If you like my work and want to support the channel, consider subscribing to my Patreon for more, exclusive content! patreon.com/GermanWWIIArchive Or buy me a Kaffee here: www.buymeacoffee.com/germanwwiiarchive Remarks: 00:41 Dr. Fritz Todt (1891-1942) was a German engineer and senior figure of the NSDAP. He studied engineering and earned a degree in construction engineering in 1914, serving in WWI as a reconnaissance observer in the Air Force. After the war, he worked as an engineer in a construction company, and joined the NSDAP in 1922 and the SA in 1931. 00:53 The Autobahn was a national highway system in Germany in the 1930s. Initiated under the Nazis, they were one of the prestige projects of Hitler, with construction starting in late 1933/early 1934. When construction ceased in 1941 due to the war, around 3,820 kms had been build. Fritz Todt (see entry above) was made Inspector General of the German Roadway in July 1933, and was thus responsible for the Autobahn project. Because the Autobahn was one of Hitlers prestige projects, it made Todt a part of Hitlers inner circle, and Todts organizational skills in building the Autobahn greatly impressed Hitler. 01:20 Actually, at the end of 1939, only around 3,300 km were finished. 01:47 This is referring to the Westwall (in English commonly known as Siegfried Line), a series of bunkers and defensive structures along Germanys western border with France and Benelux, build between 1936 and 1940. Again, Fritz Todt was responsible for the overall planning and building of this defensive line. 02:06 Actually, the Westwall was only around 630km long. 02:11 On the left, Fritz Todt, on the right, Franz Halder (1884-1972), Chief of Staff of the OKH from September 1938 to September 1942. 02:20 The tanks in the assembly line here are early production models StuG III assault guns. 02:23 Fritz Todt was Minister of Armaments and Munitions from March 1940 to his death, thus being responsible for the overall leadership and organization of the German war production. 02:40 This is referring to the Atlantic Wall, a series of bunkers and defensive structures along the French Atlantic coast during the occupation of France. Again, Todt was placed in charge of this program. 03:03 The Westwall-Medal, officially “German Defensive Wall Honor Medal”, was a medal awarded to workers who worked on the Westwall between June 1938 and March 1939. Around 800,000 were awarded. 03:10 As Todt was an officer of the German Air Force in WWI, he was appointed Generalmajor (Briagdier General) of the Luftwaffe when WWII broke out. This is why he is wearing a Luftwaffe uniform in many of these scenes, however, he never held any military command. 03:14 The Organisation Todt was an engineering organization which built various fortications,bridges, tracks, infrastructure etc. It was founded by Fritz Todt in May 1938. Hitler gave Todt the permission to use as many workers and materials as he needed for his work projects. After Todts death, the organization was continued under the leadership of Albert Speer. 04:43 Fritz Todt died during a plane crash in East Prussia on February 8th, 1942. There have been some rumors that Hitler had him assassinated, as he suggested to make peace with the Soviet Union, but these rumors were never confirmed. 06:45 Referring to the “German Order”, the highest award of the Nazi Party, introduced in February 1942, and first awarded posthumously to Fritz Todt. In total, it was awarded only 11 times. 08:27 Todts body is still buried in the Invalids’ Cemetery, however, his gravestone was removed in the mid-2000s. 09:06 Ion Antonescu (1882-1946) was a Romanian military officer and from September 1940 to August 1944 dictator of Romania. A close ally of Germany, he contributed the most troops of all Axis countries after Germany to the invasion of the Soviet Union. He was tried as a war criminal and executed in June 1946 by the Communist Romanian government. 10:02 Alfred Jodl (1890-1946) was a German General and Chief of the Operations Staff of the Wehrmacht during WWII. Tried and executed as a war criminal in Nuremberg after the war. 10:44 Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945) was a Norwegian politician and headed the Norwegian government during the occupation by Germany. He founded the fascist Nasjonal Samling, the Norwegian Nazi party, in May 1933. After the German occupation of Norway in April 1940, Quisling was made Prime Minister of Norway, however, he held little actual power, as his government was only a puppet of Berlin. He was immensely unpopular in Norway. After Germanys surrender, he was tried and executed in October 1945. 11:11 Josef Terboven (1898-1945) was a German politician and Regional Governor of the Gau Essen for the Nazi Party from 1930 to 1945. During the German occupation of Norway, he was Reich Commissioner of Norway, and actually held power in Norway. He committed suicide after Germany’s surrender in May 1945. 12:01 The gun in this scene is a 3,7cm PaK 36 Ligh AT-gun. 12:40 The planes in this scene are Ju-52 transport planes. 13:37 This tank is a Panzer IV. F, the last Panzer IV variant that was intended as an infantry support tank. It was armed with a short-barreled 7.5 cm KwK 37 L/24. 471 built between April 1941 and February 1942. 14:09 This is an early production StuG III Assault Gun. 15:44 The gun in this scene is a heavy 15cm sIG 33 infantry guns. It was the standard German heavy infantry gun during WWII, and also the heaviest gun ever classified as an infantry gun. Around 4,600 were built between 1936 and 1945. Due to its large caliber and heavy weight (1,800 kilo) it was generally very cumbersome to use, though it had great firepower. 16:01 This is probably a light 50mm Mortar 36, built between 1936 and 1941. 17:54 Yalta, a city on the south coast of Crimea, was captured by German/Romanian units on 9th November 1941, and occupied until April 1944. 18:45 These German soldiers are Naval infantry, identifiable by their shoulder boards. 18:50 This is a Maxim type MG. The Romanians used several of these guns, taken from Russian units who retreated to Romania during the Russian civil war, or captured from Soviet troops during Operation Barbarossa. 20:37 This is an 8,8cm FlaK 36 AA/AT-gun. 21:46 Derna is a port city in eastern Libya. It was captured by Australian troops on January 30th, 1941, re-captured by German troops on April 6th, 1941, and finally taken by the British on November 15th, 1942. 21:56 These are 10,5cm lefH 18, the standard light artillery of the Wehrmacht during WWII. 23:31 This is an Italian Cannone da 47/32 mod. 1935, a light Italian 47mm infantry/AT-gun. Designed by Austrian company Böhler, Italy produced them under license between 1935 and 1940. Around 3,000 were built and used mainly as AT-guns, but also as infantry support weapons. 23:35 I’m not 100% sure, but to me this looks like some type of Italian 149.1mm heavy artillery gun. 23:54 This gun is a Obice da 149/12, an Italian license production of the German 15cm sFH 13. Around 1,500 were built between 1914 and 1918, and it was still widely used in WWII. 24:43 This is a British Crusader tank, a light British tank produced by Nuffield between 1940 and 1943. Lightly armored with around 40mm and a 40mm, later 57mm gun, it played a vital role during fighting in North Africa. Phased out in 1943 due to outdated gun and armor. Around 5,300 were built. Interestingly, despite what’s claimed here, the US had nothing to do with design or production of this tank. I believe that this line was put here for propaganda reasons to show that the Germans were already destroying American war material in North Africa- which by that point, in early February 1942, there wasn’t any American made tanks or other war material in North Africa. 25:02 “Panzer rollen in Afrika vor“ (Tanks roll Forward in Africa) was the official march of the Africa Corps, published in 1941. 25:08 This is an Sd.Kfz. 7 half track artillery tractor, towing a 8,8cm FlaK 36 AA/AT-gun. 25:33 This vehicle is an Sd. Kfz. 231, an eight-wheel heavy scout car, built between 1937 and September 1943, with a total of 607 build. It was armed with a 2cm auto cannon and had a 155, later 180 hp engine, allowing it a top speed of up to 100 kmh. 26:02 This is referring to Opertation Ceberus, in English more commonly known as the “Channel Dash”, a German naval operation from 11-13 February 1942, during which the German battleships Scharnhorst and Geneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen moved from Brest to naval bases on the German coast. This was a risky operation, as the channel was closely monitored by the British. But, despite British attacks from planes and destroyers, all ships made it through the channel . 26:08 Otto Ciliax (1891-1964) was a German Admiral during WWII. He joined the German navy on April 1910 as a cadet, and served as an officer on the battleship SMS Hannover from October 1912 to 1917. In 1918, he trained as a U-Boat commander and commanded two German U-Boat in 1918. He served as a staff officer in the 1920s and 30s, before becoming commander of the cruiser Admiral Scheer in September 1936 and the battleship Scharnhorst in September 1939. He led the Operation Ceberus in February 1942, and afterwards, from March 1943 to April 1945, he was Commander-in-Chief of German naval forces in Norway. 28:33 Actually, the British lost 42 planes and one destroyer was severely damaged, but none sunk. 29:45 Indeed, the Operation Ceberus was a humiliation for Great Britain, as the British proudly claimed that no enemy fleet could cross the Channel during war time. Subsequently, the British public was outraged that the German fleet managed to cross. However, the overall strategical situation didn’t change much for the Germans, as the British still knew where the German ships were and still had the naval superiority in that area.
Little bit of correction, the Autobahn was not initiated by the Nazis but by the then mayor of Cologne Konrad Adenauer (later first chancellor of west germany). As with most major parties, the NSDAP was also inititally opposed to the idea of the Autobahn, seeing it as a luxury for the upper class since the ordinary citizen at the time could not afford a car. The first officially recognized part of Autobahn is the connection between the cities Cologne and Bonn, as initiated by Adenauer, but downgraded after Hitler came to power so he could profilerate himself as the initiator.
Impossible. France would never accept long term German occupation. Stalin was in no mood to negotiate in ‘42. They’d already murdered too many Jews, Gypsies and Russian POW’S. IF They had stopped at Czechoslovakia and not embarked on the ‘Final Solution” things could have been interesting.
09:00 Does anyone know the name of the music that plays in this section? I'm always curious about the instrumental background music that plays in Wochenschau
That’s an instrumental version of the marching song „Burenland ist freies Land“ by composer Theo Mackeben, from the movie „Ohm Krüger“ by Hans Steinhoff. „Ohm Krüger“ received the highest acolade of the Third Reich, „Film der Nation“ (Movie of the Nation“) that was only awarded once per year! The instrumental version of the march was used in many Wochenschauen until the very last months of the war.
Esse vídeo foi sensacional, fiquei impressionado com a Marinha croata , nunca imaginei que os croatas tinham ajudados os alemães na Crimeia. Desculpa não escrever em inglês, ainda não sou bom em inglês 😂 Gosto muito do seu trabalho , já indiquei para vários amigos, continue assim! Abraço do Brasil.
Interesting episode. The cracks were beginning to show in 1942 but there was still room for optimism at the start of the year. The Americans had just formally entered the war so it became a race to win the war before the American industrial potential could be mobilized.
Yes hate speech is wrong but when shown in a historical instead of an inflammatory context allows us to learn about behaviors to watch for and prevent repetition
To be honest, I don't really do much video editing anyways, and I already had to crop the magnetic sound stripe at the left, and since the image in the centre is constantly changing it's position, I just decided it wasn't worth all the effort. It would take hours to crop it perfectly....
Most likely not. There are rumors that the plane crash was an assasination ordered by Hitler, but these rumors appear in every single case a high-ranking individual died in a plane crash, like General Dietl, and they are most likely untrue everytime. He simply died in a plane crash, which happend rather often back in the day because planes werent as safe as they are today.
