The Großdeutschland Division: The Wehrmacht's Most Powerful Elite Force 

I would but the computer voice can not pronounce the words

Stop mispronunciations

make one about the LSSAH or 1st SS Panzer Division

Thank you

Warematched was a nice touch

I like the robot. I would prefer the maps in English but that is not a big deal.

No kiddin!

Sounds like a drunk Hawkins...great content though

He can't. He speaks Spanish., not English.

Agreed, fantastic book

Nope, I actually did a presentation on this topic for a public speaking class. As of 2009/10 there was an enormous amount of information online about this subject. There are people that have gone to great lengths to investigate Sayers claims. I was completely satisfied by the preponderance of evidence available supporting Sayers basic account.

READ it. WHAT grim reading it is, but it has funny bits. FOR example, it being a running joke amongst German soldiers of the GD division, that it was some kind of employment centre for jobless Alsatians! THAT'S men from Alsace-Lorraine, not German shepherd dogs...🙄

Unfortunately, lets face it, they all become forgotten soldiers sooner or later. Just realize the hundreds of battles and wars fought and suffered throughout human history and millions of deaths. That nobody thinks about, nobody talks about, or even cares to know anything about now.

@@michaelbruns449 But not Guy Sajer because of his book that will endure the test of time in History.

Thx....cool info..

How can you verify that? Painting was done for obvious reasons- I find it doubtful they would be allowed to act outside if protocol due to some “daredevil” nature lol

@@ClevorBelmont I can verify that photographically. Collected photos show nine distinct Tigers of GD, in the terrain and weather typical of the Kharkov battle, and all such early version Tigers that we are not be likely to be seeing the following winter. You say they would not be allowed to act outside of protocol, but can you prove that there was an official order to use whitewash?

@FeverRub my grandpa never told me about any specific "decals" on their tanks but they had the Großdeutschland emblems and skull badges? cufflinks? couldnt find them on any video/picture sofar and he buried his (with guns etc) at the end of the war because there was a bounty on the decals nd the possibility to be penalized for beeing "the most advanced military (not ss) corps/division in ww2 (on german side)" can tell u something u cannot find in the history books. Großdeutschland had to fight for 2 more weeks after the war ended to make it to allied forces for surrender (23.05.1945) and at the time they were part of 3. panzer army. He was in the Großdeutschland Signal Battalion from 42-45.

​@FeverRub Ja. Russische Gefangenschaft = Sibirien = Tod. Der Bruder meines Opas hat sich dummerweise ergeben und ist in franz. Kriegsgefangenschaft gekommen mit 16. 3 Jahre später durfte er das erste Mal an das Tageslicht aus dem Bergwerk. (deswegen ist er auch sehr früh gestorben). Mein Opa hatte bis zum Schluss fast täglich Alpträume vom Krieg (er hat immer offen über wirklich alles geredet, er hat leider auch wirklich immer vor Putin gewarnt & das aus einem ideologiefreien Standpunkt). Meine beiden Omas haben den Krieg aktiv miterlebt, mussten aber zum Glück nie fliehen & reden auch jetzt nicht mehr viel über den Ukraine Krieg, da es einfach unbegreiflich ist, sein sollte, andere Menschen töten zu wollen. Ich ergreife direkt die Chance zu betonen das jeder € der der Ukraine zur Verfügung gestellt wird heißt das wir die nächsten Jahre und Jahrzehnte keine Milliarden!!! zusätzlich ausgeben müssen. Jeder "Cent Betrag" ist eine garantierte! Investition, bei welchem wir in der Zukunft den X-Fachen Preis Zahlen müssten wenn wir es jetzt nicht tun. Gab jetzt z.B . bei Spiegel wieder nen Artikel darüber wie wenig Deutschland der Ukraine an Geld zukommen lässt im vgl. zu den Ausgaben um die Sanktionen auszugleichen. War glaub ich in dem Verhältnis von etwas wie 8:1.

Great book

Still one of the greatest books about WW2 and combat at the soldier level.

Damm good book I wish I could find another copy

@Garry Arden thank you

The book is fake

Ah yes. I read that my first year in college, 1971. Have probably read it every two years since. A classic.

The Forgotten Soldier is one hell of a book, one of my favorites

i love that book, ill re read for ever. i wonder if he ever did meet/marry Paula after the war

Have you read the divisional history?

@@33z6i6 can you send me a link to this book please?

Forgotten Soldier is a fake memoir

So your father was a Nazi?

@@Philmoscowitz like all the British soldiers are conservatives and all Americans republicans ect. Stupid comment . Being in the army doesn't mean you're a member of your countries political party

Michael Steiner I think most of the G Deutschland division, managed to surrender to the British army at the end.

War criminals

@@pnwesterner6220 get a life

Yes sir, good book

it was proven a work of fiction

HE wasn't German; he was Alsatian.

@@redwingrob1036 "as a German solider" doesn't mean was German

Gross Deutschland was moved from the russian front to Italy to fight the allies in september ‘43, I believe

What a great book in league with all's quiet on the western front

great book

Guy Sajer and other men in his supply unit got tired of playing nursemaid and providing supplies to frontlines troops. That is the reason why they joined the combat troops and were assigned to the Gross Deutschland Division.

According to the book itself he volunteered because his best friend did and he didn’t want to go through the war without him. His friend volunteered because they would get to go on leave back to Germany

I would recommend the memoirs of Dr hans heinz rehfeldt. He was a mortar platoon leader from grossdeutshland.

That’s awesome

@George Thomas My Opa his father died in WWI n his mother remarried n hence my 2 great aunts. All RIP.

We will soon take Moscow

Germans and Americans were the strongest fighters both mentally and physically

@@slavaukrainitv2716 - That's because alot of Americans and Canadians for that matter had German heritage. Cousins fighting cousins, I'm sure the "elites" found that amusing. I've got German blood myself. Both sides of my family were Prussian, they left after ww1. Great vids BTW. Thanks.

Ty Todd

Ty

Ty

It definitely is a computer voice when your hear it’s pronunciation of Lyon and other proper nouns. Very annoying.

The computer narration was rough , I agree

Very bad

The creator doesn't speak English. He's trying, plus he's a pretty new channel.

I could only take 2 min. of it.

Hitlers the one who lost the war for Germany, not anyone or anything else.

@@michaelbruns449 no doubt but that wasn't the question. The Germans could have captured Moscow in '41 if Army Group Center had been allowed to stay on plan instead of being diverted south.

We have the Leibstandarte too ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2_6QawWGP8o.html I write down your suggestion

i suggest they get someone articulate to narrate

@@robinwatling6538 Agreed. Lyon = "Lee-ōwn" Panzer III = (Spanish) "tres", I've never heard the number as "ice" before. WTH? 🤔😳

Panzer Lehr didn't achieve as much as could be. In Normandy and certainly in the Ardennes. It was because of Bayerlein's caution that bastogne wasn't taken when it could. At a certain point the 101 Airborne and Pz Lehr were at the same distance from the city and no opposition.....

And??

Ty

Ah, win-win.

Demyansk pocket?

especially shooting civillians. They would shoot you too as untermenschen. Did you not learn basic history my dear fakir?

Ok

LOL

Ty

The voice is not particularly bad...

Hi, thanks for your comment. I am Spanish and I do not have the right level to narrate them myself. If I find someone who wants to do it, I'll change it in the future. I hope you understand

@@waracademy128 no worries. I like you just the way you are.

I would argue that it was Das Reich.

@@kereckelizabeth3625 definitely Tottenkopf. It clearly shows battle of Wolomin, and fights around Budapest, specially Operation Conrad 3, when IV SS Panzer Corps, destroyed all tanks of 3rd Ukrainian front.

@@mirektobiasz7420 I believe you will find that the Das Reich was the most heavily decorated SS division, followed by the Wiking. How about the capture of Belgrade and Kharkov?

@@kereckelizabeth3625 Kharkov was taken by 2nd SS panzer corps. And both das Reich and Totenkopf were part of 2nd SS panzer corps. What about halting Soviet offensives at Balta, or at Targu Frumos? Also, members of Totenkopf division, couldn't count for any mercy from Soviets. So they fought to the bitter end. Surrender wasn't an option.

@@kereckelizabeth3625 das Reich didn't fight for Belgrade, Klingenberg only tricked defenders.

They're afraid the soldiers might enjoy riding them too much.

Syrian insurgents use them: they use them to move around portable anti tank weapons

@@karimtemri1664 yeah that sounds like a good unit. Motorcycles with anti tank systems. Vrrrummmm vrrrrummmm.

Noisy, no protection (except for that provided by mobility), also no protection from elements, lots of little engines to keep running, poor loading capacity, every man must be a driver, and have fair strength and stamina as well...

Hi, thanks for your comment. I am Spanish and I do not have the right level to narrate them myself. If I find someone who wants to do it, I'll change it in the future. I hope you understand

@@waracademy128 yes of course, I understand. Thank you for your reply.

Voice is reasonable enough... I have heard much worse auto translate...

Attrition : the soviets didn't even need to win battles

And the over engineering and unreliability of the tiger?

Thing is the Ukrainians along with other white Russians welcomed the Germans as liberators I've seen vids of Russian Civi's giving wine and flowers women Kissing German soldiers looks just like when the Americans entered Paris. As it turned out behind the troops were death squads. Had Hitler welcomed them 100,000's of Russians would have joined the Germans. Had Hitler not declared war on the US lend lease would have been postponed for a while. The US sent Russia 450,000 trucks allowing them to form many motorized Inf Division. It doesn't matter how many troops you have if the battle is a 100 miles away and you have no trucks.

@@seancooney297 nothing is perfect in war. Look at the casualty differences. Huge discrepancy.

@@markbrandon7359 you're exactly right.

AWFUL android!

I recommend this one that we just uploaded. We have hired someone for the voice at last. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YyeUKXPm3Yk.html

Later in the war GrossDeutschland divison was expanded into a panzer corps.

The SS were fanatical, took insane losses.

@@tonyromano6220 That is so true, and it was their only flaw.

" they also knew that the ss divisions were better than them " what kind of statement is that!!!! Those are you're thoughts!!!! Never heard anything so stupid........you really think that

@@nickjohnson710 Dear Nick, the SS Divisions had a reputation unparalleled, They were fanatical and took massive loses in line with their ideology. I am not making a statement, only forwarding the facts. It is well known that Großdeutschland Division preferred to be deployed with the Waffen SS because they knew they would not fail like so many other Units they fought with. That happened for a short period of time around the Kharkov region. Relax and read your history before you shoot your mouth off.

@@philharmonicwittgenstein9662 I do know my history..........you just sound like a SS fanboy ,those SS supermen you talk about we're wiped out at the start of the war......Canadian troops, Australia troops, new Zealand troops, royal marine commandos, paras, the gurkhas......now there reputation is unparalleled.......those are facts!!!!! Plus its a will know fact that German paratroopers were the best of the whole German forces, facts again........

The best one was latvian legion waffen ss 15 and 19th latvian waffen ss which was most decorated waffen ss non german. Not only thst they helped withdraw army group from scandinavia and when they retreated from russia , throught Kurland pocket…. Its not mentioned in many places but thats what it is. Look it up. battle of kurland

Or the Lee-ib Standarte? Pronounced L(eye)B Shtandarte. Sort of like the Hitler Rants Parodies changing "fahig" (capability) to "Fish," but that is meant to be funny.

Now thats impressive, im practically certain you are big in the advertising world. Your potential of destroying enemy custom with your marketing makes you a highly valuable mole. Why on earth would anyone waste their time making a 12 minute well educated video to name it 'Germans fight hard on the eastern front but are unsuccessful' this is a statement you make to a 10 year old child that has just started history lessons. The guy needs views to not go bust

@@zackgrainger7510 You tell me why somebody wasted time on a video that wasn't well educated, while you said it was well educated. I did say the Division fought hard, I recognize that. There is no doubt about that! There were amazing tank aces, but how "elite" is "elite" if you know details like new Panther tanks were added to the Division, but were plagued by technical problems, suffering from engine fires and mechanical breakdowns before reaching the battlefield! You know sooner or later you will get destroyed. Only 80 out of the 300 tanks were fit for duty. If you know your equipment is that bad, why are you beginning a battle with the risk of the Division ending in a ditch in the first place? Ask yourself if it's a "elite" decision to go to war with that kind of weapons? And we all know from history what had happened. The Soviets were not that impressed, the Soviets were not afraid of dying. So the title of the video is not so well chosen. The red army did not fear them. In the end the Division had to pull back and every German soldier was afraid of dying. It was the other way around. Half Germany was afraid of the red army. And for good reason! I'm not a fan of Stalin or his red army, but if you look at history you should place all events in right perspective. Only in the eyes of the Germans the Division were elite, overall they weren't that elite! Not with that track record, absolutely not.

@@patriotzfinder If any German force is elite, it's by far the 6th army, they were undefeated and steamrolled every force before them up until Stalingrad. The most experienced German soldiers.

@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- Yes you are right, at Stalingrad the German 6th Army was totally crushed, steamrolled over and destroyed by General Vasily Chuikov's 62nd Soviet Army, despite Germany's air superiority and a lot more German artillery pieces. They lost after 2 pincher attacks. After the battle, German casualties are 147,200 killed and wounded and over 91,000 captured, the latter including Field Marshal Paulus, 24 generals and 2,500 officers. Only 5,000 returned to Germany after the war. Is that "Elite" enough for you? Germany lost the war, there were never German elite troops. The troops were poorly lead, they made mistake upon mistake. Against weaker armies they were superior, but when real armies fought them, they lost like a dog. From East and West Germany was steamrolled all over. I have to admit, their uniforms were great and looked beautiful, but that was only the wrapper. What was inside the package was a cheap poorly made gift.

@@patriotzfinder Again did you read about Poland and France and the early battles like Kiev, Smolensk?

No

No

No he was in the 1st SS panzer division