182 - Can the Red Army Capture Hitler? - February 19, 1943 

Join the TimeGhost Army: bit.ly/WW2_182_PI This is our second time shooting in this studio, and as always we're constantly trying to improve the lighting and set. We want these videos to be as engaging and professional as possible, because our mission is to reach as many people as possible so that future generations can continue to learn the lessons of this dark chapter of our history. Join the mission to reach the world with history, join the TimeGhost Army. Be sure to check rules and community guidelines before commenting: community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518

If there are any Star Wars fans among you then know this , 17th February 1943 had been a historic day. After advancing 190 km in five days General Montgomery's Eighth Army liberated Luke Skywalkers home planet Tattouine. Well , the city of Foum Tattouine in Southern Tunisia just east of Mareth Line where George Lucas filmed outdoor production of Star Wars Episode IV , A New Hope 33 years later among natural cave formations , hills and igloos in desert/mountain region of Foum Tattouine (which later used the name as planets name where Anakin and Luke Skywalker grew up)

Indy:"Spoiler, the last known survivor will not surrender until 1947." Hiroo Onoda:"Lightweight!"

The strange irony of watching this today (25t of February 2022) and hearing of soviets pouring in from the Donbass and capturing Kharkov.

On the Soviets being relatively close to capturing Hitler, there was a massive near miss in 1940 when Churchill was returning from a meeting with the French Government and the pilot of his plane could see an ME109 flying above them. Miraculously, the ME109 pilot did not see them. So easily could have gone the other way and possibly changed the war in a whole number of ways.

I didn't know any German general knew anything about the military use of the "skedaddle?" But there it is! It may be the smartest German maneuver of the war on the eastern front.

Good episode. It was Hitler's personal pilot Hans Baur who found out early on February 19th (from the base commander of the airfield where Hitler's three Condors were parked) that Soviet tanks were advancing close to that location. He drove into town and asked H. permission to move those planes to another, safer, field. Hitler refused. Instead the entire entourage soon drove to airfield and Hitler boarded his plane and immediately took off. The Soviets didn't know H. was there and those tanks never did attack that airfield on that day - they were short of fuel. Dr. Mark Felton has an excellent video on all of these events.

I just found out this morning that the last member of my family who fought in WWII, who had turned 100 in November, had passed away earlier this month. His unit has yet to enter the timeline of this channel, but I felt I should acknowledge him now. Rest easy, Uncle Wes.

"Because there is no plan B" is a very strong quote for basically the entire war, fronts and battles, the only plan was to win, win no matter the cost, that's what almost all nations then decided.

I had never heard/knew that the Soviet Army had been so close to capturing Hitler. Thank you for bringing so much of history to life for us.

Thank you! This story of Hitler's visit on the East front ironically described in the memoirs of German generals. The threat of Hitler's capture was rather hypothetical, although it very impressed the Fuhrer. "On February 18, a report was received that the Soviet troops were only 60 kilometers from the Dnieper and 100 km from the headquarters where Hitler was received. At first, he did not believe these reports, but then asked Colonel Busse to clarify the situation. - The Soviet tank battalion took Pavlograd. Italian division that was supposed to defend the city fled. - Hitler looked at the map with clenched teeth". The commander of the tank battalion of the Soviet 25th tank corps, Captain Zakiev, would be very proud if he knew what a deep impression the actions of his unit had on Hitler and his generals. But, instead of "capturing Hitler," the battalion continued to carry out its immediate combat mission - holding the Sinelnikovo railway junction, through which the Hollitd army group in the Donbass was supplied.

It still baffles me that the Japanese made the way to head to Alaska. My Great Grandfather, fought in the Alaskan campaign in the airforce. Wish I could have asked him what had happened

Fascinating episode as always. Interesting to see just how much the Vichy regime was helping the Axis even as the war seems to be turning.

My great grandfather was in the soviet 4th mechanized corps. He was in the war from 1941 to 1945 and survived.

It's interesting in that this week the area the Soviets and the Germans are fighting over is again the center of attention in the winter of 2022. Thanks to this channel my knowledge of the geography of this area is much more familiar now.

Very busy tie and not an easy one to match with any shirt that isn't plain. And yet this works pretty damn well! 3/5

Conrad almost always just lurking in the background is one of my favorite set pieces. Would love to see a Luigi one in one of these episodes maybe when Italy surrenders?

It has been a damned impressive past few months for the Soviets, but the troops & machines have to be needing a respite to reinforce & resupply.

The action on the Pacific last week is like: -We were successfully. -What part of what happened was a success. -We successfully evacuated the troops.

Are we going to get a special on Kasserine pass from Chieftain ? Given his expertise it would seem to be something right up his alley.

On the topic of the war with Japan, “The Pacific” by HBO is an excellent mini series about the war in the pacific theatre. It’s based off of “With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa” by Eugene B. Sledge and “Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie. It covers the stories of Sledge, Leckie, and John Basilone. It’s an excellent depiction of the pacific theatre and I highly recommend it.

after binge watching the great war and all of world war 2 up to this moment , i am finally here!

Big respect for Indy, because he can pronounce the name of Kharkov properly. Very few other (non-Russian) youtuber can do it. 🙂

Your associates to the back of the room win my Oscar prize in "looking busy while watched" category.

Let’s gooooo! I need my Saturday morning routine. You people are doing an amazing job with this series! Thank you

I kept hearing "the Meuse river" and could not stop imagining incredibly confused Frenchmen (and possibly Germans).

Operation Victory - Brigadier Francis de Guingand (Eighth Army Chief of Staff) Montgomery decided to use this interval in Tripoli to check our battle technique and he considered this would be an admirable oppurtunity for passing our experiences to others. He therefore arranged a series of lectures and demonstrations and discussions to take place on February 15th , 16th , 17th , these included addresses by Army Commander himself on High Command in Desert War and Conningham of Desert Air Force on employment of air force to support army. Then we had demonstrations of latest methods in employment of tanks , artillery , infantry. General discussions took afterwards. A lot of time was taken up by mine clearing problems. Spectators could see all types of mines we met in desert and various gadgets we developed for dealing with them. Then demonstrations were held to show the latest drill we developed to clear lanes through minefields. We also demonstrated latest methods we evolved for laying on air support. This was a joint Army and RAF item and I believe it was most successful. Several Generals came from Home , from India and elsewhere. Montgomery had also invited some of the American generals recently arrived in North Africa. It was the first time most of us had set our eyes on George Patton. At first he did not appear to be much impressed but later he was enthustiastic in his praises and said "we could use that ourselves in our operations" especially regarding our mine clearence equipment , vehicles and drill. The story is told of his his reply when he was asked what he thought of Montgomery's adress on How to Make A War. His reply came slowly with a lovely Southern accent : "I maybe old , I maybe slow , I may be stoopid and I know I am definitely deaf but it just does not mean anything to me !" Poor George Patton , what a great man he was and how we came to respect and admire him during those next three years. 😄 Bedell Smith , Eisenhower's Chief of Staff came to visit us too during these demonstrations , I took to him at once and I can never be grateful enough for his kindness and understanding and help from that time onwards. He was a wonderful , generous , open hearted and wise. I never appealed to him for help in vain. We got to know each other well enough to say exactly what we meant. We certainly had some tricky moments together but I found as all Americans , best way was to be outspoken and complately frank. I think after the war it was Lidell Hart said to me "They say that you and Bedell Smith are the only British and American officers who could complately understand each other during the war. The reason suggested is both of you have bad stomachs !" During dinner talk was about suggested future roles of Eighth and First Armies. Montgomery in his confident manner , claimed that he would capture Sfax by 15th April. Bedell Smith replied that would be very good and in this case he could ask whatever he wanted from Eisenhower. When Montgomery asked whether he could take a Flying Fortress for air travel of himself and his staff and put it on a wager , Bedell Smith (to his later regret) accepted and a bet was struck (Montgomery took these bets very seriously and had a betting book to record them in his tactical HQ)

An interesting WW2 movie to watch around this week is "Восхождение (The Ascent)" (1977) by Larisa Shepitko. The movie centers around two Soviet partisans in Belarus on a mission to search for food. It's available for free in RU-vid at the Mosfilm channel. Period covered: Winter 1943 Historical accuracy: 3/5 IMDB grade: 8.3/10 Other: Golden Bear Award winner at the Berlinale

I remember reading the first time about Hitler nearly being captured by the soviets (though they didn't realize it) in the Wikipedia article about "The Third Battle of Kharkov", and I found it quite hillarious how he flew there to argue with Manstein about Kharkov being abaondon without a fight (and even possibly to dismiss him), only to flee and give him freedom of operation when the enemy was 30 kilometers away from the airfield.

It's an incredibly strange and somber feeling to know that less than a week from when this video was uploaded, that the sounds of rockets, aircraft, artillery, and gunfire would echo once more across the very same regions and cities mentioned in it and that people who had no interest in history would know their names. Kharkov, Donbas, Maruipol, Dnieper, Zaporozhye. Almost 79 years to the week, Russian troops were once again storming across them, only this time they were invading, not liberating them.

Great episode as always, some interesting stuff especially in the Donbas.

Japan: OK, we have 6 months to force the USA to surrender, or we will lose the war! *6 months pass, the USA do not surrender and Japan begins losing* Japan: *Pikachu surprise face*

On February 16, 1943, Operation Gunnerside is commenced with norwegian commandos dropped into Norway to group up with previously dropped saboteurs from Operation Grouse in 1942. Because of the failure that was Operation Freshman, the Germans had increased security around the Vemork Heavy Water plant. The Norwegians made their way to the plant without being spotted by the guards. Thanks to a Norwegian agent SOE had planet before, detailed plans and schedules had been given to them, and the saboteurs used this to enter the basement. Only person to encounter them was a caretake who cooperated with them. With fuses lit, the men along with the caretaker escaped the plant and later the explosives went off. The raid was a great success. The entire german inventory of heavy water was destroyed. All commandos escaped from the german search. Five escaped via skiing to Sweden, two went to Oslo to assist MILORG and four remained in the region continuing resistance work.

Goebbels wrote in his diary that Hitler flew to Army Group South HQ in Zaparozhe in order to relieve Manstein of his command, but when he got there he found the situation 'truly hair-raising', and realised that now was not the time to be changing commanders. (Ziemke)

Kasserine will always make me remember of George C Scott’s Patton. What a movie WW2 guys, could you someday make a special episode about LL? You’re kind of WW2 mythbusters, that would be really interesting

I'm curious about the German "foreign worker" programs. I keep hearing these referred to as "slave labor" or "slave workers" Understandably few Frenchmen, Norwegians , Dutch, Danes would want to depart their homes and work in German factories, and few if any had choice, so these could be categorized as force labor. But were they payed? were they fed and housed reasonably? Or were they in the same concentration camps that Jews and Slaves were placed for their forced labor? i.e. is there substantial difference in how the various workers are treated and how different were the conditions? Anyone have anything on this?

[looks at the news...] I wonder if Indy will be covering World War 3 as well...

3:58 was a bit distracted and got a serious "The Great War" flashback here (Mius- Meuse), man it feels so long ago.

Today the Donbass region declared mobilization. It's interesting to see that 80 years ago this exact region was also fought over

and there it comes 3 videos in one day

I find it really difficult to focus on Indy with extras in the background e.g: 8:51

6:07 what happened to von Kleist? Since I recall him commanding the 1st Panzer army last time.

I love that line “Because there is no plan B” It really starts to sink in how doomed they were when this plan fell apart

This channel is the only thing I actually look forward to every week on the internet, and I only have the internet.

It was about time the soviet offensive would wear itself down. No major offensive can last forever. Sooner or later you run out of men and supplies while your enemy will regroup. We have especially seen this in the second half of 1941

Set gets better and better. Love your work. Addicted to this channel.

Great episode, keep it up

Haven’t seen the episodes in a few months been really busy with work I’ll be rewatching it

It must a serious and busy episode, Indy has back up! Excellent episode as usual!

It's always nice to see more people included in this video. As either background characters or just to be mentioned. It's very nice. Glad to see Ana D again.

The young dude sitting at the desk in the background's man bun/ponytail *IS EVERYTHING.*

It's very unengaging for me when I see an intern doing makeup behind Indy left shoulder at 9:00. Please no intern cameos in the background. What role do they play? Other than a distraction from the theatre of war. Thank you

One of the most important things in the war is to anticipate enemy's actions and in case of Guadalcanal the misinterpretation that the enemy was going to reinforce the troops while it was an evacuation mission was still useful in winning the battle in the time in which it happened.

Hey Indy, can't wait to see you cover the third battle of Kharkov aka Mansteins counter attack, which is already slowly underway :) About the Battle of Kursk, will you cover it in debt with special episodes and so? The battle was so massive in it's own right that I would love to see it having some special episodes. Not just about the battle itself, but also concerning the build up in men, material, planning etc from both sides. I know it's a huge job and there's so much to cover, also with D-Day coming up, but I really hope it will be possible. And fantastic episode once again, have a great weekend! :)

I have a feeling Mustasche Man won't be taken alive.

"Two Panzer divisions with 80 panzers"? An American WW2 tank battalion had 53 tanks! This shows how diluted German armor was...

Great start thank you!

Has anyone else noticed that the places who are discussed in the eastern front ....are being discussed also today?

Could I humbly suggest that in the future, you do a bit of cut and paste from your peerless archives and present a bio on Erwin Rommel? Speaking purely in terms of military history, he was a remarkable individual. There are plethora candidates for such a treatment, but I know it's a can of worms for a number of reasons (war crimes in particular), but still. I think it'd be a valuable resource for future learning. All the best. You guys are incredible. Such important work. Keep it up!

That was a damn fine intro! Really liked the transition form perfect german to english :)

My compliments for your always splendid work.

I have these episodes playing in the background so I can listen, and when the person in the back dropped their pen cap(?) at 14:20 I got super confused because I thought I had dropped something in my sink while doing dishes 🤣

On February 20 1943, General Leclerc and his forces reached the oasis of Ksar Ghilane in the desert, 89 km southwest to Medenine. Their mission is to cover the left flank of the British 8th Army, which controls Tataouine and Medenine. Meanwhile, several French warships that were stationed in North or West Africa reached the USA in February for a refit, which will take several months. Among the modernized French ships are : - Battleship Richelieu, which joined the Brooklyn arsenal in February 1943 where it will be repaired and its armaments and equipment modernized; it will be incorporated into the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow (north of Scotland, Atlantic Ocean) from the end of November 1943. - Light Cruisers Montcalm, Georges-Leygues and Gloire (La Galissonière class) which will undergo modernization work in Philadelphia and Brooklyn. - Large Destroyers (reclassified as light cruisers) Le Fantasque and Le Terrible which arrived in Boston on February 21, 1943 where they will be also modernized until May 1943. - The tankers Lot and L'Elorn and the aircraft carrier Béarn.

Man, what a fascinating "What If" question. One can only imagine how much shorter the war could have been if these near misses had not been, well, misses. There was already discontent among the German generals, so if A.H. had been captured, they very well might've let the Soviets keep him and start to pursue peace negotiations.

Did he say Malinofsky was, "winging it?" Hah! I'm funny...but all jokes aside, a facinating recount of a week that was, with details I have never retained though I have read some of them in Glantz & House's book. Really enjoy every one of these episodes, with something that is food for thought about WW2 every week. My heart felt thanks!!!!!!!!!

LOVE the set!

It seems that we haven't had an "Out of the Foxholes" special in some time.

What I want to know is if the British were reading German coded traffic in real time, then why didn't they contact Stalin with this information similar to the Americans knowing about Yamamoto's whereabouts and promptly liquidating him??

I was wandering when we would get to the battle of Caserin Pass. For a little bit there, I thought it had already been fought and I had somehow missed it.

Just enough detail so you can get the big picture.the moving maps are priceless.Even though the library pictures are not always consistent with the narrative

Keep up the good work bud 👍🏼

So, the action on Guadalcanal and on the Kokoda track was just the beginning, the action over the next years will be a real nightmare for both players involved.

It would appear that Indy has competition in regards to spectacular ties.

That was an awesome line to end the episode

Good episode as always guys. I'm glad you didn't seem to over focus on the battle of Kasserine pass as so much media has since the end of WW2. So many western media wanted to play up the comeback of the Allies in WW2 after the US defeats at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Wake Island and then Kasserine pass. But when things are looked at in the grand scale of WW2 Kasserine pass is just a minor engagement and set back for the Allies. Much greater defeats happened to the Allies on a daily bases from the invasion of Poland, the low countries, the fall of France, the massive invasions of the Germans into Russia and the Japanese invasions all over East Asia that they just all dwarf the engagement at Kasserine pass. Yes, the US troops there were fresh troops fighting against veteran Axis enemies so defeats like that were bound to happen. But media portrayals of Kasserine pass make it seem like the US never lost after Kasserine pass which just isn't true. For example, there were much greater US defeats in WW2 during the Battle of the Bulge which the US eventually won. But during the initial attacks during that battle the defeats that happened there were much larger then the small battle of Kasserine pass. And then on a second and unrelated note, is there any update on when we would be getting any more specials on the aircraft and small arms of each nation in WW2? I loved that coverage back during the Great War channel and it would be so much better for WW2 since the aircraft and small arms of WW2 are just so much more varied then they were in WW1. Each nation in WW2 has so many different aircraft and small arms it is just insane. You could literally make videos on each of them (not that anyone expects that). But covering the aircraft and small arms like you have done with the armored vehicles with Chieftain would be so amazing I think. I just really can't wait to hear about them myself. Also another special on how the Manhattan project is going would be another great idea for a special as well I think.

Brilliant narration. Left my breathless.😄

Kasserine Pass As I understand it. In 1939 the US Army including the Air Corps was capped at 165,000. In 1940 Britain evacuated over twice that number from France leaving most of it's equipment behind. FDR sold 500,000 "surplus" rifles and over 100,000 machine guns to Britain. In September 1940 the first peace time draft in US history began. The rapidly expanding army trained with broomsticks. The US did not have the capacity to simultaneously supply Britain (including convoy escort to Iceland from June 41), reinforce the Pacific (MacArthur received about half of what he asked for in 41) and train and equip what would become the second or third largest army in history up to that time. With purchased and Lend Lease aircraft the British were able to establish air superiority in NA. At KP the US had no air support. After the Fall of Tobruk, FDR took new M4 tanks away from the army to LL to Britain so Monty would have them before Second el Alamein. The US was equipped primarily with M3 mediums when Tiger tanks were used in NA for the first time.

The action in North Africa is as interesting as that ones during both battles of El Alamain, it's an amazing last phase of the North African campaign indeed.

I believe this bombardment Attu was derisively known as "The Navy's Spring Plowing", the ships were blinded by fog and churned up empty land without hitting their targets. Weather was a major adversary in the Aleutians.

Great video

*Hitler : C'mon destroy the red army.* *Meanwhile , the red army:*

Staff is playing "Candy Crush" .... didn't realize Apple made field phones in 1943....

I want to see a special about Wingate.

Gerhard Weinberg was an excellent professor, I took several classes under him at UNC.

Beyond the Chindwin by Bernard Ferguson, great read on the Chindits as a first hand account. Highly recommend

16:55 - Love that wry smile! You are all an amazing team!

Anna Transcription: "Headquarters? Yup. Yup he's here. Mr. Neidell? There's a call on line 2. Something about Hitler? Would you have a moment?"

I for one am very excited for you guys to cover manstein’s counter stroke that begins today with the Donets Campaign

Indy Neidell reminds me of Major General Smedley Butler ! Thank You , Team from World War Two , for making these excellent Video's !

The evacuation of Guadalcanal was about the last major one the Japanese were able to do in the Pacific.

Vemork heavy water plant put out of action for a few months by Norwegian commandos, Norway February 16, 1943. 500kg heavy water destroyed. Operation Gunnerside.

Great vid

Thanks

I notice some people received their episode two days ago. I did not get this any earlier even though I have joined the TimeGhost Army.

7:17 moustachio flies to southshore and finds southshore's under attack, then gets on a flight straight back to storm

It is Astrid in the background or it is sergant Helga Geerhart? :)))) Great today picture of Smailing Albert. :)

Compared to the first day of the war the phone call was good. But it missed that personal touch of civility, however it is now 1943. It has been 3 or so years since the war began. We've settled into the war at this point. This phone call this week might not be special (I think it's the best yet btw) but it shows the expansion of the war. You've got 2 people helping you with phone calls and combat info from the front. But that goodbye, the simple "Thanks for calling" shows that even though the East is burning, even though in north Africa there's bullets flying and in the Pacific ships are burning and planes are flying overhead, there's still time for a goodbye :)

3:58 are you sure that they want to reach the Meuze river this spring?

>Indy talks about someting else than the eastern front >Immediatly skip >Refuse to elaborate

nice historical episode