As Germany is getting closed in on, one can't help but wonder where Hitler will be a year from now... Join the TimeGhost Army so we can cover everything that might unfold: www.patreon.com/join/TimeGhostHistory
World War Two wrote: one can't help but wonder where Hitler will be a year from now... -------------------------------------- Taking a Dirt Nap or shall we say "getting fired"
Spoiler Alert!! Hitler will be inside a bunker underneath the Reich Chancellery while the Soviets have encircled Berlin in 1945. Soviet soldiers will raise the victory banner above the Reichstag on the evening of April 30, 1945.
I'm sure he will be standing in Moscow, in the wehrmacht's victory parade celebrating the fall of communism. Or he'll be dead... nah, it's definitely tour de Russia
Fun fact regarding the intro: though not tennis, there was a SAS commando that had used his experience playing ball games for throwing grenades. His name was Victor Irturria and he came from the Basque Country (Spain). Prior to WW2 he had been one of the champions in a Basque sport known as "Pelota Vasca" (Basque Ball), which is similar to squash but without racket and with heavier balls. He had developed an excellent hand and was great at throwing the balls... and also for throwing grenades. In 1939 he enlisted on the French Army as volunteer and took part on the Battle of France as a soldier: He first distinguished himself during the battle of Dunkirk, as he used the skills he had acquired playing for throwing grenades at enemy vehicles, and managed to destroy seven of them. He was evacuated from Dunkirk while wounded, and was transfered to the French contingent of the recently established SAS (as his actions had impressed his superiors). Prior to their assignment to the North African theatre, Churchill himself requested to watch his skills in action. Victor took a txapela (Basque beret) and placed it 50 meters away from their location, then he went back and threw a grenade which landed inside the beret. In 1942 he took part on the assaults to Luftwaffe air bases in Cirenaica and Benghazi, and in 1943 he was given a distinction by the Free French authorities. He was one of the commandos dropped behind enemy lines during the battle of Normandy in 1944 (spoiler), and was KIA in august 29, 1944.
Very interesting. It’s long been my hypothesis that American soldiers had an advantage throwing grenades because the participation in baseball was so prevalent in the US of the 20’s through the 40’s.
@@Chiller01 British and Commonwealth soldiers would carry a similar advantage, as cricket bowlers throw a ball of very similar size and weight a very similar distance, although the German Stielhandgranate could be thrown as far if not further with minimal training due to its handle
@@hallamhal Like I said it’s an hypothesis. I postulate that football not cricket consumed more recreational time of the average young British male. The same could be said for the French. The Canadians had hockey. The Australians I would guess Aussie Rules, Rugby etc. The Indians maybe were cricket obsessed. In the US of my parents’ generation baseball permeated the culture. American style football and basketball were much less popular at the time. Every kid had a ball, glove and bat. Even the urban poor played stickball in the streets. As a kid of the 50’s I spent hours bouncing a rubber ball against a brick wall and catching it in my glove. I practiced fielding ground balls, fly balls, locating pitches etc. Accordingly I think the hypothesis is valid but proving it, well that’s another matter.
18:21 To add on, a reporter would carelessly miss writing down the Soviet Union, thus when the story was published several days later, it appeared as if Patton was disrespecting the Soviet Union. This would cause Dwight Eisenhower to cable George Marshall that he was pondering the notion of firing George Patton because "he simply does not keep his mouth shut".
This is reprised (somewhat) a few months later in a Joe and Willie cartoon in which a British soldier (I think) is told by an American that they'd be lost without allies like Texas and Russia. (Inclusion of Bill Mauldin's Joe and Willie, after D-Day, would be fantastic.)
Just to be clear, he passed at 99 years old, he was a senior nco and decrypted communications in the late war but at the tennis court he was a commando trained infantryman who had manned anti aircraft in the early War under Montgomery. The tennis court made him enter into a training program after most of his friends were lost, he said he didn't get to know people after that
. I'd guess he knew he was one of the last eye witnesses. No prisoners taken, either side. So for a long time they kept their moths sut. Easy enoughbwhen few people evebn today want tohear bout the ugly stuff; To me its vital f o understand and res pect just h ow much these men gave . I hope he g ot h s story recorded. Sorry if I;m out of linne.
During Excerise Tiger my great Uncle was a petty officer in the Royal Navy on the heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins bombarding the beach when the friendly fire incident occurred. He and his friends just thought it was part of the exercise and were impressed with how realistic it looked. Only afterwards did they find out what had really happened. It was kept secret from the public till after his death, and he never told his wife. His friends were the ones that told her when it became public knowledge (I believe that was in the 1980s). She just had her 102nd birthday last week. However he may have told his sister, as well before it was public knowledge and the memorial was built, every time she went down to Devon on a holiday, she would go on a day trip to Slapton Sands, to pay respect.
What a grim assignment it must have been to locate those ten bodies beneath the sea. In a war full of horrific experiences it was certainly not the worst but still, it would have been nightmare fuel for me.
Drachinfel did a series of videos about the recovery efforts in Pearl Harbor after the attack in 1941. Listening to what the sailors had to do in order to clean up and repair those ships was some of the most horrific stuff I've ever heard about the war.
When you consider that they were looking for 10 Bigoted Officers, that was the term for people to whom the Invasion Plans had been revealed. They could only discuss the plans with another officer once they had confirmed that each other was Bigoted. Anyway the clearance divers were searching for 10 missing officers in amongst roughly 350 dead US Army, US Navy and US Coast Guard personnel in murky sea water in amongst two sunk LSTs, numerous smaller landing craft and boats, ships boats, Carley floats (floating squares), sunk vehicles, abandoned equipment and lots of bodies. At least the different uniforms made the task of searching for the Bigots easier and hopefully badges of rank sped up the process. Once all of the Bigots were accounted for the operation could move into recovery of bodies. However, like at Pearl Harbour some bodies would never be found and others were trapped inside sunken ships which I don't believe were ever attempted to be salvaged and were left on the bottom of the sea as War Graves. There may have been some efforts to recover sunken munitions and large calibre weapons. Mark from Melbourne Australia
At Slapton sands there is a fine memorial to those who died there - a Sherman that was left on the sea bed after the debacle, and only dragged ashore in 1984.
I used to visit it all the time when I was a child, it was the first tank I ever saw in person. I remember reading the plaque and thinking what an awful way to go out, not even fighting the enemy
This week in French news. The 26th, Pétain returns for the first time in Paris. He is met by a huge crowd and gives a speech that warns against joining the Resistance.
The 27th, Juin announces to his troops in Italy that he manages to persuade Clark that they will finally be used at their full extent inside the 5th Army by going to Mount Majo, in the Mount Aurunci (supposedly impossible to cross) and toward the Liri. It Liri is the objective of the British Army but Juin thinks that they will not fulfill their objectives in time and prepares two armored brigades to make a fast offensive behind the German line, toward Esperia and Pico. Juin has 4 divisions and 3 Moroccoan Tabors. The 28th, Pétain at the radio and on invitation from Germans affirms that Germany is the main protector of Europe and France and all of its civilization against bolshevism and that France will get its place back into Europe.
@@loveroffunnyy Big question and hard to tell. There is no real survey because of the state of France at the time. But what can be said from intelligence networks from both German, Vichy and the Allies is that most of Frenchman are in a wait-and-see status. A part is already with the Resitance and another part is colloborating with Nazi and/or Vichy (not always the same). In all of that, notably from some Resistance members, Pétain is still a hero and is a prisoner of Germans and men like Laval. (ie : he is de facto prisonner of Germany now, but still have connection and a power of influence as a symbol). But short answer is : still pretty viewed at good (like 50-60 % good maybe). Let's remember that even after the war, a lot of people will still believe he was a hostage and just wanted to save France and nothing all, that he was actively tryng to help the Allies and resisting. (theory of the Shield and the Sword)
EXCELLENT episode… the writing, graphics, content, and organization are always great, but they really came together in an eloquent and easily-digestible way this week. Thank you!!!
@@WorldWarTwo indy neidel is there a special episode about the night of the long knives? If yes can you point out? As a planning to be a book author I ve felt bad seeing all the books burned in the nazi ceremony
For next April's Fools Indy needs to release a video of him doing the phone intro thing, but then just saying "yeah" for the next 15 minutes and cut to credits when he hangs up! 😂
Basiucally there cannot be any apolitical German officer because every "apolitical" officer would realize that Germany has already lost the war, having to fight like in WW1 a numerically superior enemy on a long front while not having the necessary materials to have a chanche. As Robert Citino puts it the German General Staff in on a death ride. They won't stop it unless physically restrained.
To their disgrace, it seems that most German generals only hated Hitler because he humiliated them and was losing the war, not that they thought National Socialism was disgusting per se.
This week ships of the Royal Canadian Navy engage ships of the German naval surface fleet off the French Coast between St. Malo and Ile de Bas. The Canadian force consists of Tribal Class destroyers HMCS Athabaskan, Haida, and Huron. These are a powerful new class of destroyer more akin to a small cruiser. During the night of April 25/26, they engage the German 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla comprising the German Elbing-class torpedo boats (destroyers) T29, T24 and T27, returning from a mine-laying operation. They begin firing on the Germans at about 9,000 yards damaging T24 and T27 forcing them to retire to the safety of St. Malo. T29 is not so lucky and sinks after being set ablaze by HMCS Haida, taking 137 crew with her. Days later on the night of the 28/29th, T24 and T27 attempt to move from St. Malo to Brest, but are again intercepted by Athabaskan and Haida off St. Brieux. The two torpedo boats fire all their torpedoes while turning to make a run for it. One of T24's torpedoes hits Athabaskan setting her on fire, eventually causing her magazine to explode, and she sinks quickly. Meanwhile, Haida aggressively pursues T27 causing her to run aground. Firing at short range Haida sets T27 on fire before returning to assist Athabaskan. Haida begins to pluck survivors out of the water, but as dawn approaches she is in danger of aerial and shore based attack and must leave. Athabaskan's Captain still in the water is heard to yell out “Get away Haida, get clear!”. Of the Athabaskan's crew 44 survivors are recovered by Haida, 83 become prisoners of war, and 129 are lost, including her Captain, Lt. Cdr. John Stubbs.
My wife's grandfather was one of the POW's taken from Athabaskan. He lost a lung while imprisoned, but I wish I knew more about him, as I never got to meet him, but he sounded fascinating. Apparently when news of the sinking reached Canada, his parents were quoted in the local paper saying they weren't worried because "he's a strong swimmer and has a good head on his shoulders".
Wow what a story: the tension of the command and morale is absolutely surreal. So many events woven into events: your attention to detail of this conflict is really remarkable folks! Can't imagine how much reading all of you must be doing! Thank you for sharing these stories!
Sleep in Saturday morning. Then wake up and have coffee with a new episode of “WW2, Week by week”. It doesn’t get any better than this. Thank you to everyone on the “Time Ghost” team for all the hard work it takes to produce such quality content. I feel ashamed that 10 bucks a month is all I can afford to give.
@Pat Hutchison We’re grateful to be part of your weekend! Your support is deeply appreciated, rest assured you’re directly contributing to our ability to produce this content!!
Hey you guys!! At home watching this! Not feeling very well at the moment, however. My period is down heavier than usual and I had to call in.. but this show is too good to miss however I'm feeling. Thanks guys! Keep it up!
I'm sure you get this request a lot, but would you be able to edit together all the weekly segments on new Guinea, east africa, guadalcanal and the like into a sort of theater wide supercut of sorts so one could catch up on or rewatch certain campaigns? Very big fan of the program, do keep up the amazing work you do
On the Slapton Sands incidents: There is a record of a Fuehrer Conference in which the Slapton Sands practice landings are discussed. Hitler immediately concluded that this area was very similar to Normandy. This correct assessment was never translated into military policy and deployment to counter a potential Normandy landing.
Thanks for devoting so much insight into the Imphal-Kohima Battles and surely the lack of geographical awareness on the part of Japanese not to have attacked Dimapur when they could. You should pay a visit to these hills. A new train line is being built 75 years after independence, with bridges towering over dark gorges. The World's tallest railway bridge pier (about 140 m high) is being built here. God knows how Japanese reached Bishenpur 80 years ago.
I knew a guy who was in Merrils Mauraders. I always thought he got the short end of the stick. He ended up comfortable with quite a bit of money. People used to get pensions. He worked for Bendix after the war.
On the subject of the Burma/India war just finished reading Bryan Perret's book 'Tank Tracks to Rangoon: The Story of British Armour in Burma' and would recommend it, he writes entertainingly and in detail on a rarely discussed topic.
After a couple years of watching every week, life got in the way and I didnt watch for another 2 years. Just binge watched the week by week coverage this month and finally caught up thank god! Happy to watch new updates again. Now to catch up on all of the other series on this channel😩
Q: What has Germany (well, Prussia) feared since the 18th century? A: War on two fronts. Q: What did Germany do in WWI and WWII? A: Fight a war on two fronts. (One could actually claim that N. Africa in WWII constituted a third front.)
If Germany had truly learned from their mistakes in the Great War, they would have had a better 'Schlieffen Plan' that included completely taking out the UK before trying to start things up with the USSR. Germany could have invaded and defeated the UK if they'd started planning for it much earlier instead of trying to cobble together a last-minute barge invasion.
@@Raskolnikov70 Hitler was afraid the USSR would strike while the Germans were busy fighting the British. Also, considering the poor Soviet performance in the Finnish Winter War, he concluded the time was right to invade the USSR.
@@dragosstanciu9866 Germany's hand was forced in 1941 because of their impending food and energy shortages. They were correct to fear the Soviet buildup in the east, they knew that the Red Army was getting its act together after Finland and they had limited time before the USSR would have an offensive capability to match theirs. But the bigger issue was that if they didn't go in 1941, they wouldn't have enough fuel to go in 1942 or later. Finishing off the UK in 1940 would have most likely meant the end of the naval blockade of Germany. Even if the British government didn't surrender and kept fighting from their dominion countries, they wouldn't have been able to sustain any kind of oil embargo against Germany without having their home island as a base. Seems pretty likely they'd surrender anyway with millions of their citizens effectively held hostage. So it's not just the resources Germany had to dedicate to defending France and the Low Countries from invasion. Britain was a massive naval and air base and great launching pad for an invasion; having them still in the fight cost Germany the war.
@@Raskolnikov70 Perhaps if the Luftwaffe continued to bomb the British airfields and military installations in the South instead of bombing London, the British government would have asked for an armistice. It was a military blunder for the Germans to bomb London.
@@dragosstanciu9866 I doubt that. British planes would've just retreated to northern England and Scotland if the airbases in the south are inoperable. The British are also still outproducing the Nazis in aircraft production, which is the crucial part in the Battle of Britain. Plus as long as Churchill is in there and with the coalition parties firmly behind him, Britain would never surrender.
I must ask if there is a video on the German Wundwerwaffes (Wonder weapons) throughout the war. Especially since by April 1944 we have the V1 rockets and STG being used. Alternatively, a video on "weapons and squads doctrine" would be interesting. I'll bet $5 AUD Spartacus prefers the Mauser C96
I definitely won’t claim to be an expert on this, but by 1944, the Chinese Nationalists were their own worst enemy in many ways. Incompetence and corruption were rife and their logistics and military material just weren’t up to snuff (though that last one made undoubtedly harder by the loss of most of their industrial base). I wonder if Japan hadn’t bombed Pearl Harbour, and just marched into Malaya and the Dutch East Indies anyway, they probably would have won their war with China? I can’t help but wonder if some Japanese commanders were rueing this at this point.
It wouldn't have worked. China was getting some stuff through Burma and Hong Kong. Japan would have to attack both of those. The Philippines were also us territory and the Japanese couldn't leave it at their backs in the middle of their logistics. Maybe they could have avoided the ire from the pH attacks if they had attacked the US in a different way, but Japan was always going to attack the US. China's problem is that they were a net food importer that made 1/2 to 1/3 of their government revenue off of customs before the war. The Japanese very successfully cut China off from the outside world in 1938 and completed the blockade entirely in 1942. Very little aid has come in. China can't indigenously produce fuel or heavy equipment. Most of the problems of corruption are just downstream of trying to survive in a place where starvation and inflation are rampant. Part of ichigo was hitting China before they could be hooked up to the firehose of allied production and perhaps become stronger.
One thing Chiang and Mao had in common was that they both decided Pearl Harbor was a mistake that would ultimately cost Japan the war. They preferred to conduct the war in a relatively low-key way until that happened, which is why much of the time there has been little to report about China.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Agreed. I have a hard time America would have joined the war against Japan otherwise. There’s no way the American public was going to fight for European colonies.
This is a really interesting question to explore. Especially since Japan knew the US was trying to goad them into a war with sanctions and military provocations. What if they kept their cool and ignored the US, effectively calling their bluff? Japan entering the war against the UK without attacking Pearl or the Phillipines or any other US bases would have been crossing a line for sure, but not one that would have automatically dragged the US into it in order to support the UK. Would US leaders have been able to convince Americans that it was worth going to war to defend Singapore or Burma? Highly doubt it.
My grandfather was on LST 499 during Exercise Tiger. He was very nearly killed by German machine-gun fire when the E-boats attacked. He once told me of the horrors he saw in the aftermath of the atack, he said the surface of the water was covered with the bodies of dead Americans. LST 499 survived Exercise Tiger and made the landing at Utah Beach on D-day, June 6th 1944. On June 8th wile transporting German prisoners back across the English channel, LST 499 struck a German mine and sank. My grandfather was thrown down a ladder and badly broke his back, earning a purple heart and effectively ending his war. Afterward he met General Eisenhower on 2 separate occasions while he was recovering onboard a hospital ship. Hearing those stores as a kid inspired me to research military history and peruse a career in the military. I wouldn't be the man I am today without the influence of my grandfather. They truly were the greatest generation.
It's always interesting in the episodes when you mention Merrill's Marauders. My father was stationed in Kunming China during the war. I remember him mentioning how beat-up the Marauders were. I'm not sure if that was because he actually saw them or simply heard about it. Unfortunately at the time I did not foldup up. He did mention the biggest risk in Kunming faced by US troops was VD due to all the brothels.
there was a silver lining to those lost transports in operation tiger - they found people didn't know how to fit the life jackets correctly *ahead* of the actual landings
I was in the Army from 1968-71. Basic training isn’t even basic. Advanced training wasnt either. Everyone qualified on the rifle range. One tragic incident I still remember. At the grenade throwing range, we were called together for a talk. “You pull the pin and throw the grenade WITH the handle”. People were pulling the pin, flipping the handle off and then throwing as they did in the 1950’s WW2 movies. The previous week, someone did that and froze, killing himself and two instructors. Your platoon cadre just wanted to use the magic pen to show how quickly they could train troops.
The Sino-Japanese front of the Second World War, is often overlooked and having done assignments and research on it before, I appreciate the coverage you provide it. In my opinion I think it would be fairer to say the Second World War started in 1937. But then again, I'm also a Second Thirty Years War propoent - the idea both world wars are part of a larger conflict. Very obscure view in history and IR theory.
This is a huge issue here in the US, even in college-level courses, where most people think the war didn't begin "for real" until 1941. If anything war-related between 1918 and 1941 gets mentioned at all it's usually still US-centric stuff like the Battle of the Atlantic or US involvement in Russia during the revolution there. Forget about hearing anything about Asia after 1898 too. It's like Japan just morphed into existence sometime in the 1930's and suddenly built a bunch of planes and carriers and attacked Hawaii for no reason. Zero understanding of the geopolitical situation surrounding China, Japan and the South Pacific region. It's tough trying to get people to understand that none of the events there happened in a vacuum.
What you mentioned about OKW and OKH can be applied to every aspect of german politics during the Nazi era. Hitler designed everything according to this "divide and conquer" logic. For instance, every ministry had to deal with a party organization that basically did the same thing.
The Waffen-SS were seen as the NSDAP's military wing, and the rest of the German armed forces faced conflicting pressures between those who said that the German armed forces were traditionally outside of party politics (in reality their ethos tended to be conservative monarchist rather than apolitical) and those who wanted to Nazify other parts of the armed forces. The latter stance was sometimes criticised for being reminiscent of the commissar/politruk system in the Red Army. In reality, there had been quite a lot of Nazi sympathy in the Reichswehr even before the Nazis came to power. Some junior Reichswehr officers had openly expressed support for the NSDAP, even though this was a disciplinary offence, and by 1932 many NCOs carried small metal matchboxes with the swastika engraved on them.
TBF the loudest of them (Manstein, Guderian and Halder) are realy not in command of anything anymore. Rommel is still around but being forced to commit suicide does give you some leeway.
2:28 - Flanked by two Nisei - despite the internment of Japanese-Americans, Nisei were proving indispensable for intelligence-gathering in the war with Japan.
@@MetalRodent There might have been more, but the British regarded INA as traitors. They were not called INA by the British - the favoured term was "Jifs", presumably for "Japanese Indian Forces".
Oh- Japanese Indian troops??!! Ok. I have learned something new. Wow! Britain was afraid -India would rebel and side with the enemy. Now, this makes sense. Thank you!
@17:00 "Germany didn't face a 2 front war until D-Day" I've always thought this was a strange perspective, that I guess started with the German command, but also propagated into the (Western) historical narrative. Germany fought a two front war as soon as they launched Barbarossa because of the "unfinished business" in Southern Europe and in the N. African campaign that devolved into the Italian campaign. That these weren't direct threats to Germany proper did not mean that they weren't a "front" of the war. They sapped manpower and resources, those things that win or lose wars, and directly lead to Germany losing its momentum against the USSR, long before the Allies landed at Normandy.
Not finishing off the UK before taking on the USSR was their biggest blunder by far. How many Wehrmacht units had to be stationed in France to defend the Atlantic Wall? How many air defense units had to be pulled from the east to defend against air attacks launched from Britain? It was always a 2-front war as long as they had to defend against the UK.
Thanks for the episode! The tennis court battle seems to be Lone Pine battle version 2 (at Gallipolli in WW1) to me. Having been at Lone Pine, it’s quite frightening actually seeing, with my own eyes, the distance between the two lines. The men on both sides must’ve have massive cojones to somehow hold the line! Also, “for once, it wasn’t Patton fault” 😂😂
Funnily enough my great grandfather was un heeled in gallipoli by a Turkish sniper or machine gun and his son, my grandfather was at the tennis court, some strange luck, lucky to survive, unlucky to be there, lol
Very interesting that Patton actually mentioned the Soviets in that speech. In all the films I've seen it seemed concrete fact that he only mentioned the British and Americans.
Did no one in the American high command realize that Stillwell had no clue what he was doing? His incompetence seems to have been obvious for several years by now.
Nobody paid much attention and none of them had good info on what was happening in China. Everything came from 2 people, Stilwell and Chang. It was obvious they hated each other, the issue is they both blamed the other guy and the US assumed their guy was the one who wasn't lying to them. Hard to pick out Stillwell's shortcomings when you have to rely on Stillwell's reports to know what's happening.
If you read Glantz' When Titans Clashed you will find that before the disaster at Stalingrad Hitler took personal command of the Army groups, meeting with each commander on alternating days. He pushed severely depleted forces to the extreme without proper supply, reinforcements and reserves. This shows that in fact he was not a great military leader, nor did he have any of the staff training to be so. At one point, referring to the winter quarters after the loss outside Moscow, Glantz actually writes words to the effect that Hitler was correct for the wrong reason. i.e. because he was stubborn and did not want to retreat, not because he correctly assessed the terrain and strategic situation. Yet, on every comment group are the “Hitler is a genius fanboys” who apparently do not understand that because German generals were wrong on occasion it does not necessarily follow that Hitler was a military genius. “That little corporal conquered Europe.” No, it was Manstein’s plan, with Guderian and Rommel’s execution, that came close to being a disaster. Only Manstein’s masterful use of his infantry division saved the day. Did generals make mistakes and later blame them on Hitler, yes they did. This does not make Hitler a military genius. Believing that faith in the ultimate victory will turn the tide of a war everyone else knows is lost is simply NOT genius. Hitler was a clown.
Manstein was good at the operational level, but awful at the strategic level. Hitler wasn't so good at the operational level, but he was miles ahead at the strategy. Manstein had an advantage - he could write some books after the war, trying to prove that he is a genius without mistakes and the only reason that stopped him from ultimate victory is Hitler.
Ah, blessed be the Manstein! No, we do not think that Hitler was a genius. Well, he kinda was, considering how he managed to get into power and conquer half of Europe. He clearly was not a tactician or good at the operational level. And stuck in his WW1 experience, where the Germans tried to hold ground and constantly counter attack when they lost ground to retake it. And by the way, re-read Glantz, he only lead Armygroup A during the Stalingrad clusterf***, AG B was led by Weichs, who led it until it was dissolved into Manstein's command in february 1943. Manstein was like Monty though, only focused on his sector of the front and constantly trying to usurp overall command of all forces on the Eastern Front from his superior officer, in this case Hitler. Like Monty he had no idea of the larger strategic picture, of which it is sad to say that Hitler probably had a better grasp of it then any other German general. He understood that Germany needed resources to continue waging the war, that he had to take his allies and other countries into the picture. It was just heavily filtered by his overall ideological worldview and his increasing distrust of his generals, who failed him when he trusted them. And let us not forget that despite his great victory in march 1943, the Great Manstein got soundly beaten at Kursk, 4th Kharkov, his retreat to the Dnepr and the Soviet winter offensives. Despite getting more resources then most German generals. Most of Germany's panzer and panzergrenadier divisions in the East were in his sector by januari 1944, with Hitler having sent some of the divisions he had been marshalling in France to him. And Manstein had still failed to stop the Red Army. And the Red Army never obliged him by making the same mistake it had made in february 1943.
You go to the extreme ends of opinion nearly as much as the Wehraboos do. Hitler was a good commander but tended to blunder about as much as his generals did, in my opinion.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Manstein failed at Kursk because Hitler made him fail. Manstein wanted a mobile defense, not an offensive. And when Citadel was conceived, he objected to the delays which allowed the Soviets to turn Kursk into a giant trap. He then failed to halt the Red Army because Hitler issued a rediculous no retreat order that ground down the Wehrmacht in tactically unsound ground, only falling back in such disarray that the next line couldn't be held. If the Germans had retreated to the Dnieper much earlier, it's likely they could've held it and held up the Red Army a long time. But AGS was in no position to do so after trying to hold Eastern Ukraine. You see this kind of meddling from Hitler at the *tactical* level all the time. That kind of micromanagement is disastrous. And Hitler was terrible at battlefield tactics.
Operation tiger was swept under the rug for many years because it revealed gross mismanagement of the trianing command. The men killed in the operation died in a very horrible manner. Most drowned while trapped inside of the sinking LSTs.
Interesting to cross-reference Operation Tiger with an episode of Foyle's War in which an obviously fictitious scenario leads to the hounding to suicide of a man thought responsible for a miscommunication which prevented the intelligence of the e-boats' existence from reaching the men on the exercise and, thus, their evacuation.
He is not. The CCP is watching the Japanese destroy the KMT armies and then moving into the now sparsely defended parts of North China. The more the Japanese attack south, the better it is for the communists. He will actually thank the Japanese prime minister in the 1970's, saying that without Japan's attack on China, the CCP would never have beat the kmt
Guerilla operations. I don't think he has the strength to fight the Japanese directly. Annd... why would he? He can let his enemies the Nationalists do that for him.
@@CrazyYuriethey toned down their existing guerilla operations at this time. The absolute last thing the CCP wanted was for a communist railway bomb to cause a Japanese division to stick around. Had the CCP attacked in force during 1944, (the CCP has over half a million front line troops at this point) it would have made the Japanese offensive very difficult. The CCP would also have suffered casualties and the KMT might not have to fight as hard. Ichigo is a time when the interests of the CCP and the interests of China really diverged. Ichigo's success was helped by the CCP making the conscious decision to avoid disrupting the Japanese in North China. (Of course, they talked a huge game about their guerilla efforts, but post war Japanese documents, as well as CCP reports to the soviets, declassified in the 90's, show that CCP activities against Japan were curtailed while ichigo was going on.)
@@porksterbob Yeap. And people wondered why Chiang seemed to be more worried about them than the Japanese. The world has been paying for it ever since.
It's telling that Jodl makes no distinction here between nations that were taken by force of arms, like France and Greece, and allies like Italy and Finland. As the Italians learned the hard way last September, Nazi leadership does not consider them to be equal partners in this war.
Look at what happened recently in Hungary. When Germany's allies start acting like enemies (in their view, that is), they're not going to trust anyone.
@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 The Finns certainly declared as much at the time. Though not part of the Tripartite Pact, Finland *was* part of the Anti-Comintern Pact, a less formal agreement which the Nazi leadership considered to be a "litmus test of loyalty". The 1947 Paris Peace Treaty concluded that Finland had been "an ally of Hitlerite Germany". So... basically it depends on who you ask.
It seems like everyone in Europe is holding their breath, just waiting for who will be the first to make their move. It's a quiet week, but quiet as in tense, and high strung
14:45 - this sounds eerily like Perun's analysis of Putin's various competing subordinates. In fact, the whole SS vs Airforce vs Army shenanigans of the Germans strikes a cord here as well.
Google Kohima Tennis Court. It's now the War cemetery for Allied troops and nearby is the memorial with the epitaph 'When you go home, tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today'
@@pocketmarcy6990 There was increasing use of Koreans, as well as Taiwanese, as a reaction to battlefield losses, although they were generally still used as labourers or as dogsbodies for low-esteem tasks like guarding prisoners.
Treatment of peasants and questionable conduct by Chinese National army will one day be one of the reasons why Mao and communists got so much support in country side. We know now that communists won't be any better and a decade later will be much worse but peasants don't know that.
ua-cam.com/video/cZlTKdq4Yb4/v-deo.html A song taught to Communist soldiers (many defectors from the Kuomintang) instructing them not to mistreat peasants. Traditionally the presence of soldiers was seen as negative by peasantry.
Suggestion, sometimes the maps can be hard to see when the allies are represented by blue and the sea is represented by a slightly different shade of blue. Maps are great in every other respect.
I get so angry at choices made by losing armies no matter the conflict, the needless suffering and loss caused is painful to hear or read about. Like, "you MORON!" and then imagining the desperation of the people who must receive the repercussions of their actions.
One of the challenges I have seen is that despotic leaders in conflict often get caught in a situation where they cannot admit defeat, even long after it has become impossible for their armies to win. This is because to do so would mean letting themselves face justice for crimes often so awful no amnesty could be possible. So instead they force their people to suffer and fight in ever more desperate and horrific conflicts.
Was someone punished for the friendly fire incident that cost the lives of hundreds of soldiers or was it put under the rug because of the need for secrecy connected with the invasion?
What happens to a high ranking officer when they get sacked? Are they just demoted or reassigned? Or are they literally kicked out of the armed forces?
Some are placed in the reserve, some my be reassigned, others dismissed. An example is von Rundstedt who was dismissed and brought back more than once.
@@caryblack5985 There was a so-called "Fuehrer Reserve". This had nothing to do with Hitler - it could be translated as "leadership reserve". Officers awaiting reassignment were often placed in it. Sometimes it was a short wait, sometimes long.
Sounds like more of a foul-up on the Allies' part. They probably had all of that food and ammo packed into a small area instead of spreading it out away from the landing areas and all it took was a lucky hit to start a nasty chain reaction.
@@Raskolnikov70 Likely. Also individual intruder aircraft sometimes made it through flak and fighter defences, where a formation of aircraft might not.
A great very interesting video. Had all the Tommies in 1940 had the PIATs in France and had all their tanks had the 17pdr guns there would be less swimming in the Channel. Also had the British Navy and the USN had fielded an effective sonar/radar/wire guided torpedo things would have gone smoother.
You should go back to putting miles/kilometers on the maps. It is so hard to understand the scale on most of your maps without them. As soon I typed this, I see that you did include the scale on the map of the Crimea.
This video corrects a major error in the movie "Patton" whereby Patton is portrayed as having intentionally slighted the Soviets during that British speech, which caused an uproar among Soviet sympathizers in the USA. Also, the Slapton Sands catastrophes that killed around 1,000 of our men was covered up so well that I did not see any mention of it in war literature until the 1980s, and even then in veiled one-line sentences, without mentioning losses. This is the first I've heard about the friendly-fire part of it.
As Germany is getting closed in on, one can't help but wonder where Hitler will be a year from now...
Join the TimeGhost Army so we can cover everything that might unfold: www.patreon.com/join/TimeGhostHistory
World War Two wrote: one can't help but wonder where Hitler will be a year from now...
--------------------------------------
Taking a Dirt Nap or shall we say "getting fired"
Spoiler Alert!!
Hitler will be inside a bunker underneath the Reich Chancellery while the Soviets have encircled Berlin in 1945. Soviet soldiers will raise the victory banner above the Reichstag on the evening of April 30, 1945.
Could you upload your videos to the podcast feature as well?
#foreshadowing
I'm sure he will be standing in Moscow, in the wehrmacht's victory parade celebrating the fall of communism. Or he'll be dead... nah, it's definitely tour de Russia
Fun fact regarding the intro: though not tennis, there was a SAS commando that had used his experience playing ball games for throwing grenades. His name was Victor Irturria and he came from the Basque Country (Spain). Prior to WW2 he had been one of the champions in a Basque sport known as "Pelota Vasca" (Basque Ball), which is similar to squash but without racket and with heavier balls. He had developed an excellent hand and was great at throwing the balls... and also for throwing grenades. In 1939 he enlisted on the French Army as volunteer and took part on the Battle of France as a soldier: He first distinguished himself during the battle of Dunkirk, as he used the skills he had acquired playing for throwing grenades at enemy vehicles, and managed to destroy seven of them. He was evacuated from Dunkirk while wounded, and was transfered to the French contingent of the recently established SAS (as his actions had impressed his superiors). Prior to their assignment to the North African theatre, Churchill himself requested to watch his skills in action. Victor took a txapela (Basque beret) and placed it 50 meters away from their location, then he went back and threw a grenade which landed inside the beret. In 1942 he took part on the assaults to Luftwaffe air bases in Cirenaica and Benghazi, and in 1943 he was given a distinction by the Free French authorities. He was one of the commandos dropped behind enemy lines during the battle of Normandy in 1944 (spoiler), and was KIA in august 29, 1944.
Very interesting. It’s long been my hypothesis that American soldiers had an advantage throwing grenades because the participation in baseball was so prevalent in the US of the 20’s through the 40’s.
@chiller: what about the French, they play Petanque (Jeu de boules) 😊
@@Chiller01 British and Commonwealth soldiers would carry a similar advantage, as cricket bowlers throw a ball of very similar size and weight a very similar distance, although the German Stielhandgranate could be thrown as far if not further with minimal training due to its handle
Thank you @Podemos URSS. Respect for Victor Irturria's expertise and courage altogether.
@@hallamhal Like I said it’s an hypothesis. I postulate that football not cricket consumed more recreational time of the average young British male. The same could be said for the French. The Canadians had hockey. The Australians I would guess Aussie Rules, Rugby etc. The Indians maybe were cricket obsessed. In the US of my parents’ generation baseball permeated the culture. American style football and basketball were much less popular at the time. Every kid had a ball, glove and bat. Even the urban poor played stickball in the streets. As a kid of the 50’s I spent hours bouncing a rubber ball against a brick wall and catching it in my glove. I practiced fielding ground balls, fly balls, locating pitches etc. Accordingly I think the hypothesis is valid but proving it, well that’s another matter.
18:21 To add on, a reporter would carelessly miss writing down the Soviet Union, thus when the story was published several days later, it appeared as if Patton was disrespecting the Soviet Union. This would cause Dwight Eisenhower to cable George Marshall that he was pondering the notion of firing George Patton because "he simply does not keep his mouth shut".
This is reprised (somewhat) a few months later in a Joe and Willie cartoon in which a British soldier (I think) is told by an American that they'd be lost without allies like Texas and Russia. (Inclusion of Bill Mauldin's Joe and Willie, after D-Day, would be fantastic.)
Tbf, Patton does have a problem with shutting his mouth… and not hitting soldiers who clearly aren’t fit for combat anymore
So the movie got it wrong!
wow thats something 😄😄😄😄
The media got their facts wrong? No way, that never happens.......
@@jtgd . . . and saying completely insane shit like claiming they should have allied the Nazis
My grandfather was at the tennis court, he died 5 weeks to his birthday last November. He wanted to talk about it to anyone who wanted to record it.
Just to be clear, he passed at 99 years old, he was a senior nco and decrypted communications in the late war but at the tennis court he was a commando trained infantryman who had manned anti aircraft in the early War under Montgomery. The tennis court made him enter into a training program after most of his friends were lost, he said he didn't get to know people after that
.
I'd guess he knew he was one of the last eye witnesses. No prisoners taken, either side. So for a long time they kept their moths sut. Easy enoughbwhen few people evebn today want tohear bout the ugly stuff;
To me its vital f o understand and res pect just h ow much these men gave .
I hope he g ot h s story recorded.
Sorry if I;m out of linne.
R.I.P.
I do hope that someone was able to record some of his stories.
Respect.
During Excerise Tiger my great Uncle was a petty officer in the Royal Navy on the heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins bombarding the beach when the friendly fire incident occurred. He and his friends just thought it was part of the exercise and were impressed with how realistic it looked. Only afterwards did they find out what had really happened. It was kept secret from the public till after his death, and he never told his wife. His friends were the ones that told her when it became public knowledge (I believe that was in the 1980s). She just had her 102nd birthday last week. However he may have told his sister, as well before it was public knowledge and the memorial was built, every time she went down to Devon on a holiday, she would go on a day trip to Slapton Sands, to pay respect.
That's wild
You shouldnt speak that way about your uncle, I'm sure he was a fine officer.
@@Ziggletooth I don't read any disrespect in the comment. Pretty sure it's your comprehension of the comment that's faulty.
@@Ziggletooth petty officer is a rank
@@Ziggletooth is this like a carry on joke
What a grim assignment it must have been to locate those ten bodies beneath the sea. In a war full of horrific experiences it was certainly not the worst but still, it would have been nightmare fuel for me.
Drachinfel did a series of videos about the recovery efforts in Pearl Harbor after the attack in 1941. Listening to what the sailors had to do in order to clean up and repair those ships was some of the most horrific stuff I've ever heard about the war.
Bodies immersed in water quickly become unrecognisable. Presumably they still had their dogtags on.
The sad part is that it was probably considered a relatively desirable assignment, given the possible alternatives.
When you consider that they were looking for 10 Bigoted Officers, that was the term for people to whom the Invasion Plans had been revealed. They could only discuss the plans with another officer once they had confirmed that each other was Bigoted.
Anyway the clearance divers were searching for 10 missing officers in amongst roughly 350 dead US Army, US Navy and US Coast Guard personnel in murky sea water in amongst two sunk LSTs, numerous smaller landing craft and boats, ships boats, Carley floats (floating squares), sunk vehicles, abandoned equipment and lots of bodies. At least the different uniforms made the task of searching for the Bigots easier and hopefully badges of rank sped up the process. Once all of the Bigots were accounted for the operation could move into recovery of bodies. However, like at Pearl Harbour some bodies would never be found and others were trapped inside sunken ships which I don't believe were ever attempted to be salvaged and were left on the bottom of the sea as War Graves. There may have been some efforts to recover sunken munitions and large calibre weapons.
Mark from Melbourne Australia
At Slapton sands there is a fine memorial to those who died there - a Sherman that was left on the sea bed after the debacle, and only dragged ashore in 1984.
I used to visit it all the time when I was a child, it was the first tank I ever saw in person. I remember reading the plaque and thinking what an awful way to go out, not even fighting the enemy
OKH: "What's that scraping noise?"
OKW: "It's just us hitting the bottom of the barrel!"
This week in French news.
The 26th, Pétain returns for the first time in Paris. He is met by a huge crowd and gives a speech that warns against joining the Resistance.
The 27th, Juin announces to his troops in Italy that he manages to persuade Clark that they will finally be used at their full extent inside the 5th Army by going to Mount Majo, in the Mount Aurunci (supposedly impossible to cross) and toward the Liri. It Liri is the objective of the British Army but Juin thinks that they will not fulfill their objectives in time and prepares two armored brigades to make a fast offensive behind the German line, toward Esperia and Pico. Juin has 4 divisions and 3 Moroccoan Tabors.
The 28th, Pétain at the radio and on invitation from Germans affirms that Germany is the main protector of Europe and France and all of its civilization against bolshevism and that France will get its place back into Europe.
how popular is petain at this time?
@@loveroffunnyy Big question and hard to tell. There is no real survey because of the state of France at the time. But what can be said from intelligence networks from both German, Vichy and the Allies is that most of Frenchman are in a wait-and-see status. A part is already with the Resitance and another part is colloborating with Nazi and/or Vichy (not always the same). In all of that, notably from some Resistance members, Pétain is still a hero and is a prisoner of Germans and men like Laval. (ie : he is de facto prisonner of Germany now, but still have connection and a power of influence as a symbol).
But short answer is : still pretty viewed at good (like 50-60 % good maybe). Let's remember that even after the war, a lot of people will still believe he was a hostage and just wanted to save France and nothing all, that he was actively tryng to help the Allies and resisting. (theory of the Shield and the Sword)
@@Lematth88 ah interesting to know.
unable to read the writing on the wall....
@@Lematth88 we didn’t execute him after the war? He didn’t save anything lol
I had to do a double take at the thumbnail, that looks so cursed...
The SpongeBob reading meme
Probably the thing has infected the OKH ..... or is it the OKW?
I swear
Clearly intentional.
Looks a _The Thing_ reference to me.
EXCELLENT episode… the writing, graphics, content, and organization are always great, but they really came together in an eloquent and easily-digestible way this week. Thank you!!!
@Ted Kempster
Thank you! We’re so grateful that you’re enjoying!
@@WorldWarTwo indy neidel is there a special episode about the night of the long knives? If yes can you point out?
As a planning to be a book author I ve felt bad seeing all the books burned in the nazi ceremony
For next April's Fools Indy needs to release a video of him doing the phone intro thing, but then just saying "yeah" for the next 15 minutes and cut to credits when he hangs up! 😂
He's from Texas. I think it's natural for them to say "Yeah" every second word or so.
How about the Berlin counterattack that pushed the Soviets all the way to Vladivostok and the Western Allies across the Atlantic?
Basiucally there cannot be any apolitical German officer because every "apolitical" officer would realize that Germany has already lost the war, having to fight like in WW1 a numerically superior enemy on a long front while not having the necessary materials to have a chanche. As Robert Citino puts it the German General Staff in on a death ride. They won't stop it unless physically restrained.
To their disgrace, it seems that most German generals only hated Hitler because he humiliated them and was losing the war, not that they thought National Socialism was disgusting per se.
This week ships of the Royal Canadian Navy engage ships of the German naval surface fleet off the French Coast between St. Malo and Ile de Bas. The Canadian force consists of Tribal Class destroyers HMCS Athabaskan, Haida, and Huron. These are a powerful new class of destroyer more akin to a small cruiser. During the night of April 25/26, they engage the German 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla comprising the German Elbing-class torpedo boats (destroyers) T29, T24 and T27, returning from a mine-laying operation. They begin firing on the Germans at about 9,000 yards damaging T24 and T27 forcing them to retire to the safety of St. Malo. T29 is not so lucky and sinks after being set ablaze by HMCS Haida, taking 137 crew with her. Days later on the night of the 28/29th, T24 and T27 attempt to move from St. Malo to Brest, but are again intercepted by Athabaskan and Haida off St. Brieux. The two torpedo boats fire all their torpedoes while turning to make a run for it. One of T24's torpedoes hits Athabaskan setting her on fire, eventually causing her magazine to explode, and she sinks quickly. Meanwhile, Haida aggressively pursues T27 causing her to run aground. Firing at short range Haida sets T27 on fire before returning to assist Athabaskan. Haida begins to pluck survivors out of the water, but as dawn approaches she is in danger of aerial and shore based attack and must leave. Athabaskan's Captain still in the water is heard to yell out “Get away Haida, get clear!”. Of the Athabaskan's crew 44 survivors are recovered by Haida, 83 become prisoners of war, and 129 are lost, including her Captain, Lt. Cdr. John Stubbs.
Yes I would have liked a mention of this. I think the action where HMS Charybdis was sunk also did not make the cut
Nothing new about the Tribal class destroyers in 1944. The first Tribal's were laid down in 1936.
My wife's grandfather was one of the POW's taken from Athabaskan. He lost a lung while imprisoned, but I wish I knew more about him, as I never got to meet him, but he sounded fascinating. Apparently when news of the sinking reached Canada, his parents were quoted in the local paper saying they weren't worried because "he's a strong swimmer and has a good head on his shoulders".
Wow what a story: the tension of the command and morale is absolutely surreal. So many events woven into events: your attention to detail of this conflict is really remarkable folks! Can't imagine how much reading all of you must be doing! Thank you for sharing these stories!
Sleep in Saturday morning. Then wake up and have coffee with a new episode of “WW2, Week by week”. It doesn’t get any better than this.
Thank you to everyone on the “Time Ghost” team for all the hard work it takes to produce such quality content. I feel ashamed that 10 bucks a month is all I can afford to give.
@Pat Hutchison
We’re grateful to be part of your weekend!
Your support is deeply appreciated, rest assured you’re directly contributing to our ability to produce this content!!
@@WorldWarTwo I can see every dollar you get going directly into the video. Thanks for you hard work.
Coffee along with an English muffin…
I really appreciate how well Indy pronounces the foreign names
Execpt for the chinese ones
He is really good
Except for Chinese names, but I don't blame him since many foreigners can't pronounce them properly
Hey you guys!! At home watching this! Not feeling very well at the moment, however. My period is down heavier than usual and I had to call in.. but this show is too good to miss however I'm feeling. Thanks guys! Keep it up!
I'm sure you get this request a lot, but would you be able to edit together all the weekly segments on new Guinea, east africa, guadalcanal and the like into a sort of theater wide supercut of sorts so one could catch up on or rewatch certain campaigns?
Very big fan of the program, do keep up the amazing work you do
On the Slapton Sands incidents: There is a record of a Fuehrer Conference in which the Slapton Sands practice landings are discussed. Hitler immediately concluded that this area was very similar to Normandy. This correct assessment was never translated into military policy and deployment to counter a potential Normandy landing.
Indys conversations with the phone operator have been becoming more and more interesting as the year progresses!
Thanks for devoting so much insight into the Imphal-Kohima Battles and surely the lack of geographical awareness on the part of Japanese not to have attacked Dimapur when they could. You should pay a visit to these hills. A new train line is being built 75 years after independence, with bridges towering over dark gorges. The World's tallest railway bridge pier (about 140 m high) is being built here. God knows how Japanese reached Bishenpur 80 years ago.
my grandpa was in the airforce in the CBI theater and he said they referred to Chiang as "General Cash My Check"
Lol why?
But y tho
@@sarmadmushtaq118 It's actually "cash my cheque" , a play on his name (Chang Kai-Shek) , because he was notoriously corrupt.
@@pan-demics8015 thanks 🙏
I knew a guy who was in Merrils Mauraders. I always thought he got the short end of the stick. He ended up comfortable with quite a bit of money. People used to get pensions. He worked for Bendix after the war.
On the subject of the Burma/India war just finished reading Bryan Perret's book 'Tank Tracks to Rangoon: The Story of British Armour in Burma' and would recommend it, he writes entertainingly and in detail on a rarely discussed topic.
After a couple years of watching every week, life got in the way and I didnt watch for another 2 years. Just binge watched the week by week coverage this month and finally caught up thank god! Happy to watch new updates again. Now to catch up on all of the other series on this channel😩
We appreciate your dedication!
Q: What has Germany (well, Prussia) feared since the 18th century?
A: War on two fronts.
Q: What did Germany do in WWI and WWII?
A: Fight a war on two fronts.
(One could actually claim that N. Africa in WWII constituted a third front.)
If Germany had truly learned from their mistakes in the Great War, they would have had a better 'Schlieffen Plan' that included completely taking out the UK before trying to start things up with the USSR. Germany could have invaded and defeated the UK if they'd started planning for it much earlier instead of trying to cobble together a last-minute barge invasion.
@@Raskolnikov70 Hitler was afraid the USSR would strike while the Germans were busy fighting the British. Also, considering the poor Soviet performance in the Finnish Winter War, he concluded the time was right to invade the USSR.
@@dragosstanciu9866 Germany's hand was forced in 1941 because of their impending food and energy shortages. They were correct to fear the Soviet buildup in the east, they knew that the Red Army was getting its act together after Finland and they had limited time before the USSR would have an offensive capability to match theirs. But the bigger issue was that if they didn't go in 1941, they wouldn't have enough fuel to go in 1942 or later.
Finishing off the UK in 1940 would have most likely meant the end of the naval blockade of Germany. Even if the British government didn't surrender and kept fighting from their dominion countries, they wouldn't have been able to sustain any kind of oil embargo against Germany without having their home island as a base. Seems pretty likely they'd surrender anyway with millions of their citizens effectively held hostage.
So it's not just the resources Germany had to dedicate to defending France and the Low Countries from invasion. Britain was a massive naval and air base and great launching pad for an invasion; having them still in the fight cost Germany the war.
@@Raskolnikov70 Perhaps if the Luftwaffe continued to bomb the British airfields and military installations in the South instead of bombing London, the British government would have asked for an armistice. It was a military blunder for the Germans to bomb London.
@@dragosstanciu9866 I doubt that. British planes would've just retreated to northern England and Scotland if the airbases in the south are inoperable. The British are also still outproducing the Nazis in aircraft production, which is the crucial part in the Battle of Britain. Plus as long as Churchill is in there and with the coalition parties firmly behind him, Britain would never surrender.
I must ask if there is a video on the German Wundwerwaffes (Wonder weapons) throughout the war. Especially since by April 1944 we have the V1 rockets and STG being used.
Alternatively, a video on "weapons and squads doctrine" would be interesting. I'll bet $5 AUD Spartacus prefers the Mauser C96
Plus the jet fighters. Don’t forget the jet fighters.
I definitely won’t claim to be an expert on this, but by 1944, the Chinese Nationalists were their own worst enemy in many ways. Incompetence and corruption were rife and their logistics and military material just weren’t up to snuff (though that last one made undoubtedly harder by the loss of most of their industrial base). I wonder if Japan hadn’t bombed Pearl Harbour, and just marched into Malaya and the Dutch East Indies anyway, they probably would have won their war with China? I can’t help but wonder if some Japanese commanders were rueing this at this point.
It wouldn't have worked.
China was getting some stuff through Burma and Hong Kong.
Japan would have to attack both of those.
The Philippines were also us territory and the Japanese couldn't leave it at their backs in the middle of their logistics.
Maybe they could have avoided the ire from the pH attacks if they had attacked the US in a different way, but Japan was always going to attack the US.
China's problem is that they were a net food importer that made 1/2 to 1/3 of their government revenue off of customs before the war.
The Japanese very successfully cut China off from the outside world in 1938 and completed the blockade entirely in 1942. Very little aid has come in. China can't indigenously produce fuel or heavy equipment. Most of the problems of corruption are just downstream of trying to survive in a place where starvation and inflation are rampant.
Part of ichigo was hitting China before they could be hooked up to the firehose of allied production and perhaps become stronger.
The Nationalist's activities against their own people is a good clue to one reason why China became communist.
One thing Chiang and Mao had in common was that they both decided Pearl Harbor was a mistake that would ultimately cost Japan the war. They preferred to conduct the war in a relatively low-key way until that happened, which is why much of the time there has been little to report about China.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Agreed. I have a hard time America would have joined the war against Japan otherwise. There’s no way the American public was going to fight for European colonies.
This is a really interesting question to explore. Especially since Japan knew the US was trying to goad them into a war with sanctions and military provocations. What if they kept their cool and ignored the US, effectively calling their bluff? Japan entering the war against the UK without attacking Pearl or the Phillipines or any other US bases would have been crossing a line for sure, but not one that would have automatically dragged the US into it in order to support the UK. Would US leaders have been able to convince Americans that it was worth going to war to defend Singapore or Burma? Highly doubt it.
My grandfather was on LST 499 during Exercise Tiger. He was very nearly killed by German machine-gun fire when the E-boats attacked. He once told me of the horrors he saw in the aftermath of the atack, he said the surface of the water was covered with the bodies of dead Americans. LST 499 survived Exercise Tiger and made the landing at Utah Beach on D-day, June 6th 1944. On June 8th wile transporting German prisoners back across the English channel, LST 499 struck a German mine and sank. My grandfather was thrown down a ladder and badly broke his back, earning a purple heart and effectively ending his war. Afterward he met General Eisenhower on 2 separate occasions while he was recovering onboard a hospital ship. Hearing those stores as a kid inspired me to research military history and peruse a career in the military. I wouldn't be the man I am today without the influence of my grandfather. They truly were the greatest generation.
@myprshe
Thank you for sharing this!
@@WorldWarTwo You are welcome. I was hoping you would cover this event. The work you guys do is amazing, Thanks for making great content.
It’s our pleasure! And we owe it all to viewers like you, and the generous support of the TimeGhost Army!
It's always interesting in the episodes when you mention Merrill's Marauders. My father was stationed in Kunming China during the war. I remember him mentioning how beat-up the Marauders were. I'm not sure if that was because he actually saw them or simply heard about it. Unfortunately at the time I did not foldup up. He did mention the biggest risk in Kunming faced by US troops was VD due to all the brothels.
No wonder the General brought his own Geishas!
More members of the American Military were knocked out of action by VD than combat injuries.
They needed cleaner toilets.
there was a silver lining to those lost transports in operation tiger - they found people didn't know how to fit the life jackets correctly *ahead* of the actual landings
I was in the Army from 1968-71. Basic training isn’t even basic. Advanced training wasnt either. Everyone qualified on the rifle range.
One tragic incident I still remember. At the grenade throwing range, we were called together for a talk. “You pull the pin and throw the grenade WITH the handle”. People were pulling the pin, flipping the handle off and then throwing as they did in the 1950’s WW2 movies. The previous week, someone did that and froze, killing himself and two instructors.
Your platoon cadre just wanted to use the magic pen to show how quickly they could train troops.
The Sino-Japanese front of the Second World War, is often overlooked and having done assignments and research on it before, I appreciate the coverage you provide it.
In my opinion I think it would be fairer to say the Second World War started in 1937. But then again, I'm also a Second Thirty Years War propoent - the idea both world wars are part of a larger conflict. Very obscure view in history and IR theory.
This is a huge issue here in the US, even in college-level courses, where most people think the war didn't begin "for real" until 1941. If anything war-related between 1918 and 1941 gets mentioned at all it's usually still US-centric stuff like the Battle of the Atlantic or US involvement in Russia during the revolution there.
Forget about hearing anything about Asia after 1898 too. It's like Japan just morphed into existence sometime in the 1930's and suddenly built a bunch of planes and carriers and attacked Hawaii for no reason. Zero understanding of the geopolitical situation surrounding China, Japan and the South Pacific region. It's tough trying to get people to understand that none of the events there happened in a vacuum.
What you mentioned about OKW and OKH can be applied to every aspect of german politics during the Nazi era. Hitler designed everything according to this "divide and conquer" logic. For instance, every ministry had to deal with a party organization that basically did the same thing.
20:14 No apolitical officers in the German army
Except everyone apparently when you listen to what they claimed after the war
If they were apolitical, do you think they would tell Hitler?
@@yomama9538 if no one knows that they are apolitical are they really that?
The Waffen-SS were seen as the NSDAP's military wing, and the rest of the German armed forces faced conflicting pressures between those who said that the German armed forces were traditionally outside of party politics (in reality their ethos tended to be conservative monarchist rather than apolitical) and those who wanted to Nazify other parts of the armed forces. The latter stance was sometimes criticised for being reminiscent of the commissar/politruk system in the Red Army.
In reality, there had been quite a lot of Nazi sympathy in the Reichswehr even before the Nazis came to power. Some junior Reichswehr officers had openly expressed support for the NSDAP, even though this was a disciplinary offence, and by 1932 many NCOs carried small metal matchboxes with the swastika engraved on them.
TBF the loudest of them (Manstein, Guderian and Halder) are realy not in command of anything anymore. Rommel is still around but being forced to commit suicide does give you some leeway.
2:28 - Flanked by two Nisei - despite the internment of Japanese-Americans, Nisei were proving indispensable for intelligence-gathering in the war with Japan.
Loved the China update!
When you're an authoritarian, things are never your fault. This sounds sòooooooo familiar.
It's the same in democracy. It's like people are allergic to responsibility
Sounds like our current government. Not my fault. It's the other party.
It's most guaranteed in Authoritarian governments, but common in all.
"General Stilwell, your methods have been found to be...unsound."
There are Japanese deserters? Wow!
A few, but at this point most of the deserters are the INA troops realising they're on the losing side.
@@MetalRodent There might have been more, but the British regarded INA as traitors. They were not called INA by the British - the favoured term was "Jifs", presumably for "Japanese Indian Forces".
Oh- Japanese Indian troops??!! Ok. I have learned something new. Wow! Britain was afraid -India would rebel and side with the enemy. Now, this makes sense. Thank you!
@17:00 "Germany didn't face a 2 front war until D-Day"
I've always thought this was a strange perspective, that I guess started with the German command, but also propagated into the (Western) historical narrative.
Germany fought a two front war as soon as they launched Barbarossa because of the "unfinished business" in Southern Europe and in the N. African campaign that devolved into the Italian campaign. That these weren't direct threats to Germany proper did not mean that they weren't a "front" of the war. They sapped manpower and resources, those things that win or lose wars, and directly lead to Germany losing its momentum against the USSR, long before the Allies landed at Normandy.
Not finishing off the UK before taking on the USSR was their biggest blunder by far. How many Wehrmacht units had to be stationed in France to defend the Atlantic Wall? How many air defense units had to be pulled from the east to defend against air attacks launched from Britain? It was always a 2-front war as long as they had to defend against the UK.
Great history making the complex understandable. Thanks and blessing to you and the staff for keeping history alive. 👍🏻
Thanks for the episode! The tennis court battle seems to be Lone Pine battle version 2 (at Gallipolli in WW1) to me. Having been at Lone Pine, it’s quite frightening actually seeing, with my own eyes, the distance between the two lines. The men on both sides must’ve have massive cojones to somehow hold the line! Also, “for once, it wasn’t Patton fault” 😂😂
Funnily enough my great grandfather was un heeled in gallipoli by a Turkish sniper or machine gun and his son, my grandfather was at the tennis court, some strange luck, lucky to survive, unlucky to be there, lol
🦨On a mountain in Virginia, stands a lonesome pine🦨
@@philipwagner9169 Okay, now I'm seeing Stan and Ollie dance.
@@timl.b.2095 😀But of course, no disrespect at all to the men who were there, or in battle anywhere else.
My G Grandma's bro was killed up Chunuk Bair
another brilliant episode, this channel is the blueprint for all war themed channels.
Very interesting that Patton actually mentioned the Soviets in that speech. In all the films I've seen it seemed concrete fact that he only mentioned the British and Americans.
Yes. Its extremely interesting that Patton DID actually mention the Soviets, but got in trouble for something he didn't do. The media strikes again!
Another great video. Thanks Indy and the rest of the crew. Top quality as always.
Kohima: There's no Love on this Tennis Court!
Great line, Eric!
Did no one in the American high command realize that Stillwell had no clue what he was doing? His incompetence seems to have been obvious for several years by now.
Seems like they were more concerned with defeating Germany and Japan first.
Nobody paid much attention and none of them had good info on what was happening in China. Everything came from 2 people, Stilwell and Chang. It was obvious they hated each other, the issue is they both blamed the other guy and the US assumed their guy was the one who wasn't lying to them.
Hard to pick out Stillwell's shortcomings when you have to rely on Stillwell's reports to know what's happening.
Excellent as always.
Thank you!
If you read Glantz' When Titans Clashed you will find that before the disaster at Stalingrad Hitler took personal command of the Army groups, meeting with each commander on alternating days. He pushed severely depleted forces to the extreme without proper supply, reinforcements and reserves. This shows that in fact he was not a great military leader, nor did he have any of the staff training to be so. At one point, referring to the winter quarters after the loss outside Moscow, Glantz actually writes words to the effect that Hitler was correct for the wrong reason. i.e. because he was stubborn and did not want to retreat, not because he correctly assessed the terrain and strategic situation.
Yet, on every comment group are the “Hitler is a genius fanboys” who apparently do not understand that because German generals were wrong on occasion it does not necessarily follow that Hitler was a military genius. “That little corporal conquered Europe.” No, it was Manstein’s plan, with Guderian and Rommel’s execution, that came close to being a disaster. Only Manstein’s masterful use of his infantry division saved the day. Did generals make mistakes and later blame them on Hitler, yes they did. This does not make Hitler a military genius. Believing that faith in the ultimate victory will turn the tide of a war everyone else knows is lost is simply NOT genius.
Hitler was a clown.
...and a junkie.
Manstein was good at the operational level, but awful at the strategic level. Hitler wasn't so good at the operational level, but he was miles ahead at the strategy.
Manstein had an advantage - he could write some books after the war, trying to prove that he is a genius without mistakes and the only reason that stopped him from ultimate victory is Hitler.
Ah, blessed be the Manstein!
No, we do not think that Hitler was a genius. Well, he kinda was, considering how he managed to get into power and conquer half of Europe. He clearly was not a tactician or good at the operational level. And stuck in his WW1 experience, where the Germans tried to hold ground and constantly counter attack when they lost ground to retake it. And by the way, re-read Glantz, he only lead Armygroup A during the Stalingrad clusterf***, AG B was led by Weichs, who led it until it was dissolved into Manstein's command in february 1943. Manstein was like Monty though, only focused on his sector of the front and constantly trying to usurp overall command of all forces on the Eastern Front from his superior officer, in this case Hitler. Like Monty he had no idea of the larger strategic picture, of which it is sad to say that Hitler probably had a better grasp of it then any other German general. He understood that Germany needed resources to continue waging the war, that he had to take his allies and other countries into the picture. It was just heavily filtered by his overall ideological worldview and his increasing distrust of his generals, who failed him when he trusted them.
And let us not forget that despite his great victory in march 1943, the Great Manstein got soundly beaten at Kursk, 4th Kharkov, his retreat to the Dnepr and the Soviet winter offensives. Despite getting more resources then most German generals. Most of Germany's panzer and panzergrenadier divisions in the East were in his sector by januari 1944, with Hitler having sent some of the divisions he had been marshalling in France to him. And Manstein had still failed to stop the Red Army. And the Red Army never obliged him by making the same mistake it had made in february 1943.
You go to the extreme ends of opinion nearly as much as the Wehraboos do. Hitler was a good commander but tended to blunder about as much as his generals did, in my opinion.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Manstein failed at Kursk because Hitler made him fail. Manstein wanted a mobile defense, not an offensive. And when Citadel was conceived, he objected to the delays which allowed the Soviets to turn Kursk into a giant trap. He then failed to halt the Red Army because Hitler issued a rediculous no retreat order that ground down the Wehrmacht in tactically unsound ground, only falling back in such disarray that the next line couldn't be held.
If the Germans had retreated to the Dnieper much earlier, it's likely they could've held it and held up the Red Army a long time. But AGS was in no position to do so after trying to hold Eastern Ukraine.
You see this kind of meddling from Hitler at the *tactical* level all the time. That kind of micromanagement is disastrous. And Hitler was terrible at battlefield tactics.
Operation tiger was swept under the rug for many years because it revealed gross mismanagement of the trianing command. The men killed in the operation died in a very horrible manner. Most drowned while trapped inside of the sinking LSTs.
Interesting to cross-reference Operation Tiger with an episode of Foyle's War in which an obviously fictitious scenario leads to the hounding to suicide of a man thought responsible for a miscommunication which prevented the intelligence of the e-boats' existence from reaching the men on the exercise and, thus, their evacuation.
OKW and OKH infighting with Hitler's antics are very much the opposite of what Clausewitz argued.
Random question, but what is Mao Zedong doing during all of this? Is he helping to stop the Japanese advances?
He is not. The CCP is watching the Japanese destroy the KMT armies and then moving into the now sparsely defended parts of North China.
The more the Japanese attack south, the better it is for the communists.
He will actually thank the Japanese prime minister in the 1970's, saying that without Japan's attack on China, the CCP would never have beat the kmt
Guerilla operations. I don't think he has the strength to fight the Japanese directly. Annd... why would he? He can let his enemies the Nationalists do that for him.
@@CrazyYuriethey toned down their existing guerilla operations at this time. The absolute last thing the CCP wanted was for a communist railway bomb to cause a Japanese division to stick around.
Had the CCP attacked in force during 1944, (the CCP has over half a million front line troops at this point) it would have made the Japanese offensive very difficult.
The CCP would also have suffered casualties and the KMT might not have to fight as hard.
Ichigo is a time when the interests of the CCP and the interests of China really diverged. Ichigo's success was helped by the CCP making the conscious decision to avoid disrupting the Japanese in North China.
(Of course, they talked a huge game about their guerilla efforts, but post war Japanese documents, as well as CCP reports to the soviets, declassified in the 90's, show that CCP activities against Japan were curtailed while ichigo was going on.)
@@porksterbob Yeap. And people wondered why Chiang seemed to be more worried about them than the Japanese. The world has been paying for it ever since.
@@porksterbob Exactly. The CCP had absolutely zero intention of helping the nationalists as Mao was already playing the long game.
Excelent, every video better than the previous, can’t wait to see what’s next
Brilliant narration as always
Thank you Jason!
You’re brilliant!
@@WorldWarTwo Thank you😀😀😀😀
My pleasure!
It's telling that Jodl makes no distinction here between nations that were taken by force of arms, like France and Greece, and allies like Italy and Finland. As the Italians learned the hard way last September, Nazi leadership does not consider them to be equal partners in this war.
Technically the Finns weren't allies of Nazi Germany, they were co-belligerents.
Look at what happened recently in Hungary. When Germany's allies start acting like enemies (in their view, that is), they're not going to trust anyone.
Hungary can be added to that list now too
@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 The Finns certainly declared as much at the time. Though not part of the Tripartite Pact, Finland *was* part of the Anti-Comintern Pact, a less formal agreement which the Nazi leadership considered to be a "litmus test of loyalty". The 1947 Paris Peace Treaty concluded that Finland had been "an ally of Hitlerite Germany".
So... basically it depends on who you ask.
The nod to ANZAC Day @12:18 was an insightful mention and very much appreciated. 🦘
Cheers mate! 🦘
Looking forward to hearing Clarke's excuses for prolonging the Italian campaign by a year very soon
It seems like everyone in Europe is holding their breath, just waiting for who will be the first to make their move. It's a quiet week, but quiet as in tense, and high strung
Excellent stuff bro
Thank you!
14:45 - this sounds eerily like Perun's analysis of Putin's various competing subordinates. In fact, the whole SS vs Airforce vs Army shenanigans of the Germans strikes a cord here as well.
What a great episode. The politics and social systems behind the war in very interesting to hear about.
What happened to the tennis court after the war and does it still exist?
Google Kohima Tennis Court. It's now the War cemetery for Allied troops and nearby is the memorial with the epitaph 'When you go home, tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today'
18:17: Start of section on 'A few notes to the end of the week - 25th to 28th April 1944'
You know conditions must be downright horrendous when there are Japanese deserters. Unless they were Indian auxillaries, I suppose.
Or Koreans
@@pocketmarcy6990 There was increasing use of Koreans, as well as Taiwanese, as a reaction to battlefield losses, although they were generally still used as labourers or as dogsbodies for low-esteem tasks like guarding prisoners.
Frank McLynn is a great historian and you're making me want to check out his Burma book. Loved his work on Genghis Khan.
52 weeks and the European front goes silent....
Treatment of peasants and questionable conduct by Chinese National army will one day be one of the reasons why Mao and communists got so much support in country side. We know now that communists won't be any better and a decade later will be much worse but peasants don't know that.
ua-cam.com/video/cZlTKdq4Yb4/v-deo.html
A song taught to Communist soldiers (many defectors from the Kuomintang) instructing them not to mistreat peasants. Traditionally the presence of soldiers was seen as negative by peasantry.
Didn't know about merril and Operation End Run. Guess Stillwell was right about that in the 1st place
Suggestion, sometimes the maps can be hard to see when the allies are represented by blue and the sea is represented by a slightly different shade of blue. Maps are great in every other respect.
I get so angry at choices made by losing armies no matter the conflict, the needless suffering and loss caused is painful to hear or read about. Like, "you MORON!" and then imagining the desperation of the people who must receive the repercussions of their actions.
One of the challenges I have seen is that despotic leaders in conflict often get caught in a situation where they cannot admit defeat, even long after it has become impossible for their armies to win. This is because to do so would mean letting themselves face justice for crimes often so awful no amnesty could be possible. So instead they force their people to suffer and fight in ever more desperate and horrific conflicts.
That must be one hell of a tennis court.
Thanks!
Was someone punished for the friendly fire incident that cost the lives of hundreds of soldiers or was it put under the rug because of the need for secrecy connected with the invasion?
Covered up, I believe.
Very well done, thank you!
Another great episode
Hi Indy
Another interesting week.
OKW ,OKH explantion is good.
Thanks for the video.
I wonder if there are any similarities between then and now.......
What happens to a high ranking officer when they get sacked? Are they just demoted or reassigned? Or are they literally kicked out of the armed forces?
Some are placed in the reserve, some my be reassigned, others dismissed. An example is von Rundstedt who was dismissed and brought back more than once.
@@caryblack5985 There was a so-called "Fuehrer Reserve". This had nothing to do with Hitler - it could be translated as "leadership reserve". Officers awaiting reassignment were often placed in it. Sometimes it was a short wait, sometimes long.
Thumbnail on point gang
Once again, another outstanding show- BRAVO!
Thank you!
You’re outstanding!
Thank you indy and i thank everyone in the comments for their insightful comments. Unlike other youtube communities comments here are useful for once!
We’re very glad to hear that you enjoy the comments section! 😎
Wait, at 11:35 , a singular bomber did all of that damage!? Employee of the month award to that guy!
Sounds like more of a foul-up on the Allies' part. They probably had all of that food and ammo packed into a small area instead of spreading it out away from the landing areas and all it took was a lucky hit to start a nasty chain reaction.
@@Raskolnikov70 Likely. Also individual intruder aircraft sometimes made it through flak and fighter defences, where a formation of aircraft might not.
A great very interesting video. Had all the Tommies in 1940 had the PIATs in France and had all their tanks had the 17pdr guns there would be less swimming in the Channel. Also had the British Navy and the USN had fielded an effective sonar/radar/wire guided torpedo things would have gone smoother.
20 Geishas to Imphal , Yanagida should stab Mutugachi with his Katana
that intro was top tier Indy
I know the solution to Germany's existential crisis: Unleash Steiner's attack! His army will destroy the Red Army
11:19: Start of section on 'action on New Guinea this week'
My Gramps was a Colonel with the Marauders in the China Burma campaign I have his Colt .45 1911. With 22 etches on the handle!
He might have been keeping track of the number of times he got dysentery. Those guys had it rough.
@@Raskolnikov70 or the amount of dead Japs he shot
You should go back to putting miles/kilometers on the maps. It is so hard to understand the scale on most of your maps without them. As soon I typed this, I see that you did include the scale on the map of the Crimea.
The guy on the other end of the phone just won't shut up!
Thank you.
I watched "Ike, Countdown to D-Day" and it was a very informative movie. I am seeing some of the things in the movie confirmed by you.
This video corrects a major error in the movie "Patton" whereby Patton is portrayed as having intentionally slighted the Soviets during that British speech, which caused an uproar among Soviet sympathizers in the USA. Also, the Slapton Sands catastrophes that killed around 1,000 of our men was covered up so well that I did not see any mention of it in war literature until the 1980s, and even then in veiled one-line sentences, without mentioning losses. This is the first I've heard about the friendly-fire part of it.
I encountered a passing reference to it in a history book in the 1970s. I think it just mentioned the German E-boats.
"What are they doing on the tennis court?"
Wait, did I end up on a video about the French revolution by mistake?
Many would say that Stalingrad was the point of no return for Nazi Germany. THIS Week imo is the real Rubicon.
D Day coming soon ...
OK, I have to ask: WTF is going on with Indy's jacket? Is that a vest with lapels? A jacket with no sleeves? It just looks wrong.
Execpt Germany didnt take Finland. Finland fought invading russia and asked Germany for support, because allied did not give any.