Week 275 - Was Hürtgen Forest Worth it? - WW2

Week 275 - Was Hürtgen Forest Worth it? - WW2 - December 2, 1944

Рет қаралды 201,359

Күн бұрын

The bulk of the fight for Hürtgen Forest is now over, and today we look at the results. We also look at Soviet plans for their January offensive. In the field this week, the Red Army is still fighting in Hungary, the Allies are still trying to reach the Roer River in the west, and in the Pacific Theater the kamikaze menace is wreaking havoc with Allied scheduling.
Join us on Patreon: / timeghosthistory
Or join the TimeGhost Army directly at: timeghost.tv/signup/
00:00 INTRO
01:06 Soviet Offensive Plans for 1945
03:12 Red Army attacks in Hungary
06:19 The Port of Antwerp is clear for use
07:23 The Battle of Hurtgen Forest is Over
12:20 Allied advances to the Roer
14:19 Tension builds in Greece
15:32 The aerial situation in the Philippines
21:36 CONCLUSION
Check out our TimeGhost History KZfaq channel: / timeghost
Between 2 Wars: • Between 2 Wars
Follow WW2 Day by Day on Instagram: @ww2_day_by_day
Follow TimeGhost History on Instagram: @timeghosthistory
Like us on Facebook: / timeghosthistory
Hosted by: NN
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński
Community Management: Ian Sowden
Written by: NN
Research by: NN
Map animations by: Daniel Weiss
Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Edited by: NN
Artwork and color grading by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Marek Kamiński
Colorizations by: Mikołaj Uchman
Source literature list: bit.ly/SourcesWW2
Archive footage: Screenocean/Reuters - www.screenocean.com
Image sources: IWM A 26560, A 26559, A 26548, A 26547
Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
Easy Target - Rannar Sillard
Leave It All Here - Fabien Tell
Dark Beginning - Johan Hynynen
It's Not a Game - Philip Ayers
Let Go of Fear - Howard Harper-Barnes
Rivers Run Red - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
Darkness Closing In - Max Anson
Secret Cargo - Craft Case
Shrouded in Conspiracy - Jon Bjork
United Fronts - Jon Sumner
The Mole - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
Rush of Blood - Reynard Seidel
Run and Hide - Philip Ayers
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

Пікірлер: 499

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

This week, we're excited to give a shout-out to our new ambassadors, the Timeghost Signals Unit. Our new community-run moderation program. Their commitment over the last few weeks has played a pivotal role in reinforcing the unity within the TimeGhost army, and we hope to grow it even further. A heartfelt thanks to each of our ambassadors for their invaluable contributions! Interested in being part of the Signals Unit? Consider joining today: forms.gle/78AEu2C7TMxAnVJz6

@andy313131313136 7 ай бұрын

Only in the west do we ask if a Campaign was worth it. Yes the fighting was bitter, bloody, and we can argue if it was worth it. An example of another power asking a similar question is the Soviet Union asking this question about the battles of Rhzev. Which was a lot bigger and costly, yet they always say that these were necessary to win ultimate victory.

@caryblack5985 7 ай бұрын

As of December1, 1944 the Germans have had 1,147,942 deaths on the Eastern Front and appoximately 4,500,000 wounded in the year 1944. In December 1944 they will have an additional 85,023 deaths on the Eastern Front and an additional 250,000 wounded. The total for the Germans until now is 2,657,868 and approximately 7,500,000 wounded.

@Yamato-tp2kf 7 ай бұрын

I would love to see a special episode about the rescue operations in the Philippine island Luzon that are going to happen in January that saved Americans POW's and civilians!!!

@Dontwlookatthis 7 ай бұрын

. @Stanley-Wallice Even if it means doing nothing when the NAZIS were killing millions of people and the soviets were killing their 10s mov millions of their own people, including every last Soviet soldier who had surrendered during the war. I don;t think we can play Disney movie here. Disney did more to fuck up the west's idea of reality and it is not even a dominant philosophy, its been more subtile that any philosophy. Hitler and Stalin were both Social Darwinists. You see what happened when Dawin's survival of the fittest is put in practice by two different governments at the same time.

@Dontwlookatthis 7 ай бұрын

@@caryblack5985 I read your post below. What is the point in discussing North West Europe? If it is to say look how many Germans the Soviets were killing which made it easy for the Allies to push to the Elba, well, the Allies were fighting two huge wars while the Soviets fought one war. The expanse and manpower the Allies had to use to fight the war against Japan with the entire Pacific Ocean as a battleground. With the war in Europe over, and two weeks before the end of the Pacific War, the soviets invaded mostly unoccupied land conquered by Japan. That's what started the Cold War, in reality.

@Valdagast 7 ай бұрын

For comparison, the population of Sweden in 1945 was about 7 million.

@korbell1089 7 ай бұрын

Archerfish didn't get credit for sinking the Shinano at first because the Navy couldn't believe it was the size that Cdr. Enright was describing and there was a carrier that Intel didn't know about. They did finally give him credit for a "carrier" but it wasn't until after the war that they found out exactly what they had sunk!

@alexamerling79 7 ай бұрын

I can't believe we are in December 1944 already! Feels like just yesterday the Wehrmacht was rolling into Poland and now the allies are closing in on the Reich. Great stuff like always Indy!

@anarchopupgirl 7 ай бұрын

*hobbling in on my walker* feels like it was Isonzo round 10 only last week

@3_am___ 7 ай бұрын

I will be so sad when this show comes to the end.. it's literally my Saturday Ritual at this point...

@goldenageofdinosaurs7192 7 ай бұрын

@@3_am___Same. It’s crazy how fast it’s gone by!

@Yamato-tp2kf 7 ай бұрын

And a couple of weeks from the Battle of the Bulge...

@alexamerling79 7 ай бұрын

@@3_am___ same. I don't know what I'll do on Saturdays after this

@gunman47 7 ай бұрын

A side note this week on November 27 1944 is that the Royal Air Force Fauld explosion will occur at the RAF Fauld underground munitions storage depot in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. A mistake by a worker triggered a massive explosion as 4000 tons of bombs went off at once. The blast instantly gouged a 12 acre hole in the ground and the tremors were picked up by the seismograph in Geneva, Switzerland and Casablanca, French Morocco. Forty people were killed in the blast by falling debris or by suffocation trapped underground. The blast caused a nearby reservoir to collapse, and six million gallons of rubble-filled water poured down into the bomb dump, killing 27 men working in the offices on the surface. The blast represented only 10 percent of the explosives in the dump. If the lot had gone off, it would have caused a bigger explosion than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. Today, there is still a crater a quarter-mile wide and 100 feet deep at the site which is sealed off because of the unexploded bombs still lying beneath the surface.

@mad_max21 7 ай бұрын

Did the worker survived?

@gunman47 7 ай бұрын

@@mad_max21Unfortunately details are a little scarce on this. In fact, it actually took until a 1974 investigation to even determine what caused the explosion!

@jliller 7 ай бұрын

The History Guy had a recent episode about this tragedy.

@Raskolnikov70 7 ай бұрын

@@mad_max21 Were there enough pieces of him left to do an autopsy?

@shawnjohnson9763 7 ай бұрын

@@Raskolnikov70I'd be willing to bet they were able to determine a cause of death.

@nicolaso.8666 7 ай бұрын

10 months left of this series. I am not ready to say goodbye to this series. Best product since The Great War! Well done Indy and Team!

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

It's bittersweet to approach the end of this incredible journey. Rest assured, we have big plans for this channel and Korea! Hope to see you there. Thanks for watching.

@paulhan1615 7 ай бұрын

@@WorldWarTwoNo way... You would be covering the Korean War?!! Do you plan on coming to Korea(South, obviously) on any time soon?

@pocketmarcy6990 6 ай бұрын

@@paulhan1615yep Indy is starting Korea in June of 2024

@goldgeologist5320 7 ай бұрын

6,000,000 men! My father was one of them slugging through Europe and was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge after surviving landing on D-Day as a 19 year or maybe 20 year old young man. Went from high school graduation to basic training g. Miss you dad! You did great as a soldier and father! RIP

@Ronald98 7 ай бұрын

I believe Indy is talking about Soviet numbers for the upcoming Berlin offensive. Not the Allied numbers in the west. Just a small clarification, not to downgrade your father's achievement of course, may he rest in peace.

@goldgeologist5320 7 ай бұрын

@@Ronald98 I thought 6,000,000 total. But if that was just the Soviet army; yikes the combined forces would have been huge.

@Ronald98 7 ай бұрын

@@goldgeologist5320 Yeah, the number of allied troops in the west is now 4.5 million men while Germany only had 1.6 million men in the west and 2.3 in the east....safe to say, the Germans ain't gonna survive that one.

@Ronald98 7 ай бұрын

@@goldgeologist5320 Another fun fact from Wikipedia, the TOTAL number of the Soviet army in it's peak in 1945 was 17.5 million men! absolutely crazy to think about this!

@j.4332 7 ай бұрын

1st or 4th division?

@michimatsch5862 7 ай бұрын

As a German who can see Strasbourg by climbing up a hill it is a funny feeling to hear the allies have finally come close to my home.

@gordybing1727 7 ай бұрын

@@BleedingUranium I'm from North Dakota and when I hear Strasbourg, I think Lawrence Welk. In 1876 General Custer took 300 men from Mandan, ND to the valley of the Little Big Horn, a distance of about 325 miles as the crow flies. The distance from Normandy to Strasbourg is about 390 miles or only a little more.

@TOM-op2cp 10 күн бұрын

you are now in the Volksturm. You are given an obsolete foreign rifle with 4 rounds of ammunition, and an arm band...

@Shadowhooch 7 ай бұрын

Our family has a picture of my grandpa dated Nov 10th 1944 Luxembourg in his uniform and it showed that he was part of the 121st regiment, 8th division US army. Those specifics didn't mean that much to me until I started seeing the 8th division on the maps (after 6 years of watching this wonderful series). Now you even showed his exact regiment 121st capturing Hurtgen and Kleinhau. It's fascinating to trace through what my grandpa must have experienced. We never heard anything about the war from him beyond the fact that he worked the mortars....so this level of information is amazing. Thank you!

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing your story and the continued support! -TimeGhost Ambassador

@avnrulz8587 7 ай бұрын

You left out the fact the Allied command didn't believe Archerfish sank a carrier, because of its size, until after the war.

@Raskolnikov70 7 ай бұрын

The Allies shouldn't have been surprised that Japan would defend the Phillipines with air power because it was one of the best opportunities they had to concentrate and use it this late in the war. Japanese air power had been waning since they lost their carriers, and flying hundreds of miles over water to attack remote Allied bases or fleets wasn't possible very often with the limited planes, pilots and fuel they still had. But in the Phillipines they could station their air assets on the nearby islands and conduct frequent raids on Allied positions because they were so close by. The logistical reasons alone should have made the Allies realze this was going to be a problem for them.

@arcticfox1402 7 ай бұрын

As a Canadian, I'm sure our officials apologized for not getting the Sechelt cleared sooner. But really, when I first read about the non-vite many years ago it kind of pissed me of. Still does.

@Uncommoner 7 ай бұрын

We should have expected it after the 'recognition' the Canadians got after Ortona.

@hughbeastodonnell3733 7 ай бұрын

On the bright side the very first ship to enter the port was the SS Fort Cataraqui. It was built by Davie Shipbuilding & Repair Company, in Lauzon, Quebec and was delivered in October 1942. Fort Cataraqui survived the war and was broken up in 1960 in Mobile, Alabama. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Fort_Cataraqui Sometimes you have to take your wins where you can find them....

@901Sherman 7 ай бұрын

@@Uncommoner You can thank that Marcus Clarkus for that

@caryblack5985 7 ай бұрын

@greenkoopa 7 ай бұрын

Could you clarify a bit? Is that from Sept 39, or just 44?

@caryblack5985 7 ай бұрын

The first sentence is 1944. The last sentence is 1941 thtrough 1944.@@greenkoopa

@WWFanatic0 7 ай бұрын

What is perhaps most staggering is that in 1945, despite being just more than 4 months of fighting, Germany will lose more military dead than in 1942 and 1943 *combined*. They'll almost exceed the death toll of 1944. January 1945 will see more German dead than all of 1941 and almost more than 1942.

@caryblack5985 7 ай бұрын

@@WWFanatic0 yes the German losses will escalate especially when they start sending old men and boys to fight in 1945 all in support of Hitler and the Nazi government.

@vitorsousa8172 7 ай бұрын

It gives terrible idea how 1944 was catastrophic to Germany

@sonoftherabbitpeople4737 7 ай бұрын

First, a little back story. My dad was born in 1937 in rural Virginia. This was the real old country style living; log built home, no plumbing or electricity, and one raised one's own food. My dad was the youngest of 12 children, but he was quite a bit younger than his next youngest siblings. He has nephews older than himself. His oldest brothers served in the Army and the Marines in WW2 while my dad was in the Army in Vietnam. His oldest brother was serving in the 128th Infantry Regiment of the Army's 32nd Infantry Division. He was a veteran of the New Guinea campaign. It was on December 1, 1944 when PFC Arthur Burton Catlett was reported KIA on Leyte Island. He was shot and killed by a Japanese sniper while his unit was on patrol.

@timothylindsay3244 7 ай бұрын

This is a phenomenally well researched and narrated series. As a 27 year veteran and retiree of the US Army with foreign tours during the Cold War in Germany and Japan to name two, I particularly enjoy following your treatment of the European Theater. My father, a Troop Commander in the 113th Cav Group, supported the XIXth Corp as they made their march from Omaha Beach thru France, Belgium, and Germany where they were halted to make contact with the Soviets near Torgau on the Elbe, on 25 April, 1945. He lost his best friend and fellow officer 1LT Jeremiah ODonnell in a fire fight on 29 April. He never discussed details of his wartime experience with me…this last event I learned from my mother. My Dad earned the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars w//device and the Purple Star during his nearly 1 year in combat. I learned details of his service and the sacrifice of his men only since his passing in 1997. Your series keeps his and his soldiers’ sacrifices alive for us and our nation, true heroes all. I can’t thank you enough.

@Southsideindy 7 ай бұрын

Since I research and write the regular weekly episodes myself (and host them, of course), this is a great compliment. I can very much see your Dad and many others not wanting to talk about their wartime experiences. Had I lived through something like that, I doubt very much whether In would want to write and present this series. Thanks again for the kind words.

@williestyle35 6 ай бұрын

As a veteran you might know that you can request your father's service records from the Army's Historical (and) Records Command, if interested. When I did that for my father before he passed, it only served to confirm what he said. Mainly as an electrical and acoustic engineer involved on radar projects, inducted late war in 1944 to the Signal Corps (to make him subject to military secrecy and justice for the still somewhat classified nature of his work). p. s. It is a Purple Heart* not "purple star"

@prompt000 7 ай бұрын

Amazing how Georgio Santios can go from leading the Greek Communist party to US representative while still maintaining his pro hockey career

@Conn30Mtenor 7 ай бұрын

Not to mention curing cancer, solving the problem of nuclear fusion and writing a groundbreaking thesis on dark matter.

@spencers5898 7 ай бұрын

I'm glad I'm not the only one who had this thought.

@darthbee18 6 ай бұрын

Aw SNAP! 🤣🤣🤣💀💀💀🔥🔥🔥

@jochum334 7 ай бұрын

it is quite enlightening to follow the western front. More focused coverage had left me with the impression of it basically being, break out from Normandy, Rush to the Rhine, Battle of the Bulge, Mopping up. It's only by following events in this week to week format that I'm starting to grasp just how much fight was still left in Germany. This war in not at all as 'all but over' as it was in my head.

@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 7 ай бұрын

That's what you get with a historical education that only follows the big events. That is if you get anything on WW2 at all.

@cyrilhudak4568 7 ай бұрын

Probably why the TV show Combat! lasted five seasons without a problem. A lot of fight in them krauts. ☺

@stevekaczynski3793 7 ай бұрын

SPOILER Over 1,000 RAF Bomber Command aircrew were killed in the month of April 1945, a month when it is taken for granted the war in Europe was all but over. But German night fighters and flak remained lethal to the end.

@ericsommers7386 7 ай бұрын

Calling the damage done by kamikaze a plane fact.....I see what you did there Indy.

@blackhathacker82 7 ай бұрын

Verbally kamikaze you can call a dumb person beyond recovery in greece 🇬🇷

@mister_jayHD 7 ай бұрын

A while ago, my grandma gave me some letters and a field paper of my great-granduncle. He served in the Wehrmacht from ~41 to 45. We went through Ukraine up to Leningrad, then back through Ukraine into Yugoslavia/Hungary and fought the Russians until they were near Austria. My great-grandfather (lost a leg to the Russians) told my grandmother that he was the funniest and nicest person in the family. He got hit the 26th of April 1944 and died on the 28th. 9 days before the war ended…

@chacochicken 7 ай бұрын

My grandfather was 28th division 112th infantry and his answer 30 years ago was a resounding "No". A couple of weeks after Hurtgen he was wounded and briefly captured at St. Vith. He did like Norm Cota who he met when the general visited the wounded after the Bulge.

@henrypaulpierce4160 7 ай бұрын

My Da was in the 28th Division, 109th Infantry Co 'E'...he suffered severe PTSD his entire life although he kept it inside until he passed away at 67 years of age.

@chacochicken 7 ай бұрын

@@henrypaulpierce4160 I hear you, brother, it took a terrible toll that most decent men couldn't shake. My grandfather wasn't tough, smart, or brave but joyous and that served him well. I reckon that's why he lived as long as he did.

@Ronald98 7 ай бұрын

@@chacochickenMay he rest in peace.

@mikhailiagacesa3406 7 ай бұрын

My Grandfather had his 6 childhood friends in the 28th. 2 died in Normandy, 2 at Hurtgen forest and 2 at the Bulge. So, yeah, not a big fan of the Hurtgen battle.

@stevekaczynski3793 7 ай бұрын

The 28th Division was Eddie Slovik's. SPOILER He will be shot by firing squad early in 1945 as a deserter. People who defend his execution should reflect that if he had given in to pressure to rejoin his unit, his life might have been thrown away in Hürtgen Forest.

@johngetty3839 7 ай бұрын

Congratulations on your continuing coverage of the Italian campaign and the war in China. As an American, most coverage I usually see at this point in the war concentrates on the ETO, the Eastern Front and the Pacific ocean area. Love what you are all doing!

@yes_head 7 ай бұрын

"Make no mistake -- those men WILL die." Oh, Indy. So full of holiday cheer. 😉

@blueboats7530 7 ай бұрын

At the time, U.S. Navy intelligence had no knowledge the Shinano existed, so presumed Archerfish sank one of the known light carriers

@lukemaxwell8062 7 ай бұрын

On one hand, I'm glad to see that the war is finally coming to a close. On the other, Ill be saddened by the end of this truly impressive project. My Saturday routine (now Friday thanks to Patreon) will be no more. Ive looked forward to the end of the week ever since over 5 years ago when this project started. I hope that the TimeGhost team takes a very well deserved break after this project is over, and I look forward to whatever you all choose to do next.

@ezioauditore5041 7 ай бұрын

Wonder if TimeGhost might be interested in Cold War wars

@Raskolnikov70 7 ай бұрын

They're doing Korea next. TG isn't going anywhere.

@lukemaxwell8062 7 ай бұрын

@@Raskolnikov70 where did they say that?

@Raskolnikov70 7 ай бұрын

@@lukemaxwell8062 They did an announcement video here, maybe... a few months back? I don't really remember how long. But it is official, right from Indy himself.

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thank you for following along and keep an eye out for what comes next! - TimeGhost Ambassador

@nathanbeard3561 7 ай бұрын

My grandfather entered combat at toward the end of the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest. He was a rifleman scout in the 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Division. He fought through the rest of the Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns until the war ended and he was sent back home in late '45. He never spoke of his service. Watching these helps to understand why and enlighten our views on the Greatest Generation.

@stephengrinkley9889 7 ай бұрын

One thing I like about this series that you don't get in most historical documentaries is that these guys give you a glimpse into the level of cooperation and coordination between units, branches, and even armies from the tactical level all the way to the strategic level. The level of coordination it took on both sides to prosecute this war is truly breathtaking. Bravo Indy, Spartacus and the rest of the team 👏🏿

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thank you for your kind words!

@Grizabeebles 7 ай бұрын

Listening to the "Behind the Bastards" podcast recently, I learned that Douglas MacArthur was already Army Chief of Staff during the Bonus Army march in 1932. During that event, Eisenhower and Patton were his subordinates (majors, I believe). All of a sudden, I realized what MacArthur's "prima donna" tendencies might have all been about. If he nursed a resentment at being "passed over" to protect his ego, he'd always rankle at taking orders from a percieved "inferior".

@12321dantheman 7 ай бұрын

although, neither patton or eisenhower are giving him orders?

@teddymcfail4359 7 ай бұрын

Isn’t MacArthur in charge of the Pacific theater (Supreme Commander)? Or is that instead Nimitz?

@bigwoody4704 7 ай бұрын

@@teddymcfail4359 50-50 which was BS they didn't need Mac but the Phillipinos liked him but didn't know the whole story

@Alecsfreeman 7 ай бұрын

@Grizabeebles Do you remember in what episode you heard this anecdote? I can't find any D. MacArthur episode per se and i'm very curious about it!

@Grizabeebles 7 ай бұрын

@@Alecsfreeman -- It was from the episode where they were reading from the book "Uninended Consequences". It's a pro-gun work of fiction about a mass uprising often compared to more explicitly white suptemacist texts like The Turner Diaries. The passage about the bonus army was very evocative. It prompted me to do some research on Wikipedia and yes, MacArthur was Army Chief of Staff in the 1930s and Eisenhower and Patton both helped clear the Bonus Army encampment under MacArthur's command. That satisfies me, but if you're a real history nerd and worried about misinformation you'll probably want to check a physical copy of Patton's memoirs or something.

@sleepingbee8997 7 ай бұрын

Hearing that the Japanese had a strong aerial presence on Leyte makes the battles Leyte gulf all the more perplexing. I get the pilots were poorly trained, but surely they could have contributed something to Combat Air Patrol? And imagine if Taffy 3 had to suffer Kamikaze strikes while simultaneously fighting a desperate running battle? It seems more and more that the Leyte Gulf plan was actually a decent idea, ruined by a lack of coordination and aggression.

@extrahistory8956 7 ай бұрын

Well, Taffy 3 did suffer a kamikaze attack, but only hours after the naval engagement had ended.

@aaroncolby6124 6 ай бұрын

Most of the Japanese planes on land are from the Army. They refuse to cooperate or even communicate with their mortal enemies, the Navy.

@EkiToji 7 ай бұрын

Kamikaze attacks sure begin to showcase the weaknesses in American carrier doctrine. They were designed to carry as many planes and as much fuel as possible which makes some sense in the wider open Pacific but not among island chains. The UK meanwhile designed their newer carriers of the Illustrious- and Implacable-classes to survive in the Mediterranean and North Sea where they'd be significant targets, so instead of just relying on combat air patrols for defense they also had a substantial amount of anti-aircraft artillery. In the event even that failed they also had armored flight decks and had their fuel tanks surrounded by seawater in addition to purging all the fuel lines with carbon dioxide when not in use. We've already seen the issues with explosions on the Lexington and Wasp in 1942 that can result when you don't have such protection, and now that the UK home fleet is free to start augmenting the Eastern Fleet and Pacific Fleet it will certainly be interesting to see what they can do.

@Raskolnikov70 7 ай бұрын

Escort carriers were notorious for getting knocked out easily if they got attacked, but they were never designed for the kind of close-to-shore missions they were put to in the Pacific theater. Larger carrier groups were loaded with lots of escort and support ships like destroyers to provide protection, something the British navy couldn't count on especially in close-in fighting in the Med.

@matthewcreelman1347 7 ай бұрын

What do you do against an enemy who refuses to acknowledge their certain loss, and who insists on fighting to the bloody end? How many of the lives of your troops are you willing to spend to achieve the inevitable result? 1945 will see who is willing to pay that blood price, and perhaps also who is willing to make a Faustian bargain to avoid it.

@jacksons1010 7 ай бұрын

A survey of history reveals that conflicts are resolved when a belligerent is truly defeated - fighting to a bitter end. When bargains are made to avoid such resolutions it leads to a future renewal of the conflict. Sad, but true.

@stephengraham1153 7 ай бұрын

@@jacksons1010 Doesn't bode well for the current war in Ukraine.

@DandyLion662a 7 ай бұрын

"'T'is but a flesh wound."

@cyrilhudak4568 7 ай бұрын

Demand for unconditional surrender is a major motivation for fighting to the bitter end.

@stevekaczynski3793 7 ай бұрын

@@cyrilhudak4568 A German propaganda poster by Mjölnir (Hans Schweitzer) issued late in 1944 was headed "Victory or Bolshevism". "Victory" showed a smiling mother with her child. "Bolshevism" showed a huge leering Communist with a red star on his cap and stereotypical Jewish features overseeing a bunch or ragged German civilians starving to death. Generally speaking, wars in history have not ended with unconditional surrender or "winner takes all". For example, the incredibly destructive Thirty Years' War went on for decades but ended in negotiated peace in 1648 and, basically, a draw. Neither Catholic nor Protestant partisans succeeded in totally wiping out their opponents. The peace did not end wars in Europe but did establish the European state system's basic outlines until Napoleon.

@makosguba2259 7 ай бұрын

Wow, Indy pronounced my hometown of Nagykanizsa pretty well, only 1 sound was wrong. Pretty remarkable from a foreginer!

@shawnr771 7 ай бұрын

Not only that. He is a Texan we butcher words in our own language.

@ati847 7 ай бұрын

Actually it is written wrong on the map. The s and z are in wrong order. So he was pretty close what was actually written.

@ahorsewithnoname773 7 ай бұрын

@@shawnr771 Having known quite a few Texans from my time in the military, that made me laugh out loud.

@riordanb2 7 ай бұрын

Time Ghost is the hero of history! You guys are awesome, Ive shared your videos with some of my past history professors and fellow history lovers. Keep up the great work!!

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing our videos and thanks for watching!

@pika87 7 ай бұрын

As a proud Nagykanizsan (and a long time fan since the early days of the Great War), I'm proud whenever I see my hometown represented despite the sad occasion. However please note that in Hungarian we not only have the letter "sz" (for English "s") but the switched version as well: "zs" (pronounced similar to "j" in Dijon). So it's Nagykanizsa with a "zs" 😅 Anyways thanks Indy and team, hugs from Nagykanizsa 😊

@creatoruser736 7 ай бұрын

Germany: We're invading the Soviet Union with 3 million men! Soviet Union: That's cute.

@ahorsewithnoname773 7 ай бұрын

Axis forces actually had numerical superiority across the front throughout most of Operation Barbarossa, with the Soviet Union only achieving a rough 1:1 parity at Moscow. By now however three years of war had taken their toll, the Soviet Union was fully mobilized, and it had even greater manpower at it's disposal because the areas of the Soviet Union that had been occupied since 1941 were now cleared of the invaders. Many of the Red Army soldiers who be would pushing on toward Berlin in 1945 had spent years living under German occupation.

@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 7 ай бұрын

@@ahorsewithnoname773 Then again not a single Red Army division, corps or army was at full strength, and basically those 500 rifle divisions were at brigade level strength of 3000 men on average. After 3 years of war the USSR was bled white of manpower and it needed the remaining manpower in its occupied parts. Any man who could fight was pressed into service with very little training, causing many of them to die prematurely. Even Poles as soon 2 Polish armies would join its ranks and the Romanian and Bulgarian armies were pressed into service too. The Red Army of late 44/45 could no longer afford to lose the losses that it had done before and often compensated, like the British army, with overwhelming firepower and tanks. What the Red Army was also very good at was force concentration. Where it intended to attack it enjoyed overwhelming numbers, where it had no plans to attack the Germans probably even outnumbered the Soviets. This was often what made German commanders despair at what they thought were the boundless hordes of Soviet untermenschen that Stalin seemed to have a limitless supply off.

@stevekaczynski3793 7 ай бұрын

Barbarossa was in fact the biggest invasion in history at that point.

@HandyMan657 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for another informative episode. That's a mighty nice tie, Indy. Mighty nice.

@naveenraj2008eee 7 ай бұрын

Hi Indy Another wonderful week,full of exciting battle. As you said, this war is on verge of finish but still long way to go. Thanks for another great video.

@PhoenixNoKiseki 7 ай бұрын

Between Balaton and the River is the name of my German prog rock tribute band.

@nickmacarius3012 7 ай бұрын

Oh no @14:32... On this week in history, George Santos was expelled from the US Congress and has made an appearance in this week's episode! 😂

@AYVYN 7 ай бұрын

The 114 people who voted to keep him built a Time Machine

@30Mauser 7 ай бұрын

Outstanding as always! I’m hyper-focused on the 6th Army Group AO!

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the kind comment and thanks for watching!

@Echo2-2 7 ай бұрын

Excellent work!

@rickglorie 7 ай бұрын

I am amazed how all these operations are controlled, purely by manpower. No digital systems, sure codebreaking, but the administration of everything else, from orders to supplies is radio, telephone, postal messaging. I wonder how long it took between decisions and operations. Both sides were 'plagued' by this, so it would have cancelled out, but still, the tempo of everything is amazing. The information flow must have been enormous.

@Raskolnikov70 7 ай бұрын

That's why when you look at the personnel breakdown of a combat division they only have like 1/3rd actual combat troops. Lots of HQ units, signals units, transportation, etc... just to maintain communication along with all the other logistics stuff.

@stevekaczynski3793 7 ай бұрын

@@Raskolnikov70 The US Army had a particularly high proportion but all armies were like that in WW2 to one degree or another. In emergencies the cooks etc. might be issued a rifle and sent to fight but that was definitely only "enemy breaking through" situations.

@Raskolnikov70 7 ай бұрын

@@stevekaczynski3793 Service troops fought quite a bit, especially when front lines were moving fast and they found themselves mixed up with enemy forces. At the very least, they're responsible for their own security, which is why soldiers with weapons are doing those jobs in the first place. Happened to me personally in 1991 in the first Gulf War. I was in a medical unit in a division support area pretty far back from the front line but we'd moved so fast that a lot of Iraqi units got bypassed and were trying to head back north through our positions. All of us non-medical personnel found ourselves doing infantry and MP tasks like perimeter security and guarding POWs because we didn't have any "combat" units anywhere near us.

@egschreib4795 7 ай бұрын

These videos are absolutely awesome. Look forward to each one!

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for your support!

@elonkraja5530 7 ай бұрын

0:40 that was mind blowing 😮

@anthonygray333 7 ай бұрын

The battle in the forest was a tactical error, if an operational necessity. The 28ID split their regiments making them unable to support each other. High ground was still occupied by German forces who could call in artillery. The Kall Trail was a tiny path and any armor support was easy to halt or they slid off the side. In the midst of madness though, there was a cease fire where German and US medics worked side by side to save as many wounded as possible. When I walked the trail in the late 80s, I was a Brigade S3 and was in awe of the bravery of those who fought there. A movie was made called “When Trumpets Fade”. A tough watch. Intel was bad as enemy forces in Kommersheid and Schmidt were much larger than expected.

@Raskolnikov70 7 ай бұрын

Regiments? They couldn't even support each other at platoon and squad level sometimes in such dense forest. It must have been hellish to fight in.

@Significantpower 7 ай бұрын

Being down with COVID, this video is like the only thing I have to look forward to right now lol.

@bwarre2884 7 ай бұрын

Get well soon!

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

@lynnwood7205 7 ай бұрын

Meanwhile in December 1944 in the States, according to my parents, father in high school, mother in college, not yet together, the question in the press, in the news, "How long can Germany last? They must be on their last legs." Generally, the war in Europe will soon be over.

@jasonmussett2129 7 ай бұрын

Brilliant narration as always👍😀

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thank you for the lovely comment!

@jasonmussett2129 7 ай бұрын

@@WorldWarTwo always a pleasure 👍👍

@jeffreyfaulkner09 7 ай бұрын

Thanks! This is for you and the algorithm

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

You're welcome!

@lxathu 7 ай бұрын

It's impressive how precisely Indy pronounces not obvious Hungarian settlement names.

@stevekaczynski3793 7 ай бұрын

Compared to English, the rules of pronunciation for Central and East European languages tend to be simple and finite. A Polish personal name like, say, Przybyszewski is not as hard to pronounce as it looks. Same with place names.

@lxathu 7 ай бұрын

@@stevekaczynski3793 Being Hungarian myself, I know our written and pronounced language have a strong bond with strict rules but knowing all those rules (and those of several other countries) and following them with good quality with even the difficult sounds deserves my respect. (Occasionally, even we step into our own traps. "Házsor" is often read as [ha:ʒor] on the fly as z and s is a double letter pronounced as ʒ but házsor is a compound word and zs is not one letter here but two that is the correct reading is [ha:zʃor]. Similar is the case with "pácsó" which is not [pa:tʃo:] as it looks at first glance but [pa:cʃo:].)

@PMCKnivesAndTools 7 ай бұрын

Great work as always team

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thank you! - TimeGhost Ambassador

7 ай бұрын

Very interesting epsiode once again. Thank you

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thank you and have a nice weekend. -TimeGhost Ambassador

@brucebartup6161 7 ай бұрын

On 5 November 1944, Eisenhower calculated that for the offensives into the western borderlands of Germany to be successful, over the following month, it would require 6 million artillery shells, two million mortar shells, 400 more tanks, 1,500 jeeps, and 150,000 spare tires to replace worn-out ones, none of which was readily available until the Scheldt was cleared.[86]

@petergray2712 7 ай бұрын

What is love?! Baby don't Hurtgen! Don't Hurtgen! No more!

@shawnr771 7 ай бұрын

Thank you for the lesson.

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for watching.

@Telamon8 7 ай бұрын

The Americans sure are operating on quite a tight time table in the Pacific. Let's hope they're able to stick to it, and also that the weather decides to co-operate, especially so close to the winter typhoon season...

@janlindtner305 7 ай бұрын

Excellent lecture👍👍👍

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed the episode, thank you for watching.

@jank330 7 ай бұрын

Thanks!

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thank you very much and thanks for watching.

@HamSaladtv 7 ай бұрын

My grandfather was with the 1st Division during the battle in Hurtgen. I don't think he ever thought it was worth the loss of his friends and comrades.

@emmiannon1266 7 ай бұрын

A much quieter week, you can see that winter is truly here. the weather is the last thing stopping axis collapse but theyre not strong enough to stop allied advance now, even in the best season for defence

@lewiswestfall2687 7 ай бұрын

Thanks TG

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thanks you for watching!

@CARL_093 7 ай бұрын

Thanks indy and crew

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@angelocortez4471 7 ай бұрын

6:12 Is this what Barton & Natasha always reminisce when they say, "Budapest"?

@hannahskipper2764 7 ай бұрын

Great episode! I can't believe it's December 1944 already.

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Happy to hear you enjoyed this episode, thanks for watching!

@welcometonebalia 7 ай бұрын

Thank you.

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching.

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thanks to you for watching -TimeGhost Ambassador

@GunboyHD 7 ай бұрын

Are you going to mention the allied offensive in Burma in next week's episode?

@brainiac_on_the_dancefloor 4 ай бұрын

Re: the aerial situation in the Philippines "the plain fact is..." Perfect pun, can't believe Indy just moved past it 😅

@maxhiller5166 7 ай бұрын

As an F1 fan it is nice to see Imola mentioned!

@gilwhitmore9682 7 ай бұрын

Another great weekly episode from the World War Two channel. Possibly a box CD set in the future when this war comes to a close?

@not2hot99 7 ай бұрын

I think a dvd set would be more realistic ;)

@Ronald98 7 ай бұрын

@@not2hot991990s kids, where you at? 😂🤣✋

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

We'd like to do one, but with five years' worth of content, it's quite a hefty undertaking. Plus, we've got Korea on the horizon! Thank you very much for watching.

@wilhelmheinzerling5341 7 ай бұрын

17:37 nice pun, Indy! ;)

@Jason-fm4my 5 ай бұрын

6:20. When you are actually in the military, ceremonies can be a huge pain. Especially when dress whites are required.

@TrickiVicBB71 7 ай бұрын

The amount of men and equipment the Soviets had. No wonder some people say, "USSR that won the war." So much more than what the Germans had. Hurtgen was a damn waste of time, men and supplies, The Philippines...I wanna ask my wife if her grandparents contributed to anything to the resistance or they ran away to safety. Mine ran for the mountains when Imperial Japan invaded southern China

@extrahistory8956 7 ай бұрын

I find this period of the war from mid-September 1944 to early January 1945 to be fascinating for just how little it's covered in WW2 documentaries. Almost no mention of Hurgent Forest, 5th Army drive to Imola, the Battle of Budapest, Operation Ichi-Go or the land battles of the Philippines on any documentaries, as most just skip from summer 1944 to spring 1945.

@patrickstephenson1264 7 ай бұрын

@@extrahistory8956 Probably because we knew Germany lost by that point, which is absolutely true. But as Indy says, the war is still not over. And until there is a surrender, there will be more senseless deaths.

@Raskolnikov70 7 ай бұрын

@@extrahistory8956 In most pop-history the European conflict seems to jump from D-Day to Market Garden to the Bulge and then the final drive on Germany starting in January. They like to cover stuff when the lines on the map are moving, it's hard to provide the kind of in-depth detail that we get here in order to give it context in a shorter format.

@konst80hum 7 ай бұрын

Δεκεμβριανα.... Thanks for mentioning the Greek situation.

@Salam_Damai431 7 ай бұрын

Hail the USS Archer Fish!! I was inside that submarine when she visited New Zealand in 1964 and my primary school class teacher organised a visit.

@davidjernigan8161 7 ай бұрын

It's interesting that when the allies found out the hurtgen forest was so difficult they didn't burn it with napalm and other incendiaries

@terraflow__bryanburdo4547 7 ай бұрын

It is very hard to burn a northern forest in late fall/ early winter conditions. They used these munitions on cities inatead.

@Raskolnikov70 7 ай бұрын

@@terraflow__bryanburdo4547 The munitions they used on cities were long magnesium rods packed into casings that burst open, lit the rods on fire and scattered them over a wide area, causing many small building fires that (they hoped) would combine into one large fire. They were very effective in built-up urban areas, but completely useless in a forest unless it's really dry and there's a lot of blow-down wood and brush on the forest floor. Napalm would be much more effective at taking out trees, but not currently because of those cold/wet conditions.

@thunderbird1921 7 ай бұрын

Especially when you consider they used napalm on the Germans to destroy an SS-run fortress in France. French civilians who saw the fireball explosions and aftermath said that it was utterly brutal, but it definitely did the job. A lot of people don't realize how early that incredibly destructive weapon was introduced.

@ahorsewithnoname773 7 ай бұрын

@@terraflow__bryanburdo4547 It was for fairly similar reasons that Japan's balloon bombs were a failure. They were meant to ignite forest fires, but they were coming down in the forests of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. You couldn't have picked a worse place to try and ignore forest fires as it is consistently drenched in rain.

@terraflow__bryanburdo4547 7 ай бұрын

@ahorsewithnoname773 Actually NW Forests have summer drought and forest fires are common in August and Sept.((I live there). From what I can find the Japanese missed that window and first launched in winter 1944.

@rx7carl 7 ай бұрын

I'd really like to see a battle of Berlin special like was done for D-day. Told in intricate detail. I've never seen it covered the way it should have been, and I know the time ghost team is up to the task. You've shown it all through this, and the other series you've done

@extrahistory8956 7 ай бұрын

The Real Time History team (the ones that took over the Great War channel) actually did a documentary called "16 Days in Berlin" which covers the battle in 6 hours. It is very well detailed, but it is a Nebula exclusive. I bought a streaming pass for the documentary back in 2021, so I still have access. If you are willing to spend a couple of bucks, I recommend you watch it alongside their Rhineland 45 documentary.

@NoobLord98 7 ай бұрын

I've been wondering this for a couple weeks now, but how often do you guys update the map on the wall behind Indy?

@davidcarr7436 7 ай бұрын

There isn't a Canadian written history of the Second World War where the "Slight to the sacrifice of the valiant Canadian troops, who bore such a high price in the battle to open the port of Antwerp" is spoken of with some indignation. I've always felt we know what we did, even if no one else does. We can be proud.

@Conn30Mtenor 7 ай бұрын

Monty and the British really couldn't give a shit. The Americans neither. They'd rather blame the Canadians for the Germans escaping the Falaise pocket and criticizing the Dieppe thing.

@901Sherman 7 ай бұрын

@@Conn30Mtenor I've never heard anyone blaming the Canadians (or at least only them) for the Germans 'escaping' Falaise. and they damn well shouldn't since the whole thing was a major operational victory even if they didn't completely wipe out a German Army.

@patriotadam4091 7 ай бұрын

I can’t help but make this joke is Giorgio Siantos just another George Santos character

@QuantumJohnny1 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for your shoutout to poor little Canada in re: the above mentioned military action. It was ever thus.😂

@indianajones4321 7 ай бұрын

Great job ww2 team 👏

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@jonbaxter2254 7 ай бұрын

How the Soviets were in a better place militarily after the war astounds me.

@Raskolnikov70 7 ай бұрын

Because they fully mobilized their economy on a war footing from the outset, and had tons of aid brought in from the Allies through Lend Lease. Once they stemmed the tide and began pushing the Wehrmacht back, they could continuously build up their military strength as long as their casualties didn't exceed their population replacement rate.

@wortrihanha5731 7 ай бұрын

Listening to the Luzon air reinforcement section, wondering if the script was written - "The plane fact is that MacArthur...." 🤣

@brokenbridge6316 7 ай бұрын

So Hurtgen was the place where both sides savaged each other. And maybe made the upcoming German offensive a little weaker. I see. Nice video.

@dragonrykr 7 ай бұрын

0:31 and Croats too

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

You are absolutely correct, thanks for bringing that up. -TimeGhost Ambassador

@serdradion4010 6 ай бұрын

Shinano almost got away. They saw the Archerfish sub and successfully evaded for several hours, all alone, one on one duel. Almost feel sorry for the Captain Abe.

@pmcmanus420 7 ай бұрын

KUDOS for having the old flag of Canada - the Red Ensign!

@cliffordcasnermillar4976 7 ай бұрын

I hate to say it, but this is not the end in the Hürtgen Forest-Schmidt & the Schwammenauel Dam won’t fall till February. Charles MacDonald’s book is very good; I’d also recommend “Hell in Hurtgen Forest: The Ordeal and Triumph of an American Infantry Regiment” by Robert Rush, which covers the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Division at a level not possible in the weekly videos, & “Victory Was Beyond Their Grasp”, by Douglas Nash, which covers the 272nd Volksgrenadier Division & a number of forgotten skirmishes in the Hürtgen, overshadowed by the Ardennes Campaign, which happened at the same time. I mentioned a few weeks ago-I’ve visited the ground around Aachen, Geilenkirchen, the Hürtgen Forest & the Roer pretty extensively & love watching your coverage of the campaign there.

@darvennej4495 7 ай бұрын

Not much detail on Devers 6th Army Group actions and Patton's re-plenishment after Metz. I miss seeing ""Handschar ''13th SS Mountain division on the map . I know 1st and 9th army is approaching that time of the ''Secret Ardennes offensive'' and they'll be in the fray.

@raylast3873 5 ай бұрын

11:36 the alternative to Hürtgen Forest was to push into Germany from France and Southern Belgium, on a decently broad Front, ideally with two prongs. Invading Germany from Holland, essentially through the Rhine Delta was always an extremely precarious proposition that forced the Allies to fight on a relatively narrow front with lots of choke points and bridges (Rhine Delta!), which played to the Germans‘ strength, while also dangerously extending the Allied line. A direct attack would have been a lot harder to oppose.

@Jarod-vg9wq 7 ай бұрын

Salutations Indy & gang, when shall we get a video on the First Special Service Force? What happened to all the men after the unit was disbanded what did they do in the war we don’t now about.

@brendenstuder6119 7 ай бұрын

My Grandpa was incredibly bitter about the Canadians getting snubbed in the celebrations of the liberation of the Scheldt. He considered it a slap in the face, and it really was.

@657449 6 ай бұрын

An uncle told a story of two navy planes following a kamikaze over the fleet. All three were shot down. Desperate times.

@davidtorre7370 7 ай бұрын

I read that there was a road around the forest that could have been utilized.

@nicholasconder4703 7 ай бұрын

Something completely unrelated to this episode, but I lived for 2 years near San Antonio on Marinduque, the small island directly east of Mindoro. Sadly, it appears the house I lived in is gone, as is almost all the ex-patriot housing. The managers house and a couple of the other houses are visible amongst the trees, and the golf course clubhouse is still there, but the adjacent swimming pool is empty. Somewhat sad, but as they say, "Don't go back, it isn't there anymore. Exception Switzerland".

@darkdaysunrise 7 ай бұрын

cool

@PunaSquirrel 7 ай бұрын

Aloha Indy🤙🏼will you be continuing the series and head into the post-war years/Korean War?

@Raskolnikov70 7 ай бұрын

Yes, they already announced they'd be doing a Korean War week-by-week after this one is done.

@WorldWarTwo 7 ай бұрын

Next year Indy will begin the Korean war series, there will be future content for this channel as well! You can check out our latest Timeghost breakfast club episode for a bit more information.

@Abdi_AlSheikh 7 ай бұрын

My father will be born in few months ❤❤❤

@DaiElsan 7 ай бұрын

The logistics to keep 6 million men alone is unimaginable. Let alone the logistics for the armour guns aircraft. The factory output to sustain this. Its just crazy. The Germans messed up bad. They don't stand a chance.