One of the most detailed lectures on the subject I have seen. Riveting stuff

this lecture deserves millions of views... hopefully some day the KZfaq algorithm will wake up, keep it up The National WWII Museum!

I once had a B-25 fly overhead at about 2000 feet and I couldn’t get over how loud just 2 of those big radial engines were, I just can’t imagine the sound of 1400, 4 engine bombers! Wow, it must have been something.

Dad was in a Sherman tank at the breakout at St Lo and the dash across France. Wounded after Fort Driant and Metz, November 1944. Thanks for this excellent discussion of the operation and its importance. 🙏

Nice to see a presenter not engaging in the "blame game" and bashing generals like Spaatz, Montgomery or Bradley for perceived failures. Very good, even-handed presentation.

The British commonwealth and Polish forces deserve some credit for Cobra’s success since they tied down a number of German divisions. Without them, the operation would have been contained by the Wehrmacht and the breakout ending in failure. It was all a team effort and the Germans were struggling to send in fresh divisions since the majority of their forces were pulverised by the Red army’s offensive in the east.

In retrospect, I wish I had been on that D-Day Cruise. I have been on two different National WW2 Tours with Don Miller and they both were superb. Don is a brilliant historian and an even better guy. I had the pleasure of closing down several bars over the years with Don. His book on the 8th Air Force during WW2, "Masters of the Air" is the definitive work on the subject and the kind of book that once you start, you never want the book to end. His latest book on Vicksburg and Grant has garnered wide praise and is probably the finest book on the Civil War in recent years.

This guy is all over the place.

Two of my uncles were in the 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division. Both were killed by the American bombers at the kickoff of Operation Cobra. Thanks for providing additional details about why that happened.

Against a worn down opposition in full retreat its not surprisng patton was able to advance quickly-the german armoured units concentrated their efforts against 21 st army group as expected and this needs to be emphasised in this discussion

Don't want to take anything away from anyone but at least one historian said it was a "walk out" as opposed to a "break out". Most of the Germans were engaged with the Brit side well to the east. But it needed to be done and was done

Your lecture was excellent, but the q&a was sublime.

As usual, excellent lecture.

That's a great point about simultaneous events.

Brilliant! Would absolutely love to be a part of one of these tours. I especially appreciated the segment on Gen. Elwood Richard Quesada and his development of tactical air support

Good lecture!

A really interesting lecture which covered a lot of points I was previously unaware of. Unfortunately Operation Bluecoat was not mentioned. The objective of which was to capture ground between Vire and the Orne and prevent a German counter attack on the American flank. In particular the British 15th (Scottish) Division and the 6th Guards Tank Brigade captured Hill 309 on 30th July. The hill overlooked the American advance and, prior to the capture of the hill, spotters would glean information vital to the enemy and also direct artillery bombardments on American positions.

What a terrific lecture - thank you

Excellent points on the acceleration of violence as the war ends. This is a point far too many people miss.

Another good point on fuel shortage ending the wars in Europe and Japan or at least coinciding exactly.

I was under the impression any area of allied tanks were vulnerable to the panzerfoust, not just bottom. Bottoms were penetrated by the obsolesent 37mm and 20mm AT and AA guns.

Why weren't the landing forces more prepared for the bocage country? There appears to have been little to no thought about what to do after the landing. The makeshift nature of the hedge-row busting tank is a case in point. They should have had doctrine, training, and equipment from the get go to deal with the bocage.

"Maquis" is pronounced MA-KI, not MA-KWA.

I am somewhat dismayed by the many mistakes contained in this presentation, which have been correctly pointed out by other commenters. At first I wondered if I was being too picky or had been misinformed by my 7 years of college level study, but then I realized this 'expert' truly was re-writing history but probably not intentionally. I also take exception to the large round numbers he seems to use in describing US psychiatric casualties (at about 18:30). I don't seek / expect a finite number but I believe from listening to relatives who WERE THERE it seems to me that 30 thousand battle fatigue casualties is inaccurate. He mentioned the U.S. Air Force several times. It isn't a small detail- it is factual that the US Air Force wasn't created until 1947. It was the US ARMY Air Corps that was doing the bombing, strafing, etc. He would be more convincing as an "expert" if he chose his words a little more carefully. I gave up on this presentation at about 25:00. I no longer regret missing this tour when it happened.

9:25 The V-1 buzz bomb campaign - 14,000 tons of explosives sum total Bomber Command nighttime, USAAF daylight = How many thousands of tons per week?

As a side note, the Weald of Kent (and the rest of the Weald) shares many similarities with the Boccage. Just one more reason why Sealowe would have been 'unwise', even if the Germans got ashore.

Its refreshing to see detailed account of what really happened during this month or so after D-day. Nothing was won as the narrator clearly state. Most WWII account are so simplified they usually go : after D-Day it was just a walk in the park by allied forces all the way trough germany. The german army had no fuel anymore, no air cover bla bla . There are also very heavy combat zones long after an entire area is already cleaned up, by fortified germans troops who resisted strongly on their own (a la japanese) like Lorient or other germans fortifed strongholds on the atlantic coast.

What are the best books on this subject?

Patton isn't interested in closing the falaise gap a major mistake-just like Bradley at Hurtgen forest-a huge mistake that Monty predicted

Man who make the hedge hog cutter plow; was from New Jersey...

Collins and Cobra begin 22:30

If there was very little left of the Luftwaffe, what brought down 16,000 Allied aircraft? Flak, ground fire, accidents?

Start at 5:00

2:50 begins

Typical American centric version. First error is labeling the British 2nd Army as Montgomery’s. Montgomery was the Allied Ground Commander. A position he held until September 1. Under him was Gen. Omar Bradley, commander of US 1st army and Gen. Sir Mile Dempsey, commander of British 2nd army.

The content starts at the 3 minute mark

Seriously, I am at 7:55, and he has made numerous mistakes already. Expert?

Really god

At 51:50, he said, "We had 90% of the worlds oil." Is "We" America, America and G. B. together on the west, or all the allies together including U.S.S.R.‽

McNair wasn’t wounded he was blown to pieces.

Cobra 21:30

If you want an example of look to bickering American and British generals. And all the historians who followed them to the present

The grammer Nazi's are out in full force im the comment section.

Couple minor things. It’s pronounced Mawkee not Mawqua . Secondly the 12th SS had not been at the Eastern front. Normandy was their introduction to combat. They took part in the Battle of the Bulge and would then be sent to Hungary. The original division was made up of fanatical little sh*ts.

Strange pronunciations eg 'Maquis' as Mackoire (to rhyme with 'Loire')signals a somewhat complacent, one-sided moralistic view that augurs ill for the level of scholarship. e.g at 11:27 he comments, 'the Germans were in there first; they'd been there for weeks'. The Germans began their defensive procedures in Normandy (Autumn 1943) when Allied Invasion in 1944 became a certainty. That adds up to months not weeks.

‘Monty was moving down from Caen’? You do realise Monty was in charge of the whole ground theatre, in charge of Bradley and hence Patton. This lecturer is so inarticulate and unknowledgeable. A typical Ambrose like pastiche of boosting American involvement with minimal understanding

GTENERAL LESLEY MCNAIR FRIENDLY FIRE KILLED

He has some of the most bizarre pronunciations I’ve ever heard. 1. Maquis - “mah-kwa” instead of “mah-kee” 2. Bocage - “boo-kajj” instead of “boh-kajj” 3. Allies - “all-eyes” instead of allies.

Boo-cawj?

So many squabbling children in the comments. War is hard, nobody is perfect and the enemy gets a vote. There is a lot of Magical Thinking about the breakout and 'who were best'. There were both weaknesses and strengths across all the allies. And a fair amount of the Historiography is 'just a little biased', one way or another (theoretical deity save me from the Wheraboos). But so much childish squabbling. Calm down, take a step back, 'kill your darlings' (a writing metaphor), leave your ego at the door, face various realities you won't like and look at the whole moving jigsaw seen through the mists of combat and time. And never forget who the 'bad guys' were. The way some commentators go on the Commonwealth and American troops should have stopped fighting the Germans and started shooting at each other.

Interesting, informative, and well-presented talk................BUT: It is marred by Mr. Miller's total inability to pronounce German, French, and Russian names. I do not expect that an expert like Mr. Miller speak fluent French, German, or Russian. One would hope, such an expert would have a basic reading knowledge of one of these languages. But AT THE VERY LEAST, he should know how to pronounce names like "Operation Bagration". The word does NOT rhyme with "vacation." It is pronounced "BAH - GRAH - TZION". It was named after a famous Russian General during the Napoleonic Wars -- Gen. Pyotr (Peter) Bagration. Likewise (as another user points out below) -- the French underground resistance -- "the Maquis". It's pronounced "MA-KEY" (as in, "I can't find ma key.") It is NOT "MA-KWA", as Mr. Miller pronounces. Come on, Mr. Miller, give it a good college try. You can do it. And it will increase your credibility enormously. Anyone who speaks even a little French -- even an American -- will laugh at you if you pronounce it MA-KWA. And they will then discount the value of your substantive information.

not a great speaker

Learn the corrrect pronunciations FFS!

If you're in France, educating, you should probably know how to properly pronounce certain words in your presentation. What's a Maquois? Perhaps you mean Maquis. How does an infantryman have a tank? Shouldn't he be a tanker? Dear oh dear...

I really feel sorry for the American public being subjected to half truths and innuendos and propaganda even after all these yrs. I do understand that every country needs it's stories for it's psychological well-being and i do understand that America has adopted the battle of Normandie as one of its stories but you do the soldiers who fought and died on all sides no justice at all with this nonsense

german had no army in the west

One of the most astonishing achievement in the history of mobile warfare? 😂 Oh yeah what could be more astonishing than swanning off through empty country sides devoid of German troops while Monty was bashing up against a dozen Panzer Divisions and three heavy tank battalions. Just shows how overrated the Americans are.

Disgusting misogynistic comment. Disliked

If you're going to present history, then you should make every effort to learn the correct pronunciation of the language of the people and places. This guy was very bad at French.