Col. MARKO Mesić was last person on the last plane from Stalingrad. He told pilot to hold the plane while he went back to take the regiment fight schedule book. That is a story for itself.

I added Croatian subtitles.My great great grandfather was a part of the unit.He was in the artillery,and I guess what better way to show him respect than by making possible that more people understnad his story?Thanks for making such a wonderfull video!

I am Croat, and I thank you for making this! I shared your video on my 14k fans page about world war 2. I hope you dont mind it. Keep making great content! :)

Maybe you should do a story on their last commander, Col. Marko Mesić? He's literally unique, having participated in WWII in no less than FIVE armies: Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Croatia, Germany, Soviet Union and Tito's Yugoslavia.

Fantastic video! Looking forward to the in depth video on the battle of Stalingrad and specifics about the 369th Croatian, particularly what ever detailed information is available about sergeant Dragutin Podobnik and his 18 man group taking a part of the Red October Factory.

Great video. As a Croat (not one that overwhelmingly supports the regime of Independent State of Croatia), i appreciate your video on this little-known topic.

Added Spanish subtitles

Hello Tik. I ignored that the 369th Reinforced (Croatian) Infantry Regiment fought on the Eastern Front. But I am not surprised that they were sent there either. Thanks for giving this info, keep going. Cheers and take care

I gotta say, I like those smaller episodes just as much as the bigger ones, it also gives you more room to experiment and go for "smaller" subjects.

I would love it if you could continue to make videos highlighting specific units, TIK! Sorry that I'm years too late to be commenting but I literally just found this video and am loving it!

Wow. It's 2017 and people still read books! I'm so happy.

The 369th reinforced was the embodiment of Croatian warrior spirit. A legend says that the last days of the fighting when everyone was retreating you could only hear the gunshots and Croatians singing as they made one last stand.

Cool video! Obscure units, battles, and wars are a lot of fun to explore. These battlestorm lite videos are always a pleasant surprise. A pleasant appetizer before the rich main course. ;)

My grand grandpa was a member of the 369th Division, so called Devil Division, his name was Grga and I just got to know he existed!

great videos and well researched many thanks keep the coming

I was astounded when he said the story about the asian prisoners thinking they were on german territory. Insane!

Awesome video my man,can't wait for more!!

Tik does a great job, we'll done brother. Thanks

Just like to say thanks to TIK for making these interesting vids and also the phenomenal Stalingrad series. One of the best studies of that battle ever made and destined to be a classic. I would love to read the Croatian Legion Book. Hear that Santa?

When the Soviets met at Kalach, the first thing the encircled troops did was fly out all the female nurses. The 369th Motorised disguised their girlfriends/wives as nurses and had them flown out as well. (The Fortress Without a Roof. Sorry I can't remember the author...)

Great video! Thanks very much for this. I remember a veteran who fought in this unit from my hometown. He escaped the Russians and returned home from Russia by foot!

Nice video bro 👌🏻

Excellent videos! Anything on BRESLAU in the works?

aha interesting. the non-german units that fought on the eastern front on the German side have something of a complex history. I know that in western and northern Europe the Germans made special divisions part of the Waffen-SS, for volunteers for those the occupied regions. I know that in Denmark, we had Free Corps Denmark (Danish: Frikorps Danmark) where around 6000 volunteered to fight. Free Corps Denmark mostly fought on the eastern front like The Croatian Legion. mind you until August 1943, the Danish government cooperated with the germans. Its formation was subsequently sanctioned by the democratically elected Danish government which authorised officers of the Danish Army to join the unit. ps glad to see my name in the ending credits as a patron :-)

Very good presentation. I like the way you cited your sources. Keep up the good work. We need young burgeoning historians. ;-)

Hey TIK, looking forward to your video on Operation Halyard. How's that coming along?

Great documentary!

Could you please make a video about Slovak fast motorized division on Eastern front? They went with Geermans to capture oil fields.

I saw an interview with a german soldier who was in Stalingrad and he said that he saw rumanians in the city after the encirclement

You dserve so many more subscribers. Your videos are just so good and informative. Your Market Garden video was the first I saw and I loved it! Also, could you talk about the Estonian 20th Waffengrenadier Division? I could help you.

A delve into that unit's grandsons career's would be equally interesting.

Another good suggested read from you. I still haven't gotten around to reading Death of the Leaping Horsemen: The 24th Panzer Division at Stalingrad, another great Jason D. Mark's book which I've had for a couple years. Right now I'm reading The Seeds of Disaster: The Development of French Army Doctrine, 1919-1939 by Robert Doughty. After that I got a book on the Maginot Line I want to read and book about the mechanization of Italy's army.

It is so nice to see and hear an objective evaluation of the legion and their fighting capabilities. Not burdend by 60 yeary of communist history and brainwashing. Thank you for this.

what a great video. bravo for author.

informative video, it would be nice to have the book, thanks for the information

What do you know about the Hungarian arrow cross party? I love documentaries about the small forces and party's like THIS

Any chance you can do an episode on the Flemish Legion? :D

Does anyone have any info on the order of battle of the 100 Jaeger/LID Division?

In 2021, the last fighter of this division died. He returned home on foot with several of his warcomrades... Survived Stalingrad, killed by COVID

Excellent video.

Can you do a video on the Spanish Blue Division? I would greatly appreciate that.

Hermann Balck in his memoirs "Order in Chaos" said that the best foreigners to serve in the Wehrmacht were as follows: Finns then Croatians and then Slovakians.

pls more stalingrad, i cant wait for more

My uncle told me of these stories about this, along with the Bleiburg massacre in which he escaped. I met many professors in my life in which we (my family) saved through amnesty international.

Could you make a video about norwegian volunteers ? Regiment Norge for example?

A little trivia the last battle of WW2 in Europe took place in Croatia the battle of Odžak there is a saying in my country "Berlin fell Odžak did not" xD

Perfect documentary

Is there a direct link between 369 Croatian regiment and the later 369 Infantry division (369 & 370 Grenadier regiments, 369 art reg, 369 aufkl abt, 369 pz jäg abt, 369 pioneer abt and finaly 369 nachrichten abt). In Teodor Hartmans book "German divisional signs 1938-45, it states that this division was formed by expansion of 369 regiment... or is this division a compleatly other unit with only the number as a link to Croatian legion? Thx for all your nice vids btw... greatings from Sweden

Is this book available in german ? Greetings

Wow very interesting! I knew about the independant state of croatia but never heard about the legion who fought in the eastern front. Greetings from argentina B i H

Nice to see an objective coverage of Croatian WW2 troops.

----> Very well done

The video is to the point and exact like all of your other material.Enjoy watching it and folowing you, and ty for remembering the 369 Pojacana Pjesacka Pukovnija witch is Croatian for Reinforced Infantry Regiment.

Thanks a lot for this documentary and I will most certainly be ordering this book, as my uncle, who is still alive today was part of this legion. Have you made the documentary movie yet?

Hi TIK, I saw a preview on the book and I think it may of had a photo of my great grandfather or one of his brothers who was on a motorbike with the surname Teklić. I also realised there was a list with names of casualties and deaths. My uncles may have died in this unit and is it ok if you can look for the surnames Teklić and Višević in the lists of the book? Keep up the great videos.

Respected Hrvatsku from UkraЇne.

Great video as always. Thank you for it. Greetings from Croatia.

Thank you for this I,m croatian and i never could find anything to learn about this unit until now,thanks a lot!!!I heard storys before, of this unit and never know is it truly or just a mit,so again thank you...

I remember watching a documentary about a man who was in that legion. It was really good

Will you be doing a video on the Battle of the Bulge

Ty for this video, cheers.

Great and objective video! Always a pleasure to see something not comming from the croatian or anti-croatian side. As for all of the anti-croatian commenters, I can only say that as a Croatian I am deeply ashamed about the crimes against humanity commited by the Croatian regime during this period. But these soldiers had nothing or little to do with this. They have served honorably and completed their missions in the teather of war they were part of. About the political reasons, and to find out why ideologically they were against communism and Serbs, feel free to check out other objective material. As a summary, Croatians were always interested only in freedom and self determination. And had a positive attitude about Serbs and other South Slavs...until seeing first hand serbian dominated dictatorship of Yugoslavian King. Makes you understand a bit how Croatians found the Nazis “great”, after that experiance.

NDH sent units from all 3 components of armed forces, there was air, and marine components on eastern front besides 369 regiment, there was also an italian legion unit, that was trained by Musolini and also sent on eastern front and was destroyed on mius front in 42.

Good video! It's sad that people are duking out this 70 year old conflict in the comments section though. History is history.

great and objective video

Isn't the Mius river pronounced "me-us" or am I wrong?

TIK Will, you make a video on II world war in Yugoslavia?

Im Croatian thank you for this video!

Creation of the croatian formation, try saying that 10 times fast.

2:40 Dangeni was definitely not in Hungary, like ever. :) It is east of the Carpathians.

Interesting.

Any plans to discuss the Slovak legion on the eastern front? My great uncle mentioned fighting In Russia when he was still alive.

0:20 sounds familiar

I have a question. If you are a unit holding an area who would be the last unit you would want to face? I'm thinking about any unit from any Force from world war II. So british, american, German etc etc. My first guess would be a German panzer unit would be the worst thing to face but if anyone else has a different opinion I'd be interested.

How many troops were in The Croatian Legion?

Just a small tip TIK. If my memory is correct I think this particular unit was regiment and not a division. But otherwise this video is very well made :)

Thanks for a balanced and unbiased commentary, I’m surprised you didn’t mention the 2nd Hungarian Army who were also involved at Stalingrad as were the Italians and Romanians.

Yea my grandfather was in a calvary division idk what division i think the 365th i know the last fight of therys is in bosna' bosnia'

Thanks for the video, i realli didnt know about this!, my great uncle fought in stalingrad but as a SS not "U"

I must ask. What was the german view on slavs? It seems they accepted croats, bosnians, serbs, bulgarians and ukrainians (ukraine has a unique ethnic make-up). But hate russians. One could say they hated poles too, but lots of generals (manstein & falkenhorst for example) were of polish ancestry.. im confused

it's Čačak ( "č" is read like "ch" in word chair)

So strange to hear place names that have become painfully familiar recently.

A lot of interesting history within the non german axis units. Especially within the SS

Croatian legion. Only non-German unit to fought in the city of Stalingrad. Wow, we are part of the history ! Our soldiers fought on north part of Stalingrad ? Greetings from Croatia, town of Slavonski Brod.

Grand respected Croatians brothers!!!!!

Were the croatian soldiers in this unit taken from Ustashe ranks? or were they more regular soldiers or just volunteers?

The video is perfect,just one thing the city of Cacak is pronounced Chachak.

Lost 2 of my grendads in stalingrad 1 of them was in this devision

Nice video! On a sidenote, Russians often say: "Of all the european peoples, only Greeks and Serbs didn't come to invade us." Gives an interesting Russian point of view towards Europeans.

doesnt 'poglavnik' translate to headchief in english

If you want to know about a the all time funkiest legion, you should check the "North African Legion" active in France in 1944.

Good video. I always knew that Croatia was allied with Germany and Austria and that some served. This is a god video on some Croatians that served. It is especially interesting to me because my family is Croatian.

I love Balkan history, but the nationalism in comment sections reliably makes me wanna die.

Try saying 'The creation of the Croatian formation' after a few drinks. On a serious note my great uncle who was Austrian was captured on the Russian front and im wondering if he fought with the Austrian unit TIK mentions. He was defiantly a Jaeger.

Didn't the Romanian 3rd and 4th army fight at Stalingrad as well?

Napoleon said, if i had 100 000 croats i will conquer world

Moskva 1812, Galicija 1916, Staljingrad 1943 🇭🇷

There's a video of the "Last Handscharevac" which is in Bosnian He talks how a commander lined them all up and said: "Listen up men! We're going to Stalingrad with the Germans, because if we stay here, the Partisans will tear us apart!" He then proceeded to say that he and a handful of others stayed and were given surprisingly alright treatment while nobody from the Russian front survived (At least not from his division)

What about Romania 0:05

"It is paradox to fight at Mirnaya Dolina literally means THE PEACEFUL WALLY. " My grand grandpa said that and in the beginning of the letter and I will try to translate as best as I can but let out the few names he mentioned, "It looked like a paradise in the spring but instead of flowers, you could only smell the melting bodies of the Bolsheviks. It made it look like an entrance to Hell as the snow melted and bodies were everywhere. We buried a few of our dead long ago under a beautiful old oak tree but later, after few days of conteplation I personally ordered and led by example that crosses should be buried too since the red forest bandits were known for the disgusting grave desecration. So I decided that regular Bolshevik soldiers, who I saw later were usually just conscripted peasants minding their own business but were forced to fight by the rabid demons with blue-red hats who would shoot them in the back if they retreated, they would be buried with an orthodox cross and identifications if possible. I gave our best marksman only scoped rifle I could find that our friends had and came to the same conclusion to shoot the demons first, if you kill those Blue-Red hat demons ("Politkomesars") whole unit would either surrender or we would let them go home. Blue-Red hat demons were left to rot where they were, beaten by sticks by peasants and one old man who cursed a lot dragged one demon and throw it in the outhouse toilets! Or septic holes as we call them. We learned he killed his son for taking cover! Horrible, horrible, horrible... but there is some poetic justice in it! Also my Dearest, those Bandits I wrote You about.... 5 of them who tried to raid the supplies at night and kill those sleeping were mowed down by a soldier who was promoted for his persistence in hunting them and decorated accordingly as that was 7th all together, this time for setting the concealed MG as a trap in the lorry, patiently waiting for them to approach the back and destroying 5 of them that night and wounding a few more. We learned that those creatures are local rapists, poachers, and a similar "company". A fellowship that was ordinarily as hairy as the beasts and heavy alcoholics. They were let loose by the same demons (Politcomesar) and armed to harras us and local populace, they lived in the woods and behaved accordingly, to rob the dead and harras living until the day they were shot dead are left where they belong, in the woods to be drawn by the wolves and dogs. After ugly schenes were out of sight, it really was Peaceful Wally and we enjoyed a brief moment there before We ..." This is the end of the parchment, it got wet or something and just fell off... or it got "redacted" since it seems he was an intelligence NCO and later officer, but for being an intelligent, gentle and self-educated man who could talk to allmost anyone, knowing as many as 8 languages and thus valuable he was transferred many times...and with many armies!