Whether or not any Weapons had been launched to any effectiveness, surely one or two successful to land impact would have been so effective viz the propaganda effect of having done so..... ¿?
A measure of the US's desperation at being unprepared for coastal defense was the formation of a _civilian_ auxiliary of the Army Air Corps called the Civil Air Patrol, originally formed from WW1 pilot vets and patriotic Americans who saw America's entry into the war inevitable. They flew recon missions over the East Coast looking for U-Boats and provided eyes for convoy security until the regular forces could ramp up, after which they performed military cadet and pilot training and air SAR, which they still do today.
@@raymondclark1785 The Civil Air Patrol also flew private aircraft such as single engine, Fairchild F-24s armed with depth bombs. I believe the CAP was credited with destroying two U-boats during WWII.
I live off of the coast of Salem Sound in Massachusetts, there was a story of a german coal freighter in the 1960s arriving in salem that did not request a tow or navigational assistance because the captain was a Uboat captain and had been in Salem harbor during the war
The German second happy time was partially the result of Chief of Naval Operations, American Admiral Ernest King's failure to enact an adequate U Boat defense. He was given advice from the British and he chose to ignore it.
There was a steep learning curve at effective ASW. The navy needed destroyers but Admirals prefer battleships. If German Admirals had wanted submarines there would have been more U-Boats off America in 1942. Had there been enough in 1940-41 Britain would have been starved into an armistice
My father was a P-40 pilot in Burma, however he was sent to Mitchel Field on long island to look for V-1s fired at NY. He flew P-47s there. He got back to the US early and hooked up with his girl friend. They got married, and in November 1945 I appeared. The V-1 fired at NY flew on November 4, 1944. It ran out of juice and went down in the surf on long island. He never confided the V-1 to me. However i found an article on it in Stars & Stripes when Germany surrendered.
My father was stationed at Jacksonville Florida flying PBY Catalina’s on Uboat patrol from 1942 to 1945. His patrol area was the Bermuda Triangle and knew one of the pilots in the lost squadron of planes never heard from again.
I flew my airplane into Treasure Key , Abaco Island and stayed at the Treasure Key resort. The owner , a U-boat Captain, had first viewed the beach from the periscope of his u- boat and vowed to live there if he survived the war. It's interesting that your father may have come close to catching him.
I can highly recommend H G Wells' 1908 novel "The War in the Air". Apart from giving an amazing insight into society in Edwardian England, bicycles were transforming the world for the common people. Londoners could cycle out of the slums of London for a weekend at the seaside without having to find the expensive train fare. The book features a unicycle monorail over the English Channel, and predicts the coming world war. A fleet of Zeppelins fly across the Atlantic and bomb New York. Wells truly was a prophet of his day.
42 minuets and vnever missing a beat. Thank you Sir. 80% of this was new to me. An Imperial Japanese navy website mantained by an anglo vet stated that Japan offered Germany its Long Lance torpedo. Germany said it was to large in diameter for its tubes. The Long Lance had increable range as it was fueled by kerosine not alcohol. Thanks for your work.
I guarantee there's alot more about the Italians that would shock you. Allied propaganda did it's job and has quite disturbingly carried on into modern times. The Italians were way more effective than alot of people think.
I once ran into hardegen at a hotel in Laboe, near Kiel, where the german naval memorial an d U-995 are located. As far as i remember there was a uboat veterans reunion at that very hotel we where staying. I did not talk to him or anything... still an existing memory. Happened some time in the early 2000s
This is terrific stuff! I devour U-Boat related history and personalities. Every time U-Boats are discussed in detail, I am all in. Thank you for the work you put in to research and production for these. These U-Boats…cool AF! Fell in love as a teen touring the dry-docked U-505. Named my van U-96: Saruvan. Even have my little laughing sawfish emblazoned under the driver window. I am now determined to get to the other remaining boats. First, off to the USS Pampanito, right here in town. Keep up the great work!
This episode was really exceptional. All your videos are so gripping & educational. I have watched many of your postings Dr. Felton, but finally decided to tell you how much I enjoy them. Keep your vids coming. Back in the 1970's I worked with WWII vets. I am a Canadian, so I knew fellas that were in the RCAF, the navy, infantry, etc but none of my older work chums wanted to talk much about WWII. They'd only tell stories about being sea sick on the Ille De France ex-French Line ocean liner converted into troopship. Or drinking pints of bitter in English pubs & chasing limey girls. Or Harold, who was a sniper in France, talking about when the Canadians took turf from the Nazis, that the Canucks were feted by the freed French locals, & he had to still pissed full of Normandy wine, walk back to his company at 0430. My coworker Doug was a tank driver & was there when Canadians liberated Holland. My other boss Al was an infantryman paired up with British soldiers when they liberated the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald. Another supervisor I had was an RCAF bombedier, he flew about 20 missions over occupied Europe. Anyway, I am digressing, I could mentioned Frank G another tuff WWII vet, but I'll stop. Dr. Felton, your channel is one of my favourites on UA-cam.
I think the most unique story I heard from a fellow Canadian was a boss I had for a summer job in construction. We were having our noon time sandwiches and normally we didn't get into any thing heavy for chit chat but this one day he veered in to describing being in charge of a small team in Europe in WWII (first time I learned he was even in the army at any time) and how they'd sometimes hunt their own food by bringing down geese with their rifles. But then he got quieter like he was not telling a story anymore. He described setting up explosives on a bridge over a river in a deep valley and they hid and waited. They waited until a German convoy appeared and started crossing this bridge. He waited until it was full of troops on foot and in trucks end to end and that's when he blew it. So he and his team watched all those men sliding and plunging into the river with heavy vehicles coming down on top of them. It was like something I might have seen in an old movie, not actually know someone that did that kind of thing. That's about when my boss finished from talking into crying as he buried his face in his hands.
Doesn't matter if its an quick 4/5 minute topic video or an behemoth of an topic like this. I am grateful for this content being available for free. Thank you Mark. Best channel on youtube.
Kind of surreal that so many Axis combatants were once studying/working/touring the States before WWII. Yamamoto, Kuribayashi, and now Hardagen. The context of peacetime and war makes their visits almost surreal to imagine; one minute they're touring the Empire State Building, the next minute they're planning an attack on Hawaii.
Tamon Yamaguchi was the commander of the carrier Hiryu at Midway. He also attended Princeton. He went down with the ship. I'd like to think his last moments were him singing the Princeton fight song and shouting "GO TIGERS! BEAT YALE!"
@@spudskie3907 = One that got me was Mitsu Fuchida (spellcheck it, for, as usual, I'm typing from my 62 y/o memory here !) - He's the man who LED the actual attack on Pearl Harbor 7th Dec' 1941 & uttered the famous words "Tora, Tora, Tora" - My Dad's Ex-RAF older brother (My Uncle) wrote to him personally in late 1972 asking him to autograph a Royal Mail "First Day Cover" commemorating the attack (Dec' 1971 anniversary). To his utter surprise he wrote back, telling my Uncle that he was (NOW) a GENUINE "Ordained Church Christian Minister" & very much "Anti-War" ( much the same as Japan's Top Fighter Ace, Saburo Sakai - Amazing ) I still have an exact photocopy of the 1974 handwritten letter, sent to London, actually apologising for the 2-3 year delay - Heart Problems) Saw an amazing photo' of Fuschida with his wife on a Church Christian visit to London aboard a B.O.A.C "Vickers VC.10" airliner that had landed @ Heathrow, the U.K's (& at time) World's busiest airport. Amazing that several Japanese High Ranking & important "warriors" actually turned to "Peace" once attitudes & realizations had changed. As I used to view them as "a barbaric race" it kinda shook me to the core to both SEE & realise that, actually (Human) "Leopards COULD change their spots". Seeing Sakai (A6M Zero Ace, 62 kills ?) actually visitng the USA back in the 1970's AND actually hugging the US-Navy TBM Avenger 0.50-cal gunner who destroyed 50% of his eyesight & half of his face showed me that "reconcilation" actually IS & was possible, when, humanity kicks in...
Thank you Dr. Felton for another brilliant video. This one touches close to home here in Nova Scotia. My father and grandfather worked in the shipyards in Halifax during the war. My father told me stories about the convoys gathered in Bedford Basin getting ready to sail to England. Both my grandfather and father were welders who often worked on these ships doing repairs after German torpedo damage. Sometimes a ship would leave Halifax harbour after repairs and get hit just off the coast. My grandfather died tragically in 1943 when the workboat he was on heading out to a convoy was hit by a Norwegian freighter leaving the harbour. The boat capsized and 19 men drowned. There were many rumours of German sailors coming ashore here in the Maritimes and of course, a great number of ships were sunk in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The most tragic story is the sinking of the SS Caribou -- the Newfoundland ferry with the loss of 137 lives on October 14, 1942 between Cape Breton and Newfoundland.
An interesting note, a few years ago, a few German sea mines came ashore at the old coast guard station, dating to WWII, in Salem MA. So it is possible the Germans were quite close, than previously thought.
Would be so interesting with a long, informational documentary about Werner Von Braun alone, with how and who and what everyone did to bring the scientist to the point where he could appear on the Disney Show in USA talking about "I aim for the Stars", while people joked about "But sometimes I hit London".
Someone has done a documentary about all the German rocket scientists that the US military brought back. Many of them eventually got sent back to Germany as sacrificial scapegoats to take away attention from Werner Von Braun.
Thanks again, Mark, for yet another fine video. I continue to be impressed by the scope of your research and your logical presentation of the facts as we know them (sometimes, "I don't know" is one of the most credible statements a historian can make - speculation without facts doesn't advance our understanding of the past). You're setting bar fairly high, but there are also many channels doing the same and I am grateful to all of you who an honest job of educating us about an important period in history.
"The Nazis had a submarine off Coney Island in Brooklyn during the war. But we were saved....It was destroyed by toxic waste" Woody Allen - One more :) "A storm destroyed Coney Island when I was growing up - stores, the boardwalk, everything. The only thing left standing were those little milk jugs you have to knock over with a baseball to win a prize"
Another great episode. This reminds me of the U-Boat encounter with the famous Canadian vessel, Bluenose. This was at one time, the fastest boat on the ocean. It is the image on the Canadian 10 cent piece. Anyway, since retirement, Bluenose was used as a freight boat in the Caribbean. A U-Boat surfaced, approached Bluenose and in perfect English, asked if she was indeed Bluenose. After affirming this, the U-Boat Commander said there was no way they would ever sink such an iconic ship an allowed them to continue to Haiti where Bluenose subsequently hit some rocks and sunk.
Bluenose hit the rocks and sank on the same voyage with the U-boat encounter? That would be awkward :) BTW Lunenburg is a charming place to walk through.
My father's dad had a boat in Northern New Jersey across from New York, and as a young boy he would go out with his family in the afternoon. As evening approached they would see near the horizon the boats that would form the caravans form up. Sometimes they would see explosions near those ships as uboats would try to pick off the stragglers. As a very young child he really had no idea the magnitude of the conflict he was seeing the fringes of as his father tried to explain it as a German American. Though that side of the family came over in the mid to later 1800s, but there was still some cultural stratification a hundred years later. He has been bullied as a child an even pushed through a plate glass window by other children since he was seen a dirty kraft. So I imagine him seeing the uboat attacks as I saw the Vietnam War on the TV, seeing our country was embroiled in a conflict far away, intuiting that it was a bigger deal that I was being told it was.
That reminds me of another German-American family which stood back from both of those wars as neutral Swedes. Except for Dr John, of course, who crossed the Atlantic to help as a scientist.
This is great! Been watching your videos since you started! You have the best UA-cam channel on UA-cam in my opinion! Thank you so much for the amazing content
My granddad's brother was in the merchant marines during ww2. After transiting the panama canal they would put down anti torpedo nets and wait for the rest of the convoy. One day they went to pull up the nets and found 4 torpedos. It really bothered him. He got leave for a couple days when they hit port. He jumped on a train and went home. His dad turned him around and got back on the train with him so he wouldn't end up AWOL. He made it back late, but they took it easy on him and he got back on the boat. He was barely 18 and that was the last time he saw his dad.
Great grandpa died while 4 of his sons served in ww2. My granddad was the 6th son. All four of his older brothers survived the war. The oldest was in the 101st airborne. The second was on the USS Sitkoh Bay (part of taffy 3). The third brother was on a destroyer escort. It was damaged in a battle. He finished the war in Australia, while repairing the ship. The fourth was in the merchant marines, as I said. Granddad went into the Navy and served aboard subs during and after the Korean War. He served aboard the USS Requin. It is now a museum ship in Pittsburgh. Lots of brave men, those guys were built different.
I went to a local beach yesterday and I took a copy of the Sea Devils with me to read. The first two thirds of that were great. But the last third...wow. Once that mission got going I couldn't put it down for a moment. The drama. The tension. The desperate desire to find how it would end out. I had it know. I had to put it down with forty pages to go otherwise would have missed my bus home. And as a result didn't get time to finish it till this afternoon. Which was a torturous wait. What a great read.
I vaguely remember someone telling me that quite a bit of gold came up missing out of the basement(s) of the World Trade Center during the pandemonium. It was left unguarded of course. I wonder how much personal and political drama was manufactured to manipulate people into this gold heist. And I wonder why the missing gold wasn't widely reported in the media. I'm sure the story is true but I can't even remember who mentioned it to me.
I don't know what to say. Your channel is a beacon of light in the field of historical research. I'm simply blown away. Being a simple amateur myself, you really shine a light on things I simply have no time to figure out by myself. 👍
Thanks again Dr. Felton, for the most incredibly interesting, Axis plans to attack New York City! This historical story, strikes home for me. (My father was an air raid Warden, here in NYC, during the war, with some interesting black out stories). Thank you again for all your great historical work, Dr. Felton!
Interestingly, Gimpel and Colepaugh both stood trial before a military commission, where they were accused and convicted of conspiracy and violating the 82nd Article of War. Both were sentenced to death via hanging with an execution date set for April 15, 1945. However, President Franklin D. Roosevelt would die 3 days earlier, and due to a custom to not perform executions during a state mourning period, their executions were delayed and President Harry S Truman commuted their sentences to life. Gimpel would be sent to Alcatraz, where he notably played chess with one Machine Gun Kelly. He would be paroled in 1955 and returned to West Germany. He lived until the age of 100, dying in 2010. Colepaugh’s life sentence was further commuted from life to 30 years in 1952; he was paroled in 1960. He moved to King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. He lived there until his passing on March 16, 2005, 9 days short of his 87th birthday, of complications from Alzheimer’s.
In the 70's I lived in Va Beach VA and my mother had a friend who recalled seeing a ships blown up from the beach. She was an eye witness to the attack by a German U-boat which wreaked havoc at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay.
Great video! I love hearing about the actual and aspirational Axis attempts to attack the lower 48 of the US. Dr. Felton, you mentioned U-156’s attack on Cape Cod in 1918. I hope you do a video on the u-boat campaign off America in 1918 too! I wrote a book about it in 2017 titled The Kaiser’s Lost Kreuzer. If Dr. Felton takes the story on I know he would do it great justice!! Outstanding research and production are his hallmarks!
Prior to ICBM's, here in the mainland U.S. we had the luxury of 2 oceans as our best defense. Yet, the submariners of both Germany and Japan were able to make the incredibly long and dangerous and attack various targets. I have to believe that the journey in a submarine took longer than an actual ship. After all,a submarine isn't a speedboat. I do not like that any of this happened, but I do respect the bravery of the men who done it. Thanks again Dr. Felton. I especially enjoy the longer episodes. Cheers from the States.
@@senorpepper3405 In a declassified document titled "Preparing the American Public for a V-3 Attack," the threat is clearly described: "intercontinental missile attack." This was in December, 1944. The target was New York City. Since this was a credible threat, Mayor La Guardia was informed. He issued a statement published in the New York Times.
@@paulzammataro7185 I believe it was U-166, just off Egmont Key, near St. Petersburg. It was a smaller 2-man sub, I think. Knowing the tourism in Florida though, it could have been a replica. I was a kid - so my memory is fuzzy.
@@woahhbro2906U-166 was a large U-Boat and was sunk in the Gulf, likely by a PT boat. The wreck remains where the action was fought, it never washed ashore.
8:27 Verrazano Narrows bridge wasn't built until the 1960s. Glad to hear Hardegen lived a long and successful life post war (105 years!), unlike so many other U Boat crews who died so young.
I'm amazed at the longevity of these WW2 soldiers on both sides. Either God rewarded them or He was punishing them with a long life of bad memories... I'm so in awe of all of those brave, brave men.
@@smokeykitty6023 yes indeed, number of times Dr. Felton says "was sunk with all hands" is so sad. The Kriegsmarine referred to the fallen with the phrase "remained at sea."
Also Hardegen said he never went past the Narrows. Take a look a a map. You can see lower or mid-Mahattan unless you do. It's out of the line of sight.
If the History Chanel had good ratings running WW2 shows over and over they would still be doing it. Mark is great but his videos are a half hour or so once or twice a week not on 24/7.
My dad was on a sub tender going down east coast to Panama to pick up his sub S32. He was on watch at night and was told any light out to sea was an ememy. Sure enough, he saw s light snd opened up with a Lewis gun. That won the 18 year old sailor a trip to see the captain to explain himself. A day later it was reported a cargo ship had been torpedoed in the area of his action.
I’m sorry Dr. Felton but I believe Salazar was not a general. He was a college professor and minister of finance before becoming dictator as the president of the council of ministers. But he had no military rank. All the best to everyone
Another fine work by Dr. Felton! Before watching this grossly illuminating compilation, I was unaware of the pains the Axis Powers took to launch attacks against New York - all unsuccessful, thank God! It's no real surprise, though, given the city's symbolism, both then and now, as a world economic hub and diverse melting pot. No doubt Herr Hitler and Mussolini would've loved seeing a place that encapsulates so well the industrial prowess, democratic plurality, and entrepreneurial spirit of the American nation reduced to ashes!
Hardegen fought in WW2 from day 1 till the end in May '45....yet he made it in one piece and reached the 21st century as another Johnny Walker ("still going strong") and reached the incredible age of 105 without losing much of his hair ! What a character ! RIP.
I remember seeing an interview with Dönitz, maybe on the British "The World at War" many years ago. One thing he said stuck in my mind, words to the effect of: "People keep talking about this 'Happy Time'. There was no happy time; I don't know where the idea came from. It was a dangerous, merciless time for both sides, never mind the horrible conditions in a U-boat and the Atlantic weather. I never heard any of my U-boat commanders talk about a 'Happy Time', and would have reprimanded them if they did."
My father was a consultant on the establishment on the radar sort of chain on the East Coast. Which was set up slowly after these events. He used to relate this story and numerous other really dangerous incidents of u boat and raider operation near East Coast key U.S. harbors and shipping lanes
Since his plans never came to fruition, the most famous Italian submarine commander remains "Captain" von Trapp, though his fame came from the Austro-Hungarian Navy before he became an Italian citizen. He declined the offer to work for Hitler after the Anschluss and escaped to the USA..
The wreck of SS Coimbra is a very popular fishing spot and they only just recently removed the remaining fuel from her. It’s amazing to think that only five years ago the man that put her there was still alive.
The secondary intro tune at 15:37 confused me briefly, but it is clear you extended the episode with more material/corrections. You really care about the videos being as informing as possible 👍.
Mark I’m in Poland on my way to volunteer in Ukraine for an indefinite amount of time (humanitarian dw I’m not a foreign fighter). Lost my phone in Warsaw and plans got flipped upside down for a sec there. Just got it back, got some Polish McDonald’s, cigarettes and a view. Life is indeed, very good. Btw thank you for your content and videos in general, I’m coming from Canada 🇨🇦 but I watch your videos no matter where I am in the world!
That’s very true! I’ve arrived in Ukraine couple days ago and decided to quit all sorts of things simply due to cost efficiency lol (cigarettes/alcohol)
My dad was Merchant Marine. He joined in early’43 when losses were near the highest. His first ship was in May otherwise known as “Black May”. He was lucky.
The sun is shining, cold beer, the BBQ is on and dr. Felton has just uploaded a 40+ minute video. Life is good.
Haha! Here in Norway the spring is at least "around the corner", but no sun at the moment, no BBQ, but yes: BEEER!!! *burp*
Here in Croatia sunset, summer is coming soon, siting on balcony, great wiew, and yesss..cold beer...cheers everybody!!
Lake thawed. Sitting in the sun smoking hash. 😊
@@mikehunt4797 Hush! That's ELLIGAL!
Most be in the South.
As a submarine veteran and a history buff, it is rare to hear about the Atlantic war under the sea other than the standard. Thank you.
Whether or not any Weapons had been launched to any effectiveness, surely one or two successful to land impact would have been so effective viz the propaganda effect of having done so..... ¿?
Here in Canada we heard a LOT about Uboats operating in the gulf of st lawrence and up the st lawrence river.
look into u boat cmapaign in the Carribean
Carribean was a VERY hot war zone in WW2, very few know about it
They operated around Newfoundland, trying to torpedo boats in the harbour as well as installing a weather station in Labrador.
Check into where the last German submarine was sunk,Felton doesn’t cover all obvious historical footnotes and stories
Mark Felton is the best historian I know because he tells us history events we were never taught and never heard of. Thank you mark Felton. 👍
You'd think he'd give a ❤️ for that compliment, I guess he's bashful.
30 plus years of the so-called HISTORY CHANNEL can't hold a candle to the great Mark Felton!
They're chasing ghosts 👻 and BigFoot
Great videos
ALWAYS interesting. 👍
A measure of the US's desperation at being unprepared for coastal defense was the formation of a _civilian_ auxiliary of the Army Air Corps called the Civil Air Patrol, originally formed from WW1 pilot vets and patriotic Americans who saw America's entry into the war inevitable. They flew recon missions over the East Coast looking for U-Boats and provided eyes for convoy security until the regular forces could ramp up, after which they performed military cadet and pilot training and air SAR, which they still do today.
A lot of those joined CAP so the Army wouldn't take their plane
@@raymondclark1785 The Civil Air Patrol also flew private aircraft such as single engine, Fairchild F-24s armed with depth bombs. I believe the CAP was credited with destroying two U-boats during WWII.
Agreed! the CAP to this day, is a wonderful organization and trainer of youth!
@@michaelporzio7384Indeed and I was a member of it when I was in high school in the 1970s.
These days the CAP is more akin to an out-of-school JROTC, but a great organization.
42 minutes of Dr. Felton. I knew today was going to be a good day.
I needed to hear a human voice. I hit search and just said "Mark Felton" and this fine piece came up. The guy's a legend! 🤷♂️
I live off of the coast of Salem Sound in Massachusetts, there was a story of a german coal freighter in the 1960s arriving in salem that did not request a tow or navigational assistance because the captain was a Uboat captain and had been in Salem harbor during the war
The Legendary Dr. Felton at it again!!!
For real Dr Felton be giving us some great content
I wan't to be Dr. Felton when I grow up!!! 😚
That’s my Sunday evening viewing sorted. Thanks Doc.
It is Saturday today :-)
Wow , just wow. 105 years old. Makes me think of the famous film quote “ I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe “. Many thanks for the upload
The German second happy time was partially the result of Chief of Naval Operations, American Admiral Ernest King's failure to enact an adequate U Boat defense. He was given advice from the British and he chose to ignore it.
Admiral King's contempt for all things British led to several questionable decisions. Convoys and coastal blackouts were eventually enacted.
There was a steep learning curve at effective ASW. The navy needed destroyers but Admirals prefer battleships. If German Admirals had wanted submarines there would have been more U-Boats off America in 1942. Had there been enough in 1940-41 Britain would have been starved into an armistice
I mean he really hated the Brits.
He considered his intellect and abilities to be without parallel. Not a good trait for a leader. Learn to take advice.
@@michaelporzio7384: I was not aware of this, what was his contempt for the British based upon?
My father was a P-40 pilot in Burma, however he was sent to Mitchel Field on long island to look for V-1s fired at NY. He flew P-47s there. He got back to the US early and hooked up with his girl friend. They got married, and in November 1945 I appeared. The V-1 fired at NY flew on November 4, 1944. It ran out of juice and went down in the surf on long island. He never confided the V-1 to me. However i found an article on it in Stars & Stripes when Germany surrendered.
Yet again, another topic I would never have thought of and a whole 40 minutes of it! Amazing! Thank you!
My father was stationed at Jacksonville Florida flying PBY Catalina’s on Uboat patrol from 1942 to 1945. His patrol area was the Bermuda Triangle and knew one of the pilots in the lost squadron of planes never heard from again.
I flew my airplane into Treasure Key , Abaco Island and stayed at the Treasure Key resort. The owner , a U-boat Captain, had first viewed the beach from the periscope of his u- boat and vowed to live there if he survived the war.
It's interesting that your father may have come close to catching him.
Absolutely love these longer form videos really hits the spot for me with less known ww2 facts/stories. Thanks for all of these!
Nothing like a 40 minute video from my favourite historian to fix my previously dreary Saturday. Thanks again Sir!
I can highly recommend H G Wells' 1908 novel "The War in the Air".
Apart from giving an amazing insight into society in Edwardian England, bicycles were transforming the world for the common people.
Londoners could cycle out of the slums of London for a weekend at the seaside without having to find the expensive train fare.
The book features a unicycle monorail over the English Channel, and predicts the coming world war.
A fleet of Zeppelins fly across the Atlantic and bomb New York. Wells truly was a prophet of his day.
Funny, I don't recall Zeppelin's bombing New York????
@tomt373: Wait, you DON’T? Must be a Mandela effect… 😉😝
It's amazing how close some of the speculated attacks came. Especially the ones so late in the war.
To quote Rick in Casablanca, "There are some parts of New York I wouldn't recommend trying to invade."
42 minuets and vnever missing a beat. Thank you Sir. 80% of this was new to me.
An Imperial Japanese navy website mantained by an anglo vet stated that Japan offered Germany its Long Lance torpedo. Germany said it was to large in diameter for its tubes. The Long Lance had increable range as it was fueled by kerosine not alcohol.
Thanks for your work.
Fascinating stuff, I never knew the Italians operated submarines in the Atlantic from France.
I guarantee there's alot more about the Italians that would shock you. Allied propaganda did it's job and has quite disturbingly carried on into modern times. The Italians were way more effective than alot of people think.
I once ran into hardegen at a hotel in Laboe, near Kiel, where the german naval memorial an d U-995 are located.
As far as i remember there was a uboat veterans reunion at that very hotel we where staying.
I did not talk to him or anything... still an existing memory.
Happened some time in the early 2000s
What a coincidence!!! U-123 was the main character in the"Drumbeat"book I just finished.
It's not a coincidence..
41 MINUTES OF MARK????? MARK BE SPOILING US OMG
Was just going through your older stuff and got the notification! Great timing.
In 1942, the German U-boats attacked Bell Island, Newfoundland, Canada two times which led to four ore boats sinking, and more than 60 men dead.
This is terrific stuff! I devour U-Boat related history and personalities. Every time U-Boats are discussed in detail, I am all in. Thank you for the work you put in to research and production for these. These U-Boats…cool AF!
Fell in love as a teen touring the dry-docked U-505. Named my van U-96: Saruvan. Even have my little laughing sawfish emblazoned under the driver window. I am now determined to get to the other remaining boats.
First, off to the USS Pampanito, right here in town.
Keep up the great work!
This episode was really exceptional. All your videos are so gripping & educational. I have watched many of your postings Dr. Felton, but finally decided to tell you how much I enjoy them. Keep your vids coming. Back in the 1970's I worked with WWII vets. I am a Canadian, so I knew fellas that were in the RCAF, the navy, infantry, etc but none of my older work chums wanted to talk much about WWII. They'd only tell stories about being sea sick on the Ille De France ex-French Line ocean liner converted into troopship. Or drinking pints of bitter in English pubs & chasing limey girls. Or Harold, who was a sniper in France, talking about when the Canadians took turf from the Nazis, that the Canucks were feted by the freed French locals, & he had to still pissed full of Normandy wine, walk back to his company at 0430. My coworker Doug was a tank driver & was there when Canadians liberated Holland. My other boss Al was an infantryman paired up with British soldiers when they liberated the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald. Another supervisor I had was an RCAF bombedier, he flew about 20 missions over occupied Europe. Anyway, I am digressing, I could mentioned Frank G another tuff WWII vet, but I'll stop. Dr. Felton, your channel is one of my favourites on UA-cam.
I think the most unique story I heard from a fellow Canadian was a boss I had for a summer job in construction. We were having our noon time sandwiches and normally we didn't get into any thing heavy for chit chat but this one day he veered in to describing being in charge of a small team in Europe in WWII (first time I learned he was even in the army at any time) and how they'd sometimes hunt their own food by bringing down geese with their rifles. But then he got quieter like he was not telling a story anymore. He described setting up explosives on a bridge over a river in a deep valley and they hid and waited. They waited until a German convoy appeared and started crossing this bridge. He waited until it was full of troops on foot and in trucks end to end and that's when he blew it. So he and his team watched all those men sliding and plunging into the river with heavy vehicles coming down on top of them. It was like something I might have seen in an old movie, not actually know someone that did that kind of thing. That's about when my boss finished from talking into crying as he buried his face in his hands.
Doesn't matter if its an quick 4/5 minute topic video or an behemoth of an topic like this. I am grateful for this content being available for free. Thank you Mark. Best channel on youtube.
Kind of surreal that so many Axis combatants were once studying/working/touring the States before WWII. Yamamoto, Kuribayashi, and now Hardagen. The context of peacetime and war makes their visits almost surreal to imagine; one minute they're touring the Empire State Building, the next minute they're planning an attack on Hawaii.
What a life hey , especially the subarine guy that lives to a105
that trend never ended. khalid sheik mohammed of al qaeda leadership fame studied in north carolina, as one example.
Got many Russian visitors ?
Tamon Yamaguchi was the commander of the carrier Hiryu at Midway. He also attended Princeton. He went down with the ship. I'd like to think his last moments were him singing the Princeton fight song and shouting "GO TIGERS! BEAT YALE!"
@@spudskie3907 = One that got me was Mitsu Fuchida (spellcheck it, for, as usual, I'm typing from my 62 y/o memory here !) - He's the man who LED the actual attack on Pearl Harbor 7th Dec' 1941 & uttered the famous words "Tora, Tora, Tora" - My Dad's Ex-RAF older brother (My Uncle) wrote to him personally in late 1972 asking him to autograph a Royal Mail "First Day Cover" commemorating the attack (Dec' 1971 anniversary).
To his utter surprise he wrote back, telling my Uncle that he was (NOW) a GENUINE "Ordained Church Christian Minister" & very much "Anti-War"
( much the same as Japan's Top Fighter Ace, Saburo Sakai - Amazing )
I still have an exact photocopy of the 1974 handwritten letter, sent to London, actually apologising for the 2-3 year delay - Heart Problems)
Saw an amazing photo' of Fuschida with his wife on a Church Christian visit to London aboard a B.O.A.C "Vickers VC.10" airliner that had landed @ Heathrow, the U.K's (& at time) World's busiest airport.
Amazing that several Japanese High Ranking & important "warriors" actually turned to "Peace" once attitudes & realizations had changed.
As I used to view them as "a barbaric race" it kinda shook me to the core to both SEE & realise that, actually (Human) "Leopards COULD change their spots".
Seeing Sakai (A6M Zero Ace, 62 kills ?) actually visitng the USA back in the 1970's AND actually hugging the US-Navy TBM Avenger 0.50-cal gunner who destroyed 50% of his eyesight & half of his face showed me that "reconcilation" actually IS & was possible, when, humanity kicks in...
Dr Felton. One of a handful of channels that make UA-cam worthwhile.
Another Mark Felton video, another great morning in America!
Thank you Dr. Felton for another brilliant video. This one touches close to home here in Nova Scotia. My father and grandfather worked in the shipyards in Halifax during the war. My father told me stories about the convoys gathered in Bedford Basin getting ready to sail to England. Both my grandfather and father were welders who often worked on these ships doing repairs after German torpedo damage. Sometimes a ship would leave Halifax harbour after repairs and get hit just off the coast. My grandfather died tragically in 1943 when the workboat he was on heading out to a convoy was hit by a Norwegian freighter leaving the harbour. The boat capsized and 19 men drowned. There were many rumours of German sailors coming ashore here in the Maritimes and of course, a great number of ships were sunk in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The most tragic story is the sinking of the SS Caribou -- the Newfoundland ferry with the loss of 137 lives on October 14, 1942 between Cape Breton and Newfoundland.
I knew the German American Bund had recruitment camps in upstate New York, but I never knew about this story. This is utterly fascinating!
There are always parts of populations willing to be traitors.
Indeed
An interesting note, a few years ago, a few German sea mines came ashore at the old coast guard station, dating to WWII, in Salem MA. So it is possible the Germans were quite close, than previously thought.
Would be so interesting with a long, informational documentary about Werner Von Braun alone, with how and who and what everyone did to bring the scientist to the point where he could appear on the Disney Show in USA talking about "I aim for the Stars", while people joked about "But sometimes I hit London".
Someone has done a documentary about all the German rocket scientists that the US military brought back. Many of them eventually got sent back to Germany as sacrificial scapegoats to take away attention from Werner Von Braun.
Thanks again, Mark, for yet another fine video. I continue to be impressed by the scope of your research and your logical presentation of the facts as we know them (sometimes, "I don't know" is one of the most credible statements a historian can make - speculation without facts doesn't advance our understanding of the past). You're setting bar fairly high, but there are also many channels doing the same and I am grateful to all of you who an honest job of educating us about an important period in history.
Mark is truly The best history teacher ! Thanks so much sir .
"The Nazis had a submarine off Coney Island in Brooklyn during the war.
But we were saved....It was destroyed by toxic waste"
Woody Allen
-
One more :)
"A storm destroyed Coney Island when I was growing up -
stores, the boardwalk, everything.
The only thing left standing were those little milk jugs you have to knock over with a baseball to win a prize"
Oh dear :)
And the nazi's killed all the men,
Leaving the little girls for Woody.
Woody is not a person I would quote.
Id prefere to be a nazi, than Woody.
😊😊😊😊😊d@@knutdergroe9757
Woody Allen is toxic waste
Thank you, Dr.Felton. My dad, RIP, is enjoying this.
Gaylebaker: Is he voting for Biden this year? Sorry! A poor joke, I couldn't resist.
@@StevenKeeryAt least he won't be voting for diaper don.
@@samuelgarrod8327 Biden is the one who wears diapers. But since he was deposed in a Obama-led coup...
Mark's content is always brilliantly narrated and genuinely interesting
Love the music too, reminds me of world at war
It’s morning here.
A Felton video is better to wake up to than coffee -and I LIVE for coffee .
Youve done it again, Felton. Stupendous. Turned my day around with this upload. 🐐
Another great episode. This reminds me of the U-Boat encounter with the famous Canadian vessel, Bluenose. This was at one time, the fastest boat on the ocean. It is the image on the Canadian 10 cent piece.
Anyway, since retirement, Bluenose was used as a freight boat in the Caribbean. A U-Boat surfaced, approached Bluenose and in perfect English, asked if she was indeed Bluenose. After affirming this, the U-Boat Commander said there was no way they would ever sink such an iconic ship an allowed them to continue to Haiti where Bluenose subsequently hit some rocks and sunk.
Bluenose hit the rocks and sank on the same voyage with the U-boat encounter? That would be awkward :) BTW Lunenburg is a charming place to walk through.
An absolute masterclass of story-telling. Riveting and well researched as ever. Thanks MF 👏🏻
My father's dad had a boat in Northern New Jersey across from New York, and as a young boy he would go out with his family in the afternoon. As evening approached they would see near the horizon the boats that would form the caravans form up. Sometimes they would see explosions near those ships as uboats would try to pick off the stragglers.
As a very young child he really had no idea the magnitude of the conflict he was seeing the fringes of as his father tried to explain it as a German American. Though that side of the family came over in the mid to later 1800s, but there was still some cultural stratification a hundred years later. He has been bullied as a child an even pushed through a plate glass window by other children since he was seen a dirty kraft.
So I imagine him seeing the uboat attacks as I saw the Vietnam War on the TV, seeing our country was embroiled in a conflict far away, intuiting that it was a bigger deal that I was being told it was.
That reminds me of another German-American family which stood back from both of those wars as neutral Swedes. Except for Dr John, of course, who crossed the Atlantic to help as a scientist.
The perceived "cultural stratification" you speak of, was actually due to WWI. But German-Americans were very well integrated into American life.
A Mark Felton long form video on a Saturday. Awesome weekend treat!
This was perfect for my Saturday afternoon! Cheers, Mark!
Mr. Felton always delivers…
Dr Felton, thank you so much for the longer-format videos! Wonderful as always!
My mouth is STILL hanging open! Wow! I love it!
My uncle served during the war, and afterwards on a minesweeper, told of recovering a German mine in New York harbor on Christmas morning 1949.
Interesting 🤔
Another fantastic video from Dr. Felton. Thank you!
This is great! Been watching your videos since you started! You have the best UA-cam channel on UA-cam in my opinion! Thank you so much for the amazing content
"The best UA-cam channel"would have sufficed
@@craigoliver8712 I’ll drink to that
What's this? 40 fucken minutes??? What a gift. Thank you Mark
My granddad's brother was in the merchant marines during ww2. After transiting the panama canal they would put down anti torpedo nets and wait for the rest of the convoy. One day they went to pull up the nets and found 4 torpedos. It really bothered him. He got leave for a couple days when they hit port. He jumped on a train and went home. His dad turned him around and got back on the train with him so he wouldn't end up AWOL. He made it back late, but they took it easy on him and he got back on the boat. He was barely 18 and that was the last time he saw his dad.
Did the father die while the son was serving in WWII, or was the young merchant marine killed in the war??
May God bless your family.
@@lemorab1 so many possibilities, so little answers
I would guess his dad passed away.
Great grandpa died while 4 of his sons served in ww2. My granddad was the 6th son. All four of his older brothers survived the war. The oldest was in the 101st airborne. The second was on the USS Sitkoh Bay (part of taffy 3). The third brother was on a destroyer escort. It was damaged in a battle. He finished the war in Australia, while repairing the ship. The fourth was in the merchant marines, as I said. Granddad went into the Navy and served aboard subs during and after the Korean War. He served aboard the USS Requin. It is now a museum ship in Pittsburgh. Lots of brave men, those guys were built different.
I went to a local beach yesterday and I took a copy of the Sea Devils with me to read. The first two thirds of that were great. But the last third...wow. Once that mission got going I couldn't put it down for a moment. The drama. The tension. The desperate desire to find how it would end out. I had it know. I had to put it down with forty pages to go otherwise would have missed my bus home. And as a result didn't get time to finish it till this afternoon. Which was a torturous wait. What a great read.
Excellent and interesting presentation.
A fascinating part of the war that I only know a few things about. Thanks Dr Felton
I vaguely remember someone telling me that quite a bit of gold came up missing out of the basement(s) of the World Trade Center during the pandemonium. It was left unguarded of course. I wonder how much personal and political drama was manufactured to manipulate people into this gold heist. And I wonder why the missing gold wasn't widely reported in the media. I'm sure the story is true but I can't even remember who mentioned it to me.
How interesting. I can always learn something new from Mark's videos.
I don't know what to say. Your channel is a beacon of light in the field of historical research. I'm simply blown away. Being a simple amateur myself, you really shine a light on things I simply have no time to figure out by myself. 👍
Thanks for. Another video Dr Mark. I find myself watching your entire video base
Great video. Grew up similar to what Mark Felton shared. Had family and neighbors who all served in WWII. Thank you!
Learned all about this as a kid. I'm now 55. Shame people have no idea about history.
Thanks again Dr. Felton, for the most incredibly interesting, Axis plans to attack New York City!
This historical story, strikes home for me.
(My father was an air raid Warden, here in NYC, during the war, with some interesting black out stories).
Thank you again for all your great historical work, Dr. Felton!
The fact that the italians got closest to hitting the big apple is priceless.
Firing on their own people+a few Irish I guess
Yeah attacking her own pizzerias 😂
Don't forget the crippling olive oil and salami embargo the Italians inflicted on America 😢
fugetaboutit!
"It was just business. I always liked you Mikey"
A video of almost 42 minutes, you're spoiling us. Thanks, it is appreciated.
Interestingly, Gimpel and Colepaugh both stood trial before a military commission, where they were accused and convicted of conspiracy and violating the 82nd Article of War. Both were sentenced to death via hanging with an execution date set for April 15, 1945. However, President Franklin D. Roosevelt would die 3 days earlier, and due to a custom to not perform executions during a state mourning period, their executions were delayed and President Harry S Truman commuted their sentences to life.
Gimpel would be sent to Alcatraz, where he notably played chess with one Machine Gun Kelly. He would be paroled in 1955 and returned to West Germany. He lived until the age of 100, dying in 2010.
Colepaugh’s life sentence was further commuted from life to 30 years in 1952; he was paroled in 1960. He moved to King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. He lived there until his passing on March 16, 2005, 9 days short of his 87th birthday, of complications from Alzheimer’s.
That's fascinating stuff, a.g.! Thanks for sharing!
Interesting 🤔
In the 70's I lived in Va Beach VA and my mother had a friend who recalled seeing a ships blown up from the beach. She was an eye witness to the attack by a German U-boat which wreaked havoc at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay.
My good Doctor. I have chores to do in the house.... But now I need to watch this first!!!!
Great video! I love hearing about the actual and aspirational Axis attempts to attack the lower 48 of the US. Dr. Felton, you mentioned U-156’s attack on Cape Cod in 1918. I hope you do a video on the u-boat campaign off America in 1918 too! I wrote a book about it in 2017 titled The Kaiser’s Lost Kreuzer. If Dr. Felton takes the story on I know he would do it great justice!! Outstanding research and production are his hallmarks!
Amazing stuff. Thank you as always, Dr. Felton.
Dr felton..... well researched & well narrated....your voice is a natural fit for channel....very professional.
Extraordinary video! Thanks again, Mark.
You know it's going to be a good day when there's a new video from Dr. Felton!
Prior to ICBM's, here in the mainland U.S. we had the luxury of 2 oceans as our best defense. Yet, the submariners of both Germany and Japan were able to make the incredibly long and dangerous and attack various targets. I have to believe that the journey in a submarine took longer than an actual ship. After all,a submarine isn't a speedboat. I do not like that any of this happened, but I do respect the bravery of the men who done it. Thanks again Dr. Felton. I especially enjoy the longer episodes. Cheers from the States.
The Germans developed the ICBM first. These were two-stage rockets.
@@AlexMarciniszyn-y1kthey couldn't hit north America though😁
@@senorpepper3405 Yes, they could.
@@AlexMarciniszyn-y1kwith icbm's? In 1944?
@@senorpepper3405 In a declassified document titled "Preparing the American Public for a V-3 Attack," the threat is clearly described: "intercontinental missile attack." This was in December, 1944. The target was New York City. Since this was a credible threat, Mayor La Guardia was informed. He issued a statement published in the New York Times.
I was born on the west coast of Florida, and I remember seeing a U-boat that washed ashore. Pretty wild.
Where and when? Post a link?
@@paulzammataro7185 I believe it was U-166, just off Egmont Key, near St. Petersburg. It was a smaller 2-man sub, I think. Knowing the tourism in Florida though, it could have been a replica. I was a kid - so my memory is fuzzy.
@@woahhbro2906U-166 was a large U-Boat and was sunk in the Gulf, likely by a PT boat. The wreck remains where the action was fought, it never washed ashore.
A drug-smuggling submarine wreck washed ashore in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2015. This is perhaps what he remembered.
@@joebombero1 Sampling the cargo?
8:27 Verrazano Narrows bridge wasn't built until the 1960s. Glad to hear Hardegen lived a long and successful life post war (105 years!), unlike so many other U Boat crews who died so young.
Why, he slaughtered innocent people as an aggressor.
He wasn’t on trial in Nuremberg. I’m sorry your racism cannot get past someone’s nationality.
I'm amazed at the longevity of these WW2 soldiers on both sides. Either God rewarded them or He was punishing them with a long life of bad memories... I'm so in awe of all of those brave, brave men.
@@smokeykitty6023 yes indeed, number of times Dr. Felton says "was sunk with all hands" is so sad. The Kriegsmarine referred to the fallen with the phrase "remained at sea."
Also Hardegen said he never went past the Narrows. Take a look a a map. You can see lower or mid-Mahattan unless you do. It's out of the line of sight.
Click a like who thinks that Mark Felton should be in charge of the History Channel.
The "History" channel lost me many years ago....are they still running pawn shops and ice road truckers ⁉️
If the History Chanel had good ratings running WW2 shows over and over they would still be doing it. Mark is great but his videos are a half hour or so once or twice a week not on 24/7.
He wouldn't stoop that low.
Mark Felton's work is the standard The History Channel consistently fails to meet.
Mark Felton > History Channel
Well done Dr Felton . Impressive documentary
Nothing better. Beer in hand, "The good herb" in the other and a brand new 40+ minute mark felton video!
Rosemary??
I never liked combining them, always made me feel ill. A preferred one or another
@@guadalupe8589 Does he know you have been seeing his boyfriend, Herb?
My dad was on a sub tender going down east coast to Panama to pick up his sub S32.
He was on watch at night and was told any light out to sea was an ememy.
Sure enough, he saw s light snd opened up with a Lewis gun.
That won the 18 year old sailor a trip to see the captain to explain himself.
A day later it was reported a cargo ship had been torpedoed in the area of his action.
US Coastal Guard: "Hey, since when the ocean start burping?"
U-Boot commander *giggling*: “Hans, launch ze schnitzel!”
Oh. That's just the absolute wurst...
When concrete gets soft it takes some time to get Hardigen.
more like wurst and kraut!
I’m sorry Dr. Felton but I believe Salazar was not a general.
He was a college professor and minister of finance before becoming dictator as the president of the council of ministers. But he had no military rank.
All the best to everyone
Another fine work by Dr. Felton!
Before watching this grossly illuminating compilation, I was unaware of the pains the Axis Powers took to launch attacks against New York - all unsuccessful, thank God! It's no real surprise, though, given the city's symbolism, both then and now, as a world economic hub and diverse melting pot. No doubt Herr Hitler and Mussolini would've loved seeing a place that encapsulates so well the industrial prowess, democratic plurality, and entrepreneurial spirit of the American nation reduced to ashes!
I always thought that the blackouts were a waste of effort in the US until I read about Operation Drumbeat.
The importance of black outs even made into a bugs bunny cartoon.
Hardegen fought in WW2 from day 1 till the end in May '45....yet he made it in one piece and reached the 21st century as another Johnny Walker ("still going strong") and reached the incredible age of 105 without losing much of his hair ! What a character ! RIP.
i am loving the longer vids immensely!
Mike Tillman… the what ifs are incredible to consider!
I remember seeing an interview with Dönitz, maybe on the British "The World at War" many years ago. One thing he said stuck in my mind, words to the effect of: "People keep talking about this 'Happy Time'. There was no happy time; I don't know where the idea came from. It was a dangerous, merciless time for both sides, never mind the horrible conditions in a U-boat and the Atlantic weather. I never heard any of my U-boat commanders talk about a 'Happy Time', and would have reprimanded them if they did."
I'm 42 and it's my favorite ww2 documentary series. Albert speer, georgy zhukov. Can't beat it.
My saturday is now complete. Thank you again Mark
Well done Mark, great research
My father was a consultant
on the establishment on the radar sort of chain on the East Coast. Which was set up slowly after these events.
He used to relate this story and numerous other really
dangerous incidents of u boat and raider operation
near East Coast key U.S.
harbors and shipping lanes
That holster Borghese is wearing at 19:32 has to be the most diabolical contraption from a quick draw point of view I've ever seen.
I think it was more for Look How-Big-And-Shiny-Mine-Is posing than practical use ...😉
@@alfnoakes392 Did you notice he's carrying a Walther P-38 rather than a Berretta?
@@JFDA5458 Nope, not into guns per se.
Mr Felton... Your work is absolutely fascinating. Don’t stop spreading historical knowledge. Many thanks from upstate, New York. Cheers 🍻.
Whoa! 15 minutes ago! Been waiting for a Mark Felton video!
What a video! "The Black Prince" is still remembered and admired in Italy today
Since his plans never came to fruition, the most famous Italian submarine commander remains "Captain" von Trapp, though his fame came from the Austro-Hungarian Navy before he became an Italian citizen. He declined the offer to work for Hitler after the Anschluss and escaped to the USA..
@@faithlesshound5621 in Italy "The Black Prince" is well known. Von Trapp is completely unknown
The wreck of SS Coimbra is a very popular fishing spot and they only just recently removed the remaining fuel from her. It’s amazing to think that only five years ago the man that put her there was still alive.
The secondary intro tune at 15:37 confused me briefly, but it is clear you extended the episode with more material/corrections.
You really care about the videos being as informing as possible 👍.
Mark I’m in Poland on my way to volunteer in Ukraine for an indefinite amount of time (humanitarian dw I’m not a foreign fighter). Lost my phone in Warsaw and plans got flipped upside down for a sec there. Just got it back, got some Polish McDonald’s, cigarettes and a view. Life is indeed, very good.
Btw thank you for your content and videos in general, I’m coming from Canada 🇨🇦 but I watch your videos no matter where I am in the world!
All the best to you and if you do end up in Ukraine you are heroic but I hope you stay safe!
That’s very true! I’ve arrived in Ukraine couple days ago and decided to quit all sorts of things simply due to cost efficiency lol (cigarettes/alcohol)
My dad was Merchant Marine. He joined in early’43 when losses were near the highest. His first ship was in May otherwise known as “Black May”. He was lucky.