Curator's Tank Museum Tour: Tank Story Hall - Blitzkrieg WW2 | The Tank Museum

well as many of you aware we've had to close the museum to the public because of coronavirus but now we're in a position where we've actually had to close the site to all our staff to start with we're going to do a bit of a sectional tour we'll break in two different pieces of our tank story hall the hall behind me where we've laid out some classic tanks just over 30 of them armoured vehicles there to tell the story of the tank and how it fits in with the story of warfare mainly in the 20th century so we'll start with that one and we'll see how far and how much we can do but please carry on watching carrying on supporting us this talk called this part of the tour of the tank story hall at the tank museum is going to have a look at that area of 1940 the blitzkrieg campaign as we call it or as many people now call it and just a little bit of the build-up and why we put those vehicles those particular vehicles there now I've already talked about that period of experimentation that goes through in the 1920s and 1930s but one of the areas that so often gets forgotten or overlooked or is hidden by German propaganda that is so effective and he's bought into of course by the defeated Allied nations in 1940 this idea that the Germans had been supremely confident had planned all this and knew exactly what they were doing and this stamp this word blitzkrieg explains all that lightning war when in actual fact when you pick apart what was going on in late 1930s how this all occurred that campaign of 1940 it is a very different story and that different story a bit like talking about First World War how myth is very hard to break down once it's established compared to actually there's plenty of evidence has been written about a long time what's behind that myth why did that myth build up and the idea that perhaps that story is a bit different so looking at this period that build-up to war in the 1930s Hitler considered himself a great diplomat he has achieved his aims or many of his aims he's achieving in Europe by sheer effrontery and Bluff not by military force so he comes to power in 1933 as we've mentioned earlier the German military are doing experimentation with armored vehicles they've got ideas they are given almost the leases the leash is taken off the military when Hitler comes to power in 33 they start a program of tank building Hitler is quite happy to see the Versailles peace treaty as he established himself getting ignored all then ripped up so he reintroduces conscription for the German military nothing happens in the West in other words Britain and France we don't do anything about it when he reoccupy the Rhineland again nothing is done about this the angelus in Austria first of all demanding parts of Czechoslovakia and then getting the whole of Czechoslovakia including of course that large arms industry they've got all of this happens through is how Hitler sees it through his diplomatic powers and there's a point where he believes this is going to continue he goes into Poland I mean just before he goes into Poland in 39 one of the most amazing things he's managed to coup is to get a deal with Soviet Russia and Stalin and that idea that fascist Germany actually does a deal with the Soviets you know again it for Hitler and for many in Germany and other parts of the world as well it just sort of seems to show that this guy seems to know what he's all about he's very clever pulling off these diplomatic coos and getting what he wants so the German military it is ready to a certain degree but in 1939 when it goes into Poland it's okay in the sense of it defeats it's much bigger it defeats a Polish army the Polish army have to face up to the Soviets coming in the other direction as well so it's defeated from armies coming on both sides but actually that force is quite a small force that's a German military and it's still a learning force is still struggling with some of its new tanks etc a lot of breakdowns a lot of issues that come out of that but it wins in that campaign what is the shock for Hitler is when war is declared against Poland Hitler thinks he's bluff as it were the way he's been able to handle other European nations will continue his bluff is called in 39 when Britain and France then declare war and Hitler were shocked by that and in turn so is the German High Command because they are not expecting this idea of any sort of major European war at this stage they are simply not ready the German military has already informed Hitler they think if war is likely it won't be to something like about 1943 that there are forces will have been built up in the manner that they want them to so this is a real shock for Hitler he ponders a situation wonders what he's going to do about it decides he is going to attack in the West he is going to actually the French do a small attack in the sour area doesn't come to much but it's going to be Germany that takes a bull by the horns is going to do the attack German High Command are ridiculously worried about this in fact to the point that one of them starts leaking their plans to the Western Allies Britain and France at this particular time Belgium is neutral but the Western Allies just looking at how they think they're going to defend if Germany does attack in the West they've got the French who have built the Maginot Line this massive long fortification on most of their area with borders to Germany where the Maginot Line ends is the Ardennes Forest and then further north where Belgium and Holland are where they these two countries are neutral the French and the British they decide they're going to get their best and their most mobile troops including much of their armor we'll drive into this area to defend it should Germany attack that way and there's a kind of tacit understanding with Belgium there's Belgium is desperately trying to stay neutral but the British and the French work out where they're going to go into something called the Dyle line which is a river that they're going to defend should the German start attacking through Belgium so this early period what's known as a phoney war over the winter it was actually quite keen that the attack goes in sooner it's a German High Command that are holding him off and saying hang on we'd still need more time to try and build up our troops and they actually hold him off for about a month before the attack goes in 29 different start dates for that invasion going back into Belgium France and the Low Countries so so actually the the German High Command they're trying to say hold back a bit wait and one of the other problems that Hitler has is the plan that the German High Command come up with what what it actually sort of seems to do is nothing much in the sense it doesn't seem to lead to a major the potential of a major outcome what they're really doing is a kind of mini Schlieffen Plan they're going to go into Belgium they're going to perhaps capture bits of the French coast and if they manage to do that they've they can then perhaps try and dominate the channel and they'll get some airfields that they can then bomb Britain so but it's not a conclusion it's not an outcome it's not it's not a dramatic it's not going to actually give them a victory it's going to be a start and again at this time as part of this this is when Hitler in 39 is taking steel production away from tanks he's actually putting it into making more shells because he's really seeing that this forthcoming battle is going to be very much in the line of the First World War it's going to be a slog it's going to need artillery it's going to smash its way through and we're gonna have to attack the mount in their line and we might capture a bit of coast but it's going to be artillery because don't forget it was artillery in World War one that was that dominating factor all the time and it is because a german general man stein has come up with a different plan it is not accepted by the German High Command but people get to Hitler it shines with Hitler and man Stein's plan man Stein's invited to meet Hitler he explains his arguments there what what he can do and basically what he's going to suggest is put your armored formation at about this time the Germans have got together about ten pounds a division of their overall 150 divisions so their motorized part of the German military is relatively small there's six other motorized divisions so 16 out of about 150 are motorized the vast majority of the rest of the German military are half of them are still training they're not particularly good at I think it's about over 45% or over the age of 45 or 40 I think it is so they are not this supremely dominant very effective fighting force but a bit of them has been training hard has been getting this new equipment those are those 10 Panzer divisions and what Manstein's saying is if we do a feint into Holland and Belgium draw the Allies as they were going to do up to the diol line let's draw them that way and by the way the Germans have an idea that that's what we're going to do because in January of 1940 plane crashes in Belgium in the fog with the German war plans on board and the Germans trying to actually destroy those people who are on the plane but the Belgium's capture it and they lead to the west so we know that's the way the Germans are going to come Western Allies at the same time that triggers enough of a reaction in the Western Allies that the Germans also get to see what Britain and France would do in such circumstances in other words moving to Belgium so the Germans have been that have given a fair warning of this as well so what happens with man's towns idea is do that feint pretend you're coming through into Holland and Belgium draw the best of the mobile divisions the British and the French into Belgium up to the doll line as was expected but your main force of Tanks is actually going to go north of the Maginot Line through the Ardennes and go hell for leather for the coast and split that armies of France and Belgium into so there will be a major force of the best of the French and Belgian armies and the British trapped in a pocket with the Maginot Line we can deal with that answers separately and the point that what man stars trying to say is if this works you get a really important a significant strategic victory rather than just here we go we've started a war going again Hitler boys into it he thinks it's a great idea already had some ideas of looking at the are dem Forrest himself and it is man Stein's plan that then okw the German High Command then puts into operation there's a number of people that dislike it they're very nervous about this idea about going hell-for-leather for the coast and there's a series of debates go on some nervousness there but there's also some senior figures who basically as soon as Hitler says I like this plan they turn you know completely around and they say yep absolutely Fuhrer will go along with this plan so that is a plan that is enacted in May of 1940 and in essence for the Germans that plan works what is amazing afterwards is there is a a thrust through the Ardennes Forest which is lightly defended by French and Belgian troops that thrust continues it crosses the mers river at sedan this is what Hitler then calls the miracle he is surprised himself at how well this goes he just can't quite believe it after and again damn Hitler's a First World War soldier you know and he's got nerves because remembering back to the First World War you know that advance all the way down to the the Shree Flynn plan right the way down looks like we're about to capture Paris and then the Battle of the Marne stops out at the end so he remembers this so he is nervous he is astounded by the victories of the Panzers make and Guderian in cards one of those Panzer groups he is livid when the nervousness makes its way to the frontline in the sense of saying okay stop just let some of the infantry catch up let's consolidate a bit before you carry on advancing Guderian actually resigns and later in the same days actually encourages reinstated in his position because as a Panzer commander this idea that once we've broken through you don't stop for anything you go hell for leather you avoid enemy tanks at the time and in this area in the 1940 campaign here we've got what many were considered around the world time the best tank in the world the French army tank and this was to me to French requirement they liked the idea of the free tank in France but as we've talked earlier one of the issues about the French army conscript army de Gaulle is arguing from much more professional force let's try and upgrade they're just starting to put armoured divisions two types of armoured divisions like ones and heavier ones together but actually most of the French soldiers that have been called backup and have entered the front line over that winter of 1940 the phoney war and their reservists they are the guys that have gained they only have a certain amount of training each year so they want to keep the tactics for that French army simple we can't get too sophisticated we can't get too over-the-top because actually the force we're going to be using it won't necessarily be up to that but they do like the idea of the tank the char B when it goes into service it's got a stunningly effective 37 millimeter it's an anti-tank gun it's got a howitzer in the hull that can fire high explosives it is well armored protected you know the thickness of the armor on the front there it has a problem like most French tanks it has this same turret that's on the sewer and other French tanks where only the commander can be in that top turret which means he tends to be overworked in what he's doing in other words he's trying to command a tank he's trying to look out for targets and he could be the one quit he'll be firing that anti-tank gun the high-velocity gun that's in the turret as well but when the Americans were looking at the European tank design just before that May 1940 campaign starts kicking off they are looking at the char bein when you think about it the char B is underlying they're designed for the m3 grant in other words a haratz are in the hull an anti-tank gun in a turret on the top and so it's a char B that's that's really the big beast and the Germans are well aware of this so they're Panthers are told do not try and engage in fights with French tanks and when the Germans do such as a battle at stone in 1940 the Germans come off very badly their advantage is thinking about speed and advancing all the time keep going to their plan get to the coast if you do min you meet the enemy charge them quickly don't hang around at all get in there quickly engage and keep moving and that plan for the Germans briefly it works I mean it it's stunningly effective because not only has that breakthrough it sedan taking the French by surprise there's French troops are retreating before the first German tanks and even cross the river there is this enormous shop value that go through the French High Command and that they become almost paralyzed to make sensible decisions about things very fret brave French soldiers a move from pillar to post including their armor gets moved around the place quite often being surprised sometimes by the Germans and other times being literally losing contact with things like supply bowser's and suddenly finding that actually the Germans are not just five miles there now ten miles 20 miles behind their position and for a force that thought it was going to be fighting a mainly linear battle I the Maginot Line and some defensive lines in Belgium this is just not what they were thinking of and what comes out so clearly is not just the collapse of the French High Command but this idea that the whole operation of the Germans is going at a completely different pace and inside the decision-making circle of the French High Command in other words you know they are doing it the French have turned up for a marathon they're thinking they were there keeping some of their forces back by the way thinking this is gonna be a long old slog like World War one we're gonna have to gear up industry etc the Germans are going hell-for-leather they want a sprint they are determined to see a quick victory out of this or that's a design of this campaign and as an example the French High Commander he sank to the new high-compression that's put in to replace him ends up going on a fact-finding mission wastes about three days when some form of attack against his advancing German and panzer columns you know was absolutely necessary the British get very frustrated about this they retreated back from Belgium a couple of their armoured four divisions they are hoping at Churchill's instigation he's seen the French premiere in Paris he's saying look you know he does the analogy of tortoises heads come so far out the shell we should attack we should bite it off we should get in there now because of this advant and that don't forget is also what Hitler's nervous about Britain at the time after the experimentation with the mechanized force etc we've mentioned earlier in the interwar period they didn't want to invest too much in actually building larger tank fleets but by the end of the 30s they've realized they're gonna have to start producing things so we came out with about three main types of Tanks the light tank great for policing empire as well the light 6b brickers came through a series of light tanks a six PS one that was in manian service in 1940 about a thousand of them were in service lot used the back in britain for training continued on lesley service in the bf and in North Africa but phased out very rapidly after that relatively thin armor air-cooled engine quite speedy but quite a short vehicle so it pictures and it rocks armed with normally 0.5 hour 50 caliber Vickers machine gun and next to it in the territories 0.303 Vickers machine gun as well it also uses a number of its infantry tanks so what our infantry thanks matilda one and matilda two tanks and the idea behind the infantry tank slow think ponderous first world war heavily armoured good protection because it's going to help the infantry advance across the battlefield onto the target and then if you've the infantry have done that advance the idea of the breakthrough the tank that goes through and does the business is going to be in britain the cruiser tank and in this area we have one of the British cruisers the a13 the cruiser mark one tank it's it's a tank there that is built with Christie suspension the idea of it's a spring inside this side of the vehicle and it has a lot of play and leeway big wheels and the whole idea there is it means you can go fast and because there's a lot of leeway on that spring you can go over fairly rough ground at speed so you can be fairly mobile without shaking yourself apart and they like the look of this so they actually buy one of Christie's prototype vehicles with territory taken apart Nuffield organization takes it all apart has a good look at it and we start building tanks with Christie suspension and our a13 is one of those tanks that was built with the idea that it was going to be fast it's given a 2 pounder gun which was a standard anti-tank gun at the time relatively thin armor protection and but you can see also with the the a 13 run they upped the armor and r1 has spaced armor even extra armor put around the turret so that's a cruiser tank and the idea of that type of tank is if you've done a breakthrough that's the tank that he's going to explore it at speed that breakthrough and it's armed with a 2 pounder gun an effective anti-tank gun because if the enemy are using their tanks in a counter-attack that's what they think they're going to be attacking these best that they're defended against and it will enable it again you're not really supposed to be attacking other tanks but if you bump into them you've got the best gun for dealing with enemy tanks if you're going to meet those so those three types of tanks are being used by Britain in 1940 there's not an awful lot of them in France over that winter we've been building up our forces again shipping out troops to help bolster the French and the Maginot Line the attacker Arras by 4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiment they have Matilda 1 tanks they have Matilda twos not that many of them just about 88 tanks go into that attack including some light six pieces reconnaissance it is a poorly planned attack they've had very little time to get themselves ready their radios aren't netted there's no orders groups beforehand they've got infantry than done light infantry battalion each with each there each of tank Richmond that advances they lose their way as part of the attack but they go into the side south of Arras of the 7th Panzer Division that's going forward and this panics the German High Command because reports come back from the rifle regiments that tanks are at the front of the column they're further up Rommels with them but this attack from the British going in the side radio messages go back help help were being attacked by hundreds of tanks and that panics the Germans High Command because back to that worry of Hitler is this some sort of trap they're walking into after this miraculous advance this wonderful way they're going forward and Rommel has to come back from the head of the column he helps sort out gun lines he's literally second in command is killed from right next to him he's right in the front line he gets everything firing at the British they continued advances in some areas but by the end of the afternoon of that attack in May they end up having to retreat the French have assisted them trying to attack as well usual problems of blue-on-blue incidents all sorts of things and then from about 6:00 to late in the evening the Germans pile on with Stuka dive-bombers as well and help break up only about 22 of the British tanks return but the key element about the Arras battle which we'll talk about Arras on another talk because it's such an important battle what it does it plays into the German High Command sphere and Hitler yet again says to the Panzer divisions stop some of them have already reached the coast and again they are itching to go back along that northern French coastline into Belgium again capture the ports bellowing Calais Dunkirk they were all lined up to do that in the 24 hours that Hitler stopped the Panzers and that allowed caught the British commander it allowed the art British army to reinforce those ports overnight from Britain so we get the guards going into bellowing Calais another tank force goes to Calais we end up reinforcing those ports overnight and that stops the Germans when they are getting going again to be able to capture them quickly and so it takes a few days for Calais bellowing Falls quite quickly but Dunkirk of course holds out and so that Armour that's caught and the British forces the French forces the Belgium forces that are caught in this pocket where the Germans are swept round to the coast they have an escape route still and the the someone's you know describe this 24 hours that saves Europe because that meant the attack Arras causes Hitler's Pan stop saddle a and it means yet again that we can save our army and much of the French army that was in that northern pocket off the beaches of Dunkirk they're taken back to Britain and that of course means we've got something to build on now most of that armour that's there in that 1940 section of course for the British it's left behind only a few tons tanks make it back across the channel we reinforce the French army again after Dunkirk we send another armoured division that's basically sacrificed we sent over to France again the Germans called cool after they've capped to the coast they have a pause and then they take on the rest of the French army which again fights very bravely but is decimated quite quickly leading to the surrender in that 1940 campaign and the amazing thing about it is of course then the German propaganda takes hold Goebbels his film of the Stuka dive-bombers is film with these advancing tanks half-tracks etc and that gives an impression that is also bought into by many of the Allied countries because they're looking what on earth happened how did we fail so quickly the supposed best army in Europe the French supremely confident High Command the British Army small but very professional how on earth did this German force so quickly four years of smog in World War one until an outcome here we have a campaign of about six weeks you know four days for a breakthrough it was just such a revolution in what had happened people were looking for either excuses or what had been this miracle and that had happened so with Goebbels coming up with his propaganda that his Hitler's saying he's a military genius when he obviously as we know it got doubts about the use of Tanks beforehand he buys in quite late he hasn't got that bigger tank force his tanks when you compare them look at them look at the stats Panzer one Panzer two pants one in essence it's a tank that was initially designed for training some of them are built to be able to fight somewhere open-topped earlier ones just for training Panzer three's he's only got a certain number coming off the production line with a 37 millimeter gun standard anti-tank gun panzer falls only a certain number again small numbers here with a short-barreled 75 millimeter howitzer these are not tanks these super human tanks are going to be out of beat if you look at them the numbers cuz the Western Allies have more they've got more tanks I've got twice as much artillery and these numbers just don't add out for all the qualities not outweighing what they're up against it is here effrontery and the way they are using those tanks in such a small force that's being kept together punch a hole in that French frontline keep going all the way to the coast that is their victory but of course the propaganda plays and plays and plays on this armored force and the Stuka dive-bombers as if there were thousands and thousands of these things there when there weren't and the vast majority of the rest of the German army is coming up behind those 10 pounds of divisions and six motorized divisions they were still marching through the Ardennes Forest when the Panzer divisions had reached the coast that rest of the army that's on foot that is on horseback the Germans using more horses in World War two than they do in the First World War this huge force coming up behind is much more ponderous much slower does not necessarily have the influence in the victories as a armored force are done but that is the vast majority of the German military in 1940 we ie the public still buy into that Goebbels propaganda as it is focused on those armored divisions at the front and why our Panzer to our Panzer 2 is a later model that was actually captured in North Africa why we put it in that area because we unfortunately of course no one had time in Britain in 1940 to be picking up German vehicles and bringing them back for analysis only later did that happen so we've got a later pan to - there we put it in this painted it in that two-tone camouflage gear the scheme that all the Germans were using in 1940 on their armor that Panzer 2 is to represent the fact that that was the most numerous German tank that they had of in 1940 and when everyone sees it you immediately go my goodness look at that small 20 millimeter cannon on it not this big impressive thing that we somehow get the impression you know that the German tank force is always going to have bigger and better tanks and whoever is fighting against so that's why those vehicles are put there we're trying to explain that period in 1940 however much the German that official history written back in the 1980s explained all this beautifully the facts putting again the evidence together it's almost like as I mentioned earlier the British in the First World War the vision of the British Army and the generals etc it's almost impossible to change that vision to take that down and actually look at it in a new light no the Germans always knew what they were doing they were much better you know with their equipment etc it's just not the case then and yet the remarkable thing is that doesn't mean to say we shouldn't be admiring the German military at that time and seeing how clever they were and because their plan works but it works with so little in the terms of actual resources it's the imagination it's the speed it's a mobility it's the way they execute that plan in spite at times of their own high command in spite of the nervousness of Hitler they managed to execute man Steiners vision for that quick victory and that's what we try and sort of illustrate in that 1940 bit with our light 6b with that German Panzer 2 with our a 13 British Cruiser tank and with that amazing French shabi tank the shabi that you actually see in that area was captured by the Germans they put it into their own service as they did with many captured what they call boy Panzers captured vehicles are taken into their service creates huge problems for the German military in one sense because you know imagine the number of variations of different vehicles or supply chains how'd you get spare parts but at the same time the Germans want to because their own industries not producing enough vehicles it's not producing enough tanks so they're going to use anything and what they end up with those Charles B's are particularly sharp B we have on display was it's slight modifications by the Germans and when you look at it and it actually ended going to the island of Jersey and patrolling Jersey in World War two at the end of that campaign most of the German tanks they were then handed back to the French military that was reestablishing itself in forty-five this particular Sharpie was taken back to Britain for analysis and he went to what they call the school of tank technology before with many other tanks from world war ii came to the tank museum so I hope that gives you some idea of that 1940 campaign I mentioned were perhaps later on to a lengthier talk on that build-up period and the actual Battle of Arras because it's another one of those ones if you're interested in tanks in particular is a fascinating period and of course sets that scene by Venn the introduction with gurbles etc the phrase blitzkrieg this idea of Hitler doing a complete one moment he wanted himself to be this diplomatic genius he even can you believe refused the German military at one point to allow them to start their planning for a potential war because one of his lines was that would be an insult to my diplomatic skills when the 1940 campaign is over he's almost as shocked as anyone but of course it's quite happy to take the plaudits turns around thinks he's a military genius with the answer to whatever the problem on the battlefield is going to be and later of course we see how that comes a cropper for him as he thinks he's going to be able to use tanks in a similar manner on the Eastern Front and that just does not work in the same way so we hope that's giving you a little bit of a 1940 campaign a little bit there for you to have a look at and think about and we're going to carry on after this one by looking at the fighting that went on in North Africa and that period we know as a desert campaign and what was going on out there we are a charity here at the tank museum so if you can support us please do consider joining our patreon scheme or becoming a member of the friends any donations will go directly towards the tank museum and its activities

Channel: The Tank Museum

Views: 64,785

Rating: 4.971282 out of 5

Keywords: the tank museum, tank museum, bovington tank museum, david fletcher, david willey, military tank

Id: eysQaRhz4DI

Length: 33min 8sec (1988 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 25 2020