105 - The Allies Invade Iran, Barbarossa Continues - WW2 - August 29, 1941

[@AunknownMan]

You see, you learn something everytime, i never EVER heard Iran was touched in WW2, thanks for the video!

[@kaiserkhosrow3724]

now you know. and it's because to the west the world only includes the west and the u.s. So much so for the declaration of neutrality during wars. Belgium, in the first world war, was just an excuse for Britain to attack Germany

[@blugaledoh2669]

@@kaiserkhosrow3724 Belgium was invaded.

[@ddandymann]

@@kaiserkhosrow3724 'Belgium was just an excuse for Britain to attack Germany' Wrong war mate, they are numbered in case you have trouble.

[@henrik1220]

@@kaiserkhosrow3724 Thats ww1

[@kaiserkhosrow3724]

@@ddandymann I know. but it doesn't change anything. does it? what? Your values change when it comes to second world war?

[@TheSciuzzo]

One aspect that I think isn't stressed enough about German losses so far is that Germany lost its BEST men during this period: the elite panzer divisions that spearheaded the advance took most of the brunt and the casualty rate among their officers who were often in the hearth of the action was staggering. Replenishing such capable and experienced men was not an easy feat.

[@AndreLuis-gw5ox]

The staggering losses of the Officer Corp are certainly one of the main reasons for Germany's defeat in the Eastern front

[@Askhat08]

Yes. By Autumn, our troops knew which armored battalions are the most dangerous ones and should be focused on. By Winter, our troops were no worse than Germans in tactics.

[@AbsolutelyRandomUsername]

That's an astute observation! On the other hand, as the war carries on, the previously beheaded by purges Red Army gets more and more experience, which will get reflected by the casualty rates: by 1945 the casualty rates of the Germans and the Soviets would almost flip compared to 1941 (the ratios would reverse drastically in Russia's favor)

[@PATRICKJLM]

It was the same for both.

[@luisfernandosantosn]

Lost a already lost war, despite what german generals memoirs say.

[@Weeboslav]

Allies to Iran:You're being protected.Please do not resist!

[@ivarkich1543]

The Soviets established there two unrecognized communist puppet states in the Iranian Azerbaijan with the intention to stay there forever. In 1945, it costed an enormous diplomatic pressure for the Western powers to force the Soviets to get out of Iran.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@ivarkich1543 One was Kurdish - centred on the town of Mahabad. When Soviet troops withdrew, the leaders of it were hanged by the Iranian authorities. One of the leaders who was not was Mustafa Barzani, who escaped to the USSR. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Mahabad

[@Ali-bu6lo]

The invasion was actually mostly done to open-up "the Persian corridor" the usage of Iran's roads and most importantly, it's north-south railroad from the Persian gulf to the Caspian Sea. Since most ways of sending aid to the USSR was either threatened by Germans (like the Baltic and the North sea), was denied access to by neutrals that were hard to invade (Turkey didn't allow the allies to use Bosphorus and Dardanelles), the Persian corridor was deemed the most efficient way to supply the Soviets with land-lease goods. Unfortunately, the Iranian government didn't realized the scope of the war due to Iranian froneign policy being very inactive and remained fully neutral and hoped Germans would soon reach the Caucuses and protect Iran, they didn't realize Germans were far away and Iran was not in a position to refuse allies demands.

[@dpeasehead]

@G-Misc 59 A lot of people in the modern era who have never learned or been taught about this and similar incidents are quick to accuse modern leaders in places like Iran who do know this history of being "paranoid." The powerful have always done as they pleased while declaring those with less power who resist or who do similar things on a smaller scale to be outlaws.

[@samuelrs5138]

@G-Misc 59 The US wanted to stop the spread of communism as they felt it threatened their national security and in many ways it did. You take this 'spreading of democracy' meme too literally, at that point it was more about stopping communism. The installation of democratic governments or the idea/intention of installing them was simply the only obvious choice - what else were they going to support, fascism? Were the Russians installing democratic governments? Should West Germany, and now Germany as a whole, be considered to be a 'spreading of democracy' idealism or the obvious means to an end? So it really had nothing to do with wanting to 'spread democracy', as the meme goes, but everything to do with preserving Western interests. Interests which are sometimes, and sometimes not, better than the alternative. I think it's too easy to look at these events from a modern perspective and condemn them. But the Soviet Union (Russia) at that point in history was swallowing up the world with it's ideology that directly and confrontationally opposed West, who happened to be democratic. I think the first war in Korea emboldened the US and other Western allies into future stupid decisions. Russia/China started the war there and the West responded by supporting the Korean government. If the West had lost this war it would be looked at like another Vietnam and perhaps Vietnam never would have happened in the first place. I do think Russia way more aggressively persued it's own interests by basically annexing about a dozen nations into it's country. The line between what was a 'sphere of influence' and what was basically becoming another part of Russia was not very clear. This antagonized a lot of wars, like Korea and Vietnam and the business in Cuba, and I think their role should be recognized in this.

[@grlt23]

7:56 - I was so much expecting "Keitel, Jodl, Krebs and Burgdorf"....

[@WorldWarTwo]

"Mein Führer, Steiner...Steiner couldn't mobilize enough men. He wasn't able to carry out his assault,"

[@ArtrexisLives]

I understood that reference!

[@pnutz_2]

@@WorldWarTwo DAS WAR EIN BEFEHL!

[@taufiqutomo]

@@harr1sonm1chael18 We have, in the War against Humanity episode.

[@Game_Hero]

@@WorldWarTwo "Fegelein used itching powder on the men, they can't be mobilized right now my Failüre"

[@Ypog_UA]

"Not My Fault" -A memoir of German officers in WW2

[@armorsmith43]

Extreme Disownership

[@Arashmickey]

"Not telling the Führer; 1-2-3 not it!"

[@scottaznavourian540]

I was only a translator!

[@randymi9334]

More like blame dead hitler

[@ErikHare]

Absolutely. There are so many of those. And many people believe them because they're the only primary sources

[@howardbrandon11]

Timestamps: 0:59 Operation Countenance - Allied Invasion of Iran 2:45 Operation Gauntlet - Allied Raid on Spitzbergen 3:30 Operation Barbarossa - Army Group North This Week 5:36 Operation Barbarossa - Army Group Center This Week (6:43 Phone Call Reference) 8:14 Operation Barbarossa - Army Group South This Week 9:28 Destruction of the Zaporozhe Dam 10:40 War Against Humanity - Operational Situation Report #80 & Tiergartenstraße 4 12:53 Summary of the Week 13:09 Something to Consider

[@171Mirza]

These crimes on civilians are even more terrifying than already terrifying loss of life on the frontlines..

[@mariosvourliotakis]

It will only get worse from here..

[@kstreet7438]

Russian history in five words " and then it got worse"

[@kstreet7438]

@Rafael Resende what? Looking at your comment history reeks of whataboutism nobody takes Soviets side you just makes you sound dumb as hell talking about the obvious. They mention all atrocities no reason to do the horrible "what about" when nazis or Soviets crimes are being discussed makes things very clear

[@kstreet7438]

@Rafael Resende we know this good god stop with the whataboutism and talk about what the video featured. You come with stupid remarks with every comment.

[@kstreet7438]

@Rafael Resende what the fuck are you even going on about now and why are you even here???? Has zero to do with today's video but muh "whataboutism" you sound like a god damn idiot with each comment. Do you have anything intelligent to say? Probably not

[@dragosstanciu9866]

Yes, conquering Ukraine (for food) and the Caucasus (for oil) is much more important than conquering Moscow. The Axis has fuel and food shortages, thus conquering Moscow is useless.

[@jackh3570]

The Germans didn't have a fuel shortage yet and wouldn't for a about another year and a half. Also it was never even practical to conquer the Caucasus, it would extend the front thousands of miles more exposing their week flanks and the region is very mountainous making it easy to defend with few soldiers and even if the Germans could of taken it it would have become a haven for partisans just like yugoslavia

[@dragosstanciu9866]

@@jackh3570 Germany already has a big fuel shortage in 1941. Look here kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYfSZnxmrbOFnsk

[@piotrd.4850]

Moscow was vital industrial, population and transportation hub, loss of which would cost Soviets dearly.

[@dragosstanciu9866]

@@piotrd.4850 Moscow would have to be besieged, there was no way for the Germans to conquer Moscow fast, thus it was pointless for the Axis to waste time trying to conquer Moscow, while the food and fuel shortages were becoming bigger and bigger for the Axis.

[@HooptieWagon]

The Nazis had stockpiled about a 6 month supply of oil in preparation of Barbarossa. That is the main reason Russia had to be defeated quickly.

[@kringe700]

> talking about WW2 Iran > shows IR Iran flag on the thumbnail OK Indy. (edit; thanks for fixing a thumbnail)

[@dylanhultman3922]

IR?

[@silashenriksen244]

@@dylanhultman3922 IR probably means Islamic Republic

[@Just_a_random-guy143]

Hahaha it’s like showing the Russian Empire with a Soviet Union flag, it’s almost an insult since the latter was overthrown by the former😂

[@TheSkyBaron]

@@dylanhultman3922 Upvote so indy fixes this

[@Just_a_random-guy143]

Prins van Oranje the Pahlavi dynasty had two shahs, so technically he’s roasting the dynasty and it’s loyalist. I believe it wasn’t intentional, the flag was probably overlooked in editing, which happens.

[@majike0355]

One thing I don't see credited enough on this channel is your use of old war footage. It's amazing how much you have and how well they're placed. Talking abut destroying the facilities and that insane mining blast at 2:56 is an example of how the editing makes these videos so much more engaging

[@Heybat]

A side story: Story of three Iranian soldiers who bravely resisted the red army and managed to stop them for several hours while the were crossing the Aras river near the city of Jolfa. They resisted despite their commanders fleeing the front.

[@Ali-bu6lo]

@otto Lincoln Unfortunately there isn't much on English sources, however I found this article which tell the events of the invasion in detail: warisboring.com/in-1941-british-and-soviet-troops-invaded-iran/

[@Ali-bu6lo]

@otto Lincoln Also I found this on facebook: facebook.com/TomHanks/posts/3-iranians-stop-the-red-armyaug-25-1941-ada-border-post-over-the-jolfa-nakhjevan/10152195900436321/

[@ahappyimago]

It was better Iran did not succeed and help Germany:

[@badboyirani6675]

@@ahappyimago no one can stand in 6 war front dude...

[@thepersiannarration961]

@@ahappyimago did you even watch the video? Iran was neutral and had already accepted to deport all Germans

[@Valdagast]

"You have a lot of oil. We need to protect it."

[@peteranderson037]

Brittain: "America, where did you learn to invade countries for oil?!" America: "I learned it from you, dad!"

[@victorbruant389]

*liberate you

[@annairinastoll2960]

"I think I know this one. It's a classic!"

[@jamesrogers47]

It was a legitimate concern. If the Germans could have gained control of Iran (or at least the acquiescence of the Iranian government,) it would have been able to obtain the petroleum feedstocks for the needs of its military. This would have been very significant to the future of Germany's war efforts. By gaining control of Iran's oil fields, the Allies prevented that from happening.

[@michaelwier1222]

valdagast...Sounds alot like Germany invading Norway and Denmark, 'for their protection'.

[@bond0815]

Iran, You are being protected. Please do not resist.

[@knightowl3577]

The British drew out the boarders for Iran and Iraq after WWI.

[@civi4ever460]

@@knightowl3577 not entirely true. Those borders were solidified between Iran and the Ottomans way before ww2.

[@kandishm8575]

@@knightowl3577 not at all... Iran has its borderes sorted since the Ottoman times and stand to this day other than 3 islands that we added in 70s

[@speedydb55]

Britain: *Will eventually have a Dambuster Air Raid.* USSR: "In Soviet Russia, we bust our own dams ourselves!"

[@jjeherrera]

It was also done by the Belgians in WWI.

[@sahteekrem]

Hmmm... Funny. And damn intelligent.

[@miracleyang3048]

China: Amateurs

[@onefastcyclist]

"Strength draining front" - best understatement of the campaign

[@taufiqutomo]

7:55 "Everyone in the room including Keitel, Jodl, ..." me: "Krebs, and Burgdorf" me two seconds later: wait EDIT: beaten by another guy who got there first

[@markfryer9880]

Watched too many Downfall parodies?

[@defdandef5841]

Das war ein befehl!!!

[@ricardoaguirre6126]

FEGELHEIN FEGELHEIN FEGELHEIN!!!

[@annescholey6546]

Launches into a tirade as to why Brexits gone wrong..

[@jaypandya1346]

*Keital, Jodl, Krebs und Burgdorf*

[@cass7448]

Germany: "Hey Japan, you know that big continental war we started against an enemy with vast manpower reserves and little to lose?" Japan: "It's going to take longer than you thought, isn't it?" Germany: "How did you know?"

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

Japan: "Because we're literally doing the same thing! :D"

[@quintustheophilus9550]

😂😂

[@SimoN-vf8ps]

The Axis really shot themselves in the foot,twice

[@gianniverschueren870]

Some playful patterning, but a very wearable tie thanks to the chosen colours. A respectable 3/5

[@orcho141]

How did you comment this 2 days ago?

[@barneyh7014]

Ander Pereira patreon

[@QuizmasterLaw]

And there he is. They man who will make bullet ties happen.

[@orcho141]

@@gianniverschueren870 oh yeah, I actually already do but prefer to watch the videos on the titles dates 😁

[@BrianSmith-nu3lg]

I didn't know that the occupation of Iran involved actual combat (Bombing of cities and ground combat) The fact that this part of the war was covered in detail only by the Timeghost team (that I know off) Shows an attention to detail which I feel illustates your passion for telling the story of World War Two without the rosy depiction made by biased politics/ideologies. Thank You once again.

[@mpamphsxatz2263]

the Brits were not reluctant in bombing neutral nations cities/ another event of bombing neutral powers will occur in late 1944 when the German invaders were retreating from Greece. Then the Allies bombed Thessaloniki which was a midway station for the German forces coming from Athens and this resulted in the deaths of many

[@farhanrahman7119]

It's crazy how many different countries were involved in the war, great that this channel tells most of those tales

[@Yora21]

It's called World War for a reason.

[@florianettwein6509]

6:31 rare picture of a german officer checking google Maps for directions on his MacBuch Luft!

[@shashwatsinha2704]

Lol, but seriously what is that? A map?

[@florianettwein6509]

@@shashwatsinha2704 probably

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

@@shashwatsinha2704 Its a 1940 era Windows 0.4 era laptop, obviously.

[@shashwatsinha2704]

@@KaiserMattTygore927 No, no, no. It's clearly the more advanced Windows 0.55

[@TukozAki]

Das extra slim Model, sehr schon! Good catch here ,-)

[@0utc4st1985]

The focus on taking Moscow does ignore the main reason the invasion was launched in the first place, resources and especially oil. In 1941 the German oil situation was so bad they were starting to demotorize some of their divisions. Their production levels were nowhere near enough and their reserve levels were not as high as they planned when the war started. Not focusing on the south from the start certainly was a huge blunder on the part of the general staff. It still might not have made a difference, but it was still a blunder nonetheless.

[@Septimus_ii]

In the end, the Wehrmacht was quite close to taking over the oil fields in late 1942, so it's reasonable to guess that they would have managed this if it was a higher priority from the beginning. However it would have taken a considerable time beyond that to repair them sufficiently to yield the large amounts of fuel that the German army, airforce, navy and economy was so desperate for.

[@Macbrother]

Indeed, a blunder perhaps; but not the game-changer it's often made out to be. The Germans were never winning no matter which course they chose. The distances were simply too great, logistics too fragile, treatment of the locals too harsh, manpower too short.

[@randymi9334]

Regardless had the Germans taken the Caucasian oil fields, they would have needed to have a successful Africa campaign as well due to the fact that British bombers in Egypt could still bomb the oil fields, not to mention the fact that the Soviets would have probably destroyed them before the Germans got to them.

[@ErikHare]

It's very clear that there was a lot of controversy as to what the right priority was. Most of the generals were in favor of taking Moscow. Most of the Nazi leadership understood that this was an economic War and wanted to take the South. Priorities were constantly changing. I would argue that the main reason they had no chance was that they never had a clear Target. There is little doubt that they were running out of oil. I would love to go through exactly what the Soviet Union shipped to Germany and how the negotiations went when they were still under a peace treaty. It seems reasonable that the Soviet Union sent the minimum that they could get away with knowing that Barbarossa was going to come. No matter what the shortage of oil was severe. It had to be the top priority. It was not.

[@dusk6159]

@@Macbrother It's almost becoming overblown, just like the myths of the "turning points" of Midway and Stalingrad

[@marcostrujillo2617]

2:56 the guy be like: "I'm just going to detonate this here real quick... WTF?!" 🤣

[@caorusso4926]

The british are truly especial, if you know what i mean

[@Rendell001]

Yeah that was some shockwave! :O

[@davideborroni3875]

Caught him slightly off guard...

[@modisp]

I will end this dams whole career.

[@marcostrujillo2617]

@@davideborroni3875 let's say he hadn't been debriefed on shockwaves in engineer training camp 😆

[@loetzcollector466]

Watching this in real time really shows you how quickly the German offensive turned into a dumpster fire.

[@JasonSputnik]

Halder, who famously said "We've beaten the Soviets in two weeks!".

[@danielkurtovic9099]

Halder in mid august- `` we won the war``

[@None-zc5vg]

Halder was one of many Germans who were allowed post-war to get away with murder.

[@Yora21]

"Mission accomplished"

[@danielkurtovic9099]

@Rafael Resende -Here we have another Nazi-apologiest for Halder and all the others: `` Most German soldiers were simply fighting for their country, their nation and people, not for the Nazi Party. The nation and people, not the party. Halder was a Wehrmacht General.`` First as a chief of stuff OKW , he let the war crime happend and do nothing about it. 3.5 millions soviet POW starve to death in camps during 1941. He knew about it. Starve POW is just equal as shoot them- war crime. Second- just like car driver who drive bank robbers is guilty , because he help them to achive their goal, so is the german generals who helping Nazis to achive their goal - establish 3rd reich. Wermacht and german generals did not defend their country and their people, they start WWII by invading Poland, Norway, Belgium, Holland , France, Yougoslavia, Greece and finaly USSR. They serve to Nazi political party achive it`s goal not just by fighting armies, they also killed millions civilians across Europe. Yeap , they are war criminals.

[@Keddeadkedemption]

@@danielkurtovic9099 well said. They totally went with Hitler's plan until things started going wrong and they blamed him and the other top Nazis for everything. They may not have been directly responsible but they certainly allowed it.

[@tasosfran2791]

The summary at the end was great and made things easier to remember. We need so clear summaries at the end of every video.

[@jimzawacki3041]

The footage at 2:56 is absolutely astounding.

[@creatoruser736]

"Hitler...tells Guderian that he and the other commanders know nothing about the economic aspects of the war." He's right. The German generals were good at tactical and operational moves because that's all they were trained to know. They weren't concerned with higher level priorities, like economics or resources. Their obsession with taking the enemy capital was an extension of that thinking.

[@piotrd.4850]

Htiler himself wasn't much wiser; there was time to plan Barbarossa accordingly from start, not to meddle with during the fighting. Also, Moscow was vital industrial, population and transportation hub, loss of which would cost Soviets dearly.

[@creatoruser736]

@@piotrd.4850 You literally just parroted the generals' talking points.

[@danielkurtovic9099]

@@piotrd.4850 - ooo yes he was much much smarter then generals. And yes from the start it was meant the main blow go towards south , only to Halder and generals skip that and push for Moscow. Germans needs ONE Month to take fortress Brest, few buildings with few soviets troops in. Now imagine what would need to them to take fortress Moscow with thousands buildings make a strongholds and several hundred thousands troops inside. With all forifications around the city. Moscow would never fall if soviets deside to defend it, and they where ready to do it ( unlike in Napolen time, when they leave and burn it).

[@brucetucker4847]

I'm not sure how they got that way, in WW1 the top German generals were very concerned and involved with economics.

[@danielkurtovic9099]

@@EburdeyGordei4 Yes , Moscow would be defend with even more resilience ( if that is posible). Moscow would never fall , even IF the main blow german army was going to city. Here is some reasons why. 1. Moscow is 5-10 times larger than Stalingrad 2. Inside Stalingrad was never more than 15 000 soldires defend it, while in Moscow was without reinforcment around 200 000 troops already. 3. Stalingrad was basicly encircled ( reinforsment flew via Volga into city with heavy casualties), witch Moscow could not. Germans would need to go another 750 km with both spearheads ( north , soth with Guderian). Impossible from a logistic point alone , let aside combat. 4. Moscow not encicled , would mean constant flow reinforsment and supplys into city 5. Leningrad hold on for 3 years even encircled , now imagine in what fantasy Moscow would fall with enough man to defend it with all supplys they need food , amunition etc. 6. Even with railroad taken by germans , soviets still would-could get they supplys in , just like germans they have millions horse charts, trucks etc, all they need was a small corridor. 7. Strongholds- Pavlov house was a stronghold in Stalingrad defend with 29 soldiers and hold on. Moscow had make a thousands strongholds around and in the city. 8. Moscow have had 4 defence belt around the city fully dug in with anti tank ditches 9m deep 9. Moscow have had the strongest antiaircraft defence even better than London. Germans statemant , Kesserling 10. Only over Moscow germans have not total air superiority in 1941, constant reinforsment of new aircrafts come every day 11. German panzers was already at 50% initial strenght , the task that they do futher 750 km futher east to go around Moscow with fuel sortages- impossible. 12. I can go on , but think this already paint a picture If germans deside to go on Moscow, they would lost war much quicker. At Stalingrad they lost 6th army. At Moscow they would lost Wermacht.

[@natedogg1088]

Indy would make the coolest history teacher ever! I've never seen someone present factual information while still making it very entertaining.

[@SimoN-vf8ps]

high charisma and intelligence RPG character like a mix of bard and mage

[@JoshuaTootell]

The best professors I had, who were passionate, also received horrible reviews on websites. Funny how the ones who were great teachers were not popular because it was hard to earn an A, because you had to earn it. I'm betting you would hate to have Indy as a teacher where you had to earn your grade.

[@Edwin-ku2cg]

Hearts of iron 2 taught me about the allied invasion of Iran

[@Dustz92]

Same

[@thegreatgreenmenace4050]

What would've taking Moscow have done for the Wehrmacht on a strategic level, that it hadn't for Napoleon? Did they think Stalin would throw up his hands and say "ah ya got me"

[@KBDkiller100]

Moscow was a crucial railway hub, the Soviets would keep fighting after losing it but losing most of your transport infrastructure would cripple your war effort.

[@dragosstanciu9866]

@@KBDkiller100 Yes, you are right, but remember that the Axis itself is already crippled by big fuel and food shortages, thus the Axis has more need of oil and food and conquering Moscow does not help alleviate the shortages.

[@Septimus_ii]

Yes, the General Staff did believe that. Or at least they had to believe that, because there was no other way that they could win the war. Hitler had a different fantasy for winning the war - turning the Soviet Union from the Baltic to the Caspian into a source of oil, food and all the other resources that were already running out by 1941.

[@bingobongo1615]

In the Russian civil war the soviets only basically held the territory around Petrograd and Moscow and then won. Nothing in Russia works without those two cities and surrounding. Population is centered there, railways, government and industry was at the time also strongest there. Think of Paris and France. Could France fight without Paris? Yes but they would be pretty screwed and needed to basically reshift all the power in the country

[@danielkurtovic9099]

@@bingobongo1615 You are dead wrong , just like german generals. Compare things from WWI and revolution with 1941. Soviets knew that , and because of that they develop a plan to relocate factorys if war errupt. When it come they do just that and Moscow was no hub anymore. Second , just like Halder you make the same mistake, France maybe could not fight without Paris , soviet without Moscow certainly , as they prepare for it and do it.

[@IamAvni]

really informative "bulletin style" documentary, loved the way it was narrated, loved the host and his skills at storytelling and most of all, loved the detailed explanations of the events. Keep up the good work, you just got yourself a new subscriber

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for your kind words @Paroxysm LTD, glad to have you aboard!

[@mohammadsab4478]

Ok my favorite episode! Thanks for covering one of the most forgotten ops in ww2

[@benismann]

They didn't cover Mongolia

[@iamnolegend483]

At 3:00 lookout for the shock wave Tommy.

[@thegloriouspyrocheems2277]

Guderian: *mentions Moscow* OKH: "Oh nein you didn't"

[@hopfinatorischerkuchenkrieger]

*I'M GONNA' DO IT, I'M GONNA' **-SAY THE N-WORD-** MENTION MOSKAU!*

[@PeacetimePuma]

I actually got a shout out! Been watching you guys nearly 5 years. Thank you very much Indy. God bless the work you do and I will support you for as long as I can. Many thanks from Blackpool, England. Love Benjamin Newman

[@samuelkatz1124]

I was wondering when this happened! It's such an interesting and consequential footnote in middle eastern history. Hopefully we get some extra coverage of the situation in Iran.

[@eedwardgrey2]

Especially since it lead directly to the ascension of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the last shah who was disposed in the Iranian revolution,

[@FishtownRec]

I’ve heard it hundreds of times, but still hearing how many Soviets were taken prisoner will always amaze me.

[@HannibalBarcaRTW]

GERMAN GENERALS: we need more oil, we need more ammo, give us reinforcements, oil!!! also GERMAN GENERALS: lets push towards a meaningless city with no resources

[@mikefischer8576]

All cities were vital as railroas hubs

[@HannibalBarcaRTW]

@@mikefischer8576 yeah the railroads that arent being used because they dont work with german trains?

[@mikefischer8576]

@@HannibalBarcaRTW they can still use captured Russian trains and railcars. This would allow quick movement of troops and supplies. By the way this factor into a ton of early German thinking as if they could capture Russian trains they could use them to travel back to were the German railroads ended and Russian started build supplie zones and then send it into russian.

[@DiggingForFacts]

Lets see now....vital railhub that connects virtually the entire breadth of the front, most vital communications node in the entire empire, major manufacturing base, only place that good roads leading everywhere, location of a centralized bureaucracy and high command that's the only thing even capable of overseeing and commanding vast tracts of land and numbers of soldiers. Yep, totally meaningless. The reality of it is that these are two operational and strategic objectives that are always boiled down to "resources" and "capital city" while there is far more at stake when it comes to understanding how these things interact. First of all, the German army had a tradition going back centuries of winning through operational success. Due to its location, Germany has always been on the back foot when it comes to fighting a long war on resources, but has always had great results by winning campaigns in the field. Every German officer since the mid 19th century was always taught that bringing an army to its knees quickly and in the field was the way to win wars. The idea of fighting for resources first thus went against everything that even the teachers of the WWII German generals were taught. This means that the German officer corps was not as clued in to the value of resources as those in other nations, because they could simply not afford that kind of war. Ever. Remember that the original plan of the British and the French was to contain the Germans and blockade them into submission. If not for the success of the left hook across the Meuse, that is probably what would've happened. That also means that the Germans have recently had very good experience (and quite a lot of it) with operational ideas triumphing over strategic ideas. Hitler was right in putting emphasis on resources, but lets not forget that this was a dangerous, genocidal, sociopath who was known for extreme mood swings and who based his logic on his own convictions of "the relative strengths and weaknesses of moral character inherent in race" backed up by things like phrenology and his perception of the laziness of empires. His idea of 'Lebensraum' was not a guiding strategic principle, but rather a logical outcome of an 'inevitable struggle of races that would see the Arian race claim its rightful place as master over the others'. That means that he did not go into Fall Barbarossa with the expressed objective of trying to muscle his way into a resource war with the Soviet Union. By Hitler's logic the should've won by now and Moscow should have been a maelstrom of chaos and anarchy with Stalin's head standing on a pike in Red Square. In the clear absence of his fantasized victory and the realization that the Soviet Union actually has quite a lot more men and machines than they even dared to think, it prompted Hitler to change horses mid stream and now put the emphasis on taking ground, resources and slave labour. The real problem was the lack of clear direction from the start. The idea of Blitzkrieg/Bewegungskrieg is that you choose one key objective and subordinate everything else to it in order to achieve a deep penetration and disrupt the enemy's supply and communication, after which you can encircle them in the manner of the old Feldherr Moltke and bring about a glorious victory in the field. The Fall Barbarossa plan had three separate spearheads all more or less vying for priority (which is ultimately why Hitler stopped Army Group Centre to send troops north and south), with an army that is still grossly undersize, underequipped and unprepared for the enormous demands that the vast stretches of the Soviet Union would place on men, material and supplies. In these circumstances the seeds of disaster were sown before German soldiers even set foot in the Soviet Union. They were never going to be able to support all three spearheads and they were never going to be able to take both Moscow and the Ukraine/Caucasus at the same time. There should have been a cold hard discussion of the kind that was impossible under Hitler about whether to prioritize knocking out the central hub of the Soviet defence in one desperate dash (while hoping that supporting forces could hold off Russian attempts to counterattack) or to focus on to capture and industrialize one large stretch of land and then enter into a protracted war where you steadily try to chip off useful bits from your opponent. When you look at it, one is an act of desperation that hopes you can keep beating the Red Army to the punch every time for several months and then hope that in the confusion, you can get the Soviets to yield, the other assumes that you can capture less than a quarter of the Soviet Union's resources and hope that that will be enough to beat the other +75% in the long term, all while building a completely new infrastructure and raising record quantities of raw materials (wheat and steel don't spring out of the ground in seconds on their own accord). It's easy to condemn people like Halder as idiots in hindsight, but from his perspective the idea of punching for Moscow was probably the only one that now had even a slight chance of succeeding. Almost everyone (and this is an important point: it was the most present conviction in the staff rooms AND political offices) was convinced that Fall Barbarossa would be fairly easy. Three months on and everyone is now starting to see just how badly and dangerously mistaken they were. The original objective had always been to achieve a quick victory and that was still the mission that OKH had been tasked with. In that respect, being told to try and do the one thing they had always been told not to do because it could not be sustained, probably sounded like utter madness and the chance of trying to force the 'whole rotten structure' to finally collapse as had been presumed - however small that chance might be - was probably worth the risk.

[@jonbaxter2254]

Suprise Iran invasion! Me: Wait, what? Iran...

[@riekopo7638]

I'm amazed that Hitler never realized that you can't win the resource/economic war unless you win the actual tactical/strategic battles lol. He put the cart before the horse. Of course, dictators are rarely rational.

[@dragosstanciu9866]

But Germany is winning the tactical battles, the problem is the USSR has many more troops and weapons than the Germans believed, and the Soviets have the will to fight no matter the cost and will not surrender.

[@fredaxmear1121]

I think these history videos are absolutely GREAT !!!

[@El_Presidente_5337]

Ah, the part of WW2 that I learned only while playing the Hearts of Iron Endsieg mod.

[@GunnyKeith]

Outstanding commentating & content. Top notch coverage Indy.

[@mohammadsab4478]

Spoiler: wrong flag is used for ww2 Iran.

[@sandmans1987]

Do you have a link to the right flag? I would love the see it. For real I love flags.

[@mohammadsab4478]

@@sandmans1987 images.app.goo.gl/z98SfaCuZxZisW1v8 If you can't find it, type "Imperial Iran flag in Google pic

[@aagzh5710]

You might dont have a feeling about this , but as an iranian , this was one of our most tragic times . Imagine two big countries attach you , take control all of you lands , takeout you empire , and set a puppet instead of him …

[@DarthVader-yq5iz]

I like Heinz. It is great ketchup.

[@realbobafett8216]

Thanks! I Always learn so much watching these!

[@nygarmik]

5:02: "Between two coasts occupied by the Germans..." Ehem, northern coast of the Gulf of Finland is not under German occupation. German forces are operating only in Northern Finland, and it's the Finnish Army that is advancing towards Leningrad in the Karelian Isthmus. Finland is working in close co-operation with Germany, though, and has mined the Gulf extensively.

[@aritakalo8011]

And the Coast is occupied by Finnish Coastal defences and Finland and USSR are in war. So Finnish Coastal forts and Coastal fleet would fire on Soviet Navy. Still not exactly accurate. Better wording would have been between "two coasts occupied by enemy forces." or something like that

[@WandererRTF]

@CommandoDude They actually did. The convoys were targeted by some German large motor torpedoboats (and some Finnish patrol boats) along the way. Issue with larger ships was that the Gulf of Finland was heavily mined by all parties (Finns, Germans, Soviets) and the Soviets still had strong coastal artillery batteries there. So it wasn't quite that easy. It was possible to sneak past the Soviet fortifications (several convoys did) but staying there to fight would not have been realistic option. Also the Germans were trying to preserve the few capital ships they had given the losses they had been taking.

[@jonbaxter2254]

Poor Leningrad, what's coming :(

[@marzbanofmerv2324]

Not so fun facts about the Anglo-soviet invasion of Iran : the objective of the Invasion was to secure transportation from the Persian gulf to Soviet union, in order to do this almost all of the Iranian transportation system (trains, trucks you name it) will be focused on transporting supplies to Soviet union and because of that many parts of Iran will starve without supplies and will leave a death toll of 4 milion on the 14 milion population of Iran and the Soviet union would be forced to supply food to Iran to prevent the whole population starving. Thank you brits for protecting us!

[@marzbanofmerv2324]

@@TheGreatConqueror1 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_famine_of_1942%E2%80%931943

[@TheGreatConqueror1]

@@marzbanofmerv2324 i mean why the fuck will soviets send food to iran

[@marzbanofmerv2324]

@@TheGreatConqueror1 well you know I always wondered about that myself, I guess it wouldn't be beneficial to them that all of Iran was starving and people rebel and stuff? I donno maybe Stalin had a nice day and felt generous

[@nordicfella8004]

@@TheGreatConqueror1 If Iran would fall into complete anarchy, it would cause problems for the lend-lease shipments.

[@TheGreatConqueror1]

@@marzbanofmerv2324 wait did they really send food to iran ?

[@FrazzP]

5:30 When the Finnish army recaptured Viipuri, explosives had been placed around the city by the retreating Russians. They would explode when being sent a radio signal. To avoid this, Finnish radio operators played a famous fast-paced Polka to disturb the signals and disarm the explosives. Vladimir Kirpichnikov, commander of the 43. Rifle Division was also captured. He was the only soviet general the finns ever captured, which didn't look so good obviously, as he was executed for treason in 1950.

[@nattiedraws]

Now this is fascinating

[@rowdyelitehater8595]

Russian Barbarism at its finest, ty for that interesting info.

[@alexamerling79]

Von Bock, Halder and Guderian playing rock paper scissors to see who has to bring up Moscow to Hitler...Guderian: "Scheisse."

[@SimonvanTilburg]

I keep learning things about ww2 that I never knew. Thanks so much for the interesting videos. I've been following you guys for a while now and keep being interest and educated 😁👍🏻

[@ajeetsmann]

How is it possible to have 190 ships in one port without any air support to speak of??

[@tihomirrasperic]

if you have 2000 km front line all plane are in fight Red Army didn't have aircarft carrier

[@markvorobjov6185]

Red air force lost thousands of plane in the initial german attack. They just couldn't cover the entire eastern front at that moment.

[@stevebarrett9357]

The distance between Leningrad and Tallinn is about 300km. That was about the limit of range for the older Soviet fighters (I-153, I-16), and the more modern ones (Yak-1, MiG-3, LaGG-1) were probably not available. Look at Indy's map at how the Germans are closing on Leningrad and consider where you'd allocate what air assets you have. It's my perception that the Soviets took a chance evacuating that garrison and lost.

[@anaccountmusthaveaname9110]

@@stevebarrett9357 Also the ships would soon be useless anyway, so why not try to do something with them?

[@Overture-ur6mk]

Been waiting for this all day.

[@ДмитрийМоскалец-щ8ю]

Some remarks. 1. the commander of the operation to invade Iran was the commander of the Transcaucasian front, General Kozlov, consisting of the 44th army of General Khadeev, the 47th army of General Novikov, and the 53rd army of General Trofimenko, formed from the troops of the Central Asian military district. 2. Division of the Northern front into the Leningrad and Karelian fronts. The map shows the Karelian front, in reality it shows the 23rd army of the Leningrad front. The Karelian front stretched from Murmansk to lake Ladoga, and the Karelian isthmus belonged to the Leningrad front.3 After the division of the Northern front, Voroshilov was in Leningrad as a representative of the Stavka, and on September 5, he took over the Leningrad front from General Popov. 4. the Germans at Velikiye Luki could not capture 34,000 people, since the 22nd army numbered 71,000, was divided into parts in the ring were 35,000-40,000 people, of which 20 thousand participated in the breakthrough, the remaining 20 thousand broke through in small groups or surrendered. The total losses of the 22nd army are just 34 thousand people-killed and captured. Based on my knowledge, German data should be divided at least 2 times. That is, prisoners of war under the Great Bows were about 12 to 17 thousand people

[@theeaselrider4032]

You folks do such a good job with these videos. I really look forward to watching them each week. Thank you for doing them. I am curious about the paint scheme on your Lancaster though. I don't recall that particular one being used in any theatre it flew in. I could be wrong though. I do love how you placed it to cast it's shadow over the map of Europe.

[@revasgamer7793]

"However, the terrain down there, north of Kiev is difficult." 2022 Russians: We know.....we literally just proved it again.

[@Gia1911Logous]

I'm kinda late but anyone who wants more details in Estonia can watch the Eastory video for it Eastory is the mapmaker of this channel too so it's a good shoutout

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Ah yes the 1941 intervention we’ve all been waiting for.

[@GS-vb3zn]

“Gee, hope I placed this detonator far enough away from the TNT” 2:57

[@Perkelenaattori]

William Slim you say? We might hear more of this chap later.

[@grlt23]

Yeah, it is not like he and his army would be forgotten...

[@pnutz_2]

and a long and glorious post-war career as a great bastion of morality

[@benwilson6145]

@@Perkelenaattori Not just British, Patton had a dishonorable mention.

[@Yora21]

Is he the idiot that did the invasion of Iraq later?

[@benwilson6145]

@@Yora21 No he wanted to invade the Soviet Union/

[@economicsanity2895]

People tend to criticise of Hitler for not listening to his generals and the failure of Barbarossa attributing to the failure of capture Moscow. For me, Hitler in this case is reasonable in pointing out that economic needs are essential for Germany’s efforts of waging the war against the Soviet while also squeezing the Soviet from its substantial resources.

[@Southsideindy]

Well, depends what you mean by reasonable- since there were exactly zero plans made for how to get such resources to Germany should they be taken and not totally sabotaged by the Soviets. The Germans didn't have the trucks, they didn't have the planes, and they didn't have the trains to do it. if this was REALLY the priority, then at some point along the line some basic plan would've been made to satisfy German economic needs, but it never was. And one interesting thing I'm always surprised that many historians think is that Germany would've won if Moscow had fallen. There is no guarantee of that whatsoever, and by now the Soviets have moved over 1,500 armament factories eastward beyond any German reach- why give in should Moscow fall?

[@economicsanity2895]

Indiana Neidell interesting point as to the lack of consistency in setting up objectives and planning of the Germans in invading The Soviet Union. Literally, at the end of the day the war boiled down to the resources war. Germany was desperate at oil and other precious resources that only had in the USSR. Also, by taking Kiev was somewhat a secure package for Germany’s food supply while deterring that resources to sustain the USSR. Further, it was a necessary step as a springboard to move into Caucasus oil fields. However, a fundamental question is that Blitzkriegs is about a lighting war, so by moving into resourceful regions would surely not promise a total victory for them. Nonetheless, the landscape for the Germans in the long run would have looked better.

[@user-ys2st1eo9o]

Don't know if he said the real reason why they invaded Iran. The shah was becoming closer with Germany in an economic sense and the British wanted to put a stop to it despite Iran declaring neutrality.

[@SsiolisP]

The more I learn about this war, the more I detest all sides, the more and more I fear man.

[@perfectlyfine1675]

When I learnt about the Soviet/British invasion of Iran, I thought it took place after the Battle of Moscow, when the Soviets could catch a break and divert troops south. But apparently, they just invaded it during Barbarossa.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

I saw a photo in a book of Soviet troops moving into northern Iran, and it was sunny weather and they were wearing their summer uniforms, so it was probably August or September 1941.

[@LetsTakeWalk]

2:55 whoa soldier dude was a bit too close for the explosion.

[@gunman47]

1942 huh? Seems like Operation Barbarossa won't be done by Christmas now. The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran on the other hand, although relatively short, might have many long term implications and consequences in the years to come.

[@rare_kumiko]

>1942 huh? Seems like Operation Barbarossa won't be done by Christmas now. Pretty shocking, to be honest. I expected the Soviets to last a few weeks at best yet we're two months into the invasion with no prospect of a conclusion. And it's going to be hard for the Germans to keep pushing as the winter comes in (and even later during the spring rains). There's still a small chance of getting Moscow before the end of the year, but what would that even change? The Soviets are fully comitted to defending their motherland and it doesn't look like they'll give up just because the capital falls. I'm just starting to think that maybe the Soviets can actually win this...

[@nordicfella8004]

@CommandoDude If it's any consolation, we *are* quite probably a part of someone's AI simulation about what would have happened if Germany had invaded USSR :)

[@benwilson6145]

@colin minhinnick and maybe the Royal Navy would have a say? Also I suspect the Soviets would like some input?

[@dougie1943]

@@rare_kumiko If Germany could have poured all their resources into defeating Russia then they may well have defeated Russia. The German failure to defeat Britain meant they had to contend with having to fight on many fronts whilst at the same time having its industrial heartlands methodically destroyed from the air. Russia did not have that problem and were able to focus solely on pushing the Germans back to whence they had come.

[@lucianosilvestri4289]

Iran being "liberated" by the benevolent allies

[@Meysam_play]

UK wanted to use Iran's new made rail roads to send supplies to struggling Soviet union And Iran said No And both of them attacked iran while Iran was neutral and was building itself out the destruction of the old Qajar Dynasty In both world wars iran was attacked by both Russia and UK while iran was neutral in both In the ww1 Iran suffered from famine and lost half of it's 18 million ppl(9 millions died because of famine no war or any bloody battle) And here we are today a very underrated poor country that is suffering again History repeating

[@beanacomputer]

Halder and von Bock: He'll listen to Heinz! Narrator: Hitler will not listen to Heinz

[@JamesJames-jt3ts]

A very very bad move for the germans to attack Soviet Union. They wouldn't needed this in a time when they didn't secure their oil supply and the economical aspects of the war. A monumental strategic failure. They thought they will finish USSR in a couple of months " the rotten house will collapse". That rotten house was so big that they got lost in it and the house collapsed on them.

[@christopherjustice6411]

Heinz Guderian is like a villain in a slasher movie. No matter how hard you try, the little bastard will find a way to get behind you.

[@Ikit1Claw]

12:42 According to recent discoveries, Hans Asperger was one of doctors participating in the selection of patients to be executed.

[@kylecampbell1766]

As a person with Aspergers Syndrome, especially one who is half Jewish, it really stings

[@marinazagrai1623]

Is that why he has a syndrome named after him? My son had a friend with that syndrome (they were in high school - that boy is alive and well).

[@pnutz_2]

@@marinazagrai1623 yeah he did a lot of research into the field. "low-functioning" meant he reckoned the person was a net drain on society and should be sent to T-4 to be killed

[@bandwagon22]

Britain didn't transported Iranian oil to home though it continued production there. Oil was used in Mediterranean and Burma warfare. Soviet oil production went down heavily. They produced some 33 million tons in 1940 but only 18 million in 1943 and just 18.2 million tons even in 1944. Their relatively weak oil production is another interesting fact very seldom talked. Likely another Soviet tabu?

[@VultureEU]

Confused about the Spitzbergen French PoWs So the Soviets established a internment camp there after the Svalbard Treaty, which demilitarized the islands, where they sent escaped French prisoners of war? Norway retained sovereignty, but both USSR and Norway had economic rights. There are no German troops in Svalbard. The local government is in on it and send false weather reports whilst the Allies and locals burn down previously built infrastructure. Ultimately, the Germans never occupy the islands.The British and Canadians literally free the French from a Soviet interment camp? Or did the Soviets just send everyone they wanted as slave labour up there hoping they wouldn't be able to ask the Norwegians to leave, though I do see the islands were mostly occupied by Russians. Is this correct?

[@criminy_]

An internment camp is not out of the ordinary. When the French officers escaped from E. Prussia, the Soviet Union was neutral and was obligated to intern foreign soldiers. In general, an internment camp is just a place to hold foreign combatants and prevent them from using your neutral country as part of their war effort. I can't speak to the actual situation at this camp, but internment camps are not supposed to be used for slave labor. What's interesting is that the French were not freed from the island when hostilities between the Soviets and Germans began. The Soviets and Free French weren't formally allied at this time to my knowledge, but you'd think they'd be willing at this point to help an enemy of their biggest enemy. This location is very remote, though, so I suppose that's why they were still on this island.

[@Gew219]

2:55 this shockwave footage looks so badass, wow

[@springbloom5940]

How, on Earth, did I read this as 'The Aliens Invade Iran' 🤨

[@Westkane11]

Cool Millennium Falcon you got on top of the cabinet :)

[@brianfoster4434]

Good video. History matters.

[@kstreet7438]

History content is all I watch. I get a lot of "why" and "it's a waste of time" yeah right watching fiction netflix all day is much better.

[@ΗλίαςΦασουλάς-π8γ]

The hole history unfolds infrond of you like a frekish fairytale with no knights nor princesses, only wolfs Η όλη ιστορία ξεδιπλώνεται μπροστά σου σαν ένα φρικαλέο παραμύθι που δεν υπάρχουν ιππότες και πριγκιπικός, μόνο λύκοι.

[@euphorianin6076]

6:29 I see the Wehrmacht has been equipped with the new MacBook Air.

[@alvis6970]

Are you going to cover the Continuation War in more depth sometime soon ?

[@macdaniel6029]

Why did I read: The Aliens invade Iran?

[@wolfgangkranek376]

Because.... kzbin.info/www/bejne/p5OraoKQqtWKhck

[@shashwatsinha2704]

Because you've visited too many meme threads lol

[@yatsumleung8618]

7:56 Keitel, Jodl... these names sound familiar

[@merdiolu]

25 August 191 Iran : Operation Countenance (invasion of Iran ) starts when British Commonwealth from south over Iraq and Soviet Union from north Caucasian frontier , begin their coordinated invasion while ambassadors of both countries request Iranian goverment to accept their “protection”. Aim of this operation is safeguard oilfields and refineries in Iran , getting rid of all German and Axis nationals , intelligence operatives and agents still in function over the region and establish a secure supply link for Soviet Union from Basra and Indian Ocean all the way to Caspian Sea and Caucaus. When Churchill was reminded by his secretary Coleville that they might be violkating Iranian neutrality illegally Churchill replied with a n Ancient Greek quote dated from Cicero : “Inter Arma Silent Leges” (In times of war , the law stays silent) 44th , 47th and 51th Soviet Armies under command of General Kozlov from Transcaucasian Front entered Iran from Caucasian border while two Indian divisions and three independent brigades from British Commonwealth forces under command of General Quinan landed on Abadan in south and cross Iraq border at east. Two Iranian gunboats were sunk in Adaban by Royal Navy sloops HMAS Yarra and HMS Shoeham. Italian cargo ship Caboto and German cargo ship Hohenfels were captured by Allied troops in Bandar Shapur port. Cabato was renemed as Empire Kohinoor and Hohenfels was remed Empire Kamal and pressed to British merchant navy. German cargo vessels Sturmfels and Weisenfels scuttled themselves at Bandar Shapur. France : Vichy France Prime Minister Pierre Laval was shot four times by student turned to resistant Paul Collete as he saw off French volunteers going off to fight with the Germans in Russia. Laval survived the assassination attempt, but was seriously wounded particularly by a bullet that penetrated his body about an inch from his heart. Rastenburg , East Prussia : Mussolini arrived Hitler Rastenburg headquarters for talks. During their meeting Hitler rails against Spain’s reluctance to join Axis USSR : Soviet Byransk Front commander General Yeremenko promised Stalin that he would crush that scoundrel Guderian Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-452 was located and bombed on the surface by a RAF Coıastal Command PBY Catalina flying boat off Iceland. U-452 was badly damaged and unable to dive when Royal Navy armed trawler HMS Vascama came to the scene following RAF Catalina flying boats call for assistance. HMS Vascama opened fire with her deck gun on U-Boat and when German submarine dived , HMS Vascama dropped a series of depth charges that totally destroyed U-452. Baltic Sea : Luftwaffe JU-88 bombers bombed and sunk Soviet tanker Zheleznodrozhnik and three cargo ships Daugava , Kosmos and Lunacharski in Gulf of Finland. Barents Sea : Soviet minesweepers Nenetz and T-898 were both torpedoed and sunk off Kola Peninsula by German submarine U-752

[@merdiolu]

26 August 1941 Baltics : Soviet forces in Velikije Luki were surrounded and destroyed by German Army Group North Arctic Sea : A combined force of Canadian, British, and Norwegian commandos landed on Spitzbergen. The coal-mining installations and equipment there were destroyed and the Norwegian civilian populace was evacuated Iran : British and Indian troops captured Abadan, Iran, along with the oil-related installations there. Far to the north, Soviet troops captured Tabriz while aircraft bombed Tehran. Ukraine : German Army Group South captured important industrial town Dnepropetrovsk in Dnieper industrial basin. The Hungarian Army rounded up 18,000 Jews at Kamenets-Podolsk, Ukraine. Adolf Hilter and Benito Mussolini inspected Axis troops at Uman, Ukraine. Barents Sea : German submarine U-571 seriously damaged Soviet submarine supply ship Marija Uljanova with two torpedoes 27 miles north of Teriberskij lighthouse in northern Russia in the Barents Sea at 0459 hours; Marija Uljanova would be written off as a loss on the next day.

[@merdiolu]

27 August 1941 Russia : German 250th Infantry Division, consisted of Spanish volunteers, began to march on foot from the Polish-Lithuanian border toward Smolensk, Russia Atlantic Ocean : German submarine U-570 surfaced at 1050 hours in the Atlantic Ocean and was spotted by a RAF Coastal Command Hudson aircraft, which attacked the submarine with four 250-pound depth charges and returned for strafing. U-570 eventually surrendered when her crew panicked and overwhelmed their officers ; while awaiting the British to send a capture party, German crew destroyed their Enigma machine but leave their confidential secret papers intact to be captured. Next day , two British ASW trawlers HMS Northern Chief and HMS Kingston Agate and Canadian destroyer HMCS Niagara evacuated crew of U-570 from their boat as POWs and towed captured German submarine to Iceland. She will be renamed as HMS Graph and join Royal Navy. Meanwhile , German submarine U-557 attacked Allied convoy OS-4 with torpedoes 300 miles west of Ireland between 0125 and 0426 hours, sinking four British ships : Embassage , Saudor , Seguda (Norwegian) , Tremoda. Murmansk , Kola Peninsula : First Allied supply convoy (Dervish Convoy) reached Russian port of Murmansk Iran : Reza Shah of Iran appointed Mohammad Ali Foroughi as the Prime Minister, who immediately began negotiations with the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom to end the hostilities. Estonia , Baltics : German Army Group North reached outskirts of the city , capturing it next day. That night, the Russians began the evacuation of 23,000 soldiers and civilians by sea from the Baltic port of Tallinn. In this Baltic ‘Dunkirk’, Soviet Admiral Tributs commanded an evacuation fleet of 190 ships which had to traverse 150 miles of water between two coasts occupied by the Germans and Finns. Of his twenty-nine large troop transports, twenty-five were sunk by Luftwaffe air attacks and German mines , and more than five thousand soldiers and civilians drowned. On top of that four Soviet destroyers and three submarines from Soviet Baltic Fleet were slso sunk by German minefields and Luftwaffe bombers. The heroism of the sailors entered into legend; of the thirty-five crew members on one troop transport, the Kazakhstan , only seven survived; each one was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. The Soviet evacuation of Tallinn succeeded in evacuating 165 ships, 28,000 passengers and 66,000 tons of equipment. At least 12,400 are thought to have drowned in circumstances little known outside the former Soviet Union. The event was long downplayed by the Communist regime after the war. The evacuation may have been the bloodiest naval disaster since the battle of Lepanto.

[@merdiolu]

28 August 1941 Iran : New Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Foroughi signed a treaty allowing the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union to occupy oil fields and the Trans-Iranian Railway in Iran, as well as closing down German, Italian, Hungarian, and Romanian legations in Tehran and sending all Axis nationals out of country. However, he refused to allow British and Soviet troops in the capital city. Ukraine : The Soviet NKVD blew up Zaporozhye hydroelectric dam on the River Dnieper in Ukraine to prevent German use. Thousands of civilians who resided downstream were killed by the flooding. Meanwhile Romanian and German troops started a renewed offensive against Odessa. Baltic Sea : Soviet Baltic Fleet , under command of Admiral Vladimir Tributs , en route from Talinn to Kronstadt , shipping evacuees from Talinn , was attacked by Luftwaffe bombers , German and Finnish toroedoboats and again re entered minefields , nine more Soviet cargo ships , oner Soviet hospital ship and one Soviet depot ship plus two Soviet Navy training ships were sunk , the rest of the evacuation convoy reached Kronstadt next day. Leningrad : 18th German Motorised Division captured town of Chudovo , severing railway link between Leningrad-Moscow. There is frenzied activity in Leningrad perimeter now , Leningrad Front command and local Communist Party leadership hurriedly put hundreds of civilians and workers to dig and build anti aircraft positions , artillery positiopns , entrenchments and fortifications around the city. Kedainiai , Lithuania , Baltics : SS Einsatzgruppen shot and executed over 2.000 Jews and buried them into pits out of the town Spitzbergen , Arctic Sea : Operation Gauntlet which started the day before contined. British and Norwegian commandos and naval landing parties demolished almost all coal mines , mining facilities and equipment and evacuated Norwegian and Russian miners Mediterranean Sea : Royal Navy submarine HMS Rorqual torpedoed and sunk Italian cargo ships Cilicia and Silicia off Crete. Sicily : A landing party from Royal Navy submarine HMS Triumph demolished an important railway bridge in Carsonia Atlantic Ocean : Battle of Convoy OS4 continued. German submarine U-558 torpedoed and sunk 10.000 GRT British cargo vessel Otario. Netherlands : 18 RAF Bleinheim bombers attacked German targets at Rotterdam, the Netherlands; 7 bombers were shot down by German air defences.

[@merdiolu]

29 August 1941 Karelian Front , Baltics : Soviet troops evacuated the Karelian Isthmus as Finnish forces bolstered by the news that only eight Red Army division left facing the in Karelia , began to advance against abandoned Soviet defences and retook Viipuri in northern Russia (ex-Finnish territory) Next day they captured ex Finnish border town Terioki and halted. Finnish goverment , despite German pressure had no intention to go on and invade Soviet territory beyond its old frontiers. Leningrad , USSR : Communist Party and Leningrad Front sent a desperate message of aid to Moscow , asking for emergency rations to be shipped out by rail to the east of Lake Ladoga then to be dispatched to the city down to Neva River , flowing out of Lake but in a few days German forces will occupy left bank of Neva River , so this option is out. Leningrad will be cut off soon and complately besieged with 750.000 civilian inhabitants and hundreds of thousands of Red Army troops and sailors and the city was mostly unprepared for a long siege. Soviet Leningrad Front still holding Osinovets , a vital railway junction weastern shore of the Lake Ladoga and although its port and railway facilities were not adequate to handle large scale of cargo necesasary to sustain the city (especially Luftwaffe bases were so close) , some supplies still could be shipped to there across Lake Ladoga by boat or plane Kamanets - Podolsk , Western Ukraine : Twenty-three thousand Jews were being murdered at Kamenets Podolsk. They had been deported from Hungary by the Hungarian Government. The German civil authorities in the region had demanded that the Jews be taken back, as they ‘could not cope’ with them. The Hungarian Government had refused. It was then that an SS General, Franz Jaeckeln, had assured the German civil administration that he would ‘complete the liquidation of those Jews by September 1’. Marched to a series of bomb craters outside the city, and ordered to undress, the Jews were then mown down by machine gun fire by SS cavalry troops and Einsatzgruppen execution squads. Many of them, gravely wounded, died under the weight of the bodies that fell on top of them, or were ‘finished off’ with pistol shots. By August 29, the task was done, two days in advance of Jaeckeln’s promised date. Operational Situation Report No. 80 gave the precise figures of those shot as 23,600 ‘in three days’.

[@PaulA-bv1rt]

HMAS Yarra wasn't RN but RAN with the RN. Yarra was later sunk by the Japanese near Java.

[@blazomihailov2057]

well done sir, I like your job and videos.simply you are fantastic.

[@pnutz_2]

1:05 *Soviet Union completes focus Southern Thrust* this feels like one of those takeovers MHV discussed where a 3rd party is invaded on suspicion that the other team might possibly invade it at some point, except they don't even have access from Syria anymore

[@Apodeipnon]

Not sure the Nazis would've needed to invade, Iran was sympathetic because they didn't like the british. Perhaps they could have exported oil to the nazis somehow?

[@petercollingwood522]

Anyone else notice the Millenium Falcon hanging out on top of the bookshelf? Nice one Indy!

[@TheBreadB]

Viipuri you say? I remember that place back in 1939-40.

[@watchface6836]

So I've been trying to catch up on the Great War and I expected Indy to say "This week, Germany attacks Verdun"

[@Ali-bu6lo]

The invasion was actually mostly done to open-up "the Persian corridor" the usage of Iran's roads and most importantly, it's north-south railroad from the Persian gulf to the Caspian Sea. Since most ways of sending aid to the USSR was either threatened by Germans (like the Baltic and the North sea), was denied access to by neutrals that were hard to invade (Turkey didn't allow the allies to use Bosphorus and Dardanelles), the Persian corridor was deemed the most efficient way to supply the Soviets with land-lease goods. Unfortunately, the Iranian government didn't realized the scope of the war due to Iranian froneign policy being very inactive and remained fully neutral and hoped Germans would soon reach the Caucuses and protect Iran, they didn't realize Germans were far away and Iran was not in a position to refuse allies demands.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

British and also some American Stuart light tanks started arriving in the USSR via Iran - Soviet crews were trained to use them and they were in the path of the German push towards Stalingrad and the Caucasus in the summer of 1942.

[@askar9367]

I sometimes find it hard to believe that all of this had actually happened... Collective madness... Hell on earth... And nowhere to run... it fills me with dread.

[@kstreet7438]

For me its kowning it happened less than 50 years before I was born.

[@marmotman151]

*Destruction of the Zapprozhe Dam* Oh my, another unfortunate blast from the past.

[@jaylowry]

Crazy isn't it. Although it probably took a lot more explosives to blow it up the first time since it wasn't Soviet construction, having largely been built by Lead Consulting Engineer Hugh L. Cooper who had been head of the US Army Corps of Engineers in WW1and already built several similar size dams in the US.

[@ldmitruk]

Great episode, I had no idea Iran was invaded in WWII. On another note my дід and баба had a desk pen set that was a model of the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station as it now called. I didn't know the name of the dam until I watched this episode.

[@stefanjoeres7149]

Hold up: What were the Soviets doing in Spitzbergen??

[@MikeJones-qn1gz]

It was part of their pre war northern expeditions, the idea was to set up weather stations there to predict weather patterns flowing into Europe

[@MarshallEubanks]

That's thanks to the Spitzbergen Treaty - as signatories, the Soviets got the right to mine coal and fish there, and so they did (and, I believe, so the Russians still do). It's really more about keeping a foothold on the place than the profits from Arctic coal. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Treaty

[@seneca983]

There's still a Russian village there.

[@TheFinnishBoy]

A fun trivia about the re-capture of Viipuri and how the Säkkijärvi polka song saved Finnish lives "During the Continuation War, the Finnish Army discovered that the retreating Soviets had scattered radio-controlled mines throughout the re-captured city of Viipuri. These mines were set off when a three-note chord was played on the frequency the radio was tuned to, causing three tuning forks (of which each mine had a unique combination) to vibrate at once. Once the Army and Yleisradio experts discovered how the mines worked, an Yleisradio mobile transmitter was brought to Viipuri, and Vesterinen's recording of the polka was played on the same frequencies the mines used. The song was played continuously for about 72 000 times in the beginning of September 1941, after which alternative equipment was used to continue the radio jamming operation until 2 February 1942." -Wikipedia

[@billpolychronidis7805]

ah, pre-emptive invasions, my favorite kind of invasions