The Multi-Gun Beast that Saved Marines from Total Annihilation
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- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- In the midst of the Vietnam War, the City of Hue was in flames. Outnumbered and surrounded, the Marines waged a fierce battle against the relentless forces of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army in heart-pounding urban combat. Just when all seemed lost, from the smoke and chaos, a formidable silhouette emerged. As the 1st Battalion of the 6th Marine Regiment fought tooth and nail through the city, the ground trembled beneath the might of the Ontos - known ominously as “The Thing.” This powerful anti-tank vehicle, brandishing its six M40 recoilless guns, stood as a sentinel, ready to turn the tide of battle
Smoke, flames, and gunpowder filled the air. As the Marines reached the Citadel, enemy resistance increased. With deliberate precision, the Ontos entered the fray with a relentless purpose: decimate the enemy. One after another, its recoilless rifles roared, firing specialized beehive rounds that released a cloud of over 10,000 steel flechettes to get rid of Viet Cong opposition.
A Marine officer, a witness to the Ontos' superb performance, would later declare it: (QUOTE) "the most effective of all Marine supporting arms…"
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As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Docs sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. I do my best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Docs is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas. -
My old man was an Ontos driver in Vietnam. He always said those flachette rounds were absolutely brutal.
👍
Nails with fins.
My pops told me about how they fired those from 155 Howitzers. Awful sounding stuff. As a last resort, if your firebase was being overrun, you could lower the guns and turn them into giant shotguns.
@@tundranomad Exactly, small nails w/fins. The ones I saw fired out of 105 Howitzers were made with a .50 MG tracer round embedded in the middle of the cluster of nails. You could follow the path of the round by watching the tracer & how it bounced up & down as it collided with the flachettes in mid flight!
A friend of mine was in Vietnam and saw this system in action. He said the flechettes pinned one NVA regular to a tree. Guy never stood a chance. He died instantly, impaled by all those needles. Those vehicles stopped frontal assaults instantly.
The APERS-T shell, the "Beehive round" as its called was specifically an anti personnel round. Very effective against human wave attacks on our bases. Barrels depressed to minimum elevation and fuzes set to minimum. The 155mm had something like 8,000 flechettes in them. The enemy would be nailed to trees, have their hands nailed to their gunstocks, etc. Basically if you were in the blast pattern, you would be subject to massive internal bleeding.
I was a 106RR gunner with H&S 3/6 in 1972. It was so much fun to fire, the back blast is no joke with it. We put a 106 ammo crate 20 feet behind the gun, fired it and nothing was left but tooth picks. If you want to see a real one it's at The Museum of The Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia and it's free.
There is one in the Museum of the American GI near College Station and Navasota Texas.
Also one at the Tank Museum in Fort Moore, GA. Can see the interior as well super cool track.
Aren't 106 RRs in the weapons company?
Thank You for Your Service, and Information.
Might check that out I drive past it everyday
Beehive rounds were no joke. I saw an interview in which U.S. soldiers were being overrun during a night attack. Then a soldier took over a howitzer and started firing beehive rounds horizontally just over the heads of his own troops. That action repelled the attack and saved his men. In the morning they saw body parts of Viet Cong soldiers nailed to trees. They were shredded to pieces!
There was also rockets fired from cobra attack helicopters and they say they NVA would hear them go through the trees and then they were dead
Need them NOW more than ever along with other similar improved ammo for US Army & USMC
Why did they get rid of beehive rounds?
@@VanillaPod-sx1mv I don’t think they ever did or it might have been replaced with canester shot which is a ton of steel bbs
@@VanillaPod-sx1mv am pretty sure US military uses them more than ever & even MoRe so in the near future again both near-peer enemies & counterinsurgency etc etc No way in Hell has the US (or NATO) gotten rid of those. Am hoping they've actually Upgraded the beehive rounds & not just the ones for tanks & recoilless rifles but other ones as well
I was a Marine infantry platoon commander in Vietnam 1968-69. While the Ontos wasn't suitable for the terrain in which we operated, it was used at some fixed sites such as the battalion perimeter (which was in the middle of nowhere). However, the single 106 RR on a tripod was used most often at smaller sites such with units guarding bridges, watch towers, etc.
The beehive round was the most effective of the available rounds. Hard to believe that was over 50 years ago. Time seems to rocket by even faster the older I get.
Welcome Home and thank you for your service.
How old are you? Considering the fact that you were a platoon commander 55 years ago!
I'm now 77 years old with an increasing number of physical issues. After about 6 months in Vietnam, I noticed my hands were shaking slightly, but I thought that was just due to the mental and physical exhaustion and it would go away when I returned to the US, but it never did and it is getting worse as I get older. Additionally, I've had lower back pain for over 40 years and I now have arthritis in my hips, thumbs, and my left knee. My guess is the shaking in my hands is likely from being exposed to Agent Orange. Thankfully, no cancer. Nevertheless, I've tried to have an adventuresome life. I've been a private pilot with commercial and instrument ratings, I was an aerobat pilot, I was a glider plot, I was a motorcycle touring enthusiast, I sailed around the Hawaiian islands for three years, I was a SCUBA diver a wreck diver, and an underwater photographer. I was free rock climber, I was a white water canoeist, I played finger style Mississippi Delta Blues guitar, I was married twice, I was a sky diver, and I taught myself to build computers from scratch in the 1970's, I taught myself to program in several different languages and while in the Marine Corps I was the project officer to automate the officer assignment system which at the time was encoded in about 300 three ring binders and in the minds of the officer assignment monitors. It took me over 3 years to do it and it was successful. And I was considered an expert on the history of several Civil War battles. You see I wanted to experience as much of life as possible before I died and return Home to heaven. I have many regrets, especially in my first marriage. Now in my old age, I can look back on a thousand experiences with fond memories. To me, that is what life is about. My three years in combat only made all of those memories more important and more vivid. Thanks for your comment.
@@livingroomtheatre174
The years move faster with our experience. 1/10th at 10, 1/40th at 40 and so on. I work with children since my retirement. I enjoy it keeps me young. But I cannot convey the passing of years. I don't anyone can until you experience it for yourself.
Thank you for your service and it is actually. it is proven scientifically the older we get the faster we perceive time to pass.
This vehicle fully captures the relationship between the Army and Marines. "Oh, army doesnt like it because it lacks protective features other armored vehicles offer and has an anemic round count? We got them half off because no one else wants it. We love the thing."
Hué City during Tet they were blasting the NVA.
Marines: Does it send rounds down range that go boom?
Army: Yes, but it's too ugly for the army.
Marines: We'll take it!
I know right, just about perfectly encapsulates & basically sums up each of those two branches attitudes/mentality, spirit & overall mission approach & combat doctrine!! Gotta love the Marines
@hippiesaboteur2556 it is safe to say that the marines that was/is doing the dirty work. Emblematic the attitude the army had with the Ontoe that was rejected but the marines embraced it knowing fully well it's big drawbacks. Those vehicles did a great service with the M48 in Vietnam War not to mention Huey Cobra and the Bell UH-1....
One major drawback was that you had to exit the vehicle and expose yourself to enemy infantry fire when you reloaded , so you needed lots of surrounding Friendly’s around you to suppress the incoming.
Oh My GOD!! I recall seeing one in action only once with the Marines (1967)! I never expected to see a video of it. Thank you much....!!
Thank you for your service
o7
I can't imagine seeing something like this in real life
Any stories you'd be willing to share? Sounds like you have some cool ones.
A late friend of mine spent a lot of time around them, and said they were the absolute best, having saved his bacon more times than he could count.
1st Sargent George Ross Allen drove his into Hue City for Tet.
He passed away about 10 years ago
I saw the ONTOS in action all through my "deployment and a half" in Vietnam - we used them to escort the Rough Rider convoys on Highway 1 , from Danang to the DMZ, we used them for accompanying the infantry where terrain permitted, as an "Assault Gun", and we used them as perimeter security for headquarters and artillery battery positions. In that last use, a single ONTOS obliterated an enemy attack on our position north of Hill 55 before they even got to within 200 meters of our wire. Never saw the Beehive round used, but the HE round had a blast effect more awe-inspiring than the 105mm artillery round.
They aspect the narrator left out (possibly because he never saw the ONTOS actually fire) was the "World came to an end" blast of all six 106s going off at once: absolutely stunning and never to be forgotten!
As an aside Hue is pronounced "Hway", not "Huway". Things we never forget.
The 106 RR round used a Squash Head projectile with base fuze. It's purpose was to put a large detonation against a tank turret. The blast would not penetrate the armor but the shock wave would spall the inside of the armor sending lethal chunks into the tank crewmen. A 105mm nose fuzed HE round contained much less explosive charge. Cool that you saw the 6 going off at once. The last time I saw a 106 being fired was at a ski resort near Jackson Hole about 20+ years ago. They shot it for avalanche control.
During Hue, the first 105 recoilless use was one tied down on a “mule”, a flat vehicle that would run out in a street, fire then run back. Marines can adapt anything.
Yes they Can both Then & Now & Always
I only had experiences with 106 RR. There were 106's on Marine Corps Mules, and there were 106's on Ontos, but the vast majority of them were in fixed positions guarding perimeters on units, bridges, watch towers on the main supply routes, etc.
My brother was a Marine captain in the Battle of Hue City. He won the silver star for bravery for saving both American and South Vietnamese from certain death.
My brother described the battle as certain death if you put your head above protection for more than a few seconds. He likened to the beach landing in the movie Saving Private Ryan.
My personal opinion is that the trusted 106 RR would still be effective today if it had an automatic loader, some protection, and co
@@BMF6889 The 105RR was a rare bird. It was unsatisfactory. They redesigned it but to not confuse the ammo, renamed it the 106mm. The 2 perforated cases look similar until you stand them side by side. They are not interchangeable. I saw the 106 on Mules and mounted on Jeeps. I still have a few of the empty 50 caliber spotter tracer cases from the spotting rifle on top of the gun.
I was Navy myself, but a Marine friend of mine loved the Ontos. He spent quite a while doing perimeter defense at a big fire base. He said that the defensive circle consisted of alternating a quad-fifty cal, and Ontos, and a tank, with entrenched Marines filling in the spaces. The howitzers could be lowered to fire bee-hive rounds as well. He was never overrun.
Ontos were very useful for back up on search and destroy missions, I liked working with them more than tanks.
Tom Boyte
GySgt. USMC, retired.
Vietnam 1965-66/1970-71
0331, Infantry, machine guns
Bronze Star, Purple Heart
Thank you sincerely for your service, Gunny. You are a great American, and have proved it.
Hey Gunney! We had a single one mounted on a Mule at OP6. Kept the VC from choosing that route. Still have one of the darts from a Beehive round.
We still had jeep mounted 106 recoilless rifles in Panama in 1982. The attached .50 caliber spotting rifle was pretty cool too.
I worked in a Tow & Dragon repair shop between the backside of our motor pool and the pistol range. Sometimes we had to call to the states when parts delivery was sub optimal. We had a hell of a time convincing those guys that the things were still mounted on Jeeps and not on Bradley’s.
@@HaaraldEigerson1066 the Dragon was never mounted on a jeep (or any other vehicle).
@@gregoryheim9781 As far as I can remember you’re right but the TOWs were. I distinctly remember them doing tracking exercises. One Jeep would mace the launcher system on it and another would be driving around with a target panel on it.
The ONTOS was gone when I enlisted in the Marines. We still had the single 106 recoilless rifle mounted on the platform type vehicle known as the "MULE" in 1976 in 1st Marines. Very impressive to see them shoot.
I returned to 1st Marines in 1982 and the 106 RR was no longer in use. They were replaced by the T.O.W. and Dragon wire guided antitank missles.
- My major criticism of this video was the multiple mispronounciations of the word "Hue". It is pronounced "Hwaay" like "sway".
The pronunciation of 'chassis' isn't any better, but he butchered Hue. If I hadn't been reading while listening, I would have been scouring the map.
I noticed that immediately, too!! The pronunciation, I mean.
Yeah, see, I suspect that western militaries didn't think much of ATGMs, until the 1973 war (Israel vs Egypt + Syria). While the Syrians didn't do much more than provide Israel with some amusing target practice, Israel lost entire tank divisions to Egyptian infantry armed with the Soviet Sagger ATGM. Israeli tankers had to deal with the problem by never stopping their tanks while in combat, which wasn't a huge problem, thanks to the fire control systems present on western tanks, that Soviet tanks lacked. Nevertheless, any mobility kill meant that the Israelis had a few seconds to ditch their tank before 3kg of high explosive came crashing into their private chambers...
We've always prononced it OnToezz too but it was just a little before my time (although I helped Joe restore one for the Marine Corps Museum when I was at HMX-1)
The most effective close support battlefield weapon was replaced with nothing as good , rather than mount the guns on top a better chassis they dropped it completely. Replaced it with single shot missiles which cost far more, made more money for the makers of weapons, but provided far less useful support.
It's all about making the MIC rich not protecting troops.
I was a gunner on a 106 gun jeep. Then I was sent to FRG and reassigned as a TOW II gunner. I was never sent to TOW school which was mandatory for deployed gunners. Trust me, it would have been much easier to talk a platoon leader into expending a pallet of HEP-T, HEAT or flechettes than getting cleared to launch even one TOW II.
Well except that missiles have way higher accuracy and range, and the primary replacement was bradlys and if you were not aware the bradly happens to have a rather noticeable 25mm autocannon with about 600 rounds or so of ammo. So the primary replacement was a better protected, higher accuracy, longer range, troop carrying, faster, and more adaptable IFV. This decision was not in fact made to make more money and was actually based on the fact that the bradly is an epic vehicle that performs excellently in combat and is vastly more capable than the vehicles it replaced. TOW missiles on trucks and the like are almost exclusively ATGMs and not for general purposes and in an anti tank role they are so vastly superior its nearly incomparable especially more modern tandem or top attack variants. Yes it means you can’t lob rounds at enemy infantry however in exchange your almost guaranteed to both hit and kill whatever armor your trying to get rid of and at somewhat extreme ranges.
To be honest as a Marine who had 106 RR's in support of us on occasion, the new missiles have something between 1 to 2 to times the range of the 106 RR. That said, we still don't have a very effective weapon when the enemy is in close and attacking. Missiles are useless at close ranges. But the beehive round of the old 106 RR was devastating to the enemy at 1,000 yards and closer.
In Vietnam, I saw Viet Cong literally nailed to trees with hundreds of the darts from the 106 RR rounds. It wasn't pretty but it was very effective.
As a combat veteran, I love munitions that are effective.
You never forget your first Ontos 👍
Nice one Dark 👍
We lived on MCAS Kaneohe in the latec60's. Every now and the the Marines would have a live fire demonstration which was spectacular. After school I'd ride my bike up to the range and one time they had the Ontos there. Got to see it fire. Super cool. One shot there was a Minah bord flying behind it and it pushed the bird sideways about 50 feet. The 106 hit a yellow 55g drum filled with concrete and blew that thing 100 feet into the ocean. Epic.
Perhaps you might get more thumbs up if your comment were edited? Myna Bird instead of Minah Bord. I don't know? Just an observation.
I was a US Marine Corps captain stationed at Kaneohe from 1975-78. The Ontos had been retired or at least removed from Kaneohe. The firing range was only used for fam firing before going on a mission. There were no fire power demonstrations while I was there.
However, I was a tactics instructor at The Basic School at Quantico, VA. That was the school for all new Marine officers and at the time it was on 6 months long, which had been shortened to from 9 months due to the Vietnam War.
At the end of each graduating company, there was a live fire demonstration for the student company and the friends and families each student invited.
It was very realistic in that it included live artillery and live defensive fires in order to give the students and the visitors and families an idea of what their future combat officers would be capable of.
It was very impressive. I was an instructor there at the time and so I was one of the designated range safety officers.
During the live fire demonstration, a piece of shrapnel happened to sail across and hit a young girl in the thigh. As one of the safety officers I called for a emergency medical evacuation helicopter to get her to the local Navy hospital.
We got her on board a UH-1 helicopter, but en route the pilot noticed an oil chip alert light and made an emergency landing on a dirt road.
We directed and ambulance to our location which was in the middle of nowhere and she arrived at the hospitle before her parents.
The wound wasn't serious and her father who was an Old Corps former Marine said she would be fine and this experience would make her a tougher woman.
I'm not sure how the girl felt about the incident, but the surgeon took the shrapnel out of her thigh and that was the last we heard of it.
Marines and former Marines are tough, but so are their families.
True story the Carl Gustav that we used in Iraq in particular in Ramadi while I was there is an old antiquated recoiled weapon that change the game . We still have it in our arsenal today .
We still train soldiers every day on the 84mm Gustav in Canada.
It's not antiquated. It's still made in updated versions including the rounds.
I bet the Boys in Ukraine would find plenty of uses for the Ontos to flush out trenches of Orcs. It would be a Turkey Shoot!
I remember reading Chris Kyle's book American Sniper where he said they nearly fought to get to fire the Gustav
to breach a door ect.
@@ridethecurve55 🥱
The Marines are like the sheriff in "Porky's"..."Bring anything that'll kill."
Yeah, except a rifle (M-16), that works. Don't know how many of the mud marines would still be alive, if they let us keep using M-14's, but, I'm fairly sure the number would be quite a few.
The Australian troops in Vietnam also found the flechette rounds from their Centurion tanks to be very useful. They could even use them to clear paths through the thick bamboos forests.
HE rounds were also sent down tunnel openings (it's true, I've seen the AWM pictures)😮
I was in Hue city with1st Bn, 1st Marines. Was in the arty FO team, radio man. I called in artillery with 105 howitzers. Those ontos were a life saver for us. I was on the South side along Le Loi street. Went home in May of 68 with 2 purple hearts.
I was taught to be a crewman on the Ontos, never got the opportunity to serve in one. Like all male Marines, I was assigned to an infantry company. I loved being taught to be a crewman and would have loved to be able to serve as a crewman.
Never saw Ontos at work or even passive, but saw Duster at work and they were Shock & Awe and really effective against bunkers and tunnel systems
Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down) wrote a Hell of a good book about the experiences inside and the astounding grind as Marines slowly fought for every inch - named after this ancient city, Hue ("way") 👍
Hway really but you're still closer lol
...but if you truly want a real primer on what Vietnam was, source a copy of 'Kill Anything That Moves' by Nick Turse 👍
If you want to know about things that 'totally didn't happen', you'll be astounded by the experiences of the men that were never there in 'S O G' by John L. Plaster
And if you're still in the mood for some truth, go with Annie Jacobsen's 'Kill Surprise Vanish'. It will amaze in ways you might not be willing to accept, about long reaches and the men who trained to do things that, surely, isn't how nation's behave. And yet...
Read anything by Jacobsen, it'll make mincemeat of a few notions, but you'll be better off plus you can spend the rest of the time picking up pieces of your mind - try 'Area 51' and leave a comment, that one really tunneled a hole through what I thought was history, even through what I was taught was history.
@@scrappydoo7887 no you're right 👍👍 I thought about going back...🤔 🍻 though, someone had to say it 👍😎
@@adamfrazer5150 that's a shed load of really excellent recommendations there 👌
The city is called Hue?And that means way,correct
American Musuem of the Gi in college station,tx has a working one. fully loaded. marine Corp traded it for 8 of the recoiless rifles for their musuem as they had none. It is demonstrated twice a year.
In my time on active duty, the 105 mm recoilless rifles on the Ontos were replaced with the newer 106mm. By the time all Ontos vehicles were upgraded the vehicle was scrapped. Just like with the Pig, as soon as they fixed all the problems they cancelled it.
You ever get a chance to fire the mark 4 version of the m60?
They solved the overheating problem and it would continuously until you ran out of ammo. Loved that heavy bitch.😊
That’s cowboy as hell. A rolling six shooter.
When I was young my friend and I used to play a PS2 game called Vietcong or something. It was an FPS that allowed co op, and some squad play. It followed 4 soldiers near the end of the Vietnam war. The last battle u get this tank with 6 guns that basically destroys everything. I’m impressed that it was so historically accurate. The last mission was called Bloody Huay
In jungle and heavy ground, less is more as a light tank is the heavy weight where other armor cannot tread.
When in the small pond, better to be the big fish than the shark.
In the game Battlefield:Vietnam the Ontos was OP. You could fire all 6 barrels in a one-click salvo, BRUTAL.
This was a part of the, "If you have a problem over there, delete over there" doctrine. XD
I love the marines style. Just give it the soldiers. They will figure out its best use. No high command bs.
The Cong feared the Ontos so much the seeing the .50 aiming round come through a window would clear a building.
My Grampa built those at the Laporte Plant!!!!!
If you are prepared to understand a weapons drawbacks and work within them, you can still turn it into an effective weapon.
Ant weapon is only as effective as the man ( men ) behind it.
Yeah, well, that did not work with the M-16's that they issued to us in Spring '67.
I watched the Ontos demostrated in boot camp in 1958. Semper Fi!
Wow, they fired a .50 round from a rifle strapped to the main guns to see where the shell would hit. Modern recoilless rifles have an array of modern sighting options and several types of guided rounds. They are a ton cheaper than using MPATS. Great video.
One site wouldn't work to aim all six guns.
Yea sighting rifles on various pieces were pretty common
@@readhistory2023 He said there were 4 aiming rifles.
There were four spotting rifle mounted on upper 106mm rifles, both only the two ( that numbers 3 and 4) inboard could fired by the vehicle commader with the firing grip. The 50 cal round was not the same as the 50 cal machine gun, this was a shorter case with the muzzle velocity 1,800 fps. That match velocity of 106 round. All 106s were bore - sighted with commander sight. I was a platoon mechanic/ driver in Nam 1965- 67, spent 5 years in them, and by the way the nickname for the M 50A1Ontos in the marines was " the PIG" ! DWS Msgt. USMC,
If you had a well trained crew the on Ontos could be a effective weapon, the marines bought the Ontos because was cheaper to maintain a Ontos Bn. then a tank Bn. And one other thing, the grunts did not like working with the Ontos because they couldn't work close with them, how could you with "s - - t coming out of both ends. And the Ontos didn't get the bee- hive round till late 1966. And there was no high explosive round for the 106, there was two type anti-armor shells a fin stableized shaped charge, the other was explosive Spaulding effect round. This round used both hard and soft targets. One other thing, the Ontos was hard to maintain in the field because of the shortage of repair parts, I spent a great deal of time tracking down parts (at times borrowing) them. (God bless the Army, their M 113 used the same engine) oh..I spent 20 months in Nam as a "pig " plt. Mec.
We had 3 mules in 3rd LSB. 2 of them had an M106 on them. The 3rd mule was used for carrying ammo. They were a very fun weapon to fire. Drive around like a maniac on that thing, stop, load and fire. Hilarious.
i WAS THERE, WE WERE THE 1ST BATALLION 5TH MARINES.
I knew a marine who was in Hue city during the Yet offensive. He told me he saw one of these machines coming down the street and it was literally shooting buildings down. He said it looked like an insect, and had more firepower than anything he saw until tanks arrived.
Yet offensive? Wow.
@@boondocker7964 sorry, I meant Tet offensive.
That's okay, I had bust someone's onions.😁@@mikeh.753
This thing was the bane of my existence in the game Conflict Vietnam, I still have flashbacks!
LOL...
I was discharged in the game for medical reasons... the Clap.
Ah, yes, The Pig. One of the best anti-personnel weapons ever invented. USMC Infantry, Vietnam 1966-'67-'68. Kilo 3/3, Combined Action Platoons Poppa 5 and Romeo 5/6. They were so much fun to watch in action. 😁
I thought the M-60 was 'The Pig"?
Love the Vids!
Pronunciation:
"Hway" not Huway
"Chassis" the end 's' is silent. Like Chassy.
At least on Ontos made it into the A Shau Valley
One Marine wrote that it got a bad rap but, they noticed anytime they were in a fight with V.C., when the Ontos showed up the V.C. quickly left. It could wipe out a thousand yards of brush.
I watched a news show out of Afghanistan after the US captured it. One Green Bret unit had a fort on a hill surrounded by mountains. They used recoilless rifles and pumped 100 rounds a day into the mountains to keep the Taliban from building up forces.
I'll bet the Marines at Kahn San would have loved to have them!!!
The big problem with Ontos was the fact that you had to "unbutton" and expose yourself to enemy fire to reload each tube.
No different from the jeep-mounted; they are a shoot & scoot system anyway - except the ONTOS had SIX shots vs ONE, and once you reloaded it under cover, you could poke the nose out and unleash HELL firing one, two, three or six at a time.
It has a .50 bmg spotting rifle. After unleashing 6 rounds of 105mm recoiless, should an adversary find the courage to shoot at you. It's not like the .50 cal couldn't change their minds in short order?
Yeah I had a next door neighbor who served in the 1/1 Marines. During the Battle of Hue. And he told me about the Ontos. Greek for the Thing.
I was surprised to see this thing in Battlefield Vietnam. And again here. Sweet little thing.
The idea of some random army full bird getting pissed about the back blast screwing up his car will forever be my head canon for this thing.
Army, " we can't use this thing" Marines, 'Great we'll take em"
I have one as a personal home defense weapon. Just for when chuck norris and honey badger want that smoke.
Man i cant get enough of your videos your a beast of a narrator .
Narration is good until pesky irritating pronunciations come into play. Chassis is pronounced Chassie like Lassie. I mean he at least says Marine Corps like Marine Core now. So I would expect a little improvement by now.
@@bruceleealmighty add in the mispronunciation of Hue and it ups the irritation.
@@percyfaith11 As to 'Huế', the problem I had with his pronunciation was multi fold.
1. Most Americans don't pronounce Huế properly even when they use only one syllable.
2. In Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt) the 'H' in Huế is not silent.
3. It isn't actually pronounced like 'way' unless you can do so while using the aspirated 'H' sound as well, but still only one syllable.
4. Most every Westerner and even many Asians don't have as many tonal sounds (phonology) as Vietnamese does so the straight pronunciation of Huế is at a minimum one syllable multi tonal word.
5. Even Tiếng Việt pronounce Huế differently per region and context.
Being foreign to most situations I thought why bother trying on this one.
As an Asian Linguist I find Vietnamese awkward at best.
Outstanding !. The World's Finest US Marines. Semper Fi
we used 106mm in cuba when i was there in 1979 we could hit a 55 gal drum at 1500 meters every time. semper fi
Vietnam: so much American courage, to so little ultimate effect.
This weapon is great for fortification clearing, and on buildings. It is best used when you have observing units on the radio and call in supporting fires from the M50 tank.
Greetings,
Jeff
Back in the 50/60s boys invented all kinds of weaponry.
In 2020s they are forced to play barbie girl😂
I haven't been this early since Basic Training.
Once again Dark Docs, you have outdone yourself. Great documentary! I have never heard of the Ontos.
This is my absolute favorite armored vehicle. Loved it ever since I had a 1/72 scale plastic toy one made by Atlantic back in the day to go along with all the other similar sized toy soldiers I had back then, many of which were also made by Atlantic.
My brother put together a model of Ontos in the early 60's. I remember it well, didn't know what it was and tried to look up info of it a few years ago. I couldn't find anything trying to look up tank with 6 guns. I thought it was from WW-2 and decided it must be 6 rocket launchers. Couldn't wait to watch this video of this mystery tank I couldn't find. Thanks for this great video.
Takom I think is the companies name,just released a 16th scale model of it with a full interior,its been a big hit,and i think its less than a 100 bucks,which is a good price for a 16th scale and interior kit,ibut it is very interesting looking no doubt about it
@@Swellington_ Oh wow, yea just looked it up. Looks amazing! I’d love to build one, but my modeling skills prob aren’t up to snuff anymore. But, a larger model theoretically should be a little easier to put together. Hmmm… 😁
@@SixbyFire for sure,the 16th scale kits have really gotten popular in the past 3 or 4 years and most of the more "serious" model builders are men over 40,the larger kits are way easier,plus they just look better
If 1/16 is to big it's also made in 1/35 you might pleased without a interior.
@5:44 This vehicle is parked at the main gate of the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois, WY. I have a picture of it, too. They have another one inside in the Vietnam War gallery. Crazy invention, I had not heard of it before, but learned it's history after seeing them. Army: "Nope, not interested." Marines, "We'll take 300 of 'em!" 😆 Hey Ontos, ya see those buildings? We want 'em GONE!
Friggin' Army. Marines will fight with a Bayonet, or a stick. An Ontos is a huge step up.
Christmas 1958 I got a Revell scale model kit of the Ontos. Very different form the usual tanks and artillery.
Yep, I had that one, too, along with the other Revell armored vehicles (I probably built them all). I have an unbuilt Ontos kit waiting to be built right now.
- Me too in 62! Even painted it some.
All the comments complaining about mispronunciations is hilarious. No idea how CZcams works? Dark Docs knows the CZcams algorithm ... all the comments just boost the visibility of the video.
And I respect that. So I'm adding my own comment to boost it even more.
It was Better Than They Thought.....
That shot at 2:19m mark, I remember a series on the Battle of Hue, how Marines were held down, until a soldier lined up a single anti-tank weapon, fired it, destroyed the enemy down the road and provided dust cover for Marines to move to a better firing precision...Battle of Hue would have ended earlier, if the South Vietnamese leaders told US military not to damage the Citadel...
I love 10 miles from Aberdeen Proving Ground. And still hear explosions that shake my house.
Hue is pronounced as "hwhey"
Yes indeed,the war in Europe would have been over a lot sooner if we had this weapon during the push across France and germany.
If it shoots, marines will use it!
I'd like to have seen the Ontos with armor sufficient to stop 13.5 mm rounds and a highway top speed of 60 mph.
One of these is parked next to the PT running trail in 29 palms.
I saw one of these in Vieques when G Co 2/2 was on a training exercise. The crew had positioned the Ontos beside and close to a bush that concealed it excellently. I was point for 3d Platoon, and it was so well concealed that I didn't see it til I was abreast of it. When I DID see it, it was because one of the crew said, Bang!"
It would have been a mistake for the crew to shoot, because they would have killed only me, and they weren't positioned to fire down the long axis of the column behind me.
We needed this in Fallujah.
HQ: how are we gonna aim this thing since the barrels are so far apart?
Grunts: We mounted a Ma Deuce on each one as a "spotting rifle"
MY BROTHER INLAW SAID BEEHIVE ROUNDS OUT OF HOWITZERS SHREDDED EVERYTHING IN ITS WAY VERY DEADLY
Good report. Note to narrator: 'Hue" was pronounced 'Hway".
The Fat Electrician did a great video on this.
In '65 fresh outta PI, I was sent to Oceanside to Camp Del Mar for track school, and got hands on experience with working on these lil' beast's. $12,000 automatic tranny was as big as the Chrysler 361cid v8. Learned to appreciate pizza, and learn to play wiskey tonk, Good ol days.
1x M40 superb. 6x M40s awesome. Little known fact: though designated 106mm it was in fact 105mm. There was already a 105mm RR in the inventory so it was called 106 to differentiate it.
I have spent cases for both 105RR and 106RR. They are similar but definitely not interchangeable. The 105RR had some kind of design flaw and it was determined to be not suitable for service.
This little know "fact" was clearly mentioned in the video.
Thank you for sharing
🏆🤗🇺🇲🙏
Time to bring this back
I saw one one the outskirts of Quang Tri City in 1969.
It’s not pronounced Huey but it is pronounced Way (Hue).
Ontos is pronounced ontose. Just saying. Do a little research with some Marine Vietnam Veterans that would know how to pronounce these words.
was going to say that. Thank you.
The October 1966 receipt date is wrong. There was an Ontos unit stationed at MCAS Kaneohe Bay when I was there in early 1966.
In the Battle if Hue my father as an Australian Advisor with another Yank drove 2 mules up to blow the gates of the imperial palace so the vietnamese troops could assault it, he said they took two because they didnt have time to reload if the first one missed!! They only needed one shot!!
"the might of the Ontos, known ominously as: The Thing" is a line straight out of a comic book from a cartoon villain lmao
The ontos was a beast.
i can use this in a modern battlefield..like Southeast Asia..or the Marshes of Florida..
The Antos!! An awesome beast!!
Cool, we went through Hue two years later and past the citadel on our way to in country training.
*Test fires *Launch blast blows bricks off surrounding buildings, observation towers, and totals all vehicles nearby
*Army: *Appalled *Ears ringing "This is an unsafe liability! We want nothing to do with it!"
*Marines: *Beavis & Butthead chuckles break out in the crowd. *The Commander: "....Giggity.."
5:15. I like how they kept the speciation's to a minimum. Just gave the engineers some basic requirements and the idea of what they need it to do.
That's the best way to build new and innovative things.
US enginenewity baby.
2:55 your showing a stinger MANPAD, the recoilless rifle never engaged aircraft
Dale A Dye's book Citadel tells the story of 2 US marines, stoned out of their minds, using am M50 recoilless gun mounted on a Mule to clear a street in the middle of Hue
Interesting book !
I've always thought of the Ontos as a excellent what if. As in, what if it had continued being developed, what if the Marines kept making better versions of it, what would it look like now? I'm certain of only one thing it's certainly not something I'd want to be staring down the business end of in any era.
Probably like the Russian Terminators I imagine
@@project88422 Except, that much like the Armata, you really have to question if the terminators even function as advertised.
@@LostInTheFarmersMarket yeah the lack of modern equipment being fielded suggests the majority of the equipment doesn't work or they don't want it being captured and put on display by Ukraine
@@project88422 Supposedly it's bad enough, that some think Russia may break out post WW2 T-34 tanks due to the lack of modern working tanks and attrition.
Tough to have a vehicle light enough to be air transportable , and still have armor protection like a real turret . I think the idea was that after you shoot all six rounds , you pull out , go to the rear a bit then reload in safety . Good to hear that Charlie didn't like it .
Am I wrong in saying that the pronunciation of "Hue" is NOT "Hooooway"? It just sounds odd the way he says it
Hway. You are correct, sir
Whea is closer phonetically?
😂
Way?
HUE is a Vietnamese word pronounced "WHEY"
Vietnam vet .... Thanks!
The word “decimate“ means to remove 10%. It comes from the decimation punishment in the Roman legions. It’s a very commonly misused word. The correct word you’re looking for is “devastate.” Thank you.
I like how you tried to properly pronounce Hue 😁
Another great video
Cobra kai mindset behind the design; "Strike first, strike hard, no mercy".
I saw photos of it before but I didn't realize how small it was.