I was astonished by the numbers: I had no idea the Luftwaffe could at all throw that many planes into battle by that point. And to lose so many in another pointless attack...
Even more astonishing is how could Germany afford to build its armed forces prior to WW2 given the very tight financial situation post WW1. Some would say Germany was financed to start WW2.
@@madk4speed the gold and foreign currency reserves of the Czechoslovakian Central Bank and the Austrian Central Bank helped, Germany was basically broke late 1937.
@@madk4speed the tight financial situation was more a thing in the 1920s, and led to Hitlers rise to power in 1933. From then on, they had 6 years to transform the economy into a war machine. they concentrated on heavy industry and cut back on luxuries for the population
@@madk4speed Indeed, the German government borrowed a lot of money to finance their economic miracle. They kept this a secret, so debtors didn't know how deep in debt Germany was. When they could no longer keep up payments, they had to start the war.
What an incredible waste of men and planes, it's terrible that Gõring pressed the attack even after they realised how heavy AA defenses were. That's just STUPID.
As a child, I spent three years of my life living in the Rheinland of Germany. My parents had a contract as a vendor for the US Military. I spent a lot of time playing in some of the old abandoned pill boxes and bunkers on the Rhein. I always find content about this theatre of the world war II especially interesting. Thanks again, for great content Mr Felton.
I grew up here, the heart of Europe's heavy industry, not even just Germany's. We're still finding bombs from WW2 that need to be defused like at least, once a month. Theres a whole profession of how to find and locate duds and dig them up and construction workers dink them constantly when digging. Its a rough and dirty area of the country, most people are middle class/poor(ish), but very hearty and honest to each other. I don't think I'll ever call any other place on the planet my home, although I want to see a lot more beautiful places on this planet.
@@thatangrygerman2076 I miss the Germans. I live in the states now. I learned a lot while I was in Europe. It's always enlightening to see the world through the eyes of another cultural lens.
Mark Felton talking about Arado 234 blitz bombers. I couldn’t press play quick enough.. Who needs the BBC or the history channel when we have our Mark.
It would be awesome if Mark RAN the History Channel! It would be about History again instead of aliens and quasi real game shows that have absolutely NOTHING to do with History! Lol
We're seeing the same sort of thing with bridges in Ukraine currently. There's bridges that maybe Ukraine could attack and disrupt Russian logistics but they also need the bridges for possible counter attacks.
My uncle was an AA gunner in the US Army during WWII. He was at that bridge and told me that was the first time he ever saw a jet aircraft. He said "we shot at it and missed it by a mile because it came in so fast, and the bombs it dropped missed the bridge by a mile."
My mother had a cousin who was wounded on the Bridge. He visited in the early 80's and we had a peaceful meal together on one evening in Tucson, Arizona. Had I understood this history, I would have thanked him for his service. His first name was Albert. Thank you for your service, Albert.
I own a piece of bruchlos's arado. He was 25, and when his arado was hit he concentrated all his energy to get the burning jet away from populated areas, crashing in a forest some miles from remagen. Brave man, may he rest in peace.
I commented before, my local Ghandimart has a chunk of metal they use as a doorstop, one day i looked at it, clearly cast into the metal was the word, " Fafnir", it must be from a FW Condor! Idk how it got to our little town, and idk of any other German aircraft that used that particular engine. I offered the owner $20.00 for it, he wouldn't take it.
living close. our little town has been the supply station for allied troops heading remagen, the german airfield in odendorf played a major role in this. intrestingly germans build up a second airbase nearby with a long paved runway to allow operation of jet planes but it was taken before operations could begin on a larger level. the odendorf airfield is a story of its own, build for the "felsennest" command post, having hitler himself as a guest during the western offensive. it was also used for starting fighters/bombers to cover ardennes. later, eisenhower landed here to meet other generals before crossing the rhine river. usaaf used it as a runway for P-61's another rare bird in late war. nothing of that remains besides two bridges surprisingly surviving last year's flood catastrophy. i always surprise locals when i come up with those storys, so forgotten as well.
you forget one important thing ... a soldiers JOB is to DO or die trying ... this is one reason why any soldier that has served even 10 seconds in an active comabt theater SHOULD always be garunteed to get their benefits ... they signed their life on the dotted line right along with their name ... somethin NO politcian EVER did ... . and no a soldier that be came a politcian is not a politican ... because even though a soldier may be retired their OATH of enlistment STILL stands ... tey are NEVER excused from that oath ... until dead
Thank you! My uncle Charlie was part of this particular battle. He was 19 & in the US Army. He survived & lived a peaceful life until his 80's. He did talk to my brother about his time there & left him all his souvenirs.
And, there's a genuine Me 262 with its genuine engines, that is in the process of being made airworthy in America. I believe that the components, that would cause trouble, have been replaced by modern technology, and have fixed the issues, allowing these rare engines to be used again ruclips.net/video/8Azxzu1sqCU/видео.html
The American flak commander and Gunners deserve medals. I never realized how many sorties were flown against this bridge. Excellent video, thank you very much Mark.
I have a feeling the real credit should go to Section T. They developed the VT proximity fuze. Which I've a feeling was deployed to defend the Ludendorff bridge. Those AA boys just scored too many hits to have not been using it.
@@skepticalobserver2135 The proximity fuze was big in the Pacific theater because there was an embargo on using it on land. That was slowly lifted in 1943. The fear was losing the secret to the enemy. By the time Remagen happened the ban was pretty much gone. It was being used operationally by ground forces then.
This video is awesome. My grandfather was in the 489th AAA BN, 9th Armored division and was at Remagen as a gunner in a M16 halftrack. Seeing these kind a videos sure makes my chest swell up with pride!
My Uncle was a combat engineer at the Remagen Bridge and helped erect the Bailey Bridge and others bridges. He said that the German artillery knocked out the Bailey bridge a couple of times but it was repaired in less than a day. He commented about the German artillery being very accurate. They would drop one shell to the right then one to the left then the third shell hit the bridge.
Seems Göring was desperate to reclaim his lost honor at this point to impress those that criticized him. Unfortunately this would also blunder his image even further, how anti climatic. Amazing work Mark! I was amazed at the heavy use of Jet bombers against one bridge, pretty sad to see so many fall to heavy AAA fire. Can’t wait for the next video!
Interesting details of those historic days, Mark. My father was one of the early (infantry) soldiers to cross the Ludendorf bridge. He mentioned seeing German aircraft without propellors some days later. Today I live near Bonn, Germany and often hike and bike past the remains of that bridge, always giving a thought and thanks to those brave men who secured it.
My father was at Remagen with the AA artillery. He said, "Stukas were easy to shoot down, Focke-Wulf's harder but German jets were very difficult to hit."
My Uncle Elton Hisel was with the 78th Division he talked about how he traveled back and forth several times on both the original bridge and the pontoon bridge. His job was to drive company commander's jeep. They had troops on both sides of the Rhine so the commander needed to travel back and forth. He talked about coming under fire from German planes while driving across the pontoon bridge. He said there was a speed limit when on the bridge but when a German fight plane is shooting at you. As he said you drive like hell! Due to the speed he was driving the pontoon bridge was swaying back and forth. Later after reaching safety his commander asked where he learned to drive on a swaying bridge. He grew up driving open range roads in the Sand hills of western Nebraska. Late in the summer in a dry year the sand gets very soft and will pull your car or pickup left and right as you drive. He was proud to say that he drove the same Jeep that he drove off a LST on to Omaha beach Thanksgiving day 1944 into Berlin. He said that they lost a lot of good men due to drivers panicking under fire and flipping their Jeeps over. Mark Felton THANKS for all your great videos. I enjoy everyone.
@@elite1361 no definitely not, war was always gonna end the same way. The allies would have rushed in their jets too if there was the urgency but late war me262's were insignificant.
If properly used, developed and made in numbers, German Helicopters like the FA 223, being in serial production from 1942, would have made a difference. Even if only used for supply or troop movement.
The jets were a massive drain on the very finite German industrial resources, though. By this point in the war Hitler was obsessed with 'Wunderwaffen' - wonder weapons - that he thought could turn things around and win him the war. The result was that instead of going all-out trying to replenish losses of fighters they already knew how to build, resources were frittered away on projects like the Me-163 Komet rocket fighter, the Me-262, the Horten Ho-229 flying wing, etc. It was an absolutely reckless dereliction of duty and they paid for it.
My grandfather was an ambulance driver in Bradley's 3rd Army. 78th Lightning Division. He crossed that bridge many, many times in his ambulance before it eventually collapsed due to all the bombardment. He died years ago, but his stories never left me... He told me all about the Me262's that strafed the bridge. About how he was once in a traffic jam getting shelled - and looked up to see an officer in a nearby Jeep calmly holding the steering wheel ... with the top hemisphere of his head from the eyebrows down shorn clean off by shrapnel. He mentioned the stacks of corpses piled up on the west bank while the 3rd Army raced to get across. And also a Panther tank on the ridge above on the eastern side shooting at the upper superstructure of the bridge. That battle sounded like a little piece of hell on Earth.
Stunning. I also had no idea the jet powered bombers were even operational. Thank you Mark. That this series of desperate air operations against the bridge, was also new to me.
When the Remagen bridge collapsed, didn't many US engineers who where trying to keep it serviceable die. Very little seems to be written about British and American combat engineers losses. During the storm in the Channel that badly damaged the Mulberry harbours, many men were swept away and drowned whilst trying to save it.
Yes,i recall watching another video where this was mentioned.I believe it was during the earlier part when allies were first attempting to secure the bridge damage when a portion collapsed onto engineers.
Yes, men were lost due to the Remagen bridge collapse, I can't give you the numbers though. The engineers certainly should get a lot more credit than they do, they performed miracles during the war. Pretty sad when I see road construction projects taking forever to be completed today and then remember how fast the engineers got it done during WW2. Here's something interesting. Comedian and film-maker Mel Brooks was a combat engineer during WW2. Not only did combat engineers build, but they had to pick up rifles and fight on more than one occasion.
Yes, many engineers died when the bridge collapsed including those of my father's outfit, the 276th Combat Engineers. He survived. I have visited Remagen and attended reunions of the 276th to honor these heroes
Mr. Felton, you never cease to amaze me and I never ceases to return to your most excellent channel. I cannot thank you enough for such history-packed videos!
Thirty years ago I went metal detecting with a friend around this area. We found many destroyed pillboxes and much destroyed military equipment. He found a Panzerfaust laying near a blown pillbox with the round still in it. It was a close call as he didn't know what he had found. We left the area on the quick-step. We were both stationed at Weuschheim AS, near Hahn AB, circa 1988-1991. USAF, Retired. P.S. My dad fought in northern Germany late in the war with the Canadian Black Watch Queen's Own Rifles. Why he was in the Canadian military is a long story.
It may have been one of the final German air battles but it wasn’t the last. On the 21st April, the Luftwaffe tried one more raid on Britain, near Aberdeen. They took off from Norway but were mauled by the RAF who shot down around 9 bombers and damaged several others. The battered Ju88s jettisoned their torpedoes and retreated back to Norway with the RAF having suffered no casualties.
Wow. My dad often spoke of it. I looked for him in the footage as he was part of the forward group to take it. Thanks Mark, and the ME 262 shots were great. Gotta hand it to them, sharp looking jet.
More years ago that I care to remember I was on a family holiday driving down the Rhine with my father. He had been told the story of the bridge by a colleague who had served with the British army in WWII (my father was in the RAF). We decided to stay overnight in Remagen and in the morning we actually went to the site of the Ludendorf bridge where the big stone bridge piers and towers still existed (on the west side, at least). Inside the piers were a lot of graffiti including some very well painted images of German soldiers. Not sure if they were from or after the war. Quite an interesting visit, I can assure you.
The V2 attack was insanity, they knew how inaccurate they were, and to throw so many of their most advanced planes into an attack that they are completely unsuited for is crazy. They really were running on fantasy at this point.
@@miloblue2052 the meth started earlier than that I think. Even their beloved Fuhrer ran on the stuff. I think Mark did a video on the German's use of amphetamines before. Something conventional history overlooks.
I don't get why they deemed the bridge to be so important. It's not like the Allies would not have been able to cross the river by other means, especially given their superiority in firepower.
What an amazing story, I’d heard about this first when I was in the Army in the ‘90s during a briefing. What a difference one soldier can make when acting on initiative.
My Dad was in the US 127th AAA gun battalion, rushed to Remagen to guard the bridge. He spoke of the efforts by Germany to knock down the bridge, and said that one of his colleagues had been wounded by friendly fire (if such a thing exists) from GIs shooting at one of the frogmen in the river trying to plant explosives on the bridge supports. Thanks for sharing.
@@fuoco1365 His unit was antiaircraft artillery, and if I recall correctly, his outfit was on the high ground overlooking the bridge. Some of his unit was across the River after a few days, and when anything was seen floating down the river, they had standing orders to shoot at it with their Browning .50 caliber machine guns. They would get plenty excited when such goings on took place, and didn’t always take care when firing away. His friend was washing up over a rain barrel when a nearly spent .50 BMG round hit him in the butt. Dad said his poor friend was about a mile from the river and thought he was safe but painfully learned he really wasn’t safe at all. Dad said that his friend was really mad when told that since it was obviously an American round that hit him, he didn’t qualify for a Purple Heart medal. I don’t know if his friend ever did get his Purple Heart. Dad was mostly stationed on the Erpeler Ley, or the high bluffs overlooking the river.
Well done! It is almost a mirror of the futile Allied air operations against the Meuse bridges back in 1940. Entire British bomber squadrons were lost to the Luftwaffe trying to knock out bridges.
New and valuable information about this bridge....I have known of it for decades but you always add new and valuable knowledge.....a first class job as always!
@@TheWalterKurtz I don't think the period of time the movie portrays lasts to when the air raids started. The movie just focuses on the capture. But it's been a while since I've seen it. It's a great war movie.
As a boy I lived in Plittersdorf, a few clicks north of Remagen. The bridge was never rebuilt. There is a museum there now and one can see the supports on either side of the river.
My grandparents live on the other side of Remagen in a small village called Erpel. Both of them remember the takeover by the Americans well. My grandpa still tells me today about the kind American soliders who gave him and his friends food. For example his first banana was given to him by an american soldier. Thanks for the video Dr. Felton.
My Belgian stepfather tells a different story that his father told him, when the Germans arrived they were very gentlemanly and paid for everything but the Americans strafed their farm house for fun and then later sat with their feet on the table demanding food.
A little mention of the Bailey Bridge made me smile. My neighbor was a Bailey Bridge/infantryman who helped assemble that bridge. I asked him if he saw Patton there. "Yes", he said, "but he was in the way." Typical NCO.
Great video! Some observations- 1:24 Correct placement of allied star on jeep hood, not in centre but towards dashboard so it can be seen with the windscreen down 3:49 That soldier running past came within an absolute whisker of having his right arm smashed by the recoil 6:19 Henschel Hs 293 shown, looks like the wire-guided version with spools on wingtips
First time I have ever seen operational film footage of the Arado 234. Understandably the film may not have been directly connected with the Remagen Bridge campaign. Of great interest is the quantity of Arado 234's pressed into service. Also interesting is the poor accuracy of the V2, missing the target by a mile proves that it was still in the prototype stage of development even though thousands had been built. Thank you, Mark Felton, for a superior report.
Yes, V2 missile was inaccurate and was certainly still under development...... but It is often told to us in a way that is biased towards the Allies, and many facts are hidden from us. For example, the Germans used to launch several missiles at the target to ensure a hit, and in most cases they hit the target in the end. In this story, it became clear to me after searching that the cause of the bridge’s fall was most likely due to this legendary V2 missile at the time. Two V2 missiles fell near the bridge, not one missile, and the closest one was as far as only 200 meter nearly, caused a severe shaking of the bridge, leading to its fall approximately two hours after the explosion.
Learning from Dr. Felton on a Monday afternoon. I had only briefly heard of this operation. Thank you for connecting the dots and filling in the blanks!
Luck is just not knowing or understanding all of the variables involved. With perfect clarity there's no such thing as luck. Things happen that have to happen.
Attacking the bridge at Remagen was pointless after a while because the Americans immediately began to construct Bailey bridges, both as a backup and because it allowed even more troops and supplies to enter into the bridgehead. The importance of capturing the Remagen bridge cannot be overstated, as it completely changed the dynamic of the Allied campaign of the final months. Before Remagen the plan was for the main crossing across the Rhine to be Monty's 21st Armygroup, followed by Bradley's forces in support south of the Ruhr. Now Bradley suddenly had a massive headstart and the focus shifted from a Monty lead advance with Bradley in support to a Bradley led advance with Monty in support. With the biggest casualty (besides Monty's ego) being that Berlin ceased being a major objective, as Bradley favored linking up with the Soviets at the Elbe instead.
My Dad was 30 miles north in a holding action west of the Rhine while all this was happening. Hollywood made a cool movie about that too. They went over on temp bridges shortly after Remagan happened.
German air combat doctrine focused on the "Schnellbomber" (fast bomber) rather than the lumbering heavies that the Americans and Brits built. Not that the USA and the UK didn't have speedy, maneuverable twin-engine aircraft which did function well as fighter-bombers, the P-38 Lightning, and the De Havilland Mosquito being prime examples. Since Germany lagged in aircraft piston-engines, their "twins", ranging from the Me 110, the Do 17, the Ju 88, and the He 111 were fairly fast, but not as fast as the might have been with equivalent British engines. Indeed, the Spanish, who bought a few He 111s and began production of their own version, the CASA 2.111, used in the 1969 movie, "The Battle of Britain", as Luftwaffe Heinkels; these had the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines! The Spaniards also locally produced their copy of the Bf109, also with the Merlin engines, so it's a bit of irony that the "Luftwaffe", flying "knock-offs", fared so badly in that film, even though those Heinkels and Messerschmitts were probably a lot better than the actual German items. The Arado 234 was indeed the fast bomber that Goring had wanted; but it came way too late, in too few numbers, to make any difference. From what I understand, they were more used in the high-altitude recon role than as bombers, as nothing either the RAF or the USAAF could catch them; not even the Gloucester Meteor. IDK if any captured Arado 234s were used by English Electric in development of the Canberra twin-engined jet bomber; which, if Goring had lived to see it, would have been his wet dream of a Schnellbomber.
I'm fascinated by the German display of amazing new weapons, so advanced, like the jets Me 262 and the bomber Arado 234 (which. if you look carefully at it, looks like a small B-52 predecessor !). On top of that, they already were employing air-ground missiles....and those V-2 rockets ! Amazing German technology.
I was astonished by the numbers: I had no idea the Luftwaffe could at all throw that many planes into battle by that point. And to lose so many in another pointless attack...
Even more astonishing is how could Germany afford to build its armed forces prior to WW2 given the very tight financial situation post WW1. Some would say Germany was financed to start WW2.
@@madk4speed the gold and foreign currency reserves of the Czechoslovakian Central Bank and the Austrian Central Bank helped, Germany was basically broke late 1937.
@@madk4speed the tight financial situation was more a thing in the 1920s, and led to Hitlers rise to power in 1933. From then on, they had 6 years to transform the economy into a war machine. they concentrated on heavy industry and cut back on luxuries for the population
@@madk4speed Indeed, the German government borrowed a lot of money to finance their economic miracle. They kept this a secret, so debtors didn't know how deep in debt Germany was. When they could no longer keep up payments, they had to start the war.
What an incredible waste of men and planes, it's terrible that Gõring pressed the attack even after they realised how heavy AA defenses were. That's just STUPID.
As a child, I spent three years of my life living in the Rheinland of Germany. My parents had a contract as a vendor for the US Military. I spent a lot of time playing in some of the old abandoned pill boxes and bunkers on the Rhein. I always find content about this theatre of the world war II especially interesting. Thanks again, for great content Mr Felton.
Oh do shut up
The most beautiful region of Germany
I grew up here, the heart of Europe's heavy industry, not even just Germany's. We're still finding bombs from WW2 that need to be defused like at least, once a month. Theres a whole profession of how to find and locate duds and dig them up and construction workers dink them constantly when digging. Its a rough and dirty area of the country, most people are middle class/poor(ish), but very hearty and honest to each other. I don't think I'll ever call any other place on the planet my home, although I want to see a lot more beautiful places on this planet.
@@thatangrygerman2076 I miss the Germans. I live in the states now. I learned a lot while I was in Europe. It's always enlightening to see the world through the eyes of another cultural lens.
@@AK-hi7mg Agreed.
Mark Felton talking about Arado 234 blitz bombers. I couldn’t press play quick enough.. Who needs the BBC or the history channel when we have our Mark.
It would be awesome if Mark RAN the History Channel! It would be about History again instead of aliens and quasi real game shows that have absolutely NOTHING to do with History! Lol
The interesting thing about the bridge at Remagen was that at various times both sides wanted to destroy it and both to preserve it.
And after all of those efforst it just decided to collapse by itself in the end :-D
@@benbaselet2026 Bridge: 'screw you guys, I am going home'
I watched the movie yesterday, for about the 20th time.
@ Ben -
Bridge: “if you want something done right, you just gotta do it yourself”
We're seeing the same sort of thing with bridges in Ukraine currently. There's bridges that maybe Ukraine could attack and disrupt Russian logistics but they also need the bridges for possible counter attacks.
My uncle was an AA gunner in the US Army during WWII. He was at that bridge and told me that was the first time he ever saw a jet aircraft. He said "we shot at it and missed it by a mile because it came in so fast, and the bombs it dropped missed the bridge by a mile."
Due to the fact that a sinlge pilot had to also be the bomb aimer.
@@anzaca1
Arado 234 was designed as a bomber and if you are trying to put a dumb bomb onto something, the thing that does that is piloting anyway.
As in the Pacific. If you put up enough Flak then even the best aircraft and pilots in the world cannot fly through it and hence the German losses.
thanks for this comment. i was wondering what the soldiers would think having never seen or heard jets before
Looks like it was a fair exchange.
Having lost my sight recently it’s so good listening to your channel
How did…
What happened?
My mother had a cousin who was wounded on the Bridge. He visited in the early 80's and we had a peaceful meal together on one evening in Tucson, Arizona. Had I understood this history, I would have thanked him for his service. His first name was Albert. Thank you for your service, Albert.
The reversal from "let's destroy the bridge" to "protect the bridge" is something that layman would not know, or even think about.
I own a piece of bruchlos's arado. He was 25, and when his arado was hit he concentrated all his energy to get the burning jet away from populated areas, crashing in a forest some miles from remagen. Brave man, may he rest in peace.
so as to avoid the jets capture and destruction?
I commented before, my local Ghandimart has a chunk of metal they use as a doorstop, one day i looked at it, clearly cast into the metal was the word, " Fafnir", it must be from a FW Condor! Idk how it got to our little town, and idk of any other German aircraft that used that particular engine. I offered the owner $20.00 for it, he wouldn't take it.
@@johnbennett951 no, to avoid killing civilians
@@kugellehr Yet they had no issues with killing millions of civilians of other countries.
@@flexairz edgy
living close. our little town has been the supply station for allied troops heading remagen, the german airfield in odendorf played a major role in this. intrestingly germans build up a second airbase nearby with a long paved runway to allow operation of jet planes but it was taken before operations could begin on a larger level. the odendorf airfield is a story of its own, build for the "felsennest" command post, having hitler himself as a guest during the western offensive. it was also used for starting fighters/bombers to cover ardennes. later, eisenhower landed here to meet other generals before crossing the rhine river. usaaf used it as a runway for P-61's another rare bird in late war. nothing of that remains besides two bridges surprisingly surviving last year's flood catastrophy. i always surprise locals when i come up with those storys, so forgotten as well.
Thank you so much for your story! What part of Germany did you say you were from? Did you have relatives that fought with the German army?
Love it
Von woher kommst du? Ich wohne nämlich auch in der Nähe
🙂👍
The Nibelungs failed in their duty to protect that bridge.
The infantry attacking the bridge knowing it was set for demolition were brave beyond my comprehension.
And when they crossed it (basically in the open) to capture the German position on the other end.
you forget one important thing ... a soldiers JOB is to DO or die trying ... this is one reason why any soldier that has served even 10 seconds in an active comabt theater SHOULD always be garunteed to get their benefits ... they signed their life on the dotted line right along with their name ... somethin NO politcian EVER did ...
.
and no a soldier that be came a politcian is not a politican ... because even though a soldier may be retired their OATH of enlistment STILL stands ... tey are NEVER excused from that oath ... until dead
Is that your real name?
they were ordered to do it, they were doing their job. to us today it seems very brave and it was, but they were doing what they were told to do
@@0623kaboom
"a soldiers JOB is to DO or die trying"
Something that you would NEVER do.
Keyboard warrior.
Thank you! My uncle Charlie was part of this particular battle. He was 19 & in the US Army. He survived & lived a peaceful life until his 80's. He did talk to my brother about his time there & left him all his souvenirs.
I had an uncle who died at ramagen. He was barely 20 years old with the 104th Infantry Regiment.
Good Morning Dr. Felton, thankfully one of these planes still exists and is the only one left of its kind. Thank you for another great video!
Which model & where is it ?
@@edwardfletcher7790 Hello, its an Arado Ar 234 B-2 at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, US
@@brianb2837 Excellent ! Thank you 👍👍
And, there's a genuine Me 262 with its genuine engines, that is in the process of being made airworthy in America. I believe that the components, that would cause trouble, have been replaced by modern technology, and have fixed the issues, allowing these rare engines to be used again
ruclips.net/video/8Azxzu1sqCU/видео.html
@@brianb2837 question, is that the same national air and space museum that’s in Washington DC, or is it a different thing?
The American flak commander and Gunners deserve medals. I never realized how many sorties were flown against this bridge. Excellent video, thank you very much Mark.
I have a feeling the real credit should go to Section T. They developed the VT proximity fuze. Which I've a feeling was deployed to defend the Ludendorff bridge. Those AA boys just scored too many hits to have not been using it.
@@1pcfred The proximity fuze really did a number on Japanese aircraft in the Pacific too.
@@skepticalobserver2135 The proximity fuze was big in the Pacific theater because there was an embargo on using it on land. That was slowly lifted in 1943. The fear was losing the secret to the enemy. By the time Remagen happened the ban was pretty much gone. It was being used operationally by ground forces then.
@@1pcfred You should suggest that Mark do a video on the development of the proximity fuse, and it subsequent successes.
@@r2gelfand I don't know if it fits in with what he does. Although perhaps Mark can present it in his own personal style?
This video is awesome. My grandfather was in the 489th AAA BN, 9th Armored division and was at Remagen as a gunner in a M16 halftrack. Seeing these kind a videos sure makes my chest swell up with pride!
My Uncle was a combat engineer at the Remagen Bridge and helped erect the Bailey Bridge and others bridges. He said that the German artillery knocked out the Bailey bridge a couple of times but it was repaired in less than a day. He commented about the German artillery being very accurate. They would drop one shell to the right then one to the left then the third shell hit the bridge.
You know when this music sounds 0:00 is going to be a badass documentary
Seems Göring was desperate to reclaim his lost honor at this point to impress those that criticized him. Unfortunately this would also blunder his image even further, how anti climatic.
Amazing work Mark! I was amazed at the heavy use of Jet bombers against one bridge, pretty sad to see so many fall to heavy AAA fire. Can’t wait for the next video!
I wonder how many soldiers (who are human beings btw) have been sacrificed by commanders trying to reclaim their honour
@@21mozzie more times than any person can count.
He lost his honor when he lost control of his waistline
@@21mozzie lol what? Your statement would be more poignant if we weren't all.......... human.
Nein, es gaffalt mir gut, doppekganger funf
Thank you for an authentic account of the bridge over Remagen...learned much more(!) than just the movie.
Interesting details of those historic days, Mark. My father was one of the early (infantry) soldiers to cross the Ludendorf bridge. He mentioned seeing German aircraft without propellors some days later. Today I live near Bonn, Germany and often hike and bike past the remains of that bridge, always giving a thought and thanks to those brave men who secured it.
I wonder what the fighting men on both sides thought of aircraft flying that had no propellers. They must have seemed to be very futuristic.
My father was at Remagen with the AA artillery. He said, "Stukas were easy to shoot down, Focke-Wulf's harder but German jets were very difficult to hit."
Ouhhh a late night Mark Felton video? I was about to go to bed but never mind I’m watching this 😁
Und diene schlaffen plan?
@@DaveSCameron Is that that meant to be German?
@@aerocraft3377 Was
@@DaveSCameron Dein Kommentar ergibt grammatikalisch keinen Sinn. (Your comment makes no grammatical sense.)
My Uncle Elton Hisel was with the 78th Division he talked about how he traveled back and forth several times on both the original bridge and the pontoon bridge. His job was to drive company commander's jeep. They had troops on both sides of the Rhine so the commander needed to travel back and forth. He talked about coming under fire from German planes while driving across the pontoon bridge. He said there was a speed limit when on the bridge but when a German fight plane is shooting at you. As he said you drive like hell! Due to the speed he was driving the pontoon bridge was swaying back and forth. Later after reaching safety his commander asked where he learned to drive on a swaying bridge. He grew up driving open range roads in the Sand hills of western Nebraska. Late in the summer in a dry year the sand gets very soft and will pull your car or pickup left and right as you drive. He was proud to say that he drove the same Jeep that he drove off a LST on to Omaha beach Thanksgiving day 1944 into Berlin. He said that they lost a lot of good men due to drivers panicking under fire and flipping their Jeeps over. Mark Felton THANKS for all your great videos. I enjoy everyone.
Yet another brilliant video that helps set the standard for war documentaries!
To consider Germany could (almost) widely deploy a jet bomber during the war speaks to their incredible engineering.
War could have gone very differently if Germany had waited with the war a few years. Not saying this would be a good thing
@@elite1361 no definitely not, war was always gonna end the same way. The allies would have rushed in their jets too if there was the urgency but late war me262's were insignificant.
If properly used, developed and made in numbers, German Helicopters like the FA 223, being in serial production from 1942, would have made a difference. Even if only used for supply or troop movement.
The jets were a massive drain on the very finite German industrial resources, though. By this point in the war Hitler was obsessed with 'Wunderwaffen' - wonder weapons - that he thought could turn things around and win him the war. The result was that instead of going all-out trying to replenish losses of fighters they already knew how to build, resources were frittered away on projects like the Me-163 Komet rocket fighter, the Me-262, the Horten Ho-229 flying wing, etc. It was an absolutely reckless dereliction of duty and they paid for it.
@@andypozuelos1204 USA entered WW2 only because pearl harbor
if japan was not so stupid
hitler could win the war
LoL
My grandfather was an ambulance driver in Bradley's 3rd Army. 78th Lightning Division. He crossed that bridge many, many times in his ambulance before it eventually collapsed due to all the bombardment. He died years ago, but his stories never left me... He told me all about the Me262's that strafed the bridge. About how he was once in a traffic jam getting shelled - and looked up to see an officer in a nearby Jeep calmly holding the steering wheel ... with the top hemisphere of his head from the eyebrows down shorn clean off by shrapnel. He mentioned the stacks of corpses piled up on the west bank while the 3rd Army raced to get across. And also a Panther tank on the ridge above on the eastern side shooting at the upper superstructure of the bridge. That battle sounded like a little piece of hell on Earth.
The Arado 234 was such an advanced bomber. Always been fascinated by this chapter in the closing story.
Stunning. I also had no idea the jet powered bombers were even operational. Thank you Mark. That this series of desperate air operations against the bridge, was also new to me.
When the Remagen bridge collapsed, didn't many US engineers who where trying to keep it serviceable die. Very little seems to be written about British and American combat engineers losses. During the storm in the Channel that badly damaged the Mulberry harbours, many men were swept away and drowned whilst trying to save it.
Yes,i recall watching another video where this was mentioned.I believe it was during the earlier part when allies were first attempting to secure the bridge damage when a portion collapsed onto engineers.
Yes I found it.ruclips.net/video/aXXpIPModTo/видео.html
Engineer were/are unsung heroes usually overlook by public
Yes, men were lost due to the Remagen bridge collapse, I can't give you the numbers though.
The engineers certainly should get a lot more credit than they do, they performed miracles during the war. Pretty sad when I see road construction projects taking forever to be completed today and then remember how fast the engineers got it done during WW2.
Here's something interesting. Comedian and film-maker Mel Brooks was a combat engineer during WW2. Not only did combat engineers build, but they had to pick up rifles and fight on more than one occasion.
Yes, many engineers died when the bridge collapsed including those of my father's outfit, the 276th Combat Engineers. He survived. I have visited Remagen and attended reunions of the 276th to honor these heroes
Mr. Felton, you never cease to amaze me and I never ceases to return to your most excellent channel. I cannot thank you enough for such history-packed videos!
This was stunning. Never taught in U.S. Colleges or high schools. Bravo!
Thanks!
Thirty years ago I went metal detecting with a friend around this area. We found many destroyed pillboxes and much destroyed military equipment. He found a Panzerfaust laying near a blown pillbox with the round still in it. It was a close call as he didn't know what he had found.
We left the area on the quick-step. We were both stationed at Weuschheim AS, near Hahn AB, circa 1988-1991. USAF, Retired.
P.S. My dad fought in northern Germany late in the war with the Canadian Black Watch Queen's Own Rifles. Why he was in the Canadian military is a long story.
Those Arado 234s and Me262s were cool af
Must have been fun to shoot down.
Wow, that's absolutely great fact- jet bombers in their first and last action during the war.
Thnk you for making my day, dr Felton! You're the best!
It may have been one of the final German air battles but it wasn’t the last. On the 21st April, the Luftwaffe tried one more raid on Britain, near Aberdeen. They took off from Norway but were mauled by the RAF who shot down around 9 bombers and damaged several others. The battered Ju88s jettisoned their torpedoes and retreated back to Norway with the RAF having suffered no casualties.
Thank you Dr. Felton!
Wow. My dad often spoke of it. I looked for him in the footage as he was part of the forward group to take it. Thanks Mark, and the ME 262 shots were great. Gotta hand it to them, sharp looking jet.
More years ago that I care to remember I was on a family holiday driving down the Rhine with my father. He had been told the story of the bridge by a colleague who had served with the British army in WWII (my father was in the RAF). We decided to stay overnight in Remagen and in the morning we actually went to the site of the Ludendorf bridge where the big stone bridge piers and towers still existed (on the west side, at least). Inside the piers were a lot of graffiti including some very well painted images of German soldiers. Not sure if they were from or after the war. Quite an interesting visit, I can assure you.
Theres a Museum about the Bridge in one of the Towers
I love stories about the battle for that bridge.This the first time I learned about the air campaign to destroy it in-depth,thanks Doctor.
I never heard of this terrific effort from the Luftwaffe to destroy this bridge and the losses. Thanks!
By far some of the best documentaries about WW2!
Marks is always around ! Love it
The V2 attack was insanity, they knew how inaccurate they were, and to throw so many of their most advanced planes into an attack that they are completely unsuited for is crazy. They really were running on fantasy at this point.
What a waste of life and material. Totally insane and evil regime that lied to the last
And meth!
I'd say the fantasies started in 1940.
@@miloblue2052 the meth started earlier than that I think. Even their beloved Fuhrer ran on the stuff. I think Mark did a video on the German's use of amphetamines before. Something conventional history overlooks.
I don't get why they deemed the bridge to be so important. It's not like the Allies would not have been able to cross the river by other means, especially given their superiority in firepower.
What an amazing story, I’d heard about this first when I was in the Army in the ‘90s during a briefing. What a difference one soldier can make when acting on initiative.
"Missed it by that much!" Great video. Thanks for sharing Dr Felton!
My Dad was in the US 127th AAA gun battalion, rushed to Remagen to guard the bridge. He spoke of the efforts by Germany to knock down the bridge, and said that one of his colleagues had been wounded by friendly fire (if such a thing exists) from GIs shooting at one of the frogmen in the river trying to plant explosives on the bridge supports. Thanks for sharing.
Was he down by the river when they made the attempt I'm guessing?
@@fuoco1365 His unit was antiaircraft artillery, and if I recall correctly, his outfit was on the high ground overlooking the bridge. Some of his unit was across the River after a few days, and when anything was seen floating down the river, they had standing orders to shoot at it with their Browning .50 caliber machine guns. They would get plenty excited when such goings on took place, and didn’t always take care when firing away. His friend was washing up over a rain barrel when a nearly spent .50 BMG round hit him in the butt. Dad said his poor friend was about a mile from the river and thought he was safe but painfully learned he really wasn’t safe at all. Dad said that his friend was really mad when told that since it was obviously an American round that hit him, he didn’t qualify for a Purple Heart medal. I don’t know if his friend ever did get his Purple Heart. Dad was mostly stationed on the Erpeler Ley, or the high bluffs overlooking the river.
Imagine if Dr.Felton was a cameraman / war correspondent during the war the footage and stories would be epic
What a staggering loss of aircraft for the destruction of a bridge!
Keep up the great work Mark!
Didn’t know the Germans lost so many jets. Nice work Mr. Felton.
I love the look of the Arado 234, a beautiful airoplane.
There has to be a place in some World War Two history hall of Fame for the priceless collection of Mark Felton video archives.
18 Me-262s shot down!
Well done! It is almost a mirror of the futile Allied air operations against the Meuse bridges back in 1940. Entire British bomber squadrons were lost to the Luftwaffe trying to knock out bridges.
I believe more of the Blenheims that tried to take out the Meuse bridges were shot down by the Luftwaffe...AAA units.
Also the the USAF against bridges in North Vietnam decades later.
New and valuable information about this bridge....I have known of it for decades but you always add new and valuable knowledge.....a first class job as always!
The film Bridge at Remagen was actually surprisingly accurate apart from how fast the vehicles move at the start 😳
But it didn't have Nazi air raids. Geez.
Indeed
@@TheWalterKurtz I don't think the period of time the movie portrays lasts to when the air raids started. The movie just focuses on the capture. But it's been a while since I've seen it. It's a great war movie.
Excellent movie...
I was like holy crap look at how fast those tanks are moving
Thanks for the footage.
As a boy I lived in Plittersdorf, a few clicks north of Remagen. The bridge was never rebuilt. There is a museum there now and one can see the supports on either side of the river.
Thank you for sharing such detailed and unreported history.
My grandparents live on the other side of Remagen in a small village called Erpel. Both of them remember the takeover by the Americans well. My grandpa still tells me today about the kind American soliders who gave him and his friends food. For example his first banana was given to him by an american soldier. Thanks for the video Dr. Felton.
A banana? Some great family lore.
My Belgian stepfather tells a different story that his father told him, when the Germans arrived they were very gentlemanly and paid for everything but the Americans strafed their farm house for fun and then later sat with their feet on the table demanding food.
@@SirAntoniousBlock The movie "Fury" captures this sentiment. Americans were famous for "reconn by 50 cal."
@@15kr Yep, as German women used to say "better a Russia on your back than an American overhead".
A little mention of the Bailey Bridge made me smile. My neighbor was a Bailey Bridge/infantryman who helped assemble that bridge. I asked him if he saw Patton there. "Yes", he said, "but he was in the way." Typical NCO.
Excellent, Dr Felton... as ever.
The aircraft innovation of the Luftwaffe was phenomenal. What a well of engineering.
They also developed a lot of duds.
Outstanding video and presentation.
Dr. Felton, your videos are the best!!! Thank you so much for doing what you do!!!
Great video! Some observations-
1:24 Correct placement of allied star on jeep hood, not in centre but towards dashboard so it can be seen with the windscreen down
3:49 That soldier running past came within an absolute whisker of having his right arm smashed by the recoil
6:19 Henschel Hs 293 shown, looks like the wire-guided version with spools on wingtips
Do you also do photo-reconnaissance interpretation as a sideline?
its really not a Fritz X, thx for correction
@@MarkFeltonProductions Hey you should hire him.
2: I think he's just more in the foreground than he appears
@@Lightseekerjoben Exactly. It's an optical illusion that some think he could have been hit
yet another great well researched educational video from mark
The Arado Ar 234 is one of my favourite aircraft. An amazing machine.
Your videos are top shelf and simply put doesn't get any better.Thank you.
First time I have ever seen operational film footage of the Arado 234. Understandably the film may not have been directly connected with the Remagen Bridge campaign. Of great interest is the quantity of Arado 234's pressed into service. Also interesting is the poor accuracy of the V2, missing the target by a mile proves that it was still in the prototype stage of development even though thousands had been built.
Thank you, Mark Felton, for a superior report.
Yes, V2 missile was inaccurate and was certainly still under development...... but It is often told to us in a way that is biased towards the Allies, and many facts are hidden from us. For example, the Germans used to launch several missiles at the target to ensure a hit, and in most cases they hit the target in the end. In this story, it became clear to me after searching that the cause of the bridge’s fall was most likely due to this legendary V2 missile at the time. Two V2 missiles fell near the bridge, not one missile, and the closest one was as far as only 200 meter nearly, caused a severe shaking of the bridge, leading to its fall approximately two hours after the explosion.
Great job yet again Dr Felton!
Im sad to say it but its weird when a video about WW2 takes your mind of the dangers of a modern war in Europe.
Learning from Dr. Felton on a Monday afternoon. I had only briefly heard of this operation. Thank you for connecting the dots and filling in the blanks!
When you are literally given one job and your air force can't even get that done.
Great video Mark. I had no idea the jet losses were so high going after that bridge.
Great video! I believe however the photograph of the ‘Fritz X’ bomb is in fact the HS293 bomb-both pretty similar though!
Finnaly a video on just this topic
I always found these last ditch efforts by the Germans at war’s end fascinating. Thank you for this story Dr. Felton.
That description of Goering was immense
That gunnery commander shouting orders sure gets around. I've seen him featured in every major and minor battle in the war.
He was an over achiever.
😂 I noticed that too !
Once again a very informative video. Thanks and keep up the great work.
Just incredible they had that many jet fighters & pilots 2 fly them in Mar45
Great one, Mark. I'm just surprised that Gen. Patton wasn't on the first vehicle to cross that bridge.
To say that Germans luck ran out is an understatement
Luck is just not knowing or understanding all of the variables involved. With perfect clarity there's no such thing as luck. Things happen that have to happen.
Thank you Mark Felton. Interesting episode.
Arado Ar-234 titbit: A recon version of this aircraft conducted the last Luftwaffe operation over the U.K April 1945.
This is really good. Thank you.
Attacking the bridge at Remagen was pointless after a while because the Americans immediately began to construct Bailey bridges, both as a backup and because it allowed even more troops and supplies to enter into the bridgehead. The importance of capturing the Remagen bridge cannot be overstated, as it completely changed the dynamic of the Allied campaign of the final months. Before Remagen the plan was for the main crossing across the Rhine to be Monty's 21st Armygroup, followed by Bradley's forces in support south of the Ruhr. Now Bradley suddenly had a massive headstart and the focus shifted from a Monty lead advance with Bradley in support to a Bradley led advance with Monty in support. With the biggest casualty (besides Monty's ego) being that Berlin ceased being a major objective, as Bradley favored linking up with the Soviets at the Elbe instead.
also the detonation explosives were inferior grade because of depleted supplies!
These informative videos make my day. Thanks Mark Felton.
Luftwaffe planes:”we are high technology German engineering, buckle up”
Remagen bridge:”hold my beer, I’m German engineering too, build to last”
Yeh but it was constructed by Russians, so shouldnt the beverage be vodka?
Every single one of your videos are informative and very interesting. Keep it up 👍🏻
It almost plays out like a cartoon. All those attacks against the bridge to no avail, and then it just collapses.
My Dad was 30 miles north in a holding action west of the Rhine while all this was happening. Hollywood made a cool movie about that too. They went over on temp bridges shortly after Remagan happened.
The Arado 234 was an amazing aircraft.
German air combat doctrine focused on the "Schnellbomber" (fast bomber) rather than the lumbering heavies that the Americans and Brits built. Not that the USA and the UK didn't have speedy, maneuverable twin-engine aircraft which did function well as fighter-bombers, the P-38 Lightning, and the De Havilland Mosquito being prime examples. Since Germany lagged in aircraft piston-engines, their "twins", ranging from the Me 110, the Do 17, the Ju 88, and the He 111 were fairly fast, but not as fast as the might have been with equivalent British engines. Indeed, the Spanish, who bought a few He 111s and began production of their own version, the CASA 2.111, used in the 1969 movie, "The Battle of Britain", as Luftwaffe Heinkels; these had the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines! The Spaniards also locally produced their copy of the Bf109, also with the Merlin engines, so it's a bit of irony that the "Luftwaffe", flying "knock-offs", fared so badly in that film, even though those Heinkels and Messerschmitts were probably a lot better than the actual German items.
The Arado 234 was indeed the fast bomber that Goring had wanted; but it came way too late, in too few numbers, to make any difference. From what I understand, they were more used in the high-altitude recon role than as bombers, as nothing either the RAF or the USAAF could catch them; not even the Gloucester Meteor. IDK if any captured Arado 234s were used by English Electric in development of the Canberra twin-engined jet bomber; which, if Goring had lived to see it, would have been his wet dream of a Schnellbomber.
Mein Vater ist so eine geflogen. Ein großartiges Flugzeuge!
Bridge at Remagen is probably one of my 5 or so fav WW2 movies
Dr Felton is doing a great work on famous ww2 history. Q: can you do a history of Operation Carthage the raid on the shell house Gestapo headquarters.
Mark. Thanks for providing my Monday night entertainment!
Amazing video!
Thank you Dr Felton. ❤🇨🇦
I'm fascinated by the German display of amazing new weapons, so advanced, like the jets Me 262 and the bomber Arado 234 (which. if you look carefully at it, looks like a small B-52 predecessor !). On top of that, they already were employing air-ground missiles....and those V-2 rockets ! Amazing German technology.