I Shot an SS Soldier. Memoirs of a German Veteran. Eastern Front.

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  • Опубліковано 24 чер 2023
  • Hello, dear friends, today we will read the memoirs of German veteran Franz Eschner. His destiny on the battlefields of World War II was remarkable! He does not hesitate to talk about the war in its true form. Some of the facts of his combat history cause outrage, while others cause mistrust. Still, I like this kind of recollections of veterans, it makes us think and check the facts...
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    #history #easternfront #worldwarII #technic #wehrmacht

КОМЕНТАРІ • 432

  • @MilitaryClubHISTORY
    @MilitaryClubHISTORY  10 місяців тому +8

    Enjoy handy playlists with all the stories of the soldiers!
    ua-cam.com/play/PLME26KOruKR3xPuLzIorw0d1RTk7KYoJf.html Waffen SS. Diaries and memories of German soldiers.
    ua-cam.com/play/PLME26KOruKR3CTzfue93twWQ7k_d4yOzc.html Personal Diaries and Memoirs of Soldiers.

    • @andrijsheva2780
      @andrijsheva2780 2 місяці тому

      But where are the SS soldiers? There's the Wehrmacht. What war club are you? First learn the subject, after than talking with peiole.

  • @willbarrineau4866
    @willbarrineau4866 11 місяців тому +66

    Absolutely crazy this guy served on at least 3 fronts and survived the entire war as an enlisted german soldier.

    • @Sugarsail1
      @Sugarsail1 11 місяців тому

      and killed more Germans than he did Allies. The Germans are their own worst enemy it seems.

    • @bernhardbrendel5238
      @bernhardbrendel5238 8 місяців тому +5

      I have had a neighbour, who is still alive and is 105 years old. He was a German soldier from the first to the last day of WW2 as a Gebirgsjäger and inside his unit the First Tine he was a Panzerjäger. He had driven a van with a Anti-Tank-Cannon. Later he was driver of the Commander of 1. Gebirgsdivision, Generalleutnant Walter Stettner Ritter von Grabenhofen and 1994 he visited as a Officer candidate an education camp to become a Lieutenant but after two months all participants were sended to the italian front. There he became a prisoner. After two months he already was dismissed and he went home. He expierenced a lot of dangerous situations, but he never was hurt only a littlebit.

    • @jaypercy5974
      @jaypercy5974 29 днів тому

      Sounds strange it's not hard when you're running the other way

  • @peace-now
    @peace-now 2 місяці тому +7

    My dad was probably in battle with this guy. He attended the Battle of Mount Olympus too. My dad's side lost the battle. My dad never won in battle. He was later wounded and lost his eye in another losing battle.

  • @wolfganggugelweith8760
    @wolfganggugelweith8760 11 місяців тому +131

    My father was as a young Austrian 🇦🇹forced to join the German army in WWII too. His story is almost as crazy as this one. I wrote all his stories up in a small book and sent it to my daughter and nephews. Nobody should ever forget what they had to suffer for those crazy politicians at those times. People did not learn for all this misfortunes of the past. Greetings from Linz Austria 🇦🇹 Europe!

    • @africanlipplateandbonenose3223
      @africanlipplateandbonenose3223 11 місяців тому

      We fought the wrong enemy and now all of Europe and our race faces extermination.

    • @darrensussex1153
      @darrensussex1153 11 місяців тому +8

      Publish those books to show how crazy war is

    • @wolfgang4368x
      @wolfgang4368x 11 місяців тому

      In 1932 hitler became german. I think it was in Braunschweig.see Internet.

    • @testtor2714
      @testtor2714 11 місяців тому

      Yeah, back then the politicians were totally crazy! They actually tried to save their homelands! Imagine that! Nowadays the politicians are much more sane. They simply flood Europe with millions of criminals who murder and rape their way through Europe while receiving welfare checks from hard working natives. That sounds very nice. I'm glad you got to enlighten us all.

    • @wolfgang4368x
      @wolfgang4368x 11 місяців тому +2

      @@Schwaobabua he was a german since 1932. See information given by Internet.

  • @barryrammer7906
    @barryrammer7906 11 місяців тому +63

    This is probably the most honest recollection of the war I've ever heard. Thank you

    • @ThatWeldingGamer
      @ThatWeldingGamer 11 місяців тому +2

      I agree

    • @southwestarm69
      @southwestarm69 11 місяців тому

      113

    • @jean6872
      @jean6872 11 місяців тому +1

      @@barryrammer7906 *_Were you in your armchair or in bed when you wrote your brave words, I wonder._*

    • @nickjohnson710
      @nickjohnson710 11 місяців тому

      ​@@barryrammer7906can I see you're DD214?

    • @barryrammer7906
      @barryrammer7906 11 місяців тому +3

      @nickjohnson710 Nick, I'm either lying or telling the truth. Just like the poor bastard in this documentary. Your call I and he have nothing to prove. If I stole Valor shame on me. If I'm telling the truth, shame on you. In fact, I should have never mentioned this bad on my part. I had no idea people were like this. Usually, you thank a veteran for his service and move on. There's something really wrong with you. Seriously, you should have moved on already. What do I have to prove to a total stranger. My service records and DD214 are my business, not anyone else's. Here's the deal if you're in the american southwest near Phoenix AZ, I will meet you for coffee to get you off my back. I will bring my DD214 ribbons, and you can and for my service. There's a Starbucks on 40th a Greenway in Phoenix AZ. I will meet you there and you will see the truth. You're also going to write in this post that I was telling the truth. Fair enough? Or put your email here. I will be glad to send it without my ss number. I just made it easy for you, ok nick the ball is in your court. Either meet in person or give me your email. Then , thank you for my service and tell these people I'm not lying. OK, Nick, just took down my post. Can't take the bs. But my offer stands.

  • @RedentSC
    @RedentSC 11 місяців тому +16

    honestly, this is the most visceral stuff I've heard on YT in a while and I love it. it reminds me of the video interviews recorded in the 60s of WW1 veterans by the National Archives. fascinating and impactful stuff.
    thank you man

  • @maximkretsch7134
    @maximkretsch7134 11 місяців тому +14

    0:42 For our historians: This is probably an error on the witnesses side: Westphalia was nowhere close to the French border thus no border fortifications for the Westwall were built there. He means the town of Rastatt in the Upper Rhine valley, which was only a gunshot away from the French border and in the state of Baden, of which Breisgau is a small region, but that around the city of Freiburg, and not Rastatt.

  • @daleeasternbrat816
    @daleeasternbrat816 11 місяців тому +18

    A Good Leader would have laughed Too. Rommel would have , most certainly, laughed at his own predicament, diving into a latrine. The ability to laugh at oneself is an indication of a good leader and a well balanced person. That German Officer blew the chance to bond with his unit. Had he laughed, Respect for him would have been immense. Punishing soldiers for laughing at that was Stupid.
    I think Patton would have laughed too.

  • @donaldshotts4429
    @donaldshotts4429 11 місяців тому +45

    I remember reading a memoir about 8-10 years ago by an American soldier named Rocky something. Paratrooper that fought in the Bulge from what I remember. They took 2 German prisoners (SS maybe?), but they were expecting a immediate German counterattack so his squad leader told him to shoot these 2 guys. He walks them outside the house they were in and shoots the first one in the back. The second doesn't run, but ducks down because he didn't know where the shot came from. He then shoots him too and said he felt bad because the poor guy didn't even get a chance to run. Sad story and props to the guy for not brushing past what really happened. War is not glamorous or ethical

    • @ryanbales8116
      @ryanbales8116 11 місяців тому +5

      Rocky Blunt perhaps?

    • @myhonorwasloyalty
      @myhonorwasloyalty 11 місяців тому

      American war criminals

    • @normalerbuerger
      @normalerbuerger 11 місяців тому

      The Allied killed millions of unarmed

    • @fiaadmin92
      @fiaadmin92 11 місяців тому

      no more no less than a war crime that by the texts can be a life sentence.

    • @1259encore
      @1259encore 11 місяців тому +9

      Politicians like to banter about the term "War Crimes" when ultimately, they are the ones who approve the ultimate war crime, the war itself.

  • @asullivan4047
    @asullivan4047 11 місяців тому +27

    Interesting and informative. Excellent photography job making it easier for viewers to better understand what the orator was describing. Class A research project. Historians did a very good job presenting actual facts from fiction. Special thanks to the veteran solders that shared their personal combat experiences making the documentary more authentic and possible. Fighting/surviving/perishing knowing certain death/debilitating wounds were often possible. Still moving forward regardless of the odds. That's true grit style determination to succeed. Fortunately

  • @justa.american8303
    @justa.american8303 11 місяців тому +39

    There were a lot of self-inflicted wounds among the Germans to stay out of Russian hands. Can't say I blame them.

    • @jameshermes5576
      @jameshermes5576 10 місяців тому

      Rubbish

    • @BoxofficeForney6969
      @BoxofficeForney6969 9 місяців тому +6

      Can't say I blame the Soviets for wanting retribution.

    • @catchmeifyucan1
      @catchmeifyucan1 9 місяців тому

      Arrogant Germans turned from thinking they were the master race when things were going in their favor to getting their payback from the Soviet army and becoming cowering cowards

    • @Snoopydad
      @Snoopydad 21 день тому

      You could be shot if you seemed to be retreating without orders. While American forces had one execution for desertion, the Germans had close to 20,000.

  • @Doviderus
    @Doviderus 11 місяців тому +5

    Harsh experiences that are far more impressive than any of those taken into films ever.

  • @PauloPereira-jj4jv
    @PauloPereira-jj4jv 11 місяців тому +7

    After reading some comments, and having watched the video, you can notice that:
    1. The report does not follow an strict order or chronology. It's clearly that's just parts of a bigger narrative, and some segments were cut off.
    2. When he mentions the Tigers , it's clear by the context that it was AFTER Stalingrad. And the same as for the incident with the SS men.
    3. He NEVER said he "was" in Stalingrad (the city), but "near" that place.
    He never took part directly in the battle.
    I hope this helps...

    • @cuebj
      @cuebj 11 місяців тому +2

      True. He specifically says he wasn't there but defended a bridge in the general area.

    • @skidfrog
      @skidfrog 10 місяців тому +1

      sounds like they were part of a failed mission to try to reach the army surrounded in Stalingrad ?

    • @PauloPereira-jj4jv
      @PauloPereira-jj4jv 9 місяців тому

      ​​@@skidfrog... frankly, I suspect this and other diaries are fake. He talks about an attack of "600 bombers" somewhere (how was he supposed to know?), wich is a huge number even in the Western front...

  • @catcherintheair
    @catcherintheair 11 місяців тому +35

    My grandfather was a Gebirgsjäger in Greece 1943. He was 19 when he was orderd to shoot italien prisoners one by one. It is known as the the war crime of Kefalonia (2500 italiens were killed) . He could have said no, without being shot, but if you are in a military unit far from home the commrades are your family and you do not let them down. Beside that if he would have shown weakness, he knew that he would have been the guy to be put up front at any given oportunity. He could not get over it until the end of his life. War is hell.

    • @josephbingham1255
      @josephbingham1255 10 місяців тому +6

      Terrible. But if its any consolation this is what I read from the German point of view. The Italians agreed to surrender. They agreed not to turn over any of their weapons to the Greek guerrillas. The Italians went back on their military surrender word and fought the Germans. They gave weapons to the guerrillas. The German point of view is once they went back on their military surrender word (something dishonorable) and joined with the guerrillas they became bandits themselves not subject to military POW status. It was standard policy to execute guerrillas. If your grandfather said no they might have had him before a firing squad. Vietnam My Lai 7 massacre had one soldier who refused to kill unarmed civilians. He refused though threatened to be shot on the spot. He was lucky that did not happen.

    • @tiusernamenabalw
      @tiusernamenabalw 10 місяців тому

      As a Greek I have to state the obvious: we did not invite neither the German Nazis nor Italian fascists to come and destroy our country. No sympathy for those who came to pillage in the name of their “superior race”; they deserved worse than what happened to them.

    • @KolyaNickD
      @KolyaNickD 10 місяців тому +2

      Sounds worse than that scene in Captain Correli's Mandolin

    • @aldoderobertis9984
      @aldoderobertis9984 10 місяців тому

      What you have said Is untrue at all , this Is a nazi lies . No weapons was given to the green partisans , only later few italian soldiers fought with greek people. The criminal german were Wermacht and not SS , and they killed italian soldiers with deceit . The Italians didn't kill the germans soldiers , they have taken prisoners , contrary to the germans , Who killed also the wounded soldiers in the hospital. No Honor for Wermacht, the italian general had iron cross to have fight in Russia and was killed by a liutenent. Your history Is full of lies , the tale of CINDERELLA IS MORE SERIOUS.

    • @aldoderobertis9984
      @aldoderobertis9984 10 місяців тому +2

      Captain Corelli 's mandolin Is a Novel for young girls, full of prejudices , the real history Is more tragic

  • @_Peremalfait
    @_Peremalfait 11 місяців тому +26

    Feld gendarmerie were notorious for summarily executing soldiers. I'm not surprised he threw a grenade and ran away from them. It kind of boggles the mind that even then when the war was obviously lost and allies closing in from east and west, the Feld gendarmerie were still in the field harassing soldiers. I'm surprised more were not killed by their own retreating soldiers.

    • @brucenorman8904
      @brucenorman8904 9 місяців тому +3

      It was the Feld gendarmerie that guarded the Rhine meadows camps in 1945, for the Americans. The Western allies made use of them even after the rest of the Wehrmacht had been disbanded. One even shows up at the end of Band of Brothers.

    • @ToreDL87
      @ToreDL87 9 місяців тому

      Read and heard a lot of horror stories on these guys, they literally got off on harassing soldiers while shying away from the combat/battles the soldiers fought.

  • @janetcohen9190
    @janetcohen9190 11 місяців тому +9

    Interesting, thanks for sharing.
    The human prespective of war(s) is extremely harsh no matter which side one is on.
    "War is a Racket", by Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC wrote 90 years ago and spoke about.

    • @redwater4778
      @redwater4778 11 місяців тому

      Britain and USA seized the industries of Germany and still own them.

    • @archlich4489
      @archlich4489 7 місяців тому +2

      Smedley Butler is where it's at! He is an American hero.

    • @douglasscovil3447
      @douglasscovil3447 2 місяці тому +2

      @@archlich4489 He won the Congressional Medal of Honor twice, and thwarted an attempted coup of the U.S. federal government.

  • @jean6872
    @jean6872 11 місяців тому +15

    *_I have never been in the military and I am glad to learn how young soldiers acted during WWII. It was impossible for me to visualize certain events recalled here such as the ability to shoot at SS troops and get away. Similarly, how could it happen that it was possible for this soldier to get away from the gendarmery by using a grenade? Still, it was worth hearing the account._*

  • @roymartin500
    @roymartin500 11 місяців тому +3

    This is very interesting! I'm loving these memoirs.

  • @Ed-ig7fj
    @Ed-ig7fj 11 місяців тому +6

    The "Rad" mentioned in the first 35 seconds of the video is the R. A. D., or Reichsarbeitsdienst (Reich's Work Service). If I recall, young men in school took the summer off to travel to various worksites. Kind of like the CCC during the depression in the U.S. Someone with a better memory than mine might check what I have written here. --Old Guy

  • @Ed-ig7fj
    @Ed-ig7fj 11 місяців тому +17

    Oh, one last note. Hiwis were civilian helpers, usually Russians or Ukrainians who might otherwise be starved or shot. The name is a short form of Hilfswilliger (I learned it as something like Hilfs Freiwilligen), which basically means volunteer helper. Hiwis brought mail, ammo, and food to frontline soldiers, and ran a million errands such as an army might need. I guess that most of them were shot by the Russians at the end of the war. Why am I now Ed-ig7fj? I was just Ed. --Old Guy

    • @boombl443
      @boombl443 11 місяців тому +2

      The starving and Shooting Part is seldon. Most of them where red Army Troopers that Changed Sides

    • @vyhozshu
      @vyhozshu 11 місяців тому +2

      @@boombl443 n*zi apologia. the history and entire communities and families who were lost due to vast extermlnation campaigns by the n*zis and collaborators in the East, with much photo and archive and testimonial evidence of such, say otherwise

    • @sebastiansuteu1829
      @sebastiansuteu1829 11 місяців тому +4

      ​@@vyhozshufake photos made by soviet propaganda 😂

    • @lotlizard7735
      @lotlizard7735 5 місяців тому +1

      ​@@sebastiansuteu1829yeah, those photos of Auschwitz' liberation in December, with zero snow and a smokestack not connected to anything. Theatres, swimming pools....

  • @brandongardner9829
    @brandongardner9829 11 місяців тому

    Awesome story and photos, thank you.

  • @ohoto3896
    @ohoto3896 11 місяців тому +1

    Thanks again for these, such a valuable insight.

  • @robinrodriguez480
    @robinrodriguez480 11 місяців тому +14

    Talk about a well traveled soldier!!!

    • @Ed-ig7fj
      @Ed-ig7fj 11 місяців тому +2

      Try reading Guy Sajer's epic memoir, The Forgotten Soldier. Well worth it. --Old Guy

    • @robinrodriguez480
      @robinrodriguez480 11 місяців тому +2

      @@Ed-ig7fj - thanks I will definitely look it up,,,,👍

    • @cuebj
      @cuebj 11 місяців тому +3

      My father enlisted when war declared. Trained in South Wales, stationed in Aberystwyth, posted to Katsina in October 1940 where he learned Hausa and was on constant manoeuvres to fend off potential German push south through Africa, then to India for training for Burma jungles, then kicking supplies out of aircraft to isolated troops on ground, then via Kohima south to Imphal and down rivers and coast to Rangoon (75% loss of subaltern in 3 months).
      Royal West Kents travelled even further as they started in France, had Dunkirk, then fought in North Africa before being in Kohima for the Japanese siege. The few who survived all that really did travel!

  • @BlaisePascal-bo4mo
    @BlaisePascal-bo4mo 11 місяців тому +86

    I personally met one of SS Ukrainian division veterans in Toronto. He was 80 years old. He joined SS division at the age of 14 because his brother and sister were starved to death in 1933. I believe, he had all reasons to hate Soviets. He was the founder of the first school of Ukrainian dances in Toronto

    • @kittycatcat6962
      @kittycatcat6962 11 місяців тому +5

      I met a Ukrainian SS in Winnipeg, guy was like a mormom or something

    • @fload46d
      @fload46d 11 місяців тому +9

      I also met a Ukrainian "Kossack" from WWII. My friend asked him if he had any children. He said "Nicola, I was all over Europe"!

    • @trianglewhips
      @trianglewhips 11 місяців тому

      Many Ukrainians and Latvians joined the SS because they were highly oppressed by the J founded Soviets... People should know the Holodomors. I do...

    • @jean6872
      @jean6872 11 місяців тому

      *_Some of the worst Ukrainian Nazis were gladly welcomed into Canada after WWII._*

    • @johncameron2241
      @johncameron2241 11 місяців тому +17

      Visit the Ukraine you will meet some modern day ones.

  • @johnleonard7134
    @johnleonard7134 11 місяців тому +9

    That was very interesting.
    My thanks to the veteran who recorded his memories.
    My father had five and a half years in the New Zealand infantry. He didn't even tell me which campaigns he fought in. This is just what I wanted to hear from him.
    He was still having nightmares 20 years after returning home, and he did tell me he avoided talking about even funny incidents as they could lead to the nightmares.
    Interesting to hear how the army sent him all over the place. Army administration is a weird beast😊

  • @PaisleyPatchouli
    @PaisleyPatchouli 11 місяців тому +5

    Interesting and well-writ for the most part, but overall spurious, I'm afraid to say...

  • @wendellfauconier4465
    @wendellfauconier4465 11 місяців тому +6

    While relating a narrative is good, I dislike being misled by the pictures presented in support the narrative. The image of German soldiers crossing a river in a rubber boat, with one soldier's leg hanging over the side, is presented as if it was part of the Russian campaign. Actually, that particular picture was snapped during the 1940 blitzkrieg in France.

  • @violagentsch
    @violagentsch 11 місяців тому +2

    5:58 An upside-down horseshoe is bad luck. Left front.

  • @heikow7946
    @heikow7946 11 місяців тому +3

    This is an important document of history.
    But just in the beginning at 0:45 something makes me wonder. Westphalia is a region in the nort-west of germany and Radstadt im Breisgau is located in the very south. In between there are round 450 km.

  • @majortolleson7976
    @majortolleson7976 7 місяців тому +1

    His experiences were all over the place, so many different outfits and jobs etc. The germans were such record keepers, but i dont know how anyone could have kept up with this guy. I believe the story, but it sounds like he was everything but a cook and a pilot.

  • @Theearthtraveler
    @Theearthtraveler 11 місяців тому +1

    Great video!

  • @BRUNO-hl9yb
    @BRUNO-hl9yb 11 місяців тому +7

    How the hell did this guy jump from one role to another in such short periods of time ? Seems impossible to me

    • @jaysigma
      @jaysigma 9 місяців тому +1

      They switched your role easily, whereever they had a need. A common practice where "specialists" where missing.

    • @folgore1
      @folgore1 9 місяців тому +2

      You'd be surprised. In peacetime, you can afford to provide soldiers with decent training over several months. In the midst of a war, with the situation desperate, they will impress soldiers into new duties with little or no training. Some years ago, I interviewed a WWII vet who served in a "bastard tank battalion." During the Italian campaign, at a certain point, they needed more tankers and so the guy I interviewed went from driving a truck to driving a tank after just some familiarization training.

    • @BRUNO-hl9yb
      @BRUNO-hl9yb 9 місяців тому +1

      @folgore1 fair enough just seems a little extreme
      . I've just finished Anthony Beevers book Stalingrad was a great read

  • @billyshane3804
    @billyshane3804 4 місяці тому

    The man who they could not Mute, Shoot or Electrocute!!! What a champion, fought on 3 different fronts and SURVIVED this evil war.

  • @tonyholt90
    @tonyholt90 11 місяців тому +1

    That was great to listen to 👍

  • @greyfox4577
    @greyfox4577 9 місяців тому +2

    I remember a few years ago i found an interview of a Russian red army veteran, the interview seemed from the 80's and possibly recorded on vhs then uploaded to youtube.
    Basically he was explaining that at the end of the war they were so angry at German soldiers and in one occassion they were processing pow's in some location in Russia inside a shack, inside was a female russian soldier along with other red army soldiers ,they had a line of pow's outside bringing them in one by one interrogating them and the man giving the interview was in there as well hiding in the back, once they finished interviewing the soldier he would come out from hiding and slit the german's throat and then throw him out back and leave him moaning until he died while they brought the next one in and so on.
    I remember he expressed it felt really good to do that and then told the reporter, "don't look at me that way, it was a long time ago and different times".
    Have not been able to find the interview again and was probably taken down from youtube i'm guessing. But that kinda tells you how a war brings out the worst in humans. Couldn't imagine living in those times.

    • @heavyt5489
      @heavyt5489 9 місяців тому +2

      I saw that too, i never forgot it either

    • @jesoby
      @jesoby 9 місяців тому +1

      I read a similar story from the more recent Bosnian conflict with prisoners being taken out of column and having their throats cut.

  • @miker252
    @miker252 11 місяців тому +4

    A knack for survival or does it just seem that way because he survived?

  • @gaucho5073
    @gaucho5073 11 місяців тому +17

    The amount of km that those soldiers walked would easily make them olympic champions.
    It's always the same - "I was transferred from France to Austria to Spain to North Africa to Greece to Kharkov to Germany to Yugoslavia and then to an allied pow camp"
    And nowadays we struggle to walk 10k steps per day to not get fat 😀

    • @cuebj
      @cuebj 11 місяців тому

      No WE don't. And WE don't pig out on lots of carbohydrates and excess of other food types and processed foods

  • @petervenzon8126
    @petervenzon8126 11 місяців тому

    This is gonna be a great listen

  • @dtaylor10chuckufarle
    @dtaylor10chuckufarle 3 місяці тому

    This chap is a survivor, and an honest man. Also, he may be the luckiest man in the German army.

  • @tundralou
    @tundralou 11 місяців тому +2

    Hmmm that sounds like an army norm outfitted with Africa Corp uniform and sent to Russia

  • @daemonharper3928
    @daemonharper3928 11 місяців тому +1

    The definition of a survivor!
    War is horrible, we should have learned that by now.

    • @archlich4489
      @archlich4489 7 місяців тому +1

      Every generation forgets.

  • @tracer0017
    @tracer0017 11 місяців тому +4

    I wonder if some allied soldier or pilot used those red crosses on the ambulance as target practice?

    • @rogerduncan2603
      @rogerduncan2603 11 місяців тому

      I wonder if the SS party piece was putting children in a building and lighting it on fire when they were bored of shooting and hanging civilians.

    • @gratefulguy4130
      @gratefulguy4130 11 місяців тому

      Allied pilots were notorious for committing war crimes

  • @eduardosci1909
    @eduardosci1909 10 місяців тому

    Stunning sequence of photos! Well done! One more subscriber.

  • @warrensmith8069
    @warrensmith8069 11 місяців тому +9

    Hello. Can you please post links to corroborate this story. Taking things at face value has been kinda difficult these days. Please and thank you

    • @sqweege6432
      @sqweege6432 10 місяців тому

      These are memoirs from a German solider for something that happened a long time ago, long before the internet and cell phones. How can you possibly find any links🤷🏼‍♂️

  • @douglasruss2889
    @douglasruss2889 11 місяців тому +3

    Fascinating

  • @dougieranger
    @dougieranger 10 місяців тому

    Liked and subbed.

  • @WhiteHatzz
    @WhiteHatzz 8 місяців тому +1

    Let the politicians who lust for war, run off and fight in those wars.

  • @No-yt8fu
    @No-yt8fu 8 місяців тому

    Crazy thought, every soldier on every battlefield in evrey time period, fought for the right thing.

  • @colmcc-ij3nn
    @colmcc-ij3nn 11 місяців тому +1

    We never learned from all the misery of the past did we? Stupid waste of good men on all sides .Europe would be a better place if those 2 wars did not happen .

  • @jerryw6699
    @jerryw6699 11 місяців тому +3

    some hero, shoots himself to surrender? what a mess.

  • @JohnDoe-jn3es
    @JohnDoe-jn3es 11 місяців тому

    ENJOYABLE WAY TOO LEARN OF GERMAN SOLDIER

  • @michl-0815
    @michl-0815 10 місяців тому

    The most of my ancestors at that time served in the 44th Infantry Division "Hoch & Deutschmeister"

    • @michl-0815
      @michl-0815 10 місяців тому

      Our grand-grandfather documented his "journey" in the personal military photo album from this time.

  • @kkcuzz
    @kkcuzz 10 днів тому

    He wanted to survive more then anything. And did anything to live.

  • @Webedunn
    @Webedunn 4 місяці тому

    Imagine looking for someone’s head.😳

  • @rickie7372
    @rickie7372 11 місяців тому +4

    je conseille à ceux qui ne l'ont pas vu de regarder l'excellent film allemand de 1993 "stalingrad" résumant bien l'absurdité de la guerre en général et de celle-ci en particulier avec des situations analogues à celles décrites par ce soldat.

    • @R34LI7Y
      @R34LI7Y 11 місяців тому +1

      That’s a good one

    • @feldgeist2637
      @feldgeist2637 11 місяців тому +1

      beaucoup plus realiste est "Chiens a vous de crevers" (Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben) de 1959 - la plupart des acteurs avaient au moins une certaine experience de premiere ligne et de vraies munitions etaient souvent utilisees....... en outre, de nombreuses sequences originales allemandes et sovietiques ont ete utilisees......

    • @davidlodge32
      @davidlodge32 11 місяців тому +1

      D'accord! Le fim "Stalingrad" est formidable!

  • @phineascampbell3103
    @phineascampbell3103 2 місяці тому

    My god that's mental!!

  • @geoffreycarson2311
    @geoffreycarson2311 11 місяців тому

    THAT Ambulance ?????ITS SHOT to Peices 😔😔😔😔😣GREAT FACTS g

  • @anaesth74
    @anaesth74 11 місяців тому +3

    Greetings from Thessaloniki!

    • @kpl455
      @kpl455 11 місяців тому

      It is a great city, I just visited. Also visited the military museum there which is fantastic.

  • @johnrath1324
    @johnrath1324 11 місяців тому +6

    Sounds like what my units were like in the late 1970s in the marines

    • @davidcole2685
      @davidcole2685 11 місяців тому

      Yep 25 countries in 48 months! SEMPER FI.

  • @sbreheny
    @sbreheny 11 місяців тому +15

    It is very hard for me to believe that this is not embellished. How could one guy have been assigned to so many different roles in just a few years? Each of those roles requires different training - and even if we add up the amount of time he says he spent at each, it would seem to be more than the duration of the war.

    • @Gr8thxAlot
      @Gr8thxAlot 11 місяців тому +4

      Agree. This is pure fiction.

    • @SP-qo3pd
      @SP-qo3pd 11 місяців тому +2

      A story such as this one would only be believable if the soldier was a Brandenburger. They were some of the very best special forces units at the time, and they believed in cross training every member.

    • @Schwaobabua
      @Schwaobabua 11 місяців тому +7

      @@Gr8thxAlot In the German Armee there were no Specialist Trainee. They were Allrounders- Do or die. No Fiction. But believe what you want. My Uncle was trained as Stukapilot- then he had to go to the Waffen SS Infantrie. Doin Jobs whatever comes.

    • @franktower9006
      @franktower9006 11 місяців тому +1

      There are so many obvious mistakes and discrepancies in this report, it's laughable.

    • @franktower9006
      @franktower9006 11 місяців тому

      @@Schwaobabua That's complete horseshit.

  • @stekarknugen9258
    @stekarknugen9258 11 місяців тому +8

    this mfer just blastin' SS and Military police left and right

    • @redtobertshateshandles
      @redtobertshateshandles 11 місяців тому +4

      Because the MPs would just accuse and execute. They have to justify their cowardly job.

    • @dman644
      @dman644 11 місяців тому

      Nazi era military police/ss police were notoriously brutal and arrogant, frontline soldiers hated them generally

  • @AdrienneReneau-ky4sc
    @AdrienneReneau-ky4sc Місяць тому

    WILL LISTEN AT A LATER DATE HAD TO DO ERRANDS

  • @notagain9196
    @notagain9196 10 місяців тому

    There’s an old saying. “A Jack of all trades”.

  • @rollfpeters5159
    @rollfpeters5159 11 місяців тому

    A report you have listen too a many times--this was only my first one --so the producer speaks very fast --THATS OK!!--I have to catch the locations where these soldier was --google earth will help possible--GREAT
    REPORT---thx rollf

  • @garrybaldy327
    @garrybaldy327 11 місяців тому +1

    Great story. Not sure about the robot Yankee voice telling it

  • @user-tg2tn3ww3i
    @user-tg2tn3ww3i 10 місяців тому +2

    The German army at the world war 2 was no doubt the best soldiers in the twenty century

    • @michaelking9818
      @michaelking9818 10 місяців тому +1

      No they where not the best.

    • @heavyt5489
      @heavyt5489 9 місяців тому +1

      They just seen more conflict and where experienced and battle hardened facing green allied troops. The allied troops caught up quick.

    • @andyknowles772
      @andyknowles772 9 місяців тому +1

      Riiiiiiiight. So how come they lost?

  • @TommyAtkins-eh8cd
    @TommyAtkins-eh8cd 11 місяців тому +1

    Imagine admitting to being a traitor. I disbelieve this entirely. Guy seems full of shit.

  • @mdkell4261
    @mdkell4261 10 місяців тому

    That guy was a "survivor" in two different ways.

  • @sparrenburger2804
    @sparrenburger2804 11 місяців тому

    Why only one?
    I don't miss them!

  • @Delta15793
    @Delta15793 10 місяців тому

    schade das das Video trotz deutschem Titel und Videobeschreibung auf Englisch ist. Auch wenn es einen deutschen Untertitel hat hab ich beim Klicken erst mal was anderes erwartet. Die Geschichte ist interessant aber 15min mitlesen und teilweise mal pausieren weil es zu schnell ist macht für mich die Videos unatraktiv.

  • @deanjericevic8912
    @deanjericevic8912 10 місяців тому

    A very interesting & portrayed verisimilitude of the accounts; shooting SS, collusion of Russian women with the Wehrmacht: a dog’s breakfast of events. I could easily imagine in the fight for survival that this type of scenario here played out on the Eastern Front.

  • @Garwfechan-ry5lk
    @Garwfechan-ry5lk 11 місяців тому

    These Sewing Machines were Singers and are hand worked or used with a Pedal.

    • @CH-lc3yf
      @CH-lc3yf 11 місяців тому +2

      No! Sewing machine (Nähmaschine) was a German nickname for Soviet Po-2 planes.

  • @alias442
    @alias442 10 місяців тому

    komisch der zerschossene krankenwagen,,wo die glassscheiben ganz sind

  • @ClimateScepticSceptic-ub2rg
    @ClimateScepticSceptic-ub2rg 2 місяці тому

    Good to hear about how soldiers actually behave in war, instead of the Nazi propaganda version of how inspired they are by the Fuehrer, and similar BS.

  • @luxbeci2
    @luxbeci2 9 місяців тому

    My grandfather died Stalingrad 1943

    • @rainerzufall583
      @rainerzufall583 8 місяців тому

      Покойся с миром. Храбрый солдат

  • @DrMoorehen
    @DrMoorehen 10 місяців тому

    horrific

  • @jacques-oliviernicolas226
    @jacques-oliviernicolas226 11 місяців тому +3

    TIL Rouen is in the south of France, LOL
    Other than that, I would have really appreciated seeing a photo of the officer's white uniform after the attack. ^ ^

  • @columbmurray
    @columbmurray 9 місяців тому

    Again , from these diaries , the Germans knew full well of the atrocities.

  • @jamesbutler6253
    @jamesbutler6253 11 місяців тому +1

    Pz is not pee zee it is the abbreviation for panzer. Just at Lt is said in full, you dont say Ell Tee, you say Lieutenant.

  • @kevincinnamontoast3669
    @kevincinnamontoast3669 8 місяців тому

    The thermo p eye lay?

  • @frankfrankfurtde9130
    @frankfrankfurtde9130 11 місяців тому +3

    Europe occupé par les américains depuis 1945 actuellement l Europe sous l occupation américaine

    • @JesusMagicPanties
      @JesusMagicPanties 11 місяців тому

      Yep. And the French aren't satisfied Europe give a shit about France to be European "leader".

  • @sandypatience
    @sandypatience 11 місяців тому +3

    Great story, well presented. But 'PeeZee'?!! Try 'Panzer' 3, 4 , etc instead.

  • @jcee2259
    @jcee2259 11 місяців тому +1

    War memoirs I have, a request of my deceased parents., they had from my foreign service.
    I have not revisited it. I've managed to forget most of it save those I seem unable to lose.
    Surplus field entrenchment tools I don't touch. Ditto, all military rifles I used overseas.
    I've only met one Nazi, in a Canada Trade Fair, then free to wear Jewish gold with relish.

  • @matthiashoth3335
    @matthiashoth3335 4 місяці тому

    Klingt wie ne " Räuberpistole".

  • @therrienmichael08
    @therrienmichael08 10 місяців тому

    Shot myself in the arm for plausibility !?

  • @JRCinKY
    @JRCinKY 10 місяців тому

    The Victors write the History... Any way they want to.

  • @AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg
    @AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg 11 місяців тому +4

    Sound's like lt was a laugh a minute

    • @woodenseagull1899
      @woodenseagull1899 11 місяців тому

      Its just another day in the life of a German going on a shooting holiday...They love their wars..

  • @aragorn4370
    @aragorn4370 11 місяців тому +3

    Thumbs down for computer voice

  • @DressedForDrowning
    @DressedForDrowning 11 місяців тому +2

    Pz. means Panzer = tank.

    • @PauloPereira-jj4jv
      @PauloPereira-jj4jv 11 місяців тому

      OK. We all know that. "Panzerkampfwagen" or just Pzkpfw... means "armored combat car".
      By the way, do you know the origin of the English word "tank"?

  • @jakeoreilly9627
    @jakeoreilly9627 11 місяців тому +1

    Good grief.

  • @j.k.3957
    @j.k.3957 11 місяців тому

    Wahrscheinlich mit der Gularschkanone!

  • @heileopold6122
    @heileopold6122 11 місяців тому +1

    Many officers had been shot in the Wehrmacht and also Kettenhunde. Rarely is spoken about it, because it is too embarassing.

    • @82ismi
      @82ismi 11 місяців тому

      My grandfather told us about bad officers that didn't treat their men well, having "accidents" in combat.

    • @heileopold6122
      @heileopold6122 11 місяців тому

      @@82ismi Nobody speaks about this in the media. A soldier with an automatic gun is very powerful - also against its own officers.

    • @heileopold6122
      @heileopold6122 11 місяців тому +1

      Many wars are therefore decided by the little guys - and not by the big generals. During the 30 years war, Gustav Adolf, the Swedish king has been shot by his own soldier. So, this little guy decided a 30 year war - and nobody else

    • @gratefulguy4130
      @gratefulguy4130 11 місяців тому

      The Germans also executed their soldiers on the spot for offenses like rape & murder. Obviously the allies didn't follow anything like that principle.

  • @user-cb9cc7qw1j
    @user-cb9cc7qw1j 10 місяців тому

    良いと思います。

  • @GaleHill-Crock-we5pl
    @GaleHill-Crock-we5pl 2 місяці тому

    My dad was in the battle of the bulge.

  • @baruchspinoza3106
    @baruchspinoza3106 11 місяців тому +20

    I would say that Nazism in general was an allergic over-reaction of European civilization on danger of Russian communism.

    • @doctordetroit4339
      @doctordetroit4339 11 місяців тому

      Uh no......commies and nazis are exact reciprocals of each other. If anything communism is far worse judging by body count......FAR worse.

    • @lucas82
      @lucas82 11 місяців тому

      I would say that you are wrong. Hitler's National Socialism was an all encompassing movement whose goal was not just to defeat Communism, but also Capitalism as well as the extermination of the Jews and other undesirables of Europe. Defeating communism was a big part of Nazism but it was far from the only reason.

    • @clovergrass9439
      @clovergrass9439 11 місяців тому +6

      Healthy reaction...Europe lost WW2 and now look what we have in this world.

    • @teutonalex
      @teutonalex 11 місяців тому +1

      @@clovergrass9439he said over reaction.

    • @Huskerguy316
      @Huskerguy316 11 місяців тому +4

      @@clovergrass9439it’s a disgrace but I think we will see another drastic pendulum swing towards nationalism sometime in the next 20 years. Weimar problems require Weimar solutions.

  • @qnedim3200
    @qnedim3200 9 місяців тому

    If the Germans were not defeated, this soldier could not tell these memories. Otherwise he would have been executed. If this is true!

  • @rossbryan6102
    @rossbryan6102 11 місяців тому +1

    EVERY TIME I READ THIS SERIES OF LETTERS, I AM GLAD I HAD THE LUCK , PLANNING, GUILE, AND MOTIVATION, TO STAY OUT OF VIETNAM, AND BAIL OUT OF A BAD MARRIAGE , UNSCATHED!

  • @floriangeyer3454
    @floriangeyer3454 9 місяців тому

    Breisgau is in Baden, not in Westphalia. Radstadt is in Austria, not in Breisgau. Fairytale all that.

  • @giorgoskonto7314
    @giorgoskonto7314 11 місяців тому +3

    Greece love you!

  • @maxr.mamint8580
    @maxr.mamint8580 9 місяців тому

    thermo pie lay lol