Ernst's Endgame: What Prompted the Surrender of Heavy Jagdtigers at Iserlohn?

By early 1945, Allied forces had breached the formidable defenses of the Siegfried Line and were poised to strike deep into the heart of Germany.
Germany resorted to desperate measures in an attempt to halt the advancing Allied forces toward its core territories.
The 512th Heavy Panzerjagar Battalion was established at Döllersheim with the primary objective of impeding the Allied progress. Deployment arrangements were initiated on February 15 1945.
The battalion was equipped with the new Jagdtiger tank destroyer manufactured at the Nibelungenwerk factory.
The Jagdtiger was the heaviest armoured fighting vehicle produced during the war, mounting a 128 millimeter main gun, inside a 79-tonne chassis.
Commanding one of these steel behemoths was 1st Lieutenant Albert Ernst who was a renowned Panzerjäger ace.
Copyright fair use notice
All media used in this video is used for the purpose of education under the terms of fair use.
All footage and images used belong to their copyright holders.

Пікірлер: 146

  • @dennisswaim8210
    @dennisswaim82104 ай бұрын

    That's the mark of a good commander, staying with his men even after the surrender. This man still felt responsible for the welfare of his troops. You have got to admire that. Also when faced with the reality of inevitable defeat with nothing to be gained from continued fighting other than civilian deaths it seemed he again showed good judgment.

  • @jim7544
    @jim75444 ай бұрын

    My father was a member of 394th Regiment I &R platoon. He drove Lt.Col. Kriz to the surrender. He told me the drive into the town was unsettling. No people were anywhere to be seen. The sight of fully armed Germans made them nervous too. To the day he died, he referred to " the surrender of the Panzer Lehr Division ". The 394th history initially did too.

  • @sherlocklucifer1190

    @sherlocklucifer1190

    4 ай бұрын

    Because the germans were fine soldiers and fight with honour. Not the allied soldiers who came to loot, abduct, torture, rape and murder. For sources look up amrican citizien William Toel who revealed the genocide on germans after WW2 palnned in Bletchley by the allies. Liberators don't loot, abduct, torture, rape or murder.

  • @Spectification

    @Spectification

    3 ай бұрын

    @@sherlocklucifer1190 What did Germans do in Russia? What did they do to France when they rolled by? Who forcefully took conquered populace to slave away in their arms industry? You fuck around, be ready to find out. Germans got away easy, thanks to the threat from the USSR. Didnt know Russian bots comment on these kinds of videos, trying to spread discontent...

  • @jurekogorek3293

    @jurekogorek3293

    3 ай бұрын

    ​@@sherlocklucifer1190are you actually well in your head mate?

  • @sherlocklucifer1190

    @sherlocklucifer1190

    3 ай бұрын

    @@jurekogorek3293 Whereare you from? Research and learn your history. Look it up. Why should I lie to you, even the britsih said after war, "we got the victory, the germans the honour"

  • @r.guerreiro140

    @r.guerreiro140

    2 ай бұрын

    ​@@sherlocklucifer1190Excuse me, but on what party your ancestors voted on 1932?

  • @ryleeculla5570
    @ryleeculla55704 ай бұрын

    It’s crazy how such expensive vehicles still put up a fight with devastating results by 1945 hell almost all king tigers and jaged tigers were gone even the tiger 1s and yet they put up a fight

  • @JoeJ94611
    @JoeJ946114 ай бұрын

    Tiger Ace, Otto Carius, commented when his units was equipped with Jagdtigers, that a turret was better than having to turn the entire vehicle to aim the gun and Jagdtigers, etc were an example of 2nd rate equipment available at the end of the war.

  • @michaelpipetap8307

    @michaelpipetap8307

    4 ай бұрын

    Of course, they preferred turrets but without turrets was much cheaper.

  • @joechang8696

    @joechang8696

    4 ай бұрын

    @@michaelpipetap8307 I believe the Panzer IV cost about 90K+ Reichsmarks, while the Stug III costs about 82K RM. I am not sure why about10-15% price difference for a turret would be prohibitive, yet there was more production of the turretless armored vehicles. I wonder if there was a production bottleneck for turrets.

  • @obivankeno2068

    @obivankeno2068

    4 ай бұрын

    ​@@michaelpipetap8307 Much more safer against AT Bcz is Casemate no weak point

  • @ronaldgrove3283

    @ronaldgrove3283

    4 ай бұрын

    Armored Assault Guns tank destroyers were no means second rate and excellent for defense. Containing bigger guns, more armor, lower silhouettes, cost efficiency. Stug 3's being Germanys most produced armored vehicle. Being the PzKwfz 3 turret tank was the early German main battle tank but were found to light, its 50 mm cannon ineffective against enemy tanks. Most later obsolete turret PzKwfz 3 were stripped of their turrets and converted to Stug 3's with a still lethal 75mm cannons. The latter Hertz armored tank destroyers were probably ton for ton the most efficient motorized tank killers in WW2... The only reason we don't see turretless tank destroyers today because of the great advances in lighter gunsize,gunbrakes technology used today.

  • @republic0_032

    @republic0_032

    4 ай бұрын

    @@ronaldgrove3283 Sweden created some during the cold war, known as the S tank. Although officially a main battle tank, the idea is the same as the stugs.

  • @user-pu8uh4mw8z
    @user-pu8uh4mw8z4 ай бұрын

    "By that time the general had disappeared".....very easy to demand to fight to the last man when you're not staying.

  • @adrianariaratnam5817
    @adrianariaratnam58174 ай бұрын

    Thank you. Great story with fantastic footage.

  • @FactBytes

    @FactBytes

    4 ай бұрын

    Glad you liked it!

  • @mchrome3366
    @mchrome33664 ай бұрын

    These WW2 videos are getting better and more specific to the thousands of battles that occurred during WW2. Thanks

  • @KRAMPUS_G60_16V
    @KRAMPUS_G60_16V4 ай бұрын

    Finally someone does a video about this topic! Too bad the clips a re blurry, I've seen them much cleaner.

  • @darkjudge8786

    @darkjudge8786

    4 ай бұрын

    Because he stole the footage and blurred the watermark. And the voice is text to speech from a Wikipedia article. This isn't a documentary, it's theft.

  • @opoxious1592

    @opoxious1592

    4 ай бұрын

    @dge8786 I can tell you something else. The guys froem "Critical History" who put the logo in the middle of the screen are also not the legitimate owners of this footage.

  • @Wally-H

    @Wally-H

    4 ай бұрын

    Dr Mark Felton made a better video on this, with no blurring.

  • @nzmonsterman
    @nzmonsterman4 ай бұрын

    Nicely put together video. A good unbiased narrative. Thank you.😊 What a great group of men.

  • @FactBytes

    @FactBytes

    4 ай бұрын

    Glad you enjoyed it!

  • @milt6208
    @milt62084 ай бұрын

    Everybody knew the war would end soon. Why die over nothing.

  • @domingofung

    @domingofung

    3 ай бұрын

    Different cultures...

  • @TheTom5150
    @TheTom51504 ай бұрын

    Really given Germanys economic situation there was absolutely nothing practical about the Jagdtiger. I mean for a country that had no fuel resources, to produce a vehicle that required 10 gallons of fuel to drive one mile is insane LOL. They probably would’ve been better off taking all those funds for building the Jagdtiger and instead producing a hundred thousand more panzerfausts

  • @EDDGC
    @EDDGC3 ай бұрын

    What a great story you brought to us. THANKS!

  • @FactBytes

    @FactBytes

    3 ай бұрын

    Glad you enjoyed it!

  • @leesaunders1930
    @leesaunders19302 ай бұрын

    Thank you for this. I've always wondered what the story behind it was after seeing a short clip here on KZread quite a few years ago.

  • @FactBytes

    @FactBytes

    2 ай бұрын

    My pleasure!

  • @champisthebunny6003
    @champisthebunny60033 ай бұрын

    Interestingly, the current German Leopard 2a7, weighs in @ ~ 75 tons (some variation), and mounts a 120mm main gun. One area where advances in technology really shows up though is range. The Jagtiger had terrible range. 75 miles on the road, vs the Leo 2a7 > 210 miles. Allow for fuel capacity, a Leo2, despite being having similar specs to the Jagtiger in some respects, is about 2.5x more fuel efficient. Range was even worse off-road. This tank could barely maneuver without a convoy of fuel trucks not far behind. Fuel was long a problem for the German armored forces so its probably just as well they could manage only 80 of those things. No matter how powerful its main gun, these were tanks Germany could ill-afford by that point.

  • @minhthunguyendang9900

    @minhthunguyendang9900

    3 ай бұрын

    Well, ‘dolf wanted an even huger tank called « Maus ».

  • @lenb307
    @lenb307Ай бұрын

    Great film footage of the Jagdtiger, you don't often see much of this vehicle in WW2 videos.

  • @speedyeg-guitars-playlists4800
    @speedyeg-guitars-playlists48004 ай бұрын

    An act of humanity. There may also be photos or film material from Oosterbeek (Market Garden). Lt. Col. Walther Harzer, Col. Dr. Warrack and Major Dr. Skalka were important people for a ceasefire. A later letter of thanks from Colonel Warrack to Obersturmbannführer Harzer had the following wording: „2 October, 1944. I would like to express my thanks and appreciation for the extremely effective way in which the German medical services evacuated more than 2,200 wounded of the 1st Parachute Division during the time from the Oosterbeek area from 24 to 26 September 1944. The German medical service worked day and night, at times under fire from both fronts, and did not cease its work until night fell on 26 September, when all British and German wounded were safe.“ […] *

  • @johnschuh8616

    @johnschuh8616

    4 ай бұрын

    Showed both sides at their best.

  • @Bullseye-we5ft
    @Bullseye-we5ft3 ай бұрын

    Whats with the blurred section. Nothing to hide there.

  • @billballbuster7186
    @billballbuster71864 ай бұрын

    Good story, but the truth was that by April 1945 German surrenders were being organized all over the western part of the country to the British and Americans. There was panic in the German ranks as the priority now was to surrender to the Allies before the dreaded Russians "barbarian hoards" arrived. German units on the Eastern front drove across Germany to surrender to the Allies, it was all over.

  • @patwilson2546

    @patwilson2546

    4 ай бұрын

    Not to be pedantic, but you might want to edit 1944 to 1945. Otherwise - yes 😀

  • @alfnoakes392

    @alfnoakes392

    4 ай бұрын

    I have seen pics of this surrender before, and my thought has always been "how the heck did they find fuel for those behemoths at that stage of the war?". This, and lack of other supplies, must have been factors in such Units deciding to surrender.

  • @brennanleadbetter9708

    @brennanleadbetter9708

    4 ай бұрын

    They knew what the Russians would do to them, surrendering to them was basically a death sentence.

  • @user-yi6nb9sj9i

    @user-yi6nb9sj9i

    4 ай бұрын

    ​@@alfnoakes392They didn't !!

  • @papaaaaaaa2625

    @papaaaaaaa2625

    4 ай бұрын

    ​@@alfnoakes392They didn't. The surrendering German Forces sometimes got fuel from the allies to move their vehicles to specific areas. They did this to secure those vehicles on one spot against german recapture and to get it out of the way of the advancing forces. Imagins German tanks all over the area....and they would scare unknowing drivers or Logistic forces. There is a famous story about a German Tank were I come from. The allies spotted it across a wide open area, positioned and covered between two houses. The area was shelled and bombed and the Allied Forces moved in in a wide flanking manover...to find out that the Tank was abandoned and the crew was gone.

  • @mohammedsaysrashid3587
    @mohammedsaysrashid35874 ай бұрын

    It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage video about real soldier, commander Ernest... a commander of Jadgt tiger tanks confronted allies ( American)

  • @liamferreira8912
    @liamferreira89124 ай бұрын

    3:29 an MKB 42(H), the direct ancestor of the STG44. Not something you see every day!

  • @revantii

    @revantii

    4 ай бұрын

    Held by fallschirmjaeger(you can tell by the helmets and jackets) likely somewhere on the Eastern Front. Makes sense such a rare weapon would be given to elite units for troop trials. Nice catch!

  • @liamferreira8912

    @liamferreira8912

    4 ай бұрын

    @@revantiioh yes good eye! That dude on Forgotten Weapons said the Luftwaffe was a key proponent of the MKB 42 (H), and had a batch made for their usage, despite the fact they went with developing the FG42 in the end. And on that note, I wonder if at the time of this shot there was a guy close by with an FG42…

  • @beachboy0505
    @beachboy05054 ай бұрын

    Excellent video 📹 Cinema 🎥 film is important. Save the city for future generations.

  • @ml50486965
    @ml504869654 ай бұрын

    Why the annoying blurring of part of the pictures?

  • @Wally-H

    @Wally-H

    4 ай бұрын

    Because he doesn't have the copyright to use those videos.

  • @minhthunguyendang9900
    @minhthunguyendang99003 ай бұрын

    8:41 -> ABSOLUTELY UNTHINKABLE on the Eastern front.

  • @arneniederhut5326
    @arneniederhut53264 ай бұрын

    The real last stand of Jagdtigers was on the river Traisen front in Austria.

  • @objectvs5148
    @objectvs51484 ай бұрын

    why you blur off the Critical Pass signature on the video?

  • @hendrygmail4161

    @hendrygmail4161

    4 ай бұрын

    Copyright

  • @ReeseTimm
    @ReeseTimm4 ай бұрын

    Amazing how far AI narration has come.

  • @paramarky
    @paramarky3 ай бұрын

    I like that you are recycling someone else's film by blanking out the logo :)

  • @brennanleadbetter9708
    @brennanleadbetter97084 ай бұрын

    I don’t know what they were thinking when they built the Jagdtiger.

  • @DutchGuyMike

    @DutchGuyMike

    4 ай бұрын

    Countering the Russian new tanks mostly. Though Hitler always wanted "bigger is better", which it obviously wasn't. Imagine if they only decided on making (corrected model of) Panthers/Panzer IVs or even Tigers. That would have made a radical change, but making so many diverse tanks was just a detriment not only because of underpowered engines/drivetrains but getting spare parts and the insane fuel they consumed was just... dumb..

  • @brennanleadbetter9708

    @brennanleadbetter9708

    4 ай бұрын

    @ DutchGuyMike imagine if they tried mass producing the Maus.

  • @chonqmonk

    @chonqmonk

    4 ай бұрын

    @@brennanleadbetter9708Hehe, I just did at your request, and I thank you because it was fun!

  • @lyntwo
    @lyntwo4 ай бұрын

    @8:31 note tread design of tank treads.

  • @ronti2492
    @ronti24924 ай бұрын

    Excellent video- what became of Ernst after the war?

  • @FactBytes

    @FactBytes

    4 ай бұрын

    After the war Albert Ernst retired in Iserlohn.where he died on 21-02-1986, age 73.

  • @ronti2492

    @ronti2492

    4 ай бұрын

    Thanks FactBytes. Interesting that he retired to Iserlohn, I wonder if he was a local or it had something to do with what must have been a very siginifcant event in his life? Thank you for reply! @@FactBytes

  • @ErikBonesteel

    @ErikBonesteel

    4 ай бұрын

    Ernst Albert lived in Iserlohn. He was my mother's driving instructor. He was not a local citizen before the war, but chose to retire in Iserlohn after the war.

  • @iskandartaib
    @iskandartaib4 ай бұрын

    So there actually was an Iserlohn.. 😁

  • @tobijug
    @tobijug4 ай бұрын

    What's an Annie Aircraft Gun, or fudill ?

  • @ScruffyNZ.
    @ScruffyNZ.4 ай бұрын

    the barrel was 7m, not 'exceeding 8m'

  • @ryleeculla5570
    @ryleeculla55704 ай бұрын

    I hear that the Ruhr pocket also had a few tank divisions or only one I heard their was an ambush by the Germans with king tigers

  • @spaceman9599

    @spaceman9599

    4 ай бұрын

    Further East I think, it was 9th or 3rd arm that were ambushed and their c/o killed.

  • @cyph3r.427
    @cyph3r.4274 ай бұрын

    What's with the blurred out watermark?

  • @Dog.soldier1950

    @Dog.soldier1950

    4 ай бұрын

    He didn’t ay to have it removed

  • @augenstoff2
    @augenstoff23 ай бұрын

    The "formidable" defenses of Siegfried line were not so formidable. Germans largely dismantled it for the wall of the Atlantic. Without this mistake, it would have been much more difficult for Allies. The illimited number of American tanks gave no chance to Germany. Why does Germany always make huge diplomatic mistakes ?

  • @minhthunguyendang9900

    @minhthunguyendang9900

    3 ай бұрын

    Because they always thought Themseles Herrenvolk More clever than Everybody Else.

  • @jonboll2066
    @jonboll20664 ай бұрын

    Yikes no mounted turret. That sucks

  • @myronfrobisher
    @myronfrobisher9 күн бұрын

    why are you blurring 80 year old footage?

  • @lyntwo
    @lyntwo4 ай бұрын

    The men my father worked with had been line and field officers in the US Army fight into Germany, my father a combat veteran of Korea. I would overhear their late night discussions of their bitterness toward the Germans for fighting when Germany knew the game was up, that Germany had lost, just causing unnecessarily more death, wounding and destruction.

  • @stargazer1744

    @stargazer1744

    3 ай бұрын

    It was their DUTY to defend their fatherland...or wouldn't you do the same defending your land ?

  • @garysterle

    @garysterle

    3 ай бұрын

    It was all about Hitler, wanting to suicide the entire Germany. You may recall, that in WW1, the Germans surrendered when they knew they had been defeated and even before allied troops entered Germany.

  • @stargazer1744

    @stargazer1744

    3 ай бұрын

    @@garysterle - From my viewpoint, that was shameful. I praise instead how they behaved in WW2.

  • @garysterle

    @garysterle

    3 ай бұрын

    @@stargazer1744They only succeeded in prolonging the war and inflicting countless deaths and suffering. At some point leaders must lead.

  • @jerryumfress9030
    @jerryumfress9030Ай бұрын

    The tanks were too heavy, the engine was under powered, and there were few places the tanks could travel on without collapsing the roads. The tanks were running out of fuel, and it was game over. They would also much rather surrender to the Americans and British

  • @burningblue1254

    @burningblue1254

    Ай бұрын

    They were also unreliable having been built through Allied bombing raids where parts had to be substituted and slave labor often purposely making incorrect parts to sabotage the war effort. German tanks required meticulous maintenance and that resulted in more tanks out of service because of mechanical failure than enemy action. Allied tank production was about 188,000 versus Germany at 50,000. Also the Allies had air supremacy which was a constant problem for these huge beasts.

  • @opoxious1592
    @opoxious15924 ай бұрын

    At 0:20 you can see that the fighting is even raging on thet German new highways or "Autobahn"

  • @caseymiller7464
    @caseymiller74644 ай бұрын

    Who is the kid with the sniper rifle at 4:17seconds?

  • @GarySpeight-cv5sw

    @GarySpeight-cv5sw

    4 ай бұрын

    We will never know, is it the American?

  • @caseymiller7464

    @caseymiller7464

    4 ай бұрын

    He looks twelve.

  • @numbnuts4you180
    @numbnuts4you1804 ай бұрын

    Panzerjäger -'Pantsahyaygah'

  • @parker1ray
    @parker1ray2 ай бұрын

    This vehicle only weighed 71 tons not 78! Most were abandoned by their crews and the majority broke down or ran out of fuel. Otto Carious commanded one of these in defense of Germany and was not impressed! They were junk and proof of Hitler's fascination with giant lumbering beasts!

  • @4june9140
    @4june91404 ай бұрын

    whats futul ?

  • @nobbytang
    @nobbytang4 ай бұрын

    What prompted it ?…the allied air force dominating the skies…that’s what !!.

  • @godwrote01
    @godwrote014 ай бұрын

    another example how crazy german thought they can still win the war

  • @luongo7886
    @luongo78864 ай бұрын

    1st Lieutenant Albert Ernst was a graceful soldier who looked after the men under this command as well as civilians. I hope he didn't commit any war crimes.

  • @stargazer1744

    @stargazer1744

    3 ай бұрын

    Of course not....!

  • @knol1969
    @knol19694 ай бұрын

    Why build this big jagdpanzer ? To destroy shermans they could just build more panzer IV and V

  • @Athrun82

    @Athrun82

    4 ай бұрын

    Probably more inspired to take on the Russian big boys. The Russians and Germans seemed to have a dick measuring contest in terms of tank development. Jagdpanthers might have been a better investment or as you said more Panzer IV's or the latest versions of the Panther

  • @attila7092
    @attila70924 ай бұрын

    Would have like to know the damage they did to the Americans in that battle

  • @jim7544

    @jim7544

    4 ай бұрын

    There is documentation of Ernst's group's Jg. Tigers hitting Shermans between 2 and 3 Km. They were completely destroyed.

  • @vapormissile
    @vapormissile4 ай бұрын

    4:20 HETZ ❤

  • @user-im9xq7fp5r
    @user-im9xq7fp5r4 ай бұрын

    All they needed was to remove 12 dragon teeth blocks and the whole army could move through

  • @0Turbox
    @0Turbox4 ай бұрын

    Hobby historians: "It was a piece of crap, broke down every meter". The real ones moved to the battlefield and back to surrender and stuffed as many soldiers on top.

  • @lionel66cajppppp0

    @lionel66cajppppp0

    4 ай бұрын

    This is no backed up by anything other than propaganda It those like yourself that keep pushing thus garbage If you look at the actual German correspondence and tactic reports on the heavy tanks they were no better in worse than any other tanks and in fact better Your just repeating garbage backed up by hearsay because it makes you sound knowledgable When actually you know nothing

  • @jeffandjoannbauer9567
    @jeffandjoannbauer95674 ай бұрын

    Pretty Busch league to steal someone else’s video footage and blur out their water mark.

  • @seymencetinkaya1807
    @seymencetinkaya18074 ай бұрын

    0:11 dog

  • @daleshelden8394
    @daleshelden83944 ай бұрын

    It's pronounced yay gir

  • @williamlilleston1595
    @williamlilleston15954 ай бұрын

    If you are to narrate a video containing German ranks and other things. You really should learn to pronounce them correctly if you want a quality product on line

  • @cybersean3000
    @cybersean30004 ай бұрын

    Dude! Make your own content, stop stealing the hard work of others!

  • @mr.colling4091
    @mr.colling40914 ай бұрын

    Seigfried line was NOT formidable!

  • @opoxious1592

    @opoxious1592

    4 ай бұрын

    Yes it was. But after Europe was pretty much conquered by the Germans, it was largely stripped of it's weapons to strengthen the Atlantic wall. And even when the Allies reached the Siegfried line in it's "Stripped" state, it still managed to block the Allied Advance by another 4 months

  • @rogercude1459
    @rogercude14594 ай бұрын

    Without a doubt either surrender to the Americans or the Russians😂😂

  • @CLARKE176

    @CLARKE176

    4 ай бұрын

    Or British Commonwealth, French or Poles too.

  • @Saphorik
    @Saphorik4 ай бұрын

    I have to comment that if you are making a video on European events at least try to learn the correct way to pronunciate names and ranks correctly.

  • @Occident.
    @Occident.4 ай бұрын

    They should have continued the fight.

  • @luisfranco8424
    @luisfranco84244 ай бұрын

    Did Goebbels put this trash together?

  • @Kzerty
    @Kzerty4 ай бұрын

    It is called trahison :-)) History made by winners. Good for his soldiers at least who experienced POW camps without water and other inhumane treatments from Americans (fairly treated by Germans).

  • @ashleybevis9769

    @ashleybevis9769

    4 ай бұрын

    Thought the Russians was more of a problem to the facist regime