Join the TimeGhost Army: bit.ly/WW2_184_PI Discussion time! What do you think, would Rommel and Yamamoto be friends? Read the guidelines, or the guidelines will read you: community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518
I’ve never read much about either man’s personal life. We know Rommel had a family and that he visited his wife on her birthday at the time of the Normandy invasion. I know even less about Yamamoto. Did either of these men have friends outside of their professional military relationships? I don’t get the impression that they did. No “high school buddies” with whom they met or corresponded, near as I can tell. If they had, wouldn’t it have been noted? I don’t know. So, if the occasion had called for it, I imagine that they might have a cordial professional at best. But that occasion is hard to picture. Are we imagining an alternate history where the Japanese overran India and Rommel conquered the Middle East?
Quite, although I noticed that are spelling and/or pronunciation differences (Kharkiv/Kharkov, for example. I assume it's different in different languagues.)
@@howardbrandon11 There's been something of a push to use the Ukrainian rather than the Russian spelling (or transliteration more accurately), which is also why Kiev is now Kyiv.
Imagine how frustrated Rommel must be: - "Okay, bring out the new Tiger tanks we have been sent." - "Sir, they have all been destroyed" - "What? How?" - "It seems someone ordered an unauthorized offensive, and we took huge losses" - "WTF?"
Also his other issues "There is just enough of our force to grab this strategically important point, and using that, we threaten a very long stretch of Allied territory with lots of Americans from the flank atop a favorable position to shoot down from. We'll be able to also capture tons of Allied supplies" Axis command: "Split your force into two and you are allowed to strike like you want, but no fancy second stage, you'll just rush in with the other half of your force to fight with the Americans head on" Rommel probably reads that demand and wants to tear it apart. But if he says no, then there will be no offensive at all. - Fighting from equal ground? - With dwindling supplies? - Head on vs entrenched positions? It is almost as if the Axis want Rommel to lose
? No way ? The Germans are far too advanced in both technology and tactics. Sure they have had their setbacks but its obvious they are going to win. Watch this comment will age like fine wine.
Kevin! This is defeatism. I'm afraid I will be forced to report you to the local Gestapo office if you repeat this nonsense. Really, what a thing to say!
@@captainnutsack8151 the Japanese lost this war the moment the first bomb fell on Pearl Harbor, as Churchill said whoever came up with their plan A had never read a history or the American civil war, that war went on for years after the result was decided, once the Americans get an idea in their head.............................................
An interesting thing to note this week on March 5 1943 is that the British *Gloster Meteor* jet fighter aircraft will have its first flight in the skies. It will eventually enter operational service with the No. 616 Squadron RAF in July 1944 to mainly deal with the V1 flying bombs. However, they were not allowed to fly over German occupied territory on combat missions for fear of any potential salvage by the Germans should they be shot down. Meteor fighters would also see action in post-war conflicts such as the Korean War.
You're right guys, made an error there about V2 rockets being able to be intercepted by fighters of that era. Edited accordingly. Thanks for highlighting it!
War is the gravest tragedy of Humanity. It took Europe to suffer through the Great War and World War 2 to fully get tired of War. Obviously, some have grown fond of it instead.
Messe is such underrated general. Messe is basically the only good general of Italy during the ww2. During his operation in Russia, he used innovative tactics against the Russians, gaining huge success. And then, as this RUclips channel is showing, he demonstrated that he was capable of understanding the situation. Great respect for him.
Another sidenote this week on March 1 1943 is that the United States Office of Price Administration will implement rationing of canned goods. Under the new implementation, consumers would soon find that canned meat and fish would become unavailable, while they would still be allowed to obtain canned fruits, vegetables, soups, and baby foods via a points system. This rationing system would only be removed at the end of the war.
Wonder how much of that had to do with shortages of metal rather than food. 1943 was also the year steel pennies were minted in the US because of copper shortages, and I'm sure canned meats were prioritized for Lend Lease and other military uses as well.
On a related side side note: Rationing in Britain was lifted in July 1954. By comparison, France ended rationing in 1949, and Germany in 1950. Two knock on effects of this were: 1) British food developed a bad reputation (it was fairly good once rationing ended), and 2) almost a decade after the war had ended, the next generation were having to go without in the same way as those who went through the war. This is one of the reasons why the war shaped much of Britain's modern identity.
What's happening in Finland? One would think there is peace in Finland for the lack of coverage since the very beginning of Barbarosa. Finland has such a fascinating history during WW2. A free and democratic nation allied with Nazi Germany. A "good guy" on the wrong side of history. I hope you will remedy the lack of coverage with a special episode in the future. Good job with the show and thanks for all your effort and hard work!
By this time, not much. The front was mostly static, but Finns launched recon operations behind enemy lines at military installations. Soviets sent their own Partisan troops, compromised of Finnish communists and criminals, who attacked mostly civilian settlements raping and killing the inhabitans. I guess the channel doesn't really have any sources for Finland in English. In Finnish there is a lot of sources, even day to day ones.
There is already alot of movement restricted to roads. Heavier vehicles that have been going off road have been getting stuck in many instances. Western Ukraine is apparently worse for mud and areas north west to north east of Kyiv are very water logged in places.
He had first-hand experience about American industrial might. He knew it was risky, but being a soldier he followed orders to attack and being a soldier he did it as well as he could with forces he had in his use. He never said it, but "I fear we have only awaken sleeping giant and filled it with dreadful resolve. "
It was a foregone conclusion for anyone who was paying attention prior to the initial Japanese attacks in 1941. Their whole strategy was based on hope - do enough damage to the US and Allied possessions in the area and get into a good enough defensive position that the Allies would decide it wasn't worth the cost to reclaim them. It was the worst miscalculation of the war, even worse than Germany invading the USSR because at least Germany had a slim chance of pulling it off.
@@vksasdgaming9472 He’s been critiqued for his overly elaborate planning and not combining his fleets … Let’s not forget about the bad case of Victory Disease that plagued IJN command …
I have to say, your choice of background footage as Indy was talking about Von Arnims defeat and the potential Third Battle of Kharkov were excellent. Thank you for those few moments of cynical comedic relief while retelling the events of such a dark period in history.
I am glad that I wasn't the only one who picked up on the heavy handed humor. I am sure the residents are still really excited (obviously I hope the best for all still living there).
Another great episode from one of the most engaging and informative history channels on RUclips. My one quibble: you rightly describe Monty's advantage from the cracking of German codes. I have not seen anything on Rommel's advantage in early 1942 from cracked US codes, and Rommel's (unwitting) spy in Cairo, Bonner Frank Fellers. This would be well worth a spies and ties episode!
There's an excellent description of the Sidi Nsir battle by Lindybeige, covering the valiant sacrifice of the Royal Artillery, which made the attack a slaughter of german armor.
One of Rommel's Tigers was captured by the US Army in Tunisia during the North Africa campaign. It's hull serial number is #34 and is currently being housed with the US Armor and Cavalry collection at Fort Benning, GA. If you guys are ever able to do any traveling to the states, you should get into contact with them and see if they'll let you film a special episode there.
I just wanted to say kudos to the editor for the bomb skipping and left-right moments. This kind of "insignificant" edits always enrich videos and make them more significant for me.
@aeven13 Thanks for your kind words! The team does notice comments like yours, and it means a lot for them when someone notices the fine detail work they put into the videos every week. Thanks for watching, stay tuned for more.
I believe that 25-pounder was a field gun, Ordnance QF 25-pounder, used in direct-fire, they had an armour piercing round for it and it was the main piece of artillery of the British Army at the time and several decades to follow. So not as bad as facing an actual anti-tank gun, but hey it seemed to do just fine.
@@pyorre2441 Indeed. But testing showed that even if the rounds didn't penetrate a Tiger's armour, the force of the blast rendered the tank inoperable (crews incapcitated).
@@strongbrew9116 Judging from the number destroyed by their own crews because they were immobilized, those 25-lb. shells were pretty good at knocking off tracks too.
At the height of the Kasserine emergency, Alexander urgently ordered Montgomery to exert force on the Mareth Line in order to divert Rommel’s attention. Monty subsequently made much of this: ‘I speeded up events and by the 26th February it was clear that our pressure had caused Rommel to break off his attack against the Americans.’ Having been warned explicitly by Alexander not to over-extend elements of Eighth Army, Montgomery proceeded to do exactly that, for the whole of 10th Corps was at Benghazi, 1,000 miles away, and the nearest division which could be brought up as reinforcement to the lead units was the New Zealand, back at Tripoli. These were anxious times: ‘There is no doubt that between 28 Feb[ruary] and 3 March I was definitely “unbalanced”,’ recalled Montgomery. Leese had little confidence in approaching the Mareth Line: ‘… our left flank was completely exposed to the German threat from the mountains.’ But after much feverish activity he was convinced on 2 March that Rommel had, ‘missed his great chance and now we are calm, confident and ready.’ During the time when his forces were most exposed to attack, Montgomery rushed up 2nd British Armoured Brigade’s tanks from Tripoli to Ben Gardane. Also hurrying forward was 23rd British Armoured Brigade with units of 50th British Infantry Division, 201st Guards Brigade and 2nd New Zealand Division which drove up from Tripoli nonstop in 36 hours. By morning on 4 March, Montgomery had established a powerful force at Medenine, an undistinguished collection of white houses and mud huts, about 20 miles south of the Mareth Line. Under command he had 51st Highland, 7th Armoured and 2nd New Zealand Divisions, all 30th Corps artillery, nearly 400 tanks, 350 field guns and 470 6-pounder anti-tank guns. ‘It’s a very big thing and please God we have made the right decision to stand and fight here,’ noted General Oliver Leese , 30th Corps commander on 5 March. But there was no other place to stand and fight unless Montgomery had withdrawn again beyond Tripoli. He had no intention of doing so and was supremely confident: ‘I am in fact sitting “very pretty”, and Rommel can go to hell’, wrote Montgomery. ‘If he attacks me tomorrow (as he looks like doing) he will get an extremely bloody nose; in fact it is exactly what I would like him to do.’ Rommel was about to oblige. Bloody Road to Tunis - David Rolf
Obviously, because of secrecy restrictions that lasted in the UK until 1970's, Monty could not make any reference in his memoirs of the information he was receiving from Bletchley Park. So, naturally, he was 'extremely confident' and "sitting pretty"!. This is where later history can be very enlightening.
@@chrisvowell2890 Actually no , for incoming Battle , Montgomery did not even need Ultra decrypts ...."even with Desert Air Force air recon was tracking daily movements of panzer divisions in southern Tunisia , even without ULTRA intelligence , Eighth Army deducted German armor build up at Mareth Line before Medenine on March 1st. Ultra just confirmed what Montgomery and de Guingand correctly deducted.
@@chrisvowell2890 That's true enough, but don't let it give you the wrong idea about the man Montgomery - he was 'gifted' with mind-boggling arrogance. Like, Monty Python's Black Knight-tier self-confidence. This is actually a virtue in a military leader. And it is worth remembering that his confidence was somewhat well-founded, because with worldclass outfits like the Highlanders and NZers at his disposal, (finally) armed with as-good-or-better kit as their opponents, and a degree of air superiority, Rommel's very foolish 'offensive' was bound to get pummeled into the dirt - ULTRA or not. It was a gift. This broke Rommel (spoiler?) - he was like: 'actually this lot can fight, and we might be proper fucked' for the first time. Monty was a very, very good general - for many valid reasons. Rommel was famous for being extraordinarily lucky; Monty never needed luck, which isn't as sexy, but it made him very intimidating.
@@thepsychicspoon5984 Learning more history just teaches a person that "doing better" is much harder than one thinks ^^ Plenty of grunts to learn from about how hard it is to actually "do better" & how easy it is to "fail catastrophically", and what makes the distinction between these 2.
Would be great to have feature on the gallant gunners of Battery 155, who held up the 10th Panzer Division for a full day, dying at their gun and wiring off DOT DOT DASH before going silent. There were seven survivors, one of whom reported that the overwhelmed crews were singing “Praise the Lord, and Pass the Ammunition” as the panzers closed in.
Me neither. There's a town south of Kursk called Prokhoravka and it's really quiet and peaceful in the summer... not a single vehicle for miles.... it'd be a real shame if somethin' happened to it.
The commander of the 5th airforce during the battle of the Bismark Sea is a man named General George Kenney. He is often overlooked but a very capable commander. He was an observer to the french air force during the earlier years of the war. He was chosen by Macarthur himself to lead the 5th Air force, Kenney was unusual in the Army Airforce. Unlike most other Generals Kenney advocated for more tactical bombing and close air support which went against the Air force doctrine of longe range strategic bombing. Kenney was put in command of the 5th airforce in July 1942 and immediately had an impact. Knowing that the South Pacific had a low priority to the US airforce (Especially this early in the war) Kenney need to conserve his bomber strengths by launching quick and cost-efficient raids against Japanese ships and bases, sometimes at night (In fact the skip bombing was initiated in the 5th Air Force because of Kenney). He was able to gain air superiority over New Guinea allowing for a massive airlift into New Guinea being able to transport the entire US 32nd Infantry Divison into New Guinea. Unlike most other Generals, Kenney managed to get along with Macarthur as he knew a good working relationship was key. Kenney did not get along with Macarthur's chief of staff the much-hated Richard K. Sutherland. When Kenney first arrived and learned that Sutherland (despite very little knowledge of airpower) was giving detailed and strict instructions for Allied air operations. Kenney outraged, stormed into his office and drew a small dot on a piece of paper, and said "the dot represents what you know about air operations, the entire rest of the paper what I know." Kenney was so good at his job that one of the very few times Macurther ever emitted to be wrong was to Kenney on the fact he should have supported the creation of an Independent Air force when he was chief of staff and not fought against it.
@Jason Douglas Thank you for sharing about General Kenney. Can't think of any other channel anywhere on RUclips that has an audience like ours- who brings such exceptional knowledge to the fore. Thanks for helping make the TimeGhost Army the best audience out there.
@@jasondouglas6755 no worries. you started off by saying that the commander of 5th air force was General Kenney. & I still learned something I had never known before from your informative comments.
I'll never understand why the air forces didn't follow the lead of people like Gen. Kenney, at least before 1945 and the development of nuclear bombs. Time and again it's been shown that putting air assets into close air support and raids was more 'cost effective' than wasting huge amounts of men and material on strategic bombing campaigns. You could compare them to admirals in the navy who were convinced that battleships were the way to go long after it was shown that carriers and submarines were so much more effective at actually winning battles.
Something something about British forces being almost useless in WWII (yeah right) according to a fair few scholars of the subject. Not so much in North Africa this week at any rate. Next week though certainly looks spicy with offensives in North Africa and the Eastern Front. While I partly watch these videos to take my mind off parts of my daily life, it's sad to see places like Kharkiv become all too familiar when I read the news. I also want to take this opportunity to thank you guys for doing the Into Context series on Ukrainian history. Much needed and I look forward to learning more. Long live Ukraine and her people.
Would love to see historians predict what would happen if the British had been isolationist. Could any of them justify an axis defeat when if the axis could freely import?
@@catmonarchist8920 Britain's strategy since Napoleonic times had been to keep the continent divided, to not let any one power become dominant and able to conquer the British isles. As long as continental powers were divided and squabbling they were relatively safe behind their seas and navy. The idea that the UK would remain neutral while Germany took over the entire continent is unthinkable - they had to be involved out of a sense of self-preservation. Not fighting back against German expansionism in either world war meant the risk of them becoming a secondary power or even a colony of a very powerful Europe.
But on the other hand :- If your stood in 6 inches of ice and mud 30 miles from the nearest hot meal. Down to your last twenty rounds and the tanks have left to reinforce 'somewhere else' ! It has got to be reassuring that the Leader is still giving positive vibes and appears to be completely confident in His ability to turn thing around .... 🤔
Seems like Manstein's counter-attack gave him a bit of false hope. "See! Look! We've still got panzer armies that can go on the offensive!". Pretty delusional at this point, but guess it was better than admitting the obvious.
Actually it was meant to be primarily an attack tank (breakthrough tank). And in hat role it actually performed well. The problem was reliability and lack of support, You can retrieve and repair a Tiger if you have enough infantry and other tank units with you in the attack (and you are advancing), but not so if the advance is halted and you have to start to retreat, then a temporarily disabled tank is effectively a loss. But the Germans often had to use the Tigers as stopgap measures (including i Tunisia) as they did not get enough reinforcements and supplies to be able to conduct a proper offensive (as noted in the episode when listing the material strengths of the 2 sides on the Mareth line to the south).
The problem was their lack of ability to recover them, German tank units had excelled in recovery and field repair throughout the war. If you have to blow them up for a track loss, what do you do tomorrow?
Fantastic opening Indy, makes us really want to know what you are talking about, all will be revealed, and the irony fully appreciated, also no distractions just Indy telling me personally what happened this week, this is what 30 mins or Saturday mornings are for. I write this having only watched the opening and am on the edge of my seat for the rest.
I love that "no plan B" line because it perfectly sums up the entire war in the pacific (and Soviet Union for that matter) from here on. The Japanese expected they would win in a short amount of time so they would not have to set up anything except a ring of outposts on the outskirts of their empire. They expected that once they beat the US fleet and the British in Burma that the war would be won before they ended up in any sort of slog. Part of their problem is that many of the officers in the Japanese high command were unwilling to admit failure, but only by admitting failure can you work to improve. Most of them will not learn from their mistakes as we shall see.
Rommel seems to be on his way out, but von Arnim's failed attack and Messe's likely failure next week might just put Rommel back in. Fun fact: In Dutch, a "rommel" means a "mess".
Just a little correction on the map of Tunisia at 7:50 ; The Force L of Leclerc was holding the oasis of Ksar Rhilane, 89 km southwest to Medenine. The troops that were south of Medenine with the New-zelanders, on the Medenine - Foum Tataouine road, were from the Free French Flying Column (a unit created in August 1942, composed of the 1st Marching Regiment of Moroccan Spahis, some “Conus guns” (75mm guns fixed on trucks) and the 1st FFL Tank Company , equipped with Crusaders).
Worked for several years at a lighting manufacturer and I have to say - LOVE THAT LAMP on your desk Indy!! The simple art deco is quintessential of the noir. The others while falling into art deco they seem to be a bit clunky while your lamp is smooth and elegant.
@Mark Reedy You're the best! Remember to like, subscribe, and please join the TimeGhost Army to help us make more of these episodes every week, and more special episodes! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
I think you should start talking about the US submarine campaign, as at right about this point in the war is really starting to get going. It ends up being significantly more successful than the U-Boat campaign
@Gavin Casey There are a ton of specials, side-stories, tales of intrigue, and whole campaigns that we'd love to cover in more depth. Unfortunately though, the production costs of these episodes is huge. Researching, writing, producing, animating, fact checking, moderating… they all are huge draws of time and money. So please consider joining the TimeGhost Army on Patreon, to help us fund & produce more content like that. Between the weekly episodes, special series, and huge projects like D-Day, our team is working nonstop. Tell your friends, shout it from the rooftops! Join the TimeGhost Army! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
The US submarine campaign will end up being the most successful submarine campaign in all of human history, achieving what the more famous U-boat campaign ultimately failed at. Despite submarines only accounting for a tiny fraction of the US navy's strength, by war's end they will have been responsible for 55% of all Japan's merchant shipping losses during the war & 33% of all it's naval warships sunk. That Japan's economy teetered on collapse toward the end of the war was also largely a result of that campaign, with the Japanese home islands effectively being blockaded of the resources needed to fuel it's war industries.
@@lycaonpictus9662 If TG covers this in detail I'd like to see them cover Japanese anti-submarine efforts. We hear all sorts of stuff about Allied efforts in the Atlantic battles; I'm willing to bet the Japanese didn't put anywhere near the same resources into their own anti-sub capabilities which is probably why the US effort was so effective.
@@lycaonpictus9662 Come on, wild dog, the Japanese totally neglected defense, especially anti-submarine defense. Being offensive-minder is one thing, but it can sometimes become indistinguishable from stupidity.
The Japanese resorted to resupplying and reinforcing New Guinea by submarine. The Japanese did not give up on New Guinea, in the end out of 200,000 men sent there around 150,000 died mostly from starvation and disease.
The bit about Sidi Nsir is expanded on in a video by Lindybeige - 'The sacrifice of the 155th'. Probably not the only tale about heroic sacrifice against insurmountable odds in the war, but examplified in this video. As it's just briefly mentioned here, I can only recommend the video mentioned.
Kharkiv is also a battlefield right now. The mayor said recently, that Kharkiv has never seen such distruction before. When I heard this, I scratched my head, since this was clearly untrue, because I am sure that the 4 battles caused way more damage than limited 21st century warfare.
Lots of propaganda coming from both sides. This is modern war after all, if you can convince your population that this is a total war of your very existence, you can mobilize more to your cause.
Yes. Propaganda is a head scratcher. Like how both sides compare the other to those evil SS / Nazis. I thought it might be worth a video segment to try to understand those Ukrainians fighting against the Soviet forces.
Also this week, the Atlantic Convoy Conference begins on March 1st in Washington DC. The situation in the north Atlantic has become quite dire recently and this conference is called to assess the situation and to look to solutions to improve allied response. Think its time for another special episode on the Battle of the Atlantic.
@Nick Gooderham Plenty more action we'll cover in the Atlantic, to be sure. We'd love to make special episodes about every single story, battle, betrayal, and triumph. But these episodes are produced at great cost, so please consider joining the TimeGhost Army to help us make more historical episodes like this one, and to explore the war (and the Atlantic) in ever-greater depth! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
An interesting WW2 movie to watch around this week is "Bitka na Neretvi (Battle of the Neretva)" (1969) by Veljko Bulajić. This partisan epic film deals with the clashes happening in Yugoslavia as part of the Case White German offensive against the partisans. Period covered: January-March 1943 Historical accuracy: 4/5 IMDB grade: 7/10 Other: Nominated for best foreign film academy award --- Another interesting movie for this week is "The Heroes of Telemark" (1965), covering the events in Norway.
It really is one of the best movies to come out of the old Yugoslavia. There is a version on youtube with english subtitles here (ruclips.net/video/yCGgifxN1l8/видео.html). I'm going to re-watch it again especially since WAH is covering those events "now".
I Bet theres some long faces in the OKW over the loss of those Tiger Tanks in Tunisia..One of which i think it is you can see at the Tank Museum at Bovington
1. The withdrawal (Operation Buffel) proves that Operation Mars was not ultimately a failure, but a (delayed) success. 2. Zhukov may have figured "why fight for the salient now? - let them leave, and we'll walk in behind them."
12:08 lol that makes the action against 3rd tanl army pretty useless, the personnels were only need to be re equipped, even soviet tank production in 3 weeks can replace 3rd tank army
Thanks for this week's summary! Those Hungarian light divisions were sent to Ukraine for occupation purposes, they had no or minimal heavy weapons and were not supposed to fight against frontline troops. They had a hard time against partisans who sometimes possessed artillery, tanks, and even airplanes, but you can imagine the losses when they encountered regular Red Army troops...
Great analysis as always Mr Neidel. Congratulations. I would like to add one question here :Did the Japanese manage to produce any new aircraft carriers during war time, particularly after Midway?
@@caryblack5985 OH. This is very interesting. Thank you. So I guess they built some after Midway but they also tried to convert some other vessels to aircraft carriers. Interesting.
My father-in-law (Canadian) was a bomb-aimer flying with the RAF out of India against the Japanese in the India/Burma theatre. They did the skip-bombing technique, with the B-24 Liberator bombers, 50 feet off the deck. Quite a feat, since they flew British crew configurations - NO CO-PILOT - and the B-24 was notorious as requiring a great deal of effort on the controls. Crazy stuff.
It wasn't the only war crime that occurred during that battle either. The Battle of The Bismarck Sea was a real nasty engagement, even by Pacific War standards.
It's a little complicated than that & isn't quite so black & white. 1. The survivors were troops meant to reinforce the army on New Guinea, which is exactly what they would continue to do if left to continue on in their rafts. Japanese submarines in fact did rescue a small number of survivors (170 or so) and did exactly that, depositing the troops as reinforcements at Lae. 2. Japanese troops as a general rule didn't surrender, which means the only viable option of removing them from the board is by killing them. Some of the Japanese survivors managed to make to Goodenough Island, where Australian infantry was sent to deal with them. Those survivors fought stubbornly to the last, rather than surrender, as they did nearly everywhere else in the war. The tragedy is the result of a Japanese military culture that completely removed surrender as an option.
This is strange and I am not defending potential war crimes. If someone shoots at a soldier or puts up a defense then that is a legitimate target. Does not matter where that fire came from. Once a position is shown to be militarized then it is a legitimate target. Church, Mosque, Synagogue, Hospital or Lifeboat matters not. So did US PT Boat crews fire on unarmed survivors or did they fire on people who were shooting? You and I will never know the real answer. All war is a crime.
@Gooberson Glad you liked it! The production crew works very hard on every episode, and it's heartening for them to see comments like your appreciating the fine details of their work. Thanks for watching
Love the new coffee mug, all the way from east coast Australia, keep up this amazing channel, took me 2 years to watch all of the Great War and catch up to this episode since I found Indi and watched him get a dope setup and better help and support with his projects and amazing it and graphics and clips from history. Never been a more informative and entertaining show that teaches way more about war than any other documentary I’ve ever watched
@Joel Huddleston Thanks so much for your support and dedication! Our audience really makes this channel reach new heights with your personal stories and reflections on the war. Cheers from America! 🇦🇺
Sorry Indy, but that's not a 25 pounder, its an Ordnance Quick-Firing 17-pounder which was a 76.2 mm gun developed by the United Kingdom during World War II. It was used as an anti-tank gun on its own carriage, as well as equipping a number of British tanks. Used with the APDS shot, it was capable of defeating all but the thickest armour on German tanks.
I know that it’s a minor detail… but it’s the 16 division PISTOIA and not Distoia. Of all the things you could have missed you missed the name of the division which carried the name of my home town… Fix it please. Anyway great episode as always keep up the good work.
While the withdrawal from Kasserine was taking place von Arnim flew to Rome, without Rommel’s approval. There, he obtained Kesselring’s permission to mount a new major offensive by Fifth Panzer Army in the northern third of Tunisia, from the coast to the Bou Arada valley. Operation Ochsenkopf (‘Oxhead’), scheduled to begin on 26 February, was planned in the belief that the Allies had been badly unbalanced through having to move their forces from the north during the recent crisis. When told of this Rommel was dumbfounded at the ‘nincompoops’ of Comando Supremo. Ambrosio, however, was equally astonished when he heard about it because von Arnim had already called off a spoiling attack in the Medjez el Bab area for want of sufficient forces. Operation Ochsenkopf s principal aim was to advance towards Béja from Mateur through Sidi Nsir with an armoured battlegroup of 77 tanks (including 14 Tigers) commanded by Oberst Rudolph Lang, part of Generalmajor Weber’s Korpsgruppe. The rest of Weber’s forces including Oberst Audorfs 754th Grenadier Regiment, composed of older men and some wounded from the Eastern Front, together with units of Hermann Göring Division and others from 10th Panzer Division which had not taken part in Operation Frühlingswind, were to support in the centre and south. Two battlegroups would encircle and destroy the British at Medjez el Bab and a third entrap the enemy in the Bou Arada Valley by means of a pincer movement before advancing to Gafour. In the north Oberst Hasso von Manteuffel, commanding the former von Broich Division, was to mount a secondary attack, codenamed Operation Ausladung (‘Unloading’), in the Sedjenane Valley and cover Weber’s northern flank. The first in what was to be a complicated series of nine offensives by von Arnim’s troops along a 60-mile front opened on the morning of 26 February when Lang’s infantry, supported by 74 tanks, including 14 Tigers, advanced along the road between towering heights to Sidi Nsir. Defending this patrol base - hardly more than a small white building and wooden platform where the road curved close to the railway track - were 5th Hampshires from 46th British Infantry Division , supported by 155th Battery, 172nd Field Regiment, which had placed its eight 25-pounders well forward of the infantry. Soon after dawn a vicious slogging match developed as Lang was forced to commit more and more of his armour in trying to dislodge the Hampshire’s antitank gunners and infantry who stuck doggedly to their posts despite low-level attacks from German fighters causing havoc among their supply lorries. As Oberst Barenthin’s paratroopers picked their way over steep hills to envelop the Hampshires, tanks crossed the Sidi Nsir-Béja road during the afternoon cutting the defenders’ supply line. After his telephone lines had been sliced, radio put out of action and observation post smashed, the artillery commander, Major John Raworth, still reported, ‘German tanks attacking. Everyone in good heart.’ Gun after gun was overrun but even when ammunition in the gunpits was blazing others went on firing. There came a final message, ‘Tanks are on us,’ followed by the ‘V’ sign before the last surviving gun of the dying 155th Battery was silenced. A lone gunner was seen to charge the German tanks, brandishing a sticky bomb. After 12 hours’ continuous fighting German tanks broke through 5th Hampshire’s defences and their GO, Lieutenant-Colonel Newnham - later awarded a DSO - at last ordered a phased withdrawal. By then, he was in touch with only one of his four rifle companies. As darkness fell he put a time bomb into the station at Sidi Nsir, burned all his bedding and, ‘the pictures of my lovelies on the walls. “Can’t let the Germans look at you, my darlings,”’ he said, and led what remained of his battalion back over the hills.36 Only 120 struggled to Hunt’s Gap, a railway station on a rise of ground nine miles from Béja, to be strengthened and reinforced there by 128th Infantry Brigade. Of 130 officers and other ranks from 155th Battery, nine returned - two of them wounded. At the other hand Germans paid a very heavy price for this small advance. Oberst Lang had lost 41 panzers, though his engineers were soon out at work repairing where possible and cannibalising those beyond saving. Already, his ability to reach Béja had been significantly reduced but this was by no means evident next day as the Panzers pushed on towards Hunt’s Gap after heavy overnight rain had delayed the offensive and made off-road going impossible. About midday Lang’s leading tanks were in contact with 2/4th Hampshires and the remnants of 2/5th Leicesters, newly arrived from Thala, who held a thin line across three miles of open countryside. Stopped once more, Lang tried again on the 28th after another night of heavy rainstorms which confined his tanks to the narrow ribbon of road. During the hours of darkness, the defenders had been reinforced by 2nd Hampshires, extra anti-tank guns and the North Irish Horse with 12 Churchill tanks. These had been introduced in First Army - 58 to a Regiment - only recently when a mixed squadron of 142nd (Suffolk) Regiment, RAC, rode into battle at Sbiba on 21 February, losing four in the process. By the fourth day, (1 March), the strain of holding the German attack was beginning to tell on brigade HQ, situated about three miles from Béja. Brigadier Pratt, normally the corps artillery commander, was a worried man, unsure as to whether he could prevent the Tigers from advancing on Béja and Medjez el Bab. However, late in the afternoon the guns stopped firing at Ksar Mezouar. A British tank commander cautiously approached eight wrecked German tanks which had previously tried to entice the Churchills out to fight and knocked out by British anti tank guns and discovered their turrets thrown open and crews gone. Germans had abandoned haversacks of letters, towels, pipes and tobacco, pudding powder, tinned food and, in one tank, even postcard sets of ‘Arab Beauties,’ purchased in Tunis. The Churchill tanks, now in pursuit, trundled towards Sidi Nsir. Lang had only five ‘runners’ amongst his panzers and Weber ordered him to withdraw, go on the defensive, and hand over his command to Oberst Buse of the 47th Grenadier Regiment, from Korpsgruppe reserve. Disgruntled, Lang’s troops insultingly nicknamed him ‘Panzer-Killer’. Bloody Road to Tunis - David Rolf
While the battle at Hunt’s Gap was the most hard-fought of von Arnim’s offensive, further south troops of the Jäger Regiment Hermann Göring climbed hill paths leading out of the Goubellat Plain. At midnight on 25 February under the garish light of flares and a furious mortar bombardment, they fell upon a company of 1st East Surreys at ‘Fort McGregor,’ no more than a sharp rocky knoll, 1,000 yards ahead of the main defensive line. ‘The hill was being torn apart with mortar and machine gun fire,’ wrote Lieutenant Kinden of the Surreys, ‘at times it was as light as day and then suddenly very dark. The noise of bombardment and men shouting, the groaning of the wounded and dying and the smell of exploding ammunition and death was everywhere. This entire situation was all about war and what it really means to be in close combat.’ By daybreak the East Surreys were cut off while the Algerian Tirailleurs, holding Djebel Djaffa on their right, were driven back exposing Brigadier Gass’s 11th Brigade HQ and his gun lines. There followed a tremendous assault but a reserve company of East Surreys, with support from 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers, a field company of Royal Engineers, 56th Reconnaissance Regiment and a few Valentine tanks of 17/21st Lancers, mounted a strong counterattack on Djebel Djaffa and re-took it. All available firepower was concentrated on Fort McGregor and at dusk on 26 February a patrol found only six Germans still on their feet who surrendered to British patrol. The bodies of 15 East Surreys were extricated from the debris; some had been killed after their capture by British artillery fire including Major Brooke Fox, the East Surreys’ company commander. Around them about 69 Germans lay dead. German paratroopers found British shelling too intense for conducting any operations and returned back to their own lines further east. Some way south, German tanks and infantry forced their way between 11th Brigade and 38th Irish Brigade at first light on 26 February. In the Irish sector, slightly north of the village of Bou Arada, the line on Stuka Ridge and its adjoining features was held by 2nd London Irish Rifles, young men who reportedly scarcely knew each other. Hit by the 2nd Battalion of Jäger Hermann Göring and Koch’s paratroopers, they were scattered as the enemy attacked Steamroller Farm (there was a steamroller in the farmyard), on the rear slopes of Djebel Rihane where Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, Irish Brigade commander, had his HQ. Here they ran into a small unit of Lieutenant-Colonel Derek Mills-Roberts’ No. 6 Commando, whose 250 strong force had been established on the western slopes and was patrolling eastwards at irregular intervals. Only after engaging the enemy with his HQ troop and setting his other three troops to drive them eastwards did Mills-Roberts realize he was up against a much stronger force than expected. From the north there appeared more troops shouting, ‘Jäger, Jäger’, to which the defenders retorted with equal vigour, ‘Commando, Commando’. After the Germans brought up four tanks the commandos were forced to withdraw, hunted by the enemy who introduced patrol dogs into the dense scrub, though many in this area of steep hills and gullies managed to link up with 56th Reconnaissance Regiment. Re-forming, commandos then wreaked havoc among their pursuers by pumping 60 mortar shells into the Germans’ tank harbour. During the entire action, No. 6 Commando suffered exactly 100 killed, wounded or missing (40 per cent of its strength). Next in line on 26 February, 2nd Parachute Battalion of 1st British Parachute Brigade was involved in, ‘a bewildering course of action.’ Acting as shock troops, they spent much of their time in carriers being ferried hastily from one place to another, in action by night and travelling by day. It was the misfortune of a large force of Italian infantry, attempting to advance from Djebel Mansour through trackless, wild country south of Bou Arada, to be waylaid by them. As the Italians disappeared into the many ravines, the paratroopers’ support company fired into them all their normal stock of ammunition, their reserve, and further replenishment brought up by mule train. When night came, a sweep of the whole battle area brought in 90 very dispirited prisoners and, ‘a collection of rifles, machine-guns and other ironmongery of typical Italian design.’ Meanwhile, 1st and 3rd British Parachute Battalions held a determined attack on their position - which centred on a feature known as Argoub, south of Djebel Bou Arada - by Austrians and Italian Alpini reinforced by men of 756th Mountain Regiment from Audorf’s 334th German Infantry Division. Under cover of a short bombardment, 1st Parachute Squadron, RE, was sent in to bolster up the hard-pushed 3rd Battalion. Charging uphill, with bayonets fixed and firing Bren Guns from the hip, they forced Germans from the Argoub until they reached a horseshoe-shaped wadi at the foot of Djebel Mansour. There the Axis troops became trapped in an area which had been ranged by 3rd Battalion the previous day and in 90 minutes both Germans and Italians were pulverized by 3,000 mortar shells. In all, 3rd Battalion took 150 German and 210 Italian prisoners and killed over 250. When searched, some prisoners had pamphlets in their pockets detailing the best way to fight Die Roten Teufel - the ‘Red Devils.’ British paratroopers were delighted; no higher honour could have been bestowed on them.
Around Steamroller Farm, German Hermann Goring Division progress towards El Aroussa, from where Brigadier ‘Nelson’ Russell was commanding his scratch ‘Y’ Division (made up from the Parachute Brigade and 38th Irish Brigade), had been slowed by stubborn resistance from armoured cars of 1st Derbyshire Yeomanry. On 27 February the Irish attacked and stabilised their front; at the same time, 1st Guards Brigade arrived on the road to El Aroussa. The 334th German Division struck at Tally Ho corner just before midnight, surprised and overran the commando garrison, whose survivors were rescued by Churchill tanks. The Germans pressed on to a small ridge 6 mi (9.7 km) to the east of El Aroussa, where two battalions of the Herman Göring Division and a supporting panzer company assaulted a position defended by the Churchill tanks of Suffolk Squadron, 142nd Regiment RAC. Firing from positions, the Churchill tanks knocked out four Panzer IVs, disabled three Panzer IIIs and destroyed a 88 mm gun for the loss of a Churchill tank. The German infantry suffered many casualties and the survivors withdrew after determined resistance by the British infantry supported by massed artillery. The British received reinforcements and counter-attacked after another bombardment, pushing the Germans back from Tally Ho corner into the hills east of the Medjez-El-Bab to El-Aroussa road during the night. Next day, a company of 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, supported by seven Churchill tanks from 51st Battalion, RTR, charged Steamroller Farm but intense German shelling and Stuka dive-bombing knocked out five Churchills and stopped the Coldstreamers in their tracks. Undeterred, Captain Hollands carried on in his Churchill tank under repeated fire from two 88 mm guns. Both missed at point-blank range, whereupon Hollands counter fire wrecked both German guns, broke through into the enemy’s rear, caught the German transport echelon and set it ablaze. Shortly afterwards he was joined by Lieutenant Kentons Churchill tank and, when two German Mk III panzers attempted to intervene, they destroyed them as well. The Churchills then opened fire on the massed German infsntry and paratroopers who fled screaming through the bushes, trying to get to the hills behind. In hot pursuit the tanks crushed many German troops beneath their tracks and shot up 25 wheeled vehicles, eight antitank guns, two anti-aircraft guns, mortars, ammunition, radio sets and much else. They killed 200 men and were described in a German transmission, which the British intercepted, as a ‘mad Tommy tank battalion,’ which had scaled ‘impossible heights.’ On the following day 3rd Grenadier Guards walked into Steamroller Farm. The whole area, observed Sergeant-Major Bryen, RSM of 6 Commando, was littered with, ‘distorted bodies which had lain there for two days or more, shell holes, burning lorries, guns and motor cycles, arms, ammunition, kit, uniform strewn everywhere, both our own and the enemy; shell, cartridges, grenades, heaped in confusion, with plenty of very obvious booby traps.’ In recognition of their parts in the action, Mills-Roberts of 6 Commando and Hollands were awarded the DSO. (Distinguished Service Order) 5th British Corps commander Generak Allfrey sent forward the Lancashire Fusiliers, 600 men of No. 6 Commando, the 56th Reconnaissance Regiment, Valentine tanks of the 17th/21st Lancers, elements of the 51st Royal Tank Regiment (51st RTR) and the North Irish Horse. The next day almost as soon as they arrived, the Surreys and the Valentines of the 17/21st Lancers counter-attacked Djebel Djaffa, which was recaptured after some resistance Before the start of von Arnim’s offensive, the British CIGS hoped that Brigadier Flavell’s parachute brigade might be withdrawn, refitted and retrained because it consisted of, ‘expensive personnel hard to get and hard to train, and which we are having great difficulty in replacing.’ The Germans had also used their seasoned parachute troops as line infantry, blocking holes here and there, dissipating their efforts in roles for which they had never been intended.
I seem to remember this particular event from one of Lindybeige's videos. It's titled _"The Sacrifice of 155 Battery, Sidi Nsir 1943"_ great watch and a great storyteller if anyone's interested.
@@WorldWarTwo---Your welcome. I really enjoy how Indy starts all these video's. I also like the background characters starting these video's too. Have a nice day or night where ever you are.
Not really. It had the same bore diameter but a much lower velocity as it was a field gun designed for indirect fire. On the other hand the German 88 was designed as an anti-aircraft gun and as such had a much higher velocity.
@hognoxious Sometimes they are. The .308 Winchester and the 30-06 don't share the same case (but use the same projectiles) and are functional equivalents, for most purposes. From what I have read, the 25 pounder wasn't a howitzer and had higher velocity and longer range than the 105 mm. It seems to have worked well as a tank buster.
Hello WW2 Team, i love your hard work and i´m always astonished of these horrific events... I wonder, why is there a picture of Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf in the background?^^
@Bernhard Gradwohl He's a familiar face from the previous war Indy covered. As someone not in the studio (intern), I can only speculate like you in the real reason of his presence. I have to think of him as a cautionary tale, a memento mori personified, if only for his arrogant and undeserved confidence which ultimately only served to kill millions. If you followed the other war, at the outbreak Indy mentioned him being once described thusly "The most dangerous kind of officer, both stupid and intensely energetic."
As an elementary school student in the mid 60s I bought a book called Heroic Battles of WWII, which has a chapter on the Bismarck Sea. I still have it. The chapter BISMARCK SEA is written by Tetsuko Mikotoya, Ensign, Imperial Japanese Navy, who was there. He writes: "THE VERY SEA ITSELF seemed to be spouting flame and roaring death! Tons of explosive rained down on our stricken vessels, sending great geysers of water filled with fragments of steel high in the air....Even those who managed to launch lifeboats or rafts were butchered as they bobbed amid the tangles of wreckage covering the blood-reddened sea. It was sheer slaughter --- a massacre at sea practically unparalleled in all the history of no-quarter warfare. We didn't have a chance!...The American A-20 and P-38 pilots roared in, their fuselages barely skimming the waves, their guns spewing death!"
@liveoptika Thank you! It takes a whole team of dedicated people researching, writing, fact checking, filming, producing, animating, editing, more fact checking, etc and everyone works their butts off. Indy & Sparty write & research many of the episodes themselves, and there's a list of sources linked in each video's description if you click to expand it. Many great history books can be found there, in case you'd like a deeper dive of the subject. Thanks for watching and stay tuned
The germans at one time had a cable car like structure across the kertch straight. The films I have seen of it show pretty small cars that could carry men and some weapons but not vehicles.
Re: the allied skip-bombing attacks of early 1943, footage can be found on YT of B-25s and other types engaged in this action. Pretty exciting -- and dangerous -- work!
Bismarck Sea and little known Battle of Blackett Strait really did knock the morale of navy and especially the 8th Fleet. Blackett Strait was reinforcement run to Kolombangara by Murasame and Minegumo on the night of 5-6 March. What sets this battle apart was 2 IJN destroyers did not see or were ready for combat when Merrill cruiser striking force attacked. They were sunk basically by radar directed fire without really firing a shot back. So the IJN lost 6 special type destroyers for basically no loss to the Allies in the space 3 days. At least in Guadalcanal campaign they had sunk a few ships or loss of some planes via CAP and AA fire. But shock of losing so many good crews in top line destroyers was morale hit which stopped Rabaul planners in their tracks. Subs had also started to account for a few front line destroyers in last month too.
3:45 - "...as a British 25 pounder gun, mounted on top of the slope commanding the road from Mateur to Sidi Nsir, begins knocking out Panzers just one after another...". The gun in question was the British counterpart to the dreaded German "88" or 8.8cm Flak 18, the Ordnance QF 25-pounder. From Wikipedia: "The Ordnance QF 25-pounder, or more simply 25-pounder or 25-pdr, was the major British field gun and howitzer during the Second World War. Its calibre is 3.45-inch (87.6 mm). It was introduced into service just before the war started, combining both high-angle and direct-fire abilities, a relatively high rate of fire, and a reasonably lethal shell in a highly mobile piece. It remained the British Army's primary artillery field piece well into the 1960s, with smaller numbers serving in training units until the 1980s. Many Commonwealth of Nations countries used theirs in active or reserve service until about the 1970s and ammunition for the weapon is currently being produced by Pakistan Ordnance Factories. Initial production was slow, but by 1945, over 12,000 had been manufactured. The 25-pounder was probably the most outstanding field artillery piece used by British and Commonwealth forces in the Second World War, being durable, easy to operate and versatile." The Americans had their own gun of similar size and power, the 90 mm gun M1/M2/M3. It was used as field artillery and as a direct-fire anti-tank gun throughout the war, and the M3 version armed the M36 tank destroyer and the M26 Pershing tank later in the war. Guns of this size were able to defeat the armor of most tanks in WWII, with only the frontal armor of the heaviest tanks having much of a chance. The German 88 remains legendary, perhaps because the Allies were on the receiving end of its rounds, and because the overwhelming majority of Allied tanks were highly vulnerable to it. The Allies had their own comparable guns shooting back at the Germans, but the gun you're shooting with makes perhaps less of an impression than the gun you're being shot with.
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Discussion time! What do you think, would Rommel and Yamamoto be friends?
Read the guidelines, or the guidelines will read you: community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518
They would admire each other greatly, but would not be friends. Too much distrust.
Ignoring the language barrier, I think they would respect each other, friends I'm not so sure on.
I’ve never read much about either man’s personal life. We know Rommel had a family and that he visited his wife on her birthday at the time of the Normandy invasion. I know even less about Yamamoto. Did either of these men have friends outside of their professional military relationships? I don’t get the impression that they did. No “high school buddies” with whom they met or corresponded, near as I can tell. If they had, wouldn’t it have been noted? I don’t know.
So, if the occasion had called for it, I imagine that they might have a cordial professional at best. But that occasion is hard to picture. Are we imagining an alternate history where the Japanese overran India and Rommel conquered the Middle East?
Imposible! Rommel is an disgusting army man... Barely any better then an actual enemy
They would end up playing as Bridge partners, winning many games together but also relish playing against each other.
Hearing the same cities mentioned in these history videos as well as in.... current events... is somewhat surreal
also the 2020/1941 battle for wuhan
Quite, although I noticed that are spelling and/or pronunciation differences (Kharkiv/Kharkov, for example. I assume it's different in different languagues.)
@@howardbrandon11 There's been something of a push to use the Ukrainian rather than the Russian spelling (or transliteration more accurately), which is also why Kiev is now Kyiv.
@@eedwardgrey2 and Lvov is now Lviv.
Stalino is called Donetsk now - capital of unrecognized DNR
Imagine how frustrated Rommel must be:
- "Okay, bring out the new Tiger tanks we have been sent."
- "Sir, they have all been destroyed"
- "What? How?"
- "It seems someone ordered an unauthorized offensive, and we took huge losses"
- "WTF?"
Also his other issues
"There is just enough of our force to grab this strategically important point, and using that, we threaten a very long stretch of Allied territory with lots of Americans from the flank atop a favorable position to shoot down from.
We'll be able to also capture tons of Allied supplies"
Axis command:
"Split your force into two and you are allowed to strike like you want, but no fancy second stage, you'll just rush in with the other half of your force to fight with the Americans head on"
Rommel probably reads that demand and wants to tear it apart.
But if he says no, then there will be no offensive at all.
- Fighting from equal ground?
- With dwindling supplies?
- Head on vs entrenched positions?
It is almost as if the Axis want Rommel to lose
I'm starting to think there's a chance the Axis might actually lose this war.
? No way ? The Germans are far too advanced in both technology and tactics. Sure they have had their setbacks but its obvious they are going to win. Watch this comment will age like fine wine.
@@necromorph1109 you're right. It aged right into vinegar
Kevin! This is defeatism. I'm afraid I will be forced to report you to the local Gestapo office if you repeat this nonsense. Really, what a thing to say!
Crazy talk!
@@captainnutsack8151 the Japanese lost this war the moment the first bomb fell on Pearl Harbor, as Churchill said whoever came up with their plan A had never read a history or the American civil war, that war went on for years after the result was decided, once the Americans get an idea in their head.............................................
An interesting thing to note this week on March 5 1943 is that the British *Gloster Meteor* jet fighter aircraft will have its first flight in the skies. It will eventually enter operational service with the No. 616 Squadron RAF in July 1944 to mainly deal with the V1 flying bombs. However, they were not allowed to fly over German occupied territory on combat missions for fear of any potential salvage by the Germans should they be shot down. Meteor fighters would also see action in post-war conflicts such as the Korean War.
@Dickson Phua Thank you as always for joining us, and thanks for the additional info looking to the future for us
You have RUclips's grandfather account
V2? Meteors brought down about 200 V1's, about equal to barrage balloons. As I understand it.
The only way to deal with a V2 rocket was at the launch site, well inside Germany occupied territory, so one part of this narrative is crossed-up
You're right guys, made an error there about V2 rockets being able to be intercepted by fighters of that era. Edited accordingly. Thanks for highlighting it!
It's really tragic seeing Kharkov being fought over again 79 years after the Germans and Soviets battled over it.
War is the gravest tragedy of Humanity. It took Europe to suffer through the Great War and World War 2 to fully get tired of War. Obviously, some have grown fond of it instead.
@@guillaumedeschamps1087 "some" DNC, NSA, CNN, CIA etc. Yeah pooty poot is KGB
*WARMONGERS FOR PROFIT*
And 103 since the Soviets took it during the Soviet conquest of Ukraine.
those who do not learn from history, etc
@@kieranh2005 a millennia ago, Kyiv was the capital and main city of
the Rus'. (Moscow at that time was.....forest)
Messe is such underrated general.
Messe is basically the only good general of Italy during the ww2. During his operation in Russia, he used innovative tactics against the Russians, gaining huge success.
And then, as this RUclips channel is showing, he demonstrated that he was capable of understanding the situation.
Great respect for him.
Another sidenote this week on March 1 1943 is that the United States Office of Price Administration will implement rationing of canned goods. Under the new implementation, consumers would soon find that canned meat and fish would become unavailable, while they would still be allowed to obtain canned fruits, vegetables, soups, and baby foods via a points system. This rationing system would only be removed at the end of the war.
In 2 years Vito Scalleta will rob that place in Mafia 2
Wonder how much of that had to do with shortages of metal rather than food. 1943 was also the year steel pennies were minted in the US because of copper shortages, and I'm sure canned meats were prioritized for Lend Lease and other military uses as well.
On a related side side note: Rationing in Britain was lifted in July 1954. By comparison, France ended rationing in 1949, and Germany in 1950. Two knock on effects of this were: 1) British food developed a bad reputation (it was fairly good once rationing ended), and 2) almost a decade after the war had ended, the next generation were having to go without in the same way as those who went through the war. This is one of the reasons why the war shaped much of Britain's modern identity.
What's happening in Finland? One would think there is peace in Finland for the lack of coverage since the very beginning of Barbarosa. Finland has such a fascinating history during WW2. A free and democratic nation allied with Nazi Germany. A "good guy" on the wrong side of history. I hope you will remedy the lack of coverage with a special episode in the future.
Good job with the show and thanks for all your effort and hard work!
By this time, not much. The front was mostly static, but Finns launched recon operations behind enemy lines at military installations. Soviets sent their own Partisan troops, compromised of Finnish communists and criminals, who attacked mostly civilian settlements raping and killing the inhabitans.
I guess the channel doesn't really have any sources for Finland in English. In Finnish there is a lot of sources, even day to day ones.
It is very appropriate for the Time Ghost Army Member of the Week to be "One Smooth Stone" since the episode covers skip bombing.
@Michael Orford Good eye! 😉
"there is little time before the Spring thaw stops movement all along the front"
I hope this is still (at least partially) true in 2022
There is already alot of movement restricted to roads. Heavier vehicles that have been going off road have been getting stuck in many instances.
Western Ukraine is apparently worse for mud and areas north west to north east of Kyiv are very water logged in places.
Road network is much better in 2022
Also spring thaw came in february this year.
@@GaldirEonai and apparently do not have to claim this "loot" on their taxes.
Next week it will be -10 to -15C in many places in Ukraine.
CNN will tell you the truth 🤣
It’s funny how Yamamoto predicted to the day … the Japanese Victories would end … and by now they aren’t any victories…
He had first-hand experience about American industrial might. He knew it was risky, but being a soldier he followed orders to attack and being a soldier he did it as well as he could with forces he had in his use. He never said it, but "I fear we have only awaken sleeping giant and filled it with dreadful resolve. "
Don't worry Yamamoto will go down in a blaze of glory.....literally
It was a foregone conclusion for anyone who was paying attention prior to the initial Japanese attacks in 1941. Their whole strategy was based on hope - do enough damage to the US and Allied possessions in the area and get into a good enough defensive position that the Allies would decide it wasn't worth the cost to reclaim them. It was the worst miscalculation of the war, even worse than Germany invading the USSR because at least Germany had a slim chance of pulling it off.
@@vksasdgaming9472 He’s been critiqued for his overly elaborate planning and not combining his fleets … Let’s not forget about the bad case of Victory Disease that plagued IJN command …
@@jasondouglas6755 He was known for his obsession with punctuality … and he was right on time … for those p-38’s
I have to say, your choice of background footage as Indy was talking about Von Arnims defeat and the potential Third Battle of Kharkov were excellent. Thank you for those few moments of cynical comedic relief while retelling the events of such a dark period in history.
Thanks @Lttlemoi
I am glad that I wasn't the only one who picked up on the heavy handed humor. I am sure the residents are still really excited (obviously I hope the best for all still living there).
Another great episode from one of the most engaging and informative history channels on RUclips. My one quibble: you rightly describe Monty's advantage from the cracking of German codes. I have not seen anything on Rommel's advantage in early 1942 from cracked US codes, and Rommel's (unwitting) spy in Cairo, Bonner Frank Fellers. This would be well worth a spies and ties episode!
Double standarts in popular history resources to belittle Monty and disguise US role in Rommel's "genius"
Iirc it has been covered.
There's an excellent description of the Sidi Nsir battle by Lindybeige, covering the valiant sacrifice of the Royal Artillery, which made the attack a slaughter of german armor.
One of Rommel's Tigers was captured by the US Army in Tunisia during the North Africa campaign. It's hull serial number is #34 and is currently being housed with the US Armor and Cavalry collection at Fort Benning, GA. If you guys are ever able to do any traveling to the states, you should get into contact with them and see if they'll let you film a special episode there.
Not having a "Plan B " at that the highest level is a highest level of mind boggle .
I just wanted to say kudos to the editor for the bomb skipping and left-right moments. This kind of "insignificant" edits always enrich videos and make them more significant for me.
@aeven13 Thanks for your kind words! The team does notice comments like yours, and it means a lot for them when someone notices the fine detail work they put into the videos every week. Thanks for watching, stay tuned for more.
Facing a 6-pounder anti-tank gun means you'll have a challenging day. Facing a 17-pounder means you're going to have a bad day. A 25-pounder.....
I believe that 25-pounder was a field gun, Ordnance QF 25-pounder, used in direct-fire, they had an armour piercing round for it and it was the main piece of artillery of the British Army at the time and several decades to follow. So not as bad as facing an actual anti-tank gun, but hey it seemed to do just fine.
...You're going to have a very short day
@@pyorre2441 Indeed. But testing showed that even if the rounds didn't penetrate a Tiger's armour, the force of the blast rendered the tank inoperable (crews incapcitated).
It's always remarkable that a single well positioned gun, with a solid crew, can make a difference on a strategic level.
@@strongbrew9116 Judging from the number destroyed by their own crews because they were immobilized, those 25-lb. shells were pretty good at knocking off tracks too.
At the height of the Kasserine emergency, Alexander urgently ordered Montgomery to exert force on the Mareth Line in order to divert Rommel’s attention. Monty subsequently made much of this: ‘I speeded up events and by the 26th February it was clear that our pressure had caused Rommel to break off his attack against the Americans.’ Having been warned explicitly by Alexander not to over-extend elements of Eighth Army, Montgomery proceeded to do exactly that, for the whole of 10th Corps was at Benghazi, 1,000 miles away, and the nearest division which could be brought up as reinforcement to the lead units was the New Zealand, back at Tripoli. These were anxious times: ‘There is no doubt that between 28 Feb[ruary] and 3 March I was definitely “unbalanced”,’ recalled Montgomery. Leese had little confidence in approaching the Mareth Line: ‘… our left flank was completely exposed to the German threat from the mountains.’ But after much feverish activity he was convinced on 2 March that Rommel had, ‘missed his great chance and now we are calm, confident and ready.’
During the time when his forces were most exposed to attack, Montgomery rushed up 2nd British Armoured Brigade’s tanks from Tripoli to Ben Gardane. Also hurrying forward was 23rd British Armoured Brigade with units of 50th British Infantry Division, 201st Guards Brigade and 2nd New Zealand Division which drove up from Tripoli nonstop in 36 hours.
By morning on 4 March, Montgomery had established a powerful force at Medenine, an undistinguished collection of white houses and mud huts, about 20 miles south of the Mareth Line. Under command he had 51st Highland, 7th Armoured and 2nd New Zealand Divisions, all 30th Corps artillery, nearly 400 tanks, 350 field guns and 470 6-pounder anti-tank guns.
‘It’s a very big thing and please God we have made the right decision to stand and fight here,’ noted General Oliver Leese , 30th Corps commander on 5 March. But there was no other place to stand and fight unless Montgomery had withdrawn again beyond Tripoli. He had no intention of doing so and was supremely confident: ‘I am in fact sitting “very pretty”, and Rommel can go to hell’, wrote Montgomery. ‘If he attacks me tomorrow (as he looks like doing) he will get an extremely bloody nose; in fact it is exactly what I would like him to do.’ Rommel was about to oblige.
Bloody Road to Tunis - David Rolf
Obviously, because of secrecy restrictions that lasted in the UK until 1970's, Monty could not make any reference in his memoirs of the information he was receiving from Bletchley Park. So, naturally, he was 'extremely confident' and "sitting pretty"!.
This is where later history can be very enlightening.
@@chrisvowell2890 Actually no , for incoming Battle , Montgomery did not even need Ultra decrypts ...."even with Desert Air Force air recon was tracking daily movements of panzer divisions in southern Tunisia , even without ULTRA intelligence , Eighth Army deducted German armor build up at Mareth Line before Medenine on March 1st. Ultra just confirmed what Montgomery and de Guingand correctly deducted.
@@merdiolu Thanks for that - interesting! But the point I made about secrecy until the 1970's as far as Monty's memoirs are concerned, still applies.
@@chrisvowell2890 That's true enough, but don't let it give you the wrong idea about the man Montgomery - he was 'gifted' with mind-boggling arrogance. Like, Monty Python's Black Knight-tier self-confidence.
This is actually a virtue in a military leader. And it is worth remembering that his confidence was somewhat well-founded, because with worldclass outfits like the Highlanders and NZers at his disposal, (finally) armed with as-good-or-better kit as their opponents, and a degree of air superiority, Rommel's very foolish 'offensive' was bound to get pummeled into the dirt - ULTRA or not. It was a gift. This broke Rommel (spoiler?) - he was like: 'actually this lot can fight, and we might be proper fucked' for the first time.
Monty was a very, very good general - for many valid reasons. Rommel was famous for being extraordinarily lucky; Monty never needed luck, which isn't as sexy, but it made him very intimidating.
History MUST be remembered and it must be taught. We are repeating the same mistakes, over and over again.
Learning from history is one thing. Thinking you can do better is another matter.
@@thepsychicspoon5984 Learning more history just teaches a person that "doing better" is much harder than one thinks ^^
Plenty of grunts to learn from about how hard it is to actually "do better" & how easy it is to "fail catastrophically", and what makes the distinction between these 2.
Would be great to have feature on the gallant gunners of Battery 155, who held up the 10th Panzer Division for a full day, dying at their gun and wiring off DOT DOT DASH before going silent. There were seven survivors, one of whom reported that the overwhelmed crews were singing “Praise the Lord, and Pass the Ammunition” as the panzers closed in.
2:02 loved the camera work explaining American bombing tactics on the battle! Really inmersive and easy to understand
10:09 That's a big salient around Kursk, hope the Germans dont try to flank it.
Me neither. There's a town south of Kursk called Prokhoravka and it's really quiet and peaceful in the summer... not a single vehicle for miles.... it'd be a real shame if somethin' happened to it.
Be a bugger if somehow the enemy turned it into a giant mess of defensive fortifications a
Hahah loved the camera shake when you were explaining the skiping tactic
The commander of the 5th airforce during the battle of the Bismark Sea is a man named General George Kenney. He is often overlooked but a very capable commander. He was an observer to the french air force during the earlier years of the war. He was chosen by Macarthur himself to lead the 5th Air force, Kenney was unusual in the Army Airforce. Unlike most other Generals Kenney advocated for more tactical bombing and close air support which went against the Air force doctrine of longe range strategic bombing. Kenney was put in command of the 5th airforce in July 1942 and immediately had an impact. Knowing that the South Pacific had a low priority to the US airforce (Especially this early in the war) Kenney need to conserve his bomber strengths by launching quick and cost-efficient raids against Japanese ships and bases, sometimes at night (In fact the skip bombing was initiated in the 5th Air Force because of Kenney). He was able to gain air superiority over New Guinea allowing for a massive airlift into New Guinea being able to transport the entire US 32nd Infantry Divison into New Guinea. Unlike most other Generals, Kenney managed to get along with Macarthur as he knew a good working relationship was key. Kenney did not get along with Macarthur's chief of staff the much-hated Richard K. Sutherland. When Kenney first arrived and learned that Sutherland (despite very little knowledge of airpower) was giving detailed and strict instructions for Allied air operations. Kenney outraged, stormed into his office and drew a small dot on a piece of paper, and said "the dot represents what you know about air operations, the entire rest of the paper what I know." Kenney was so good at his job that one of the very few times Macurther ever emitted to be wrong was to Kenney on the fact he should have supported the creation of an Independent Air force when he was chief of staff and not fought against it.
@Jason Douglas Thank you for sharing about General Kenney. Can't think of any other channel anywhere on RUclips that has an audience like ours- who brings such exceptional knowledge to the fore. Thanks for helping make the TimeGhost Army the best audience out there.
The 8th air force was in Europe. Kenney commanded the 5th air force
@@michaelemberley2767 darn you are right, the funny thing is when I was typing this I reminded myself "make sure you put the 5th not the 8th"
@@jasondouglas6755 no worries. you started off by saying that the commander of 5th air force was General Kenney. & I still learned something I had never known before from your informative comments.
I'll never understand why the air forces didn't follow the lead of people like Gen. Kenney, at least before 1945 and the development of nuclear bombs. Time and again it's been shown that putting air assets into close air support and raids was more 'cost effective' than wasting huge amounts of men and material on strategic bombing campaigns. You could compare them to admirals in the navy who were convinced that battleships were the way to go long after it was shown that carriers and submarines were so much more effective at actually winning battles.
Something something about British forces being almost useless in WWII (yeah right) according to a fair few scholars of the subject. Not so much in North Africa this week at any rate. Next week though certainly looks spicy with offensives in North Africa and the Eastern Front.
While I partly watch these videos to take my mind off parts of my daily life, it's sad to see places like Kharkiv become all too familiar when I read the news. I also want to take this opportunity to thank you guys for doing the Into Context series on Ukrainian history. Much needed and I look forward to learning more. Long live Ukraine and her people.
@Cobbler91 Thank you for the reflective words and for your support.
Would love to see historians predict what would happen if the British had been isolationist. Could any of them justify an axis defeat when if the axis could freely import?
@@catmonarchist8920 Britain's strategy since Napoleonic times had been to keep the continent divided, to not let any one power become dominant and able to conquer the British isles. As long as continental powers were divided and squabbling they were relatively safe behind their seas and navy. The idea that the UK would remain neutral while Germany took over the entire continent is unthinkable - they had to be involved out of a sense of self-preservation. Not fighting back against German expansionism in either world war meant the risk of them becoming a secondary power or even a colony of a very powerful Europe.
I love how Hitler is still dreaming of capturing the Caucasus in 1943 after what happened to the Southern Front in the winter...
But on the other hand :-
If your stood in 6 inches of ice and mud 30 miles from the nearest hot meal. Down to your last twenty rounds and the tanks have left to reinforce 'somewhere else' !
It has got to be reassuring that the Leader is still giving positive vibes
and appears to be completely confident in His ability to turn thing around .... 🤔
Seems like Manstein's counter-attack gave him a bit of false hope. "See! Look! We've still got panzer armies that can go on the offensive!". Pretty delusional at this point, but guess it was better than admitting the obvious.
@@hachwarwickshire1718Well this man was still positive in winter 1944-1945 with the ardennes offensive so...
I can’t imagine much more terrifying than being an infantryman stuck in the hold of a ship under air attack.
This shows one very important thing: the Tiger Tank, as scary as it is, is not an attack tank.
Actually it was meant to be primarily an attack tank (breakthrough tank).
And in hat role it actually performed well.
The problem was reliability and lack of support, You can retrieve and repair a Tiger if you have enough infantry and other tank units with you in the attack (and you are advancing), but not so if the advance is halted and you have to start to retreat, then a temporarily disabled tank is effectively a loss.
But the Germans often had to use the Tigers as stopgap measures (including i Tunisia) as they did not get enough reinforcements and supplies to be able to conduct a proper offensive (as noted in the episode when listing the material strengths of the 2 sides on the Mareth line to the south).
This shows one very important thing: no tank is unstoppable, regardless of the hype.
The problem was their lack of ability to recover them, German tank units had excelled in recovery and field repair throughout the war. If you have to blow them up for a track loss, what do you do tomorrow?
Fantastic opening Indy, makes us really want to know what you are talking about, all will be revealed, and the irony fully appreciated, also no distractions just Indy telling me personally what happened this week, this is what 30 mins or Saturday mornings are for. I write this having only watched the opening and am on the edge of my seat for the rest.
@dr no Thank you very much for joining us once again. I don't care what they say about you Julius, you're alright!
Getting to watch new videos on this fantastic channel during Friday's breakfast is more than worth the price of Patreon membership.
@Stark Parker Thanks so much for supporting our work!
Wonderful job making these vids. Thank you so much. SGT DOUG
Thank you for watching!
Another incredible episode from the best history channel on any platform in the world.
Thanks for the kind works @Sean the Green!
I love that "no plan B" line because it perfectly sums up the entire war in the pacific (and Soviet Union for that matter) from here on. The Japanese expected they would win in a short amount of time so they would not have to set up anything except a ring of outposts on the outskirts of their empire. They expected that once they beat the US fleet and the British in Burma that the war would be won before they ended up in any sort of slog. Part of their problem is that many of the officers in the Japanese high command were unwilling to admit failure, but only by admitting failure can you work to improve. Most of them will not learn from their mistakes as we shall see.
The world owes a huge debt to millions of volunteers in India who fought for Britain in Africa, Europe, and the East
"Which the locals must be really excited about" Indys sarcastic delivery is top notch!
Rommel seems to be on his way out, but von Arnim's failed attack and Messe's likely failure next week might just put Rommel back in. Fun fact: In Dutch, a "rommel" means a "mess".
In Afrikaans, 'rommel' is 'rubbish'
Just a little correction on the map of Tunisia at 7:50 ; The Force L of Leclerc was holding the oasis of Ksar Rhilane, 89 km southwest to Medenine. The troops that were south of Medenine with the New-zelanders, on the Medenine - Foum Tataouine road, were from the Free French Flying Column (a unit created in August 1942, composed of the 1st Marching Regiment of Moroccan
Spahis, some “Conus guns” (75mm guns fixed on trucks) and the 1st FFL Tank Company , equipped with Crusaders).
Sorry for not getting back to you earlier but we did see your comment and put through the changes in later episodes. Thanks for pointing that out!
You can always count on Indy to get you a laugh no matter how dark the war gets truly amazing.
Just watched your latest video, great work!
Thanks very much @Civil War Week By Week!
Worked for several years at a lighting manufacturer and I have to say - LOVE THAT LAMP on your desk Indy!! The simple art deco is quintessential of the noir. The others while falling into art deco they seem to be a bit clunky while your lamp is smooth and elegant.
What happens in Yugoslavia, covered in the War Against Humanity series... I cannot say I'm surprised.
You Guys are BEST!!! Thank You
@Mark Reedy You're the best! Remember to like, subscribe, and please join the TimeGhost Army to help us make more of these episodes every week, and more special episodes! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
At least the turmoil nowadays in Tunisia is nothing compares to the disperate fight 79 years ago.
I think you should start talking about the US submarine campaign, as at right about this point in the war is really starting to get going. It ends up being significantly more successful than the U-Boat campaign
@Gavin Casey There are a ton of specials, side-stories, tales of intrigue, and whole campaigns that we'd love to cover in more depth. Unfortunately though, the production costs of these episodes is huge. Researching, writing, producing, animating, fact checking, moderating… they all are huge draws of time and money.
So please consider joining the TimeGhost Army on Patreon, to help us fund & produce more content like that. Between the weekly episodes, special series, and huge projects like D-Day, our team is working nonstop. Tell your friends, shout it from the rooftops! Join the TimeGhost Army! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
The US submarine campaign will end up being the most successful submarine campaign in all of human history, achieving what the more famous U-boat campaign ultimately failed at.
Despite submarines only accounting for a tiny fraction of the US navy's strength, by war's end they will have been responsible for 55% of all Japan's merchant shipping losses during the war & 33% of all it's naval warships sunk. That Japan's economy teetered on collapse toward the end of the war was also largely a result of that campaign, with the Japanese home islands effectively being blockaded of the resources needed to fuel it's war industries.
@@lycaonpictus9662 precisely my point, it is perhaps the most underrated campaign in military history
@@lycaonpictus9662 If TG covers this in detail I'd like to see them cover Japanese anti-submarine efforts. We hear all sorts of stuff about Allied efforts in the Atlantic battles; I'm willing to bet the Japanese didn't put anywhere near the same resources into their own anti-sub capabilities which is probably why the US effort was so effective.
@@lycaonpictus9662 Come on, wild dog, the Japanese totally neglected defense, especially anti-submarine defense. Being offensive-minder is one thing, but it can sometimes become indistinguishable from stupidity.
This is the best channel on RUclips. I have watched every video, so now I wait patiently for new ones to appear.
Thanks @Charles beeman! TimeGhost Army members get sneak previews btw 😉
The Kuben bridgehead actulally contains some Oil fields with over 150 wells
"Which the locals must be real excited about." Yeah, I was just thinking that.
The Japanese resorted to resupplying and reinforcing New Guinea by submarine. The Japanese did not give up on New Guinea, in the end out of 200,000 men sent there around 150,000 died mostly from starvation and disease.
They'd also make new bases that easier to suply and less threatened by the Allies.
Think Messe needs his own video, he was quite good for an Italian commander
GREAT WORK INDY, LOVE THE PHONE CALL. VERY FUNNY. LOVE YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR.
that extra camera movement while describing the skipper tactic was awesome :D
I have to throw up though..
@DasSmach Hope you're OK!
The bit about Sidi Nsir is expanded on in a video by Lindybeige - 'The sacrifice of the 155th'. Probably not the only tale about heroic sacrifice against insurmountable odds in the war, but examplified in this video. As it's just briefly mentioned here, I can only recommend the video mentioned.
Kharkiv is also a battlefield right now. The mayor said recently, that Kharkiv has never seen such distruction before. When I heard this, I scratched my head, since this was clearly untrue, because I am sure that the 4 battles caused way more damage than limited 21st century warfare.
Lots of propaganda coming from both sides. This is modern war after all, if you can convince your population that this is a total war of your very existence, you can mobilize more to your cause.
@@Squidward558 I absolutly agree with you. Ukrainien information should always be taken with a grain of salt.
Yes. Propaganda is a head scratcher.
Like how both sides compare the other to those evil SS / Nazis.
I thought it might be worth a video segment to try to understand those Ukrainians fighting against the Soviet forces.
Also this week, the Atlantic Convoy Conference begins on March 1st in Washington DC. The situation in the north Atlantic has become quite dire recently and this conference is called to assess the situation and to look to solutions to improve allied response. Think its time for another special episode on the Battle of the Atlantic.
@Nick Gooderham Plenty more action we'll cover in the Atlantic, to be sure.
We'd love to make special episodes about every single story, battle, betrayal, and triumph. But these episodes are produced at great cost, so please consider joining the TimeGhost Army to help us make more historical episodes like this one, and to explore the war (and the Atlantic) in ever-greater depth! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
An interesting WW2 movie to watch around this week is "Bitka na Neretvi (Battle of the Neretva)" (1969) by Veljko Bulajić.
This partisan epic film deals with the clashes happening in Yugoslavia as part of the Case White German offensive against the partisans.
Period covered: January-March 1943
Historical accuracy: 4/5
IMDB grade: 7/10
Other: Nominated for best foreign film academy award
---
Another interesting movie for this week is "The Heroes of Telemark" (1965), covering the events in Norway.
@Nano92 Thanks for the suggestions
It really is one of the best movies to come out of the old Yugoslavia. There is a version on youtube with english subtitles here (ruclips.net/video/yCGgifxN1l8/видео.html). I'm going to re-watch it again especially since WAH is covering those events "now".
As for every Part of your Series: Thank you, Thank You! And Never forget!
Thank you for watching!
The British 25 pounder is a thoroughly underrated gun IMHO.
I Bet theres some long faces in the OKW over the loss of those Tiger Tanks in Tunisia..One of which i think it is you can see at the Tank Museum at Bovington
What flag will you use on the battle maps for Canadian troops? Modern Maple Leaf for clarity or the old ensign?
1. The withdrawal (Operation Buffel) proves that Operation Mars was not ultimately a failure, but a (delayed) success. 2. Zhukov may have figured "why fight for the salient now? - let them leave, and we'll walk in behind them."
I can't believe I'm finally up to date, got stranded in the beginning of Stalingrad and couldn't catch up
@Leonardo Longo Lippera I'm glad you're all caught up! Thanks for watching!
Does it bother anyone else that Indy never tells the person on the other end of the phone, “Goodbye?” He just hangs up on the person.
@Gerard Monsen I've always called it a 'Hollywood hang-up.' In movie phone calls, they almost never say goodbye.
It's a shame real life doesn't operate that way.
Is there anything more awkward than a farewell?
12:08 lol that makes the action against 3rd tanl army pretty useless, the personnels were only need to be re equipped, even soviet tank production in 3 weeks can replace 3rd tank army
At 9:20 why does that photage look weird and is the second part animated?
Hi Indy
Awesome video..
Enjoyed it..
Belated watched this episode..
Thanks for another great week
Thanks @NAVEEN RAJ
I have not heard of bomb skipping being used anywhere other then the Bismark Sea and it sounds efficient so why what it not used in other battles?
Excellent as always
Thanks!
General von Arnim after the war "And that's when I was awarded the Victoria Cross"
Thanks for this week's summary!
Those Hungarian light divisions were sent to Ukraine for occupation purposes, they had no or minimal heavy weapons and were not supposed to fight against frontline troops. They had a hard time against partisans who sometimes possessed artillery, tanks, and even airplanes, but you can imagine the losses when they encountered regular Red Army troops...
same places..eighty years later..we never learn..
Monty brought the big guns in when the Kiwis got there, Indy 😉🇳🇿♠️🤙🏻
Can you do a special on all 3 battles of kharkov since right now, there is another battle of karkhiv?
18:40 - "It is very good." Very good?! Woefully understated, I'm afraid. It is EXCELLENT! UNPARALLELED! NOT TO BE MISSED!
Great analysis as always Mr Neidel. Congratulations.
I would like to add one question here :Did the Japanese manage to produce any new aircraft carriers during war time, particularly after Midway?
Hōshō (1921)
Akagi (1925)
Kaga (1928)
Ryūjō (1931)
Sōryū (1935)
Hiryū (1937)
Shōkaku class
Shōkaku (1939)
Zuikaku (1939)
Zuihō class
Zuihō (1940)
Shōhō (1941)
Hiyō class
Jun'yō (1941)
Hiyō (1941)
Taiyō class escort carrier
Unyō (liner converted to escort carrier in 1941)
Chūyō (liner converted to escort carrier in 1942)
Taiyō (liner converted to escort carrier in 1942)
Kaiyō (liner converted to escort carrier in 1942) (liner converted to escort carrier in 1943)
Akitsu Maru class (used by the Army)
Akitsu Maru (1941, depot ship and escort carrier)
Nigitsu Maru (1942, depot ship with flight deck)
Ryūhō (converted from submarine tender in 1942)
Taihō
Taihō (1943)
Chitose class light aircraft carriers
Chiyoda (1943)
Chitose (1944)
Unryū class
Amagi (1943)
Unryū (1943)
Katsuragi (1944)
Kasagi (not completed)
Aso (not completed)
Ikoma (not completed)
Shinano (1944)
Shimane Maru class escort carrier
Shimane Maru (1944)
Otakisan Maru (not completed)
Yamashio Maru class auxiliary escort carrier (used by the Army)
Yamashio Maru (1944)
Chigusa Maru (not completed)
Kumano Maru (1945) These are the Japanese aircraft carriers.
@@caryblack5985
OH. This is very interesting. Thank you. So I guess they built some after Midway but they also tried to convert some other vessels to aircraft carriers. Interesting.
@@ΚοινωνικόςΟρθολογιστής They had a big problem providing trained pilots.
My father-in-law (Canadian) was a bomb-aimer flying with the RAF out of India against the Japanese in the India/Burma theatre.
They did the skip-bombing technique, with the B-24 Liberator bombers, 50 feet off the deck.
Quite a feat, since they flew British crew configurations - NO CO-PILOT - and the B-24 was notorious as requiring a great deal of effort on the controls.
Crazy stuff.
@Guy Werry That's quite the history your father-in-law must have had. Thanks for sharing a bit of his life in the war.
The Pearl Harbor mini is worth a rewatch. It's a beast.
@Neil Wilson Just wait til you see what we've got in store for D-Day
attaking survivors on rafts with Pt boats: that qualifies as a war crime
Agree ... I hope the RN had nothing to do with that
It wasn't the only war crime that occurred during that battle either. The Battle of The Bismarck Sea was a real nasty engagement, even by Pacific War standards.
The Japanese would kill any survivors so the Allie’s played by their rules.
It's a little complicated than that & isn't quite so black & white.
1. The survivors were troops meant to reinforce the army on New Guinea, which is exactly what they would continue to do if left to continue on in their rafts. Japanese submarines in fact did rescue a small number of survivors (170 or so) and did exactly that, depositing the troops as reinforcements at Lae.
2. Japanese troops as a general rule didn't surrender, which means the only viable option of removing them from the board is by killing them. Some of the Japanese survivors managed to make to Goodenough Island, where Australian infantry was sent to deal with them. Those survivors fought stubbornly to the last, rather than surrender, as they did nearly everywhere else in the war.
The tragedy is the result of a Japanese military culture that completely removed surrender as an option.
This is strange and I am not defending potential war crimes.
If someone shoots at a soldier or puts up a defense then that is a legitimate target.
Does not matter where that fire came from.
Once a position is shown to be militarized then it is a legitimate target.
Church, Mosque, Synagogue, Hospital or Lifeboat matters not.
So did US PT Boat crews fire on unarmed survivors or did they fire on people who were shooting?
You and I will never know the real answer.
All war is a crime.
Thought the camera moving for the skip bombing was way cooler than it probably was lol
@Gooberson Glad you liked it! The production crew works very hard on every episode, and it's heartening for them to see comments like your appreciating the fine details of their work. Thanks for watching
Love the new coffee mug, all the way from east coast Australia, keep up this amazing channel, took me 2 years to watch all of the Great War and catch up to this episode since I found Indi and watched him get a dope setup and better help and support with his projects and amazing it and graphics and clips from history. Never been a more informative and entertaining show that teaches way more about war than any other documentary I’ve ever watched
@Joel Huddleston Thanks so much for your support and dedication! Our audience really makes this channel reach new heights with your personal stories and reflections on the war. Cheers from America! 🇦🇺
Sorry Indy, but that's not a 25 pounder, its an Ordnance Quick-Firing 17-pounder which was a 76.2 mm gun developed by the United Kingdom during World War II. It was used as an anti-tank gun on its own carriage, as well as equipping a number of British tanks. Used with the APDS shot, it was capable of defeating all but the thickest armour on German tanks.
The Commander of the Third Tank Army quipped, "The Third Tank Army is called is called Third Tank Army, because we have 3 tanks"...............
I know that it’s a minor detail… but it’s the 16 division PISTOIA and not Distoia. Of all the things you could have missed you missed the name of the division which carried the name of my home town… Fix it please. Anyway great episode as always keep up the good work.
That was brilliantly done. I am VERY impressed.
This documentary is my weekly highlight
Great to hear @weltvonalex!
Bismarck Sea really noteworthy for RAAF and USAAF personnel flying in mixed crews.
While the withdrawal from Kasserine was taking place von Arnim flew to Rome, without Rommel’s approval. There, he obtained Kesselring’s permission to mount a new major offensive by Fifth Panzer Army in the northern third of Tunisia, from the coast to the Bou Arada valley. Operation Ochsenkopf (‘Oxhead’), scheduled to begin on 26 February, was planned in the belief that the Allies had been badly unbalanced through having to move their forces from the north during the recent crisis. When told of this Rommel was dumbfounded at the ‘nincompoops’ of Comando Supremo. Ambrosio, however, was equally astonished when he heard about it because von Arnim had already called off a spoiling attack in the Medjez el Bab area for want of sufficient forces.
Operation Ochsenkopf s principal aim was to advance towards Béja from Mateur through Sidi Nsir with an armoured battlegroup of 77 tanks (including 14 Tigers) commanded by Oberst Rudolph Lang, part of Generalmajor Weber’s Korpsgruppe. The rest of Weber’s forces including Oberst Audorfs 754th Grenadier Regiment, composed of older men and some wounded from the Eastern Front, together with units of Hermann Göring Division and others from 10th Panzer Division which had not taken part in Operation Frühlingswind, were to support in the centre and south. Two battlegroups would encircle and destroy the British at Medjez el Bab and a third entrap the enemy in the Bou Arada Valley by means of a pincer movement before advancing to Gafour. In the north Oberst Hasso von Manteuffel, commanding the former von Broich Division, was to mount a secondary attack, codenamed Operation Ausladung (‘Unloading’), in the Sedjenane Valley and cover Weber’s northern flank.
The first in what was to be a complicated series of nine offensives by von Arnim’s troops along a 60-mile front opened on the morning of 26 February when Lang’s infantry, supported by 74 tanks, including 14 Tigers, advanced along the road between towering heights to Sidi Nsir. Defending this patrol base - hardly more than a small white building and wooden platform where the road curved close to the railway track - were 5th Hampshires from 46th British Infantry Division , supported by 155th Battery, 172nd Field Regiment, which had placed its eight 25-pounders well forward of the infantry.
Soon after dawn a vicious slogging match developed as Lang was forced to commit more and more of his armour in trying to dislodge the Hampshire’s antitank gunners and infantry who stuck doggedly to their posts despite low-level attacks from German fighters causing havoc among their supply lorries. As Oberst Barenthin’s paratroopers picked their way over steep hills to envelop the Hampshires, tanks crossed the Sidi Nsir-Béja road during the afternoon cutting the defenders’ supply line. After his telephone lines had been sliced, radio put out of action and observation post smashed, the artillery commander, Major John Raworth, still reported, ‘German tanks attacking. Everyone in good heart.’ Gun after gun was overrun but even when ammunition in the gunpits was blazing others went on firing. There came a final message, ‘Tanks are on us,’ followed by the ‘V’ sign before the last surviving gun of the dying 155th Battery was silenced. A lone gunner was seen to charge the German tanks, brandishing a sticky bomb.
After 12 hours’ continuous fighting German tanks broke through 5th Hampshire’s defences and their GO, Lieutenant-Colonel Newnham - later awarded a DSO - at last ordered a phased withdrawal. By then, he was in touch with only one of his four rifle companies. As darkness fell he put a time bomb into the station at Sidi Nsir, burned all his bedding and, ‘the pictures of my lovelies on the walls. “Can’t let the Germans look at you, my darlings,”’ he said, and led what remained of his battalion back over the hills.36 Only 120 struggled to Hunt’s Gap, a railway station on a rise of ground nine miles from Béja, to be strengthened and reinforced there by 128th Infantry Brigade. Of 130 officers and other ranks from 155th Battery, nine returned - two of them wounded.
At the other hand Germans paid a very heavy price for this small advance. Oberst Lang had lost 41 panzers, though his engineers were soon out at work repairing where possible and cannibalising those beyond saving. Already, his ability to reach Béja had been significantly reduced but this was by no means evident next day as the Panzers pushed on towards Hunt’s Gap after heavy overnight rain had delayed the offensive and made off-road going impossible. About midday Lang’s leading tanks were in contact with 2/4th Hampshires and the remnants of 2/5th Leicesters, newly arrived from Thala, who held a thin line across three miles of open countryside. Stopped once more, Lang tried again on the 28th after another night of heavy rainstorms which confined his tanks to the narrow ribbon of road. During the hours of darkness, the defenders had been reinforced by 2nd Hampshires, extra anti-tank guns and the North Irish Horse with 12 Churchill tanks. These had been introduced in First Army - 58 to a Regiment - only recently when a mixed squadron of 142nd (Suffolk) Regiment, RAC, rode into battle at Sbiba on 21 February, losing four in the process.
By the fourth day, (1 March), the strain of holding the German attack was beginning to tell on brigade HQ, situated about three miles from Béja. Brigadier Pratt, normally the corps artillery commander, was a worried man, unsure as to whether he could prevent the Tigers from advancing on Béja and Medjez el Bab. However, late in the afternoon the guns stopped firing at Ksar Mezouar. A British tank commander cautiously approached eight wrecked German tanks which had previously tried to entice the Churchills out to fight and knocked out by British anti tank guns and discovered their turrets thrown open and crews gone. Germans had abandoned haversacks of letters, towels, pipes and tobacco, pudding powder, tinned food and, in one tank, even postcard sets of ‘Arab Beauties,’ purchased in Tunis.
The Churchill tanks, now in pursuit, trundled towards Sidi Nsir. Lang had only five ‘runners’ amongst his panzers and Weber ordered him to withdraw, go on the defensive, and hand over his command to Oberst Buse of the 47th Grenadier Regiment, from Korpsgruppe reserve. Disgruntled, Lang’s troops insultingly nicknamed him ‘Panzer-Killer’.
Bloody Road to Tunis - David Rolf
While the battle at Hunt’s Gap was the most hard-fought of von Arnim’s offensive, further south troops of the Jäger Regiment Hermann Göring climbed hill paths leading out of the Goubellat Plain. At midnight on 25 February under the garish light of flares and a furious mortar bombardment, they fell upon a company of 1st East Surreys at ‘Fort McGregor,’ no more than a sharp rocky knoll, 1,000 yards ahead of the main defensive line. ‘The hill was being torn apart with mortar and machine gun fire,’ wrote Lieutenant Kinden of the Surreys, ‘at times it was as light as day and then suddenly very dark. The noise of bombardment and men shouting, the groaning of the wounded and dying and the smell of exploding ammunition and death was everywhere. This entire situation was all about war and what it really means to be in close combat.’
By daybreak the East Surreys were cut off while the Algerian Tirailleurs, holding Djebel Djaffa on their right, were driven back exposing Brigadier Gass’s 11th Brigade HQ and his gun lines. There followed a tremendous assault but a reserve company of East Surreys, with support from 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers, a field company of Royal Engineers, 56th Reconnaissance Regiment and a few Valentine tanks of 17/21st Lancers, mounted a strong counterattack on Djebel Djaffa and re-took it. All available firepower was concentrated on Fort McGregor and at dusk on 26 February a patrol found only six Germans still on their feet who surrendered to British patrol. The bodies of 15 East Surreys were extricated from the debris; some had been killed after their capture by British artillery fire including Major Brooke Fox, the East Surreys’ company commander. Around them about 69 Germans lay dead. German paratroopers found British shelling too intense for conducting any operations and returned back to their own lines further east.
Some way south, German tanks and infantry forced their way between 11th Brigade and 38th Irish Brigade at first light on 26 February. In the Irish sector, slightly north of the village of Bou Arada, the line on Stuka Ridge and its adjoining features was held by 2nd London Irish Rifles, young men who reportedly scarcely knew each other. Hit by the 2nd Battalion of Jäger Hermann Göring and Koch’s paratroopers, they were scattered as the enemy attacked Steamroller Farm (there was a steamroller in the farmyard), on the rear slopes of Djebel Rihane where Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, Irish Brigade commander, had his HQ. Here they ran into a small unit of Lieutenant-Colonel Derek Mills-Roberts’ No. 6 Commando, whose 250 strong force had been established on the western slopes and was patrolling eastwards at irregular intervals.
Only after engaging the enemy with his HQ troop and setting his other three troops to drive them eastwards did Mills-Roberts realize he was up against a much stronger force than expected. From the north there appeared more troops shouting, ‘Jäger, Jäger’, to which the defenders retorted with equal vigour, ‘Commando, Commando’. After the Germans brought up four tanks the commandos were forced to withdraw, hunted by the enemy who introduced patrol dogs into the dense scrub, though many in this area of steep hills and gullies managed to link up with 56th Reconnaissance Regiment. Re-forming, commandos then wreaked havoc among their pursuers by pumping 60 mortar shells into the Germans’ tank harbour. During the entire action, No. 6 Commando suffered exactly 100 killed, wounded or missing (40 per cent of its strength).
Next in line on 26 February, 2nd Parachute Battalion of 1st British Parachute Brigade was involved in, ‘a bewildering course of action.’ Acting as shock troops, they spent much of their time in carriers being ferried hastily from one place to another, in action by night and travelling by day.
It was the misfortune of a large force of Italian infantry, attempting to advance from Djebel Mansour through trackless, wild country south of Bou Arada, to be waylaid by them. As the Italians disappeared into the many ravines, the paratroopers’ support company fired into them all their normal stock of ammunition, their reserve, and further replenishment brought up by mule train. When night came, a sweep of the whole battle area brought in 90 very dispirited prisoners and, ‘a collection of rifles, machine-guns and other ironmongery of typical Italian design.’
Meanwhile, 1st and 3rd British Parachute Battalions held a determined attack on their position - which centred on a feature known as Argoub, south of Djebel Bou Arada - by Austrians and Italian Alpini reinforced by men of 756th Mountain Regiment from Audorf’s 334th German Infantry Division. Under cover of a short bombardment, 1st Parachute Squadron, RE, was sent in to bolster up the hard-pushed 3rd Battalion. Charging uphill, with bayonets fixed and firing Bren Guns from the hip, they forced Germans from the Argoub until they reached a horseshoe-shaped wadi at the foot of Djebel Mansour. There the Axis troops became trapped in an area which had been ranged by 3rd Battalion the previous day and in 90 minutes both Germans and Italians were pulverized by 3,000 mortar shells. In all, 3rd Battalion took 150 German and 210 Italian prisoners and killed over 250. When searched, some prisoners had pamphlets in their pockets detailing the best way to fight Die Roten Teufel - the ‘Red Devils.’ British paratroopers were delighted; no higher honour could have been bestowed on them.
Around Steamroller Farm, German Hermann Goring Division progress towards El Aroussa, from where Brigadier ‘Nelson’ Russell was commanding his scratch ‘Y’ Division (made up from the Parachute Brigade and 38th Irish Brigade), had been slowed by stubborn resistance from armoured cars of 1st Derbyshire Yeomanry.
On 27 February the Irish attacked and stabilised their front; at the same time, 1st Guards Brigade arrived on the road to El Aroussa. The 334th German Division struck at Tally Ho corner just before midnight, surprised and overran the commando garrison, whose survivors were rescued by Churchill tanks. The Germans pressed on to a small ridge 6 mi (9.7 km) to the east of El Aroussa, where two battalions of the Herman Göring Division and a supporting panzer company assaulted a position defended by the Churchill tanks of Suffolk Squadron, 142nd Regiment RAC. Firing from positions, the Churchill tanks knocked out four Panzer IVs, disabled three Panzer IIIs and destroyed a 88 mm gun for the loss of a Churchill tank. The German infantry suffered many casualties and the survivors withdrew after determined resistance by the British infantry supported by massed artillery. The British received reinforcements and counter-attacked after another bombardment, pushing the Germans back from Tally Ho corner into the hills east of the Medjez-El-Bab to El-Aroussa road during the night.
Next day, a company of 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, supported by seven Churchill tanks from 51st Battalion, RTR, charged Steamroller Farm but intense German shelling and Stuka dive-bombing knocked out five Churchills and stopped the Coldstreamers in their tracks. Undeterred, Captain Hollands carried on in his Churchill tank under repeated fire from two 88 mm guns. Both missed at point-blank range, whereupon Hollands counter fire wrecked both German guns, broke through into the enemy’s rear, caught the German transport echelon and set it ablaze. Shortly afterwards he was joined by Lieutenant Kentons Churchill tank and, when two German Mk III panzers attempted to intervene, they destroyed them as well.
The Churchills then opened fire on the massed German infsntry and paratroopers who fled screaming through the bushes, trying to get to the hills behind. In hot pursuit the tanks crushed many German troops beneath their tracks and shot up 25 wheeled vehicles, eight antitank guns, two anti-aircraft guns, mortars, ammunition, radio sets and much else. They killed 200 men and were described in a German transmission, which the British intercepted, as a ‘mad Tommy tank battalion,’ which had scaled ‘impossible heights.’
On the following day 3rd Grenadier Guards walked into Steamroller Farm. The whole area, observed Sergeant-Major Bryen, RSM of 6 Commando, was littered with, ‘distorted bodies which had lain there for two days or more, shell holes, burning lorries, guns and motor cycles, arms, ammunition, kit, uniform strewn everywhere, both our own and the enemy; shell, cartridges, grenades, heaped in confusion, with plenty of very obvious booby traps.’ In recognition of their parts in the action, Mills-Roberts of 6 Commando and Hollands were awarded the DSO. (Distinguished Service Order)
5th British Corps commander Generak Allfrey sent forward the Lancashire Fusiliers, 600 men of No. 6 Commando, the 56th Reconnaissance Regiment, Valentine tanks of the 17th/21st Lancers, elements of the 51st Royal Tank Regiment (51st RTR) and the North Irish Horse. The next day almost as soon as they arrived, the Surreys and the Valentines of the 17/21st Lancers counter-attacked Djebel Djaffa, which was recaptured after some resistance
Before the start of von Arnim’s offensive, the British CIGS hoped that Brigadier Flavell’s parachute brigade might be withdrawn, refitted and retrained because it consisted of, ‘expensive personnel hard to get and hard to train, and which we are having great difficulty in replacing.’ The Germans had also used their seasoned parachute troops as line infantry, blocking holes here and there, dissipating their efforts in roles for which they had never been intended.
I seem to remember this particular event from one of Lindybeige's videos. It's titled _"The Sacrifice of 155 Battery, Sidi Nsir 1943"_ great watch and a great storyteller if anyone's interested.
@@merdiolu riveting. you put us right in the middle of the action.
I feel like it's not going to be the last week that could deserve that title
Great video. It was really interesting.
@Broken Bridge Thanks for watching! Always great to have you with us
@@WorldWarTwo---Your welcome. I really enjoy how Indy starts all these video's. I also like the background characters starting these video's too. Have a nice day or night where ever you are.
Great content as usual WW2 team
@Indiana Jones Thanks again for joining us week after week, Doctor Jones!
Correction: As always.
It was great to see you in Sabaton's video, Indy! :)
It was fun to do too!
I had to look it up, but the 25 pounder gun was approximately the equivalent of the German 88. (3.45 inch or 87.6 mm)
Not really. It had the same bore diameter but a much lower velocity as it was a field gun designed for indirect fire. On the other hand the German 88 was designed as an anti-aircraft gun and as such had a much higher velocity.
@hognoxious Sometimes they are. The .308 Winchester and the 30-06 don't share the same case (but use the same projectiles) and are functional equivalents, for most purposes. From what I have read, the 25 pounder wasn't a howitzer and had higher velocity and longer range than the 105 mm. It seems to have worked well as a tank buster.
Hello WW2 Team, i love your hard work and i´m always astonished of these horrific events...
I wonder, why is there a picture of Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf in the background?^^
@Bernhard Gradwohl He's a familiar face from the previous war Indy covered.
As someone not in the studio (intern), I can only speculate like you in the real reason of his presence. I have to think of him as a cautionary tale, a memento mori personified, if only for his arrogant and undeserved confidence which ultimately only served to kill millions.
If you followed the other war, at the outbreak Indy mentioned him being once described thusly "The most dangerous kind of officer, both stupid and intensely energetic."
Because we should never forget the awesome power of weaponized facial hair.
As an elementary school student in the mid 60s I bought a book called Heroic Battles of WWII, which has a chapter on the Bismarck Sea. I still have it. The chapter BISMARCK SEA is written by Tetsuko Mikotoya, Ensign, Imperial Japanese Navy, who was there. He writes: "THE VERY SEA ITSELF seemed to be spouting flame and roaring death! Tons of explosive rained down on our stricken vessels, sending great geysers of water filled with fragments of steel high in the air....Even those who managed to launch lifeboats or rafts were butchered as they bobbed amid the tangles of wreckage covering the blood-reddened sea. It was sheer slaughter --- a massacre at sea practically unparalleled in all the history of no-quarter warfare. We didn't have a chance!...The American A-20 and P-38 pilots roared in, their fuselages barely skimming the waves, their guns spewing death!"
I am sure that Manstein will receive a promotion from this successful ongoing offensive or other general. Or not ? Only time will tell.
How do you get all this information? Spesific incidents on spesific dates. Very impressive work
@liveoptika Thank you! It takes a whole team of dedicated people researching, writing, fact checking, filming, producing, animating, editing, more fact checking, etc and everyone works their butts off.
Indy & Sparty write & research many of the episodes themselves, and there's a list of sources linked in each video's description if you click to expand it. Many great history books can be found there, in case you'd like a deeper dive of the subject.
Thanks for watching and stay tuned
The germans at one time had a cable car like structure across the kertch straight. The films I have seen of it show pretty small cars that could carry men and some weapons but not vehicles.
Interesting, but not very useful. The kinds of supplies needed by army divisions are way too heavy or bulky for that to ever replace a rail bridge.
@@Raskolnikov70 that's pretty much what I stated in my comment. I said they couldn't haul vehicles. But thanks for the response.
Re: the allied skip-bombing attacks of early 1943, footage can be found on YT of B-25s and other types engaged in this action. Pretty exciting -- and dangerous -- work!
Bismarck Sea and little known Battle of Blackett Strait really did knock the morale of navy and especially the 8th Fleet.
Blackett Strait was reinforcement run to Kolombangara by Murasame and Minegumo on the night of 5-6 March. What sets this battle apart was 2 IJN destroyers did not see or were ready for combat when Merrill cruiser striking force attacked. They were sunk basically by radar directed fire without really firing a shot back.
So the IJN lost 6 special type destroyers for basically no loss to the Allies in the space 3 days. At least in Guadalcanal campaign they had sunk a few ships or loss of some planes via CAP and AA fire.
But shock of losing so many good crews in top line destroyers was morale hit which stopped Rabaul planners in their tracks.
Subs had also started to account for a few front line destroyers in last month too.
While I'm not the resident tie rater, I would really like to see more of this tie. It seems like the best part in hidden by the vest.
Agreed
3:45 - "...as a British 25 pounder gun, mounted on top of the slope commanding the road from Mateur to Sidi Nsir, begins knocking out Panzers just one after another...". The gun in question was the British counterpart to the dreaded German "88" or 8.8cm Flak 18, the Ordnance QF 25-pounder. From Wikipedia:
"The Ordnance QF 25-pounder, or more simply 25-pounder or 25-pdr, was the major British field gun and howitzer during the Second World War. Its calibre is 3.45-inch (87.6 mm). It was introduced into service just before the war started, combining both high-angle and direct-fire abilities, a relatively high rate of fire, and a reasonably lethal shell in a highly mobile piece. It remained the British Army's primary artillery field piece well into the 1960s, with smaller numbers serving in training units until the 1980s. Many Commonwealth of Nations countries used theirs in active or reserve service until about the 1970s and ammunition for the weapon is currently being produced by Pakistan Ordnance Factories. Initial production was slow, but by 1945, over 12,000 had been manufactured. The 25-pounder was probably the most outstanding field artillery piece used by British and Commonwealth forces in the Second World War, being durable, easy to operate and versatile."
The Americans had their own gun of similar size and power, the 90 mm gun M1/M2/M3. It was used as field artillery and as a direct-fire anti-tank gun throughout the war, and the M3 version armed the M36 tank destroyer and the M26 Pershing tank later in the war. Guns of this size were able to defeat the armor of most tanks in WWII, with only the frontal armor of the heaviest tanks having much of a chance.
The German 88 remains legendary, perhaps because the Allies were on the receiving end of its rounds, and because the overwhelming majority of Allied tanks were highly vulnerable to it. The Allies had their own comparable guns shooting back at the Germans, but the gun you're shooting with makes perhaps less of an impression than the gun you're being shot with.