A whole lot going on this episode and a whole lot more will be coming soon. Strap in for these next few months. And if you want a bit of respite from it all then be sure to check out our TimeGhost channel. We just published a pretty fun Between Two Wars episode mainly looking at Buster Keaton and the British Empire Exhibition. You can check that out here: ua-cam.com/video/egaCZEmZTl8/v-deo.html and of course, check out our rules of conduct before commenting: community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518
I just realized that the Germans idea of "winning at Stalingrad" was the same as my idea of "making an easy $100 a night working Uber Eats"=both turned into a nightmare of fuel shortages, conflicting orders, hostility from the inhabitants of our destinations, and ended with us turning around and going home, which we didn't realize we were very, VERY far from until it was too late.
It is important to remember that Order 227 DOES NOT mean that any soldiers who took ANY step back during combat were shot. 227 focused on unauthorised RETREATS, and did not punish soldiers for making tactical manoeuvres (such as falling back or taking cover in the face of overwhelming enemy firepower). The objective of 227 was to reinforce military discipline following the retreats/routs of the previous months, not to gun down random soviet soldiers who misstepped while attacking an enemy position.
Wars tend to get crueller the longer they go on. In 1941/2 in the Western Desert, if a tank was was knocked out and the crew tried escaping, generally speaking the other side would cease fire to allow them to get out. 1944/5 in Western Europe, if either side knocked out a tank it was normal for crew members to be mown down when trying to get out of their burning tank. It was reasoned that if they got away they would be manning a new tank, but also any traces of humanitarian inhibitions had disappeared. The Eastern Front was cruel from day one.
@@RavenioTheHatamoto Well Azerbaijan is the most populated country in caucuses and historically one of the biggest oil producing areas in the Soviet Union so I think it makes sense for it to be one of the bigger cities.
@@BRITISHGU1Y having big natural resources nearby doesn't mean that the city has to be big, expecially considering that oil is not one of those resources like grain or food that is linked with population increase.
@@DawidKov The USSR population in 1939 was 170 million. They had enough people to create big cities, especially when the people are packed only in certain parts of the country.
With Order 227, I'm hoping we get some clarification into the sensationalist tales of Soviet commissars firing machine guns on their own men for retreating.
That's mistaken actually. Thanks to enemy at the gates. The order was implemented in the sense that any ESTABLISHED line was not to be abandoned. Not an advance which was blocked
@@TheIfifi MHV covers the themes and his testifies very objective and carefully. TIK is also making interesting stuff, but I can‘t watch him for a long time. He is always so „loud“ and judgmental in a way that it is offensive.
I'd like to add that blocking detachments were also formed out of experienced and faithful soldiers. They didn't exterminate their own troops as it's shown in "Enemy at the gates",they usually threatened and barely shoot anyone. There were even some situations when blocking detachments supported the troops and took part in fighting.
My dad was on that ship headed for Guadalcanal. He was a Marine Raider, 1st Marine Division, age 19. He lost almost 80 pounds during his time on the island. He never breathed a word of his experiences (Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Okinawa) to me except to say that the South Pacific was "hotter than hell" and that the Pacific had nasty typhoons. I finally learned what he did when he and his buddies were swapping stories while he was in a nursing home dying of ALS. At my dad's funeral, one of his friends came up to me and said, "You know, your dad was a real hero." That didn't come as a surprise. He's always been this kid's hero.
Thank you for sharing this with us! We can't imagine the horrors your dad must have witnessed, but no doubt he was a great man! We are touched that you decided to tell us this personal family story. It is our hope that the videos we make will work towards keeping the memory of your father and the others like him alive. May he rest in peace.
Thank you. He was a hell of a man as were most of his generation. Thank you for keeping their memory alive. Just subbed to your channel & Patreon. Thanks again.
Thank you again for supporting our efforts to keep producing new content. Together, we'll keep working towards keeping their memory alive. Welcome to the TimeGhost Army!
"Secret Weapon: U.S. High-Frequency Direction Finding in the Battle of the Atlantic" by Kathleen Broome Williams as an informative, if a little dry, book on the subject.
2:00 not to be confused with an another Australian Owen who designed a cool-looking/ugly submachine gun that will be in Australian use somewhere next year.
Somehow Indy's 30 seconds of levity just works at the beginning of every episode, considering the seriousness of the subject matter, this is an achievement in itself. More "Smiling" Albert Kesselring in the future, I'm looking forward go this.
In the Battle of the Atlantic summaries, in addition to the number of ships and u-boats sunk, it would be interesting to know how many new ships/u-boats were launched in the same time period (if that info is available). In a battle of attrition, replacements are important.
I’d also like to know the tonnage successfully transported. 400k tons sounds like a lot, but it they successfully go through 2 million tons, doesn’t seem as meaningful.
@@thanos_6.0 A lot of those casualties come later in the war, once Allied convoy tactics and sub-finding techniques improve. It's not the 'happy time' in the Atlantic anymore, but the Kriegsmarine is still pretty effective right now.
Those at Kokoda said that Owen purposefully stood up in full view of both his own troops and the Japanese. He was asked to take cover but refused, insisting that he needed to inspire his troops. The 39th was at the time considered one of the least prepared Australian units. It shouldn't have been in New Guinea in the first place. Its training was incomplete (many of the soldiers of the 39th hadn't even fired their rifles in basic training before being shipped off) and was lacking equipment and supplies. This is why it's believed that Owen stood up during the battle, to inspire his troops who were heavily outnumbered by the Japanese. The Battalion started the campaign with 800 soldiers but fewer than 100 I believe were at Kokoda itself, the rest being spread out along the track behind Kokoda to keep it open from Japanese flanking attacks and possible encirclement. The 39th are legends in Australia among those who have studied the Kokoda Campaign. Under trained, under equipped and with 800 men that took on the Japanese across the track while falling back towards New Guinea and then onwards across the track on the offensive to retake Kokoda and push on to the coast. By campaign's end they could only muster just over 30 men, not even enough for a single platoon and so the battalion was disbanded.
Your leader getting shot down like a duck at shooting gallery doesn't inspire. Leaving your troops leaderless isn't good command. The 39th, though, did amazing.
Drachinifel only recently finished his series on the naval battles around Guadalcanal, now you guys cover the whole campaign week by week. Good timing.
Every episode is better than the previous. You guys are doing such an amazing work ! Indy's general presentation and narrative simply amazing, right on the spot and at the same time humorous !
I don't really remember when it was last mentioned, so I do have to ask: Is anything significant happening on the ground in China? Or is the front there mostly static?
Most of the action around this time has been in Burma. Can't recall any major operations in China proper, just the ongoing low-level war and the impending famine.
@@penultimateh766 That might be part of the reason China doesn't get as much attention in Western sources as it should, but it's not the main reason. There may be more people dying there than in Midway or Guadalcanal, but which events had a bigger effect on the ultimate outcome of the war? When you've got a limited amount of show time or space on a page to cover the war, you cover the events based on that and not the sheer amount of human misery. Or like this channel you do a companion series (War against Humanity) that covers those events in more detail.
This video did a great job explaining why hitlers decision to split resources and send half to the Caucasus and the others to stalingrad simultaneously was a MASSIVE mistake, it was much better explained here why it was such a mistake and the background context emphasizes how much of a mistake this was, and I've never heard anyone explain it this well, and I've seen actual hundreds of thousands of ww2 documentaries over the years and none of them came close to explaining hitlers gigantic blunder and why it was such an awful decision as well as indy did here. Very well done I love these videos man.
Here it is now. The prelude to the most turning points of the war. El Alemein, Stalingrad, and Guadalcanal. These battles shall and will decide the fate of the war. To whom win these battles I do not know. But to whom ever wins they shall hold the fruits of victory high in their regards. May those who fallen Rest In Peace.
Yes indeed but I should add that there was one more battle, the Battle for Imphal and Kohima which happened a couple of years later. This was the furthest the Japanese managed to get into India. Whoops, probably shouldn't have said that! Ah well, I doubt anyone will remember by the time it comes around :)
@@rhineriversurf5594 - We got to the end of the beginning of the end of the beginning way earlier, but these three battles are where the Axis forces first start getting significantly rolled back on the field. One could argue it was over when Hitler declared war on the USA, or when Hitler invaded the USSR, or when Hitler failed to destroy the RAF, but those are retrospective turning points that depend on things having played out afterward the way they did. After the three big turning point battles wrap up in early 1943, the outcome of the war is no longer in serious doubt. From then on the Allies will continue to advance and the Axis will retreat. Allied war production will outpace the Axis and the Allies will go from strength to strength.
Germany had lost tens to hundreds of thousands of men, some ~30% of their tanks and most to all their logistics trying to KO the USSR in Barbarossa. It's over Germany, USSR has the high ground.
I love this series so much. I had been following WWI "in real time" during the 100 year anniversaries of the events, though that had mainly consisted of researching things on my own.
@@brickproduction1815 I went back for a couple events with the bloodbath servers, quality of life changes with RS2 were too big now. HLL will probably take up most of the market for that going forward
4:36 I suppose as of this week, a certain *Robert Leckie* is sailing along with the 1st Marines on route to Guadalcanal, armed with M1903 Springfield rifles because the US Army gets the shiny new M1 Garand rifles first. Next week will be interesting...
US Marines were elite troops but not necessarily treated that way. A famous picture of Marines in Guadalcanal shows them with Springfields searching a patch of jungle.
@@cheriefsadeksadek2108 check out hypohystericalhistory on YT for the Kokoda track battle. He gives a detailed look at Australian battles that many people don't know much about. It was the key to New Guinea and Japan being able to establish major control over the southern Pacific and the reach of allied aircraft if it is lost.
As an Australian I would really love to see a bit more of an in depth look at the kokoda trail. It's culturally significant here and we learn about it in school but not as much as we learn about Gallipoli. So to hear it in a much more objective light the way this channel presents things would be very compelling. My perspective on this war gets deeper and more considerate with every episode. I'm genuinely hoping we get more about kokoda considering it was a much more direct threat to Australia itself than Gallipoli was, and was one of the most "gruelling military advances in history". Love the channel guys keep doing what you do! ❤
It'd be cool to get specials, even if it's short ones, for all those battles. Savo Island, Eastern Solomons, Cape Esperance, Santa Cruz, Guadalcanal 1st/2nd, Tassafaronga... So much stuff will happen around there in the next few months. Also, collab with Drachinifel when?
I would love to learn more about the Guadalcanal campaign because it is so complicated and seems to be so riddled with mistakes. I'm finding it very difficult to judge everything without hindsight. We all know that in the fog of War decisions are usually imperfect but it takes a very deep understanding of the situation to appreciate this. Also want to put in a plug for Dracinifel who has several episodes on Savo Island
@@ErikHare I can definitely recommend James D. Hornfischer's "Neptune's Inferno: The US Navy at Guadalcanal". It's a great book on the topic if you haven't read it.
@@indianajones4321 - I know, right? Just like the Luftwaffe successfully supplied the Demyansk Pocket a year earlier (although that pocket had fewer Germans to feed than the army heading for Stalingrad). Of course this time the Luftwaffe will have to meet some additional demands, such as resupplying Rommel in North Africa. Failing to take Malta could hurt the Axis, and the Axis won't be helped when the Americans join the fight against them. Rommel has been punching above his weight against the British but he can't keep winning battles by losing the supply war.
With no historical precedents, meteorological data on record, and common sense, Barbarossa was a failure at best. Of course the Wehrmacht had ALL that information on hand. Were they just ignorant or was Hitler calling the shots by then?
Stalin: Not a step back! German intercepts: Hey, isn't that what Hitler says? They might still have a secret pact going. Japanese officers: Hack your way through the jungle! Hack until you drop! Allies: Holy sh*t! They're actually trying that! Rommel: I'm so glad Indy likes my letters.
The Japanese addiction to medieval brutalism... Did anyone pick up the dropped hackers afterwards? Or were they finished off with a grenade (a practice of Japanese medical orderlies in the field).
Militarily, Russia has always been a huge, destructive black hole, sucking away victory. I repeat myself, repeatedly, but...thanks to all for this amazing WWII series! It is wonderful!
The blocking detachments didn't actually shoot people on the spot. If people retreated without authorization they would stop them and arrest the officers, not the regular men too much. If they executed them it was done more formally, not just where they stood. The idea that they just shot their own men who ran back is a myth created by movies and video games.
I remember watching Enemy at the gates and thought that no army would be so stupid as to equip blocking detachments with better guns than frontline troops, not to mention killing like sheep regular soldiers whom you've trained and equipped, and frankly need because Germans are there also. And now we have people who take such retarded, distorted view for a fact
@@carbon4454 no, it is what it is; once the Battle was inside Stalingrad, teh only troops really prone to break where NKVD -Troops, but then those were more like a Milicia of party workes, cops and public servants
I rarely comment but I wanted to commend Indy and Sparty for the series overall and for the board view of the war. As ever it’s rare for Americans to see WWII as more than just the US vs the Axis. The extensive coverage of the Eastern Front
With the end of July 1942, August 1942 awaits. I have a feeling a lot of significant things are about to happen on different parts of the world next month, which may ultimately prove decisive.
@@thanos_6.0 Aye, we should not forget other often overlooked operations as well, such as the Battles of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo, the Makin Atoll raid, Operation Pedestal and the Dieppe Raid too...
The nitty-gritty details that are of paramount concern to the soldiers fighting and the commanders commanding are often given sparse attention in historic accounts of WW2 that provide sweeping bird's eye views of space and time. Honing in on what went on in a narrow time frame in just 2 or 3 theatres of operation is to understand the war at the human level.
I was expecting this title this week and man, I was not disappointed at all. I actually first learnt of Order No 227 from the 2003 video game Call of Duty, where it is shown during the loading of the first level of the Russian campaign, Stalingrad (which is based on the rather inaccurate 2001 film Enemy at the Gates). They sure take those orders maybe a little too strictly, the commissars will shoot you if you try to fall back :)
This is a common myth perpetuated in the west. Films like Enemy at the Gates are extremely inaccurate. Most soldiers who ran were put into penal battalions and rarely shot. Some were sent to gulags. Order 227 was mostly directed at officers.
A common misrepresentation. In reality, the order stated that officers cannot retreat from their position without orders from above. However, falling back to a position you already held, that is allowed.
Its should be noted though, that, despite the dramatic tone of Stalin's order, ALL armies involved in WW2 (and today to be honest) had similar orders and stances towards deserters, it just isnt something that you generally allow in armies.
I am really surprised you get upvoted so much for this comment? You general sentiment: Unit 227 wasn’t as dramatic as often portrayed, is right but the rest is complete bonkers. The Allies didn’t have any orders comparable and unlike WW1 where the Entente did shoot quite a lot of soldiers (much more than Germany) in WW2 very few Allied soldiers got shot. And those who were, were trialed. On the other hand, ten thousands of Soviet soldiers were shot and even some commanders were executed and not everyone even got a trial. Germany followed somewhat in 1945 with many supposed "cowards" being executed. Imperial Japan might be the third comparable power but I doubt we will ever get reliable numbers there.
@@bingobongo1615 Same question as @Memunist had, do you have a source for that? because the documentation from the barrier corps, memoirs from Soviet commanders like Zaitsev and works written since then like: Richard Overy's Russia's War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941-1945, Christian Hartmann's Operation Barbarossa, Reese's Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought, among many, many others, paint a very different picture, ie. that of shtrafbats (penal batalions) being the preferred punishment for insubordination and/or desertion, and again, I stress this out , armies dont often make light of desertion, none of the armies in WW2 did, thats kind of something you dont want in your army, especially with literally millions of lives at stake. As it is, all I can say is that what you said sounds more like a scene from "Enemy at the Gates".
Man that transition in the playlist from WAH episode 039 with thousands of people being gased in Treblinka (never forget :( ) to Indy's "They're out of gas?!" in this episode is just aweful :D
My first thought when I clicked this video. Paradox utterly fails to promote hoi4. Even paradox youtubers are sponsored by different shitty-ass map games in the same videos they upload with hoi4 content.
Ugh in this war and the last German high command continues to believe it can take multiple objectives at once splitting its forces and that somehow the same tactic again and again is gonna work when for weeks its shown it won't.
In this case I think it's more out of necessity than overconfidence. Germany knows it's running out of time and resources and rolled the dice by splitting AG south this early in the campaign.
Can you do an special about Russian citizens in cities, before, during and after battle? Like, how many fly, how many stay. How do they survive? How are they doing in occupation by the Germans?
16:14 Is it just me or is the text here different from the talk? If I am hearing correctly Indy says Allied losses are 96, All nations (including non-belligerents) are 128. It says on screen the 128 is German losses which seems huge seeing they are not convoying across the atlantic with a U-boat fleet against them.
Don't worry: the germans will soon provide them with antitank weapons as they have requested, and together with the Romanians they'll become an unmovable wall for the Soviets.
Oh I'm certain the German High-Command will make sure to use their allies where they should. It's not like they'll have the Hungarians and Romanians who lack anti-tank weapons hold the flanks even when they say a bunch of Russian tanks will attack them and they won't hold. I mean we're talking about *THE* German High-Command they'd surely reinforce their flanks EVEN if that were to happen..... Right?
3:46 - yes New Zealand. A few stories about the Marines in Wellington and fights breaking out with the NZ men over NZ women as well as some of the infrastructure the Americans help build including Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland.
Canada has been doing their part in the Battle of the Atlantic from the start and are now starting to get their sea legs, sending 3 German u-boats to the bottom in just the last week. Today on the 31st an RCAF bomber out of Yarmouth NS sinks U754 off the southern coast of Nova Scotia. The RCN also sink U588 on this day and U90 last week. The RCAF Hudson bomber from 113 squadron Yarmouth caught U754 on the surface sinking it with depth charges as it was about to dive. U754 had just sunk the american fishing trawler Ebb out Boston a couple of days earlier.
Has anyone ever identified that 6'7" German in the front of the column in Leningrad, I remember that picture when I was a kid. Some of the high ranking officers marching through Moscow after Operation Bagration, I managed to identify by search through German army photos etc.
Germans: "hey let's do the encirclement thing again" Soviets on the ground: "oh hell no I know how this goes TACTICAL RETREAT" Germans: "wtf they weren't supposed to do that, we burned all our resources on this and got squat for our troubles and now that all that's done they're still fighting us" And so whether by luck or judgement, the simple expedient of the Soviets just not being there completely messed up the German offensive. In hindsight, it's actually quite brilliant, tactically shrewd and se-... Stalin big brain time: "ok no, this won't do, NOT A STEP BACK"
Except his logic was that they didn't have anymore room for such maneuvers left without unacceptable losses in territory and resources. (He also correctly surmised that the Germans were at the end of their pincer-making game).
I'm waiting for the upcoming special: Stalingrad battle, minute after minute. After all - it's gonna be one of the most important battles in this war. Just like the Perl Harbor. And it can't last too long, since the Red Army is that exhausted. Can it?
Stalingrad is just a speedbump on the road to Astrakhan. Indy will probably mention it in passing and we won't hear about it again during the campaign to the east.
New subscriber & just am so happy w/everything. Okay, I'm admitting that I'm a total 100% idiotic stooge or a simple dumb ass for not finding this great fountain of information on everything I am now & have always been interested in. My Pops was in WW2 & it's gone on from there. Thanks for the hard work.
Hi Indy Thrilling week Stalingrad now this name we will hear more time... Want to know about the fight in your words.. Been waiting for it. Thanks indy and team..🙏👍
Hi All, When an army travels across a landscape, it eats up all the food, creating a desert. During the Hundred Years War, Germany was described as a land where no birds flew, no rabbit ran, all was barren. The Japanese Army could get supplies from the sea, but could not go very far inland without motor transport. There would have been a dead spot between the two armies, making it difficult for either side to get close to the other. As a result, starvation for the average people, but few battles in the normal sense. Thanks for your time, take care.
Would King have been as aggressive with Guadalcanal without the overwhelming victory of Midway first? I'm thinking he would not have been but if he had, Japan would have had the planes that they didn't have.
Ok, I am sure I could do this operation in some video game, and for that, strategy is sound, but irl and with all distances and resources needed, it still sound crazy.
@@mth469 shtraf - from german Strafe (penalty) + bat - from batallion; zagrad - from indo-european grad/guard (block) + otryad - from Slavic ryad (row, formation). European languages aren't rocket science.
@@valentinstoyanov304 yep and In Russian pregrada would be 'obstacle', still coming from the same 'block' semantics. Even the -grad suffix in Stalingrad or Petrograd is the same 'grad' as in 'guard' or 'garden' i.e. something defended/fenced.
A little thing on the battles for New Guinea. These battles were the first time that the Owen Gun was used by Australian troops… though I think it was a bit later in the war. But the Owen gun was their home-designed sub machine gun. Home-designed meaning it was designed in Australia and that was invented by someone in their home. Evelyn Owen, no relation to the Owen in the video, was a kid who decided that he wanted to make a submachine gun for the military. So he did. Originally chambered in .22LR with the potential to be upgraded to bigger cartridges, it was presented to the Australian Ordnance Department in 1938, who blew him off. It would later be found by his neighbors after Owen himself was conscripted and adapted it into 9mm Parabellum, the same 9mm caliber as the rest of the allies used and that we still use today, and put into service. The gun itself would be used throughout WW2 and the Korean War by Australians and New Zealanders before eventually being replaced by the F1 for a brief moment before it was replaced by the M16. It was often considered to be better for the environments of the Pacific and more reliable than the Thompson or Sten, which Australia and NZ had used before. The gun also saw service during the Indonesian War for Independence and Malay Emergency on both sides.
Imagine being a bastard, made walk through the city that you've been bombing and starving to death over almost a year. Also, imagine being a Soviet soldier trying your best to resist a temptation and let the locals lynch them... I've met several people, who grew up during the blockade and none would ever want to speak about how he or she managed to survive. All however, said that the first time they remember themselves NOT starving, was several years after the war was over.
@Marcelo Henrique Soares da Silva nah man Stalingrad is weak and one thrust and it will fall... It's not like the soviets would throw butt naked men with no guns or ammo into the Germans... To defend it!
I love this show! However, there is one thing that could be improved. Indy often referes to say the ; ”…39th Infantry” or ”…3rd Panzer” or ”…1st South African Armoured”. I would greatly appreciate if the formation’s size would be included, such as divison, regiment or brigade. It can from time to time get a bit confusing. Regardless, keep up the fantastic work!
The actual size can vary depending on what year and how much fighting the division etc has been in and if they have been reinforced. The usual size of brigades divisions etc can be found by searching google. as to losses and reinforcements the information may not be available at any one date.
The unit card on the map has indicators for its size. X is a brigade, XX division, XXX core, XXXX army, XXXXX front/armygroup. It's a general rule of thumb. The manpower sizes can be confusing and hard to portray because each side had different organisation and situation. For example during the current battle for Stalingrad, the soviets would receive reinforcement "Brigades" that were actually bigger than whole divisions in the 62nd army (which isn't saying much because half of the divisions in the army had less than 3000 men). It gets more complicated when you want to understand the engagements on an operational level. On average (on paper) a German division is almost twice as big as a soviet one, that's why the soviets needed to throw in many divisions against a single German one just to do anything. Then you need to consider that the Germans had their divisions organised in cores (2-4 divisions in a core, and a few cores in an army), but the soviets didn't have the core level, and instead the army had direct command over the many divisions. That's why you also hear of "many whole soviet armies attacking a single german one" because the soviets didn't have the organisation to divide their forces, and when they divide, they became too weak to handle the Germans.
@@darthcalanil5333 Yes I know, but I recall when talking about the axis operations in north africa, Indy mentioned the "1st South Africans", reffering to a brigade not shown on the map. Furthermore, the soviets did have corps later in the war. The doctrine where divisions were attached directly to armies due to lack of staff officers. TIK has a great video on it! Regarding Stalingrad, 3000 men were quite good for a division of the 62nd army at the time lol. I recall that one divison got reduced to the size of a small battalion or large company (about 250 men). Regarding the size of german divisions vs soviet divisions; On paper a soviet Rifle division should have had 10,082 men in 1942 and a german infantry division about 16,000. But as you mention, neither side were at full strenght, especially no the soviets, and especially not in the stalingrad area. Again, I recommend TIK for further information here on youtube.
It feels as bit too much from the German perspective, Soviets being "them" somehow. Why don't we hear more about Soviet perspective, their struggles to provide logistics, their line of thinking while Blau is ongoing. Also, you are not mentioning enough Rzhev salient I think. Otherwise, good stuff.
@@Boommssloot Nothing much significant is happening in both theaters at the moment. The Burma theater is mostly on pause till almost the end of the year due to the heavy monsoon rains during this period. However, there are likely to be some limited operations by the Chinese in Mainland China next month.
I would imagine that is because the Germans, at this point have the strategic initiative and are thus dictating the course of the war, with the Soviets mostly being reactionary. When that changes, perspectives will change and shift - as they have before.
A whole lot going on this episode and a whole lot more will be coming soon. Strap in for these next few months.
And if you want a bit of respite from it all then be sure to check out our TimeGhost channel. We just published a pretty fun Between Two Wars episode mainly looking at Buster Keaton and the British Empire Exhibition. You can check that out here: ua-cam.com/video/egaCZEmZTl8/v-deo.html
and of course, check out our rules of conduct before commenting: community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518
Could you please give eastory some extra praise from me for these excellent maps
Feel bad bcs I haven't noticed this episode on Patreon two days ago haha
I know stripes on stripes clash and so should you.
Dude I'm thrilled for stalingrad
@@LoganParam-03 Not as much as the Wehrmacht. I'm sure they're looking forward to their imminent victory there.....
I just realized that the Germans idea of "winning at Stalingrad" was the same as my idea of "making an easy $100 a night working Uber Eats"=both turned into a nightmare of fuel shortages, conflicting orders, hostility from the inhabitants of our destinations, and ended with us turning around and going home, which we didn't realize we were very, VERY far from until it was too late.
But did you ever find "Janine"?
Incredible comment
- Quote from Commander of Uber Eats 5th Motorized Infantry Division, Circa 2020
I'm assuming you were encircled by rabid customers at one point?
As a Pizza delivery driver, I can relate.
I feel bad for whoever indy talks to on the phone. Indy almost never says "goodbye" or "see ya later" or "take it easy" or anything.
Everyone asks who is on the other end of the phone not how is the person on the other end of the phone
Because he's talking to his time travelling counterpart
Astrid (the theory as to who is the other speaker) doesn't mind. 🙂
It's either a Nazi or an Imperial, I don't care about their feelings
Indy just calls a number at random and starts talking
Talking Stalingrad will be super easy, barely an inconvenience.
Whoops
Screenrant??
Yeah, it is not like anyone ever died there.
Urban warfare is tight!
Oh really?
Re Stalingrad: "It can't possibly hold out, right? C'mon, not a chance!" I do love that foreshadowing.
His face LOL
just like midway
spoiler alert brah
Indy is the best
It's pretty annoying and terribly unclever really. Everyone knows what happens.
It is important to remember that Order 227 DOES NOT mean that any soldiers who took ANY step back during combat were shot. 227 focused on unauthorised RETREATS, and did not punish soldiers for making tactical manoeuvres (such as falling back or taking cover in the face of overwhelming enemy firepower). The objective of 227 was to reinforce military discipline following the retreats/routs of the previous months, not to gun down random soviet soldiers who misstepped while attacking an enemy position.
The problem is, an average and stereotype US film maker would not care about that.
nEvEr sEeN EnEmY At tHe gAtEs
@@ericrohe291 Yeah, that film printed a clear image of what the eastern front was. A completely false one.
Pretty sure 2005s Call of Duty II completely changed an entire generations view of crossing the Volga and taking Red Square haha
@@lehoang3532 The director of Enemy at the Gates was actually French
Who is excited for Guadalcanal and Stalingrad next week.
Hype train *CHU CHU!* 🚂
Next week? Are you a time traveller?
We're getting to the end of the beginning.
Spoilers bro don't ruin next episode even if you do have crunchyrole premium this anime is very important
Not a statement I’d think I’d hear 75 years ago lmao
Ohhh, Mikawa and eighth fleet come into play. Having read "Neptune's Inferno" recently, I'll be looking forward to the action around Guadalcanal!
Yup. We’re all stoked, sir. So……..um…..where is Guadalcanal again?
@@garcalej I think in Panama. Where ever that is.
@@pedrolopez8057 I hope there are beaches, at least. And not too many mosquitoes.
Hate mosquitoes 🦟
two weeks time could be spicy
"Neptune's Inferno" is great reading. RIP James D. Hornfischer (November 18, 1965 - June 2, 2021).
"As crimes pile up, they become invisible"
- Bertolt Brecht
Noting that one for later.
damn, what did brecht do?
@@Mantis42 Write poetry and theatre plays.
@@Mantis42 ANDREA: Unhappy the land that has no heroes! . . .
GALILEO: No, unhappy the land that needs heroes.
Bertolt Brecht: Life of Galileo
Wars tend to get crueller the longer they go on. In 1941/2 in the Western Desert, if a tank was was knocked out and the crew tried escaping, generally speaking the other side would cease fire to allow them to get out. 1944/5 in Western Europe, if either side knocked out a tank it was normal for crew members to be mown down when trying to get out of their burning tank. It was reasoned that if they got away they would be manning a new tank, but also any traces of humanitarian inhibitions had disappeared. The Eastern Front was cruel from day one.
Had no idea that Baku was the 5th biggest city in the Soviet Union, I thought it was a small city.
@@thomass1891 yeah I know, one more reason to think it was a small city
@@RavenioTheHatamoto Well Azerbaijan is the most populated country in caucuses and historically one of the biggest oil producing areas in the Soviet Union so I think it makes sense for it to be one of the bigger cities.
@@BRITISHGU1Y having big natural resources nearby doesn't mean that the city has to be big, expecially considering that oil is not one of those resources like grain or food that is linked with population increase.
Stalin spent some time there early in his Bolshevik career.
@@DawidKov The USSR population in 1939 was 170 million. They had enough people to create big cities, especially when the people are packed only in certain parts of the country.
With Order 227, I'm hoping we get some clarification into the sensationalist tales of Soviet commissars firing machine guns on their own men for retreating.
machine guns? pansy, indie clearly said they deployed tanks, too ^^
Its not like in enemy at the gates
@@kubablaszka attaching tanks to blocking detachments doesn't mean you're shooting friendlies with them
That's mistaken actually. Thanks to enemy at the gates. The order was implemented in the sense that any ESTABLISHED line was not to be abandoned. Not an advance which was blocked
@@TheIfifi MHV covers the themes and his testifies very objective and carefully.
TIK is also making interesting stuff, but I can‘t watch him for a long time. He is always so „loud“ and judgmental in a way that it is offensive.
I'd like to add that blocking detachments were also formed out of experienced and faithful soldiers. They didn't exterminate their own troops as it's shown in "Enemy at the gates",they usually threatened and barely shoot anyone. There were even some situations when blocking detachments supported the troops and took part in fighting.
Jason D Mark Island Of Fire gives a good picture of the blocking detachment fighting on the front lines just like all the other Soviet troops.
@@DawidKov As the war went on blocking detachments and penal battalions were quietly disbanded, so no one serving in them.
Red Army has courtmartialed and shot 14.000 of its own soldiers during 6 months of Stalingrad siege. Source: Davud.M.Glantz, Erickson, Vinogradova.
My dad was on that ship headed for Guadalcanal. He was a Marine Raider, 1st Marine Division, age 19. He lost almost 80 pounds during his time on the island. He never breathed a word of his experiences (Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Okinawa) to me except to say that the South Pacific was "hotter than hell" and that the Pacific had nasty typhoons. I finally learned what he did when he and his buddies were swapping stories while he was in a nursing home dying of ALS. At my dad's funeral, one of his friends came up to me and said, "You know, your dad was a real hero." That didn't come as a surprise. He's always been this kid's hero.
Thank you for sharing this with us! We can't imagine the horrors your dad must have witnessed, but no doubt he was a great man! We are touched that you decided to tell us this personal family story. It is our hope that the videos we make will work towards keeping the memory of your father and the others like him alive. May he rest in peace.
Thank you. He was a hell of a man as were most of his generation. Thank you for keeping their memory alive. Just subbed to your channel & Patreon. Thanks again.
Thank you again for supporting our efforts to keep producing new content. Together, we'll keep working towards keeping their memory alive. Welcome to the TimeGhost Army!
Huff Duff, still a massively underrated war winner
"Secret Weapon: U.S. High-Frequency Direction Finding in the Battle of the Atlantic" by Kathleen Broome Williams as an informative, if a little dry, book on the subject.
2:00 not to be confused with an another Australian Owen who designed a cool-looking/ugly submachine gun that will be in Australian use somewhere next year.
When I first read your comment I thought it said "submarine gun" 🤣
Forgotten Weapons did a couple videos on that gun I believe
@@MrRenegadeshinobi Yes.
The Owen was already in production in 1942…
Somehow Indy's 30 seconds of levity just works at the beginning of every episode, considering the seriousness of the subject matter, this is an achievement in itself.
More "Smiling" Albert Kesselring in the future, I'm looking forward go this.
In the Battle of the Atlantic summaries, in addition to the number of ships and u-boats sunk, it would be interesting to know how many new ships/u-boats were launched in the same time period (if that info is available). In a battle of attrition, replacements are important.
That I don`t know but I know that Uboat crews had a 75 % casualty rate (30.000 from 40.000) the highest of all German forces
A good book on this is Clay Blair Hitler's U Boat war
I’d also like to know the tonnage successfully transported. 400k tons sounds like a lot, but it they successfully go through 2 million tons, doesn’t seem as meaningful.
Both the allies and the Germans build more ships / U-boats then the ones that are sunk.
@@thanos_6.0 A lot of those casualties come later in the war, once Allied convoy tactics and sub-finding techniques improve. It's not the 'happy time' in the Atlantic anymore, but the Kriegsmarine is still pretty effective right now.
Those at Kokoda said that Owen purposefully stood up in full view of both his own troops and the Japanese. He was asked to take cover but refused, insisting that he needed to inspire his troops. The 39th was at the time considered one of the least prepared Australian units. It shouldn't have been in New Guinea in the first place. Its training was incomplete (many of the soldiers of the 39th hadn't even fired their rifles in basic training before being shipped off) and was lacking equipment and supplies. This is why it's believed that Owen stood up during the battle, to inspire his troops who were heavily outnumbered by the Japanese. The Battalion started the campaign with 800 soldiers but fewer than 100 I believe were at Kokoda itself, the rest being spread out along the track behind Kokoda to keep it open from Japanese flanking attacks and possible encirclement.
The 39th are legends in Australia among those who have studied the Kokoda Campaign. Under trained, under equipped and with 800 men that took on the Japanese across the track while falling back towards New Guinea and then onwards across the track on the offensive to retake Kokoda and push on to the coast. By campaign's end they could only muster just over 30 men, not even enough for a single platoon and so the battalion was disbanded.
Those ragged bloody heroes.
Your leader getting shot down like a duck at shooting gallery doesn't inspire. Leaving your troops leaderless isn't good command. The 39th, though, did amazing.
@@robertkras5162 I doubt it was his intention to get shot, but to stand, be seen by the diggers and keep them in the fight.
That fly made quite the landing on Indy.
It's the fly formerly swallowed by Belloq, the very same!
I had family from Rzhev, some died as Partisans, others were pilots for medic evac, that were shot down upon takeoff.
Drachinifel only recently finished his series on the naval battles around Guadalcanal, now you guys cover the whole campaign week by week. Good timing.
Seeing citizens of Leningrad enthusiastically digging defense works made me emotional. Poor people were about to experience hell on earth
Every episode is better than the previous. You guys are doing such an amazing work ! Indy's general presentation and narrative simply amazing, right on the spot and at the same time humorous !
I have to say Indy you handled those Russian names better than anyone I know could have.
I mean the stress was not on the right syllable in 80% of times, but "ни шагу назад" was spot on
It really doesn’t matter how it’s pronounced, it’s how it tastes.
I don't really remember when it was last mentioned, so I do have to ask: Is anything significant happening on the ground in China? Or is the front there mostly static?
Most of the action around this time has been in Burma. Can't recall any major operations in China proper, just the ongoing low-level war and the impending famine.
There was an appalling famine in central China in 1942 mostly caused by crop failure and Japanese revenge.
The front there is mostly static
Spolier alert : there was an other attempt to take Changsha in 1943 and a huge Japanese offensive in 1944
@@penultimateh766 That might be part of the reason China doesn't get as much attention in Western sources as it should, but it's not the main reason. There may be more people dying there than in Midway or Guadalcanal, but which events had a bigger effect on the ultimate outcome of the war? When you've got a limited amount of show time or space on a page to cover the war, you cover the events based on that and not the sheer amount of human misery. Or like this channel you do a companion series (War against Humanity) that covers those events in more detail.
This video did a great job explaining why hitlers decision to split resources and send half to the Caucasus and the others to stalingrad simultaneously was a MASSIVE mistake, it was much better explained here why it was such a mistake and the background context emphasizes how much of a mistake this was, and I've never heard anyone explain it this well, and I've seen actual hundreds of thousands of ww2 documentaries over the years and none of them came close to explaining hitlers gigantic blunder and why it was such an awful decision as well as indy did here. Very well done I love these videos man.
Here it is now. The prelude to the most turning points of the war. El Alemein, Stalingrad, and Guadalcanal. These battles shall and will decide the fate of the war. To whom win these battles I do not know. But to whom ever wins they shall hold the fruits of victory high in their regards. May those who fallen Rest In Peace.
Yes indeed but I should add that there was one more battle, the Battle for Imphal and Kohima which happened a couple of years later. This was the furthest the Japanese managed to get into India. Whoops, probably shouldn't have said that! Ah well, I doubt anyone will remember by the time it comes around :)
After nemesis can come hubris all at once but the allies weren't being complacent this early.
The war turned WAY lot earlier
@@rhineriversurf5594 - We got to the end of the beginning of the end of the beginning way earlier, but these three battles are where the Axis forces first start getting significantly rolled back on the field. One could argue it was over when Hitler declared war on the USA, or when Hitler invaded the USSR, or when Hitler failed to destroy the RAF, but those are retrospective turning points that depend on things having played out afterward the way they did. After the three big turning point battles wrap up in early 1943, the outcome of the war is no longer in serious doubt. From then on the Allies will continue to advance and the Axis will retreat. Allied war production will outpace the Axis and the Allies will go from strength to strength.
Germany had lost tens to hundreds of thousands of men, some ~30% of their tanks and most to all their logistics trying to KO the USSR in Barbarossa.
It's over Germany, USSR has the high ground.
I love this series so much. I had been following WWI "in real time" during the 100 year anniversaries of the events, though that had mainly consisted of researching things on my own.
12:18 real footage of Tripwire staff making maps for Red Orchestra 2 in 2008
Hahah great game back then still great today
LMAO
@@brickproduction1815 I went back for a couple events with the bloodbath servers, quality of life changes with RS2 were too big now. HLL will probably take up most of the market for that going forward
@@pnutz_2 I stick mostly to Darkest hour 44 - 45
@@brickproduction1815 I haven't played that one since 2011 lol, even before they put guns on the higgins lander
I cannot wait for the Guadalcanal Campaign! I wrote my BA thesis about the US Marines in that campaign.
Great stuff folks, this was an exciting episode. Congrats Time Ghost team.
4:36 I suppose as of this week, a certain *Robert Leckie* is sailing along with the 1st Marines on route to Guadalcanal, armed with M1903 Springfield rifles because the US Army gets the shiny new M1 Garand rifles first. Next week will be interesting...
Stalingrad, El Alamein, Guadalcanal Absolutely wonderful simultaneous events
John Basilone is gonna burn his arm soon picking up a hot barreled .30 cal
US Marines were elite troops but not necessarily treated that way. A famous picture of Marines in Guadalcanal shows them with Springfields searching a patch of jungle.
The Pacific depicted Leckie as a machine gunner with an M1911 as his personal weapon.
@@cheriefsadeksadek2108 check out hypohystericalhistory on YT for the Kokoda track battle. He gives a detailed look at Australian battles that many people don't know much about. It was the key to New Guinea and Japan being able to establish major control over the southern Pacific and the reach of allied aircraft if it is lost.
3:42 Indy being under attack by a fly
the fly attacked without a declaration of war or an ultimatum
@@getreadyforthecircus This is modern insect war.
I think it was that prototype Me 262 from last week
As an Australian I would really love to see a bit more of an in depth look at the kokoda trail. It's culturally significant here and we learn about it in school but not as much as we learn about Gallipoli. So to hear it in a much more objective light the way this channel presents things would be very compelling.
My perspective on this war gets deeper and more considerate with every episode. I'm genuinely hoping we get more about kokoda considering it was a much more direct threat to Australia itself than Gallipoli was, and was one of the most "gruelling military advances in history".
Love the channel guys keep doing what you do! ❤
I hope you guys will talk in depth on the Naval Battles of the Guadalcanal campaign.
It'd be cool to get specials, even if it's short ones, for all those battles. Savo Island, Eastern Solomons, Cape Esperance, Santa Cruz, Guadalcanal 1st/2nd, Tassafaronga... So much stuff will happen around there in the next few months.
Also, collab with Drachinifel when?
I would love to learn more about the Guadalcanal campaign because it is so complicated and seems to be so riddled with mistakes. I'm finding it very difficult to judge everything without hindsight. We all know that in the fog of War decisions are usually imperfect but it takes a very deep understanding of the situation to appreciate this. Also want to put in a plug for Dracinifel who has several episodes on Savo Island
@@ErikHare I can definitely recommend James D. Hornfischer's "Neptune's Inferno: The US Navy at Guadalcanal". It's a great book on the topic if you haven't read it.
@@rare_kumiko yeah I just read that book and that why I am asking, it is definitely a amazing book
I cant get over how well your maps are done. Super job you folks, keep it up!
Germans underestimating the Soviets, no way.
They also have the Luftwaffe that could easily solve any problem in Stalingrad
@@indianajones4321 - I know, right? Just like the Luftwaffe successfully supplied the Demyansk Pocket a year earlier (although that pocket had fewer Germans to feed than the army heading for Stalingrad). Of course this time the Luftwaffe will have to meet some additional demands, such as resupplying Rommel in North Africa. Failing to take Malta could hurt the Axis, and the Axis won't be helped when the Americans join the fight against them. Rommel has been punching above his weight against the British but he can't keep winning battles by losing the supply war.
They didn't really have a choice - they either take the caucuses or sue for peace
With no historical precedents, meteorological data on record, and common sense, Barbarossa was a failure at best. Of course the Wehrmacht had ALL that information on hand. Were they just ignorant or was Hitler calling the shots by then?
@@Septimus_ii What? Utter nonsense.
Stalin: Not a step back!
German intercepts: Hey, isn't that what Hitler says? They might still have a secret pact going.
Japanese officers: Hack your way through the jungle! Hack until you drop!
Allies: Holy sh*t! They're actually trying that!
Rommel: I'm so glad Indy likes my letters.
This episode in a nutshell.
This is the best comment I've read! 😂😂😂😂😂
The Japanese addiction to medieval brutalism...
Did anyone pick up the dropped hackers afterwards? Or were they finished off with a grenade (a practice of Japanese medical orderlies in the field).
Never thought I'd see the day Stalingrad became a talking point on this channel.
Indy with the pause after foreshadowing about Stalingrad is gold!
Militarily, Russia has always been a huge, destructive black hole, sucking away victory.
I repeat myself, repeatedly, but...thanks to all for this amazing WWII series! It is wonderful!
Unless you're a Mongol. Then you're the huge destructive black hole.
7:31 4000 km long refers to the whole Eastern Front or just the Caucasus?
The blocking detachments didn't actually shoot people on the spot. If people retreated without authorization they would stop them and arrest the officers, not the regular men too much. If they executed them it was done more formally, not just where they stood. The idea that they just shot their own men who ran back is a myth created by movies and video games.
I remember watching Enemy at the gates and thought that no army would be so stupid as to equip blocking detachments with better guns than frontline troops, not to mention killing like sheep regular soldiers whom you've trained and equipped, and frankly need because Germans are there also.
And now we have people who take such retarded, distorted view for a fact
Yep, the order explicitly named Company commanders and commisars to be put before military tribunal for unauthorized retreat, not the man
Sounds like commie propaganda to me
@@carbon4454 no, it is what it is; once the Battle was inside Stalingrad, teh only troops really prone to break where NKVD -Troops, but then those were more like a Milicia of party workes, cops and public servants
@@aasphaltmueller5178 ......
Owen must he the quickest intro exit of any episode. Good video
Every time Indy says "and as the week ends.." I am sligthly dissapointed and withdrawl syndroms already begin to take effect.😂
I rarely comment but I wanted to commend Indy and Sparty for the series overall and for the board view of the war. As ever it’s rare for Americans to see WWII as more than just the US vs the Axis. The extensive coverage of the Eastern Front
Thanks!
With the end of July 1942, August 1942 awaits. I have a feeling a lot of significant things are about to happen on different parts of the world next month, which may ultimately prove decisive.
Stalingrad and Guadacanal
Hype train chu Chu 🚂
@@thanos_6.0 Aye, we should not forget other often overlooked operations as well, such as the Battles of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo, the Makin Atoll raid, Operation Pedestal and the Dieppe Raid too...
@@gunman47 I never hear of them :D
Dieppe was terrible for us Canadians. Should have never happened
Quit India Movement.
The nitty-gritty details that are of paramount concern to the soldiers fighting and the commanders commanding are often given sparse attention in historic accounts of WW2 that provide sweeping bird's eye views of space and time. Honing in on what went on in a narrow time frame in just 2 or 3 theatres of operation is to understand the war at the human level.
I was expecting this title this week and man, I was not disappointed at all.
I actually first learnt of Order No 227 from the 2003 video game Call of Duty, where it is shown during the loading of the first level of the Russian campaign, Stalingrad (which is based on the rather inaccurate 2001 film Enemy at the Gates). They sure take those orders maybe a little too strictly, the commissars will shoot you if you try to fall back :)
Soviet soldier: *steps back 0.01m*
Soviet commissar: You know the rules! It's time to die!
This is a common myth perpetuated in the west. Films like Enemy at the Gates are extremely inaccurate. Most soldiers who ran were put into penal battalions and rarely shot. Some were sent to gulags. Order 227 was mostly directed at officers.
@@matthewbadley5063 TIK did a good video about that topic
A common misrepresentation. In reality, the order stated that officers cannot retreat from their position without orders from above. However, falling back to a position you already held, that is allowed.
@@thanos_6.0 Yup
Loved the WW1 series and had no idea this WW2 one was in progress. So glad I randomly came across this video :)
Welcome!
Get ready to see Henderson Field a lot in the coming months.
It must be so annoying, when an enemy refuses to cooperate with your plan
Its should be noted though, that, despite the dramatic tone of Stalin's order, ALL armies involved in WW2 (and today to be honest) had similar orders and stances towards deserters, it just isnt something that you generally allow in armies.
@@memunist5765 source pls. I only found 10201 shoot from 25 July 41 to 10 October 42 from 650k+ detained by blocking detachments.
@@glebkrawez5046 it’s the way most Americans calculate death tolls from Soviet actions: take the real number, multiply by 10.
@@memunist5765 And how big was the US army in WW2 compared to USSR? It's all realtive to the scale
I am really surprised you get upvoted so much for this comment?
You general sentiment: Unit 227 wasn’t as dramatic as often portrayed, is right but the rest is complete bonkers.
The Allies didn’t have any orders comparable and unlike WW1 where the Entente did shoot quite a lot of soldiers (much more than Germany) in WW2 very few Allied soldiers got shot.
And those who were, were trialed.
On the other hand, ten thousands of Soviet soldiers were shot and even some commanders were executed and not everyone even got a trial.
Germany followed somewhat in 1945 with many supposed "cowards" being executed.
Imperial Japan might be the third comparable power but I doubt we will ever get reliable numbers there.
@@bingobongo1615 Same question as @Memunist had, do you have a source for that? because the documentation from the barrier corps, memoirs from Soviet commanders like Zaitsev and works written since then like: Richard Overy's Russia's War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941-1945, Christian Hartmann's Operation Barbarossa, Reese's Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought, among many, many others, paint a very different picture, ie. that of shtrafbats (penal batalions) being the preferred punishment for insubordination and/or desertion, and again, I stress this out , armies dont often make light of desertion, none of the armies in WW2 did, thats kind of something you dont want in your army, especially with literally millions of lives at stake.
As it is, all I can say is that what you said sounds more like a scene from "Enemy at the Gates".
Man that transition in the playlist from WAH episode 039 with thousands of people being gased in Treblinka (never forget :( ) to Indy's "They're out of gas?!" in this episode is just aweful :D
Paradox missed their chance in promoting the new DLC "no step back" in this channel.
My first thought when I clicked this video. Paradox utterly fails to promote hoi4. Even paradox youtubers are sponsored by different shitty-ass map games in the same videos they upload with hoi4 content.
To my knowledge this channel doesn’t accept sponsorships, except when collaborating on special events like the Pearl Harbor series.
What a magnificent little series. I'm riveted.
Ugh in this war and the last German high command continues to believe it can take multiple objectives at once splitting its forces and that somehow the same tactic again and again is gonna work when for weeks its shown it won't.
Which mirrors the mistakes made by USSR in their offensives of 1941, 1942, and 1943. The soviets eventually learn.
In this case I think it's more out of necessity than overconfidence. Germany knows it's running out of time and resources and rolled the dice by splitting AG south this early in the campaign.
Napoleon showed what happens if you only attack in one place, especially but not exclusively in his Russian campaign
Did anyone else notice the fly on Indy's head at 3:43 ?
Can you do an special about Russian citizens in cities, before, during and after battle? Like, how many fly, how many stay. How do they survive?
How are they doing in occupation by the Germans?
I love how Indy just stares at the camera after saying Stalingrad couldn't possibly hold
I remember playing the PC game “Blitzkrieg” the level “not one step back”
Best game ever made.
And I remember playing Sudden Strike, but it all came down to firing artillery at every square meter on the map
@@yourstruly4817 sounds like Stalingrad
@@glede2097 it really was
Sudden Strike taught me that Howitzers, Katyushas, and AA guns can halt any offensive.
Wow! Great old time footage of the generals! Colorized too!
It’s a shame Operation Manhood couldn’t penetrate Rommel’s lines.
16:14 Is it just me or is the text here different from the talk? If I am hearing correctly Indy says Allied losses are 96, All nations (including non-belligerents) are 128. It says on screen the 128 is German losses which seems huge seeing they are not convoying across the atlantic with a U-boat fleet against them.
3:49 Wow, that's how long the "New Zealand is missing on world maps" thing is a thing? 😂
I mean it's irrelevant either way. New Zealand is pretty much living the life of its own barely connected to the rest of the world.
I like how we could see the writing on the wall about what's comming for multiple weeks already.
Like the supply problems.
2:00 Is that Stephen Fry?
Excellent presentation as always.
Hungarians and Italians on the flanks? Im not so sure that is a good idea. It could prove fatal
Germans don't have enough of units to secure the flanks by them selves.
Better have Romanians and Italians than nothing
Don't worry: the germans will soon provide them with antitank weapons as they have requested, and together with the Romanians they'll become an unmovable wall for the Soviets.
Oh I'm certain the German High-Command will make sure to use their allies where they should. It's not like they'll have the Hungarians and Romanians who lack anti-tank weapons hold the flanks even when they say a bunch of Russian tanks will attack them and they won't hold. I mean we're talking about *THE* German High-Command they'd surely reinforce their flanks EVEN if that were to happen..... Right?
It'll be fine
If they could have put Germans there, they would have. There were not enough to go around.
HUGE SPOILER
The Third Reich is on borrowed time...
A major turning point
3:46 - yes New Zealand. A few stories about the Marines in Wellington and fights breaking out with the NZ men over NZ women as well as some of the infrastructure the Americans help build including Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland.
Canada has been doing their part in the Battle of the Atlantic from the start and are now starting to get their sea legs, sending 3 German u-boats to the bottom in just the last week. Today on the 31st an RCAF bomber out of Yarmouth NS sinks U754 off the southern coast of Nova Scotia. The RCN also sink U588 on this day and U90 last week. The RCAF Hudson bomber from 113 squadron Yarmouth caught U754 on the surface sinking it with depth charges as it was about to dive. U754 had just sunk the american fishing trawler Ebb out Boston a couple of days earlier.
Has anyone ever identified that 6'7" German in the front of the column in Leningrad, I remember that picture when I was a kid. Some of the high ranking officers marching through Moscow after Operation Bagration, I managed to identify by search through German army photos etc.
Best channel on UA-cam .
The beatings will continue until morale improves!
Best channel on YT
The reality is that Stalin's order was well timed, the Germans were finally thoroughly overextended while pushing too hard
There were few natural barriers on the steppe to aid forming a defence, but the Volga is one hell of a barrier.
"pushing too hard," hehe, That's what she said.
I wish you guys made an special episode talking more in-depth about the de fence of Stalingrad
Germans: "hey let's do the encirclement thing again"
Soviets on the ground: "oh hell no I know how this goes TACTICAL RETREAT"
Germans: "wtf they weren't supposed to do that, we burned all our resources on this and got squat for our troubles and now that all that's done they're still fighting us"
And so whether by luck or judgement, the simple expedient of the Soviets just not being there completely messed up the German offensive. In hindsight, it's actually quite brilliant, tactically shrewd and se-...
Stalin big brain time: "ok no, this won't do, NOT A STEP BACK"
Except his logic was that they didn't have anymore room for such maneuvers left without unacceptable losses in territory and resources. (He also correctly surmised that the Germans were at the end of their pincer-making game).
16:13 Wrong caption?
Should be: "Allied losses to U-Boot" and "Allied losses in total" NOT German Losses.
Right?
I'm waiting for the upcoming special: Stalingrad battle, minute after minute.
After all - it's gonna be one of the most important battles in this war. Just like the Perl Harbor. And it can't last too long, since the Red Army is that exhausted. Can it?
Nah I am sure it will be over in a hour or two!
Stalingrad is just a speedbump on the road to Astrakhan. Indy will probably mention it in passing and we won't hear about it again during the campaign to the east.
Minute by minute... for 6 months?
Pearl Harbor.
Battle of Pearl Harbor!? What Battle!?
New subscriber & just am so happy w/everything. Okay, I'm admitting that I'm a total 100% idiotic stooge or a simple dumb ass for not finding this great fountain of information on everything I am now & have always been interested in. My Pops was in WW2 & it's gone on from there. Thanks for the hard work.
Welcome!
"Operation Manhood" ....
Ironic
Hi Indy
Thrilling week
Stalingrad now this name we will hear more time...
Want to know about the fight in your words..
Been waiting for it.
Thanks indy and team..🙏👍
What about China? It's been a few months since we've heard anything from that front.
Stagnation
@@WorldWarTwo lmao
Hi All, When an army travels across a landscape, it eats up all the food, creating a desert.
During the Hundred Years War, Germany was described as a land where no birds flew, no rabbit ran, all was barren.
The Japanese Army could get supplies from the sea, but could not go very far inland without motor transport.
There would have been a dead spot between the two armies, making it difficult for either side to get close to the other.
As a result, starvation for the average people, but few battles in the normal sense.
Thanks for your time, take care.
3:42 That fly is trying to tap into Indy's limitless knowledge.
Would King have been as aggressive with Guadalcanal without the overwhelming victory of Midway first? I'm thinking he would not have been but if he had, Japan would have had the planes that they didn't have.
Ok, I am sure I could do this operation in some video game, and for that, strategy is sound, but irl and with all distances and resources needed, it still sound crazy.
Penal battalion = shtrafbat. Blocking detachment = zagradotryad.
If only we could pronounce those names..
@@mth469 shtraf - from german Strafe (penalty) + bat - from batallion;
zagrad - from indo-european grad/guard (block) + otryad - from Slavic ryad (row, formation).
European languages aren't rocket science.
@@bbcmotd In Bulgarian "zagradotryad" would rather sound as "pregradotryad" if such thing existed in our army...
@@valentinstoyanov304 yep and In Russian pregrada would be 'obstacle', still coming from the same 'block' semantics.
Even the -grad suffix in Stalingrad or Petrograd is the same 'grad' as in 'guard' or 'garden' i.e. something defended/fenced.
@@bbcmotd I would assume that it rather stems from the verb "gradya" which means "to build", but that sounds plausibly too...
Nice, thanks guys!
This city is not Kursk, it's not Kiev, nor is it Minsk. This is Stalingrad. STALINGRAD. It bears the name of the boss.
Lmao
Yeah, that was funny scene XD
A little thing on the battles for New Guinea. These battles were the first time that the Owen Gun was used by Australian troops… though I think it was a bit later in the war. But the Owen gun was their home-designed sub machine gun. Home-designed meaning it was designed in Australia and that was invented by someone in their home. Evelyn Owen, no relation to the Owen in the video, was a kid who decided that he wanted to make a submachine gun for the military. So he did. Originally chambered in .22LR with the potential to be upgraded to bigger cartridges, it was presented to the Australian Ordnance Department in 1938, who blew him off. It would later be found by his neighbors after Owen himself was conscripted and adapted it into 9mm Parabellum, the same 9mm caliber as the rest of the allies used and that we still use today, and put into service. The gun itself would be used throughout WW2 and the Korean War by Australians and New Zealanders before eventually being replaced by the F1 for a brief moment before it was replaced by the M16. It was often considered to be better for the environments of the Pacific and more reliable than the Thompson or Sten, which Australia and NZ had used before. The gun also saw service during the Indonesian War for Independence and Malay Emergency on both sides.
Still used in Vietnam for a bit.
Stalingrad, hmm I don’t think it has the right ring to it for a big battle to happen there.
“Steel town” doesn’t sound too intimidating, does it?
Neither does Guadalcanal
Never disappoints.
Imagine being a bastard, made walk through the city that you've been bombing and starving to death over almost a year. Also, imagine being a Soviet soldier trying your best to resist a temptation and let the locals lynch them...
I've met several people, who grew up during the blockade and none would ever want to speak about how he or she managed to survive. All however, said that the first time they remember themselves NOT starving, was several years after the war was over.
"And none would ever want to speak about how he or she managed to survive"
Cannibalism, lots and lots of cannibalism.
Oscar Hammerstein II's last work was Operation Edelweiss...his final set of lyrics before his passing.
The 6th army has nothing to worry about.... It's flanks well protected ;)
@Catalin Corciovei they just have to believe in themselves more... The soviet army about to collapse ;)
@Marcelo Henrique Soares da Silva nah man Stalingrad is weak and one thrust and it will fall... It's not like the soviets would throw butt naked men with no guns or ammo into the Germans... To defend it!
I love this show! However, there is one thing that could be improved. Indy often referes to say the ; ”…39th Infantry” or ”…3rd Panzer” or ”…1st South African Armoured”. I would greatly appreciate if the formation’s size would be included, such as divison, regiment or brigade. It can from time to time get a bit confusing. Regardless, keep up the fantastic work!
The actual size can vary depending on what year and how much fighting the division etc has been in and if they have been reinforced. The usual size of brigades divisions etc can be found by searching google. as to losses and reinforcements the information may not be available at any one date.
The unit card on the map has indicators for its size.
X is a brigade, XX division, XXX core, XXXX army, XXXXX front/armygroup. It's a general rule of thumb. The manpower sizes can be confusing and hard to portray because each side had different organisation and situation. For example during the current battle for Stalingrad, the soviets would receive reinforcement "Brigades" that were actually bigger than whole divisions in the 62nd army (which isn't saying much because half of the divisions in the army had less than 3000 men).
It gets more complicated when you want to understand the engagements on an operational level. On average (on paper) a German division is almost twice as big as a soviet one, that's why the soviets needed to throw in many divisions against a single German one just to do anything. Then you need to consider that the Germans had their divisions organised in cores (2-4 divisions in a core, and a few cores in an army), but the soviets didn't have the core level, and instead the army had direct command over the many divisions. That's why you also hear of "many whole soviet armies attacking a single german one" because the soviets didn't have the organisation to divide their forces, and when they divide, they became too weak to handle the Germans.
@@darthcalanil5333 Yes I know, but I recall when talking about the axis operations in north africa, Indy mentioned the "1st South Africans", reffering to a brigade not shown on the map. Furthermore, the soviets did have corps later in the war. The doctrine where divisions were attached directly to armies due to lack of staff officers. TIK has a great video on it!
Regarding Stalingrad, 3000 men were quite good for a division of the 62nd army at the time lol. I recall that one divison got reduced to the size of a small battalion or large company (about 250 men).
Regarding the size of german divisions vs soviet divisions; On paper a soviet Rifle division should have had 10,082 men in 1942 and a german infantry division about 16,000. But as you mention, neither side were at full strenght, especially no the soviets, and especially not in the stalingrad area.
Again, I recommend TIK for further information here on youtube.
@@callehammar2743 funny you should say that. I was going to recommend TIK myself 😂
@@darthcalanil5333 He is my hero, my god and the savior of history. He basically got me interested in military organisation!
It feels as bit too much from the German perspective, Soviets being "them" somehow. Why don't we hear more about Soviet perspective, their struggles to provide logistics, their line of thinking while Blau is ongoing. Also, you are not mentioning enough Rzhev salient I think.
Otherwise, good stuff.
Also, is nothing happening in China/SE Asia?
@@Boommssloot Nothing much significant is happening in both theaters at the moment. The Burma theater is mostly on pause till almost the end of the year due to the heavy monsoon rains during this period. However, there are likely to be some limited operations by the Chinese in Mainland China next month.
@@gunman47 thanks!
I would imagine that is because the Germans, at this point have the strategic initiative and are thus dictating the course of the war, with the Soviets mostly being reactionary. When that changes, perspectives will change and shift - as they have before.
Because the Germans wrote most of the books about the Russian Front.
Kalach...what a spot!