An American REACTS - D-Day From the German Perspective
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- Опубліковано 10 кві 2024
- Hello friends!
We're never taught history from the perspective from the other side. I hope this reaction tells the story of D-Day from the German perspective.
Thank you for watching!
Original Video -- tinyurl.com/5dbx2399 - Розваги
I'm so proud of my father.
He was born in Vienna in 1924.
Drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1942.
Sent to the Eastern Front in 1943.
Deployed to southern France for rehab after his second wound.
Sent back to the front after D-Day and was captured by the US Army in Belgium in 1945.
But here in Europe you can't be proud of your fathers.
I'm so proud because he survived the war.
He was 92 years old when he died.
That was still a generation that knew how to survive.
Papa, ruhe in Frieden.
One of my grandfathers was in the 91st Infantry Division and was taken prisoner by the Americans in early August 1944. When you consider a 23-year-old farmer's boy from southeast Bavaria who only wanted to work his fields and was almost swallowed up by the war.
One of the sad realities as well, is the fact that most civilian deaths during WWII in France happened after the allied landings, and often as a result of allied actions as well. "Winners" always dictate history, but it's seldom close to reality.
Thank you!
I watch the movie "The Longest Day" every couple of years. It's actually pretty accurate, and a bunch of the actors actually fought in the war (some on D-Day from both sides). Never knew that the title was from a Rommel quote till today.
A large number of the Germans in France had rotated from the Eastern Front as kind of an R&R thing. Thus, the walking wounded in the makeshift units. Most of the Germans there had already seen combat, but most of the allies were new to the game. One would think that this would tilt heavily in Germany's favor, but leadership failures at a number of levels tilted the table back. That include Uncle Adolf who was sure the landing would be in Calais and prioritized that area.
Morale. Morale in a defensive posture is tough to maintain. Keeping folks busy helps, but you have to constantly reinforce the reason they are there, doing what they are doing, and how it fits into the greater puzzle. It's a serious leadership challenge, and not just at the officer level.
In typical fashion for the US, the operations that day had a high percentage of "flustercluck" attached to them. The Germans were convinced that we had dropped a Corps of paratroopers due to how they were dispersed over hell and creation. That sucked up some folks from the beaches. My father went up the cliffs at du Hoc that day, and the Ranger part of the operation was a cluster as well.
BTW, the use of artillery from other countries was common along the Atlantic Wall. Using tank turrets too. The video made it sound like it was common only to Normandy. They also used the same structures on the Eastern Front (which was MUCH uglier for the Germans than the Western Front - by a LOT).
If you want to see more Atlantic Wall bunkers and other defenses check out The WWII History Hunter here on UA-cam. After seeing that stuff it makes the allied landings even more remarkable.
I'm glad more and more people understand that many if not even the majority of German soldiers weren't willing to fight. They just had barely any other chance. My grandfather turned 15 in 1944. In the beginning of the war only 18 year olds were recruited but later on they didn't care for age anymore because they needed more men. The whole family was threatend being traitors with all possible concequences if he wouldn't "volunteer" for military service so he finally left for the eastern front. He came back in 1951 after being released from Russian POW camp. He never wanted to talk about that time. It's the same today when you see that many Russians try to flee their country because they don't wanna fight in Ukraine.
BTW, I was looking through your videos and I just noticed that the last 8 videos have the same style of thumbnail. I really like that. It looks very neat and organized on your video page. It soothes my need for structure 😅
great video man! found yourself a new sub,armchair historian definitely has quite a few great videos that you could check out! cheers.
My grandpa was sent to Russia. He did not volunteer, he was against the Nazis, but what should he have done? He had just finished his apprenticeship as a mason when they called him to the army. Follow, or you'll end up in a prison or worse, you know what I mean. Lost his left leg in the war and died a few years after he had returned (or rather: been brought back) home from mine splinters everywhere in his body. The German state, after economic recovery, proved generous enough to pay my grandma a "Kriegswitwenrente", but money can't compensate for the loss of a loved one. She never married again and died as a widow. She had a framed picture of my grandpa on her wall in his Wehrmacht uniform which I keep to this day. I never knew him, I wasn't born yet when he died.
When D-Day was there, the back of the Wehrmacht was already broken on the Eastern Front. Looks like u dont consider those circumstances when judging the quality of the troops there.