In August 1941 the crew of the Soviet tank commander Kolobanov in a KV-1 knocked out 22 German tanks within 30 minutes after setting an ambush near the city of Leningrad. The KV-1 was feared by the Germans because its armour was too thick for their standard shells. He was absolutely right – the BT-7 was discovered 10 metres (33ft) away from the current spring. Vladimir suggested that the tank had been blocking the spring and the water had found a new route. Older locals said the vehicle had sunk into soft ground near a spring, but nobody knew the exact location. One day, some people asked him to find and lift up a BT-7 tank, that had been stuck in the marshes since 1942. Some years ago Vladimir Yakushev worked as a collective farm engineer. The world’s biggest plane may have a new mission.The pilot who stole a secret Soviet jet.The family, the Yakushevs are the most famous “tank-hunters” in Belarus. With photographer Anton Skyba, I was able to witness one heavy Soviet tank, a KV-1, being restored after its recovery – and its participation in a re-enactment of a World War Two battle. One Belarusian family has been looking for tanks littered all over the country’s vast marshes and restoring them.
Now, more than 75 years after the fighting, both Soviet and German tanks are being lifted from the marshes in Belarus. Huge battles were fought, leaving the land strewn with dead bodies and ruined machines. German tanks roared across the Soviet border giving the enemy no time to recover.Īs the Soviets reeled under the surprise attack, the most powerful German formations swept through what is now Belarus. When the German army attacked the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, tanks were a crucial factor in their initial success. What you won’t find is any reference to, well, you-know-what. You’ll find everything from the story about the world’s greatest space mission to the truth about whether our cats really love us, the epic hunt to bring illegal fishermen to justice and the small team which brings long-buried World War Two tanks back to life. We’ll be revisiting our most popular features from the last three years in our Lockdown Longreads.
#Discovery greatest tank battles series#
So now we’re dedicating a series to help you escape. Tanks.org.mkv (753.BBC Future has brought you in-depth and rigorous stories to help you navigate the current pandemic, but we know that’s not all you want to read. This unique series features rare footage from Russian, German and Allied sources, superb 3D graphics, interviews with the world's leading tank experts and historians, including David Fletcher, Professor John Erickson, Dr Simon Trew and Dr William Atwater, and film footage of the surviving tanks today. Experience the desert campaigns of the Tiger Tanks, roll out with the German legendary Panzer Divisions and conquer the enemy with the Sherman Duplex Drive. This 12 episode series takes the viewer inside the steel clad fighting machines who helped define this conflict. Allied tank designs also improved, as did their tactical use of armour. Whilst German forces benefitted from the huge armaments of tanks like the Tiger, the industrial might of the Allies meant they had tanks in larger quantities. By the later years of the war, the German advantage had lessened.
#Discovery greatest tank battles full#
German forces used Blitzkrieg tactics in France in 1940, making full use of the speed and armour of tanks to break through enemy defences. In the early years of the war, Germany held the initiative. It played a key role in helping turn the tide on the Eastern Front in favour of Soviet Russia. The Russians had the T-34, a tank that was well armed, versatile and manufactured in huge numbers. Some of the largest tank battles took place in the desperate struggle between Germany and Soviet Russia. They featured in some of the critical battles of the war, such as El Alamein in 1942 and Kursk in 1943.
Tanks were a significant factor in most of the main fighting theatres, from North Africa to Russia and northern France. Innovations included long range missiles, submarines, fighters and bombers and of course Tanks! Armoured clashes were on a scale never seen before or since.
World War II was the first great technological war. War Documentary hosted by Graham McTavish and Mike Mundell,
0 kommentar(er)
