Two prisoners meet at a concentration camp. Asks the first one: "Why you here?" - "Well, I said on May 1st that Hess is crazy. And you?" "Well, I said on May 30th that Hess isn't crazy"
Variation on an old soviet joke Three men are sitting in a cell in the (KGB headquarters) Dzerzhinsky Square. The first asks the second why he has been imprisoned, who replies, "Because I criticized Karl Radek." The first man responds, "But I am here because I spoke out in favor of Radek!" They turn to the third man who has been sitting quietly in the back, and ask him why he is in jail. He answers, "I'm Karl Radek."
@@davethompson3326 We have a joke in Hungary from the early communist years, that is literally the same with László Rajk. He helped Rákosi(the first communist leader of Hungary, and is commonly called "the best apprentice of Stalin") make the country a dictatirship, and was killed by Rákosi afterwards.
@@roum22 Actully a full New Zeland infantry brigade was placed in Malame airfield which was close to coast also but brigade commander James Hargest was given vague orders easy to misinterpet
Thats not rally fair, field commanders were not told where the intelligence was coming from. In actuality he was probably told a deserter has said, or something like that. Bletchley parks very existence wasn't known to anyone below theater commanders.
The air supply was not organized by Paulus, but by the Luftwaffe, Paulus asked during the 3 months siege what to receive, in some periods he asked for more food, others more fuel or ammo, but that was due to what the other german generals were up to, especially when Manstein was going to launch Wintergewitter, Paulus asked for more fuel in order to break out, but when Manstein was blockded, Paulus acknowledged the situation and requested food, now he couldn't break out. So he was not a stupid as many tend to believe. And the reason because received so few resources was because the soviet air force took down the german aircrafts, after a year since Barbarossa, the soviet air force had recovered.
@@lorenzodimaio6672 Yup, there is a very informative programme on this very topic which shows just how far the Soviets had come from 1941 and they made sure the German transports went down in ever increasing numbers as the siege wore on. The only way the airlift might have worked is if the entire Luftwaffe just carpet bombed the area between the forward airfields and Stalingrad (all eighty miles of it) day after day...
I've never thought about that aspect of it before. He knew how rough the Afrika Corps had it because of their extended supply lines, and I wonder if he gave it any thought as they kept pushing deeper and deeper into Soviet territory in 1942. How could he not have seen what would happen at Stalingrad?
After Hess flight to Scotland , once initial shock , disbelief and frenzy/rage period of Hitler and Nazi leaders passed , there remained the problem of what spin to put on the event. Hitler had already summoned all the Reich Leaders and Regional Party Leaders to the Berghof. On 13 May 1941 he repeated to them that Hess , the Deputy Fuhrer , Hitler's Personal Secretary and one of his closest comrade in arms for almost 20 years was mentally ill. In an emotional appeal to their loyalty, now Hitler declared that Hess had betrayed and deceived him. As Goebbels had thought, the idea that his deputy had been mentally deranged for many years did not cast a particularly favourable light upon either him or his regime. Many Party members refused to believe the news at first. ‘Depression and uncertainty’ were the prevailing feelings noted by Nazi surveillance operatives. ‘Nobody believes he was ill,’ reported a local official in the rural Bavarian district of Ebermannstadt. Lore Walb, now studying history at Heidelberg University, agreed. ‘If he had really been ill for a long time before (mentally ill, from time to time?), then why did he keep his leading position?’ she asked. Most German people seem to have felt sympathy for Hitler at his deputy’s supposed betrayal. They relieved their anxiety, bewilderment and disorientation by telling jokes. One of the jokes about Hess and his flight : ‘So you’re the madman?’ one joke had Churchill saying to Hess as he arrives in the Prime Minister’s office for an interview. ‘No,’ Hess replies, ‘only his deputy.’ Another joke is like this ‘British Press Notice: “Today we learned that Hess is indeed insane - he wants to go back to Germany.”’ ‘That our government is mad is something we’ve known for a long time,’ Berliners were reported as saying, ‘but that they admit it - that’s something new!’ Evans, Richard J.. The Third Reich at War (The History of the Third Reich)
If they didn’t believe he was mentally ill, what did they believe? That he was simply defeatist? I don’t really get that, Germany was very much in position to win the war/create a stalemate with Britain at that time. Hess didn’t flee because he felt Germany was going to lose, he fled because of social rejection by the Nazis in a desperate attempt to win back Hitler’s favor by “saving” Germany in a grand deal with Britain
Germans were executed for telling jokes or making wisecracks like that. One was executed for making the following remark, apparently sometime during the Stalingrad fighting - "You probably think this is another Blitzkrieg, just like the Thirty Years' War." It was considered defeatism, undermining the war effort etc.
I find it difficult to believe that Hess could commandeer a plane and get a crew to fly him to the UK without Hitler's knowledge......the more you look at the Hess affair, the more curious it gets.....
Unfortunetely the simple brutal fact for Allies before and during Operation Mercury is this : Even if you have first class intelligence about enemy plans and intentions , it is NOT enough unless you have main baseline factors like air superiorty (Luftwaffe had total air dominance over Aegean Sea and Crete) , proper organisational chain of command (an entire elite New Zealand 21st Brigade left to defend Malame airfield but their commander General Hargest were given vague orders that were easy to misinterpet) , equipment and supply/reinforcement (lack of radios and severing of phone lines by Luftwaffe bombing would cripple British Commonwealth defence and since Grman air attacks were so severe little or no supplies or reinforcements were coming by sea and defending British New Zealand Australian Greek forces lacked heavy weapons like armor , AA guns , guns and motorised vehicles in comparison incoming German airborne attack would utilise Luftwaffe flying artillery fully , most defending Commonwealth troops had limited amunition enough for two or three days fight actually )
Spare me your arm chair general bullshit. You have the benefit you look at everything afterwards so its not that insightful or profound you fucking cheap intellectual. You're like the midwit's smart guy, good for you.
This week in Greece: On Wednesday, May 14, 1941, the German Lufwaffe began fierce bombing raids targeting the three airfields on Crete, the port of Heraklion and Suda bay. The Germans tried to halt supplies sent from the Middle East and destined for the allied defence of the island. The biggest raid occured on May 16 when Heraklion experienced a devastating bombing raid. Many civilians were killed. Also on May 14, Cretan irregular units were formed, comprised of civilians under Greek Army reserve or retired Army and Gendarmerie officers, or former Cretan revolutionaries, tasked with patrolling the beaches of the fear of invasion. Some irregular bands were under Orthodox priests or monks - which explains the hostile German attitude towards the Orthodox Church on Crete during the occupation years - or under British officers. The Allied 'CreForce' on the island was put under the NZ Lt. Gen. Bernard Freyberg, and combined five defensive sectors; four at the three airfields of Crete and the capital Chania, and one at Suda bay. The Commonwealth forces comprised of: -5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade (Brig. James Hargest), tasked with defending the Maleme airfield and protecting the coastline W of the Cretan capital, Chania. -4th New Zealand Infantry Brigade (Brig. Lindsay Inglis) & 10th New Zealand Infantry Brigade (Lt. Col. Howard Kippenberger), tasked with protecting Chania, and guarding the valley and the hills SE of the town, and Suda bay. -19th Australian Infantry Brigade (Brig. George Vasey), tasked with defending the minor Rethymnon airfield, and guarding the beaches and approaches to the town. -British 14th Infantry Brigade (Brig. Brian Herbert Chappel), tasked with defending the Heraklion airfield and the city's port, vital for the allied resupply in case Suda bay fell to the Germans. -The Mobile Base Defence Organization, a division-sized composite force of artillery, infantry, and Royal Marines under Maj. Gen. C.E. Weston, deployed around Suda bay, tasked with defending the port from airborne and seaborne invasion. The Greek forces on the island were under the 'Greek Higher Military Command' (Maj. Gen. Αchilles Skoulas) and comprised of mostly local Cretan recruits, one ex-V 'Cretan' Division battalion aka 'Empedon' left behind to garrison the island when the rest of the division was transported to Albania in two waves (the bulk of the division left for Albania in November 1940, two battalions out of the three left behind to garrison the island, were transferred to Albania in January 1941), supplemented with battle-hardened troops who had arrived from the mainland, the freshmen cadets of the Greek Army Academy, and the Gendarmerie cadets of the Royal Gendarmerie Academy that had arrived from the Peloponnese. The Greeks organized into reduced strength 'regiments'. The Greek units were attached to Commonwealth higher echelons: -1st Infantry Regiment (~1,000 all ranks under Lt. Col. Alexandros Skordilis) & Greek Army Academy Contingent (317 officers and freshmen cadets under Lt. Col. Loukas Kitsos) were attached to the 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade. -6th Infantry Regiment (~1,400 all ranks under Lt. Col. Michael Gregoriou) & 8th Infantry Regiment (~900 all ranks under Lt. Col. Panaghiotis Karkoulas) were attached to the 10th New Zealand Infantry Bde. -3rd Infantry Regiment (~700 all ranks under Lt. Col. Antonios Betinakis), 7th Infantry Regiment (~900 all ranks under Lt. Col. Evanghelos Chairetis) & Heraklion Garrison Battalion (an 830-strong, ex-V 'Cretan' Division's battalion under the Gold Cross of Valour recipient in the Greco-Italian War, Lt. Col. Anastassios Dalipis) were attached to the British 14th Infantry Bde. -4th Infantry Regiment (~1,300 all ranks under Col. Michael Tryfon) & the most reliable, well-equipped, and well-trained gendarmerie force, the Gendarmerie Field Battalion (916 all ranks including the majority of the gendarmerie cadets, under the Gendarmerie-Major Iakovos Chaniotis) were attached to the 19th Australian Infantry Brigade. One independent Gendarmerie Cadet Coy deployed at Panormos, 22 km (13.6 mi) E of Rethymnon, while the majority of the local Gendarmerie chapters, supplemented with armed civilians, acted independently too. The Gendarmerie forces on the island were put under the recalled to active duty, 73 yo Maj. Gen. Ioannis Vourakis. The Greeks were armed with ex-Austrian Steyr-Mannlicher M1895 rifles (post-WWI reparations), the antique Gras Mle 1874/M14 rifle, and the standard-issue rifle of the Greek armed forces Mannlicher-Schönauer M1903/14/27 - M1903/14/30 (the gendarmes of the Field Battalion and the 'Empedon' Battalion were equipped with it). The Army Academy cadets were armed with the obsolete Mauser M1887 rifle (war spoils from the Ottomans during the 1st Balkan War) and each cadet carried 60-80 rounds. All in all, 42,940 all ranks, supported by 151 Field & AA artillery pieces, 16 Light Mk VI and 9 Matilda Infantry tanks, would defend the island. On Thursday, May 15, the allied command on Crete put its armed forces on full combat alert. Lt. Gen. Bernard Freyberg, overall commander of the Allied 'CreForce', expected the Germans to launch their attack on May 15. The Germans too expected to begin the airborne assault in mid-May but supply problems in Greece delayed the assault. Hitler considered Crete the ideal place for an effort undertaken by airborne forces. In fact he saw Crete as the first of a series of stepping-stones, followed by Cyprus, and leading to the ultimate goal, the Suez Canal. 'Unternehmen Merkur' (Operation Mercury) the airborne operation for the capture of Crete was entrusted to Colonel-General Alexander Löhr, overall commander of Air-Fleet IV. consisting of Air-Corps VIII. under Maj. Gen. Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, which was to provide the 650 reconnaissance, transport, fighter, and bomber aircraft, and Air-Corps XI. under Maj. Gen. Kurt Student, the mastermind behind the operation, which contained all the troops to be landed by air or sea on the island. Air-Corps XI. comprised of the Airborne-Assault-Regiment with three battalions of Fallis and one of glider-borne troops, initially under Maj. Gen. Eugen Meindl, later under Col. Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, and 7. Air-Division under Maj. Gen. Wilhelm Süßmann, with three regiments of Fallis. Student's plan anticipated that: -'Gruppe West' (Maj. Gen. Eugen Meindl), codenamed 'Comet', with the largest proportion of the forces, would capture Maleme airfield to the W of the Cretan capital, Chania, in order to allow a much larger force to land. 'Comet' constituted the first wave of air assault. -'Gruppe Mitte (Centre)' (Maj. Gen. Wilhelm Süßmann), codenamed 'Mars' would capture the valley around Chania, Suda bay, and the Rethymnon airfield. -'Gruppe Ost (East)' (Col. Bruno Bräuer), codenamed 'Orion', was to capture the Heraklion port and the city's airfield. Both 'Mars' and 'Orion' groups constituted the second wave of attack that would arrive a little later after 'Comet'. The Germans brought with them a new weapon in Crete, the 7.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 40 recoiless rifle. It would see widespread use by German Fallschirmjäger units, Waffen SS, and mountain troops, for the rest of the war. All in all 22,750 Fallis, infantry, mountain troops, one Panzer battalion, one motorcyclist battalion and various other units, were bound for the island. The Germans expected to be ready for the invasion, early next week.
Hi, your post is a great summary - very concise - well done ! Saves reading a book 😉 ! Indy should invite you to the upcoming video ! Kind regards from 🇦🇹 !
General Ioannis Vourakis, the 73 year old CO of the Greek Gendarmerie forces on Crete had an interesting story. He was retired, living in Athens at the time of the German invasion, when he put himself forward to rejoin and help with the effort against the Germans but his application was rejected by the Greek Minister of Defence. Just before the Germans entered Athens, he got on a boat and fled to Crete. The boat was bombed and sunk near the island of Milos, but Vourakis was saved by a British submarine and made it to Crete. Once there, he presented himself to the exiled Greek government, and this time was given the role of CO of the Greek Gendarmerie in Crete. When the invasion started, he fought in the field with his gendarmes in the Chania sector, where he was captured by the Germans. The Germans apparently did not recognise the Gendarmerie as a legitimate military force and Vourakis was charged with killing German soldiers so his fate was very different to that of high-ranking officers of the Army. He was put in jail, first in Crete and then in the Dachau camp in Germany where he died.
I wonder if the folks in Crete felt like they had a chance of repelling the invasion at all, or if they were preparing with a sense of resignation and fatalism. Hoping to hold off an elite modern army with leftover 19th Century rifles... they must have felt like people watching a giant tsunami coming at them.
Before everyone hate the crete inaction: Bletchley parks very existence wasn't known to anyone below theater commander level. Everyone else was told, 'a prisoner said this' or 'a source within x embassy has said'. Confirmation by bletchly looks identical to well believed speculation outside of the very upper echelon of command. This was intentional, and saying that 'bletchley has intercepted communication' would get you a noose before it got you a medal
Agreed. There were even cases when British command lost on purpose just to hide that they've broken Enigma. Germans believed Enigma to be unbreakable until the end.
It's hilarious how Hess was held in a prison in West Berlin until his very death in 1980s. And he was guarded by representatives of all victorious allied nation in turns. French and Brits numerous times proposed to move Hess to some other location, but Soviets every time turned the proposal down, as they absolutely loved the situation, which allowed them to legally send almost 40 soldiers into western territory, so Hess was used by Soviets as a tool to crowbar themselves into West Germany.
For the last 11 years of his life he was the only inmate at Spandau Prison. He finally hung himself at the age of 93. What a strange tale about a very strange man!
it's not hilarious, it's tragic; he was an idiot, sure, a literal nazi, but the criminal regimes crimes weren't so grave as they would become. he was a pawn, his entire life, just a stupid and then decades long imprisoned pawn. oh, and he may have been murdered.
@@QuizmasterLaw Be 1941 it was really bad already, as it was years after Kristallnaht, and being so high in Nazi hierarchies, Hess should have been aware of it. Also "they die like flies, but they are Nazis, so who cares?!"(C)
@Blanc Neige There is no honor in insane stupidity, and that's exactly what both Nazism and Communism were about - both ignored reality and pushed some agenda of "brighter future" by means of killing off "wrong people".
I like that they're covering the war in China too. It's always been kind of a mystery to me because it rarely gets mentioned in any kind of venue - but I guess the WW2 channel is teaching us why. Seems like the entire war there was one big murky stalemate without much in the way of dramatic victories or clearly defined campaigns that most other theaters had.
I think it really shows some mental illness. We like to think the nazi leaders were ill but really they were usually quite intelligent. But evil. It makes their crimes all the more disgusting. They knew better
10 May 1941 , London , UK , Luftwaffe conducts its heaviest night bombing raid over London under a "full bombers moon" with 507 bombers. This would be hardest but also the last raid of Blitz over British capital. RAF Chain Hoıme Stations and early warning tracked German navigation beam over London towards afternoon and RAF air defences and night time defences of London were in full alert , London Emergency Services were in full alert with all firefighters and Civil Defence Units but nothing prepared anyone savagery of the attack. Over 2.000 fires started by bombing raid , nine of them were classed as conflagations requiring over 100 water pumps , since Thames River is very low in May and countless water mains were damaged it is not possible to stop all fires. The House of Commons , the roof of Westminister Hall and top of Victoria Hall are alight. the City of London , the Mint , the Tower were ablaze. Next morning 1.436 civilians were counted killed or missing , over 1.800 injured and one third of the streets were impassable in British capital. Rescue parties would be searching and saving countless people and pulling bodies from wreckage incoming days. At least 5.000 houses were destroyed. Every railway termainal on main line is out of action. Over 150.000 people are without gas , water and electricity. In exchange 15 German bombers were shot down by RAF nightfighters or British anti aircraft guns.
@idoj654123 There was an Instance of more bombs being dropped on Hamburg in a weekend then London in the entire war. I'm with you on Hiroshima, but at the time Dresden had little strategical importance and the war was very soon drawing to a close. It's not an argument either of us can truly win but it's certainly not black and white. Also the Marshall plan and Berlin airlift were anything but sympathy but rather establishing long term political goals.
Japan and Germany entered war under the childish assumption that they would do all the bombing and nobody would bomb them. They sowed the wind and as a result they reaped the whirlwind.
Having access to airfields near the North Sea and English Channel was of enormous advantage to the Luftwaffe ; coming from France was a short distance ; giving the RAF little time to intercept . . London particularly was easy to find having the Thames smack in the middle bombs anywhere within miles could do damage . This was the German bomber crews happy time . Never to be repeated on this scale later . I am sorry but I have little sympathy for the Germans .They were happy to bomb London and murder occupied people , into the millions . As Harris said" the sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind ." there are many German propaganda films celebrating in a cheerful tone bombing England . Perhaps it never occurred to them it might happen in reverse . Only then did we hear about terror bombing .
This week, on May 11 rock singer Eric Burdon was born. In 1967 he will write a song 'When I Was Young": "The rooms were so much colder then My father was a soldier then And times were very hard When I was young"
This channel tends to downplay the naval events. Take those into account and the Allies got on the scoreboard pretty quickly en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_River_Plate
Chris Hodgson naval events don’t change the map, it’s not such a tangible victory for the people. With this victory the British could publish maps with British East Africa instead of Italian East Africa. That’s huge for morale
I wouldn’t disagree with the perspective that a small naval victory changes nothing on land, I’m speaking from a family that was heavily RN, and felt events like the loss of HMS Hood like a family bereavement. The little victory at River Plate comes at a critical time in the Phoney War when the mass populations of Britain and France wonder if going through The Great War 2 is worth defending a country on the other side of Europe (do you see much American or Russian interest in defending Poland in 1939?) In June 1940 public morale becomes absolutely critical for the (remaining) Allies to continue with the war against the Nazis, and its here when the little victories like River Plate, Narvik and even Dunkirk make their presence felt. Thanks for the replies, this is a great channel which prompts intelligent responses.
Another fantastic episode. Particularly enjoyed the information on the East African Campaign. It seems to get lost in the shuffle of other WWII presentations! Thank you.
Thanks for the up date. The Hess saga is interesting as there seems to be much secrecy that makes one wonder if the Government is really telling all. The most interesting thing is that Hess' flight is well planned and pretty well executed. He breaches British air warning and anti aircraft positions at perhaps the most venerable place. Some intercepting aircraft seemed to be turned back. It does look like he was helped by someone on the British side. (That doesn't mean they did.) And Sikorsky dashes back to Scotland from Canada... looking (to me) like he is afraid Poland might get sold out again..It's a mystery that will probable not be discovered for more decades. Whatever the truth.. I suspect there is much more to the whole thing.
5:25 Sounds like a foreshadowing of likely what will happen next week when the war reaches Crete... 9:12 Operation Battleaxe huh? For some reason, it rings memories of the good old Battlefield 1942 map of the same name when I heard this.... In any case though, it's good to finally hear a victory by the British Commonwealth in the East Africa Campaign after a string of losses elsewhere...
Hello indy, one slight correction there at the end, the first allied nation to achieve success on land against the axis , was Greece against the italians where they counterattacked them through Albania , also i think it was the first allied county to liberate a foreign country occupied by the axis too! Cheers
Two things: The Greek campaign was undisputably a victory for the Greeks initially but don't forget it ended in Axis victory. Secondly, the British and Commonwealth forces did not see action in that campaign until April 1941, when the whole country was being steam-rolled by the Wehrmacht.
@@WorldWarTwo hello thanks for responding, if we are talking about the British , yes it is! But indy said "This is the first real allied victory of the war" and Greece was part of the allies so.. anyway now that i think about it , it might had been an allied victory but not a decisive one for sure because later the German boot came...
It is in the ... odd little things where anything can become farce. Hess was trying to reach Lord Hamilton, who's actual name is Douglas Douglas - Hamilton! lol, his parents actually thought that was a good idea¿ Great episode and storytelling about a good example of just some of the work from Bletchly Park. Crete was such a... different point of conflict then we've seen to this point in the Med. After Fort Eben-Emael, who knew what could be done? It is the litte things ... I've always pronounced Heraklion as Hera• klee on. huh 🙃 Thank you World War Two and TimeGhost History for all the hard work and good content! :-)
@@carlosramos-yf8ns yep, and rest of events are from autumn of 1941-august of 1944. I forgot to mention Svetomir Đukić's mission and meeting with Ante Pavelić. (Mihailović was godfather or best man to Đukić's son). Legalisation of chetniks forces would fell in category of Baldrick's "cunning plans": it didn't fool neither Germans, nor Partisans, nor British, nor Serbian people...
I'm looking forward to hearing about the partisan conflicts in Yugoslavia, hopefully the channel has a few special episodes about it planned out because it deserves a lot of attention.
A little off-topic question. Is it possible to purchase the Indy mug in the background? If yes, where? I would love to get Merchandise of this channel if that is possible.
Despite being glossed over and being very limited offensive, Operation Brevity had unforeseen consequence for British as Rommel was actually surprised by this offensive. And only reason why it didn't turn into a succesful attack was because of spirited defense given by 2 Italian bersaglieri battalions stationed in Halfay Pass that gave Rommel time to send reinforcements (very limited ones at that) there. And reason why Italians gave ground there was because they lacked proper anti-tank weaponry, to take on Matilda tanks to be specific. After re-capturing said pass, begun defensive works that would fix that said tank problem. There is good reason why Halfay Pass was nicknamed as "Hellfire Pass" by British a month from now on.
Also, when the Brits/Commonwealth forces won the East African Campaign, it made the Red Sea indisputably safe, compared to previous possible Italian Regia Marina convoy interception.
I read somewhere that Churchill was informed of the Hess news when he was on his way out to see a movie, and he responded "Bugger Hess, I'm going to see The Marx Brothers"
@@merdiolu It is too perfect to be not true isn't it? the only thing the Hess defection story needs to be more insane is mention of The Marx Brothers. I'd love to know what Churchill thought of Groucho, Harpo and co because that zany level of comedy is surely a bit cutting edge for an Edwardian like Churchill. It's like finding out Harold Macmillan is a Monty Python fan was it en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Store ?
@@ChrisHodgsonCorben-Dallas I actually find it believable. Sometimes extra hurry produces opportunities, sometimes it does not. And there were bonus points for showing his subordinates, and to a lesser extent Hess, what Churchill thought of the latter.
@@peteranderson037 Bessie Braddock MP: “Winston, you are drunk, and what’s more you are disgustingly drunk.” WSC: “Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.”
I have no doubt this channel will do an excellent job of covering the conflict. They've been focused on presenting facts and staying as unbiased as they can since day one and I'm looking forward to seeing their specials about it. If only because almost every author or documentary producer seems to have a bias or an axe to grind about it.
Thank you fopr bringing up the East African campaign. Until this series, I had no idea it even happened, and I consider myself well up on WW2 history. Also, in defence of the Italian soldier, it really does look like Rommel messed up North Africa. For once, Germany dragged Italy into an avoidable war.
Hess: Hi, Brits? 👋 Rommel: finally, I'm gonna get some new equipment around here. 🙄 British: we won, we won, we won!!!!🥳 Hitler: yeah, against Italians. 🙄
Indy, if you haven't already picked it up, "The Forgotten 500" by Gregory Freeman is a fantastic secondary source for the study of the Yugoslav resistance. The events of the main narrative take place a couple of years from where you are in the chronology, but it contains a lot of background information on the main participants. Thanks for being so awesome and in-depth with your docu-series. I miss "It's Sunday Baseball". too.
@@BokicaK1 That "collaboration force" in 1942 had the largest Allied army between London and Cairo.Some 50.000 men by the spring 1942. Also, The Forgotten 500 is one the history's most spectacular rescue missions deep behind enemy lines.That was one of the reasons why Harry S. Truman awarded the Legion of Merit to Draza Mihailovic, although posthumously.Charles de Gaulle decorated him as well with Croix de Guerre. You think they would decorate a Nazi collaborator?I don't think so.
@@milostomic8539 that collaborationist force with so many generals, colonels, majors was defeated numerous times by soldiers commanded by captains, lieutenants and sergeants of ex-Yugoslav Army and Republican volunteers from Spanish Civil War. Operation Halyard was nothing spectacular: chetniks hid and fed downed airmen, built an airstrip and American C-47s did rest of job. Partisans also saved downed American airmen. American planes relieved supplies, and partisans board downed airmen and wounder partisans. Mihailović got his medal from Truman in early Cold War, probably to irritate Tito, whose army brought down few American planes for violating Yugoslav airspace. Truman might or might not hear for Churchill address in House of Commons on 24 May 1944...
@@BokicaK1 Chetniks didn't bulit an airstrip in Pranjani, peasants did.Mostly women and children because all men were already in guerrilla force. I don't think medal was a way to irritate Tito.It was, in fact, declared as a state secret.USA couldn't just announce something like that because Yugoslavia was now a communist one party dictatorship state. I suggest reading "'Kriegstagebuch des oberkommandos der Wehrmacht", an incredible piece of evidence and history from German perspective and also getting familiar with Cambridge Five, a group of British spies who worked for the Soviets.
@@milostomic8539 If You want German sources, then I suggest Hermann Neubacher (or whatever You want to explain transfer of Nedić's forces to Mihailovic, or Nedić's and Mihailović's wishes to obtain weapons from Germans, Đurišić's return to Montenegro and failed retreat to German occupied Slovenia). If you want English sources, then I suggest William Bailey (he was with Mihailović from December 1942 until 1944) or Basil Davidson if you want to hear SOE Cairo. Have You ever heard for ULTRA (until this episode?)
One interesting fact I learned last month while watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The picture of the fake golden ticket winner is actually one of Martin Bormann. Had the movie been made/released a year or two after his remains were found, another picture would've been used.
Can we talk about how absolutely horrendous the germans parachute rigs seem to be? Does anyone know why on earth they used that attached to the back system vs risers?
I'd be terrified to use one of them because it doesn't look like there's any way to steer or slip your chute before landing - hope you avoid rivers and manure pits through blind luck, I guess. They also jumped without their rifles or other necessary equipment and as a result were extremely vulnerable until they could get organized on the ground. I went through US Army airborne school and everyone, combat or non-combat personnel, trains the same way to jump and land with your weapon and equipment on your body. It's a good question. Maybe the concept of airborne troops was so new and untested that they hadn't had the chance to learn how to do things better? But even in training it must have been obvious that their methods were seriously flawed.
the real question was who was donating before week 1 when it was only like $1600/mo instead of the 24k or something it is now (diclaimer: I starteddonating just before it hit 5k)
A more saddening question: how many people watched week 1 but are not around with us today? Some of them died of natural causes, some due to COVID-19, some due to other possible causes of death.
Can somebody please help me; I've been watching all episodes so far. But I don't quite understand when or why the Italians lost East Africa, especially taking into account that they had far more infantry. We have a lot of episodes saying "they lost this battle", "then they lost this battle" and so on, but what was the overall problem? Which battle made their losses too high and why?
Once Mussolini in his infinite wisdom declared war on Britain in June 1940 , Italian East Africa was complately cut off from Italy (only sea link from Italy to East Africa was via Suez Channel which was controlled by British and instantly shut down after Italian war decleration) , without reinforcements , supplies , spare parts from Italy , all Italian colonies in East Africa were doomed.
I am sure someone must have told the joke already but it can't be repeated often enough: brauner Wellensittich entflogen. Abzugeben Reichskanzlei - brown budgie escaped from his cage. To be returned at the chancellery.
There was also a naval invasion, or more accurately attempted naval invasion of Crete; it was intercepted and some ships were sunk the remainder turned back.
later in the battle some Italians were in fact landed, but not during the initial invasion (which was to have been a simultaneous air and naval landing).
Rewatching the 1940 playlist and it's nice to see that the intro sound was loered a bit because for me it was too loud. Have you watched the 6 episode show on auschwitz made by the BBC ?
+World War Two I am loving your guys' channel though I have one question. Why is it that the Allies are constantly falling apart? France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Yugoslavia, Greece, North Africa, Norway, Denmark, Poland, etc. Like I am very confused. I have been watching every single episode yet it is always the same. "Today the Germans break through and ... falls" I just don't get it. For example in the Invasion of Poland while the whole German Army was attacking Poland, France and Great Britain while knowing that the Germans had every little troops stationed to repulse an attack from them did nothing, and in fact waited until they were attacked later in the Invasion of France. Speaking of the Invasion of France, that is another perfect example. The Allies had I think more troops than the Germans and even more surprising more tanks. Yet France and the Low Countries fell in one month. Or in Operation Weserübung, the allies greatly outnumbered the Germans in the Navy yet it is almost as if theist back and waited until after the Kriegsmarine unloaded their troops. Like at anytime they could have cut them off especially for the attacks all the way up to Narvick. Or the Invasion of Yugoslavia what did the Yugoslavians have 700,000 men? The Germans in terms of just men had half that number in the initial attack, yet they too fell in 2 weeks and as you said with one army group only suffering 1 man killed on the way to Belgrade. Or in North Africa yes the Allies had a beautiful push against the Italians and take Cyrenaica by crossing the desert. Then after that they sit back and don't defend the same desert that then Rommel crossed to defeat them. What did they just think "Oh we can cross that desert but it is impassable for the Germans."? Also later they would have their whole North African command captured at the hands of the Germans when they all were in the same car. Three of them as you so emphasized who were so precious that "Wavell offered any Italian General in exchange for at least one of them." Or in Greece the Greeks were doing great against the Italians but then when the Germans arrived they fell within 3 weeks. I just don't get it. This entire war thus far has been a fiasco for the Allies and most of the time they could have stopped it. I guess my question is why didn't they? Is it just incompetence or is it something else? Thank you for this channel you guys are the greatest.
Hey Indy, just a suggestion: Could you (or the person who uploads the videos if it's not you) add Chapters to the newly uploaded videos? It's a very neat youtube feature that really helps when you want to rewatch a specific part. Cheers!
We learn almost every year when we celebrate our independence from the germans that even old men and women used farming tools and other similar tools to fight off the germans
One of the reasons Hess remained in prison for so long after the war was exactly because of the fact that he didn't mention anything about the invasion of the Soviet Union, even outright denied it. Soviets really didn't like this so they kept him in prison well into the 80s (well, alongside the fact that he was still somewhat supportive/apologetic of the nazi regime so many years after the war ) despite many appeals from his family and despite most other nazi high ranking officers being released years before him.
By hess in prison in west Berlin the sovjet coud no be denied access to west Berlin.. And at the time Hess flew to UK, he where practical out of influence, an wherent at the high up meetings, so i don't really think de did know anything about operation babarossa
13:44 the ground gained by British Commonwealth in Cyreneica-Libya was not COMPLATELY lost , British and Australians still holding port of Tobruk under siege , barring any Axis advance to Egypt , speaking of which British counter attack Operation Compass retook the regions of Egypt Italian 10th Army invaded previous December. And yes East African Campaign in Somali , Ethiophia , Eritea was criminally ignored by popular histories despite the fact that over a huge naval shipping and then supply over land with very hostile terrain with gorges rivers mountains etc , British Commonweath land forces from various countries UK , India , Nigeria , Free Belgians knocked Mussolini's East African empire dreams down and strategically accomplished a huge sucess by securing East African - Red Sea shores. From now on Allied convoys can travel from Red Sea to Indian Ocean , Persian Gulf and Bay of Bengal safely without any interference from Italians in East African bases.
merdiolu81 British Empire no? The only “Commonwealth” countries at this time would be Ireland no? And Ireland had formally stopped talking about it and was well on their way to severing ties, not participating in the war at all, so despite using the title in 1953 for Queen Elizabeth’s crowning and Australia’s use of the term in the legal name, there defacto was no Commonwealth to rule over yet because no Commonwealth Realms (as in a self-governing realm retaining the British monarch but totally outside of Britain’s sovereignty and suzerainty) yet existed, as I mentioned Ireland was defacto one during this vid despite officially still being a dominion, but by 1953 Ireland had totally left the picture and gone its own way. There were no more Commonwealth realms until several Caribbean islands became independent in the 1960s and 70s, and then Canadian independence in 1982 and New Zealand and Australian independence in 1986 created the commonwealth we know today. All those realms were still dominions during this video. And yes Canada still goes by that name but like the above example with Australia it’s just a title, it’s a Commonwealth realm since 1982.
I remember a little story about Tito! He had been very disliked by Stalin and since Tito controlled a communist state, he wanted him gone. He sent assassin after assassin after Tito and eventually Tito got so tired of dealing with the assassins that he sent a letter to Stalin saying that he was tired of the assassins and if Stalin didn’t stop sending them, he would only need to send one to Moscow to get the job done. With that message, Stalin stopped trying to assassinate him.
hey Indy I was wondering if you could maybe make a video about The Iraqi Anglo war and describe how it all led up to the 1941 Iraqi coup detat thank you and keep up the great work love your guys show
I guess East Africa was the first successful land campaign but I would have thought that Operation Compass would have been considered the first British Commonwealth land victory against the Italian 10th Army as the plan was to capture and occupy Cyrenaica and entrap the Italian 10th Army, which occurred finally at Beda Fomm. British/Commonwealth Troops were then sent to Greece with a holding force left in Cyrenaica as the objectives were achieved. The defeat of the Italian 10th army occurred before Rommel/ DAK arrival and the commencement of Operation Sunflower as the subsequent counter attack.
16 March 1941 , Bremenhaven , Germany , 52.000 ton German ocean liner Bremen was set alight by a crew member while at her dock in Bremerhaven and completely gutted. A lengthy investigation discovered that the arson was the result of a personal grudge against the ship's owners, and was not an act of war.
Hey unicat, what do you mean exactly? All our videos are pre-recorded in that a batch are short in a shooting session. Are you asking when we are shooting again?
@@WorldWarTwo Yes! Next to it, is old officer landline phone, gas mask and a firearm cleaning equipment. Your room inspired me to do it! Cheers old bean. Tally Ho!
Sounds like a great question for Out of the Foxholes. You can submit questions on our Community Forum (community.timeghost.tv/c/Out-of-the-Foxholes-Qs). We'll make a selection and cover the most interesting ones in the show.
I really enjoyed your coverage of the East African campaign, it is generally overlooked, and with the victory the allies now have complete control of the Horn of Africa and safe passage to Egypt from India.
I am very curious, virtually all videos on WWII talks about breaking the German & Japanese code... What about Italians' code? And on the other side of the war, what did UK and Commonwealth use? What about US? Are there any stories about Axis' attempt to break Allies' code? I know before D-day invasion, French underground had coded words that they listened on radio telling them when it is coming. But more interesting, (to me, at least) is how Allies relayed information, examples would be shooting down of Yamamoto's plane in the Pacific, Allies broke the code, but how is the information relayed without Japan breaking Allies' code?
There was one mistake when mentioning the date of arrival of colonel Mihailovic at Ravna Gora. He arrived there with the group of 26 officers of Yugoslav Army on May 11, 1941. Here is a quote, in Serbian, sorry, with an archive reference, and it comes from no other but communist's edition of collection of documents about WWII (!!!), this particular tome was from Yugoslav Army in Fatherland Archive. BTW, this particular date, May 13, was the day when Communist secret police or UDBA was formed, and indeed regime in its pervasiveness blurred the date of Mihailovic's arrival, so that the other half of Serbia unintentionally can celebrate their own "Day of Security". Not to mention that entire mountain of Ravna Gora was erased from the geographical atlases until 1990's. Zatim o dolasku Mihailovića na Ravnu goru 11. maja 1941. i formiranju oružanih grupa četnika (Arhiv VII, Ca, k. 129, reg. br. 5/5-3). www.znaci.net/00001/4_14_3_71.htm
Keeping hold of East Africa , Iraq and Eygpt was vital for the oil supplies . Churchill was foolish to waste resources in Greece . When these areas and Malta should have been prioritised
While traveling in Macedonia in 2014 I came across and took a picture of what appeared to be recent graffiti painted sprayed on a wall "Rudolph Hess" and below "26.4 1894-1987". I can't remember the town. Seemed very peculiar to me at the time and I have done a bit of digging and can find no connection between him and that area.
Sir Leonard (Bill) Thornton was a Sandhurst trained Artillary Officer, who went straight to Alexandria from Greece with The Guns. I had several long conversations with this Excellent Gentleman Soldier, who made Brigadier at 27 years, just before he died. He was Driver Radio Operator of a two man tank at Alemein with General Freyberg, when 2NZ Division was Spear Head. Now Freyberg had about 27 body scars and ran the London Conscript Divisions in WW1, at a young age after winning his VC with the Naval Division at Gallipoli, Salamander of the British Empire, according to Expletive Churchill. Sir Leonard was Lt Gen. of the NZ Army later. Freyberg s son said that Sir Bernard did not want to compromise Enigma by Signalling Prior Knowledge and deploying to the West of Maleme. Sir Leonard said that was nonsense and that he always advised Sir Bernard, but was unfortunately in Alexandria. That and tha Maori Btallion marching around the coast and marching back again with loot. Also, Colonel Andrew a Retread VC from WW1 who abandoned the hill above Maleme. That batsllin became a Punishment Battalion and was sent up the spine of Rewaisat Ridge later in North Africa.
