The Wehrmacht Series 5: To the Bitter End Part 6 of 6

Hitler's army thundered through Europe from 1939 to 1945 and brought needless death and destruction to the continent. What was it like to serve in this army? What was it like to conduct one of the bloodiest wars in history? What was it like to occupy half of Europe and yet to suffer total defeat?




This five-part portrait provides long-awaited answers to questions such as these and sheds light on the Wehrmacht's complex bonds of loyalty, conscience and honour. It is a thought-provoking story of an army's evolution from defense troops to military force to exterminating power.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• wehrmacht
• wwii
• world
• war
• hitler

[schumacher500]

All of Generals of the Wehrmacht developed utterly smashing Britsh accents when the stayed in Trent Park.

[Nebelwerfer89]

poor wehrmacht :( once a proud strong force reduced to this....

[jatejate77]

Indeed the wound still hurts today, but it hurts much more to the victims of that wehrmacht. So much miserable behaviour, so much blood just for the glory of a few, just for the unqueancheable thirst of power they had. the virus of total power, all sides shared it. Even the winners have seen how the world has changed beyond theiur control. Nothing is forever, much less one generation, but the "achievements" of that one, are still being burdened and repaired by today's generations. Be it a lesson

[JimTLonW6]

Interesting videos drawing on a source of which I'd not previously heard.

I feel a bit uneasy about the use of contemporary newsreel, re-enactments and other sources together in one film; the clip of Manstein and Hitler discussing something over a map, for example, seems to appear in every WW2 doc that's ever been made, in support of a number of different points. (I wonder where it was and what was being discussed).

One small thing, a lot of the parts are linked wrongly.

[battleax86]

@vfitz No, the Wehrmacht was the entire German armed forces, which consisted of the army (Heer), navy (Kriegsmarine), and air force (Luftwaffe).

[vfitz]

@Warsie So far I have read German Authors: Albert Speer "inside the Third Reich" and several novel by Heinrich Boll including "The soldier's Legacy" (some very poetic pages) and others by American including Eisenhower's Crusade in Europe which seemed a lot like Ceasar's Gallic Wars which I had translate the year before at age 14. One of my favorites about that era is Howard K. Smith's "Last Train from Berlin" that I bought used from a library in New England.

[vfitz]

@Warsie Does the Wehrmacht just refer to the army? Then you are right. However, my parents watched the U-boats off the coast of Puerto Rico sink the boats bringing food and supplies from New York. They were very successful but that fact was censored by the FDR administration for fear it would panic the US population. However, those living along the coast knew.

[Warsie]

@vfitz

Wehrmacht did not threaten your life in Puerto Rico...

Also read 'the rise and fall of the third reich' for more infos.

[Heer88]

@HoOkEdOnBlEaCh about Germany vengeance against France which humiliated them no , about attacking the comunist horde which made slaves of us for 40 years no , about making mistake to go against ukrainians yes , about killing brutally to achieve their goal yes . Is that answer good for you ?

[HoOkEdOnBlEaCh]

@Heer88 Oh sure, but do you deny that Germany was in the wrong in WW2?

[Clonetrooper1139]

Those German Generals had nice uniforms if nothing else. 

[Eshayzbra96]

@whiteorangatange tell that to the veterens who spoke out their ideology at the time, or were they paid like all ignorant fools say?