Germany developed its first 37mm (or as German designations put it, 3.7cm) antitank gun in the last months of World War One; a very simple design built using barrels from obsolete Hotchkiss revolving cannons. In the mid 1920s, the concept was reinvigorated by Rheinmetall, which developed a much more modern 37mm gun using a much larger and higher-pressure case (37 x 249mm). In its initial pattern, the Tak as it was called (Tankabwerhkanone) has wooden spoke wheels and no suspension, intended for transport by horse. A small number were made for the German military (to avoid aggravating the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles), and the gun was sold commercially by Rheinmetall. The Soviet Union in particular was interested, and used the 3.7cm Tak as the basis for its later 45mm antitank gun.
Between 1934 and 1936, a number of changes were made to the design. The wooden wheels were replaced with steel wheels and pneumatic rubber tires, and spring suspension was added to allow the gun to be towed at higher speed by motor vehicles. The designation also changed at the time from Tank-abwehrKanone to Panzer-abwehrKanone, as the new term “panzer” entered German military parlance. Under Germany’s 1930s rearmament program, the Versailles limitations were ignored, and Pak production took off. By September of 1939, the German military has some 11,200 of the guns in service. They were solid dependable guns at the beginning of World War Two, but became obsolete by 1941 as tank armor began to rapidly increase. A new tungsten-core AP round was introduced in 1940, and a rifle-grenade-like hollow charge munition (the Stielgranate 41) added in 1941, but there was stopgaps at best. The last few 3.7mm Paks were built in early 1942, as both it and the 50mm Pak 38 were phased out in favor of the 75mm Pak 40 antitank gun.
I’d like to thank DriveTanks.com for giving me the opportunity to bring you their 3.7mm Pak! They have a very cool collection of armored vehicles, artillery, and machine guns available for rental in Texas; check them out: http://www.drivetanks.com
Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
6281 N. Oracle #36270
Tucson, AZ 85704
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As Hitler pressured Yugoslavia to join the Axis Powers, Britain tried to gain a Balkan ally. Then Yugoslavia did join then Axis… and then there was an anti-Axis coup in Yugoslavia. But just how much were the British involved in that coup? Let’s find out.
David Stafford, “SOE and British Involvement in the Belgrade Coup d’Etat of March 1941”. In: Slavic Review 36:3 (1977) 399-419, https://www.cambridge.org/core/servic….
Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Mikołaj Cackowski
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)
Sources:
Istorijski arhiv u Pančevu
IWM HU 55505, D 4311, H 10922
FOTO:FORTEPAN / MZSL/Ofner Károly
Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
Portrait of Ronald Ian Campbell, courtesy National Portrait Gallery
Portrait of Frank Nelson, courtesy National Portrait Gallery
Digital Library of Slovenia
Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
Reynard Seidel – “Deflection”
John Hynynen – “Dark Beginning”
Johannes Bornlof – “Deviation In Time”
Philip Ayers – “Trapped in a Maze”
Johannes Bornlof – “The Inspector 4”
The United States developed the M1 carbine very quickly at the beginning of World War Two, once the German “blitzkrieg” made it clear that highly mobile enemy forces could threaten rear echelon troops in a modern war. The M1911 pistol was seen as a difficult weapon to use well, and a light carbine would offer much greater effectiveness with less training. It was estimated that 500,000 would be needed, and more than 6 million were eventually produced during the war. The M1 Carbine would equip drivers, artillery crews, mortar men, headquarters staff, paratroops, and many more.
The M1 Carbine was developed by Winchester, but they were not participants in the first round of trials, Instead, their design came about when Rene Studler (head of the Ordnance Department) saw Winchester’s “M2” rifle prototype, a lightweight .30-06 intended to compete with the M1 Garand. He urged them to scale it down for the light rifle trials then ongoing in 1941, and Winchester complied. The design used a Garand-like rotating bolt and a gas tappet system designed by David Marshall Williams for the .30-06 rifle. The new carbine was cobbled together in less than two weeks, and is a truly fantastic achievement.
Thanks to InterOrdnance / Royal Tiger Imports for providing this M1 Carbine for filming!
Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
6281 N. Oracle #36270
Tucson, AZ 85740
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Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the ‘Comments’ section do not reflect the opinions of Mark Felton Productions. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Mark Felton Productions does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the ‘Comments’ section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.
Credits: YouTube Creative Commons; WikiCommons; Google Commons; Mark Felton Productions
Music: “Pursuit” and “Dogma” licenced to iMovie by Apple, Inc.
H/T to @AnonymousFred514 for the link.
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In this final episode of Season 1 of Between Two Wars we examine what caused the world to stand on the brink of total war in just two decades after the War to End All Wars. Events that end with three words through a phone line: “Grandmother is dead,” words that launch World War II.
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
TimeGhost History
1 day ago
Dear friends, this is the 58th and final episode of the first season of Between 2 Wars. Almost exactly two years ago, when the first episode went live, on April 14, 2018 we were three people. We had not started the WW2 channel yet. The TimeGhost Army had less than 100 members, and we had no idea where we would end up. As it turned out, it has been a magnificent journey through twenty years of history.
We are now a team of around sixteen individuals working on three channels and publishing more than five historical videos per week. And this is thanks to all of you who have graced us by watching, liking, commenting, and joining the TimeGhost Army. And it is especially thanks to the now over 4,000 members of the TimeGhost Army and their faithful contributions that we are able to do this at all. Thanks to you all, we can add a little bit of knowledge, a little bit of perspective, and hopefully a little bit of sanity (and also a measure healthy insanity) to the world.
It’s especially in times like these that we feel blessed by your support, so that we can continue our mission of remembrance and education. So it is with humble gratitude and some pride that we deliver this season finale. With your participation we will keep marching on, and try to do even more, even better, and exciting historical content.
Thank you all!
Let’s make history!
Spartacus
Definition note: when we use the term Socialist we always use the academic and dictionary definition: an ideology that aims to abolish private ownership of capital, goods, and enterprise to transfer it to the collective for use rather than profit. The means to achieve that being a violent revolution. We do not use the popular US redefinition of the word that makes it mean something vaguely like “anything the government does.”
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A Serb royal with an English heart sounds pretty romantic, but the story of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia is far from it. Trapped by circumstance, he is forced to make decisions that go against his own personal beliefs and leave him condemned as a traitor.
Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Francis van Berkel
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Tom Meaden
Edited by: Mikołaj Cackowski
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)
Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
Howard Harper-Barnes – “London”
Farell Wooten – “Blunt Object”
Philip Ayers – “Trapped in a Maze”
Johannes Bornlof – “The Inspector 4”
Gunnar Johnsen – “Not Safe Yet”
Andreas Jamsheree – “Guilty Shadows 4”
The British thought they would be safe for a while, but this week they are proven wrong. This week, Erwin Rommel begins his advance towards the East of North Africa.
Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)
Sources:
– National Portrait Gallery
– Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
– Bundesarchiv
– Yugoslav military maneuvers at Torlak, 1940, by Boksi from Wikimedia
– US Holocaust Memorial Museum
– Војни архив
– Documents icon by Srinivas Agra from the Noun Project
Did the British government know of the German plans for Operation Barbarossa? What happened to Jewish communities in Ethiopia? And to Prisoners of War in occupied countries?
Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Mikołaj Cackowski
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)
Sources:
IWM MH 26392, BU 5939, HU 58537
Religion by Berkah Icon from the Noun Project
Letter by Mochammad Kafi from the Noun Project
quiet by priyanka from the Noun Project
Doctor by Wilson Joseph from the Noun Project
jail by Luis Prado from the Noun Project
Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
Johannes Bornlof – “The Inspector 4”
Johannes Bornlof – “Deviation In Time”
Andreas Jamsheree – “Guilty Shadows 4”
The United States of America aims to remain neutral during World War Two. But they see it in their best interest to aid the British in their fight against Nazism. The Lend-Lease Act is designed to do exactly that.
Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Joram Appel
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Scott Grimwood and Joram Appel
Edited by: Mikołaj Cackowski
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)
Sources:
Plane by Graphic Enginer from the Noun Project
people by ProSymbols from the Noun Project
Allierte soldater under kampene om Narvik, courtesy Arkiv i Nordland https://flic.kr/p/a829tg
Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
Johannes Bornlof – “Deviation in Time”
Rannar Sillard – “March Of The Brave 4”
Phoenix Tail – “At the Front”
Hakan Eriksson – “Epic Adventure Theme 3”
Johannes Bornlof – “The Inspector 4”
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
1 hour ago (edited)
On 11 March, 1941, American President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act, as Indy has covered in the weekly episode on that week. We wanted to revisit that bill in a special episode since it is arguably one of the most consequential American actions of the war before December 1941. Now, the effects of the bill are not visible immediately, but later in the war we will definitely revisit some of the materiel that entered British service under Lend-Lease. We hope you all remain safe and healthy!
Cheers, Joram
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The Liberator is one of those interesting artifacts of WWII; an extremely simple single-shot .45 caliber pistol made by the boxcar-load (a million, specifically) with the intention of being dropped en masse across Europe to promote civilian sabotage against German occupation forces. They were manufactured by the Guide Lamp division of GM in record time – just 10-11 weeks for a literal million-gun production run. However, as they were being manufactured, shipped, and put into storage the motivation behind the project largely evaporated. British SOE ultimately decided not to distribute any in France, and only distributed a small number to partisans in Greece.
In the US, the Army stockpile of Liberators was transferred to the OSS, and a fair number were actually distributed in India, China, and the Philippine Islands – although they did not ultimately have any measurable impact on the war effort.
Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers, which then triggers a pro-Allied coup, angering Hitler. Meanwhile, the Italians fail to outsmart the British as the Japanese hope to capitalise on their superior army.
Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)
Sources:
– Bundesarchiv
– Wellcome Images
– Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
– Војни архив
– Istorijski arhiv u Pančevu
– IWM: H 10922, A 10274
– Littorio class Battleship drawing by David Orlović from Wikimedia
– Italian heavy cruiser Pola drawing by K.E.Sergeev
– Prison icon by FORMGUT. from the Noun Project
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
2 days ago (edited)
NOTE BY INDY: I researched and wrote this episode in January. Since then I have done deep research on the fighting for Greece and Crete, as well as the Barbarossa planning. I can now say unequivocally that I do NOT believe the actions in Yugoslavia had anything to do with Hitler changing the start of Barbarossa.
I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe in these tumultuous times. Indy was meant to fly back to Stockholm after a very full week of shooting, but his flight was changed to an earlier time (which they didn’t tell him), so now he’s “stuck” in the studio in Bavaria. He hopes to be able to fly back soon, but until then we’re writing and shooting a few more episodes for you. We hope we’re able to bring you all some distraction, relief or perspective. Stay safe!
Cheers, Joram
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A cargo cult is a belief system among members of a relatively undeveloped society in which adherents practice superstitious rituals hoping to bring modern goods supplied by a more technologically advanced society. These cults … were first described in Melanesia in the wake of contact with more technologically advanced Western cultures. The name derives from the belief which began among Melanesians in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that various ritualistic acts such as the building of an airplane runway will result in the appearance of material wealth, particularly highly desirable Western goods (i.e., “cargo”), via Western airplanes.
To say that Pacific island societies were “relatively undeveloped” is a euphemism; they were primitive backward people who, when first encountered by European explorers, lived in a Neolithic stage of development far behind that of Mesopotamia in 1,500 B.C. That natives of Melanesia were at least 3,000 years behind Western civilization is simply a fact, but facts are now racism. Nevertheless, the point about cargo cult thinking is that these primitive islanders were unable to comprehend the advanced social and economic systems that produced, e.g., steam-powered ships, airplanes and the manufactured goods that the white man’s mechanical contrivances delivered. Utterly ignorant of how and why “cargo” had been produced and transported to their remote islands, the natives were understandably mystified when the arrival of “cargo” was interrupted. So they resorted to imitative rituals by which they believed the return of “cargo” might magically be reinstated.
The 21st-century American might laugh at these primitive superstitions, except that similarly ignorant “monkey see, monkey do” behaviors can be observed in our own society every day. My favorite example is the teenage boy who observes that girls are interested in athletes. The star basketball player in high school is popular with the girls, and so lower-status teenage boys — including the ones with zero athletic aptitude — will often emulate the athletic boys in terms of their attitudes, manners and clothing. This is why you see so many dorky suburban white boys wearing Nikes, NFL jerseys, etc., slouching around and speaking in a rap-influenced slang: “Wazzup, bruh?” These behavioral styles are an attempted imitation of popular black athletes. The clumsy adolescent white boy lacks the essential substance of the black athlete’s appeal, yet superstitiously believes (in cargo-cult manner) that he can obtain popularity by performing a superficial imitation.
Poland faces two brutal occupiers led by Hitler and Stalin, hellbent on wiping Poland off the map. But the Poles have been preparing to stand up and resist since before the war — and now they do.
Hosted by: Spartacus Olsson
Written by: Francis van Berkel and Spartacus Olsson
Produced and Directed by: Spartacus Olsson and Astrid Deinhard
Executive Producers: Bodo Rittenauer, Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Francis van Berkel
Edited by: Mikołaj Cackowski
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)
Soundtrack from the Epidemic Sound:
Johannes Bornlof – “Deviation In Time”
Johannes Bornlof – “Death And Glory 3”
Reynard Deidel – “Deflection”
Gunnar Johnsen – “Not Safe Yet”
Fabien Tell – “Last Point of Safe Return”
Johannes Bornlof – “The Inspector 4”
Peter Sandberg – “Document This 1”
Fabien Tell – “Other Sides of Glory”
Farell Wooten – “Blunt Object”
Jo Wandrini – “Dawn of Civilization”
Phoenix Tail – “At the Front”
Andreas Jamsheree – “Guilty Shadows 4”
Philip Ayers – “Under the Dome”
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
17 minutes ago (edited)
We’re back in Poland to look at the resistance movement. Now, this is still a very controversial topic in 2020. So let us be crystal clear: the whole idea of blaming Poland, or holding Poles responsible for the Word censored by YouTube is absolutely ridiculous. But it is also not correct to claim that not a single Pole did anything to the word censored by YouTube during WW2, that is simply not correct. However, in difference to the rest of occupied Europe there was no organized collaboration, no systematic cooperation with the word censored by YouTube to round up, incarcerate, and murder the word censored by YouTube population. Acts of anti-word censored by YouTube were individual, isolated, and opportunistic in nature. The general rule in Poland was resistance and non-collaboration. We will cover the situation of the word censored by YouTube in Poland in 1940 and 1941 in our next War Against Humanity episode.
An then there are the Soviets … we will not bow to revisionism and propaganda and whitewash history. The way we portray the situation in Soviet occupied Poland in this episode and others is factually correct. Any attempts to obfuscate the Soviet part in the destruction of Poland, the incarceration of Poles, and the mass murders by the NKVD will not be tolerated here. That also goes for arguments to justify, or trivialize these crimes in any way — just like we won’t tolerate word censored by YouTube apologist rhetoric, we will not tolerate Stalinist apologist rhetoric, We will also not debate this, so save yourself the effort and just don’t even start. We have made several videos about the interwar era in Poland in our Between Two wars episode where we also talk about all the things that are usually dragged out to somehow make an argument that the war of aggression and dismantling of Poland by the Red Army and NKVD was the right thing to do have been addressed in those videos. They are here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrG5J-K5AYAWDpPU1GbLYBKAPXfqkOipm
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