timomastosalo Maybe it’s a photo from the eastern front. Maybe it’s with captured weapons, if I’m not mistaken, the PPSH was favored by German soldiers, when they looted them. Especially units who needed SMGs like assault pioneers or recon groups.
@@abbevogler2619 I won't state anything very certain further than previous - for I don't really know. So this is guessing, based on what I do know otherwise. Even the guys with foreign smgs could be Germans with captured Russian weapons. But their snow camou looks different: the way they protect head. I guess these might be Russians: they used ski troops also in the late war. The first ski patrol is likely German - those caps, and the Alpine terrain.They might have a shorter rifle issued for them, like a carbine: to better handle it with those skiing sticks. I don't think these are Finns, they used a lot of Suomi smgs (sometimes captured Soviet ones) for their ski troopers, for they were nicely shorter than rifle: to operate when skiing. Also it was because they operated in very forested terrains, so distance was almost meaningless, if not a sniper: firepower was preferrable, a bullet sprayer.
For a German soldier in WWII, you could hardly have lucked out better then to spend the war sitting on an isolated Island w/ nothing more then the random polar bear to worry about.
@Ahmad Omar Well, part of the eastern front was exactly that plus the red army trying to kill you. That's like a horde of polar bears with auto-machine guns and tanks. ;-)
@88Gibson LesPaul you must be 31 years old, I'm 30. How has our government stopped working under Trump again? What is it not doing for you that it was before?
@@12yearssober also because the story is literally and figuratively isolated compared to the one about Hiroo Onoda, who was fighting a guerilla war largely alone for decades, while these guys were essentially military researcher who were stranded
I listened to an audio book about the Japanese soldier, which was very interesting, but also hadn't heard of these German soldiers. Very interesting story!
Do u mean the workers at the Norwegian German base and Onoda’s band of soldiers because let me tell ya no German wanted to surrender in WW2 to put it mildly
@@scl1332 Riiiiiight. Because every German was a dyed-in-the-wool Nazi, huh? First of all, that wasn't true; secondly a whole lot of them were happy enough not to BOTH lose AND be killed.
@chirstovoskresye first what isn’t true second of all u must be familiar with Waffen SS grant it there were troops who were smart enough to live but seriously what the hell bra
@@scl1332 There are cases of the Wehrmacht fighting against the SS. The SS were the die-hard supporters of Hitler's regime, mostly because they were similar to the SA during the inter-war period. Cases of this includes the Battle of Castle Itter, the Munich Crisis, and the resistance of Major Max Liedtke and Lieutenant Albert Battel when they blocked a bridge after learning that the Jews in Przemyśl were to be "liquidated" by the SS, allowing several Jews to escape. Cases like these help expose the overall distaste the Wehrmacht had for the SS. To say that every German who fought for Germany was a Nazi is foolish, and incorrect. There were people in the Wehrmacht (and German civilians) who didn't support Hitler at all. (For an example of German civilians resisting, look up Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
You have a real good way of talking and explaining. Nothing narcistic, straigt to the point.. perfect. Keep it up
5 лет назад+7
You'll never learn any of this in today's schools. It a liberal, socialist indoctrination environment. At least when we went to school, we were taught more in a month than most schools today teach in at least two marking periods.
@@iamk4474 Hi @Ammo08 Hope you don't mind. Your post intrigued me so I looked it up and found this Trust this answers your question Iamk Peace Friends m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2509764399089789&id=1160495674016675
Yes, but for the rest of their lives they had a marvelous excuse for overindulgence - they were just catching up.
5 лет назад+1
And don't forget cigarettes. Unless the men were first screened, ensuring they didn't smoke because that would have meant shipments of cigarettes to the men, thus blowing their cover. But no beer? That's okay. It's the lack of bourbon that would drive me nuts.
Svalbard was, as many other “undiscovered” areas, frequently visited by Vikings hundreds of years before the Dutch arrived. The Vikings called it Svalbard (cold shores) and it was first mentioned in written text in around year 1190.
You're absolutely right. I'd love to create some videos and properly research some expeditions, history and folklore of the Vikings. I need to get a better computer so I can render cinematic footage for that. Thanks for sharing!
@@HoH I have been watching some of your videos for a little while now and must tell you that you have done a fantastic job. I finally subscribed today and look forward to watching your other videos. I see you have a Patreon account so hopefully your viewers and subscribers can help out enough so that you can get a better equipped computer for future videos. I will be contributing and I'm sure many others will as well. Thank you for your hard work and dedication.
@@notsosilentmajority1 Thank you for the nice comment - you definitely made my day! I plan to increase my upload schedule in late November again from 1 to 2 uploads a week. Very happy you enjoy my videos, hopefully I'll be able to meet the expectations for a long time to come. A new microphone and laptop are the first things I will buy once I save enough.🎙💻
@@HoH I am very glad to be a member of the H of H family and look forward to your wonderful productions. Please take your time so that you maintain the high quality work that you have been giving us to enjoy. You are a young man so make sure to enjoy yourself along the way. Thank you and God bless.
This is a fascinating account of what would be an overlooked event of world war 2. This deserves a documentary as it’s important to keep the history of aspects of what happened during this period.
I really enjoyed this story. The photo of American troops shown while you were talking about German soldiers training (at 2:30) caught my eye but the story you're telling is really interesting. The information is what is really important. Thanks!
In one of the coldest areas far away from civilization with dwindling supplies for months perhaps years on end with no contact to the outside world nah I don't think so I'd rather be a German soldier surrending to the British and Americans in Czechoslovakia
LePrEcHaUn_R6 the first German armies to fall fell to the United States 🇺🇸🦅 Army in Aachen Germany in fact Aachen Germany was the first city to fall in WW2 when the Americans pushed extremely hard to get a German city before anyone else including the allies but they lost 2,000 men in Aachen and killed 5,700 German soldiers many of which where elite S.S. Units pulled off the eastern front
LePrEcHaUn_R6 wouldn’t say that’s accurate at all the eastern front was worse but the western front wasn’t easy ether you wouldn’t have lasted to minutes on the western front boo
do something about the Polish soviet war or something in the inter-war period, this is such an interesting time in history that gets far too little attention. also your videos are absolutely amazing and informative keep it up man
They were probably NOT issued with automatic rifles but with the (K) carbine especially because they weren't a fighting unit and didn't bring loads of ammo.
yeah they didn't even have STG44's in 1940 and they would go to frontline soldiers, they would have had k98ks, looks like they had an MG34 as well though
@@M_LarsMakes sense because the MG34 and the K rifle used the same ammo whereas the STG used different ammo. They weren't supposed to fight but to lay low and. gather weather data. Frontline troops at the Ostfront were in real need of the STG assault rifles
Very well done young man! Though I still don't like sharing my mistress named history with anyone. You will go far in pollinating the minds of young people and thereby ensure that our memory of costly days of blood , fear hard choices and sacrifice will survive as long as that precious torch named history continues to be passed! You are in my prayers.
@ That may be true. But to be fair these young men had no choice. Happened to see half a programme about these guys who got stranded there, they were so lucky. I can only think of one case were there were a group of Germans in WWII who were in an even better position, and they were the crew of The Graf Spee who got to live after the fate of their Captain.
Just discovered your channel few days ago.. (Thanks to RUclips prioritizing garbage).. Your subject matter and your soothing and precise narrations are exceptionally rare and a delight to the viewer. Thank you for your wonderful contribution into historical nostalgia. 🙏💖
Well at that point the german command structure was compleatly collapsing. It is actually not uncomman to "forget" isolated troops. And considering that most likely only few people even new about this mission doesnt make it easier.
Forgotten in respect to history. Pretty sure people in Germany who knew about them to begin with thought about them (if they still were alive at that point), but had other problems of more immediate concern to contend with, possibly projecting it would be best to wait till end of persecution of German POWs before divulging their existence.
Surely these "forgotten" men had relatives (parents, brothers, sisters, etc) who wanted to know their whereabouts. Problem was that Germany was in a mess after the surrender and top priority would have been food, shelter and clothing for most surviving Germans not worrying about a few men trapped on an island up north.
The British had the 14th Army. It was called the "Forgotten Army" but, ironically, was one of Britain's most successful in WW2. By the time its troops arrived home, nobody wanted to know.
This channel has my favourite intro music and logo (splash video?) of all the RUclips subscriptions I've ever kept. Classy, memorable, even historic. Also, thanks for the history lessons! These are also historic, and classy.
Same thing happened to that German soldier in Tibet. There was a book, maybe even a motion picture, about that one. It is called "Seven Years in Tibet".
Heinrich Harrer wasn't a soldier, he was an Austrian climber who had to sign up to the SS so he would be allowed on a Himalayan mountaineering trip, though he was only required to wear the uniform for one day. In India he was interred when war broke out as an "enemy alien" civilian until he and another bloke escaped and crossed the border where they spent "Seven years in Tibet". I indexed, proof read and corrected the English translation of his autobiography, so if anyone wants to know more, ask me.
I'm impressed by these men. Simply surviving in that place was no mean achievement, and learning that you may have been forgotten must have been worrying - surely, few knew they were there ? Would anyone send a ship, given the inherent dangers ? How long before a ship *could* reach them ? What if their radio broke and they couldn't tell anyone of their plight ?
I am an 55 years old German and interested in such stories since my boyhood, but I've never heard about such an unit. Very good work guy! I just took the abo and will hear about the Japanese which sounds much more harder. THANKS
2:08 that German weather station is on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. It had been secretly installed in Labrador during the war and then forgotten. It wasn't rediscovered until the late 1970s.
What is a historical topic you would like to see covered? Let me know your thoughts in a comment! Consider supporting HoH: www.patreon.com/HouseOfHistory *Timecodes* 1:02 Wilhelm Dege 3:16 Operation Haudegen 6:38 Life on Svalbard 8:28 The Forgotten Wehrmacht Unit 10:34 Aftermath
You should do videos on the Norsemen (Vikings) and their history and folklore it’s amazing and as a Norse Pagan I would love to see it.Just make sure there are no horned helmets and you should be good.
I'd like to see a video on Hauptsturmfuhrer Viktor Grabner (9SS Pz), who fell on Arnhem Bridge when his recon unit tried to probe the British defenses during Operation Market-Garden. He apparently served in the war from early on, and was decorated, including the Knight's Cross received the day before he died.
I'd never heard of that before, nice video - you are informative, concise and easy to listen to. Would love to hear you talk about Hugh O' Flaherty, the "scarlet pimpernel of the Vatican" :)
@ They sent a recce expedition in '38-'39 to scout for a base for whaling factory ships on the coast. Not the pole. Short article: www.history.com/news/hitler-nazi-secret-expedition-antarctica-whale-oil There's a book "The Third Reich in Antarctica: The German Antarctic expedition 1938-1939" Mark Felton has a video on it: m.ruclips.net/video/Rs0ZaCQrScc/видео.html
@ they did set up a research station and the annherbe searched for something there, Atlantis/inner earth type of stuff. Himmler was obsessed with that stuff. Aparently there was some US mission to Antarctica after the war called operation highjump that got real hushed up. Makes for nice little conspiracies, fun to look at sometimes.
JUST WANTED TO SAY THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR VIDEO . I enjoyed it very much . I love world history so anything is great . If only we can get younger people to be more interested in past mistakes of world governments. Because if the next generations forget history they are bound to repeat it . Thank you again GOOD DAY
Yea, honestly I thought his accent was mildly Irish until I listened for a few minutes. The pronunciation of reconnaissance was the only thing in the whole vid that raised my eyebrow.
@@hgm8337 Chuck, Ivan has it right. Very familiar military jest in both peace and war. Also the more graphic, the ice-cold tit being more alarming and funny than the merely flat. Since much of military life involves rising at "O Dark Thirty," the same comment on conditions at those times is frequently heard and always agreed.
Very nicely done thanks ! Love the history. I suggest do make a little movie about the last German pow’s in German “spätheimkehrer russland “that came back from Siberia / Russia 10 years after the war , some stayed in Russia and didn’t wanted to go home. I knew someone who returned 1955 and his wife had died the year before, she gave up he started drinking and would sleep in winter on the street. One winter 1983 or so , much he got hit by a snowplough and got thrown in the ditch. He was at the time 80+ years and a daily blood alcohol of 2.5 but not one bone broken. He would only buy bread and Vodka nothing else, drink and sleep where ever he dropped. He was a very sad case of ptsd .
Very intersting video! Just a minor thing: 6:31 "armed with automatic rifles". I am a bit doubtfull, that when beeing in an area where no fighting is to be expected they would get those "rare" items. During WW2 the germans had the FG42 and the G43 a few G41s and then the STG44 as far as i know, but not in high enough numbers to make a difference on the battlefield. My guess would be that the weather station guys just had standard bolt action rifles (like the pictures suggest maybe additionally 1 or 2 MGs). Even today a bolt action rifles of a certain caliber is considered enough against a polar bear.
The Germans made almost half a million StG-44s. They were not rare except compared to a Mauser bolt action rifle. A large number were shipped to Syria after WW2 where they are still being used. The predecessor to the StG-44, the MP-42 & MP-43 were in service from 1942.
@@allangibson8494 Half a million isn't that much if you take into account that germany had between 4.5 million active soldiers in 1939 and 9.4 million in 1944. Such weapons were dearly needed in frontline duty, constantly got lost and damaged and would not be used to equip a meteorological outpost which isn't expected to fight much anyway.
Please slow down your speech and focus on adding emphasis to selected words to deliver more meaning when you are reading your script. But your content is very good and I admire your command of English
@@HoH In the about 1930 some Germans travelled around Svalbard. The Austrian Kapitän Ritter, who later spent a winter there as a trapper with his wife Christiane. (She wrote a popular book about it) The the geologist Dege and the meteorologist Knospel, A Norwegian polar bear hunter named Henry Rudi was also central in this drama. He and Ritter ended in Greenland, where Ritter surrendered to Rudi. (The Americans provided for Ritter in the Northwest for the duration of the war. The Germans had weatherstations on Hopen, (2, Luftwaffe) and first Signehavna in Svalbard (burned) then Haudegen on Nordaustlandet. The story of Ritter's surrender in Greenland I have heard from Rudi himself, for a pint of beer.And then there is the Russian radio operator. Too much. Rudi also committed a book, do not think it is translated.
@@floro7687 Thanks for sharing! I imagine it's a story known in Germany and not so much outside of there - all I can find are German sources (will definitely read one tomorrow morning on spitzbergen.de)!
@@HoH Henry Rudi in his old age used to sit in the Beer Hall of Tromsø. For a half liter of beer he would tell any requested story.The story about the firefight in Greenland went like this: One night at one in the morning we came under heavy small arms fire. We ran out and returned fire. After a while the shooting stopped. Then Ritter shouted: "Are you shooting at people trying to surrender, Henry?" I shouted back "why do you want to surrender, Captain?" Ritter shouted back: "we are out of ammunition". One of the Germans were killed.
no they did not. the ruskies removed them as fast as they could. The red army however stayed until march/april 1946, and only left when denmark assured that they could defend the island by themselves. Russia interpreted this passage such that no (and I mean no) foreign troops were allowed in the island! this includede a visit from an english army band. this ban was not lifted until 1990 when soviet russia crumbled.
@@zymelin21 No, Red Army demanded their surrender, but the commander of German troops stated on Bornholm, Rolf Wutman, refused in such an arrogant way (said that if Bolsheviks don't want to bleed out, they'd better stay out of the island) we HAD to put an end to it, landed and wiped out 7 thousands of German soldiers and captured 8 thousands more, we lost only 800 people.
@@marluxia8832 you wanna teach a dane danish history?? the commander on bornholm was kapitän zur See "von Kampt" ein wilder nazi. he was reponsible for the air-bombardment of Rönne and Nexö, in that he ordered his AA batteris to fire at the russian planes. of course they retaliated. In the end von Kampt gave up and was taken prisoner. he did a stretch in soviet prison camp. lived out his days as a pensioner in Kiel. returned once to Bornholm on a senior citizens outing. We should have caught him then and taken him to the place where a Swedish ruler of Bornholm col. Prinzenskiöld in the 16. century was shot by farmer Villum Clausen, and done the same to him there.
A good episode would be to take a look at 'Operation Mincemeat' a great story of espionage from WW2 that could have been penned by Ian Flemming, had he not been involved with the actual operaton.
Thank you so much for this video. As a german, now living in new zealand, I am always interested in things happened to new zealand in the second world war..... and first ww as well.
Great video, may I suggest a couple of British WWII units that have tantalisingly scant information about. Phantom Troop of the Royal Signals (David Niven was a manner) and X or Miscellaneous Troop of ten comnando, made up of mainly German Jews who wished to combat the Axis in uniform. Both units deserve wider recognition, but are hard to pin down.
I didn't know about these units! I can't directly find a lot on the Phantom Troop of the Royal Signals, but X troops of German & Austrian Jews does have some more info! Thanks for the suggestions
Alois scmidt was my great grandma father supposedly served on the Eastern front during ww2 I am American but would still be interested to no whatever became of him..he never came home along wit the million or so other Germans sent to fight russia.i am no neo Nazis by any means jus proud of my German heritage ppl should remember that Nazi Germany was a small portion of Germany's history and really subverted the real German way of life,yes they are warriors but they are decent ppl too.
Good post Ryan.I bet you have had to suffer some crap in your life about your heritage but be assured there are a lot of people ,including me and my family here in the UK who are on your side.I wrote several letters in the 1980,s to the BBC about the scandalous anti- German bias in the programmes.I never even received an acknowledgement of my letters so this is one licence fee they have to squeeze out of a pensioner under duress.Anyway,best of luck to you.
Minor correction: at 2:33 those are US soldiers, not German. Some viewers pointed it out - thanks for their sharp observation!
The 2nd ski troopers also look non-German as well: those smgs are not German, I think. The first skiers may be Germans - did you check?
@@timomastosalo I think you're right. What about the rifles on 2:50, did Germans have so short rifles? Perhaps sb knows.
timomastosalo Maybe it’s a photo from the eastern front. Maybe it’s with captured weapons, if I’m not mistaken, the PPSH was favored by German soldiers, when they looted them. Especially units who needed SMGs like assault pioneers or recon groups.
Abbé Vogler these two guys are actually Siberian sky troopers. I believe take in the Stalingrad area
@@abbevogler2619 I won't state anything very certain further than previous - for I don't really know. So this is guessing, based on what I do know otherwise.
Even the guys with foreign smgs could be Germans with captured Russian weapons. But their snow camou looks different: the way they protect head. I guess these might be Russians: they used ski troops also in the late war. The first ski patrol is likely German - those caps, and the Alpine terrain.They might have a shorter rifle issued for them, like a carbine: to better handle it with those skiing sticks.
I don't think these are Finns, they used a lot of Suomi smgs (sometimes captured Soviet ones) for their ski troopers, for they were nicely shorter than rifle: to operate when skiing. Also it was because they operated in very forested terrains, so distance was almost meaningless, if not a sniper: firepower was preferrable, a bullet sprayer.
For a German soldier in WWII, you could hardly have lucked out better then to spend the war sitting on an isolated Island w/ nothing more then the random polar bear to worry about.
Stalin, the Great Russian Bear!😛
A polar bear is harmless for a group of men armed with rifles. The cold and running out of supplies in such a situation is deadly.
bonus "get out of nuremberg" free card
@Ahmad Omar Well, part of the eastern front was exactly that plus the red army trying to kill you. That's like a horde of polar bears with auto-machine guns and tanks. ;-)
Being stationed in the Channel Islands must've been a delightful posting for most. anywhere but the Eastern Front!
"Germany was unavailable" Don't you just hate when your country stops working
@88Gibson LesPaul Yeah, we can adapt fast when the situation demands it, just like at the front
@@davep5227 the amount of emojis just makes your comment cringy
@@mulmusfistus4128 yeah I know I over do it sometimes 😂
@88Gibson LesPaul you must be 31 years old, I'm 30. How has our government stopped working under Trump again? What is it not doing for you that it was before?
This used to happen when we’d call our family in Romanian back in the 80s. Apparently the county wouldn’t be taking any calls. The whole country.
I know about the the last Japanese soldier, but I never knew this story about the German soldiers. Thank you for this. Well done!
That’s because of media bias
@@12yearssober also because the story is literally and figuratively isolated compared to the one about Hiroo Onoda, who was fighting a guerilla war largely alone for decades, while these guys were essentially military researcher who were stranded
I listened to an audio book about the Japanese soldier, which was very interesting, but also hadn't heard of these German soldiers.
Very interesting story!
Germans guys in Norway: we didn’t surrender till 5 months after the war
Hiroo Onoda: hold my Asashi
Do u mean the workers at the Norwegian German base and Onoda’s band of soldiers because let me tell ya no German wanted to surrender in WW2 to put it mildly
@@scl1332 Riiiiiight. Because every German was a dyed-in-the-wool Nazi, huh? First of all, that wasn't true; secondly a whole lot of them were happy enough not to BOTH lose AND be killed.
@chirstovoskresye first what isn’t true second of all u must be familiar with Waffen SS grant it there were troops who were smart enough to live but seriously what the hell bra
@@scl1332 There are cases of the Wehrmacht fighting against the SS. The SS were the die-hard supporters of Hitler's regime, mostly because they were similar to the SA during the inter-war period. Cases of this includes the Battle of Castle Itter, the Munich Crisis, and the resistance of Major Max Liedtke and Lieutenant Albert Battel when they blocked a bridge after learning that the Jews in Przemyśl were to be "liquidated" by the SS, allowing several Jews to escape. Cases like these help expose the overall distaste the Wehrmacht had for the SS. To say that every German who fought for Germany was a Nazi is foolish, and incorrect. There were people in the Wehrmacht (and German civilians) who didn't support Hitler at all. (For an example of German civilians resisting, look up Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
@The Kalergi Plan Is Real Oww the edge.
You have a real good way of talking and explaining. Nothing narcistic, straigt to the point.. perfect. Keep it up
You'll never learn any of this in today's schools. It a liberal, socialist indoctrination environment. At least when we went to school, we were taught more in a month than most schools today teach in at least two marking periods.
He really Shruuuuds nothing does he?
narcissistic
Sort of like that Soviet astronaut that was in orbit when the Soviet Union fell....
Link to article?
@@iamk4474 Hi @Ammo08 Hope you don't mind. Your post intrigued me so I looked it up and found this Trust this answers your question Iamk Peace Friends m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2509764399089789&id=1160495674016675
@@pontiuspilot9301 Thanks
@@iamk4474 www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1992-03-26-9201300570-story.html
Imagine going to space then coming back to see your country destroyed. Sad.
My God no beer.
That is terrible no booze to even have for the holidays esp Christmas
No schnapps? Dumkopf
Yes, but for the rest of their lives they had a marvelous excuse for overindulgence - they were just catching up.
And don't forget cigarettes. Unless the men were first screened, ensuring they didn't smoke because that would have meant shipments of cigarettes to the men, thus blowing their cover. But no beer? That's okay. It's the lack of bourbon that would drive me nuts.
And being German as well.
Das ist ja grausam.
Svalbard was, as many other “undiscovered” areas, frequently visited by Vikings hundreds of years before the Dutch arrived. The Vikings called it Svalbard (cold shores) and it was first mentioned in written text in around year 1190.
You're absolutely right. I'd love to create some videos and properly research some expeditions, history and folklore of the Vikings. I need to get a better computer so I can render cinematic footage for that. Thanks for sharing!
@@HoH
I have been watching some of your videos for a little while now and must tell you that you have done a fantastic job. I finally subscribed today and look forward to watching your other videos. I see you have a Patreon account so hopefully your viewers and subscribers can help out enough so that you can get a better equipped computer for future videos. I will be contributing and I'm sure many others will as well. Thank you for your hard work and dedication.
@@notsosilentmajority1 Thank you for the nice comment - you definitely made my day! I plan to increase my upload schedule in late November again from 1 to 2 uploads a week. Very happy you enjoy my videos, hopefully I'll be able to meet the expectations for a long time to come.
A new microphone and laptop are the first things I will buy once I save enough.🎙💻
@@HoH
I am very glad to be a member of the H of H family and look forward to your wonderful productions. Please take your time so that you maintain the high quality work that you have been giving us to enjoy. You are a young man so make sure to enjoy yourself along the way. Thank you and God bless.
Goed bezig hoor :) Ga zo door, I subscribe
This is a fascinating account of what would be an overlooked event of world war 2. This deserves a documentary as it’s important to keep the history of aspects of what happened during this period.
Thank you, this was unknown to me til' I saw this. A brilliant presentation!
I really enjoyed this story. The photo of American troops shown while you were talking about German soldiers training (at 2:30) caught my eye but the story you're telling is really interesting. The information is what is really important. Thanks!
the luckiest german soldiers in that war.
Mike Taylor You say that as though the entire Wehrmacht was decimated. Only the armies in the east were
In one of the coldest areas far away from civilization with dwindling supplies for months perhaps years on end with no contact to the outside world nah I don't think so I'd rather be a German soldier surrending to the British and Americans in Czechoslovakia
Disagree. The camera man that films the history channel have the better life
LePrEcHaUn_R6 the first German armies to fall fell to the United States 🇺🇸🦅 Army in Aachen Germany in fact Aachen Germany was the first city to fall in WW2 when the Americans pushed extremely hard to get a German city before anyone else including the allies but they lost 2,000 men in Aachen and killed 5,700 German soldiers many of which where elite S.S. Units pulled off the eastern front
LePrEcHaUn_R6 wouldn’t say that’s accurate at all the eastern front was worse but the western front wasn’t easy ether you wouldn’t have lasted to minutes on the western front boo
do something about the Polish soviet war or something in the inter-war period, this is such an interesting time in history that gets far too little attention. also your videos are absolutely amazing and informative keep it up man
Good idea! That is definitely a topic worth covering, thanks for the great suggestion.
Ah sorry for saying that, but the yt channel " the great War" is covering these topic really well.
They were probably NOT issued with automatic rifles but with the (K) carbine especially because they weren't a fighting unit and didn't bring loads of ammo.
yeah they didn't even have STG44's in 1940 and they would go to frontline soldiers, they would have had k98ks, looks like they had an MG34 as well though
Of course. They are soldiers first. A rifle of some sort is part of the uniform/tool kit. Probably freeze up in seconds outside.
@@M_LarsMakes sense because the MG34 and the K rifle used the same ammo whereas the STG used different ammo. They weren't supposed to fight but to lay low and. gather weather data. Frontline troops at the Ostfront were in real need of the STG assault rifles
They were issued with mp40 s
@@gulfwarveteran8528 The bear would win.
No beer .No hot women..Absolute suicide mission.
What i was thinking also.. :-)
No. Anywhere in Europe was a suicide mission for Germans.
@@MrBonners poland?
@@robertclark1669 yes, Poland too
@@alexo.3758 how about no
Very well done young man! Though I still don't like sharing my mistress named history with anyone. You will go far in pollinating the minds of young people and thereby ensure that our memory of costly days of blood , fear hard choices and sacrifice will survive as long as that precious torch named history continues to be passed! You are in my prayers.
Thanks for this video. I had forgotten about these Germans stuck in the Arctic after WW2 ended. So it was good to hear the story again.
O man, that is what I call an odd situation: you definitely WANT to surrender and they take no notice of you for 4 months in those conditions.
@ That may be true. But to be fair these young men had no choice.
Happened to see half a programme about these guys who got stranded there, they were so lucky.
I can only think of one case were there were a group of Germans in WWII who were in an even better position, and they were the crew of The Graf Spee who got to live after the fate of their Captain.
Oh the boomers and their overcompensation
stan broniszewski there were snowflakes back then too...
@@thecreepnextdoor7560 And snowmobiles too..
just sayin..
Just discovered your channel few days ago.. (Thanks to RUclips prioritizing garbage).. Your subject matter and your soothing and precise narrations are exceptionally rare and a delight to the viewer. Thank you for your wonderful contribution into historical nostalgia. 🙏💖
I am impressed that someone actually knows about this and did a video on it!
Excellent. You are right up there with Dr. Mark Felton, and that is no faint praise!
Thank you, I appreciate it!
Man, if I was in a unit that was forgotten, I'd be all sorts of pissed.
What do you mean you forgot about us?
Well at that point the german command structure was compleatly collapsing. It is actually not uncomman to "forget" isolated troops. And considering that most likely only few people even new about this mission doesnt make it easier.
Forgotten in respect to history. Pretty sure people in Germany who knew about them to begin with thought about them (if they still were alive at that point), but had other problems of more immediate concern to contend with, possibly projecting it would be best to wait till end of persecution of German POWs before divulging their existence.
"It's your duty and reponsibility to make sure we return home unharmed!"
Surely these "forgotten" men had relatives (parents, brothers, sisters, etc) who wanted to know their whereabouts. Problem was that Germany was in a mess after the surrender and top priority would have been food, shelter and clothing for most surviving Germans not worrying about a few men trapped on an island up north.
The British had the 14th Army. It was called the "Forgotten Army" but, ironically, was one of Britain's most successful in WW2. By the time its troops arrived home, nobody wanted to know.
Two polar bears didn't like this video.
acbulgin2 I think it has a huge amount of iron, so much that it’s recommended not to eat the liver.
Did you have permission and or authority to speak for these 2 polar bears?
And over 300 Soviet bears!
9:57 Maybe the real Reich was the friends we made along the way
That is probably the funniest reply ever 🥄♨️
@@roberthendrie4919 ha ha no
This channel has my favourite intro music and logo (splash video?) of all the RUclips subscriptions I've ever kept. Classy, memorable, even historic.
Also, thanks for the history lessons! These are also historic, and classy.
Same thing happened to that German soldier in Tibet. There was a book, maybe even a motion picture, about that one. It is called "Seven Years in Tibet".
A beautiful film!
The Nevada Desert Rat , Heinrich Harrer.
Heinrich Harrer wasn't a soldier, he was an Austrian climber who had to sign up to the SS so he would be allowed on a Himalayan mountaineering trip, though he was only required to wear the uniform for one day. In India he was interred when war broke out as an "enemy alien" civilian until he and another bloke escaped and crossed the border where they spent "Seven years in Tibet". I indexed, proof read and corrected the English translation of his autobiography, so if anyone wants to know more, ask me.
@@Dave_Sisson interesting stuff
Just found your channel...great stuff. Articulate, genuine and throughly enjoyable. Subscribed..!
Love your video`s. I subscribed. These events and people unknown to me are very interesting. Thank you for doing them.
Ok, so Mark Felton has garnered hours of my time, now this! You guys are incredible!
Welcome aboard, Matthew!
Nice job House of History. I enjoy your detailed accounts of WWII history.
This was absolutely excellent, truly amazing and interesting. The lecture was just outstanding and so well done.
I'm impressed by these men. Simply surviving in that place was no mean achievement, and learning that you may have been forgotten must have been worrying - surely, few knew they were there ? Would anyone send a ship, given the inherent dangers ? How long before a ship *could* reach them ? What if their radio broke and they couldn't tell anyone of their plight ?
I am an 55 years old German and interested in such stories since my boyhood, but I've never heard about such an unit. Very good work guy! I just took the abo and will hear about the Japanese which sounds much more harder. THANKS
Glad you enjoyed it!
Mark felton is a historian and does amazing videos on this era. You should check out his channel.
Thanks for this interesting video...not too long, unique, interesting and human. Please keep up the good work. Subscribed!
Very interesting presentation about an otherwise unknown part of the war's history. Thank you indeed.
2:08 that German weather station is on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. It had been secretly installed in Labrador during the war and then forgotten. It wasn't rediscovered until the late 1970s.
Wonderful story, brilliant presentation. Thank you.
I just subscribed! You got amazing history videos! Felt sorry for these forgotten men!
Another story from WWII that I was not familiar with. I learned something. Thank you.
What is a historical topic you would like to see covered? Let me know your thoughts in a comment!
Consider supporting HoH: www.patreon.com/HouseOfHistory
*Timecodes*
1:02 Wilhelm Dege
3:16 Operation Haudegen
6:38 Life on Svalbard
8:28 The Forgotten Wehrmacht Unit
10:34 Aftermath
You should do videos on the Norsemen (Vikings) and their history and folklore it’s amazing and as a Norse Pagan I would love to see it.Just make sure there are no horned helmets and you should be good.
otto skorzeny
I'd like to see a video on Hauptsturmfuhrer Viktor Grabner (9SS Pz), who fell on Arnhem Bridge when his recon unit tried to probe the British defenses during Operation Market-Garden. He apparently served in the war from early on, and was decorated, including the Knight's Cross received the day before he died.
Very informative. Love the obscure nature of the story. Thank you.
Another excellent video, can't wait to hear about more isolated units! I'm sure there's gotta be plenty both during and after the war.
I'd never heard of that before, nice video - you are informative, concise and easy to listen to. Would love to hear you talk about Hugh O' Flaherty, the "scarlet pimpernel of the Vatican" :)
Enjoyed your presentation. Bravo ! TY !
Do the Attack on the Dead Men. (The Defense of Osoweic Fortress)
Well made video btw, also appreciated your take on the Gran Chaco War.
Superb program; thank you.
Wasn’t there a cod black ops mission based off this
The Reznov Flashback.
With the Blackbird? Ik they didn’t have that in WW2
“Last remnants of the third reich” - Victor Reznov
@@damiensimmons2504 Blackbird Helicopter? Those were not built until Vietnam I believe.
I highly doubt that mission took place north of Norway, the Soviet Union could not have stepped foot there as a military Force (historically)
Great vlog! This I did know. Great to know! Greetings from Norway, and yes I have been to Svalbard. First time in 1987. Magic place!
Better than waiting 30 years
That certainly is a topic for another time!
Japan: Please come home, the war ended a long time ago
Hiro Oonoda: This doesn't end until I say it ends!
Nice work, well researched and told beautifully.
Theirs an interesting book, Swastikas in the Arctic: U-boat Alley through the Frozen Hell.
summray?
@ They sent a recce expedition in '38-'39 to scout for a base for whaling factory ships on the coast. Not the pole.
Short article: www.history.com/news/hitler-nazi-secret-expedition-antarctica-whale-oil
There's a book "The Third Reich in Antarctica: The German Antarctic expedition 1938-1939"
Mark Felton has a video on it:
m.ruclips.net/video/Rs0ZaCQrScc/видео.html
@ they did set up a research station and the annherbe searched for something there, Atlantis/inner earth type of stuff. Himmler was obsessed with that stuff. Aparently there was some US mission to Antarctica after the war called operation highjump that got real hushed up. Makes for nice little conspiracies, fun to look at sometimes.
JUST WANTED TO SAY THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR VIDEO . I enjoyed it very much . I love world history so anything is great . If only we can get younger people to be more interested in past mistakes of world governments. Because if the next generations forget history they are bound to repeat it . Thank you again GOOD DAY
You speak excellent English. As a Texan, I had no trouble following you. Great video. Thank you.
Thanks Ken, appreciate it!
@@HoH Your welcome.
I only speak English and Texan. My wife speaks Dutch, Indonesian and English. I'm jealous of those who have such a talent.
Yea, honestly I thought his accent was mildly Irish until I listened for a few minutes. The pronunciation of reconnaissance was the only thing in the whole vid that raised my eyebrow.
Mr. Ken Texan? You mean yee haw speak? Lol
@@zeplyn-r6 Still unsure how to pronounce renaissance to be fair...
Seems like certainly a knowledgeable lad, and a story I had not heard before. Subbed, thanks!
No idea Elgar’s cello concerto could make such a cool intro
Thanks! Not many people recognize it, but I love it 😄
Excellent mini-doc! Had never heard of this unit! Thank you! Subscribing now. But, what did they eat? Surely they weren't supplied regularly.
If they had known what living behind 'The Iron Curtain' was going to be like, they might have chosen to stay.
Thank you for sharing this incredibly fascinating story! Looking forward to many more)
Germans: Hello? Can we surrender now, please? We're out of beer!
Norway: Hold my seal club...
Great video! I hadn't heard about this unit!
Thank you for this history lesson.
Superb videos brilliantly researched. Cheers
Colder than then a witches tit. But they had food a dog and comraderie . At least they did not have to suffer the horrors of war.
Ivan Loar flatter than a witch’s.., is the expression, I believe.
Could be all depends on ones age and the demographic area one lived in. Now if we were pirates it could be forget the chest... I'll take the booty!
@@hgm8337 Chuck, Ivan has it right. Very familiar military jest in both peace and war. Also the more graphic, the ice-cold tit being more alarming and funny than the merely flat. Since much of military life involves rising at "O Dark Thirty," the same comment on conditions at those times is frequently heard and always agreed.
Robert Struder I see,.. happy to be corrected
@@hgm8337 The rare RUclips commenter who acknowledges a mistake. Goodonya, mayte.
Thank You. Keep the Videos coming.
Thanks, will do!
nice video
Very nicely done thanks ! Love the history. I suggest do make a little movie about the last German pow’s in German “spätheimkehrer russland “that came back from Siberia / Russia 10 years after the war , some stayed in Russia and didn’t wanted to go home. I knew someone who returned 1955 and his wife had died the year before, she gave up he started drinking and would sleep in winter on the street. One winter 1983 or so , much he got hit by a snowplough and got thrown in the ditch. He was at the time 80+ years and a daily blood alcohol of 2.5 but not one bone broken. He would only buy bread and Vodka nothing else, drink and sleep where ever he dropped. He was a very sad case of ptsd .
Very interesting presentation
That German weather station you showed was recovered in Canada, years after the war. Another great story!
Very intersting video! Just a minor thing: 6:31 "armed with automatic rifles". I am a bit doubtfull, that when beeing in an area where no fighting is to be expected they would get those "rare" items. During WW2 the germans had the FG42 and the G43 a few G41s and then the STG44 as far as i know, but not in high enough numbers to make a difference on the battlefield. My guess would be that the weather station guys just had standard bolt action rifles (like the pictures suggest maybe additionally 1 or 2 MGs). Even today a bolt action rifles of a certain caliber is considered enough against a polar bear.
I faintly thought the same. I'd expect Kar 98Ks rather than MP 40s.
The Germans made almost half a million StG-44s. They were not rare except compared to a Mauser bolt action rifle. A large number were shipped to Syria after WW2 where they are still being used.
The predecessor to the StG-44, the MP-42 & MP-43 were in service from 1942.
@@allangibson8494 Half a million isn't that much if you take into account that germany had between 4.5 million active soldiers in 1939 and 9.4 million in 1944. Such weapons were dearly needed in frontline duty, constantly got lost and damaged and would not be used to equip a meteorological outpost which isn't expected to fight much anyway.
@@nirfz A half million delivered out of four million ordered. It was supposed to be the Weremacht's new standard issue rifle. Events got in the way.
I really enjoyed this video. Well done
Good detail and clear presentation.
Please slow down your speech and focus on adding emphasis to selected words to deliver more meaning when you are reading your script. But your content is very good and I admire your command of English
A very strange account of the affair! There is an even stranger story from the same region and time.
Do tell 😀
@@HoH In the about 1930 some Germans travelled around Svalbard. The Austrian Kapitän Ritter, who later spent a winter there as a trapper with his wife Christiane. (She wrote a popular book about it) The the geologist Dege and the meteorologist Knospel, A Norwegian polar bear hunter named Henry Rudi was also central in this drama. He and Ritter ended in Greenland, where Ritter surrendered to Rudi. (The Americans provided for Ritter in the Northwest for the duration of the war. The Germans had weatherstations on Hopen, (2, Luftwaffe) and first Signehavna in Svalbard (burned) then Haudegen on Nordaustlandet. The story of Ritter's surrender in Greenland I have heard from Rudi himself, for a pint of beer.And then there is the Russian radio operator. Too much. Rudi also committed a book, do not think it is translated.
@@floro7687 Thanks for sharing! I imagine it's a story known in Germany and not so much outside of there - all I can find are German sources (will definitely read one tomorrow morning on spitzbergen.de)!
@@HoH Henry Rudi in his old age used to sit in the Beer Hall of Tromsø. For a half liter of beer he would tell any requested story.The story about the firefight in Greenland went like this: One night at one in the morning we came under heavy small arms fire. We ran out and returned fire. After a while the shooting stopped. Then Ritter shouted: "Are you shooting at people trying to surrender, Henry?" I shouted back "why do you want to surrender, Captain?" Ritter shouted back: "we are out of ammunition". One of the Germans were killed.
Wow good story injoy I will subscribe thank you for sharing
Great story. Appreciated!
Very interesting, subscribed! Will look forward to watching your posts and taking a look at your back catalogue.
Man seeing that weather station in a video is odd cause I'm five minutes walking from there
Loved the video. Thanks!
they had everything, except Beer. As a German , that made me cry.
Thoroughly enjoyed
Great video. I never knew about these guys.
That was real good thank you
What about the Germans on Bornholm? They stayed there long after the war ended too...
no they did not. the ruskies removed them as fast as they could. The red army however stayed until march/april 1946, and only left when denmark assured that they could defend the island by themselves. Russia interpreted this passage such that no (and I mean no) foreign troops were allowed in the island! this includede a visit from an english army band. this ban was not lifted until 1990 when soviet russia crumbled.
@@zymelin21 No, Red Army demanded their surrender, but the commander of German troops stated on Bornholm, Rolf Wutman, refused in such an arrogant way (said that if Bolsheviks don't want to bleed out, they'd better stay out of the island) we HAD to put an end to it, landed and wiped out 7 thousands of German soldiers and captured 8 thousands more, we lost only 800 people.
@@marluxia8832 you wanna teach a dane danish history?? the commander on bornholm was kapitän zur See "von Kampt" ein wilder nazi. he was reponsible for the air-bombardment of Rönne and Nexö, in that he ordered his AA batteris to fire at the russian planes. of course they retaliated. In the end von Kampt gave up and was taken prisoner. he did a stretch in soviet prison camp. lived out his days as a pensioner in Kiel. returned once to Bornholm on a senior citizens outing. We should have caught him then and taken him to the place where a Swedish ruler of Bornholm col. Prinzenskiöld in the 16. century was shot by farmer Villum Clausen, and done the same to him there.
who ever you are , you are a very very good presenter , you will do well my friend , keep it going !
At least they knew the war is over. Cant say the same of many Japanese soldiers left back on some pacific island.
A good episode would be to take a look at 'Operation Mincemeat' a great story of espionage from WW2 that could have been penned by Ian Flemming, had he not been involved with the actual operaton.
I read the book and it is a wonderful insight into this particular event of the second world war.
Thank you so much for this video. As a german, now living in new zealand, I am always interested in things happened to new zealand in the second world war..... and first ww as well.
I can imagine a good movie about these men
Snow.
More Snow.
Even More Snow.
@@flitsertheo All of the snow of Where Eagles Dare but none of the action?
Excellent video. Well presented. I am going to look up that book. It sounds interesting.
Hope you enjoy it!
Haudegen, loosely translated, means "daredevil"
And literally: striking saber
No, Haudegen is a synonym for an old and well trained soldier, daredevil is the right description
@@dondo6787 that's why I wrote "literally", I just translated the mere word as such mate.
@Henry Walton Jones jr and I just explained the origin of the word
@@dondo6787 Yeah well but you startet with a "no" where there's no need for a "no" friend.
Thanks for a video..nice.
What is up with soldiers being left on an island and forgotten after their nation's surrender?🤔🤔
Very good and interesting video Bro, really welcome know another awesome history from wwII
Pikers:
There was that Japanese soldier who surrendered in 1974.
Yup Hiroo Onoda.
in the Philippines...
Great video, may I suggest a couple of British WWII units that have tantalisingly scant information about. Phantom Troop of the Royal Signals (David Niven was a manner) and X or Miscellaneous Troop of ten comnando, made up of mainly German Jews who wished to combat the Axis in uniform.
Both units deserve wider recognition, but are hard to pin down.
Bloody auto correct, David Niven was a member!!😁
I didn't know about these units! I can't directly find a lot on the Phantom Troop of the Royal Signals, but X troops of German & Austrian Jews does have some more info! Thanks for the suggestions
'We had everything except beer' . . hard yards
And women...
fascinating video indeed. many thanks for posting. hi from australia.
Alois scmidt was my great grandma father supposedly served on the Eastern front during ww2 I am American but would still be interested to no whatever became of him..he never came home along wit the million or so other Germans sent to fight russia.i am no neo Nazis by any means jus proud of my German heritage ppl should remember that Nazi Germany was a small portion of Germany's history and really subverted the real German way of life,yes they are warriors but they are decent ppl too.
Dude relax. You don't have to say "I'm not a nazi" just because you're German..
@@gt-rmkt7751 shit, society in general would crucify him for even hinting of his heritage this day and age. Smh
Good post Ryan.I bet you have had to suffer some crap in your life about your heritage but be assured there are a lot of people ,including me and my family here in the UK who are on your side.I wrote several letters in the 1980,s to the BBC about the scandalous anti- German bias in the programmes.I never even received an acknowledgement of my letters so this is one licence fee they have to squeeze out of a pensioner under duress.Anyway,best of luck to you.