The Bridge That Completely Changed WW2
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- Опубліковано 23 лис 2024
- Amidst the turbulent backdrop of the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, a defining moment unfolded: Operation Fustian. The valiant soldiers of Brigadier Gerald Lathbury's 1st Parachute Brigade, an integral part of the revered British 1st Airborne Division, had a resolute objective: the formidable Primosole Bridge.
The bridge, a solitary conduit spanning the Simeto River, held the key to unlocking the vast expanse of the Catania plain for the British Eighth Army. Its capture, a beacon of hope, promised to hasten their advance and herald the imminent demise of the Axis dominion over Sicily.
Meticulous planning envisioned a two-pronged assault, with the brigade's paratroopers descending from the heavens while glider-borne reinforcements stood steadfast by their side. But time was of the essence, as control of the strategically vital bridge meant the safety and security of the surrounding terrain until the arrival of the advancing British XIII Corps…
As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Docs sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. I do my best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Docs is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas. -
Absolutely love these videos
One of the lessons learned was to distinguish between friendly and enemy aircraft. As stated in the video, friendly fire cost a lot of lives on this operation, for D-Day the Allie’s used black and white stripes on the wings and fuselage of aircraft so naval and ground forces could identify them.
I always noticed that many planes in those operations had those stripes, I figured it was an identifier but not like that. Good info
Friendly fire in war is inedible
Then Galland's FW-190's started painting stripes on their wings too.
Yeah, you could lose some teeth biting into one of those.
@@user-mp3eq6ir5b I didn’t know that. Was that to try a trick the Allie’s?
Monty seems to have had real bad issues with Airborne Troops and Bridges.
Yeah, some people don't learn.
Monty, like many of the high command of all the forces on both sides in the war (Patton, MacArthur, Goering, Kesselring, De Gaulle, etc.), had an ego the size of all outdoors. Yes, he was a capable leader (mostly) but he was always open to anything that would harm his ego, perhaps even over valid plans that minimized his role.
Airborne warfare was relatively new in WW2, and there were a lot of issues that needed to be worked out, and procedures to refine and standardize. Each operation was a learning experience. Early operations in North Africa and Italy were near disasters. The one big Soviet airborne operation at Kanev was a bloody, disorganized mess. Even by the time of D-Day, the Allied airborne operations were still a mixed bag of successes and failures. Then came Market-Garden, and many of the expensive and hard-earned lessons that had been achieved were "thrown out the window" or just blatantly ignored, for the expediency of a poorly planned, over optimistic operation.
Ironically, the British and American interest in airborne warfare came after the German air invasion of Crete, which Hitler and others considered such a costly affair that the Germans never launch a major(more than battalion size) airdrop again for the rest of the war. In contrast, the Allies poured great amounts of men and resources into creating airborne forces, and then were faced with the question of what to do with them, by Generals who had no training or experience in their proper use.
Even then, the British and American efforts were uneven and badly coordinated. The U.S. eventually trained and equipped five airborne divisions (5 and a half to six, if you include independent units). The British organized two airborne divisions, with additional various independent units equaling one more, plus an "air-mobile" infantry division to be flown in to a captured airfield, like the Germans had done with Mountain troops at Crete. A major problem was the availability of transport aircraft. For all the assets the Allies put into creating airborne units, there were never sufficient transport aircraft to deliver them to the battlefield. When it came to production quotas and aircrew training, it was always easier to emphasize fighter aircraft and bombers that would definitely be used, over transport aircraft that MIGHT be used in some unknown, future operation. Even by the time of Operation Varsity in the spring of 1945, the British and Americans still barely only had sufficient transport aircraft to deliver two airborne divisions, instead of the three originally considered.
This sounds much more like foreshadowing of Operation Market Garden than of Operation Torch.
I thought so too. At least the British armor managed to relieve the airborne troops unlike in Holland.
Specifics like towns and city names aside, "missed dropzone" describes almost any battle involving paratroops during WW2.
Good video as usual. Bring more unknowns like these.
That's the Ludendorff Bridge in the Thumbnail, not the Malati.
Fellow "Hell Let Loose" Player?
@@frank5.3saw the thumbnail and immediately recognized it
@@kyleeackles6281 Same.
By the thumbnail thought it was going to be about “a bridge too far” at Arnhem
I recognised the bridge from the newer ww2 call of duty
Dark Docs, I really appreciate your exposé into the Sicilian Campaign because the French Campaign/Front ALWAYS gets the focus and attention when it comes to documentation. It's a nice change of pace to learn this part of history. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Thank-you!
Good video. Just a suggestion; some mapping would have been helpful. It would give us a better perspective.
Thank you for sharing
🏆🤗🙏🇺🇲
There is a picture of the Bridge at Remagen heading this video, yet it is about a bridge at Sicily. Slow down pumping out videos and add a little (actually more than a little) quality control to check if the information in the videos is correct and not just parroting other channels.
Whenever Montgomery's name crops up it often seems to be associated with the phrase "not going to plan"...
Isn't that the ludendorff?
I haven't ever heard of Tiger tanks in Sicilian defence?
Good video, thanks for sharing, God bless !
The Remagen Bridge didn't change the outcome of the war, it only helped shorten the war in the West, what actually changed the war was the US and Allied Invasion of Normandy and Operation Bagration in the East with the Soviet Red Army
As exciting a post as its music.
This must be about the first attempted attack on a heavy defended river crossing by the Mobile ex- desert 8th Army.
Sicily was the perfect example of American bravery, because the British were keen to take things slow, while the Americans were like "YOLOOOOO" and took over 2/3rds of Sicily. Targeting Europe's "soft underbelly" was Churchill's idea, and it was supposed to be their mission.
Thank you for your piece. When it comes to aircraft manufactured by the Weaver Aircraft Company, WACO for short, it is pronounced WAH-ko.
your parachute brigade could have landed at other end of bridge
In all WWII assaults secret codes were used. The German codes were broken helping American and allied troops advance their operations. One code that was never broken durning the war was Navajo code talkers. I've heard much about this but never an in depth video. My Dad spoke of this code. Just wondering if it would be a good subject matter you could touch up on. Thanks for you hard work in researching subject matter for this and many of your other videos..❤
There is a movie about them, I believe it is called Windtalkers.
A campaign probably not that well known by war buffs.
Great Story. I was stationed in Southern Italy in 1983 with the USCG. I spent some time touring Sicily by car. I knew about many of the WWII battles but not this one. Thank you!
WWII*? Maybe you didn't notice that.
@@lello.4925 opps typo. But that triggered you??
@@stever8776 no, I just know how people on the Internet like to make others feel like idiots when they make mistakes, so I thought I'd help out before it happened to you.
@@lello.4925 Thanks!!
So just Like the British upper ashlon, sacrificing 1600 men plus before they could even get to their assignments!? WTF!!? Didn't they do this a lot?
one more example of Montgomery's overly optimistic view of his strategic thinking...followed by Market Garden
So sad cause this was the last mission of cod ww2
And where the hell was Monty?????? He seems to always be a day late and a Quid short
Is this the Pewdiepie incident bridge?
Completely? Including contenders, places, dates and battles? Winners?
Corps & Corpses
Very Tiny Difference In Between
Reminds me of an article I read years ago about Rommel, the Dessert Fox.
Three adverts in the first five minutes have made this unwatchable.
In my first deployment to Sigonella in 1971,we were using the airbase the Germans had built, right down to the lollipops to spot our aircraft.
..we lived in old Luftwaffe barracks in Germany in 1971...
All content on Dark Docs is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes.
WHERE'S THE BRIDGE?!?!
Remagen
Montgomery poor reconnaissance, planning and execution. As poor as Churchill at Gallipoli. ✌️🤘🇦🇺
:O THE PEWDIEPIE BRIDGE
Bridge over the river kwai probably
Just another Monte screw-up!
this is a hell let loose map fake news
NONSENSE headline. Totally untrue that the one bridge was so important. It might have turned important, if the Battle of the Bulge occurred because of it, but no, it didn't turn important. The title Bridge too Far was always questioning why the troops were sent on such dangerous missions when it didnt seem important to the tactics of the day. But guarding against collapse or flanking was also a strategy...
I honestly believe to two best WWII generals on the Axis side were Montgomery & MacArthur.
What, the british paratrupers didn't have a radio with them, is that at all possible???🧐🤔
Possibly lost during the drop or wrong crystals.
It probably wasn’t that they didn’t start out without radios. But they lost 80% of their force due to Blue-on-blue from Allied air defences.
The signals sections were probably lost among those people.
The same thing happened at Market-Garden.@@rcstl8815
The bridge in the pic on the intro and what appears in the feed is the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine river at Remagen in Germany. Why do you have that pic when the entire video is about the British battle in Sicily? Is this a little click-bait bullshit going on here? I try to watch most of your videos, which are usually very good, but this one gets a 👎because of the misleading intro pic.
Bro put the weight of WW2 on the back of one bridge 😩
In the book heaven and hell the German paratroopers describe how not long after they landed the british paratroopers landed on their same positions and many were cut down in the process or captured.
Salute To The Fallen Brave Mens Of Both Sodes