Battle of Narva 1944 - Tannenberg line defence and battle of the Blue hills
Вставка
- Опубліковано 17 вер 2024
- The battle of the blue hills was a part of the battle for Narva. Defending the Tannenberg line was Felix Steiner’s III SS corps with volunteer units from Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway and Estonia. Assaulting the line was the Russian 2nd Shock army. Could the SS defenders beat of the 6 times bigger Russian force? Here’s the battle of the Tannenberg line by me The AceDestroyer!
-Information:
en.wikipedia.o...
‘Ligne de front’ magazines No° 59 and 64
www.estonica.or...
Various maps.
-Music :
Ross Bugden - Flight hymn • ♩♫ Epic and Dramatic M...
Ross Bugden - Olympus • ♩♫ Epic and Dramatic T...
Per Kiilsofte - Battle of Kings • Video
Per Kiilsofte - End game • Video
Ross Bugden - Last dawn • ♩♫ Epic and Emotional ...
-Footage: I used various bits of footage from these 2 excellent channels:
Ufa Tonwoche / channel
PublicResourceOrg / publicresourceorg
Enjoy!
The AceDestroyer
Update 18/07/2020 - A new version of this video has finally been released. It's twice the size in lenght, and offers better footage and maps. Don't hesitate to take look!
ua-cam.com/video/cLdxx6tqgJY/v-deo.html
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
The key of the pradice aljanah is la ilaha ila alah Mohamed rasoul alah islamic religion deen al islam
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
مفتاح الجنة لا اله إلا الله محمد رسول الله دين الإسلام والله سبحانه وتعالى جعل فوزناوفوز الأنس والجان فقط بدين الاسلام والايمان والاعمال الصالحة
I know a Dutch SS veteran who fought at the Tannenberg line and around Narwa. He said it was really really bad on and around those hills and they suffered massive casualties. He was a Unterscharführer. He is far in the 90 now and still rocking, visiting him every now and then.
Wow incredible! The soldiers involved must have seen hell out there.
Yes indeed. He keeps having no idea how he got out of it. The only thing he says is that he wasn't cocky or too confident in front of the enemy and never touched the alcohol, since getting drunk would bring you a lot of hurt in front of the enemy. He also often talks about the Cherkassy-pocket where he was and got out, maybe a idea for a next video ;). For a simple man like me who never saw actual war it is hard to understand his stories. War is beyond madness. - edit: thanks for covering this subject, which is done not too often. -
There was a TV show in Estonia where they interviewed a few Estonian veterans who survived these battles. They all said it was basically what you'd describe hell to be like. The dust was constantly flying about, sometimes you couldn't see two meters in front of you, battles were brutal, sometimes they had to fight hand-to-hand as they were surprised by Soviet infantry or vice versa. The constant explosions, gunfire, screams. The fires. Can't imagine how scarred these poor men must've been. But it's good to know that all these foreigners came to help us of their free will. I hope one day we'll be there to help them in turn.
Hi can you write me a private message. I'm going to be in the netherlands november and december with some of my Dutch military collector buddies and would like to maybe go out and have a beer with you and your Dutch vet friend. I have a few Dutch SS vet friends as well. would be interesting to get them together.
wow it's amazing that there are still veterans alive
Fantastic documentary on this battle that I'd never heard of before. Sorrow that so many young men were lost.
One of the best historical video's I have seen. Thank you for posting!
Thanks! It truly means a lot to me!
I knew and old man, now deceased, who was a Soldier during the time of this engagement. Unfortunately many questions were never answered and out of deep respect for him and his apparent wish to remain largely silent about this time, many questions were never asked. I regret that now... Sometimes he would relent and I remember him telling me how he spent his 21st Birthday as a soldier on that frontier. Some of the snippets of stories he rarely told about the day to day of being a soldier I value most of all... I hold a precious few fragments of an ever fading treasure map. He told some of his time spent in a Czech coal mine camp at Wars end uptil about 46-47?... But enough of that for now. He mentioned very little except that he wore an emblem on his collar that many today that visit this channel would be familiar with but when he was alive he felt the need to conceal this connection. Never outright declaring his association but one could tell he was certainly not ashamed of anything he did when he wore that uniform. In Australia, Assimilation was the way back in the 50's through to the late 60's. Annonymity the preferred method of camoflauge. Even though he wore that much maligned and yet mysterious symbol, he considered himself to be a simple soldier. Granted, the outfit he aluded to being a member of was a well trained and highly motivated group of soldiers he never-the-less saw himself as a son of the Baltic defending his homeland the best way he could against those who would have seen his home utterly destroyed... A homeland he never got to see again... I enjoy watching such films as these. I sometimes find myself searching those young yet old faces for one that is more familiar... Indeed as familliar as my own.
Awesome
It's refreshing to hear the history of a battle with facts. No spin nor false narrative. I'm a British man and it's hard to find any good sources of information in the Eastern front. So thanks for this...
Excellent as usual..
One of my favorite subjects of WWII were the SS volunteer Divisions who were comprised of non German Nationals and fought with so much ferocity and courage to ward off Bolshevism.
this video says estonians fought to death and lead attacks, like 1918-1920 when estonia won soviets and germans and become free state
@joe green Nice try. Churchill wasn't even the PM when the war started. The US wasn't interested in physically joining the war until as late as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor more than two years later. History knows they were totally unprepared for it, as was the whole of Europe. It was Hitler's and Stalin's ambition to conquer Europe for themselves and the corresponding Molotov-Ribbentrop pact that started the war. The inability of Western countries' leaders to foresee and understand what was about to happen was a contributing factor.
@HappyandAtheist Im reporting all your troll comments like this
thank you sir, this upload means alot to me as i have been trying to find more detailed and probaganda free information about this battle , as my grandfather died there , from what little i was told by familie and the son of one of his brothers in arms ss nordland ,i had no idea it was this intense my god,,,
May he rest in peace. What a brave man.
👍💪🙏
@@evaeva761 fuck off you American asshole
@@evaeva761 You require medication,my dear. Such anger in one so mentally fragile,do take care of yourself.
Latvian SS were also there, they fought next to their Estonian brothers to stop communist advance!
A bunch of traitors
Great Lads. The last Knights of Europe!
@Egert Roos Their land was URSS
@Egert Roos Latvia was part of Russia since 1795.
@Egert Roos I guess you are also proud of the massacres, rapes and murders they committed ?
Marvelous documentary about a feat of unparalleled heroism. I knew very little about this battle, yet it's definitely one of the most intriguiging. I'm Flemish myself and truly astonished by the bravery of the Langemarck Brigade.
Hey, I'm Flemish myself as well.
@HappyandAtheist You can praise their fighting spirit without praising their ideology, right?
@HappyandAtheist Well not everyone that supported the Nazis agreed with their ideology. In fact, the reason for the freedom of the Finns was because of the Battle of Narva, which halted the Russians and denied them access to the Baltic Sea, at least for a while. By the way, are you Jewish??
Epic! This battle will be recounted thousands of years from now, just as we still recall Homer's "Iliad"from the Trojan War, thirty-two centuries ago.
Yep! Almost like 300 Spartans!
Superb courage, skill and German discipline even against overwhelming odds at this late stage of the war.
Must have everything to do with their "German psychological, social, cultural, philosophical and attitudinal Indoctrination" by parents, teachers, and society in general as infants, children, and teens. Like most nations until recently it was: BE A GERMAN !!! (or whatever) - OR ELSE !!!
Outstanding.
Oh to have such men today...
@@themudthedirtandthesand9079 I see you have read very little and I pity you.
@@ColonelBummleigh ---I don't need your dumb perceptions or your pity, dummy.
German discipline is legendary back then
This is fantastic. Amazing how most of the German Wehrmacht was wiped out by 43, depending on Baltic, Scandinavian and Dutch volunteers to hold the lines. It’s just as admirable to see these men so willing to die for their conquerer. I love the battlefield maps. Some of the combat footage I’ve surprisingly never seen before. A+
Thanks for the nice comment! I appreciate it!
And courage like that is exactly why Remy Schrijnin was awarded the Knights Cross. Seven Soviet tanks destroyed by one man with a Pak40, all while Mister Schrijnin was wounded. Outstanding.
Great video!!!
My great-grandfather was with the 6. SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade Langemarck and was at the battle of Tannenberg and operation Sonnenwende.
An Estonian veteran fought in that battle, took over command when higher officers fell in battle and cleared a whole line of trenches with 20 men, slaying 80, he died in 2014 and lived long enough to see the second Republic of Estonia, what a fkin legend.
This European battle group saved Finland (well - among other things). There was enough time for Finns to concentrate major forces to stop Russians in Karelia peninsula and knock off 600 Russian tanks. There was no fear that Russians might come from south over the sea at the same time there was major catastrophic battle ongoing between July-August in Finnland’s eastern front that ended somehow luckily.
But this idea is not easy to understand here ... that multinational SS forces ... from Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Danmark, Austria and ... helped us to keep Our Independence. That was year 1944 (please check that Estonian movie 1944).
Interesting perspective and probably true, given my own limited understanding of your history.
Estonian movie 1944 doesn't talk about finns
And Holland!
@Nejtro yes i have seen it. It starts with the battle of the Tannenberg line
From the memoirs of the commander of long-range aviation Golovanov: “I received instructions from Stalin that, along with support for the offensive operations of the troops of the Leningrad Front, all necessary measures should be taken to prepare an attack on Finnish military-industrial facilities so that this task could begin within hours receiving an order. A strike is inflicted on the port of Helsinki, the railway junction and military facilities located on the outskirts of the city. To abstain from a massive blow to the city itself. In the first raid, send several hundred planes, and if necessary, if any, increase the number of planes participating in the raids ... On the night of February 27, another blow was inflicted on the Helsinki area. If the number of planes that took part in this raid would inflict a blow on Helsinki itself, then we can say that the city would cease to exist. The raid was a formidable and final warning. Soon, I was instructed by Stalin - to stop the long-range bomber aviation in Finland. That was the beginning of the negotiations on Finland’s withdrawal from the war. ”
what independence? Do you think that Stalin could not occupy Finland? Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Germany ... but Finland couldn’t ... Lol
Your research is impeccable, and the production was exceptionally well done!
Thank you so much for the very kind words! I really appreciate it!
No matter your political stance, you have to admire the pure guts of these men, fighting for a lost course against a never ending amount of enemies. Hard to believe they did it.
They fought to the death because they knew that the Russians would show zero mercy on German soil. Most of the honorable men that were in the combat units for Germany were well aware of the crimes of the Einstatzgrouppen.
Thank you for providing this very interesting & well narrated part of the European war. Wow ,so amazing, kind regards from Queensland, Australia.
Thank you for the very kind words!
The Battle of Narva was one of the most heroic efforts to keep the Russian Communists out of Europe!
Keep europien nazi out of Russia
Русская Национальная Социалистическая Партия is the national socialist party based in Moscow, Russia.
You are a member?
No. What about you? Are any of your friends on Savushkina Street, St. Petersburg active in nazi-style propaganda!
Absolutely..thats why you dont see much about it.
Incredible, little known history and some of the fiercest fighting of WWll. Excellent film archive footage. Thank you.
A classic battle. All the rigours and exhaustive determination of the combatants. The elan of the SS Panzer regiments is a stirring ode to their remarkable professionalism. They held on to their victories and regained ground lost.The Estonians fought to the very last.Impressive narration once again from Ace Destroyer.You're the best on the Tube.Keep it up.Maintain the momentum. Thumbs up.
It is quite impressive what the defenders were able to do .Vastly outnumbered by a better armed force , they were able to inflict casualties to the attackers in numbers greater than 6× their own force . Well done.
Excellent coverage on a significant and lesser known front--the carnage on the Eastern front makes other theatres of WW2 pale in comparison.
Thank you for piecing this battle together, kind sir
It is not 'lesser known' by those who study unbiased and have an open view and critical opinions
This is one of my favorite videos! Eastern front is an under told story
Nice video Ace.
I'd recommend:
"The Last Knight of Flanders" by Allen Brandt. With the documented battlefield accounts of Remy Schrijnen alone (which you skim over actually) you could have very easily made this video 30 minutes. They are, in a word astounding. I'd easily venture, no other legionaire force in history has achieved such a loss to kill ratio in defense of any position in the same amount of time. Some of the battlefeild accounts are simply mind boggling.
My grandfather was Wehrmacht. He survived a headshot from a Gi's smg! Thoses guys were something else man!
He was wehrmacht ?? Wf
It's such a pity he survived.
Мои два деда воевали с фашисткой нечистью, один пропал безвести на Курской дуге,второй вернулся с войны живым.
@@shumatych Мой прадед служил в 30-й стрелковой дивизии, тоже воевал на Курской Дуге, получил контузию, но выжил.
@@marluxia8832 it's a pity you were even born🤣🤣
I found this enlightening. We read that there was "...fierce fighting on the Eastern Front" but a film like this gives us a better understanding of the bitterness of the struggle, as well as a realisation that there is no national monopoly on courage. Thank you.
Very Interesting overview. A few years ago, I met an old Estonian fellow who told me first, that although he was a soldier, he fought for 'the other side'. He said he was pressured into joining the 20th Division but really had 'no choice'...? -and was evacuated from Narva with a leg wound. I showed him a booklet from the local library about his division and he said he recognised one of the officers as his C.O. What a character. Thanks for posting this documentary.
Thanks for the kind words! Wow incredible story! Thanks for sharing it!
This demonstrates the quality of the German forces and the foreign fighters who volunteered to fight alongside them. Respect to them and the Russians who had to fight against them.
@Blaz Blaz I always have doubted the numbers posted for this battle, if only for the fact that they were written by Mart Laar, an Estonian historian/politician. He just seems like he has an agenda but maybe I'm wrong.
@Blaz Blaz Unfortunate. Not helped by all the alt-right talking points being propagated in the comment sections.
Excellent narration
Thank you very much!
Superb narration, I keep coming back and replay this vid over and over again.
this carnage seems like a total waste of human life, no matter what side you're on
And all the blood shed accomplishes little if anything.
@@davidrobinson7112 my point exactly
The psychotic "leaders" exhort, the sheep "citizens" follow..............
Just listen to this narrators Scotch accent, he follows his "national identity" real well.
Back in those days, hardly anyone broke ranks, and if you did that was the end of you................
The presentation and knowledgeable interpersonal of the battle on large and small units is always up to high standards. I enjoyed this videos cinematography and detail your crushing it as usual.
I oncr spoke to a man who lives near these hills. In the late 50's he started plowing on the fields on the east side of the mountains. He stopped 100m later because so much human remains and metal was brought to the surface. He got some really nice " souvenirs". Till this day these mountains are closed to random hiking, you can only go there with a permission or with a tour guide.
Our granddad's were the real heros !
Thanks you for the great extra information!
no no aastaid tagasi juba on seal niisama kolamine keelatud.
In 1954 I was a soldier in the US Army, stationed in Germany. Another US soldier of the same company was an Estonian, a little older than me, maybe 25 or 26.
He told me that, when he was in Estonia 1944 (he would have been 15) he was drafted, by into the Russian Army, escaped them and the Germans put him in an Estonian unit of the German Army.
He said that a refugee organization brought him from Germany to Kansas after the war and it was from there he was drafted into the US Army and sent there where I met him.
I've often wondered if that was a true story. Has anyone here with knowledge fo the war around Estonia ever heard of a story like that?
Seems like an incredible story, hopefully someone can tell you if they have heard similar stories!
Joe Harkins Stuff like that did really happen quite often. My own grand grandfather fought in the german armys estonian ostbattalion. When the germans retreated from estonia he went home. There the russians forced him into the soviet army. He lived the rest of his life in feare of being found out that he served in the german army.
Wow! Interesting story! Thanks for telling us!
If that's an incredible story, then what does the story of Ivor Thord-Gray classify as?
There was also that Korean who fought for Japan, the Soviets and Germany in WW2. Yang Kyoungjong was his name.
for some reason, after posting this, I remembered his name, or at least the name he was a US soldier. Gunnar Gvars or Gevars. I'm not sure of the spelling, even though it would have been on the strip above his pocket. He also told me that was not his birth name but I don't recall what he said that was.
He spoke English with a heavy eastern-Euro accent and his German was very slangy. Back in those days, Americans were not as foul-mouthed as we all are today. So when he needed to swear he did it in German.
As an aside to this, on the issue of foul-mouthed, my father drove down to Fort Dix to bring me home after my discharge. On the drive back, while telling him something, I said hell and damn a number times and I think I also said something about SNAFU. After a while he asked me to stop talking like that. "You aren't in the army anymore. You want to have some self-respect and not talk like a street bum."
Vikings all. They'd be sorely upset watching what is happening to their beloved Europe of 2018. Merkel and the EU leadership are traitors to the same people they claim to represent.
Merkel was a communist agitator, a parasite who never held a useful job in her miserable life. She has accomplished what her Bolshevik masters set out to do, even if those old Bolsheviks have passed from the scene: the destruction of Christian Western civilization.
TRUE NORSE MEN THEY ARE WORTHY OF VALHALLA ,,MAY THEY BE THERE NOW,,
@@msotil Merkel is a traitor to Germany, turning it into a garbage can of humanity its true leader would have known what to do,
Mannix-- Go read your copy of Mein Kampf while you play with yourself.
Anthony Pinhead -- Does your mommy know you are using her computer?
Thank you for making this, I've been trying to find more information about Estonian history lately together with the world wars. Since my family originates from there.
The Estonian culture in my family is almost dead, together with the danish parts of it. (yes my family is Swedish, Danish and Estonian)
I wish to honor great grandmother's suffering in Soviet times, since she had to escape the country she loved so much around 1944.
Thank you for sharing this great piece of family history! Happy to see that you found my video helpful.
The AceDestroyer
I'm looking forward to watch more of your content in your future.
Im not pro ss / Germany, but alot of the guys that signed up for international ss divisions signed up because they want to battle the upcoming soviet threat. People hate the international SS for this, but during the cold war everyone was afraid of the soviet superpower. Even churchill saw a threat in the soviets. Also keep in mind that all SS soldiers were shot on sight, and could not surrender.
Bas Smit the SS were shown the same mercy that they showed the poles and Russians on the eastern front. They may have been brave, good soldiers but in the end, they reaped the whirlwind of their own making.
@HappyandAtheist details please. Since you used the term bloody, I'll hypothesize you're from the UK. If this is the case, the pro- war element in the UK and that murderer Churchill were at fault. Germany actually wanted no part of a war with the empire, and offered for peace several times. This was circa 1940. That's five years of bloodshed on the Western front simply because the Zionists had their men in all the right positions in nations such as England and America. I'm truly sorry for your lost. Such a senseless tragedy. Nothing good came out of that war. Not even the apartheid state known as Israel. However, make no mistake, it was Germany's sworn enemy the Jewish and Zionist elite that were the true culprit behind both wars actually.
@@MelancholicTides That's so ungratefull to say, you sit here today behind a screen with some Account pissing people of and have a Account Called ''HappyandAtheist'' Go bug someone else. The SS were the Bastards in Russia who Commited countless war Crimes. EU is Germany's 3rd try? are you out of touch with Reality?
@HappyandAtheist In those times it was too primitive attitude, many people suffered od communist terror choosed another bad power to help destroy communists or more sadly, destroy russians as communismus virus carriers, but it was very primitive attitude too.
@HappyandAtheist ----- Spanish proverb:
"If you serve the dragon, you share its blood". The German troops, down to the last one, rationalized their criminality, but knew very well what they were doing.
Incredible tenacity in the face of overwhelming odds! Thank you!
Great video. Cool that you are making a video about a "small" battle on the Eastern front. And great graphics!
Yeah I know 'small' might not have been the most appropriate word... But thanks!
this definitely was not a small battle. Not on a military scale, not on a political or propagandist scale, not on a human suffering scale.
My grandfather was a part of the NORDLAND Denmark unit. Got wounded during this battle, ending in a lazaret. Never got to hear his stories, sadly.
Fantastic explanation and pictures
Thank you very much! That means a lot!
What I like about these films is the debate that follows. Some for and against. Seventy five years on the debate surrounding the Waffen SS continues and will continue to do so. No other outfit has sparked such controversy, admiration and disgust in equal measure. Also there probably has never been a formation so despised. Interesting.
What a tragic loss of brave young man on both sides.
Defenders do have the advantage, but these kill ratios are just mind boggling. What absolute class those German troops had, even if they were comprised from different nations. Now THAT is a united Europe.
Check out also Rzhev battle
Although when I was being born,the Germans were bombing the hell out of my town, I have always supported them in their Eastern Crusade. This is a fabulous account of the hell in the Tannenberg hills during July 1944!
Really like your presentations, thank you and keep them coming please!
Happy to hear that!
First time checking out the channel. Looks amazing.
Great to get the historical perspective of WW2 from the Eastern Front.
this video says estonians fought to death and lead attacks, like 1918-1920 when estonia won soviets and germans and become free state
That was ww1 when estonia won
An excellent historical documentary edited from public source material about the Battle of Narva, in the old USSR during World War II. One of the best I've seen assembled by amateur historians. Thank you
Wow! Thank you very much for those kind words! I really appreciate it! Thanks a lot!
Excellent report. Good job!
Thank you very much!
This is a solid example of strategy and tenacity. Regardless of national or political opinions, this was an honorable stand by soldiers doing their duty. I salute the soldiers on both sides. I can’t imagine the horrors. Yet again, soldiers fighting for the men beside them as well as their nations. Thank you for reminding us of this battle. There were many engagements all over the world that are worth remembering. Heroics by men who’s fate was tied to the political agendas of the time. Well done, Cheers.
Love the video this is such an interesting and bizarre battle, how all these men from different nations ended up fighting there for the Germans against the soviets WW2 will never seas to amaze me.
Probably one of the best accounts i have heard Thankyou what a Battle!! These were some of the most violent and vitally important Battles of that time in the East and proved the worth of committed Volunteers from the West those poor lads were really put through the wringer on those 3 hills as bad as anything in the first world war
The staggering Losses of Russian combat personnel in this war shows how good the Germans are. Only they are not design to fight in war of attrition with 3 open fronts.
Van Tom the staggering losses are actuallt 1:1 if you take only military personnel. Take in account that 2,5 million Soviet POWs taken in 1941 were tortured or starved to death. 18 million are victims of genocide carried out by Germans. Yes, I say Germans because 99% of them were Nazis at the time.
@@marluxia8832 were do you get that ratio 1:1 historians will dis agree...even the western historian know how staggering the loses of the Soviet military peraonnel not just the civilians
Germans were in the minority at Narva, the area was held by Norwegians, Danes and Flems, all the Germans were fighting in the centre before it got smashed up by the Russian offensives
@@marluxia8832 Stalin was a lunatic that killed his own people in order to recruit more soldiers because he knew he couldn't win this war if it wasn't with overwhelming numbers. Take a look at this declassified information forum.codoh.com/viewtopic.php?t=5804
@@Velosirraton I've read about that "evidence" a long ago, and its source is pretty vague and unreliable to trust it. And that bullshit about "overwhelming" numbers is both stupid and racist. At the beginning of Axis invasion, Germany and her allies' forces on the Eastern Front actually *outnumbered* Red Army (4,3 million vs 3 million) by 22.06.1941, while we had superiority in tanks, planes and artillery over them.
Back then when armies didnt have drones,combat helicopters support,neither night visions or gps.Only a map and a compass.Fighting was brutal.
It's rarely mentioned that many ethnic groups fought under the Waffen SS banner for reasons of their respective nationalist aspirations and rarely for Nazi ideals. It's complicated.
Like all in this world. Ppl just like to simplify and put some other ppl into one 'group'.
The Estonian Waffen SS, for example, were put to work at the end of the war guarding detained prominent Nazi officials, the reason is that the Western Allies after an investigation found that their reason for joining the SS was purely for patriotic reasons rather than sympathizing with the Nazi ideals.
My background is ± I met Dutch ex-SS guys in the 60ies working at my uncle´s farm. I did not understand their background then. They might have been present at this battle. I do thank you indeed.
Sensacional.....muuito bom esse vídeo...parabéns a The AceDestroyer pelo documentário....
Thank you! I had to run this through Google Translate to understand it! Your kind words truly mean a lot! Obrigado! Thank you very much!
Good work.
Same time in Finland Finnish army was facing soviet crack armies 54 divisions 11 infantry brigades and 7 support troops total of 605000 men. By the end of the battle soviets had 130000 men left. That is in two months time. Most powerful weapon was propably Finnish artillery ,it could concentrate say 250 guns to fire 100m x 100m target. That means at least 1000 shells in a minute on a hectare. Soviet infantry knew whats going to happen when they heard the sound of Finnish artillery starting to shoot,and they were paralyzed.
After the war red army general was bragging to comander of the Finnish infantry regiment 7 Adolf Ehrnrooth that they got prisoners from IR7. Ehrnrooth answered that IR7 got prisoners from 11 red army regiments. Russian general was silent for a long time and then admitted :"You had a hard regiment".
good story for idiots.
Keep up the great work on these videos.
I love history and I'm wonder how incredible these German soldiers fought on.
Well done little piece of some big history.. incredible footage...RIP the dead of all wars
I really enjoyed he use of footage, photos and maps....thanks! ....got me sub'd!!!!
Thank you very much! I'm glad to hear you liked it!
What a story. In July and August the fighting in Normandy was so hard we Westerners don't tend to look beyond it ... nothing new there I suppose. Anyone know if there's a book on the Tannenberg Line?
Anyway, a fine film and many thanks to you, AceDestroyer, for posting it.
There were also Flemish volunteers in the Nordland brigade.
This is my own first exposure to the work of "Ace Destroyer", my thanks to him for an excellent documentary. The ferocity of battle shows us the importance of prior dedication by devotion to ideas and to debate?
Interesting, I'm currently reading Otto Carius's (German Panzer ace from ww2) autobiography and he goes into his involvement in, as he spells it, Narwa. He spoke highly of the SS division Nordland that fought there.
As Otto states, the Dutch, Baltic and Nordic SS men were extremely brave and dedicated, but took massive casualties, as well as the Baltic volunteers ending up massacred by the Soviets after Sweden gave the captured SS men that tried to run to Sweden after the war to the Soviets...
@Norwegian viking Sweden was ugly political prostitute in the region. They were so afraid of soviets they did everything soviets told them. (By the way Sweden openly exported iron ore to Germany during the war and soviets were not stupid) Swedes gave almost all Baltic SS soldiers back to Soviet torture and slavery camps. Mostly latvians because estonian frontliners were not so stupid to escape to Sweden. They went to USA, Germany, Australia, South-America...
You must be reading Tiger in the mud Otto Carius Battalion Tiger #217 Second Tiger Battalion first platoon seventh tank Great book You can try Panzer Ases I Il lll author Frantz Kurowsky Talking about Michael Wittman and Kurt Knispel Tiger Battalion #503 dystroy over 168 anemy tanks
Special thanks to Frantz Kurowsky Everyone get to know most of the great Germans tankers with the best fitting spirit
Very well done. the ´´´little´´ battles must not be forgotten. Many thanks for this.
Thank you very much!
if enyone watched the movie 1944 this is where most of the movie tekes place and it follows the Estonians
@Anthony Roic Estonia is not "the west"
@Anthony Roic I saw the movie when it came out and the director was present, I understand that you don't know what you're on about.
@Anthony Roic Your answer would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad.
@Anthony Roic you didn't even see 1944 didn't you, just talking shit cause it doesn't demonize SS
Thanks for posting this piece of history. Very valuable since there is lack of documentation on this front
My pleasure! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Yes indeed, I like to cover the more forgotten battles of both World Wars.
One must admire the skill and fighting spirit of the Wehrmacht, though without endorsement of the regime they served.
Yeah, most of them followed that regime real well, didn't they ???
Once again a remarkable job from The Ace Destroyer, thank you and continue like this...
The impartiality and precision of your work is excellent, congratulations for that too.
Thank you so much for your very kind comment! I truly appreciate it! Very glad to hear that you enjoy watching my work!
One crucial factor that needs to be said: All of the Volunteer members of the SS were persecuted after the war as 'traitors' (except the Baltic states volunteers) and almost all of the survivors never went home....at least for decades. Some exceptions for sure....but overwhelmingly they were treated very poorly.
@@petersouthernboy6327 interesting that you should mention the Dutch Volunteers in particular. My Mother is Dutch (from Rotterdam) and was actually directly affected by the famine in '44/45. Most of the Dutch SS volunteers enlisted because of a fear/hatred of Communism, not of any Nazi affection (although there were definitely exceptions). Even though the new Netherlands Govt was vehemently anti-communist, they were still treated as traitors.
Wimmera Paranormal - and the government was in the right. The Dutch had declared their neutrality, but Hitler invaded them anyway without a declaration of war. And for five years the SS brutalized, starved and murdered tens of thousands of innocents. No matter how much you might hate communists - who other than a traitor would join sides with THAT enemy who is destroying your fellow Countrymen. And the Dutch SS units had a reputation for brutalizing and killing Eastern European civilians (not communists). In fact, several Dutch SS officers were tried and executed for war crimes after the war.
@@petersouthernboy6327 certainly some truth to that statement.... but having met an SS volunteer personally (from Denmark), a majority of them enlisted well before the crimes of the SS were known and the stigma attached to them. They were simply 'tarred with the brush of the few' who actually committed the atrocities.
My granpa enlisted as an SS volunteer in 1943 in Estonia. And he was sent to fight in Ukraine along with division Wiking. He was badly wounded and sent back home. But after Red Army`s bombing the city of Pärnu probably all archives burned to ashes. And no one gave a word about him as former SS-soldier. So hi escaped this torture- siberia-francise so common in after- war- estonia...
5 years into the war, vastly outnumbered and outgunned yet the Western Europeans were still giving the Red Army a beating!
My grandfather was fought on the German side of this battle.
Stupid noob trolls all over the place...Some tips for future. If you want more thumbs up just make several fake google or facebook accounts. And go-clicking :)
Thanks to him from Germany. Some people never forget this brave young men. So many heros.
I hope he was killed by Soviet troops and didn''t return home?
@@marluxia8832 😱
Marluxia88 dont cut yourself with that edge
Toll! Outstanding account of an area of war seldom visited by American history buffs. What an account... Flawless in content and delivery.
Thank you very much! It truly means a lot!
I, m estonian. I know all about waffen ss and estonian legion(20th freiwillige grendier division) and i think estonians are very grateful to all waffen ss volunteers who defended us at 1944.
Hi there, I stumbled across your channel by pure chance and must say that I very much enjoyed the experience.
As a military historian, the Second World War is a mist fascinating subject, full of so many firsts: Panzers, Radio, combined troops, air power, aircraft carriers... the goes on and on. However it is the trust given to even the smallest German units to make decisions on the local level - this due to the new very mobile format of warfair - that was in many ways the most unique aspect of this war. However It was the courage, that all combatants had to show, that is as old as time itself.
Some of the finest fighting is often done on a smaller scale, as here in this case, unlike in the great engagements and are worthy of analysis and I like your highlighting if some of the individuals or smaller units that really brings individual achievements to light.
Thanks again, I look forward to reviewing all of your work
Hello! Very happy to see that! Delighted to hear you enjoyed it! I have always been interested in the smaller scale engagements fought by the boots on the ground and not the Generals. Although having a General's perspective is very fascinating, I find personal views and battalion level or even company level views even more fascinating.
I couldn’t agree more. I have an interesting family history which gives me a particular interest in WW2. My parents are both German, however, whilst my grandfather, a 7th generation military professional, who fought under the SS Leibstandarte, my father was a double agent. He was involved in the German propaganda division whilst acting as a British spy. My grandfather was captured at the battle of Kursk and survived 5 years in a Siberian gulag. My father was eventually found out and had to flee Germany, spending the second part of the war helping shot down pilots through France and to safety in Spain.
It was very interesting to hear both sides of their experiences and I spent many Sunday afternoons in my grandfathers livingroom playing with my Lego whilst his old comrades would meet up and talk about their experiences. They were involved in Poland, France, Norway, Russia... quite incredible stuff from a military perspective.
I found my grandfathers old war diary which really bought individual experiences to life... often he talked about: lack of sleep or food, the joy of actually having a shower or a good nights sleep in a proper bed, simple pleasures of a bar of chocolate from home or how a letter lifted the spirits after having lost comrades and friends in most arduous of circumstances. It made me realise how it’s not the generals and political leaders but the individual soldier and his daily efforts and personal battles within his spirit that are the true story to be told ;)
@@DailyDamage, that's indeed a very interesting family history! Wow! Good to hear they both survived! Thank you for sharing!
Soviet Operation Bagration started on 22 June, a month earlier, ending on 19 August. So while this battle was taking place, German Army Group Center was being utterly wiped out, it broke, was encircled and the remnants of it where routing in panic. It was a disaster worse than Stalingrad. Another disaster was looming in Normandy.
You did a great documentary. Imagine that General Felix Steiner was holding his front line (not without difficulty), but receiving bad news from other sectors constantly. Wonder how he did feel?
The SS and the Vietcong were probably the most committed and disciplined armies of the entire 20th century.
This is some good organised pruduction value would like to see more battles ww2 especialy
Thank you very much! I'm working on some subjects now, but with school and stuff, it might take a week or two, or even slightly longer...
There is an Estonian made movie "1944" showing this battle.
Yes, I know. It looks like a good movie! I saw the battle scene and was amazed by it, yet I still have to see the whole movie. Did you see it yet?
I saw it years ago. The movie is limited to the fight between SS Estonian and Red Army Estonian though.
And all of this was taking place during the race through France and the Italian campaign. Germans were too stretched out to hold on. SS were tough units.
Joseph Wolosz -- They were also mass murderers. Start with the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre in France, and keep going.
Yes with no help from the Italians or Romanians.
@@MartinDRand Mass Murders during a global war? Unheard of! NAZIS fought communists not allied with it.
@@ss4456 ----- Thank you for straightening me out. Germans were enormously loved in the European countries they were invited to invade. (In your own Poland, they kidnapped Aryan-looking Polish girls to give them much better lives in Germany than you untermenchen could povide). Yes, the victors write the history. The history the losers write mostly describe the actions of others, their incompetent associates who caused defeat in two world wars.
@@pmmmm12345 --- Communists and Nazis were both mass murderers. Go to any library and read up on this.
Excellent video and commentary- thank you
Thank you for your kind words! I really appreciate it!
Complements where it’s due. Good work. I got a real feeling the flow of action and the stats etc made it. Going to watch more of your work.
The battle of narva was one of the few German succeses after Stalingrad .
Yes, indeed after Stalingrad it went from bad to worse for Hitler and his Germany.
@@TheAceDestroyer the Russians never broke the defensive line till the end of the war
The battle of narva was 3-rd priority battle for both sides with one of the fewest losses of the entire WW2. (5k + 2.5k killed). And it was lost by Nazi actually.
@@JanKnoester They broke it all the times on all the important directions.
@@JanKnoester The Germans retreated from the line in late 1944? Then Army Group North spent most of the war cooped up in Courland whilst the Soviets took the actual German lands over. Not very incredible to be defending some random place when your homeland is being overrun?
Great video.tribute ro those ss troops they were the best of there time.even today special forces cant understand how good this guys were.
It's no secret, if a force is prepared to fight to the death then it is much more difficult to defeat.
R Greenup anyone would defend there country..like me im mexican born in the usa...never been to mexico...im not frm here or there...this troops got bombed bkus the allies knew they would loose alot fighting thm on leveled ground...dats y they bombed the "shyt" out of thm......france even tried to stop it.
well to be honest... european units were worse than the pure german SS divisions
danish legion got wiped out several times and regrouped again and again
estonians stoped fighting when their country was occupied by russians again
balkan-divisions were THAT bad they got disbanded by the SS after a short time and only had to fight against partisans because their military power was weak as fuck
they were no special force and often lacked enthusiasm compared to german troops but volunteers and got good equiptment
Especially if it is battle hardened.
@@ironworld9822 the 6. Division "Nord" and 11. "Nordland" had some pretty decent medal-statistics. They were mixed units from skandinavian volunteers.
The Dutch got almost wiped out 3 times before they were reorganized as 23. "Nederland" division. Never had full strength.
Most excellent video....have a soft spot for 5th SS Wiking and 11th SS Nordland.
Keep up the great work! 👍👌👏
Thanks for the kind words!
Of course - they were wikings
Men ikke Vikinger på den rigtige side. Hjælpe et land der har besat sit eget hjemland er nix no good.
Duececoupe
You should check out the Belgian Wallonia ss......TRUE WARRIORS
And they were beaten. Stupid Krauts got their asses kicked in two world wars.
Exellent video!🖒During the Cold War Ritterkreuzträger Remy Schrijnen,became a Reserve Officer in Bundeswehr (the West German Army)
The Battle of Narva, an unknown battle for me, sure there are many like this. My opinion reagarding the aforementioned battle is without any inclination in favour of one or another side. Having said that, I have always thought that would have been the Germans lead by its generals instead of the nazi party and having enough resources to quickly supply their losses, the world war 2 fate would have been different. This battle is an example of this: outnumbered in tanks, infantry, cannons, ... etc and not to mention the luftwaffe absence, the wehrmacht and the waffen ss managed to stop the soviet offensive at that point
That's the main reason why I made a video about this. Not many people know it.
German fighting machine, for the first time someone showed German's as great strategiest and fighters. Outnumbered 1to 6 such fortitude could only be with Axis powers.. Excellent video, good truth here. No wonder Americans fought the war on wrong side
Tannenberg was a fierce battle that history would see in its pages.
Very interesting videos...Thanks for making them. BTW....The 5th SS Wiking is my favorite division.
Thanks! Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I might make a video on the battle of Maciejow in which the 5th played a prominent role. I have gathered a lot of information already, now I just need to find enough good usable footage to support the script.
what buged me was that this battle happend in Estonia and at the start you did not mention it at all .There were various SS units from Belgium,Norway,Holland,Denmark and so on.
No mention of thousands of Estonians who defended their country there and played major role there.The combined forces of held back soviets for 8 months there.Any where else at the front soviets advanced over 1000km but the BleueHills held.
I should have mentioned that earlier indeed. I have in the meantime learned a lot from the comments, I would like to thank you for that! Each good feedback like this is a step further to better documentaries so thanks again! You're right, on every single front, the German's were losing terrain, men and material. Normandy was lost, and armeegruppe mitte on the eastern front was also lost. Only the front in Estonia held ground, but as they were getting surrounded, they didn't hold it for much longer.
@@TheAceDestroyer ty for quick response. Sadly everywhere else front was collapsing and they were ordered to leave the positions as you mentioned to avoid ensirclement.Paul Maitla and hes men were main figures recapturing grenadier hill.He was a great hero, sadly he was murdered by Czech communists may 10, 1945(war was over by then)
Excellent video. Very detailed and informative with great maps and footage.
Thank you very much! It truly means a lot to me!
I just recently discovered you. Your coverage of the Eastern front is amazing. This battle I'm not very familiar. Excellent defensive fighting. I look forward to seeing your other posts. One suggestion I have is carefully using a pop filter when making the narration. Thanks
At approx. 9 minutes and 30 seconds into this film is a short series where SS troops are examing Russian knocked out tanks. I've always thought this was the outstanding combat, or post-combat film I've been fortunate to see.
Savage. God bless the German forces you fought bravely and honorably, I will remember you as heroes.
@HappyandAtheist Why?
@HappyandAtheist Nazi apologists are the kind who have never seen a day of war in their life and yet glorify it whilst simultaneously spreading conspiracy theories of "the jewish threat" and "great replacement" which are vague enough that it's impossible to convince them otherwise.
Very well made video. I like it.
Thank you for the kind words!
Nice Totenkomp
Good document greetings from Finland☺!!... hard fight😐....
Thanks! Yes, it was a very tough fight indeed.