(1/10) Battlefield II The Battle of Scandinavia Ep4 World War II

[mbtemlett]

Stalin got what he wanted in the end

[mbtemlett]

There is a little geographic misplacement here on the map, the mines in Northern Sweden are pictured in Northern Finland. It truly is a forgotten Front, not only to the rest of the world but to Battlefield too...

The Documentary is very interesting, nice work posting it!

[coolasnubbar]

@hunt801 Please do not write stuffs you don't know about. Sweden did help Finland. You probaly haven't seen the movie: ''Framom främsta linjen''. It's a about a Swedish soldiers in Finland.

[jimmyn89SWE]

@coolasnubbar No, it's a movie about a regiment of Swedish speaking Finns.

[Gibson467]

I'm from Norway, so this really made me think about what a great country I live in!

[Andreask93]

Interesting fact. The SKF factory in Gothenburg (Sweden) made ball bearings for both the allies and axis. When the Americans found out, they threatened to carpet-bomb the entire city if they didn't stop. The Sweds didn't stop and the Americans got pissed, but never did anything about it.

[MultiMarcus99]

1:30 wrong. Sweden had a better airforce then germany.I know you think i am lying,but i am not. The german marine was better, but the army not.

[2bn442RCT]

@MultiMarcus99 Better as in cleaner, nicely parked and never used. LOL

[Picard578]

Discovery is US-run TV programme? No wonder they made such mistakes - I heard that some in US think that Yugoslavia still exists.

[2bn442RCT]

@Picard578 Don't get me started about education in the US. People in the US are seriously under-educated. I don't think young people know of a country of Yugoslavia ever existing. Ask a young person in the US who Tito was? I'm sure most would think it was Britney Spears dog or something.

[Rjurik66]

it is true that history is written by the winners..how could someone honest ever have the impudence to declare that "the Soviet Union felt threatened by an attack from Finland or Germany"???why in the Gods name should Finland ever have wanted to attacke URRS??or Germany??the Soviet Union had a world wide reactionary policy toward almost all the countries,and was a serious menace to the european order..SHE was a real threat..as the english gangster Churchill pointed out a hundred times..

[Sabatonf4n]

By the way Finland actually isn't a part of the Scandinavian peninsula, only Sweden and Norway are.

[TTiger75]

I remember my father telling me stories about my grandfather (low-level officer in the Weapon SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler) being stationed in Finnland and fighting against the Russians (Emphasizing that the Finns were incredibly tough fighters making necklaces out of cervicales of fallen russian soldiers). Does anybody have informations about secret support for Finnlands or was this during later stages of the war?

[Sabatonf4n]

@TTiger75 Finland fought alone in the Winter war because of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact (dunno, if "pact" is the right word). But in the Continuation war that began simultaneously with Operation Barbarossa, Germans fought in Northern Finland to free more Finns for the battles on the Karelian isthmus. And that time there was one Waffen-SS unit in Northern Finland so that must where your grandfather served. Viele Grüsse für deinen Grossvater!

[TTiger75]

@Sabatonf4n Thx a lot for your answer. Sadly my grandfather died already more than 20 yrs ago and my father died more than 4yrs ago and I did not inherite any photos or anyhting like that. My father even sold the dagger of my grandfather years ago...

[CocodriloNYC]

Its good

[Dantex626]

Simo häyäh

[XIIIphobos]

finland's sacrifices are well enough remembered by the world. if the finnish would've blown the murmansk railway tracks, despite what churchill had threatened, the nazis would've probably won the war. if the finns ha dparticipated in the siege of leningrad, the nazis would've probably won the war. but we didn't, because marshal mannerheim knew his shit.

[MultiMarcus99]

Sweden had soldiers in fi lanfd the entire war

[D3adtrap]

Hail to all heros of WW2

[MultiMarcus99]

The German and Swedes workt togehter the entire war

[Naeddyr]

God fucking dammit, why can't they get the maps right?

[Picard578]

@Naeddyr 'cause they don't give fuck about Europe

[oneofmonkeys]

frightened sweden, hahaa pyssy sweden!!!

[MultiMarcus99]

@oneofmonkeys we was smarter then america.

[MultiMarcus99]

@oneofmonkeys fuck of we work togehter the entire war

[reeven2003]

Sorry for Karelia loss......dead be with rusia.

[majorRajn]

G, Zukov was non Marschall in 1939

[anttonoo]

Isn't battlefield 2 a game!? XD

[Qlasettaja]

@anttonoo Did you know that Battlefield is word too, not just a nerd game.

[anttonoo]

@Qlasettaja You have no humor you emo retarded fuck maybe you should read how I wrote it and the sarcastic smiley added to the end. Ofcourse I understand the series are called Battlefield

[Qlasettaja]

@anttonoo I hate that you came to speak about games.

[Qlasettaja]

@anttonoo Humour or not.

[wasara85]

It is said when Molotov was told that the Finnish army had 250 000 men at the border, he said with an insulting look that Sovjet has 500 000 men at the border. "Really?" Finnish minister Paasikivi said. "Well, I guess I need to call the army HQ and tell them to give our soldiers at the border one more bullet." A pretty acurrate description of the Finnish soldiers courage and discipline... =)

[tupakki]

I wouldn't say too much about Paasikivi. Because of Paasikivi, Finland lost so much after the Continuation War. He couldn't keep his mouth shut and he was real soviet ass licker. Of course Stalin used Paasikivi with Kolontai as much as he wanted. That's why Stalin always wanted that Paasikivi need to be a person who negotiate with Soviet Union. Paasikivi was a big harm for Finland.

[Qlasettaja]

@tupakki Oli se Mannerheimkin aika harmikas juttu Suomelle.

[tupakki]

@Qlasettaja Harmikas millä tavalla? Eikö armeija sinun mielestä tarvitse kykenevää ylipäällikköä. On toki totta, että Mannerheim teki joitain virheitä. Esimerkiksi asemasodan aikana olisi puolustukseen pitänyt panostaa paljon enemmän. Linnoituksesta vastannut kenraali Laatikainen Mannerheimin kanssa eivät uskoneet suurhyökkäykseen. Kun asia Mannerheimille selvisi, hän syrjäytti Laatikaisen, mutta tilanne oli jo toivoton.

[azz578]

A civilian government with backbone and a brilliant general without. Not something you see very often...Way to go Finnish politicians.....

[sebas379]

the map at 2:40 is wrong because it places fields in nothern finland instead of sweden, though the iron ore did come from sweden as the commentator says

[bodunchar]

history is written by the victor.

[QPhilms]

What's more, they never charged tanks with cavalry, it's a fable.

Also, in almost all their battles they were placed in positions of supreme importance, often to save someones ass or to take objectives no one else could achieve.

They had highest kills as pilots, amazing ferocity as footmen, astounding resilience as tankers and tragic consequences as paratroopers.

I am an American, with a master's degree in Military History, and I applaude the Polish and their sacrifices.

[2bn442RCT]

@QPhilms Yes that's one of the stupid myths of WWII.

[aaKonda]

"had highest kills as pilots"

How many pilots did they have who had over 100 aerial victories? Germany had 105. Poland had?

[TygrysBengalski]

The Polish began WW 2 with 435 aircraft.

They lost 327.

The Germans began the invasion of Poland with 2085 planes.

They lost 564.

That gives Poland an almost 2:1 kill/death ratio while being outnumbered almost 5:1 in September 1939.

Also note that the PZL P.11 was a bit inferior to the Me 109.

In other words, I'd say they collectively outflied the Germans by a huge margin, but individually Germans had far better aces.

[aaKonda]

"The Luftwaffe lost, to all operational causes, 285 aircraft, with 279 more damaged, while the Poles lost 333 aircraft."

-Overy, Richard J., The Air War: 1939-1945,1980. p28

And German losses also take account all the losses suffered by AA-guns and so on. Not only the fighters, but the slow moving bombers.

[ichmalealsobinich]

Only 45 german aircrafts were downed by polish fighters during the polish campaign.

[ichmalealsobinich]

Sorry you're wrong. During the polish campaign only 45 german aircrafts were shot down by polish fighters who themselves suffered 150 casaulties in air. My source: I've only summarized the polish claims acc. the air aces homepage of A. Magnus, who himselves has a lot of literature references.

[AmericanWarrior1776]

Its easier to kill your enemy when you are on the the defensive. As a general rule the attacker suffers more losses than the defender. This is because the defender is dug in and has AA guns and other defenses on the ground compared to the German invaders who were doing Blitzkrieg.

[tupakki]

Let me tell you something. Only finnish defence line was called Mannerheim line which was only 132 km long with 101 bunkers in Karelia. Mannerheim said himself that luckily it can hold a week. It wasn't strong line at all. Whole border with Soviet Union were more than 1000 km long. In north there were no trenches. It was so called mobile warfare that finnish soldiers used. The final result wasn't because finnish forces were dug in. That's not true at all.

[aaKonda]

I always thought the most successful polish pilot was Stanislaw Skalski with 22 kills, which is just shy of Erich Hartmann's 352 kills.

[AppleSouffle]

Excuse me, but 22 is a lot less than 352.

[aaKonda]

That was sarcasm. It was meant to comment on the claim "had highest kills as pilots" presented by QPhilms

[QPhilms]

The Polish forces did amazing things in WWII.

First they fought alone, many captured were finally freed when USSR became an 'Ally'. Then these men went the long route to other countries.

They fought in the Battle of Britain as pilots, footmen in such places as Monte Cassino, tankers at the 'Mace' in the Falais pocket, paratroopers in Market-Garden, and that's a short list.

Those still in Poland fought tragic battles in Warsaw.

And after all this... they lost their country for 40 years....

[TheRawke]

Finnish and the exile Polish soldiers of WW2 were probably the bravest in the whole war. Yet everybody ignores them because they hadn't much influence on the outcome of the whole war, even though the Polish 1st Armoured not only captured their own mission objectives but also those of the 4th Canadian Armoured in Normandy on one occasion. Two Polish battlegroups halted 4 German Panzerdivisions at Mont Ormel. 3 of thsoe divisions were Waffen-SS. That's true bravery.

[VaktaSmegMan]

I were supposed to do a thumbs up on your comment but i pressed thumbs down by misstake sorry

[TheRawke]

Np.^^

[BlazejLW10]

thank you mi friend. im polish and im proud 2 say that ur probably thw 1st foriegner i know that knows and realizes the bravery of the polish and finnish soldiers. fins were in a better situation than we poles bcuz they had the very harsh winter on their side and the russians who were much worse soldiers than the germans were. thank you for posting ur comment mi friend. long live poland and its brave soldiers. same with the finnish.

[TheRawke]

Now guess what...I'm German.^^

[LeMansMan007]

@BlazejLW10

hey im doing military history at uni and specialising in ww2 and ure 100% right about the polesand also czechs lots of people dont realise how much u did for the allies especially for britain and especially during the battle of britain and as im english all i can say thank you ever so much for ure help. In britain we shud have more memorials for polish people who basically gave their lives for britain.

[zippinen]

thank you sillygranpa.this is a remote and poor country,but our hearts are made of iron.we have truely earned our existence.we like to drink beer from our own breweries instead of someone else.that alone makes this land worth defending.

[SillyGrandpa]

Much respect to the brave Finns.

[tupakki]

Finland has a part of Skandinavian Peninsula. You get it right. Finland is also a part of Fenno-Scandia. I don't really know what you mean by Scandinavia so you should know that Denmark isn't a part of Skandinavia, it is that by cultural history, linguistic etc.. You can define Skandinavia in different ways.

[MCMXCII]

The most common, and also the strictest definition of Scandinavia, it comprises the kingdoms of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Finland is as much a part of Scandinavia as Iceland. Finland especially; you have a completely different culture and language.

[tupakki]

I know what you are mean. You are dividing countries to Scandinavia by culture, language etc. That's the one way but there is also other ways that you should know. By geographically Denmark isn't a part of Scandinavia but areas of Finland are.

[MCMXCII]

Yah, just wiki it! ;)

[sabbathfreak666]

Simo Häyhä is badass, we short guys rule!

[Satan916]

hell yeah

short but spicy

[xximmortalxx666]

Norway lost against the nazis. and joind them in the war ageins commis.

To day. Norway has half communisem controlling the contry and thay dont like forigners

[danxtur]

So bullshit your saying! I am from Norway!

[xximmortalxx666]

Its a simplifyd way of saying it.

study history and politics you will maby understand me. ask forigners what thay think of Norwegian politics and you may understand me agein...

[danxtur]

we have a monarchy and there is lebiral on one side and sosialist on the other.

we have never been a part of communisem and we where all along nearly from the start apart of NATO.

I will take back the word "bullshit" from the last comment.

But really we did not join the Nazis, be had free socises to stand with, not or aginst them.

HAve you heard of the battle of Narvik? Some of the first infantry battles the allied won but was not much of a sucsess.

We where forcet to join the allies

[joeoglinda]

Hehe. Really? Would you be so kind as to quote any historian saying Norway "joined" Nazi-Germany? Ian Kershaw is regarded rather highly as one of this era's foremost historians - and I would guess you, as a "student of history" have read his work? Funny thing is, Kershaw, like any historian I ever read, says Norway was defeated after hard fighting, before a puppet government was instated.

In a less complicated way; there were Norwegian forces on the beaches of Juno and Sword, moron :)

[xximmortalxx666]

Lol. you dident understand what I said.

Norway lost ageinst the nazis as further up on the comments and joind them in the fight ageinst commis. read befor you awnser.

I know that not all Norwegians joind forces with the axis. Kvisling and SS Viking Was fully Norwegians figthing side by side with (axis,nazi)germans, danish, romanian, italian, jugoslavs, french, dutch,

even russians betrayd their own contry.

Btw. The British. US. Russia. had the show. Not for them, we be speaking german

[joeoglinda]

How old are you? I get the feeling of discussing with a very young person.

"Norway" didn't join the nazi's after surrendering. Our goverment and royal family fought on from England. The Quisling puppet-regime was instated by Hitler, and did not represent "Norway".

There was no SS Viking, there was a SS division Wiking, and it contained only a few dozens norwegians, most norwegian nazis joined SS division Nordland when it was set up with it's panzergrenaderregiment Norge.

[torsnn]

+100

[oriskany]

One must never confuse a national government with their respective populations. They are in fact mutually exclusive.

A coincidence sometimes occurs wherein the national leadership and the people agree at precisely the right moment.

Finland is a prime example of that coincidence,...The Russians encountered a "perfect storm" of resistance.

There's a lesson here somewhere.

What are the odds of that happening today?

[jpstenino]

VERY CLEAR. THANK YOU.

[noblepuker]

got to hand it to the fins,well done.

[ss90ss444]

My grandfather fought in the front lines during the Winter War. He later said that it was hard but it was worth it.

Plus he was angry at the swedes for not helping us in the Winter War.

[SweixNOR]

And not at the Norwegians? We wehre after all bigger in military?

[villanovakid84]

Britain and France declared war on Germany when she invaded Poland, yet, they did not lit a finger against the USSR, when they carved up Poland.Equally as amoral, they abandoned Finland to the USSR. This betrayal of Finland by the West is one of the most treacherous acts in the history of Europe.

[hunt801]

mannerheim was e hero and an pain in the ass for the russians aswell for the germans .. he was a great general ..finland was all alone in that great war..they fought unbelievble bravely against the commies without any help of those swedish pussies or the american or the brittish ...they are true survivors !! 1 dead fin against 10 commies !

[HoustonGD]

Mannerheim was an interesting fellow. He was pretty much a realist and did what was best for his country. Recently new audio tapes have come to light of private talks with Hitler, which I found very interesting.

[AnglarnaGoteborg]

Sweden did help a lot. Don´t talk shit.

[tumppu1975]

Swedish people did help a lot. Sweden as a country did not do Jack Shit.

[AnglarnaGoteborg]

Yes you right. Sorry. Im reading a book about Swedish soldiers during the WWII right now.

[soulesslemming]

the people are the country, political powers come and go.

[anttonoo]

@hunt801 Well Sweden wanted to stay neutral and Finland and Sweden were never allies. Out of nowhere a country comes and say we need help. But some volunteered, around 10.000 swedish men came to help finland which is 1/30 of your soldiers. Sweden also had some airplanes with swedish pilots flying which did a huge difference believe it or not.

[Qlasettaja]

@hunt801 Mannerheim was bad leader. Our generals and soldiers did the dirty job, not Mannerheim.

[TWcrew1]

@hunt801

Norwegian fought by Finlands side.. Get your fact straight.

[TheExtremenator]

@hunt801 yup u said it: Better dead than red

[JohannBrigtsenNOR]

@hunt801 u know that there were many volunteers from sweden rigth? and some from norway and they had help from germany too....the americans or british was not involved as i know but there werent just finns.

[72Larsson]

The mines is in Sweden! And the Speaker says: "Transported from the mines of northern sweden."

But they have placed the mines on the map in Finland?? haha!

[HoustonGD]

Battlefield II loves to make mistakes!

[Gurkmomma]

hehe yea its pretty weird because you can clearly see the border betwene Sweden and Finland and if that werent enough Finland is more darker green in that map then Sweden.. So its weird that the person who have made the map still puts the mines in Finland and not Sweden

[nekwa2]

THE MINES WERE IN SWEDEN FOR GOD SAKE!!

[smorgasbord3]

The Mine is located in Sweden FFS....

[liliacorde]

Pas mal de mensonge, par exemple que la raison de l'attaque de l'Allemagne sur la Pologne ne vient pas du problème que pose le corridor de danzing, dont l'indépendance est imposé par la sdn, mais par l'agression polonaise des minorités allemandes en Pologne.

[M55q]

Well Denmark had a neutrality defence...

We were poorly equipped, (No amour, no fighter planes - bombers) but the plan was to remain neutral like in WWI...

[falken100]

Thank you once again GD, haven't seen this episode in along time!

[ArmaFennica]

The mines shown there are in Northern Finland, not in Sweden. Those areas had nickel-mines, the only valuable ore Finns had, and that was not shipped from Narvik.

-Other than that, these docs are fine and well made.

[HoustonGD]

Excellent comment. Thanks you for your intelligent imput! GDHouston

[billyysands]

amazing glad you are back!

[Pummi94]

The territories Hitler annexed/conquered can be considered part of the 3rd Reich, atleast all the territories that produced stuff for the german army (France,Tsekoslovakia,Norway and Greece to name few)

[hairstyleriioohhh]

GD.. you seemed gone from youtube for a while....(at least my boodmark didnt word)

but your here.. and like always with great quality vids!

thanks for that one!

[HoustonGD]

ok cool. My tags for this site are set for anyone searching for GDHouston

[nigelhalfwittt]

I never knew much about this part of the war so thanks!

[QuickSixx]

At 3:52 is that a joke or what? Slovakia was NEVER part of the 3rd Reich. This is desinformation. Tiso lead the independent Slovakia who were a puppet of the germans.

[HoustonGD]

You can call it what you want, run by what you want. However, Hitler controlled it.

[QuickSixx]

It was "independent" and it was not annexed to the Reich. The animation shows that it became a part of the Reich like Austria, Bohemia, Sudetenland, Morovia. But truly it was not! Sorry but this is desinformation. Or all books what i read are not telling the truth. Greetings!

[HoustonGD]

It pretty much was a protectorate like kind of like Egypt under the power of GB.

[QuickSixx]

As far as i know Czech Morovia was a protectorate like occupied Poland. I know that Slovakia became and independent state so Hungary was no allowed to get that territory back. We only got a small stripe in the south what was an ethnic border with 84% hungarians.

[Harvin87]

thx a lot GD... youre the man

[HoustonGD]

welcome

[historyman8]

all hail gd my buddy.