Week 254 - The Destruction of Army Group Center - July 8, 1944
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- čas přidán 7. 07. 2023
- Operation Bagration continues, smashing the armies of German Army Group Center and taking ever more territory including the prize of Minsk; on Saipan the Americans have taken most of the island when the Japanese resort to a huge suicidal banzai charge to try and turn the tide; and in Normandy new attacks begin try to finally take Caen and St. Lo.
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We'd like to introduce you all to James! James has been working on writing and research at TimeGhost for over a year now, and is going to be stepping up to editorial lead in the coming weeks. If you have special episode suggestions, this is the place to drop them ;)
The defection or not of Rudolph Hess would be interesting. To this day it is stiil shrouded in mystery
13:00 the last banzai charge is madness, but Sakae Oba was survive.
I'd like to see one on the reorganisation of the Red Army.
Not an episode suggestion and a repeat from an older request:
It would be a fun end to the series if as the soviets got closer and closer the office became more and more disheveled. And during the battle of Berlin you'd hear distant artillery and explosions.
Then on an April 30th episode you hear a bang sound from a distant room...
Why don't you talk about Fonta since it was invented in Nazi German. Or maybe Nutella since I heard that it was invented in Fascist Italy.
An interesting footnote this week on July 4 1944 is that General Omar Bradley will order all artillery units in the U.S. First Army to open fire on the German lines precisely at noon in celebration of America’s Independence Day. Some of the units would fire red, white, and blue smoke shells (colours of the U.S. flag) at the Germans.
🇺🇲🫡
Brought to you courtesy of the Red White and Blue!
Bradley had his trollish moments, yes.
@@guillaumedeschamps1087US Army Command does a bit of trolling
The British fired red, white and blue smoke shells at Chinese lines in the Korean War to celebrate Elizabeth II's coronation. Somewhat more homicidally, on May Day 1952 they kept up a day-long bombardment of Chinese positions in an attempt to disrupt May Day celebrations. This does not seem to have been done on May Day 1953, perhaps because armistice negotiations were starting to reach a conclusion.
Feels relevant to bring this back
Stalingrad: A bloody nose
Kursk: A broken arm
Bagration: A shattered spine
I feel like Moscow was the bloody nose and Stalingrad was a broken femur, Kursk was the loss of both hands and feet and bagration was a 2 gauge deer slug to the face.
Moscow: Bloody nose
Stalingrad: A broken arm
Kursk: Both Legs broken
Ukraine Offensives: Broken ribs (all of them)
Bagration: Broken spine
Vistula-Oder: Pulled in half
Berlin: Beheaded or decapitated
Stalingrad was more like a kick in the nuts
@@renel8964 In retrospect Stalingrad was at least a turning point, when the Fuhrer would replace or override Generals who didn't bring him the news he wanted to hear. Imagine a politician of great power believing he can make reality by pretending it's so and having his loyal followers just join the dream or be disdained as a threat to it.
I know a German WWII Veteran who is still alive, who fought in Army Group Center and who recently showed me his war diary.
In July 1944 he was a 19 year old officer cadet.
On July 12 his train passed through Brest. He wrote in his diary:
"Army headquarters in Brest get dismantled and moved westwards. But our train goes on eastward...".
(He realized, of course, that it is an ominous sign when you get sent to a front from which the higher ups retreat...)
On July 14 he reaches the front.
On July 15 his unit is attacked from the air (he survives uninjured).
On July 16 he gets severly wounded by a Russian hand grenade and is taken out of action.
(This just shows what a meat grinder Army Group Central had become at this point. German high command just threw in their young men on a front they KNEW they could not hope to stabilize. And those young men often survived for mere days).
On July 17 he was scheduled to be operated in a field hospital (the doctors planned to amputate both arms...).
But he got lucky: The Russians were advancing so fast that the field hopital had to be evacuated and the operation got cancelled. He got into a proper military hospital in Warsaw and the doctor there decided that amputation might not be necessary.
This veteran is now 98 years old, still physically and mentally healthy (I had lunch with him last week).
And he is still in possession of both his arms which were saved from a German amputation table by the quick Russian advance...
Amazing story.
Should ask him if he could be interviewed & recorded on camera for prosperity...
@@MTG776 Yeah, that's a good idea.
He even has one more great war story:
As he was severly injured he was sent home.
He was in his home town in April 1945.
The US army was approaching the town which was undefended, as the Wehrmacht had already retreted.
When the US Army had already entered the outscirts with tanks, this Veteran (a young officer cadet at the time) was looking out of his window on the main square. And to his shock, he noticed that in another buliding across the square, some Hitler Youth boys were preparing a Panzerfaust to fire against the US tanks.
If they had gone through with this plan, his hometown would have become a battlefield.
So he donned on his uniform, ran across the square to the Hitler Youth boys and told them to stop this nonsense. And him being the ranking Wehrmacht officer in the town, the Hitler Youth obeyed (he was only an officer cadet, remember. But still the Hitler Youth were impressed by his uniform).
And so the town was saved.
30 min later, the US army entered the square, everything was peaceful.
(There is even on youtube a video of the moment they enter the square:
czcams.com/video/H52SxHE8e5Q/video.html
at 5:32 you see the square. The window with the Hitler Youth behind them is on the very left, third floor.)
I was actually waiting for this one. Everyone knows Stalingrad, D-Day but Bagration was a really big deal that we rarely hear about unless one looks for it specifically.
I have a friend who is big into WWII history and I told him about Bagration and he hadn't heard of it. I think some of it definitely stems from post war/inter-Cold War history in the West being focused on Canada, Britian, and the US. If you ask someone in Europe or the States who killed the most Nazis you're more than likely going to have someone say a Western European country when 80% of all German casualties came on the Eastern Front. We treat D-Day casualties like it was the worst day in human history but 4k dead is like a Tuesday on the Eastern Front.
I agree. Most WW2 history, especially in the US, almost solely focuses on the Western Front. All the REAL fighting was in the EAST.
Cause plain and simply it was irrelevant when compared to other two. Stalingrad was culminate point of European war, at which point USSR was at it's lowest while Axis at it's highest. It was months long struggle which after done, created power dynamic for nearly entire rest of the war. D-Day? It was enormous and complex endeavour which decisively split Germans forces into two fronts, Bagration success would never take place if Panzer Divisions present in Normandy where instead on stand by on Eastern Front. Bagration success simply didn't change much. Soviet summer offensive would push Germans towards Poland anyway.
@@firingallcylinders2949 another common misconception in the west is that Wehrmacht lost on the Eastern front only because of cold weather and bad roads. As if roads and weather can do the fighting :)
It’s my favorite operation of WW2
Looks like Indy has a lot of extra time on his hands this week.
Also noticed it! Looks like he took example on russian soldiers
My grandpa's second eldest brother must have died in one of the battles around Minsk and Byalistok in that time. He was force drafted by the Wehrmacht in 1944 around his 18th birthday. A couple of years before that, he has lost two fingers on his right hand in an accident and nobody in the family expected he would have to serve in the military. But the Nazis force drafted him anyway and said that as long as he has a thumb and an index finger, he could use a rifle for shooting.
He was declared missing in action after July 1944 and never returned home. No remains or grave has been identified as his either.
Commiserations.
The Third Reich had been showing signs of military desperation for a while, and this extended to conscription.
Slightly at a tangent, but Stalin had been interviewed by a conscription board in Siberia in late 1916 - as a political deportee he had earlier been exempt from call-up as they were considered likely to engage in anti-war agitation. But the Tsarist regime itself was starting to feel desperate by late 1916 and he was required to go on a long sledge journey in winter to the conscription centre. When he got there they decided that he could not align a rifle as one arm was slightly longer than another and he was rejected for military service. So he embarked on another long journey back to his place of exile and was freed after the February Revolution.
@@projectpitchfork860 It is the fault of militarism and imperialism but in this case, the price was paid by someone else and not by the militarists and imperialists (some of them at least didn't survive the war either, others however never paid a price for their actions).
So much death in the forests of Belarus. Between the soviet retreats of 41, the German occupation, and now German retreats. I wonder how many bodies still lay in those forests undiscovered.
And swamps. Belarus was a partisan hide-out because of the cover, but living in it was something else.
I swear, there has never been, and never will be, a better presentation of WW2. Congratulations to you all. Innovative, creative and inspiring. I only wish that this was the way history was taught.
I, too, have been following this since the beginning.
It's an excellent presentation.
The tension mounts...
Try unauthorized history of the Pacific's war you tube
Agree in the first part, but teaching history like this would be awful and has rightfully been discarded as outdated practice
@@gracetriendl721 This is the way to teach history. It's chronogical and connected.
@@BMC-hl2uh teaching history is about more than the chronology of events, it's about understanding the concepts, structures and institutions that brought about history, so you can understand how society ended up the way it is, and how power acts.
A purely chronological and event focused teaching of history would be very bad about doing the above, while additionally being even less engaging for pupils who aren't interested in learning about it. Also learning history would consist of pure reproduction of knowledge, no critical thinking, testing learning progress would be a completely useless exercise/exactly the kind of thing schools are rightfully criticized for doing.
This channel can be a good representation of history without it needing to be the way history is taught to everyone.
Just imagine how demoralizing it would be as a German soldier fighting in the East or West, when you see the Soviets and Americans have practically infinite manpower and infinite production...the walls of a panzer can only last for so long
Well, Soviet concentration-of-force tactics certainly made it seem that way to the landser on the ground! Overall, though, Soviet divisions have become much leaner formations than they were in 1941, with fewer men, but more experience, more automatic weapons, and smoother combined-arms integration.
You can find some stories about the last German POW that was still in America after the war, Georg Gärtner, . He had escaped a POW camp and was making a living in the USA. He had been sent to North Africa in the last phases of the war in that theater. He was taken prisoner in 1943 and he mentioned about the things he saw in the American camp:
The American soldiers were well armed, well supplied, and the most damning thing he saw was that US soldiers casually left their engines running idly with absolutely zero regard for fuel conservation. Meanwhile stories of how starved German formations were of fuel are abundant for WWII. When he saw the American troops with zero worries about their fuel, he thought, "I knew right then we were going to lose the war."
Do remember that Germany's enemies were all truly supporting each other: Fuel, ammunition, airplanes, tanks, trucks, jeeps, small arms. Western Allied navies were working with each other. Britain even loaned the United States Navy an Aircraft Carrier for the Pacific for a while in 1943. The Allies also actually made coordinated strategy while the Axis were randomly doing whatever they wanted.
That’s what happens when you have one military goal between multiple heavily industrialised war economies and two fronts
Infinite Soviet manpower is a common misperception. By the end of the war, the Soviets were quite low on manpower - the carnage of 1941 and the bloodletting of 1942/43 really drained their reserves. Rifle divisions were forcibly conscripting civilians from liberated territories by 44' to fill their depleted ranks.
Though, as said, Soviet tactics certainly created the impression of infinite manpower. Take Operation Bagration: along the main axes of breakthrough, the Red Army concentrated vast amounts of men to smash the German defenses. While the overall manpower parity was some 2:1 in the operation, in these area the Soviets would gain a superiority of some 10:1 men on a 1km frontage. In other words, a German company of some 80 men would be facing a battalion of some 750 Soviet soldiers. Small wonder their defenses crumbled.
For those interested, there's a Master's thesis available online on Operation Bagration. Some 1000 pages giving very detailed coverage of the operation. Would be happy to find if anyone likes.
@@Bratstvoijedinstvo1945 Photos of Soviet soldiers in 1944 often show troops from extremes of the age spectrum - conscripted farm boys who look like they are 16 or even younger, and grizzled types who might have been nudging 50. There were "sons of the regiment" in Soviet units, typically orphans who had quite literally found a home in the army, and they could be as young as nine or ten.
This week, my grandfather Antti Kovanen lost his left arm to a shrapnel from a Soviet grenade while fighting on the Äyräpää bridgehead in the battle of Vuosalmi. The 7th Infantry Regiment was stationed on the south side of the river Vuoksi, as shown in the video at 10:10, and the Soviets were determined to take the bridgehead, conducting a massive artillery barrage in preparation. During this barrage, my grandfather was wounded and subsequently transported to hospital by train. He was close to dying, but eventually survived and went on to study law. He became a "nimismies", sort of a police chief, and had four children.
Most of his spare time he spent in nature. He loved fishing, rowing, and nordic skiing. Sadly, I never got to meet him as he passed away a year before I was born, but my grandmother once showed me his prosthesic arms, hands, and attachments: from early ones that had a leather glove to later ones that were skin-coloured plastic, one "hand" especially for holding a fishing rod, one for holding an oar, one for a ski pole... it was very cool seeing these items and understanding how they depict the story of my grandfather's life after the war.
Rip Nazi bozo, enjoy hell
Very cool of him to not let the loss of his arm stop him from enjoying life and his hobbies. My paternal grandfather lost a leg as a child, and was forced to wear prosthetic legs for the rest of his life. He had a great sense of humor and did not let his loss of a leg stop him from enjoying life.
@@EdinProfa You mean while protecting the freedom and independence of a democratic nation from the Allies' imperialism.
@@EdinProfa Soviet Union invaded Finland in 1939 according to Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Stalin's plan was to occupy Finland and to commit genocide but it failed. 1941 Soviets bombed Finnish cities and started a new war, Stalin's plan was the same as before but it failed despite UK and USA helping him. Only Germany gave meaningful help to Finland. Have you ever heard of the saying my enemy's enemy is my friend?
@@EdinProfa Anyone who didn't stand up to the Soviet imperialism is their accomplice too. They took over half of Europe on the excuse of the Germans having attacked them. I don't mind one bit getting called a nazi by Soviet apologists. It's a badge of honor if anything. I'll defend Finland any day of the week no matter how much you try to shame me with your cheap rhetorics.
Oh Indy. Just to clarify. Operation Valkyrie was not the name of the bomb plot. It had no official name. Valkyrie was an Army operation out of the Plans Division on how to cope with a situation where there was a disruption in government authority. In short, the army was to assume control of transportation hubs and communications to ensure continuation of government authority, or whatever was left of it until the situation was clarified. The plotters were going to try to use this classified but authorised plan to seize and maintain control once Hitler was dead.
Well...here we are.
The biggest Military Defeat in German History.
1942: Hey the Germany Army has us surrounded we need help
Soviet High Command: No can do fight the best you can
1944: Hey the Soviets have us surrounded we need help
German High Command: No can do fight the best you can
The fact that the Germans are suffering 2x number of casualties than the soviets also prove that they are mastering the tactical operations too
Hundred Days Offensive, Operation Uranus, Rhineland Offensive
etc. all examples of factually bigger defeats.
Jena-Auerstadt, 1806
The biggest military defeat in German History… so far. There’s still Vistula-Oder, Falaise and Ardennes
Damn, so ends Nagumo, Ive been so used to seeing him around since his vital role in the early Pacific theatre
Feels especially odd with him not meeting his fate aboard a ship, in a naval battle.
@@BleedingUranium He had been a fish out of water being appointed to the carrier division, as he had zero carrier experience and didn't bother learning as commander, leaving everything to his subordinates.
Was a fitting end for him actually.
It is amazing how smart and powerful the Red Army has become, in contrast to the early months of the war in 1940.
Edit: I fully agree. The most remarkable part in the entire war is how the Soviets would yank out the command staff of units in danger of destruction with as many records as possible so that they could examine EVERY mistake and failure that they could to better educate every one else.
Active battlefields are the most Darwinian environment on the planet. Poor commanders end up relieved or dead and competent commanders rise.
Edit 2: I recommend both Stumbling Colossus and Colossus Reborn by David Glantz. It is a very in depth analysis on how bad the Soviet Armed forces were before the Second World War up through 1940 (Stumbling Colossus) and how the Red Army and Air Force primarily were destroyed and rebuilt over the course of the war (Colossus Reborn).
@justinswinehart5361 Meanwhile the Germans are not allowing breakouts and Hitler is relieving staff that recommends better strategy.
Well, Stalin purged a whole lot of the command structure just a few years earlier. Lack of experience top to bottom really showed.
They had us in the first half...🏈
Yeah they improve every year, and by 1945 they are by far the best land army in the world. (spoilers) when they invade Manchuria they will absolutely steamroll the Japanese.
This chronological approach brings into stark relief the sense of crisis and utter bloodiness of the fighting over June & July 1944. Normandy, Bragration, Rome, Philippine Sea, Burma, China. Conventional narrative histories would follow one of these battles from its inception to its climax. But this chronological approach gives a better sense of the sheer scope, confusion and - as I said before - crisis. Brilliant work.
Obvious f**k the nazis, but you can't help with imaging what trying to navigate this crisis must've been like for their leadership. I imagine crippling stress, anxiety, and probably anger.
Are you saying chronological a lot because Indy is wearing 4 chronographs?
This is why i have not watched TV for over 10 years. Thank you.
A personal bit of history for me. On this day, my granddad Lance Corporal Jack Bromley was injured in Normandy while fighting in 3 Commando (4 Troop). A faulty mortar exploded next to him, injuring his shoulder. He was evacuated, but returned to mainland Europe as part of the regular army, ending up in Germany in a peacekeeping role. My dad was born a few years later, so I’m obviously grateful he survived the war. Who knows? Perhaps that injury saved his life!
We need a comprehensive list of all Indy's wristwatches, as worn this day.
And a few words on why, how, and who's idea it was.
We have the tie(r) list already, when does the watch tierlist drop
What is the significance, i want to know too?
Obviously, the different time zones: New York, Berlin, Moscow and Tokyo.
I believe the one on his right hand (with the Milanaise band) is an Okean 3133 replica.
Indy's been out looting
Having served in the invasions of the Gilbert, Marshall and Solomon Islands ( among others) my Dad’s ship, the USS Belle Grove, a LSD class transport ship, continues her mission to Saipan. Having unloaded landing craft and soldiers, she now serves as a “floating repair shop” to service landing craft and other gear that has been damaged during the operation. Rest In Peace, Dad.
Operation Charnwood (aftermath)
The Germans were forced to withdraw to the south of the Orne but Allied forces were unable to push beyond the river. German forces were dug-in on the opposite bank in position to block a move south. Montgomery called off an advance beyond the Orne as further attacks would be too costly for the gains made, which had inflicted much attrition on the defenders. For French public opinion the operation was a coup; civilians now believed the liberation of France had begun.
Antony Beevor called Operation Charnwood a partial success, because although much of Caen was taken, the British and Canadians failed to secure enough ground to expand the Allied build-up; the bulk of the First Canadian Army was still waiting in the United Kingdom for transfer to Normandy. Carlo D'Este wrote that Charnwood did improve the Second Army's position but without the high ground to the south, Caen was useless, the capture of the city was too little too late a hollow victory. Chester Wilmot wrote that for Montgomery to maintain a threat to German-occupied Paris, Caen's southern suburbs with their factories and communications network would have been a more significant prize. Buckley and Copp note that by the time the city was captured, the Germans-weakened by the battles of late June and early July-had already established defensive positions on the high ground to the south of the Orne, which blocked the route to the Falaise plain
Copp also wrote that the British Second Army won an important operational victory during Charnwood and the Society for Army Historical Research recorded that the attacks were a tactical and operational success. The Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower expressed concern that a breakout was unlikely. Montgomery differed; remarking the tenacity of the German defence was no barometer of its longevity. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel mentioned to Lieutenant-Colonel Caesar von Hofacker that the front-line in France could only be held for another three weeks under British Canadian pressure on Caen flank. Hofacker was a member of the German resistance and linked with the Hitler assassination plot and according to Simon Trew, Rommel's comment led to the assasination plot timetable being decided.
Thanks for the extra info. Good stuff.
"To the end of this madness"
A throwaway sentence that summarise the whole affair.
Thank you as always.
Except that, Putin for example, clearly demonstrates that the madness is part of the human condition and that will only ever truly end with the passing of humanity. If you don't like wars (and you shouldn't) and that leads you to not start wars, you're still dependent on the other party to act in the same way.
On 8th July 1944, my great grandfather, Private William Edwin Robinson, from Liverpool but fighting with the South Staffordshires, when pinned down by German fire picked up a bren gun, ran forward alone and destroyed a German machine gun post before reorganising the attack and taking it in. He was promoted to Corporal and awarded the Military Medal. Unfortunately he was killed in the fighting around Thury-Harcourt a month later.
It's crazy to see an entire Army Group disintegrate in a month under strong, powerful and well-planned attacks. Bagration is the pinnacle of Soviet planning of the war
Not in a month. Heeresgruppe Mitte disintegrated in the space of barely over two weeks, between 23 June- 8 July 1944.
It shows how much proper planning, preparation, surprise can do, coupled with the increasing sophistication and skill of the Red Army. The Germans got out-generalled, and while madman Hitler forbidding retreats did play a factor, the German generals simply got owned by their Red Army counterparts.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Army Group Center occupied the land bridge between two major rivers, which was the shortest route between the heart of Russia and the Berlin. It had withstood at least three attempts to destroy it by the summer of 1944, so, based on that experience, the German generals watched the Soviet avalanche building up in front of them with a lot of over confidence. Also, they expected the first major blow to fall on their forces in the Ukraine instead of further north against Army Group Center.
@@dpeasehead But the German generals did not see the avalanche building up. They saw some signs, just like German commanders in Normandy noticed some things prior to D-Day, but overall all signs of the Eastern Front pointed to the Soviet offensive in the Ukraine, which had been going on since Kursk, would be resumed. If anything a Soviet push north west into Poland could cut off Armygroups Center and North. So I don't think German generals in AG Center were that confident. Most of their armor had been sent down south. They just didn't expect an all out assault to happen on all 4 of its armies at the same time on the scale that it did. Or the Red Army to show that big of an improvement in tactical handling compared to the 43/44 Ukraine offensives.
Bagration was a very dramatic destruction of an Army Group, but there has actually been multiple Army group destructions. The Soviets are displaying a large confidence now, if they had been more confident after Kursk than the Dnieper would have fell in a month. It did not take that long either, Russia had just got too used to failures around Moscow, 4 Karkhov's, Rzhev, the prelude to Blau, significant resistance after Kursk. If Mars and Uranus had had equal success than Bagration probably would have happened in summer 1943. Something that this channel has not brought up is the problems of Soviet armored vehicles; breakdowns, storage problems, production problems.
Hitler is really hoping to stop the soviet advance by ordering last stands of individual divisions. Hitler was the first ever HoI4 player.
With those watches Indy looks like he's about to plant the Soviet flag on the Reichstag
July 6th 1944. Private Mike M Martinez from Rancho Cucamonga CA of the 90th Infantry Division 357th Infantry Regiment (The Tough Ombres) is killed in action in Manche France. Near the town of Ste-Suzanne I believe. He was only 19 born May 9th 1925
Ever since I seen the great war series I tried to find as much as I could about my great uncle and unfortunately that's all I could. But watching these recent episode seeing where the division fought. From stories of hedgerow fighting and the beginning of the Normandy campaign I can only imagine how terrible those last days were.
Thank you Indy and the team for everything you've been doing. This is a great gift for the past generations and future generations. Passing of a knowledge that should be learned taught and never forgotten. Thank you time ghost army for your service and thank you Tough Ombres and anyone who sacrificed themselves for a better tomorrow.
(Interesting story, when saving private Ryan came out my family went to watch it in theaters and in the beginning one of the only headstones that you can read clearly is Mike M Martinez died July 6th 1944 and when my aunts called they confirmed it was their little brother. Extremely sad yet an honor at the same time for them. I know he was missed and still is. Although his sisters never got to visit him it's my turn to visit him for them in this lifetime.)
Never Forget Never Forgotten
I really feel for all those on Saipan. I had no idea it was that bad. This war is disgusting.
They're all disgusting. We just have more details.
I have always pointed at Saipan for when the Americans realized just what a slaughter it would be to invade Japan, when even the civilians, either willing or not, jumped off cliffs to avoid capture!
Seeing their broken bodies at the bottom of that cliff…..one of the worst things things I’ve ever seen. And caught on camera too.
It definitely didn't help that the US was not allowing live translators on the field at this time due to fear of sabotage or collusion. So they used out of date translation books, or pre-written messages to blast on loudspeakers. These messages were not well done and instead of conveying the message of "Surrender and be treated well" it was closer to "Surrender and we will do everything terrible your government said we would do". This confirmed the propaganda and encouraged them to die rather then to endure torture and dishonour. Once they had live translators the incidents of civilians suicides and attacks apparently reduced sharply.
You might want to skip Okinawa then.
It never ceases to amaze me the enormity of the forces and casualties on the eastern front
With the impending end of the Battle of Saipan this week, this may be a good time to watch the 2011 Japanese film, *Oba: The Last Samurai* , where the final (and largest) banzai charge of the battle is portrayed and the subsequent Japanese holdouts on the island until December 1945.
Great film! You might also find it under the name BATTLE OF THE PACIFIC.
Indy "Hey buddy, want to buy a Rolex?".
"Because the 5th Panzer Division strongly defends the Moscow-Minsk highway, Soviet 29th Tank Corps and 3rd Guard Mechanized Corps ... are heading through the forests to the north that are more lightly defended."
Always nice to see things circle back around. I seem to recall near the start of this war, a certain other army advancing through some northern forests to get around the most solid part of a powerful defensive line. Though I don't think the Soviet's need a Charles Huntziger to pull the troops defending said forces out of their positions, they seem to be managing just fine on their own. (Of course, one could make that argument of the German forces advancing on France, but we'll never know because Charles hecking Huntziger pulled his troops off the Maginot Line because why would we ever actually use this massively sophisticated defensive perimeter we spent absurd amounts of money on?)
(Tangential: Seriously, why is it that Huntziger is not more infamous than he is. I'm not a scholar of deep WWII lore, here, but from what I know of his actions, I am astonished there is not a "was he literally a traitor" controversy around him. Like...I'm not saying he definitely was a traitor, but pulling your troops off the defensive line as the enemy advances on that position is ...generally the kind of thing that gets one's loyalty called into question, and I've heard nothing to suggest that anyone other than myself has thought to ask that question.)
Well said, the Soviets are really giving them a taste of their own medicine.
As for Huntziger, I'm guessing it's cuz the guy died during the war before he got the chance to face either ridicule and insults from the public or courts and punishment for his actions. Had he survived the war, he would've been one one helluva controversial figure to say the least. Instead, he ended up a mere footnote in history over all the euphoria of the Allied victory.
@@901Sherman Fair point...not much point putting a corpse on trial . And its not like there was a shortage of living people to bring before the courts and the press to face the music...even with stuff like Operation Paperclip and other programs that removed many deserving people from the nooses waiting for them at Nuremberg.
(this is not to say every single person Paperlip snapped up deserved the noose, but they did deserve a fair trial to decide their fates and not backroom immunity deals based on their alleged usefulness postwar)
I swear these letters and speeches between Churchill, Stalin and FDR are so heartwarming. They really serve to prop up their popularities as politicians as well. I feel like these three will head their countries in an age of prosperous friendship for a good time to come.
Does the Emperor of Japan care one bit about those who die for him? Is he aware of the huge sacrifices made in his name?
Quick answer, no.
Though he probably doesn't know the real numbers. Japanese Army and Navy were both infamous for understating their losses. Combined with overestimating successes the "sudden" shift later in the war came as a surprise to many in leadership positions.
For real, it is sad to see the final words of 31st army Chief of Staff
"We deeply apologize to the Emperor that we cannot do better"
Gotta remember, there were major defeats that he didn't get told about for weeks or months after. The Army ans Navy weren't about to be honest and give the other anything to use against them.
My grandfather once told me the war in the Pacific was the United States Vs. Imperial Japan Vs. the Imperial Army Vs. the Imperial Navy. I believe him.
@@Plaprad A certain coyness was also visible on the Allied side.
SPOILER
When V2s start hitting, initially it will be claimed it was gas explosions, though people were not fooled - there were jokes about "flying gas mains". There will be no solution to them other than overrunning their bases, whereas V1s could be shot down.
@@Plaprad Sounds very accurate. Remember when the navy lost half it's fleet in a massive battle, and then just... didn't tell anyone? Until the army found out six months later and they had to come clean?
Or how the whole war in China started because some army officers just decided to start a war, and their superiors said they would stop it and then gave the army green light to continue?
Japan's imperial government was a tyrannical clustertruck at the top.
What an epic series this is. You guys should get medals for this. I started following this since the first lock down and eagerly waiting every week. Massive massive appriciation for your endeavors for keeping the history of the horrible time alive AND HOW..respect!!!
For two weeks after liberation of Rome on 5th June 1944 , as British War Office described , 15th Army Group made a splendid advance from Rome to Lake Trasimene. However after liberation of Perugia on 17th June , ancient university town in Central Italy South of Lake Trasimene , the “splendid advance” came to a close , 15th Army Group came upon Trasimene Line , a temporary line of fortifications that was revatively thinner but still forbiddable. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring , “Smiling Albert” was planning to hold on this line temporarily till end of July , to gain more time before retiring to permenant Gothic Lin ethat was being built in Northern Apenines from Pisa to Rimini just North of Arno river and which was designed to seal Northern Italy. Gothic Line was still not ready yet thoug , it was still in construction and Kesselring needed time to delay Allied advance before pulling back into it , Trasimene line would serve that.
After liberation of Rome , Hitler from Berlin constantly ordering not to retreat and hold on to last man orders at Trasimene line to German Army Group C in Italy throughout entire June. At the other hand two German Armies which were badly mauled and much weakened during Allied Diadem and Buffolo Offensive that broke through Gustav Line in May 1944 and reached Rome ( both 10th and 14th German Armies lost almost 48.000 men between 11 May - 5 June 1944 not to mention 200 tanks and hundreds of guns and mortorised vehicles) On 3rd , Kesselring and his Chief of Staff General Beelitz flew to vist Hitler at Obelsalzberg. Hitler continued to insist holding South of Siena on Trasimene line. However Kesselring pushed back saying :
“ The point is not my armies in Italy are fighting or running away. I can assure you they will fight and die if I ask it from them. We are talking about something much more different , the question at hand is whether after Stalingrad and Tunisia , you can afford to lose two more field armies at Italy. I beg to doubt it , the more I change my plans to your ideas sooner Allies would reach Germany. At the other hand , unless my hands are tied , I can guarantee to delay Allied advance to Appennines till 1945 summer which dovetails to your strategic scheme."
According to Beelitz , Hitler did not like the tone of Kesselring especially Allies reaching German frontier sooner or later , muttered a few uncomplimentary words but left Kesselring free to waging this operations on his own terms in Italy.
thanks, this is a great addition
My old friend Irv was on Saipan and spoke of the bonzi attacks. He said, "for a period of almost twenty four hours, it was hand to hand and you were never sure who was bumping up against your back!"
Indy looks like he's been looting prisoners
Saw these series June 11, finally caught up three days ago... It's a truly beautiful series that I've grown addicted... Thank you TimeGhost for this
I would suggest the great war. Same crew, same format.:)
@@markusixsilard1334 seen that channel, but I'm scared... That's a great undertaking... Like embarking upon the great crusade
@@markusixsilard1334 You caught up really fast. When I found this channel the battle of Stalingrad was raging (I think around episode 150 or so) and it took me like 6 months to catch up
@@getimpaled3460 it took me a lot to catch up to. but i first went the grwat war, than betwin series. than this. it took me at least a year.maybe 18months. and i catch up right around beging battle for stalingrad:)
Waiting for at least one special on Bagration.
I hope the TimeGhost crew know these longer videos have been fantastic to watch. All the researching, scripting, editing and effort that goes into these productions are worth it and commendable. My knowledge of WW2 has expanded greatly thanks to your videos. As much as I am a "history buff" I did not know lot of battle statistics and such, or certain individuals, or many other interesting under the surface facts about spies, factional disputes, war crimes and more I just simply did not know as much on. I recommend your series on here and your Between The Wars series on your other channel (that I still need to catch up on!). You guys deserve way more subscribers.
I leave the week with this. As the Soviets advance further from the East, and the USA/UK led forces from the West, many resistance/partisan groups who having been fighting insurgencies will be able to take full advantage. Yugoslavia, France, Greece and Italy already, the Benelux nations. It will be interesting to see this covered in your videos as we start to see what lies ahead. We're in the end game now. The Axis Powers will be defeated, it is now a matter of time. The Allies shifting focus towards peace negotiations and post-world order with the Soviet Union. Greece, China, Palestine (and Israel), Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Algeria, and many many more countries already are or will soon be embroiled in civil wars as the the two newest super powers start competing for territorial influence.
Love the watches Indy! Big thanks to the people behind the scenes putting in work as well. You're appreciated
Wow! Another great episode. And some great teasers about what is to come. I've been anticipating the July 20th coverage ever since I finished D-day. It's hard to believe it's almost here. Things are moving quickly here in hindsight.
The bit about Rommel and Kluge arguing and then Kluge tours the line and realizes Rommel is right and lets him do what he wants kind of made me smile. Especially knowing that both mens' time at the front, and in this world, is short.
And, man, I don't think I've ever seen more in depth coverage of the eastern front. Well, technically, any of the fronts. But I really appreciate learning more about the eastern front since, I think, Americans don't focus on it as well as we should.
Excellent episode as usual, its great to see a balanced view of history, great to see you quoting Robin Neillands, his books Normandy 44, and battle for the Rhine 44 are both excellent, James Hollands Normandy book is brilliant too.
Thank you to the time ghost team
Operation Windsor , 2nd Canadian Corps Capture Capiquet airfields at Caen on 4-5 July 1944
Operation Windsor (4-5 July 1944), was a Canadian attack of the Battle of Normandy during the Second World War. The attack was undertaken by the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division to take Carpiquet and the adjacent airfield from troops of the 12th SS-Panzer Division Hitler Jugend of Panzergruppe West. The attack was originally intended to take place during the later stages of Operation Epsom, to protect the eastern flank of the main assault but was postponed for a week.
On 4 July, the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade and an attached battalion of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division attacked Carpiquet, supported on the flanks by the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. The village was captured by mid-afternoon but German resistance in the south defeated two attacks on the airfield, despite significant Allied tank and air support. Next day the Canadians repulsed German counter-attacks and held the village, which served as a base for Operation Charnwood, a Second Army attack on Caen, involving the rest of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division on 8 July, and the airfield was captured by the Canadians on 9 July.
As dawn broke on 4 July the artillery regiments opened fire on German positions in and around Carpiquet, firing a creeping barrage 1 mi (1.6 km) wide and 400 yd (370 m) deep. At 05:00 two Canadian infantry battalions advanced on Carpiquet, while the Sherbrooke Fusilier squadron staged the diversion to the north. The Sherbooke Fusiliers broke through the German minefields and attacked Chateau-St-Louet and Gruchy before withdrawing but the defensive positions of SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 26 remained intact and continued to fire on the North Shores. In the centre, the Chaudières avoided much of the fire directed at the North Shores as they advanced on Carpiquet. By 06:32, both battalions had reached the outskirts of the village and met tanks of the 12th SS Panzer Division. In the village, a house-to-house fight began and tanks of the 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment assisted the infantry in overrunning German positions.
To the south, the RWR (Royal Winnipeg Rifles) advanced slowly towards the airfield, with German mortar fire inflicting many casualties on the infantry and tanks. With a squadron of the Fort Garry Horse only available for indirect fire, it took the RWR ninety minutes to advance the 1.5 mi (2.4 km) from Marcelet to the airfield hangars, under fire from the south bank of the Odon. Several Sherman tanks were knocked out and by mid-day the RWR were forced to withdraw halfway to their original positions.
Unaware that the RWR had failed to gain control of the airfield, General Keller commander of Canadian Division sent the QOR to begin the second phase of the assault. The battalion moved forward into Carpiquet village, which was occupied by the Chaudières and The North Shore, who attacked German strong points bypassed in the initial assault. Infantry attacks, flame-throwers, petard-tanks (Churchill tanks mounted with a 290 mm (11 in) spigot mortar) and the immolation of one strong point forced twelve surviving defenders to surrender; the remaining garrison surrendered after determined resistance. The QOR reached the edge of Carpiquet as the RWR withdrew and was ordered to hold their positions until the RWR reorganized for a second attack.
For the second attack on the airfield, Keller obtained the support of two squadrons of RAF Typhoon fighter-bombers. The survivors of the RWR were ordered to "execute a sweeping attack by the lower ground around the enemy's left flank", with tank and artillery support, under the impression that the 43rd BrityishDivision had reached Verson, although this position could not prevent a counter-attack from the south-east. In the late afternoon, the RWR resumed the attack on the airfield and reached the hangars but were unable to dislodge the German defenders. The Fort Garry tanks encountered a battlegroup of Panther tanks and was overwhelmed, the RWR was ordered to withdraw to their start-line under the cover of darkness. In Carpiquet, the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade rapidly consolidated its positions, which were the closest to Caen of any Allied unit. Although the Canadians had control of Carpiquet and the northern hangars, the southern hangars and control buildings remained in German hands.
Less than 1 mi (1.6 km) from the outskirts of Caen, the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade posed a threat to German positions in the town. With most of the defence concentrated north of Caen and by the River Odon, it was feared that Anglo-Canadian forces could attack from Carpiquet and bypass the majority of the defences. Despite growing misgivings about the effectiveness of immediate counter-attacks, Kurt Meyer ordered the SS to retake Carpiquet. Units from the 1st SS-Panzer Division prepared to counter-attack Carpiquet from Francqueville with tanks, artillery, mortars and infantry.
Shortly after midnight, the first of the SS counter-attacks began and although thirteen tanks had been lost the previous day, the 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment and the mortars of the Cameron Highlanders, defeated the attack and inflicted many casualties on SS Hitlerjugend units. By dawn, almost no ground had been gained by the attackers and by noon, the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade and 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment had defeated three SS counter-attacks, with the assistance of artillery and Typhoon fighter-bombers. In these failed counter attacks more than 120 SS Panzergranediers were killed their bodies recovered outside Canadian defense positions. The village remained firmly in Canadian occupation, although subject to frequent Nebelwerfer and mortar bombardment.
Windsor was the first set-piece attack by the 3rd Canadian Division and left the Germans in control of Carpiquet airport, which obliged the 43rd Division to retire from Verson and Fontaine-Etoupefour. In 2005, Reid wrote that the attack should have been made by two brigades rather than one and an attached battalion. The extra battalion reached the hangars and fought their way through them but were ordered to withdraw twice. The success of the Germans defenders in maintaining their hold on the airfield, except for the north end and Carpiquet village, left the Canadians in a salient which was counter-attacked several times. The failure of the brigade to reach all its objectives, led to doubts about the fitness of Keller for his command, although the preparations for Operation Charnwood might have been the reason for Keller delegating planning for Operation Windsor to the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade commander, Brigadier K. G. Blackader.
Three days after Operation Windsor, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division took part in Operation Charnwood. On 9 July, the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade captured Carpiquet airfield and by nightfall, the northern half of Caen had been captured.
Canadian casualties for the operation totalled 377, of which 127 men were killed, most on 4 July. The RWR and The North Shores each lost 132 casualties. The 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment lost 17 tanks and an unknown number of tanks were lost by the Sherbrooke Fusiliers. The I Battalion, Panzer-grenadier Regiment 26 had 155 infantry casualties and the 1st SS-Panzer Division (Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler), which counter-attacked on 5 July, lost c. 20 tanks and 200 men. II Battalion, Panzer-grenadier Regiment 1 had 115 casualties.
@@merdiolu You seem to be the perfect guy for me to ask about this because i didn't get any answer from google.
when was the first time the western allies encountered the Panther and the King Tiger?
@@Ronald98 Panther Mark V , probably in Italian Campaign. King Tiger (Tiger II) definetely in Normandy Campaign.
One British tank officer Lt. John Gorman from Irish Guards of British Guards Armored Division , knocked out a King Tiger during Operation Goodwood south of Caen in 18 July 1944 by straight ramming his Sherman tank into it , killing bailing German panzer crew with machine gun fire then hopping out of his damaged tank and getting into another Sherman tank within minutes , taking command of it and destroying Tiger II tank for good with hitting from its turret base multiple times where its armor was thinner. He was decorated with Military Cross award for it.
@@merdiolu I knew i could count on you! many thanks, appreciate it. 👍
@@merdiolu British, Canadian, and American divisions and corps had insane numbers of artillery pieces and anti-tank guns. And they had access to hundreds of ground attack aircraft AND hundreds of large caliber naval guns. Because of this, German counterattacks in Normandy were almost as suicidal as Japanese banzai attacks in the Pacific at the same time were. While frustrating to the allies, the German attempts to pin the Allies to their beach head by fighting them in close to the coast instead of fighting them from lines further inland worked in favor of the Allies massive material superiority.
Excellent work Indy & team.
Thank you!
Operation Charnwood 8-9 July 1944 , I British Corps and II Canadian Corps capture Caen city center , Normandy. (Part Two)
On the night of 7 July, 467 Lancaster and Halifax aircraft of RAF Bomber Command attacked Caen, dropping over 2,000 long tons (2,000 t) of bombs on the city. Although intended mainly to facilitate the Anglo-Canadian advance and to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the battle or retreating through Caen, a secondary consideration was the suppression of the German defences. In this the bombing largely failed, the main German armour and infantry positions to the north of Caen remained intact. Several tanks were hit and temporarily disabled but only two Panzer IV of the 12th SS Panzer Division were destroyed. General Miles Dempsey, in command of the British Second Army, was more concerned with the morale-boosting effect of the bombing on his troops, than any material losses it might inflict on the Germans.
The pathfinders of 625 Squadron, dropping the target markers for the bombers, were instructed not to allow the target zone to "drift back" towards the Allied lines as had been the tendency in earlier operations. Together with the cautious shifting of the target zone during the planning stage, many of the markers were dropped too far forward, pushing the bombed zone well into Caen, further away from the German defences. By 22:00 on 7 July, the bombers had departed, leaving 80 percent of the north of Caen destroyed. Caen University was particularly hard hit, starting chemical fires that soon spread. At 22:50, six squadrons of de Havilland Mosquito bombers attacked individual targets and ten minutes later the 636 guns of the assaulting divisions opened fire, with the battleship HMS Rodney and other ships adding their support. The bombardment was intensified by the artillery of VIII Corps against the villages north of Caen, to eliminate German strong points before the infantry assault began.
At 04:30 on 8 July, the artillery of I and VIII Corps shifted their fire deeper into the German defensive belt, along the axes of advance of the 3rd Canadian Division and the 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division. As the infantry and armour moved off their start-lines, the barrage slowly crept forward, concentrating its fire on positions in front of the Anglo-Canadian troops; four battalions and two armoured regiments advancing on a two brigade front. At 07:00, 192 B-26 Marauder medium bombers arrived over the battlefield but finding it obscured by cloud only 87 aircraft were able to drop their bombs, totalling 133 long tons (135 t). Some bombs landed on the 12th SS Headquarters at Abbaye-aux-Dames.
Crocker launched the second phase of Operation Charnwood at 07:30, although neither division had yet reached its objectives. The 26th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment was still in control of high ground around the Carpiquet airfield on the right flank of the advance. On the left, facing the relatively weak defences of the 16th Luftwaffe Field Division, the 3rd Infantry Division made good progress. They attacked Lébisey and rapidly pushed through the village, although fighting intensified as the division reached Hérouville. Concerned about the state of the Luftwaffe division, General Heinrich Eberbach, in command of Panzer Group West ordered the 21st Panzer Division to redeploy north-east of Caen in support. The manoeuvre was spotted and when 21st Panzer attempted to cross the Caen Canal, a naval bombardment was directed against them. Facing the possibility of heavy losses, the move was abandoned.[3] In the centre, the 176th Brigade of the 59th Division was encountering much stiffer resistance from the 12th SS Panzer Regiment in Galmanche and la Bijude. The 197th Brigade bypassed Galmanche and by noon had reached St-Contest.
Further to the west, the 9th Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Canadian Division had been involved in heavy fighting in Buron, which was defended by 200 men from the 12th SS. With support from the 10th Armoured Regiment (The Fort Garry Horse), by noon Buron had been taken, although the Canadian assault companies suffered 60% casualties. South of Buron, a counter-attack by Panzer IV and Panther tanks of the 12th SS Panzer Regiment was defeated by 17pdr SP Achilles self-propelled anti-tank guns and 17-pounder anti tank guns of the 245th Battery, 62nd Antitank Regiment. Thirteen German tanks were destroyed in one of the most successful antitank engagements of the campaign, for the loss of four tank destroyers and a further four damaged. Gruchy was captured with relatively less difficulty, with the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade encountering only mortar and artillery fire in their drive to Authie. The capture of Authie facilitated the 59th Infantry Division assault on St-Contest and that village fell too, clearing the way for an advance on Caen. In Phase 3 of the operation, the 7th Brigade pushed towards the former headquarters of the 12th SS Panzer Division at Ardenne Abbey, securing the position before midnight.
The British 3rd Division brushed aside 16th Luftwaffe and approached the outskirts of Caen from the north-east. At 19:15, Meyer and Eberbach authorised the withdrawal of the 12th SS Panzer Division heavy weapons and the remnants of the Luftwaffe division across the Orne to the southern side of Caen. In the early evening, the 12th SS fought a rearguard action against elements of the 59th and 3rd Canadian divisions, as it pulled back from positions no longer considered tenable. Reports of this withdrawal came into the Anglo-Canadian command but patrols probing German positions, created a false perception that no withdrawal was taking place.
British and Canadian patrols began to infiltrate the city at dawn on 9 July. The airfield at Carpiquet finally fell into Allied hands during the early morning, when the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division discovered that the 26th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment had withdrawn during the night. With the German situation north of the river becoming increasingly precarious, 21st Panzer Division battle groups and the remaining regiments of the 12th SS Panzer Division conducted a slow withdrawal across the Orne, making for the Verrières and Bourguébus Ridges.
By noon the 3rd British Infantry Division had reached the Orne's north bank, virtually destroying the elements of the 16th Luftwaffe Field Division, positioned west of the Orne, in the process. A few hours later the British and Canadians met in the centre of the city and by 18:00 the northern half of Caen was firmly under Allied control; all I Corps's objectives had been achieved. A few of Caen's bridges were intact but these were either blocked by rubble or defended by German troops on the south bank and the 1st SS Panzer Division had by now positioned itself to oppose any further advance.
The 12th SS Panzer Division (by the end of the battle the division's infantry strength had been reduced to that of a battalion)-claimed over the course of two days to have destroyed 103 British and Canadian tanks (during entire Operation Charnwood , Second Army lost total 63 tanks so German claims are clearly overexagerrated) for the loss of 20 panzers. On entering Caen the Anglo-Canadian troops found it in ruins, with four-fifths of the Old City reduced to rubble by the 7 July bombings. The debris that choked the streets made it almost impossible for British armour to manoeuvre through the northern half of the city, preventing Second Army from exploiting I Corps's success. Without possession of the terrain flanking the south of the city, no further gains could be made within Caen so by mid-afternoon on 9 July, Operation Charnwood was over.
Dang I love Indy and all the team and always love the content! Astrid and Sparticus are awesome in their presentations as well! I just can't praise the team enough, thanks so much guys and gal :)!!!
Thanks so much for your support!
Great episode. I am Loving it.
On July 4th and 5th the US Army 8th Infantry Division would come ashore on Utah Beach in France. On July 8th, my great grandfather Clifton Glidden would enter combat as a rifleman in the 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division.
As always...excellent video Indy!!👍👍😃
Is it weird that as the weeks pass by i get more and more excited for a week by week Korean war coverage,, and Vietnam after that?
You are not alone thinking that.
This week we’re seeing the very beginning of the breakout from Normandy
Thanks!
Thank you.
Thank you for the lesson.
Thanks for watching!
Away for a while. Nice new set.
Amazing how quickly things are moving now and yet it is still some time till the end of all this
I have watched this video 5 times in 2 days.
We’re glad you’re enjoying it so much!
Thanks
As the battle for Wilnus starts it will be nice to hear about operation Ostra Brama next week.
Brilliant as always👍😀
The intensity sure shows..
The activities on Saipan culminating in the final banzai charge are documented in detail in Toland’s “The Rising Sun”. The story of the Japanese nurse that endured the fighting in Saipan is worth reading.
nice touch with the four watches
That fighting on Saipan sounds so horrifying, and unfortunately we are probably gonna be hearing a lot more about suicidal charges by the Japanese in the pacific.
Learing about the Easter Front really makes every other theater of the war seem tiny by comparison (except for the Sino-Japanese war). I mean by this point Operation Bagration has barley even started and already SEVENTEEN entire German divisions have been destroyed. I know that for political reasons teachings about ww2 in the US and other wester nations has always focused on the western allies contributions but after spending years watching these videos and seeing just how massive the scale of the Eastern Front was makes learning about the western front and pacific feel like just barley 5% of the total war, despite the fact that over the course of my life that's basically all I've ever learned about and focused on. Really wish schools taught more about the eastern front.
Crazy week...
🎶Well, you made a long journey from Milan to Minsk…🎵
I live in South London in a block of 6 x 2 bed apartments on 1/2 acre of grounds which was the site of a V1 explosion that killed 7, 79 years ago last week. The surviving terrace of railway workers cottages give the impression that approximately 20 homes were destroyed.
RIP
If I could only keep 1 CZcams Chanel it would be you guys . Keep up the great work .
Thank you!
We’ll do our best!
So much going on. South Pacific, Central Pacific, Italy, Normandy, Eastern Front, Finnish Front, V-1s, Burma, China. 30 min episodes are needed!
thanks tg
Dear Mr. Neidell, It would be neat [for me at least] if you did a series on the Peloponnesian War. It lasted 27 years. But I guess these days not many care about the struggle between ancient Sparta and ancient Athens. It is a fascinating subject anyway.
Not a bad idea for the future!
Lots of people care about it! At the very least it was quite prominent in my studies growing up 🙂
Wars that long ago were not really continuous. So if they did do the Peloponnesian war it would have to be done month by month or something similar.
If your into hirstory, this channel does a good job. Its a reminder why we should not have world wars.
Honestly am more hyped for Lvov Sandomierz than even Bagration. That gets simply glossed over or ignored and while the latter was the greatest example of what Red Army Deep Operations and combined arms could achieve, the former is the ultimate test for Soviet armored and mechanized forces, what with all the tank corps, mechanized corps, and panzer and panzergrenadier divisions gathered, to show what they'd learned from the bloody lessons at Stalingrad, Kursk, etc. To demonstrate that they could go toe to toe with German Panzertruppen still at relatively top form and decisively beat them.
Also, 8 panzer divisions with 400 tanks, and probably most of those big scary tigers and panthers...no wonder the drive on Caen was such a hard slog. Props to the British and Canadians for still managing to enlarge the beachhead, repel counterattacks by the panzer divisions and supporting infantry, grind down their strength to the point where they'll no longer be a potent threat, and most importantly, holding them there so they won't cause trouble (well, *more* trouble) for the Americans fighting their way through the bocage.
Well covered by Prit Buttar The Reckoning p389-429.
I can't think why I, or anyone would want to go back to between the 2 wars,
but, you do you
Glad to see your dad's Rolex back on display, Indy! Big watch nerd here.
well, it's no longer his, of course- but good eye! I love that watch!
Great time period clothing and props.
You almost talk like reporters back then. This is like watching the movie reels, just modern animation
Just caught the 4 watches. Different time zones or what? Or are they old watches tracking "time ghosts"? Keep up the great work. Go get 'em James
im looking very forward to the operation market garden episodes in a few months.
About 1 or 2 weeks ago was in my gameplaytests the last point the Axis could still sue for peace, it goes from very difficult to downright impossible around this time.
Another awesome episode 👏👏
Nice tie, Indy!
Indy, the watch man! I guess keeping time on all fronts!
Looks like Indie’s been doing some looting ⌚️👀
Always good.
3 crushing defeats South, East, and West all in the last month.
You could say that it all....
*BLEW UP* in Hitler's face! 💥 😂
Before this series, I knew of the Soviets massive manpower, tank, and artillery superiority over the Germans in the latter part of the war. I did not know about their air superiority. Other than the Night Witches (which are known more as unusual trivia than anything), it seems like the Soviet Air Force is largely ignored outside of specialty works.
(The Japanese Air Force also seems overshadowed by their IJN counterparts, but at least that still gives attention to Japanese air power.)
Kursk was the last time Luftwaffe could go toe to toe with Red Aor Force.
The Eastern Front air war differed in lots of ways from the one in Western Europe or over the Reich. For example, it is was generally fought at relatively low level - it was unusual for aircraft to go above 7,000 feet. Ground attack missions played an even bigger role than they did in Western Europe.
We need a special episode specifically about the 20th July plot.
Astrid was foreshadowing it so heavily in the last S&T episode that there's no way it isn't getting special attention
What is with the four watches, Indy. Is this so you know the time on multiple Fronts.?
Don’t worry, Steiner is on it
Battle of Atlantic (1 - 8 July 1944) (Part One)
While the land warfare went on , so did Battle of Atlantic , German Navy put on equal pressure to his remaining surface assets as well as U-Boat arm to damage Allied shipping lanes especally off West African Coast , US Eastern Seaboard and after D-Day English Channel. The results were not encourging for German Navy though.
The IXC40 Schnoerkel equippedc snort boat U-543, commanded by Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel, who won a Ritterkreuz on his one prior patrol in this boat, sailed from France to the Caribbean on March 28. On April 9, Hellriegel came upon a “small convoy” but escorts drove the boat off and depth-charged her, thwarting an attack. Ten days later Hellriegel refueled from Type XIV U-tanker U-488. Aware of this rendezvous from Enigma decrypts, Allied authorities sent an American hunter-killer group built around the newly arrived “jeep” carrier USS Tripoli to the area. An Avenger torpedo bomber from USS Tripoli, piloted by C. B. Humphrey, found and attacked U-543. In three runs into heavy flak, Humphrey’s depth charges hung up but he fired rockets, drove U-543 under, and dropped a Fido acoustic torpedo. Hellriegel went deep and escaped.
Later, when U-boat Control assumed (correctly) that Type XIV U-tanker U-488 had been lost, it directed Hellriegel to abort his patrol to the Caribbean and reverse course to the area west of the Cape Verde Islands and serve as a provisional refueler. He was to supply Lüdden’s U-188, inbound from the Indian Ocean and/or Seehausen’s U-66, inbound from the Gulf of Guinea. On May 14, when Control assumed (wrongly) that U-188 and (rightly) that U-66 had been sunk, it released Hellriegel from refueling responsibilities and gave him a free hand. He elected to patrol off Freetown and in the Gulf of Guinea. After several miserable weeks in tropical waters and no sinkings, Hellriegel headed north for France. Allied codebreakers calculated his homeward track from Enigma decrypts and, on June 28, a hunter-killer group built around another new American “jeep” carrier, USS Wake Island, got on the scent. On the evening of July 2, an Avenger torpedo bomber, piloted by Frederick L. Moore, found U-543 on radar and attacked, notwithstanding flak. When Hellriegel crash-dived, Moore dropped a Fido acoustic homing torpedo on the swirl. It apparently hit. Nothing further was ever heard from U-543.
The IXC U-154, commanded by a new skipper, Gerth Gemeiner, age twenty-five, replacing the disgraced skipper Oskar-Heinz Kusch, left France on the last day of January, mere hours after a court had condemned Kusch to death (he had made defeatist remarks in frobnt of his crew and informed to his superiors). The boat patrolled all the way to Panama. On March 13, Gemeiner found a convoy and shot torpedoes at two tankers, but missed both. An escort-probably the American patrol boat PC-469-attacked the U-boat with depth charges, but she escaped with slight damage. Gemeiner sank no ships and returned to France on April 28, completing a barren voyage of eighty-nine days.
The snort boat IXC U-154 (equipped with schnoerkel after April) commanded by Gerth Gemeiner, age twenty-five, sailed again to the Americas on June 20, this time by the southern route to Cape Hatteras. In response to Enigma decrypts relating to the track of this boat, Tenth US Fleet sent the “jeep” carrier USS Croatan and her escorts from Casablanca on June 30 to stalk her near Madeira. On the morning of July 3, two warships of this group, the destroyer escorts USS Inch and USS Frost, got U-154 on sonar and attacked. During this engagement, USS Croatan’s catapult failed and she could not launch aircraft, but as it turned out, they were not needed. Gemeiner fired two torpedoes at his attackers, but missed. Right after USS Inch and USS Frost located her with sonar then hammered U-boat with depth charges and destroyed it with the loss of all hands. The debris that rose to the surface included scraps of wood, German uniforms, and human remains.
The new XB minelayer submarine U-233, commanded by Hans Steen, age thirty-six, sailed from Kiel on May 27. Steen’s mission was to lay sixty-six SMA (moored) mines off Halifax, Nova Scotia , Canada. Although his crew was green, Steen had served as a watch officer on the sister ship U-117 for sixteen months and had scored well in practice minelaying in the Baltic. After topping off her large fuel tanks in Norway, U-223 put out for Halifax. Since she had no snort, she was frequently detected and attacked by Allied aircraft. Steen thwarted these ASW hunts by remaining submerged about twenty hours each day and crept across the Atlantic very slowly. On the fortieth day out, July 5, he finally reached Canadian waters, about 250 miles southeast of Cape Sable.
Allied codebreakers alerted Tenth US Fleet to this oncoming menace. On June 25, USS Card hunter-killer group, commanded by Rufus C. Young, sailed from Norfolk via Bermuda to Canadian waters to sink her. On the evening of the day U-233 arrived there, July 5, one of the five destroyer escorts, USS Baker, commanded by Norman C. Hoffman, got U-233 on sonar. Hoffmann gave the alarm and went to battle stations. While Young took USS Card out of torpedo range, protected by destroyer escorts USS Bostwick, USS Breeman, and USS Bronstein, the Thomas, commanded by David M. Kellogg, raced up to assist Baker.
Hoffman in USS Baker carried out two depth-charge attacks, the first astonishingly accurate, the second wide. The charges savaged the stern of U-233, flooding some compartments. She plunged to four hundred feet, out of control and heavy aft. Unable to communicate with the aft section or stabilize the boat, Steen blew all ballast tanks and surfaced to abandon ship and scuttle. When the U-boat popped up, Hoffman in USS Baker opened fire with all guns that could bear. The heavy fire decapitated the U-boat chief engineer, Wilhelm Bartling, and wounded numerous other Germans who were trying to abandon ship, including the skipper, Steen. The screen commander, George A. Parkinson in USS Thomas, ordered her skipper, David Kellogg, to ram. Guns blazing, USS Thomas smashed into U-233 aft of the conning tower, and the U-boat sank swiftly by the stern. USS Baker and USS Thomas fished about half the U-boat crew from the water. USS Baker picked up ten Germans; Thomas, twenty. The destroyer escorts then transferred the prisoners to USS Card. Mortally wounded, Steen died and was buried the following day with military ceremony. On July 7, the hunter-killer group put into Boston, its quite specific task accomplished.
Hitler's U-Boat War, Hunted - Clay Blair Jr
At the Start oft he War Hitler was considered an unstoppable Genius, by the end of the war the allies were dissuading assassination attempts in case he would be replaced by somebody competent.
Indy building up his watch collection as the allies advance
All this talk of time. Indy, it appears you have all the time on your hands, or rather, wrists.
I think Military History Visualized has a good video about fighting and overcoming the Bocage. Do you have plans to do likewise, or promote his work?
If one Soviet front had one million men, how many were involved in Operation Bagration! On another note, once my brigade hosted a couple of companies of the 422 Infantry regiment (Go For Broke) and I had been attached to BHQ, to help with general duties (I was in armour and I had never had to dig so many bloody trenches). Among them there was a platoon from Saipan and one of them approached me and asked me if I spoke Spanish. How he knew I'm not sure, but we got on really well and when I saw his name tag, Gabaldon, I said I'd heard that name before, but I couldn't remember how I knew. "You've seen the movie Hell to Eternity. Well that was my father". If anyone deserves to be called a HERO, that was Guy Gabaldon. I hope he gets a mention.
15.35 "most of them British-Tedder, Morgan, Coningham-were becoming extremely impatient with General Montgomery and critical of his methods."
Teddler had no funcion in SHEAF (he just happened to concur everything Eisenhower said or did like Ken Strong and Frederic Morgan) and Conningham had a jeolusy and grudge against Montgomery since deserty campaign. None of them could concieve beiing on offensive against enemy defences in depth reinforced with seven or eight panzer divisions and fighting them frontally since they were either staff officer or air force types. Teddler was shunned by British goverment in 1945 due to being an only yes man and Conningham could not cope that Montgomery became a hero after the war , left the service and lost in sea in 1948 (I think) aboard his yacht.