This is the second episode of our mini-series about Erwin Respondek and Sam Woods, two Allied spies during World War Two. Not only did they make a significant contribution to the war effort and is their story a great case to use for a video on the German Nuclear Program, they also hold a special place in our hearts and minds here at TimeGhost. Sam Woods used to spend a lot of time in the house where we film our series, about which Astrid has made a special behind the scenes video which you can see right here: ua-cam.com/video/gNQksLTWrSQ/v-deo.html
"A dead spy is a bad spy" I wouldn't Jump to conclusions. I don't want to Push the issue. Yet I ... Must. Sometimes a dead spy is the very best spy of all. You see? Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.
1. Heisenberg wasn't obstructing. He simply miscalculated. How embarassing. In the post-war era being on the nazi's side was... problematic. These are the reasons he pretends in the post-war era to have obstructed. 2. Germany had plenty of enriched uranium. It wound up in U.S. hands when the U-boat U-234 (sic) was seized. 3. The heavy water sabotage story persists as a cover. A cover for what is another story. 4. Hitler declared war on the USA because he figured he would obtain nuclear weapons.
The German nuclear scientists actually concluded that they could build a nuke but they also concluded that they would not be able to build one before the war ended because they could not produce enough Uranium 235. That is why Spear recommended the German government stop investing as much as they were into the project. The insanely long period of time it took to get enough Uranium 235 for a nuke is what stopped or prevented most countries prior to WW2(except for the US) from putting as much effort as needed into a nuclear program as was required because they thought it would just take so long to get enough of the right type of Uranium (U235). This is why after the US used it's first nuke on Japan the Japanese nuclear scientists told the Japanese leadership that that bomb was likely the only nuke the US had because the only way they knew how to get U235 was a insanely time taking process. The US was able to extract so much U235 from normal Uranium found in the ground via the massive amount of money the US spent on creating special locations just for extracting the U235 from normal Uranium.
I love how every one of you has such a different style. When I watch Astrid, she's telling a yarn, Spartacus is a tour guide through humanity's house of horrors, and Indy is the Big Picture Guy. I love it. I watch every episode with my Dad and brother. I'll truly be sad when this series is over.
Hopefully you have viewed their World War One week-by-week series that began in 2014 as they paralleled that war a century later, in real (parallel time). Jesse Alexander has continued it with events like the Russian Civil War and others which continued until mid 1921/2021.
When I was 11 I was reading a book about the commando attack on the Norwegian heavy water plant. My grandfather, a WWI veteran, told me I was too young to be reading such a book.
19:15 would have been hilarious if the phone call would have had the cut to indy sleeping over the desk in darkened room and waking up violently to answer the phone, implying he does nothing but sit there 24/7 even when not filming
I met Moe Berg when I was a kid and my Dad worked for the Washington Senators Baseball team. My dad told me all about his exploits. Two movies and a book about his life are available. He was a true Patriot and a very exceptional man. Can’t wait for special!
For people interested in Moe Berg, the movie, "The Catcher Was a Spy" is a dramatization of Berg's mission. After the War, Operation Epsilon held all of the German scientists at the British estate Farm Hall. The entire estate was wired with microphones and the conversations between the scientists were transcribed and sent to British and American intelligence organizations. The conversations reveal that the Germans were never close to making a bomb as Heisenberg had no idea on the amount of uranium needed for a bomb or fast neutron reactions with fissile material. After Hiroshima, Heisenberg and the other scientists were not convinced the United States actually had an atomic bomb and thought it was some type of enhanced "chemical bomb."
This is so interesting. Erwin is normally someone who would be forgotten by history, but that man is a badass, his spy network is incredible. Incredible story, incredible host. Dont tell Sparty but i think i even prefer this series to WaH. Or well, lets say they are even. This channel has just an insane level of professionalism, shown in content an exceptional hosts. A big thank you toIndy, Sparty, Astrid and Anna and all the Members behind the camera for all this. I love the several extra series, it just portrays the many facettes of this war. It goes way beyond the Armies at the Fronts. Its in the Extermination camps, in the Capital Cities, in the Parliaments of the Nations
One of best episodes of this subseries yet for me. I love how it dipped into the world of physics and baseball. Also you managed to present excellent information in an entertaining and occasionally humorous manner, not an easy thing to do. Keep up the great work!
Thank you, Astrid. Fascinating story of the history of nukes. My father was plucked from an army recruiting line in the spring of '42 and put into service with the OSS. His stories consisted of following Japanese-American's around Colorado and Utah. It was years later I began to question how many Japanese were living in & running around Colorado and Utah ??? He also talked about how much he loved the landscape of New Mexico. What ever he was really up to, he took to his grave.
Am I the only one who wants a special Valentine’s Day episode,about how Astrid met Spartacus? And another special episode about how the greatest bromance in history (Indy and Spartacus) came to be?
@@gunman47 where's the sequel, "Astrid and the two jolly gestapo officers Indy and Spartacus create a time machine to start a youtube channel decades in the future part 2 electric boogaloo"
I’m loving this series, but frankly the cherry on top is Astrid’s delivery. Her mix of English and German accent and style of speech make it an absolute joy to listen to.
@@cpob2013 he has a spy in Japan that independently confirmed German plans for operation Barbarossa. He actually has a source as "neutral" as possible as can be and still dismissed the intelligence. Soviet unpreparedness is to be attributed to Stalin and his actions (or lack thereof) during the early days of the invasion and fault primarily must be laid to him.
@@cpob2013 if his spy in Japan was giving the same warnings as what the Western allies was saying to him, Stalin should have been at best be cautious with regards to Nazi Germany. But no, uncle Joe simply disregarded them all and the Red Army was caught unprepared for Barbarossa. And how do you explain Stalin's disbelief that they were invaded by Nazi Germany? The early failings of the Red Army during Barbarossa was directly tied to to the political and military leadership failures of a state as centrally controlled as the USSR. Ergo Stalin was mostly at fault since he controls both the political and military leadership of the USSR.
After the famous quote that our nuclear scientist said I have become death the shatter of worlds! one of the other scientists leaned into him said now we're all sons of b******!
The re-enactment is epic! This episode has been fantastic, I knew only the very basics of the Nazi nuclear research program but little to know of the espionage behind it. Thanks guys!!!
I met him when I was a teenager and my Dad worked for the Washington senators baseball team. My Dad told me all about his exploits he spied on Japan taking photos from Hospitalty roof while playing exhibition games in Japan in 30s . There are two movies about him “spy behind the plate” and “The catcher was a spy”
@@stormstaunch6692 I was 12 years old and sat next to him in the owners box during a ballgame and it took 4 generations but a Bregman is finally playing in the big leagues
@@GaldirEonai Didn't the Nazi's give up on their nuclear program because: 1. it was based on "Jewish physics", and 2. they lost 2 years worth of heavy water production, making it basically pointless to restart? If you have exact dates/reasons for why the Nazis pulled the plug on funding, I'd be interested! :)
I have to say Astrid... You are such a great storyteller!! You can tell how invested you are in what you are presenting, and that makes it so much more interresting to watch!! Great job! 😁
I knew you would nail it Astrid, well done! So much better. You are a beautiful story teller. And such a good story. Loving it, I’ve missed it in the past weeks. Can’t wait for the next episode.
Only problem is that no one really knows what they discussed, only that Niels Bohr more or less refused to talk with Heisenberg after the war. The movie "Copenhagen" covers this meeting, and possible topics of discussion that lead to Bohr getting upset with Heisenberg.
Astrid's unique presentation and delivery makes Spies and Ties a joy to watch. Keep up the good work Astrid, Indy, Sparty, Anna, and all the fine folks working behind the scenes!
That was really great! I had some reservations after the previous episode, but this one was absolutely perfect. The subject is so fascinating, and Astrid"s performance is clearly a plus. Thanks for the great work, and I can't wait for the next one!
Hi Astrid Your way of narration is so great to watch.. Also re-enactment scene is good..Learned lot of cool history. Thanks for the episode..🙏 Spies and ties great series..👍
Many of the "normal" videos I watch are about CoVid, 5G, Flat Eart, Karens and we, the wathers, are having a great time coming up with witty and funny stuff in the comment section, but in this video - you are absolutely World Champions. You make your videos so very entertaining but still so filled with information and facts, that there's no way to make funny notes down here ...
She's just so animated, in her tone, inflection, facial & hand expressions. I absoluteley love watching her present. And her cheesey little puns, omg I laugh at every one of them.
Nicely done. I thought the whole story was the raid in Norway. This vid was pretty chilling. Human history has steady elements of brilliance and pure chaos.
I can't remember any real details but there was a British TV doc many years ago on the German nuclear programme. It claimed that the head of the project overestimated the amount of heavy water required by 10 fold. Whenever a junior researcher questioned this he would be dismissed. There was speculation that this could have been an honest calculating error, but not many people believe such an eminent scientist wouldn't have spotted this. The most likely explanation offered is that he wanted there to never be enough heavy water.
There's also discussion if Moe Berg had an effect on Doolittle's Raid on Tokyo. In 1934, a group of All-Star ballplayers, including Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, went to Japan. Berg went with them. One day, he went to a Tokyo Hospital with flowers supposedly to give to the Ambassador's daughter who had given birth. Instead, he went to the roof, and filmed the the buildings and harbor of Tokyo with a movie camera. People still debate if his film was used as a guideline for what the Doolittle Raid in 1942 sought to bomb.
@@hernerweisenberg7052 i mean sure, but they also never got far enough down the track to realize how titanic an undertaking it was. they built a test reactor the size of an industrial clothes dryer but never got any fuel, for comparison the american breeder reactors (plural) were the size of a minor three story office complex, and thats just the reactor inside the building. every once in a while you hear loons imply the germans got close, but they really never started, wether it be due to heisenberg stalling or not i have no clue, but it certainly wasnt any chance of them making one whatever happened.
@@hernerweisenberg7052 Heisenberg made plenty of statements about deliberately slowing the program. Thinking in physics has always differed. Most physicists point towards errors in Heisenberg's understanding as the cause, not deliberate errors.
In hindsight, a lot of the Germans was *comically* optimistic. Operation Barbarossa being the undeniable winner. But other things, like thinking that Germany could beat the UK and the USSR (and the USA) even though most oil was produced by them, was another one. Oh, and expecting little resistance while conquering millions of people, calling them racially inferior, and trying to murder about half of them - completely sensible XP Seen in that context, thinking that the UK might agree to a peace after France fell, seems almost-sane, in comparison.... (although it's still shocking how far they got - and I'm really glad they were dumb enough to make those mistakes, since that's why I'm typing this in English, instead of my grandparents being murdered)
No, you misunderstood it. They were not optimistic, they were in fact very realistic in that regard. They had the resources (V weapons program cost as much as Manhattan project), but decided that it was rather pointless to go for a bomb during the war that was planned to be swift and decisive. That is why the program was designed to create a theoretical and experimental foundation during the war, working in the background, and then AFTER the war build up on that foundation. Had they decided to go for the bomb, they could have made it a year before the Americans, probably. But it would be useless for them at that time. War would be either won or lost (unwinnable if it was still going), and that is why a limited approach was chosen. Also, Heisenberg's focus was the peaceful use of the fission - nuclear reactors. Europe as a whole and Germany in particular, were always energy starved. And while you could make the same amount of damage with conventional bombs as you could with those early nukes (compare some US firebombings in Japan to nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki and you'll see that some firebombing runs were even more devastating), energy supply was hard to come by. That is why his focus was on reactors - to fuel German economy, industry and shipping (military and civilian). Bomb was seen as a secondary thing - while certainly powerful, it was not a level of destruction that they could not inflict otherwise in conventional way AND the idea of obliterating large civilian and industrial centers that you want to conquer and use yourself did not really fit the German plans. And all of that combined is why Germans never really went for the bomb. It was rather pointless for a country in their position at that time. As you all know, nukes became a deciding factor in war planning a decade after the war had ended, being less important in the meantime.
A good question, I'm pretty sure the Germans must have had some form of a nuclear weapons program at some point. Otherwise, how could they have dropped the atomic bomb on New York City in 1948 in Wolfenstein: The New Order? :)
Really nice work. You ALMOST nailed it, but you get a B- instead of an A+. You hit the nail on the head when you said Heisenberg was not "putting all his knowledge into the project". What you missed was what information was suppressed, and what the result of that was. Heisenberg knew that "heavy water" was not the only path to a nuclear chain reaction. Graphite, as used by Fermi, was another way to create the conditions needed for a chain reaction. But "heavy water" was the HARDEST way to get the job done, and he could justify his argument based on the fact that it was the most "efficient" way. And what German engineer ever accepts second best? The delays caused by the issues in obtaining heavy water slowed the whole experiment, leading Speer to kill it off in 1943. Meanwhile, Fermi, using graphite, achieved the first controlled fission reaction on Dec 2, 1942. This proved the chain reaction was not a theory and that an atomic bomb could be built. That was the difference between the Manhattan Project going forward and the German bomb project getting cut off.
Astrid, you’ve upped the ante, so to speak, AGAIN, for anyone remotely intrigued by visual coordination, and sheerly unprecedented achievements in style and visual acumen, for ALL you tubers. Congratulations !
Watch the movie, "The Catcher Was a Spy" for a fairly accurate telling of the Moe Berg story. What's left out is General Leslie Groves' involvement and ALSOS.
Glad to hear he'll be getting a biography special. He is one of those interesting "characters" from history that could almost seem like they were the invention of some novelist rather than a real person.
Just recently come across these video's of World War Two and the Time Ghost History, which are amazing and very informative. But now catching up with Astrid and her Spies and Ties series, I have to say I love Astrid! She is so good and very funny in explaining the complex and unusual world of WW2 spies. Darlings, she is a treasure...
It is always worth noting that one of the reasons for the Axis abandonment of the nuclear program. Was that they relied on enrichment timelines based on flawed calculations of how many centrifuges would be needed to enrich uranium to weapons grade levels. Which meant they had to pursue the much less certain plutonium production route. American commitment to the weapons program increased once some of Fermi's grad. students noticed the fundamental error in the calculations which reduced the number of cascades needed markedly and convinced US planners that the much less complex U-235 bomb was feasible in a reasonable timeframe.
Excellent presentation! The Sam & Erwin story was hidden for quite a while. I thought you folks already did a profile of Moe Berg (super-spy)(?). "Enough James Bonding, even to make James Bond proud."
I'm surprised you missed the amazing heist that the French pulled. The heavy water from Vermosk was actually whisked away to France for a time before being sent to British after the fall of Paris.
Below average hitter is an understatement for Moe Berg, I looked up his stats and by the numbers he was literally half the hitter of the average Major Leaguer. Of course, defense, and particularly catchers' defense, is by far the hardest thing to quantify in baseball, and considering teams kept him around for 15 years it's likely he was pretty good.
This is the second episode of our mini-series about Erwin Respondek and Sam Woods, two Allied spies during World War Two. Not only did they make a significant contribution to the war effort and is their story a great case to use for a video on the German Nuclear Program, they also hold a special place in our hearts and minds here at TimeGhost. Sam Woods used to spend a lot of time in the house where we film our series, about which Astrid has made a special behind the scenes video which you can see right here: ua-cam.com/video/gNQksLTWrSQ/v-deo.html
"A dead spy is a bad spy"
I wouldn't Jump to conclusions. I don't want to Push the issue. Yet I ... Must.
Sometimes a dead spy is the very best spy of all. You see?
Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.
1. Heisenberg wasn't obstructing. He simply miscalculated. How embarassing. In the post-war era being on the nazi's side was... problematic. These are the reasons he pretends in the post-war era to have obstructed.
2. Germany had plenty of enriched uranium. It wound up in U.S. hands when the U-boat U-234 (sic) was seized.
3. The heavy water sabotage story persists as a cover. A cover for what is another story.
4. Hitler declared war on the USA because he figured he would obtain nuclear weapons.
jesse we have to go to the mosque
@@QuizmasterLaw C A P .
The German nuclear scientists actually concluded that they could build a nuke but they also concluded that they would not be able to build one before the war ended because they could not produce enough Uranium 235. That is why Spear recommended the German government stop investing as much as they were into the project. The insanely long period of time it took to get enough Uranium 235 for a nuke is what stopped or prevented most countries prior to WW2(except for the US) from putting as much effort as needed into a nuclear program as was required because they thought it would just take so long to get enough of the right type of Uranium (U235). This is why after the US used it's first nuke on Japan the Japanese nuclear scientists told the Japanese leadership that that bomb was likely the only nuke the US had because the only way they knew how to get U235 was a insanely time taking process. The US was able to extract so much U235 from normal Uranium found in the ground via the massive amount of money the US spent on creating special locations just for extracting the U235 from normal Uranium.
Ironically, the Allies had some uncertainty about Heisenberg. They knew his direction, but not his position.
Now this is big IQ
Could have been worse. They might have known his position but not his direction.
They knew he had the time, but not that he didn't have the energy.
And you gotta be certain about these things, it's principle.
so that why waltah used that as his alias
"How close are you to having a bomb, Heisenberg?"
"I am uncertain by principle."
You win the Internet for the week. Congratulations, and take the rest of the day off!
👏
I love how every one of you has such a different style. When I watch Astrid, she's telling a yarn, Spartacus is a tour guide through humanity's house of horrors, and Indy is the Big Picture Guy.
I love it. I watch every episode with my Dad and brother. I'll truly be sad when this series is over.
Hopefully you have viewed their World War One week-by-week series that began in 2014 as they paralleled that war a century later, in real (parallel time). Jesse Alexander has continued it with events like the Russian Civil War and others which continued until mid 1921/2021.
@@amerigo88 I binged it last summer! When I saw WW2 was a channel they were doing I was like, 'alright, time to travel... through time!"
Watching with your father and brother is awesome.
Me too!
When I was 11 I was reading a book about the commando attack on the Norwegian heavy water plant. My grandfather, a WWI veteran, told me I was too young to be reading such a book.
Four consecutive days with WW2 uploads :)
Spoiler Alert!
@@TheEvertw Yay!
19:15 would have been hilarious if the phone call would have had the cut to indy sleeping over the desk in darkened room and waking up violently to answer the phone, implying he does nothing but sit there 24/7 even when not filming
Yeah, I got nothing. Speechless. This tie is a MOOD. 5/5
I do love you for that - darling :)))))
This one will SELL!
Is Indy's effort included in the mood?
Wow you giving a 5/5 is like rare af.
@@DoraFauszt It earned its score
I met Moe Berg when I was a kid and my Dad worked for the Washington Senators Baseball team. My dad told me all about his exploits. Two movies and a book about his life are available. He was a true Patriot and a very exceptional man. Can’t wait for special!
Go Boston
For people interested in Moe Berg, the movie, "The Catcher Was a Spy" is a dramatization of Berg's mission. After the War, Operation Epsilon held all of the German scientists at the British estate Farm Hall. The entire estate was wired with microphones and the conversations between the scientists were transcribed and sent to British and American intelligence organizations. The conversations reveal that the Germans were never close to making a bomb as Heisenberg had no idea on the amount of uranium needed for a bomb or fast neutron reactions with fissile material. After Hiroshima, Heisenberg and the other scientists were not convinced the United States actually had an atomic bomb and thought it was some type of enhanced "chemical bomb."
This is so interesting. Erwin is normally someone who would be forgotten by history, but that man is a badass, his spy network is incredible. Incredible story, incredible host. Dont tell Sparty but i think i even prefer this series to WaH. Or well, lets say they are even. This channel has just an insane level of professionalism, shown in content an exceptional hosts. A big thank you toIndy, Sparty, Astrid and Anna and all the Members behind the camera for all this.
I love the several extra series, it just portrays the many facettes of this war. It goes way beyond the Armies at the Fronts. Its in the Extermination camps, in the Capital Cities, in the Parliaments of the Nations
thank you very much for your kind words :)
One of best episodes of this subseries yet for me. I love how it dipped into the world of physics and baseball. Also you managed to present excellent information in an entertaining and occasionally humorous manner, not an easy thing to do. Keep up the great work!
Thank you, Astrid. Fascinating story of the history of nukes. My father was plucked from an army recruiting line in the spring of '42 and put into service with the OSS. His stories consisted of following Japanese-American's around Colorado and Utah. It was years later I began to question how many Japanese were living in & running around Colorado and Utah ??? He also talked about how much he loved the landscape of New Mexico. What ever he was really up to, he took to his grave.
Durango Colorado was on the Nazi top 10 to bomb list! They called it Vanadium mining but it was actually Uranium.
"He can speak seven languages but can't hit in any of them." -- Dave Harris about Joe Berg
Could be worse, he could try to sing and not hit any of the notes.
Moe: Perhaps not. But I can certainly take this bat and beat a wisenheimer to death with it, Davey. So keep that in mind.
@@garcalej .mp
Am I the only one who wants a special Valentine’s Day episode,about how Astrid met Spartacus? And another special episode about how the greatest bromance in history (Indy and Spartacus) came to be?
lmao would be nice but they should put it in another channel
Best idea on the internet ever
lol, demonetized for sure :D
Ah best bromance is Sam Riegel and Liam O'Brien, they call each other "manwife".
So that's who Indy has been talking to on the phone at the beginning of each regular episode.
4:00 Well, wasn't expecting reenactment footage from Astrid here. Pretty unexpected!
I assumed that Indy and Spartacus would play Gestapo officiers. :)
Wait, was it reenacment?? or actual Nazi footage??
@@OchotaJack Or maybe it was "Arrest of Astrid by Gestapo officers Indy and Spartarcus, circa 1942" (colorised)...
@@gunman47 where's the sequel, "Astrid and the two jolly gestapo officers Indy and Spartacus create a time machine to start a youtube channel decades in the future part 2 electric boogaloo"
Reminds me of the start of a few 90s music videos best seen at about 4am.
I’m loving this series, but frankly the cherry on top is Astrid’s delivery. Her mix of English and German accent and style of speech make it an absolute joy to listen to.
"Don't believe everything you read online d00d" - Stalin in response to any intelligence report (probably).
@@cpob2013 he has a spy in Japan that independently confirmed German plans for operation Barbarossa.
He actually has a source as "neutral" as possible as can be and still dismissed the intelligence. Soviet unpreparedness is to be attributed to Stalin and his actions (or lack thereof) during the early days of the invasion and fault primarily must be laid to him.
@@cpob2013 if his spy in Japan was giving the same warnings as what the Western allies was saying to him, Stalin should have been at best be cautious with regards to Nazi Germany.
But no, uncle Joe simply disregarded them all and the Red Army was caught unprepared for Barbarossa. And how do you explain Stalin's disbelief that they were invaded by Nazi Germany? The early failings of the Red Army during Barbarossa was directly tied to to the political and military leadership failures of a state as centrally controlled as the USSR.
Ergo Stalin was mostly at fault since he controls both the political and military leadership of the USSR.
This episode is so far the most informative yet.
Albert Einstein once stated:
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
War, war never changes...
War, war has changed. - Solid Snake
@@gunman47 well yes, but actually no
After the famous quote that our nuclear scientist said I have become death the shatter of worlds! one of the other scientists leaned into him said now we're all sons of b******!
Astrid makes this so much fun!
The re-enactment is epic!
This episode has been fantastic, I knew only the very basics of the Nazi nuclear research program but little to know of the espionage behind it. Thanks guys!!!
That was fascinating. Looking forward to the Moe Berg special. He sounds like quite a character.
I met him when I was a teenager and my Dad worked for the Washington senators baseball team. My Dad told me all about his exploits he spied on Japan taking photos from Hospitalty roof while playing exhibition games in Japan in 30s . There are two movies about him “spy behind the plate” and “The catcher was a spy”
@@benbregman7010 *You* met him? How old are you?
EDIT: Nvm, didn’t realize he didn’t die til 1972. Oops.
@@benbregman7010 Thanks, I need to see those movies.
@@benbregman7010
Ah, missed opportunity to name the movie "The Catcher in the Spy"
@@stormstaunch6692 I was 12 years old and sat next to him in the owners box during a ballgame and it took 4 generations but a Bregman is finally playing in the big leagues
When will we get the story of the Norwegian agents destroying the Nazi heavy water shipments that were central to Heisenberg's atomic bomb research?
Wasn't it in 1944?
Check out Sabaton History.
**SPOILER!!**
Here is a link to a video about the raid:
ua-cam.com/video/hS-fTmteNa0/v-deo.html
Around the time that it happens in the timeline, probably.
@@GaldirEonai
Didn't the Nazi's give up on their nuclear program because:
1. it was based on "Jewish physics", and
2. they lost 2 years worth of heavy water production, making it basically pointless to restart?
If you have exact dates/reasons for why the Nazis pulled the plug on funding, I'd be interested! :)
I have to say Astrid...
You are such a great storyteller!!
You can tell how invested you are in what you are presenting, and that makes it so much more interresting to watch!!
Great job! 😁
I knew you would nail it Astrid, well done! So much better. You are a beautiful story teller. And such a good story. Loving it, I’ve missed it in the past weeks. Can’t wait for the next episode.
You had me at "Hello, Dahlings..."
"So listen folks, here is my thesis: peace in the world or the world in pieces".
Perhaps you could have covered the meeting between Heisenberg and Bohr in Copenhagen, would be quite usefull on the topic of german nuclear research.
Only problem is that no one really knows what they discussed, only that Niels Bohr more or less refused to talk with Heisenberg after the war. The movie "Copenhagen" covers this meeting, and possible topics of discussion that lead to Bohr getting upset with Heisenberg.
@@nicholasconder4703 that sounds interesting.
Bohr's granddaughter is a friend of mine. She is nice, sweet and has a strong character.
Cool tie ...colourful, watch out boy's you've got competition. Excellent episode cheers
I love this Lady's delivery. Indy, you better watch out!
I bet there's a lot of respect and admiration for each other and they all rejoice in the successes of the others. 💓
You can be sure of that - we have a lot of fun together - with the horror of some the stuff we cover we need it.
I want Astrid to be my history teacher.
don't we all
My history teacher is as inspired as my dead dead granddads
Shes not the a just a history teacher my friends. Shes the queen of history. In the year 1900 and 42...
If you didn't ever have a good history teacher, this series (and its siblings) gives you a chance to fix that.
@@sthondat17 basically. But understand that we history teachers do not have a free hand at what we teach, in what detail and how. Sorry.
Astrid calling Indy and "talking on the phone" doing what she is doing in reality, yelling at him from her stage.
Tooo funny!!!
Absolutely hooked. Thanks Astrid, Indie and Team.
How come is it that Spies and Ties gets more interesting with each episode ✨✨✨😎😎😎
Also great job at presenting Astrid! 👌🏼✨😎
Astrid's unique presentation and delivery makes Spies and Ties a joy to watch. Keep up the good work Astrid, Indy, Sparty, Anna, and all the fine folks working behind the scenes!
That was really great! I had some reservations after the previous episode, but this one was absolutely perfect. The subject is so fascinating, and Astrid"s performance is clearly a plus. Thanks for the great work, and I can't wait for the next one!
Very fascinating story Astrid! You delivered the story in a dramatic and worthy manner! Bravo, as usual! 😎
Great segment, Astrid! I can't wait to watch the next episode!
Title suggestion for the Moe Berg episode. "The Catcher in the Spy"
How about "The Moe, The Merrier".
@@nicholasconder4703
Moe Money, Moe Problems
@@moleratical7634 For a Few Dollars Moe
And I just re-watched the first two Spies and Ties yesterday! Impeccable timing, as always :)
This was very informative and very entertaining at the same time. Keep up the great work!
Sounds like Heisenberg was 'uncertain' about the end result of this research.
Possibly even Principle-d about the whole affair.
The inside humor of these channels is great. Yall are so silly in the best possible way.
BRAVO! You absolutely KILLED it Astrid! ❤
Yourselfes playing scences from the story was the best idea ever :D
Now we know who is on the phone with Indy during the opening of his episodes. MYSTERY SOLVED!
I love the way you and your team present this history! I had no idea about Moe Berg. I look forward to hearing more!
Pretty much in line with the book Hiesenbergs War. Very nice to hear the same from you as well.
Love this channel!! Three Midway episodes and Spies and Ties. All in just four glorious days. ♥️
Hi Astrid
Your way of narration is so great to watch.. Also re-enactment scene is good..Learned lot of cool history.
Thanks for the episode..🙏
Spies and ties great series..👍
Many of the "normal" videos I watch are about CoVid, 5G, Flat Eart, Karens and we, the wathers, are having a great time coming up with witty and funny stuff in the comment section, but in this video - you are absolutely World Champions. You make your videos so very entertaining but still so filled with information and facts, that there's no way to make funny notes down here ...
@gerard dearie I may be a jerk at occassions. But still The videos from WW"´2 collective are far to informative and well done to "joke about".
Definitely amazing episode , I keep on rev...
That was a really good episode!
Astrid posted something as I got home, this is good... I love her way of doing her episodes!
She's just so animated, in her tone, inflection, facial & hand expressions. I absoluteley love watching her present. And her cheesey little puns, omg I laugh at every one of them.
Eagerly awaiting the episode about Operation Gunnerside once we get to 1943!
Nicely done. I thought the whole story was the raid in Norway. This vid was pretty chilling. Human history has steady elements of brilliance and pure chaos.
Haven't been following the channel long but great twist.
The fact that Indy likes baseball makes me love these guys even more!
I can't remember any real details but there was a British TV doc many years ago on the German nuclear programme. It claimed that the head of the project overestimated the amount of heavy water required by 10 fold. Whenever a junior researcher questioned this he would be dismissed. There was speculation that this could have been an honest calculating error, but not many people believe such an eminent scientist wouldn't have spotted this. The most likely explanation offered is that he wanted there to never be enough heavy water.
3:04 Haha! Those videos on watching Inglorious Basterds made me recognize this!
There's also discussion if Moe Berg had an effect on Doolittle's Raid on Tokyo.
In 1934, a group of All-Star ballplayers, including Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, went to Japan. Berg went with them. One day, he went to a Tokyo Hospital with flowers supposedly to give to the Ambassador's daughter who had given birth. Instead, he went to the roof, and filmed the the buildings and harbor of Tokyo with a movie camera.
People still debate if his film was used as a guideline for what the Doolittle Raid in 1942 sought to bomb.
Astrid's enthusiasm makes her videos. Just wonderful
with hindsight the german nuclear weapons program was almost comically optimistic.
Heisenberg who was the lead of that program never intended to build the bomb in the first place and so the project was very successful indeed :)
@@hernerweisenberg7052 i mean sure, but they also never got far enough down the track to realize how titanic an undertaking it was. they built a test reactor the size of an industrial clothes dryer but never got any fuel, for comparison the american breeder reactors (plural) were the size of a minor three story office complex, and thats just the reactor inside the building. every once in a while you hear loons imply the germans got close, but they really never started, wether it be due to heisenberg stalling or not i have no clue, but it certainly wasnt any chance of them making one whatever happened.
@@hernerweisenberg7052 Heisenberg made plenty of statements about deliberately slowing the program. Thinking in physics has always differed. Most physicists point towards errors in Heisenberg's understanding as the cause, not deliberate errors.
In hindsight, a lot of the Germans was *comically* optimistic.
Operation Barbarossa being the undeniable winner.
But other things, like thinking that Germany could beat the UK and the USSR (and the USA) even though most oil was produced by them, was another one.
Oh, and expecting little resistance while conquering millions of people, calling them racially inferior, and trying to murder about half of them - completely sensible XP
Seen in that context, thinking that the UK might agree to a peace after France fell, seems almost-sane, in comparison....
(although it's still shocking how far they got - and I'm really glad they were dumb enough to make those mistakes, since that's why I'm typing this in English, instead of my grandparents being murdered)
No, you misunderstood it. They were not optimistic, they were in fact very realistic in that regard. They had the resources (V weapons program cost as much as Manhattan project), but decided that it was rather pointless to go for a bomb during the war that was planned to be swift and decisive.
That is why the program was designed to create a theoretical and experimental foundation during the war, working in the background, and then AFTER the war build up on that foundation.
Had they decided to go for the bomb, they could have made it a year before the Americans, probably. But it would be useless for them at that time. War would be either won or lost (unwinnable if it was still going), and that is why a limited approach was chosen.
Also, Heisenberg's focus was the peaceful use of the fission - nuclear reactors. Europe as a whole and Germany in particular, were always energy starved. And while you could make the same amount of damage with conventional bombs as you could with those early nukes (compare some US firebombings in Japan to nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki and you'll see that some firebombing runs were even more devastating), energy supply was hard to come by.
That is why his focus was on reactors - to fuel German economy, industry and shipping (military and civilian). Bomb was seen as a secondary thing - while certainly powerful, it was not a level of destruction that they could not inflict otherwise in conventional way AND the idea of obliterating large civilian and industrial centers that you want to conquer and use yourself did not really fit the German plans.
And all of that combined is why Germans never really went for the bomb. It was rather pointless for a country in their position at that time.
As you all know, nukes became a deciding factor in war planning a decade after the war had ended, being less important in the meantime.
A good question, I'm pretty sure the Germans must have had some form of a nuclear weapons program at some point. Otherwise, how could they have dropped the atomic bomb on New York City in 1948 in Wolfenstein: The New Order? :)
..define "program"!
.....and no, they hadn`t a real program for a bomb!
They had a program for a long range bomber capable of reaching the USA. Look up Amerikabomber.
@@Coillcara
....and?
They had a lot programs in their mind, but couldn`t start to realize them for reasons! 🤦♂️
@ so no different to the atomic bomb program, amirite?
@@patmctallica3522 you realise that we are talking about a fictional reality in which Nazis have managed to build an atom bomb?
you look so much more at ease in front of the camera now Astrid. Awesome and intriguing episode, thanks :)
thank you :)
Astrid, if any one else had presented this program it would have been boring. Well done. Thank you.
thank you :)
That. was. AMAZING. One of my favourite episodes Wow. And THAT TIE... Sorry Indy, but this is the one.
Wonderful video, thank you!
Astrid Deinhard is Edna Mode’s younger, smarter sister.
“Hello darlings”
Hello my darling back!
Astrid your episodes make me smile so bug
Thanks for you kind words!
-TimeGhost Ambassador
gotta love this channel its like being lectured on history by britt ekland
0:40 I had to double take that. Thought Astrid just welcomed me to another episode of "Spies and Thighs."
all the characters you have on this show are lovely. i vote Spartacus as coolest one tho, he's got that nice trimmed beard : )
Really nice work. You ALMOST nailed it, but you get a B- instead of an A+. You hit the nail on the head when you said Heisenberg was not "putting all his knowledge into the project". What you missed was what information was suppressed, and what the result of that was.
Heisenberg knew that "heavy water" was not the only path to a nuclear chain reaction. Graphite, as used by Fermi, was another way to create the conditions needed for a chain reaction. But "heavy water" was the HARDEST way to get the job done, and he could justify his argument based on the fact that it was the most "efficient" way. And what German engineer ever accepts second best?
The delays caused by the issues in obtaining heavy water slowed the whole experiment, leading Speer to kill it off in 1943. Meanwhile, Fermi, using graphite, achieved the first controlled fission reaction on Dec 2, 1942. This proved the chain reaction was not a theory and that an atomic bomb could be built.
That was the difference between the Manhattan Project going forward and the German bomb project getting cut off.
19:30 we NEED more split scenes like this!
it was great fun :))
Love this presentation style
Great video!
I can't wait for the next one - espionage and the Vatican, count me in.
Astrid love the tie! And I knew most of the story! But I love your episodes just as everyone else's!
Well, another great Episode...
Astrid does a great Job.
And by the way she is litteraly growing with her role.
Can't wait to get more episodes of this thrilling spy tale
Astrid, you’ve upped the ante, so to speak, AGAIN, for anyone remotely intrigued by visual coordination, and sheerly unprecedented achievements in style and visual acumen, for ALL you tubers. Congratulations !
I didn't know anything about these guys. This story would make an incredible miniseries. I'd say a movie but I doubt 120 minutes could do it justice.
I think so as well - maybe someone picks it up :)
Never heard of Respondek, thanks!
Astrid has beauty, style and class! and a delightful accent!
Ruth had a great comment about Moe Berg "He could speak 7 languages and couldn`t hit in any one of them"
Glad to learn about this Moe Berg fellow for the first time in my life. Someone with the name Moe Berg can only be a decent man.
Watch the movie, "The Catcher Was a Spy" for a fairly accurate telling of the Moe Berg story. What's left out is General Leslie Groves' involvement and ALSOS.
Glad to hear he'll be getting a biography special. He is one of those interesting "characters" from history that could almost seem like they were the invention of some novelist rather than a real person.
Just recently come across these video's of World War Two and the Time Ghost History, which are amazing and very informative. But now catching up with Astrid and her Spies and Ties series, I have to say I love Astrid! She is so good and very funny in explaining the complex and unusual world of WW2 spies. Darlings, she is a treasure...
This series gets better and better. Loved the reenactment btw😉
It is always worth noting that one of the reasons for the Axis abandonment of the nuclear program. Was that they relied on enrichment timelines based on flawed calculations of how many centrifuges would be needed to enrich uranium to weapons grade levels. Which meant they had to pursue the much less certain plutonium production route. American commitment to the weapons program increased once some of Fermi's grad. students noticed the fundamental error in the calculations which reduced the number of cascades needed markedly and convinced US planners that the much less complex U-235 bomb was feasible in a reasonable timeframe.
3:07 It was here I learned that Inglourious Bastards wasn't making it up - Germans use the middle, pointer, thumb for three!
She was using her thumb, pointer and middle finger
@@servinglooks247 you right, I’m just silly :)
Excellent presentation! The Sam & Erwin story was hidden for quite a while.
I thought you folks already did a profile of Moe Berg (super-spy)(?).
"Enough James Bonding, even to make James Bond proud."
This lady is freaking amazing! Wish I had history teacher like her
I'm surprised you missed the amazing heist that the French pulled. The heavy water from Vermosk was actually whisked away to France for a time before being sent to British after the fall of Paris.
Love your work... this is way too cool.
Below average hitter is an understatement for Moe Berg, I looked up his stats and by the numbers he was literally half the hitter of the average Major Leaguer. Of course, defense, and particularly catchers' defense, is by far the hardest thing to quantify in baseball, and considering teams kept him around for 15 years it's likely he was pretty good.
IT WAS ASTRID ON INDY'S PHONE ALL ALONG!!!!
Brilliant Video
If Astrid doesn't get an honourary doctorate from a university for her work here, then they're missing out. Great video.
thank you - you are very kind :)