The bizarre thing is neither side learned from the tactics used then. That could be applied today. But with different weapons and reverse engineered methods. 👍
I know remains of soldiers upon remains of soldiers... , i watched a video of a russian young man excavating ww2 soldiers for reconstitution back to the family, only to find himself kia in an area nearby
A most excellent presentation. I have seen decades of World War II film footage, but have never before seen most of the ones presented here. They give a clear view of how fighting in Russia in Winter was. The sheer numbers of men and equipment, and the quantity destroyed on each side, is staggering. Setting all of it in motion in the middle of Russian winter must have been a superhuman effort.
Von Manstein was probably the best field marshall of WW2. Not of just the wehrmacht, but probably of any army that fought in it. He did not grab headlines like Rommel, nor did he seek fame, or even recognition, Von Manstein was simply brilliant at both strategic and tactical leadership on the Ostfront. It had been Von Manstein's plan that Hitler seized on (and took all the credit for), that brought total victory in France in 1940. Time and time again Von Manstein rescued Hitler's armies from complete disaster. His tactical flair was so obvious that some commanders (including Manstein himself) proposed that Hitler should give over-all command of the Ostfront to Manstein personally. But this Hitler would never do, even in 1944 when the Eastern front was crumbling all around him. "He's certainly a clever fellow", said Hitler, "but I don't trust him."
Ironically, had German command and Manstein had their way without Hitler's interference, Germany would have had a much higher chance of being more successful in WW2. There was a subtle difference between what the German Kaiser wanted to do and what German commanders wanted to do in WW1. Thus, the political leadership tends to doom the military strategy and overstretch their abilities to defeat their opponents.
@@robertmaybeth3434 Because Hitler was an insufferable ego maniac, did too many drugs, and a sociopath. Who thought that he could do wrong, and rhought he knew more than the German officers
The winter conditions under which the soldiers on both sides fought are unbelievable. And they also had to keep their equipment usable. Thanks for the video, I didn't know it yet. Manstein, born in 1887, was not sentenced to death in Nuremberg. He received a prison sentence and was released in 1953 and was later an advisor in the new Bundeswehr. He died at an old age on June 11, 1973. He wrote his memories in a book in 1955. The title is tragically *lost victories*.
If you cross reference what he says in Lost Victories with the actual field despatches, you can see that he lied a lot in lost victories. Things like the breakout at stalingrad and who was ordered to do what when
Lost Victories was a self-serving revisionist history of his role in the war, many of the claims in the book are directly contradicted by either his own contemporary reports or other sources
Manstein was the dumbest strategist WWII has ever known. It is easy to conduct a fighting retreat when you are able to read it . If he succeeded it is only because the Russians didn't coordinate their counteroffensive properly on the long run. And it is thanks to List who saw immediately the danger in the Caucasus and retreated quickly without Manstein order. Manstein was unable to read the Stalingrad front. He only acted AFTER the events.'
I read in some military history somewhere that Manstein drew up a plan for a “massive” Kharkov-type operation which would involve an enormous retreat and, with the power of a coiled spring released, unleash a ferocious counterattack that would have ensnared a huge number of Russian armies. Hitler passed on the plan, considering it too risky (and too unlike his “hold or bust” strategy), but I always wondered if such a plan might have succeeded, and how long it would have prolonged the war
It wouldn't have succeeded. The Germans simply didn't have enough fuel for the maneuvers it would have required at this point, and the allies had too much intelligence thanks to enigma.
@@phoenix211245I disagree. If Hitler had ceded command and control to Manstein earlier, greater gains would have been accomplished before the weather changed that made conditions unfavourable for further attack. Additionally, when the weather changed the Germans could have taken the opportunity to “batten down the hatches” and created massive fixed defenses (trench lines, minefields etc) to solidify and consolidate their gains, whilst creating proper fallback positions in preparation for future Russian attacks.
@@Donkeykong1982 The problem is that you are talking about 1942/43 Germany here. They. Had. No. Fuel. They could not maneuver any significant distance away from the rail lines. They could not build up a significant concentration of forces without the allies being aware of it. In the summer/autumn of 1942 they had no forces for any further offensives or the ability to build "massive fortifications". They were already stretched to the limit for plan Blau, Stalingrad, the Rzhev salient, the battle for the Atlantic, and the Africa campaign (yes, that last one used massive amounts of planes, fuel, and resources). They simply had NOTHING they could contribute to further offensives. In 1943, the Kursk offensive was carried out under the direct command of Manstein, and went so well that the Russians did a massive counteroffensive right after and retook huge tracts of territory. Don't forget that a lot of history about Manstein was written BY Manstein, who had every reason to make himself look like an unparalleled genius, with the reason that Germany lost being the incompetent Hitler. Oh, and Paulus was supposed to be relieved at Stalingrad by Manstein. You know how well THAT went.
As Karkov was happening, Americans were getting torched at Kasserine and UBoats were storming Hell in the Atlantic worse than ever. At the beginning of 1943 Germans had reasons to hope despite everything.
In fact, the U-boats had their greatest successes in the second half of 1942, and operations in Africa at that time included more than just the Kasserine Pass.
It's the height of irony, isn't it! 80 years after most of humanity fought the worst war to ever be fought, once again huge mechanized armies are soaking the ground with blood, on the same battlefield, all over again...
20.40 Russian troops were not anywhere near Berlin in 1944 , also Operation Citadel was called off due to Allied invasion of Sicily not because the Germans were beaten, far from it , like they say "history is written by the winners' , like us bombing Berlin way before the Luftwaffe bombed London , never get taught that fact .
Sadly Manstein was mocked for his great strategies. Some called him "Feldmarschall Rückzug" (Fieldmarschall Retreat). He should have been in charge from the start.
Manstein was allowed almost everything he wanted within reason. Most of the instances where generals blame Hitler in their memoirs are lies to deflect their own failures and perpetuate myths about German superiority, which they believe in. Manstein, Guderian, & co. just couldn’t accept that THEY - not just Hitler and Nazi leadership - were beaten fair and square by the “Slavic hordes” they looked down on. It’s really frustrating that these myths persist and people get carried away into a totally wrong impression of the war and its hows & whys. Hitler’s influence or not, Germany would have lost all the same.
Manstein was good against weakened and overstretched enemy, if he had fully manned and equipped divisions with him. Even Hitler commented on it (somewhat sarcastically) when he removed him from command after disaster in early 1944. Something in style, if we ever have 15 fully maned and trained divisions like we had before the war , then Manstein will be again in command . Of course, it never happened this late in the war.
@iwillnoteatzebugs Yes, Manstein was the Mastermind behind the (first) Ardenne offensive, and it was Hitler (who was actually not a clown but more competent in military matters than people like to give him credit for today) who enabled him to carry out his daring plan against the will of his conservative generals.
@@iwillnoteatzebugs As man already told you, Hitler was the one who approved Manstein's plan. And all the other Manstein's plans that did succeed, as well as those that did not. In fact, both Manstein and Rommel owed their rapid rise in ranks to Hitler.
This campagin was the epitimy of military force. No one before or after ever achived such victory against such overwhelming forces. All based on the bravery and genius of von Lewinsky and the german forces.
@piyushsharan406 look at the figures cited by Eastern Front scholar David Glantz. it doesn't entirely tally with the Manstein version of events from his self-serving memoir
@piyushsharan406The only thing in dispute of the dates of which Glantz is correct but Glantz has the Soviet archive as his sources. Manstein used the best of his memory. Trying to remember everything down to individual days from a long war must have been very difficult at best.
The only problem with this (classical) story-line is that it mainly relies on the sources available to western historians during the cold war: the memoires of the German generals, notably those of Manstein.... Of course, according to his own memoires, he was a true genius. Unfortunately for a more balanced historiography, Soviet/Russian sources are once again difficult to access.
The German loss at Stalingrad lays totally on the shoulders of Adolph Hitler. They could have bypassed the city and taken the oil fields, which were their actual objective. Hitler caused them to become in trapped in a city of ruins in the middle of a harsh winter.
They never could have taken the oil fields. Also not securing Stalingrad would have still left their northern flank exposed during the drive to the Caucuses. Even if they did somehow manage to get their the oil fields would have already been destroyed, just like they were at Maikop.
I've heard that debate and also if i recall correctly the argument that Hitler suddenly divided the force in two - sending half to Stalingrad and the rest to the Caucasus hence neither force really had the strength to capture their objectives. He got greedy...
No, it was the vast amount of traitors in the General Staff and German army that caused the Stalingrad disaster. Multiple divisions and vast amounts of equipment and fuel was sent all over the place instead of where it was needed.
@@andrewcoons8060 Traitors? What about sending an entire army to a city you have no need for, and then allowing a retreat only AFTER your army was encircled. The idea that Stalingrad be held at all costs is a complete nonstarter from a strategic point of view, but that's not how Hitler saw things so thats not how it went. Willingly getting involved in close quarters urban combat when you're campaign requires swift maneuvering is simply dumb, it was a dumb battle that Hitler fought willingly, thus it is entirely his fault, no matter the extent to which the general staff were traitors (in 1942? These same men fought a lost cause valiantly for three more years and they traitors then?) or how mismanaged it was.
@@davidjackson2179 Good point no doubt. I’m just stating what their objective was, and that occupying Stalingrad was unnecessary. It ended up with the loss of 600,000 of the finest troops of the war
The biggest reason that the Germans lost was because they had to delay the invasion due to Italy's inability to control Greece & Yugoslavia & they had to send troops to help them. That was about a one month delay. That was the game changer right there!!!
@@AlexPriceMusician ( cont.) they didn't have a good strategic location like the U.K & U.S. The UK had the North Sea & their big powerful navy & the U.S Is too far away from those hostile countries & impossible to invade because of our Superior navy & Air Force!!! Just think about it,What country has a better strategic location than the U.S. ??? NOBODY!!!
First of all, Manstein is just saying stuff that sounds good to the believers. He had no idea what lay in store for him on the war to Kursk - there was way more in the way of his forces than he realized. But ok, so they take Kursk. Then what? They have to give it back the very next day because they still have no fuel, broken supply chain, not enough food for the country or enough replacement troops, and the Americans are currently driving through Italy. The Germans’ problem wasn’t that the Soviets had control of Kursk lmao. It would have changed absolutely nothing.
Van Meinstein was brilliant but EQUALLY important was the simplistic Soviet Army sprint strategy that often failed to anticipate the faints Manstein executed
This was the last major victory against that simplistic army which fought its way to Berlin while inflicting around 80% of the ground casualties on those brilliant masters of the battlefield. Germany lost because it was out fought, out produced and out commanded by those backward simpletons. Any other conclusion is either wrong or a lie.
It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage video about Kharkov Manstein operations, which orchestrated a potential strong hold foundation for the southern German army after Stalingrad disaster.historical recorded researchers without doubts .explored (feildmarshal) Manstein failed to rescue surrounded Six German army in Stalingrad pocket ,refused to donate permission to General Paulus for breaking out in suitable earlier times. in the meantime, he explained to Adolf Hitler ..hopeless circumstances of the 6th army in Stalingrad... indirectly encouraged (Adolf Hitler) to insist on ordering fighting to the last man in Stalingrad .
There was no chance for a breakout. The 6th Army was very short on fuel. Most transport horses had been sent back in October due to lack of fodder. Many tanks and trucks were not working due to a shortage of spare parts. The 6th Army was basically immobile in November 1942
Most of what you say is wrong, Propaganda reported by post-war defeated Nazi generals. Like most of the comments on this video (come to think of it, the video itself too).
@@clausbohm9807The ones that deserve respect get respect. The ones who lie in their memoirs about their actions and culpability for failures? They don’t get respect.
@@JohnMaxGriffin They may have embellished or stated some detail inaccuracies as Guderian (Panzer Leader) and Manstein (Lost Victories) may have done in their books. But that does not mean they don't garnish respect.
Good video with rare footage...we in the west focus on the Western front for decades in our media while showing the eastern front sparsely. Would have been a GREAT video if there were MORE MAPS! However, thankyou still.
Straight from the Battle of Cannae, 216 BC, where Hannibal defeated a much larger Roman army by pretending to retreat in the middle, drawing the opponent in, then surrounding them with his flanks. The Romans were butchered. Manstein and most other officers in any army of any decade will have studied Hannibal's famous tactics at officers' school.
It's funny that people talk about operation winter storm as failure which actually was an succeeded plan. Even us know the escape and rescue of German 6 army was impossible and the red army was reorganizing their troops to also destroy Army group A by recapturing Rostov and destroy the whole German Army group South(Actually was splitted in A,B). His main plan was to use the army 6 to be the bait to the soviets and rescue Army Group A
Von Manstein in regards to the Battle of Kursk, wanted to let the Soviets attack first, rhen "back hand" them again. He saw the at best the Germans could only have a draw in the east. But Hitler wanted to attack, using his new "toys". The Panthers and the Ferdinand Elephants. Both of which failed at the time, due to rushed prodecrion, without working out the "bugs" of the new armour first. Then with the aapox 200 Panthers in the south were led by a Colonol who didn't know what he was doing, and the Panthers had "green" crews. They immediately were better when a battalion was assigned to Grossdsdeuschland, and it's panzer regimental CO von Straschland.
The German army had a disadvantage in its leader trying to run the show with out proper knowledge. This was largely negated by Russia's leader in a bloodthirsty panic to eliminate all opposition by killing the officer Corp of his own forces, leaving them essentially leaderless during the German invasion.
After Stalingrad the war was lost for Germany. El Alamein in Egypt just sealed the deal. If Hitler had allowed strategic withdrawals the war might have lasted another year or two and the Germans might have gotten some terms they could live with.
Of course Hitler would command to hold, he had a Holocaust going on in the back. Unfortunarelly the Russians couldn't stop that earlier. Thank You v. Manstein!
The Russian forces captured a lot of ground after the fall of Stalingrad but they outran their fuel and ammunition supply lines and that left them badly exposed to Manstein's counterattack, simple as that.
It was Manstein who advised the supreme war lord not to order the sixth army to break out at Stalingrad, thereby dooming them. Manstein's relief effort to "save" the sixth army after dooming them was a dismal failure. Manstein's next failure was at Kursk where he was again soundly defeated. He was then defeated at the fourth battle of Kharkov. Eventually the supreme warlord tired of him and dismissed him.
I may be mistaken here. But in regards to Stalingrad. When Manstein was put in command of the still forming Army Group Dawn. He recommended that the 6th army hold its position. But just 3 days later after having a better understanding of the situation. He told Hitler that the 6th army would have to break out if it was to survive. But the problem with simply allowing the 6th army to withdraw. Was the fact that the main reason Army Group B (the 6th army) was initially sent to stalingrad in the first place was to protect the flank of the main German force In Southern Russia (Army Group A). Meaning if the 6th Army withdrew from Stalingrad. Army Group A would have been cut off and destroyed. Which would have been a far bigger blow to the Germans than the loss sustained at Stalingrad. The only way to save the situation was for the 6th army to hold its position until Army Group Dawn arrived and could form a new defensive front capable of holding the Russians back and preventing an even larger and strategically more important German army group (Army Group A) from being destroyed. Manstein did what he could with what he had. In regards to the Battle of Kursk. Manstein did not want to fight the battle of Kursk. At least not in the manner he was forced to. Manstein proposed a plan similar to the strategy he used to stop the Russian advance after stalingrad. A feat considered by many. To be nothing short of a miracle. Which is why Mansteins success against the Russians during this critical time. Is often referred to as "Mansteins Miracle". Manstein wanted the German forces in the east to shift to the defensive. Hitler refused and manstein was forced to alter his strategy to conform to Hitlers wishes. Also Manstein wanted to attack far earlier than Hitler allowed him to. Not only that but Hitler was also forced to repeatedly weaken the Forces available to Manstein for the operation in order to deal with other threats on other fronts. Manstein did not have operational freedom and his strategies were formed based on what Hitler would allow him to do. To place the majority of the blame for the defeat at Kursk on Manstein. Seems short sided. No offense intented. And even with the disadvantages manstein faced at Kursk. His performance was far better than you seem to be giving him credit for. Manstein was dismissed this is true. But his dismissal was ordered by a military incompetent, who valued party loyalty and yes men. And considering Manstein was famous for his arguments with Hitler over strategic decisions. I think it's safe to say that Manstein was not the kind of yes men. That Hitler favored. Manstein is considered to be one of the greatest military minds of the 20th century. And his career both during and after world War 2 reflected that. But these are just my opinions. I could be totally wrong as I won't pretend to be some great world War 2 expert. And I freely admit that I may not know enough to form a more accurate opinion on this subject
You mislead,e.g. Field Marshel von Manstein did not lose at "Kursk". Hitler called off the attack, because of the Italian Invasion. Hitler transferred troops from "Kursk" to Italy. "Victorys Lost".
@CharlesFlato-wn2qf No dude Kursk was a defeat for the Germans and a massive one at that. Yes Hitler called off the operation and yes Manstein wanted to continue. Weather he wanted to continue because he truly thought victory was possible, or weather he wanted to continue simply because he knew that Kursk was the last chance the Germans had to possibly save the war. I'm not sure. But it's irrelevant. It was a defeat regardless of who holds the most blame. Manstein was not given operational freedom and that alone may have sealed the defeat at kursk and for the entire war. But at the end of the day. Defeat is defeat. I agree that the fool your responding to is rather ignorant in regards to Manstein as he was easily one of the greatest commanders of the 20th century, and his comment paints an inaccurate picture of Manstein to say the least
Manstien won at Kursk it was Hitler who confided in secret that the thought of the Kursk offenceiff made his stomach churn. HIS BOTTLE HAD GONE. Manstien defeated the Southern sector tanks, and said to Hitler right I am ready to either encircle the Russians or advance. Hitler called off the attack. His attempt to save the 6 army was all anyone could do. It was up to Paulous to break out. His retake of Krakof was a master stroke. If Hitler had listened to him on the Eastern front he would have stableised it.
Field Marshall Manstein was an absolute genius!! I wonder how things would have turned out if Hitler would have entrusted Manstein to have been the overall Commander-in-Chief of all Axis forces in 1941 during the invasion of Russia and if the ME 262 jet fighter was developed a year before it's initial deployment? It would have been a whole different war!! That was Germany's downfall in the war. Hitler constantly interfering with his Generals and being the Commander-in-Chief.
Even Kursk could be another victory for Field Marshall von Manstein had Hitler not intervened. Von Manstein wanted to attack Kursk as soon as possible but the German dictator messed up and made another German victory utterly impossible!
Let’s not forget it was American trucks that mobilized the Russian reserves during not only the battle of Stalingrad but also for the rest of the war. Sure in the winter of 41/42 the Soviets were on their own. But it was land lease who fed and mobilized the Soviets to a great degree from Stalingrad onwards. Of course the Soviets had to down play the role of land lease but the tonnage in land lease was staggering. It allowed the Soviets to focus on certain life saving materials but it was at that juncture when the threat of famine was looming (German occupation of Ukraine) when land lease tipped the balance. I would also like to point out the statistics on the ground in real numbers allowed the Germans to take risks. But that would come back to haunt them when the Soviets gathered million men and plenty of supplies allowing the Germans to be surrounded at Stalingrad. It was land lease and trucks which allowed that attack to happen while maintaining the whole front. I’m not taking away from the Soviets slaughter, sacrifice and ability to mobile and beat the best of the best! But they never could’ve done it on their own without the whole world turning on a country the size of Texas. It’s why the British never regarded peace with Germany as an option. The rest is history! Let’s not forget for the average westerner our relation with the Soviets was nothing more than out of convenience. The enemy of my enemy is my friend! With that said, this is why in 2024 I wish the Germans won the war in the East! Why you ask? Because once the war was over in 1945 the enemy of enemy was now the Germans so I can say their cause in the East was just! And thanks to that war we are now occupied by a hostile elite globally who hate our history, culture and people! And they are doing their best to reshape everything the West fought for by giving it away at our detriment. The origins of our demise has its roots in WWII. “We fought the wrong enemy” And now we’re being occupied and destroyed!
Worth looking at this from a different angle. Russia are not the Soviets. It’s worth looking into who was behind the funding of the bolsheviks and inserting communism/ overthrowing the Czar. The same people that were behind it then are doing it here in the US now. Our enemy is not there
The Germans lost Kharkov few months later and definitively while the idiot Manstein wanted to stay in Kursk. Hitler had to order him to go quickly to help the poor germans in the Donbass. And they lost Kharkov AND the Donbass. Manstein was an abysmal strategist. He didn't have a clear idea of what was the situation on the southern font. He was just a good tactician focused on a limited field. The fact that in Stalingrad he was unable to prevent the collapse of the Don front says it all.
@@lucasdamotta2931 read my post. Manstein was an abysmal strategist. He did not understand the front after Uranus. May I remind you that Paulus asked his superior Manstein many times the order to retreat ? Manstein did not reply. Guderian and Von Rundstedt were far more courageous in 1941 in desobeying Hitler's orders. Furthermore, the retreat of Paulus would only have saved the tiny remnant of the VIth. But Manstein preferred his career to thousands of German lives. And the stupidity of Thunderstorm reveals a carrierist and a poor strategist, like in Kursk later.
Didn't Manstein convicted Hitler that the 6th army surrounded in Stalingrad shouldn't make an attempt to break out when he Manstein launched his relief attack operation Winterstorm? Well it's highly unlikely that the 6th army would've made it out regardless if they supported Manstein's attack. But it shows that Manstein had blundered before. Besides wasn't the success of the Kharkov offensive super exaggerated? Some Historians made it seem like Manstein was up against a soviet force 8 times larger when in fact is more like 2 to one since soviet divisions where much smaller then German ones. Then you have the battle of Kursk where it was clear that the Germans have failed to achieve their objective of encircling red army units around Kursk as heer units where exhausted and units where needed in Italy due to allied landings in southern Italy. Mainstein tried everything to convince Hitler to keep up the Kursk offensive when it was quite clear the battle was over.
he didnt resurrect anything, he just stabilized - i say germany were doomed when barbarossa failed - the fighting armies were just too big to make this a clear , fast process. Manstein was still one of the best ever in his field.
Spoiler alert, he didnt. It was all downhill and retreat after stalingrad until the total self destruction of all of germany. They even sent 10 year olds to die for Hitler.
@@rickglorie Military man know how capable their army is and how to achieve their goals. If you have a psycho, megalomaniac in chief this is the result. Without opening simultaneously all fronts they had the war could've been ended differently.
@@richardsmyth305 I had to view it at .25 speed & freeze frame. Looks like a later model called ‘long nose’ There’s a full video of it somewhere The Luftwaffe put great expectations on it but in the end it proved disappointing. The young pilots in the later part of the war, their courage not in cause, were not always able to make the most of their new machines.
Germany thankfully lost but they did few mistakes. 1 was underestimating the Russians . In 1941 , the red army had way better technology and tanks. The t-34 90mm armor couldn't get penetrated by any german guns. They used captured soviet 76mm guns to fight them. Their panzer were totally outgunned and out armored. They still held the advantage thanks to their organisation. If stalin didn't purge the soviet command before the war. The operation barbarossa would be a huge FLOP. And berlin would be breached by 1942 or 1943
It was from june 1942 that Germany produced firepower who can rival soviet. But lack of fuel , and the russian war machine being 5 times more active, made it unfavorable for any german victory. In 1943 german production aimed toward quality over quantity and they produced the Tiger/panther. The first year inferior technology is what messed them up
