Victory At Sea - The Magnetic North - Episode 11

This episode of Victory at Sea explores the battles between the Allies and Germans near the Arctic Circle, and the convoys battling past German-occupied Norway to Russia. Meanwhile, the Japanese invade Alaska unsuccessfully, and the U.S. Navy again is ordered to guard this vital area amidst the bad climate and vast vistas.

[@robertstrovink2532]

I was getting sea sick just watching this episode. No wonder when I watched this as a kid I joined the Army as a young man.

[@davidfoden6714]

Me too

[@kevinmccorkle7476]

I was a Sailor and got a bit queasy....lol

[@roywinchel3620]

Boy the merchant seamen were the unsung heroes of WWII and had one of the highest casualty rates of the war. Truly brave men

[@patrioticbastard5935]

Everyone complains about the music, I was humming these songs when I was 5.. I'm thankful my dad taught me history

[@dzyanist]

Holy Hell..Truly..!!! The things our "prescribed curriculum" forgot to teach us..(!!)

[@BFDT-4]

My Dad arrived in the Aleutians, but after they had been secured from the Japanese. He was there in training, but then went to France AFTER the Normandy Invasion, and was wounded near Metz. He survived, and came back.

[@markrubin9449]

Absolutely the tops.

[@blueduck9409]

391. ... I think there is still something to be learned from watching these videos. 🙂

[@robtheold617]

Even still? Amazing. I've been learning about the atrocities of World War II by the Germans and Japanese for the past 71 years. Even still?

[@j3lny425]

To end up in the water there was almost instant death. Kudos to all who withstood it.

[@joegibson4946]

From 1972 through the summer of 1974, I served on an icebreaker (USCGC Staten Island WAGB-278) which was given to the Russians under the Lend-Lease program during WWII. The Russians got it stuck in the ice around 1951 and gave it back to the Navy. Originally named Northwind, the name was changed to Staten Island because the Navy had already commissioned another icebreaker as the Northwind. All icebreakers were transferred to the Coast Guard in 1965. I mention this because I worked in the engineering department and we would occasionally pull of the metal plates from equipment or bulkhead and find Russian language plates on the other side.

[@spikespa5208]

4:25 "Think ya used enough dynamite there, Butch?"

[@granskare]

I recall watching the series when it first came out :)

[@karlmoles6530]

Must have been amazing. Those were better times.

[@railroad9000]

Me as well. Faithfully watched each week for the latest episode!

[@SabraStiehl]

The magnetic north pole is about 1000 miles south of the true north pole in northern Canada and is headed for northern Russia at about 10 meters/year, a faster rate than history says it usually moves. The farther north you go the less reliable magnetic compass readings get, so that navigators of the WW II era used a method of grid navigation instead of compass readings when using sextants for celestial navigation. Of course nowadays airliners and military aircraft use inertial navigation where high rotational speed gyros maintain position within several miles in thousands of miles traveled. Others use Loran. After WW II and before Loran was installed in the north Atlantic the U.S. Military Air Transport Service or MATS used presssure pattern navigation, which was very unreliable. Combined with radar and Tacan they made their destinations though.

[@charlessalmans4496]

+Sabra S Fascinating explanation. I've always found it amazing that ships and planes of that era could navigate to remote points such as Midway Island or in terrible weather which could include sandstorms as well as cloud cover.. Of course some missed their mark, as with Amelia Earhart or the World War II plane found in the desert of North Africa many years after the end of the war.

[@SabraStiehl]

During my early '60s USAF days flying C-130Es around the world there were very powerful radio or ADF beacons at some of the isolated places, such as Wake Island in the Pacific. The radio beacon there could be picked up at more than 700 NM. Torrejon AB, Spain near Madrid also had a radio beacon of about the same power. When those beacons were off the air, which was frequently, there was sometimes a problem.

[@charlessalmans4496]

+Sabra S First, thank you for your service and for sharing your expertise. I wonder, however, whether such beacons could be used in wartime. Wouldn't they have helped the enemy navigate to the "target", as well as guided our own aviators? It is also amazing to me that returning World War II-vintage aircraft could find their carriers in the vast Pacific. I note that on June 20, 1942, the last day of the "Marianas Turkey Shoot", when scout planes sighted the remaining Japanese carriers at the extreme range of US aircraft, Adm. Mitscher ordered attack in late afternoon and then took the risk to light the ships to guide the planes, low on fuel, back to their shipboard home. From historynet.com. www.historynet.com/greatest-aircraft-carrier-duel-march-99-world-war-ii-feature.htm Now the American pilots had to worry about getting back to their carriers, 250 miles away. Most started home shortly before total darkness closed in, transforming the moonless night into a blackened shroud that eradicated the horizon. Weary pilots faced a two-hour flight in battle-scarred aircraft, to carriers that-if they reached them-would be almost indistinguishable from their surroundings. One by one, planes sputtered out of fuel and swooned in guided descents to the sea. A string of phosphorescent marks, telltale signs of splashdowns, dotted the water as Mitscher’s planes neared their destination.Meanwhile, Mitscher prepared a homecoming welcome. He first spread out his task groups so that 15 miles separated each group, thereby giving the carriers ample maneuvering room to land planes or pick up downed fliers. He then ordered a daring move that could have cost him a carrier or two if any enemy submarine had lurked in the area. He ordered his ships to turn on every light so the aviators could make safer attempts at landing. All types of carrier lights flashed into brilliance-truck lights, red and green running lights, signal lights. Five-inch guns on destroyers and cruisers shot star shells into the blackened heavens, while carriers beamed searchlights straight upward as beckoning beacons for the bleary-eyed pilots.The effect was electric. Lieutenant Commander Winston recalled the incredulity with which most men on board Cabot at first reacted. "They stood open-mouthed for the sheer audacity of asking the Japs to come and get us. Then a spontaneous cheer went up. To hell with the Japs around us. Our pilots were not expendable." From above, one ecstatic pilot stared at the lights and was reminded of a Hollywood premier, the Chinese New Year, and a Fourth of July celebration combined. At least one American B-24 and a P-40 Kittyhawk fighter flown by an RAF pilot have been found in the North desert many years after the end of the war, crashing when their pilots became disoriented (in the case of the B-24 "Lady be Good" because of a sandstorm that obscured vision. www.damninteresting.com/the-remains-of-lady-be-good/ www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2222406/Dennis-Copping-Body-war-pilot-crash-landed-plane-Sahara-found.html

[@russnixon6020]

I bit late to theparty but the sun compass was used fro rhumb-line navigation during the polar summer. Similarly, high-magnitude stars that don't dip below the horizon are used in the polar winter. These days, GPS and GLONASS trump all of these methods.

[@unitedwestand5100]

Until the disintegration of the USSR, it was not allowed to mention the existence of the lend/lease in the Soviet Union. They told generations that it was them and them alone who defeated Germany.

[@leewheaton5257]

My Cousin Paul was Assigned there on a US Army Tugboat. Hell froze over.

[@patrickdurham8393]

I love the series but the music is too damned much. My great uncle was a Merchant Mariner who made the Murmansk run over a dozen times. Fantastic man.

[@Acaciavet]

My Father also made that run

[@robtheold617]

Victory at Sea is a great reminder from the past of the atrocities committed by the Japanese and Germans in World War II. Lately, there have been efforts by script writers to portray the Japanese and German people in the 30s & 40s as good folks lead astray. We're supposed to forget the millions of innocent civilians these two nations exterminated to make more room and wealth for themselves. These two nations will live in shame for the next 1,000 years. On the other hand, I don't think they teach anything about WWII anymore in American schools. And all those black and white movies with Tyrone Powers and William Holden we used to watch as kids in the 50s aren't on TV anymore on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

[@allenjones3130]

As the great philosopher Jorge Santayana once said, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it".

[@dralphd]

A salute to Don Milarski, B-29 gunner.

[@1Tankmarine]

I love the series but the historical inaccuracies and timing of certain shots and accompanying narration are painful to watch. I really don't think B-29's (1:10) were flying recon over the Aleutians during that time of the war.

[@PAMIR-1]

I think it's a flash to the future and the rest is how they got to that point, the one on iwo jima did a similar thing. Also the B 29s first flew in September 1942 so its possible they sent them up there. Had a great grandfather up there, he was in the construction battalion, built and maintained the airfields, he was also in the south Pacific building airfields and bases but he never said where, never talked much about the war, the aleutian islands was the only place he really talked about. I've only ever heard one story about his time in the Pacific, they were on an island that had a squad of Japanese survivors in a cave somewhere and every night they would sneak into the camp and slit a guy's throat. One morning he woke up and the guy next to him had his throat slit, they found them that day and blasted the cave shut, they could hear them inside trying to dig their way out.

[@TheSirianKnight]

WOW! I didn't know that the Italians had Bombers in the Arctic!!! (Fan ma brow!)

[@TheSirianKnight]

..eeek! P-39s too!!!

[@philbyd]

A freezing hell

[@jorgearroyo1342]

Que desgracia que perdimos los buenos.

[@pressureworks]

7:01 Left hand down a bit !

[@duckbizniz663]

I recall watching another WWII documentary on the Aleutian Islands. I remember the documentary claimed that the Japanese did land some troops on Attu or some of the western Aleutian Islands. The US did not see any value in chasing the Japanese invaders off of the islands right away. But eventually US troops did arrive to drive the Japanese off of the Aleutians. When the US soldiers arrived it seems the Japanese had already evacuated their soldiers. There were no Japanese troops to be found anywhere, so the Americans went home. There was need for combat since the Japanese saw no value in staying other than suffering from the extreme wintery conditions. I am not sure who to believe. It seems people are presenting extremely divergent claims that cannot be true in both cases. It would not make sense to stay on such islands with such extreme conditions. Other than a short period in the summer the conditions are just too extreme (freezing cold and powerful winds) to serve any military purpose. It seems anyone who stayed is only hurting themselves. It all comes to simple reasoning. If you believe anything that is presented to you when it does make any sense then you are bound to be lie to.

[@granskare]

When living Finland from which my relatives came the nazi's destroyed all!

[@fathertime1331]

Martin Sheen calls this propaganda.

[@bcwest56]

Martin Sheen calls you propaganda.

[@williamjackson5942]

Father Time, FSB calls you a useful idiot.

[@halojump123]

Father Time ...Hollywood should be shot

[@rayford21]

@@bcwest56 That's not surprising coming from him.

[@mrlaw711]

Don't put words in his mouth. You took what was said out of text.

[@oldsoulwandering4345]

WHY THE HELL DO YOU THINK THAT STUPID MUSIC NEEDS TO BE ON THERE?????? IT IS VERY FI*&^ ANOYING

[@allenjones3130]

I'm sorry you don't care for Richard Rodgers' score. I think it's magnificent.

[@mrlaw711]

Not annoying to those who appreciate the culture of music. What would you suggest, cow country music, or rap...???