The Captain (2017) - A historically inaccurate gem (I) 

Yea haha 😂 wtf was that like

its a tranlated german lullaby. In german ist schlaf kindlein schlaf, dein vater ist ein schaf. In german, it rhymes, in english it doesnt

Glad to hear it was helpful!

How can people even believe Wermacht being not a bunch of war criminals, when they were the ones that did most of the atrocities during operation Barbarossa?

​@@hebanker3372Nazis say everything to protect the nazis

@@hebanker3372Put most simply, because there were people who were ready to believe it, or possibly, more accurately, to look the other way in the name of political expediency, Cold War necessity, and / or national consolation / self-pity. And I apologize for such a brief precis of what is a big subject.

Is this a different narrator from the Lena Heydrich video ?

No, it’s still me.

Read any book...I shall listen.. You sound, a little different... Perhaps evolution in your creative process, but both very...very...good 😁💛😁

Freitag provides a summary of his military record for his trial, but does not mention anything about the tanks. It could be that he exaggerated his accomplishments, but it is clear that he was an experienced soldier. Here is what his trial documents say about his service: "He was drafted into the Wehrmacht on the 4th of December 1941, and was trained as an infantryman until February 1942. He was then sent to the Eastern Front, where he served almost continuously until the end of May 1944. During this time he suffered four minor wounds, which did not require him to be transferred to the home front. In May 1944 he suffered a bullet through the thigh. Having recovered from this wound in August 1944, he voluntarily enlisted in the paratroopers to avoid joining the Einsatzgruppen. In consideration of his front-line experience - he had been awarded the Iron Cross II, the Infantry Assault Badge, the Close Combat Clasp, and the Silver Wounded Badge - he was transferred to the Western Front in September 1944 after a short stay with the Paratrooper Replacement Group in Gardelegen. He joined the 21 Parachute Regiment in Holland, got into the regimental assault squad and took part in its operations. In early February 1945 he was wounded in the head, without any permanent harm to the skull. Until the middle of March he was with the unit's detachment. Then he was reassigned to the front. At the end of March 1945, after the English attack on Gronau, he lost contact with his troop." There he had the great misfortune of meeting Herold. Freitag had about three and a half years of war under his belt, far more than Herold, and was an experienced, if not particularly bright soldier.

@@ivodora Thank you so much for your reply. His military record is really interesting. What I just don't get: Normandy isn't mentoined at all. His first appearance at the Western Front in this schedule was Holland, in September 44, obviously Operation Market Garden. When you look at the medals he received, it doesn't sound like he has actualy destroyed so many tanks. Anyways, he has definetely been through a lot and was experienced in battle.

@@AkronAsylum Him getting the Iron Cross makes me think he could have had something to do with destroying some tanks, as it was a common reward for this kind of action, but the whole thing is difficult to prove. Perhaps he was inflating his numbers. Perhaps he was part of a larger team who achieved this and is refusing to acknowledge his comrades. Perhaps he really was sent to Normandy at one point and did not go into detail for some reason. Perhaps he’s a liar in the end.

Hello again! Yes, I decided that it would be more productive to make my own videos about the Herold case.

@@ivodora Well, I'm very glad that you did! Can't wait for more; I just started the real biography videos.

But “Generation War” wasn’t based on someone’s experiences or a real person like “The Captain”. It was about fictional characters. ALL of the characters were invented and the fact you think that they weren’t shows me how disingenuous it really was.

@@toomuchinformation I think you should check again, one character was fictionalised, according to the credits.

@@minirock000 Which character was that? And what did the credits say?

@@toomuchinformation The singer. Episode four tells the story about them.

@@toomuchinformation It seems I need to correct myself and also find out what you find disingenuous about my post. I am not going to repeat myself, in my OP I said who the fictitious character was, so what do you find so disingenuous? My account of military life and the actions of what might have happened? I can tell you that if you confronted me with your confrontational attitude we would frag you as well. You internet children are the least scariest of all known threats. You want to know what the show is about? Watch it yourself! I guarantee you no matter how good of a light that a Nazi is shown, in any movie or documentary they are still vile scumbags. I love the American Apollo missions and the preceding missions to get to Luna but I think we "sinned" in letting the Nazi that got us there live beyond what should have been a trial and his death sentence. To think that anyone that fought for Nazi Germany has any respect due them is false and as you say disingenuous gratitude. Either that or they are a Nazi-loving pile of garbage.

It‘s not a prop error on the part of the film, if that is what you meant - the real Herold did wear a Narvik Shield on his stolen uniform. He looked young, but kept telling people he was 25 instead of his real age, 19. The rumors swirling around him, mostly propagated by his own band, was that he was a young, brilliant genius who earned all those medals at a young age. People bought it.

@@ivodora That Navik unit was 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring It is most likely assumed the uniform would be black (not Luftwaffe blue) with skull collar insignia that looked very similar to SS regalia. But the skulls were on light blue collar boards. Thus the ruse wavery easy to get past on the unsuspecting. Cuff title also is lighter blue than expected (still looking it up). The original owner of the abandoned uniform almost could be identified as only 2,161 won that award. Only issue is the F-PDHG was in Silesia at the end of the war. So that adds variables as the original owner was on leave and fled, transferred to another LW unit in northern Germany. It would not be that hard to track down the officers who won the Navik award probably 2 or 3 dozen.

You‘re right, it probably wouldn’t be impossible to come close to the identity of the Captain who owned the uniform, especially since he had also been awarded the Iron Cross and the Creta band. This medal configuration and the location of the chest where his uniform was (allegedly) found by Herold would help narrow down his identity.

@@ivodora I would assume the original owner of the uniform was with the 6.. Fallschirmjäger-Divisions (17th or 18th Fallschirmjäger Regiments,) east of the Netherlands in the Klevar Reichwald battles Feb / March 1945. Plus the highly equipped/trained 2nd Parachute Regiment was in the immediate area attached to the 84th Inf Div (A aufstellungswelle division)., The uniform was discovered in a destroyed convoy between the town of Gronau and the county of Bentheim as you say probably late March probably from their retreat. So this is not impossible to track down the identity of the original owner if not already done so. Willi had the FJ knowledge to bluff his way along the trek to infamy.

You're missing an integral theme from the movie then. If you notice, throughout the film, everyone suspects that Herold isn't who he claim he is. Kipinski was the first to realize he was an imposter by noticing the ill-fitting pants. Junker is also very suspicious and later involves Schutte in the game of pretend. With the exceptions of Freytag and Kaufmann, all the characters are disingenuous and they show it through their behaviours. They all roll with Herold's stunt because a)they don't care(they are preoccupied with their survival in the war), b)they are afraid of the possibility he is legitimate and they'll suffer repercussions for doubting a Hitler's official, c) they view it as an opportunity to throw off themselves, and on to Herold, any responsibilities of crimes they might be charged with after the war. It's not that they really believe Herold is an actual captain, but that they're too busy looking after their sorry arses to care to check him. Brutal selfishness is one of the film's themes. While you look at the technicalities, like the uniform and those who wore it, you're missing the artistic side of it all.

I made this review mainly because I saw that many of the pre-existing videos on RU-vid about the Herold case, videos which aimed at historical accuracy, took the film as a reliable source of information. My efforts were a response to that. And thank you!

@@ivodora I see. In that case, very good. If you said that in the video and I missed it, I apologize. This event has enthralled me. I can’t believe more attention has never been given to it.

Freitag was captured later. He was lucky because at that time, the British were done with the war crimes trials and so he was judged by a German court and sentenced to eight years in prison. He came out after serving his time, headed home and died sometimes in the late 80s, possibly 1989.

Probably spelling it wrong

I‘m not entirely sure what part of the video you are referencing.

@@ivodoraat 1:09

@@seanmatto2258 Aah, I see. The man pursuing Herold has the rank of a Captain and his men are "Feldgendarmen" aka the military police. They are all part of the Wehrmacht.

They aren't but considering how fascinating the real life story is, I wonder why moviemakers feel the need to make up situations or change them. The story of the real Willi Herold is much more interesting than the movie's portrayal of him.

A Gefreiter was a Lance Corporal. An Obergefreiter was a Corporal. The lowest rank in the Luftwaffe was Flieger. When did I claim that a Gefreiter is a Corporal?

Do some research