. It's that Yank with a shiv sneaking up behind you.

My favourite story of WWII (of potential dubious or exaggerated source) was when the RAF attempted to disguise some airfields as ports or shipping lanes using lights. A HE111 was shot during a night mission and "ditched" onto the airport, thinking it was water. The story went on to say that Germans jumped out with life jackets, landing flat faced onto the ground. Although this sounds far fetched, the channel fog is legendarily thick.

One of my favorite sayings "Speed kills", usually referring to todays driving conditions, but in this case, the nimbleness of the M8 armored car vs. the Tiger, it was the quickness of thought, and the quickness of the M8 that won the day. You can truly say in this case, "speed kills" with a different meaning. Thank you History Guy, for your "60 Minutes" quality reporting on historical events. I think you should be on "60 Minutes" or "CBS Sunday Morning" sharing your knowledge with the world, doing exactly what you are doing on this channel.

I've always loved history! Thank you for your very cool videos!

Really glad I found this channel, it's fun and interesting. I love these sort of little snippets of history that are so often overlooked. I would however take issue with "Never mounted another major offensive in the second world war". Don't forget the eastern front - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Spring_Awakening

My dad was a driver of a M-5A1 Stuart tank with the Seventh Armored Division and was at St. Vith during the Battle Of The Bulge in December of 1944. He was one of the lucky ones who had heat. At another time, his tank was hit by a German shell and had the tracks blown.off, so the crew bailed out, taking their machine guns with them and also the breech to their cannon. While they ran back to American lines, they tossed the breech away. It might still be there to this day.

I appreciate how optimistic sounding this man is. It makes listening to his story telling extremely satisfying

Thanks for a great story, well presented!

Stories like these probably inspired a scene in the Clint Eastwood classic war movie "Kelly's Heroes".

Congratulations on your 1 million followers after only 4 years. Had to revisit the “early” days.

It's great to go through the comments here and read about the stories your fathers and grandfathers have given you. Repeat those stories as often as you can as their voices will eventually fall silent. My dad was a Marine and involved in the Pacific Theater then later in the Korean War. As generations move on these stories will be lost if we do not try to keep them alive. And future generations will tear down the memorials that we have erected just as the ones that previous generations have erected are being torn down now. And don't for a minute think that they will not. Some future generation will complain, wring their hands and cry about the Arizona weeping in the sea surrounding her. And another memorial to incredibly brave men will be lost. Tell the stories.

6:00 ... 25 yards is actually 75 feet, by my count☺. Excellent video though.

Ambushing Tiger tanks and attacking from the rear was often the only way to kill them. That's how they got Michael Wittmann. Interesting that the final throw of the dice for Germany in the west in both world wars involved German troops from the Eastern Front. The trouble for those troops is that in both cases they were used to fighting in the open space of the Eastern Front, as opposed to the more confined space of the fighting in the west. This was illustrated perfectly by the fact that the Bulge attack was across the direction of the landscape making their task more fraught then it needed to be. The attack was south east to north west while the ridges and valleys were north east to south west. The attack should not have been the surprise it was. US military intelligence, through the Ritchie Boys, had warned the top brass about the build up in the Ardennes. But they just dismissed the idea. Ironically a number of Ritchie Boys were captured by the SS and summarily executed.

I love hearing stories like this. We were raised to think on our feet. If you do something even if it's wrong,you can change it and learn. If you don't do anything, you can't change anything. It makes me sad that our schools and leaders teach youngsters to stand and watch today. It is showing up on the workforce. If they eliminated all history curriculum and only showed your program, it would be a great improvement

My Uncle, my father’s older brother, Uncle Russell C Applegate Jr. was a corporal in what my Grammy said was the “ Army Corps of Engineers”. He was leading a battalion behind a Sherman tank when,as he told my Dad, the tank driver got scared and turned the tank into a hedgerow. He marched on and left the “ Battle of the bulge” a Sargent after receiving a field promotion and several medals according to his daughter,my Godmother and eldest cousin, Judith Lee. Unfortunately he passed away in 1974 of leukemia at only 55 years of age. He was a wonderful uncle and a great father to his 4 children.

Excellent story!

I really love your accent. Nice video . I have been on this place's. Greed from Belgium and thumb up .

I love that you take these wonderfully vivid stories and turn them into life lessons that can be applied by anyone in their day to day lives. Not oly that, but these stories give me a whole new level of respect for all participants in war and the military. Thank you for spending the time and resources to share these. Best regards, friend.

I witnessed an M2A2 ODS Bradley take out a T-72 at 25M in April of 2003. The T-72 was hiding in an Alleyway while we zig zagged through some side streets. A woman came out to stop us from following our lead track try to convey some danger. We radioed the lead vehicle but they didn’t answer. All of a sudden the traversed to the 3 o’clock position and hauled ass backwards and the gunner put between 10-15 AP rounds into the alley. After that we rolled on through no one exited what was left of the tank. That wasn’t even the craziest thing that happened that day either. Rock of the Marne.

This is an imposter No Bow tie .. who is this guy?

Also note that the US forces have mostly allowed those other than officers to make command decisions when an opportunity like this presents itself. Most other countries, to this day, keep very strict and ridged command and would of had to push it up the chain off command before allowed to act.

Perhaps another lesson this M8 vs Tiger duel teaches us is that there is no such thing as a small enemy. A lesson that deserves to be remembered. This too is a reason why I value your channel so much. God bless.

I grew up in the 50's. Our neighbor across the street fought at St. Vith. His wife and my mother were close friends, and she told my mom her husband had been captured at St. Vith, and put on a train back to Germany. Along the journey allied planes attacked the train, not knowing allied prisoners were on the train. The man sitting next to my neighbor was killed by the attack. He never spoke of it, and looking back, he was a very quiet and somewhat odd acting man. I can't imagine how that must have affected the rest of his life. Fortunately, he wasn't a prisoner for very long, as the war at that point was in its final stages.

Have you noticed, that at least twice before, the Germans attacked through the Ardennes?

2:00 *NUTS!*

Great story well told! My long time friends dad was in the Battle of the Bulge, he was in the 101st PIR and made all 3 combat jumps and survived to come home, he had some pretty hairy and amazing stories. My own grandfather was in the Rainbow Division and with the troops at Dauchau when they liberated it. As kids we worshiped these men and always wanted to hear stories. We didnt have the sensitivity at our age then not to ask questions like most adults would not bring up and we were forgiven I'm sure. Thanks fir another great piece of history, history guy! Maybe you should have a contest on who can guess your name, I'm sure that will be a piece of history that deserves to be remembered too.

Actually the last major counterattack on the Western Front was possibly Operation Nordwind that began I believe on Dec. 31st 1944 through late January 1945. I think it was supposed to be a companion piece to the Bulge. Patton had shifted forces from the south up to relieve Bastogne. The Germans then attacked the weakened lines south of the Bulge. The attack was on a much smaller scale, but had it been stronger and developed as planned it would have cut Patton's rear off and so relieved German troops in the Bulge. In my own research I compared the numbers of troops involved in both operations and it appears that if one considers the numbers of troops involved that U.S. casualties were higher per capita than in the Bulge. Definitely worth one of your episodes.

25 yards would be 75 feet, not 150. Still, a gutsy move!

wow! just wow!

Correction: the Ardennes offensive was not the last major offensive in the war. That distinction belongs to Operation Spring Awakening (Fruhlingserwachen) in 1945 at Lake Balaton in Hungary. The Ardennes battle was the last major offensive on the western front.

I had never heard about theis battle until the mid 70's. I was a British soldier serving in BAOR, Germany and was on leave in Birmingham, England. My brother in law, Ray was a truck driver and was going on an over nighter and asked me if I wanted to go along. I did so for the ride as I had accompanied many times as a young teenager and we were good friends. In the town where we were staying the local cinema was showing this film and we decided to see it. I was a bit reluctant as war movies were low on my priority list, having combat service in Northern Ireland I was not interested in Hollywood's sham heroism. The star was Telly Savalas, who at the time was starring as Kojak on the TV and that was the only reason to see it, and there was only this film on the cinema at that time. I remembered that I quite enjoyed the film and on returning to my unit recommended it to my buddies, which was unusual for me at that time.

Fate favors those who understand their situation and act without hesitation when opportunities present themselves.

Sorry,don’t mean to be picky,25 yds is only 75 ft ,which is pretty darn close

Two things the rounds the M-8 fired from its M-6 37mm cannon were the M-51 APCBC and were capable of penetrating 61mm of RHA steel at 500m, at point blank 25m the rounds can go through 84mm of RHA. The tank in question that day was not a Tiger-I but was in fact the newer, more heavily armored King-Tiger/Tiger-II at 68.5 tons. The rear hull armor is 80mm, as is the side turret armor making a point blank series of three rounds of armor piercing 37mm shot more than capable of killing it. FYI: the Tiger series I and II as well as Panther and Panzer Mk-I through IV were all petrol/gasoline powered so they burned/brewed up when the fuel/engines were hit.

I've been watching your videos for a few days now and I have to say that beyond the stirring and moving Stories and information, I am impressed by the commentary and life lessons attached that give impetus to action in our lives today by remembering the past. Thank you.

Great story. Great enthusiasm. 25yds = 150ft ?

Impressive story. But I can't help but doubt whether it was actually possible for M8 to penetrate the Tiger. (whose rear had 60mm of armor and was slightly angled. There were exhaust pipes that could help deflect the 37mm shots somewhat.) Could you kindly provide the sources for the after action report please?

Great episode! I had literally read the story last night and you just brought it to life!

So powerful a metaphor. Your purpose to point out. Well articulated and timed. Bravo!