199 - Kursk: Soviets Dig-In for Blitzkrieg - WW2 - June 18, 1943

[@WorldWarTwo]

Join the TimeGhost Army: bit.ly/WW2_199_PI The military campaigns and the civilian suffering of this war are not two separate events, they are both together the war itself. The war was in fact an overwhelmingly experienced by civilians, not soldiers. We now do two weekly series, this one, and War Against Humanity, which covers the civilian experience. Thank you to all of you who joined the TimeGhost Army to make that possible.

[@oasis1282]

Ok

[@mikhailiagacesa3406]

Eh...

[@WorldWarTwo]

🙌

[@frantisekvalecek4378]

​@@WorldWarTwo stalingtaf

[@jacktaylorphotos]

Can't believe I've caught up, and on the day a new episode dropped! Started in January and boy what a journey. Amazing series, thanks to everyone involved.

[@MyBoomStick1]

Why’s your comment red

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

Jackson Taylor did you see that there's another channel with a complete weekly series like this for WW1, and a whole bunch of "between the wars" episodes? ;)

[@wastedangelematis]

Nice !

[@korbell1089]

Welcome and enjoy the community friend.

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

Jackson Taylor heads up: the great war series may cause luigiphobia

[@gunman47]

Another sidenote this week on June 18 1943 is that the Tuskegee Airmen will have their first combat encounter with the German Luftwaffe when six pilots who were flying P-40 Warhawks were attacked by twelve German Fw 190 fighters while flying over Pantelleria island off the Straits of Sicily. They managed to damage two of the enemy fighters while driving off the rest of them with no cost to themselves, and all managed to land home safely. However, this was not their first combat mission as they had previously participated in the aerial bombardment of Panterlleria on June 2 1943 as part of Operation Corkscrew.

[@PhillyPhanVinny]

A girl I dated back in High School, her grandfather was a Tuskegee Airmen. But even he admitted their exploits were greatly exaggerated by the American and foreign media. If we go back and read the articles written about them in the US alone they make it sound like every one of the Tuskegee Airmen were aces that never got shot down and killed multiple Axis planes on every sortie. Which simply was not the case. The Tuskegee Airmen are important not because of their media created abilities as supermen fighter pilots but because they showed the racists and prejudiced people around the world that black people could be pilots which the majority of the world at that time didn't think was possible.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

There was a tendency at this time to use them for strafing missions, on the assumption that tangling with enemy aircraft was too much for them. Given how dangerous German light flak in particular could be at low level, this was still a tough assignment.

[@dpeasehead]

@@stevekaczynski3793 There is a book called "the Big Show" which details the combat career of a RAF fighter who saw intense combat, both air to air, and air to ground in the last months of the war. Anyone who believes that being a fighter pilot during WWII was fun and glamorous needs to read it. Jim crow was not an equal opportunity oppressor. I have read quite a few memoirs which mention the presence of Asians and Latinos in combat aircrew when no black men would have ever have been allowed or accepted. The WASPS who delivered military aircraft were nearly all white women. Several of them had more type ratings for different aircraft than most men did.

[@porksterbob]

@@PhillyPhanVinny all pilots in every airforce massively over estimated their effectiveness.

[@PhillyPhanVinny]

@@porksterbob 100% agree. Though in this case the pilot I was talking to claimed it was the media hyping up their efforts more then it was the Tuskegee Airmen doing it themselves. There is always the chance he could have been partly wrong as well and maybe his fellow pilots were hyping up the things they were doing to the media when he wasn't around during and after the war.

[@gunman47]

A footnote this week on June 15 1943 is that the world’s first operational jet-powered bomber, the Arado Ar 234, will make its first flight in the skies. It would eventually enter active service in September 1944 in limited numbers and is noted as among the last German aircraft to fly over the United Kingdom in April 1945.

[@PhillyPhanVinny]

The first jet aircraft ever flown reminds me so much right now of the hypersonic missile tests nations like Russia, China and the US have been doing. The Germans are often given credit for having the first ever jet aircraft which many people who study WW2 and aircraft in depth are aware is not actually true. Both the US and UK had planes flying under the power of jet engines years before the Germans (but not in serial production). There were American test aircraft being flown with jet engines before the war. I believe that the UK also made test flights of their jet planes right at the start of the war. But both the UK and US didn't invest as much resources into jet planes because they didn't see them as the best use of resources. Both the UK and US saw the future possibilities of jet aircraft but saw that using the resources needed to get the jets going in numbers would impact their normal propeller driven aircraft to much. Which is the same reason every other country other then the US gave up on the production of nuclear weapons during WW2. Every major nations leaders understood the possible strength of a nuclear bomb when their scientists explained it to them. They all just deemed they could not produce such a weapon during the period of time they felt the war would last for or thought they would spend far to many resources just to create a single nuke making the resources spent not worth the bombs cost. But then with jets the resources spent go back to the German favor. Both the US and UK never invested as much into jet planes as the Germans did even though they were ahead of the Germans before and at the start of the war. The Germans though couldn't match the US in production and knew they never would have a chance to do so. So they felt trying to invest in the new technology of jet aircraft would be worth it for them. And if the Germans had gotten their jet aircraft flying in numbers by 1942/43 they could have had a big impact in the war. The production of jet aircraft remind me then of hypersonic missiles because the US created and tested their own hypersonic missiles that worked back in the 50-60's (way ahead of what the Russians and Chinese are doing in the last 5-10 years). And if we want to get really technical the first thing moving at hypersonic speeds was a attempt by the US and their famous German scientist/engineer from WW2 Wernher von Braun to turn the V-2 Rocket into a hypersonic missile which worked at getting the missile moving at hypersonic speeds but burnt the missile up on reentry. The US stopped investing into hypersonic missiles and decided to focus on hypersonic flight by humans. This was because it was already deemed the Communist/Warsaw Pact forces had no defense against a US or British/French ICBM. So there was no need to make the missiles the NATO nations would be sending towards the communist nations faster and even harder to shoot down since they saw the Communists and namely the Russians (being the most advanced of any of the communist nations by far, at the time) already had no chance of stopping the NATO ICBMs. So it was deemed a waste of resources to try to make the NATO nukes harder to shoot down. The US would continue to invest in manned hypersonic flying abilities though and would create planes like the A-12, X-15, SR-71 and the other planes that are classified that we have some knowledge of such as the SR-72. The Russians and their allies had the same thoughts of hypersonic flight during the Cold War, deeming it a waste or resources. So what changed to make them want to make the missiles now? US/NATO anti-missile technology was and is advancing at a insanely fast rate and the US could already successfully shoot down ICBMs. Though the US could do it at a unreasonable high cost though since the Russians and Chinese could make a new nuclear ICBM for the cost of like 3-5 anti-missile missiles. So the Russians and Chinese in theory could just build more ICBMs then the US could anti-ICBM missiles. But the Russians and Chinese see where the technology is going and so to keep their nuclear threat a successful threat decided they needed to create hypersonic missiles that could defeat the US missile shield. Russia decided to figure out how to create and build them and China did their normal strategy and just stole the plans from Russia on how to build the hypersonic missiles (on a aide-note I don't know how the Russians are not insanely made at the Chinese for always stealing their military technology and claiming they just decided to invent the same military technology a few years after Russia in basically the same way but normally slightly worse). Lastly though even the Russian and Chinese hypersonic missiles will not be able to defeat where the US is investing so much of their defense budget over the last decade but really going back to the 1980's and Ronald Regan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) derisibly called by the media "Star Wars". And that is lasers. People may think they are still science fiction but they are not. They have been fully tested and there are videos showing them working going back more then 20 years years on planes and boats. Lasers are only recently becoming reliable and cheap enough that they could be placed all over the world as defense weapons that travel at the literal speed of light. And no missile no matter how fast any nation can get it to go can beat the speed of light. And people may point out that right now lasers how the major weakness of not being able to work through cloudy weather (as effectively). But that is not a issue in space. Further lasers are multiple times their in Earth strength in space since there is no atmosphere that weakens the laser over distance. So multiple US satellites equipped with lasers could completely make any nations ICBMs ineffective no matter their numbers or speed. And there is the belief by many people that many US satellites already have these lasers equipped to them. So that goes back to US enemies trying to create in atmosphere hypersonic weapons to avoid what they know is possible the US already has. The US and it's allies already have cost effective anti-missile systems that can shoot down in atmosphere missiles equipped with nukes at multiple rings of defense that any missile would need to penetrate. Hypersonic missiles would have a much better chance of doing so but if they are being hit by a laser system at the same time that just makes getting a hit on the US and it's allies with the Russian's trump card that they always love to play. And then this doesn't even go into the hacking abilities of the US and allies as well as the high failure rate of Russian missiles. As seen in the war in Ukraine where leaked Pentagon reports are stating that more then 60% of Russian missiles are failing to hit their targets, missing by large margins and hitting random buildings like peoples homes. I think we are close if not already at the point that MAD (mutually assured destruction) may not even be the case anymore. Which could be a good or bad things. It could save the US and it's allies against the nuclear strike launched by any nation in the world but it could also make it so major wars against major powers become a thing again. And that peace has been brought about by nukes and breaking their threat of massive destruction to a nation could bring major wars back to our planet (need Elon Musk to start getting Mars and then Venus working). We will see though I guess.

[@Zen-sx5io]

@@PhillyPhanVinny That's interesting, but you divide that comment into paragraphs.

[@shaider1982]

@@PhillyPhanVinny 1st jet to fly (Campini types don’t count) is the He-178

[@peakart8850]

@@PhillyPhanVinny Man just started monologging

[@PhillyPhanVinny]

@@Zen-sx5io I did actually. I don't know why it is showing up like that now, sorry. It prob has something to do with my having to copy paste repost it.

[@briantarigan7685]

German high command in 1940: the french are building a very strong defensive line, let's flank them and breaking through the most isolated spot in the ardenne using fast moving armoured attack while feigning a diversionary attack further in the north so they would think we do the same thing like in 1914 German high command in 1943: hmmm yes, the soviets are building multiple layers of strong defensive line in our area of offensive and continue to build up large quantities of forces there, it looks like they know where we would attack, ah f*ck it, LEEEEEEEEROY JENKIIINS

[@antoninuslarpus7107]

Romania: "Oh God, he just ran in." Hungary: "Save Him"

[@oldesertguy9616]

I had to look this up (not a WoW player). That was hilarious!

[@antoninuslarpus7107]

@@blockmasterscott How was the game like back in the day?

[@korbell1089]

@@antoninuslarpus7107 Never explain the joke! That was a masterful response to Brian and for those that knew needed no explanation. :D

[@antoninuslarpus7107]

@@korbell1089 I shall the world rid of my comment then.

[@Dinosaur_News_Center]

Good to see Indy give a callback to The Great War. What a journey of going from that series to this series.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Illiterate Scholar

[@Alex_Meadows]

@@WorldWarTwo Haha, I thought "That's uncharacteristically rude!" until I saw his/her username.

[@HistoryTeacherSteve]

Oh I missed the reference, what was it?

[@jackdiamond5340]

I found Indy back a few years ago when KZbin recommended me a video “Nazis of crystal meth” I mean how could I not click on it? I could not stop watching the WW2 channel, but then that week so found that week there was not only this channel but the Great War. I went back to the first week of that channel watched all the way to the end, then watched all of between two wars and now I’m almost caught up here.

[@merdiolu]

"My God Andy , are you sure anything intact left over there ?" General Dwight Eisenhower remarking to Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet Commander Admiral Andrew Cunningham , while both observing the final air bombing and naval shelling of Pantelleria and Lampedussa islands from Royal Navy Task Force ashore on 8th June 1943

[@gianniverschueren870]

Man, pastel colours with such an interesting design... Really, really like this one. Just a little more colour and I'd have gone perfect. Instead it' a strong 4/5

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks Gianni

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

I'd love to know more about the military engineering of the Soviet defences because there's a real art in creating something like that.

[@jerrycoob4750]

I know a good video on Soviet defensive fortifications and tactics at Kursk by Military History Visualized if you’re wondering

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

@@jerrycoob4750 Got a link to it ?

[@ercan1001]

@@Kevin-mx1vi kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6mqfJt9gbqjhKs

[@jerrycoob4750]

@@Kevin-mx1vi It’s called ‘Soviet Defensive Tactics - Kursk 43’

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

@@jerrycoob4750 Thankyou very much :)

[@HebaruSan]

I just realized, from the sound of it, either Indy records every episode perfectly in one take, or the editing is consistently seamless. Either way, bravo TimeGhost!

[@lc1138]

I bet on the first option. (Yes, that's faith.)

[@nothowtoo2162]

I think its all one take, as occasionally they add in content recorded after the main episode content.

[@Raskolnikov70]

IIRC they film a bunch of episodes at a time, and the seamless ones are probably done earlier in the day. Harder to do it all in one take as the day goes on.

[@maxdurk4624]

It's editing. You can hear sometimes lines done in low audio quality when they have to add them in late, probably having him send it in on his phone. Though I suppose that doesn't necessarily refute that he does the rest in one take, haha.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Hebaru. Both Indy and the editors do amazing work, as you note.

[@joshuaevans4301]

Honestly, it's just so refreshing to see a military command _actually_ learn from their mistakes and effectively change tactics - instead of just doing the same thing over and over again and hoping it works

[@jonathanmcalroy8640]

Sorry, can I just say (now that I’ve composed myself) another great planning episode and how much I appreciate this channel and the work you do. Thank you!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you!

[@eleanorkett1129]

Another great episode. I look forward to the Kursk operation as preparations are on the way.

[@Zen-sx5io]

Same here.

[@JohnnyElRed]

That airfield map makes it look as if Sicily was riddled with Skaven undercities.

[@hanslundt6757]

Considering the inspiration for the skaven, and how deranged and self serving the Italian fascists were... Not INaccurate...

[@konstantinriumin2657]

What a silly idea, thinking that Italy, or any other human nation for that matter, is undermined by malevolent rodents of unusual size! Such fantasies should be shared with specialists, like your local Witch Hunter - have a laugh together!

[@nyar9556]

Skavens are not real!

[@bitzovhadez7214]

I watch every one of these videos from start to finish. Indy's charisma is truly something else. Keep up the wonderful work!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Bitz Thank you so much for your loyal viewership! We appreciate your kind words of support, please stay tuned

[@randomchannel-px6ho]

Ah yes the legendary Battle of Kursk. In terms of the sheer amount of man power and machinery involved (I hope you like tanks) it is simply without equal. Even though it's exact importance and significance is a subject of much debate among historians, Kursk may very well be the engagement which serves the best as a microcosm of the insane scale of the eastern front.

[@daniels0376]

It wasn't the battle with the most men, most tanks or most losses on the Eastern Front though, and it didn't last that long nor was of crucial importance.

[@NormAppleton]

Kursk is still the unmistakable shift on the eastern front. It and the following Soviet offensives crippled the Wehrmacht.

[@ChrisZukowski88]

@@daniels0376 it was actually the biggest tank battle in ww2..........

[@JohnKolinski]

This continues to be the BEST thing on You Tube! Exceptional content & narration. Congrats to everyone involved.

[@hollandp9606]

Next week is 200. Congratulations in advance

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks @Holland Paul Ronald!

[@hollandp9606]

@@WorldWarTwo no thanks to you for all your hard work and of course the Time Ghost Army.

[@jayjayson9613]

Do you plan on having a special on the Battle of Kursk? It's such a vital and historical battle, the buildup alone is fascinating and mind blowing. Kursk is also home to a huge air battle that is rarely talked about as well.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Except for simply not having the time, there is one thing that ties our hands in creating major special projects like this one- getting the funding to actually be able to produce it. It is highly unlikely that we could raise the hundreds of thousands of Euro to do a huge project on Bagration (or Kursk) for example. People who are interested in and study the war know of it, but the mainstream audience doesn't, and to raise the kind of money needed we'd have to have a project that appeals to the mainstream. Also, after working 70 hour weeks on Pearl Harbor for months, nobody on the team was in any shape to dive into a new extra workload on top of the regular content work straight away. Because that is the reality of it: any special project we do is indeed extra, and is done on top of the work we do with the regular content, which is well over 40 hour weeks as it stands. We still plan on doing all sorts of specials and extra regular episodes and things like that for all major events of the war, so it's not like we're actually leaving something out.

[@jayjayson9613]

@@WorldWarTwo thank you very much for the explanation in how things work! I really appreciate you taking the time and I understand. You guys do a fantastic job and it's not like we're lacking in content. Your work is very much appreciated. Thank you!

[@elbeto191291]

Guys, come on... we have to trust German engineering! No amount of Soviet defenses can actually hold the Blitzkrieg... right?

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

I think a big problem might have genuinely been a continued inability of hitler and other german commanders to accept the soviet "untermenschen" as powerful enemies, no matter how much evidence there was.

[@Bolitadewien]

¿Right? *"Hurra's" sound on the distance*

[@christopherrasmussen8718]

Had an grand uncle in the Pacific and Africa. Grandad was still too young and would show up in Bastogne. I heard some stories. Why I had a career in the Mil.

[@robertm.8653]

So, the Soviets have made an impregnable fortress around Kursk. Some might say that is has become a... Citadel!

[@agactual2]

I hope my monthly Time Ghost contribution goes towards buying beer for Indy and the rest of the team. I think they deserve it.

[@WalterReimer]

The stage is being set, the orchestra engaged. Soon the Stavka will see if they can make the Germans dance to their tune.

[@IudiciumInfernalum]

A tune played on many a Stalin Organ no doubt.

[@janiceduke1205]

@@IudiciumInfernalum The name “Katyusha” was not the official designation for the weapon - it was more of an affectionate moniker devised by rank-and-file soldiers. The original BM-13 launchers were manufactured at plant known as the Voronezy Komintern and accordingly bore a large “K” stamp on the side. Troops joked that the letter stood for Katyusha or “Katie” - the name of a popular 1938 folk ballad about a woman who is separated from her lover during wartime.

[@pnutz_2]

11:42 that defence-in-depth worked a lot longer than it should have, in particular because entente commanders didn't do the bite-and-hold tactics

[@emisat8970]

The failure to breakthrough and exploit was more due to a lack of logistics (due to the destroyed earth), and being out of the range of their own guns tbh. Attrition is dumb, and both sides wanted to restore maneuver to the theater (i.e. stormtroops for the Central Powers; tanks for the Entente).

[@EnigmaEnginseer]

It’s really interesting how much warfare developed during WW1. People say all it was was the unmoving slog of the Western Front when that simply wasn’t the case. The war in 1914 and 1918 are almost completely different, it’s really interesting seeing how they got there.

[@TheDJGrandPa]

That's actually mentioned in the ww1 series. But that's about 5 years ago now ^^

[@emisat8970]

@@TheDJGrandPa I didn't watch it. Japan's role in WW1 was limited, and thus I find it hard to be invested.

[@seneca983]

@@emisat8970 They did have one special episode about Japan's role in that war.

[@mammuchan8923]

I hope Operation Toenail didn’t need to get cut short…

[@LTPXQ]

My fave commercial just appeared. 9 out of ten doctors recommend joining the time-ghost army. Great!!!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Bob!!

[@davidwallace3871]

Kursk was an incredible tank battle. It wasn’t the largest though, that happened in 1941.

[@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623]

Oddly enough, while the Soviets buried that battle in their official history for understandable reasons, who wants to be remembered of epic failure, the Germans never celebrated it and announced it to the whole world as the giant success that it was for them either.

[@alphamikeomega5728]

I believe Kursk was the largest: it is commonly referred to as such. What battle featured more tanks?

[@alphamikeomega5728]

@@zainmudassir2964 That's highly doubtful. The numbers on Wikipedia for those battles aren't even close to the more-than 10,000 at Kursk. What source are you using?

[@NormAppleton]

Brody

[@ostrichhe4d]

So this episode is pretty much “mines are placed in thousands in the cover of the night, waiting to be triggered when the time is right”

[@doodledibob]

Much love to all of you. I cannot overstate how much I appreciate everything you do.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you, much love back to you Doodledibob

[@gonshi9]

15:17 to make harder, better, faster, stronger defenses

[@sithtrooper1948]

The Soviets were fans of Daft Punk before they existed

[@hareshahuja1476]

Dear Andy .may God bless u for ur effort .amazing human

[@villevalste1888]

0:15 Anyone who's been inside a tank that got shot with an AT-gun, would say that, that's a bit of an understatement.

[@goughrmp]

Kursk feels like a Great War battle with the Germans trying to use WW2 tactics. Let’s see if that works out for them

[@derrickthewhite1]

Its also been weird to watch how long this buildup has taken. Its been two months he's been talking about this... which emphasizes just what sort of tactics are being used here.

[@kurttate9446]

Love your channel. Look forward to viewing it every week. One very minor quibble though, the 1st Marines refers to the 1st Marine Regiment not the 1st Marine Division. When referring to the "X" Marines, that refers to a regiment. Divisions are referred to as "X" Marine Division or "X" Division. Thanks again for the great channel.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Kurt, duly noted

[@thcdreams654]

I wish I commented more. Watch most of these on Xbox. Commenting is a pain. But thank you to Indy and crew for all the amazing work. Love the content.

[@ReclinedPhysicist]

Truman referred to MacArthur as His Majesty. Lol

[@PhillyPhanVinny]

Lots of the hit pieces and anti-MacArthur stories that are blown out of proportion come from MacArthur's political aspirations that he was thinking about after his military career was over. MacArthur was a life long Republican and the Democrats always saw him as a threat to run against them (even during WW2). That is why when we go back and read about MacArthur in primary sources they things written about him are so one sided. Back during MacArthur's lifetime the New York Times was a massive Republican leaning newspaper (now considered a massively left/Democrat leaning newspaper) and would always give MacArthur very good coverage. On the opposite side in the same city, the New York Post was a Democrat newspaper and it would write hit jobs and just flat false stories or stories written with a single source of something they heard a solider say about MacArthur. The New York Post is now considered a right/Republican newspaper. It just goes to show us that the media having bias is not something new and was a incredibly active part of politics in the US and around the world anywhere that had a free press. The difference back then is things were considered more fair in that both parties had a equal number of media sources. Basically every city had at least 2 newspapers, one supported by the Democrats and the other supported by the Republicans. Because of what started to be written about MacArthur after he died it made the vast majority of US officers hide their political leanings until after they would retire. Many would never even vote during their military career to avoid the possibility of being outed as a supporter of either party. Because if you are to far into supporting either party it can hurt you at the very top ranks of 4 star officers which require political approval by the US Senate. There has been so many false things written and blame put to MacArthur for actions that were not his fault, out of his control or things he should actually be given credit for that it is hard to even talk to people in support of MacArthur in today's world because they just already from the start have this biased view of MacArthur that they don't even know where it originated from. I'll give a quick example, things written about MacArthur when he was a 4/5 star General and after his death portray him as a coward and idiot. It is just objectively untrue things to think about him regardless of anything else. On the arguments of him being a coward, MacArthur lead troops into combat many times during his military career leading from the front when he was at the lower ranks where a officer is supposed to be with his troops also participating in the fighting. This went as far as MacArthur being shot/hit with shrapnel during WW1 and being nominated for the Medal of Honor 3 times winning it once. We would never make the argument that a solider today who has a purple heart alone was a coward. Let alone a solider even nominated for the Medal of Honor once. We would think of that solider as a hero. Lastly, on the arguments of MacArthur as a idiot as portrayed in the media during his later carrier and after his death. It just goes against everything we know about him. MacArthur was either top of his class or in the top 5 his whole career. That is not just at West Point but during the classes they give officers later in their career when teaching them to be higher ranking officers like Colonel and Generals. The changes MacArthur made to West Point are still in place today. His fighting withdraw in the Philippines back to Bataan is still taught today not just in US military schools but basically all Western military schools when teaching a officer to be a Colonel or General of how to execute a fighting withdraw at the high ranks where you are commanding a large force. The personal writings of MacArthur show him to be very smart and well beyond his times. He was living in a period where the majority of people not just in the US but the world were if not a racist most likely prejudiced against other races. MacArthur was not either of those very clearly. First calling for the US military to desegregate and talking about doing it way before Truman did it. And MacArthur had a very high respect for Asian culture and wrote and studied about it regularly. All that said and I am not even going into the individual military mistakes people lay at his feet and then avoid giving him credit for the success.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@PhillyPhanVinny He was smart enough not to beat up shell-shocked US soldiers personally. Another US commander will not be so cautious, as we will soon see...

[@PhillyPhanVinny]

@@stevekaczynski3793 If you look at the records of the 2 guys that Patton slapped it is is easily disputed why he would have slapped that and why PTSD/Shell shock doesn't make sense in their cases. Neither solider he slapped had yet seen front line service and neither solider was given any military awards, even the purple heard apart from the WW2 medal for taking part in the war. The records on their military career's show they were backline soldiers dealing with supply who were ordered to the front-lines to fight by officers on Sicily and refused to do so. So they were sent to the medical facility. Both soldiers he slapped were supposed to be trying to get back to their supply unit and up and talking to troops outside the medical camp when Patton slapped them. When I heard those other details I didn't think it made it right but made it so I could understand why a American officer living in 1943 would do that to his troops.

[@lycaonpictus9662]

@@PhillyPhanVinny That is incorrect. You should check your facts inadvertently slandering a man who was a combat veteran by insinuating that he was a shirker or coward who had been far from any danger. One of the two men who were slapped was from a field artillery unit that had seen action, and he had been diagnosed as having combat fatigue after seeing a comrade wounded in an enemy bombardment. Ultimately however whether the men had seen any action is immaterial. Patton was not a medical doctor qualified to diagnose them, and he had no right whatsoever to strike either of them. Even if they had been shirkers the Army has legal procedures to deal with that, and those procedures don't involve some blustering blowhard with a few stars on his collar slapping them. What purpose would that serve, anyhow? It wasn't going to cure a man of post-traumatic stress, and even if they had been shirkers, it wouldn't have transformed either into a good soldier. If a man is truly a coward, he doesn't belong near the front lines. Neither does a person with PTSD. A person with PTSD needs medical treatment, just like the man who is wounded. Patton, by the way, also pulled his pistol on the second man and had to be restrained by an officer with much better sense than his superior. He also was a dinosaur that didn't believe PTSD was even real and issued orders to his units to avoid sending men to hospitals for it. In short Patton's actions were indefensible. He is very lucky that the incidents didn't end his career. Quite frankly they should have.

[@Nufc_grb]

My son had to write a fact about Malta and after he watched one of the episodes with me he used a ww2 fact in his homework

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching, Steven

[@patratcan]

Just wanted to drop a comment to say thank you for making all these!

[@WorldWarTwo]

We appreciate your support, thank you for watching!

[@nygarmik]

"Napoli", instead of "Naples". Thank you so much, these are kind of details I like.

[@WorldWarTwo]

@Mikko Nygård Glad we could oblige

[@hannahskipper2764]

Hitler: Blitzkrieg all the way, baby!! German generals: Uhhh, probably not... Russian generals: Definitely not.

[@PascalSWE]

To put the immense ammount of effort the Soviets put into their defences at Kursk into perspective the mentioned 5k miles of ditches dug would take you from Moscow to Madrid and back, following roads.

[@jacquesfuller2087]

Please bear in mind that German divisions were twice the size of Soviet ones. Just looking at the map you might get the impression that the Red Army had a lot more men.

[@morisco56]

And still they won, this was back when russia had an actual army.

[@jacquesfuller2087]

@@morisco56 Yes. But Russia still has a proper military.

[@morisco56]

@@jacquesfuller2087 but incapable of even crossing a damm river or making serious gains.

[@gwtpictgwtpict4214]

@@jacquesfuller2087 It may be 'proper', but current events would suggest it's not very effective.

[@dasreddmaestro8287]

@@morisco56 rest in peace Luhansk Oblast

[@podemosurss8316]

I love the TimeGhost Army Sponsorship ads, they are very funny. You should make a video with just the ads.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Podemos, great idea.

[@657449]

Losing North Africa, Stalingrad and now Kurst, the handwriting is on the wall for the Nazis.

[@seanofarrell1887]

The war will be over by Christmas

[@dr.ekkamer7338]

The Nazis are dead. The just don't know it yet.

[@ShingenNolaan]

Dude, the presentation is awesome. Great job.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you Tilian

[@frankmueller2781]

I've always thought that if OKH had listened to Model and had Model & Mannerheim attack eastwards for 75-100km and *Then* move south and north respectively, that not only would the majority of Soviet preparation have come to naught, but the resulting encirclement might have been sufficient to throw the war in the East back into Germany's favor. Alas, OKH, and Hitler, were simply unable to bend to adapt to new realities at the front

[@Zen-sx5io]

Getting ready for Kursk.

[@perihelion7798]

And so it begins - preparations for the greatest battle in human history: Kursk. I await with keen anticipation this series coverage of that remarkable event. It will be epic, I'm sure. When I was just a young kid, back in the paleolithic era, I never missed an episode of 'The Big Picture', or 'Victory At Sea'. Even today, I listen to Richard Rogers incredible theme music for 'Victory At Sea', at least once a month. When I do, I get a momentary flashback of me staring at the tiny B&W TV we had back then. Those were great series, especially for their time [ we were still using cuneiform tablets in school ], but this series is leagues ahead of those. Every episode is a kind of mental adventure for me. Thanks so much!

[@caryblack5985]

Not the greatest battle in human history however a big and significant one.

[@perihelion7798]

@@caryblack5985 If you look at the number of troops, the number of vehicles, and the number of aircraft involved, there was none greater. The casualties on both sides were immense. Do you have a personal candidate for greatest battle?

[@caryblack5985]

@@perihelion7798 Stalingrad had thre most casualties and lasted longer. Brody (Dubno) involved more tanks en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Brody_(1941) and the battle for Moscow was arguably the most significant for the outcome of the Eastern Front.

[@lycaonpictus9662]

@@caryblack5985 Moscow would be my pick for the most significant battle in the war, despite it being largely overshadowed by later battles like Stalingrad or Kursk, in popular memory. It's a bit like the First Battle of the Marne in 1914, in that it's a battle fought early in the war that with the benefit of hindsight largely determined the final outcome.

[@perihelion7798]

@@caryblack5985 Good points. But that's like saying 'the battle for the Pacific' was greater than the battle of the Normandy invasion. Or the 'battle for Russia. was greater than the 'battle for Europe' I consider the efforts to take and hold Stalingrad a campaign, and not a 'battle'. But that's my perspective, and you disagree with it, but that is your privilege.

[@diatonicdelirium1743]

I still find it surprising OKH and AH didn't have the foresight or imagination of the power of numbers in the defense buildup for Kursk. They themselves worked slaves and the German people very hard for e.g. the Atlantikwall, how is it possible to forget your enemy defending its homeland would do anything less?

[@johnf7683]

There were likely people in OKH who had the foresight, but AH was convinced earlier losses were due to mismanagement by his Generals. Adolf gave no credit to the Soviets, who he still though would be a pushover if attacked properly. In this situation, though, he had an impossible choice. Going on the defense was simply admitting the war was lost, as he knew he was going to run out of resources. Attacking, even if he won, would have bled his army and left him open to the inevitable counter attack.The only way out of this for him would have been to broker some sort of agreement with Stalin, giving Stalin most of Eastern Europe and East Prussia (supposedly a demand by the Soviets). This was unacceptable to Germany.

[@korbell1089]

Whenever I begin to wonder how they couldn't see something so obvious, I remind myself that Wilhelm Canaris was in charge of their Intelligence service.

[@lepantzeus1]

Japanese reconnaissance aircraft from the Marshall Islands were flying over Pearl Harbor taking photos several times a week. Admiral King and the Navy wanted to put an end to that. ;-)

[@casparcoaster1936]

I have always wished WW2 docus would review more detailed tactical (as well as strategic) recon documents before important battles, and course not sure any were ever as important as this one!!!

[@shaider1982]

Just recemtly, the Panthers that Hitler partly delayed Operation Zitadel had a recent "grandson". Thanks Rheinmethal.

[@adamhashi9673]

Model vs Rokossovsky was one of the best matchups of the war

[@Casa-de-hongos]

You are aware, we are not talking sports here, but humans suffering in the millions?

[@adamhashi9673]

@@Casa-de-hongos of course, however I am talking about the 2 Generals abilities and the ensuing battle.

[@gatling216]

It’s worth noting that Admiral King absolutely hated MacArthur, to a degree that would have been comical if MacArthur wasn’t so immensely hatable. Granted, King hated a lot of people with stars on their collar, but there are times when you have to wonder whether he viewed the Japanese as his real enemy.

[@lycaonpictus9662]

Seems King outfoxed Mac here, and ultimately got what he really wanted.

[@gatling216]

@@lycaonpictus9662 He did a lot of that over the course of the war. Drachinifel did a really good video on King’s exploits if you’re interested.

[@lycaonpictus9662]

@@gatling216 Thanks for the recommendation. That channel is fantastic for all things naval military history.

[@Raskolnikov70]

I wonder how much a rivalry like that inspired Heller when he wrote 'Catch 22'. I forget the characters' names but he had a couple of top brass who were constantly planning offensives against each other instead of the Axis.

[@essasito1919]

Do you plan on making a special episode about Anders' army helping the allies during the Italian campaign? Maybe you could also mention Wojtek the bear who also fought with them.

[@oldesertguy9616]

When I hear of the Nazi attempts to conceal the mass executions, I sit in wonder at the people that continue to contend that "we fought the wrong enemy." It doesn't excuse Soviet war crimes, such as the Katyn Forest massacre, but to think the Nazis weren't that bad, or even that they were the lesser of two evils, is so bizarre as to wonder about the mental stability of the so-called "Wehraboos." Another thing that jumps out at me, reading comments in various WWII-related videos, is how antisemitism is still a thing, and how many still cling to their worldview of the Jews being behind everything bad in the world.

[@NormAppleton]

Read up on the Aktion Reinhart extermination camps, Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor and Majdanek. There is no grey area. The Nazis were monsters.

[@elveheim]

Great job

[@rare_kumiko]

Damn, the Soviet preparations around Kursk are insane. Makes me wonder what would have happened if the Germans had attacked earlier... Probably things wouldn't have gone that differently because the Soviets had a lot of stuff, but still...

[@rare_kumiko]

@@lebien4554 Yeah, I wouldn't expect Germany to actually win the battle by attacking earlier, but I'm curious about whether it'd have played out differently.

[@bingobongo1615]

@@lebien4554 the AT guns proved to not be an issue though. Fairly useless against the newer German tanks in 1943. But the massive amount of troops and tanks were just to much

[@ABadRash]

Sending me back to my old apartment, with visions of binging WW1 in real time every morning with a cup of coffee.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching along for all these years from that war

[@berserkerpride]

Oh germany. The whole point of the blitzkreig is that the enemy doesn't know where it's coming and isn't ready for it.

[@KyleMiddleton7]

I didn't know there were so many skaven in Sicilly.

[@dpeasehead]

An old book "War" by Gwynne Dyer described the Soviet counter to German blitzkrieg tactics as simply being the result of the Russian generals understanding that the German armored spearheads, no matter how large and impressive they may have appeared, could eventually be worn down if one had the time, and the space, and the resources to build defenses deep enough make that happen. And, of course, the willingness to expend men and equipment on the vast scale that sort of response required.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for the recommendation

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

A wonderful coverage thanks for Sharing ...its labelled to importance of correct Ready-made in Kursk operation , Correct Previous limited operations before main task operating in southern pacific ..

[@WorldWarTwo]

Mohammed Says Rashid Thank you for your loyal viewership. Always nice seeing yours & so many other names in the comments every episode. Take care.

[@Partyruller]

What I wonder is, didn't the Germans know, nay expect, a defensive build up at Kursk, and just skip that area and focus their attack somewhere else? This way, all they spend is fuel for driving away from Kursk while the soviets spend valuable time and resources.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Probably too committed to Kursk to do that. Moving large numbers of troops and tanks would also be impossible to conceal from Soviet recon planes, especially in the summer, and the Soviets would merely build fortifications to defend the new zone of attack.

[@merdiolu]

It is not that easy. Operation Citadel had been building up since April 1943 and it becasme a trend with a momentum of its own in OKW especially with Zeitsler and Manstein , both trying to gain favor in Hitler's eyes , were pushing for it and Hitler was obsessed with another large scale offensive to gain strategic initiative in Eastern Front since he began to believe his own leggend of saving the situation that looked imposible or desperate and he could not see that kind of out come can be done other than fortified Kursk salient which looked vulnerable on map with three sides exposed but on ground massively fortified and reinforced

[@huntermad5668]

@@merdiolu In the vid, Hitler stated his reservation of the offensive when talking with Guderian so he wasn't really sold on it. Manstein was in favor at first but pull back when the preparation took longer and longer combined with intel of Soviet defense but fear not as other generals rose to support the offensive. The logistic and losses through the war rendered Germany army in the east incapable of offensives along multiple axis or grand offensive like Case Blue. Kursk is the obvious choice as German forces could cut off the salient with the Red army forces inside it . Trying on other areas didn't make sense as Red Army units could easily retreat then strike back like in Case Blue but much easier now with now weaker German units or they could just fortify and reinforce the areas way faster than the Germans could. So Kursk was the only viable choice

[@crazy031089]

That is not so easy. You not only have to move all the men and vehicles, but also the suplies. Not only does it cost a lot off time, it does consume vast amounts of resources (mainly fuel) to move all these forces. To give you an idea, apparently the germans where so cautious with letting the tigers and panthers drive not to much to avoid breaking parts (mainly suspension and final drives). That whenever possible they always loaded them on trains, eaven when that was only for 15km. Remember that the ussr didn't have that much good roads, and that stuff like railroads where oftem demolished by the retreating forces. All this means that moving stuff arounds gets eaven more difficult. I gues the situation is comparable with ww1, where it was hardly possible to do a surprise offensive, since building up the suplies close enough to the front was so difficult and time consuming that the other side just usualy found out enough in advance to reïnforce that sector of the front. Wich meant the offensive oftem failed. The result was that the next offensive required eaven greater amounts of men and supplies, wich required an eaven greater buildup, wich again made it eaven more likly to be spotted well in advance.

[@jonathanwhite5132]

Indy should invite Par or Joakim on for an episode or two

[@mechanicaldavid4827]

Has Indy ever ended one of these cold (open) calls with "Love you too"?

[@robertkras5162]

maybe call Rita Hayworth or Lilly Marlene? ... Then dump them in a later episode...

[@XuMuKa]

The deffence in depth is based on take back, then attack, the kills will be staked; then the last stand will be made and the line will be saved. xD

[@merdiolu]

Battle of Atlantic , Driving U--Boats from American Waters for Good (11-18 June 1943) With orders from Dönitz who had to compensate retreat of U-Boats from North Atlantic (where U-Boat losses became unbeaable), a number of Type VIIs and IX U-Boats sailed for the Caribbean Sea, South America, and the areas near Freetown, as will be described later. With these sailed the big Type XB minelayer U-118, commanded by Werner Czygan, age thirty-eight, which was serving provisionally as a U-tanker. She was assigned to refuel about nine boats. One of the VIIs scheduled for refueling by U-118 was the U-758, commanded by Helmut Manseck, age twenty-eight, outbound to Trinidad on the boat’s second patrol. She was the first U-boat to enter combat with a quad 20mm mounted on a bandstand aft of the bridge. While proceeding to the rendezvous with U-118 on June 8, Manseck came upon convoy UGS 9, which group Trutz had failed to locate. Unknown to Manseck, escort carrier USS Bogue support group was still in the vicinity. Running down a Huff Duff contact, two of USS Bogue’s Avenger dive bombers found U-758 on the surface. The first plane, piloted by Letson S. Balliett, dropped four close depth charges. The second, piloted by W. S. Fowler, dropped three. The seven explosions utterly savaged U-758 and injured eleven men, four gravely. In keeping with the new “fight back” policy, Manseck remained on the surface, blazing away. Praising the quad 20mm, he later claimed eight Bogue aircraft attacked him and that he shot down one and damaged four, but in fact only four aircraft attacked him and only one was damaged. By dint of sharp seamanship and great luck, Manseck got away and that night reported his desperate situation to Control. Believing the smashed-up U-758 might very well sink, Control directed two nearby boats to proceed to Manseck’s position at maximum speed: the nearly dry XIV U-tanker U-460, commanded by Ebe Schnoor, and Werner Czygan’s provisional tanker U-118. Both tankers reached U-758 the following day. The doctor on U-118 attended Manseck’s wounded, transferring several of the men to U-118 for close attention. Schnoor in U-460 gave Czygan in U-118 a few tons of surplus fuel then escorted U-758 back to France, where both boats arrived on June 25. The U-758 was in repair and further modification until September. September. To help build confidence in the new quad 20mm, U-boat Control passed along to all boats Manseck’s exaggerated claims. The Allies DFed (direction finded) numerous naval Enigma messages concerning the rescue of U-758 and refueling instructions to U-118. This Huff Duff information led Captain Short in USS Bogue to think another group was forming up. Proceeding to the area on June 12, USS Bogue aircraft found U-118. About eight Avenger dive bombers and Wildcat fighters attacked U-118, dropping fourteen close depth charges arid firing over five thousand rounds from machine guns. This massive aerial assault destroyed U-118. Upon reaching the scene, one of USS Bogue’s screen, the four-stack destroyer USS Osmond Ingram, found twenty-one Germans in the water, four of them dead. The destroyermen fished out the seventeen living German survivors-all enlisted men-but one subsequently died of his wounds, Thirty-eight other crew and/or the retained wounded from U-758 died in the attack or the sinking. The loss left only the new XIV tanker U-488 at sea to supply the boats bound for distant southern Atlantic and Caribbean waters. Deadly U-Boat Hunt by Royal Navy Support Groups Continue in North Atlantic The Arctic veteran Type VII German submarine U-334, commanded by a new skipper, Heinz Ehrich, age twenty-three. She was sunk ten days out from Norway on June 14 southwest of Iceland by Royal Navy frigate HMS Jed and sloop HMS Pelican, which were escorting convoy Outbound North (Slow) 10. In six attacks after establishing first passive sonar contact , the two escorts dropped forty depth charges and fired two Hedgehog salvos. The U-334 surfaced twice during the attacks, but was destroyed with all hands. The Admiralty assessment committee wrote that the “terrible assortment of wreckage and fresh human remains, oil and bubbles [that] rose to the surface” was adequate proof of a kill. And Let's Not Forget Mediterranean Which Became A Mouse Trap For Any U-Boat The veteran German suıbmarine U-97, commanded by Hans-Georg Trox, age twenty-seven, patrolling the eastern Mediterranean Sea near Haifa, sank two ships: the 9,000-ton British tanker Athelmonarch and the 1,200-ton Dutch freighter Palima. Trox did not live long enough to celebrate. Royal Navy forces and RAF Coastal Command in the eastern Mediterranean converged on the site of these sinkings to hunt down U-97. In the afternoon of June 16, a Hudson bomber of Australian Squadron 459, piloted by David T. Barnard, spotted U-97 on the surface and straddled her from very low altitude with four depth charges. The explosion of one missile, a direct hit, battered the Hudson, damaging both wings, the fuselage (over one hundred holes), and the tail. Barnard took photos of the sinking U-boat, then limped to base. British ships rescued twenty-one Germans, but Trox and about twenty-six others perished in destroyed U-97. U-Boat Hunt in Bay of Biscay , 11 - 18 June 1943 The veteran Type VII German submarine , U-564, made famous by Reinhard Suhren, which sailed from Bordeaux on June 9 on her third patrol under command of Hans Fiedler, age twenty-eight, who had yet to sink a ship. In keeping with the new policy, Fiedler linked up with four other boats for the trip across the Bay of Biscay. On the evening of June 13, a RAF Coastal Command Sunderland flying boat of British Squadron 228, piloted by Leonard Bertrand Lee, found the group and attacked U-564 with depth charges. The group shot back en masse and brought down the plane with the loss of all hands, but U-564 was severely damaged. U-boat Control directed another boat of the group, the IXC40 U-185, commanded by August Maus, age twenty-eight, to escort U-564 to a port on the north coast of Spain where the boat could make repairs. On the next morning, June 14, one of nine RAF Coastal Command Whitley bombers of OTU 10 on patrol spotted the two U-boats. The pilot and copilot, Australians Arthur J. Benson and Robert L. Rennick, shadowed and radioed for reinforcements, to no avail. After two long hours, Benson attacked the two boats, concentrating his depth charges on the damaged U-564, which sank. But Maus in U-185 had riddled the Whitley with flak and it had to ditch. Maus rescued Fiedler and seventeen other Germans from U-564; twenty-eight other crew died in the sinking. Maus transferred the survivors to the German destroyer Z-24, then continued his outward voyage to the Americas. Fiedler returned to Germany to commission a new VII. A French fishing trawler, Jazz Band, rescued the five Allied airmen of the Whitley and landed them in France, where they were captured. Hitler's U-Boat War , Hunted - Clay Blair Jr.

[@kerblo]

Was the bombing campaign by the allies an efficient use of supplies or would the personnel, material and fuel have be better off distributed in existing branches?

[@stevekaczynski3793]

A little mind-boggling that so much was expended on Pantelleria that Sicily ran short.

[@WorldWarTwo]

@kerblo That is incredibly hard to answer for two reasons. Firstly we would have to decide what we are measuring to work if something is 'efficient' and secondly there are almost endless potential alternative uses for man-hours, resources and military assets in a global war like this. As Spartacus repeatedly points out on WAH though, the Allied bombing campaign against Germany was really not very successful based on its own goals - it did not very effectively hamper industrial output nor did it break the morale of Germans to continue the war. Yes it kept a lot of German air and AA assets away from the front lines but that could have been achieved through any number of other means or cicrumstances

[@robertkras5162]

If you look at this from a 1943 perspective, it does seem questionable, or uncertain. The value of strategic bombing is only established when escort fighters can establish air superiority, and bombing is accurate enough to take out actual strategic targets, and the intel is good enough to identify those targets. At this point, economists and logisticians are getting involved in developing plans bent on destroying supply chains supporting the Axis war effort. The night bombing and fire bombing raids targeting cities proved to be useless in breaking enemy will, and only caused massive civilian suffering (sort of like economic sanctions today.)

[@Raskolnikov70]

I've always felt it was a misallocation of resources. Strategic bombing was always less effective at its aims than its proponents claimed. Even after they got all the bombers they wanted by this time in '43, they were still trying to come up with ways to make it more effective than it was - like firebombing cities because bombing now-hardened industrial targets wasn't accomplishing much. They should have kept some strategic bombing going for truly strategic targets, but it would have helped them more by focusing as the Luftwaffe did on things like close air support and better fighter cover for them.

[@Soundbrigade]

Sounds like the players in next weeks WC soccer finally …. 8 did read a book about the Battles of Kursk as they were almost to be regarded as not one battle, but it still nerve-wracking to hear what is planned and what strategy the combatants will use.

[@bookaufman9643]

Operation toenails is one of the stranger operation names that I've heard of in any theater of WW2..

[@mrAMMW]

maybe stupid question but early in the war we criticized the French for putting tanks in their infantry divisions but the soviets seem to be putting quite a lot of tanks in theirs yet nobody is complaining anymore, any explanations for this or am i misunderstanding?

[@hanslundt6757]

If I remember correctly, the problem was not the combination but lack of coordination. So infantry+tanks=good infantry+tanks-coordination=bad

[@Raskolnikov70]

The French didn't develop a separate tank/armored doctrine the way the Germans did. They put tanks in their infantry formations as WWI-style infantry support platforms instead of independent armor units. The Soviet armor units are there for infantry support but still being employed as armor units.

[@puneetsohi]

7:20, I believe is one of the most important statements of eastern front.

[@antonytye3484]

The numbers on the Kursk front kind of highlight the comparative desparity in numbers of the D Day landings. Which the Western nations talk about a fair bit, this is just one bit of an enormous front, a few percent, and it dwarves D Day completely(with reason through, no 22 mile channel to get across, a fair bit further across to the Normandy beaches, and a huge local civilian population to utilise). Staggering numbers though, the meat of the European war.

[@mathieu564]

It seems that you missed one battle that happened prior to the battle of Kursk. Having achieved air superiority (as you reported) the soviet air force stroke the Luftwaffe airfields near Kursk and destroyed 500 aircraft. They were apparently helped by Cairncross who was passing the soviet ultra intercepts. That event appears to be little known and details are sparse. Do you know anything about that?

[@stevekaczynski3793]

At least one Slovenian (or perhaps Polish) deserter from the German armed forces crossed over and told the Soviets an attack was imminent before it happened.

[@mathieu564]

@@stevekaczynski3793 That is something different. This is the Soviet strike just before Kursk. What I meant was the strike on airfields some weeks or months before the battle in July.

[@caryblack5985]

Where did you read about it. I have never heard of such an attack and the loss of 500 Luftwaffe planes.

[@mathieu564]

@@caryblack5985 It is mentioned in Beevor „The Second World War“ at the beginning of chapter 31 which is about the battle of Kursk. Beevor is generally reliable, but the lack of details on this is infuriating.

[@caryblack5985]

@@mathieu564 Very surprising as the Soviet air force had gained strength but the the kill ratio was still very much in the Luftwaffe's favor which means there would have be 1,500 to 2,000 Soviet fighters and more. It just does not seem right to me.

Excellent, as always.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks @Säbelzahnmöwe

[@williamtell5365]

Kursk is interesting precisely because it is uninteresting. I suppose one could argue the tactical strategy got fairly complex so it's interesting from that standpoint. But in retrospect I think it's fair to say that the Germans really had no chance of any kind of breakout offensive here. It's somewhat surprising the Germans were willing to waste the scant resources they had at this point in such a massive, yet obviously doomed, offensive. I'm generally no fan of counterfactuals but it's interesting to speculate if the Germans could have held out substantially longer in the east if they hadn't created such collosal waste at Kursk.

[@Robbini0]

Isn't it famous because a) It was one of the largest battles in forces / area, especially with tanks b) Those new german tanks were introduced large scale and produced some results and c) It was germany's last large-scale attack on the eastern front, anything after that was either smaller, localized or just defensive.

[@glennmacgilvra422]

After watching these post I am even more mystified. What was the German strategy? Say they won at Kursk, at tremendous cost, and eliminated the Soviet salient, flattening the line. Then what? They'd still be running out of gas and still facing numerically larger and ever more skilled/armed Soviet forces.

[@dongately2817]

The waste of fuel during the battle wasn’t even mentioned. Even if the Germans could magically come up with more men and equipment, after 1943 they lacked the fuel to conduct any major offensives like Barbarossa or Fall Blau. 1!

[@Robbini0]

@@glennmacgilvra422 Time. The longer they could fight in the war, the greater the chance of the Allies (especially the western allies) being disgusted by their casualties and then possibly somehow agreeing to a peace deal to fight the real threat, the communists. Time. The more they they have, the more chances of their Wunderwaffens actually being invented and produced in large enough amounts. Fatalism. Judging from what they had done to the soviets in their territory, they had low expectations of happy invasion into their own territory by the soviets. Fewer soviet soldiers means further violations. And keeping them out entirely means a safer population. Optimism. Crush this pocket, crush significant portions of the soviet forces and they could either achieve a stalemate until strong enough to win or actually beat them. Realism. Even claiming to be willing to try and negotiate with the soviets would have you fired from whatever position you held for a defeatist or traitor. Pick any or all of them, there are probably a lot of other possible reasons, but here are some.

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

they didn't call hitler the gröfaz for nothing.

[@oneshotme]

Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for all your support!

[@RonaldAndrew]

OK. "Operation Toenails"? Is there an episode on who and how they came up with these names of operations?

[@sovietblobfish]

did the capture of pantelleria not clue the axis in to the true direction of operation husky? or was that also something that would be strategic to take for a move against greece?

[@TerryMahoney]

Indy, When you say “1st Marines” That always refers to the 1st Marine regiment. Every time you reference the 1st Marine division you have to say 1st Marine division.

[@calebayton9073]

Was this the first reference to Indy's previous work on the Great War all series? it's the first I remember. It's probably been explained somewhere that I missed, but can someone explain wh/how Indy and Great War split?

[@indianajones4321]

Kursk here we go

[@Elfunko99x]

Looks like i was unsubscribed. Havent been recommended in 2 months. Dont know why, can only speculate. But subbed and liked and lots to catch up on.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you B M! Welcome back

[@guybutler5305]

Are the defences still there. Might need them now

[@LawrenceOfBessarabia]

Lmaoooooo

[@steveford8999]

Sorry, a bit late to the show, but....at 9:57....is that a Sherman tank?

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for watching, Steve Ford, and thanks for enjoying our content. That is, in fact, a Soviet T-34 not a Sherman.

[@steveford8999]

@@WorldWarTwo Ah...I was thinking of Lend-Lease and all the STUFF that was sent to the Soviets. Thanks, tho.

[@petertiagunov5666]

Thanks!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you, Peter!

[@MiningNinjasFTW]

I want to know who the 1 doctor is that didn’t recommend the time ghost army

[@macmedic892]

Dr. Mengele

[@Oilfieldscout]

Same doctor who did not recommend Chesterfields for smokers throat

[@Raskolnikov70]

Same guy who recommends little chocolate donuts for weight loss.

[@janiceduke1205]

Dr. Pepper 😁

[@nozecone]

What did YOU do during the war, Daddy? Why, I was in charge of a unit that dug up corpses and burned them and crushed their bones! Wow! But, um ... don't mention that to your friends at school - you know, I don't want everyone calling me a hero and making a big fuss ... !

[@Casa-de-hongos]

That is why the german youth culture in the early 60's had the slogan: "Don't trust anyone over 30!"

[@janiceduke1205]

Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky my favorite Soviet WW2 commander.✨ ​👏​👏​👏​

[@jonbaxter2254]

All these mines makes me think, did forces ever roll over their own by mistake when they counter-attacked?

[@caryblack5985]

They even rolled over them when not attacked as sometimes their own minefields were not correctly marked or the engineers failed to properly clear a path for their own vehicles from their minefields.

[@Raskolnikov70]

They'd clear lanes prior to any planned attack. But in a more spur-of-the-moment fight it would be easy to forget where your own defenses were.

[@petergray7576]

German forces committed to Operation Citadel consists of the forces of Army Group Center and Army Group South. AG Center consists of the 2nd Panzer, 9th and 2nd Armies, for a grand total of 43 infantry divisions (plus three Hungarian divisions), 2 Panzergrenadier divisions, and 7 Panzer divisions. Walter Model's 9th Army will lead the northern prong of Citadel, with 5 corps (XX, XLVI Panzer, XLVII Panzer, XLI and XXIII) lead by 5 Panzer divisions (2nd, 9th and 18th, with the 4th and 12th in reserve), and the 10th Panzergrenadier in reserve. Army Group South consists of the 4th Panzer Army and Army Detachment Kempf. It has an infantry strength of just 12 divisions, but also has 6 Panzer and 5 Panzergrenadier divisions. Both the 4th Army (LII, XLVIII and II SS Panzer Corps) and Detachment Kempf (III Panzer, XI and XLII Corps) will attack, forming the southern prong of Citadel, with the XXIV Panzer Corps in reserve. 2500 tanks and other armored vehicles, fully 70% of German AFV strength in the USSR, has been committed to this battle. StuG III assault guns form the largest contingent, along with long barreled Panzer III and IV tanks, and with much smaller numbers of Tiger Is and brand new Panther Ausf Ds, and the Ferdinand/Elefant tank destroyers. This is the Panther's first battle, and one of the Panzer III's last. Reconnaissance will be provided by Sd.Kfz.234 scout cars, and infantry will be carried and supported by Sd.Kfz 250 and 251 half tracks. Antiaircraft cover will be provided by 2 cm and 3.7 cm Flak in towed and self propelled carriages. The Luftwaffe will be present in significant strength. Fighter support will mostly consist of Bf 109G and FW 190A single engine fighters. Ground support will also be provided by FW 190s, Ju 87G Stukas and Hs129s. Heavier bombing will be supplied by Ju 88s and a smaller number of He 111s, and coordinating will be Fieseler Fi 156 Storch and Focke-Wulf Fw-189 Uhu aircraft. German infantry will be mostly armed with a mix of Mauser K98K rifles, MP40 SMGs, MG34 and 42 machine guns, plus small numbers of StuG 42 assault rifles and Gew 43 marksman rifles. The SS troops also carry a plethora of captured and looted firearms, including the Czech ZB.26 light machine gun.

[@toddmoss1689]

Another great episode, but I'm curious why after two years since "What Actually is Blitzkrieg?" aired in June 2020 we are still referring to German maneuver warfare doctrine as "Blitzkrieg tactics" when the actual established German name for that doctrine is Bewegungskrieg.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Because the 'official' name for the tactic is not necessarily the best way to refer to the action. Although the Wehrmacht never adapted the term officially, it was used colloquially and in propaganda by Germany from the 1930s to 1941, and colloquially by those in the Wehrmacht that felt that it was a new tactic. Guderian himself used in it the common reference, but claimed that the Allies "as a result of the successes of our rapid campaigns our enemies ... coined the word Blitzkrieg". His opponent thinkers dismissed it as not being anything new per se, but only a natural development of the tactics developed during the end of WWI due to technology (they had a strong point). However, Guderian was wrong - the term appears first in two German articles describing Bewegungskrieg in the 1930s, and one article critical of appeasement (by an exiled German communist). It was picked up by the British Press as a buzzword during the invasion of Poland. The Nazis then used it frequently, including Hitler himself, until late 1941. After the failure of the Russian campaign and what publicly looked like the end of Germany's praised Blitzkrieg, Hitler decided that he had never said it and in 1941 stated: "I have never used the word Blitzkrieg, because it is a very silly word". In early January 1942, Hitler dismissed it as "Italian phraseology". This is provably wrong, as many statements by the Führer tended to be... In any case, starting with his denial the phrase was suppressed from German official usage. As military historians, we can quibble about the accuracy and usefulness of the term, but for the general public 'Blitzkrieg' is what summarizes the tactics used by the Wehrmacht in the early years of the war, so it makes much sense to use it here to avoid lengthy explanations. Staying with that it was never a word in German usage would not only be inaccurate but also follow the propaganda desires of Herr Hitler, which we tend to frown upon.

[@qwertyuiopasdfghj001]

1/3 soviet tank fleet were sherman tanks provided by the USA as part of the lend lease agreement

[@marnik972]

1/30 ...is more accurate

[@qwertyuiopasdfghj001]

@@marnik972 keep lying to yourself

[@lycaonpictus9662]

Lend-lease was far less important with how many tanks it supplied (Soviet industry was churning them out just fine) than with supplying resources to fuel that industry, or less "sexy" but arguably more important vehicles like trucks and jeeps, that keep the armies supplied and mobile. The Soviet Union did get the majority of it's trucks via Lend-Lease, and that had the knock-on effect of producing many more Soviet tanks, because the factories churning out tanks at a rate that would have alarmed the Germans, didn't need to be retooled to churn out the trucks needed to carry infantry behind those tanks, or all the ammunition, food, and other supplies to keep those front line units functional.

[@Raskolnikov70]

@@lycaonpictus9662 Correct. Plus with the limitations on shipping armaments via the Pacific Lend-Lease route (which accounted for more than half the shipments to the USSR because it was relatively safe) it made more sense for the Soviets to focus on producing their own tanks instead of importing them.

[@shawnr771]

Thank you for the lesson.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching, Shawn

[@Hykoo79]

Pedantic 1. Its Bogan- vil.

[@2nostromo]

Overheard at a track meet: "Are you a pole vaulter?" "No, I'm German, aber how did you know my name is Walther, bitte?"

[@WorldWarTwo]

😂

[@diegoemilioblanco1911]

Hi, I just got a little confused, isn't Donald Kennedy from New Zealand?

[@WorldWarTwo]

You're correct, thank you Diego

[@sorathompson366]

Aaagh the drawing is of Michael Keaton, I knew Batman was a time traveler!