The battle that decided the fate of the world. Here's to the Red Army, which overcame unimaginable obstacles to turn the tide of WWII against the Axis.
Is it just me? Or did anyone else notice that Germans had NO boots on after they surrendered? Just rags and cardboard to cover their feet in the snow. Did the Russians take them? I think so.
i absolutely agree with you.let's just remember what great commanders he had next to him.in my opinion von manstein was a real ace.Practicaly the blitzkrieg was invented by him.
Also, Soviets were thinking that they have trapped 100,000-150,000 men. They were very surprised to see 330,000 Axis troops there, and that THAT quantity of men couldn't take Stalingrad for months, Soviets had only ~50,000 men inside Stalingrad. German 6th Army swelled to >300,000 men during Stalingrad-Volga offensive, besides auxilliary personnel (White Russians, Croats, volunteers). It was the largest and best equipped Army in the whole WWII.
Yes, because the human losses are cited only for the pockett and only for Germans. Totally in the pockett were lost 330,000 Axis soldiers. In the whole operation, 6th German Army (the largest and best equipped Army in WWII), 4th Panzer Army, 2 Romanian Armies, 1 Hungarian, 1 Italian, Croats, White Russians (on the side of Germans), volunteers from many Western countries were either dead or prisoners in that operation, the total loss for Axis of 1 million or so men, besides wounded.
where can you get the soundtrack? One on Amazon amazingly lacks the extra "mood" music. The violin music at 4:00 and other mood setting music for marches at 5:00. How can that be obtained? The beautiful russian celebration music at 6:50. It's these little bits of music that touched me as a viewer.
@surf7lakemich1 I've just started watching this series and have been struck by the music, as well. I've come back to watch this particular sequence several times in the last few days; it really captures the misery of this conflict, I thought.
If you do find out, please tell me. I'd like to know where to get this.
Do not forget about 1812 when the French invaded Russia with an army of 600,000 people and only 40000 people came out of Russia including Napoleon... Over 380000 people of Napoleons army died in that war...
The battle and the Russian victory at Stalingrad announced the begining of the end for Hitler and the Nazis. It is important to distinguish between the Werhmacht and the Nazis. The generals were mostly anti-Nazi and resented Hitler . Actually the distrust was mutual.
The Werhmach fought bravely, with valor, not for Nazism but for Germany.
Hitler, the genial mntally unstable egalomaiac who seduced a civilized country paid dearly for all Evil he caused. The Russians punished him the hardest.
@VIRIATO1942 you are right in separating Hitler&Nazis from the German career officers. However these could and should have done something. Von Paulus in particular should have tried to break out and certainly retreated from the street fighting. Not doing so, he condemned thousands of his men to a fruitless death.
The wikipedia article on the Battle of Stalingrad fills in a lot of details this film leaves out. Just details, but still it's very interesting and knowing more of the day by day facts makes this story even more amazing.
Hey Randy I'm English and you know we love America, but you have to hand it to the Ruskis, they saved us with this victory and sacrificed 20 million people in total in WW2
Hollywood skews the reality quite a bit, but what you did with McArthur and co was awsome.
@chuckbuckbobuck what?your an idiot they were just foot soldiers not ss or einzatgruppen which im sure you probably have no clue what that is if your that ignorant actually im sure you don't
The American's war was actually with the Japanese more than the Germans. We were "drug into" the European war and have Roosevelt to thank. Actually, if Hitler had not declared war on the USA we would have put our forces in the Pacific and let the Europeans continue their 'civil war' that started in 1914. While I'm proud of my country's helping defeat Nazism it wasn't really up to us to decide who was "right" in Europe. I'm old enough to remember that American sentiments were against the Japs!
Continued- Since I was born and raised on the West Coast of the USA we had serious fears of a Japanese invasion following Pearl Harbor attack. Fear was quite real because in 1941 our Army was tiny (smaller than Romania's!). We were blissfully ignorant about the plight of the Jews and since MANY Americans are of Italian and German heritage we didn't particularly hate the fascists. I'm 1/4 German and almost 1/2 Spanish. Some of my Uncles (Spanish) supported Franco and his Fascist Spain.
4:55 - 5:40 is really good. They switch between the Germans marching with valor, courage, and with only knowing victory, then they are shown marching exhaustion, despair and the bitter taste of defeat. It makes me think of how uncertain the future can be. At the 5:34ish mark they are shown being awarded with badges representing courage and the killing of their enemies, then they are shown with marks representing their death (tombstones).
The future is impossible to tell and can alter in many ways. You may think the United States is the greatest thing ever and can never be broken. But the Roman Empire was even more together and politically strong then the US is today. A man named Julius Caesar broke the Roman Republic and changed the world as we know it. Who will brake the USA?
"4:55 - 5:40 is really good. They switch between the Germans marching with valor, courage, and with only knowing victory, then they are shown marching exhaustion, despair and the bitter taste of defeat. It makes me think of how uncertain the future can be. At the 5:34ish mark they are shown being awarded with badges representing courage and the killing of their enemies, then they are shown with marks representing their death (tombstones)."
@havee3333333 What? The Roman Empire was NOT more together and politically strong than the US. Civil wars between Roman armies loyal only to their particular general or senator were frequent, as were violent transfers of power. In nearly 250 years, we've had only one civil war (between the legal governments of two groups of states, not rival generals or politicians) and every transfer of power has been peaceful. Pretty big difference.
@havee3333333 Or you could just scroll over one or two pages on the comment section and you'd have what you wrote right there, even though I pretty much summed up what you wrote in my first response...but if you don't feel like continuing the discussion, I guess it's up to you...
@havee3333333 LOL You've spent more time telling me why it would be so hard to look back a couple of pages and see what you wrote than it would take to actually do it. If you just don't want to discuss this, man up and say that instead of making lame excuses...
The real thing of it is that the British were the only ones with the morals and testicles big enough to actually do what was right from the beginning.
And if you notice, the British are some of the only ones who haven't thrown in with a German dominated EU and a European common currency.
Perhaps they know better? Perhaps the 40s are not lost on them?
please let us all remember no matter how many lives lost WWII holding onto old hatreds just gurantees a 3rd one.
What the Germans did in WWII was inexcusable, many of the things the soviets also did were inexcusable. Even the Americans and the British did some horrible things in the war. For instance my country the USA basically destroyed Japan almost single handedly and we thought of the japs as untermenschen just like the Germans did the soviets.
Unfortunately, history is repeating itself. Germany and France will control Greece, Span, Italy, ... because of the financial "bail out" without invasion. There is no free lunch. Borrowed "bail out" money means financial slaves for generations if not forever. England, Germany, France and Russia are competing the control of EU.
But I've never heard of a German director putting together interviews about the atrocities Germans committed in Ukrainia, or even anything other than Das Boot or other patriotic fluff. Uber Nationalism is alive and well in Germany in 2010.
To think that back in the 70s, with only a few channels we had television like this.Now most people have 100s of channels mostly full of rubbish "brought to you " by corporations. God help Western civilisation.
My grandfather fought in WW2. My best friend's grandfather fought - all 4 of my wife's grandparents fought, and my wife's mother was born in the ruins of Leningrad.
Just under the surface, there is a real hatred and distrust of the Germans. I have it. Many people have it. Everyone saw how it came out during this latest Greek financial crisis. You cannot dismiss the comments of the Greek PM. It's real. And what's more: it's well-deserved.
They may make up for it, but not in our lifetimes.
@xiaodre That is true. As Europeans, we know that, for no reason, Germany turned on us twice, causing the deaths of millions; when I see them making excuses, denying this, or trying to share blame, I feel real hatred. One day, maybe, it will be past - but not while a single German denies that the blame for the tragedy of Europe, and the deaths of our brightest and best, lies entirely with them. They didn't find the courage to defy evil - so they must find the courage to live with the guilt.
@TheBelovedButterfly You left out (among other things) that the Americans (mostly militia) single handedly defeated British Regulars, German mercenaries (Hessians), Canadians, Tories (Americans that supported the British) and American Indians at the Battle of Saratoga in the Revolutionary War. As for our French Allies latter in the war, Viva Lafayette!
ADD: and one last thing...just a short time ago, some German director made a movie about the atrocities performed by Russians in Germany in the late war. A review of It was on NPR, the public radio in America.
It almost made me rip the steering wheel off of my truck as I was going down the road.
@xiaodre The Soviet Union is full of evil that time and they even commit atrocities to their own people(even purges). In war, atrocities are bound to happen..
Look at a map of Europe. See the distances the Germans had to transport supplies to the Volga. Every slice of bread and every bullet had to be transported thousands of Kilometers. Germans were far over reaching on all fronts in the East. btw, don't have too much sympathy for the Romanians north of Stalingrad. They treated occupied people atrociously. Soviets got their revenge on the way to Berlin...
117,925 youtubers began this battle -only 48,285 got to the end of it. That remainds me of certain epic war.... Only the strongest -plus russians, of course- endure History!
The Soviet "peasant" soldiers, especially the Siberians had to have been THE toughest soldiers in the entire war. If you read Russian literature from the war years you will see a fatalistic humor in their writings. Poignant, sorrowful, sad... It's hard to come up with mere words that describe the Fascist invasion of the East. Thanks be to God that the Soviets were on "our" side!
They should show the world at war series in schools, i knew very little about world war 2 prior to watching this and i did gcse history. Its a real shame that such a key period in history is not being taught sufficently.
@friendlyfire53 Another pig-ignorant yank! (and btw, "friendly fire" is one of the American's special military skills, as we Brits have learned.) You know how a few years ago, a couple of planes crashed into buildings in the US, and you all wailed and shrieked and blubbered like babies for years? You know how you have never won a war on your own? You know how you would be fighting under the Union Jack (my country's flag) if not for the French - because your so-
called "patriots" (aka tax-evading, land-thieving genocidists and treaty breakers) were as much use as a chocolate fireguard, and even with enough help from the French to bankrupt them, and us having to ship everything 4000 miles in sailing ships it still took the wankers 8 years to get shot of us? You know all that, do you? You should - because it's the truth. Well, here's some more truth: WW1 was a few months of action for the Americans, which left them gibbering with fright.
For the French, it lasted 4 1/4 years, was fought on their land, and cost them 3000 men per day. Can you count that high, you twat? Instead of backing them in receiving reparations, the American banks and businesses financed the Nazis (Hitler kept a photo of Henry Ford on his desk, because Ford was one of his main backers.) But in 1939 - while America sat on the fence - France declared war and mobilised 100%; after 9 months, when beaten to the sea, those who
could not escape to fight from Britain, fought to the last. You, though, continued to watch the world being decimated - and did nothing. As far as I can see from the ignorant comments from Americans, you are like potatoes: the best of you is underground, having given their lives after the world had suffered for nearly 2.5 years. You don't know the first thing about being "tough" - you spent years financing terrorism in my country, but the first whiff of it on your own land and you
crap yourselves, hide indoors and duct-tape the windows. Wait until you actually have to face what France faced, because from what I can see, you'd go into psychological meltdown. You are too soft and spoiled. Stop sitting around shovelling lard down your gullet, and learn some facts before you insult older, wiser, better and braver countries than your own.
@TheBelovedButterfly I don't know there seemed like a lot of wailing and blubbering when a few buses were bombed in London. We actually have won quite a few wars ourselves (including some where we fought ourselves) and saved your butts big time in WW1. And the casualty rate was appalling for the few months America fought so you mgith want to look a little deeper into history. And don't forget that you needed help to beat Napoleon and bla bla bla we can go down the whole list of world history.
@TheBelovedButterfly But anyway I always admired England and think you guys are tough. It's very classless to mock 9/11. You can rail against American "imperialism" adn stuff like that all day long but don't forget you guys have some stuff that you shouldn't be proud of in your history.
@thejohn95 I don't rail against American Imperialism - especially as it is built very much along the British lines. What annoys me is the common, arrogant and ignorant assumtion by Americans, which you can see all over this website, that every other country is a "pussy", when as a nation you have NEVER suffered invasion, occupation or even terrorism except from Germans during WW1 (which you ignored) and 9/11 which seemed to cause emotional meltdown.
As for 9/11, we were all devastated that such a thing had been done to the "friendly giant" across the pond, and I was one of those who volunteered to house Americans from local bases who couldn't get home; but then, from outrage and rage (both understandable) the American reaction seemed to turn to a total childish disbelief, as if the end of the world was nigh - which frankly, as a European, seems rather silly: why NOT you, after all?
I grew up in London. As a 60s child, I played in bomb-craters; in the 70s and 80s I never knew what it was to walk into a public place without knowing that some Irish wanker - 2/3 funded by the USA - might decide to kill me or mine (and in fact, I lost dear friends.) But I still walked into those places; I didn't, as an American friend did, hide at home with the window duct-taped! We carried on regardless - because if not, THEY have won.
Four times, on the London Underground we have been removed due to bomb-clearance; but we still travel by Tube! I have trained as a counsellor, and there is an entire genre of American psychology given over to the shocked realisation that you, too, are not impervious to lunatics. It seems to point to a prior belief that the devastation which happens to other countries in fact happened to other species - and it is dangerous to combine that level of insularity with "imperialist" expansion.
As a small child I was faced with the evidence of death caused by aggressors all around me, so forgive me if there are limits to my sympathy, not with the shock of 9/11 but with the ludicrous disbelief that it could happen. And I ask no apology for being revolted and angered by the pig-ignorant yanks on here who sneer at nations like France, who suffered and lost more than an American can ever imagine, and still declared war on Nazi Germany - something which America never actually did.
@verstaatlichung I think you will find Fox News more to your taste than this documentary series. This is BRITISH-MADE, for people whose age hasn't outstripped their IQ and who therefore don't think of Glenn Beck as a political pundit.
@TheBelovedButterfly You are absolutely ridiculous. You act like London is a f***ing DMZ. Sorry lady, but it isn't; and living there doesn't make you a bad-ass. I am well aware that this documentary series is British-made and I enjoy it very much. Unfortunately for you, it's obvious that none of the Brits involved in making this production are in your gene pool. Enjoy your studio apartment.
@verstaatlichung what are you talking about, wank-breath? do you even know? do you know what the landscape of London was during the early 60s? Ever walked to school past bombed-out buildings? Did you have air-raid shelters in the playground ? do you know how fast a kid's bike can fly when you ride from one side of a bomb-crater to the other? do you have a friend who lost both legs when irish wankers blew up our pub? or a friend who came to to find her daughter's severed head in her lap? I do!
The big difference between Brits and Yanks is that we take all this shit on the chin - we don't sit around shovelling Fluff spread down our gullets and thinking we are tough because we have a gun in the drawer. You literally don't know you are born. Every land in Europe has this kind of past - we grew up around it. Not just Brits - EVERY European knows the reality of war/terrorism. You live in the sort of fantasy world where you probably think "Inglorious Basterds" is historical fact.
@TheBelovedButterfly Holy shit you are the dumbest motherf***er on the planet. I generally have a rule against arguing with idiots but this is too much fun.
@TheBelovedButterfly ROFLOL if you have a look at watchmovesdotnet you can see all the yanks from shitsville alabama on the forum about that film saying, "oh i thought hitler shot himself," and, "this is the best history lesson i ever saw. " you could show them an ostrich in a bikina being crowned miss world and if it was on film theyd believe it. Americans are the most stupid people in the world, everyone knows it.
@TheBelovedButterfly "Wank-breath"? Wow, you are just oozing with culture and sophistication. And yes, we did have air-raid shelters in the U.S.; have you heard of the Cold War? And damn those Irish wankers!!! They're always decapitating little girls!!! If only they could've done the world a favor and killed your sorry ass, oh wait excuse me, "arse".
@verstaatlichung God; how hilarious! Empty American air-raid shelters! The ones I am talking about were actually used; and yes, the cold war happened on our doorstep, not in fiction. You think it is amusing, a four year old child's head being torn off by an explosion while she is out Christmas shopping with her Mum? Or 18 year olds without legs? Well, yes, I suppose you do - after all, lard-arsed American fantasists like you paid for it.
@NYerintransit It's the first time a major US city has suffered an "invasion". Read the comments by Americans on countries which were invaded by the nazis - the constant insults, calling them "pussies", etc, when for the second time in 20 years Europe was plunged into a horrendous war. Ironic, coming from a country which was scared to declare war on Germany - and was so totally devastated by one morning of terrorism.
@NYerintransit There is something you can do - shoot down those American morons who denigrate countries which have suffered more than they can possibly imagine.
Shut your mouth you pussy. 415,000 Americans died so that Western Europe could be free from Nazi tyranny. Those men accomplished more in those few years than you will accomplish in your entire life.
@Agamemnon862 wow, another intelligent comment from an American! I have the deepest respect and gratitude foir those men who died - but they fought because Germany had declared war on America; it was their war too! If they had been doing it to help save Europe, they would have come to the rescue in September 1939, instead of allowing American banks and businessmen to fund the Nazis while 59000 Europeans died every single day.
While I am having some fun at TheBelovedButterfly’s expense in celebrating the Fourth of July, I wish to note that we all enjoy our freedoms as beneficiaries of the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment. The ideologies of fascism and communism led to the human suffering that was the Battle of Stalingrad. That is the battle’s legacy. It is the worst aspects of the human condition, on a scale almost unimaginable today, brilliantly documented by the World at War Series.
George Orwell’s warnings must continue to be heeded, and we all must be allies in this, even if our governments do not always live up to the ideals of the Enlightenment—as we always retain the right to alter our governments.
@TheBelovedButterfly I’ve been reading your comments and I must say I’m interested in what you have to say.
However, there are a few things you are wrong about.
a. You blamed the germans for starting WWI when in reality the assassination of franz Ferdinand, which caused Austria to declare war on Serbia and Russia on Austria and germany on Russia, etc.
b. You say America has never been invaded yet Britain, as I recall it, invaded the u.s during the war of 1812
c. You said the u.s. never declared war on germany, but it did. Germany declared war and the u.s. responded in kind.
d. Do you know what the internal landscape of the us was in the early 60s? not only was our president assassinated but there was a lot of strife going around as the civil rights movement was fighting for black rights
e. You say the cold war happened on your doorstep, but it also happened on ours, aka the Cuban missile crisis.
f. If you consider 9/11 an “invasion”, why don’t you classify pearl harbor as an “invasion”?
g. Who says we were scared to declare war on nazi germany? We were in the midst of the great depression, and could not afford to partake in a war on the other side of the world that had nothing to do with us, being strictly, at that time anyway, a European affair
I know I’m 2 months late to the conversation but I just now came upon it. as for the vid, love it, my fave doc
@TheBelovedButterfly The "rescue"? Oh did you need help sitting on the Rhine, and not bombing Germany for fear of reprisals, and planning a war on the USSR instead of invading the Reich? which is what the Allied powers did until Hitler struck in the West.
@TheBelovedButterfly Haha I can really only laugh at your comment. Go the fuck away you ignorant American hating Brit. I respect most of your race, but you clearly are a sore on a clean canvas.
@friendlyfire53 I'm sure you can "only laugh", Lardarse, because you are so pig-ignorant you don't even realise that every Brit feels the same way about you! You are arrogant, insular, inbred red-necks. Instead of sitting around scratching your paunch, and thinking a gun on a rack makes you a man, try actually LEARNING. I have an Honours degree specialising in this period, as well as living among the evidence.
@friendlyfire53 haha you are too much my friend. I've been reading your comments to other people too. You are unique to say the least. And don't interpret unique in a positive way. I won't be responding to your posts of utter random nonsense.
I've read many of your comments (not only your comments on this clip, also on other ones) and i agree with each and every one of them. I tip my hat to you sir. Keep writing the truth! I love the way you put uneducated fools in their place.
I'm sorry, it was foolish of me to asume you are a man. I hope i didn't offend you. Keep writing those comments ma'am :). I love reading them. It's so refreshing to actually learn something by reading the comments.
I have and will never watch this again. The Russian troops motivated themselves beyond calling My god it really takes every man to win a war like this..
otto skorzeny architect of CIA confessed before his death that 50,000 Nazis officers, scientist, politicians secretly migrated to USA established the 4th Reich
you tube search "Bush Family Nazi Connection"
skull and cross bones 322 secret society is a Nazi Occult
what morons fail to understand is that Americans, Germans and Nazis are diffrent things
germans and americans are the cannon fodder for NAZI ambitions
I'd have killed all german soldiers if they invaded my country. I couldn't care less about their political position. They were the invaders and the enemy.
@ryan3571 You are wrong. Normal German soldiers fully believed in the subhuman status of Slavic people and willingly participated in what amounted to genocide.
@MrWebster, yes I used to think that as well, but after reading books like Bidermann's In Deadly Combat and films such as Cross of Iron I don't buy it anymore. A lot of German soldiers were conscripted to fight on the front, and most would not have been prepared to support genocide or believe in Nazi propaganda, which is why Hitler needed to invent the SS. I believe most German troops on the front line hated Hitler and all he stood for, but it was too late by then to do anything about it.
Revisionist history from the cold war era will not get you to the truth. The Average german soldat was from the German People/ The german people followed hitler, the Nazis did not "wish" themselves into power. Nor did the German people resist.
I have read enought history about the german soldier to know that they knew about the forced resettlement and the final soulition that it really ment. 1917 Russians who did not support the TSAR walked of the Battle field, The germans did not in 1944!
@ryan3571 yes they did. They were the warm-up act for the gestapo and they knew it. At home for years before the war they had voted for and supported a party which attacked and abused inoccent people on grounds of race. They enjoyed all the kudos - while they were winning. They were responsible for devastating Europe; the leadership couldnt have done it without them! They deserved blame, and they deserved every moment of what they suffered in Russia
It's essentially a truck with a rail structure on the back that fires volleys of rockets. It was considered a very terrifying weapon, and the soviets mass-produced the hell out of them.
@razhurs Katyusha (Little Katerina-Kathrin) or else known as "Stalinorgel" (Stalin's instrument) by the Germans. As peculiar as it seems rockets have been introduced to the second World War by both the Soviet and German army due to previews researches in the post war era.
@razhurs, they're Katyusha rockets, Katyusha = Little Kate or Katie, Russian diminutive of Katya. They were unguided missiles, also called Stalin's Organ as wubbs77 says below. An assault of those things must have been psychologically very unnerving even if you survived.
The allies underestimated the military power of the German army, plain and simple. Neville Chamberlain honestly didn't think Hitler was serious about European conquest, otherwise, he would've refused to surrender the Sudetenland to Germany. So far as Stalin's actions at the Battle of Stalingrad: "Drastic times call for drastic measures." True, Stalin was a murderer, but he did what he had to do in order to rally the people to make a stand against a tenacious enemy..
This is an example of what civilised cultured society are capable of...the most bloodiest battle in human history that we know of...this is history now, all we can do is look back and reflect and make sure it never happens again
@dvega1 something of this nature will happen again, its inevitable. When it does happen it again, it will be much, much worse then this. Hundreds of millions will die, if not billions. Nuclear bombs will be held responsible in the end.
Mr. Hubner, I am perfectly aware about what was going on in my own country, but first of all not all the burden of the resistence was on Communists' shoulders. In italy White and Christia partizans made a great job, as well as non communist groups in France, and I think of De Gaulle. What I absolutely oppose to is the assumption of blaming the franch communists for the II world War. That's a totally miguided nonsense.
tifranci, you wrote only crap. French commies were almost nowhere to be found. if you look for a responsible, blame Clemenceau and the Versailles treaty
You're wrong ... and I'm proud to inform you that the various communist groups in France and Italy carried the entire resistance struggle against Nazi-Germany almost by themselves ... after the war communists in Europe were far more representative than what the US could ever expect ... thus the Marshall Plan ...
@stidumaron No - don't blame Clemenceau and the Versaille treaty: BLAME THE GERMANS because both world wars are entirely their fault. To begin WW1 they invaded neutral Belgium; then they whined and snivelled because they had to pay for the destruction they had caused, and made that the excuse for starting WW2. As a nation they are like a big fat spoilt toddler who throws tantrums and has to be given a smacked arse.
Stalin was a complete jackass. Telling the people of Stalingrad not to evacuate showed what other human life meant to him. Before the war he starved 10 million Ukranians. Lord Chamberlin and the French commies were responsible for the second world war as much as Hitler. An enemy surrenders, you hold them to the terms. Stalin was also an accomplice to Hitler earlier on in 39. If we did not have Japan to deal with we should have taken therm both out.
I have the complete series of World At War and would recommend it to anyone interested in World War 2. The DVD Box set also has a documentary about the making of the series. Thanks for posting this.
@Mifodiy35, I agree 100% with your assessment about Nazi barbarity being avenged. Those Red soldiers wore tuxedos into battle, acted like perfect gentlemen and deserved to be in GQ.
A very good point - though it didn't stop the Mongols who were used to such conditions. The Swedes, French and Germans didn't fare so well of course...
The battle that decided the fate of the world. Here's to the Red Army, which overcame unimaginable obstacles to turn the tide of WWII against the Axis.
Towncrier123 1 year ago
The sad part for me is that the Romanian 3rd Army was the first to give in the North of Stalingrad .... lack of equipment and poorly trained men.
ArianeQube 1 year ago
Is it just me? Or did anyone else notice that Germans had NO boots on after they surrendered? Just rags and cardboard to cover their feet in the snow. Did the Russians take them? I think so.
sharodM 1 year ago
Hitler's main mistake on all fronts was making himself Supreme Commander.
Bluesmanification 1 year ago
i absolutely agree with you.let's just remember what great commanders he had next to him.in my opinion von manstein was a real ace.Practicaly the blitzkrieg was invented by him.
carlossanu 1 year ago
@orkneymist
Also, Soviets were thinking that they have trapped 100,000-150,000 men. They were very surprised to see 330,000 Axis troops there, and that THAT quantity of men couldn't take Stalingrad for months, Soviets had only ~50,000 men inside Stalingrad. German 6th Army swelled to >300,000 men during Stalingrad-Volga offensive, besides auxilliary personnel (White Russians, Croats, volunteers). It was the largest and best equipped Army in the whole WWII.
anaplastic 1 year ago
@orkneymist
Yes, because the human losses are cited only for the pockett and only for Germans. Totally in the pockett were lost 330,000 Axis soldiers. In the whole operation, 6th German Army (the largest and best equipped Army in WWII), 4th Panzer Army, 2 Romanian Armies, 1 Hungarian, 1 Italian, Croats, White Russians (on the side of Germans), volunteers from many Western countries were either dead or prisoners in that operation, the total loss for Axis of 1 million or so men, besides wounded.
anaplastic 1 year ago
Between Russia and Germany, alone, not including allies, they lost approx. 16m military personal. The number is staggering.
PoliticalPars 1 year ago
where can you get the soundtrack? One on Amazon amazingly lacks the extra "mood" music. The violin music at 4:00 and other mood setting music for marches at 5:00. How can that be obtained? The beautiful russian celebration music at 6:50. It's these little bits of music that touched me as a viewer.
surf7lakemich1 1 year ago
@surf7lakemich1 I've just started watching this series and have been struck by the music, as well. I've come back to watch this particular sequence several times in the last few days; it really captures the misery of this conflict, I thought.
If you do find out, please tell me. I'd like to know where to get this.
qboxer 1 year ago
this is an excellent series i seen it a few times on history channel and it s taught me a lot more about ww2 than i ever learnt at school.
mattbatley1 1 year ago
Hitler is a perfect example of why you should never give homeless people anything including power!!!
Hitler was homeless for a few years :o
havee3333333 1 year ago
that mean peaple russia they are strong in the war
any body can defeat them in the snow
hitler is stupid hone't reading history of russia in year 1242 and 1706
MrBadrostyle 1 year ago
@MrBadrostyle
Do not forget about 1812 when the French invaded Russia with an army of 600,000 people and only 40000 people came out of Russia including Napoleon... Over 380000 people of Napoleons army died in that war...
havee3333333 1 year ago
The battle and the Russian victory at Stalingrad announced the begining of the end for Hitler and the Nazis. It is important to distinguish between the Werhmacht and the Nazis. The generals were mostly anti-Nazi and resented Hitler . Actually the distrust was mutual.
The Werhmach fought bravely, with valor, not for Nazism but for Germany.
Hitler, the genial mntally unstable egalomaiac who seduced a civilized country paid dearly for all Evil he caused. The Russians punished him the hardest.
VIRIATO1942 1 year ago
@VIRIATO1942 you are right in separating Hitler&Nazis from the German career officers. However these could and should have done something. Von Paulus in particular should have tried to break out and certainly retreated from the street fighting. Not doing so, he condemned thousands of his men to a fruitless death.
aigolofni 1 year ago
whats the name of the song..its really good the song at the end.
jalisco103 1 year ago
That russian soldiers got a huge hammer at 1:20. How many kills do you think he got?
MashedUp23 1 year ago 4
@MashedUp23 .:-)very funny.NO A.K FOR YOU!
edichkaa 1 year ago
The wikipedia article on the Battle of Stalingrad fills in a lot of details this film leaves out. Just details, but still it's very interesting and knowing more of the day by day facts makes this story even more amazing.
gcard2112 1 year ago
The battle that saved the world.
Towncrier123 1 year ago
the german 6th army was defeated before this in a little battle called um Vimy Ridge
woolvett22 1 year ago
Yes, but that was during the first world war.
DeathMantleRogue 1 year ago
@DeathMantleRogue well they said it was an undefeated army which is untrue just because its a new war your win loss record doesnt reset
woolvett22 1 year ago
Hey Randy I'm English and you know we love America, but you have to hand it to the Ruskis, they saved us with this victory and sacrificed 20 million people in total in WW2
Hollywood skews the reality quite a bit, but what you did with McArthur and co was awsome.
jnmklo9 1 year ago 2
The Bastards got what they deserved!!!!!
chuckbuckbobuck 1 year ago
@chuckbuckbobuck what?your an idiot they were just foot soldiers not ss or einzatgruppen which im sure you probably have no clue what that is if your that ignorant actually im sure you don't
woolvett22 1 year ago
The American's war was actually with the Japanese more than the Germans. We were "drug into" the European war and have Roosevelt to thank. Actually, if Hitler had not declared war on the USA we would have put our forces in the Pacific and let the Europeans continue their 'civil war' that started in 1914. While I'm proud of my country's helping defeat Nazism it wasn't really up to us to decide who was "right" in Europe. I'm old enough to remember that American sentiments were against the Japs!
randy95023 1 year ago
Continued- Since I was born and raised on the West Coast of the USA we had serious fears of a Japanese invasion following Pearl Harbor attack. Fear was quite real because in 1941 our Army was tiny (smaller than Romania's!). We were blissfully ignorant about the plight of the Jews and since MANY Americans are of Italian and German heritage we didn't particularly hate the fascists. I'm 1/4 German and almost 1/2 Spanish. Some of my Uncles (Spanish) supported Franco and his Fascist Spain.
randy95023 1 year ago
4:55 - 5:40 is really good. They switch between the Germans marching with valor, courage, and with only knowing victory, then they are shown marching exhaustion, despair and the bitter taste of defeat. It makes me think of how uncertain the future can be. At the 5:34ish mark they are shown being awarded with badges representing courage and the killing of their enemies, then they are shown with marks representing their death (tombstones).
13lackLight 1 year ago
@13lackLight
The future is impossible to tell and can alter in many ways. You may think the United States is the greatest thing ever and can never be broken. But the Roman Empire was even more together and politically strong then the US is today. A man named Julius Caesar broke the Roman Republic and changed the world as we know it. Who will brake the USA?
havee3333333 1 year ago
@havee3333333 huh? why are you saying that to me?
13lackLight 1 year ago
@13lackLight
This is why...
13lackLight
1 month ago
"4:55 - 5:40 is really good. They switch between the Germans marching with valor, courage, and with only knowing victory, then they are shown marching exhaustion, despair and the bitter taste of defeat. It makes me think of how uncertain the future can be. At the 5:34ish mark they are shown being awarded with badges representing courage and the killing of their enemies, then they are shown with marks representing their death (tombstones)."
havee3333333 1 year ago
@havee3333333 yea I'm talking about how they edited the video not the U.S.
13lackLight 1 year ago
@13lackLight
meh
havee3333333 1 year ago
@havee3333333 What? The Roman Empire was NOT more together and politically strong than the US. Civil wars between Roman armies loyal only to their particular general or senator were frequent, as were violent transfers of power. In nearly 250 years, we've had only one civil war (between the legal governments of two groups of states, not rival generals or politicians) and every transfer of power has been peaceful. Pretty big difference.
battleax86 1 year ago
@battleax86
Yeah there is no way in hell I remember what I wrote on this video, so sorry your a little late for this discussion.
havee3333333 1 year ago
@havee3333333 LOL Yeah because it's so hard to look back a page and see what you wrote...
battleax86 1 year ago
@battleax86
Tell you what read it for me then give me a brief description of what I wrote and we'll discuss this.
havee3333333 1 year ago
@havee3333333 Or you could just scroll over one or two pages on the comment section and you'd have what you wrote right there, even though I pretty much summed up what you wrote in my first response...but if you don't feel like continuing the discussion, I guess it's up to you...
battleax86 1 year ago
@battleax86
I do have something called time that is quite valuable. Once I'm on my death bed I'll be wishing I had more time. Why waste something so precious.
havee3333333 1 year ago
@havee3333333 LOL You've spent more time telling me why it would be so hard to look back a couple of pages and see what you wrote than it would take to actually do it. If you just don't want to discuss this, man up and say that instead of making lame excuses...
battleax86 1 year ago
@battleax86
Cause I'm bored. :(
havee3333333 1 year ago
@havee3333333 okidoke...
battleax86 1 year ago
Thanks for posting this - better than the History Channel stuff, and it's always nice to hear Olivier.
DailyBrusher 1 year ago
best series about ww2, and thanks for posting.
ThankYouForTheDays1 1 year ago
The real thing of it is that the British were the only ones with the morals and testicles big enough to actually do what was right from the beginning.
And if you notice, the British are some of the only ones who haven't thrown in with a German dominated EU and a European common currency.
Perhaps they know better? Perhaps the 40s are not lost on them?
xiaodre 1 year ago
please let us all remember no matter how many lives lost WWII holding onto old hatreds just gurantees a 3rd one.
What the Germans did in WWII was inexcusable, many of the things the soviets also did were inexcusable. Even the Americans and the British did some horrible things in the war. For instance my country the USA basically destroyed Japan almost single handedly and we thought of the japs as untermenschen just like the Germans did the soviets.
Fragem420 1 year ago 2
had the german soldiers knew what the soviets do to prisoners maybe they wouldn't have surrendered.
Fragem420 1 year ago
Unfortunately, history is repeating itself. Germany and France will control Greece, Span, Italy, ... because of the financial "bail out" without invasion. There is no free lunch. Borrowed "bail out" money means financial slaves for generations if not forever. England, Germany, France and Russia are competing the control of EU.
jchan12345 1 year ago
It's true - in war, atrocities happen.
But I've never heard of a German director putting together interviews about the atrocities Germans committed in Ukrainia, or even anything other than Das Boot or other patriotic fluff. Uber Nationalism is alive and well in Germany in 2010.
xiaodre 1 year ago
@xiaodre probably more like utter shame mate.
ryan3571 1 year ago
To think that back in the 70s, with only a few channels we had television like this.Now most people have 100s of channels mostly full of rubbish "brought to you " by corporations. God help Western civilisation.
clashcrossdog 1 year ago
My grandfather fought in WW2. My best friend's grandfather fought - all 4 of my wife's grandparents fought, and my wife's mother was born in the ruins of Leningrad.
Just under the surface, there is a real hatred and distrust of the Germans. I have it. Many people have it. Everyone saw how it came out during this latest Greek financial crisis. You cannot dismiss the comments of the Greek PM. It's real. And what's more: it's well-deserved.
They may make up for it, but not in our lifetimes.
xiaodre 1 year ago
@xiaodre That is true. As Europeans, we know that, for no reason, Germany turned on us twice, causing the deaths of millions; when I see them making excuses, denying this, or trying to share blame, I feel real hatred. One day, maybe, it will be past - but not while a single German denies that the blame for the tragedy of Europe, and the deaths of our brightest and best, lies entirely with them. They didn't find the courage to defy evil - so they must find the courage to live with the guilt.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly You left out (among other things) that the Americans (mostly militia) single handedly defeated British Regulars, German mercenaries (Hessians), Canadians, Tories (Americans that supported the British) and American Indians at the Battle of Saratoga in the Revolutionary War. As for our French Allies latter in the war, Viva Lafayette!
RZ1776 1 year ago
ADD: and one last thing...just a short time ago, some German director made a movie about the atrocities performed by Russians in Germany in the late war. A review of It was on NPR, the public radio in America.
It almost made me rip the steering wheel off of my truck as I was going down the road.
xiaodre 1 year ago
@xiaodre The Soviet Union is full of evil that time and they even commit atrocities to their own people(even purges). In war, atrocities are bound to happen..
999cheetos999 1 year ago
Look at a map of Europe. See the distances the Germans had to transport supplies to the Volga. Every slice of bread and every bullet had to be transported thousands of Kilometers. Germans were far over reaching on all fronts in the East. btw, don't have too much sympathy for the Romanians north of Stalingrad. They treated occupied people atrociously. Soviets got their revenge on the way to Berlin...
randy95023 1 year ago
117,925 youtubers began this battle -only 48,285 got to the end of it. That remainds me of certain epic war.... Only the strongest -plus russians, of course- endure History!
1acobo3stxvez 1 year ago 2
but this documentary didnt mention how many russians died in the battle
hazemvirus 1 year ago
The Soviet "peasant" soldiers, especially the Siberians had to have been THE toughest soldiers in the entire war. If you read Russian literature from the war years you will see a fatalistic humor in their writings. Poignant, sorrowful, sad... It's hard to come up with mere words that describe the Fascist invasion of the East. Thanks be to God that the Soviets were on "our" side!
randy95023 1 year ago
They should show the world at war series in schools, i knew very little about world war 2 prior to watching this and i did gcse history. Its a real shame that such a key period in history is not being taught sufficently.
nvk1001 1 year ago
greatest documentary ever made bar none. Olivier's narration is just brilliant
wilco9971 1 year ago 16
I have no animosity against the Russians. Indeed if it hadn't been for the Stalinist purges, my mother and I would never have been born.
NYerintransit 1 year ago
Well, what can one say? The Russians are quite a bit tougher than the French.
griffulance 1 year ago
@griffulance Okay, but who isn't tougher than the French? Not saying the Russians aren't.
friendlyfire53 1 year ago
@friendlyfire53 Another pig-ignorant yank! (and btw, "friendly fire" is one of the American's special military skills, as we Brits have learned.) You know how a few years ago, a couple of planes crashed into buildings in the US, and you all wailed and shrieked and blubbered like babies for years? You know how you have never won a war on your own? You know how you would be fighting under the Union Jack (my country's flag) if not for the French - because your so-
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
called "patriots" (aka tax-evading, land-thieving genocidists and treaty breakers) were as much use as a chocolate fireguard, and even with enough help from the French to bankrupt them, and us having to ship everything 4000 miles in sailing ships it still took the wankers 8 years to get shot of us? You know all that, do you? You should - because it's the truth. Well, here's some more truth: WW1 was a few months of action for the Americans, which left them gibbering with fright.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
For the French, it lasted 4 1/4 years, was fought on their land, and cost them 3000 men per day. Can you count that high, you twat? Instead of backing them in receiving reparations, the American banks and businesses financed the Nazis (Hitler kept a photo of Henry Ford on his desk, because Ford was one of his main backers.) But in 1939 - while America sat on the fence - France declared war and mobilised 100%; after 9 months, when beaten to the sea, those who
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
could not escape to fight from Britain, fought to the last. You, though, continued to watch the world being decimated - and did nothing. As far as I can see from the ignorant comments from Americans, you are like potatoes: the best of you is underground, having given their lives after the world had suffered for nearly 2.5 years. You don't know the first thing about being "tough" - you spent years financing terrorism in my country, but the first whiff of it on your own land and you
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
crap yourselves, hide indoors and duct-tape the windows. Wait until you actually have to face what France faced, because from what I can see, you'd go into psychological meltdown. You are too soft and spoiled. Stop sitting around shovelling lard down your gullet, and learn some facts before you insult older, wiser, better and braver countries than your own.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago 3
@TheBelovedButterfly I don't know there seemed like a lot of wailing and blubbering when a few buses were bombed in London. We actually have won quite a few wars ourselves (including some where we fought ourselves) and saved your butts big time in WW1. And the casualty rate was appalling for the few months America fought so you mgith want to look a little deeper into history. And don't forget that you needed help to beat Napoleon and bla bla bla we can go down the whole list of world history.
thejohn95 1 year ago
@thejohn95 The whole world hates the US, I hope u choke on some good old British petroleum x
nickmann2111 1 year ago
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@thejohn95 The whole world hates the US, I hope u choke on some good old British petroleum x
nickmann2111 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly But anyway I always admired England and think you guys are tough. It's very classless to mock 9/11. You can rail against American "imperialism" adn stuff like that all day long but don't forget you guys have some stuff that you shouldn't be proud of in your history.
thejohn95 1 year ago
@thejohn95 I don't rail against American Imperialism - especially as it is built very much along the British lines. What annoys me is the common, arrogant and ignorant assumtion by Americans, which you can see all over this website, that every other country is a "pussy", when as a nation you have NEVER suffered invasion, occupation or even terrorism except from Germans during WW1 (which you ignored) and 9/11 which seemed to cause emotional meltdown.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
As for 9/11, we were all devastated that such a thing had been done to the "friendly giant" across the pond, and I was one of those who volunteered to house Americans from local bases who couldn't get home; but then, from outrage and rage (both understandable) the American reaction seemed to turn to a total childish disbelief, as if the end of the world was nigh - which frankly, as a European, seems rather silly: why NOT you, after all?
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
I grew up in London. As a 60s child, I played in bomb-craters; in the 70s and 80s I never knew what it was to walk into a public place without knowing that some Irish wanker - 2/3 funded by the USA - might decide to kill me or mine (and in fact, I lost dear friends.) But I still walked into those places; I didn't, as an American friend did, hide at home with the window duct-taped! We carried on regardless - because if not, THEY have won.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
Four times, on the London Underground we have been removed due to bomb-clearance; but we still travel by Tube! I have trained as a counsellor, and there is an entire genre of American psychology given over to the shocked realisation that you, too, are not impervious to lunatics. It seems to point to a prior belief that the devastation which happens to other countries in fact happened to other species - and it is dangerous to combine that level of insularity with "imperialist" expansion.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago 2
As a small child I was faced with the evidence of death caused by aggressors all around me, so forgive me if there are limits to my sympathy, not with the shock of 9/11 but with the ludicrous disbelief that it could happen. And I ask no apology for being revolted and angered by the pig-ignorant yanks on here who sneer at nations like France, who suffered and lost more than an American can ever imagine, and still declared war on Nazi Germany - something which America never actually did.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago 2
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@TheBelovedButterfly "limits to [your] sympathy"? Go to hell you limey prick
verstaatlichung 1 year ago
@verstaatlichung I think you will find Fox News more to your taste than this documentary series. This is BRITISH-MADE, for people whose age hasn't outstripped their IQ and who therefore don't think of Glenn Beck as a political pundit.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
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@TheBelovedButterfly You are absolutely ridiculous. You act like London is a f***ing DMZ. Sorry lady, but it isn't; and living there doesn't make you a bad-ass. I am well aware that this documentary series is British-made and I enjoy it very much. Unfortunately for you, it's obvious that none of the Brits involved in making this production are in your gene pool. Enjoy your studio apartment.
verstaatlichung 1 year ago
@verstaatlichung what are you talking about, wank-breath? do you even know? do you know what the landscape of London was during the early 60s? Ever walked to school past bombed-out buildings? Did you have air-raid shelters in the playground ? do you know how fast a kid's bike can fly when you ride from one side of a bomb-crater to the other? do you have a friend who lost both legs when irish wankers blew up our pub? or a friend who came to to find her daughter's severed head in her lap? I do!
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago 2
The big difference between Brits and Yanks is that we take all this shit on the chin - we don't sit around shovelling Fluff spread down our gullets and thinking we are tough because we have a gun in the drawer. You literally don't know you are born. Every land in Europe has this kind of past - we grew up around it. Not just Brits - EVERY European knows the reality of war/terrorism. You live in the sort of fantasy world where you probably think "Inglorious Basterds" is historical fact.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago 2
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@TheBelovedButterfly Holy shit you are the dumbest motherf***er on the planet. I generally have a rule against arguing with idiots but this is too much fun.
verstaatlichung 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly ROFLOL if you have a look at watchmovesdotnet you can see all the yanks from shitsville alabama on the forum about that film saying, "oh i thought hitler shot himself," and, "this is the best history lesson i ever saw. " you could show them an ostrich in a bikina being crowned miss world and if it was on film theyd believe it. Americans are the most stupid people in the world, everyone knows it.
ThankYouForTheDays1 1 year ago
@ThankYouForTheDays1 True true true--and quite comical--but still true LOL
pdmac46 1 year ago
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@TheBelovedButterfly "Wank-breath"? Wow, you are just oozing with culture and sophistication. And yes, we did have air-raid shelters in the U.S.; have you heard of the Cold War? And damn those Irish wankers!!! They're always decapitating little girls!!! If only they could've done the world a favor and killed your sorry ass, oh wait excuse me, "arse".
verstaatlichung 1 year ago
@verstaatlichung God; how hilarious! Empty American air-raid shelters! The ones I am talking about were actually used; and yes, the cold war happened on our doorstep, not in fiction. You think it is amusing, a four year old child's head being torn off by an explosion while she is out Christmas shopping with her Mum? Or 18 year olds without legs? Well, yes, I suppose you do - after all, lard-arsed American fantasists like you paid for it.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago 2
@TheBelovedButterfly You used air-raid shelters in the 60s? For what? You thought the IRA had gotten an air force?
battleax86 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly respect...
havee3333333 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly What does 9/11 have to do with any of this?
NYerintransit 1 year ago
@NYerintransit It's the first time a major US city has suffered an "invasion". Read the comments by Americans on countries which were invaded by the nazis - the constant insults, calling them "pussies", etc, when for the second time in 20 years Europe was plunged into a horrendous war. Ironic, coming from a country which was scared to declare war on Germany - and was so totally devastated by one morning of terrorism.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly You are sadly lost in the grips of your prejudices. There is nothing I can say that will make you see the error of your beliefs.
NYerintransit 1 year ago
@NYerintransit There is something you can do - shoot down those American morons who denigrate countries which have suffered more than they can possibly imagine.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly
HOW SO RIGHT YOU ARE !!!
pdmac46 1 year ago
Shut your mouth you pussy. 415,000 Americans died so that Western Europe could be free from Nazi tyranny. Those men accomplished more in those few years than you will accomplish in your entire life.
Agamemnon862 1 year ago
@Agamemnon862 wow, another intelligent comment from an American! I have the deepest respect and gratitude foir those men who died - but they fought because Germany had declared war on America; it was their war too! If they had been doing it to help save Europe, they would have come to the rescue in September 1939, instead of allowing American banks and businessmen to fund the Nazis while 59000 Europeans died every single day.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago 6
While I am having some fun at TheBelovedButterfly’s expense in celebrating the Fourth of July, I wish to note that we all enjoy our freedoms as beneficiaries of the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment. The ideologies of fascism and communism led to the human suffering that was the Battle of Stalingrad. That is the battle’s legacy. It is the worst aspects of the human condition, on a scale almost unimaginable today, brilliantly documented by the World at War Series.
RZ1776 1 year ago
George Orwell’s warnings must continue to be heeded, and we all must be allies in this, even if our governments do not always live up to the ideals of the Enlightenment—as we always retain the right to alter our governments.
RZ1776 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly I’ve been reading your comments and I must say I’m interested in what you have to say.
However, there are a few things you are wrong about.
a. You blamed the germans for starting WWI when in reality the assassination of franz Ferdinand, which caused Austria to declare war on Serbia and Russia on Austria and germany on Russia, etc.
b. You say America has never been invaded yet Britain, as I recall it, invaded the u.s during the war of 1812
dperop 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly
c. You said the u.s. never declared war on germany, but it did. Germany declared war and the u.s. responded in kind.
d. Do you know what the internal landscape of the us was in the early 60s? not only was our president assassinated but there was a lot of strife going around as the civil rights movement was fighting for black rights
e. You say the cold war happened on your doorstep, but it also happened on ours, aka the Cuban missile crisis.
dperop 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly
f. If you consider 9/11 an “invasion”, why don’t you classify pearl harbor as an “invasion”?
g. Who says we were scared to declare war on nazi germany? We were in the midst of the great depression, and could not afford to partake in a war on the other side of the world that had nothing to do with us, being strictly, at that time anyway, a European affair
I know I’m 2 months late to the conversation but I just now came upon it. as for the vid, love it, my fave doc
dperop 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly I wish it were different, but alas it is all too true.
PoliticalPars 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly The "rescue"? Oh did you need help sitting on the Rhine, and not bombing Germany for fear of reprisals, and planning a war on the USSR instead of invading the Reich? which is what the Allied powers did until Hitler struck in the West.
cbalsz 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly Ok I see your point now. It is stupid when people do that. It shows a lot of ignorance.
thejohn95 1 year ago 3
@TheBelovedButterfly Haha I can really only laugh at your comment. Go the fuck away you ignorant American hating Brit. I respect most of your race, but you clearly are a sore on a clean canvas.
friendlyfire53 1 year ago
@friendlyfire53 I'm sure you can "only laugh", Lardarse, because you are so pig-ignorant you don't even realise that every Brit feels the same way about you! You are arrogant, insular, inbred red-necks. Instead of sitting around scratching your paunch, and thinking a gun on a rack makes you a man, try actually LEARNING. I have an Honours degree specialising in this period, as well as living among the evidence.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
@friendlyfire53 haha you are too much my friend. I've been reading your comments to other people too. You are unique to say the least. And don't interpret unique in a positive way. I won't be responding to your posts of utter random nonsense.
friendlyfire53 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly
I've read many of your comments (not only your comments on this clip, also on other ones) and i agree with each and every one of them. I tip my hat to you sir. Keep writing the truth! I love the way you put uneducated fools in their place.
Troublesome2008 1 year ago
@Troublesome2008 Thank you! But I am not a "sir" - I am very much a lady (except when talking to certain people on here!) ;-)
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly
I'm sorry, it was foolish of me to asume you are a man. I hope i didn't offend you. Keep writing those comments ma'am :). I love reading them. It's so refreshing to actually learn something by reading the comments.
Troublesome2008 1 year ago
@Troublesome2008 Thank you - it's very kind of you to say so, and I am flattered.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
@TheBelovedButterfly Happy Fourth of July!
RZ1776 1 year ago
i would love to ebay those motorcycles.
jjjazzycraig 1 year ago
i would like to have known how those german soldiers that were "fortunate" to return home after being in russia felt about hitler letting them perish
dodge96neon 1 year ago
the soviets iron will to win pays off..salute!!!!
HungerStrikeUs 1 year ago 2
I have and will never watch this again. The Russian troops motivated themselves beyond calling My god it really takes every man to win a war like this..
intrepidnoodle1 1 year ago
Russians didn't win the war
research operation paper clip
otto skorzeny architect of CIA confessed before his death that 50,000 Nazis officers, scientist, politicians secretly migrated to USA established the 4th Reich
you tube search "Bush Family Nazi Connection"
skull and cross bones 322 secret society is a Nazi Occult
what morons fail to understand is that Americans, Germans and Nazis are diffrent things
germans and americans are the cannon fodder for NAZI ambitions
godscuttingyoudown 1 year ago
@godscuttingyoudown Yes, well, Otto Skorzeny wasn't "architect of CIA"; the CIA was the successor of the OSS, as it was originally called.
jlnijholt 1 year ago
Hitler was an egoistic maniac!
24erayfikri69 1 year ago 2
Sovjetunion saved the whole of Europe.
ARBIH87 1 year ago
for a mass murderer hitler was a dumb fuck
majorSH0CK 1 year ago
Revenge feels SO sweet
SunKing968 1 year ago
5*'s
the82spartans 1 year ago
I'd have killed all german soldiers if they invaded my country. I couldn't care less about their political position. They were the invaders and the enemy.
hoggerdave 1 year ago
German soldiers from then must surely have been the best in the world. They never deserved to be blamed for the crimes of the Nazi's.
ryan3571 1 year ago
@ryan3571 You are wrong. Normal German soldiers fully believed in the subhuman status of Slavic people and willingly participated in what amounted to genocide.
MrWebster 1 year ago
@MrWebster, yes I used to think that as well, but after reading books like Bidermann's In Deadly Combat and films such as Cross of Iron I don't buy it anymore. A lot of German soldiers were conscripted to fight on the front, and most would not have been prepared to support genocide or believe in Nazi propaganda, which is why Hitler needed to invent the SS. I believe most German troops on the front line hated Hitler and all he stood for, but it was too late by then to do anything about it.
ryan3571 1 year ago 2
Revisionist history from the cold war era will not get you to the truth. The Average german soldat was from the German People/ The german people followed hitler, the Nazis did not "wish" themselves into power. Nor did the German people resist.
I have read enought history about the german soldier to know that they knew about the forced resettlement and the final soulition that it really ment. 1917 Russians who did not support the TSAR walked of the Battle field, The germans did not in 1944!
trogTwisted 1 year ago
@trogTwisted 1917 was exceptional, by definition you shouldn't expect it too be commonplace.
Stop being so vague. the werhmacht was as varied as every other military force.
ArachEye 1 year ago
@ryan3571 yes they did. They were the warm-up act for the gestapo and they knew it. At home for years before the war they had voted for and supported a party which attacked and abused inoccent people on grounds of race. They enjoyed all the kudos - while they were winning. They were responsible for devastating Europe; the leadership couldnt have done it without them! They deserved blame, and they deserved every moment of what they suffered in Russia
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago 2
6:42 gay
larsedge 1 year ago 3
@larsedge holy shit
serbia3395 1 year ago
What are those weapons in the very beginning? They look alot like missiles, but they can't be...
razhurs 1 year ago
@razhurs
They are slangily known as a "Stalin Organ."
It's essentially a truck with a rail structure on the back that fires volleys of rockets. It was considered a very terrifying weapon, and the soviets mass-produced the hell out of them.
wubbs77 1 year ago
there also known as screaming mimi's
brian1886 1 year ago
@razhurs Katyusha (Little Katerina-Kathrin) or else known as "Stalinorgel" (Stalin's instrument) by the Germans. As peculiar as it seems rockets have been introduced to the second World War by both the Soviet and German army due to previews researches in the post war era.
hepafos 1 year ago
Rocket launchers. The russiaans call them Katiusas.
pufycino 1 year ago
Those are katyusha rockets they scared the hell out of the german solders.
Crusnik2000 1 year ago
@razhurs, they're Katyusha rockets, Katyusha = Little Kate or Katie, Russian diminutive of Katya. They were unguided missiles, also called Stalin's Organ as wubbs77 says below. An assault of those things must have been psychologically very unnerving even if you survived.
ryan3571 1 year ago
The allies underestimated the military power of the German army, plain and simple. Neville Chamberlain honestly didn't think Hitler was serious about European conquest, otherwise, he would've refused to surrender the Sudetenland to Germany. So far as Stalin's actions at the Battle of Stalingrad: "Drastic times call for drastic measures." True, Stalin was a murderer, but he did what he had to do in order to rally the people to make a stand against a tenacious enemy..
dipalma07 1 year ago
yes it all true but see the BATTLE OF WIZNA
it was 59:1 germans to poles...amazing..
42 thousand to 720 soldiers...
wropet 1 year ago
This is an example of what civilised cultured society are capable of...the most bloodiest battle in human history that we know of...this is history now, all we can do is look back and reflect and make sure it never happens again
dvega1 1 year ago 7
@dvega1 something of this nature will happen again, its inevitable. When it does happen it again, it will be much, much worse then this. Hundreds of millions will die, if not billions. Nuclear bombs will be held responsible in the end.
muffinmanxxx321 1 year ago
This was a defeat of unmatched proportion of any battle in History.
lamrof 2 years ago
@lamrof Except Agincourt
donjacky99 1 year ago
Russia 1
Germany 0
get over it
zoticus1 2 years ago
actually Russia today has the highest % of European Neo-Nazis, all because of the increasing minority taking over4jobs problem like England
these arent ur regular skinheads, some of them have a seat in government, making these brutal immigrant killings in Moscow legal
i wonder what hitler would think when many Russians now share the same ideology
calibre9mm 2 years ago
Mr. Hubner, I am perfectly aware about what was going on in my own country, but first of all not all the burden of the resistence was on Communists' shoulders. In italy White and Christia partizans made a great job, as well as non communist groups in France, and I think of De Gaulle. What I absolutely oppose to is the assumption of blaming the franch communists for the II world War. That's a totally miguided nonsense.
stidumaron 2 years ago
tifranci, you wrote only crap. French commies were almost nowhere to be found. if you look for a responsible, blame Clemenceau and the Versailles treaty
stidumaron 2 years ago
You're wrong ... and I'm proud to inform you that the various communist groups in France and Italy carried the entire resistance struggle against Nazi-Germany almost by themselves ... after the war communists in Europe were far more representative than what the US could ever expect ... thus the Marshall Plan ...
fredhubner 2 years ago
@stidumaron No - don't blame Clemenceau and the Versaille treaty: BLAME THE GERMANS because both world wars are entirely their fault. To begin WW1 they invaded neutral Belgium; then they whined and snivelled because they had to pay for the destruction they had caused, and made that the excuse for starting WW2. As a nation they are like a big fat spoilt toddler who throws tantrums and has to be given a smacked arse.
TheBelovedButterfly 1 year ago
Stalin was a complete jackass. Telling the people of Stalingrad not to evacuate showed what other human life meant to him. Before the war he starved 10 million Ukranians. Lord Chamberlin and the French commies were responsible for the second world war as much as Hitler. An enemy surrenders, you hold them to the terms. Stalin was also an accomplice to Hitler earlier on in 39. If we did not have Japan to deal with we should have taken therm both out.
tifranci 2 years ago
I have the complete series of World At War and would recommend it to anyone interested in World War 2. The DVD Box set also has a documentary about the making of the series. Thanks for posting this.
celticlofts 2 years ago
any soldiers raping anyone's women was criminal
xdeliriumx1 2 years ago 4
lmao, russians making out 6:50
Evocati2008 2 years ago
wasnt long before these "great russians" were raping mass amounts of women in Berlin 3 years later, everyones as bad as each other
smio2 2 years ago
After what Germans did in Russia , Russians in Berlin acted like real gentlemen .
Mifodiy35 2 years ago
@Mifodiy35, I agree 100% with your assessment about Nazi barbarity being avenged. Those Red soldiers wore tuxedos into battle, acted like perfect gentlemen and deserved to be in GQ.
39rc6cf 2 years ago
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by second sentence, but i believe first one was without sarcasm ;)
Mifodiy35 2 years ago
@Mifodiy35, you're right about my second sentence although I served just one sentence. The second one was commuted to parole.
39rc6cf 2 years ago
Yes lmao well said
TheRedRuski 2 years ago
@smio2, are you trying to infer that Red army soldiers raping German women was criminal?
39rc6cf 2 years ago
russias winter have saved them from the Swedish, the Franch and the Germans
gamer5274 2 years ago
Is the greatest military force in history the russian winter climate?
prayandr 2 years ago 4
A very good point - though it didn't stop the Mongols who were used to such conditions. The Swedes, French and Germans didn't fare so well of course...
crimpo 2 years ago
Can´t believe why people always hate the common soldier in war, when in fact it is the politicians who sit at home giving the orders.
obbabob 2 years ago 3
Excellent video!. Thanks for posting. May we never forget!
FlorinU 2 years ago 2
And of fhe 91,000 Germans who surrendered, only 6,000 ever came home.