In Moscow The Frostbite Took More German Lives Than The Russian Soldiers (Ep. 8)

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Join us as we delve into the captivating story of a German officer during World War II. This video highlights his journey from a young artillery officer to a high-ranking staff officer in the Wehrmacht. We’ll explore the key themes of duty, survival, and the moral dilemmas faced by soldiers in the chaos of war. Through excerpts, historical insights, and expert commentary, gain a deeper understanding of what it was like to serve on the front lines of history's deadliest conflict.
This is part 8
Entire playlist: • Memoirs Of A German So...
Part 1: • I Was An Officer In Th...
Part 2: • Our SS Troops Were Sho...
Part 3: • A Russian Soldier Aske...
Part 4: • We Studied War Tactics...
Part 5: • I Crossed The Polish B...
Part 6: • At Dunkirk The Allied ...
Part 7: • 87th Infantry Division...
Part 8: • In Moscow The Frostbit...
Part 9: • Italians And Russians ...
Part 10: • Breslau Was A German F...
Part 11: • I Was Captured And Tak...
Part 12: • When I Entered Moscow ...
Part 13: • I Began My 5th Year In...
Note: I do not own this material, it has been sourced from soldat. I've reached out to them for permission. For copyright issues please contact me: [e-mail]

[@WW2Stories1]

Thank you for watching the video. This is part 8 of an entire serie, watch the rest here: Entire playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PL1p7uWYlKNaBWqkJzRZ2uaNOLwcD9-sDb Part 1: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6KwkGZ7rrird5I Part 2: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYfGpWymfNd3oNU Part 3: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIuxm4CwaNqSf8U Part 4: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHzciZStYrqfp5o Part 5: kzbin.info/www/bejne/laSYqIyOoqt9jbs Part 6: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHu9nWptqLOWfsU Part 7: kzbin.info/www/bejne/baqll5tsq52db5o Part 8: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaDcZJSbl8eMr6c Part 9: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnLLi3-JnLljo5I Part 10: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nV7TZouMmZyZbbc Part 11: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKCZZXyYl96rhKc Part 12: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apecknuhlsSGZq8 Part 13: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZmXeYitnLtoqtU

[@Guapo10292]

When listening, remember he wrote this decades after the fact as an older American man with adult children. He was never going to casually mention, witnessing or committing atrocities in his autobiography

[@kensvay4561]

All armies comitt atrocities.

[@sugarkane4830]

@@kensvay4561Yeah but not to the same extent.

[@GeorgeRoach-y1n]

Really enjoyed this

[@RaisedxFist]

If Hitler didn't decide to double-cross Stalin, none of this would have had to happen.

[@garycant9399]

It was Hitlers intention to invade the Soviet Union well before he gained power in 1933. He didn't double-cross Stalin, he duped him like he did Neville Chamberlain.

[@dr.barrycohn5461]

If the sun didn't shine, then it would be dark.

[@robertgarcia217]

Blood and soil... Its what fascists do😂

[@RaisedxFist]

@@dr.barrycohn5461 Lol sorry but that doesn't count as the same thing.

[@jasonkeenan4154]

This man called Hitler "incredibly stupid" like 6 times and that's hilarious to me for some reason.

[@535tony]

@@jasonkeenan4154 They all turned on Hitler after the War. During the War they loved him.

[@AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg]

@@jasonkeenan4154 how so Jason?

[@blabberer8950]

***At the start of this video*** : That seems crazy those tanks could have crept up on their command house in the cold with no sort of security alerting them beforehand. Didn't they have Listening Posts posted? Maybe it was so cold that they all got to lackadaisical despite the threats.

[@allanmcinnes4765]

Heartbreaking.

[@seamusmoriarty7112]

All German memoirs of WW2 fighting on the eastern front should be treated with extreme caution as they invariably omit to mention the barbarities that must have been seen or even perpretated by German soldiers particularly against the local non combant civilian population Can anyone mention an exception please?

[@dtaylor10chuckufarle]

Agreed. Also, I get the clear impression that this was written post war while looking through the lens of revisionist history.

[@davidwhite4874]

Yes, dear.

[@davidwhite4874]

@@dtaylor10chuckufarle Oh balls!

[@baseballworldwide9439]

This is the case with every army throughout history

[@markb8468]

​@baseballworldwide9439 Right. Not many write down the raping and killing of civilians for their descendants to read. So it has ever been and will ever be.

[@Dulcimertunes]

Anyone else feel most sorry for the horses?

[@lv4077]

Yeah you’re sick

[@miapdx503]

Absolutely

[@AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg]

Stalingrad wasn't the turning point, The Battle of Moscow was. Germany lost the greatest proportion of trained & skilled frontline Soldats in 3 month's, November 1941 to February 1942. H's Madness.

[@userfile007]

Moscow held the Nazi advance back but Stalingrad was the biggest defeat the Nazis had ever suffered, their myth of Aryan invincibility was crushed and from that point on they were on the run.

[@AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg]

​@@userfile007Moscow was their first retreat

[@keithcitizen4855]

didn't Goering at Nuremberg say Moscow told him the war was lost ?

[@JK-br1mu]

There were still high hopes after Moscow 1941, because in good weather, the Soviet Army had been beaten like a redheaded stepchild in every corner of the front the previous year......unfortunately, Hitler squandered his last chance on an ill-advised Southern adventure, instead of finishing off Moscow.

[@nextaxprorescuefromirsrock1191]

Germany lost, because Germany was Anti-Semitic. The commie nazis were doomed.

[@manoftheworld1000]

Well, did the German soldiers have the right to complain about the frost? I guess not, after all they had not been invited. The decision was simple: Should I risk losing ears, nose, hands and feet or should I stay away from Russia? But no, those 'evil Russians' had to be defeated, right?

[@MLA56]

Politicians make those decisions, not soldiers. Very few high- ranking, competent German officers thought attacking Russia was a good idea. Soldiers -- up to and including Generals and Field Marshals -- take their orders from politicians. When those politicians were Hitler and his syncophants, the soldiers paid the price.

[@kaktotak293]

My neighbor told me that near Moscow he was rewarded with a 3-day vacation for capturing a platoon of German soldiers and an officer. He bought bread and a 3-liter jar of jam for his colleagues. He decided to take a shortcut back, he went through the forest and saw German soldiers. They behaved strangely. They didn't move. He walked up to them. They were sitting on the stumps in their greatcoats, frozen. He touched one of them and it fell.

[@afctaylor12]

Oddly specific about jam jar

[@BearAmps]

​@@afctaylor12 3 is illuminati

[@marjoriegarner5369]

Amazing story of the frozen men

[@lv4077]

The “jam” was probably so rare and special it really stuck in his mind

[@Jakez408]

When the Germans first met someone named Zhukov and his Siberian divisions which had annihilated the Japanese in 1939 at Khalkhin Gol in the Far East.

[@AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg]

@@Jakez408 Zhukov wasn't alone in his abilities

[@AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg]

Incredible to think that nothing was learnt from Napoleon's Grand Armee's Moscow escapade. Mind Blowing. As a former Corporal it's insane that H learnt nothing on the Western Front.

[@colder5465]

Napoleon's experience is usually evaluated wrongly. What was his real problem? Not General Frost. The real problem for him was being a medieval war leader in nature. He sincerely believed that army has to eat from the land and medical service of the wounded is the task for prostitutes traveling with the army. He gathered a huge army of over 500000 men and and burst into Russia with such notions. These notions had been more or less correct in the rich, warm and well-fed Italy with its wine, cheese, pasta and sausages but not in the rather poor and harsh Russia. And add to that his sincere belief that the result of the war may be decided in just one so-called general battle. You win one decisive battle - like Austerlitz - and you win the war, the enemy surrenders. Yes, he won Borodino battle (although Russian sources reported otherwise) but for Russians it meant very little. Their army retreated but retreated in full order. And when Napoleon demanded surrender and favorable peace the answer was "How? We are only beginning to fight!". So essentially Napoleon won nothing. Staying in Russia with such a big army and almost non-existent logistics was impossible and finally he decided to retreat from Russia. And the big merit of Kutusov was to force him to retreat by the way ge came to Russia through totally ruined by his army lands. And it wasn't for long as this retreat became a flight.

[@colder5465]

By the way, Napoleon's knowledge of Russia was on the level with Hitler's. What was very strange because Russian nobility then was very Francophone, many of the high nobility even didn't know Russian and preferred to talk in French. He even considered Moscow as a capital of Russia although it wasn't since Peter the Great. The real administrative center of Russia was St Petersburg where Czar and his entourage lived and ruled. Moscow then was the historical capital having no big administrative importance.

[@Jakez408]

@@colder5465 Borodino was not a victory for France as they lost many regiments and ammunition as Russia put up a stiff resistance and showed military prowess. Napoleon praised the Cossacks and was surprised at the toughness of the Russians. It was a battle Napoleon could not afford given the situation he was in and winter coming. Kutuzov retreated from Moscow with the famous words " Moscow is not Russia" with his army in good shape and stopped the French retreat from travelling over land with abundant resources to feed their army, and attacked the French in many places and when crossing the Berezina River.

[@MLA56]

More than one German General said and wrote after the war, "Only two people in history didn't know Russian winters are cold: Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler." Hubris. It's often stated that Germany lost the war when they didn't take Moscow. As a retired US Army senior officer and military historian, I disagree. Capturing Moscow wouldn't force the Soviets to surrender to the Germans any more than it had to the French. The problem was Hitler. Many have asked why the British or Americans didn't send people in to kill him; it wouldn't have been impossible. The reason was that Hitler was such a total failure as a military strategist that it was better to keep him in place because one of the great number of extremely competent German commanders would've taken his place.

[@jacobjorgenson9285]

The west are currently trying to get at Russia again, to the same result

[@Xonid1]

I read Guy Sajers The Forgotten Soldier. It was almost unbelievable.

[@AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg]

An exceptional diary, haunting.

[@mmm091000]

Often stated by some WW2 historians as fiction ? made up character no evidence of a Sajer on the eastern front ? certainly a strange one, great book.

[@AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg]

I think that only Kamaraderie kept the German's going through 4 year's of under supplied Defence and Retreat.

[@giulio76ful]

& old skool balls..

[@535tony]

In 1994 I was in Kiev and went to the Opera. I was in Rostov in 1995. Interesting to listen to this and remember.

[@peterchaloner2877]

Wonderful that he writes at length without using uncouth words: neat cute weird iconic crazy wild.

[@enterthekraken]

What’s your point? They should’ve recognised how cute the battle of Stalingrad was, or that you appreciate the verbiage of literal Nazis more than modern day people?

[@Robertsmith-un5cu]

They were better educated people than we are today. Spoke better. Better morals. Family values. Etc. Not everyone was a die hard Nazi murdering innocent people. Most were average Germans just drafted into the war

[@smokeykitty6023]

​@@Robertsmith-un5cuThey were definently better educated than the rank and file Americans of today. Germans of that time put great importance on education. I weep for America today... We are ripe for a Hitler or an Orban. It seems that an ignorant electorate would make that transition so much easier.

[@smokeykitty6023]

​@@enterthekrakenI do admire their intelligence more than Americans of today. We are an ignorant people. You only have to read a few KZbin comments to see that.

[@beckyfury9401]

This guy is a diarist. educated people still speak and write like this . none of the thousands of literally illiterate people wrote a diary because they were illiterate so we have no record of how stupid they were and how 'uncouth' they were

[@christophercooper2208]

A generation of fine German men trashed like what is happening in Ukraine today

[@zero_wing_]

There's absolutely no way that frostbite would killed more people in Moscow than artillery.

[@Fokas-n8t]

This is just bad old German cope. "Frostbite took more of us than Russians" => (bullsh*t) "Our panzers were superior" => fact check : (german bullcr*p) => fact check : (coward liars) Let us do the analysis by extrapolation from another paradigm : To understand how much Germans lied in their records and writings post-war, I will just tell you the example of their invasion in Greece. They claimed a mere 500 dead and about 3000 injured, which is of course an extremely low number for a take over of a whole country that actually resisted. Sure, the British betrayed and run back to their ships without fighting at all - and the Germans entered via the British lines not the Greek ones. But there were battles in the Greek lines which lasted 3 days. So the 500 dead Germans is just suspiciously low given the fact - regardless of their small numbers - the Greeks were ultra well fortified, never surrendered prior to the general surrender of Greece (that was caused not out of the will of Greek people to surrender but rather because of the British treason - the Greeks were fighting the Germans precisely because of the British implication in Greece). Even if one wanted to take the German records straight, he would have to explain why Hitler went out of his way to express his admiration for Greeks stating that "they honoured their history" and that "of all the soldiers the Germans faced in battle, only the Greek soldiers stood out for their bravery and their sense of patriotic duty and stood to fight until the point of futility". Why would Hitler state so for Greece, a country he actually did not highly esteem of and planned to dismember giving its lands to allies that had already planned genocides of the indigenous Greeks (Bulgaria, Albania, Italy)? Well? Reality is revealed in the battle of Omorphoplagia, just a small battle occurring outside the main fortification lines between 15 men (and when bullets were running low the 12 left and 3 stayed, led by sergeant Dimitrios Itsios). The 3 Greeks held (the vanguard of) a whole German division for a whole day. They were totally disoriented by Greek tactics shooting them from all directions (=changing positions) and were thinking they were fighting a whole batailion. Once bullets run out the Germans called them out and (soon to be) general Schorner got enraged finding out he was fighting against 3 soldiers stating that just one tower manned by Dimitrios Itsios had killed more than 200 of his best soldiers!!!... and being enraged he shot Itsios which is the first war crime of Germans in their invasion of Greece. So according to Germans themselves, they lost 500 men... out of which half were killed by a single Greek, Dimitrios Itsios! LOL! THIS is how much Germans lie. A more modest estimate is that they lost 10 times that number and possibly 20 times that number, especially as they felt the need to disband almost all units that participated in the invasion and disperse the men in other ones. It is also very telling that no German soldier or officer who took part in the invasion in Greece ever wrote memoirs apart one low ranking officer who took part in the very first battle and was honest enough to write how much Germans were scared, for the first time, having to face this time true opposition : "The mountain became alive and spat out fire and steel on us", that is what he wrote. Sounds not really like a walk in the park. 500 dead? Half killed by a single guy? And Hitler feeling the need to express his admiration to the Greeks? LOL! If Germans felt the need to remain silent on facts, conceal, obfuscate and sugar coat and then to outright lie by that much on such a small part of the overall war front.... then imagine how much they were prone to lie on the events surrounding their biggest front by far.

[@Robert-hp4ul]

Over 4 million Wehrmacht soldiers killed on the Eastern Front. Are we to believe over 2 million died of frostbite?

[@RT-far-T]

So hard for Germans to admit that those they considered 'untermensch' beat them, so let's all blame "General Winter".

[@afctaylor12]

With out general winter they would have won . Napoleon would have won Charles rex would have won. They lost because they didn't respect a people who can indure suffering like no else in otherwise hostile environment that no man should live in

[@davidwhite4874]

What did Napoleon blame, then?

[@johndoe1.196]

That Siberian winter ain't no joke.

[@padvinder8]

He said something quite different. Not that you would notice nor understand of course, for you are just an RT lover. Intelligence can never reach you.

[@anthonygregory3022]

Excellent.

[@5400bowen]

Is that what happens when you go off to kill people in a frozen wasteland? They were smiling on the way there!

[@ruthbetteridge662]

A we are saying is give PEACE a chance.

[@MarlinWilliams-ts5ul]

Right at this point, Dec. 6 1941, the Germans should have turned around and went home. Mission failure.

[@Dulcimertunes]

Probably given a choice they would have. Meanwhile Dolfy is nice and warm with Eva

[@antoinemozart243]

The German memoirs are garbage. Not reliable at all. It is always the weather's fault or something else, never the Russian fierce ability to decimate them.

[@asullivan4047]

Interesting/informative/entertaining. Doesn't look👀 like it's that cold in that picture-???🤔

[@bryanhurd9955]

The Russians suffered badly from the winter temperatures

[@Bibg867]

Just young lads serving their country no more no less.

[@tgwcl6194]

Barbarossa was doomed from the beginning and with it the Third Reich. A child could have known that it was UTTER madness, but hey 'anything' becomes possible when one ignores the truth: 1. Two front war 2. Endless supply lines 3. No fuel 4. German army not prepared for winter 5. Russian army much more soldiers (bigger population) 6. Russian army totally winter ready 7. German army not prepared for endless mud in autumn and in spring. 8. Endless country totally demoralized soldiers. 9. Even if Russia was conquered, what was gained? Basically an endless useless fridge. Another in your face truth now in 2024, End Times are upon us!

[@laserus3333]

Cold is the worst environment for warfare. Miserable.

[@barryellis8854]

Wonderful, I would love to support but cannot at this time sadly .Home ,sickk,broke but this video gives me some hope.Doctors can make mistakes. Anyway thanks for the videos.

[@colder5465]

There is one unpleasant thing about the General Frost: in Moscow there is a weather station which have been making everyday temperature measurements for more than 140 years. And you may find this records on the internet very easily. Ok, judging by these records, the temperature fell to minus 7 degrees Celcius only on 4th November. This temperature lasted for three days then raised to zero degrees. It fell to minus 15-18 degrees only for three days (11-13 of November) then rose again to minus 5 - minus 10 degrees and these temperatures lasted up to the time of Soviet counteroffensive in late December. No minus 35 degrees as Manstein tells us. Yeah, minus 5 - minus 10 isn't Mallorka or Malibu but it is not arctic cold as in Winter War with Finnland.

[@markloubser2433]

I have overwintered in Antarctica. Windchill is the real factor. ....

[@philbunston9663]

Was that Degrees " F " or " C " - Possibly a considerable difference .

[@lv4077]

What a fatuous point, Inadequately protected, you can freeze to death at 30°F. What a stupid point.

[@colder5465]

@@markloubser2433 I agree. But Moscow has a continental climate. That is, when it's frosty it is no wind. Actually, many years ago I was on a business trip to Moscow with a group of my coworkers in winter. The temperature outside was minus 10 minus 15 Celcius. We lived in a hotel Soviet style. And we didn't understand why it's so cold in the room. The secret came to the open only on the last day of the trip when one of the coworkers which lived in another room came to us and went to the balcony to collect the frozen fish he bought on the first day. It turned out that all the time we lived with the open balcony door and not noted that - because of the heavy curtains! And nobody felt that because there wasn't any wind absolutely. The row was huge :-) The guy was near to be beaten up :-)

[@colder5465]

@@philbunston9663 Celcius, of course. Fahrenheit is never used in Russia.

[@ButchFaust]

I have seen many old actual films of Operation Barbarossa. After the initial blitz in June/July 1941 there doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency in the body language of the Germans or the speed of the tanks. They seem to be taking their time. Even though its reported some were on amphetamines there is no fire in their eyes like " where are the Russians I can kill". It seems more like they are on a vacation road trip. I'm sure they lost a lot of pep after Hitler diverted sone of Army Central to the south. And yes they were tired and hungry.

[@nihilmiror6312]

General Winter has always been a tough opponent. 🥶👍🫡

[@earlshaner4441]

Same thing happened to the French when they invaded Russia

[@Fuxerz]

Old man winter always wins.

[@earlshaner4441]

A fact and truth my friend

[@AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg]

Moscow was stripped and burnt out. The Grand Armee would never be Great again.

[@AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg]

​@@earlshaner4441I served and reached the incredible rank of Corporal. I reckon any Army's most important rank. You look after your comrades like younger brothers. Food & Hygiene. Critical.

[@AnthonyOMulligan-yv9cg]

2024. Life in Russia is still terribly grim.

[@johnwright291]

It would be nice if you could have given a little information on who wrote the narrative. Must be a secret i guess. The part where he speaks of body lice being under his bandages really got to me. That would be horrible to have the nasty little bastards feeding on you and there's nothing you can do about it. The itching would be torture. Man these guys must have hated Hitler.

[@Robertsmith-un5cu]

Soviets would’ve collapsed the first year without Lend Lease and American help. Imagine a world where they lost.

[@grantm6514]

Not true. Lend Lease made no appreciable difference in the first year, it only began to make a difference later.

[@userfile007]

FFS, the trucks were peanuts in the big picture and US and UK would have CELEBRATED the destruction of communism.

[@bsaintnyc]

@@grantm6514 stalin himself said they could not win without lend lease

[@Zaytsev167]

@@bsaintnyc This phrase was said to prevent Britain and the US from attacking the USSR after the war.

[@bsaintnyc]

@@Zaytsev167 it was said because its the truth. Britain was exhausted and the US did not want war either. Lend lease is how russia survived the battle of moscow. Lend lease planes allowed russia to survive an onslaught from the luftwaffe during the battle of moscow. Lend lease trucks allowed the soviets to concentrate entirely on building AFV instead of worrying about trucks for logistics

[@EricGiebel-hs7uv]

So that's how spooning got goin

[@nyyt854tufc]

Lice under the bandages

[@bakulubaka8661]

Nature is nothing to play with !

[@710moz]

Well the Russian soldiers didn't let the Wehrmacht warm up in Moscow.

[@ВладимирЕгорович-х2й]

А что адольф не объяснил своим фрицам, что в РОССИИ кроме; яйки ,шпика и мляко , ещё есть много мороза и КАТЮШ.

[@graybeardproductions2597]

Ever notice how no German soldiers seem to have been Nazis by their memories?

[@radicalradioOz]

And?

[@graybeardproductions2597]

@@radicalradioOz annnd... you and I would most likely not get along. So why interact

[@grantm6514]

And none of them ever witnessed any foul play by their own units, that was always other units elsewhere on the front. That's why I particularly appreciate the compilations of letters from soldiers who didn't survive the war, they tend to be more honest, with less cleaning up of political viewpoints for a post-war audience.

[@0ldb1ll]

Most surprising in view of the fact that they had been brainwashed since at least 1931. Perhaps that is why I have very little sympathy about their being bombed or their hardships.

[@dtaylor10chuckufarle]

Funny you should mention that. My American dad fought in WW2 in the ETO, he didn't talk about it much but one thing I clearly remember him saying was all the Germans he met "hated Hitler". He went on: "don't you believe it - they loved him".

[@jacoboritter9245]

Of course, and the rain killed more Germans than the allies. The Germans lost many soldiers in Italy because they forgot the after sun... Seriously, have you heard of the battles won by the Red Army? Stalingrad? Kursk? Bagration? The soviet army and their generals defeated the Wehrmacht. Full stop.

[@NapoleonBonapaeteusf]

Napoleon lost more troops to exposure during the first weeks of his invasion. More than battle and the cold of the retreat.