Original subtitles

May 1940 thousands of German tanks

strike deep into Belgium Holland and

France and a new era in armored warfare

begins this

is blitzkrieg move fast

hit hard move half again the Allies

stunned by the speed of the attack sent

thousands of their own tanks to meet the

advancing man once that arm starts

rolling it's damn difficult to stop

for the first time in history two giant

armored forces clash

it becomes one of the greatest tank

battles of the Second World War there

was fire everywhere huge fireballs we

were absolutely blinded

at stake is nothing less than the fate

of Western Europe the situation is now

absolutely desperate this is the Battle

of France

Sedan France on the Meuse river near the

Belgian border this Pleasant rural

countryside is dotted with crumbling

concrete bunkers stark reminders of

Europe's dark past a time when the

entire world teetered on the brink of

disaster September 1st 1939

a German armed one and a half million

men strong streams across the border

into Poland Second World War

already Hitler's forces of annexed or

conquered large swathes of Eastern

Europe in the spring of 1940 he turns

his attention to the West

but the Western Allies are ready since

the fall of Poland France and Britain

have been building defensive

fortifications stockpiling ammunition

and massing men and machines in Western

Europe the Allies believe they are ready

for the inevitable German invasion by

May of 1940 they filled almost three and

a half million men 14,000 artillery

pieces and 3,600 armored vehicles a

formidable defensive force that

outnumbers and outguns the Germans for

their invasion Germany has assembled 2.4

million men more than 7,500 artillery

guns and only 2,500 tanks

under conventional military doctrine the

attacker should always be stronger than

the defender but the German plan is

anything but conventional their plan

calls for 10 Panzer divisions to charge

west across a 250 mile front with a main

attack driving through the Ardennes

Forest their goal surprise

divide and destroy the Allies

the hilly rugged Arden is considered

poor terrain for tanks

here heavy armor can get bogged down in

the deep woods and gullies

it's one of the most unlikely places for

a Panzer attack and for that reason it's

perfect

at no point the French I commend was

prepared to suffer an attack in the

islands

the speed and ferocity the German attack

catches the Allies off-guard still

clinging to military tactics of the

first world war they are ill-prepared

for general Heinz Guderian 'he's new

form of mobile armored warfare the

blitzkrieg

Guderian and all the young panzer

journalists they understood that speed

and mobility and confusion are the key

elements of the strategy

creating a center of gravity breaking

through piercing through it then break

out and create confusion and terror

so the enemy's army collapses

more than 1700 Panzers cross the our den

with shocking speed they cover 60 miles

of difficult terrain in less than three

days and by May 13th are only 180 miles

from the English Channel reeling from

the German attack the Allies send all

available forces East to intercept the

Germans near the Meuse river nor shovel

dogs on and media Tezuka dog law we

receive urgent orders to rush forward

and counter-attack the Germans that had

crossed the mers assure though we had to

stop them and throw them back across the

river to the other side

spearheading the Allied counter-attack

and rushing headlong to the rapidly

advancing Panzers are three dozen French

light tanks the FCM 36 is well protected

by 1.6 inches of frontal armor but it's

short barrel 37 millimeter main gun is

designed primarily for infantry support

and is all but useless against

Guderian's tanks

Sentosa in recent activity all of a

sudden we saw clouds of dogs and mommy

we were surprised that it was German

armor it wasn't just two or three

it was more like dozens of Panzers and

they were armed with cannons with Long

Barrow

advancing towards the French or dozens

of Germany's formidable Panzer Mark

threes they are armed with a longer

barrel 37 millimeter cannon giving the

mark 3 much more killing power than the

French tanks

we take the shell we put it in the

cannon we gain and we fire

we don't have time to think

Suvorov canoe but we couldn't pierce

their armor brother

hey hey I saw some of my comrades get

hit first they were dead without being

able to do anything

it's awful to think that there's nothing

you can do to help them but they just

couldn't defend themselves against the

larger and more powerful German cannons

the FCM 36 we're no match for the

Panzers the main drawback was our

momentum which was the short gun which

was almost useless against

the FCO camera - a our short cannon

could not pierce their armor all we

could do is try to blind the drivers of

the vendors in front of us they policy

their own it wasn't easy to aim we were

raising the cannon up and down with our

shoulder to pick the area we wanted to

hit but we somehow managed

Oh postman pop Oh only I call me right

we don't even think if we're going to

make it or not we have to do what we can

with what we have that's all if we get

killed then so be it

maken 1001 shells hit our armor the

steel turns bright red inside the tank

shards of metal would fly out pieces

that were red-hot and piercing Ziegler

it cut away the shell the compactive we

love occur when we see a tank burning

with shell holes and the crew inside it

hurts we feel it and we try to avenge

them

while I was looking a German shell hit

our turret it didn't go through but it

shattered the periscope and it fell on

you not only out

mosha la mode my tank was the last to be

knocked out

hey do you sharpen religion after 39

tanks that set out that morning at 11:30

only 10 remained a me but we stopped the

Germans that was our goal alone

despite their losses the French tanks

slow the German advance forcing Guderian

to change his plans he decides to bypass

the French defenders to the south and

continue his lightning attack west but

as the German blitzkrieg cuts a narrow

swathe westward its flank becomes

increasingly extended and poorly

defended the French realize that this is

just the break they need and send two

battalions of their heaviest tanks

straight into the vulnerable German flag

may 10th 1940

determined to dominate Western Europe

Hitler launches a massive blitzkrieg

into Holland Belgium and France

the Brits weak from a German point of

view was just the wharf movement they

always tried to move fast

hit hard move fast again and create

confusion and terror and the back land

of the enemy

so the enemy summit collapses in just

three days the Germans advanced more

than 60 miles through the Ardennes

Forest

and the Allies caught off guard send all

available forces east to meet the

onslaught although their light tanks are

outgunned and they sustained heavy

losses

the French managed to blunt the German

attack forcing them to change their

plans and proceed with their advance to

the West Guderian's Panzers cut an

18-mile swathe deep into france but at a

cost his flanks are now overextended and

vulnerable on May 15th

the French attacked the Germans left

flank aiming to capture the strategic

high ground at the French village of

stone the small village of stone was

crucial it was crucial for the Germans

to old it to secure their great head and

also their move westwards

for this critical battle the French have

deployed 68 of their most formidable

weapon the heavy char b1 fish tank the

most feared allied tanks for the Germans

I think the most feared as the French

shall be one a massive barking tank with

60 millimeters of armor the Chevy was

the the nightmare of the German tank

rules

when I rode a conveyor jet cable the day

of the battle was very nice it was ideal

for us we had great visibility from our

tanks

we could see far into the fields

he can't be home at that we had to go

into stone on a scouting mission but we

didn't have a radio at the time so we

were on our own we not only had to fight

the Germans but we had to prevent them

from getting past us going up the hill

we didn't see anything no sign or

contact with the enemy

as we continued to advance we still

didn't see the enemy

so we had to keep our guard up while we

move forward yellow yeah yeah Carrasco

we first made contact when German

machine guns on the water tower opened

fire and started shooting at us

completely infiltrated into

the Germans put a machine gun on the

water tower they were shooting at us and

pinning down our soldiers we had to fire

our 75 millimeter at the water tower

contact so I drove up to get closer

oh she um she longs we had to get into

position to fight on the machine gun

nests so we could not get out

Nadja Teixeira Plateau we just had to

eliminate them and move on

understand

Phoenicia I kept driving the tank we had

to advance and keep engaging the enemy

so I was shooting the 75 millimeter

cannon Jedi's Opelika had to take that

position and keep that here from

gossiped Carina as the big French tanks

reach stone they come under heavy fire

from well-hidden German anti-tank guns

inside we shall be we were very

confident that our strong armor would

give us safe from danger or injury

nicknamed the Colossus the char b1 biz

is protected by more than two inches of

frontal armor making it virtually

impregnable combined with its incredible

firepower the char b1 Biss is the most

powerful tank on the battlefield and the

deadliest foe of the German anti-tank

Gunners to fire from three heavy enemy

tanks threatened the wipeouts of the

tune at one point one is a giant stood

sideways our left gun commander spotted

a small hip surface in the middle of the

enemy tank side apparently a kind of

radiator he aimed at it

idiot a flames shot out as a tank now is

a to feel guns fired only at those

little squares and decide ins a 32-ton

enemy tanks

Boresha liqui at that moment I decided

to release a smoke shell so we could

escape from there get up here - until

you coming out of the smoke there was an

anti-tank gun right in front of us he

was getting ready to fire at me but he

didn't have time I was too close and I

couldn't fire there was only one thing

to do I had to drag my dang

if we reap acid Reepicheep Oh the crew

of the anti-tank gun were raising their

hands I couldn't fire at them

so the tank commander took care of them

who cannot vote against you shove dishes

on the creepy

here's your share on Twitter but we left

the village and went back to our base

lucky to be in white Beach the french

flanking attack at Stone fails and

Guderian's Panzers continue to push

through the our den virtually unchecked

to Guderian's north that the spearhead

of the German advance is the elite 7th

Panzer Division led by Germany's most

famous Panzer commander Kerwin rum

by May 14 Rommel and his tanks reached

the Belgian village of Faviana

their last obstacle before the flat open

country leading to the English Channel

if they can break out here Rommels

highly mobile Panthers will be just a

few days from the coast threatening to

split the Allied armies in half

may 15 1914 it means five days as the

beginning of Hitler's invasion of

friends and his mighty Panzer divisions

have already bludgeoned their way nearly

100 miles through the rugged art day

repeated attempts by French armor have

failed to stop the German blitzkrieg

they are now 155 miles short of their

objectives along the English Channel

leading the way is a win Ronald's mighty

7th Panzer Division which is on the

verge of breaking out of the yard and

into the Panzer friendly Belgian flat

lands in desperation the French rush 170

tanks of their powerful 1st Armored

Division north to head Rommel off near

the Belgian village of Flavio but the

French advance is slowed by tens of

thousands of refugees who choked the

roads and block their path

don't you try me she have to cross a

crowd of refugees it took us five hours

to cover just three miles help Ashland

only shockabra

the fields were filled with a crowd that

was completely lost and insane corporate

Montville do corporate waponi bit by bit

the French managed to push through the

human chaos and finally reach Flavio the

French tankers are exhausted and now

critically short on fuel

as the French rest and wait for resupply

they are spotted by the seventh Panzers

advance guard it's more than Rommel

could have hoped for

before him and completely unaware of his

presence lies the French 1st armored

division Rommel splits his Panzer force

in two and moves them into position on

either side of the oblivious French

tanks his deadly trap is now set any

encounter between German allies has got

to the beam supplies and usually the

result of those battles as much as

anything else it's just like a Western

gunfight it's the Guerlain who keeps his

cool and gets his shot off first hits

ring against the honor on the

my driver shouts there's a tank by the

edge of this wood I realized then that

the whole of our left flank is back with

German tanks

what the Germans did was to build a

circle they often move around them and

shoot from every side the German tanks

um tried to act like wolf pack's pain

tried to get around isolated shall be

one

which was quite ease because the Li

tanks were scattered among the benefits

so they picked one out already using the

radio tool to say let's pick this one we

wonder right have first tanks

so all the pains were concentrating in

this one lonely shall be one

surprised and low on fuel the scattered

French tanks are all but helpless

against the Panzer and bush

after four minutes

each french tank was fighting for itself

and I closed for the tank on his left

and the tank on his right red flashes in

a crash on our armor one shot strikes a

side door which bangs open half mangled

imaging you you are a tank commander you

are alone in your turret

you have to eat nothing you'll serve to

mana to man your gun you have to cite

you have to choose your enemy

you have to fire and yet to do

everything you are like a timber and man

inside the coffin steel

in the French thing I mean the toad was

just seen to slit the few hole and was

seeing just rotating tanks around him

and he couldn't revolve the toilet just

to keep track with one let let us speak

of five or six or seven one hits him to

our radiator another cell strikes our 75

millimeter gun jamming it the noise is

deafening as we're hit from all sides

but we keep firing with the forty seven

millimeter cannon when you confuse the

enemy enemy tank crew enough of you

shooting sometimes we'll hit the tracks

you will hit something vulnerable or

they simply will get up under the

pressure my right track is rattling

furiously and my forty seven millimeter

gun has been worked so hard that the

breach could not be closed so we

withdraw slowly

human tanks would find a weak spot would

take them out somehow and then

concentrate on the neck like animals

jumping from one point or the other like

really the predatory animals on the next

I've always a terrible place for the

French tank Falls the division was

completely smashed up it was unable of

any other action Rommels attack destroys

two entire tank battalions and by the

end of the day the French 1st Armored

Division originally 170 tanks strong is

reduced to just 36 the victory at

Flavian allows the Germans to break out

the rugged terrain of the Ardennes of a

tank friendly country of Western Belgium

and they advance to the sea full speed

allied command scrambles to mount

another counter-attack against the

ever-lengthening German flag

and now the stakes are even higher if

the Blitzkrieg can't be stopped

all of Western Europe will be lost May

1940 Allied armies fight to stop the

German invasion of Western Europe but

it's a losing cause

after almost obliterating the French 1st

Armored Division at flavio General Erwin

Rommels Panzer break out into the open

country of western France and Belgium

race almost unopposed towards the

English Channel the French High Command

desperate to stem the German onslaught

quickly tries to reorganize their

armored forces at Stahl their mission is

to slice through the German southern

flank and cut their lines of

communication and supply but five days

of constant German attacks have taken a

heavy toll on the French their army is

wracked by severe disorganization and at

the last minute they call off the attack

but in the confusion the message doesn't

reach the 49th tank without

and on May 15th at 5:30 p.m. without

artillery or infantry support they begin

their advance towards the German line

mixing shop you know with our five tanks

we merge from the woods do you what you

want you can keep receiving we were

surprised by an artillery barrage but we

had to go through it

although we couldn't see there was fire

everywhere

like huge fireballs and huge chunks of

Earth we were absolutely blinded by it

all Leon

shit we what if he missing we got beaten

up

we had to look for a way out so at that

moment we began to assemble into line

formation and throw ourselves into the

attack

having just made it to the barrage we

needed he came under fire by anti-tank

guns too

the French have driven straight into a

trap a v-shaped killing zone where

German anti-tank guns are positioned to

catch the advancing tanks in a deadly

crossfire

when an anti-tank gun fires at you it

makes a deafening noise come out and

when it hits it leaves a mark inside the

tank it creates a weird effect what I

was afraid of is all the fuel's we had

inside at that time we had the 100

gallons of gasoline

never mind the AP shells inside if ever

there was a fire or a spark in there the

tank becomes a bomb ship we decide

whether I got hit 17 times from the

anti-tank guns 12 on the rice five on

the front give every tear it when an

anti-tank gun fires at you it creates a

long flame I was able to detect them

like that

when I saw flame I turned around because

I wanted to aim where it was coming from

turn and run away so I aimed TVD and

fired so that she did I destroyed three

anti-tank guns don't open me too we

turned and saw the captain of our

company ten yards in front of us of an e

EF este tema de vermois his tank had

gone down a ravine and got stuck in a

stream turn driver was killed by a shell

that went through that it's very

different when you have comrades that

are injured it changes everything

sarang's to Aurora so we tried to save

as many as we could show this hopefully

we turned around and there was another

tank command derby - hey laughs yeah uh

shrimp - ah can you pee he gave us a

sign that his driver was severely

injured of monkey-see competition

we drove closer and brought them into

our town Misha Misha Bay wound up with

nine people in the tank being stuck like

sardines at that moment I couldn't fight

anymore with the recoil of the gun I

couldn't fire so I drove to the forest

to bring the wounded to the ambulance

the French attack failed and the German

blitzkrieg continues rolling west

towards the sea the formidable Panzer

columns now seem unstoppable

the Germans they were always up there

they were always pushing they were

always scaring people

and you never quite knew how and where

to react to that

once that armor starts ro damn difficult

to stop it

on May 20th ten days after the invasion

began the vanguard of Guderian's Panzers

reaches the English Channel at Abbeville

France and cuts the Allied forces in

half the situation for the Allies is

dire they must we link their armies

before the Germans can bring up

reinforcements and they prepare for one

last do-or-die attack it will be the

decisive tank on tank clash in the

Battle of France May 22 1940

blitzkrieg into Western Europe enters

its 10th bloody day

the vanguard of Guderian's tank force

reaches the English Channel

cutting the Allied armies in half but

the Germans speedy advance has left them

a thin and weakly defended Panzer

corridor and hoping to exploit this the

Allies mount one last assault aimed at

smashing through the German flanks the

plan a pincer movement near the city of

harass with British tanks attacking from

the north and the French from the south

eris was seen as one of the main

defensive posts that Britain would hold

against the tide of the oncoming German

what they wanted to do was to tempt the

Germans past and then kind of slam the

door behind

having this conjunction of French coming

from the south and British coming from

the north literally putting a Steel

Curtain down behind the Panzer divisions

that are already got into France they

cannot keep going because their supplies

of the oil they they if we're going to

have to turn back but the plan falls

apart

when the French army fatally weakened by

ten days of continuous tightening fails

to reach a racks in time for the attack

without the French the allied tank force

is reduced by almost

leaving them with only two thousand men

forty-eight field guns and eighty-eight

tanks it is a small force easily

outmatched by the tanks of Rommel 7th

Panzer Division

but the Allies realize time is running

out and despite the heavy odds against

them they launch their attack I was

stopped at a little village just outside

Aris - joined up the tongues what we're

already out there we had about five or

six Matilda's thing so we said self we

just kept going as fast as we could we

were told to shoot to kill

the Matilda 2 is equipped with a 2

pounder cannon capable of destroying

German armor at a range of 1600 yards

but it's most impressive feature is its

3 inches of frontal armor making them a

tilde to the best protected tag on the

battlefield attainment was costing the

most nerve on the German side was the

materials it wasn't fair and it's gun

wasn't so so impressive but the thick

armor was impenetrable for everything

but Remington the main anti-tank gun on

the German side was a 37 millimeter and

tanker this was so unaffected that was

called

army knocking machine so because it

didn't anything but knock knock and then

the time drove on so that was the

nickname for this guy

with no way to stop the Matilda's

overrun German positions sending panic

through the lines

with his forces wavering and in retreat

Rommel rushes to Arras to take personal

command

they arrived at Valley the enemy tank

fire had created chaos and confusion

among our troops we drove off to a hill

west of the village

found a light anti-aircraft hook and

several anti-tank guns located in a

small boy

at the same time several enemy tanks

were advancing down the road it was an

extremely tight spot every gun

to open rapid fire immediately I

personally done its target when they

broke their 88-millimeter they go

through any tank so German 88 millimeter

flak 18 gun was designed as a long-range

anti-aircraft weapon and when used

against tanks this high-velocity cannon

can easily penetrate the thickest Allied

armor even at ranges of over half a mile

there was only time they framed

now in the crosshairs of Ronald's deadly

88 the British Matilda's have no choice

but to continue their advance failure

here at Arras would destroy any hope the

Allies have for defending Europe

May 21st 19 for in a do-or-die bid to

stop the Nazi invasion of Western Europe

the British attacked German positions in

the French city of Ur ass

going's a smooth coat who told you short

to clear British Mathilda to heavy tank

to lead the attack and he's a

lighter German armed

desperate to prevent a British

breakthrough Rommel deploys is 88

millimeter anti-aircraft guns the

defensive line and orders them to fire

the advancing Matilda every gun was

ordered to open rapid fire immediately

the enemy tanks so perilously close only

rapid fire from every gun could save the

situation the ant from gun to gun the

objections of the gun commanders cetera

were still too great to engage the tanks

effectively we're over

all I cared about was to hold the enemy

tanks by heavy gunfire

German tanks on the horizon and the

Sooners shows it started firing us as

you see to write your own obviously just

just like that

I can see him now one of the tanks

backing up this road and shooting with

his machine guns then that was it

soon be succeeded in putting the enemy

tanks out of action

we now directed our fire against another

group of banks attacking

setting fire to some hulking others when

forcings RS to hit feet

I had a med killed in one he what

without his head shoot of competent

commander it open open visor on his head

oh that was a bit sickening then

although either under very heavy fire

from the tanks during this action the

gun crews worked magnificently

so that was retreat might retreat

I'm the only on where we got retreat

we couldn't do this nothing I could do

Rommels victory at Arras is hard won the

Germans have sustained their heaviest

casualties of the campaign losing 30

passengers and more than 600 men but the

British have suffered far worse just

twenty eight of the original 88 tanks

make it back to their lives and hundreds

of men are killed and wounded after

Arras and after the fighting western

France we have lost virtually all our

tanks all our anti-tank guns as far as

Britain itself is concerned the

situation is now absolutely desperate

German divisions reach the coast and by

June 4 the last British troops evacuate

France and Dunkirk

three weeks later France surrenders

the quick and decisive German victory is

a testament to the power of blitzkrieg

and most crucial to their success are

their mighty Panzer formations in 1942

tankers come of age the tank is now the

leading player in the ground is what

brings France to ur knees and kicks

Britain out of France

a huge number of soldiers have lost

their lives for the defense of friends

especially in the tank forces all the

men has fought fiercely with hope that

their action stopped the enemy

you don't build innovative function we

lost the Battle of France we were simply

overwhelmed by the enemy's equipment we

had nothing to go against this mass

Geller again using war is one thing

losing hope is another the fall of

France is considered one of the greatest

military victories of all time with it

Hitler achieves what most thought

impossible total Nazi domination of

Europe