"Friend or Foe British Army Tank Indentification" Topic

"Created by the British at the outset of WWII, FRIEND OR FOE? is a series of training films that feature tanks and other armored vehicles. In this case the purpose is not only to familiarize soldiers, weapons and tank crews with the history of the tank, but to prevent friendly-fire incidents. Within these films you'll see a wide variety of mobile weapons systems used by the Royal Tank Corps. and Royal Tank Regiment. These include Crusader, Matilda, Challenger, Valentine and other tank models. You'll also see WWI vintage tanks which are shown fighting in the Battle of the Somme and at a demonstration for King George V. .This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD."

YouTube link

Amicalement
Armand

Oh that is priceless.

I do hope our US cousins will appreciate that no-one has spoken like this commentator for decades. For UK watchers, there is much of Dad's Army here. a brilliant comment about our brave lads' headgear compared with that of the Hun.

Great pictures of early war British tanks, even a Tetrarch.

Where it is absolutely hopeless is in its intended purpose. There is hardly an enemy vehicle shown and, other than where the aerial goes, nothing to really distinguish friend from foe.

I think 90% of the time that was decided by which direction the AFV was travelling. If heading west, likely theirs….fire! Ah, unless one of ours returning to base of course.

Happy you enjoyed it my good friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Quite an interesting find. I enjoyed watching it.

I do not see it as quite as hopeless as others may. Even in the comments on YouTube there was a lot of criticism. But we should place ourselves in the position of a 1940 British Tommy -- seeing a film showing again and again the current British tanks, from many angles, moving too and fro, with some pointers as to some of the visual recognition points ("some ours have wheels that are evenly spaced too, but if the wheels are unevenly spaced you can be sure it is ONE OF OURS!") seems like a useful undertaking to me.

Although this particular film seems to be more about "friend" than "or foe". For the other side, "telling foe", perhaps this is the better film:
YouTube link

Found in the links YouTube presented after watching the first one. It goes into some details on the enemy tanks, profitable aiming points, and even into some of the infantry heavy weapons and infantrymen themselves.

"Carried among their special equipment are pole charges… They are … thrust against embrasures or loopholes in pill boxes. The answer to this one is -- shoot up the bloke with the pole."

:0

Good simple advice, that.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Glad you like it too my friend!.

Thanks for the link

Amicalement
Armand