Ernst's Endgame: What Prompted the Surrender of Heavy Jagdtigers at Iserlohn?

By early 1945, Allied forces had breached the formidable defenses of the Siegfried Line and were poised to strike deep into the heart of Germany.
Germany resorted to desperate measures in an attempt to halt the advancing Allied forces toward its core territories.
The 512th Heavy Panzerjagar Battalion was established at Döllersheim with the primary objective of impeding the Allied progress. Deployment arrangements were initiated on February 15 1945.
The battalion was equipped with the new Jagdtiger tank destroyer manufactured at the Nibelungenwerk factory.
The Jagdtiger was the heaviest armoured fighting vehicle produced during the war, mounting a 128 millimeter main gun, inside a 79-tonne chassis.
Commanding one of these steel behemoths was 1st Lieutenant Albert Ernst who was a renowned Panzerjäger ace.
Copyright fair use notice
All media used in this video is used for the purpose of education under the terms of fair use.
All footage and images used belong to their copyright holders.

[@dennisswaim8210]

That's the mark of a good commander, staying with his men even after the surrender. This man still felt responsible for the welfare of his troops. You have got to admire that. Also when faced with the reality of inevitable defeat with nothing to be gained from continued fighting other than civilian deaths it seemed he again showed good judgment.

[@adrianariaratnam5817]

Thank you. Great story with fantastic footage.

[@FactBytes]

Glad you liked it!

[@jim7544]

My father was a member of 394th Regiment I &R platoon. He drove Lt.Col. Kriz to the surrender. He told me the drive into the town was unsettling. No people were anywhere to be seen. The sight of fully armed Germans made them nervous too. To the day he died, he referred to " the surrender of the Panzer Lehr Division ". The 394th history initially did too.

[@BigBossSherlock]

Because the germans were fine soldiers and fight with honour. Not the allied soldiers who came to loot, abduct, torture, rape and murder. For sources look up amrican citizien William Toel who revealed the genocide on germans after WW2 palnned in Bletchley by the allies. Liberators don't loot, abduct, torture, rape or murder.

[@Spectification]

@@BigBossSherlock What did Germans do in Russia? What did they do to France when they rolled by? Who forcefully took conquered populace to slave away in their arms industry? You fuck around, be ready to find out. Germans got away easy, thanks to the threat from the USSR. Didnt know Russian bots comment on these kinds of videos, trying to spread discontent...

[@jurekogorek3293]

​@@BigBossSherlockare you actually well in your head mate?

[@BigBossSherlock]

@@jurekogorek3293 Whereare you from? Research and learn your history. Look it up. Why should I lie to you, even the britsih said after war, "we got the victory, the germans the honour"

[@r.guerreiro140]

​@@BigBossSherlockExcuse me, but on what party your ancestors voted on 1932?

[@mchrome3366]

These WW2 videos are getting better and more specific to the thousands of battles that occurred during WW2. Thanks

[@Rusty_Gold85]

except some company is putting watermarks over War footage from the Smithsonian Institute and claiming Copyright

[@ryleeculla5570]

It’s crazy how such expensive vehicles still put up a fight with devastating results by 1945 hell almost all king tigers and jaged tigers were gone even the tiger 1s and yet they put up a fight

[@Penfold-8521]

"By that time the general had disappeared".....very easy to demand to fight to the last man when you're not staying.

[@JoeJ94611]

Tiger Ace, Otto Carius, commented when his units was equipped with Jagdtigers, that a turret was better than having to turn the entire vehicle to aim the gun and Jagdtigers, etc were an example of 2nd rate equipment available at the end of the war.

[@michaelpipetap8307]

Of course, they preferred turrets but without turrets was much cheaper.

[@joechang8696]

@@michaelpipetap8307 I believe the Panzer IV cost about 90K+ Reichsmarks, while the Stug III costs about 82K RM. I am not sure why about10-15% price difference for a turret would be prohibitive, yet there was more production of the turretless armored vehicles. I wonder if there was a production bottleneck for turrets.

[@obivankeno2068]

​@@michaelpipetap8307 Much more safer against AT Bcz is Casemate no weak point

[@ronaldgrove3283]

Armored Assault Guns tank destroyers were no means second rate and excellent for defense. Containing bigger guns, more armor, lower silhouettes, cost efficiency. Stug 3's being Germanys most produced armored vehicle. Being the PzKwfz 3 turret tank was the early German main battle tank but were found to light, its 50 mm cannon ineffective against enemy tanks. Most later obsolete turret PzKwfz 3 were stripped of their turrets and converted to Stug 3's with a still lethal 75mm cannons. The latter Hertz armored tank destroyers were probably ton for ton the most efficient motorized tank killers in WW2... The only reason we don't see turretless tank destroyers today because of the great advances in lighter gunsize,gunbrakes technology used today.

[@republic0_032]

@@ronaldgrove3283 Sweden created some during the cold war, known as the S tank. Although officially a main battle tank, the idea is the same as the stugs.

[@EDDGC]

What a great story you brought to us. THANKS!

[@FactBytes]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@nzmonsterman]

Nicely put together video. A good unbiased narrative. Thank you.😊 What a great group of men.

[@FactBytes]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@MOTA_KRAMPUS]

Finally someone does a video about this topic! Too bad the clips a re blurry, I've seen them much cleaner.

[@darkjudge8786]

Because he stole the footage and blurred the watermark. And the voice is text to speech from a Wikipedia article. This isn't a documentary, it's theft.

[@opoxious1592]

@dge8786 I can tell you something else. The guys froem "Critical History" who put the logo in the middle of the screen are also not the legitimate owners of this footage.

[@Wally-H]

Dr Mark Felton made a better video on this, with no blurring.

[@billballbuster7186]

Good story, but the truth was that by April 1945 German surrenders were being organized all over the western part of the country to the British and Americans. There was panic in the German ranks as the priority now was to surrender to the Allies before the dreaded Russians "barbarian hoards" arrived. German units on the Eastern front drove across Germany to surrender to the Allies, it was all over.

[@patwilson2546]

Not to be pedantic, but you might want to edit 1944 to 1945. Otherwise - yes 😀

[@alfnoakes392]

I have seen pics of this surrender before, and my thought has always been "how the heck did they find fuel for those behemoths at that stage of the war?". This, and lack of other supplies, must have been factors in such Units deciding to surrender.

[@brennanleadbetter9708]

They knew what the Russians would do to them, surrendering to them was basically a death sentence.

[@ToddBrooks-o5m]

​@@alfnoakes392They didn't !!

[@papaaaaaaa2625]

​@@alfnoakes392They didn't. The surrendering German Forces sometimes got fuel from the allies to move their vehicles to specific areas. They did this to secure those vehicles on one spot against german recapture and to get it out of the way of the advancing forces. Imagins German tanks all over the area....and they would scare unknowing drivers or Logistic forces. There is a famous story about a German Tank were I come from. The allies spotted it across a wide open area, positioned and covered between two houses. The area was shelled and bombed and the Allied Forces moved in in a wide flanking manover...to find out that the Tank was abandoned and the crew was gone.

[@TheTom5150]

Really given Germanys economic situation there was absolutely nothing practical about the Jagdtiger. I mean for a country that had no fuel resources, to produce a vehicle that required 10 gallons of fuel to drive one mile is insane LOL. They probably would’ve been better off taking all those funds for building the Jagdtiger and instead producing a hundred thousand more panzerfausts

[@milt6208]

Everybody knew the war would end soon. Why die over nothing.

[@domingofung]

Different cultures...

[@stevedelvecchio1783]

What do you mean? If your country got invaded would u just give up? You fight for your life for the love of your country id hope

[@speedyeg-guitars-playlists4800]

An act of humanity. There may also be photos or film material from Oosterbeek (Market Garden). Lt. Col. Walther Harzer, Col. Dr. Warrack and Major Dr. Skalka were important people for a ceasefire. A later letter of thanks from Colonel Warrack to Obersturmbannführer Harzer had the following wording: „2 October, 1944. I would like to express my thanks and appreciation for the extremely effective way in which the German medical services evacuated more than 2,200 wounded of the 1st Parachute Division during the time from the Oosterbeek area from 24 to 26 September 1944. The German medical service worked day and night, at times under fire from both fronts, and did not cease its work until night fell on 26 September, when all British and German wounded were safe.“ […] *

[@johnschuh8616]

Showed both sides at their best.

[@champisthebunny6003]

Interestingly, the current German Leopard 2a7, weighs in @ ~ 75 tons (some variation), and mounts a 120mm main gun. One area where advances in technology really shows up though is range. The Jagtiger had terrible range. 75 miles on the road, vs the Leo 2a7 > 210 miles. Allow for fuel capacity, a Leo2, despite being having similar specs to the Jagtiger in some respects, is about 2.5x more fuel efficient. Range was even worse off-road. This tank could barely maneuver without a convoy of fuel trucks not far behind. Fuel was long a problem for the German armored forces so its probably just as well they could manage only 80 of those things. No matter how powerful its main gun, these were tanks Germany could ill-afford by that point.

[@minhthunguyendang9900]

Well, ‘dolf wanted an even huger tank called « Maus ».

[@janmale7767]

The propaganda value of such weapons outweighed their practicality! In the second half of WW-2 , Nazi Germany can be likened to a huge loony bin , people were living in a state of reality denial! But i do admire their Stoicism, the Germans are a remarkable people!

[@lenb307]

Great film footage of the Jagdtiger, you don't often see much of this vehicle in WW2 videos.

[@Bullseye-we5ft]

Whats with the blurred section. Nothing to hide there.

[@leesaunders1930]

Thank you for this. I've always wondered what the story behind it was after seeing a short clip here on KZbin quite a few years ago.

[@FactBytes]

My pleasure!

[@Bfkm14156]

The "formidable" defenses of Siegfried line were not so formidable. Germans largely dismantled it for the wall of the Atlantic. Without this mistake, it would have been much more difficult for Allies. The illimited number of American tanks gave no chance to Germany. Why does Germany always make huge diplomatic mistakes ?

[@minhthunguyendang9900]

Because they always thought Themseles Herrenvolk More clever than Everybody Else.

[@CardinalisFox]

The dog on the hood in 0:10 is such a hilarious curveball.

[@brennanleadbetter9708]

I don’t know what they were thinking when they built the Jagdtiger.

[@DutchGuyMike]

Countering the Russian new tanks mostly. Though Hitler always wanted "bigger is better", which it obviously wasn't. Imagine if they only decided on making (corrected model of) Panthers/Panzer IVs or even Tigers. That would have made a radical change, but making so many diverse tanks was just a detriment not only because of underpowered engines/drivetrains but getting spare parts and the insane fuel they consumed was just... dumb..

[@brennanleadbetter9708]

@ DutchGuyMike imagine if they tried mass producing the Maus.

[@chonqmonk]

@@brennanleadbetter9708Hehe, I just did at your request, and I thank you because it was fun!

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage video about real soldier, commander Ernest... a commander of Jadgt tiger tanks confronted allies ( American)

[@beachboy0505]

Excellent video 📹 Cinema 🎥 film is important. Save the city for future generations.

[@ronti2492]

Excellent video- what became of Ernst after the war?

[@FactBytes]

After the war Albert Ernst retired in Iserlohn.where he died on 21-02-1986, age 73.

[@ronti2492]

Thanks FactBytes. Interesting that he retired to Iserlohn, I wonder if he was a local or it had something to do with what must have been a very siginifcant event in his life? Thank you for reply! @@FactBytes

[@ErikBonesteel]

Ernst Albert lived in Iserlohn. He was my mother's driving instructor. He was not a local citizen before the war, but chose to retire in Iserlohn after the war.

[@liamferreira8912]

3:29 an MKB 42(H), the direct ancestor of the STG44. Not something you see every day!

[@revantii]

Held by fallschirmjaeger(you can tell by the helmets and jackets) likely somewhere on the Eastern Front. Makes sense such a rare weapon would be given to elite units for troop trials. Nice catch!

[@liamferreira8912]

@@revantiioh yes good eye! That dude on Forgotten Weapons said the Luftwaffe was a key proponent of the MKB 42 (H), and had a batch made for their usage, despite the fact they went with developing the FG42 in the end. And on that note, I wonder if at the time of this shot there was a guy close by with an FG42…

[@arneniederhut5326]

The real last stand of Jagdtigers was on the river Traisen front in Austria.

[@jerryumfress9030]

The tanks were too heavy, the engine was under powered, and there were few places the tanks could travel on without collapsing the roads. The tanks were running out of fuel, and it was game over. They would also much rather surrender to the Americans and British

[@burningblue1254]

They were also unreliable having been built through Allied bombing raids where parts had to be substituted and slave labor often purposely making incorrect parts to sabotage the war effort. German tanks required meticulous maintenance and that resulted in more tanks out of service because of mechanical failure than enemy action. Allied tank production was about 188,000 versus Germany at 50,000. Also the Allies had air supremacy which was a constant problem for these huge beasts.

[@paramarky]

I like that you are recycling someone else's film by blanking out the logo :)

[@object_VS]

why you blur off the Critical Pass signature on the video?

[@hendrygmail4161]

Copyright

[@ml50486965]

Why the annoying blurring of part of the pictures?

[@Wally-H]

Because he doesn't have the copyright to use those videos.

[@ReeseTimm]

Amazing how far AI narration has come.

[@cyph3r.427]

What's with the blurred out watermark?

[@Dog.soldier1950]

He didn’t ay to have it removed

[@minhthunguyendang9900]

8:41 -> ABSOLUTELY UNTHINKABLE on the Eastern front.

[@ScruffyNZ.]

the barrel was 7m, not 'exceeding 8m'

[@REBELSCL]

An officer and a gentleman… as well as as an honorable warrior…

[@tobijug]

What's an Annie Aircraft Gun, or fudill ?

[@myronfrobisher]

why are you blurring 80 year old footage?

[@luongo7886]

1st Lieutenant Albert Ernst was a graceful soldier who looked after the men under this command as well as civilians. I hope he didn't commit any war crimes.

[@stargazer1744]

Of course not....!

[@ryleeculla5570]

I hear that the Ruhr pocket also had a few tank divisions or only one I heard their was an ambush by the Germans with king tigers

[@spaceman9599]

Further East I think, it was 9th or 3rd arm that were ambushed and their c/o killed.

[@lyntwo]

@8:31 note tread design of tank treads.

[@parker1ray]

This vehicle only weighed 71 tons not 78! Most were abandoned by their crews and the majority broke down or ran out of fuel. Otto Carious commanded one of these in defense of Germany and was not impressed! They were junk and proof of Hitler's fascination with giant lumbering beasts!

[@caseymiller7464]

Who is the kid with the sniper rifle at 4:17seconds?

[@GarySpeight-cv5sw]

We will never know, is it the American?

[@caseymiller7464]

He looks twelve.

[@iskandartaib]

So there actually was an Iserlohn.. 😁

[@jonboll2066]

Yikes no mounted turret. That sucks

[@godwrote01]

another example how crazy german thought they can still win the war

[@lyntwo]

The men my father worked with had been line and field officers in the US Army fight into Germany, my father a combat veteran of Korea. I would overhear their late night discussions of their bitterness toward the Germans for fighting when Germany knew the game was up, that Germany had lost, just causing unnecessarily more death, wounding and destruction.

[@stargazer1744]

It was their DUTY to defend their fatherland...or wouldn't you do the same defending your land ?

[@garysterle]

It was all about Hitler, wanting to suicide the entire Germany. You may recall, that in WW1, the Germans surrendered when they knew they had been defeated and even before allied troops entered Germany.

[@stargazer1744]

@@garysterle - From my viewpoint, that was shameful. I praise instead how they behaved in WW2.

[@garysterle]

@@stargazer1744They only succeeded in prolonging the war and inflicting countless deaths and suffering. At some point leaders must lead.

[@4june9140]

whats futul ?

[@opoxious1592]

At 0:20 you can see that the fighting is even raging on thet German new highways or "Autobahn"

[@attila7092]

Would have like to know the damage they did to the Americans in that battle

[@jim7544]

There is documentation of Ernst's group's Jg. Tigers hitting Shermans between 2 and 3 Km. They were completely destroyed.

[@nobbytang]

What prompted it ?…the allied air force dominating the skies…that’s what !!.

[@knol1969]

Why build this big jagdpanzer ? To destroy shermans they could just build more panzer IV and V

[@Athrun82]

Probably more inspired to take on the Russian big boys. The Russians and Germans seemed to have a dick measuring contest in terms of tank development. Jagdpanthers might have been a better investment or as you said more Panzer IV's or the latest versions of the Panther

[@jeffandjoannbauer9567]

Pretty Busch league to steal someone else’s video footage and blur out their water mark.

[@cybersean3000]

Dude! Make your own content, stop stealing the hard work of others!

[@Rusty_Gold85]

Using AI on English doesn't work. Find someone to read it. I hardly understood what was happening

[@少川靖男]

All they needed was to remove 12 dragon teeth blocks and the whole army could move through

[@williamlilleston1595]

If you are to narrate a video containing German ranks and other things. You really should learn to pronounce them correctly if you want a quality product on line

[@vapormissile]

4:20 HETZ ❤

[@Saphorik]

I have to comment that if you are making a video on European events at least try to learn the correct way to pronunciate names and ranks correctly.

[@0Turbox]

Hobby historians: "It was a piece of crap, broke down every meter". The real ones moved to the battlefield and back to surrender and stuffed as many soldiers on top.

[@lionel66cajppppp0]

This is no backed up by anything other than propaganda It those like yourself that keep pushing thus garbage If you look at the actual German correspondence and tactic reports on the heavy tanks they were no better in worse than any other tanks and in fact better Your just repeating garbage backed up by hearsay because it makes you sound knowledgable When actually you know nothing

[@rogercude1459]

Without a doubt either surrender to the Americans or the Russians😂😂

[@CLARKE176]

Or British Commonwealth, French or Poles too.

[@mr.colling4091]

Seigfried line was NOT formidable!

[@opoxious1592]

Yes it was. But after Europe was pretty much conquered by the Germans, it was largely stripped of it's weapons to strengthen the Atlantic wall. And even when the Allies reached the Siegfried line in it's "Stripped" state, it still managed to block the Allied Advance by another 4 months

[@seymencetinkaya1807]

0:11 dog

[@daleshelden8394]

It's pronounced yay gir

[@Occident.]

They should have continued the fight.

[@nurturaanimae]

It is called trahison :-)) History made by winners. Good for his soldiers at least who experienced POW camps without water and other inhumane treatments from Americans (fairly treated by Germans).

[@ashleybevis9769]

Thought the Russians was more of a problem to the facist regime

[@luisfranco8424]

Did Goebbels put this trash together?