Shadowing Practice: When Cockroaches Hunted Panzers - Learn English Speaking with Video
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99 sentences
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It's September the 18th, 1939, in the Polish countryside near the village of Piceka.
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Section commander Edmund Roman Orlik leads three TKS tankettes as they scour the land for the enemy.
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The tankettes come to an abrupt halt as Orlik hears something.
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He listens closer.
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It sounds like tanks.
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It is tanks and they're coming in from the right.
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It has to be the enemy.
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He orders two machine gun tankettes to stand back as he knows they can't do anything against armor.
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It's all up to him.
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Orlik orders his driver to take them off-road to the left
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and the little tank hunter springs into action forcing its way through the weeds and bushes.
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The small engines rev loudly inside the fighting compartment
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and the small size makes them buckle violently backwards and forth with every bump.
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Unfazed, Orlik makes it to a position overlooking the crossroads with a bush for concealment.
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The tankettes are tiny two-man vehicles with a machine gun.
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Orlik's TKS has replaced the machine gun with a 200mm autocannon capable of firing five-round magazines in less than a second.
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Orlik has his attention forward, peeking through his sight waiting an ambush.
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Before him is an empty crossroads, the sounds of engines and tracks ominously growing ever louder.
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The German tanks are on a routing patrol and are buttoned up with the hatches closed.
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No Polish forces have been spotted here for at least a few days.
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Inside the lead tank is platoon commander Victor IV Albrecht von Ratterboer.
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He's German nobility and the eldest son and heir to the Duke of Rattabor.
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He's in a Panzer IVB and has good frontal armor
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and even the sides can hold off small arms and sometimes anti-tank shells.
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Despite being in the biggest tank on the Polish battlefield, von Rattabor is careful when approaching the crossroads, the German tanks slow.
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Nobody's here.
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Orlik's eyes widen as the German war machine rolls into view.
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Their ambush has worked.
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The Germans don't know they're there.
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With nerves of steel and under the concealment of the bush,
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Orlik calmly takes aim for the White Cross emblazoned on the side of the Panzer's turret and fires a single shot.
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A bang breaks the natural calm and a single 20mm shell zips for its target.
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The German tank is a very strong force.
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It strikes square on the tank's turret side, piercing clean through.
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There's chaos inside the German tank as it stops in its tracks.
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The hatches open and smoke streams from the hatches of the stricken panzer.
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The driver and a member of the turret crew rush out of the wreck, leaving their commander behind.
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A TKS hidden in the bushes doesn't wait for orders and opens fire with its machine gun.
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The two crewmen fall, never to rise.
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Now, behind the smoking wreck of the Panzer IV, the rest of the patrol consisting of two Panzer 35Ts rolls into view.
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Orlik rapidly orders his driver to pull back as the Panzer 35Ts emerge with their guns aimed directly towards him.
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Inside the 35T the gunners take aim.
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With their low profile they can hardly see the Polish tank heads hidden in the foliage.
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The gunner mutters under his breath.
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Damned cockroaches!
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One panzer fires, then the other and two shells scream towards the tiny form.
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Their shells rip through the foliage around the TKS but fortunately they miss.
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Orlik tells the driver to stop as he opens fire on the first German.
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But with the enemy's turret aimed at them, there's no weak spot for them to exploit.
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The two men watch in horror as bullet after bullet pings off harmlessly from the Panzer's turret and angled hull sides.
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But fortunately the German keeps driving forward and the hull loses its valuable angle.
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Orlik slams another magazine into the gun and fires mercilessly upon the hull side.
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Until one finally goes in.
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The 20mm pierces the panzer and strikes square in the ammunition stowage, lighting the powder and setting off a catastrophic chain reaction.
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The 35T's hatch blows open, spewing a column of fire and smoke into the air.
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The last 35T carries on forward, driving ahead of the burning machine, while firing shell after shell in the pole's general direction.
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Their shots rip tree branches apart and lift dirt into the air, but fortunately miss the small profile tank head.
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Inside the 35T they hurl insults at the tiny tanks,
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so difficult to kill and so hard to spot just like cockroaches.
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Seeing his two allies already destroyed the commander decides to make a run for it.
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If the crew can make it to Pacheca they can alert the other German forces
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that Polish forces of yet unknown strength are in the area.
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But the determined Pole won't let the invader go.
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He orders his driver to chase after him and the TKS rapidly stumbles through the forest in pursuit.
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They burst through a bush and spot the panzer fleeing away.
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Orlik opens fire.
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He strikes the 35T across its rear with a volley of 20mm and taking it out of commission.
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Orlik's tank rolls up to the wrecked 35T just as two crew members stumble out.
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Rapidly exiting his TKS, Orlik aims his handgun at the two men.
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Hand the hook!
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He shouts.
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They lift their hands in surrender.
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Who are you?
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Where is your commander?
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The two Germans look at one another and then point towards the smouldering Panzer IV in the distance.
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Together they head for the Panzer and check within as smoke pours from its open hatches.
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Battling the fumes they manage to find the badly injured commander and nobleman, Viktor IV Albrecht von Rattabor, still alive.
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They bravely drag him out of the rapidly growing flames, but it's to no avail as he would succumb to his injuries just a few minutes later.
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The two surviving Germans are crestfallen.
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Through watery eyes one of them hurls the insult once again.
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We would have hit you with our guns if you weren't in those damned cockroaches.
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The Poles took the name with pride and going forward referred to themselves proudly as Cockroaches.
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It wasn't the first or last time Orlik would claim victories upon the far superior German panzers.
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He would rise to the occasion again the very next day,
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participating in a hard defense in the town of Tsirakov where the defenders struck down seven more German war machines.
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The true details of this engagement have been lost to the sands of time.
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We took the liberty of trying to recreate it as best we could.
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The World War II Orlik was awarded the Cross of Valor after the war for his incredible actions
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and is credited as Poland's first ever tank ace.
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But tragically, it would all be in vain.
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Despite the Polish forces' best efforts and incredible skill, they couldn't defy their lack of equipment and resources.
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Orlik fought to the last and beyond participating in the defense of Warsaw and then joined the resistance upon the Polish surrender.
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Orlik was captured but managed to escape and survived the war.
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He became a successful architect in peacetime, finishing his degree in what today is the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź.
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At the same time as Vladislav Strzninski from the attack of the dead men was working in the academy as a teacher.
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While we can't be sure, we would like to think the men met and maybe even were friends.
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Tank ace Edmund Roman Orlick passed away on the 8th of April 1982.
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If you haven't yet, please subscribe to the channel and please watch more videos of ours.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “When Cockroaches Hunted Panzers”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tank, Orlik, German, panzer, Polish. This video has 99 sentences and 1282 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:42. The speaker talks at a steady 132 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 73% 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. |
| turret noun | /ˈtʌɹɪt/ | A little tower, frequently a merely ornamental structure at one of the corners of a building or castle. |
| hatch verb | /hæt͡ʃ/ | To emerge from an egg. |
| crossroads noun | A place where one road crosses another; an intersection of two or more roads. | |
| wreck noun | /ˈɹɛk/ | Something or someone that has been ruined. |
| fortunately adverb | /ˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nɪt.li/ | In a fortunate manner. |
| hull noun | /hʌl/ | The outer covering of a fruit or seed. |
| concealment noun | /kənˈsiːlmənt/ | The practice of keeping secrets. |
| foliage noun | /ˈfoʊliɪd͡ʒ/ | The leaves of plants. |
| gunner noun | /ˈɡʌn.ɚ/ | An artillery soldier, especially one who holds private rank. |
| hurl verb | /hɝl/ | To throw (something) with force. |
| stumble verb | /ˈstʌmbəl/ | To trip or fall; to walk clumsily. |
| ambush noun | /ˈæm.bʊʃ/ | The act of concealing oneself and lying in wait to attack or kill by surprise. |
| pierce verb | /pɪɹs/ | To puncture; to break through. |
| armor noun | /ˈɑːɹ.mɚ/ | A protective layer over a body, vehicle, or other object intended to deflect or diffuse damaging forces. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| going forward adverb | In the immediate future and beyond. |
| hold off verb | To delay (someone or something) temporarily; to keep at bay. |
| pull back verb | To retreat. |
| set off verb | To leave; to set out; to begin a journey or trip. |
| stand back verb | To maintain distance. |
| strike down verb | To kill (someone or something); to cause to die suddenly. |
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 | are buttoned · have been spotted · have been lost |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has replaced · have been spotted · has worked |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 11 contractions and reduced forms, such as can't, they're, couldn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: ambush /ˈæm.bʊʃ/, ammunition /ˌæmjuˈnɪʃən/, shout /ʃaʊt/
- Long words — get the stress right: fortunately /ˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nɪt.li/, mercilessly /ˈmɜːsɪləslɪ/, nobility /noʊˈbɪlɪti/, ominously /ˈɑmənəsli/, catastrophic /ˌkætəˈstɹɑfɪk/
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, turret, hatch.
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.