It’s a mixed week for the Western Allies. Patton liberates Metz and there are victories in Belfort, Mulhouse, and Strasbourg. But Eisenhower’s decision to hold back Devers is just another reminder that this will still be a long and hard fight. And remember, the enemy gets a say too. Will Hitler’s counterattack be the blow that saves the Third Reich? Stay right here to find out.

MacArthur on Eisenhower: "He was the best clerk I ever had." Eisenhower on MacArthur: "I spent seven years under MacArthur studying dramatics."

A somewhat interesting footnote this week on November 23 1944 is that General Dwight Eisenhower would order every soldier under his command to receive a full Thanksgiving Day holiday turkey dinner. Battalion cooks tried to comply as best as they could in the Hürtgen Forest on the Belgian-German border with turkey sandwiches. However, as American soldiers climbed out of their foxholes to line up, they were hit by German artillery fire and suffered heavy casualties.

By liberating Strasbourg, General Leclerc finally honored the oath he and his men made 3 years ago after the capture of the Italian fort of Koufra on March 1, 1941 in Libya : "Swear not to lay down arms until our colours, our beautiful colours, fly over Strasbourg Cathedral."

NO NO NO! The title should have been "General Patton's Metz *addiction* "! Damn it guys, you were so close! *So close!*

Eisenhower disliked Devers, who apparently was hard to dislike. It clouded his judgement. Imagine Hitler, all hot to trot to do his Ardennes thing, gets woken up in early December to be informed there are now 400,000 Americans and French forces over the Rhine. And imagine trying to move those German forces back to defense over a 190 mile gauntlet of Allied fighter bombers to meet that threat. Ike missed a golden opportunity here.

"Hitler heads into Berlin and establishes the Fuhrerbunker." Fucking hell time really flew by.

By the end of the battle of pelieu the 1st Marine division was so decimated it took until the battle okinawa to be back to 100%.

Thank you for the General Devers coverage (finally). There was only room for one Supreme Allied Commander in Europe - if it weren’t Eisenhower then it would have been Devers. Eisenhower knew that if he screwed up they had a competent replacement and held it against Devers

I wanna thank you guys/gals for you work, it suddenly dawned on me that Ive been watching your channel for a few YEARS now . This kinda put all your effort into perspective, honestly there is nothing that rivals the scope of your work and I'm actually really thankful that i get to see it.

Voice from the future here. The last active Japanese soldiers who fought in World War 2 will not surrender until 1974, almost 30 years after the end of the conflict, and one of those only put down his arms when he was ordered to by the superior officer he served under. Talk about dedication.

Flying the tricolor flag over Strasbourg Cathedral was the objective of the “Koufra Oath”. On March 2, 1941, Colonel Leclerc (then 38 years old) at the head of the Free French Forces took the oasis of Koufra, in the south of Libya, from the Italians. With his men, who like him had joined General de Gaulle after the invasion of France by the Wehrmacht, he vowed not to lay down their arms again before the French flag flew over Strasbourg. Leclerc's 2nd Armored Division did not lay down theirs arms until capturing Berchtesgaden, Hitler's eagle's nest.

Each episode gets more complex! My Dad was in the 84th infantry. He was in a scouting patrol at night into Geilenkirchen. It was dark and seemingly deserted-they did not see (or were seen by) any Germans. However, while sneaking about in the darkness, they were hit by an artillery barrage ...by American artillery. One of the men was killed, and they had to carry his body back to American lines. He was from Minnesota, and his name was Gurstenmeyer. From the time of his first combat (on the 19th of November) until he was sent back to England-wounded, my Dad said that he was in a state of shock. This was probably also true of most of the men around him-none had seen combat before. They marched, fought, ate, slept and lived in a perpetual state of shock- somehow. Along with this was fear, cold and confusion- "everything was chaos." he said. And these were well equipped, well led, victorious troops that actually had extensive training back in the USA. My Dad was extremely lucky to have survived the war- most of the men in his company did not.

My Mum's uncle Alfred was killed by an Allied aerial bombing near Sarrebourg on the 19th of November, aged 30. We still have the letter from his superior where he informed the financé one month later. A special thank you for this episode, as I now know the context of his death.

My father was in 5th Division, part of Patton's 3rd Army. He remembered Metz well and they were not happy memories.

Fascinating. Hadn't heard much about Devers being flat told to stop.

Admiral Scheer and Prinz Eugen are not the only capital ships left in the German navy. At this point, Panzerschiff Lützow (ex. Deutschland) is still in service and Battleship Gneisenau, while out of service ever since the channel dash, sill very much exists.

I've been waiting for mention of the 84th Infantry division where my Uncle Vinny served. In a couple of weeks (using the WW2 timeline), Vinny is about to go on R&R, but it is suddenly canceled, and his division is sent south to help stop the German winter offensive. Fifty years later my father spoke to one of Vinny's comrades, a cook who was suddenly thrown into a combat role. He credited Vinny for keeping him alive. It was an extremely emotional conversation.

This is the bit where Kelly, Odd job and Kojak go after the Nazi gold. We ain't got no booze. Woof woof. 😅

Y'all clearly make great efforts to pronounce the names of places correctly which is always appreciated! Great job on "Mulhouse". I'm a native french speaker and Simpsons fan so I'm always calling it Milhouse

I actually understand where Eisenhower is coming from, though. Remember, the operation market and garden only happened a few months ago, and he doesn't want to jeopardize his strategy, which is working. So, taking a risk on a new strategy with several unknown variables would make most men hesitate.

Almost every Anerican Thanksgiving Day my Dad would recall how his outfit, an Armoured Field Artillery Battalion attachd to the French "took Strasbourg on Thanksgiving Day." RIP, Dad. Unfortunately, like a kot of GI's, that war would live rent free in his head for the rest of his life. No combat soldier came home without being a casualty.

30 years ago, The US Army's Command and General Staff College issued a small book about the 4th Armor Division in the battle of Metz. I enjoyed reading it because it had a lot of good lessons and examples in it. Good Luck, Rick

The last Japanese soldier of WW2, Liutenant Hiroo Onoda, will surrender in Luband island in the Philippines... in 1974. He and his comrades who had been dying out over the years had been terrorizing the locals and hiding in the jungle, refusing to believe that the war was over until the Onoda's former commander finally visited the island and managed to convince him to surrender.

I had a opportunity to stay in Metz for 3 weeks last summer really nice and relaxing city I had no idea Patton was fighting to take the city it has no scarring of the war like other small cities in France

I don't want this to end...

Not long after this "Hansi", an Alsatian artist, designed a poster celebrating the freeing of Strasbourg from the Germans, with the inscription in Alsace dialect "Jetz awer nüss!" ("Now over us!") over the French flag

Much love to Indy and the TG team, big hugs from Paraguay!! Always following your content guys

The liberation of Alsace/Lorraine represents a bit of legal complexity that many don't often draw to. A lot of very general histories may put the Free French firing over the Rhine this week as the first time France had fired on German soil since 1940... and for the sake of simplicity it fits post WW2 recognition on the 1939-1940 borders as being the official ones through the entire war as those are the recognized borders at the end of the war as well... However, this ignores the fact that the French Third Republic did ask for an armistice in 1940 and accepted "peace at any price" with Germany. At the same time, the agreements that Petain's men made at Compiegne in 1940 were internationally recognized by most of the world. And among these terms was the return of Alsace/Lorraine to Germany to be Elsaß-Lothringen again... The Nazis had additional possible territorial demands of France, which they didn't want to settle until after Britain surrendered, which then left a good chunk of northern France in a sort of gray area between being French and being German... But Petain agreed, and thus, Alsace/Lorraine was German again... And most of the outside world accepted and recognized these territorial changes in 1940. Petain and the French did so, because they'd had no real choice. The Germans recognized it, because to the Nazis this was all part of gaining back territory "wrongfully taken" in 1919. The Soviets recognized it because at that time they were still sort of allied with Hitler. And the US recognized it because they wanted to retain at least the recognized position of neutrality. And the Roosevelt Administration held to that recognition of Vichy authority even into the point where the US was officially in the war in 1941 to 1942 in the hopes that the Vichy government, which FDR had recognized would turn on Germany and represent what the French people wanted in 1940. The only ones who didn't accept Alsace/Lorraine going back to Germany were the British and De Gaulle... and their reasoning was obvious, as Britain didn't surrender as the Third Republic had and De Gaulle saw the Third Republic's defeat in 1940 as a battle and not the war as a whole... Though, he wouldn't get the real support to make that case with any degree of strength until late 1943 to August 1944 as the Allies began to push the Germans back and Vichy and Colonial French forces began to finally turn to the Free French in ways that hadn't happened earlier. But this didn't change the recognized borders at the time... And thus, so far as the law was concerned, the liberation of Metz and Belfort were not the liberation of French cities... they were the capture of German cities.

from napoleonic wars till ww2 metz is a fortress Lieutenant General George Patton’s Third Army had come a long way since it was activated on August 1 in Normandy. Following the breakout from Normandy in late July, Patton’s army had swept 400 miles in one month’s time all across central France to the Lorraine region, where it was met by General der Panzertruppen Otto Knobelsdorff’s First Army, which was determined to defend the Moselle line. On September 25 12th Army Group commander Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley had ordered Patton to go on the defensive The main German force responsible for holding Metz was Knobelsdorff’s First Army, which belonged to General der Panzertruppen Hermann Balck’s Army Group G; Balck kept a close hand in the First Army’s operations. Although Eddy’s XII Corps on Patton’s right flank launched an attack on October 8 to correct its line and establish a bridgehead on the east bank of the Seille River in preparation for the pending full-scale offensive, the two bloodiest local attacks during October were carried out by Walker’s XX Corps on the west bank of the Moselle--one north of Metz at the industrial town of Maizieres-les-Metz and one south of it at Fort Driant. Driant was one of the strongest and most modern forts in the outer belt surrounding Metz. It was situated five miles southwest of Metz on the west bank of the Moselle atop a 1,200-foot hill and surrounded by rows of barbed wire on the outer perimeter and within by a dry moat 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep meant to impede infantry and tracked vehicles. While the men of Irwin’s “Red Diamond” division had been fighting a losing battle to capture Driant, Maj. Gen. Raymond McLain’s 90th Division was engaged in trying to clear the Germans from their entrenched positions in Maizieres-les-Metz, a factory town on the west bank of the Moselle five miles northwest of Metz. On October 14, Patton and his corps commanders began to draft the Third Army’s plan of attack. The final plan submitted to Bradley called for a double envelopment of Metz by the XX Corps on the Third Army’s left flank, in which the 90th Infantry Division, supported by Maj. Gen. William Morris’s 10th Armored Division, would form the northern pincer and Irwin’s 5th Infantry Division would form the southern pincer. Lead elements of the two infantry divisions were to rendezvous east of Metz in the general vicinity of Boulay-Moselle. The double envelopment was intended to bring about the fall of Metz by cutting the supply routes into the city “without getting mixed up with the forts,” Patton said. While Walker’s troops focused on reducing and capturing Metz, Eddy’s XII Corps began the arduous task of slowly driving the Germans east toward the West Wall. On the eve of the offensive, Patton’s Third Army had a three-to-one advantage in troop strength over Knobelsdorff’s First Army. Patton’s army had 250,000 men, while the First Army had about 86,000. As if in defiance of the foul weather, 37 battalions of field artillery supporting Eddy’s XII Corps opened fire on German positions beyond the Seille in the predawn hours of November 8. On Patton’s left wing opposite Metz, the fighting unfolded more slowly because of the difficulties encountered trying to cross the flooded Moselle. Patton had directed that the XX Corps’ attack begin on November 9, one day after Eddy’s attack on the right. Some units were still engaged in trying to capture the Metz forts. On the frigid morning of November 9, 1944, two infantry companies of the 378th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division, crept silently through the woods at the base of a large hill on the east bank of the Moselle. Their objective was a well-concealed fort known as Königsmacker that stood watch over a key section of the river 20 miles north of Metz. Eddy’s XII Corps troops fought weather conditions just as determined to defeat them as the Germans. With the German 48th Division in full retreat less than three days into the offensive, Grow’s tank columns pressed ahead as fast as possible in an effort to reach the Nied Française River before the Germans had a chance to reorganize behind it While Wood’s combat commands fought the Germans along the roadways, the infantry had the unpleasant task of clearing them acre by acre from vast tracts of forest Walker had previously determined that he could not depend solely on the crossing points in Van Fleet’s sector, and therefore had ordered Twaddle to send a battalion from the 95th Division across the Moselle in assault boats the same night to secure a bridgehead in the Thionville sector. The first major counterattack by German reserves against Van Fleet’s bridgehead occurred on November 12. In the predawn hours, in which exhausted GIs shivered in their freezing foxholes, 10 German tanks and assault guns of the 25th Panzergrenadier Division attacked Kerling in an effort to recapture the bridge crossing at Malling. The bridges at Malling and Cattenom were constantly under fire from German long-range guns. When the bridges were damaged, tanks and other vehicles were ferried to the east bank on large rafts. To the south, Irwin’s 5th Infantry Division had joined the attack on November 9, advancing from its narrow bridgehead at Arnaville, which had been secured during the September fighting. Irwin’s 10th and 11th Regiments reached the southern outskirts of Metz on the afternoon of November 17. The 11th became hotly engaged with enemy machine-gun units in the hangars at Frescaty airfield while the 10th slipped around to the east and attacked Fort Queuleu, whose garrison put up a determined fight. Meanwhile, Walker told Irwin to instruct the 2nd Regiment to turn north from the Nied-Française and cut the roads through which enemy units were slipping away east to safety. By the end of November, only four forts--the very ones that Kittel had chosen to strengthen when he assumed command--were still occupied by German forces. But by December 8, the garrisons at Forts St. Quentin, Plappeville, and Driant had all surrendered, and on December 13 the last stronghold, Fort Jeanne d’Arc, also surrendered to the Americans. From those forts, another 6,000 prisoners were taken, raising to 10,000 the number of troops captured from the forts in the Metz pocket.

I remember reading in a biography of Eisenhower that around this time and into December, Courtney Hodges (US 1st Army Commander) was suffering from a nervous breakdown. Haven’t seen it corroborated elsewhere but it would explain quiet a lot.

"Swear not to lay down arms until our colours, our beautiful colours, fly over Strasbourg Cathedral." - General Leclerc after the capture of Kufra, 1941.

When you get this series done, perhaps a DVD set. This is CLASSIC history! A hundred years from now it will still be watched.

best series on youtube

"medieval fortress in a medieval manner", to me this says they laid siege for two years.

I’ve done extensive research into Ike’s decision not to allow the 6th Army Group to exploit its strategic and logistical advantages to push across the Rhine, as my great-grandfather (MG Ted Brooks) was commander of 6 Corps at the time. Indy and team (as so often) nailed this one. Great coverage!!

Excellent stuff bro

thanks indy and crew Battle of Metz gen pattons bloody fortress is my favorite on his military career

A wonderful historical coverage video with a thrilled narration.

The emphasis in Dutch and German names almost always is on the first syllable. I loved this series.

1:40 That description of the Huertgen Forest sounds like some of the clearcuts and regrowth forest stands I have had to work in. Especially forest stands where they have done tree thinning (imagine walking through an area on top of interwoven fallen trees about 2 metres off ground level).

Thank you for the fantastic content every upload. You guys and gals are the best.

I'm sure the Colmar pocket will be cleared up in just a couple of weeks and won't be a thorn in the Allies' side at all...

Illuminating work, the like of which I've seen nowhere else. Thank you again.

Damn! The French took Mulhouse and I didn't even get a Milhouse joke.

A couple of books on what was happening back in the US. "Big Rich" by Bryan Burrough, they had built giant pipelines from Texas to the Midwest and the East Coast. Originally meant for oil, they would be used for natural gas, causing the end of coal for heating and other work. Also "Skunkworks" by Ben R. Rich, the start of Area 51. Thanks, take care.

My father received a Silver Star at Metz. He commanded a rifle company as a First Lieutenant after other officers had been KIA. He hated Patten to his dying day saying, Patton got a lot of good infantry soldiers killed trying to beat Monty to an objective and having an obsession to be the first general to destroy Metz since the Roman Empire. Patton did not have to deal with the Normandy landings or the Hedge rows. He came in after the fall of St. Lo. He was good on open ground, but with strong defensive positions Patton stunk as a commander. For those not familiar with Fortress Metz read up on the strength of that defensive position. Mine fields, razor wire, steel and cement re-enforced big guns that elevated to fire then disappeared underground, crossfire machine gun and rifle pits. Into this Patton ordered infantry assault after infantry assault. When casualties figures reached Washington D.C. George Marshall and Bradley made a special trip to Metz to see what the hell Patton was up to.

I recall the TV show 'The 6 Million Dollar Man' who in one episode found one of the holdout Japanese soldiers and explained to him that he had been on the surface of the Moon. The soldier laffed at him.

Patton had been obsessed with Metz since August 1918 when, after taking St. Mihiel and reaching Vandieres - just 38 km up the Moselle from Metz - the AEF was shifted northward into the Argonne Forest to support the Anglo-French attack into Flanders.

I bet the reason that Patton didn't do so well against Metz is because he was using the wrong team. He should have used the NY Yankees, because the Mets have the worst record against that team.⚾😁

I think it's very important to remember that you can't take Berlin if you don't first take Manhattan.

The French 1st Army reaches the Rhine at the Swiss border and are shelling southern Germany. General Leclerc reaches Strasbourg. General Devers is a good commander

you guys are awsome!

Another great episode

Dude is in the hospital but still smiling...

Is it offensive for me to say that I didn’t know about General Jacob Devers before this series came out?

I feel like Eisenhower was much too conservative and inflexible when it came to his "broad front" strategy. Devers seemed to be onto something and if he could have gotten Patton temporarily attached to his army group, they might have wrecked shop in the Saar.

My father was at METZ. Co. D, 378th Infantry Regiment, 95th Division.

Thank you.

Great and informative video. Love your tie, btw. It's so 40's.

My grandfather was a US infantryman in the 95th infantry under Patton who was shot by Germans at Metz in November 1945. He was carried off the battlefield by a medic and chaplain and survived only due to them. And although they never removed the shell from his body, he lived to the age of 85 in 2008. My dad has my grandpa's copy of commendation letter Patton sent to his division dated April 16, 1945 folded up in the case for his Purple Heart.

Let me get this right - The Rhine is to the rear of the Roer, and the Rhur is to the rear of the Rhine...

Well done

common misconception is that Strasbourg is actually on the Rhine. It's over on the Ill River (which gave its name to Alsace / Elsass itself. An amazingly beautiful city I', assuming most of these Metz forts date from the German empire?

My Paternal Grandfather was born this week on the 22nd, he eventually went on to fight in Vietnam

I think it's worth considering, in regards to Peleliu, that even though the purpose of the operation was ostensibly to support the invasion of the Philippines, the true purpose from Nimitz's perspective and that of senior Navy leadership was to protect the fleet anchorage at Ulithi. The Navy's concern was that Peleliu could have been used to taxi air raids against the large build-up of vessels in the Ulithi lagoon, which was unacceptable for the Navy since Ulithi was to be the staging area for all future naval operations in the Pacific. Halsey sent reports to Nimitz a few days prior to the invasion suggesting that III Amphibious Corps would be better served with the Sixth Army in the invasion of Leyte, but his recommendations were rejected, with Nimitz citing the importance of the western Carolines for the interests of Navy strategy. There's a lot to criticize MacArthur for, but in the case of Peleliu he should be let off the hook.

This week in French news. The 22nd, in Sigmaringen, Pétain is now almost alone, his doctor and confident since 1930 flaw and is arrested by the Gestapo. Laval is now only preparing his legal defense. Pétain doesn’t want to die on a foreign soil and makes Gaston Bruneton, commissar to the social action toward French prisoners, the depositary of his mind and thought. For Pétain, he is still the chief of the French state, but he cannot exert his functions. He is the moral leader of France as he always wanted. He charges Bruneton to tell French prisoners that they are morally related, they are soldiers, and so, it is to him that their answer and no one else. This is very essential to understand the mind of Pétain, for him: he is the protector of France, and he has the mission to save them. Let’s remember that at the time there is still 1 700 000 French inside of Germany (it’s the second nationality behind soviets), 700 000 workers and 1 000 000 French PoW. Meanwhile Marcel Déat creates a real service under him, a sort of mini state in Ulm inside the factice state of Sigmaringen. (yes, its futile but I think it’s pretty useful to understand some of these personalities). Déat organizes travel to Desde (to attend to the Nazi party congress) Berlin, Weimar, Mengen, Plauen (where he meets Alfred Rosenberg) and Vienna. The 22nd, Saint Dié (my hometown) is liberated, destroyed at 75 %, with no running water and electricity (see my post of the 11th November video). My Grandmother (a child of only 4 years old) and my granduncle, with their mother, went into the mountain to avoid the killing and the destruction. They will only go back after the American troops takes the city. There is no real fighting in the city because the German already left. The 24th, in the city a secret meeting of Eisenhower and his general, without any French authority, decided not to take the whole Alsace and cross the Rhine. The 23rd, the Allies enters Strasbourg. Leclerc enters the city and puts up the French flag on the cathedral, fulfilling his pledge of Koufra. The 25th, the political party Mouvement républicain populaire (MRP) is created. It is a Christian democrat and pro-European and European federalism party. This party is specifically created by Resistance members and for them, but not a confessional party. The objective is to make a social movement, with social-catholic, catholic unions and young catholic movements. The idea of a social revolution is very strongly said in 1944 and 45, in fact more than the PCF. The party wants to be in the center-left, but in 1945-1946, its political position will be in the center and its electors in the center-right.

I've heard of Patton's attack on Metz. What a disaster for him. The only one that was worse was that raid he initiated to liberate his son-in-law.

My father fought in the 84th infantry

A bigger question than was Peleliu necessary? Was the invasion of Japanese occupied Philippines necessary? One of my high school teachers had been in Naval Intelligence, stationed in China. They were monitoring Japanese maritime communications. By this time in the war Japanese supply ships were essentially wiped out. Orders were being given for groups of ships to rendezvous at various locations. Maybe 30 sets of orders went out, 5 ships showed up. "The rest had been sunk but the commanders were too embarrassed to report that to home base." Seems like any continued sea and air traffic between Japan and the Philippines was a target opportunity, not a problem.

Thank you for this episode and all the work you guys do. I never knew about this unexploited chance in the south. Considering what an effort crossing the Rhine further north later was, I seems like quite a strange decision not to force the Rhine at that point

so my village was already liberated this week (I'm from the haguenau region)? I think a special on the german pockets on the french coast could be interesting.

You had me at Rick Atkinson, Indy

Bradley did not deserve to be a 2-star general: he had no imagination and no capability to understand when terrain favored the defender absolutely. Against St. Lo and against Huertgen, he shows his incompetence: if you want historical proof, read general Gavin's summary of the cause of the failures in the Huertgen Forest.

"it's about da metz baby love da metz"

Ike had a terrible temper -- and was FURIOUS when Devers refused to send more B-17s to Ike in Africa -- when Devers ran the US Army in Britain. (!) Devers did so on the direct orders of Arnold and Marshall. Ike blew a fuse, of course. (Devers was right -- obviously. B-17s were strategic weapons, Ike needed tactical air strikes.) THIS is the reason that Ike throttled Devers in November. He just choked on the idea that Patton & Patch might roll up the Nazis -- from south to north. And yes, the pill boxes WERE empty. BTW, the 28th Division DID discover the Bulge build-up -- no later than 12-14-1944. (Patrols had been sent across the Our river, so much noise.) When this was reported up the line -- the news evaporated by the time it left Bradley's desk. VIII Corps knew all about it, of course.

I wonder if the Germans thought of the Battle of the Teutoburg forest as they fought in Hurtgen?

Fixed Fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of man. - George S. Patton Yet there he was trying to take out a monument of human stupidity. Oh God I just got the metaphor!

Hi Indy Another interesting video. War looks like it will finish by Christmas but now it may go beyond that. Thanks for the video.

Thank you Timeghost! You guys think Albert Kesselring is still smiling even in his hospital bed?

Brilliant!!!

re: Huertgen Forest campaign. The dialog refers to the struggles of the 22nd push into the forest but the map showed this as the 12th. I assume that updating the map is not realistic at this point but consider adding a subtitle for disambiguation.

So instead of giving permission to the Free French to cross the Rhine and to outflank the Germans who have stubbornly fought against Patton in the south and Bradley in the North, Eisenhower goes with his friend Bradley over both Patton and the French. The French faced the least resistance to and at the Rhine. Eisenhower's greatest failure was to be blinded to his bias toward the incompetent Omar Bradley. Second to that was his disrespect for the Free French, who again and again proved to have higher morale, motviation, and creativity than the vast majority of American divisions at this point in the war.

Well Done TGA!!

I love that Indy reminds us of Huntziger, the real villain of 1940. A must watch episode.

My question is why this late in the war, where are the two Italian armies? (The Kingdom’s and the Puppet State armies). I’ve read that by the end of the war that they made up a considerable portion of the Italian front but it’s been well over a year since Italy switched changes and all we have seen was a single Italian brigade for a short time before leaving the front. Also this video was a good reminder of how long it took for the occupiers to switch from German to Soviet on Saaremaa, our largest island.

Interesting episode

And people think Market Garden was bad? The metz campaign cost Patton over 55,000 casualties. Was it worth it ?

Correction about operation Queen the 5th panzer army was relieved for Ardennes offensive and replaced with the 15th army under the command of General der Infanterie gustav adolf von zangen

I am destirute. I aprexiate your work. Thanks toyazzaķ.

It's easy to criticize Eisenhower's decision now with the luxury of 20/20 hindsight.

This was the wrong sort of battle for Patton, he was more geared towards manuever warfare not set piece sieges.

It's really mind-boggling how you guys can pull so many disparate facts into a cohesive history like this, and in such an entertaining way.

Seems like a week where most of the action was about organizing for future offensives and final pushes. Its amazing the west was able to push so far so fast as they liberated france. But invading germany is going to be the struggle.

I’m listening to this for a while I have not heard any mention of the 10th mountain division in Italy

So much of what Ike did was to make the British and French happy instead of what was going to drive the Germans into an earlier surrender.

Alluding to the end of the episode; is it worse to be Huntzigered or Hotzendorfed? 🤔🤔🤔

Not crossing the Rhine at that point may have been a lucky choice by Eisenhower. It may have forced Hitler to use his Wacht am Rhine forces to counter attack the bridgehead with costly losses to US forces.

The germans threw everything they had against the 3rd army.The german colum of tanks heading there were wiped out by allied fighter bombers on the roads.Had it not been for that,the 3rd would have lost a lot more men than they did,which was a lot,and i mean a lot.

At 17:32, it's Višegrad not Visegrad. I'm saying this because in Hungary there is a town called Visegrád but that's north of budapest, nowhere near Serbia. I was very confused here for a moment.