Inside the Tanks: Jagdpanzer 38t

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Hello everyone,

this video was shared by The_Challenger on his Facebook. In it, The_Challenger has a look at the Hetzer. It was since uploaded to the page.

 

 

I have following things to add to the video:

- well, first, that’s not even a Jagdpanzer 38t in Munster, it’s the post-war G-13 (different gun, engine, other smaller things)
- at cca 1:04, the TD is incorrectly market, it’s a Marder II, not III
- “Hetzer” was not an official name or even soldier used name, but a post-war mix-up according to H.Doyle, not sure why this stuff gets repeated. The “chaser” translation – first time I heard that (usually it’s translated as “agitator”), but I asked a native German speaker and it’s apparently somewhat correct (in the “courser hound” sense)
- Panzer 38t was – as far as I know – never designated as a medium tank, it was always a light tank or simply “tank” (Panzerkampfwagen). In Czech service, 38t was known as “Light Tank Model 1938″.
- 7,5 PaK 39 was solid, but the gun you are looking at is StuK 40 converted to look like PaK 39 by removing the muzzle brake. So inside, you are actually looking at the post-war modification.
- this includes the aiming device and the instrument panel camera shots, those were refitted Swiss devices, not the original German ones (so again, sort of pointless to make a picture of)

Overall, it was good – I guess. Why on earth would they make a duplicate video of (much superior) Chieftain’s Hatch video on Jagdpanzer 38t (can be seen here – part 1 and part 2), I have no idea (unlike Challenger, Chieftain actually had a real restored Jagdpanzer 38t to describe along with the original engine. Very, very rare.)

37 thoughts on “Inside the Tanks: Jagdpanzer 38t”

  1. —
    In this post SS rekt The_Challenger, by exposing all the crap he said in the video.
    —

  2. xD They look so similar. I’ll make my own tank show. It’ll be called ‘The Conquerer’ or ‘Inside the Conquerer’s Hatch’

  7. I doubt it could penetrate the front of a IS-2 with 120mm of sloped frontal armor…

    • Haven’t seen the video, but there were versions of IS tanks around that had less armor frontally, where it would be possible for a Hetzer to penetrate it.

  9. I’ve never been that impressed with The Challenger’s videos. He seems like he really doesn’t know what to do with his hands, doesn’t have the sense of humor that the Chieftain has, and had the crew positions wrong in his JagdPanther video …

  10. I recall reading somewhere that it didn’t use the 38t chasis at all (converting the hull). It was build somewhat from scratch based on the 38t’s construction, hence the looks. Correct me if I’m wrong.

  11. - “Hetzer” was not an official name or even soldier used name, but a post-war mix-up according to H.Doyle, not sure why this stuff gets repeated.

    Through the media people are programed that way, when heard over and over again becomes truth.

  12. He should come to Poland, we have here real wartime Jagdpanzer 38t restored to running conditions.

  13. This video is very old. I watched it months ago. I think it was made before the Chieftain one, I may be wrong though.

  14. - “Hetzer” was not an official name or even soldier used name, but a post-war mix-up according to H.Doyle, not sure why this stuff gets repeated. The “chaser” translation – first time

    I do recall that there was one unit that did use the name Hetzer for their Jagdpanzer 38t, I don’t remember which unit it was though.

  15. Don’t really want to rave on The_Challenger. He seems like a decent chap, and quite knowledgeable at that.

    But… The Chieftain is just so much better at these videos. He’s very thorough and is quite a natural entertainer in front of the camera as well.

    • Both the Chieftain and Challenger seem to have their own distinct style. Challenger seems to talk more about the vehicles and their history. While the Chieftain takes a much more hands on approach and gives you an idea about how everything worked. Chieftain seems to have a much better approach, Like, “Hey, we got a tank, lets start messing around with it!” While the Challenger is more like, “Hey, we got a tank, lets blah, blah, blah, about it!”

      • I don’t know about the Challenger but it’s because Chieftain is/was an actual tanker in real life.

        • So is the Challenger. It’s just some people have a much better screen presence than others.

          I’m also an ex-tanker, but would be absolutely dreadfull at this sort of thing.:P

  16. Panzer 38t was – as far as I know – never designated as a medium tank, it was always a light tank or simply “tank” (Panzerkampfwagen). In Czech service, 38t was known as “Light Tank Model 1938″.

    I recall reading that Pz38(t) went into german service as sort of Pz III replacement, it was, according to this book, officially called Pz III (t) in documents. Maybe this lead to confusion and designating it medium tank. The book is titled “Niemiecka broń pancerna 1939-1945″, by Zbigniew Lalak and Dariusz Jędrzejewski.

  17. unlike Challenger, Chieftain actually had a real restored Jagdpanzer 38t to describe along with the original engine

    If you’re refering to the jagdpanzer 38t inside the hatch episode, then he also was describing a G-13. He made it quite clear in both parts of the video.

  18. Well, at least the video editing crew were smart enough to put a popup about how its not the gun they said it was…now if they would only have mentioned that its a Swiss G-13 instead of a real Jagdpanzer 38(t)….

  19. They made this video because you should never see contents on other servers, as corporations doesnt understand the internet.