Week 274 - General Patton's Metz Obsession - WW2 - November 25, 1944

[@WorldWarTwo]

It’s a mixed week for the Western Allies. Patton liberates Metz and there are victories in Belfort, Mulhouse, and Strasbourg. But Eisenhower’s decision to hold back Devers is just another reminder that this will still be a long and hard fight. And remember, the enemy gets a say too. Will Hitler’s counterattack be the blow that saves the Third Reich? Stay right here to find out.

[@pnutz_2]

just as a thought, (SPOILERS) if the allies get into bavaria, could there be a gimmick in (perhaps younger and fitter, I know I can't pass for an enlistee anymore) timeghost members showing up at the studio?

[@OkaNieba]

Hey Folks. love your work! I spotted maybe a typo during the video. At 1.22 when showing the picture of General Bradley the card says " Commander of US Twelfth Army"- not Army Group.

[@donfelipe7510]

I've been pondering this question for several months, ever since operation Dragoon in southern France really. Was there ever any consideration taken to advance from the Nice area into northern Italy's Piedmont region and perhaps try to outflank the German positions in northern Italy from the north? I know that the Italian campaign had by late 1944 taken on a far reduced role in importance for the allies since they decided on a push into Germany as swiftly as possible, however wouldn't such an attack to end the Italian campaign not bring allied armies up to the Austrian border and perhaps make contact with the Soviets and Yugoslavs there as well as freeing up hundreds of thousands of men and their materiel?

[@Raskolnikov70]

@@donfelipe7510 Italy was always intended to be a distraction campaign, keeping as many Axis units tied up as possible while the main event happened in the north. Outflanking the Germans in Italy would end that campaign faster, but there's no benefit for the Allies to do that. Units that no longer had to defend Italy could be brought north to defend Germany. Also, trying to attack through the Alps would be even more brutal and wasteful for the Allies than anything that happened in Italy, whereas the thrust into northern Germany from both France and Poland would end the war faster for less loss of life.

[@Adiscretefirm]

Bet you a pack of Lucky Strikes the Nazi plans don't change the course of the war

[@gunman47]

A somewhat interesting footnote this week on November 23 1944 is that General Dwight Eisenhower would order every soldier under his command to receive a full Thanksgiving Day holiday turkey dinner. Battalion cooks tried to comply as best as they could in the Hürtgen Forest on the Belgian-German border with turkey sandwiches. However, as American soldiers climbed out of their foxholes to line up, they were hit by German artillery fire and suffered heavy casualties.

[@RK-cj4oc]

That is sad

[@vitorsousa8172]

That was a Mariana's mess up

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Lining up for chow at the front was always risky. The alternative was to wait for dark and then start distributing food to individual foxholes. Thanksgiving turkeys were also distributed to US troops in North Korea in November 1950, some of them only a short distance from the border with China. A few days later the Chinese attacked in force.

[@Raskolnikov70]

In the U.S. Army when we were in the field they always made us line up for chow either 5 or 10 meters apart from each other instead of bunching up. This is why.

[@alexbowman7582]

I’ve read that soldiers didn’t line up or bunch up because of potential 88mm fire. Those that did bunch up were raw recruits who either learned or died.

[@oOkenzoOo]

By liberating Strasbourg, General Leclerc finally honored the oath he and his men made 3 years ago after the capture of the Italian fort of Koufra on March 1, 1941 in Libya : "Swear not to lay down arms until our colours, our beautiful colours, fly over Strasbourg Cathedral."

[@Hdtk2024]

Leclerc is underrated

[@Perkelenaattori]

@@Hdtk2024 Same with Juin and De Lattre. I can understand why Juin is though.

[@vladimpaler3498]

No longer held back by a dithering French high command, the French army was allowed to do what it wanted to do back in '40. No one need order them to advance.

[@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623]

It is a remarkable turn of events for a remarkable general. Refusing to surrender in 1940, from marching up north from Chad into Libya to Normandy, the liberation of Paris, Strasbourg, Berchtesgaden and as France's representative to the Japanese surrender on the Missouri. He even reached an agreement with Ho Chi Minh in 1946 that could have prevented 2 Vietnam wars if it had been ratified.

[@EkiToji]

Sure hope they can keep it.

[@xperroni]

NO NO NO! The title should have been "General Patton's Metz *addiction* "! Damn it guys, you were so close! *So close!*

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

You've got one part of that wrong. This is not Metz.

[@francispaniagua4228]

@@Duke_of_Lorraine * boom *

[@LukeSumIpsePatremTe]

We like to call it a 'habit'

[@Merugaf]

Breaking Baden-Württemburg

[@OnionChoppingNinja]

@@Duke_of_Lorraine "The broad offensive strategy is not in danger Eisenhower I AM the danger" - General Patton -

[@johnmayfield7662]

I wanna thank you guys/gals for you work, it suddenly dawned on me that Ive been watching your channel for a few YEARS now . This kinda put all your effort into perspective, honestly there is nothing that rivals the scope of your work and I'm actually really thankful that i get to see it.

[@WorldWarTwo]

We are thankful everyday for comments such as these, thank you very much for watching.

[@TeutonicEmperor1198]

I'm frightened by the fact that the episodes will end by the next August! For 3.5 years I watch these videos every week end in 10 short months from now they will stop!

[@andrewlm5677]

Thank you for the General Devers coverage (finally). There was only room for one Supreme Allied Commander in Europe - if it weren’t Eisenhower then it would have been Devers. Eisenhower knew that if he screwed up they had a competent replacement and held it against Devers

[@jamesphillips2961]

Eisenhower disliked Devers, who apparently was hard to dislike. It clouded his judgement. Imagine Hitler, all hot to trot to do his Ardennes thing, gets woken up in early December to be informed there are now 400,000 Americans and French forces over the Rhine. And imagine trying to move those German forces back to defense over a 190 mile gauntlet of Allied fighter bombers to meet that threat. Ike missed a golden opportunity here.

[@bigwoody4704]

YUP catered to the the crown's cad whn a much better officers (Devers was 1st to the Reich)

[@merdiolu]

There is no absolute guarantee that Wacht am Rhine would be suddenly and magically cancelled just because a bridgehead on Black Forest sector of Southern Germany was forced (especially Germans still reserves to launch an attack from Colmar in January 1945) when all of main strategic , economic , transportation objectives that fed German war economy were at Northern Germany ( Ruhr industrial basin , main German port cities from Wilhelmshaven to Bremen to Hamburg to Kiel) where U-Boats could be launched , Rhine , Elbe canal network where barge traffic took over excess burden of German railways , and railway hubs themselves at Hannover towards east , plus V 2 launch pads at still occupied Northern Holland) To summarise Hitler would not lose much sleep if he lost Freiburg am Rhine at south or wineyards of Koblenz where Patton trying to reach in futile but he could not continue the war if Ruhr at Northern Germany fell to Allies "The one who controls Northern Germany , controls Germany" General Gunther Blummeritt , Field Marshall Rundstedt's Chief of Staff

[@bigwoody4704]

Ya and Bradley/Collins took the Ruhr

[@jamesphillips2961]

Ya. Five months later@@bigwoody4704

[@jamesphillips2961]

"There is no absolute guarantee that Wacht am Rhine would be suddenly and magically cancelled just because a bridgehead on Black Forest sector of Southern Germany was forced....." So the Germans would have been able to ignore the destruction of their whole left flank? I gotta wonder about that. Let's be honest. You go see Devers. Devers lays out that plan. You don't know about Watch on the Rhine. You're passing that up? And if Devers is behind you is your position in Colmar tenable? Does Nordwind even have a chance of happening in that case? Of course alternative history is fun.

[@Paladin1873]

MacArthur on Eisenhower: "He was the best clerk I ever had." Eisenhower on MacArthur: "I spent seven years under MacArthur studying dramatics."

[@WorldWarTwo]

Patton on everyone: " @&$#!!#-**@!!!" -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@Paladin1873]

@@WorldWarTwo 🙂

[@darthbee18]

Aw BURN from Ike! 😂😂🤣🤣🤣💀💀🔥🔥

[@300thNPC]

"Ratio + Presidency" -Dwight D. Eisenhower

[@peterfriedenspfeife9230]

My Mum's uncle Alfred was killed by an Allied aerial bombing near Sarrebourg on the 19th of November, aged 30. We still have the letter from his superior where he informed the financé one month later. A special thank you for this episode, as I now know the context of his death.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for sharing such a personal story with us. It's a poignant reminder of the individual lives and stories behind the historical events we discuss.

[@peterfriedenspfeife9230]

@WorldWarTwo It is really touching: The superior writes to the fiancé, that all the personnel files of the unit were destroyed in the bombardment, therefore he could not inform the relatives about Alfred's death, and that he could write her only because she kept writing letters to Alfred. He asked her if she could inform the family, for the lack of an address. He is also referring to the fiancé as "in Ihrem Zustand" (in your condition), what makes me think that she might have been pregnant. His parents were searching for a long time for the place where he was buried, what was difficult, because they looked for the wrong Sarrebourg. Luckily, I was able to find the war cemetery where he lies. I also have a family photo from WWI, where Alfred is a small boy and his father (my great-grandfather) is in uniform. Two generations, two world wars. Never forget.

[@motherlesschild102]

Each episode gets more complex! My Dad was in the 84th infantry. He was in a scouting patrol at night into Geilenkirchen. It was dark and seemingly deserted-they did not see (or were seen by) any Germans. However, while sneaking about in the darkness, they were hit by an artillery barrage ...by American artillery. One of the men was killed, and they had to carry his body back to American lines. He was from Minnesota, and his name was Gurstenmeyer. From the time of his first combat (on the 19th of November) until he was sent back to England-wounded, my Dad said that he was in a state of shock. This was probably also true of most of the men around him-none had seen combat before. They marched, fought, ate, slept and lived in a perpetual state of shock- somehow. Along with this was fear, cold and confusion- "everything was chaos." he said. And these were well equipped, well led, victorious troops that actually had extensive training back in the USA. My Dad was extremely lucky to have survived the war- most of the men in his company did not.

[@WorldWarTwo]

The war grows more complex and so do the episodes! What a tragic and harrowing experience your dad had. Thank you for sharing, stories like these add an important perspective to the events as they unfold. -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@a84c1]

By the end of the battle of pelieu the 1st Marine division was so decimated it took until the battle okinawa to be back to 100%.

[@JLAvey]

Talk about out of the fire and into the inferno.

[@fl_3682]

Voice from the future here. The last active Japanese soldiers who fought in World War 2 will not surrender until 1974, almost 30 years after the end of the conflict, and one of those only put down his arms when he was ordered to by the superior officer he served under. Talk about dedication.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

One of them had murdered Filipino farmers, and his reluctance to turn himself in may have been due to something other than dedication.

[@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623]

There's dedication and there is insanity. I doubt that that guy did not know the war was over. But there's a reason why I used to say that Japan was the epicenter in the world of 3/4 ers of all the crazy in the world.

[@OnionChoppingNinja]

@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 looking at Japanese pop culture today, I'd say it's still the epicenter of 3/4 of all the crazy in the world. A different kind of crazy but crazy none the less.

[@luisvaldes1568]

i remembering hearing that when i was a kid about 9 I, thought that was so cool.

[@jameshudkins2210]

The Japan he was supposed to serve had stopped the War. He continued on his own. It was some sort of sick ego. I believe he was a Criminal. He burnt crops and caused a lot of problems for many innocent people who just wanted to get on with Life. He wanted to continue with something else. He should not have surrendered as a hero. He should have entered the Criminal justice system or be treated for Mental Health.

[@Hope_Boat]

Flying the tricolor flag over Strasbourg Cathedral was the objective of the “Koufra Oath”. On March 2, 1941, Colonel Leclerc (then 38 years old) at the head of the Free French Forces took the oasis of Koufra, in the south of Libya, from the Italians. With his men, who like him had joined General de Gaulle after the invasion of France by the Wehrmacht, he vowed not to lay down their arms again before the French flag flew over Strasbourg. Leclerc's 2nd Armored Division did not lay down theirs arms until capturing Berchtesgaden, Hitler's eagle's nest.

[@XH13]

And for some context Strasbourg Metz, Colmar and Mulhouse were not just occupied by the 3rd Reich. This part of France was annexed. And its military aged men including both my grandfathers were conscripted against their will to fight for Germany.

[@vegaspaul8529]

I've been waiting for mention of the 84th Infantry division where my Uncle Vinny served. In a couple of weeks (using the WW2 timeline), Vinny is about to go on R&R, but it is suddenly canceled, and his division is sent south to help stop the German winter offensive. Fifty years later my father spoke to one of Vinny's comrades, a cook who was suddenly thrown into a combat role. He credited Vinny for keeping him alive. It was an extremely emotional conversation.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for sharing that story, when you hear about what the individual soldiers did and how they supported each other, it really puts things in a different perspective. -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@jacoblongbrake8230]

​@WorldWarTwo I find it funny whenever someone mentions their family member has been in the war. You say the same thing every time but change a few words AI lmfao

[@martyhut7303]

Y'all clearly make great efforts to pronounce the names of places correctly which is always appreciated! Great job on "Mulhouse". I'm a native french speaker and Simpsons fan so I'm always calling it Milhouse

[@patrickstephenson9747]

"Hitler heads into Berlin and establishes the Fuhrerbunker." Fucking hell time really flew by.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

I am surprised he left it this late, as the Red Army was knocking on the door of East Prussia, not far from Rastenburg.

[@patrickstephenson9747]

@@stevekaczynski3793 He noped the fuck out for sure.

[@ChrisCrossClash]

@@stevekaczynski3793 That doesn't mean he's stuck himself in his bunker for 5 months though, he doesn't do that until February 45.

[@patrickstephenson1264]

You're right! I'm very sure he never leaves Berlin from this point on though.

[@dominikjanda8832]

​@@patrickstephenson1264but he does From 10th of december to 15th of january he's in a headquater close to Rhine to oversee Arden Offensive Only on january 16th does he moves to führerbunker

[@ronjohnson6916]

Fascinating. Hadn't heard much about Devers being flat told to stop.

[@richardross7219]

30 years ago, The US Army's Command and General Staff College issued a small book about the 4th Armor Division in the battle of Metz. I enjoyed reading it because it had a lot of good lessons and examples in it. Good Luck, Rick

[@francispaniagua4228]

Much love to Indy and the TG team, big hugs from Paraguay!! Always following your content guys

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for the lovely comment and thanks for watching!

[@cleanwillie1307]

My father was in 5th Division, part of Patton's 3rd Army. He remembered Metz well and they were not happy memories.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

The narrator of the William Wharton novel "A Midnight Clear" mentions "the damned Metz mud". He and others get rid of their boots because they are causing trench foot and instead wear galoshes and two pairs of socks. Their sergeant threatens to court-martial them and hands out Statements of Charges forms. He gets killed by German artillery shortly after, along with half the squad.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for sharing, and thanks for watching.

[@ahorsewithnoname773]

@@stevekaczynski3793 Wharton was a veteran of the Second World War and like his characters in A Midnight Clear, was also involved in the Battle of the Bulge. He wore a beard later in life to conceal shrapnel scars on his face from a wound he received during the war. I do not know however if his experiences took him through Metz.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@ahorsewithnoname773 The 87th Division to which he belonged was apparently involved in the last stages of the Metz fighting, though whether he himself was, I don't know. The narrator of the novel is named Will Knott - the novel is clearly autobiographical but that doesn't mean it is entirely so - the character of Bud Miller in it has sometimes been described as closer to the real-life Wharton than Knott is.

[@mattman3960]

I was born and live in Metz, big thanks to your father and everyone else for their courage and for liberating my city!

[@kaltenstein7718]

Admiral Scheer and Prinz Eugen are not the only capital ships left in the German navy. At this point, Panzerschiff Lützow (ex. Deutschland) is still in service and Battleship Gneisenau, while out of service ever since the channel dash, sill very much exists.

[@merdiolu]

Geneisanau was out of action since February 1942 when her bow was blown by a bomb that detonated her forward magazines during a RAF bombing raid off Heligoland. She was never properly repaired and stripped off her armaments and crew disbanded , an empty hull waiting in Baltic Sea

[@RH-xm5uk]

And the Admiral Hipper was still alive and used in the Baltic sea for evacuations.

[@recoil53]

The Scheer, Deutschland, and Prinz Eugen are not at all capital ships. The were merely cruisers. The Prinz Eugen was rather overweight for her capabilities too. The Battlecruiser Gneisenau was a capital ship. In the period, only battleships, battlecruisers, and aircraft carriers would be considered capital ships.

[@temy4895]

The battleships Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein are also still in service, albeit the latter as a training ship.

[@kaltenstein7718]

@@temy4895 By this point they have had their big guns replaced with Anti Air inplacements I think

[@barrybence4555]

Almost every Anerican Thanksgiving Day my Dad would recall how his outfit, an Armoured Field Artillery Battalion attachd to the French "took Strasbourg on Thanksgiving Day." RIP, Dad. Unfortunately, like a kot of GI's, that war would live rent free in his head for the rest of his life. No combat soldier came home without being a casualty.

[@Valdagast]

Yeah. My grandfather fought in the Finnish army and he never really recovered. We say that he died in World War II in 1955, because he was still re-living it.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for sharing that story, it's important to remember the individual human cost and honor those sacrifices. -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@WorldWarTwo]

Valdagast, a poignant and tragic way to describe your grandfather's experience. I'm sorry he suffered like that after the war. -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@ToddSauve]

@@Valdagast The father of my church's pastor also fought for the Finns against the Russians. It caused so much stress in his life that he died of a heart attack at age 50 in Edmonton, Alberta in 1970. Our pastor's name is Rainer Salomaa.

[@CARL_093]

from napoleonic wars till ww2 metz is a fortress Lieutenant General George Patton’s Third Army had come a long way since it was activated on August 1 in Normandy. Following the breakout from Normandy in late July, Patton’s army had swept 400 miles in one month’s time all across central France to the Lorraine region, where it was met by General der Panzertruppen Otto Knobelsdorff’s First Army, which was determined to defend the Moselle line. On September 25 12th Army Group commander Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley had ordered Patton to go on the defensive The main German force responsible for holding Metz was Knobelsdorff’s First Army, which belonged to General der Panzertruppen Hermann Balck’s Army Group G; Balck kept a close hand in the First Army’s operations. Although Eddy’s XII Corps on Patton’s right flank launched an attack on October 8 to correct its line and establish a bridgehead on the east bank of the Seille River in preparation for the pending full-scale offensive, the two bloodiest local attacks during October were carried out by Walker’s XX Corps on the west bank of the Moselle--one north of Metz at the industrial town of Maizieres-les-Metz and one south of it at Fort Driant. Driant was one of the strongest and most modern forts in the outer belt surrounding Metz. It was situated five miles southwest of Metz on the west bank of the Moselle atop a 1,200-foot hill and surrounded by rows of barbed wire on the outer perimeter and within by a dry moat 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep meant to impede infantry and tracked vehicles. While the men of Irwin’s “Red Diamond” division had been fighting a losing battle to capture Driant, Maj. Gen. Raymond McLain’s 90th Division was engaged in trying to clear the Germans from their entrenched positions in Maizieres-les-Metz, a factory town on the west bank of the Moselle five miles northwest of Metz. On October 14, Patton and his corps commanders began to draft the Third Army’s plan of attack. The final plan submitted to Bradley called for a double envelopment of Metz by the XX Corps on the Third Army’s left flank, in which the 90th Infantry Division, supported by Maj. Gen. William Morris’s 10th Armored Division, would form the northern pincer and Irwin’s 5th Infantry Division would form the southern pincer. Lead elements of the two infantry divisions were to rendezvous east of Metz in the general vicinity of Boulay-Moselle. The double envelopment was intended to bring about the fall of Metz by cutting the supply routes into the city “without getting mixed up with the forts,” Patton said. While Walker’s troops focused on reducing and capturing Metz, Eddy’s XII Corps began the arduous task of slowly driving the Germans east toward the West Wall. On the eve of the offensive, Patton’s Third Army had a three-to-one advantage in troop strength over Knobelsdorff’s First Army. Patton’s army had 250,000 men, while the First Army had about 86,000. As if in defiance of the foul weather, 37 battalions of field artillery supporting Eddy’s XII Corps opened fire on German positions beyond the Seille in the predawn hours of November 8. On Patton’s left wing opposite Metz, the fighting unfolded more slowly because of the difficulties encountered trying to cross the flooded Moselle. Patton had directed that the XX Corps’ attack begin on November 9, one day after Eddy’s attack on the right. Some units were still engaged in trying to capture the Metz forts. On the frigid morning of November 9, 1944, two infantry companies of the 378th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division, crept silently through the woods at the base of a large hill on the east bank of the Moselle. Their objective was a well-concealed fort known as Königsmacker that stood watch over a key section of the river 20 miles north of Metz. Eddy’s XII Corps troops fought weather conditions just as determined to defeat them as the Germans. With the German 48th Division in full retreat less than three days into the offensive, Grow’s tank columns pressed ahead as fast as possible in an effort to reach the Nied Française River before the Germans had a chance to reorganize behind it While Wood’s combat commands fought the Germans along the roadways, the infantry had the unpleasant task of clearing them acre by acre from vast tracts of forest Walker had previously determined that he could not depend solely on the crossing points in Van Fleet’s sector, and therefore had ordered Twaddle to send a battalion from the 95th Division across the Moselle in assault boats the same night to secure a bridgehead in the Thionville sector. The first major counterattack by German reserves against Van Fleet’s bridgehead occurred on November 12. In the predawn hours, in which exhausted GIs shivered in their freezing foxholes, 10 German tanks and assault guns of the 25th Panzergrenadier Division attacked Kerling in an effort to recapture the bridge crossing at Malling. The bridges at Malling and Cattenom were constantly under fire from German long-range guns. When the bridges were damaged, tanks and other vehicles were ferried to the east bank on large rafts. To the south, Irwin’s 5th Infantry Division had joined the attack on November 9, advancing from its narrow bridgehead at Arnaville, which had been secured during the September fighting. Irwin’s 10th and 11th Regiments reached the southern outskirts of Metz on the afternoon of November 17. The 11th became hotly engaged with enemy machine-gun units in the hangars at Frescaty airfield while the 10th slipped around to the east and attacked Fort Queuleu, whose garrison put up a determined fight. Meanwhile, Walker told Irwin to instruct the 2nd Regiment to turn north from the Nied-Française and cut the roads through which enemy units were slipping away east to safety. By the end of November, only four forts--the very ones that Kittel had chosen to strengthen when he assumed command--were still occupied by German forces. But by December 8, the garrisons at Forts St. Quentin, Plappeville, and Driant had all surrendered, and on December 13 the last stronghold, Fort Jeanne d’Arc, also surrendered to the Americans. From those forts, another 6,000 prisoners were taken, raising to 10,000 the number of troops captured from the forts in the Metz pocket.

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

It has been a fortress since much earlier. The Three Bishopries of Lorraine (Trois Evêchés), Metz Toul & Verdun, have been fortified places dating back from the Gauls, each being an oppidum (fortified hilltop town). As a brilliant long-term foreshadowing, Verdun, originally Verodunum, means "strong fort" in gallic.

[@mekal177]

Read the whole thing, thank you.

[@Bufoferrata]

Was Fort Driant named for the hero of Verdun, Lt.-Colonel Emile Driant who led the defense of the Bois de Caures in the first days of the battle? The horrible irony that it should be manned by German troops resisting the liberation of France!

[@bishop6218]

I think the single most underrated fact of WWII is that there was a dude actually named Knobelsdorff in the Werhmacht. That totally made my day, so thank you good sir.

[@Bufoferrata]

@@bishop6218 : He could well have been a relative of General Konstantin Schmidt von Knobelsdorff, Chief of staff to the Kaiser's son Kronprinz Wilhelm, commander of the 5th Army at the Battle of Verdun.

[@duncancurtis5108]

This is the bit where Kelly, Odd job and Kojak go after the Nazi gold. We ain't got no booze. Woof woof. 😅

[@palantir135]

The emphasis in Dutch and German names almost always is on the first syllable. I loved this series.

[@PeoplecallmeLucifer]

best series on youtube

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

A wonderful historical coverage video with a thrilled narration.

[@shakey2023]

I actually understand where Eisenhower is coming from, though. Remember, the operation market and garden only happened a few months ago, and he doesn't want to jeopardize his strategy, which is working. So, taking a risk on a new strategy with several unknown variables would make most men hesitate.

[@tihomirrasperic]

and add to that very stretched logistics he was probably afraid of going too fast and too far with the forces he had if we look at the parallel time in "Band of Brothers" they dropped to 60% of the regular staff there, with a bunch of green rookies I can understand the desire of the army commander for a daring attack, but also the caution of the Commander-in-Chief

[@davidhimmelsbach557]

It was a PERSONAL vendetta against Devers. The whole and sole reason for the 'emergency' meeting was so that Bradley could throttle Devers. Bradley hated Devers, too. He even slammed him with faint praise in his war autobios.

[@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623]

When the opportunity knocks you take it. That separates the winners from the losers. After all, THAT was what Eisenhower and Bradley would do when they unexpectedly captured the bridge at Remagen, which changed the final months of the war from a Monty led campaign to take out the Ruhr and drive towards Berlin to a Bradley led drive through central Germany and the Elbe. Remagen wasn't in the planning either. This was what the Soviets did. They weren't planning on spending a year and a half slugging it through the Ukraine. Their plan was to break Armygroup Center and advance through Belarus. But Operation Mars failed miserable while Saturn became the big success. So they changed plans and seized the moment.

[@EkiToji]

That was certainly part of it and I believe at one point a year earlier Ike was even convinced Marshall might replace him with Devers while in North Africa. Part of it though is likely due to the difficulties they were having in reopening Marseille as a way to supply such an operation. @@davidhimmelsbach557

[@Raskolnikov70]

@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Sounds like the kind of opportunity that Eisenhower passed up when he ordered Devers not to move forward. Just establishing a bridghead on the Rhine didn't mean they had to use it or commit a whole bunch of new forces to defend it. If nothing else, it would have forced the Wehrmacht to dedicate more units to defend that area, possibly weakening their Ardennes counterattack and/or making it easier to cross the Rhine further north when it came time for that. Wonder exactly what Eisenhower was thinking here...

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Not long after this "Hansi", an Alsatian artist, designed a poster celebrating the freeing of Strasbourg from the Germans, with the inscription in Alsace dialect "Jetz awer nüss!" ("Now over us!") over the French flag

[@DarkshadowXD63]

I had a opportunity to stay in Metz for 3 weeks last summer really nice and relaxing city I had no idea Patton was fighting to take the city it has no scarring of the war like other small cities in France

[@Perkelenaattori]

I was in Normandy last summer and I think at least most places in Normandy leave the scarring there intentionally to remind folks that they're living in a historical place. I was in a small village where apparently 2 US medics had sheltered 72 US Para's, 9 germans and a small French boy who were all wounded. They were in the village church when an artillery shell came through the roof and hit one of the floor tiles but it didn't detonate. The church never replaced the floor tile since they thought it was a sign of providence.

[@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623]

My city, the city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands was one of the hardest hit in the war, with the USAAF bombing it, the fighting of Market Garden and the Germans shelling it in the winter, its historic city center was ripped out. And what the Germans didn't destroy the city council did after the war. At least Arnhem, our eternal rival, did a better job rebuilding after the war.

[@korbell1089]

@@Perkelenaattori You can still see the bloodstains on the pews as well. If anything was ever consecrated land that church is!

[@Perkelenaattori]

@@korbell1089 Yes from the wounded. Looks like we've visited the same church. I loved the other medic's gravestone too

[@mattman3960]

I've always lived in the Metz area, and i'd assume this is because the amount of fortifications on the outskirts of the city are where most of the fighting took place, there prob wasn't any tank battles or urban warfare in the city center. Most fortifications in Maizières and St Julien are gone by now tho, they got completely annihilated

[@thcdreams654]

Thank you for the fantastic content every upload. You guys and gals are the best.

[@CARL_093]

thanks indy and crew Battle of Metz gen pattons bloody fortress is my favorite on his military career

[@SamuelJamesNary]

The liberation of Alsace/Lorraine represents a bit of legal complexity that many don't often draw to. A lot of very general histories may put the Free French firing over the Rhine this week as the first time France had fired on German soil since 1940... and for the sake of simplicity it fits post WW2 recognition on the 1939-1940 borders as being the official ones through the entire war as those are the recognized borders at the end of the war as well... However, this ignores the fact that the French Third Republic did ask for an armistice in 1940 and accepted "peace at any price" with Germany. At the same time, the agreements that Petain's men made at Compiegne in 1940 were internationally recognized by most of the world. And among these terms was the return of Alsace/Lorraine to Germany to be Elsaß-Lothringen again... The Nazis had additional possible territorial demands of France, which they didn't want to settle until after Britain surrendered, which then left a good chunk of northern France in a sort of gray area between being French and being German... But Petain agreed, and thus, Alsace/Lorraine was German again... And most of the outside world accepted and recognized these territorial changes in 1940. Petain and the French did so, because they'd had no real choice. The Germans recognized it, because to the Nazis this was all part of gaining back territory "wrongfully taken" in 1919. The Soviets recognized it because at that time they were still sort of allied with Hitler. And the US recognized it because they wanted to retain at least the recognized position of neutrality. And the Roosevelt Administration held to that recognition of Vichy authority even into the point where the US was officially in the war in 1941 to 1942 in the hopes that the Vichy government, which FDR had recognized would turn on Germany and represent what the French people wanted in 1940. The only ones who didn't accept Alsace/Lorraine going back to Germany were the British and De Gaulle... and their reasoning was obvious, as Britain didn't surrender as the Third Republic had and De Gaulle saw the Third Republic's defeat in 1940 as a battle and not the war as a whole... Though, he wouldn't get the real support to make that case with any degree of strength until late 1943 to August 1944 as the Allies began to push the Germans back and Vichy and Colonial French forces began to finally turn to the Free French in ways that hadn't happened earlier. But this didn't change the recognized borders at the time... And thus, so far as the law was concerned, the liberation of Metz and Belfort were not the liberation of French cities... they were the capture of German cities.

[@carrickrichards2457]

Illuminating work, the like of which I've seen nowhere else. Thank you again.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for the kind words! -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@901Sherman]

I remember reading in a biography of Eisenhower that around this time and into December, Courtney Hodges (US 1st Army Commander) was suffering from a nervous breakdown. Haven’t seen it corroborated elsewhere but it would explain quiet a lot.

[@salsheikh4508]

I don't want this to end...

[@WorldWarTwo]

Ahh, but all good things must come to an end, or in the case of a war, all bad things. Thanks so much for watching! -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@stevevernon1978]

@@WorldWarTwo Question from the future of July 2024: when is the LAST episode? after the Nagasaki bomb? after the armistice? after the signing in Tokyo Bay?

[@30Mauser]

I’ve done extensive research into Ike’s decision not to allow the 6th Army Group to exploit its strategic and logistical advantages to push across the Rhine, as my great-grandfather (MG Ted Brooks) was commander of 6 Corps at the time. Indy and team (as so often) nailed this one. Great coverage!!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Oh that's fascinating! Do you have any little stories you'd like to share, those are some of the best things about our comment section. Thanks so much for watching. -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@bigwoody4704]

Good Post 30 mauser - I had read before IKE was given overall command Devers was in England with high rank and IKE was leading the Torch Landings. IKE wanted a bunch of bombers sent to aide the Allied invasion of French North Africa (Morocco)in November 1942 that was intended to draw Axis forces away from the Eastern Front, thus relieving pressure on the hard-pressed Soviet Union. Well Devers couldn't do it as the US had already given Britain like 600 bombers for supply runs and tactical bombing and the rest were needed in Britain.Well IKE thought otherwise and held it against Devers who wasn't in position to do much.

[@30Mauser]

​@@bigwoody4704 100% correct. They took it to Marshall and he decided in favor of Devers. Decades later, Devers would openly lament Bradley's and Ike's dislike and lack of respect for him. There was some speculation that it may have begun during the time Devers was their baseball coach at West Point. The bomber dispute could easily have been the coffin in the nail of that, but it likely didn't start there. Terribly sad to think that such a personal thing may have led Ike to make decisions contrary to the better prosecution of the war for the Allies. Devers was a very good friend of our family. He met my great-grandfather (Edward H. Brooks) back in 1925, when Devers was Director of the Field Artillery School at Ft. Sill and Brooks was an instructor. Interestingly, Devers was instrumental in Brooks' career, having him promoted from LTC to BG (he never wore eagles) to command the 11th Armored Division. Despite this, and perhaps because of his time working directly for Marshall pre-war, he also shared a mutual respect with Ike and Bradley, to the best of our family's knowledge. He was pulled from the end of the build up of the 11th AD to command the 2nd AD through the Normandy invasion into the Netherlands, then supported by Bradley in a dispute against Montgomery, and finally raised to command of the 5th (briefly) and 6th Corps in Sandy Patch's 7th Army under Devers. My parents actually had their wedding reception at the Army-Navy Club under the sponsorship of Gen Devers. He was a good man and a great logistician, if perhaps not the greatest political mind.

[@30Mauser]

@@WorldWarTwo I have a bunch... here's one of my favorites from his time as commander of the 2nd Armored Division in France... I truly can't do it justice in text, so it's best to listen to the story in his own voice. I digitized this from an album in my possession. The whole thing is great (as is side 1) but, for the story, start at the 12:20 mark. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmSlq3VpbqmqraMsi=3s3QcSnYLWV8TiD3

[@bigwoody4704]

@@30Mauser "Terribly sad to think that such a personal thing may have led Ike to make decisions contrary to the better prosecution of the war for the Allies." Great perception his leadership and troops deserve better than either history or headline gave him and them

[@nicholasconder4703]

1:40 That description of the Huertgen Forest sounds like some of the clearcuts and regrowth forest stands I have had to work in. Especially forest stands where they have done tree thinning (imagine walking through an area on top of interwoven fallen trees about 2 metres off ground level).

[@grahvis]

Where I live in Wales, once off any of the forest tracks, movement between the trees is almost impossible.

[@gordybing1727]

A couple of books on what was happening back in the US. "Big Rich" by Bryan Burrough, they had built giant pipelines from Texas to the Midwest and the East Coast. Originally meant for oil, they would be used for natural gas, causing the end of coal for heating and other work. Also "Skunkworks" by Ben R. Rich, the start of Area 51. Thanks, take care.

[@ArthurLnz]

"Swear not to lay down arms until our colours, our beautiful colours, fly over Strasbourg Cathedral." - General Leclerc after the capture of Kufra, 1941.

[@hoodoo2001]

When you get this series done, perhaps a DVD set. This is CLASSIC history! A hundred years from now it will still be watched.

[@IanCharlesPearce]

What's a DVD?

[@Raskolnikov70]

Nah, VHS or nothing. I can't wait to receive my 3 shipping containers full of videotapes of the entire series + special episodes and building an addition to my house to store them.

[@seamussc]

My grandfather was a US infantryman in the 95th infantry under Patton who was shot by Germans at Metz in November 1945. He was carried off the battlefield by a medic and chaplain and survived only due to them. And although they never removed the shell from his body, he lived to the age of 85 in 2008. My dad has my grandpa's copy of commendation letter Patton sent to his division dated April 16, 1945 folded up in the case for his Purple Heart.

[@WorldWarTwo]

That's an impressive story and a cool artifact! -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@seamussc]

@@WorldWarTwo Thank you for helping me understand much more what he must have gone through!

[@clarencehopkins7832]

Excellent stuff bro

Thank you for this episode and all the work you guys do. I never knew about this unexploited chance in the south. Considering what an effort crossing the Rhine further north later was, I seems like quite a strange decision not to force the Rhine at that point

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for your comment, and Indeed it may seem that way ! -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@WhiteCamry]

Patton had been obsessed with Metz since August 1918 when, after taking St. Mihiel and reaching Vandieres - just 38 km up the Moselle from Metz - the AEF was shifted northward into the Argonne Forest to support the Anglo-French attack into Flanders.

[@matthewmcmacken6716]

I recall the TV show 'The 6 Million Dollar Man' who in one episode found one of the holdout Japanese soldiers and explained to him that he had been on the surface of the Moon. The soldier laffed at him.

[@ADrunkBassist]

Damn! The French took Mulhouse and I didn't even get a Milhouse joke.

[@brokenbridge6316]

I've heard of Patton's attack on Metz. What a disaster for him. The only one that was worse was that raid he initiated to liberate his son-in-law.

[@jokuvaan5175]

The last Japanese soldier of WW2, Liutenant Hiroo Onoda, will surrender in Luband island in the Philippines... in 1974. He and his comrades who had been dying out over the years had been terrorizing the locals and hiding in the jungle, refusing to believe that the war was over until the Onoda's former commander finally visited the island and managed to convince him to surrender.

[@porksterbob]

Hiroo onada wasn't the last. That was Teruo Nakamura. But teruo was from Japanese Taiwan and wasn't an officer, so he gets written out in favor of hiroo.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@porksterbob Nakamura was from an indigenous, non-Chinese ethnic group on Taiwan that was considered by the Japanese to be good at fieldcraft, and Nakamura was in some kind of elite unit. Generally the Japanese military considered non-Japanese to be unmilitary and suited only to manual labour but some of the Taiwanese were an exception.

[@porksterbob]

@@stevekaczynski3793 but the point is that Hiroo Onada wasn't the last Japanese holdout, but everyone loves to pretend he was because of the story with his commanding officer and because the actual last holdout raises complex questions about racism and colonialism. We like the "honorable last samurai" story. We don't like the "colonial servant fighting on for masters who saw him as a useful savage." It doesn't quite fit the Zeitgeist.

[@wehosrmthink7510]

I love that Indy reminds us of Huntziger, the real villain of 1940. A must watch episode.

[@jamesmaas7244]

Great and informative video. Love your tie, btw. It's so 40's.

[@thebunkerparodie6368]

so my village was already liberated this week (I'm from the haguenau region)? I think a special on the german pockets on the french coast could be interesting.

[@johnhemphill1938]

The French 1st Army reaches the Rhine at the Swiss border and are shelling southern Germany. General Leclerc reaches Strasbourg. General Devers is a good commander

[@redaug4212]

I think it's worth considering, in regards to Peleliu, that even though the purpose of the operation was ostensibly to support the invasion of the Philippines, the true purpose from Nimitz's perspective and that of senior Navy leadership was to protect the fleet anchorage at Ulithi. The Navy's concern was that Peleliu could have been used to taxi air raids against the large build-up of vessels in the Ulithi lagoon, which was unacceptable for the Navy since Ulithi was to be the staging area for all future naval operations in the Pacific. Halsey sent reports to Nimitz a few days prior to the invasion suggesting that III Amphibious Corps would be better served with the Sixth Army in the invasion of Leyte, but his recommendations were rejected, with Nimitz citing the importance of the western Carolines for the interests of Navy strategy. There's a lot to criticize MacArthur for, but in the case of Peleliu he should be let off the hook.

[@davidhimmelsbach557]

It was not the protection of the Ulithi concentration -- it was to STOP the detection of the Ulithi concentrations. Such immense naval assemblies would turn over all the cards to Tokyo.

[@redaug4212]

@@davidhimmelsbach557 Naturally preventing detection was a component of protection. If the IJN discovered that the US Navy was concentrating its surface fleet at Ulithi, then the concern was that Peleliu could have supported the leapfrogging of Japanese aircraft. On the flip side, if the Navy controlled Peleliu, then it could have been used (and it was used) as a satellite to reconnoiter the areas north and west of Ulithi in the event that the Japanese did launch an attack on the anchorage.

[@TheVSFDawg]

re: Huertgen Forest campaign. The dialog refers to the struggles of the 22nd push into the forest but the map showed this as the 12th. I assume that updating the map is not realistic at this point but consider adding a subtitle for disambiguation.

[@kemarisite]

"medieval fortress in a medieval manner", to me this says they laid siege for two years.

[@Raskolnikov70]

I was waiting for information about the deployment of the US Army's 106th Trebuchet Detachment.

[@pocketmarcy6990]

My Paternal Grandfather was born this week on the 22nd, he eventually went on to fight in Vietnam

[@expat2010]

It's really mind-boggling how you guys can pull so many disparate facts into a cohesive history like this, and in such an entertaining way.

[@Southsideindy]

Well, since I research and write these weekly episodes myself and am 'you guys', I shall take that as a great compliment!

[@naveenraj2008eee]

Hi Indy Another interesting video. War looks like it will finish by Christmas but now it may go beyond that. Thanks for the video.

[@Julius_Hardware]

Let me get this right - The Rhine is to the rear of the Roer, and the Rhur is to the rear of the Rhine...

[@thehistoryvideogameandgame4730]

Is it offensive for me to say that I didn’t know about General Jacob Devers before this series came out?

[@Spiderfisch]

If we already knew everything about the war it would be pointless to watch this

[@Asahamana]

Fixed Fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of man. - George S. Patton Yet there he was trying to take out a monument of human stupidity. Oh God I just got the metaphor!

[@johnbrown5565]

My father received a Silver Star at Metz. He commanded a rifle company as a First Lieutenant after other officers had been KIA. He hated Patten to his dying day saying, Patton got a lot of good infantry soldiers killed trying to beat Monty to an objective and having an obsession to be the first general to destroy Metz since the Roman Empire. Patton did not have to deal with the Normandy landings or the Hedge rows. He came in after the fall of St. Lo. He was good on open ground, but with strong defensive positions Patton stunk as a commander. For those not familiar with Fortress Metz read up on the strength of that defensive position. Mine fields, razor wire, steel and cement re-enforced big guns that elevated to fire then disappeared underground, crossfire machine gun and rifle pits. Into this Patton ordered infantry assault after infantry assault. When casualties figures reached Washington D.C. George Marshall and Bradley made a special trip to Metz to see what the hell Patton was up to.

[@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-]

@johnbrown5565 Yeah this is what Bradley had to say about it. Quote *"For God's sake, George, lay off,' I said, 'I promise you'll get your chance. When we get going again you can far more easily pinch out Metz and take it from behind. Why bloody your nose in this pecking campaign?" Patton replied "We're using Metz to blood the new divisions."* Kemp, Anthony (1981-01-01). The Unknown Battle: Metz, 1944.

[@iamnolegend2519]

My father was at METZ. Co. D, 378th Infantry Regiment, 95th Division.

[@WorldWarTwo]

I bet he had some interesting stories! -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@iamnolegend2519]

@@WorldWarTwo he had a few but he has been gone since the mid 1970s. Among his things I do have some handwritten diary sort of notes from I believe November 17, 1944.

[@WorldWarTwo]

That's a pretty cool thing to have. -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@xjuliussx]

you guys are awsome!

[@WorldWarTwo]

We appreciate the kind comment, thank you!

[@ericcarlson3746]

common misconception is that Strasbourg is actually on the Rhine. It's over on the Ill River (which gave its name to Alsace / Elsass itself. An amazingly beautiful city I', assuming most of these Metz forts date from the German empire?

[@notrelogisbreton5574]

Hi, Metz's forts were both built by french and german engineers. The french started to build forts in 1867 then the germans finished the first curtain and added a second one.

[@Valdagast]

I think it's very important to remember that you can't take Berlin if you don't first take Manhattan.

[@WorldWarTwo]

I want to thank you for those items you sent me... -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@nicholasconder4703]

I bet the reason that Patton didn't do so well against Metz is because he was using the wrong team. He should have used the NY Yankees, because the Mets have the worst record against that team.⚾😁

[@martijn9568]

Indy is going to like this comment😂

[@jimmaynard]

You had me at Rick Atkinson, Indy

[@houndofzoltan]

I wonder if the Germans thought of the Battle of the Teutoburg forest as they fought in Hurtgen?

[@alexamerling79]

Thank you Timeghost! You guys think Albert Kesselring is still smiling even in his hospital bed?

[@Raskolnikov70]

Smiling Albert never stops smiling. He's a true inspiration to us all.

[@mohammedmouradouertani2585]

Correction about operation Queen the 5th panzer army was relieved for Ardennes offensive and replaced with the 15th army under the command of General der Infanterie gustav adolf von zangen

[@jameslovas9464]

I'm sure the Colmar pocket will be cleared up in just a couple of weeks and won't be a thorn in the Allies' side at all...

[@lembitmoislane.]

My question is why this late in the war, where are the two Italian armies? (The Kingdom’s and the Puppet State armies). I’ve read that by the end of the war that they made up a considerable portion of the Italian front but it’s been well over a year since Italy switched changes and all we have seen was a single Italian brigade for a short time before leaving the front. Also this video was a good reminder of how long it took for the occupiers to switch from German to Soviet on Saaremaa, our largest island.

[@merdiolu]

Puppet state you mean Salo republic ? Their army (only four divisions equipped and trained by Germans so really a corps) were most tasked for guarding Italian Alps at Franco-Italian frontier which is ironic since except a couple of Free French brigades deployed there to guard the passes , SHEAF had no intention of advancing over that mountainous sector. Italian Co Belligerent Army fighting for Allies ( King of Italy's Army) recently equipped and trained by Allies but their combat groups were mostly deployed in western sector of Gothic Line ( 5th Army sector) which is mostly quiet till the end of 1944

[@danepatterson8107]

Bradley did not deserve to be a 2-star general: he had no imagination and no capability to understand when terrain favored the defender absolutely. Against St. Lo and against Huertgen, he shows his incompetence: if you want historical proof, read general Gavin's summary of the cause of the failures in the Huertgen Forest.

[@Perkelenaattori]

I was in Normandy last September and our guide told us that Ike wrote a report on Bradley already on D-Day that he classified for 100 years, so most historians think it's going to be very scathing. We only have 21 more years to wait till it's declassified.

[@Physiker17]

But he was a Lieutenant General at the time (3 stars).

[@Julius_Hardware]

Agreed - but he was good at politics. He also escaped the blame for Omaha.

[@RubberToeYT]

Another great episode

[@WorldWarTwo]

Glad you enjoyed thanks for watching!

[@Lematth88]

This week in French news. The 22nd, in Sigmaringen, Pétain is now almost alone, his doctor and confident since 1930 flaw and is arrested by the Gestapo. Laval is now only preparing his legal defense. Pétain doesn’t want to die on a foreign soil and makes Gaston Bruneton, commissar to the social action toward French prisoners, the depositary of his mind and thought. For Pétain, he is still the chief of the French state, but he cannot exert his functions. He is the moral leader of France as he always wanted. He charges Bruneton to tell French prisoners that they are morally related, they are soldiers, and so, it is to him that their answer and no one else. This is very essential to understand the mind of Pétain, for him: he is the protector of France, and he has the mission to save them. Let’s remember that at the time there is still 1 700 000 French inside of Germany (it’s the second nationality behind soviets), 700 000 workers and 1 000 000 French PoW. Meanwhile Marcel Déat creates a real service under him, a sort of mini state in Ulm inside the factice state of Sigmaringen. (yes, its futile but I think it’s pretty useful to understand some of these personalities). Déat organizes travel to Desde (to attend to the Nazi party congress) Berlin, Weimar, Mengen, Plauen (where he meets Alfred Rosenberg) and Vienna. The 22nd, Saint Dié (my hometown) is liberated, destroyed at 75 %, with no running water and electricity (see my post of the 11th November video). My Grandmother (a child of only 4 years old) and my granduncle, with their mother, went into the mountain to avoid the killing and the destruction. They will only go back after the American troops takes the city. There is no real fighting in the city because the German already left. The 24th, in the city a secret meeting of Eisenhower and his general, without any French authority, decided not to take the whole Alsace and cross the Rhine. The 23rd, the Allies enters Strasbourg. Leclerc enters the city and puts up the French flag on the cathedral, fulfilling his pledge of Koufra. The 25th, the political party Mouvement républicain populaire (MRP) is created. It is a Christian democrat and pro-European and European federalism party. This party is specifically created by Resistance members and for them, but not a confessional party. The objective is to make a social movement, with social-catholic, catholic unions and young catholic movements. The idea of a social revolution is very strongly said in 1944 and 45, in fact more than the PCF. The party wants to be in the center-left, but in 1945-1946, its political position will be in the center and its electors in the center-right.

[@silverbassman]

Indy, We love your WWII videos. But I want to point out an error in your Hurtgen Forest commentary. At 1:55 to 1:58 the video shows closeups of two GIs. Those soldiers are Japanese Americans from the Nisei 442nd RCT. They were fighting in the Vosges when those films were taken. They were not in the Hurtgen. BTW, the 442nd deserves to have a segment of your series devoted to them.

[@ternel]

Seems like a week where most of the action was about organizing for future offensives and final pushes. Its amazing the west was able to push so far so fast as they liberated france. But invading germany is going to be the struggle.

[@Ud1ve]

The Map in the Background shows perfectly the four Factions of World War 2: Red - Axis (Bad Guys) White - Allies (Good Guys) Brown/Dark Yellow - Neutral Countrys Grey - Switzerland (Shoots at everyone)

[@maciejkamil]

IN WWI allies didn't even come close to capturing Metz. in WW2 on the other hand Germany decided to fight as long as she could.

[@deeznoots6241]

More like in WW1 they knew when the war was lost and didn’t senselessly continue fighting

[@rajeshkanungo6627]

@@deeznoots6241also, the allies were only going to accept a total surrender this time.

[@bradolsen8629]

I’m listening to this for a while I have not heard any mention of the 10th mountain division in Italy

[@Sinebeast]

Living in Strasbourg and finally hearing about the liberation of Alsace. That's really cool. Talking about Strasbourg. There's a "Rue du 22 novembre", a "Rue de la division Leclerc". But listening to this I know there's a "Rue de la Première Armée" (First Army Road), but Leclerc armored division was under 7th allied army ? EDIT : Wikipedia answered me. The 2e DB (2nd armored division) of Leclerc was in the 1st French Army.

[@RollTide1987]

I feel like Eisenhower was much too conservative and inflexible when it came to his "broad front" strategy. Devers seemed to be onto something and if he could have gotten Patton temporarily attached to his army group, they might have wrecked shop in the Saar.

[@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-]

@RollTide1987 The British actually proposed for a concentrated thrust through the North over the North German plains. Attacking with Second British Army and First US Army on a frontage of 50 miles along the Paris - Brussels - Cologne/Aachen axis, with good roads, and First Canadian, Third US and Seventh US playing a limited and largely defensive role. That's an attack of 25 divisions, depending on whether the SHAEF strategic reserve was committed. In an interview after the war Von Rundstedt himself stated that there was no way the Germans could have prevented such a concentrated thrust from enveloping the Ruhr in the autumn of 1944; the necessary German Forces simply did not exist.

[@bigwoody4704]

The Britsh proposed and got Monty Garden - they were no longer a factor. IKE propped them up at one time or another with the 1st & 9th US Armies. To give Stalin a bold look of solidarity so the Reds would not go any farther than necessary

[@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-]

@@bigwoody4704 MG wasn't the original plan though, Monty's plan was an offensive by two army groups designed to envelop the Ruhr, not four divisions at Arnhem. Not even close to the same plan.

[@bigwoody4704]

@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- he jumped at the opportunity when he convinced IKE to give him 2 airborne divisions and stopped both Bradley's and Devers Army groups to support it

[@dovetonsturdee7033]

@@bigwoody4704 You mean when 9th Army was left to the north of the 'Bulge' caused by the German offensive, and temporarily placed under the operational command of 21st Army Group? Keep ranting, mon vieux.

[@mikaelcrews7232]

This is what everyone called indecision on all sides! Ike is trying to keep with a time table and so were the Germans but on both sides everything was either pushed back or were rerouted for something else! Everything in the Pacific is pretty much the same way! Even the Japanese are not sure what to do next? I've heard termed as a two to three month breather on both sides and this is one of those times!

[@Raskolnikov70]

The Japanese are in the unfortunate position of having completely lost any and all initiative in the Pacific naval campaign. They can't do anything except wait for the Allies to advance on their static island positions and churn them into dust. It's the Allies' war to win or lose from here.

[@mikaelcrews7232]

@@Raskolnikov70 the allies were going to win , they were just trying to figure out how to do it!

[@jonniheinisto9825]

About what you mentioned, Japanese troops appearing many years after.... Look up Hiro Onoda. Seriously do. There is a book as well, recommended reading.

[@GeneralSmitty91]

Alluding to the end of the episode; is it worse to be Huntzigered or Hotzendorfed? 🤔🤔🤔

[@michellejean11]

Not crossing the Rhine at that point may have been a lucky choice by Eisenhower. It may have forced Hitler to use his Wacht am Rhine forces to counter attack the bridgehead with costly losses to US forces.

[@WillN2Go1]

A bigger question than was Peleliu necessary? Was the invasion of Japanese occupied Philippines necessary? One of my high school teachers had been in Naval Intelligence, stationed in China. They were monitoring Japanese maritime communications. By this time in the war Japanese supply ships were essentially wiped out. Orders were being given for groups of ships to rendezvous at various locations. Maybe 30 sets of orders went out, 5 ships showed up. "The rest had been sunk but the commanders were too embarrassed to report that to home base." Seems like any continued sea and air traffic between Japan and the Philippines was a target opportunity, not a problem.

[@Raskolnikov70]

I've heard people argue that the only reason the US took back the Phillipines during the war was because of MacArthur's promise/ego. But it made sense from a strategic point of view, because it completely cut off Japan from its colonies and their resources to the south. Might have been a different calculation if Japan had conducted an Ichi-go type campaign earlier in the war and had established rail links to the south instead of being so dependent on shipping, since taking the Phillipines wouldn't have had a similar impact on their logistics situation. And of course, the Allies at the time had no definite idea about how bad the Japanese logistics were. They (Japan) were still fighting tooth and nail even at this late stage of the war, so the Allies had to treat them as a viable opponent and weaken them any way they could instead of assuming the Japanese ability to fight had been broken.

[@ahorsewithnoname773]

@@Raskolnikov70 To tack on to that, the Philippines had also been American protectorate albeit one that had already negotiated independence (scheduled to go into effect in 1945) and tens of thousands of Filipino troops had fought tenaciously alongside American soldiers in U.S. Army formations facing the Japanese during the invasion. After the nation fell the Filipino people helped stranded American soldiers evade the Japanese and would form one of the war's largest and most successful resistance movements. Even if there hadn't been strong strategic arguments for retaking the Philippines, given the deep political ties between the United States and the Philippines and the fact that it's people had been among the most stalwart of allies and had suffered terribly under enemy occupation, anything short of returning to the Philippines was politically unthinkable. War after all is politics by other means.

[@welcometonebalia]

Thank you.

[@saxonwarrior3736]

And people think Market Garden was bad? The metz campaign cost Patton over 55,000 casualties. Was it worth it ?

[@Perkelenaattori]

Yeah but Patton is so widely loved by the Americans while Monty is a limey who just held him back constantly. /s

[@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-]

@@Perkelenaattori The GI's preferred their own media stars just as the Brits would prefer their own, just a bit of brotherly rivalry really. On the other hand at least the Allies were not as divided as German and Japanese commanders who were constantly fighting each other

[@nickdanger3802]

Market Garden 17-27 September 1944 Battle of Metz 27 September - 13 December 1944

[@cheften2mk]

And he who said they could not take another one of Monty's "victories"

[@Spiderfisch]

The thing is that Market garden failed

[@danepatterson8107]

So instead of giving permission to the Free French to cross the Rhine and to outflank the Germans who have stubbornly fought against Patton in the south and Bradley in the North, Eisenhower goes with his friend Bradley over both Patton and the French. The French faced the least resistance to and at the Rhine. Eisenhower's greatest failure was to be blinded to his bias toward the incompetent Omar Bradley. Second to that was his disrespect for the Free French, who again and again proved to have higher morale, motviation, and creativity than the vast majority of American divisions at this point in the war.

[@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623]

You must keep in mind that Allied strategy, set up years ago, dictated taking out the Ruhr area to eliminate the industrial heart of Germany. Monty and Bradley were the ones aimed towards the Ruhr. We now know that the Germans would unleash a counter offensive. Allied commanders did not know this yet. So I do kinda understand that Ike thinks that with Antwerpen in business Allied logistics will be back in business too and the drive of Monty and Bradley towards the Ruhr will resume. And it probably would have, if not for the Battle of the Bulge. Of course, when a golden opportunity gets presented to you you should stare blindly at your old plans and instead seize that opportunity. Bradley could have slogged it out to his heart's content in the Huertgen forest without Patton. Switching Patton over to Devers would have made good sense. Alas, the war is full of missed opportunities and whatifs.

[@ChrisCrossClash]

They were not going to let France take all the credit though were they? France was a second bit player, While The Americans and British were top dogs.

[@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-]

@@ChrisCrossClash Even DeGaulle wanted France to recieve priority for their own advance into Germany. You can only imagine how much of a headache it must have been for Eisenhower with Monty, Bradley, Patton and Degaulle all begging at once

[@Julius_Hardware]

Yes, Bradley's presence at that meeting with Devers is rather interesting.

[@notrelogisbreton5574]

French forces were also on the path of "redemption" with loads of highly motivated troops, a new generation of officers, good equipment, decent logistics and what we lack in 1940, elan and initiative. My grand father was part of it (on the logistic side, he was fond of trucks) and I'm proud of him for that adventure.

[@badAim2]

Dude is in the hospital but still smiling...

[@MrGoldenAssassin1]

lol

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Oddly enough, being hit but not too badly was often welcome to frontline soldiers. It got them off the line.

[@j.4332]

Usual very high standard.Eisenhower maybe was still sore about how the decision to go ahead with "Market Garden" was kind of taken from his hands,so he would be more determined to try to exercise what authority he felt he had..Maybe to reinforce 6th AG and cross the Rhine in the Saarland would have meant no Ardennes Offensive,or at least on the scale Hitler wanted.

[@LarcR]

It's easy to criticize Eisenhower's decision now with the luxury of 20/20 hindsight.

[@JLAvey]

That always is a problem. I'd have to say in his shoes, I might be a bit hesitant to exploit this discovery. Especially if it sounds too good to be trap. That sort of thing just scream TRAP to me. However, I might just take a chance on it, depending on manpower, supplies, weather and all those details. Gambling: never risk more than you're willing to lose.

[@Raskolnikov70]

But it's also fair to look at what he knew at the time and discuss what he should have done about it. And it wouldn't have cost much in terms of extra units/material/lives to at least probe into that area and see if they could grab up a bridghead. They didn't have to use it, just having it there would have forced the Germans' hand into shifting units south to defend against a possible Allied flanking attack. That alone would have been worth the effort.

[@thomasheaney2087]

Well done

[@lorenzobeckmann3736]

always looking the faces of XX Corp; haven't seen one in two generations

[@markpaul-ym5wg]

The germans threw everything they had against the 3rd army.The german colum of tanks heading there were wiped out by allied fighter bombers on the roads.Had it not been for that,the 3rd would have lost a lot more men than they did,which was a lot,and i mean a lot.

[@chrisbeer5685]

Arguably more like assaulting a 19th century fort in a 19th century manner, but that doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

[@ethanhatcher5533]

Patton decides its not about the stratagey, its about the Metz baby love the Metz, lets go seize the city lets go Metz