Week 263 - Bulgaria at War with Everyone - September 9, 1944
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2023
- This week the USSR invades Bulgaria... who've also declared war on Germany, and who are still at war with the US and Britain, so Bulgaria is briefly technically at war with all four at once. Finland signs a ceasefire, the Germans are pulling out of Greece, the Warsaw and Slovak Uprisings continue, Belgium is mostly liberated, and across the world, the Japanese enter Guangxi, and there are American plans to liberate the Philippines.
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Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
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Written by: Indy Neidell
Research by: Indy Neidell & James Newman
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Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Editing and color grading by: Simon J. James
Artwork by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Marek Kamiński & Simon J. James
Colorizations by:
Mikołaj Uchman
00:57 Recap
01:20 Finland Leaves the War
03:04 USSR invades Bulgaria
05:11 Germans evacuating Greece
09:01 Heavy Partisan Activity
12:13 The Liberation of Belgium
17:34 Allied advance in Italy
19:46 Americans Plan to attack the Philippines
21:29 Japanese enter Guangxi
22:11 V-2 Rockets
23:30 Conclusion
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Archive footage: Screenocean/Reuters - www.screenocean.com
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Split Decision - Rannar Sillard
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salute
Excelsior!!
Where new commanders????
Don't worry, next week, I will help you. Just please mention our capital being liberated!
Things are moving so fast Indy can't keep up 😂😂
I can't believe we are just over a week away from Market Garden. Time really does fly by. One thing never changes though:Smiling Albert Kesselring will never stop smiling lol
At this point i think he has facial paralysis
Kesselring was like When the impostor is sus Jerma
@alexamerling79 We’re also 1 week away from Operation Stalmate II (The meat grinder on Peleliu island).
Shhh! Walls have ears. There are concerns that Market Garden is a bit adventurous and maybe going a Bridge too far, anyway. Don't want to make it even harder to pull off by tipping off the enemy ;)
@@leecooper8589An entire country too far! 😂
16:41 there it is, the long anticipated attack on Calais
Just as the Germans predicted
Only 2 months late and from the opposite direction
Hitler : I KNEW IT!!!
The most twisted 'technically correct' event of the war so far.
Seems they were right in a roundabout way?
Thanks for watching!
Hitler’s mastermind at his finest!
Unless the objective is doing a tour of France, that's 2 months lost.
Over 4 years later...
Now it's the Germans stuck in Dunkirk
Oh how the turn tabled have
@@sisophon1982it's tablin' time
Now just have to fly over and drop a million leaflets informing them that they are welcome to surrender at any time.
@@JLAvey Now the Kriegsmarine will send a fleet of ships to pick up the Germans trapped in Dunkirk...oh wait, there pretty much isn't a Kriegsmarine at this point.
Getting real strong vibes that the Cold War kicked off in earnest in 1944.
It really kicked off in 1918 when the western countries invaded Russia on behalf of the Whites during the civil war there. The Reds prevailed, but never really trusted their 'allies' ever since; the feeling was mutual throughout WWII.
It'll really start in earnest when Truman becomes president
The USSR wanted to conquer Eastern Europe the entire time. At first they thought they could get most of it by allying with Germany, but by this point they've realized that as long as they keep driving on Berlin, they won't have to actually give up control of any of the countries they go through on the way there.
The flyover limitations during the Warsaw uprising are a good point of division between the interests of the Allies, but hardly the first.
@@Belgandlmao like Britain wasn’t going to pull the Balkans into their sphere the second they could. That was the entire motivation behind Churchills desire for invasion there.
The speed with which France and Belgium are liberated after the long slog in Normandy, is stunning.
It was all or nothing for the Germans. They had no decent mobile reserves and the expanding frontage was no good.
After the difficult bocage terrain in Normandy, the rest of France was mostly open plains which Allied tanks just sped through. Plus: Germany losing most of its troops and heavy equipment in Normandy (especially at Falaise), the French resistance rising up, Hitler's strange decision to order some German divisions to barricade themselves in French port cities, the Allies landing in the south of France as well, and just a collapse of German resistance in France in general.
It's much harder to land at a beach as everyone knows. Then you had the hedge rowse of Normandy. It was a defender's paradise. When you can mass huge amount of troops on land versus a beach landing. Its a big difference, and it takes a long time. But once the allies got going they went to break neck speed also.
@@olivierverdys4673 Still, there are plenty of canals & rivers, wind breaks, muddy terrain and villages that could make for a stiff defense. WW1 got stalemated in this 'flat' region. But for Market Garden, the Maas would have been a formidable obstacle. As could the Somme, had the Germans chosen to stand and fight there.
The level of colapse of the Germans pretty much everywhere is mind blowing, however the wildest part is knowing that even with all the disasters suffered by the axis the war in Europe still has six more months to go.
more like 8 months...
You’re right, it is pretty crazy compared to WW1 where the Germans had a slow retreat.
Should have surrendered so much suffering could have been avoided morons
Woah woah woah spoiler alert please
@@tigertank06well unlike ww1, where the Germans had managed to knock out the Russians. This time around, no such luck.
Ian Kershaw's "The End: Hitler's Germany, 1944-45" is a great book for explaining why Germany didn't surrrender and fought until the very end.
Correct, I read it a few years ago, recommended.
I'm guessing alot came down to Hitler being selfish and knowing what would happen to him personally if Germany lost?
How would Germany have surrendered to anyone at this point, least of all the USSR.
@@jrus690 They did surrender eventually, So like that but sooner.
Could you summarize the main points?
I'd just finished school when this war began and now I'm buying a house and potentially getting engaged, wild
Edit: ye I'm really old
edit edit: obviously not really
Congratulations!!!
Funny, same here, was just leaving my second year of university and I have just moved. In to my first house 😮
Congratulations, it’s crazy how time flies
When it started I had one kid. Now I have 4.
How much u in debt?
Don’t worry guys. I’m sure Germany and Hungary alone can still turn things around!
Steiner shall prevail! He always does!
Hitler is playing 4D chess while the Allies are playing checkers! So much winning...he's going to win so bigly you won't believe it. 😁
Look... They have wunderwaffes that's the allies knows for sure... However.. They Dont know about our man called Steiner.
Everyone knows Hitler hasn't gotten serious yet, and that the Allies are losing - everything else is fake news ...!@@jacksons1010
@@jacksons1010He's going to hate his LIFE from winning too much. 😉
Ironically, Bulgaria will be the only Axis minor that gains and keeps territory after the war.
On the other hand - the king of Romania got a soviet order of Victory from Stalin. A bit weird
@@sodincwell, he will kick the king out. But for the time being, some medals is enough so he will accept said kick
Poland will be only Ally country that will loose land
Not worth it
Keep the territory
Keep the Soviets Away from us
@@projectpitchfork860 Axis minor for sure. Bulgaria never declared war on the Soviet Union, and never sent troops to participate in combat operations.
4:24 Bulgaria: You must be wondering how I ended up in this situation.
“Well, I made a mistake somewhere in my thinking”
The puns, the puns.... Ohhh the humanity... The chills are multiplyin'....
We simply have to keep things punny!
It's bad news when they say the story about your city will be covered in more detail in War Against Humanity.
Yep, Churchill’s fault.
Kinda crazy to see the Polish divisions in all 3 European fronts
They have a history of such things. Look up WW1 or the Napoleonic Polish experience sometime.
Just one day away from Luxembourg City being liberated! Sorry, I couldn't attend the stream like I always did. Keep up the great work! I can't wait until tomorrow! Or I guess, next week. YES! You mentioned us again!
I'm sure we'll see you on the next one like always!
Thanks for the support ❤
Fantastic as per usual. As a Belgian I do have to ask: Please give the Battle of the Schelde it's fair due. I feel it's a very overlooked battle that is only too vaguely remembered as a sideshow to the liberation of the rest of Belgium.
I intend to make a a full paragraph about Battle of Albert Canal and Meuse-Escaut Canal between 7 - 13 September1944
IIRC that was a slow slogging battle with no great maneuvers. A soldier killed there was as dead as anywhere else but that kind of battle doesn't lend itself to storytelling, unfortunately.
@@donjones4719 You word it perfectly. It was slow, slogging and deadly... whilst the rest of the liberation of Belgium was relatively quick and bloodless. It's worth discussing regardless of the impact on the storyboard. Because it is history.
Uhm Battle of the Schelde was in The Netherlands. Nothing to do with Belgium..
@@ariearie3543 True in a strict sense. But when it comes to a war scenario those few miles of Dutch coast amount to nothing. Quite a few Belgian troops, Canadian troops, Brits, Poles were involved. It was more a battle about the control of the southern Schelde that involved the northern part of the Belgian coast and the utmost southern part of the Netherlands in a ploy to have the Antwerp harbour operational.
So yeah, it was the Netherlands, but that doesn't mean on only the Dutch were involved. Quite a few Belgians were as well.
16:40 that's the cleanest pronunciation of Ghent i've ever heard by a non-dutch speaker
I have worked in Mindenao, Cebu, and Luzon on the Philippines. Wonderful people. Very friendly and inviting. My Dad worked with someone who survived the Bataan death march. He never talked much about it.
This is the best ww2 channel on CZcams, I love these weekly summaries
Thanks for the sweet comment and thanks for watching!
Churchill is "hopelessly devoted to Greece/Grease" hahahahahah.
Its the one that he wants, do do do, indeed oh yes indeed.
And greased lightning.
Love the easter egg!
John Travolta would be proud!!!
Imagine an alternate universe where Bulgaria manages to defeat every country and becomes the most powerful nation in the world
I smell a Heart of iron 4 playthrough going that way.
If the multiverse theory is true, then there is a universe where that happened
Take me there
Why not ? They invented thousands of big and important things for humanity.
“You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” ― Leon Trotsky
Dear Ww2 team.
Attention!
You are entering a minefield named "greek civil war".
Nomatterwhat you will say, you will be attacked by all sides.
See: the Balkans.
It's hard to picture Civil War in the Balkans.
@davethompson3326 sure. these things never happen here. 😂😂😂😂
@@georget8008 IIt's the mild terrain and climate, they keep everyone calm.
@@davethompson3326then you dont know much for history there...
Greating from Spain!
I used to pay little atention to the east front in WWII. Since I studied in Warsaw and tripped through the Balkans by train, I feel like eastern europe is not that far away.
Thank you for these videos!
Watching this while on a train passing through Lyon and besançon is a nice experience
It sounds it for sure!
Thank you for watching.
So I will admit that I haven't been keeping up to date with the week-to-week episodes. I was here when it started years ago, and then poke my head up when an interesting event occurs (Invasion of France, Barborossa, North Africa, Sicily etc). In this most recent bout, I started watching again on the D-Day episode, and have been binging every episode since, catching up a few hours ago, just in time for this week. Can't wait for the next few weeks!
Happy to have you back as a regular viewer, thanks for watching!
Great video as always, Indie, and I loved the Grease musical references at the beginning!
Can’t wait to watch your videos covering the Battle of Athens and the December events!
This week in French news.
The 4th, in the GPRF, all commissars take the title of Ministers and with some changes. (All Details in response)
The 6th, a French government in exile is proclaimed in Belfort, led by Fernand de Brinon, with Darnand at the Interior, Luchaire at the Information, Bridoux for the prisoner of war and Déat to Labor. This delegation leaves the next day for Sigmaringen. Pétain arrives the 8th but doesn’t want to have anything to do with them. There is about a thousand of French there holding a government in exile with flags, radios, journals, and stamps. The milice is staying in the concentration camp of the Stuthof (Alsace, type II) for some day before going to Germany [The main camp, and the minor camps in Alsace, is being emptied at the same time since the 4th , and most prisoners are sent to Dachau. All the auxiliary camps in Germany are still up and running].
The same day the GPRF asks Eisenhower to use French troops for the invasion and occupation of Germany.
The 9th, the first government of De Gaulle is proclaimed, a large reorganization is done to be representative of all political movements. However, the right is mostly excluded replaced by individual from the Resistance or Christian democrats. Jules Jeanneney (president of the Senate) is made Minister of State. (Details in response)
Ministry Changes the 4th : Parodi is minister of the Occupied Territories, Aimé Lepecq (ex-administrator of Skoda) is minister of Finances, replacing Pierre Mendès France who becomes Minister of the National Economy, Paul Giacobbi (Radical) to Supplies, without the Industrial Production given to Robert Lacoste (before secretary general), François Tanguy-Prigent is made Minister of Agriculture (SFIO, a Britton regionalist)
Government of the 9th: Adrien Tixier (SFIO, already minister of Labor and Social Matters) is made Minister of Interior. Charles Tillon (PCF, CGTU, assembler of boats, deputy in 1936) is made Minister of Airforce. Georges Bidault (Christian democrat, professor of History) to the Foreign Affairs, René Mayer (radical, ex-commissar to Transportation, Communications and Civil Marine) is Minister of Transportation and Public Work, Parodi changes again for Labor and Social Security, Augustin Laurent (SFIO, digger), for PTT, Pierre-Henri Teitgen (Christian democrat, journalist and professor of Administrative Law) minister of Information, François Billoux (PCF, ex-commissar of the Liberated Territories) is minister of Public Health.
On the 2nd, admittedly last week, German ambassador Manfred von Killinger committed suicide in Bucharest. He was hiding from the Soviets and the new Romanian authorities and they were closing in. A Freikorps officer and implicated in the murder of Matthias Erzberger in 1921, he also spent much of his time as ambassador persuading the Romanians to take action against the country's Jewish minority. He was a piece of work, in other words.
Intro: Grease! An American musical comedy romance production that was made into a movie in 1978, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John.
(It was the first Broadway show I attended in 1976 at age 12. It held the record for the longest run on Broadway at the time).
Always knew my birthday was on a special day throughout history. Great show, keep this info rolling. Better than any mainstream cable show.
Thank you so much for the kind comment we really appreciate it, and thanks for watching!
P.S Happy birthday 🥳
The educational content that you guys provide is so important.
For the Germans, the rapidity of the Soviet advance must have been chilling right to the bone.
Every collapse happens the same way - gradually, then suddenly.
The soviet advance is just as chilling for the civilians of the former independent Eastern Europe countries who won’t see freedom for 60 more years
Thanks for all the great work, I look forward to each new episode.
The more details I read and hear about the supply situation, the more I shake my head at the missed opportunity to clear the Scheldt. Monty gets more blame than he deserves for the things that went wrong during Market Garden, but he deserves the flak he gets for the Antwerp approaches. When Admiral Ramsay AND Admiral Cunningham are both telling you that you need to do something, it's because you need to do it. I can maybe imagine ONE of them being wrong about something, but not both of them at the same time.
A lot of Historians dont remember is Britain has been fighting since 1939 and Monty plans carefully to reduce even more losses of life .
@@Rusty_Gold85. Comments like the one above are from kids whose only experience is fighting on computer games.
Exactly Mauruhkati and these revisionist slappies don't want you to know monty didn't show up for this - his debacle after demanding and getting it. After the early returns came back that the armored column got stopped 3 miles in. Then later lying he had not been supported. IKE would have relieved him in the US Army,he would have been shot in Russia or Germany
So you fanbois say Britain had been fighting since 1939 ,where? Declared war in Sept'39 - after selling out the Czechs at Munich in '38 of course. Were there any Czech representatives there during that particular cowardly act?Anyway even the Germans called this time the Sitzkrieg. When the Crown sat on its aristocratic arses until May 10th 1940 when it started in earnest. The BEF then got driven out of Norway,Netherlands,Belguim,France and the Dunkirk beaches - safe at home by what was it June 6th?
Then running off to the Desert 3000 miles away,OK
@Rusty_Gold85 This is quite true of Monty and of British leaders in general, and something American commentators in particular fail to take into account. Having said this, the approaches could have been secured with far less loss of life had he moved more decisively and more quickly, before the Germans had the time to strengthen their positions. Rather uncharacteristically, he was more focused on scoring the tactical knockout blow across the Rhine than he was on the bigger picture.
He's an often misunderstood figure, but it cannot be said that he never made a mistake.
Hi Indy
Another interesting week. As you said last two week completetly changed war.
Thanks for the episode
I just found your channel, and I realized you have 1 about ww1, and the interwar period, I have so much to watch, keep your work going good
Thank you!
We’re happy you found us!
"Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics."
- Gen. Robert H. Barrow, USMC (Commandant of the Marine Corps)
I would say professionals actually study both....typical general trying to sound innovative
Thanks for bringing back the phone work. The pop song references were hilarious. (And apparently above the heads of many!)
Grease is the word!😊
Oh god that opening dad joke was a warcrime all by itself.
Next week on Crimes Against Humanity: "Indy torments POWs with dad jokes."
No one should say "Oh god"
Rimini was eventually occupied by units of the Greek 3rd Light Brigate commanded by col. Thrasibulos Tsakalotos
I can’t wait to hear more about the Philippines
Looks like we won't until December. Can't imagine the Allies would want to push that date forward any sooner.....
A new army
On the same day that Antwerp was captured by the 11th British Armoured Division , 4th September , the gap between 15th German Army and 7th German Army had widened to no less than one hundred kilometres. Desperate times call for desperate measures and Hitler decided to recall an old warhorse, 69-year old Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, to take over as OB West, correctly judging that holding two jobs (OB West as well commanding Heeresgruppe B ) was too much even for Model, who could now concentrate on the latter. Von Rundstedt was to take over on the following day.
The fall of Antwerp on 4 September was a real shock to German commanders and OKW. In fact after the war General von Zangen, in charge of the 15th German Army which was outflanked and pushed into Beskens at Channel Coast , confessed that when retreating from the Seine he ‘had no fear that Antwerp would be taken since it was far behind the front line (…) When I heard on 4 September that it had been captured it came as a stunning surprise.’ Early that morning Model had ordered a security screen to be set up behind the Albert Canal and the 15th Army to pull back to a line from Gent to Brussels and Namur. The fall of Antwerp meant that the 15th Army was now cut off and might be lost for good. He sent a cry for help to Hitler’s headquarters at Rastenburg requesting fresh divisions. Unless he received five Panzer and ten infantry divisions the door to the Reich would stand wide open, he suggested. His telegram jolted the German High Command into action. Later that day OKW was in desperation when they realised Montygomery's swift advance , not only secured second biggest port in Europe but also isolated 15th Army at Channel coast and outflanked neglected and empty German defenes at West Wall. Both OKW and Hitler realised that 88th German Corps (General Hans Wolfgang Reinhard) with its single division plus a few battalions could never plug the gap on its own. They would have to put in more troops, in fact a whole new army. But where to find one?
That afternoon a phone call went out to Generaloberst Kurt Student, Oberbefehlshaber der Fallschirmtruppen in Berlin-Wannsee. He was ordered to form a defence behind the Albert Canal from Antwerp to Maastricht with a new army, to be called 1st German Parachute Army. A bridgehead at Hasselt was to be maintained in order to allow units of the 15. Army to fall back. For the same reason the Woensdrecht area was to be defended. The new army was to come under German Army Group B. Flak support was to be provided by the 18. Flakbrigade which was on the run from France plus thirty heavy and ten mixed Flak batteries from Luftgaue VI and XI. The idea was an extension of the West Wall from Aachen along the Albert Canal to Antwerp. This stretch was called the Brabantstellung. This now became Student’s responsibility and his first reaction was "Parachute Army ? Well , a bombastic name for a force that does not exist yet!" So called Parachute Army was assigned with only 25 tanks and its front was almost 150 miles long in first week of September 1944.
Student is one of the more famous German generals and much has already been written of his exploits, such as the airborne operations in May 1940 and the seizure of Crete in May 1941. What is less well-known is that among his peers in the higher echelons of the Wehrmacht, Student was not without his detractors. The main reason for this seems to be some kind of speech defect. His opponents accused him of being dim-witted and occasionally Goering was asked if he had an idiot running the Fallschirmjäger. Still, what mattered to Hitler and Goering was that while Student may have looked slow and certainly was not a military genius, he was known to be a ‘Steher’, a tough commander in defence, which was what they needed at this stage of the war. In addition 88th Corps, Student was assigned an impressive array of troops, at least on paper. Still, one of the divisions was a static one (719th Infantry Division), one was composed of convalescents (176th Division zur besondere Verwendung) and the paratroop units were spread all over Germany and would need a few days to reach the battlefield. So time was not on his side. But he was in for a pleasant surprise.
Churchill's handling of the Greece issues is classic Churchill. He was a dedicated monarchist and wanted to see the monarchies of Greece and Albania, etc, maintained or restored. He also was firmly rooted in the 19th century and wanted Britain to play the game of kingmaker on the European continent that they had played for a couple of centuries, balancing power between various countries, as if Britain was still the world-dominating superpower of c.1890s. In his history of WW2 Churchill goes on and on and on about how unreasonable it was of the US to not support sending a "few" British divisions to invade Greece and/or the Balkans. The provision of landing craft was a key bottleneck. This began prior to D-Day or the invasion of southern France. The US knew, of course, that there was no way to fight on a small scale there, the Germans would far outnumber any force the Brits could spare. They also knew Churchill would keep enlarging his demands for resources to fight up into all of the Balkans - to be able to play kingmaker post-war. (He also ignored the fact fighting in the mountainous Balkans would be slow, very slow, and bloody, at least as bad as Italy.) The US didn't want to support these British goals, and they were unrealistic anyway. Yes, Churchill was right about not wanting that part of Europe to be taken over by Communists but the reality was that that was basically impossible to prevent.
Yep, the US was trying really hard not to get too tied up in British politics on the continent. This is a part of the history of the era that gets overlooked because most of the teaching of the era (here in the US anyway) focuses on how wonderful and supportive the American homefront was during the war. The reality was much different - America was very isolationist and had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the war, and the folks in charge knew they wouldn't have the patience and tolerance for a long drawn-out war. They had to get in, get the job done, and bring the boys home, to use the vernacular of the time. Of course things happened in the post-WWII world that made the US have to step in anyway, but that's beyond the scope of this series.
In the Netherlands, 5 September was 'Dolle Dinsdag' (Mad Tuesday). Rumors of the liberation of Breda or sometimes cities even further North led to a celebration of the oncoming liberation and panic among the Germans and collaborators.
I mentioned it allot here last weeks. it has not been picked up.
It and German defeats contributed to an under-estimation of the Germans, which will prove disastrous later.
Another great episode from your team.
Really loved the opening segment.
Thanks for watching!
And with this both my late grandpas could finally return to home and resume they're lives. After two wars it was finally over for them.
This is a brilliant well-informed series, thankyou..my father landed on Gold beach on D+1 at 18 years old and fought through Caen and Falaise, I served in The Royal Marines and my 12 year old son has just joined The Royal Air Force Air Cadets and loves the history of the 2nd World War and War gaming..thanks again, we appreciate these knowledgeable programmes..
In far south central China, on the Burmese border, songshan is finally taken by Chinese forces.
The city of tengchong, some 40 km away, is also about to fall.
The best and most well equipped troops China has in China have been fighting here for 3 months and have been blocked by Stilwell from going to help the fight in central china.
This is because Stilwell is their commanding officer, giving them an order to be where he thinks them most strategically beneficial. The way you phrased it had absolutely no acknowledgement of the fact that those troops were helping to keep supply lines open, which are for more important than a couple more divisions.
I'm curious as to what Japan's war aims in China were at this point.
Getting an overland supply route to China reopened is the shortest and surest way for the Nationalists to defeat the Japanese.
@@Fractured_Unity China is receiving zero supplies overland in 1944 and has been receiving zero supplies overland since February of 1942.
The troops fighting are not trying keep supply lines open, they are trying to open an entirely new one.
It was a worthy endeavor, but not as worthy as having the only American trained and equipped troops in China proper fighting to defend against ichigo.
Meanwhile, Force Y has renewed their advance from Myitkyina and is on its way to Bhamo, a key town to open the Ledo Road from the Western side. Their slow advance will eventually meet the Chinese coming in from the east right around the city of Muse in early January of 1945.
Churchill just casually siding with the Nazis before the war is over, very classy altogether. "Britannia waives the rules"
The new graphics are eye-catching and exciting!
Glad you enjoyed the graphics!
Thanks for watching.
Great Video Indy!!! You never disappoint!!🙂👍
Thank you!
Quote from Alan Brooke (CIGS) on Churchill's Greece: "[Churchill] seems to be still very much of the opinion that we might be justified in dropping a parachute brigade (about 2 000 - 3 000 strong) near Athens with some 150 000 Germans still in Greece! I had to convince him that such a plan was out of the question and that the dropping of this party was dependent on the Germans evacuating Greece or being prepared to surrender."
Alanbrooke War Diaries, 5th September 1944
Churchill had for years had unrealistic ideas about liberating Greece and some Balkan countries so pro-British governments (mostly monarchies) would be placed in power. His mind never got out of the 19th century, when Britain had a role in these countries. He wheedled for various schemes to put in a small force - trying, of course, to get the nose of the camel into the tent. More and more forces would inevitably be needed.
If someone is wondering [Spoiler! Spoiler!] this episode predates the Stalin-Churchill percentages agreement by a whole month...
A Full Life , Memoirs of General Sir Brian Horrocks (part three)
At the time ,right the day we entred Antwerp , next stop Albert Canal seemed the obvious objective, but I realise now that it was a serious mistake. My excuse is that my eyes were fixed entirely on the Rhine, and everything else seemed of subsidiary importance. It never entered my head that the Scheldt would be mined, and that we should not be able to use Antwerp port until the channel had been swept and the Germans cleared from the coastline on either side. Nor did I realise that the Germans would be able to evacuate a large number of the troops trapped in the coastal areas across the mouth of the Scheldt estuary from Breskeris to Flushing.
Napoleon would no doubt have realised these things, but Horrocks didn't. His mind was fixed on the Rhine. I am not suggesting that with one overextended and out of supply armoured division I could have cleared both banks of the Scheldt estuary, but I believe that I could have seriously impeded, if not stopped altogether, the evacuation of the German 15th Army. As it was, the German General Schwabe succeeded in evacuating some 65,000 men belonging to eight shattered German divisions, using this route.
If I had ordered Roberts, not to liberate Antwerp, but to by-pass the town on the east, cross the Albert Canal and advance only fifteen miles north-west towards Woensdrecht, we should have blocked the Beveland isthmus and cut one of the main German escape route. Roberts was ordered to, and did in fact, secure a bridgehead over the Albert Canal, but was subsequently forced to withdraw in face of increasing German resistance. He had not sufficient troops to seize the docks, clear the town and occupy the bridgehead.
With the capture of Brussels and Antwerp 30th Corps was ordered to halt. The reason given was that we had out-rim our administrative resources. No port had yet been opened anywhere. The first, Dieppe, did not come into operation until 7th September, and then only for a trickle of supplies. It did not build up to the figure of 6,000 tons a day until the end of September, We were still receiving all our supplies from the beach-head some 300 miles away, and we were told that supplies, particularly of petrol, were running short.
This was a tragedy because, as we now know, on the next day, 4th September, the only troops available to bar our passage northwards consisted of one German division, the 719th, composed mainly of elderly gentlemen who hitherto had been guarding the north coast of Holland and had never heard a shot fired in anger, plus one battalion of Dutch SS and a few Luftwaffe detachments. This meagre force was strung out on a fifty-mile front along the canal.
To my mind 4th September was the key date in the battle for the Rhine. Had we been able to advance that day we could have smashed through this screen and advanced northwards with little or nothing to stop us. We might even have succeeded in bouncing a crossing over the Rhine. But we halted, and even by that same evening the situation was worsening. A General Chill, with his 85th German Division, had reached Turnhout in Holland on his way back to Germany to refit. On hearing that Brussels had fallen, and without any orders, he turned round and moved his division down to the line of the Albert Canal. He also placed teams of officers and NCO.s on all the roads to round up the German stragglers and reorganise them into efficient fighting units.
By 6th September he had succeeded in collecting quite a formidable force. He must have been a man of great initiative. But worse still, General Student's Parachute Army, headed by the 6th Parachute Regiment, commanded by the redoubtable Van der Heydte, was being rushed down from Germany to bar our progress. So from 6th September onwards the German forces on the Albert Canal increased rapidly.
It is easy to be wise after the event, and I was only a corps commander with no overall responsibility;; but I believe that if we had taken the chance and carried straight on with our advance instead of halting in Brussels the whole course of die war in Europe might have been changed. On 3rd September we still had 100 miles of petrol per vehicle, and one further day's supply within reach, so we were not destitute. But there would have been a considerable risk in advancing farther north with only these supplies and a lengthening line of communication behind us.
When we were allowed to advance on 7th September, the situation had worsened drastically. We were no longer sweeping up through the coastal plain; we were fighting hard again. Every day fresh German formations appeared against us, and within three days, instead of being on a fifty-mile front, which is excellent when in pursuit, the Corps was concentrated on a five-mile front engaged in a tough battle.
The Guards Armoured Division took four days to advance over the next ten miles up to the Meuse-Escaut Canal where the Irish Guards by a most successful coup de main captured a small bridgehead, which was at once named " Joe's Bridge " after Lieut.-Colonel Joe Vandcleur, O.C. their 3rd Battalion. This was very different from their previous record of 250 miles in six days. The Germans had been given time to recover and we had missed our chance.
A Full Life -General Sir Brian Horrocks , 30th Corps commander
Thanks for sharing the excerpt of the book was an interesting read, and thanks for watching!
Interesting, I read the book corps commander which Horrocks co-wrote he has some very insightful things to say about Market Garden.
@@WorldWarTwoThis merdy fellow like Paul Woodage conveniently crafts shall I say a crown friendly accounts of events that exonerates their favorite yapping jackel Bernard. Or any other cock ups that may rest with the aristocrats. By all means he can leave a page number as I suspect he rearranges some content and cobbles together half truths to conveniently appear in agreement with his rooting interests.And it would be confirmed under scrutiny. So lets give this a try shall we? a rebuttal a bit more focused - you be the judge
*Horrocks, A Full Life, p. 205 On 4 September, Montgomery inexplicably halted Horrocks' XXX Corps, the lead element of his Second Army, just seventy miles from the Rhine river. In a military blunder second only to the failure at Antwerp,* the Germans were given time to regroup and form defensive lines where none previously existed. *Horrocks best describes the frustrations in his memoirs: Had we been able to advance that day we could have smashed through and advanced northward with little or nothing to stop us. we might even have succeeded in bouncing a crossing over the Rhine*
*Richard Lamb, Montgomery in Europe 1943-1945: Success or Failure? (London: Buchan and Enright, 1983), pp. 201-02*
*General Pip Roberts was rightfully more critical of Montgomery than Horrocks, who as a corps commander accepted much of the blame for the actions of his superiors, "Monty's failure at Antwerp is evidence again that he was not a good General at seizing opportunities."*
*Sir Francis De Guingand, From Brass Hat to Bowler Hat, p. 16* - Unfortunately I cannot say that I did support Operation MARKET-GARDEN, Montgomery's supposed master stroke; but as I was in the hospital in Aldershot I was powerless to dissuade him. I attempted to, on the telephone; for there were too many ifs in the plan and Prince Bernard was warning, from his intelligence network in Bolland, that German armoured units were stationed there. However, to my telephone warnings Montgomery merely replied, 'You are too far away Freddie, and don't know what's going on'
Now those 3 men,3 different authors - all in collusion about the same commander? They were not only present but intimately aware of events and told the truth when not forced to serve under the um "Field Marshall" ya we'll go with that
And remember ONE thing
*Montgomery's memoirs are the greatest work of fiction since chaste and fidelity were added to the French marriage vows*
Fantastic as per usual...
.thank you for sharing
Thanks for watching!
Excellent Video, as always :)
As a Bulgarian, I can proudly say: this is how we roll!
People who live in powerful countries don't seem to consider how smaller countries have to deal with these wars. It's easy to criticize them for selling out or switching sides, but they're just trying to survive while their larger neighbors fight it out.
?
@@Raskolnikov70 That's very true, always when bulgarian people talk about those times I always say my opinion about how that government was probably the best Bulgaria ever had. I mean balancing politics between the overwhelming power of Nazis and pro-Russian sentiment was really a great achievement. People criticizing Tsar Boris III and the prime minister, but they kept destruction and death out of our country. Refused to send bulgarian jews to concenctration camps (unfortunately couldn't do the same with the jews from the territories which were given to us by the germans) and refused to send our army to fight Soviet Russia alongside the Wehrmacht.
I wonder if the western Allies have a clever plan ready to cross the Rhine and liberate the Netherlands in one go before the winter starts.
Knowing the ability of the Germans to repeatedly rally and reform broken forces, a lesson learned over and over again, no one in the Allied command would seriously think of doing what you describe. :D
They might go a bridge too far.
Thanks! keep up the great work!
Thank you so much for the support!
i think i know the next topic. A combined operation to Conquer some bridges in the Netherlands all the way up to the city of Arnhem which was a bridge to far afterwards. the name of the operation was Market (airborne part) and garden ( assault by ground forces)
Brilliant narration as always 👍😀
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
@@WorldWarTwo as always, a pleasure! 😀
I wish I would have found this project earlier. This is awesome. =)
Just leaves you a lot of content to binge!
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching!
I am sure Bulgaria can turn this around and conquer the world!
3rd Ukrainian Front’s Response at 1:15-1:23 czcams.com/video/XBzBPbQmvc0/video.htmlsi=blsXnPajA24NX3cr
Maybe if they were a nation of paratroopers. I can see somebody running into the capital in a panic shouting that the Red Army has them surrounded, only to have whoever is in charge go "excellent, we have the Soviets right where we want them".
nice pun during the intro, towards -Greece- - I mean: Grease
Funny to no one ever mention this little episode with Churchill directly supporting Germans in Greece (just one of many)
do not forget Churchills deal with Stalin trading Poland for Greece
Thanks for the episode!
The figure of 350.000 for the Army Group E includes the XXI Mountain Corps which is already deployed in Albania (297th ID) and Montenegro (181st ID) by the time the great trek north begins. During October, the HQ of the XXII Mountain Corps moved to Skopje, while a part of the corps ("Gruppe Steyrer") moved into Albania.
The total number of German soldiers on all Aegean islands short before the retreat began was 57,550 plus 13,850 foreigners (largely Italian HiWis). Of these, 34,250 (+6,500 foreigners) were deployed on Crete.
As for the Allies' apparent lack of interest in the evacuation to the mainland, FM von Weichs wrote in his diary:
"Do they wish to build us a golden bridge in this way?"
At 20:00 the Pacific War Map is inadequate in that it shows too many islands (such as Truk, the Carolines, Nauru, and some of the Marshalls) as being under Allied control, whereas they remained in the Japanese Empire until the end of the war.
19:20 was the moment I realised that I actually was there for a week or two on vacation.
It is a stragen feeling when places you actually been to appear in this series.
Shout out to the editor here. Last few months have been an steady increase in quality
Alternate history : Bulgaria wins over all of them and the world is unified under them and the earth bulgarian empire.
Thank you.
Really awful what Churchill did letting the German troops escape from the Greek islands.
The speed of liberation (or just more occupation) in the Balkans really is something. How did the logistics of turning the whole army around to fight your former ally play out? How did Soviet troops react to now working with soldiers who had been trained to kill them and spent years doing so already? Was this move in any way popular with the average civilian?
Soldiers have a level of respect and understanding for their opponents, they know that they're people doing their duty the same as they are. For the most part anyway, when massive violations of the laws of war aren't being committed (see: Wehrmacht in the USSR) there isn't much actual hatred. They might act harshly towards their enemies in combat, but once they're no longer fighting because they've surrendered or switched sides they're not going to keep hammering on them for no reason. The Red Army troops were probably more bemused than anything by the switch - "You wanted to attack us, eh? LOL, now go fight your old allies for us."
Bulgaria keeps memory of being liberated by Russia in 1878. So the Bulgarian soldiers did not fight RKKA. The politics allowed this, since fighting Russians was an unpopular idea.
In the late spring of 1944, Romanian soldiers had begun to receive a helmet similar to the German M1935 Stahlhelm. The issue abruptly ceased towards the end of August 1944. Looking like the Germans (and incidentally also the Hungarians) was only going to cause confusion.
The Romania army were really piss off have to fight for Soviet while they could accept to retake the loss land to Hungary, but fighting further than that they just being used as meat shields for Soviets.
the liberation of Greece and Yugoslavia is little known by many of us so the continuing content is much appreciated, Just watched Sparty's exhaustive episode on the 2 countries + Albania
That’s because they basically liberated themselves (no major offensives were ever launched by any of the Allies into Albania or Greece) also the Greeks immediately started fighting themselves once the Germans left
That introduction was gold! Bravo 👏🏻😂
Love this channel! Thanks WW2!
Thanks for watching!
There is now so much happening in the war each week one can’t possibly go into any further detail without making the episode more than thirty minutes long
Great albeit confusing episode with all those players changing sides.
Market Garden In military strategy, a choke point (or chokepoint) is a geographical feature on land such as a valley, defile or bridge, or maritime passage through a critical waterway such as a strait, which an armed force is forced to pass through in order to reach its objective, sometimes on a substantially narrowed front and therefore greatly decreasing its combat effectiveness by making it harder to bring superior numbers to bear. A choke point can allow a numerically inferior defending force to use the terrain as a force multiplier to thwart or ambush a much larger opponent, as the attacker cannot advance any further without first securing passage through the choke point.
"To regain the initiative, Field Marshal Montgomery, commanding Allied ground forces, persuaded the supreme commander, General Dwight D Eisenhower, to concentrate resources for a narrow thrust through the Netherlands and into northern Germany, by passing the main enemy defences of the Siegfried Line." "After a successful drop, British plans soon started to go wrong. There were more German troops in the area than anticipated, and the bulk of 1st Parachute Brigade was quickly cut off from Arnhem. Only the 2nd Battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel John Frost had reached the Arnhem bridge itself, and was now set up in defensive positions around its northern end. Enemy troops controlled the southern section, and a host of improvised German units (Kampfgruppen) were being thrown into action to contain the British forces. Despite the arrival of the rest of 1st Airborne Division on the landing grounds west of Arnhem, no further progress could be made towards the embattled 2nd Battalion. To make matters worse, many British radios were not working, and 1st Airborne Division's commander, Major-General Robert 'Roy' Urquhart, became separated from his headquarters and was for a time unable to direct the Arnhem battle." "German resistance had increased everywhere, and the flanking operations by VIII and XII Corps in support of the main thrust by XXX Corps were painfully slow."
IWM The Story Of Operation 'Market Garden' In Photos
5:55 '* units not to scale' xD
Someone was having fun.
Awesome episode
Thank you!
You’re awesome!
there is a story that Tolbukin's army entered the Greek city of Xanthi, which had been annexed by Bulgaria.
When they realized that they had crossed the old greek-bulgarian border, they immediately retreated north of the Rodope Ridge.
I have read this story in a couple of sources.
If this is true, then it seams that sphears of influence had been arranged long before the October '44 and the so-called "percentage agreement" between Stalin and Churchill.
If it happened, they may have been confused by the fact that there are some Pomak speakers in the Xanthi area. Pomak is a Bulgarian dialect. The Bulgarians would have removed the 1941 border signs so some confusion is possible.
@stevekaczynski3793 indeed. this must be the explanation. however, if it really happened, it shows that the Soviets were seeing Greece as outside their postwar sphere of influence. In September 1944, there was nothing to stop the Soviets from marching down to the Peloponese region
In September 2019 Dutch public news broadcaster NOS started a series about 75 years liberation of The Netherlands. Each day two news items about the last year of WW2. It started about Dolle Dinsdag (Mad Tuesday, 5 Sept 1944) and ran until the surrender of Japan. It can still be found online.
One of the things I learned from that is the slow progress and the longstanding difficulties around the Battle of the Scheldt. I never learned that while it is one of the important battles of WW2.
Some Belgium guy over here is thinking that the Battle of the Scheldt was in Belgium. Completly wrong ofcourse
Seems crazy that they kept sending human wave attacks aginst the strongly-fortified German positions there, as though that was going to work. They should have just diverted some of their strategic air assets to hitting the peninsula as hard as they could as often as they could. Probably wouldn't have taken out all the fortified artillery positions, but the German defenders would be left deaf and starving within the space of a few weeks of concentrated carpet bombing.
Every bit counts! Keep it up!
Thank you so much for the support ❤
I've been waiting for 5 years to get to Operation Stalemate. Much love from Palau!
Seeing images of my city of Ghent being liberated was very unexpected. I cried as a saw the Cathedral of Saint Bavo and the houses lined up next to it. It's a façade I know too well!
Someday, I hope to hear how the actual events on the ground here in 1944 with respect to the various partisan organizations will come to light.
I SUSPECT, but yet cannot prove, that SOE and OSS were heavily involved in attempting to prevent Soviet aligned partisan groups from seizing power in France, the Low Countries, Italy, and Greece. The Soviet Union's attitude towards the governments of Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria were not ignored.
Gee I sure hope the allies make clearing the Scheldt estuary a priority. Open up those supply lines as quickly as possible!
Serious study will point out Bernard Law Montgomery "mismanaged" it
A Full Life - Memoirs of General Sir Brian Horrocks , 30th Cops commander (part one)
Liberation of Belgium
With the Somme behind us we were now approaching the Belgian frontier. My big moment came on 2nd September, when I arrived at the headquarters of the Guards Armoured Division at Douai. The Guards make a fetish of understatement, and with long practice have developed a remarkable capacity for never showing any emotion under any circumstances. But on this occasion even they were slightly shaken when I gave their next day's objective as Brussels, for Brussels was seventy miles away. We had certainly come the full cycle from the hedge to hedge fighting in Normandy.
There was a feeling of excitement, for it is not every day that a commander or a division is given the opportunity of liberating one of the great capitals of Europe. Brussels what a prize ! Next day the race was on, a pursely domestic affair between the Welsh Guards group (infantry and tanks) advancing on the right and the Grenadier group on the left.
This the return to Belgium after our ignominious departure in 1940 , was a moment to which I had been eagerly looking forward. I was not disappointed. As I crossed the frontier just behind the advance guard I saw a young Belgian standing by the road with tears streaming down his cheeks. Seeing the red band round my cap he ran towards me, seized me by both hands and said, " I knew you would come back ! I knew the British would return !"
I was particularly touched by this, because almost the last words I had said to the sad-looking groups of Belgians whom we had left behind on our way back to Dunkirk were, " We will come back."
We had kept our promise.
As the day wore on it became obvious that it was to be a neck and neck race between the two groups. Then, just before dusk on 3rd September, the Welsh Guards and some armoured cars of the Household Cavalry entered Brussels. On the left road the Grenadiers had run into a lot of trouble at the small town of Pont & Marcq, which was defended by a hard core of Germans who had no intention of surrendering without a hard fight. In the ensuing battle the King's Company and No. 2 Squadron of tanks lost twenty-two killed and thirty-one wounded (including four officers) which, marred for them the glory of the entry into Brussels.
The Belgians, after four years of German occupation, had become used to the movements of troops through their capital, so when on the evening of 3rd September, they heard the rumbling of tanks in the streets they hardly bothered to look out. As far as they knew the Allies had not even entered Belgium yet, and the war was still many miles away. As one Belgian described it to me :
"I glanced out of the window quite incuriously, and then my attention became riveted. These tanks looked different. It couldn't possibly be Americans or the British ? Yet could it ? Suddenly I realised that we had been liberated, and like everyone else in Brussels that night I went mad"
From every house people poured into the empty streets, until it was almost impossible for the tanks to get through. There were flowers, fruit, champagne, girls on the vehicles and such kissing as has probably never been seen before or since ! By now we had all become connoisseurs of liberation ceremonies, which had been going on in every town and village since we had crossed the Seine; but everyone agreed that the welcome by the citizens of Brussels had never been equalled.
What is more, it was no flash in the pan. Those kindly Belgian people took our troops to their hearts and into their homes. They were short of food and coal, yet before long nearly every officer and man had a Belgian home where he could go for nieals, for the night or, indeed, to spend his leave. Months after we had left Belgium applications continued to come in from all ranks to spend leave not just in Brussels, the leave centre, but often in some small village on the outskirts. What the British soldier really likes is to " get his feet under the table," and there were many tables available in Belgium in 1944-45.
In 30th Corps at that time was a brigade composed of Belgians who had escaped to Britain, where they had been equipped and trained by us. Their commander was the famous Brigadier Piron, who was mainly responsible for the renaissance of the Belgian Army after the war. I was very anxious that they should share in this liberation ceremony, so when I entered the city early next morning I was escorted by some armoured cars from Piron's brigade. It must have been a wonderful moment for those men as they returned to their capital in triumph. When the crowds cheered and waved, I kept pointing to them and calling out "Beige, Beige" and the citizens of Brussels were delighted to see their own countrymen among their liberators.
My first problem was to find somewhere to establish my headquarters in comparative peace, so that we could get on with the war. The Guards had achieved their objective and captured Brussels, but I had still to co-ordinate the activities of the nth Armoured and 50th Divisions and 8th Armoured Brigade.
This became increasingly difficult as we penetrated into Brussels itself. Girls and still more girls seemed to be perched on the top of our wireless vehicles. Then I ran into Brigadier Gwatkin, who told me that his 5th Guards Brigade was all round the Palace of Laeken, which was still inhabited by the Queen Mother. He suggested that the park round the palace would be a most suitable place for our headquarters vehicles, as it was surrounded by railings which would offer some protection from the madding crowds.
The Queen Mother could not have been more helpful, and very soon 30th Corps headquarters was once more operational in the grounds of the palace. That night we invited her and her lady-inwaiting, la Baronne Carton de Wiart, a relation of our famous General de Wiart, V.C., to dinner. It was a rough-and-ready meal eaten off the usual six-feet tables in our small mess tent, but Queen Elizabeth told me afterwards that she never enjoyed any dinner as much.
During the next few days she wandered round talking to all and sundry, and became almost our fairy godmother. As our corps sign was a wild boar, she presented us with a baby boar from the Ardennes, whose name was Chewing Gum. His nose, when pressed against one's hand, felt just like this essential ingredient to the American way of life.
On the next day, 4th September, I was ordered to fly back to a conference at Second Army headquarters. The small two-seater Auster aircraft which I used on these occasions was parked at the extreme end of a large airfield near Brussels. I was told, however, that the Germans were still in occupation at the far end, from which a rather unpleasant 88 mm AA gun fired at uncertain intervals. My pilot, a gunner major, was anxious about my safety, so, as soon as we were in the air, he took violent avoiding action, much to my discomfort.
I then settled down to study my notes for the conference After about half an hour I happened to glance up and saw that my pilot was looking a very worried man. I asked him what was wrong and he replied that his compass was not working and he had no idea where we were. This was a shock, because at that time there was only a comparatively narrow corridor occupied by the Allies stretching back to the rear. After flying round for a few minutes trying without any success to spot a familiar landmark, I suggested that the only thing to do was to come down and ask. So choosing the largest available field we made a very bumpy but safe landing. Within a minute or two we were surrounded by civilians, who to my horror showed me on the map that we were fifty kilometres behind the enemy Hues.
I asked them whether there were any Germans in the vicinity and they said, " No the nearest are a couple of kilometres away." Even that was a bit too close for my liking, so we hurriedly took off, bumping across the field and just missing the trees on the far side. Our troubles weren't over.- A little later the pilot explained apologetically that he was getting short of petrol, so we had to make another emergency landing this time, I am glad to say, behind our own lines. I arrived at the conference three hours late, having been last seen heading straight for the German lines.
By this time I had rather lost confidence in my pilot, and debated whether to risk the return journey with him or not. He obviously was wondering the same, and he looked very relieved when I climbed into his plane. Afterwards I was glad that I had done so, because he was killed a few weeks later.
By 4th September, 30th Corps had covered 250 miles in six days. The Guards Armoured Division was in Brussels, the 11th British Armoured Division was in Alost, directed on Antwerp, and the 50th British Division was strung out to the rear, protecting our left flank and collecting thousands of German prisoners who were now trying to break out from the coastal area in order to get back to Germany.
A Full Life - General Brian Horrocks
Bulgaria can take everyone; the USA, the USSR and the UK at the same time!
Just as they planned for
@WorldWarTwo
In a few episodes you will talk about the battle Market Garden and the 'spin off' the battle of Overloon. I had my parish in Overloon. I heard it was a very tough fight there. Elderly people are still talking about the shelling of Overloon (up to 20.000 shells a day, they say).
It's crazy how time flies. I remember watching the episodes of 1940/41 where it seemed like Germany was clearly winning. And now we are in late 1944, where Germany's armies are more and more collapsing. So much time has passed since I started watching your channel, over which your videos have remarkable grown in quality, and much has happend in my life and I am glad that this amazing channel has accompanied me over these years. Thank you very much.
BTW.: When can we expect a return of the special episodes?
The weekly episodes are getting longer and it seems like we're getting WAH episodes more often, although I'm not caught up and not sure if that's the case. They're probably just focused on the basics right now, as busy as the war is getting.
Good work
Thank you for the kind comment!
So the war will be over by Christmas?
Edit: 22:20 hence the British hit song "99 142 red balloons"
Expressed in slightly more dramatic form, at 2:54 Hitler is consciously or unconsciously echoing Stalin's radio address from July 3, 1941.
Thx for covering Shinto Maru's sinking. Those Hell Ships, and even a lot of troopships, are constantly sunk during this period with high loss of life.
It's weird how you hear so much about the Battle of the Atlantic and the damage caused by the German U-Boat fleet, but nary a peep about the Allied submarine efforts in the Pacific theater. You'd think the only ships they had there were aircraft carriers from the way most sources talk about it.
@@Raskolnikov70it was intentional if information got leeked that they were killing their own personal you can imagine public image of the high command would be tarnished
@@yassinhafez1337 I understand not releasing information like that during the war or shortly afterwards. But even today the focus on the Pacific theater is on the surface battles and island-hopping campaign. Strategic bombing and shipping interdiction gets completely overlooked even though it was hugely important to the Allied victory. Not sure why that is - maybe it's less interesting to audiences and students, or maybe because it's seen as somehow 'dishonorable' because sinking merchant shipping is so associated with German naval efforts during the war.
@@Raskolnikov70 In my personal opinion, I believe the main reason is simply that it was not as felt at home during the time. Since the Battle of the Atlantic, particularly during Operation Drumbeat, was often within visual sight of locals, the debris coming ashore, and losses very high in terms of civilian sailors, it remained imprinted among the population longer. Plus there is the legacy factor that the term "U-boat" entails from both world wars, the German undersea raiders having a reputation even before WWII, a reputation cemented in English speaking nations of the US and Britain, then enhanced during WWII. Ease of linguistic understanding helps in spreading that awareness and notoriety. Meanwhile the sinkings of the Pacific Campaign were far from home, and not of an English speaking nation. If you were to go to Japan, however, those sinkings are still felt and memorialized. Hundreds of major sinkings of Japanese merchants that suffered, at least, hundreds dead. The Pacific suffered by far the greatest loss of life in terms of maritime disasters. The majority of the world's deadliest occurred with "Maru" at the end. If you want truly horrific figures, look up Mayasan, Akitsu, Teia, Tamatsu, Fuso, Nikkin, Tatuta, Tango, Ryusei, Tsushima Marus. Even some warships, when utilized to carry troops, became especially deadly in their own right, like heavy cruiser Ashigara and carrier Unryu. The worst sinking in all of the Pacific Campaign, however, takes place 9 days from today, the Junyo Maru.
@@Raskolnikov70 it was covered up mainly because I believe you needed Japan as an ally during the whole cold war and if the lid of stuff like the rape of nanking and unit 731 was opened plus how they cannibalized the allied troops than it would have been so hard to justify this new 'friendship' with Japan obviously it should have been well known but just as the us covered up the unit 731 they couldn't risk showing the true colours of Japan hence it was not often mentioned the whole WW2 theater in any other theater to not open this lid ofcourse after the cold war nations like Korea and china focused on this neglected theaters and what truly happened there
Wow, I saw that title after listening to Sabaton’s The Valley of Death
Seems the stars aligned for you!
Thanks as always.
“On the other hand gentlemen, what if we gave a war and everybody came?” The Far Side