Just subscribed I’m looking forward to this. I hope there will be a feature on Matthew Ridgeway MacArthur’s successor and forgotten as a commander in WW2 and the Korean War. Especially compared to some who weren’t as good imo. Good luck to Indy and the team 👍🇬🇧
This is the hird german 6th army during this war The first was encircled in Stalingrad and the second was encircled in Romania Its ironic that only the third managed to escape a pocket for once
A rather peculiar sidenote this week on March 19 1945 is that Dwight Eisenhower, Walter Bedell Smith, and Kay Summersby will arrive at Cannes, France to take a short break from the war. Eisenhower would spend much of the next three days sleeping and simply doing nothing.
by this point in the war, “where are the shells” is about 3 years in the rear view mirror for the german army. and the allies didn’t have ukraine’s manpower problem either
Ive always wanted Indy to open with the Futurama gag by Professor Farnsworth. "Hows he doing? To shreds you say. Hows she taking it? To shreds you say."
Some years ago, I was on a rhine river cruise. A fellow passenger was a WW2 veteran and had driven his Sherman tank across the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen. In Nuremberg, we were getting a lecture on the Nazi rallies. He had to walk away, he lost too many friends in the war. The greatest generation.
Reference from a 1980's movie called Sixteen Candels when a Chinese exchange student is passed out on a lawn and the family car's gone, and the father shouts "'DONG! WHERE IS MY AUTOMOBILE!?"
You had me confused for a minute, when I saw Frankfurt east of Berlin. I don't know German geography that well, but I could swear Frankfurt was in western Germany. Then I looked on wikipedia and found that there are actually two Frankfurts, Frankfurt an der Oder in the east, and Frankfurt am Main in the west.
pre gps, there were a few truck drivers who went wrong. or got sent to Bremer Haven and drove to Bremer and looked for the Haven (=harbor) over there. great fun if you are the planner at a transport company.
A sidenote this week on March 21 1945 is that the Japanese will deploy the Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka suicide aircraft for the first time, slung under 16 Mitsubishi G4M Betty bombers that were part of a group sent to attack the American fleet off Okinawa. The flight was a disaster for the Japanese when the group was intercepted by American fighters a full 60 miles (97 km) from the American task force, and all the bombers were shot down. American pilots noted that the Bettys were flying unusually slow and carrying an unusual payload, but the significance of this was not realized at the time.
I love hearing the Soviets get upset because of what they perceive as people doing sneaky stuff behind their backs, given their history of doing sneaky stuff as a general practice, lol. As for them worrying about the Poles being upset with "outsiders" watching them, I guess all those Soviet troops, who had originally invaded Poland in 1939, don't count?
They're being one-upped at their own game so they are jealous and angry. Given the current state of the German forces, even if the rest of the allies did obtain a separate peace, the Soviets can clearly overcome whatever little the Germans could do to stop them alone.
14:23 - Waffen-SS troops wearing a special parka. This photo was taken in 1943 on the Eastern Front - the parka was discontinued as its manufacture was considered too expensive, though it is a sign of the Waffen-SS having special access to equipment.
Having watched various (most) other channels that are spin-offs of WWII and lots of other narrators/presenters who write or deliver similar material... There is just no one better at battle by battle, operation description and bringing that entertaining history than Indie. Mr. Olson is also very good in writing, delivery and theatrical presentation but his chosen subject is so appalling, so gut wrenching; that I have to view his videos in short time increments in order to be able to tolerate most of the information. The best graphics, the most appealing thumbs for each episode and the best online reminder that we must "Never forget!" Thank you WWII for the production of your fine video series.
19:26 This shows Koblenz fotographed from above the Mosel estuary (Deutsches Eck) looking roughly westwards. The top bridge got rebuild as the Europabrücke (part of the B9 that runs along the western side of the rhine). The center rail bridge got repaired and is still in use today as was the bottom one (Balduinbrücke, built in 1429!). This foto can be found on the wikipedia page of the last bridge. See that little castle thingy at the bottom? Great irish pub in there.
SHOIGU! GERASIMOV! Pringles might not be happy about being dead, but much like Comical Ali the Iraqi Information Minister, he will be remembered in history
@@elmascapo6588 yes very likely I was just keeping the numbers vague to avoid waking the Kremlin Gremlins lurking around all the comment sections on RUclips as soon as anything regarding the Invasion of Ukraine is mentioned, but yes he probably did lose 3-4 times as many soldiers as did Ukraine.
Molotov, the same man who negotiated the "secret protocol" in 1939 with Nazi Germany, to divide Poland is now upset that the British and Americans are negotiating a surrender with Nazi command in Italy! That's rich!
But heaven forbid those Americans and British advisers go to Poland and offend the Poles, right? I've always wanted to talk to some of those politicians to see if they actually believed half the things they said.
Hey, this is the same guy that demanded aid from America and Britain, in 1941, when Russia had been supplying Nazi Germany with oil, iron and wheat, from 1939 to the moment they were invaded - so he's got form.
Hoff, on the Polish coast at the 15th meridian, shown in the video @11:20 is now called Trzesacz. It has ruins of medieval church on the cliff, that had 3 walls during WW2. Since then, two sidewalls fell into Baltic and only one remains standing. 5Km to the east from Hoff lies village named Horst (now: Niechorze). It contains closest lighthouse to the west of Kolberg and one of the tallest on the current Polish coast. Last week it played significant part in evacuation of German forces as concrete pier allowed continuous line of panzers to be loaded on the evacuation barges. At least that's what our village elders told us, might be hogwash designed to awe children. EDIT: all of the current inhabitants of both villages and region as a whole moved in after end of WW2. So technically, no elder was present to witness German withdrawal.
There was a mass renaming of towns and villages in Pomerania, Silesia and East Prussia after the war, mostly to Polish names but with the northern half of East Prussia switching to Russian ones. A book on Silesia I read has a long appendix giving the German names on the left and the Polish ones they changed to. And another appendix with the Polish placename on the left and the German on the right.
I think Indy probably has it in him to do it! For real though, if you haven't heard Indy will be covering Korea week by week starting June, and Sparty will be doing a series on democracy. Hope to see you there: www.youtube.com/@KoreanWarbyIndyNeidell
Germany is on its last legs were about 6.5 weeks away from VE day, though its been a long time coming since September 1939 I can only imagine what it must feel like for the citizens of Europe, several years of war must feel even longer when it's right at home.
The euphoria of VE day soon gave way to the daily grime of every day life, as hundreds of thousands of deposed/deported/stateless/homeless people would move across the continent, rationing would remain part of daily life for years after the war, sometimes even into the 50's, a desire to enact revenge on collaborationist, governments in former occupied countries had to reassert themselves, even when their subjects did not want a return to the old status quo but a new fresh start. And amidst all that the war against Japan seemed to be still ongoing for at least another year, with the UK, France and the Netherlands wanting to retake their former colonial possessions. Which meant going to war with independence movements in Vietnam and Indonesia.
10:36 - Sopot, then Zoppot in the Free City of Danzig, was the birthplace of Klaus Kinski (born Klaus Nakszynski) in 1926. His family moved to Berlin. Conscripted into the German armed forces, he was captured by the British in the Netherlands. He was released in 1946 and found both parents had been killed in the war.
@@maciejniedzielski7496 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Kinski#/media/File:Klaus_Kinski_-_Per_un_pugno_di_dollari.JPG And here he is. Clearly someone whose emotional stability you can count on...
Little Fun Fact about the Rhine Bridges, because the Germans blow them all up, there are today only four Bridges over the Rhine River left, between Koblenz and Worms (150km) an all are in Mainz. There were plans to rebuild some of the bridges (like the Hindenburg Bridge in Bingen am Rhein) but there never gone throw with it. The four Bridge are by the way: - Schiersteinerbrücke (Car Bridge, up the Rhine River next to Mainz) - Kaiserbrücke (Train Bridge in the North of Mainz) - Theodor-Heuss Brücke (Bridge in Mainz Downtown) - Südbrücke/Mainz-Gustavsburg Eisenbahnbrücke (Train Bridge in the South of Mainz) Yes, i am a local.
Do they just not need bridges in the area? Maybe not that much traffic traveling over the river there? IIRC the original bridge was built during the Great War in order to move supplies to the front in France, not because it was needed for civilian traffic.
@@Raskolnikov70 This depends on who you ask. Many locals, the tourism industry and the ferry lobby say that we don't need own, local manufacturing industry and logistic companies say we need own and the current "State Government"(Landesregierung) is divided in this question, along party lines. (And they never talked about it, since 2016) But you are probably right about that they don't need another bridge in that area. I mean, they talk about it every some years (for decades at this point), only to drop it later, forget about it and pick it up again.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 No there's more of course. 2 more in Koblenz and another one very close by in Neuwied. But then again nothing for about 100km until the Bonn/Cologne area. The Remagen bridge never got rebuilt. Today there's lots of ferries in the bridgeless sections. There have been talks about building a new bridge but the middle rhine is a UNESCO world heritage site and the tourism industry fears a bridge might lead to a revocation of that title. But also on a practical side of thinking Bonn, Koblenz and Mainz are all in flat basins and the areas inbetween have steep walls on at least one side. This is an Autobahn bridge over the Mosel: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moseltalbr%C3%BCcke_(A_61) and it's already pretty large but the rhine is much wider.
Hi Andy! Wonderful content and first rate. I wonder if before the series end, you could cover the financial aspects of the war. We pretty much know how America financed the war with bonds etc. But how about the Japanese, the Italians.. and were there any financial consequences after the war for most nations involved? Financing a war of this magnitude must have been difficult to say the least ✋🏻
In addition to the interesting content of your videos, I really like you. Your voice is great, and I like your vest. And it's cool when you pretend to be talking to someone on the phone. Thanks for these videos. By the way, I am watching from Southeastern Iowa in the United States
This is ww2 week by week, using a bad book. Mountbatten, Chiang, Slim, and wedermeyer already agreed in December to withdraw the Chinese after the fall of Lashio which happened two weeks ago. Furthermore, it was agreed that Chinese troops wouldn't operate south of Mandalay in any case. They aren't needed for the Rangoon operation. The Chinese and the Americans have been planning to retake a Chinese port and need the soldiers. The book they are using for this part by Mclynn is one of the worst Burma books with tons of factual mistakes.
Chiang had no interest in Rangoon, he was fighting over 1 million Japanese that occupied vast swaths of China. If there was a back water it was the war in Burma. The Chinese had been fighting since 1937, only the Russians suffered more casualties. Chiang is always denigrated, but he was fighting the preponderance of the Japanese army, with little equipment.
Thanks for the high level of detail about the European theater in the final weeks. This was a portion that I'd heard little about previously, except for the Remagen bridge and brief mentions of Monty crossing the Rhine. Germany totally falling apart. Thanks also for the CBI coverage.
@g8ymw it is exactly not your point. The argument still being made today is Montgomerys claim that a single thrust into Germany would have won the war in 44 vs Eisenhowers broad front advance across Germany with victory in 45. My comment merely observed that the Russians didn't risk a single thrust either.
@@Freedomfred939 Broad attacks were likely to be more successful as they put strain on the Germans, who lacked reserves. Those they had would be dissipated over a wide area trying to stem attacks. Narrower attacks did not achieve this and were more vulnerable to German counter-blows which could even result in trapping attackers in a pocket. This ability was aided by the rather good German communications system.
at 2:26, I see Ganges and Los Jardines Islands on the map. Wikipedia says these are "phantom islands" that were supposedly discovered in the 1800's and earlier, but have never been seen since!!
Good catch! I only found out recently they are so called 'phantom islands', but I figured it was too funny that they were still being displayed on a 1939 world map to get rid of them. - Sietse (map research)
Fun Fact: The First Pontoon Bridge the Allies built across the Rhine River was attacked quite a lot by the Germans. They even used their V-Weapons on it. But only for it to be no use in the end. The Bridge was complete. And thankfully so.
12:09 The small city where my father grew up is south of Opole! He told me how he once found a German pistol in a hollow tree and a friend said that he can make it shoot again. (It must have been sometime in the late 70s or early 80s) He mever saw the gun or the friend again :I
Every time I am amazed about the content ... well researched and excellently put together in an informative post ... keep up the good work... with the deepest respects and best regards... MT
(Interestingly, there are surviving ads for NBC's New York television station, Channel 1 (as it then was), WNBT, where it was going to cover V-E Day. There was, at a very low level, commercial television in the United States in 1945, though only in a few select cities.)
The war is hopelessly lost. There is no chance the German army will ever go on the offensive again. The Allies have crossed the Rhine in the west and in the east the Prussian exclave has all but fallen. Soviet troops are now beginning to enter the heart of Germany. Guderian “I would like to retire”
23 March 1945. Sergeant John Evans of the 7th Armoured Division begins Operation Plunder today, crossing the Rhine near Xanten with the rest of his unit.
Great Britian: "We want to end the war." USA: "We want to end the war." China: "We want to end the war." USSR: "We want to end the war." Frank Sinatra: "And I want to do it my way!" 😉
These are two seperate armies. The black one (with the ellipse) is the 6th Panzer Army under Sepp Dietrich. Below that is 6th Army under Hermann Balck. Both are parts of Heeregruppe Süd / South. -TImeGhost Ambassador
I hope this doesn't get lost in the ether... Over the last six weeks I have listened to every main series episode back to back from the outbreak of the great war in 1914 up to today March 26. My goal was to catch up and then buy my commission in the time ghost army to honour my great grandfather Nick Solohub; who crossed Juno Beach on D-day and was saved by a chicken in Holland (I'd be happy to share this story some time in the future along with some photos and discharge papers) and my wife's great grandfather Clarence Thompson who was taken prisoner after the Canadians surrendered at Hong Kong. However due to the birth of my daughter funds are a bit tight for the foreseeable future and the time ghost army will need to wait... For now. Anyhow; keep up the amazing work. I eagerly await the Korean war series and each individual episode until this war ends.
And to make it even more impressive, it is two 6th Armies this time. Also, Tolbukhin's 3rd Ukrainian Front was the old Southwestern Front that encircled the 1st 6th Army at Stalingrad.
I'm curious about how were the Allied-German negotiations in Italy organised. How did they contact one another, how did they go around the front to meet each other. Via Switzerland? Did they inform the soldiers not to shoot at the parliamentaries?
Neutral countries like Switzerland were a good place for warring sides to have an informal chat that might turn into more formal negotiations. I suspect that neutral countries were sometimes allowed to stay neutral mainly because of this role.
The novelist Paul E. Erdman hints at this time in his books. In short, Switzerland grows only about half the food it needs to feed its population. It was getting that food from South America, thru Portugal and Spain, then across occupied France. Once Operation Dragoon took place and hooked up with the Normandy force, Switzerland got hungry real fast. They held out as long as they could, but the Allies had them by "the short hairs", whatever that means, and they made a deal. What that deal encompassed; I doubt anyone will ever know.
The episodes are getting longer for sure, over the last 3 months they have frequently hit over 23 minutes! In the earlier days they used to be about 10 minutes. Thanks for watching.
Slim got along well with almost everyone. Except Oliver Leese, the new land forces commander in SEAC. Mountbatten LOVED victories for which he could hold press conferences and make himself look good. Slim could give him those and Mountbatten knew this. And Slim wanted someone who would let him fight the war the way he wanted and keep meddlesome generals back home off his back. Mountbatten could do that. So it was a very odd but functional match made in heaven.
Does anyone know... has the channel done an episode on the German weather monitoring stations on *Greenland* and the little tower they put up in *Labrador* ? I guess this'd be back a couple years.
I'm fairly certain they mentioned the weather station in Canada before, although I couldn't tell you which episode. I just remember Indy talking about it.
The Soviets accusing the US and the UK of trying to reach a separate peace with Germany was absurd. They had zero involvement in the Italian Campaign, had made no investment of resources, and had lost zero troops. It was literally just local commanders trying to reach an agreement with the Germans for the surrender of their forces in that theater. But by this time all they could see was how much territory they could steal, and how many nations they could influence.
but from the soviet point of view, if western allies feel like they have a say on what happens in Poland, soviets should have a say on what happens in Italy. I think this is what they are really getting at
@@mrb3nz correct, it's basically diplomatic tit for tat, the western allies also have zero forces in Poland, yet they have influence in the way how Poland will be reorganize after the war
Many polish officers and soldiers as well as the pre war government went to Britain, the poles fought in Italy and captured monte cassino working with the western allies and took part in operation marketvgarden. The allies have a lot more to say in polish affairs than soviets have in Italian ones imo I don’t recall a single soviet action along the boot.
@@briantarigan7685I understand the diplomatic game. But the British and the French gave the Poles assurances in 1939 that they did not back up. They believed they owed the Poles, particularly after they had performed so well in the field. They certainly had more of an interest in Poland than the Soviets had in Italy.
Italy had (and still does) a large and active communist movement. I imagine there was an element of foot-in-the-door planning for the post-war scene by Molotov.
Wait what - Mandalay seems to be the one time it made sense for a Japanese garrison to hold out and not surrender. And out of all places, this was the one where they did surrender!
The Japanese armies, at least in Burma were starting to disintegrate. And with that came the capture of greater numbers then ever before. Still small compared to Europe, but previously Japanese units would fight to DELETION, with only a handful soldiers ever surrendering. But by this time they started to capture dozens of them.
The one US aircraft carrier that is part of Mitscher's Task Force who is the per-1941 carrier is the greatest US Naval ship of all times. Can someone guess who she was??
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Seems a rather no-savory description of the guy. Their primary aim was to re-capture Guangxi province in South China, which would deny the Japanese their last supply route for resources from Dutch East Indies and Southwest Asia.
@@extrahistory8956You know that Indy has decided to use a trash source. It is sadly funny to recall all your comments from back months ago where you had such optimism that they were going to cover the Salween campaign. Now we see that Sun li ren is in charge Y force. Wow. That really shows the level of care that the channel shows for the Chinese theater. I am sad that your optimism was not rewarded.
@@porksterbob I dunno. There isn't much left, albeit they had used _The Forgotten Ally_ as a source, and as such my optimism steamed from that. Considering how the war in Europe is comong to a close soon, I can expect the battles for South Guangxi to get some future coverage (after all that was why the Expeditionary force was recalled back to China proper), but to likely be overshadowed by events in the Pacific/Soviet Invasion of Manchuria. The battle of South Hunan is likely to get a couple of mentions at most in late April, albeit to be definately overshadowed by Okinawa, Berlin, Grapeshot and the Rhur Pocket for obvious reasons.
@@extrahistory8956Except that the Chinese army was not capable of doing so. That if Stilwell, who tried to actually create a viable and capable Chinese army, could not pressure Chiang to let him do it, then Wedermeyer, the sycophant, could sure as hell not do it. The Nationalist armies could barely defend Chenaults airfields, let alone launch that offensive. As Slim correctly observed, the US amphibious campaign through the Central Pacific would pay off quicker dividend then opening up a road to China, then build a well equipped and well led Chinese and then launch a major land campaign against Japan in Asia. At this point in the war Chiang and his forces were irrelevant to the outcome of the war. And it is doubtful that Chiang even wanted to do something. Sitting back and let the Americans defeat Japan so he could move back in and reap the rewards was his strategy.
9:13 Why is Molotov throwing a tantrum over this. This is the surrender of an army. Not a whole country. This is like if the Western Allies demanded that their representatives should be present for the surrender of Paulus' 6th Army.
It is typical of Stalin's paranoia. He was always concerned that there will be a separate peace with Germany and the Western Allies will join with Germany and attack the Soviets. The German propaganda sometimes used this to sow discord.
The surrendering of the whole Italian front is more than the surrender of an encircled army in the Soviet Union, which the western allies were no where near. The surrender of the Italian front would open up Austria and south Germany. Area in which the Soviets are advancing into. So Molotov has a legit complaint, that the western allies were not involving the Soviets.
Just? For most of the war he's been a drag on the Allied war effort. Demanding ever more supplies at great cost to the Allies and doing very little with them. And the irony is that the sooner Slim takes Rangoon the sooner the Burma road would reopen and Chiang could have had ALL the supplies he needed, far more then what relatively little the USAAF had to fly, at great danger to the pilots, over the Hump.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Hadn't the Americans and Chinese troops recaptured Yunnan province earlier in January? The Ledo Road was already streaming truck-loads of resources across the Chinese border for two months now.
@@extrahistory8956 If wikipedia is to believed the Ledo road barely contributed anything to the flow of supplies to China. 71.000 tons of supplies via air over the hump in july 1945 and only 6000 via the Ledo road. Taking Myitkina did more to improve goods via air via an easier air route then the immensely long and winding road. And by that time 14th Army had taken Rangoon so the old Burma road could be used again. Which was why the British always doubted the value of building the road. Not that it could not be done, just not in time and that taking Burma and reopening the old Burma road was a faster strategy. Or arming Chiang's Chinese armies. To quote Slim: 'I agreed with Stilwell that the road could be built. I believed that, properly equipped and efficiently led, Chinese troops could defeat Japanese if, as would be the case with his Ledo force, they had a considerable numerical superiority. On the engineering side I had no doubts. We had built roads over country as difficult, with much less technical equipment than the Americans would have. My British engineers, who had surveyed the trace for the road for the first eighty miles [130 km], were quite confident about that. We were already, on the Central front, maintaining great labour forces over equally gimcrack lines of communication. Thus far Stilwell and I were in complete agreement, but I did not hold two articles of his faith. I doubted the overwhelming war-winning value of this road, and, in any case, I believed it was starting from the wrong place. The American amphibious strategy in the Pacific, of hopping from island to island would, I was sure, bring much quicker results than an overland advance across Asia with a Chinese army yet to be formed. In any case, if the road was to be really effective, its feeder railway should start from Rangoon, not Calcutta.'
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623For most of the war China was forcing Japan to fight with only 30% of its military deployed abroad. The existence of an independent China in 1941 is what brings America into the war. Chiang could have surrendered like the French. Yet somehow no one goes on about how arming the free French was a waste of money even though they were dependent on allied help and command to make an impact.
@@porksterbob >> For most of the war China was forcing Japan to fight with only 30% of its military deployed abroad. The existence of an independent China in 1941 is what brings America into the war. Chiang could have surrendered like the French. Yet somehow no one goes on about how arming the free French was a waste of money even though they were dependent on allied help and command to make an impact.
I hadn't realized until today that those phones don't have curly cords. Instead, I think they would have thick braided cables? They say curly cords are the devil's playthings.
So, pretty much everywhere in Europe aside from Italy, the German front has been collapsing rapidly, but the southern front near the France/Italy border seems remarkably stable. Is there much (or anything) going on in that region, or is that a mostly-forgotten front where both sides are exchanging mean glances and sporadic gunfire rather than either side amassing the resources for an assault? There's a part of me that thinks if the Allies really wanted to take Italy, they'd add pressure on that front too and complicate the defensive plan for German commanders in Italy that much more. (But, that part of me is an armchair general, and I'm not exactly the best at strategy games, let alone real world military strategy, so...)
The Allies have no intention of trying to head further north through the Alps after taking northern Italy. They always knew it wasn't going to be the decisive campaign of the war, just a way to tie up Axis divisions and split their attention and resources. IF they wanted to take Italy and keep going into Austria and Bavaria they could find a way, but it would be a nightmare trying to force their way through mountain passes. Look at what Italy and Austro-Hungary went through during the Great War for a taste.
So why did the Japanese at Fort Dufferin surrender if the walls were holding out? Was it simply lack of supply? Quite the juxtaposition to see the defenders on the islands fighting to virtually the last man while this group surrenders while seemingly still in a favorable position.
The Korean War by Indy Neidell, coming June 2024.
www.youtube.com/@KoreanWarbyIndyNeidell
Just subscribed I’m looking forward to this. I hope there will be a feature on Matthew Ridgeway MacArthur’s successor and forgotten as a commander in WW2 and the Korean War. Especially compared to some who weren’t as good imo.
Good luck to Indy and the team 👍🇬🇧
Will there be an episode explaining the build up to it? As a UK resident MASH was the closest I got to learning anything !!!
This is only the second time I've subscribed to a channel that currently has no content. The other was D-Day...
Subscribing, the summer will be exciting
The current war doesn’t end until September, what gives?
Heinz Guderian "retiring" at this stage of the war is much like rage-quitting in a CoD match. 😅
More accurately, rage-quitting in an RTS match.
With team like Hitler, Himmler and Mussolini i would ragequit too😂😂😂😂
MFER I ALMOST SPIT MY COFFEE OUT READING THIS 🤣🤣🤣
@@enixbluerain7213Guderian losing his sanity after watching his Vet 3 tiger tank get blown to bits by a Soviet blob of conscripts: 😀
There is possibility of rage-quitting. Let's not forget he was known as Storm Guderian!
I just want to say that the thumbnail meme is on point. 👌
SHOIGUU! GERASIMOV!
You can thank James' who thought of the idea and Mikolaj who created it! Thanks for watching.
WHERE IS THE AMMO
@@omarharoon1436where is the private jet 💀
Thanks for watching!
13:40 “A chance to surround German 6th Army” wait I feel like I’ve heard this one before
I’ve seen this one before it’s a classic
Sounds like another cheap direct-to-video sequel. These quickie cash-grabs never work out for the studios.
This is the hird german 6th army during this war
The first was encircled in Stalingrad and the second was encircled in Romania
Its ironic that only the third managed to escape a pocket for once
@@noobster4779The third time is the charm.
6 is a nice, surround number.
A rather peculiar sidenote this week on March 19 1945 is that Dwight Eisenhower, Walter Bedell Smith, and Kay Summersby will arrive at Cannes, France to take a short break from the war. Eisenhower would spend much of the next three days sleeping and simply doing nothing.
Well earned
Gossip about an affair between Dwight Eisenhower & Kay Sunmersby never went away
Walter Bedell Smith.....
Beetle Bailey.....
I have always wondered if there was/is some connection, here.
Lol
@@richardtalbott6215Yes their was,in my humble opinion. 😊
@Turnipstalk Because Eisenhower was a married man.
Should’ve had Smiling Albert going “Keitel, Jodl, where the $&@! Is my ammunition?!?”
Planes, tanks, gasoline, etc etc etc 😂
This is gold.
NCD leaking right there
by this point in the war, “where are the shells” is about 3 years in the rear view mirror for the german army. and the allies didn’t have ukraine’s manpower problem either
6th Army and getting encircled
Name a more iconic duo
'Ludendorff' and 'Collapse'?
I was about to write something similar. That's a tale we had heard during this war already. :-)
"Luigi Cadorna" and "Isonzo River"
Hotzendorf and failure
Hitler and cianide?
Ive always wanted Indy to open with the Futurama gag by Professor Farnsworth. "Hows he doing? To shreds you say. Hows she taking it? To shreds you say."
then "Good News, everyone!"
Made me laugh, thanks for the chuckle!
- Jake
"Did he at least die painfully? Shot, you say. Well, how's his wife holding up? Cyanide, you say."
Honestly, I'd love that opening
Some years ago, I was on a rhine river cruise. A fellow passenger was a WW2 veteran and had driven his Sherman tank across the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen. In Nuremberg, we were getting a lecture on the Nazi rallies. He had to walk away, he lost too many friends in the war. The greatest generation.
Nice Prigozhin reference with the thumbnail
Reference from a 1980's movie called Sixteen Candels when a Chinese exchange student is passed out on a lawn and the family car's gone, and the father shouts "'DONG! WHERE IS MY AUTOMOBILE!?"
Would be more fitting to use Oscar Dirlewanger as a refrence
The way Pootin is channeling Stalin, these guys can probably keep this series rolling right up to the present day.
@@yes_head There's little comparison between the two.
Shoigu!
The comment on 14:53: "Hungarian 3rd army spends this week getting destroyed. " Love the humor.
You had me confused for a minute, when I saw Frankfurt east of Berlin. I don't know German geography that well, but I could swear Frankfurt was in western Germany. Then I looked on wikipedia and found that there are actually two Frankfurts, Frankfurt an der Oder in the east, and Frankfurt am Main in the west.
pre gps, there were a few truck drivers who went wrong. or got sent to Bremer Haven and drove to Bremer and looked for the Haven (=harbor) over there. great fun if you are the planner at a transport company.
Or think of the different Limburgs. One is a Dutch province and the other a German city between the Ruhr and Frankfurt am Main.
fun fact, there are also two Rottenburgs.
In England there are like 20 towns called "Weston."
Yep "Fankfurt am Main" and "Frankfurt an der Oder", interesting piece of geography trivia!
"CHIANG! WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY TROOPS?!"
Fantastic thumbnail ngl.
Glad you like it! Thanks for watching!
What? Thumbnail says where are my planes?
Thanks! Good stuff and a reminder that everybody fights their own war. This is true on every level.
Thank you very much!
1939 Germany: do you want to die for Danzig?
1945 Soviets idk, do you want to?😂😂😂😂😂😅
Germany : "Wait, you're not supposed to do that!" 😂
A sidenote this week on March 21 1945 is that the Japanese will deploy the Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka suicide aircraft for the first time, slung under 16 Mitsubishi G4M Betty bombers that were part of a group sent to attack the American fleet off Okinawa. The flight was a disaster for the Japanese when the group was intercepted by American fighters a full 60 miles (97 km) from the American task force, and all the bombers were shot down. American pilots noted that the Bettys were flying unusually slow and carrying an unusual payload, but the significance of this was not realized at the time.
Thanks for sharing that piece of history!
I love hearing the Soviets get upset because of what they perceive as people doing sneaky stuff behind their backs, given their history of doing sneaky stuff as a general practice, lol. As for them worrying about the Poles being upset with "outsiders" watching them, I guess all those Soviet troops, who had originally invaded Poland in 1939, don't count?
Yes, breath taking hypocrisy on the Soviet's part. It was and remains a gangster driven nation.
They're being one-upped at their own game so they are jealous and angry. Given the current state of the German forces, even if the rest of the allies did obtain a separate peace, the Soviets can clearly overcome whatever little the Germans could do to stop them alone.
Thanks!
You are very welcome and thank YOU!
-TimeGhost Ambassador
14:23 - Waffen-SS troops wearing a special parka. This photo was taken in 1943 on the Eastern Front - the parka was discontinued as its manufacture was considered too expensive, though it is a sign of the Waffen-SS having special access to equipment.
"However, at Oppenheim..."
I feel we'll hear a similar name come up again soon.
Oppenheim had a significant Jewish population in the Middle Ages, hence "Oppenheimer" being a common Ashkenazi Jewish name.
This week on March 21 the 3rd marine that raised the flag on surabachi Franklin Sousley was KIA .
Thanks for sharing and thanks for watching.
Having watched various (most) other channels that are spin-offs of WWII and lots of other narrators/presenters who write or deliver similar material... There is just no one better at battle by battle, operation description and bringing that entertaining history than Indie. Mr. Olson is also very good in writing, delivery and theatrical presentation but his chosen subject is so appalling, so gut wrenching; that I have to view his videos in short time increments in order to be able to tolerate most of the information. The best graphics, the most appealing thumbs for each episode and the best online reminder that we must "Never forget!" Thank you WWII for the production of your fine video series.
Thank you for your kinds words.
-TimeGhost Ambassador
Oddball voice, "The bridge is up."
(Bridge explodes and collapses)
Oddball voice, "No it ain't."
Knock it off with them negative waves!
19:26 This shows Koblenz fotographed from above the Mosel estuary (Deutsches Eck) looking roughly westwards. The top bridge got rebuild as the Europabrücke (part of the B9 that runs along the western side of the rhine). The center rail bridge got repaired and is still in use today as was the bottom one (Balduinbrücke, built in 1429!). This foto can be found on the wikipedia page of the last bridge. See that little castle thingy at the bottom? Great irish pub in there.
SHOIGU! GERASIMOV!
Pringles might not be happy about being dead, but much like Comical Ali the Iraqi Information Minister, he will be remembered in history
the difference is, he actually won his battles
@@briantarigan7685he didn't tho
@@elmascapo6588he actually did despite what we may feel about his success, and in Russian fashion he won by losing twice as many men as his opponent
@@marcofava he clearly lost more than just twice as many
@@elmascapo6588 yes very likely I was just keeping the numbers vague to avoid waking the Kremlin Gremlins lurking around all the comment sections on RUclips as soon as anything regarding the Invasion of Ukraine is mentioned, but yes he probably did lose 3-4 times as many soldiers as did Ukraine.
Molotov, the same man who negotiated the "secret protocol" in 1939 with Nazi Germany, to divide Poland is now upset that the British and Americans are negotiating a surrender with Nazi command in Italy! That's rich!
Who thought a nazi could be a hypocrite....
It is typical of Stalin's paranoia and of course Molotov will share and express his boss''s attitude since he was loyal to Stalin.
But heaven forbid those Americans and British advisers go to Poland and offend the Poles, right? I've always wanted to talk to some of those politicians to see if they actually believed half the things they said.
Hey, this is the same guy that demanded aid from America and Britain, in 1941, when Russia had been supplying Nazi Germany with oil, iron and wheat, from 1939 to the moment they were invaded - so he's got form.
@@LukeSumIpsePatremTeMolotov was a communist, not a Nazi. Both are evil, but not the same thing.
Hoff, on the Polish coast at the 15th meridian, shown in the video @11:20 is now called Trzesacz. It has ruins of medieval church on the cliff, that had 3 walls during WW2. Since then, two sidewalls fell into Baltic and only one remains standing.
5Km to the east from Hoff lies village named Horst (now: Niechorze). It contains closest lighthouse to the west of Kolberg and one of the tallest on the current Polish coast. Last week it played significant part in evacuation of German forces as concrete pier allowed continuous line of panzers to be loaded on the evacuation barges.
At least that's what our village elders told us, might be hogwash designed to awe children.
EDIT: all of the current inhabitants of both villages and region as a whole moved in after end of WW2. So technically, no elder was present to witness German withdrawal.
There was a mass renaming of towns and villages in Pomerania, Silesia and East Prussia after the war, mostly to Polish names but with the northern half of East Prussia switching to Russian ones. A book on Silesia I read has a long appendix giving the German names on the left and the Polish ones they changed to. And another appendix with the Polish placename on the left and the German on the right.
8:19 GLADIO peaking its head out, nbd
We all know what we want after the WWII series come to end:The 100 years war - week by week!
Finno-Korean Hyperwar, week by week
I'd love to see Indy with grey hair in his 70s still doing his re-telling of history
I think Indy probably has it in him to do it!
For real though, if you haven't heard Indy will be covering Korea week by week starting June, and Sparty will be doing a series on democracy.
Hope to see you there: www.youtube.com/@KoreanWarbyIndyNeidell
The Forever War, week by week
@@paulconrad6220 Forever peace, so that we'd have the time to learn about war and prevent it till the end of times!
Thank you for the lesson.
And thanks for watching!
Always.
10:33 from that event 23rd March Street in Sopot /former Zoppot/
Germany is on its last legs were about 6.5 weeks away from VE day, though its been a long time coming since September 1939 I can only imagine what it must feel like for the citizens of Europe, several years of war must feel even longer when it's right at home.
Don’t spoil the ending
The euphoria of VE day soon gave way to the daily grime of every day life, as hundreds of thousands of deposed/deported/stateless/homeless people would move across the continent, rationing would remain part of daily life for years after the war, sometimes even into the 50's, a desire to enact revenge on collaborationist, governments in former occupied countries had to reassert themselves, even when their subjects did not want a return to the old status quo but a new fresh start. And amidst all that the war against Japan seemed to be still ongoing for at least another year, with the UK, France and the Netherlands wanting to retake their former colonial possessions. Which meant going to war with independence movements in Vietnam and Indonesia.
Very well put together. Thank you for sharing your impressive work
Thank you for watching.
10:36 - Sopot, then Zoppot in the Free City of Danzig, was the birthplace of Klaus Kinski (born Klaus Nakszynski) in 1926. His family moved to Berlin. Conscripted into the German armed forces, he was captured by the British in the Netherlands. He was released in 1946 and found both parents had been killed in the war.
"For a few dollars more" among many films
@@maciejniedzielski7496 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Kinski#/media/File:Klaus_Kinski_-_Per_un_pugno_di_dollari.JPG And here he is. Clearly someone whose emotional stability you can count on...
Little Fun Fact about the Rhine Bridges, because the Germans blow them all up, there are today only four Bridges over the Rhine River left, between Koblenz and Worms (150km) an all are in Mainz.
There were plans to rebuild some of the bridges (like the Hindenburg Bridge in Bingen am Rhein) but there never gone throw with it.
The four Bridge are by the way:
- Schiersteinerbrücke (Car Bridge, up the Rhine River next to Mainz)
- Kaiserbrücke (Train Bridge in the North of Mainz)
- Theodor-Heuss Brücke (Bridge in Mainz Downtown)
- Südbrücke/Mainz-Gustavsburg Eisenbahnbrücke (Train Bridge in the South of Mainz)
Yes, i am a local.
Do they just not need bridges in the area? Maybe not that much traffic traveling over the river there? IIRC the original bridge was built during the Great War in order to move supplies to the front in France, not because it was needed for civilian traffic.
@@Raskolnikov70
This depends on who you ask.
Many locals, the tourism industry and the ferry lobby say that we don't need own, local manufacturing industry and logistic companies say we need own and the current "State Government"(Landesregierung) is divided in this question, along party lines. (And they never talked about it, since 2016)
But you are probably right about that they don't need another bridge in that area.
I mean, they talk about it every some years (for decades at this point), only to drop it later, forget about it and pick it up again.
You must mean in that part of Germany. I can hardly believe there's only 4 Rhine bridges for all of Germany.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 There are at least two in the Cologne area. Maybe more (I have only used two there).
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 No there's more of course. 2 more in Koblenz and another one very close by in Neuwied. But then again nothing for about 100km until the Bonn/Cologne area. The Remagen bridge never got rebuilt. Today there's lots of ferries in the bridgeless sections. There have been talks about building a new bridge but the middle rhine is a UNESCO world heritage site and the tourism industry fears a bridge might lead to a revocation of that title. But also on a practical side of thinking Bonn, Koblenz and Mainz are all in flat basins and the areas inbetween have steep walls on at least one side. This is an Autobahn bridge over the Mosel: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moseltalbr%C3%BCcke_(A_61) and it's already pretty large but the rhine is much wider.
Hi Andy! Wonderful content and first rate. I wonder if before the series end, you could cover the financial aspects of the war. We pretty much know how America financed the war with bonds etc. But how about the Japanese, the Italians.. and were there any financial consequences after the war for most nations involved? Financing a war of this magnitude must have been difficult to say the least ✋🏻
SPOILER
The worst inflation in history will be in postwar Hungary.
@@stevekaczynski3793Worse than post war China?
@@porksterbob Yes. For a time the Hungarians were printing trillion-pengo notes, the pengo being the currency at the time.
Thumbnails for the videos are always fantastic, but this one is more fantastic than usual 😂
In addition to the interesting content of your videos, I really like you. Your voice is great, and I like your vest. And it's cool when you pretend to be talking to someone on the phone. Thanks for these videos. By the way, I am watching from Southeastern Iowa in the United States
Thank you, I am sure Indy will appreciate your kind words.
-TimeGhost Ambassador
Always refreshing to see a prigozhin refrence
The Chinese attempting to co-opt an entire campaign's supply capacity...
Chiang had audacity if nothing else.
This is ww2 week by week, using a bad book.
Mountbatten, Chiang, Slim, and wedermeyer already agreed in December to withdraw the Chinese after the fall of Lashio which happened two weeks ago.
Furthermore, it was agreed that Chinese troops wouldn't operate south of Mandalay in any case. They aren't needed for the Rangoon operation.
The Chinese and the Americans have been planning to retake a Chinese port and need the soldiers.
The book they are using for this part by Mclynn is one of the worst Burma books with tons of factual mistakes.
Chiang had no interest in Rangoon, he was fighting over 1 million Japanese that occupied vast swaths of China. If there was a back water it was the war in Burma. The Chinese had been fighting since 1937, only the Russians suffered more casualties. Chiang is always denigrated, but he was fighting the preponderance of the Japanese army, with little equipment.
@@johndeboyace7943 He had little equipment because he kept embezzling everything, the only thing he lacked was braincells.
We love you Indy
Thanks for the high level of detail about the European theater in the final weeks. This was a portion that I'd heard little about previously, except for the Remagen bridge and brief mentions of Monty crossing the Rhine. Germany totally falling apart. Thanks also for the CBI coverage.
You are very welcome and thank you for your kind words.
-TimeGhost Ambassador
20:36 Churchill was apparently also on the other side of the Rhine too and drove past German POWs.
Amazingly good job, gang. And we even got a 5th Shark Army cameo!
Thanks for watching🦈
Notice the Soviets also pursued a "broad front" strategy.
The Soviets didn't have to worry about silly things like ports that were not destroyed by the Germans
@g8ymw just poor roads, destroyed rail systems. And not all Fronts were on the offensive at the same time due to logistics limitations.
@@Freedomfred939 Exactly what I was saying. If you don't have the ports, you don't get the logistics.
@g8ymw it is exactly not your point. The argument still being made today is Montgomerys claim that a single thrust into Germany would have won the war in 44 vs Eisenhowers broad front advance across Germany with victory in 45. My comment merely observed that the Russians didn't risk a single thrust either.
@@Freedomfred939 Broad attacks were likely to be more successful as they put strain on the Germans, who lacked reserves. Those they had would be dissipated over a wide area trying to stem attacks. Narrower attacks did not achieve this and were more vulnerable to German counter-blows which could even result in trapping attackers in a pocket. This ability was aided by the rather good German communications system.
at 2:26, I see Ganges and Los Jardines Islands on the map. Wikipedia says these are "phantom islands" that were supposedly discovered in the 1800's and earlier, but have never been seen since!!
Good catch! I only found out recently they are so called 'phantom islands', but I figured it was too funny that they were still being displayed on a 1939 world map to get rid of them.
- Sietse (map research)
"On the outs with Adolf"
There's going to be a lot of that soon.
With the crossing of the Rhine by all the Western Allies the last great barrier to the heart of Germany is gone.
Absolutely fantastic thumbnail
I need more boolets, I need more boolets! Bigger weapons!
-Mountbatten, presumably
Fun Fact: The First Pontoon Bridge the Allies built across the Rhine River was attacked quite a lot by the Germans. They even used their V-Weapons on it. But only for it to be no use in the end. The Bridge was complete. And thankfully so.
12:09
The small city where my father grew up is south of Opole!
He told me how he once found a German pistol in a hollow tree and a friend said that he can make it shoot again. (It must have been sometime in the late 70s or early 80s)
He mever saw the gun or the friend again :I
Absolutely fantastic thumbnail this week, kudos to whoever made that 💜😂
James' idea and Mikolaj brought it too life!
Every time I am amazed about the content ... well researched and excellently put together in an informative post ... keep up the good work... with the deepest respects and best regards... MT
Thank you. Comments like yours mean so much to us and are a great motivation!
-TimeGhost Ambassador
(Interestingly, there are surviving ads for NBC's New York television station, Channel 1 (as it then was), WNBT, where it was going to cover V-E Day. There was, at a very low level, commercial television in the United States in 1945, though only in a few select cities.)
The war is hopelessly lost. There is no chance the German army will ever go on the offensive again. The Allies have crossed the Rhine in the west and in the east the Prussian exclave has all but fallen. Soviet troops are now beginning to enter the heart of Germany.
Guderian “I would like to retire”
23 March 1945.
Sergeant John Evans of the 7th Armoured Division begins Operation Plunder today, crossing the Rhine near Xanten with the rest of his unit.
Great Britian: "We want to end the war."
USA: "We want to end the war."
China: "We want to end the war."
USSR: "We want to end the war."
Frank Sinatra: "And I want to do it my way!"
😉
15:18 what kind of tank is that on the left? It has a panther chassis but the turret is not.
The turret seems pretty standard to me.
13:51 wait can somebody explain that? I see two six numbers but do they mean the sixth army surrounded?
These are two seperate armies. The black one (with the ellipse) is the 6th Panzer Army under Sepp Dietrich. Below that is 6th Army under Hermann Balck. Both are parts of Heeregruppe Süd / South.
-TImeGhost Ambassador
Ah Yes, World Diplomacy, The International Poker Game where everyone is cheating.
Beau watcher?
You know, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Peanut loses all of mainland China.
Haven't heard much about his rival Mao lately. It could well come to that . . .
You're being way too pessimistic. With Japan about to lose the war and the US and UK supporting him how could that even happen?
I hope this doesn't get lost in the ether...
Over the last six weeks I have listened to every main series episode back to back from the outbreak of the great war in 1914 up to today March 26. My goal was to catch up and then buy my commission in the time ghost army to honour my great grandfather Nick Solohub; who crossed Juno Beach on D-day and was saved by a chicken in Holland (I'd be happy to share this story some time in the future along with some photos and discharge papers) and my wife's great grandfather Clarence Thompson who was taken prisoner after the Canadians surrendered at Hong Kong. However due to the birth of my daughter funds are a bit tight for the foreseeable future and the time ghost army will need to wait... For now.
Anyhow; keep up the amazing work. I eagerly await the Korean war series and each individual episode until this war ends.
Thanks for watching and congratulations on the birth of your daughter, and for the snippets of family history.
-TimeGhost Ambassador
German 6th army under threat of being surrounded - now where have I heard that before
I was thinking the same thing
It's basically the third time at this point
It'll never catch on. These sequels are just shameless cash-grabs by Hollywood execs.
@@rrice1705 never remake a great original
And to make it even more impressive, it is two 6th Armies this time. Also, Tolbukhin's 3rd Ukrainian Front was the old Southwestern Front that encircled the 1st 6th Army at Stalingrad.
Another amazing week for this long documental
Much appreciated, thanks for watching!
Brilliant!!! Great Episode!!!!!
Thanks for watching!
Thank you.
And thank you for watching.
Thank you for yet another fascinating and informative presentation. I'm looking forward to The Korean War. My father saw duty in Korea and Vietnam.
Thank you and looking forward as well to the upcoming series.
-TimeGhost Ambassador
I'm curious about how were the Allied-German negotiations in Italy organised. How did they contact one another, how did they go around the front to meet each other. Via Switzerland? Did they inform the soldiers not to shoot at the parliamentaries?
They have a video about it on the channel!
I believe their video about this was in their Spies and Ties series.
Neutral countries like Switzerland were a good place for warring sides to have an informal chat that might turn into more formal negotiations. I suspect that neutral countries were sometimes allowed to stay neutral mainly because of this role.
The novelist Paul E. Erdman hints at this time in his books. In short, Switzerland grows only about half the food it needs to feed its population. It was getting that food from South America, thru Portugal and Spain, then across occupied France.
Once Operation Dragoon took place and hooked up with the Normandy force, Switzerland got hungry real fast. They held out as long as they could, but the Allies had them by "the short hairs", whatever that means, and they made a deal. What that deal encompassed; I doubt anyone will ever know.
@gordybing1727 The short hairs means the pubic hairs. Basically, the Allies had a hold of Switzerland by the testicles.
fantastic thumbnail, i’ve never seen a mountbattenjak before!
As I recall, the bridge at Remagen collapsed while there were ambulances carrying wounded GIs over it. Terrible timing for those poor souls!
Yes something like 28 were killed and a large number injured.
The weeks feel like they are getting longer. Building to a climax.
The episodes are getting longer for sure, over the last 3 months they have frequently hit over 23 minutes! In the earlier days they used to be about 10 minutes.
Thanks for watching.
Mountbatton and Slim getting along due to some strange shared interests
Slim got along well with almost everyone. Except Oliver Leese, the new land forces commander in SEAC. Mountbatten LOVED victories for which he could hold press conferences and make himself look good. Slim could give him those and Mountbatten knew this. And Slim wanted someone who would let him fight the war the way he wanted and keep meddlesome generals back home off his back. Mountbatten could do that. So it was a very odd but functional match made in heaven.
something tells me you're not talking about the war lol
@@pnutz_2 their interests could be partaken in peacetime 😅
Oh no, the memes are bleeding into the past, we must fix the timelines.
Does anyone know... has the channel done an episode on the German weather monitoring stations on *Greenland* and the little tower they put up in *Labrador* ? I guess this'd be back a couple years.
I'm fairly certain they mentioned the weather station in Canada before, although I couldn't tell you which episode. I just remember Indy talking about it.
I think Mark Felton did an episode on it.
Those "floating bridges" the US Army Engineers put up all along the Rhine are called Bailey Bridges.
Awesome thumbnail
Thank you, and thanks for watching!
You guys are simply incredible ❤
As are our longtime supporters (and of course the newer ones as welll), thanks.
-TimeGhost Ambassador
With that thumbnail, I wonder if given enough time, Mountbatten may find himself in an exploding vehicle?
Or boat perhaps…
What happend to WAH? We haven't had an episode in a couple of weeks
all the sides signed a treaty, they'll be nice to eachother from now on
I assume there’ll be a multi-faceted one coming up about German war guilt on or around the 79th anniversary of Hitler’s suicide or VE Day
They're probably prepping for when the western allies start reaching the camps next month.
We haven't stopped the series by any measure. We are working on it!
@@WorldWarTwo*sigh of relief*
I just realized Indy looks a lot like Ray Bolger.
Great work
Hello team, could you please tell me what books you have on your desk
The Soviets accusing the US and the UK of trying to reach a separate peace with Germany was absurd. They had zero involvement in the Italian Campaign, had made no investment of resources, and had lost zero troops. It was literally just local commanders trying to reach an agreement with the Germans for the surrender of their forces in that theater. But by this time all they could see was how much territory they could steal, and how many nations they could influence.
but from the soviet point of view, if western allies feel like they have a say on what happens in Poland, soviets should have a say on what happens in Italy. I think this is what they are really getting at
@@mrb3nz correct, it's basically diplomatic tit for tat, the western allies also have zero forces in Poland, yet they have influence in the way how Poland will be reorganize after the war
Many polish officers and soldiers as well as the pre war government went to Britain, the poles fought in Italy and captured monte cassino working with the western allies and took part in operation marketvgarden. The allies have a lot more to say in polish affairs than soviets have in Italian ones imo I don’t recall a single soviet action along the boot.
@@briantarigan7685I understand the diplomatic game. But the British and the French gave the Poles assurances in 1939 that they did not back up. They believed they owed the Poles, particularly after they had performed so well in the field. They certainly had more of an interest in Poland than the Soviets had in Italy.
Italy had (and still does) a large and active communist movement. I imagine there was an element of foot-in-the-door planning for the post-war scene by Molotov.
oh my god the thumbnail... so quality
Everyone has enjoyed it greatly, shout out to James (our editorial lead) for the idea and Mikolaj for bringing it to life!
Wait what - Mandalay seems to be the one time it made sense for a Japanese garrison to hold out and not surrender. And out of all places, this was the one where they did surrender!
The Japanese armies, at least in Burma were starting to disintegrate. And with that came the capture of greater numbers then ever before. Still small compared to Europe, but previously Japanese units would fight to DELETION, with only a handful soldiers ever surrendering. But by this time they started to capture dozens of them.
The one US aircraft carrier that is part of Mitscher's Task Force who is the per-1941 carrier is the greatest US Naval ship of all times. Can someone guess who she was??
Let me take a stab at it. Before there was a CVN-65, before NCC-1701, she had the hull number CV-6...USS Enterprise.
@@Jeff9650 USN is building a new USS Enterprise CVN-80.
@@gregsiska8599We got CV-6, CVN-65 and now CVN-80… God bless the U S of A
At the end the Ludendorf bridge was useless for the Rhine crossing since it collapsed and the allied advanced on other bridgeheads
Your channel rocks!
Much appreciated!
See, Stillwell, doesn't seem so nutty now. He left that up to Peanut. Chiang.
Don't forget that snake Wedermeyer.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Seems a rather no-savory description of the guy. Their primary aim was to re-capture Guangxi province in South China, which would deny the Japanese their last supply route for resources from Dutch East Indies and Southwest Asia.
@@extrahistory8956You know that Indy has decided to use a trash source.
It is sadly funny to recall all your comments from back months ago where you had such optimism that they were going to cover the Salween campaign.
Now we see that Sun li ren is in charge Y force. Wow. That really shows the level of care that the channel shows for the Chinese theater.
I am sad that your optimism was not rewarded.
@@porksterbob I dunno. There isn't much left, albeit they had used _The Forgotten Ally_ as a source, and as such my optimism steamed from that. Considering how the war in Europe is comong to a close soon, I can expect the battles for South Guangxi to get some future coverage (after all that was why the Expeditionary force was recalled back to China proper), but to likely be overshadowed by events in the Pacific/Soviet Invasion of Manchuria.
The battle of South Hunan is likely to get a couple of mentions at most in late April, albeit to be definately overshadowed by Okinawa, Berlin, Grapeshot and the Rhur Pocket for obvious reasons.
@@extrahistory8956Except that the Chinese army was not capable of doing so. That if Stilwell, who tried to actually create a viable and capable Chinese army, could not pressure Chiang to let him do it, then Wedermeyer, the sycophant, could sure as hell not do it. The Nationalist armies could barely defend Chenaults airfields, let alone launch that offensive. As Slim correctly observed, the US amphibious campaign through the Central Pacific would pay off quicker dividend then opening up a road to China, then build a well equipped and well led Chinese and then launch a major land campaign against Japan in Asia. At this point in the war Chiang and his forces were irrelevant to the outcome of the war. And it is doubtful that Chiang even wanted to do something. Sitting back and let the Americans defeat Japan so he could move back in and reap the rewards was his strategy.
9:13 Why is Molotov throwing a tantrum over this. This is the surrender of an army. Not a whole country.
This is like if the Western Allies demanded that their representatives should be present for the surrender of Paulus' 6th Army.
It is typical of Stalin's paranoia. He was always concerned that there will be a separate peace with Germany and the Western Allies will join with Germany and attack the Soviets. The German propaganda sometimes used this to sow discord.
No one did paranoia quite like the Soviet Union.
The surrendering of the whole Italian front is more than the surrender of an encircled army in the Soviet Union, which the western allies were no where near. The surrender of the Italian front would open up Austria and south Germany. Area in which the Soviets are advancing into. So Molotov has a legit complaint, that the western allies were not involving the Soviets.
On the deployment map, what divisions are the German HS and PO division? I'm sure it's short for something.
Correct, they are the Panzer Division 'Holstein' and Division 'Pommernland'
Thanks indy and crew
Thanks for watching!
When will Albert stop smiling?
Well he's arrested for war crimes on the 15th of May and I doubt he smiled a lot during that.
Albert will never stop smiling.
Okay somehow I feel like Chiang has just made things consistently more difficult throughout the war.
Just? For most of the war he's been a drag on the Allied war effort. Demanding ever more supplies at great cost to the Allies and doing very little with them. And the irony is that the sooner Slim takes Rangoon the sooner the Burma road would reopen and Chiang could have had ALL the supplies he needed, far more then what relatively little the USAAF had to fly, at great danger to the pilots, over the Hump.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Hadn't the Americans and Chinese troops recaptured Yunnan province earlier in January? The Ledo Road was already streaming truck-loads of resources across the Chinese border for two months now.
@@extrahistory8956 If wikipedia is to believed the Ledo road barely contributed anything to the flow of supplies to China. 71.000 tons of supplies via air over the hump in july 1945 and only 6000 via the Ledo road. Taking Myitkina did more to improve goods via air via an easier air route then the immensely long and winding road. And by that time 14th Army had taken Rangoon so the old Burma road could be used again. Which was why the British always doubted the value of building the road. Not that it could not be done, just not in time and that taking Burma and reopening the old Burma road was a faster strategy. Or arming Chiang's Chinese armies. To quote Slim:
'I agreed with Stilwell that the road could be built. I believed that, properly equipped and efficiently led, Chinese troops could defeat Japanese if, as would be the case with his Ledo force, they had a considerable numerical superiority. On the engineering side I had no doubts. We had built roads over country as difficult, with much less technical equipment than the Americans would have. My British engineers, who had surveyed the trace for the road for the first eighty miles [130 km], were quite confident about that. We were already, on the Central front, maintaining great labour forces over equally gimcrack lines of communication. Thus far Stilwell and I were in complete agreement, but I did not hold two articles of his faith. I doubted the overwhelming war-winning value of this road, and, in any case, I believed it was starting from the wrong place. The American amphibious strategy in the Pacific, of hopping from island to island would, I was sure, bring much quicker results than an overland advance across Asia with a Chinese army yet to be formed. In any case, if the road was to be really effective, its feeder railway should start from Rangoon, not Calcutta.'
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623For most of the war China was forcing Japan to fight with only 30% of its military deployed abroad. The existence of an independent China in 1941 is what brings America into the war.
Chiang could have surrendered like the French. Yet somehow no one goes on about how arming the free French was a waste of money even though they were dependent on allied help and command to make an impact.
@@porksterbob >> For most of the war China was forcing Japan to fight with only 30% of its military deployed abroad. The existence of an independent China in 1941 is what brings America into the war.
Chiang could have surrendered like the French. Yet somehow no one goes on about how arming the free French was a waste of money even though they were dependent on allied help and command to make an impact.
I hadn't realized until today that those phones don't have curly cords. Instead, I think they would have thick braided cables? They say curly cords are the devil's playthings.
So, pretty much everywhere in Europe aside from Italy, the German front has been collapsing rapidly, but the southern front near the France/Italy border seems remarkably stable. Is there much (or anything) going on in that region, or is that a mostly-forgotten front where both sides are exchanging mean glances and sporadic gunfire rather than either side amassing the resources for an assault? There's a part of me that thinks if the Allies really wanted to take Italy, they'd add pressure on that front too and complicate the defensive plan for German commanders in Italy that much more. (But, that part of me is an armchair general, and I'm not exactly the best at strategy games, let alone real world military strategy, so...)
The Allies have no intention of trying to head further north through the Alps after taking northern Italy. They always knew it wasn't going to be the decisive campaign of the war, just a way to tie up Axis divisions and split their attention and resources. IF they wanted to take Italy and keep going into Austria and Bavaria they could find a way, but it would be a nightmare trying to force their way through mountain passes. Look at what Italy and Austro-Hungary went through during the Great War for a taste.
Oh man, that thumbnail... I'm dying!
Care to explain? I don't know what I'm supposed to be seeing there.
So why did the Japanese at Fort Dufferin surrender if the walls were holding out? Was it simply lack of supply? Quite the juxtaposition to see the defenders on the islands fighting to virtually the last man while this group surrenders while seemingly still in a favorable position.
If you were to join the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht, it seems that this was like a death sentence. How many times did it get destroyed now?
The number 6 is unlucky for the Germans.