Bulgaria was Axis only in name. The pro-Russian populace would never fight in Russia so Boris III kept making false promises to Hitler until his assassination. Didnt stop the Allies from bombing Sofia into ruins.
Thank you beyond anything for this video. It's well past time that historians stopped habitually neglecting my country in the history books. Kudos to you, guys at The Front! 🇷🇴
@@macblackadder93 It's what these Western "historians" are best at. Blatant ignorance of any Romanian accomplishments and brow-beating us about Transylvania being supposedly part of Hungary. I can't say I'm surprised but it still bothers me nonetheless.
It's not something I'd brag about tbh....the Nazis number one lackey's isn't something I'd want my country to be known for but to each his own I guess 😉
@@Kuwaitisnot_adeployment My original point extends beyond merely WW2 but keep on projecting. Also, nice display of classic Western ignorance of Romanian history right there. Typical.
Romania was drawn in to the war because USSR took them province of Bessarabia. They wanted it back, so they joined the Axis. Similar happened with the Thailand. They both got Axis support for solving their territorial problems, and accepted the deal. Romania had to turn against the Germany finally in 1944.
I think Romanian had same position as Indian soldiers in British military. When something good happened it was British army. If they lost it was the Indian / colonial troops.
0:35 - Why was Romania's contribution ignored? For the same reason Canada's was: the other countries were louder and braggarts about their accomplishments.
Not really! The Germans tried to cover up their mistakes by blaming them on their allies. And the Allies took these without a critical point of view. The Soviets were more interested in increasing their role and did not want any mention of failures against a lesser force. And the Romanians under Soviet control and then having people brought by the Soviets in charge were not interested in showing their contribution to the war against the USSR (in communist time!).
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) was Critical to winning the Battle of the Atlantic. The Canadian Army was not critical. The Canadian Army in Europe was only 1/3 Canadian. The Allies had to help. Quebec was an embarrassment.
Just to put things into perspective: The total *annual* oil consumption of the Axis powers and the territories they controlled during WW2 is only a tiny fraction of the world's *daily* consumption now.
The world population and amount of cars have ballooned up and up to the point some nations are barely able to support the number of people with foriqnen aid.
Not necessarily related to the op but what's this latest trend of being sad and angry because people betrayed the Nazis? If anything you should be happy unless you're a modern Nazi incel
Romania gave the Germans a (not so well armed) military force and much-needed oil. Although on paper it could have been a big contributor, Italy gave the Germans wide fronts to fight in, unrelated to their major goal (fighting the Soviets), while using a part of Romanian oil and draining German soldiers and resources. So, partly for geographic reasons, it may be that Romania was more of a help than Italy to the German war effort. The Germans maybe could have profited by Italy staying neutral?
Germans also fought the British empire before the soviets, and the Italian main war effort was directed against the British (tough not so effectively to say the least)
It depends if Germany would have got involved in North Africa if Italy hadn’t joined the war. Italy did do a somewhat decent job in challenging the free movement of the Allies within the Med.
It is severely understated how the Soviet Union was seen as a bigger threat than Germany to Eastern European countries, especially before the war and Romania was no exception. One of my grandmothers lived the war and for her, it was a shocking difference between German soldiers and the Russians and how they threated people in her region. She told me how clean and disciplined were German soldiers and since in her region she lives, there were hardly any jewish minorities, she has no recall of the atrocities we usually hear about them. She said soldiers used to respectfully treat people and trade goods like chocolate for food and other stuff and if they crossed the line or behaved disrespectfully, the officers were eager to punish them or even shoot the soldier on spot. On the other hand, the Soviet forces would get drunk, would rob, kill people that opposed them and rape women regardless of age or etnicity so most Romanian women preferred to hide when they heard Soviet troops were underway after the alliance change in 1944. She told me how she used to hide in hay and other places with her female relatives/neighbours and how they feared to be found, since it was impredictable how the soldiers would react and how far would go. And the officers didn't even bother to punish or control this behavior (perhaps even encourage it). She also shared stories about how the Soviets used to drink, listen to music, made sex with women, "make their needs" and sleep in the same place, without intimacy, shame or regards to hygene or cleaniness, some of them even getting dysentery.
I'm Romanian and I keep hearing the same stories how great the Germans treated the Romanian civilians. Germans were allies and the Soviets were the enemies. Wtf did you expect? You think the romanians were handing candies to soviet kids??? If the Germans were so civilized why weren't they behaving the same towards the soviet civilians? I'm pretty sure after 23 August the attitude of the Germans changed dramatically towards their former allies.
@@WEMBLEYNE Germans continued to act disciplined in the soviet union as well, the same stories that are heard in Romania can be heard in Ukraine and the baltic countries. The only civillians killed were partisans.
My grandmother also told me of an experience her mother had. Her mother's father owned a farm. When german soilders were in the area, the german officer asked how much one cow cost and bought the cow from her. When Soviet soilders came they stole all the cows.
I have a K98 that was made in Czechoslovakia for the Romanian military in 1940. Serial # is YR8040 (Y indicates it was the last batch, R for Romanian destination, 80 indicate it was in that count, 40 indicating the year). It was later used by the communists since the seal had been professionally scrubbed off the receiver.
@@MrQ454 a lot of the Romanian rifles were used during the revolution and they systematically scrubbed them off and didn't replace them with the hammer and sickle like the soviets would do
@@maddog4u31757 you are wrong, there were rifle like these in Patriotic Guards but practically there was no mention of usage of them in revolution, also the rifles from the old kingdom had their crest removed but not replaced by any ”hammer and sickle”! BTW, the Romanians didn't used those on their weapons. Romanians also build those rifles at the end of the war and many years after until were replaced by SKs-s and AKM (also produced here). What I say it's the soviet captured many and latter they sent those to other nations like N Korea, Vietnam etc. Some of those rifles used or built in Romania came only after 1990 in USA.
@@MrQ454 Incorrect. Soviet captured rifles (known as RC rifles in the firearm community) will have an "X" stamped onto the action of the rifle. There is no capture marking on this rifle.
I'd love to see a video about the Bulgarians in WWII. Although they were nominally an Axis power, they joined the Germans mainly out of self-interested territorial gain, refused to fight the Russians directly on the eastern front, and also switched sides in the end.
@@scavulous6336 With more loyalty you’re more likely to win and reap the rewards, however if you do lose you have further to fall. Winner takes all and they did
The other fact is that the Bulgarian and USSR embassies remained open in each others countries during the war and was the only Axis power to have this happen.
Literally the only thing Bulgaria did for the Axis was to allow them to pass through their country to Greece. For this, Bulgaria gained small territorial gains from Romania which Bulgaria owns to this day.
I believe they were unfairly blamed at the battle of Stalingrad when they and the Hungarians were put out on the flanks in open country without not having heavy anti-tank guns. Hitler's obsession with capturing the gutted ruins of a city that just happened to have his rival's name on it. I've always felt that it was about making up for not capturing Moscow to and getting that headline in the press. I worked with a Romanian girl long time ago over 20 years who had just moved to America, Vesy if I remember. On our crew when we worked long late hours and got tired we would have little slap fights. Two people face each other and start one light slap to the face each. Then you increase the strength of the slap a little each time til someone gives up. My friend was trying to show Vesy how to do the slap fight but she was still learning English, he demonstrated it and then he slapped her lightly first and then she came back with a full 100% swing to his face and slapped him into the following week!!! Funny
@@ferdinand8994 Encircling a city _is_ a part of capturing it. You don't just encircle it and leave it be because every day it stays under enemy control is another day that you have to spend troops and equipment to keep it surrounded, when those resources could be better used on the front.
@@DovahFett no that's a day where enemy equipment/food gets slowly depleted and meanwhile you preserve the life of your own men, the germans lost about 7-800k men there, that's insane.
@@WEMBLEYNEonly a part (the big part) of it went there. Poland secretly made a deal with romania and left 51 chests full of gold (over 3 tones) in our national bank's undergrounds. The Polish deposit remained in Bucharest until July 1944, when over 4,000 crates, containing almost 200 tons of romanian gold, plus the Polish gold, were secretly transported to the Tismana monastery, renovated by the Romania Nationsl Bank, in this purpose. There was a great danger of being captured by retreating German or Soviet troops (the Soviets had already entered Romania), so on August 14-16, all the crates were moved to a cave whose entrance was walled off.The Romanian-Polish treasure stayed in this hiding place until February 1947, when it returned safely to Bucharest. On September 17, 1947, the National Bank of Poland and representatives of the Bank of Poland signed a receipt with Romania, by which the 51 crates were returned to Poland, without any mutual claim. On the same day, two Polish military planes took the 51 crates to Poland.
Of course Antonescu preferred Hitler and the Nazis to Stalin and the communists. But he mainly sided with Germany knowing that Romania couldn't have resisted better than Poland being attacked by the Germans and Hungarians from the West and by the Soviets from the East. Antonescu would have been on the side of Britain, had Britain been geographically closer to Romania than the USSR.
King Michael I of Romania played a huge role in overthrowing Antonescu, throwing the Axis out of Romania and shortening the war by up to 6 months, but was ousted by the Soviets in 1948 due to Churchill and Roosevelt gifting half of Europe to Stalin. And he died only five years ago.
@@rubobostes1937 Do you honestly think that he did that willingly so that he and his Mum could go into exile for the next 40 years? Churchill and Roosevelt willingly satisfied Stalin’s appetite with Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Eastern Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Albania and North Korea.
Also, I believe Romania would have never gotten back Northern Transylvania if we fought the soviets to the end. That alongside all the destruction that would have been caused by a war on our territory.
@@bogdantoma8472 who said that we should fought to the soviets ? a peace treaty with soviets would have been nice before the coup d'etat the slow thinking little Michael I did . but , as the history have proven , little Michael was not a thinker . at all .
Well Rumania played an extremely important role, in most regards were better soldiers and more reliable than Italian troops at the eastern front. The oil from Rumania was crucial. However the Rumanians lacked heavy guns and ammunition.
@@jantschierschky3461 Romanians built better antitank guns at 75 mm but came too latter (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/75_mm_Re%C8%99i%C8%9Ba_Model_1943. They had heavy guns but the enemies had more and heavier!
@@jantschierschky3461 In Stalingrad things were much worse and mostly because of the Germans! First of all there weren't enough troops to cover both flanks and there weren't even any reserve troops for a long time before the Germans gave in and created something that proved insufficient. Then the supply was in short supply also because of the Germans who had monopolized the transport favoring their troops in the city with ammunition and fuel. So the Romanians had shortages ranging from artillery shells to winter clothing and food for many weeks before the attack began. The result was that the Soviet tanks penetrated the heavily thinned lines, which had virtually no support behind them. Even if they had had stronger guns they could not have done much as there were not enough men to cover the entire length of the front. It should be noted that the Romanians were aware of the bad situation they were in and repeatedly asked for action, but the Germans refused almost all calls
Marechal Ion Antonescu was NOT a simpatizer of the Iron Guard, if anything he was a pro French sympathizer, which makes sense as Romania fought against Germany during WW1. Antonescu had no choice, going on Axis side on WW2 was motivated by USSR invasion of Basarabia, the NE part of Romania, and the defeat of France, the traditional ally of Romania. At some point he actually destroyed the Iron Guard, whose leaders managed to escape only with the help of the Germans. Antonescu was in a similar position as Mannerheim of Finland, who managed to resist Stalin's invasion only with German help. As they say, between a rock and a hard place... The depiction of Antonescu as a "fierce fascist leader" is totally misleading and unjust.
I wonder why he wasnt incentivized to chossing the allied side after Hitler scooped transilvania and gave it to Hungary. Romania really had no real friends in ww2, other than Poland.
Interesting. Romanian troops given a bad name during the Soviet breakout to surround the Axis forces at Stalingrad. But considered what they were armed with, I suppose not much could have been expected. Like to know why Hungary and Romania hated each other so much that the Germans couldn't put them near each other on the front.
Same thing with Finland. Finland would have happily kept it's head down and remained neutral through the war. By attacking Finland in November 1939, supposedly to keep Finland from posing a threat, but in reality just an excuse to seize territory, Stalin assured that Finland was pushed into working with Germany.
Whats even more interesting about this period and during Interwar was the way an Iron Commissar named Eugen Alimănescu dealt with crime in 1930s Romania...which is something you only see in Untouchables and the Wild West...or sth related to Al Capone and John Dillinger. His cases would make Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes proud. EDIT: And yes...he even did the Orient Express one 26 years after the book..
@@generationclash5004 Yes he did. Although the fact that he interrogated and tortured the resistance members from the mountains was never confirmed. And he did shoot a Russian spy which lead to his downfall/retirement.
@@generationclash5004 That much is true (although my point is that records from the communist period, especially the 1950s, are unfortunately murky in general and the propaganda, discrediting and lies were so thorough that people in Romania nowadays still believe King Michael I ran away with the gold even though that's false. So it is possible they made him look worse than he actually was the moment he became a liability to them). Although the most suspect is whatever happened to him. Was he thrown off a train or did he really retired and sold apples? Whatever the case 1958 is the year he died on his certificate.
That's pretty awesome history, thanks! A Romanian Colonel was also staying in the 10 man tent I was in at Iraq, lol. 2004 Camp Victory, near Baghdad airport.
Where did you find footage of the armored train at 1:44? I know of the video "Pociąg Pancerny nr 11 "Danuta" (Armored train no 11)", but I may as well go looking for hen's teeth rather than look for footage of armored trains. Maybe you and Pathe1939 found it in a footage archive, possibly the same archive. Sorry to be off-topic.
The commentary is objective, documented and quite impartial. However, there are also some "slips". The territorial losses were: Bessarabia, in favor of the U.S.S.R.; Transylvania in favor of Hungary; Quadrilateral, in favor of Bulgaria. These brought a large number of refugees to the Kingdom of Romania and led to the political conclusion that Bessarabia and Transylvania must be recovered only with the help of Germany.
As a German I can't hate on the Romanian bros. They jumped off a sinking ship before it was too late after they felt like the were taken advantage of, just in a nicer way than the Soviets who just took what they wanted. I have more sympathy for them that I have for the Italians who were just a liability and needed constant babysitting because they couldn't even fight Greece alone. I'm friends with a married Romanian couple who I met through online gaming. When I visited for the second time I got the chance to meet the wife's grand grandmother who told me that the German troops treated them very nicely unlike the Russians. (But what does one expect from the Russians, when they don't even have respect for their own people?)
Rumänien hat in Osten gegen Russland / SU gekämpft um das von Rumänen bewohnte Bassarabien zu befreien, da es 1940 von Russland / SU besetzt wurde. Rumänien hat nach August 1944 auch gegen Ungarn und Deutschland gekämpft um Nord-Transylvanien zu befreien, da es 1940 von Ungarn besetzt wurde (mit Deutschlands Hilfe). Rumänien musste im Osten und Westen kämpfen weil es 1940 Territorien an Russland und Ungarn verloren hatte. Bassarabien und Transylvanien sind beide mehrheitlich von Rumänen bewohnte Regionen.
A great irony is after the war when seeing the so called "secret protocols" of the Molotov Ribbentrop pact we found out Stalin had written permission and Hitler's ok to annex parts of Romania in Bessarabia. I wonder if German diplomats saw this coming.
Wars are a problem for countries close to the combatants. Cooperate or suffer. These guys had no choice with the combined axis powers of Germany and Russia on their borders.. When those split Germany was the better choice at the time. But once it is clear that Germany will lose, all countries will pick the clear winners, being the British empire, when it is clear than they are on the losing side. Practical necessity is the logical choice.
Yeah, I was aware of manpower given the German army, and oil, but wasn't aware of the sizes of those donations. Nor was I aware of the links between German receipts and that Romania was not paid and what that meant to the Romanian financial system. I hope that the US continues its policy of honoring all its debts.
@@ferdinand8994 I am brought to near curses Ferdinand considering the places and times. Failed morality and wasted courage may be the story since I was born in 1952 but there are degrees to failure and betrayal and the US in paying its bills as a guiding principle meant it was the best of reserve currencies.
Even if Romania changed sides and joined with allies by kicking out General Ion Antonescu from throne with a coup on 23rd August 1944, Romania didn't escaped of troubles. After war on 1945 on Yalta the major powers (US, UK and Russia) decide it to split countries and Winston Churchill decide it to give Romania to Russia. Why? Because even if country (Romania) switched sides and joined with allies later in war it didn't change the matter that it commited war crimes and one of them was supporting Germany with resources, manpower and weapons. After WW2 Romania has been under communism boot almost for half of century (44 years) until 1989 when Romania has executed Ceausescu husbands (Nicolae and Elena) for their crimes against country and it's people.
Whats wrong with wanting your country to win a war to with a behemoth of an empire as big as a continet which forced you to give your land away or else they would attack?
We were taught all of this except for the bromance part in American History in Jr. High, World history in Intermediate and High school. But we were taught all kinds of things like this, you have to remember that it was like almost 40 years ago. Great day to you on this Monday morning.
romania made an all in bet on germany for one simple reason, the same reason that so many other countries assisted germany: communism had to be obliterated. barbarossa was the do or die moment in history and was the only chance to remove the USSR
Two small corrections. The Iron Guard was not a fascist movement, but a nationalist and anti-communist one. The negative propaganda made by the communists, and now by the neo-Marxists, infects any public presentation about the Iron Guard with untruths. General Ion Antonescu was not pro-Nazi. He was the military attaché of Romania in London. He was pro-allied and admired the state organization of the Anglo-Saxon countries. He collaborated with Hitler as a result of circumstances. The introduction of Romania into slavery, along with Germany, took place as a result of the fact that this was Romania's only chance to recover something from the territories lost in 1940.
"more troops in Russia than Italy"...Mussolini insisted on sending soldiers to the Eastern front, against the instincts of Hitler, who did not want Italians in Russia (by this time the lacking martial qualities of the Italian armies had been made manifest).
Romanians and Italian troops guarding Stalingrad's flanks weren't equipped with proper antitank weapons which lead to the city's encirclement and destruction of axis armies.
Hiring Antonescu as PM was a great example of someone foolishly trying to compromise with fascists and getting facerolled. You can't negotiate or work with them, they'll simply take everything you give and then take the rest.
still better than being a conquered country. The choice was cooperate or we will divide you up among your neighbours that are cooperating with us. That was after already taking two great parts of Romania away. A no-brainer, one might say.
Wait, if Romania switched to the Allies, how did they wind up under Soviet rule after the way. Actually I’d be really interested to know how post-war negotiations lead to the division of Europe
You do know that the USSR was part of the allies? Churchill knew Stalin wouldn't keep his word about letting the Eastern European countries remain free, Roosevelt thought he could control Stalin. Unfortunately, Churchill was right, and the Eastern European nations(Poland, Romania etc) were swallowed up by the USSR after the war.
even though the effort and strategic importance was greater than in the case of Italy, which was recognized as a co-belligerent, the Soviets did not want to recognize
The reason is two fold location and the fact that they supported the Nazis. The Soviet Union took control of as much as they could without upsetting their western allies.
Czechoslovakia was an Ally before the war even began. Poland was the country over which the war started to begin with; allegiance wasn't important, the Soviet Empire took all it was allowed to take.
Spanish volunteers held off 3 or 4 soviet army attacks at Krasny Bor preventing all of Army Group North from being surrounded and wiped out. It was one of the biggest achievments on the entire eastern front. Hitler had nothing but praise for the Spaniards.
It's also something to note that Romania took it upon themselves to enact the Final Solution during the war. With little to no help from Germany, the Romanian military rounded up and killed hundreds of thousands of Jews and Gypsies by firing squad or concentration camp. The Iron Guard even led an attempted coup because they felt that Antonescu was being too soft on the Jews by having them rounded up and deported instead of executed outright. The Iron Guard then led the attempted coup and pogroms that slaughtered Jews in the street, with the help of everyday civilians that committed heinous atrocities. Antonescu then put down the coup and dissolved the Iron Guard, with many fleeing to Germany and being graciously accepts. This, however, gave Antonescu the go-ahead to continue his deportations, ramp them up to include Gypsies and other minority groups, and through now feeling that he had staunch public support of anti-Jewish policies, began the eradication of Romanian Jews. In many countries where the Germans had influence or had conquered, the Waffen-SS were the ones playing the role of hunting, capturing, and exterminating. Here, the SS had little to no influence and the holocaust was played out by the Romanian government and military itself.
Antonescu is an interesting story. He took over Romania at a time where no one really wanted to. He started out as a facist and then outlawed the Iron Guard and became just an average right wing politician while still retaining his military leadership. He never harmed a Jew inside of Romania, but didn't care for the ones outside of it. He was a staunch anti-Communist. He allied with the guys who could stop his Communist enemies. He was an interesting case, but ultimately on the wrong side.
Yes and no. The romanians had no business in stalingrad. They should had stopped after retaking Basarabia. In the end it was Hitler who aproved the takeaway of transilvania and Basarabia. I mean, it's a matter of self esteem, you don't ally with the bully.
@@WEMBLEYNE agreed. They really shouldn’t have gone that far. But as history later proved, life in Romania was actually better under antonescu than under the soviet puppet regime led by the Romanian communists. So it’s really hard to tell, but it is what it is and history can’t be undone.
@@WEMBLEYNEof course, and the British should have stop after they won the air battle with Germany..... use your head for something other than keeping the rain from falling into your neck
@@WEMBLEYNE he he... if USSR was the main danger to Romania at that time, why it should stop after retaking Basarabia ? Kind of the same thing.... why British empire had the right to pursue Germany untill was defeated, after the British won the air battle, and Romania should had stopped after retaking Basarabia? I think u sniff glue, becose u think double standard is ok....
The oil fields in Ploesti was the main reason Germany postponed their USSR invansion to secure Greece.If they didnt RAF could launch bombing raids from there.
Most of them with ships direct to France (Black Sea-Mediterranean Sea). Some of them arrived by sea in Syria (which was controlled by France then) and latter came to France.
There's a thing you should know about the Iron Guard. They were at odds with Antonescu because they brought violence and pogroms into the streets disrupting public order and wanted power for themselves.. What Antonescu did during the 1940 Legionary Rebellion was a much tamer Night of the Long Knives.
that's exactly what he did, all the them caught in Romania were sent as soldiers in special battalions against soviets. Only those extracted by the Germans (Himmler) would escape.
The Iron guard was never fascist and you say the loved Hitler but who didnt at the time? The german army defeated every single neighbour they had in record time so obviously the ruler of the country was admired by many. And if your pressured by the USSR to give away a fifth of its territory away dont you think they would be willing to ally themselves with anyone in hopes of getting it back?
When the Romanians allied with the Soviets and declared war on Germany, Hungary remained with the axis and Germany sent their best to defend Budspest, a King Tiger Kampfgruppe. According to Richard von Rosen's memoirs, the Hungarians strongly supported Germany in morale, though an attempted coup d'etat did briefly turn some soldiers against the Germans. However, this failed in hours.
honestly, like I knew about their resource dependency on Romania and a bit of troops used in Russia, but 1.2 million men!!! Bro, for the Germans to have around 3 million plus Romania's 1.2mil how'd they lose? I mean I know how, but c'mon. I really think that if senor Hilter had gone for an all out assault on Moscow instead of Stalingrad he would of lopped off soviet high commands head. Reason being is I'm sure Stalin was the same as Hilter, as in he wouldn't leave the capital out of pride even with German forces just 20 kilometers away or so. But I like hearing about non-Major powers, next you should do Bulgaria and Hungary if you haven't already. I'm pretty sure even the minors alone did more for the axis than Italy ever could
Romanian soldiers are strangely the most passive one. They knew Germany was going to use them as cannon fodders, but they did nothing to prevent that fate. Sad.
Well, I live in Timişoara, was had its railway station bombed, the general was executed by firing squad, along with his cronies. The King was ejected by the Communists in 1948, there was an attempt at a revolution in 1956, and a successful one in 1989, both in Timişoara. 🇷🇴
Love the video as always! As much as I do find videos about the Western Front fascinating, there are a group of men in the Pacific who have been severely overlooked. The men in particular are the U.S Navy's Corpsman aka "Doc" and the Navy's Construction Battalion, aka the "Seabees". The Corpsmen were always targeted by the Japanese, leaving many to perish who sought to answer the call to their Marines and in such, most recipients of the Medal of Honor were received by Navy Corpsmen. The Navy Seabees, most of my family including my Daddy himself who was apart of Mobile Naval Construction Battalion 5 during his 2 tours in Afghanistan, are known for their ability to build on the frontlines even before Marines arrive, defend their construction vigorously, their ability to steal/"tactically acquire", and throughout their existence to this day they have never lost an inch of ground. During one encounter when the Seabees were constructing an airfield, the Japanese ambushed the Seabees. In result, the Seabees embarked upon their bulldozer known as "Natasha" with 1903 Springfields and managed to cause the Japanese to panic out of fear and casualties. Their emblem was even created by Disney and their actions inspired the film "The Fighting Seabees". To this day, their motto is "Can Do!"
My father was in the 15th Air Force flying out of Italy. The 15th were the planes that bombed the Ploiesti fields and refineries among many other targets in 1944. There were dozens of raids on the oil fields which did eventually reduce the flow of oil to Germany to a trickle.
I knew but not that its support was so great. Many Spanish men also fought for Germany in Russia. When I taught English in Valencia in 67 to spread democratic ideas in the schools my Italian Professor friend refused to teach men wearing the Blue Cross they had from their time in Russia.
You forgot to mention that we in fact took all the Polish weapons and armor for ourselves as well as most of the gold. We didnt allow them to pass out of the godness of our spirit, we werent stupid.
Polish weapons, yes, were stopped in Romania....about the Polish treasury, you are talking nonsense. Apart from a few tons of gold, 3-4 tons, kept in Romania and returned almost immediately after the war, everything was evacuated through Constanța harbour
![Hitler's Skewed Perspective on the Other Axis Powers of WW2 [Did the German Army Agree?]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Dd0wfw0CDfs/mqdefault.jpg)
About time someone makes a video on the lesser known axis armies. Do a serious on the axis armies Croatia, Hungary, Slovak, Bulgaria and Thailand!
Say please
Finland: hold my vodka
@@chadgaming8071 Finland not an actual axis member, only a co-belligerent
@@windex7934 Finland attacked the Soviets in 1941
Bulgaria was Axis only in name. The pro-Russian populace would never fight in Russia so Boris III kept making false promises to Hitler until his assassination. Didnt stop the Allies from bombing Sofia into ruins.
Thank you beyond anything for this video. It's well past time that historians stopped habitually neglecting my country in the history books. Kudos to you, guys at The Front! 🇷🇴
I won't lie, it felt way too stupid not mentioning Romania in general.
@@macblackadder93 It's what these Western "historians" are best at. Blatant ignorance of any Romanian accomplishments and brow-beating us about Transylvania being supposedly part of Hungary.
I can't say I'm surprised but it still bothers me nonetheless.
@@generationclash5004 canada better
It's not something I'd brag about tbh....the Nazis number one lackey's isn't something I'd want my country to be known for but to each his own I guess 😉
@@Kuwaitisnot_adeployment My original point extends beyond merely WW2 but keep on projecting. Also, nice display of classic Western ignorance of Romanian history right there. Typical.
Romania was drawn in to the war because USSR took them province of Bessarabia.
They wanted it back, so they joined the Axis.
Similar happened with the Thailand.
They both got Axis support for solving their territorial problems, and accepted the deal.
Romania had to turn against the Germany finally in 1944.
Not to mention Finland and Karelia.
@@lexthemystic3541 Same thing
I think Romanian had same position as Indian soldiers in British military. When something good happened it was British army. If they lost it was the Indian / colonial troops.
Have you any examples of this practice?
I dont think thats a sentiment anyone today holds...
@@ronhall9394 russian break through around Stalingrad was blamed on Romanian troops.
Loss of Gallipoli was blamed on colonial troops by British
@@scavulous6336 they didn't blame that on Indians, they blamed it on Churchill and the ANZAC'a officers (the people responsible)
@@isbee56 anzacs. Colonial troops.
0:35 - Why was Romania's contribution ignored? For the same reason Canada's was: the other countries were louder and braggarts about their accomplishments.
Not really! The Germans tried to cover up their mistakes by blaming them on their allies. And the Allies took these without a critical point of view. The Soviets were more interested in increasing their role and did not want any mention of failures against a lesser force. And the Romanians under Soviet control and then having people brought by the Soviets in charge were not interested in showing their contribution to the war against the USSR (in communist time!).
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) was Critical to winning the Battle of the Atlantic. The Canadian Army was not critical. The Canadian Army in Europe was only 1/3 Canadian. The Allies had to help. Quebec was an embarrassment.
Canada lol.....
Something not touched upon here is the Hungarian and Bulgarian land demands on Romania which forced Romania to take a side
The king himself!
Just to put things into perspective: The total *annual* oil consumption of the Axis powers and the territories they controlled during WW2 is only a tiny fraction of the world's *daily* consumption now.
The world population and amount of cars have ballooned up and up to the point some nations are barely able to support the number of people with foriqnen aid.
@Alan Pratama this unironically, Germany never really motorized and even if they had they wouldn’t have been able to secure the fuel for it
I think you were trying to wow people. Makes complete sense on every level so not surprising at all.
I've been waiting for this video. Finally glad to see Romania get a spot in the limelight.
Yesss
Romanian women are best
As a Romanian, I completely agree with you, my friend.
"The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies, it comes from those you trust the most"
Silco: "I trusted you....and you betrayed me!"
the saddest thing about this betrayal is that they sucked us dry and refused to compensate
I mean duh , how do you ge betrayed by your enemies lol
Not necessarily related to the op but what's this latest trend of being sad and angry because people betrayed the Nazis? If anything you should be happy unless you're a modern Nazi incel
Exactly this quote makes no sense
Romania gave the Germans a (not so well armed) military force and much-needed oil. Although on paper it could have been a big contributor, Italy gave the Germans wide fronts to fight in, unrelated to their major goal (fighting the Soviets), while using a part of Romanian oil and draining German soldiers and resources. So, partly for geographic reasons, it may be that Romania was more of a help than Italy to the German war effort. The Germans maybe could have profited by Italy staying neutral?
Germans also fought the British empire before the soviets, and the Italian main war effort was directed against the British (tough not so effectively to say the least)
But good thing they didn’t.
Wow italy really ist even more Shit
It depends if Germany would have got involved in North Africa if Italy hadn’t joined the war. Italy did do a somewhat decent job in challenging the free movement of the Allies within the Med.
@@jakew7982 Yes, the Mediterranean being closed was a problem for the British, but did this give a real advantage to the Germans?
Thank you so much for this one! Very interesting perspective, and obviously a welcome one from a Romanian! :)
I dont think u should be happy that there is a video about your country's fascists regime and that contributed to killing innocent people
It is severely understated how the Soviet Union was seen as a bigger threat than Germany to Eastern European countries, especially before the war and Romania was no exception.
One of my grandmothers lived the war and for her, it was a shocking difference between German soldiers and the Russians and how they threated people in her region. She told me how clean and disciplined were German soldiers and since in her region she lives, there were hardly any jewish minorities, she has no recall of the atrocities we usually hear about them. She said soldiers used to respectfully treat people and trade goods like chocolate for food and other stuff and if they crossed the line or behaved disrespectfully, the officers were eager to punish them or even shoot the soldier on spot.
On the other hand, the Soviet forces would get drunk, would rob, kill people that opposed them and rape women regardless of age or etnicity so most Romanian women preferred to hide when they heard Soviet troops were underway after the alliance change in 1944. She told me how she used to hide in hay and other places with her female relatives/neighbours and how they feared to be found, since it was impredictable how the soldiers would react and how far would go. And the officers didn't even bother to punish or control this behavior (perhaps even encourage it). She also shared stories about how the Soviets used to drink, listen to music, made sex with women, "make their needs" and sleep in the same place, without intimacy, shame or regards to hygene or cleaniness, some of them even getting dysentery.
I'm Romanian and I keep hearing the same stories how great the Germans treated the Romanian civilians. Germans were allies and the Soviets were the enemies. Wtf did you expect? You think the romanians were handing candies to soviet kids??? If the Germans were so civilized why weren't they behaving the same towards the soviet civilians?
I'm pretty sure after 23 August the attitude of the Germans changed dramatically towards their former allies.
@@WEMBLEYNEthe soviets were raping and killing while they had control of romania you clown
@@WEMBLEYNE Germans continued to act disciplined in the soviet union as well, the same stories that are heard in Romania can be heard in Ukraine and the baltic countries. The only civillians killed were partisans.
My grandmother also told me of an experience her mother had. Her mother's father owned a farm. When german soilders were in the area, the german officer asked how much one cow cost and bought the cow from her. When Soviet soilders came they stole all the cows.
Bullshit.
I have a K98 that was made in Czechoslovakia for the Romanian military in 1940. Serial # is YR8040 (Y indicates it was the last batch, R for Romanian destination, 80 indicate it was in that count, 40 indicating the year). It was later used by the communists since the seal had been professionally scrubbed off the receiver.
or was it a Soviet capture of war
@@MrQ454 a lot of the Romanian rifles were used during the revolution and they systematically scrubbed them off and didn't replace them with the hammer and sickle like the soviets would do
@@maddog4u31757 you are wrong, there were rifle like these in Patriotic Guards but practically there was no mention of usage of them in revolution, also the rifles from the old kingdom had their crest removed but not replaced by any ”hammer and sickle”! BTW, the Romanians didn't used those on their weapons. Romanians also build those rifles at the end of the war and many years after until were replaced by SKs-s and AKM (also produced here). What I say it's the soviet captured many and latter they sent those to other nations like N Korea, Vietnam etc. Some of those rifles used or built in Romania came only after 1990 in USA.
@@MrQ454 Incorrect. Soviet captured rifles (known as RC rifles in the firearm community) will have an "X" stamped onto the action of the rifle. There is no capture marking on this rifle.
@@maddog4u31757 yeah as you know Romanians put ”hammer and sickle” on guns...
Very informative. Added quite a lot to the little I knew about Romania's war.
I'd love to see a video about the Bulgarians in WWII. Although they were nominally an Axis power, they joined the Germans mainly out of self-interested territorial gain, refused to fight the Russians directly on the eastern front, and also switched sides in the end.
sounds like an opportunist
@@theawesomeman9821 rather be an opportunist than an actual diehard axis member state
@@scavulous6336 With more loyalty you’re more likely to win and reap the rewards, however if you do lose you have further to fall. Winner takes all and they did
The other fact is that the Bulgarian and USSR embassies remained open in each others countries during the war and was the only Axis power to have this happen.
Literally the only thing Bulgaria did for the Axis was to allow them to pass through their country to Greece. For this, Bulgaria gained small territorial gains from Romania which Bulgaria owns to this day.
I believe they were unfairly blamed at the battle of Stalingrad when they and the Hungarians were put out on the flanks in open country without not having heavy anti-tank guns. Hitler's obsession with capturing the gutted ruins of a city that just happened to have his rival's name on it. I've always felt that it was about making up for not capturing Moscow to and getting that headline in the press.
I worked with a Romanian girl long time ago over 20 years who had just moved to America, Vesy if I remember. On our crew when we worked long late hours and got tired we would have little slap fights. Two people face each other and start one light slap to the face each. Then you increase the strength of the slap a little each time til someone gives up. My friend was trying to show Vesy how to do the slap fight but she was still learning English, he demonstrated it and then he slapped her lightly first and then she came back with a full 100% swing to his face and slapped him into the following week!!! Funny
Hitler didn't just want to capture stalingrad because it has stalin on it, the city is the gateway to the Caucasus oil
@@nikolamilicevic1040 also gateway to oilfields
@@nikolamilicevic1040 i would have been better to be encircled instead of captured.
@@ferdinand8994 Encircling a city _is_ a part of capturing it. You don't just encircle it and leave it be because every day it stays under enemy control is another day that you have to spend troops and equipment to keep it surrounded, when those resources could be better used on the front.
@@DovahFett no that's a day where enemy equipment/food gets slowly depleted and meanwhile you preserve the life of your own men, the germans lost about 7-800k men there, that's insane.
Polish gold was hidden all through the war in a cave on the grounds of Tismana monastery and was returned to them after the war.
Și acum Polonezii ne considera țigani și se pupa pe gura cu ungurii.
I'm pretty sure it was shipped to England
@@WEMBLEYNEonly a part (the big part) of it went there. Poland secretly made a deal with romania and left 51 chests full of gold (over 3 tones) in our national bank's undergrounds.
The Polish deposit remained in Bucharest until July 1944, when over 4,000 crates, containing almost 200 tons of romanian gold, plus the Polish gold, were secretly transported to the Tismana monastery, renovated by the Romania Nationsl Bank, in this purpose. There was a great danger of being captured by retreating German or Soviet troops (the Soviets had already entered Romania), so on August 14-16, all the crates were moved to a cave whose entrance was walled off.The Romanian-Polish treasure stayed in this hiding place until February 1947, when it returned safely to Bucharest. On September 17, 1947, the National Bank of Poland and representatives of the Bank of Poland signed a receipt with Romania, by which the 51 crates were returned to Poland, without any mutual claim. On the same day, two Polish military planes took the 51 crates to Poland.
@@Que.Miras_Bobo-d2j amazing story
@@Que.Miras_Bobo-d2j nice. So noble act of Romania. It deserves a video!
Of course Antonescu preferred Hitler and the Nazis to Stalin and the communists. But he mainly sided with Germany knowing that Romania couldn't have resisted better than Poland being attacked by the Germans and Hungarians from the West and by the Soviets from the East. Antonescu would have been on the side of Britain, had Britain been geographically closer to Romania than the USSR.
Make sense why Romania AI in HOI4 is so strong
King Michael I of Romania played a huge role in overthrowing Antonescu, throwing the Axis out of Romania and shortening the war by up to 6 months, but was ousted by the Soviets in 1948 due to Churchill and Roosevelt gifting half of Europe to Stalin.
And he died only five years ago.
@@rubobostes1937 Do you honestly think that he did that willingly so that he and his Mum could go into exile for the next 40 years?
Churchill and Roosevelt willingly satisfied Stalin’s appetite with Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Eastern Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Albania and North Korea.
Also, I believe Romania would have never gotten back Northern Transylvania if we fought the soviets to the end. That alongside all the destruction that would have been caused by a war on our territory.
He trusted the Soviets his mistake was on him
@@rubobostes1937 numele tau spune tot;)
@@bogdantoma8472 who said that we should fought to the soviets ? a peace treaty with soviets would have been nice before the coup d'etat the slow thinking little Michael I did . but , as the history have proven , little Michael was not a thinker . at all .
Thank you, that was mostly new and more detailed then I had know about the Romanian - German Alliance.
It's so refreshing to hear about the other powers in WWII. The main powers have been done to death.
Tfw Romania was so dependable that they shortened the war by 6 months.
Its nice to have channels now start to cover non-major players in WW2! Great video!
My great-grandmother’s second husband had a brother who died during Operation Tidal Wave. Rest In Peace, John W. Potts of Sycamore, IL.
First-class summation of this period in history. Your videos are always of a high standard. I look out for them. Thanks.
Well Rumania played an extremely important role, in most regards were better soldiers and more reliable than Italian troops at the eastern front. The oil from Rumania was crucial. However the Rumanians lacked heavy guns and ammunition.
We had ammunition but we needed heavier tanks
@@ionutandanuta7607 small arms ammo was low. Biggest issue was with PAK, only 37mm.
@@jantschierschky3461 Romanians built better antitank guns at 75 mm but came too latter (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/75_mm_Re%C8%99i%C8%9Ba_Model_1943.
They had heavy guns but the enemies had more and heavier!
@@MrQ454 i am aware, biggest issue was at stalingrad, nothing to stop the soviet tanks
@@jantschierschky3461 In Stalingrad things were much worse and mostly because of the Germans! First of all there weren't enough troops to cover both flanks and there weren't even any reserve troops for a long time before the Germans gave in and created something that proved insufficient. Then the supply was in short supply also because of the Germans who had monopolized the transport favoring their troops in the city with ammunition and fuel. So the Romanians had shortages ranging from artillery shells to winter clothing and food for many weeks before the attack began. The result was that the Soviet tanks penetrated the heavily thinned lines, which had virtually no support behind them.
Even if they had had stronger guns they could not have done much as there were not enough men to cover the entire length of the front. It should be noted that the Romanians were aware of the bad situation they were in and repeatedly asked for action, but the Germans refused almost all calls
Marechal Ion Antonescu was NOT a simpatizer of the Iron Guard, if anything he was a pro French sympathizer, which makes sense as Romania fought against Germany during WW1. Antonescu had no choice, going on Axis side on WW2 was motivated by USSR invasion of Basarabia, the NE part of Romania, and the defeat of France, the traditional ally of Romania. At some point he actually destroyed the Iron Guard, whose leaders managed to escape only with the help of the Germans. Antonescu was in a similar position as Mannerheim of Finland, who managed to resist Stalin's invasion only with German help. As they say, between a rock and a hard place... The depiction of Antonescu as a "fierce fascist leader" is totally misleading and unjust.
I wonder why he wasnt incentivized to chossing the allied side after Hitler scooped transilvania and gave it to Hungary. Romania really had no real friends in ww2, other than Poland.
I knew about Romanian oil and soldiers helping the Axis. But the bro-mance it's leader with Hitler was a new one for me. Nice video.
Interesting. Romanian troops given a bad name during the Soviet breakout to surround the Axis forces at Stalingrad. But considered what they were armed with, I suppose not much could have been expected. Like to know why Hungary and Romania hated each other so much that the Germans couldn't put them near each other on the front.
I think the Romanians fought quite well against the Soviet Tank Corps considering how under equipped they were
Just have a look at the map and you will understand why romanians wanted them dead.
Stalin made a huge mistake taking Bessarabia from Romania. Romania became a valuable axis power providing manpower and resources to Germany.
Hindsight is 20/20.
Same thing with Finland. Finland would have happily kept it's head down and remained neutral through the war. By attacking Finland in November 1939, supposedly to keep Finland from posing a threat, but in reality just an excuse to seize territory, Stalin assured that Finland was pushed into working with Germany.
Whats even more interesting about this period and during Interwar was the way an Iron Commissar named Eugen Alimănescu dealt with crime in 1930s Romania...which is something you only see in Untouchables and the Wild West...or sth related to Al Capone and John Dillinger. His cases would make Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes proud.
EDIT: And yes...he even did the Orient Express one 26 years after the book..
Didn't he eventually sell out and became an enforcer for the Communists in the 50's, though?
@@generationclash5004 Yes he did. Although the fact that he interrogated and tortured the resistance members from the mountains was never confirmed. And he did shoot a Russian spy which lead to his downfall/retirement.
@@v.emiltheii-nd.8094 He did in fact torture priests and other religious leaders, though.
@@generationclash5004 That much is true (although my point is that records from the communist period, especially the 1950s, are unfortunately murky in general and the propaganda, discrediting and lies were so thorough that people in Romania nowadays still believe King Michael I ran away with the gold even though that's false. So it is possible they made him look worse than he actually was the moment he became a liability to them).
Although the most suspect is whatever happened to him.
Was he thrown off a train or did he really retired and sold apples?
Whatever the case 1958 is the year he died on his certificate.
It is rumoured that Capone was from Romania
That's pretty awesome history, thanks! A Romanian Colonel was also staying in the 10 man tent I was in at Iraq, lol. 2004 Camp Victory, near Baghdad airport.
Great video as always!
Where did you find footage of the armored train at 1:44? I know of the video "Pociąg Pancerny nr 11 "Danuta" (Armored train no 11)", but I may as well go looking for hen's teeth rather than look for footage of armored trains. Maybe you and Pathe1939 found it in a footage archive, possibly the same archive.
Sorry to be off-topic.
The commentary is objective, documented and quite impartial. However, there are also some "slips". The territorial losses were: Bessarabia, in favor of the U.S.S.R.; Transylvania in favor of Hungary; Quadrilateral, in favor of Bulgaria. These brought a large number of refugees to the Kingdom of Romania and led to the political conclusion that Bessarabia and Transylvania must be recovered only with the help of Germany.
As a German I can't hate on the Romanian bros. They jumped off a sinking ship before it was too late after they felt like the were taken advantage of, just in a nicer way than the Soviets who just took what they wanted. I have more sympathy for them that I have for the Italians who were just a liability and needed constant babysitting because they couldn't even fight Greece alone.
I'm friends with a married Romanian couple who I met through online gaming. When I visited for the second time I got the chance to meet the wife's grand grandmother who told me that the German troops treated them very nicely unlike the Russians. (But what does one expect from the Russians, when they don't even have respect for their own people?)
Rumänien hat in Osten gegen Russland / SU gekämpft um das von Rumänen bewohnte Bassarabien zu befreien, da es 1940 von Russland / SU besetzt wurde. Rumänien hat nach August 1944 auch gegen Ungarn und Deutschland gekämpft um Nord-Transylvanien zu befreien, da es 1940 von Ungarn besetzt wurde (mit Deutschlands Hilfe). Rumänien musste im Osten und Westen kämpfen weil es 1940 Territorien an Russland und Ungarn verloren hatte. Bassarabien und Transylvanien sind beide mehrheitlich von Rumänen bewohnte Regionen.
Well i guess im playing romania in hoi 4 now, i was gonna sleep but this happens to me everytime i watch these videos
I didn't know that. Nice to know
Antonescu met his end bravely, men like him are very rare.
Men like him are almost extinct at this point..
Ceaușescu was another one.
Sucks to get stabbed in the back by a 19years old little shit
Are you white from zimbabwe?
Close but no cigar.
It's more like a one-sided love story, when the one gives it all but none from the other..
I want more videos about the Hungarians and Thais during WWII
I want world peace.
Great video 👍🏻
A great irony is after the war when seeing the so called "secret protocols" of the Molotov Ribbentrop pact we found out Stalin had written permission and Hitler's ok to annex parts of Romania in Bessarabia. I wonder if German diplomats saw this coming.
Wars are a problem for countries close to the combatants. Cooperate or suffer. These guys had no choice with the combined axis powers of Germany and Russia on their borders.. When those split Germany was the better choice at the time. But once it is clear that Germany will lose, all countries will pick the clear winners, being the British empire, when it is clear than they are on the losing side. Practical necessity is the logical choice.
Yeah, I was aware of manpower given the German army, and oil, but wasn't aware of the sizes of those donations. Nor was I aware of the links between German receipts and that Romania was not paid and what that meant to the Romanian financial system. I hope that the US continues its policy of honoring all its debts.
Us and honour in the same sentence? Crazy
@@ferdinand8994 I am brought to near curses Ferdinand considering the places and times. Failed morality and wasted courage may be the story since I was born in 1952 but there are degrees to failure and betrayal and the US in paying its bills as a guiding principle meant it was the best of reserve currencies.
Good video, loads of info that I was not aware of.
Very informative... Greetings from Serbia
Romania, like Italy, tired of Germany and the war when it started rolling over them; both countries switched sides.
Almost every axis country tried to switch sides.Only romania and italy make it ,or if u like the idea,finland too.Even slovakia did it late in war
@@dudugardus343 Finland managed it. Lapland’s War.
Even if Romania changed sides and joined with allies by kicking out General Ion Antonescu from throne with a coup on 23rd August 1944, Romania didn't escaped of troubles. After war on 1945 on Yalta the major powers (US, UK and Russia) decide it to split countries and Winston Churchill decide it to give Romania to Russia. Why? Because even if country (Romania) switched sides and joined with allies later in war it didn't change the matter that it commited war crimes and one of them was supporting Germany with resources, manpower and weapons. After WW2 Romania has been under communism boot almost for half of century (44 years) until 1989 when Romania has executed Ceausescu husbands (Nicolae and Elena) for their crimes against country and it's people.
you have the most epic intro video pls bring back the long version its so epic!!!!!!!!!!
Great respect for the Romanian effort! Even though the forces of evil triumphed their bravery are an inspiration for the future.
Wow man so edgy.
How very edgy, you must be loved by everyone in 6th grade
Whats wrong with wanting your country to win a war to with a behemoth of an empire as big as a continet which forced you to give your land away or else they would attack?
@@TiPeteux what?
Enjoyed your video and so I gave it a Thumbs Up
ruclips.net/user/shortsBmc9NFfhx74?feature=share
We were taught all of this except for the bromance part in American History in Jr. High, World history in Intermediate and High school. But we were taught all kinds of things like this, you have to remember that it was like almost 40 years ago. Great day to you on this Monday morning.
romania made an all in bet on germany for one simple reason, the same reason that so many other countries assisted germany: communism had to be obliterated. barbarossa was the do or die moment in history and was the only chance to remove the USSR
Very informative
Two small corrections. The Iron Guard was not a fascist movement, but a nationalist and anti-communist one. The negative propaganda made by the communists, and now by the neo-Marxists, infects any public presentation about the Iron Guard with untruths. General Ion Antonescu was not pro-Nazi. He was the military attaché of Romania in London. He was pro-allied and admired the state organization of the Anglo-Saxon countries. He collaborated with Hitler as a result of circumstances. The introduction of Romania into slavery, along with Germany, took place as a result of the fact that this was Romania's only chance to recover something from the territories lost in 1940.
Propaganda.. yea, look at their raised fists lol, whats that? Photoshop?
Let me wear swastika and say Im not nazi
I watched a documentary about the raid on the oil fields. And how it hurt Germany when Russia pushed th Germans out and they flipped sides.
Do you have the name of the documentary?
@@tarta2002dragos It was on A&E or Discovery Channel back in the 80s. They did a lot of WW2 stuff back then.
Romanians are considered "Latin" not Slavic.
@@rubobostes1937 My girlfriend from Romania doesn't call herself that.
Which is also why Hitler wanted them as allies and didn’t plan to exterminate them
@@cedricliggins7528 one dumb person doesn't advocate for 25 million people
Interesting, thanks
And also Romania switching sides shortened the war by 6 months!
"more troops in Russia than Italy"...Mussolini insisted on sending soldiers to the Eastern front, against the instincts of Hitler, who did not want Italians in Russia (by this time the lacking martial qualities of the Italian armies had been made manifest).
Romanians and Italian troops guarding Stalingrad's flanks weren't equipped with proper antitank weapons which lead to the city's encirclement and destruction of axis armies.
At 5:40 that is a hungarian Csaba armored car
Hiring Antonescu as PM was a great example of someone foolishly trying to compromise with fascists and getting facerolled. You can't negotiate or work with them, they'll simply take everything you give and then take the rest.
Good
BASED Antonescu
still better than being a conquered country. The choice was cooperate or we will divide you up among your neighbours that are cooperating with us. That was after already taking two great parts of Romania away. A no-brainer, one might say.
Yes, l knew all this. Learnt it all in school.
Funny how such a small amount of oil by todays standards was a huge amount back then
Wait, if Romania switched to the Allies, how did they wind up under Soviet rule after the way. Actually I’d be really interested to know how post-war negotiations lead to the division of Europe
It was on soviet sphere of influence,unfortunately
You do know that the USSR was part of the allies? Churchill knew Stalin wouldn't keep his word about letting the Eastern European countries remain free, Roosevelt thought he could control Stalin. Unfortunately, Churchill was right, and the Eastern European nations(Poland, Romania etc) were swallowed up by the USSR after the war.
even though the effort and strategic importance was greater than in the case of Italy, which was recognized as a co-belligerent, the Soviets did not want to recognize
The reason is two fold location and the fact that they supported the Nazis. The Soviet Union took control of as much as they could without upsetting their western allies.
Czechoslovakia was an Ally before the war even began.
Poland was the country over which the war started to begin with; allegiance wasn't important, the Soviet Empire took all it was allowed to take.
Did you mean "Sevastopol" at 6:03?
Spanish volunteers held off 3 or 4 soviet army attacks at Krasny Bor preventing all of Army Group North from being surrounded and wiped out. It was one of the biggest achievments on the entire eastern front. Hitler had nothing but praise for the Spaniards.
It's also something to note that Romania took it upon themselves to enact the Final Solution during the war. With little to no help from Germany, the Romanian military rounded up and killed hundreds of thousands of Jews and Gypsies by firing squad or concentration camp. The Iron Guard even led an attempted coup because they felt that Antonescu was being too soft on the Jews by having them rounded up and deported instead of executed outright. The Iron Guard then led the attempted coup and pogroms that slaughtered Jews in the street, with the help of everyday civilians that committed heinous atrocities. Antonescu then put down the coup and dissolved the Iron Guard, with many fleeing to Germany and being graciously accepts. This, however, gave Antonescu the go-ahead to continue his deportations, ramp them up to include Gypsies and other minority groups, and through now feeling that he had staunch public support of anti-Jewish policies, began the eradication of Romanian Jews. In many countries where the Germans had influence or had conquered, the Waffen-SS were the ones playing the role of hunting, capturing, and exterminating. Here, the SS had little to no influence and the holocaust was played out by the Romanian government and military itself.
Antonescu is an interesting story. He took over Romania at a time where no one really wanted to. He started out as a facist and then outlawed the Iron Guard and became just an average right wing politician while still retaining his military leadership. He never harmed a Jew inside of Romania, but didn't care for the ones outside of it. He was a staunch anti-Communist. He allied with the guys who could stop his Communist enemies. He was an interesting case, but ultimately on the wrong side.
Yes and no. The romanians had no business in stalingrad. They should had stopped after retaking Basarabia. In the end it was Hitler who aproved the takeaway of transilvania and Basarabia. I mean, it's a matter of self esteem, you don't ally with the bully.
@@WEMBLEYNE agreed. They really shouldn’t have gone that far. But as history later proved, life in Romania was actually better under antonescu than under the soviet puppet regime led by the Romanian communists. So it’s really hard to tell, but it is what it is and history can’t be undone.
@@WEMBLEYNEof course, and the British should have stop after they won the air battle with Germany.....
use your head for something other than keeping the rain from falling into your neck
@@danielandrone8795 if you compare Romania with the British empire at that time I suggest you stop sniffing glue.
@@WEMBLEYNE he he...
if USSR was the main danger to Romania at that time, why it should stop after retaking Basarabia ?
Kind of the same thing....
why British empire had the right to pursue Germany untill was defeated, after the British won the air battle,
and Romania should had stopped after retaking Basarabia?
I think u sniff glue, becose u think double standard is ok....
02:00 the iron guard wasn’t fascist
..."Where a Finnish SS man stood, the enemy was always defeated." "heinrich the dick" himmler
The Balkans seem to have a very messed up history. Amazing stories come from that region.
The oil fields in Ploesti was the main reason Germany postponed their USSR invansion to secure Greece.If they didnt RAF could launch bombing raids from there.
Excellent
Why do I love the way you say Soviet
6:03 just a nitpick but the city is sevastopol
Hold up. Just how do you get from Poland to France via Romania?
Most of them with ships direct to France (Black Sea-Mediterranean Sea). Some of them arrived by sea in Syria (which was controlled by France then) and latter came to France.
Now do one about the Allies.
I want another video about how badass the Yugoslav partisans were.
Big hugs from Romania. Salutari. 😄
Romanian women are the best
@@cedricliggins7528 what about the male population?
Romanian manpower support to Germany in the Soviet Union was like South Korean support of the US in Vietnam
No, Romania provided around 700000 soilders.
Maybe Antonescu should’ve sent the Iron Guards first into battle if they love Hitler so much.
He tried but he failed
There's a thing you should know about the Iron Guard.
They were at odds with Antonescu because they brought violence and pogroms into the streets disrupting public order and wanted power for themselves..
What Antonescu did during the 1940 Legionary Rebellion was a much tamer Night of the Long Knives.
that's exactly what he did, all the them caught in Romania were sent as soldiers in special battalions against soviets. Only those extracted by the Germans (Himmler) would escape.
The Iron guard was never fascist and you say the loved Hitler but who didnt at the time? The german army defeated every single neighbour they had in record time so obviously the ruler of the country was admired by many. And if your pressured by the USSR to give away a fifth of its territory away dont you think they would be willing to ally themselves with anyone in hopes of getting it back?
When the Romanians allied with the Soviets and declared war on Germany, Hungary remained with the axis and Germany sent their best to defend Budspest, a King Tiger Kampfgruppe. According to Richard von Rosen's memoirs, the Hungarians strongly supported Germany in morale, though an attempted coup d'etat did briefly turn some soldiers against the Germans. However, this failed in hours.
honestly, like I knew about their resource dependency on Romania and a bit of troops used in Russia, but 1.2 million men!!! Bro, for the Germans to have around 3 million plus Romania's 1.2mil how'd they lose? I mean I know how, but c'mon. I really think that if senor Hilter had gone for an all out assault on Moscow instead of Stalingrad he would of lopped off soviet high commands head. Reason being is I'm sure Stalin was the same as Hilter, as in he wouldn't leave the capital out of pride even with German forces just 20 kilometers away or so. But I like hearing about non-Major powers, next you should do Bulgaria and Hungary if you haven't already. I'm pretty sure even the minors alone did more for the axis than Italy ever could
Does anyone know the name of that gigantic Aryan in the intro photo? He’s massive.
Vladimir Putin
@@robertm2663 It is such a hilarious joke, so much so that all 8 billion people on earth forgot to laugh
Romanian soldiers are strangely the most passive one. They knew Germany was going to use them as cannon fodders, but they did nothing to prevent that fate. Sad.
Well, I live in Timişoara, was had its railway station bombed, the general was executed by firing squad, along with his cronies. The King was ejected by the Communists in 1948, there was an attempt at a revolution in 1956, and a successful one in 1989, both in Timişoara. 🇷🇴
Great video and as a Hungarian my respect grown for Romanians! Even if they were a minor axis power, their army was cool.
Love the video as always! As much as I do find videos about the Western Front fascinating, there are a group of men in the Pacific who have been severely overlooked. The men in particular are the U.S Navy's Corpsman aka "Doc" and the Navy's Construction Battalion, aka the "Seabees".
The Corpsmen were always targeted by the Japanese, leaving many to perish who sought to answer the call to their Marines and in such, most recipients of the Medal of Honor were received by Navy Corpsmen.
The Navy Seabees, most of my family including my Daddy himself who was apart of Mobile Naval Construction Battalion 5 during his 2 tours in Afghanistan, are known for their ability to build on the frontlines even before Marines arrive, defend their construction vigorously, their ability to steal/"tactically acquire", and throughout their existence to this day they have never lost an inch of ground. During one encounter when the Seabees were constructing an airfield, the Japanese ambushed the Seabees. In result, the Seabees embarked upon their bulldozer known as "Natasha" with 1903 Springfields and managed to cause the Japanese to panic out of fear and casualties. Their emblem was even created by Disney and their actions inspired the film "The Fighting Seabees". To this day, their motto is "Can Do!"
Don't forget the most notorious of them all. Sam "Candyman" Hyde, Hitlers top guy
I love so much your content man keep it up ,could you upload some about the burma and indochina campaign?
Didn't Antonescu legit shouted at Hitler and told him that he had nothing else to throw in the grinder and that his people were exhausted?
My father was in the 15th Air Force flying out of Italy. The 15th were the planes that bombed the Ploiesti fields and refineries among many other targets in 1944. There were dozens of raids on the oil fields which did eventually reduce the flow of oil to Germany to a trickle.
I knew but not that its support was so great. Many Spanish men also fought for Germany in Russia. When I taught English in Valencia in 67 to spread democratic ideas in the schools my Italian Professor friend refused to teach men wearing the Blue Cross they had from their time in Russia.
Red Partisano Bella stau😂
Slovakia will never gets it's awknoledgement
Kingdom of Romania is like Fascist Italy but more competent
Any Axis ally is more competent than Italy.
The Kingdom existed since 1881, long before “fascism” existed
You forgot to mention that we in fact took all the Polish weapons and armor for ourselves as well as most of the gold. We didnt allow them to pass out of the godness of our spirit, we werent stupid.
Polish weapons, yes, were stopped in Romania....about the Polish treasury, you are talking nonsense. Apart from a few tons of gold, 3-4 tons, kept in Romania and returned almost immediately after the war, everything was evacuated through Constanța harbour
family guy - "Why are you trying to make Hitler work?"