I'd like to see a Megaprojects episode about the Soviet relocation of their factories out of bomber range. Must have been an immense logistical challenge.
The logistics of the Axis invasions forces during Barbarossa has always been mind blowing to me. You've got almost four million soldiers (the equivalent of the entire population of some of today's biggest cities) who took part. In the book "The Court of the Red Tsar" the author lays out that there were also 3,600 tanks, 600,000 motorized vehicles, 7,000 artillery units, 4,500 airplanes and 625,000 horses in the Axis invasion forces too.
I have seen quite a few videos on this topic and this is the first time I've heard of Richard Sorge and his contribution to the nazi's failure. Well done, fact boy.
This is definitely one of my new favorite channels, I love the detail and the view of the battle from multiple angles, with background and circumstances for context also included.
When I was still in nursing, I had an elderly dementia patient who had survived the bombing of Hamburg at the age of 7. With dementia patients, the last memories to go are the ones from childhood. Imagine being trapped in a memory like that? It was very sad.
The winter and weather wasn't the only thing that helped out the Soviets. The vast size of Russia was something the Germans didn't anticipate. No matter how far the Germans drove into Russia. It just kept going. And with that vast country also came with almost unlimited man power. The Red Army would lose 25,000 men in one battle. There were 75,000 in reserve to take their place. And more Russians were on their way to the front.
Hi Simon, really love this channel, seeing you are a Brit with a swirly dry sense of humour, would it be possible for you and your cohort to explore The Battle of Britain?? - I can't help but think of the incredible odds of events as the battle transpired and of course the plethora of Brit-isms that would come from the spectacle of tackling such a topic....
@@nascoca2275 Hi Nas, to answer your question, I am aware that Simon is the presenter but sadly, I didn't know the point of contact but thought well, he's presenting, he must have some input... And so it goes. Best Wishes, Simon.
@@nascoca2275 He’s not just a paid presenter. He owns the channels, he pays writers and editors for help. Watch some of his less formal channels (casual criminalist, brain blaze, etc for more insights into that.
As someone thats worked in northern Canada during the winter with lows of 45 below 0 I could only imagine what the winter fighting was like for both sides, exposed skin freezes in seconds, metal becomes brittle to the point of shattering and vehicles wont run unless there started every few hours which increases fuel consumption, Just trying to survive would be difficult never mind having to fight the enemy at the same time
Sorge an excellent candidate for a biography video. Should be better known as the east 00 cripple bond. Operation bagartion is a good follow up video to this and one that isn't talked about enough
Simon, I've been a fan since the early days. I have enjoyed every single video from all your channels, filling me with happiness and knowledge every night. Thank you. I am a subscriber to many of your channels and look forward to all new content. Amazing. King of the short documentary. Hail Simon. Keep up the great work. Feed your hungry audience with the most valuable form of human currency. Knowledge. Very greatful.
Great video Simon and love your channel!Thanks for highlighting the fact that today's media and history lessons always overlook the heroics,bravery and sacrifice of Soviet Red Army who experienced the worst of Nazi attacks
Excellent documentary Simon, concise & information packed. Good points made about the re-location of the Western Soviet factories, the crucial supplies from the Allies, the role the weather played, & timely deployment of winter capable soldiers & equipment from Siberia.
The Nazi German forces invading the Soviet Union is like a human fist-fighting with a bear. The human may get some good punches in on the bear's face, but in the end the bear.....is still a bear.
@@robertbruce1887 To be fair, the horrendously poor performance of the Red Army against the Finns in the first part of the Winter War (never mind that that they eventually got their sh*t together and won in the end anyway) convinced the German leadership that bear was really sick and they had to attack *now* while it is still down than wait for it to get better.
Both Nazi Germany in 1941 and Napoleon in 1812 began their campaigns in the summer and expected a quick campaign and capitulation of the Russian/Soviet militaries.
The collapse of the soviet frontlines was shocking, but it needs to be said that the average red army soldier put up stiff resistance whenever he could and it's no surprise that the germans lost nearly four times as many people during barbarossa, then they did during the invasion of Poland and France combined.
Came here to say please make a video about the Czechoslovak Legion in WW1. Such a badass story of an army without a country riding the Trans-Siberian railway the wrong way around the world during the Russian Revolution to make it home. It took around 3 years, via the port of Vladivostok and America! Their activities near Yekaterinburg led to the last Tsar and his family being murdered. Eventually they returned to their new country, formed from the breakup of Austria-Hungary. Would make a great video! Have a great day, love your work! Cheers
The German tanks used Petrol, not diesel, it doesn't work as well in the cold but it's easier to make synthetic Benzine as they correctly guessed they would run out of normal fuel supplies.
Barbarossa ended in Oct/Nov 1941. Stalingrad campaign was Aug 1942-Feb 43. Also, there are vastly better sources than Beevor, who repeats a lot of long-debunked myths. Try any of Robert Forczyk's or David Glantz's books instead.
I don’t know if you guys are taking ideas from comments yet but I think that the story of the USS Indianapolis would be a cool 2 parter for you part one covering its secret mission bringing the parts for nuclear bombs to strike Japan and part 2 covering its sinking and the military blunder that lead to most of its crew dying
Hello Simon, Congratulations with this video. Very good!👍👍 However, there is one small error. The German tanks had NO diesel engines. They were running on petrol. Even the later, more heavier tanks, like the Panther and Tiger 1 and Königstiger, had just petrol engines with just 700 hp, wich was far to weak for such heavy tanks.
Great Video!!! I’d like to see something on the First Italo Ethiopian War or the Egyptian Ottoman War. It’s crazy how close Egypt came to conquering the Ottomans
So, are we going to get a biographics about Richard Sorges? Also I, along with probably everyone else, don't mind if these videos are 30 minutes long to cover every bit of each battle
One of the mistakes Hitler made was losing his temper and turning north to Stalingrad and Moscow instead of continuing south to the oilfields. That kept Nazi oil supplies coming from Europe using long, poorly defended supply lines, instead of the nearby Soviet oil, weakening the mechanized parts of the army. Things might have gone differently had he not overridden his generals on the matter. Not attacking the forces at Dunkirk. Switching from military targets to population centers in the UK. Not seizing the Soviet oilfields. All Hitler's decisions which his generals opposed, but Hitler pushed through anyway.
Stalingrad was a valid target as taking it would block the Volga river which would cut off soviet oil to the north, starving the soviet war machine. They had already split army group south into two, one going south to the oil fields and one covering their flanks heading for stalingrad. It was not possible for the entire army group to go for the oil fields. However, the result was the the army was stretched and the supplies were too low. Not prioritizing stalingrad supplies though was fatal though. The german army did reach the oil fields. When they arrived they saw it burning. They repaired it eventually and started to transport oil to the north but they had to retreat after stalingrad was retaken. The amount of oil they got was not nearly enough to mount an effective offense. Another note. It was in fact Hitler who always had his mind on the oil fields in caucasus. He understood from the start that this was a war for resources and wanted the main push in barbarossa to be in the south. But some generals strongly disagreed and thought that taking Moscow would make the soviets surrender like France, so as a compromise Hitler presented the massive operation barbarossa with three targets, north center and south. The main reason why Hitler attacked the USSR before he had defeated his enemies was so they could continue waging war. They were running out of oil you see. The reason why they planned to defeat the soviets in just a few months was because that was the only time they had left before they ran out of oil.
@@Grivian And realistically, their chances were close to zero anyway, which Stalin understood, and since he figured Hitler was a cynical pragmatist like him, he thought Hitler understood it, thus he ignored the warnings from his spies. When Hitler attacked anyway, Stalin believed that Germany had a secret stash of supplies that they'd kept secret from everybody, but it turns out they didn't. Hitler went for broke, with no real grand strategy and no contingency plan in the event of failure, because he was a lunatic who'd become enchanted by his own propaganda.
@@pyromania1018 Yeah their plan was basically to invade until an arbitrary offensive line in the soviet union and hope that the USSR would surrender by then. However if they would have taken Stalingrad and thus secured the oil fields they would both starve the soviets of oil and get much needed oil themselves, get the planes back up, mount offensives. It is not out of reason that if Stalingrad had been taken Stalin would be open to signing a separate peace, where Germany annexes part of of the union as well as creating some puppet states, perhaps. The USSR were already suffering because of food shortage because Ukraine was taken, a loss of their oil would have been catastrophic. Especially since they relied on the mass production of the excellent T-34. It appears that Hitler knew that the war was over in 1942 while fall blau was ongoing. He talks too Mannerheim and regrets not invading France in 1939. If he did that he could invade the USSR in 1940 when the USSR was weaker and change the world. In his own opinion though as making the USSR surrender was probably near impossible.
@@Grivian Hitler wasn't ready to fight France in 1939. Then again, he was rambling. He also bitched a lot about the failure to get Britain on his side (which was entirely his own fault), cursing them for not "seeing the light". They weren't going to be able to take Stalingrad, though. Even when it seemed like they might, their own methods screwed them over, coupled with ignoring the Romanians' warning about the Soviet counterattack building up (Hitler blamed them for the defeat in a 1944 speech).
Loved the video. It would be cool if you could do a video on the Paraguayan War. I feel like that is a super interesting conflict that doesn’t get much attention in the West
True story: after the fall of France, Stalin instructed Molotov to draw out negotiations with Germany over the division of Europe, he wanted to wait and see how things played out. Shortly after the RAF launched its first air raid on German, Molotov met with Ribbentrop in a bomb shelter to negotiate. Ribbentrop flirted “England is finished!” Molotov replied “ So why are we in this place?”
Thank you for such a beautiful and concise summary of the Eastern Front. Ironically the outcome on the Eastern Front of WW2 turned out to be the exact opposite of that outcome in WW1. The Russian people are much to be praised for their courage and determination in that war.
It’s unbelievable how many died. For every American who died fighting in WW2, 80 Soviets did. Around 11 million Soviet soldiers died in war, about 95% of Allied casualties. Not surprisingly, out of about 70 million people who died during WW2, about 30 million or over 40% of those were Soviets.
I don’t think people realize -40 almost never happens anymore in western russia this isnt siberia we are talking about where higher elevation and arctic fronts produce low temps like that consistently
9:13 Additionally, the lack of spare parts and declining numbers of operational panzers meant the tanks that were still in service were in dire need of maintenance and servicing.
Evacuation of the factories and loss of the strategic food reserve would be an interesting contribution as well as lend lease. Which while it wasn't that significant until 1943 did eventually play a major role in supporting the Soviet war effort over 19 billion dollars given by the usa and uk.
@@JDDC-tq7qm Finland wasn't part of Operation Barbarossa in any ways shape or form, and while Russia did manage to grab a little land they paid so dearly for it in blood that only a whacko like Stalin would consider it a success.
Much of the talking points about weather being a main factor in barbarossa is largely wrong. Its part of cold war era myth that the german army is so amazing. They were stopped by the red army, not the mud or winter
yeah, Germany overran weak countries like Poland and France early in 39-40, and the Red Army was in disarray when Barbarossa started, but by the mid point of the war they were outclassed by the Allied military
Stalin’s Law: For every video about the Eastern Front, there has to be mention of the T-34. Addendum: In most cases, there will be some mention of the sloped armor of the T-34.
I see people talk about the Mongols and Imperial Germany, but here's the thing: they were not fighting a UNITED Russia. The Mongols, aided by a very efficient supply and movement system (and experience in cold climates), locked horns with a gang of petty, stupid princes who stubbornly refused to unite against a common foe, no matter how bloodthirsty that foe was; Imperial Germany had the good fortune to face a Russia that was in the midst of revolution (which they helped stoke the fires of) AND was horribly backward in, well, EVERYTHING, and pragmatically accepted a (massive) bribe from Lenin rather than risk trying to eat the whole cake. Charles XII and Napoleon faced a united Russia that worshiped its czar like a god, had competent generals, and military allies; Hitler faced a psychotically Motherland-worshipping Soviet Union that had badass generals, allies whom were actually useful to it, an incredibly calculating leader who knew how to be pragmatic (usually), and since he was trying to shove the whole thing in his mouth AND exterminate the entire populace, they had no reason to surrender.
@@mrsir2254 Thanks. The "psychotically Motherland-worshipping" line was something I got from Potential History, I think. Watch his videos on Barbarossa for more on why it was a stupid move.
The most stupid and destructive decision Germany ever made. At the End of everything my Ancestors lost their home in Prussia and as a whole a entire Country until 1990
No. The Invasion wasnt a suprise for almost everyone. Maybe that it happened that early, but besides that - most knew how those 2 ideologies would end up.
I find it baffling that people don't really bring up the mental breakdown Stalin had after hearing of the invasion. He locked himself away in his quarters for almost a day and didn't communicate with anyone. I've seen some historians suggest if he had done even just for another day, Russia would have fallen. Germany was THE A list military in 1939. It's not that "it's crazy to think Germany thought they could win". It's really "its crazy that Germany didn't win". They absolutely could have won all of Europe with slightly tweaked calculations.
It's not really known if that happened at all. The source is Khuschev. He obiously had a rather huge axe to grind. Other historians have disputed the 'breakdown'.
I have a question: It is said that Hitler made a mistake not taking Moscow. And I don't understand that. Knowing what happened to Napoleon, I don't see what was the point of taking Moscow. I think taking the rich area of Ukraine and the oil field of the Caucasus was way more important. Taking Leningrad was OK because at least it was a port, but Moscow? Can someone explain that to me?
It wasn't a mistake, and the Germans didn't have the means to take Moscow. Hitler's generals stupidly thought that taking it would magically make the "Russians" give up, but Hitler knew it wouldn't and insisted on taking the oil fields. The generals ignored him, but even if he had approved, the assault was doomed to fail, regardless. Germany was just too undersupplied, and the Soviets would have kept fighting with or without their capital.
Yes you're right. Many are blaming Hitler for the loss of WW2 because he insisted on taking the oil and the riches in the south before going back to Moscow, he even described Guderian as a fool to not understand the economy aspect of war in that sense. Indeed Napoleon took Moscow instead of St. Petersburg where the Tzar Alexander was installed back then, it was a gamble and he lost during retreat. So we can say Hitler kind learned from history to not repeating Napoleon's mistake, but still also lost. I think Nazi Germany lost the WW2 even before Barbarossa. Opening a multiple front war is just a doomed act especially when you're fighting a enemy with insane, infinite funds as USA combined with UK and allied then USSR with its infinite army supply via its people. Anyone could have lost the war fighting against these whole odds.
Hitler was fighting against time the whole WWII, he was buying time during the whole war until he shoot himself in the head. On paper it was just impossible to win such a war, while opening multiple fronts, lacking necessary means which is also justifying blitzkrieg to act fast, buy time and pass to next step and so on. Germany wasn't fully, realistically prepared to such a large scale world War to begin with, but it was necessary for Germany to prevail. Versailles treaty was such a stupid, nonsensical thing with the whole harsh consequences on the German nation, it was necessary to go to war, it was a "be or not to be" situation for the Germans back then, to be fair and not biased like those "double standard" western historians
A huge problem the Germans overlooked was logistics. As they got further into the Soviet Union, they just couldn't keep supporting their advancing troops. They had to resort to a start-stop system of gathering supplies, attack and advance for a while and then stop to resupply again.
Honestly the greatest mistake the Axis ever made was not organising a dual attack with Germany and Japan attacking from the west and east simultaneously. it would've been a very different war if they had
could you do a biographics on richard sorge? sounds like that would be an interesting episode. the seige of leningrad would also be an interesting episode for this channel.
The T-34, KV and IS tanks were diesels. All the other soviet tanks (T-26, which was the most numerous tank they had in 1941) BT series, T-28, T-37, T-38, T-40, T-60....all ran on gas.
My understanding is that it wasn’t just winter, the winter of ‘41 was epically bad. Winter ‘41 was never going to be great for the underprepared Germans, but the fact of that winter just being so bad made things a lot worse.
Operation Barbarossa and the war on the eastern front was a brilliant example of what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object the unstoppable force being the German armies and the immovable object being the iron will of the soviet people
The eastern front was his true downfall. How he thought Germany could defeat the Soviet’s is crazy…. Not sure he really understood the size of that place. Great vid!
After Stalin's Great Purge and the failed Soviet invasion of Finland, there probably wasn't a better time to destroy their ideological rival. In hindsight, we know the gamble didn't pay off. The Germans could have also done better if Hitler would stop ignoring his Generals.
Not just the size: the decision to act like cartoonish supervillains, the fact that Britain had not been defeated yet, not gathering more intel on Soviet reserves, not considering Soviet roads, not considering that the Soviet people did not like the idea of being systematically exterminated down to the last child (for some reason)... It was, as said by Potential History, a plan that lacked planning.
There was virtually NO impact on Barbarossa due to Lend lease supplies, which hadn't yet materialized. The massive shipments from the west really didn't get going till 1943.
I'd like to see a Megaprojects episode about the Soviet relocation of their factories out of bomber range. Must have been an immense logistical challenge.
Not really, just throw a lot of people at it and threaten them with death
Found the Vichy French.
It would be incredible.
@@bigcncguy Ok Mr. Wehraboo.
Already filmed it. Coming soon :)
Just now finding this new channel, and as usual.....top notch work from Simon as always. Well done, mate.
Thank you.
0:45 - Chapter 1 - Justification
3:30 - Chapter 2 - The invasion
8:15 - Chapter 3 - The battle of moscow
11:55 - Chapter 4 - Soviet counterattack
15:15 - Chapter 5 - Aftermath
The logistics of the Axis invasions forces during Barbarossa has always been mind blowing to me. You've got almost four million soldiers (the equivalent of the entire population of some of today's biggest cities) who took part. In the book "The Court of the Red Tsar" the author lays out that there were also 3,600 tanks, 600,000 motorized vehicles, 7,000 artillery units, 4,500 airplanes and 625,000 horses in the Axis invasion forces too.
The 625,000 horses is especially interesting. Despite properganda the German army realied heavily on horses.
Allied (American) logistics are more impressive during WWII even if the numbers weren't so vast. Eastern front was pretty primitive.
And in the end, logistics was impossible.
How many RUclips channels can Simon run?
Simon: yes
Keep up the good work
10:18 fun fact - 40⁰ Celsius is -40⁰ Fahrenheit. Which means it's brutally cold.
I have seen quite a few videos on this topic and this is the first time I've heard of Richard Sorge and his contribution to the nazi's failure. Well done, fact boy.
Simon covered him once briefly on top tenz i think. Top ten snipers or something similar. I want a bio though lol
Oops lol I meant spy not sniper lol
“One of the greatest spies ever.” Then five seconds later we find out he was captured and tortured to death. That was a nasty reveal.
This is definitely one of my new favorite channels, I love the detail and the view of the battle from multiple angles, with background and circumstances for context also included.
When I was still in nursing, I had an elderly dementia patient who had survived the bombing of Hamburg at the age of 7. With dementia patients, the last memories to go are the ones from childhood. Imagine being trapped in a memory like that? It was very sad.
In the words of Oversimplified "Russia with some help from their faithful ally..The Winter.."
It got cold….STUPID COLD
Their "faithful ally" kicked them right in the balls during their invasion of Finland. General Winter only fights for one side - his own.
General Winter
The winter and weather wasn't the only thing that helped out the Soviets. The vast size of Russia was something the Germans didn't anticipate. No matter how far the Germans drove into Russia. It just kept going. And with that vast country also came with almost unlimited man power. The Red Army would lose 25,000 men in one battle. There were 75,000 in reserve to take their place. And more Russians were on their way to the front.
You guys are so obsessed with the NAZIs that it’s really creepy.
Never try to Blitzkrieg a country larger than Pluto
Almost as cold, too. :)
Also Cold as Pluto
Hi Simon, really love this channel, seeing you are a Brit with a swirly dry sense of humour, would it be possible for you and your cohort to explore The Battle of Britain?? - I can't help but think of the incredible odds of events as the battle transpired and of course the plethora of Brit-isms that would come from the spectacle of tackling such a topic....
You know Simon doesn't actually run the channels he appears on. He's just a paid presenter,.
I'm sure we will, yes :)
@@nascoca2275 Hi Nas, to answer your question, I am aware that Simon is the presenter but sadly, I didn't know the point of contact but thought well, he's presenting, he must have some input... And so it goes.
Best Wishes,
Simon.
@@warographics643 Thank you so much, I look forward to it! (-;
@@nascoca2275 He’s not just a paid presenter. He owns the channels, he pays writers and editors for help. Watch some of his less formal channels (casual criminalist, brain blaze, etc for more insights into that.
As someone thats worked in northern Canada during the winter with lows of 45 below 0 I could only imagine what the winter fighting was like for both sides, exposed skin freezes in seconds, metal becomes brittle to the point of shattering and vehicles wont run unless there started every few hours which increases fuel consumption, Just trying to survive would be difficult never mind having to fight the enemy at the same time
Sorge an excellent candidate for a biography video. Should be better known as the east 00 cripple bond. Operation bagartion is a good follow up video to this and one that isn't talked about enough
I wrote a paper on Sorge when I was at university. I don't think there was any spy like him during WW2. The man was incredible.
Excellent suggestion.
I’d really like to hear this!
Sir Simon, you should make this video longer? It's too brief, An hour would suffice. This is one of the most interesting topics in military history
Simon, I've been a fan since the early days. I have enjoyed every single video from all your channels, filling me with happiness and knowledge every night. Thank you. I am a subscriber to many of your channels and look forward to all new content. Amazing. King of the short documentary. Hail Simon. Keep up the great work. Feed your hungry audience with the most valuable form of human currency. Knowledge. Very greatful.
“Oil is literally freezing inside our tanks.”
“That’s fine, keep going.”
Doing one of these profiles on the Crimean War, would be cool.
Great video Simon and love your channel!Thanks for highlighting the fact that today's media and history lessons always overlook the heroics,bravery and sacrifice of Soviet Red Army who experienced the worst of Nazi attacks
Excellent documentary Simon, concise & information packed. Good points made about the re-location of the Western Soviet factories, the crucial supplies from the Allies, the role the weather played, & timely deployment of winter capable soldiers & equipment from Siberia.
The Nazi German forces invading the Soviet Union is like a human fist-fighting with a bear. The human may get some good punches in on the bear's face, but in the end the bear.....is still a bear.
@@robertbruce1887 To be fair, the horrendously poor performance of the Red Army against the Finns in the first part of the Winter War (never mind that that they eventually got their sh*t together and won in the end anyway) convinced the German leadership that bear was really sick and they had to attack *now* while it is still down than wait for it to get better.
Both Nazi Germany in 1941 and Napoleon in 1812 began their campaigns in the summer and expected a quick campaign and capitulation of the Russian/Soviet militaries.
Yes. And the Grand Armee moved on Moscow faster than the Wehrmacht did, beginning from virtually the same location. .
@@executivedirector7467And they were beaten back *before* winter came.
Hitler never expected the Eastern front to be swift. He was swinging for the fences before stalin could amass more troops to invade the Eastern bloc
Ah the winter… yeah
The collapse of the soviet frontlines was shocking, but it needs to be said that the average red army soldier put up stiff resistance whenever he could and it's no surprise that the germans lost nearly four times as many people during barbarossa, then they did during the invasion of Poland and France combined.
To be honest it isn’t that shocking since it was a surprise attack.
Barbarossa lasted 6 months. The invasion of France lasted 6 weeks.
@@Sam-jq3efit shouldn’t have been a surprise Stalin should have seen it coming lol it was obvious hitler would attack Russia
@@Anomaly-uz9pr To Stalin it was a shock because he was ignorant
Came here to say please make a video about the Czechoslovak Legion in WW1. Such a badass story of an army without a country riding the Trans-Siberian railway the wrong way around the world during the Russian Revolution to make it home. It took around 3 years, via the port of Vladivostok and America! Their activities near Yekaterinburg led to the last Tsar and his family being murdered. Eventually they returned to their new country, formed from the breakup of Austria-Hungary. Would make a great video! Have a great day, love your work! Cheers
I swear this guy owns like 10 other history channels
The Lend-Lease program would make a good Megaproject.
"Never invade Russia in the winter... unless you are... wait for it... the Mongols..." John Green
Thanks
The German tanks used Petrol, not diesel, it doesn't work as well in the cold but it's easier to make synthetic Benzine as they correctly guessed they would run out of normal fuel supplies.
For a deeper read into Barbarossa, read Antony Beevor's Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege
Barbarossa ended in Oct/Nov 1941. Stalingrad campaign was Aug 1942-Feb 43. Also, there are vastly better sources than Beevor, who repeats a lot of long-debunked myths.
Try any of Robert Forczyk's or David Glantz's books instead.
Please do a vid on Richard Sorge, seems like a very intriguing biograpics topic
Could we get a vid on Richard Sorge? This vid was good too btw. Love your new channel!
seeing the "warographics" channel made my heart so warm. Thanks for the content!
I don’t know if you guys are taking ideas from comments yet but I think that the story of the USS Indianapolis would be a cool 2 parter for you part one covering its secret mission bringing the parts for nuclear bombs to strike Japan and part 2 covering its sinking and the military blunder that lead to most of its crew dying
Yep, taking suggestions :). I'll check it out.
I know nothing about this & sounds very interesting.
I agree that it deserves Simon's attention, but I don't think it needs two videos.
"We have only to kick in the door" must have been the going through H1t1er 🧠 before the bullet.
Hello Simon, Congratulations with this video. Very good!👍👍
However, there is one small error.
The German tanks had NO diesel engines. They were running on petrol. Even the later, more heavier tanks, like the Panther and Tiger 1 and Königstiger, had just petrol engines with just 700 hp, wich was far to weak for such heavy tanks.
Great Video!!! I’d like to see something on the First Italo Ethiopian War or the Egyptian Ottoman War. It’s crazy how close Egypt came to conquering the Ottomans
#true #republicans #unitednationsundergod
So, are we going to get a biographics about Richard Sorges?
Also I, along with probably everyone else, don't mind if these videos are 30 minutes long to cover every bit of each battle
Except doing 30 minutes is hard when you have 13 channels to run
Great video guys!! Video suggestion Operation Totalized
found this channel a week ago ive been binge watching it since fantastic stuff i love it
*This enraged Stalin who punished him severely*
One of the mistakes Hitler made was losing his temper and turning north to Stalingrad and Moscow instead of continuing south to the oilfields. That kept Nazi oil supplies coming from Europe using long, poorly defended supply lines, instead of the nearby Soviet oil, weakening the mechanized parts of the army. Things might have gone differently had he not overridden his generals on the matter.
Not attacking the forces at Dunkirk. Switching from military targets to population centers in the UK. Not seizing the Soviet oilfields. All Hitler's decisions which his generals opposed, but Hitler pushed through anyway.
Stalingrad is south of Moscow.
Stalingrad was a valid target as taking it would block the Volga river which would cut off soviet oil to the north, starving the soviet war machine. They had already split army group south into two, one going south to the oil fields and one covering their flanks heading for stalingrad. It was not possible for the entire army group to go for the oil fields. However, the result was the the army was stretched and the supplies were too low. Not prioritizing stalingrad supplies though was fatal though.
The german army did reach the oil fields. When they arrived they saw it burning. They repaired it eventually and started to transport oil to the north but they had to retreat after stalingrad was retaken. The amount of oil they got was not nearly enough to mount an effective offense. Another note. It was in fact Hitler who always had his mind on the oil fields in caucasus. He understood from the start that this was a war for resources and wanted the main push in barbarossa to be in the south. But some generals strongly disagreed and thought that taking Moscow would make the soviets surrender like France, so as a compromise Hitler presented the massive operation barbarossa with three targets, north center and south. The main reason why Hitler attacked the USSR before he had defeated his enemies was so they could continue waging war. They were running out of oil you see. The reason why they planned to defeat the soviets in just a few months was because that was the only time they had left before they ran out of oil.
@@Grivian And realistically, their chances were close to zero anyway, which Stalin understood, and since he figured Hitler was a cynical pragmatist like him, he thought Hitler understood it, thus he ignored the warnings from his spies. When Hitler attacked anyway, Stalin believed that Germany had a secret stash of supplies that they'd kept secret from everybody, but it turns out they didn't. Hitler went for broke, with no real grand strategy and no contingency plan in the event of failure, because he was a lunatic who'd become enchanted by his own propaganda.
@@pyromania1018 Yeah their plan was basically to invade until an arbitrary offensive line in the soviet union and hope that the USSR would surrender by then. However if they would have taken Stalingrad and thus secured the oil fields they would both starve the soviets of oil and get much needed oil themselves, get the planes back up, mount offensives. It is not out of reason that if Stalingrad had been taken Stalin would be open to signing a separate peace, where Germany annexes part of of the union as well as creating some puppet states, perhaps. The USSR were already suffering because of food shortage because Ukraine was taken, a loss of their oil would have been catastrophic. Especially since they relied on the mass production of the excellent T-34.
It appears that Hitler knew that the war was over in 1942 while fall blau was ongoing. He talks too Mannerheim and regrets not invading France in 1939. If he did that he could invade the USSR in 1940 when the USSR was weaker and change the world. In his own opinion though as making the USSR surrender was probably near impossible.
@@Grivian Hitler wasn't ready to fight France in 1939. Then again, he was rambling. He also bitched a lot about the failure to get Britain on his side (which was entirely his own fault), cursing them for not "seeing the light".
They weren't going to be able to take Stalingrad, though. Even when it seemed like they might, their own methods screwed them over, coupled with ignoring the Romanians' warning about the Soviet counterattack building up (Hitler blamed them for the defeat in a 1944 speech).
A recommendation, I always found this conflict fascinating and would be a good warographics I am sure; The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905
Loved the video. It would be cool if you could do a video on the Paraguayan War. I feel like that is a super interesting conflict that doesn’t get much attention in the West
True story: after the fall of France, Stalin instructed Molotov to draw out negotiations with Germany over the division of Europe, he wanted to wait and see how things played out. Shortly after the RAF launched its first air raid on German, Molotov met with Ribbentrop in a bomb shelter to negotiate. Ribbentrop flirted “England is finished!” Molotov replied “ So why are we in this place?”
Thank you for such a beautiful and concise summary of the Eastern Front.
Ironically the outcome on the Eastern Front of WW2 turned out to be the exact opposite of that outcome in WW1.
The Russian people are much to be praised for their courage and determination in that war.
They didn’t have any other option tbh
It’s unbelievable how many died. For every American who died fighting in WW2, 80 Soviets did. Around 11 million Soviet soldiers died in war, about 95% of Allied casualties. Not surprisingly, out of about 70 million people who died during WW2, about 30 million or over 40% of those were Soviets.
In ww1 shitler was a corporal. That should give you some idea of his military planning ability.
Please do a video on the battle of Stalingrad.
I don’t think people realize -40 almost never happens anymore in western russia this isnt siberia we are talking about where higher elevation and arctic fronts produce low temps like that consistently
Especially not near Moscow
Can you do the Battle of Singapore next?
The blitzkrieg on bicycles.
You will find German Tanks had Petrol engines not Diesel as Simon said.
9:13 Additionally, the lack of spare parts and declining numbers of operational panzers meant the tanks that were still in service were in dire need of maintenance and servicing.
Hell yes, a new channel by Simon and Co
Evacuation of the factories and loss of the strategic food reserve would be an interesting contribution as well as lend lease. Which while it wasn't that significant until 1943 did eventually play a major role in supporting the Soviet war effort over 19 billion dollars given by the usa and uk.
Soviets produce more for their war effort then the allies lend lesse program
There is only one war strategy worse than attacking Russia in the winter... attacking Finland in the winter...
Finland lost.to Russia in operation Barborossa and continuation war also winter war 😂😂
@@JDDC-tq7qm Finland wasn't part of Operation Barbarossa in any ways shape or form, and while Russia did manage to grab a little land they paid so dearly for it in blood that only a whacko like Stalin would consider it a success.
Any thoughts to do a Biographics on Richard Sorge?
German tanks didn't have diesel engines.
Rest In Peace to those that passed away.
The best generals of the soviets were January and February.
I've been to Russia. And November and December are just as brutal as January and February. Even late October can be rough.
March has its moments too
But so were Rokkosovsky and Valisveksy
@@Paultarco nobody remembers those nobodies
@@xeagaort The fuck we don't. Read a book
Awesome video
Much of the talking points about weather being a main factor in barbarossa is largely wrong. Its part of cold war era myth that the german army is so amazing. They were stopped by the red army, not the mud or winter
Correct
yeah, Germany overran weak countries like Poland and France early in 39-40, and the Red Army was in disarray when Barbarossa started, but by the mid point of the war they were outclassed by the Allied military
The further distance we get between WWII and present day the more insane the War comes across.
Stalin’s Law: For every video about the Eastern Front, there has to be mention of the T-34.
Addendum: In most cases, there will be some mention of the sloped armor of the T-34.
Are you kidding me? Yet ANOTHER Simon Whistler channel? Gawd dayum son. Gotta respect the hustle.
Regarding the great Middle Ages battles, the Battle of Kosovo of 1389 between the Serbs and the Turks wolud be a epic story. Keep up the good work!
I see people talk about the Mongols and Imperial Germany, but here's the thing: they were not fighting a UNITED Russia. The Mongols, aided by a very efficient supply and movement system (and experience in cold climates), locked horns with a gang of petty, stupid princes who stubbornly refused to unite against a common foe, no matter how bloodthirsty that foe was; Imperial Germany had the good fortune to face a Russia that was in the midst of revolution (which they helped stoke the fires of) AND was horribly backward in, well, EVERYTHING, and pragmatically accepted a (massive) bribe from Lenin rather than risk trying to eat the whole cake. Charles XII and Napoleon faced a united Russia that worshiped its czar like a god, had competent generals, and military allies; Hitler faced a psychotically Motherland-worshipping Soviet Union that had badass generals, allies whom were actually useful to it, an incredibly calculating leader who knew how to be pragmatic (usually), and since he was trying to shove the whole thing in his mouth AND exterminate the entire populace, they had no reason to surrender.
The internet needs more of this.
@@mrsir2254 Thanks. The "psychotically Motherland-worshipping" line was something I got from Potential History, I think. Watch his videos on Barbarossa for more on why it was a stupid move.
Hope you guys do a follow up on this with Operation Bagration. Three thumbs up.
The most stupid and destructive decision Germany ever made.
At the End of everything my Ancestors lost their home in Prussia and as a whole a entire Country until 1990
No. The Invasion wasnt a suprise for almost everyone. Maybe that it happened that early, but besides that - most knew how those 2 ideologies would end up.
Simon whistler has got to be one of the most consistent youtubers on planet earth.
Loving this channel, really interesting content in every video
I find it baffling that people don't really bring up the mental breakdown Stalin had after hearing of the invasion. He locked himself away in his quarters for almost a day and didn't communicate with anyone. I've seen some historians suggest if he had done even just for another day, Russia would have fallen. Germany was THE A list military in 1939. It's not that "it's crazy to think Germany thought they could win". It's really "its crazy that Germany didn't win". They absolutely could have won all of Europe with slightly tweaked calculations.
It's not really known if that happened at all. The source is Khuschev. He obiously had a rather huge axe to grind. Other historians have disputed the 'breakdown'.
Oh nice gained a new subscriber 😄
Germany didn't use diesel engines in their tanks... they were all gasoline powered.
Would love a follow up episode on the Battle of Stalingrad!
ruclips.net/video/P_NAzpLkVB8/видео.html. His other channel, megaprojects
Armchair Historian also made an amazing video on this. Highly recommended it!
ruclips.net/video/pZW4Y/видео.html
10:24 AFAIK most German engines used gasoline rather than diesel.
Yes, 100 percent of them burned gasoline. They had no diesel tanks.
A channel about wars...basically infinite content.
American Steel, British Intelligence, and Soviet Blood
are what ground fascism into the mud.
Ned Stark: Winter is coming.
In light of recent events, this video seems to be an appropriate information source
“Hitler and Stalin were growing more and more suspicious.”
Simon, the only thing more suspicious is that photo of Stalin and hitler.
Could you do a video on the battle for Iwo Jima? Apologies if you already have on another channel
I have a question: It is said that Hitler made a mistake not taking Moscow. And I don't understand that. Knowing what happened to Napoleon, I don't see what was the point of taking Moscow. I think taking the rich area of Ukraine and the oil field of the Caucasus was way more important. Taking Leningrad was OK because at least it was a port, but Moscow? Can someone explain that to me?
It wasn't a mistake, and the Germans didn't have the means to take Moscow. Hitler's generals stupidly thought that taking it would magically make the "Russians" give up, but Hitler knew it wouldn't and insisted on taking the oil fields. The generals ignored him, but even if he had approved, the assault was doomed to fail, regardless. Germany was just too undersupplied, and the Soviets would have kept fighting with or without their capital.
Yes you're right. Many are blaming Hitler for the loss of WW2 because he insisted on taking the oil and the riches in the south before going back to Moscow, he even described Guderian as a fool to not understand the economy aspect of war in that sense. Indeed Napoleon took Moscow instead of St. Petersburg where the Tzar Alexander was installed back then, it was a gamble and he lost during retreat. So we can say Hitler kind learned from history to not repeating Napoleon's mistake, but still also lost. I think Nazi Germany lost the WW2 even before Barbarossa. Opening a multiple front war is just a doomed act especially when you're fighting a enemy with insane, infinite funds as USA combined with UK and allied then USSR with its infinite army supply via its people. Anyone could have lost the war fighting against these whole odds.
Hitler was fighting against time the whole WWII, he was buying time during the whole war until he shoot himself in the head. On paper it was just impossible to win such a war, while opening multiple fronts, lacking necessary means which is also justifying blitzkrieg to act fast, buy time and pass to next step and so on. Germany wasn't fully, realistically prepared to such a large scale world War to begin with, but it was necessary for Germany to prevail. Versailles treaty was such a stupid, nonsensical thing with the whole harsh consequences on the German nation, it was necessary to go to war, it was a "be or not to be" situation for the Germans back then, to be fair and not biased like those "double standard" western historians
@@mohamedelsaad4247 not destroying the British at Dunkirk was Hitler fatal mistake.
You should do an episode about the war of the roses
Serious, but completely off topic, many channels does Simon have now??
Biographics needs an episode on Richard Sorge.
A huge problem the Germans overlooked was logistics. As they got further into the Soviet Union, they just couldn't keep supporting their advancing troops. They had to resort to a start-stop system of gathering supplies, attack and advance for a while and then stop to resupply again.
7:45 um what??
Honestly the greatest mistake the Axis ever made was not organising a dual attack with Germany and Japan attacking from the west and east simultaneously. it would've been a very different war if they had
Japan tried to go toe to toe with the red army and got whipped, then signed a non-aggression pact.
@@nightruler666 true, but imagine if they decided to try again
@@MaximilianDenisPatrickPonsonby Hitler never told mussolini he was going to attack russia these guys had their own ambitions
@@MaximilianDenisPatrickPonsonbysame result both Japan and Germany logistics would suffer plus the winter to harass them even more
could you do a biographics on richard sorge? sounds like that would be an interesting episode. the seige of leningrad would also be an interesting episode for this channel.
Sweet thank you so much love this channel it's my favorite
10:25 Factual error: the Germans didn't fit diesel engines to their tanks.
The Germans didn't have diesel tank just gasoline, the Russians had diesel tanks
The T-34, KV and IS tanks were diesels. All the other soviet tanks (T-26, which was the most numerous tank they had in 1941) BT series, T-28, T-37, T-38, T-40, T-60....all ran on gas.
Just to point out - german tanks in WWII were all run on gasoline - not diesel.
My understanding is that it wasn’t just winter, the winter of ‘41 was epically bad. Winter ‘41 was never going to be great for the underprepared Germans, but the fact of that winter just being so bad made things a lot worse.
I got a good one for you Simon. The Modoc Indian War. It's pretty interesting.
German tanks used petrol engines, not diesel.
Operation Barbarossa and the war on the eastern front was a brilliant example of what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object the unstoppable force being the German armies and the immovable object being the iron will of the soviet people
The eastern front was his true downfall. How he thought Germany could defeat the Soviet’s is crazy…. Not sure he really understood the size of that place. Great vid!
After Stalin's Great Purge and the failed Soviet invasion of Finland, there probably wasn't a better time to destroy their ideological rival. In hindsight, we know the gamble didn't pay off.
The Germans could have also done better if Hitler would stop ignoring his Generals.
Not just the size: the decision to act like cartoonish supervillains, the fact that Britain had not been defeated yet, not gathering more intel on Soviet reserves, not considering Soviet roads, not considering that the Soviet people did not like the idea of being systematically exterminated down to the last child (for some reason)...
It was, as said by Potential History, a plan that lacked planning.
The Western Front was Tiddlywinks compared to the Eastern Front.
@@Primal-Weed I mean yeah.. almost 50% of all fatalities of the entire war occurred in the eastern front alone...
@@badluck5647 true, but a 2 front war while Russia being one of them is always a risky plan
There was virtually NO impact on Barbarossa due to Lend lease supplies, which hadn't yet materialized. The massive shipments from the west really didn't get going till 1943.
By then the war was already settled