Scenes from the Battle of Kasserine Pass in February 1943
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2024
- The Battle of Kasserine Pass took place from 18-24 February 1943 at Kasserine Pass, a 2-mile-wide gap in the Grand Dorsal chain of the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia. It was a part of the Tunisian campaign of World War II.
The Axis forces, led by Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel, were primarily from the Afrika Korps Assault Group, the Italian Centauro Armored Division and two Panzer divisions detached from the 5th Panzer Army, while the Allied forces were from the U.S. II Corps (Major General Lloyd Fredendall), the British 6th Armoured Division (Major-General Charles Keightley) and other parts of the First Army (Lieutenant-General Kenneth Anderson).
The battle was the first major engagement between U.S. and Axis forces in Africa. The initial handful of American battalions were inexperienced and poorly led; they suffered many casualties and were successively pushed back over 50 miles from their original positions west of Faïd Pass, until they met an advancing brigade of the U.S. 1st Armored Division. British forces were also driven back, losing all eleven of their tanks in the process. After the initial defeat, Allied reinforcements with strong artillery support stopped the Axis advance, and recaptured the mountain passes in western Tunisia, defeating the Axis offensive. The Axis force was overextended and pinned down by the Allied artillery. Facing counterattacks and airstrikes, they withdrew from the Kasserine Pass by 24 February.
0:00 Panzer III Ausf. J armed with the 5cm KwK 39 L/60
0:03 Panzer IV Ausf. G armed with the 7.5cm KwK 40 L/43
0:13 Panzer III armed with the shorter 5cm KwK 38 L/42
0:30 Panzerbefehlswagen III command tank with extra radios
0:53 Panzer IV Ausf. G firing and a Sherman tank burning in the distance. With its long 75mm gun, this Panzer IV variant could defeat the Sherman's armor frontally inside of 500 meters, and out to over 2000 meters from the sides and rear.
1:14 Another Panzer IV Ausf. G strikes a distant target. With long fields of fire and little cover in the desert terrain, accuracy at long range was a crucial factor in tank combat.
1:27 Early M3 Stuart light tank still fitted with .30 cal machine guns in the sponsons burns after being hit. The tank's light armor was no match even for early 37mm tank and anti-tank guns.
1:35 Sd.Kfz. 251/8 "Krankenpanzerwagen" half-track battlefield ambulance.
1:44 Three men, presumably members of the Stuart's four-man crew, are treated by German personnel. One can imagine the eventuality of the fourth man being fatally injured and still inside the burning vehicle.
1:57 Burned out M4A1 Sherman tank that appears to have been shot through the transmission housing. Of note are the tracks without their rubber pads as the latter have burned off. The next shot shows a close up of a different Sherman tank with its right turret armor shattered. It's likely that a shell penetrated the left side of the turret and was destabilized by the impact, striking the inside of the turret at an angle, causing it to crack with a fragment breaking off. Subsequent shots show German personnel inspecting the M4A1 Sherman wrecks that litter the battlefield.
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In all my years, never came across this film. Very interesting.
Getting stuck in that cactus field would be absolutely miserable.
@Ludicus-speedway Imagine your tank getting hit, and having to bail out onto that! Yikes
I've seen Wile E Coyote get stuck in cacti..... it 'aint pretty.
Tasty fruit in season & interesting that Mexican? cacti already cultivated back then in N Africa! BTW my maternal grandfather: Kaffrarian Rifles, South African Army volunteer KIA 31 Dec 1941 nearby @ Bardia(head taken off by mortar, probably German, while retreating by lorry. Son of comrade from his hometown who sat below between his legs saw story & contacted me, worked out it was same incident his father talked about).
@@alistairknox5381 Yes, I was startled at first to see a truly American species growing so abundantly. Cultivated to a similar climate. Whew! Had me wondering for a minute!
Prickly pear grows 15 feet high in Australia. There used to be hundreds of acres of it.
the clips you post are some of the most interesting footage I've seen
I’ve seen barely any of the footage he’s posted, I wonder where he gets it from
More open terrain than I thought it was!
I’m a U.S. Army retiree. Interesting fact that on a half dozen Army bases I have been on they all had a Street or Road called Kasserine..
Presumably both the lives lost and lessons learned were worth commemorating.
In San Antonio, TX everything in named "Alamo."
Same here!
Dude, great job, thanks! Rare footage indeed...
I met an elderly lady who got her nursing licence at age 19, joined the US Army, and her first real assignment was to treat wounded soldiers from the Kasserine Pass. She said she had no supervision, was given an aid kit, and was told to go find wounded soldiers and treat them as best you can.
My dad was there. 34th/135th. Medic. Spoke somberly of Kasserine. But with pride of Hill 609.
Excellent footage
no one will talk about the german soldiers being humble and helping the americans?
Another great video!
This quite literally was a baptism of fire for the American forces. One of the worst defeats they had in the Second World War of a tank battle, but of course they learn from it which you need to do because they had just entered affectively the war in regards to taking on the German forces.
We Yanks didn't know what we were doing at Kasserine-inexperience and poor leadership. That's why they brought Patton in, he dismissed some commanders and kicked some butts-which was well needed.
And what lessons have been learned? no more ground battles with the Germans? Avoid battles in every possible way if there is no numerical superiority of more than 1 to 10? And even in such cases, rely on aviation.
Well, if the ground army is 1 to 1 in number with the Germans, then drop everything and run as quickly as possible
It seems that he retold all the American battle tactics as accurately as possible)
@@Ek_EkvilThe German Army had superiority in tanks, men and guns, attacked in a week sector against units that had suffered numerous casualties, and when air cover was unable to fly into support, and was stopped. It was called watch on the Rhine, and failed. The defeat would have been greater, but the imbecile at sheaf wouldn't let the US Generals fight it the way they desired, and went for the pin prick.
@@Ek_Ekvilwhen you're facing much a superior army, that's the type of tactics you should use. Quantity will always beat quality in large scale war.
The kicker is the Americans don't believe they were a horde army.
The disaster of Kasserine was due to the inexperienced crews but also to the meathead of Anderson that managed to put the headquarters, a bunker some 30 km away and rarely visited the front line giving bad orders with very little first hand info and much objection from some generals. Patton made scathing comments declaring that he was unfit to command. Of course he never took responsibility for his attitude and was sent to USA to command a training camp and obtained a medal. Eisenhower spoke very well of him declaring that he was honest altrough quite shy !! He should never have left USA....
Additionally, the British high command also disliked Anderson, I’d have to search my house for the book (Patton by D’Este) to recall exactly which one said it, but a Brit general commented to Eisenhower about Anderson, “Surely you have more capable men than him”
You must be referring to Lloyd Fredendall-U.S. II corps commander-not British Gen. Kenneth Anderson.
@@stevenrobinson2381 yes I was referring to Lloyd Anderson and was highly criticised by rhe British and many US generals. Objectively himself said that he had little experience but it was only because of his connections with Eisenhower that he became the commander. In this both the British and the US generals was correct to point out that Eisenhower could and should have posted better people p....
@@paoloviti6156 Loyd Fredendall you mean. You have Anderson on the brain. LOL
In the United States, the bloody dictatorial regime of Eisenhower appointed troops to command based on personal sympathy and patronage, and not on skill. Obvious proof of corruption of US officials at the highest level!
My father was there. 7th FAB, 1st Inf Div. He was a forward observer for the artillery. It has been said that the FO abandoned the Infantry so they had no supporting fire. The truth is, the Corp commander kept pulling the support of the artillery from one Battalion and giving it to another without telling the Division commander. The FO had to leave because of this. This changed after this battle. The FO's stayed where they were assigned.
Correction, 7th Field Artillery Regiment. "D" Battery.
This is why Patton was brought in, his predecessor Fredendall was a poor Corps Commander and was disrespected among the officer corps.
Family friend of ours an Finn Oiva who was seconded to the Africa corp during WW2 , old man a Karelian who fought all through the Finn wars & even before as their farm on border near Vipuri & taken prisoner as a teen in a cross border raid just prior & surprising released though half starved . . anyway our Finn family friend in Africa corp had interesting visitors up in Darwin NT as in a German Stuka pilot friend of his . . he was later quite disappointed to not receive the tiny birch leaf medal of Finnish war service
The Stuka pilot apparently complained of lice in his boots while flying half eaten alive
The popular accounts of Kasserine actually conflate two distinct battles - Sidi bou Zid and Kasserine Pass.
This film looks very much like it's the Sidi bou Zid battle, because everything is out on an open plain. So this battle runs from 14-17 February 1943, and this is Fredendall's main disaster where he sends his tanks charging across open territory in the sights of the German 88s.
The battle of Kasserine Pass was the followup, 18-24 February 1943. We regard it as a separate battle because it was about 75km to the west of here, and the German forces had changed composition in the meantime (no more Tigers), and the German objectives were different.
A steep learning curve for the Americans.
Didn't help we had poor leadership. The Corps Commander Lloyd Fredendall was 'political' General who made it up the chain of command by his connections-largely to George C. Marshall. He tried to appear coarse and decisive, but his abilities did not live up to his pretenses.
Good footage , pity no context but was interesting battle 👍
My heart goes out to all those innocent cacti who lost family members in this terrible conflict.
So where’s Turner and Pierson? As you know Kasserine Pass affected them heavily.
This battle was the first time the US Army in WWII engaged Axis ground forces in numbers. It had combat experience already but that was out in the Pacific Theater with totally different troops and commanders. Out in the Western Theater they had zero combat experience. It showed against the more seasoned Axis troops and commanders. The US Army was anticipating a showing like this, calling Kasserine a "blooding" for them. There were major changes, especially with leadership because of the godawful showing by US Army formations in this battle.
US forces came from different parts of the United States. The Pacific was west coast and Midwest divisions/ national guard deployed as regulars. Such as jungleers in Montana/ Oregon.
Where do you find this footage? Ripped from documentaries or historical archives?
Likely from a German propaganda film.
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My great uncle fought in this battle. He was a gunner on a halftrack.
That one poor Stuart crewmember looks in pretty bad shape. Looks like a bandaged hand and splint for a fractured left leg. Maybe he was treated by the same doctor my mom had growing up that was in the Afrika Korps. Mom said he had a very gruff bedside manner. Once one of my uncles claimed pain in the abdomen so my Oma thought he might have appendicitis. As soon as the Afrika Korps veteran doctor came out to look at him my uncle jumped off the table and ran out of the room, scared of him. The good doctor told my Oma, "I guess he's alright."
One didn't play sick with him, but if you really did have something wrong his rather rough demeanor changed to something close to gentleness. He'd probably seen every sickness, injury, and dodge possible.
Interesting footage. By September 1944 ..... D-Day +95, 2nd Platoon, Troop B, 85th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 5th Armored Division, USA arrived in Stolzemborg, Germany.
We learned.
It helped that most of the German military was on the Russian front.
My father's cousin lost his life in an American tank in the battle of Sidi Bou Zid on Feb. 15, 1943.
Being the desert, I wonder if you can still see tank tracks there.
you actually can see tank wrecks there. some have never been removed.
Strange seeing American pows like that. My grand uncle fought in the Ardennes. He was too old to be conscripted but to get away from his Russian wife he volunteered. He was from Westmeath, Ireland. Fought with the 101st I believe.
The Americans learning the hard way that whilst they could reliably deal with some old French Ft17s and R35s in an amoured engagment, that the Germans and Italians were a different beast entirely.
Anyone know what the thumbnail tank is? Was it the same used in ww1?
It's an American-made M3 light tank. Britain also used them. And no, they weren't used in WW1 - they came into service in 1940.
USSR also had it by land-lease
Looks like a Stuart. Very light tank.
I think this page recently posted another video from the eastern front and it showed a Stuart and a Cromwell.
@@clacicle not Cromwell. Churchill
Da war ich im Jahre 2000 am kasserine pass. Ich kann mich noch genau an die großen Kakteen erinnern. Ich war genau an der Stelle, wo Stauffenberg sein Arm und sein Auge durch tiefflieger verloren hat.
So apparently doing a massed armoured counter attack with most of your armoured resurves at dawn, when your enemy is east of your position is a really, really bad idea. Unfortunately it being the US army no-one with any sense decided to point out the little inconvienece that the sun reliably rises from the east before this little plan went ahead.
60口径50ミリ砲のマーク3スペシャルを侮っては命取り。
В видео таких нет. Только 42 калибра.
Танки с длинными пушками с дульным тормозом, это Pz4 и калибр у них 75мм
the filming of the defeat of the panzers by the American artillery is missing...strange, given that the US Army filmed almost all its actions.
Unsere tapferen Soldaten 😊
Sherman tanks…..Tommy cookers……😂😂
German tanks had gasoline engines as well, the Sherman wasn't the only tank with fire concerns.
Anything burns if you keep shooting at it until a fire starts, which is what they did. Desert warfare had massive daily swings of territory gained and then lost. You don't want the other side collecting their vehicles and repairing.
Early Shermans had a rep for catching fire. Partly because they carried more ammo than the average tank and partly due to how it was stored. Later versions used antifreeze around the storage areas to dampen fires. Despite struggling to deal with 88mm, still the best tank of the war.
The Wehraboos can talk up their Tigers and Panthers. But those were over engineered, over complicated, sometimes undependable (More Panzer IVs lost to engine failure in the battle of Kursk than Russian fire) tanks. And always outnumbered the the supposedly "inferior" Shermans America spammed into Europe that running circles around them cutting off the German's already limited logistical support.
@@EricDaMAJ Again in English please. You forgot the Russian T34 btw…..🤣🤣
@@mikewingert5521 Found the The Wehraboo. Do you have a Guderian waifu pillow? The T-34 was junk.
And so the WWII harvesting of Sherman's continues....................
And the Germano-Italians suffered a second Stalingrad , a couple of month after the first, losing hundreds thousands men killed and prisoners on the African soil.
Don't forget the Stuarts, the American invention of popping candy came from the mg ammo cooking off
@@jamesgoldring1052M3 is very good light tank
This comment really came from an Adult. Which is concerning due to its lack of knowledge
Germans had a 3 to one kill ratio vs allies the your the war and even higher on the Russian front. Cry all you want but they were pretty competent soldiers....
Surely, at least some of these guys must have thought, at one time, "What I am doing here?" "What is going on?" I think the current nerdy, Nazi-fanboy obsession with German AFVs must cloud your minds to the real issues.
ukrаinians in Afrika ?!
No , RuZZian LendLease Shermans ! 😂