Last King Tiger Attack West - March 1945 

Any time you hear "troops from the Eastern Front", you know these men aren't playing games. They cut their teeth in some of the fiercest combat seen anywhere in Europe and were very experienced. Combine that with the practically impervious frontal armor of the Tiger II and it's enormous gun and you have a nightmare scenario if you're in a Sherman.

You'd think with all the ww2 content out there, it would be all but impossible to produce new stories. Mark, however, continues to provide unique and fascinating stories that I've never heard about. Amazing stuff, keep up the great work, Mark!

I was based in Paderborn for many years. Had a battlefield tour of all the key locations in the area and stood at the location of General Rose's demise. A fascinating story...

Running into a King tiger battalion that late in the war must have quite a shock to those American troops. Brave men.

I'm from Paderborn and I never heard anything about this battle until I stumbled across another history channel here on RU-vid just recently after 40 years...

You know it's a great day when an episode drops!!!

Ive been watching mark Felton documentaries for a while now but this one seems to be different its as if mark has transformed his historical narrative into a suspense film...you can definitely feel it in this one

March '45 and this happened. What a waste of lives.

The videos about unknown battles are your best !

Love the use of a RC Tiger 2 for some of the clips!

Americans yelled "Tiger" when they encountered any German tank. This time they encountered actual Tigers and yelled "American tanks!"

The best of days to youtube, is when there is a completly fresh video from Mark Felton!

WOW!!! Mark, if General Rose had his hands up he most likely would have survived the incident. How a series of fatal mistakes took his life at the war's end.

My Saturday afternoon is complete! Cheers, Mark!

This is classic Mark Felton content right here and we love it

... just bone chilling history... on a side note, I'm an officer in the merchant fleet 🇱🇺 and have had a grand uncle who also was. Although he was nautical/navigational as where I'm engineer/nautical. He was torpedoed near Murmansk while transporting goods to Russia for the lend lease program. Sad story ship sank beneath the waves, many good man perished, but Wim (my grand uncle) survived. He lived on to tell me about the horrors of war, about dead comrades floating near you. We've should have learned, the things we still see today are in my not so humble opinion exactly the same as this tank battle or any other conflict anywhere. PEACE

I was aware of General Rose's fate, but this story fills in so much more details. A most interesting and fascinating video! Thank you Dr. Felton! And to die within weeks of the wars end, that blows chunks! 😥

I always feel extra sorry for those who lost their lives in early 1945. Imagine getting so far and also being so close to reaching the end of the war only to snuff it with a month or so left...😪

Again a gripping well researched story about a coragious US general who had the bad luck of running into an experienced well led German force making a lat point before being overwhelemd by superior forces.

My Grandfather served in the 3rd Armored Division and he thought the world of General Rose. Ironically, my maternal Grandmother's maiden name was Koltermann.

A whole lotta babies have been born at Rose Medical Center here in Denver CO. I think thats a great tribute to Maj Gen Rose. Eisenhower even was at the groundbreaking ceremony.

General Rose's helmet used to be in the Third Armored Division's museum in Frankfurt, West Germany. When I was 1st posted to the 3AD in the 80's, we had to go to the museum tour. I had heard that most of the museum was transferred to the Patton museum. Great content, sir! Keep up the good work!

9:37 - Law enforcement would call that a "furtive gesture".

Love Marks Videos better then TV shows and more info in them keep up great Videos man

Great Video! Thanks Mark!

Mark, Excellent coverage of the 3rd Armored Division's final push. My Dad was a Sherman Tank driver with 83rd Recon Battalion 3rd Armored Div. As a kid (and even now as an adult) i would read cover to cover the "Spearhead in Europe" book given to all the troops that were in the 3rd Armored during WW2. I knew the fate of General Rose but Mark your video gave details leading up to why his HQ detachment encountered the German tanks. General Rose was known and admired by his men because he "lead from the front" instead of hanging back at a safe distance.

Fine work, as always, Mr. Felton

That was the last real action led by Walter Model. He was still capable of doing some real damage.

Mark has such a high video output I’m starting to think that he made up a significant amount of WWII for RU-vid content and it actually ended in 1943.

Thank you, Mark, for creating such a clear picture of this.

My father was a sergeant of infantry in the 63rd Infantry Division well to the south under Patch’s 7th Army. His company was surrounded near Güdigen, Germany in March 1945. a Lieutenant in his division earned the Medal of Honor in April 1945. Many Germans fought to the bitter end and many Yanks had no mercy for their SS counterparts. The war was over except for the fanatics. No one wanted to be the last to die in a war already decided beyond any doubt. Makes one wonder if the Germans were later killed in revenge….. another great video by PhD Felton.

"The only way I have to keep them Tigers busy is to let them shoot holes in me." -- Oddball Rest easy Donald Sutherland

Mark, march 1945 rhur pocket is my favourite aspect of ww2 how they trapped Walther model etc I didn’t even know about king tigers. !!! Brilliant video again

Another Fantastic Felton Production

Love your narration 🤝

Never heard of this attack before. Super interesting. Sounds like a tactical masterpiece of the german tank battailion. Risky but very well executed.

Having a little fire going, made coffee, roasting some meat, dr.Felton drops an excellent vid again.. man .. Life is Good 👍

I’m late for the history lesson today. My punishment will be to watch, listen, and like the video. Greetings from Michigan, hope everyone is well.

Thanks Dr Felton, your videos are great.

Top quality content! 👌

Love your vids Mark!✨🙌🏼

Whoohoo. A lazy, sunny Saturday afternoon, kettle is boiling and Mark drops a new video. Life is good.😊

I am from Paderborn. My late Grandmother told me about this, because she was in that area at that time and saw those ad hoc units. (SS Brigade Westfalen) they where mostly put together at Sennelager, wich is just around the corner from here.

The reason war history is so fascinating is that nobody fighting knows when or how it will end.

Just bought a King Tiger model kit last week and even looking at a scaled down version, it's a monster. Can't imagine how terrifying it would have been to come up against one in actual combat!

Another fantastic video with unparalleled information and visual aids for references.

Hauptmann Wolfgang Koltermann was born in 1917 in Schönlanke (now Trzcianka, Poland) and died in 1994 aged 77 in Augsburg, Bavaria having survived the war as a highly decorated veteran. MG Maurice Rose was the only American armored division commander to be KIA during the war.

We have a hospital here in Denver that is named after general Rose .

Amazing content as usual Dr Felton! Keep the great videos coming! :)

Imagine how nerve wrecking it must had been for those 3rd Armoured boys who survived since Normandy months ago. Hoping to get out the war alive in the final days to then have that happen.

Another Mark Felton production about a battle I have never even heard of. Thanks again.

Thank you for another great video.

As a Pole who grew up elsewhere and only recently learning of my uncle who was forcibly conscripted into the German army at 19, I would love to learn more of the fate of these men and where they were sent, who they fought? My father was somewhat luckier, after being imprisoned by the Soviets he made it to fight in the British Army, across the Middle East and most notably, Monte Cassino. But the fate of the occupied conscripts is mostly a blank to me. As a postscript to an earlier post and a thanks to Dr. Felton for the ❤, my mother who rode out the occupation, celebrated her centenary. A metaphorical two fingers to the Nazis who tried several times, but never got her.

I love your videos on WW2 and trust you as a historian. Please keep up that high standrad. The details of your warstories is amazing. Thank you.

Love from Portugal

Many Thanks Dr.Felton, as always your outstanding content makes us very pleased.

Thank you for making my weekend ❤

My father was there in a 3rd armored M24 Chaffee and he always said the loss of Rose was devastating to them.

I did my AOBC at Knox. Was lucky to have spent a lot of time in the Patton Museum, plus I had access to its motorpool where it kept a lot of German armor that was being restored and not on exhibit. General Rose's helmet was there. Sad.

Thanks for another great presentation, Professor. And congrats - I am seeing the views climb as I watch - 14,124 in TWO hours since this upload!

General Rose was the highest ranking Allied officer to lose his life in combat in WW2.

There’s a very good book called “The Panzer Killers” about the 3rd armored and specifically Gen. Rose. It recounts this whole battle in greater detail and is a fascinating look into the working of the 3rd armored division and its officer corps.

I live in Etteln, the last headquarter of General Rose. The US armoured columns made good progress from Marburg but couldn't reach Paderborn in one day as scheduled. The one wich could have made it was stopped by the discovery of a champagne warehouse in Brilon. The group had to stop in a forest for the night. Richardson's column was stopped again by fierce resistence in the village of Borchen south of Paderborn which was called 'Bazooka-Town' by the US troops. In a house of an aunt of my father, a machine gunner team had it's post. When a Sherman showed up on the ridge of the opposing hill, they tickled the armoured vehicle. As a response, the tank fired back. The aunt reported that the whole place was so splattered with blood that it looked as if they had slaughtered a dozen of chickens. In Etteln, my hometown, the resistance against the Welborn was not so strong. The SS had ordered the civilians to erect barricades and taken position with panzerfaust etc. But the experienced US soldiers made quick work of those obstacles and shot down the houses where fire came from. In the village there was a second ambush which had to be cleared. They even had made a rapid ditch but one GI flanked them and eliminated them from behind. My father had seen a German soldier with a head wound holding a bandage before the battle. After the fight he had another head wound and his brain scattered all over the place. The civilians had to load all fallen Germans onto carts. An American jumped on one car, took a leather holster from one fallen German and kicked him. When he saw my father looking at him, he explained: "SS, SS!" My grandma always told me how they left their cellar that they had fled to. An US soldier shouted: 'Deutsche Soldaten raus! - German soldiers out!' He was shivering heavily fearing for his life. Four SS men had hidden into the cellar of one house. When they were ordered to leave, three got upstairs and were immeadiately shot. The last one changed to civil clothes, got spared and lived in the village for some months. The families had to gather in some houses to make room for the American soldiers. Those rough and hardened guys cut open all sofas to find valuables and especially alcohol but didn't find any in my grandma's house. Posts were erected to guard the headquarter when General Rose arrived. Then Rose got the message of the ambush on Welborn group. Welborne had tried to reach Paderborn by going through the woods via Eggeringhausen. But they were greeted by a column of enemy tanks in that village. So they evaded by turning west back into the woods and then to the street to the embattled Borchen. And there, another German tank group und Koltermann was guarding the street. This story is told in this video. It is interesting that the German tank gunners let commander Welborn pass. Maybe the column was so long that the Germans waited for the last tank to appear before they began shooting, usually the first and the last vehicle at first. Welborn escaped to Castle Hamborn and was not harmed because all the vehicles of his small head group were armoured. Rose who later tried the same escape route, was not so lucky since he only had jeeps. I often drive past the battlefield since the area near Hamborn is one of the best for hiking around Paderborn. I didn't know about the extent of the battle a few years ago. And it was not taught in school in my time. Today the landscape is pittoresque, lush and inviting. Hamborn is known for it's anthroposophical culture including biodynamic farming, boarding school and retirement homes. No signs of war exept an sign that prohibits the entrance for military personal and the 2022 memory stone for General Mayor Maurice Rose.

Glad there is no Warthunder Publicity in this Documentary. Calling Warthunder a "realistic Game" is doing a disservice to Dr.Felton`s serious work.

The Tigers did not get away completely unscathed, according to Col. Belton Cooper in his book Death Traps. At least one King Tiger was hit by a Sherman 76mm gun in the rear panel, setting fire to the crew compartment. At least one or two other Tigers were fired upon with white phosphorous shells; the German crews abandoned their tanks thinking they were on fire as the burning smoke seeped inside. Cooper also lamented that none of the new M-26 Pershings were with the trapped column. Still, a tragic battle for the 3rd Armored Division with the loss of it's very respected commander General Rose. The encounter very remeniscent of Villers-Bocage the previous summer in Normandy.

Thanks for bringing this battle to life Mark. I appreciate it. As I've mentioned before, both my uncle, and my father were sergeants. My uncle with the SS, and my father with Third Armored. I look forward to obtaining my fathers military record, thats not in question, but how to obtain my uncles record? I assume that I would need to contact todays German military in Berlin? But before I try that route, perhaps you, or one of your viewers, might be able to provide me with some direction in this matter? I would be filled with gratitude for such a kindness. (At least they both made it through the war alive and intact.) All the best!

An excellent video as always. I had thought they were down to the lesser sized tanks by then? This was extremely interesting, thanks. On a lighter note. I don't know how many times I've seen it in documentaries? But that scene with the soldier driving the jeep in the woods with the backend on fire has been used so much. You wonder if anyone is getting royalties for it. 😆

Thank you for the upload Mr. Felton

Another in a long line of fascinating stories, always told with great detail and balance

Love the model tanks ,being used here lol ,keep up the good history Info cheers

Respect ✊🏻

You jus made my day Mark! I love it when you drop a new one!

The RC King Tiger was a great addition to this episode. 👍

Thank you Dr Felton!

Watched a tiger 1 being transported south on a flatbed 18 wheeler last week on us highway 411..still impressive. King Tigers are even more impressive, and I saw one at the German army tank museum years ago

As usual, superb. Loved the footage, particuly of the King Tiger model, nicely done.

It must have taken some real grit to drive into battle in a Sherman knowing that, if you encountered a Tiger, King Tiger, Panther or Jagdpanther, your day was almost certainly going to be ruined.

That moving jeep on fire clip is probably the most overused WWII clips ever. lol

Best RU-vidr!!

I love the smaller stuff, The details…as it were… Thanks Mark!

6:22 Anyone noticed the „Ehrenblattspange des Heeres“ on this guys EKII ribbon?

Stunning research and presentation of a major armour battle. Worth the listen.

The fog of war.......Thank you Sir...... Shoe🇺🇸

I do a lot of paperwork for my job and I think I have ADHD and get distracted- these videos help me stay on task- something feels so natural about listening to wwii stuff and typing up reports

Maurice Rose was a damn good General, the Third Armoured Division gave as good as it got, The General just stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time, the fog of war at it's most basic.

Very much the case of they won the battle but lost the war . Thanks Mark Felton - always enjoy your videos. In which museum is the generals helmet?

Yes new vid

It's amazing just how many new and interesting tidbits of information Mark keeps bringing us! Excellent work!

My favorite channel!

Great storytelling! I had never heard of this battle and his retelling of the story was great. I was interrupted several times watching it, and each time I couldn't wait to get back to hear how it all ended. Thanks for making history come alive.

Stopping my day to watch this!!

Another part of history I had never heard before. Thanks again Mark for letting me know what really happened back then.

imagine driving through king tigers in the dark. spooky

There were a couple of soft cover books which covered this battle but hardly any information was available back in the late 1970's. From what I recall the troops were allegedly SS troops from the training facility. I am impressed by Dr. FELTON that the unit was the s.Pz.Abt. 507 of the German Army and the force assembled (14 Konigstiger and other AFV) inflicted all this damage. By March, most panzer divisions did not have this many operational tanks so this was one big engagement. Wow!

Like that smokey black & white footage of a toy remote control King Tiger

Great video as always Mark! Just goes to show that the Germans fought hard right until the very end, maximising any opportunity they had.

Just goes to show that even at five minutes to the end of the match ( or even less than five minutes), the germans could still throw a punch.

Another first-rate chapter in your work, Mark! Thank you!

9:40 maybe it was to grab his gun!

Marvelous work Dr. Felton