Tank Factory.

Well posted VP.

Just been reading the Tiger rebuild journal on the bovvy page about how carefully the torsion bars and arms should be fitted, you look at how fine the splines are its not surprising and in the short there hitting them in with an 8lb sledge.

 

Adam,

Excellent video showing the construction.
Than you for sharing.

Regards
Tom

 

Wow! They surely knew how to make shavings

 

clicked on the link and it says the video has been removed

found it by search

 

Vp -
all very interesting and showing how efficient the Germans were in the manufacture of Panzers BUT - guess who won with their less than adequate Churchill and Sherman Tanks ....!

I worked in Birmingham prior to call up on the hulls of Crusader Tanks and when the drillers made a slight error - we would fill the error with an aluminium plug - scared the hell out of me when in training on Crusaders to think that I might have to fight in one which I had made ....happily all my fighting was in Churchills ...with someone else's errors ..
Cheers

 

Well said Tom,

All this banging on about the German war machine and the SS, B*****Ks.

Quantity has a quality all of its own!

PS if all their gear was good? How come they lost? Possibly because they were led by a nut case!

 

Closing sequence reminds me of an anecdote from a US soldier in training. German PoW's were used around camp for various work details and the GI's had the impression that the Germans were smirking at the casual manner of GI drill. Later he observed the solemn faces of the prisoners when train after train, loaded with Sherman tanks, passed the camp.

 

VP -
I would agree that the Panzer manufacturers performed well under the constant bombing they endured - but some of their gear was nothing to write home about- thinking about their half track - it was a pitiful object after a few miles work and some of the Panzers were not all that good apart from the big guns and tactics -in many cases they were very lucky -

As from much of my reading on the NWE campaign 2nd Army were not all that well trained and it was apparent that many lessons learned in the African campaigns - Sicily and Italy were ignored and forgotten particulary in the "Cab Rank" - but then that was under Conningham and not Broadhurst who had perfected that tactic in Tunisia - after Tedder - Conningham and Brereton had defected to Ike's HQ at Algiers...
Cheers

 

Possibly because they were led by a nut case!

As a certified nutcase I have to say that I resent your statement.

Now seriously, the theory that the entire fault for German defeat being aused singly by Adolf is very much outdated, it was caused by an enormous witches brew of military, economical and industrial circunstances, methods and decisions by many other than Hitler.

Lot of impressive production stuff achieved in the face of bombings, bottlenecks & material shortages; I can't take that away from 'em

Hmm, yes, hulls in one plant wainting for guns, guns in other plants waiting for turrets, tanks waiting for gunsights, electrical motor plants waiting for copper wire, hydrogenation plants waiting for coal, engines waiting for petrol, farms witing for more foreign slaves, factories having the current crop of slaves taken away because some party guy decided to go over another party guy, etc, etc, etc. What baffles me is how they lasted so bloody long.

I reckon we do OK at keeping excessive Panzer fanboy-ism and the 'Tigerz R Kule' brigade at bay.

And thank goodness for that!

 

Hi Za, and Von Poop,

I'm afraid that I couldn't list all the reasons that the Germans Failed to capitalise on their attempt to rule the world, or at least a large part of it, as I just don't have the time or space, so I just hit on the ones I think contributed to it in some greater, or lesser degree.

e.g. A bloke who starts moving units around on a map in Berlin, down to Bn level and doesn't inform the Theatre, Army, Corps or Div Cmdr needs to re-asses his strategic education.

Not putting your countries industries onto a war footing when you decide to start a World War suggests that his economic and industrial planning needs to be brushed up on.

And then organising the ethnic cleansing of, not just the Jews but, the gypsies, Slavs, persons in mental institutions etc, etc.

Umm, sounds like a f*****g nut case to me.

I agree some of their equipment is impressive, sexy, even ahead of its time, but it will not beat good planning and industrial might.

This, of course, is a personal view and is available to be shot to pieces by anyone who cares to have a go. Bottom line is, eventually, the good guys won.

 

Hi Za, and Von Poop,

I'm afraid that I couldn't list all the reasons

Surprise surprise, the list is long indeed! As I recently said in some other thread, what surprises me is how long they lasted.

I agree some of their equipment is impressive, sexy, even ahead of its time, but it will not beat good planning and industrial might.

I'm sure that if the Allies had painted their vehicles in those pretty camo schemes and the Germans went olive drab and kakhi, perhaps they would not look so sexy. I had already said the same thing elsewhere about the Germans wearing the British battledress (not that I see anything wrong in it) instead of those pretty Hugo Boss (per the myth) uniforms.

 

The Germans didnt start out to rule the world per se, they got dragged into a war wtih Britain and France they didnt want because of their failure to see that after Czechoslovakia, the West had had enough of Hitlers bullying. Hitler wanted a series of short, sharp victories and putting the industrial base on a war footing was not what he had in mind. Long-Term Planning and the Nazi Regime are two mutually incompatible terms. Like Za said, the miracle was that they held out for so long. The only thing that Hitler actually kept in his sights was the eastwards expansion. In this he was consistent. Anyway even if they did get their industries in gear, the Allies build hte bomb and Germany loses, end of.

 

Hi Za and Gerard,

I think I've seen German tank crews in a sort of British battledress type short jacket and as for Olive Drab (or as my wife calls the colour I painted our shed "Old English Green") you can't get a better colour, apart from battleship grey.

As for the plan, for short sharp victories (ah yes we'd all like those Mr Nixon, Mr Blair and I believe now Mr Cameron - it's all going to be over by Xmas; who said that?). Well "No plan survives first contact" and "a plan that can't change is a bad plan". Well Mr Hiter's plan was a bad one. perhaps he should have listened to his General Staff - people who knew their business - perhaps this is why they lasted so long.

 

John, German uniforms evolved with time and became more practical , easier to produce and, shall we say, less attractive as time progressed. What I meant had more to do with the mental image fed by the long-enduring Myth, part of which are those initial slick uniforms and pretty paint schemes. Shallow as it will seem to you, some people will still fall for this.