SS Diehards 1945 - Renegade SS Attacks on Postwar Allied Occupation Forces
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- Опубликовано: 18 окт 2022
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Small numbers of Waffen-SS troops kept fighting after the German surrender, launching attacks on occupying US forces in Bavaria and Austria.
Dr. Mark Felton FRHistS, FRSA is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers 'Zero Night' and 'Castle of the Eagles', both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Fe...
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Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress; Bundesarchiv; TerraX_Bln.
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Can i get free?
@@ajsanjuan5266
Lol.
@@dritzzdarkwood4727 why?
Dr Felton why do you have a gaming channel on my handle 🤔🤣
I had a Older Roommate in College who was going to College after he served in the US Army. (We used to call him " Grandpa" (he was 30 yrs old). When he served in Germany he decided to live "Off Base" so that he could learn about the people. He said that Older German Couples would Rent out a spare bedroom and these older couples would "Open Up" after a while about the WWII War. They would bring out boxes that were hidden in the attack that contained Nazi Party Pins etc. When he first Met his landlords he was WELCOMING HIM ( US Service MAN ) with open arms. My Roommate told me that they would tell him how the Entire world was in Awe of them and that it was the Jews fault the war was fought.
That mark felton intro music always slaps so hard
I miss Erica . . .
esketitttt
Even Felton's voice is same on my face 🤠
Waiting for someone to rap over it
It's my ringtone, as I'm sure many other's do. 🤘😂
Attacks all the way to 1948!? Wow I had no idea about that. Thanks Mark Felton!
I had never heard about it either. Fascinating stuff
@@johnathanlewis2049 I always learn something new from his channel. Have you been following his Martin Boreman series?
@@MadrasArsenal - I’m going back and watching those videos
Im German and didn’t know either
@@xXAlmdudlerXx I think these are the most important parts of history that are so often forgotten.
My Dad's story of post peace combat with hold-out German forces in WWII.
My father (deceased in 1995) was a member of the 90th Infantry Division, part of Patton's Third Army, assigned to some kind of unit that had half tracks armed with 20mm cannon and .50cal machine guns--they may have been quad 50s. The unit was initially assigned to the 90th as a AAA battalion, but without much need for AAA due to the near complete control of the air by the Army Air Corps, the AAA battalions in most of the European theater divisions were broken up and/or used for other combat duties; hence his unit became an armed and partially armored recce unit for the 90th, sometimes attacking enemy airfields ahead of Patton's advance. The plan was to hopefully capture the air field before the retreating Germans would have time to destroy it, so that US tactical air forces could use the air base quickly as Patton's forces moved rapidly through the Germans. Other times his AAA unit was used for ad hoc assignments to augment infantry unit attacks or for recce. It was a last such ad hoc assignment that I am speaking about.
Dad rarely spoke about his WWII experiences, because most of his memories were bad-- he had PTSD before we called it that. He was wounded several times, but returned to duty each time after treatment or brief hospital stays. The one battle story he told about, multiple times, was how he was wounded the last and worst time, "four days after the peace was signed", in combat in Czechoslovakia. I found it hard to believe that he and elements of the Third Army were fighting in Czechoslovakia, until I saw references from his Division's history and later histories of the Third Army.
He told of how, after they knew the peace was signed, his unit which he commanded was sent to an area in the mountains of Czechoslovakia to eliminate an SS unit reported to be holding out. He dismounted his troops in a small meadow a mile or two from the known position of the SS unit, as per normal procedure, preparing to advance on foot in combat formation to attack, supported by the heavier guns of the half tracks. That kind of unit usually outgunned any enemy units. Unknown to Dad and the intelligence people, the SS unit also had artillery.
It was an artillery ambush. He and the unit were shot to pieces all over the open meadow before they could get close. He was medically evacuated from Europe, spending months in hospitals recovering. Part of his bad memories came from being proud of leading his men all of the way through the war with relatively few casualties. The 90th Infantry Division took around 196% casualties, including those caused by illness--the worst of any division in the theater, so it was something to be proud of. But Dad then lost most of his men "four days after the war was over". I could see the little pieces of shrapnel up and down his legs whenever he wore swim suits, some of the pieces working themselves out in later years.
I've never been able to find any after action reports of that fight, nor of its casualties. He never got over the fact that they had celebrated making it through the entire European Third Army campaign, then suddenly they were decimated just a few days later. There were probably many instances like that--Mark Felton's video is the first effort I've seen to document how extensive it was, post war.
He returned to the military after recovering, serving until he retired from the Air Force in 1957. He was "Old Army", as you can determine by the retirement year--He initially enlisted in the US Army in 1935, eventually transferring to the Army Air Corps (later the Army Air Force) just before the start of WWII. His AAA unit in the 90th was initially an Army Air Corps battalion, which is why he ended up in USAF until retirement in the '50s. I used to always wonder why he was wearing an Army Air Corps uniform in his WWII pictures showing him receiving medals in front of soldiers wearing Third Army uniforms.
Two asides: Dad was Polish-American and spoke more fluent Polish than English, although born in the US, where he was raised speaking only Polish and going to parochial schools run by Polish speaking Catholic priests and nuns. I often tried to get him to accompany me to old battle sites around Normandy, where he landed on June 7 (a day after D-Day) and as he said, he was marched about a mile inland through what he described as incredible debris and bodies, and began fighting through May 11, 1945. He refused to go to any Normandy trip with me, saying sadly, "there are too many bad memories; I don't want to relive them." I discovered on my last trip to the battle fields of Normandy in 2019 a fact I never knew before: the 90th Infantry Division was the first to "close the Falais Gap", meeting of all things the Polish 1st Armored Division of Montgomery's forces--I saw the monument in Chambois commemorating the meeting site. I wished my father had been there when I saw the monument, so I could ask him if he met his fellow Poles and provided translation services. Second aside: Dad's service did not end there. He was involved as a private contractor in several conflicts after he retired, eventually completing six and a half years in Vietnam with a private company, Pacific Architects and Engineers, where he was wounded again several more times. I was serving in the Vietnam war about the same time, meeting him once or twice. I called him "bullet bait", not unkindly.
Out of curiosities sake, given your father's experiences and evident PTSD from it. How did he view you being in Vietnam?
My grandfather was a marine over in Nam and when I enlisted in 2018 (yes, I know I'm a young buck) He seemed a bit saddened, but I made sure to go a better route with the Army National Guard being a Technical Engineer.
Thanks for sharing man honestly kept me as entertained as the video
My Uncle was also in the 90th
Man what a story thanks for sharing. And that must be so heartbreaking to lose the group you thought you won with…
This was a very extensive read, thank you for sharing this indepth story of your father, inward reading, I hope all is alright for and that nothing what you have just shared will ever happen again to you or anyone close to you, and ever anyone else. War is a horrifying experience to have, especially when your experience arent even recorded ever, seemingly erased or forgotten by what could had been a command of negligence, much happened already and to have something this occur is something that extensively occured back then, its scary, and I am weary.
My nan was a nurse in Germany during the war (she was Lithuanian).
She even shook hands with Goebbels when he visited the hospital.
She never missed a day of work, until one day her dad said to her 'its too dangerous to go to work. You aren't going'.
Anyway that night the allies bombed the city and completely destroyed the hospital she worked at. Apparently over 800 doctors, nurses and patients were killed.
Crazy luck
The allies committed lots of war crimes. But the victors are never the bad guys. Bad guys never win.
@@marks6663 Like how the raping of Berlin is hardly mentioned ever
@@marks6663 look, these history books right here say that the good guys won, every time. Huh, what a coincidence, isn't that fortunate that the good guys always won?
@@admontblanc holly cow, i believe now i cans see your point!
@@marks6663 The bad guys are one level up...playing both sides. They always win the "bankers' wars".
While covering the war in Bosnia in 1993 I encountered a Croat in a WW2 Wehrmacht uniform. He told me "The man who wore this fought the communists until 1963." "And then they caught him?" I asked. "No, he went to Germany to work in the Mercedes factory." This was in a village near Prozor, hard core for sure.
Based kraut
any more stories regarding balkan conflicts with munations and equipment of ww2 ?
@@skippythescout5446 Plenty more
@Vrvodec I realize it's unlikely to be true. But the guy I met near Prozor was wearing a genuine Wehrmacht uniform and that was the tale he told me. Have you ever been to Prozor? During the fighting in Vukovar I was in a bar on the Serbian side and there were half a dozen Chetniks in their own WW2 uniforms.
@@skippythescout5446 I can go on all night and all day. I actually saw munitions from WW1. And a German aid society sent bandages which had the familiar swastika with eagle logo on the wrapper.
There was also an incident in Norway back in 2009, allegedly a group of undead SS troops attacked some hikers.
I also read about an alleged battle between the undead ss and Russians Also in Norway around this time. The locals reported seeing a tiger tank in action
They are always the hardest battles as it is very difficult to kill that which is not alive....lots of explosives and property damage but to no avail...
🤣🖤🖤🖤
Oh no, Nazi Zombies....
Better than space Nazis from moon
In the late 80's, I was a history grad student who was simultaneously serving in a National Guard tank unit. One of the classes I took was an oral history class. My chosen project was to interview war vets who served in tank units. Among the people I interviewed was a retired First Sergeant of my tank unit. During the Korean War, he served in an armored unit equipped with Shermans. When he started talking about his military career, he said he actually joined at the tail end of WWII and served in a unit equipped with armored cars in Germany after the German surrender. Though he did not consider himself a WWII vet, he did mention that his unit was involved in mopping up German soldiers who hadn't surrendered.
Spoke to a korea vet i ws too young to remember a lot of what he said but a big battle lifted off he was in the back of a halftrack
Fire hit them , he looked around and there was only one or two fellas with heads still attached.
@Nate Higgers 🏳️🌈⃠ Yeah, the Russians/Soviets and Germans were.
"Mopping up Germans"? Probably he is mopping up in hell as we speak...
@@joshwaffen88Nah that would be the Germans he was mopping up.
I never met my grandad but my father said when he came back from the war he was a changed man. Before the war he was a happy, active young man. He came back broken, never the same, started drinking and later on took his own life. It really makes you wonder what happened. War is terrible.
The stress of an imminent death alone would drive someone to the brink imo. Never mind the trauma and sorrow of being a trained killer forced to do that job.
One of the most tragic aspects of war in previous eras is the untold numbers of untreated PTSD sufferers. What they called shellshock back then was what got a soldier slapped by Patton in that infamous incident and one was supposed to just pull himself together and get back on the line. My great uncle had nightmares for his entire life, living into his late 80s, because of an incident where he had to bayonet a german in the sternum. He probably never had one minute of counseling and may have benefitted, at least a little, from knowing he could forgive himself.
He may have had the same revelation that General Patton had when he said: “We defeated the wrong enemy”.
here,s to a member of the greastest generation.
@@skipintroux4098 Yep, they found that out real quick
These are the stories I enjoy the most. Obscure stories that are seldom if ever covered in general WW2 videos. We see the Macro view of conflict on pretty much every video, and they're done well, but we know most of these topics already. It's the Micro view where we learn something new and on the more personal level. Thanks for your research and sharing. Much appreciated.
I agree, these are the parts of history that so easily are forgotten.
Love to see stories of Nazis and Nazi sympathizers who ran German corporations. In Germany and elsewhere in the world, these people carried on, untouched. The US even brought thousands of Nazis to the US and they were placed into positions of importance. Example is Werner von Braun who headed NASA with his Nazi scientists. Nazis also found their way into major corporations in the US. In reality, the Nazis never surrendered.
Hardly obscure. Maybe to a millennial with no ability to read books.
@@xr6lad imagine actually blaming millennials for anything in 2022. 2010 called for its stale jokes.
No, this stuff isn’t in any normal textbook or even stuff about werewolf, which itself is oft omitted or a footnote. Not everyone is a ww2 buff.
Indeed, or stuff like the new China marines from 1945 to 47, ija and French and Brits fighting Vietminh, forest brothers, Spanish civil war partisans till the 50s. Few wars end cleanly.
My father was on policing duties with the coldstream guards after the war and he said their barrack block windows were often smashed by a brick.
LoL ..😂
"For hate dies, suffocated to death by its own stupidity and mediocrity. But grandeur is eternal. And we lived in grandeur." - Leon Degrelle, "The Eastern Front: Memoirs of a Waffen SS Volunteer, 1941-1945"
A friend of the family was stationed with the USAF in Berlin from about 1947 to 1950. When he first got there, they were not to go off base alone and never in uniform because it was an invitation to being stabbed. What changed everything was the Berlin airlift.
The same rules applied in 1965. Command warned GI’s about getting romantically involved with the Frauleins. Often our day room office would get threatening calls from a group that called themselves “ Werewolves” , in commenoration of the young Nazi soldiers who refused to accept surrender.
I was stationed in Germany 72-74 we usually went off base with a buddy. If we were to get jumped it was by our fellow American soldiers. Race was involved, mostly
Honestly the content you put out is on another level. You answer questions we didn't even know we wanted to ask and make videos we didn't even know we wanted to see. It's always a pleasure watching your content @markfelton!
Im with you...he knows too much!He's either the missing Der Glocke pilot, or he's from the future. 😅
wtf are u a bot?
Hardly. This is hardly new nor never been covered elsewhere. Maybe start reading books.
@@xr6lad
Yeah ,Felton is just
rehashing old news.
Speak for yourself. Felton is good but he's never told me anything I didn't already know.
I've learnt more in one of your 10 minute video than I've learnt in 10 years of watching various history channels.
Felton is another level but there’s plenty of good channels. Wendigoon can talk at a camera for an hour and it’s the most engaging thing ever.
100% agree. The History Channel is anything but history these days. I compare the History Channel of today with todays MTV. There's no Music on MTV and no History on the History Channel. But, it wasn't always like that.....
Why did it take you 10 years?
@@tsarbomba01 I’m pooping 🫡
That's because the 'history' channels have turned into NATO/US propaganda channels.
My father was an MP with 2NZ div in northern Italy.
When walking back to bilots after midnight mass with 2 mates Christmas 1945 a young blackshirt opened up on them from a third story window.He was yelling in Italian but dad could hear Il Duce and fascisti being screamed.
The Kiwis returned fire with a Thompson and Webleys.
Apparently the submg cut him in half.
Dad said his top half fell into the street in front of them (bullets and bodies can do weird things.)
On inspection, he was in full uniform and only about 16 or 17 with a very distinct smell of alcohol.
Very sad memory for my father.
A former acquaintance of mine was on a fishing trip in the Canadian wilderness in the early 1960's, and stumbled on a group of men washing up in a stream. They were speaking German and had their shirts off revealing SS and Nazi tattoos. He hid from view but swore that this was a group of Nazi's that was still hiding out after the war. I've often wondered if this could have been true.
Sounds like the stuff of a great screenplay!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe they were just post war German/Austrian immigrants to Canada? I know plenty moved to North America after the war. Although the former would be very cool in a way if true!
@@RomanOf2002 That's probably a more likely explanation. I always wondered how they got there.
They were just LARPers
Wow that is a great story, just imagine coming across those dudes.?
About 15 years ago I met an officer from L.A.H and he didn't surrender till June because he wanted to get back to Austria and avoid the Soviets, eventually changed into mechanics overalls and was allowed to go back home by the Americans who believed that he was nothing more than a tank mechanic because he did not have the tattoo.
@@JackGordone you on day rate or price?
@@JackGordone alot of Russia's Wagner shills also wish they didn't have those tattoos
@@JackGordone Russia is the one that allies with the nazi's any allies with Russia were forced into that due to Russia being in control.
@@aidymacBrago They dont have swasticas, they have slavic symbols
@@JackGordone A lot of us wish you would shut up and get a life
Would be interesting to look into the SS troups that retreated onto the island of Schiermonnikoog in the Netherlands after the official capitulation of the German authorities in the Netherlands. I believe they resisted quite long.
We obviously know theres still german troops resisting in antarctica
Never heard of it .. it will be interesting doing some research on it ..
I believe the UK had to send a few naval ships and ordered their surrender, and they lead pirate raids on ports for supplies and the like. I think the CO used to offer the soldiers and iron cross or a spoonful of strawberry jam for their bravery
It would have been better if the SS were strung ---- up
Same for those who resisted the Soviets in the Hel peninsula, Poland, after the capitulation
My Grandfather (mother's adopted father) fought in Germany through the end of the war and into post-ww2 Germany for Canada. The worst experiences by far were hunting werewolves/SS and clearing caches spread throughout BASEMENTS all over Berlin and North West of the country AFTER the fall of Berlin to the soviets. I was always confused as to why he stated it was bad fighting, AFTER the surrender of the main forces and into 1946. Now I know about the SS fearing death upon defeat, it all makes sense. Thanks Mark Felton!!
Canadians were well known for cold blood killers and taking no prisoners, at least in the Normandy area. They were also very religious, wich makes sense to me.
@@macnasty7605 Canadians had reason for taking no prisoners. Early in the Normandy fighting, Nazi troops executed Canadian prisoners. The facts were discovered shortly after it happened, so many of the Canadian solders chose not to take prisoners.
Hunting wehrwolves as a Canadian in Berlin ? Who was he,- Steven Spielberg?
If your country is invaded (lets imagine) by Urss, China and N.Koreea and your army is defeated signing surrender treaty in Washington DC, will you (imagine a Texan-Arizona-Georgia-Alabama etc hardcore american patriots) surrender?
@@wollibar5263 after the war, occupation zones were set up in Germany and Berlin. After May 1945, he was reassigned to a newly created battalion that became part of the occupying force. And yeah, that's his story, and from what I could find over the years, very verifiable...
My late grandfather joined the army but only made it to germany after the surrender. He was a replacement for post-war occupation of previously front line vets. He would tell stories of ditches in backyards of homes filled with nazi uniforms, pictures, weapons. He said "The ones that weren't still fighting were hiding" He went on to serve in Korea and lived to 89 years old, still smoking the same cigarette brand as when he served, all the way to his death bed.
God bless the Greatest generation.
They're sadly a dying breed.
yup we still have some of those criminals running around in austria
@Earthbound369 Greatest generation my ass. They were fighting for their own enemy
The surrender of any armed force is never a "done and dusted" deal. Thanks for shedding light on the real aftereffects of VE day.
Imagine you go hiking in the alps and suddenly a 90 year old man in uniform attacks you
Thousands of German Tourists were coming to Western Canada every summer pre-pandemic. For many of them, especially older men and even women in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, born in the post-war decades to Nazi-era parents, it wouldn't take much for them to get into a Werhmacht uniform or in extreme cases even an SS uniform. That was obvious to me on many occasions in resort towns in Canada where I worked: one could see, hear and feel in the older Germans attitudes of patriotism, extreme arrogance and flagrant aggression while anywhere near many of them, even the majority of them, they are totally self-centered and most do not have the ability to believe they might be wrong in their beliefs and actions, the "Everything for Germany" state of mind is alive and well in most of them, they will pick a fight in an instant and their victim is the aggressor and they are the victim, in their minds.
@@themudthedirtandthesand9079 Any examples of anything particular they said or did?
@@themudthedirtandthesand9079 Did many of your family die in WW2?
30 years ago I was in Zell am See playing hockey against an Austrian team. Sometimes it's just hard to believe such beautiful places went through the trauma of that war. Many thanks Mark for your unique insights on history.
I have ready MANY books about WWII and I am continually amazed how much new information I learn from Dr. Felton's videos.
3:06 that little boy raising his hand to do the "Führergruß"... how sweet xD
And his older brother putting his younger brother’s hand down quickly was awesome. No Franz, we don’t do that anymore…..
Heartbreaking, honestly.
Mark Felton your videos are absolutely superb honestly I think I have watched all of them. I love how they cover bespoke parts of history especially surrounding WW2 so fascinating. So much WW2 documentaries only cover major incidents like pearl harbour battle of the bulge etc but there is so much more to tell I don’t know why anyone else covers it in the same way.
My Father was in Germany as part of the Occupation Forces from 1951-1953. He once said that a shell was fired into their camp, I had always thought it was a training accident, but this may be the real cause. Dad was a Corporal in the 2nd Armored Division.
In view of the fact, that after May 9. 1945, was no significant resistance actions on the part of the Germans, a hostile action seems not verry possible (Apart from that, all the newspapers would have been full with this incident). Since 1950 the rearmament of the Germans, as partners of the Allies, was started and German generals were advisers on technical security issues for the Allied military leadership.The training accident seems more likely.....;)
edit: Contrary to what is shown here, these alleged "werewolf" actions served more as a justification for the separate treatment of former SS members, or as on the Soviet side, through arbitrary arrests under the most absurd allegations, to fill in the gaps of the millions of prisoners of war who had died. Stalin said: It wouldn't look good for a communist state, if so many prisoners died. So 15-year-olds were arrested straight from the classroom as alleged werewolves and simply disappeared into the GPU basements - so that the figures for the prisoner-of-war releases wouldn't look too bad. My father's 2 older twin brothers were able to experience this. Despite being sentenced to 25 years in a labor camp, both came back after 6 years as "prisoners of war".
Another excellent video, Mark. My Dad was in the US Army in Germany during the Korean War. He delivered mail. He told me that in one Bavarian town he had to have AAA quad .50s accompany him. The residents would immediately shutter their windows.
Another smash hit history lesson from Dr. Felton . Thanks again and all the best.
My father received the German Occupation medal for his service there during the Korean war. He despised military discipline and lunacy; but his service at that time qualified him to be a member of VFW and American Legion. He loved being a veteran, but hated being a soldier.
I'm guessing he would have hated it even more if he had been sent to Korea. He should have been grateful for the easy assignment.
In other words loved the free tax payer funded perks but hated actually getting off his ass and doing what he was told to do.
@@basillah7650 "getting off your ass and doing something"
oh so what you've never done in your entire life?
@@scotmandel6699 i was sent to england while my brother was fighting in korea. was in anti arecraft aretillery. loved the english didn't like soldiering but was greatful.
@@basillah7650 He sounded like an E4 mafia paragon. I bet his shamming powers were next level.
Our recently retired mayor here in Hodgkins (about 10 kilometers west of Chicago's Midway Airport), Noel Cummings, was one of the US soldiers who was charged with rounding up these renegade SS men. His Honor had just graduated from high school in Mississippi and had enlisted in the US Army as the European war was ending. On the very day you released this video, Mayor Cummings celebrated his 95th birthday. Last month, after more than 43 years in office, he stepped down as our mayor.
So a WW2 Veteran was serving as a Mayor through 2022 at the age of 95.Amazing story.
Last German Holdouts: Kept fighting until 1948.
Last Japanese Holdouts: Kept fighting until 1974.
Very true in those times. My German Grandfather who was trying to re-establish a business in Bavaria in the immediate post-war time of the Autumn of 1945, was issued by the US military governor of Bamberg a permit to own a pistol for self-defence,something unheard of for German civilians in that time period, as where he was living and re-constructing a sawmill was literally miles from any sort of US military aid or response.
Mark Felton there was more attack in the Soviet occupied Zones in Austria and East German, the Russian was brutal to the German and Austria population post war the Werewolf and the Nazi remains.
An allied soldier picking wild flowers?? What unit did he belong to - the 1st Canadian Lumberjack Division??
Both my uncles were stationed in Germany after the war .They said they went out for a drink in groups as it was dangerous to be alone as their was a lot of resentment as a lot of people had lost close relatives .They made some friends as time went by by "borrowing" coffee and other essentials to help their German friends
When I was stationed in schweinfurt one of the Germans that we worked with at the pmo told us a story that after the war one of his uncles said he wasn’t going to surrender and went off to the mountains and that was the last time that he was heard from again and they assumed that he was killed some point after he left
Or died from exposure/starvation. Mountains have been known to be an inhospitable environment.
@ 3:06 A youngster giving the 'German Greeting' to the passing occupation troops is quickly stopped by an older boy.
It took the whole world to fight 13.6 million german soldiers ! Also an incredible 315 infantry divisions ! 🤔
WOW!!! This episode was very enthralling to say the least. Thank you Dr. Felton. Regards, Bert
Not necessarily SS related, but one of our ex mil instructors in trade training was in Hamburg shortly after the war, he said if you didn't obey the imposed curfew the chances are you would get your throat slit with no hesitation.
I'd imagine that there was quite a lot of the Wehrmacht on German soil that, once realizing they were cutoff and watching the allies roll on past them without discovering them, made a break for safer areas that they could hold out in for awhile rather than surrender. Especially if it was on the Eastern front. Most knew their fate if caught by the Russian army.
One book on this theme is "The Ghelen Organization" which is how an intelligence chief on the eastern front kept his unit safe from ss assasins and surrendered to the Americans in order to negotiate that he continue his duties offering expertise to keep the soviets in check. He became democratic Germany's intelligence chief later. He buried his filing cabinets in fields as insurance and did not appear to be an ideological nazi as he was Whermacht since earlier times.
Well researched, Mark. Thank you. Like many of the others, I never knew these facts because they were not told in the history books I studied.
In 1952 a friend of my dad's was shot at in the Swiss alp's. He was with an army group just hiking around the area. The bullet actually grazed his helmet.
I had no idea SS holdouts were still causing deaths and injuries as late as 1948. It's sobering to think of when the general perception is that most Germans accepted defeat and went on with their lives under allied occupation. Apparently, most did, but not all.
There were incidents in the German territories that were given to Poland and Russia after the war ended that went on for years. The same in the Baltic States and there were Finnish partisans too that fought the Russians into the 1950's.
SS members were shot on sight by Soviets and often enough by Allied troops too. If you were in their shoes, would you surrender?
@@christoph3187 Indeed. Vindictive attitudes towards enemy combatants is payed in (your own) blood.
@@christoph3187 true tho they’re not really on their shoe thats why most of these people just talk some nonsense
This happens in every country under occupation especially after long and costly wars.
Another marvellous and enlightening MFP doco... Top effort again, Dr. Felton.
What did Churchill say: "we will fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields, we will never surrender. "
East Prussian resistance after 9th of May 1945:
Some german refugees from the eastern parts of the German "Reich" told, that the german resistance within the russian occupied areas lasted much longer than May 1945.
German soldiers feared much the brutality of Red Army, so they fighted even after May - simply for survival.
In a report of refugees werewoolf activities in East Prussia were mentioned.
e.g. once a young german boy in Koenigsberg started firing at soviet soldiers with a machine gun, till he was killed.
The activities stopped when all East Prussians were expelled from their country 1948-1952.
Does anybody know more?
There were also renegade Japanese soldiers and units that continued to fight after the Japanese surrender too if I'm not mistaken.
Yeah and they where still around till like the 70s and maybe 80s
@@user-saraswatidevi One Japanese soldier held out in the Philippines jungles until 1974. They had to get his old commanding officer to coax him out of hiding and convinced him to finally surrender. His name was 2nd Lt. Hiroo Onoda.
Last Japanese soldier was Teruo Nakamura. He was arrested by Indonesian soldiers on 18 December 1974. Nakamura's hut was located on a remote island that was overrun by the Americans in September 1944.
@@Kaffemosterful i alwasy think that there was probably more that have died by now that where never ground
@@user-saraswatidevi Maybe. That is a fascinating thought.
In April or May 1945, my father was living in Micheldorf, Austria. My father was 10 years old and had been evacuated with his mother from Neiße, Germany (modern day Nysa, Poland) a few mother earlier. My father told me Micheldorf, Austria after guarded by SS soldiers. One morning in April or May 1945, the SS soldiers disappeared and a few hours later American soldiers appeared. The first soldiers were a reconnaissance team of a couple armored jeeps. My father remembered the soldiers were African-American, one was wearing sunglasses and chewing gum. A few hours later, a large number of American trucks and armored vehicles arrived. People in the town flew bedsheets out their windows as surrender flags. My father, his mother, and many towns people did not have enough food to eat. He remembers scavenging for food in the American Army camp's garbage cans. My father also remembers finding chaff on the ground and blowing around in the air. This was from American bombing missions against nearby Germany radar stations. My father is still alive.
I wish he had taken a photo of that cool GI with the shades
I wish my Dad was still alive to show him this video. He was a bazookaman with the US 318th Infantry, and since he got in the war late, he was an occupation troop. His unit was in charge of guarding a railhead in Austria, and said day after day they watched German machine tools being shipped to the Soviet Union.
Thank you for everything, Mr. Felton!
I honestly love this channel, as someone born in the year ''all war ended'' of 1991 in europe and now beeing surrounded by a society who fears or wants to justify war i feel that to anyone who listens, your channel is a great view of what aspects people forget about war. when i was a teen we got it shown on history channel, and talk shows talking about how terrible everything is when there is war, now i felt like it was missing, but i'm glad to say i got you a few new subscriptions by people who need to see that history can be not boring and very helpfull to understand some stuff we are confronted to now, especially for generations after now crucial i believe to see history from a biased non political but human view in historic context. Thank you mark.
You always find these nuggets. Sad that the war was over and a handful of diehards wanted to continue. I can hardly imagine picking wildflowers off duty months after the end of the war and being killed by some SS hold out just because.
The US had no qualms about firebombing civilians, even wiped dresden off the map. I believe holding out "just because" against an enemy that stopped at nothing short of open genocide is admirable.
Another great video Mark! Had no idea that this kind of 'fighting' took place after hostilities officially ended.
Last year a stockpile of katanas and firearms were found buried on school grounds somewhere in Japan. The weapons had severely degraded when found.
Link to that story? Cannot find it in Japan Times or similar.
I'd heard about holdouts after the fall of Japan, but never thought about Germany! Thanks for this awesome insight mark!
I remember reading about how after the French lost the Franco-Prussian War, quite a few French civilians were so enraged by their own army's incompetence that they seized weapons from military armories and went in search for occupying Prussian forces. That might be a good idea for a future episode by Mr. Felton.
Right, the Prussians called them "Franc-Tireurs," I don't know what that translates to. They caused the Prussians quite a bit of trouble which the German Army remembered in 1914. It's the main reason they were so rough with Belgian civilians who resisted and the towns they lived in. Where they met no resistance German troops would chalk "Gute leute," or "Good people" on walls of buildings so those civilians wouldn't be molested.
As one German officer said to American journalist Irvin S. Cobb (who was following the German Army at the time) "If we invade your country and you want to fight us we have no problem with that, but you'd better be in your country's uniform when you do it!"
And in fact the Hague Convention (on the laws of war) in 1908 spelled it out, civilians are NOT to do any fighting, only a country's armed forces are to do so. An exception would be organized uniformed militias.
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 franc-tireur can have multiple meanings. Tireur means shooter, Franc either means truthful/Honest/straightforward, or it can be a reference to Franks Who conquered/founded France way back, giving their name to the country, hard to really describe, but refering to franks in a modern context is more of an alternative way to refera to direct/truthfull people. Or, could be refering to french.
To my froggy ears it means "Straight Shooter", with an undertone of straightforward, Straight to the point.
@@HighIQRetard Thanks so much for the insight!
Members of the French underground during WW2 also used that name.
@@wayneantoniazzi2706exactly why U.S lost in Vietnam and Afghanistan. The enemy was not in uniform and could not be killed when hiding amongst a crowd. If they did it would be considered “war crimes”
My grandfather on my dad's side joined the US Army too late to participate in official hostilities, but he ended up being stationed very close to where the American, British, and Soviet zones came together during the occupation. I've heard two of his stories from his time there; they're unfortunately second-hand through my dad and uncles, since he passed away in 2002 when I was very young.
1) He was tasked with driving a green Lieutenant to an area in a village that was apparently known for hostility towards the occupiers. A veteran soldier gave Grandpa a Thompson and said "here, you might want this", and he placed it under the seat of his jeep. When they arrived in the area, they were shot at from somewhere in the village. The LT immediately stood up and started admonishing the shooter, but Grandpa pulled the Thompson from the jeep and started shooting back, telling the idiot LT to get down. They promptly left that area and returned behind the wire.
2) Grandpa was walking down the street with a couple of buddies one evening. They were just casually yakking back and forth when someone jumps out of an alley, shoves a pistol into Grandpa's stomach, pulls the trigger... and nothing happens. Grandpa's buddies immediately pull the attacker off of him and promptly put bullets into the attacker. This, understandably, left Grandpa a bit shaken afterwards.
Dad also said that despite the language barrier, Grandpa got along much better with the Russians than he did with the Brits. I only wish he could've lived a bit longer so I could have asked him questions myself.
A lot of British soldiers were very bitter towards the yanks as we had been fighting for years before they arrived taking the brunt of much of the German war machine. Our cities had been destroyed. When the Americans then did join the war many were stationed in England before moving into main land Europe, of course they then saw examples of British women hooking up with yank soldiers which again just added to their dislike. It is only a surface rivalry of course but there were many British soldiers that felt that way rightly or wrongly but it probably explains why your grandad said that.
British started the war....USA finished it British should be thankful cause if commonwealth probably would of lost
@@herb2078I'm so sorry millions of Americans crossed the ocean and died for European liberation.
@@hammerr the U.K. had more deaths than America firstly so let’s be clear on that one. But yes of course Europe and as a Englishman we are grateful for American help during the war, I didn’t imply that we were not. Strange comment
Its cool to see that Mark gets sponsors that are acctualy what his audience might whant, instead of some vpn or mobile game
Very interesting! Something that is seldom, if ever, mentioned. Thanks for enlightening us!
I've been an ardent amateur historian, and have studied WWII for years. I thought I knew everything about it. But Dr. Felton never ceases to amaze. Coming up with new information and facts about WWII, that I have NEVER seen any other place!
I honestly feel like we could never know little more than the broad strokes if you weren't there (as a high ranking officer no less). Every detail giving way to a greater number of questions.
Any info.on Russian showdown at Japanese embassy in Berlin 1945?
what are your favorite topics to look up on ww2 ?
Another very interesting video Mark, thank you.
My dad was stationed at Colle Isarco for a while in the post war years and I recall his stories that although the war was over they were still in an active war zone, particularly as Austria didn't sign the armistice at the same time as Germany did.
My father worked with a former SS soldier in Australia. A lot of the fanatics died early on and the later recruitment was of people who were previously considered substandard, they did still retain a good deal of true believers though. As a previous video showed some SS acting as guards at the war crimes trials as they were foreign conscripts not volunteers. I read a biography of a former SS officer of field rank who was engaged in anti-partisan actions in the Balkans and he and his men fought their way back to Germany before disappearing into the foreign legion in Indochina. In his book he gives eyewitness accounts of SS soldiers being shot after surrendering to Russian troops so they fought on. The western allies handed SS prisoners over to the soviets and the soviets executed them regularly. Any member of any branch of the SS was considered a war criminal even if they were non-combatants.
Well when the public image is the Malmedy massacre, atrocities by the Einsatzgruppen, human experimentation, and administering/guarding concentration camps, that’ll tend to give your organization a bad rep. Wearing skulls on caps and lightning bolts probably didn’t help either.
Soviets weren't big on truth and justice. You could've fought against nazis but if you were not pro USSR you would still be considered an enemy. You could've been a communist! Who cares. The didn't
Every branch of the SS was involved in either organizing or executing atrocities, whether via administration, 'police' work, or actual combat.
Waffen-SS (i.e. the combat branch of the SS) were commonly rotated into administrative and police duties as a form of leave. Subsequent of this, no one serving in any branch of the SS could plausibly claim ignorance of atrocities committed by other SS.
All of the branches aided each other, and preferred to keep activities 'in-house' as much as possible.
@CognizantCheddar I am not excusing them, I assure you. My Uncle was a pole fighting with the free forces in the U.K. so I have heard the stories.
@@1lighthorse I know you're not.
Not everyone knows that bit of trivia regarding SS branch rotation, so I just thought I'd mention it.
The SS was a cult, and until desperation forced conscription of foreigners late in the war to act as front-line fodder and camp/factory guards, everyone in the cult was privy to what other branches were doing, and the branches aided each other accordingly, because the cult only fully trusted itself. As cults tend to do.
Fascinating! I’d heard of the “Werwolf” program and that some Waffen-SS diehards held out, but not for as long as 3 years. Great video, lets people know that historical events often don’t end when the books say they did.
You would be surprised at what the " books " Don't tell you ............
@@wolfmantiptip6218 Not anymore…
There are books on this subject. The problem is people don't read much, or they get funky info from the internet.
fun fact; The thumbnail picture to this video depicts italian SS reenactors / top notch authentic guys. ^^
🖤🇮🇹
As always Mark, great story. Thank you, Sir.
My father served with the British Pacific Fleet and was present at the Japanese surrender. He and some friends were set to guard an ammunition dump after the surrender. One night they saw a group of guys climbing the fence to get into the ammunition dump and shot them. They had grenades on them and presumably intended to blow it up. The only time during the wholee war that my father actually saw someone and killed them personally. Mostly they were miles away or underwater.
Great video, Mark! This reminds me of a great novel Harry Turtledove wrote about the Werewolves and what would have happened if their insurgency had succeeded. AWESOME fiction based on a gem of terrifying truth.
The Man With The Iron Heart. Great book, great author
@@caboose261 lol For knowing this book, Heidrich will let you live.
Harry's alternate histories are pretty darn clever! I read a great short story of his where the first US Army officer who comes under Confederate fire in 1861 isn't Major Robert Anderson at Fort Sumter, it's Colonel Robert E. Lee in San Antonio Texas! I won't tell you how it turns out and spoil it for you, but it's pretty damn wild!
Renegade SS Attack would be a cool name for a band.
First time I'm hearing of such incidents. Thanks for this informative video.
Highly educational as always. Ty Dr Mark
My father served with the Army Air Corps in occupied Germany. He told stories of Germans doing armed raids against convoys to steal food.
Thanks Mark, absolutely fascinating, I Knew nothing of the allied deaths after the war by the werewolves, brilliant content as usual.
I didn’t know this.
Great.
Thanks!
You do come up with some amazing stories worth of being made into movies
My father was assigned to the US Army HQ through 1946, and saw the files. There were many violent incidents, but the Army didn't want them publicized. My father was shot at once, after the war.
@WassApp People: This is a scammer.
Like others, I am amazed at how much I learn here. When I was in school, history was merely a stream of trivia preparing us for tests. I became interested in history after formal education when I did my own research and saw the relevance. Plus, I had no plans on being on Jeopardy so could focus on relevant issues and how they are interlinked.
Hello, this documentary brings back a lot of memories. At the beginning of the 90s, I had the honor of participating in a reunion of former WAFFEN SS, Das reich, Horst Wessel and Charlemagne divisions in Bavaria. Henri Fenet, commander of the last defenders of Hitler's bunker (took the floor) and one cannot, and whether one likes these men or not, imagine the conviction, the still total ideal which animated these men. I really realized that a page of history was turning in front of me. My great regret, not having been able to meet Léon Degrelle in the 80s...Sorry for my english ...
Very interesting anecdote. Thanks for sharing. I lived in Regensburg for a year in 1984-85 and had some interesting experiences there...
@@outwestkennelsGlad it interested you. Fabrice.
Another great video Mr Felton.
Always enjoy your work.
the soldier picking wildflowers, heartbreaking...had no idea the post-surrender attacks went on till December
4:06... US Forces took immediate reprisals against area villages. Dr. Felton skipped right over this... what exactly did these reprisals consist of??
@@jerryjeromehawkins1712 the villages were put on lockdown and everyone had to wear masks...
@@jerryjeromehawkins1712 Exactly, i wonder how many women and children had to pay with their lives by these wonderful "liberators".
@@theswede5402 Exactly.
@@theswede5402 Unfortunately we won't know. To be sure, we know Hitler and his henchman were responsible for at least 50 million deaths. Women and children included.
3:57 I do wonder what exactly you mean with "reprisals" Mark. Are we talking about war crimes here? Reprisals is a very broad term and that can entail anything from apprehending collaborators to randomly shooting civilians . . . I know that, although fairly few and far between, U.S. troops did commit several massacres of POWs and civilians towards the end of the war, one of them occurring on April 19th 1945 in Saxony-Anhalt as well. However I fail to find either information on the events you describe or the township close to which the American soldiers' bodies were found.
Fine question
The reprisals were often bombing or strafing runs.
Its okay if the allies do it. Its when the germans do it its called genocide.
@@Hn-gz5iw Individual war crimes and genocide are not the same. Although I believe that war crimes committed by western allies are generally less known than they ought to be, the conduct of German forces and that of the British and Americans cannot be equated. That should almost go without saying.
@@SgtPepper271294 So you are saying the deaths of half a million civilians thru firebombing and the death of up to 2 million germans after the war in racial expulsions from the east and central europe cant be compared to a genocide?
So educational and something different everytime you watch this channel brilliant
Many SS soldiers were able to reach Marseille to join the foreign legion. They were sent directly to Indochina where the war had just broken out. Almost all died there, very few returned to France in 1954.
I really enjoy your work, Mark.
I signed up for Curiosity Stream just now, I appreciate the discount and I hope they continue to support you. Maybe one day your work will be part of their programming!?
Thanks Mark. Yet another great video. My Dad was in the Maritime Regiment, a guards regiment with the Royal Artillery. At the end of the European War his regiment had to guard stores and transport of food supplies. They were often attacked by gangs of mixed-nationality deserters, including allied forces, and had big gunfights protecting trains. In Berlin, he also drove around in a german armoured car, with a german policeman, dealing with allied rapists and murderers. (There were funny stories too)
I learned something new today from watching this video. I knew a little bit about it beforehand but now I know more. Thanks, Dr. Felton! 😀 👍
Their honour was loyalty.
Loyalty to an insane megalomaniac mass murderer.
@@tonyves H man was not insane.
I had no idea about those attacks all the way to 1948 . Thank you for another excellent video, Dr. Felton. 👍👏🌹
My dad was stationed in Germany in '51/'52. He said they were warned multiple times not to go anywhere that wasn't well lit and occupied by other G.I.'s. He said that they German's would coerce G.I.'s into dark alleys or other secluded places and then beat them up and rob them, occasionally causing fatalities. He also said that the main thoroughfares looked pretty clean and organized but just a block over and the buildings were still shells and the streets still covered with rubble. I'm sure it must have been a really hard time for the German people.
Probably not as hard as was/had been for Polish and Russian citizens
My father was born in London in 1958, at the age of 5/6 the poor areas of London were still bombed out he remembers playing in bomb sites. Funny how the German cities got re built quicker than ours
@@herb2078 Yes, sadly our governments have squandered our hard earned dollars on projects that enriched them but left us holding the bag. Don't get me wrong, as a society the West is very wealthy for even the most average person, but I shudder to think how much better off we would be if our taxes weren't used to arm, build, rebuild other nations.
@@johndvoracek1000 Their cities were firebombed and dresden as a city was wiped off the map in a clear war crime and tens of thousands of german pows starved to death in US camps in a deliberate action. I would say they were too nice really.
That 17 year old sentenced to death, I do hope the sentence wasn't carried out.
Another excellent video, Mark!
Is there any information on the activities of the S.S. and Werewolves in the Soviet sectors ? I imagine the response of the Russians would have been more ... brutal.
That’s probably why there’s no information about it
They stopped it cold
@@tomhenry897 not really,the ''forest brothers'' are a quick example.
Look up what happened to ethnic germans living east of the current german borders, and you'll see why there was no one left there to resist the occupation.
Most concentration camps in the Soviet sector of Germany were in use after wwll, mostly for German civilians. Most of these prisoners were low rank NSDAP-members or state employees. There were also children from 12 - 17 years old. 10% didn't survived these camps.
My grandfather was out after dark during postwar occupation and was chased by a group of young German men. They were probably just highschoolers but if they would have caught him I'm sure they would have made him pay for his poor judgment.
Brilliant mini-documentary about a rare WWII topic, supplemented with some rare period photographs of the actual SS groups. Only Dr Felton could have pulled this one off with such detailed information.
Thanks for another great video!
American "reprisals against local German civilians". I would like to know more and especially of any punishments the American troops received.
I think the US gives medals for war crimes not punishment
@@barryirlandi4217 good.
You won't hear about the 1 million + Wehrmacht POW's that died in allied internment camps AFTER the war ended
@@hanshazlitt4535What?! When did this happen? How did this happen?
4:06 "US forces took immediate reprisals against local villages"
Why didn't you elaborate on that? What were those reprisals?
Germans and Nazis did the same thing in France, and elsewhere.
Love the uploads. The detail is very precise and this channel has integrity and the World War 2 channel is like that too. The one that does the videos in real time.