Week 281 - Soviet and American Massive Attacks - January 13, 1945
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- Опубликовано: 21 сен 2024
- In the East, the Soviets launch a massive series of new offensives. In the West, Monty holds an ill-judged press conference about the Battle of the Bulge. Operation Nordwind, the German offensive in Alsace, continues. In Hungary, there’s house to house fighting as the Red Army besieges Budapest. In Asia, the Allies wrestle with the Kamikazes, begin their landings on Luzon, and advance in Burma.
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Hosted by: Indy Neidell,
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński
Community Management: Ian Sowden
Written by: Indy Neidell,
Research by: Indy Neidell,
Map animations by: Daniel Weiss
Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Artwork and color grading by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Marek Kamiński
Colorizations by:
Daniel Weiss
Mikołaj Uchman
Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations, / blaucolorizations
Julius Jääskeläinen - / jjcolorization
Norman Stewart - oldtimesincolo...
00:54 Intro
01:12 Recap
01:22 Montgomery’s Press Conference
05:53 Operation Nordwind
07:07 The battle for Hungary
09:38 The huge Soviet offensive begins!
12:22 American landings on Luzon
15:29 Anti-Kamikaze tactics
18:11 Slim’s advance in Burma
21:11 Conclusion
Source literature list: bit.ly/SourcesWW2
Archive footage: Screenocean/Reuters - www.screenocea...
Image sources:
Narodowe Archwium Cyfrowe
Naval History and Heritage Command
National Archives NARA
Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
Break Free - Fabien Tell
Dark Beginning - Johan Hynynen
Disciples of Sun Tzu - Christian Andersen
Dragon King - Jo Wandrini
Force Matrix - Jon Bjork
Last Man Standing 3 - Johannes Bornlöf
Last Minute Reaction - Phoenix Tail
Last Point of Safe Return - Fabien Tell
Leave It All Here - Fabien Tell
London - Howard Harper-Barnes
March Of The Brave 10 - Rannar Sillard
Rememberance - Fabien Tell
The End Of The World 2 - Håkan Eriksson
The Inspector 4 - Johannes Bornlöf
Weapon of Choice - Fabien Tell
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
We’ll be here right for all the other major offensives still to come in this war.
Ping-pong ball in the dryer?
Where is China?
I hope you guys decide to cover the Korean War and then the wars in Vietnam (1st and 2nd Indochina wars as they're sometimes called).
@@stephenjacks8196 Just west of Japan. It's pretty big on a map, you can't miss it.
@@stephenjacks8196 Gonna make an appearance sometime in the latter half of the month.
“War creates such a strain that all the pettiness, jealousy, ambition, greed, and selfishness begin to leak out the seams of the average character. On top of this are the problems created by the enemy.”
-General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Great quote.
The worst thing the enemy is pride.
Could have just as easily been a quote from a senior commander in the current Ukraine - Russia conflict, particularly where Prigozhin was concerned
@@stephengraham1153 What are you talking about? Is there fighting going on in the U.S.S.R. again? The Wehrmacht just got driven out of there last year, seems weird they'd be at it again now in 1945.
Sounds like Eisenhower was being as charitable as possible.
"He actually sent them flowers to apologise..." 😂😂😂😂
Had me for a second 😊
Flowers from Hitler would (almost) be a great band name.
gg wp indeed 😆 Who wrote the Wehrmacht memoires (eg Guderian & Manstein) that most western historians used to write history after the fall of the Nazi reich has to be remembered tho.
A sidenote this week on January 7 1945 is that United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) ace Major Thomas McGuire, who had 38 victories, will be killed in a low level combat with a group of Japanese Zero fighters led by Shiochi Sugita, who was the third-highest scoring ace of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force, over Los Negros Island. It was believed that McGuire had failed to release his drop tanks while attempting a fast turn. This caused his P-38 to stall and spin into the ground in a ball of fire.
The aircraft he was fighting were JAAF, a ki-43 and Ki-84. He was chasing Akira Sugimoto, attempting to save another p38 pilot from being hit, when he snap rolled into the ground at low altitude, almost certainly due to stalling. The aircraft was initially identified as a zero, but that was found to be incorrect after the war.
Thanks for informing me of something I didn't know about WW2
@@Sakai070 Japanese fighters were often mis-identified as Zeroes. It says something about the impression the Zero had made, but also most Japanese fighters had radial engines and superficially resembled the Zero.
@@stevekaczynski3793 The "zero scare" is pretty much like the "tiger scare" on the western front, where after the normandy landings everyone feared to end up facing the almighty tigers, to the point any tank fire would be attributed to a tiger while in reality there were just few tigers
@stevekaczynski3793 it's funny you say that, I remember reading a combat report where the pilot said he shot down a "Oscar type zero". Seems almost every single engine fighter was a zero to our pilots. And I am not one to judge, I have enough trouble getting an ID on enemy aircraft in flight simulators with the labels off sitting in a comfy chair with no threat to life or limb, not an easy proposition in the middle of a high speed air combat.
Only Indy could deliver the line "yes that is a Dilbert reference" with so much pathos and charisma.
Dilbert Dogbert Ratbert Wally and the rest were very 90s, on the cusp of the early Internet era.
Don't look up what Scott Adams (the creator) does these days
... it's fascism. He's become a fascist go. Here is one quote of many
"the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from black people; just get the fuck away."
And too much internet melted Scott Adams’ brain, unfortunately
I gotta say, Bill Slim has a knack for imaginative (but realistic) plans, and for very colorful descriptions of his plans
There's a reason why he is considered the best British general of the war.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Don't forget Richard O Connor and Wavell in Operation Compass. With 36,000 men they surrounded an army of 150,000 capturing 130,000 prisoners, 400 tanks, 1,292 artillery guns at the cost of guess how much? *500* casualties.
@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- I'd put that victory more on O'Connor then Wavell. Who almost stopped that offensive cold when he withdrew 4th Indian division to the Sudan. And overall Wavell's decisions in the Far East have been disastrous. So my money is on O'Connor being the brains of that operation. Sadly we will never know how O'Connor could have fared fighting Rommel and him commanding VIII Corps in Western Europe having to fight using Monty's tactics and operations are not exemplary either. He will forever be a what might have been. Was he that good or was he that lucky in 1940-41?
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Unlike some of the commanders who came after him, he was quite imaginative in the use of his forces, when he was confronted with defensive positions, he attacked from the rear. There would have been no "cauldron" type battles with him in charge. The jury may still be out on what he did in Europe, but even then he showed flair by employing converted tanks as APCs.
Sure, but Frank Messervy easily wins the award for "Hat of the Week"! 😄
"Surely you can't be serious!"
"Yes, I am serious. And don't call me Shirley."
I see what ya did there 😎
I wasn’t expecting the Maginot Line to make a comeback. I wonder what the mechanised motorised Allied soldiers thought about living in the concrete underground of a past age for a couple of weeks.
Probably not unpleasant. Parts of the Maginot Line as the French constructed it had quite elaborate facilities, like shower blocks underground and even rooms where soldiers who had to stay underground a long time could undergo artificial tanning. Whether the Germans maintained these facilities 1940-44, I don't know.
When you look at the actual battle,i can imagine that a small shattered Kampfgruppe,maybe 20 half tracks,200 troops,and 4 Panthers,and 10 MK IVs,just might have found a bridge over the Meuse,"to Antwerp my lads!",the Colonel would have shouted,only to run into British XXX Corps,and about 6 US Divisions,who would quickly have destroyed their dreams.
They would be going to Antwerp for sure, no doubt about that.
…as Prisoners of War.
It was not a great plan.
Even if they got to Antwerp, they would’ve had less supplies than the troops they surrounded to their North. Wouldn’t have been able to hold their positions for long anyway. AH should’ve swallowed his pride and surrendered to the West exclusively if he hated communists so much to avoid being occupied by them.
He was not a rational man.
This is the point of Monty's infamous speech. Sure, he took far too much credit for himself. But the bit about very quickly getting his reserves into the right spot - well before the rest of the Allied command realised the Germans were aiming to cross the Meuse and head for Antwerp - was in fact true. Monty had some limitations as a general and was personally a first class a-hole (as was Patton), but he was excellent in defence; very quick to see where the schwerpunkt was. "An efficient little shit" is how one of his subordinates described him and it sums him up.
This week may be a good week to watch Episode 7 *The Breaking Point* of the 2001 HBO miniseries *Band of Brothers* , with the Battle of Foy portrayed. This episode is memorable for showing Ronald Speirs running back and forth through the enemy lines, with the Germans being too surprised to even fire at him.
And the mention of Hagenau should remind one of the n CT episode, The Last Patrol.
My sons and I have developed a post-Christmas tradition in recent years, which is to watch BoB and to toast their memory with whisky as we watch.
One of the most if not the most exagerated and fake episodes only comparable to the whole Blithe death question (he survived and kept serving retiring only after Korea)... The whole book and by extension the show is filled with wrong info straight lies and biased claims, in that episode they make their CO look like "an empty uniform" who just broke down, when in fact he was serving 2 roles, got 2 medals for bravery and got command taken from him cause he got shot mid assault
Monty's behavior throughout the war becomes more understandable given that some historians believe he was on the spectrum
HMAS Australia suffered 56 KIA in the 6 attacks between 5-9 January 1945, but stayed on station throughout the campaign. This also is added to the 7KIA including the Captain on 21 Oct 1944, a pre Kamikaze kamikaze by a Val dive bomber which doused the bridge with burning petrol after hitting the foremast.
Australian cruiser has the grim distinction of most kamikazed ship of the war.
HMAS Arunta suffered 2 KIA in her attack in Lingayen Gulf
One of their 40mm Bofors is on display at a S E Qld business.
Gotta love the Aussies they just define the word grit
There was only one nationality the Japanese hated more than the Americans - see the Racial Equality proposal at the 1919 Paris Peace conference for the reason and answer!
Before the advent of actual organised kamikazes, there were cases of aircraft crashing into ships or other structures. The aircraft were not always Japanese. It was not always clear that the planes in question deliberately dived into what they hit, or whether they suffered battle damage or disorientation and accidentally collided with ships or ground targets.
@@PaulA-bv1rt
Which one?
"If the Germans had assessed their opponents potential strength at all realistically, they would soon have realized how senseless this enterprise was."
Seems to me that quote could be used to describe the entire Axis war effort in general, especially after the United States entered the war.
Germany, Italy and Japan weren't under any illusions that they were militarily and economically inferior to the countries that became the Allies once the war started. But the bigger picture is that all of those countries were struggling to expand and control their empires around the world in the early 20th Century. The Axis countries were the ones that felt they got a late start in establishing empires and facing domination by the stronger global powers, and saw war as a means to 'correct' that.
None of it justifies their aggression and the war they started, it was just the state of the world back then, the reality of the global order where more powerful nations dominated weaker ones at will. They were being realistic looking at that bigger picture.
Had the Germans figured out how to defeat the USSR in 1941 or 42, then the US's entrance into the war would have changed immeasurably. Could the USA and UK have beaten Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania without the USSR?, that is a very big question. To come up through Italy with all of German strategic forces directed at you; that would have been really tough.
@@jrus690the thing is, the Germans literally could not have defeated the soviets, the quote applies to this too. There is nothing to figure out
@@maximilianodelrio I don't rule out Germany being able to beat the Soviets until after the Stalingrad mess. If the Germans had figured out what they were doing wrong strategically, then they could have won. They never did.
@@jrus690 but they literally couldn't. What do you think they could have done in 1941 to win? There's nothing
If anyone curious about where some of the pictures you could have seen in the episode were taken, and how does the area look like today.
Here are some coordinates:
8:14 The cross with the panzers behind it: 47.59198631686735, 18.664594136589375 (looking west-southwest)
9:02 The soviet soldier with the bicycle: 47.48815018732752, 19.08455993907555 (looking north east)
9:29 Destroyed buses: 47.49745107183778, 19.054294546871184 (looking southwest)
Thank you so much for this! It's something I often do myself. It feels so fascinating to look at the places, landmarks, towns that Indy mentions, at their present state.
@@piarpeggio Thank you! I’m happy you found it useful!
Thank you for sharing this! Really cool to see the differences today.
@@WorldWarTwo Thank you! I'm very happy you liked it!
Ah yes, Indy's first Dilbert reference since comparing Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf to Dilbert's boss.
What's Scott Adams - creator of Dilbert - saying these days?
"the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from black people; just get the fuck away."[
... oh
Which episode is that from?
@@BenZedrene
I don't know whether I can post links so: Look for "Were British Soldiers better than others". The exact timestamp is 4:31, but context begins at 2:54. The video is from Indy's previous show about the first world war.
The map in the background got me thinking: Did nothing at all happen on the French - Italian border? The Allies were trying to advance up the Italian peninsula and suddenly there is a new way into Italy form the northwest. Was everything quiet along that border for the rest of the war?
Bad weather plagues the mountain passes and will prevent any serious offensive manoeuvres until April at the earliest. Look up the Second Battle of the Alps for the specifics,
Because of the uplift, they get a lot of snow here in the winter, knee-deep snow will not be uncommon until late February or early March, making logistics nearly impossible. Look for the action to start then. (Snow has lots of air pockets when it falls, if you just get the one snow, it will gradually shrink down, but if it keeps falling, it just stays knee-deep.)
@@adamlakeman7240 The passes in the Alps are not something you would want to cross to get into Italy, but Operation Dragoon took place in August. An advance along the coast must have been at least a possibility, if for no other purpose in order to force the Germans to move troops from their defense lines further south in Italy. Did this not happen at all? Was the border completely peaceful?
It was a bit late in the war to be developing elephant divisions to cross the Alps. They could have attacked Italy from France, but why? They'd be in Berlin before long, making the whole campaign unnecessary and wasteful.
I am disturbed by the lack of coverage of key fronts like Greenland, Spitsbergen, the extreme north of Norway (the Hammerfest axis) and of course Tannu-Tuva.
Every time Hitler disregards his intel as "fantasy", I'm reminded of that one scene in The Longest Day with major Pluskat.
In his defense, Gehlen had severely failed in predicting Soviet strength and intentions for years on end. At Stalingrad, Kursk and Bagration. That he was now correct is more like a broken clock being right twice a day then because he was that good. Although an idiot could have predicted that after months of quiet in the Polish and East Prussian sectors the Red Army would do something.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 The real question is why Hitler seemed do adamant in believing the Soviets wouldn't attack to the point of blowing a gasket if someone so much as hints that it might happen. I get the impression he would've dismissed Gehlen as a lunatic even if he got all his previous predictions right.
@@901Sherman That is a good question. Why was it that he dismissed an imminent Soviet offensive. And I would like a better answer too then just Mad Man Hitler.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 The closest I can get to a logical explanation would be that if Hitler had agreed with Gehlen's and Guderian's reports, he would've had absolutely no reason not to prioritize the Eastern Front over the Western one. Which would mean putting his current endeavors in the Ardennes and Alsace-Lorraine to an end. And that would in turn mean that Germany's last semi-realistic (emphasis on *semi*) to turn the tide of the war had utterly failed.
Remember, one of the main reasons behind launching the attack was that the Red Army had over 500 rifle divisions poised on the East for the final operations. Even taking into account the smaller size between them and their German or Western counterparts, that's still the equivalent of more than 250 German or Western Allied Divisions. The Allies on the Western Front had much fewer (don't remember the exact numbers but definitely less than 100) and destroying a lot of those would be a lot easier and more damaging than doing something similar in the east (and that's not even considering Soviet units still in the Far East standing by in case Japan tried something funny).
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 The closest I can get to a logical explanation would be that if Hitler had agreed with Gehlen's and Guderian's reports, he would've had absolutely no reason not to prioritize the Eastern Front over the Western one. Which would mean putting his current endeavors in the Ardennes and Alsace-Lorraine to an end. And that would in turn mean that Germany's last semi-realistic (emphasis on *semi*) to turn the tide of the war had utterly failed.
Remember, one of the main reasons behind launching the attack was that the Red Army had over 500 rifle divisions poised on the East for the final operations. Even taking into account the smaller size between them and their German or Western counterparts, that's still the equivalent of more than 250 German or Western Allied Divisions. The Allies on the Western Front had much fewer (don't remember the exact numbers but definitely less than 100) and destroying a lot of those would be a lot easier and more damaging than doing something similar in the east (and that's not even considering Soviet units still in the Far East standing by in case Japan tried something funny).
Also, I am a bit disapointed that you didnt mention the purpose of the Chinese in the north. Their job in Slims plan is to keep the 18th and 56th divisions from going back south to reinforce mandalay.
Hopefully, it comes next week when the Chinese take Wanding the 19th and officially reopen the land route to China.
He will not mention the thing you want next week. I think you should already know he would not mention any Chinese activity except the operation I-chigo. He literally did not mention any Chinese action in Burma before. How do you expect he will mention Chinese take Wanding. He even did not mention Chinese action in Myitkyina
@@JingLi-pw3du He did mention Chinese actions in the Salween campaign twice last year. Once in an episode of May, and a second time during the September episodes, when the whole drama between Chiang and Stilwell broke out, so I actually expect for the coverage of the events in Yunnan to be covered in the January 27th episode. I also expect to see plenty of coverage of the West Henan and South Hunan campaigns during May, June and July of this year, when the European front comes to end.
Considering how the China theater will the last active theater in the war, and how China is going to be a major player in their upcoming Korean War series, we will be going from almost no China content to pretty much exclusively China content over the course of a few months.
@@extrahistory8956 No He did not mention. He just mentioned the Chinese action in 1942 when Japanese invaded Burma. But He did not mention any Chinese action from 1944 to 1945 during the Allied offensive in Burma.
That means he just mentioned the Chinese action in failed Allied defense of 1942 but did not mention any Chinese action in allied offensive from 1944 to 1945.
But the primary part of Burma Campaign is the offensive of 1944 to 1945 which he missed the Chinese action.
Even in Myitkyina, he spent lots of content to describe Merrill's Marauders but did not say any word about Chinese offense and Siege of Myitkyina. He just put some Chinese divisions in the map but did not say a word. He didn't even mention that these were Chinese divisions in the map..
During this phase, all the Chinese content he mentioned is just the quarrel between Chiang Kai-shek and Stilwell.
@@extrahistory8956 Moreover, for what porksterbob concerned. Do you dare to bet with me? Porksterbob expects him to mention China's final actions in Burma and China opening up the road in Burma and capturing Wanding next week. I bet he won't mention it next week. Do you dare to bet with me? How much are you willing to bet? $100? $1000 or more?
@@extrahistory8956 You've been fighting the good fight on this, but the Salween campaign was almost entirely dropped. Coming back and saying, "The Chinese actually launched a successful campaign last year with 150,000 troops which resulted in several month long battles and the deaths of tens of thousands." is kind of weak tea.
The fighting in Pelelieu was very much an echo of what the Chinese had to deal with in Songshan, but that parallel was left out. We are going to see lots of discussions on how difficult Okinawa is without any mention of how this is exactly how the Japanese fought in Longling 8 months earlier.
During the North Burma campaign, the Marauders were very much the "main characters." I really hope you are right and we will get more focus on the Chinese front, but I suspect we will just get a focus on Burma, Manila and Okinawa. We have heard more about Monty's interpersonal troubles in the past two months and Wedermeyer's name hasn't come up once.
Time Runs Out In CBI is available online and it is pretty good for the detailed troop movements that are bread and butter of the show. It is also good because it contrasts the styles of Wedermeyer and Stilwell in an important way.
"sent them each flowers ... no he didn't" - I don't get to laugh much at these (excellent) videos, but the delivery was perfect.
I really love Indy's narration.
Monty a legend in his own mind 😵💫😳
One of the biggest critics of Montgomery kept his big mouth shut! Patton was asked this question and his response was ; I was to busy killing Germans to worry about Montgomery was doing to Ike and Bradley! So Patton did the responsible thing and fought the war and manged to keep up the pressure on the Germans but it won't last much longer!
In the Philippines Yamashita had studied what MacArthur had done in early in 42! He knew the allies had over whelming firepower in the air and on the ground so when he took command in the Philippines he moved supply dumps in to the hills of Northern Luzon. He also made small supply hubs in the central lizon at places like Cabanatuwan and near camp O'Donnell, knowing that the Americans would not hit these areas because of the POW camps nearby! Hes watching and waiting to see if the US troops take his bait!
Yamashita was one of the more capable generals of the war and a strong argument could be made that the "Tiger of Malaya" was **the** best for the Imperial Japanese.
@@ahorsewithnoname773 And Kuribayashi for his defence of Iwo Jima and Okamura ( Operation Ichi Go)
@@ahorsewithnoname773 he didn't believe in the full banzai attacks that would destroy whole battalions and even divisions!
An event that occurred during this period in Alsace, France, translated from the French language book “A History of ‘The Conscripts’ of Kilstett” by Raymond Stroh, a book that outlines the history of military conscripts from the environs of the village of Kilstett, Alsace, from 1900 to the 2000s. (I received the book from the mayor of Kilstett following my 2017 visit.)
“Joseph Becker: 'My brother saved an Alsatian.' Joseph Becker was 15 years old.... On the eve of the liberation, from his window he watched combat raging in the forest of Ottonville, peppered with bunkers. He also observed the German patrol manning the anti-tank trenches at the exit of the forest.
"The Americans chose to pass by way of Ricrange because there were four or five machineguns in the anti-tank trenches. There was also a mortar in the forest and a cannon with three or four German soldiers in front of the rectory. Shortly before the arrival of the Americans, one of the cannon servers came to our farm and asked for milk. My older brother, Simon, recognized his Alsatian accent, like those that he had been with on the Russian front.
"Simon then asked the soldier [named Ernest] 'You are Alsatian? What do you want? To fight for the Führer or to save your life?' The soldier began weeping while saying, 'If only I could see my mother one more time…' Simon responded immediately: 'Climb into the attic and hide, and in five minutes you will be free.' Simon quickly provided Ernest with civilian clothes, disposed of the uniform, and hid the soldier under hay in the attic.
"Ernest Martz, the Alsatian soldier, left for his home by bicycle six months later in May 1945. (165 km from Kilstett)."
In regard to Alsatians serving in the German forces, in his book Raymond Stroh relates that "From the month of August 1942, 100,000 Alsatians and 30,000 Mosellans will be forcefully incorporated into the German army (the Wehrmacht, and from June 1944 into the SS)."
Rick Atkinson is a great writer. Been following along with you guys and his trilogy.
Thank you all for your hard work on telling and explaining history!
Thanks for the comment, also a big thank you to the TimeGhost Army!
Whenever you hear about Hitler disbelieving and overriding his professional Prussian generals you must remember that those same generals in the memoirs and interviews after the war had the strongest of motivations for blaming Hitler rather than themselves - "I warned ze fuhrer but he vould not listen..." We have only Guderian's word about the leadup to this Russian offensive.
6:55 I had absolutely no idea fights happened at the Maginot Line (or what was left) in 1945.
At least the fortifications were facing the right direction. ^^
It’s funny to me that the Germans so completely mastered defense in depth in the First World War yet implement forgets it in this one.
The Army didn’t forget it. How long are those sieges of fortress cities and defended forests taking ? Fortunately at this stage of the war Hitler didn’t trust the Generals.
The Germans also mastered allowing their officers to show initiative yet here they are being micromanaged.
@@francesconicoletti2547That's more to do with the fact that the all the Allies' supply lines are overstretched.
AH and his terrible party inherited of one the most competent marshal institutions of all time and proceeded to micromanage it into the ground with their weird and destructive ideology. Many of the best militaries in history including those today model themselves off of their ideals.
They can't do a defense in depth when they don't have the trained manpower to have depth in the first place.
Re the "friendly fire" incident in the Lingayen Gulf, one possibility is that a 5" AA shell with a VT fuse was set off by being close to the ship. Sadly, this was not unique ("The Big E" mentions such an incident(s)). The proximity fuse couldn't distinguish airplane from ship.
I was wondering about that. They must have had (I hope) very careful air control measures established over the fleet. With random Kamikazes coming in at all hours, it wouldn't take much to replicate what happened over the Sicily invasion force during Op HUSKY.
The film footage of the tank sliding sideways across the icy road is an incredible juxtapose of the situation. Out of context, the tank sliding would be a humorous sight, however, given the actual circumstances of the situation, it's one of the last things an army would want to be happening with their armor.
Also, Hitler calling other officers "insane" is definitely a case of "the pot calling the kettle black."
A pleasure and an honour to be there at 23:01, thanks again for everything to the whole team🙏
Guys, I know it seems like it's looking bad for Germany, but I remember perfectly the 1999 Champions League final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich. Until the end, you never know! Although the Germans lost there too, so...
Thanks for watching!
-TimeGhost Ambassador
I remember the English crowd's chant from that match. They chanted "Two-nil Two-nil". It was a reference to Margaret Thatcher's comment when England was beaten by Germany in the World Cup semfinal - "I do not mind the Germans beating us at our national sport. After all, we have beaten them twice at their's".
Indy's best closing comment in my opinion... and I might very well have seen all other episodes. On point narration, both relevent and funny.
I don't think you have mentioned the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force Squadron 201's participation as air support and attack in the battles for the Philippines islands. It's one of México's contributions during World War 2, plus the first and only time in our history that Mexican troops have been deployed on foreign territory for military action. The only other foreign deployment of troops happened decades later, for humanitarian aid near New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
Yes, but now you have. Thank you.
Gratitude and respect to the Mexican forces serving with the allies, from New Jersey USA.
What a bunch of prima donnas those American generals were. And a reason not to mention Bradley was that Bradley abdicated his position as Army Group commander to just stand over Patton's shoulder, which is why Ike appointed Monty command the north side of he Bulge in the first place. Bradley is the most over-rated general the Allies had for more than a minute.
That last comment about sending flowers got a hearty chuckle from me. Great video as always, Time Ghost team!
Love to hear that, thanks for watching!
Poor Eisenhower, having to manage egos the size of... Army group!
Eisenhower's son said Ike had his own ego, the size of a house!
@@ToddSauve Even the air command had their own egos, especially Tedder and Mallory.
@@ToddSauveIf you don't havr an ego, that just means you have no self esteem
@@aaroncabatingan5238 No. Big egos is what plagues our societies now. Having PROPER self-esteem is what is needed, combined with true humility. But big egos are nothing more than arrogance. These people are and were narcissists and that is a seriously bad psychological condition. People like Putin, who is evil, suffer from a huge ego problem and not enough humility. Thus he is a gangster and murderer.
I wonder if Bradley and Patton had drinks later, and Patton leaned over and nudged Brad, "See? I told you that guy was an a$$hole."
"You're still an a$$hole, too, George."
"Damn right."
It's the third Soviet invasion of Poland, don't forget 1939 as well.
I'd love to see an episode devoted to the British Pacific Fleet - really only because my dad was in it, but it's also quite interesting.
"Has given wide offense".....I`ve met a few old boys over the years at Arnhem reunions, Montgomery showing out in a Denison smock and maroon beret was probably the worst thing he could of done after sacrificing an airborne division to ambition a scant few months earlier.
Bill Slim is my favourite commander in the war. He feels like a real thinking human, rather than a cartoon character like so many other commanders in this war.
Why do I think Bradly maybe 1 the most overlooked Generals of the War? Sure Paton was brilliant on the move & there was a certain intelligence to Mounties methodical approach. Ike obviously understood politics & how to get the best out of his men. McAuther was best at self promotion with little to show in skill, leadership or politics until after war rebuilding Japan. Bradly however seem to be the overall Great General who gets overshadowed.
I believe Bradly has been exposed since the war as polishing his own apple and denigrating his contemporaries. Though I haven't read all of the exposés, a tremendous amount has been learned over the last 30 years from previously sealed archives at Kew being opened. This has allowed historians to literally rewrite major portions of the campaign and the one across northwestern Europe. Many generals have been shown to be less than impressive, including Bradly--especially at the Battle of the Bulge.
The guy the American infantry fighting vehicle is named after, totally overlooked.
Super wonderful introduction and informative narration about that week of 1945 year in WW2 ..
We appreciate the comment, thank you for watching.
Ike got the top job not because he was the best general on the allied side but because he was the one who could get all the various allies to pull together in a way no one else could.
No offence intended, but that ability is precisely what made Eisenhower the best general on the allied side.
Lost a great uncle on Luzon. Everyone should pause and think about the 201st Fighter Squadron dubbed the Aztec Air Force as they were Mexican pilots. They were not a large group but they did their job. Not a work to be sneared at.
@WorldWarTwo Great episode as always. Have you ever thought about making a bio-special about Gehlen? I think with his post-war work ending up building up the german secret service BND, even though he was a top level official in the german Wehrmacht makes him quite an interesting character.
Cheers guys, and thanks for all these great great episodes for the past 5 years!
My family is from Kielce, and my maternal grandfather from the village near Kielce. To this day he says that he was with his family sitting in the basement for couple of days because soviet artillery was pounding everything
Even for navel gun fire, it was easier to hit a ship that was head/or rear facing, over a ship that was broadside. The reason for this is that it is easy to get the bearing of the ship, but getting the range to the target was more difficult was more difficult. So a while aiming the guns at the correct bearing of both broadside and head on ships was relatively easy, the fact that shells would fall in front of or behind the target was minimized with ships heading length on to the firing ships. Crossing the T was considered a significant advantage in surface engagements, not only because all (or a majority of) the guns of a broad side firing ship could fire and only the front facing guns of the enemy ship could fire, but also the fact that the range mattered less, had more room for error, when firing on a ship length wise vs width wise.
Thanks for another fantastic episode, dear Timeghost team!
And thank you for watching!
There is an error on the map behind you. Germany never occupied Svalbard. They landed there and had a weather station there, but they never controlled the archipelago. The last German soldiers to surrender belonged to the weather station and surrendered to a Norwegian ship on 3rd of sept. 1945.
Having to deal with a constant stream of prima donna infant general behaviour, I can see why Eisenhower wanted to throw it all in and just elope with his driver instead.
Hope everything works out ..
Deception is rately appreciated.
I'm Dutch, I like Monty but even I am offended by that quote.
It's such a shame though that they never thought to task bomber command one night to carpet bomb the real enemy of mankind, the English tabloids. They could have blamed it on the Germans, I bet they would be happy to take the blame.
Monty had a unusual lack of self-deprecation and humour for an Englishman.
He was an Ulster Protestant. Not too many comedians originate from that stock.
@@malcolmmcgregor7966 There was supposedly a sign at the entrance to Larne harbour. "Welcome to sunny Ulster. The wages of sin are death."
In the early years of WW2 he became concerned about the rising number of cases of VD (STD's) being reported in his units and the effect it was having on their effectiveness and ordered that condoms be sold at unit shops and suggested that any soldier looking for " horizontal refreshment" should ask the military police to advise them of reputable clean establishments 😂. This caused a lot of outrage and even calls for his dismissal, but the press found this amusing and nicknamed him the "General Of Love"
What I ask myself - since the D-Day special by now - there are three coastal areas in France - obviously held by Axis, as it seems. You can see them always on the large Europe-map.
What's about them? Especially as they held out since about half a year by now pretty close to the Allied staging area, too... It seems like something worth mentioning...
Following the Normandy landings in June 1944, and subsequent breakout, Lorient was surrounded by the Allies on 12 August 1944. The remaining U-boats were evacuated, the last, U-853, escaping for Norway on 27 August.[11][12] Lorient was held until May 1945 by the regular German army forces, though surrounded by the American Army; the Germans refused to surrender.
@@caryblack5985 Ah. Ok. That makes sense.
If you want to read more about those, do an internet search for "Atlantic pockets." There is a lot of interesting history there and the Germans left an army's worth of men stranded between them.
Im so glad you hguys have kept this up love the week by week
Till the very end and beyond with Korea, we'll be here!
Thanks for watching.
I mean what this series shows me in pretty clear convictions on how insane the German Generals were. By now they have lost the war, yet despite this they continue. I mean let’s just compare them to Italy, the Italians lost in Africa and they surrendered. The German Generals have lost in every field in the war and despite this they continue the fight and refuse to question Hitler.
Good to know that even in 1945 the Daily Mail was not a reputable source for truth.
Great show, as always!
Thanks for tuning in!
Great video today and thanks for what you do and I hope you get your bag back from the airline 😊
Thanks for the reference to the USS COLUMBIA. my dad's ship on the action. He was plank holder and top side sailor.
Thanks for sharing and thank you for watching.
As a stuff of nightmares, what if:
Consider the possibility of Ike having both Monty & McArthur under his command ?!?
He may well have taken both of them out back & shot them !?!
On the 12th, among the American ships damaged by kamikazes was the USS Gilligan, aboard which my grandfather served. Just a personal note 👍
It is haunting to hear places like Kielce from 1939 seeing Germans on receiving end of blitzkrieg.
The explosive charge built into the nose weighed more than a ton. Kamikaze attacks sank 34 ships and damaged hundreds of others during the war. At Okinawa they inflicted the greatest losses ever suffered by the U.S. Navy in a single battle, killing almost 5,000 men
(you will hear them more times on coming episodes and thank you indy and crew)
I've missed the premiere for only 1 minute but I'm going to watch it again
Thanks for joining the premiere, hope you can make it again next time!
"The Allies better enjoy their victories while they can, because at any moment now powerful new secret wonder weapons will be rolled out into combat.
Today's defeat will be tomorrow's total victory!" - somebody in Germany in 1945
Thanks for the great work to all the team. As an alsacian I particularly appreciate the latest episodes. I know the places' names in Alsace have been germanized under occupation but I have always read that Haguenau has been transformed into Hagenau and I never heard of Haugenau. I may be wrong since I did not verify in many sources but we have a memorial here in Schirmeck that has the major cities names under occupation and it was written Hagenau. Still great work, i just though I would point that out, just in case.
You had me at Rick Atkinson, Indy
Thanks team. Thanks Indy. Made me another day !
Thanks for watching!
"Sir, the Soviets are planning a major offensive this winter."
"Nonsense! Only an idiot would plan a winter offensive."
"But, mein fuhrer, you planned a winter offensive..."
"..."
"..."
*Bang*
0:55 I didn't hear that background music since the invasion of Poland back in 1939
At this point, what was left of the Royal Hungarian Army was trying to hold the lines (and Budapest itself), increasingly demoralized. More and more soldiers defected, as their homeland changed hands, trying to rejoin their families, often ending up in POW camps and then the GULAG. The Royal Hun Air Force continued to fight with its remaining planes and crews, but they had to move to Austria to find new bases.
At the same time, tens of thousands of Hungarian army personnel and Levente-youth were sent to Austria, Germany, and Denmark, for "training". These would end up in British, American, or French captivity, the former being sent home eventually, while the latter partially ending up in the Foreign Legion (and then, Vietnam, for more fun).
When your country decided to join Germany in their war against the UK, US, France and the USSR and now you're fighting Vietnamese in the jungle of Indochina for the French.
Thank you.
And thank you for watching!
Is the IFV Bradley named after Omar Bradley?
It is.
I do like the timing of the reference to the "differences" between Monty and Ike - riiiight at the point where Ike is shown giving a side eye :-).
It is crazy how many things are happening in this war right now and strange to think how long it will still go on but on the other hand how close the end of it now is.
I am a bit remiss that you didn't mention the 158th RCT in the Lingayen landings. They were a brigade sized that landed on January 11th as part of this operation not attached to any division.
The channel did a lot of great extra work on Ukraine when the Russia ukraine war kicked off in 2022.
It would be really good for the channel to do something similar for Burma seeing as how Myanmar civil war is in full swing and is not well understood.
Burma as a kingdom before the British conquest was always an ethnically Bamar rice farming core in Mandalay and Rangoon ruling over hill tribes on what are now the Chinese, Thai, and Indian borders. This was always a source of friction. When the British took over, they sent in Indians to run the country and recruited local forces mostly from the non Bamar peoples like the Karens, Kachins, Chins, and Rakhines. When the Japanese invaded, the ethnically Bamar Burma Independence Army rose against the British. They did some fighting and sabotage against the british in 1942, but they spent most of their time and effort launching pogroms against the Indians in Burma as well as ethnic minorities like the Karens.
The allies were able to use that antipathy to recruit an array of irregular forces from among the minorities who felt threatened by the Bamar majority. The lushai brigade, V force, Z force, OSS Detachment 101 are all active participants now in 1945.
When the new state of Burma is founded in 1948, it is led by Aung San of the Burma Independence Army. Though officially multi ethnic, the minorities along the borders do not trust the Bamar led government. From 1948 to 1962, almost all of Burma's border areas will see the creation of "Ethnic Armed Organizations". These armies will be advocates for more autonomy from the central government, either as independent states or under a federal system. The civil war in Myanmar has since gone on to the present day. There are ceasefires, drugs, land grabs, and displaced people.
In 2015, there was limited democratization and hope for an end to the violence. But the leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyii, proved to be unable to stand up to the military while she was in office and they deposed her in a coup in 2021.
This caused a much larger, more intense civil war. For the first time, Bamar people are taking up arms against the government. In a further novel development, they are getting training and weaponry from the ethnic armed organizations. This has never happened before.
Many of the forces currently fighting Burmese military government were started by veterans of these WW2 allied irregular formations.
For example, the Karen National Union, which runs the Karen National Liberation Army was started in 1947 by British trained Karen veterans. The Kachin Independence Army was started by veterans of OSS detachment 101.
Anyway, i think this should be a war against humanity piece because these irregular allied formations in Burma during the war are very important to what is happening in the modern country of Myanmar with 55 million people.
Does the Myanmar civil war have front lines?
They just signed a ceasefire, the junta and the rebels.
@@jliller Depends on where you are.
In Shan state, the three brotherhood alliance which is the Arakan Army, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army took several military bases in October and kicked the Burmese Army out of much of Shan State.
In the areas around Yangon the people's defense forces are running a more guerilla war.
@@houseplant1016 I hadn't seen that the three brotherhood alliance signed a ceasefire today.
It won't hold though. China wanted them to stop fighting on China's border and they agreed. Unfortunately, there have already been dozens of previous ceasefire agreements.
The three brotherhood alliance are also not the only rebels. The National Unity Government is still in opposition and they have the much more numerous people's defense forces. The Karen National Union and the Kachin Independence Army and the Shan State Army are all active and in opposition. (The three brotherhood alliance was largely funded and armed by the KIA)
I think you must point out. The limited democratization itself is not the military willingly giving up all the political power
An Indonesian general, have this to say "The situation in Myanmar is closer to '65(Army will keep the power) rather than '98(settlement between politicians and the army made, army stops political involvement)"
Im a Muslim Indonesian. I have every reason to decry Suu Kyii is genocide denial in the UN. But she's powerless, the junta hoped the people will keep some loyalty to them. But the 2021 elections show, sooner or later. People's support for the military is in the minus that a popular uprising is enough to defeat a coup
By 2021, its a now or never situation for the junta. Retake power or be ostracized by the increasing civillianization of the goverment
Wow. The Daily Mail has always been trash.
Will the team do an episode on the rumors of the lost and looted gold on Luzon and of the trains in Europe?
Here's some additional information that will tell you something about how wars are actually won. If you were paying really close attention you may have noticed that the US 40th Infantry Division was one of the units invading Luzon. This was a Federalize National Guard unit that included men from Kentucky -- like my dad -- and others from New York and other places. They had been in training in California before Pearl Harbor. After that they defended the coast of Southern California before being shipped out to Hawaii for more training. Their first deployment wasn't until 1944 for New Britain but they really didn't start fighting until Luzon. Many of the US divisions entering the war in 1945 probably have similar stories. It takes time to train a division for war even under ideal circumstances -- when your country isn't being bombed and when your country isn't losing whole armies right and left.
The absolute minimum according to the US Army at the time was a full year to create, equip, train and deploy a division in theatre. In practice it took longer than that because of limitations in training facilities, equipment production and transport. The war planners also slowed things down a bit after it became clear in 1942 that the USSR wasn't going to be easily defeated and the US wouldn't need a 200+ division ground army. The US had the luxury of time and space and relative domestic peace to give their divisions plenty of training time.
The USA is kind of a bad example as there is no extensive military history here. The USA was the lone wolf dealing with a whole bunch of imperial powers. Germany had its forces reduced to bare minimum for 15 years after centuries of Prussian kingdom/German Empire military tradition/WW1, and used that pent up history to rebuild in short order for another World War.
Great Show
10:05 "but nothing further could be done to bolster the German armies in the east." Quite correct. The forces committed to December's Ardennes Offensive out west were originally slated to bolster the Eastern Front.
Slim had to face Anglophobic American and Chinese generals and managed to win in a theatre that got the least of everything.
Not to mention skeptical British generals in London and Delhi and that nutter Wingate as well.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 I think eccentric best describes Wingate.
@@keithbrack6843 I reckon what differentiates the eccentrics from the nutters is how much you like them, or how rich they are. Rich crazies are eccentric, poor crazies just plain crazies. 😉
Slim got along with most of his Chinese counterparts.
They did not call him "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell because he was a people person and Chinese had good reasons to hate the British going back to the Opium Wars.
1st Air Commando Group
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, amidst the Quebec Conference in August 1943, was impressed by Brigadier Orde Wingate's account of what could be accomplished in Burma with proper air support.[3] To comply with Roosevelt's proposed air support for British long range penetration operations in Burma, the United States Army Air Forces created the 5318th Air Unit to support the Chindits. In March 1944, they were designated the 1st Air Commando Group by USAAF Commander General Hap Arnold.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Special_Operations_Wing#1st_Air_Commando_Group
I mean, what was Hitler gonna do about this Soviet offensive though? He has no reserves to give Guderian, so this is Uranus all over again. Whether or not Hitler, or anyone else, really believes the offensive is coming or not is barely relevant because there‘s ultimately very little he could do.
Hitler‘s last reserves are either in Hungary or the Ardennes, both battle considered to be of strategic significance by Hitler, for not-so-silly reasons. Striking against the Allies and trying to hold on to Hungary are fundamentally sound ideas and more importantly for Hitler, they are the only ones that carry some theoretical possibility of regaining the advantage. Practically, they are impossible, but giving them up would be an admission that the war is lost. Again, just like with Fall Blau and the move for the Caucasus.
And what would happen if Hitler re-assigned his last Panzer reserves away from the other two theatres and toward the Warsaw-Berlin axis? Would they stop the Soviet thrust? They might delay it, at best for maybe a month.
But at the cost of probably losing Vienna in less than that and facing a Soviet thrust into Bavaria with nothing to counter it. The Allies might do him the favor of delaying a move into Germany, but their job certainly wouldn‘t be made harder by it.
There‘s no way to win this, and whether he defends Berlin some more to lose the other fronts more quickly, or defends the other fronts to lose Berlin a bit faster is probably not a debate worth losing a lot of sleep over unless your name is Guderian or Hitler.
I've been watching this series regularly for about two years, and I must say that you guys are doing a tremendous job given your limited resources and reasonable video lengths. I have one criticism: by quoting what seems to be every "no withdrawal" order from Hitler, and highlighting Hitler's irrational denial of imminent Soviet offensives in January 1945, you are cementing in the viewer's mind that Hitler bears the lion's share of the blame for Germany's setbacks and defeat. I do recognize that the relatively short videos preclude more detailed analysis.
It's kind of tough for me to answer this- because I haven't gotten to the end of the war. Hitler has not been defeated yet in our time line, so accusing me of presenting it in a certain way... well, I haven't done it yet, so how can you assume how I will present it if and when it does happen?
The 'no withdrawal' orders are very important to the conduct of the war, as are Hitler's repeated denials of what everyone else suspected was about to happen. Not covering them as they happen would be a grave disservice to our coverage of the war.
It's also interesting to note that San Fabian was one of the places where the Americans made landfall in the opening days of the Philippine-American War.
I can imagine the average local who witnessed two landings be like: "Oh geez, not again!"
It is also where the Japanese landed in late 1941, so the poor locals probably groaned from having THREE major landings take place there over the course of 4 decades!
@@extrahistory8956 hahaha true.
@@diapason89Its one of the best beaches to land in which have a direct path to Manila so that isn't really a surprise.
@@aaroncabatingan5238 The Belgium of the Philippines.
22:39 When Indy said "They've done it before", I thought he was talking about 1939....
Brilliant narration as always 👍
Thanks for the lovely comment!
@@WorldWarTwo you're welcome 😀
You guys are making videos about each week of WW2? Impressive. God bless you!
Yup! And if you value this kind of content, which RUclips makes very hard to monetize, please think about joining the TimeGhost Army at any level www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistoryto help keep them coming!
-TimeGhost Ambassador
It’s closing in on 300 weeks now.
Superb commentary! 👍🏼👍🏼
Thank you for the comment and thanks for watching!
Hi Indy
Another interesting episode.
Hitler is burying Germany with him.
Poor German people.
Thanks for another episode.
12:52 you guys failed to mention HMAS Australia D84 losses but you mentioned only US losses. HMAS Australia received eight battle honours for her wartime service: "Atlantic 1940-41", "Pacific 1941-43", "Coral Sea 1942", "Savo Island 1942", "Guadalcanal 1942", "New Guinea 1942-44", "Leyte Gulf 1944", and "Lingayen Gulf 1945" which should have been mentioned. Another person here commented that HMAS Australia was the most kamikazed ship in the Pacfic! Yes, I understand that Australia wasn't a major player in the Pacific Campaign but it did do a great share. You also have to remember that Australia's population was only seven million with just under a million under arms! That's 10% of our population!
You should also note that the British Pacific Fleet (BFP) isn't mentioned much in your series in the Pacific which I find quite disheartening. It's made out that the US fleets were doing all the work.
You mentioned in this episode that Monty was taking the lions share during the Ardennes Offensive when he wasn't, but yet failed to mention the BFP's contribution to the war in the Pacific. Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne & Fremantle were major naval bases in WWII & helped repair & refit a lot of the Allied ships as well as transporting goods & foodstuffs to the Allies.
HMAS Australia was attacked and suffered 56 KIA in the 6 attacks between 5-9 January 1945, but stayed on station throughout the campaign. The British Pacific Fleet was only active in the Pacific from early March 1945 (though in was active against Sumatra in the Indian Ocean from December 1944). Several individual RN and especially RAN ships were involved in the Philippines campaign but as part of US Task Forces, NOT as part of the BPF. (HMAS Australia was never part of the BPF, but was in Task Force 74.)
@@onthatrockhewillbuildhisch1510 I didn't check HMAS Sydney was with the BPF or not as most Australian ships were at this time during the war. I just doubled checked & you were right.
My concern is that history has been written with bias to the US Navy in the Pacific during the latter stages of the war. You barely hear a blip about any of the other Allied ships in the Pacific Theatre especially when serving along side the US fleets. The BPF was formed in November '44 as my grandfather was in the Royal Navy & served on HMS Implacable & arrived in Sydney May 8th 1945.
@@1969Risky Some good points! (HMAS Sydney had been sunk in battle in November 1941 -FORTY-ONE)
This channel is incredible (I’m a Timeghost army member) but the glaring typo in Manilla (sic) on the thumbnail is honestly painful
The thriller in Manilla
The problem is that at a 90 degree angle you're giving your broadside to the attacker, and most ships will sink if hit below the waterline there.
this series has been so awesome i'm kind of sad we are so close now to ending :(
We aren't going anywhere, we have future plans for the channel and Indy will be doing the Korean war. Hope to see you there!
@@WorldWarTwo a so the saga continues, i'm sure to be there
"See how things have changed, my friend. Now, it is THEIR land...THEIR people...THEIR blood!"
-Sgt. Viktor Reznov, CoD5: World at War
The push begins to boil!
Whew, Hitler is relieved that there are only two offensives on Ost Front...not the whole Red Army...
22:55 he's serious, don't call him shirley