The Dumbest Trap of WW2

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  • Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
  • Following the Battle of Britain, as the Third Reich redirected most of their resources toward Operation Barbarossa in the East, the skies over occupied France stood relatively empty.
    After months of meticulous planning, the Royal Air Force prepared to unleash a new kind of offensive operation, adeptly named Circus, for they were full of surprises.
    On January 10, 1941, a formation of six Bristol Blenheim bombers from 114 Squadron, 2 Group, a part of RAF Bomber Command, set their sights on an airfield and an ammunition dump in the Foret de Guines, just a stone's throw from the French coast, south of Calais.
    The British mission seemed doomed from the start, as the tiny bomber group would be no match for the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 defenders taking to the air. Yet, a stunning surprise awaited the German pilots as they closed in on their targets. Flying hidden at a slightly higher altitude was a massive cloud of what seemed like nearly 100 RAF escort fighters…
    Circus Number 1 had come to town.
    -
    As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Docs sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. I do my best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Docs is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas. -

Комментарии • 225

  • @thomasgumersell9607
    @thomasgumersell9607 7 месяцев назад +16

    I enjoyed this video and was taken aback by the heavy losses suffered by the RAF. So many brave young pilots were shot down. Yet their resolve and galant effort truly saved Britain. 💪🏻🙏🏻✨

  • @gwine9087
    @gwine9087 7 месяцев назад +82

    A gentleman, that I worked with, flew Mosquitoes. He told me that they flew what he called 'ranger missions". They went over to France, late at night. As the French were under a curfew, they assumed that anything that moved was German and shot them up.

    • @terraflow__bryanburdo4547
      @terraflow__bryanburdo4547 7 месяцев назад +9

      Probably got a few resistance casualties.....

    • @welshpete12
      @welshpete12 7 месяцев назад

      nope !@@terraflow__bryanburdo4547

    • @gerrydrummond3287
      @gerrydrummond3287 7 месяцев назад +14

      Blenim, not blen-hym

    • @terraflow__bryanburdo4547
      @terraflow__bryanburdo4547 7 месяцев назад +7

      @@gerrydrummond3287 Blnm... it's a Welsh thing

    • @TheDavidlloydjones
      @TheDavidlloydjones 7 месяцев назад +3

      @@terraflow__bryanburdo4547
      Nope. German.
      For the same reason Mountbatten started out as "Battenberg": William and Mary were imported from "Germany" after the Civil War.
      And it does have an E in that "blen" bit.

  • @DrivermanO
    @DrivermanO 7 месяцев назад +120

    Leigh-Mallory was instrumental in getting Dowding and Park removed from Fighter Command almost at the height of the Battle of Britain. In some ways, Bader was complicit in this. These fighter sweeps were a waste of valuable resources, namely pilots, for very little gain. L-M should be thoroughly discredited in my view, with Bader close behind. Dowding and Park saved the country.

    • @patrickporter6536
      @patrickporter6536 7 месяцев назад +13

      Agreed

    • @sylvaleader
      @sylvaleader 7 месяцев назад +15

      I completely agree regarding Leigh-Mallory, and Park proved his mettle again in the defence of Malta. With regard to the loss of Bader, it seems likely that he was shot down in error by another RAF pilot - maybe this was his karma.

    • @H4CK61
      @H4CK61 7 месяцев назад +17

      The Big Wing was a waste of men and planes because of Mallory.

    • @jamesrussell7760
      @jamesrussell7760 7 месяцев назад +15

      Well, there you go, Leigh Mallory and Sholto Douglas got what they wanted - Fighter Command - then promptly made a mess of it.

    • @grahamlister5378
      @grahamlister5378 7 месяцев назад +23

      Being a Kiwi we supported Keith Park and what he did with the resources (pilots and aircraft) available. He had the Kiwi attitude and looked on the pilots as his boys, flying between the front line airfields to talk with the personnel and pilots. A wonderful New Zealander.

  • @thegreyarea-WPP
    @thegreyarea-WPP 7 месяцев назад +45

    I heard one particularly damning account of Douglas Bader when later in life he went to a formal reunion event. Apparently he became furious with the person at the gates because the man had not saluted him, raging “don’t you know who I am?”. The response was along the lines of; “Yes, you are Group Captain Douglas Bader, retired. I did not salute because you have retired your commission”. Apparently he was quite a prickly sort and not much liked amongst those who met him. I am not one such person so this story is third hand at best I’m afraid.
    Apparently, at one such reunion, possibly the same one for all I know, Adolf Galland passed Bader a note towards the end of the meal saying “It is nice to see you again Douglas. Sorry I missed you in 1940”. As with the previous part of this, I cannot verify the authenticity of the story, but I truly hope that it is true.
    I was lucky enough to meet Johnnie Johnson and Günther Rall, but I’m ashamed to say that I was a shy teenager afraid to say much, though listening to them laugh at stories of their lives was a beautiful moment in my life.
    A little side note here: I spend my free time teaching English as a foreign language. I see some people pointing out the correct pronunciation for Blenheim (Blen-im) and Bader (Baa-dur) which is understandable. However something I learned a few years ago is that around 84% of the English language spoken in the world is as a secondary language. I have learned to appreciate the fact that some people will pronounce words differently, but as long as they are understood by their target audience, that’s far better than agonising over the correct pronunciation of words according to Received Pronunciation, of which fewer than 4% actually speak in Britain. This channel has been fantastic and a few pronunciation variations don’t diminish that fact.

    • @TheZX11
      @TheZX11 7 месяцев назад +2

      Funny stuff with Adolf Galland at the dinner. He was the leading Luftwaffe ace during the BoB. He was shot down a few times later on (1941?). Quite the characters, all of them. I feel bad though with photos of Adolf Galland with his fellow pilots in JG26. Guys he was mentoring, some going on to higher scores than him, KIA months/years later.

    • @thegreyarea-WPP
      @thegreyarea-WPP 7 месяцев назад +2

      @@TheZX11 I’ve heard some good stories about him. It’s probably a good thing the Luftwaffe grounding him after his hundredth victory out of fear of losing him (I think I’m correct in this, though I’m aware he went on to eventually fly the Me-262. Something I loved about the camaraderie was that Galland went on to be the godfather of the children of Robert Stanford-Tuck.
      Stories like that always mattered to me as I had one grandfather who served in the RAF in Malaya, eventually becoming a winchman for air-sea rescue. The other grandfather served in the Afrika Korps and was captured by the British in Tunisia, 1943. He was subsequently shipped off to the US POW camps in Kansas, Chicago, Colorado, an unknown location in Canada, and eventually Camp 030 in London, where he would meet my grandmother.

    • @PaulP999
      @PaulP999 7 месяцев назад +1

      I think you are being too generous by saying fantastic, all the Dark series videos are riddled with mistakes, especially the images shown and a number of us enjoy them for their blunders as much for their info. (think you are right about DB..)

    • @blackcountryme
      @blackcountryme 7 месяцев назад

      FFS, you do know that the guy uses free clips, not brought content? so you use any stock footage you can get, you don't pay for the content do you? no.

    • @thegreyarea-WPP
      @thegreyarea-WPP 7 месяцев назад +2

      @@blackcountryme Why such anger? It’s never worth getting irate at someone’s comment. People have different opinions and points of view. Whilst I’m not so bothered by the footage used in the video, I can understand other people’s views and everyone is entitled to an opinion. Is there any reason why you felt compelled to send an aggressive angry message? If you disagree with someone, why not make the point without being rude? Doing that just negates any point you make, regardless of how right or wrong it may be. There’s thousands of comments on RUclips I disagree with, but it’s not worth getting angry over it. These are people you’ll never meet.

  • @joegatt2306
    @joegatt2306 7 месяцев назад +7

    7:40 'rudimentary radar?' The 1.2meter (250 MHz) FMG Freya was way superior to the 12 Meter (25 MHZ) Chain Home. The German radar utilized a much smaller antenna (with superior range, 120 to 100 miles), which was rotatable with full 360 degree all-round coverage against CH which was static and offered only a 120 degree coverage over the sea and was blind over land behind it. Freya was easier to move and re-position and it also offered higher resolution, allowing it to detect smaller targets.

  • @maxpayne2574
    @maxpayne2574 7 месяцев назад +14

    With that thumbnail I thought this would be about the Germans using unflyable planes to make fake airdromes Allies would target.

  • @kevinshamrok
    @kevinshamrok 7 месяцев назад +4

    The US did something similar in Vietnam. They had f4’s present themselves as f105’s to bait migs into engaging them

    • @sirtristram8297
      @sirtristram8297 7 месяцев назад

      I believe it was Robin Olds who organised that ambush.

    • @wymple09
      @wymple09 7 месяцев назад +3

      That was a bit different. The "bait" were the ones with the teeth.

  • @juststeve5542
    @juststeve5542 7 месяцев назад +6

    Repeat after me... Blen-num... Blen-num...

    • @thomasgerber1472
      @thomasgerber1472 7 месяцев назад

      Believe me, the British spell Blenheim wrong, it's Heim . Rule number one for English speakers if you name a Bomber after a German town do at least spell it right.

  • @Eddewardeke
    @Eddewardeke 6 месяцев назад

    Hmmm, at 12.10 it looks like a P47? As so often, inadequate material used in these doc's. I like them, they explain much, but why always inadequate picture material?

  • @Ron-d2s
    @Ron-d2s 7 месяцев назад

    Here is an interesting little side note, Arthur C. Clarke was an RAF radar operator when this was going on. He actually invented the communications satellite about that same time.

  • @tim2015
    @tim2015 7 месяцев назад

    "the RAF had recently learned that when fighter planes operated alone, without the protection of bombers, they were usually ignored." (3:08:-3:16) VERY interesting.

  • @captainsparky
    @captainsparky 5 месяцев назад

    It's so weird hearing that pronunciation of Blenheim as "Blen-heim"... In British English "Blenheim" rhymes with "Denim"

  • @scottbishop7899
    @scottbishop7899 7 месяцев назад

    Diuglas Bader joined the RAF in 1928, and was commissioned in 1930. In December 1931, while attempting some aerobatics, he crashed and lost both his legs. Having been on the brink of death, he recovered, retook flight training, passed his check flights and then requested reactivation as a pilot.
    An easy search on Google returned this answer, knew it wasn't a pre-war accident!!

    • @stoopingfalcon891
      @stoopingfalcon891 7 месяцев назад +4

      December 1931, accident happens. 3rd September 1939, war declared on Germany......pretty sure that counts as pre-war.

    • @scottbishop7899
      @scottbishop7899 7 месяцев назад

      @@stoopingfalcon891 Or could be considered a "post war" or indeed a "between wars" (WW1 1914-1918) accident but as a result of "training for war" testing new technologies and their limitations, merely saying it was a "pre-war accident" doesn't give a full understanding of how/why he lost his legs, his resolve, and dogged determination to continue in his participation of the war. In my opinion it doesn't do the man justice by merely stating he was in a pre war accident. (If it were an American pilot he'd have gone into it in more depth and the corolation between the two!). A little disappointed if I'm honest ...

  • @cooperworks8871
    @cooperworks8871 7 месяцев назад

    Could someone explain the thumbnail? I seem to have missed it's relevance here?

  • @greebo6549
    @greebo6549 7 месяцев назад

    4:25 ... three BF109 for the loss of two British fighters, a success?, any German pilots that survived would soon be flying again, whilst the loss of a British pilot, dead or captured is still a valuable loss

  • @michaelmayo3127
    @michaelmayo3127 7 месяцев назад

    Was there no AA?

  • @martinwyke
    @martinwyke 6 месяцев назад

    Thumbnail is a hurricane with a Balkenkreuz. 🤔

  • @gjmort
    @gjmort 7 месяцев назад +1

    The Hurricane in Luftwaffe markings? CLICKBAIT….very disappointing 😡

    • @BobHUK
      @BobHUK 7 месяцев назад +1

      I believe it was a captured one. I've seen photos of a spitfire in Luftwaffe markings as well. Don't forget we (British) did the same thing with captured 109's and 190's, painting them in our colours so that we could fly them over the UK without getting them shot down, and find out their strengths and weaknesses.

  • @minuteman2547
    @minuteman2547 7 месяцев назад +1

    My BS meter maxxed out at 0800. Who the Fvck flies in alpha uniforms?

  • @johnhehir508
    @johnhehir508 7 месяцев назад

    The main reason the British fighters could not engage the German bomber on night blitz ,was Because their Aircraft had no friend or foe night radars, That were developing and were in service in 1941

  • @johngaltman
    @johngaltman 7 месяцев назад

    It's Amazing to see in the films from all over Europe in WW2 how multi-cultural we have always been... I never saw it before I was told I had to see it or be racist...

  • @clarencehopkins7832
    @clarencehopkins7832 7 месяцев назад

    Excellent stuff bro

  • @markchip1
    @markchip1 7 месяцев назад

    It's "Blen-'em", not "Blen-hyme", if you don't mind!
    (NATIVE English speaker here!)
    Otherwise, it's a great video!

  • @freddyt9140
    @freddyt9140 7 месяцев назад +2

    I like your videos but you have got to stop putting pictures of things that are not in the vids, otherwise you’ll get a ‘click bait’ reputation.

    • @DraftySatyr
      @DraftySatyr 7 месяцев назад

      Did you say "get a click-bait reputation'? That train has already left the station.

  • @makeroftoys
    @makeroftoys 6 месяцев назад +1

    Click bait is the worst. Use a real title.

  • @michaelchristensen5421
    @michaelchristensen5421 7 месяцев назад

    The RAF didn't defeat the Luftwaffe, the Luftwaffe stopped the attacks.

    • @awatt
      @awatt 7 месяцев назад

      .... because the British defeated them.

    • @michaelchristensen5421
      @michaelchristensen5421 7 месяцев назад

      @@awatt You need to study World War Two history

    • @awatt
      @awatt 7 месяцев назад

      @@michaelchristensen5421
      I have. I suggest you do as well

    • @rabidmidgeecosse1336
      @rabidmidgeecosse1336 7 месяцев назад

      bet your one of the ones that says the Germans scuttled the Bismarck too....

    • @awatt
      @awatt 7 месяцев назад

      @@rabidmidgeecosse1336
      This user has a vast number of sick accounts that on occasion can be seen talking to themselves.

  • @greggweber9967
    @greggweber9967 7 месяцев назад

    3:30 Bombers needed a reason to be there that was important enough for the defenders to send up the fighters. Cities and dying women, the old, and children. Not just factory workers. Bad.

  • @steveshoemaker6347
    @steveshoemaker6347 7 месяцев назад

    🇺🇸

  • @GarGri
    @GarGri 6 месяцев назад

    Useless commentary the bombers didn't protect the fighters it was the other way round! These videos are shite of the highest order.

  • @drd1962
    @drd1962 7 месяцев назад

    Terrible pronunciation of practically everything.

  • @spacehonky6315
    @spacehonky6315 7 месяцев назад

    I usually enjoy this channel, but I'll be blocking you now. It's like you're not even trying to write interesting content anymore. Get your crap together. I'm out.

  • @miguelservetus9534
    @miguelservetus9534 7 месяцев назад +44

    Could someone explain the dumbest trap?
    I seemed to have missed it.

    • @kez963
      @kez963 7 месяцев назад +7

      And where is the luftwaffe's hawker hurrican?

    • @GermanShepherd1983
      @GermanShepherd1983 7 месяцев назад +12

      It's click bait. Not falling for it again either.

    • @johnbruce2868
      @johnbruce2868 7 месяцев назад +5

      I agree. Waffled on for ages. Said nothing new. The words, "dumbest" and "trap"weren't spoken together, in a subject-object relationship, once through the entire monologue. Dreadful.

    • @beefymcskillet5601
      @beefymcskillet5601 7 месяцев назад

      The dumbest trap was that you Ike’s in this video

    • @garetz2011
      @garetz2011 6 месяцев назад

      I clicked on this cr4p for the same reason. RUclipsrs are rats.

  • @RetroAutoMN
    @RetroAutoMN 7 месяцев назад +10

    So what does the thumbnail and title have to do with the video?

  • @stephenwalton9646
    @stephenwalton9646 7 месяцев назад +17

    When fighters operated without the protection of bombers?….(3:14)wtf?

    • @kiwibonsai2355
      @kiwibonsai2355 7 месяцев назад +1

      Say a bomber and a fighter was heading for your home town, who do you target with your limited ammo and fuel.

    • @SteveEbbrell
      @SteveEbbrell 7 месяцев назад

      @@kiwibonsai2355 The point all the posters are making is its supposed to be the other way round! Its the fighters that protect the bombers!!

    • @crantium
      @crantium 7 месяцев назад +2

      Perhaps based on context replace "protection" with "presence"? If no bombers present, the german fighters stayed home.

    • @Charles-k9g5y
      @Charles-k9g5y 7 месяцев назад +1

      Pay attention. Germans ignored the fighters due to concentrated on bombers.

    • @stephenhosking7384
      @stephenhosking7384 7 месяцев назад

      @@crantium I did the translation as soon as I heard it, almost without noticing.

  • @peregrinemccauley5010
    @peregrinemccauley5010 7 месяцев назад +12

    The large cost of those Big Wing sorties, were exactly what Air Chief Marshall Hugh Dowding and his side kick, Air Vice Marshall Park,warned about.

    • @bernardedwards8461
      @bernardedwards8461 5 месяцев назад

      The large cost was pad by the Luftwaffe, both in planes and in morale. The only downside was that more enemy aircraft managed to reach their targets while the Big Wing was forming up, but more were shot down before they could return to base.

  • @edgreen2660
    @edgreen2660 7 месяцев назад +9

    So what was the extremely dumb trap?

    • @mimikurtz2162
      @mimikurtz2162 7 месяцев назад

      An irrelevant thumbnail (a Hawker Hurricane captured in North Africa) enticing us into a video displaying many more RAF fighters equipped with dessert dust filters and other types which were not yet in service (Hawker Typhoon, P-47 etc.).
      Extremely dumb trap, extremely dumb content, and yet we all fell for it. The only slight redemption is if we realise that this channel is rubbish and avoid it in future.

  • @Cyberdyne-kg8ku
    @Cyberdyne-kg8ku 7 месяцев назад +8

    Blenheim is pronounced Blenheim, not Blenheim.

    • @josephfuller9366
      @josephfuller9366 7 месяцев назад

      Phonetically pronounced as spelled..."Blen-hei-m" 💁‍♂️

  • @Mikkall
    @Mikkall 7 месяцев назад +56

    "When fighters operated alone, without the protection of bombers....?" What? I have no idea what that even means.

    • @kiwibonsai2355
      @kiwibonsai2355 7 месяцев назад +6

      When together the bombers were the main target, the cost to replace, the damage they created, the lives they could take.
      Think if those planes were heading to your family what would you target..

    • @chrisn.6477
      @chrisn.6477 7 месяцев назад +15

      Add it to the long-list of weird nonsense errors

    • @lmrwhiskers
      @lmrwhiskers 7 месяцев назад +5

      Alone vs the protection of bombers as their mission

    • @mcmoose64
      @mcmoose64 7 месяцев назад +8

      Welcome to the "Dark" universe.

    • @PileofBrass
      @PileofBrass 7 месяцев назад +4

      That wording really made no sense. Bombers don’t protect fighters. Quite the opposite.

  • @AbbyNormL
    @AbbyNormL 7 месяцев назад +5

    One of the interesting stories regarding Douglas Bader is that while a prisoner of war, the Germans and British worked out a deal to allow a RAF aircraft to overfly the POW camp Bader was assigned and drop off a pair of prosthetic legs for him.

    • @greggiles7309
      @greggiles7309 7 месяцев назад

      he also made his helper medic stay with him, when he could have been repatriated, he had no good words to say about Bader,

  • @JohnSmith-bx8zb
    @JohnSmith-bx8zb 7 месяцев назад +4

    Barder did an amazing thing to fly after losing his legs. However he didn’t fly in France before the Battle of Britain and would not listen to anyone who had. He had a soul mate in Lee Mallory who also would not listen and it is reported did not understand aerial warfare. It is also reported that Shalto Douglas also was out of his comfort zone.
    There is a excellent retrospective series of 4 videos on the Battle of Britain on the Hard Thrasher channel which is well worth watching.
    Incidentally these cross channel sorties lost many more skilled pilots than achieving what was intended.

  • @clivestainlesssteelwomble7665
    @clivestainlesssteelwomble7665 7 месяцев назад +6

    Stuffy ...kept his pilots alive and his limmited assets working otherwise the big wings would have never have even been built.
    They were too big, too slow to respond and assemble ..burning fuel on route, essentially a one trick pony.. that could only work if the other side didnt have effective radar.
    Only with Beaus the Mossies and with drop tanks on single engine jobs could these ops work.
    I wonder how Downing would have handled the next stage ...i would wager he would have been more responsive to the rapidly diminishing results.
    As for Bader he wasn't exactly a team player..

    • @lancerevell5979
      @lancerevell5979 7 месяцев назад +1

      The old term "Prima Donna" comes to mind. Same with Montgomery.

    • @DraftySatyr
      @DraftySatyr 7 месяцев назад

      'Dowding', not 'Downing'.

    • @clivestainlesssteelwomble7665
      @clivestainlesssteelwomble7665 7 месяцев назад

      @@DraftySatyr
      My bad typo error... Or auto correct...going for the more common option.

  • @daveogarf
    @daveogarf 7 месяцев назад +22

    'Blenheim' = "Blennum".

    • @johnwatson9606
      @johnwatson9606 7 месяцев назад +3

      Beat me to it.

    • @cedhome7945
      @cedhome7945 7 месяцев назад +4

      Allways amazing that this narrator never tries to get a English speaking person to help him get his words corrected !

    • @thomasgerber1472
      @thomasgerber1472 7 месяцев назад

      Blenheim is actually the name of a German town, the Bomber is named after that town because of the battle there. The narrator uses the correct spelling of heim. The British just spell it wrong.

    • @mikelove6502
      @mikelove6502 7 месяцев назад +2

      What about hocker instead of hawker???

    • @DraftySatyr
      @DraftySatyr 7 месяцев назад

      @@thomasgerber1472 No, we spell it in the same way. We just pronounce it differently; English (by and large) doesn't have the rigid rules of pronunciation that German does, so pronouncing the -heim part of the name being driven by the first letter in the 'ei' as is commonplace rather than the second, as is the formal requirement in German.

  • @matthewc7334
    @matthewc7334 6 месяцев назад +1

    For the record, RAF squadrons are called (e.g.) "114 Squadron", not like the US who would say "114th Squadron", and a Group is called "2 Group" not "2nd Group". This comes up after just 25 seconds so I didn't watch the rest. Little things matter in history - if you want credibility, please get it right.

  • @drmarkintexas-400
    @drmarkintexas-400 7 месяцев назад +4

    🎖️🏆⭐💙🤗
    Thank you for sharing

  • @sharzadgabbai4408
    @sharzadgabbai4408 7 месяцев назад +4

    Side note
    The maligned Defiant was briefly the first radar night fighter and successful in its envisioned tactical use

    • @GordonDonaldson-v1c
      @GordonDonaldson-v1c 7 месяцев назад +2

      Correct. And although not equipped with radar at that stage, the maligned Defiants of 141 Squadron deserve credit for disrupting the Greenock blitz in May 1941.

    • @DraftySatyr
      @DraftySatyr 7 месяцев назад

      Not quite sure what this has to do with the subject of this video.

  • @brunozeigerts6379
    @brunozeigerts6379 7 месяцев назад +3

    Of course, the RAF could afford to sustain heavier losses than the Germans could. Still ... if you're losing good pilots and not really seeming to accomplish anything, it makes sense to call a halt.

    • @johnathanh2660
      @johnathanh2660 7 месяцев назад +1

      And redeploy resources to the Far East and the Med.
      The Repulse and Prince of Wales were lost due to a lack of air cover.

  • @larryjohnson7591
    @larryjohnson7591 7 месяцев назад +3

    I have read a lot of books on WWII air war, including some by the British pilots. There just isn't much mention of the Rodeo missions in any of them. I have heard of a couple rhubarbs, but that is about it. Thanks for filling in the gaps.

    • @TheZX11
      @TheZX11 7 месяцев назад

      Read JG26 Top Guns Of The Luftwaffe by Caldwell. History of that unit. Its chapters on 1941 and 42 have some of that. Rodeos just being the bigger Circuses? Rhubarbs the smaller? Tough times as the Spits Vb or earlier couldn't climb or dive like the Germans it was facing.

  • @SkinPeeleR
    @SkinPeeleR 7 месяцев назад +2

    The explosion on @4:56 killed his wingman who you can see left under.

  • @notmenotme614
    @notmenotme614 7 месяцев назад +2

    Imagine being the bait in a vulnerable bomber. How many were shot down just to lure the enemy into combat

  • @ALA-uv7jq
    @ALA-uv7jq 7 месяцев назад +1

    One minute of this crap was enough.

  • @wagahagwa6978
    @wagahagwa6978 7 месяцев назад +2

    that thumbnal is hilarious, please make more of these

  • @barnaby-i9r
    @barnaby-i9r 7 месяцев назад +1

    .
    The Dumbest Documentary on WW2

  • @johnathanh2660
    @johnathanh2660 7 месяцев назад +3

    Controversial opinion: The Battle of Britain was won by RAF Bomber command and the Royal Navy.
    While Fighter command were dogfighting up and down the country Bomber command were sinking invasion barges. Guy Gibson, for example, was flying Hampdens from RAF Scampton.
    The RN had the Home fleet ready to sweep the English Channel/North Sea should an invasion be attempted and the RN had control of the ports. And these could be sabotaged. Most of the ports were in built up areas. And the built up areas were at the end of train lines.
    There was a lack of specialist landing craft, so supplies would have had to be unloaded at ports, or manually on beaches. And that doesn't help with armour.
    So assuming that Fighter command (11 group) could have been forced into a tactical retreat long enough, then a landing could have been attempted. At that point all forces could be rushed there. Bombers could easily find their targets (escorted by fighters), soldiers would be fighting in cities/towns with reinforcements arriving by train and then the RN would arrive, at a rate of knots, sinking everything.
    A 4" or 5" shell going through the side of a barge containing fuel or munitions, or troops? HMS Belfast alone is highly capable.
    As it happened, there was only a very small window immediately after Dunkirk when an invasion *may* have been partially successful. We know that fairly early on Churchill and the war cabinet thought that the danger had passed as tanks were being shipped out to Egypt.
    Also, in the 1970s Sealion was wargamed. On day 5 of the invasion the Wehrmacht were in full retreat, having their own mini Dunkirk.
    So while the contribution of Fighter command was highly useful, the real fight was elsewhere - logistics. And both British and German high commands knew it. Goering was always going to fail, Britain was making good its fighter losses while Germany wasn't and German pilots were often 'encouraged' to dogfight until their fuel was depleted. So they were either POWs or swimming home.

    • @SteveEbbrell
      @SteveEbbrell 7 месяцев назад +1

      The Battle of Britain is the name of a specific battle, fought between Fighter command and the Luftwaffe from 10th July 1940 to 31st October 1940. Its not the name of the whole conflict. Bomber Command and the RN both did excellent work but were not directly involved in this battle, though the bombing and naval support also had a big impact at this and others times. The BoB needed to be won by the RAF to prevent the barges etc being used after this battle. If the Lufwaffe had gained air superiority the barges could have been used, not before then.

    • @johnathanh2660
      @johnathanh2660 7 месяцев назад +2

      @SteveEbbrell
      It's the other way around. The BoB followed the Battle of France.
      The invasion barges were never used because i) (partial) air superiority/supremacy was NOT achieved, ii) the sea lanes/supply routes were not secured and iii) the LDV/Army could not have been beaten in the field (I.e. Southern England).
      It has entered into popular culture as (fighter) 'air war', in part due to propaganda. The Spitfire was used to sell war bonds, in the same way the tank was in WW1. And so the Hurricane's immense contribution to the air war is overlooked. Which in turn casts all the work done by bomber command, the RN and the 'home defence' forces.
      This was in part by design, as Churchill wanted the 'plucky underdog' myth to be used. Yet it was war on an industrial scale, even then.

    • @SteveEbbrell
      @SteveEbbrell 7 месяцев назад +1

      @@johnathanh2660 Who mentioned the Battle of France and whether it was before or after the BoB? I merely mentioned the Battle of Britain was directly won 'mainly' by the RAF with both Spitfires and Hurricanes. And yes the Hurricane and its pilots do not get all the credit they deserve, as overall in the BoB I believe they did shoot down more aircraft. And yes I do know they mostly shot down bombers, but the bombers were the ones doing the damage. And yes I know Bomber Command also did excellent work distroying the build up of barges. So for the record the RAF retained air superority over Britain which prevented operation Sealion (German invasion) going ahead.

    • @johnathanh2660
      @johnathanh2660 7 месяцев назад

      @@SteveEbbrell
      You wrote:
      "The Battle of Britain is the name of a specific battle, fought between Fighter command and the Luftwaffe from 10th July 1940 to 31st October 1940. Its not the name of the whole conflict."
      This is incorrect.
      The Battle of Britain is named such, because the PRECEDING battle was 'The Battle of France'. I mentioned it.
      The name wasn't accidental.
      "I merely mentioned the Battle of Britain was directly won 'mainly' by the RAF with both Spitfires and Hurricanes. "
      And I corrected your misunderstanding.
      In order for there to be a SUCCESSFUL invasion of Britain (i.e. for the German armed forces to win the battle of Britain), three conditions are NECESSARY.
      These conditions were NOT met. For Britain 'all' that was required was that ONE of these defences to hold firm.
      People 'over-focus' on 'Air war South-East England', in part because of deliberate British propaganda, and in part because of the 'romantic idea' that a small group of people (pilots) 'saved the day'.
      It wasn't the case.
      It's a good story, and a good film.
      It isn't true.
      The British and German high commands were highly professional and knew the possibility of invasion was slim. And a successful one even slimmer. Your conclusion:
      "So for the record the RAF retained air superority over Britain which prevented operation Sealion (German invasion) going ahead."
      is factually incorrect.
      I'm glad you know of the work that the Hurricanes did and the work of the bombers. I told the story of the Hurricanes because that part of the 'air war' story gets air brushed out of the 'Battle of Britain'.
      In EXACTLY the same way that the role the Army and RN played gets airbrushed out.
      As for RAF Bomber command
      "And yes I know Bomber Command also did excellent work destroying the build up of barges."
      Yes. But more to the point, it was ESSENTIAL. If not, the Bomber squadrons would have been stood down and the pilots reassigned.
      (Didn't you think it odd that 'new' pilots were being introduced to fighter squadrons while Bomber squadrons were continuing to fly?)
      I recommend Operation Sealion by Peter Fleming.
      As for:
      "And yes I do know they [Hurricanes] mostly shot down bombers"
      That's not the point.
      It was about playing for time. The RAF didn't 'need' to shoot down anything. They were looking to disrupt attacks, and dilute their effectiveness and separate the fighters and bombers. With the fighters dogfighting would occur, and again, the aim was playing for time leading to fuel exhaustion and forcing the German fighters to break off and leave, or risk ditching.
      A dogfight where nothing is shot down is a 'win' for the RAF provided the bombers and fighters are separated.
      As for the bombers, damaging/shooting down was a 'bonus', the aim was to mitigate the damage caused and ideally break up the attacks.
      It was to get through the summer until the possibility of invasion receded due to poor weather.
      So the stats of which types of aircraft did what are largely irrelevant. The advantage of the Hurricane was that it was far, far easier to repair than the Spitfire which required metalworking skills. The advantage of the Spitfire was that its performance characteristics were closer to the Me109, despite the flaws of the early marks.
      Again, this gets 'overlooked'.

  • @Mrgunsngear
    @Mrgunsngear 7 месяцев назад +1

    🇺🇸

  • @rodlohin6988
    @rodlohin6988 7 месяцев назад +2

    Lots of Typhoons in the stock footage.... Um...

    • @GordonDonaldson-v1c
      @GordonDonaldson-v1c 7 месяцев назад

      Standard procedure for "Dark Skies". Look at all the Fireflies in the vid about the Fulmar.

  • @Dalesmanable
    @Dalesmanable 7 месяцев назад +1

    Bader may be a legend but he was an arrogant selfish bastard, as my wife who met him can testify. He was shot down mistakenly by one of his own men after abandoning his wing in search of glory.

  • @austinhmmm9087
    @austinhmmm9087 7 месяцев назад +1

    Not a fan of clickbait. Your content should be above that. You tell a great story, and I love listening to it while i get ready in the morning. Im gonna drop a 👎 on this one. Please stop the clickbait

  • @jameskruse537
    @jameskruse537 7 месяцев назад +1

    With these missions the Brits faced the same problem as in the Battle of Britain … you lost trained pilots as POWs when shot down.

  • @Spey_Phantom
    @Spey_Phantom 7 месяцев назад

    lose that cringy text-to-speech narative!
    its lazy, void of emotion, antisocial and takes away all believability on you channels!!!

  • @robert-trading-as-Bob69
    @robert-trading-as-Bob69 7 месяцев назад +1

    The Battle of Britain was fought mostly over British territory, leading to the permanent loss of German pilots, but the saving of RAF pilots.
    Then the RAF found itself losing pilots over occupied Europe... that's what happens when you get shot down over enemy territory.
    The Luftwaffes policy of not rotating their squadrons like the British did had the short-term advantage of keeping experienced pilots in the fight, racking up large scores, but the long-term effect of burning those pilots out quicker, thus losing their effectiveness.
    I would NOT say that the Battle of Britain was fought solely in the air.
    Without ground radar and the groundbased Observer Corps as well as the communication system, the battle would have been lost.
    Without the efforts of the Merchant Marines and the Royal Navy, there would have been no fuel and metal to operate and build more aircraft for the RAF.
    The Royal Navy and RAF launches picking up downed pilots, enemy and friendly, kept the battle from bring solely an air battle.
    The rat-lines to get Allied pilots safely back to Britain from under the noses of the Germans was purely a ground affair too, although those escape and evasions took so long most times that the Battle of Britain was over by the time the pilots and crew returned.

    • @georgefox4982
      @georgefox4982 6 месяцев назад

      The Battle of Britain was also fought over France and Germany. Bomber Command (350 Losses) Coastal Command (160 Losses) attacked barges, airfields coastal and industrial sites. These losses are rarely mentioned if ever when discussing Bob only losses of spitfires and hurricanes.

  • @24tanksalot
    @24tanksalot 7 месяцев назад +2

    Great channel

  • @grahamlait1969
    @grahamlait1969 3 месяца назад

    Strange... What we see in this post is that, having defeated the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, the RAF then adopted much the same tactics over northern France as the Luftwaffe had used in the Battle of Britain, with much the same result and for much the same reasons. Meanwhile, in Malta and the western desert, where the British army was actually fighting with substantial success against the Italians, air support for ground operations was inadequate, while Malta was being pounded from the air with little or no fighter defence at all. Hmmm.....

  • @paulheinrich7645
    @paulheinrich7645 3 месяца назад

    "Defeated" the Luftwaffe is an exaggeration. "Denied" Germany's attempt at air supremacy/superiority might be a more accurate description. Defeat of the Luftwaffe didn't occur until years later. But what do I know?

  • @colinleitch6245
    @colinleitch6245 3 месяца назад

    At 3.14 "fighters operating without the protection of bombers"', laughed so hard I nearly shat. Was that a Tempest or a Typhoon just before? I"m just busting to find what you come up with next.

  • @dougscott8161
    @dougscott8161 7 месяцев назад

    This is extremely questionable?? What was the "Dumbest Trap about and also what is the truth about the "Luftwaffe" wreck shown with what appears to be a Merlin V12 Engine? ? ? How about some truth here? ? ?

  • @charlesangell_bulmtl
    @charlesangell_bulmtl 7 месяцев назад

    Hitler & company suffered incohesion, should have rolled thru USSR 1ST, then reassess.
    They would have had better luck expanding their ranks with less Übermensch attitude from those who experienced CCCP administration failures...
    And made buddies in oil rich Arab country.😉

  • @Real_Steve_Sharpe
    @Real_Steve_Sharpe 7 месяцев назад

    These "Dark [thing]" channels and videos always have something that irritates me, but at the same time.. Ever look up and see one of these really, _really_ fat people at the top of the stairs, dressed in mismatched clothes made from yacht sails, always have their keys on a big ol' lanyard round their neck and a pin that says _"your rights end where my gravitational field begins",_ then you realise their shoelace is undone, and it's trapped under one of the walking sticks? I can't look away from these video's any more than you could look away from that.
    In fact now that I think about it, a sceptical man might wonder if the good Mr Dark here makes statements such as _"when fighter planes operated alone without the protection of bombers"_ knowing full well people will rush to the comment section to point out the tiny little mistake, and that interaction of any kind will cause The Algorithmᵀᴹ to drive more traffic to hi... oh. Oh.
    GGWP Mr Dark, GGWP.

  • @JonathonMitchell-ig4bv
    @JonathonMitchell-ig4bv 7 месяцев назад +1

    Do you think that’s a British empire warcrime for killing, innocent British war planes and British tanks😢🇬🇧 that’s how they destroy the British Empire

  • @Spey_Phantom
    @Spey_Phantom 7 месяцев назад

    text-to-speech = instant dislike!

  • @TheRealRedRooster
    @TheRealRedRooster 7 месяцев назад +1

    Comes to show that the British didn't learn from the problems the German air force had during the "Battle of Britain". The Germans were ham-stringed by the short range of their Bf-109 fighters, while the RAF had the "home field advantage with their Hurricane and Spitfires. And yet, that very same problem was reversed in these RAF operations, with now the German air force being close to their home bases and the RAF having to fly the distance to even get into the fight and losing pilots even when they were able to bail out when their planes got shot down over France and Belgium...

    • @DrivermanO
      @DrivermanO 7 месяцев назад +1

      Leigh-Mallory thought he knew better. Overweening arrogance.

  • @janhviljoen
    @janhviljoen 3 месяца назад

    The adjustable glasses advertised here is pure rubbish. Don't get sucked in.

  • @mkay6089
    @mkay6089 7 месяцев назад

    Story had nothing to do with the dumbest trap... clickbait picture of a plane with a hole in the side leading to thoughts of some fake airfield full of planes or some such.. YOU dropped the ball big time on this one

  • @johndyson4109
    @johndyson4109 7 месяцев назад

    Well when the Americans showed up with the P-47s and Mustangs the Germans were through..

  • @13luissalas
    @13luissalas 7 месяцев назад +2

    What plane is the one on the thumbnail?

    • @stephenmarshall4414
      @stephenmarshall4414 7 месяцев назад +6

      I believe it is a Hawker Hurricane.

    • @13luissalas
      @13luissalas 7 месяцев назад +1

      Ahh, OK makes sense. The side profile confused me for some reason. Thanks.

  • @Spartan902
    @Spartan902 7 месяцев назад +1

    The Battle of Britain changed the course of the war. Hitler pretty much gave up on invading England after that failure and switched his aim to Russia.The amount of mistakes Hitler made was just crazy. Definitely no military mastermind!

    • @lancerevell5979
      @lancerevell5979 7 месяцев назад +2

      Fortunately for the Allies. The crazy little Austrian paper-hanger was his own worst enemy. No strategist at all. 😅

    • @jeffreyb8770
      @jeffreyb8770 7 месяцев назад

      ​@@lancerevell5979how, exactly could Germany 'win' the war? The Allies surrender, and hand over all their subhuman citizens?

  • @UndoEverything
    @UndoEverything 3 месяца назад

    This is one more propaganda channel removed from my YT recommendation. You are warned.

  • @DarrylHart
    @DarrylHart 7 месяцев назад +2

    Blen-heim LOL

  • @richarddye9170
    @richarddye9170 6 месяцев назад

    "When fighters operated alone without the protection of bombers!" Who writes this drivel?

  • @gordon295
    @gordon295 7 месяцев назад

    The producer of this video also like to use the NAZI word a lot in his videos... It must make him feel " Good "

  • @domweaver3488
    @domweaver3488 7 месяцев назад

    Pronounced "Bristol Blenum!" ;)

  • @peterkavanagh64
    @peterkavanagh64 4 месяца назад

    The leaks stopped. . Lidt away

  • @jorgegallo3261
    @jorgegallo3261 6 месяцев назад

    Stupid war, tragic casualties!

  • @auro1986
    @auro1986 7 месяцев назад

    they are your channels i know but why didn't you put this video in dark skies channel?

  • @politicsuncensored5617
    @politicsuncensored5617 7 месяцев назад

    This was the Battle of Britain in - "Reverse". What were the Brits thinking in doing these missions with limited time for their fighters over the target and also over enemy territory? Shalom

  • @Doc_Rainbow
    @Doc_Rainbow 7 месяцев назад

    4:57 holy hell he killed himself with the explosion

  • @Darkel45
    @Darkel45 7 месяцев назад

    If you play this on 0.75x it barely has any change.

  • @richhunt8307
    @richhunt8307 6 месяцев назад

    Talk slower!!!!!!

  • @MK-vp5md
    @MK-vp5md 7 месяцев назад

    clickbait

  • @CanadianSmoke
    @CanadianSmoke 7 месяцев назад

    My Father flew Blenheims in 107 Squadron, Great Massingham and Malta, 11 Squadron in the Western Desert and Ceylon. I built a few Blenheim models in my time... it was a horrible aircraft, but it had a sleek profile.

  • @maddhatter3564
    @maddhatter3564 7 месяцев назад

    3:12 'when fighters flew alone, without the protection of bombers"??? since when did bombers protect fighters? fighters were bomber escorts, not the other way around.

  • @runlarryrun77
    @runlarryrun77 7 месяцев назад

    Douglas Bader was & still is a very controversial figure. Had it not been for his own, apparently very selective, autobiography & subsequent biopic both titled "Reach For The Sky" he may have been remembered very differently.
    He lost his legs before the war performing dangerous stunts he'd been warned about many times before. He was only cleared to fly again because the RAF were so desperate & even then there were many officers who were formally against his recommission.
    When he was shot down a lot of pilots in fighter command weren't sorry. Some even went to the mess & had a drink when they heard as so many considered Bader a danger to himself & anyone he flew with.
    2 sides to every story & all that.

  • @ricardocorbie6803
    @ricardocorbie6803 7 месяцев назад

    Trafford Lee Mallory was a snake 🐍 in the grass,, Bader being his favorite was his biggest supporter and was complicit in all TLM sordid actions!!

  • @romanbrough
    @romanbrough 7 месяцев назад

    One of the stupidest decisions of RAF command
    Spitfires with experienced pilots would have been far more useful in Malta, Egypt, and especially Burma and Malaya. The failure to send the best aircraft in sufficient numbers to face the Japanese caused the worse British defeats of the war.

  • @nodice7571
    @nodice7571 7 месяцев назад

    This is a great video as always but what’s up with the title? Nothing sounds dumb here in the slightest. Germany took an aggressive approach over England? Am I missing something?

  • @citizencairn5230
    @citizencairn5230 7 месяцев назад

    I pity the fools who complain about pronunciation, yet clearly have only a tenuous grasp of English themselves....

  • @tullyontherocks
    @tullyontherocks 7 месяцев назад

    "This change in strategy" was an accident.

  • @Wadaryu1000
    @Wadaryu1000 7 месяцев назад

    Lest we forget.

  • @Ralphieboy
    @Ralphieboy 7 месяцев назад

    Hawkers, yes, Typhoons, no. And definitely not Thunderbolts...

    • @DraftySatyr
      @DraftySatyr 7 месяцев назад

      Or a B-17 making a special guest appearance as a bomber.
      And yes, I know that the RAF operated 20 B-17Cs (as the Fortress Mk 1) with 90 Sqn RAF from July 1941 but these early variants didn't have a ball turret, tail gunner position (or mid-upper turret, come to that) and were an unmitigated disaster. The survivors were withdrawn from service with Bomber Command after a month and reallocated to Coastal Commend.

  • @JamesBaker-q1h
    @JamesBaker-q1h 7 месяцев назад

    Reach for the Sky, The story of Douglas Bader, was an excellent book.

    • @DraftySatyr
      @DraftySatyr 7 месяцев назад

      Albeit written from a very singular perspective.

  • @MassiveBenny
    @MassiveBenny 7 месяцев назад

    "BLEN 'IM"
    Not "BLEN_HIME"