Nobody expected Rommel's Second North African Offensive! BATTLESTORM

[@TheImperatorKnight]

SPOILER ALERT! ... ... ... ... ... Despite working several 13-15 hour days this week, I wasn’t able to get the entire video done in time. It turns out that it’s impossible to script, shoot and edit an entire Battlestorm episode in one week, even if the research was already done in advance. It was so bad, that even though I had done the research, I had to leave a lot of the references out because I didn’t have time to put them all in. Therefore I had no choice but to split into two parts. I wasn’t intending to do so, but I had no choice. The entire video would have been 42 minutes long, and I only had about 20 minutes of it edited in time.

[@danielelliott5760]

Just wondering when do you expect the Stalingrad video to be out? I’m waiting patiently for the counterattack! 😊

[@sah1746]

A Have we given up on Stanlingrad. These other videos are a waste of time

[@sylvainprigent6234]

We rather have smaller vidéos than you working yourself to an early grave

[@extramild1]

Don't be so hard on yourself - you do wonderful work and your output is tiptop.

[@auguststorm2037]

Glad see again the 8th Army and DAK in North Africa ! So do we stop at El Alamein or do we go untill Tunis ?

[@pacmax4252]

wow-another battlestorm thing, TIk you are doing a insane amount of work, very much appreated

[@ThegalacticusShow]

Thank you for this. My grandfather served in the desert rats and sadly he died some time ago and never got to ask him what he did. This sheds some light on what he was up to

[@Ph33NIXx]

God the African theater is my favorite.. and i love your Africa campaigns. This is a pleasant surprise and a nice break from the grind of Stalingrad! By the way TIK - love the green and red box around the divisions when describing the two groups - nice visual aid. also i love the unit insignia at 50% opacity (or what it is) for troop movement/planning before it is set in motion. Really clearly setup the following actions - some really nice experimentation with clarity here. Damn Rommel like to do bold manouvers. Edit: i always read the patron names when they scroll by to look for my own.. and i noticed my name was absent. Apparently there were issues with the payments. So i guess vanity has some benefits some times.

[@TheImperatorKnight]

"This is a pleasant surprise and a nice break from the grind of Stalingrad!" Yes, and a much needed break from it too. - "love the green and red box around the divisions when describing the two groups - nice visual aid." Glad to hear it! I didn't think the circles were working, and I think the rectangles are easier and better anyway so I may stick to the rectangles from now on. - "also i love the unit insignia at 50% opacity (or what it is) for troop movement/planning before it is set in motion. Really clearly setup the following actions - some really nice experimentation with clarity here." Thank you, because I wasn't sure if it worked or not. It was a last minute decision to even do it like that, but I think, if you liked it, I'll do that sort of thing again in the future. - "i always read the patron names when they scroll by to look for my own.. and i noticed my name was absent. Apparently there were issues with the payments. So i guess vanity has some benefits some times." Ah yeah, when I download the list of names, Patreon automatically removes those who haven't paid (either because they quit or because of a transfer problem etc)

[@Ph33NIXx]

​@@TheImperatorKnight well. Keep up the good work! TIK, Are you going small enough units that we will get some of the LRDG exploits during this affaire? as i recall.. The action to come, the only bright spot was LRDG doing shenanigans, rest was a british disaster. LRDG is my favorite formation to come out of the war.

[@robertcolajezzi5273]

@@TheImperatorKnight hey TIK was wondering if you could do a video on the book - How hitler could've won WWll by bevin alexander

[@andrewlindsay4773]

I'd been hoping you would do more on Africa. Your Crusader series was superb and I had been hoping you would at some time do a series from Crusader to the battle of Gazala. I find it a lot easier to comprehend what is going on in a battle when the units are brigades and battalions . I would be interested in knowing how understrength the German units were during these battles and how much that affected them

[@robertsmith2227]

Hello Robert, without reading the book do you think he ever could have? I don't.

[@calumdeighton]

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Or the desert fox in this case.

[@El_Gringo89]

Nobody expects the sandenkrieg

[@athcnv]

His chief weapon is surprise, surprise and fear, fear and surprise. His *two* weapons are fear and surprise, and ruthless efficiency. His *three* weapons are fear and surprise and ruthless efficiency and an almost fanatical dedication to the Fuhrer. His *four*... No... Amongst his weapons... Amongst his weaponry are such elements as fear, sur- I'll come in again. 😳😅 (😉😋😆)

[@peterlynchchannel]

I don't know how TIK expects Chuikov and the 62nd to keep holding out if Operation Uranus is delayed much longer.

[@gordonsmith4884]

:-)))

[@Historygeek0103]

Lol I love this

[@Zogerpogger]

I know you're joking but the guy is working his ass off to get the videos out. I'm happy he made this video as I have been waiting for a video on Rommel's 1942 campaign since his Crusader documentary. I don't think we should be complaining about his content not being Stalingrad, but rather be grateful he is making such a documentary in the first place.

[@hakimzah]

Nobody is complaining 😉

[@ignaciomoreno9655]

🤣😂

[@kellyshistory306]

Hi Tik, quick question. I have access to a database with all of Goebbels diary entries (in German but they can be translated). I've seen you use them in other videos but you mention there are sections missing. The English translations were based off surviving paper copies found after 1945, but they discovered the entire microfilm collection in the Soviet Archives after 1990. That is why the online database I have uses. I was wondering if you wanted me to send you diary entries for any video's you are working on in the future to fill in those gaps?

[@Ussurin]

So, I guess the question would be how trustworthy are those Soviet records? Tho I'm sure he wouldn't mind having more research done on any possibly reliable source.

[@nullumamare8660]

​@@Ussurin As trustworthy as any other archive. You always need to think that someone may have fabricated a record and that people lie. You know, nothing special about being from a soviet archive.

[@brandonevans4295]

Bumping this so tik sees it

[@BelleDividends]

I'm not sure if there's way to send it to him even if he doesn't see this, but I would do if you're he's able. Bumping this as well to increase the chance of TIK seeing this.

[@AndreLuis-gw5ox]

@Lintuss thats not really true. There is extensive evidence of the soviets diretcly tampering with historical reports that far outweight the western-revisionism of the war

[@GoodGirlKate]

When you just finished the last North African Battlestorm part yesterday and wished there was more, TIK has you covered :D

[@TheImperatorKnight]

Which one's your favourite so far? I know which one's the worst... the shortest one 😂

[@GoodGirlKate]

@@TheImperatorKnight I really liked the stories about the Long Range Desert Group and Moore's March. With how that all tied into the overall desert campaign :D The smaller stories and the grand stories all mixed up well ^.^ Keep it up!

[@TheImperatorKnight]

@@GoodGirlKate Oh wow! You're one of only 34,489 people to have even watched the Moore's March video so I'm actually shocked you picked that one!

[@robert48044]

he's been spreading the topics out pretty nicely lately, keeping the topics fresh

[@genericpersonx333]

​@@TheImperatorKnight To be fair, TIK, if you want people to know more about your videos, you really need to make more reference to them in your newer videos. KZbin is only going to do a little of that for you with its recommendation feed. I suspect you know this already, but due to how KZbin's interface works on most systems, it is not convenient or easy to explore the older content on older channels with large libraries. Most channels don't even have the option to look at the oldest videos or playlists first, so if a user wants to see the older videos on a channel, they usually have to manually scroll to them themselves, which can take several minutes if you have a lot to scroll through. Most people will only look at the last few dozen videos made because of this. By reminding people of your older videos, they may be inspired to actually look for them more directly, which should help the visibility of your older videos in general as the algorithms identify that there is demand for your older videos. If this is all stuff you already know, forgive me, but if not, I hope it helps. Thank you all the same!

[@johnelliott7375]

You should never sell yourself short, I don't expect everything you have done and the best part is it always turns out to be a great surprise to get a awesome in detail breakdown of how a theater or battle went and turned out. Thanks for your time and effort in making it, usually don't get such a good in depth, detailed, breakdown of how a theater of battle went. Awesome stuff and a very pleasant surprise to see you do this. Thank you for your time and effort with this theater of the war.

[@ronswanson8155]

Don’t be hard on yourself Tik, if you release a battlestorm, then you’ll bring joy to thousands of people’s lives. Thank you.

[@IrishTechnicalThinker]

Never clicked a video so fast. I imagine Mark Felton watching these episodes they're that good.

[@xJavelin1]

Back to North Africa! I couldn't be happier. As much as I can appreciate the level of work and detail thrown into Stalingrad, it's a bit much. It was the Operation Compass video so long ago that got me into this channel in the first place. I always hoped that TIK would complete his analysis of this theatre of the war.

[@EmersusTech]

TIK, excellent video! Cheers!

[@fookdatchit4245]

this channel, is pure YT gold. and will probably be watched for decades to come. Hope so, amazing research and the presentation is out standing

[@TimZandbergen]

Now all we need is Halder's second Stalinggrad offensive, and the war will be won!

[@aaronrowell6943]

Steiner will bring it under control

[@philvanderlaan5942]

And since America is now super ‘ Distracted ‘ and there is no way any support will be given to Roosevelt’s ‘ Phony peace’ (and Roosevelt knows better to try )the best thing for us to do Is to honor a treaty for once . And declare war. That will win us everything.

[@insideoutsideupsidedown2218]

@@aaronrowell6943 wasn't he supposed to attack or something?

[@El_Gringo89]

No Halder just has to let Heinz finish off the Moscow campaign

[@oceanmadrosci3381]

*Nobody expected rommel's inquisition*

[@chuckmccallister3398]

Great episode as usual. I can't wait for another Battlestorm Stalingrad, keep up the good work!

[@TEGRULZ]

TIK this is so fantastic to see a successor to your Crusader video. I am so here for this!

[@misterbaker9728]

Just wanted to say thanks. I was on a Vietnam era and Ww2 Pacific are of interest. Since I found you I’m reading about the east. Already bought and read When Titans Clashed and now reading Stahels Kiev 1941. I really appreciate the work you put into these. Wow just wow!! If you ever come to the states and specifically Ohio I’d love to buy yah a drink and smoke!!

[@theodore3290]

i can already tell i am going to enjoy this new battlestorm series

[@equinox-cz9or]

Good that i read the pinned comment. No worries TIK, it actually sounds like you should work a bit less :) I'm guessing the weird zoom pixelation and panning stutter is then due to time constraints or maybe we are just used to the amazing Stalingrad map by now. Happy eastern and plz take care of yourself!

[@TheImperatorKnight]

I didn't notice the pixel issue until after I had rendered and it was far too late to fix. IF I had known, I just wouldn't have zoomed in as much. I'm not sure what's causing the panning stutter, but I think I need to increase the frame rate for the next video to fix it... or it could be an issue with Premiere Pro. Hopefully I can resolve it for next week's video

[@greenkoopa]

@@TheImperatorKnight 🐢🐢 we love your content mate

[@equinox-cz9or]

​@@TheImperatorKnight I can imagine that you just wanted the video to be done after such a work week and already have to 'cave' and make it a two part thing. It's fine, i watch your videos mostly for the commentary and research and i was just curious about the departure of your usual quality. Take care :)

[@tonybatista1928]

Your attention to detail is appreciated. Thank you.

[@ellislim601]

Another excellent video. Keep it up!

[@henryviii6341]

excellent stuff Tik

[@steveswitzer4353]

Superb a great analysis of a little known episode and a nice break from the attrition of stalingrad

[@kernowpolski]

Great work TIK - a fun break from Stalingrad - well done and much thanks.

[@seegurke93]

4:13 Gute with 1 t only ;) and its die Quelle, so "Die gute Quelle" is right. Grüße

[@Anon13373]

Hey TIK,Thanks for having good captioning. It's great to be able to follow along when my hearing is shit

[@CronoZoneDJ]

WOW!!! A new battlestorm from North Africa!!! I've been waiting for this for a long time, great! Excellent work.

[@TheNorman1169]

Love these Battlestorms Tik, great work.

[@cmbbfan78]

What a great Easter surprise! :) Thank you TIK!

[@agesflow6815]

Thank you, TIKhistory.

[@LavrencicUrban]

FANTASTIC! WHAT AN EXITING NEWS! LOOKS GREAT!

[@pattthepriest]

Woot! Finally back to the African Campaign. Waiting for the next episodes gonna be tough

[@greggcal4583]

I never knew that Rommel had intel on the Brits. I had only read that the Brits were able to track Rommel's resupply and starve his army. As always, great stuff.

[@surveyor894]

Brilliant. Love all your work and detailed dialogue on this fascinating history. Glad, to see you have returned to North Africa.

[@philipmoores4094]

1:48 these German panzers were still equipped with the "short" 50mm (50L42). The Panzer IIIJ came in two variants SdKfz 141/1 (short 50) and 141/2 (long 50). The 141/2 only started reaching Africa in May 1942

[@Sarcastic_PB]

Back to North Africa! I've been looking forward to this. Many thanks!

[@seinine]

So 2 weeks we wait for a Battlestorm Stalingrad and, meanwhile, we get... a Battlestorm desert! I love u TIK...

[@livianegidius9772]

You got youself a subscriber long time ago. .Your research and preentation is accurate consistant and beeing history nerd and now earning my phd on Leningrad siege i coul not recomend the better channel . Thank you TIK . Historia est magistra vitae and your channel is really good. Keep on the good work TIK!

[@fantasyfleet]

Great to see you doing North Africa again TIK.

[@pedromayrinck]

Excellent video. I am a very happy patron. Keep up the good work !!!

[@strategicgamingwithaacorns2874]

Looking at the same area on Google Maps, I can't help but notice that a lot of the areas described as lakes in this video are bare dry lake beds on Google Satellite Image. Were those dry lake beds in the 1940s, or were they drained after the war?

[@pieters542]

Fascinating! More Rommel please.

[@timothyhiggins8934]

For a shortened, almost hastily made video, this was great! I love the animated details of your presentation

[@whatisheartscont2be645]

The details are always very interesting.

[@charlesjermyn5001]

Glad to be back in Africa, I'm eager to see the end of the Afrika Korp (not for tomorow I know). Rommel was right, desert warfare is not a matter of land occupation: it's costly and useless. It's a matter of key points holding (like crossroads) and logistics. that's why "toyotas" (jeeps back in time) have been the perfect tool for that front: robust, fast and with a good cariage, that's all you need in the desert. Good job and eager for part two.

[@charlesjermyn5001]

@Persia 卐 Or bowmen on camel's back: it always has been the modus of desert warfare: high mobility

[@cassivellaunushonestus4927]

TIK you're a madman and I love you for it mate.

[@slim5782]

Happy Easter tik! Nice to see north Afrika again.

[@CraftedVision]

Thank you so much for coming back to the North Africa campaigns. This is why I originally started watching your videos, and then you detoured to Stalingrad for so long, that I lost faith completely. Subscription back to you good sir :)

[@hanzzimmer1132]

I appreciate your massive work ethic Tik!

[@dancarson1479]

Great episode

[@kushalumakant188]

Your videos are so informative !! Thanks a lot !

[@Zogerpogger]

I'm very excited for the next episode in this series! Thanks so much for sharing your research with us, it is inspiring me to get back into reading academic history books.

[@federicovago8884]

Its true nobody expected it, i was expecting Uranus but im not disappointed im happy 😃. Keep it up TIK

[@shlamushaaretz5357]

Darn, in suspense again! Good stuff TIK!

[@khosrowanushirvan5728]

This is quite the surprise, and also very refreshing. This certainly brings back good memories of Battlestorm Crusader. It's good to take a break from the Gates of hell at Ostfront. No matter how much I try, I can never be the FIRST to comment. Cursed times zones! By the way, TIK, are you considering taking another break from creating videos? Doing another Battlestrom with the ongoing Stalingrad is... well, quite extreme

[@TheImperatorKnight]

Honestly, I needed to just do something other than Stalingrad for a bit, and this was a nice change of pace. Other people are demanding Stalingrad, but I couldn't face it, so I did this instead. I'll be back to Stalingrad soon though. I also need to take another full break, but I'm going to wait until next month, if I take one at all.

[@khosrowanushirvan5728]

@@TheImperatorKnightWhen the time comes, take a break as long as you need, and remember... drink a lot of BIER !

[@charlietipton8502]

Yep, this is a good time for a Stalingrad tactical pause. Shorter Battlestorm videos are fine. Other videos are fine. A week vacation is fine. Your channel is a journey down a long road of history and not a sprint. Avoid burnout. I would enjoy an informal video of a historic location with you just reading the signs on location. If that would be low stress for you. Stay healthy.

[@georgewilliams8448]

Thank you for another informative video.

[@marxfelix3973]

A new BATTLESTORM episode? It must be a dream!

[@philipdrew1066]

TIK - at around 14:50 you refer to the 2nd Guards Brigade where I think you meant 2nd Armoured Brigade

[@davidrossi5096]

Been waiting so long for your follow up to your excellent crusader battlestorm series in fact I just finished the whole series yesterday so this almost seems too good to be true! Wish it was longer though ;)

[@sele5129]

Hi tik, i have a question. Why don't you write a book about the differences between socialism and capitalism. You are a great historian and I like how you simplify things that are complicated in other literatures. best regards.

[@dominikreim7723]

@TIK can you make a video about the Germans 16th motorized division in the eastern front (astrakhan) ? You mentioned the unit once, if I remember, and it's story seems to be very interesting. Would like to know more about that! 😋

[@robertm7554]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 keep up the great work TIk

[@bghyst]

Great stuff!!!

[@Token_Civilian]

YES! More North Africa Battlestorm. Thanks for the map scales. That helps to put things in context in re the distances. Question: At this point in the NA campaign, how fast could these units move? Speed of advance and how many hours it would take to cover the terrain would be an interesting detail. I hike and on foot it's anywhere from 2 to 3.5 miles / hour, depending on my condition and how steep the trail is. How fast could these armored & motorized columns "march" across this terrain? Bombing down the highway here in the western US, 70-80 MPH isn't an issue. On good forest roads here in the PNW, 20-30 MPH is easily done....on rougher forest roads, perhaps 10 MPH. I'd guess 10 MPH would be reasonable for vehicles of this era, but don't really know.

[@genericpersonx333]

In general, for a fully-motorized formation like a Panzer division, the main limit on speed was the top speed of the slowest Panzer, which was around 30 kilometers on average. Terrain had some influence, but Panzers usually didn't go places that their trucks could not follow, at least on the operational level. Most trucks could handle most ground at 30 kilometers an hour as well. So in practice, a Panzer division could comfortably move 30 kilometers an hour over any terrain it was likely to attempt to cross in the first place. The bigger limit on speed in reality was maintenance-oriented, as North African ground tended to be harder on vehicle components in general. Suspensions, air filters, and other systems would need a lot more love and care to keep from breaking down, and tires on trucks were specially prone to breaking no matter how careful one was. The faster you ran your formation, the more vehicles could break down. Rommel was notorious for running his vehicles to death and why his maintenance crews were legendary for getting the most exhausted and broken vehicles back in action sooner than anyone had a right to expect them to.

[@danreed7889]

Interesting episode!

[@kevinpascual]

Now how long do people watch the video when the decide to dislike it? Great work TIK! Excited for this new series.

[@bookaufman9643]

I've always viewed the North African campaign in world war II as one army pushes the other army until it gets too far from its logistics then the other army pushes back the other way until the same thing happens to them. Eventually the Allied army was able to load up on everything to the extent that it wasn't going to run out. Thus the campaign ended.

[@macoooos9204]

Yeah the Axis did not consider this front a priority until they were about to lose. The Allies were very worried when Rommell took Tobruk with the supplies.

[@robertchalk8884]

that colored photo at 1:06 is nuts

[@89Mangerhero]

Omg yes! finally we are back

[@ropespopes1395]

This is much easier to digest and tolerate than the Eastern Front. Shows how terrible Stalingrad really was.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

Thanks (TIK) for sharing this Super Clearly Explaining of That Foe armies Mobilized during 2nd attempt of Rommel of His Africa Cor ( Campaign ) I appreciate your Hard work for Preparing these Historical Episodes ....I think in all Rommel s attempts ( One , Two) His campaign Severely Suffered From Lack of Supplies Because Italy Navigation Efforts &Germany Airforce efforts Failed to Protecting Supply Convoys in Mediterranean Sea as parallel reason of Eastern Front of against USSR ...thanks

[@Tech-Kaplan-Kali]

NOBODY ExPETS AN AFRICAN BATTLESTORM!!! Tik's Chief weapon is SUPRISE! Suprise and Fear!!! His two weapons!!!

[@brucealbert4686]

Take care Tik!

[@roboklotz5551]

Top stuff as always!

[@wizardpv1]

@Tikhistory did you have in plan to cover Kursk and Bagration operation or something like that? All the best, you are better than any of documentary i have ever seen.

[@Karelwolfpup]

a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one ^w^ was not expecting a battlestorm video today XD

[@doctoronishispsychosislab1474]

2:07 that picture of rommel, I could have sworn he was taking a selfie lol :)

[@stephenconroy5908]

A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one!

[@tyvamakes5226]

We all expected the Rommel's 2nd offensive video Nobody expected this video to be made this early

[@Arkantos117]

It's nice to be back in a theatre where a man falling flat on his face isn't counted as a major territorial gain.

[@simonshaffer]

Bonner Fellers reports have always made me think the Rommel was slightly overrated.

[@alexsingh1429]

A suprise to be sure, but a welcome one!

[@ciuyr2510]

OMG i was just about to finish Crusader again..... Noice timing

[@penguin6815]

more videos on the mediterranean/north africa front is always welcomed

[@Tango_Alpha_Charlie]

I love your dry sense of humor. :-)

[@charlesmaeger6162]

The Allies, at Bletchley Park, had cracked the German Enigma Code. They were able to wreak havoc on Rommels supplies of oil and gas. They were able to read Rommels strategic battle communications with Berlin.

[@nedsnow6566]

Yeah, but that became a problem when Rommel decided to do the exact opposite of his orders, like he did in 1941

[@airborneranger-ret]

4:05 Picture of Bonner shows that he was promoted to Brigadier General.

[@markusschuler665]

I'm so tensed to know if rommel will be able to take tobruk and germany perhaps is winning the war end of the day? It's so good told and i enjoy his great work, humor, accent and fairness. Really, great respect and thank you very much (not matsch but mutsch ;-)

[@cleanerben9636]

I agree with Messervy's move of the 25-pdrs to the support group since he was correct about the 2-pdr being pretty hopeless. Probably not the right decision in hindsight but it makes sense at the time and the lessons of the previous operation still haven't been learned at this point. It's not like they cared about tanks lacking arty support before.

[@Theodosius_fan]

Are you planning to do some early War battle storm series, like Kiew or The fall of france?

[@nikolailucyk]

Stalingrad has gone very sandy

[@angels2online]

Insane. North Afrika is actually back.

[@peterlock669]

Hey, now I'm thrilled, when you'll continue this vid?

[@Idontknow-yj8ps]

Finaly we waited for years

[@1CE.]

Back to Africa we are Hooray 😃

[@daiichidoku]

1:14 hawker hurricane kill?

[@RemusKingOfRome]

excellent

[@greenlightstudio5302]

Hi tik, love your videos watched many of them from your battle videos covering Stalingrad, videos dealing with the german state such as the "bank wars" videos, the Hitler videos your clearly well versed on ww2 history. Anyway just wanted to ask if your field of expertise only lies on ww2, would you ever cover ww1 and its battles, like Verdun and its key battles for fort De Vaux, Ludendorfs schliffen Plan, The eastern front of ww1(which I find fascinating) the battle of Tannenburg, austro Hungary battles in the carpathian mountains, the heads of states of the empire nations, the general etc etc?

[@TheImperatorKnight]

I would cover WW1, no problem, but I think it'll be a while away before I do. I want to focus on WW2 for the time being because there's tons left to cover and it's really where my interest lies. Not saying WW1 isn't interesting, but WW2 just seems more dynamic since the lines actually move!