Week 252 - The Greatest Pincer Movement in Military History - WW2 - June 24, 1944
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- čas přidán 23. 06. 2023
- The Red Army surges forward in Operation Bagration, a mighty new offensive to destroy German Army Group Centre. Fighting continues in Normandy, Italy, and Finland. The United States Navy tears the heart out of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Philippine Sea even as the Imperial Japanese Army has success in China. The British and Indian armies lift the siege of Kohima.
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Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński
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Written by: Indy Neidell
Research by: Indy Neidell
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Map research by: Sietse Kenter
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Sound design by: Marek Kamiński
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Source literature list: bit.ly/SourcesWW2
Archive footage: Screenocean/Reuters - www.screenocean.com
Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
ES_41 clicks from the sun - Hampus Naeselius
ES_Anxiety Attack - Bonnie Grace
ES_Dark Beginning - Johan Hynynen
ES_Force Matrix - Jon Bjork
ES_It's Not a Game - Philip Ayers
ES_March Of The Brave 4 - Rannar Sillard
ES_On the Edge of Change - Brightarm Orchestra
ES_One Way North - Jon Sumner
ES_The Thin Line - Hampus Naeselius
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
Three years ago we were releasing videos about massive sweeping pincer movements toward some of these exact cities. Now the Soviets are back.
And someday you may be making more videos about Russia and the Wagner rebellion.
UNO Reverse Card
Talk about revenge 😂
Impressive, very nice.....let's see Steiners Counterattack
😊jzwm
Jo
😅😮pfal😊😮
Germany managing to avoid fighting a two front war by fighting a three front war is the definition of task failed successfully.
Lmao 🤣
Indeed 😂😂😂
More like mission accomplished unsuccessfully
4 right? Finland, Russia, France and italy.
Honestly, more than 3.
"The german army is a machine and machines can be broken" K. Rokossovsky.
“He’s not a machine! He’s not a machine! He’s a man!” - Rocky 4
Konstantin is one of the most underrated generals of the whole war
same energy as "if it bleeds, we can kill it "
I'm so glad Rokossovsky is appreciated in hoi4 as a Tank general
And machines need oil
D-Day: "Prepare for trouble!"
Bagration: "And make it double!"
Bagration would make it fourth fold haha
Hitler : Keitel
Keitel : yes Mein Führer
Hitler : Where is Army Group Centre?
Keitel : Picatchou 🥴
Lakeitel: Mein Führer, Army Group Centre is attacking towards Moscow, please do not believe the false rumours of its collapse.
Hitler: I am a genius.
You know what they say, its always in the last place you look!
Kettle! Give me back my Panzergruppen!
Gone. Reduced to atoms
The Red Army sure know how to celebrate the third anniversary of Operation Barbarossa.
And they brought the fireworks. The Germans should be grateful.
that is quite the stretch.
As if anybody that saw Barbarossa is still alive 3 years in... especially the Generals...
@@Ugly_German_Truths when I lived in Germany. I talked to a Germany Army veteran. He served on the Eastern Front from the summer of 1941 to the end of the war.
They definitely planned this with that in mind, but if only they could have got back to the Oder river it would have been that much better. If the Russians had happened to have the tank that they were going to replace the T-34 with than this all might have been over by now.
@@fatdaddyeddiejrWell then, you probably talked to a horrible person.
I didn't know Bagration and Philippine Sea were happening at the same week... So June 1944 has Overlord, Bagration and Forager all occuring simulatneously. Wow. That is just mind-boggling.
Right? This is a real strength of the week by week coverage.
It really is. Its what I love about this show as I always had these detached views of the theatres, and it was hard to visualise what was happening elsewhere at the same time
In 3 months the Germans will lose all of France and Belgium and pretty much all their territory in the USSR and parts of Poland.
And battle of Imphal finished up
Yes, when reading histories of the war it is sometimes hard to get a good sense of the activities happening simultaneously in all theaters. What Timeghost is doing here gives a great overview.
550 planes... down to 36? Holy crap. I think Japan's carrier fleet might be screwed.
Yeah there's a reason the American's nicknamed the battle a Turkey Shoot.
At least they put up a good fight
I respect Japans accomplishments on the battlefield in ww2 and I'm able to separate it from the war crimes
Was it a good fight? 550 to 36 sounds more like... guess I'll die!
Spoilers!!!
@@joes9732 Dying in battle is a great honour.
I don't think there was a point in the war with so much fighting at the same time all over the world in comparison with 1944. It's really mindblowing.
Well, 1942 is there too...
@lusciusvandbridge1802 1942 was certainly dramatic, but nothing like June 1944. MAJOR fighting fronts in France, Italy, Poland, China, and the Marianas. Not to mention fighting in Burma, New Guinea, and strategic bombing of both Germany and Japan. Much more dynamic than 1942, or even 1916/17
@@ryanprosper88 I’ve read and heard that Saipan was NOTHING compared to Peleliu just down the line in a few months (spoilers).
@dylanbowlin3646 the Marianas were critical to the Allied war effort. Once they were in bombing range of Japan, the war was effectively won. The B-29's started fire bombing Tokyo and other cities and air dropping mines in the harbors in spring '45. The atomic bombs were a mercy chock on the Japs in comparison to that.
@@Bolitadewien 1942 is looks bigger in terms of maps and movement, 1944 has more men and machines. Each is impressive in their own way.
A pretty serious week when the Turkey Shoot isn't even close to the biggest thing to happen this week.
@@jeffmcdonald4225 this "soviet centric series" barely spent half an episode on one of the largest and most consequential offensive operations in all of history
@@6lbbassfisherman I think the Battle of Dnieper (from Sept 1943-Dec 1943) and Dnieper Carpathian Offensive (from Dec 1943-May 1944) are much more underrated and understudied compare to Bagration. Operation Bagration's success even suprised the STAVKA as the result of it as if not only liberated Belorussia from the Germans but also destroying Army Group Center and most importantly bringing the Red Army closer to East Prussia, Warsaw Poland and isolating Army Group North in Courland Peninsula.
There is an element of subjective interest in these sorts of things too. I tend to find myself multitasking and mostly listening to the audio through the eastern front or Chinese front sections, but the Philippine Sea section (as with other Pacific naval stuff) had my full attention.
@@6lbbassfisherman I would still think the early/mid eastern front battles can be considered more "pivotal".
@6lbbassfisherman Bagration wasn't "pivotal". The tide had turned at Stalingrad, and the outcome was decided at Kursk. Bagration was the icing on the cake. If D-day had failed, Bagration would have been delayed for a while, and the Soviets would have had a more difficult time, but eventually the second front would have been opened probably in southern France and would have taken a bunch of German divisions out of the Eastern theater
Dedicated to all who still thinks that soviet strategy was based on mass human waves and deadly cold winter
Haha, true that. Nothing better to break that myth than obliterating a German army group right at the beginning of summer
Regardless of what source you pick for German casualties, the Soviets still took several hundred thousand more during Bagration. Human wave tactics are mostly a myth but their armed forces were still incompetent compared to the western allies.
@@paint4r they were by no means incompetent. Maybe more "brute" in it's approach, but it's the best they could do considering the massive front and the huge amount of troops they were up against.
The western allies, with their colossal industries and facing a "small" front, could afford to motorize their entire armies and provide a huge amount of air, artillery, and tank support among others on a per capita basis.
The soviets still could provide massive amounts of these, but they had to rely much more on breakthroughs and exploitation of breaches because of the nature of the front.
At the end of the day, even after the huge blunders of Barbarossa and the early war, their military deaths were only twice that of the axis, not that bad considering 3 million of those deaths were prisoners.
@@paint4rWhen you look at the total KIA/DOW/MIA ration on the Eastern Front, it is 1-1.50 in favor of the Axis powers, so it was not so bad when you consider that Germany was by far the most superior land military power in the WW2, they proved that in the battle for France, where the combined French-British forces got smashed by Germans
@maximilianodelrio "not that bad" the Germans took lower losses than the Russians both on the offensive and defensive despite having a small manpower advantage during 41 and a manpower disadvantage during the rest of the war
Soviet Union: "Have you ever lost an entire Army Group in one fell swoop?"
Nazi Germany: "N-no-"
Soviet Union (loads Mosin with Revolutionary Intent): "WOULD YOU LIKE TO?!"
Would have been a bit sweeter if the Soviets had been able to get all the way to the Oder river in this operation. Due to various factors they could not but one factor is not often talked about.
Japanese army: where are our carriers?
Navy: out there somewhere, secret mission.
Two years later:
Japanese navy: what happened to the garrison on Guam? Where are its planes.
Army: out there somewhere, secret mission.
I imagine this is part of why that happened.
A side note this week on June 23 1944 is that Corporal Sefanaia Sukanaivalu will become the only Fijian to win the Victoria Cross (posthumously) during the fighting on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. After rescuing two wounded comrades he was hit in the groin whilst attempting to rescue a third. As he was unable to move and being aware that his comrades would not leave him whilst he remained alive, Sukanaivalu selflessly raised himself in full view of the enemy and died in a hail of bullets.
What a brave man, because of his selflessness, his colleagues lived to fight another day.
Just in case anyone doesn't know, a 'Turkey Shoot' is a target competition where the winner gets a frozen turkey, which is why it's used as a term for this sort of domination in battle, it's as easy as shooting stationary targets. Shooting actual turkeys is a lot harder, as they're tricksy things.
Similarly a 'cakewalk' is a carnival game where a bunch of people walk around a circle made of numbered squares as music plays. Once the music stops, a number is randomly drawn, and the person standing on that numbered square wins a cake. All you do is walk in a circle and you win a cake, it's so easy you make a metaphor out of it. (This is not to be confused with the elaborate dancing tradition also known as a cake walk, though they both have similar origins as prize walks),
'As God is my witness, I thought Turkey's could fly'!!!
A work-mates now-husband took her hunting when they were courting, and spotted 4 turkeys lined up perfectly ... he got all 4 with one shot. When it was suggested that this is when he won her heart she grinned, but did not deny it 😃
@@alfnoakes392 Like Odysseus shooting through the axe-heads to win his wife back!
I did not know that. Thanks!
Thank you, kind stranger with the info. I know both Turkey shoot and Cakewalk but was unaware of the origins of these sayings. I appreciate your contribution.
The father of my former Russian Literature professor in college had fought during Operation Bagration. During her class we read Tolstoy's War & Peace, which she often mentions that Operation Bagration was named after Russia's famous general during the Napoleonic Wars. Bagration is also mentioned in War & Peace.
eastern europe's narratives surrounding the napoleonic wars are very interesting. poland's national anthem is also about a famous napoleonic general. it produced a lot of military men who ended up wrapped up in heroic language, a lot like the american civil war did for the states (stonewall, tecumseh, lee, grant)
1812 was (and is) a very important event defining how Russia sees itself and its defence against 'western' invasions. Evidently '41-'45, i.e. the "great patriotic war" eclipsed that somewhat, but "War and Peace" is not the only reason the "Patriotic War" of 1812 wasn't forgotten. My great-great-great-grandfather was a Grenadier and a great-great-great-grand-uncle a 'skirmisher' in Napoleon's army. Both of them marched to Moscow, both of them miraculously returned alive, and both of them basically never spoke of their experiences again. By the time my grandfather was born, all that remained was a 'myth' that our family had some 'connection to Russia'. It was only in the early 2000's, after my father passed away, that the archives of the Napoleonic army started to come online, and only recently that I was able to find my ancestors in those archives.
It is so important to retain those stories, whether they are from your college professors, or from people's more distant ancestors. It is one reason, of many. why I love this channel to bits. I'd love to see a TimeGhost series about 1812 ... it is a truly fascinating story, and continues to influence European politics to this day.
Thanks,very informative
@@AmirSatt ah yes the peach state
@@AmirSatt JUST like the crazy murderer, eh?
3 years ago Army Group Centre ran roughshod through the Soviet Union and now they are being annihilated.
It is just not as sweet though, Army Group Center took out about 2 million troops and got all the way to Moscow. Bagration was impressive but got from Minsk to Warsaw, and took out about 1.2 million.
@@jrus690the Germans had initially the numbers (dont forget their Allies's Troops and auxiliary units in 1941) and although this gave them early success they failed massively near moscow and even were beaten back for the first time but an arguably noobie Soviet Army and the good Siberian reserves
Its sad how the general view of the Soviet union in ww2 is that they were brutes who sent ill equipped human waves (totally false btw), while their tactical and strategic genius, best seen here, goes unnoticed
I still say we will see elements of Army Group Center marching in the streets of Moscow, mark my words.
Maybe just without their weapons
Give it a month, you’ll see
Can confirm. Thousands and thousands of nazi soldiers with heavy armor currently on their way to moscow XD some even say they named themselves after the Führers favorite composer...
tis but a flesh wound!😁
Just waiting for Steiner's counterattack. Any minute now.....
The thing that I keep marvelling at with this series is how often so many strategic events happened across the world in the same month.
I remember noticing this first in November 1942, when the British smashed the Afrika Korps at Second El Alamein, the Soviets launched Operations Uranus (Stalingrad) and Mars (Rzhev), and the US Navy effectively won the Battle of Guadalcanal with a series of naval victories. (Yes, I know the fighting on Guadalcanal continued for several more months, but the IJN abandoned any hope of supplying the Guadalcanal garrison after Nov. 1942).
June 1944 is another such month. The fall of Rome, D-Day, the first V-1 bombings, Bagration, the Battle of the Philippines Sea and (spoiler for next week) Operation Epsom in Normandy.
Also the invasion of Saipan, and the nail in the coffin that will force Finland out of the war
Add on the relief of Imphal and Kohima, which then allows for - spoiler alert - one of the longest land offensives in the Pacific theatre, the liberation of Burma
One of the first wargames published by SPI in the 1970s was on Operation Bagration. The title of the game was "Destruction of Army Group Center," which I think tells you everything you need to know about how that one turned out.
I played that game, and it was freakin' hopeless trying to win even a minor victory when playing the Germans. You'd look at the map at the beginning of the game and say "I've enough here, this can be done", but by turn 2 invariably being reduced to saying, "Not again!" and then the rout was on. Horrible game. Didn't like it at all. But SPI had a lot of good games. My favourite was the combined War in the East/War in the West games. I spent hundreds of hours playing with it mounted on my wall.
So could the Germans have stopped operation bagration had they known about it?
I remember the game. I think it came with an issue of Strategy & Tactics magazine, but I never played it for some reason. SPI did design great games back in those days.
@@dscott6629How about ditching Vitebsk on day one?
@@dmitripetrenko4999 My recollections of the game are fuzzy but Vitebsk wasn't garrisoned by particularly valuable formations. The problem was that by 1944 the Wehrmacht wasn't very mobile and abandoning the front defensive lines basically ensured you'd be caught out in the open by swarming Soviet mechanized and armored forces before you could set up a second defensive line. Stay and you'd be cut to pieces and destroyed at the Red Army's leisure at some later date. As Vizzini from the movie Princess Bride said, "You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'. Today I have considerable sympathy for the AFU for those same reasons. They are so screwed.
Please welcome the HORROR story Army Group Centre have delayed for over two years now.
Succinct and very well put, this is my favorite comment here
The china coverage has been intersting. It really helps make sense of why the KMT had basicaly no chance against Mao after the war
@bulldogsbob of KMT was corrupt to the bone with "ghost division " on payroll. I think we seen something similar recently with fall of Afghanistan to taliban within a week.
When I first heard that Bagration started 3 years to the day after Barbarossa, I thought 💭 "Couldn't be a coincidence, right?" Turns out, it mostly was because they intended to go earlier, June 22 wasn't planned, just got delayed to it.
One important development that happened this week that got lost in the shuffle:
On June 20, 1944 at Peenemünde Army Research Center, German engineers launch an A-4 (later renamed the V-2) ballistic rocket named MW 18014. The engineers are getting recent successes to their tests after constant Allied bombing raids, improving their liquid fuel recipe, and Werner Von Braun returning after being arrested by the SS back in March. This has become their most successful launch yet as it reaches an apogee (the highest point of an orbit) of 176 km (109 mi). This is well above the Karman line, which is the boundary that will be established after the war that separates Earth's atmosphere from space at 100 km above the surface.
Thus, this test rocket becomes the first man-made object to reach space. It also makes this the first sub-orbital flight.
Very cool. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more of the early roots of rocketry and space flight that would define the decades after the war. :)
Wouldn't ANY flights before this have been "Suborbital"? ;)
@Ugly_German_Truths sub orbital: reaching space, but not having sufficient tangential velocity to reach a ful orbit not dipping below the karman line.
First man made object to reach space was actually a German artillery shell fired from the Paris Gun during WW1
Indy, I like the fact that you have taken the time and made the effort to correctly pronounce all the Chinese and Japanese names correctly. Kudos to you.
Thank you very much!
Operation Bagration staring at Group center. : "I'm sorry little one"
😂😅
“See that hill, take it “ attitude among American commanders was widespread and resulted in unnecessary losses in human lives. And it was not only hills, but complete island groups. Example, Douglas McArthur ordered the invasion of Peleliu for airfield purposes and it was one of the bloodiest battles in the pacific. After the island was taken, it served no major purpose because the war had moved far away east. 🙄
You have just described one of the great myths of World War 2. The United States Navy designated the Palau Islands as a target for amphibious assault in November 1942 to provide airfields for strategic bombers to use to strike at the oilfields in the Dutch East Indies. The Palau Islands were placed under the operational zone of Central Pacific Area commanded by Admiral Nimitz. Operation Forager called for the sequential seizure of Saipan, Tinian, Guam (Mariana Islands), Peleliu, and Anguar (Palau Islands) to provide the bases for the B-29 Superfortress Bombers. Third Fleet Commander Admiral Hasley would try repeatedly to have Operation Stalemate II (Peleliu and Anguar) cancelled so that the III Marine Amphibious Corps can be used to reinforce General Kruger's Sixth US Army invasion of Leyte. Admiral Hasley was overridden and directly ordered by Admiral King and Admiral Nimitz to continue with Operation Stalemate II. The myth of General MacArthur ordering the invasion of Peleliu actually began in the aftermath of World War when President Truman decided to create the Department of Defense by uniting the Department of War (Army) with the Department of the Navy. The vast majority of the US Navy Admirals opposed the creation of the Department of Defense and actively campaigned in Congress to have the Department of Defense be blocked by Congress. This was when the Peleliu myth started to appear in American newspapers.
On script for McArthur.
This incident really shows the futility - stupidity? - of that thinking. A single battalion could have set up a perimeter blocking the mountain with another in reserve and just sat there waiting for the inevitable banzai charge. Which would have come sooner rather than later since I'm sure the Japanese didn't have much food left.
MacArthur, the biggest pussy since he left Wainwright and his 75,000 men to fend for themselves while he got to enjoy boarding a PT boat and later a bomber which took him safely to Australia. And then blocked the initial MOH request for the former. Speaking of that his own MOH was horribly undeserved and mocked those that actually fought on Corridegor and fought on in the jungles of the Phillippines or endured years of torture in the POW camps.
@@Raskolnikov70
This technique was used in the invasion of New Georgia. The Americans captured a slice of the island that they wanted and the rest of the Japanese were left to rot. Good observation from your part ✋🏻
The fall of Viipuri is one of the most debated events in Finnish military history. The 20th brigade which defended it was undermanned, undergunned and motale was low. It wasn't that the city wasn't to be defended, the unit simply routed due to panic spreading among the soldiers. The brigade's commander ended up in military court after Viipuri fell as he was held responsible, even if the city wasn't militarily very important.
I have seen a photo of Red Army troops after capturing Viipuri. I would link to it but can't find it on Google (I saw it in a book). They all have camouflage rain capes on and everyone seems to have a sub-machine-gun, often a characteristic of elite Soviet units at the time.
it was scouts then, late war soviet scouts have been somewhat elite units on its own@@stevekaczynski3793
Nothing will ever make me as giddy as Indy not able to pronounce my name haha
I've never seen him try so hard to do anything else 🤣
_Hhhhaaaaaa_
On June 24th, 1944 Canadian Flight Lieutenant David Ernest Hornell performed the action that would later award him the Victoria Cross. While piloting a Consolidated Canso (a Canadian version of the PBY) he spotted a German U-boat below. U-1225 opened fire with it's anti-aircraft guns and put two large holes in the starboard wing. Hornell returned fire with his guns, but one of them soon jammed. Ignoring the enemy's fire he pressed on despite the fact that starboard engine was now on fire. He flew the plane down to 15 m (49 ft) above the water before dropping his depth charges. The U-boat sank, but the fire on his wing was intensifying, so he turned into the wind and managed to bring the aircraft down safely in the heavy swells. The 8 man crew managed to get out before the plane sank and were forced to use a single dinghy. The dinghy could only hold 7, so they each took turns in the frigid water. At one point the dinghy capsized, but the crew managed to righted the craft with some difficulty. Throughout this time Hornell continued to encourage his crew mates, though 2 of them soon died from exposure. A Sunderland flying boat later found them, but could only drop a lifeboat due to rough seas. Hornell swam 450 m (492 yds) to where the lifeboat landed and brought it back to the rest of his crew. After 21 hours at sea they were rescued by a high-speed launch. However, by that point Hornell was on his death bed and died not long after being picked up. He was buried at the Lerwick Cemetery on the Shetland Islands. A month later he became the first member of the Royal Canadian Air Force to receive the Victoria Cross.
Only canadians can come under the video about one of the best military operations in WW2 by the Soviets and try to tell their story how they won the war. You are pathetic.
One of my supervisors actually was a veteran with the 27th. The historians overlook as one of the reasons for the clearing of those caves, the absolute hatred of the Japanese at that point in the War. The thought of any “nip” being alive infuriated all of those fighting on Rabuel. They didn’t need an excuse to hunt down the Japanese in those caves! Raw unadulterated hatred was more than enough!
16:00 Although it is not shown, a great tale of heroism and sacrifice occurred during Albacore's attack on Taiho. Flying above, one of Taihō's strike pilots, Warrant Officer Sakio Komatsu, saw the torpedo wakes and deliberately dived his plane into the path of one torpedo, successfully detonating it. Unfortunately, one torpedo still hit home, causing leakage of fuel and avgas, which doomed the ship and six and a half hours later the Great Phoenix exploded. One could say his sacrifice was in vain.
Slightly more fun fact, this arguably makes Albacore the only sub to sink an aircraft with a torpedo.
Thank you for sharing this extra detail!
One factor of the War in the Pacific seems to be the effectiveness of American search and rescue units. Indy just talked about them recovering downed pilots in the Philippine Sea battle, but I can't recall ever hearing any historian talk about the Japanese retrieving their pilots. The U.S. Navy not only had dedicated air/sea rescue units but regular combat units and ships were well trained in rescue operations. Future U.S. President George H.W. Bush was rescued by a submarine after going down in a Japanese held area.
Ah right, looking it up Bush's Avenger was shot down September 2, 1944, so hopefully it gets a mention in that upcoming episode. :)
@@BleedingUranium I would imagine so. Indy did briefly mention John F. Kennedy's PT-109 experience in the New Georgia campaign last August.
I looked up U.S. Presidents' WWII activities. Eisenhower is well known and documented. Kennedy was in the Navy and saw combat. LBJ was in the Navy and had administrative duties, but was decorated from his experience as an observer during a bombing raid in New Guinea. Nixon was in the Navy as a logistics and administrative officer in the Pacific. Ford served aboard the light carrier USS Monterey and was involved in that ship's battles in the Pacific. Carter was at Annapolis and didn't graduate until war's end. Reagan was in the Army Air Force's public relations division, but served as a mustering officer at the end of the war. (He actually signed Clark Gable's discharge papers after the war) Bush of course was a Naval aviator.
It is phenomenal that the 3rd or 4th most important thing that happened this week was the Allied forced closing in on a deep water port in Normandy.
Looking back it proved to be not as decisive as hoped for. The Cherbourg port was thoroughly wrecked and would take more then a month to rebuild. Same as Brest and the Channel ports that the Canadians were saddled with to take. In that sense Hitler's obsession with turning every Atlantic deep water port into a fortress was not that stupid. And why Dunkirk, Lorient and St. Nazaire were left to stew in their own juices by the Allies. Just not worth the effort to take.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Not quite. Turning these Channel ports into fortresses to be held to last man and last bullet by Hitler Order , strangled Allied advance in September 1944 due to supply and logistics overextension. Especially Antwerp which actually could no way be captured suddenly in September 1944 on ther contrary of common belief.
At the other hand there was desperate need for all those German soldiers isolated in Channel ports and Channel islands when Allies entering into Germany in 1944-1945
@@merdiolu In the end though, the sacrifice of those German forces in the ports did more to slow down the Allied advance into Germany then if they had been pulled out to fight the Allies elsewhere. A few extra divisions would not have halted the Allies significantly more, especially when you consider that the Allies would have gained control of those ports and their functionality sooner. Antwerpen was a lucky shot though, in no small part because Belgian resistance planned and executed the takeover of the port facilities before the Germans could wreck it. Too bad Montgomery failed to see the strategic significance of this part and prioritizing opening the Westerschelde estuary.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Too bad Montgomery failed to see the strategic significance of this part and prioritizing opening the Westerschelde estuary.
That is a myth. I would write longer if I have not lost my previous reply. But in summary , there was no way Antwerp could be opened up magically by a single 30th Corps that was overextended , exhaused after liberating the Antwerp on 3 September 1944 when entire 15th German Army was deployed and only partially cornered with all retreat and resupply routes on north of peninsula were open and impossible to block by a single corps that was overextended and not reinforced due to broad front strategy of SHEAF and German generals in coastal sector were ordered to hold their positions by Hitler till last man and bullet. As it had been , 15th German Army had 80.000 men in Scheldt in first week of Septewmber which had no intention of giving up. Only 13.000 men strong rearguard heldt both Scheldt and Walcharen till November 1944 and after that clearing minefields delayed the opening of Antwerp harbour till December. 13.000 men held Scheldt and Walcharen and delayed the opening of Antwerp , imagine what 80.000 of them could do before their major evacuation in September. 30th Corps was too weak and overextended (after 300 mile march from Seine to Antwerp) to stop them and could send only one single battalion to block the istmus in September , no way that could block , halt or capture 80.000 troops deployed in the peninsula during first week of September.
Delay in opening the port was destined to happen no matter what due to broad front policy of SHEAF. Holding down Montgomery responsible and villfying him on that regard became popular excuse for revisionist historians (mostly nickpicking quotes of his enemies in Allied high command) after his death in 1970'ies when neither SHEAF nor Whitehall ordered him to open up Antwerp immediately in September. Eisenhower gave a direct order for that only in October weeks after 15th German Army evacuated the peninsula minus the rearguard it left behind via causeways in north across Maas that were beyond reach of 21st Army Group in anycase. On the contrary everyone from Whitehall to SHEAF to army group commands were fixed on River Rhine and establishing a bridgehead over it in September 1944 due to misplaced overoptimism and desire to finish the war as soon as possible with another November 1918 armistice illusion. Montgomery was not responsible for that illusion either , Allied press with overoptimistic headlines to please their readers to governments to decision makers in Combined Chiefs and Whitehall to SHEAF all contributed to form that mirage.
To give an idea as to how fast things were moving on and around Saipan. 2 US Escort Carriers, the USS Manila Bay and the USS Natoma Bay were each carrying a full deck load of USAAF P-47 Thunderbolts being ferried to operate off Aslito Field on Saipan, once it was captured. When the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot began, they had to catapult launch those P-47's to clear the decks in order to bring up their own fighters. So the P-47's were launched with no guaranteed place to land. The P-47's participated in the air battle, savaging anything they could find around Guam before heading for the runway. The Marines had just barely captured Aslito field and the Army Engineers had just moved in to get the runways clear, with fighting still ongoing in the jungle around them, when the P-47's landed at their new home. With maybe an hour to spare. The Engineers had used a captured Japanese Bulldozer to clear the wreckage from the runway. Their own heavy equipment hadn't arrived yet.
Wow, that's a detail I'd definitely never heard of before, what an emotional rollercoaster that must have been for the P-47 pilots.
@@BleedingUranium it shows up I think in one of Hornfischer’s books. That was always the thing with the Ferry loaded planes. If the Carrier got involved in a naval or air battle they had to either launch them and hope for the best (in the case of P-47’s Spitfires and P-51’s ) or shove them overboard (P-38’s and B-25’s) to clear their deck. By the time the Japanese Navy showed up the Marines were pretty far along in their taking of at least the lowlands of Saipan and had reached Aslito Field. But I think it was the fastest arrival of US Army planes at a newly captured airfield of the war. It certainly demoralized the Japanese. A few years later after the surrender when the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey was interviewing and debriefing the Japanese Admirals they were asked what had scared or worried them the most about the US forces. They said the thing that kept them up at night and gave them nightmares were the amphibious landings. Nothing they could seemingly do would turn them back or even to their eyes slow them down. It was like an unstoppable wave washing ashore. Every single time. Island after island. They could not turn back even a single one.
@@BleedingUranium Taking off while not being 100% sure they would have a place to land was almost routine by 1944. Granted less so for the Army guys. The P -47 pilots were more concerned and happy that they were being launched into the action. They were going into a huge air battle. On their mental checklists worrying about the landing was pretty far down on the list of concerns. Running the Japanese off the only landing strip in 100 miles was somebody else’s problem in the moment. And it wasn’t an absurd gamble. The Marines were running mostly on schedule and were fighting for the airfield as they took off.
The beginning of the end
Yes, this week broke the axis
@@dolin2012don’t worry, Croatia and Bulgaria haven’t been broken yet
Somebody should tell Japan to stop trying to force a decisive fleet battle in the Pacific.
It isn’t working out.
On 21 June 1944, the Eastern Fleet attacked the Japanese base at Port Blair in the Andamans (Operation Pedal).
The attack was carried out by the Task Force 60 (TF60) made of the carrier Illustrious, the light cruiser Phoebe and their eight escort destroyers, Quality, Quickmatch, Quilliam, Racehorse, Raider, Relentless, Roebuck and Rotherham (representing the sword), while the battlecruiser Renown, battleship Richelieu and the light cruisers Nigeria, Kenya and Ceylon formed a powerful shield. TF60 sailed from Ceylon on June 19 for an air attack on Port Blair. A strike force of 15 Barracudas and 8 Corsairs, escorted by 16 Corsairs, was launched on June 21. Unfortunately, bad weather made the bombing difficult and therefore inflicted only insignificant damage. TF60 then returned safely to Trincomalee on June 23.
During the attack, only one aircraft was shot down. Piloted by Lieutenant Basil Willington Aldwell, the Barracuda was sea landed 15 miles off Andaman island but the 3 crewmen were soon captured by the Japanese. Sent to an interrogation camp in Japan, they were tortured until the end of the war.
I can't help but feel some sympathy for Ozawa at this time. He was probably wondering what was wrong with his planes and pilots. Much like Admiral Beatty was wondering about his ships at the battle of Jutland in 1916. Great video.
what was wrong with the british ships as Jutland? The self combustion worked so brilliantly they used it in Hood too!
@@Ugly_German_Truths---I think their was something wrong with their aiming.
I've just finished the D-day 24 special today, and now I've caught up with the weekly episodes and specials. I started a 2-week course about the history on Finland on June 5th (because of course the course had to start during the D-day coverage, when else would it be?) so it took longer than expected. I managed not to start speaking with Indy voice when I 'marathoned' through Sabaton History, TGW, Between two wars, and WW2 1939-1941, but I'm not so sure about this time 😆 No regrets, though. Loved it all.
Quite a busy two weeks for you! We’re happy you enjoyed 😃
It's chilling to think that, even though the outcome of the war is strategically decided, tens or maybe even hundreds of thousands will have to die before it's over.
The next year will be the deadliest period of the war...
Millions. Many millions.
@@MrTeddy1994 why?
Great episode Indy (& co.)! One loose bit of trivia. This week, on the 18th, future actor Lee Marvin was shot in the ass and foot during an assault on Mt. Tapochau, effectively knocking him out of the war.
Two side notes for the Philippine Sea. It was the last battle where SBD Dauntlesses flew from US Navy Carriers in World War 2. VB-10 and VB-16 from USS Enterprise (CV-6) and Lexington (CV-16) were part of the 20 June strike with 26 planes from both Carriers. VB-10 attacked the Ryuho, Hiyo and Jun'yo. Near missing Ryuho, contributing to the sinking of Hiyo by damaging the bridge, killing everyone there, and damaging Jun'yo. Though that may have been claimed by VB-16. Sources vary, but out of the 26 Dauntlesses of this strike, none or at the most 4 planes were lost in the ditching. The performance of the older dive bomber against the newer and troublesome SB2C Helldiver. Led to Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher proposing to VB-10 Commander LTCDR James " Jig Dog" Ramage. Of the possibility of retaining the Dauntless as the primary dive bomber. While LTCDR Ramage said that pilots would not mind. Mitscher's staff objected to plan on the grounds of logistics.
Also, 22 June 1944. A destroyer USS Terry (DD-513) or USS Patterson (DD-392), signalled Enterprise with a question. "How much Ice Cream was 'Killer' Kane worth?" Air Group 10 CO CDR William R "Killer" Kane had ditched on the night of 20 June and was injured after his head hit the instrument panel of his Hellcat. He was picked up by the Destroyer and patched up. After a bit of bartering between the two ships. Possibly because as an Air Group Commander, an Ace, a veteran of Air Group 10's first deployment to Guadalcanal and coming from Enterprise. Enterprise gave the destroyer 25 Gallons of Ice Cream. In exchange for returning Kane back to the carrier. Later when Kane was asked how he ended up in the sea. He joked that "when other planes were running out of fuel. He ran out of altitude." Especially as he was trying to help the strike groups return to the carriers.
Another "Killer" Kane? There was also one flying on the Ploesti mission of August 1, 1943, Colonel John R. Kane, commander of the 98th BG.
@@ramonzzzzyep. Also, didn’t the USAAF have their own “Grim Reaper” fighter squadron?
And sub skipper Killer O'Kane.
The fleet comparison for the Philippine Sea engagement was magnificent!
In sheer scale this week has to be some kind of high point in world conflict.
Between Bagration, Neptune, and Phillipine Sea, you're probably right.
@@scottski02overlord, Neptune already passed 2 weeks ago
Much gratitude is owed to the often very brave and determined Allied Soldiers. Many gave all.
not owed as much as the Red army though
The Japanese did lure the USN into a decisive battle. Those losses the Japanese Carriers and aviation took were pretty decisive. They are down to really only one fleet carrier which anything comparable to the USN's carriers in TF 58, and were scraping the bottom of the barrel for well trained aviators before these terrific losses.
If you think about it, it took the IJN a year and a half to rebuild its carrier fleet and carrier aviation in particular from the losses of 1942. And they lost their carefully rebuilt carrier aviation in a day. No wonder they didn't even bother to use their carriers anymore in Leyte Gulf other then as bait to sucker Halsey in.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 That, and when Japan started the war, their pilots were among the most experienced naval aviators in the world. Not only did it take Japan almost two years to replace the Midway and Guadalcanal losses, they could only replace them with very inexperienced pilots and in inferior planes to US counterparts.
WW2 Team: When you get to the battle for Aachen (Oct 1944), the first German city to fall, a good source is Storming the City (2015, University of North Texas Press). This case study of various urban battles gives a detailed chapter length description of Aachen, faster than reading an entire book. There is also a chapter on the Feb 1945 battle for Manila. Ok, I may be a bit biased, as this is my book.
Rewatching this, it is still staggering how badly the Imperial Japanese Navy lost here, and even more staggering to think that they're going to lose even harder come October. I really hope that the Battle of Leyte Gulf gets its own special episode or series of episodes as with Midway, D-Day, and Pearl Harbour, it very much deserves it.
Thank you for mentioning Hiyo, it is an often overlooked carrier sinking during the Battle of the Philippines Sea
Damn.
Steiner is going to be bloody busy!
Huge week of the war, with more to come no doubt. Keep up your great work Indy and team :)
My grandfather's ship was busy on the evening of the strike on the Japanese fleet picking up pilots in the water, they had an aircraft try to land on them after the order to turn on the lights was given. That aircraft ended up ditching alongside.
I wonder how much of the Time Ghost budget goes to just keeping Indy caffeinated enough to make videos of this length!
It's 1944, he still has plenty of Pervitin he got from the pharmacy down the street.
@Andrew Soboeiro it’s somewhere in the range of 80-90% and set to increase further 🤣
June, 1944 was the decisive month of WW2
When I was stationed in Korea in '87, we had a team of Koreans who helped us work on our helicopters. One day, after phase maintenance while the aircraft was being test flown, the leader of the group, a man in his 50's and I struck up a conversation (most of the team wasn't fluent in English). He asked where I was from and my family, and I did the same for him. His whole family, actually most of his village had been sent by the Japanese to Saipan to work as slaves. He was the only survivor of his family. The great defenses built on the island, all done by slaves. They were told the Americans would kill them by the Japanese, but he took the risk and ran out of a cave to surrender. He returned to Korea after the war and became a civilian technician for the US Army. I'll never forget that conversation with him ever.
Quite plausible. The Japanese tended to use Koreans as labourers and treated them badly. They also used many as POW guards, considered dishonourable, and Koreans often took their frustrations out on POWs who were the bottom of the hierarchy. Though one Korean told a POW in broken English - "Me you same-o". Basically they were both slaves of the Japanese.
The Red Army has learned its lessons, now it has become the most powerful army in the world.
This!
There is a very good reason to clear the Japanese off that mountain on the south end of Saipan. You would not want an enemy force with possibly away to communicate with other forces overlooking an airfield. Also, with the Japanese propensity to fight to the last person you would have to keep a much more substantial security force on the line to keep the Japanese from coming out and causing huge problems.
For those who would like a detailed description of Operation Bagration read Robert Citino The Whermacht's Last Stand.
That's a good book
@@fatdaddyeddiejr Analysis of Deep Attack Operations: Operation Bagration, Belorussia, 22 June - 29 August 1944 by William M. Connor is an excellent read as well.
'They`ve planned. They`ve deceived. They`ve assembled. And this week they attack!" Surprisingly, this is not about Prigozhin`s attack on Moscow :D
This channel covers a war in the 1940's, not current year. What surprised you?
@@Raskolnikov70 Nothing, kid.
@@kamilkrupinski1793 But you said you were surprised that this channel wasn't covering events in 2023. Are you confused about what Time Ghost does?
@@Raskolnikov70whoosh
@@andrewlampart-shakerscdjr4396 Explain what you mean. This is a channel that covers historical events from the 1940's and OP was confused about why they weren't covering current events. What am I missing?
This week in French news.
The 18th of June, Operation Dingson’s base, Saint-Marcel, in Brittany is attacked by the Germans and French collaborators who kill 30 SAS and maquisards, including all wounded, and some nearby farmers’ entire families. There is still 3 000 maquisards and SAS.
On Elbe, Portoferrio is taken at noon by the French, 900 Germans are taken prisoner. The next day they take Porto Longone and reach Rio Marina on the east coast.
The 20th, the Milice abducts the ex-minister of the National Education of the Popular Front Jean Zay, imprison in Riom since 1940 and is executed without any official order in a forest. Laval is himself horrified as he wants to transition back his power to De Gaulle (like Pétain). The last perpetrator alive will be found in Naples in 1947, the others two having been killed before.
The Maquis of Tuyère is attacked by the Germans, most of the FFi runs away but 80 are killed and a hundred wounded.
On Elbe Island, the Germans general takes his men to mainland Italy. The French took 2 000 prisoners and controls the island. (See response for violences of French and colonial troops in Italy)
The 22nd, troops for operation Dragoon are chosen, the 6th American Corps with 3 divisions and the Army B of De Lattre de Tassigny with 7 divisions.
The 23rd, SHAEF recognized the role of the Resistance for the landing of Normandy.
On the violence of the French Army in Italy :
At Elbe Island, troops are particularly violent against civilians, notably against women. Pillage is often done too. These exactions are common on mainland Italy, in Esparia and in the Liri valley from Moroccans especially.
From the point of view of civilians, these violences are accepted and endorsed by the hierarchy. A fake message from Juin is made up in 1965 where he stated in Arabic that pillage and raping is encouraged and are a reward if they take the Gustav line. There is no trace in the archive and that seems very unlikely. These violences takes places for approximately 3 days, before the American troops arrives. Between the 2nd and the 5th Juin, 418 sexual violences and 29 murdered are accounted near Rome. Sexual violences are however largely underestimated here but also in every territory. The fact that this violence comes from colonial troops, non-whites, exacerbate the perception of violence and the threshold of the tolerability, in comparaison with American and British troops for example. These violences are used by the Italian government to negotiate with the Allies, and then, after the war, in the context of the Cold War, are ousted. An Italian estimation makes up for 3 000 victims in Latium and Frosinone. But this does not count urban area. For all villages “visited” by the French, the organization Unione Donne Italiane counts 12 000 women violated. The demand of indemnity from all violence is of 60 000 people. Even if some, especially robbery, may be false, there is incontestable evidence that there was an exceptional episode of violence in the Latium.
The level of violence is sometimes compared to the one committed in Austria by the Red Army, where troops considered civilians as defeated enemies. Moreover, while in Campania, the French authorities reacted quickly to punish the perpetrators and maintain discipline. However, it seems that in Latium, they were more laxist as it happened near the front and not in the rear. Ten days after the violence in the Latium, Juin had an ambivalent message, to stop exactions yes, but uses the term of “conquered territory” and of an “enemy who betrayed France”. And in fact, in the eyes of French officers, Italians are not victims but members of an enemy and so, do not report bribery and violence to the MP. This view is in fact the same as the GPRF that do not recognize the status of cobelligerence for Italy.
To conclude, these violences existed to a terrible extend, in the Latium and on Elbe Island especially, the French authorities did not maintain enough discipline on the front. However, there were no orders or promises of free violences and these violences comes from the French’s vision that Italians were enemies. Last element of comprehension, Goumiers (the Tabors) were in fact trained as colonial police and used sexual violence as a weapon, that could explain that they are the main culprit of violences. All of this is reinforced by the colonial imaginary of “barbarians” and “beast” and racism against non-white troops.
Main source : BARIS Tommaso, « Le corps expéditionnaire français en Italie. Violences des « libérateurs » durant l'été 1944 », Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire, 2007/1 (no 93), p. 47-61. DOI : 10.3917/ving.093.0047.
@@Lematth88 I like that you do not hold back on these crimes. So many would have.
Not finding excuses but to better understand the mindset of the french military: italy was along with germany the original ennemy at the beginning of the war. unlike brits or yankees, italians attcked, invaded and even occupied (small) portions of french territory. More important in french memory, italian planes were shooting at civilians fleeing the invaders in 1940.
War is hell, attrocities are committed on both side, we can only remember and try to understand
If there was wholesale rape what would you call them, other than beasts? The actions speak for themselves, like the USSR' s troops in the East.
@@Bob.W. no disagreement there
Sacred War is blasting in my head rn
Rip to the 27 million comrades of the great patriotic war
The depth of your analysis of WWII never ceases to amaze me. Your description of Omaha Beach down to the company level just astounded me. I so much appreciate this historical presentation of such a crucial time in our history.
Thank you so much!
We did our best :-)
Red Army: "Let me show you a magic trick. I'm going to make German Army Group Center... *DISAPPEAR*"
June 1944 was apocalyptic for the Axis: The Western Allies get a foothold in France with Operation Overlord. They also continue to pressure in Italy. The Soviets are mounting the massive Operation Bagration. Japan is losing the fight at Saipan and lost a huge amount of ships and planes in the Marianas Turkey Shoot.
Any single one of these would have been a major concern for the Axis powers but all happening at the same time sets the dominos to start falling to their eventual defeat. This is the death spiral that they'll never recover from.
The Japanese navy's aircraft and aircrew losses in this period would cripple their naval aviation for the remainder of the war. The Battle of the Philippine Sea would be the last time the IJN would ever deploy a carrier with full operational air groups. New planes would continue to arrive until the end of the war, but their carrier qualified pilots are mostly gone now. When the Japanese sortie for Leyte Gulf in October 1944, they will send their carriers but the amount of planes they'd have are so few to be insignificant. Their carriers that once carried their war effort would be reduced to fool Halsey into going after them. They were nothing more than a sacrificial diversion in late 1944.
Operation Bagration would cause immense losses to the Germans with destroying Army Group Center and Germany would scramble to stabilize the situation. Matter of fact, months later, the forces that Germany would allot for the Ardennes Offensive of December 1944 were originally meant to go to the Eastern Front. They were also the last real powerful reserves Germany would have for the rest of the war.
No deployment special this year? :( sad, its a tradition, but the videos keep getting better and better, keep up the amazing work guys!
The engineers special they just did is kinda sorta in a similar vein.
Can someone explain what an "F" formation is?
The USN fleet was divided into five Task Groups: four Task Groups centered around 3-4 aircraft carriers, and one Task Group centered around the fast battleships. The positioning of the 5 tasks groups relative to one another resembled the five 5 points used to form the letter F.
Each individual Task Groups would have operated in a circular formation for maximum AA firepower, with the capital ships in the middle surrounded by a few cruisers, with a ring of destroyers encircling the cruisers and capital ships.
Thank you for the lesson.
The USS Cavala is a museum ship docked near Stewart Beach Galveston Island, Texas.
We've had the end of the beginning. I think this may be the beginning of the end.
The IJN carriers may have been paper tigers for a while now. They've long lost their precious pilots during the Midway-Guadalcanal period.
In the age when naval aviation reigns supreme, this was the equivalent of a ship with big guns but no cannon shells to fire.
More like having a crew with no skill in firing guns.
See also: The second Russian Pacific Squadron.
@@michimatsch5862When your crews got multiple cases of sickness, a few loose wild animals on deck, and a whole lot of conscripts with no knowledge of the sea as well as a stark raving mad admiral leading it....err. Let's just say it's not gonna turn out very well in an actual battle. (Also wasting shells on what they thought were Japanese torpedo boats and as a result getting barred from using the Suez Canal)
@@squeaky206 Oddly enough, one of the proposed routes for the Russians was to take Saipan, which was a Japanese possession at the time, instead of going to Surigao Straits.
@@69warthog1 Which wouldn't have gone very well for our boys in white.
Excellent work Indy & team!
From all of us, thank you for not reducing your coverage in these episodes, even though the weeks are only getting busier
You really glossed over how stupid the sinking of Taihou actually was. The torpedo hit around an aviation fuel tank, causing it to leak gas into an elevator well. Rather than do literally anything else, the damage control team decided that the best way to deal with it problem was to VENTILATE THE GAS VAPORS THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SHIP. One smoking sailor later and the whole thing goes up like the largest fuel-air bomb ever built.
funny thing about the "lack of discipline and experience,"
the Albacore's one hit on the Taihou ruptured the aviation fuel tanks. the crew were not skilled enough to contain it, even inadvertently funneling fuel vapors to permeate across the carrier through ineffective operation of the ventilation. you can guess how that turned out for them.
The U.S. Navy took a lot lessons from the Royal Navy in the way they operated their fighters and combat air patrols over the fleet. They learned how to better coordinate between the radar operators and the fighters. Seems to have paid off nicely.
I'm all caught up now. Thank you for your work and the time and effort you put in to create these episodes. Good work!!
Huzzah 🎉 for getting caught up 😃
We’re so happy you enjoyed!
Imma let Bagration finish, but Hannibal had the best pincer movement of all time at Cannae, of all time!
Of ALL time!
Definitely feels like this week could have been split into two parts. So much is happening!
WOW I can't believe you fit all the content into a 24min video. WOW nice job. This was one of the heaviest weeks of the war I think.
Thank you!
I've been looking forward to this since day one! Amazing work.
Thank you!
“Can we retreat, Mein Fuhrer?”
“Don’t make me tap the sign…”
This week on June 22 1944, the following missions in the 2002 video game *Medal of Honor: Allied Assault* will begin:
Rendezvous with the Resistance - As Lieutenant Mike Powell in Dubuisson, France, locate the downed G3 pilot and bring them to the French Resistance hideout led by Manon Batiste (playable protagonist of Medal of Honor: Underground).
Diverting the Enemy - As Lieutenant Mike Powell in Normandy, France, infiltrate the tank park to plant bombs on enemy tanks, switch the train tracks and plant explosives on the track barrier.
The Command Post - As Lieutenant Mike Powell in Normandy, France, send the false communique, steal the troop manifest, and battle plans as well as gather any intelligence on the new Tiger tank before escaping with Manon Batiste.
That bit at the end trying to pronounce the name was really funny. Thanks as always for shouting out your supporters!
Thanks Philipp for your contribution to the unintended and unexpected LOL finale… delivered with true depricating style by NN.
Also this week on june 23 general Eduard Dietl (Commander of the German 20th Mountain Army) dies in a plane crash over Austria along with three others.
The man who barely survived Narvik in 1940 is finaly dead
It is wild how many generals died in plane crashes during the war. I suppose that demonstrates how in many respects aviation was still "primitive" during this period.
Great show! I'm not sure which Indy rocks harder, his gold record or that tie...
Have being reading books and watching documents of WW2 from since I learned to read. And I am a kind of old man already. This has been the best so far, with the war against humanity side series. I really thank for your effort. Do you realize how good you are telling the history for new generations. Just love the work you do.
@@user-qt1cp1be3uKinda yeah. At least it wasn't an imperialist power like the USA or Britain that were more worried about losing their colonies to the Axis.
We don’t want our content banned by CZcams, and flying certain WW2 flags can very much get you at least censored, if not getting a strike.
"ICH BI DIE EIN PANZERKNACKER!"
On a lighter note, this week in the non-canon bonus mission featured in Medal of Honor Underground, OSS Agent Jimmy Patterson is called in from leave to investigate a bizarre distress call coming a isolated castle on the eastern edge of the Black Forest in Germany. Rumors of a laboratory and strange occurrences in the castle have persisted for a long while and Patterson is sent to find out what is happening. What he encounters of beyond anything he had seen in his career;
Guard dogs that drive halftracks and use weapons, armored knights and undead soldiers that explode upon death, but most bizarre of all are the robotic soldiers that resemble Nutcracker toy soldiers called Panzerknackers that endlessly repeat the phrase, "ICH BI DIE EIN PANZERKNACKER!" (I'm the one who cracks tanks).
Jimmy is forced to face all of them, eventually finding all the needed pieces to create his own Panzerknacker which helps him to shoot his way out of the castle, ending with a confrontation with a Panzer tank before he and the friendly robot soldier finally escape.
Great Video as always ❤
Both June offensives in Europe this year (Overlord and Bagration) served to show two of the biggest flaws in german tactics and chain of command: Hitler having to approve every single major troop movement, and the lack of notion between the german command to consider big offensives (both by the Allied in the Operation Neptune phase of Overlord and by the Soviets in Bagration) as simply distraction attempts to the real one somewhere else.
Hi Indy another wonderful episode.
Lots of interesting battle.
This war reached new heights,finally axis losing ground.
Thanks for the video.
Thank you as always Indy , Spartacus and crew . 😊
We do our best, thanks for the support!
@WorldWarTwo I believe if you submit your work to your favourite University.
That is a professorships if you include all your work . Multiple thesis !
It could also be good publicity for a University to sponsor
y all !
Trivia from a Georgian: Pyotr Bagration, or as we call him - Petre Bagrationi [Pet-reh; Bag-ruh-tee-on-e] was a prince of Georgian origin, a member of Bagrationi dynasty which ruled Georgia and later on fragmented Georgian kingdoms until the 19th century and Russian Empire's annexation of Georgia.
It's very interesting how Georgians played major role in history of not only Russia, but Soviet Union as well. Examples being Petre Bagrationi, Stalin, Beria and etc.
P.S. I have had many people in America think this and wanted to mention that Georgia has absolutely no relation to Russia or Slavic nations. It's it's own Caucasian ethnic group with it's own writing and language which predates Cyrillic.
we need some addendum specials on individual battles. They're getting to big and numerous to fit into the weeklies
awesome channel presented in very easily consumable manner
Thank you for watching!
The scale of warfare one the Eastern front never ceases to amaze one, an entire army grouo being decimated in an operation! Such losses today would wipe out entire militaries(reserves and police/paramilitary ) includes of most nations
During the General Mobilization of the United States Armed Forces, it was planned to build up to 130 or 140 Divisions ( The manpower was already available because of the massive amount of Volunteers already) . But upon reflection, it was decided, (later on) that only 80 to 90 Divisions were needed to fight in any Theater of War. Overkill you know. LOL!
The problem is that the US Army had a very inefficient system for assigning replacement infantry soldiers to existing combat units, which created large pools of infantry soldiers that could otherwise be put into new units just sitting around pending assignment to existing units.
Lend-Lease took priority over United States Army Ground Forces in World War 2. Due to the demands of Lend-Lease upon merchant ships, the US Army calculated in November 1942 that a maximum core force of 105 combat divisions was the most that could be deployed outside the United States. An average Lend Lease convoy leaving New York City in first week of January 1943 would take 7 months to travel to Bandar-e-Mahshahr, Iran and return back to New York City. In January 1943, the Roosevelt administration lowered the size of Army Ground Forces to a core force of 100 combat divisions and expanded the Marine Corps from 2 to 4 divisions. The first major blow to Army Ground Forces came from President Roosevelt when he ordered the US Army to equip a French Army of 250,000 men in North Africa. The US Army was forced to the freeze the mobilization of the 15th Airborne Division, 3rd Cavalry Division, and the 61st, 62nd, 67th, 68th, 72nd, 73rd, 74th, 105th (colored), and 107th (colored) Infantry Divisions because the equipment for their training was shipped off to North Africa to supply the French. The US Army tried to do a mass mobilization of the 3rd Cavalry Division and 14 infantry divisions in January 1944 but Army Ground Forces was forced to transfer over 300,000 men to the Army Air Force for the B-29 Superfortress project. The final blow came in 1944 when the Roosevelt administration cut the size of Army Ground Forces to a core force of 90 divisions because the United States had fallen behind in manufacturing Lend-Lease to the Allied Nations. Two of the division slots would be transferred over to the Marine Corps expanding its size to 6 divisions. The United States would end up at the end of the war with 88 Army divisions, 6 Marine divisions, and the 12th Infantry Division, New Philippine Scouts with the cadre for 14th Infantry Division, New Philippine Scouts being formed.
Its been mentioned that Stalin wanted to see success in Normandy before committing to Bargration, would the Soviets not launched Bagration had the landings failed? Would they have waited a little bit longer?
I'm sure the Soviets would have still launched the attack at some point. They were holding it over the US's and UK's heads as long as they could though and Roosevelt and Churchill seemed to have taken the threat seriously.
Thanks!
19:44 - interesting point.
That seems to hold validity.
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