The more I learn of Canadian contributions during ww2,the more my respect for them increases exponentially ! Drive on brothers! Heartfelt gratitude from Texas.
@@geoffhunter7704 Thanks. I didn't mean to include everyone, just to point out that while Great Britain, Russia, and The U.S. were the primary contributors, the Canadians and Aussies did great things, too. There were many other nations' soldiers who fought with incredible valor and effectiveness. It truly was a WORLD War.
@@pickleballer1729 Certainly Kevin the first world war was against Bonaparte Europe,Sth America Africa and India were involved but WW2 was the most horrific of them all,while we lost nobody in WW1 our family lost 7 souls and 11 wounded in WW2.
There's a book (it's an older book), called 'Slaves of the son of heaven' written by RH Whitecross, an Aussie who was a prisoner of war captured by the Japanese. It's difficult to read for the atrocities they went thru. These stats will give you an idea of the number of men that died while captured. All Aussie enlistments except POWs of Japan was 967,494, total deaths 29,999 = 3.1% death rate. All Aussies captured by the Japanese 22,176 total deaths 7,829 = 35.3% death rate. All those men and let's not forget the women who went to war deserve our eternal gratitude.
Thank you, my dad served with 4th canadian armored division, never talked much about his experience but I mentioned I wanted to sign up and he was adamant that he served enough for the both of us.
Hi there! My Grandfather fought in the Netherlands after France and Belgium, and then onto Germany. He was a Sapper. He made it home after 4 years, had two great daughters. Cheers from Halifax, Nova Scotia friend! :)
I experienced your generosity and gratitude first hand. I was moved to tears to feel the love for Canadians soldiers and visiting citizens 50 years after the war!
Thank you. Your kind words are heartwarming. Let it be known that we who know history have the same upmost respect for the American fighting men. Politics be damned, we have have fought and died side by side.
Growing up on a Canadian Air Force base in Northern France in the late 50’s, we kids would find all kinds of interesting stuff. 50 Calibre shells and bullets all over the place. The wing of a plane sticking out of the ground, with a Maltese Cross on it. Other bits of planes. Helmets everywhere. Rotting ammo boxes. A friend and I found a jerry potato masher grenade once. We knew you were supposed to throw it so we tried that. Didn’t work thank God. I was 7 years old ffs. 139,000 Air Crew, including 49,000 pilots (my father was one of them), were trained in Canada during WW2. Canada had the world’s 3rd largest navy by the war’s end. Our army fought with distinction in Italy, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, not to mention in most of the pubs in Britain. So…yeah, we did our bit. And then some.
We were the allied forces shocktroopers in both wars. I think the reason we don't have equipment of our own is the Americans were scared we'd come and give them free Healthcare smd better education lol. If there was ever another war, pretty sure America wouldn't even charge us for equipment. They'd just arm us and let us work 😎
My father served in a Sherman tank in WW2. He said the battle for the Schelt Estuary and the Hochwald Forest was some of the worst he experienced in the war.
Well, be happy that he doesnt had to fight at the eastern German front. All what happened on the western front was like holidays in relationship to Stalingrad and Co. A lot of people on the German West front were grandfathers and children. The best German divions died in Russia. The Russians won the war for you. America invaded when Germany was already defeated.
@@philippkoch662 “ Russians won the war for you “ that’s nonsense. Matter of fact as best divisions go the 2nd das reich waffen SS division was sent to western front along with 45 other divisions. You seem to forget it was allied bombing that crippled Germany’s ability to make more war weapons etc . Not to mention the allied were feeding Russia materials and equipment since 1942 without western front Russia would’ve lost .
@@austinmartin5446 Ohja. You send weapons. While 500.000 Americans died in the whole war (Japan war included) the Russians lost more then 20 million men. In other words, 40 Russians died when one American died. America didnt want to open a second front and Stalin was furious about it. They started the second front when Germany was already blooded out. No matter that Germany could have taken Russia, with or without American supplies. I guess then 30 or 40 Million Russians would have died. Dont let you fool by all the Hollywood movies. War was decided at the eastern front. Most German casualities were at the eastern front.
@@austinmartin5446 To the other points, best divions were in Russia. Along with the armored 6 Tank division dieing in Stalingrad. The allied bombing achieved not as much as you had hoped for. Most war factories were simply put underground. Germany is full of tunnels and mines and therefore it was absolutely no problem to produce tanks and planes under ground. Allied troops were astonished when they saw the Germans were able to produce until 1945. Bombing cities achieved little to nothing except of sometimes force a surrender (Warshaw, Rotterdam). But it never worked when the enemy had some slight chance of winning (Dresden, London). I would never speak bad of American soldiers. But the American war strategy was simply let other win the war for you and do as much as you have to do so that the Germans didnt win.
@@philippkoch662 I agree with you Phillip. The war on the Eastern front was 10 times as bloody as the Western front. Russia paid the highest price for victory in that war. I have great respect for the Russian people. I wished that we could work together better and trust each other more.
It's sad, no downright pathetic, that in history classes in Canada, there is no mention of this battle. We hear about Dieppe, D-Day, Hong Kong, The Italian Campaign and the liberation of the Netherlands. I'm 54 years old, from a military family, and briefly served in the military myself, and this is the first I've ever heard of this battle.
The Canadians dont get enough credit. For a smaller fighter force, they more than make up for that in their bravery. We are proud to have them as neighbors and allies thru so many wars.
I agree however they were anything but small, they were one of the largest powers involved in WW1 & 2 they had a force of over a million in WW2 bulk of them in the Army and ended up with the 4th largest Air force & 5 th largest navy at the end of the war the were pivotal in the Italian theatre and had their own beach to take in D-Day they opened the door to Rome in time for the original date proposed for D-Day (then the US had to be the ones to roll into Rome)
Yeah, the infantry had a role in this too. Would have been good to give them a mention. The regiment from my home town took major casualties in this battle.
@@TommyEgg-wp8is 4th canadian armoured division also contained infantry regiments, the Algonquin Regiment, for example, would have fought alongside the 4th armoured throughout the war up through the coast of the Netherlands and through the Hochwald gap. This is part of the problem with Canadian representation and recognition in WWII. Popular history waters down our contributions to "British" far too often.
T. Garry Gould of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers was badly wounded there, at the Hochwald Gap, but recovered and lived to the age of 93. He was a tank commander, leading young men (18-19-year-olds) from Normandy to Holland to Germany, fighting the Nazis until they knocked him out at the Gap. (He was only 23 or 24.) He told me a few stories that aren't in any books or videos. My favorite was about his crew meeting some pretty girls in a town in the Netherlands, but they didn't even get to first base because of a German counter-attack. Those guys saw some horrible things and risked their lives day after day. We owe them a lot of respect and gratitude.
I live near Xanten as a matter of fact many parts of the surrounding forest are still closed because of old ammunition from that battle hidden in the soil and trees.
🇨🇦Fellow Canadians love our “good” history but we’re always missed, thank you for making this! as a 🇨🇦Canadian I learned lots! 🇨🇦🤘We don’t learn about this in school.
I am an old Marine age 77 and I have gotten the word from young marines the current Canadian Army is very professional and effective. That's high praise from the guys in the Corps. They said ditto for the English and the Aussies. 👍👍
God bless the proud Canadians and all th fallen. Respect. This is historical, informative and is highly recommended for anyone who wishes to research the 2nd World War, thank you. May I also suggest that the volume muffles out a lot of what is said and I think the most important thing is to hear the voice of the veterans, loud and clear because they are the Heroes who were there, I bow.
This doc is very special to me. I have lived my intire live in this area and I do know that region very well. As a child we still coud see all the trenches and where warned about ammonition, bombs and granades in claases at school. The last evacuation in a city near by was just a few weeks ago 2021. The britisch graveyard for those soldiers are not further than 5 to 6 miles from where I live today. The white forest. Some of the tanks where later brought to a place for restauration and than to Overloon war museum. (- >Wiki) When building my house we found 3 unexploded 925 mm canadian artillry granades. Absolutly normal for my town.
Here in the USA one's supposed to phone call a utilities number to have them determine that there's no phone, electric, water and gas utilities before doing any excavation (digging). I'm wondering if there's such a service in Germany and for other European countries to check for buried unexploded ordinances from the World Wars Side note; Britain's Princess Diana's (RIP) biggest cause was to rid the world of unexploded mines.
@@captainjack8823 I grew up in that same region (born in Aachen, raised in Jülich). We have similar precautions for excavations. And thankfully the RAF documented their missions carefully. But it is impossible to keep track on every small battle. There were just to many... And let's not forget, you will find remains of every war in the 2,000 years in that area if you dig in your garden. The romans (Jülich was a roman fort called castrum iuliacum), the dark ages, the middle ages, the Thirty Year's War, the spanish occupation, the french occupation - you name it. In 1994 I had the privilege to meeting an US veteran from that war. As a kid I used to play in the ruins of a fortress from Napoleon's wars, in which he was hiding from the german artillery in 1944. A brave man, who volunteered to liberate my home country from the evil.
The 17 pounder was the gun the US army turned down for their Sherman's, although it was an excellent anti-tank gun. I worked with an old guy who was with the field artillery attached to the Canadian tankers during this time, he told me how their 17 pounders punched through the German armour.
@@duncanidaho2097 also Political powers behind this. The Us already had a production going on of Sherman's with the 76 M1 Gun, 250 had been shipped to the U.K prior before the D-Day landings, and were hastenly rushed to the front lines in December 1944. the M1 also is a Slighty better gun on average.
Its always government beauracracy and the desire to save a few pennies that is always the cause for our troops in having inferior weaponary and equipment. The bigger guns would have saved alot of American and Canadian lives. Shame on the US government by sending our troops to slaughterz
@@WIRobin American tanks at that time were designed and built to fight other tanks. If your a tank, and your supporting the infantry, your likely to run into enemy tanks. The Americans weren’t so stupid as to believe that their tanks wouldn’t need a gun capable of killing enemy tanks. The us m4 crews, up till late ‘44, preferred the 75mm over the much more powerful 76mm. It’s HE around had a larger explosive payload then the 76mm, and was capable of a superior rate of fire. Considering that the average M4 was fighting infantry , fortified positions, and inferior AFVs (panzer 4s, stugs, half tracks, armored cars), this made sense at the time. It wasn’t till they kept running into panthers and king tigers that they started to complain about the 75mm. The Sherman wasn’t perfect, but NO tank is perfect. The panther, for example, was less reliable, harder to maintain, and had lower survival rates then the Sherman. There’s a good reason the German transmissions are a running joke in the online ww2 history community. The panther might be more lethal, but if you can only get half your forces to the front, you might as well not have the other half.
The audio is out of balance. One track is louder than the other. This happens often on this channel. Not sure why this is difficult to notice if it is being monitored properly. Makes the otherwise great content harder to follow.
This is a video from the greatest tank battles battle for the hochwald gap posted by a different channel who if you have seen the series posted on that channel you will realize that they had bad audio almost for every greatest tank battle video. I have already seen all of them so its disappointing when i think there is a new video i could watch but its just timeline posting a video taken from the channel ive already seen with bad audio.
Excellent video- just one small correction: I knew his wife well and Gen. Simonds was an English Canadian and so his given name was pronounced “Guy” - rhymes with “high” or “pie” and his middle name was Granville. While I never met him, he was by all accounts, a pretty ferocious soldier.
I didn't see many flying shells. (I do remember a few, but no sparks) What I remember is the sudden "whish-boom!' of incoming 88's. (currently 97 yrs old)
@@edgarvalderrama1143 It's because of men like you many of us are able to live the free and comfortable lives we do. Makes me immensely proud of the land I call home! 🍁
Canada punched above its weight for this war. By the end of it it had the world's third-largest navy and a 10th of Canada's population was in the military.
All three of my Canadian great grandfather's served in the second world war, the fourth was Scottish. Needless to say, I'm proud of my family history, as should any Canadian.
The Firefly was Canada’s work horse. Even Tigers got cautious when they saw those in formations, let alone in Canadian lines. Used properly, a Firefly could 1v1 a tiger with a coin flip victory. Worst case they killed each other.
@@lyndoncmp5751 That is true, but that's like saying a Mauser K98 is superior to an M1 Garand. Different usage and purpose. Edit* I read that wrong and thought you said "*A* long range Tiger was superior." Yes they had better range overall.
@@LtMadden2 Case in point was the destruction of the Canadian 28th Armoured Regiment at Estrees la Campagne on 9th August 1944 during Operation Totalize. The Canadians lost 44 Shermans including Fireflies, the vast majority of them to the long range (1,000 metres plus) sniping of a small number of Tigers that came out of Quesnay Woods. Not a single Tiger was lost. They remained out of range and picked the Shermans off one by one.
I wonder if the one and only Holy Roller was there. The Holy Roller is a Sherman that landed on D-Day and fought all across Europe. It’s now the he only surviving WW2 veteran in London Canada. The Holy Roller sits on a plinth in Victoria Park. The old baby was recently restored, and looks great!
This upload is fairly recent. I originally watched it several years ago. I enjoyed hearing from the veterans in this series. I wonder how many are still left.
My Grandfather took part in this, as best I know. He passed before I was born (in 1983, not during the war) so I don't have first hand stories, but he was with the right units from his records.
Thank you Canada,Australia,NZ,South Africa,India and other nations for coming to the aid of the UK in WW1 and 2,the 17 pounder was the supreme Allied Tank killer weapon from 1942 TO 1948 capable of destroying Tigers and Panthers and from 8/1944 with discarding sabot or shoe penetrating 10.5" of armour,it was replaced by the 20 pounder 84mm with a slightly better performance this gun was replaced by the 105mm tank gun which was the worlds best tank killer till replaced by the 120mm L11A1 which still today holds the world record in destroying a battle tank at 2.1 miles.
Lol um the countries listed all part of the commonwealth then and some under direct control Ike India. Lol can't exactly say we came to their aid as it was by will when it was required lol
@@terryarmbruster9719 Canada was given Self Governing Status in 1867,AU and NZ in 1900 and South Africa in 1902,India and Ceylon in 1947 and most African nations in the 1950s and 60's so you are partly correct re WW2.
@@danbray1824 Canadians are not "Colonials" they are a wonderful Patriotic People of great Renown and Resilience let down as the UK by low quality politicians and Mass Immigration!!!!
My grandfather died 2 weeks before the end of the war from wounds received in the Hochwald Gap. His name is Cpl. Frederick Woodward, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Before the war, he was a milkman in Toronto.
Yes, the M4 Sherman, tank on tank wasn't in the same class as the Panther and was hopelessly outclassed by the Tiger. But as Stalin was reported to have said about his vast amounts of Soviet war material, when compared to the better quality German material, "Quantity has a quality all of it's own". In battle, numbers count.
Yeah, but don't forget about Allied-Communist tankers burned and maimed in their inferior tanks. Okay, so there's a 6th Sherman, what if it was you sitting in the 5th? I hate this narrative, that it's the numbers that count. Soldiers' lives count, that's why tank has to have decent firepower and protection, and then we can talk about everything else. Of course Stalin said quantity has a quality of its own, like he would lose any sleep about 100 000 AFVs he lost in WW2.
1945, and really, motorized vehicles were still sort of new. Many of those young men had limited experience even being in a car, much less driving one, coming out of the Depression as they did. Yet they climb into a tank and commit their lives to the machine.
It is part of the evolving warfare, tanks appearing to support the infantry in trench warfare. They are supposed to protect the man from machine guns, mines, and barbed wire.
We say please and thank you but we hate bullies and we don't back down for any of them. My grandfather and two of his brothers served in WW1. One brother never made it home. My mother's uncles and my Dad's uncle served in WW2. Dad's uncle received many medals for the Italian campaign. My Dad served in the Korean War. My first-cousin served in Canadian peacekeeping corps.
A can’t help getting emotional about this battle, the colossal loss of lives suffered by the Canadian forces makes me very morose and angry, it seems to me that the Canadian and allied top brass had a case of pushonitis, they were just ordering men into an almost guaranteed death situation, and they didn’t seem to have the ability to change tactics, they knew that the Sherman tanks couldn’t survive an encounter with the Panther, Tiger, King Tiger or 88mm anti tank guns, yes they had the overwhelming numerical men and machines, but if you just keep throwing it at the Germans then that erodes that advantage down to nothing. RIP all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for us, Lest We Forget.
Min 2:50 is wrong, there was never a Bridge over the Rhine in Xanten. The only existing bridge over the Rhine in Xanten was build by the allied troops. The brige over the Rhine was in Wesel
First time watching this series GTB. Right off got to say these Canadians, heroes all. Their courage is just amazing and damn glad they were on our side. At the same time feel I have to comment on this battle. Though they get my respect no question, but still, watching this portrayal is heart wrenching. I mean maybe it is how they're presenting it, but seems there has to come a point where after taking such a battering with so many losses it would have been entirely reasonable and highly recommended to abandon the field. I mean come on, what about living: Living to fight another day. Like I said maybe it's in the way the producers are telling it, but this is solely reminiscent of Tennyson's, Light Brigade. All the survivors received the VC right!?!
Fusiliers Mont-Royal. That’s the infantry unit that participated in that battle. It still exist in the Canadian army Reserve. I was the RSM a couples of year ago.
Hopefully not to be forgotten by Canadian sons and daughters. My dad was RCAF, survived the war, but his nephew, 20yr old RCAF PO, AE West of Vancouver BC, did not. Canadian freedoms are being given up lightly, that were paid for so dearly by our forefathers. They are gone now, and the cycle begins again.
Jabo's the bain have read where those rockets equaled 8 inch naval guns. Any way you stretch it those battles tried men and the ones lucky enough to walk away from it in the end made us all better. Salute. 🎖
There’s something wrong with the sound making the battle sounds drown out the voices. While I realize the explosions are fun, it’s more important to hear what the soldiers had to say, especially those of the brave Canadians!
Yeah, I want to watch this but the music and sound effects are just too loud. The stories these guys have to tell are more than enough to hold our attention, we don't need all the MTV window dressing.
What was over engineered about Panzer IIIs, IVs, Stugs etc? Germany already started losing the war when these AFVs were what they mostly had. They didnt lose the war due to over engineered Tigers and Panthers etc. No Tigers and Panthers at Stalingrad and El Alamein. Just saying.
Blind Nationalism and racism leads to poor planning and over confidence. Add a crazy Dictator with delusions of grandeur, who no one could give bad news too, doomed Germany from the start. Almost same story with Japan, maybe even worse.
Like so many modern productions, the sound effects (do we really need a pop-up noise for everything?) and ADHD shifting of visuals totally gets in the way of trying to hear a story. Wanted to learn about this battle, but gave up.
@@brustar5152 Where was he born? Dunkirk (Fr. spelling Dunkerque) The production team and scouting locations were chosen before Nolan and Thomas solicited Warner Bros. Pictures to make the film.[17] wiki How much did it cost to make Bomb Girls?
They also often had the greatest level of artillery support, in both wars in fact. That helped greatly. But yes very good troops, as good as any others.
Amazing Video of Topical tanks Battel of that times . Shared by Excellent Historical Channel...Through looking at Isolated Map of this Operation (Block Buster) Far From whole allies Armies Mobilizing. (Operation showing Bravery Movement ( as Sacrifices status)to wards Evil Mouth & beyond its Teethes For separating enemy attention
I'm glad to see some Canadian battles and the stories behind them. I understand that America has a bigger presence, but they seem to be the only ones covered most of the time. So thanks for shining a light on our boys here in the north.
The reality is... that the Germans deserved everything they got, all of it. As a regime they were monsters that we can't even imagine in modern life. Absolute monsters, as a regime, perhaps not the individual soldier.
Why did the Canadian commander fail to order air support behind a second rolling artillery barrage, once German panzers made their appearance? Yes, the weather was adverse, but Typhoons have flown in worse weather, and the Shermans were no match for what faced them. As if that were not enough, the final Allied ground attack was at night, when no air or effective artillery support was possible. What was Gen. Simmons thinking? Even worse, to order a tank column into the Hochwald gap was to set up a shooting gallery.for every German gun which could bear-- even Panzerfausts. All the brave Canadian tankers understood immediately what they faced. All this suggests Simmons suffered a poor understanding of the terrain ahead, and did not make the most of his air and artillery assets in support of troops and armor. The high number of Hochwald casualties recalls the British commander in the Battle of the Somme who sent Tommies to march against entrenched German machine guns. Some 20,000 were killed, and his response was to "press on".
@@westpointsnell4167 Canadian commander Simmons could be criticized, but not for boldness, but for appalling tactical incompetence. Patton's "boldness" is not a synonym for tactical brilliance-- such boldness invites needless casualties, recalling Custer and the US Seventh Cavalry. Both praise and criticism have been fired at Patton. Probably, he did not care in the slightest-- Patton was in it for personal glory, and was the egocentric American version of Montgomery.
Those old timers are so freaking calm, and matter-of-fact about the whole thing. Dignified men. They're a breed apart from the loud mouth, aggressive buffoons we see too often today.
I wish producers would drop the 90s History Channel motif. Dial back the dramatic orchestral scores, let the footage play longer before cutting to another snippet. Who are they making this for?
By this time the Germans had No air force to speak of, WTH didn't they brought the Allied air force to deal with the German tanks n artillery? Why sacrifice so many Canadians?
They did for 2 month. Didn't worked. The area outside of the towns where so muddy that the bombs didn't detonated in many cases. As well as the granades. The villages where destroyed about to 80 an 98%. Monty complained once that the destruction of the towns had cost him more men and time than undestroyed.
@@Yulo2000Leyje Sadly this is war Not right Not moral but its the unfortunate thing that happens in wars, lets hope it never happens again on this scale ever time to make wars Illegal
If I was in charge the entire area would have been depopulated. And I wouldn't have stopped there. What these animals did no mercy should have been given.
Maybe you should think about lowering the volume on the background noise and music because I can't even hear people talk and I have to find another video