Who Were the Last German Holdouts in WW2?

Поділитися
Вставка
  • Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
  • Get a 7-day free trial and 25% off Blinkist Annual Premium by clicking here: www.blinkist.c...
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    At the end of WW2, some Germans refused to lay down their arms and fought on past their country's capitulation. In today's SideQuest, we'll learn what happened to these stragglers and who the last German holdout was!
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    If you'd like to see more of these videos, consider supporting me on Patreon: / sidequest_channel
    Have a fancy historical idea you'd like me to cover? Drop a comment and let me know!
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    A big THANK YOU to the selfless supporters of SideQuest for their limitless generosity:
    Michael Casolary, dancingvulture, Nick Wen, Adrien Maillet, Ethan McCosby, semchapeu, Alex Newman, Titus Proctor, Clark Teeple, Stoeoef, Dominic Tarro, D Meredith, Troy Humpherston, Mark Mills, Xian, Petru Cotarcea, Quan Van, SerialConvert, Gary M Trentman, Ryan Smock, Jamesie112, Santos, Klaus, Oliver McKowen, Jonathan Horn, Kirk Lance, William DeLoach, Esbjörn Rundberg, Philip G., Alex, Jackie, Efertone, JT96, Alex Schwyn, Diogo Freitas, Viddax, Lukas Schmidt, Dr D, Q 1, Randy Butler, Jonathan Ahrens, Jordan Camilletti, Jean Herrera, Ian Blaydes, Monkey, Matty Manziel, Jan Tobias Biedermann
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Further Reading:
    “The End of the War” by Charles Whiting - www.google.com...

КОМЕНТАРІ • 1,9 тис.

  • @SideQuestYT
    @SideQuestYT  Рік тому +331

    Thanks to Blinkist for sponsoring this video! Get a 7-day free trial and 25% off Blinkist Annual Premium by clicking here: www.blinkist.com/sidequest

    • @pyeitme508
      @pyeitme508 Рік тому +2

      BRUH

    • @beginnereasy
      @beginnereasy Рік тому

      I believe the underground is a bunker world I'm calling super pedo Island and I think it's more ancient than modern history and because they do black magic you can't trust reality 🤬

    • @Gojiro7
      @Gojiro7 Рік тому +1

      while i'm not interested in the service, I didn't click off the video because you were honest and upfront about the sponsor not interrupting the video itself, so i'll let the algorithm think I payed attention during that part so you can keep the revenue ^_^

    • @ShamanMcLamie
      @ShamanMcLamie Рік тому +1

      You should do a video about the Battle of Castle Itter. Where German soldiers teamed up with American soldiers to protect French officials who were imprisoned in Castle Itter from the SS.

    • @F4Insight-uq6nt
      @F4Insight-uq6nt Рік тому

      All Wars are Fake.

  • @Pavlos_Charalambous
    @Pavlos_Charalambous Рік тому +3962

    Fun fact, the last German garrisons in Greece was allowed to keep their side arms and submachine guns for few days although they tried to surrender because the allies didn't had enough troops to guard them 😏
    Basically the allies told them to watch out for themselves until they come back 😂

    • @RasVoja
      @RasVoja Рік тому +1

      And because they needed them to supress communists. Similar happened with Japs in Indochina and several places

    • @otto1449
      @otto1449 Рік тому +32

      😅👍

    • @Beencheeling
      @Beencheeling Рік тому +36

      That's funny

    • @MagiconIce
      @MagiconIce Рік тому +230

      Well, with the war being over anyway, why should they've kept on fighting or occupying just to be killed by an Allied Counter-Assault later?
      As strange as it seems, it made sense.

    • @Condottiere1978
      @Condottiere1978 Рік тому +103

      Same occurred in France when german POWs had to cross Partisan infested areas. I remember even pictures with Germans carrying sten guns while marcuing

  • @pumkintheboi7545
    @pumkintheboi7545 Рік тому +1434

    I can only imagine the Svalbard garrison receiving a message that states "Hey guys, we kinda lost the entire war so you guys better surrender or something" but then radio contact was lost and they just sorta got stuck there until some random Norwegian dudes saved them

    • @letsplaypetrus4802
      @letsplaypetrus4802 Рік тому +163

      It was more kind of sudden stop of (the already sparse) radio contact and they kinda figured it was over. But they had no means of contacting anyone just had to hope somebody would find them or pick up their radio calls

    • @legoeasycompany
      @legoeasycompany Рік тому +89

      You can just imagine the garrison at Minquiers just across the way from the Channel Islands watch liberation come on the 12th and by the 23rd of May had to beg a French fishman to take them over to surrender as they'd been forgotten

    • @petarn2204
      @petarn2204 Рік тому

      All nations have dark moments......
      .....but only Croats had child. concentration camps.

    • @Immortal..
      @Immortal.. Рік тому +65

      I highly suggest reading up on WW2 in the arctic region. Almost exclusively weather stations and some convoy raiding north of Norway. Basically the Axis weather stations were like the expeditions of way back, using any old ship they could aquire, loading up a few men, supplies and light weapons. Especially Greenland was a game of hide and seek with Allied ski patrols. Often enough these stations were abandoned, leaving behind lots of equipment. The son of a commander of one of these garrisons used his fathers records to search for the station in the 80s, and lo and behold, all of the equipment that was left behind was still there, preserved by the cold weather in pristine condition.

    • @azmanabdula
      @azmanabdula Рік тому +13

      Werent there three of you?
      ...No only two!
      *Wipes mouth*

  • @devilsadvocate155
    @devilsadvocate155 Рік тому +3027

    Last battle of WW2 in Europe took place in todays Bosnia, in the city of Odžak where Ustashe had their final stand.

    • @devilsadvocate155
      @devilsadvocate155 Рік тому

      @@tliltocatlalbopilosa1513 ja ustah a svi oko mene ustaše

    • @serbo_maps
      @serbo_maps Рік тому +86

      Nisam to znao

    • @RasVoja
      @RasVoja Рік тому +348

      Counting that way of minor axis allies it could be extended for few years, you have forest brothers in Latvia and Estonia, some surving chetniks to 1946, some minor shootings in occupied Germany and infamous stranded Japanese soldier hideouts for months even decades ... but as organized formation likely battle of Odžaci

    • @ludimiloje7944
      @ludimiloje7944 Рік тому

      ​@@RasVoja chetninks are not nazis stop spreading communist propaganda

    • @ninofromkitchennightmares1497
      @ninofromkitchennightmares1497 Рік тому +23

      Last battle could of been Castle Itter

  • @anonym1984
    @anonym1984 Рік тому +1995

    It is worth noting that the garrison on Bornholm held out entirely because they had already officially surrendered to the British with the rest of the German forces in Denmark, and were waiting for British troops to come relieve them of duty. The Soviets however came and demanded surrender, which the German garrison were not ordered to do to the Soviets (and given the Soviet way of treating prisoners probably desperately didn't want to), so the soviets responded by bombing... the Danish civilian population on the island, until the Germans gave up.
    10 Bornholmers and about 200 German refugees died in the Soviet bombing of Bornholm. In the year of soviet occupation that followed, 30 soviet soldiers died; 21 of accidents, 9 of alcohol poisoning.

    • @triadwarfare
      @triadwarfare Рік тому

      To this day, the Russians either immense artillery bombardment or intoxicating levels of alcohol

    • @thewalkingmeat8523
      @thewalkingmeat8523 Рік тому +307

      Man the last days of the war were just wild. A shame really that the soviets much like the russians today really coudn't be bothered to at least spare civilian lifes. Altough it's seems like the natives at least got some form of ... redemption

    • @pavan923
      @pavan923 Рік тому +275

      9 of alcohol poisoning 💀

    • @seanm241
      @seanm241 Рік тому +83

      @@thewalkingmeat8523 'tis the vindictive brutality of a traumatized, exhausted, and alcoholic society. Whole thing's rather sad innit

    • @jordantabakov1644
      @jordantabakov1644 Рік тому +99

      @@thewalkingmeat8523 as if the allies bothered sparing civilian lives, im a bulgarian and my grand grandma's hospital was bombed while my grandfather was being born due to the allies bombing civilian centers on purpose :)

  • @xXLesterGamingXx
    @xXLesterGamingXx 6 місяців тому +1882

    The last holdout is youtube comments

  • @WinterEFG
    @WinterEFG Рік тому +686

    I do love that Texel got a mention and Schiermonnikoog turned into "another Dutch island", can't imagine what a nightmare that must be to pronounce for someone that doesn't speak Dutch.

    • @luuk_twister2068
      @luuk_twister2068 Рік тому +28

      I noticed that as well. And as a dutch guy, I understand why he wouldn't say Schiermonnikoog😂

    • @thomasrinschler6783
      @thomasrinschler6783 Рік тому

      Out of curiosity, how is it pronounced?

    • @MrJuppia
      @MrJuppia Рік тому +26

      @@thomasrinschler6783 you know, as: Schiermonnikoog ;)

    • @VoodaGod
      @VoodaGod Рік тому +1

      apart from the "sch" it doesn't look complicated for an english speaker to me

    • @MrJuppia
      @MrJuppia Рік тому +3

      @@VoodaGod the "sch" is not much different from a "sg", the tricky thing is the sharp almost gutoral Dutch gggggg sound.

  • @piotrmorawski1764
    @piotrmorawski1764 Рік тому +1887

    Finally! He gloriously returned!

    • @boyboilNEO9055
      @boyboilNEO9055 Рік тому +70

      It's not a good idea posting this on a video about WW2 Germany

    • @electrogaming6090
      @electrogaming6090 Рік тому +20

      @@boyboilNEO9055 he wasnt talking about side quest (JUST A JOKE)

    • @treysonmcgrady4750
      @treysonmcgrady4750 Рік тому +5

      Right? I subscribed a couple weeks back, and binged almost all the videos.

    • @thatgoose9705
      @thatgoose9705 Рік тому +3

      ​@@electrogaming6090 🧓

    • @NorroTaku
      @NorroTaku Рік тому +1

      He was gone?

  • @Weeboslav
    @Weeboslav Рік тому +167

    "Scattered pockets in Yugoslavia,where things got a little to graphic for our show" that's a good way to describe it..

    • @impyrobot
      @impyrobot Рік тому

      Average day in the Balkans someone usually Serb or Croat is just causally committing genocide

    • @SSwami14
      @SSwami14 Рік тому +2

      Any good resources you know that I can find out more about this?

    • @Weeboslav
      @Weeboslav Рік тому +12

      @@SSwami14 you can find out about reprisal killings in Yugoslavia at the end and after ww2 on wiki,the Bleiburg massacre and Foibe massacre are among the largest ones

    • @GK-yq2hh
      @GK-yq2hh Рік тому +2

      @@SSwami14 Battle of Poljana and Bleiburg repatriations.

    • @sjonnieplayfull5859
      @sjonnieplayfull5859 Рік тому +2

      Isn't that kinda typical for any conflict in that area?

  • @gargoyle7863
    @gargoyle7863 Рік тому +773

    My Grandfather was in Norway with the German Army. It was not a "diehard holdout" the patiently waited for controlled transfer of power to the Norwegian government.

    • @EirikXL
      @EirikXL Рік тому +69

      no one said it was a diehard holdout.

    • @Eshanas
      @Eshanas Рік тому +57

      @@EirikXL not a lot of diehards thankfully. Werwolf failed to take off, and most of the Nazis and Germans just wanted to surrender to the western Allies. Though apparently there was a post war plot around bavaria? With 80 men - unknown affiliation but probably ss is my guess but open for any info on it - to purge some 300 post war officials in an apparent plot of assassination , but was found out in March? 1946

    • @Ussonan-Foderation2016
      @Ussonan-Foderation2016 Рік тому +3

      ​@@EirikXL the dude said there were some in the beginning of the vid

    • @MyVanir
      @MyVanir Рік тому +13

      @@Ussonan-Foderation2016 He didn't say the diehard holdouts were in Norway though.

    • @darkithnamgedrf9495
      @darkithnamgedrf9495 Рік тому +4

      Why are you putting that in quotes? He didn’t say Norway was a diehard holdout

  • @Ghi102
    @Ghi102 Рік тому +299

    You should make a video on the Japanese holdouts! Some stayed in the jungles of the Pacific for decades as they did not believe that Japan would ever surrender

    • @just.8797
      @just.8797 Рік тому +1

      😑

    • @ferretyluv
      @ferretyluv Рік тому +4

      That was just one guy.

    • @rodracer4567
      @rodracer4567 Рік тому +28

      ​@@ferretyluv more than one

    • @ferretyluv
      @ferretyluv Рік тому +13

      @@rodracer4567 I’ve only heard of the one guy in the Philippines, where they had to have his old CO fly out to tell him that he’s dismissed because he wouldn’t listen otherwise.

    • @comradebroosk9396
      @comradebroosk9396 Рік тому +17

      @@ferretyluv There were several. There is a whole Wikipedia page on them.
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_holdout

  • @ESB2109
    @ESB2109 Рік тому +212

    Hi hi! I've noticed a slight mistake at 4:27. Frisius DID return home to to Germany, but he DID NOT return to Saxony, he did actually return to Lower Saxony, a different German state, ironically not near Saxony in the East but in the North-West. So this map shown at 4:27 is actually slightly wrong.

    • @thepopulationofkazakhstan1116
      @thepopulationofkazakhstan1116 Рік тому +37

      I thought it was weird the Soviets would just let him go back

    • @leoe.5046
      @leoe.5046 Рік тому +18

      I already thought so - because he definitely did not return to east germany. The socialists would've probably imprisoned him for life

    • @ESB2109
      @ESB2109 Рік тому +2

      @@leoe.5046 I saw it and thought the same, so I did the research on it and found the above information.

    • @leoe.5046
      @leoe.5046 Рік тому +1

      @@ESB2109 this was my first guess, as lower saxony and saxony are often being confused with each other or treated as one

    • @metaltrombone549
      @metaltrombone549 Рік тому +4

      Extra context for that naming anomaly: When two areas are named Lesser or Lower variants of each other it doesn't necessarily mean where they're arranged on the map but generally the elevation.

  • @larsmonsen88
    @larsmonsen88 Рік тому +240

    Cool story: My grandfather was a Norwegian resistance fighter and held quite a high rank in his district in Milorg. At the very end of the war when the germans were getting pushed back in mainland Europe, my grandfather and his group of guys were tasked with blowing up a railway bridge that was heavily defended so the germans south of them couldnt leave Norway to get back to germany and defend the motherland. They had fought for years to drive them out and now they had to keep them in. They attacked the bridge and killed several germans in the process(my father has said that my grandfather apparently killed a german that looked like he was 16 years old at this place and it haunted him for the rest of his life) and set the explosives at the pillars under the bridge. The guy who set the explosives had done some bad math or something so the fuze was alot shorter than it should have been and he almost blew them all up. They were mostly ok , but one guy could barely hear anything for the rest of his life.
    Im very proud of my grandfather, if you couldnt already tell.
    May he rest in peace.

    • @jacksabschaum4799
      @jacksabschaum4799 Рік тому +11

      Possibly - my grandfather was about 16 when he had to join the army at the end of the war... at that time the Germans already let everything fight that was somehow male.

    • @larsmonsen88
      @larsmonsen88 Рік тому +6

      @@jacksabschaum4799 What you are talking about is "volkssturm" which was started because there just wasnt enough soldiers in Germany at the time(partly because of actions like the one my grandfather took part in, but mostly because the soviets decimated them). There wasnt any German soldiers in Norway who were 16 years old..Maybe some had lied and said they were older, but thats about it. He probably just looked really young. Also..being male wasnt a requirement in volkssturm

    • @vornamenachname1218
      @vornamenachname1218 Рік тому +7

      Of course He was😂 it amazes me how manys grandfathers where "Resistance fighters"...

    • @larsmonsen88
      @larsmonsen88 Рік тому +6

      @@vornamenachname1218 I dont care if you belive me or not..I know what the truth is.

    • @znth-gameworks
      @znth-gameworks 10 місяців тому +9

      ​@@vornamenachname1218in case you don't know: took a lot of people to fight in the second >>world

  • @theonebman7581
    @theonebman7581 Рік тому +289

    "Where things get a bit too graphic for our show"
    Ah yes, classic Yugoslavia...

    • @jairobaguio8319
      @jairobaguio8319 Рік тому +15

      What happend on yugoslavia that it is too graphic for the video?

    • @ludimiloje7944
      @ludimiloje7944 Рік тому +74

      ​@@jairobaguio8319 Ustashe commited genocide that was so brutal that even nazis in germany were shocked. They were the only that had extermination camps made for children

    • @kulrul9180
      @kulrul9180 Рік тому

      Chetnik and pertizan terorist get their ass kicked

    • @seijasukuna3978
      @seijasukuna3978 Рік тому +37

      @@jairobaguio8319 Yugoslavian partisans did some absolute war crime on German PoWs and settlers.
      (I absolutely agree the axis are the worse guys but unfortunately the Allies also have member factions doing some war crimes against civilians that maybe we should not just ignore, but instead maybe remember it and do better things next time
      )

    • @smeshnyavka337
      @smeshnyavka337 Рік тому +27

      ​@@seijasukuna3978 based

  • @wheresmyeyebrow1608
    @wheresmyeyebrow1608 Рік тому +74

    Actually there was ONE MORE island in the Channel Islands that kept the fight going. Nobody realised they were there until a French fisherman came across them one day and they made him go back to the shore to let the Allies know they wanted to surrender.
    Britain quickly invaded so the French wouldn't try anything.
    Crazy stuff.

  • @AverytheCubanAmerican
    @AverytheCubanAmerican Рік тому +122

    Regarding Schiermonnikoog, even though the Germans on the island refused to surrender, the Canadians who were responsible for that sector didn't actually attack to force them to surrender. Instead, it took weeks of negotiations for the German commander there to finally agree to acknowledge and accept the surrender and the Germans were evacuated to Wilhelmshaven in Lower Saxony.
    And before WWII, the island was actually owned by a German! The island was first owned by the Stachouwer family. In 1859, they sold it to John Eric Banck, who would own it until 1892 when he sold it to a German count named Berthold von Bernstorff (but its citizens and the island remained Dutch). He died in 1917, and in 1940, his grandson inherited the island. After the war, the Dutch government confiscated it from him because he was German. In 1949, the island became an independent municipality (the least-populated municipality in the Netherlands) and part of the Province of Friesland. The grandson died in 1987 and is buried on Schiermonnikoog.

    • @martijnkrol842
      @martijnkrol842 Рік тому +5

      To add to that: it was mostly the Dutch SS and SD collaborators who fled from the mainland city of Groningen who refused to surrender. The regular German soldiers feared these fanatics and actually diverted their AA-guns away from the coast to aim them at the farmhouses these loyalists occupied. It was a rather tense situation and most of the German soldiers actually díd want to surrender.

    • @hmfmotorcycles4759
      @hmfmotorcycles4759 Рік тому

      @@martijnkrol842my great grandfather was among those who fled to the island as an NSB policeman in Friesland and eastern front SS veteran. He escaped to Venezuela after the surrender of the island.

    • @ifyouseekay1000
      @ifyouseekay1000 8 місяців тому +1

      Bro I see you everywhere

    • @jatorresh
      @jatorresh 13 днів тому

      @@ifyouseekay1000 x2

  • @locomotivefaox
    @locomotivefaox Рік тому +11

    German ex-officer cozying up in bed on the 4th of September 1945.
    “Now brain, be quiet, I want to get some sleep.”
    *you left half a dozen men in the North Pole*
    ( ๐_๐)

  • @sabashukvani
    @sabashukvani Рік тому +25

    After the fighting on Texel was over, the surviving Georgians were handed over to the Soviets. The majority were sent to the gulags along with their families, with those who survived only being released in the 1950s. However, in later years, Soviet attitudes toward the mutineers changed, and they eventually came to be recognized as “Heroes of the Soviet Union.”

  • @dolphincrescent54
    @dolphincrescent54 Рік тому +184

    Thank you for continuing these videos! Perhaps you can do a short about the time Napolean was attacked by rabbits.
    Yes, that really happened.

    • @benhawy
      @benhawy Рік тому +1

      sources?

    • @flinkAdink
      @flinkAdink Рік тому +2

      I think this channel would do well to branch out and make some shorts

    • @brandonquezada9523
      @brandonquezada9523 Рік тому +11

      People asking for sources all the time are getting annoying. Just Google it you damp croissant

    • @fiyum333
      @fiyum333 Рік тому +19

      @@brandonquezada9523 it's almost like asking for sources has been an academic procedure for the past 2000+ years

    • @theonebman7581
      @theonebman7581 Рік тому +3

      It's Monty Python's killer bunny all over again

  • @onecertainesquire486
    @onecertainesquire486 Рік тому +7

    Ahhhh the Dambuster’s Theme. Sidequest is not just a scholar and gentleman, but a connoisseur of great music as well!

  • @SupremeLeaderKimJong-un
    @SupremeLeaderKimJong-un Рік тому +107

    The Japanese had holdout soldiers as well, but theirs lasted WAY longer! Most of these holdouts were either on the island of Guam or in the Philippines. The last confirmed holdout was Teruo Nakamura, who was found on Morotai in Indonesia. Teruo Nakamura was a member of the Amis, one of the indigenous groups of Taiwan. He was enlisted in a Takasago Volunteer Unit, which were units made up of Taiwanese indigenous peoples. The Japanese army actually declared him dead in 1944 after the Allies overran the island!
    However, Nakamura's hut was accidentally discovered by a pilot in mid-1974. In November of that year, the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta requested assistance from the Indonesian government in organizing a search mission, which was conducted by the Indonesian Air Force. He was found and arrested by Indonesian soldiers on December 18. He was flown to Jakarta and hospitalized there. Because he was ethnically from Taiwan, Nakamura decided to be repatriated straight to Taiwan. He died there five years later from lung cancer at age 59.

    • @RandomOperativeRightWing
      @RandomOperativeRightWing Рік тому +2

      To be honest, the germans would've probably had holdouts that lasted for just as long, if not even more.

    • @TheSurvivor-tv9jf
      @TheSurvivor-tv9jf 11 місяців тому +9

      god damn, imagine being found by a fighter jet or helicopter zooming above you, especially when the most advanced plane youve seen was probably some US fighter or a prototype jet

    • @dylanroemmele906
      @dylanroemmele906 4 місяці тому +1

      @@RandomOperativeRightWing Yeah I bet you dream about it huh

    • @pendantairplane
      @pendantairplane 2 місяці тому

      @@RandomOperativeRightWingNah nothing can beat the insane amounts of devotion and fanaticism of the average imperial Japanese soldier

    • @RandomOperativeRightWing
      @RandomOperativeRightWing 2 місяці тому

      @@dylanroemmele906 tf?

  • @wildsurfer12
    @wildsurfer12 Рік тому +24

    To add to this the Nazis deliberately kept garrisons in Western European port cities in order to make sure the Allies couldn’t resupply themselves from the British mainland, even after they had been cut off. After D Day this policy was intended to stretch the supply lines and slow the Allies down in the process. It certainly worked in the short term so that the British, Canadian and American forces didn’t get to Berlin first, and that many resources couldn’t get to the frontlines so stalling many planned Allied offensives.

    • @Freedmoon44
      @Freedmoon44 Рік тому +1

      Tbf considering the cost totake those garrisons (mainly bombs) the ports wouldve been out anyway

    • @georgecoetzee
      @georgecoetzee 8 місяців тому

      Nazi is a term created by Konrad Heiden, a marxist jew, to ridicule National Socialists in Germany

  • @jpmtlhead39
    @jpmtlhead39 Рік тому +20

    The sheer ammount of troops in Norway its Unbelivable.
    If only half of them were put in use of a very competent German general, probably the outcome of certain Battles or would take longer than they took,or even the Winner could have been other. In certain Battles. Like in Courland.

    • @Trotler
      @Trotler 8 місяців тому +6

      It’s because most of them were fleeing soldiers from eastern front especially from Finland

  • @ciamciaramcia99
    @ciamciaramcia99 Рік тому +15

    0:55 What happened to Kaliningrad oblast on that map? Was there a huge specifically localized flood in 1945 I don't know about?

    • @DaliborPerkovic-sw8mh
      @DaliborPerkovic-sw8mh Рік тому

      The last german forces surrendering in East Prussia on 9th of May, 1945.

  • @Justii218
    @Justii218 Рік тому +10

    4:26 He survived in East Germany? impressive

    • @benismann
      @benismann Рік тому +1

      true, everyone in east germany died

    • @Justii218
      @Justii218 Рік тому +4

      ​@@benismannWell in more particular how he managed to survive as a Nazi Officer, after all I don't think the Soviets were really willing to keep em alive.

  • @Balt21Raven
    @Balt21Raven Рік тому +13

    In Crete, the resistance fighters there actually started attacking the British and the Brits re-armed the Germans.

  • @Haajat
    @Haajat Рік тому +35

    Note: As for Yugoslavia, it wasn't the Germans that much, as it was mainly Ustaše (with technically the last battle in Europe during ww2 being in the town of Odžak in Bosnia, which was their stronghold) and some Slovene Home Guard units.

  • @jonasbrock3959
    @jonasbrock3959 Рік тому +15

    My grandfather was part of the Kurlandarmee (in Latvia), they held out for a week after the surrender and he was a POW in the Soviet Union for the next four years.
    Also Kaliningrad is cut out of the map in the video.

    • @ivario
      @ivario 8 місяців тому

      Also, describing the absolute bloodbath that the Courland Pocket was as a 'field day for the Soviets' is quite an overstatement... With Latvians on both sides.

  • @Romalac
    @Romalac Рік тому +11

    Fortunate timing- I just binged some old episodes last night and was wondering when a new one would drop. Much obliged!

  • @tuskiomisham
    @tuskiomisham Рік тому +209

    Hey dude, just want you to know that your videos are killer, but the quality doesn't have to be 110% every time. I notice each video you make has more effort put into it than the last, so I wanted to politely mention that your creative works do not have to be a runaway train of infinite perfection. Your first videos sill hold almost as well as your current ones. It's obvious you work hard on these, but don't work too hard!

    • @fareedperera2469
      @fareedperera2469 Рік тому +10

      Speak for yourself-I love that the quality of videos has been improving noticeably. I’ll take a creator perfecting their art over one who shovels content down the throats of their audience. Keep doing what you’re doing!

    • @beksanchez5214
      @beksanchez5214 Рік тому +3

      Instead of saying shits like this, thank him instead.

  • @magnusbruce4051
    @magnusbruce4051 Рік тому +52

    I was hoping you'd mention the weather station in Svalbard as it is quite a funny story (at least, as war stories go). The captain of the whaling ship was not a military man so didn't really know how to accept a surrender. And the Germans were just glad to be safe, with no hard feelings between the surrendering soldiers or the whalers. Some of the soldiers apparently met at the weather station in 2004. I understand the station is still just about standing even now, but in a pretty poor state and you can't go in it because of this.

    • @Crocophant572
      @Crocophant572 Рік тому +2

      You also can't go in it because it's under protection as a historical site, although there is no one around to stop you.
      I guess it's the remote location that has saved Station Haudegen from sharing the fate of the other meteorological stations on Svalbard. The harsh climate and souvenir hunters removed most traces of them.
      But Haudegen is on the north coast of Nordaustlandet, which has always been unpopulated despite being the ninth largest island in Europe (50% larger than Cyprus). It's far away from any populated areas, which probably is the main reason that it's still standing.

    • @magnusbruce4051
      @magnusbruce4051 Рік тому

      @@Crocophant572 I guess you'd have to be a very special kind of dedicated scumbag to know about this place, make the effort to go there and then deliberately damage it!

  • @snek9406
    @snek9406 Рік тому +12

    The background of Svalbard at 7:17 is spectacular! everything is ripe with detail from the bushes to the base.

  • @giogio51592
    @giogio51592 Рік тому +11

    you DID NOT just use the vine boom sound as an sfx for bombs exloding, i'm fucking dead

  • @captain_hammer
    @captain_hammer 4 місяці тому +2

    7:11 I imagine this was less of a surrender and more "I'm cold and hungry and would really like to go home now"

  • @ANIMshit
    @ANIMshit Рік тому +10

    in Latvia, people holded the soviets back in hopes that allys will come save them from soviet genocide, it wasnt for germany, it was because people where fighting red army for survival, like they did before nazis invaded, and it wasnt just those soldiers who got deported, it was civilians, children, new born, old people, women, men, pregnent women, it was ocupation + genocide, many where shot in there own home, whole familys.

    • @benismann
      @benismann Рік тому

      I wonder why they had to fight for their lifes, they surely did nothing wrong
      also true, soviets killed all the ppl living in latvia

  • @okseniboksen
    @okseniboksen Рік тому +31

    You missed the entirety of Denmark and the Frisian/Northwestern German coastline on the map of the surrender at 1:00

    • @kaynight64
      @kaynight64 Рік тому +4

      I think it's because the video starts right after Dönitz and the Flensburg Government signed the instrument of surrender - the areas you mentioned are what they held when they did, which is why they are usually shown as German holdouts. Whereas the other Nazi holdouts in this video surrendered hours, days, or months after Dönitz.

  • @redandblue1013
    @redandblue1013 Рік тому +25

    1:59 🗿🗿

  • @T3nMiDGET5711
    @T3nMiDGET5711 Рік тому +47

    The Japanese Strongholds is where it gets interesting.

    • @fiyum333
      @fiyum333 Рік тому +28

      like that one guy who fought until the 1970s

    • @themenacingpenguin.7152
      @themenacingpenguin.7152 Рік тому +13

      @@fiyum333 imagine fighting locals for 30 years on some island in the Philippines to go back to civilization and discover all that technological development over those years, you probably never seen a TV in your life and now they're everywhere, you learn that the nation you fought landed men on the moon, and you see these strange cars in numbers far greater than in your day.

    • @polat4749
      @polat4749 Рік тому +1

      @@themenacingpenguin.7152 claimed to land*

    • @themenacingpenguin.7152
      @themenacingpenguin.7152 Рік тому +1

      @@polat4749 hope this is satire

    • @polat4749
      @polat4749 Рік тому

      @@themenacingpenguin.7152 It is not 😂 maybe americans can be stupid enough to believe whatever their goverment tells them tho..

  • @ardsam6922
    @ardsam6922 Рік тому +15

    I understand why you wouldn't want to pronounce the other Dutch island, but it was hilarious

  • @CactusJackIV
    @CactusJackIV Рік тому +26

    Love the channel! Keep up the amazing work.

  • @maxgrozema1093
    @maxgrozema1093 Рік тому +83

    It's kind of funny how he flat out refuses to pronunciate the name of the other dutch island, due to most foreigners having difficulty with it.

    • @freekmulder3662
      @freekmulder3662 Рік тому +2

      And wrongly pronounced Texel haha

    • @stefangrobbink7760
      @stefangrobbink7760 Рік тому +1

      On one hand it's funny, on the other, he would probably have completely butchered it

  • @hewi9541
    @hewi9541 Рік тому +5

    2:32 A friend from my granpa worked in the U-boat bunkers as a "Funker" (radio operator) he didnt said much about his work there, but he could tell you everything that happend after they were captured. he said very much, but in short he said how brutal it was beeing captured.

  • @FishtownRec
    @FishtownRec 4 місяці тому +3

    Norway is the one thing I never understood about the German war strategy. Why keep such a massive force in Norway, when they could’ve been strategically vital somewhere else like possibly during the Arden Offensive.

    • @rogobil6897
      @rogobil6897 Місяць тому

      it could have maybe been a sort of second european fortress? Just guessing but I feel like they already knew they were gonna lose all mainland holdings and maybe wanted some sort of backup plan to default to if all else failed

    • @minilla3842
      @minilla3842 Місяць тому

      I don’t think they had he ability to transport them safely or to where they needed to be by the late war.

  • @ZOCCOK
    @ZOCCOK Рік тому +142

    TLDR: If you want to win wars, only hold places which are of strategic importance and have the means to survive a protracted siege for quite some time without outside help

    • @EirikXL
      @EirikXL Рік тому +43

      lol ... in war you need to secure your flanks, some places will inevitably be "useless" which is the point. The enemy will try to attack where you are weak so actually being "used" means it was probably weak.

    • @nurgle-j5n
      @nurgle-j5n Рік тому +1

      thanks, general

    • @sluin
      @sluin Рік тому +12

      ​@@EirikXL yes, it doesn't help if you have 400000 more men on the eastern front if the allies can cut off your iron supply

    • @MaXiMoS54
      @MaXiMoS54 Рік тому

      The Germans fueled their economy by systemically looting countries and they were desperate for certain resources like iron in Sweden. USSR and USA meanwhile basically had all they resources they needed

    • @stkosta2482
      @stkosta2482 Рік тому

      If you want to win wars. Just hace more people. It's simple.

  • @Mexikani
    @Mexikani Рік тому +7

    Last German Holdouts: The Entirety of Norway
    What

  • @jossflores2379
    @jossflores2379 Рік тому +7

    I thought you were going to talk about castle itter. A legendary battle. Nice to see a familiar face again though.

  • @GulfDude883
    @GulfDude883 8 місяців тому +5

    Dear SideQuest,
    I wanted to express my heartfelt gratitude for the wealth of knowledge you generously share on your UA-cam channel. Your dedication to educating and informing your audience has been instrumental in my personal growth and understanding of various topics.
    The clarity and passion with which you present information make complex subjects accessible and engaging. Your commitment to fostering a learning community is truly commendable, and I am thankful for the impact your content has had on my curiosity and knowledge.
    Thank you for being a beacon of enlightenment in the vast digital landscape.
    Sincerely,
    GulfDude

  • @ruturajshiralkar5566
    @ruturajshiralkar5566 Рік тому +2

    HURRRAYY!!!!
    TODAY IS MY LUCKY DAY...
    SIDE QUEST ROCKS!!!!

  • @bonk2540
    @bonk2540 Рік тому +4

    Last battle of the ww2 was definitly in Odžak(Bosnia) where local Croatian population with few other remains of Ustashe soldiers decided to organise defense and mess up the Partisans.
    Battle turned out to be total mess for the Partisans due to unexpected hardened defense and will to f**k up any partisan that advanced.
    It messed them up that bad that all the focus of the JNA went to that small place,after 2-3 weeks,they brought air strike and won the battle with many losses.
    There were very old newspapers that talked about the battle that put the shame on the own partisan army.

  • @realbenking
    @realbenking Рік тому +4

    2:05
    "Bombing would cause too much colatteral damage."
    *england sinks in its seat*
    *America hides under a desk*
    Germany stares at both as everything is burning and falling over
    Gives one of those office-jim looks (can you beleive what i have to deal with)

  • @petrmaly9087
    @petrmaly9087 Рік тому +69

    The Czechoslovak soldiers (my grandfather among them) were fighting against groups of nazis in eastern Slovakia in the Tatra mountains as late as summer 1947. These were mostly Ukrainians, there were some Germans (mainly from Abwehr), they fought in uniforms of the SS and were under German command until the end of the war. Today we refer to them as "Banderites".

    • @whyme943
      @whyme943 Рік тому +6

      Would love to read more about this. Any reccomendations?

    • @bogimperatortadeuszrydzyk1033
      @bogimperatortadeuszrydzyk1033 Рік тому +21

      He is probably referring to Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which continued to operate around 11 years after the war, although in diminished capacity.
      en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Insurgent_Army
      UPA was responsible for an event which Polish scholars classify as genocide (as they should, it meets all the criteria), which entailed mass murder of ethnic Poles and other non-Ukrainians in the Eastern Galicia and Volhynia.
      en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia

    • @simonh6371
      @simonh6371 Рік тому +4

      Thanks for mentioning that, I'm surprised the AI didn't delete that comment though. We're now supposed to believe they were always angels.

    • @petrmaly9087
      @petrmaly9087 Рік тому +11

      @@simonh6371 My answer about recommendations for sources was deleted, though. I do support Ukraine in their anti-russian war, but it is crazy that facts about the past (a recognised genocide) are almost impossible to mention because a western corporation decides so.

    • @YouTube_handle_system_sucks
      @YouTube_handle_system_sucks Рік тому

      Found Russian propaganda: thinking Ukrainian Insurgent Army that fought against nazies as much as as against Soviets is somehow guilty for trying to exist is just tankies logic. I bet you are still glad that Czechoslovakia became a Soviet puppet for decades after the end of the war.

  • @sarahthegreat5543
    @sarahthegreat5543 Рік тому +5

    Rewatching this, the detail is immaculate, the pistol he had Hitler shoot himself with was actually a pistol Hitler owned. it was a golden engraved Walther PP. I'm really impressed at that small serial.

  • @jorge6207
    @jorge6207 Рік тому +6

    3:49 Dunkirk: "the site where the Germans almost pushed the BEF into the sea". Sorry, almost???

  • @neilz.
    @neilz. Рік тому +9

    It's nice to see a channel i completely forgot existed return from out of the blue, and still fiving us quality stuff.

  • @dutchnationalist3319
    @dutchnationalist3319 Рік тому +4

    Very happy to see my home Island Schiermonnikoog mentioned in a ww2 vid.

  • @elisha.schiff
    @elisha.schiff Рік тому +8

    No mention of the Minkees? Dr. Mark Felton has a video about these. People straight up forgot about the german soldiers stationed there until the last few days of may.

  • @u.s.1974
    @u.s.1974 Рік тому +6

    Frisius did not spend the rest of his life in Saxony. He was born in Lower Saxony, grew up there and died there. Why the heck should he have moved to Eastern Germany?

  • @kayzeaza
    @kayzeaza Рік тому +6

    Churchill when thousands of his soldiers and civilians aren’t dying in a bloody defense: 😡

  • @ivan55599
    @ivan55599 Рік тому +11

    1:01 Why did you remove area around Königsberg from the map?

  • @apieceoftoast768
    @apieceoftoast768 Рік тому +6

    4:34 It's actually pronounced "Tes-sel"

  • @AdiveZathy
    @AdiveZathy Рік тому +17

    Just love how he strategically chose to pronounce Texel in stead of Schiermonnikoog

  • @maciejowerko
    @maciejowerko Рік тому +1

    Unconditionally the best historic channel on UA-cam now!

    • @Dmitry_Skipper
      @Dmitry_Skipper Рік тому

      Yes he provides a good amount of content for such a short video he is definitely up there with Extra History, Oversimplified, And Armchair Historian!

  • @CapitanKonstantinos
    @CapitanKonstantinos Рік тому +5

    If anyone wonders what is the music playing in the background throughout the video, it's the The Dambusters March. Supposedly it's the London Philharmonic Orchestra version, as the other versions of the song, sound a bit faster.
    ua-cam.com/video/baAqOQu7p7o/v-deo.html
    Hopefully in the near future, SideQuest would be kind to leave credits to the music used or better yet leave a link to the music used. Major respects to the content they do, but at very least put credit where credit is due.

  • @Ben-outdoors
    @Ben-outdoors Рік тому +5

    I was hoping to hear some about the werewolf guerrilla fighters!

    • @danilapolesciuk4316
      @danilapolesciuk4316 Рік тому +3

      From what I know that really only happened in February-April(before the surrender)

  • @niib8818
    @niib8818 Рік тому +34

    if only steiner attacked

    • @kazmark_gl8652
      @kazmark_gl8652 4 місяці тому +2

      See the Thousand Week Reich Hoi4 Mod for an accurate fate of a victorious Germany.

    • @OpiumEnjoyer19
      @OpiumEnjoyer19 6 годин тому

      Steiner had like 5 russian dock workers, 15 teenagers, 1 wounded horse medic and a bycicle

  • @destic7767
    @destic7767 Рік тому +5

    Return of the King! 👑

  • @F.R.E.D.D2986
    @F.R.E.D.D2986 Рік тому +6

    Fun fact:
    The last battle of the war ended on the 23rd of may and the last German forces surrendered on September 2nd, in the most Northern island of Norway

    • @CelestialFwog
      @CelestialFwog 2 місяці тому +1

      Damm it's the day by day hoi4 guy

    • @F.R.E.D.D2986
      @F.R.E.D.D2986 Місяць тому

      ​@@CelestialFwog
      I'm pretty well versed in WW2

  • @cesarflores6005
    @cesarflores6005 Рік тому +2

    Kaliningrad was missing on the map. I had to mention it. I am sorry for my OCD.
    Otherwise great video.

  • @Joshua_Graham2281
    @Joshua_Graham2281 Рік тому +7

    Another side quest ahhh 😌

  • @marcusthelegend
    @marcusthelegend Рік тому +10

    5:52 It's actually pretty sad that they weren't allowed to broadcast it back, because it would ruin the celebrations in the rest of Denmark. The Germans were told to surrender only to the Allies, not the Soviets, so the Soviets bombed the biggest towns of Rønne and Nexø until they capitulated.

    • @benismann
      @benismann Рік тому +1

      huge skill issue on the ones who were telling them to surrender side tbh

  • @valentinmitterbauer4196
    @valentinmitterbauer4196 Рік тому +15

    At this point, i want to bring light to a very interesting detail at 6:42
    The austrian flag depicted features the coat of arms, which sometimes is used instead of the normal flag, to avoid confusion with other flags, for example when hoisted like a banner, the austrian and the peruvian flag look practically indistinguishable, even for the citizens of those two countries, so austrians put their coat of arms on it for distinction.
    Notice how the coat of arms features symbolism that the uninformed would see as signs of monarchism (crown), communism (hammer and sickle) and abolutionism (broken chains). However, this is no correct interpretation, as these objects merely symbolise the 3 estates (bourgeoisie, workers, farmers) at the time the coat of arms was designed (1919) and the broken chains symbolise the newly achieved freedom after WWII and got added 1945.
    [Interestingly all 3 major political parties in austria challenged the current coat of arms, the social democrats wanted to remove the crown, the conservatives wanted the hammer & sickle removed, and the nationalist party, infamous for being founded by former national socialists, wanted to remove the chains. All 3 suggested adjustments got denied.]

  • @heiliger_otter
    @heiliger_otter Місяць тому +1

    fun fact: there could be a corilation from jazz to the death of Hittler because he was very much against it

  • @Jugosloven
    @Jugosloven Рік тому +5

    Please do cover Yugoslavia and lots of love from Belgrade!

  • @JackPitmanNica
    @JackPitmanNica Рік тому +2

    Woah! A new SideQuest video! i've missed you SideQuest

  • @plumbraider2265
    @plumbraider2265 Рік тому +3

    He’s back! I was afraid he quit making these lovely videos

  • @wesselgreven6685
    @wesselgreven6685 Рік тому +1

    I love how they manoeuvreer their way around saying “Schiermonnikoog” (4:57)

  • @MorglortheMangler
    @MorglortheMangler Рік тому +5

    Just when I think I know everything about WW2 I watch great videos like this one and I learn so much more. I love your videos and I can’t wait for the next one.

  • @JM-mg4el
    @JM-mg4el Рік тому

    Got recommended this channel just now, I cant believe that anyone enjoys the way he speaks

  • @nsahandler
    @nsahandler Рік тому +11

    >if only Adam Smith could see us now
    He'd be writing books about how landlordship should have been abolished when he wrote the damn book in the 1700s, and would hate literally everyone who thinks that landlordship is compatible with the free market he described when he literally dedicated an entire chapter to describing the impact of landlords on housing and the price of goods.
    Oh and with CORPORATIONS doing it?! He'd be livid.

    • @blenderbanana
      @blenderbanana Рік тому

      Preach!

    • @nsahandler
      @nsahandler Рік тому +4

      @@blenderbanana "Corporations are legal entities created by the State. They aren't actually people."
      "Actually... yes. They are."
      "Wow. At least they can't own land, though. Right?"
      "..."
      "So. You have immortal non-human entities that can own property? That seems nuts."
      "Better! They have corporations dedicated solely to owning property!"
      "This is just fiefdoms. You've just recreated the fief system."

    • @commisaryarreck3974
      @commisaryarreck3974 Рік тому +1

      Renters are parasites
      Never forget that

    • @blenderbanana
      @blenderbanana Рік тому

      @@commisaryarreck3974 "When education fails, it becomes the dream of the oppressed: to become the oppressor."

    • @nsahandler
      @nsahandler Рік тому +3

      @@commisaryarreck3974 "You're wrong."
      -Adam Smith,
      Founder of Free-Market Theory

  • @Rlemans5920
    @Rlemans5920 Рік тому +2

    Finally another side quest video

  • @dominicholmes7357
    @dominicholmes7357 Рік тому +4

    I'm sure these videos take forever to create but I love to see you still creating content.

  • @My_cool0
    @My_cool0 4 місяці тому +1

    bro swear i seen this channel like 6 months a year ago on a few thousand subscribers now 500k wtf fair play, shouldve probably happened earlier

  • @judahmccandless9170
    @judahmccandless9170 Рік тому +6

    Keep up these great videos, it’s unfortunate how underrated and unappreciated this channel is but I love your work and hope you keep it up.

  • @yl1xf633
    @yl1xf633 Рік тому +1

    Hey hey! I liked how you formed Army group Courland, about Latvia!😂 Keep up the great content!

  • @dyst0pi465
    @dyst0pi465 Рік тому +3

    dear god imagine being conscripted, being sent to Svalbard and then no new supplies for ages

  • @andrewfitzgerald7940
    @andrewfitzgerald7940 Рік тому +1

    Glad y’all are back I just found this channel and was sad y’all had disappeared for a few months

  • @WeazleHD
    @WeazleHD Рік тому +3

    so apperantly my grandpa was one of these 400 thousand soldiers 5:12 .Like you said they were happy not having to fight. Also they didnt know about hitlers death prior to surrendering.

  • @Hauke69
    @Hauke69 8 місяців тому +2

    Addition: In Germany proper the very northern part between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea north of the Kiel Kanal stayed under German control until May 8th.
    When the German commander for the Northwestern front General Admiral von Friedeburg signed a capitulation of all troops under his command in the Netherlands, Northern Germany and Denmark to Field Marshal Montgomery‘s 21st Army Group on May 4, 1945, the British had just occupied Hamburg without a fight the day before.
    After von Friedeburg’s capitulation they advanced until the Kiel Canal but did not cross until the end of the war four days later.
    Germany north of the Kiel Canal stayed under control of the Reich’s government in the Baltic port of Flensburg under Admiral Dönitz who had not signed any capitulation himself, and local military commanders. Only after the official end of the war on May 8th the British advanced over the Kiel canal and occupied western and northern Schleswig-Holstein.

  • @The_Enclave_Deep_State
    @The_Enclave_Deep_State Рік тому +4

    Meanwhille in Yugoslavia:
    *A FINAL BLOODY BATTLE*

  • @ALYTALyrics
    @ALYTALyrics Рік тому

    4:57 "meanwhile, on another Dutch island" i love that he doesn't even try to pronounce Schiermonnikoog.

  • @mertinovic
    @mertinovic Рік тому +4

    Great video, thanks a lot! I was looking to hearing more about the end of WWII in Czechoslovakia - surely it isn´t possible to cover all, but it would deserve more than the half sentence...

  • @yokothespacewhale
    @yokothespacewhale Рік тому +2

    spiciest introduction of international jazz day I've ever seen.

  • @thedarkechoes1236
    @thedarkechoes1236 11 місяців тому +3

    6:47 I thought all fighting in Berlin stoped on the 2nd or 3rd of May.
    Did it really go on till the 9th?

  • @appelanseeofbogalusa5235
    @appelanseeofbogalusa5235 Рік тому

    For anyone wondering the music in the first bit is “Dambusters March” by Cotes!

  • @user-wc9vy4oc5h
    @user-wc9vy4oc5h Рік тому +4

    The part with the eastern front in Latvia was very interesting for me personally. My german grandfather fought on the eastern front as a conscript and was in an encirclement. I dont know if it was Latvia though. "Luckily" he was injured there by shrapnel from a grenade. His superior managed to get him on one of the evacuation ships because of his injury. If he remained he would have likely ended up in a soviet prison camp. Most of the remaining soldiers in the encirclement ended up as Soviet prisoners of war. They were send to prison camps in Siberia. The conditions were horrible and they had to do forced labour. Some of the prisoners died there. The last of them were released after 10 years in 1955

  • @marcusthelegend
    @marcusthelegend Рік тому +2

    Bornholm, as a part of Denmark, was captured by Nazi Germany on 10 April 1940, and served as a lookout post and listening station during the war, as it was a part of the Eastern Front. The island's perfect central position in the Baltic Sea meant that it was an important "natural fortress" between Germany and Sweden, effectively keeping submarines and destroyers away from Nazi-occupied waters. Several concrete coastal installations were built during the war, as well as several coastal batteries, which had tremendous range. However, none of them were ever used, and only a single test shot was fired during the occupation. These remnants of Nazi rule have since fallen into disrepair and are mostly regarded today as historical curiosities.
    On 22 August 1942 a V-1 flying bomb crashed on Bornholm during a test - the warhead was a dummy made of concrete. The wreckage was photographed and sketched by the Danish Naval Officer-in-Charge on Bornholm, Lieutenant Commander Hasager Christiansen. This was one of the first signs British Intelligence saw of Germany's aspirations to develop flying bombs and rockets which were to become known as V-1. The Bornholm rocket turned out to be from Peenemünde.
    Bornholm was heavily bombarded by the Soviet Air Forces in May 1945, as it was a part of the Eastern Front. The German garrison commander, German Navy Captain Gerhard von Kamptz (1902-1998), refused to surrender to the Soviets, as his orders were to surrender only to the Western Allies. The Germans sent several telegrams to Copenhagen requesting that at least one British soldier should be transferred to Bornholm, so that the Germans could surrender to the Western Allied forces instead of the Soviets. When von Kamptz failed to provide a written capitulation as demanded by the Soviet commanders, Soviet aircraft relentlessly bombed and destroyed more than 800 civilian houses in Rønne and in Nexø, and seriously damaged roughly 3,000 more on 7-8 May 1945. The population had been forewarned of the bombardments, and the towns were evacuated, but 10 local people were killed. Soldiers were also killed and wounded.
    During the Soviet bombing of the two main towns on 7-8 May, Danish radio was not allowed to broadcast the news because it was thought it would spoil the liberation festivities in Denmark. On 9 May Soviet troops landed on the island, and after a short fight, the German garrison (about 12,000 strong) surrendered. Soviet forces left the island on 5 April 1946 as part of the post-war division of interests of the Soviet Union and the Western Allies.

    • @benismann
      @benismann Рік тому

      Instant karma for surrendering to the side that'll never reach you

  • @Voland1871
    @Voland1871 Рік тому +3

    0:57 how did they manage to delete Memel and Konigsberg. I didn’t know the Soviets deleted them from existence.

    • @benismann
      @benismann Рік тому +1

      they got bombed so hard the earth itself shattered and became sea....

  • @DarthHao
    @DarthHao 4 місяці тому +2

    The real German holdouts were the friends we made along the way

  • @trevormillar1576
    @trevormillar1576 Рік тому +3

    What about the German soldiers discovered on an island in the Channel who didn't know the war was over three weeks after VE-Day?

  • @sovietcanadian5273
    @sovietcanadian5273 Рік тому +2

    Why does your map cut out the landmasses of Kaliningrad and Sierra Leone