On D-Day what did the Germans know?
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2024
- When it comes to D-Day and the German Perspective there are a few bits out there, but the sources are sometimes lacking. So, for this, we will be looking at some proper sources namely, the situation report of Operations Staff of the Wehrmacht and the war diary of the 7th German Army.
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» SOURCES «
Mehner, Kurt (Hrsg.): Die geheimen Tagesberichte der Deutschen Wehrmachtführung im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945. Band 10: 1. März 1944 - 31. August 1944, Biblio Verlag: Osnabrück, 1985.
Schramm, Percy E.: (Hrsg.): Kriegstagebuch des OKW 1944-1945. Teilband I. Eine Dokumentation. Bechtermünz: 2005.
Lieb, Peter: Unternehmen Overlord. Die Invasion in der Normandie und die Befreiung Westeuropas. C.H. Beck: München, 2014.
Horst Boog, Gerhard Krebs, Detlef Vogel: Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg. Band 7. Das Deutsche Reich in der Defensive - Strategischer Luftkrieg in Europa, Krieg im Westen und in Ostasien 1943 bis 1944/45, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 2001.
Germany and the Second World War. Volume 7. The Strategic Air War in Europe and the War in the West and East Asia 1943-1944/5. 2006.
Citino, Robert M.: The Wehrmacht’s Last Stand. The German Campaigns of 1944-1945. University Press of Kansas: USA, 2017.
Fennell, Jonathan: Fighting the People’s War. The British and Commonwealth Armies and the Second World War. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2019
Harrison, Gordon A.: Cross-Channel Attack. United States army in World War II. Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington D.C., 1993
Blumenson, Martin: Breakout and Pursuit. United States army in World War II. Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington D.C., 1993
Messenger, Charles: The D-Day Atlas. Anatomy of the Normandy Campaign, Thames & Hudson: London, 2014 (2004).
Penrose, Jane (ed.): The D-Day Companion. Leading Historians explore history’s greatest amphibious assault. Osprey Publishing: Oxford 2009 (2004).
Töppel, Roman: Kursk 1943. The Greatest Battle of the Second World War. Helion: Warwick, UK: 2018.
Document for June 6th: D-day statement to soldiers, sailor, and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force, 6/44
www.archives.g...
The Invasion of France, June 6, 1944, House of Commons
winstonchurchi...
#DDay #GermanPerspective #ww2
![[Barbarossa] The Major Errors and Blunders - Or why Barbarossa Failed](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/A_3R-Rkn_98/mqdefault.jpg)
I grew up in The Bronx, and a local neighbor was a German veteran who was captured by US forces on Omaha beach the on June 6th. I was around 12-13 years old when he told me of his experience when I asked him why walked with a limp. Early in the morning of June 6th, he could see some of the landing craft heading in, some ships on the horizon, and a few war ships providing artillery coverage. He was wounded by that artillery. His comrades brought him to a trench behind the beach, where he lay helpless till late evening when an American medical team came and picked him up. He was carried back to the beach to be sent back to the UK as an injured POW. He told me that when his stretcher cleared the top of the dunes and he could see the beach, it was covered in men, equipment, trucks, tanks, and ships for as far as he could see. He knew immediately upon seeing this that the war was over for Germany. After spending several weeks in UK hospital, he was transported to the US and interred in a POW camp in Elmira NY. All of his immediate family in Germany were killed in the Allied bombings of Dresden. At the same time, he was surprised at how well he was treated as a POW. During his internment, he was able to contact an uncle or great uncle who had emigrated to the US in the early 1900's. After the war, since he had no family to return to. this uncle was able to sponsor him which allowed him to stay in the US. He became a US citizen, and worked as a superintendent for a building in my neighborhood. He was a very pleasant man, and walked with a limp as a result of the injuries he received on June 6th. He told me that there was still shrapnel in his leg, which he considered a "souvenir" from D-Day. Looking back I always regret not having more conversations with him about his experience.
Great story!
He was lucky to end up living in the States
It really doesn't matter WHERE you live when you've been given your whole life back. The man had so much "luck" throughout his entire life to simply end up on the barricades of France and not Africa or to have spent years in a tumultuous wartime and post-war Germany as a soldier.
@@sigmasquadleader To live in the U.S. in the late fourties was heaven compared with Europe.
Great stories. What would we do without utube.
This illustrates the reality of the so-called “fog of war”. Well done!
Are you open-minded to reincarnation? George Washington returned as Robert E. Lee who was reincarnated as Dwight D. Eisenhower. Stonewall Jackson was reincarnated as Douglass MacArthur. George Custer came back as George Patton. Nathanael Greene reincarnated as Ulysses S. Grant who returned as Omar Bradley.
Who are they today then, or did the reincarnation stop after ww2?
Would you ever go shite Brad ya absolute spanner
@@BradWatsonMiami Most of those guys were devout Christians and would be pretty insulted that you shat all over their faith with that reincarnation crap.
Brad Watson Grant reincarnating as Eisenhower seems more likely
I am proud to say that I had a nice extended conversation with a gentleman on the bus in Steelton Pennsylvania, going into Harrisburg, who happened to have been one of those Airbourne Rangers who had taken St. Mere Eglise.
It so happened he was wearing a diamond earring in his left ear . The missus Today always condemns me for talking to anyone and everyone , but she wasn't around then... I asked him about the earring , and he told me his story.
He was one of the original paratroopers who came down near Saint Mere Englis and he was one of those men who mopped up a German Detachment in the town, and took control of the place ( of course, please understand, that that is a gentle way of saying they killed or captured them all). Once they had it secure, headquarters and all, they managed to find The Wine Cellar...
They had a rather nice time there. And all of them there made a pledge right away to put an earring in their left ear, to commemorate that action. As he told me, this would often lead to various barroom fights between him and the other guys with various folks over the years... But they were all Rough and Ready types of course. He said he was probably one of only two or three who still were wearing their earrings even all those years later.
At that point, they were getting ready for the 50th Anniversary jump they were going to make to commemorate their service. I found out later, their ninety-year-old colonel made the jump with them, and did break his leg on landing at the commemoration. He was the only one injured in that jump.
This was before the practice they have now, in which current serving members jump with veterans so as to provide cushioning for their fall...
You know, they really don't make them like they used to.
Thats mind blowing Roger, they certainly don't make them like they used to . Especially looking around at all the cowardly complicit Covid collaborating masked morons becoming slaved Sheeple after all the sacrifice in WW2 for freedom. From Australia
What a great story, I almost feel like getting an earring.
3:16 Achievement Unlocked: Wall of Text.
Description: “You must read a lot in your spare time.”
Tl:Dr
Nice tho
(3:15) Achievement unlocked? For a Situation Report?
I think he does it in case we don’t understand his German-accented English.
@@matthewjay660 I must say I have a very hard time with his strong German accent.
@@joefriday8607 If things had gone differently 75 years ago, he might be complaining about your strong English accent.
"You know those thousands of ships you say the Allies haven't got?!?! Well ... they got them!!"
Maj. Werner Pluskat in "The Longest Day".
One of my favorite lines.
Even though it has been over 20 years since the last time I read that book, I still remember that phrase.
@@EstebanMataVargas I like when he takes one last look how they show him as the ships come out of the fog he says my gott the invasion and we see over his shoulder ships they don't make them like they used to stay the course Bruce
"How many ships are there?"
"ALL OF THEM!!!"
@@brucerobinson7295 Yeah, that part is pretty awesome.
Douglas Stother This Thursday on T.C.M The Longest Day comes on 8 pm just thought you might like to know stay the course Bruce
I love the subtle humor in your videos, the historical information you deliver is welcome as well.
Any umlaut is good umlaut.
The last time I was this early, Germany still had an Atlantic Wall
Military Aviation History where’s my Bismarck?
Last time i was this early the Maginot Line was still considered a viable defence.
@@mwnciboo It might have been more viable if Huntziger hadn't abandoned his section of it. The man is almost single handedly responsible for the collapse of France.
@@thoughtfulinsanity3050 I'd lay plenty of the blame on Gamelin too
@@kallemort Yeah I was exaggerating a bit.
I can recall reading about the D-Day landings from a German Solider. He said " I knew the war was over, when the Allies had more ships, than I had ammo in the bunker." I would like to point out that he manned a MG-42.
@@Dodo-ym8cc better than getting your guts nailed to a tree then running around said tree because you didn't make the grain qouta to feed Moscow and St Petersburg.
@@Dodo-ym8cc then you prefer shortcuts in your nuclear sub program and ... grain shortages like i said
Without lend lease from the states the russians probably would have lost. Britain as well.
If they had attacked Russia a month earlier with 500,000 more men....and they could have. It would have gone better for them.
Probably would have captured Staligrad and Mosow. Stalin is captured/executed. Germany wins the war in the east.
But loses after USA enters the war
@@TheIllusionofObjectivity-yw8rf 500,000 is from my father. Who like me has the gift of foresight and the wisdom of hindsight. If i know the Pacific he knows Barbarossa and Russia. . In fact i believe Germany would have won...if they heeded my father. Not some meth addled fool. Who crippled the advance with micromangement.
I’ve read many many books about World War II. But you always manage to come up with new information and make the story fresh and new. Thank you
Yes, fresh, rare and clear information that I didn't know of before (studied history in France). Prununciation makes it a bit hard to get sometimes, but the sourced materials really are premium :-)
75th anniversary Today... RIP to all the soldier who gave their lives to fight
I got to thinking about how few there must be left of these great folk,,,,seems like it has been just long enough for us to think we can change the world with a bomb or a gun,,,gb
@Jean Claude I agree
@Jean Claude They fought for freedom, and what they believed in. Have you even see what the Nazi's did? If they won, massive amounts of people would be dead, and we'd be living in fear. Get your facts straight.
@Jean Claude allied POWs had the option to join German free corps and only a handful chose that route
@Jean Claude They didn't fight for that. Christian universalism eroded the regionalism of European cultures, then Christianity was eroded by the Enlightenment. What we're left with is materialism. What we're experiencing now is a struggle to find a fulfilling replacement for materialism. That's a product of a long evolutionary process of Western cultural change, not the defeat of some fleeting fascist regime, whose identity of Aryanism is at odds with European origin given that Aryans are Iranian, not European. The Nazis weren't good, and the destruction they unleashed upon Europe did untold damage to us.
Summary: Germans were expecting an attack and major invasion on a major port. As such, they hadn’t considered portable Harbors (mulberry’s) and were slow to relocate protective forces away from major Port Cities of Calais and Cherbourg to stop what was the Allies’ main landing on the Normandy beaches. (Note: Building portable harbors were one of the most brilliant ideas ever in wartime). Germans actually moved forces to the Peninsula thinking the the Allies would turn Westward and secure the area. Instead, the Allies pushed straight forward, flanked by the 82nd & 101st toward Paris.
Fortunately for the Allies, major German Armor units were held in reserve only to be released for combat on der Fuhrers direct command. No one wished to wake Herr Hitler early on DDAY. Also, for months MI6 and the OSS fed Germany false intel that encouraged Hitler to remain convinced that the Allies would execute a main landing at Calais, in decent weather. Not Normandy in one of the worst Channel gales in a century.
There was a 1st Canadian Airborne Battalion that was part of the 3rd British Airborne Brigade that jumped with the 6th British Airborne Division. Maybe the Canadian Badges confused the German intelligence.
They probably didnt get a real good look at the badges while Canadian and British paratroopers were spraying lead and flying metal everywhere
@@alexanderbutler2989 Some of the Canadians were dropped outside the main landing areas and were killed or captured. For that matter all the airborne landings were scattered due to the weather and the dark.
I can just imagine a enlistedman going to his NCO with a Canadian para prisoner who was wearing a badge for the 1st CAD, the 3rd BAB, and the 6th BAD because he was with all three simultaneously
I don’t know if they wore one two or three badges i just think it’s funny
I just imagine the Canadians fighting with the ferocioucity that they are known for, while still being unwaveringly polite.
"Pardon me, but could you please die now?" "Sorry 'bout that, but I appreciate your cooperation."
Hearing french names in english with German accent! Noice!
...and German mispronounciation too. You pronounce the 's' in 'Eglise' (sounds like a 'z'), but not the last 'e'....so 'Egleez'.
*Speech 100*
@@donaldduck830 sw xd sqnxnx
zn,nznznxnx.nx
nbcnx
Zn
Zn
bz , kxanskshs
bsbenw
@@donaldduck830 vrai mais les gens du Sud ne sont pas tous stupides
Watching / hearing this video will make me get ear cancer
It's pretty damn hard to defend something when you don't know what the hell you're defending or from who or from how many.
thats what the allies had to contend with for the early parts of the war.
Reminds me about paratroopers landed all scattered about, missing the DZ by miles. Like portrayed in the movie where a single 82nd meets a group from the 101st, "hey we don't if we're the 101st."
Story goes Gen Bradley upon hearing casualty reports around 1030 was considering withdrawing the invasion force.
and where
That problem persists today for very large countries, like Canada, USA, China, Russia or even Australia. The advantage lies with the attacker. This is why the Germans were able to penetrate so deep into Russia in the first place. The allies had less of advantage because there were less suitable places to land.
@@daveroberts936We still completely fooled them
Curious that Hitler refused to believe estimates of Russia strength, yet over estimated US + British resources
lol
He never would believe they would get that many men for such a "lowly" race.The entire Eastern Front was massive misunderstanding of the Nazis on the USSR...
Noone expected the soviets to do so well even Churchill thought that the soviet would fall just as fast as France did so did Germany and everybody else
Also in ww1 Germany managed to defeat the russians with their smaller and not as professional second army and in ww2 they were comletely focusing on the russians plus they comsidered themselves way stronger
However he should have realized the soviet strength at least in 1942 if not even 1943
@Matthew Cooper Not to mention the amount of ground needing to be covered.
it has something to do with that wretch's learning curve...
I admire the historically accurate informative videos you make from the German prospective which many people avoid to deliver. Best Historical Channel on CZcams.
Brilliantly presented!
I am surprised that Garbo's misdirection wasn't included, since his "intelligence" kept Rommel's Panzers tied up near the Pas de Calais for nearly an extra day.
earned Garbo his Iron Cross.
@@ricktimmons458 I still can’t believe they never worked out he was compromised. I would actually love a video on the German perspective on Garbo where we only get told what they knew to try and understand how they didn’t see his deceptions
Not a day ! A couple of weeks, the idiot corporal running the show thought Normandy was a feint and pas de Calais was still the target. If Rommel was allowed to position the panzers further south as he requested, D day might have had a different outcome.
Great Video! The German defenses in Normandy were extremely fragile. With the exception of Kraiss' 352nd ID, the bulk of the divisions under Dollman's 7th Army were badly equipped to deal with the Allied offensive in both Bradley's 1st Army sector and Dempsey's 2nd British Army sector.
• The defense of the eastern sector of the Cotentin Peninsula ( Manche department), for example, was under the responsibility of Schlieben's 709th ID. The 709th was composed only of "Ostlegionen" troops ( non-German conscripts), mainly Ukranians. The 709th was simply insufficient and inadequate to defend the Cotentin Peninsula and the Manche department against the combined forces of Lawton Collins' VII Corps ( which comprised Raymond Barton's 4th ID; Maxwell Taylor's 101st AD, and Ridgway's 82nd AD). The only possiblity of reinforcement for the 709th ID, on the other hand, was Heinz Hellmich's 243rd ID ( whose responsibility was the defense of the western part of the Cotentin Peninsula).
On the British sector, on the other hand, the responsibility of the defense was carried out by Wilhelm Richter's 716th ID, which was also composed by captured, poorly equipped and trained troops. It was no wonder, therefore, that Graham's 50th British ID ( Bucknall's XXX British Corps), Tom Rennie's 3rd British, and Rod Keller's 3rd Canadian ID faced very little resistance in Gold; Juno and Sword ( respectively).
• At Gold, between Arromanches-les-Bains and La Rivière, only few elements of Kraiss' 352nd ID were defending the way to Bayeux before Graham's 50th ID.
• At Juno, between Courseulles and Saint-Aubin, only two battalions were deployed before Rod Keller's 3rd Canadian ID.
• At Sword, between Ouistreham and Saint-Aubin, only seven companies of Richter's 716th were deployed before Tom Rennie's 3rd British ID.
Your inclusion of the original German text has me putting together old pieces I remember of the language, I much appreciate the inclusion of this text, and I'm sure others do as well
As always thank you so much. It’s lovely to see history told by somebody who understands the importance of primary and secondary sources as well as not using what will you know now to look back on what they did or didn’t or should or should not have known.
Brilliant presentation of a topic well covered in numerous sources. Well done!
1:46 this is a current map of Europe, recognizable by the existence of dutch "Flevoland", which didn't exist in 1944.
Haha goeie gebruikersnaam
Good thing the only part of the map that actually matters in this video is Normandy.
I love this level of nerdiness,
ashamed I didn't notice
Oh nice catch on the land reclamation.
That's quite the good eye you got there, nice job lad!
Excellent video of a true military history buff. Congratulations!
I just found you on CZcams. Excellent video and fascinating to get a different perspective.
Danke!
Report from a German at the D-Day Landings "I knew we had lost the war when i saw that they had more boats than I had ammunition" he was an MG 42 operator. A great show and loved it thank you
Mate, love your work. Great detail, well researched, balanced view and very helpful Humour works a treat too. Keep it up! Thank you.
Mostly rubbish.
I'll bet you're the popular one at any gathering, Lance. Rather than have a go yourself, you throw unsubstantiated scorn on a great effort. Bravo, you.
"The Germans knew that a large invasion required proper logistical support."
Well, by now they knew that...
bificommander they always knew...
Maybe look a little more closely as to why german logistics were bad
The Germans were well aware of supply lines. Any competent commander is. Napoleon sure was. The German military planners of WWI certainly were. It was why they engaged in a two-front war in the first place. You can be absolutely certain the Wehrmacht commanders were acutely aware of supply lines, after years of sabotage and saturation air bombing. When they were anticipating 20 allied divisions to make the landing, they knew that 200,000 men would require a massive supply line and enormous logistical support. This wasn't a revelation they suddenly had after D-Day.
Logistical ability was part of why Eisenhower was the Supreme Allied commander.
They were simply expecting the initial landing to be near such fixed logistical support, such as the harbour that was the goal of the 4th infantry, and also didn't expect the english to bring their own pseudo harbour, thus fulfilling part of that logistical support anywhere necessary and bypassing the initial heavy harbour defences and allowing the allies to claim a beachhead, and a foothold, on the main continent, from which point they could launch much more sufficient and well fuelled campaigns across the neighbouring regions
Thank you for including source material. This was quite interesting.
Great insight and explanation of the Normandy landing without getting bogged down in the mistakes that were made by the allies. It was very interesting to get the German perspective and I found it to be very instructive. Good work my friend.
That achievement was a nice touch
As a child of British parents who were in there early 20’s by the end of WWII I and a professional documentary editor I was fascinated to hear the German side of D-Day. Great research and production. I look forward to seeing what films you make in the future. Loved it.
Some of the best WW2 content on this platform!
Bravo sir.
It must have been quite a sight for the German defenders to see the greatest invasion force ever assembled of 5000 ships and boats slowly approach the shores of Normandy.
*largest amphibious invasion force
The invasion of Russia in 1941is the record for the largest invasion force mustered for the attack.
@@akashchetia5961 Should never had invaded S.U. before neutralising England , through total air attacks on RAF stations until the RAF could not fly. Once Luftwaffe had air supremacy, I think they would have sued for peace, No need to invade the Island.
Oh, what a great video. So glad I found your channel. I'm a history obsessive...
A very interesting video and shows how the whole picture was mis-assessed, which no doubt, impacted how resources were provided.
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Great work, as usual.
Just two remarks:
At 10:40 you quoted from KTB of AOK 7 "Operativ bestehen z.Zt. noch keine besonderen Befürchtungen, da zum Abschnüren der Normandie Forcierung der Ostküste Cotentin fehlt"
You translated this as "... since to cut of Normandy forces on the east coast of Cotentin are missing." Actually, this should be translated "...since to cut of Normandy, pushing on to the east coast of Cotentin is lacking" "Forcieren" means to push ahead.
As you rightly stated, the Germans awaited that the Allies would try to cut off the Cotentin peninsula in case of a Normandy landing. As you explained, this wasn't their primary goal at all.
As the Americans didn't do what the Germans feared most , going for a rapid breakthrough to the west coast of the Cotentin, they were relieved and thought they could handle the situation at UTAH.
I think you first impression was correct, when you thought the war diary mixed up west with east, which could easily happen (as you proofed a minute later in saying that part of the western coast of the Cotentin were in the hands of 4th US-ID ;-) )
Messenger's assumption that the German command wasn't aware of the landing at UTAH beach is, sorry , ridiculous. In Mehner, p.700, it is stated in the KTB that there was an armoured thrust from the coast to St.Mere Eglise.
Further more, Friedrich Hayn in his book "Die Invasion" from 1954 describes the situation at the HQ of LXXXIV.Armeekorps , which was in command at the whole coast of Normandy, during the night and morning of D-Day. Hayn was a Major and Intelligence officer (Ic, which is G-2 for you Americans out there) of this corps, so all incoming reports went through his hands. Between 07:00 and 7:30 , reports came in about sealandings northeast of Carentan. At 09:30, they exactly pinpointed the place of the landing between coastal defense strongoints 2a and 10, in sector of Grenadier-Rgt.919 of 709.Inf.Div.
So, enough nitpicking, keep up the great work!
could you do a video on how the Maginot line was supposed to work and what the German impression was?
Are you open-minded to reincarnation? George Washington returned as Robert E. Lee who was reincarnated as Dwight D. Eisenhower. Stonewall Jackson was reincarnated as Douglass MacArthur. George Custer came back as George Patton. Nathanael Greene reincarnated as Ulysses S. Grant returned as Omar Bradley.
A better orator without an accent would make these presentations much easier to listen to and comprehend.
@@rayford21 Du bist ein Idoiton.
Another challenging and interesting topic, beautifully rendered as a video essay, thank you MHV.
The British were clever to figure out the portable ports used for logistics.
Thank you, always good reporting.
I'm British trust me we as are not
@@malcolmcanning548 Clearly he meant "the handful of British responsible for that idea", not the rest of you clowns.
Great video. One of your best.
I heard once that Rommel knew the allies would land at Normandy because the shape of the coastline was very similar to the Italian coast where the allies successfully landed in 1943
I've been to Utah beach. I can only say my deepest respects to anyone who fought there.
First rule of disinformation campaigns.
As long as you think the enemy is believing you, is thinking what you need them to, keep it up.
When you create a diverison
it's for a reason "from The Longest Day " great movie they don't make them like they use to now it's all C G not the same stay the course Bruce
How do I know that this comment isn't disinformation?
Kinda goes along with "Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake."
Also hi from 2021
Well done. Extremely good use of primary sources -- a great example of how use of primary sources can provide new insights into supposedly well understood events.
Very Well Done, Sir !! Very much appreciate your research time and detail. Can’t wait to delve into more of your research productions. Dankeschön!!
Wow! How refreshing to hear the German perspective, for a change. Movies are exciting, books are somewhat detailed, but, this is excellent! Thank you for your fine research.
Did you think that the outcome would be different hearing the German point of view ?
John Ross Of course not! However, it’s interesting to get the German perspective. Obviously, the German perspective is something other than what we got in our history books and movies. Having been a guide on the battleship Texas, for several years, I’ve had interesting conversations with German tourists regarding the D-Day landing. They had as many questions about it as I did. If you keep an open mind, no matter how old you are, you can still learn something.
@@guywithhisownopinion Oh, pardon me. I thought I was corresponding with an adult.
Aw what a shame. I get the impression from your comment that your a bit annoyed the Germans lost, but with your new insight you understand why. The Master Race May have a new Re Ruiz.....lol
@@guywithhisownopinion Really? You've got quite an imagination, there, John Ross. What's next? You afraid that Hitler is still alive and driving a cab in Sao Palo? Maybe he's living on your street.
Mi6 back at it again
Was this before Johnny English joined them?
Is it true that his undercover name is Mr. Bean?
Thanks to Garbo.
AWESOME PRESENTATION !! Thank you and your team for the great job of producing this show. Your research effort is enormous and makes me give you the highest respect. The animation and parallel translation (US / UK on top and German on bottom) is very professional...thanks again..
Great video Armchair historian also uploaded a video on the German Perspective of D-Day. I like this one better.
I read a book in 1964 by a German journalist, called in translation, "D-Day, They're Coming", but is was more from the perspective of a grunt than a staff officer.
I'm always impressed when I hear someone from another country speaking perfect English.
I remember a friend had a german stay on a school exchange and i did not know she was german her english was so good i was told ! We had a laugh about it we are so screwed.
Especially since most languages actually follow their rules and make sense, unlike English
@@derserthefoxxo3873 clearly you don't know any other languages lmao
When the boss won't let anyone else make a decision, and every one is afraid to wake the boss, these things happen.
This is wonderful! Glad to find another great history channel with such detailed information.
It's so nice to actually hear the German interpretation of some of these words I've spent a decade trying to pronounce
Um Hans, what are those dots in the dis- *OH MEIN GOTT ZE ALLIES!*
Teacher: Ok class. Today we are going to Normandy.
Girls: Oh I can finally get a sun tan!
Boys: THOUGHT THE GATES OF HELL! AS WE MAKE OUR WAY TO HEAVEN THOUGHT THE NAZI LINES! PRIMO VICTORIA!
A very interesting piece. Thanks for you hard work.
Did anyone else get the 'Wall of Text' achievement at 3:15 ?
hey, nice to see you here!
As a French who lives in the Cotentin, it's funny to hear you pronunciate the name of places in an englicised way
@@IvanSorensen you get a french word pass
Thanks MHV. I particularly like that you said Monty's plan was for the Commonwealth forces to hold, and draw in, the German forces while the Americans manoeuvred. A lot of people think all the Commonwealth troops did was sit around and do bugger all while the Americans did all the fighting. Not so. Cheers again MHV.
In all ww2 books i read ( a lot) the Commonwealth threw themselves into a steel wall time and again (Spring, Epsom, Goodwood) and were bloodied for their efforts. No sitting around in any of them. It also gained the attention of all panzer divisions in Normandy. The Americans on their front slowly grinded forward without huge offensives, but kept moving because of almost no German armour on their side of the front. On both fronts losses were appaling, progress was slow and a breaktbrough seemed impossible. The only negative comment in the books is partially hidden, when they speak of Monty saying he wanted the Commonwealth to be the shield and the us forces to be the sword all along, while most offensives were designed as breakthroughs (and given his small front ideas in august, his Market Garden in september and renewed small front ideas in 1945, its not that strange to suspect him of wanting the same in June 1944. But back to your point, this is only criticizing Monty while praising his troops. What you encounter is probably just people confusing lack of results with lack of effort.
There is still a hot debate about the British/Commonwealth conduct in the battle of Caen, ranging from bumbling lacklustre attacks, nervous British soldiers breaking down, led by an incompetent Monty and to the more positive (pushed by Monty himself in his memories after the more) that the British and Canadians helped to tie down the bulk of the German forces in Normandy and thus allowing the US army to effect a breakout further south. The truth is probably some where in between. Since Monty was a bit of a self-promoter, you have to take with a pinch of salt this idea that he had all along just wanted to tie down the germans at Caen.
the Commibweallth War Cementaries gove the lie to lacklustre efforts.
Monty may have heen a self promoter but was also a superb proffesional soldier
No-one thinks something so stupid, since the "Commonwealth" bore the brunt of more German divisions.
This is a fascinating look at D Day from the German perspective
Read" Invasion they're coming " by Paul carrell he the German perspective of d-day. what's interesting is that germans had British codeword to French underground to start destroying bridges and railroads on the 6th of june.
The 21st Panzer division did not begin to move to launch a counter attack against the Allies on D-Day in Normandy until mid-afternoon. Hitler had given specific orders that no armored division, not even a single tank, was ever to move without his personal, specific orders. On D-Day, as was very common, Hitler did not go to bed until very early in the morning, possibly 4 or 5 AM, and slept until afternoon. None of his staff officers dared wake him until the Allies' beachhead was already well established. Had the 21st Panzer moved to Normandy and engaged the Allies much earlier, the outcome may have been very different.
Nice presentation. This also gives a glimpse at how effective Operation Fortitude was. Even days after the landings had taken place, the Germans were still second-guessing almost every move they made because of the assumptions they had made prior to the Normandy landings.
Really interesting information! Thanks for the quality content that goes beyond the "Rommel was on vacation and people were afraid to wake up hitler so the nazis got pwned! loll" narrative.
what took the cake was German generals and higher echelon was at Rheims playing war games! ever wonder who won? early reports indicate toy soldiers landing, dismissed as a readiness joke by war game staff.
This a thousand times
On June 4, 1944 the Americans entered Rome. I'm sure the Germans were already very aware that their time was running out.
Bloody Mark Clark disobeyed direct orders to enter Rome, you mean.
Churchill’s characterization of Italy as the “soft underbelly of Europe“ was a most misleading mischaracterization.The Germans were losing to the Russian bear with massive casualties on the Eastern front, while in Italy, they could stay off the allies in what they regarded as a side show. Remember: the Alps.
German officers probably knew their days were numbered after the disaster of Case Blue, considering its whole purpose was to avert the fuel catastrophe that was imminent, and it failed, it’s a testament to either the tenacity of German officers or to the indoctrination of the Nazis/Wehrmacht that they continued to fight as much as they did, although on the eastern front they probably knew Ivan would do to them what they did to him
@@SvenTviking Correct, It took many Armies to liberate Monte Cassino as a result of that vainglorious idiot's selfish act.
Thanks for this, this was great. I always wondered what it would be like to wake up as a German on the Normandy coast and look out to sea only to see a wall of steel coming over the horizon. Would have been beautiful and terrifying
Interesting perspective that I have never heard before, and I am 72. Thank you for your research and presentation.
Glad you enjoyed it!
As always interesting to listen and that extra attention to detail.
01:19 I hate the fact that the sources from the time say English but I love how you have the knowledge and respect to say "British". This is one of the reasons why your channel is so great! 🇬🇧🇩🇪
@Haribo 73 I understand a lot of nations refer to the British as English. The issue is I'm related to Welsh and Scots who fought and died in this conflict.
As I stated it is ONE of the reasons I think his channel is great. This bloke does his research and meticulously compiles hard facts, informative diagrams, maps, animations and historic opinions. He even does it in a language that is not his native tongue. He then takes the time to refer to the British troops by their proper name British.
If that is lost on you then I'm sorry.
@Haribo 73 Considering how triggered we get over people thinking DDAY was USA only, we can't really complain when the Scots and Welsh complain about being ignored.
It is a fact of life that many Europeans (and others around the world) use the word English synonymously with British. I lived in Spain for a number of years and most people don't say Reino Unido (UK) or Gran Bretaña (GB)/Británico but all as Inglaterra and Inglés. The French and Germans and many others do the same.
Funny thing was I lived in Catalonia, with all their hysteria about Catalan separatism, individuality and independence, yet most were ignorant of Scotland being a true country, Wales too, or of a strong native language, Welsh, thriving there.
While the whole world has to hear about how wonderful, great and unique Catalan is! It is so similar to Castilian/Spanish that I could follow it quite easily without even learning it, only Spanish!
But yeah. It is quite ignorant of other nationalities. When we British are consider ignorant of others. I think some Americans are even worse: I have been said to come from London, meaning a country called London, when visiting the US despite being from Manchester. I said "no I am from England but don't live in London". The American guy said "same diff, man".
ofc we reffer to them as British , except welsh i hate welsh
There’s an excellent book by colonel Hans von Luck called panzer commander, who participated in the invasions of Poland and France, fought in Africa and the Russian front and was serving under Rommel during D Day. It’s a really good book that gives a excellent perspective of the the war and in particular the Normandy landings from the German side
This was excellent! Great job
Oof, this just shows, in simple words, how much of a clusterfuck german intel had become as soon as Neptune was a go. It is an excellent snapshot of the ammount of disorganization that had been seeded for months in preparation for the invasion.
SA: I disagree. Intel can only analyse what is reported by forces. One can argue they needed broader and better collection/reconnaissance, but the analysis is not bad for the first two days of action. Remember to subtract our "Perfect Knowledge" of 70 years later.
@@KB4QAA Fair enough, we could agree that for what should be expected of an intelligence force at the time, this was an acceptable level of information and mistake. Nontheless, the key errors in this report, even if understandable, gave the german army the complete wrong impression, and this is an impression that had already had negative effects on the german planning from before the D-day was launched, as german forces were miss-deployed all over the place expecting landings in all sorts of places. Perhaps landing this defeat's fault squarely at the feet of the german intelligence is unfair, and indeed I wouldn't argue so, but nontheless this mistakes existed, this missinformation was a thing, and it caused the germans to open their legs, From calais to Cotentin, and take the allied pounding through normandy like they deserved.
@@icecold1805 Many countries intel was garbage really just hoping you understand it well enough to pass it on. Its just that when you win the war the little screw-ups arent mentioned. Operation Market Garden for instance wasn't a great intel show for the allies.
@@SouthParkCows88 Market garden? pfff If you want mention allied fuck ups, from the fall of France itself to Dieppe you got plenty to choose from!. Don't worry, I understand what you mean, and I do know Allies were not impervious to fuck ups. Not by a long shot.
No one know the truth of intel until it happened
My goodness this person has a strong German accent I like
Military History Visualized,
Thanks for this video.Excellent use of material to analyse the Normandy
situation.
Without knowledge of the portable Mulberry harbors, it was natural for the Germans to assume that the prime early objective of ANY assault would be to capture a port. Capturing Cherbourg and the Contentin peninsula would be a good assessment of Allied needs and probable objective.
The Mulberries allowed the Allies to have a much more flexible strategy.
Even with the portable harbors, the Allies were in desperate need of capturing port facilities, to increase effective shipping capacity for supplies and heavy equipment like AFVs/trucks.
From the German perspective, they had to make a guess. If they spread out to try to defend everywhere, the Allies could shift plans and slam Calais with everything they got, instead of Normandy. Which would mean twice as much naval bombardment in a concentrated area, and the second and third waves hitting the beaches much more quickly with the shorter travel distances.
The great deception at Calais was not a guess on the Allies part. They had a lot of air recon to watch where the large bodies of German forces were located (and could listen in on communications to and from the high command). If the deception was not working, there were other options.
Furthermore, the Germans were wary of committing significant forces close the beaches, where they could get torn up by naval guns and Allied air power.
3:19 "Folgende Feststellungen sind bemerkenswert" I would translate that more as "the following observations are worth noting"
Since operation dragoon did take place in August Churchill was telling the truth, from a certain point of view.
James Reilly hello there!
My grandfather landed on Utah Beach. He took part in the liberation of Cherbourg.
This guy should write a book, or get a deal to do a proper show. Great content.
You should consider doing a segment on Operation Nordwind.
Your English is certainly better than my German. Keep up the good work!
He is German? I'm usually very good at hearing that but wow he has speaks great English
@@Half_Finis German or Austrian, based on the education listed in the channel info
@@Half_Finis he is actually Austrian.
Superbly researched and presented. Wish I had known about your channel sooner. Nice work!
This was very informative. We often are over saturated with accounts from the point of view of the victors, so these alternative perspectives really are valuable, as they allow us to create a fuller picture of the events.
They knew they were screwed.
:- /
Strohmann
Da
@@chandlerwhite8302 Hitler said that was the worst day of his life. He wasn't trying to win the war at this point, just force a peace treaty with the western allies.
Having a war run by an art major was not a good idea.
The day Hitler ordered the invasion of Russia was the beginning of the end...why he did that I have no idea...I have read that it was because Germany was trying to Sue for peace...but the West was not having it...as long as Hitler was in power refusing to allow the central bankster to control their currency....Germany was going down..while Russia wanted to invade and occupy all of Europe...so to prevent Russia from invading Hitler attacked them...
@@harryguy76 Germany invaded The Soviet Union for oil. Tanks, ships and planes are useless if you dont have the fuel to use them
Great video as per normal mate. Thanks for the Wall of Text achievement!
Thanks for the vid. Its easy to forget that the allies had gone to great lengths to mislead the axis as to their true targets. But this shows that their efforts were effective enough to lead to making some erroneous assumption for the defenders. The narrative usually focuses on the soldiers and their battles, but soldiers alone don't win wars.
I did not know the German Command was unaware of the Utah beach landings. Interesting info.
Thank god my German ancestors came to America in the late 1800s
NickMeckler what about the ones who didn’t?
Clark Canepa natsees
Minor detail: You're map of Europe is wrong for the time period. The Dutch province of Flevoland is on it, the reclamation of this land didn't start until the 50s/60s
Terrain pedant!
Minor detail : Your not You're.... If you are going to be pedantic at least check your spelling....
@@pattenicus what if she has a spellcheck that did just that?
@@sjonnieplayfull5859 : perhaps a pre pedantry proofread would be in order.
Look what we have here, a geography nazi.
The first thing to note is that the original plan for Overlord by Frederick Morgan was revised by Montgomery, like the original plan for the invasion of Sicily. Both would have led to complete disaster before Monty’s revision. This is something a lot of people don’t seem to be aware of and may have been responsible for some of the confusion as Monty’s plan, stated before D-Day and stuck to throughout, wasn’t primarily concerned with the British and Canadians taking territory but for the British and Canadians to shield the US forces and for the US forces (Bradley’s First US Army) to capture Cherbourg, build up and then break-out.
_”That the COSSAC plan for a 3-divisional assault in ‘Overlord’ was a recipe for disaster now seems undeniable. Had Alexander been appointed to command the land forces in the invasion, would Morgan’s COSSAC plan have been enacted? Monty was not alone in recognizing its flaws, as will be seen, but he was alone in having the courage and conviction to see that it was thrown out and a better plan adopted. He had done so at Alam Halfa, he had done so gain over ‘Husky’ and whatever mud was slung at him, he was determined that he would do so over ‘Overlord’. For Morgan’s ‘Overlord’ plan, the result of one and a half years of research and discussions, had no prospect of succeeding, as Morgan’s planners themselves confessed…._
_...Morgan’s original COSSAC plan had envisaged a primary British-Canadian break-out to the Seine from the Caen lodgement area, and this may have added fuel to his vision of Allied failure, for which Monty was to be the scapegoat...._
_...and by presenting such a clearly defined strategic plan for the battle thereplan can be no doubt that Monty brought to his Allied land, sea and air forces a unity of purpose and conception that was remarkable - and often confused later with Eisenhower’s role as Supreme Commander.”_
-Hamilton, Nigel. Monty, Master of the Battlefield 1942-1944.
Montgomery presented his alternative plan for Normandy at St Paul's school on 7th April and 15th May 1944. Omar Bradley was there and wrote:
_”The British and Canadian armies were to decoy the enemy reserves and draw them into their front on the extreme eastern edge of the Allied beachhead. _*_Thus while Monty taunted the enemy at Caen we were to make our break on the long roundabout road to a Paris. When reckoned in terms of national pride this British decoy mission became a sacrificial one, for which while we trampled around the outside flank, the British were to sit in place and pin down the Germans.Yet strategically it fitted into a logical division of labors, for it was towards Caen that enemy reserves would race once the alarm was sounded.”_*
-Hamilton, Nigel. Monty, Master of the Battlefield 1942-1944.
_”What was needed was not a town (ie Caen) so much as a bridgehead and a port.”_
(FIrst conference with the COSSAC planners on *3rd January 1944.)*
_”It should be the task of the US forces to capture Cherbourg and then to make a drive for the Loire ports and Brest, while in the meantime the British-Canadian forces would deal with the enemy main body approaching from the East and South-East”._
(Commanders Conference on *21st January 1944* attended by Tedder, Ramsay, Leigh-Mallory, Morgan, Smith, Bradley, Spaatz, Bedell Smith, and others.)
_”my general policy is to pull the enemy on to Second Army [British and Canadian] so as to make it easier for First Army [American] to expand and extend the quicker.”_
That was Montgomery’s policy from *January.* There was no change in that.
It succeeded brilliantly. It pinned the German panzers on the eastern flank and allowed his attack with the US 1st army to break out in the west, as planned.
The outline plan was to be on the Seine by D+90. They weren’t, they were in Belgium.
The plan was always to hold the Germans on the left and breakout on the right, and that is what Montgomery did. Which particular map references those things happened on did not matter in the slightest.
The plan is quite clear, the battle Montgomery was planning was not about capturing locations (except Cherbourg) but destroying the German army, and it was a huge success. Bradley understood , even if Eisenhower didn’t, that the British would hold the Germans in the East, while the Americans would get Cherbourg, build up, then break out in the West.
As for taking Caen ‘at once’, *even the scrapped COSSAC plan, which focussed on Caen and the airfield sites to the south, didn’t allow for an attack on Caen before D+3 by which tme Paget (21st Army Group CO before Monty) expected two Panzer Divisions to be in the way and very little chance of success.*
_What was needed, Monty declared, _*_was not a town so much as a bridgehead, and a port._*_ It was no good attempting to drive inland with only a narrow corridor for reinforcements, entailing congestion and confusion. The whole scale of the operation needed to be re-thought, for on this landing depended the future course of the war._
_...On the third day we reduced his demands to extending to ‘Sword’ beach....and to the Cotentin. _*_He decided not to use airborne for Caen, but to land on the Vrie and the neck of the Cotentin._*_ He didn’t believe in the Mulberry [ floating concrete pontoon harbour]; _*_stressed Cherbourg heavily, which we didn’t._*_ This is partially why he wanted the Cotentin. On the third day Monty took the line we must have more craft. He said it must be a five division front or no show. Give me this or get someone else. A wave of relief came over us._
_[General] West was extremely insistent on the three division assault. He and [General] Bull made a last despairing visit to Monty at night. He chased them away......_
_Monty’s action was like a breath of fresh air._
_....The planners were told to draft a new ‘Overlord’ embodying a five-divisional assault, flanked by airborne landings, and stretching from the Orne to the east side of the Cherbourg peninsula: a fifty-mile-wide beachhead._
*_...Caen,_*_ the bitter thorn in the side of 21st Army Group From D-Day until August 1944, _*_was thus surrendered as a guaranteed objective._*
*_In fact Morgan’s plan did not even guarantee Caen, which could only be attacked three days after D-Day,_*_ according to General Paget’s 21st Army Group Staff in December 1943, _*_and perhaps not even then._*
-Monty, Master of the Battlefield 1942-1944. Nigel Hamilton.
Bravo! Well done Dude! We definitely owe you a beer! It is so interesting to be able to get some idea as to how things looked from the "other side!" Thanks, and best of luck!
Eine erst klasse Bericht...wie ublich! Thanks!
Now I want to know what German thought when they saw the Allies making there own harbor
A top-notch job--interesting material, well-supported by evidence and judiciously analyzed. Thank you very much for posting.
Germany: assumes the allies are landing on a peninsula, so they could bottle up themselves or something?
"Achievement Unlocked - Wall of Text" - And who said Teutons weren't funny.
Posadist Pacman humour is a serious business
Nice Achievement you got there!
The eastern coast of the Cotentin peninsula is the coast closest to the western end the Normandy landing areas. The Western coast of the peninsula is the opposite side of the peninsula.
Loved the video! May I suggest a topic for another video: The German Perspective on Operation Dragoon
This is the invasion of southern France that took place on Aug. 15, 1944. From the histories I read, the German response to the invasion was very weak, probably because the German troops stationed there were not "top class". Since this is the view of the victors, I'm curious if German historians have the same view.
I once asked a military officer teaching history at West Point, if the D-Day invasion had failed, would the Allies still gone ahead with Operation Dragoon? His reply was yes, because so much planning had gone into this "second D-Day", the defenses in southern France were much weaker than the Atlantic Wall, and Germany would have been too focused on the Italian campaign -- recall that Rome fell to the Allies the day before D-Day.
Very interesting stuff.
Thank you 👍
It makes me wonder if it was around now that the Wehrmacht began to suspect that their Enigma codes had been broken.
Honestly, I doubt they really did suspect. That would require the Germans to recognize just how massively they had been deceived, and I don't think they ever fully figured that out (or at least it was completely irrelevant by the time they did). The Allies did a fairly good job of disguising their intelligence sources, and they had such a far-reaching penetration of the German intelligence system (both the Enigma code and numerous double agents) that the Allies could and did tailor their deceptions quite accurately to the German's preexisting assumptions.
The fact they didn't suspect anything even after 1944 suggest they haven't figured it out...
I read a book written by a psychologist at Nuremburg, that all of them were surprised to learn during the trial that the allies had the enigma machine and all the codes.
Thats the thing about cracking the enemy code. As soon as you do and use the intel they begin to suspect it has been compromised and alter it. But this didnt seem to be the case.
@@alexanderbutler2989 that's because Britain was very very careful of what information to use lol they'd even sacrifice ships
Great video, if only you could fit a few more ads in it would be perfect 🙄