1941 was a year full of crimes against humanity and that continues as 1942 gets going. We have an entire subseries called the War Against Humanity so we can do justice to those events on a scale that's not possible in the regular weekly episodes. WAH episodes come out twice a month; the playlist is right here: ua-cam.com/play/PLsIk0qF0R1j4cwI-ZuDoBLxVEV3egWKoM.html For deeper coverage of the war, check out our day by day coverage on Instagram: instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day/ And please read our rules of conduct before you comment, saves everyone headaches (and loads of time): community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518
"Loose lips sink ships" arose not to protect U.S. shipping but to keep Americans from figuring out just how badly their shipping was getting sunk. btw. Tarakan is Russian for cockoach.
@@greenkoopa I understand your sarcasm but he meant that had it not been for: 1- Hitler's stand fast order 2- Stalin being as much of a delusional idiot as Hitler was, to think he can launch way bigger offensives than his army was capable of Army Group Center would've faced a disastrous defeat in early 1942 and the Soviets would've needed less time to reach Berlin
As a retired US Merchant Marine officer, it bothers me when all the losses in ships are measured only in tonnage. Each one of those ships had an average compliment of 42 men. Each one of them a person just like you, your family and friends. If a crew member was lost, he received no recognition and his family received nothing. I am not criticizing Indy, he is doing a great job. He has only the descriptions and numbers from his research. I only ask that we remember the human side of the Battle of the Atlantic.
One of my relatives was nicknamed Jonah. I think it is because after being on more than one stricken ship he was considered unlucky to have on board. He survived the war. Their efforts were vital. Russia issued a medal for those on the arctic convoys.
Like so much with history like this it is so easy to "understate" the human cost, thank you for this comment, it has actually always bothered me how Naval warfare is remembered and I had no idea just how many people could be lost with every merchant ship that went down!
"We're the Battling Bastards of Bataan, No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam, No aunts, no uncles, no nephews, no nieces, No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces ... and nobody gives a damn."
But apparently there were enough artillery pieces, 155mm, to put a monkey wrench into the 65th Brigade's advance! Too bad there weren't more, or better still, too bad that the PA and the PD didn't receive their full complements of artillery- tons of 75mm for the PA and 105mm guns for the PD (and 60mm mortar rounds for their company level weapons platoon). The Japanese had never faced heavy artillery concentrations before and they got quite a learning experience this week!
@@rcgunner7086 i read a book, Undefeated: America's Heroic Fight for Bataan and Corregidor, its said that the US Marines stationed in Corregidor had enough heavy weapons and ammo to act as a "firefighter brigade", basically reinforcing and responding to any place in the defensive line where the Japanese were concentrating an attack to make a breakthrough. but MacArthur being an Army guy(and we know that old Army guys back then didn't really like the US Marines) decided that the Marines would be better off at Corregidor as "reserve force" because he viewed them as "glory seeking hounds" and kept believing that the Philippine Army and USAFFE troops could hold the line despite being low on supplies. idk if its true though or just a disgruntled vet just saying it, since the book was a compilation of American veterans of the campaign. also love how the book detailed the Battle of Morong village, the last cavalry charge of the US military, until 2001.
@@christianjohnsalvador1121 Unfortunately, this was written by a disgruntled veteran. There are two Marine units in the Philippines at the start of the war. The 4th Marines (Regiment) and 1st Marine Battalion, Separate. 4th Marines was a regiment in name only. 4th Marines consisted of a understrength Regimental HQ company, service company, and understrength 1st Battalion with 2 rifle companies and a machinegun company. Marine Colonel Samuel L. Howard only has 771 officers and enlisted Marines under his command. The Marines were deployed on Corregidor to take the place of US 31st Infantry Regiment which was the original infantry garrison for Corregidor because the Harbor Defenses of Subic and Manila Bays command had no infantry. The 4th Marines In general accounts are going to appear to be stronger. That is due to Japanese bombs. Japanese air raids destroyed many of the Marine anti-aircraft emplacements at Cavite and Olongapo so the remnants of 1st Marine Battalion, Separate, Batteries B, D, E, and F were folded into 4th Marines. 4th Marines is far from being a "firefighter brigade" or a well equipped force.
Saw an interview with a U-boat captain years ago. He knew when he had left US waters for Canadian waters because the lights on shore went out and he heard the constant pinging of sonar.
"Between 1942 and 1944, German submarines (U-boats) repeatedly penetrated the waters of the St. Lawrence River and Gulf, sinking 23 ships and costing hundreds of lives. It was the first time since the War of 1812 that naval battles were waged in Canada's inland waters." www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/battle-of-the-st-lawrence
@@nickdanger3802 That was a really interesting article. I confess I don't know much about the geography of that area, but it seems like it wouldn't be that terribly hard to defend such a narrow inlet - send a few local fishermen out with some Boys anti-tank rifles and just criss-cross the deeper parts of the channel, take a few shots at anything that looks like a U-boat passing by. If they lost even one U-boat to the local hillbillies out for a day-cruise they'd probably think twice about trying to operate in the area.
@@Raskolnikov70 I'm not sure what you're referring to by "narrow inlet". The Gulf of St. Lawrence, bounded on the northeast by Quebec, on the northwest by the island of Newfoundland (which during WWII was a territory of Britain rather than Canada), and on the south by New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, is about 400 km on its long axis and 200 km on its narrow axis. Its largest opening to the Atlantic, the Cabot Strait, where the ferry they mention in the article was sunk, is 80 km wide at its narrowest point. You're not going to find a U-boat there at night without radar, and in January in Canada night is 16 hours a day or more. You're also not going to find U-boats there without radar in bad weather, which that area in January has a reputation for (as opposed to other parts of Canada in January, heh). So U-boats could pretty much motor on in there at will until radar became widely available. Also, while U-boats were small by the standards of warships, they were still three quarters the length of a football field and were armed with a 10.5cm gun as well as their torpedoes, so you wouldn't want to get into a firefight with one unless you were on a warship yourself.
“We’re the battling bastards of Bataan; No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam. No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces, No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces. And nobody gives a damn. Nobody gives a damn.” - Frank Hewlett, 1942 -
@@LucidFL Without education, "thinking for yourself" is like fishing in the dark and makes even the smartest person an easy prey for pied pipers. How's that for thinking for myself?
I hate how youtube are cracking down on everything now, I don't see why a reputable channel like this that makes really good content needs to have a "trigger warning" at the beginning of a video. This is factual and well balanced content and it's important that people get to see this kind of thing without age restrictions or warnings. It's bloody history not someones "opinion".
That nothing I’ve had comments removed because I used the word H1ttl3r or n4z1 or f4sc1st UA-cam is straight trash. Someone’s feelings might get hurt by history.... stuff em hurt their feelings.
I'll tell ya the fresh take on ww2 this channel is giving me is nothing short of amazing. Like I used to think that the German army was invincible until stalingrad and that the US homeland was never touched by the war. Great work indy and team.
@@benismann Yeah but I also meant that I thought the war never got near the US mainland. I thought the only part of war it saw was in hawaii or by the forces it sent to Europe, Africa and Asia. True it was never touched like countries in Europe but to learn that U boats had actually reached US waters and New York was still supprising for me as I thought USA was unreachable by Germany.
Interesting facts this week: on the 13th, the world’s first large-scale mass-produced helicopter and the first helicopter used by the US and UK armed forces, the *Sikorsky R-4* , will have its first flight. Also on the same day, test pilot Helmut Schenck became the first person to escape from an aircraft using an ejection seat.
Why does the name of the helicopter sounds so Slawic? I guess Sikorsky was an immigrant or decendant thereof? Is it true that the first saving of a pilot by an ejection seat happend in 42? Weren't those around than far earlier? I remember that the Japanese were reluctant to include them because of the additional weitght though.
@@kaltaron1284 Well the ejection seat was actually still considered rather experimental at the start of World War II, and was only perfected at the end of the war due to ever higher speeds of newer planes. There were indeed ejection seats in development before World War II, but those were relatively rare and did not go far in development. Also Sikorsky was named after aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky, a Russian-American who fled his homeland after the Russian Revolution in 1917 and eventually set up his company in America, so perhaps why the name sounds Slavic or so.
@@gunman47 Good to know. I was somehow under the impression that the technology was more sophisticated and widespread than it apprently was. 42 is about mid-war so it makes sense that the technology starts to spread now. Thanks for the information on Sikorsky. I thought it might be something like that. America profited greatly from immigrants for decades when the rest of the world was in turmoil. Kinda ironic that the current president wanted to close the country as much as possible.
@@gunman47 Why ''Also Sikorsky was named after aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky'' didn't Sikorsky just move to the US during the Russian civil war and start his company there?
Sadly a lot of schools have become just as censorious as big tech companies and would probably never approve of such "objectionable" material being shown in class. It's sad that everything has gotten so dumbed-down and safe and turned into a hugbox, because it's resulting in too many people that can't deal with their ideas and assumptions being challenged and react like children.
I appreciate your discussion of war crimes and atrocities during WWII even if UA-cam thinks is not appropriate. As a former History teacher I used to tell my students we should learn from both the great and horrible stuff humans have done in the past, to show us our possibilities in both good and evil, to imitate the feats and prevent the crimes
Greatest two channels on youtube. Indy and Mark Felton. They should be required in all classrooms worldwide and to all politicians. UA-cam should be ashamed of restricting access.
I wouldn’t watch Mark Felton as he’s nowhere near the level of trustworthy of this channel. Some of his videos have plagiarised entire scripts from websites or forums without any credit and he’s also sometimes gotten very important facts wrong, such as that video about the Tiger at Kursk where the battle in question actually happened about 200km away a month later. Not to mention that those websites will also have a level of dubiousness about them since they’re not written by historians either.
World War Two and crew, I absolutely love how much you pack into every episode. I just want to pass on my thanks for your attention to detail, and how you consistently go deeper than any other historical series that I have seen. Great job guys!
I knew a gentleman who served in the Merchant Marine during WWII. He had his ship shot out from under him twice during the war, and he recounted how he had ingested oil while he was in the water and how it made him deathly ill. He also told me how his ship was stopped by a U-Boat off the coast of Florida. The Germans actually boarded his ship to verify the cargo was not war material. He told me the German Captain spoke perfect English, and how he was so impressed by the German Officer's demeanor and professionalism.
Can‘t wait for Stalingrad to start later on in the year! You guys had better do a special on it minute by minute like you did for Pearl, it‘ll only be around ~7000 episodes, should be easy
Can't wait for the minute by minute coverage of Vasily Zaitsev, Dimitri Petrenko & Victor Reznov at Stalingrad too. When the time comes, I'll track the Call of Duty series missions that are happening in real time during the week itself. It so happens coincidentally that the Guadalcanal campaign is occurring around the same time as Stalingrad too, so there's a lot to cover in August. Think John Basilone, the Thin Red Line and Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault!
@@greenkoopa If they do get to do a WW2 Special on Vasily Zaitsev, perhaps they may cover the sniper battle duel against Major Koenig if we are lucky...
That had to have been psychologically taxing on the guys getting deployed back then, not knowing when things would be over and when they'd see home again. Typically in the Army we'd have an idea of when the tour or deployment or even a training program would be over and we'd be able to have that mental calendar in our heads, the "X Days and a wakeup for me!" thing that helps you endure a rough situation. We experienced something similar at the start of the Gulf War in 1990, not knowing when we'd get back, but that was obviously such a different situation because our existence as a nation wasn't in peril or anything like that.
This is absolutely terrific program. Many thanks for it. On another note, as a long term fan of Google and its products, I am disgusted by the new idiotic UA-cam "warning" policy.
He, with Clark and Fredendall, are strong candidates for the most incompetent US generals of WW2. With Clark and Patton, he is a strong candidate for greatest US glory hound. My opinion of him is not high. Ike (who hated him), Collins and Ridgeway are the ones to study.
Imagine how happy the "Happy Time" would've been if Heinz Guderian and "Smiling Albert" Kesselring were in a couple of those U boats. Also: the map work is continually _world class._ Thank you, TimeGhost team.
The way UA-cam is going lately we'll be down to special episodes about WWII leaders' pets and favorite ice cream in a few months. God forbid a single person anywhere is offended by historical facts.....
@@Raskolnikov70 Pretty sure the warning is to get the youtube algorithim to recognize this isnt a "For Kids" video. Since uh, UA-cam sometimes does that.
Great shout out to the US artillery on Bataan. I wasn't expecting that, nor were the Japanese! Those 155's spotted by the Scouts really did a number on the 65th Brigade. But too bad you missed the red letter date on the last cavalry charge carried out by the 26th with Edwin Ramsey (a guy who should get a biography show- his story is pretty incredible).
Interesting side note: at around this time a budding politician came to Washington and got a job in the Office of Price Administration. His name: Richard Milhous Nixon.
@@Raskolnikov70 Just checked his bio. He became a Naval Reservist in September 1941, but has not received any formal naval training as yet. HIs brother Joe is currently training to be a naval aviator. Robert (Bobby) won't be signing up until November 1943.
Of course by sinking three ships out of war you considerably slow down Allied logistical build up (not to mention kill trained and experienced merchant crews) about %75
I remember seeing an interview with Karl Dönitz as an old man. He said words to the effect that serving on a U boat was wet, dirty, exhausting and jolly dangerous at all times, and that he never heard any of his men ever talk about a "happy time."
Maybe the term "happy time" was just propaganda. On second thought maybe Donitz didn't want to admit that U Boat crews were happy about killing all those merchant seaman, because admitting that would make Nazis look bad. As if a nation that committed the atrocities they did could look any worse.
Britain: Uhhh, guys...might we suggest... USA: No, no, no, we got it. We cool. Oh, crap... Stalin: We got this! 1942 is our year, baby! Russians in the field: WTF is he talking about?
Stalin: The great counter offensive is going on full steam!......or not. O blyat...this is bad, this is VERY bad! Stop running! There can be no retreat! Except you, fall back to the Caucasian mountains, and no more.
Whats with the USA always refusing advices from other nations lol. USA also refused Britain's advice when fighting in Vietnam. Britain already had experience against communist guerillas in Malaya. But USA be like "nah we cool".
The german submariners called it “the second happy times”, as it was reminding them of the early, easier days. You make it sound like some grand strategic thing.
Wasn't it though? Especially after the H-man (UA-cam doesn't like it when I say the H-word or N-word [no, not that one, the other one] for some reason...) allowed unrestricted submarine warfare. It meant that a whole lot of target-rich environments just opened up for them and they'd be better able to choke off the UK's supplies that much faster. Instead of having to pretend like the US was neutral like they did prior to Dec. 7, that is.
Great Video. Just a correction. The Japanese force that had landed at Sarawak (Kawaguchi Detachment) was not later to land on Western Java. The force that landed on western Java was the IJA 2nd Division. This unit landed together with 16th army Headquarter. After Sarawak and Sabah was capture, kawaguchi detachment later was later diverted to southern Philippines.
When my grandfather was a child during the war he saw US destroyers engaging U-boats off the coast of Maine near the mouth of the Kennebec River. My great-grandfather was working at Bath Iron Works at the time building destroyers and was also in the Maine National Guard. So the Battle of the Atlantic has an interesting place in my family's history.
I hope you guys will do a special series on life under Japanese occupation in Southeast Asia. It's something often not known much about especially in the West.
They're probably saving a detailed account for War Against Humanity. Also it tokk a few more years after the war for Southeast Asia to be nominally free. IMHO if the Japanese had been serious with their Great Eastern Co-Prosperity Sphere, they'd be remembered far more fondly than they are. But in reality it was all just smoke and mirrors. Or does the term come from a time when more moderate forces were in control?
@@kaltaron1284 I always got the sense that the Japanese never had the time or ability to give developing that co-prosperity sphere the attention they needed to. Similar to what happened to the Germans on the Soviet front, they were able to loot and pillage but were suddenly on the defensive and fighting for their survival within a short period of time. They had all sorts of grand plans for establishing governments, exploiting resources, etc... but had to put it off until after the war. Not that they ever intended to treat their new colonies kindly or anything like that, but even if they did they never got the opportunity to try.
I'd like to see special episodes on each individual country. How the Japanese managed places like Indochina, Indonesia, Burma, etc... doesn't seem to get much attention beyond the major battles fought there and discussion about logistics and resources.
@@Raskolnikov70 The Germans literally wanted to purge the east of Slaws, Jews and other unwanted beings to make room for German settlers and in parts of Poland did so. The Japanese also replaced one colonial yoke with another and accourding to repowrts from the time were often worse the prior owners. Some of that had to do with the dehumanizing traing of the IJA. Japan's goal was to establish themselves as the new colonial master of East Asia and superiour to other Asians. Had they been a bit more overt and tactful about that, history would remember them in a better light.
Hi Indy and the crew! Could you put those little fact boxes what you have in most of the pictures little bit bigger and in the upper corners? I, and I think many others watch these videos with subtitles, because english isnt our first language, and for me personally it's just a habit to keep the subtitles on. I cant really see well some of the fact boxes because the subtitles are in the way. Other than that a very nice and informative video, as usually.
My dad worked for the railroad hauling war supplies to New York and loading it all on cargo ships to send to Britain. He told me that you could watch the skyline glowing at night from the burning ships that the German U-boats were sinking just outside the harbor at New York.
A few years ago I went to my local medal/relics shop and there was an old ragged man looking at the medals. I went to also look at the medals and he struck up a conversation with me. He said his father had earned each medal for fighting on every front the British had been fighting on. I doubted this but thought it could be possible. He described how his father was on a British ship protecting tonnage to the Soviet Union on its eastern most side. His ship was fired upon and sunk. He floated for a bit and he became a Japanese POW. That Japanese ship itself sunk and he died. I've always wondered if these details were true but I've never seen anything yet that sounds like this story.
So many "minor" Soviet paratroop operations that are successful. This definitely feels like it deserves more coverage and attention when the paratroop units of western allied armies are so idolised
It seems like the Soviets are using them more intelligently and effectively than anyone else did during the war. Instead of trying to plan big, complicated and overly-ambitious offensives like Crete or Market Garden they're using them in small numbers, close enough to their main forces that they can be immediately supported, in order to take limited objectives. As more of a force-multiplier instead of being the main force, if that makes any sense.
@@Raskolnikov70 Exactly right. They were the only ones on either side who "got" that this was the way you use paratroopers - like you would helicopter-delivered special forces today.
History tends to forget soviet counteroffensive in winter 41/42. It was enourmous soviet success and only overoptimism of soviet leadership (not Stalin only) prevent total german disaster Napoleon style.
I like these little graphic improvements in this episode and latest WaH like Stalin's face appearing while Indy read his order. They make the episode even more dynamic, consistent and just better.
@@karimhammam9105 A submersible is a small watercraft designed to operate underwater. The term submersible is often used to differentiate from other underwater vessels known as submarines, in that a submarine is a fully autonomous craft, capable of renewing its own power and breathing air, whereas a submersible is usually supported by a surface vessel, platform, shore team or sometimes a larger submarine.
@@rdflatman5660 Yes that is true but they act autonomously from other ships/boats therefore are not submersibles but submarines. Notice how at the same time the Royal Navy used the term submarine for their craft, which were basically the same as a U-boat.
This is real history we need to learn from and not forget..... yet we need a content warning because it may offend people who didn't realize they were watching history channels.
@@jliller Even with the warning youtube will still de monetize the episode. The war against humanity series is completely de monetized. They had to have an episode explaining why you had all the warnings and how they made no money putting out these episodes becauseof it. Some idiot makes horrible food in hopes to get Gordon to respond and gets money. These guys put in a ton of effort and get far less unless its from patrion.
Early in the war Stalin overrode his military advisors. Later in the war Zhukov, Konev , Rokossovsky and Vasilevsky could argue with Stalin and Stalin would defer to them.
I really appreciate the coverage, as much as possible, of the entire war. One thing that I take away from this series is the scale of the European eastern front. Major operations that are impressive close up appear to make only seemingly minor shifts when looking at the entire front. The usual US view of the war focuses on northern Europe or Italy where similar movements would show dramatic changes on the shorter front.
Pause the video at the beginning when they're showing the world map and take a look at how the entire area the Germans controlled compares to the rest of the Soviet Union. It looks so huge in detail, but then you zoom out and look at the big picture and OMG WTF was Germany thinking by invading them.....
@@Raskolnikov70 considering Nazi racial beliefs, they, or Hitler anyway, were probably thinking "Degenerate Slavic peasants, it'll be easy." Generals who knew better also knew it was a good idea to keep their mouths shut
@@Raskolnikov70 Hitler was thinking that if little Finland could defeat the Russians then it would be a walkover for the mighty German armies that had been preparing for war for the best part of a decade.
@@dougie1943 Actually, the timing was because of the oil shortages in German-occupied Europe. Germany had to make a move on the Caucasus or accept certain defeat. That’s why it was June 1941.
I think the thing that gets me about the war in the Southeast Asia/ Pacific Islands; not in China though; is the sense of both massive and small scale. The supply lines and logistical issues are huge, yet the actual number of troops are small compared to the other fronts of the Pacificand European wars
But the number of troops actually engaged being relatively small is exactly BECAUSE of the logistical issues - everyone had to have a very low "teeth to tail" ratio. You could send your conscripts by the millions to the front in Europe, but not in the Pacific.
Indy, it would be nice if you guys include the scale of what is now effectively the Rzhev battle, so everyone gets a perspective early on. By the time the 'Rzhev Claw' is eliminated, 14 months later it will have cost as many Soviet lives as Stalingrad. But because it is not anywhere near as well-known, it might just seem like a series of minor skirmishes. For example, some days of Soviet attacks on Rzhev were equivalent to D-day losses, and the attacks would last for weeks.
Fun facts - only one quarter of all Lend Lease to the USSR in WWII passed via the Murmansk route, another quarter went via the South Atlantic and then to Abadan in Persia before being transshipped by road across the Caucasus. Fully one HALF of all aid went via the Pacific Ocean in Soviet flagged merchant ships escorted by US destroyers up to half way before they were met by Soviet military escorts. The Japanese were terrified about bringing the USSR into the war so avoided attacking these convoys at all costs, there were one or two incidents of them attacking a Soviet convoy after which they issued apologies and reparations each time. The North Atlantic route got all the glory but the Indian Ocean and Pacific routes did all the hard work !
@@eedwardgrey2 The Japanese stopped and inspected these cargoes to verify that they were not contraband of war, so this route took things like foodstuffs (spam!), lumber, aluminum, clothing and fabrics. Tanks, warplanes, ammunition, probably fuel as well, had to take one of the other routes.
I believe the bulk of US or British tanks sent to the USSR went via Iran. Photos of them in Soviet service tend to show them on more southern parts of the front, which is logical if they were sent via Iran. Fighting the German advance towards Stalingrad, in Ukraine and later in Romania. I have seen photos of Shermans with Soviet crews advancing in Romania in 1944.
I am amazed by the animations of the eastern front, showing detailed positions for hundreds if not thousands of units throughout the week. Is that data freely available?
@@extrahistory8956 I meant in electronic form. Reconstructing these movements from books is a humongous effort, and it would be nice if those who did this, release this data in electronic form so no-one needs to do this again.
Crazy how good Indy’s narration style is. I know how all this ends up by 1945, and yet I still get scared by the news of Japan’s successes in the pacific.
Eastory's tactical mapping of the USSR's counteroffensive starting at 00:12:25 does a phenomenal job of illustrating just how devastating the Soviet onslaught against Army Group Centre was which went on nonstop for months before the front stabilized during which time nearly the whole of the army group was in danger of becoming completely encircled! We're talking an ENTIRE German Army Group and not just any army group, we're talking ARMY GROUP CENTRE which months earlier represented the single largest, lethal most bad-ass assembly of force projection in military history. When the dust finally settled by late winter/early spring 1942 the map of the central front looked more like a gerrymandered US Congressional District characterized by enormous salients that bulged into each foe's territory like a dagger aiming for the heart. While Hitler's "stand fast" order following the December 5th USSR Counteroffensive is credited by many for preserving the overall strategic situation of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front his refusal to make localized withdrawals such that of X and II Army Corps in the Demyansk salient proved far too costly to maintain robbing Army Groups North and Centre of possible opportunities to collapse overextended Soviet deployments between the two or possible opportunities further north near the Leningrad area of operation. I don't think we give proper recognition for the ringer that the Red Army put Army Group Centre through for the better part of 5 months starting in early December 1941. This was a great episode, keep up the awesome work guys!
Part (most) of the problem with this phase of the war is that the approved Soviet press, and subsequent historiography brushed it under the rug, because it was a devastatingly costly failure - a catastrophe in material, human terms. Perhaps not on the scale of some earlier defeats, but this differed in the fact the Russians got to choose that fight, for the first time in the war so far. MARS was for many decades portrayed, by the USSR, as merely a diversionary attack to tie-down AGC and draw German reserves into the battle - which seems dubious as hell, but who knows? The decisive archival evidence is still absent and testimony of key witnesses unreliable (USSR things...). I can only say that the sacrifice of 2-300,000 soldiers in a near-suicidal operation that achieved essentially nothing is not a great look either way you look at it ... unless you count trading your soldiers at 5-7:1 (depending on your source, because the scales of death and destruction were pretty much literally immeasurable, either by intent, or incompetence - again, take your pick) with no territorial gain a win? The Wehrmacht was dead on its feet, and the Red Army was surging, rampant - they certainly should have done better, or at least not bothered. And people still complain when some dare to accuse the USSR of being cynically wasteful and inconsiderate of its soldiers...
@@onylra6265 Ok hol up...I know technically the battle for Rzhev started in that 5 December counter offensive...but operation MARS was in late 1942 The guy you replied to is talking strictly about the offensive that started in 5 December and lasted to early 1942 (March-April)...not the Rzhev meat grinder
A patrol from G Troop, 26th Cavalry of the Philippine Scouts launches the last horse mounted attack in American military history on the 16th of January outside the village of Morong. As Japanese troops advance, Lt Edwin Ramsey orders a charge into the village to run out the few infantry present, with 45. Pistols in one hand, and reigns in the other they take the Japanese off guard, routing them and holding the village till tee forced later. Ramsey is later awarded the Silver Star for this action.
It's a pretty minor thing, but Manado is pronounced Ma-NA-do, with the emphasis on the second syllable. I'm sure it's already recorded for the next few episodes but just in case. :) Good job team!
Hi All, Good Question. Power Boat hulls run in three "phases", displacement, semiplaning, and planing. A jet ski "planes" across the water, but has a hard time "carrying enough fuel to get out of sight". A cargo vessel is a "displacement" hull. Its speed will be limited by its length. Most of the small ships in the US Navy in 1940 would have been designed to run as part of a fleet, to maintain close to 30 knots/mph, since that was the speed of the battleships and the aircraft carriers. Since they ran as part of the fleet, there were tankers that could refill the fuel tanks every so often. They race a dog breed called a greyhound, skinny and long, but not really good for hunting and fishing. You need a ship with the shape of a golden retriever, shorter, but blocky, lots of mass. The convoys ran at about 6 to 8 knots/mph, the US Army assumes a man marches at 3 mph, so a little more then twice walking speed. In displacement mode you need about one horsepower for every 500 pounds/225 kg., "Wooden Boat" magazine did an essay on boat types some time ago, its somewhere in my files. "Voyaging Under Power" by Robert Beebe describes the problems of building a small version of an escort vessel. An escort vessel would need to move twice the speed of the ships it was escorting, so 12 to 16 knots/mph, not the 30 that a fleet escort would need. It would need large fuel tanks, since refueling would be difficult. The Raid on St. Nazaire tells the story better then I could, they had several different types of boats, and they all had different optimum speeds. They weren't designed for the task, too little fuel tankage, so they attached a bunch of tanks to the deck, and they became torches if hit by a rifle round. "Lake Union Dreamboat" was a class of boats about 30 feet/9 meters, had about 100 horsepower. About 5 to 10 tons, so in displacement mode, 10 to 20 horsepower. That is the typical size for the engine on a sailboat of that size. To get a 30 foot boat to plane you will probably need about 1,000 horsepower. That was a long answer to a short question. Movies would include "Greyhound", "The Enemy Below", "The Boat" or "Das Boot", and "U-571". "U-505" by D. Gallery is a good read at this point. Thanks, take care.
The Americans needed solid but unglamorous small convoy escort ships like the Flower Class corvette. The British and Canadians churned out 300 of them from small boat yards, so they had a few spare ones to transfer to the Americans. But there was no way the Yanks would go to war in ships named after flowers, so they changed the names to much more butch and aggressive sounding names.
With the fall of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Federated Malayan States, on 11 January and the Straits Settlement colony of Malacca on 14 January, the Japanese are already reaching Johore state, the final Malayan state on the peninsula, by the end of this week in just slightly over a month. At this rate, my country of Singapore will not last very long unless they can build some static defenses in time. Surely Percival can see that these static defenses will be good for morale! At Johore state, the Battle of Gemas (as part of the larger Battle of Muar) has already begun on 14 January. I hope the 8th Australian Division will be able to put a stop to the Japanese advance there!
@@briantarigan7685 I don't think so. The KNIL will probably be disintegrated within a few months. I'd say in a couple of months the Dutch East Indies will be under total Japanese control.
@@briantarigan7685 Don't worry, the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command will make sure the Japanese will get stopped at the shores of the Dutch East Indies. Right?
Thanks Indy. Just what i needed to watch this morning. As far as convoys & shipping went, the Canadian Corvettes served a huge role in protecting convoys. Not the ideal ship for the job, but could be produced quickly in pretty vast numbers, and were manned by very determined crews - who knew their duty. My late father was in the RCN. Canadians have always had a reputation in any conflict they've ever been in, for getting the job done. No matter the odds, no matter even if others have failed before. If it needs doing, give its to the Canadians.
1941 was a year full of crimes against humanity and that continues as 1942 gets going. We have an entire subseries called the War Against Humanity so we can do justice to those events on a scale that's not possible in the regular weekly episodes. WAH episodes come out twice a month; the playlist is right here: ua-cam.com/play/PLsIk0qF0R1j4cwI-ZuDoBLxVEV3egWKoM.html
For deeper coverage of the war, check out our day by day coverage on Instagram: instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day/
And please read our rules of conduct before you comment, saves everyone headaches (and loads of time): community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518
what's the flag between US and AU?
Now the Soviets are making "cauldrons" of their own.
"Loose lips sink ships" arose not to protect U.S. shipping
but to keep Americans from figuring out just how badly their shipping was getting sunk.
btw. Tarakan is Russian for cockoach.
Thank you guys for giving us such a great show
@@pnutz_2 I believe it could be the British Indian / Raj flag, although I can't be 100% sure since it could also be the Red Ensign flag as well.
German officers: "Permission to fall back?"
Hitler: "Sure, but just you"
German officers: "Good enough."
Holding their ground probably saved them from total destruction
Russian officers: "Permission to fall back?"
Stalin: "Sure, if you want to meet with your family in Gulag"
@@KaiserFranzJosefI it was how they saved the reich
@@greenkoopa
I understand your sarcasm but he meant that had it not been for:
1- Hitler's stand fast order
2- Stalin being as much of a delusional idiot as Hitler was, to think he can launch way bigger offensives than his army was capable of
Army Group Center would've faced a disastrous defeat in early 1942 and the Soviets would've needed less time to reach Berlin
As a retired US Merchant Marine officer, it bothers me when all the losses in ships are measured only in tonnage. Each one of those ships had an average compliment of 42 men. Each one of them a person just like you, your family and friends. If a crew member was lost, he received no recognition and his family received nothing.
I am not criticizing Indy, he is doing a great job. He has only the descriptions and numbers from his research. I only ask that we remember the human side of the Battle of the Atlantic.
You are so right - we’ll try to improve that going forward.
should I tell them the rest of the convoy steams on and does not pick up survivors or let them HOLY HELL OMFG
Planet Nine you are so right. ..
One of my relatives was nicknamed Jonah.
I think it is because after being on more than one stricken ship he was considered unlucky to have on board. He survived the war.
Their efforts were vital.
Russia issued a medal for those on the arctic convoys.
Like so much with history like this it is so easy to "understate" the human cost, thank you for this comment, it has actually always bothered me how Naval warfare is remembered and I had no idea just how many people could be lost with every merchant ship that went down!
"We're the Battling Bastards of Bataan, No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam,
No aunts, no uncles, no nephews, no nieces,
No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces ... and nobody gives a damn."
But apparently there were enough artillery pieces, 155mm, to put a monkey wrench into the 65th Brigade's advance! Too bad there weren't more, or better still, too bad that the PA and the PD didn't receive their full complements of artillery- tons of 75mm for the PA and 105mm guns for the PD (and 60mm mortar rounds for their company level weapons platoon). The Japanese had never faced heavy artillery concentrations before and they got quite a learning experience this week!
"gives a GOD damn."
@@rcgunner7086 i read a book, Undefeated: America's Heroic Fight for Bataan and Corregidor, its said that the US Marines stationed in Corregidor had enough heavy weapons and ammo to act as a "firefighter brigade", basically reinforcing and responding to any place in the defensive line where the Japanese were concentrating an attack to make a breakthrough. but MacArthur being an Army guy(and we know that old Army guys back then didn't really like the US Marines) decided that the Marines would be better off at Corregidor as "reserve force" because he viewed them as "glory seeking hounds" and kept believing that the Philippine Army and USAFFE troops could hold the line despite being low on supplies.
idk if its true though or just a disgruntled vet just saying it, since the book was a compilation of American veterans of the campaign.
also love how the book detailed the Battle of Morong village, the last cavalry charge of the US military, until 2001.
Yes, Bataan. Pronounced "b-TAN" not "BAH-TAH-AHN."
@@christianjohnsalvador1121 Unfortunately, this was written by a disgruntled veteran. There are two Marine units in the Philippines at the start of the war. The 4th Marines (Regiment) and 1st Marine Battalion, Separate. 4th Marines was a regiment in name only. 4th Marines consisted of a understrength Regimental HQ company, service company, and understrength 1st Battalion with 2 rifle companies and a machinegun company. Marine Colonel Samuel L. Howard only has 771 officers and enlisted Marines under his command. The Marines were deployed on Corregidor to take the place of US 31st Infantry Regiment which was the original infantry garrison for Corregidor because the Harbor Defenses of Subic and Manila Bays command had no infantry. The 4th Marines In general accounts are going to appear to be stronger. That is due to Japanese bombs. Japanese air raids destroyed many of the Marine anti-aircraft emplacements at Cavite and Olongapo so the remnants of 1st Marine Battalion, Separate, Batteries B, D, E, and F were folded into 4th Marines. 4th Marines is far from being a "firefighter brigade" or a well equipped force.
This is one of those things that make me look forward to my Saterday afternoon
Me too man.
@@halojump123 In South Africa we say some things different 🇿🇦
Morning here in 'Murica. Saturday breakfast with bacon, eggs and WWII in real time has become a household tradition now :)
@@Raskolnikov70 That's the real way to go 👏👏
@@cookingwithchefluc7173 word.
Saw an interview with a U-boat captain years ago. He knew when he had left US waters for Canadian waters because the lights on shore went out and he heard the constant pinging of sonar.
"Between 1942 and 1944, German submarines (U-boats) repeatedly penetrated the waters of the St. Lawrence River and Gulf, sinking 23 ships and costing hundreds of lives. It was the first time since the War of 1812 that naval battles were waged in Canada's inland waters."
www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/battle-of-the-st-lawrence
@@nickdanger3802 That was a really interesting article. I confess I don't know much about the geography of that area, but it seems like it wouldn't be that terribly hard to defend such a narrow inlet - send a few local fishermen out with some Boys anti-tank rifles and just criss-cross the deeper parts of the channel, take a few shots at anything that looks like a U-boat passing by. If they lost even one U-boat to the local hillbillies out for a day-cruise they'd probably think twice about trying to operate in the area.
@@Raskolnikov70 I'm not sure what you're referring to by "narrow inlet". The Gulf of St. Lawrence, bounded on the northeast by Quebec, on the northwest by the island of Newfoundland (which during WWII was a territory of Britain rather than Canada), and on the south by New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, is about 400 km on its long axis and 200 km on its narrow axis. Its largest opening to the Atlantic, the Cabot Strait, where the ferry they mention in the article was sunk, is 80 km wide at its narrowest point. You're not going to find a U-boat there at night without radar, and in January in Canada night is 16 hours a day or more. You're also not going to find U-boats there without radar in bad weather, which that area in January has a reputation for (as opposed to other parts of Canada in January, heh). So U-boats could pretty much motor on in there at will until radar became widely available.
Also, while U-boats were small by the standards of warships, they were still three quarters the length of a football field and were armed with a 10.5cm gun as well as their torpedoes, so you wouldn't want to get into a firefight with one unless you were on a warship yourself.
"Ernest Hemingway once wrote: 'The World is a fine place and worth fighting for'.
I agree with the second part."
- Morgan Freeman
I can already imagine speaking this quote in classic old Morgan's voice... :)
“We’re the battling bastards of Bataan;
No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam.
No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces,
No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces.
And nobody gives a damn.
Nobody gives a damn.”
- Frank Hewlett, 1942 -
Try to think for yourself instead of worshipping celebrities.
@@LucidFL didn't they say that they only partially agreed?
@@LucidFL Without education, "thinking for yourself" is like fishing in the dark and makes even the smartest person an easy prey for pied pipers.
How's that for thinking for myself?
I hate how youtube are cracking down on everything now, I don't see why a reputable channel like this that makes really good content needs to have a "trigger warning" at the beginning of a video. This is factual and well balanced content and it's important that people get to see this kind of thing without age restrictions or warnings. It's bloody history not someones "opinion".
That nothing I’ve had comments removed because I used the word H1ttl3r or n4z1 or f4sc1st UA-cam is straight trash. Someone’s feelings might get hurt by history.... stuff em hurt their feelings.
@@Giveme1goodreason The same thing happened to me.
Those warnings have existed on music and television for decades now. Not sure why it is such a big deal now.
I gotta like how in every major event in the war, Rommel comes in and goes "hol'up it's my turn"
I'll tell ya the fresh take on ww2 this channel is giving me is nothing short of amazing. Like I used to think that the German army was invincible until stalingrad and that the US homeland was never touched by the war. Great work indy and team.
It was "never" touched if u compare it to, idk, any country in europe that was in war with germany (before 1944)?
@@benismann Yeah but I also meant that I thought the war never got near the US mainland. I thought the only part of war it saw was in hawaii or by the forces it sent to Europe, Africa and Asia. True it was never touched like countries in Europe but to learn that U boats had actually reached US waters and New York was still supprising for me as I thought USA was unreachable by Germany.
@@nathancrawshaw2708 There were actually some occupied Aleutian islands near Alaska as well.
That's why they were able to get close. It doesn't surprise me , as a Brit they are arguably the toughest groups we have ever fought .
Spoiler alert ! MacArthur won`t be "relieved" until 1951.
*launches 50 successful naval invasions under his command*
@@generalfred9426Naval Invasions? Surely Japan will win the Pacific War/Conquer Asia and we will never see MacArthur again.
@@JohnJohn-pe5kr man I think you're right them Japanese might invade the West Coast of US with the way things are going now.
Interesting facts this week: on the 13th, the world’s first large-scale mass-produced helicopter and the first helicopter used by the US and UK armed forces, the *Sikorsky R-4* , will have its first flight.
Also on the same day, test pilot Helmut Schenck became the first person to escape from an aircraft using an ejection seat.
Why does the name of the helicopter sounds so Slawic? I guess Sikorsky was an immigrant or decendant thereof?
Is it true that the first saving of a pilot by an ejection seat happend in 42? Weren't those around than far earlier? I remember that the Japanese were reluctant to include them because of the additional weitght though.
@@kaltaron1284 Well the ejection seat was actually still considered rather experimental at the start of World War II, and was only perfected at the end of the war due to ever higher speeds of newer planes. There were indeed ejection seats in development before World War II, but those were relatively rare and did not go far in development.
Also Sikorsky was named after aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky, a Russian-American who fled his homeland after the Russian Revolution in 1917 and eventually set up his company in America, so perhaps why the name sounds Slavic or so.
@@gunman47 Fun fact: also (other) Sikorski - Władysław Sikorski - was the prime minister of the Polish governement in exile in 1942.
@@gunman47 Good to know. I was somehow under the impression that the technology was more sophisticated and widespread than it apprently was. 42 is about mid-war so it makes sense that the technology starts to spread now.
Thanks for the information on Sikorsky. I thought it might be something like that.
America profited greatly from immigrants for decades when the rest of the world was in turmoil. Kinda ironic that the current president wanted to close the country as much as possible.
@@gunman47 Why ''Also Sikorsky was named after aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky'' didn't Sikorsky just move to the US during the Russian civil war and start his company there?
Best WW II documentary ever. These videos should be used in schools for teaching history of the war.
Sadly a lot of schools have become just as censorious as big tech companies and would probably never approve of such "objectionable" material being shown in class. It's sad that everything has gotten so dumbed-down and safe and turned into a hugbox, because it's resulting in too many people that can't deal with their ideas and assumptions being challenged and react like children.
I appreciate your discussion of war crimes and atrocities during WWII even if UA-cam thinks is not appropriate. As a former History teacher I used to tell my students we should learn from both the great and horrible stuff humans have done in the past, to show us our possibilities in both good and evil, to imitate the feats and prevent the crimes
You must have been a very good teacher!
@@ATINKERER Agreed.
@@ATINKERER thank you, some of my students thought I was good indeed. Once I get my Master's I hope I resume teaching
Greatest two channels on youtube. Indy and Mark Felton. They should be required in all classrooms worldwide and to all politicians. UA-cam should be ashamed of restricting access.
man! i too never get bored of them! they are both brilliant but mind you, indy does it a whole next level better!
I wouldn’t watch Mark Felton as he’s nowhere near the level of trustworthy of this channel. Some of his videos have plagiarised entire scripts from websites or forums without any credit and he’s also sometimes gotten very important facts wrong, such as that video about the Tiger at Kursk where the battle in question actually happened about 200km away a month later. Not to mention that those websites will also have a level of dubiousness about them since they’re not written by historians either.
Felton is tendencious and has plagiarized. I do not watch him.
@@mission101 first time hearing this tbh.
yep. how else does he pump out so many videos so quickly
World War Two and crew, I absolutely love how much you pack into every episode. I just want to pass on my thanks for your attention to detail, and how you consistently go deeper than any other historical series that I have seen. Great job guys!
I knew a gentleman who served in the Merchant Marine during WWII. He had his ship shot out from under him twice during the war, and he recounted how he had ingested oil while he was in the water and how it made him deathly ill. He also told me how his ship was stopped by a U-Boat off the coast of Florida. The Germans actually boarded his ship to verify the cargo was not war material. He told me the German Captain spoke perfect English, and how he was so impressed by the German Officer's demeanor and professionalism.
Wilhelm Von Leeb looks like a bond villain
Reichenau even more so, with that eyeglass.
@@howardbrandon11 Reichenau will certainly get a mention in next week's episode.
And don't forget Monocle Man Model.
Like Klaus Schwab of Reset fame.
Considering what Ian Fleming did in the war it's not surprising who his villains are modeled after.
Oh Rzhev, I am remember Alexander Tvardovsky poem "I was killed under Rzhev", heavy stuff
Can‘t wait for Stalingrad to start later on in the year! You guys had better do a special on it minute by minute like you did for Pearl, it‘ll only be around ~7000 episodes, should be easy
Can't wait for the minute by minute coverage of Vasily Zaitsev, Dimitri Petrenko & Victor Reznov at Stalingrad too. When the time comes, I'll track the Call of Duty series missions that are happening in real time during the week itself.
It so happens coincidentally that the Guadalcanal campaign is occurring around the same time as Stalingrad too, so there's a lot to cover in August. Think John Basilone, the Thin Red Line and Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault!
Count not the days, count not the miles. Count only the number of Germans you have killed. That still gives me chills
@@gunman47 they should do a special on Major Koenig and the sniper battle in the railyard 🤔
@@greenkoopa Such a classic quote by Ilya Ehrenburg. So much meaning in these few sentences...
@@greenkoopa If they do get to do a WW2 Special on Vasily Zaitsev, perhaps they may cover the sniper battle duel against Major Koenig if we are lucky...
My father was amongst those in the first group to ship out to Britain. He did not return till April 1945.
That had to have been psychologically taxing on the guys getting deployed back then, not knowing when things would be over and when they'd see home again. Typically in the Army we'd have an idea of when the tour or deployment or even a training program would be over and we'd be able to have that mental calendar in our heads, the "X Days and a wakeup for me!" thing that helps you endure a rough situation. We experienced something similar at the start of the Gulf War in 1990, not knowing when we'd get back, but that was obviously such a different situation because our existence as a nation wasn't in peril or anything like that.
Did he fight in Europe or Africa?
@@jasondouglas6755 Africa, then Italy
Churchill in Florida is the sitcom I didn’t know I needed.
This is absolutely terrific program. Many thanks for it. On another note, as a long term fan of Google and its products, I am disgusted by the new idiotic UA-cam "warning" policy.
Dugout Doug will be a well earned nickname for MacArthur.
I see MacArthur as a Christ like figure who promised to return and liberate the Philippines... and he did. 💪🇺🇸
@@alitlweird To some, yes. In my family, he's loathed. 🤷♀️
I call him Nappy Dugout
He, with Clark and Fredendall, are strong candidates for the most incompetent US generals of WW2.
With Clark and Patton, he is a strong candidate for greatest US glory hound.
My opinion of him is not high. Ike (who hated him), Collins and Ridgeway are the ones to study.
@@kmrose
Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to evacuate to Australia. He did not want to leave.
Imagine how happy the "Happy Time" would've been if Heinz Guderian and "Smiling Albert" Kesselring were in a couple of those U boats.
Also: the map work is continually _world class._ Thank you, TimeGhost team.
I do not get it; what would Kesselring and Guderian do in and to a sub?
*sees title screen*
Wait, this isn't War Against Humanity!
Yeah I had the same thought at first when I saw the opening warning lol. Thought I was going to be watching a WAH video!
The way UA-cam is going lately we'll be down to special episodes about WWII leaders' pets and favorite ice cream in a few months. God forbid a single person anywhere is offended by historical facts.....
@@Raskolnikov70 Exactly. Who would've thought people get hurt, even killed, in wars.
@@Raskolnikov70 Pretty sure the warning is to get the youtube algorithim to recognize this isnt a "For Kids" video. Since uh, UA-cam sometimes does that.
Great shout out to the US artillery on Bataan. I wasn't expecting that, nor were the Japanese! Those 155's spotted by the Scouts really did a number on the 65th Brigade. But too bad you missed the red letter date on the last cavalry charge carried out by the 26th with Edwin Ramsey (a guy who should get a biography show- his story is pretty incredible).
There is a bit about this last cavalry charge on the youtube forgotten weapons channel in a piece Ian did on US bayonets.
A great story, but very far from the last cavalry charge. They were common in Russia, especially in winter.
Interesting side note: at around this time a budding politician came to Washington and got a job in the Office of Price Administration. His name: Richard Milhous Nixon.
Was Kennedy in the Navy yet? Always interesting to hear little snippets about where not-yet-famous people were during their formative years.
@@Raskolnikov70 Just checked his bio. He became a Naval Reservist in September 1941, but has not received any formal naval training as yet. HIs brother Joe is currently training to be a naval aviator. Robert (Bobby) won't be signing up until November 1943.
Germany, we just sank 3 ships.
USA we just built 4 ships.
This really was a war that would be won at the assembly lines.
Of course by sinking three ships out of war you considerably slow down Allied logistical build up (not to mention kill trained and experienced merchant crews) about %75
Well, you lost 3 crews of experienced sailors and the supply line was slowed down.
I remember seeing an interview with Karl Dönitz as an old man. He said words to the effect that serving on a U boat was wet, dirty, exhausting and jolly dangerous at all times, and that he never heard any of his men ever talk about a "happy time."
Maybe the term "happy time" was just propaganda. On second thought maybe Donitz didn't want to admit that U Boat crews were happy about killing all those merchant seaman, because admitting that would make Nazis look bad. As if a nation that committed the atrocities they did could look any worse.
Very interesting tie, Indy. Pattern would work on a cocktail napkin as well as this dirty green shirt. Nice pairing with the waistcoat, too. 4.5/5
"Happy Time indeed!" 👀
Second Happy Time.
Britain: Uhhh, guys...might we suggest...
USA: No, no, no, we got it. We cool. Oh, crap...
Stalin: We got this! 1942 is our year, baby!
Russians in the field: WTF is he talking about?
Stalin: The great counter offensive is going on full steam!......or not. O blyat...this is bad, this is VERY bad! Stop running! There can be no retreat! Except you, fall back to the Caucasian mountains, and no more.
Whats with the USA always refusing advices from other nations lol. USA also refused Britain's advice when fighting in Vietnam. Britain already had experience against communist guerillas in Malaya. But USA be like "nah we cool".
@@hafeezuddin1367 we do have a nasty tendency for arrogance sometimes. 😞🤦♀️
3:15 "No such help is actually coming". Quite a remarkable Indy's cosplay of McArthur (considering a fig sign on Indy's right hand)
He's pronouncing Bataan correctly this week!
The german submariners called it “the second happy times”, as it was reminding them of the early, easier days. You make it sound like some grand strategic thing.
Wasn't it though? Especially after the H-man (UA-cam doesn't like it when I say the H-word or N-word [no, not that one, the other one] for some reason...) allowed unrestricted submarine warfare. It meant that a whole lot of target-rich environments just opened up for them and they'd be better able to choke off the UK's supplies that much faster. Instead of having to pretend like the US was neutral like they did prior to Dec. 7, that is.
Great Video. Just a correction. The Japanese force that had landed at Sarawak (Kawaguchi Detachment) was not later to land on Western Java. The force that landed on western Java was the IJA 2nd Division. This unit landed together with 16th army Headquarter. After Sarawak and Sabah was capture, kawaguchi detachment later was later diverted to southern Philippines.
When my grandfather was a child during the war he saw US destroyers engaging U-boats off the coast of Maine near the mouth of the Kennebec River. My great-grandfather was working at Bath Iron Works at the time building destroyers and was also in the Maine National Guard. So the Battle of the Atlantic has an interesting place in my family's history.
Thanks for sharing that!
Damn, the picture of the nazi officer pointing his gun toward the head of that poor man got me disturbed, what a dirty monsters humans can be.
This series has shown me that my knowledge of geography is woefully lacking.
Also love to hear his pronunciation of the names and places - very cool
I hope you guys will do a special series on life under Japanese occupation in Southeast Asia. It's something often not known much about especially in the West.
They're probably saving a detailed account for War Against Humanity.
Also it tokk a few more years after the war for Southeast Asia to be nominally free.
IMHO if the Japanese had been serious with their Great Eastern Co-Prosperity Sphere, they'd be remembered far more fondly than they are. But in reality it was all just smoke and mirrors.
Or does the term come from a time when more moderate forces were in control?
Pretty sure they will like cover it perhaps under the War Against Humanity (WAH) subseries or the Home Front subseries in time.
@@kaltaron1284 I always got the sense that the Japanese never had the time or ability to give developing that co-prosperity sphere the attention they needed to. Similar to what happened to the Germans on the Soviet front, they were able to loot and pillage but were suddenly on the defensive and fighting for their survival within a short period of time. They had all sorts of grand plans for establishing governments, exploiting resources, etc... but had to put it off until after the war. Not that they ever intended to treat their new colonies kindly or anything like that, but even if they did they never got the opportunity to try.
I'd like to see special episodes on each individual country. How the Japanese managed places like Indochina, Indonesia, Burma, etc... doesn't seem to get much attention beyond the major battles fought there and discussion about logistics and resources.
@@Raskolnikov70 The Germans literally wanted to purge the east of Slaws, Jews and other unwanted beings to make room for German settlers and in parts of Poland did so.
The Japanese also replaced one colonial yoke with another and accourding to repowrts from the time were often worse the prior owners. Some of that had to do with the dehumanizing traing of the IJA.
Japan's goal was to establish themselves as the new colonial master of East Asia and superiour to other Asians.
Had they been a bit more overt and tactful about that, history would remember them in a better light.
Hi Indy and the crew! Could you put those little fact boxes what you have in most of the pictures little bit bigger and in the upper corners? I, and I think many others watch these videos with subtitles, because english isnt our first language, and for me personally it's just a habit to keep the subtitles on. I cant really see well some of the fact boxes because the subtitles are in the way. Other than that a very nice and informative video, as usually.
Subtitles be like : Karl Doughnuts
I always thought somebody should start a donut shop chain and have a Ronald McDonald-style promotional character called Admiral Donuts.
My dad worked for the railroad hauling war supplies to New York and loading it all on cargo ships to send to Britain. He told me that you could watch the skyline glowing at night from the burning ships that the German U-boats were sinking just outside the harbor at New York.
Wow!!! I had no idea it was like that!
A few years ago I went to my local medal/relics shop and there was an old ragged man looking at the medals. I went to also look at the medals and he struck up a conversation with me. He said his father had earned each medal for fighting on every front the British had been fighting on. I doubted this but thought it could be possible. He described how his father was on a British ship protecting tonnage to the Soviet Union on its eastern most side. His ship was fired upon and sunk. He floated for a bit and he became a Japanese POW. That Japanese ship itself sunk and he died. I've always wondered if these details were true but I've never seen anything yet that sounds like this story.
Extra history, now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time... A long time.
Hey Indy, where is your "see you next time" line go???
outstanding. what software do you build your animated map sequences in?
The person to ask would be Eastory. He’s the one who does their maps.
The infamous Rzhev meat grinder begins. If I had to fight in the war it's probably the last place I'd want to be in.
*cries in Stalingrad*
Must be cold...
@@Raskolnikov70 Leningrad would like to know if it is nothing to you?
Any battle on the Eastern Front was horrible.
I believe the Soviets committed more men and materiel to Rzhev than Stalingrad. Higher casualties without managing to destroy the 9th Army.
@@avidficreader5040 near Rzhev Germans had a much larger supply of artillery shells.
Knock, knock...
Who's there?
Definitely not your relief, General McArthur!
Best part of my week is seeing these vids show up
So many "minor" Soviet paratroop operations that are successful. This definitely feels like it deserves more coverage and attention when the paratroop units of western allied armies are so idolised
It seems like the Soviets are using them more intelligently and effectively than anyone else did during the war. Instead of trying to plan big, complicated and overly-ambitious offensives like Crete or Market Garden they're using them in small numbers, close enough to their main forces that they can be immediately supported, in order to take limited objectives. As more of a force-multiplier instead of being the main force, if that makes any sense.
@@Raskolnikov70 Exactly right. They were the only ones on either side who "got" that this was the way you use paratroopers - like you would helicopter-delivered special forces today.
Weren't they the first country to properly experiment with airborne troops?
@@Raskolnikov70 Soviet had existing pre-war lrage scale parachute doctrine works, training and equipment. Allies basically built up from scratch.
Десантник - это боевой патрон, десантник - это армии элита!
When its happy time but you still have great depression
*sad Liberty Ship noises*
Lol
History tends to forget soviet counteroffensive in winter 41/42. It was enourmous soviet success and only overoptimism of soviet leadership (not Stalin only) prevent total german disaster Napoleon style.
I like these little graphic improvements in this episode and latest WaH like Stalin's face appearing while Indy read his order. They make the episode even more dynamic, consistent and just better.
as a Filipino i love how Indy pronounced Bataan, as "bah-tah-an" instead of the more Western "bah-tan"
Great episode - - chock full of information!
Love this series :) go algorithm go!!!
Brilliantly researched and presented.
Great as always!
Though just a point of terminology: submarines are always "boats", not ships.
someone watched QI
@@fclp67 u boats are considered as submersibles rater than submarines but then whoul it still be a boat or a ship?
@@karimhammam9105 A submersible is a small watercraft designed to operate underwater. The term submersible is often used to differentiate from other underwater vessels known as submarines, in that a submarine is a fully autonomous craft, capable of renewing its own power and breathing air, whereas a submersible is usually supported by a surface vessel, platform, shore team or sometimes a larger submarine.
@@craigporter8873 my understanding the u boats were consider dive boats spent most of their time on the surface
@@rdflatman5660 Yes that is true but they act autonomously from other ships/boats therefore are not submersibles but submarines. Notice how at the same time the Royal Navy used the term submarine for their craft, which were basically the same as a U-boat.
Thank you for the outstandingly well done lesson.
6:31 What are those blocks of stuff?
Rubber maybe
Crack
Spam, probably.
Synthetic Rubber. (was in another episode - only reason I know)
Italian morale
This is real history we need to learn from and not forget..... yet we need a content warning because it may offend people who didn't realize they were watching history channels.
I think it's less about anybody being "offended" and more people tend to appreciate being warned before they're shown executions and mass graves.
@@jliller Even with the warning youtube will still de monetize the episode. The war against humanity series is completely de monetized. They had to have an episode explaining why you had all the warnings and how they made no money putting out these episodes becauseof it. Some idiot makes horrible food in hopes to get Gordon to respond and gets money. These guys put in a ton of effort and get far less unless its from patrion.
Germany: you don’t have enough ships
US: Do we😏
“Sound of liberty ship”
[ Victoria 2 shipbuilding noises intensifies ]
Good coverage, as usual.
11:24 let's ask tukachevsky how well disagreeing with stalin worked out
Early in the war Stalin overrode his military advisors. Later in the war Zhukov, Konev , Rokossovsky and Vasilevsky could argue with Stalin and Stalin would defer to them.
@@caryblack5985 unlike Hitler stalin learned to take advice
Once again, Indy nails it. I would call that a happy time.
I really appreciate the coverage, as much as possible, of the entire war. One thing that I take away from this series is the scale of the European eastern front. Major operations that are impressive close up appear to make only seemingly minor shifts when looking at the entire front. The usual US view of the war focuses on northern Europe or Italy where similar movements would show dramatic changes on the shorter front.
Pause the video at the beginning when they're showing the world map and take a look at how the entire area the Germans controlled compares to the rest of the Soviet Union. It looks so huge in detail, but then you zoom out and look at the big picture and OMG WTF was Germany thinking by invading them.....
Yeah, looking at the Russian front, the territory it covers is far beyond my comprehension.
@@Raskolnikov70 considering Nazi racial beliefs, they, or Hitler anyway, were probably thinking "Degenerate Slavic peasants, it'll be easy." Generals who knew better also knew it was a good idea to keep their mouths shut
@@Raskolnikov70 Hitler was thinking that if little Finland could defeat the Russians then it would be a walkover for the mighty German armies that had been preparing for war for the best part of a decade.
@@dougie1943 Actually, the timing was because of the oil shortages in German-occupied Europe. Germany had to make a move on the Caucasus or accept certain defeat. That’s why it was June 1941.
Great video, watched it twice already. Excellent
I think the thing that gets me about the war in the Southeast Asia/ Pacific Islands; not in China though; is the sense of both massive and small scale. The supply lines and logistical issues are huge, yet the actual number of troops are small compared to the other fronts of the Pacificand European wars
i am really amazed how the Japanese could pull out so many naval landings and attacks.
But the number of troops actually engaged being relatively small is exactly BECAUSE of the logistical issues - everyone had to have a very low "teeth to tail" ratio. You could send your conscripts by the millions to the front in Europe, but not in the Pacific.
Great episode Indy .
Best birthday present ever .
Could we get a special on the new German weapons like the MG42 and Panzerfaust?
You can just watch Ian talk about it on his channel.
We should also get a special about so called mediteranean strategy
Thank You
You made the the facts clear of WWII
Indy, it would be nice if you guys include the scale of what is now effectively the Rzhev battle, so everyone gets a perspective early on. By the time the 'Rzhev Claw' is eliminated, 14 months later it will have cost as many Soviet lives as Stalingrad. But because it is not anywhere near as well-known, it might just seem like a series of minor skirmishes. For example, some days of Soviet attacks on Rzhev were equivalent to D-day losses, and the attacks would last for weeks.
Fun facts - only one quarter of all Lend Lease to the USSR in WWII passed via the Murmansk route, another quarter went via the South Atlantic and then to Abadan in Persia before being transshipped by road across the Caucasus. Fully one HALF of all aid went via the Pacific Ocean in Soviet flagged merchant ships escorted by US destroyers up to half way before they were met by Soviet military escorts. The Japanese were terrified about bringing the USSR into the war so avoided attacking these convoys at all costs, there were one or two incidents of them attacking a Soviet convoy after which they issued apologies and reparations each time.
The North Atlantic route got all the glory but the Indian Ocean and Pacific routes did all the hard work !
Thanks i always understood that they couldn't bring supplies throught that route because of the Japanese naval domination at this stage.
As the war as of whole where the Atlantic theater get all the glory, and the Pacific get the mud and blood.
@@eedwardgrey2 The Japanese stopped and inspected these cargoes to verify that they were not contraband of war, so this route took things like foodstuffs (spam!), lumber, aluminum, clothing and fabrics. Tanks, warplanes, ammunition, probably fuel as well, had to take one of the other routes.
@@kemarisite Thanks for the clarification
I believe the bulk of US or British tanks sent to the USSR went via Iran. Photos of them in Soviet service tend to show them on more southern parts of the front, which is logical if they were sent via Iran. Fighting the German advance towards Stalingrad, in Ukraine and later in Romania. I have seen photos of Shermans with Soviet crews advancing in Romania in 1944.
I am amazed by the animations of the eastern front, showing detailed positions for hundreds if not thousands of units throughout the week. Is that data freely available?
It's been available in a variety of history books out there, albeit finding every minute detail isn't nearly as easy.
@@extrahistory8956 I meant in electronic form. Reconstructing these movements from books is a humongous effort, and it would be nice if those who did this, release this data in electronic form so no-one needs to do this again.
Thank you - another excellent episode!📸👍
For a second the disclaimer threw me off 😂
Awesome pfp.
Thank you, yours is awesome too :D
I love this channel! That being said, as an Indonesian, the pronunciation was... interesting haha. Keep up the great work regardless!
Hardegen , the leading sub commander of operation Paukenschlag passed away just 2 years ago - age 105 years !
Seems like the Saratoga was under repair more than it was active. Just constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Crazy how good Indy’s narration style is. I know how all this ends up by 1945, and yet I still get scared by the news of Japan’s successes in the pacific.
Great work Indie and crew
Smashing tie Indy!
(Dibs!)
Eastory's tactical mapping of the USSR's counteroffensive starting at 00:12:25 does a phenomenal job of illustrating just how devastating the Soviet onslaught against Army Group Centre was which went on nonstop for months before the front stabilized during which time nearly the whole of the army group was in danger of becoming completely encircled! We're talking an ENTIRE German Army Group and not just any army group, we're talking ARMY GROUP CENTRE which months earlier represented the single largest, lethal most bad-ass assembly of force projection in military history. When the dust finally settled by late winter/early spring 1942 the map of the central front looked more like a gerrymandered US Congressional District characterized by enormous salients that bulged into each foe's territory like a dagger aiming for the heart. While Hitler's "stand fast" order following the December 5th USSR Counteroffensive is credited by many for preserving the overall strategic situation of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front his refusal to make localized withdrawals such that of X and II Army Corps in the Demyansk salient proved far too costly to maintain robbing Army Groups North and Centre of possible opportunities to collapse overextended Soviet deployments between the two or possible opportunities further north near the Leningrad area of operation. I don't think we give proper recognition for the ringer that the Red Army put Army Group Centre through for the better part of 5 months starting in early December 1941. This was a great episode, keep up the awesome work guys!
Part (most) of the problem with this phase of the war is that the approved Soviet press, and subsequent historiography brushed it under the rug, because it was a devastatingly costly failure - a catastrophe in material, human terms. Perhaps not on the scale of some earlier defeats, but this differed in the fact the Russians got to choose that fight, for the first time in the war so far. MARS was for many decades portrayed, by the USSR, as merely a diversionary attack to tie-down AGC and draw German reserves into the battle - which seems dubious as hell, but who knows? The decisive archival evidence is still absent and testimony of key witnesses unreliable (USSR things...). I can only say that the sacrifice of 2-300,000 soldiers in a near-suicidal operation that achieved essentially nothing is not a great look either way you look at it ... unless you count trading your soldiers at 5-7:1 (depending on your source, because the scales of death and destruction were pretty much literally immeasurable, either by intent, or incompetence - again, take your pick) with no territorial gain a win? The Wehrmacht was dead on its feet, and the Red Army was surging, rampant - they certainly should have done better, or at least not bothered.
And people still complain when some dare to accuse the USSR of being cynically wasteful and inconsiderate of its soldiers...
@@onylra6265
Ok hol up...I know technically the battle for Rzhev started in that 5 December counter offensive...but operation MARS was in late 1942
The guy you replied to is talking strictly about the offensive that started in 5 December and lasted to early 1942 (March-April)...not the Rzhev meat grinder
Stalin: "No food, no problem."
Soviet troops: "WTF?"
the hunger is a good motivation
A patrol from G Troop, 26th Cavalry of the Philippine Scouts launches the last horse mounted attack in American military history on the 16th of January outside the village of Morong. As Japanese troops advance, Lt Edwin Ramsey orders a charge into the village to run out the few infantry present, with 45. Pistols in one hand, and reigns in the other they take the Japanese off guard, routing them and holding the village till tee forced later.
Ramsey is later awarded the Silver Star for this action.
It's a pretty minor thing, but Manado is pronounced Ma-NA-do, with the emphasis on the second syllable. I'm sure it's already recorded for the next few episodes but just in case. :) Good job team!
Thanks! I'll keep that in mind (but yeah, we do record a few weeks ahead).
Good video overall. I like how you explain each theater of war and the major operations taking place. Overall good job and keep up the good work.
So many flags in the backround
The real question is: which flags will fall to the side over time and which ones will remain standing by the end of the war?
For the briefest of glances at the cover, I thought that was Colonel Klink.
What is never mentioned is how many lives are lost with every merchant ship. How many sailors die on average with every thousand ton of shipping sunk?
If you're preapred to do the work yourself try uboat.net/ops/convoys/convoys.php. It lists ships sunk, their tonnage and where known the losses.
Indy is the type of guy to sit in his lounge with a cigar & brandy, naked while listening to classical music, a true Gentleman :)
January 16 is the day of my birthday
:)
"2nd Unhappy Time". I'll be using that term from now on.
Operation Paukenschlag in full effect. It is a second happy time for Doenitz and the Kriegsmarine but not necessarily for the allies lol
What exactly is the issue of sailing slowly? If you can sail fast you can sail slow, right? Is it the fuel consumption efficiency issue?
Its a matter of supplies a ship has to carry on a slow and therefore long voyage like food and water.
Hi All, Good Question. Power Boat hulls run in three "phases", displacement, semiplaning, and planing.
A jet ski "planes" across the water, but has a hard time "carrying enough fuel to get out of sight".
A cargo vessel is a "displacement" hull. Its speed will be limited by its length.
Most of the small ships in the US Navy in 1940 would have been designed to run as part of a fleet, to maintain close to 30 knots/mph, since that was the speed of the battleships and the aircraft carriers.
Since they ran as part of the fleet, there were tankers that could refill the fuel tanks every so often.
They race a dog breed called a greyhound, skinny and long, but not really good for hunting and fishing.
You need a ship with the shape of a golden retriever, shorter, but blocky, lots of mass.
The convoys ran at about 6 to 8 knots/mph, the US Army assumes a man marches at 3 mph, so a little more then twice walking speed.
In displacement mode you need about one horsepower for every 500 pounds/225 kg.,
"Wooden Boat" magazine did an essay on boat types some time ago, its somewhere in my files.
"Voyaging Under Power" by Robert Beebe describes the problems of building a small version of an escort vessel.
An escort vessel would need to move twice the speed of the ships it was escorting, so 12 to 16 knots/mph, not the 30 that a fleet escort would need.
It would need large fuel tanks, since refueling would be difficult.
The Raid on St. Nazaire tells the story better then I could, they had several different types of boats, and they all had different optimum speeds.
They weren't designed for the task, too little fuel tankage, so they attached a bunch of tanks to the deck, and they became torches if hit by a rifle round.
"Lake Union Dreamboat" was a class of boats about 30 feet/9 meters, had about 100 horsepower.
About 5 to 10 tons, so in displacement mode, 10 to 20 horsepower. That is the typical size for the engine on a sailboat of that size.
To get a 30 foot boat to plane you will probably need about 1,000 horsepower.
That was a long answer to a short question.
Movies would include "Greyhound", "The Enemy Below", "The Boat" or "Das Boot", and "U-571".
"U-505" by D. Gallery is a good read at this point.
Thanks, take care.
The Americans needed solid but unglamorous small convoy escort ships like the Flower Class corvette. The British and Canadians churned out 300 of them from small boat yards, so they had a few spare ones to transfer to the Americans. But there was no way the Yanks would go to war in ships named after flowers, so they changed the names to much more butch and aggressive sounding names.
With the fall of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Federated Malayan States, on 11 January and the Straits Settlement colony of Malacca on 14 January, the Japanese are already reaching Johore state, the final Malayan state on the peninsula, by the end of this week in just slightly over a month. At this rate, my country of Singapore will not last very long unless they can build some static defenses in time. Surely Percival can see that these static defenses will be good for morale!
At Johore state, the Battle of Gemas (as part of the larger Battle of Muar) has already begun on 14 January. I hope the 8th Australian Division will be able to put a stop to the Japanese advance there!
Woah, the malayan peninsula is burning, fyuuh i'm lucky to live in java, i believe the dutch would guard the dutch east indies firmly, right?
@@briantarigan7685 I don't think so. The KNIL will probably be disintegrated within a few months. I'd say in a couple of months the Dutch East Indies will be under total Japanese control.
@@briantarigan7685 Don't worry, the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command will make sure the Japanese will get stopped at the shores of the Dutch East Indies. Right?
Glad youtube added the warning
Happy memories
Thanks Indy.
Just what i needed to watch this morning.
As far as convoys & shipping went, the Canadian Corvettes served a huge role in protecting convoys. Not the ideal ship for the job, but could be produced quickly in pretty vast numbers, and were manned by very determined crews - who knew their duty.
My late father was in the RCN. Canadians have always had a reputation in any conflict they've ever been in, for getting the job done. No matter the odds, no matter even if others have failed before. If it needs doing, give its to the Canadians.