I love the game but damn i wish the combat was at least a little more detailed. Just imagine doing large scale campaigns of acting and reacting to enemy movements like it was shown here.
WSE WSE wat I hate the most in Hoi4 is the ai brains. Sometimes in Russia it’s a good challenge (once you’ve enscircled the absolute hell of division spam) but the other day I landed paratroopers and naval invaded the Caucasus and the friggin ai decide to abandon the entire eastern front! No joke! They literally moved all of their 200+ divisions to counter my tiny naval invasion.
Can you imagine being Hitler and seeing the Allies Stalin has and then turn around and see shitty ass Mussolini getting his ass kicked at every turn and Japan halfway around the world? He might as well have not even had major Allies.
Rob you don’t have to imagine that when you play HOI4. Most frustrating country to be an ally with, yet advantageous since you have a route into Africa the Mediterranean. I seriously deploy my units to guard their coasts cause if I don’t, they get naval invaded and I have to bail them out.
Fun Facts: Italy had changed sides after the fall of Mussolini. The Declaration of War was given by Pietro Badoglio to the German ambassador in Madrid.... ..... also Bulgaria Romania and Finland changed sides in '44-'45. How convenient
If you know Alps, you know how difficult to pass through them. In 1944 the Allies conquered southern France and they didn't even try to cross the Alps to northern Italy to finish the german forces there... because they know how difficult it'd have been, even with an overwelming superiority in everything.
“Sir we’re fighting a two front war” “I know, it’s awful isn’t it? They’re surrounding us in Dunkirk in the north and on the Seine in the south” “No I mean we’re getting attacked in the Alps” “Oh, we are?”
Give me Polish or Ethiopian soldiers over Italians anyday. Even better, give me Greeks. Italians need to stick to fashion and food. Italians are a disgrace to the military tradition of the Roman legions, unlike the Greeks, who truly fought bravely just like their ancestors.
French history books say the worst inferiority of our army was not in guns, in planes or even in tanks, but in the brains of our generals. The French had always intended to let the German attack first, yet the drive into Belgium and Holland meant the Army was left with *no reserve whatsoever* against a possible German breakthrough. If the front was pierced for any reason, there was *nothing* to stop the German from driving anywhere they wanted. On May 13th, men panicked under air bombardment. They barely fought at all, they simply abandonned their guns and fled. On May 15th, generals ordered a full retreat, but the troops didn't withdraw in good order and they were all overrun. After that it only took five more days for the German to drive 300km to the coast... By June 5th the troops had recovered enough to make a last stand on the Somme, but by then the German had such an advantage in numbers that it was over in three days. Interesting trivia: the French 4th Armored Division, the one that did something, was commanded by then-colonel Charles de Gaulle.
I agree for the most part but it is simply not true that the men did not put up a fight and just abandoned their guns and fled. The fact that approx. 60,000 French soldiers died in just 6 weeks of combat shows how untrue that statement is. I strongly recommend Dominique Lormier's various books on the topic, especially "Comme des lions : Mai-juin 1940 : le sacrifice héroïque de l'armée française" which sheds a well-needed light on this.
the french also could have easily invaded germany in 1939 since most of the german army was focused on invading poland, although they did enter germany, it wasnt that big of an invasion and the french forces withdrew back to the maginot line anyway had the french actually invaded germany in 1939, it would be possible for the war to end before it even started.
The problem is that the attack stroke the Corap's 9th Army - so called army,because it was 'Ardennes's Army Detachement' before the war. Ill-equiped divisions, with no-AT and DCA, effectivly manned with low-rank conscrit that fled before the airstrike. The best german sword vs the worst french meat. Should the confrontation had happened in Belgium (versus the 3rd Army Group, the best we had), it may have been a draw.
Interesting enough there was also a second Siege of Dunkirk that started with the Normandy breakout in 1944. The Germans trapped held out till May 1945.
Interesting, always that that was just a pocket that was ignored as the Allies ran east to the Siegfried line and the Rhine and just never bothered with it
Also the Channel Islands were held by the Germans until the rest of Germany surrendered. They tried to negotiate a ceasefire and claim the blockade was harming the civilian population but the siege lasted until May 1945.
I study WWI way more than WWII and you hear these river and place names that the Germans took in weeks that 25 years before they were fought over 4 years. It's insane
you need to remember that the germans reached the marne in a month but were defeated, but not so much they were routed, but just enough for it to be a stalemate, then both sides dug in, with no tanks to help them through(the first tanks were crap only by 1918 did they start getting better). Here the allies fucked up big time leaving a gab in their lines in the ardennes and the germans just plunged into it with everything they had, most of that fast pacing was over open ground...
French general: I can't see any menace to our country except germans. French soldier: Sir the Italians are attacking us. French General: I can't see any menace to our country except Germans.
I remember once seeing a small scrimmage statistic between 9 French and a group of Italians. Then end of the attack was something like 9 captured French and 200+dead and wounded Italians.
My, our performance against the beaten French Army in the alps was embarrassing to say the least. Oddly enough, five years later the French tried the same, and they too got their asses handed over by ragtag remains of Italian armed forces. I guess only the Swiss ca do some proper fighting in the Alps
@@r.c.1881The area of French alps Is very difficult to pass on both sides. Italian army had prepared a plan to fight the French on that front dice the end of 1800's and the tactic was very simple:. But Mussolini wanted a glorious campaign and failed.
Historically accurate depiction of tanks of that century, not a historically accurate timeline. In the game you can see thanks from WW2 fighting cold war tanks.
"If you build an army of 100 lions, and their leader is a dog, in any fight the lions will die like a dog. But if you build an army of 100 dogs and their leader is a Lion, all dogs will fight as a lion. " - Napoleon Bonaparte
@ Also there are enough examples of inferior troops beaten by a numerically superior enemy ;-). A good leader also can make his men dying like lions. :-P
@@the_phen0m639 and also funny because while the breakthrough at Sedan, the German southern flank was at some time just secured by a single Tank, which maneuvered around at a wood edge to appear in different spots at different times so the French thought there must be dozens of tanks protecting haha
French: "We have time! The German tanks have to slow down to let their infantry catch up!" German Command: "Gottverdammt that wasn't your orders, let us catch up and resupply you before you get caught!" Rommel: ｒｕｎｎｉｎｇ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ４０ｓ
same thing to germany in 1944, 1945. They still fought hard and manage to deal millions of casualties to the soviets. Still the western memeculture think the soviets rushed berlin in 2 days after stalingrad lol
@@darklysm8345 to be fair after stalingrad the Germans spent way to much for little gain. They didnt have the oil and people to fuel the war the allies were just finally done ramping up.
@@m7cky909 Of course! German Generals like Manstein and Rommel were Smarter than Montgomery. But we all know that Rommel lost the desert war becuase of the lack of suplies given to them by hitler.
Interesting to see how Rommel and Guderian defying the orders of their superiors led to the German victory. Had they waited for the infantry the French and British would have consolidated and surrounded the German spearhead.
Yeah, the more you learn about the Battle of France, the more you realize the success of the German attack rested on a knife-edge. If two or three French divisions are in a different spot, or relocate half a day faster the whole armored thrust is bottled up and history is perhaps very different. That being said, the interwar German military had focused on rapid movement and promoting initiative so that even little advantages could be exploited. The French on the other hand had focused on centralizing command so that units worked according to a deliberate grand plan. They failed to realize how much even a few hours waiting for a dispatch rider to deliver orders might make the difference between stopping a German division or being overrun. The French high command did not understand the new pace of war.
@@obiwankenobi4252 It's interesting watching documentaries from the early post war era (1950's-60'). There's a lot of emphasis placed on the French solider lacking morale and a will to fight. Made lethargic and indifferent from the political turmoil of the 3rd Republic, and the military focus on a defensive doctrine. But when you actually sit down and look at how the battle played out, it was really just the fact that the Allies did not have the right divisions in the right spots at the right time. When the elite French divisions and BEF met the German Army Group A in Belgium, they gave as good as they got. Given the rate of German loses (especially in Tanks) it's unlikely that the German army could have advanced much past the French-Belgium border in the absence of a breakthrough. Likewise, the units on the Maginot line fought quite hard. It's really just the 2nd rate and cobbled together units in the Ardennes and Sedan that were completely overmatched. That and the loss of air superiority to the Germans are really what decided the campaign. Not that the average French soldier was unwilling to fight.
@@Sphere723 the stereotype comes from the fact that, post-war, the Americans despised the French, so much so that both FDR and Truman wanted to punish France for having cooperated with the Germans for longer than they had fought against them, unlike the Poles, who never surrendered and/or formed satellite states. The only reason the Americans didn't have their way was that Churchill wanted a strong and friendly France as the primary defense of Western Europe against the USSR (as West Germany was demilitarized and Italy was in economic turmoil and there was the risk of a communist coup d'etat). To this, combine the Suez Crisis and it's easy to see why relations between the Franco-British and the Americans weren't very good until the '70s. But, in the end, the capitulation of France in 1940 was inevitable, as the only way I could see them making the right decisions was if they had post war hindsight.
@@Sphere723 a simple air reconn on Ardennes and a better mechanized units relocation with ac and arty support but allies were so slow to execute relocation...
A key factor in the German victory was communication. Post war reviews found it took ~48 hrs for an order in the high command to reach the men at the front. Radios were absent and horseback messengers were often used. This was exacerbated by French doctrine to keep the command far behind the lines (very sensible in trench warfare to keep your high command from dying to artillery fire). Compare this to the German commanders tending to lead from the front, even to an excess in Rommel’s case. Aside from that Gudarian’s insistence that every tank is equipped with a radio allowing big breakthroughs to be conducted without cohesion falling apart. Love your vids, keep it up!
Excellent point - people should be more aware of this . There is the famous picture of Gudarian standing in a communications truck with an enigma machine and morse code operator . So the German Generals could make decisions on the spot. At Bletchly Park , Gordon Welshman lead a team that used triangulation of radio transmissions to figure out where each enigma machine was . They had a chart of the German hierarchy and knew from the morse code operator's touch , who was transmitting and how often commands were issued. So at Bletchly they knew who , where and how often each enigma machine was transmitting. As such , Churchill and Lord Gord knew their position was hopeless. .
it was the first time french lost a war so badly, but at least; it wasn't that bad they fought bravely no one is talking how bad dutch , belgian , british danish and italian were enough france beaten up italian in the alpes
The ease with which the French surrendered made the Germans think the same thing would happen in Russia, an opponent they felt was far inferior to the French and British.
well they allow him to do recon and he did it his way, he was lucky, Germany could lost significant amount of armored, well trained units, and then later get rekt by Soviet union without any chance to occupy any part of soviet's territory
@@MrFuckthechicken And even afterwards lmao. Some defense posts were cut off by the italians and didn't get the memo of the Armistice until days after.
6:55 Actually the french weres preparing a counter attack in hope to break through the german line but the British decided to retreat to french port for evacuating their troops. This decision totally annihilated the french plan SO it was decided to back in a better defensive position at Calais and Dunkerque In the first days, the british, french and belgians formed a defensive line near Dunkerque, but verry quickly, the belgian capitulated and a majority of british troops have left their positions, creating big holes on the allied defensive line, forcing the french to secure as best as they weres able the evacuation of the british and the area, they managed to defend successfully Dunkerque enough time to evacuate the majority of the BEF and even a part of the french troops in Dunkerque.
@Inigo Bantok Sadly, due to Belgian neutrality, the french plan got destroyed, and due to belgian neutrality there were only few communications between them and franco-british troops
I am really curious to find out how you traced all division movements. I would be very interested to watch a video of you explaining the "making of" these map videos. Would be awesome!
He had teams and other helpers. Pretty obvious just a single guy can't do this. Honestly this would take 3 years or so to even finish if your alone doing it plus the animation you have to make.
0:00 Guys, the map has an error. Slovakia has it's present day, 2020 borders. In 1939-1940 southern Slovakia was part of Hungary, as per the First Vienna Award (1938) , also Slovakia gained some territory from Poland for it's participation in the invasion.
@@gutsjoestar7450 You really should because Slovakia participated in the war from the first day to the last. Besides this video is trying to be as accurate as possible. Maybe I'm into details, because I'm historian, but I was quite polite when pointing out this serious error to them.
@@gutsjoestar7450 That's a really nasty comment. I have no special interest in the subject, but I appreciate that it does matter to some people. It's generally a nice thing to be respectful to people with different priorities to your own. So it would be great if you could think of other people as well as yourself and not insult them without a very good reason. Thanks.
But the video isn't about Slovakia it's about Germany attacking France what is wrong with Slovakia. I know you're patriotic for you're country but it's not a reason for being toxic
"The allies wanted to give Belgium maximum assistance" **Sad Polish noises** Edit: Seems like the comments are fighting again, better grab some popcorn.
@@timetraveler2405 well USA , belgium or Romania didnt help poland for exemple , but not french . If France won t help poland why did they declar War to Germany ? There was a plan with poland , limited attack in the first days ( what they did) and more important attack After 20days . But in 20 days poland was ever defeated , they fall too soon.
@@amsfountain8792 More likely they prefered defend belgium border before germany attack but belgium didn't want that and prefered to stay neutral and don't cooperate ... And this is germany who choose the place where the battle will take place , don't reverse roles .
German High command: Rommel no!! You can't just advance your motorized divisions while leaving the Infantry divisions behind!! Rommel: ha ha panzer go brrr brrr
“Fighting to the last piece of land” Not really. They were only one of two countries during the entire war to sign a conditional surrender with Germany.
France started WW2 with less population than they started WW1. They literally lost a generation in men with 1.4 million dead and overall casualties of 4.2 million. Can you imagine what that does to the population graphs?
Not worst than -50% capitulation limit. On the other hand, considering that all french national spirits suck, why do I want to discuss about which is the worst ?
"Victors of nothing" Recruitable Population: -50% War Support: -75% Land Doctrine Research Speed: -100% "Memorys of the Great War" Recruitable Population: -25% War Support: - 25% Land Doctrine Research Speed: -35% "Jerry on the loose!" Recruitable Population: +35% War Support: +25% Land Doctrine Research Speed: +25% "We shall Defend Our Island!" Recruitable Population: +50% War Support: +50% Land Doctrine Research Speed: +50% "Arsenal of Democracy" Production Rate: Throw the roof!!!! Weapon Research Speed: Murica! Recruitable Population: UNLIMITED POWER!!!!!! Land Research Speed: Artillery Only! Unit Speed: +Freedom Naval Production: Endless Unit Organization: We shall overcome! Air Plane Research Speed: Enough to send the Axis, back to hell! Air Doctrine Research Speed: Fortress Strategy! +50 Attack, and Defense Against German, Japanese, and Italian Forces for 5000 Days
Should also have precised that Petain called in the radio for a cease-fight the 17th June. After that, the Army resistance on the Loire, which could have been very more significative, crumbled.
One of Petain's first crimes. Many soldiers assumed his announcement implied an end to hostilities and were thus easily captured, the number of french prisoners/hostages/slaves taken by the germans skyrocketed between June 17th and 25th when the armistice finally took effect.
@@chrisd8866 Alas he had the right to do so - the National Assembly gave him full powers the days before. Here come the great mistake (and cowardice) of the politics in 1940 - instead of taking their responsability and retreat to North Africa (which certainly could have been) they shattered in conflict and finally decided to keep on fighting ... by giving power to the guy who told everyone to give up ! Big Mistake - the kind which happens one time in a century ! Simulations have been made - France could have fight on. The decision was politic, certainly not military. Army was defeated, of course, but so was the english one. And she still landed in Normandy 4 years laters, after having fought in Africa, Burma, Greece and Italy.
@@demolitiondan6368 Some members of the national assembly, the senate, and the government tried to continue the fight in North Africa by going to Casablamca in the French protectorate of Morroco (notably George Mandel, minister of the interior, and Pierre Mandes France, secretary of the finances). But sadly, they where arrested on their arrival by the Vichy authorities.
@@williamshortfilm5818 You Sir are absolutly Right. But they were not the legal government. Should it leave to Africa, things would have been different.
I love how he's even showing reserve units shuffling around behind the fronts. His Eastern Front series shows perfectly why Germans couldn't hold many soviet offensives because of not having enough reserves, and also shows how soviet tank armies were shuffled around to their opening positions to attempt breakthroughs.
9:53 it is the speed of the units that changes the whole game. The german's tank units were so fast that it would be impossible for the slower french units to reform the line. If you have played any strategy games, you got my point. Of course, no one knew this when they were first persons in 1940 as they were not sitting here like us watching eastory's documentary and map without fog of war.
This still could have been remedied if the French recognized the situation and launched a deep retreat sooner. The initial retreats(First from guarding most of Belgium to just the coast, then the first river line in front of Paris, then the second river line behind Paris) were always too shallow and they couldn't dig in at the new spot before the Germans struck and broke it. Retreat further immediately instead of the half measures(The second the initial Belgium line breaks pull back to the river line in France) would have helped
@Pepe the Frog But we could see troop deployments and which islands were attacked and etc. Sure it would be quite different from the "static fronts" but why should that be an issue?
I'm so used to watching docs with the "British narrative" of WW II I forgot there was still a battle going on after Dunkirk. That after the Brits went home the French did not just 'give up'. There also seems to be some logic involved in the Maginot Line. Served a purpose in a specific area. And succeeded. It was the other defenses in the Ardennes that failed.
@@_kenny_7463 In a way yes but the French casualty figures in WW1 were so appalling to them that they thought they would be more cost effective in terms of human lives lost. Demographically France was in a bad place after WW1 with 1.4 million dead and almost 3 million wounded which is an entire generation in men. The French population was smaller in 1940 than it had been in 1914.
@MrStig691 The English took one loss and left France out to dry. Meanwhile the french tried their hardest but failed because Germany was too advanced in their war tactics
The amount of study it takes to understand which unit of what country was on which area, and how accurate you can be with the border along with what battle was fought on what date is incredible. Bravo.
At the start of the quarantine I rewatched the invasion of France on the WW2 channel just to see those quality maps again. You're the best map maker on UA-cam
To be honest, the French did practically nothing after declaring war on Germany. They did launch a minor offensive, but they almost immediately turned around and called it a day. They didn't even want to fire their artillery guns at Deutschland. In a war. Oversimplified does a great job covering the wussiness of the French during the so-called "phony war." They did defend their country, as this video shows, and you have to remember, using entire divisions of tanks as spearheads in a military assault was unheard of in 1940 - even Germany and the USSR were chums back then. However, in hindsight, the French (together with the British) could probably have completely destroyed Germany had they not been gun-shy pacifists and had they actually attacked the Krauts seriously when they had a chance. Who knows, millions of lives could have been saved had they done so. Keep in mind, however, that hindsight is 20-20
They didn’t “surrender without a fight” like ppl tend to say. They fought, but lost so thoroughly (due to inept generals) that they had no choice but to surrender.
@@theyoshi202 Had the french not surrendered they would simply have been massacred. They had to surrender (however the terms were stupid, like the French Navy not joining the Royal Navy, eventually leading to Mers El Kebir and Toulon, which for a warship fan like me, is just depressing (like Scapa Flow))
They could had carry on the fight from Africa. They could had combine their navy to the English one in Mediterranean sea giving no choice to Italy to conquer Africa. But France in Europe would had been totally conquered after a few months. The fight would had carry on in the mountains but France in Europe wouldn't had reach 1941
@@kimok4716 yep they could of continued on the fight they still had all of southern france they could of fled to the mountains fled to north africa ..they gave up to early they just didn't want that smoke and have paris in rubble
Eastory, your animated front videos are amazing. Its much clearer to see how the Germans conquered France or the USSR at an operational level, rather than just reading it in a history book. Please keep this up, I'd love to see other fronts in WW2, WW1, etc. It would be nice to see how units are dispersed over the geography in a pre-industrial age too, when armies were smaller and relied on horses.
I really love this videos, this animation and the way it is described the events. It's so much better and more interesting than history at school. Thanks Eastory
It really shows how important the tank divisions were in massive attacks like this. A grand strategy at an epic scale. Its crazy how headquarters command on both sidescan manipulate so many divisions and men at once to attack/defend simultaneously along the front.
4:30 German commander try to dialouge with the panzer commander be like: German commander : Rommel wait! Let the rest of the army catch up!! Erwin Rommel :LaLaLaLaLa..... German commander : Rommel Stop! Erwin Rommel : LaLaLaLa... what? I Cant hear you German Commander : Rommel, No! Erwin Rommel : ROMMEL YES!
@Abdul Minara Actually the 6th Panzer division that is seen advancing contrary to orders is Guderian not Rommel. Guderian had orders to slow down, but in his orders contained the message that he was still allowed to scout out the area with whatever he wanted, and went forward claiming that he was "scouting out forward". In fact in here the divisions Rommel is commanding are the 7th and 5th further North.
RIP my great-uncle Lt Ian S. Thomson, KIA 28th May 1940 at the Ypres-Comines canal (7:20 on this animation). Along with so many comrades of the Royal Scots Guards who were ordered to "hold the line at all costs" while BES evacuated at Dunkirk.
if this is horror and so the eastern front 4 years series are epic, i thought russia is gonna lost, but they win the battle of moscow which is the first victory against german, thats really epic even they almost lost hope
I remember serving in the Great-meme-war with the 7th dank division "kek" during operation "Orange Man". Normie resistance was fierce at first but quickly collapsed under the relentless assault of our shitposters. That said, I look back at it as one of the high-points of my life.
@@simon4781 damn racist. I was in the 8th Regimental Soyboy brigade of the 1st Cuck division and we attempted a DOX attack on the Trump-Suporting Deplorable Company/ MAGAt force but got pushed back by Special Pepe Spammers. Luckily, twitter bans came into full force from MSM command but the Russian Troll squad already did the damage.
Eastory, as much as Indy and Sparty get the main credits for their work on the WWII channel, you my dear is what keeps me actually watching the show and not just listening to it like a podcast. Your map work, especially during the battle of France was phenomenal.
My granduncle served in the 20th motorized Infantry Division and fell at the battle of Kursk. I was always wondering where the war took him. Thanks to you, I know. It was very detailed!
This is the first time I have ever seen a video on this scale showing the positions of all the divisions over an entire country level. I doubt to think that each position is accurate but even if it was that is an outstanding level of hard work to plot all that and animate the movements. Awesome job!
@Karl Berg imagine, not being able to show your full potential because of a bad leadership, that just sucks. I'm going to fix that right now in hoi4, it's time for another french empire Haha!!!
And on the other side of Atlantic, you have the USA, or not-so-good soldiers, not-so-good tanks, but infinite amount of bombs and bombardiers. Or you can consider the Soviet "unlimited manpower" Union.
@Cpl. Rook Then I suppose that Germany is the one who gives everything he has had, but become more and more tired, so he fails his year, in despite of having the best grades during the first semester.
some help for your respect: According to the historian Niall Ferguson, of the 125 major European wars fought since 1495, the French have participated in 50 - more than Austria (47) and England (43). Out of 168 battles fought since 387BC, they have won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The British tend to be rather selective about the battles they remember. Every English schoolboy was once able to recite the roll call of our glorious wins at Crécy (1346), Poitiers (1356) and Agincourt (1415), but no one’s ever heard of the French victories at Patay (1429) and (especially) at Castillon (1453), where French cannons tore the English apart, winning the Hundred Years War and confirming France as the most powerful military nation in Europe. And what about the Duke of Enghien thrashing the Spanish at Rocroi late on in the Thirty Years War in 1643, ending a century of Spanish dominance? Or the siege of Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, when General Comte de Rochambeau and American forces prevailed? The British always prided themselves on superiority at sea, but knew they could never win a land war on the Continent. France’s achievements help to explain another French “military victory”. Whether it is ranks (general, captain, corporal, lieutenant); equipment (lance, mine, bayonet, epaulette, trench); organisation (volunteer, regiment, soldier, barracks) or strategy (army, camouflage, combat, esprit de corps, reconnaissance), the language of warfare is French.
The french generals had reconnaissance about german presence in the Ardennes. And the generals ignored the reconnaissance. Big mistake. They thought it was impenetrable. If only it weren't ignored, WW2 would have been much different.
could also say that the battle of France was lost 2 years earlier, in Munich when Daladier and Chamberlain accepted Hitler conditions... and to know that Chamberlain returned "a hero" in Great Britain for that... at least the French side knew it was bollocks... the thing is, the UK refused to help at the time and France couldn't shoulder an offensive alone...
@@solwen Actually, the US didn't fall for it. They kept fewer troops on the front line in the Ardennes because it was easier to defend. And they were right. The Germans were stopped in most places, and delayed long enough in others for reinforcements to arrive. Sure, there was still luck and skill involved! But even if the Germans had reached Antwerp, they wouldn't have been able to withstand all the pressure on their flanks...
After having seen the comments and read the numerous nonsense of totally uneducated keyboard historian specialists (cc Telenil) who are not obviously in the historical-military academics community, some clarifications : the importance of the military losses shows that the campaign from May 10 to June 25 1940 is not a shameful defeat for France, with 183,000 French soldiers out of fight (60,000 killed and 123,000 wounded), 170,224 German soldiers out of fight (49,000 killed and 121,224 wounded), not to mention 1,900 French tanks and 753 German tanks destroyed, 1,247 French planes and 1,428 German planes destroyed. In just 45 days of fighting, the German army lost about 30% of its tanks and 50% of it's air force. This is not a simple military walk for the Wehrmacht. In addition to the 753 German tanks destroyed, about 300 others are seriously damaged : 1,053 panzers destroyed or seriously damaged out of 2,683 present at the beginning of operations. The fierce resistance of the French army saves from capture 403,517 British soldiers out of the 450,000 present in France in May-June 1940, because the evacuation of Dunkirk is not the only operation of this type during this period, several French ports allow for further embankments, with the sacrifice in cover of many French regiments. Thus, Great Britain saved most of its army present in France, allowing it to sanctuarize its own territory in the immediate future, despite the loss of 3,457 British soldiers killed and 43,026 prisoners in May-June 1940. The 403,517 soldiers rescued from capture represent the bulk of the British army in July 1940, as British General Brooks would like to remind us. After the loss of 1,428 aircraft in May-June 1940, the Luftwaffe was unable to bring the British Air Force to its knees.The British Air Force was able to line up 1,396 aircraft on 10 August 1940, including 1,095 fighters, compared to 3,031 German planes, including only 1,223 fighters. In May-June 1940, the French Air Force played an important role in the German failure of the Battle of Britain in July-October 1940, as pointed out by German general Adolf Galland, one of the Luftwaffe’s aces. It is significant to note that in 45 days of combat in May-June 1940, the Luftwaffe lost 1,428 aircraft to 1,616 during the 123 days of the Battle of Britain in July-October 1940, not to mention 2,668 German airmen killed in May-June 1940 against 2,662 during the Battle of Britain (fighters, bombers and reconnaissance). The sacrifice of the French army in May-June 1940 enabled Great Britain to continue the war, as Winston Churchill himself acknowledged. From the defeat of 1940, only the 1,500,000 French military prisoners were retained, forgetting to mention that more than 80% were captured by the Wehrmacht between June 18 and 25, following the catastrophic message of June 17 on the radio of Marshal Pétain calling for the cessation of fighting, while they will actually continue for another 8 days. During the last week, 965,000 French soldiers continued the fight, despite the defection of part of the military and political authority. Although fighting one-on-three in the air (British refused to send their air force... great allies), with a command largely overwhelmed by events, an initial military plan playing the opponent’s game, with 75% of his tanks armed with an ineffective cannon against 75% of the panzers, a non-existent DCA, poor transmissions, the French army has however caused heavy losses to the Wehrmacht, putting it out of action 30% of its tanks and about 50% of its planes. The French shield played an essential role in the British recovery and continuation of the war against Hitler. The French military defeat of 1940 is - once again - not a shameful defeat. It must be evaluated from a panoramic and strategic angle, avoiding reducing clichés. It is true that the rapidity of this defeat in six weeks may have led us to believe that the French army had broken out. But the lightning war of the German command rests precisely on the rapid defeat of the opponent, with the combined action of the panzerdivisions and the aviation. Moreover, the tactical and strategic errors of the French command facilitated the success of the Wehrmacht, without questioning the courage of the French soldier on the ground. The defeat of 1940 was above all that of a part of the Franco-British military and political elites, mediocre and incompetent, refusing to see in time the danger of Nazism, subsequently preparing delirious plans, making unknowingly the play of the Wehrmacht. Alas for the French, they did not have the English Channel and allies to sacrifice to protect themselves by re-embarking or the Russian territorial depth to recover and counter-attack.
They will make up for themselves tactically from 1943 to 1945 by having 60,000 French soldiers out of fight for 600,000 Germans out of fight (1:10 face to face) by saving the Allies in North Africa during the Battle of Bir-Hakeim*, by fighting during the Tunisia campaign, Italy campaign** where 50% of the losses of the Axis on this theatre were inflicted by the French - who were the only ones to pierce the chain of Abruzzo and the first to penetrate in Rome (long live the foreign Legion), during the second campaign of France and the German campaign***. And that’s not to mention the Normandy-Niemen air squadron on the Eastern Front, which has one of the largest aerial records in this theatre (5,000 air sorties, 273 confirmed victories for 96 pilots, 4 of which will be named « Heroes of the Soviet Union », 42 of the 96 pilots were killed). P.-S : details of battles and campaigns in asterisk below the comment P.-P.-S : sorry for the poor quality of my English.
*The battle of Bir-Hakeim in May-June 1942 : Libyan theatre, Rommel via his Afrikakorps thought in all logic to be able to crush definitively the allied forces in Africa, his entire plan was based on the right wing via a pivot point held by the FFL (Forces Françaises Libres) - that is to say only 3700 men relatively poor in equipment, some weapons even dating from the War of 14-18… - where he concentrated its top 5 divisions: the 15th and 21st panzerdivisions, the 90th German motorized division, the Ariete armoured division and the motorized division Trieste (all representing about 40,000 soldiers). During the execution of the plan, the English were rolled as expected to the north and south and retreated, but the French, isolated, did not give up a centimeter of ground: the course of the war on this continent would be played out on this commitment. In addition to the incessant assaults, the FFL suffered in 8 days 40,000 shells ranging from 105 to 220 caliber as well as 1400 air raids of the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica in 16 days (the concentration of bombers was higher than in the Battle of Stalingrad). Despite the encirclement, the casualties inflicted on the Germano-Italians amounted to 3300 soldiers, 277 prisoners, 51 tanks destroyed (one third of the tanks of the Afrikakorps) as well as 13 armoured-cars, a hundred different vehicles and seven planes shot down by the poor DCA. On the French side, there were only 99 killed and 79 injured during the siege. By heroically holding the Axis in respect for more than two weeks, by bleeding the Germans in a preponderant way, the French prevented the Allies from being annihilated and allowed them to reorganize to defeat at El-Alamein. ** Italian Campaign 1943-1944: the CEF (French Expeditionary Force) was made up of 120,000 men. The front was stagnant on the Abruzzo chain. The Americans and the British were pushed back until the CEF was engaged, directly crushing the German forces by acting as a spearhead. Marshal Kesserling, commander-in-chief of the German armies in Italy, did not hide his admiration by writing: “We are obliged to recognize that the divisions of the CEF have a flexible command, a willingness to push us and to disrupt our stall movements. Exceptional units with a combative, fiery and offensive spirit. The tactics of the Americans and the English were very methodical. Local successes have rarely been exploited. On the other hand, the French attacked with extraordinary valour, and fully exploited each success by immediately concentrating troops. We have noted the French way of overflowing the German support points when it was necessary, by a large manoeuvre. On several occasions, mountainous terrain deemed impracticable has been crossed by the enemy who seems to have prepared himself to the smallest details for this operation and who is equipped accordingly. It is therefore necessary to keep methodically even the land considered impraticable. Especially remarkable is the great all-terrain ability of the French troops who pass quickly through the mountainous areas, with their heavy weapons loaded on mules, and who always try to overflow our positions by wide maneuvers, and to pierce from behind. […] The sector of the Italian front where June was was the one that gave me the most concern.” Of the 100,000 Germans out of combat in Italy, 50% of the losses are attributed to the French. Let us not forget the capture of Rome, but that is another story. Without the French breakthrough, the Allies would never have been able to penetrate Northern Italy so quickly and militarily handicap Germany. ***Campaigns of France and Germany 1944-1945: General de Lattre landed in Provence on August 15 with 16,000 men, the German garrison held the stronghold of Toulon with 18,000 soldiers and 200 pieces of artillery. Despite the substantial undernumbers and disadvantage, de Lattre seized them in just one week and took 17,000 prisoners. Marseilles: the garrison numbered 13,000 Germans and 150 pieces of artillery, after also a week of fighting, de Lattre took the city and took 11,000 prisoners. In Normandy, the 2nd DB of Leclerc captured 3,000 enemies in the forest of Écouves, destroyed a regiment of panzers, headed for Paris which it liberated on August 24: the Germans had 3,200 dead and 14,000 prisoners. It continued on Dompaire and crushed the 112th Panzerbrigade which lost 49 tanks for only 10 French tanks. Junction of Leclerc and de Lattre, beginning of the difficult campaign of the Vosges and Alsace under a terrible cold reaching -20° against the elite divisions of the Reich. From 14 to 28 November, 6,000 French were out of action (killed, wounded and disappeared) for 10,000 German dead, 17,000 prisoners and the loss of a hundred tanks. In Colmar, the 19th German army was crushed: loss of 35,000 men including 20,000 prisoners per 10,000 French (killed, wounded and missing). On March 31, 1945, the Rhine was crossed. While the allies held a front of 530 km with 80 divisions, the French with only ten divisions had to hold a front of 200 km against two German armies (19th and 24th) reinforced by the 18th SS corps. The French army destroyed them and took 130,000 prisoners while losing only 6,000 men. From the Landing of Provence (15 August 1944) to the capitulation of Germany (8 May 1945), the 1st French army alone captured 300,000 German soldiers. The record speaks for itself : French weapons from 1943 to 1945 can claim for 60,000 soldiers killed the withdrawal of 600,000 German-Italians killed or taken prisoner, or 1 for 10.
God I know right, so many nationalists and/or children who think they're Anthony Beevor. Although if Dunkirk was a disaster, I doubt that the British would give up on their war effort, considering the Royal Navy and the RAF was really the main obstacles for the Germans. The Germans also, except for limited operations in WW1 such as Operation Albion (ironic), did not have experience in naval invasions. I mean, the Allies still took more casualties than the Germans, and they outnumbered the Germans, attacked a weaker part of the Atlantic Wall, navally bombarded the area, surprised the Germans, and had paratroopers weaken the defenses, with complete air superiority. Also the RAF did send it's air force, it's just it didn't send it's fighter squadrons. The AASF (Advanced Air Striking Force) played a role in the Battle of France, but was so badly destroyed they experienced a 75% loss rate, and on the 11th of May, experienced a loss rate of 100%. The decision to not send fighter squadrons to France wasn't a unanimous decision, Churchill had wanted the Marshall of the Air Force, Cyril Newell to do such a thing, but he refused point blank, to not compromise the country's air defense for the coming of the Battle of Britain. It was less Britain being a terrible ally, and more bureaucratic incompetence. You might be happy to know the man who made this decision was forced to retire, shortly after the Battle of Britain, and was replaced with Charles Portal who was in charge of Bomber Command, which includes the AASF.
Actions of France from WWII that led to their defeat were considered shamefull for bunch of reasons and what you wrote changes nothing about it. First, France lost any honor and credibility when they betrayed their ally, Czechoslovakia. Not only they made negotiations with Hitler behind Czechoslovakia back, but then actualy threatened Czechoslovakia (their own fucking ally) to attack them if they will refuse to follow Munich agreement that France (with UK) cooked up with Hitler and Italy. Just for that calling them shamefull cowards is more then justified. And how it payed them off. Wehrmacht at that point was heavily underequiped due to restrictions placed on Germany after WW1 where they were not allowed to have any significant military industries. And even when they started ignoring those restrictions, they were still heavily setted back. Out of those 3 millions wehrmacht soldiers, only 1,5 million was equiped at that time. The other 1,5 millions soldiers were equiped only after annexation of Czechoslovakia and using their industry and taking their weapons. France litteraly helped Hitler to get all the things he needed to beat them. That is pretty dumb. After that what you wrote about numbers is nice but it changes nothing about fact that France, in their ideal prepared defensive positions still fucked up everything and failed to stop germans in ludicrously small time.You are highlighting fact that they did not just roll over and died without doing anything while ignoring that this should have been long and bloody slugfest between two nations and not a six weeks operation. And that is another big reason why France from WWII was considered bad joke. Because all their defensive plans and strategies and efforts turned out to be useless in just six weeks. They had their army in position. They were prepared. They had plans for everything. But when they actualy started fighting, all they could do was to retreat after retreat. So sure, when Germany attacked, it was not as if French soldiers did not shoot back at them. But given fact that they were in such advantegous position to Germany it is not even funny that they lasted only for 6 weeks and even less funny when you think about how they worked so hard to screw themselve in first place.
@@LAigleOccitan Oh french Patriot saying France did well and the defeat was not shameful. Seems legit, tell that to all the jewish people who got taken in France got murdered or the children of the survivors, you little rascal patriot you.
The British had a small population, but the largest navy on the planet. Consequently, the British army was very small compared to the major European land powers.
@Ludo M The French army in 1939 consisted of 900,000 regulars, together with a further five million men who had undergone regular training and could be called up with little delay. At the outbreak of war in September 1939, the British Army in the United Kingdom consisted of four infantry divisions up to strength, and one under strength infantry division (the 5 Infantry Division). The recently formed 1 Armoured Division was slowly being equipped with tanks and was undertaking training. There were twelve other infantry battalions scattered around the U.K. The bulk of the British Army was to the be found in the twelve first line Territorial Army divisions and twelve second line divisions. Most of the personnel in these formations were still undergoing basic training and the divisions were poorly equipped, particularly in terms of artillery and machine guns. The priority for the British Army was to put together an expeditionary force for deployment to France. This was in anticipation of a German invasion of Belgium and The Netherlands to reach France, in a similar manner to what happened in 1914. The 1 Infantry Division and 2 Infantry Division left immediately for France, with the embryonic I Corps headquarters formed from elements of Aldershot Command. The 3 Infantry Division and 4 Infantry Division followed soon afterwards, allowing II Corps to be formed in France. By May, 1940, the BEF in France consisted of 13 divisions, of which 5 were regular, 5 Territorial, and 3 semi-trained divisions to be used in second-line duties. There was also 1 Armoured Division and 1 Army Tank Brigade. The 'only' 500,000 men represented every operational division available to the British in May, 1940. Indeed, three of the divisions were neither trained nor equipped. Would you suggest that the British should have sent men who were in the early stages of training, or even those who had been in the army for a matter of days?
That's because Britain is a naval power. In 1940 it was still the greatest naval power in the world, its navy to defend its Empire and the British Isles itself. Britain didn't need a massive army.
UK policy is to let France bleed. Worked for the Crimean war, worked for World War 1. Tried to fight that war on cheap and ended up paying more than if they had given adequate help and also ended up losing its empire in the process. 500k expeditionary force? That's farcical. Freaking Belgium fielded 650,000. The whole "France is crap at war a-ha" makes for a nice cover-up story to obfuscate Albion perfidy.
"Britain is perfidious because they, a naval power, didn't fight have the capacity to rapidly deploy vast field armies to the Continent in the style of a land power" 🥴 As for fighting war on the cheap, I don't remember the French complaining when the British bankrolled the Entente & had the most effective army on the Western Front in 1918 🤔
BGM 2:13 White Hats -- Wayne Jones 3:54 Down -- Joey Percoraro 5:18 Inescapable -- Ugonna Onyekwe 8:16 Prelude and Action -- Kevin Macleod 9:30 Down -- Joey Percoraro (2nd time)
@@JosiahJS976 dont be salty, the Italians werent in any position to wage war, their economy and army weren´t modernized enough to keep either of the other european powers at bay. The capabilities to wage war left Italy with the roman empire 2000 years ago :D
@@francescofulminis Aha. France only lost the Battle of France ... then they were out. Italy lost the War of Serbia/Balkans, Tunesia, Syria, Egypt and Italy itself. Italy had also an incredible advantage at the start of the war in Africa. They had like 300.000, a whole army while Britain had something like 30.000 men in ther area? And they beat the Italians and drove them back to Tunisia. I pretty sure a French army would have invaded Egypt without any help from their allies. The Italian army was underequiped and the Officers incompetent. The country was led by a war and glory hungry fachist, starting wars the Italian army wasn ready for at all. It doesnt get much worse than that if you ask me ... France was occupied early on, they had little to no options
Everyone's on about Rommel. To me, the real driving force behind the German Blitzkrieg was Guderian. He was the one making the long dashes to the coast
Awesome video!! I hope you keep doing this. As the World War Two channel progress week by week, we can have a overall view of the fronts with videos like this. You already made the eastern front but you could do North africa, pacific, etc after you do the maps for Indy.
I have created the base assets for the World War Two, so it is easier to make the full feature videos. Winter War, the Medditerranean theatre and Poland are on the list right now.
That's a really informative graphic you used. One of the best I've ever seen, actually. Also I'm mad at how seamless that transition was to your sponsor :P Keep up the great vids!
In hindsight, it's obvious how ridiculously gutsy their move was. Their tanks could have been cut off so easily while they were pushing all the way to the coastline like that. Had it failed, we would have remembered it as an incredibly stupid idea. "OMG Germany broke through and sent all their tanks way ahead of the rest of their army and they were encircled and destroyed? Noobs!"
@@safe-keeper1042 when you have only one chance to end the war, you roll those dice. Germany never had a chance after this, it could never mount a cross-channel invasion, win an air war far from bases without 4 engine heavy long range bombers, isolate Britain with the few U-boats or keep the US out indefinitely. It did not even have serious plans for any of these. This is the very last chance they had for a negotiated peace with Britain.
@@andraslibal Hitler was a gambler at heart, he ALWAYS rolled the dice. He rolled the dice when he remilitarized the Rheinland, when he annexed Austria, when he claimed the Sudetenland, when he marched into Prague, when he attacked Poland, and when he went for the Sichelschnitt. His final gamble was Barbarossa (or arguably Fall Blau). And finally, his luck ran out.
Yo, its my first time adding subtitles to THIS kind of videos, and man i use 30 minutes to translate 2 minutes of video lol, however, i might finish them today and im so excited. Yeah just wanted to say that e.e Pretty nice video by the way, keep up the good work :D
that's normal it takes me roughly 1hour to translates 1 min of speech when I translate a TED video (need to respect a lot of rules that hinder the speed though).
I wonder he was pronounces the actual word 'dank' then? As in 'a dank cellar'? "Tank'? Haha. For some reason, the narrator's voice seems to have a Danish accent even though I believe he is Estonian.
Actual event: Germany: For the love of... you're fucking up my plans for a fast invasion! Surrender or we'll bomb your cities! Netherlands: you didnt sign this document, its not official. Germany: Sigh, ok now its signed. Surrender! Netherlands: fine, we surrender Germany: ehm.. sorry the planes were already underway. Netherlands: AUW! RIGHT IN MY ROTTERDAM!
@@tomjaap2933 Onzin. Kesselring did not want to stop the bombing. It was planned for the 13th actually, but bad weather postponed it. The message from the groundforces not to bomb Rotterdam was ignored. The planes did not receive a message, because the Germans never sent one. Probably because the fallschirmjäger around The Hague were getting their arse kicked by the Dutch army. The second wave for later on the 14th was already in the air in the afternoon and was recalled.
This is one of the best overview of the battle of France I've ever seen. Despite the outcome, the actual battle was not really so lopsided and the Allies had several close calls in successfully halting the Germans. The quick victory as also equally was surprising for the Germans, and in many was was far more successful than the German planners had anticipated. Most videos covering the subject gloss over the Ardennes and stop talking about the battle after Dunkirk. Dunkirk wasn't the end-it-be-all for France. While this video didn't discuss the prewar considerations of the Ardennes, people tend to forget both Germany and France thought the Ardennes was a difficult natural barrier to bypass. However there were a minority group in both military that thought otherwise. The difference was that Germany decided to listen to said minority thinkers while France did not. With hindsight, we can say the Germans were correct but its quite crazy for the Germans to go with an idea supported by only a minority of generals, where most German leaders thought the Ardennes as "impassable" much like the French. I put impassable in quotations because both sides knew it was indeed passable, just that it would delay any offensive enough for the French to reinforce the area.
Eastory are you thinking on covering the lybian front? I know you have a lot of work but trust me the hours that you work REALY pay off Great channel! Great videos!
I absolutely love these maps. It is awesome to see this video finally becoming a reality! Maybe a full video on the invasion of Norway and Denmark as well? Or Yugoslavia and Greece? Either way, I am sure they will gain a ton of views.
His Videos always make me wanna play Hearts of Iron
same here :)
“HeartHs of Iron”
I love the game but damn i wish the combat was at least a little more detailed. Just imagine doing large scale campaigns of acting and reacting to enemy movements like it was shown here.
WSE WSE wat I hate the most in Hoi4 is the ai brains. Sometimes in Russia it’s a good challenge (once you’ve enscircled the absolute hell of division spam) but the other day I landed paratroopers and naval invaded the Caucasus and the friggin ai decide to abandon the entire eastern front! No joke! They literally moved all of their 200+ divisions to counter my tiny naval invasion.
@@aceadamgaming405 Now we've got a working strat :)
"Although the French were successful at resisting attempts by Italy"
Of course.
Can you imagine being Hitler and seeing the Allies Stalin has and then turn around and see shitty ass Mussolini getting his ass kicked at every turn and Japan halfway around the world? He might as well have not even had major Allies.
Rob you don’t have to imagine that when you play HOI4. Most frustrating country to be an ally with, yet advantageous since you have a route into Africa the Mediterranean. I seriously deploy my units to guard their coasts cause if I don’t, they get naval invaded and I have to bail them out.
Fun Facts: Italy had changed sides after the fall of Mussolini. The Declaration of War was given by Pietro Badoglio to the German ambassador in Madrid....
..... also Bulgaria Romania and Finland changed sides in '44-'45.
How convenient
Ben Lynch IAM Italian and iam happy u guys told us we are retarded so we rethink WHAT WE DO
If you know Alps, you know how difficult to pass through them.
In 1944 the Allies conquered southern France and they didn't even try to cross the Alps to northern Italy to finish the german forces there... because they know how difficult it'd have been, even with an overwelming superiority in everything.
“Sir we’re fighting a two front war”
“I know, it’s awful isn’t it? They’re surrounding us in Dunkirk in the north and on the Seine in the south”
“No I mean we’re getting attacked in the Alps”
“Oh, we are?”
france dies to germany in 40 days but mussolini cant cross the alps
Idk what’s more embarrassing the French not recognizing Italy’s involvement at all or Italy’s failed invasion on the mighty nation of Greece.
Give me Polish or Ethiopian soldiers over Italians anyday. Even better, give me Greeks. Italians need to stick to fashion and food. Italians are a disgrace to the military tradition of the Roman legions, unlike the Greeks, who truly fought bravely just like their ancestors.
@@Thebluernemace He barely beat the Ethiopians and Greeks (with German help).
@Univac Caesar wasn't even alive to see the Roman Empire, why would he care?
I want to talk with that French HQ. let me tell them one or two things on how to win against a superior army.
Could have defeated them in detail
Would've told Hitler about the Winter in Russia.
I dont think you good sir know a thing about winning battles in Belgium....
U wanna contact their manager?
Let your commanders and Lieutenants make tactical decisions on the ground with an overall goal from the high command.
Finally never clicked something that fast.
As fast as the battle of france
Same
Clicked faster than Danemark's surrender
Clicked faster than Luxembourg s invasion
Too right man! Eastory is one of those rare instaclick channels.
French history books say the worst inferiority of our army was not in guns, in planes or even in tanks, but in the brains of our generals. The French had always intended to let the German attack first, yet the drive into Belgium and Holland meant the Army was left with *no reserve whatsoever* against a possible German breakthrough. If the front was pierced for any reason, there was *nothing* to stop the German from driving anywhere they wanted.
On May 13th, men panicked under air bombardment. They barely fought at all, they simply abandonned their guns and fled. On May 15th, generals ordered a full retreat, but the troops didn't withdraw in good order and they were all overrun. After that it only took five more days for the German to drive 300km to the coast... By June 5th the troops had recovered enough to make a last stand on the Somme, but by then the German had such an advantage in numbers that it was over in three days.
Interesting trivia: the French 4th Armored Division, the one that did something, was commanded by then-colonel Charles de Gaulle.
Yeah de Gaulle was becoming somewhat of a threat but that was quickly ended
I agree for the most part but it is simply not true that the men did not put up a fight and just abandoned their guns and fled. The fact that approx. 60,000 French soldiers died in just 6 weeks of combat shows how untrue that statement is. I strongly recommend Dominique Lormier's various books on the topic, especially "Comme des lions : Mai-juin 1940 : le sacrifice héroïque de l'armée française" which sheds a well-needed light on this.
the french also could have easily invaded germany in 1939 since most of the german army was focused on invading poland, although they did enter germany, it wasnt that big of an invasion and the french forces withdrew back to the maginot line anyway
had the french actually invaded germany in 1939, it would be possible for the war to end before it even started.
It’s the Netherlands not Holland
The problem is that the attack stroke the Corap's 9th Army - so called army,because it was 'Ardennes's Army Detachement' before the war. Ill-equiped divisions, with no-AT and DCA, effectivly manned with low-rank conscrit that fled before the airstrike. The best german sword vs the worst french meat. Should the confrontation had happened in Belgium (versus the 3rd Army Group, the best we had), it may have been a draw.
Interesting enough there was also a second Siege of Dunkirk that started with the Normandy breakout in 1944. The Germans trapped held out till May 1945.
History Hustle yeah when I found out about that the irony was glorious
Interesting, always that that was just a pocket that was ignored as the Allies ran east to the Siegfried line and the Rhine and just never bothered with it
The irony!
Also the Channel Islands were held by the Germans until the rest of Germany surrendered. They tried to negotiate a ceasefire and claim the blockade was harming the civilian population but the siege lasted until May 1945.
@@lars1228 Not on the Western Front but the Germans also held Courland (in Lithuania) until May 1945.
I study WWI way more than WWII and you hear these river and place names that the Germans took in weeks that 25 years before they were fought over 4 years. It's insane
you need to remember that the germans reached the marne in a month but were defeated, but not so much they were routed, but just enough for it to be a stalemate, then both sides dug in, with no tanks to help them through(the first tanks were crap only by 1918 did they start getting better). Here the allies fucked up big time leaving a gab in their lines in the ardennes and the germans just plunged into it with everything they had, most of that fast pacing was over open ground...
I see it as God's justice for Germany. Eventually, the Germans got defeated but they did avenge the loss and tough reparations of WW1
@@lalolara123 solution final
@@lalolara123 Nice bait.
Yeah, airborne + the difference in tank technology really changed the dynamics of WWII vs WWI. It is wild to think about.
French general: I can't see any menace to our country except germans.
French soldier: Sir the Italians are attacking us.
French General: I can't see any menace to our country except Germans.
I remember once seeing a small scrimmage statistic between 9 French and a group of Italians. Then end of the attack was something like 9 captured French and 200+dead and wounded Italians.
My, our performance against the beaten French Army in the alps was embarrassing to say the least. Oddly enough, five years later the French tried the same, and they too got their asses handed over by ragtag remains of Italian armed forces. I guess only the Swiss ca do some proper fighting in the Alps
@@r.c.1881The area of French alps Is very difficult to pass on both sides.
Italian army had prepared a plan to fight the French on that front dice the end of 1800's and the tactic was very simple:.
But Mussolini wanted a glorious campaign and failed.
@@r.c.1881 You are right Swiss defenses in mountains could have be simply impassable even for Germany
@@r.c.1881 I've heard about that 1945 French offensive multiple times but no one has ever been able to give me a link to a site speaking about it
12:09 Eastory: Historically accurate playable tanks
*video immediately showing Panther II*
Historical battles - Sturmpanzer vs Abrams
Historically accurate depiction of tanks of that century, not a historically accurate timeline. In the game you can see thanks from WW2 fighting cold war tanks.
Who cares? It's fun to imagine if they did see combat.
@@hippityhop9522 There is "Simulation mode" that has spawn lists corresponding to the depicted battle.
Yeah? Lets talk about World of Tanks.
"If you build an army of 100 lions, and their leader is a dog, in any fight the lions will die like a dog. But if you build an army of 100 dogs and their leader is a Lion, all dogs will fight as a lion. "
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Famous Kat I feel like this theory lacks scientific testing
Pian war isn’t scientific
@
Also there are enough examples of inferior troops beaten by a numerically superior enemy ;-).
A good leader also can make his men dying like lions. :-P
I was joking fellas. Obviously the analogy has accuracy but a literal army of 100 dogs led by a fucking lion would end badly
If you build an army of 100 normal men led by an evil war criminal, all men will fight as war criminals. :/
A French soldier: I saw that same german tank 5 times this week
I don't get it ;-;
@@zerker12312 oh- lol oki-
@@the_phen0m639 and also funny because while the breakthrough at Sedan, the German southern flank was at some time just secured by a single Tank, which maneuvered around at a wood edge to appear in different spots at different times so the French thought there must be dozens of tanks protecting haha
@@Lovecars1218 oh damn thats was a genius move for the German and a wuss move for the French
Rommels ghost division?
France: REEEE you can’t just move your tanks up without consolidating positions with your infantry first!
Rommel: Haha panzer goes bbrrrrr
Or was it Heinz Guderian?
Actually, both did this. It is what disorganized the French armored divisions and let the Germans reach the Channel one week after crossing the Meuse.
More like Guderian said that
@@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin Ich mag Toastbrot
Im just amazed the panzers did not get destroyed by the infantry, Tanks are usually useless without support from the infantry
French: "We have time! The German tanks have to slow down to let their infantry catch up!"
German Command: "Gottverdammt that wasn't your orders, let us catch up and resupply you before you get caught!"
Rommel: ｒｕｎｎｉｎｇ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ４０ｓ
Haha panzer go brrr
@TheSatanicTicTac I'm just r u n n i n g i n t h e 4 0 s
@@markhenley3097 ... with Panzer DIvision three...
tnx 4 your comment, didn't know that in lead of that panzer division was Rommel
@@maxk4471 Rommel commanded 7th Panzer in France - I just used three to continue on the song :D
Imagine burning to death in a tank only for the history books to recall your effort as a completely ineffective counterattack.
I think if I was burning to death I wouldn't be thinking of what will be in history books 70 years in the future
I mean you just summed up most German operations 1943-1945, not just a French problem
same thing to germany in 1944, 1945. They still fought hard and manage to deal millions of casualties to the soviets. Still the western memeculture think the soviets rushed berlin in 2 days after stalingrad lol
@@darklysm8345 to be fair after stalingrad the Germans spent way to much for little gain. They didnt have the oil and people to fuel the war the allies were just finally done ramping up.
History rarely remembers the individual suffering during wars. "One death is a tragedy, a million death is a statistic" - Kurt Tucholsky
"Germany found itself in a war with Britain and France."
Well, I guess that's one way to put it.
That's the only way to put it unless you've been brainwashed by Allied propaganda.
@@austinmontgomery117 Okay, mr. Edgelord.
@@austinmontgomery117 germany brought it upon themselves to invade poland and to ignore the munich conference
@@austinmontgomery117 Germany was the aggressor. It was Germany who attacked Poland, not the other way around, you Nazi sympathizer...
@@nicholaswilley9001 with the soviet union
Sweat saves blood, Blood saves lives, But brain saves both.
- Erwin Rommel
"... and disobedience wins wars"
"And fighting across the sea was a logistic blunder for germany"
German generals were probably the smartest among all of the major allied nations.
@@m7cky909 Of course! German Generals like Manstein and Rommel were Smarter than Montgomery. But we all know that Rommel lost the desert war becuase of the lack of suplies given to them by hitler.
You probably got that from hoi4
Interesting to see how Rommel and Guderian defying the orders of their superiors led to the German victory.
Had they waited for the infantry the French and British would have consolidated and surrounded the German spearhead.
Yeah, the more you learn about the Battle of France, the more you realize the success of the German attack rested on a knife-edge. If two or three French divisions are in a different spot, or relocate half a day faster the whole armored thrust is bottled up and history is perhaps very different.
That being said, the interwar German military had focused on rapid movement and promoting initiative so that even little advantages could be exploited. The French on the other hand had focused on centralizing command so that units worked according to a deliberate grand plan. They failed to realize how much even a few hours waiting for a dispatch rider to deliver orders might make the difference between stopping a German division or being overrun. The French high command did not understand the new pace of war.
@@Sphere723 I perfectly agree here. A common theme throughout the entire campaign is the German Divisions being simply faster than their foes'.
@@obiwankenobi4252 It's interesting watching documentaries from the early post war era (1950's-60'). There's a lot of emphasis placed on the French solider lacking morale and a will to fight. Made lethargic and indifferent from the political turmoil of the 3rd Republic, and the military focus on a defensive doctrine. But when you actually sit down and look at how the battle played out, it was really just the fact that the Allies did not have the right divisions in the right spots at the right time.
When the elite French divisions and BEF met the German Army Group A in Belgium, they gave as good as they got. Given the rate of German loses (especially in Tanks) it's unlikely that the German army could have advanced much past the French-Belgium border in the absence of a breakthrough. Likewise, the units on the Maginot line fought quite hard. It's really just the 2nd rate and cobbled together units in the Ardennes and Sedan that were completely overmatched. That and the loss of air superiority to the Germans are really what decided the campaign. Not that the average French soldier was unwilling to fight.
@@Sphere723 the stereotype comes from the fact that, post-war, the Americans despised the French, so much so that both FDR and Truman wanted to punish France for having cooperated with the Germans for longer than they had fought against them, unlike the Poles, who never surrendered and/or formed satellite states. The only reason the Americans didn't have their way was that Churchill wanted a strong and friendly France as the primary defense of Western Europe against the USSR (as West Germany was demilitarized and Italy was in economic turmoil and there was the risk of a communist coup d'etat). To this, combine the Suez Crisis and it's easy to see why relations between the Franco-British and the Americans weren't very good until the '70s. But, in the end, the capitulation of France in 1940 was inevitable, as the only way I could see them making the right decisions was if they had post war hindsight.
@@Sphere723 a simple air reconn on Ardennes and a better mechanized units relocation with ac and arty support but allies were so slow to execute relocation...
A key factor in the German victory was communication. Post war reviews found it took ~48 hrs for an order in the high command to reach the men at the front. Radios were absent and horseback messengers were often used. This was exacerbated by French doctrine to keep the command far behind the lines (very sensible in trench warfare to keep your high command from dying to artillery fire).
Compare this to the German commanders tending to lead from the front, even to an excess in Rommel’s case. Aside from that Gudarian’s insistence that every tank is equipped with a radio allowing big breakthroughs to be conducted without cohesion falling apart.
Love your vids, keep it up!
Excellent point - people should be more aware of this .
There is the famous picture of Gudarian standing in a communications truck with an enigma machine and morse code operator . So the German Generals could make decisions on the spot.
At Bletchly Park , Gordon Welshman lead a team that used triangulation of radio transmissions to figure out where each enigma machine was . They had a chart of the German hierarchy and knew from the morse code operator's touch , who was transmitting and how often commands were issued.
So at Bletchly they knew who , where and how often each enigma machine was transmitting.
As such , Churchill and Lord Gord knew their position was hopeless.
.
And they said French surendered without trying
@BullseyeBullsclaw ok keyboard warrior
@BullseyeBullsclaw keyboard coward?
it was the first time french lost a war so badly, but at least; it wasn't that bad they fought bravely
no one is talking how bad dutch , belgian , british danish and italian were enough
france beaten up italian in the alpes
The ease with which the French surrendered made the Germans think the same thing would happen in Russia, an opponent they felt was far inferior to the French and British.
no one says that
they say after a short amount of fighting, they just gave themselves up
Rommel: I recognize the council has made a decision but given that it's a stupidass decision, I've elected to ignore it
@Univac Thats a suprisingly reasonable way to do things.
well they allow him to do recon and he did it his way, he was lucky, Germany could lost significant amount of armored, well trained units, and then later get rekt by Soviet union without any chance to occupy any part of soviet's territory
French in the Alps: "You guys had ONE job, don't lose the northern line. ONE JOB."
You can't do shit after eating pasta
Fighting Italy is not a big challenge though...they haven't win a battle since the Roman empire ;)
@@XVducoeur It's wrong, italian won lot of battle after roman empire ! and french alps army fought italian and german from june 1940 to the armistice
@@MrFuckthechicken And even afterwards lmao. Some defense posts were cut off by the italians and didn't get the memo of the Armistice until days after.
@@riri3531 Yes it's true :)
6:55
Actually the french weres preparing a counter attack in hope to break through the german line but the British decided to retreat to french port for evacuating their troops. This decision totally annihilated the french plan SO it was decided to back in a better defensive position at Calais and Dunkerque
In the first days, the british, french and belgians formed a defensive line near Dunkerque, but verry quickly, the belgian capitulated and a majority of british troops have left their positions, creating big holes on the allied defensive line, forcing the french to secure as best as they weres able the evacuation of the british and the area, they managed to defend successfully Dunkerque enough time to evacuate the majority of the BEF and even a part of the french troops in Dunkerque.
This commentary had to be on the top.
The sacrifice of the french soldier is completely forgot
@Inigo Bantok Sadly, due to Belgian neutrality, the french plan got destroyed, and due to belgian neutrality there were only few communications between them and franco-british troops
If Hitler didn't order the Tanks to stop, the evacuation would have failed pretty fast.
@@kopzukusaft If, if, if.....
The gerans werent invincible; and there im talking about allies problem, not about german problems.
I am really curious to find out how you traced all division movements. I would be very interested to watch a video of you explaining the "making of" these map videos. Would be awesome!
I think 80 % was fantasy
He had teams and other helpers. Pretty obvious just a single guy can't do this. Honestly this would take 3 years or so to even finish if your alone doing it plus the animation you have to make.
Well theres a reason he doesnt go farther back than ww2 usually since its the only one he can probably track
This map isnt work of this guy, but historians from ww2 channel, who actually make video of ww day by day through researchs,, analysis and facts
@@nika6184 He wasn't working with them when he made the Eastern Front videos though.
Oh my god it's happening everybody stay calm!
Seriously I waited so long for this
We had the same idea.
vilzu puupää unfortunately for them history will not see it that way 😂
!!!!!!!!!!! same af
@@harleyokeefe5193 my comment is actually one minute older. Well I guess history isn't always written by the victors.
whats the procedure?
0:00 Guys, the map has an error. Slovakia has it's present day, 2020 borders. In 1939-1940 southern Slovakia was part of Hungary, as per the First Vienna Award (1938) , also Slovakia gained some territory from Poland for it's participation in the invasion.
Finnish border is wrong for 1940 as well, but maybe the map is supposed to depict late 1939
We don't care about Slovakia. This video is about Germany attack of France. Stop being a toxic piece of shit. We don't care
@@gutsjoestar7450 You really should because Slovakia participated in the war from the first day to the last. Besides this video is trying to be as accurate as possible. Maybe I'm into details, because I'm historian, but I was quite polite when pointing out this serious error to them.
@@gutsjoestar7450 That's a really nasty comment. I have no special interest in the subject, but I appreciate that it does matter to some people. It's generally a nice thing to be respectful to people with different priorities to your own. So it would be great if you could think of other people as well as yourself and not insult them without a very good reason. Thanks.
But the video isn't about Slovakia it's about Germany attacking France what is wrong with Slovakia. I know you're patriotic for you're country but it's not a reason for being toxic
"Guys it's happening! Everybody stay calm!"
Ahahahahahaaaaahhh
@@nandinhocunha440 Can I comment without getting trolls? Feels impossible nowadays.
@@vilzupuupaa4680 it is impossible.
@@StromcekDavid unfortunately I think that's true.
@@vilzupuupaa4680 it ls rare
Meanwhile HoI4 players: "Can we simply drop paratroopers on their core states?"
more like on their victory points
1st September: Germany Declared war on France
1st September: Paris has fallen
Hey, it worked with Holland
It's mostly from Soviet (and modern Russia) propaganda
@@greaterbritannia5745 September 2nd： all France has fallen
0:22 "This video is sponsored by War Thunder. We are on that later"
Best UA-camr Ever.
More on that later.
@@iain8837 tru
E
Beige is that you?
"The allies wanted to give Belgium maximum assistance"
**Sad Polish noises**
Edit: Seems like the comments are fighting again, better grab some popcorn.
It was too late when french finish mobilize to help polish btw
Yeah right, the French faced limited opposition and had numerical advantage, they attacked but halted. They rather didn't want to help Poland.
@@timetraveler2405 well USA , belgium or Romania didnt help poland for exemple , but not french . If France won t help poland why did they declar War to Germany ?
There was a plan with poland , limited attack in the first days ( what they did) and more important attack After 20days . But in 20 days poland was ever defeated , they fall too soon.
More likely they didnt want french territory becoming a war zone like in WW1. They prefered to use Belgium for that..
@@amsfountain8792 More likely they prefered defend belgium border before germany attack but belgium didn't want that and prefered to stay neutral and don't cooperate ...
And this is germany who choose the place where the battle will take place , don't reverse roles .
German High command: Rommel no!! You can't just advance your motorized divisions while leaving the Infantry divisions behind!!
Rommel: ha ha panzer go brrr brrr
Nice meme, but Rommel didn't command motorised divisions. He was in command of just one division, and it was armored.
@@VRichardsn right, I get motorized and armored mixed up a lot. Sorry.
@@DarronGA Please, no need to apologise. All is well.
This is the most wholesome thing I've seen all week
@ Cue Sabaton
France in real history: fighting to the last piece of land
France in hoi4: capitulates immediately after 1 panzer division sneaks to Paris
Nah wdym u drop 5 paratroopers on the 5 victory points in the north and its gg
“Fighting to the last piece of land”
Not really. They were only one of two countries during the entire war to sign a conditional surrender with Germany.
@@willkp50 who is second?
@@simplifier_ Denmark
"Last piece of land", *Immediately retreats from paris and leaves behind the other half of france*
"So what are you doing in your free-time?"
"It's complicated."
Wars are stupid, but mine is plenty of sense
"Victors of the Great War"
Recruitable Population: −0.3%
War Support: -5%
Land Doctrine Research Speed: -75%
France started WW2 with less population than they started WW1. They literally lost a generation in men with 1.4 million dead and overall casualties of 4.2 million. Can you imagine what that does to the population graphs?
Not worst than -50% capitulation limit.
On the other hand, considering that all french national spirits suck, why do I want to discuss about which is the worst ?
@@thi9491 pff, the lower surrender limit isn't a problem if you improve your army and manage to defend
"Victors of nothing"
Recruitable Population: -50%
War Support: -75%
Land Doctrine Research Speed: -100%
"Memorys of the Great War"
Recruitable Population: -25%
War Support: - 25%
Land Doctrine Research Speed: -35%
"Jerry on the loose!"
Recruitable Population: +35%
War Support: +25%
Land Doctrine Research Speed: +25%
"We shall Defend Our Island!"
Recruitable Population: +50%
War Support: +50%
Land Doctrine Research Speed: +50%
"Arsenal of Democracy"
Production Rate: Throw the roof!!!!
Weapon Research Speed: Murica!
Recruitable Population: UNLIMITED POWER!!!!!!
Land Research Speed: Artillery Only!
Unit Speed: +Freedom
Naval Production: Endless
Unit Organization: We shall overcome!
Air Plane Research Speed: Enough to send the Axis, back to hell!
Air Doctrine Research Speed: Fortress Strategy!
+50 Attack, and Defense Against German, Japanese, and Italian Forces for 5000 Days
@@obiwankenobi4252
Nah, just do the national focus and thats it, improving your army better than the German one is hard af
Napolean looking from the heaven: *Look how the government masscare my Army*
Heaven isn't a hotel for everyone mate
It could be said that Napoleon massacred his own army.
Bismark: Look at that escargots! (Drinks beer)
@@MichaelCorryFilms No
@@MichaelCorryFilms technically every general in existence massacre their boys
it's honestly insane how large these formations are. A division is a large element and they are a dot here.
Now imagine how big the Eastern front Was with 200 divisons for the Fascists alone in 1941.
Should also have precised that Petain called in the radio for a cease-fight the 17th June. After that, the Army resistance on the Loire, which could have been very more significative, crumbled.
One of Petain's first crimes. Many soldiers assumed his announcement implied an end to hostilities and were thus easily captured, the number of french prisoners/hostages/slaves taken by the germans skyrocketed between June 17th and 25th when the armistice finally took effect.
@@chrisd8866 Alas he had the right to do so - the National Assembly gave him full powers the days before. Here come the great mistake (and cowardice) of the politics in 1940 - instead of taking their responsability and retreat to North Africa (which certainly could have been) they shattered in conflict and finally decided to keep on fighting ... by giving power to the guy who told everyone to give up !
Big Mistake - the kind which happens one time in a century ! Simulations have been made - France could have fight on. The decision was politic, certainly not military. Army was defeated, of course, but so was the english one. And she still landed in Normandy 4 years laters, after having fought in Africa, Burma, Greece and Italy.
Dont't Feed the troll
@@demolitiondan6368 Some members of the national assembly, the senate, and the government tried to continue the fight in North Africa by going to Casablamca in the French protectorate of Morroco (notably George Mandel, minister of the interior, and Pierre Mandes France, secretary of the finances). But sadly, they where arrested on their arrival by the Vichy authorities.
@@williamshortfilm5818 You Sir are absolutly Right. But they were not the legal government. Should it leave to Africa, things would have been different.
I see any video from this guy i click instantly. Best animations ever.
I love how he's even showing reserve units shuffling around behind the fronts. His Eastern Front series shows perfectly why Germans couldn't hold many soviet offensives because of not having enough reserves, and also shows how soviet tank armies were shuffled around to their opening positions to attempt breakthroughs.
@@Cephalos666 agreed
agreed
Loving these videos as always
Had to watch several times to see all the detail went into the operation. Thank you so much for showing such detail troops movements
9:53 it is the speed of the units that changes the whole game. The german's tank units were so fast that it would be impossible for the slower french units to reform the line. If you have played any strategy games, you got my point. Of course, no one knew this when they were first persons in 1940 as they were not sitting here like us watching eastory's documentary and map without fog of war.
Except that the Germans displayed their speed in the Battle of Poland. That's why the allies were too late to help.
So playing strategy games makes me a military Historian?
@@mehmedalijabarak5576😂😂.
This still could have been remedied if the French recognized the situation and launched a deep retreat sooner. The initial retreats(First from guarding most of Belgium to just the coast, then the first river line in front of Paris, then the second river line behind Paris) were always too shallow and they couldn't dig in at the new spot before the Germans struck and broke it. Retreat further immediately instead of the half measures(The second the initial Belgium line breaks pull back to the river line in France) would have helped
Damn. I would love to see a Pacific war style rendition of this.
@Pepe the Frog Static fronts? Why would that be important?
Pepe the Frog it did sometimes. He could do the battle of Kohima and Imphal or certain US campaigns like Okinawa.
Would be interesting to see the Philippines. The Japanese were encircled in Manila
@Pepe the Frog
But we could see troop deployments and which islands were attacked and etc. Sure it would be quite different from the "static fronts" but why should that be an issue?
*i s l a n d h o p p i n g*
I'm so used to watching docs with the "British narrative" of WW II I forgot there was still a battle going on after Dunkirk. That after the Brits went home the French did not just 'give up'.
There also seems to be some logic involved in the Maginot Line. Served a purpose in a specific area. And succeeded. It was the other defenses in the Ardennes that failed.
It didn't though. It actually tied down huge amounts of French troops and limited French thinking and readiness.
@@_kenny_7463 In a way yes but the French casualty figures in WW1 were so appalling to them that they thought they would be more cost effective in terms of human lives lost. Demographically France was in a bad place after WW1 with 1.4 million dead and almost 3 million wounded which is an entire generation in men. The French population was smaller in 1940 than it had been in 1914.
MrStig691 english surrendered
@@Perkelenaattori i do agree with you at 100% !! the context is very important !
@MrStig691 The English took one loss and left France out to dry. Meanwhile the french tried their hardest but failed because Germany was too advanced in their war tactics
The amount of study it takes to understand which unit of what country was on which area, and how accurate you can be with the border along with what battle was fought on what date is incredible. Bravo.
At the start of the quarantine I rewatched the invasion of France on the WW2 channel just to see those quality maps again. You're the best map maker on UA-cam
@Marshall Banana It's called the Invasion of France because France was the one getting invaded.
@Marshall Banana Ok either you lack brain cells or you are making a terrible joke lmao
Marshall Banana an invasion has nothing to do with who declared war on who... An invasion is when the enemy is fighting over you‘re terretory
To be honest, the French did practically nothing after declaring war on Germany. They did launch a minor offensive, but they almost immediately turned around and called it a day. They didn't even want to fire their artillery guns at Deutschland. In a war.
Oversimplified does a great job covering the wussiness of the French during the so-called "phony war." They did defend their country, as this video shows, and you have to remember, using entire divisions of tanks as spearheads in a military assault was unheard of in 1940 - even Germany and the USSR were chums back then. However, in hindsight, the French (together with the British) could probably have completely destroyed Germany had they not been gun-shy pacifists and had they actually attacked the Krauts seriously when they had a chance. Who knows, millions of lives could have been saved had they done so. Keep in mind, however, that hindsight is 20-20
@Marshall Banana I really hope you're baiting because if you're this stupid I'd be worried
After watching this video, I can see why France signed the armistice. Despite their flaws, they didn't stop fighting until they were screwed.
They didn’t “surrender without a fight” like ppl tend to say. They fought, but lost so thoroughly (due to inept generals) that they had no choice but to surrender.
@@theyoshi202 Had the french not surrendered they would simply have been massacred. They had to surrender (however the terms were stupid, like the French Navy not joining the Royal Navy, eventually leading to Mers El Kebir and Toulon, which for a warship fan like me, is just depressing (like Scapa Flow))
They could had carry on the fight from Africa. They could had combine their navy to the English one in Mediterranean sea giving no choice to Italy to conquer Africa. But France in Europe would had been totally conquered after a few months. The fight would had carry on in the mountains but France in Europe wouldn't had reach 1941
@@antoniogariz2630
Which would have probably led to the same harsh occupation that was taking place in Poland
@@kimok4716 yep they could of continued on the fight they still had all of southern france they could of fled to the mountains fled to north africa ..they gave up to early they just didn't want that smoke and have paris in rubble
Eastory, your animated front videos are amazing. Its much clearer to see how the Germans conquered France or the USSR at an operational level, rather than just reading it in a history book. Please keep this up, I'd love to see other fronts in WW2, WW1, etc. It would be nice to see how units are dispersed over the geography in a pre-industrial age too, when armies were smaller and relied on horses.
I really love this videos, this animation and the way it is described the events. It's so much better and more interesting than history at school. Thanks Eastory
It really shows how important the tank divisions were in massive attacks like this. A grand strategy at an epic scale. Its crazy how headquarters command on both sidescan manipulate so many divisions and men at once to attack/defend simultaneously along the front.
10:22 omg, some german panzers [2] [5] advance so fast that they even left eastory's red line behind at the top left hand corner
Blitzkrieg in a nutshell just like 7th panzer division lol
@@goldenflame4563 just like the guderian panzers who used reconnaissance as a reason to continue advance when hitler gave the order...
4:30 German commander try to dialouge with the panzer commander be like:
German commander : Rommel wait! Let the rest of the army catch up!!
Erwin Rommel :LaLaLaLaLa.....
German commander : Rommel Stop!
Erwin Rommel : LaLaLaLa... what? I Cant hear you
German Commander : Rommel, No!
Erwin Rommel : ROMMEL YES!
France Commander : who the hell start the tank engine in the middle of night!!!
German : GUTEN NACHT
one of the best german decisions
@Abdul Minara Actually the 6th Panzer division that is seen advancing contrary to orders is Guderian not Rommel. Guderian had orders to slow down, but in his orders contained the message that he was still allowed to scout out the area with whatever he wanted, and went forward claiming that he was "scouting out forward". In fact in here the divisions Rommel is commanding are the 7th and 5th further North.
@@AbdulRasyidPangrango-qr9dt Yeah in any case though they both smashed the lines lmao
@@AbdulRasyidPangrango-qr9dt actually it's called "Gute Nacht" and not "Guten Nacht".
RIP my great-uncle Lt Ian S. Thomson, KIA 28th May 1940 at the Ypres-Comines canal (7:20 on this animation). Along with so many comrades of the Royal Scots Guards who were ordered to "hold the line at all costs" while BES evacuated at Dunkirk.
I have a huge respect for everyone who held the lines while they evacuated at Dunkirk.
This guy is criminally undersubscribed! His style and his approach to history is impeccable. He deserves more subs!
This was like watching a horror film with that music and all.
INCREDIBLE WELL DONE!!!!
Yeah honestly i also felt a little bit like that and even if i knew what was coming i just hoped for some reason that the French would hold.
Kaiser Wilhelm II looks on withe envy
@@emperor_ra exactly what I felt
if this is horror and so the eastern front 4 years series are epic, i thought russia is gonna lost, but they win the battle of moscow which is the first victory against german, thats really epic even they almost lost hope
It reflects the feelings I had when I played France in Hearts of Iron 4 for the first time.
3:50 That small dot in eastern Belgium. Are those the 40 Chasseurs Ardennais that stood their ground for 18 days?
That must be the forts around Liège. They held out until the day Belgium surrendered 28 May and even the day after.
do you know the name of this music?
Ardennes are more in the south of the country
@@viniciusc.p3276 resist and bite by sabaton
I love coming back to these videos commonly. They are well animated, show the divisions precisely, and shows almost all battles.
3:09
The dank divisions.
I remember serving in the Great-meme-war with the 7th dank division "kek" during operation "Orange Man". Normie resistance was fierce at first but quickly collapsed under the relentless assault of our shitposters.
That said, I look back at it as one of the high-points of my life.
I stand in awe
@@simon4781 Don't forget to mention Reposters expeditionary force, the 420th Karen division. It took them only 3 days to find the manager.
@@simon4781 damn racist. I was in the 8th Regimental Soyboy brigade of the 1st Cuck division and we attempted a DOX attack on the Trump-Suporting Deplorable Company/ MAGAt force but got pushed back by Special Pepe Spammers. Luckily, twitter bans came into full force from MSM command but the Russian Troll squad already did the damage.
@@n0yn0y wait... how are you alive? I heard the 8th Soyboy-brigade was court-martialed for cowardice during the siege of Tumblr.
Eastory, as much as Indy and Sparty get the main credits for their work on the WWII channel, you my dear is what keeps me actually watching the show and not just listening to it like a podcast. Your map work, especially during the battle of France was phenomenal.
My granduncle served in the 20th motorized Infantry Division and fell at the battle of Kursk. I was always wondering where the war took him. Thanks to you, I know. It was very detailed!
This is the first time I have ever seen a video on this scale showing the positions of all the divisions over an entire country level. I doubt to think that each position is accurate but even if it was that is an outstanding level of hard work to plot all that and animate the movements. Awesome job!
The graphics make this a breathtaking masterpiece... bravo.
I feel that I've got even more respect for the French army now, seeing how hard they fought.
@Karl Berg imagine, not being able to show your full potential because of a bad leadership, that just sucks. I'm going to fix that right now in hoi4, it's time for another french empire Haha!!!
@Cpl. Rook thanks haha, I just love this anime version of her.
And on the other side of Atlantic, you have the USA, or not-so-good soldiers, not-so-good tanks, but infinite amount of bombs and bombardiers.
Or you can consider the Soviet "unlimited manpower" Union.
@Cpl. Rook Then I suppose that Germany is the one who gives everything he has had, but become more and more tired, so he fails his year, in despite of having the best grades during the first semester.
some help for your respect:
According to the historian Niall Ferguson, of the 125 major European wars fought since 1495, the French have participated in 50 - more than Austria (47) and England (43). Out of 168 battles fought since 387BC, they have won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10.
The British tend to be rather selective about the battles they remember. Every English schoolboy was once able to recite the roll call of our glorious wins at Crécy (1346), Poitiers (1356) and Agincourt (1415), but no one’s ever heard of the French victories at Patay (1429) and (especially) at Castillon (1453), where French cannons tore the English apart, winning the Hundred Years War and confirming France as the most powerful military nation in Europe.
And what about the Duke of Enghien thrashing the Spanish at Rocroi late on in the Thirty Years War in 1643, ending a century of Spanish dominance? Or the siege of Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, when General Comte de Rochambeau and American forces prevailed? The British always prided themselves on superiority at sea, but knew they could never win a land war on the Continent.
France’s achievements help to explain another French “military victory”. Whether it is ranks (general, captain, corporal, lieutenant); equipment (lance, mine, bayonet, epaulette, trench); organisation (volunteer, regiment, soldier, barracks) or strategy (army, camouflage, combat, esprit de corps, reconnaissance), the language of warfare is French.
*Everybody gangsta until someone crosses the maginot line*
But nobodey acc did.
@@ermin2970 the germans did.
@@fortune3911 no noone cross Maginot Line, they just cross arround it, but not through
@@justindematte760 Someone doesn’t know there history.
Funny how that is possible considering something called the fucking internet exists.
@@justindematte760 the german did cross the maginot line
wow! How much a work you do that make it interactive maps, with every troops and their movie.. no words. Thank you so much!
The french generals had reconnaissance about german presence in the Ardennes. And the generals ignored the reconnaissance. Big mistake. They thought it was impenetrable. If only it weren't ignored, WW2 would have been much different.
it was a total tactical defeat of the French command ! with rommel instead of gamelin, france could have been won !
What is even more bewildering is the fact that the US fell to the same trick during the Ardennes offensive only 4 years later
@@solwen Yes!! Battle Of The Bulge!
could also say that the battle of France was lost 2 years earlier, in Munich when Daladier and Chamberlain accepted Hitler conditions... and to know that Chamberlain returned "a hero" in Great Britain for that...
at least the French side knew it was bollocks... the thing is, the UK refused to help at the time and France couldn't shoulder an offensive alone...
@@solwen
Actually, the US didn't fall for it.
They kept fewer troops on the front line in the Ardennes because it was easier to defend.
And they were right.
The Germans were stopped in most places, and delayed long enough in others for reinforcements to arrive.
Sure, there was still luck and skill involved!
But even if the Germans had reached Antwerp, they wouldn't have been able to withstand all the pressure on their flanks...
This isn’t the army I knew... the army I knew knows how to attack and defend more
It's the France of an entirely different century, Nap :)
This is the only France known for
Surrender
Which army? Those teenagers you managed to scrape together after 1812?
@@captstainstain la garande armee
Surrender please
After having seen the comments and read the numerous nonsense of totally uneducated keyboard historian specialists (cc Telenil) who are not obviously in the historical-military academics community, some clarifications : the importance of the military losses shows that the campaign from May 10 to June 25 1940 is not a shameful defeat for France, with 183,000 French soldiers out of fight (60,000 killed and 123,000 wounded), 170,224 German soldiers out of fight (49,000 killed and 121,224 wounded), not to mention 1,900 French tanks and 753 German tanks destroyed, 1,247 French planes and 1,428 German planes destroyed. In just 45 days of fighting, the German army lost about 30% of its tanks and 50% of it's air force. This is not a simple military walk for the Wehrmacht. In addition to the 753 German tanks destroyed, about 300 others are seriously damaged : 1,053 panzers destroyed or seriously damaged out of 2,683 present at the beginning of operations.
The fierce resistance of the French army saves from capture 403,517 British soldiers out of the 450,000 present in France in May-June 1940, because the evacuation of Dunkirk is not the only operation of this type during this period, several French ports allow for further embankments, with the sacrifice in cover of many French regiments. Thus, Great Britain saved most of its army present in France, allowing it to sanctuarize its own territory in the immediate future, despite the loss of 3,457 British soldiers killed and 43,026 prisoners in May-June 1940. The 403,517 soldiers rescued from capture represent the bulk of the British army in July 1940, as British General Brooks would like to remind us.
After the loss of 1,428 aircraft in May-June 1940, the Luftwaffe was unable to bring the British Air Force to its knees.The British Air Force was able to line up 1,396 aircraft on 10 August 1940, including 1,095 fighters, compared to 3,031 German planes, including only 1,223 fighters. In May-June 1940, the French Air Force played an important role in the German failure of the Battle of Britain in July-October 1940, as pointed out by German general Adolf Galland, one of the Luftwaffe’s aces. It is significant to note that in 45 days of combat in May-June 1940, the Luftwaffe lost 1,428 aircraft to 1,616 during the 123 days of the Battle of Britain in July-October 1940, not to mention 2,668 German airmen killed in May-June 1940 against 2,662 during the Battle of Britain (fighters, bombers and reconnaissance).
The sacrifice of the French army in May-June 1940 enabled Great Britain to continue the war, as Winston Churchill himself acknowledged. From the defeat of 1940, only the 1,500,000 French military prisoners were retained, forgetting to mention that more than 80% were captured by the Wehrmacht between June 18 and 25, following the catastrophic message of June 17 on the radio of Marshal Pétain calling for the cessation of fighting, while they will actually continue for another 8 days. During the last week, 965,000 French soldiers continued the fight, despite the defection of part of the military and political authority.
Although fighting one-on-three in the air (British refused to send their air force... great allies), with a command largely overwhelmed by events, an initial military plan playing the opponent’s game, with 75% of his tanks armed with an ineffective cannon against 75% of the panzers, a non-existent DCA, poor transmissions, the French army has however caused heavy losses to the Wehrmacht, putting it out of action 30% of its tanks and about 50% of its planes. The French shield played an essential role in the British recovery and continuation of the war against Hitler.
The French military defeat of 1940 is - once again - not a shameful defeat. It must be evaluated from a panoramic and strategic angle, avoiding reducing clichés. It is true that the rapidity of this defeat in six weeks may have led us to believe that the French army had broken out. But the lightning war of the German command rests precisely on the rapid defeat of the opponent, with the combined action of the panzerdivisions and the aviation. Moreover, the tactical and strategic errors of the French command facilitated the success of the Wehrmacht, without questioning the courage of the French soldier on the ground.
The defeat of 1940 was above all that of a part of the Franco-British military and political elites, mediocre and incompetent, refusing to see in time the danger of Nazism, subsequently preparing delirious plans, making unknowingly the play of the Wehrmacht. Alas for the French, they did not have the English Channel and allies to sacrifice to protect themselves by re-embarking or the Russian territorial depth to recover and counter-attack.
They will make up for themselves tactically from 1943 to 1945 by having 60,000 French soldiers out of fight for 600,000 Germans out of fight (1:10 face to face) by saving the Allies in North Africa during the Battle of Bir-Hakeim*, by fighting during the Tunisia campaign, Italy campaign** where 50% of the losses of the Axis on this theatre were inflicted by the French - who were the only ones to pierce the chain of Abruzzo and the first to penetrate in Rome (long live the foreign Legion), during the second campaign of France and the German campaign***. And that’s not to mention the Normandy-Niemen air squadron on the Eastern Front, which has one of the largest aerial records in this theatre (5,000 air sorties, 273 confirmed victories for 96 pilots, 4 of which will be named « Heroes of the Soviet Union », 42 of the 96 pilots were killed).
P.-S : details of battles and campaigns in asterisk below the comment
P.-P.-S : sorry for the poor quality of my English.
*The battle of Bir-Hakeim in May-June 1942 : Libyan theatre, Rommel via his Afrikakorps thought in all logic to be able to crush definitively the allied forces in Africa, his entire plan was based on the right wing via a pivot point held by the FFL (Forces Françaises Libres) - that is to say only 3700 men relatively poor in equipment, some weapons even dating from the War of 14-18… - where he concentrated its top 5 divisions: the 15th and 21st panzerdivisions, the 90th German motorized division, the Ariete armoured division and the motorized division Trieste (all representing about 40,000 soldiers). During the execution of the plan, the English were rolled as expected to the north and south and retreated, but the French, isolated, did not give up a centimeter of ground: the course of the war on this continent would be played out on this commitment. In addition to the incessant assaults, the FFL suffered in 8 days 40,000 shells ranging from 105 to 220 caliber as well as 1400 air raids of the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica in 16 days (the concentration of bombers was higher than in the Battle of Stalingrad). Despite the encirclement, the casualties inflicted on the Germano-Italians amounted to 3300 soldiers, 277 prisoners, 51 tanks destroyed (one third of the tanks of the Afrikakorps) as well as 13 armoured-cars, a hundred different vehicles and seven planes shot down by the poor DCA. On the French side, there were only 99 killed and 79 injured during the siege. By heroically holding the Axis in respect for more than two weeks, by bleeding the Germans in a preponderant way, the French prevented the Allies from being annihilated and allowed them to reorganize to defeat at El-Alamein.
** Italian Campaign 1943-1944: the CEF (French Expeditionary Force) was made up of 120,000 men. The front was stagnant on the Abruzzo chain. The Americans and the British were pushed back until the CEF was engaged, directly crushing the German forces by acting as a spearhead. Marshal Kesserling, commander-in-chief of the German armies in Italy, did not hide his admiration by writing: “We are obliged to recognize that the divisions of the CEF have a flexible command, a willingness to push us and to disrupt our stall movements. Exceptional units with a combative, fiery and offensive spirit. The tactics of the Americans and the English were very methodical. Local successes have rarely been exploited. On the other hand, the French attacked with extraordinary valour, and fully exploited each success by immediately concentrating troops. We have noted the French way of overflowing the German support points when it was necessary, by a large manoeuvre. On several occasions, mountainous terrain deemed impracticable has been crossed by the enemy who seems to have prepared himself to the smallest details for this operation and who is equipped accordingly. It is therefore necessary to keep methodically even the land considered impraticable. Especially remarkable is the great all-terrain ability of the French troops who pass quickly through the mountainous areas, with their heavy weapons loaded on mules, and who always try to overflow our positions by wide maneuvers, and to pierce from behind. […] The sector of the Italian front where June was was the one that gave me the most concern.” Of the 100,000 Germans out of combat in Italy, 50% of the losses are attributed to the French. Let us not forget the capture of Rome, but that is another story. Without the French breakthrough, the Allies would never have been able to penetrate Northern Italy so quickly and militarily handicap Germany.
***Campaigns of France and Germany 1944-1945: General de Lattre landed in Provence on August 15 with 16,000 men, the German garrison held the stronghold of Toulon with 18,000 soldiers and 200 pieces of artillery. Despite the substantial undernumbers and disadvantage, de Lattre seized them in just one week and took 17,000 prisoners. Marseilles: the garrison numbered 13,000 Germans and 150 pieces of artillery, after also a week of fighting, de Lattre took the city and took 11,000 prisoners. In Normandy, the 2nd DB of Leclerc captured 3,000 enemies in the forest of Écouves, destroyed a regiment of panzers, headed for Paris which it liberated on August 24: the Germans had 3,200 dead and 14,000 prisoners. It continued on Dompaire and crushed the 112th Panzerbrigade which lost 49 tanks for only 10 French tanks. Junction of Leclerc and de Lattre, beginning of the difficult campaign of the Vosges and Alsace under a terrible cold reaching -20° against the elite divisions of the Reich. From 14 to 28 November, 6,000 French were out of action (killed, wounded and disappeared) for 10,000 German dead, 17,000 prisoners and the loss of a hundred tanks. In Colmar, the 19th German army was crushed: loss of 35,000 men including 20,000 prisoners per 10,000 French (killed, wounded and missing). On March 31, 1945, the Rhine was crossed. While the allies held a front of 530 km with 80 divisions, the French with only ten divisions had to hold a front of 200 km against two German armies (19th and 24th) reinforced by the 18th SS corps. The French army destroyed them and took 130,000 prisoners while losing only 6,000 men. From the Landing of Provence (15 August 1944) to the capitulation of Germany (8 May 1945), the 1st French army alone captured 300,000 German soldiers.
The record speaks for itself : French weapons from 1943 to 1945 can claim for 60,000 soldiers killed the withdrawal of 600,000 German-Italians killed or taken prisoner, or 1 for 10.
God I know right, so many nationalists and/or children who think they're Anthony Beevor.
Although if Dunkirk was a disaster, I doubt that the British would give up on their war effort, considering the Royal Navy and the RAF was really the main obstacles for the Germans. The Germans also, except for limited operations in WW1 such as Operation Albion (ironic), did not have experience in naval invasions. I mean, the Allies still took more casualties than the Germans, and they outnumbered the Germans, attacked a weaker part of the Atlantic Wall, navally bombarded the area, surprised the Germans, and had paratroopers weaken the defenses, with complete air superiority.
Also the RAF did send it's air force, it's just it didn't send it's fighter squadrons. The AASF (Advanced Air Striking Force) played a role in the Battle of France, but was so badly destroyed they experienced a 75% loss rate, and on the 11th of May, experienced a loss rate of 100%. The decision to not send fighter squadrons to France wasn't a unanimous decision, Churchill had wanted the Marshall of the Air Force, Cyril Newell to do such a thing, but he refused point blank, to not compromise the country's air defense for the coming of the Battle of Britain. It was less Britain being a terrible ally, and more bureaucratic incompetence.
You might be happy to know the man who made this decision was forced to retire, shortly after the Battle of Britain, and was replaced with Charles Portal who was in charge of Bomber Command, which includes the AASF.
Actions of France from WWII that led to their defeat were considered shamefull for bunch of reasons and what you wrote changes nothing about it.
First, France lost any honor and credibility when they betrayed their ally, Czechoslovakia. Not only they made negotiations with Hitler behind Czechoslovakia back, but then actualy threatened Czechoslovakia (their own fucking ally) to attack them if they will refuse to follow Munich agreement that France (with UK) cooked up with Hitler and Italy. Just for that calling them shamefull cowards is more then justified.
And how it payed them off. Wehrmacht at that point was heavily underequiped due to restrictions placed on Germany after WW1 where they were not allowed to have any significant military industries. And even when they started ignoring those restrictions, they were still heavily setted back. Out of those 3 millions wehrmacht soldiers, only 1,5 million was equiped at that time. The other 1,5 millions soldiers were equiped only after annexation of Czechoslovakia and using their industry and taking their weapons. France litteraly helped Hitler to get all the things he needed to beat them. That is pretty dumb.
After that what you wrote about numbers is nice but it changes nothing about fact that France, in their ideal prepared defensive positions still fucked up everything and failed to stop germans in ludicrously small time.You are highlighting fact that they did not just roll over and died without doing anything while ignoring that this should have been long and bloody slugfest between two nations and not a six weeks operation. And that is another big reason why France from WWII was considered bad joke. Because all their defensive plans and strategies and efforts turned out to be useless in just six weeks. They had their army in position. They were prepared. They had plans for everything. But when they actualy started fighting, all they could do was to retreat after retreat.
So sure, when Germany attacked, it was not as if French soldiers did not shoot back at them. But given fact that they were in such advantegous position to Germany it is not even funny that they lasted only for 6 weeks and even less funny when you think about how they worked so hard to screw themselve in first place.
@@LAigleOccitan Oh french Patriot saying France did well and the defeat was not shameful. Seems legit, tell that to all the jewish people who got taken in France got murdered or the children of the survivors, you little rascal patriot you.
@@dota2-kudretto518 Muh jews
Maybe you guys should know, Charles de Gaulle, a French, wrote a book about tanks attacking, ignored by the French but listened by the Germen.
Blitzkreig was a french book at the origin
Amazing series! I especially like how to covered the alternative options for each side and the pros & cons of decisions
I waited for it so much. But what about earlier fronts? Poland, Denmark and Norway?
mixererunio they were maybe too short
@@nerevarchthn6860 afaik norway was longer but less intense and Poland was same length or slightly longer
Historiograph already has some good videos on the Norway campaign and Denmark’s is too short but a video on poland would be interesting
Denmark was invaded on the 9th April 1940 and only lasted a couple of hours. The Norwegians held the Germans back a bit more than the danes tho.
I would love to see the Polish front
0:39 The UK had mobilized very few troops in 1940, I had never realized that.
The British had a small population, but the largest navy on the planet. Consequently, the British army was very small compared to the major European land powers.
@Ludo M The French army in 1939 consisted of 900,000 regulars, together with a further five million men who had undergone regular training and could be called up with little delay.
At the outbreak of war in September 1939, the British Army in the United Kingdom consisted of four infantry divisions up to strength, and one under strength infantry division (the 5 Infantry Division). The recently formed 1 Armoured Division was slowly being equipped with tanks and was undertaking training. There were twelve other infantry battalions scattered around the U.K.
The bulk of the British Army was to the be found in the twelve first line Territorial Army divisions and twelve second line divisions. Most of the personnel in these formations were still undergoing basic training and the divisions were poorly equipped, particularly in terms of artillery and machine guns.
The priority for the British Army was to put together an expeditionary force for deployment to France. This was in anticipation of a German invasion of Belgium and The Netherlands to reach France, in a similar manner to what happened in 1914. The 1 Infantry Division and 2 Infantry Division left immediately for France, with the embryonic I Corps headquarters formed from elements of Aldershot Command. The 3 Infantry Division and 4 Infantry Division followed soon afterwards, allowing II Corps to be formed in France.
By May, 1940, the BEF in France consisted of 13 divisions, of which 5 were regular, 5 Territorial, and 3 semi-trained divisions to be used in second-line duties. There was also 1 Armoured Division and 1 Army Tank Brigade.
The 'only' 500,000 men represented every operational division available to the British in May, 1940. Indeed, three of the divisions were neither trained nor equipped. Would you suggest that the British should have sent men who were in the early stages of training, or even those who had been in the army for a matter of days?
That's because Britain is a naval power. In 1940 it was still the greatest naval power in the world, its navy to defend its Empire and the British Isles itself.
Britain didn't need a massive army.
UK policy is to let France bleed. Worked for the Crimean war, worked for World War 1. Tried to fight that war on cheap and ended up paying more than if they had given adequate help and also ended up losing its empire in the process. 500k expeditionary force? That's farcical. Freaking Belgium fielded 650,000. The whole "France is crap at war a-ha" makes for a nice cover-up story to obfuscate Albion perfidy.
"Britain is perfidious because they, a naval power, didn't fight have the capacity to rapidly deploy vast field armies to the Continent in the style of a land power" 🥴
As for fighting war on the cheap, I don't remember the French complaining when the British bankrolled the Entente & had the most effective army on the Western Front in 1918 🤔
BGM
2:13 White Hats -- Wayne Jones
3:54 Down -- Joey Percoraro
5:18 Inescapable -- Ugonna Onyekwe
8:16 Prelude and Action -- Kevin Macleod
9:30 Down -- Joey Percoraro (2nd time)
One of my favorite videos you made, definitely inspired me creatively. Cheers man!
When you see all the military strategies, you realize war is difficult. It had to be mastered and it only relied on who did the best choices...
The transition to the commercial was actually really well done
11:01 Italy doing Italy things again :D
Still, the italian offensive lasted 4 days and then France surrendered (to both Germany and Italy) :DD
So not being able to bypass heavy fortifications on the largest mountains in Europe is ineffectiveness?
@@JosiahJS976 dont be salty, the Italians werent in any position to wage war, their economy and army weren´t modernized enough to keep either of the other european powers at bay. The capabilities to wage war left Italy with the roman empire 2000 years ago :D
@@vitanus Italy still did better than France in WW2
@@francescofulminis Aha.
France only lost the Battle of France ... then they were out.
Italy lost the War of Serbia/Balkans, Tunesia, Syria, Egypt and Italy itself.
Italy had also an incredible advantage at the start of the war in Africa. They had like 300.000, a whole army while Britain had something like 30.000 men in ther area?
And they beat the Italians and drove them back to Tunisia.
I pretty sure a French army would have invaded Egypt without any help from their allies.
The Italian army was underequiped and the Officers incompetent.
The country was led by a war and glory hungry fachist, starting wars the Italian army wasn ready for at all.
It doesnt get much worse than that if you ask me ... France was occupied early on, they had little to no options
I've never been this excited for a new upload before.
mark bushnell what do you mean ?
mark bushnell We can do whatever we want
mark bushnell K
Everyone's on about Rommel. To me, the real driving force behind the German Blitzkrieg was Guderian. He was the one making the long dashes to the coast
Awesome video!! I hope you keep doing this. As the World War Two channel progress week by week, we can have a overall view of the fronts with videos like this. You already made the eastern front but you could do North africa, pacific, etc after you do the maps for Indy.
I have created the base assets for the World War Two, so it is easier to make the full feature videos. Winter War, the Medditerranean theatre and Poland are on the list right now.
That's a really informative graphic you used. One of the best I've ever seen, actually. Also I'm mad at how seamless that transition was to your sponsor :P Keep up the great vids!
France and UK: „Out defences are ready“
Germany„I’m gonna do what’s called a pro gamer move“
Warning: this move can only be played once. If you attempt it a second time in 44 they will know how to counter it.
In hindsight, it's obvious how ridiculously gutsy their move was. Their tanks could have been cut off so easily while they were pushing all the way to the coastline like that. Had it failed, we would have remembered it as an incredibly stupid idea. "OMG Germany broke through and sent all their tanks way ahead of the rest of their army and they were encircled and destroyed? Noobs!"
@@safe-keeper1042 when you have only one chance to end the war, you roll those dice. Germany never had a chance after this, it could never mount a cross-channel invasion, win an air war far from bases without 4 engine heavy long range bombers, isolate Britain with the few U-boats or keep the US out indefinitely. It did not even have serious plans for any of these. This is the very last chance they had for a negotiated peace with Britain.
@@andraslibal Good one.
@@andraslibal Hitler was a gambler at heart, he ALWAYS rolled the dice. He rolled the dice when he remilitarized the Rheinland, when he annexed Austria, when he claimed the Sudetenland, when he marched into Prague, when he attacked Poland, and when he went for the Sichelschnitt. His final gamble was Barbarossa (or arguably Fall Blau). And finally, his luck ran out.
I’m so glad I found your channel again! You blew my mind with your Estonia video and I’m very glad there is more of that amazing quality Thank you
Yo, its my first time adding subtitles to THIS kind of videos, and man i use 30 minutes to translate 2 minutes of video lol, however, i might finish them today and im so excited.
Yeah just wanted to say that e.e
Pretty nice video by the way, keep up the good work :D
I finished the spanish subs :D
that's normal it takes me roughly 1hour to translates 1 min of speech when I translate a TED video (need to respect a lot of rules that hinder the speed though).
Excellent idea with the advertisement in the end. Great presentation too of course. Salute
Oh shit! It's the prequel! Can't wait to see how all of this started :D
Great video! Never seen this visualised so well.
Great work!
I cant even imagine the amount of work put into these videos, but what i do know for sure is that it certainly pays off, these videos are amazing.
I like how he pronounces "tank" as *D A N K*
I will forever miss his "unnnable" from earlier videos. It's so cute.
The infamous German dank divisions
Panzer IV XX ?
I'm going to guess D A N K M U S subscriber?
I wonder he was pronounces the actual word 'dank' then? As in 'a dank cellar'? "Tank'? Haha. For some reason, the narrator's voice seems to have a Danish accent even though I believe he is Estonian.
Me after watching four Eastory Videos: "Yeah, I'm a bit of a war strategist myself."
French high command:
There is no way the german tanks can be so quick, they need to wait for the infantry
Rommel and Guderian: how about no?
the amount of details that goes in to these videos never ceases to amaze me
Germany: _"Surrender or I will bomb your cities"_
Netherlands: _Surrenders_
Germany: *_Bombs anyways_*
The planes did not receive the message
message of surrender came shortly after the bombing started.
Actual event:
Germany: For the love of... you're fucking up my plans for a fast invasion! Surrender or we'll bomb your cities!
Netherlands: you didnt sign this document, its not official.
Germany: Sigh, ok now its signed. Surrender!
Netherlands: fine, we surrender
Germany: ehm.. sorry the planes were already underway.
Netherlands: AUW! RIGHT IN MY ROTTERDAM!
Churchill: terror bomb deez nuts m8
@@tomjaap2933 Onzin. Kesselring did not want to stop the bombing. It was planned for the 13th actually, but bad weather postponed it. The message from the groundforces not to bomb Rotterdam was ignored. The planes did not receive a message, because the Germans never sent one. Probably because the fallschirmjäger around The Hague were getting their arse kicked by the Dutch army. The second wave for later on the 14th was already in the air in the afternoon and was recalled.
one of the greatest upsets EVER in military history.
This is one of the best overview of the battle of France I've ever seen. Despite the outcome, the actual battle was not really so lopsided and the Allies had several close calls in successfully halting the Germans. The quick victory as also equally was surprising for the Germans, and in many was was far more successful than the German planners had anticipated.
Most videos covering the subject gloss over the Ardennes and stop talking about the battle after Dunkirk. Dunkirk wasn't the end-it-be-all for France. While this video didn't discuss the prewar considerations of the Ardennes, people tend to forget both Germany and France thought the Ardennes was a difficult natural barrier to bypass.
However there were a minority group in both military that thought otherwise. The difference was that Germany decided to listen to said minority thinkers while France did not. With hindsight, we can say the Germans were correct but its quite crazy for the Germans to go with an idea supported by only a minority of generals, where most German leaders thought the Ardennes as "impassable" much like the French.
I put impassable in quotations because both sides knew it was indeed passable, just that it would delay any offensive enough for the French to reinforce the area.
Yamato best -girl- comment 😜
Nicely done! Even the ads part is enjoyable.
Eastory are you thinking on covering the lybian front?
I know you have a lot of work but trust me the hours that you work REALY pay off
Great channel! Great videos!
The French:German yanks can’t go through the Ardennes
Hitler:I’m gonna do what’s called a pro gamer move
I absolutely love these maps. It is awesome to see this video finally becoming a reality! Maybe a full video on the invasion of Norway and Denmark as well? Or Yugoslavia and Greece? Either way, I am sure they will gain a ton of views.
Most high quality and effort video I’ve ever seen🫡