I generally don't watch videos that last less than half an hour. I worked as a researcher and historical assistant to several commercial video productions and have with one exception asked to have my credits redacted. Tik, your work is what I aspired to and should be done. Faced with commercial realities one realises that most producers would prefer that Arnhem (A very bitter example) could be examined with 4-600words. Your work is outstanding and (With the greatest respect) I doubt that anyone without experince in research realises how much time and effort is required in your presentations. I hope that persons consider your work and go on to question held narratives and sources. Thank you for your hard work.
I disagree about others realizing the time and effort put in to these. That's why we watch....he does all the hard work and we reap the benefits. Hope ur work goes well! Cheers 🍻
I have some experience in research ( not military ) and get why TIK had to have a break it can be mentally damageing to do nothing but study or is that just me?
@@gingernutpreacher No, it's not you Preacher. Editing alone can be mind numbing as hours fly by like minutes. I restrict my editing to two hours before a long mental break of 30 to 60 minutes.
@@markb8468 Scrolling through the comments as i do after watching his videos, people including myself often voice their appreciation for Tik's hard work and rightly so. A great many of his viewers are scholars and professionals with ongoing experience in research. It's also reflected in the general consensus that our man should take regular breaks.
People from my country did fight there in freicorr Danmark in Division Wiking reg. Nordland later reg. 24 Dänemark(they even fought inside Berlin, where there commander Obersturmbannfuhrer Per Sørensen get shot in the back, i read in history how they managed to get him”War burried” at a German cemetary with help from local widow, later hes mother get him get graved up and brought Home to Denmark where hes now rest in hes family grave as Premiere løjtnant in the Danish army(hes rank before he joined waffen ss 1.Leutenant). It was a unecessary War and today about last days in januar 2022 i Think of the twist Russia vs Ukraine and i Can se from moscows eyes we(NATO) Are getting nearer moscow what could be”the buffer zone” poland was created for just that, but i like the polish people and the ordinary russian(european Russians) and Ukraine and Denmark have historical and biological things in common kiev rus was a viking State made of Ukraine and Denmark 🇩🇰🇺🇦
God bless you Tik. 95% of RUclips videos reviewing eastern front battles do it at such a surface level that it bores me, and i am being VERY fair by saying 95%. They give us the appetizer and you give us the appetizer, full main course and desert.. and a to go box lol. You sir are truly doing the good Lord's work. I salute you brother. I'd LOVE to see your standpoints on Bagration and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria
Yes, although those 95% get more views than me 😂👍 I think this is the first proper time that this battle has ever been covered online. There are a couple videos about it, but they're super-vague. There's one or two maps, and they're inaccurate. So yes, I think this might be the first time this battle has been covered in any depth online.
@@TheImperatorKnight absolutely. I haven't come across a Korsun video that's even close to this. Your dedication to your work is evident and very much appreciated by us who want to know about all the variables that made these operations successful or unsuccessful and not just this army attacked and succeeded or thrown back. I've followed you for years now and I've seen your following grow and I know it will continue bc there is nothing like it. Keep doing your thing! Respect from Washington DC 🤘🏾.
@@Gnosis639 There are some cool online videos but in other languages. I speak German, Russian, Polish and English and I have seen many videos covering eastern front operations omitted by the western histriography. Rarely do you ever see battle of Debrecen, Battle for river Mius, Jassy-Kishniev offensive, battle of Dniepr and others which is weird as all of them were pretty significant in scale and casualties. Russian videos are mostly full of overblown soviet sources but there are some which are toned down. Seeing TIKs videos and sources I have realized that there are few western historians which look into sources different than German generals writing memoirs which explains why mainstream history is so full of myths and specific narratives. I would like to commend TIK for his broad use of every source, even those specifically written as propaganda as all of them tell us something.
Small town of Panchevo ( you can see it on 11:44 minute of video ) is a town named by Serbs who were settled in Ukranie in later half of the 18th century. They named it after there hometown of the same name in Serbia, where I am from. Both of them still exist today, and there is even one more in Bulgaria (unconected to its serbian counterpart, town derives it name from slavic word for swamp)
Tik, as a retired senior military officer in the Army, I studied the Russian/German conflict in WW2 in great detail. Your videos and superior knowledge of this titanic struggle humbled me. Magnificent videos and I watch them often. Keep up the tremendous work.
I was watching a lecture at Naval War College. Discussing allocation of resources and balance of production. I watched and knew the answer. Economics. Explained by you many years ago in detail. Recently I watched a video, old about whether you were a "historian" or not. My friend, you are one of the best historians of your era. Shacket it off, take your place. Maybe I am a Kool-Aid drinker, but you have this all figured out. Your economic insights into motivations are truly innovative. It all makes sense and you are the key player in explaining all this. I have bad news, man up, you are the man. Grab your damn bayonet, stick it to some of these "historians" and keep up the good work. I went to become a patron, I already was one. So send me a high five. Sharpen your baynet. You are one of the preeminent historians of our time. Deal with it. No more talk you aren't one.
I highly appreciate the work you put in your videos, thank you for making them. I also appreciate you add a lot of references, I highly appreciate it (though some are quite hard to read). I recently found a lot of information on a Dutch soldier in Nazi service that allows me to understand the story better on the individual soldier level, but your videos tell me a great deal about the big picture. And even though he did not serve at Stalingrad, I look forward to watching all of those videos. If they are as good as the videos I managed to squeeze in thusfar, I am in for a great and well researched experience. And kudos for taking time for yourself, hopefully it didn't have a huge impact on your income so you can do them at regular intervals and stay healthy and sane ;) for a long time still.
Wow, thank you! I wasn't able to put references in this video (to be fair, most are from Zetterling's or Buttar's books anyway), but I do think references really do show that I'm backing everything up. And yes, I do intend to take more breaks in the future because it was definitely needed and helped a lot
@@TheImperatorKnight Thank you for this amazing and knowledgeable teachings in videos like this I can't even begin to express my gratitude and appreciation for you taking time n creating videos
I really like this. Glantz's work reveals so much that was incorrect in our text books from the Cold War Era. TIK brings the new sources to bear in a way that is so much more accessible than reading huge thick books (which would be fine, but at "mid life" I don't really have time to read many history books anymore - maybe when I retire in 20 years).
Hell's Gate: the Cherkassy Pocket by Douglas E. Nash was the book I read about this time frame and it was excellent. It just discussed the battle and nothing else, excellent pictures and writing. A very long read but worth it for a book of this topic. People who believe that the German Army was invincible still should read this and understand how the Russians first mastered and then surpassed that Kessel style of combat and operations.
Yes! The Russian/Soviet doctrinal emphasis on encirclement operations was what surprised me the most in his master’s thesis (No Stalingrad on the Dnepr, which formed the basis of that book, if I’m not mistaken), it really opened my eyes on the fact that the Red Army had a quite sophisticated and modern understanding of mobile operations.
2 года назад+51
Very interesting! Besides the very accurate description of how the Korsun pocket was formed, two things caught my attention: one, the everlasting German problem of spare parts for their tanks (what is the object of having supposedly superior tanks if you cannot put them into use) and two that the Soviets were, at this point in the war, also having recruitment problems and, like their German counterparts, were fighting, in many places, with depleted units. Good work Tik!
Being on the offensive The Red Army was able to muster some recruits in the areas it was overrunning. The German neglect of spare parts was an extraordinary self - imposed handicap, the downside of Speer's Production Miracle possibly.
I also can't wait to carry on with the Weimar Hyperinflation series. Even though it gets half the views the other videos get, it's incredibly enjoyable to make, and it's so relevant to the times we're living in right now. The markets are crashing, the printers are printing, and nobody seems to have learnt from history. Well, I intend to get some of you to learn at least.
@@TheImperatorKnight I’d argue they have learned from history and either think the results will change by getting rid of “problem people” or they want the society that mess produced.
@@TheImperatorKnight If only the governments were forced to actually print their "money". It is now done electronically. (How long would it take and how much paper to create trillions of dollars?) During the 2008 economic crisis the banks' reserve funds were shown to be too low. The fix? The US Treasury electronically gave the banks the needed shortfall of funds and told them not to disburse it. The banking auditors judged the banks as solvent. Crisis easily avoided!
Excellent video in presentation, material and balance. Your videos and moving maps are outstanding in quality and information. Retired US Army infantry officer.
21:50 The "11th Panzer Division" Panthers (actually I./Pz.Rgt. 26) are an interesting subject. It was a brand new battalion on Panthers, just recently trained on the new tank type. It received its Panthers only in December 1943, being quickly sent to the east a mere month later. It was originally destined for Italy to join its parent division, 26th Panzer Division. However it was diverted to the east in early January as a temporary substitute for the Grossdeutschland Panther battalion, which was being formed in the west. The GD was defending near Kirovograd at the time. It was then hastily moved 100km north to be urgently borrowed by 11th Panzer Division. Sources. Nash, Jentz, Klages.
The problem with the German army at this stage of the war is not only their depleted manpower and proper equipment, but they are also increasing conscription range and decreasing adequate amount of training for the new recruit in order to quickly replenish their front, which was still not enough. There was also the problem of not enough replenishment of commanding officers, which is also poorly trained, from a squad level (from the lower level of command). So with the recruits, not only are poorly trained and equipped, there are also a lack of quality men leading them. Imagine being a football (or soccer) coach and seeing your team is filled with 65-75% new recruit with your star player gone and you don't even have uniforms for them all. Only half of your new recruit have uniforms and you have a game to play tomorrow.
Yeah ... the Germans were especially in a bad predicament with regards to replacing downed tactical-level officers by the time they reached 1944. Things became much worse by the time of the Battle of Bulge. I remember being told about the 3rd Fallschirmjager Division. During the Normandy battle, it was a superb unit; so much so that the Allied commanders rated it as equivalent to two US infantry divisions. However, it performed horribly during the Battle of the Bulge. One of its regiments were stopped cold by a depleted US radio-recon platoon during the first day at Lanzareth. It turned out that it was led by a Luftwaffe officer with no tactical ground training. This US platoon was not neutralized until a sergeant who happened to be a veteran Fallschirmjager took over the command. I think this sad predicament also reflects the limitation of the German way of war--i.e., Bewugungskrieg, or "war of movement". It was embraced by the Kingdom of Prussia in order to be able to improve its odd vs. its powerful neighbors. Since Prussia was in a position of inferiority, it emphasized superior training, maneuverability, and planning in order to knock out an opponent in a single campaign, thus compensating for its weaker economic base. The Seven Years War demonstrated both the strengths and the weaknesses of the Prussian (German) way of war. It prevailed as long as its opponents were not well-coordinated while still trying to figure out whom they were up against. However, once this war turned into a war of attrition, it did not take long before Prussia found itself clinching the straws on a cliff. With its ranks and files of trained and experienced officers and soldiers bled almost white, it could no longer practice war the way it preferred. I also remember being told how many German general-grade officers were killed in action during WW2, which was quite a lot. The German way of war demands quite a lot from commanding officers, even generals, thus more likely to be closer to the harm's way.
Definitely. The grand cross section of experienced NCO’s and Junior Officers had been obliterated by this point and would take 3-5yrs to replace at minimum. We’re talking about men who’s whole adult lives had been spent in the army, nearly all gone. This paralyzed the flexible effectiveness of Heer Infantry divisions.
You completely ignore how a large portion of the Wehrmacht was made up from very skilled veterans at this point. Of course they used new units, but the surviving ones made up probably the deadliest modern warfare soldiers of all time. The main problems were the main commanders who are responsible for not retreating to eastern poland from russian and the baltics thus shortening the front with like 300 hundred kilometers and giving the army groups enough reserve
@@darklysm8345 Um, yeah, that was definitely implied. We’ve been over that. That’s day one info that we’ve been over time and time and time again and he didn’t Ignore it as much as he sensibly limited his comment. Anyone can hop on wiki, watch some videos and type out a manifesto. That’s not what we’re doing here though. Thanks for chiming in though. I do take issue with the statement that the surviving veterans at this point were the “deadliest of all time”. What eastern front front-line veterans still remained were capable soldiers indeed. Particularly skilled in shock adaptation but only where their resource allocation allowed. We can reference 5 different Eastern Front vets from this period in the war and get 5 different impressions of the average Heer frontline soldier at this period. The takeaway is that at the Corps level, this is not the same Wehrmacht from even a year earlier and the Soviet steamroller is only getting stronger. I have as much respect for the combat capabilities of the German Eastern Front vet as anyone, but they were far from the “deadliest of all time”, especially on a macro level.
@@nateweter4012 Im not getting carried away, surviving 3-4 years on the eastern front, especially on the german side was probably made you a killing machine
I have always found this cauldron battle interesting from all the personal accounts over the years of the men who actually fought this horrific,nasty battle and the absolute despair of the escape to breakout back to the main body of the German lines...talk about mind crushing PTSD... thank you for taking time to reflect on the subject and your through analysis of the events...I can hardly wait for your next post on this topic.
Read Degrelles autobio, and your video paired with his account def helps set a very clear picture about the chaos going on at the Cherkassy pocket. It seems like a great number of people were being flown back and forth for briefs with Hitler at this time. Seems strange. Thanks for your hard work! good to see another video
I'm certainly finding the reduced strength of units kinda interesting. Soviets use also of garrison troops to be quite novel and handy. Really useful formation.
I mean…the Germans were also forced to rely on Garrison troops, for example on D-Day. The difference is of course that those troops ended up facing he brunt of the British and American offensive.
I'd read about the Soviets using what the Germans called Pakfronts at Kursk - basically a company of anti-tank guns with their own attached detachments of infantry and engineers. A modest allotment of manpower, but heavily armed and well-entrenched: a tough nut to crack relative their overall unit size. The Fortified Regions seem to be a similar concept, but it's interesting to see how the Soviets have applied the theory for use by an army that's on the offensive.
The Soviet's economy-of-force troops are called Укреплённый район, Укрепрайон, ukreplyonny raion, ukrepraion, meaning "fortified region" or "fortified district". They are machine-gun-mortar-artillery units that economise manpower by consisting of mostly crew-served weapons. If you really think about it, most of a rifle squad's firepower is in the machine gun. that means 9-12 men are actually relying on 1-2 LMGs for most of their firepower. The riflemen can do things like preventing flanking attacks and so on, but most often, they are the "spares". Fortified regions economise this by making everyone a crew of crew-served weapons: different kinds of machine guns, mortars, and artillery. Typically, a parent formation has three lighter units plus one heavy unit: like three rifle squads to one weapons squad. Fortified regions make every squad a weapons squad. Normal infantry or rifle units have better mobility: they can advance, attack, and close in with the enemy while the fortified district trade mobility for better economy of force and firepower. They make sure that while they can't attack the other side in a traditional assault, they can still prevent or at least make the other side's attack into a difficult proposition that cost casualties. They also have mortars and artillery, meaning that they can also harass and confuse the other side in support of deliberate attacks elsewhere. For the Soviets, they had experience with holding large stretch of the front with relatively few troops who were armed with a lot of firepower during the Russian Civil War. The concept lived on through the Cold War as well. When the Korean War reached the stalemate phase, American infantry resorted to similar tactics: defending and entrenched American infantry squads acquired half to a dozen of additional automatic weapons and machine guns to then pour on the attackers if they were attacked.
@@VT-mw2zb of course, this would require them to actually have this amount of heavy weapons and machine guns. Presumably, the Germans would not have been able to equip their garrison or fortress divisions this well.
@@raylast3873 the Germans were almost always on shoestring logistics: fuel, ammunition, whatever. Crew-served weapon fortified regions consume prodigious amounts of ammunition but isn't that WWII was about? Production and logistics. Also, they can't chase down partisans very effectively.
Since I learned about this when you mentioned this on a vid about a mo. ago, this has become one of my very favorite military maneuvers in all of WW2. Thanks immensely Mr. TIKHiis
I have just read the Osprey Dniepr Campaign book...This sets up the scenario/conditions for Korsun...It also focuses on the absolutely terrible status of the Germam infantry by late '43...Without infantry it was impossible to hold any defensive line effectively...
Having read all three of Prit Buttar's books, I can say they are excellent and very even handed. The Soviets still make the same mistakes early on, but learn from 43-44 how to attack. Then the added bonus of T34/85's and early SU and JS tanks, it only goes one way. How ever good the German equipment is, its just not reliable moving around, and rear area workshops could not keep up with the ebb and flow of battle. The Panther turns out to be a car crash of a tank, as they only manage to get a third going at any one time. AFV losses for the Germans are massive, as workshops do not send tanks back to Germany for heavy repair, but keep them for spares. So when they retreat they lose them. Great again TIK and look forward to the next one.
What are your sources for only a third of Panthers available at any one time? According to the vaunted Tom Jentz, the overall average Panther operational rate was about 2/3 (65%). Non operational figures also include battle damage repairs needed, so not merely mechanical issues.
@@lyndoncmp5751 This quote is from a German report.. Availability rate of the Panther tanks deployed on the Eastern Front, going from the 37 percent in February to 50 percent in April and 78 percent by the end of may 1944. page 10-12 “Panther vs Sherman: Battle of the Bulge 1944” by Steven Zaloga The increase in availability is not only down to some repairs. Old damaged tanks that were left behind as the Germans retreated. So these were removed from the German books. Repair shops also stopped sending damaged Panthers home, declaring them a right off, so they could use the parts as spares because there were none available. Panthers did not stay on the German books for long, as the losses went through the roof during the campaign 37% of 850 is better than 78% of 225.
Excellent work and really happy I found your channel. I have noticed you mentioned the 8th Stug Abt and I believe this was the 8th Panzer Abt, the remnant of Pzr Regt 8 which was destroyed in N. Africa and which was re-constituted and sent to Ukraine in OCT/NOV 43. It never managed to link up with its parent division, the 20th Panzergrenadier Division until the very end. Pzr Abt 8 later went west to Uman and even later it was caught up in the Hube kessel. Keep up the great work.
By this time, even arguably by 1943 after Stalingrad, the German political leadership had realized they couldn't win their objectives of seizing the USSR and its resources for themselves, but the possibility of a negotiated peace was still open. Some have called this defense without strategy, but I disagree. The Germans were trying to recreate what the Soviets did in 1941-42 where the entire nation was thrown into the fight. This was all in the hopes of wearing down an already bloodied Soviet Union and forcing them into a peace that even if it didn't allow Germany to hold onto her gains, would at least allow Germany to survive as a sovereign state. In this context forbidding retreat, draconian penalties, organizing the populace into Volkssturm militias, and declaring cities festungs makes sense, as the strategic objective is not conservation of forces for a war of movement, but a grinding war of attrition. Sure the 10,000 men you left in something-grad will die, but they might take more Soviets with them. Some might say this plan is unrealistic, or wishful thinking, but it was the only one left to the Germans. Dig in your heels, and hope the Allies and Soviets exhaust themselves. The one problem with this plan though was the Western Allies, they gave a way out to the Germans that the Soviets didn't have in 1941-42.
1. a lot of lands which were prior occupied by Germans were retaken. Soviet Union saw all this ransacked and devastated mess the Axis left behind them. Red Army soldiers fighting on the frontlines had all dead and executed family members and close friends. The hatered was huge. And now imagine the government "making peacetreaties behind thier backs" with the beast they try to catch and slay for what it did? The lands which Axis occupied were not some random lands on which the soviets fought. And Hitlerites were not a random army just "passing by", like e.g. the Napoleonic Grande Armee back in the days (eventhough they ransacked too, and burned some villages on the march but overall there was no "hatered" towards the population and no downgrading to the "Untermensch"...). The time to push the murdering nazi machine has come and that's what the soviets did
@Micheal ve yeah sure, this one larping weirdo with his boys club somehow managed to plan and steer world history 100 years in advance, while political geniuses like Napoleon weren't even able to correctly plan one year ahead. Makes perfect sense =)
And what "way out" had been given to Germany by the Western Allies in early 1944? That USSR did not have in 1941-1942?. I'm not an academic historian but I am pretty sure "Unconditional Surrender" was the only end envisaged by the Allies since at least,(publicly) Casablanca in 1942. Early 42' I believe. I just thought, perhaps you meant ideologically that the Germans were to "annihilate the Slav-Untermenchen" as their war aims and so even if USSR were to lay down its arms this would not end the "war of annihilation", therefore full capitulation demanded by the Allies at least acknowledged the German Peoples right to exist as a Nation. Whereas any Surrender by the organization of armed forces and "government" of the Russian Nation would've had the same result. The Germans had no intention of allowing any form of existence for the Russian People after the war. Is this what you meant?
@@styx4947 Casablanda meaned nothing. Stockholm peace talks lasted during 1943 and probably even in 1944. The peace was possible, and if most of the Wehrmacht are in France, The D-Day would be impossible. This would only lead to nuclear strike on some German city, in this case the germans would use their chemical weapons in revenge. It would be a cold war
What i don't understand TIK is that Stemmerman had stockpiled munitions just for such a scenario because he knew that they were weak and their rear areas were in a terrible mess due to Bombing and sabotage by this stage of the War. Please continue with this as its probably the best and most accurate account of these sets of Battles Thankyou
The moment you videos come out I instantly stop what I'm doing and watch! Lol Tik your honestly the best channel for historical information on the second world war and economics! Thanks mate 👍🏻
Excellent commentary and discussion about the ever hopeless situation Germany found itself in on the Eastern Front. It's obvious that the high command, senior, middle, and junior officers had a serious communications problem. The fanaticism from Hitler and his virtue signaling high command refused to accept their shortcomings and untenable situation. Rather they placed unrealistic demands to their commands, expecting unrealistic outcomes. TIK breaks these barriers down excellent. Including the Russian limitations had prior to this assault. Including the better decisions that were made, and more flexibility at the Russian leaders disposal when placed with adversarial setbacks. Well explained!
I was not familiar about this battle so thank you for covering it TIK. P.s gotta say I love the "Making RUclips Videos book" on the shelf. Light reading after a deep dive into Stalingrad ;)
Well done TIK this is an exemplary video and shows how professional and compelling your videos are. I also love the way you build up narrative tension - it remains of the way Apollo 13 still managed to be a gripping film even though you know the ending. You have achieved mastery in your art.
I read a book in french on that battle from Jean Lopez. I found it good. I remeber that he insists on the very bad state of the terrain, with lot of mud that put a real difficulty for the tanks on the both side.
Alongside the World war 2 week by week channel the best content. And probably even more in dept. Keep ik up, and i always like the videos right away.👍🏼
I have always respected TIK as one of the few historians on RUclips who seems genuinely non biased and determined to give a balanced and more nuanced description of events.
My Granduncle Georg was in the 11. Panzerdivision 15. Panzer-Regiment, he escaped the pocket. He was a Panther driver, they ran out of Panthers well before their surrender in 1945 and finished the war in a StuG.
According to the records of the SS Wallonia there were 51000 Axis in the pocket of wich 21000 made it out. 647 of the 1800 Walloons got out. There's even a nice video on you tube where Degrelle, Dengis, Van Der Veken, father Fierens and many other SSers explain there version of the story.
Getting the men out was good but units had lost their equipment and were destroyed as combat formations( at least temporarily). In the Ardennes the US 106th division was cut off and only 5500 of its 14,500 men made it out. Yes that was good but it took weeks to rebuild/ re-equip the division essentially removing it from the US order of battle. Same for the Germans but with far less equipment/manpower resources.
I dont know where you got that figure from. The true figures are 40,423 that got out. 36,232, broke out and 4,161 were flown out. Page 366 Hells Gate by Douglas Nash.
Yes! A new East Front series from TIK! Looking forward to a detailed analysis of what happened during this infamous battle where incredible acts of bravery were shown from both sides. Hopefully the actions at Hill 239 will be mentioned in later videos of this series.
@@daviddoran3673 Within the Korsun/Cherkassy pocket, the Soviets held it despite themselves being surrounded by German forces. It became a point of focus during the breakout of German troops where Soviets withstood desperate attacks to take it.
Now there's someone who knew how to blow his own trumpet!! I fail to see how someone who deserts their men towards the end of the war can be described as a hero though, a self serving, conniving backstabber who's sole ambition was to further his own political aims and who denied Lucien Lippert his just rewards maybe, hero definately not.
@@malcolmhunt7108he stayed longer than most commanders and decorated his men while frequently visiting them and tbh by the time he left it really was every man for himself. The war was lost and very near it end and as a political figure who had sided with the occupiers his fate was sealed unlike the ordinary enlisted man. Look at all other figures before the war and during. All were killed or sentenced to prison and leon outlived them and survived them all.
Hello TIK. Another excellent episode. Very glad to see you using Buttar as a reference. I find him to be a well balanced read on the Eastern front. Both WW1 & 2. Is it just me or does Lieb look like Captain Haddock of Tintin fame?
Completelh agree. You can see the enthusiast that he has for these focused political or military ‘interludes’ compared to the relentless meat grinder that is the Stalingrad series.
22:00 It seems either you or the source made a mistake right there. This panther bataillon was not the panther Bataillon of the 11th Panzer Division (which would be I./Panzer-Regiment 15) but rather that of the 26th Panzer Division (I./Panzer-Regiment 26). This Division fought in Italy at that time but the panther bataillon was send to the Eastern Front and was actually under the command of the Grossdeutschland Division (its own panther battalion was still in training). Additionally this bataillon was inexperienced and didn't got Infantry and artillery support. ,,Another good sign was the attachment of an additional tank battalion to provide more offensive capability to 11.Pz.Div. This battalion, I./Pz.Rgt.26, had been borrowed from Pz.Gren.Div. Grossdeutschland, then situated nearly 100 kilometers further south, where it defended a sector southwest of Kirovograd. Equipped with 61 brand new Panthers, the battalion had only recently been transferred to the Russian Front from the West, where it had just completed its training. Originally destined for 26.Pz.Div., then fighting in Italy, it was diverted earlier that month to Grossdeutschland as a temporary substitute for that division's own Pantherbattalion, also being formed in France at the same time. Commanded by Maj.Glaesgen, this battalion never made it to 26.Pz.Div., but fought with various Grossdeutschlandunits until the end of the war. Wohler had been trying to wrest permission for its employment in his counterattack from Army Group South for several days; by the evening of 26 January, he was finally granted permission to begin its movement to the north, which began the following morning. Along with its tanks, the battalion was augmented by several elements of Grossdeutschlands own panzer regimental headquarters, such as repair and recovery teams, as well as an anti aircraft platoon." (Hells Gate by Douglas E. Nash, p.80). Nash also gives a good account on the actual deployment of the battalion: ,,There, near Pissarevka, a large tank battle had been underway since mid morning,pitting the Grossdeutschland's I./Pz.Rgt.26 against a sizable Soviet tank force situated among the rolling hills northeast of the town. The Panthers, attacking in conjunction with the 905.StuG.Abt., ran directly into the path of another Soviet tank attack from the direction of Ossitnyashka. Adding to the Germans' problems was that a large number of Soviet antitank guns had been sited in both Pissarevka and Tishkovka, forcing them to attack through a deadly crossfire. The situation was an ideal one for the Soviet defenders, since the Germans were forced to attack uphill most of the way and were unable to take advantage of their superior long-range tank cannon. By 1100 hours, the Panther battalion had destroyed 12 T-34s, though 15 of its own tanks were knocked out. Maj.Glaesgen, the battalion commander, was fatally wounded near Yusefovka while standing in his turret. Though an experienced commander himself, his unit's baptism of fire had come at a high price." (p. 89). A good article on the subject:www.dupuyinstitute.org/blog/2018/08/10/panther-breakdowns-in-january-1944/ Otherwise fantastic video about this little covered operation. A video about the Vistula bridgeheads (Magnuszew, Pulawy, Sandormierz) would be amazing...
You can see in this video and many others the critical importance of supply and logistics. The Germans made things harder on themselves by having all these new hi tech vehicles but it caused problems with supply of spare parts. They simply had too many different kinds of tanks. While many people criticize the American Sherman tank, you can see why the Americans went with a standard design and kept it that way for years because it eased supply issues. All their planes carried the 50 caliber machine gun as well for similar reasons. The Soviets relied on the T-34 chassis for most of the War. Even the upgraded T-34/85 used many of the same parts for the hull and suspension. So simplifying your supply chain really helps out.
The Luftwaffe was able to fly in supplies at night, using the concrete runways at their Uman airbase nearby. Uman was the main supply centre and had been Von Mansteins HQ
Hey TIK, love your work. Have you considered doing a video(s) about the battle of Breslau? It was the last major German city to surrender to the Soviets, and its hopeless and unnessesary, fanatical defence has always fascunated me.
When evacuation of Breslau cilvian many of them were lucky enough to go Dresden in February and were most being housed in City centre from the frying pan to the fire
Very cool. I visited Vinograd around 20 years ago and I always wondered if some big battles happened around there. Apparently, they did. Anyway, it's a very pretty area now.
I remember reading about this battle by Douglas Nash's Hell's Gate book. What a crazy battle that both sides claimed they both won. Tactical victory for the Germans but strategic victory for the Russians. The Germans lost alot of equipment in their and those 40,000ish casualties were a real problem.
I'm not sure how the Germans could claim a tactical victory on this one. They did get some of their men out of the pocket, but they failed to prevent the Soviets breaking through the lines, failed to resupply their pocket, failed to relieve the pocket, and mostly failed to breakout. The only way this is a victory is if you remember that Manstein always wins, because he is the god-emperor of Aryan-kind, and retreating to Berlin is the best way to advance.
@@TheImperatorKnight I think the way the Germans thought it was at least in some way a tactical success was particularly mentioned in Vormanns report and his book pushes towards the saving of the men from the pocket being a success, even though they were completely broken and needed R and R after the battle apart from Wiking it was straight to Kovel for Wiking. I remember reading of young Wiking grenadier's crying as they were withdrawing near the russian lines. Think that was in Leon Degrelle's "intresting" memoirs.
More often than not when you look at the results of German breakouts in the latter part of the war, you'll find that they lost the total amount or the large majority of their heavy equipment and the units were virtually without fuel when all was said and done. Just reequipping and resupplying the divisions involved alone was a steady drain of German resources.
Above all the Soviets overestimated the size of the trapped force due to the various detachments in the two cut off corps. Because of Corps Abteilung B, (3 cadre infantry divisions joined together), a regiment of 168th division, and the Belgian SS brigade, they calulated a trapped force of nearly 10 divisions, not the 5 or so they actually had caught.
I wish you had added a map showing exactly where this battle was fought. Personally I had a tough time finding the area on a current map. Also distance scales are a big help.
In listing your sources your source material you mentioned a couple of books there’s a really good book related to the subject called HellsGate I think it would be helpful as it has lots of maps and very detailed narrative of the battle
the next encirclement they suffered in that area (kamentes podolsky) is argued to be an operational level situation that exhausted the german reserves in the eve of Normandy/Bagration and was fundamental in the succes of both of these operations. What you guys say?
16:15 And here we have it: Manstein wasn't there, because he had been summoned by Hitler. Without that, he would habe been able to barehandedly (and probably barechestedly) counterattack the Soviets and beat them back! After all, they were only outnumbered 10:1. He had dealt with far worse!
I generally don't watch videos that last less than half an hour. I worked as a researcher and historical assistant to several commercial video productions and have with one exception asked to have my credits redacted. Tik, your work is what I aspired to and should be done. Faced with commercial realities one realises that most producers would prefer that Arnhem (A very bitter example) could be examined with 4-600words. Your work is outstanding and (With the greatest respect) I doubt that anyone without experince in research realises how much time and effort is required in your presentations. I hope that persons consider your work and go on to question held narratives and sources. Thank you for your hard work.
I disagree about others realizing the time and effort put in to these. That's why we watch....he does all the hard work and we reap the benefits. Hope ur work goes well! Cheers 🍻
I have some experience in research ( not military ) and get why TIK had to have a break it can be mentally damageing to do nothing but study or is that just me?
@@gingernutpreacher No, it's not you Preacher. Editing alone can be mind numbing as hours fly by like minutes. I restrict my editing to two hours before a long mental break of 30 to 60 minutes.
AVE SATANAS
@@markb8468 Scrolling through the comments as i do after watching his videos, people including myself often voice their appreciation for Tik's hard work and rightly so. A great many of his viewers are scholars and professionals with ongoing experience in research. It's also reflected in the general consensus that our man should take regular breaks.
I live near the area where these events took place. In some places (mostly in woods and near certain roads) you can still see marks of trenches.
Interesting.
Pics
I would find that so distracting and exciting! Id feel compelled to read the topography and search for souvenirs...constantly!!!!
Have you read Leon Degrelle's book? He fought in this battle and gave a great first eye description of break out.
People from my country did fight there in freicorr Danmark in Division Wiking reg. Nordland later reg. 24 Dänemark(they even fought inside Berlin, where there commander Obersturmbannfuhrer Per Sørensen get shot in the back, i read in history how they managed to get him”War burried” at a German cemetary with help from local widow, later hes mother get him get graved up and brought Home to Denmark where hes now rest in hes family grave as Premiere løjtnant in the Danish army(hes rank before he joined waffen ss 1.Leutenant).
It was a unecessary War and today about last days in januar 2022 i Think of the twist Russia vs Ukraine and i Can se from moscows eyes we(NATO) Are getting nearer moscow what could be”the buffer zone” poland was created for just that, but i like the polish people and the ordinary russian(european Russians) and Ukraine and Denmark have historical and biological things in common kiev rus was a viking State made of Ukraine and Denmark 🇩🇰🇺🇦
God bless you Tik. 95% of RUclips videos reviewing eastern front battles do it at such a surface level that it bores me, and i am being VERY fair by saying 95%. They give us the appetizer and you give us the appetizer, full main course and desert.. and a to go box lol. You sir are truly doing the good Lord's work. I salute you brother.
I'd LOVE to see your standpoints on Bagration and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria
Yes, although those 95% get more views than me 😂👍
I think this is the first proper time that this battle has ever been covered online. There are a couple videos about it, but they're super-vague. There's one or two maps, and they're inaccurate. So yes, I think this might be the first time this battle has been covered in any depth online.
@@TheImperatorKnight absolutely. I haven't come across a Korsun video that's even close to this. Your dedication to your work is evident and very much appreciated by us who want to know about all the variables that made these operations successful or unsuccessful and not just this army attacked and succeeded or thrown back. I've followed you for years now and I've seen your following grow and I know it will continue bc there is nothing like it. Keep doing your thing! Respect from Washington DC 🤘🏾.
@@Gnosis639 There are some cool online videos but in other languages. I speak German, Russian, Polish and English and I have seen many videos covering eastern front operations omitted by the western histriography. Rarely do you ever see battle of Debrecen, Battle for river Mius, Jassy-Kishniev offensive, battle of Dniepr and others which is weird as all of them were pretty significant in scale and casualties. Russian videos are mostly full of overblown soviet sources but there are some which are toned down. Seeing TIKs videos and sources I have realized that there are few western historians which look into sources different than German generals writing memoirs which explains why mainstream history is so full of myths and specific narratives. I would like to commend TIK for his broad use of every source, even those specifically written as propaganda as all of them tell us something.
@@TheImperatorKnight on the other hand you have a more 'matured' and more able and willing to pay for a good content auditory
@@TheImperatorKnight There is an hour long video from Alexey Isaev in Russian. You have much better graphics
Small town of Panchevo ( you can see it on 11:44 minute of video ) is a town named by Serbs who were settled in Ukranie in later half of the 18th century. They named it after there hometown of the same name in Serbia, where I am from. Both of them still exist today, and there is even one more in Bulgaria (unconected to its serbian counterpart, town derives it name from slavic word for swamp)
I know. Many places in Ukraine have serb name. Also many serbs go to Russia.
Tik, as a retired senior military officer in the Army, I studied the Russian/German conflict in WW2 in great detail. Your videos and superior knowledge of this titanic struggle humbled me. Magnificent videos and I watch them often. Keep up the tremendous work.
I was watching a lecture at Naval War College. Discussing allocation of resources and balance of production. I watched and knew the answer. Economics. Explained by you many years ago in detail. Recently I watched a video, old about whether you were a "historian" or not. My friend, you are one of the best historians of your era. Shacket it off, take your place. Maybe I am a Kool-Aid drinker, but you have this all figured out. Your economic insights into motivations are truly innovative. It all makes sense and you are the key player in explaining all this. I have bad news, man up, you are the man. Grab your damn bayonet, stick it to some of these "historians" and keep up the good work. I went to become a patron, I already was one. So send me a high five. Sharpen your baynet. You are one of the preeminent historians of our time. Deal with it. No more talk you aren't one.
Great history analysis, thanks TIK! I didn't think or know about the Germans moving the 88s away from the Eastern Front, wow.
I highly appreciate the work you put in your videos, thank you for making them. I also appreciate you add a lot of references, I highly appreciate it (though some are quite hard to read). I recently found a lot of information on a Dutch soldier in Nazi service that allows me to understand the story better on the individual soldier level, but your videos tell me a great deal about the big picture. And even though he did not serve at Stalingrad, I look forward to watching all of those videos. If they are as good as the videos I managed to squeeze in thusfar, I am in for a great and well researched experience.
And kudos for taking time for yourself, hopefully it didn't have a huge impact on your income so you can do them at regular intervals and stay healthy and sane ;) for a long time still.
Wow, thank you! I wasn't able to put references in this video (to be fair, most are from Zetterling's or Buttar's books anyway), but I do think references really do show that I'm backing everything up. And yes, I do intend to take more breaks in the future because it was definitely needed and helped a lot
@@TheImperatorKnight Thank you for this amazing and knowledgeable teachings in videos like this I can't even begin to express my gratitude and appreciation for you taking time n creating videos
I really like this. Glantz's work reveals so much that was incorrect in our text books from the Cold War Era. TIK brings the new sources to bear in a way that is so much more accessible than reading huge thick books (which would be fine, but at "mid life" I don't really have time to read many history books anymore - maybe when I retire in 20 years).
Let me agree and subscribe your toughts.
Hells Gate by Douglas Nash is the premier work on this battle.
Who says Glantz is right?
Hell's Gate: the Cherkassy Pocket by Douglas E. Nash was the book I read about this time frame and it was excellent. It just discussed the battle and nothing else, excellent pictures and writing. A very long read but worth it for a book of this topic. People who believe that the German Army was invincible still should read this and understand how the Russians first mastered and then surpassed that Kessel style of combat and operations.
Indeed. It is EASILY the best work on this battle.
Yes! The Russian/Soviet doctrinal emphasis on encirclement operations was what surprised me the most in his master’s thesis (No Stalingrad on the Dnepr, which formed the basis of that book, if I’m not mistaken), it really opened my eyes on the fact that the Red Army had a quite sophisticated and modern understanding of mobile operations.
Very interesting! Besides the very accurate description of how the Korsun pocket was formed, two things caught my attention: one, the everlasting German problem of spare parts for their tanks (what is the object of having supposedly superior tanks if you cannot put them into use) and two that the Soviets were, at this point in the war, also having recruitment problems and, like their German counterparts, were fighting, in many places, with depleted units. Good work Tik!
Being on the offensive The Red Army was able to muster some recruits in the areas it was overrunning.
The German neglect of spare parts was an extraordinary self - imposed handicap, the downside of Speer's Production Miracle possibly.
Considering they couldn’t fuel them anyways, one might wonder why they even bothered with tanks at this point.
Cant wait to watch the video, great content TIK! Im super excited to hear more about the hyperinflation during the Weimar Period.
I also can't wait to carry on with the Weimar Hyperinflation series. Even though it gets half the views the other videos get, it's incredibly enjoyable to make, and it's so relevant to the times we're living in right now. The markets are crashing, the printers are printing, and nobody seems to have learnt from history. Well, I intend to get some of you to learn at least.
@@TheImperatorKnight stocks are falling?
No problem just print more money
I agree. Stick to banks. ;-)
@@TheImperatorKnight I’d argue they have learned from history and either think the results will change by getting rid of “problem people” or they want the society that mess produced.
@@TheImperatorKnight If only the governments were forced to actually print their "money". It is now done electronically. (How long would it take and how much paper to create trillions of dollars?)
During the 2008 economic crisis the banks' reserve funds were shown to be too low. The fix? The US Treasury electronically gave the banks the needed shortfall of funds and told them not to disburse it. The banking auditors judged the banks as solvent. Crisis easily avoided!
Excellent video in presentation, material and balance. Your videos and moving maps are outstanding in quality and information. Retired US Army infantry officer.
21:50
The "11th Panzer Division" Panthers (actually I./Pz.Rgt. 26) are an interesting subject. It was a brand new battalion on Panthers, just recently trained on the new tank type. It received its Panthers only in December 1943, being quickly sent to the east a mere month later. It was originally destined for Italy to join its parent division, 26th Panzer Division. However it was diverted to the east in early January as a temporary substitute for the Grossdeutschland Panther battalion, which was being formed in the west. The GD was defending near Kirovograd at the time. It was then hastily moved 100km north to be urgently borrowed by 11th Panzer Division.
Sources. Nash, Jentz, Klages.
The amount of detail is spectacular . I can only imagine how much stuff you have to go through to filter this much detail from all the sources .
The problem with the German army at this stage of the war is not only their depleted manpower and proper equipment, but they are also increasing conscription range and decreasing adequate amount of training for the new recruit in order to quickly replenish their front, which was still not enough. There was also the problem of not enough replenishment of commanding officers, which is also poorly trained, from a squad level (from the lower level of command). So with the recruits, not only are poorly trained and equipped, there are also a lack of quality men leading them.
Imagine being a football (or soccer) coach and seeing your team is filled with 65-75% new recruit with your star player gone and you don't even have uniforms for them all. Only half of your new recruit have uniforms and you have a game to play tomorrow.
Yeah ... the Germans were especially in a bad predicament with regards to replacing downed tactical-level officers by the time they reached 1944. Things became much worse by the time of the Battle of Bulge. I remember being told about the 3rd Fallschirmjager Division. During the Normandy battle, it was a superb unit; so much so that the Allied commanders rated it as equivalent to two US infantry divisions. However, it performed horribly during the Battle of the Bulge. One of its regiments were stopped cold by a depleted US radio-recon platoon during the first day at Lanzareth. It turned out that it was led by a Luftwaffe officer with no tactical ground training. This US platoon was not neutralized until a sergeant who happened to be a veteran Fallschirmjager took over the command.
I think this sad predicament also reflects the limitation of the German way of war--i.e., Bewugungskrieg, or "war of movement". It was embraced by the Kingdom of Prussia in order to be able to improve its odd vs. its powerful neighbors. Since Prussia was in a position of inferiority, it emphasized superior training, maneuverability, and planning in order to knock out an opponent in a single campaign, thus compensating for its weaker economic base. The Seven Years War demonstrated both the strengths and the weaknesses of the Prussian (German) way of war. It prevailed as long as its opponents were not well-coordinated while still trying to figure out whom they were up against. However, once this war turned into a war of attrition, it did not take long before Prussia found itself clinching the straws on a cliff. With its ranks and files of trained and experienced officers and soldiers bled almost white, it could no longer practice war the way it preferred.
I also remember being told how many German general-grade officers were killed in action during WW2, which was quite a lot. The German way of war demands quite a lot from commanding officers, even generals, thus more likely to be closer to the harm's way.
Definitely. The grand cross section of experienced NCO’s and Junior Officers had been obliterated by this point and would take 3-5yrs to replace at minimum. We’re talking about men who’s whole adult lives had been spent in the army, nearly all gone. This paralyzed the flexible effectiveness of Heer Infantry divisions.
You completely ignore how a large portion of the Wehrmacht was made up from very skilled veterans at this point. Of course they used new units, but the surviving ones made up probably the deadliest modern warfare soldiers of all time.
The main problems were the main commanders who are responsible for not retreating to eastern poland from russian and the baltics thus shortening the front with like 300 hundred kilometers and giving the army groups enough reserve
@@darklysm8345 Um, yeah, that was definitely implied. We’ve been over that. That’s day one info that we’ve been over time and time and time again and he didn’t Ignore it as much as he sensibly limited his comment. Anyone can hop on wiki, watch some videos and type out a manifesto. That’s not what we’re doing here though. Thanks for chiming in though.
I do take issue with the statement that the surviving veterans at this point were the “deadliest of all time”. What eastern front front-line veterans still remained were capable soldiers indeed. Particularly skilled in shock adaptation but only where their resource allocation allowed. We can reference 5 different Eastern Front vets from this period in the war and get 5 different impressions of the average Heer frontline soldier at this period. The takeaway is that at the Corps level, this is not the same Wehrmacht from even a year earlier and the Soviet steamroller is only getting stronger. I have as much respect for the combat capabilities of the German Eastern Front vet as anyone, but they were far from the “deadliest of all time”, especially on a macro level.
@@nateweter4012 Im not getting carried away, surviving 3-4 years on the eastern front, especially on the german side was probably made you a killing machine
14:58 Breaking news!!! Soviet commander reacts to an ongoing battle and shifts his forces accordingly.
Gives me 1940 flashbacks from France ^^
I have always found this cauldron battle interesting from all the personal accounts over the years of the men who actually fought this horrific,nasty battle and the absolute despair of the escape to breakout back to the main body of the German lines...talk about mind crushing PTSD... thank you for taking time to reflect on the subject and your through analysis of the events...I can hardly wait for your next post on this topic.
Read Degrelles autobio, and your video paired with his account def helps set a very clear picture about the chaos going on at the Cherkassy pocket.
It seems like a great number of people were being flown back and forth for briefs with Hitler at this time. Seems strange.
Thanks for your hard work! good to see another video
Thank you so much for covering this. My grandfather was wounded here as a member of the 88th infantry division. MG platoon NCO.
Informative video. The maps, troop movement and battle locations make the history come alive. Thank you.
Videos like this are exactly why trained historians are so important - thank you so much.
I'm certainly finding the reduced strength of units kinda interesting.
Soviets use also of garrison troops to be quite novel and handy. Really useful formation.
I mean…the Germans were also forced to rely on Garrison troops, for example on D-Day. The difference is of course that those troops ended up facing he brunt of the British and American offensive.
I'd read about the Soviets using what the Germans called Pakfronts at Kursk - basically a company of anti-tank guns with their own attached detachments of infantry and engineers. A modest allotment of manpower, but heavily armed and well-entrenched: a tough nut to crack relative their overall unit size.
The Fortified Regions seem to be a similar concept, but it's interesting to see how the Soviets have applied the theory for use by an army that's on the offensive.
The Soviet's economy-of-force troops are called Укреплённый район, Укрепрайон, ukreplyonny raion, ukrepraion, meaning "fortified region" or "fortified district". They are machine-gun-mortar-artillery units that economise manpower by consisting of mostly crew-served weapons. If you really think about it, most of a rifle squad's firepower is in the machine gun. that means 9-12 men are actually relying on 1-2 LMGs for most of their firepower. The riflemen can do things like preventing flanking attacks and so on, but most often, they are the "spares". Fortified regions economise this by making everyone a crew of crew-served weapons: different kinds of machine guns, mortars, and artillery. Typically, a parent formation has three lighter units plus one heavy unit: like three rifle squads to one weapons squad. Fortified regions make every squad a weapons squad.
Normal infantry or rifle units have better mobility: they can advance, attack, and close in with the enemy while the fortified district trade mobility for better economy of force and firepower. They make sure that while they can't attack the other side in a traditional assault, they can still prevent or at least make the other side's attack into a difficult proposition that cost casualties. They also have mortars and artillery, meaning that they can also harass and confuse the other side in support of deliberate attacks elsewhere.
For the Soviets, they had experience with holding large stretch of the front with relatively few troops who were armed with a lot of firepower during the Russian Civil War. The concept lived on through the Cold War as well. When the Korean War reached the stalemate phase, American infantry resorted to similar tactics: defending and entrenched American infantry squads acquired half to a dozen of additional automatic weapons and machine guns to then pour on the attackers if they were attacked.
@@VT-mw2zb of course, this would require them to actually have this amount of heavy weapons and machine guns. Presumably, the Germans would not have been able to equip their garrison or fortress divisions this well.
@@raylast3873 the Germans were almost always on shoestring logistics: fuel, ammunition, whatever. Crew-served weapon fortified regions consume prodigious amounts of ammunition but isn't that WWII was about? Production and logistics. Also, they can't chase down partisans very effectively.
Again Lewis, great work you have done here again. Than you, Dio from The Netherlands. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
great detail, clear animation...thus making the battle easy to understand. super job.
Since I learned about this when you mentioned this on a vid about a mo. ago, this has become one of my very favorite military maneuvers in all of WW2.
Thanks immensely Mr. TIKHiis
Great narration of the events. I cant wait for part 2!!
Another informative and professionally made video by Tik. Thank you, sir for your research and presentation. No one better. Regards from America.
This man puts the history channel to dam shame
Best part of a Monday is watching your newest upload while eating pizza. Keep up the great work.
I have just read the Osprey Dniepr Campaign book...This sets up the scenario/conditions for Korsun...It also focuses on the absolutely terrible status of the Germam infantry by late '43...Without infantry it was impossible to hold any defensive line effectively...
I got The Reckoning about a week ago and great book. Perfect timing for this video!
Having read all three of Prit Buttar's books, I can say they are excellent and very even handed. The Soviets still make the same mistakes early on, but learn from 43-44 how to attack. Then the added bonus of T34/85's and early SU and JS tanks, it only goes one way. How ever good the German equipment is, its just not reliable moving around, and rear area workshops could not keep up with the ebb and flow of battle. The Panther turns out to be a car crash of a tank, as they only manage to get a third going at any one time. AFV losses for the Germans are massive, as workshops do not send tanks back to Germany for heavy repair, but keep them for spares. So when they retreat they lose them. Great again TIK and look forward to the next one.
What are your sources for only a third of Panthers available at any one time?
According to the vaunted Tom Jentz, the overall average Panther operational rate was about 2/3 (65%).
Non operational figures also include battle damage repairs needed, so not merely mechanical issues.
@@lyndoncmp5751 This quote is from a German report.. Availability rate of the Panther tanks deployed on the Eastern Front, going from the 37 percent in February to 50 percent in April and 78 percent by the end of may 1944.
page 10-12 “Panther vs Sherman: Battle of the Bulge 1944” by Steven Zaloga
The increase in availability is not only down to some repairs. Old damaged tanks that were left behind as the Germans retreated. So these were removed from the German books. Repair shops also stopped sending damaged Panthers home, declaring them a right off, so they could use the parts as spares because there were none available. Panthers did not stay on the German books for long, as the losses went through the roof during the campaign 37% of 850 is better than 78% of 225.
Keep it up watching from Philippines 🇵🇭
Excellent work and really happy I found your channel. I have noticed you mentioned the 8th Stug Abt and I believe this was the 8th Panzer Abt, the remnant of Pzr Regt 8 which was destroyed in N. Africa and which was re-constituted and sent to Ukraine in OCT/NOV 43. It never managed to link up with its parent division, the 20th Panzergrenadier Division until the very end. Pzr Abt 8 later went west to Uman and even later it was caught up in the Hube kessel.
Keep up the great work.
Great video. I first heard of this battle from reading a story about Leon degrelle
Feels like you enjoyed having a bit of a palette cleanser from all the Stalingrad stuff.
By this time, even arguably by 1943 after Stalingrad, the German political leadership had realized they couldn't win their objectives of seizing the USSR and its resources for themselves, but the possibility of a negotiated peace was still open. Some have called this defense without strategy, but I disagree.
The Germans were trying to recreate what the Soviets did in 1941-42 where the entire nation was thrown into the fight.
This was all in the hopes of wearing down an already bloodied Soviet Union and forcing them into a peace that even if it didn't allow Germany to hold onto her gains, would at least allow Germany to survive as a sovereign state.
In this context forbidding retreat, draconian penalties, organizing the populace into Volkssturm militias, and declaring cities festungs makes sense, as the strategic objective is not conservation of forces for a war of movement, but a grinding war of attrition. Sure the 10,000 men you left in something-grad will die, but they might take more Soviets with them.
Some might say this plan is unrealistic, or wishful thinking, but it was the only one left to the Germans. Dig in your heels, and hope the Allies and Soviets exhaust themselves.
The one problem with this plan though was the Western Allies, they gave a way out to the Germans that the Soviets didn't have in 1941-42.
1. a lot of lands which were prior occupied by Germans were retaken. Soviet Union saw all this ransacked and devastated mess the Axis left behind them. Red Army soldiers fighting on the frontlines had all dead and executed family members and close friends. The hatered was huge. And now imagine the government "making peacetreaties behind thier backs" with the beast they try to catch and slay for what it did?
The lands which Axis occupied were not some random lands on which the soviets fought. And Hitlerites were not a random army just "passing by", like e.g. the Napoleonic Grande Armee back in the days (eventhough they ransacked too, and burned some villages on the march but overall there was no "hatered" towards the population and no downgrading to the "Untermensch"...). The time to push the murdering nazi machine has come and that's what the soviets did
@Micheal ve yeah sure, this one larping weirdo with his boys club somehow managed to plan and steer world history 100 years in advance, while political geniuses like Napoleon weren't even able to correctly plan one year ahead. Makes perfect sense =)
And what "way out" had been given to Germany by the Western Allies in early 1944? That USSR did not have in 1941-1942?. I'm not an academic historian but I am pretty sure "Unconditional Surrender" was the only end envisaged by the Allies since at least,(publicly) Casablanca in 1942. Early 42' I believe. I just thought, perhaps you meant ideologically that the Germans were to "annihilate the Slav-Untermenchen" as their war aims and so even if USSR were to lay down its arms this would not end the "war of annihilation", therefore full capitulation demanded by the Allies at least acknowledged the German Peoples right to exist as a Nation. Whereas any Surrender by the organization of armed forces and "government" of the Russian Nation would've had the same result. The Germans had no intention of allowing any form of existence for the Russian People after the war. Is this what you meant?
@@cccpredarmy Ok tankie, please see things objectively.
@@styx4947 Casablanda meaned nothing. Stockholm peace talks lasted during 1943 and probably even in 1944. The peace was possible, and if most of the Wehrmacht are in France, The D-Day would be impossible. This would only lead to nuclear strike on some German city, in this case the germans would use their chemical weapons in revenge. It would be a cold war
Absolutely fascinating breakdown of the truth of "understrength" divisions in both armies. Wow. Impressive video.
Next time? I cannot wait. Such a wonderful video! Thank you.
I would love to see the second part of this video. This is done exceptionally well you should be proud
What i don't understand TIK is that Stemmerman had stockpiled munitions just for such a scenario because he knew that they were weak and their rear areas were in a terrible mess due to Bombing and sabotage by this stage of the War. Please continue with this as its probably the best and most accurate account of these sets of Battles Thankyou
The moment you videos come out I instantly stop what I'm doing and watch! Lol Tik your honestly the best channel for historical information on the second world war and economics! Thanks mate 👍🏻
I’ve been waiting for a Tik Korsun-Cherkassy pocket video. Fascinating g battle
I love that your bookshelves are actually bending under the weight of Stalingrad!
Excellent commentary and discussion about the ever hopeless situation Germany found itself in on the Eastern Front. It's obvious that the high command, senior, middle, and junior officers had a serious communications problem. The fanaticism from Hitler and his virtue signaling high command refused to accept their shortcomings and untenable situation. Rather they placed unrealistic demands to their commands, expecting unrealistic outcomes. TIK breaks these barriers down excellent. Including the Russian limitations had prior to this assault. Including the better decisions that were made, and more flexibility at the Russian leaders disposal when placed with adversarial setbacks. Well explained!
Ah I remember this pocket. Watched it from another youtuber, pretty good that I finally see its visualized concept. As always good another good video.
Just wondering if a Part 2 of this battle has been posted yet. I'm asking only because I have not been able to locate one.
I was not familiar about this battle so thank you for covering it TIK. P.s gotta say I love the "Making RUclips Videos book" on the shelf. Light reading after a deep dive into Stalingrad ;)
That book was actually a jokey Christmas present from my friends. At the top it says "A digital arts book for kids!"
@@TheImperatorKnight haha now that's quite the thoughtful gift.
Well done TIK this is an exemplary video and shows how professional and compelling your videos are. I also love the way you build up narrative tension - it remains of the way Apollo 13 still managed to be a gripping film even though you know the ending. You have achieved mastery in your art.
So. Much. This. +1
Love your channel TIK , Great Content 🖤🍻🍻🍻
I love your videos!
Second! Glad to hear!
I was waiting for this.
I read a book in french on that battle from Jean Lopez. I found it good. I remeber that he insists on the very bad state of the terrain, with lot of mud that put a real difficulty for the tanks on the both side.
Alongside the World war 2 week by week channel the best content. And probably even more in dept. Keep ik up, and i always like the videos right away.👍🏼
Brilliant video. I’m excited to see the follow up video on this battle.
I have always respected TIK as one of the few historians on RUclips who seems genuinely non biased and determined to give a balanced and more nuanced description of events.
My Granduncle Georg was in the 11. Panzerdivision 15. Panzer-Regiment, he escaped the pocket.
He was a Panther driver, they ran out of Panthers well before their surrender in 1945 and finished the war in a StuG.
Very few videos on this battle and fewer if any which go in depth so thanks.
According to the records of the SS Wallonia there were 51000 Axis in the pocket of wich 21000 made it out. 647 of the 1800 Walloons got out.
There's even a nice video on you tube where Degrelle, Dengis, Van Der Veken, father Fierens and many other SSers explain there version of the story.
Getting the men out was good but units had lost their equipment and were destroyed as combat formations( at least temporarily). In the Ardennes the US 106th division was cut off and only 5500 of its 14,500 men made it out. Yes that was good but it took weeks to rebuild/ re-equip the division essentially removing it from the US order of battle. Same for the Germans but with far less equipment/manpower resources.
I dont know where you got that figure from.
The true figures are 40,423 that got out. 36,232, broke out and 4,161 were flown out.
Page 366 Hells Gate by Douglas Nash.
Yes! A new East Front series from TIK! Looking forward to a detailed analysis of what happened during this infamous battle where incredible acts of bravery were shown from both sides. Hopefully the actions at Hill 239 will be mentioned in later videos of this series.
Where was hill 239?
@@daviddoran3673 Within the Korsun/Cherkassy pocket, the Soviets held it despite themselves being surrounded by German forces. It became a point of focus during the breakout of German troops where Soviets withstood desperate attacks to take it.
Amazing thank you, leon degrelle (one of my heroes) and the wallonie were in this battle.
Now there's someone who knew how to blow his own trumpet!! I fail to see how someone who deserts their men towards the end of the war can be described as a hero though, a self serving, conniving backstabber who's sole ambition was to further his own political aims and who denied Lucien Lippert his just rewards maybe, hero definately not.
@@malcolmhunt7108he stayed longer than most commanders and decorated his men while frequently visiting them and tbh by the time he left it really was every man for himself. The war was lost and very near it end and as a political figure who had sided with the occupiers his fate was sealed unlike the ordinary enlisted man. Look at all other figures before the war and during. All were killed or sentenced to prison and leon outlived them and survived them all.
Hello TIK. Another excellent episode. Very glad to see you using Buttar as a reference. I find him to be a well balanced read on the Eastern front. Both WW1 & 2. Is it just me or does Lieb look like Captain Haddock of Tintin fame?
awesome as always. I am looking forward to part 2.
Excellent as always.
There are a lot of pocket battles that need a good looking at like this! Stalingrad may be sapping TIK of his life force but the one offs revive him.
Completelh agree. You can see the enthusiast that he has for these focused political or military ‘interludes’ compared to the relentless meat grinder that is the Stalingrad series.
I love that little grin when you mention Manstein lol
Great video as always Lewis 👍
22:00 It seems either you or the source made a mistake right there. This panther bataillon was not the panther Bataillon of the 11th Panzer Division (which would be I./Panzer-Regiment 15) but rather that of the 26th Panzer Division (I./Panzer-Regiment 26). This Division fought in Italy at that time but the panther bataillon was send to the Eastern Front and was actually under the command of the Grossdeutschland Division (its own panther battalion was still in training). Additionally this bataillon was inexperienced and didn't got Infantry and artillery support.
,,Another good sign was the attachment of an additional tank battalion to provide more offensive capability to 11.Pz.Div.
This battalion, I./Pz.Rgt.26, had been borrowed from Pz.Gren.Div. Grossdeutschland, then situated nearly 100 kilometers further south, where it defended a sector southwest of Kirovograd. Equipped with 61 brand new Panthers, the battalion had only recently been transferred to the Russian Front from the West, where it had just completed its training. Originally destined for 26.Pz.Div., then fighting in Italy, it was diverted earlier that month to Grossdeutschland as a temporary substitute for that division's own Pantherbattalion, also being formed in France at the same time. Commanded by Maj.Glaesgen, this battalion never made it to 26.Pz.Div., but fought with various Grossdeutschlandunits until the end of the war. Wohler had been trying to wrest permission for its employment in his counterattack from Army Group South for several days; by the evening of 26 January, he was finally granted permission to begin its movement to the north, which began the following morning. Along with its tanks, the battalion was augmented by several elements of Grossdeutschlands own panzer regimental headquarters, such as repair and recovery teams, as well as an anti aircraft platoon." (Hells Gate by Douglas E. Nash, p.80).
Nash also gives a good account on the actual deployment of the battalion: ,,There, near Pissarevka, a large tank battle had been underway since mid morning,pitting the Grossdeutschland's I./Pz.Rgt.26 against a sizable Soviet tank force situated among the rolling hills northeast of the town. The Panthers, attacking in conjunction with the 905.StuG.Abt., ran directly into the path of another Soviet tank attack from the direction of Ossitnyashka.
Adding to the Germans' problems was that a large number of Soviet antitank guns had been sited in both Pissarevka and Tishkovka, forcing them to attack through a deadly crossfire.
The situation was an ideal one for the Soviet defenders, since the Germans were forced to attack uphill most of the way and were unable to take advantage of their superior long-range tank cannon. By 1100 hours, the Panther battalion had destroyed 12 T-34s, though 15 of its own tanks were knocked out.
Maj.Glaesgen, the battalion commander, was fatally wounded near Yusefovka while standing in his turret. Though an experienced commander himself, his unit's baptism of fire had come at a high price." (p. 89).
A good article on the subject:www.dupuyinstitute.org/blog/2018/08/10/panther-breakdowns-in-january-1944/
Otherwise fantastic video about this little covered operation. A video about the Vistula bridgeheads (Magnuszew, Pulawy, Sandormierz) would be amazing...
Awesome as always TIK. One of these days please do a series on the Battle of Smolensk
Another great vid TIK.
You can see in this video and many others the critical importance of supply and logistics. The Germans made things harder on themselves by having all these new hi tech vehicles but it caused problems with supply of spare parts. They simply had too many different kinds of tanks. While many people criticize the American Sherman tank, you can see why the Americans went with a standard design and kept it that way for years because it eased supply issues. All their planes carried the 50 caliber machine gun as well for similar reasons. The Soviets relied on the T-34 chassis for most of the War. Even the upgraded T-34/85 used many of the same parts for the hull and suspension. So simplifying your supply chain really helps out.
The Luftwaffe was able to fly in supplies at night, using the concrete runways at their Uman airbase nearby. Uman was the main supply centre and had been Von Mansteins HQ
Hey TIK, love your work. Have you considered doing a video(s) about the battle of Breslau? It was the last major German city to surrender to the Soviets, and its hopeless and unnessesary, fanatical defence has always fascunated me.
When evacuation of Breslau cilvian many of them were lucky enough to go Dresden in February and were most being housed in City centre from the frying pan to the fire
Yes...Breslau was designated a Festung by Hitler and the Commandant set it up for siege before flying out!!!!!!! Fascinating story....
You produce a plethora of videos.
I am now catching up after being a subscriber for over three years.
Keep em coming, and keep me behind,
LOL
Nice map. The large boxes really tie it all together
Thanks TIK, more great work again!
Great work as usual
a great video, thank you as always
'Hell's Gate' by Douglas E. Nash, is another interesting book about this battle.
I appreciate all your work Tik❤
Thank You TIK, l was expecting Stalingrad and got a very satisfactory mini Stalingrad!
Great work man like always.
always a pleasure to watch keep it up !
Its so nice to have this bonus battlestorm video on a "minor" (from the western perspective) battle as a surprise.
Very cool. I visited Vinograd around 20 years ago and I always wondered if some big battles happened around there. Apparently, they did. Anyway, it's a very pretty area now.
At 4.27 the young officer is Hauptmann Erich Mende, 1963-1966 vice chancellor of Western Germany, Chairman of FDP (liberal democratic party)
I remember reading about this battle by Douglas Nash's Hell's Gate book. What a crazy battle that both sides claimed they both won. Tactical victory for the Germans but strategic victory for the Russians. The Germans lost alot of equipment in their and those 40,000ish casualties were a real problem.
I'm not sure how the Germans could claim a tactical victory on this one. They did get some of their men out of the pocket, but they failed to prevent the Soviets breaking through the lines, failed to resupply their pocket, failed to relieve the pocket, and mostly failed to breakout. The only way this is a victory is if you remember that Manstein always wins, because he is the god-emperor of Aryan-kind, and retreating to Berlin is the best way to advance.
@@TheImperatorKnight I think the way the Germans thought it was at least in some way a tactical success was particularly mentioned in Vormanns report and his book pushes towards the saving of the men from the pocket being a success, even though they were completely broken and needed R and R after the battle apart from Wiking it was straight to Kovel for Wiking. I remember reading of young Wiking grenadier's crying as they were withdrawing near the russian lines. Think that was in Leon Degrelle's "intresting" memoirs.
@@TheImperatorKnight They grabbed a mere defeat from a total annihilation
@@zxbzxbzxb1 well that’s great 😂
More often than not when you look at the results of German breakouts in the latter part of the war, you'll find that they lost the total amount or the large majority of their heavy equipment and the units were virtually without fuel when all was said and done. Just reequipping and resupplying the divisions involved alone was a steady drain of German resources.
"I don't want anyone to spit out their coffee" brilliant! 🤣your videos are very good thank you!
17:49 if you see it, you see.
Ok bud
Above all the Soviets overestimated the size of the trapped force due to the various detachments in the two cut off corps. Because of Corps Abteilung B, (3 cadre infantry divisions joined together), a regiment of 168th division, and the Belgian SS brigade, they calulated a trapped force of nearly 10 divisions, not the 5 or so they actually had caught.
Amazing work here!
Wow the logistics of this battle are fascinating.
I have read both of those books. Very good ones. Also try, Hell's Gate. It is an expensive book. Thanks for the video.
I wish you had added a map showing exactly where this battle was fought. Personally I had a tough time finding the area on a current map. Also distance scales are a big help.
I've got Buttar's both Eastern Front series. Both WW1 & WW2. Definitely worth buying in my opinion.
In listing your sources your source material you mentioned a couple of books there’s a really good book related to the subject called HellsGate I think it would be helpful as it has lots of maps and very detailed narrative of the battle
the next encirclement they suffered in that area (kamentes podolsky) is argued to be an operational level situation that exhausted the german reserves in the eve of Normandy/Bagration and was fundamental in the succes of both of these operations. What you guys say?
Nothing was going to impede Bagration...it was the ultimate steamroller!!!!!
great video! I really would like to see what books you have on the shelf behind you. Looking forward to more videos.
16:15 And here we have it: Manstein wasn't there, because he had been summoned by Hitler. Without that, he would habe been able to barehandedly (and probably barechestedly) counterattack the Soviets and beat them back! After all, they were only outnumbered 10:1. He had dealt with far worse!
Very true.
If only they had been able to clone their star general the Germans would have been invincible.