Last Flight of the Luftwaffe - Courland Evacuation VE-Day 1945

On VE-Day 1945 and beyond, the German Air Force launched a desperate rescue mission to evacuate German wounded and troops from the Courland Pocket in Latvia, where German forces had been cut off by the Soviet advance. Using whatever aircraft were still available, the mission ended in tragedy and destruction.
Dr. Mark Felton is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers 'Zero Night' and 'Castle of the Eagles', both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Fe...
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Thumbnail: Aldo Bidini.

[@heidimelendez5623]

Merciless dictator vs merciless dictator. Their troops were horrible to each other but I can't help but feel pity for troops abused by each.

[@Kontrolleuchte]

My Grandfather, Ludwig Lindermair, made it out of Kurland on one of the last ships. He was a cook and what was left of his unit were entrenched and under mortar and artillery fire. When the bombardment let up for a while one of the officers demanded coffee from him. Reluctantly my grandfather went with the officer to the Gulaschkanone or field kitchen when the firing started again and the kitchen more or less suffered a direct hit. The officer was killed and my grandfather wounded in the lower leg by shrapnel, which travelled from below the knee and exited through the calf. The trenches were hit as well and in the ensuing pandemonium my grandfather made it away and managed to catch a horse, on which he rode to a port.

[@SirRRubis]

My grandma's stepfather was in the pocket. He didn't get to adventure out.

[@toddmoss1689]

I’m thinking about the Ju-52 and He-111 aircrew who must have known during briefing that flying into Courland with zero protection was a suicide mission. Yet, they took off and did their duty to the very last.

[@Klink-ie1pv]

My father was on the Eastern Front and was taken prisoner in the Kurland Pocket, being held until 1949 I believe. So I found this video to be even more fascinating than usual. Thanks Mark.

[@Clem_Fandango11]

Post 15 mins ago and 75 comments already. This man has an incredible following.

[@martinsedgarskeza1212]

I'm from Latvia and this is rly interesting. Thank you for covering our usualy ignored history. Although this was no victory day, at this day started ocupation that would last 50 years.

[@RoyalAnarchist]

It was really sad to listen through this one

[@TheOriginal_BigMac]

I click like before the advert finishes. I'm never disappointed. Another dose from Dr Felton

[@johnnieireland2057]

If Mark Felton was my history teacher in high school I would have received the perfect attendance award :) Hey Mark can you do a video on Leo Major, the one eyed Canadian sniper who single handedly captured 93 German soldiers during the Battle of the Scheldt in Southern Holland?

[@rl7586]

My Father got injured in the war in Russia and got out, I guess he was lucky and perhaps that why I am here today !

[@robertsozols8521]

Not all of them surrendered, if I recall correctly, at least one third from 19th SS (2nd Latvian) division went in to the forests. They fought as forests brothers, joined later by many other people forced to do so by the circumstances and continued armed resistance up until 1956.

[@jozefward8433]

a Luftwaffe video again, yay, great as always Mark!

[@krebssfish9370]

Greetings from Latvia!

[@tony199120]

i want to sincerely thank you for your unbiased documentary's, my great uncle served in the wehrmacht, i only knew him when he was older, and he got these trauma attacks from back in the war, he survived courland, his brother did not, he is still missing to this day. he never talked about how he got back or out.

[@danielb7117]

Ahhhhh.... I finally got my WW2 hit for the day. My skin's stopped itching finally. Mark Felton Productions is the best dealer ever, he's always got the good stuff, and if you can't afford it, it doesn't matter cuz he'll sell it for free.

[@timothytt547]

Holy moly. I hope I'd never have to choose between attempting to escape with 95% chance of dying, or take my chances working in camps for the next 10 years.

[@wyneken38]

My grandma told me a story about a German soldier who later moved to the United States who had crawled into a wing space of a Luftwaffe plane, crammed with refugees, to escape the Russians. I wonder if that fits into this story somehow.

[@edvinssnore4958]

Great content as always. Greetings from Courland (Kurzeme, in Latvian).

[@GizmoRob176]

Humanity and great bravery shown by the air rescue attempt. The few that survived must have felt blessed.