The Real Kelly's Heroes - GIs Stole Huge Nazi Gold Stash 

Lmfao

Sounds like drug busts in the 80s. By the time the defendant made it to trial the amount had been lowered to just enough to justify a felony.

Best comment here !! Untold amounts (tons) of precious gems too - lots were easily pocketed long before higher ups got their mitts on ‘em.

USA: Conquer Germany, become a superpower with German toy's built by Germans but claimed to be "American". Home of Aviation 1900's: Europe Home of Aviation 2019: USA

Hahaha ...your a funny guy 😅

I wonder how long it took them to dispose of their ill gotten gains.😀🥂

There's a comment with a very similar story just on top of yours. I wonder if your uncle knew people or perhaps was one of those mentioned by the other guy??? Would be amazing if so :D

Sounds like they were Reichstanked

Fake Valor. Your uncle peeled potatoes at Fort Bragg

@@richardnixon4345 You don't even know who his uncle was Tricky Dick.

So jealous. One of the most breathtaking and gorgeous areas on the planet.

@@mattomite9097 Luvly jubbly

I could give you a few places to go look for some... but it's in very deep water in Austrian alpine lake. That happened to flood near end of WW2

@@DB-yj3qc As you so rightly say, you need the diving equpment and, of course, the skills for such deep waters. But there are still supposed to be cachés buried and hidden elsewhere in the countryside.

I’m slipping about 3 or 4

Facts, i agree! but dont forget those gold bars are quite heavy, you can only carry so many, each bar im guessing cost around 120 - 200k

@@jimmydesanta1363 I would be taking as many as possible… dragging them in my sphincter if I had to.

Your moral standards apparently are the same as in the stone age. It cannot take very long that you land in jail.

@@rheinmoses29 hahah whatever mate you clearly have plenty of money. I actually have held jobs (locksmith by trade) where I had access to a lot of wealth however it would have never ever, ever had crossed my mind as it was peoples personal belongings definitely not the US government. Besides it’s all stolen gold anyway. Germany stole it off other countries Jews all sorts and then the US government who are the biggest thieves of all stole it off them. A few bars missing who gives a crap. With the amount there know one would have even noticed. It’s no longer someone’s life savings it’s the treasury’s. Also in the Stone Age they didn’t use gold they used rocks, same thing that’s in your head.

Have you tried talking to him...maybe he's a republican. Don Rickles

Donald Sutherland what a great role

"There you go with those negative waves again, man."

@@Storm-lg4mx And democrat Hollyweird rears it's ugly head again. Back to the movie, too many good lines to pick just one, for example when they got to the bridge.... Oddball: It's still up! Allied planes: BOMB Oddball: No it ain't! See what sending out those negative waves did, Moriarty?

Joseph, I walked into that one...Ha!!!

it was all fake money, my man, which is why the punishment was light, the CO who lost it got 2 years.

No doubt he "dipped into the till"...lol

did he capture ernst kaltenbrunner?

It was Illegal for U.S. citizens to own gold. They could not have brought it home. Now, if it could have been sent to Switzerland...

@@glenirwin1110 who is going to check? 1000s of soldiers returning from war in ships and trains, with duffel bags and army gear, one or two bars between the clothes and no one will notice.

@@PatricioGarcia1973 My point was if they were caught with Gold of any type in the U.S. they went straight to Federal Prison. They could take it across the border to Canada. Or was there a black market? Significant discount. You always hear stories of people bringing back Nazi Gold but you never hear about how they could have turned it to dollars without going to the can. Anybody out there know how they did it?

How many crooks came back to the USA to further corrupt it?

Plenty of nazi went back to live in America so thiefs are normal 🇺🇸😂

@@richardyatesyates3893 lol your so fragile

You assume this guy was on the up and up.

He said there was nothing there son...👀👀👀🤣🤣🤣💯💯💯🤛🤛🤛

History Channel? They are rank amateurs compared to Mark Felton.

Unstoppable!! Amazing and intriguing content AS ALWAYS!

Honourable man. Don't know what i would do. Kept his self respect.

It's called a war prize. Including but not limited to rings necklaces jewelry paintings it included gold bars, gold/silver bars, engagement and marriage rings necklaces from dead soldiers, mauser guns, pots pans forks, knives, spoons, glasses regular and sun glasses, paintings, silver and gold doorknobs, mirrors, swords and other odd personal items that are poorly documented or have no document of there origins and either came from dead bodies men women or children who were running away from the war or the items were left behind and the property for seized.

@@alexcholagh8330 i thought it was callled looting & theft. Not making value judgements, just saying! If i saw my prosperous future in front of me...hand it in? Get ready!

@@dominicseanmccann6300 looting and theft is more lowkey in terms Both sides allies and the axis and who ever supported them did more then these horrible crimes. Many are in banks,someones house or mansions or business even storage many don't know there stolen and many who know such items that are stolen keep quiet to themselves. It's sad but there is way more then estimated 6 billion at least 18 billion maybe beyond that.

@@alexcholagh8330 Theft is a funny one, legal theft and moral theft are often out of step. Is a bank or other financial organisation morally wrong for committing legal theft? Is a poor man who has risked his life morally wrong for committing illegal theft? The law is clear, but is also weighted towards the rich, so....

Story sounds kinda fishy to me! 😁👍

Another example that totally embellishes the facts and reads like a fantasy story - it was an empty bully beef tin lol.

I heard some similar story(ies) when Iraq fell and the bank got raided. No way to know if was true or not, plus WWII was more wildly handled than any invasion(s) of Iraq ever were! 😅

While the Western allies generally did not engage in the kinds of atrocities that were common among both German and Soviet troops, the Western armed forces did engage in widespread looting, theft and black market activities.

@@MrSloika And I don't blame them one bit.

the quality and purity of late war alcohol in Germany was highly questionable, drinking it is hazardous. also, it probably was not safe to carry the explosives bank, or leave it somewhere. presumably he felt he needed extra practice is setting explosives, so the bank vault is a good place to test his skills. How one files after action reports could be the difference between a commendation or court martial

@@MrSloika good joke dude. US had some of the worst warcrimes in ww2

Agreed this one is really good!

Is there a such thing as "Nazi gold" or is it just "gold" or stolen gold? What do we call the Iraqi gold that we stole? The Libyan gold that we stole? There seems to be a pattern of behavior here.

@@karlheinzvonkroemann2217 It looks like we are constantly fighting over the same looted and melted gold, from era to era in all corners of the Earth.

My grandfather was in Argonne in WW1. He was with an artillery group. I don’t think he ever mentioned any stories of gold or plunder. He did talk about how he has several Lugers and Mausers. He said they were told they would searched before boarding a ship back to the US so he dumped them all into a latrine. He always got mad talking about that because no one was searched lol. If someone took any loot it could have easily been stowed away…at least in WW1

You mean copies of texts of history forums - sometimes even including the inaccuracies that are written there without checking? Real trustworthy content is over at "TIK-History"

@@Oberkommando you mean the satire troll?

Heroes*

One of the first movies that I was allowed to go with my friends. We were 9 or 10 at the time and I now own a copy of that movie. One of my absolute favorites.

Lived pretty well in Spain after the war.

He owned supermarkets snd personally funded SS welfare organisation Der Spinne.. I wonder where the money came from.

John Smith that example why there was more frag of unpopular officers during World war II than Korea and Vietnam, their Greedy, if I was GI enlisted man and my friends stumbled on Gold, Diamond or any values, greedy officers will not get any, unless he an equal shared officer with his men know how to look the other way around.

During WWII American GIs were allowed to take home some war 'souvenirs', including weapons. Single shot or semi-auto weapons under .50 call were OK....not full auto. To legally take the trophy weapon home a GI was required to present said weapon to his commanding officer, who inspected the weapon to make sure it did not violate the rules for eligible war trophies. If all was OK the officer in charge would issue 'capture papers' for the weapon. Today in the United States war trophy weapons with their capture papers are valuable collector's items. Years ago I met a WWII vet who owned a very nice Luger pistol he brought back from Germany. I asked him if he still had the capture papers which would have added a significant premium to the value of the weapon. The old vet informed me that he never had any papers for the gun, and he sneaked it home in his sea-bag. I then asked the old guy why he didn't get capture papers for the gun and he proceed to tell me that his commanding officer was a 'thieving bastard' who stole all the best stuff for himself so the GIs stopped asking him to fill out capture papers.

@@MrSloika Yes, my grandfather told me very similar stories about thieving officers. The movie "Kelly Heroes" may have been total fiction to a certain extent but the attitude of the GI towards their own officers was dead on accurate. By the way, many of the actors in "Kelly Heroes" had served in World War II.

I kind of see war loot as a soldiers right within reason.

@@MrSloika I believe you. When I was a youngster I learned my dad also had had a captured luger. On the boat ride home, before a "hygiene inspection", he threw it overboard. He wouldn't tell me why. Now I know why.

Three kings was based around Kuwaiti bullion stolen by Hussain.

3 generations later, nobody cares where the money came from.

@@heresjohnny1219 But the "recovery" by the four Americans could see root in this story.

@@TommygunNG could say the same for the “monuments men” as well I suppose.

Extra points for using the word "caper".

Well just look up 'Riese'. Penemunde is a small change in money spent on construction. Still majority is not accessed and under Polish Army control. The problem is with papers detailing traps installed and Germany keeping those classified.

In texas?

I always assume that 99% of all treasures found are never reported or publicized by their finders. So think there may be some random person in the suburbs of NYC with millions in gold bars just sitting under their bed. I know for a fact that a member of the 101st airborne took alot of Hitler's personal silverware collection to NYC after the war and it has never turned up since - meaning there is some random family with Hitler's treasure just sitting in their house, probably just in some box in a corner with the rest of their grandpa's 'old junk'.

@@geigertec5921 Lot of Hitlers Silver has turned up in various auctions and internet sites now. I have seen some of it and have some Eva's "items" from the Berghof.

They say Yamashita's gold hasn't all been found in the Phillipines.

He is a republican

@@Graymenn but is really a Democrat, since they've got all the wealth

Nein

and in the next shot we see his tank blow the bank doors open. Great scene.

That Tiger Tank commander became quickly disenchanted with the Fuhrer, and wisely decided to cash in on his military pension early.

his mistake was running his mouth and government took the gold.

to anyone that finds hidden gold.. Here are a few tips. 1. Dont run your mouth. 2. Learn gold smelting and tech recycling the value of education is worth it's value in gold.

Same! My ten commandments honesty only goes as far as 2 bars. Count me in...

I wouldn't, couldn't, blame any combat GI who did grab a bar or two.

It's your golden opportunity. (No pun intended) No regrets! 🤣

Didn't the explosion of the world trade Center happened right after? Some said to divert attention away from this this massive theft.

Some portion of it went to bribing people to cooperate with the US.

Remember that movies are ultimately just fiction. One crime just doesn't justify another. Altogether the Allies stole at least as much from Germany and Germans as the Germans took from from occupied countries. Another thing is that in a court of law the evidence considered to be the least reliable is eyewitness testimony. I v'e spoken to a good number of people that lived through the German occupation of the low countries (Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg 1940-1945, and invariably they told me that me the Americans were the most light fingered of all the foreign troops that came through their countries. More unreliable eyewitness testimony? Who knows right? :) Another thing is that Europe at that time (1939-1945) and until the fall of the Soviet Union back 1992was different than it is today. Western Europe and most of Central Europe had a 1st-2nd World Standard of living. Germany east to west and north to south plus Austria was always a first world country going back quite far into history. That would include 1/3 more territories in the East that are today part of Poland. To the east and most all of the Soviiet Union was closer to 2nd-3rd world than anything thing in Europe. Many of the Soviet troops invading Germany in 1944-45 encountered indoor plumbing for the first time in the lives and would take toilets out of the floor thinking they were valubles. The further west that the Soviet troops advanced they went the more first world the infrastructure and what they saw was 1st world. Even the ruins in many bombed out Eastern German cities were amazing to them. The point being that the Soviet Union had one major paved highway that ran from Minsk to Moscow. Not much else was really "first world" infrastructure. Even "Leningrad" today's remamed "St Petersburg", although culturally the most beautiful and modern of the Sovien cities, it was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe and shelled via the use of an advanced artillery grid-pattern to destroy as much of the city as they could possible destroy over the years of the siege. Sadly for the Russians the Germans were really very good with their use of artillery and only in the post war period were they able to rebuild Leningrad/St Petersburg/"The Winter Palace" to a high degree and even the remaking of the "The Amber Room" (something very worthwhile to read up on and have a look at if you aren't aware of what it was and was remade to be today. With all this about the Soviet Union and looting thanks for undertaking this long read. It should help to explain the end of the war period just a little bit.

Definitely an andi-social type

Rule 2 (Unofficial) "Go ahead, nobody's lookin'!"

There was a lot more stolen at the of WWII than just gold. Art, weapons, scientific and industrial equipment and papers....on and on it went. I'd like to see Dr. Felton expand on the topic of loot in wartime Europe.

Haha yeah right

No looting IF no one caught you in the act. Plus, never loot civilian, we are professional looter.

My mom used to live on Lookout Mountain in GA. There was a road that had been used in the Civil War to get to the battle of Chickamagua. Using a metal detector We found a big horse shoe with big nails in it. We pretended it was from the Civil War. But of course we didn’t know that it was. Thank for reminding me of a happy memory!!

@@danialeatherman8934 My neighbourhood on 1 story bungalows/ villas was built from the 1950s onwards. However just around the corner my neighbour found a very old horseshoe. It turns out that a few hundred meters up the road used to be an old inn, until the early 1600s. My local street's name "Rider's Hill" (though there's no hill over 50 cm. high here) suggests it might have been part of the old Renaissance highway from Copenhagen going southwards. I still keep the horseshoe.

The best!!

And Don Rickles as Crap Game.

@@larryh502 Give $50 to carry this cannon?

Always liked the SS guy in the Tiger tank...lol He always reminded me of John Belushi...

@@Jreb1865 He was a real German soldier captured in Normandy. Have to find the interview with him? Great 🎬 movie. Watch it once or twice a month? Love them positive waves man.

In 2003 in Iraq, some GI's tried the same with Iraqi national bank gold bars, but were caught.

I've watched Kelly's Heroes a half dozen times or more. Oddball was my favorite character with his "There you go with your negative waves" my all time saying.

@@mardiffv.8775 You won't hear about the one's that weren't caught ... !

There couldn't be any "negative waves" to pull off such an operation successfully...................

+David Barr. “Kelly’s Heroes” was mostly filmed in Yugoslavia, and Yugoslavian Army soldiers played the Germans. I enjoyed that movie too - but I was very young then.

Then you should read the name twice 😜

Thoughtful gift…

Absolutely right, along with rings, necklaces, and bracelets. Other gold and jewels came from the looted villages by the death squads.

You can only go so far punishing conscripts: it's bad enough telling people to risk their lives for strangers living on another continent, so punishing them for not respecting other people's riches is a hard sell.

I believe your referring to Captain Kathleen Nash and Colonel Jack Durant who stole the Hessian crown jewels.

And it wasn't in NY, but Chicago

Looting at the end of the war was an age old tradition for troops. After long sieges the commanders would allow 1 day for looting the town the besieged. Move up to 1945 and if you’re a grunt and you already saw officers taking things , why wouldn’t you take something for yourself or your family back home? You were literally dragging yourself from the Great Depression and any family you had were subjected to rationing. I know I would in that instance and I really don’t think they should’ve received that 1 year.

@@tarn1135 battles have been lost when the winning side stops to loot.

Woof woof!

@@essexfarmer9610 'what are you, some kind of weird sandwich?' 🤣🤣🤣

@@Jonny_RedI probably am a weird sandwich! You need to have seen Kelly's Heros. One of the main characters is a Sherman tank commander played by Donald Sutherland. He is the weird one, he likes to make dog woofing sounds, goes into battle with music playing out of a loud speaker on the tank and likes to fire shells loaded with pink paint that makes pretty patterns. The movie was made around the time of hippies, and a certain amount of historical artistic license was used in this character. Iconic movie from my era! Pura Vida!

@@essexfarmer9610 ive seen it a fair few times, its my favourite film lol ❣❣ The 'weird sandwich' quip is a line from it 😄😄👍👌 I love my war films and another one that has fun and capers aplenty like Kelly's Heroes is Hannibal Brooks which I'm sure you've seen yourself?? Then all the Dirty Dozen films, and Escape to Athena ... 60s and 70s the best era ❣

@@Jonny_Red My favourites are Groundhog Day, Shawshank Redemption, Saving Private Ryan, Pretty Woman, Hacksaw Ridge, The Martian, Memphis Belle and maybe Fury too. Not sure how Hollywood would have prospered without WW2!

If history was taught like this at my old high school, I may have actually paid attention.

So with sheer good luck, this cache of private treasure escaped from the plundering invaders of General Yamashita and then to be partly stolen by somebody in Australia. Thank you for the interesting information.

Regrets? What regrets? Did you think the Nazis had any regrets in looting Europe? Did you think the Soviets had any regrets in looting eastern europe, austria and eastern germany? Probably a lot of the missing gold and other valuables might be found in the Vatican, Switzerland....the british royal family, american politicians....some body knows.....

@@brucemarsico6 Bro, I was simply adding two seconds worth of history on the subject from a firsthand source.

No regrets. 👌 It was his lucky find.

@@stevew6138 (I suspect Bruce uses different types of pipes. I miss my EA Carey pipe days. Senior apartments suck but it beats the street. Best wishes!) HEY BRUCE -- MY GRANDFATHER IN ITALY DID BLACK MARKET DURING WWII. ANY COMMENTS? 😆

@@richburnham7326 Man, I haven't thought about the E.A. Carey pipe club in years.

😃

Odd Ball was the smart one in Kelly Heroes, He trade his share of the Gold for a Nazi Tiger I Tank .

@@bjornsmith9431 He got ripped off, It was a piece of junk, the fuel system leaked all over the place.

@@andywilliams1160 Don't forget the not-up-to-moving-X tons transmission.

@@andywilliams1160 true, the Tiger Tank could go no further than 50 miles before it break down, unless Odd Ball live to his 100 with the Tiger Tank, will maintenance, he could get a good market price, he double that Krauts SS soldier share of the loot, the Nazi is laughing all the way to the Banks in Switzerland.

@Sixgun Symphony I thought there was only one surviving King Tiger there but not sure?...what is left there now?

"Woof, Woof, Woof!"

Positive waves!

@@johnc2438 "Anything you say Baby, hehehehe."-Moriarty

Watch it again!

All fiction is based in some truth. The Fairy tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, for example-- was based on true child disappearances. *James Bond was largely based on Ian Flemming's experiences as a M15 agent. *All the sci-fi flicks that have been made about UFOs, Area51, Aliens, etc --- the government now admits these things exist.

The actual history was changed in the film showing Kelly's Heroes, with the help from a German Tiger tank crew, spirited the gold from the central bank in Paris, France. 🤣🤣🤣

@@MrSniperdude01 admits they don’t have a clue what they are. Proving me right they got radar contact and a bunch of blurry somethings. Now that they done lying about how much they did not know maybe better answers. Roswald though was US ballon spy program I believe covered by Mark. A lot of the early UFO stuff US classified projects after all that the areas they test for

The souvenirs are the perks. Yay Capitalism.

Correct !

LOL

Germany fights for fatherland

No Americans fight because the Brits need help.

@The Jayser, Martin Bormann new and so did the top leader ship of the Nazi regime; the war was lost in 1943! Borman During the war transferred through Swiss banks billions to Juan Peron’s Country of Argentina! The big pay off for post-World War II !

Yes indeed

How do you know this?

@@coops1964 . It is a well known story, the cash and the prisoners were handed over to an advancing US armoured column.

AHH that explains the 'well heeled and we'll keeled' Alan Whicker.

Explains Whicker Island too.

He died at the age of 91. He handed over the German payroll and foreign currency to the US military that was close by. He didn't take any. He earned his money in writing and broadcasting.

Now that’s what I call a real European vacation, and I want to thank these warriors for their service…