Great Tank Battles

This first part of the series introduces the first tanks being deployed on the battlefields in northern France during the First World War and describes the devastating effect these steel monsters had on an infantry confronted with them for the very first time. It tracks the development, both technologically and strategically from the Fuller 1919 philosophy through the German attack on Poland.

The second episode starts on the morning of the 22nd of June 1941 when the Germans launched operation Barbarossa, the code name for the invasion of the Soviet Union. 3 million Axis tools faced more than 4.5 million Red Army troops and were outnumbered two to one in tanks, but superior training and strategies gave the Germans the edge.

The third episode opens with Rommel's second offensive in North Africa. The following summer the German offensive at Kharkov and the subsequent push past the River Don towards Volga and Stalingrad, later the scene of Germany's first major defeat - The Battle of Stalingrad. The scene is switched to North Africa following the continuous battle between the British 8th Army, the Desert Rats.

The fourth episode sees the Germans well and truly on the retreat and the Allies are able to successfully implement operation Husky - the landing on Sicily - where General Montgomery and the American General George Smith Patton ousted the Germans in little over five weeks. On the Eastern Front General Zhukov inflicted heavy defeat on the Germans now having the new T - 54 tank available.