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The armored might of Hitler's Wehrmacht will be forever associated with its most famous tank,

the Panzerkampfwagen VI, better known to a fearful world as the Tiger.

More than half a century later, the still hulks of these metal masters silently mark time in the Tank Museum at Bovington in Dorset, England.

The Tiger

But it is not too difficult to roll back the years

and conjure up the image of this terrible instrument of destruction in its prime.

Like its namesake, the tiger was a rare beast, and in its field it was every bit as deadly, a hunter and killer of unmatched ferocity.

I'm sorry.

The End In the wake of Germany's bitter defeat in the Great War of 1914 to 1918,

The victorious Allies imposed a series of draconian restrictions on the vanquished foe, designed to prevent Germany from developing armed forces worthy of the name.

One of the chief restrictions was to prevent Germany from developing or acquiring any form of battle tank.

Initially, the treaty worked.

In 1935, only four years before the outbreak of World War II, Germany still didn't possess a tank force.

In the space of ten short years, German tank technology would progress from the lightweight and inefficient Panzer I to the Panzer VI,

and onto the development of the Maus, the prototype Panzer VII, which would have been the largest and heaviest armored tank in the history of warfare.

The evil sorcerer who conjured up this energy for the mercurial transformation of the German tank arm, from a weak force of lightly armed two-man machines,

to the menacing panzer divisions equipped with the King Tiger was

the same man who also was to plunge the world into total war.

He was Adolf Hitler.

It was Hitler who provided the impetus to develop the tanks of Germany's Wehrmacht.

To huge popular acclaim in Germany, in 1935 he cast aside the terms of Versailles and began to re-equip the country.

In defiance of the Allies, Hitler began the development of both a tank force, and also a viable air force.

His stance was totally uncompromising and overtly expansionist.

In doing so, he took an enormous risk.

In order to enforce the Versailles Treaty, Britain and France would have been well within in their rights to take military action against Hitler.

In 1935, Germany would have been in no state to resist.

But Hitler was a gambler, and he gambled upon bluffing his enemies into believing his forces were far stronger than they actually were.

By doing so, he bought time while his generals desperately built up the real strength of his armies, ready for the day when war would come again.

To continue the deception, a number of tricks were perfected.

To impress foreign dignitaries, the tanks leading the parade would be driven round by a secret route to join the end of the colony

and come round again, thus doubling the numbers.

Hitler was successful in bluffing his enemies, but he also bluffed his friends.

He had promised the generals that a major war in Europe would not come until 1942 at the earliest.

In fact, Hitler actually precipitated the Second World War with his invasion of Poland in 1939,

three years before the complete armament of the forces destined for the fight were due to be available.

The German generals were able to provide a quick

and complete victory for Hitler with the successful invasion of Poland in September 1939.

In addition to Hitler's armies, the Poles were simultaneously attacked by Stalin's Red Army, so the contest was short and conclusive, but it was still a victory.

The next campaign would be much more of a gamble.

Hitler turned his gaze to the invasion of France, and his generals grew nervous.

They knew that this time there would surely be no repeat of the victory won in Poland.

Hitler's combination of political brinkmanship and calculated gambles had disguised the fact

that the German army at this time could deploy only 2,000 tanks.

The Allies could count on 4,500.

The popular view of the Wehrmacht of 1939 is an armored juggernaut, but in fact, most of its armies still marched on foot.

In 1939, German cavalry regiments were still deployed, and played an active role in the field.

The bulk of the army's transport was not even motorized.

It was still horse-drawn.

Not surprisingly, news crews chose to focus on the new and glamorous armored formations with their high propaganda value.

Archive footage of horse-drawn artillery and the long lines of men slogging along on foot is much rarer.

But these were the men who formed the bulk of the German army, and they still marched to battle as their grandfathers had done.

If the Wehrmacht hoped to defeat the French and British, they would have to defeat 4,000 French and 500 British tanks.

Not only were their numbers inferior, but many of the tanks deployed by the Germans were of limited fighting value.

The main offender in this respect was the tiny Panzer I light tank.

The Panzer I tank seen here in Bovington was small and lightly armoured.

This particular machine is a turretless command version.

These frontline fighting machines only carried two men, and were very lightly armed and equipped with just two machine guns.

Even though the shortcomings of the Panzer I had been cruelly exposed in Poland, some 520 machines still had to be engaged for the coming invasion of France.

There was no alternative.

The other mainstay of the Panzer Force in 1940 was Panzer II, a slight improvement on the flimsy Panzer I, but not much.

It was a three-man machine and had the added benefit of a 38-millimeter gun.

Despite its lack of armor and seriously limited firepower, it provided some 40% of the total Wehrmacht tank strength in 1940.

Hundreds of these machines were deployed for the assault on France.

of far greater military value was the Panzer III then one

of the best tanks in the world by the standards of

the later war years it had a comparatively weak main gun

but in 1940 it was more than adequate the main problem with the Panzer III was the fact

that it was only a in very small numbers.

Only 349 were available for the French campaign.

In even shorter supply was the excellent Panzer IV.

The The

bulk of the remaining machines were the Czech made Panzer 38T, of which some 400 were deployed.

The Panzer 38 was to provide a reliable and efficient tank for the early stage of the war.

Taken together with the Mark III and IV, the breakdown of forces meant Hitler's army deployed a total of 1,500 light tanks and 900 medium and heavy,

far too high a proportion of light tanks for the liking of the German general staff.

The questionable force was to meet and defeat some 4,500 Allied tanks.

Including the excellent Char B and the sturdy British Matilda, seen here at Bovington, both of these tanks were the equal of anything the Germans possessed.

But as the history books testify, Hitler was to triumph as completely in France as he had done in Poland.

He did so for two reasons.

Firstly, there were the poor French and British tactics.

The French tanks in particular were distributed in small contingents throughout the army, while the German tanks were concentrated in the new panzer divisions,

superbly led by able commanders.

It was these new panzer divisions which really gave the edge to the Wehrmacht.

The Germans concentrated all of their tanks into the hard-hitting panzer divisions, which were the only divisions in the whole army to be equipped with tanks.

The panzer divisions themselves could be grouped together to form panzer corps, Panzer Corps, which could achieve a massive local superiority at the point of decision on the battlefield.

The local superiority allowed the attacking German armored divisions to punch through the defensive line on a very narrow frontage,

and then stream forward to take objectives deep in the rear, leaving support infantry to mop up.

Tanks and motorized inventory would be supported by a devastating aerial bombardment by Stuka dive bombers, the division's own mobile artillery.

This was the essence of the new German concept of Blitzkrieg, the Lightning War.

It was this combination of efficient battlefield tactics and inspired leadership which made the difference for Hitler.

It also prevailed in the conquest of the Balkans and Greece in 1941.

But from these new victories, several false conclusions were drawn.

The chief of these was the German belief that their tanks were the best in the world.

Consequently, there was no urgent need for the development of new, heavier types of tanks.

This arrogant attitude was to lead to a shock from which Germany would never recover.

That shock was to be delivered in Russia.

When Hitler ordered the conquest of Russia in the summer of 1941, confidence among the Panzer force was at an all-time high.

The initial assault on the Soviet Union proceeded according to plan, and the mighty German army swept all before.

As always, the panzer divisions were well to the fore.

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Despite the understandable cockiness of the German high command, some of the lessons from earlier campaigns had been absorbed, and the makeup of the tank force

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which shook Stalin to the core had a much higher proportion of Mark III and Mark IV and Panzer 38T tanks.

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This trend illustrated the steadily increasing reliance on heavier armor, which was to continue throughout the war.

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Despite being outnumbered by a factor of 4 to 1, the German tanks at first swept all before them.

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Initially the tanks met only older and obsolete Russian armor, which the Panzer 3's and Panzer 4's had little trouble dealing with.

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It was just as well, because the Wehrmacht was about to meet with a very nasty surprise.

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After a few weeks of the campaign, the German forces suddenly encountered two of the new Russian tanks, which were to change the course of the war.

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The first was the T-34.

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Far better armed and equipped than the German Mark IV, and also better equipped to deal with the extreme Russian weather conditions.

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Its wide tracks made it equally at home in the dry, mud and snow.

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In addition, the sloping armour presented an angled front to German fire, designed to cause shells to glance off the armour.

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The T-34 was to become the real nemesis of the German army.

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It was built for mass assembly, and the crude welding lines can be clearly seen.

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It was no beauty, but it was tough.

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Ultimately some 90,000 would be built.

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The T-34s

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Although the Germans would devise better tanks, they could never hope to compete in terms of the sheer numbers of T-34s which were produced.

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It was by no means the best tank to emerge from World War II, but it was more than adequate for the task,

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and the huge numbers manufactured would ultimately tip the balance of the whole war.

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The other new Russian tank which the Germans now encountered was the heavy KV-1,

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a 46-ton with superior heavy armour and a vicious 76mm gun, capable of destroying any German tank from most ranges on the battlefield.

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The German High Command of guns.

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A new heavy tank was needed urgently,

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but it wouldn't be available for at least a year. To compound matters,

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mistaken assessments based on experience in France had led to even

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the heaviest German tank being equipped with the short-barrelled 75mm gun seen here at Bovington.

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These short-barrelled weapons made the tanks easy to manoeuvre, but deprived the gun of the missile velocity and penetrating power which a larger barrel produced.

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While Germany scrambled to produce the new heavy tanks, the Mark IVs were urgently re-equipped with long-barrelled 75mm guns,

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and given extra welded skirts as protection against the new Russian weapons.

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Measures like these helped to keep up the momentum of the German advance in 1942,

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but the panzer divisions were increasingly hard pressed by the increasing numbers of T-34s and KV-1s.

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Only the deadly 88mm anti-tank gun was really equal to the task of destroying the hordes of T-34s.

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What the Germans needed was a tank big enough to have such a gun.

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The experience of tank ace Hermann Bix was typical of the desperate straits German tank commanders found themselves in from 1942.

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Bix saw a dozen of his shells bounce off this KV-1, even at the closest ranges.

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Eventually, he managed to silence the steel monster as it swung its turret to take aim against him

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by the expedient of a well-aimed shot deliberately fired through the barrel of his opponent's gun.

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Men like Vicks were part of a new breed of German

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tank commanders who achieved incredible victories against superior forces now armed with better equipment.

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Rudolf von Ribbentrop, son of Germany's foreign minister, was another celebrated tank commander during this difficult time.

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Due to the efforts of Bix, von Ribbentrop and others, the German momentum continued.

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It took them to the gates of Leningrad in the north, into the Caucasus in the south, and to the very gates of the infamous city of Stalingrad.

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But by October 1942, they could advance no further.

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The Lines of supply were desperately overextended, and the tanks were worn out by the thousands of miles they had traveled,

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and the climatic conditions which turned from dust to mud to snow, taking their toll on the engines.

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They were never given adequate time for repair and maintenance.

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Despite their robust appearance, tanks are quite delicate machines, which are not designed to travel long distances on their tracks.

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They need very frequent repairs and constant attention.

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By 1942, crucial shortages of spare parts had developed.

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For example, the lack of air filters to extract the summer dust from the air sucked into engines

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led to worn out pistons and massive extra oil consumption, which in turn placed a strain on fuel supplies.

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German lines of supply stretched 2,000 miles all the way back to Berlin, and every single item of spares had to be carried to the front,

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across Russia's limited rail network, exposed to the privations of partisans.

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All the time, the Red Army's armada of T-34s was growing ominously.

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New Russian tank armies were coming into being, and in November 1942, the storm broke.

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The new Russian offensive swept behind the German lines in the south, and surrounded and destroyed the 6th Army at Stalingrad.

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The sheer number of Russian tanks staggered the Germans, who desperately needed an answer.

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In the winter of 1942, the answer to their prayers was finally ready for delivery.

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The first time I was in the war was to be a war for delivering.

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The Panzerkampfwagen VI, or the Tiger, had been developed in 1940 and 1941,

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too late to benefit from all of the lessons of the Russian war.

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So it had the uncompromisingly flat armor at the front, which didn't deflect shots away from the vehicle.

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But it was so very heavily armored that it wasn't a major problem.

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In fact, the Tiger was almost impervious to most Russian guns at all but the closest ranges, and it carried the deadly 88mm gun,

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then the best weapon on the battlefield.

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The gunner of the Tiger lined his target up on the middle triangle of his gunsight, as the motorized turret effortlessly swung the gun into position.

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The maker's manual proclaimed that the 88mm gun was 100% accurate at ranges of up to 1,000 meters.

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On the battlefield, the Tiger soon proved its deadly efficiency.

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But there were never enough machines to equip all of the panzer divisions, so the Tigers were organized into special heavy tank battalions,

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called Schwer Abdullans, which could be rushed from place to place on the hard-pressed front, wherever they were most desperately needed.

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Each battalion of heavy tanks consisted of 17 machines organized into a command troop of three tanks, a company troop of two tanks,

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and three Zug, or sections, of four tanks each.

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The highly efficient Nazi propaganda trumpeted the arrival of the Tiger, and for once, the results justified it.

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The training manual

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which dealt with the Tiger was very specific on the subject of how they were to be employed in battle.

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The terrific firepower, strong armor,

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high cross-country ability and high overrunning power are the characteristics of the heavy Panzerkampfwagen in the Tiger Company.

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They enable the company to attack in the first wave against strong defenses, to destroy heavy enemy tanks and other armored targets already at long ranges,

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ranges, to decisively defeat the enemy defenses, to break through positions reinforced by defensive works.

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As a rule, the Tigers were to be employed in separate heavy panzer battalions,

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in order to quickly break enemy resistance and penetrate defenses by means of their concentrated fire superiority and strong armor protection.

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There were two main offensive formations.

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The Kyle Formation for attacking on a narrow front, and the Bright Kyle for attacking on a broad front.

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The main targets for the Tiger were listed in order of priority.

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Firstly, armored targets and bunker embrasures, were to be attacked using armor-piercing shells.

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And secondly, prepared defenses, anti-tank guns, artillery positions, and massed inventory targets,

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which were to be attacked with high explosive shells.

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The manual pointed out that the unmistakable noise of the Tiger's engine traveled long distances, especially at night.

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Care needed to be taken therefore with the wind direction and the location of assembly areas, which, in order to preserve the element of surprise,

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were to be as far distant from the front as possible.

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All German teachings stressed that the most important task of the Tiger companies was the engagement of enemy tanks,

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as the excellent combination of the 88mm gun and strong armour, matched by reasonably high manoeuvrability,

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made the Tiger the strongest combat weapon available to the Wehrmacht.

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The Tiger was therefore a powerful and decisive point weapon.

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Its strength was best utilized in concentrated and ruthlessly conducted attacks.

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Spreading the tanks too thinly reduced the striking power of the group.

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On the rare occasions when the Tiger was to be used in defensive operation, positions were always prepared to maximize its effectiveness.

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In combat, the Tigers were to be sent into action at the crisis points of the battle, where their presence would be decisive.

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All other weapons were merely there to support the heavy tanks and the tasks allocated to them.

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From experience of combat, the tactics which proved most successful were to engage the enemy with fire from lighter tanks,

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while the Tigers launched a flank or surprise attack, using their superiority and firepower against the enemy tank's weakest points.

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During battles in built-up areas, it was stressed that the Tiger was not to be sent into house-to-house fighting

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because of its vulnerability to infantry at close quarters.

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There was also the protruding gun, which could cause the tank to get stuck in narrow streets.

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The tactics worked.

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Although only 80 Tigers had been delivered by the end of January 1943, already they were credited with over 400 kills.

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The Allies grew nervous, but so far no Tiger had been captured.

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That situation was to change early in 1943, when British forces fighting in Tunisia knocked out and captured this machine,

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which is now housed in the Tank Museum at Rovington.

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The Every

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inch of the Tiger was studied, and a very concerned study team presented these extracts.

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The tank provides a very stable gun platform for either head-on or broadside stationary firing.

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During the firing trials, a target was engaged at 1100 yards.

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Correction was given to the gunner for the first round, after which he fired a further five rounds, and secured five consecutive hits.

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The gun appeared to be remarkably consistent.

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The highest timed rate of fire during these limited trials was four rounds in just 39 seconds.

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This tank has a higher rate of fire than our own heavy gun tanks.

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Five rounds were also fired at a target moving at 15 miles an hour range 1500 yards.

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Three hits were scored.

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A target at one mile distance was engaged, and a hit was obtained with the fourth round.

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The study revealed that the design had been well thought out, and embodied a number of distinctly original features, especially the heavy armament and armor, turret and hull construction.

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It was noted that the Panzerkampfwagen VI, with its heavy armor, dual-purpose armament and fighting ability, was basically an excellent tank,

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and constituted a considerable advance on any Allied tank.

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The study revealed its only real weakness was the limits imposed on mobility due to its weight, width, and limited range of action,

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and concluded that the Tiger all round presented a very formidable fighting machine, which could not be underrated.

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There was more bad news for the Allies.

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In tandem with the Tiger, the German armaments industry had also been developing a new medium tank to match the T-34.

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Although they would not admit it, many of the features of the new Panzer Kampfwagen 5, or Panther, were copied directly from the T-34.

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The Panther had the same sloping armour, wide tracks and even a similar 75mm gun.

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Once the Panther had overcome its initial teething problems, it would prove itself the best medium tank of the war.

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It was a far better vehicle than the T-34, but again the problem of short supply remained.

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It was never to be available in the quantities which the war in the east demanded.

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Although 6,000 would be built, that was never enough, as the numbers destroyed always kept pace with supply.

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It has been estimated that from May 1944 until the end of the war,

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on any given day an average of only 400 tanks were available for action in the entire German army.

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With this tremendous disparity in numbers, it has been estimated

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that the German tank divisions would have had to destroy ten Russian tanks for every one of their own which was lost.

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In fact, by the end of the war, it is estimated that four Russian tanks were destroyed for every German tank,

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and indeed, the figure was more like ten in the case of the Tiger.

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Even on the Western Front, where the Allied tanks enjoyed a similar advantage to the Russians, Three Allied tanks were being destroyed for every German machine lost.

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It is interesting to note that only a small proportion of Tiger tanks were actually destroyed by Allied tanks.

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The vast majority either fell victim to Allied fighter bombers, or had to be abandoned and destroyed by their crews when they experienced mechanical difficulties,

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or more frequently, ran out of fuel.

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From 1944, the Allied bomber campaigns were really beginning to bite, and the shortage of fuel was killing the panzer formations as effectively as the Allied armies.

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Before they were swept away, Small groups of Tigers performed heroically.

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One man will always be associated with the Tiger.

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He was Michael Wittmann of the 1st SS Panzer Division.

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Wittmann was responsible for a huge number of Allied tank kills.

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By June 1944, Wittmann and his Tiger had been responsible for more than 130 Russian tanks

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when they were transferred to the Western Front.

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It was there that one of the most famous tank actions of the war took place.

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On June 13th, 1944, Michael Wittmann encountered the leading elements of the British 7th Armoured Division.

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With the practical eye of an experienced veteran, Wittmann noted that the column was locked into a single road.

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He therefore destroyed the last vehicle in the column, just as quickly the first, effectively trapping the entire column.

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Slamming his vehicle into action, Wittmann methodically moved down the line, destroying 17 tanks and 8 other vehicles.

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All of this destruction was achieved by one Tiger, handled with deadly efficiency.

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Despite actions like these, the Tigers were still being destroyed as fast as they were delivered

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and Wittmann himself fell in action in August 1944, his machine totally destroyed.

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Such losses were simply unsustainable.

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By 1944, despite the pressures of the Allied bombing raids, some 20,000 German armoured fighting vehicles were manufactured.

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But battlefield losses were running at some 23,000 machines.

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So the number of tanks available at the front line actually

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fell during 1944 to a point where the bulk of Germany's

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armoured force had been severely ground down by the early months of 1945.

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During 1944 on average there were never more than 70 Tigers

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available for action at any given time on the whole of the Russian front.

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The remaining machines were either under short or long term repair.

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It was this tiny force which forged a legend.

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On the Western Front, a similar situation prevailed.

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Average battle readiness was only 65 machines on any given day.

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The The

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bulk of the German armor was trapped and surrounded by superior forces in these streets.

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The Allies by now enjoyed total air supremacy, and the Allied Air Force had a field day destroying the retreating German columns.

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The second panzer division was destroyed by the second panzer division.

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A daring thrust by the second panzer division broke the encirclement and relieved the pressure.

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But the bridges were down and the retreating panzers could not withdraw over the Seine.

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Most had to be abandoned or blown up.

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By August 1944, not one single Tiger was left operational in France.

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The high rate of attrition on their armoured force caused the Germans to cast around desperately for a solution.

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One successful expedient was to dispose with the turret of the tanks, to produce turretless vehicles with less flexibility, but with the same firepower.

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They were also easier and quicker to manufacture.

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Three could be made for every two tanks.

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These tank killers were known by the German name, Yadpanther.

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By this stage of the war, German armour was fighting almost exclusively defensive battles, for which the Yadpanzers were perfectly suited.

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They could lie in wait, firing from fixed positions.

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The Yad Panther shown here is from the Imperial War Museum.

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It has had the side removed, to permit the public to view the inside, but the sense of military efficiency still remains.

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The on

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the battlefield.

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But only 470 of these machines were ever manufactured, never enough to seriously affect the tidal wave of armor now encroaching Germany on every side.

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But the Tiger and Tiger B still made a large impact in the closing months of the war.

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So much so that General Eisenhower requested a special study of the Tiger in action.

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Drawn exclusively from eyewitnesses, it made for depressing reading for the Allies, as this selection of quotes confirms.

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It is my opinion that the Tiger enemy tank is far superior in maneuverability to our own Sherman tanks.

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The higher muzzle velocity of the German tanks enables them to far outrange our Shermans.

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I have seen them knock our tanks out at ranges up to 1,000 yards, and know of no incident where a Sherman tank has knocked out a Panther

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or a Tiger tank at more than 300 yards range.

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It is my opinion that the vast majority of Panther and Tiger tanks knocked out have been destroyed by air support, abandoned, or as a direct result of air attack.

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On the other hand, 85% of the tanks we have lost have been due to enemy tanks and anti-tank guns.

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Seldom have I seen a shot ricochet from a Sherman tank.

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However, often our armor-piercing shells have glanced harmlessly off the Tiger's front slope and turrets.

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The heavy armor plate of the Panther and the Tiger enables them to turn our shot.

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but our armor is easily pierced by their more powerful guns.

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Our tank guns, both 75mm and 76mm, haven't the penetrating power that the German tanks have.

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At El Boeuf, during August 1944, our armor-piercing shells bounced off a Tiger at point-blank range while we were on a roadblock.

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One day a Tiger Royal tank got within 150 yards of my tank and knocked me out.

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Five of our tanks opened up on him from ranges of 200 to 600 yards

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and got five or six hits on the front of the Tiger.

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They all just glanced off and the Tiger backed off and got away.

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I saw four Tigers 1,800 yards away and fired upon them.

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I hit them in their right side about 15 times with armor-piercing ammunition, but saw all of them hit and bounce off.

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We were ordered to engage a column of six Tigers.

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Each time one of the armor-piercing shells hit the tanks, you could see them ricocheting two and three hundred feet into the air.

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The Russians were less gloomy.

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They seemed to have had better success, even against the Tiger II, as this report declares.

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The Germans have built up great hopes by the production of their new heavy Tiger B Panzer, which they believe to be invulnerable.

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When our anti-tank units open fire, the King Tigers deploy, turn their front to face the enemy, and open fire to the short forts.

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But the Tiger B has many vulnerable points, and many negative characteristics that increase its vulnerability.

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as we have seen from combat experience it has been destroyed by the T-34.

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The Tiger B was the largest practical tank to see action in the Panzer Division.

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Already its huge size was giving enormous difficulty in negotiating narrow roads and moving across bridges, few of which could carry its huge weight.

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It also needed huge stocks of the vital fuel supplies which Germany could no longer provide.

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In 1945 when the war ended, Germany was developing the super heavy Panzer 7,

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a huge metal monster, massively armoured and sporting a huge main gun.

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It was never to see action, and only four prototypes were built.

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But it seemed

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that the crazed minds of the Third Reich would never give up the quest to be the best and the biggest, whatever the cost.

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But as the humble T-34 had proved, it's not just size that matters.

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Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tank, tiger, German, panzer, gun. This video has 328 sentences and 4994 words to shadow. The speech runs for 47:41. The speaker talks slowly, about 105 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 76% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
panzer noun	/ˈpæntsə(ɹ)/	A tank, especially a German one of World War II.
armor noun	/ˈɑːɹ.mɚ/	A protective layer over a body, vehicle, or other object intended to deflect or diffuse damaging forces.
equip verb	/ɪˈkwɪp/	To supply with something necessary in order to carry out a specific action or task; to provide with (e.g. weapons, provisions, munitions, rigging).
deploy verb	/dɪˈplɔɪ/	To prepare and arrange (originally military unit or units, i.e., to array troops) for use.
battlefield noun	/ˈbætəlˌfiːld/	The area where a land battle is fought, which may not necessarily be a field.
armoured adjective		Possessing, wearing, or fitted out with armour.
armour noun		British standard spelling of armor.
pierce verb	/pɪɹs/	To puncture; to break through.
desperately adverb	/ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹət.li/	In a desperate manner; without regard to danger or safety; recklessly.
firepower noun		The capacity of a weapon to deliver fire onto a target.
turret noun	/ˈtʌɹɪt/	A little tower, frequently a merely ornamental structure at one of the corners of a building or castle.
superiority noun	/sʊˌpɪə(ɹ).iˈɒ.ɹɪ.ti/	The state of being superior.
sweep verb	/swiːp/	To clean (a surface) by means of a stroking motion of a broom or brush.
concentrate verb	/ˈkɑn.sən.tɹeɪt/	To bring to, or direct toward, a common center; to unite more closely; to gather into one body, mass, or force.
armament noun	/ˈɑː(ɹ)məmənt/	A body of forces equipped for war.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
bounce off verb	To test (ideas) on someone.
build up verb	To erect; to construct.
knock out verb	To strike or bump (someone or something) out.
wear out verb	To cause (something) to become damaged, useless, or ineffective through continued use, especially hard, heavy, or careless use.
back off verb	To move backwards away from something.
blow up verb	To explode or be destroyed by explosion.
break through verb	To gain popularity.
come round verb	To change direction.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	were perfected · would be driven · were still deployed
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has been estimated · has had · have seen
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	man who also · men who formed · divisions, which were

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, haven't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: restriction /ɹɪˈstɹɪkʃən/, sheer /ʃɪɚ/
Long words — get the stress right: desperately /ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹət.li/, superiority /sʊˌpɪə(ɹ).iˈɒ.ɹɪ.ti/, artillery /ɑɹˈtɪləɹi/, expedient /ɪkˈspiːdi.ənt/, vulnerability /ˌvʌln(ə)ɹəˈbɪlɪti/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like panzer, armor, equip.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Tiger! | Scorched Earth | Full Documentary - Learn English Speaking with Video

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