Information on topics of interest related to the Second World War, with a focus where possible on the Italian Campaign and the experiences of 65. Infanterie Division (1942-1945).
Canadian-British doctrine must be viewed through the lens of London being haunted, and horrified of another mass bloodletting like the Great War, knowing that the more men who died, the less influence London would have in Washington and Moscow for the nascent post-war world order. The fate of the empire rested on the shoulders of the Anglo-Canadian generals, and they were all well aware of it, which is why the Anglo-Canadian force landed in Normandy with an abundance of artillery and specialized armour vehicles they leaned on to blast their way forward. Criticisms from loser German war diaries can be summarized as "The English aren’t winning fast enough." which is as stupid then as it is now. That murderous scoundrel Meyer boasts of the Anglo-Canadians not being aggressive in their use of tanks, seemingly oblivious it was just a prelude to the overwhelming superiority in airpower and firepower that would rain down on his gang of little murderers, "Death shadows us at every step", he will moan later on in his journal. A story that ends with him cowering in a chicken coop captured by Belgian partisans while he himself had ordered his child-soldiers to commit suicide rather than surrender or be captured (much like that other fiend Schörner, another "true national socialist”, who terrorized his troops with hangings before fleeing in a plane stuffed full of cash after ordering his men to fight to the death). In short, the superior doctrine and tactics won, the better soldier carried the day, and if the Anglosphere stopped worshipping and believing the loser mystique of a nation and its army that lost two world wars back to back, and poring over the diaries of liars and losers like Franz Halder and his ilk, maybe they would start winning wars again. That’s all I’ve got to say about this.
Great video as usual. I must make some points since I am a well read person and has family history in the game. 1. Both USSR & Nazi Germany were horrible. 2. The Nazi planned to Remove, enslave or starve the peoples of the East including Ukraine 3. This man is NOT a Nazi but he is a ally and complicit in their crimes and evil The 14th SS aided the regime in the east. 4. Just because they did not find direct evidence of crimes he did does not absolve him. 5. He had a choice like everyone. Over a million partisans fought in Ukraine, 5 million fought in the Red Army or he could have done what millions did and sat on sidelines. 6. My grandparents in Denmark could have joined the Nazi or helped them.... they chose to work against them 7. Ukraine after the 2014 USA coup is not a freedom loving land of milk and honey 8. They banned the Russian language, destroyed the Orthodox church, banned political opposition, corrupt extreme, no freedom of speech and now no elections. 9. Millions of Russians have fled Ukraine into Russian and they have WW2 symbols on the flags and uniforms - swastika and nordic sun. I have seen with my own eyes. 10. Why get involve in Ukraine in the first place??? Where was the support for Libya, Syria, Iraq 2003, Afghanistan 2001, Kazakhstan, the anti - covid lockdown people??? Is NATO & The West the good guys these days?
The Canadian regiment - which I hope I was referencing in the video - was The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment, or colloquially (probably incorrectly) the Sherbrooke Fusiliers. I'm very familiar with the Sherwood Foresters but don't recall referencing them in the video - do you have a timestamp? Stranger things have happened in my videos.
sorry mate, upon listening again you quite obviously say Sherbrooke. I really wasn’t trying to be that guy btw -online mistakes of others celebrator, but my comment definitely gave off that vibe. I misheard then coupled it with a vague, probably wrong, belief that the Sherwood Foresters were in the vicinity. I assumed it was an edit that got missed or something. But actually the whole affair begins and ends with me and my shit ears. Great videos mate -thank you
The Flesherton war memorial is across the street from my late grand parents old house, I used to blast between the machine gun and the cenotaph on a GT snow racer from higher up the hill. I crashed into the machine gun on the right one time, it didn’t budge.
Coburn turned 49 while shooting.. So not old. Many men in there 40s took part in the most brutal, fighting for Fascist Germany. Especialy the the last 2 years. As yhey began a long, defensive action back to Germany. And then, 49 yr olds were healthier, fitter, to. Steiner is one of the greats.
There was no single "correct" shade, the hues in the video are representative of 'typical' shades seen in surviving artefacts, and suggestive of the colour shifts that collectors have noted between early war garments and those produced later in the war from poorer quality materials.
@@HandGrenadeDivision i see because in media the early war is portrayed correctly but later war has the same trouser tone, mid dark grey on the Jacket too rather than a complete greenish tone shown in your video that's where my doubts grew from but guess I am naive
My Uncle was nearby - in the North Nova Scotia Highlanders - he was one of the men who discovered the Murder Victims of the 12th SS... some of the victims were his personal friends. Unfortunately, he never talked about it.... although as a Veteran myself, I can understand why.
I took a stroll through Hand Grenade Division HQ to see if someone could remind me from whence it came. Sadly, the Musikmeister had to take a short medical leave after inhaling too much silver polish during the monthly cleaning of his Jingling Johnny. Which isn't half as dirty as that sounds. The staff officer Ia seemed to think the Erika snippet was a sampling from the opening of the film The McKenzie Break, but the IIIa suggested I not cop to it.
I think he was cast perfectly. Maximilian Schell, was the only one I thought was miss placed. Not because he was a bad actor, he's a great actor and being German fit the role. My problem was my first introduction to him was A Bridge Too Far and seeing him play Wilhelm Bittrich, which made him feel out of place for the role.
My Grandad served CEF 3rd division, then in WWII Princess Mary's Scottish. Is this the same regiment at Buron? I have a camera from a uboat commander my Dad took after raising their U-boat outside Boston harbour in later part of the war. Great explanation on doctrine
The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's) perpetuate several battalions of the CEF, most notably the 16th, which served in the 1st Division. Also the 48th, 67th, 88th, 103rd and 143rd Battalions which were reroled or broken up for reinforcements and did not see action in the trenches as infantry. The 48th Battalion was reorganized as a pioneer battalion and briefly served with the 3rd Division from March 1916 to April 1917 when it, too, was broken up for reinforcements. The 1st Battalion, Canadian Scottish is the unit that passed through the HLI and formed up south of Buron to carry on with their own battalion attack to the east.
Having seen photos of Officers with the Chevron on the sleeve and seeing things that implied it was an enlisted rank symbol, that couldn't be right... They had done time in the position to receive it thus could wear it indefinitely... Does that sound right?
The SS had an "old timer's chevron" which they wore on the right sleeve. I had a video about SS rank insignia that explained it, but RU-vid pulled it after 800,000 views, calling it hate speech.
The easiest way to determine if he's accurate for the part is to simply do a search at the German war graves commission. Simply type whatever stereotypical german name you want and see what pops up. If you wanna be more thorough look at rank and place of death. Older soldiers were more likely to be assigned garrison duties so if you see the location as Germany you can exclude them. For the record while Coburn was a bit old he's not impossibly or statistically unlikely old for an NCO in an infantry squad something like a feldwebel. Probably a bit old for a corporal though. Unless we assume he intentionally refused the chance at a higher rank. If we assume him to be in his mid 40s in the movie. Quite a few countries have made war records available online. So you can check and see who exactly was in the thick of it. Granted errors and ommissions do exist.
We already know that, as described in the video, he seems to be modeled after RKT Johann Schwerdfeger, who was about 20 years Coburn's junior, but of course Steiner is at the end of the day a fictional character with some significant differences. The real life Schwerdfeger had both the Knight's Cross and the Oakleaves - pretty significant for an NCO - and they may have toned that down in the film for believability! Personally, I liked Coburn's performance and never much thought about his age, certainly on viewing it as a teenager before the internet. I find it interesting how viewer tastes have changed without really being sure of why. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Audiences would overlook this stuff back then. Now if a character is an Austrian ballet dancer aged 24, then Twitter will go mad if all those parameters are not met by the actor.
Indeed, exactly my point. Audiences are either more discerning today, or just less able to turn off their brains and enjoy films for what they are. Probably a little of both.
Cross of Iron was never a real hit in american cinemas anyway.But it was very popular in germany,austria and japan.It`s still one of my all time favorites.(And i`m german.)In the second part the movie studio changed the story from the german view to a more american view on the war.I have nothing against the american soldiers in part 2.But it was a lame and bad movie.
