ARMOR IS BOLD, AND ARE THE TANKS FAST...
ARMOR IS BOLD, AND ARE THE TANKS FAST...
EXT. 1 Our Earth, view from space. Rotates in sun beams, slowly comes closer. Camera stops over Ural mountains. We may see some cities, forests, rivers.
NARRATOR
At the beginning of the XXIst century there were two plants on a planet Earth only two! where tanks were build on a conveyor, just like... cars.
EXT. 2 Camera moves closer, now it's over Nizhniy Tagil city in Sverdlovsk oblast'. We may see giant plant, it's situated on several hectares. NARRATOR Number one Ural's wagons' building plant, in Nizhniy Tagil...
EXT. 3 Now camera slowly moves to the SouthSouthEast. We are over Tschelyabinsk another Russian city on South Ural.
NARRATOR
The second Tschelyabinsk Tractor Plant. As you may see both conveyors keep working even this hour. Every hour another tank comes from it. Another Russian technical miracle...
EXT. 4 Camera moves from those giant hangars, Earth rotates and soon enough we are over the East Coast of the United States. Camera downs over Hoboken, NJ.
NARRATOR
But it all started here. Well, Hoboken. Small sleepy city, New Jersey. Right here, in late twenties of the XX century, lived and worked a true American genius, John Walther Cristie.
EXT. 5 Collage of archive photos, Christie's portraits, views of the city Hoboken, his laboratory, factory it's still there. We come in.
NARRATOR
Here, in 1929, Russian trade delegation came... Its major goal was to establish working relations and collect necessary information and technology in order to build Soviet tanks for coming World Revolution...
EXT. 6 Archive footage steamers arrives into American port, railroad, station. Cars, trucks, people of that distant time. SWITH TO
EXT. 7 Testing ground, Aberdeen, MD: unique footage of the Christie's tank it's distinguished by its speed and maneuverability. It may jump over small rivers, and even antitank ditch is not an obstacle for it. Some light music sounds for instance, When Johnny comes home
NARRATOR
Let's keep in mind that there still were about four years before USA and USSR established diplomatic relations. By the way, Germany where normal democratic government is still at the helm already has its embassy in Washington, DC. And via that embassy asked American government to sell Germany at least one of the socalled fast tractors Christie. But... Government of the US categorically declined that request. And... with regards to the USSR...
EXT. 8 Archive footage of the Belomorcanal, collectivization in the USSR, scary pictures of famine, militarization and parades, countless hordes of Red Army. Totalitarian demonstrations on Red Square. Marching crowds.
NARRATOR
US State Department after being lobbied by two US Senators from New Jersey allowed USSR to buy from John Walther Christie...
EXT. 9 Again Christie's tank on a testing ground. This time it's surrounded by smiling American military officers, one of them future General George Patton. This time tank has no turret mounted but it still is not obviously an agricultural machine...
NARRATOR
Two of his ... TRACTORS. Well, with no turrets attached... So...
EXT. 10 Port. Steamer is under embarkation. Soviet flag on its flag stock.
NARRATOR
Nikolai Toskin, Soviet engineer working for AMTORG, was assigned to this case. He was responsible for delivering those two tanks oh, sorry! tractors, of course! to Odessa. He had to learn how to drive and maintain those mechanisms. John Walther Christie notified US State Department that he sold to the USSR two of his agricultural machines. Everyone knew perfectly well what exactly Christie is working on and still, with no further delays all the papers were duly stamped, and December 24th 1930 Soviet steamer with those "tractors" aboard left an American port.
EXT. 11 Again testing ground in Aberdeen, MD. Christie's tanks there still in a perfect workable order. We drive them for a camera. Still mechanical wonder they are!
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INT. 1 Museum in Aberdeen. Closeup to the original documents bill of sale of those tanks to the USSR.
NARRATOR Well, at the beginning of 1941, Soviet Union already had about twenty three thousand tanks, and all of them were created implementing brilliant design of John Walther Christie. And all of them were built on a base of Christie's prototypes, on Soviet tank plants... designed and built by American engineers and technicians, based on American technology. As of June 21th, 1941 day before the Nazis invaded Soviet Union Red Army had 1,363 of the very best tanks of the World War Two T34. And they also had unique heavy tanks KV1 and KV2 no one in the world had similar! 677 of them. And countless hordes of lighter and fast tanks BT7, BT10...
EXT. 12 Archive footage of those Soviet tanks on testing ground, and in Spain, Mongolia, Poland...
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EXT. 13 American tanks of the same period. All three hundreds of them M4A4. Just a slowmoving, totally unreliable target on tracks.
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EXT. 14 Soviet tanks storming through mud, snow absolutely unstoppable attack of the armored pure power. SWITCH TO
EXT. 15 Again Sherman tanks. France or is it already Belgium? They're stocked in a mud. Pitiful view...
NARRATOR
And what about the US? United States Government didn't accept Christie's tanks, and ordered ... this. That's how the major tanks of the US looked like. Meet M4A4 a.k.a. Sherman. Five truck's engines inside how these things worked together over there I cannot even imagine... Let alone its very low speed, high pressure on ground, weak tracks and high silhouette...
EXT. 16 And again Soviet tanks in World War II. And here they are in Berlin, Victory Day parade the best tanks of that time: IS2. And here are the footage of revolution in Budapest, 1956. Soviet tanks slaughter demonstration. Korea, Prague 1968. Sound track Karol Kryl's song Close the gates, Brother song of the Czech resistance. Afghanistan, Africa, Vietnam... Finally Iraq. Desert Storm.