Week 295 - 300,000 Germans Surrender in the Ruhr - WW2 - April 20, 1945
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- The Soviet drive on Berlin continues, but it is now very much a race between the forces of Georgy Zhukov and those of Ivan Konev. In the west, over 300,000 Germans surrender to the Allies as the Ruhr Pocket is eliminated, though there are advances by all Allied armies this week on the whole Western Front. There is even an Allied breakthrough in Italy, though on Okinawa American attacks get nowhere. The Japanese are advancing in China, and in Burma the Allied drive for Rangoon continues.
Join us on Patreon: / timeghosthistory
Or join the TimeGhost Army directly at: timeghost.tv/s...
Check out our TimeGhost History RUclips channel: / timeghost
Between 2 Wars: • Between 2 Wars
Follow WW2 Day by Day on Instagram: @ww2_day_by_day
Follow TimeGhost History on Instagram: @timeghosthistory
Like us on Facebook: / timeghosthistory
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: Jake McCluskey
Written by: Indy Neidell
Research by: Indy Neidell & James Newman
Map animations by: Daniel Weiss
Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Editing and colour grading by: Simon J. James
Artwork by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Simon J. James & Marek Kamiński
Colorizations by: Mikołaj Uchman
Source literature list: bit.ly/SourcesWW2
Archive footage: Screenocean/Reuters - www.screenocea...
Image sources:
Source - Image Name/Number
Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
Annihilation - Jo Wandrini
Breathe it in Deep - Hampus Naeselius
Hope and a Future - Edgar Hopp
Phoenix Rising - Edgar Hopp
The Dominion - Bonnie Grace
Truce No More
Additional sound effects provided by Zapsplat.com
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
This week's episode is dedicated to Leonard Tabaracci, a member of the United States Army by TimeGhost Army Brigadier member Josh Hammel, his grandson. We thank Josh for sharing his Grandfather's story with us and we are happy we could do this for him.
If you'd like to dedicate an episode to someone, you can do so by joining the TimeGhost army at the brigadier tier for 12 months or doing a one-time pledge.
My father was colorblind too, but as long as you had two eyes, you were qualified for the Army infantry.
"He loved his country and served it with honor." No better epitaph.
Quick request for Indy please do an in depth piece on Matthew Ridgeway imo an underrated American commander who proved his worth time and again, especially in Korea.
MODL did the Pontius Pilat thing I see ! Luegger instead of the noose !........PLEASE DO THE "AFTERMATH OF THE JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT". "GO FOR BROKE" !
Thank you for your diligent effort team. Good natured people, forgive those who aren't in the place to thank you appropriately.
This is it guys. We're at the start of the movie Downfall.
And also not far from the start of the movie Fury either
Steiner better start cooking, I got a feeling he might get a call from Fuhrer himself soon
@@snopallchannel241plot twist: steiner never existed
Mit dem Angriff Steiners wird das alles in Ordnung kommen.
Maybe Steiner really represented the friends we made on the way…
A rather peculiar sidenote this week is that German submarine U-1206, built in 1944 at Schichau Yard in Danzig, will be lost in the North Sea just off the coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland in the United Kingdom following a rather bizarre accident.
At 70 feet below the surface, Kapitänleutnant Karl-Adolf Schlitt had decided to use the toilet without consulting a rating trained in its complicated operation. Something went wrong, and when the specialist arrived, he misunderstood the situation and opened the wrong valve, which resulted in large quantities of seawater entering the boat. The water reached the batteries directly under the toilet and caused production of chlorine gas.
As a consequence, the U-1206 was forced to surface immediately. However, when the submarine surfaced, she was discovered and bombed by British patrols. Schlitt ordered the crew to destroy secret equipment and papers, scuttle the submarine and abandon ship. Three men drowned in the heavy seas and 46 were taken prison by the British. The name "shitwreck" was coined shortly after the news reached the British.
Oh man, what a story. Got me rolling, thank you for a good laugh!
Ironic the name Schlitt rhymes with well you know the rude word for poop :p
@@alexamerling79 Schlitt's ship well and truly in the ...
I remember learning about that from Simple History.
I remember it as an episode from The History Guy.
My father was engaged in the Ruhr pocket with the 7th Armored. One day he was on outpost duty and a German officer approached under a white flag and asked if he could surrender his unit. Dad was quite happy to do so; he told the officer to have his men put their weapons in a pile in one place and then stand over in another spot a few yards away. The Germans started coming out and doing as he had instructed . . . and coming . . . and coming . . . and coming, and Dad began to worry a bit that if they changed their minds, he had eight rounds in his M1 rifle and there were a lot more than eight of them! However, the Germans were happy that the war was over for them and gave Dad no trouble. I still have that German officer's binoculars, which he gave Dad.
I love reading stories like this. Those binocs are history now.
@Turnipstalk The Czech's attitude points to the more ruthless view of the Germans held in central/eastern Europe, perhaps fed by the experience of German occupation (the French could also be ruthless to captured Germans, no doubt for the same reason).
Reminds me of Sargeant York in WWI
My dad was in the US army of occupation in Tokyo many weeks after the end of the War. He was delivering papers to another unit and was taking the subway. When the train came to the station hundreds of Japanese soldiers exited and walked past him in uniform. Everyone was unarmed, including my dad. Being by himself my dad was thankful the War was over!
"which he gave Dad". Yes, this behaviour is wildly known from sundering soldiers, looking for someone to "give" something valuable. ;)
Oh wow we are almost to the day that Hitler finds out he was banned from x box live!
Kek
NIEN NIEN NIEN!
They removed Juggernaut.
Juggernaut!!!
If Sony once again brings our great community into a console war it will be the end of playstation in Europe!
Fr
Today, April 20 1945, Adolf Hitler emerged from his bunker, saw his shadow, and retreated to his subterranean lair.
April 20 is Hitler's birthday.
@munteza9262I love cake 😋
I was thinking the same thing.
Especially*
Unlike the groundhog, seeing his shadow did not mean another 40 days of war.
We all know what we want after the WWII series come to end:
The 100 years war - week by week!
At first the 30 years war, then the time French Revolution+Napoleonic wars 1789-1815...then after the 100 years war. Step by Step
...Presumably skipping over the parts where absolutely nothing happened?
@@randomguy-tg7ok Skip a bit, brother Maynard...
And the truth is, it was 116 years☠️
Jokes aside, a miniseries about the revolutions/wars of 1848/49 would be really cool, and easily doable. That or the Russian Civil War and related conflicts in the former Empire (such as the Baltic wars of independence and the Finnish Civil War). They are both ideal for this format, with stuff happening (or to talk about) every week.
Walter Model's confession should be a lesson to all officers in all armies who refuse to take responsibility by hiding behind orders.
Well, he also refused to take responsibility by killing himself.
Unlike Manstein, Model knew he couldn't blameshift his crimes to others and took the easy way out
That was the most interesting part of the episode for me. I was aware of the outcome of the Ruhr pocket & that a despairing Model followed the surrenders with suicide, but not that he'd condemned the regime he'd served so faithfully - even to the extent of committing genocide on its behalf - as criminals and swine.
He put a bullet in his brain so he wouldn't have to face judgement for his actions. I really don't think that counts as 'taking responsibility'.
I wonder whether he would have been deported to the USSR if captured. By shooting himself he saved the Americans from a possibly controversial decision in his case. In some ways his suicide resembled that of Russian General Samsonov, surrounded by German troops in East Prussia in 1914. He walked away from his staff and shot himself in a forest.
Actually hurts to know a series that has been with me for almost 6 years is coming to its end. I hope the show will continue through the various wars fought in the Cold War. At some point in the far future such a series should be made for the Ukraine war as well. Your ability to inform millions is so important so thank you to the whole team for everything you’ve done. You’ve truly changed lives.
There is still a couple more months.
WW2 doesn’t officially end until September.
@@graceneilitz7661I know but the war started in Europe and we are now at the end of the European theatre. Just feels surreal having watching since week 1 and watching the fall of Danzig and Warsaw to seeing the fall of Berlin and Cologne
Korean war starts june 25th
@@neweraamerica7363
This channel showed the starting point in Europe, but I would argue that a better starting point is 1937 - the Japanese invasion of China.
But, yeah it does feel strange that a show I started watching while in middle school is close to over.
There is so much materiel studied that im(and surely a lot of others) bound to rewatch the series.
Steiner! Where's Steiner?!
We'll get a special episode for April 22nd guaranteed
Mein Failure! Steiner.....
At Steiner's Pub, in Las Vegas.
getting the iron sky strategy ready
Despite the popularity of that meme, I still think the of the pro wrestling Steiners and the Steiners from Battletech before I think of Steiner of the Wehrmacht.
One thing I found in common amongst veterans who saw what war actually is is that they don't want to talk or brag about it. My grandfather was the same. He only spoke once about his time in the Hungarian Army and it was to express how much he hated Nazism and the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party.
While I understand the reticence, I think history can suffer. People age and die without telling their stories.
It is normal for people to want to forget the bad things they have been through, and also being unable to talk about them with people unable to relate to their experiences, like their family. Nowadays veterans could find each other and talk online with each other about their experiences, but back then it was much harder to keep in touch, find each other and talk. Reunions were mostly the times they saw each other again, and even then the talk usually was about the good things, not sharing and letting go of the bad things. We should be thankful that in their old age many of them finally started to open up to interviewers and giving us an insight as to what happened and how it was for them. Even then, we've lost so much living history due to vets taking their traumas and stories with them into the grave.
My Grandfather was the same way. He would never talk about his wartime experiences for most of his life. All we knew was what ship he was on, and the three things he hated most in order were Tirpitz, The Japanese Empire, and the Nazis.
Then, when I was about eight, he would sit me down every night and just tell me stories. How he used to make money in baseball. The day he entered Tokyo Bay. The Kamikaze attacks. Shore bombardments. Pretty much anything he could think of.
He died the next year. I think he somehow knew and wanted to get it out before hand.
@@Plaprad Considering he 'intensely disliked' the Tirpitz, the Japanese empire and the Nazi's am I that wrong to conclude your grandfather served with the Royal Navy on the Arctic convoys, or protecting them, and then with the British Pacific Fleet off Okinawa and Japan?
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Very close. He was US Navy. He spent the war on the USS Alabama. So his first operation was with the Home Fleet sailing up and down the Norwegian coast day after day trying to lure Tirpitz out for a fight.
He said he had to be up by 0400 every morning for a quick breakfast, and then out on deck breaking up ice and getting it off the ship so she'd be ready to fight at sunrise.
Because of that, we never used the "T" word around him.
Admiral King: "Hey Curtis, just ask the marines what happens when the navy abandons them on an island!"
LeMay really was a detestable creature. He's so laser focused on roasting Japanese infants in their cribs that he's lost sight of the fact that his planes would be of more immediate military utility eliminating the kamikaze threat.
King may have been a legendary curmudgeon with a volcanic temper, but he's in the right here.
Isn't Okinawa mostly an army operation? The marines were recuperating after their bloody Iwo Jima campaign.
@@senpainoticeme9675 I was referring to the marines on Guadalcanal.
@@senpainoticeme9675 No, much like Saipan both the U.S. Army & U.S. Marines are involved, though the latter are under army command. The 1st Marine & 6th Marine divisions are also involved in the battle of Okinawa, with both currently reducing that pocket in the north.
Spoiler alert, but the 27th Infantry Division will take severe casualties in the battles for the ridges in the south and will be replaced by the 1st & 6th Marine Divisions along the Shuri line. The former will after heavy fighting go on to capture Shuri castle and Naha, Okinawa's capital, and the 6th Marine division will be involved in the capture of Sugarloaf Hill, in some of the bitterest fighting of the campaign. Both divisions will also sustain heavy casualties, with the 6th Marine Division losing 576 men in the bloodiest day of fighting on Sugarloaf, to give an idea of the ferocity of that battle.
Eugene Sledge, the author of With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa (part of the basis for the HBO tv series The Pacific) was with K company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment of the 1st Marine Division on Okinawa. During the battle his company sustained 80% casualties.
@@senpainoticeme9675
The 1st and 6th Marines were on Okinawa
My ROTC instructor in high school, MSGT Carl Dixon, was serving as a platoon sergeant on Ie Shima with the 77th Infantry Division when Ernie Pyle drove by in a jeep. He, along with the other men, waived and called to him and Ernie waived back. A few minutes later word came down the line that Ernie had just been killed by Japanese machine gun fire. He told our class this story nearly three decades after it happened, but you could still see how the memory of the incident affected him. Such was the effect Ernie Pyle had on the American fighting man. He was loved by all.
The troops erected a crude memorial to him following the incident that read, "Near this spot the 77th Infantry Division lost a buddy. Ernie Pyle 18 April 1945."
Pyle's remains were moved to the US military cemetery at the Punchbowl, Oahu.
@@elcastorgrande I was fortunate to visit his grave in the late 1990s. I was stationed in Hawaii as a member of a US Marine artillery battalion, and for memoral & veteran's day the Marines & Army artillery units would alternate performing artillery salutes in rememberance ceremonies at Punchbowl.
On one occasion I was posted overnight as a corporal of the guard in the cemetery, as we'd set up the guns & powder the night before. In the morning there were some tourists that arrived very early, and one elderly gentleman came over to chat. As it turned out he was a German veteran of the Second World War, one of the 16 year olds called up near the end, and he was involved in the fighting against the Soviets though I do not recall where. In any event the experience had made him a lifelong pacifist, and it was an interesting conversation.
Punchbowl is stunningly beautiful and has an amazing view of Honolulu. Even aside from remembering the dead, or it's potential interest for history geeks, it's well worth a visit.
The collection of Pyle’s dispatches, Up Front, is still available, 50th edition I believe.
Highly recommended, I read my mom’s copy from the 1940s.
The eastern and western front are so close can't wait for the allies to meet and peace and understanding last for the next 1000 years... why do I feel it's getting kinda cold.
At least there was no another World War... yet.
Bourbon and vodka exchanged ….🥴
Must be the hundreads of thousands of germans and their guns in between the forces. They form a type of a... steel veil.
One additional note from a Ruhr native. "300.000 Germans" only refers to the soldiers. While it is difficult to estimate how many civilians were left after many women and children were evacuated due to the air raids, I would guess we are talking about around two million people, maybe more.
My grandmother and her three children, one of them my father, had been evacuated to Bavaria the year before, and they would not return well after war's end.
For the Kingdom of Satan this was a defeat even more ruinous than the defeat at Stalingrad. The Reich depended upon the industral production of the Ruhr. Yes, it would revive and it would again be German -- but under very different management.
The Reich was effectiely dead when it simultaneously lost the coal fields for which it depended upon for energy and for iron production.
I don't envy the logisticians that had to move mountains to feed all these people in addition to all the troops that reduced the pocket. Talk about a monumental task, and one that often gets taken for granted despite the great importance and severe consequences if not handled adequately..
In the film of surrender in the Ruhr, some German women in civilian clothes can be seen among the uniformed crowds. Civilian employees of the German armed forces, typists and so on, sometimes were taken prisoner too.
@@ahorsewithnoname773 The Rhine meadow camps, where many of the Germans will end up, will prove to be controversial.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Certainly, though the difficulties were due to there being far many more prisoners to deal with than anticipated (made worse by many German formations fleeing west to escape the Soviets as the war ended) and Allied logistics being strained, rather than through intentional mistreatment.
Also there are some greatly exaggerated claims of PoW deaths by bad actors (namely James Bacque, who alleges the U.S. committed genocide based on very poor research).
8:43 Significant event seeing the Stars and Stripes, Union Jack, and Hammer and Sickle flagged divisions on the same zoomed in map.
They’re going to meet very soon
if that map sounds familiar it'0s because it's the one Hitler is watching at the beginning of his rant.
At least Kaiser was responsible enough to abdicate and avoid something like this at the end of WWI.
While Hitler might've not felt much affinity to Wilhelm, he did for Bismarck and was quite a Frederick the great fan.
Thing is, for whatever their faults, Frederick and Bismarck weren't genocidal maniacs nor bloodthirsty war fetishists.
About that Freidreich the Great fanboy part, Hitler believed that a similar miracle to the Miracle at the House of Brandenburg which saved the defeated Prussian monarch during the Seven Years War was due for himself in the end. When Roosevelt, an American president who was hostile towards him from the start of the war, died, and Truman took charge, Hitler has been reported to have exclaimed "Elizabetha (Russian Empress who died in 7 years war) has finally died!" believing that his "miracle" had finally been realized as Truman was way more hawkish towards the Soviets than his predecessor ever was.
There's a brief scene in the movie Downfall where Hitler gazes upon the portrait of Fredreich the Great with a blank and lifeless stare. Still waiting for the miracle to save him and bring about the 11th hour victory, the Endsieg.
@@paulhan1615 Frederick was a tactical and strategic genius, he didn't need a miracle, he would just outmaneuver you.
@@samsmith2635A miracle saved his reign when the Russian tsaritsa died, she was replaced by Peter the III who was a huge fan of his.
@@mrluk-ci4osYep that's true. Prussia was super lucky near the end of that war
Crazy to still see the Battle of the Bulge on the map behind you, that feels like a decade away
Can we have the phone jokes even in memorialized episodes too? I miss them so much
The best of all ever ever ever is next week. But we can't combine them with memorialized episodes. Sorry.
@@Southsideindy How about a supercut of just the phone jokes!
I guess the dedications bring in the money.
You guess well.
WE WANT PHONES! WE WANT PHONES! WE WANT PHONES!
One of Ernest King's daughters said that he was the most even-tempered man in the entire navy, because he was always in a rage
This was excelent guys, ive been with you since the first half of 1915. Its been quite the ride.
What a ride indeed; thank you for your continued support and kind words.
-TimeGhost Ambassador
I wasn’t expecting to laugh watching this as it’s quite a grim and somber topic, but when Indy got to Hitler on his birthday in surrounded Berlin and asked ‘so what’s the birthday boy doing?’, I lost it.
A Berliner joke from just before the Soviet attack:
“How long will it take the Soviets to take Berlin? Two hours and five minutes. Two hours to laugh at our defenses and five minutes to break through them.”
Night Witches mentioned, nice :)
I wasn't aware that they were involved in supporting the final push on Berlin itself. Fitting. Also, they've got to be somewhere in the top 5 of military units with the best nicknames.
Had Hitler watched guides on division templates, supply system and production, this MP game would've beed way different.
So many wasted tech slots spent on rocketry... what a noob.
My Fuhrer... the internet connection was blown up... the guides won't load..
@@konstantinriumin2657CONNECTING TO THE WI-FI WAS AN ORDER!!!!
He watched the guides but he was playing the black ice mod
Lmao
Thank you Indy for this series, I finally saw my hometown near Groningen get liberated! As well as Zwolle being liberated by a single Canadian mad man called Leo Major who scouted the city got into a firefight after which the Germans left and Major signalled in that the planned artilelry barrage wasn't needed saving lives and the beautifull city of Zwolle. 🇳🇱🇨🇦
my father was from england and told me a story about one of his teacher who comitted suicide due to what he saw in bergen belsen poor guy
Such a damn good series, I can't believe we're already at this point. I've been binging all of the episodes and this is a priceless works in terms of both documenting history, educating and entertaining.
The crushing fall of the Reich is here.
Thanks for watching, see you at Korea: www.youtube.com/@KoreanWarbyIndyNeidell
Watching the 28 minutes live made them suddenly pass faster than it should be.
But the episode was as great as always.
Thanks for joining the premiere!
The whole pacific campain could be described with the sentence "Resistance is more stubborn than anticipated."
"No other General was as hated by his men as Model."
I Think Ferdinand Schörner took that Position pretty easily.
I hope you make a WAH episode about the suffering of the civilian population on Okinawa.
More Japanese civilians died during the Battle of Okinawa than in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial lists almost 150,000 Okinawans who died during the battle, which includes some 40,000 civilians, including school boys, who were drafted or impressed into the Japanese Imperial Army and sent into battle with little or no training.
@@DavidKutzler One can only imagine how that would have played out in an invasion of Japan itself. Millions, possibly tens of millions dead. It's no wonder the Allied commanders were looking for ANY way to end the war without having to conduct such an invasion. Fortunately for Japan, as well as the Allies, such a means was in the final stages of development at an obscure and secret facility in the desert in the southwestern US.
@@brucetucker4847That said, what about the special bombs (as the Japanese initally called them) was any different from the months long firebombing campaign? As we saw in this very episode, it was such a major focus for LeMay that he even straight up ignored the pleas of the Navy to defend them from Kamikazes.
@@extrahistory8956 I think part of it was the psychological shock - that one plane and one bomb could cause so much death and destruction. It plainly marked a new era in warfare. And they had no idea how many more there might be.
‘What were you thinking?! You have horses!!’
"say hello to ford. and general fucking motors"
A bit one-sided. The Red Army still had quite a lot of cavalry and horse-drawn wagons hauled much of their supplies.
SPOILER
Significant numbers of cavalry will be used when it attacks the Japanese in Manchuria.
"Drag our asses half way around the world...interrupting our lives FOR WHAT?!! You ignorant servile scum! WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE DOING HERE?!! HUH??!!"
@@stevekaczynski3793 They had enough trucks to fill out the rest (both domestic and lend lease). Hell they were able to combine cavalry and mechanized units to even out each others drawbacks in the field
@@davidw.2791 I dont think in germany since its such as rich country with a massive auto industry of its own but you do see american ww2 vehichles in the strangest of places. some parts of SE asia sometimes have some small taxis or minibusses which despite having different wheels, paintjobs, new roofes, etc. are still built upon a ww2 car.
Two and a half years later
Berlin April 20 1945 Adolph Hitler's 56 birthday....
And what a Birthday Party it was!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
My Grandad, as a Royal Army Service Corps Captain attached to an infantry battalion in the 51st Highland Division was detached to help clear out Bergan Belsen. He never spoke to me about it.
I can understand why. Seeing the images and footage is already bad enough. Being there in person was probably a million times worse. And unless you were there as well it was probably hard for him to share this with. And also, maybe he wanted to spare you this, knowing that what he had seen was a million times worse then what you got to see.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Absolutely.
Princess Elizabeth will celebrate her 19th birthday tomorrow.
Hitler : Oh, you guys remembered my birthday? how sweet of you! 🥰
The Soviets : We didn't forget your birthday either 🙂 *Sends artillery shells with birthday ribbons strapped to them*
«С Днем рожденья тебя!»
*pop, pop, pop*
«С Днем рожденья тебя!»
*pop, pop, pop*
«С Днем Рождения, дорогой Адольф!»
* whistling*
«С Днем рожденья тебя!»
*explosion*
A certain CoD game would love Seelow heights
“Dmitri, you cheat death once again my friend.”
@@MaxwellAerialPhotography best line of the whole game. Besides the other one in the pacific 😂
Downfall happened after Seelow Heights
I find it interesting how ww1 and ww2 contrast. Ww1 is a constant attrition and deadlock, with the war seemingly going either way until an eventual allied breakthrough in 1918, whereas ww2 is an axis domination in 39-40, and then a tip of the scales 41-43, and the eventual downfall in 44-45.
And a mighty downfall at that.
April 20, 1945
*Traudle:* "Das ist ja Artillerie!"
Hello Sir Hanush
Koller: Nein, it was just nothing
When you showed that clip of the women at the concentration camp in 14:05, just seeing how she started sobbing when she grabbed the soldier's hand made me want to sob as well. Its a small comfort that now that the suffering of some people will be over soon.
And always will as long as humans exist there will always be war and conflict when there's resources to be had that's just how the world works no such thing as World Peace that's just a hashtag
Stalin all through the war: "The Western Allies must do more to more again Germany!"
Stalin once the Western Allies liberate France & Belgium and plough through most of Germany: "no no not like that!"
Stalin’s issue was that they were surrendering en masse while fighting the Soviets. All this while the West had delayed an invasion for a year from the promised timeframe. To stalin it looked like the West and Germany were colluding
Yeah he begged for years for allies to land but when they do he truest to race and capture as much territory like why u asked them to land in Europe if you want the territory
@@jamessicker they waited til the soviets had defeated them. By the time US landed in 1944, the Soviets had won the war
@@Mfields4517Not exactly? They had already captured a great deal of Axis troops in North Africa, knocked Italy out as a military power that same year, landed troops in Europe in September 1943, and had done so while placing Japan on the defensive as they slowly grinded out Japan's outer oght of defense
My father-in-law was in that battle. His infantry regiment was reassigned to the 82nd Abn Division and then reassigned to the 101st Abn. Division as extra infantry. My father-in-law was a pioneer and always on the front. Later, his division was fighting the Japanese in the Philippines.
Two points from me on this episode. First, my paternal grandfather will turn 56 three days before Hitler on April 17th 1945, he was a veteran of both world wars, though stateside during the second and never having completed the sixth grade, during his interwar service in the North Carolina National Guard, he was commissioned an officer and retired a major and later promoted to honorary Lieutenant Colonel after the war and dying just short of the age of 101 in February 1990.
The second, being the advantage of having moved recently moved to Charleston, South Carolina, last Tuesday on the 16th I got the opportunity after work to visit the U.S.S. Laffey on the anniversary of her refusing to die to one of, if not the worst kamikaze attacks during the war. "The ship that wouldn't die" was attacked by 22 kamikaze, suffering four bomb hits, six kamikaze strikes (and clipped by one Marine Corsair that was chasing a Japanese plane and hit the Laffey's radar mast) and is now at Patriots Point as a museum shop.
Absolutely adore these personal dedications, they simply offer an entirely different perspective on the story as it unfolds - and I'm so glad that you guys put such effort into the presentation of these things too. Thank you.
"You see how things have changed my friend. Now it is their land, their people, their blood."
The remarkable thing is, despite being well and truly wrecked that day, the Laffey survived.
In fact she is still around today, as a museum ship in Charleston.
This series, along with The Great War series are one of the coolest things to ever be done on RUclips
Future US Senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole suffered his crippling wound from a mortar shell on the 14th, the first day of the attack towards Bologna. He served with the US 10th Mountain Division.
Tremendous effort. Its felt like Overlord happened only yesterday, and Uranus the day before that. Heck, I remember the Winter War coverage being fresh and new.
WOW! this has been a real good series, you can never top it, but you can cover the rest of the 20th century, and I hope you do
Indy will be covering the Korean War starting this June: www.youtube.com/@KoreanWarbyIndyNeidell
The mini maps you use are really excellent for getting the geography right. Thank you!
The one thing I like most about this series is the comment section, where so many people post interesting addendums and have debates. Posting in those debates gives me the most responses and arguments in the week. I salute each and everyone of you for doing so and making it interesting, history nerds among each other. Even if some of you call me an idiot. It doesn't bother me. Passionate debate sometimes calls for passionate responses. Too bad it will soon come to an end. We will get the Korean war soon, it remains to be seen if it will be as interesting as this one.
I enjoyed the memorial very much. Outstanding job Indy !
Well done again TimeGhost Team, well done
Thank you for the comment.
Wow, wow. Patton has reached Czechoslovakia. The French have taken Stuttgart; such a thing hasn't happened since Napoleon; absolutely amazing. Its not like 1918; the German Government isn't asking for an Armistice it seems.
Ironically the armistice in 1918 gave the Germans a false sense of belief that they were not militarily defeated.
This gave rise to the stab in the back propaganda heavily used both by the Weimar Republic as well as the Nazis.
This time around the allies are making sure for the Germans to not have any doubts they were defeated.
The nazis rose to power on the back of 'the stab in the back' myth from the WWI armistice. They would never ask for a truce.
For the same reason the allies were not realy offering an armistice: nothing but a complete capitulation from Germany was acceptable.
its insane how many divisions are on the soviets front vs the germans
It is a bit misleading however as even at full strength Soviet divisions were much smaller than German ones. That said at this stage in the war the Red Army does have a very large manpower advantage across the front. In earlier battles like Moscow however where that was not the case (there was a rough parity there) you'd still see a lot more Soviet units on the map.
@@ahorsewithnoname773 yeah i'm aware, but the german divisions are probably so depleted I wouldn't be surprised if they were at parity at this stage of the war.
@@Inhumane I believe the Soviets outnumbered the Germans 3 to1 but on the most important areas around Berlin the Soviets were able to concentrate their troops so the Soviet strength was much higher.
@@caryblack5985 yup i liked TIK’s video on this if you haven’t try giving it a watch. I think it was like the myth of soviet’s numerical superiority
@@Inhumane This is 1945 and the Germans are definitely outnumbered at this time period.
Flawless exposition of one of the most crucial periods in human history. As trustworthy as it gets. Thanks.
This week in French news.
The 14th, beginning of the liberation of the Pocket of Royan.
The 15th, first massive use of Napalm in France in the Verdon Pocket (1100t of napalm in one day). The Royan pocket is reduced until the 18th to just the city itself and the Point of Coubre. The 18th Admiral Hans Michahelles surrenders his forces of Royan but some troops continue to fight until the 20th in the point of Grave, where the defenders have almost all diphtheria.
The 19th, the Committee in Sigmaringen disperses.
The 20th, Pétain is warned by the Gestapo that he will be taken to Wangen and then Switzerland. He protests wanting to be taken to the French Army nearby, but the 21st he is sent to Switzerland with Debeney and Bléhaut. He arrives the 24th, day of his anniversary. The group is then sent to Weesen before Pétain is sent to France. He is made prisoner the 26th in Vallorbe by General Koenig.
In order to understand the situation of the opinion, the IFOP asked the question “Should Pétain be inflicted a sentence. 58 % said no, 22% because of dementia, 18 % out of respect for his age and the men, only 5% said due to his act in 1940 and during the Occupation.
The evolution is fast due to all his implication in Vichy is demonstrated: in April 1946, 28% are for a death sentence, 22% are for nothing. In July, 76 % are for a sentence and 37 % for death. When Pétain arrived in front of French troops sent to protect his transfer, he saluted them but none responded and when he tried to handshake Koenig, this one only saluted him, Koenig was condemned to death by Vichy in 1941. He is then sent to the Fort of Montrouge in Paris until his trial.
@Turnipstalk No matter why he turned a traitor, he was still a traitor. No mercy for traitors. He should have done France a service and done what Model had done, sparing France the division and debate of what to do with him. The fact that he thought that he could go back to France as a general and leader of France shows how delusional he was.
@Turnipstalk A: toxic masculinity is cultural marxist speech, comrade, and B: when you cooperate with the enemy that invaded your country and got a lot of your countrymen DELETED, THAT is being a traitor. Quisling was executed in Norway, Mussert was executed in the Netherlands, Mussolini was DELETED by partisans, Vlasov was executed by the Soviets. Traitors, when captured, tend to get executed, and not forgiven because muh toxic masculinity.
Napalm in France??? Wow
@Turnipstalk Pétain is a traitor to the Republic and for all the crimes he endorsed. It is a little bit difficult to protect him.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Since when has Marx or Marxism in general have anything do with toxic masculity?
Just a thought - memorial dedicated episodes should be a separated thing later on, something like a mini series. I think a lot of people would enjoy those
I was shocked to hear LeMay was against bombing someone, then you said it's only because he wanted to bomb a whole other bunch, these civilians, then it made sense.
Contrary to the perception Hollywood has built up around the man, LeMay wasn't bloodthirsty or warmonger. I've never heard of any accounts or remarks that indicated he genuinely liked killing all the people his orders resulted in. He was, however, completely ruthless and diamond-focused on achieving any military objective put before him by the most efficient means possible. I am not an expert on the subject, but if I had to guess, as a bomber general, he thought the firebombing campaign was the most efficient way to bring Japan to its knees, and end the war more quickly. From that perspective, diverting his sorties to blow up some kamikaze planes here and there was a waste of resources and damn what the Navy thought.
The difference between Harris and LeMay and Harris was that Harris would happily bomb civilians even if that wasn't helping win the war while LeMay would happily bomb them if it that helped win the war.
@@MM22966 LeMay flat out said that had they lost the war, he would've been tried as a war criminal (frankly, anyone who designates civilians as 'legitimate military targets' is a war criminal in my book and LeMay was far from the only one....).
@@901Sherman I know the quote, but you could say that about most WW2 leaders by applying modern ideas of 'war crimes' to their actions. It is all the more ironic because the modern sanitized form of war as practiced by Western countries was a direct result & creation of LeMay's generation in response to the horrors of WW2.
I also feel there are technical reasons between now and then that are not taken into account. Then, you had huge numbers of factories producing gigatons of war-material. The people around them, the people the worked in them, the cities where they were located, these didn't provide a clean way to remove the war-making potential by hitting just one thing that would not cause civilian loss of life. It was total war, and the civilians were part of it, too. (That was the reasoning, anyway)
The second part was there was there were no smart bombs. Nowadays, we can surgically remove a building without destroying anything else around it. We even have the luxury of warning our enemies to abandon such targets before hitting them, our technical superiority is so massive and precise. LeMay and other air commanders did not have that luxury to win a war, so they went with what they did have: massive, overwhelming saturation attacks that keyed in on structural weak points of the enemy (in this case, the flammability of Japanese cities.
The Japanese started it, and all they had to do to stop it was give up. It was LeMay's job (among others) to do the dirty things to make that happen. Calling it a war crime is a luxury of those that benefited from it.
Or put another way, how would YOU have justly ended the war with the tools available then, without using LeMay's methods?
An excellent video, the UK did a series "All our Yesterdays" (I think) in the 60s and 70s, covering the war on a weekly basis. The format of covering a week a time gives a timeline which is illuminating as it covers multiple fronts in the same period.
I have been following this series for a long time now, and I've told my friends not to give it away how it ends because I don't want to ruin it. But by this point I'm really starting to suspect that the Allies are going to win.
No way, Steiner time!
This weeks dedication was incredible. While we know so much about the war through decades of studying, it's always fascinating to hear what little family members know of their loved ones individual service. My great grandfather fought in Italy and told his children and grandchildren nothing about his service. When I was a child and he was in the last stage of his life he opened up, and we all found out why. Aside from the daring heroics and spectacular bravery, many surviving men lost huge parts of themselves to the war.
Anyone else had the music from Call of Duty World at War pop into their heads to pair with Indy's narration?
101%
I'd never heard the account of the human chewing on a human thigh bone. Dear god. You think you know how bad the camps were, but there's always another horrifying detail.
Yeah, I unfortunately was eating lunch when listening to this episode. You'd think I'd learn... the horrors never seem to cease.
-TimeGhost Ambassador
8:56 No! The 9th Army! Quickly! Call Steiner and Wenck!
I am so glad that you highlighted Mr. Leonard Tabarracci's sacrifice and service for democracy and our country. May God bless his family always.
The Canadians liberate Arnhem on the 16th and Appledorn on the 17th. The Dutch population are suffering from starvation at this point and the Canadians do what they can to bring in food and medicine.
Here we go. The Battle for Berlin is in full swing.
Every description given of this offensive makes it sound like the end of days. And as it continues i expect many more such descriptions
I'm pretty sure that many a soldier and civilian in Europe and East Asia thought that they were living through the Tribulation.
I'm honestly surprised we didn't see more doomsday cults pop up between '42 and '50 than we did.
_See how things have changed my friend. Now it is their land...their people...their blood._ - Sergeant Viktor Reznov
This week on April 20th 1945, the following missions in the Call of Duty series will begin:
*April 16 1945*
Their Land, Their Blood (Call of Duty: World at War) - As Private Dimitri Petrenko at the Seelow Heights in Germany, you will start off as a captive of enemy German soldiers before Sergeant Viktor Reznov and his squad will rescue you from the enemy. Afterwards, you will have to break through the German defences and burn the wheat fields, before choosing whether to move left or right. You will also soon need to pick up the Panzerschreck and destroy the enemy tanks.
Blood and Iron (Call of Duty: World at War) - As Private Dimitri Petrenko at the Seelow Heights in Germany, you will start off in a T-34 tank and will first need to neutralise all enemy artillery while dealing with any enemy tanks along the way. Afterwards you will need to proceed to the radio tower and destroy it, before rejoining the main Russian army lines again to break the German lines and reach the train station.
I'm always glad that the Western Front segments always make sure to showcase how vast the battlefields and how numerous the armies, corps, and divisions were. Often times, works on this make the same old mistake of focusing too much on one part of the front or on a particular unit and its adventures at the expense of many others.
One of my complaints about nearly all documentary coverage of the Battle of the Bulge, aside from this channel's. They tend to focus mainly on the battle for Bastogne and often don't even mention the fighting for Elsenborn Ridge 46 miles to the northeast, despite the latter having much more impact on the end result and being just as fiercely fought.
@@ahorsewithnoname773 Or Sankt Vith which actually absorbed main weight of German offensive for nine days
@@merdiolu Very true. Normandy arguably has a similar problem in that many documentaries are too focused on Omaha or don't extend much beyond securing the beachheads.
At this point Western Armies are pretty much just walking into German cities unopposed
Celebrating 4/20 with a fantastic show!
It would be great if all the animated maps presented in the videos with the units could be made public after the serie is over. Like a website where you can just click play ww2 happens in details
We'd love to do more stuff with the maps in the future, whilst this is a really cool idea we'd be more likely to do it in video form for specific moments than create a website for it like we did for Stalingrad.
I was hoping to donate for a shoutout to Daniel Inouye, WW2 MOH recipient who lost his arm in Italy this week, and Senator to Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012.
Inouye is a hero to me not only for his actions during the war, but for his advocacy for Asian Americans.
Unfortunately I couldn’t scrape the money together in time…
Damn. Didn't know that the Night Witches bombarded positions so near to Berlin. I've been following this channel since the outbreak of Covid and I keep learning new stuff. Thank you.
That EJKing threat to USAAF I;ve never read about, great story, much obliged!!
You must understand King. He said in Dec 41 when given the CNO Rank" When the going gets tough they send for the Sons of Bithches". After the war when asked about his lack of press releases and progress information he said " If it was up to me I would have sent only one press release. We Won!"
The Chairforce always has to be forced to help the 'lesser services', as they are obsessed with the idea that strategic bombing by itself wins wars and that helping the other services interferes with that. Be it the fighter mafia or the bomber mafia, neither can be arsed to give the Army or the Navy much help. Not much has changed in that regard.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 And that's why the US Army and US Navy have their own air force.
@@aaroncabatingan5238 When the Department of Defense is created in 1947/1948, the Army will be limited to fixed-wing aircraft lighter than 10,000 pounds, about 4,500 kg. However, helicopters are not considered "fixed wing", and the Army would go on to build a lot of them.
Week 2 of hoping the mention of the breaking of the Syrmian front in Yugoslavia (based between Drava and Sava rivers) that occurred on April 12th, performed by the Yugoslav Army, a real Army that arose from the Yugoslav partisan formations and was acknowledged as an Allied Army since 1943.
That breakthrough led to a race west that covered cca 20 kilometers a day on average, and reached Trieste some 420km away where the units of the YA met with the Allied NZ brigade, and nearly had a clashdown over who will occupy the town. The German SS units in Trieste refused to surrender to the YA, and fought until the next day the New Zealanders arrived in order to surrender to them.
Given the way people from the Balkans usually fight their wars and what was done to them during this one, I'd rather surrender to the Kiwis too.
have the allies liberated the timeghost studio yet?
I think they are based in Bavaria? So not quite yet.
I thought they work out of sweden?
@MaxwellAerialPhotography All filming is done in Bavaria, but we all work from different parts of the world! From Europe to America.
- Jake
Neighbour in Canada that just passed on was a civilian child in the Ruhr pocket when this happened. Emmigrated to Canada and became a Registered Nurse. He son is a great friend. We won the war in more ways than one. They built Canada and were/are job CREATORS.
You know people talk about interservice rivalry for the Japanese, but the Americans are no slouches either 😂
At least the Americans never outright shoot at each other.
First time I've seen an episode of this series. This is great. I especially likes learning about T/5 Leonard Tabarracci. Thank you!
Kurt Knipsel died in this battle. He was the greatest tank ace ever. His accolates are possibly fiction though.
There is probably truth behind some of his accolades though, he was a good operator driving one of the best individual tank types of the time, surpassed maybe only by Churchill Crocodiles in pure effectiveness.
Incredibly detailed information. What a great job!
Those Gewrmans don't know how lucky they are to have surrendered to the Western allies.
Didn’t some get sent back to the US and up staying there after their sentence?
Most of German pow returned from Russia in 50s
Masterful effort! Great series! Everything is absolutely fenomenal! However I cannot understand how there is not a single mention of the Syrmian front breakthrough. It is like nothing is happening in the Balkans and as if nobody is rushing towards Zagreb at this point. Just a couple of seconds per video would have been enough. I just hope that the battle of Odžak will at least be mentioned as the last WW2 battle on the European front.
Just finished band of brothers episode 9. The closing of the rhur pocket
I like to imagine that the Germans were relieved to get to their defensive positions on the west bank of the river, thinking they were temporarily safe, just to see bunch of Soviet tanks driving across the river itself
Postwar the Soviets developed tanks with amphibious capability that could cross rivers, with a kind of snorkel system. In this case it may just have been shallow enough for a tank to cross, though I am surprised tank tracks did not bog down on the river bed.
Incredible. A tour de force. You guys are simply the absolute best.
Loved the dedication.... great work as always....
Thank you for watching.
But wait, the other RUclips channel says that the Germans fought to the last man. Until now, nobody said that 300000 German soldiers surrendered in just the Ruhr region.
Just like in Bagration in1944 the Soviets also captured thousands of Germans.
They fought to the last man mostly against the Soviets ( knowing they would end up in Siberia)
@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- I always said that retribution is a strong motivator.
@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-
U are referring to the 90000 survivors of the German 6th Army (the entire remainder of that 6th Army) who, rather than fight to the last man, surrendered.
At the top of the German 6th Army was General Paulus who surrendered with his 90000 men, rather than fight to the last man.
Leonard 🙏 thank you ✊
First time seeing Western Divisions and Soviet divisions in the same animation on the map, they are so very close to each other now.
Konev vs Zhukov!!!
Fun fact- Howard Zinn (yes, THAT guy) was directly involved in one of the bombings of Royan and one of the first uses of napalm. He spent a lot of his life decrying it.
I've said this before. Imagine being a Swiss soldier at the border with a French soldier to your left, and a German soldier to your right.
Being Swiss, he could probably speak both their languages.
My hometown Hagen finally gets it's probably only mention during this series. It can't be long now until defeat.
It's a nice town. I visited it.
Would it be possible to have an episode about the "Lapland war"?
Agreed I'm surprised how quiet its gotten over there
@@patrickstephenson1264 Probably just so much to cover that it has been left out. That's why I thought a special episode about it would work pretty well.
And the red army’s offensive into northern Norway
@@stranger299aIt's just Finland vs Germany by now right?
@@patrickstephenson1264 Yes. The fascinating part is the way the war starts. Basically a "play" war where both sides don't fight. But soviets insist fins to actually push German forces out of finland faster or they do that themself.
I would love to see you guys do a special on The Nuremberg Trials!
BBC sounds did a brilliant radio/podcast on the trials which will blow you away.
@@belbrighton6479 tanks! I’m ‘unna go look for that.
The trials pioneered simultaneous interpretation systems as they had to be conducted in German, English, Russian and French. Goering reportedly said the interpretation system's existence shortened the trials, and hence his life (he took it for granted he would get a death sentence).
@@stevekaczynski3793 yes it was an American company, I forget which one, it is covered in the BBC documentary. Goering could speak English fluently but pretended he needed the proceedings in German.
Sparty will be covering it in the future.
You need to watch the movie "The story of GI Joe ". Burress Meredith plays Ernie Pyle and Robert Mitchum is in it and i believe some of the soldiers that were around him during the war. It's a really good war movie and see about what a lot of the soldiers went through.
If you want to see Ernie Pyle in death. There's a picture of him if you want to see it. Google pictures of Ernie Pyle. Just want to let you know.
I've seen that movie and I do have to say it was excellent. Movie about Erine Pyle.
@@calvinforcejr2382 also did a good job of showing some of what the guys at the front went through. It wasn't always rah rah let's go fight the bad guys for our country. Like what the one guy went through to hear the record of his wife and kid and then he about went nuts after finally hearing him.