My Grandfather, Ludwig Lindermair, made it out of Kurland on one of the last ships. He was a cook and what was left of his unit were entrenched and under mortar and artillery fire. When the bombardment let up for a while one of the officers demanded coffee from him. Reluctantly my grandfather went with the officer to the Gulaschkanone or field kitchen when the firing started again and the kitchen more or less suffered a direct hit. The officer was killed and my grandfather wounded in the lower leg by shrapnel, which travelled from below the knee and exited through the calf. The trenches were hit as well and in the ensuing pandemonium my grandfather made it away and managed to catch a horse, on which he rode to a port. He was a very gentle and kind and a somewhat shrewd man, made a cook because no drill instructor seemed to have been capable to make him march in line or perform the required drills properly and him being older than 30 when pressed into service. He also pretended to be a lousy shot in basic training, in spite of being a good hunter and a family butcher. In the field he cooked so well and was able to "organise" such ample supplies, that the officers kept him as much behind the lines as possible. Only on one occasion, when he had mixed up salt and sugar and had ruined coffee for a commander and his staff he was sent to a forward position for three days as a punishment. He said that he shot all his ammunition out of his foxhole without looking or rising his head over the parapet. My mum told me that after the war he at times broke down and cried, and his wife suspected him to have had mistresses in the areas where he was stationed, but he just sobbed "Ach, die armen Kameraden, ach, die armen Kameraden" (Oh, my poor mates, oh, my poor mates). To me he only told these two stories, and how he once captured a young guerilla fighter, who gave himself up to him when he was on his way to get food to the frontline on a cart. He told me again and again how scared he was, driving the cart and trying to keep the young Russian in check at the same time, fearing an ambush. He died in 1979 when I was 13. Edit: I copy and paste another story, a reply to a viewer here, because of the encouraging replies to the original post above. Thanks for reading. Hi guys, thank you so much for your thoughts and kind comments. You are right, @Vincent Sluga, I will keep these stories as it is the first time I have written them down. @SeamHead33 my grandfather was also a bit naive. He voted for the NSDAP because of the promise of prosperity and stability, he thought it would be good for his business. He even wanted to join the SA because he found their uniforms chic. His wife, who had her wits together better, told him sternly "Ludwig, we do business with everybody, not only with these Brownshirts. They are thugs anyway and I do not want my husband to look like a thug". He much regretted his vote when people started to disappear, when the Nazis plunged Germany into war and chaos and when he was forced to fight in the most evil struggle in human history. He was, as I said, a very kind, loving, peaceful and gentle man with a fantastic sense of humour, not a fighter at all. We all can be glad that the murderous, deluded evil ideology starting that war got beaten in the end, unfortunately not only by democratic forces. He had made his life in Leipzig, which was first reached to everybody's relief by the Americans, but was later made part of the Soviet occupied zone which became the socialist GDR, a puppet state of the USSR. Here is another story: My grandfather had bought shortly before the war a brand new Opel Olympia, one of the most advanced cars at the time in Germany. Little could he enjoy it, and the Nazis took the tyres off it when the going got tough economically while he was away to fight. The car sat on bricks in a garage and my mum used to play in it as a little kid and keeps telling me how good it smelt of leather and paint. The car was still there when my grandfather returned from war, but tyres could not be obtained from anywhere. A jealous neighbour told the Soviet authorities about the car and a Russian officer turned up with a couple of men to take the car away. No problem to find matching tyres for the Soviet occupiers, of course. However, this commandeering went somewhat against the code of honour of the Russian officer. He carried out his orders but felt embarrassed about it. He apologised to my grandfather and gave him a bottle of vodka with the words "This is the only thing I can give to you". @SeamHead33, these are stories that just happened. They can not be made better or worse, had anyone acted differently. I have no idea how someone could think that the world would be a better place if fascism had been victorious, and please make no effort to tell me. All people who have to live under murderous, opressive regimes will tell you that it is not a great life, unless you are one of the perpetrators and benefit directly from the murder and opression. I firmly believe that all humans should have equal opportunities and should lead free, healthy and prosperous lives with as little ideological interference to their choices and should help each other out as much as possible.

My grandma's stepfather was in the pocket. He didn't get to adventure out. Got captured but released early because he got sick and the Soviets didn't want to take care of that. Guess he was lucky

My father was on the Eastern Front and was taken prisoner in the Kurland Pocket, being held until 1949 I believe. So I found this video to be even more fascinating than usual. Thanks Mark.

I’m thinking about the Ju-52 and He-111 aircrew who must have known during briefing that flying into Courland with zero protection was a suicide mission. Yet, they took off and did their duty to the very last.

Post 15 mins ago and 75 comments already. This man has an incredible following.

Merciless dictator vs merciless dictator. Their troops were horrible to each other but I can't help but feel pity for troops abused by each.

I click like before the advert finishes. I'm never disappointed. Another dose from Dr Felton

I'm from Latvia and this is rly interesting. Thank you for covering our usualy ignored history. Although this was no victory day, at this day started ocupation that would last 50 years.

It was really sad to listen through this one

If Mark Felton was my history teacher in high school I would have received the perfect attendance award :) Hey Mark can you do a video on Leo Major, the one eyed Canadian sniper who single handedly captured 93 German soldiers during the Battle of the Scheldt in Southern Holland?

My Father got injured in the war in Russia and got out, I guess he was lucky and perhaps that why I am here today ! Greetings From Australia

Ahhhhh.... I finally got my WW2 hit for the day. My skin's stopped itching finally. Mark Felton Productions is the best dealer ever, he's always got the good stuff, and if you can't afford it, it doesn't matter cuz he'll sell it for free.

Not all of them surrendered, if I recall correctly, at least one third from 19th SS (2nd Latvian) division went in to the forests. They fought as forests brothers, joined later by many other people forced to do so by the circumstances and continued armed resistance up until 1956.

a Luftwaffe video again, yay, great as always Mark!

i want to sincerely thank you for your unbiased documentary's, my great uncle served in the wehrmacht, i only knew him when he was older, and he got these trauma attacks from back in the war, he survived courland, his brother did not, he is still missing to this day. he never talked about how he got back or out. Still people with no knowledge sometimes frown up on why i think the man deserves my deepest respect for the situation he has been in. He never talked about it, and education about the regular german soldier... unexistant. but luckily there is mark felton to tell that piece of history.

Holy moly. I hope I'd never have to choose between attempting to escape with 95% chance of dying, or take my chances working in camps for the next 10 years.

Greetings from Latvia! We were taught a fair bit about the Courland pocket in school and I have watched a few videos about it, yet still this is the first time of me hearing about this brave but suicidal rescue mission. You just keep amazing me, Mark.

Humanity and great bravery shown by the air rescue attempt. The few that survived must have felt blessed.

My grandma told me a story about a German soldier who later moved to the United States who had crawled into a wing space of a Luftwaffe plane, crammed with refugees, to escape the Russians. I wonder if that fits into this story somehow.

I'm surprised mark Felton could have mentioned that Latvian as well as Germans, continued to fight Russians as partisans, well into the 50s! That would be a nice story in itself Mark!

My (German) wife had 4 Uncles and a Grandfather that were Ostfront vets. 2 were killed in the East, one in Stalingrad. Of the 2 surviving uncles, one was in Kurland in 45' and he was evacuated. I have his Wehrpass and ultra rare "KURLAND" cufftitle.

Dr Felton one again gives us a concise yet meticulous account of a largely unknown tragedy; save for the Wilhelm Gustloff disaster, the Courland Evacuation was something I'd missed in all my reading. My thanks to Dr Felton for putting that right!

Great content as always. Greetings from Courland (Kurzeme, in Latvian).

"Be nice to the people on your way up, you might have to meet them on your way down."

It’s so sad that Hitler/Germany needlessly sacrificed so many young Germans when the war was clearly already lost.

My wife's parents were taken, as German civilians, into the Soviet labor camp system after the Red Army conquered East Prussia. The father was never heard of again, and the mother managed to survive 3 1/2 years of hard labor in the Ural mountains. She had many tales to tell about it.

As always - top class Mark! You're a true asset to this platform.

A sad story for those who survived. Thank you for your capable retelling, sir! !

I didn’t even think the Luftwaffe was a thing in 1945

There are a lot of short stories in these comments that never make it to the history books. That's why I love videos like yours, Mark. People from all over share stories of their loved ones and what tragic fates they suffered. Really makes you reflect on everything.

WWII didn't end on a dime. The Courland Pocket continued until 1955, with over 50,000 Germans and more Riga Latvians resisting Soviet occupation. They were locally called "Brothers of the Woods". A Latvian survivor who escaped this told me this tragedy.

Another amazing and evocative production. Despite the ultimate evil of their Leader, I hope those 33 pilots at least got posthumous Iron Crosses. Truly laying down their lives for their Kameraden.

Last time I was this Early, the Luftwaffe had Aerial Superiority over Europe!

RIP brave warriors from all sides. May we never have to do the same.

Luftwaffe is my favourite word of all time , Mark says it so well , his narration is flawless

I can't get enough of these videos, you Mr Felton are a legend.

Another great video from Mark Felton, and once again expertly covering an incident that I’d never heard off. I wish that Mark had been writing the history curriculum when I was at school. I’d certainly have learnt more.

I'm amazed at your knowledge of wartime history, and so much of it pretty unknown to most people. You must spend 99% of your time doing research. And I love the way you make it available to everyone. Keep up the fantastic work Mark 🙂

This is hands down the best history channel on youtube. Every video I learn something new, great work.

Simply the most fascinating, insightful & well researched WW2 channel on KZfaq by far. Thanks yet again Mark...

To ride into the jaws of hell in an unarmed and unbelievably slow plane took some guts no matter what side you were on.

*"Keine Schlacht, eine Rettungsaktion" (Not a battle, a rescue mission)* I know. I just felt it was fitting here.

I learned more about history on this amazing channel rather than any history book, thank you sir! Have a beautiful, healthy life, respect from Greece

Outstanding video and presentation. Thank you for the history story.

The baltic states war years are excruciatingly sad

A particularly harrowing episode, thank you for telling the story.

The story is always in the details. Thank you so much for covering these lesser known yet colorful avenues of history that spark so much of our interest and imagination.

Wow Mr Felton this really brings home the horror and savagery of WWIIs last days but you kept thier history alive

Army Group Courland: we're completely surrounded by an overwhelming force in a tiny pocket and need evacuating by unconventional means. British Expeditionary Force: They stole our thing!

I don’t know how you find such stories! Never heard of them usually. You must be rummaging through the old files.

Thank you again for bringing this to our attention.

Yet another video that taught me something new. Great job as always Mark!

„Marduk - Todeskessel Kurland“ is playing in my head while watching this video.

I find it particularly interesting when Mark presents these short documentaries about the period as the war ended. Many things previously little reported happened. Some good ,many evil.

Fantastic video as usual. The scale and horror of WW2 never stops amazing me... this channel proves there's always something new to learn.

It was definitely a daring mission ! Great video Mark ( as always ) !

Good content as always, keep it up

Something about the JU 52's straight lines that really makes that bird look so sweet to me.

Excellent documentary! As always! Thank you Mark!

Another fantastic video. By far one of the best channels available, thank you so much

Mark, I have been an avid student of anything to do with WWII for over 60 years and know quite a bit about most facets of the war. With this video, as with all of yours, you still taught this old dog a lot more about something I already knew pretty well. I learned early on in watching your material that I can trust what you say as accurate, which is of paramount importance to me. Many times, I have stopped supposedly reliable productions after hearing glaring errors. Once you hear one thing you know to be wrong or misrepresented, you don't know how reliable anything new to you may be, and that defeats the whole purpose. It's nice to not have that lingering skepticism while watching. I can live with an occasional slip of the tongue type gaffe, but you don't even seem to make those either. Whether it's exhaustive prep or a lot of retakes while recording, the finished product is always superb, and I truly appreciate you and your efforts. Thanks, again.

Thank goodness this isnt Mark Felton's last flight. Another quality in flight entertainment upload.

Cheers, Mark. Excellent video as usual. Keep up the good work.

Another excellent video. Many thanks.

Great story yet again! I'm sure Dr Felton would enjoy covering the Lapland war aswell, as that is also a very obsecure battle.

I'm a simple man When I see a new video by Mark Felton, I press the like button

Once again another event I had never heard of. Thank you Mark.

I usually get bored of videos longer than 10 minutes but here i've been sat watching Mark's videos for the past 3 hours. Another brilliant video.

Mark Felton Productions is better/higher quality than anything on the history channel .. The amount of research he puts into his videos makes his videos so informative i even learn new things about battles/topics i had watched endless videos and read tons of books/articles about..

Don’t ever change your intro music Mark. So damn good.

I wish there were more channels like this then there are! Amazing work, Mark!

Fantastic story! Fantastic footage! Thanks Mark.

Greetings Mark ,as always satisfied with the details.. greatings from Germany, native born from Latvia , Liepāja, Grobiņa.

As an aviation geek I loved the airplane footage!

Nice video; I’ve been watching your channel for about two years and the Luftwaffe is definitely my favorite to learn about.

Thanks Mark!

Great video! Of course, I couldn't fully enjoy it. Just sat in my chair getting more and more furious at the whole situation. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

So much for being the first to post!

Never fails to amaze me. Good job mark.

Thank you Professor Felton. Your research and narration are so clear, and unambiguous. That I am often at a loss when determining who, if any, are that moments good guys. Which just demonstrates the high quality of your productions and clearly illustrates that evil comes in varied forms and is often, if not always, relative. It is my hope that we might do a better job protecting this planet, than we have ourselves. All the best.

Even though Germany was the enemy, it is still sad that a lot of the men in the planes were fathers and family men who were so close to surviving the war, and could have hopefully got on with rebuilding their lives.

Nothing better then waking up at 6am on a cold winters day in Sydney watching a new video from my favourite youtube channel with a nice cuppa

Anytime I hear the intro music I know I’m about to get learned about history and it’s awesome! Keep up the fantastic work Mr.Felton 👍

Love history and love this channel. Great stuff, please keep them coming !!

There was just so much wrong with this operation, on so many levels, it was incredible that anyone got out alive. The Soviets were ruthless, and in truth, who could really blame them? Really evocative piece Mark, thank you.

Super video as ever Mark! The long term internment of lowly ranked German POWs by the Soviets is something we hear very little about. It would interesting to hear some stories/see a video about the Germans who went from being Nazi invaders in the early 1940s to ‘reformed socialists’ who deemed fit to be repatriated back to Germany in the 1950s. How were these men ‘reformed’? How did they survive in the Soviet camps? Did any escape? What did they do for work when they got home? Why were they released at all?

A fantastic read, thanks for that. A book of short stories like this, would be great!

Hi Mark a real interesting video mate thank you for sharing buddy keep'em coming.

Honestly, I am unable to understand how this informative content is available for free.

all I will say is..."top drawer!!"....ive never seen a Mark Felton production/war story that I didn't enjoy. the history channel and the yesterday channel can go and do one!!!....as they say :)

Another good lesson by the good Dr. Felton. Bravo sir! Bravo!

I already knew about the Courland Pocket, but I had no idea that there were 27 DIVISIONS trapped there, and did not know about the rescue attempts. Thank you Mark.

My uncle was captured there, and it took almost 10 years for him to be released.

Hey, German Battleship here. I just wanna say that i love your content 👍

Yeah it's great of you sir to give us yet another information about Luftwaffe and their last ditch efforts to evacuate their soldiers from Courland peninsula. Thank you so much

Love watching you on AHC and Science channel and absolutely was delighted when I discovered your channel. Great work keep it up.

Well done. Another late war story that is interesting is the Georgian Uprising on Texel Island in the Netherlands in April 1945.

A fascinating story Mark and demonstrates the great courage shown by the German pilots! (Flying un-armed for heavens sake!)

Always with the little known stories. Love your channel.

Excellent video Mark!