Aachen 1944 - America's Mini Stalingrad
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- Опубліковано 28 сер 2024
- The late 1944 Battle of Aachen, the first German city to fall to the Allies, was particularly vicious and resembled, on a smaller scale, the street fighting in Stalingrad.
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My granddad fought in the Hürtgen Forest. The 28th infantry division, the “bucket of blood”, named so for the red keystone on their uniform symbolizing the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He took shrapnel in his shoulder and his entire platoon was wiped out. Dad told me they were pulling bits of steel from him until the fifties. He was a changed man, I’m told. He never talked about the war and became extraordinarily angry.
damn sad. Could you imagine what his life would have been like if there would have been no world war?
He had every right to act his way, he fought for us. Thank you to your grandpa.
The overall foolishness and swinishness of the US Army brass was displayed to the world in the fall of 1944. While there was competent professionals like Patton and Bradley, there were many officers from America's peacetime army that were given the chance to earn medals beating up on the "defeated" Germans, and besides getting medals for getting their men killed and wounded, they gave the Germans a chance to prepare for the Ardennes offensive, that began December 16th. In the old movie about the Battle of the Bulge, there's a scene where General Bradley says "Where did he get all this stuff?" after seeing the Germans armor.
I would be too if my mates got yeetet in front of me
angry at everyone ??
ua-cam.com/video/74BzSTQCl_c/v-deo.html
my Dad was in Patton's 3rd army. He passed away this year at 96.
F M my grandpa was also in Patton’s 3rd army. I believe that he was either a tank driver or tank commander during the Africa campaign. He died of lung cancer in 2012 at the age of 92. I wonder if your dad and my grandpa knew each other
Thank you for his service.
Using 155mm howitzers in a direct-fire role was definitely "outside-the-box" thinking. It even prompted one SS officer to remark, "When the Americans start using field artillery as sniper rifles, it's time to surrender."
Danger close
I thought that was a legit fighting tactic based on how the Germans and Soviets fought in Warsaw and Stalingrad respectively?
My uncle, who was awarded the Bronze Star was one of the first dozen American soldiers to cross the Siegfried Line. He said he bent over to tie his shoe laces and the guy next to him had his head blown off.
That's terrible. If you aren't shootin' you should be scootin'...
Wow. Yes, something similar happened to my old man. In Italy, he was walking with a squad and he tripped on a rock and fell flat on his face, right when two MG42s swept the advancing GIs. Everyone got shot except for him. You never know what action you take will save your life.
Ronald McDonald wow. Thats miraculous. I wouldnt know what my reaction would be if i were to turn around and a headless person behind me
My close personal friend SS Gruppenführer Heinz Harmel was actually the Kampfgruppe Kommandeur in the Battle of Aachen, leading a group of Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg survivors. Hitler ordered him to fight to the last , but instead, he refused, and withdrew his Kampfgruppe in good order to the outskirts of Aachen, to prepare for the defense of Köln. Instead, he was relieved of command. He was the only Division Commander to defund a "Führerbefehl" and live to tell the tale. He returned to his home in the Ruhr, with his adjutant, driver, and 3 Commo Officers, and he was sitting in his favorite chair when the Brits found him. He was under mild house arrest, was allowed to retain his Uniform and sidearm, and only had to report to the British MP's once a week. He was held in very high esteem for his conduct during the Arnhem battle, allowing Brits to evacuate dead and wounded, and allowing SS medics to treat injured Brits.
I'm literally staying in aachen for the weekend. Just today visited the Dom. Beautiful church.
If you like you can still go see the siegried line! I also suggest the zoo and the spa!
nice!
@@algiz21 Don't go to the "zoo", it's small, depressing and inhumane. I hate it there. It's a beautiful city apart from that
Damned lucky it is still standing
There was a German medic that was captured there and later became a veterinarian in Las Vegas that we used to go to long ago. He said the 155s were the worst. Especially when they used them at point blank range.
The amount of history that was destroyed during ww2 is sickening!
ha, maybe as much history was made as was destroyed, such that at the end of 5 years it was if no time had passed : the amount of history that existed in 1945 was equal to the amount of history that existed in 1939!
Allies were war criminals to the highest degree
Yes essentially a civil war, brother against brother and for the second time an attempted suicide of Western Culture With all of the Beta Cultures salivating over its corpse . Was the suicide successful ? It looks like it was with many Trojan Horses brought in. Western Culture is Doomed !
Yea well people don't want to die. If you can only survive by hiding in a medieval church then it's understandable, and it's also understandable for the enemy to obliterate it with artillery fire cause they don't want to die either.
What's actually sickening is the way ISIS and the Taliban for example destroyed many historical monuments like the Persian city of Palmira and the huge Buddha statue in Afghanistan just because they felt like it.
Yeah war sucks
When Aachen was a small Stalingrad, then was the Huertgen Forest a small Vietnam.
I live not to far from Aachen in Holland. And my grandfather, who lived in Gulpen (about 15km from Aachen) in 1944, always told us about this battle and how he helped get both wounded American and German soldiers across the border to Maastricht, which was already liberated at that time. And how at night he could hear the fighting and see the orange glow of fires in the city.
sir please also talk about the stalingrad of the pacific and the largest urban warfare in pacific theater......the battle of manila
That would be very interesting.
I wanted to say Shanghai, but that's not during WW2.
Yeah, I noticed he doesn't really talk about the pacific theater very much.
Good request. The civilian loss of life there was staggering.
Yes please!
Great video. I am from the Aachen region - a true native.
Though there might have been elements (at least a Tiger II unit) of 1st SS Panzerkorps in the region 20 km north of Aachen (at Linnich), SS Troops in and close by Aachen were from 10th SS PD Frundsberg. Main defense was by 116th PD Windhund (greyhound), supported from 3rd Panzergrenadier-Div. from the Eschweiler area. Presence of 1st SS LAH is unknown to my knowledge, but with all the rag-tag units and ad hoc formations thrown in, one can never be sure. :-)
If you want to visit the region, tell me and I show you around. Hotel Quellenhof is still standing (a bit refurbished o.c.).
We also had Napoleon defeating a Coalition army in the very area at Jülich and Aldenhoven. If you are up for any kind of construction business in our region, you will for 100%sure find cannon balls, musket rounds, 500 lbs bombs or artillery shells.
Thank You for this. My father was with the U.S. 8th Infantry Division and saw combat in Aachen, and later in the Hurtgen Forest. He never spoke of about his experiences, and though I've read about how horrible it was this really brings it home. Again, thank you.
that moment you live in aachen and still the bunkers and mosly all dragons teeth are still here
Same
Hey I got a question, I live in Halifax and apparently the two towns are 'twins' do you have signs saying so? we do on the roads in to the town.
Ready for round two I suppose
i live near aachen
so you guys are nutzis or something? jk bad joke!
During Christmas 1994, I got to visit my sister who was working as a Nanny in a little town in the Saarland. Christmas in Germany is great fun. One of her local pals lives in Aachen who took on a tour through the city and to the Weinachtsmarkt around Aachen Cathedral.
We also took the opportunity to visit both the German and American Cemeteries in Luxembourg. The weather was just like it was 50 years before: cold, windy, light snow & socked-in. Quiet. Eerie as hell.
An interesting fact: The building that housed the Gestapo headquarters in Aachen is now home to the Historical Institute of RWTH Aachen University.
While I as a university student haven’t got a particularly strong bond with the city, recognising streets and buildings in the footage make the horror and the destruction of the battle all the more visceral. For us in the developed world, war seems far away, both temporally and spatially. All too often, even when studying history, we forget how real war and these events we cover are and how close they once were to us. It is good to be reminded of that fact.
Thank you Dr. Felton for another enlightening and thought provoking video! You are doing a great service by bringing history to life in such a professional and accessible way.
I started watching the channel when Dr Felton had under 1k subs. I'm so glad this channel has reached 300k. It really has changed my view of the war and history in general. Thanks Dr Felton.
I live in Aachen and for my last Job near Monschau I used to drive over the Siegfried Line and the old Tank Traps every Day.
Im living right opposite from the Quellenhof at the moment. They've rebuild most of the historic buildings in the city but you really can see, how the war changed the city.
4:16 respect to the dude who released the puppy before the battle raged on
I just read a book about the US Army 45th Infantry Division and the Battle of Aschaffenburg. The urban street battles in German cities had some of the highest casualty rates during WW2. At this late stage in the war, most of the US troops were inexperienced replacements and/or exhausted veterans who didn’t want to die in the last few days of WW2. The fanatical German command to fight to the last man resulted in German soldiers and civilians being hung or shot for trying to surrender or flee . US troops found it disgusting that those same German commanders who gave the order to fight to the last man decided to surrender when surrounded by US forces.
I recall Sven Hassel stating in one of his books that 92000 German soldiers were executed during ww2 for 'cowardice & desertion' etc , hard times
It’s always sad when historic buildings get in the middle of war. Thank you for this insight on this heroic battle.
I'm a simple man; I see good content, I click.
Me to
I guess everyone’s simple then
Good
I've said it before and I'll say it again......this channel is my go to for WW2 and everything in between.
Wow you've reached 300k, congratulations!😁
MFP is growing faster than any other YT channel.
The best history channel on UA-cam.
But better by 110%.
Guns N' Games unrivaled.
I served in the army in the mid 2000’s and seen some combat but I couldn’t imagine a war like this like they said war of All wars it’s just unbelievable the carnage
Hurtgen Forest will always a have chill to it when you see the name.
Sorta Hurt-gen Forest
The 1998 HBO TV film When Trumpets Fade had its gritty momenrs but nothing can do justice to those who were there and experienced things in real life in 1944.
For the record, Americans that study history and specifically WWII know that nothing on the Western front matches the scale and brutality of Stalingrad, or The battle of Kursk for that matter. D Day and the Battle of the Bulge come closest but true historians recognize that the vast bulk of the professional soldiers of the Wermacht were expended against the Soviet Army. That being said, thousands of American, British, Canadian and other allied personnel fought and died defeating the same enemy and their sacrifices should never be minimized. Also it should be remembered that we were attacked by Japan and devoted much of our resources and energy to the Pacific war.
Has anyone considered launching a kickstarter for Dr. Felton? What I have in mind is creating a fund to allow Mark to produce feature length programmes. I think a lot of people would be more than happy to pay for such a channel.
Mark has a patreon, support him there!
It’s amazing the Germans were able to offer such strong defence after many months of retreat.
I love the style of having segments of pure footage with just gun fire audio.
It definitely makes the videos have a higher production value and more like the old history channel docs.
Keep up the good work!
Mark your content is first class and much appreciated; I was a history major and your videos just highlight what I learned mostly in print; Usually your videos are limited to ten minutes or so, if you may please add a few longer content videos, they are so awesome and ten minutes often seems like an appetizer, lol. But, thank you so much for providing this for us
A true German patriot. Gerhard von Schwerin. It's good to know he survived the war and died at the ripe age of 81.
What happened to him when he was removed from command
Just like Adolf, "Not one step backwards" .
And so, the people suffered.
Not really. The latest researchs couldn't find any evidence for the actions, mentioned in the video. Instead they found evidence that Schwerin was responsible for the shooting of two young boys, which allegedly were plundering.
Not happy with PTSS
At this time the good german patriots were mostly dead. It was 1933 - 1939 they lost and failed to get rid of the many madman, that took over the country and destroyed its foundation.
One way the allies actually got around (or I should say over) the dragon's teeth barriers was to dump dirt on the barriers to level them so that their tanks could simply go over them with relative ease. Good video
As far as I can see, the only parallel with Stalingrad here was that there was fighting in an urban environment.
Mark can we get a video on the Burma campaign
JJ Brooks agreed
My grampy said he shot more orangutans than enemy in Burma.... he said you be creeping through the bush and they start kicking off in the trees and charged you...
Excellent suggestion! There is so very much he could cover, but in the least: insights from the Battle of the Admin Box, the limitations of the Chindits, the near loss of Kohima, and faking the Japanese leading up to the Meiktila/Mandalay Campaign.
JJ Brooks ...That’s a great idea.
Or phillipenes
Apart from running one of the best and most interesting history channels on YT I really like your German pronunciation. You're the first non-German I ever heard pronouncing the word "Leibstandarte" correctly. Very well done. That also applies to all your videos I watched so far.
Mark is my favourite history teacher!
Really love your videos on various battles that don't get mentioned in many documentaries. Both of my grandfathers fought in WW2 one as part of the BEF, and another in the battle for the Atlantic conveys. I find it fascinating as the first truly modern war. I thought that I knew most of the campaigns before finding your channel. Excellent work Mark. Always appreciated.
If you could do some videos on the pivotal Wermacht commander's such as Eric Von Manstien and Von Klugger ect. Those excellent Prussian tacticians who's advice Hitler ignored.
I remember playing a mission in COD Finest Hour about this, you had to go through the city clearing it of enemy so your tanks can advance to the bridge, onenof my all time favorites and a true classic, when COD was fun and had good missions
I think I remember playing that level, it was hard. I can only imagine how hard it was in reality.
I lived & grew up in and around Aachen.. that cathedral was built around 900 AD!! The adjacent treasure chamber is gorgeous...
My Aunt lives in Aachen and still has a dent from a phosphor Bomb in her living room's ceiling.
When she was a Child, the bomb has broken through the roof down into the basement, but did not explode.
Amazing how a lot of programmes and individuals criticise the British and other allied forces, but not including the USA, for the length of time it took for Caan to be taken. This mini documentary is the first time I have heard of this American failing, so in future when I hear criticism, or plain condemnation of the Battle for Caan I will bring Achen into the discussion. Notice that I am not criticising the American forces, in fact I have great sympathy for them trying to take such a heavily and fanatically defended city. All I would ask is that others remember this battle when the battle for Caan is brought into the “debate” on allied actions in the European Theatre of Operations. Thanks for sharing this excellent and informative video. 👍.
Calling this a Stalingrad in any magnitude is a stretch. In the end the city was taken. It was more like what the Marines experienced in their island hopping campaign.
"mini" would be an understatement when you actually think about the scale of fighting and the barbaric brutality that actually happened in Stalingrad.
As someone who both lives in Aachen and had family members fighting in Aachen i love this video thx
Had a great grandmother in Aachen get killed in ww2 by aerial bombing..
Hey what about the Battle of Ortona in Italy. It was called little Stalingrad by the Canadian forces fighting there and one of the bloodiest battles on the western front of WW2.
you never run out of spectacular docu,doctor!!
Im still so amazed at how fast you produce these videos. Thank you
My grandfather was a child of 15, shooting Mauser and Panzerfaust. Eventually the relatives in the office couldn't stamp anymore that he'd be needed at home "to train new HJ for the Volkssturm", so he had to go get deployed at Porta Westphalica against the Allies. He was a very stubborn person, and got into a fight with some Officer that needed a ride and took his spot in the front of the truck. He got kicked off the truck, that would later drive right into an Allied column at Porta Westphalica. None of his childhood friends survived. No-one. So whenever I feel stubborn, or got into fights as a young man, I remembered how without these traits, my entire family would not be today.
I appreciate M. Feltons' accurate narration to include the Canadian troops of my uncle and other community relatives, where so many narrations only mention the USA and Brits. AS a radio operator, my uncle was in the war early, years before the Americans even thought of joining up. Other members of my Ontario community had died YEARS before the Americans even thought of there BEING a war to fight.
I understand the comparison to Stalingrad in terms of the urban warfare conducted in Aachen. However, the prolongued nature, scale and significance of the Battle for Stalingrad makes this comparison unworkable. This said, I still loved the video, as with all of your work, Mark.
I can't get enough of this channel. What amazing work you do on these videos. Good stuff
Reminds me of the Battle of Fallujah. Warfare never really changes does it?
I swear each one of these little stories would make amazing movies if done accuratley
Top notch video as usual. Keep up the great work!
I was stationed in Germany in the late eighties. My father-in-law and wife came to visit. We went first to Normandy and then traced his movements all the way to Aachen. He was wounded in Aachen. He was stunned to see the current day city and did not recognize one marker or site. He remarked somewhat bitterly that the funds given to rebuild Germany by The Marsahll Plan could have been used in our own building our own country. (Yes, I know The Marshall Plan saved Europe from the tide of Communism after the war.)
Congrats on 300k man! I legit watch every single video you post, All your videos teach me a lot, And I mean a lot. So thank you for the knowledge my great friend!
Thank your Dr. Felton. You did not mention that Aachen was also the old city where Emperors of Holy Roman Empire was crown.
Amazing that Germany, the size of Montana...held off so many countries for 5 years.
Well that is kind of a simplistic view. Germany isn't huge but area, although it is by Western European Standards. Also, it was heavily populated and heavily industrialized which is more important than just size. Also, Germany quickly took the land and industrial capacity and resources of its smaller and weaker neighborhood early in the war. This greatly added to its war making capability.
Actually, they started the war, and ran over countries that didn't really want to fight a war. Once the other side started fighting back in earnest, Germany began retreating. The last three years were just one long retreat. You also have to realize that Germany prepared for the war well before it began. Something the other countries played at, but didn't seriously do until it was almost too late.
With the population of California, Texas, and New York fighting for me in Montana, I could have held them off.
Had the Population of 80,000,000 not at all Montanas Population.
I feel like they did had the best Military in terms of Doctrine, Structure, Commitment, and Leadership in Low to mid-rank Officers. If it wasn't for the Failure of Barbarrosa and 3,000,000 Casualties in the USSR, the War in the West would been very Different.
Such a shame with all the ruined old buildings.
Yeah well they should have surrendered sooner.
How Americans try to avoid heavy casualties make me impressed, but somehow this eventually leading to even more casualties in several occasions
Stalingrad wasn't a house to house fight, it was a room by room,hell sometimes inch by inch in rooms. Close hand to hand combat was common.
Fighting in close qwarters was a hand by hand fight, and thr open grounds was a sniper hell.
Wow how big has this channel suddenly got! Well done Mark, love the channel.
Thanks for this subject. Breaking into Germany had a description and tone when talked about by the veterens. Little details but terms like tuff, hard and loss. I do rember seeing an interview with a veteren refrencing the preference for big artillery to "knock everything down".
Another great video Mr. Felton. This is, seriously, my favorite channel on UA-cam!
Great vid, as usual. It still hurts me to watch the destruction of this historic city.
So this is why those dragon's teeth are found everywhere on the border of Aachen! Thank you!
Thank you for acknowledging that the Canadians were in the fight.
As Mark always does.
There should be a game that lets you take part in every battle that happened in WW2, on every front.
It'd be a realtime game (kind of like Silent Hunter 3), where you play for 4-6 years, depending on the nation u choose.
Close Combat series would be great as well
Congrats on 300k subs Mark
My father was there, with the the 3rd Armored Division, as a half-track commander. My mother's and his marriage only lasted a few years after the war. I never met the man. Casualties did not cease with the surrender of Nazi Germany.
Another incredible insight into the war in Europe. Thanks for sharing!
The Battle of the Hurtgen forest was a far bigger disaster than Market Garden & it seems to be swept aside & forgotten about.
Thank you Dr you never disappoint
Being a student of History I am amazed by all these informations
So when is the history channel going to sign you up because the footage and narration is top notch mate footage I certainly haven't seen before and the stories too great job
To me Peleliu was America’s Stalingrad. Instead of house to house, it was cave to cave.
The German Relief attempts at Aachen are equally exciting to learn about as is the action just south of Aachen in the Green hell of the Hurtgen forest. Great Video Dr. Fellton.
Depressing to see what happened to these cities I love so much.
I could watch these all day! Amazing bits of forgotten history. I'm going to watch Hurtgen next.
Mark,
Your productions are exceptional, precise, and no matter the topic, always extremely interesting. As my parents and aunts and uncles were all US Navy, I particularly enjoy references to this, including the British Navy. Given the 70 odd years of reruns of American generated newsreels of the era, one would think we Yanks won the war in Europe single handed, but of course the opposite was true, and Britain and its people suffered terribly, and literally fought with their " ...blood, sweat, and tears..."thanks for giving us Yanks the " Big Picture"!
I'm sure this history isn't being taught in our schools and universities, thanks Mark for bringing history back.
Congratulations on 300k.
Love the short sharp content of lesser known episodes of history. I always look forward to the next video.
You're also a stunning narrator.
Britain 1941 : you’re late to this war
America 1944 : we just captured the first German city of this war
Not sure that anything quite compares with Stalingrad, its a bit like describing the Pearl Harbour Raid as "America's blitzkrieg"
You want to see an "American Stalingrad", look to the US Army's fight in Manila. That makes Aachen look like a small-scale skirmish.
I often stumble upon your videos, for some reason I never subscribed (will do now). Your content is top-notch mate, keep up the good work!
Mark,
My dad was with the 20th Naval Construction Battalion, C division( Seabees). It may be of interest to note that some of the units members ages were well into their fifties. Their essential trade skills in almost every field were used in the island hopping campaigns of the Pacific. Many times they were under bombardment from the air or even from ground assualts, and had to drop their blow torch and pick up their 1903 Springfields.
Tge new Seabee Museum in Port Hueneme California and Gulfport Mississippi tell their collective stories well enough, but would love someday to hear your take on them and as their motto states, " Can Do" attitude.
All the Best,
P. McFadden
Bend, Oregon
USA
Fantastic job...as usual.....thanks my man.
Greetings Dr. Felton. I was watching a doco about Hitlers train and I heard a voice I recognized! Sure enough you were one of the contributing experts in the production. So now I have a face to match the voice! Always interesting.
Thanks for putting together such a great short story about the battle for my hometown in Germany. There's a lot of interesting history there (all the way back to Roman times), and this is an interesting look back at the recent past. Some of the remnants of WWII cas still be seen around Aachen, such as the "Westwall" concrete dragon's teeth towards the Belgian border.
Excellent video, Mark...thank you! I read the book Bloody Aachen by Charles Whiting when I was a kid and recommend it to anyone interested in understanding what a horrific battle the taking of Aachen was.
This question is not about this battle, but when Germany invaded Poland, USSR invaded Poland also, why didn’t France and Britain declare war on the USSR also
My great grandad - a civilian - died in ally bombings on aachen. My grandmother had both her feet damaged by shrapnel that ripped through the walls. War is hell!
It’s sad that so little to none was known about the American and British troops liberating Western Europe on the other side of the wall
Easily best history content out there, thank you man.
Imagine what the battles to get past the Siegfried line would've been like had the line been properly manned, supplied, and armed. A lot of the guns and supplies had been stripped to create the Atlantic Wall and with it gone, so were those guns and supplies.
Maybe not the most accurate but the HBO film, When Trumpets Fade, is a great movie about the Battle of Hurtgen forest. That movie recreated the grit of war perfectly. It made a huge impression on me when I was just a young teenager.