The European Elite of the Waffen SS: Wiking | World War II

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  • Опубліковано 22 лис 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 655

  • @historyatwar
    @historyatwar  8 місяців тому +23

    👉Check out War Thunder Here - playwt.link/historyatwar 👈

    • @serpens8
      @serpens8 6 місяців тому +1

      MALWARE!

    • @heimdal6666
      @heimdal6666 3 місяці тому

      I've played for more then 10 years at WT. It had once a great potential but it has been completely crippled by pompous idiot management !!

    • @teknoaija1762
      @teknoaija1762 2 місяці тому

      42th reads forty second,not forty twoth.Quite funny fail tho....

  • @1958bart
    @1958bart 6 місяців тому +234

    My late father belonged to Div. Wiking. He passed in 1994. He was Dutch, and fought on the Eastern front.

    • @HM-kk8dq
      @HM-kk8dq 5 місяців тому +1

      In which regiment was he? Did he ever mention Hans Dorr?

    • @CaliforniaLoLCow
      @CaliforniaLoLCow 3 місяці тому +7

      Stop lying

    • @tylerloving7132
      @tylerloving7132 3 місяці тому +16

      I know he’s looking up at you right now with his right hand held high

    • @Benzlerfahrer
      @Benzlerfahrer 2 місяці тому +12

      Even geen politiek, je vader heeft wel gevochten voor zijn toekomst. Bemerkenswaardig!

    • @archmagosdominusbelisarius8836
      @archmagosdominusbelisarius8836 2 місяці тому +15

      ​@@CaliforniaLoLCowwhy would he lie?? Do you think everyone just perished after the war and they never had children or relatives??

  • @VESPAVINCE
    @VESPAVINCE 7 місяців тому +146

    My Father lived in Esztergom Hungary was a four year old boy at the time . The nearby road leads to Budapest. He remembers the arrival of Wiking and how the SS tanks and apcs shook the foundations of every house as they rolled in. . A smiling SS trooper picked him up sat him on his knee and cut off a large chunk of bread and smoked ham to feed him . They stayed in the town for a while and in their back garden set up a heavy MG. Firing on Soviet column's on the other side of the Danube. They stayed for for a few days and rolled off towards Budapest. Still remembers to this day . Really good channel here best one on UA-cam.

    • @PulkaSkurken
      @PulkaSkurken 5 місяців тому +17

      i have no idea if my grandfather´s brother ( a Swede), who was a SS Wiking where there. but i wonder if he was in that area you speak of.

    • @VESPAVINCE
      @VESPAVINCE 5 місяців тому +12

      @@PulkaSkurken How interesting. My Godfather and uncle were conscripted into the SS nearby. They fought inside Budapest and retreat to Vienna. It was very much put this uniform on and you are coming with us. Harsh measures were in place in those times. But Wiking did pull up that side of Budapest near Esztergom to advance on Budapest. They very nearly got there. Thanks for the reply.

    • @me.ne.frego.
      @me.ne.frego. 4 місяці тому +19

      I love real anecdotes from the war, thanks for sharing. My grandmother told me about the germans who occupied his town in Southern Italy, she told me they were tall and imposing and very very disciplined, never taking nothing not belonging to them. The germans complained daily about the poor quality of their bread rations and traded with the locals for high quality white bread (my family and all the people from those towns were farmers and produced incredible good food). I don't know if the germans were Wehrmacht or SS, but they treated people well. Things got worse when partisans took control, they had to wear red insignias and simulate being communist supporters to avoid bad things to happen. She died here in Argentina years ago at old age, she had poor eyesight but recognized me at far distance by my walking, "you walk like a soldier" she used to tell me. I miss her, she was a super tough woman.

    • @trident6547
      @trident6547 4 місяці тому +13

      @@PulkaSkurken According to Peter Strassner´s book "European Volunteers-5th SS Panzer Division Wiking" the units from Wiking that fought in Hungary were the Germania regiment with German volunteers, the Westland regiment with mostly Dutch and Belgian volunteers and the Norge battalion that obviously had Norwegian volunteers. officcially there was only one Swede in Waffen-SS but unofficially their numbers was 180-200 men. They saw action on both the Eastern Front and NW Europe, and participated in some of the bloodiest clashes: the initial stages of Operation Barbarossa, the winter of 1941/42, the battles of Kursk, Arnhem, Normandy, Narva, the Warsaw uprising, the Cherkassy and Kurland pockets and, finally, the end in Berlin.
      There is a book about the Swedish volunteers by Lars Larsson called "HITLER'S SWEDES: A History of the Swedish Volunteers in the Waffen SS". you can buy it at "On Military Matters" for $ 70,00.
      We Finns do not forget the more than 8000 Swedish volunteers who fought with us in the Winter war. Some 40 gave their life for Finland.

    • @cocobot90
      @cocobot90 3 місяці тому +6

      ​@@trident6547Respect and greetings from Germany. You Finns really are some tough bastards, in the best sense 😉

  • @SamSups
    @SamSups 4 місяці тому +34

    The Nordics were united with the Germans in a culture only the Europeans understood. Great fighters, the Viking Division.

    • @northernlight8857
      @northernlight8857 Місяць тому

      No. These were traitors and nazis. Both Denmark and Norway was invaded and we fought the invader.

  • @my21monkeys
    @my21monkeys 7 місяців тому +9

    What a great ❤documentary 😢it’s sad that so many life’s from all sides lost so much but their memories shall never be forgotten for their valor

  • @TheMehustaja
    @TheMehustaja 7 місяців тому +231

    Thank you all wikings who fought for Finland.

  • @SeanMyers-id1so
    @SeanMyers-id1so 8 місяців тому +375

    I knew of a few American veterans who had friends from the 5th Wiking, many of them moved to the USA after the war, they were a very skilled bunch of fighters

    • @The_war_thunder_noob_02
      @The_war_thunder_noob_02 8 місяців тому +7

      Skilled what?

    • @chrisstucker1813
      @chrisstucker1813 8 місяців тому +90

      hard as nails. fought in some of the war's toughest conditions and performed extremely well

    • @mattclements1348
      @mattclements1348 8 місяців тому

      ​@chrisstucker1813 yes those guys were tough, to go thru that, as i get older i look at the war more objectively, the victors do write the history books. Were atrocities committed yes, on both sides, but most were soldiers doing there job 🫡

    • @uranusismightybig5111
      @uranusismightybig5111 8 місяців тому +55

      ​@@The_war_thunder_noob_02 skilled at fëeling yøu up yøur drêss...

    • @girthyrichar6947
      @girthyrichar6947 8 місяців тому +16

      ​@@The_war_thunder_noob_02
      Read it again

  • @tonyelberg7814
    @tonyelberg7814 8 місяців тому +92

    a hard division that fought every where, brave soldiers, thanks for this doco

  • @th.burggraf7814
    @th.burggraf7814 8 місяців тому +91

    Leon Degrelle and his Sturmbrigade Wallonien would be worth a separate video. He was awarded the close-combat clasp in gold, which means he lived through at least 50 days of close combat. Only around 650 soldiers had been awarded the "Nahkampf-Spange in Gold".

    • @cocobot90
      @cocobot90 6 місяців тому +3

      Yeah, AFAIK any soldier wearing this had earned the immediate respect of any soldier or officer they met. The Knight's Cross was given out in ever greater numbers towards the end of the war, as a morale boost. While still being prestigious, there could be a big difference between a regular KC awarded early in the war and one awarded between ~1944(?) and the end. There were those truly earned Knight's Crosses and then those awarded for propaganda value and on an "honorary" basis to higher ranking party members and the like. Conversely, the conditions for the "consecutive days spent in close-combat", increased between the clasp in bronze, silver ans gold. However, there wasn't ever any doubt involved about anyone sporting the iconic close-combat clasp in gold.

    • @Terracecasualx5
      @Terracecasualx5 6 місяців тому +7

      He won the bronze,silver and gold close combat clasp and Hitler when presenting him with an award(I forget which) stated “if I had a son I wish he would have been you”.

    • @th.burggraf7814
      @th.burggraf7814 6 місяців тому +2

      @@Terracecasualx5 spot on. 👍🏻

    • @bollox8992
      @bollox8992 6 місяців тому +1

      @@Terracecasualx5
      Wasn’t that Skorzeny he meant?

    • @Terracecasualx5
      @Terracecasualx5 6 місяців тому +8

      @@bollox8992 no brother it was Leon Degrelle and I’m sure it was when he presented him with the Knights Cross. Though Hitler did admire Skorzeny as he was one of his’Black Palladins’ and he was his ‘SF go to guy for difficult missions’. But they were both die hard National Socialists until their deaths.

  • @OwenJames-bb7mi
    @OwenJames-bb7mi 8 місяців тому +77

    Absolutely love your work, the fine line in history where we should explore. Your perfectly centred, not too radical with your presentations as like others on UA-cam, love it

    • @PassionateSpirit88
      @PassionateSpirit88 8 місяців тому

      Did the American vets mention that they regret fighting the Germans in WW2?

    • @OliverDee-e5g
      @OliverDee-e5g 3 місяці тому

      Agree. All the videos on this channel I have seen are top class.

  • @robertschumann7737
    @robertschumann7737 8 місяців тому +105

    I do agree that the SS Wiking division was the elite foreign division of the SS but not of the entirety of German forces. The 250th infantry division of the 16th army also known as the Blue division gets that distinction in my opinion. They were a division made up of Spanish volunteers. They showed their tenacity with their first orders. They were to march over 550 miles from Poland to join Army Group Center for its march towards Moscow. Shortly before they arrived they were reassigned to Army Group North and its siege of Leningrad. In its most famous battle at Krasny Bor just under 5000 of them took the brunt of the attack from 33000 Soviet infantry of the 55th Army. Even with the Soviets attacking with 30 tanks and over 1000 field guns they could not dislodge the Spaniards. The Blue division dealt the red army 5 times more casualties and stopped the Soviets cold allowing the siege of Leningrad to go on another year. They were never beaten in battle and Hitler created a special award just for them. He was reported to hold them in very high regard saying "Those Spanish have never yielded an inch." Also remarking that he was sure any German troops would be happy to know they had the blue division on their line. They were battle hardened from the Spanish Civil War before joining the Germans and hated communism. Franco because of allied pressure ordered the last of them to return to Spain before the Soviets launched Bagration which more than likely saved the Spanish some very heavy casualties. They were a fierce division of warriors being led by Spanish generals. They were the true elite of German foreign divisions. Wiking, Charlemagne and the Latvian Legion all deserve recognition but can any of them say a military award was created in their honor and awardedbby Hitler?

    • @aegontargaryen9322
      @aegontargaryen9322 8 місяців тому +19

      Great post Robert . I had heard of Spanish nationals fighting for Germany but knew very little of them . Thank you for that post

    • @majorjohnathanlamey9918
      @majorjohnathanlamey9918 7 місяців тому

      There you go again glorifying those murdering fascist legions. You have no regard for those killed for NOTHING BUT GREED.

    • @GarrettBradfordTX
      @GarrettBradfordTX 7 місяців тому +4

      Great info

    • @slimbim77
      @slimbim77 7 місяців тому +2

      @@aegontargaryen9322 Indeed, I absolutely agree

    • @smoothbrush4722
      @smoothbrush4722 6 місяців тому +2

      tough those spanish, never knew that, thanks.

  • @OliverDee-e5g
    @OliverDee-e5g 3 місяці тому +25

    The way Russia and its army have behaved recently makes me look at these units a bit differently. In fact, the way the Soviet Union kept every country it occupied at the end of WW2 makes it more understandable what many of them were fighting for.

    • @isaacfaith9369
      @isaacfaith9369 Місяць тому

      Many of the volunteers were not Nazis, they simply joined them to fight Marxism. Many European countries had seen the terror of Communism during the pre-war period, and were eager to help fight it. Notably Finland and Spain, and I know many Norwegians joined in solidarity with our long time allies of Finland, an alliance still standing today.

  • @MACE_HINDU
    @MACE_HINDU 4 місяці тому +111

    Damn shame we fought against them even Patton said where fighting the wrong enemie

    • @aldousbrawndo996
      @aldousbrawndo996 2 місяці тому

      Jews being kicked out of 100 order more countries had to do something wrong

    • @mika2swaggy
      @mika2swaggy 2 місяці тому +9

      You are so lost, how can you say hitler was the wrong enemy

    • @archmagosdominusbelisarius8836
      @archmagosdominusbelisarius8836 2 місяці тому

      ​@@mika2swaggyyou dont know who hitler was, you have been brainwashed since childhood to look at him like satan. Everyone is brainwashed in this way so im not mad at you. Looking at you im more sad..

    • @josephsmith6777
      @josephsmith6777 2 місяці тому +11

      He said this because he rightly believed that russia was as much of a threat as a germany . He wanted to push into russia after getting to the border in North Korea. It's probably the last time we had nuclear superiority over the ussr .

    • @mika2swaggy
      @mika2swaggy 2 місяці тому +3

      @@josephsmith6777 in the 1970’s till 1980’s the usa thought they didn’t have a superior arsenal but that turned out to be false. It was only in the 1990’s when russia took over the usa in sheer numbers, the quality of american nukes is still years ahead of anything the russians have

  • @kohtalainenalias
    @kohtalainenalias 8 місяців тому +118

    I used to talk (early 90's) with two finnish SS men who were volunteers and fought in the east front during '41-'44. They we're hard boiled fighters.

    • @wingnutjtw
      @wingnutjtw 8 місяців тому +9

      Wow the stories those men must have had.

    • @loneranger5349
      @loneranger5349 8 місяців тому +2

      Obviously the Russians were harder 😊

    • @Farkmetal
      @Farkmetal 8 місяців тому

      Were they in the wiking division or maybe nord?

    • @ColinFreeman-kh9us
      @ColinFreeman-kh9us 8 місяців тому +21

      @@loneranger5349 when they were a rapin’ you mean as obviously to anyone with a brain the results of the winter war proved different looking at losses.

    • @DerWeißwulf
      @DerWeißwulf 8 місяців тому +32

      ​@loneranger5349 if by the Russians being Harder you mean, had 20 times the man power, yeah sure lol. 1,000,000,000,000 ants will probably take down an elephant

  • @liamneilson5831
    @liamneilson5831 8 місяців тому +57

    I always recommend reading “twilight of the gods” by thorolf hillblad about a Swedish ss soldier serving in ss nordland a great book which shows the toughness of ss volunteers in general

    • @yuppy1967
      @yuppy1967 8 місяців тому +19

      Awesome book, it cuts through all the negative propaganda that was generated after the end of the war. It gives you the truth, which is hard to come by these days.

    • @liamneilson5831
      @liamneilson5831 8 місяців тому +11

      @@yuppy1967 reminds me of some of my opas war stories from the eastern front, such a brutal struggle

    • @brianmaitai7685
      @brianmaitai7685 5 місяців тому +2

      Yah. Excellent story!

    • @MarlinWilliams-ts5ul
      @MarlinWilliams-ts5ul 3 місяці тому +1

      Looks like the Red Army was to much for these Vikings.

  • @PanzerdivisionWiking
    @PanzerdivisionWiking 7 місяців тому +12

    These videos are amazingly well done, so much research and scripting and editing. Thank you so much for your dedication. Will always follow your channel brother.

  • @infernalstormrider
    @infernalstormrider 8 місяців тому +62

    Felix Steiner was one of very few ss-generals who was not trialed of war crimes .

    • @Jakal-pw8yq
      @Jakal-pw8yq 8 місяців тому +17

      "Where is Steiner," "Where is Steiner??" AH, April '45
      Every German General: "Steiner ain't comin'!!"

    • @danilovega2029
      @danilovega2029 8 місяців тому

      @@Jakal-pw8yq"DaS wAr eIn bEfEhL!"

    • @majorjohnathanlamey9918
      @majorjohnathanlamey9918 7 місяців тому

      They were fighting for nothing but the inflicting of pain and suffering. Both Stalin and Hitler were blood-seeking wolves.

    • @TheoCapteijn-kh8nj
      @TheoCapteijn-kh8nj 5 місяців тому

      Waffen SS.

    • @cocobot90
      @cocobot90 3 місяці тому

      ​@@Jakal-pw8yqAFAIK Hitler had tasked Steiner with getting a happy meal and specifically asked for it to include the Tiger Tank toy. Steiner got the order wrong, which sent Hitler into fit of rage. I might be confusing some facts or videos here, though.

  • @MarkWilliam-pl6qs
    @MarkWilliam-pl6qs 6 місяців тому +19

    The German Military had the most diverse Military in the war... They had Arab divisions, French, Indian, Waloon, Russians, Ukrainians, Turks,

    • @isaacfaith9369
      @isaacfaith9369 Місяць тому

      Goes to show how fucked up Communism is.

    • @istvansovari4208
      @istvansovari4208 26 днів тому

      Voltak például még albán,skandináv,magyar, baltiak,ukrán,francia,spanyol,holland, vallon,orosz,brit, sőt állítólag még zsidó csapatok is voltak.

  • @larsblankenfjell9814
    @larsblankenfjell9814 29 днів тому +1

    Love this Documentary!!!!
    Spoke to an old friend ( now passed away), he told me that he enlisted in the Finish winter war, and how they finally capture a Russian sniper( one of his stories).
    Another guy from Lithuania ( I sailed with him, when he was a Captain onboard a ship) his nickname was Raven, his specialty was to sneak up behind the Russian lines and cut the throat of many Russian, even after the war was ended, the KGB was looking after him, but he never got caught, he lived his life in Sweden after the war.
    All stories I heard is not room enough to mention here

  • @paulthescandinavian4992
    @paulthescandinavian4992 5 місяців тому +10

    Thanks for the video, very interesting, I have some war time documents telling me that my late grandfather was part of this very 5th Freiwillingen SS panzergrenadier Div.1941-43, all the Best from Finland

  • @valdurion6779
    @valdurion6779 8 місяців тому +15

    Thankyou ! Gotta come back to this later with more time lol.

  • @TomFerd-gs5oe
    @TomFerd-gs5oe 8 місяців тому +31

    We need these on streaming services, amazing documentary’s

    • @Yamaha38XCRacer
      @Yamaha38XCRacer 8 місяців тому +4

      Tubi has some good ones on Soviet and German, ww1 and ww2

    • @nicholasgiokas4939
      @nicholasgiokas4939 8 місяців тому +2

      You mean "documentaries" (plural).

    • @amacca2085
      @amacca2085 8 місяців тому +3

      Why it’s on UA-cam your watching it

  • @BenHawks
    @BenHawks 8 місяців тому +65

    The most Based channel on YT, appreciate all of your work

    • @drivenmad7676
      @drivenmad7676 6 місяців тому +1

      Check out Robert Sepehr. The most dangerous anthropologist.

    • @Jaybush-hy4mh
      @Jaybush-hy4mh 5 місяців тому

      ​@@drivenmad7676the most Jewish as well. You should check out his fathers books about Judaism.

    • @ronalddunne3413
      @ronalddunne3413 2 місяці тому

      Ben Hawks- Upon what, do you suppose, this channel is based? I think it's based upon truth, what do YOU think its basis is?

    • @Jaybush-hy4mh
      @Jaybush-hy4mh 2 місяці тому

      @@drivenmad7676 you mean the most Jewish anthropologist that pushes Satanism

  • @danzig798
    @danzig798 8 місяців тому +3

    The speaker in the smaller documents like „Encirclement Kiew 1941“ suits the best and gives goosebumps together with the background music !

  • @seanohare5488
    @seanohare5488 8 місяців тому +13

    Well done very interesting and informative

  • @JimDetz
    @JimDetz 8 місяців тому +8

    Great video, love the narration

  • @DavidISHERWOOD-iu1xn
    @DavidISHERWOOD-iu1xn 8 місяців тому +17

    Note NOT in Viking - there were British and a sprinkling of Canadian, South African, Australian and New Zealanders in the SS.
    One Brit now passed was a strong man and stayed on in Berlin after its conquest. He got a job in a circus doing strong man acts. Eventually the Russians found out and he spent 10 years in a Russian Gulag camp. He was released in 1955 and returned to UK.
    Later the same year he was employed teaching Norfolk school children PT - a remarkable come back

    • @historyatwar
      @historyatwar  8 місяців тому +3

      Interesting! Do you have his name?

    • @DavidISHERWOOD-iu1xn
      @DavidISHERWOOD-iu1xn 5 місяців тому +1

      @@historyatwar Eric Pleasants although his born name was not Eric

    • @asullivan4047
      @asullivan4047 3 місяці тому

      Remarkable that he survived the diabolically hellish gulag incarceration-!!!😳

    • @DavidISHERWOOD-iu1xn
      @DavidISHERWOOD-iu1xn 2 місяці тому

      @@asullivan4047 As stated he was a strong man. These Gulags had gangs and the story goes he was in a fist fight and hit his opponent so hard that it killed him. Having little Russian he later found out that the gang were voting kill him or let him live. Because of killing a man with one powerful blow, they decided with one vote not to kill him

    • @williamskelton8130
      @williamskelton8130 Місяць тому

      His life would make a fascinating movie.

  • @chuckguard6128
    @chuckguard6128 3 місяці тому +2

    Dude, best channel for WWII history!!! I wish you'd go into detail about all the SS units from start to finish! Or maybe just the most notorious SS units!

  • @Europa_woche
    @Europa_woche 8 місяців тому +6

    Beautiful video. Congratulations ❤❤❤ great history and very well and honest narrative.

  • @skannerdk7268
    @skannerdk7268 7 місяців тому +15

    Germany lost so many men and women of good stock to this senseless war.

  • @mohammedsaysrashid3587
    @mohammedsaysrashid3587 8 місяців тому +13

    Informative video about Waffen Viking SS divisions members & Ethnic groups...video showed theirs furious and deciplined fought...

  • @kylepartridge100
    @kylepartridge100 Місяць тому +3

    Excellent video. Having read Degrelle's book, it expanded a lot of what i already knew.

  • @HM-kk8dq
    @HM-kk8dq 8 місяців тому +27

    Wiking had some of the toughest german soldiers, e.g. Hans Dorr.

    • @DavidISHERWOOD-iu1xn
      @DavidISHERWOOD-iu1xn 2 місяці тому

      @@HM-kk8dq Let me tell you of something I believe to be true. In USA at West Point Officer College there are portraits of GENERALS through History they admire. There is one German General of WW2 - you might think of Rommel or Von Manstein? In fact it is
      SS General.Felix Steiner

    • @HM-kk8dq
      @HM-kk8dq 2 місяці тому

      @@DavidISHERWOOD-iu1xn No way they have a portrait of a SS general in west point.

  • @mchrome3366
    @mchrome3366 8 місяців тому +10

    A great video and effort to find so much information. Thanks

  • @atae7185
    @atae7185 4 місяці тому +22

    Europe needs these men now more than ever.
    AH; “if we lose this war, then Europe will be finished within one hundred years”
    He said that eighty years ago.

    • @vparakhin
      @vparakhin Місяць тому

      Europe was finished within 10 years. The Stalinists won WWII with the aid of Americans and enslaved all of the Eastern Europe for 40 years. Unfortunately, today most of Europe is left-wing and semi-Communist.

    • @ulrichenevoldsen8371
      @ulrichenevoldsen8371 Місяць тому +1

      Is this from the category "things that never happened"?

  • @pondusenglanq8563
    @pondusenglanq8563 8 місяців тому +16

    The documentary Europa the last battle is also good!

  • @jpmtlhead39
    @jpmtlhead39 6 місяців тому +7

    What the 5th Wiking Division and the 28th Wallonien division endure and did achive in the Horrendous Korsun- Cherkassy pocket,is stuff of Legend..
    One of the most brutal,vicious and cruel battle in WW2. Even by Eastern Front "standards".

  • @fratersol
    @fratersol 7 місяців тому +105

    These guys volunteered to end communism. The german forces was some of the most diverse soldiers ever to that point to fight together. And operatio barborasa was a 6 nation invasion not just germany

    • @drivenmad7676
      @drivenmad7676 6 місяців тому +18

      Facts! "History is a set of lies agreed upon." NB

    • @AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg
      @AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg 6 місяців тому +5

      But under German command

    • @AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg
      @AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg 6 місяців тому

      ​@@drivenmad7676lol whatever basement general

    • @georgschuster8409
      @georgschuster8409 6 місяців тому +19

      For my opinion the Waffen SS was the first European army.

    • @MinistryofMen
      @MinistryofMen 6 місяців тому

      You call them nations? The Germans didn't think so.

  • @Rickkert2000
    @Rickkert2000 5 місяців тому +11

    Mostly Dutch men were in the Wiking division!

    • @monfort537
      @monfort537 2 місяці тому +1

      Most of them were Germans, only a few percentages were from abroad. Even German historians like Roman Töppel already debunked this myth, which was mainly created by the propaganda ministry to pull more foreigners into the SS.

    • @hansgruber650
      @hansgruber650 Місяць тому

      Though they try to keep it in the shadows, the Dutch I believe had the most volunteers to the SS than any other in Europe.

  • @SKat-rg5zu
    @SKat-rg5zu 6 місяців тому +13

    There where a Finnish officer in the Salla /Lapland battlefield that took command over a German Waffen SS unit called 6:th Gebirgs -Division Nord. They where a disaster in the early days and could not hold up with their Finnish comrades. Many of my relatives fought in that battle,but in the Finnish side...The Germans when picked mainly from concentration camps in Germany,so they had no experience of war. All ny relatives said that yhey had only good things to say about the Germans. They where real gentlemen.....the Soviets on the other hand...they where and is still hated

    • @lennykump8396
      @lennykump8396 2 місяці тому

      Camp guard maybe. It was not possible for a criminal to join an orderly SS unit. Only convict units such as Dirlewanger.

  • @benjaminrush4443
    @benjaminrush4443 8 місяців тому +9

    German/Irish - American born. US Military - 1971 to 1973. Western European, American History/Military History & Ancient History. Thanks.

  • @ArviPontsa
    @ArviPontsa 8 місяців тому +30

    My grandfather could be in those video clips.Died in Kaukasus 1943...Finland contripution against ryssä.

  • @StefanSJensen
    @StefanSJensen 3 місяці тому +7

    many danes in ⚡️⚡️ viking, were not there to fight for germany, they were there to fight the red bolsheviks

  • @LexTomas-jl1lf
    @LexTomas-jl1lf 8 місяців тому +14

    God, I love this channel

  • @Rayder4Life
    @Rayder4Life 8 місяців тому +10

    crazy footage, never seen it before i dont know where u got it from

  • @rickj895
    @rickj895 8 місяців тому +5

    Wow really good video. But with the maps where better. Good job.

  • @GridDownSurvival
    @GridDownSurvival 8 місяців тому +5

    You have a new sub.. ive watched a few of your videos.. great quality content.. you and the history underground are 2 of the best on here

  • @TheoCapteijn-kh8nj
    @TheoCapteijn-kh8nj 5 місяців тому +19

    The first true European Army.

  • @pondusenglanq8563
    @pondusenglanq8563 8 місяців тому +80

    Look at europe and usa today 😢

    • @tgg8267
      @tgg8267 4 місяці тому +24

      That's the consequence because they didn't win and they lost because of US support to red army

    • @pondusenglanq8563
      @pondusenglanq8563 4 місяці тому +7

      @@tgg8267 sad

    • @metanoian965
      @metanoian965 3 місяці тому

      IV Reich was financed by USA, with the II Reich administrators returned to their jobs, and is sustained by USA, today. CIA HQ EU Germany.

    • @tylerloving7132
      @tylerloving7132 3 місяці тому +1

      The worlds most powerful and rich places? Yeah woe is me

    • @blood-eagle4204
      @blood-eagle4204 3 місяці тому +11

      @@tgg8267 "We fought the wrong enemy."

  • @slimbim77
    @slimbim77 7 місяців тому +2

    Brilliant footage and a respectful voice over.

  • @RubyMarkLindMilly
    @RubyMarkLindMilly 2 місяці тому +6

    Tough division a real band of brothers

  • @LuminOriginal
    @LuminOriginal 8 місяців тому +8

    Fascinating stuff, great insights

  • @michaeldr6070
    @michaeldr6070 Місяць тому +2

    Think my grandfather was a part of SS Wiking. My father doesn’t want to talk about what my grandfather did between 1940-1945. Only thing I know is that he left for Germany at the time

  • @TP-ie3hj
    @TP-ie3hj 2 місяці тому +1

    Excellent work. I watched a few videos early on and gave you some grief about the "adjective salad" narration. I have watched this and another and it is so well done with excellent footage and narration. I saw a few seconds of the Arden offensive in 55 min of video. The rest seemed to be all placed pretty correctly , not easy to do I am sure. Again excellent work not that it's worth much but I subscribed, something I have rarely ever done.

  • @davemcmahon8140
    @davemcmahon8140 8 місяців тому +6

    Outstanding account of the 5th Wiking SS division.

  • @jonathans9537
    @jonathans9537 8 місяців тому +14

    Goosebumps

  • @urosweingerl4388
    @urosweingerl4388 5 місяців тому +2

    amazing and beyond!!! Tnx for this higly top doc.!!! THANK YOU!!

  • @LeveretteJamesClifford1955
    @LeveretteJamesClifford1955 5 місяців тому +2

    A lot of these soldiers believed that Hitler was creating the European Union and thus volunteered to fight the Soviets to preserve the Union. Not all of the SS were volunteers or formed in Germany like a regular enlistment scheme. One who was drafted into the SS was a young man who wanted to be a fighter pilot so had joined the Luftwaffe. His name was Otto Blasé and he had become an officer while waiting to get is training. At that time so many of the SS officers had been killed our maimed in the fighting in Russia so the SS worked out a deal basically conscripting officers from the Luftwaffe since there are so many of them. Blasé became a Tiger Tank commander the SS Division Leibstandarte 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion and was in Michael Whittmann's unit. The day Whitman was killed, Blase's Tiger was also destroyed but he was sick and in the hospital because earlier that day in the commander's conference before the battle, Whittmann noted that Blasé was wearing a heavy coat, was easily distracted and stooped rather than standing straight. There are photos of this meeting and you can see Blasé as Whittmann saw him. After the meeting he ordered Blasé to go to the closest military hospital and be treated and not to come back to the unit until he is well. Interestingly enough, a 1:35 scale army figure studio has made figures of Whittmann and Blasé based on photos of that meeting.
    Blasé did not receive another Tiger until, unbeknown to any one other than Hitler and a select few military planners, Operation Watch on the Rhine was being planned and the necessary units with new equipment were being gathered in strict secrecy. Hitler was convinced, rightly, that the Allies had found a way to tap into their radio, telegraph and telephone system and knew what was being said at the same time that the recipients did. Therefore everything was communicated by couriers. New Tiger B models were being produced and an entire Heer heavy tank battalion was due to receive those tanks. When they were ready to be delivered, the SS seized the tanks and gave them to SS units. Otto Blasé received one of those tanks and it was painted with the number 332. During the battle now known as the Battle of the Bulge, Blasé and his crew discovered that their tank's transmission had broken and the tank would only run in reverse. While waiting for the 332 to be recovered by a repair unit, an American tank brigade found the 332 and fired on it with phosphorous shells. The crew tried to escape, three were killed and two were able to make it to safety. It is not known if Blasé was one of those killed but his tank was recovered and sent to the United States for study. It has been "permanently" displayed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, then the Armor museum at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and now it is displayed in a very sterile, uncreative, visitor access unfriendly tank warehouse at the tank "museum" where it is available for you to visit two days a week. At Fort Knox, it was displayed in a well done display with many other armored vehicles and It was available to be seen every day the Museum was open. It is sad to see a move backwards, and not cater to the public but rather only to military personnel and professional historians.

  • @tonylovesducks2501
    @tonylovesducks2501 8 місяців тому +9

    Hey can you make one video about the Prinz Eugen Division? I heard they were the most brutal ones

  • @ColinFreeman-kh9us
    @ColinFreeman-kh9us 8 місяців тому +3

    Great channel, well researched really interesting showing another side literally to the world greatest conflict.

  • @GeorgeKilly
    @GeorgeKilly 8 місяців тому +9

    Really fascinating stuff

  • @LiamandHistory
    @LiamandHistory 8 місяців тому +13

    I love your content! Thank you!
    Just out of curiosity where do you get all of this incredible footage? I can never seem to find anything good that isn’t under the Creative Commons lol. Keep up the great work! Have a great day!

  • @Kiwigrunt
    @Kiwigrunt 8 місяців тому +21

    My late father was 5th SSPZ Wiking, still have his uniform and medals, and the memories of all the stories he would tell me when he was drunk....saddens me now.

    • @ElkSlayer8172
      @ElkSlayer8172 8 місяців тому +5

      I'm sure he could never get drunk enough to get rid of those memories. Are edged in his Brain my mom went through the Allied Bombings of Hamburg as A child she lost her entire family except for a sister and she seen Hitler twice the only thing to eat was Rotten Horse meat and Rotten potatoes 🤘🇺🇸🇩🇪🤘

    • @HM-kk8dq
      @HM-kk8dq 7 місяців тому

      In which regiment was he? Did he ever mention Hans Dorr?

    • @AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg
      @AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg 6 місяців тому

      ​@@ElkSlayer8172much suffering yet saw Hitler twice!.

    • @AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg
      @AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg 6 місяців тому

      ​@@HM-kk8dqHan's?...... always around Willi!.

  • @kevincostello3856
    @kevincostello3856 6 місяців тому +2

    Outstanding documentary here, great effort. Myself a Veteran subscribed Immediately.

  • @Choosemeiwin
    @Choosemeiwin 2 місяці тому +1

    i like that you used the Day of Defeat radio chatter sound effects for this 😄

  • @markaxworthy2508
    @markaxworthy2508 8 місяців тому +12

    Danes and Norwegians each joined the Waffen-SS at an average rate of just four a day. There was certainly nobody killed in a crush at recruitment offices! Only 180-200 Swedes joined the Germans (an average of just 3 men a month!), which was insufficient to even keep a single company up to strength in combat. As a result, there was no Swedish unit at all. Six Icelanders are known to have served with the Wehrmacht in WWII. Compare that to the 258 Icelanders who were repatriated via Sweden and Finland on a single ship to British-occupied Iceland in September 1940. Low Scandinavian recruitment was a massive disappointment for the Germans. As a result, the Wiking Division, which the Scandinavians were meant to fill, had to be manned largely by Germans.

    • @BonnyJosman
      @BonnyJosman 8 місяців тому +4

      Lot of Flemish and Dutch to...

    • @markaxworthy2508
      @markaxworthy2508 8 місяців тому +3

      @@BonnyJosman No, not "a lot".
      Belgium fielded 22 divisions in 1940. Belgian Flemings and Walloons provided less than two for Germany.
      In 1940 the Dutch, who ha a weak army, fielded 166 battalions. The Waffen-SS raised eight battalions of Dutchmen in two brigades, which were eventually exaggeratedly styled "divisions".

    • @yuppy1967
      @yuppy1967 8 місяців тому +7

      So what, pound for pound, the best ones are the ones that joined the Germans. You can keep the allied Scandinavians, there are no songs sung in their honor or their prowess on the battlefield.

    • @markaxworthy2508
      @markaxworthy2508 8 місяців тому +2

      @@yuppy1967 Songs? Songs? Are you serious? The measure of the Wiking Division is now to be how far they got up the music charts? 🤣 Even we sceptics think the Scandinavians deserve better than the ABBA defence!!!

    • @yuppy1967
      @yuppy1967 8 місяців тому +2

      @@markaxworthy2508 I find statements like this ridiculous, where are you getting your facts from? And most of the German divisions were under strength, especially towards the end of the war.

  • @oleriis-vestergaard6844
    @oleriis-vestergaard6844 7 місяців тому +7

    Just to tell you what happend doing battle on the eastern-front - my wifes father had a working mate that had fought in the waffen ss at the Stalingrad front and had the one Lung shot through and came to Pitomnik airfield to be flown out of the kessel to be sent to a Field lazaret far away , he survived the ordeal and came Back to denmark sometime in early 1944 , many years later and with a unhealty use of alcohol he told my father in law that he fought the russians Every night waking up screamming and strugling so the fear was with him the rest of his life - damm ruskis

    • @ronalddunne3413
      @ronalddunne3413 2 місяці тому

      It is to be remembered that the "damm ruskis" were fighting for their country, homes, and the very LIVES of the Eastern Slavic people, slated by the nazis for elimination. "Bolshevism" and Stalin were probably not in the equation for most...

  • @danbaker2619
    @danbaker2619 5 місяців тому +2

    Awesome work blew my mind. It's 2024 and your vid showed me how incredible this really was and that even with Hollywood movies and stuff i realize i honestly hardly can believe or understand that this really happened

  • @needap0078
    @needap0078 8 місяців тому +6

    I don’t suppose you can do a video on the LSSAH division at some point?

  • @user-user-user-user.
    @user-user-user-user. 8 місяців тому +35

    And the snow fell …

    • @Schwxrzritter
      @Schwxrzritter 6 місяців тому +2

      Saga?

    • @user-user-user-user.
      @user-user-user-user. 6 місяців тому +7

      @@Schwxrzritter
      Skrewdriver first, then Saga

    • @hermeticchonk371
      @hermeticchonk371 4 місяці тому +1

      He'd sit and he'd stare, at the minerettes on top of the towers

    • @warwarneverchanges4937
      @warwarneverchanges4937 3 місяці тому

      Stopped by Georgians Stalins own people

    • @841-o6g
      @841-o6g 3 місяці тому +1

      ​@@user-user-user-user.Hail the new dawn

  • @connerrobertson4027
    @connerrobertson4027 6 місяців тому +2

    I love the videos and rich history I would love to see one about the 10th SS if that’s something you would be interested in covering.

  • @danzig798
    @danzig798 8 місяців тому +25

    The Viking Division, contrary to what has been told, existed for the bigger part of ethnic germans! The volunteer numbers from other European countries, didn’t meet the expectations of the ss …
    Nonetheless, respect to all the European volunteers who bravely fought against the new world order on german side!!!!

    • @adambane1719
      @adambane1719 8 місяців тому +1

      Ooooooh Motheeeer !!!!

    • @jonatanedgren9522
      @jonatanedgren9522 8 місяців тому

      Load of nonsense. They fought for a supposed ”master race” that lost the first war they ever fought.

    • @BrynMitchell-zt1tu
      @BrynMitchell-zt1tu 5 місяців тому

      New world order no way mate anyone who wasn't airen would of been decimated by now probably including you hypocrite 🇬🇧

    • @mika2swaggy
      @mika2swaggy 2 місяці тому +2

      Do you not hear urself? Applauding nazis

    • @BrynMitchell-zt1tu
      @BrynMitchell-zt1tu 2 місяці тому

      @@mika2swaggy Exactly mate clapping all them atrocious war crimes and genocide what a world we live in people forget the horrors of war in a couple of generations Long Live the King 🇬🇧

  • @willbbwluvr
    @willbbwluvr 2 місяці тому +3

    Your forgetting the HUNYADI, , Hungaria, Maria teresa, prinz eugan and Florian geyer!!!

  • @adambane1719
    @adambane1719 8 місяців тому +6

    I told you that last video wasn't gonna last long.
    Can you upload it again soon??

  • @smoothbrush4722
    @smoothbrush4722 6 місяців тому +8

    Amazing footage for ww2 painters.

  • @hopper1415
    @hopper1415 5 місяців тому +7

    The division contained small contingents of foreign volunteers from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, the Netherlands and Belgium. These contingents were elevated in wartime propaganda and postwar mythology, including from the former German officers of the division, to give the Wiking Division the reputation of a pan-European force. In truth, the division was at all times equipped with a vast majority of German personnel.

    • @monfort537
      @monfort537 2 місяці тому

      Thanks for pointing this out. It's unbelievable how much nonsense one can put into a 55 minutes long video.

  • @Styles4win
    @Styles4win 4 місяці тому +3

    So the Wiking was a foreign legion of sorts, then it seems like. I just found this page, and I am a big fan. I watched three videos already keep up the

  • @JollyRoger286
    @JollyRoger286 3 місяці тому +3

    My grand father served in SS Wiking. fought the Russians on the eastern front, he was finnish but settled in Sweden after. Never meet the him but such an evil man. He use to beat my dad every day especially after the drinking. My dad never spoke about that stuff but my mom told me some things about it. I'll not go into detail but a real sadistic shit. So it makes one wonder what he was up to in his service i must edmit.

  • @MM-fv1pi
    @MM-fv1pi 8 місяців тому +7

    There were also many Bosniac muslims in Wehrmacht and SS.

  • @decombatnfl3639
    @decombatnfl3639 8 місяців тому +9

    Can we have a video about the 10th army(wermacht) fighting in italy? My grandpa fought in that army

  • @chrisgriffin7357
    @chrisgriffin7357 8 місяців тому +69

    The last Knights of Europa.

    • @FidelisRaven
      @FidelisRaven 3 місяці тому +3

      Criminals and traitors.

    • @drrider100
      @drrider100 3 місяці тому +13

      @@FidelisRaven someone is butthurt.

    • @FidelisRaven
      @FidelisRaven 3 місяці тому +1

      @@drrider100 Disgusted is the right word.

    • @drrider100
      @drrider100 3 місяці тому

      @@FidelisRaven no difference from what the allies or Japanese did during the war. Let's not forget the Russians..

    • @ty7574
      @ty7574 3 місяці тому

      @@FidelisRaven Better than supporting Communists/Globalists like yourself. Look around, you fought for degeneracy and slavery.

  • @Dirleberger
    @Dirleberger 8 місяців тому +17

    Wir sind stolz auf unsere Soldaten der Wickingeinheit!

  • @SaintJavelin2022
    @SaintJavelin2022 8 місяців тому +6

    Great video!
    By the way, where do you find all the footage for these videos? Is it all from Deutsche Wochenschau?

    • @historyatwar
      @historyatwar  8 місяців тому +2

      Thank you! But we can’t tell our secrets😆

  • @needap0078
    @needap0078 8 місяців тому +5

    Another banging documentary about the Waffen SS

  • @jolivetphilippe7951
    @jolivetphilippe7951 8 місяців тому +3

    Faut pas oublier les slaves, un total de 70.000 waffen SS, dont 15.000 russes, 25.000 cosaques, 10.000 Ruthenes, etc ... Il y a eu 30 nations impliquées dans l'engagement de volontaires pour la waffen SS.

  • @danieljones1981
    @danieljones1981 8 місяців тому +5

    I wonder how many men actually survived all the campaigns

    • @aleksandarsimic4730
      @aleksandarsimic4730 8 місяців тому

      Less than 1k

    • @bitmap9701
      @bitmap9701 7 місяців тому

      In the Belgian Walloonien Division, of the 300 men that first joined up, only three survived the whole war. So, not many. Not many at all.

  • @saxonost7
    @saxonost7 8 місяців тому +7

    The Wiking SS division ( pronounced 'vee-king) was comprised of 90% Germans, according to Roman Töppel, so not really a European army at all in the broader sense. That is not to say that quite a few northern Europeans didn't serve in the Wehrmacht or Waffen SS.

  • @harrycallahan6100
    @harrycallahan6100 8 місяців тому +2

    The maps were looking different, anyway good job

  • @mottipaa8909
    @mottipaa8909 6 місяців тому +10

    suomen SS pataljoona 1.41

  • @nakhodabeego7700
    @nakhodabeego7700 3 місяці тому +1

    Truth is bitter... .

  • @THINKincessantly
    @THINKincessantly 8 місяців тому +17

    When i grew up and learned that the USA allied with Communist Jays in Russia everything that i didn’t understand about my Country’s failed culture, foreign policy, Economic policy, and its hattred of US European stock , all of a sudden it all made perfect sense….Communist allies….NVTS

    • @metanoian965
      @metanoian965 3 місяці тому

      The J Revolution in Tsarist Russia was administered by J migrants from USA, mostly from J York.
      J Banksters in America financed the Nasty & Bolshi Parties. And provided materiel for the Gen O'cide

    • @mika2swaggy
      @mika2swaggy 2 місяці тому

      You are so
      Lost

    • @tobykornreich2719
      @tobykornreich2719 2 місяці тому

      @@mika2swaggy Only those who wander are lost.

    • @mika2swaggy
      @mika2swaggy 2 місяці тому

      @@tobykornreich2719 you try to sound deep but you just failed so bad. This guy is so lost in history

  • @VrILLR
    @VrILLR 5 місяців тому +10

    Got mitt uns.

    • @metanoian965
      @metanoian965 3 місяці тому

      goat milk urns

    • @454FatJack
      @454FatJack 3 місяці тому

      Meine Ehre heisst Treue. Waffen -SS beltbuckle, loyalty is my honour

  • @Femboy_housewife
    @Femboy_housewife 29 днів тому

    My great Grandfather was a Rottenführer in the division Wiking in the early time of war and died 1942... I don't know much else about him though apart from his name and his father who was a prussian artillery officer... My other great Grandfather was a waffen SS Sturmann in the divison prinz eugen in 1944 with him being 19 (born 1925 in Württemberg) and got captured later that year and got send back to germany in 1945 and later died in 2001

    • @KonstantinS-p4g
      @KonstantinS-p4g 28 днів тому

      Congrats to your grandfathers being hardcore Nazis

  • @BenHale-hi5zh
    @BenHale-hi5zh 8 місяців тому +17

    Great division. Extremely tough soldiers, and they were highly respected by all, especially the allies

    • @markaxworthy2508
      @markaxworthy2508 8 місяців тому

      Errrr....no. They had a reputation for indiscipline even in German ranks. The diary of General Turanec, commander of the Slovak Rapid Division, on the Chir in the winter of 1941-42 records a conversation he had with General Eglseer, commander of a German mountain division and another German divisional commander in which the two German generals complained bitterly about the indiscipline of the Wiking Division in rear areas. Another diary, by a member of the Finnish battalion attached to Wiking, records atrocities committed by the division with some disgust.

    • @ptimms79822004
      @ptimms79822004 8 місяців тому +2

      They barely fought the Allied forces just the Soviets

    • @legendzeroone1537
      @legendzeroone1537 8 місяців тому +3

      Wtf the allies murdered most of the ss troops they captured??

    • @markaxworthy2508
      @markaxworthy2508 8 місяців тому

      @@legendzeroone1537 Nope. Two thirds of all W-SS men survived the war. On the Eastern Front it was more dangerous to be a captured Austrian than a captured member of the W-SS. Why? Because Austria lost three divisions at Stalingrad, very few of whose members survived. Most W-SS men were captured on the Eastern Front later in the war and had better prospects of survival by comparison.

    • @legendzeroone1537
      @legendzeroone1537 8 місяців тому +2

      @@markaxworthy2508 yeah not talking about the eastern front and the soviet brutality... But the guy sayd they were respected by the allies, thats not true. They were feared but not treated very good. And very often just killed after they got captured.

  • @yours2injesus2
    @yours2injesus2 Місяць тому +1

    HOW SAD

  • @fordcannon4294
    @fordcannon4294 8 місяців тому +4

    love this channel, i think its shadow banned by the yt regime. saved.

  • @jonathanmendoza742
    @jonathanmendoza742 8 місяців тому +6

    They are modern SAS

  • @mhh7544
    @mhh7544 2 місяці тому +1

    1400 Finns enlisted, 4:51 is from my home city, home coming ceremony. The building you see is still there.

  • @brianpreval5602
    @brianpreval5602 6 місяців тому +5

    there is no w sound in germam so it is pronounced 'v'

  • @michaelcodelmar9547
    @michaelcodelmar9547 8 місяців тому +5

    No matter how elite your division is you can't beat numbers and quantity