Wait, but I thought- nvm. See you in Korea.

Are you going to do Vietnam after Korea?

I completely agree with you on GFM Rommel in Russia. I've often said that the war in the East, was a completely different ball of string. He'd have still been his brillent self and I think his talent would have been wasted there.

Logistics? We got logistics coming out of our ears.

We are going to need an update on Justinian's Desk. And where Justinian and Theodora must have had a lot of good times together...

The joke is on you. Soviet people during that time had to deal with the siege of Leningrad and 100 grams of bread per day. There were very few jokes in Leningrad about food shortages then.

Ah yes, ​because people famously do not make jokes during hard times as a way to cope, especially Russians, who are famous for their joyous attitudes, unshakeable optimistim and their avoidance of dark humor. (This is sarcasm by the way.)

@@bdj_tvk Your comments are ignorant and offensive. Hundreds of thousands of civilians, including children starved to death during the siege of Leningrad. Stuff your idiotic sarcasm up where it belongs.

@@bdj_tvk There was nothing funny about starving thousands of civilians. No place for sarcasm, show some humility.

@@Harry-mp8vi What is not so humble is the post-war attitude in russia. The ussr wouldn't have survived without British Merchant marine vessels carrying American food, trucks, tooling and powerplant technology.

Seems about right -TimeGhost Ambassador

The Wermacht was destroyed by the Red Army. full stop. They had lots of lame excuses after the fact and their fanboys still try to revise history. The United States bought into the mythology and still to this day operates under the assumption of Russian inferiority, leading them to the pathetic flailing of NATO we see today.

Exactly. The Nemesis for the entire war in the East.

Don't forget that Rommel was completely ignorant regarding logistics, which would have been disastrous if he were sent to the Eastern Front. His lack of expertise in managing supply lines and coordinating large-scale operations might have resulted in the risk of getting his forces encircled and ultimately destroyed. He was a competent, bold and daring tactician, as long as he had more capable and wiser commanders like Rundstedt, Kesselring or Kluge to restraint him when necessary. Not to be too harsh on Rommel's abilities, but he was not an ideal candidate when it came to command anything larger than an army. Therefore, it would be crazy to expect him to successfully command an entire army group on the Eastern Front. Additionally, it is known that Rommel was prone to experiencing moments of depression and emotional impairments, particularly in stressful situations. As Indy mentioned, there were already several aggressive and capable tank commanders, such as Hoth, Guderian, and even Model, during the initial phase of Operation Barbarossa on the Eastern Front.

@@WorldWarTwoseems about wrong - evil timeghost ambassador.

Because surely he'd win it!

Steina...

I don't think Steiner would have helped much. He had a nasty habit of not obeying Hitler's orders. Mind you, Hitler was the problem !

@@pagodebregaeforro2803 Steiner could not field enough strength for a massed attack. Steiner's attack is not occurring.

​@@JinKeeYears in the academy and You only learned how to use knife and fork!!

Not to mention Hitler being the worst micro-managing boss ever and making direct changes to change the direction of whole army groups, just to achieve some impossible objective instead of taking Moscow.

Yes he could. On allied side.

There is a reason Rommel was in Africa and not the East. Because he wasn't reliable enough to fight anywhere deemed too important.

@@Paciat That a dog whistle?

The last 2 parts are something that happened the entire war tho lol

Same

I only discovered him about 18 months ago.

+1 :)

hear! hear!

Been watching since 2014

Solid.

Your grandma sounds very sensible. My condolences on her passing, and I wish you many happy memories.

B.S. story made up

Bless your grandma. ❤

B.S. story

Reprisal for what?... Letting Germany invade?

Sounds like a smart move. But what about the people who missed out as a result?

I don't believe that happened for a simple reason you had to register with your local shop, you had a set shop to use your ration book in. You couldn't just go to another 1.

@@FrancisFjordCupolaI think it's a story because you had to register with your shop, you had a set shop to use your book in. You couldn't just go to another 1.

@@ed7002 Ah well, I'll give my 93 year old mum a bit of grace for mixing up some of the detail.

He went to far and ran out of gas in North Africa, he was not a logistical magician and not without faults.

@@kevinconrad6156 he also made several strategic blunders that made the defeat come sooner

The "Heel to heel" idea is post war fantasy, much of the "unity" during the war was fabricated, because many in the west wanted to bleed both the Soviets and the Germans dry.

Monty couldn't lose now that ULTRA and the USA were bankrolling him - but he tried.The Desert Campiagn belongs at least as much to his predecessors and RN/RAF stopping all axis supplies

Maybe he should have agree to Valkryie?

General Patton often overran his supply lines too; but he never failed at what he was ordered or wanted to do. Of the two, Patton would always be number 1. I think some here are too critical of Rommel's abilities. The war in the East was much more different than in Africa or France.

@@user-jp5mn3bi2e It is become fashionable to be critical of Rommel. It is just the usual game of see-saw historians play. But, we must also remember that many historians, even military historians, don't actually have a military background. Often times people should look past their conclusions. I have personally found that many things taken as gospel from popular military historians don't actually pass muster when evaluated under a proper military lens. I am both a US Army officer and an historian and frankly, a lot of historians are clueless. The idea that Rommel didn't understand is first and foremost in that category which is astounding considering historians have had access to his papers since the 1950s. Logistics was *foremost* on his mind. Like Patton he pushed the enemy to the extreme and Rommel's and Patton's biggest victories occurred precisely because they had felt the enemy had broke and ran them to ground. The big picture is this: Rommel's refusal to adhere to his logistics resulted in nearly breaking the British in Egypt twice and had the Italians exerted a little more effort, and if OKH had cared a little more, he may well have taken the Suez. As it is, Rommel turned a delaying action expected to last 8 months and instead kept the Allies tied up in Africa for 2+ years rather than attacking Italy or elsewhere in mainland Europe in 1942 (to say nothing of the dislocation caused to British maritime operations for two years occasioned by contested nature of the Middle Med thanks to Axis occupation of half of North African coast).

@@user-jp5mn3bi2e With or without Ike holding back Devers and transferring his troops / supplies?

Объем перевозок по железной дороге является фиксированной величиной. Сама идея блиц-крига не совместима с длительным временем на улучшение железнодорожного снабжения. Возьмите в качестве примера 1942 год. Вермахт быстро наступает на Кавказ, но снабжение войск ухудшается, потому что нужно чинить железные дороги, мосты, вокзалы, растет необходимость в паровозах и вагонах. Таким образом, блиц-криг возможен на небольшое расстояние, а затем наступит дефицит топлива и боеприпасов. Роммель бы не смог взять Сталинград, не смог бы преодолеть нехватку поставок. Даже если предположить, что Германия отправила бы в 1942 году больше войск на Кавказ, то снабжать их было бы все равно нечем. Два талантливых генерала вермахта командовали Курской битвой - Манштейн с юга и Модель с севера. Оба потерпели поражение и отступили - вряд ли они были некомпетентны.

​@user-jp5mn3bi2e Patton had massive material and air advantage. That's why he didn't fail.

I'm 99% sure carrot cake existed before WW2, but just became popular during the war.

In Brazil we eat carrot cake a lot but with chocolate sauce on top

Popular in the USA as well

Literally Washington served it at his parties

Finland made coffee without coffee concoction hot drink. Some people liked.

As infinitely away as how much knowledge it carries on its back

Time will tell... Thanks for watching!

@@WorldWarTwo that undefeated miserable bastard

True. As a Brit that was a painful video to watch at times. Excellent as usual though. I think a lot of the myth of Rommel was Propaganda by our side. Much better to be defeated by a wily and "honourable" opponent than admit how bad our leadership, tactics and equipment was.

“I see the enemy!” “No you don’t.” “I see tanks!” “No, repeat no, you don’t.” Yeah that was painful.

Finally! I thought I was alone. Rommel as their greatest general is a creation of allied media, "The Desert Fox." Like you say, not many real victories. I also noticed his m.o. is to attack, attack, attack. It's a valid strategy, but not all the time, and he decimated his corp to half its size. His Italian troops took the brunt of his retreats. German generals thought he was okay, but two grades higher than his competence.

Yep this is the difference - in Poland you could get killed by SS in Norway the "horror" was that the guy was trying to help a woman with her groceries. I don't deny that it was a little bit hard for Norwegians but let's face it - when compared to rest of Europe it was much better, compared to East and south Europe it was a heaven. If your problem is "we have to wait few hours for fish and slightly change our national recipe for a dish" you are not at total war.

@@mwkoala really a full 1/3 of this video was on Norwegian WW2 recipes

Black jacket suggests non-German auxiliaries as the SS went over to field grey, certainly by the outbreak of war, but their black uniforms were offloaded onto auxiliary troops.

​@@bigwoody4704personally I'd like a whole video about recipes made from rations in various countries. Here in NZ, despite not being occupied, it was the beginning (afaik) of the iconic Edmond's recipe book with egg substitutes and the like

Panzer troops wore all black too.

Something something history repeating

Thanks for the great question!

Germans received different coloured pieces of paper like coupons for their rations, not just for food but for things like shoes, soap, clothing and so on. The system may have been similar in Norway. The ration system generally was also designed to keep track of peoples' whereabouts as you had to register with a particular office to receive coupons and give your address. The resistance in occupied countries often forged ration coupons and booklets. I have a vague recollection in my childhood of seeing British ration books left over from the war or post-war period, still held on to by relatives.

Butter with cocoa or chocolate powder tastes good. My grandmother would often give us kids that treat as kids. It was delicious.

Your grandparents were lucky they had difficulty importing German soldiers. The Swiss could go local to alleviate their 'import shortages'. They had their own farms that were not overrun by an enemy.

Soldiers caught in an encirclement were past masters at eking out meals from things like belts, rodents, and anything else they could get their hands on. Especially the trophy food supplies they managed to 'liberate' from the enemy.

@@Harry-mp8vi During archaeological digs in the city of Chester, bones of rats & dogs were discovered in layers associated with the civil war siege of the city that had cut marks associated with butchery.

Much appreciated, thanks for watching!

Then the Soviet Tula militia said to Heinz, "General, you are not welcome." The general took it personally and resigned in 1941. Hitler accepted his resignation.

Always take care of yourself first, thank you!

Thanks for watching!

Both campaigns were faced with the same problem. Making the most out of a limited window of opportunity to take advantage of the enemy's comparative weakness before their own caught up to them. That they failed is only apparently obvious in hindsight. At the time it seemed like a pretty good idea.

I meaan..was somewhat standered german policy lol

Rommel would have had the same albatross around his neck as any other Eastern Front commander had: good ol' Adolph himself. So, the answer is no.

Great avatar of Sean Finn (Sir Roger) in: The Wild Geese. A favourite of mine.

@@user-jp5mn3bi2e thanks, it’s such a great movie

Thanks for watching.

Much appreciated!

Thanks for watching!

He was right

Take everything Guderian said with a huge pile of salt. That man plagiarized much of his "Book".

Guderian would be more of an authority than most on that. But remember the egos at play in a statement like this.

Guderian got jiggy with the facts after the war of course denying his good standing with adolf.And making sure his version got told of conquest and manuever. Rommel never had advantages in the desert that Heinz had in the early campaigns

Every commander covers his rear in his memoirs. If Rommel had survived to write his we would have to hold our noses to read it.

Or insufficient logistics.

CinC? -TimeGhost Ambassador

​@@WorldWarTwoi believe it stands for Comander in Chief 😂😂😂

@@WorldWarTwoI’m assuming he’s referring to commander in chief as cinc I.e. hitler

@@WorldWarTwo Commander-in-Chief i think

It also didn't help matters with Rommel that the British Navy reigned supreme in the Med after defeating the Italian Navy. The Italian Navy never sortied in any meaningful way after several bad defeats.

Rommel was a good tactician and a bad strategist, and Germany had plenty of people fitting that mold already in the East.

Public health improved. Fewer sweets for example improved the condition of teeth. George Orwell thought that the availability of cheap fried fish and chips (French fries in American parlance) might have averted revolution during the Depression, as just about anyone could afford them, even the unemployed. On the other hand fried fish in batter is not so healthy. I don't know if fish were rationed in Britain during the war - trawlers continued fishing in the waters off the UK, but it was dangerous. I heard a Scottish relative who worked on a trawler died during WW2 when his trawler was sunk - it may have struck a mine.

@@stevekaczynski3793 The ''cheap fried fish and chips'' example is still prewar and I'm not sure want dental health has to do with general nutrition. But my point was that rationing during the war put the British as a whole on a path of healthier, sustained caloric intake.

also the russian landscape was mostly wide open, and some what flat. Where as in europe there was more terrain,hills,etc with more woods,for better concealment and off setting superior numbers

I have several original snapshots of the areas you mentioned, especially Kiev. Some show 10's of thousands of Russians as prisoners.

​@@user-jp5mn3bi2eThey could have gotten twice as many prisoners and it would have won them nothing once the fuel tanks ran dry.

Thanks for the comment and thanks for watching!

Soviets had no numerical superiority over the Axis in 1941 - 1942. By late 1941 the Axis occupied the area with some 70 million inhabitants denying the Soviets the recruitment pool. Meanwhile, Hungary, Italy, Finland, Romania, and Slovakia added hundreds of thousands to the Axis armies. Not to mention the European volunteers.

Full name Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern- schplenden- schlitter- crasscrenbon- fried- digger- dingle- dangle- dongle- dungle- burstein- von- knacker- thrasher- apple- banger- horowitz- ticolensic- grander- knotty- spelltinkle- grandlich- grumblemeyer- spelterwasser- kurstlich- himbleeisen- bahnwagen- gutenabend- bitte- ein- nürnburger- bratwustle- gerspurten- mitz- weimache- luber- hundsfut- gumberaber- shönedanker- kalbsfleisch- mittler- aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm

Much like how Jesus could turn water into wine, Rommel could turn water into fuel /sarcasm

@@einstein951 lol, that really his how some weraboos talk about him.

The ability of the Soviet Union to mobilize quickly and preserve its industrial capacity was the main reason that lead to German defeat. The total war started on the day of the invasion. Primitive infrastructure and freezing temperatures affected both sides. Plus the top Soviet command learned how the Wehrmacht worked and, most importantly, what its weaknesses were. The defeat at Stalingrad was not an accident.