The Amazing Carelessness Of The Wehrmacht Soldiers. Diary of a German Officer.
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- Today we continue our review of the diary of German Oberleutnant. Here German troops were surrounded and he had to fight hard defensive battles. These memoirs are very comprehensive and interesting, because this German officer describes in great detail the facts of what he experienced on the Eastern Front
#history #easternfront #worldwarII #technic #wehrmacht
All published parts of the diary are in order:
czcams.com/video/cLRmVPoCUZE/video.html
I was infantry in Vietnam. I can tell you staying awake on guard duty is not always easy if you’re exhausted. We called it coverage like “50% alert” - meaning half of us had to be awake - a very taxing duty.
Tell me about it! In the Seabees in Vietnam, we worked 12 hours a day and exhausted, stand watch all night when intelligence reported a possible attack from Charlie and we had to jump into our fox holes until the all clear it's was announced sometimes lasting 10 hours
Être sur un chiffre de garde n'est vraiment pas facile. Imaginez en hiver et de nuit. L'horreur !
Thank you for your service.🫡🇺🇸
They had pervitin
Staying awake on piquet after a hard day of boring patrolling was always the worst, then multiply that with the weather, 40+kg of equipment, 2 weeks into a 4 week op and young platoon commanders who haven't got a clue that they don't have a clue and yeah, the wonderful life of a grunt.
I wonder if the lackadaisical attitude of these German soldiers was due to combat fatigue? My father who fought on the US side would tell people that after the third day of combat, "You don't care if you live or die anymore." My father was in the battles of Tunesia, Oran & Birzetti in North Africa and at Naples-Foggia & Anzio & Rome in Italy, and the invasion of Southern France, the Rheinland, and Central Germany.
Five years of hard labour in 1941...that probably saved the guy's life.
Probably not, by early 1942 most convicts were sent to "Straf Battalions" or punishment battalions, that were used as shock troops, and led by the most fanatical Nazis.
He was probably forced to rejoin when the reds broke back they.
I wonder if 5 years hard labor and being determined unfit for military service was actually a blessing in disguise..
What amazes me is that this man found the energy and time to write in such detail after exhausting, dangerous and rain soaked days of fighting.
They had discovered General Mud , soon to be followed by General Winter . Two of Russia's best generals .
Плохому танцору всегда яйца мешают 😂 bad dancer always complaining about his eggs 😂😂😂😂 так говорили в ссср
Dont forget General Lend-Lease.... he really won the war for the russians.
@@wennesregnet5% of what the USSR produced for the Win. The US is always fast to share the cake when it's ready. My gratitude to the American and English warriors and workers though.
@@FilleSoleil-lt1lg the Americans set up Russian production plants, sent food and all kinds of military supplies.
I am surprised the Russians were putting up such strong resistance this early in the war. I had had the impression that they simply collapsed in the face of German superiority.
A friend of mine was in the Viet Nam war in Army Corps of engineers. He ran a Bull Dozer. He said that when a South Vietnamese sentry was caught sleeping while on guard duty their own officers would put a live grenade in that guards lap, pull the pin and blow them up. It was an alarming but apparently effective method the South Vietnamese used to rid themselves of military slackers. Yikes!
The weather and sickness are often the hardest forces to overcome in war.
Also, starvation hunger cold and dirty, exhausted.
6:44 Wow look at how young they all are. What a shame. What a waste of life. It's sad what happened.
Young and old at the same time, they look gaunt and experienced, swimming in their uniforms that were given to them when they weighed more. That picture caught my eye as well.
Most of the German ground forces marched on foot across the USSR! They took a train to Rostov and either marched to Stalingrad or into the Caucuses, where August temperatures on the steppe could hit 50°C! People don't realize that the Kalmyk steppe was like a desert, complete with camels.
Although I´ve never been in the military, I admire those who have and especially those who served during wartime. After reading books about the 2nd WW and watching numerous videos about the Eastern Front, this one to me was impressive. I will be a follower of this channel from here on out.
Absolutely brilliant insight to the trials and tribulations of the German 'foot soldier' during Operation Barbarossa. It certainly brings to light with vivid clarity the harsh conditions of the day to day conditions. Well done for taking the time and obvious effort to share these diaries. Do we know what ever became of the author of these diaries?
August 1941, before the attack on Pearl Harbor. 40km before Leningrad. The German army used 18-year-old soldiers as replacements. And the road was muddy. In the end, Leningrad could not be captured. Judging from the results, They should have stopped here and dug a trench.
Anyone interested in the early part of the Russian campaign and why it failed should read war without Garland's. Fantastic read. It explains how the wehrmacht that invaded Russia had some serious issues, especially with new soldiers. They were not the same that invaded France and the low countries.
Thank you. Always a pleasure to see your work.
Back in the day, in most armies sleeping on SENTRY GO was a shooting offence.
One of our platoon fell asleep on guard during an exercise in basic training. Next morning he was packing his stuff. Saw him again months later in some boring warehouse looking at the walls.
Another case: we were sent to an civilian airport to augment security for the arrival of a special aircraft. (Guess which one). The civilian guards told us that if one of them was ever caught sleeping, even when the airport was closed, it would mean immediate dismissal. So sleeping in war on the frontline??
I'll give you a hint on the special airplane: it had tailnumber 29000.
The boys were lucky not to be shot for sleeping on sentry with so much at stake.
Later in the war, they would be.
I was once posted to a guard house in a motor pool in Germany when it was sub zero celcius. They thought it so cold that the only gear we had that could keep us warm was to sit in a sleeping bag. Imagine pulling guard in a sleeping bag? You cant move to stay awake at all. Well to no surprise when the my officer came to bring the relief two hours later I was caught sleeping. They marched me to battalion headquarters and wrote up a article 15 and told me to sign it. I told them to fuck the hell off and I was going to fight it to higher headquarters. I told them it is impossible to freaking pull guard in a damn sleeping bag. I waited to a month expecting to be told when my hearing would be.......they quietly just let it drop. Morons.
Imagine telling that to a German officer on the Eastern Front to f off and take a hike. Shove that A15 where the sun don't shine.
the bundeswehr had one you could move in
For a really graphic account of a German soldier read The Forgotten Soldier, by Guy Sajer.
I have to warn the people who are intending to read the book : it's a book with many pages, so take a week off work because once you start reading, you can't stop till the end.
Read "Soldaten" by Harrald Welzer, Soenke Neitzel
The Russians were reputed to be excellent night fighters. Raids in the dark were common and successful. You would think that survival would keep even the exhausted alert.
These poor men were thrust into a living hell which will only get worse as winter approaches. I know it was beyond their personal control but they were the invaders. So sad!
The enemy was bolshevism and they lost.
Ils auraient du gagner.....on aurais pas ce problème avec l'ukraine actuellement..le général patton avait raison...leur botter le cul jusqu'à Moscou
@@naughtiusmaximus830no a true , it was dictator and two dictator 😅 Stalin and hitler both like Putin killed millions normal people 😮😮
It's very obvious that the Soviets planned to attack into Europe. Hitler attacked when he was in the best possible position. Delaying would not have avoided war with the Soviets, it would've merely postponed it until Stalin saw an opportunity
..."We hoped the weather would get better..." In the Wehrmacht, in winter 1941 this passed for tactics!
The price for bad leadership.
And: every experienced a Russian winter?
I wish, I had that singer!!
Talk about a back story
My mother had one just like it. When she died no one wanted it, so I gave it to a local charity.
People have no idea what a crazy adventure it was for a german soldier back then to travel that far. Most of the people in Germany back then got born in a village, spend their whole life there and died in that village without seeing anything else then maybe the next bigger town. The war diary of my grandfather keeps on until 1946 and there is mentioned how astonished the people in his village were when black US soldiers arrived there. They simply had no idea that black people even exist.
Warfare on a quite different scale! These guys must have been tired out, often starved and under constant danger of suddden attack and/or encirclement.
Yep. I was a shift worker for 35 years, but I bet I was never as tired as these poor bastards.
40,000 dead Russians and 30,000 injured ... they are simply astounding numbers ... actually unimaginable.
We here so much about how the Hitler Youth were so thoroughly indoctrinated which is probably true to a large degree, but young recruits leaving their guard duty, returning to their sleep areas and going to sleep sure creates an entirely different image of Hitler Youth. Thank you for this new perspective
From the descriptions passed on by many of these diaries of members of the German armies, it sounds like the Soviet weather doomed the invasion as much as the resistance.
German logistics were rubbish.
@@gagamba9198 German logistics were world class
@@Sercer25 joke
@@thodan467 ignorance
@@Sercer25
sorry, how would you call it if you have to choose to bring winter kit or ammunition to the troops in russia by the start of winter
For further research, it is the 12. Infanteriedivision.
New pictures this channel looks to be quite entertaining, subbed.
Almost all the pictures I've never seen before, and I've been reading WW2 books since the 1970's.
Who is to say these guards didn't want prison. They probably survived the war, seeing what became of the eastern front soon after. They may have been sickened by the atrocities they were witnessing
Excellent capturing of soldiers' experience.
Great work I love the first hand experiences really great video!
AI writes good stories.
Let's hope you didn't waste your precious time watching it then
Because you've wasted it posting a comment
those infantry units had to hoof it the whole time and they were just plumb worn out trying to keep up with the panzer units then asked to do guard duty IS a bit much.
I know what it's like. You're in zombie mode while trying to function. The minute you stop for any reason, the body will crash.
@@RW4X4X3006 absolutely; it's like 'can I stop now?'
@@moss8448 No stopping. Ruck up, move out and push on! 99% of civilians will never understand this. Exhaustion would kill most of them. Nevermind any adversary.
If not General Winter, Major Mud was a Russian ally.
No it was russian people and soldiers take a look at casualties russians also faced mud and winter conditions
Sgt. Oscar Mayer played a role.
@@vladimirboskovic the mud and winter doesn't seem to affect them that bad compared to the Germans.
@@Atlas-hu9wk well mud stopped soviets from destroying group center in 41 during winter offensive at moscow after snow ❄️ mud appeared rasputica and stoped offensive plus german ressistance milion and 200 000 soldiers are listed as Casualties on ru side its so stupid to claim that germans are stopped because of snow or mud
@@vladimirboskovic Who said mud and snow stop the Germans? It sure slows them down.
Didn't the Germans adopt those wooden mines and use them in Italy? If I remember rightly they are meant to wound not kill because it takes more men out of the line to deal with a wounded man as opposed to a dead one.
Most AP mines are designed for that.
Schü-mine 42
the feared General Mud already in august and september!!!
The average German soldier was the equivalent of 3 - 4 Russian soldiers, because his training was infinitely better, trouble was , the Russians had an endless supply of troops
At the start of the war the Germans were better trained towards the end the situation was reversed also the Soviet army was purged just before the start of WW2 which didn't help mater's when the officer corps was devestated
The 3-4 ratio comes straight out of nazi propaganda.
Thats not exactly true. The soldier is not much different. It was the officer level that the Germans excelled. The real problem if the Germans had been normal invaders and had shown compassion to men who surrendered they would of gotten lots the common Soviet soldier to give up easier. But these men had heard tales already of german war crimes and it forced the Soviets to fight much harder and often to the last man. Because they had no choice. If Hitler had WAITED till he actually won the war to genocide the Russians he might of got a way with it. But he was so insanely smug his Germans were superior they could start right away with violating any codes of warfare right away. Before he had won anything. NEVER give your opponent no possible escape. They will find new levels of energy and fight to the last man when it would be smarter to trick them into surrender. Imagine if the Germans had been kind to surrendering Russians and this got back to the Russians still fighting? Germany lost the war as soon as they began the massive cruelty. It made Russians who hated Stalin and who might of taken the first chance to walk to German lines and give up decide to fight to the bitter end. Hitler lost the war as soon as he did this.
The germans could not treated the Russian prisoners much better even if they had wanted to because of their totally inadequate logistical system.
They çould barely feed their own troops let alone 3,000,000 prisoners.
The logistical requirements were examined prior to operation Barbarossa with the findings being the wehrmachts logistics would fail after 3 months and half way to Moscow.
This advice was ignored, and the prediction turned out to be spot on.
@@JohnGaltGurgiThat's not really accurate regarding the state of the German attitude toward the Russians or Soviet peoples.
The Germans had come out of a civil war in 1919, similar to what the Russians went through, against the same foe of Communists, except the Germans won. Much of the public was deeply conservative in feeling and really had a terrible fear of Communism and its followers writ large. It wasn't as cut and dry as them being evil or listening to a madman's opinions, they viewed their war against Bolshevism as a total war and conflict of all-encompassing worldviews. The kind of barbarism you see on the Eastern front only really becomes pronounced after both sides are in too far: Russia invaded and struggling, Germany stretched too thin and in over its head. Some of the Ukranians, for example, initially welcomed the Germans as liberators, before flipping as the real brutal slugging match between Germany and the USSR really started to set in. And that environment and kind of simmering ideological battle soon turned to a physical war of total annhilation. You have to understand the German worldview then, where they're locked in a total war, some members of civillian populations turn against them--all of a sudden they are viewing them as enemy combatants, and they retaliate. And then what? The partisans are justified by said actions, and fight more. The cycle continues. And the Soviets are inflamed because their country is literally being invaded. Stalin may be a tyrant but he isn't an invading army, and so the Soviet fights--which may have been similar to how the German man felt as well as he fought for his homeland invading the USSR, crusading against communism, stopping a war from reaching his home before it could happen. And so the cycle continues.
The Soviets ended up giving it back to the Germans, although with the mindset above I don't think its fair to either the Russians or the Germans to say one side started it. If the Germans didn't, evidence says Russia would have, going Westward. It was an inevitable consequence of diametrically opposed worldviews and deeply different ethnic and cultural backgrounds of the men on each side. Maybe Europe could have had peace in some other far off timeline, but in the case of this, a war between a resurgent Germany and a rising USSR was always going to look like a really brutal, barbaric conflict I think. Europe was going to have a top dog one way or another and it was either going to be Germany or the USSR/Russia (as it happened, it turned out it was going to be the USA and Russia as top dogs). But the conflict can only be seen as a human tragedy, with any moral proscription beyond that just sort of impossible, owing to the circumstances that no one man can truly create himself.
Carelessness ?? Those soldiers were dead tired. Stressed out. Never ending misery
Being sent to prison sounds better than being on the line.
Pictures that I have not seen before.
00:10
What was that officer's name, please? I didn't quite catch that.
Martin Steglich.
Meth was also a huge problem.
Rasputitsa, mud season. One of Russia's most effective defenses. I am surprised that Germany did not take this into account when planning the invasion. It is a well known phenomenon. Even hampering Napoleon in his march to Moscow.
According to the plans of the infallible Führer the war was supposed to be won before rasputitsa.
Magical thinking of 'we'll win by September.'
They did, but they were behind schedule while the weather was ahead of it. Many forget that in WW1 the German army had already come to Rostov and the gates of St. Petersburg and was well aware about the Russian climate challenges.
The mad corporal thought that an iron will could overcome all things...
even german soldiers need sleep. they ran out of pervitin in france.
Court martial saves your life on the Eastern front.
thank you that's really instructif
Never been in the military, but at a prison where I worked, guards falling asleep was a frequent problem (and potentially immediate cause for firing ~ even very senior guards were not immune). I don't know if should admit it, but once came upon a lady in a control bubble (a central area controlling all the doors for a housing unit) asleep at her post; since I was neither security nor admin staff, didn't want her to lose her job and discreetly made enough noise to wake her up. On the other hand, it did remind me why guards were always glad to see me want access to a housing unit to deliver documents or such; with the tedium of standing guard, having something (anything) else to do can be a relief.
That’s my grandfathers bike they stole in Amsterdam.
Awesom bro.
Interesting in the moment photographs, the text content is another matter …
Wow, all that carelessness and yet their kill rate was 12 to 1 in Russia, makes you wonder what the other guys were doing... lol
GERMANY WOULD HAVE WON WW2 IF NOT FOR HITLERS STUPIDITY! STALIN, ALSO AN IDIOT, WAS FORCED BY DEFEAT AFTER DEFEAT TO FINNALLY LISTEN TO HIS BRILLIANT GENS! IF HITLER DID SAME WITH GEN GUIDARIAN AND TOOK MOSCOW AS ORIGINAL PLAN DICTATED, RUSS WOULD HAVE CAPITULATED AS EVERY MAJ RAIL LINE WENT THREW CITY!
In many of the battles against the Russians a lot of the Russian troops didn't even have guns, much like the many unarmed Chinese troops in Korea.
The LT sounds like Colonel Klink talking about SGT Schultz and the Stalag 13 men. His guys sound a little dopey
@@jamesclancy8091Plus that stupid order of not one step back.
Hitler was preparing this generation for war. German boys received basic pre-military training in the HJ for the previous 8 years, and combined with the traditionally excellent German officer corps this created the most formidable fighting force known to humanity.
Interesting.
Wow! The 17 year old will have to learn how to be a grown man.
From what publication does this text originate?
Where can I verify its authenticity?
Thanks.
The guy is Martin Steglich, but I can't find his diary or biography with google.
@@iroll I will check it out; Thanks very much.
Cant post links here of course but I have found it. It was on a Russia language website. Guy that translated it name is Sergey Vershinin. His grandfather was killed by the Germans where Martin was stationed which prompted his research.
Some pictures are not Wehrmacht some are SS and /or foreign volunteers.
The Wehrmacht were great soldiers, WHEN AWAKE.
Thumbnail looks like utter exhaustion.
Do you know some of this may have allowed the Allies into the Enigma cipher What would Feldgiebel have thought? Weather ships were not to.
blame
Amazing folly
At that point, autumn 1941, the Germans should have called it a day, go back home.
they hanged anyone who spit out of turn at the start of the war, but at the end, old men and boys were good enough to be used as fodder. like the Russians said, they came at us with their shiny boots, and we buried them in the same boots.
Liar .You had no boots issued.You stole the boots and then buried them.
Humans really are monsters.
Being in middle management sucks
ENJOYED PHOTOS OF DIARY KNIGHTS CROSS COMMUNITY STANDARS
I got as far as "my dear friends".
APPLES DRIED BAKED TEA OR TOAST A TOASTED BREAD NO BUTTER SOME JAM
He mentions 40,000 killed and 30,000 captured Russians just as sort of an afterthought. And that all in one day!
Around this same time (Sept 1941) in the Ukraine, the battle of for Kiev was just starting. Eventually the Germans surrounded 5 entire soviet armies & captured over 650,000 Russians. The death toll has never been determined but it must have been enormous. A month later outside Moscow, during the twin battles for Vyazma & Bryansk, the Germans surrounded several more soviet armies and the POW haul was similar. The Russian death toll there was in the hundreds of thousands. No other nation on earth but Russia could survive numbers like that and not be defeated or forced to ask for an armistice.
So they weren't overly impressed with Russian Hospitality..
The nerve of this guy to complain about desecrated anything. Considering you have invaded somebody’s land
Hugo's brother?
It’s criminal behaviour to invade another country…
Like the Mexicans, Chinese, Venezuelans, Chileans, Ecuadoreans, Colombians, El Salvadorans, Hondurans, Bolivians, Brazilians invade the USA across the southern border? That kind of criminal behavior.
Read The Chief Culprit by Vladimir Rezun (Viktor Suvorov).
He seems to mispronounce sentries as "centuries". And same with the singular.
I think it's a computer voice.
AI is garbage. It's attempts at dramatizing certain events is laughable.
After being up 3 or 4 days hungry tired cold hot. You really don't give a fuck about anything and then they tell you to be on a LP for the night. Sorry but of course guys are gonna fall asleep
Not if you were German (or Russian) they would hang you for it.
Are you telling me there is a German word for Gully Washer?😮
❤
Woow!!
Who won....?....
Russian has 11 vowels A, Ya (backwards R), Eh, Ye, I, Y, and I kratkij (short I), O, yo, U like in boot, and yu (looks like 10)- always pronounced the same - i is always ee - translated velikiye luki is great onions
MANOR HOUSE IN RAIN AND.STRAW
AWARE OF COMUNITY STANDARDS
Steh auf Kamerad ! Der Sieg ist unser 🤙🍺🇩🇪
Tous camés à la Pervitine !! Après des jours de combat, fatigue insurmontable...😢😢😢
Whah really amazes me is the large amount of soldiers the Russians were able to field ,akso one Rusdian who had the vision yo develp the T34 without him Russia eould have not had the armour resources they needed to make a real dent in the German advance all i can say why did that one russuan believe in himself thst much it can only be devine inyervention😮
The Soviet Union had 30k tanks and 20k aircraft in June of 1941. Germany had 3k tanks and 3k aircraft. Germany never had a chance to defeat the Soviet Union.
Plus the AK-47. Unchanged and still a very formidable rifle today. It’s impressive……
@@Webedunn AKs came after the war.
@@WebedunnTHAT PARTICULAR FIREARM WASN'T ADOPTED UNTIL AFTER WW2-!!!
"A"utomat "K"alashnikov- 19"47"
@@daleburrell6273 you got me there but it was designed because of the great patriotic war or to fight the Germans but you’re right. They didn’t see action till 47.
Very enlightening to hear that the Germans had basically the same problems with idiot troops as every other army.
Didn’t these guys watch, “Platoon?” What happens when you fall asleep on post? (Please don’t answer this.)
Officers are typically the dumbest ppl. Instead of asking who could keep awake they find the most tired guy then tell him to stay awake for 8 hours.🙄
They should have posted 2hr watches.
Since officers are so dumb they should just let non rates run thing, huh.
Absolute nonsense. Quite clearly you were never in the armed forces. CLICK BAIT.
Narration sounds a bit amateur 😕
Nein ich bin nicht sorglos mit "Siegerpropaganda" Ein Hinterfragen aus deutscher Sicht ist mehr als geboten.
OK DIAHREAH
BOILED POTATOES 10.HORSES
ai slop
They where druged simply said. Combination of amphetamines and sinthetic cocaine. After one week in combat german units whoud be rotated whit fresh ones. It was common to unit end up in hospital care for weeks after a heawy week.
Indocrinated and trained for a decade, plus on meth, in reality not expected to survive the war...
OK...This guy is a little wound up and obsessive/compulsive about gaurd duty.
Lighten up!
This is a comment that a civilian sack o💩 would run, as zhey have a lack of real🌎point of reference.
Howdafwuck is it not apparent that letting a sapper patrol past the forward listening post into the company perimeter not teanslate as some💩that you would not want @ all?
Great, but an American narrator?? How about a German perhaps?
How about a human one. This is garbage AI shit churned out in a minute.
AI sucks...
MUD 7 AM REST
They were fighting under pervitin drug.