The Clerk Who Sank A Cruiser - WW2 Human Torpedo Hero?

[@DocSolstice]

Karl Heinz Potthast was a friend of my father and headmaster of the school I went to when I was young. It was known that he had been the one who damaged the cruiser, but he did not like to mention his past. He became an active member of the Lutheran church in Bielefeld and was honored with the Order Of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his social merits. I remember him as a good teacher, a nice and humble person and a very sophisticated and warmhearted man.

[@ivamori9837]

Wow !

[@justjosie0107]

Thank you for that further information. God bless him.

[@mudkoerfgen9843]

Sounds like a Decent Human 👍 just Strivin' to play his Reality dealt Cards of Destiny to the Best of his ability ☝️🙃🍺🦘🇦🇺 R.I.P

[@wxwaxone]

And he was certainly blessed with luck, great skill, or both, when one considers the survival rate of each of these two raids. I wonder if anyone else besides him participated in and survived both raids.

[@noway57]

What did your dad serve as?

[@Dannys_Farm]

The hardest working man on KZbin.

[@RoadiewithRich]

I dare to say 2nd hardest, but I will concede best KZbin channel 😁

[@silverdrillpickle7596]

I’m saying the most researched content on KZbin! 🫡

[@RoadiewithRich]

@@silverdrillpickle7596 bar none!

[@PaulGregory-y9t]

Gosh I can watch and listen to him all day and educate myself

[@mattjazzml]

Yes. Not only that, wonderfully researched and made. Unlike Whistler and his tens of channels of sensationalist history. This content is what KZbin is about for me.

[@matthewishunting]

I'm a huge WW2 nerd and had no idea these Mini-Subs were deployed let alone were successful at times. I love this channel

[@muskokamike127]

Heard about them first being used by the japanese around Pearl Harbor then in the English channel years ago. I came across the info when reading up on mini subs used today and they included a history of how they first came about.

[@jamestaylor1984]

​@@muskokamike127the Imperial Japanese Navy also used them to successfully attack Sydney Harbor in early June 1942.

[@muskokamike127]

@@jamestaylor1984 I did not know that. thanks for the info!

[@jamestaylor1984]

@@muskokamike127 I'm a Sydney boy, grew up with the story. One of the midget submarines is on display at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

[@muskokamike127]

@@jamestaylor1984 Prob like us hearing about Nazi subs sinking ships in the Gulf of St Lawrence here in Canada. good info tho because I thought Aus was never directly attacked during WWII. I knew they were threatened by the japanese, but the battle of the coral sea put a stop to that immediate threat.

[@fuferito]

04:30 The most incredible part of this unbelievable tale is that the middle-aged fellow in the photo is only 23 years old.

[@scottspy]

I came here to say the same thing, in the photo of him smiling, he looks about 47 years old.

[@HenrySimple]

The younger, the crazier (indoctrinated)

[@paulkoza8652]

Ditto. Reference my comment.

[@fsabot19022]

I guess a lack of moisturizer and sun block 😂😂

[@benjamintrejo9307]

@@fsabot19022you can look up lots of vids on YT about people looking older in the past, but the theory is it’s the clothes they wear make them seem old, if u edited this to make it look like he has on modern clothes the ages gap doesn’t look that crazy. But this guy definitely looks older than 23

[@davidmajer3652]

The kind of good reporting that made this channel great.

[@briancisco1176]

I'm impressed with your ability to locate and present often obscure films and photos. Thanks too for retaining original aspect ratios; historical accuracy is far superior to unnecessarily "filling the screen."

[@aleksazunjic9672]

Gerhold had decent tactics for survival: turning the engine off meant that his craft was undetectable for passive sonar. Being too close to surface, it was undetectable to active sonar of the day, and too small to be detected by radar. Finally, by covering his head with a black towel, he would be very difficult to spot in a dark night.

[@kiwisteve6598]

I suspect the main advantage of turning the engine off would be there was no wake. So to the eye if spotted it would appear to be one small piece of flotsam in a crowded sea space that was probably pretty dirty with various bits of lost and discarded equipment bobbing about.

[@aleksazunjic9672]

@@kiwisteve6598 That too, of course.

[@stormthrush37]

​@@kiwisteve6598 Good point about another advantage!

[@sailordude2094]

That clerk wanted exact change, one torpedo per every ship sunk. Thanks for a fascinating war tale, Mark!

[@scoon2117]

The balls to do that are incredible.

[@louise_rose]

Naval kamikaze man, kind of?

[@ReineDedeurwaerder-Sulmo-rz9cz]

of steel😢😂❤

[@ReineDedeurwaerder-Sulmo-rz9cz]

​@louise_rose ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉sort off

[@finaloption...]

So is the brainwashing.

[@KalleKotelett]

Or the low IQ

[@burimoers4954]

Thank you so much for this video, Dr. Felton! My uncle, aged 21, was one of the pilots of the second raid on July 7th 1944 who didn‘t return. His body was found later on the beach. His grave is in the German section of the British War Cemetery in Bayeux. So many young lives wasted for a terrible ideology…

[@davidk6269]

Thank you for sharing this very sad story from your family history. Yes, such a waste. May he rest in peace.

[@romsebrell710]

Burimo NON GETTARE FANGO SU TUO ZIO. È STATO UN EROE . HA COMBATTUTO PER LA NAZIONE CONTRO LE MERDACCE INGLESI E AMERICANI. HA COMBATTUTO PER UN SOGNO CHE NON SI È AVVERATO. NON INUTILMENTE PER DIFENDERE LA NAZIONE.

[@paulkoza8652]

The lessons of war are never learned. Thanks for sharing. There are not many who would do this.

[@muskokamike127]

@@paulkoza8652 The lessons are learned by the soldiers fighting not the politicians. See how fast wars were stopped if those in charge had to be the first to go.....

[@matthewlok3020]

Give the kaitens a thought and the Neger is more humane in at least keeping the body of the dead whereas in a kaiten the pilot would be blown to smitherines should he hit the target

[@uziforyoutosay1749]

I had this sinking feeling prior to watching this informative history.

[@starzkream]

4:16 - That guy is only 23? He looks like he’s in his mid 40s. The war has been rough on him.

[@MyFiddlePlayer]

Everyone looks older in grayscale, somehow.

[@sethlogee9316]

@@MyFiddlePlayer never heard of premature wrinkles🤣

[@timtam8754]

The war take it all

[@Revelationthankful]

He grew up in the depression

[@PresidentCamacho24]

It looks like he became a chain smoker at age 3, a paper boy at 2, and a child miner at age 1.

[@SevenSixTwo2012]

The boat's official nomenclature immediately de-monetized this YT video... 😂

[@stuartgmk]

😂😂😂

[@wilsontheconqueror8101]

Incredibly brave seamen in undertaking such a mission! Reminds one of the early submarines in the American Civil War & I believe an attempted one in the Revolutionary war as well.

[@bikerz3857]

It was called the turtle. Just a reminder...the red coats lost to a lower tier army with balls of steel.

[@wilsontheconqueror8101]

@bikerz3857 Yes! That's it,thanx so much! 👍

[@JFDA5458]

@@bikerz3857 Aided considerably by the French and Spanish.. Without their assistance the Continental army would have lost.

[@medassistph]

This is a proud moment for a clerk like myself 😂

[@jerryjeromehawkins1712]

Not all heroes wear capes!

[@jagolago-bob]

😅

[@jaycfc6955]

Try it on your next day off 😂

[@medassistph]

​@@jaycfc6955with your mom

[@testboga5991]

The silent heroes of human civilization!

[@markherzog9484]

Dr Felton The ORP Dragon was my father’s ship….. he survived, obviously and went back to Plymouth and was reallocated to another ship

[@TrzeciaWspolnota]

Great video. Unbelievable courage.

[@mitchmatthews6713]

Never a dull video! Cheers, Mark!

[@blackstone1a]

"Ich werde, das N wort saget." ~Gerhalt on his attack run, probably

[@robertreiter7248]

"sagen" 🫡

[@jamesgarman4788]

Very fascinating story! Many thanks for posting Dr. Mark!

[@susiemcdonald1112]

It certainly doesn’t get any better than listening to Mark’s history teachings he has definitely exposed many things that I would’ve never have known unless he spoke about it. Thank you so very much.!

[@dezmondw7927]

The title of this video, Instantly draws you in.. Thx for the new content my good sir.

[@deejay4922]

The detail & documentation of Dr. Felton's coverage of historical events are absolutely amazing.

[@Gebauer1414]

Literally my favorite channel, one history buff to another

[@TRHARTAmericanArtist]

So happy to see Sir Mark is still making quality videos. Bravo!

[@GuidoLochau]

Walter Gerhold!A Hero with the Knight Cross. He worked after the WW2 as Police Officer.

[@asya9493]

@@angusmatheson8906 An extremely lucky man.

[@lithostheory]

A 25% percent survival rate are odds I wouldn't sign up for.

[@terrynixon2758]

Somehow a little tube with a plastic window, with no defensive capabilties, sailing head first towards the greatest (at the time) navy in the world, still managed better odds than US aircrews.

[@lithostheory]

@@terrynixon2758 that's very sad

[@marcbartuschka6372]

@@lithostheory But not really true. While the losses of the British Bomber Command (up to 50 percent of the overall strength I believe) and the bombers of the USAAF in the European theatre (I believe a little bit lesser than that of the British) were high, they were not THAT high (although higher than that of any other part of the armed forces of that lands... And the numbers are given not always so high as I have mentioned, I am not sure what is correct. But they were not 75 percent casualties.

[@richardbeckenbaugh1805]

@@marcbartuschka6372Some units of the USAAF took 100% casualties. In real terms, they took 90% casualties on a single raid, were rebuilt with replacements then took 90% casualties again in subsequent raids. If memory serves, the 100th bomb group had only a single survivor out of sixteen planes on one raid. The unit was rebuilt with replacements and in two subsequent raids, lost 12 out of 15 replacement planes and crews. The unit was rebuilt again.

[@setoredan]

Thank you for this informative video, Dr. Felton

[@canislupuslupus]

Dear Dr Felton, I would love to hear your rendition of the Georgian Uprising on the Dutch island of Texel. Amazing story and one of the last battlefields of WW2. Fighting continued well after V-day.

[@jan-willemvandermijde7819]

I second that motion!

[@MarkFeltonProductions]

It's on the to-do list.

[@DeathJester-b5k]

Amazing story, and horrendous. I visited Texel years ago. The futility of the battle summed up the futility of war 🙏🏻 The war was over and still the Waffen SS continued committing atrocities.

[@DeathJester-b5k]

​@@MarkFeltonProductionsLove it ❤ Love your work. Highly appreciate the response 😀

[@dougruss8810]

Thank you Mr. Felton.

[@tropifiori]

Dr Felton My favorite story along these lines is the sinking of "Viribus Unitis” by Italian underwater demolition sailors in 1918. It is both a heroic and comical story which I would encourage you to consider as a topic for a video. Best regards Frank Biscardi

[@guylelanglois6642]

Thanks Mr Felton. Another amazing story.

[@deanbuss1678]

Thanks!

[@Frank-qs3pe]

Man that guy looked old for 23….

[@KarlPHorse]

War tends to do that to people.

[@march11stoneytony]

People were drinking, smoking and working at 13

[@accidentalheadclunkers8517]

This is so funny to listen to, picturing it being played at my kid’s high school.

[@NewsRedial]

Crazily brave men.

[@Danekim_]

When Dr Felton does videos on Wehrmacht generals during ww2 it’s always so fascinating 🙌🏻 his voice and aura is unlike anything on KZbin ❤

[@onwilson2]

There were some very brave and daring young men on both sides.

[@felixs3477]

I saw a "Maiale" torpedo in the public gardens of Taormina, Sicily, back in 2011. (It serves as a war memorial.) Although it seems small and rather insignificant in the historical footage, when you are face to face with a real one, it is massive! You get a real sense of the size and scale of this deadly weapon. Could you ever image a torpedo on public display in a German park or square?! 😅

[@scotttyson607]

This reminds me of the CSS Hunley story.

[@fatlarry1184]

Went to the Hunley museum on my last trip to Charleston.

[@whiteknightcat]

HMS Trollope? Wow, imagine having to serve on a ship with that name. Almost like HMS Tart or HMS Floozy.

[@tomguyone]

Namesake Admiral Sir Henry Trollope (1756-1839), British naval officer who was commanding officer of HMS Russell at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797

[@casinodelonge]

@@tomguyone Admiral Tightfanny was sadly not honoured in this way...

[@allangibson8494]

HMS Fanny didn’t get the publicity it deserved… (It was a cutter that accompanied the HMS Britannia).

[@whiteknightcat]

@@allangibson8494 😂 And the HMS Beaver was commissioned in 1984.

[@tomhenry897]

Like being named after General Hooker

[@rex9433]

This channel is superb. Well done. I'm learning so much. Thank you for your investigative skills.

[@djmech3871]

What an interesting video, Dr. Felton keep up the great work.

[@andrewhall7930]

Using 24 of these one man torpedos to attack the massive armadas of Allied ships coming ashore must have felt like spitting at a wave to stop its inevitable breaking on the French shore.

[@mriamilne]

Wow. If my school history teacher had been as good as Dr Felton ………..

[@dlxmarks]

9:46 An Enigma machine in its real world setting.

[@stuartdickson6251]

Thank you Sir. Great stuff, hi quality, very interesting, as usual. Keep em coming.

[@alfrancisbuada2591]

You did great again Mark Felton.

[@maxjoechl5663]

2:24 While "Mohr" originally referred to the Muslim Moors, it mostly became synonymous with Black Africans as early as the 16th century. For example, there is a German chocolate-covered pastry called the "Mohrenkopf" ("Moor's head") which is also referred to as a "N*gerkuss ("n*gro's kiss"); in Austria, we have the "Mohr im Hemd" ("Moor in a shirt"), a dark chocolate pudding topped with whipped cream (hence the "shirt"). The Julius Meinl coffee company's logo, the _"Meinl-Mohr",_ portrays a Black boy working as a servant in a Turkish coffee house.

[@dusty7264]

Very interesting story,👍 thank you for sharing

[@walboyfredo6025]

Another excellent story Prof Felton.

[@iramsanchez5653]

I've learned a ton from your channel thank you dr !

[@ClarenceCochran-ne7du]

Manning Human Manned Torpedoes, was also a Penal punishment the Luftwaffe, Wermacht and Kriegsmarine supplied airman, soldiers and sailors Court Martialled and under suspended sentence of death.

[@jerribee1]

Heer (army) rather than wehrmacht, which was the collective term for the German armed forces.

[@blokkdk]

In Gerholds unit were 10 SS men. 6 of them survived the operation. The rest were Kriegmarine volunteers like Gerhold.

[@larryjohnson7591]

Great part of history that no one knows. Now they do. Thanks for taking the time to do the research Mark.

[@SquirrelRIP]

You’re smashing out the park Mark 👍

[@Andrew-df1dr]

That took courage. I am glad he received the Knights Cross.

[@S.M.S-Dresden]

As someone who wrote a "Facharbeit" on the Kommando der Kleinkampfverbände and which grandfather had served as a drive of a "Biber" Im always interested in hear about them! I hope you will one day make a whole video about the Kommando der Kleinkampfverbände

[@blokkdk]

I have a Biber and did a lot of research on the Biber. What was the name of your grandfather and where was his unit stationed?

[@cedricliggins7528]

Another banger from Dr Felton

[@jankusthegreat9233]

These guys were wild

[@m.brizzy5407]

Very interesting Mark. I have never heard of these things by the Germans in any documentary; so well done for informing us. Always very interesting subjects. Mark B.

[@rgriffinRETIRED_SHEEPDOG]

Another great video!!!

[@runningcorrer]

Pensaba que solo los italianos usaban este tipo de maniobras, buena historia! 👍

[@peterdowdall8972]

It's time to learn something new in history thank you mark

[@NEPAscallywag]

My negar!

[@getreal2977]

Like in every war, as harder good news are available as more get smaller victories inflated as it is not about the truth but about boosting morale. Thanks for another good video.

[@2112pjm]

I visited Honfleur in the summer , I wish I’d known about this at the time. It’s a beautiful town, untouched by the war

[@davidbrims5825]

Amazing bravery. 😀

[@93NissanAltima]

Mark! Any videos relating to Nazis in Poland would be fascinating. Not sure if you’re aware of the bunkers built around Poland to hide Hitler’s trains. The above ground bunker is still in tact. The basement of it is flooded, which u fortunately leaves that space unexplored since they believe there are many munitions down there flooded.

[@casinodelonge]

Brave guys.

[@jasonz7788]

Thanks Mark

[@STMukr]

Nice❤ Thks mr.Mark❤

[@lajhormes5001]

Hi Mark, I truly love you content, sending love from the Netherlands! Could you perhaps make a vid about the Bakker Schut plan or the junyu maru ship?

[@americanpatriot2422]

Great video

[@nickinportland]

That’s quite the name there 😅

[@dannystaton5386]

Greetings from South Carolina

[@dillonf8652]

Mark felton drops a video every lunch break

[@gctzx]

For those interested, Walter Gerhold survived the war and became a police officer. He died in 2013 at the age of 91. Mark could have included this at the end of his video.

[@arnbo88]

I've heard stories of the bottom torpedo failing to detach. How frightening it would be to be dragged to your death.

[@mnoliberal7335]

Good one, Mark.

[@benlowe7089]

It's incredible that this was 1944, and yet somebody had the foresight to name HMS Trollop after my ex-girlfriend, who was yet to be born for another 40 years.

[@JohnM-cd4ou]

Was dying laughing at this entire video lmao

[@jean-charlesweyland129]

Was it the fact that a trollop had a close encounter with a neger's torpedo ? XD

[@HD-Apples]

I’ve never laugh so much in 11 minutes. Nearly choking 4 times

[@BassendeanHistoricalSociety]

Small correction if I may. There was a HMS Aurora but it was not the leading ship of class, but in fact part of the Arethusa Class light cruiser of the RN.

[@alphaofthebetas4780]

Guy Gibson’s dog had the same name as a German human torpedo. I guess we weren’t so different after all.

[@jimpolk]

Wow. New information. Cool

[@suethompson1736]

Thnx, great!❤❤❤❤

[@steveshoemaker6347]

Thank you Sir. Shoe🇺🇸

[@MrJakeTucker]

I'm reminded of the film/book The Eagle Has Landed. This is a bit of a spoiler but only a small part early in the film and nothing to do with the film's main story. Steiner (Michael Caine) and his men are German paratroopers. I won't go into why but they are court martialled and sent to Alderney. There, they have to do dangerous human torpedo attacks on the allies in the English channel.

[@nathangreer8219]

Incredible story. I wonder if any of the sunken/scuttled subs have been discovered and raised?

[@MarkFeltonProductions]

Yes, they have.

[@sirnigelgresleyproductions4498]

Hello mark!

[@ReineDedeurwaerder-Sulmo-rz9cz]

Mark 4 😁

[@andysvehiclehistorychannel]

5:12 is a Hanomag SS 100 tractor unit they were also as V2 tow vehicles

[@profomofothebiznat]

Faun ZR-567, though the Hanomag SS 100 is an awesome vehicle too

[@natheriver8910]

Fascinant weapon 🌊🌊🌊🌊🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@ianbigsand7]

Growing up, I knew a slight modest man who helped out with the local community centre. After his death, I was told that he served on the mini subs. If only I had known of his courage and heroism, I could have talked to him about it. Maybe his reward was a decent society around him.

[@MIMALECKIPL]

In polish language Dragon means Dragoon, while what is considered Dragon in english is Smok in polish.

[@ИльяЗаболотный-е5м]

Smell the smok

[@faithlesshound5621]

The dragon in The Hobbit was called "Smaug," which is more or less "Smok."

[@MIMALECKIPL]

@@faithlesshound5621 Smok Smaug to be perfectly correct in polish. Plus Smok is not pronounced the same as Smaug.

[@cowhand6112]

I watched 2 videos about the Glucksberg(?) Castle Heist and felt like there were more to come - Did I miss Part 3? I feel like I've been left hanging on that one. But this was a good video, too. Thanks Dr. F.

[@MarkFeltonProductions]

I’m currently making it

[@mrains100]

Thank you.

[@Dream_Spark]

Dr. Felton dropping as many N words as he damn well pleases in this one, my hero.

[@Foxttellio]

Oh my is that a new photo of mark?!

[@williedesmond8201]

Love your videos you know there not going to be click bait which is happening so much in all kinds of different videos on itube these fays .

[@davidk6269]

It must have been very lonely and frightening to have been piloting those solo submarines with a high chance of dying alone.