Last Flight of the Luftwaffe - Courland Evacuation VE-Day 1945
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- On VE-Day 1945 and beyond, the German Air Force launched a desperate rescue mission to evacuate German wounded and troops from the Courland Pocket in Latvia, where German forces had been cut off by the Soviet advance. Using whatever aircraft were still available, the mission ended in tragedy and destruction.
Dr. Mark Felton is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers 'Zero Night' and 'Castle of the Eagles', both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: en.wikipedia.o...
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Thumbnail: Aldo Bidini.
My Grandfather, Ludwig Lindermair, made it out of Kurland on one of the last ships. He was a cook and what was left of his unit were entrenched and under mortar and artillery fire. When the bombardment let up for a while one of the officers demanded coffee from him. Reluctantly my grandfather went with the officer to the Gulaschkanone or field kitchen when the firing started again and the kitchen more or less suffered a direct hit. The officer was killed and my grandfather wounded in the lower leg by shrapnel, which travelled from below the knee and exited through the calf. The trenches were hit as well and in the ensuing pandemonium my grandfather made it away and managed to catch a horse, on which he rode to a port.
He was a very gentle and kind and a somewhat shrewd man, made a cook because no drill instructor seemed to have been capable to make him march in line or perform the required drills properly and him being older than 30 when pressed into service. He also pretended to be a lousy shot in basic training, in spite of being a good hunter and a family butcher. In the field he cooked so well and was able to "organise" such ample supplies, that the officers kept him as much behind the lines as possible. Only on one occasion, when he had mixed up salt and sugar and had ruined coffee for a commander and his staff he was sent to a forward position for three days as a punishment. He said that he shot all his ammunition out of his foxhole without looking or rising his head over the parapet.
My mum told me that after the war he at times broke down and cried, and his wife suspected him to have had mistresses in the areas where he was stationed, but he just sobbed "Ach, die armen Kameraden, ach, die armen Kameraden" (Oh, my poor mates, oh, my poor mates). To me he only told these two stories, and how he once captured a young guerilla fighter, who gave himself up to him when he was on his way to get food to the frontline on a cart. He told me again and again how scared he was, driving the cart and trying to keep the young Russian in check at the same time, fearing an ambush. He died in 1979 when I was 13.
Edit: I copy and paste another story, a reply to a viewer here, because of the encouraging replies to the original post above. Thanks for reading.
Hi guys, thank you so much for your thoughts and kind comments. You are right, @Vincent Sluga, I will keep these stories as it is the first time I have written them down. @SeamHead33 my grandfather was also a bit naive. He voted for the NSDAP because of the promise of prosperity and stability, he thought it would be good for his business. He even wanted to join the SA because he found their uniforms chic. His wife, who had her wits together better, told him sternly "Ludwig, we do business with everybody, not only with these Brownshirts. They are thugs anyway and I do not want my husband to look like a thug". He much regretted his vote when people started to disappear, when the Nazis plunged Germany into war and chaos and when he was forced to fight in the most evil struggle in human history. He was, as I said, a very kind, loving, peaceful and gentle man with a fantastic sense of humour, not a fighter at all. We all can be glad that the murderous, deluded evil ideology starting that war got beaten in the end, unfortunately not only by democratic forces. He had made his life in Leipzig, which was first reached to everybody's relief by the Americans, but was later made part of the Soviet occupied zone which became the socialist GDR, a puppet state of the USSR.
Here is another story: My grandfather had bought shortly before the war a brand new Opel Olympia, one of the most advanced cars at the time in Germany. Little could he enjoy it, and the Nazis took the tyres off it when the going got tough economically while he was away to fight. The car sat on bricks in a garage and my mum used to play in it as a little kid and keeps telling me how good it smelt of leather and paint. The car was still there when my grandfather returned from war, but tyres could not be obtained from anywhere. A jealous neighbour told the Soviet authorities about the car and a Russian officer turned up with a couple of men to take the car away. No problem to find matching tyres for the Soviet occupiers, of course. However, this commandeering went somewhat against the code of honour of the Russian officer. He carried out his orders but felt embarrassed about it. He apologised to my grandfather and gave him a bottle of vodka with the words "This is the only thing I can give to you".
@SeamHead33, these are stories that just happened. They can not be made better or worse, had anyone acted differently. I have no idea how someone could think that the world would be a better place if fascism had been victorious, and please make no effort to tell me. All people who have to live under murderous, opressive regimes will tell you that it is not a great life, unless you are one of the perpetrators and benefit directly from the murder and opression. I firmly believe that all humans should have equal opportunities and should lead free, healthy and prosperous lives with as little ideological interference to their choices and should help each other out as much as possible.
Am excellent read. You should copy and paste that, and keep it in a safe file.
Great story he sound like a very honest and a great man.
I appreciate the story of your Grandfather from you . These story and their struggle during the war fills in the picture of what went on the ground
@@SeamHead33 then you will not get to hear his stories....fight smart...this is not Hollywood
Wonderful stories. Thank you.
My grandma's stepfather was in the pocket. He didn't get to adventure out.
Got captured but released early because he got sick and the Soviets didn't want to take care of that. Guess he was lucky
Surprised they didn't just kill people that were to sick to work
GreenManAiming the reason they didn’t do that is because they would of been a bigger burden on their fellow countrymen to deal with. A germany pleading for its men and having only wounded soldiers is less of a threat
@@jhonyark2308 Did you just say the Soviets released sick POW's?
@@Milkmans_Son I was wondering that as well. I've never heard anything like that at all from my grand cousin. He said basically every night men were dropping dead from starvation, sickness or the cold. He was one of the very few to come home alive.
@@Milkmans_Son he was kidding
My father was on the Eastern Front and was taken prisoner in the Kurland Pocket, being held until 1949 I believe. So I found this video to be even more fascinating than usual. Thanks Mark.
My grandmother and her sister did time in a Communist concentration and an acquaintance from Germany told me that my brother's USMC issued boots, that I have reminded her of those that her uncle had when he got captured and put in Commie POW camp. I asked her, if he was in the Fallschirmyager, as they were the primary users of lace-up boots, in the Heer. She did not know.
Communism is a poisonous ideology.
He was clearly fortunate
If there is one thing which this video of Russian Fighters Shooting down unarmed Aircraft AFTER the surrender makes starkly clear *Many Russians have always been a viscious and violently murderous lot, every bit as happy to commit war crimes & atrocities as the SS were*
Problem is as Ukraine shows - They haven't improved - They've become even more brutal.
Merciless dictator vs merciless dictator. Their troops were horrible to each other but I can't help but feel pity for troops abused by each.
So true. All that inhumanity on top of inhumanity. So enfuriating.
@Danny n Haha, yeah. I suppose so. Animals are not known to do that.
You don't get it , what Germans did to the Jews and Russian civilians defies description , at the end they were lucky to have a country to come back to .
Yeah it’s so horrible that the soldiers are automatically lumped together with their politics and are treated very poorly or even slaughtered as a result. This is a result of powerful men without opposing authority getting their way, and both sides would suffer.
Germany started it and I'm German
I’m thinking about the Ju-52 and He-111 aircrew who must have known during briefing that flying into Courland with zero protection was a suicide mission. Yet, they took off and did their duty to the very last.
Todd Moss - yes they were brave and did their duty, but didn't they think they'd also be sacrificing the lives of the people they were sent to save?
@@amain325 as long as there’s even a minuscule chance of success, you have to try.
Typical German professionalism.
great soldiers, we need more like them
@@Playwithdeutschland They were magnificent, right to the bitter end.
Post 15 mins ago and 75 comments already. This man has an incredible following.
As he should.
This is all stolen off the old military channel, even the music in the beginning Dunt Dunt Dunt Dunt Dunt Dunt Dunt.....LOL.
@@maximusdecimusmeridius5500 Evidence or sources?
@@archstanton6102 I've seen them myself!Not everyone has learned their redacted history education on youtube.Books,real documentaries,lectures,first hand accounts etc. etc.
"It is as it is"---to quote the _very stable genius_ of the U.S.---Dr. Felton does be a pretty good historian. . .
I'm from Latvia and this is rly interesting. Thank you for covering our usualy ignored history. Although this was no victory day, at this day started ocupation that would last 50 years.
You mean 45
@@karloveliki5387 You are right, but I was generalizing. Soviets started ocupation in 1940 but last russian army units left only in 1994.
@@actonman7291 cant blame them for that they were commies
OK 👌 now Your country is free and stay free! Good luck from friendly Croatia !!
@@karloveliki5387 Tnx an good luck😊
i want to sincerely thank you for your unbiased documentary's, my great uncle served in the wehrmacht, i only knew him when he was older, and he got these trauma attacks from back in the war, he survived courland, his brother did not, he is still missing to this day. he never talked about how he got back or out.
Still people with no knowledge sometimes frown up on why i think the man deserves my deepest respect for the situation he has been in.
He never talked about it, and education about the regular german soldier... unexistant. but luckily there is mark felton to tell that piece of history.
Uneducated people assume Wehrmacht = Nazi. Apparently they've never heard of conscription, or the tradition of the army being apolitical.
War is Hell. My grandfather was in the first world war. He was a territorial and fought from the first day. He used to crawl through the desolation, dead bodies and barbed wire to direct the artillery. He used to wake up screaming until he died in his 80's. I like to think it will never happen again but look at the beautiful country of Syria.
Sorry, that was not showing any disrespect of the regular German soldier. Just how horrible war is.
only fellow soldiers truly will understand. nothing but respect for the enemy after the conflict ends [short version]
Thank you for your great uncle's service against the red menace
I click like before the advert finishes. I'm never disappointed. Another dose from Dr Felton
Get the "adblock " extension . Cause i dont see them
uBlock Origin
If Mark Felton was my history teacher in high school I would have received the perfect attendance award :) Hey Mark can you do a video on Leo Major, the one eyed Canadian sniper who single handedly captured 93 German soldiers during the Battle of the Scheldt in Southern Holland?
Omg I this is news to me. Thanx I ll now read of him on wiki
@@devendrajoshi7031 Yes do it! he also fought in Korea as well and recieved battle awards too. Hardcore soldier!
Amazing suggestion ... And here goes half of my day Googling that ...
Hey, it will be worth it I promise, Leo was a larger than life person and I hope that one day they make a movie about him. I think he has his own day In Zwolle Holland that people celebrate every year to thank him for liberating their town 😊
I love you too, hope you’re having a great day ❤️
Holy moly. I hope I'd never have to choose between attempting to escape with 95% chance of dying, or take my chances working in camps for the next 10 years.
I'm not totally sure but I think the mortality rate for Germans in the camps would have been approaching 90%. I forget the stats but they're ridiculous. In other words, you had basically the same chances of survival with either choice
"...it's better to PERISH than live as SLAVES!" - Winston S. Churchill
@@daleburrell6273 It was easy for him to talk like that when there was no danger of dying. An old demagogue who killed millions of people. What did that dog do in India alone....
….then you probably don’t want to be captured by Russians in Ukraine.
My wife's parents were taken, as German civilians, into the Soviet labor camp system after the Red Army conquered East Prussia. The father was never heard of again, and the mother managed to survive 3 1/2 years of hard labor in the Ural mountains. She had many tales to tell about it.
Heaps of tales about soviet soldiers I bet
And none of them good I suspect. Stalin was worse than Hitler in my opinion, but that still don't say much about Hitler
@@samrodian919 you nazi lover,they get what they done in war,it us not revenge it is pay back...Remeber one milion soviet soldeir die from hunger im nazi camps...How was nazi behave in russia,allmoat every km sees war crimes.
@@samrodian919 your comment contradicts your self
@@Tom-uk2ow German civilians get what they done? Quit sucking off stalin lol.
WWII didn't end on a dime. The Courland Pocket continued until 1955, with over 50,000 Germans and more Riga Latvians resisting Soviet occupation. They were locally called "Brothers of the Woods". A Latvian survivor who escaped this told me this tragedy.
Forest Brothers. And that resistance bit is not Latvian/German centric.
My Father got injured in the war in Russia and got out, I guess he was lucky and perhaps that why I am here today !
Greetings From Australia
Not all of them surrendered, if I recall correctly, at least one third from 19th SS (2nd Latvian) division went in to the forests. They fought as forests brothers, joined later by many other people forced to do so by the circumstances and continued armed resistance up until 1956.
could you send me a link about this place please
could you send me a link about this please
There were occasional skirmishes up to the early 1980's in Estonia. The last Forest Brother came out of hiding in 1995.
@@chrisbrent7487 that's amazing info , do you have anything that I can follow up from this with? Do you mean old men were there in the 90s or recruits kept joining ?
another old crout who hates to admit he lost...
a Luftwaffe video again, yay, great as always Mark!
Brick Dragoon are your napoleonic figs ktown by any chance or decals?
@@u.h.forum. My French infantry man is a sticker, done by some dude on Ebay I think, my Napoleon is by "United Bricks" hope that helps.
You are awesome
Brick Dragoon UB is a good seller
Chaschila Benn kinda random
Army Group Courland: we're completely surrounded by an overwhelming force in a tiny pocket and need evacuating by unconventional means.
British Expeditionary Force: They stole our thing!
Germans at Dunkirk "hold back". Russians at Courland? "Slaughter the defenceless". Cultural differences? Ok so whose next to invade a eastern country? Seems a smart idea.
@@Wolfspined If you think that the combat during the evacuation at Dunkirk was just cuz of the Germans "holding back", well, you're wrong.
@@Wolfspined It is not cultural difference. Dunkirk story was written by Brits and Courland story was written by Germans. I hear Germans being evacuated from foreign country and nothing about native population caught during fighting there. If I remember correctly, Liepaja and that air port should have been next to frontline by then. Last Soviet push in Courland was to cut of Liepaja. After that they just kept Germans and locals in the pocket.
Operation Hannibal was running for five months already by the time of VE day. Telling that Hitler forbade it is a lie. Himmler got sacked just for talking wrong way. Donitz was handed over the state. It is not something madman would do to somebody who blatantly disobeys orders for five months. Germans just did not have logistic capacity to evacuate all.
If people do not surrender, when surrender is declared, they accept the risk of being shot at.
@@Wolfspined The Germans only held back the army at Dunkirk, and it wasn't for humanitarian reasons.
@@jurylance8905 No the Germans were ordered to hold back, do a bad job shooting and held back many panzer division in the area for many days... The commanders did so allegedly because they could not reach berlin and the high command...at least so they said afterwards...
Ahhhhh.... I finally got my WW2 hit for the day. My skin's stopped itching finally. Mark Felton Productions is the best dealer ever, he's always got the good stuff, and if you can't afford it, it doesn't matter cuz he'll sell it for free.
I thought the skin starts itching after the hit though
@@2147B depends what it is.
It was really sad to listen through this one
HKA the story is clearly about soldiers and airmen. If you listen closely you’ll hear that they prioritized married and wounded men for the evacuation. Considering that the Germans had already surrendered this massacre was totally unnecessary, and the Germans are clearly in pitiful condition at this point
@@arun120977 "Justice"? You mean mass murder and torture in a different country by a different pathalogical system?
@@arun120977 Oh you, so developed and sophisticated human being.
They should make you a judge of the high court.
HKA By family ties I am closer to the Germans than the Russians, so I would have preferred for most of the the Germans to be spared from the Soviet gulag. All punishment for war crimes should’ve been done in the western manner.
@@arun120977 Thank goodness
There are a lot of short stories in these comments that never make it to the history books. That's why I love videos like yours, Mark. People from all over share stories of their loved ones and what tragic fates they suffered. Really makes you reflect on everything.
Last time I was this Early, the Luftwaffe had Aerial Superiority over Europe!
last time I was this early, Manfred von Richtofen was still alive.
If it was before 1939, HAH!
You’re not early, you’re just in time.
But not Britain.
Big Blue Yes, I refer to Europe as that of the Continent, the UK has left the EU.
Humanity and great bravery shown by the air rescue attempt. The few that survived must have felt blessed.
Greetings from Latvia!
We were taught a fair bit about the Courland pocket in school and I have watched a few videos about it, yet still this is the first time of me hearing about this brave but suicidal rescue mission.
You just keep amazing me, Mark.
POW escape
@@sisyphusvasilias3943 From the russian and "technically speaking" perspective, yes.
@@krebssfish9370 and from the German perspective too they were POWs escaping back to Germany or nuetral ground.
My (German) wife had 4 Uncles and a Grandfather that were Ostfront vets. 2 were killed in the East, one in Stalingrad. Of the 2 surviving uncles, one was in Kurland in 45' and he was evacuated. I have his Wehrpass and ultra rare "KURLAND" cufftitle.
My grandma told me a story about a German soldier who later moved to the United States who had crawled into a wing space of a Luftwaffe plane, crammed with refugees, to escape the Russians. I wonder if that fits into this story somehow.
Sure does! Fits like a glove, er, wing space! 😉
RIP brave warriors from all sides. May we never have to do the same.
"Brave warriors from all sides"? Their is a difference between murders and warriors
@@technicallynothing841 Warriors is just muderer with fancy title
@Ray Charles Why don't YOU just say you love Soviet murder and torture and disregard for international treaties? Typical ignorant socialist.
@@poi1612 ...AW, BULLSHIT!!! WHEN A "WARRIOR" KILLS, IT'S AT LEAST CLOSE TO BEING A FAIR FIGHT-!!!
"THERE IS NO HONOR IN ATTACKING THE WEAK!!!" - Lieutenant Whorf
Dr Felton one again gives us a concise yet meticulous account of a largely unknown tragedy; save for the Wilhelm Gustloff disaster, the Courland Evacuation was something I'd missed in all my reading. My thanks to Dr Felton for putting that right!
I'm surprised mark Felton could have mentioned that Latvian as well as Germans, continued to fight Russians as partisans, well into the 50s! That would be a nice story in itself Mark!
It’s so sad that Hitler/Germany needlessly sacrificed so many young Germans when the war was clearly already lost.
Its quite likely that they continued on due to the fact that the allies were going to metaphorically and literally rape Germany.
So better to die killing as many allied as you can than to surrender and starve to death anyway as a DEF.
Why did Lee fight in 1864 and 1865? Because he didn't know he was beaten. Sometimes it's hard to know. See movie script of "Gladiator": "People should know when they're conquered.
" "Would you, Quintus? Would I?"
well the german soldieres didnt fight for hitler at that point ....they fought for their survival
Hitler probably went to war to early. He should have spent time consolidating German power and building up the armed forces, while secretly funding pro-Nazi parties/movements in Poland, the Baltic states, etc.
jt thorsson
What are you talking about? West Germany and Japan prospered after the war. Yes the Soviet areas suffered. You make it sound so black and white. The world isn't. It seems like as an adult you would know that.
Another amazing and evocative production. Despite the ultimate evil of their Leader, I hope those 33 pilots at least got posthumous Iron Crosses. Truly laying down their lives for their Kameraden.
I doubt they did
Sadly, saving lives is rarely treated as honorably as taking them.
Great content as always. Greetings from Courland (Kurzeme, in Latvian).
Even though Germany was the enemy, it is still sad that a lot of the men in the planes were fathers and family men who were so close to surviving the war, and could have hopefully got on with rebuilding their lives.
Rebuilding their lives after destroying millions of other lives? They got what they deserved
@@technicallynothing841 The common soldier didn't really have a choice - they were tools of the politicians at the end of the day.
@@technicallynothing841 remember that not all German soldiers were NAZIS. Many of them were probably just conscripts just wanting to survive the war and go home.
@@ceptspelmenis958 Go home after invading a previous allie and killing millions of innocent civilians. Sounds fair
Erm , mate, what about the fathers brothers, they killed, that probably wanted to have a life also. The old people, women that were murdered, burnt alive. The children that were not even worth a bullet and were just drowned or smashed against rocks and walls. Just because we are friends with Germany now ,does not mean we have to white wash the crimes of their fathers. Not all soldiers were NAZIS, but very few of them stood up when crimes against civilian population were committed. That's called passive agreement. When you go to war, you accept all the consequences of it, including being killed for killing others.
Mark Felton Productions is better/higher quality than anything on the history channel .. The amount of research he puts into his videos makes his videos so informative i even learn new things about battles/topics i had watched endless videos and read tons of books/articles about..
I already knew about the Courland Pocket, but I had no idea that there were 27 DIVISIONS trapped there, and did not know about the rescue attempts. Thank you Mark.
"Be nice to the people on your way up, you might have to meet them on your way down."
I'm a simple man
When I see a new video by Mark Felton, I press the like button
To ride into the jaws of hell in an unarmed and unbelievably slow plane took some guts no matter what side you were on.
Luftwaffe pilots were honorable and lived by a strict code of fair play and honor, can't say the same for most if not all soviet pilots.....
@@timmclaughlin232 Or even some RAF pilots, known for shooting an undefended man on the end of his parachute
@@timmclaughlin232 The Soviets had no honour.
Honestly, I am unable to understand how this informative content is available for free.
Advertisements.
Luftwaffe is my favourite word of all time , Mark says it so well , his narration is flawless
Wow Mr Felton this really brings home the horror and savagery of WWIIs last days but you kept thier history alive
*"Keine Schlacht, eine Rettungsaktion" (Not a battle, a rescue mission)*
I know. I just felt it was fitting here.
There was just so much wrong with this operation, on so many levels, it was incredible that anyone got out alive. The Soviets were ruthless, and in truth, who could really blame them? Really evocative piece Mark, thank you.
They were escaping POWs afterall.
@@sisyphusvasilias3943 I'm sorry but I don't understand your point.
A sad story for those who survived. Thank you for your capable retelling, sir!
!
I learned more about history on this amazing channel rather than any history book, thank you sir! Have a beautiful, healthy life, respect from Greece
Mark, I have been an avid student of anything to do with WWII for over 60 years and know quite a bit about most facets of the war. With this video, as with all of yours, you still taught this old dog a lot more about something I already knew pretty well.
I learned early on in watching your material that I can trust what you say as accurate, which is of paramount importance to me. Many times, I have stopped supposedly reliable productions after hearing glaring errors. Once you hear one thing you know to be wrong or misrepresented, you don't know how reliable anything new to you may be, and that defeats the whole purpose. It's nice to not have that lingering skepticism while watching.
I can live with an occasional slip of the tongue type gaffe, but you don't even seem to make those either.
Whether it's exhaustive prep or a lot of retakes while recording, the finished product is always superb, and I truly appreciate you and your efforts.
Thanks, again.
I didn’t even think the Luftwaffe was a thing in 1945
It was... barely.
From what I know,they had thousands of aircraft and fighters but there was a massive shortage of experienced pilots and fuel. Fuel was key!
Clinton Brewer thanks for telling
Air craft fuel was almost non existent by the end of 1944, apart from what reserves they may of held
well there were still planes aqround but absulutely no fuel
I'm amazed at your knowledge of wartime history, and so much of it pretty unknown to most people.
You must spend 99% of your time doing research. And I love the way you make it available to everyone. Keep up the fantastic work Mark 🙂
Greetings Mark ,as always satisfied with the details.. greatings from Germany, native born from Latvia , Liepāja, Grobiņa.
A man who worked for my father told me he was a German soldier and was captured by the Russians. He said he spent 9 years in Russia. Thanks for sharing.
Another great video from Mark Felton, and once again expertly covering an incident that I’d never heard off. I wish that Mark had been writing the history curriculum when I was at school. I’d certainly have learnt more.
A particularly harrowing episode, thank you for telling the story.
Nothing better then waking up at 6am on a cold winters day in Sydney watching a new video from my favourite youtube channel with a nice cuppa
Blitz dude what you doin’ here.
Almost midnight here in sweden
@@themaus3847 its wwii history and I love Marks channel. Been watching for ages
Economics... It's hard for me to imagine a cold winter's day in Sydney... I'm a POHM who lives over here in Latvia. Winter static air temperatures touch -30... then, when a North-East wind tears down off Siberia... bugger... then it really is cold.
been a grand summer's day here today though.
Cheers, fella. All the best !
Cup of filtered coffee and some Tim tams eh ?
Something about the JU 52's straight lines that really makes that bird look so sweet to me.
I don’t know how you find such stories! Never heard of them usually. You must be rummaging through the old files.
They don't show their own crimes on tv obviously lol
@@LTPottenger what?
Deutschland hat Europa vor dem Bolschewismus bewart.Könnt euch ruhig mal bedanken.
You have to find them my friend. They are there, on the internet, for all to see. It just takes a lot of digging.
Don’t ever change your intro music Mark. So damn good.
„Marduk - Todeskessel Kurland“ is playing in my head while watching this video.
I find it particularly interesting when Mark presents these short documentaries about the period as the war ended. Many things previously little reported happened. Some good ,many evil.
As Patton once said, "We defeated the wrong enemy."
I get the Soviets' anger but the war was over. Just let them go home, like your surviving men get to.
Not as simple as that. Top of my head, I recall that out of six million USSR POWs the Nazi regime had in custody, five million died. Treated very badly, except if they could somehow appear useful. HiWi s were Soviet soldiers who decided to fight next to the Germans against their own USSR. I don't think any HiWi's survived capture by Soviet forces when the siege of Stalingrad ended in a USSR victory.
Many Soviet soldiers held as POWs by the Germans, refused to be returned to the Soviet Union. And for good reason: often they were questioned about how they were captured, and then executed in the Soviet Union. But, the Allies stuck to their agreement with Stalin, that soldiers could =not refuse= repatriation to their home country.
@Chris_Wooden_Eye
Was Stalin still sane enough to understand that after VE day?
I have an impression that his sanity did not survive the war with all the paranoia and stress eating away his mind, and he was a shell of his former self from 1946 onward.
Randomly Entertaining , yes a good idea but Stalin saw the opportunity to push the communist ethos right into the middle of the West and down into our collective free craws
@Chris_Wooden_Eye Germans were not providing food to Soviet POWs... and it is well known fact. 3.3 millions died in German hand and minority that survived most likely were used as slave work so they were provided with some food to exploit them as much as posible before death.
For example in Poland under German rule people depending on year of war were provided with only 500 up to 600 kcal per day... not to mention that this food was made out of stuff that Germans simply did not wanted to eat... and we talking about civilians that was working for them not some Soviet POWs.
@Chris_Wooden_Eye Except for things like the Hunger plan ect meant that Germany had killed them long before they were liberated.
The bravery of the aircrew to risk and lose their lives trying to rescue unknown comrades at the very end of the war speakd volumes about their character
Thank goodness this isnt Mark Felton's last flight. Another quality in flight entertainment upload.
The baltic states war years are excruciatingly sad
Tomas Bodling I visited the WWII museum in Tallin. I got the impression they preferred the Germans to the Soviets.
@@PeteCourtier It's a very mixed experience. You have to understand that back then the Baltic peoples hated Germans because German nobles ruled over large parts of the land for centuries but after the Soviets occupied the Baltics and started their deportation and execution campaign some views changed to make a preferance for one evil that wasn't killing our people at the time. And of course that changed afterwards again.
@@MadKlauss Arguably they hated the Russians more. German rule by then was somewhat a distant memory, Baltic Germans having been chased out by WWI and the independence war. Being under the yoke of the Russian Empire was still fresh in people's minds. A lot of people voluntarily joined the German side to fight the Soviets at the time.
@@MadKlauss The Baltic - Belarus Hated STALIN far more due to the Soviet - Communist famine that killed Millions during the 30s !
@@motorrebell
Are they now the real force/main lobby behind having American bases in Baltic states and bypass NATO, thanks to their old experience.
A fascinating story Mark and demonstrates the great courage shown by the German pilots! (Flying un-armed for heavens sake!)
Hey, German Battleship here. I just wanna say that i love your content 👍
Too bad the pride of the Kriegsmarine was attacked by a bunch of outdated planes, crippling her.
The story is always in the details. Thank you so much for covering these lesser known yet colorful avenues of history that spark so much of our interest and imagination.
My uncle was captured there, and it took almost 10 years for him to be released.
... he had to repair the houses, roads, factories he and his fellow soldiers Seems to be fair!
@Elegant Fowl The Nazi soldiers who invaded Russia caused the death of 14 million Russian citizens. They destroyed every village they entered, to create "Lebensraum" for their own people. The Russians were considered as "Uentermenschen" ("Lower People"), and the order was: destroy them. And they did. But indeed, we don't know how many people, houses, ... this "uncle" destroyed. He was part of the gang. Collective responability. Ever heard about that?
@@arun120977 i would understand your point if most of them by a heavy margin were SS but they werent. Thats basically like imprisoning 1000 innocents beacuse 1 commited murder today
@@arun120977 Yes i agree. Nobody was innocent with a emphasis on wehrmach and the red army but there were innocent people who did not deserve it
@@tuke3541 The Nazi's murdered over 3 million Soviet POW, that included many by the Wehrmach.
As always - top class Mark! You're a true asset to this platform.
Fascinating topic. Although I will point out that the sinking of the Gustloff was an exception rather than the rule for evacuations. That one sinking alone comprise almost a third of German deaths at sea during this operation, which amounted in total to less than 2% of individuals who actually embarked on ships.
The German Navy’s finest moment.
Not rather exeptionel! There were more of them. Following 'Gustloff' with almost 10.000 dead there also was 'Goya' with about 7.000 and 'Steuben' with more than 3.500 souls on board. The numbers are likely to be higher than that because in the haste of evacuation there were no proper passenger lists issued. They cramped onboard whoever made it to the quay in time. These were the three largest evacuation ships sunk with rather more than 20.000 people on board. Each single one of them a multitude of the losses of'R.M.S Titanic'.
Great story yet again! I'm sure Dr Felton would enjoy covering the Lapland war aswell, as that is also a very obsecure battle.
A good friend of mine was only repatriated in 1954. He sincerely advised me to always save one kugel for myself, this in the late '80s.
This is hands down the best history channel on youtube. Every video I learn something new, great work.
Great video! Of course, I couldn't fully enjoy it.
Just sat in my chair getting more and more furious at the whole situation.
I'm sure I'm not the only one.
If the 190k knew what would happen in the hands of the soviets, they would never surrender.
For me this videos reminds me of South Vietnamese Pilots in April 1975.Many of them took their Aircraft to the skies,stuffed with many servicemen as possible,and flew westwards to Thailand.I heard that some A-37s and F-5s that managed to land in Thailand’s highways in the Northeast are crammed with 3-4 people.
yep, Chaotic times and a tragedy, i was a Teenager back then and i remember well, the ones not that lucky were send to the labour camps for years
You always bring home what an absolute tragedy WW2 was for all sides involved.
Just listened to this on my way home from work and as i drive through the roubdabout at Værnes, Felton mentions it. Shivers to the bone. Weird experience
He mentioned a roundabout? Doubt it.
@@JW-pz9xp ok! Cool.. I really dont care what you believe about this random event in my life. I just found it intersting. I live in Stjørdal next to the airport, so I found ut amusing.
And why would I lie about it? What do I stand to gain?
What kind of person lies about something that trivial?
Clearly I should have kept it to myself :p
Anyways. Have a good one.
Believe what you want, I'm not selling you anything. Asshole.
Super video as ever Mark! The long term internment of lowly ranked German POWs by the Soviets is something we hear very little about. It would interesting to hear some stories/see a video about the Germans who went from being Nazi invaders in the early 1940s to ‘reformed socialists’ who deemed fit to be repatriated back to Germany in the 1950s. How were these men ‘reformed’? How did they survive in the Soviet camps? Did any escape? What did they do for work when they got home? Why were they released at all?
all I will say is..."top drawer!!"....ive never seen a Mark Felton production/war story that I didn't enjoy. the history channel and the yesterday channel can go and do one!!!....as they say :)
Damn so almost no one made it, what bravery it would take to be a pilot for this mission.
I usually get bored of videos longer than 10 minutes but here i've been sat watching Mark's videos for the past 3 hours. Another brilliant video.
The best channel on RUclips for WW2 documentaries.
As an aviation geek I loved the airplane footage!
Big student of Eastern Front battles. Love the way Germans held off 5 Soviet thrusts into Kurland. My doctor is Volksdeutsch from Latvia. His family had to leave Latvia where they had lived for centuries. He wound up in Kiel. Even while retreating Germans could give Stalin a bloody nose.
Ah Tante Ju! Saw one pottering over Greenwich a few years back. Great sight. Still, the poor lady was so slow it's no wonder the Russians got 33 out of 35. A suicide mission if there ever was one. Great vid again, thanks.
I remember that one, saw it a number of times when I was working in East London.
At Oberschleißheim near Munich they do round trips quite regularly. Not this year obviously, but I can see them passing by from my balcony and know them by their lovely sound. At Oberschleißheim I saw one starting towards me, it looked as slow as a grandma on a bicycle :)
Lars Tragl I was going to say the same thing.. exactly... greetings from Munich
@@larstragl146 - When I saw the Ju originally I e-mailed a mate who is a pilot. He sent me a reply telling me where the plane came from and then added, "Flew in one at Dubendorf, Switzerland many years ago. After what seemed like 10 minutes of being airborne, we had just cleared the airfield boundary................"
I recently finished a 1979 book called The Saga of Iron Annie by Martin Caidin, who bought and then restored a Ju52 originally found in S America. According to his Wiki entry, it was sold to Lufthansa in 1984? and repainted in their colors, but I'd guess the color photos of it flying here are if this ship. The colors match pictures I've seen from airshows they used it in back in the 80s as an offshoot of the CAF, mostly in FL.
Where did Caidin get his money? One of the books he wrote was called Cyborg, which became the basis for the Six Million Dollar Man TV series. Probably got a few bucks from that, as well as all the others he wrote.
Don’t know if people say it enough but thanks for all the great FREE education Mark! You’re really out here educating the masses
Yeah it's great of you sir to give us yet another information about Luftwaffe and their last ditch efforts to evacuate their soldiers from Courland peninsula.
Thank you so much
I despise Nazism but it's hard not to feel for any human being trying to escape Soviet savagery.
@@arun120977 you know what conscript means right?
He never said the Wehrmacht was innocent. Just that he felt sorry for the poor lads on the ground who suffered under Soviet tyranny.
Savagery? What about nazis and Hungarians burning villages down together with women and children? Or nazis experimenting with soviet pows and torturing them? What about polish using Russian pows as revenge targets and death slave labor in 1922? What about France and Britain always nosing in, messing things up and always funding radicals and extremists? The reason there was and is savage is not soviets or communism, it’s Europeans always coming up with some hate shit and can’t keep it to themselves
Do you feel sorry for Russians and others who suffered under the Nazis?
@@arun120977 communists aren't people so who cares?
Well done. Another late war story that is interesting is the Georgian Uprising on Texel Island in the Netherlands in April 1945.
So much for being the first to post!
History doesn't get any better than when its told by Mark Felton!
Fantastic video as usual. The scale and horror of WW2 never stops amazing me... this channel proves there's always something new to learn.
When I see videos like this, I realize how disastrous was the German "retreat" on all front's. A complete chaos, lack of communication and one idiot in charge of all armed forces. The result. Defeat!!
As someone who grew up in Courland . ehh 45 years of red
They were also red... Germany flag was red for exactly the same reason why flags of communistic countrues are red.
There was central planning like in every red country, USSR got gulags with slave workers in them, Germans got camps with slave workers in them. USSR got NKVD to fill up gulags, Germany got Gestapo to fill up German camps.
Stalin was using military uniform with no military rank on it. Adolf was using military uniform with no military rank on it.
Adolf got Hitler-Jugend, Stalin got Komsomol...
list of similarities is much longer, even the stupid characteristic mustache. ;)
Left wing media ofc selling him as far-right now, who cares that he was babling all the time how his socialism is superior to the one sold by communists!
WW2 could have occurred without Hitler, but it could not have occurred without Standard Oil (Rockefeller), Ford, and General Motors (Opel). Ford and General Motors were compensated for the loss of their factories caused by allied bombing. JP Morgan and the Bank of England formulated the "Hitler Project" in 1930. During the McCarthy era, "FDR patriots" were purged from the US Govt.
@@Bialy_1 There is a difference between national "socialism" and international socialism/communism.
@@Imperium-Romanum in name but not in substance. The policies were and are the same, and they all lead to starvation and failure.
If the Germans had won, Latvia would be subjected to genocide and colonized with Germans. Look up Generalplan Ost.
As Gen Patton said, 'We defeated the wrong enemy'.
So you would rather be a Nazi?
Correct. And it has come full circle 75 years later.
I wonder if the civilians would have had a higher survival rate by staying behind and not getting into the evacuation ships. Great work telling a sad story.
Thank you Professor Felton. Your research and narration are so clear, and unambiguous. That I am often at a loss when determining who, if any, are that moments good guys. Which just demonstrates the high quality of your productions and clearly illustrates that evil comes in varied forms and is often, if not always, relative. It is my hope that we might do a better job protecting this planet, than we have ourselves. All the best.
When that imovie type beat intro plays you know you bouta get some history facts dropped on you
Why is it no one talks about how absolutely evil the soviets were lol.
You should read more. People talk about it so much, the Kremlin needs to employ an army of trolls just to keep people confused and in denial.
The other greatest mistake the Luftwaffe did, was not arranging for a fighter escort for those Junkers & Hienkel transport.
There we're anymor fighters ore fighter pilots or für available.
The US and their Power and supply Support
And Air Superiority decided finally the result Not only of WWI, but also of WWII
Thanks Mark!
First you get drafted, then you get to work and risk your life for a few years, then you get to be a slave for 10 years after that. What a century.