The Haunting Final Words of a Famous German Fighter Ace
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2022
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Thisis the story of German ace Heinrich Ehrler and his iconic final words. He was one of the Luftwaffe's highest scoring pilots in the Messerschmitt Bf-109 and Me-262. This was made using the World War II flight simulator War Thunder and IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles series. Hope you enjoy! Please like, comment, and subscribe. #WW2 #WWIIHistory #WarThunder
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@Tuomo Lehto ...HECK- THE RUSSIANS DON'T EVEN TRUST THEMSELVES!!!
Maybe a video of Charles Lindbergh kills against the Japanese in WWII? Aerobatic details etc.
Soviet’s were terrified to report loses, especially lost lend lease and other high value aircraft and vehicles, from what I’ve read.
I also find it absurd that they’d inflate their numbers in the on the east front, but not the west. This makes no sense to me. I also know that several Soviet WWIII generals admitted that losses were massive and that the Soviet governments post war casualty admissions were absolute lies. I remember seeing them admit this on video, from right after the wall fell during Gorbachev’s and Yeltsin’s rule.
I think that todays Frankfurt School Cultural Marxists have had quite a disgusting renaissance with the Soviet Union, and other brutal communist regimes. I doubt that’s the case with your contacts, but I’ve heard them claim absurd things like capitalism has killed more of it’s own people than communism, Orwell was criticizing capitalism, NOT communism, etc etc etc.
My mothers family were German Poles and put into a Siberian concentration camp, so I have very little patience for such neobolshcuckjizzguzzlers, and their insane lies and historical whitewashing.
Sorry for the tangent.
Cheers, great video as always, my friend.
Please make an episode of the IAF" sabre Slayer" - Folland Gnat
Just wondering if the Soviets can have misreported as well to hide the huge amount of losses in order to not get shot by Stalin.
Why would Stalin shoot someone for pilot incompetence
@@TinyBearTim Are you kidding me?
@@TinyBearTim Stalin shot EVERYONE. Check out the House of History's video on Stalin's Purges and you'll get a basic idea ;)
100% Correct.
@@mattl3729 weren’t the purges for people he thought were spies and conspirators and just genuinely incompetent
If anyone was to be shot it would be the person who designed the planes
Historical notes - First, please don't criticize me too brutally for the German name pronunciations. I am not a native German speaker and have truly done my best. Second, I have done my best to get all of these combat reports accurate, but there still may be very small discrepancies here or there. But this is like 95% accurate at least. Huge thanks to everyone that helped make this video!
My man ypu have to understand communism loves to hind its real numbers
heinrick ayler
You shouldn't concern yourself with what others might say regarding your content.
I can never understand how some people criticize other people's content when they themselves have never produced anything at all.
Remember, for someone's opinion to bother you, first you must respect their opinion.
Name of the Pilot is pronounced Heinrich (sh from the back of the throat) Air-ler. Can't you get anything right mate
lol its alright
@@robertdeen8741 thanks! based on your last name, you will likely enjoy this Friday's video! :)
Well done. For all who are interested: Ehrler (pronounced Air.ler) addressed his famous last words to his friend Major Theodor "Theo" Weissenberger (Kommodore of JG 7; 208 victories). The original words in German: "Theo, Heinrich hier! Habe zwei Bomber abgeschossen; Munition ist alle. Ich ramme jetzt. Auf Wiedersehen, sehen uns in Walhalla!"
Danke für das Original!
@@joro5748 Gern geschehen! You're welcome!
Thank you SOOO much I wanted to know but wasn't about to watch the whole video
...HOW DID HE KNOW THAT HE WASN'T GOING TO HELL?!
What a legend
Remember that a "kill" is actually an aerial victory where the enemy plane is taken out of the fight. there is overclaiming but often, a "killed" aircraft would descend to a safe altitude and recover to limp home to their airfield.
Where did you hear that? It might be so on the Allied side, and doubtless true from the Soviets, but not the Germans. A victory was destruction of the aircraft, not just damage or 'knocked out' like a tank. There really shouldn't have even been a mistaken victory credit for a plane that appeared to be done for but somehow made it home as the confirmation system required air or ground witnesses to the crash. The Germans didn't do 'probables' like the western Allies.
...INTERESTING POINT-(!)
German kills were delayed and often refused if the wreck could not be confirmed on the ground, especially over the Reich. Btw, Luftwaffe pilots could not ‘share’ kills amongst themselves. If two pilots conflicted the same kill, neither was awarded the kill. Your assumption of widespread German over claiming is BS.
Very true. Also, very often in the confusion air combat, several pilots might claim the same enemy as a kill.
There was often no independent verification on the eastern front such as there was in air combat over the UK.
While I am sure the Sovietas may have minimized their losses, and the Nazi propaganda machine will have maximized the victories, in any air melee the number of 'kills' is often highly inflated.
This is not because the pilots are being dishonest, but simply a fact of air combat.
A pilot that tried to double check or confirm his kill would quickly become someone else's kill.
Nope, not in the german sense. You needed to shoot down a plane. They also had no "1/2 or 1/4-victories. One was the guy who shot the enemy down.
The germans established additional (in the west) a point system, because they thought it is unfair against the heavy bombers to only credit the one who shot it down.
So, you needed 50 points for a knights cross.
A 4 mot shot down got 3 points, a damaged one 1 point. Damage a 4 mot got a point. Shot down a single engine 1 point, damage a 2-engine 1 point, shoot down a damaged one, 1 point, shoot down a 2-engine got 2 points.
So, 50 points could be:
20 damaged 4 mots, 5 4mots 2 2mots , 11 single engine...
“See you in Valhalla” truly legendary
Heinrich Ehrler ( 208 kills) other German Pilots ..( Henmann Graf 212, Heinrich Bär 220, Otto Kittel 267, Walter Nowotny 255, Gunther Rall 275, Gerhard Barkhorn 301, and Erich Hartmann with 352 kills) were impressive. Germany lost so many well trained, dedicated , and brilliant pilots during ww2. And can't forget, Hans-Ulrich Rudel.
About half of the 103 100+ kills pilots survived the war, including the three highest scorers (Hartmann, Barkhorn, Rall). Number 4 and 5 (Kittel, Nowotny) died, though.
How about Rudel. Not a fighter pilot, but 9 air-to-air kills and an astonishing number of ground kills including a flipping battleship.
All of whom gave their oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler and not to their country. Thus keeping a mass murdering regime in power. Just a bunch of war criminals.
@@peterwoods474 not like they were given a choice.
You're forgetting the greatest of them all. Even Erich Hartmann admired him and regarded him a better pilot. His name was Hans-Joachim Marseille. Marseille claimed all but seven of his 158 victories against the British Commonwealth's Desert Air Force over North Africa, flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter for his entire combat career. No other pilot claimed as many Western Allied aircraft as Marseille.
Sadly (but luckily for the allied airmen) Marseille was killed in a flying accident, when he was forced to abandon his fighter due to engine failure. After he exited the smoke-filled cockpit, Marseille's chest struck the vertical stabilizer of his aircraft. The blow either killed him instantly or incapacitated him so that he was unable to open his parachute.
He was only 22.
Would love to hear/watch a reenactment of Saburo Sakai's fight for survival over the skys of Iwo Jima. He was in a out modeled Zero, had one eye, and he was rusty; yet he managed to outlast and survive dozens of superior American aircraft. I never see the story on RUclips, despite it being one of the most gripping accounts of aerial combat out there.
If you are talking about his first encounter with Hellcats, and only got away by flying into a water tornado....I read that account. Amazing stuff.
What grit, a fighter pilot...ANY PILOT with one eye...
I think Yarnhub has done a video on him
I remember reading about this pilot, this guy had balls
Not even one bullet in his airplane after fight 1 vs 15 hellcats.
Going out in a blaze of glory. He was a fighter pilot's pilot.
More like the murderous rampage of a madman. There is no honor in such pointless death, he died like a terrorist.
B Baron. Wrong my friend he was Dead Meat.
@@aesop8694 ...YOU SUMMED IT UP PERFECTLY-!!!
I also wouldn’t be surprised if the Soviet reports were inaccurate and downplayed the truth. Great video
True. When it comes to the Soviets/Russians you never know when reports stops and propaganda takes over. The most prominent example probably being Prokhorovka and its "crashing and burning Tigers".
That said, you will hardly find a single AAR (after action report) from any firefight, from any side in any war that corresponds with the enemy's.
It would be unusual for losses to be reported inaccurately in this way. These numbers were used internally, not as propaganda, and it was vital that they be accurate to ensure proper strategic and logistical planning. What’s much more common across all militaries is the over-reporting of claimed victories, whether they’re air to air kills or armored vehicles, etc., as pilots are often unsure of whether engaged targets were actually destroyed during the chaos of these engagements and tend to be liberal with what they consider as a kill. You can see this in the US estimation of the Saber/MIG kill ratio and it’s revision over the years following the Korean War, and especially in the Gulf War, where the counting of trucks and other vehicles as tanks inflated tank kill counts beyond what was feasibly possible.
Stalinist Russia was notoriously honest.😉
@@Cesmust True. The thing is, what we DON'T know is whether the Russian squadron and wing commanders were directed to mischaracterize combat losses as non-combat writeoffs. I'm not saying they were or were not - only that what is reported here is only what is specifically cited as a combat loss. I don't suppose we'll ever know - but it is ALWAYS important for air force generals to have an accurate accounting of all aircraft for which they are responsible.
Ruskies escaping to American midwest were some of my finest friends when I waS there . Think it was John p jones an American ( irish) revolutionary War fighter admiral for tzarist russia quit them for their petty rivalry and jealousies. LIARS treachery. Bet nothing has changed yet.🦬🦬🦬🐄🐎🐎🐎🐎
He may have been on the opposing side of my country but you have to admit. That is a pretty rock and roll way to go out
So, the KAMIKAZE pilots also deserve your respect, right?
I asked that question because people use to say bad things about those aviators...
@@andreferro4618 yup to knowingly die for your country is indeed a very brave act
@@snakeplisken4119 I think the same way as you do.
I also would like to know Ryan's opinion, because he was the one to make that statement about the German pilot...
Greetings from Brazil.
@@andreferro4618 personally I feel it was a waste of planes and lives that could have been used elsewhere but yeah they do have my respect. To have the balls to fly a bomb into a ship with cannons the size of your house back home?
@@Whitelightnin76 I agree.
6:12 I don’t know if you are aware of how the German proceeding was to get a kill confirmed. It was so complicated that it took sometimes months.
Many thanks for presenting the silhouette of this pilot.
Once I wrote about it in a comment and my request was heard.
I knew his story already but thanks for making this. Ehrler was one of his kind i read about him in a book related with the ME 262. Another mistrusted was Prinz Heinrich Zu Wittgenstein.
The "other Prince" was a true hunter... he couldn´t accept somebody better then him. Ne nailed 88 allied night bombers... he died because he flew in front of a mossie who hunted the hunters.
The second guy was Lent, with 102 killed... but nobody would touch Schnaufer, the one who killed most 4mots... 121 killed bombers... died stupidly in a car accident 1950 (a truck lost bottles of gas, crashed into his mercedes cabrio... so sad)
@@steffenjonda8283 Men those guys were pioneers in their job!
I'm loving the new visuals, showing the date and the type of vehicles used.
I’m more skeptic about the soviets then the Germans, they are notorious to not be honest in their numbers, for example in ethnic statistics they didn’t note the real numbers, overestimating The general Soviet population and even giving more people to the Russians while decreases the number of other demographics, this thing was specially prevalent under Stalin but it remained true until today, considering how bad where their stockpiles and logistics for this reason
For the Germans I would say that they still overrepresented numbers like any other nation in the conflict but still not as bad as the soviets
So personally I believe more the German ace then the soviets
I have an old book about the air war over Hungary. Referring to American archival sources and documents of the 15th AAF, the author describes that the Hungarian 101st fighters and the 7th Jagdivision protecting the Austrian-Hungarian airspace could not have had a single aircraft in July 1944 according to the accepted American air victories. The number of German-Hungarian air victories in this area can be considered much more accurate, because both air forces were able to verify the claims (they searched for the wreckage in all cases! No plane, no victory...), while the 15th AAF many times accepted the damaged, smoking enemy fighters to air victories. However, in many cases, those damaged planes were back in the air within 24-48 hours. I think this is the real reason for the differences seen in the recognized aerial victories. In the case of Ehrler and other very successful aces, many seriously damaged but repairable planes returning to their base were counted as aerial victories. Because he couldn't even follow in the aerial battle whether the enemy plane had actually crashed or the enemy pilot had fled close to the ground with a damaged plane. And in many cases they couldn't even find the wreck because it was deep behind enemy lines. The defending side, which is fighting over its own territory, always has more accurate data - of course, in the case of the Soviets and Russians, I think cheating with data is very conceivable. Because if the plane and the crew are killed in an accident or in the bombing of the airport, it is not as big a problem as if they were shot down by the enemy. It is easier to prove to the "management" that I am innocent of the big losses, that we received bad planes from the factory or that the night fighters did not do their job well.
True. Everybody overclaimed, often wildly, but the Soviets were the worst.
...THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT, TOO-(!)
@@TTTT-oc4eb A lot of that wasn't deliberate; it was down to how it was reported; by the pilots themselves with often several claiming the same kill.
The best thing is to take both with a huge dose of salt and go somewhere in the middle with statistics; that way you might get close to the real figures.
Great vid about another one of the Experten, TJ. The Air War over the Arctic is hardly covered, save for a Luftwaffe unit history, a couple of books from Osprey and one pilot’s memoirs. I’d highly recommend reading Luftwaffe Eagle by Walter Schuck, Erhler’s comrade and fellow ace of JG5!
Excellent video; please remember , German Anti Aircraft Artillery; was a part of the Luftwaffe , as the Paratroopers where : He was in the Luftwaffe his entire career.
You must spend a great deal of time putting these narratives together. I am glad I found your channel!
Thanks tj for the new vid. I really need something to watch right now
Awesome stories! Still it can bring a tear to your eye thinking of what the people lost in war could have achieved in life.
Whatever you "achieve" in life, you come naked and you leave naked.
@@peterpim6260 You leave naked? Most people I know are buried in church type dress clothes. Final ride in a Cadillac. Maybe you attend some wild funerals?
@@peterpim6260 which makes all the MORE regrettable to see life lost.
...I FEEL EXACTLY THE SAME WAY- WHEN I THINK OF ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO WERE MURDERED IN THE NAZI DEATH CAMPS-!!!
Thank you for presenting this video. Overclaiming is a fact of life, especialy in large air battles. On the other side, attributing losses to flack or accidents as opposed to enemy aircraft is also a fact of life. There are examples of this in modern times, such as the U.S. reluctance to attribute losing a B-52 to a MiG in Vietnam and an F/A-18 and an EF-111 to Iraqi fighters in Desert Storm.
Thank you bro, I needed a nap bad and your video did the trick.
It knocked me right out.
Great work TJ... Keep these stories coming... it is highly adictive!
I would like to see a documentary about Verner Voss and his WHOLE CAREER, in WWI. Thanks!
Cool you bring this up two months after I bought parts of his crashed ME-262
Ooooh send pics to me on discord.
@@TJ3 Put one on Facebook in the comments regarding this post
You continue to Impress with your work! What a great Fighter Ehrler was!
Thanks!
You did the best that you could with the limited resources you had and that should be very praiseworthy. Keep up your excellent work.
"Of all my accomplishments I may have achieved during the war, I am proudest of the fact that I never lost a wingman." ~ Erich Hartmann., Ace of Aces 352 confirmed kills.
I never lost one either.
352 "confirmed"????? BULLSH*& Inflated kills! Wingman didnt see him ram the B-17! Did anybody witness it? Easy to run the kills when your "fighting" against inexperienced pilots. Ask the Japanese what happened to the when they ran out of experienced pilots
I need to stop watching these. It's 2 am and I have school and work. But I just can't stop
Excellent video. Thank you for sharing!
That’s not vengeance or hatred. That is pure love of his country and the complete willingness to defend those who he loved.
Amen
With a dash of suicide (due to Tirpitz).
So true
"...a dead martyr is just another CORPSE!" - Tobruk (1970s movie)
@Phillip Banes ...THAT'S THE TRUTH-(!)
Dude went out on his shield. Gotta respect that.
TJ3, how about videos on some of the German Aces who survived the war? Gunther Rall, Erich Hartmann and the like. I remember seeing them on Discovery Channel's "Wings of the Luftwaffe" and they were amazing guys.
Another great vid TJ.
😢 what a beautiful story I Almost cry lol 😂 your videos are put a smile on my face when I fly my German me 262
Thanks for this piece of history. As a thought, many years ago I read about a British pilot, I think his name was Harry Broadhurst. He had a Hurricane fighter, but instead of having a Hurricane Merlin engine fitted to it Harry had a Spitfire Merlin engine installed in it, sort of like fitting a V8 engine into a hatch back, which gave it more power and speed. Somehow the people high up found out and took it away to see how good it was. I don't know if this is true or just a myth, but it does sound true. The incident is recorded in the book called The Hurricane Story by Paul Gallico.
Not true. The Standard Merlin powered hurricanes, spits, defiants, lancasters , mosquitoes, mustang and a few others without difference
Over claims were often caused by different pilots shooting at , and claiming the same plane.... happened on both sides.
Right. A plane would be destroyed, but sometimes could be claimed mistakenly by multiple pilots. The confirmation system should correct for that, but it wasn't always effective.
Great graphics and storey ..good Vid.
bro! New subscriber love your videos!
Thanks!
Technical error: The Tirpitz was not at sea when it was bombed and sunk by the RAF. Additionally, the bombs used by the Lancasters were 10 k "Tallboys" and not the small bombs shown in the videos.
I believe that they weren't given wrong directions either, rather took off too late. It is suspected that the radio message was deliberately withheld until it was too late.
@@powerjets3512 they got different places. The fighters did not know that Tirpitz had moved, that was the main problem.
@@steffenjonda8283 I read somewhere that a German delayed the message from the radar room to the squadron for a vital few minutes. P.s. Was it 80 years ago today?
In Patton's words, "You don't win wars by dying for your country. You win them by making some other poor bastard die for thiers." Thanks, Army Air Corps.
And that's how America won almost half the wars it fought. Thank you Homer Simpson.
@@ovidiudraghici9941 which wars are those
Dirk Diggler. And he lived by his words, preferred self promotion and parades to actually engaging his enemies. He even had his own news media to glorify what were in reality non events.
Thanks for the story
My grandfather, his father, uncles and brothers served in this war for germany. The more I learn about this time the higher is my opinion about them.
you grandpa was a Nazi?
What I'm most surprised by, is that his body was found near Berlin. I mean, he crashed his jet into a plane. Explosions tend to leave not much of the body behind, especially if you're really close, so I'm super curios as of to how his body was even able to be identified. Also take into account he fell thousands of feet. Truly baffling.
I don’t think he was really close to the explosion, he would have been right in the hot one due to the shape off the Messerschmitt and he also would have likely detonated the on board bombs due to the fact this was an intercept mission. So he kinda would have been INSIDE the explosion
@@Officer_duh nope, german pilots (they called in "rammen") even trained for hitting the bombers short before the last part, cutting of this means gladly sure death to all in the bomber, no comming back, just spinning into sure death.
Maybe his appearance resembled that of one who had fallen a thousand feet to begin with!
Mixed feelings: as the grandson of an Italian Jew who, after September 1943, when Germans took control over Northern Italy, had to hide for dear life, I find myself feeling for this and many more German Aces. Tired, outnumbered and with very little means left, many of them chose to pay the highest price. My respect goes to them.
What ? Respect the Nazis ?? No F-- way jack !
@@johnrestucci8269 I see your point, and there's no way I could respect Nazis, but IMHO not every German who fought during WWII for his Country was a Nazi.
@@mellilore I understand that .. But , by the end of 1944 , the handwriting was on the wall , the Germans knew they couldn’t possibly win the war ..Yet instead of surrendering in the face of evidence, they chose more blood 🩸….This pilot knew all that , yet decides to ram his jet into a B-17 and kill all 10 members of the crew .. No valor in that , just out for blood …
@@mellilore It doesn't have to be an opinion- it's a fact. Just like not every American is a Democrat LOL Of course not every German was a National Socialist. A majority weren't.
@@johnrestucci8269 Yeah, if the Russians were advancing and you knew what they would do to your country (US I bet), you'd fight on too. Ramming a big plane wasn't automatic death for the whole crew. And btw, those 10 B17 crewmen were usually dropping bombs on civilians by that time- murdering women and children. Not exactly heroes.
Wow 😯 keep up the good work
I love your use of the game war thunder to create these simulations, the games got really high accuracy so this is an ideal simulator, the biggest difficulty I can see here is you trying to get all these people with b17s and have them all play in the same server, and fly in formation, this is something that would have been extremely hard to do and I don’t think it gets enough respect in the comments
Have you looked into how many of our aircraft we had sent to Russia and compared it to what the Russian claimed to have lost?
I have not! This would be interesting.
@@TJ3 please let us know what you find. Also you have a new subscriber, good sir.
My great great grandpa was the plane he crashed into. B-24 called trouble n mind being a tail gunner split the plane in half. He lived was captured. It's crazy I finally found a video that helps Me learn about the ace I'm mind blown. Thank you so so much ❤
u mean your grandpa survived? or died there?
Well done!
Ray Holmes would be an interesting one, it's a similar story - it's alleged that during the BoB, the guns on his Hurricane jammed as he was intercepting a Dornier heading to bomb Buckingham Palace, so he rammed it out of the sky. Its interesting because it's disputed as to whether it really happened or if it was propaganda, but I believe he became quite the celebrity for it!
I think I have this one on my list! I will check it out!
@@TJ3 Awesome! Keep up the good work, great vid as always :)
On a TV show called time team they actually found his wreck and identified his Id number on his Merlin engine
@@JimUSCM oh aye, I totally forgot about Time Team! Man, that's a throwback! Didn't they do a dig near RAF Waddington too where they uncovered a downed Spitfire?
@@rockstarJDP yeah I think they did matey, good little show back then 👍
Please note that Tirpitz was anchored when attacked and the bombers carried Tallboy bombs not 250 pdrs.
Yeah, it wasn't going anywhere in any case. But just the thought of it getting loose tied up incredible amounts of British air assets.
make mistakes, have fun, produce excellent video history. keep 'em coming!
Please do a video on bombing the Tirpitz. Excellent visuals, great content.
That was not the Tirpitz. The ship shown in the this video was the World War One 15 inch battleship SMS Beyern. Just wanted to let you know.
He’s using war thunder as demonstration footage it doesn’t have the turpitz in it he’s not using it as a solid example it’s just background
A tragic tale, indeed :(
Ehrler reminded me of Miyabe from Eternal Zero when he said his final words before ramming the bombers with his 262.
Brother died the way he chose. A warrior´s death.
Absolute hero. See you in Valhalla, Herr Ehrler.
...WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT YOU BOTH AREN'T GOING TO HELL?!
It is not enough, that the German Nation lost it's struggle, (with massive help from the Anglo-Americans), against the USSR, but 78 years later, we must go about making liers out of them as well. What courage you have!
He cites soviet data as his reasoning for conflicting claims. Of course they would under report on their losses! Soviet documentation can not be taken seriously.
" Auf Wiedersehen, see you in Valhalla! "
Heinrich Ehrler
I love ur videos I am learning so many amazing things in history! 😀😄😁🤣😂🙂
Good job buddy. I really enjoyed this video.
/Salute to Ehrler.
I am not at all surprised that, at that stage of the war and having been treated so badly by his own Authorities, he decided as he did.
A Brave Man to his end.
Fighting for a mass-murdering regime is not bravery. It is the opposite.
@@v-doc5230 I thought about not worth a comment, but it is worth a comment
How much choice did the average person have about fighting for a Murdrous Regime?
None Whatever, but if you are going to fight, you can be a Coward and almost certainly Die, or with Bravery, which is the only valid option left to you. Who supported a murdrous regime? You have no idea, and neither do I, so stop with the egotistical and stupid comments. Displaying your Ignorance in Public is entirely your choice
Thank you for painstakingly putting together your video on the tragic figure that was Ehler.A couple of points though:
A) The Germans had the most rigorous process of accrediting kills of all the participants in the war, by far. So his numbers are not in doubt, especially when confronted to Soviet accounts.
B) The Tirpitz was in Tromso fjord, not at sea, when it capsized. Moreover, it was disabled by an earlier attack by British midget submarines and was no longer seaworthy.
C) The ship you show in your video is not the Tirpitz as many have noted. By its overall look and especially that of its mast, I'd say it's HMS Hood (which is kind of funny come to think of it, lol!)
Anyway, nice job and the graphics are really beautiful. Thank you for sharing!
I like the use of war thunder in you videos it actually makes it a lot more engaging
You definitely should make a video about the french pilot René Pomier Layrargues who shot down Werner Mölders during the battle of France.
Thank you for your videos, from a french viewer
I'd love you to cover the story of Sgt Norman Jackson who earned the Victoria Cross 🤞
Yeah, if there's one thing you can count on, is the accuracy and honesty of soviet records! LMAO
Lol exactly what I was thinking.
It doesn't exactly speak well of a 'historian' who uses them at face value, that's for sure. At best there should always be the caveat: "but Soviet records are unreliable."
@@mattl3729unless he's under the red star, hehe. Then he or his family might pay with their lives for daring to question another comrade!
Excellent video. Only thing I would note is that if Ehrler was already serving with a flak unit, he wouldn't need to join the Luftwaffe since the antiaircraft forces were already part of the Luftwaffe.
Order 'Wings on my Sleeve' autobiography of Captain Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown, quite possibly the most extraordinary pilot of WW2- that book is full of amazing Ops stories.
A note on your initial statement of claimed aerial victories:
A claimed aerial victory is not automatically a confirmed kill. The German Luftwaffe was very, very meticulous in processing announced aerial victories. Often apparently certain aerial victories over enemy territory were not recognized simply because a single witness testimony contradicted other reports. So it happened that in joyful and honest expectation of the award, the RLM in Berlin suddenly deleted a number of kills, because these kills were not 100%(!) and unequivocally verifiable. The high official number of some German fighter pilots are all undoubted kills. The actual number of kills is likely to be much higher.
Brave and loyal , his place beside Odin is well deserved!
There are no words for this
Great story! If you're going to translate Russian into English, don't flip the R's around backwards to make it look 'more Russian'. That sort of editorializing calls into question any other facts in the account.
Oberleutnant Walter Schuck played a heavy role in showing the truth behind the Tirpitz court martial and imprisonment of Ehrler. Schuck has 206 confirmed kills and also flew with Ehrler in the Artic with the Eismeerjager and then later with Major Theo Weissenberger and Ehrler flying the Me 262. A lot of people forget about Walter Schuck.
Good video, and some wonderful info.. However.....
The Tirpitz section - Video shows animated footage of ship being attacked in open water, by Lancasters dropping multiple standard bombs.....
The Tirpitz was sunk in a Fjord near Tromso - and the Lancasters carried only ONE huge 5.4 ton 'Tallboy' bomb each.
I have a hard time believing for a second that the Soviets were being honest in reporting their losses. Stalin wouldn't have allowed this at all.
But the figures were for their own internal records, not for propaganda. They would have needed accurate records to identify which aircraft were being lost, where to send replacements etc.
@@philiphumphrey1548 You might think that but just look at the Russian military now- it's STILL about lies, not wanting to give bad news, etc. In WWII you might be shot for admitting too many losses.
Ya... compare to Soviet records. You know, because the Soviets never lied about nuffin
Can you find any information of the He 162 seeing any combat before the end of the war. Outstanding video and presentation.
It makes sense to correctly reflect the motivations of a soldier of Heinrich Ehrler's class. During an RAF attack on the Tirpitz, Ehrler was accused of having neglected his task of protecting the Tirpitz in order to achieve further personal kills. Ultimately, Ehrler was denied the ability to lead an association of this size, he was recalled, demoted and sentenced to three years imprisonment (to be served after the war).
This quarrel with the leadership of the Luftwaffe had a very strong impact on his life and may have also contributed to his final decision.
Wasn’t it standard russian protocol to under report losses, just as they are still doing today in Ukraine?
I own his war time autograph!
Among others I bought it from an old German Collector maybe 20y ago.
Thank you, I like the balanced report.
Could it be that the Soviets underreported their losses?
Hmmmm so there is no way the Russians would lie about their loses. Actual Soviet records are canon huh? 😅
They are only information we have available, so in that aspect, yes they are essentially are, as we have no other info to compare them with. Furthermore, in many of the other fronts, German claims matched up very closely with Soviet loss records, making the clear case that this unit likely did over claim.
I don't see why people think the Soviets lied about their losses. Its from their archives we have tallies of tens of millions of dead soldiers, and tens of thousands armored vehicles destroyed. Its literally the soviet archives that tell us the Soviet losses were so horrendous, that they were suffering horrendously lopsided losses in 1941 and 1942. They don't hide that in the records. David Glantz talking about the "Forgotten" soviet offensives in 1941 and 1942 that were complete bloodbaths for the Red Army and subsequently ignored in Soviet history after the war, we know about those because of the stuff in the Russian archives.
The issue hasn't been the soviet records being accurate, it has been getting access to the archives in the first place. It wasn't until the fall of communism that Western historians could actually access the archives. Since 2000 the access has increasingly become restricted once again. But there was plenty of stuff unflattering to the USSR's military performance in the archives that was discovered when western historians had access, that is in part why the restrictions have come back, because the Russian Federation.
The whole "LOL you trust Soviet records LOL LOL LOL" is just IMO deflection by people who don't like the fact that there were plenty of BS and myths peddled by Germans after WWII about their military performance that has no evidence to support it other than "trust me bro".
Seems like these were internal reports, not used for propaganda. I think several pilots of the group claimed the same kill
@@TJ3 Right, but it has to be noted that the Soviet records, as they are, are all we have- and that they might suffer from more likelihood of inaccuracy because of the Soviet system. Can you reference these 'other fronts' that match better? It's vital to reference statements of fact.
@@kellyshistory306 I don't understand how anyone can NOT believe the Soviets were inaccurate in their record-keeping given the system they operated under. Failing could lead to being shot, so why admit failing? Just because something exists in secret archives doesn't mean it's true- the Soviets classified everything as secret LOL Sure they'd keep the worst stuff out of their official history- but that doesn't mean anything much given that the Germans knew and always wrote about it. The Soviet version was for Soviet consumption. Just like now. No losses in Ukraine.
WOW, Good information.
There are a lot of sad stories from all countries at war , and at the end we’re all still brothers no matter what happens
Nice storey, the video was pretty good to. Only problem I saw was the Battleship Tirpitz was destroyed by Tallboy bombs and was in a Norwegian Fjord.
What famous last words? He knows the war is over but then commits Harahiri. Some hero.
I first ran across this quote while research KMS Tirpitz, this guy was in charge of the Luftwaffe unit charged with defending that battleship from enemy bombers. He went out in a blaze of glory, right?
Great History!!! I ll like to see the Bari Italy the surprise air atack 1943 thanks
I would like to see a video about the ordeal of the B-25 Tondelayo, 500th Bomb Squadron, October 18th, 1943. A B-25 with one engine shot out fought off dozens of Japanese Zeros, destroying nine of them and then surviving to make an emergency landing.
good video.... don't forget it was a tragic end for the crew of the bomber he rammed as well (plus of course his many victories). war is, was, and always will be HELL
a new super cool story man
Interesting, just started reading about JG5 and the defence of the North
Your forgetting both sides likely lied to keep morale up. It's probably usually somewhere in the middle.
Hey. Its a LOT of very good and unbiased documentary books about this (and other) topics...
Oh my god so haunting