How The Cromwell Reinvented Britains Approach To Tanks | Tanks! | War Stories

The old boy at 36 mins talking about having to order his tank to drive over bodies. Nothing but total respect for him and his peers. Go through that and still retain your humanity. There are reasons they are called the Greatest Generation.

The image used to state that "Forced the British to flee the continent, leaving it's tanks on the beaches at Dunkirk" is from The Dieppe Raid by the Canadians in 44.

35:45 My grandfather served as a Sherman tank commander on Iwo jima, and I was the only person he told all his war stories to. He told me about being ordered forward when the beach was so covered with dead and wounded that 'you couldn't step between them.' He never said directly that he ran over wounded Marines, but he was gravely serious about it when he mentioned it, and he only told me about it near the end of his life.

May sound nit-picking, but the footage of Churchill tanks on that pebbly beach most probably is Dieppe, it’s definitely not Dunkirk. Great video tho 👍

My father was a commander of a "Cromwell Tank" In the "Guards armoured division".His tanks name was "Fulham". This tank came back with him to the UK after the completion of the Disarming of the Germans.!! I understand it was one of a few tanks that was employed that came back at the end of the war!!

Listening to this and the arguments in the 30's about costs and cutting military spending is like listening to todays news. History is there to learn not dispise.

15:10 Bryan Perrett should be a used car salesman. He says how good it was before everyone points out that it was garbage.

@0:38 "Spring 1940 Germany... ...forced the British to flee the continent. Leaving it's tanks on the beaches at Dunkirk" Looks alot like Canadian Churchill tanks on the beaches of Dieppe in1942 to me. Hope the rest of this is a bit more acurate

16:13 The British were unable to use tanks effectively because the man who knew (Percy Hobart), and had written the textbooks in the 1930s, was of the wrong class and therefore his opinion was of no interest. Heinz Guderian had copies of everything that Hobart wrote, translated into German, and carried them with him throughout the war.

The crusader had the lines and profile of a modern tank. Being difficult to range....exactly what you want. Good video. Thanks

The Battle of France forced the British to reconsider their tank philosophy. The Matilda had good armour but it was slow and lacked firepower. The crusader had mobility but lacked both armour and firepower. The British needed American Grant and Sherman tanks in order to succeed in El Alemein.

The A30 Challenger is perhaps even more underrated and misunderstood than Comet. With a true 17pdr, 100mm frontal armour on later variants, and mobility equivalent to the Cromwell, the Challenger was a good tank. It would have even been better had its design not been hindered by rather unrealistic design requirements.

First of all, I have nothing but respect for these gentlemen and their story, so keep that in mind. At the 22 minute mark Mr. Pace refers to an engagement on the 19th of November at 'the wire', and talks about their Intelligence said these were Italian Lorries and uses the word 'thought' they were Italian transport. At 22:15, Mr. Gilman stated he was 'sure' they were hit by 88's in that engagement. The truth is they were in fact hit by '90mm Italian AA guns' which WERE mounted on Italian trucks. The Italians used these very successfully in that engagement. Just as in NW Europe where every AT gun was an '88' and every tank was a 'Tiger', it was a case of mistaken identity. Semper Fidelis! CWO4 USMCR [Ret] 17 February 1969 - 1 August 2004.

the pictures of the Churchill tanks 40 and 9 minutes 30 seconds in were on the beaches of Dieppe, the disastrous raid that took place in 1942, "Operation Jubilee."

A rather splendid new Cromwell has arrived!

I, as a former gunner in a M-41, enjoyed this video, despite the wrong pictures to the narrative.

Great video, remember watching these in the 80s, on tape ! :D

Art Boon ran a 50 cal on top of a Sherman or Firefly from Juno Beach and up through the Netherlands. He said there were so many wounded and Canadians on Juno Beach that they turned and eventually found a way up. He joined at age 15 and just passed away two years ago. Art was brave humble man, ever "Audox et Cautus".

Excellent innovations!!!

Not a great start showing Churchills at Dieppe in the first minute, as a background for the Dunkirk evacuation story