Week 260 - Hitler Has a Bad Day - WW2 - August 19 - 1944
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- This week the Allies invade Southern France, and do so very successfully. They're also successful in the north, closing the Falaise gap and trapping huge numbers of Germans. In the East, however, the Germans manage to stop the Soviet drive on Riga with a counter attack, and in Warsaw they continue to brutally put down the Warsaw Uprising.
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Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński
Community Management: Ian Sowden
Written by: Indy Neidell
Research by: Indy Neidell
Map animations by: Daniel Weiss
Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Editeding and color grading by: Simon J. James
Artwork by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Marek Kamiński
Colorizations by:
Mikołaj Uchman
Source literature list: bit.ly/SourcesWW2
Archive footage: Screenocean/Reuters - www.screenocea...
Image sources:
Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1973-023-19,_Frankreich,_Günther_v._Kluge,_Adolf_Hitler
Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
March Of The Brave 10 - Rannar Sillard
Not Safe Yet - Gunnar Johnsen
On the Edge of Change - Brightarm Orchestra
Sailing for Gold - Howard Harper-Barnes
Spellbound - Edward Karl Hanson
Split Decision - Rannar Sillard
Super Hero - Bonnie Grace
The Beast - Dream Cave
Watchman - Yi Nantiro
We Were Encased in Ashes - Jon Sumner
Additional sound effects provided by Zapsplat.com
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
This is in fact Hitler’s worst week of the war since last week.
And until next week.
'Worst week of the war so far'
Wait til next week.
@@alexamerling79yep because next Friday Paris is liberated 😅😂
Yeah, please tell last time he hasn't had a bad day
I have followed this series from Day 1. Every Saturday morning, I get up and learn something new from Indy and Spartacus. I love it. This was the best episode so far. Bravo to Indy for breaking the timeline to dispel the belief of torn loyalties on the part of the German officer corps. They chose to follow Hitler with a loyalty on to death. As professional soldiers, that corps failed their men, their country and ultimately themselves.
Same for me. Except Sunday for me (New Zealand). I eat jam toast as I watch.
Fortunately in my old age ( I’m 60) the German Nazi generals apologists and self serving narratives (like
Guderian and Manstein ‘s self serving narratives) are replaced by sound historical research. The Wehrmacht was complicit.
@@ellig63same here but Jerusalem time, Saturday evening
I think the German officers are having many problems, as they did not expect to be fighting this kind of war. In 1939 it was understood that Germany should not have a 2 front war, but the swift victories everywhere led to the Africa campaign, which gave them a soft second front. There was reason to believe the USSR would fall in 4 months, based on WW1 projections, so when that was unwinnable in 1941 and 42 it led to a disturbing question for the generals; what to do when you fail?.
Glad to hear you've been with us for so long, thank you very much for the kind words!
As Homer Simpson wisely says “The worst day of your life, so far.”
Something tells me April 1945 will be worse
@@pocketmarcy6990that's when he escaped to Argentina though
See you next week, when Romania will switch sides!
@@peterdudas697 Finland and Bulgaria shortly after 😬
@@peterdudas697Wait, that was next week?
So.... A German 6the army protected by 2 Romanians on the flanks... I have seen this before??
Not a good situation but they have no alternative.
Someone was watching Soviet Storm...good series btw
No. You have never seen this before. No. Lies. Propaganda. Untrue.
It was a very ill cursed army, 6th Army. Like the Romans did with their legions lost at Teutoburger Forest maybe the Germans would have been better off not resurrecting the 6th and instead give it a different number. 3 times it got destroyed if memory serves me right?
The Soviets about to unalive the 6th army again arn't they....
i am so glad you took time out this week to call out the clean wehrmacht myth.
Yep. It needs to be said because he's talking about Kluge's death. Without mentioning the myth, it would come off as if he's sympathizing with that guy.
I'd imagine we're about to see a lot more of those 'tragedies' soon.
Thank you Indy for mentioning Schirwindt. I just googled a little bit of info about it. "Side notes" like this make this series such a treasure chest of information. Being a descendant of people who had to flee their homes at the end of the war I'm always interested in reading about lost places like this. Many small border settlements suffered the same fate as Schirwindt after the war.
This week in French news.
The 13th of August, the Gendarmes joins the Cheminots and the metro’s employees in their strike in Paris.
The 14th, the leader of the FFI in Ile-de-France, Rol-Tanguy calls for a general mobilization. A SS division is in route to reinforce the 20 000 Germans in the capital, mostly administrative and only 80 tanks, most of them being French from 1940. Jacques Chaban-Delmas is the military delegates of the provisional government.
The 15th, Herriot is arrested and returns to Maréville. Police of Paris joins the strike, the city is on the verge of Insurrection. The next day, the postal services is in strike too, the general strike is proclaimed the 18th. The order of insurrection is placarded the afternoon. 35 prisoners’ members of the Resistance are killed in retaliation.
The 16th, the Germans decides to stop Laval’s plan, influenced by collaborationists. Laval learns by Abetz that the Germans does want to fight for Paris. It seems that Abetz was not aware of the new orders of Hitler on the 15th to Cholitz to hold Paris and destroys all of its monuments .The 17th Abetz tells him that everyone must leave Paris now. The German’s government transferred the French government to Belfort were Pétain and Laval are sent. A last council of Minister is done with only five ministers there. Laval first refuses to be sent to Belfort but Abetz threatens to use force this time. The Gestapo arrives later, and Laval accepts but resign, giving power of Paris to Pierre Taittinger (President of the municipality of Paris) and administrative personnels the mission to exercise powers of absent ministers. The same day, Radio-Paris stops emitting, the prints stops and all collaborationist parties prepare to leave for the east. Darnand orders the Milice to withdraw too and take their families to Nancy. During their retreat the Milice loots, burns, kills, rapes.
The 17th, Pétain still hasn’t given the order to leave Vichy, and that night, Pétain learns that the German wants him to be transferred to Nancy, they tell him that Laval is already there, which is false because he was just taken in Paris by force. Pétain resists and sent someone to learn about Laval and Herriot in Paris, when he returns, Pétain learns that Laval has been taken prisoner. The 19th, the Germans demands that Pétain follows them to Belfort or Vichy will be bombarded, a plane is sent to fly just above the rooftop to make the threat concreate. Pétain concedes and writes a letter of protestation and a speech to justify his action. He considers himself prisoner and not the head of state anymore. This is the first time he uses the metaphor of the sword and the shield. The 20th, Germans tanks arrives near his Hostel and breaks into it, the doors having been locked up. But the guards does not fight. This is in effect, the end of the French State.
The 19th, 2 000 policers, not affiliated with the FFI, take the Prefecture and raise the French flag on it and Notre Dame and attack the Germans. Rol-Tanguy takes the leadership, and policemen are integrated to the FFI. The Insurrection of Paris begins.
In Marseille, the strike and the insurrection is total and Gaston Deferre is designated mayor of the city.
Bonus : Since the 15th, the consul of Swede,n Raoul Nordling negotiates with Cholitz to liberate the 3 245 political prisoners and to give them to the Red Cross, in order to avoid their execution and to stop the destruction of Paris. He does negotiate a partial truce to evacuate German troops in the city center but its not accepted by the communist and some cells of resistance fighter.
Soon these collaborator scum will get what they deserve at last.
Let's hope these collaborationists won't pollute my home town for too long... why did they pick Nancy as a rallying point ?
You forgot to include the paris fire brigade who also joined the uprising.
Straight line to both Germany and Paris + not "too german" like Metz (in the Greater Reich point of view)@@Duke_of_Lorraine
True, I try to be comprehensive but not to be too long too.@@bcompany650
"What about invasion?"
"You've already had it."
"We had one yes. What about 2md invasion?"
I don't think they know about 2nd invasion Pippin
When will the 2nd invasion happen? I don't want my lunch being interrupted by GIs running off a Higgins boat.
It's amazing just how little press Operation Dragoon gets compared to the earlier offensives. I honestly never heard about it until I watched a map animation showing the lines day by day over the course of the war and suddenly noticed a giant chunk of Southern France being liberated around the same time the Normandy front starts making major headway up north, and until now I've only ever heard it specifically mentioned when actively looking up things related to it.
Doubly amazing because it's clearly just about the point where the Western Allies have clearly overwhelmed German defense efforts. The forces up Normandy were already starting to buckle, so its debatable how much of an impact Dragoon would have on the availability of forces up north, but adding a fourth* (non-continuous) front for Germany to try to contain just after the Soviet front(s) solidly eliminated an entire army group and change and just as the Normandy front started to buckle...it feels like this landing is emblematic of the turning point from the situation being desperate for the Nazis to being literally hopeless.
*If you're wondering where I get fourth front from, I'm counting the entire Soviet Union front as one front (I've lost track of where we are with Finland, so that might still be 2 if we count military allies...and of course it's more fronts if you divvy up sections by German Army Group or Soviet Front. Italy is the second front, Normandy is the third, and Provence opening up this week makes 4.
I always wonder if Dragoon wouldn't have been better as the first landing, and overlord the second.
The post-cold-war part of me wonders if yugoslavia wouldn't have been a better target after all.
@@derrickthewhite1 Not sure what a landing in Yugoslavia would have done. A bunch of the grievances that tore Yugoslavia apart are already established at this point. Tito's already been accepted as the leader of resistance efforts in the area by Western Allies, so chances are good he'd come to power in Yugoslavia anyway. So...not sure what we're really changing here.
As for Dragoon before Overlord, there's a couple of factors that would bear looking at in detail: What were troop positions like in Provence before the Normandy invasion? Dragoon hits an under-defended area, but that's in part because many of those defenders have been drawn off to fight in Normandy. If Provence was as well defended as Normandy was on the day of the invasion, Normandy's probably the better target, because it's closer to the solid base of operations that the UK offers. The Med is a much wider body of water, and while its known for being a relatively mild sea, the Channel is also known for being relatively mild.
And another thing worth wondering is would Stalin have been satisfied with Dragoon opening a second southern front, given how bogged down Italy got. Would he have launched Bagration? Or would he have complained about the Western Allies wasting more time in the Med and held off on that offensive, significantly reducing the amount of pressure these landing operations apply on German logistics as a whole.
Or are you suggesting Dragoon be launched in May, with Overlord still happening June 6th? Because there's also the logistical issue of getting landing craft from one operation to the next; given their limited supply and just how big stuff like Overlord is, I'd be very surprised if Dragoon's landing fleet wasn't mostly surviving craft that saw action at Overlord.
@@derrickthewhite1A landing in Yugoslavia is a terrible idea. For one, that means relying on air support coming from Italy. Which means those aircraft won't be supporting the Italian Campaign.
There's also the issue that the Allies haven't spent 2 to 3 years building up their forces to invade Yugoslavia, unlike with France. The fact that they have to divert forces from Italy for Dragoon should be an indication about how stretched Allied manpower is.
The reason why Northern France was selected as the target for invasion is because of how close it is to England. England, which is filled with airbases and ports, are the perfect place to launch an invasion from. And with Northern France in range of Allied fighters, that means the Allies can have an easy time establishing air supremacy.
My grandfathers aunt served after the war in the US seventh army around this time, mostly in an administrative clerical role. She did take pictures of the beaches of Dragoon after the allies had far advanced beyond it. The French civilians joked with her about it, saying that the Americans could have landed schoolgirls in uniforms and the Germans would still have surrendered.
She also said the French troops would sometimes misdirect off duty American soldiers to the locations of bars or wine cellars so they could have it themselves 😂
I remember the USS Nevada from your Pearl Harbor coverage. Nice to see her mentioned. And the Texas is even still around.
1940 Tour de France winner: Rommel's 7th Panzer Division.
1944 Tour de France winner: The Allies.
My Grandfather was in Operation Dragoon as a member of The First Special Service Force They were assigned to taking two islands. Isle Du Levant and Isle Du Port Croix
Keep an eye on Romania. Next week's episode will have some absolutely fascinating developments on that front.
I hope they have a special about that
Read Prit Buttar The Reckoning for detais o the Iassy Kshiniv operation in Romania.
Romania be like:
Friendship with Hitler ended
Stalin is my friend now
Years into this, and after watching all of World War One...I'm still blown away by the production quality, attention to detail, and impeccable narration you and your team give to this series. Truly look forward to each and every episode. Thank you so much for taking on this burden, it's an absolute masterpiece.
Thank you so much!
Your comment about the loyalty conflicts of the German Officer Class is on point. Before Hitler many of these Officer's, who after the war talked about how important it was to honour their loyalty oaths to Hitler because to break that oath was so dishonourable, routinely broke their loyalty oaths to the Weimar Republic and after the war they routinely broke their oaths to tell the truth during the post war trials.
Further they almost enirely "forgot" to discuss or mention the huge under the table bribes they got from Hitler in exchange for loyalty.
i have lived in Salernes (village in Southern France) and hearing about the actions conducted by allied forces from the elders that have lived through it all and now seeing it on this channel gives me shivers down my spine
Also gosh darnit if Indy isn't a fantastic host and presenter. I've followed his work for just shy of a decade with the prelude to the Great War. He was always good, but he keeps getting better. Hats off to you Indy, and the whole team who make this possible.
How lovely! I'll let Indy know about your kind words, thanks for watching.
- Jake
That was a wonderful comment. Big thanks. Nice to read and sorry it took me so long to get to it. There are a lot to get through, but we do read them all. Thanks again. / Indy
@@WorldWarTwo Don't sweat it Indy! You're a busy man with a busy team. Keep aging like a fine wine and I look forward to the rest of the series (and whatever may come next!)
This series is one of the best in UA-cam. Brilliant documentary. I love your videos. We know it take lot of time and hard work to make these videos. So we always appreciate your hard work and dedication towards these videos. Love from Sri Lanka 🇱🇰🤝🏴.
Thank you for watching and thanks for being so kind!
Enjoyed Indy's trenchant reminder of just how, in 2023, shopworn the idea of a "clean Wehrmacht and Heer" really is. This odious self-absolution by German veterans was trotted out for decades.
It was weak and thin gruel from the start and, fortunately, remains so today.
German generals needed new work and the Soviets became the new enemies. Hence the "Clean Wermacht" myth.
"Tukums gap is tenuous" is putting it mildly. It's mostly swamp and woods even today and even a modern highway can (and does) sink if weather is crappy enough.
Can't wait for assault on Riga - my great grandfather was among those in charge of signals of second Baltic during that operation.
Compare and contrast Soviet reaction to Warsaw uprising and Allies reaction to Paris uprising. Remember, allies were often at odds with de Gaulle and his plans for France, but when the need arose they helped the resistance with all force available.
Not really comparable situations. The Allies in France are just starting to break out, the Soviets in the east have been advancing a lot for nearly two months but are near the end of their supply lines, which is why German counter-attacks are sometimes succeeding.
And whatever their problems with De Gaulle, the alternative to De Gaulle is the French Communists, heavily present in the Resistance. The straw in the wind is the behaviour of the French police - they were detaining Jews (the mass round-up of Parisian Jews in the Val d'Hiver stadium was mostly a French police operation) and Resistance suspects until very recently. They have decided to turn on the Germans because they are losing, and better de Gaulle than the PCF...
@@stevekaczynski3793 Even if the Soviets could have helped the Poles, Stalin would not let it happen. For the same reason he ordered the Katyn massacre, he did not want there to be any Poles who could resist Soviet rule.
@@richardstephens5570 However, SPOILER
next month the LWP will make an attempt. Lublin, rather than London Poles. The question of soldiers coming into conflict with politically uncongenial fighters is going to arise again, when British troops enter Athens and encounter ELAS Communist partisans. Incidentally an episode little-known in Britain but well-remembered in Greece.
With the fall of Paris imminent, this is a good time to watch the 1964 "The Train" by John Frankenheimer.
This film from 1964 tells a fictionalised version of the German attempt to ship art out of Paris in the wake of the allied advance in August 1944.
Period covered: August 1944 (The film opens with "2 August 1944", but a lot of other stuff only makes sense if the date is a couple of weeks later).
Historical Accuracy: 2/5 - There was a train loaded with art ready to go from paris on 1 August 1944, but it never even left the city.
IMDB grade: 7.8/10
10 francs is 10 francs
Un très bon film , a very good moovie, vous avez raison, you are wright
There's also another good film about the fall of Paris, "Is Paris Burning?(1966).
"Allies have crossed the german border..." You nailed the end !
I think it is amazing to think that in a month, the allies are landing in my backyard in the Netherlands.
That is a huge amount of ground that is covered in a small timespan
Kinda wish they hadn't done the whole Market Garden thing like that. The Dutch paid a high price for Montgomery's hubris. The Dutch definitely did their part.
@aliveortrees I sometimes think "what if" like what if they took their time planning, or what if they choose to land closer to Arnhem instead of Ede. Or what if the Germans did not place the 9 panzer there to reorganize.
But unfortunately, things went the way as they played out.
@@BiggestCorvidThey did gain ground and would somewhat isolate the German army there though. The whole cross the rhine plan and win war by christmas was silly
@@jessevandeinsen4202 Market Garden should NEVER have happened. It is irrelevant what would have happened if more British forces had landed closer to Arnhem or not. The real bottleneck that would delay Allied operations for the rest of the year was Montgomery's failure to free the Westerschelde and open up Antwerpen as a supply port for the Allies. The drive into Germany could never be sustained with supply lines from Normandy. The Canadian campaign to take Zeeuws Vlaanderen, Zuid Beveland and Walcheren would be bloody and costly on a WW1 scale because Monty was more fixed on Arnhem and wasting his precious few resources there then on Antwerpen. And for that he caused immense hardship and loss of life on the Netherlands. Don"t be fixated on Arnhem because you live there, I'm from Nijmegen, the real battle that should have been fought which could have ended the war sooner was in Zeeland.
@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 well first I do not live at Arnhem. As you might know, the operation spans half of the country in length whilst being a narrow corridor. So even though when I think what if scenarios with the mayor flaw of far off landing zones that leaded to the loss of surprise and an inability to reach the bridges, I do not emphasize on that part. Let alone because I live there.
Second, I disagree with the assessment that Antwerp was so vital that they needed to focus their efforts on that.
Not only is the Schelde operations at that point extremely costly, but they could not have used the harbors there unto well in 1945.
Look at Dieppe,which was liberated on the 1st of September (10 days before Antwerp). Those harbors were not usable until the momentum had been lost. If at all during the war.
A big concentrated push was not as bad as they made it out to be in some historical books. As the supply chain, at that point, couldn't handle the "broadfront strategy" that was used until then.
Stalin: "Hey Poland, remember how you made a certain commissar look stupid during the Miracle at the Vistula, well it's payback time!"
9:16, I believe that the 1st Polish Armoured Division was attached to the 1st Canadian Army, part of 2nd Corps, not British 1st Corps. The 1st Polish Armoured Division was attached to the 1st Canadian Army when Canadian 5th Armour was sent to Italy. The Poles will remain attached to 1st Army for the remainder of the war.
You are correct, as was the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade.
Did you know that most of the Canadian first army was filled with British divisions though?
@@ChrisCrossClash Actually only 1 British Division, the 15th Scottish Infantry Division was added to replace the 1st Canadian Infantry Division when it was sent Italy. In September, 1st British Corps will be attached to the 1st Army, but the other 2 Corps are almost entirely Canadian. Interestingly, the 1st British Corps includes a Belgian brigade and later an American infantry Division.
He had a bad day, he's taking one down, he sang a sad song just to turn it around...
You mentioned the shuttle bombing ( Operation Frantic Joe) It would be great to have a special about that operation
This is one of the most ambitious UA-cam channels ever I adore it, thank you Indy & gang your this achievement for history.
Thanks for the kind comment!
For those that remember playing Call of Duty 3, this week's fighting in France was most, if not all, of that game's campaign, especailly the capture and holding of Chambois. I'm sure I don't need to remind ya'll what a meat grinder that was on harder difficulties!
Stalin had it in for the Poles at least since his failure (in 1920) to obey orders and support Tukhavchesky's forces attacking Warsaw. Stalin was determined to take Lvov , but failed to do so, and his failure to support the advance on Warsaw allowed the Poles to achieve a decisive victory against the Red Army in "The miracle of the Vistula". Stalin was, rightfully, blamed for disobeying orders.
Anthony Doerr's novel All The Light We Cannot See takes place in St. Malo during WW2. One of the best books I've ever listened.
Adolf and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
It's amazing how this series covers the fighting in all threatres. Absolutely brilliant! 👍
Thank you! We do our best!
I'm sorry but that little "Come on!" at 20:25 kind of took me off, it sounded so much like a cat meowling
10:38 from this day forward, the channel island garrison has no friendly coastline
Kluge also wrote
The German people suffered enough, and it's time to put an end in so many atrocities
You are just... Superb!!! This short but really meaningful analysis about the so called "internal conflict" of the German Officers was excellent!!!
Thank you so much!
You're excellent!
The war was well on its way to being lost, anyone could see that, by mid-1943. 1942 there were doubts as general Axis momentum in the war was lost and things started looking pretty dire. But by mid-1943, Germany had faced numerous, massive defeats. 1944 was really just sealing the deal for the Allies. The war should have ended in 1943 with Germany suing for peace, but that was never going to happen. German leadership knew they'd have to answer for much as part of a peace deal, so they elected to drag the country to destruction, even more death. It would only end in 1945, so the nation had to endure 2 terrible years of fighting a war that was clearly lost.
If you ever look at casualties in WWII, 1944-1945 would be the years that Germany would suffer most of its casualties. You would think 1943 with the end of Stalingrad, the defeat at North Africa / Tunisia, losses of Sicily, invasion of Italy, losing Kursk, and the large Soviet counterattack afterwards would be the high point of German casualties in the war. It wasn't. *That came later.*
@@BleedingUranium Then again, the attitude of many at the time was that WW2 happened because the Germans felt they had not really lost WW1 - they had merely been stabbed in the back by Jews and socialists. There was an obsession with making damn sure Germany knew it was defeated.
@scipioafricanus8171 Somebody was going to have to pay for the things Nazi Germany did. If you were one of those guys that had to think about it, you had what was coming to you.
Who knew the phone operator sounded just like people in the cartoons talking on the other end of line!
Roger Miller did a funny telephone bit using a similar voice, or sounds.
Damn.
That ending had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. Phenomenal job Indy + team.
Love this series!
Ah, the Champagne Campaign.
what these blims tied to allied ships do ? Protect from straffing aircraft ?
The Allies really liked balloons and they felt they were helpful to the troops' morale. Unfortunately due to wartime shortages, they had to remain drably colored and undecorated instead of brightly colored as originally intended. Tactical ferris wheels and cotton candy machines were also out due to steel shortages. War is truly hell.
They were intended to discourage low level strafing and bombing runs, the cables could rip the wings off an aircraft.
@@richardstephens5570 They were quickly raised over the D-Day beaches, to discourage low-level German air attacks.
Worthy analysis. Thanks very much!
I don't think most people realize what the Germans ultimately did to the city and people of Warsaw.
Warsaw wasn’t the most destroyed city of the war for no reason
Overall the Nazis killed 18% of the Polish population. The quelling of the Warsaw uprising was only a dramatic vsnd conentrated version of what they did systematically all over the country.
I'd like to shoutout Indy's old outfit, The Great War/Real Time History's coverage of Operation Dragoon. They did a great, in-depth video
For Argentan Patton’s group is the more likely cause of ungiven orders, he was always happy to be blamed for being ahead of his maximum advance line anyway. Making that known to SHAEF formally would likely get him fired, whomever was to blame. There’s not much to be gained by anyone in clearing this up. He’s just lucky to have Bradley to his left and not Clarkus who would make damn sure he couldn’t be blamed and turn it into a big deal.
Mark Clark really set the "standard", didn't he?
@@Significantpower Not many Generals been dragged before the House for “Murderous Blunder” by their own enlisted men, sure 😼
1:56
My grandfather, with the 550th glider infantry, was part of the force that was dropped over Le Muy.
Perhaps, you might have a special on the Patton and his command in Italy and France.
What an ending to an episode, and what a blatantly indesputable way to asses the historic position of the whole of Nazi german high command.
Hat off to you Indy 🎩, the way you emphasise is soul-reaching.
'As Columbo says..' Had me in stitches..
I believe Baseball great Yogi Berra, a youg sailor from the Italian American slum of The Hill participated in the invasion. He was wounde either there or at Normandy. Not serious enough to prevent him from having a Hall of Fame career.
I am honestly shocked. Japan is STILL advancing in China in late 1944. I had no idea.
They aren't advancing at the moment. They are slowly being forced out of China in Yunnan province. In a few weeks, they will start advancing again from hengyang.
Their army is in relatively good shape, at least the part of it that wasn't abandoned on Pacific islands as the Allies advanced there. It's their navy that's doing most of the fighting and is about at the end of its ability to conduct operations.
Operation Ichi-Go (which continues until December) actually was a success for Japan, albeit one that was rendered entirely pointless by U.S. success in the Marianas. It has a massive impact on post war history however, and that continues to the current day...as it was directed against Nationalist forces, greatly weakened their forces, reduced their hold on China, and in the aftermath Mao's communist forces were able to occupy many regions of the countryside that the Nationalists had been forced to abandon during the offensive. It wasn't the only reason the Nationalists lost the Chinese civil war (endemic corruption & deep unpopularity also played their part), but it was a major contributor.
@@ahorsewithnoname773 I've always wondered what would have happened if the Japanese had launched something similar to Ichi-Go around mid-1942 (or earlier), once the battle of Midway occurred and they realized they were going to be in for a long grinding war instead of the swift overwhelming victory they were expecting. Their whole plan revolved around bringing the US to the negotiating table to recognize their Co-Prosperity Sphere (aka new Japanese empire) in the Pacific. Once their navy was on the back-foot and their shipping was getting demolished, the possibility of the US giving up and settling was long gone.
But what if the Japanese had launched a campaign in China to open up land routes to their new resource-rich possessions in the south? Push back the Chinese (both Nationalist and Communist) forces far enough to secure rail lines through China and Indochina to the ports there, where they'd have much shorter shipping routes to bring vital resources in to the mainland. The Allies could still bomb and harass them with subs, but there wouldn't have been such a devastating disruption in their logistics.
Not saying that Japan would have won the war, the US was pretty PO'd after their initial attacks and wasn't likely to want to settle anything until they sailed their fleet into Tokyo Bay. But Japan would have been able to put up a much bigger fight and extended the war greatly if they had secured the resources to do so early in the war.
64 more weeks until Armstice. Hang in there, TimeGhost.
Getting closer to downfall
‘Now…. We are fucked’. - Jason Statham.
Petro was the best weapon on the Operation Dragoon and penetration of Southern France.
This comment is not episode specific, but it is of WWII information that may be of interest. I often listen to recordings of old Abbott & Costello radio broadcasts, many of them being made during WWII. It is fascinating, if not surreal at times, due to the broadcasts being sponsored by Camel Cigarettes, i.e., the company actually sponsored several radio shows at the time, and one of the features of all Camel sponsored shows was their, "Yank of the Week," promotion. Every week the promotion would identify a different serviceman (or unit) serving in the (at the time of course) ongoing world conflict and share with the audience what heroic actions that serviceman (or unit) was involved in. As well, Camel Cigarettes would announce that the "Yank of the Week" would be receiving several thousands of extra cigarettes for their unit.
Really, listening to these old radio shows, in a way, can give a time period, contemporary perspective of WWII.
One other thing I'd like to point out since bringing up the famous comedy duo of Abbott & Costello. At the time, they were the most popular comedians in the USA, and the duo used their popularity to great effect in supporting the war effort. In fact, at the end of 1940, A&C had entered into a contract with Universal Pictures and were set to start production on their first film in a starring role. Originally, they had planned on making the movie, "Hold That Ghost," however, since President Roosevelt had signed the U.S. peacetime draft at the end of 1940, Abbott & Costello decided to instead make the peacetime, army bootcamp comedy, "Buck Privates," which premiered in January 1941. Afterwards, A&C would make the films, "In the Navy" and "Keep 'Em Flying," in support of the represented military branches.
In addition to the military supporting films and radio broadcasts, Abbott & Costello did numerous live tours promoting the sale of war bonds, generating millions of dollars in war-supporting revenue for the USA and its allies.
Last little bit, my favorite of the A&C radio broadcasts is the one entitled "Nylon Stockings" which features guest star Lucille Ball. In the episode Costello is on the hunt for a pair of nylon stockings which, of course, due to the rationing situation for the war effort, made nylon stockings relatively difficult to acquire. It is a wonderfully funny episode which includes the aforementioned "Yank of the Week" promotion. (FYI, these radio episodes are available on UA-cam. Apologies if this comment is a bit lengthy.)
They're giving up half of France on their retreat? Geez, that's how you know things are getting disastrously serious
this is the second time the poles were stubbed in the back by the western allies. The first was in the fauny war.
Poor Poland.
Who gave the order? I'm reminded of what an ROTC instructor said was a basic rule of military life: "Cover your ass."
I think you are being a bit harsh with your assessment of the German officers.
Those that did oppose him ended up dead and there was an attempt to get rid of him as well.
It’s very easy for us to say in the comfort of our living rooms that we would have done the noble thing and stood against Hitler, but we were not there at that time, with the knowledge we have now.
The thing is German officer corps willingly followed Hitler's lead when since 1939 he overrun almost all Europe by military invasion and utilised their services for that. Only after they began to suffer defeats there was a serious opposition to get rid of Hitler among German generals though it did not do any good anyway. Before that they chose to make a personal oath of allegience to Hitler and invade all of their neighbors. After the war their claim of "we were doing our duty honorably" nonsense is hypocrasy at best. It was their actions that spanned Nazi empire to span entire Europe and till Urals , causing collossal death ,suffering and subjugation and sticking to Nazi regime and Hitler in person till total defeat in 1945 then denouncing any responsibility shows how morally repugnant and irresponsible so called German officer corps were.
21:09 Yes. Those numbers are pretty good.
I wish you guys had your nice maps for the Warsaw Uprising too. I cannot imagine the area and positions of their uprising in the context of the front as a whole. Oh...also...I beg of you...please do not ignore the evacuation of Warsaw in Jan 1945 and how the Germans from there managed to get out and flee either west or north -west. I can never get much info about this. The books just say, ...oh..Warsaw fell on Jan 17th, and then they move on. How the garrison spent its last days in Warsaw and how they got out is fascinating.
Curious when the regular episodes will cross the half hour length.
11:35 - I felt a great disturbance in the UA-cam Historisphere, as if millions of Wehraboos suddenly cried out in terror...
Love your videos
Keep up the good work
It's also horrible that many Wehrmacht officers survived the war and never dealt with the consequences of their actions under the clean Wehrmacht lie. They wrote books ascribing all their failures to Hitler's indecisiveness which are still the primary sources for historians.
That shout-out to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact at the end is an amusing coincidence because just yesterday I saw some posts on social media about it that were so stunningly, painfully revisionist (boiling down to "the soviets invading Poland was good actually because they were there to stop the nazis and the Poles were fascists anyway") I was torn between staring blankly into space for 30 minutes and screaming.
The Germans learned to be civilized. Russia - not so much.
I hear you,, the rewriting of history never ends. The Soviets Colluded with the Nazis and they were at best an ally of convenience.
You clarly never reached out to youtube comment section, especially under videos u disagree with.
@@benismannwait till they see the filth that lurks in Instagram comments
So Bradley extended the war for another 8 months 😕
The Germans did.
"Montgomery accepted Bradley’s decision and ordered the Canadians to capture Falaise before turning east to close the gap at Trun and Chambois."
Legion Magazine Pocket Of Destruction: Closing The Falaise Gap
Thank you.
I’m not sure how this war ends, but when it inevitably does, I will be very anxious to see what project you guys will have next. Cold War Proxies? Revolutions? GWOT? Either way, I can’t wait!
Time will tell, thanks for watching!
More drugs will improve his mood.
Yes
Our officers when faced by a choice like that tend to be loyal to their careers. When it comes down to it, there's not much difference.
0:23 G'dam this vest/shirt/tie looks sharp
The wardrobe department brought their A-game this week.
Noted, good job. 👍
I still say we need Fegeein to prank call Indy...
Enjoyed Mr. Great Episode.
I wonder what general the powers want fired this episode...
Hello Timeghost, Your source list is still at 1941. Can we get it expanded a bit? I kind of use you guys when i need a new read
I recommend the Robert Citino trilogy n The wehrmacht which he does use as well s te Prit Buttar trilogy on the fighting in the Ukraine 1943-45 the last one is The Reckoning. He also uses that one. Rbert Evans The Third Reich At War is a classic.
To be fair, the German Officer Corps were nearly 100% loyal to Hitler because those that were not were, by this time, imprisoned, fled, or dead. And thus they fully deserve to be held responsible for the crimes committed. An Officer's first and primary loyalty is to his own ethical conduct. If he follows orders that lead him or his men to commit crimes, then he has violated this primary responsibility and deserves to be held accountable.
I'm very glad officers in the US armed forces swear an oath not to a person, but to the US constitution. Imagine what would be if they were required to swear an oath to the POTUS.
I generally have a low opinion of the German generals, but think you may have point here.The policy of unconditional surrender was seen to be politically expedient, especially for keeping the USSR in the war. But some very strict conditions for surrender could have still been far more inviting than unconditional surrender-and could have driven a wedge between actual Nazis (or the more die hard ones) and everyone else.The war could have ended sooner, with much less loss of life for everyone. Most historians actually lie about "absolute surrender" in regard to the Japanese- there actually WAS a condition- that Hirohito remain as Emperor. This did not prevent the transformation of Japan postwar-although I have to wonder if this "condition" had anything to do with the Japanese whitewashing Japan's role in WWII and claiming victimhood. @scipioafricanus8171
(7:40) This must be the most famous WWII bombing clip of all time. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen this orchard bombed, but it’s a lot. 😮
Those bushes offended Ike. They need to pay
Thank you for the lesson.
So far the Warsaw uprising seems to have limited to no support from the allied forces.
The political games played on the shoulders of Poland and it's people are a sign for the things to come, concerning the future of Europe.
As always. Well done. History Rocks.😎
We think so as well, thanks for watching!
Yoooo Paris gon be liberated Friday just 6 days away august 25
Also 5 september 1944 is called "mad" Tuesday in the Netherlands.
I find it fascinating that by the end of the war we find so much video footage in color already.
It’s likely been colorized later, and likely wasn’t recorded that way
@@pocketmarcy6990 The Americans shot quite a lot of genuine colour footage, often in the Pacific (perhaps its more reliable sunshine made colour filming more feasible). The Germans used colour film to an extent. The British rarely, and the other participants in WW2 very rarely if at all.
In the Falaise pocket alone .
Please correct me if I am wrong .
Let us remember there alone . Regretfully it is claimed 60000 French non combatant civilians lost their lives .
This is a fraction of the cost that the French paid for freedom . A price that civilians of failed states remain in failed states because they are not willing to pay the price .
We've had First Invasion, yes, but what about Second Invasion?
It's beyond me how can one go from accusing German generals of not caring about their men because they kept fighting in 1944, to praising the Warsaw uprising less than one minute
Move to russia then.
That's because you're either uneducated or simply being disingenuous. The Poles were fighting bitterly for their freedom against a state that wanted to wipe their people out. German generals were fighting to hold onto their imperialistic gains in Eastern Europe.
Had the Nazis won, Poland and the Polish people would not exist today. Such a horrific fate wasn't considered for the Germans after they had been defeated.
8:40
Worst day in his life... so far
Are they still finding 1000 to 3000 remains a year around Stalingrad (Volgograd) today?
oh jeeze is my go to
American generals seem to have a tendency to blame the British and the Commonwealth for everything that goes wrong in WW2 and given the Anglophobia at the time I don't trust anything the Americans say about their Allies.
As for Falaise-Argentan Bradley ordering Patton to stop and go to the Seine doesn't make any sense considering where the Seine is from Argentan. I bet the Americans were given the objective to take Argentan but Bradley only committed a cautious advance. This was likely due to the number of SS units and the density of Germans in the area because if Bradley didn't want to encroach into the Canadian sector then why did the Americans still advance towards Argentan and the eastern towns like Chambois(modern day Gouffern en Auge).
This wouldn't be the first nor the last time the Americans try to shift the blame in WW2.
As a Romanian, I have some trepidation for next week's episode
Don’t. It’s gonna be awesome.
Read Prit Buttar The Reckoning for details of the Iassi- Kishiniv offensive.
Surely Romania won’t betray the Germans
There are several good sources about it. As you may have seen, I’ve used Buttar a lot the last two years.
We have a celebration of the Dragoon landings on the cliffs in Cap d'Agde every year at this time, at the height of the tourist season 🇨🇵🇪🇺. Thank you USA. One of our buildings in Béziers had the only cellar in the street, so people crowded in to shelter from the Consolidated Liberators' bombs.
The Germans ran, either east to join the fight or north towards safety.
7:40 "Way more complicated (...)"
Not as complicated as the miscommunications during the Battle of France, right? ;-)
“An allied clusterfuck”
So, taking Indie up on his recommendation, what sources do you recommend to read in order to better understand the decisions concerning the closing of the Falaise Pocket?
I've read these
The Battle of the Generals,by Martin Blumenson
Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy by Max Hastings
The Killing Ground: The Battle of the Falaise Gap, August 1944 by James Lucas
Eisenhower & Montgomery at the Falaise Gap,William Weidner