The MG34 and MG42 were the reason that German small unit defensive infantry doctrine and tactics were based on the riflemen supporting the squad’s machine gun, and the heavy lafette-mounted MGs of the heavy company and the regimental MG’s. The contention that the MG42 was elevated to mythic status decades after the fact is erroneous. There were wartime US training films that attempted to specifically allay fear of the MG34/42 and demonstrate tactics for dealing with German MG positions. The fact that such training aids were produced referring to specific enemy weapons suggests that some morale effect existed from early US experience vs these MGs.
Isn't part of the issue with the German side on D day that their casualties were very high, so there would naturally be fewer memoirs, even allowing for other factors. The ones I've seen only survived by freakish luck.
This was so interesting I have learnt so much about the german side of d day and I want to learn more thank you to woody and the guys for putting this together.
Woody and all. So glad I found this while looking into previous presentations. This is a classic example of why WW2TV is so great. It covers all nations including the ‘enemy.’ Recalling interesting to cover what is not normally covered. Thanks gents. Bob
Very intresting and little talked about subject! Thankyou for all the vids on your Chanel got a few qued, and content with D-Day 24H event! /New subscriber
Woody, I heard somewhere that the last mounted unit in the USA was a Texas National Guard regiment (can't remember unit number) that turned in its horses and drew trucks in 1943. I heard from somewhere else that the German divisions were getting more horses as the war went on as they were not getting the replacement trucks, etc. The biggest advantage a horse has is it can go more places than autos. I heard in some documentary that the average diet in Germany in 1944-1945 may have been as low as 830 calories/day.
Really enjoyed that Paul. Taking one of your recent comments "Some of my earlier videos were really ... ", as I work through your back catalogue, I haven't found and duds. Incidentally caught you chatting to History Underground about a month ago - really good, so much so that I was never closer to sending that email to join a tour.
An interesting episode. There is pretty deep knowledge in the English speaking world regarding the composition and performance of the German forces in Normandy during the June invasion. Thanks for bringing these researchers together.
Great show, excellent subject and knowledgeable guest. The war as seen by the Germans both uniformed and civilians is very important. My best friend and second family emigrated from Germany just after the war.
As a US reader, this "mythic" MG42 exists on the margins. Obs. your experience with leading Veterans on tours has influenced your perspective. What I DO read, over and over again, is every large round being called "an 88". Bet you have as well!
Great program, Paul. Alexander, Niels, and Sean were fantastic. I've gained a new perspective and appreciate all your work and passion for improving and broadening the world's understanding of the Day of Days.
A sound and intelligent discussion. D-Day is a multifactorial dialogue and unfortunately, popular opinions are sometimes quickly taken up as being well-known facts so a discussion like this is sometimes very necessary." An hour on Germans", why should anyone find this to be a surprise? D-Day was one day, Normandy was a hard bloody attritional affair, and not every German soldier was a member of "an elite unit" led by a Knights Cross holder. The German soldier like so many was not there out of choice and had no choice.
352nd Division, despite some reports, only contained 'some' German veterans, and it was largely a 'thrown-together-mob' with mainly 17-18-year-old conscripts with just three weeks training. Furthermore, Normandy was its first posting, and just one of its battalions was at Omaha on 6th June, according to other German sources at Normandy
@@WW2TV In the book 'How the Wermecht Lost France - D Day through German Eyes' - p76-77....... "The standard narrative of that fateful day has it that 352 division that faced the American troops at Omaha was a veteran German unit recently shipped in from the Russian front, well-equipped, well-led, and with its ranks full of experienced troops. Research in recent years as shown this to be only partially accurate at best, and downright misleading at worst. Firstly, 352 Division was not a veteran division with experienced troops, rather it had only recently been formed, and Normandy was its very first posting. Neither was it awash with the latest heavy weaponry. It was indeed bigger than its static neighbour 716 division, being around 12,000 strong rather than 7-8000, and it had more artillery with 48 guns available, but.....and it was a big but.......only a fraction of its division was on Omaha on the morning of 6th June. In fact, just one of its six battalions, a few light guns and another battalion attached from its eastern neighbour, the below-par 716. Nevertheless, it would come within an ace of forcing an American withdrawal under fire that could have dramatically altered the Normandy campaign".
@51:30 can someone please explain to me the point of having a machine gun position to stave off an amphibious invasion where, presumably you will be outnumbered by orders of magnitude and only providing said machine gunner a “limited” supply of ammunition? Why even bother defending the beach at that point?
Because there simply wasn't enough ammunition to adequately supply every single WN along the 3000+ miles of coast they were defending AND supply the Eastern Front and Italy etc
@@WW2TV Understood, but as I watched more into the video, it appears that (at least some) of the MG'ers were supplied with enough ammo to hold an effective fire rate for close to 8 hours. And with the highest ROF weapon at that! This being the case, I would disagree with the earlier point you made that implied that the German fixed position machine gunners would not have a firepower advantage over attacking troops landing on the beaches. You are not taking into consideration that machine gun positions set up in positions to create pre-determined enemy attacker "kill zones" would make the defenders fire orders of magnitude more effective. My guess would be that casualties caused by allied machine gun fire in the first 8 hours of the invasion were probably 1/100th those of those inflicted by the Germans. I find it hard to visualize a machine gun being of any use at all landing on a beach against an entrenched enemy, but I will defer to your expertise on the subject of the Normandy landings.
@@WW2TV would be interested to know if there were machine gunners that were forced to stop fighting on d-day specifically because they ran out of ammunition.
Paul, I wonder if you could also do a show on orders given the Allied assault troops on D Day not to take any prisoners because there was no place to put them. I've never seen a copy of these orders or who issued them but I have seen interviews with Canadian veterans, specifically the Regina Rifles and Winnipeg Rifles, where they plainly stated that they did not take prisoners on D Day, or certainly not during the first 12 or 14 hours. The reason they gave was, as I said, it was orders from on high and prisoners on the beach would just clog up the resupply of the front line troops. I've also seen interviews with French civilians who there where they just plainly state, as well, that the Canadians did not take prisoners in the town on the coast where they were. These interviews were at the very end of the Canadian docu-drama "Storming Juno" that was for a time available freely on their internet website. Have you any more information on this, especially as to who issued the order and how it was implemented on the other four beaches? Kurt Meyer of the 12 SS claimed that his men found these orders on a dead Canadian captain on June 6 and that was his excuse for executing POWs in the days following. The 12 SS seemed not to need any rationale at all for murdering prisoners. Some Canadian prisoners said they seemed like they were on drugs, which would not surprise me as everyone was hyped on Benzedrine or some such upper and some Hitler Youth were completely out of control. Especially at Authie where they actually dragged wounded POWs out onto the roads and deliberately ran them over with tanks and trucks, and then murdered French civilians who came out to protest their behaviour. I hope this is not too much of a sensitive or controversial issue for your channel.
@@ToddSauve Rommel and the Atlantic Wall December 1943 - July 1944 Oral History - World War II - Invasion of Normandy (1944) Interrogation of Vizeadmiral Friedrich Ruge and Generalleutnant Dihm concerning Generalfeldmarschall Rommel and the preparation of German defenses prior to the Normandy Invasion
