@@jamesmartin7282 No,i dont think so,if you seen any of his previous stuff he has spoken about relieving a hired voice he had working for him, some American narrator and then said he was going to do it him self.Im pretty sure we are hearing the man himself speaking.
@@tonyZ338 Poor maps also. If anyone is interested, the US National Archives (Library of Congress) has an outstanding collection of detailed, hi-resolution German situation maps available to be downloaded for free. They're the actual German situation maps showing the position of every German division each day of the war. On some of the maps, even German regiments are shown. RU-vid is uptight about posting links, so I suggest going to the above site & do a search for, "Der Feldzug gegen Sowjet-Russland".
I think, the hardships and struggles these men (on both sides) endured are beyond the imagination of younger generations (myself included). Nothing we have experienced in our lives comes even close to what these men sustained for months and years on end.
and their war was TOTAL war. Total in the sense that they had NOTHING to take their mind off the war. They didn't have radio comms half the time. They certainly didn't have radios to listen to, televisions to watch, mobile phones to occupy themselves with, books, women, beds, warmth, rotation, they were there in the thick of it with nothing to distract them from their horrendous realities. Their every single second of every single day was spent with nothing except warfare. Not even sleep could escape them from their reality. It was total. It's absolutely horrifying to ponder
As a child , attending a three room school house on Coal River, WV, my 5th/6th grade teacher, a very wise elderly man, told us the story of the German attempt to conquer Russia, and becoming frozen in the bitter cold. I doubt any other student in that classroom was impressed by his story, but it piqued my interest in this episode of WWII, and I have been a student of the history ever since, now at age 73, I thank you for this video.
The whole Eastern Front story absolutely fascinates me, it must have been horrendous for all involved. Being from the UK I was only taught about the Western Front when I was in school,only really told half of the story. Keep up the good work. 👏👏
It fascinates me as well brother ! I’m 46 from states & I have been litterly obsessed with particularly the eastern front / Barbarossa /SS and such ! I fall asleep every single night with videos like this playing ⚡️⚡️
Not surprising, at school we knew nothing about Battle Britain Dunkirk etc..Considering how many Croatians fought at Stalingrad etc, my parents learned little about Eastern front- although this changed when I was at school with collapse of socialist Jugoslavija and Croatian independence. It's normal to teach mostly your own history - Britain should remember this now you now have far left anti British leaders
My grandfather was a Captain on the southern sector of the salient in a smaller ‘kessel’ at Molvotitsy, as part of an exclave of 12th Inf Div, and had many harrowing stories to tell but mainly his experience of the horrific casualties the Russians were prepared to take through incessant frontal attacks. I have some photographs from his time there, including Ju52s making their supply drops, his Demjanskschild and other awards from later campaigns. He survived the war as a Major, escaping via Pillau to Schleswig, and surrendering to the British. He died in 2015.
Dude SOLID WORK. I mean I’ve watched the last 10 videos and this gives me nostalgia. You keep working at it because there are people like me who tune in and don’t say shit but appreciate your work. Just thought I’d comment at least once to let you know that I genuinely enjoy your documentaries! Much love ❤️
Danish waffen ss soldier Søren Kam was the only german soldier that flew INTO THE POCKET after coming out of Field hospital after lung-shot , he went in and fought with his fellow ss soldiers and survived - it was this battle that made the illusion that the luftwaffe could delivery surplies to an incircled army like the one surrounded around Stalingrad , alas it showed that they could not.
Loved the video.work of art .the narration ,the video everything was spot on .among the best documentaries I have watched.Eagerly waiting for the next one.👍💯
This is my latest "Favourite New Channel" loving the colourised footage some of it rare and unseen,and im not the only one here whos saying its unseen.Ive seen a heck of a lot of footage over the years too and i cant get enough of these types of documentaries with a new narrative and look to it.I like the way its all put together.Keep it up and cant wait for your next one!
It was written by a guy called Russ Schneider who also wrote 'Gotterdammerung Germany' s Last Stand in the East.' Schneider died young. A tragic end to a brilliant writer.
Excellently presented, this was an interesting account of the battles during 2 winters. If only the general staff didn't go and live through the winter months in Russia. Coming from Northern Alberta and facing a few -50 C days, I can only say, " How the F did German infantry survive and fight"
This channels great I very much like how it shows the war from the German perspective. The only other time I’ve come across anything like this is OTTO SKORNEVKYS book SECRET MISSIONS. Absolutely brilliant
COD 2 is heard from yet again in this soundtrack. Erich von Manstein said in this memoir that the 3rd SS Pz Div (Totenkopf) was the best of the Waffen SS Pz Divs (as an interesting side note).
@@karlheinzvonkroemann2217 When the Totenkopf fought at Demjansk, the Division was still a Panzergrenadier-Division. It became a Panzerdivison in 1943, like LSSAH and Das Reich. That`s all i wanted to say.
@@MrWolfgangtube Amazing! Nowhere in my posts did I say anything different! Is English your fist languge or is yours a reading comprehension issue? Read my posts again! I already know this stuff. I knew it 40 years ago.
@@karlheinzvonkroemann2217 Why is nobody able to have a civilized conversation anymore? So, no one of us said something wrong, Totenkopf was still Pz-Gren in 42 and later a PzDv. I know it too, that is my job. Don`t talk about reading issues while making a lot of mistakes in just two sentences. And no, my first language is German. What the fuck?
blitzkrieg was blessing until that became the curse professional talk logistics amateurs talk tactics imagine you plan to go 5000 miles away and don’t pack winter clothing and worst can’t even ship the clothes to the front gasoline and amo and medical supplies that was what happen if logistics could rich the front they would won the war by mid 1942 at the end all finger point at hitler the idiot and no one in high ranking would take the blame which in realty it’s all fault of the army planing at its core it’s easy when you winning to take all the credit but losing is a one man job to find the escape goat and point the finger at him
It’s unbelievably Germany would send troops into winter without gear. You would have to think they would have learned. How does anyone fight in -40 degrees?
In the book ' Die Geschichte der 30. Infanterie-Division 1939-1945' from Hans Breithaupt, one can read a detailed account of the horrifying reality of the situation in the Demjansk pocket. The autor uses the 'Kriegstagebuecher' ,the war diaries, made by the division. On one occasion they describe an assault by the Red Army,with troops loaded into open trucks,directly into the German lines, with no results. Similar tactics that one saw recently on the front in Ukrain indicative of the low value of a life of a soldier attributed by the Russian command.
The NAZI 6th Army may have been a very powerful one, I refuse to use the word "great" about any nazi, & you shouldn't use that word to refer to them either
Well not to rub it in on those poor men who fought under such conditions on both sides but I AM feeling rather privileged this morning as I climb beneath my quilts with a cup of hot chocolate and my mistress, Mrs. Du Maurier, smouldering beside me. This video added to the mix is PURE HEAVEN!!! Keep history alive folks!!! Thanks for posting. Thumbs up from me! Velox Versutus Vigilans
The Demyansk pocket convinced Hermann Goering that the Luftwaffe was capable of resupplying the army easily through bridgeheads. This notion was destroyed at Stalingrad where the encirclement was larger.
Reasonably good analysis; however the use of modern maps with their current geographical lines gives no indication or view of the overall situation. In future please use relevant maps and disposition of forces. Many amateur historians are map lovers.
The german army as a whole might not have been superior; they were outnumbered, and already fighting a war on multiple fronts. It was basically, germany vs the world. That they held on 10 vs 1 for 6 years vs the world proves the individual german soldier was superior to the average ruskie. Or else, how could they have held on so long? Their tanks? No. Also horribly ournumbered. Artillery? Come on. Generals and okw? Hell naw. It was the steel resolve of the german soldier that almost took the world over if it wasnt for american help. Remember, we americans "loaned" so many tanks, fuel, planes and economic help to the belligerents until we jumped in.
@@davidjackson2690 ah, this old argument. Well, ill say this. The Germans had a chance against the soviets. They made the mistake of taking the soviets lightly. You can see this in the 37mm at guns...taking til '42 to upgun the panzer 4 to a solid AT capability. The Germans just had not come up against other ideologically brainwashed troops.... The rest is what ifs. Like "what if one of the 30some assassination attempts on Hitler worked and the generals had a free hand to fight a mobile, fluid defense from the moment they were stopped within sight of the soviet capital. Then stopped cause who wants the steppes?...." the soviets would have brought out the doves of peace. A small, determined enemy has beaten larger ones in history man. They always had a chance until late '42, what if Germany never declared war on America? The US would have definitely cared less about Europe's war and fought its own war. " The wish bone broke for the soviets with help from alllll its allies. But what if they were busy with Japan? What if Japan coordinated at all with Germany? See
@davidr2802 it seems absolutely insane that they declared war on the US when they did, but if you look at the context (without hindsight) you can see the logic in it...at the time they were still extremely close to Moscow and believed when the winter was over another offensive could possibly knock the Soviets out of the war... but the USSR was getting massive amounts of supplies from the US and the US Navy was actively engaging in the War in the Atlantic... Hitlers mindset was that if they declared war then they could actively attack the US Navy in the Atlantic and cut off supplies coming in across the Atlantic to the UK and USSR before the US could mobilize to the European theater (everyone thought the US would prioritize the Pacific due to Pearl Harbor) then they could strangle supplies to the USSR in time for the next Summer offensive which would knock out the USSR, this would then allow them to focus back on the Brits before the Yanks could Marshall to their aid, either forcing them to take a settled peace or at the very worst create a deadlock making the entry of the US pointless asthere would have been no ally on the European mainland to split the forces of the combined Axis (which would have included the entire might of all of Europe at that time plus would have had all the fuel and supplies it needed) it was a risky strategy but if their timeliness had worked out and if the US had focused on The Pacific as expected it made sense to them at the time...
Great documentary, but still I have some suggestions for improvement. Before that, I will give you my compliments. Your script, voice and narration was excellent. I really enjoyed the dramatic music and the films. The acceptable but poorer side was the lack of graphics and statistical presentation. If possible, you should collaborate with Eastory. He makes fantastic graphics showing all units on both sides involved. His scripts are decent but not as good as yours, and his voice and narration is a bit boring. He lacks a good choice of music. He has collaborated with a few other youtube military documentary producers. You would both improve each other's work. I like that you are using Google Earth but it would be much better if you used lines to mark the fronts, salients and pockets, instead of the national symbols of Germany and the Soviet Union. Finally, the best thing would be if you could show the units and generals of both sides of a battle. The youtube Tik history is the best at doing this. His weak sides are his heavy Scottish accent, his unneccessary often injected personal opinions and arguments (and constant defence of Hitler's military decisions). However his statistical presentation is fantastic and so is his absolutely meticulous attention to detail, practically describing what every unit down to regiments (and sometimes what single batallions, companies, squads and even some individual soldiers) were doing every week. His epic work is his 51 documentary series on the battle of Stalingrad.
i kinda felt the same. The maps could have been more detailed and it would have been more helpful if they started zoomed out alot further and then went it in for a closer look but idk
Narrator, you sound almost like me, so English. Just one little thing: When you do the range of statistics, we add a little "to" preposition (many people don't know this too >.< either) so it's not 240.. 260 tons of supplies. It's 240 TO 260 tons. Hope this improves the algorithm. Forgive me I'm not a Grammar Nazi :P Just a real english teacher nerd
Really well done but a major flaw in not drawing in the exact front lines on your maps. Simply pasting a giant German cross and Red hammer & sickle on your maps would leave most people unfamiiiar with these battles utterly mystified as to what you are talking about.
Thanks! but unfortunately it’s hard to tell where the exact lines were exactly. Our aim was to give you the rough idea on the maps and where they were, but for us to actually draw accurate lines of movement and exact placings isn’t viable, since i don’t have the sources for that precise information
@@historyatwar Maps of the Demyansk campaigns are not hard to find and I would post them here if I could. You're done excellent work and I'm keen so see it improved with decent maps. Cheers.
6000 Danish SS troops were inserted in Demyansk to create a small corridor for supplies etc. Not that I support what they did (even though they had various reasons, not all were fanatical nazis), but apparently Theodor Eicke later said: 'if only I have had 20.000 Danes, we would have crushed the Russian encirclement'. So from a soldiers perspective, they did pretty damn well.
Just excuses from losers. The Soviets whipped all of them together- Germans, Italians, Dannishs, Croatians, Romanians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Spaniards, Finns........
Given that you use maps of which you probably have an encyclopedic knowledge. For the rest us ordinary people please draw borders on these maps so we know where the bulge is, for instance. Cities, towns, villages even lake Ilman are unmarked so how are us non-SOVIET landskape gurus supposed to know what the audio is describing.
How often did you use the word strategic? I think you use far too many adjectives. You’re so repetitive that I feel like every strong point is the most strategic formidable position ever held.
Considering they lost 2 World Wars I would have to say NO! Hitler focused on holding ground rather than beating the enemy like Manstein did with elastic defense. Even the Luftwaffe was obsolete by 1942 Considering that the Stuka was obsolete by 1942 with its lack of armor, fixed landing gear that slowed the plane since the landing hear couldn't retract. Which greatly slowed the plane and didn't have half the armor as its Russian counterpart the Sturmovik had nor had as an effective as an air to ground missiles or as heavily armed. The German military was more innovative but squandered its money and its potential while wasting time on projects like the Maus, Sturmtiger and its rocket fueled fighters.
No, the United States military is the greatest fighting force in history. But it's fair to say that the Germans blazed the trail and in 1941 were man for man the best fighting force the world had ever seen.
In Most Battles the Russian army used numbers of men and tanks,, The German army would be set up to defend and done a good job. The number of death's on the Russian army was very brutal until the end. My Father was 15 at the time and he was drafted into the army. On the Russian front he was lucky to make it out. A place called Stetien sorry for the spelling. But Dad said that was really scary! He must have been so busy staying alive,,, mostly didn't like partisans. Passing through towns and telling the Mayor that they are just passing through. But this one place didn't listen and that didn't end well for the town. Yeah he was 15 and Dad made it through. I miss him and his stories about growing up in Hamburg during the war,,, What a life and after the war he came to Australia and worked on the Snowy River Dame and then met with my Mother that was the best thing that ever happened to my Father. Now both of them have passed away. But many good memories 🇩🇪🦘🦘🦘⚔️⚔️⚔️🤔 Look at Europe now???? The Ukraine and Russia 🪆 The West against communism . Let's hope we don't have ww3 🎉
HITLER and Hitler alone was the cause of the war in Europe! The reason that the war went on for so long was because of the excellence of his Generals and his General Staff. Hitler was micromanaging the war, something he knew nothing about. He left a legacy of a broken Germany, concentration camps, extermination camps, and was inadvertently responsible for making the Soviet Union a World 🌎 Super 💥 Power. thank you 🇺🇸 🎌 🚩🧑🎤 🏁👩💼👩🎓
The video would be far more compelling if other than "generic" maps actually had front and or battle lines, as opposed to just "Hammer and Sickle" or German symbols placed on a map with no towns and or village names. Otherwise ok vid. I do prefer Mark Felton or TIC.
