When They Put Bomber Cannons on a Farm Truck — Nazis Called Them “Devil Farmers”

Discover the untold story of how ordinary Soviet farmers transformed desperation into deadly innovation during the Battle of Kursk, creating one of the most bizarre and effective anti-tank weapons of World War II. In the summer of 1943, as Germany launched Operation Citadel, collective farm workers near Kursk mounted NS-37 aircraft cannons—designed to destroy tanks from the air—onto humble Ford Model AA farm trucks, turning agricultural vehicles into fast, lethal tank hunters the Wehrmacht had no answer for. Expecting conventional Soviet defenses, German Panzer crews instead encountered civilian trucks racing through wheat fields, firing aircraft-grade explosive rounds that tore through Panzer IVs, Panthers, and even Tigers before vanishing into ravines and farm roads no tracked vehicle could follow. German soldiers, confused and terrified by weapons that “should not exist,” gave these improvised units a chilling name: Teufel Bauern—Devil Farmers. Based on frontline reports, German intelligence documents, Soviet testimonies, and postwar analysis, this documentary reveals how mechanics with welders, farmers with no military training, and surplus aircraft cannons combined ingenuity, local terrain knowledge, and sheer willpower to destroy an estimated 150–200 German armored vehicles. From the first ambush on July 23, 1943, to their evolution into semi-official Tractor Tank Hunter units used through 1944, this video explores how creativity, mobility, and the determination to defend one’s land shattered German confidence and rewrote the rules of mechanized warfare—proving that sometimes history is changed not by generals or factories, but by farmers who refuse to surrender.