WHY GERMANY FOUGHT TILL THE LAST MAN: ua-cam.com/video/L_g1QpEtkLI/v-deo.html THE LAST GERMAN ARMY - THE VOLKSSTURM: ua-cam.com/video/1UxmljU6OK8/v-deo.html GERMAN WONDER WEAPONS OF WW2: ua-cam.com/video/bp1BQx17tXw/v-deo.html LAST DITCH GERMAN FIREARMS OF WW2: ua-cam.com/video/HIT13rNzHNo/v-deo.html
This was a good video...Donitz I think was not Hitler's first choice ..I think if Speer did not go back to the bunker and tell Hitler that he did not carry out the scorched Earth policy ..he would of been the leader at Flensburg..Hitler and Speer were very close...and I think it was the only reason why Hitler allowed him to leave.. because if I was Speer after telling him that...I would have been looking over my shoulder..Speer had balls in that respect..if it was Himmler or Goering ..they would have been taken outside and shot..it's just my opinion...thanks for your observations ...I truly miss the old Germany..now it's nothing but ghosts
@@roybean7166 I said I miss old Germany Roy not the Nazi party..not everyone who lived in Germany back then was a member of the party..look at it this way..Shindler was a member of the Nazi party at one time but finally saw the Horror ..some people finally opened there eyes..but I'm just making a observation Roy...not swearing a oath to Hitler...so CHILL man!!
This video puts the final pieces of the puzzle together, clearly explaining the Flensburg connection,it's structured political strategy and timelines, the players involved. Well done!!
@@HistoryHustle Just watched that again myself, and came over to your video. I can only imagine how the final scenes there played out. I was an exchange student to Germany for a summer (year round school there), but never got to see the northern parts, just central and southern Germany. Very nice people and cities/communities. All things considered: Karl wasnt such a bad man, he seemed rather benign/harmless (at least what I read of him. He was a Navy man, no part in anything heinous).
My grandfather was an captain in the Krigsmarine. As an engineer he was in buildind and logistics. He even met Dönitz in the War and they ran into another afterwarts. According to my father Dönitz keep refusing responsipility of war crimes by any military. I belive he was simply in an other position than Keitel but not less evil. My grandfather was imprisoned by the Britisch in Germany. They used him for logisticts in the camp. He even got free weekends to see his family. After more and more prisoners where released he wanted to ho home, too. He told an sergeant he was ordert to get his discharge papers. The sergeant belived the lie and prepared the paperwork. He later told my dad he was interviewed by an british officer who he later learned was a member of the Cambridge Five.
@@claudermiller I would think most Americans know that the Soviet were our ally in WW2. It’s was more like the old saying: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Between time ghost videos and history hustle I've found enjoyment in history that I haven't had before. I love history but, I'm not fond of how many historians, at least where I'm from, tell the stories of major historical events. They never seems to grab your attention. I always look forward to watching your videos. I wish my teachers in high school had the same enthusiasm as you and time ghost have in you videos. Unfortunately where I live in the states, we don't learn as much world history as I would like.
I myself am a father and veteran here in the states. It amazes me how practically nothing about ww2 or any real history is taught or even discussed. All I hear is about Muslims and blacks rights to do whatever they want. History is bound to repeat itself here in America, so lesson#1 should be about America's 2nd Civil war....
By the way, Bormann was believed to have been in hiding at the time. For years, there were Bormann sightings in Argentina. Evidence that Bormann was killed while trying to escape Berlin was not revealed for years later.
The American version? The one that said they won the war though less than half a million of those soldiers were killed compated to Russia's 11 million?
That was very interesting. I have never before understood the series of partial surrenders that took place in the West. Now they make sense. You should have taken a few minutes and gone into detail about the Donetz government's deliberations over the final, unconditional surrender. How did they come to that decision, did they try to avoid it, what was there reaction to the demand for a second ceremony in Berlin the next day? That would have been interesting.
@@johnnyvonjoe true. I've read many books and seen many films and historical documentaries and lived in Germany for awhile in the 60s. Nearly all reports end w the trial or w surrender and the rescue from camps.
I've once heard from a German sailer who immigrated to America. He told me that a lot of Jewish sailers were not turned in. Kept on in secret and knew a few of them. Is that true? Do you know of that? German navy was one service that did not purposely turn in German Jewish sailers.
It's debatable that Donitz fought an 'effective' U-boat campaign. Although bloody and consuming masses of war resources by both sides, it was in the end a failure in its strategic intent. Britain was never cut off and continued to function throughout the war. Really, its main timeframe is up to December 1941. Once the US entered the war everything changed.
You forgot to tell that all german troops in Holland, Schleswig/Holstein and Denmark had already surrended to Montgomery on Luneburger Heide the fourth of may. That decision, seen by the english, is to stop an russian army coming along the Baltic coast going up into Schleswig/Holstein and Denmark. The russian would then have control of the straits into the Baltic sea. The Yalta deal has been that the russian should stop along the river Elbe, but because that river turns west, south of Hamburg,leaves Holstein open from the east, so canadian paratroopers and english armour is sent against Wismar. The germans troops in Denmark keept the weapons until they crossed the border into Germany where they handed them over to the british. 80.000 soldier.
Small World Dept.: When I was teaching back in the 1970s, there was a boy and a girl in school who had once had “Uncle Karl” come for a visit. Their last name was Doenitz, and it was a while before I put 2+2 together and asked around a bit, and sure enough. The bigger coincidence was that there were a couple of kids in school during that time with the surname Eisenhauer who, despite the difference in spelling, were related to- yep, you guessed it.
I hadn’t heard this part of the story before, thanks for enlightening us. Just curious, when they were trying to evacuate soldiers and civilians by ship, where were they planning to evacuate to?
I would counter the evacuation priority of soldiers would be that soldiers would be made POWs while civilians in theory should be protected from the worst atrocities. A german civilian might not have a good day if he ran into the soviets but a warden SS man would be assured his end if he did so to emphasize getting the latter out made sense.
For a non native speaker your pronunciation of Flensburg is on point. Well done my friend. Quite an interesting video as I live in Flensburg, but I've got no clue about these latter stages of the war - atleast not more than the short entry in Flensburgs Wikipedia article ;)
In his memoirs Dönitz wrote that when he told Himmler that he wouldn't be part of the new government he had a loaded pistol hidden in the drawer of his desk.
That is very interesting. I could see the admiral being a responsible individual, not perfect but has more tact about himself than the thugs of the third reich..
My family were in Flensburg in April 1945. My grandfather was arrested by British Intelligence and interned. Such are the vagaries of life. He had before that he had been in upper Silesia. From Victor's to refugees the fate of just one family.
That title "Führer" was not passed to Dönitz. All he got was his function as "Reichspräsident". Hitler's famous title goes together with him being chair of the Nazi-party only . Hitler had been appointed "Reichskanzler" in 1933 according to the constitution of the "Deutsches Reich" by the "Reichspräsident". The head of state was elected in a direct vote by the German people. Immediately after he had had been apointed Hitler step by step disfigured the German state, violated the constitution , arrested members of parliament, etc., until he had absolute power. In the summer of 1934 Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg fell ill and the day before his imminent death Hitler pushed a bill through his one-party parliament that after Hindenburg's death the functions and duties of the president would be taken over and executed by the chancellor as well. Hitler then called himself "Führer und Reichskanzler", pushing the title and function of the president into the dustbin. That did not prevent him from receiving both salaries. He never paid a penny of taxes either. Most of his income though came from a newspaper empire that he created by dispossessing formerly liberal or leftist publishing houses.
@charlespeterson348 ---> A body was conveniently found in Berlin, after several reports in the 1960's and early 1970's of people seeing Martin Bormann in Argentina and Paraguay, and possibly next door in Uruguay..... The body/ skull "found" in Berlin had reddish clay in the skull. Berlin has brownish soil-dirt not reddish color. Ladislas Farago wrote a good book about Martin Bormann in South America.
Gobbles actually had a 1 day stint as German Chancellor after Hitler died before he himself committed suicide on May 1 the day after Hitler killed himself
It was also during the evacuation of german civilians and soldiers from the east to the west that the greatest naval disastear in hisory happened: the Wilhelm Gustloff, maybe you should make a video on it
Amazing video! I never really knew what actually happened after Hitler commited sucicide. I have always just assumed that they surrendered after that.. Very informative video!
Very late to the party here, but that photograph of the German sailors at 0737: their caps say Panzerschiff, but I can't read the first letter of the actual name. Is it 'D' for Deutschland?
2 months ago I have visited the grave of Großadmiral Dönitz in Hamburg. He lays in a family grave with his wife and 2 sons, who died in the sea in 1943.
Nemmersdorf was everywhere. When the Soviets destroyed the unarmed refugee of my mother in Western Prussia, they killed her brother, her 12 year old sister god a bullet in her lounges and died 3 weeks later, and they captured her dad who never came back. And thats what happened to all prussian refugees.
The Flensburg government planed to destroy the bridges over the NOK and wanted to use rendsburg as the main defending city and the NOK as the defense line
imagine being the grand admiral of the navy and randomly having to become the new leader of the country with all of your high ranking peers having killed themselves must have been one hell of a time XD
History Hustle -- I’m really big into old wars like ww1 and WW2. I’ll also find myself liking other wars as well I also like knowing the other sides perspective So I’ve been really enjoying this channel and watching lots and I can’t wait until the newest thing. Keep it up please👍🏻
I've heard from different sources that Hitler didn't decorate anyone on his birthday 20th April, the famous footage/photos were actually taken back in mid of March, prior soviet union final assault to Berlin. Got any idea about that?
Could you please clarify your comment that even after the unconditional surrender, Flying Courts Martial continued to execute soldiers for desertion? I have never seen any indication that it continued to happen after May 8th, although I might be wrong...
I believe you're right. Did I mention such a thing? I do stand corrected on that point. However, what did happen after the 8th were executions of those who were comdemned to death before 8 May.
Happened in Christiansand/Norway on 9th of May. Inside a U-Boat Command. 3 renitent Sailors were comdemned to Death and executed under the Command of Kkpt. Juergensen. The Channel Owner seems to be very low on Sources. Just a Proposal to Read: Herbert A. Werner / Eiserne Särge p. 396 ff (German ISBN 3-453-13171-1). The Channel Owner is just an Advertise Soaking Clown. He has no real Background about specific Themes in WWII like e.g. Mark Felton has.
There were more. I believe the one on March 20 was photographed. The latter one wasn't. So the picture I used wasn't fully correct. I stand corrected on that one.
This guy's good! Amazing how the successor to Hitler was not executed as well. Shows the fairness of the Nuremberg trials process. I feel so sorry for Poland, their 'war occupation' continued until the late 1980s... Also as an addition: The German soldiers who were taken prisoner by the Soviets at the end of the war had a less than 50% chance of survival and it took them 10-15 years before they were released. So in that regard, Donitz succeeded. But yes, he would have done better if he'd just let the western allies in and stop the Soviet advance.
@@HistoryHustle not just poland.... czechia,slovakia,hungary and romania...were all client states of the ussr.., no free press,elections, prague spring 1968 was crushed, the 1958 hungarian uprising was smashed etc yes poland was invaded in 1939 and carved up like a piece of meat, but not for the first time,.... after agustus pointowski the last polish king died it too was divided then in 1799, the austrian hungarian empire was smashed up after the first world war and the treaty of trianon... the treaty of versailles and its massive reperations did not end until 2010 from germany...some argue that was a major reason for the second world war,,, european colonial empires were in pieces, dutch,belgian,french,british,,] british-french-dutch and german and other cities smashed to bits and millions dead.. some states just exchanged the nazis to the soviet union... sad but true, only really after the fall of 1989-1990 did much of east europe re-emerge from under the iron curtain... as for the total destruction and mess on cities like berlin,london etc...that was obscene...
I believe too much is made of Soviet advance during short reign of Dönitz. One can simply look at front lines at the beginning of May. Soviets were already in Berlin no western allies advance could help troops east of Oder river. For example Breslau (Wrocław on contemporary maps) capitulated only on May 6th, but the city was surrounded for two months already and nothing could be done about it. I believe Donitz was made a scapegoat to help Germans psychologically process the disaster of last few weeks of war with so many soldiers ending up in Soviet captivity and sizable portion never to be seen again. However, the real reason for that is Wermacht’s behavior on Soviet lands and the fact the Wehrmacht generals did nothing to mitigate Hitler’s genocidal orders.
My Ancestors were from East Prussia and had to flee in the late days of the war. It was winter and the were crossing a frozen river. During this Soviet soldiers fired into the ice and it broke so that many people died in the cold water ore lost their personal stuff.
Thank you so much for your videos. I love history and because of you, I can improve my English Spoken. This is so interesting to know more about this puppet governement. I would like you to make a video about another rump governement. The exiled Vichy's Governement which flies to the Sigmaringen Castle in Soutj Germany to Etablish a New French Governement from September of 1944 to April of 1945. The action, the purpose and the role of such rump Governements can be fascinating in a certain way.
@@HistoryHustle Thank for you answer Teacher! Vichy's Governement is fascinating in itself and you would need more than one video to speak about it. The end of that Regime into The German Castle Of Sigmaringen look like the enf of rump Governement of Flensburg. That is why a short video could be appropriate to explain the etablishement of the exiled Governement and their fake daily action to maintain an illusion of power during long months before their arrestation.
@@HistoryHustle It's correct, just that "decorations" also has the meaning for just fitting the theme, such as Christmas decorations or birthday party decorations. Essentially, Hitler was decorating the child soldiers not just in military honors, but also to make the military look "better".
It's so hard for us today to understand the perspective of anyone born between 1880 and early 1900s. A majority of Germans were taken by the Spell of Nazism in a world of wars and empires still lingered.
Goede video, ik heb vandaag gelezen dat in eind april in een kamp in Amersfoort een Sovjet cigarette doosje gevonden. Het is miss leuk om een video te maken over hoe het werkte in kamp Amersfoort. Ik wist trouwens helemaal niet dat Duitsland aan het einde van ww2 donitz de leiding had
If you read "Eight days in May" by Volker Ullrich, all will be clear. For the Dutch: "Acht dagen in mei" geschreven door Volker Ullrich. Goed boek over deze haast onbekende periode.
It's Gdynia, not Gotenhaven. Gdynia wasn't like Danzig. It was under sovereign control of Poland between the two wars. Calling it Gotenhaven is like calling Warsaw Warschau.
Donitez was not the second fuhrer, Hitler decided to split his role and his presidency was given to Donitz and his chancellorship was given to Gobbels whose chancellorship was short-lived and he and his wife committed suicide along with all their children in the bunker. Donitz was simply the Reich President not the "Fuhrer". The Fuhrer was simply two role of Presidency and chancellorship in one and Hitler is the only one to do both roles.
In his last will and testament, dated 29 April 1945, Hitler named Dönitz his successor as Staatsoberhaupt (Head of State), with the titles of Reichspräsident (President) and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. The same document named Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels as Head of Government with the title of Reichskanzler (Chancellor). He committed suicide on 30 April. On 1 May, the day after Hitler's own suicide, Goebbels committed suicide. Dönitz thus became the sole representative of the collapsing German Reich.
Mr. History Hustle, will you make a video about Heinrich Muller, and the young Luftwaffe pilot (not Hannah Retch) who flew Hannah Retch & her lover Ritter von Greim in the very last flight out of Berlin.
The British did the soviets a big favor in sinking the Tirpitz before the Baltic evacuation. The Kriegsmarine surviving surface units like the Lutzow and Prinz-Eugen fired until smoothing out the bores of their guns. Just imagine the devastation the Tirpitz guns would have wrought on the red army.
Well Gdańsk was burning for almost half a year after Soviets first appearance on the outskirts of the city. Most of the Gdańsk's Old City was rebuilt in Dutch style, the way it might looked in 16, 17th hundreds (when the Dutch used bricks as a ballast for their empty ships).
I read somewhere a long time ago that partial roots of the Cold war was that the Russians requested of the British and Americans to hand over all SS prisoners from unit said that fighting on the Eastern front, their reasoning was they wanted to vent them for war criminals people who had committed atrocities on the Eastern front and when the American and British fail to do this it really pissed off the Russian high command.
I laughed at how Donitz, faced with his own quote about Jews and praise for Hitler, tried to defend himself and didn't actually address the quote. Pathetic.
The germans were not the only one affraid of soviets. Actually the soviet army committed a lot of atrocities, like mass raping, pillaging, executions of civilians in all countrys where they managed to enter in ww2, even in Yugoslavia which had the most loial communist partisants. For soviet soldiers it didn't matter the allegiance of the local population, they did the same to everyone. They even executed a lot of russian villagers after 1943 becouse they allegedly cooperated with germans.
Great video! I have to laugh at two things Dönitz said. First, if he had any belief that the Western Allies would have accepted the remnants of the Third Reich as allies in a continued war against the Soviets, then he had to be the most deluded man left alive in Germany. The very notion that the Germans had enough men and materiel to make their potential contribution to such a war effort at all meaningful itself would have been delusional. Second was Dönitz's contention that he never tolerated any antisemitism in the German Navy (Kreigsmarine). Question: How many Jews were in the German Navy during WWII? How many could any German sailors have possibly met? (OK, maybe a few in a captured port city like Copenhagen but certainly none in Marseille, where the Milice did the SS's dirty work en français.) That's such a boldly insane statement that it might as well have been comedy. You can't discriminate against Jews under your command when you never had any! LOL!!!!!
I mean... they literally had the best tanks and weapons in the world, and most importantly half a decade of experience fighting the soviets. Their contribution would have been invaluable. Although even with them, the allies wouldnt have been able to hold a candle to the 5 million experienced Red Army soldiers or their tens of tens of thousands of tanks, and the best artillery in the world. About the navy piece yeah I totally agree.
Not entirely true. The US did effectively partner up with National Socialist Germany by pardoning many of their scientists and importing them into the US to work on ballistic missile technology as well as glean other information from sometimes nefarious origins such as human experimentation. Doenitz wasn’t necessarily entirely wrong on seeing the potential of some partnership/collaboration there and US Soviet relations did sour very quickly after the war was over.
WHY GERMANY FOUGHT TILL THE LAST MAN: ua-cam.com/video/L_g1QpEtkLI/v-deo.html
THE LAST GERMAN ARMY - THE VOLKSSTURM: ua-cam.com/video/1UxmljU6OK8/v-deo.html
GERMAN WONDER WEAPONS OF WW2: ua-cam.com/video/bp1BQx17tXw/v-deo.html
LAST DITCH GERMAN FIREARMS OF WW2: ua-cam.com/video/HIT13rNzHNo/v-deo.html
Thanks! And I actually did, look:
ua-cam.com/video/JrMX2b8LLtY/v-deo.html
This was a good video...Donitz I think was not Hitler's first choice ..I think if Speer did not go back to the bunker and tell Hitler that he did not carry out the scorched Earth policy ..he would of been the leader at Flensburg..Hitler and Speer were very close...and I think it was the only reason why Hitler allowed him to leave.. because if I was Speer after telling him that...I would have been looking over my shoulder..Speer had balls in that respect..if it was Himmler or Goering ..they would have been taken outside and shot..it's just my opinion...thanks for your observations ...I truly miss the old Germany..now it's nothing but ghosts
@@charleswilcher6158 Thanks for your message.
@@charleswilcher6158 You miss the Nazis, ? Biggest mass murderers.
@@roybean7166 I said I miss old Germany Roy not the Nazi party..not everyone who lived in Germany back then was a member of the party..look at it this way..Shindler was a member of the Nazi party at one time but finally saw the Horror ..some people finally opened there eyes..but I'm just making a observation Roy...not swearing a oath to Hitler...so CHILL man!!
I live in Flensburg. It's a pretty City with a population of about 90.000 people. But the Busdriver are horrible.
Cool, love to visit and I'll keep that in mind.
Me too
I only knew Flensburg/Flensborg as the place where I change for the train to Copenhagen. I will spend some time there after Corona.
Wo wohnst du hier? 😂
Ich wohne in Engelsby.
@@avocadomann2373 Westliche Höhe
This video puts the final pieces of the puzzle together, clearly explaining the Flensburg connection,it's structured political strategy and timelines, the players involved. Well done!!
Thanks for watching!
This will always make me think about the sketch "The New Fuhrer
" by Mitchell and Webb. It might not be super accurate but it's hilarious.
I'll check it out!
Edit: just checked it, quite funny haha!
@@HistoryHustle Just watched that again myself, and came over to your video. I can only imagine how the final scenes there played out. I was an exchange student to Germany for a summer (year round school there), but never got to see the northern parts, just central and southern Germany. Very nice people and cities/communities. All things considered: Karl wasnt such a bad man, he seemed rather benign/harmless (at least what I read of him. He was a Navy man, no part in anything heinous).
What I appreciate in this channel is that its author courteously answers his critics.
Try to do my best! Thanks for your reply.
My grandfather was an captain in the Krigsmarine. As an engineer he was in buildind and logistics. He even met Dönitz in the War and they ran into another afterwarts. According to my father Dönitz keep refusing responsipility of war crimes by any military. I belive he was simply in an other position than Keitel but not less evil.
My grandfather was imprisoned by the Britisch in Germany. They used him for logisticts in the camp. He even got free weekends to see his family. After more and more prisoners where released he wanted to ho home, too. He told an sergeant he was ordert to get his discharge papers. The sergeant belived the lie and prepared the paperwork.
He later told my dad he was interviewed by an british officer who he later learned was a member of the Cambridge Five.
Many thanks for sharing. Really interesting to read.
You made me read about the Cambridge five.
I did not know that before.
This history is what you do not learn in America. Great video👍🏻.
Thank you!
Well said
Half the American people don't even know the Soviets were our allies.
Place eye roll emoji here.
@@claudermiller I would think most Americans know that the Soviet were our ally in WW2.
It’s was more like the old saying:
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
@@maincoon6602 but they were our allies nonetheless.
Between time ghost videos and history hustle I've found enjoyment in history that I haven't had before. I love history but, I'm not fond of how many historians, at least where I'm from, tell the stories of major historical events. They never seems to grab your attention. I always look forward to watching your videos. I wish my teachers in high school had the same enthusiasm as you and time ghost have in you videos. Unfortunately where I live in the states, we don't learn as much world history as I would like.
Thank you very much for your message. Keep up following the channel, much great stuff is coming up :)
I myself am a father and veteran here in the states. It amazes me how practically nothing about ww2 or any real history is taught or even discussed. All I hear is about Muslims and blacks rights to do whatever they want. History is bound to repeat itself here in America, so lesson#1 should be about America's 2nd Civil war....
SO interesting. I've been catching up with some of your videos during our tropical storm here in New York.
Awesome! And take care with that storm over there 👍
By the way, Bormann was believed to have been in hiding at the time. For years, there were Bormann sightings in Argentina. Evidence that Bormann was killed while trying to escape Berlin was not revealed for years later.
It was a mystery for a while and thus many believed he got away.
Thank You Stephan for your work to provide such well presented information on this topic.
Dank je wel.
Graag gedaan, Daniel!
This is a time of the war not a lot of people cover and you cover it up in so much depth thank you so much.
You're welcome, thanks for watching and placing a comment as always, Niklas!
@@HistoryHustle you are welcome
Thanks man for lighten me up on history
👍👍
Thank you for making this video. It was very very interesting.
Thank you for your reply!
Another great video - keep up the good work !
Thanks!
I only had the American version of the war. This is very interesting and informative. Thank you for putting this up.
The American version? The one that said they won the war though less than half a million of those soldiers were killed compated to Russia's 11 million?
That was very interesting. I have never before understood the series of partial surrenders that took place in the West. Now they make sense.
You should have taken a few minutes and gone into detail about the Donetz government's deliberations over the final, unconditional surrender. How did they come to that decision, did they try to avoid it, what was there reaction to the demand for a second ceremony in Berlin the next day? That would have been interesting.
Thanks for your reply. Perhaps something for another video. Still want to cover this on location in Flensburg.
@@HistoryHustle You really should! This a little known topic that almost never gets covered.
@@johnnyvonjoe true. I've read many books and seen many films and historical documentaries and lived in Germany for awhile in the 60s. Nearly all reports end w the trial or w surrender and the rescue from camps.
I've always been fascinated by Donitz; maybe because he resembles exactly my grandfather on my mother's side, being a German!
I see!
I've once heard from a German sailer who immigrated to America. He told me that a lot of Jewish sailers were not turned in. Kept on in secret and knew a few of them. Is that true? Do you know of that? German navy was one service that did not purposely turn in German Jewish sailers.
It's debatable that Donitz fought an 'effective' U-boat campaign. Although bloody and consuming masses of war resources by both sides, it was in the end a failure in its strategic intent. Britain was never cut off and continued to function throughout the war. Really, its main timeframe is up to December 1941. Once the US entered the war everything changed.
Thanks for sharing your insights on this.
The U-boat campaign didn’t cut Britain off because the German high command ignore the navy.
You forgot to tell that all german troops in Holland, Schleswig/Holstein and Denmark had already surrended to Montgomery on Luneburger Heide the fourth of may. That decision, seen by the english, is to stop an russian army coming along the Baltic coast going up into Schleswig/Holstein and Denmark. The russian would then have control of the straits into the Baltic sea. The Yalta deal has been that the russian should stop along the river Elbe, but because that river turns west, south of Hamburg,leaves Holstein open from the east, so canadian paratroopers and english armour is sent against Wismar. The germans troops in Denmark keept the weapons until they crossed the border into Germany where they handed them over to the british. 80.000 soldier.
Thanks for sharing.
Small World Dept.: When I was teaching back in the 1970s, there was a boy and a girl in school who had once had “Uncle Karl” come for a visit. Their last name was Doenitz, and it was a while before I put 2+2 together and asked around a bit, and sure enough. The bigger coincidence was that there were a couple of kids in school during that time with the surname Eisenhauer who, despite the difference in spelling, were related to- yep, you guessed it.
Interesting to read, thanks for sharing.
I hadn’t heard this part of the story before, thanks for enlightening us. Just curious, when they were trying to evacuate soldiers and civilians by ship, where were they planning to evacuate to?
The evacuation orders came very late. From January 1945. People were evacuated to Denmark and Northwest Germany.
British and American zones
I would counter the evacuation priority of soldiers would be that soldiers would be made POWs while civilians in theory should be protected from the worst atrocities. A german civilian might not have a good day if he ran into the soviets but a warden SS man would be assured his end if he did so to emphasize getting the latter out made sense.
It's an interesting interlude, between the death of Hitler and the final surrender, well presented and fascinating.
Thanks!
For a non native speaker your pronunciation of Flensburg is on point. Well done my friend.
Quite an interesting video as I live in Flensburg, but I've got no clue about these latter stages of the war - atleast not more than the short entry in Flensburgs Wikipedia article ;)
Many thanks :)
I doubt someone from Flensburg wouldn't know the "story", and pronouncing Flensburg is not that difficult.
It's good to listen to your speech when it flows and smooth. Thanks.
Many thanks for your reply, Barry!
In his memoirs Dönitz wrote that when he told Himmler that he wouldn't be part of the new government he had a loaded pistol hidden in the drawer of his desk.
Interesting.
That is very interesting. I could see the admiral being a responsible individual, not perfect but has more tact about himself than the thugs of the third reich..
Thank you teacher. 👍
You're welcome, as always!
Great 2 videos on the subject! I was always wondering this. Thanks:)
Great, thanks for your message.
This is quite educational, had not heard this before.
Great to read!
It's unbelievable how some of these guys got off so easily!
Indeed.
I'm addicted to your videos they are amazing keep it up man
Thanks!
War crimes and violating the laws of war, 10 years. Getting busted with a joint in the 60's, 20 years.
In the US? I hope not...
@@HistoryHustle I do believe so. Many of people were made examples of.
10:55 He was convicted of war crimes and violating the laws of war, not crimes against humanity. That's why he only got 10 years.
@@nb2008nc Thank you.
I heard they released all the Marijuana arrested prisoners when the drug became legal. Is that true?
My family were in Flensburg in April 1945. My grandfather was arrested by British Intelligence and interned. Such are the vagaries of life. He had before that he had been in upper Silesia. From Victor's to refugees the fate of just one family.
Thanks for sharing.
That title "Führer" was not passed to Dönitz. All he got was his function as "Reichspräsident". Hitler's famous title goes together with him being chair of the Nazi-party only . Hitler had been appointed "Reichskanzler" in 1933 according to the constitution of the "Deutsches Reich" by the "Reichspräsident". The head of state was elected in a direct vote by the German people. Immediately after he had had been apointed Hitler step by step disfigured the German state, violated the constitution , arrested members of parliament, etc., until he had absolute power. In the summer of 1934 Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg fell ill and the day before his imminent death Hitler pushed a bill through his one-party parliament that after Hindenburg's death the functions and duties of the president would be taken over and executed by the chancellor as well. Hitler then called himself "Führer und Reichskanzler", pushing the title and function of the president into the dustbin. That did not prevent him from receiving both salaries. He never paid a penny of taxes either. Most of his income though came from a newspaper empire that he created by dispossessing formerly liberal or leftist publishing houses.
Thanks for sharing your insights.
Bormann was thought to have escaped to South America. They found his body in Berlin in 72 while building a subway
I don't think so.
@charlespeterson348 ---> A body was conveniently found in Berlin, after several reports in the 1960's and early 1970's of people seeing Martin Bormann in Argentina and Paraguay, and possibly next door in Uruguay..... The body/ skull "found" in Berlin had reddish clay in the skull. Berlin has brownish soil-dirt not reddish color. Ladislas Farago wrote a good book about Martin Bormann in South America.
A fascinating period, and hard to find out about.
Indeed. Hope you found the video useful!
I love to see people who are passionate about what they do
Thank you!
Very, very well done.
Thanks for watching!
Gobbles actually had a 1 day stint as German Chancellor after Hitler died before he himself committed suicide on May 1 the day after Hitler killed himself
Really short time yes.
Gotta admit you did real good with this video.I always wondered why Donitz became in charge,
Thanks for your message!
thank you for not calling him "Admiral Donuts" although you could practice "adolph" a bit
Always room for improvement :)
He speaks English like a Dutchman... Admiral Donuts! That's hilarious!
@@thechimp1963 er war ein Berliner!
In fairness his English is a whole lot better than my German... I've been accused of speaking German like a Dutchman
eric van tassell You do realize that English is not his mother tongue?
It was also during the evacuation of german civilians and soldiers from the east to the west that the greatest naval disastear in hisory happened: the Wilhelm Gustloff, maybe you should make a video on it
Yes and I cover that in this video:
ua-cam.com/video/pVZtEq2Dka4/v-deo.html
@@HistoryHustle nice, im gonna watch it
Now I'm in doubt, I could also have covered it in this one:
ua-cam.com/video/dhZtaFSxoEk/v-deo.html
Amazing video! I never really knew what actually happened after Hitler commited sucicide. I have always just assumed that they surrendered after that.. Very informative video!
Thanks for watching!
@@HistoryHustle The boy soldiers being decorated was actually filmed on the 20th March.
Great work love your channel 100%
Check out the Battle of Prague, Spree Forrest etc.,
True dat. I learned many new things too.
I knew a girl in my high school, partly German and partly Danish, who was related to Dönitz
Interesting.
I really like your videos 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Thanks, Frank!
Isn't karl Donitz the submarine dude?
yes
Hoi, ik heb een kleine opmerking. De klemtoon van Keitel ligt bij de Kéitel, niet Keitél. Verder heel leuke video
Dank.
Informative video. Thanks.
👍👍👍
Very late to the party here, but that photograph of the German sailors at 0737: their caps say Panzerschiff, but I can't read the first letter of the actual name. Is it 'D' for Deutschland?
Yet again, super.
Cheers!
2 months ago I have visited the grave of Großadmiral Dönitz in Hamburg. He lays in a family grave with his wife and 2 sons, who died in the sea in 1943.
Didn't know this. Interesting.
Happy new years from a french dude in Quebec City ! Thanks for this
Merci!
Amazing video please do one about the last ww2 battles in europe with croatia really unknowns topic
Thanks! Next week more about the last battles, among which Croatia.
"Downfall 2"
Should made into a movie.
Nemmersdorf was everywhere.
When the Soviets destroyed the unarmed refugee of my mother in Western Prussia, they killed her brother, her 12 year old sister god a bullet in her lounges and died 3 weeks later, and they captured her dad who never came back.
And thats what happened to all prussian refugees.
Sorry to hear your family's story. Soviet atrocities did happen. Yet, Nemmersdorf didn't occur EVERYWHERE.
@@HistoryHustle No, not everywhere but very often.
Always enjoy your videos but was it not Speer who did whatever he could to see that the "Nero Decree" was not carried out?
More on that here:
ua-cam.com/video/5WXtv20dq14/v-deo.html
A very enlightening video.
Thank you.
Great segment. Always have wondered about Donitz and Nazi association|culpability
Thanks, Rob!
The Flensburg government planed to destroy the bridges over the NOK and wanted to use rendsburg as the main defending city and the NOK as the defense line
Interesting.
Karl Donitz died 40 years ago today.
I see.
6:26 is that titanic
Hahaha, you're the first one to mention this. Spot on! It was the only copyright free PNG ship picture I could find.
Excellent, I enjoy your verve.
Thank you!
Read a paperback about Flensberg in the 70s and been fascinated since.
Hope you liked this video!
@@HistoryHustle Very much as I do with all your vids. Seeing the actual sight makes them much more real.
imagine being the grand admiral of the navy and randomly having to become the new leader of the country with all of your high ranking peers having killed themselves must have been one hell of a time XD
Crazy times.
0:55 this soviet-style posed picture was a Newsweek cover story in 1943
I see!
I just found this channel and it’s amazing
Welcome to the channel! Thanks for your message. What history are you most interested in?
History Hustle -- I’m really big into old wars like ww1 and WW2. I’ll also find myself liking other wars as well
I also like knowing the other sides perspective
So I’ve been really enjoying this channel and watching lots and I can’t wait until the newest thing. Keep it up please👍🏻
Thank you. I guess you like this video also:
ua-cam.com/video/WMLy4Uge76M/v-deo.html
I've heard from different sources that Hitler didn't decorate anyone on his birthday 20th April, the famous footage/photos were actually taken back in mid of March, prior soviet union final assault to Berlin. Got any idea about that?
I did hear that. Although according to Mark Felton there are no photos of this. The photos that do exist are indeed from March.
10 years in prison for war crimes of WW2. Unbelievable.
Yes..
What war crimes did Donitz commit Losing a war should not be a war crime
Could you please clarify your comment that even after the unconditional surrender, Flying Courts Martial continued to execute soldiers for desertion? I have never seen any indication that it continued to happen after May 8th, although I might be wrong...
I believe you're right. Did I mention such a thing? I do stand corrected on that point. However, what did happen after the 8th were executions of those who were comdemned to death before 8 May.
Happened in Christiansand/Norway on 9th of May. Inside a U-Boat Command. 3 renitent Sailors were comdemned to Death and executed under the Command of Kkpt. Juergensen. The Channel Owner seems to be very low on Sources. Just a Proposal to Read: Herbert A. Werner / Eiserne Särge p. 396 ff (German ISBN 3-453-13171-1). The Channel Owner is just an Advertise Soaking Clown. He has no real Background about specific Themes in WWII like e.g. Mark Felton has.
According to Mark Felton the Hitler youth meeting with Hitler was on march 20, 1945. This was a month before your assertion.
There were more. I believe the one on March 20 was photographed. The latter one wasn't. So the picture I used wasn't fully correct. I stand corrected on that one.
Can any one tell me what happened to AH’s cat Peter?AH so enjoyed when this mischievous cat sat purring in his lap.
Good question, I don't know.
how do i get that map?
Dutch eBay called Marktplaats.
@@HistoryHustle tysm
@@HistoryHustle do you happen to know of any key search words for it? i cant seem to find it (unless it's not sold any more)
This guy's good! Amazing how the successor to Hitler was not executed as well. Shows the fairness of the Nuremberg trials process. I feel so sorry for Poland, their 'war occupation' continued until the late 1980s...
Also as an addition: The German soldiers who were taken prisoner by the Soviets at the end of the war had a less than 50% chance of survival and it took them 10-15 years before they were released. So in that regard, Donitz succeeded. But yes, he would have done better if he'd just let the western allies in and stop the Soviet advance.
Poland had it rough in the 20th century to say the least.
@@HistoryHustle not just poland.... czechia,slovakia,hungary and romania...were all client states of the ussr.., no free press,elections, prague spring 1968 was crushed, the 1958 hungarian uprising was smashed etc
yes poland was invaded in 1939 and carved up like a piece of meat, but not for the first time,.... after agustus pointowski the last polish king died it too was divided then in 1799, the austrian hungarian empire was smashed up after the first world war and the treaty of trianon...
the treaty of versailles and its massive reperations did not end until 2010 from germany...some argue that was a major reason for the second world war,,,
european colonial empires were in pieces, dutch,belgian,french,british,,]
british-french-dutch and german and other cities smashed to bits and millions dead..
some states just exchanged the nazis to the soviet union... sad but true, only really after the fall of 1989-1990 did much of east europe re-emerge from under the iron curtain...
as for the total destruction and mess on cities like berlin,london etc...that was obscene...
I believe too much is made of Soviet advance during short reign of Dönitz. One can simply look at front lines at the beginning of May. Soviets were already in Berlin no western allies advance could help troops east of Oder river. For example Breslau (Wrocław on contemporary maps) capitulated only on May 6th, but the city was surrounded for two months already and nothing could be done about it.
I believe Donitz was made a scapegoat to help Germans psychologically process the disaster of last few weeks of war with so many soldiers ending up in Soviet captivity and sizable portion never to be seen again. However, the real reason for that is Wermacht’s behavior on Soviet lands and the fact the Wehrmacht generals did nothing to mitigate Hitler’s genocidal orders.
My Ancestors were from East Prussia and had to flee in the late days of the war. It was winter and the were crossing a frozen river. During this Soviet soldiers fired into the ice and it broke so that many people died in the cold water ore lost their personal stuff.
My grandma told me a story about a frozen river too... maybe they were togheter
Thank you so much for your videos. I love history and because of you, I can improve my English Spoken.
This is so interesting to know more about this puppet governement.
I would like you to make a video about another rump governement. The exiled Vichy's Governement which flies to the Sigmaringen Castle in Soutj Germany to Etablish a New French Governement from September of 1944 to April of 1945.
The action, the purpose and the role of such rump Governements can be fascinating in a certain way.
Thanks for replying, Thomas. I hope to one day travel to the actual city of Vichy and cover that on location. I cannot tell when that will happen.
@@HistoryHustle Thank for you answer Teacher!
Vichy's Governement is fascinating in itself and you would need more than one video to speak about it.
The end of that Regime into The German Castle Of Sigmaringen look like the enf of rump Governement of Flensburg.
That is why a short video could be appropriate to explain the etablishement of the exiled Governement and their fake daily action to maintain an illusion of power during long months before their arrestation.
That photograph of Hitler giving out decorations to kids was taken month before battle of Berlin.
True. Somewhere in March. Yet, it does represent the situation. That's because there are no photos of him handing out decorations for the last time.
@@HistoryHustle ok give me heart on my coment now!
💚
Okay, no problem! Thank for the answer!
👍
I’m glad he called them “decorations“ that he gave out
Wrong word?
@@HistoryHustle It's correct, just that "decorations" also has the meaning for just fitting the theme, such as Christmas decorations or birthday party decorations. Essentially, Hitler was decorating the child soldiers not just in military honors, but also to make the military look "better".
It's so hard for us today to understand the perspective of anyone born between 1880 and early 1900s. A majority of Germans were taken by the Spell of Nazism in a world of wars and empires still lingered.
Indeed.
Most of the convictions were based on general things, with no direct link between the person convicted and a specific crime, it was a ,,RICO'' case.
RICO case?
@@HistoryHustle yes, it means you are guilty by association, regardless if you personally commited any crime.
You are right about this
Ok👍
Goede video, ik heb vandaag gelezen dat in eind april in een kamp in Amersfoort een Sovjet cigarette doosje gevonden.
Het is miss leuk om een video te maken over hoe het werkte in kamp Amersfoort.
Ik wist trouwens helemaal niet dat Duitsland aan het einde van ww2 donitz de leiding had
Dank en ja, ik las het van dat doosje in kamp Amersfoort. Wil dat voormalige kamp sowieso nog een keer aandoen.
Het klinkt nu al als een goede video
@@HistoryHustle Zou er misschien nog een video kunnen komen over Kamp Westerbork/Schattenberg
Karl Donitz was my great great grandfather... I only found this out not so long ago.
Interesting!
The last time Hitler left the bunker to be seen in public was on March 20, not April 20
Yet, the photo is representative for what happened on 20 April.
If you read "Eight days in May" by Volker Ullrich, all will be clear.
For the Dutch: "Acht dagen in mei" geschreven door Volker Ullrich. Goed boek over deze haast onbekende periode.
Dank voor je reactie.
@@HistoryHustle Graag gedaan en keep up the good work.
It's Gdynia, not Gotenhaven. Gdynia wasn't like Danzig. It was under sovereign control of Poland between the two wars. Calling it Gotenhaven is like calling Warsaw Warschau.
True. Actually in Dutch we also say "Warschau". Please don't be mad.
@@HistoryHustle Not mad, just clarifying. Nice video, btw. 👍
It didn't even exist before 1920, OK - yes it was a willage
@@pliedtka Who was talking about 1920????
Donitez was not the second fuhrer, Hitler decided to split his role and his presidency was given to Donitz and his chancellorship was given to Gobbels whose chancellorship was short-lived and he and his wife committed suicide along with all their children in the bunker. Donitz was simply the Reich President not the "Fuhrer". The Fuhrer was simply two role of Presidency and chancellorship in one and Hitler is the only one to do both roles.
Technically you're right I believe. Thanks for your reply.
What these loonatics lacked, was any shread of reality. But they were soon introduced to it, and arrested.
Indeed.
In his last will and testament, dated 29 April 1945, Hitler named Dönitz his successor as Staatsoberhaupt (Head of State), with the titles of Reichspräsident (President) and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. The same document named Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels as Head of Government with the title of Reichskanzler (Chancellor). He committed suicide on 30 April. On 1 May, the day after Hitler's own suicide, Goebbels committed suicide. Dönitz thus became the sole representative of the collapsing German Reich.
Thanks for sharing.
Mr. History Hustle,
will you make a video about Heinrich Muller,
and the young Luftwaffe pilot (not Hannah Retch)
who flew Hannah Retch & her lover Ritter von Greim in the very last flight out of Berlin.
Perhaps in the future one day.
@@HistoryHustle
Thank you.
Nice job, your vedieo is better than history channel or TCL by far????
Thanks 👍
In enjoying your channel.
Thanks! I'm glad you found it!
The British did the soviets a big favor in sinking the Tirpitz before the Baltic evacuation.
The Kriegsmarine surviving surface units like the Lutzow and Prinz-Eugen fired until smoothing out the bores of their guns.
Just imagine the devastation the Tirpitz guns would have wrought on the red army.
Yeah.
Well Gdańsk was burning for almost half a year after Soviets first appearance on the outskirts of the city. Most of the Gdańsk's Old City was rebuilt in Dutch style, the way it might looked in 16, 17th hundreds (when the Dutch used bricks as a ballast for their empty ships).
I read somewhere a long time ago that partial roots of the Cold war was that the Russians requested of the British and Americans to hand over all SS prisoners from unit said that fighting on the Eastern front, their reasoning was they wanted to vent them for war criminals people who had committed atrocities on the Eastern front and when the American and British fail to do this it really pissed off the Russian high command.
I laughed at how Donitz, faced with his own quote about Jews and praise for Hitler, tried to defend himself and didn't actually address the quote. Pathetic.
Yes indeed.
@@HistoryHustle I just found you and watched 3 of your videos today. You got yourself a new subscriber.
Thank you, Chris. Welcome to the channel!
Why all of the pauses in the middle of the sentences? Did you go to the William Shatner school of bad acting?
Graduated with honour there 👍
@@HistoryHustle I can tell you were at least at the top of your class. ;-)
Have to be modest here, but yes, I was the best 😎
The germans were not the only one affraid of soviets. Actually the soviet army committed a lot of atrocities, like mass raping, pillaging, executions of civilians in all countrys where they managed to enter in ww2, even in Yugoslavia which had the most loial communist partisants. For soviet soldiers it didn't matter the allegiance of the local population, they did the same to everyone. They even executed a lot of russian villagers after 1943 becouse they allegedly cooperated with germans.
The Soviets were cruel yes. This fueled the Germans to fight till the end. More about that in this video:
ua-cam.com/video/L_g1QpEtkLI/v-deo.html
It's a shame the Soviets were not punished for their war crime!
True.
Great video! I have to laugh at two things Dönitz said. First, if he had any belief that the Western Allies would have accepted the remnants of the Third Reich as allies in a continued war against the Soviets, then he had to be the most deluded man left alive in Germany. The very notion that the Germans had enough men and materiel to make their potential contribution to such a war effort at all meaningful itself would have been delusional. Second was Dönitz's contention that he never tolerated any antisemitism in the German Navy (Kreigsmarine). Question: How many Jews were in the German Navy during WWII? How many could any German sailors have possibly met? (OK, maybe a few in a captured port city like Copenhagen but certainly none in Marseille, where the Milice did the SS's dirty work en français.) That's such a boldly insane statement that it might as well have been comedy. You can't discriminate against Jews under your command when you never had any! LOL!!!!!
Agree. Thanks for your reply!
I mean... they literally had the best tanks and weapons in the world, and most importantly half a decade of experience fighting the soviets. Their contribution would have been invaluable. Although even with them, the allies wouldnt have been able to hold a candle to the 5 million experienced Red Army soldiers or their tens of tens of thousands of tanks, and the best artillery in the world.
About the navy piece yeah I totally agree.
Not entirely true. The US did effectively partner up with National Socialist Germany by pardoning many of their scientists and importing them into the US to work on ballistic missile technology as well as glean other information from sometimes nefarious origins such as human experimentation. Doenitz wasn’t necessarily entirely wrong on seeing the potential of some partnership/collaboration there and US Soviet relations did sour very quickly after the war was over.
There is really funny Mitchell and Webb sketch about Admiral Dönitz celebrating when he is told he is the successor of Adolf Hitler.
I saw it yes.