Poison gas has a lot more history than 1918. The Chinese being gassed by the Japanese comes to mind. Italy vs Ethiopia and Libya too. And the powers in WW2 prepared for poison gas, issuing gas masks to many people. If it had come to be used, our picture of the war would have been quite different. You might struggle to see the difference from a photo of soldiers in a trench line like at Kursk from their counterpart at Brusilov, especially if the tanks were out of frame (or early in the war when tanks looked more like Renault FTs rather than a IS-2).
@@tillman40 Not true although the war in China is not often covered. See the episode about Tarawa and numerous episodes bout Guadalcanal Pearl Harbor, Midway and various naval engagements.
@@tillman40 To be honest, the Eastern Front just absolutely dwarfed Allied island hopping in the Pacific, and as for the Sino-Japenese-War, they prolly refrain from covering it much, due to lack of reliable sources.
@@tillman40 This is an outright lie. The channel has covered the Pacific Theater extensively, to include events going on in China, South Asia, Southeast Asia.
In the 1980s I became associated with a colorful character by the name of Vito Cellini. He was born in America of Italian immigrants, but his family moved back to Italy when he was still a young boy. Nevertheless, Vito rightfully considered himself an American. During WWII he was drafted into the Italian Army and sent to fight in the Balkans. Vito was very disgusted by the behavior of many Italian troops, so he stole a light machine gun and a motorcycle, then headed into the mountains to join the Partisans. He fought with them until November 1943, by which time he longed to return to Italy and check on his extended family. He was finally able to cross the Adriatic Sea in a small cargo vessel and arrived at Bari the day after the devastating Luftwaffe raid. Vito saw firsthand the carnage the Germans had created and he mingled among the many people still suffering from the effects of mustard gas, though at the time nobody understood what was happening. Over seven decades later he described this incident and much more in a biography of his life.
@@rawchicken3463 I had business dealings with Vito on and off during the 1980s, but lost contact after that. I'd heard rumors of his past life from mutual friends of ours, but I could not separate fact from exaggeration until earlier this year when I accidentally discovered that he'd had his life's story written by an English author a couple of years ago. I picked up a copy and read it. To say he was a colorful and very lucky character may be an understatement. If nothing else, it clarified and expanded on the rumors. As far as I know he is still alive and pushing nearly 100.
@@Paladin1873 there was a televised questionnaire about that subject, a Gentleman was quick to point out that it was "Big Buisness" for the "Jews" each, (living in America, EACH) receiving $1000 per-month, from the state of Germany. As soon as THAT was brought up "CUT, commercial, let's not get into that" & that actually happened._. (I just guessed it was the 80's) BUT the ships that brought the Slaves, were not *White* ships, *Turk* ships but *Jewish* ships. They owned the "cattle" so to speak & that isn't a matter of H8 but Fact.
A side note this week on December 2 1943 is that production for the Japanese *Ki-67 Hiryu* twin engine bomber will begin under the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company. It was rather unusual in that it had self-sealing fuel tanks and armour, which was common in American fighters and bombers but quite rare in Japanese aircraft. This meant that it was one of the sturdiest and damage-resistant Japanese aircraft during the war.
@@jimcronin2043 Oof, yeah... guess I should have been more specific and said "unfortunately for the Japanese". Those early carrier battles might have gone a bit differently if they'd had tougher planes.
@@kingblondie7075 Thank you! 😄 I read about that incident before and was watching for it. I guess witnesses said Stalin glared at him and looked as if he was ready to shoot him on the spot.
Another side note this week on December 1 1943 is that US IX Fighter Command will begin operations from the United Kingdom with a sweep over North-western France using *P-51B Mustang* fighters. It was noteworthy as it marked the debut of the Merlin-powered Mustang fighter in United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) service.
Worth noting these early P-51Bs were not equipped with the fuselage tank which would enable the range to roam far to the eastern edges of the Reich. These would come with the P-51B-7s from the factory and field modifications kits for the B-5s. These would arrive in time for the renewed 8th Air Force bomber offensive in the new year. Notably, P-51s so equipped with fuselage tanks and later underwing drop tanks will be instrumental in destroying the Luftwaffe fighter force over Western Europe.
I feel like in every screen depiction he comes off as a suffering but patient parent doing his best to wrangle troublesome children. More of an administrative rather than strategic talent.
Agreed. He dodged biographers after the war, so some of that comes down to his own modesty and desire for privacy. Shame it's the loudmouths that get all the credit.
Colonel Fletcher Prouty has mentioned various "unknown" aspects of WW2. One was the fact that Chiang Kai-shek and I believe Madame Chiang (who was educated in the USA) were at the Teheran Conference, as well. He said he knew this as a fact as he was the pilot that flew them there! His insights on WW2 are most interesting as they offered new information for apparently well-known activities.
@@andreikovacs3476 He mentions it all in one of his books and in an interview that is on YT. One of the things he mentioned was flying to Syria Sept 1944- to pick up American airmen who had been released from Romania- just as the country changed sides to join the Soviets. He said not only were there US airmen but British but also a whole load of Axis personnel who he realised were intelligence assets. He said it was really odd as he thought the Soviet Union and the USA were allies yet it appeared the US was getting hold of people that the Soviets would have wanted but they had been smuggled away. Listen to it all or go to about 30.00 in this- search for this on YT -L Fletcher Prouty 1992 Interview at the National Press Club There is so much more he seemed to know. What I found interesting was looking for interviews with him was hard inside YT- nothing much showed but it did in Google- very odd.
As a Canuck and amateur Vexilologist, thanks for showing our flag with some visibility, AND kudos for getting the correct color of the 3 maple leafs at the bottom of the shield for the WW2 era, some other channels have spaced on that detail, a small one to be sure, but noticed and appreciated, along with the overall retro war room type decor, although your coffee cup is kinda like the starbucks cup on Game of Thrones, wrong timeline^^cheers!
The History Guy uploaded a video on YT recently on Bari, he also compared it to Pearl Harbor. He mentioned how a lot of troops that went to the hospital were left in their oil-soaked uniforms because the hospital staff was overwhelmed with casualties. The uniforms were also soaked with mustard gas and so overnight hundreds of troops were fatally affected.
Hearing about the Tehran Conference from Indy while listening to Sir Winston Churchill's autobiography about WWII on Audible is double the awesomeness!
As soon as Indy mentioned Bari being the subject of an air raid after talking about that British officer saying he'd be insulted if the enemy raided the place. I broke out laughing. I love a good irony. Great video.
I never knew about the gas incident. As must WWII history I have consumed in my life it amazed me how much there is still to learn. Thank you for another fantastic episode as always!
It really comes off left field, because you are not accustomed to hearing about the Luftwaffe delivering that kind of blows in late 1943, but the whole raid was a combination of luck, preparation and skill. The results were devastating.
On Twitter (I will never call it X) I am part of a widely connected community - mostly political, pro-democracy, but also with other topics for variety. As a history buff, I regularly make "Today in History" posts. Today, November 30th, is Churchill's birthday as well as the "high point" of the Tehran Conference. One of the links I provided was a link to this video. This is the first video of yours that I have stumbled across. But certainly not the last! I had to get used to the "style" at first - but then it got me. Very well done! Highly recommended to all history buffs here, there and everywhere! ♥
Many years ago I spoke with a guy who claimed to have been part of an 8 inch artillery piece crew, and he said they were in Italy and later southern France. He said they had chemical shells with them, but never used them. His favorite, or really only good memory, of the war, was when he finally had an opportunity to take a warm bath for the first time after 150+ days in action.
As I recall, my father was in the area of Bari when this attack occurred. I remember him derisively commenting about the attack as written in one account. The book indicated that waves of German aircraft attacked the harbour, but from his account it was a small group of German bombers that just happened to hit the wrong ship.
Holy shit I remember the Great War channel it was so good. How am I just now finding out about WW2 with the same crew?!? Well, time to catch up on 4 years of war.
I also highly recommend to take a look at The Great War channel. They have keep making quality content that provides more context to the aftermath of WW1, the Russian Civil War, the Balkan War and (in the Real Time History channel) to the wars of German Unification culminating in a week-by-week series on the Franco-Prussian war.
@@extrahistory8956 yup, Jesse Alexander, Flo and the rest of the Great War team has continu3e to make quite good content after they tool over that channel.
At 2:47 they cut away from the part where that Soviet official holding the Stalingrad sword held it the wrong way and the sword fell out of the sheath.
The first French units landed in Italy from November 19 1943 and will officially take the name of French Expeditionary Corps (CEF), commanded by General Juin, in January 1944. The CEF is integrated into the 15th Allied Army Group of General Alexander alongside the Eighth British Army of General Montgomery and the Fifth American Army of General Mark Clark. On November 25 1943, General Juin joins Naples with his staff. The 2nd DIM (Infantry Division of Morocco) and the 4th GTM (Moroccan Tabors Group) arrive in November, followed by the 3rd DIA (Infantry Division of Algeria) and the 3rd GTM in December. They will participate in the battle of Monte Cassino in a near future.
In Italy the CEF is remembered for "le marocchinate", the rapes of women, girls, priests, raids, thefts, fires and devastation perpetrated (Goumiers in primis) in Ciociaria and the neighboring areas by the French colonial troops of General Juin, who, according to some witnesses, promised and allowed days of impunity to those troops, which he denied all his life!
To be fair they punished most of the perpetrators harshly and executed many. The French command were disgusted by what happened and knew it would tarnish the CEF's reputation.
@@kalenova4436 to be really fair, the French Command shot the few caught red-handed during the rapes, some were sentenced to hard labour, some never prosecuted. Women were abducted and raped during the rest of the campaign, others killed after the mass rapes (some were found crucified). To those who went to protest, the French (European) officers replied that it was normal for African troops, and shrugged their shoulders. Other crimes of this heinousness had been perpetrated by the same troops in Sicily, and many Goumiers, but also white officers who hid among them in order to rape and plunder, were found stabbed with their genitals severed in their mouths (their crime is understandable!). The same predatory acts occurred in the rest of the Italian Campaign and in Germany, where French colonial troops were moved towards the end of the war.
@@angelcabeza6464 not all Italians were fascists! The civilians were innocent! Rapes it's a crime against humanity, no excuses! If you have resentments towards women and girls (mostly illiterate or semi-literate peasant) I think you have problems. If you think that the crimes committed by the French colonial troops against the helpless population are "justified" by having, hypothetically, supported fascism, you have serious problems. In a single small village 700 women were brutally raped!
Yes, and with the French land their rapist Moroccan armies. They are infamous in Italy for the number of women and girls they raped en masse as well as wonton destruction they inflicted.
Also this week in Italy tanks of the Calgary Regiment cross the Sangro River to support the 8th Indian Division engaged in attacks on the Bernhard line. The Canadian 1st Division also arrives to relieve the battle weary 78th Division on the 1st of December. Command of the sector is turned over to the Canadians on the 2nd. They will be charged with continuing the advance up the coast. Canadians are also acting in a supporting role in the skies above the action on the ground, as Spitfires of 417 ("City of Windsor") squadron RCAF patrol overhead to prevent any bombing attacks by the Luftwaffe. From November 30th to December 3rd the Canadians down 5 enemy aircraft, with another 2 probables and one damaged.
Wow such a good episode team! This week had to much going on that you had to fit into this weeks episode! On the Patton "firing" it really didn't affect him much since Eisenhower had already decided to make Bradley the commander of the first US army group that gets created in Western Europe (12th Army Group). Montgomery, Jacob Devers and Mark Clark (later on, after replacing Harold Alexander who was sort of sideways promoted out of command of the 15th Army Group) would command the other 3 army groups under Eisenhower's command. But really it should be thought of that Patton is counted among those Army Group commanders since Patton essentially had his own Army Group under his command based off the size of the US 3rd Army by the end of WW2. Patton's US 3rd Army had 18 US divisions in it by the end of WW2. To put that in perspective, not only was it the largest single Army command of WW2 but Patton's 3rd Army had the same number of divisions in it as Montgomery's 21st Army Group (2 armies, the British 2nd Army and Canadian 1st Army), 8 divisions less then Jacob Devers 6th Army Group (2 armies, US 7th Army and the French 1st Army. Many French divisions were much smaller then US or British divisions.) and 4 divisions less then Mark Clark's 15th Army Group has (2 Armies, US 5th Army and the British 8th Army. This Army group is a mess of random small units from all over the world that boost it's size up in terms of number of divisions). And then there is Omar Bradly and his 12th Army group that had 49 divisions in it at the end of the war in Europe (4 Armies, US 1st, 3rd, 9th and 15th armies). And really that just made me think about how under represented Jacob Devers and Mark Clark are when WW2 in Western Europe are talked about. The 2 of them had larger Army Groups then Montgomery did but if you asked any non-WW2 nut they are very unlikely to know who Jacob Devers or Mark Clark are. While they are much more likely to know of Montgomery who the media of the time really had created into one of the greatest generals in British history.
The size of Patton's 3rd Army at the end of WW2 is insane. But also you are correct about the weird make-up of the forces in Mark Clark's 15th Army Group by the end of WW2. In that Army group my native Italian forces fought. And then there was the Brazilian 1st division, the 1st Canadian Corp which had a division from New Zealand in it as well as a brigade from Greece, the Polish 2nd Corp made up of 2 Polish divisions and a armored brigade, as well as a Indian and South African division as well. And then there were other countries that had their other smaller units within that Army Group as well.
@@rayferrone4518 Yeah the 15th Army Group really was the first United Nations Army Group I think. During the Korean war the workings of the 15th Army Group were used as an example of how to manage the first official Army of the United Nations. In that war MacArthur's Army Group had 2 Armies in it, the ROK Army and the US 8th Army and the US 8th Army had tons of forces from all over the world in it. Which is why I always think it is weird that the North Koreans only ever complain about the US while so many other nations also fought in the Korean war. If you ever go to South Korea and look at the monuments so many countries have their own but a great example would be Turkey. Most people won't even know that Turkey fought in the Korean war but in reality the Turkish Army did participate in the Korean war and actually performed incredibly well while there.
God , Americans really love to throw one to Monty. Montgomery's 21st Army Group had the most vital front with most important strategically , geopolitically objectives etc , Low Countries and Northern Germany where most of Third Reich industrial output , war prooduction like Ruhr (%60 of German steel and coal productionn) , big harbours like Hamburg , Kiel , Wilhelmshaven (therefore U-Boat construction and bases) , metalurgy facilities , rocket testing , big cities , canal network and railway transport hubs were concentrated in Northern Germany therefore all attention and German reinforcement were there. As far as SHEAF concerned Jacob Devers and Mark Clark (who took command of 15th Army Group in December 1944 and it was out of Eisenhower's jurisdiction though Northern Italy was also strategically very important with Italian industry and food production concentrated on plains of Po Valley that ran strateight to Balkans and Austria , one of the main areas of interest between Western Allies and USSR in post war) were operating in secondary sectors in priorty. Field Marshal Von Rundstedt's Chief of Staff General Gunther Blummeritt accurately put it : "The one who controls Northern Germany , controls entire Germany" Of course 21st Army Group would be considered more vital considering their front had priorty objectives along with Bradley's 12th Army Group. (by the way 9th US Army in 21st Army Group actually fought and served under Montgomery's 21st Army Group till April 1945 , last weeks of war)
@@mariopineda4774 100% correct. The Korean war was not just South Korea fighting the North and then the United States coming to save the day in that war. The Korean War is the only war (at least that I can think of) that the United Nations official entered a side on. And after the United Nations officially joined the war with the UK, Canada, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Colombia, Ethiopia, South Africa, New Zealand, Türkiye, Greece, Thailand, Luxembourg and the Philippines sending fighting units to the war. Sure none of those nations sent the help the United States did but they did send the help they could and were key in helping South Korea defend itself against the aggressor forces. And then the reason all of those nations were able to fight under the US and South Korea in the Korean war using the United Nations flag was because during that time the USSR was protesting the United Nations. And because of that they were not at the United Nations security council meeting discussing what to do about North Korea invading the South. So the USSR couldn't not use their Veto power and the vote at the security council was able to pass for a rare change. The USSR was protesting the the United Nations because communist China didn't hold the security council seat yet after they had beat Chiang Kai-Shek China during their civil war. Also, now that I think about it a bit more maybe the Gulf War of 1991 was also a war fought under the United Nations flag since Russia/the USSR and China(Communist CHina) didn't use their veto on the call for military action to save Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from Saddam's Iraq (They both had their own issues at the time and in general they were both much more open to the West back then). Also, at the time of the Gulf War, Iraq was the 4th strongest military in the world with very modem equipment in all areas, if you have never watched the YT channel "The Operations Room" (Indy was in one of the most recent episodes on the Battle of the Bulge) I can't recommend enough his videos on the Gulf War. The Operations Room and this channel (World War 2) are far and away my 2 favorite military history RUclips channels.
One good thing that came out of the Bari harbor raid was the invention of chemotherapy. Doctors noticed that exposure to mustard gas resulted in low white blood cell count. This effect is used as to develope the first chemo drug - nitrogen mustard, used to treat leukemia (a cancer that over produce white blood cells).
Hi Indy Another good week full of intense news. While studying it looks like war over in fraction of time. But after watching your series,i came understand this war,is one hell of war dragging forever. Thanks for another great week.
Surprised and happy I made it in as TG member of this week. Glad to be supporting one of the best history works of recent times. Thank you Indy, Timeghost and the team for a continually great series. The mustard gas incident was this weeks big thing for sure. I had never heard about that event before today.
Eighth Army Crossing Sangro River , Adriatic Front , Italy (26 November - 2 December 1943) Montgomery had chosen 20 November to launch his attack across the Sangro because he knew from Ultra decrypts that the river was only held by one regiment of the untried 65th German Infantry Division. The Division had been raised in Holland and consisted mainly of teenage Germans. But heavy rain and subsequent flooding forced Montgomery to postpone his attack until 27 November. By then the whole of the 65th German Division was in the line - their Commander, Major-General von Zielberg remarked, ‘The dug-outs will hold; whether the troops will remains to be seen’ - and elements of the 26th Panzer Division were alongside them. An attack made by the 8th Indian Division was repelled. The 2nd New Zealand Division secured its initial objective but could make no progress against the 26th Panzers. On 28 November the North West African Tactical Bomber Force subjected 65th German Division’s echelons and communications to saturation bombing. Early on 29 November Montgomery sent in the 78th British Division under cover of a barrage aimed specifically at the 65th dugouts. 6,000 - 7,000 rounds were used. The barrage killed many of the Germans in their dugouts. Two German battalions broke. They ran through the tunnels connecting the dugouts with the rear. As they emerged they were shot down by units of the 78th British "Battleaxe" Division who had slipped round to the back entrances of the tunnels. Both German battalions were, in Wentzell’s words, ‘liquidated’. The 78th British Divbision had broken through the 65th German Division’s centre and looked unstoppable. One might have expected Kesselring and General Lemelsen to have had sharp words for the battalions that had broken, but they both realized that the Division had received such a terrible pounding that no blame could be attached to it for breaking. They expressed particular concern for the decimated battalions. General Lemelsen noted that one regiment of the 78th British Division had slipped through the boundaries between 65th German Division and 26th Panzer Divisions. ‘The Devil knows how he always finds out where the boundaries are,’ he remarked to Kesselring. General von Zielberg had lost an arm during Allied saturation bombing. On Kesselring’s recommendation Lemelsen flew in Colonel Baade to take over the 65th German Division which was in a chaotic retreat to Moro river. He arrived in the middle of another saturation raid and reported that it was worse than anything he’d experienced in North Africa. With 26th Panzers keeping the Allied armour at bay Colonel Baade managed to bind the 65th German Division into a fighting force, but by 1 December the 78th British Division had turned the flank of the Bernhardt Line. Both German and Allied commanders believed that the Adriatic sector was wide open. If 8th Army reached Pescara they’d have an easy ride to Rome. But the weather became impossible for flying, a regiment of German paratroopers linked up with the 65th German Division and 26th Panzers, and the 78th British Division ran out of steam. While it was being relieved by the 1st Canadian Division the German forces, free at last from Allied bombing if not from pressure from 2nd New Zealand Division, regrouped. When the two Dominion Divisions attacked together next week , they encountered much stiffer resistance. Once all the 44th German Division had arrived at Mignano Gap Kesselring switched two more parachute regiments to the Adriatic front. The weather continued to make bombing an occasional business, the terrain favoured the defenders, and on 28 December Montgomery called off the offensive. For him his attack was a near miss. For Clark is was a bull’s-eye. XIV Panzer Korps would receive no help from the Adriatic sector during ‘Operation Raincoat’. Countdown to Cassino , Batle for Mignano Gap
The First Special Services Force, AKA The Devil's Brigade. The movie by the same name did a reasonable recreation of their attack on La Defensa. They will later on take on an armored division on flat terrain and push it back, but that is a story for another time.
As bad as it was, Something good actually came from the Bari Raid. When survivors were examined, it was found that they had low white blood cell counts. This was forwarded to the people over at Yale School of Medicine, which was, at the time, doing a clinical trial of nitrogen mustards for treating lymphoma. After the war, this research led to the development of the first Chemo drug for cancer, chlormethine, aka mustine.
One of my fathers brothers was killed by friendly fire while in a meeting with General Patton. After a battle a hot machine gun 🔫 was laid down on the hood of a jeep 🚙 pointing 👉 at him and this caused the last round to some how go off killing him. My father flew 52 B17 bombing 💣 missions and survived the war along with one other brother who was in the army ground forces. Take care, Mike
That is called a”cook off”. While I was never in combat, I was an instructor on US weapons committee and taught all the machine guns. M-2 , M60, M 249B, Etc.
That is called a”cook off”. While I was never in combat, I was an instructor on US weapons committee and taught all the machine guns. M-2 , M60, M 249B, Etc.
Nice episode and continuing work Timeghost. But is a Gas war coming? Well technically Gas has been used in China by Japan since 1937, and is still being use. So the question in the episode maybe is more "Is gas warfare coming back to Europe"? Well I suppose we all have to wait and see.
1:44 In 1920, during Polish-Soviet War, Stalin as a RevVoenSovet (Revolutionary Military Council) representative with the South-Western Front headquarters took part in the Lviv siege, that was a Polish city at that time. Thus, technically, he left Russia after 1917 and before 1943.
I have read and studied WWII quite a lot, but I guess I'm still quite a neophyte when it comes to extensive historical WWII knowledge. I don't recall ever hearing about the mustard gas "accident" which seems quite surprising. I think Patton will be back in the saddle in the not too distant future. But I don't know much about WWII.
Did we notice as Churchill presents Stalin with a sword and Uncle Joe hands it off to a subordinate, the man turns the sword upside down and the sword slides from the scabbard. Seconds later the poor man looks suicidally mortified!
As a knife and sword collector 2:45 has always made my physically wince every time I see that clip, keep your eye on the sword, he hold it upside down and it falls out of its scabbard and he tries to catch it, luckily misses doing so and the holt hits the ground before he grabs it. Never, ever try to catch a falling blade, it's a good way to slice the inside of your fingers to the bone (yes I learned this the hard way).
Would be very interesting to have an episode on how much info the Axis managed to obtain on the Tehran Conference and how it was evaluated and acted upon!
@@caryblack5985 We can't know that :) Nevertheless for the inhabitants of Leningrad the daily struggle is important. At least worth a 30 second mention.
@@kingblondie7075 He usually does not mention fighting when there is no significant offenses or movement in the area. There is no mention of the northern fighting except in the community posts for a couple of years. It probably is due to the limited time he has to cover the week's events.
As of December 1, 1943 the Germans had 1,460,615 deaths on the Easter Front with approximately 4,400,000 wounded. They would have a further 49,330 deaths and 150,000 wounded in December 1943.
We see at 2:49 Stalin turns the sword upside down and it spills to the floor before a hasty jump cut tries to wipe out the moment from history. Problem is that the room was full of people including a bunch of the Press so y’know word got out. I seem to remember reading in the time/life books that the sword cut someone’s pants but I don’t remember for certain if it said that. I do wish we could have seen everyone jump out of the way “Sharp sword!”
afaik Hitler was strictly opposed to use gas in war (though not for killing people in the concentration camps), as he was victim of a gas attack in WWI, which blinded him for a while.
There's also something to consider in that, if Germany started using gas, the allies would too. And everyone knew the allies had a lot more capacity to build gas shells than Germany. There were pragmatic reasons for Germany to not do it.
@@pax6833 The Allies also had a lot more capacity to deliver those gas shells as well. Imagine one of Harris' 1000-bomber raids loaded up with sarin or mustard gas over Berlin. The Germans knew if they opened that can of worms they'd get the worst of it.
Great Mark Felton video on the back up plan for dropping the atomic bomb on Japan using the Avro Lancaster as it was the only plane in service before the B29 that could carry the 2 types of A bomb.
I am sorry you didn't mention the sinking of the HMT Rohna in the Mediterranean on Thanksgiving Day in 1943. Well over a thousand American soldiers killed (including my wife's uncle) by a German guided missile, an action kept secret for decades.
Interesting. I always thought that the Americans concentrated their navy in the Pacific with help from other countries like Australia, while the British navy handled the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean with help from countries like Norway and Canada. So its both surprising to see an American ship in the Med and very sad to see it sunk.
@@Dave_Sisson Thanks for responding. It is my understanding that it was a British transport (poorly maintained by the way) and the American soldiers were enroute to the Burma theatre. I think it was the greatest American loss in a single sinking. The success of the German guided glide bomb was kept secret at the time. After the war it just got lost in the bureaucracy and forgotten. The families never received any real information. Story (I do not know the source) in my wife's family was that her uncle was a corpsman assisting at an appendix removal operation at the time of the attack. He did not survive.
I did read somewhere that the Luftwaffe was not that keen on the guided bomb for some reason and they played it down so Hitler would not start making a big thing of it to the detriment of their other requirements.
Indy Great Show As Usual..Can i please ask ..At the Tehran Conference How much did Churchill Know of Stalins intentions as it seems to me that Old Joe Had already got his Eye on the Great Prize of all of Eastern Europe.. Provided that the Allies Started off in France rather than the Balkans as Churchill was Again Keen to get muddled up in! ? ..Much to American Angst ..Could it be said that Tehran was where Stalin realized that he could get away with what he did? ..Thankyou all at Time Ghost and Indy Sparty And Astrid..Groundbreaking work your all doing !
"Sorry Bart. You can push them out of a plane, you can march them off a cliff, you can send them off to die on some god-forsaken rock, but for some reason, you can't slap 'em." Abe Simpson
You should've played the Dr. Strangelove clip when talking about the secret mustard gas "deterrent". The whole point of a deterrent is lost if you keep a secret!
It was no secret to the Germans that if they used gas there would be retaliation in a similar way. The only secret was that there was a ship in Italy with gas onboard. The Allies could have shipped large quantities of gas to Europe in a matter of weeks or a couple months and they had bomber fleets to deliver that gas. 6] After the Battle of Stalingrad, Joseph Goebbels, Robert Ley, and Martin Bormann urged Hitler to approve the use of tabun and other chemical weapons to slow the Soviet advance. At a May 1943 meeting in the Wolf's Lair, however, Hitler was told by Ambros that Germany had 45,000 tons of chemical gas stockpiled, but that the Allies likely had far more. Hitler responded by suddenly leaving the room and ordering production of tabun and sarin to be doubled, but "fearing some rogue officer would use them and spark Allied retaliation, he ordered that no chemical weapons be transported to the Russian front."[72] After the Allied invasion of Italy, the Germans rapidly moved to remove or destroy both German and Italian chemical-weapon stockpiles, "for the same reason that Hitler had ordered them pulled from the Russian front-they feared that local commanders would use them and trigger Allied chemical retaliation."
Actually, the first time I read about the mustard gas in Italy, it was in a history of British Nurses. The senior nurses, being WW1 veterans themselves, recognized the symptoms of mustard gas immediately - but all were told to "shut up" about it.
[Does my best Dr. Strangelove voice impression]: "But the whole point of the gas deterrent is lost... IF YOU KEEP IT A SECRET! Why didn't you tell the world, eh?!"
Kinda disappointed we're only getting coverage on the gas accident in Italy and not the actual gas combat going on in Changde in the past weeks and now by the Japanese against China
@@janhaanstra2245 I have. They find the ROC too controversial to put on there. The one non European/anglo Ally is the only one not included. Poland surrendered in 1939, place of prominence. China invaded 2 years earlier, doing much more fighting.... Not as important as new Zealand
Churchill and Roosevelt's recognition of the 1941 Polish borders gave legitimacy to the 1939 joint German Soviet invasion. That was a slap in the face of Poland.
I'm curious how Chuchill's prerequisites for the D-day invasion were met? The parameters seemed very specific, how did they match the situation in June 1944? The story of how intimate Tibbets was in the development of the B-29 is fascinating. He was lucky to not be on the B-29 that crashed in Seattle.
5th US Army Preparing to restart the attack on Berhardt Line , prying over Mignano Gap ( November - 3 December 1943) (1) Clark had ordered seventy-five heavy bombers, twenty-four mediums and 178 fighter bombers to support 5th Army’s attack. The planes would keep up a dawn-to-dusk assault on 1 and 2 December. The scale of the bombing was about par for the course but the attack’s artillery support would be something special. 925 guns would open up a simultaneous barrage at dusk on 2 December. 820 guns would concentrate their fire on the Monte Camino massif. The new US 8″ gun-howitzers would take part of the bombardment. They were capable of outranging all enemy guns by several miles when fired for interdiction purposes. When used as a howitzer they proved to be the only Allied gun capable of destroying the standard enemy dugout of rock and railway sleepers/ties. A diversionary attack by US VI Corps on the enemy’s left flank would begin on 28 November. In the centre 3rd Rangers would carry out a fighting patrol to San Pietro on 1 December. If the village was heavily defended elements of the 36th Division would take it. The 36th would also deal with Monte Sammucro. On 2 December the First Special Service Force (which, along with the 36th Division and the Italian Motorized Brigade, made up US II Corps under the command of Major-General Geoffrey Keyes) would tackle Monte La Difensa. Clark allowed them three days to capture the mountain. They would then take Monte Rementea. Monte Maggiore would be taken by 142 Regiment, US 36th Division. Once Monte La Difensa had fallen and that flank of the Camino Massif had been cleared the 1st Italian Motorized Brigade would take Monte Lungo. Clark had told Walker he wanted the Italians to have an easy option, an objective they couldn’t fail to take on their first time out, and had suggested Monte Lungo. Walker agreed that Monte Lungo was an appropriate objective for them. On 5th Army’s left flank British X Corps’ two divisions, 46th and 56th, would attack Monte Camino and Calabritto. McCreery chose the 56th Division for Monte Camino, the 46th for Calabritto. The 46th Division would attack on 1 December so as to protect 56th Division’s left flank. Von Senger, whose handling of XIV Panzer Korps during the first battle had impressed Kesselring as well as General Lemelsen, was not taken in by the amphibious exercises off Naples and Mondragone. He believed that Clark would have to make another frontal assault on the Mignano Gap sector, and that this time the heaviest attack would fall on his men holding the Camino Massif, the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division, but had no idea when the attack would be made, or which units would make it. The patrols carried out by the Division had proved singularly ineffective, well below their usual standard. The only prisoners they had taken were two young Italian girls from a village near Calabritto. The girls were returned to their homes before the battle began.25 The Division’s failure to identify any enemy units worried Von Senger. He was well aware of the peculiar sense of isolation and loneliness that can affect men holding mountain positions: The mountains intensify all fear and demoralizes.’ He paid a number of visits to the Camino Massif to check on the Division’s morale. He found the old hands determined enough but the young polyglot replacements looking a bit lost, as well they might. At Calabritto I/129th Regiment had laid out a barbed wire apron whose size and depth was up to First World War standards. Thanks to Von Senger the Division would be able to call upon some first class reserves. Kesselring had agreed that the two battalions of the von Corvin battle group would form part of XIV Panzer Korps. No more shuttlecock war games for the Hermann Göring infantry. 5th Army Intelligence reported that Monte La Difensa and the saddle joining it to the Monte Rementea was held by III/104th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, some 250 men strong. Another 100 or so men from the III/129th Panzer Grenadier Regiment were occupying the saddle between Monte La Difensa and Monte Camino. Colonel Frederick chose Second Regiment, commanded by Colonel D. D. Williamson to make the attack on Monte La Difensa. Third Regiment, commanded by Lt-Colonel Edwin Walker, would be in reserve. First Regiment, commanded by Colonel Alfred Marshall, would act as reserve to 142nd Regiment in their assault on Monte Maggiore. Colonel Williamson chose Lt-Colonel Tom MacWilliams’s 1st Battalion to lead the assault. MacWilliams, a former history professor at New Brunswick University, knew what had happened to Colonel Sherman’s 7th Regiment on Monte La Difensa, and sent out scouting parties - in pairs, an officer and a sergeant - to find a way up the cliffs. The scouts operated in daylight, passing along the lower slopes of the eastern side of the mountain, which were held by the 142nd Regiment, and climbing up to the mountains’ cliffs. These began about eight hundred feet from the summit. Major Edward Thomas, 1st Battalion’s Executive Officer, a regular from North Carolina, teamed up with Sergeant Howard van Ausdale, half Dutch half Red Indian. He had been a prospector and was the best scout in the battalion. On their first day on the mountain a guide from the 142nd Regiment led them to his company’s positions. Major Thomas noted that the men were exhausted, the steepness of the mountainside making the simplest project difficult. ‘The Forward Observer was gaunt, dirty and had the first case of combat shakes I had seen.’ Major Thomas and Sergeant Van Ausdale reconnoitred the mountain’s north-facing cliffs. The lowest cliff was about two hundred feet high. In places the rock was rotten and there were numerous overhangs. But the men’s jump-boots helped them get a grip on the rock slabs, and the fact that they were not carrying heavy equipment made it relatively easy for them to get just below the top. They didn’t look over in case the enemy spotted them and pinpointed the cleft as a likely line of attack. They had already had a sighter of the rest of the cliffs from lower down the mountain and knew they were not so high. Now they had climbed the main cliff they understood why Colonel Sherman’s men had failed to climb it. With heavy equipment it could only be climbable with the aid of ropes.* Every single cliff would have to be roped up before the attack. This would be a tricky business. But getting the second Regiment to an LOD on time would be almost as difficult. To climb up the whole of Monte La Difensa in one night was out of the question. It would have to be a two-night job. The first would be spent getting the regiment to a base where it could lie up under cover during the day. It would start climbing the cliffs as soon as it was dark. Colonel Williamson, Major Thomas and Lt-Colonel Robert Moore, CO 2nd Battalion, Second Regiment, eventually found an excellent spot in a pinewood about halfway up the mountain. Major Thomas had to ensure that the Second Regiment arrived at the base before first light. It would be marching across country from Presenzano, six miles from the foothills of Monte La Difensa as the crow flies, and at least twice as far on the ground, and would then have to climb 1,500 feet to the pinewood. Major Thomas had only done the Presenzano approach march once, in darkness. He had timed himself so he was able to work out a rough march schedule. 1st Battalion’s attack would be led by Captain Rothlin’s I Company. Captain Rothlin was very much aware that since the Force had left the States on 28 October it had had very little exercise. The men were like boxers who had stopped training a month before the fight. Knowing that the attack was imminent he worked his company from dawn to dusk. After a few days of routine marches and runs the men were in better shape and Captain Rothlin opened up the throttle. He force marched them until they cursed him. Coundown to Cassino - Battle of Mignano Gap
My Grandfather served in the US Army during WWI. He survived a mustard gas attack. He also brought all of his field equipment home after the war. This included his gas mask. When I closely inspected it, more than 75 years later, you could see small grains of dark yellowish powder on the rubber of the mask. I touched one, and when it broke open it smelled very faintly of mustard.
The actions of the allies regarding the "swift actions if Germany uses gas warfare" remind me *very* much about the current talk about a response to a russian nuke...
Indy, I'm glad Stalin mentioned Finland, because I haven't heard anything from that corner of the world in a couple of years! Has nothing happened over there? Hard to imagine, because there's a world war going on! It would be good to hear at least something from that region, too. I believe that front could become important one day, if the allies can finally get their great plans together. BTW, I have heard that the crazy Finns even built saunas just behind their front lines! Unbelievable! Could you tell us anything about that? (With love, from Finland 😉)
By 1942 it has been trench warfare with raiding and scouting parties and artillery duels. Very little movement. Most of the action is political with thw Finns seeking a way to exit the war. Spoiler more military action in 1944.
so looking ahead, maybe the most accurate version of Patton's D-Day speech is in the book "The Unknown Patton" along with a bunch of other really interesting material.
At 2:45, Churchill gives a sword to Stalin, who proceeds to (accidentally?) drop the sword out of it's scabbard as he hands it over to the guy on his right.
Wouldn't the Germans have noticed that none of the allied personnel captured were carrying gas masks in their gas mask bags? My dad told me the first thing everybody tossed their gas masks. He landed in southern France and fought thru to Austria, even occupation duty after the war.
Perhaps but it would be dangerous for the Nazis to use gas. The US and UK had bomber fleets pounding Germany. It would have spelled a great disaster if the Allies used gas in retaliation. 6] After the Battle of Stalingrad, Joseph Goebbels, Robert Ley, and Martin Bormann urged Hitler to approve the use of tabun and other chemical weapons to slow the Soviet advance. At a May 1943 meeting in the Wolf's Lair, however, Hitler was told by Ambros that Germany had 45,000 tons of chemical gas stockpiled, but that the Allies likely had far more. Hitler responded by suddenly leaving the room and ordering production of tabun and sarin to be doubled, but "fearing some rogue officer would use them and spark Allied retaliation, he ordered that no chemical weapons be transported to the Russian front."[72] After the Allied invasion of Italy, the Germans rapidly moved to remove or destroy both German and Italian chemical-weapon stockpiles, "for the same reason that Hitler had ordered them pulled from the Russian front-they feared that local commanders would use them and trigger Allied chemical retaliation."
This week in French politics. The 27th, Emmanuel d’Astier named Jacques Soustelle at the head of the Direction générale des services spéciaux (DGSS) the fusion of the Secret services of Free France and Giraud’s one (it was in fact part of the Vichy’s secret services) however the BRAA (the secret service of Giraud) is still very independent and listens only to Giraud. (Jacque Soustelle is an anthropologist specializing in Pre-Columbian civilizations, he is posted in Latin America to rally support and bypass Vichy’s diplomacy.) The 29th of November, Ribbentrop writes a letter to Pétain given by Otto Abetz the 4th in which he chastises Pétain for trying to go behind Laval’s back and Germany’s one. He makes him remember that Germany is an occupier and a protector against civil unrest and “Bolshevik revolution and chaos.” That Pétain must now still rule the French State. Moreover, all modifications of laws must pass through the Reich’s government and that Laval must be able to form a government pro-German and guaranteeing French collaboration and that Pétain must publicly endorse it. The government must contain the most ultra-collaborationist Joseph Darnand (chief of the Milice), Marcel Déat (Rassemblement national Populaire, fascism, antisemitism, neo-socialism) and Phillipe Henriot (conservative hardliner, journalist and radiomen, collaborationist). All of this is done because Pétain maintain unity and some sort of control on France and its administration. Pétain has no choice be yield. The 2nd Maurice Sarraut, one of the founders of the Parti Radical and its president in 1926 is assassinated by the Milice.
This scene 2:47 when Churchill gave sword as gift and Stalin turned back and dropped it, eventually Voroshilov who gave it to assistant- with no doubt was planned action as a kind of psychological game.
Stalin was a first class jerk, start to finish. Too bad he was even included among the Allies, but war does make for strange bedfellows. Rearming the Germans and attacking the Soviet Union after WWII ended sounded ridiculous at the time, but in hindsight wouldn't have been such a bad thing.
As the gift giving season is upon us, take a look at all our TimeGhost collectibles at timeghost.tv/collectibles/
I was under the impression the Italians in Africa and Japanese in China used poison gas.
@@georgedoolittle9015 ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
I think you've spelt Tehran wrong in the thumbnail and title, it has an extra e that it shouldn't between the h and r
Sparty should really find a better time to call Indy; always just before the episode starts
Poison gas has a lot more history than 1918. The Chinese being gassed by the Japanese comes to mind. Italy vs Ethiopia and Libya too. And the powers in WW2 prepared for poison gas, issuing gas masks to many people. If it had come to be used, our picture of the war would have been quite different. You might struggle to see the difference from a photo of soldiers in a trench line like at Kursk from their counterpart at Brusilov, especially if the tanks were out of frame (or early in the war when tanks looked more like Renault FTs rather than a IS-2).
This channel rarely coves the pacific theatre
@@tillman40 Not true although the war in China is not often covered. See the episode about Tarawa and numerous episodes bout Guadalcanal Pearl Harbor, Midway and various naval engagements.
the first known use of gas warfare happened at Dura-Europos in 256CE. Modern warfare just made it more efficient.
@@tillman40 To be honest, the Eastern Front just absolutely dwarfed Allied island hopping in the Pacific, and as for the Sino-Japenese-War, they prolly refrain from covering it much, due to lack of reliable sources.
@@tillman40 This is an outright lie. The channel has covered the Pacific Theater extensively, to include events going on in China, South Asia, Southeast Asia.
In the 1980s I became associated with a colorful character by the name of Vito Cellini. He was born in America of Italian immigrants, but his family moved back to Italy when he was still a young boy. Nevertheless, Vito rightfully considered himself an American. During WWII he was drafted into the Italian Army and sent to fight in the Balkans. Vito was very disgusted by the behavior of many Italian troops, so he stole a light machine gun and a motorcycle, then headed into the mountains to join the Partisans. He fought with them until November 1943, by which time he longed to return to Italy and check on his extended family. He was finally able to cross the Adriatic Sea in a small cargo vessel and arrived at Bari the day after the devastating Luftwaffe raid. Vito saw firsthand the carnage the Germans had created and he mingled among the many people still suffering from the effects of mustard gas, though at the time nobody understood what was happening. Over seven decades later he described this incident and much more in a biography of his life.
You know quite a bit about this person
*In the 1980's* gee, I wonder why that *FAT* $1000 cheque (per month) kept that rouse up for so long.
@@rawchicken3463 I had business dealings with Vito on and off during the 1980s, but lost contact after that. I'd heard rumors of his past life from mutual friends of ours, but I could not separate fact from exaggeration until earlier this year when I accidentally discovered that he'd had his life's story written by an English author a couple of years ago. I picked up a copy and read it. To say he was a colorful and very lucky character may be an understatement. If nothing else, it clarified and expanded on the rumors. As far as I know he is still alive and pushing nearly 100.
@@The1RedRooster I don't follow you.
@@Paladin1873 there was a televised questionnaire about that subject, a Gentleman was quick to point out that it was "Big Buisness" for the "Jews" each, (living in America, EACH) receiving $1000 per-month, from the state of Germany.
As soon as THAT was brought up "CUT, commercial, let's not get into that"
& that actually happened._. (I just guessed it was the 80's) BUT the ships that brought the Slaves, were not *White* ships, *Turk* ships but *Jewish* ships. They owned the "cattle" so to speak & that isn't a matter of H8 but Fact.
One member of the British cabinet grumbled, “Debating him (Churchill) was like arguing with a brass band.”
A side note this week on December 2 1943 is that production for the Japanese *Ki-67 Hiryu* twin engine bomber will begin under the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company. It was rather unusual in that it had self-sealing fuel tanks and armour, which was common in American fighters and bombers but quite rare in Japanese aircraft. This meant that it was one of the sturdiest and damage-resistant Japanese aircraft during the war.
Allied code name was Peggy
Way too late to make a difference, unfortunately. Now if they'd had them back in 1942.....
@@Raskolnikov70 What do you mean "unfortunately"?
@@jimcronin2043 Oof, yeah... guess I should have been more specific and said "unfortunately for the Japanese". Those early carrier battles might have gone a bit differently if they'd had tougher planes.
@@Raskolnikov70 Then what IF the Japanese had Jet fighters like the Mw262 earlier in the war?
I think at about @2:48 Voroshilov lets the ceremonial sword slide out of the scabbard.
Good catch. Your catch, not Voroshilov.
@@kingblondie7075 Thank you! 😄
I read about that incident before and was watching for it. I guess witnesses said Stalin glared at him and looked as if he was ready to shoot him on the spot.
Glad I am not the only one to see it. I burst out laughing when I saw it.
He probably was sent to the gulag😮
@@mountainmikemmel8289 No, he got away with it. It's probably not a good thing for us to explore the mind of Joe Stalin.
Another side note this week on December 1 1943 is that US IX Fighter Command will begin operations from the United Kingdom with a sweep over North-western France using *P-51B Mustang* fighters. It was noteworthy as it marked the debut of the Merlin-powered Mustang fighter in United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) service.
Cadillac of the skies
@@ethanmcfarland8240 Half the price of a P-47.
@@LV_CRAZY The real strength of the '51
Worth noting these early P-51Bs were not equipped with the fuselage tank which would enable the range to roam far to the eastern edges of the Reich. These would come with the P-51B-7s from the factory and field modifications kits for the B-5s. These would arrive in time for the renewed 8th Air Force bomber offensive in the new year.
Notably, P-51s so equipped with fuselage tanks and later underwing drop tanks will be instrumental in destroying the Luftwaffe fighter force over Western Europe.
@@andytothesky Great info there, thanks for the addition 👍
“How the Germans would be deterred if the deterrent was secret is unknown”. Me “I believe Dr Strangelove has a quote on this”
Bradly has to one of the most underrated Allied commanders.
True
I feel like in every screen depiction he comes off as a suffering but patient parent doing his best to wrangle troublesome children. More of an administrative rather than strategic talent.
Agreed. He dodged biographers after the war, so some of that comes down to his own modesty and desire for privacy. Shame it's the loudmouths that get all the credit.
Question, I thought Bradley and Patton were BFFs. Is that true?
As are General William Hood Simpson and General Slim.
Colonel Fletcher Prouty has mentioned various "unknown" aspects of WW2. One was the fact that Chiang Kai-shek and I believe Madame Chiang (who was educated in the USA) were at the Teheran Conference, as well. He said he knew this as a fact as he was the pilot that flew them there! His insights on WW2 are most interesting as they offered new information for apparently well-known activities.
What else did he say? Tell us more please
@@andreikovacs3476 He mentions it all in one of his books and in an interview that is on YT. One of the things he mentioned was flying to Syria Sept 1944- to pick up American airmen who had been released from Romania- just as the country changed sides to join the Soviets. He said not only were there US airmen but British but also a whole load of Axis personnel who he realised were intelligence assets. He said it was really odd as he thought the Soviet Union and the USA were allies yet it appeared the US was getting hold of people that the Soviets would have wanted but they had been smuggled away. Listen to it all or go to about 30.00 in this- search for this on YT -L Fletcher Prouty 1992 Interview at the National Press Club There is so much more he seemed to know. What I found interesting was looking for interviews with him was hard inside YT- nothing much showed but it did in Google- very odd.
@@NickRatnieks Thank you, I'll read into it
As a Canuck and amateur Vexilologist, thanks for showing our flag with some visibility, AND kudos for getting the correct color of the 3 maple leafs at the bottom of the shield for the WW2 era, some other channels have spaced on that detail, a small one to be sure, but noticed and appreciated, along with the overall retro war room type decor, although your coffee cup is kinda like the starbucks cup on Game of Thrones, wrong timeline^^cheers!
The History Guy uploaded a video on YT recently on Bari, he also compared it to Pearl Harbor. He mentioned how a lot of troops that went to the hospital were left in their oil-soaked uniforms because the hospital staff was overwhelmed with casualties. The uniforms were also soaked with mustard gas and so overnight hundreds of troops were fatally affected.
Hearing about the Tehran Conference from Indy while listening to Sir Winston Churchill's autobiography about WWII on Audible is double the awesomeness!
As soon as Indy mentioned Bari being the subject of an air raid after talking about that British officer saying he'd be insulted if the enemy raided the place. I broke out laughing. I love a good irony. Great video.
I never knew about the gas incident. As must WWII history I have consumed in my life it amazed me how much there is still to learn. Thank you for another fantastic episode as always!
Find the book by Glen Infield, "Disaster At Bari" 1971.
@@spikespa5208 Thank you for the suggestion I will look it up!
It really comes off left field, because you are not accustomed to hearing about the Luftwaffe delivering that kind of blows in late 1943, but the whole raid was a combination of luck, preparation and skill. The results were devastating.
On Twitter (I will never call it X) I am part of a widely connected community - mostly political, pro-democracy, but also with other topics for variety. As a history buff, I regularly make "Today in History" posts. Today, November 30th, is Churchill's birthday as well as the "high point" of the Tehran Conference. One of the links I provided was a link to this video. This is the first video of yours that I have stumbled across. But certainly not the last! I had to get used to the "style" at first - but then it got me. Very well done! Highly recommended to all history buffs here, there and everywhere! ♥
Welcome to the TimeGhost adventure!
Many years ago I spoke with a guy who claimed to have been part of an 8 inch artillery piece crew, and he said they were in Italy and later southern France. He said they had chemical shells with them, but never used them. His favorite, or really only good memory, of the war, was when he finally had an opportunity to take a warm bath for the first time after 150+ days in action.
As I recall, my father was in the area of Bari when this attack occurred. I remember him derisively commenting about the attack as written in one account. The book indicated that waves of German aircraft attacked the harbour, but from his account it was a small group of German bombers that just happened to hit the wrong ship.
Holy shit I remember the Great War channel it was so good. How am I just now finding out about WW2 with the same crew?!? Well, time to catch up on 4 years of war.
Welcome back Jack!
I also highly recommend to take a look at The Great War channel. They have keep making quality content that provides more context to the aftermath of WW1, the Russian Civil War, the Balkan War and (in the Real Time History channel) to the wars of German Unification culminating in a week-by-week series on the Franco-Prussian war.
You've got a lot of watching to do!
@@extrahistory8956 yup, Jesse Alexander, Flo and the rest of the Great War team has continu3e to make quite good content after they tool over that channel.
At 2:47 they cut away from the part where that Soviet official holding the Stalingrad sword held it the wrong way and the sword fell out of the sheath.
Pretty sure that's Stalin himself lol
I hope he survived the gulag.
@@ImtheHitcher No, it was the guy immediately to his right.
You can slightly see it here! That was unexpected!! hahaha
10:50 Flying weather would be twice as good as in the UK, and half the flights were canceled due to bad weather. In other words, sounds about right.
The first French units landed in Italy from November 19 1943 and will officially take the name of French Expeditionary Corps (CEF), commanded by General Juin, in January 1944. The CEF is integrated into the 15th Allied Army Group of General Alexander alongside the Eighth British Army of General Montgomery and the Fifth American Army of General Mark Clark. On November 25 1943, General Juin joins Naples with his staff. The 2nd DIM (Infantry Division of Morocco) and the 4th GTM (Moroccan Tabors Group) arrive in November, followed by the 3rd DIA (Infantry Division of Algeria) and the 3rd GTM in December. They will participate in the battle of Monte Cassino in a near future.
In Italy the CEF is remembered for "le marocchinate", the rapes of women, girls, priests, raids, thefts, fires and devastation perpetrated (Goumiers in primis) in Ciociaria and the neighboring areas by the French colonial troops of General Juin, who, according to some witnesses, promised and allowed days of impunity to those troops, which he denied all his life!
To be fair they punished most of the perpetrators harshly and executed many. The French command were disgusted by what happened and knew it would tarnish the CEF's reputation.
@@kalenova4436 to be really fair, the French Command shot the few caught red-handed during the rapes, some were sentenced to hard labour, some never prosecuted. Women were abducted and raped during the rest of the campaign, others killed after the mass rapes (some were found crucified). To those who went to protest, the French (European) officers replied that it was normal for African troops, and shrugged their shoulders. Other crimes of this heinousness had been perpetrated by the same troops in Sicily, and many Goumiers, but also white officers who hid among them in order to rape and plunder, were found stabbed with their genitals severed in their mouths (their crime is understandable!). The same predatory acts occurred in the rest of the Italian Campaign and in Germany, where French colonial troops were moved towards the end of the war.
@@angelcabeza6464 not all Italians were fascists!
The civilians were innocent!
Rapes it's a crime against humanity, no excuses!
If you have resentments towards women and girls (mostly illiterate or semi-literate peasant) I think you have problems.
If you think that the crimes committed by the French colonial troops against the helpless population are "justified" by having, hypothetically, supported fascism, you have serious problems.
In a single small village 700 women were brutally raped!
Yes, and with the French land their rapist Moroccan armies. They are infamous in Italy for the number of women and girls they raped en masse as well as wonton destruction they inflicted.
Also this week in Italy tanks of the Calgary Regiment cross the Sangro River to support the 8th Indian Division engaged in attacks on the Bernhard line. The Canadian 1st Division also arrives to relieve the battle weary 78th Division on the 1st of December. Command of the sector is turned over to the Canadians on the 2nd. They will be charged with continuing the advance up the coast. Canadians are also acting in a supporting role in the skies above the action on the ground, as Spitfires of 417 ("City of Windsor") squadron RCAF patrol overhead to prevent any bombing attacks by the Luftwaffe. From November 30th to December 3rd the Canadians down 5 enemy aircraft, with another 2 probables and one damaged.
and here comes Ortona...
Wow such a good episode team! This week had to much going on that you had to fit into this weeks episode!
On the Patton "firing" it really didn't affect him much since Eisenhower had already decided to make Bradley the commander of the first US army group that gets created in Western Europe (12th Army Group). Montgomery, Jacob Devers and Mark Clark (later on, after replacing Harold Alexander who was sort of sideways promoted out of command of the 15th Army Group) would command the other 3 army groups under Eisenhower's command. But really it should be thought of that Patton is counted among those Army Group commanders since Patton essentially had his own Army Group under his command based off the size of the US 3rd Army by the end of WW2.
Patton's US 3rd Army had 18 US divisions in it by the end of WW2. To put that in perspective, not only was it the largest single Army command of WW2 but Patton's 3rd Army had the same number of divisions in it as Montgomery's 21st Army Group (2 armies, the British 2nd Army and Canadian 1st Army), 8 divisions less then Jacob Devers 6th Army Group (2 armies, US 7th Army and the French 1st Army. Many French divisions were much smaller then US or British divisions.) and 4 divisions less then Mark Clark's 15th Army Group has (2 Armies, US 5th Army and the British 8th Army. This Army group is a mess of random small units from all over the world that boost it's size up in terms of number of divisions). And then there is Omar Bradly and his 12th Army group that had 49 divisions in it at the end of the war in Europe (4 Armies, US 1st, 3rd, 9th and 15th armies).
And really that just made me think about how under represented Jacob Devers and Mark Clark are when WW2 in Western Europe are talked about. The 2 of them had larger Army Groups then Montgomery did but if you asked any non-WW2 nut they are very unlikely to know who Jacob Devers or Mark Clark are. While they are much more likely to know of Montgomery who the media of the time really had created into one of the greatest generals in British history.
The size of Patton's 3rd Army at the end of WW2 is insane.
But also you are correct about the weird make-up of the forces in Mark Clark's 15th Army Group by the end of WW2. In that Army group my native Italian forces fought. And then there was the Brazilian 1st division, the 1st Canadian Corp which had a division from New Zealand in it as well as a brigade from Greece, the Polish 2nd Corp made up of 2 Polish divisions and a armored brigade, as well as a Indian and South African division as well. And then there were other countries that had their other smaller units within that Army Group as well.
@@rayferrone4518 Yeah the 15th Army Group really was the first United Nations Army Group I think. During the Korean war the workings of the 15th Army Group were used as an example of how to manage the first official Army of the United Nations. In that war MacArthur's Army Group had 2 Armies in it, the ROK Army and the US 8th Army and the US 8th Army had tons of forces from all over the world in it. Which is why I always think it is weird that the North Koreans only ever complain about the US while so many other nations also fought in the Korean war. If you ever go to South Korea and look at the monuments so many countries have their own but a great example would be Turkey. Most people won't even know that Turkey fought in the Korean war but in reality the Turkish Army did participate in the Korean war and actually performed incredibly well while there.
God , Americans really love to throw one to Monty. Montgomery's 21st Army Group had the most vital front with most important strategically , geopolitically objectives etc , Low Countries and Northern Germany where most of Third Reich industrial output , war prooduction like Ruhr (%60 of German steel and coal productionn) , big harbours like Hamburg , Kiel , Wilhelmshaven (therefore U-Boat construction and bases) , metalurgy facilities , rocket testing , big cities , canal network and railway transport hubs were concentrated in Northern Germany therefore all attention and German reinforcement were there. As far as SHEAF concerned Jacob Devers and Mark Clark (who took command of 15th Army Group in December 1944 and it was out of Eisenhower's jurisdiction though Northern Italy was also strategically very important with Italian industry and food production concentrated on plains of Po Valley that ran strateight to Balkans and Austria , one of the main areas of interest between Western Allies and USSR in post war) were operating in secondary sectors in priorty.
Field Marshal Von Rundstedt's Chief of Staff General Gunther Blummeritt accurately put it : "The one who controls Northern Germany , controls entire Germany" Of course 21st Army Group would be considered more vital considering their front had priorty objectives along with Bradley's 12th Army Group. (by the way 9th US Army in 21st Army Group actually fought and served under Montgomery's 21st Army Group till April 1945 , last weeks of war)
@@mariopineda4774 I know , I am Turkish , we sent two brigades to Korean War , and did very well in initial Chinese attack.
@@mariopineda4774 100% correct. The Korean war was not just South Korea fighting the North and then the United States coming to save the day in that war. The Korean War is the only war (at least that I can think of) that the United Nations official entered a side on. And after the United Nations officially joined the war with the UK, Canada, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Colombia, Ethiopia, South Africa, New Zealand, Türkiye, Greece, Thailand, Luxembourg and the Philippines sending fighting units to the war. Sure none of those nations sent the help the United States did but they did send the help they could and were key in helping South Korea defend itself against the aggressor forces. And then the reason all of those nations were able to fight under the US and South Korea in the Korean war using the United Nations flag was because during that time the USSR was protesting the United Nations. And because of that they were not at the United Nations security council meeting discussing what to do about North Korea invading the South. So the USSR couldn't not use their Veto power and the vote at the security council was able to pass for a rare change. The USSR was protesting the the United Nations because communist China didn't hold the security council seat yet after they had beat Chiang Kai-Shek China during their civil war.
Also, now that I think about it a bit more maybe the Gulf War of 1991 was also a war fought under the United Nations flag since Russia/the USSR and China(Communist CHina) didn't use their veto on the call for military action to save Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from Saddam's Iraq (They both had their own issues at the time and in general they were both much more open to the West back then). Also, at the time of the Gulf War, Iraq was the 4th strongest military in the world with very modem equipment in all areas, if you have never watched the YT channel "The Operations Room" (Indy was in one of the most recent episodes on the Battle of the Bulge) I can't recommend enough his videos on the Gulf War. The Operations Room and this channel (World War 2) are far and away my 2 favorite military history RUclips channels.
One good thing that came out of the Bari harbor raid was the invention of chemotherapy. Doctors noticed that exposure to mustard gas resulted in low white blood cell count. This effect is used as to develope the first chemo drug - nitrogen mustard, used to treat leukemia (a cancer that over produce white blood cells).
Hi Indy
Another good week full of intense news.
While studying it looks like war over in fraction of time. But after watching your series,i came understand this war,is one hell of war dragging forever.
Thanks for another great week.
Surprised and happy I made it in as TG member of this week. Glad to be supporting one of the best history works of recent times. Thank you Indy, Timeghost and the team for a continually great series.
The mustard gas incident was this weeks big thing for sure. I had never heard about that event before today.
grats on being motw
Thanks!
Eighth Army Crossing Sangro River , Adriatic Front , Italy (26 November - 2 December 1943)
Montgomery had chosen 20 November to launch his attack across the Sangro because he knew from Ultra decrypts that the river was only held by one regiment of the untried 65th German Infantry Division. The Division had been raised in Holland and consisted mainly of teenage Germans. But heavy rain and subsequent flooding forced Montgomery to postpone his attack until 27 November. By then the whole of the 65th German Division was in the line - their Commander, Major-General von Zielberg remarked, ‘The dug-outs will hold; whether the troops will remains to be seen’ - and elements of the 26th Panzer Division were alongside them. An attack made by the 8th Indian Division was repelled. The 2nd New Zealand Division secured its initial objective but could make no progress against the 26th Panzers. On 28 November the North West African Tactical Bomber Force subjected 65th German Division’s echelons and communications to saturation bombing. Early on 29 November Montgomery sent in the 78th British Division under cover of a barrage aimed specifically at the 65th dugouts. 6,000 - 7,000 rounds were used. The barrage killed many of the Germans in their dugouts. Two German battalions broke. They ran through the tunnels connecting the dugouts with the rear. As they emerged they were shot down by units of the 78th British "Battleaxe" Division who had slipped round to the back entrances of the tunnels. Both German battalions were, in Wentzell’s words, ‘liquidated’. The 78th British Divbision had broken through the 65th German Division’s centre and looked unstoppable. One might have expected Kesselring and General Lemelsen to have had sharp words for the battalions that had broken, but they both realized that the Division had received such a terrible pounding that no blame could be attached to it for breaking. They expressed particular concern for the decimated battalions. General Lemelsen noted that one regiment of the 78th British Division had slipped through the boundaries between 65th German Division and 26th Panzer Divisions. ‘The Devil knows how he always finds out where the boundaries are,’ he remarked to Kesselring.
General von Zielberg had lost an arm during Allied saturation bombing. On Kesselring’s recommendation Lemelsen flew in Colonel Baade to take over the 65th German Division which was in a chaotic retreat to Moro river. He arrived in the middle of another saturation raid and reported that it was worse than anything he’d experienced in North Africa. With 26th Panzers keeping the Allied armour at bay Colonel Baade managed to bind the 65th German Division into a fighting force, but by 1 December the 78th British Division had turned the flank of the Bernhardt Line. Both German and Allied commanders believed that the Adriatic sector was wide open. If 8th Army reached Pescara they’d have an easy ride to Rome. But the weather became impossible for flying, a regiment of German paratroopers linked up with the 65th German Division and 26th Panzers, and the 78th British Division ran out of steam. While it was being relieved by the 1st Canadian Division the German forces, free at last from Allied bombing if not from pressure from 2nd New Zealand Division, regrouped. When the two Dominion Divisions attacked together next week , they encountered much stiffer resistance. Once all the 44th German Division had arrived at Mignano Gap Kesselring switched two more parachute regiments to the Adriatic front. The weather continued to make bombing an occasional business, the terrain favoured the defenders, and on 28 December Montgomery called off the offensive. For him his attack was a near miss. For Clark is was a bull’s-eye. XIV Panzer Korps would receive no help from the Adriatic sector during ‘Operation Raincoat’.
Countdown to Cassino , Batle for Mignano Gap
My family and family name come from Bari Italy. Great to see the city mentioned in this week's news about the war
my granddad was an artillery man in the US 5th army. I never got to learn much about his war stories or service as he died when i was just 3.
I really like the little overview legend map in the left corner..Thanks.
I’m glad that the bari disaster is discussed because I never knew about that one
The First Special Services Force, AKA The Devil's Brigade. The movie by the same name did a reasonable recreation of their attack on La Defensa. They will later on take on an armored division on flat terrain and push it back, but that is a story for another time.
As bad as it was, Something good actually came from the Bari Raid. When survivors were examined, it was found that they had low white blood cell counts. This was forwarded to the people over at Yale School of Medicine, which was, at the time, doing a clinical trial of nitrogen mustards for treating lymphoma. After the war, this research led to the development of the first Chemo drug for cancer, chlormethine, aka mustine.
The History Guy recently did an excellent video about the bombing of Bari. Makes a good follow up to this also excellent video.
The History Guy has a good video on what happened at Bari.
One of my fathers brothers was killed by friendly fire while in a meeting with General Patton. After a battle a hot machine gun 🔫 was laid down on the hood of a jeep 🚙 pointing 👉 at him and this caused the last round to some how go off killing him. My father flew 52 B17 bombing 💣 missions and survived the war along with one other brother who was in the army ground forces. Take care, Mike
That is called a”cook off”.
While I was never in combat, I was an instructor on US weapons committee and taught all the machine guns. M-2 , M60, M 249B, Etc.
That is called a”cook off”.
While I was never in combat, I was an instructor on US weapons committee and taught all the machine guns. M-2 , M60, M 249B, Etc.
Great episode as always.
Nice episode and continuing work Timeghost. But is a Gas war coming? Well technically Gas has been used in China by Japan since 1937, and is still being use. So the question in the episode maybe is more "Is gas warfare coming back to Europe"? Well I suppose we all have to wait and see.
1:44 In 1920, during Polish-Soviet War, Stalin as a RevVoenSovet (Revolutionary Military Council) representative with the South-Western Front headquarters took part in the Lviv siege, that was a Polish city at that time.
Thus, technically, he left Russia after 1917 and before 1943.
It's astonishing that the commander of the most famous surprise raid in history should be caught by a surprise raid of his HQ
The History Guy does a good video on the Bari Raid
Another great episode. Thank you.
I have read and studied WWII quite a lot, but I guess I'm still quite a neophyte when it comes to extensive historical WWII knowledge. I don't recall ever hearing about the mustard gas "accident" which seems quite surprising. I think Patton will be back in the saddle in the not too distant future. But I don't know much about WWII.
Amazing I never knew about the gas. Thanks.
Did we notice as Churchill presents Stalin with a sword and Uncle Joe hands it off to a subordinate, the man turns the sword upside down and the sword slides from the scabbard. Seconds later the poor man looks suicidally mortified!
As a knife and sword collector 2:45 has always made my physically wince every time I see that clip, keep your eye on the sword, he hold it upside down and it falls out of its scabbard and he tries to catch it, luckily misses doing so and the holt hits the ground before he grabs it. Never, ever try to catch a falling blade, it's a good way to slice the inside of your fingers to the bone (yes I learned this the hard way).
As a Canadian, I can't wait to see the coverage of the battle of Ortona this month in the war 👀
Keep up the good work guys!
The Italian Stalingrad. Respect from Britain, thank Christ you lot were on our side.
They need to make a mug of Indy saying "Huh?!" (0:08)
Would be very interesting to have an episode on how much info the Axis managed to obtain on the Tehran Conference and how it was evaluated and acted upon!
Good episode, as always. How about a mention of Leningrad, I think there's still a siege going on there. Not much troop movement but still important.
The situation in the north around Leningrad will start to move in late Dec 1943 /January 1944.
@@caryblack5985 We can't know that :) Nevertheless for the inhabitants of Leningrad the daily struggle is important. At least worth a 30 second mention.
@@kingblondie7075 He usually does not mention fighting when there is no significant offenses or movement in the area. There is no mention of the northern fighting except in the community posts for a couple of years. It probably is due to the limited time he has to cover the week's events.
great video
Yo that Patton mug is legit.
great tie
Thanks for excellent content
Thank you Darryl, much appreciated
Love it Indy. See you next weekend Sir.
Iosif straight up dropping winstons gift on the ground lol 2:48
2:47 I wonder did he damage the hilt when it fell
As of December 1, 1943 the Germans had 1,460,615 deaths on the Easter Front with approximately 4,400,000 wounded. They would have a further 49,330 deaths and 150,000 wounded in December 1943.
and... no exit strategy.....
Great Episode!!!
I remember reading about the Bari attack way back in the late 50s early 60s (early teen years) in one of my Dad's Men's magazines....
So, you were just reading it for the articles after all?
We see at 2:49 Stalin turns the sword upside down and it spills to the floor before a hasty jump cut tries to wipe out the moment from history. Problem is that the room was full of people including a bunch of the Press so y’know word got out. I seem to remember reading in the time/life books that the sword cut someone’s pants but I don’t remember for certain if it said that. I do wish we could have seen everyone jump out of the way “Sharp sword!”
Keep it up Timeghost Team!
9:28 hey Indy when will you do a video on the first special service force?
afaik Hitler was strictly opposed to use gas in war (though not for killing people in the concentration camps), as he was victim of a gas attack in WWI, which blinded him for a while.
There's also something to consider in that, if Germany started using gas, the allies would too. And everyone knew the allies had a lot more capacity to build gas shells than Germany.
There were pragmatic reasons for Germany to not do it.
@@pax6833 Germany also had a shortage of horse gas masks.
@@pax6833 German intelligence also thought that the Allies had also developed Sarin and Tabun iirc.
Later in the war when the Germans were desperate Hitler would suggest using gas.
@@pax6833 The Allies also had a lot more capacity to deliver those gas shells as well. Imagine one of Harris' 1000-bomber raids loaded up with sarin or mustard gas over Berlin. The Germans knew if they opened that can of worms they'd get the worst of it.
Good episode guys
Thanks Jeremy!
Great Mark Felton video on the back up plan for dropping the atomic bomb on Japan using the Avro Lancaster as it was the only plane in service before the B29 that could carry the 2 types of A bomb.
I am sorry you didn't mention the sinking of the HMT Rohna in the Mediterranean on Thanksgiving Day in 1943. Well over a thousand American soldiers killed (including my wife's uncle) by a German guided missile, an action kept secret for decades.
Interesting. I always thought that the Americans concentrated their navy in the Pacific with help from other countries like Australia, while the British navy handled the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean with help from countries like Norway and Canada. So its both surprising to see an American ship in the Med and very sad to see it sunk.
@@Dave_Sisson Thanks for responding. It is my understanding that it was a British transport (poorly maintained by the way) and the American soldiers were enroute to the Burma theatre. I think it was the greatest American loss in a single sinking. The success of the German guided glide bomb was kept secret at the time. After the war it just got lost in the bureaucracy and forgotten. The families never received any real information. Story (I do not know the source) in my wife's family was that her uncle was a corpsman assisting at an appendix removal operation at the time of the attack. He did not survive.
I did read somewhere that the Luftwaffe was not that keen on the guided bomb for some reason and they played it down so Hitler would not start making a big thing of it to the detriment of their other requirements.
Ooo, new studio setup, nice
Indy Great Show As Usual..Can i please ask ..At the Tehran Conference How much did Churchill Know of Stalins intentions as it seems to me that Old Joe Had already got his Eye on the Great Prize of all of Eastern Europe.. Provided that the Allies Started off in France rather than the Balkans as Churchill was Again Keen to get muddled up in! ? ..Much to American Angst ..Could it be said that Tehran was where Stalin realized that he could get away with what he did? ..Thankyou all at Time Ghost and Indy Sparty And Astrid..Groundbreaking work your all doing !
"Sorry Bart. You can push them out of a plane, you can march them off a cliff, you can send them off to die on some god-forsaken rock, but for some reason, you can't slap 'em."
Abe Simpson
IIRC Mussolini used gas in '28 in Ethiopia... Another great video! Ty
Stalin had been outside the country after the Revolution. He was a front commander during the invasion of Poland.
You should've played the Dr. Strangelove clip when talking about the secret mustard gas "deterrent". The whole point of a deterrent is lost if you keep a secret!
It was no secret to the Germans that if they used gas there would be retaliation in a similar way. The only secret was that there was a ship in Italy with gas onboard. The Allies could have shipped large quantities of gas to Europe in a matter of weeks or a couple months and they had bomber fleets to deliver that gas. 6] After the Battle of Stalingrad, Joseph Goebbels, Robert Ley, and Martin Bormann urged Hitler to approve the use of tabun and other chemical weapons to slow the Soviet advance. At a May 1943 meeting in the Wolf's Lair, however, Hitler was told by Ambros that Germany had 45,000 tons of chemical gas stockpiled, but that the Allies likely had far more. Hitler responded by suddenly leaving the room and ordering production of tabun and sarin to be doubled, but "fearing some rogue officer would use them and spark Allied retaliation, he ordered that no chemical weapons be transported to the Russian front."[72] After the Allied invasion of Italy, the Germans rapidly moved to remove or destroy both German and Italian chemical-weapon stockpiles, "for the same reason that Hitler had ordered them pulled from the Russian front-they feared that local commanders would use them and trigger Allied chemical retaliation."
Actually, the first time I read about the mustard gas in Italy, it was in a history of British Nurses.
The senior nurses, being WW1 veterans themselves, recognized the symptoms of mustard gas immediately -
but all were told to "shut up" about it.
[Does my best Dr. Strangelove voice impression]: "But the whole point of the gas deterrent is lost... IF YOU KEEP IT A SECRET! Why didn't you tell the world, eh?!"
Kinda disappointed we're only getting coverage on the gas accident in Italy and not the actual gas combat going on in Changde in the past weeks and now by the Japanese against China
Anglo-oriented channel
@@Franfran2424 No, it is not. Go watch some more episodes, before making such a rash judgement.
@@janhaanstra2245 it is a bit. They won't put the flag of the ROC behind Indy,
@@porksterbob And that makes it an Anglo oriented channel? That is a bit steep, isn't it?
Have you asked them why?
@@janhaanstra2245 I have. They find the ROC too controversial to put on there. The one non European/anglo Ally is the only one not included. Poland surrendered in 1939, place of prominence. China invaded 2 years earlier, doing much more fighting.... Not as important as new Zealand
If you want a more in-depth video on the raid on Bari, check out The History Guy's newest video, released just the other day(good timing)
Churchill and Roosevelt's recognition of the 1941 Polish borders gave legitimacy to the 1939 joint German Soviet invasion. That was a slap in the face of Poland.
nice new artillery effects
As for Stalin not leaving the USSR since the October Revolution, I think Pildusky might have something to say about that from around 1921.
Enjoying another episode in my 25th birthday 🥳🎂
Happy Birthday!
Hate to take away from this serious topic, but is Indy wearing a Phish (the band) tie? Also, great content. Keep up the great work!
I'm curious how Chuchill's prerequisites for the D-day invasion were met?
The parameters seemed very specific, how did they match the situation in June 1944?
The story of how intimate Tibbets was in the development of the B-29 is fascinating.
He was lucky to not be on the B-29 that crashed in Seattle.
5th US Army Preparing to restart the attack on Berhardt Line , prying over Mignano Gap ( November - 3 December 1943) (1)
Clark had ordered seventy-five heavy bombers, twenty-four mediums and 178 fighter bombers to support 5th Army’s attack. The planes would keep up a dawn-to-dusk assault on 1 and 2 December. The scale of the bombing was about par for the course but the attack’s artillery support would be something special. 925 guns would open up a simultaneous barrage at dusk on 2 December. 820 guns would concentrate their fire on the Monte Camino massif. The new US 8″ gun-howitzers would take part of the bombardment. They were capable of outranging all enemy guns by several miles when fired for interdiction purposes. When used as a howitzer they proved to be the only Allied gun capable of destroying the standard enemy dugout of rock and railway sleepers/ties.
A diversionary attack by US VI Corps on the enemy’s left flank would begin on 28 November. In the centre 3rd Rangers would carry out a fighting patrol to San Pietro on 1 December. If the village was heavily defended elements of the 36th Division would take it. The 36th would also deal with Monte Sammucro. On 2 December the First Special Service Force (which, along with the 36th Division and the Italian Motorized Brigade, made up US II Corps under the command of Major-General Geoffrey Keyes) would tackle Monte La Difensa. Clark allowed them three days to capture the mountain. They would then take Monte Rementea. Monte Maggiore would be taken by 142 Regiment, US 36th Division. Once Monte La Difensa had fallen and that flank of the Camino Massif had been cleared the 1st Italian Motorized Brigade would take Monte Lungo. Clark had told Walker he wanted the Italians to have an easy option, an objective they couldn’t fail to take on their first time out, and had suggested Monte Lungo. Walker agreed that Monte Lungo was an appropriate objective for them. On 5th Army’s left flank British X Corps’ two divisions, 46th and 56th, would attack Monte Camino and Calabritto. McCreery chose the 56th Division for Monte Camino, the 46th for Calabritto. The 46th Division would attack on 1 December so as to protect 56th Division’s left flank.
Von Senger, whose handling of XIV Panzer Korps during the first battle had impressed Kesselring as well as General Lemelsen, was not taken in by the amphibious exercises off Naples and Mondragone. He believed that Clark would have to make another frontal assault on the Mignano Gap sector, and that this time the heaviest attack would fall on his men holding the Camino Massif, the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division, but had no idea when the attack would be made, or which units would make it. The patrols carried out by the Division had proved singularly ineffective, well below their usual standard. The only prisoners they had taken were two young Italian girls from a village near Calabritto. The girls were returned to their homes before the battle began.25 The Division’s failure to identify any enemy units worried Von Senger. He was well aware of the peculiar sense of isolation and loneliness that can affect men holding mountain positions: The mountains intensify all fear and demoralizes.’ He paid a number of visits to the Camino Massif to check on the Division’s morale. He found the old hands determined enough but the young polyglot replacements looking a bit lost, as well they might. At Calabritto I/129th Regiment had laid out a barbed wire apron whose size and depth was up to First World War standards. Thanks to Von Senger the Division would be able to call upon some first class reserves. Kesselring had agreed that the two battalions of the von Corvin battle group would form part of XIV Panzer Korps. No more shuttlecock war games for the Hermann Göring infantry.
5th Army Intelligence reported that Monte La Difensa and the saddle joining it to the Monte Rementea was held by III/104th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, some 250 men strong. Another 100 or so men from the III/129th Panzer Grenadier Regiment were occupying the saddle between Monte La Difensa and Monte Camino. Colonel Frederick chose Second Regiment, commanded by Colonel D. D. Williamson to make the attack on Monte La Difensa. Third Regiment, commanded by Lt-Colonel Edwin Walker, would be in reserve. First Regiment, commanded by Colonel Alfred Marshall, would act as reserve to 142nd Regiment in their assault on Monte Maggiore.
Colonel Williamson chose Lt-Colonel Tom MacWilliams’s 1st Battalion to lead the assault. MacWilliams, a former history professor at New Brunswick University, knew what had happened to Colonel Sherman’s 7th Regiment on Monte La Difensa, and sent out scouting parties - in pairs, an officer and a sergeant - to find a way up the cliffs. The scouts operated in daylight, passing along the lower slopes of the eastern side of the mountain, which were held by the 142nd Regiment, and climbing up to the mountains’ cliffs. These began about eight hundred feet from the summit. Major Edward Thomas, 1st Battalion’s Executive Officer, a regular from North Carolina, teamed up with Sergeant Howard van Ausdale, half Dutch half Red Indian. He had been a prospector and was the best scout in the battalion. On their first day on the mountain a guide from the 142nd Regiment led them to his company’s positions. Major Thomas noted that the men were exhausted, the steepness of the mountainside making the simplest project difficult. ‘The Forward Observer was gaunt, dirty and had the first case of combat shakes I had seen.’ Major Thomas and Sergeant Van Ausdale reconnoitred the mountain’s north-facing cliffs. The lowest cliff was about two hundred feet high. In places the rock was rotten and there were numerous overhangs. But the men’s jump-boots helped them get a grip on the rock slabs, and the fact that they were not carrying heavy equipment made it relatively easy for them to get just below the top. They didn’t look over in case the enemy spotted them and pinpointed the cleft as a likely line of attack. They had already had a sighter of the rest of the cliffs from lower down the mountain and knew they were not so high. Now they had climbed the main cliff they understood why Colonel Sherman’s men had failed to climb it. With heavy equipment it could only be climbable with the aid of ropes.* Every single cliff would have to be roped up before the attack. This would be a tricky business. But getting the second Regiment to an LOD on time would be almost as difficult. To climb up the whole of Monte La Difensa in one night was out of the question. It would have to be a two-night job. The first would be spent getting the regiment to a base where it could lie up under cover during the day. It would start climbing the cliffs as soon as it was dark.
Colonel Williamson, Major Thomas and Lt-Colonel Robert Moore, CO 2nd Battalion, Second Regiment, eventually found an excellent spot in a pinewood about halfway up the mountain. Major Thomas had to ensure that the Second Regiment arrived at the base before first light. It would be marching across country from Presenzano, six miles from the foothills of Monte La Difensa as the crow flies, and at least twice as far on the ground, and would then have to climb 1,500 feet to the pinewood. Major Thomas had only done the Presenzano approach march once, in darkness. He had timed himself so he was able to work out a rough march schedule. 1st Battalion’s attack would be led by Captain Rothlin’s I Company. Captain Rothlin was very much aware that since the Force had left the States on 28 October it had had very little exercise. The men were like boxers who had stopped training a month before the fight. Knowing that the attack was imminent he worked his company from dawn to dusk. After a few days of routine marches and runs the men were in better shape and Captain Rothlin opened up the throttle. He force marched them until they cursed him.
Coundown to Cassino - Battle of Mignano Gap
My Grandfather served in the US Army during WWI. He survived a mustard gas attack. He also brought all of his field equipment home after the war. This included his gas mask. When I closely inspected it, more than 75 years later, you could see small grains of dark yellowish powder on the rubber of the mask. I touched one, and when it broke open it smelled very faintly of mustard.
The actions of the allies regarding the "swift actions if Germany uses gas warfare" remind me *very* much about the current talk about a response to a russian nuke...
So fun to the the sword falling to the ground.
Stalin's soviet general avoided looking to him afterwards, must be feeling awful and afraid
Indy, I'm glad Stalin mentioned Finland, because I haven't heard anything from that corner of the world in a couple of years! Has nothing happened over there? Hard to imagine, because there's a world war going on! It would be good to hear at least something from that region, too. I believe that front could become important one day, if the allies can finally get their great plans together. BTW, I have heard that the crazy Finns even built saunas just behind their front lines! Unbelievable! Could you tell us anything about that? (With love, from Finland 😉)
By 1942 it has been trench warfare with raiding and scouting parties and artillery duels. Very little movement. Most of the action is political with thw Finns seeking a way to exit the war. Spoiler more military action in 1944.
so looking ahead, maybe the most accurate version of Patton's D-Day speech is in the book "The Unknown Patton" along with a bunch of other really interesting material.
Ah the good ol Devil's Brigade!
At 2:45, Churchill gives a sword to Stalin, who proceeds to (accidentally?) drop the sword out of it's scabbard as he hands it over to the guy on his right.
Wouldn't the Germans have noticed that none of the allied personnel captured were carrying gas masks in their gas mask bags? My dad told me the first thing everybody tossed their gas masks. He landed in southern France and fought thru to Austria, even occupation duty after the war.
Perhaps but it would be dangerous for the Nazis to use gas. The US and UK had bomber fleets pounding Germany. It would have spelled a great disaster if the Allies used gas in retaliation. 6] After the Battle of Stalingrad, Joseph Goebbels, Robert Ley, and Martin Bormann urged Hitler to approve the use of tabun and other chemical weapons to slow the Soviet advance. At a May 1943 meeting in the Wolf's Lair, however, Hitler was told by Ambros that Germany had 45,000 tons of chemical gas stockpiled, but that the Allies likely had far more. Hitler responded by suddenly leaving the room and ordering production of tabun and sarin to be doubled, but "fearing some rogue officer would use them and spark Allied retaliation, he ordered that no chemical weapons be transported to the Russian front."[72] After the Allied invasion of Italy, the Germans rapidly moved to remove or destroy both German and Italian chemical-weapon stockpiles, "for the same reason that Hitler had ordered them pulled from the Russian front-they feared that local commanders would use them and trigger Allied chemical retaliation."
Cool New Zealand flag on the wall lol ,love the channel great work
Wow the U Boats really have been neutralized.
12:36 I see there have been some leaks about Freidrich Steiner and the Nova program
Perhaps it was a good thing that Patton wasn't 'cancelled' for his mistake.
This week in French politics.
The 27th, Emmanuel d’Astier named Jacques Soustelle at the head of the Direction générale des services spéciaux (DGSS) the fusion of the Secret services of Free France and Giraud’s one (it was in fact part of the Vichy’s secret services) however the BRAA (the secret service of Giraud) is still very independent and listens only to Giraud. (Jacque Soustelle is an anthropologist specializing in Pre-Columbian civilizations, he is posted in Latin America to rally support and bypass Vichy’s diplomacy.)
The 29th of November, Ribbentrop writes a letter to Pétain given by Otto Abetz the 4th in which he chastises Pétain for trying to go behind Laval’s back and Germany’s one. He makes him remember that Germany is an occupier and a protector against civil unrest and “Bolshevik revolution and chaos.” That Pétain must now still rule the French State. Moreover, all modifications of laws must pass through the Reich’s government and that Laval must be able to form a government pro-German and guaranteeing French collaboration and that Pétain must publicly endorse it. The government must contain the most ultra-collaborationist Joseph Darnand (chief of the Milice), Marcel Déat (Rassemblement national Populaire, fascism, antisemitism, neo-socialism) and Phillipe Henriot (conservative hardliner, journalist and radiomen, collaborationist). All of this is done because Pétain maintain unity and some sort of control on France and its administration. Pétain has no choice be yield.
The 2nd Maurice Sarraut, one of the founders of the Parti Radical and its president in 1926 is assassinated by the Milice.
This scene 2:47 when Churchill gave sword as gift and Stalin turned back and dropped it, eventually Voroshilov who gave it to assistant- with no doubt was planned action as a kind of psychological game.
Indubitably!
Stalin was a first class jerk, start to finish. Too bad he was even included among the Allies, but war does make for strange bedfellows. Rearming the Germans and attacking the Soviet Union after WWII ended sounded ridiculous at the time, but in hindsight wouldn't have been such a bad thing.