@@VitoFur I'm teasing. Different beauty. Only been to Germany once, and it was a coach tour so we only stopped in a couple of places. Munich (and we didn't really see it) and Nuremburg. Which is a lovely place.
Felton: Since you are working with Schleswig - here is a story for you. As the British rolled up thru Schleswig they came with lists of people, they knew they could trust - a whole group, who saw the Brits as liberators: The Danish-speaking minority north of the Eider. The British had started preparing lists of trustworthy Danes after D-day, when POWs from the Danish minority were released and started working with the Free Danes office in London. In the end, when the Briths rolled into a new town or village, they knew the names of the anti-nazis of the place. There are several stories about Danes who were being picked up by the brits and driven to the Mayors office and told to get to work. The best example being the Businessman Jacob Clausen Møller in Flensburg. Also interesting: The Danish minority had - and have - their own paper. On the eve of may 4th a woman entered the Offices of the paper and changed into a brit Uniform. Not long after the first British units rolled up - the woman was actually the liason from the Danish Resistance Movement - just think of the preparation involved in this.
I've read a lot of WWII history and I am so impressed that you can not only coalesce the multiple surrenders of the Nazi military and regime in an easily understandable manner, but also discover and reveal previously unknown episodes from this period. Thank you!
Many people don't understand why the Germans surrendered 3 times...? The First surrender was to Montgomery at Luneberg Heath... The Second surrender was to Eisenhower ( on behalf of the Western Allies )... The Third surrender was to Marshal Zhukov in Berlin ( on behalf of the Russians )...
Historian & investigative journalist. Respected author and video creator. You are truly living the dream, Dr. Felton. Your success is well earned and completely just. Your talent for understanding and then relaying history is unparalleled. An example of the best of what RU-vid can be. Thanks for another great vid.
so the flags and Baton was taken as museum artifacts on the 23 1945 and not stolen. I was wondering if you where going to do a episode on Donitz's surrender
The main reason we struggle with history in school, is that they make an entertaining subject incredibly boring. Any moment in history has fascinating (ref this video) or extremely funny stories, yet to this day they bore students out of their minds with dates of treaties and the like. Tell them the interesting & funny parts first, then they might see the reason for the treaty and remember the date easier. Therefore, I vote Mark Felton for Teacher of the Year.
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="17">0:17</a> I can just about imagine King Charles telling the good Doc directly “Yes of course, the archives are all yours, shout if you need snacks”
@@m420-nd1if No, no. This is just an example of the British penchant for formality - such as the byline “reproduced by the most gracious permission of Her Majesty the Queen” when a picture of some old painting is used in a book or magazine.
Formality? Is that like Donald Trump thinks everyone does, or should, speak to him as 'Sir'? I guess Trump thinks that the office of POTUS demands some formality, some gravitas, some respect - just like proper British (and Commonwealth) citizens think our Sovereign requires.
@@ClipgathererA penchant for formality? I guess you're not British then. The majority of British people (and many citizens of the Commonwealth) accord considerable respect to the monarch. Royal Archives are kept very private so, being allowed access to them is a considerable privilege - requiring respectful thanks. These aren't public records and the King doesn't accept Freedom of Information requests either, so Dr Felton has had to ask nicely. Anybody incapable of showing respect ain't gonna get to look at the King's private stuff.
Very much admire your dedication researching some of these lesser known cases. Also, the way all the info is distilled into these videos, it's truly impressive, as is always reflected by the praise in the comments. Many thanks, as always!
Mark the quality of your videos is unparalleled on RU-vid. Thank you so much for your hard work, accurate and outstanding historical research, and even handed presentation of history.
An enormous pleasure and privilege to be along for a free ride on Dr Feltons research and documentation of hitherto unkown or even ignored history. Thank you!
Another brilliant presentation - can't wait for the second episode! One comment - American soldiers had the reputation for hunting for keepsakes ("The English fight for the King, Russians fight for the motherland and Americans fight for souvenirs"), but this video clearly shows it wasn't only the yanks who were looking for keepsakes.
I have a WW2 German army compass that my dad got from his uncle, who liberated it from a German POW while he was a tank crewman in North Africa. He told me he had a bunch of other stuff as well, but he sold the rest of the stuff to cover college tuition when he was a young man.
My relatives all fought for their mates. They picked up stuff along their way back and forth across North Africa and during the hard slog up the Italian Peninsular. New Zealand troops were great collectors during the Italian campaign. My father called it "loot." Hence a collection of German paybooks, bivvy tent, pack, insignia, an Italian flick knife, two sets of 1943 Wehrmacht cutlery complete with the small unmentionable symbol, (probably the best cutlery set design ever.) The German belt complete with buckle was my favourite. It was used to strap me and my brothers in our boyhood years. My uncle even had some loot from North Africa -a small vial of Tunisian dirt! He probably paid for that. New Zealand museums are full of "looted" items -small recompense for our casualties fighting for European freedom thousands of miles from home. Some of our troops served the entire duration -Sept 1939 and as late as 1946. Too many never returned home.
Well, British soldiers seem to have been quite a pilfering and looting bunch of misfits. Just as even Wellington said in 1813: "The French system of conscription brings together a fair sample of all classes; ours is composed of the scum of the earth - the mere scum of the earth."
@@DanielKeller-sf4bw Hmhmm - solange es militärische Güter sind, ist die Aneignung durch den Siegel durchaus legal ("Trophäen"). Die Kanonen am Brandenburger Tor oder der Berliner Siegessäule sind ja auch französischen Ursprungs. Bei Privateigentum sieht es anders aus - da handelt es sich klar um eine illegale Aneignung in Form des Plünderns, Stehlens oder Raubens. Leider sind die Grenzen aber fließend, da sie oft davon abhängen, wer Sieger und Besiegter sind. Aber vielleicht sollte man eh in diesen Fragen zwischen "Moral" und "Recht" unterscheiden. Beides führt zu gravierend unterschiedlichen Positionen.
An extremely well documented and detailed account Mark. It’s impressive your an amazing historical artifact yourself delivering such fascinating information. It amazes me the lengths that the hierarchy go to omit history .. 👍
You always manage to come up with some of the most interesting mysteries ever because I've never even read about this in any book on world war II and now I understand why
Another great and interesting video, can’t imagine what it was like to handle a piece of history in Donitz’s baton, thanks Dr. Felton, looking forward to the next chapter.
Mark I've been here since you had just a couple thousand subscribers, let me tell you you are a legend you're teaching skills are the Gold standard. I'm so glad that you could get the truth out there!!
You are obviously very respected as an historian to be given the access to the many historical items and documents. We thank you for sharing this information with us.
“…..incurring the displeasure of none other, than the king himself” Brass band - “Blah-wah”. Ha ha 😂😂 <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1048">17:28</a>
As I have mentioned several times on this channel, as a native of Osnabrück (Lower Saxony), I can look back on a long history of post-war German-British friendship. In the chaotic days of the German defeats, marauding British soldiers also passed through my hometown. At that time, nothing was more worthless for the German civilians than flags and medals. It was about food, medicine and pure survival. My grandfather reported that they also wanted to steal our "Volksempfänger"-Radio. However, he had previously manipulated it in such a way that the radio seem to be "kaputt" (broken). So it remained with us 😀.Not so clever, Tommy! (Sorry for that😉)
Dr. Felton: As a long time history buff, I cannot express to you how amazed I have been by your recent examinations into the end of WWII, and the cover ups, thefts, corruption and general malfeasance of so many that history as taught in the 50's and 60's were held up as shining examples.......just incredible. Thank you and KUDOS sir!
Thank you for the exhaustive research. There is still so much information about the war still coming to light after all these years, much of it thanks to you
Another “banger” of a video by Dr. Felton bringing formerly unknown (to the general public) information to light. Thank you for your work, Dr. Felton! Can’t wait to see the rest of this series.
Outstanding story. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the next part. My old man served in the Cheshires in the 1950's as a national service man. Took part in Suez. When I was an RAF Chaplain in Northn Ireland I chatted with some Cheshires at Ballykelly. They told me of one of their number who broke into a supply room and was caught red handed. He was a scouser 😂 . I wonder where the looters were from?
'News of this robbery would seriously damage the image of the British Army' As if Operation Keelhaul handing 2,000,000 over to Stalin, including thousands of non-Soviets wasn't bad enough.
Why would anyone be upset about Keelhaul? It was just a regular prisoner transfer, and whatever Stalin does to prisoners, has never been a concern for regular Tommy. I think there was never a real need for cover-up.
Hi Dr Felton, I live in Shrewsbury and have been to this museum many times before, it is amazing, I think you would agree. I urge anyone if they are interested in military history and in the area to visit the museum as some of the artifacts displayed are one of a kind. It is well worth a visit.
I’m LOVING this! Dr. Felton comes through again in grand style - regaling us all with another fascinating and long-suppressed tale of thievery and skullduggery at the end of the Second World War. Truly, this man is without peer! 😃
Congratulations Dr. Felton on not only being acknowledged by the King as an exceptional researcher and historian, but being given access to the Royal Families personal archives. I truely appreciate that you give so freely of your research to all of us on RU-vid.
It's that feeling from deep down, the feeling one has a difficulty describing to another. That's what laying eyes on an object from history gives to me. It's history, man's history, the wars of Man, but all fall short ( in my opinion) to the second of the two world wars.
Yet another fascinating & compelling doco Mark. I have to say though each time you mention Karl Donitz/Doenitz, all I hear in my head is Inspector Clouseau saying “Cold donuts!” 🤣🤭
"American Soldiers fight for souvenirs." <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="787">13:07</a> british subjects soldiers fight for queen mummy and king dada and commit armed robbery. Is it any wonder bukingamm palace wanted to keep the cover on this. Absolutely Fascinating video!
I so wish those archives finally were declassified and opened. There's so much we don't know. I can't wait for Ep.2. Also, I've often wondered why the Dönitz' government lasted that long. I knew that Dönitz tried to save time in order to get people out of Prussia. But that Churchill also had a hand in it was new to me.
Yes, this is quite amazing... Suggest you read the book ' Finale at Flensberg ' by Charles Whiting, helps to explain much of these events... Donitz was eager to get as many German troops and civilians as possible, out of the Mecklenberg area, away from the advancing Russians of Rokossovski's 2nd Belorussian Front... But, at the same time, to stop the Russians advancing into Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and thereby gaining Navy Bases on the North Sea coastline... Churchill wanted to ensure that there was a formal German Government which could order ALL German troops to formally surrender to the Western Armies....
@@richardruff8712 Thanks for the tip. That sounds interesting. I'll definitely try to get hold of that book. I can see that it's available as ebook on amazon Netherlands.
Yes, my dad was in the British Army in that area, and, like many other squaddies, they all seemed to keep it a ' top secret ' about the events there... Would suggest you read the book ' Finale at Flensberg ' by Charles Whiting... Helps to shed some light on the events at the end of the War...
@@richardruff8712 Hi Richard. Read Finale at flensburg a long time ago. Did endless research on it in the pre-internet days. Wrote a novel on it. Germania, from Simon and Schuster
I found this extremely interesting... I spent my early years living with my mother and grandparents across from Murwik in the town of Kollund Denmark. I heard family stories about German armament being dumped into Flensburg Fjord, towards the end of the war. My grandfather was part of the Danish border guard and had to go underground during the time Germany invade Denmark. One of my uncles had to escape to Sweden during the occupation using a small "borrowed" sailboat used to make the crossing... The same uncle played a part in the resistance force to liberate Denmark... Thanks for posting this video. It brought back recall of the many stories told by my mom's family...
My partner was the 1st Custodian of the Museum and Castle when it opened after the bombing, he set up most of the displays, and gathered relics with help from KSLI volunteers who worked with him. Sadly he was retired and the KLSI merged, but he held and disassembled the baton as well as kept it clean. The "lads" told him many stories.
Even though they were people of your enemy, they were still relatives of your king. Among their circle there was still a certain level of respect. Robbing them was just like robbing your king.
Arrrrrg.....We have to wait for your update! This was a great video. I have my maps outs out, following progress. I hope you keep getting access to the archives
