Texan Reacts to Sabaton History-The Last Battle..Wtf

Reaction to the incredibly bizarre and strange occurrence and circumstances behind the story of Sabaton's The Last Battle, in which U.S. and German soldiers fight against other German soldiers with the Waffen SS in order to protect French POW's.
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[@dorlonelliott9368]

As I have said before: Fiction has to be believable - real-life has no such requirement...

[@melkor3496]

I’m still baffled how there isn’t any movies of this battle. There is so much potential from this single battle. lol Just imagine the potential if it were done well it would be amazing. This battle is hilarious I think people would start laughing as they see how dumbbell it was. 😂

[@rayceofhistory]

The movie should either be done in a Quentin Tarantino Inglorious Basterds form or Monty Python and the Holy Grail. One would be super intense and the other would show the absurdity of the whole thing.

[@melkor3496]

@@rayceofhistory I’d say Tarantino style would probably work best for this kind of movie a mix of humor and very serious tone would probably have a great affect if done well I think.

[@xJamesLaughx]

@@rayceofhistory I would personally say for a pure true telling of the story I would go with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks who both produced and made the whole Band of Brothers series. Also Steven Spielberg did the movie Saving Private Ryan so he has shown with those two projects just how good he is at telling a story and if needed doing it with authenticity ala Band of Brothers or just telling a damn good story ala Saving Private Ryan with just enough action to move the story forward but not so overblown it becomes unrealistic or just dumb.

[@BlueWoWTaylan]

There are no game levels about it in WW2 based games either. I mean it is literally a Video Game mission :D

[@ShenLong991]

@@BlueWoWTaylan Right... you could base a major part of a game on it, if you really would. First the "live through hell in a german VIP Prison" then the "drive the head of the Prison insane until suicide". Followed by the "Sneak to the americans" Mission and the "get back with the Americans" then you have the whole "Hold out for the cavallerie"...

[@kingmarre9130]

They named a street i Austria in Josef Gangls honor and he was hailed as a hero

[@melkor3496]

Rip 🪦 Gangl what a legend. Don’t call me nazi supporter this guy deserves it.

[@rayceofhistory]

😂😂I wish I could tag Light.

[@melkor3496]

@@rayceofhistory I bet you do. He would love to annoy me. How about fuck no for once. He already took Thomas words out of context on a previous vid from you don’t let it happen to me as well on this one.

[@chrisc9769]

War will always have strange, unbelievable, and ideologically different sides joining forces to do insane things. Castle Itter is one of the craziest.

[@halflife2fun]

You know who would not have been out of place in this story, Jack Churchill. A medieval castle/camp and a soldier with a long bow and broadsword fighting Nazis

[@rayceofhistory]

Mad Jack, yeah agreed what an absolute legend.

[@ShockwaveTheLogical]

Bro hed be right at home in that castle. "En Garde you BASTARDS!"

[@xJamesLaughx]

You would also be surprised to know this kind of situation happened in the Pacific as well with Japanese military and British forces fighting side by side together in South East Asia.

[@jean-francoispirenne6518]

It was the son of Georges Clemenceau 'the Tiger'. Some say that the SS had planned to exchange the french prisoners against own immunity. As for making a movie, the difference between bad guy / good guy is not visible enough in this story. I remember, when Das Boot came out, the release was almost canceled on the ground that the crew of the submarine appeared like normal seamen and did not look nazi enough.

[@rayceofhistory]

I have still yet to see that movie, das boot, although it’s been recommended a lot on the channel for something I should see. And there are a few of those in this war, sons of prominent men in the First World War, and I almost never remember who they are. Because basically everybody in power also played a role in the First World War I just always assume it’s the same person. So thanks for letting me know.

[@TonyMontanaCA]

@@rayceofhistory You have to see this movie for sure, but the extension version. And I recommend also to see the 2nd great german war movie "Stalingrad".

[@A_Name_]

So happy you did this one, my favorite story of ww2

[@chrislewis8865]

Just another small point. According to Harding's book, when Schrader visited the castle, he would often visit and chat with the internees gaining a degree of respect and trust from them. This was the reason that when the castle commandant and guards vanished into thin air, they sent a delegation to his home to surrender the castle and everyone in it to his protection.

[@c-sier8034]

But this really does make sense because at point in the war, with Hitler dead, the Nazis were desperate… So they tried killing the former Prime Minister of France, so he can reclaim his position. But it was futile for the Nazis. They had already lost the war.

[@Moorhuehnchen]

There are some minor mistakes about Gangl. Gangl joined the Reichswehr first in 1929, 4 years before Hitler gained power. His oath back then was to the country and its citizens (Weimar Republic) but as a bavarian citizen the struggle for independence and rejection of nazi ideology by the austrian resistance was always something some bavarians can relate to. Namely the crackdown on the Bavarian Soviet Republic 1919 orchestrated by the SPD, there are even sayings to this day in bavaria "who has betrayed us? the SPD", by using Freikorps, consisting of former soldiers from WW1, which where later turned into the SA and the SS. These Freikorps were known to shoot first, ask later on everyone and mass executions of civilians darkened the mood of many bavarians from lower bavaria and upper palatinate with Gangl being from the latter region in bavaria. He was not known to have joined the party and even among the SS were many who joined up not for the ideology but for having a well respected and good paid job. Especially people interested in technology are found in the SS Panzer Battalions. The SS itself saw no issue with it because they believed that those soldiers can easily be indoctrinated with the ideology. In the end only religious soldiers were not successfully indoctrinated (primarily catholics which made a big chunk of german resistance fighters) but the vast majority was. So in the end it was a success. Same tactic was used in the Hitler Youth. You want to do exciting stuff with your friends as a kid and early teenager? boy scouts was off limits, those were banned as they were mainly organised by the church. You really only had the Hitler Youth. In the countryside things are a little bit different but i am generally speaking to explain it. In conclusion about Gangl: Career soldier who started in an army designed for self defense of the country in a democratic republic, being forced to add the Führer to his oath (dropping out was socially unacceptable as you swore your oath to country and people) and ended up seeing atrocities committed by the paramilitary forces of your Führer against humans everywhere including your own people. Being highly decorated makes little to no difference in the choice in the end who you are siding with, you earned your badges for taking part in campaigns (those alone make up around half a dozen for Gangl), he later earned the EK 2 and EK1 ('41 and '42-ish around) in russia. Those were rather "easy" to get if you survived and didn't route. '45 he got the DK in Gold which is interesting to note, he was still serving on the front lines all those years but never got it and then only the lowest of the higher ranking decorations (you cannot earn something lower than DK in gold if you already have the EK1) which means he got only decorated for being already decorated and surviving the ardenne offensive with his unit intact. What is overlooked as well, Gangl wasn't some infantry officer, he was artillery officer, rather outside of harms way unless the enemy achieves a breakthrough or starts counter artillery/bombing.

[@ShenLong991]

The "No one would believe it" part of why this story never got any film is, if you believe it, most likely, at least here in europe, because the american took a major role as the saviour... It is unfair for this story, but you know how sometimes hollywood does change history or books for the film just to be somewhat more "americanised". Yeah... There would also never be a story about Franz Stiegler for this reason... maybe in some time... But we never know, until it happens.

[@rosswhite5975]

One of my fave stories from Sabaton songs and the song itself has always been one of my faves on The Last Stand album. I think it just never got as well known as some other songs due to it being the last song on the album and them not doing a music video for it or anything. No Bullets Fly is another song that is v v rarely played live and really wasn't popular until the Yarn Hub animated story video came out years later.

[@jacebralor71]

Truth is stranger than fiction

[@markusschuler665]

It remembers me on the "Wunder vom Kalltal" (the "miracle of hurtgen forest") or "no bullet's fly" (Franz Stigler / Charly Brown) also really happned at the end of WW2.

[@comradekommandmentklaus1848]

You what would be amazing if this was filmed or even better what happens to schrader and Wimmer( the latter being the SS confer who disappeared)

[@bernardtuinenburg8746]

The tank commander who kept the escape route open to the west was Walter Wenk

[@memelord7333]

If this story was fiction no one would believe it was possible

[@oliversherman2414]

I love your channel keep up the great stuff

[@rayceofhistory]

I appreciate it!

[@oliversherman2414]

@@rayceofhistory no problem 👍

[@chrislewis8865]

I have had to start this response before the end of this posting. You would do well to read Stephen Harding's book 'The Last Battle'. Whilst this narrative has been spiced up a bit for entertainment's sake the story is essentially true. The only thing I would disagree with is whether Schrader and Gangl had anything to do with the Austrian resistance. Schrader was on long term convalescence at home in the village of Itter because of his leg injury and had to regularly 'check in' with the prison commandant, which usually led to a bottle of schnapps being cracked open and an afternoon spent reminiscing about the battles of France and Russia. When the commandant and his SS guards fled the castle on Hitler's suicide and the main Dachau camp being liberated, the prisoners, including De Gaulle's sister and tennis ace Jean Borotra (who had an important part in the battle. Being an athlete he volunteered to leave the castle, run down the hill to where the rest of Lee's force was and implore them to hurry up. He had been disguised as a local and narrowly avoided being captured by the attacking SS men), surrendered themselves to Schrader's protection knowing him as a frequent visitor to the castle. When Lee arrived at the castle, his first action was to block the entrance to the forecourt by placing his tank, Jenny, on the bridge so not only was it an obstacle but it was also a defensive weapon. Whatever the methods used by the attacking members of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier division, the assault DID take place and Gangl was indeed shot dead by one of the SS men, paradoxically whilst moving Paul Reynaud out of harms way when some SS men had moved to a vantage point overlooking parts of the castle. Incidentally, the reason Reynaud was in a vulnerable position in the first place was because the French prisoners had armed themselves with guns left behind by the guards and were fully up for the fight. Gangl is an Austrian hero and a street in the nearby town of Worgl is named after him. When a historian (possibly Harding himself) came across the story and interviewed Lee, his initial comment was 'That was the damnedest thing!'. Check out IMDB, the story is being turned into a movie in Hollywood by a Dutchman, Harald Swart - I would have liked to have given my copy of the book to Spielberg to do something with. The screenplay will be based on Harding's book so, hopefully, it will not be the Hollywood version of history that U571 was, although at least, this time, the heroes were really Americans.

[@frontgamet.v1892]

Also, Germans and Nazis are two different things.. The SS were Hardcore Nazis and the wehrmacht soldiers were Germans. I think most normal German soldiers didn't liked the crimes of the Nazis but had to fight.. Especially at the end... For saving the homeland. But i think most just wanted to end the war so this opportunity was perfect to make the right things. That Germans fought against Nazi - Germans literally says everything. The Nazis doing the Hitler salute and the Germans the normal military salute.

[@A_Name_]

@0:56 it's vaffen the w is pronounced as a v. Not that it is a big deal

[@rayceofhistory]

Yeah but I always feel dumb saying it that way because nobody pronounces it that way in the states, and there are a few examples that people say here often. But yes, the w is a v in pronunciation.

[@A_Name_]

@@rayceofhistory I'm American and pronounce it vaffen .🙃 I get it though it doesn't really matter. I also know a decent amount of German so that is likely why I point it out. In all reality I doubt even a German would care.

[@rayceofhistory]

@@A_Name_ lol if you’re American you know, how does everybody you know pronounce Volkswagen? I don’t know if I’ve ever heard that pronounced correctly. I heard half of the US pronounce Dirk Nowitzki’s name wrong for the two decades he played in the NBA. 😂

[@A_Name_]

@@rayceofhistory not a NBA fan so no on that one but Volkswagen and addidas I know lol

[@jamestheprotogen7554]

@@A_Name_ Porsche and Audi as well

[@tolkky7940]

There was resistance in Germany too

[@gundam2jimmy]

Please react to Sabaton No Bullets Fly animated by YarnHub, and also Nuclear Attack.

[@rayceofhistory]

No bullets fly is on the channel. I’ll add nuclear attack to the list.