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Sorry I do know know your name or email. As you observe this fortifications, I strongly recommend you get a good book that covers them. There are some books that cover the Molotov Line. One I can recommend is only available from the publisher until June which describes the Molotov Line and many others. The title is FORTRESS EUROPE: From Stone to Steel. The other book is twenty years old, but still available: FORTRESS EUROPE: European Fortifications of World War II. It is not as good as the new book, but does cover the Molotov Line and many others (Stalin, Mannerheim, Salpa, Metaxas, Maginot, Rupnik, etc). There are better examples of the fortifications of that line which have not been destroyed. Some are in Poland (the part returned by the Russians). The Molotov casemates and blockhouses are similar to, but a modified version, of those of the Stalin Line.
Quite worrying to see that practically all over Eastern Europe Soviet war memorials are either being left to decay or town apart altogether. This is some dangerous misjudgement of history and leaves me feeling again "What have we learned from history? - Nothing apparently"
I love that your son is wearing the WCK beanie. What you two did and the Chef and his foundation continue to do around the world is so inspiring! We have donated several times and will continue to help them! They are truly doing such blessed work! Chef and all who help him are worldclass heroes! Thank you two for doing your part! And this is another wonderful video. We in the west know SO little about the eastern front of WWII.
I love your signature sign-off phrase: "Off to the next place." The anticipation of where you'll take us next! Glad you didn't hit your head while you exploring inside btw.
From what I remember from reading. The bunkers were built in sections to aid in mutual support. They were supplied with machine guns and anti tank equipment. Many were left unfinished. Great job… thank you.
Your son is the luckiest persona alive. Not only does he get to go on great adventures, but by going with Dad he gets the experience to help him with excited future children on trips.
I have to agree. To be given the gift of history appreciation from a knowledgeable father will ever stay with him. Thank you for sharing and creating footage that will forever stay for the future
So much of our military history is condensed into “popular” WWII campaigns. These stories are what is so fascinating about history. I had no idea this even happened. I have tons to learn.
Great episode on this little talked about front of the war. As to the poor condition of the cemetery…after the Soviet incursion and “partitioning” of their country it’s not hard to understand the Poles wouldn’t be into keeping this cemetery and the resting places of the invaders in better condition. It is still there. That’s something.
Would love to see the design plans and layout for the bunkers. Apparently, many of the bunkers were unfinished when Operation Barbarossa kicked off. And it was Stalag 327 (for what its worth lol).
A few words about Russian military cemeteries in Poland. These cemeteries were owned by the soviet union at the time it existed. After its collapse and regaining independence in Poland in the 90s, they were left unattended. Russia was not eager to take the remains of its soldiers to their homeland, so they remained on Polish soil. It is only thanks to the local community that someone, out of sheer decency for the dead, somehow nurtures these forgotten places. Unfortunate but true, Russia shows rather for "show" respect for the heroes fighting for their country ... but the reality is quite different. An example is how he treats his fallen soldiers in Ukraine. The case of bunkers. They lasted the war in better or worse condition. After the war, these facilities were rather "undesirable" in the newly occupied Poland by the Soviet army, so most of them were simply destroyed (blown up) by the Russians and the new Polish army under the supervision of the Russian army. All for purely political reasons. Every object that could be a resistance for the occupant was a reason for destruction. simple thinking of simple people (I mean the Russian occupiers here). This was the case throughout Poland and in every place where Russian troops were stationed. It is so briefly for the sake of explanation. I hope, however, that the visit to my homeland was pleasant for you and your relatives, except for some unfortunate incidents. However, Poland is a nice country and very hospitable. I could prove it to you if I had a chance to meet you when you visited my country.
“A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.” - Joseph Stalin Stalin’s quote typifies the Soviets utter disregard for it’s soldiers and peoples. The only ones who grieved for those soldiers are gone now too. Very sad.
@@1RiderPale Russians never in any armed conflict in which they took part had no respect for their soldiers, the enemy and the civilian population. For the achievement of even the most stupid goals, they are able to sacrifice any number of human lives.
Thanks JD for your most interesting videos. You just gave me something to google for the rest of the night. What an amazing find. I wish I could go to half of the places you've been.
Another great video! Not being a structural engineer, but I have been involved in the civil engineering field for many years, the lack of steel reinforcement is apparent. It appears that they builders had more access to concrete that they did to reinforcement. I agree with you observation that the construction of these bunkers lack the quality of the German installations. Thanks again for showing this part of WW II history!
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. While the history is being lost and that’s unfortunate, it is very telling that this is the legacy and results of the Soviet Union and it’s impact on the eastern block countries and how the Polish view that history. I can’t blame them for their lack of effort in maintaining those facilities as it’s never a top priority to preserve a nightmare.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I agree with you completely but I certainly understand the thinking. The pain becomes no more clear than watching you walk through that cemetery, especially when you walked up to the memorial after showing the broken bottles and trash everywhere to then record candles burning. Whatever was the motive to do that, it’s a poignant example of the struggle to honor and remember and still trying to forget a time that I’m sure for them isn’t that long ago, especially in light of recent events.
Love your videos! Me and my dad are HUGE WW2 buffs, he’s a collector of all things WW2, guns, uniforms, medals, you name it, my dad has it…we’re getting ready to go to Louisville for a gun and military show next weekend…and they have countless artifacts from WW2 as well as all the other wars….if you ever get the chance, should check it out, it happens once a year
Awesome history. Also enjoyed reading the history from the Polish citizen who sent a response in comments thank you! So sad that all mankind has not learned from history. Guess there will always be evil in the world. My heart breaks for all the innocent lives lost, past and present. Sue from Pennsylvania, USA
This is very interesting! Many channels about military historie talk about German or English and American perspective. It's awesome to see the Sovjet side for a change, well done!
I saw this vid pop up, but I was busy at the time, so it naturally got buried, like a Soviet Bunker. Finally remembered to go back to it. Fantastic stuff. I bet there's still some nice artifacts buried in the dirt around there. It would be neat to see some sort of restoration group come in and do what they can, even if it meant rebuilding one from scratch, just to allow people to see what was there. Thanks, again, JD!
Very cool. Amazing how one bit of info leads to another. After watching your video I researched Ribbentrop - Molotov agreement, which pre-dated Russia's Winter War with Finland in which Russian propaganda stated they weren't bombing Finland but were in fact air-dropping food supplies to the starving Finns. The Finns called the bombs Russian Molotov picnic baskets. So when the Finns started throwing gasoline filled bottles at the Russian armor, they called them Molotov cocktails. I also found out that the Molotov line was divided into 13 regions, with each region designing and constructing its own fortifications. Many had not been completed by the time War started. Some were poorly made, with air vents and periscope tubes being vulnerable points for grenades.
I love your videos. If you're looking for something new, the channel island of Alderney has an incredibly rich and largely intact WW2 history. Forts, bunkers, PoW camp, you should absolutely take a look in to it. As a kid I remember picking bullets out of rockpools. It's a fascinating part of WW2 history.
Well thanks for this great video it's something we wouldn't have ever seen with out your great humanity visit to help the victims of Russian brutality now. I can assure you the polish people don't care about those Russian Graves. They suffered for years under Russian oppression
Also very interesting to note the differences of respect countries have for other countries of WWII. For instance- how the French treat the US cemetery in Normandy vs this one.
Yeah, they should light candles every day and pray for their souls. After years of persecutions, looting, murdering and raping plain and ordinary civilians. Let russian embassy do that with their money.
JD another great video but why did you have your bad camera man stand under the Wile E. Coyote rock? Personally I think most of the damage to the bunkers were either from the war or done by the Polish people after the Soviets finally left.
Ha! The cameraman is expendable. I had a Polish person comment today that the Soviet destroyed them after the war so that the Polish people couldn't use them.
Really interested in that video mate I wonder guns German news it minds me that bunker in Normandy that one got deasored but can't wait for next video mate
@@bradsellers5075 Tigers in the Mud by Otto Carrius I haven’t gotten through to that part of his story….so I am not sure how much he fought there…..maybe a lot or not so much
@@bradsellers5075 one thing I’ve noticed is that some names of towns and regions are different from that used on modern maps. I have used the internet a lot to research these places. I am currently on the part of the book relating to the battle of Varna. I know so little of this era I am not much help. But I am working on fixing that
@@TheHistoryUnderground You can, but it takes a lot of $$$ for those that can grant it. My good friend Paul used to do Stalingrad battlefield tours, till his russian contacts ripped him off.
This Russian POW cemetary is in Poland. It holds the remains of the soldiers of one of their invaders, murdered by their other invader. I'm not surprised that there isn't a lot of respect or effort put into making it pretty. Same goes for the bunkers that are overgrown. There must have been a lot of anger and animosity after the war from the Polish people.
This was very interesting. I learned something new today. I really think these sites should be better maintained for historical reasons. Great video JD.
So sad to see the state of the cemetery. Compared to the ones on the Western Front they just seemed to have forgotten the sacrifice these men and women who fought made.
This may reflect how Poland doesn’t have a high regard for how the U.S.S.R/Russia treated them historically. And even now is a threat to their peace and prosperity.
When we consider the evidence that the Soviet Union exercised brutality upon the Polish people and nation as invaders, equal in measure to that dished out by Nazi Germany, we cannot really be surprised that the Soviet grave site would not be cared for. We in the west should not be quick to judge when thankfully we never had to go through the experience of being simultaneously overrun by these two cruel dictatorships. The bravery and steadfastness exhibited by the Polish nation during WW2 and beyond into their eastern block days should be rightfully recognised. In my view It was certainly not the finest hour of my own country the UK and the western allies in general when we failed to back up our ally Poland in its bid for genuine freedom from Stalin’s regime; instead in effect selling them down the river, in the post war carve up of Europe.
You would think that the Russians would care for the cemetery in the same way that Germany maintains the cemeteries in places like France and Belgium. I don't know. Just seemed kind of sad.
@@TheHistoryUnderground Hi JD……I may be wrong on this, but I was led to believe the German graves in France and the Low Countries are actually maintained by local authorities/people in those areas. Now It may be that Germany contributes to their grave site upkeep in some way, I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that British sites are maintained by the Commonwealth War graves Commission. Fascinating stuff none the less….best wishes
Hey JD love all your videos so informative. Do you think you'll ever get up to the Hudson Valley in up state NY? Lots of history here you may find interesting. Keep up the great work.
JD maybe you can research about the bunkers find out if they were destroyed by the Germans but keep up the good work catch you later next time still enjoy your history
@@TheHistoryUnderground yes, maybe you can do a video where you review this video and talk about what you have found out about these bunkers. Would be interesting!
My guess is that the Nazis bombed these bunkers thus the severe damage to them. Another guess is that the reason the area is so trashed and grown up may be because of Poland's effort to put the war behind them meaning no one wanted to maintain this area, kind of like sweeping the dirt under the carpet so to speak.
Have you ever watched WW ll history hunter underground? He and his son finds the most amazing bunkers and some had helmet and gun in in it It's so amazing most are in real good shape a person could actually live in them The Germans really knew concrete.🇺🇸❤️👍
Wish you could visit the Stalin line outside Minsk Belarus, it’s amazing with a very impressive tank collection and armored train etc Some of the bunkers in the line have been well preserved
Great video! On that first bunker, wouldn't the cave like area benford storage of ammunition and explosives? To me it looks like it was a supply area what the heavy steel walls. More of a question than an answer I guess!
@@TheHistoryUnderground They have volounteer groups still recovering the dead (German and Russian) from Eastern front battlefields (In competition with the "BlackHat" groups who dig up soldiers remains just to sell the relics) but as far as I know nothing official like the Commonwealth War graves or the US equivallent. They seem to view lives very cheaply (nothing recently seems to have changed), and at the time were prone to punish repatriated POW's for not fighting to the death - thats why so many Russian POW's ended up in Wermacht units.
The reason most of those were blown up is because a) either the soviets couldn’t resist blowing them up before handing them over before surrendering them to either the germans as they are wont to usually do, or b) the Germans blew them up before surrendering them to the allies. The first one was super cool, omg looked like maybe a command bunker. In that spot I really wouldnt be sutprised. I bet if you had a bit more time to wander there, you’d find a bunch of smaller defensive outworks, mg and mortar tobruks, etc. truly is a shame they were all demolished.... if you have never been to the massive semi-demolished (of course by the soviets when they were in charge in that part of Germany after the war . They were so big, so well constructed and so damn stubborn , the soviets figured it wasn’t worth the sheer amount of explosives needed to do the job) either and gave up after managing to completely demolish only one. of the smaller ones. and gave up) German concrete Me-262 assembly hangars at Weingut 1. It is.... extremely impressive. That’s the only way o can think to describe it. You’d love it, judging from the read I get from you in your content.
Hi JD, I'm Polish guy watching your content. In regards that one, take a look at wiki link pl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gieorgij_Kotrikadze. Russian Molotov line in eastern Polish border and MRU - German bunker line in western Polish border. pl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Międzyrzecki_Rejon_Umocniony. Definitely worth to see and explore. Eastern frontlines are also fascinating. Hopefully see you again in Poland!
@@TheHistoryUnderground in case you need a hand to find any kind of info on Polish websites, I would be glad to redirect you to the proper places. Google translator will do the rest. Thanks for your work, keep going and stay safe!
Those bunkers were part of one of the Soviet Union's Fortified Regions, and would've been defended with machine guns, anti-tank guns, and artillery. However, in 1941 these bunkers would've been just a negligible obstacle, when Operation Barbarossa commenced. Most were simply, bypassed.
