Battle of Kursk footage...

What's the deal with snow and winter camouflage clothing shown less than halfway through this video ?
 
I haven't looked at it yet, but it would have to be either German propaganda or Russian propaganda. There sure weren't any neutral journalists on either side.
 
It appears to be German footage overlaid with some Russian propaganda describing the action. It is footage of Waffen SS units allegedly and includes everything from the halftrack to Panzer I, II & III's to the Tiger & Panther firing at targets. Even some Lufwaffe footage taking off & landing in what is described as knee deep mud (!).
 
Cougar Allen said:
I haven't looked at it yet, but it would have to be either German propaganda or Russian propaganda. There sure weren't any neutral journalists on either side.
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Exactly.
It was all approved by the govt. or destroyed.
Hence "newsreels"
Looking back at the US an British "newsreels" there was a little propaganda in them as well.
 
It's a strange mixture of early- and late war German kit. I only watched 5 minutes or so, but a few points come to mind:

It's obviously not all of the battle for the Kursk Salient, as snow features in several scenes.

The early model Tigers (drum cupola) are appropriate for Kursk, but the early model, short-barrel Pz.IV and Stug III were probably taken from footage shot during the Blitzkrieg.

Some of the aircraft depicted were Ta 152: Essentially late-war FW 190 derivatives!

I'm surprised at the footage bearing pro-Russian legends, but written in English... :confused:

maximus otter
 
Actually I believe the short barelled tank shown in the footage was PzIIIN (a model put into service before Kursk battle but still in use whereever avaliable ...).

Short-barelled Stugs weren't exactly the hottest stuff (and neither were Marders that are also shown in the footage) at that time but nevertheless they were still in use, as long as they kept rolling and firing. Germans fielded some great armor in the second half of the war, but it was few and far between - many PzIIIs and PzIVs were used even in '45.

I don't recall seeing a Ta-152 in there; those few FW-190 don't even look like a D9 (water-cooled Junkers Jumo radial engine models, as opposed to ealier BMW axial air-cooled ones) at a glance but even if they were D9 it would be damn hard to tell them apart from Ta-152s methinks :(

It's a nice clip if one is into WW2 era weaponary but has little or nothing to do with reality. All that text has mostlikely been added to the clip with the use of computers, not during WW2 for propaganda purposes. Shots of various guns (including the famous 88mms :D ) are nice but everything seems to be cobbled together like Discovery Channel WW2 era documentaries.
 
IIRC the TA-152 had the inline engine.
It's been a while.

I am impressed that y'all know about the 152...most folks write them off as a 190 and call it done.

:D
 
Oops, I got radial and axial (inline) variants mxied up in my last reply. D9 and successors used axial (inline) liquid-cooled engine while previous models (including the ones that appear in the clip, if I identified them correctly) used radial air-cooled engines.
 
Nice to see some WW2 airplane fans about.
I had a wonderful moment last month at Montauk Point LI.
We were standing near the light house looking out over the ocean and I hear the unmistakable roar of a V12 piston engine.
Looking up we saw a P-51D standing on one wing making a pylon turn around the lighthouse.
:eek:
And in a moment, gone.
Silver, blue nose, red spinner.
Too cool.
 
I saw it the other night. It seems to me like someone has bodged that together recently and it looks like a PowerPoint presentation with old newsreel inbetween. Didn't anyone notice spelling mistakes in the large white lettering and none on the film's written commentary with the film still showing in the backgound?
 
Ebbtide said:
WW2 airplane fans.
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Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambridgeshire.

Most of Memphis Belle and The Battle of Britain were filmed here.

maximus otter
 
FWIW i have been inside a restored confederate AF B17, 1 thing that really stuck out in my mind is how small they are, i'm 6'3 and i was way too tall to be a side gunner, or really any other kinda crewman on it, pilot/co-pilot woulda been ok but i wouldnt wanna get outta one of those things with it going down, just a lot smaller on the inside than i had thought.

not to mention the ball turrets, no way i woulda gotten into one of those.
 
My Grandfather was a bombadier in a B17 and he was about 6'... Not sure if there was any more room there - I'd love to get a look inside one to see for myself though :cool:
 
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