The Daylight Volga Crossing - A Look at Enemy at the Gates and Call of Duty

[@dmalak4509]

I’m surprised people only remember COD 1 mission and not Finest Hour’s mission. Finest Hour was a lot more intense and really immersive.

[@HistoryClarified]

Never had it. I’ll have to try and track down some footage of it and check it out.

[@greatergermanicreich9072]

i was wondering why the graphics are worse than i remember. i was thinking of finest hour.

[@HistoryClarified]

I’m going to have to do a video on Finest Hour someday, just to talk about the commissar’s speech in the beginning. It borrows from an Ilya Ehrenburg essay and it’s neat that they used actual propaganda from Pravda in the game.

[@hearsomeevil9199]

@@HistoryClarified Finest Hour is so good such nostalgia

[@youjustsaid4863]

Finest hour was where it was at!

[@bbcmotd]

It would be difficult to underestimate the importance of this scene in western collective perception of the Eastern Front - this one rifle for two men narrative has been repeated so many times, that lots of people in the west take it as ultimate truth.

[@HistoryClarified]

I think it was the film and game popularizing it. I do believe that people draw their visceral impressions of history from popular media.

[@mydlear4238]

Yeah I was literally taught that with my history teacher in middle school, for a long time I took this as an undeniable truth unfortunately

[@littleblom]

Sadly I was taught a similar bullshit. Apparently it's a complete lie. To compare. How would rract to movie where US soldiers are treated like cattle by their officers and sent to pointless, slaughter on the Omsha beach? Focusing on every lost life to prove heartless brutality, of genetals, and blood thirsty, nature of your President. Would that annoy you? Or would you rather say: yeah, it's kind of accurate to what an ordinary, soldiers felt like

[@AudieHolland]

There was a major difference in Soviet units. There were dedicated combat units, well-equipped and properly trained, then there were militias which were poorly equipped and not trained, and finally there were penal units where one could end up by showing lack of morale or being an 'enemy of the party.' Stalin also let loose his entire prison population to serve in the Soviet version of 'Einsatztruppen' which were little more than cannon fodder and meant to terrorize the civilian population of conquered territory. The bad reputation the Red Army got following World War II was mainly due to these 'special troops' of common criminals who were also used when encountering minefields and if the top brass hadn't allocated sufficient mine clearing equipment and machines. These troops were ordered to march through the minefield, clearing it by detonating the mines with their bodies. NKVD or political troops were also used but these were very few in number and acted more as military police, picking up stragglers and sending them back to their units. Simply shooting your own soldiers was not done as a rule because it wasted bullets and men.

[@jurtra9090]

Company of Heroes 2 game story mode is full of bias. You should look it up

[@mirsad96]

80% of the German War Machine was sent east. Soviets were tough people.

[@HistoryClarified]

82-90 percent of German combat casualties were inflicted by the Soviets. The Eastern Front was certainly it’s own beast, but a war of extermination will bring that brutality out.

[@barccy]

Why would they not send it east? Defending the NW French coast and giving a little help in N. Africa didn't justify allocating more resources where they weren't needed.

[@barccy]

@@HistoryClarified When were they going to kill off the Russian volunteers and the captives that they'd been holding since the start of the conflict?

[@88GAF]

@@barccy N Africa campaign was fought for 2 reasons 1. to assist Italy and 2. to capture the oilfields the British had occupied but having as many ports controlled as possible for maximum export. Germany needed oil badly by the end of 1941 they were out of oil and bleeding out their reserves and the romanian oil field only covered 55% of all German consumption thats why Hitler pushed for the southern oil fields in Russia during Barbarossa but Halder actually diverted reinforcements and other units towards the center for the push to Moscow, he believed if Moscow fell the soviets would give up. The Russian captives were being deliberately starved from day 1 of capture the Soviet POW ratio was roughly 60% which is horrific when compared to the 5% death of British and American POWs. The volunteers the Germans had were kept alive so long as they were usful and after the fall of Soviet Union would likely had been used as police or low level politicians in deeper parts of Russia until the German population repopulated those areas entirely.

[@NapoleonBonaparte5]

Slavs*

[@CyanTeamProductions]

Desperate the Soviets were to hold that beach. Losing it could have added a year or so to the war so I could see why it make sense to hold it.

[@HistoryClarified]

Oh yes. Chuikov didn’t admit it in his memoir, but newer eyewitness accounts claim that if not for the Guardsmen going over in the daylight , then the crossings and battle may very well have been lost.

[@dpeasehead]

@@HistoryClarified As you know Guardsmen are elite troops, so they were probably one of the few units which could have held that beach head under those conditions. The fact that a high quality unit like this was thrown into that meat grinder shows that the Soviet generals knew what was at stake whether they mentioned it in their postwar memoirs or not.

[@DrCruel]

The Bolsheviks treated their soldiers like ammunition. The Bolshevik leadership didn't care what happened to them.

[@Walker-ow7vj]

rob 998 not a story jus fax

[@Robert53area]

Wow you'll know nothing of history. The point of holding the beach was to keep Paulus in the city. If they didn't keep the germans I n the city. The encirclement planned to break the Roman and Hungarian flanks would have failed. The soviets also didn't send them in unarmed thats an american narrative. There was no shortage of rifles or ammunition in the soviet union, the shortage was food. Which was the majority of the lend lease. The shortage ammo and supply is the american narrative to make the soviet union seem desperate. And elite is exactly how I would describe chuikovs guards. He understood city fight, and told them not to leave cover unless they were with jn throwing distance of germans. The germans were just as desperate. Paulus stripped nearly his entire 8th panzer corps of men, because he lost so much of his infantry in the city. Enemy at the gates is the worst adaptation of the city of stalingrad.

[@dimakor5914]

Well, it is much simplier. The movie is about Vasily Zaitsev, who wrote a book about his experience in Stalingrad himself: "Notes of sniper". And nothing in the movie matches this book. Vasily wrote they crossed Volga at night without any casualities, everybody had a weapon before boarding and he didn't mentioned any "commissars". Enemy at the gates is fake propaganda, because there is no any way you start shooting a movie about some real historic person without reading his memoir before making a movie

[@MBKill3rCat]

While both the film and game take some liberties, your avatar leaves you with less credibility than either

[@dimakor5914]

@ShogunBean Nothing from the begining of the film never happened in reality. Soldiers were never transported with locked doors and they were never transported with civilians. They never crossed Volga during the day under german fire. There were no comissars shooting soldiers. Every soldier always had a rifle or submachine gun, there were no unarmed soldiers in battle. Everything in the movie is lie.

[@ihatecabbage7270]

@@MBKill3rCat liberties gives misconception and the wrong potrayal no matter how much you hate the ideology.

[@voiceofraisin3778]

@@dimakor5914 The two men one rifle thing is a holdover from WW1 when Weapons shortages happened on a few ocassions, the story lingered with the Germans. When the Blitkrieg happened there were a lot of Soviet recruits and recently mobilised soldiers assembling in rear areas who got overwhelmed before they could be armed, the Germans and others combined the WW1 story with what they saw in 41 and a myth was born. Add the incidents mentioned about workers militias and you can see why it became a rumour/myth amongst German soldiers. Since a lot of western historians after the war got their stories from the Germans rather than the Russians so the myth became even more widespread.

[@cyrsed3531]

Μmmm shit trying to eat piss Never gonna get tired seein 'dis

[@YuryTimofeyev]

Crossing the Volga was forbidden at day. Once the German planes could reach the river, all crossing were done at night only. People aren't idiots. Also, operations with company and more were explicitly forbidden by Chuikov on September. Cadetts were used, but they were well equipped. See Isaevs book.

[@HistoryClarified]

Yury Timofeyev Glantz agrees and sticks with the official record of the 13th Guards and sets the time at 10 pm, but I think Jones makes some compelling arguments for it having started in the late afternoon out of necessity and desperation to save the crossing.

[@YuryTimofeyev]

@@HistoryClarified it should be relatively dark by that time in September, not night, but dark.

[@HistoryClarified]

@@YuryTimofeyev Beevor used the term twilight, but Jones was convinced that the first 1500 went over well before 10 PM.

[@YuryTimofeyev]

@@HistoryClarified but as noted in another comment, Jones operates wrong data in this case. Talking about CoD or EatG authors, I would like to see them ordering 200 heavy armed men to go suicide. This isn't realistic at all.

[@champ1114]

Yury Timofeyev dude have you seen the movie enemy at the gates?? It happened bro

[@heylel1841]

These are potatoes comrade commissar. Why are we using potatoes instead of real grenades ?

[@SlySkydiver]

"Because real grenades are more valuable. In fact, they're worth a lot more than you are."

[@HistoryClarified]

I love Cod1, UO, and Cod2. I was happy when they were bundled on Steam and I could relive that.

[@daniellxnder]

@@HistoryClarified Ahh yes, the OG Call of Duty fan 👌

[@ConjointVR]

Wish I could play CoD 3 on Pc though :(

[@daniellxnder]

@@ConjointVR try using PS2 emulator

[@yollmanontherun9074]

I love the call of duty theme in the backround, really bringing the hole vidio together with the guy who speaks in the vidio

[@neilhayes4166]

I was lucky enough to visit Russia in 2016. Whatever you think of Putin I found the Russian people I met the kindest, most generous and warm hearted of any nation I had travelled in. If they had food or drink they expected to share it with you, and they gave freely of their time and fellowship to make us feel welcome. Gorky Park I have to say knocked seven bells out of Central Park, and the subway was not only very good but like a palace. Astonishing, mystifying nation.

[@dmitrykrushchev9801]

Really nice video, man can't wait for the more WW2 stuff you got planned ,

[@TeachSmith]

As a fan of History and historical thrillers, this is the perfect video for me!

[@boejiden2122]

Russian boat exists * Luftwaffe pilots: NEIN, NEIN, NEIN, NEIN

[@hughjanimal9734]

@Unlawful Tree with Jericho trumpets screaming.

[@dimitrycccp8255]

@@hughjanimal9734 the gerico sirens were put out of use after 1941

[@suzannakoizumi8605]

The Soviet soldiers had weapons. The weapons were distributed to all troops on the Eastern side of the Volga before crossing. Go to TIK history on KZbin and watch his Stalingrad series.

[@HistoryClarified]

As all of the sources I cited agree. My video on the actual battle around Red Square corroborates that. The reason the crossing took multiple waves was because they were arming and sending units piecemeal.

[@N8UrM8]

I'm reading through Zaistevs memoris, and if I remember they were under attack from ranged artillery and aircraft but it went pretty well for the conditions

[@enioni716]

Finally found a video that annalyses that crossing scene of the film

[@peterlovett5841]

The film was a travesty when it came to depicting Vassili Zaitsev as the director had his own biases he wanted to promote. The depiction of Stalingrad may be accurate but the story is not.

[@HistoryClarified]

I’ve long since decided that his role in the movie has to get its own video. From his background, to training, to field use, to the “legendary duel,” I’ve got a lot to say.

[@peterlovett5841]

@@HistoryClarified Zaitsev's own book is a good starting place but when you come to the legendary duel, well, there be dragons out there. There is a lot of conflicting information.

[@HistoryClarified]

I think I will lay out a lot of that information and show viewers just how much doubt exists. Even with Zaitsev's memoirs, a memoir written pre-archive opening should be viewed in a different light than post archive opening. Beevor, Jones, Glantz, Merridale, Overy, all have different things to say about the matter, but I'm pretty sure with the weather changes of the film, there is no way it was attempting to portray the duel as just three days.

[@peterlovett5841]

@@HistoryClarified I have only read Zaitsev's book and the "duel" is very much an afterthought and what really struck me was that if the German was as experienced as they say then he made something like 3 or 4 very basic mistakes that led to his death. I do have several books on the history of sniping and they cast considerable doubt on the veracity of the story as well. You may well be in for a very long video - good luck with it.

[@BeastEvan]

I played this on ps2. I remember this mission vividly

[@markprange4386]

1:00+ The downtown riverfront. 1:03 Smoke obscures the Soviet State Bank. 1:04 1:34 4:00 6:53 7:10 An oil depot upstream of Ovrag Dolgii. 1:09 Downtown riverfront. 1:12 Two large (apartment) Houses of Specialists. 2:03 Explosion in Krasnoarmeysk. This building by Arsenyev Ulitsa is still lived in. Some of the balconies are enclosed. 5:36 In Krasnoarmeysk. The (now Sudoverf) building is still standing by Arsenyev Ulitsa in 2022. 2:08 --Building in Stalingrad North. --Still standing in 2022. 2:10 - 2:15 --Apartment buildings still standing in 2022. --Northwest of Ulitsa Marshala Eremenko, between Atlasova and Tarifnaya. 2:18 3:02 Maj. Gen N. I. Krylov, Gen. Chuikov, Kuz'ma Akimivich Gurov, and Maj. Gen. Aleksandr Il'ich Rodimtsev. 2:30 Rodimtsev and his men. 8:45 Chuikov, (Krylov?), (?), and Zaitsev (in white). 8:50 Gur'ev? Batiuk? 8:58 Lt. Gen. Chuikov with stick. Col. Nikolai Filippovich Batiuk pointing.

[@MrSniperdude01]

Call of Duty would also include the scene in their later COD installment: Finest Hour.

[@reynanlamsen2007]

Liked because of the Call of duty 1 music,that game piqued my interest in history

[@frisianwarrior2295]

The Call of Duty Stalingrad music is so beautiful, but the Finest Hour one is even more beautiful

[@airraverstaz]

I remember watching an interview from a German soldier who said they had switched gears from pride to fear in Stalingrad. He said that they feared being captured, because they knew what they had done in previous campaigns against the Russians and knew they could expect the same kind of treatment. In some cases German soldiers even resorted to cannibalism in the city when defeat was at hand, meanwhile some of the officers still had the luxury of cooked meat. Brutality at its most barbarous.

[@lazarogonzalez5621]

0:30 name of the soviet ship?

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

Tangent: 2:24 it's been a long time since I've heard a decision being "made" and not "taken". Maybe a group takes while an individual makes up one mind.

[@IrishCarney]

I didn't know there was any truth to the notion of men being sent in without rifles at Stalingrad. I did know that some Russian soldiers had experienced this situation in World War One, and I presumed that this was transposed to Stalingrad by the movie makers for dramatic purposes.

[@HistoryClarified]

I believe with Beevor mentioning one account that occurred before the Volga crossing (the 10th NKVD raising a Narodnoe Opolcheniye group to defend the outskirts against the 16th Panzer) that people transposed that onto the entire character of the battle.

[@AudieHolland]

@@HistoryClarified There was also a unit of heavy artillery in position on the way to Stalingrad. Entirely crewed by women. They had decent weapons but little training and no experience. They fought the advancing German army to a virtual stand still, buying precious time for the defenders in the city, untill they were destroyed.

[@thefirstprimariscatosicari6870]

@@AudieHolland It was the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, manned mostly by young girl volunteers who held back the 16th Panzer Division at the Gumrak airfield.

[@fereise208]

According to TIK channel's Stalingrad series, he described the river crossing rather happened on September 15th and initially covered by smoke screens, although suffered a considerable amount of losses in the process. What do you think on this one?

[@HistoryClarified]

Jones is speaking about Rodimtsev’s first units going over on the 14th. It depends on which sources you believe for that day. Jones uses primary sources like staff officer Anatoly Mereshko and others to allege that the jump time was moved forward to 5 PM since the situation on the Western bank of the Volga was more dire than anyone wanted to admit. Mereshko stated that as Mamayev Kurgan was lost and troops were watching heavy artillery being shipped East that waiting for dusk was not feasible. Anatoly Kozlov added to this. You are correct that Mereshko adds that every boat with a gun fired what it could to create a smokescreen and every available plane was scrambled. Vasili Grossman also noted that they didn’t wait until night. Grossman reported a note from Rodimtsev that stated it started at 1700 hours. Glantz takes Chuikov’s official report of 2000 hours at face value.

[@88porpoise]

Ah Call of Duty, I could argue it is the greatest game of all time. The Graphics were stunning for the time. The gameplay, where you were part of a larger battle rather than a one man army, was unmatched. The feeling of being put into great WWII TV/film was amazing, you could be fighting alongside Lieutenant Winters in assaulting the Brécourt Manor battery and be Vasili Zaitsev from Enemy at the Gates). The music was tremendous, the epic score pumping up as you race across the grounds into the Reichstag is damned near perfect in making you feel you were doing something tremendous. I still have my CD and would pay a pretty penny for a remake of it with modern graphics. I also seem to be about the only person who preferred the base game to UO (in both single and multiplayer). I didn’t like the tanks or deployable machineguns in multiplayer. In single player UO introduces something that I feel has been detrimental to the series ever since: infinitely respawning enemies forcing you to dash forward to stop spawns rather than take a more methodical approach. And I always felt it had a few too many defensive and rail shooter missions. The only shooter that ever challenged it for be were the first two Brothers in Arms games. Completely different, but so epic and with the detailed historical extras (AARs and photos of the real places)

[@HistoryClarified]

I was so happy when Cod1, UO, and Cod2 came to Steam for cheap. I still play those.

[@88porpoise]

History Clarified Have you ever played 3? I never owned a console I could play it on. From what I understand the other console ones (Finest Hour and BRO) aren’t very good, but I have always been tempted to try and play 3. Also because there aren’t many of these games where you can play Canadian missions.

[@jadenlilly6113]

Stalingrad making 40k look normal

[@reynanlamsen2007]

Dank Jaden *Laughs in Cadia

[@vitaliikhodotaiev9917]

Thank you Sir! Great job! I enjoed watching. There is a ton of critic going on about this scene from both movie and the game...It appears that it was not a total and complete BS. Looking forward for the next episode about Red square asault.

[@HistoryClarified]

Other than the rifles, the date, and the units not lining up, a lot of the deep lines up with the eyewitness accounts. The smoke, the hodgepodge flotilla, the relentless mortar and air attacks, and having to fight within 100 yards of the dock are all pretty spot on. Even though Rodtsev’s unit was designated “Guards,” high casualties and replacements meant that a lot of the footsoldiers were green. As far as Red Square, I’m looking forward to it, but it’ll be a doozy.

[@dpeasehead]

@@HistoryClarified I always find it interesting that even in a huge battle like Stalingrad how, at certain times, the most important fighting takes place between relatively small units for objectives whose importance to the outcome of a battler or even an entire campaign in unknown and unknowable to those at the very sharp end.

[@flagassault9715]

Is it true that men went straight into battle as soon as they got off the train?

[@HistoryClarified]

For the 284th Division and 13th Guards, they arrived without weapons and ammunition so they were armed on the East bank and sent over in small groups. The men with weapons were sent as quickly as they could be as we now know that the Germans did very nearly take the Volga crossing in September.

[@AudieHolland]

The Soviet Union wasn't as heartless as many of us have believed. Prior to a big and desperate battle, soldiers were sent home to say goodbye to their loved ones. All they had time for was to get off the train, kiss their loved ones and climb back on board again as the train was bringing them back to the front. If the Soviet state was truly without compassion, they wouldn't have wasted the time and resources to bring the soldiers back for this snapshot moment at all.

[@HaloFTW55]

The 13th Guards were considered elite troops and were sent in to plug the gap during a bad time. I do remember Beevor writing that the 13th Guards dropped down to 5-8% of their division’s strength in the fight, and given than they were Guardsmen (elite troops), the 13th Guards would have been better equipped than a standard rifle division.

[@alextombagaa]

What's their battle cry?

[@HistoryClarified]

Alexander Tombaga you will often see Urrah as a general hoorah or “Za Rodinu, Za Stalina” - “for the Motherland, for Stalin.” While often written in books or featured in movies and games, some veterans dispute the second one or say they don’t remember it.

[@Badger13x]

What were the casualty rates of the NKVD units were they heavily engaged in front line fighting?

[@HistoryClarified]

Boy is that controversial. Reading Overy, Merridale, and Glantz, the NKVD and blocking detachments were sometimes frontline fighters, sometimes clerks, sometimes logistics, sometimes rear guard. It’s a tough nut to crack.

[@Badger13x]

@@HistoryClarified Thank you for the reply, it is a complicated unit, through not knowing the Soviet history due to secrecy, lost/destroyed documentation, and not speaking Russian. Due to the Western view/propaganda we seem to have a view that they were a nasty/brutal unit but only to their own side following desperate orders. It would be interesting to know more about them.

[@G1ennbeckismyher0]

What is NKVD?

[@emeralddragongaming2930]

@@G1ennbeckismyher0 something like CIA and FBI together but much more numerous and with licence to kill anytime, anybody , anywhere and in any numbers as its necessary and by free estimate and they did it very thoroughly

[@Pancakes1121]

You never mentioned the last where some soldiers jumped off the boat to run away and were shot by the sgts. Same thing happened when you made it to land.

[@yankaitan8648]

sounds like a good channel

[@maxayson9386]

One thing that you have failed to mention is both get the attitude of the unit involved wrong. The 13th Guards were not a rag-tag conscript unit that had NKVD gunners pointing guns at their backs (also a falacy, the NKVD blocking units rounded up deserters far behind the lines not shoot front line troops running from immediate threats, they functioned similarly to any other armies MP's in their role as blocking divisions). The 13th guards were converted WDW Paratroopers, who were re-organised as guardsmen (basically standard infantry divisions organisationally, just better equipped than a rifle division) to better fight as ground troops as an air deployment would be wasteful as the red army didn't control the skies. It shouldn't be depicted as raw recruits being shoved onto the boats and herded towards the front lines to near certain doom, but arguably the single best unit training and strength wise of infantry the Red Army had available in 1942 being thrown into the thickest fighting. They were trained as Paratroops they were more ready than any unit for a hard deployment (they were taught to be sitting ducks as transport planes get popped by flak, just look at band of brothers episode one to get a feel for the para's mind sets as they went over seeing other transports get destroyed) and then be ready for immediate enemy contact on all fronts.

[@HistoryClarified]

I would sort of disagree with this. While there was still a core group of those men by Stalingrad, the 13th Guards had taken so many losses that many of the new men in the division were raw. Not quite that raw, but raw. As for the NKVD, I did another video talking about the equipment, training, and use of the 13th Guards, 284th Rifles, and NKVD here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gorMpnp3nq6poLs

[@julioflorescertifiedtherap1425]

the background music sound extremely ominous

[@EzioAuditore]

0:40 i forgot about that stupid looking duck waddle crawl they all did in cod1

[@MikeJBeebe]

How does your channel not have more viewers?!

[@johnk3734]

Finest hour was the best Cod

[@darktimes9139]

Finest hour also did this but they was on a row boat in the night

[@Ypog_UA]

You have really done a good job, I see many people raised in Western countries who believe every part of this movie, but you have criticized it where it needs to be done very well.

[@snorp6781]

6:18 "Get us some artillery support Sergeant! I am almost out of ammuntion! We are going to lose the docks!" "What the hell do you think I am trying to do, comrade?" "What? Repeat your last message! I can barely hear you, Major! Speak up! Artillery...is...in...position! About damn time!" "I want a full barrage along the top of the riverbank, immediately! Smash those fascist bastards! Fire at will!" "Everyone, get your heads down!"

[@s-man5647]

idk how far we should take the argument that the film and game do a good job of conveying the terror and desperation of the Soviet soldier. My inclination is to balance that out by noting that these were a guards rifle division, which is supposedly a cut above the average rifle division, which means that yes, they were terrified and desperate, but there perhaps ought to have been also an emphasis on the professionalism, competence, and determination one might expect from an elite group.

[@HistoryClarified]

Yes and no. There were still a core group of elite men, but the 13th Guards, like many Soviet units in 1942, had taken so many losses that not all of the men were elite. Even the hardened veterans accounts too showed disgust and surprise at how close the crossing was to falling.

[@s-man5647]

@@HistoryClarified makes sense. Thanks for clarifying! Come to that, may I place a request for you to do a video over the raisin d'etre of these guards divisions? Loving your content btw!

[@nunyabuziness8421]

I'd love to magnet fish that river

[@veryhairylarry1036]

nice

[@thomasvandevelde8157]

We should point out that Beevor isn´t exactly the most unbiased source there is, he absolutely despises Chuikov... Which was normal for a Cold War raised Academian who didn´t wanna be branded as a Communist, and see his career ruined :-)

[@HistoryClarified]

I add him for variety and to give viewers a balance. I feel like if I can support my conclusions with him, people can be confident that I’m not just biased beyond hope.

[@thomasvandevelde8157]

@@HistoryClarified I´m not saying you are biased, not at all. You´re even doing well. There´s just been a lot of research coming out in the 2000s, ironically triggered by Enemy at the Gates (the book) among other things. But what most of these ´newcomers´ have, and Beevor did not have (and ofc nobody shoots torpedoes under his own sales 15 years later ofc) in the 1990s, is translations of the massive torrent of Soviet documents that got released after the fall of the Soviet Union. There´s been lots of revisions by people like David Glantz, which I highly recommend to you. He´s the guy that digs deep, and is a military man, not a historian (he´s a tank veteran, that´s why I hope we see more lectures of him coming). The fact the Soviets/Russians kept their archives closed for so long, ironically backfired because only German sources remained to form a general image by... With predictable consequences, but off point by now! I´m actually glad you replied to this, even if there was no need, it was just a small advice :-) Regards and keep up the work, it´s important to keep on digging and involve as many people as possible into this far from dead debate, Thomas PS. If there´s anything I learned by studying military/wireless (another obsession) history, is that there will always be some subjectivity to history, and this is nothing to be ashamed about. It´s sad that some people however *politicize* this, and that´s what´s wrong. But bias is inevitable, since after all, we weren´t there, and there´s no way to look at it from the perspective of the people involved. When I talked to veterans on the German side of Operation Blue, you get a surprisingly contradictory picture often, so I often wonder that if people back than didn´t agree about the outcome of their actions, how can we in hindsight form a ´perfectly objective´ history?

[@HistoryClarified]

Thomas Van de Velde oh yes, Glantz and House are the go-to experts for Western Readers, in my opinion.

[@TeddyOG]

I dont focus on graphics much or care vs gameplay, but as a matter of respect this COD gameplay looks like low settings, and I mean low for release lmao. Might be my nostalgia tho. But yeah even though I knew it was mostly bs that mission was awesome, and Enemy of the Gates left an impression.These impressions along with Red Alert really push that human wave conscript concept lol

[@highjumpstudios2384]

I think one of the worst parts of this is the depiction that the men in the 13th guards rifle division were a bunch of scared untrained conscripts. In denial of, or perhaps ignorance of the fact that we're talking about a GUARDS rifle division. You know, the guards of the Soviet Union? A title given out to units that had served with incredible distinction? The 13th, if memory serves was reconstituted out of at least one other division that had seen plenty of combat. They didn't cross with no weapons and they damn sure weren't a bunch of lost conscripts needing to be yelled at and shot by NKVD troopers to give them a backbone.

[@HistoryClarified]

Reconstituted meant that many were not veterans due to the massive amount of losses faced by the unit leading up to Stalingrad, but I do enjoy some of the fear since many of the cited memoirs show that they absolutely weren’t ready for the Germans being within 100 yards of holding the crossings. The weapons thing and the machine-gunning from behind will be tropes I see all the time but never go away. The reason they had to cross before it was fully dark and cross in waves was precisely because they were being equipped and armed piece by piece before crossing.

[@HistoryClarified]

Reconstituted meant that many were not veterans due to the massive amount of losses faced by the unit leading up to Stalingrad, but I do enjoy some of the fear since many of the cited memoirs show that they absolutely weren’t ready for the Germans being within 100 yards of holding the crossings. The weapons thing and the machine-gunning from behind will be tropes I see all the time but never go away. The reason they had to cross before it was fully dark and cross in waves was precisely because they were being equipped and armed piece by piece before crossing.

[@highjumpstudios2384]

@@HistoryClarified true.

[@fredlandry6170]

78 years ago.

[@TheSteamdriver]

I find that most people have forgotten about this game when I talk about to them they instantly think I am on about big red one I wish this call of duty was on backward compatibility I would love to play as the Russians again

[@HistoryClarified]

Cod 1, UO, and 2 are on Steam for pretty cheap. I still replay them frequently.

[@TheSteamdriver]

@@HistoryClarified the trouble is I have don't have a computer for gaming so I rely on consoles for my gaming

[@88porpoise]

TheSteamdriver I would assume by now that a potato could run COD 1 decently. You certainly wouldn’t need a gaming computer to do so.

[@iVETAnsolini]

If I was you, I would of used more sources than just Antony Beevor. Don’t get me wrong, I liked his books, but there are accounts that are much more accurate than his

[@HistoryClarified]

There is also a fair amount of Glantz and Jones here.

[@azevol216]

There is also a Volga crossing opening on the PS2 game call of duty finest hour. But that one looked to be at dusk or night

[@Wicked-hx7yg]

👍🏼

[@leechristy7003]

Beevor is just a prejudiced outlier - an outlier (out liar?) now days

[@mememachine6022]

Enemy at the gates is the worst piece of propaganda

[@jrt818]

So you saying it's not as accurate as Battlefield 5?

[@ПолковникЗайцын]

Despite propoganda, first moments of Stalingrad and Soviet tank missons might be beatifull, the rest of Soviet campaing is shit. For example Stalingrad trainstation in game was guarded by only 7 men without defensive positions at all, just a random enqounter, while only during 6 hours of one day the station changed hand 14 times. Warsaw was very random and contentless. Capturing Berlin in the first Call of Duty was beyond dissapointing - a very short mission whith one well dug Tiger and just a handfull of Germans, Reichstag was guarded only by 4 Germans. Call of Duty World at War did a better job with Berlin, making a whole number of missions, concentrating even on Seelow Hights and subway flooding, while there was not much of Stalingrad, the fact that it looked nothing like a Russian city played a role as well, but the the fountain scene, sniper duel and jumping in the river in the end was pure adrenalin, though. United offesive was amazing as well and virtually without any propaganda, just the fight. Kursk mission looked weird, especially the design of highway wide trenches with doors at enemy side... Kharkov was amazing with artillery spoting, demoliting through city rubble, using AA gun, station defense, everything was amazing. Red orchestra made a great job on recreating the actuall sites in Stalingrad, as well as it is an outstanding tactical shooter, but it hardly felt as great war, more like a CS with mods...

[@lemmdus2119]

It was to build the tension and give you the feel of desperation while watching the movie. The final climax of the Russian sniper killing the German sniper in real life the Russian waited 48 hours for that shot. Basically lied there for two days. Not exciting

[@GuineaPigEveryday]

Never could finish this movie when I watched that opening scene, stick to Stalingrad 1993 or read any of the fantastic books about it (Vasili Grossman, Heinrich Gerlach), this movie felt so extremely insulting and the epitome of what ppl complain about when they talk of Hollywood historical accuracy, its almost just a caricature of the Soviets just for the excitement of the audience. A Pearl Harbor of the Eastern Front. It feels a bit like the sort of historical bs that is common in movies nowadays like The Woman King or Napoleon, where ppl just do not bother to do the research, and make the history fit their deluded idea of what they think happened, or what they think is interesting. Sadly we won't see a great Stalingrad film any time in the future considering how atrocious the modern Russian state films are, and the state of historical films in Hollywood. Even though the Eastern Front is criminally underrepresented in big-budget war films, hell something like the Battle of Kursk, the Battle of Prokhorovka, the siege of Sebastopol, or even the fighting in the Caucasus would be good to see. It does seem like there were some good big-budget Soviet films about it ofc.

[@dynguskhan]

An-a-toly not a-natalie 🤦‍♂️

[@Mountain_Man_]

I have no weapon! Go find one!

[@adamhavelock2104]

If ever you want to hear about the brutality of ww2 *in the European theatre* forget the western front and look to the eastern one.

[@the_bane_of_all_anti_furry]

moroon

[@the_bane_of_all_anti_furry]

all both fronts were brutally in their way in africa the italians were fightins while suffer of being outnumbered and with bad equipment and idiotic general while in iwo jima the americans praised every night for dont get their throated slitted in the sleep

[@adamhavelock2104]

Damian Rivoli dude, first of all, if English isn’t your first language, use google translate. Second of all, this is my opinion based on books (biographies, auto-biographies, memories etc.) that I’ve read pertaining to the experiences of troops on both sides during the Second World War; there’s no need for name calling.

[@AlexTSilver]

If you want your channel to grow you have to use your voice to communicate the emotion and gravity of the situation. The material is well-researched but it sounds like a highschooler reading a presentation in front of his classmates. Take your time when reading quotes; use your voice to emphasize certain parts; pause at times to let the audience absorb the images and videos; and find better titles for the different segments. Cheers and good luck

[@mr.mckinnon5680]

Even the most subtle of changes, in history still constitutes and attempted rewrite of it. When you lose your actual history... Your culture isn't far behind. And those who produced these films... Know this.

[@williamhogan4031]

no war film is ever accurate...

[@paulboegel8009]

The first 30 or so minutes are pretty good, the rest is Hollywood nonsense.

[@dapeepingreaper6266]

I really want a remaster of the old WW2 games WAW was the last good

[@jakeharris1357]

"Not one step back."

[@mattkierkegaard9403]

Jake Harris . Actually they took many steps back .... hence why they were in the Volga River!

[@AWACSD]

Dirty tales of the Western propogandists. Throughout the video, only one true fact - that 14.09.1942 13th Guards division started crossing the Volga.

[@HistoryClarified]

Do you disagree with the eyewitness reports of the crossing itself? Do you also disagree with the fact that evidence points to the Guardsmen being armed, with the 10% who weren’t armed crossing later in the night?

[@dmyriin9957]

@@HistoryClarified eyewitness reports? Have you checked the biographies of these witnesses? For example, Albert Burkovsky was in the 13th Division when division was already fighting in the city. And he could not witness the crossing. As for the witnesses, the main one is the division commander, General Rodimtsev. I highly recommend reading his memoirs. In addition, I advise you to read the combat report of the 13th Guards Division for September 14 and 15, 1942. 13th Guards Division started the crossing at 22.00 14.09.1942. 1,500 people from this division crossing the river on the afternoon of September 14th. this is Jones' sick fantasy, which is easily refuted by the memoirs of General Rodimtsev, combat reports of the 13th Guards Division and 79th border regiment. For example, from report of the 79th border regiment dated 14.09.1942: "At 18:30 a representative of the 13th Guards Division provides to military battalion commissar stating that at 22:00 parts of this formation will be sent to the right bank for actions to destroy machine gunners. It was decided by the actions of the outposts to provide a bridgehead for the landing of crossing units. This battle was carried out". Another lie in the video. Chuikov did not order to Rodimtsev to start the crossing the Volga. Rodimtsev received this order from the commander of the front , General Eremenko. To protect the crossing, Chuikov ordered to one battalion of heavy tanks to be transferred from the left flank of 62nd Army, and Chief of Staff Major General N. I. Krylov organized two groups and sent them into battle to prevent the enemy from taking command of the army command post , and the central crossing. These tanks of the 133rd Tank Brigade later will support counterattacks of the 13th Guards Division.

[@walterschumann2476]

Red army fan boys are not going to like this video. They claim it never happened.

[@HistoryClarified]

Indeed, Jones’ claims and evidence are not wholly accepted.

[@walterschumann2476]

@@HistoryClarified Since the soviets can remove battles and even campaigns they lost from the history books, why not one daytime river crossing.

[@МихаилЧерников-п2т]

There is a mention that they had to transport some men at day light, but did it with smokescreen.

[@walterschumann2476]

@@МихаилЧерников-п2т Smoke would be helpful.

[@thefirstprimariscatosicari6870]

Why would they not like this video? He hasn't depicted the Soviets as incompetent, or wrong, or anything like that. Just as desperate enough to attempt a desperate move.

[@provenxreaperx]

Soviet was good at loosing soilders and was poor at military tactic.

[@MlTGLIED]

So how then they won the war against best trained and equipped Wehrmacht?

[@antorseax9492]

Deep Deep Battle I mean

[@overlord4404]

If that makes you sleep better at night then ok believe in it

[@provenxreaperx]

M1TGLIED by shear number and resources. Soviet sacrificed soilders in tremendeous numbers. I dosent make them better soilders than wermacht. Truth can be hard.

[@thefirstprimariscatosicari6870]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKvWfKGBmMdkY6M The Soviets were indeed poor at tactics, because they lost most of their professional soldiers early on in Barbarossa and as such had to rely on hastily trained conscripts. But they remained masters of strategy and of operations, resulting in great casualties in the short term, but far fewer in the long term.