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The reason the Danish troops didnt enter the houses was becuase they didnt want to risk any civilian lives If you are wondering how i know this, my friend has a great great grandfather who served in haderslev in world war two and they where orderd not to enter any houses

The reason the German attack seemed odd was because according to the Film, the Danish Government had already surrendered. This group of Danish soldiers was cut off from all communication, by the time they were captured the German soldiers were confused as to why they were fighting, they took needless casualties, The Six hour war was already over. The Germans entering the city were possibly a small patrol just rooting out any other squads or runaways.

The germans officially attacked at 0420, the danish king and government surrendered between 0600-0630, but combat continued until around 0800. A Danish colonel decided to not surrender and took a ferry to Sweden, since he thought they had also been attacked. They hadn't, so around 1030 some 30 danish soldiers kinda invaded sweden and was arrested

One of the things I love about this movie is the lack of music. It makes it so much more intense imo

The sergeant seen in the beginning of the movie, is in real life a sergeant major at the Royal Life Guard Regiment, most of the soldiers seen in this movie were conscripts from the Royal Life Guards, so they had a real understanding of discipline, tactics and weapons training.

I like your take on this, and i agree this is a very good movie. It brings back a lot of memories to see these scenes again, as i played one of the German soldiers in the final battle scene! That scene with the 222 took a long time to shoot, as it had mechanical problems and it kept dying all the time haha!

7:00 Love that exchange: *"Lassen, scoot back."* *"I have a perfect line of fire here.* *"Do as you're told, soldier."* Never argue an order, just issue the correct command and expect your man to follow it without question. Sure, if you have a perfect line of fire, then the enemy has a perfect line of fire to you, too. And I love the script, where that throughout the full movie, the 2nd Lt. initially addresses his conscripts by their soldier's number (e.g. "212"), which was correct Danish military procedure back then, but by the final battle, the relationships within the fire team has evolved to him using their actual last names (e.g. "Justesen") when shouting commands.

I cant wait for your reaction on "The uknown Soldier".

Yes, a really well-made movie. Not a lot of psychological drama, more like a docu-drama, but that's what it is meant to be. All the same, a lot of the psychological stuff is spot on too. This includes the different personalities of the men, and also the relationship between the ranks is astonishingly well portrayed. I did National Service in the Danish Army in 1977 (infantry), and there is a "Danishness" to this film that is nothing short of incredible. Since I am also a history teacher and the author of several historical books, I can vouch for not only the factual details but even more so the overall mood and atmosphere here. My only objection is that the main character, though otherwise a fine actor indeed, is muttering instead of speaking his native language properly, something that an officer in 1940 would never have got away with, but that has unfortunately been the case with Danish actors in general for some years now. Luckily, that one little drawback will not annoy non-Danish viewers.

I remember incidently watching this movie online, only to find out it is one of the greatest war films ever. You can truly feel the anxiety of the troops in the hours before and during the first skirmish. And I totally respect the material concern in a war fought by rifle and gun, not plot armor.

4:30. You made a mistake. The ammunition for the Danish M89 is 8X58 mm Remington, so not to inferior to the 8mm Mauser. The ammo was a part of the payment for the US Virgin Islands.

It's amazing to finally see someone appreciate the story behind the Six Hour war, instead of poking fun at it and saying "denmark surrendered in 6 hours boooo", it's a really nice change of pace. The movie does also do a really good job at showing the stories of the people involved, how they handled it, and what lead up to the fights. HistoryLegends began a bit further into the movie, because there was just to much to talk about.

I served in the SLFR which is in Haderslev and meet the last survivor from that Bofors 37 mm Anti-Tank gun crew and some of the other men who fought in Haderslev during the battle, they where part of telling the regimental history back in 96, i remember him telling about how one of the German Tank drove up on the Bofors while he was still laying under it wounded and how it saved his life, and he told us the responsibility we Had as SLFR's to honor those who served before us, Vaagen og Tro

I’m amazed how good this movie is Felt very real, acting is superb. I don’t believe there’s such a thing as war movies trying to glorify war just doing a bad job at it is all, this is not one of those

The Kar98's and MP40's are most likely relic guns. There is little production of these firearms in Europe, but a good amount remains in national collections. For this specific movie, the museum ”Mellem Slesvigs Grænser" lent most of the props. The guns are listed as "dummies," but that usually refers to actual firearms with the firing pin filed down, that sort of thing.

My only complaint is how they hold their rifles. Low ready, muzzle pointed down, with straight trigger finger above the trigger guard, is an anachronism. It's mostly a modern convention. Back then, most people ran or carried their rifles at port arms (at an angle with muzzle pointed up, parallel to the chest) or at the hip with the muzzle pointed the threat (so it can be quickly raised and fired).

German attack was also weak according to the area being a Pseudo-German area, it has a lot of germans in this region of denmark. I am one of them, and my family actually fought on the german side.

Det var dejligt at du kunne lide filmen jeg er selv fra Danmark så det var en dejlig oplevelse at se dig regere til filmen❤

Being Danish, it's nice to hear that a small film (in comparison to the big Hollywood ones) is more realistic and grounded. I'd say I know somethings in the movie felt closer to heart when it depicts what happened in your own country and it's ik your mothertounge instead of English (I even live near the border and Haderslev and know one of the actors a bit).

Respect from Norway. You should check out the Kings choice. Kind of the same type of movie only it takes place during the invasion of Norway, with the Norwegian forces sinking the brand new German battleship Blücher. Also the music is compossed by the same guy who made the music for Battlefield 1 & V and the king is played by Mr. White from the Daniel Craig JB movies. 🤟

4:37 Your comment on the Krag being awful to load under stress is absolutely accurate. Americans figured out this exact reality very quickly during the Spanish-American War as they faced Spanish forces armed with clip-fed Mausers. This led to the rapid development and adoption of the M1903. US adopted the Krag in 1892 and by 1898 it was already deemed obsolete. So for the Danes to still have been using their variant into the 1940s is nuts. I hope Denmark is better prepared today than they were then.

Ya they expected a surrender because at that time of this particular battle Denmark had already surrendered so most likely, the Germans where trying to minimize casualties on both sides as they saw Danes as fellow Arians

Just a small observation. When the lieutenant orders his men to cease fire the church bells are ringing. That is a very old signal that fighting is over. I happen to know that - I am a Dane. (Church bells are also ringing to make mobilisation known to the population. But here it is the other way round.)

Found this movie by accident on Netflix or Prime (can't remember which) a couple of years ago. I thought it was so amazing I must have watched it a half dozen times within a week. On a budget that wouldn't cover the catering on the average Marvel movie, the Danish film making team knocked it out of the park. Real character development, well acted, well directed. The combat scenes feel real. The tension and terror feel real. The losses feel real. Nothing is overdone or gratuitous. Hollywood couldn't have pulled off a movie like this with any amount of budget. Around the same time I also watched Land of Mine, another Danish war movie that occurs at the other end of the war, and which I highly recommend.

Fun fact about the cannon at 1:03 one of the soldiers killed is named "Vesterby" i don't remember the other one, but atleast back in my time of conscription in the Danish army, Haderslev named the conscript platoons after the people at the cannon who died in Haderslev.

This was an excellent movie and I really wish there were more movies about the Battle Of France, Denmark and Belgium

I think you would appreciated the danish movie "Skyggen i mit øje", about the time when the British by mistake bombed a Danish school in Copenhagen march 1945.

The danish movie makers also asked some of the soldiers from the danish army to make it realistic as possible:) keep up the good work.

Glad you liked it. One off the best war movies i ever had been a part off.

Talking about the realism photo. The movie “The pianist” done the same thing. Had the infamous picture of the German officers lined up looking at the burning buildings during the Warsaw uprising in 44’.

4:15 I would like to give you credit for the outstanding pronounciation of Jørgensen as I've only heard exstreamly few non Danish speakers pronounce that correctly however I also want to correct your stating that the Krag used caliber 5.58 as the Danish army used 8mm for their Krag Jørgensen which also were the same ammo type for the Madsen to make things easier. And then just a fun fact: Earlier in the movie in the first engagement there is a small mistake where you see a MG-42. I suspect this is because of budget as it is only shown very briefly and it's dark so I tihink the directer hoped people wouln't notice. But I did xD

to put things into perspective as to how screwed the Danes were that day, they were using the same rifle that was used by American troops in the Spanish American war and it was already outclassed by the Mauser back then

This is a great movie.... and I love that you like it.... I am living 50 km fra Haderslev,- and the whole area here is about the war 1864 and 1940. So this movie means a lot to me. But they talk danish. Not german, dutsh or some thing else,- danish. Cheers.

Danish Krag-Jørgensen used 8 x 54mm rimmed, which is about the same as the 7,92mm round the Germans used. The Norwegian Krag used 6,5 x 55mm. this fantasy caliber you mention, 5 x 58, was not used in a service-issue Karg-Jørgensen.

The actor that was the leader is Euron Greyjoy on Game of Thrones.

The Danish rifles were based on an outdated design but the design has been updated and refined over the years. As such they were reliable and accurate weapons quite comparable to the rifles the Germans had. Their downside was the slower reload time but that was not really an issue in an engagement like that. The first part of the fight was about individual marksmanship as the Danes took down the initial German scouts. The slower reload speed would have mattered if the Germans then tried an infantry assault down the street but they brought up machine guns and an armored car instead. The Danes could not defend against that.

Out of two skirmishes his squad lost two soldiers and a kid died. It was sad to see how the soldiers react to the deaths

Looks like an awesome movie, great video!

it's amazing how those danish troops fought like lions when being ill-equipped against a force that's larger and better equipped.

9:15 Heya! would just like to correct you really quick :) The danish troops are NOT wrong in saying "Panzer!" Because "Panser" is our word for armor in general, so it would be like screaming "Armor!" A.k.a armored vehicle! Hope that helps :D

This video was awsome, you make it so interesting and help me think of how this fighting would have happened.

One of the best WW2 movies. I rewatched it a few times.

I also noticed that during the battle scene, there were no camera angles taken from the German side, so you never really get to see them up close.

Found out great things about this movie! Thanks!

This was great thank you!

The reason the Danish troops don't have stripper clips for their Craig-Jorgensen rifles is because they didn't make stripper clips for Craig-Jorgensen rifles. They used a different concept for loading where there was a sort of door around the action, and someone would essentially just throw the loose bullets in their and shake them into place. One of the biggest reasons the U.S dropped the Craig was because reloading was more complex than using stripper clips.

The scene where the shot was based on a photo made me instantly think of the scene at Breda in Alatriste, where they recreate the painting "Surrender at Breda" in a shot

love from denmark great video.

Excellent reaction. I've never seen another reaction to this movie so 👍 to you. You might also like "The King's Choice", another very good movie.

Ok, I drink some brandy, but this is a very underrated channel

you do a good job getting into the mentality of it all, kudos

Excellent analysis. Historical accuracy is the key to a great movie.

One note to Bren. The Bren gun was a licensed version of the Czechoslovak ZGB 33 light machine gun which, in turn, was a modified version of the ZB vz. 26/ZB vz. 30. The ZB 30 and ZB 30J were the later versions of the famous Czechoslovak machine gun, the ZB-26. However, the ZB-30 had some design differences, making it similar to the later ZGB-33, which was an early prototype of the Bren gun. After some problems with british ammo, ZGB-33 was improved (czech designer himslef went to UK to present this machine gun) and than started to produce like a Bren. Shortly BREN (BRno-ENfield) is ZGB-33.

Just watched it based on your video. Great movie! Thanks for your recommendation. Regards!

great analysis and great movie!!

In Winter war first fight with red "liberator" army, in small village was like that. Not long time and brutal war began. All finnish soldiers had not uniform and some of them used hunting rifle.

One inaccuracy I noticed is that the German officer actually has an SS Eagle on his cap, and not the regular army eagle.

This is my fav movie of all time, so happy to see this

It was finally good to see someone not drop dead after getting one shot.

the reason that the Germans did not have much firepower, was that it was only scouts. took time for the germans to react to the resistance.

I just got done watching and got recommended this... perfect

Another Video Coool I Always Like Watching u And the movie !

The actor who plays the 2nd lieutenant in this film is also in a series called 1864 which is about the second Schleswig war. Can’t recommend it enough.

Wow! What a kickass movie and review! I noticed at the beginning of movie, all the troops were called by numbers, which was odd. I like that they showed the drawing of weapons and showed mounting of equipment on their bikes. Very cool and stuff you don't think about it show in movies..

Funfact: The Bavarian police introduced a new helmet for their anti-terror squads and they wear a helmet that is quite inspired by the Danish M23 helmet.

Movie is so good, it’s heartbreaking. What war movies should be about.

The Krag had a body side door into which you could dump 5 rounds. C&Rsenal on YT did a video on this rifle as part of their series on WW1 small arms. Thetpy had also covered the Madsen.

Madsen LMG is or was still used by Brasilian police againts criminals in favelas pretty recently.

The Danish Krag-Jørgensen was in 8X58R. Same power as what the Germans used in their rifles

Liked the video bro 👍

Really good video.

01:00 I really like this detail as well. Especially as I grew up in the city where the picture is taken, Haderslev. The white building behind the soldiers is a church, Hertug Hans Kirke. Today there is a small plaque on the church where the soldiers stood - you can actually see it in this shot, it's just been covered in white. The plaque says something along the lines as "April 9th. Here the battle against the German superior forces began".

Apart from it being easier to maneuver and to retreat by not fighting from the cover of houses it is also much safer for the civilians trapped in the neighbourhood as enemy fire is not being drawn directly into the houses. As for the Danish officer being more aggressive with his order to surrender than he was with his other orders that's a matter of simple psychology. It is much easier to motivate people to defend their home than it is to motivate them to surrender their home.

We need more movies like this.

Great video and now I need to watch that movie. You talked about the realism of the beginning of the assault, I want to point out how much I liked the danish’s first w’reaction, only turned around like : have you seen that? Really great

Very nice and good information about war and emotional of soldiers ♥️♥️

Would love to see a video about "The king's choice" which follows the invasion of norway that took place shortly after the battle of denmark

That's because that's the Krag-Jorgensen they're using. Krag was made somewhere in the 1880s after the breakout by the French with their 1886 Lebel and their smokeless cartridge and soon, Norway kept up and smashed out a rifle with the Krag-Jorgensen. The US, Norway (Obviously) and the Denmark were the ones that adopted the rifle. US soon abandoned the Krag for the M1903 after realizing that their loose individual reloading was costing them time and manpower as it gave the Spaniards the US were fighting against during the Spanish-American War in Cuba and the Philippines time to shoot back at them as they could reload with stripper clips with their Spanish Mauser (Possibly the Model 1895) whereas the US Cavalry and general troops had to reload their rifles with individual rounds as there wasn't a reliable quick-reload method for the Krag (There actually is but I'll get to it later). However, both Danish and Norwegian armies decided that the Krag was good enough and kept on using it till WWII. There was actually a speed loader in a shape of a tin box that holds 5 rounds in it and with one release of a paddle, it dumps all 5 stored rounds into the magazine of the gun. However, this "box" contraption was bulky, large and rather expensive to make for the whole military rather than just having some strips of folded metal thus the whole concept was abandoned as soon as it was created and only competition shooters uses them. And did you say the Danish Krag was firing "5x58mm"? That's wrong. The Danish Krag was firing the 8x58mmR and that is a huge as bullet. It's comparable to the 7.92x57mm Mauser rounds the Germans were using and it's about the same .30 cal class as the 7.62x54mmR the Russians were using, the British .303 and the American .30-06. I don't think there's any 5x58mm rounds anywhere in the world even cuz 5x58mm would mean that even the 5.56x45mm NATO standard (.22 cal in reality) would be even bigger than the "Danish round".

Love this so realstic

the guns are real ,they came from the museum storage in kobenhagen ,the museum is calld krigsmuseet .they have a big warehouse where they have veapons from ww2 in storage ,and you can rent veapons if you are making a film about the war

Nice to know about this movie. i'ḿ gonna try to watch it.

Very calm voice = very cool guy

maybe they stuck to the streets to minimize collateral damage as it seems the town was not evacuated

You have to see the danish movie, "Land of mines"

You should react to «Kongens nei». Its a norwegian Ww2 movie, and its really good.

Good lord, the US Army used Krag-Jorgensen rifles in the Spanish-American War (1898), and even then they were outclassed! The Spaniards in Cuba had German Mausers. These fired truly smokeless powder, while the Krag-Jorgensens used by the Americans gave away the firer's exact position with each shot. Perhaps the Danes had improved ammo by 1940, but if not, my God they were at a disadvantage.

Nice hearing this many compliments to my homeland

i would have loved a little more elaboration on the Krags magazine function, because it does have some lovely advantages

Very good reaction. Shall we do the 2017 Unknown Soldier next! :D

I tried to cobble together a bit more historical background for this film if anyone's interested: 1) In 1940, the immediate plan in case of a German surprise attack on Denmark across the Jutland border was to use small covering units ("afværgeenheder") to fend off and delay the strike. These groups were to use ambush and hit-and-run tactics to demonstrate that Danish territory and neutrality had been violated. In between, they had to carry out a fighting retreat ("henholdende tilbagetog") north to a designated rendezvous. This was all mainly to give the political leaders in Copenhagen time to react and initiate mobilisation. 2) The covering units are represented in the film by the motorcycle platoon under Sergeant Bundgaard. Such groups could be supported by other units that might be available in the situation, which is where the cyclist platoon comes in. In their very first skirmish, the cyclists secure the escape of the motorcyclists but are themselves forced to retreat due to the vastly superior enemy. During the confusion, five of the cyclists under Second Lieutenant Sand are separated from the rest of their platoon (who appears to have been captured). This little group is the film’s collective protagonist, and we follow it through the rest of the movie as it performs its fighting retreat, lagging behind the motorcyclists. 3) In the end, the group is forced to capitulate during fighting in the town of Haderslev. Though they have essentially fullfied their task and done it well, they are not even aware of that and just feel lost and defeated since the Danish government in the meantime has also capitulated and Denmark is now occupied by the Nazis. Humphrey GoKart

Well, Danish and German are both Germanic languages, so it makes sense that some of our basic words sound alike :) "Væk!" is basically an imperative, forcefully telling someone to get away, like these civilians who apparently had no idea we were being invaded.

If they would have guys in houses they would make the civilian population a target. And they would be immobile, which would be fatal against the armored vehicles targeting the houses

I would like to see your reaction to the film Greyhound, I'm not an expert on the matter but that film feels like they payed attention to real life battleship maneuver and naval warfare

The thing about Denmark is that they had probably the most "lenient" occupation of all the nations Germany defeated in the first half of the war. Their government and most institutions still continued to function normally, and the King still remained in his role "technically" as head of state. Aryan ideology believed the Danes to be "fellow Nordic Aryans" and could therefore be trusted to handle their own domestic affairs to an extent. As to why Germany attacked Denmark, some believe it's because Germany's main target was Norway and Denmark was just in the way. Strategically the country itself offered little in terms of resources with agricultural products being the exception. Another benefit was giving the Luftwaffe bases in which to support the battle of Norway as well as bases for German U-Boats operating in the North Atlantic. Germany was also afraid of the British occupying Denmark themselves and claimed the invasion was to "protect the country against British invasion". It also allowed the Germans to build an effective radar network to detect and monitor any RAF activity directed towards Germany. The battle itself however was brief (6 hours) there were several skirmishes and resistance was minimal. The Danes simply didn't have any time or even means to put up a effective defense, the country itself was mostly flat and offered very few if any natural barriers, the Danish army had no way of dealing with German armour (Panzers) their weapons were of WW1 vintage and mostly obsolete, and ammunition was scarce, and the surprise attack on Copenhagen early on also didn't help the situation, and also the Danes didn't want their own major cities to suffer the same fate Warsaw did during the battle of Poland at the hands of the Luftwaffe. Denmark's pre-war policy of not modernizing its army to avoid antagonizing Germany also contributed to the end result. It was decided in the aftermath to cooperate with the Nazis and try to carry on as best as possible. One thing worth mentioning is this operation featured the first airborne attack in history when German paratroopers secured Storstrøm Bridge connecting Falster and Zeeland, and the city of Aalborg to secure its airfield. Despite all this even with a lenient occupation the Danish government did everything they could to protect its Jewish population, they rejected German demands regarding discrimination and implementation of the death penalty or any other anti-jewish legislation, they refused to allow Danish military units to be incorporated into the Wehrmacht, giving German courts jurisdiction over Danish citizens, and a currency union with Germany along with not deporting Danish jews. The Danish government also did whatever possible to keep National Socialists from holding government positions and making sure elections had "anti nazi" results. The Jewish population of Denmark retained the same civil rights as the rest of the population. Eventually though events such as the 1942 telegram crisis as well as the August 1943 crisis damaged the relationship between Denmark and Germany and essentially ended the lenient occupation period up to that point. Basically Germany had reached its limits of tolerance and everything in terms of positive relations collapsed.

I might move to Haderslev in some months, I know the town very well.

Honestly this should be the gold standard for these kinds of war films and miniseries

I watched it for some months ago, a really good movie.

Please do a Bridge too Far review, I’m sure you’d love it

After WW2 a new law was set into motion in Denmark that takes away politicians right to surrender to a foreign occupying force. Said in another way, should Denmark ever be invaded, nobody can order a stop to the fighting until the foreign power have left, it is total war. Not a lot of people, even in Denmark, seem to actually know this law is in place but it's still there as far as I'm aware and it was made specifically to avoid a 9th of April situation again. Too bad we didn't learn not to underfund our military though, that one seems to have gotten lost in the history books.