The Siege of Breslau (1945) - A Forgotten WWII Battle
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- The Siege of Breslau (1945) is a forgotten WWII battle. It was one of the last WWII battles that was fought. At the end of WW2 Breslau (now: Wroclaw) was declared a fortified city (Festung). In February 1945 the Soviets had surrended the city which was packed with civilians. Troops of the Wehrmacht and the Volkssturm had to fight off the Russian troops that came closer to the city...
Learn more about one of the last WW2 battles, the unknown WWII battle: the Battle of Breslau (1945).
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON ► / historyhustler
SUBSCRIBE ► / @historyhustle
INSTAGRAM ► / historyhustle
FACEBOOK ► / historyhustler
TWITTER ► / hustlehistory
Recorded in December 2019 in Wroclaw, Poland.
IMAGES
Commons.wikimedia.org.
MUSIC
“Exciting Trailer" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons...
“Evil March" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons...
“Five Armies" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons...
“Mesmerize" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons...
SOUNDS
Freesound.org.
VIDEO
Video material from • BRESLAU / WROCŁAW - 1945
BRESLAU / WROCŁAW - 1945
"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."
Wanna join forces and do a collaboration? Send me an email at: historyhustle@gmail.com.
OTHER VIDEOS
Territorial Change of Ukraine:
• Territorial Change of ...
Territorial Change of Poland:
• Territorial Changes of...
Battle of Galicia (1914):
• Battle of Galicia (191...
Ukrainian War of Independence (1917 - 1921):
• Ukrainian War of Indep...
Polish-Ukrainian War (1919):
• The Polish-Ukrainian W...
Lviv Pogrom (1941):
• Holodomor (1932 - 1933...
Check out the WW2 playlist:
ruclips.net/video/pniiST3gZbQ/видео.html
Thx for that interesting Documentation.
What became of Volkstrum and Hitler Youth POWs? Were they sent to Siberia with the Wehrmacht? Since they were not official soldiers, were they released after the war?
@@smith1958b good question, I believe many were sent to Siberia yes.
Awesome! I'm a historian born and raised in Breslau (Wrocław) and I can tell You, the battle scars of 1945 are still very much visible in the city. Fun fact, every now and then You can see signs of old storefronts still written in German and markings of air raid shelters painted by Luftschutz crews. I'm happy to say tho, despite what hit us in the last months of the war, Wrocław is still one of the most beautiful cities in Poland.
Perhaps one of the most visible yet most overlooked of such scars is the Grunwaldzki Square, established in place of the failed airstrip mentioned in the video.
The Poles have kept it up much better than the Russians have done in the former Konigsburg. That city is a dump now.
@@Lerxstification True. One reason I lament Königsberg having fallen to the Russians. Poles would have taken much better care of it, despite being under Communist rule back then, too.
@Fabian Kirchgessner Of course, but the way things turned out and West Prussia having been given to Poland, I would have preferred to see it in Polish hands still. They or Lithuania at least had a historical claim on the city, unlike the Russians. It's the city my grandfather came from and having heard him tell stories of the city and seeing it in such ruin is just heartbreaking.
Germany*
My family is originally from Breslau. They had to flee in 1945. My great Grandfather was stationed there. There are still the buildings of the barracks of his unit. You can still see the stables for the horses and the main building still says "Stamm - Batterie" which means "Main battery". His unit was the "28. Artillerie Regiment" from the 28. Infantry (later Jäger-) Division. He was already heavily wounded in 1942, so he wasn't there in this battle, but the "farm" of my family still stands and a nice polish family lives in there, we came there and met them and they showed us our old house.
Glad someone shows the harf battle
Many thanks for your message. Very interesting to read. Glad they showed you the old house. Must be a good experience which I hope brought closure of some kind.
@@HistoryHustle All the people suffered. My grandmother lost her newly built house in the east of Poland (occupied by the USSR) and she had to come to the former German territories after the war.
@@nnnnnn3647 only the germans were victims
disgusting people who lie every time they open their mouths
My family moved to wroclaw after the war becuase they came from wolyn. the ukrainiuns murdered 18 memebers of our family. After the war my great grandfathejr who was in the polish communist army settled in wroclaw.
@@11dong and the ukrainians still have not apologized, way too many nazis in their ranks
Hate to say it but Putin is right
I know someone who was at school in Breslau all during the siege. She is still alive, living near Munich.
Incredible, she must have seen a lot...
Indeed not as famous as the battles of Berlin of Budapest.
Breslau was a slaughterhouse for civilians due to the fact that Karl Hanke, a fanatical nazi was put in charge of defensive, the type who ordered to fight till the last man and bullet.
Before that he was a Gauleiter (sort of nazi (political) district commander)
He refused to let the civilians out of the city until it was too late, the civilians that eventually were ordered out were to leave in freezing conditions and mainly on foot, the estimated death toll of civilians during there escape are 100.000 also countless civilians lost there life during the siege.
Hanke was seen as trustworthy by Hitler and after Himmler was sacked as Reichsfuhrer he was promoted to be the successor, but that was only a few days before the surrender so he never had any use of that position.
Hanke fled Breslau in a plane just prior to the end, the fight till the bitter end was of course just meant for all the others.
He ended the war as POW in a private uniform and was not recognized, in a flee attempt he was beaten to death by the guards.
Breslau was of course a idiot battle but all battles in 1945 were idiotic, only fought on the orders of man who knew they would be put on for trial (and execution) after the war ended and therefore counted there days at the expense of 100.000's (if not millions) of death in the last months.
Thanks for the additional information.
Stalin decided when , when the Battle of Stalingrad came inevitable, all Stalingrad citizens should not be evacuated, it would make the Soldiers would fight harder.
I guess Hanke had the same opinion.
It is seen in many other battles, that Armies where sacrificed for the greater good, for example the Rzhev meat grinder, countless of Russian being sacrificed, so Northern German Army could not support Stalingrad
Very good how History Hustle shows us more about this forgotten Battle, about a Siege that lasted for over 3 Months in a time that the German Army really lacked any kinda resupply!
Battle of Narva also lasted for more than 6 Months, beyond imagine , with such bad logistics , and green recruits , no air cover, constant enemy Arty ect.
@@skelejp9982 Thanks for your insights, cheers!
It was Gauleiter Hanke who ordered the airstrip to be constructed. The Lutherkirche was blown, as were the houses on either side of the Kaiserstrasse which was the intended runway. There is a story that Gauleiter Hanke's aircraft was the only take-off that ever happened, as he made his escape and left the city to its fate. Gauleiter Hanke ordered the execution of the Deputy Oberburgermeister, Dr. Spielhagen, in front of the Rathaus where the statue of Aexander Fedro ( which came from Lwow) now stands, because Dr. Spielhagen had been labelled as a defeatist and coward. His body was thrown into the river Oder. There is a film on RUclips showing a re-enactment of Frau Spielhagen's return to Breslau many years later, and being shown into her husband's former office. I have been many times to Breslau/Wroclaw, have friends there, and I have many books about the city, including the extremely interesting one by Father Paul Piekert, "Festung Breslau". He was parish priest of the Matthiaskirche. He kept a daily diary all through the siege. After the war a very large percentage of the bricks from the ruined houses were sent to Warsaw, during "Operation Brick", as they were from many other eastern german towns. There is also a monumental ten volume history of the siege called "Breslauer Apokalipse" by someone who was in the HJ, and lived in the Benderplatz. It was his mission to document all that went on as fully as possible, and he succeeded !
The ironic part of it was that he (already called the ''hangman of Breslau'') missed joining anutter 'dolf's trustworthy high-ranking coward, the last nazi feldmarschal and OKH c.i.c. Ferdinand Schorner in Czechoslovakia,
who also was a competent shooter of poor hapless "cowards and deserters".
And then a competent bug-out too.
Before that, Schorner was the one who, in agreement with Hanke, recommended that Breslau must be defended at all costs.
And replaced the general commanding the place with one notorious Niehoff. More about this one later.
Hanke was raised to ''Reichsfuehrer'' to replace Himmler, another coward sinking-ship-deserting-rat opportunist.
As it happened Hanke as a flying bugout, flew out of Breslau on May 5th.
Just as he got word of his promotion.
And just as the city was to fall.
And escaped to Czechoslovakia, where he joined a ss PzG unit named ''Horst Wessel'' ...
What went around came around !
And then he got Czech-killed as you mentioned above, under a private disguise.
Schorner deserted his troops on May 8th to go surrender to the Americans, but fled to Austria where he was American-nabbed 10 days later.
Niehoff was in 1941 in command of the coal-rich Northern France, which was not merely occupied but incorporated to the Reich as its economic zone.
& at said post was a very competent shooter of striking miners.
Well on May 6th he got a taste of his own medicine.
However he survived even Schorner for 13 years.
Thank you for putting some light into the battle of then Festung Breslau in my city now Wrocław
Thanks for watching.
Clarification to 7:45: Polish citizens who arrived at Breslau on 1945 had been expelled by the Soviets from the 200.000 km2 of Polish land grabbed by the Soviets, and being now parts of Lithuania, western Belarus and western Ukraine.
Of course.
My family was born in Breslau. We, my grandparents, my aunt, her daughter almost 4 years old and my Mom with my brother and I fled Germany sometime in March. I was 15 months old. My brother was one month old. He was born in the basement of a bombed building with 20 other people in the room. My Dad was serving somewhere, unknown. (He connected with us later when he found out where we were.) My Mom has never gotten over the horrors that the civilians endured by the Russian army. So grateful to my parents for emigrating to Canada in 1953.
Thanks for sharing.
No I have never heard of that. Interesting.
Thanks, love to cover these unknown WW2 battles you know.
you need to start reading books. :-)
Festung Breslau... forgotten battle indeed. Well described. Thank you for the refresher of history.
You're welcome!
Thank you so much. Your video brought some clarity about the fate of my long lost relatives. My great grandmother was from Breslau and had emigrated to Canada in the early 1900s. She used to correspond with her relatives in Breslau on a regular basis - even during the War (always surprising to me). The last letter she received was from Dresden. 'They watch us constantly' was written under the stamp to avoid detection. No further correspondence was ever received after the bombings in Dresden. Again, thank you!
Thanks for replying.
They used to say in Berlin- A true Berliner comes from Breslau. I guess that’s where the Berliner accent comes from.
Because of this, I studied Breslau and actually heard of this battle. Keep up the good work!
Thanks!
My 11-year-old grandmother was expelled from Lwów and sent to Wroclaw in 1945 on a 6-week ride in cattle wagons because Poles were expulsed by their 'allies'.
Sad to hear. What were her experiences upon arriving in Wroclaw? Love to know!
@@HistoryHustle One of my grandfathers from Poznań area was caught in Warsaw in 1943 and sent to Gross Rosen. He became one of very few survivors when the Germans opened the gates and opened machine gun fire right before impending Russian “liberation. He settled in nearby Wroclaw along with his wife and three children. He died shortly after. My other grandparents arrived from Kaunas on the train along with other Lithuanian Poles but his young wife told him there was way too much ruble in the city making it impossible to live iand they continued on the train to Walbrzych (Waldenburg) 60 km away. He also died in Wroclaw rushing back to catch the last train after returning from my sister’s first birthday party :(
I used to dig out German helmets and rusted out knives with swastikas in front of my house, still in the 80s. Someone stole all that crap and good riddance.
Love your unbiased content. It sets you apart from so many other chanel's. I have so much catching up to do on all your posts and I am never disappointed. Thank you again.
You're welcome. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Germans: alright, launch the torpedoes Russians: WTF
Crazy stuff indeed.
@@HistoryHustle WHAT ELSE HAVEN'T YOU TOLD US?!!
Very well presented information, Stephan.
Dank je wel.
Goed gedaan.
Bedankt!
Hi I am from New Zealand I just discovered your channel and I’m so pleased I did it is absolutely brilliant
A warm welcome to the channel. If you're interested in other forgotten WW2 battles, I'll cover the Siege of Budapest next week. And here is my video about the Battle of Vienna (1945):
ruclips.net/video/EzpgEyCbtQ0/видео.html
This channel is so extreme underrated!
Feel free to share! :)
Great Video. I’ve been to Wroclaw once, and was surprised at how nice it is. I wish I had had more time, but since then have moved to the south of the Czech Republic, so further away now. I hope I will have the chance to return for a visit.
Thank you for commenting. I actually visit the city short on Monday.
Finally, a battle that wasn't claimed as the most important battle of the war. I like doing the videos from the actual town
Thanks! More of this will be made.
Professor Stefan thank you so much for the video! Being a history teacher myself I new much of this great battle but sadly you never hear much about it even tho it was very significant due to the massive casualties endured by both sides. I’ve always said that the battle of Breslau was the second Stalingrad of WWII in regards to the length of time it lasted and the bitter house to house fighting that took place obviously on a smaller scale in terms of casualties in comparison to Stalingrad but still thousands were lost on each side and like you said at the end “what was it all for?” There was no real strategical significance for the Germans to capture Stalingrad besides feeding Hitler’s insane ego and that was the same for them holding out in Breslau.
Many thanks for watching, Nick and of course, taking the time to write a comment.
Guido Knop did a very good series on the war in the east some years ago and covered this battle in some detail. Good job on this video, well done!
Thanks Matthew!
Didn't know there was history behind the famous Call of Duty zombies map Der riese. Nice video though, really liked it.
Thanks. Never played the game.
Visiting Wrocław today; thanks for the info
Great city 👍
Geschiedenis...saai? Ik had het geluk dat ik 30 jaar geleden een geschiedenis leraar had zoals jij! Ga zo door Stefan, dan vinden onze kinderen geschiedenis over 30 jaar ook nog steeds interessant. 👍
Geschiedenis als hobby is mooi te combineren met vakantie en fotografie!
Bedankt!!
Super interesting. I would like to know more about specific battles.
Thanks, more of this will be made in the future.
After the battle, the Russians took whatever they could from there that had any value. Stefan you are one of very few who mention the Battle of Breslau - big 👍
Thank you for your reply!
I live in Louisiana USA. My mother (Paetzold-born 1942) and her family was from Schlesia Breslau Germany. She has told stories of being loaded on cattle cars and transported to other cities in Germany which were destroyed. Thank you for educational information.
Thanks for watching.
you should ask your nazisau mother how the jews were transported to auschwitz
@@cleightorres3841by train
А мама не рассказывала,как в газовых камерах убивали людей нацисты,которых она,вполне,поддерживала в то время?
Again a great job, about the torpedoes I did not know. Thanks Stefan.
Thanks for your reply.
Hanke received word of his promotion on 5 May 1945. He flew to Prague and attached himself to the 18th SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Horst Wessel". Hanke chose to wear the uniform of an SS private, to conceal his identity in the event of capture. The group attempted to fight its way back to Germany but, after a fierce battle with Czech partisans, surrendered in Neudorf, southwest of Komotau on 6 May. His true identity was not discovered by his captors, and Hanke was thus placed in a Prisoner of War (POW) camp alongside low-ranking SS members. There were a total of 65 POWs when the Czechs decided to move them all by foot in June 1945. When a train passed the march route, Hanke and several other POWs attempted to escape, clinging to the train. The Czechs opened fire, wounding Hanke and two other POWs. They were then beaten to death with rifle butts by the Czechs.[33
Seems like each video I watch it gets better and better so I had to subscribe. There are absolutely no bias in your history films. Lots of thanks from Texas! WE appreciate you!
Many thanks! Cheers from Utrecht.
Yes, my step grandmother escaped from Breslau to Dresden. Her father, a WW1 veteran, was in the Volksturm and decorated for his action.
Incredible, they must have seen a lot.
Again, that you know so kuch Aboutaleb ww2 suprises me Everytime.
And again, a Good video
Thanks!
I just realised how bad my English was
Well to be fair to the Germans, they knew what was in store for the civilian population when the Soviets occupied the city.
They indeed knew.
Good report, had known of the battle before but not in such detail. Tragic all round. It was the Soviets idea to expel all Germans east of the Oder river and give it to the Poles. Both the Poles and Germans would've preferred the early 1939 borders to stay but the Soviets wanted a big land grab for themselves after war.
Thanks for your reply. Glad you found the video interesting.
💯 correct
You are standing across the road from where my husband and I stay when we visit Wroclaw. Such a beautiful city with such a black history. Richard Hargreaves's Festung Breslau us one of the most harrowing books I have ever read.
Thanks for your reply, Jane!
Reading that book now
I have enjoyed all of your many videos, including this one. Good job. One comment however, on one level, I agree with your assertion that the battle was useless because all war is useless. But on a military level, the battle served to keep 50,000 Russians from fighting somewhere else. BTW - I used to live in the Netherlands - in Wassenaar. Lived there for almost a year and it was the best year of my life. Dank u well mineer (sorry about the spelling).
Thanks for the additional insights. For me this battle is fought because of desperation. At some point the Soviets were already inside Berlin. The Germans kept fighting with disregard for human of material damage.
I can't agree with you that refugees from Breslau ended up in Dresden. As Dresden was declared a fortress city, refugees would not have been allowed to stay. As far as I can see, there is no record of large numbers of ration cards being issued for refugees from Wrocław. I agree that there is some for people from the region of Opole - but not many.
Also I would mention that the reason why the city held out so long was due to the gauleiter, Hanke, who was somewhat fanatical but not fanatical enough to get himself killed as the rumour is that he got out in a prototype helicopter. That is the story often told, I tend to believe he escaped in a Feisler Storch or similar being just about the only one to do something useful with the runway built at such cost as you point out here!
Other than that, nice video! Regards from Wrocław!
Thanks for your reply. About the refugees, it's what I read in Kershaw's The End.
@@HistoryHustle Yes, now you mention it, indeed Ian Kershaw does say this. I think however he is wrong, it is my opinion that comparitively few refugees ended up in Dresden for the simple reason that it was not permitted to stay there.
Bedankt voor deze video. Is het misschien ook mogelijk om een video te maken over de tijd na de bezetting, waarin de meeste Duitsers verdreven werden uit Wroclaw en waarin alles wat Duits was verdwijnen moest, zo ook bijv straatnamen, namen van winkels etc.?
Dank, deze zul je wel interessant vinden:
ruclips.net/video/B0DjYT5zQ7M/видео.htmlsi=HtTApvVspeWOFd4U
The airstrip was finished. It was what is now Plac Grunwaldzki. It was finished just in time for Karl Hanke to fly away.
Was it? I believed Hanke got out before, but you might be right. In that case the airstrip was perhaps used to evacuate Hanke but was never much use for getting in supplies en masse.
@@HistoryHustle According to official information He flew away from Breslau on 6th of May 1945 by small aircraft Fieseler Fi 156 Storch
thank you for this movie in English this is my hometown I come from in this place where it is filmed I always had fun in the winter sledging. and on the city moat I was skating on the other side of the moat is the park where I grew up as a young man. thanks again
You're welcome. Wroclaw is a lovely city.
My former mother-in-law was there. Her family ended up in Bavaria, after the Poles arrived. Old Man Nagel was a senior court official.
Thanks for sharing.
Great video of a battle that’s rarely talked about. Thank you.
Thanks for your reply 👍
Brazilian here, Just subscribed great work, please keep making more videos like this. Thanks
Thanks and welcome to the channel!
My family arrived in Wrocław shortly after the War ended. They settled in blacksmith's house in Operau village just south of the City (after the War Operau was joined to Wrocław as a district Oporów).
The younger part of blacksmith's family left to Germany shortly after my family arrived, but the blacksmith himself and his wife stayed for some time and they were living in the same house - in the upper part and my family in the lower part of the house.
My family kept in touch with black's family for many decades after the War. The German family even sent them some packages with food during the martial law in Poland in the '80s
Very interesting to read. Thank you for sharing this.
@@HistoryHustle one more interesting thing about this. From what my family told me the younger part of blacksmith's family were very friendly and understanding. My family and them helped each other however they could. But the old blacksmith and his wife were not very friendly... They were "unrepentant Nazis" and stayed for some time after the War because they had hoped they maybe the Reich will be reborn and this land will be German again.
But soon they had to work together anyway because of a new "enemy" in the form of Soviet soldiers "drunken berserkers" from the nearby Soviet barracks ruining amok and terrorizing people living nearby...
Must have been intense I can imagine. Again, thanks for sharing.
Great video with info I have never seen in 50 years of study. Subscribed!
Thanks. Welcome to the channel.
I hope you enjoyed your time in my city. cheers man.
Sure did!
Thank you for the film about Wrocław, where I was born.
It is a pity that when you were already in Wrocław, you did not show, for example, the place where the air field was built (several hundred meters from the hill where you shot the film) - today there is a multi-lane street there and you can easily visualize this air strip. At Strzegomski Square (Strigauer Platz) there is still a bunker with several floors - the Soviet artillery was unable to break it down.
The destruction of the city was the result of Soviet indecision and underestimation of the German forces remaining in the city and Nazi fanaticism embodied by Gaulaiter Hanke, but not only, because in Silesia, of which Breslau was the capital, Hitler in the last free elections in Germany obtained the best electoral result.
Thanks for replying.
I came back to this channel to see the subscriber count, congrats on 11k subscribers.
Thanks!!!
Considering the advances the Soviets were making towards Berlin at the time why didn't the Soviets just surround it and leave it behind? My understanding that Fortress Cities were to tie up forces but wouldn't assaulting the city divert more resources than just surrounding it?
Surrounding is needs lots of forces to maintain it. Yet, eventually the city held out till after Berlin fell. Therefore I'd say it was a waste of resources and lives this battle.
I wish you had maps.
OK..why keep fighting?
The goal was not to save Breslau.
The goal was to slow the Soviet advance westward, 1) to allow the Germans to re-group (remember the Soviets did they same thing to the Germans and the Germans stalled at Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad, or later 2) with the cause lost, maintain pressure so that more Germans could escape and surrender to the US and Allied forces rather than face the Soviets, gulags and then a miserable life in the Soviet union.
These battles, along with Danzig, Courland, Konisberg and the general strategy to hold on, saved tens of thousands, if not millions of lives.
I think I read, that the Gaulliter, or whatever the he was called, flew off to the west in a plane at the end. Like Schorner in Checkz.
Thanks for taking the time to write your thoughts.
These battles are new to me. Great video 👍🏻
Thank you!
Thanks!
👍
Before watching your video I had never heard of the Siege of Breslau
That's why it is in the forgotten WWII subseries. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for fortress Breslau video. I am Breslau/Wrocław citizen and I am familiar with information you presented. Regards!
Thank you for your message!
It was kind of satisfying to find out that Hanke was battered to death by the guards at some point. So many of these bastards escaped justice they deserve, which isn't fair
Czech partisans took care of him yes.
Thank you, cheers from Paris.
Cheers!
Thank you enjoyed very much. First time viewer and new subscriber.
You're welcome. Also, welcome to the channel Jim! What kind of history are you most interested in?
@@HistoryHustle I am most interested in American history in general since I live in the USA but would say our colonial history is most interesting since that is the beginning of our evolution as a nation. I also have an interest in 20th century conflicts such World Wars 1 and 2 since this has shaped the world we live in today. I really enjoyed 'The Siege of Breslau' because it is a battle I knew nothing about and also the invasion of the Netherlands is a part of history that doesn't get the attention that it should. Thank you for your work as a teacher and historian and keep up the good work. Thank you for your reply.
Thanks for your message, Jim. Keep following the channel. Great stuff is coming :)
Did Breslau's residents know at the time that the Allies planned to give Silesia to Poland?
The Morgenthau Plan had leaked out so I think so yes.
My father worked with a man who had been a Hitler Youth in Breslau, and had been commanded with the other boys by a fighter pilot who'd lost his right arm. It was terrible, and when we had a T-34 on display in Mesa, AZ, he wouldn't go near it.
Thanks for sharing.
Deswegen nie wieder krieg
Zagan (the great escape) is 2hr west from here. You find new things out every day
Elsewhere you called the Volksturm "useless" - some fought very effectively, in fact.
In the grand scheme of things I consider the army formation worthless.
@@HistoryHustle they were worthless - not their fault though, im sure most did not want to go out and throw their lives away
lets not forget though that the germans in the east voted in high percentages for the nazis
stupid germans dont know that you reap as you sow
Rzhev meatgrinder ,operation Mars.is also a forgotten battle.Breslau was a codename of a "Frontstadt"
Perhaps something for the future.
My mother was in the Breslau BDM , 16 in 1945 she helped in the fortification of the town , her commander sent them home told them to burn their uniforms , she lived on Neue welt gasse now Nowy Swait not far from the Arsenal , the Russians were chasing them building by building she was eventually captured , spent 6 months in a prison camp before being deported on cattle car's west , at a checkpoint the Russians decided they were loosing to many people to the west so they refused to let the train pass , a western officer showed them the paperwork and were allowed to pass but closed it down after the train left .
Her brother Otto was ether lost in Russia or a Labour camp , a brother in law was lost in a U boat , her brother Peter was in a SS tank destroyer unit , he survived the war and later joined the West German army .
Many thanks for sharing this!
As a small child she threw rose petals in front of Hitler's car when he came for the games , her sister was a cleaner to a camp commandant wife another sister in Luftwaffe , we think her grandfather was a Otto Sterm a mathematician .
Thanks for taking the time to write your response.
Well Nowy Świat is Neue Welt translated into Polish. I guess that polish authorities deemed it appropriate name because there is a famous street in Warsaw called Nowy Świat.
God help those poor women and children that left, can you imagine leaving hell on earth to escape to hell on earth? Thanks for your video to remember them all by Stefan
You're welcome.
Бедные несчастные,они всего лишь поддерживали Гитлера,который тысячами убивал людей ,а их бедняжек выселили из их домиков,ай яй яй
I go to Wroclaw regularly. Thanks for helping me fill in the history. Most i can find is in polish
You're welcome. Glad you found the video interesting.
I'm in Breslau and have just come home after having stumbled upon a Soviet-era cemetery in the SW of the city; there are four Soviet tanks that flank the two entrances; most of the 300 or so graves are of those Soviets who were killed in February, March 1945 with many 'graves to the unknown soldier'.
Interesting, thanks for sharing!
6:20 Beautiful Soldier.
guess females were recruited as well
Leuke video man, was ook leuk je te ontmoeten
Bedankt! Hoop dat je reis voorspoedig verloopt. Ben zelf inmiddels thuis. Toptijd gehad.
this is a new battle to me thanks
You're welcome, thanks for watching.
Interesting very good content thank you
You're welcome!
Stefan, have you been to La Coupole France? Very interesting museum nowadays!
Still on my list!
@@HistoryHustle On the way there Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 would also make a nice visit.
Flanders Fields I found too modern, Passchendaele has the real vibe imho. I am affraid they also killed the vibe in Verdun after a renovation.
Top tip: no two museums in one day, make it two days.
PS: Fort Eben-Emael en Fermont A1 (Maginot) zijn ook de moeite.
What a waste of life. All those young boys - children slaughtered, and in turn killing the brave Soviet soldiers who had fought in many cases from Stalingrad and Leningrad all the way to Silesia.
Sad truth.
In my opinion, the battle was good for something. The German high command and even the SS and regular soldiers was aware that the war was lost at this point. However, stories from eastern Germany of Soviet attrocities, highlighed by Nazi propaganda, kept many soldiers fighting to the bitter end to stall the Soviets for as long as possible, enabling civilians to get to safety. Keeping a large portion of the Soviet army pinned at Breslau or other cities, stall the Soviet advance into other German cities.
Eventually it didn't change anything.
@@HistoryHustle Germany did fall later so in that aspect it didnt change anything. But my point was, that alot of civilian that might have been subject to attrocities in other cities, had the time to escape and evacuate, just like in the siege of konigsberg.
I know from family history that a few of my far relatives had to build that damn aristrip. They al survived tho. And it is said that the airstrip was built so that the nazi commander could flee to germany and surrender to allies.
Thanks for sharing. What else can you tell us about their experiences (if you know any?). Would be interesting to know.
@@HistoryHustle
the story of my polish grandma(she was a small child at the time):
She was born into an academic family, where everybody was either a professor or a teacher.
When the nazis invaded poland they at first didnt have many problems. But somewhere between 1942-43 they were taken prisoner and put on a train. When the train started heading south east (starting from lower silesia) everybody knew where they were heading: Auschwitz. Luckily the train stopped a station or two before Auschwitz, and was rerouted to Breslau instead. There they were in some sort of Concetration camp. Apperently this was the only time my great grandpa hit my great grandma, because she was beeing very witty to the nazis and they threatened to put them back on a train to auschwitz. He literally had to kiss the guards boots to get out of the situation. Later on they were assinged to build that damn airfield. Theres even some archival photo of people working there where one of the brothers of my grandma can be seen. When the russians "liberated" breslau, my grandmas family occupied a flat (a lot of flats where without owners so you could just help yourself). This was a very dangerous time for women because the soviets raped every girl saw. There is even a horror story where a few soldiers came to the flat next to their and raped two girls there (they were waving from the balcony to the soldiers when they marched in the street) all while my grandma had to listen to this trough the walls (she was like 3-5 at the time). Because she also had a few sisters and the were all very pretty, they had to make themselves uglier, for example they cut their hair or made themselves dirty. For an unknown reason (it is suspected they were maybe collaborating) they then left breslau, and came back after while. Later on they stayed there while my grandma became a teacher and married my grandpa somewhere along the line.
I gotta admit that the story of my grandpa is much more interesting though. If you want to i can write it as well.
Many thanks for sharing. I read this with great interest. If you can share the story of your grandpa, please do.
@@HistoryHustle
Here you go:
It all starts around 1890 were my Greatgrandfather was born in the area around Poznan (greater Poland, Prussia at the Time). He was the son of a pig trader/farmer (cool side fact: when he was young he had to help with the pigs and bring them water, but because he was to small to carry the water buckets, he used to spin around and lift them that way).
When he got older around 1910 there was an incident disease wich killed a few prussian soldiers in the nearby Garrison in the process. He was informed about that by a friend and him beeing at an age where he could be conscripted, and they had the power to conscript you for the rest of your life, he decided to leave.
Beeing Bilingual like most people in the Area, he decided to go to Dresden. There he worked at a Company which produced Stean engines. His job was to set up the machines at the factories that bought them. The biggest secret on how to get them working was how to dial in everything correctly, so he had to get a senior worker drunk so that he told my grandgrandpa all the secrets.
Then the War begann. Him working at Company which was consider neccesary for the war effort, made him very lucky because he didnt have to go to war, wich would have meant almost certain death.
After the war he left for Berlin and worked there as an Accountant. In the 1920s his Brother had opended a Company which bought Grain in Great quantities from the Farms in Greater Poland, and sold them in Upper Silesia, on the way home they would buy Coal and sell that in Greater Poland (side note: They were literally selling and buying in Trains, not just a few sacks of product).
So he was needed to hep run the Buisness, and therefore he moved back. There he met his Wife, Gertruda, a German which barely spoke Polish (again, not a Problem, everybody was Billingual).
In 1931 my Grandpa was born. His earliest Memories are of him an his Parents, traveling by horse carriage on a Sunday to one of those Landowners, and eating dinner with them, beeing shown around their castles etc.. My Greatgrandpas borther had a Mercedes at the time, but my Greatgrandpa had decided against it, as this would mean that you would have to employ a full time driver(who is also the mechanic)
Then somewhere along the way the two Brothers split up their Buisness.
Then its 1939, because of the Border which was about 12km away from their Home, they were occupied pretty quickly. First thing the Germans did was Capture valuable People, they could execute if there was any sort of resistance.
My Greatgrandparents were among them. Soon a distant relative, who had been in the NSDAP since the beginning of it, pulled a few strings, and they were released, and sort of got their Buisness back. Luckily for them they were also classified as 3rd class Germans, and didnt have to fear prosecution. Nonetheless the Gestapo was spying on them all the time (e.g. their secretary in the company was a gestapo officer; after the war apparently she got a bad conscience and kept sending my Greatgrandparents gifts from Germany).
As the war Progressed (~1942) it came apparent the Germans would loose. My Grandfather slowly getting to an age were he could be deployed as a Flakhelfer, was taken out of school and put to work in the company which was luckily again, declared as war essential (there was no real school anymore anayway, because most teachers were at the front).
Then when the Front came really near (~1944-45) all the Class 1 & 2 Germans were notifed and put on train to escape. My Family, as only class 3 Germans was left behind.
So when the soviets came, they obviously wanted to kill them, not only because they were germans but also because they had the Buisness. Theres a famous story, where a few soldiers stormed into their house with the intention of killing them. But the officer saw their piano, and started playing, and so the other soldiers couldnt shoot them because they would have to interrupt his playing. Then their Maiden got out some Alcohol, and started talking to the Russians. They then left. But my Greatgrandfather knew the next time it would be over.
So they fleed in the middle of the night to a farm, whose owner he had already paid in advance. It was a 15km Journey through an icy Winterstorm, Traveling only on fields, because they could be captured on the street.
They then stayed there at least until summer. Then they were found, because somebody ratted them out.
My Greatgrandfather and his wife were put in a Gulag, while my grandfather was kicked out on the Street. Interestingly my Greatgrandfather met a Bavarian Police officer in prison from Bayreuth, who also didnt manage to escape. Later they were put on trial, but nobody dared to say anything against them (Aparently my greatgrandfather was a universally liked person). This didnt mean they could go free tho, they just werent hanged.
Now some family in Warsaw got notice of that, and bribed an Officer, with an exorbitant amount of Money to get them out. While all that happened my Grandfather started to get ready to assasinate the Judge if his parents died in the Gulag. They made it out Barely alive. My greatgrandparents thenkept on working as accountants for the rest of their lives.
My Grandfather though wanted to study. But first he had to get a high school exam. And that was not liked by the Communists, because he was a traitor. At the Day of the Exams they were waiting for him at the front entrance, but he was smart enough to use the back door, to get in (fun fact: If you wrote anything procommunism at the time, it was very likely you would pass because no teacher would dare to critize it.)
Then he moved to Breslau, and traveled each day to Poznan to study engineering. After he was finished he got a job a Can factory. But when he arrived it turned out to be an ammunitions factory disguised as a Can Factory.
Now even though he was considered a traitor, his skills were more valuable so he was allowed to stay. Over the years he worked in different engineering jobs and even constructed a motorcycle, wich was considered very modern for the time: pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZMW_Ryś
He was spied on by the secret police his whole life, he even could tell when somebody who tried to be friends was a spy, because of the way they tried to become friends, the theory beeing that all of them had the same training.
During his studies he met my Grandmother and my Father was born in 1964.
What i find escpecially interesting how mutlic culty the world was back then, with everybody beeing billingual in the border area, and how they just moved around.
Nonetheless the moral of the story is: You never know what is gonna happen tomorrow.
Very interesting to read. Many thanks for sharing!!!
Great video
Thanks!
If you fight with that desperate hope for a chance of turning the tide, at some point you will fight even the most desperate battles. It may seem nonsensical, but with that mindste this battle could've been fought (theoretically) to at least tie down enemy forces.
Yes, indeed. Thanks for pointing out, Frank!
A battle without an exit strategy doesn't make sense.
Yes, indeed.
Good presentation
Thanks!
Good job Stefan, I like your videos. Also there is still a lot of interesting points related to WW2 visible in Wroclaw. Check for example TracesofWar website.
Thanks, Gio. I actually did checked that website although there wasn't that much to find. Some pillboxes in the outskirts here and there.
There is more to find now. In the main square this is a small memorial, also close to the river is a FLAK emplacement and there is another memorial a bit further outside from the city center. I have now also found the place of the Luftwaffe Flugplatz and it seems that there are still elements of that in the suburb visible.. quite some stuff to see including some cemetries.😉
Serious? I tried to find it but was not successful.
History Hustle yep seriously, have been adding some stuff to tracesofwar myself😎
Seen
Great!
Roughly the same time as the Courland pocket surrendered in May 1945. Lessons of Stalingrad chucked back at the triumphalist Soviets.
I actually talk about that pocket in this video. Lemme know your thoughts:
ruclips.net/video/pVZtEq2Dka4/видео.html
Man man man! Echte top filmpjes!
Bedankt, Tom!
Ich finde ihre videos gut bedonders die ueber Ostpreußen da ich diese provinz als schoenstes deutsches gebiet vor 1945 sehe. In niederschlesien blieben ja viele gebiete unbesetzt wie der kreis hirschberg oder waldenburg und glatz warum haben die russen das nicht angegriffen ?
Das weis ich nicht.
Wissen sie das es auch eine Stadt in Ostpreußen gab die Preußisch Holland hieß ? Es haben sich ja auch viele Holländer an der deutschen Ostsiedlung beteiligt in West und Ostpreußen. Besonders das sogenannte Danziger Werder mit seinen schönen Niederdeutschen Dialekt dem Niederländischen sehr ähnlich in diesem Gebiet. Ich hab mit meinem Vater den heute polnischen Teil von Ostpreußen besucht in den 90er war sehr schön. Meine Oma war eine deutsche aus Danzig, Heimatvertriebene die 1939 von der Luftwaffe eingezogen wurde als noch nicht mal 18 jährige,kam sie nach Ostpreußen und später Riga dann wieder Ostpreußen, es waren die Orte Domnau, Königsberg oder Insterburg da wo die Luftwaffe halt war, sie kam noch über Pillau raus 1945 sie hatte auch Verwandte im Samland ob die den Russeneimarsch erlebt haben weiss ich gar nicht aber sie lebten später bei Stuttgart. Das Haus meiner Oma in Danzig steht noch ich war schon dreimal da aber das ist auch schon zwanzig Jahre her.Heute sind leider fast alle von der Erlebnisgeneration gestorben. Mein Opa war übrigens in den Niederlanden stationiert er hat aber nicht viel über den Krieg gesprochen der andere war in Russland. Meine Oma sind in den 60 Jahre immer nach Holland gefahren in den Urlaub das war jährliche Tradition.
You crazy Dutchman...Luv' Ya, Professor.
👍
Keep it up nice vid
Thanks!
0:45 This particular place was also a site of a tragic accident in May 1967, 22 years after the siege of Breslau: during a party for the college students who were about to start their finals, fragments of the columnade collapsed, killing one person and wounding 20. This accident provided an impetus for the city authorities to take greater care for the German buildings in Breslau/Wrocław, which were often neglected as a symbol of the city's unwanted German past.
Sad incident. Thanks for sharing! I didn't know this.
They was also the ss-Fesgung regiment Beßlein that fougth in this battle,it was recognize as the Best figthing unit of the city,it fougth the soviets streets by streets & houses by houses,they even managed to destroyed a soviet bridgehead at the location of pieckwitz and several tanks during the last days of the battle, 4 of those men won the knigth-cross of the iron cross during the short combat existence of this unit.
Thanks for sharing this additional information.
@@HistoryHustle you're welcome.
Wroclaw is an underated city. If you are thinking of going to Poland consider it.
Totally agree!
Thank you
Sure!
How can you call this battle "Forgotten WWII Battles" when in the middle of the city there are 2 Soviet cemeteries, one for 763 Soviet officers and the other for 7,500 ordinary Soviet soldiers (a whole train of bodies) who died during the siege of Festung Breslau.
Forgotten by most people. Perhaps not in Wroclaw itself but for sure by the general audience.
The Germans had obtained a copy of the plans for the occupation of Germany after unconditional surrender. They knew that Breslau was going to be transferred to Poland and the population likely deported. They had no reason to avoid the destruction of the city. If they had not defended the city it would have been handed over intact to Poland. Gunderien expected to have armoured reserves available to counter attack while the Soviets were delayed by fortress cities. These units were squandered in Hungary and the Ardennes
Not sure to what extent this is the case, but you could be right.
Es war nicht ganz sicher denke ich vielleicht hätte man auch die glatzer Neiße als Grenze durchsetzen können. Das damals das ganze rein deutsche Niederschlesien von Deutschland abgetrennt werden sollte konnte sich damals wirklich keiner vorstellen
I'm puzzled here. I know the story of breslau very well and it was karl hanke magda goebbels beau who was the commanding german officer. You didn't even mention him. I'm 100 percent certain what I say is accurate. Some historians have said that Hanke turned chicken and fled in the mazis only helicopter.
I believe I mention Hanke .
@@HistoryHustle sorry I missed that but he was definitely the one running the show and is blamed for holding out so long.
True.
@@HistoryHustle hanke is an interesting character. He had an affair with goebbels wife and was a close friend of albert speer.
Didn't know this. Thanks for sharing.
Interesting story, but hard to keep concentrated because of the background noise.
I'll work on that. It's always a disadvantage when filming outside.
Fight to death or surrender and get sent to Siberia
That was indeed the fate of many German POWs.
Some 3.3 million Soviet POWs died in the Nazi custody out of 5.7 million. This death rate of around 60% can be contrasted with the 8,300 out of 231,000 British and American prisoners who died (3.6%) in Nazi hands, or even the 580,548 out of 4,126,964 Axis servicemen who died as Soviet POW’s, that is around 15%.
The question of how many German POW’s died in Western camps is hotly disputed. Though they ostensibly followed the Geneva conventions and cited numbers are typically low, of the roughly 1,000 U.S. combat veterans that historian Stephen Ambrose interviewed, roughly 1/3 told him they had seen U.S. troops kill German prisoners.
@@pasparaldabeiradocanal1578 that's good
My Polish family came to Breslau when it became Wroclaw in the winter of 1945-6. They lived among the ruins, later I played in those ruins, and they built it into a proud Polish city of today. Few will say this, but thank you, Joseph Stalin!
Interesting. How was playing in the ruins? Did it took long to rebuilt? And what parts were the most damaged?
@@HistoryHustle For a child, it was fabulous, we played war and noone wanted to be a German soldier. It was dangerous as there were unexploded bombs there, one day my cousin grabbed z live electrical wire and lost a couple of fingers. The north and the south of the city was most damaged, we lived in the western part.
Thanks for sharing, Karol. Very interesting to read.
@@HistoryHustle some of my older friends say that even in the 70s you could find a pistol playing in the ruins there were left
You say thanks to Stalin, however my polish friends tell another Story. Thanks to Stalin they had to leave Lwiw and he did not ask nice. That is another story not known outside Poland
Interesting and sad story
Thanks.
Very interesting People don't speak enough about the last bitter battles of the dying Reich
You're welcome. Glad you found it interesting.
Hey nice channel and vids man!
De groete😉
Thanks!
What was the alternative to holding out to the bitter end?
Surrendering.
History Hustle so that they could be thrown into Allied and Soviet show trials by the victors? Sent to Siberian gulags? They had no illusions about the tender mercies of their opponents, I think. Which isn’t to say that things like the Volkssturm were well-conceived, just that desperation to escape their obvious fate in Allied hands was a strong motivator.