Operation HUSKY - Smashing the Luftwaffe in the Mediterranean!
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- Опубліковано 30 тра 2018
- Operation HUSKY led to a decisive victory over the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica. But why does no one talk about it? Let's have a closer look.
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Check out 'Eagles over Husky':
www.amazon.com...
⚜ Sources ⚜
Alexander Fitzgerald-Black, Eagles over Husky
Johannes Steinhoff, Messerschmitt over Sicily:
General reading:
Christopher Shores et al., A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945, Vol. 1-3
Robert Ehlers, Jr., The Mediterranean Air War
⚜ Music ⚜
Music and Sfx from Epidemic Sound
#Luftwaffe #Africa #OperationHusky
Enjoyed the video? Check out my Patreon to help me make more: www.patreon.com/Bismarck
I enjoy your videos, but sadly I am unemployed atm
but as soon as I get back on my feet I will definitely help your cause :)
Military Aviation History been a subscriber for almost two years... Why do you hate the wehrmacht so much?? Seriously, all of your videos are about how awful the Germans were...is it because your Austrian??
@@matthewgriffin7857 Methinks it is because these stupid heroes were massmurderers.
"Look at those storm clouds rolling in!"
"Not storm clouds... Air formations"
Thats no moon....
James Mason "- that's your mother!" Emperor Palpatine
At least we shall fight in the shade!
300?
-Earthquake!
-No captain, battle formations..
Murica
My late Father was one of the first Canadians ashore on Sicily.
Rob Mackenzie Thank You 🙏
👍👍👍🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
@splush98 Yes, that was at Ortona in December 1943. My Father was there too.
Would anyone else feel uneasy if they were told they would be landing on "Acid Beach"?
"Hey Sarge, why is it called Acid Beach?"
"Oh, you'll find out......."
Bo Davidson The four British and Canadian beaches in Normandy were meant to be named after fish. Goldfish, Jellyfish, Swordfish and Bandfish. Band beach wasn't used. Of the others, Churchill reportedly said that he refused to tell a grieving mother that her son died on Jelly Beach. So the beach was renamed Juno.
Locals called it a different name Fontane Bianche beautiful white sand beach
_Acid Beach_ a trip they would never forget.
Really like these new graphics!
How was this posted 6 days ago when this video was released 3 days ago
Glen Rothwell - Patreon supporters get early access to videos before they go public.
Weird. Not at fan at all, even the color palette seems off. Illustrator skills need some work... gaps in paths in the silhouettes, inconsistencies, etc. Bonus points for the sound bites in the background and IL2 vids. Sorry! Good material though.
I like the mention of the tiny island of Pantalleria. My father was there and took two pictures of that island from the war, one of a wrecked Ju-52 and other of an underground hanger.
Love the new artstyle and Graphics. I'm glad you're slowly moving away from MHVs style and molding your own.
Thanks DuckSwagington :)
Excellent summary. The book A Higher Call covering in part the life of Franz Stigler devotes sections to the Sicily campaign. It is fascinating how he meets major Johannes Steinhoff and General Adolf Galland for the first time. In particular Steinhoff helping him when questioned by the Gestapo. You may consider making a video on theJV-44 formed by Galland and Steinhoff using the Me 262, that Goering called the mutineers but everyone else the experts. Steinhoff was key to the rebuilding of the German Airforce and NATO, a great man.
Il2 1946 is one of those simulators that always seems to be ageless. Thanks Bismark for another great video!
A video on Arthur Coningham and the Desert Air Force would be nice.
What a splendid mix of animation and infographics, well done sir !
Cheers!
Steinhoff Diaries make for excellent reading. One of my personal favorite
Great video! As an American I don't always get to see the "other side" of WWII. The German and Japanese forces fought bravely and will great gallantry in the face of often hopeless odds. War is such a tragic waste of so many lives, but it still holds a fascination for me, academically that is.
Rob Babcock Talk about Japanese gallantry to US POWs.
A wonderful video, a great mix of information, animation and slight story telling.
An Iron Cross for you.
Best video yet, great graphics, enjoyed the "narrative" touch of Steinhoff etc., while still being informative and in depth.
Keep it up!
Italian Air Force was quite significant, yet gets almost no credits
Indeed, it is sadly often overlooked
Macchi MC 205 Veltro overlook fighters
На Пурве Кишамо
That was mostly because the Italian Air Force always fought badly outmatched.
The mistakes they made before the war hunted them. Outdated planes, outdated tactics, outdated command and control, outdated equipment (like radios and ground support) made life hard for them. Most of my recalls of Italian units in combat show that they greatly preferred being put under german command (due to the shortcoming of their own planners) and once in the air fighting as a formation was not really done, especially early in the war due to lack of radios (and even when they started to be more common they were extremely unreliable). It is possible that marksmanship was also poorly practiced (due to the outdated doctrines the idea was probably to get very close) only to add worse to the famous lack of armaments in their fighters.
On top of all of this record keeping was poor. The Italian units did not kept “scores” until rather late in the war due to concerns in morale for example. Reconstructing the history of italian downed planes is pretty hard in another example.
So in the end the Regia Aeronautica, like its land counterpart, entered a war whit something wrong at pretty much every possible level and left his pilots to fend off for themselves (quite literally sometimes give the said poor command capabilities some units were basically a realm on their own whit their own tactics and procedures...) thus achieving dismal results...
The only thing they didn’t lack was courage but that alone is never nearly enough.
Yes, the claims by Italian units were very hard to untangle-I'm reading Chris Shores' re-working of this 'fighters over The Desert/Tunisia/Sicily & when German units are involved it's impossible to tell who did what to whom sometimes--even when an excellent pilot is at the controls. It seems Italy had the same issues as the Imperial Japanese Army Airforce: Light, highly maneuverable aircraft with kind of light armament--when they shot at something it would probably be better armored & would dive like hell to get away. Invariably they'd claim it. It's an aside but I was reading John Lundstrom's 'First Team' series of books--in one of the early Zero v Wildcat battles, one wildcat pilot got attacked multiple times by Zeros. He'd survive, evade by diving, climb back into the fight & get 'jumped' again. In the end three or four different Zero pilots claimed him as a kill.
Alvi410 which can be summarized by the principal that fascists are untermensch.
Amazing reconstruction of history in incredible detail and vividness - the graphics are awesome! We are privileged to live in an era where we have such intimate access to history - thanks to dedicated and talented historians! THANK YOU! Awesome stuff!
Wow Bismarck! Your animations really killed it in this video. Good job! I especially liked the map, it did the video well :)
Thanks for the wonderful videos, I enjoy them all. My fathers ship LST 318 (Landing Ship Tank) was destroyed by the Luftwaffe on the 10th of August 1943. The planes were FW190's (from the ships after action report) the crew never saw the fighter bombers until it was too late.
Great stuff!
Thanks Justin :)
Awesome video, I loved the story telling style. One of the best military history videos I've seen in a while...
Operation doggo
Husky is Moon Moon
Really enjoyed this. Would have liked to hear a couple anecdotes from individual pilots describing air combat, and perhaps a rundown of the aircraft types on both sides, but you covered the topic well nonetheless.
Thanks to you I have some grounding for a report. I'm using your videos for entertainment and my upcoming report. Also reccomending your channel to several teachers.
I have a book in paperback titled "Straits of Messina" by Johannes "Mackie" Steinhoff. This may be the same book mentioned here "Messerschmitts over Sicily". Makes fascinating reading and is a detailed account of the squadron life on the ground and in the air trying futilely to attack waves of bombers. Desperate times.
Steinhoff suffered a terrible accident with severe disfigurement through burns. He later became Head of the entire Luftwaffe after the war.
Yes it is the same book..I read it a long time ago but you realize how hopeless it all was for him at the time...just endless waves and waves of enemy planes against just a handful
I'm really enjoying your videos. They are informative and entertaining. Keep up the good work Greetings from Austin, Texas.
Your pronunciation of Pantelleria truly made my day .. and a shit day it was ... great video and thanks for the insights.
I really feel bad for not helping trough patreon, hence I watch and enjoy your vids so often. I gotta try and contribute from my next paycheck :D
That German description of their airfield experience reminds me strongly allied experiences against Japan and the first part of the war in the Pacific. Their efforts had little effect on the war but they kept fighting anyway.
I just got Chris Shores' (and company) latest installment of his series on the Air War in the Med & I have just reached the day Operation Husky started. However before this point, was struck me was the absolute non stop blizzard of air attacks that took place not only on Pantelleria but also all over Sicily, Sardinia and Southern Italy. If there was an airfield, dispersal, aircraft park, or a port or a marshaling yard it got bombed and strafed repeatedly day & night. The sheer weight of numbers & firepower by the Allies just ground down the Axis; the pilots who survived Tunisia got no chance to rest & recoup. And on the flip side the Axis bomber units who tried to harass Allied bases, facilities and convoys suffered very heavy losses due to flak & especially Beaufighter night fighters
Absolutely Awesome vídeo !!!
VIsual style is very nice.
steinhoff was a good officer love the stories of him versus goering .
40% is a lot! Do you have estimates of deployment and losses of the Luftwaffe by fronts over the course of the war?
I always saw this side of the war from the Italian side, it's nice to have another point of view!
Yet it's a shame that there are so little sources of the Italian effort in English language...
As usual, excellent video! I haven't read "Me over Sicily" but I recently finished the "The Final Hours" by Steinhoff. I would love to see you make a video on the R4M rockets ☺
Great video!
Great video, Thanks!
I think the vector man at 9:24 had Polio as a child :p love your work MAH
Hello, it is spelled “Pan-tell-e-ria” not “Pantarelia”,. Greetings keep up the good work!
Those gliders that fell into the sea were released too early because the green American tow pilots saw a wall of AA fire in front of them. Also the friendly AA fire was because the Americans had not learnt their A/C recognition and, again as many where seeing action for the first time, they fired at anything with wings. Sorry US readers but that's the truth.
This is true. My grandfather co-piloted one of the gliders dropped in the sea. They had to confine the Parachute Regiment to base to prevent them hunting down American Pilots.
Friendly fire happened again during the Normandy landings, from the US landing craft crews. They had been carefully instructed to NOT fire on ANY aircraft, because EVERY aircraft would be an ALLIED aircraft. Also, Allied aircraft would have black and white INVASION STRIPES.
The landing craft crews fired at all aircraft, despite their clear orders. A nervous gunner would panic and fire at a plane, which panicked all the other gunners to fire too.
Il 2: battle of Husky pls
Germany smashed their air force when they attacked a billion buildings in London
Military problems often seem simple when you are looking at a map. "Destroy that dot? No problem!"
What is missing is that Allied air superiority enabled the Allies to bring concentrated naval fire from Cruisers and Destroyers which annihilated German snd Italian tank formations and infantry attacks that would have driven Allied troops into the sea.
What is unfortunate is that General Patton and Montgomery were so interested in beating each other that they let the Germans evacuate most of their highly experienced troops from Sicily to mainland Italy to fight at Monte Cassino and on the Gustav line inflicting thousands of Allied casualties.
The succes of Operation Minced meat was a great succes! ... many German troops were taken to Greece as a result of that operation.
Mincemeat
Despite this Kesselring lead an impressive delay and withdraw action with pretty low German losses. Husky also showed the rivalry between Monty and Patton very well.
Petra Meyer I think you meant Mon T y .
I did indeed, ty for catching it.
Very nicely done
Great video as usual :-)
One notice in links to amazon link to messerschmitt over sicily are wrong they lead to same link to Eagles over Husky
Thanks for pointing that out, Moxie. It should be fixed now
Video was excellently done. I especially liked the narrative account at the beginning and end. It really pulls in the weight of the situation.
Must have been hard for your German side to make, though.
I wonder about that decoy body the allies dropped. Did the family agree? Were his dog tags lost? Did he just happen to be the most convincing body on the field?
When making a video, I try not to have a side :)
Glyndwr Michael (the man whose body was used) was a homeless person who died from eating poison. I doubt his family was contacted.
Incredible work as always, Bismarck!
Good video.
Amazing video!!
Congrats on 100k subs!
Will you do a video about the Regia Aeronautica?
Yes
poor steinhoff got severe facial burns ME 262 crash at wars end,joined the post war bundesrepublik in the fighter arm,good chap he was,
Very well done!
The devs of IL2 should release stand alone maps so that we can get more theaters of operations considering we have many planes used in the mid to mid late war period
Off topic but
Why did Germany adopt the FW190?
Why did they keep making the Me109 after adopting the 190?
Best guess? Initially, somebody felt it was foolish to put all their fighter 'eggs in one basket' & The FW design proved it's worth; Later the factories couldn't keep up with demand for the FW 190 and the need for replacing lost aircraft on the Front was so high, they didn't dare take the time to retool the old factories;
Omar Hanbali
Both planes were good in their different roles. They supported each other. The FW190 is a good plane, but it can' t do everything. Thats where the 109 came into play.
Short answers: The 190 was put into production as it did not use the DB-series of engines, which were always in short supply. Too many planes used them.
With the BMW engine, the 190 had superior low-altitude speed and manouverability (e.g.: higher roll-rate), whereas the 109 had better climb rate and could turn better, and - most importantly - had better high-altitude performance.
So, what you have is two different fighters made of different components having different strenghts and thus served different scenarios. The Luftwaffe needed both.
@@virtualinfinity6280
You have said everything, nothing to add.
virtfinity
Now that's comprehensive, thanks
10:00 did I hear his voice crack just a tiny bit there?
Hi Bismarck; enjoy your videos (as always): a question not directly related to this video; i saw on Twitter that you visited the "Dig Hill 80" excavation; did you record any videos while you were there, by chance? Thank you in advance
ralach Yes, we did. Coming to the channel soonTM.
Cheers for the reply :) (and, again, good work on the videos :) )
I'd love to visit the digsite :(
Great video
i like toast
pigy porcus so do I
pigy porcus what kind of toaster do you have?
pigy porcus I like train
Twan Van Gameren a tank engine
i also fire it out of a cannon
These new graphics are looking good!
Another good book is Sicily 43 by James Holland
Die Aussprache von Pantelleria und Messina üben wir aber nochmal, ja? ;-)
Absolut :D
It's not often that a comment is still funny even after being mangled by google translate .
I love your vids and I have a husky
Payback for Dunkirk.
I remember reading about Operation Corkscrew the bombing of Pantelleria that the Italian troops gave up with out a fight due the Aerial bombardment and in the British report of the landing they had one casualty which was caused by a man being bitten by an Ass
I also remember that the bomber could make 2 runs on the Island due to the size
Pantalleria not Pantarelia!
Do you plan on doing a video on the mistel bomb program? Would love that
Hello, it is spelled “re-gi-a” aeronautica, not “re-gi-na” Greetings from southern Switzerland!
He is german m8
Yey än schwizär... Ich waiss nöd... Irge wiä freu ich mich immär wenn ich öpert us de schwiz uf em internät gse
@@kaloka521 Hey, no fair. Google translate doesn't have Romansh.
Will there be a video on Operation Malamute? :)
The reduced morale, due to Hitler supplying the Luftwaffe with pink planes, directly aided the Allied victory in the Mediterranean.
What explains the disparity in aircraft?
*(Sun Tzu tactics intensified)*
Considering the obvious hopelessness of the German situation after 1942, and the fact that a pilot has the transportation necessary to leave the war, I wonder if any German pilots intentionally defected, or bailed out to be captured?
I think I would have done that, If I was such a pilot.
If this was done, are there any stats on how many did this?
Although most of the Luftwaffe planes destroyed at the airfields, and the Germans just left them there, didn't they? I think that some 1000 planes lost in that way. When your country has one of the best engineers in the world, but you can't fix a lightly damaged plane:P
If the counter air campaign in North Africa was any indication, the constant bombardments kept spare parts & more importantly fuel from reaching the airfields-not to mention keeping landing & takeoff strips in disrepair as well as constant damage to aircraft. Then the risk of being overrun by ground forces...all in all, they couldn't repair enough of them.
Filthy Disgusting Ape No. During all the campaigns, Luftwaffe's technical support wasn't so much organised. One example is the Balkans Campaign. Even though Axis had achieved air superiority, technical issues were common among the air force
Well it's been a while since I read Chris Shores' books on the air battles in Yugoslavia & Greece. It's always possible that the LW had supply issues based on how fast it moved & the generally poor road net in the region but who knows? You're probably right there is 'something'--even in Germany & occupied France, serviceability rates dropped quickly during periods of high activity...oh and 'Yasou, Patrioti' from one 'Omoyenis' to another.
Σωτος Τεο Thais right
One thing that people don't take into account is that military equipment tends to operate at the limits of the Technology available at the time and they will break quite easily. Aircraft, Ships and Tanks are not indestructible and without highly engineered spare parts they will become immobile within a short timespan. It is very common for the Supply chain for a new piece of equipment to be well behind in provision of spare parts to this day. There is also the fact that in 1943 the Germans suffered a major problem known by Albert Speer as the Zulieferungskrise. The literal translation of this is "sub-components crisis". Now what were these sub components??? Basically they were any item within a weapon system that could be easily replaced if broken or damaged and without them the system couldn't work effectively or at all. They were also the parts that were used in the construction of the major components that made up the weapons system like the guns, engines, hydraulics and other power systems, gearboxes and other stuff. The list is endless, but would include gaskets for engines, nuts and bolts, screws, rivets, small metal items of various shapes and sizes, ball bearings and the casings that held them altogether. Most of these items were not made in the factories where the weapon systems were assembled but by sub contractors who then sub contracted smaller parts or manufacturing processes to other sub contractors. My father was involved in such a process between the ages of 6 and 10 years old during WWII. His father was a toolmaker and worked for a small compony who was sub contracted to a major UK engine manufacturer to make sub components for a famous aircraft engine (My dad told me that they were parts for a Spitfire, so they may have been Merlin's). The part in question was round domed bit of metal with a hole in it. The metal blanks with the hole in them were cut from the metal sheet by a high power press during the day and in the evening, my Grandfather would, along with a couple of his workmates take a bag full of these metal blanks home with them. My grandfather's team all had shed's in their gardens, where they had installed an electric powered deburring wire brush wheel and a hand press. After my Grandfather and Dad had their evening meal and manged the allotment in the garden, they went into the shed and while my dad was pushing the metal through a jig on the deburring wheel to remove the sharp edges, his dad was pulling them into a press tool that he had made and fitted to the hand press and formed them into shape. The next morning my grandfather would take the finished items back to work where they heat treated and painted before dispatch to the engine manufacturer for either fitting to a new engine or packaging as a spare part. My Grandfather made enough money on the side from this out of hours work to start his own engineering compony up in 1945 which survived until my father sold it off when he retired 13 years ago. The closest the German's came to knocking out my dad's vital war work was in 1944 when a very off course V1 landed nearby and blew the windows of the shed (and of the house) in !!. This was how things were made in Germany (and Japan) as well. Lots of little widgets being made in little factory's all over German which were then thrown together in larger factories into bigger items before they were sent to the large assembly factories run by Krupp's, Henkel, Messerschmitt and alike to built the complete weapon or packaged spare parts. Most of these small factories and the homes of the people who worked in them were in the industrial cites and in the first half of 1943 one Arthur T Harris pretty much flattened half of them in Germany. Now a lot of the low tech hand and foot operated machinery was very resistant to the effects of blast and fire and the British learnt this from the Blitz. The workers on the other hand were not (and in Britain the workers were women, old men and Children over the age of 14 plus in some cases younger children like my father). Thus the British went for the easiest part of the weapon manufacturing chain to kill, the Workers and thus their homes were targeted, though a lot of the smaller factories were taken out as well as the transportation system used to move the bits about between factories. Speer had targets to meet, thus the widgets went into new machines and the spares for operational equipment suffered. He did overcome the problem somewhat by moving the production out of the cities and by using slave labour and his production efforts was massively helped in late 1943 and the first three quarters of 1944 by firstly the RAF's fixation on Berlin, which was hampered by bad weather and the fact that H2S radar didn't work that well overland. The USAAF being knocked out of the Bomber battle until the Mustang became available in large numbers in March 1944 and the vast bulk of RAF / USAAF bombing effort being aimed at French railways, V Weapon sites and the German Army in France between April and September 1944. Of course after that, the Allies had the upper had in precise navigation aids ranging across the whole ETO (Oboe and GEE-H) and the Germans ran out of fuel due to the loss of Romanian oil and the fact that them bombers were hitting the German synthetic oil industry hard. As a side note, the Japs moved all of their sub component manufacturing into peoples homes when the B-29 came in range of Japan. When Lemay found out about this he firebombed their asses.
Even though they were the 'bad dudes' many Germans fought bravely.
Why the asterisks?
If you're bad and fought bravely, your life is still a waste....
what did you do to Bismarck, who is this Military Aviaton History
great content, another good book is Messerschmitts over Sicily by Steinhoff
Love the vintage look, great topic of study.
Huskys are doggos , doggos are 😄
Achtung Spitfire.
400 paratroopers lost That is at least 10 planes....not a casual mistake. I can't imagine the guilt those gunners must have carried with them to their graves.
SO SICKENING, TO LEARN OF THOSE ''FREINDLY FIRE '' DEATHS, THAT STILL GO ON, IN MODERN TIMES, DESPITE VASTLY IMPROVED TECHNOLOGY AND TRAINING.
Well, good...
This was one dirty campaign
So why doesn't anybody (allegedly) talk about it?
Damit I’m late
⚜️
Oh yeah yeah
Maybe stupid question, but what game is this?
malkavian5 il-2 1946
Where was the swordfishes in the mediterranean?
Joao Brito Da Silva yes, they led the battle of Taranto on 1940
And they were very instrumental in interdicting convoys trying to supply the Afrika Korp. They had a contingent in Malta (when they were being bombed to bits that is)
4300 to 860 is pretty decisive.
Valuable lessons for D-day . Hmm! Soldiers should know friend from foe. That is a lesson for the cadets at West Point not for the planners of a major amphibious operation. They've learned from their mistakes doesn't work in the situation where these mistakes are extremely obvious.
Probably why the black & white 'invasion' stripes came in - a bit more obvious to ground troops when an aircraft is approaching head-on and a lot more obvious to AA crews when the planes are flying at a couple of thousand feet or so.
OrkStuff Sadly this was not the solution. There was plenty of friendly fire from the fleet with the stripes also. Plenty of patrols that were supposed to protect the fleet were fired upon. Maybe Bismark has more info on these incidents, I only had glimpses in the books that I've read about Overlord. Interesting stuff I have never read about ground forces firing on friendly planes . I suspect that faulty doctrine, insufficient training and low priority combined and resulted in sailors losing their shit every time they saw an aircraft. Maybe it is something else . I think it would be a great idea for a video.
In that situation preventing (un)friendly fire completely is a bit much to hope for but a significant reduction is always to be desired - with the stripes prominently displayed there's a greater chance that even if the AA gunners are wearing blinkers then someone nearby will yell 'Friendly' and the gunners will stop being kneejerk muppets.
OrkStuff Or not. Pearl Harbour, 7 dec 1941, evening. A bunch of airplanes from USS Enterprise are making their approach on Ford island airfield. The base's AA batteries and all the ships were informed of their arrival on numerous occasions. Unfortunately it only took one guy to pull a trigger (or push a pedal) and everybody started shooting, destroying most of the planes. They've stopped only when there were no more planes in the skies above them. This was not a case of falsely identification but nervous breakdown and sheeplike behavior from US sailors and marines.
If you know anything about discipline on military ships you know that it is very very strict so that is why I suspect a problem with the AA doctrine.
+ Serafim Mihai - 'Pearl Harbour, 7 Dec 1941, evening.' - How long is that after the Japanese raid, about 12 hours?
'If you know anything about discipline on military ships you know that it is very very strict' - 'This was not a case of false identification but nervous breakdown and sheeplike behaviour from US sailors and marines.'
I think you may have just sunk your own argument ;-) It's also about 2 or 3 years prior to Crete and Normandy, the invasion stripes were a result of lessons learnt - at least by the air forces.
Pantellaria not Panterelli!a!!
I think we also have to factor in the exhaustion of the LW fighter pilots who managed to get out of Tunisia & make it to Sicily. I have to imagine their morale was pretty low too...one of the JG77 diarists, Armin Kohler made frequent comments on how terrible the endless bombardments were in North Africa & now, with no chance to rest or regroup, the same endless bombardment had found them in Southern Italy.
You could say they bashed the fash. Anti-fa would still call the allied pilots nazies for not being communist.
Hi
FIAT 3000
This is more of a 500K views video than an 83K views to be honest. Come on, history buffs, you can do better!