Hang tight while we fetch the video data and transcripts. This only takes a moment.
Connecting to YouTube player…
Fetching transcript data…
We’ll display the transcript, summary, and all view options as soon as everything loads.
Next steps
Loading transcript tools…
Why 108% of Panzer IV Crews Died at Kursk | Unbelievable true stories | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Why 108% of Panzer IV Crews Died at Kursk
Skip watching entire videos - get the full transcript, search for keywords, and copy with one click.
Share:
Video Transcript
Video Summary
Summary
Core Theme
The Panzer IV, initially designed as an infantry support tank, became the backbone of the German armored forces during World War II due to its adaptability, ultimately facing overwhelming Soviet numbers and technological advancements that led to unsustainable losses.
Mind Map
Click to expand
Click to explore the full interactive mind map • Zoom, pan, and navigate
During one of the scariest battles in
human history, something seemingly
impossible happened. Some German tank
units received more than 100%
casualties, we'll explain exactly what
this means and how it happened through
the unique, turbulent, and little known
story of the Panzer 4, a tank almost
nobody remembers today. So, to
understand how things got that bad, we
need to start at the beginning. The
Panza 4 is one of the most important
tanks of the Second World War, and yet,
it's also one of the most overlooked.
You won't find it anywhere near the
level of fame tanks like the Tiger and
Panther got, but this was the tank that
carried the German army from the first
shots fired in Poland all the way to the
ruins of Berlin and everything in
between. And although it was never even
meant to be the star of the show, it
surely became one. So, let's start from
the very beginning. In the early 1930s,
as Germany secretly began rebuilding its
military power under the nose of the
Treaty of Versailles, naming this tank
an accompanying vehicle, tank doctrine
was still taking shape. The idea wasn't
to build single all-purpose tank like
you'd see later with the Soviet T-34 or
the American Sherman, which set the
stage for the main battle tank concept
that would come after the war. Instead,
the Germans at first envisioned two main
classes of armored vehicles, one for
fighting other tanks and another for
supporting infantry. The Panzer 3 was
supposed to be the tank killer with its
37 mm cannon, the same as the German
infantry's standard anti-tank gun at the
time. It was enough for the time, but it
would soon get the nickname doorner for
its effectiveness and was already in the
process of being replaced by the 50 mm
gun as armor thickness rapidly increased
in all tanks. Meanwhile, the Panza 4,
accepted into service in 1937, was built
as an infantry support vehicle. That's
why its earliest models from A through
F1 carried a shortbarreled 75mm KWK37
gun. This was a low velocity weapon
optimized for firing high explosive
shells at enemy infantry positions,
machine gun nests, and light
fortifications. This made it excellent
for lobbing explosive rounds that burst
on impact. But against enemy armor, it
was nearly useless as the shells lacked
the kinetic energy needed to punch
through even moderately thick tank
armor. Still, that didn't matter because
in 1939 and 1940, there wasn't much
enemy armor to deal with anyway, and
that was the job for the Panza 3. When
Germany invaded Poland in September
1939, the Panzer 4 was in service. Still
in small numbers, but it worked just as
intended. Enemy tanks were rare and not
much of a threat. Then in France, the
story was similar. Most Allied tanks
were either outdated or misused. And
while some models, like the French B1
and Sua S35 gave German crews a nasty
surprise with their thicker armor. The
sheer speed, coordination, and
communication of the Panza divisions won
the day. Radio communication became a
key advantage because every German tank
had a radio. In French and British
tanks, usually only the commander tank
did. That alone made a massive
difference in coordinating movement in
unstoppable Blitzcreek. The Panzer 4's
role remained stable with the biggest
complaint being the lack of armor to
protect from anything heavier than
machine gun fire, as first models had
only 15 to 25 mm of armor. But very
soon, the bigger cracks would begin
showing, and the illusion of German tank
superiority would be shattered once they
turned their sights east. In the summer
of 1941, Germany launched Operation
Barbarasa, the largest land invasion in
human history, aimed at nothing less
than the total destruction of the Soviet
Union. Over 3 million Axis troops poured
across the border, backed by more than
3,000 tanks. Entire Soviet divisions
were surrounded and wiped out, and
cities fell one after another.
Everything looked like another lightning
victory for the German war machine. But
then came the shock because what German
tank crews began encountering deep in
Soviet territory was unlike anything
they had seen before. First it was
isolated, then more frequent, and soon
it was clear. The Soviet Union had tanks
that German guns couldn't destroy while
they punched through armor of their own
like butter. We're talking here about
first the KV1. This was a heavy tank
weighing about 47 tons and armed with
for the time powerful 76 mm gun. Its
thick frontal armor made it almost
invulnerable to the 37 and even 50 mm
guns of the Panza 3. Germans had either
to call in 88 mm flat guns or to swarm
and overwhelm a single KV1 in order to
destroy it effectively. But the real
nightmare was the T-34 that Germans
didn't even know existed. With sloped
armor and a powerful 76 millm gun with
higher muzzle velocity, then wide tracks
giving it superior mobility on mud and
snow and a more reliable diesel engine.
Everything made it look like it
outclassed German tanks in almost every
aspect. German crews were stunned. And
to make matters worse, the Panzer 3's
turret ring was too small to mount a
bigger gun. They hit the limit of
upgrades with the 50 mm gun. And while
there were efforts to upgrade it with
the same caliber but longer L60 gun, it
still wasn't enough. The tank that was
supposed to be the core of the German
armored force was now clearly obsolete.
So the Germans turned to the Panzer 4.
Ironically, the tank that had been built
to support infantry was now the only one
that could save the day, or at least by
time for new tanks to arrive because of
its larger turret ring and more
adaptable design. That made it possible
to mount a bigger high velocity gun. And
that's exactly what they did. In early
1942, the Panzer 4 model F2 was
introduced armed with the 7.5 cm KWK40
L43 gun. This was now a dramatic leap in
firepower as this gun was capable of
penetrating the sloped armor of the T-34
at over 1,000 m range. A year later, it
was followed by the Model G, which
somewhat improved protection and had the
longer L48 gun, giving it even more
muzzle velocity. So now, the Panzer 4
took over leading the fight despite
never even being imagined to fight other
tanks. Its crews were originally
considered artillerymen, but everything
shifted completely, and the Panzer 4
became the closest thing to what we have
today as the main battle tank. It fought
everywhere on every front. It was now
tasked with fighting tanks, holding
lines, and acting as the primary armored
spearhead. The Panza 3 was on its way
out with its chassis now used for 3
production, and heavy tanks like the
Tiger and upcoming Panther were still
rare and unreliable and would never
actually manage to replace the Panza 4.
And while the upgrades had made it more
capable, it was now being thrown into a
battlefield that was changing faster
than it could keep up with. Soviet tank
factories were running at full speed,
and what was coming next would make all
challenges until now laughable. Before
that, let's first take a quick look at
the German armor situation at the time.
By early 1943, the Panzer had become the
most common and most important tank in
the German army, and it had changed a
lot from its humble beginnings. By the
time the Model H appeared, it had
thicker bolted on armor of up to 18 mm
on the front and muchneeded side skirts
called Schzen added to the hull and
turret sides. They were meant to defend
against Soviet anti-tank rifles like the
PTRD41, which were everywhere and could
punch through thinner side armor at
close range. The skirts helped tumble
armor-piercing rounds so they couldn't
go through the main armor. However, the
added armor and heavier gun made the
tank that wasn't designed for it pushed
to its limit. Mechanical breakdowns
became more common, especially in the
muddy or frozen conditions of the
Eastern Front. But for now, the Panzer 4
was still the most reliable and battle
tested tank in Germany's arsenal.
Germans had many other things in 1943
that were arguably better than the Panza
4, like the Tiger, for example. It could
destroy any Allied tank from well
outside return fire range, but Tigers
were rare and scarce, as each one took
far more time and resources to build.
The Panther was intended as a new medium
tank to replace the Panzer 4 with its
sloped armor and a long-barreled 75 mm
gun that was even better than the
Tiger's 88 at penetrating armor. But the
Panther had one huge problem. It was
rushed. The first batch sent to the
front was plagued with transmission
failures, engine fires, and breakdowns.
And at Kursk, many caused more problems
than actually helping in battle. Then
there were tank destroyers. Most
importantly, the Stug 3. Same like
Panzer 4, originally an assault gun for
infantry support, it had evolved into a
highly effective tank destroyer. Low
silhouette, good gun, and cheap to
build, while armed with the same
anti-tank gun as the Panzer 4, it was
deadly in ambush, but without a turret
got limited flexibility. All of this
meant that despite the arrival of
so-called super tanks and tank
destroyers like Elephant, Panther, etc.,
the Panzer Force still remained the only
dependable workhorse, the tank that
commanders could actually count on to be
there, work, and fight. But it was now
facing a Soviet force that did its own
share of catching up. T-34s were
improving and now being pushed out in
staggering numbers of over 1,000 per
month at peak of production. It was far
from perfect. The twoman turret
overworked the commander who had to
spot, load, and command at once. Optics
were inferior to Germans. Ergonomics
catastrophic, and crew training was
rushed to say the least. But quantity
had its own quality. The Soviets could
afford to lose five tanks for every
German one and still keep coming. There
were also growing number of
self-propelled guns like the bizarre
SU52, essentially artillery pieces
mounted on tank chassis with devastating
high explosive firepower that shattered
even heaviest German tanks. If you were
a German tank commander in mid1943, you
were fighting a war of attrition against
an army that had more tanks, more
factories, and more replacements. And on
top of that, you knew something big was
coming. Both sides knew that a massive
showdown was inevitable. The Germans
were planning operation citadel, a
colossal offensive aimed at a Soviet-
held bulge near the city of Kursk. The
Germans goal was to encircle and destroy
the Red Army forces in the salient. The
Soviets, of course, knew it was coming
and prepared massive layers of defenses,
minefields, and anti-tank guns. The
Hitler believed the gamble was worth it
and that with new tanks, they could
smash through anyway. And this leads us
to what is widely referred to as the
largest and heaviest tank battle in
history. And in raw numbers, it
certainly looks like it. Over 6,000
tanks, two million soldiers, and
thousands of aircraft were involved. And
the Panza 4 and its crews were now about
to be thrown into the bloodiest meat
grinder of their entire service, the
battle at Kursk. In the early morning of
July 5th, 1943, the German army launched
their last major offensive on the
Eastern Front. If it worked, Germany
might regain the initiative. If it
failed, they would not get another
chance. The attack came from two
directions, and leading the southern
thrust at the tip of the spear were
Panzer fours. What they were driving
into was one of the most heavily
fortified zones in military history. The
Soviets had known about the attack for
months. With help from partisan networks
and intercepted German communications,
they anticipated every move. They built
up a layered defense with over a million
mines, thousands of trenches, anti-tank
guns, and fortified strong points
stretching for miles designed to bleed
out the Germans one step at a time. The
Panzer Fours moved out, backed by Tigers
and Panthers. But most of the new
Panther tanks broke down before they
could even reach the battlefield. Rushed
production and teething issues turned
them almost into dead weight. That left
the Panza falls once again as the core
of the offensive. They were advancing
through open minefields under fire from
pre-sighted artillery and dug in Soviet
anti-tank guns. Tanks were getting
knocked out right, left, and center.
Those that were not burned out were at
night towed back by recovery crews,
patched up, and thrown straight back
into action, but usually not with the
original crews because more often than
not, they were not coming back. This is
where the number from the title of this
video becomes disturbingly real. German
records from Kursk show that the number
of killed and wounded tank crew members
actually exceeded the number of crews
originally assigned to the operation. In
other words, total crew casualties
exceeded the unit's initial strength.
That is because the same tanks were
reused multiple times during the battle
with new crews sent in to replace the
ones who had either died or were lying
in field hospitals. This meant that a
tank could go through a couple of crew
rotations in a matter of days. And these
replacements were usually young men
still in their teens, loaded into
patched up vehicles, many of them barely
trained, and now replacing veterans who
had been KIA only hours earlier. A tank
crewman from the 11th Panza Division
wrote in his diary, "We didn't even
learn their names. We just loaded in and
drove until it was our turn." Meaning,
they literally did not even get to know
each other before going into the battle
and just waited for their turn for their
tank to burst into flames. The Soviets
were taking heavy losses, too, with
entire tank brigades wiped out sometimes
within a day. But they could afford such
losses and still win. Waves of T-34s
just kept coming. The famous clash at
Procarovka on July 12th saw tanks of
both sides colliding at point blank
range with tanks ramming one another,
firing while burning and soldiers
fighting on foot among the wreckage. It
was just chaotic, close, and beyond
anything either side had ever
experienced before. Despite their
disadvantages in numbers, the Panza
fours fought well with skilled crews.
They were decimating Soviet tanks, no
doubt. But the math did not favor them.
The Soviets could afford to lose five
tanks for every German one and still
have more tanks. By the second week of
July, the German advance had stalled.
They had failed to break through, and
Soviet counterattacks were already
gaining ground. Germany sustained
irreoverable tank losses during
Operation Citadel and the
counteroffensives that followed.
Thousands of tank crews were dead,
wounded, or missing. For the Panza 4,
Kursk was a turning point and the moment
when the tank's reputation as a
dependable workhorse began to collapse
under the weight of unsustainable losses
in everything from new tanks, spare
parts, fuel, and of course, crews. For
them, death actually became a
statistical certainty. In other words,
they fought until they weren't no more,
if you know what I mean. The momentum on
the Eastern Front now shifted, and
Germany was never able to take it back.
The Red Army pushed with new offensives,
new divisions, new equipment, and while
the German military was still dangerous,
it was now reacting, not dictating. From
this point on, it was a long, grinding
retreat. But the Panza 4 was still
trying to hold the line on all fronts.
By 1944, though, the Panza 4 was
undoubtedly outclassed. The Soviets had
the T3485 with a new turret, better
armor, and a powerful 85 mm gun that
could knock out a Panza 4 from long
range. The heavy I2 with a 122mm gun
didn't need a second shot. In the west,
M4 Shermans came in waves with growing
numbers of bazookas, anti-tank guns, and
especially fighter bombers, which made
any open movement not great for tankers
health. And speaking of them, the crews
had changed, too. In the early years,
Panzer crews were some of the best
trained, often veterans with hundreds of
hours in drills, field exercises, and
combat. But by late war, they were
mostly teenagers pulled from training
schools, given a few weeks of
instruction, and sent to the front. Some
had never even fired the gun before
combat or were put in semi-operational
tanks without radios and barely any fuel
and ammo. They were sent into senseless,
futile one-way missions until the final
end of the bloodiest global war. While
the Panzer 4 was never the most
powerful, never the fastest or the most
feared. It was everywhere. And by the
end, it had seen everything. It adapted,
it evolved, and it held the line until
there was no line left to hold. No tank
in the German arsenal saw more action,
fought in more places, or buried more
crews than the Panza 4. And maybe that's
the legacy worth remembering. A few even
continued fighting after the war, with
captured units being used by countries
like Syria into the 1960s, fighting
Israeli Shermans in the Golden Heights.
But by then, they were little more than
relics of a war that had long since passed.
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
