Join the TimeGhost Army: bit.ly/WW2_188_PI Patton's Commander in Chief Harry Truman wrote after the war that the General's actions made the US "...appear to be treating the Jews as the Nazis treated them except that we do not exterminate them". How should we remember historical figures like Patton? Although he ultimately fought against and helped defeat Nazi Germany, during and after the war his actions and values better reflected those of his supposed enemy. Read our community guidelines before commenting: community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518 Join our subreddit: www.reddit.com/r/WorldWarTwoChannel/ Sign up to our newsletter: timeghost.tv/newsletter-sign-up/
Yes - and he's responsible for that tiresome quote about fighting 'the wrong enemy' that sullies every comment section under a WWII video on youtube - for that alone, he should be remembered with an eye-roll at the least.
Your stuff is so great Putin probably follows your channel. This means you can access him directly probably. He might like to know how the Swedes react to being threatened by nukes. We in the US have always been in the crosshairs of course but perhaps Putin will listen to you folks that free peoples do not take kindly to a bully's threats. Practically speaking the entire northern hemisphere is toast if the nukes start flying but Putin suddenly made it "personal" about Sweden.
Left and Right should be used in identifying mittens and boots, not in grading historical figures. Evil Leftist aren't allowed to be remembered that way. Rightist are rarely remembered any other way.
Winston Churchill later said this about the captured General von Thoma: "I sympathise with General von Thoma: defeat, humiliation, annihilation and, worst of all... dinner with General Montgomery."
I talked with an ex-soldier lead by Montgomery, he told me they all hated him. Frankly I feel that's rather unfair as training and minimising losses is what you want in your general, rather than bold risk taking without regard to losses
I started watching you guys back in WWI, alongside my mother, awed at the production value and the quality of the show. Now it's WWII, watching alongside my wife and my firstborn, a patreon member, and I've just got to say, somehow, you've gotten even better. Thank you to all in the team, for delivering such great content for the world to study, and to never forget the awfulness of war. Saludos from Chile, and here's to hoping for more Spanish subs, since well, not all of us can understand you. Cheers!
@Ignacio Thank you for watching with us all this time. About the subtitles- we're always working on getting our videos to more people around the world, but our crew is small. Our team works hard every day at producing these episodes and hopefully we'll be able to focus on things like that in the future.
"I started watching you guys back in WWI" - Congratulations on your exceptionally long life! Oh and a lot has changed in all that time, such as automatic translation of subtitles. In theory it should be as simple as extracting the English subtitles and presenting them to an automatic translation browser plug-in. Chrome has some such feature, or at least my shallow Web search suggests as much. I don't know what the TG team would have to do to expose their subtitle text to such a translator or if the tools are already smart enough to read the subtitles off RUclips videos by themselves. But if it it works it should solve or at least dent a few hundred language problems at one stroke.
Yes! I am nearly through Helen Fry's 'The Walls Have Ears' about Trent Park and the other sites. Eye opening and often ironically funny. Her description of senior Nazi officers of being like Peacocks strutting around the grounds of Trent Park, (where even the trees were bugged).
@@raylopez99 I've spent more years than I care to admit looking through surveilance cameras and their footage at the store I work at. I tell you this most people either forget the cameras are there or are convinced they're mock ups now take that mindset back a good eighty years ago and their lack of caution becomes more understandable.
Von Braun, Manhattan project scientists, or some bat researcher in China, or developer of an experimental drug or vaccine, our "smartest" scientists only think of consequences in retrospect. But hey, they get published.
Von Braun had been under SD surveillance since October 1943. A secret report stated that he and his colleagues Klaus Riedel and Helmut Gröttrup were said to have expressed regret at an engineer's house one evening in early March 1944 that they were not working on a spaceship[5] and that they felt the war was not going well; this was considered a "defeatist" attitude. A young female dentist who was an SS spy reported their comments. Combined with Himmler's false charges that von Braun and his colleagues were communist sympathizers and had attempted to sabotage the V-2 program, and considering that von Braun regularly piloted his government-provided airplane that might allow him to escape to Britain, this led to their arrest by the Gestapo.[17]: 38-40 The unsuspecting von Braun was detained on 14 March (or 15 March),[64] 1944, and was taken to a Gestapo cell in Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland).[17]: 38-40 where he was held for two weeks without knowing the charges against him.[65] Through Major Hans Georg Klamroth, in charge of the Abwehr for Peenemünde, Dornberger obtained von Braun's conditional release and Albert Speer, Reichsminister for Munitions and War Production, persuaded Hitler to reinstate von Braun so that the V-2 program could continue[5][17]: 38-40 [66] or turn into a "V-4 program" (the Rheinbote as a short range ballistic rocket) which in their view would be impossible without von Braun's leadership.[32] In his memoirs, Speer states Hitler had finally conceded that von Braun was to be "protected from all prosecution as long as he is indispensable, difficult though the general consequences arising from the situation."[67] wiki
"Some have harsh words for this man of reknown, but some say our attitude should be one of gratitude. Like the widows and cripples in old London town who owe their large pensions to Werhner von Braun."
It's interesting to see the Allies facing more trouble than I thought in North Africa. It's not a theater I know much about, but I was under the impression once Torch began, Kasserine was the only notable bump in the road to Tunis. Keep up the great work, Indy and crew!
"Trouble" is relative. The Allies are fighting far from home and taking ground the Axis powers have held for some time and have been able to prepare. The Axis forces could have retreated to any point between Morocco and Egypt. They chose Tunisia because it had favorable terrain, a nice port, and proximity to Axis-held Sicily and Italy, The Allies in contrast are having to move two giant armies and all their supplies across vast deserts or mountains with poor roads and little or no railways. And they are only just now gaining a strong air power advantage. Kasserine was the biggest bump for the Allies on the way to Tunis. You'll note on the map for this week's episode that the Axis did a lot of retreating and only managed to hold the Allies at a few points, not drive them 80 km back like they did at Kasserine. Given that the Axis don't have a lot of room left to retreat before they start swimming, any retreat at this point effectively gurantees defeat.
There's a very detailed book about the war in north africa from the time the US got involved until their voctory there by Rick Atkinson called "An Army at dawn. Indy quoted from it several times. And yes, trouble is the right word i would say. Reading it, one can not fail to notice the difference 3 years experience of fighting can make in the expectations, and actions of leaders and soldiers and how naive some allied leaders acted in the first months of their war. But i agree, before i read the book, i too thought the allies had a short walk in the park in north africa. (And i am not even from the american continent, so no "patriotic bias" from me.) @Daniel Mocsny: They were far from home, yes, but they still had more recources, supplies, and manpower than the axis. Even the short distance to sicily didn't help them much, as the allies naval speriority prevented a lot of supplies from reaching axs troops. So while the axis, as you mentioned, chose the battleground and did a lot of retreating, the allies still got in way more "trouble" than they or their opposition expected.
Another great episode. Since you record these episodes a while before they come out, I think Indy should dress up as MacArthur for the “I have returned” week.
I believe that the Von Thoma conversation was recorded (on a real 78rpm record!) while at the special camp designed for just this purpose near Richmond-on-Thames. Prisoners - e Germans and others - Italians, mostly were treated very well, and were gently steered into talking about things that were of interest to the Allies. Thinking that they would be bugged, they often leaned out of the upper windows to chat - and the microphones were hidden just below the windowsill picked up everything. Truly, when it came to intelligence, the Allies were streets ahead of the Axis in so many ways.
@@WorldWarTwo Sorry, wrong detention centre! The one near Richmond (Latchmere House, Ham, near Richmond) was used for holding our home-grown fascists, and went on to be used as a prison for many years after. The one with Von Thoma was Trent Park, in N London. Many of the recorded conversations were later published, and they clearly and very plainly show that the myth of the 'clean Wehrmacht' is just that - a myth.
@ger du The western allies weren’t exactly behind on the technology… They just didn’t exactly publish what they were doing (in some cases for seventy five years…)
The Germans were pretty effective interrogators too. Hans Scharff for example influenced even interrogation techniques after the war. Nevertheless, British intelligence was the best.
My Dad was a merchant seaman during the war and I cannot express to you how brave those men had to be, the stories he has told me are beyond imagining.
Six months ago I decided to start watching all of Indy's WW1 videos and today, I can finally say I'm caught up and have watched every single video in this WW2 channel. Love your guys's content and particularly loved the Pearl Harbor series and how in depth as well as entertaining it was. Can't wait to follow this channel to the end of the war!
@Teague Drotar Thanks much for your dedication, I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying the channel so much! To help us keep going, please remember to like, subscribe, and share with your friends! And please cajole them into joining the TimeGhost Army! bit.ly/WW2_187B_CO
General Messe and the DAK with Italian 1st Army are doing a great defense here in early April ! ,causing much distress and discord with the Allies ,bled the 2nd Corps and Monty's 8th,. great moves by Messe !
He lost entire Mareth Line and left 8.000 prisoners , 2.700 killed or wounded Axis trops behind though.15th and 21st Panzer and 164th German Light Divisions had all been terribly mauled and the last-named had lost almost all its heavy weapons and vehicles at Mareth Line and Tebega features. The Italian divisions had also suffered badly and only 90th German Light Division had retired in good order. Moreover it seems that Axis confidence had again been shaken. Italian officers claimed that newly retired Wadi Akarit was a better defensive line than Mareth but then Italian soldiers wondered if it was better why did not we positioned here in first place ?
I recommend this series and channel to anyone to whom I get to talking about WWII. Seriously, great work to all the team for committing to making such quality historical content, this is easily the best channel to take advantage of the opportunities the new (compared to things like TV) medium of the internet and online video hosting. Indy and Sparty have been trailblazing making this kind of online historical content since the Great War series. All this to say you’re all amazing, and thank you for all y’all do!
Agreed! This series has so much depth and it keeps getting better week by week! Even I, a studied historian who thought he knew much about WWII can learn so much! I think this series should be watched at schools, to educate students about WWII, together with the War agains humanity series!
@Nick THANK YOU so much for recommending our channel. We have the best audience out there, and we can't express our gratitude enough to our loyal, caring fans like you.
I too recommend this series. while I don't contribute money to the time ghost army, I feel that I contribute by recommending this series to every chatroom on ww2 I visit, on RUclips. this is another great episode that I'll be studying & researching with keen interest, (particularly on Indis' narration on n.africa because I'm not well versed in this theater). it just stands to reason, that although I had been interested in ww2 history since I was 14, (1973), that you can study it for a lifetime, & still not grasp its enormity.
"Mein Furher! Are you aware that your Wehrmacht officers are trying to assassinate." "Ja, I know. It's become this weekly cat-n-mouse game between us to keep each other on their toes. They come up with some sneaky, elaborate plan, and then I change my travels plans at the last minute."
I like these videos because you go from a very high level view to a view closer to what is going on. It makes WWII more than "just a bunch of guys shooting at each other".
Major ups to TimeGhost for mentioning the sinking of HMS Dasher. Did not think that would have been on their radar, but very happy to see a large platform shed light of this disaster. As a fun fact, Dasher had a sistership, HMS Avenger, which was notable for being lost on a return journey from Operation Torch and also exploded in spectacular fashion (albeit due to enemy action as opposed to an accident). Combustible, Vulnerable, Expendable.
Those german generals were interred in Trent House, which is in Trent Country park in Cockfosters, London. Cockfosters is the north eastern most stop on the piccadillly line on the underground. The park is ten mins walk away from the station. Lovely place, well worth a visit. Especially on a summer day. There's also a nice little animal sanctuary there. Someone at one point was trying to get the house turned into a museum on the subject of the generals and the intelligence work, but I don't think that came to pass. For Doctor Who fans, the location work for the Fifth Doctor story 'Mawdryn Undead' was all done there.
In one of the Harry Hole books, I think it's The Bat, they make a point of saying that the New Zealanders had no obligation to fight in the Second World War. They were not under attack like Australia. Yet, they answered the call to arms because it was the right thing to do.
@@bobsemple07 G'day, And, might ye be any relation to the Kiwi who played about with a Bulldozer with delusions of deadly grandeur...; and called it a "Tank" with which he proposed to repel however many Japanese Shock Troops swum the Tasman Sea, after taking Sydney from the West - following their epic Bicycle-ride from Darwin (because it was the fast-moving Bicycles which beat the British Empire out of Malaya, y'see !).... Would ye be kinfolk to THAT Bob Semple ? Just(ifiably ?) sayin', Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
Fun fact: combat rockets date back to the late eighteenth century, developed by the southern Indian kingdom of Mysore. Mysore would use them to great effect in their wars with the British Empire; the British then adopted this technology after defeating & conquering Mysore
Thank you for that fun fact, Andrew. Yes Mysorean rockets have been continued to be talked about by many historians centuries afterwards. Especially its usage at the Battle of Pollilur as envisioned by Tipu Sultan.
Earlier on 25 March, Alexander had visited Patton. He still believed the American commander needed to be closely controlled, but the developing situation required another change of orders. With the success of the Big Red One and with Monty’s main thrust now coming through the Tebaga Gap, Alex felt it made sense for 2nd US Corps to try and push on down towards Gabès. He hoped that, by releasing the 9th Infantry Division to support the Big Red One, they might be able to clear a now weakened enemy from the mountains running east from El Guettar, then send the 1st US Armored Division down to cut off the enemy as they retreated from the Tebaga Gap. Patton drove up to 1st US Armored Division’s HQ near Maknassy on the 27th to explain the new plan to Ward. He also wanted to see their forward positions. Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton Howze was assigned to guide him. With Hamilton in a Jeep and Patton in a glaringly conspicuous command car, they drove towards the front until they were stopped by engineers clearing mines. Hamilton walked over to Patton’s command car and explained that they could go no further. ‘To hell with that,’ Patton told him. ‘Let’s go. Ham, lead the way!’ ‘I figured this was possibly my last act,’ noted Hamilton, but on they went, past the astonished engineers. A light tank then joined them and shortly after duly hit a mine. Much to Hamilton’s relief, this finally persuaded Patton to have a change of heart, and very gingerly they turned around and went back the way they’d come. Patton’s attack down the Gafsa-Gabès road was finally launched on the night of 28/29 March. The 1st US Infantry Division, including the 18th Infantry Regiment, pushed the enemy back down Gumtree Road from Djebel el Ank, but could not take the high point that overlooked the Gafsa-Gabès road. This was where the 9th US Infantry Division attacked and their inexperience soon got the better of them. In the dark, they assaulted the wrong objectives and discovered, as many Allied troops had done before them, that prising German troops from strong positions was an extremely difficult task. With no immediate breakthrough, but sensing there was still a chance that an eastward thrust by the Americans might force the Axis to abandon their next line of defence north of Gabès, Alex decided to order 2nd US Corps to make another push from El Guettar, and so changed his orders for a fourth time. This time he instructed Patton to bring some of his armour down from the Maknassy area to El Guettar, and from there launch a lightning armoured raid, supported by the 9th US Infantry, in one last effort to break through to Gabès. But it wasn’t to be. Much to everyone’s frustration, 10th Panzer Division fell back just five thousand yards and then held fast , repulsing 9th US Infantry Division all over again. The enemy had slipped away again. While the Americans were being held at El Guettar and Gabes road, the Axis had held up 10th Corps with a makeshift anti tank screen at El Hamma just long enough to allow the main bulk of their forces from the Mareth Line to slip through the Gabès Gap behind them, so that by the time the rest of New Zealand Corps joined Horrocks’s 1st Armoured Division, the chance to cut them off had passed. On the 29th, 51st Highland Division, advancing over the Mareth Line, linked up with 1st British Armoured Division once more in Gabès. As at Alamein, Eighth Army had won the battle decisevely , but had failed to destroy the enemy army. Together We Stand - James Holland
My granduncle was in this battel. He talked about how hard El Guettar was. He had mother luck on his shoulder. he marched all the way to France by the time he was done.
4:50 I don't know but that short shot has been stuck in my head. Papua-New Guinea is still the most isolated place on the planet in terms of interconnectivity. Imagine living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle with little to no information of the outside world and then you suddenly see giant loud metal objects flying creating explosions.
An interesting thing to note this week on April 1 1943 is that SIGSALY, referred to as the X System vocoder or "Green Hornet", will enter operation as a form of secure phone communications between United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. This new system from Bell Labs encrypted speech into electronic signals and decrypted it at the other end, permitting both to speak to each other without the risk of being understood by wiretappers.
Thank you, I love history and WW 2 history is top on my list. My dad was a Brooklyn boy born in 1914. In 1940 he joined the United States Army and in that army he stayed until 1946.
Peter, Thank you for sharing about your dad. Amazing that he was born at the start of the first war, and fought in the second. I'm glad to have you with us, please stay tuned for more every week.
Truk was developed into a major IJN fleet base during the '30s. In the mid-20's Hector Bywater wrote a fictional account of The Great Pacific War between the U.S. and Japan. In this story, the U.S. needed a viable fleet anchorage that could act as an advance base to project their seapower into the Western Pacific. Bywater wrote that the U.S. achieved this base at Truk. Purportedly, Yamamoto was visiting the U.S. around the time the book was published, may have met Bywater and may have seen to it that the book translated into Japanese. During the Great War (WWI), the Japanese had acquired this portion of the Pacific from the Germans who had previously acquired it from the Spanish after their defeat in the Spanish-American war. It is interesting to me to consider how this mention of Truk Atoll by Bywater may have influenced the IJN developing it into a significant naval base, possibly to deny the U.S. a (very) viable advance base as well as to counter U.S. projection of sea power into the Pacific in the event of war.
i've got a big feeling your detailed/exacting work here is going to become a historical document ,that future generations will be able to access and learn from. very very important work/contribution in my view .
It's surprising to see the Allies struggling so much against the Axis in North Africa, I never learned that. I know it took around 6 months after Torch for them to be defeated, but it's still kind of surprising to still see the Allies struggling 1.5 months after Kasserine Pass.
It seemed at one time that Monty's ‘Left Hook’ might be able to trap the whole of Messe’s First Italian Army, but it was not to be. Early on the morning of the 27th, von Liebenstein managed to gather together enough anti-tank guns to check the British armour in a defile three miles south of El Hamma. This anti-tank screen was reinforced as the day wore on and more dust storms imposed a further handicap on Horrocks who was not able to overcome the defences and was reluctant to outflank them before the New Zealanders caught up with him, which they did only in the early hours of the 28th. Meanwhile the Axis troops in the Mareth Line were pouring back along the coastal road, covered by 90th German Light Division, the last units of which moved out on the night of the 27th/28th. Next day, 30th Corps, attempting to pursue, was delayed by the ‘usual’ mines and booby traps, while further dust storms continued to hamper 10th Corps and the New Zealanders. On the 29th, 1st British Armoured division at last captured El Hamma and the New Zealanders and both 4th Indian and 51st Highland Divisions from 30th Corps moved into the town of Gabes - but by then the survivors of First Italian Army were already falling back into the safety of the defences north of the town. Eighth Army had captured at least 8,000 prisoners, one third of them German rest Italians, and about the same number of Axis soldiers, Germans or Italians combined, had been killed or wounded since Operation Puglist and Operation Supercharge II started eight days ago. 15th and 21st Panzer and 164th German Light Divisions had all been terribly mauled and the last-named had lost almost all its heavy weapons and vehicles. The Italian divisions had also suffered badly and only 90th German Light Division had retired in good order. Moreover it seems that the enemy’s confidence had again been shaken. For the men of Eighth Army on the other hand, the battle, in particular the ‘Left Hook’, had increased still further their confidence in their leaders, their supporting Air Force and themselves - and with reason. ‘It showed,’ declared Captain Liddell Hart, “Montgomery’s capacity for flexibility in varying his thrust-point, and creating fresh leverage when checked - even better than at Alamein - although, as was his habit, he subsequently tended to obscure the credit due to him for such flexibility, the hallmark of generalship, by talking as if everything had gone ‘according to plan’ from the outset. In many respects Mareth was his finest battle performance in the war.” General Fraser similarly considers that ‘the battle demonstrated Montgomery’s excellent flexibility of mind. It also once again showed his strength and will-power’ - though he too deplores Montgomery’s ‘proneness to exaggerated claims for the nature of his successes, untouched by error or miscalculation’. De Guingand and Eighth Army’s staff in general, Horrocks, Freyberg, Briggs and their subordinate commanders all did well, while Broadhurst, who was prepared to risk the wrath of his superiors and possibly his career in the cause of inter-service co-operation, is surely entitled to especial credit. Yet none of them would deny that the greatest praise belongs elsewhere. ‘Most of all,’ reports Fraser, ‘it (the battle) demonstrated the excellence of British and Dominion troops who, from the preliminary operations on 17th March, through to 1st Armoured Division’s rapid move [when movement became possible] and dashing assault on 26 March, showed a skill and energy which gave its true lustre to the day.’ And it was not only the excellence of the ground troops that was demonstrated. ‘Never before,’ relates de Guingand, ‘had our Desert Air Force given us such superb, such gallant and such intimate support.’ ‘Brilliant and brave work by the pilots,’ declares Montgomery in his Memoirs, ‘completely stunned the enemy.’ On 30 March, the advanced forces of Eighth Army reached the Gabes Gap which Montgomery had originally hoped to break through ‘on the run’ as he had the Homs-Tarhuna position. Sadly the chances of doing so without very heavy casualties had been wrecked by the initial repulse on the Mareth Line as even the eager Horrocks was quickly forced to conclude. Montgomery therefore proceeded to make preparations for another ‘set-piece’ battle. He has been strongly criticized for his ‘caution’, but not by the men whose lives were saved thereby. Victory in Desert - Adrian Stewart
On hearing that four American divisions were to drive towards Gabès, General Francis Tuker, 4th Indian Division commander , was certain that this, ‘ought to fix the Boche if Yanks just walk forward in big squares.’ But fighting in such forbidding terrain was not quite so simple as, to his immense and growing frustration, Patton was discovering. His troops were spread over a front of more than 100 miles: ‘However, this is not as bad as it sounds,’ he told Marshall, ‘because three divisions are well-grouped and the fourth - the 34th - is on a sort of raiding mission to the northeast [Fondouk].’ Anticipating some ‘very hard’ fighting and losses in battalion and company commanders ‘higher than average,’ he added that should anything go drastically wrong the general scope of operations was laid down by Alexander and he was merely carrying out orders: ‘We are trying to be simple, not change our plans when once made, and keep on fighting.’ Attempting a breakthrough in the wild and mysterious country east of El Guettar, however, was a formidably difficult undertaking. Forced to navigate by re-photographed French maps last surveyed in 1903 which were hopeless in scale (1:100,000), the infantry could not obtain accurate co-ordinates nor pinpoint their own positions. Compass-bearings had to be taken from high points which exposed those doing this to murderously accurate fire from German snipers supported by 88s. When the attack opened on 28 March, 1st US Infantry Divisionwere badly cut up by terrific mortar and machine-gun fire from the broken yellow and red stone mass of Djebel Chemsi. Colonel Fechet reported, ‘mines, booby traps… and trip wire… Wops in forward positions, Germans in rear… Wops faked surrender and then threw hand grenades. Mountains… strongly held by automatic weapons.’ Fighting through these powerful defences, Terry Allen’s men struggled as far as the western end of the hill on the first day. Across the valley, however, 9th US Infantry Division could make no progress through the shimmering heat to take Djebel Kreroua nor clean out the enemy artillery observation posts on the high, bare wall of Djebel Berda. By clever use of interlocking fire zones, the Germans pinned down both prongs of the attack and pounded supply trucks which raced between the palms and blossoming fig and plum trees in the El Guettar oasis. With the 1st and 9th US Infantry Divisions lost in a confusing mass of jumbled rock and deeply-cut wadis, the 34th US Infantry Division failing in its feint at Fondouk, where Ryder had been told to, ‘Go out in the area and make a lot of noise but don’t try to capture anything’, and the attack from Maknassy abandoned, Patton’s troops had come to a grinding halt everywhere. Prior to this setback he had planned that units of 1st US Armored Division would undertake a meteoric 80-mile drive from El Guettar to Gabès. Now Patton pinned his hopes on Ward’s former chief of staff, Colonel ‘Chauncey’ Benson. Before Ward lost his command he had sent Benson to 13th Armored Regiment. Despite a reputation for heavy drinking, Patton admired his aggressiveness. Blocking the route were newly-arrived mobile elements of 21st Panzer Division, sent to reinforce 10th Panzer Division near El Guettar. In support, the Luftwaffe stepped up its attacks on US artillery which laid down a heavy barrage on 30 March to clear enemy positions in front of 1st Infantry. At noon, Benson’s Sherman and Lee tanks rolled through the narrow gap in the ridge at El Guettar. Self-propelled guns followed, then half-tracks carrying infantry, tank-destroyers and Jeeps. Well dug in and superbly sited, the Germans slowed this force with an extensive minefield and then plastered it with accurate anti-tank gunfire. When 13th Armored was forced to retreat from this ill-coordinated and costly assault, the burning remnants of 13 tanks and two tank-destroyers were left behind. In the meantime, Man ton Eddy’s 9th US Infantry Division had crawled along the foothills of Kreroua but could do little more than hang on by their fingernails. Suddenly in their midst appeared a British military policeman, dressed incongruously in razor-smart uniform, who was to direct the first elements of Eighth Army to their supply dump in Gafsa. He was hurriedly sent back, having arrived ‘a trifle early.’ Next day, Patton told Benson to try again and expend a whole company if necessary. Simultaneously, to take the heat off Benson, and off Ryder’s 34th US Infantry Division stuck at Fondouk, he ordered Ward to attack at Maknassy, disregarding any number of casualties. ‘I feel quite brutal in issuing orders to take such losses, especially when I personally am safe,’ he noted, ‘but it must be done. Wars can only be won by killing, and the sooner we start the better.’ US intelligence was very pessimistic and worried about the effect of this holdup on the whole Tunisian campaign, 18th Army Group nervous and uncertain, and Patton himself in no doubt that reports of enemy withdrawals, in front of 1st and 9th US Infantry Divisions, were the product of ‘wishful thinking.’ Benson’s second effort went ahead at 1230 hours on the 31st in advance of coordinated artillery and air support which Patton had planned. Sure enough, while 2nd Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment managed to pass through a lane cut through the enemy’s minefield, its tanks then became marooned and could penetrate no further against determined resistance. A tremendous effort by the Luftwaffe over 2nd US Corps’ area of operations and the new longer-range offensive strikes ordered by Coningham, rather than Broadhurst’s more effective air umbrella, temporarily offset the Germans’ loss of numerical superiority. During a sudden attack by a dozen Ju-88s on 1 April, the death of Captain Richard N. Jenson, his aide, seems temporarily to have driven Patton over the brink of frustration at the inability of his troops to make any progress. On the same day a Sitrep (situation report) from 2nd US Corps HQ complained that: ‘Forward troops have been continuously bombed all the morning… enemy aircraft have bombed all division C.Ps. Total lack of air cover for our Units has allowed German Air Forces to operate almost at will.’ This intemperate claim might not have called for much response but as Spaatz explained, ‘[it] caused great concern as to its inaccuracy and the unjustness of its accusation plus the widespread distribution given it by Patton.’ Bloody Road to Tunis - David Rolf
Thank you for another excellent and informative video. I like the idea of people in period dress behind Indie answering phones, typing etc so we can see (imagine) that Indie is not doing everything himself!
Even Kasserine was a defeat for the Germans, who were stopped dead in their tracks by US artillery, while US forces fought tooth and nail for the heights surrounding the pass.
A little birdie told me that Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto will be taking to trip to Bougainville in the middle of the month. Do we have any P-38 Lightnings available? 🤔
16:28 Please note: missiles and rockets are “different”. A missile is guided, where a rocket is not. A missile is (usually) a rocket, but a rocket is not always a missile. Also, fun fact, it took until 2012 with Iron Dome for the world to develop a successful anti-rocket defense system. There were some before, but not as successful or useful.
German does not have different words for rockets and missiles. Same goes for digitization and digitalisation. German development stopped before the end of the war.
@@rhineriversurf5594 I see. Thank you, I am learning German now funnily enough. So it’s like in Arabic then, missile and rocket are the same word for them, gotcha
I found this series about a month ago and now I'm caught up it'll be cool to experience the series as intended, week by week in real time. Oh the suspense, will they open up a second front in Europe, where will it be, will the Kursk salient be crushed? So much suspense and some answers won't be answered for over a year! Crazy
Book recommendation: Check out Ian Fleming's Bond novel "Moonraker". Its plot involves the German rocket program Indy talked about in the episode. Oh, and if you're not a fan of the 1979 "Moonraker" film, then: a) You're wrong, because it's a great one; and b) The novel is nothing like the film.
More about those conversations that were recorded of the Nazi Generals in British captivity can be read in the book "Tapping Hitler's Generals" which is a collection of transcripts of those conversations as well as a history of how they were gathered. Its an interesting read.
Around 4:50, the subtitles reveal a bit of discussion about the Allied plans for Rabaul, which appears to have been cut from the actual video. Not a big deal, I just found it amusing.
Indy, guys. Thanks for another terrific episode. My brother-in-law is a history teacher and I would love to turn him on to your channel. I wish I didn't hate him so bad. 😁
Indy, I just noticed the lamp on your desk. I have the near twin of it sitting next to my laptop right now. It has the identical translucent green shade, but mine has a vertical stand instead of an angled one.
Tactics on the frozen tundra don't necessarily work on the sand hills and wadis of a desert, and jungle warfare is very different that mountain warfare, which is different than the rolling plains of Eastern Europe...etc. Commanders must adjust their tactics and strategies accordingly. Defenders have an advantage, as usual. How much infantry and armor and aircraft will be lost through a misunderstanding of some basic geography? War is always a learning process, and the tuition is always paid in blood and treasure. In that respect, war never changes.
Hey WWII team! You guys are doing such a great job and with how today this RUclips channel is more important than ever! But so many people tend to forget what we went through to get to where we are at today. And I see why history repeats itself….. it’s because people FORGET
@Action Swon Thanks so much for your kind words. We too believe strongly in the simple mission of learning and teaching history. We really appreciate the support of you, our amazing audience in the TimeGhost Army. Please stay tuned
Rather nice "prison" the Germans were held in! I used to live near Trent Park in North London. After the war, the house and grounds were used as a teacher training college. Now it's all been converted to very pricey apartments!
It was for officers, and only high-ranking officers - Generals (don't know if anybody lower ranking were there.) Bugging was still pretty high-tech at that time. The prisoners I'm sure took precautions when guards were around, but they would not expect to be bugged. Still, it was careless of them.
Yes, I think there was a BBC drama about it years ago. It was also frequently mentioned in the BBC book/series "The Secret War". Both talked about the softly softly approach!
@@robertkras5162 there was, (& maybe still is), a documentary on RUclips entitled, 'The Wehrmact', where they had an episode on those German POW officers in Britain. from what it appeared was 'dramatized', they had colonels there as well as generals.
It was good to see you mention General Ernest Harmon. He has a strong connection to my Alma Mater, Norwich University, the US oldest private military college. Spoiler alert he goes on to become President of Norwich University with a long and active tenure. Near the chapel at Norwich, a memorial wall, remembering graduates who had fallen in service, was constructed. Its centerpiece is a large piece of granite with a bust if General Harmon. Among us cadets, it took on the nickname of the Ernie McNugget, because it is shaped like the McDonald's chicken nuggets.
Thank you for your longtime viewership Nate! I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't give you a friendly suggestion to join the TimeGhost Army and help our whole production team! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
Always wondered WHEN/HOW the road & rail network was constructed? Also what was the carry capacity of the network? Or who maintained & repaired the network? Any way thanks for the vid
Has to be an amazing production team, started watching you guys way back when you started in 1939, almost 4 YEARS AGO!!! You guys always make my Sunday afternoons 😀
@Quinlan The team works hard every week, and it's really quite humbling and gratifying hearing from longtime fans like you. Thanks for watching and please stay tuned for the rest of the war, however long it lasts!
I grew up in Huntsville Alabama, where the rocket scientist were all relocated after the war, it is a big part of our city. My neighborhood is where many used to live and many stories about them have been passed down and documented. When hearing about the slow progress of the rockets, I am reminded of one of the scientists (who name I have since forgotten) who would take a chair and sit in the Center of the target as the V2s were being tested. He did this apparently because he knew the guidance was off and the rocket would miss by several miles. Even if the story is just that it is interesting some of the stories that survive, and some of the insights on how it was to be on the forefront of the space age. Keep up the great work! I look forward to all the content to come!
Bomber Command Weekly Report (missed last week so 2 weeks here) After a period of bad weather that grounded RAF bombers for a week and a half, Harris gets his first break to begin bombing raids. However still bound to support the British Navy in the war against the U-boats, first he will attack one of the French U-boat bases. March 22/23 - St Nazaire - Animated time lapse of the attack - ruclips.net/video/6rPe6f-dsUg/видео.html -357 bombers are dispatched, 1 is lost (0.3% of the force). Limited night fighter activity as France does not have a well developed system of night fighting positions. The one loss is due to flak. -Targets are the U-boat Pens and the surrounding dock works. Pathfinder Mosquitoes will drop markers using OBOE on the Submarine pens, which half the main force will attack. The other half will do a timed run from the markers to hit the port facilities. 4 Engine pathfinder crews will backup the mosquito marking with their own aimed marking. -The mosquito marking is accurate and the raid initially starts quite accurately, however decoy markers are deployed by the Germans and the raid progressively gets more and more inaccurate as crews are drawn away from the proper markers. 4 Engines pathfinder crews also seem to deposit some of their markers on the decoy flares not realizing what they are, further scattering the raid. Bombing drifts North and North East as the raid continues, up to several miles from the aiming point. -The raid on the whole is fairly destructive, further destroying St Nazaire and the surrounding docs. However as Arthur Harris had argued, the bombs Bomber Command possess is not capable of damaging the submarine pen and on the whole the raid fails to destroy any of the important U-boat facilities inside. March 26/27 - Duisburg -455 bombers dispatched, 6 lost (1.3%) -Another Oboe raid to be led by Mosquitoes, the raid fails due to extreme cloud encountered over the target. The Pathfinder crews attempt to use sky marker flares, but they quickly fall below the high clouds and thus cannot be aimed at. While the Lancasters can fly relatively high, the Halifaxes and Wellingtons at times find themselves below the top of clouds, unable to see any markers at all. As a result many crews bomb on any glows they can see below the clouds, leading to a very scattered raid. -The bad cloud hinders the night fighters as well, which combined with relatively ineffective flak keeps the RAF losses low. The first OBOE mosquito is lost, ditching in the North Sea. The crew is never found, but the loss of the Mosquito into the North Sea means the Germans are unable to retrieve any parts of the OBOE system. For the moment the secrets of this night bombing aid remains unknown to the Germans, preventing them from being able to jam it. March 27/28 - Berlin - Animated time lapse of the attack - ruclips.net/video/TrMY94HW_Fs/видео.html -396 bombers dispatched, 9 bombers lost (2.3%) -The Center of Berlin will be marked by 4 Engine pathfinder crews using H2S Ground marking radar, dropping a combination of Red and Green flares depending on their roles. Illumination flares will be used to assist in the visual marker crews to identify the aiming point. -The Raid was a complete failure, with the Pathfinder crews marking an area 7 miles SW of the target. The RAF post action report was unable to understand what happened, though reports of decoys being used by the Germans was again noted. The bomb loads of the entire force fell 7 to 17 miles away from Berlin. -By chance much of the bombing fell on a secret Luftwaffe stores filled with valuable electronic equipment. The Germans believed this was the actual target of the raid, and could not believe the RAF pulled off such an accurate attack on a precision target at night. The Secret police spent the next several weeks trying to track down the spies who helped the British bomb this stores so accurately. Even decades later in the 1980's German authorities in Berlin believed this had been the raids target. -Bad weather largely grounded the Luftwaffe fighters, making the cost for this failed raid tolerably low. March 28/29 - St Nazaire -232 aircraft dispatched, 2 lost (0.6%). Little fighter activity, the losses were due to flak. -A more straightforward attack, the aiming point was the center of St Nazaire which was one of the few French towns the British Government authorized area bombing raids on. The town along with the U-boat facilities were supposed to be destroyed in these raids. OBOE mosquitoes would mark the aiming point, while the 4 engine pathfinder crews would back up the markings with their own indicators to ensure continuous marking of the aiming point. -The raid was similar to the previous raid in terms of damage, much being done to the docks and surrounding residential areas. Significant scattering occurred North and North East, likely due to decoy indicators playing their part in drawings away some of the bombing. Much of the French population had left the city by Mid march after The February raids, so french casualties were low. March 29/30 - Bochum and Berlin -A dual raid, 329 four engine bombers were sent to Berlin while 149 twin engine wellingtons went to Bochum. 21 Bombers lost on the Berlin raid (6.4%), 12 wellingtons lost on the Bocum raid (8.0%). Overall 33 aircraft lost (6.9%) -The Bochum force was to be led by OBOE mosquitoes without backers-ups while the Berlin force was led by Pathfinder crews using H2S with Backers-ups. The respective methods of marking were to be used given the type of bombing aids employed. -Both raids were failures. The marking by the Pathfinder Crews over Berlin was accurate, but the main force arrived too late to take advantage of the accurate marking and the bombing developed 6 miles to the East of Berlin. Some damage was due to Berlin suburbs but the results were disappointing. The Bochum raid failed because the OBOE mosquitoes couldn't adhere to the bombing timetable and the wellingtons found significant gaps of time where there was no marked aiming point to bomb on. -The raid was costly in the extreme, especially since they were failures. Bad weather and icing was encountered by both forces, in fact in seems a significant minority of the lost bombers may have been lost due to the unexpectedly bad weather.
_I've got a real bad feeling about this..._ - Private Boyle This week on March 30 1943, the sixteenth mission of the 2005 video game *Call of Duty 2* , the *Assault on Matmata level* under *Sergeant John Davis* begins at Matmata in Tunisia. You will start out in a Jeep with Privates Boyle and MacGregor along with Sergeant Carver heading towards Matmata and will soon run into an enemy ambush. You must take out the enemies firing from the roof until the gate can be open. Once past the gate, you will need to secure the village by clearing through waves of incoming enemies while having some allied tank support to assist. Eventually some enemy planes will appear, and you will need to get on to the Flakvierling anti-aircraft gun to shoot down these planes, bringing an end to the level.
When you get to talking about rockets actually landing, I do hope you will cover their effect on the Normandy breakout. I understand that the density of strikes per square mile was a good deal higher there than in England. My uncle was underneath.
The V2 was never used against moving armies, it was faaaar to inaccurate. It was primarily used against cities, the only target it could reliably hit. I'm surprised you didn't know this, it's very basic ww2 knowledge.
You know, Indy. A special on Liberty Ships would be right on. The US practically able to produce ships faster than the Germans can sink this is simply amazing.
I'm caught up with the WW2 day by day documentary series on Amazon prime it was made in 2014 it's a older series so not as updated as WW2 week by week.
Thank you for the history lesson. I read once about an American facility like Trent Park in I believe Virginia. It went by a P.O.Box #. I cant remember the number.
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Patton's Commander in Chief Harry Truman wrote after the war that the General's actions made the US "...appear to be treating the Jews as the Nazis treated them except that we do not exterminate them". How should we remember historical figures like Patton? Although he ultimately fought against and helped defeat Nazi Germany, during and after the war his actions and values better reflected those of his supposed enemy.
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Yes - and he's responsible for that tiresome quote about fighting 'the wrong enemy' that sullies every comment section under a WWII video on youtube - for that alone, he should be remembered with an eye-roll at the least.
Your stuff is so great Putin probably follows your channel. This means you can access him directly probably. He might like to know how the Swedes react to being threatened by nukes. We in the US have always been in the crosshairs of course but perhaps Putin will listen to you folks that free peoples do not take kindly to a bully's threats. Practically speaking the entire northern hemisphere is toast if the nukes start flying but Putin suddenly made it "personal" about Sweden.
Well you need guy like him to win war... its maybe ugly truth but thats reality
Left and Right should be used in identifying mittens and boots, not in grading historical figures. Evil Leftist aren't allowed to be remembered that way. Rightist are rarely remembered any other way.
@@jameswalker5223 Aren't you going to give us the quote?
Winston Churchill later said this about the captured General von Thoma: "I sympathise with General von Thoma: defeat, humiliation, annihilation and, worst of all... dinner with General Montgomery."
ROFL - best comment of the week!
Only Churchill himself would be worse.
I talked with an ex-soldier lead by Montgomery, he told me they all hated him.
Frankly I feel that's rather unfair as training and minimising losses is what you want in your general, rather than bold risk taking without regard to losses
@@RobBCactive As for minimising losses, the jury is still out about Goodwood and Supercharge.
@@RobBCactive as far as I know, monty wasn't liked because of his enormous ego and his attitude
I started watching you guys back in WWI, alongside my mother, awed at the production value and the quality of the show. Now it's WWII, watching alongside my wife and my firstborn, a patreon member, and I've just got to say, somehow, you've gotten even better. Thank you to all in the team, for delivering such great content for the world to study, and to never forget the awfulness of war. Saludos from Chile, and here's to hoping for more Spanish subs, since well, not all of us can understand you. Cheers!
@Ignacio Thank you for watching with us all this time. About the subtitles- we're always working on getting our videos to more people around the world, but our crew is small. Our team works hard every day at producing these episodes and hopefully we'll be able to focus on things like that in the future.
Hope he doesn't have to make a WWIII video.
"I started watching you guys back in WWI" - Congratulations on your exceptionally long life! Oh and a lot has changed in all that time, such as automatic translation of subtitles. In theory it should be as simple as extracting the English subtitles and presenting them to an automatic translation browser plug-in. Chrome has some such feature, or at least my shallow Web search suggests as much. I don't know what the TG team would have to do to expose their subtitle text to such a translator or if the tools are already smart enough to read the subtitles off RUclips videos by themselves. But if it it works it should solve or at least dent a few hundred language problems at one stroke.
@@JB-yb4wn Not for another 79 years if it starts today.
There's a booger on the frog.
Those secret conversations at Trent Park were really interesting. They revealed what the Wehrmacht generals really knew about what was happening.
Yes! I am nearly through Helen Fry's 'The Walls Have Ears' about Trent Park and the other sites.
Eye opening and often ironically funny. Her description of senior Nazi officers of being like Peacocks strutting around the grounds of Trent Park, (where even the trees were bugged).
Those GER generals were not the brightest bulbs either, but maybe they thought anybody listening would think they are lying or they did not care.
@@raylopez99 I'm wondering why'd they even know of that stuff in the first place.
Note to self if ever capturedby the enemy and they let me sit around drinking tea with my fellow prisoners.
The room is bugged.
OPSEC.
@@raylopez99 I've spent more years than I care to admit looking through surveilance cameras and their footage at the store I work at. I tell you this most people either forget the cameras are there or are convinced they're mock ups now take that mindset back a good eighty years ago and their lack of caution becomes more understandable.
"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department," says Werhner von Braun.
was always amazing hearing about this song after knowing of him for the elements song at school
Von Braun, Manhattan project scientists, or some bat researcher in China, or developer of an experimental drug or vaccine, our "smartest" scientists only think of consequences in retrospect.
But hey, they get published.
Von Braun had been under SD surveillance since October 1943. A secret report stated that he and his colleagues Klaus Riedel and Helmut Gröttrup were said to have expressed regret at an engineer's house one evening in early March 1944 that they were not working on a spaceship[5] and that they felt the war was not going well; this was considered a "defeatist" attitude. A young female dentist who was an SS spy reported their comments. Combined with Himmler's false charges that von Braun and his colleagues were communist sympathizers and had attempted to sabotage the V-2 program, and considering that von Braun regularly piloted his government-provided airplane that might allow him to escape to Britain, this led to their arrest by the Gestapo.[17]: 38-40
The unsuspecting von Braun was detained on 14 March (or 15 March),[64] 1944, and was taken to a Gestapo cell in Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland).[17]: 38-40 where he was held for two weeks without knowing the charges against him.[65]
Through Major Hans Georg Klamroth, in charge of the Abwehr for Peenemünde, Dornberger obtained von Braun's conditional release and Albert Speer, Reichsminister for Munitions and War Production, persuaded Hitler to reinstate von Braun so that the V-2 program could continue[5][17]: 38-40 [66] or turn into a "V-4 program" (the Rheinbote as a short range ballistic rocket) which in their view would be impossible without von Braun's leadership.[32] In his memoirs, Speer states Hitler had finally conceded that von Braun was to be "protected from all prosecution as long as he is indispensable, difficult though the general consequences arising from the situation."[67] wiki
Always enjoyed Tom Lehrer!
"Some have harsh words for this man of reknown, but some say our attitude should be one of gratitude. Like the widows and cripples in old London town who owe their large pensions to Werhner von Braun."
It's interesting to see the Allies facing more trouble than I thought in North Africa. It's not a theater I know much about, but I was under the impression once Torch began, Kasserine was the only notable bump in the road to Tunis.
Keep up the great work, Indy and crew!
"Trouble" is relative. The Allies are fighting far from home and taking ground the Axis powers have held for some time and have been able to prepare. The Axis forces could have retreated to any point between Morocco and Egypt. They chose Tunisia because it had favorable terrain, a nice port, and proximity to Axis-held Sicily and Italy, The Allies in contrast are having to move two giant armies and all their supplies across vast deserts or mountains with poor roads and little or no railways. And they are only just now gaining a strong air power advantage. Kasserine was the biggest bump for the Allies on the way to Tunis. You'll note on the map for this week's episode that the Axis did a lot of retreating and only managed to hold the Allies at a few points, not drive them 80 km back like they did at Kasserine. Given that the Axis don't have a lot of room left to retreat before they start swimming, any retreat at this point effectively gurantees defeat.
@@danielmocsny5066 a very well thought out reply.
Same. It really makes you appreciate it as a true crucible.
There's a very detailed book about the war in north africa from the time the US got involved until their voctory there by Rick Atkinson called "An Army at dawn. Indy quoted from it several times.
And yes, trouble is the right word i would say. Reading it, one can not fail to notice the difference 3 years experience of fighting can make in the expectations, and actions of leaders and soldiers and how naive some allied leaders acted in the first months of their war.
But i agree, before i read the book, i too thought the allies had a short walk in the park in north africa. (And i am not even from the american continent, so no "patriotic bias" from me.)
@Daniel Mocsny: They were far from home, yes, but they still had more recources, supplies, and manpower than the axis. Even the short distance to sicily didn't help them much, as the allies naval speriority prevented a lot of supplies from reaching axs troops. So while the axis, as you mentioned, chose the battleground and did a lot of retreating, the allies still got in way more "trouble" than they or their opposition expected.
@@blockmasterscott victory in war goes to the side that fucks up the least - old infantry sergeant wisdom
I love that the prisoner of war just revealed the rocket program to the allies without any interrogation whatsoever
What a showoff
when you put two officers in a room they will spill all of their secrets in the name of dick measuring.
It was planned that way.
Another great episode. Since you record these episodes a while before they come out, I think Indy should dress up as MacArthur for the “I have returned” week.
That would be cool
When you dress up like MacArthur, I believe regulations require a batman to hand-starch your boxers. Just sayin'.
Thanks as always for watching, Indiana!
Didn't he have his rank sewed into his robe?
wading in a bath tub....
I believe that the Von Thoma conversation was recorded (on a real 78rpm record!) while at the special camp designed for just this purpose near Richmond-on-Thames. Prisoners - e Germans and others - Italians, mostly were treated very well, and were gently steered into talking about things that were of interest to the Allies. Thinking that they would be bugged, they often leaned out of the upper windows to chat - and the microphones were hidden just below the windowsill picked up everything. Truly, when it came to intelligence, the Allies were streets ahead of the Axis in so many ways.
@Alan Thank you, very interesting
@@WorldWarTwo Sorry, wrong detention centre! The one near Richmond (Latchmere House, Ham, near Richmond) was used for holding our home-grown fascists, and went on to be used as a prison for many years after. The one with Von Thoma was Trent Park, in N London. Many of the recorded conversations were later published, and they clearly and very plainly show that the myth of the 'clean Wehrmacht' is just that - a myth.
@ger du The western allies weren’t exactly behind on the technology…
They just didn’t exactly publish what they were doing (in some cases for seventy five years…)
The Germans were pretty effective interrogators too. Hans Scharff for example influenced even interrogation techniques after the war. Nevertheless, British intelligence was the best.
streets ahead!
My Dad was a merchant seaman during the war and I cannot express to you how brave those men had to be, the stories he has told me are beyond imagining.
The fact that you know where every tank, every army, and every battle is each day is absolutely incredible.
Our team works hard to bring these episodes together. Thasnk you for watching
Six months ago I decided to start watching all of Indy's WW1 videos and today, I can finally say I'm caught up and have watched every single video in this WW2 channel. Love your guys's content and particularly loved the Pearl Harbor series and how in depth as well as entertaining it was. Can't wait to follow this channel to the end of the war!
@Teague Drotar Thanks much for your dedication, I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying the channel so much! To help us keep going, please remember to like, subscribe, and share with your friends! And please cajole them into joining the TimeGhost Army! bit.ly/WW2_187B_CO
Man I watch 1 a day for almost a year and haven't caught up🙃
I fondly remember my WW1 catch up binge in 2017
There is ww1!!!! 😵😵😵 had no idea
General Messe and the DAK with Italian 1st Army are doing a great defense here in early April ! ,causing much distress and discord with the Allies ,bled the 2nd Corps and Monty's 8th,. great moves by Messe !
He lost entire Mareth Line and left 8.000 prisoners , 2.700 killed or wounded Axis trops behind though.15th and 21st Panzer and 164th German Light Divisions had all been terribly mauled and the last-named had lost almost all its heavy weapons and vehicles at Mareth Line and Tebega features. The Italian divisions had also suffered badly and only 90th German Light Division had retired in good order. Moreover it seems that Axis confidence had again been shaken. Italian officers claimed that newly retired Wadi Akarit was a better defensive line than Mareth but then Italian soldiers wondered if it was better why did not we positioned here in first place ?
I recommend this series and channel to anyone to whom I get to talking about WWII. Seriously, great work to all the team for committing to making such quality historical content, this is easily the best channel to take advantage of the opportunities the new (compared to things like TV) medium of the internet and online video hosting. Indy and Sparty have been trailblazing making this kind of online historical content since the Great War series.
All this to say you’re all amazing, and thank you for all y’all do!
Agreed! This series has so much depth and it keeps getting better week by week! Even I, a studied historian who thought he knew much about WWII can learn so much! I think this series should be watched at schools, to educate students about WWII, together with the War agains humanity series!
@Nick THANK YOU so much for recommending our channel. We have the best audience out there, and we can't express our gratitude enough to our loyal, caring fans like you.
I too recommend this series. while I don't contribute money to the time ghost army, I feel that I contribute by recommending this series to every chatroom on ww2 I visit, on RUclips. this is another great episode that I'll be studying & researching with keen interest, (particularly on Indis' narration on n.africa because I'm not well versed in this theater). it just stands to reason, that although I had been interested in ww2 history since I was 14, (1973), that you can study it for a lifetime, & still not grasp its enormity.
"Mein Furher! Are you aware that your Wehrmacht officers are trying to assassinate."
"Ja, I know. It's become this weekly cat-n-mouse game between us to keep each other on their toes. They come up with some sneaky, elaborate plan, and then I change my travels plans at the last minute."
Seven and a half years later you are still one of the best channels on RUclips.
@Ty Thanks very much for watching all these years & exploring the war(s) with us. Stay tuned to see where this one goes
I like these videos because you go from a very high level view to a view closer to what is going on. It makes WWII more than "just a bunch of guys shooting at each other".
Thank you!
Finding out there existed a nazi general called "Ludwig Crüwell" just made my whole day👌
I know! I had to back the video up to make sure I'd heard it correctly.
Watch “secrets of the dead” tv show about this story where the British recorded German pow officers
Sounds like a name out of yesterday’s episode.
How have there been no movies with him as the bad guy?
Would have been hilarious if the Germans had a lead nurse named Cruwella DeVille that was his sister or cousin.
I loved the new effects on the map, where previous troop movements where shown as "ghost" from the past. Great work guys!
Thanks!
Thanks for watching, Robert
Major ups to TimeGhost for mentioning the sinking of HMS Dasher. Did not think that would have been on their radar, but very happy to see a large platform shed light of this disaster. As a fun fact, Dasher had a sistership, HMS Avenger, which was notable for being lost on a return journey from Operation Torch and also exploded in spectacular fashion (albeit due to enemy action as opposed to an accident). Combustible, Vulnerable, Expendable.
Of the 38 escort carriers Lend Leased to Britain only two were lost. As I understand it.
Those german generals were interred in Trent House, which is in Trent Country park in Cockfosters, London. Cockfosters is the north eastern most stop on the piccadillly line on the underground. The park is ten mins walk away from the station. Lovely place, well worth a visit. Especially on a summer day. There's also a nice little animal sanctuary there. Someone at one point was trying to get the house turned into a museum on the subject of the generals and the intelligence work, but I don't think that came to pass. For Doctor Who fans, the location work for the Fifth Doctor story 'Mawdryn Undead' was all done there.
Really good to hear things about the new Zealanders you hardly hear anything about them they did so much for a small little country
Spoiler alert - our Kiwi friends might pop up in next week's episode for something that's going down tomorrow in the timeline.
NZ pop 1.6 million had more pilots in the Battle of Britain than Canada pop 11 million.
In one of the Harry Hole books, I think it's The Bat, they make a point of saying that the New Zealanders had no obligation to fight in the Second World War. They were not under attack like Australia. Yet, they answered the call to arms because it was the right thing to do.
@@nickdanger3802 wow what interesting fact
@@bobsemple07
G'day,
And, might ye be any relation to the Kiwi who played about with a Bulldozer with delusions of deadly grandeur...; and called it a "Tank" with which he proposed to repel however many Japanese Shock Troops swum the Tasman Sea, after taking Sydney from the West - following their epic Bicycle-ride from Darwin (because it was the fast-moving Bicycles which beat the British Empire out of Malaya, y'see !)....
Would ye be kinfolk to THAT Bob Semple ?
Just(ifiably ?) sayin',
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
Fun fact: combat rockets date back to the late eighteenth century, developed by the southern Indian kingdom of Mysore. Mysore would use them to great effect in their wars with the British Empire; the British then adopted this technology after defeating & conquering Mysore
Thank you for that fun fact, Andrew. Yes Mysorean rockets have been continued to be talked about by many historians centuries afterwards. Especially its usage at the Battle of Pollilur as envisioned by Tipu Sultan.
Focus was really good this episode.
Usually it hangs somewhere halfway between Indy and the back wall, but this time it was great.
Earlier on 25 March, Alexander had visited Patton. He still believed the American commander needed to be closely controlled, but the developing situation required another change of orders. With the success of the Big Red One and with Monty’s main thrust now coming through the Tebaga Gap, Alex felt it made sense for 2nd US Corps to try and push on down towards Gabès. He hoped that, by releasing the 9th Infantry Division to support the Big Red One, they might be able to clear a now weakened enemy from the mountains running east from El Guettar, then send the 1st US Armored Division down to cut off the enemy as they retreated from the Tebaga Gap.
Patton drove up to 1st US Armored Division’s HQ near Maknassy on the 27th to explain the new plan to Ward. He also wanted to see their forward positions. Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton Howze was assigned to guide him. With Hamilton in a Jeep and Patton in a glaringly conspicuous command car, they drove towards the front until they were stopped by engineers clearing mines. Hamilton walked over to Patton’s command car and explained that they could go no further.
‘To hell with that,’ Patton told him. ‘Let’s go. Ham, lead the way!’
‘I figured this was possibly my last act,’ noted Hamilton, but on they went, past the astonished engineers. A light tank then joined them and shortly after duly hit a mine. Much to Hamilton’s relief, this finally persuaded Patton to have a change of heart, and very gingerly they turned around and went back the way they’d come.
Patton’s attack down the Gafsa-Gabès road was finally launched on the night of 28/29 March. The 1st US Infantry Division, including the 18th Infantry Regiment, pushed the enemy back down Gumtree Road from Djebel el Ank, but could not take the high point that overlooked the Gafsa-Gabès road. This was where the 9th US Infantry Division attacked and their inexperience soon got the better of them. In the dark, they assaulted the wrong objectives and discovered, as many Allied troops had done before them, that prising German troops from strong positions was an extremely difficult task. With no immediate breakthrough, but sensing there was still a chance that an eastward thrust by the Americans might force the Axis to abandon their next line of defence north of Gabès, Alex decided to order 2nd US Corps to make another push from El Guettar, and so changed his orders for a fourth time. This time he instructed Patton to bring some of his armour down from the Maknassy area to El Guettar, and from there launch a lightning armoured raid, supported by the 9th US Infantry, in one last effort to break through to Gabès. But it wasn’t to be. Much to everyone’s frustration, 10th Panzer Division fell back just five thousand yards and then held fast , repulsing 9th US Infantry Division all over again.
The enemy had slipped away again. While the Americans were being held at El Guettar and Gabes road, the Axis had held up 10th Corps with a makeshift anti tank screen at El Hamma just long enough to allow the main bulk of their forces from the Mareth Line to slip through the Gabès Gap behind them, so that by the time the rest of New Zealand Corps joined Horrocks’s 1st Armoured Division, the chance to cut them off had passed. On the 29th, 51st Highland Division, advancing over the Mareth Line, linked up with 1st British Armoured Division once more in Gabès. As at Alamein, Eighth Army had won the battle decisevely , but had failed to destroy the enemy army.
Together We Stand - James Holland
Great episode thanks to all involved for your great work.
Thanks for watching @Stark Parker
Rockets!
That sounds like something you would use to develop a space program.
My granduncle was in this battel. He talked about how hard El Guettar was. He had mother luck on his shoulder. he marched all the way to France by the time he was done.
Thanks for sharing about your granduncle, that's quite amazing hearing from relatives of these specific actions. Very glad he made it through.
Def Leppard reference with the Rockets? Love it!
4:50 I don't know but that short shot has been stuck in my head. Papua-New Guinea is still the most isolated place on the planet in terms of interconnectivity. Imagine living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle with little to no information of the outside world and then you suddenly see giant loud metal objects flying creating explosions.
Here is an interesting development about what you mentioned en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult
A very exceptional episode. The breadth and depth of this week's show was great!
Thanks Price Ringo!
Tack!
Thanks for watching, Fred the Swede!
An interesting thing to note this week on April 1 1943 is that SIGSALY, referred to as the X System vocoder or "Green Hornet", will enter operation as a form of secure phone communications between United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. This new system from Bell Labs encrypted speech into electronic signals and decrypted it at the other end, permitting both to speak to each other without the risk of being understood by wiretappers.
One can only dream where this rocket plan might go maybe even to the stars.
Thank you, I love history and WW 2 history is top on my list. My dad was a Brooklyn boy born in 1914. In 1940 he joined the United States Army and in that army he stayed until 1946.
Peter, Thank you for sharing about your dad. Amazing that he was born at the start of the first war, and fought in the second. I'm glad to have you with us, please stay tuned for more every week.
Truk was developed into a major IJN fleet base during the '30s. In the mid-20's Hector Bywater wrote a fictional account of The Great Pacific War between the U.S. and Japan. In this story, the U.S. needed a viable fleet anchorage that could act as an advance base to project their seapower into the Western Pacific. Bywater wrote that the U.S. achieved this base at Truk. Purportedly, Yamamoto was visiting the U.S. around the time the book was published, may have met Bywater and may have seen to it that the book translated into Japanese. During the Great War (WWI), the Japanese had acquired this portion of the Pacific from the Germans who had previously acquired it from the Spanish after their defeat in the Spanish-American war. It is interesting to me to consider how this mention of Truk Atoll by Bywater may have influenced the IJN developing it into a significant naval base, possibly to deny the U.S. a (very) viable advance base as well as to counter U.S. projection of sea power into the Pacific in the event of war.
@Steve Thank you for sharing that background
The BEST Channel of WW2 Ever 👍🏻✌🏼😊☺️
Thank you!
Rocketry will never catch on.
Goddard’s home was recently declared a historic place. His early research was at WORCESTER Polytechnic Institute, in WORCESTER, MASS.
Thanks for sharing that, Christopher. That's where my cousin got her BFA, now she's a researcher at the Mayo Clinic.
So now we wait for RAF Air Reconnaissance to take some pictures of the Baltic coast.
i've got a big feeling your detailed/exacting work here is going to become a historical document ,that future generations will be able to access and learn from. very very important work/contribution in my view .
@jim Thanks very much, that is high praise. We just love exploring history with you in the TimeGhost Army, so thanks for your support!
15:17 Caught a typo! The book by Glantz is called "After Stalingrad", not "After Leningrad".
- Adûnâi
Another good video! Thanks for making them available to the general public! Love your animated maps too.
Thank you for watching, Peter!
Ευχαριστούμε!
Thank you Nikos!
@@WorldWarTwo No thank you for your great content!!!
It's surprising to see the Allies struggling so much against the Axis in North Africa, I never learned that. I know it took around 6 months after Torch for them to be defeated, but it's still kind of surprising to still see the Allies struggling 1.5 months after Kasserine Pass.
Why couldn’t the Axis turn the battle around?
There were many kind of rockets used in war, maybe worth of special episode. Thank you for good show.
It seemed at one time that Monty's ‘Left Hook’ might be able to trap the whole of Messe’s First Italian Army, but it was not to be. Early on the morning of the 27th, von Liebenstein managed to gather together enough anti-tank guns to check the British armour in a defile three miles south of El Hamma. This anti-tank screen was reinforced as the day wore on and more dust storms imposed a further handicap on Horrocks who was not able to overcome the defences and was reluctant to outflank them before the New Zealanders caught up with him, which they did only in the early hours of the 28th.
Meanwhile the Axis troops in the Mareth Line were pouring back along the coastal road, covered by 90th German Light Division, the last units of which moved out on the night of the 27th/28th. Next day, 30th Corps, attempting to pursue, was delayed by the ‘usual’ mines and booby traps, while further dust storms continued to hamper 10th Corps and the New Zealanders. On the 29th, 1st British Armoured division at last captured El Hamma and the New Zealanders and both 4th Indian and 51st Highland Divisions from 30th Corps moved into the town of Gabes - but by then the survivors of First Italian Army were already falling back into the safety of the defences north of the town. Eighth Army had captured at least 8,000 prisoners, one third of them German rest Italians, and about the same number of Axis soldiers, Germans or Italians combined, had been killed or wounded since Operation Puglist and Operation Supercharge II started eight days ago. 15th and 21st Panzer and 164th German Light Divisions had all been terribly mauled and the last-named had lost almost all its heavy weapons and vehicles. The Italian divisions had also suffered badly and only 90th German Light Division had retired in good order. Moreover it seems that the enemy’s confidence had again been shaken.
For the men of Eighth Army on the other hand, the battle, in particular the ‘Left Hook’, had increased still further their confidence in their leaders, their supporting Air Force and themselves - and with reason. ‘It showed,’ declared Captain Liddell Hart,
“Montgomery’s capacity for flexibility in varying his thrust-point, and creating fresh leverage when checked - even better than at Alamein - although, as was his habit, he subsequently tended to obscure the credit due to him for such flexibility, the hallmark of generalship, by talking as if everything had gone ‘according to plan’ from the outset. In many respects Mareth was his finest battle performance in the war.”
General Fraser similarly considers that ‘the battle demonstrated Montgomery’s excellent flexibility of mind. It also once again showed his strength and will-power’ - though he too deplores Montgomery’s ‘proneness to exaggerated claims for the nature of his successes, untouched by error or miscalculation’. De Guingand and Eighth Army’s staff in general, Horrocks, Freyberg, Briggs and their subordinate commanders all did well, while Broadhurst, who was prepared to risk the wrath of his superiors and possibly his career in the cause of inter-service co-operation, is surely entitled to especial credit.
Yet none of them would deny that the greatest praise belongs elsewhere. ‘Most of all,’ reports Fraser, ‘it (the battle) demonstrated the excellence of British and Dominion troops who, from the preliminary operations on 17th March, through to 1st Armoured Division’s rapid move [when movement became possible] and dashing assault on 26 March, showed a skill and energy which gave its true lustre to the day.’ And it was not only the excellence of the ground troops that was demonstrated. ‘Never before,’ relates de Guingand, ‘had our Desert Air Force given us such superb, such gallant and such intimate support.’ ‘Brilliant and brave work by the pilots,’ declares Montgomery in his Memoirs, ‘completely stunned the enemy.’
On 30 March, the advanced forces of Eighth Army reached the Gabes Gap which Montgomery had originally hoped to break through ‘on the run’ as he had the Homs-Tarhuna position. Sadly the chances of doing so without very heavy casualties had been wrecked by the initial repulse on the Mareth Line as even the eager Horrocks was quickly forced to conclude. Montgomery therefore proceeded to make preparations for another ‘set-piece’ battle. He has been strongly criticized for his ‘caution’, but not by the men whose lives were saved thereby.
Victory in Desert - Adrian Stewart
@merdiolu81 We always appreciate your contributions, thanks for sharing relevant excerpts each week.
@@WorldWarTwo Thanks.
great comment. it's information such as this that helps compliment WW2 In Real Time.
Very good post. Thank you.
On hearing that four American divisions were to drive towards Gabès, General Francis Tuker, 4th Indian Division commander , was certain that this, ‘ought to fix the Boche if Yanks just walk forward in big squares.’ But fighting in such forbidding terrain was not quite so simple as, to his immense and growing frustration, Patton was discovering. His troops were spread over a front of more than 100 miles: ‘However, this is not as bad as it sounds,’ he told Marshall, ‘because three divisions are well-grouped and the fourth - the 34th - is on a sort of raiding mission to the northeast [Fondouk].’ Anticipating some ‘very hard’ fighting and losses in battalion and company commanders ‘higher than average,’ he added that should anything go drastically wrong the general scope of operations was laid down by Alexander and he was merely carrying out orders: ‘We are trying to be simple, not change our plans when once made, and keep on fighting.’
Attempting a breakthrough in the wild and mysterious country east of El Guettar, however, was a formidably difficult undertaking. Forced to navigate by re-photographed French maps last surveyed in 1903 which were hopeless in scale (1:100,000), the infantry could not obtain accurate co-ordinates nor pinpoint their own positions. Compass-bearings had to be taken from high points which exposed those doing this to murderously accurate fire from German snipers supported by 88s.
When the attack opened on 28 March, 1st US Infantry Divisionwere badly cut up by terrific mortar and machine-gun fire from the broken yellow and red stone mass of Djebel Chemsi. Colonel Fechet reported, ‘mines, booby traps… and trip wire… Wops in forward positions, Germans in rear… Wops faked surrender and then threw hand grenades. Mountains… strongly held by automatic weapons.’ Fighting through these powerful defences, Terry Allen’s men struggled as far as the western end of the hill on the first day. Across the valley, however, 9th US Infantry Division could make no progress through the shimmering heat to take Djebel Kreroua nor clean out the enemy artillery observation posts on the high, bare wall of Djebel Berda. By clever use of interlocking fire zones, the Germans pinned down both prongs of the attack and pounded supply trucks which raced between the palms and blossoming fig and plum trees in the El Guettar oasis.
With the 1st and 9th US Infantry Divisions lost in a confusing mass of jumbled rock and deeply-cut wadis, the 34th US Infantry Division failing in its feint at Fondouk, where Ryder had been told to, ‘Go out in the area and make a lot of noise but don’t try to capture anything’, and the attack from Maknassy abandoned, Patton’s troops had come to a grinding halt everywhere. Prior to this setback he had planned that units of 1st US Armored Division would undertake a meteoric 80-mile drive from El Guettar to Gabès. Now Patton pinned his hopes on Ward’s former chief of staff, Colonel ‘Chauncey’ Benson. Before Ward lost his command he had sent Benson to 13th Armored Regiment. Despite a reputation for heavy drinking, Patton admired his aggressiveness.
Blocking the route were newly-arrived mobile elements of 21st Panzer Division, sent to reinforce 10th Panzer Division near El Guettar. In support, the Luftwaffe stepped up its attacks on US artillery which laid down a heavy barrage on 30 March to clear enemy positions in front of 1st Infantry. At noon, Benson’s Sherman and Lee tanks rolled through the narrow gap in the ridge at El Guettar. Self-propelled guns followed, then half-tracks carrying infantry, tank-destroyers and Jeeps. Well dug in and superbly sited, the Germans slowed this force with an extensive minefield and then plastered it with accurate anti-tank gunfire. When 13th Armored was forced to retreat from this ill-coordinated and costly assault, the burning remnants of 13 tanks and two tank-destroyers were left behind.
In the meantime, Man ton Eddy’s 9th US Infantry Division had crawled along the foothills of Kreroua but could do little more than hang on by their fingernails. Suddenly in their midst appeared a British military policeman, dressed incongruously in razor-smart uniform, who was to direct the first elements of Eighth Army to their supply dump in Gafsa. He was hurriedly sent back, having arrived ‘a trifle early.’
Next day, Patton told Benson to try again and expend a whole company if necessary. Simultaneously, to take the heat off Benson, and off Ryder’s 34th US Infantry Division stuck at Fondouk, he ordered Ward to attack at Maknassy, disregarding any number of casualties. ‘I feel quite brutal in issuing orders to take such losses, especially when I personally am safe,’ he noted, ‘but it must be done. Wars can only be won by killing, and the sooner we start the better.’
US intelligence was very pessimistic and worried about the effect of this holdup on the whole Tunisian campaign, 18th Army Group nervous and uncertain, and Patton himself in no doubt that reports of enemy withdrawals, in front of 1st and 9th US Infantry Divisions, were the product of ‘wishful thinking.’ Benson’s second effort went ahead at 1230 hours on the 31st in advance of coordinated artillery and air support which Patton had planned. Sure enough, while 2nd Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment managed to pass through a lane cut through the enemy’s minefield, its tanks then became marooned and could penetrate no further against determined resistance.
A tremendous effort by the Luftwaffe over 2nd US Corps’ area of operations and the new longer-range offensive strikes ordered by Coningham, rather than Broadhurst’s more effective air umbrella, temporarily offset the Germans’ loss of numerical superiority. During a sudden attack by a dozen Ju-88s on 1 April, the death of Captain Richard N. Jenson, his aide, seems temporarily to have driven Patton over the brink of frustration at the inability of his troops to make any progress. On the same day a Sitrep (situation report) from 2nd US Corps HQ complained that: ‘Forward troops have been continuously bombed all the morning… enemy aircraft have bombed all division C.Ps. Total lack of air cover for our Units has allowed German Air Forces to operate almost at will.’ This intemperate claim might not have called for much response but as Spaatz explained, ‘[it] caused great concern as to its inaccuracy and the unjustness of its accusation plus the widespread distribution given it by Patton.’
Bloody Road to Tunis - David Rolf
Jesus
that phrase, it can send shiver
Yeah,
Your videos are the highlight of my Saturdays!!
We're very glad to join you for your Saturdays, Chef Luc!
Thank you for another excellent and informative video.
I like the idea of people in period dress behind Indie answering phones, typing etc so we can see (imagine) that Indie is not doing everything himself!
As always ; It was another very interesting episode . Thank you.
Thanks for joining us as always, Ageing Viking!
American attacks in Tunisia may be a temporary disaster.
However, German campaign in Tunisia is a long-term one.
You sure? It seems to me Germans will be able to counterattack soon. Before we know it, the whole Maghreb can be theirs.
The disaster is fighting on too many fronts. Against overwhelming numbers, you won´t be successful in any theatre of war in the long run.
Even Kasserine was a defeat for the Germans, who were stopped dead in their tracks by US artillery, while US forces fought tooth and nail for the heights surrounding the pass.
A little birdie told me that Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto will be taking to trip to Bougainville in the middle of the month. Do we have any P-38 Lightnings available? 🤔
16:28
Please note: missiles and rockets are “different”. A missile is guided, where a rocket is not. A missile is (usually) a rocket, but a rocket is not always a missile.
Also, fun fact, it took until 2012 with Iron Dome for the world to develop a successful anti-rocket defense system. There were some before, but not as successful or useful.
German does not have different words for rockets and missiles. Same goes for digitization and digitalisation. German development stopped before the end of the war.
@@rhineriversurf5594 I see. Thank you, I am learning German now funnily enough.
So it’s like in Arabic then, missile and rocket are the same word for them, gotcha
I found this series about a month ago and now I'm caught up it'll be cool to experience the series as intended, week by week in real time. Oh the suspense, will they open up a second front in Europe, where will it be, will the Kursk salient be crushed? So much suspense and some answers won't be answered for over a year! Crazy
@Matthew Very glad you found us! Thanks for watching!
Yeah, but what is Red Skull doing?
Book recommendation: Check out Ian Fleming's Bond novel "Moonraker". Its plot involves the German rocket program Indy talked about in the episode. Oh, and if you're not a fan of the 1979 "Moonraker" film, then: a) You're wrong, because it's a great one; and b) The novel is nothing like the film.
More about those conversations that were recorded of the Nazi Generals in British captivity can be read in the book "Tapping Hitler's Generals" which is a collection of transcripts of those conversations as well as a history of how they were gathered. Its an interesting read.
Around 4:50, the subtitles reveal a bit of discussion about the Allied plans for Rabaul, which appears to have been cut from the actual video. Not a big deal, I just found it amusing.
Excellent historical video!
Thanks for watching!
Indy, guys. Thanks for another terrific episode. My brother-in-law is a history teacher and I would love to turn him on to your channel.
I wish I didn't hate him so bad. 😁
Thanks for watching, Bill!
Do it for his students, not him
Indy, I just noticed the lamp on your desk. I have the near twin of it sitting next to my laptop right now. It has the identical translucent green shade, but mine has a vertical stand instead of an angled one.
@Jovan Lamp twins 🍹
I am betting my Lancaster that allies will do whatever possible to stop the rocket menace...
Amazing that some Lancasters still survive, especially in the tiny hands of an ewok
Tactics on the frozen tundra don't necessarily work on the sand hills and wadis of a desert, and jungle warfare is very different that mountain warfare, which is different than the rolling plains of Eastern Europe...etc. Commanders must adjust their tactics and strategies accordingly.
Defenders have an advantage, as usual. How much infantry and armor and aircraft will be lost through a misunderstanding of some basic geography?
War is always a learning process, and the tuition is always paid in blood and treasure.
In that respect, war never changes.
@4:49 lol, scared man not used to seeing flying machines.
Hey WWII team! You guys are doing such a great job and with how today this RUclips channel is more important than ever! But so many people tend to forget what we went through to get to where we are at today. And I see why history repeats itself….. it’s because people FORGET
@Action Swon Thanks so much for your kind words. We too believe strongly in the simple mission of learning and teaching history. We really appreciate the support of you, our amazing audience in the TimeGhost Army. Please stay tuned
Jebel eyries... How poetic! Homer could not have said better
North Africa always surprises me with how close the Axis came to victory there initially. Such a roller coaster ride of a campaign.
Now that Hydra is out of action, the war can continue!
If I’m not mistaken The Andrews Sisters had a top ten hit with their song “Mud, Mud and More Mud” in 1943.
Excellent stuff bro
Thanks Clarence!
Great stuff as always. Just picked up Rick Atkinson’s trilogy because of these vids. Cheers!
@DeePsix Thanks very much. Please let us know what you think of those books.
Rather nice "prison" the Germans were held in! I used to live near Trent Park in North London. After the war, the house and grounds were used as a teacher training college. Now it's all been converted to very pricey apartments!
I believe this was deliberate strategy - to get them to lower their guard and talk to each other - and it worked.
It was for officers, and only high-ranking officers - Generals (don't know if anybody lower ranking were there.) Bugging was still pretty high-tech at that time. The prisoners I'm sure took precautions when guards were around, but they would not expect to be bugged. Still, it was careless of them.
Yes, I think there was a BBC drama about it years ago. It was also frequently mentioned in the BBC book/series "The Secret War". Both talked about the softly softly approach!
@@robertkras5162 there was, (& maybe still is), a documentary on RUclips entitled, 'The Wehrmact', where they had an episode on those German POW officers in Britain. from what it appeared was 'dramatized', they had colonels there as well as generals.
@@Lex-dw7ng I think you're correct! How would they put it..."Not great but not terrible"! I think the BBC drama did show it wasn't all roses!
Hard to believe just a year ago,the Japanese were running rampant in the Pacific. My how quickly times change
It was good to see you mention General Ernest Harmon. He has a strong connection to my Alma Mater, Norwich University, the US oldest private military college. Spoiler alert he goes on to become President of Norwich University with a long and active tenure.
Near the chapel at Norwich, a memorial wall, remembering graduates who had fallen in service, was constructed. Its centerpiece is a large piece of granite with a bust if General Harmon. Among us cadets, it took on the nickname of the Ernie McNugget, because it is shaped like the McDonald's chicken nuggets.
1:30 your weekly reminder that even if you think they surely know, they might not and you may be leaking information
I'd like to hear where General Modell is at this point. Thanks!
He is with the 9th Army that withdrew from Rzhev and is in the Belgorod region near Kursk.
@@caryblack5985 - Many thanks.
Thanks for fielding so many comments every week, Cary! We're always grateful to have your name pop up in the feed.
Would it be possible to also mention allied/axis tranport ship and U-Boat production during the monthly Atlantic Battle recap?
Might be nothing, but to me it almost sounded like Indy might be a bit under the weather in this one.
great videos. keep it up
Thank you, we will! Glad you enjoyed it
Excellent video as always you guys are my favorite channel been watching u since ww1 keep up the great work
Thank you for your longtime viewership Nate! I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't give you a friendly suggestion to join the TimeGhost Army and help our whole production team! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
Huh. A capture of the short clip of brits advancing at about 7 minutes was used in the old Allied General game. Just a random observation.
Very good and nicely made, congratulations !
Thanks, Marcel!
1:03 What is the striped area between China and the USSR?
the striped area? looks like areas under PLA control rather than the kuomintang
@@pnutz_2 The areas under PLA control were behind the japanese frontlines.
The striped areas look like Mongolia to me, possibly the Mongolian People's Republic maybe? I can see Tannu Tuva on the border of the striped areas.
Mongolia and Xinjiang. I assume both are still somewhat neutral at the time, at least regarding the war against Japan
Amazing episode, lovely tie, cheers!
Thanks for watching, Robert!
Calling Trent Park and the effort there "eavesdropping" and "a prison", is a bit of an understatement.
@12:52: Do you have any information on this trailer, or other higher echelon commanders, housing?
Always wondered WHEN/HOW the road & rail network was constructed? Also what was the carry capacity of the network? Or who maintained & repaired the network? Any way thanks for the vid
Those are big questions, I bet you could find better answers than I can provide here. Thanks for watching
13:33 which aircraft is that
It's a Douglas Boston Mk. III.
Has to be an amazing production team, started watching you guys way back when you started in 1939, almost 4 YEARS AGO!!! You guys always make my Sunday afternoons 😀
@Quinlan The team works hard every week, and it's really quite humbling and gratifying hearing from longtime fans like you. Thanks for watching and please stay tuned for the rest of the war, however long it lasts!
I grew up in Huntsville Alabama, where the rocket scientist were all relocated after the war, it is a big part of our city. My neighborhood is where many used to live and many stories about them have been passed down and documented. When hearing about the slow progress of the rockets, I am reminded of one of the scientists (who name I have since forgotten) who would take a chair and sit in the Center of the target as the V2s were being tested. He did this apparently because he knew the guidance was off and the rocket would miss by several miles. Even if the story is just that it is interesting some of the stories that survive, and some of the insights on how it was to be on the forefront of the space age.
Keep up the great work! I look forward to all the content to come!
Thanks for sharing!
Bomber Command Weekly Report (missed last week so 2 weeks here)
After a period of bad weather that grounded RAF bombers for a week and a half, Harris gets his first break to begin bombing raids. However still bound to support the British Navy in the war against the U-boats, first he will attack one of the French U-boat bases.
March 22/23 - St Nazaire - Animated time lapse of the attack - ruclips.net/video/6rPe6f-dsUg/видео.html
-357 bombers are dispatched, 1 is lost (0.3% of the force). Limited night fighter activity as France does not have a well developed system of night fighting positions. The one loss is due to flak.
-Targets are the U-boat Pens and the surrounding dock works. Pathfinder Mosquitoes will drop markers using OBOE on the Submarine pens, which half the main force will attack. The other half will do a timed run from the markers to hit the port facilities. 4 Engine pathfinder crews will backup the mosquito marking with their own aimed marking.
-The mosquito marking is accurate and the raid initially starts quite accurately, however decoy markers are deployed by the Germans and the raid progressively gets more and more inaccurate as crews are drawn away from the proper markers. 4 Engines pathfinder crews also seem to deposit some of their markers on the decoy flares not realizing what they are, further scattering the raid. Bombing drifts North and North East as the raid continues, up to several miles from the aiming point.
-The raid on the whole is fairly destructive, further destroying St Nazaire and the surrounding docs. However as Arthur Harris had argued, the bombs Bomber Command possess is not capable of damaging the submarine pen and on the whole the raid fails to destroy any of the important U-boat facilities inside.
March 26/27 - Duisburg
-455 bombers dispatched, 6 lost (1.3%)
-Another Oboe raid to be led by Mosquitoes, the raid fails due to extreme cloud encountered over the target. The Pathfinder crews attempt to use sky marker flares, but they quickly fall below the high clouds and thus cannot be aimed at. While the Lancasters can fly relatively high, the Halifaxes and Wellingtons at times find themselves below the top of clouds, unable to see any markers at all. As a result many crews bomb on any glows they can see below the clouds, leading to a very scattered raid.
-The bad cloud hinders the night fighters as well, which combined with relatively ineffective flak keeps the RAF losses low. The first OBOE mosquito is lost, ditching in the North Sea. The crew is never found, but the loss of the Mosquito into the North Sea means the Germans are unable to retrieve any parts of the OBOE system. For the moment the secrets of this night bombing aid remains unknown to the Germans, preventing them from being able to jam it.
March 27/28 - Berlin - Animated time lapse of the attack - ruclips.net/video/TrMY94HW_Fs/видео.html
-396 bombers dispatched, 9 bombers lost (2.3%)
-The Center of Berlin will be marked by 4 Engine pathfinder crews using H2S Ground marking radar, dropping a combination of Red and Green flares depending on their roles. Illumination flares will be used to assist in the visual marker crews to identify the aiming point.
-The Raid was a complete failure, with the Pathfinder crews marking an area 7 miles SW of the target. The RAF post action report was unable to understand what happened, though reports of decoys being used by the Germans was again noted. The bomb loads of the entire force fell 7 to 17 miles away from Berlin.
-By chance much of the bombing fell on a secret Luftwaffe stores filled with valuable electronic equipment. The Germans believed this was the actual target of the raid, and could not believe the RAF pulled off such an accurate attack on a precision target at night. The Secret police spent the next several weeks trying to track down the spies who helped the British bomb this stores so accurately. Even decades later in the 1980's German authorities in Berlin believed this had been the raids target.
-Bad weather largely grounded the Luftwaffe fighters, making the cost for this failed raid tolerably low.
March 28/29 - St Nazaire
-232 aircraft dispatched, 2 lost (0.6%). Little fighter activity, the losses were due to flak.
-A more straightforward attack, the aiming point was the center of St Nazaire which was one of the few French towns the British Government authorized area bombing raids on. The town along with the U-boat facilities were supposed to be destroyed in these raids. OBOE mosquitoes would mark the aiming point, while the 4 engine pathfinder crews would back up the markings with their own indicators to ensure continuous marking of the aiming point.
-The raid was similar to the previous raid in terms of damage, much being done to the docks and surrounding residential areas. Significant scattering occurred North and North East, likely due to decoy indicators playing their part in drawings away some of the bombing. Much of the French population had left the city by Mid march after The February raids, so french casualties were low.
March 29/30 - Bochum and Berlin
-A dual raid, 329 four engine bombers were sent to Berlin while 149 twin engine wellingtons went to Bochum. 21 Bombers lost on the Berlin raid (6.4%), 12 wellingtons lost on the Bocum raid (8.0%). Overall 33 aircraft lost (6.9%)
-The Bochum force was to be led by OBOE mosquitoes without backers-ups while the Berlin force was led by Pathfinder crews using H2S with Backers-ups. The respective methods of marking were to be used given the type of bombing aids employed.
-Both raids were failures. The marking by the Pathfinder Crews over Berlin was accurate, but the main force arrived too late to take advantage of the accurate marking and the bombing developed 6 miles to the East of Berlin. Some damage was due to Berlin suburbs but the results were disappointing. The Bochum raid failed because the OBOE mosquitoes couldn't adhere to the bombing timetable and the wellingtons found significant gaps of time where there was no marked aiming point to bomb on.
-The raid was costly in the extreme, especially since they were failures. Bad weather and icing was encountered by both forces, in fact in seems a significant minority of the lost bombers may have been lost due to the unexpectedly bad weather.
Thanks for the background info every week
_I've got a real bad feeling about this..._ - Private Boyle
This week on March 30 1943, the sixteenth mission of the 2005 video game *Call of Duty 2* , the *Assault on Matmata level* under *Sergeant John Davis* begins at Matmata in Tunisia.
You will start out in a Jeep with Privates Boyle and MacGregor along with Sergeant Carver heading towards Matmata and will soon run into an enemy ambush. You must take out the enemies firing from the roof until the gate can be open. Once past the gate, you will need to secure the village by clearing through waves of incoming enemies while having some allied tank support to assist. Eventually some enemy planes will appear, and you will need to get on to the Flakvierling anti-aircraft gun to shoot down these planes, bringing an end to the level.
The V-2 was the most efficient way for Hitler to expend maximum resources for minimum balancing military effect.
When you get to talking about rockets actually landing, I do hope you will cover their effect on the Normandy breakout. I understand that the density of strikes per square mile was a good deal higher there than in England. My uncle was underneath.
They were not used in Normandy. The first V2 attack was in September. Strange comment you made.
@@DrJones20 Holland then? One landed very close to him,fortunately in a mud hole. It went "ploop" instead of "bang".
The V2 was never used against moving armies, it was faaaar to inaccurate. It was primarily used against cities, the only target it could reliably hit. I'm surprised you didn't know this, it's very basic ww2 knowledge.
@@DrJones20 Your gratuitous insults do nothing to improve the quality of your information. In fact they call it into question.
@@davidford694 Google it. Wikipedia it.
You know, Indy. A special on Liberty Ships would be right on. The US practically able to produce ships faster than the Germans can sink this is simply amazing.
I'm caught up with the WW2 day by day documentary series on Amazon prime it was made in 2014 it's a older series so not as updated as WW2 week by week.
Glad to have you with us, John
@@WorldWarTwo thanks glad to be here.
Thank you for the history lesson.
I read once about an American facility like Trent Park in I believe Virginia.
It went by a P.O.Box #.
I cant remember the number.
Solid content. Relatively slow week.
Thanks for watching, Ricardo