Video Camera Mounted On Turrets On Tanks and BMPs in Syria - Street Combat with Armored Vehicles

The Syrian Civil War has brought a massive amount of video/media to what some modern combat looks like.

en.wikipedia.org...

Between January 2012 and September 2013, over a million videos documenting the war have been uploaded, and they have received hundreds of millions of views. The Wall Street Journal states that the "unprecedented confluence of two technologies—cellphone cams and social media—has produced, via the instant upload, a new phenomenon: the YouTube war." The New York Times states that online videos have "allowed a widening war to be documented like no other."

This video is from July 2013. Basically a compilation of turret cameras mounted onto Syrian tanks and BMPs. Nearly an hour long.



I don't really know what language the commentator is in though. I believe it sounds like Russian but I could be way wrong.

From what I understand, the tanks that are being used in this video are T 72 and the BMP 1. (BMP footage starts around the 11 minute mark).

The destruction is immense. I mean, look at the buildings around the camera. Everything's shot out beyond belief.

The footage taken is some of the greatest, atleast from what I've watched. By greatest, I mean good quality footage taken directly from the front line and in recent times.

reply to post by buni11687


So People always say...If it is posted on youtube it isn't real....well I have always said many things posted on youtube is closer to reality than what the msm can ever achieve...Proof

This is the reality of war,indiscriminate All I can say is not one person fights on my behalf....If I had my way all such weapons would be banned from existence....but one can only hope and live with this dream as it will not become a reality in my lifetime.

IT is Bull# but it sure gives perspective.

That is sad beyond belief.
Coming to a city near you?
Certainly explains why our government wants the ability to shut down social media at will.

reply to post by buni11687


Interesting video. Watched the whole thing. Haven't seen footage like that before.

Looking at all the destruction theres not much infrastructure left to fight for thats for sure.

I'm sure more and more videos will emerge from all sides.

Regards,

Bally

reply to post by bally001


watched the whole vid also the footage at 40:45 is very interesting from two perspectives....too bad for the guys in the tank.

reply to post by plube


Yes that was quite graphic. Instant too. Sad, but I wonder how many were killed or injured by the tanks.

reply to post by bally001


yea...you hear many times the machine gun fire...then the tanks just pulverising the structures...as for fighting for infrastructure I would think that has become secondary now....makes not much sense just destroying the city. It does show the reality of modern urban warfare.....a messy business...and you could be correct....coming to a street near you.
Kinda like many cities during ww11.

another interesting thing is the numbers of civilians just walking down the sidewalk at one point as the tanks roll past...meaning there is lots of people living in amongst the rubble of the city....horrible...but war is war....time to end the madness.

That's obscene... I've never actually seen urban warfare with major armor before. Not outside World War II stuff where it was rolling with a purpose and objective.

That's fishing with H.E. ammo. I mean, really...That's quite literally what I like doing in some of the video games, once anti-armor support is a moot point. Just wander the battlefield...hunting for victims of opportunity to blast into nothingness ..

..and that sounds so much different when it's a video GAME being described. To see the same done with real living people makes me want to retch. Thats..just...awful.

I'm with the Pope. Whatever it takes to end the fighting ..that's got to end. Given the battlefield realities, it's one side capable of ending it almost overnight ..and it's who is on offense. Regardless of right/wrong at this stage? It has to end.... WOW... That USED to be a city, at one time.

A once thriving lived in city with shops and people going about for their daily bread reduced to this... War is not a movie with a great sound tract to make everything seem glamorous or a video game with do overs.. I for one long for the day when differences could be settled by another means, but I know I will never see it.

There are no glorious wars only the occasional brave and glorious warrior defending home and hearth who goes forth and puts his life on the line for what he believes is a just cause or personal defense. . History, if he wins will be the judge otherwise he is just another causality of mankind's endless wars... If he is lucky his name is placed on a wall for others, who did not even know him, to pass and maybe wonder.....

The ground is full of heroes and cowards alike; wrong place wrong time.. Regardless what a waste

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I with you on that....war should always be the last resort...the arms dealers and the arms industry are the ones making money off of people killing other people.....there isn't enough vulgar words that can be used for these guys, bunch of f'in cheerleaders

Welcome to the Suck

Politicians ought to be forced to watch hours of this so they know exactly what they are sending someone else in to do.

However cool and interesting military vehicles are at airshows and in the movies and video games this is what they do.

And that's not the perspective from the receiving end...

reply to post by buni11687


I know I am going to get flamed for this but in no particular order:

1. I am glad these videos are made and available for the public. Why? Next time a 'great idea' is being sold to the American people, at least they have an idea of what the 'great idea' looks like in reality. No kites flying, no democracy to the oppressed, no political rhetoric. Just good old fashion wholesale, indiscriminate destruction.

2. To those who still feel the US should be in Syria, saddle up. The Obama's, the McCain's, the Pelosi's, the Graham's of DC need to be on those streets in person. It is after all where they think it is good for America's sons and daughters. BTW, the Syrian army and AQS seem to be doing just fine blowing the s*** out of the place all by themselves.

3. For the life of me I cannot understand the armor-alone mentality. I saw Syrian infantry in only one or two places. The insurgents had time to make freekin' videos.

4. At 40:41 you can see those holes in walls were pre-staged. It looks like the armor was drawn in to where they wanted them. The one T-72 paid for it.

5. The quality of the video was pretty good. I would have loved to hear the chatter on the platoon net.

6. The AQS videos spliced in the SA videos was good. It shows both sides. Very educational.

7. Who needs the MSM with footage like this? Maybe we can send some CNN reporters and cameramen to those same streets, ratchet strap them to top of the BMP's, and let the journalism commence.

Alright, flame away. I still think knowledge this is a good thing.

I did some more searching and found a few more videos. Again, the destruction of the area is the same as in the OP video.

This one has the turret camera and also has someone filming from an upstairs building. It gives an extra angle instead of just the turret cam.



This one shows an armor column advancing up a street with some infantry taking cover behind the tank on the left and also more behind the center tank.



(Just wondering, but is it possible for a mod to move these videos into the OP?)

reply to post by ABNARTY


I agree with actually everything you said.

Im glad videos like these are available to the public. Instead of the little tiny clips that the MSM shows, these show right upfront in first-person what it looks like over there.

From all the videos like these Ive seen, only the last one in my last post is where I've seen a lot of infantry along with armor. There are some infantry only videos from Syria out there with first-person cameras, but many of those contain gore and I don't think I'll be posting those on ATS.

Im also really impressed at the video quality in these. With all the debris and junk flying around, the camera's still have very good quality. Ive "heard" most of these are filmed with a Go-Pro camera, but by "heard" I mean just some internet comments.

Apparently it looks a lot like WOT with the “haze” set on minimum distance.
I don't know how they can see anything?

Here's another interesting video. No combat, except for a few seconds. For about half of the video, the news crew is in a ride-along in a BMP 2 through a district in Darraya. While viewing the first-person camera, there's footage of a ride along camera of the same district in the bottom right. Both are not on exactly the same street, but it's the same district.



The difference between both videos is just unimaginable.

buni11687

Between 4:56 and 4:58 if you watch the right side middle of the screen, you can see a bullet fly right by the camera.

reply to post by defcon5


I re watched it a few times and it looks like it slightly bounced off of the cannon. Right before you can see it on the middle right, it looks like a tiny tiny dot and once it reaches the cannon, it looks like it hits and follows the curve slightly and slows down.

I also wonder what the concussion felt must have been for the infantry behind the left tank at 4:37 when the middle tank shoots. I've been right next to the barrel of a 12gauge shotgun being shot and thought the concussion felt from that was intense, but I cant imagine being right next to a tank cannon.

It looks like the model the Russians used in Chechnya. Regardless of the cost, destroy it all. This is a terrible war and rebuilding will be a colossal task, although methinks the wounds of this conflict will take a couple of generations to heal.

As was demonstrated in the video, tanks are vulnerable. The Russians are reported to have lost as many as 2,000 tanks in Grozny in the first Chechen War in the mid 1990's. I do not see Syrian T72s being able to stand up to "modern" anti tank and the damage shown to some of the tanks shows considerable wear an tear.

Regards

reply to post by buni11687


Great footage etc..though I can think of a million better uses for cameras. Still, what it does do is (when the footage is unedited or manipulated) show a view that no politician can spin or armchair general can discount. A hollow truth. In places these vids remind me of that movie " Children of Men" . Sad and scary. I know many of the areas shown here and remember them as bustling communities and the lazy days and kids playing. Its just hell now. The reality of what's happened to Syria in such a short time is so hard to see first hand. The luckier families are all jammed in here Link in case anyone is interested in what happened to them, and too many are facing such a hard winter and by the looks of it, nothing to go home to even if the war ended tomorrow. It's a fkn disaster and just strikes me ( yet again) as such a disgusting puerile waste.