This video is part of a number of specials we're doing on the military context to Operation Barbarossa. You can check out Indy's video about transport vehicles and logistics here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/atKDdtGA0dq9lI0.html. If you want to help us make a complete documentary series on World War Two through more specials just like this one, you can join the TimeGhost Army on www.patreon.com/timeghosthistory or timeghost.tv. Take care, Joram . *RULES OF CONDUCT* STAY CIVIL AND POLITE we will delete any comments with personal insults, or attacks. AVOID PARTISAN POLITICS AS FAR AS YOU CAN we reserve the right to cut off vitriolic debates. HATE SPEECH IN ANY DIRECTION will lead to a ban. RACISM, XENOPHOBIA, OR SLAMMING OF MINORITIES will lead to an immediate ban. PARTISAN REVISIONISM, ESPECIALLY HOLOCAUST AND HOLODOMOR DENIAL will lead to an immediate ban.

"Steiner will attack with his 7.92 cm cannons." "Mein Fuhrer..."

Indy, your tie looks like a NERF ball. 4/5

Can’t say no to a Barbarossa tank special!!!

What Operation Barbarossa? I thought the planned attack on the USSR is a bluff. Damn spoilers...

My father drove the T-26 ,BT7 in Finland and then the T-34 during Barbarossa . He said some of the tanks had no seats and he had to drive sitting on ammunition crates . His tank was ineffective because lack of ammunition and like you said poor communication. No hits penetrated the tanks armour but His tank was disabled by Stuka dive bombers. Out of fuel he was overrun and eventually captured.

It's intriguing that in the early years of the war (1939-1941), allied tanks such as the T-34, KV-1, and the French Char B had far better armor and firepower than virtually all of the blitzkrieg panzers; it was simply superior German tactics and discipline that prevailed.

Imagine if every single tank was a mighty thicc Bob Semple

“This video is sponsored by world of tanks.”

If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained, you'll also suffer a defeat. -Sun Tzu

Oh hey, it's me again. The guy who talked about Romanian a lot a couple months ago. So today, since we're talking tanks, lets talk about Romania's armoured forces at the outset of Barbarossa! In 1919, as part of French-Romanian collaboration, 76 Renault FTs were supplied to Romanian, forming the First Armoured Regiment. 48 were males with the 37mm gun and 28 were females with an 8mm Hotchkiss machine gun. 17 were refurbished at the Leonida works and the State Armoury at Bucharest. These were eventually moved to a separate FT Regiment, created for training new tankers once more modern vehicles were acquired. These vehicles never saw combat, but it's worth mentioning. In 1936, Romania acquired replacements for the heavily outdated FTs in the form of 126 Skoda LT vz. 36s, designated the R-2. Indy discussed this vehicle, as it was also used by the Germans. In fact, the Romanians had ordered more from Czechoslovakia, which never made it as they were still in the factories during the annexation of Czechia. Armed with a 37mm gun, two machine guns, and equipped with a radio, it was the best vehicle in service with the 1st Armoured Division at the outset of Operation Barbarossa, but still heavily out classed. It would remain as the mainstay of the 1st Division until 1943, when it would be replaced by the Panzer IV. In 1938, 200 Renault R35s were ordered from France, though only 41 arrived before the fall of France due to slow deliveries. However, 35 more were taken from Polish units fleeing into Moravia in 1939. On November 1, 1939, the 2nd Armoured Regiment was created using these vehicles, the 1st and 2nd Regiments being combined into the 1st Division. The R35s low-velocity 37mm gun was deemed inadequate for anti-tank duty, and so these were designated as anti-infantry vehicles only. It also lacked a radio, making it poor for blitz operations. Also in Romanian service was the AH-IVR, a tankette utilized by the Recon elements of the Romanian Cavalry divisions. This vehicle was another Czech design, as with... well most Romanian equipment. The AH-IVR had a two-man crew, a driver on the left side and a commander/gunner in a rotating turret on the right. The driver had a machine gun mounted in the hull to his right, operated by a Bowden cable. In the turret was mounted another machine gun in a ball mount, operated by the gunner. The AH-IVR shared the riveted construction of the R-2, with armour ranging in thickness from 6 to 12 milimetres. These vehicles were utilized primarily for scouting, so their limited armament was not seen as much of an issue. Alongside these vehicles were several armoured cars of Czech design, including the Skoda vz. 25, vz. 27, and Tatra vz. 29. The First Armoured Division was rounded out by two Motorized Vanatori Regiments (3rd and 4th), and the 1st Motorized Artillery Regiment. The Division wouldn't take part in the initial fighting, though it would be used in offensives in the Ukraine later on this year, being assigned to the 4th Army. However, Romanian lacked the industry to produce tanks of its own, and thus would have to rely on German lend-lease to replenish their losses. We'll have to see how that one goes for them... Main sources this time are from the Tank Encyclopedia and WorldWar2.ro.

Don't want to sound boring but the photo on 10:18 is one of the Palace Square in St Petersburg (Uritsky Square in Leningrad by the time the picture was taken) and definitely not the Red Square in Moscow. It shows the Winter Palace (aka the Hermitage) and the Alexander Column. Anyway, great job as usual, many thanks to all the crew!

The Soviet also fielded some Kv-2 (unknown number), T-35 (58 on June 1 1941 (wikipedia)) and t-28 (411 at the beginning listed on Wikipedia)

Who would win The entirety of Panzergroup 4 Or 1 KV boi

I'd love to get my hands on some 7.92cm machine guns.

Everyone Gangsta till the KV-1 appear in the front

10:59 There were tungsten rounds for the 5cm gun used by the Panzer III that could penetrate a KV-1, although they were only available in very limited numbers.

The "I cannot predict just what is going to happen" joke makes me laugh every time. I love the clips - just awesome.

I consider myself pretty well read on ww2 but I always find out more when I watch you guys. Glad to be a patron.

Everybody is always talking about the T-26 tank but not much is ever said about the BT series. Would really like a special about them.

I could say that StuGs were kinda oddball in German army as those were part of the artillery branch (very prestigious one) and not in Panzer units. Which some Panzer proponents never stopped complaining about, particularly a certain Heinz Guderian. "Wait? Weren't StuGs used as replacement tanks?" some may ask and to that I say "Yes but later in the war and that is interesting subject alone". For Barbarossa, Germany had organized the 250 or so StuGs into 10-12 battalions (each battalion had 18-20 vehicles) and several independent batteries (each battery had 4-7 Stugs) which were scattered to support various armies but not in motorised formations as those could call upon Panzers. During Barbarossa, StuGs were used particularly in cracking open some of the pockets that rapid advance created but even in this they were never used against other tanks (although 75 HE shell could crack T-26 and BT -tanks) and StuGs were limited to engaging machine-gun nests and field artillery. After Barbarossa, some StuG battalions would be re-named as StuG-Brigades without actually changing its formation into the size of an Brigade which may confuse some. Although there would be many changes in 1942 particularly after introduction of model F/8 which turned StuG from mobile armored gun casemate into a tank-killing meme machine we all love.

The Panzers III and IV were the workhorses of the German army during the war. Majority of the tank at Kursk I believe were IIIs and IVs

*Thank you so much for these videos... All of you guys over at the World War Two channel are absolute legends for doing these WWII in real time series... as well as these special episodes that dive deeper into different aspects of the war. Really love these videos where you go in depth of different topics during the war. Very happy I found your channel recently and have so many videos to binge watch... I feel bad for people who have already seen these older videos and are waiting for the new episodes weekly, while I am watching for the first time these amazing videos... This series may be over by the time I get to the end of the war... Thank you guys for making these videos, when I get the ability to donate & support you guys financially, you can bet your bottom dollar that I am for sure throwing my money at you guys for the wartime effort to keep fighting! 😂*

Man the fact that this content is available on youtube(for free) puts History channel to shame!!!! I will support this work as soon I can get a job after this curent crysis.

There is slight issue in the conversion at 2:42, it should say '0.31in' not '3.1in'. EDIT: there are multiple instances of this issue.

Where is The Chieftain though? I need my 30 minute rant on tanks by the man with the Cavalry hat!

We get really obsessed with tank v tank performance when the main point of a tank is to support infantry.

First logistics and now tanks. This makes me happy. :)

2:44 is should be 7,92 mm (.31") instead of cm :) With double 7,9 cm autocannons it would be indeed a death star like tankette ;)

There are still too many Tiger fan boys and such out there. I'll just show them this amazing video when next discussing Operation Barbarossa.

It's interesting to take note of the different ideas on how tanks are to be used and made. To many comparisons boil it down to stats of the individual tanks. Good on you guys for talking about the production and tactics that both nations have towards their tank forces.

"well I'm glad you asked" jajajajaj great sense of humor you got Indy, you've become one of the things I eagerly await weekly.

Czechoslovak tanks (Panzer 35 (t) and 38 (t)) will constitute an important part of the tanks employed by the Germans and Romanians against the USSR. They were very good against Soviet light tanks.

But they don’t have our tanks like the Type 63, they wish they did

I was expecting the Chieftain but you did a really good job Indi

As a ww2 nerd this is the one of the best videos I've ever nerded out to on KZfaq. Everyone loves the eastern front, esp, barbarossa and, everyone loves talking about panzers

Given your description of German tanks in this episode and your previous special about the logistics of Barbarossa, I am amazed that the Germans managed to be as successful in the initial stages as they were. A lot of what you are describing seems to be setting the Germans up for failure so it will be interesting to see why they were so successful at first.

The KV was truly a technological hiatus between Germany and Russia in 1941. No German AT Gun could get through its armor until the appearance of the PAK 40 in 1942. In 1941 Germans had to rely on the Flak 36 to do the job. Contrary to the earlier versions of the T-34, which had many flaws in terms of vision ports and turret size given the fact it was a rushed into action tank, the KV, on the other hand, was a better conceived tank. It had more proper outside vision for the crew, the turret was big enough to fit three men inside. While theoretically it was still feasible for a Panzer III with the short 50mm barrel to fight an early version of the T-34 if it managed to close the distance with it, which was not a difficult thing to do, yet, I think neither the short 50mm nor the longer L60 50mm of it would be able to get through the KV armor, even at blank ranges. I have never seen so far a comparison between the KV-1 and the Panzer III L60 fighting against each other. It would be very interesting to see that. The KV-1 was quite much responsible for saving the city of Leningrad, stopping many units from Army Group North and delaying them.

About the BT-7 and sloped armor: the tank which had sloped armour was the M version of the BT-7 tank. They were several versions of the BT tank, most prominently the normal BT-7, which had a standart 20k 45mm gun, the BT-7M which had a 20k 45mm gun and sloped armour and the BT-7A (A standing for "Artillery"), which had a short-barreled 76mm field gun. All of them were considered as "glass cannons" by the soldiers: they weren't well armoured but they packed a really good punch at the time, and they were freaking fast.

Great coverage, content & commentary. Well done sir. Thank you

Your videos are amazingly accurate and well informed , thank you for these masterpieces 👌🏻

I don’t know why but I feel like Soviet Union going to lose against Germany, even though I know that Germany lost against the Soviet Union

Tanks a lot Indy and Time Ghost Crew!

I`ve always enjoyed playing with my Czech 34T and 38T tanks in microarmor games....I have tons and tons of French, Soviet, British, Italian, American, and German WW2 armor and other vehicles (representing from very early war to end of war), as well as some Japanese ACVs.....ah the sound of an 88L 76...good times of the miniatures tabletop war gaming...T U for another great show Indy and guys!! I always enjoy your stuff. I have replayed many scenarios from the initial German advance into Belgium (vs. French Somuas etc.), Stalingrad to Rostov and Karkov etc...and this episode brought back many fun memories of great gaming at conventions etc...T U.

10:18 that's not Red Square, that's Palace Square in St Petersburg

It would be cool if they could colab with Mark Felton Productions if they do another of these for DDay

Every episode is extremely enlightening and informative. I honestly watched some episodes and I didn't think they would be good but they were keep up the great work guys

Great Video. Thanks for focusing on the Tanks of WW2.Love the channel !

Hi Indy and crew. I love all your shows and have been watching for a while now, i had a question maybe for out of the foxholes. Was Carl Mannerheim a knight of the Mannerheim cross himself?

Lightning McQueen must have been inspired by the blitzkrieg The Germans are speed

Still terrifying 80 years later to see a soviet tank on my Riga's old railroad bridge at 09:25.

I should also be said, that the primary purpose of tanks is not to fight other tanks. That's what anti-tank guns are for, as they are much cheaper than a tank and can be more easily concealed. They were not as mobile tho, as most of them were not self-propelled.

Hi Indy and team! Concerning your statement towards the fact, that the Wehrmacht had no tank mounted weapon that could penetrate a KV tank. That is not completely true. The independent tank destroyer battalion 521, subordinated to Army Group Center, Panzergruppe 2, XXIV. motorized korps in support of 3rd Panzer Division, had two "Dicker Max" prototypes. They fielded a 10,5cm K18 artillery gun on a Panzer-IV-chassis with 50mm of frontal armour. It was deployed as a heavy tank destroyer and infantry support gun. This gun could penetrate the KV's 90mm of armour at a range of more than 2.000m (111mm at 2.000m, 155mm at 500m). Well yes, there were only two of them at all and one was destroyed just four days into the campaign, but your strickt thesis is not correct. Additionally, the Wehrmacht fielded the Panzerjäger I, which was a czech 4,7cm gun on a late Panzer-I-chassis. They had a armour piercing capability comparable to the newest Panzer III (up to 59mm at 500m, 41mm at 1.000m),but no armour whatsoever. They were organized in independent tank destroyer battalions (like the mentioned 521). 202 Panzerjägers were built in total, I have yet to find a number of vehicles in June '41. As you mentioned the StuG III, of which - by this point - only around 400 were built in total (and some lost in France), it is only fair to mention its little brother, that was employed in the same manner. In all other respects this was a very enjoyable episode! Well done

9:13 "Betushka" means "little BT"...

Tanks for posting.

Nice video, but really should emphasize that early war tactics did NOT call for tank on tank fights. If you are faced with enemy tanks you would not call your own, but instead you would ask for antitank guns antitank rifles and howitzers, this gives you a firepower advantage and superior flexibility. Tanks are for exploiting breakthroughs and overrunning lightly guarded areas.

Now this is pretty interesting. I did not know the Soviets already had so many tanks at the start of the invasion, but their logistical and personnel shortcomings rendered them ineffective or outright useless. That's very cool.

11:23 More specifically: The T-26 up to the model M and the earlier BTs up to the model BT-7 didn't have radios. So only a third of the Soviet tanks at this point have radios.

I really thankful you guys adding subtitles. As a non native english speaker im having hard time to understand english speaking but subtitles helping me

Thanks for the video

10:19 / 13:15 it's not Red Square, it's Leningrad. The tanks are leaving the Uritskogo square (now Palace square). Google KV-1 Leningrad, you'll see this photo.

Yes! I was looking forward to this special!

Crazy that a 7 year old tank was obsolete in 1941, right now a 7 year old tank would be state of the art, military technology sure did go fast back then.

Thanks for the good extra vid I usually only watch the news but this is great👍

French "trophy" tanks like the Char B? As I understand it. USSR had no more than 400 operational T34's at the time. Even though the USSR had one of the lowest ratios of paved roads to area it was one of the largest, if not the largest, producer of armored cars before 1942. Developed from the Ford AA two wheel drive truck produced under license (this seems to be a thing with some) the BA-3, BA-6 and BA-10 had a 45mm gun. Captured & converted French vehicles in German service www.axishistory.com/books/138-equipment/equipment/4260-captured-a-converted-french-vehicles-in-german-service

Oh, I love me some eastern front. Operation barbarossa coming right up.OH, GOODY GOODY GUM DROPS

TANKS for the video guys!

This "channel" is the best that I've run across in regards to history. Thank you!

1941 Barbarossa in a nutshell: Germany: We have superior tanks and tactics USSR: Laughs in sloped armour and 76 mm gun

Saying that the Panzer 1 was made only for training is perhaps an overstatement, it was used as a training tank and to develope doctrine but it was also built to go into combat. That said, keep up the good work and stay safe!

Great video as always! Would love to see specials like this following Allied and Axis aircraft in the future. Keep up the awesome content!

Why haven't I watched these Specials earlier? These are great, and a great overview on the subject. One small issue, the Pz IV was not an infantry support tank. Stugs were for infantry support. Pz IV's were a tank support tank, since the Pz III never had a decent HE round until the N model, which had the same gun as the early Pz IV's.

10:21 those probably will be three 7.62*mm* machineguns, not cm :)

Missing the captured british and French tanks which were used, sigh ^^ (The Germans made use of a few A10/13s on the eastern front too.

The problem with the Soviet t-26'es and other tanks was that NONE of them were equipped with Armor Piercing shells. Prior to 1941 the Soviet Union did not have a production line for Armor piercing shells. They made few here and there but over 90% of shells made for Tank guns were high explosive anti infantry shells. Anti tank shells were made for artillery and field guns, since the Soviets tank doctrine were completely different than the german's and did not expect to fight tank on tank. However this changed in 41 when the 10 000 light tanks were indeed destroyed by other tanks.

One of the most impressive things about WW2 is the amazingly fast evolution of tanks.

A 7.92 cm machine gun, 3.1", wouldn't be a machine gun any longer... (It's in mm.)

Was Japan at this point in planning for the operation ever considered for the invasion of the Soviet Union?

Outstanding episode !

Excellent I can't wait to see what happens!!

Odd that you specify that Pzkw1 was "meant to be a training vehicle" when MHV has claimed that it is utterly false in one of his more recent videos. Indy, Sparty, care to comment?

"No serious threat in Europe by land will then [when the soviets are defeated] remain. The armaments industry can be diverted to the Navy and Air Force" - That alone says a lot about how stupid or badly considered attacking the Soviet Union was. Sure in Europe yes, but then you would have to fight on several fronts in Asia. There would be so much more land to cover and so many directions to be attacked. Supply trucks alone would have had to be produced in numbers beyond the capability existing land armaments industry, nevermind freeing up capacity.

Brilliant video

Been waiting for this video, nice!

This may sound crazy, but I predict that the Soviet Union will actually win. It may be a hard fight, though.

Ok, before I begin, this idea I'm putting out isn't completely my own. First KZfaqr to bring it up was Chieftain. This is purely a situation where we should NEVER stop questioning things in history. These two phrases are a huge pet peeve of mine: "The Panzer I was DESIGNED as a training tank." and "The Panzer I / II were 'stop gap' tanks." We will start with the later, it is easier to dismiss. There is no such thing as a stop gap tank. It was an evolutionary advancement from previous models. ALL tanks could be considered stop gap tanks. That is like saying the M60 was a stop gap until the US Army got the M1 Abrams. You could argue that the M3 LEE was a stop gap, since there was problems fitting the 76 mm in a turret. Yet, we can all agree that the M3 was a bad idea all around. As for the Panzer I being DESIGNED as a training tank. Chieftain had some harsh words for this, purely on the logistics standpoint. Even a nation that isn't thin on resources like Germany isn't going to devote time, money, or material to develop a "training tank." They are going to create a tank and then train soldiers to use that tank IN that tank. If the tank in question wasn't ready, they could be trained in other vehicles that are far cheaper to make, which the Germans did. You are also not going to design a "training tank" with armor and weapons as if it is going to fulfill a combat role. I think that a lot of our misconceptions that have become common knowledge about the Panzer I comes from looking at it from the end of the war. People find it hard to believe that a nation that was building KING TIGERS could start with something so small as the Panzer i. It has to have been something more than a combat vehicle. So we came up with this idea it was a "training tank" and now everyone just dismisses this as a known variable. It isn't, find me one German Army specification for the development and production of a "training tank." There isn't one. Matter of fact, the specifications for the Panzer I was for a vehicle comparable. with OTHER vehicles of the time. What was the Panzer I's competition in 1934? Well, the biggest was the ubiquitous Vickers 6 ton. Most of the tanks of the period copied that vehicle, including the Russian T26 still in use at Barbarossa. Yet, that was an iteration of the Type B, which was a groundbreaking innovation for the time. The Type A was armed with two machine guns, just like the Panzer I. It had better armor by a few millimetres but was a larger and slower tank. All in all, the Panzer I compared well to the BEST of the era. What else was it going against? Well, the Italians had their little tankettes, like the L3 / 35. That thing was horrible, but was still being fielded in large numbers in 1941. No one ever says it was a "training tank." I mean, they call it a lot of things, but that isn't one of them. Anyway, the point is, we should always fight against conformity in the field of history. Always question what we know, because sometimes it is wrong.

I love you Indy!!!! You make the Best content ive ever seen on YT

Nice video 👌

Comments from gamer armchair generals who think they know about tanks: Loading... I don't have anything against computer games per se.. but there WAS a time when you could research a tank, a gun or an aircraft etc. without having to sift through tons of computer game nonesense before actually getting to the real, legitimate stuff.

Romanian tanks:What is a tank Just a joke but still I don't have manny tanks

In 6 months I hope you guys do a episode like this on American and Japanese aircraft carriers and aircraft. You could also do an episode on various aircraft used.

Barbarossa in 5 days! Finally the most important and interesting part of WW2 on this channel!

Really puts paid to the notion that German armor was key to success in ANY of their campaigns... Against Poland, the advance was relatively slow...and the coup de grace was administered by the Soviet invasion. The primary advantage the German army had over the Polish army was artillery firepower. Against France, the Germans were heavily outnumbered in tanks...and had poorer tanks in general (the Somua 35 and the R series were superior to the Pzw1 and Pzw2, and even the Pzw3s in existence in 1940). The German advantage in the west in 1940 was that the French and British high command simply bungled the fight entirely. This is especially galling when you consider that the French army ALONE had superior firepower to the German army. Against the Soviet Union, it would be the experience of the officer corps and NCOs, coupled with all the doctrinal 'this is how we work together' know how that would be so deadly to the Soviet Army. You can have all the superior equipment in the world, but if you don't have a functioning system to maintain said equipment, nor knowledgeable staff to use it...nor leaders experienced in directing the equipment....a more poorly equipped enemy is going to defeat you tactically.

T-26 and T-34 / KV-1 comments incoming... 😂

Great video. You've forgot about soviet KV-2 and t-35 that were at the battlefield too in June 1941.

Love these!

10:37 Germans WERE AWARE of the T34 threat because soviets used them in the winter war, germans just ignored that fact because they thought soviets dont have a lot of them

Nice to see you back, you look great

Excellent Episode Indeed , hope you will be doing an episode on the Legendary German Acht Acht - 88 mm multiple purpose gun in the near future.

Next episode is gonna be siiiick boiis.