Palpatine: Ironic. He could save the Wehrmarcht, but not himself.

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

please introduce more Star Wars memes here.

@romanic7468

5 жыл бұрын

Lol

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

I'm being serious

@romanic7468

5 жыл бұрын

Oh. Okay.

@markkujantunen8298

4 жыл бұрын

The Tragedy of King Tiger the Heavy kzread.info/dash/bejne/mpVspamwadHRhLw.html

click settings and change speed to 1.25x youre welcome

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

thanks Senpai

@stormworks4882

5 жыл бұрын

sounds like youre reading from a book. but its all good, plenty of original animation work. GJ

@srujan00

5 жыл бұрын

Put it on 0.5 speed and enjoy with wodka.

@jamesdigriz5449

5 жыл бұрын

1.5x is even better! :)

@jclark6749

5 жыл бұрын

@@jamesdigriz5449 no 2× its more better

As for the economy, as far as I know, the price of t-34 reduced by half during the war as a result of numerous improvements in production.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Even then the Soviet production of tanks just eclipsed Germany by 1942.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

that would be a very interesting idea/case study. that being said the Soviets mobilized their armaments much higher than Germany and nearly crashed their economy since there was mediocre concentration on the consumer industry. Lend lease defo alleviated that more than I thought.

@AlexanderSeven

6 жыл бұрын

On the other hand, Germans produced twice the Soviet production of gunpowder and high caliber shells during 1942, resulting in many casualties on Soviet side because of German artillery fire. At Rzhev they were firing 2-3 shells for each Soviet. Also the quality in 1942 dropped considerably, because of using low skilled workers including women and children, relocation of plants to the east and general lack of resources. There were huge problems with optics for tanks, for example. Lendlease was mostly important from 1943, in 1941 it was nearly inexistant. In 1944 it was like 30% of Soviet gunpowder production, similar ratio for trucks and explosives.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

That's true although GDP does offer some metric on economy size. This does not equate to production capacity but the Soviet consumer economy was very fragile by 1942 and nearly collapsed. This led to inflation due to lack of supply. Lend lease wasn't really about just sustaining the armament economy. It was really about sustaining the consumer economy in order to ensure that the total economy wouldn't collapse.

@VT-mw2zb

6 жыл бұрын

ger du: The effects of Lend-Lease is hard to quantify and also hard for the Soviets to admit it. However, let's make a little assumption: if Lend-Lease is "that" useless, why do the Soviet keep ports, that requires fuel, energy, staff, manpower to run and keep the shipment flowing? Food, uniform, boots, raw materials, all have their contributions. At the simplest, they allow the Soviet Union to allocate fewer men, who otherwise will be needed to produce all of those to be send somewhere else: like weapon manufacturing, munition manufacturing, or simply fighting. Directly important to the war fighting efforts are trucks. Trucks are extremely important in war: they carry everything from men, weapons, munitions, fuel, to rocket launchers. The Red Army received 745,000 trucks during the war; it had 270k at the beginning of the war. Out of the 745k, 150k were new domestic production, 221.5k drafted from the industry and agriculture sectors (meaning those sectors have fewer trucks, no doubt limiting their productivity), 60,6k captured enemy's trucks and 312.6k lend-lease trucks. These trucks allowed the Red Army to be completely motorised, as compared to the Germans who had to haul everything around using horses. Germany produced a total of around 350k trucks during the whole war. American trucks and jeeps were probably of quite decent quality since the Soviets used them. Studabaker and Jeeps entered the Russian language as well.

There are 2 rules about War; Don't Fight Russia in Winter Don't Fight China in Land War Funny Fact, Mongol did both and WIN

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

The whole winter joke is a bit over blown

@TribuneAquila

6 жыл бұрын

It should be changed to dont fight russia unless its politically unstable

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

chad brown you watch cracked don’t you

@peterlustig6888

6 жыл бұрын

Zavid Al Rasyid ? Germany already defeated russia in winter during WW1.

@bosbanon3452

6 жыл бұрын

Peter Lustig-Deutscher Patriot but not in Russia mainland

I was born and live near Volokolamsk. The Germans managed to stay here for a few months. Just a hundred kilometers west, the city of Rzhev was occupied untill 1943. There were 150 citizens remaining after liberation. My grandmas got really lucky they weren't occupied that long. I fear they would be dead

@BlitzOfTheReich

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching and sorry to hear that.

@blitzy3244

8 ай бұрын

Oh please. The USSR treated their population far worse than the Germans ever would have.

I can only imagine the insufferable misery from the cold weather.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

war shouldn't be glorified. :(

@derekbaker3279

4 жыл бұрын

@Phil Hall FYI, while the Soviet soldiers in the reserves, Shock Armies, eetc., which were brought up to the front were dressed properly for the especially brutal winter of '41/'42, the Soviet soldiers who were west of the Volga at the start of the Axis-Soviet War were not. Consequently, many Soviet soldiers suffered as much as the Germans when winter arrived, and they also experienced similar problems with their equipment. Sadly, the lack of winter clothing also applied to the millions of Soviet POWs who were not given shelter or food by their German captors, leading to mass starvation & countless deaths due to exposure/hypothermia. 😞

@rimshot2270

3 жыл бұрын

@@BlitzOfTheReich This does not glorify war. It simply tells what happened.

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

@@rimshot2270 I wasn't saying that the OP's comment glorifies war. I was simply agreeing with them.

@rimshot2270

3 жыл бұрын

@@BlitzOfTheReich In that case, my bad.

Great video but I firmly believe that Hitler's initial desire to turn away from Moscow during the Summer of '41 was the correct decision. He called it 'merely a mark on the map' and, given the size of the Soviet Union, where the capital could have been easily moved as far East as the war demanded, he was absolutely right. Of course, Moscow was a major rail hub but it's capture would certainly have not meant the defeat of the Soviet Union. However, it was generals like Von Bock, Halder and Guderian, eager for the prestige and ego gratification the capture of the Soviet capital would bring them, who badgered and finally convinced Hitler into going for Moscow. Not sufficently appreciated was the fact that the attacking forces could not be deployed until the end of September, making it impossible to reach the city before winter. Why the OKH ignored this important fact as well as the approach of the rainy season in only two to three weeks is hard to understand especially since it meant that German forces would have been forced to fight a tough, street-by-street slugfest in the midst of bitter cold weather, something the troops were unequipped for. Given this, the best thing to do would have been to simply dig in after the Kiev encirclement and try to coax Stalin to the negotiating table. Here, Ribbentrop failed miserably as Foreign Minister for he should have been warning Hitler that it was only a matter of time before the USA intervened on the Allied side, thus making it imperative to bring the Eastern Campaign to a close as soon as possible.

@bingobongo1615

5 жыл бұрын

machinewrecker Soviet Russia was Moscow with an Empire around it with Petersburg as another center. That is Russia.

@anthonycruciani939

Жыл бұрын

True. Moscow was a poor primary objective for Barbarossa and it really illustrates how tradition bound Hitler's senior staff officers like Halder were. Yes there was certainly some glory hunting by the senior staff selecting Moscow as you say but Halder and the general staff chose it because in Europe historically that's how wars were won. You take your enemy's capital and they sue for peace. However the Soviet Union was unlike any entity any European power had ever faced. Stalin would have fought on if Moscow fell and Germany would still be hopefully overextended in a war of attrition they could not win. Allowing his staff to choose Moscow as the objective - though he did direct them to strengthen Army Group South - was the last time - for better and for worse - that Hitler acquiesced to his senior officers.

@squintz21four

Жыл бұрын

The book Stalin shows just how much on the verge the Soviet Union was of collapse. The leadership would have eaten each other if Moscow had been taken.

@LambdaNL

11 ай бұрын

It all went south after Hitler decided to change the initial engagement plan, diverting 2 panzer groups from Army center,1 north to Leningrad, 1 South to surround huge Soviet forces near Kiev. This was hitlers plan, but it backfired, because after this there wasn’t any time left for Moscow, and the snow came. This is what Manstein describes in his book too. Sounds logical.

@tonyjoka2346

11 ай бұрын

​@@bingobongo1615if you think so than you are an i"iot

Very nice visual style and presentation. Seems you've put a lot of effort into it.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

I put an incredible amount of effort into it. I have set up a patreon by the way so if you are interested in donating feel free. :)

@DimBeam1

6 жыл бұрын

Hope you're not just reading someone else's work. I say this because your pronunciation is shocking.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

yes I haven't introduced any original analysis at all simply because my pronunciation is poor (I speak 3 languages. I have enough trouble with pronunciation and by the looks of it, most Russians who watch this don't mind).

@AlexanderSeven

6 жыл бұрын

I personally have no problem understanding you though English is not my native language. And MHV has much worse pronunciation than you, for example, and it doesn't seem to be any problem to him or his subscribers though I personally sometimes can hardly understand what he says.

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

@@indicasativafusion gemini

Check out my latest video on the most DECISIVE operation in World War 2 - Operation Bagration. kzread.info/dash/bejne/d2Z8zLqaZrvRptY.html Support Blitz of the Reich. Check out our online store! Get $3 off at teespring by typing in promo code: spicyblitz teespring.com/stores/blitzs-obshchina In Glantz's updated version of 'When Titans Clashed' he removed the Mongolian reference to the 44th cavalry division citing that most of the troops did indeed come from Central Asia, but from other ethnic minorities like the Tajiks. However, the division did exist and it was acknowledged as having taken heavy casualties. Apologies for this. I made a typo for Maloyaroslavets. Apologies. If you would like to support the vitality of this channel please consider supporting me through patreon and paypal; also check out my book recommendations via Amazon. Thanks! www.patreon.com/blitzofthereich www.paypal.me/blitzofthereich www.amazon.com/shop/blitzofthereich I made a typo on 10:26. I meant to say February, 1942.

@Maresal1942

6 жыл бұрын

nalchik 1994 thats whats im trying to tell him, if anything Hitler doomed Germany as Seen at the battles of Stalingrad and the battle of the Buldge

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Hitler last stand on Moscow? You do realize the Generals didn't listen to the logisticians, wanted to prioritze Moscow whereas Hitler wanted the resource abundant Ukraine? Also you realize Stalingrad was also partially the fault of Manstein? Hitler didn't even want to really pursue the Battle of Kursk. The guy isn't a strategic genius and was mediocre at military strategy but the point of this video is that sometimes Hitler made the right calls, even against military consensus. They may have been for the wrong reasons but they worked. Demyansk was another case that worked although a similar strategy was tried and failed in Stalingrad. May I ask where your sources are?

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Sad to hear this from a Circassian.. If anything this channel treats North Caucasians with tact given the Russian governments treatment of you in the past.

@Maresal1942

6 жыл бұрын

nalchik 1994 buddy you just proved my point, you just said "Hitler turned them away" that is my point and that is why Germany list because Hitler is a military idiot

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

they are literally on the video and in the description. I never called him a military genius. The whole point of the video was to show that he wasn't always to blame for every military situation.

While stationed in Germany, I got to meet and talk with a lot of German veterans, many of whom were officers. One thing the German veterans did not understand was why we held their Generals as 'Great Commanders", "If he had such great generals, then why did we lose the war?' they would ask. But, I applaude your research on this Eastern front campaign. You have done your home work. Significant was the early December 1941 operations, where the Russians were holding, and when we were attacked at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th, no one can explain why Hitler decided to declare war on the United States 3 days later.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

There is a nice video by military history visualized explaining Hitler's decision to declare war on the US. I'd recommend it. That being said I don't like Hitler at all but there has been a myth propagated that German Generals were these Gods that could never be defeated.

@larsonpartisan2855

5 жыл бұрын

@@BlitzOfTheReich Well you cant really blame them. After all they took almost all of Europe with an army that was build up in 4 years from 1935 to 1939. Germany 1933 had 100.000 men army , no tanks , no air force and only very small navy. US Elite Military Schools are still teaching "Nazi" Tactics and there are Channels out there that believe Hitler was in contact with Aliens.

@kategrant2728

5 жыл бұрын

@@larsonpartisan2855 Yes, but the Americans managed to do the same thing didn't they? In 1940, they had an army smaller than Bulgaria. Yet within 3 years they had crossed oceans to launch simultaneous, overwhelmingly successful invasions on opposite ends of the planet.

@fatapes5068

5 жыл бұрын

I think the reason hitler declared war on the us is because they would declare war on Japan who were allies and the Japanese would be happy if they did

@fatapes5068

5 жыл бұрын

Falk M they already used u boats to sink the ships tho

Such a well documented and superbely illustrated video. I love it! Great work and congratulations .

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

thank you! be sure to check my other videos out!

Look, I appreciate the time and effort you put into this presentation; but.... It was Hitler's insistence on continuing offensive operations during the Raputitsa that gutted the German logistical carrying capacity from the railheads to the frontlines. Recently, within the last year, I read a very dry, extremely long winded treatise by a German author who basically gave the weekly strength reports down to corp and even division level of the German Army from 6-41 thru 3-42. It was like wading thru concrete and the graphics were horrible. In fact it was so bad I reviewed it on Amazon and promptly deleted it, as I really didn't need a reference guide as to how many MG-39s were available for shipping in August 41 to Army Group North. Yet one thing was clear, I mean REALLY JUMPED OUT....The final link in the German logistics chain for Army Group Center completely collapsed between the 3rd week in October and the middle of November. Period. Full stop. AND IT NEVER RECOVERED. What most people fail to realize is the difference in railroad gauges between Russia and western europe forced the Germans to reconstruct the entire rail line as they advanced. Also Russian train engines because of the vast distances they traveled had longer ranges than their German counterparts, so watering and coaling points had to be built, sidings built from scratch etc. Also blown bridges and deliberate destruction of track beds had to be repaired/replaced. So it wasn't simply a matter of shoving the rails closer together as some authors have implied. As a result already inadequate German truck and primarily HORSE drawn supply units were stretched to their limits working from the advancing railheads to the ever more forward frontlines Round trips of 300 miles over unimproved Russian "roads" were routine. Then came the Raputitsa..... And the big, grain fed German horses began to die... first hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands. At the same time the polyglot collection of trucks the Wehrmacht had collected from all over Europe began to break...REALLY BREAK...suspensions, transmissions, even ladder rails in the frames...break as in CAN'T BE FIXED BREAK... and yet still Hitler ordered Army Group Center forward. Hitler and most of his high command had fought on the Western Front in WW1 in an area that before the war had one of the densest railnets in the world. The Ruhr was only two hundred miles from the trenches. Shells made one day could and were literally fired the next. Prior to Barbarossa the Wehrmacht Quartermaster Corps stated categorically that the Smolensk/Vyazma AO was the farthest they could support a single season campaign. They weren't blowing smoke... they were dead on the money. Apparently they did have officers in senior positions who HAD fought in Russia in WW1. They knew Russia had six seasons not four; Summer, MUD, frost, blizzard, frost MUD, summer. Which meant as conceived Barbarossa was doomed at inception. Barring an unlikely regime collapse by Stalin and company Germany wasn't capable of knocking off the Soviet Union in a single campaign. AND since the communists had total control of the "media" in the USSR, the people weren't going to rise up just because the Red Army was getting slaughtered in job lots. Finally, Stalin had one overwhelming advantage militarily the Germans lacked, and no it wasn't T-34s or KV-1s... The Red Army had 15 classes of reserves it could call up. The Wehrmacht because of Versailles restrictions and the 35-39 expansion....HAD NONE. Which is why everytime; after Minsk, Smolensk, Kiev, Bryansk... the Germans thought the way ahead was clear... up pops another line of Red Army armies... Were they poorly equipped??? Yes, and not even close to German standards... Yet as Stalin himself so famously said; "Quanity has a quality of it's own." SSSOOO... Finally, did Hitler's "Stand Fast" order "save" the German Army? MEH... He sorta/kinda saved the tattered remnants of one he'd already wrecked. He saved an Army that couldn't break contact; difficult to be sure, because it's transport needed to break contact was broken or dead lining the roads from the railheads to the front. He, Hitler casually remarked at one point that, "It was just as cold fifty miles to the rear". It completely misses the point. Falling back would have put them at their supply base, while at the same time forcing a Red Army to advance far beyond theirs. At that point the Russians were every bit as reliant on railheads as the Wehrmacht. It wouldn't be until late 43, early 44 with the benefit of tens of thousands of American Lend Lease 2/1/2 ton Studebaker all terrain trucks that the Red Army became capable of pursuit at an operational level. Another thing... the "Stand Fast" order also resulted in an insane waste of manpowere and resources after the battle. For the better part of two years Hitler would insist on maintaining all the convoluted salients it created, particularly the main one at Rhzhev that would tie down over a dozen desparately needed German divisions until finally abandoned just prior to Kursk. In conclusion, the absolute kindess thing that can be said about Hitler "saving the army" with the "Stand Fast" order... Is to claim virtue out of necessity....He partially "saved" an army he himself had placed in such peril.... Finis. ABTW; I've also read Stahel, Citino, most everything Glanz has written and pretty much all the "self-serving Hitler blaming" post-war biographies of Manteufal, von Mellinthen, and of course Manstein as well as dozens of others. Recently Glanz has become the revisionist "flavor of the week", primarily due to his access and research at Frunze, the home of Red Army archives. There are however significant problems with those archives some of which Glanz addresses, but a huge one he rarely if ever does... A lot of it is staight up, flat out lies. Especially the ones concerning the first 18-24 months of the war, and particurlarly the ones covering Barbarossa. First off huge numbers of Red Army units didn't survive it to produce detailed after action reports and a good many that did were self-serving CYA efforts to avoid a fatal counseling session with Staliin after yet another disaster. One in particular that Glanz fixates on was the tank battle around Brody that was bigger than Prokurovka during Kursk....IT NEVER HAPPENED. Not at least as Glanz depicts it. Only about 60% of the Soviet armor even made it to the battlefield. Partly it was confused orders, but mainly it was because of mechanical breakdowns and POL shortages that led to almost half the Red Army armour being abandoned in the general area of engagement. The myth arose because surviving Soviet officers excused their performance by wildly inflating the German armour engaged, and the Germans counting as "kills" all the Soviet armour they came across after the shooting stopped. Look, this was a problem for all sides throughout the war. The winners didn't count as killed ANY tank they eventually returned to service, and counted EVERY AFV they found afterwards as one "they got". Even Kursk, which is about as thoroughly documented as any battle of the war....German and Russian numbers are wildly at variance. One of the more famous lines from the battle from the Russians was, "The Tigers are Burning"... The specific area where it occurred??? The Germans lost TWO to enemy fire; another nine were temporarily disabled due to mines knocking tracks out. They were all reccovered. During the entire battle the Germans lost less than 15...TOTAL. Likewise during Normandy Allied soldiers, arty spotters, and aircrew routinely mistook Mk4g series for Tigers. It was so bad even SHAEF with Ultra thought there was over 6 hundred Tigers in theater... the actual number never exceeded 120, and averaged less than 80. I'm not surprised. As a combat infantry veteran (82nd Abn); at the moment of combat you tend to naturally believe the worst possible thing that could happen..."OMG it's a F@CKING TIGER!!!", is what you're faced with. It's especially true of green troops, but veterans just as easily succumb to it under unimaginable stress "in the moment". Hell, during Falaise the American and Brit fighter bomber pilots claimed hundreds and hundreds of "kills". The survey after the battle concluded less than one hundred German AFVs had been knocked out from the air. The vast majority had run out of fuel and been destroyed by their own crews. It's war, "sh!t happens". I guess what I'm getting at is anytime I come across a "New and Definitive" account of events that occurred over seventy years ago, based on self-serving confused after action reports....Well, I take it with a heaping bowl of salt. About the only thing you can do is read and study as many different sources from BOTH sides and merge it into an overall narrative than can be reconciled with what hard facts are indisputable. And then be prepared to be utterly wrong...LOL Regards, Art

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

But I don't object to that. Glantz even pointed that gauges affected logistics. I disagree on the matter of Hitler's insistence on continuing during the Rasputitsa as that is the same old 'blame Hitler' narrative hashed out from German historians. He didn't even care about going to Moscow on the onset of the invasion and just wanted to destroy as many Soviet units as possible. He also wanted to prioritize the South and not the Center of the front. It further shows in his insistence on simply starving out Moscow. If he truly wanted it that much he would have done an assault. It is a fact of the matter that his Generals like Guderian were to blame. Also I also mention lack of German reserves as being critical. ' SSSOOO... Finally, did Hitler's "Stand Fast" order "save" the German Army? MEH... He sorta/kinda saved the tattered remnants of one he'd already wrecked. ' I disagree with this. he prioritized the South knowing the war would be prolonged against the recommendation of Hadler. The more I read the more it seems he didn't care too much about Moscow. I also think your conclusions are simply baseless. At least I offered concrete evidence. It is debatable that he wasted manpower and resources given that the first large scale destruction of German units on the front happened because of a withdrawal. Also large scale artillery losses occurred because of withdrawal. As you know during the Winter and rasputitsa the frontlines bogged down both in 41 all the way to 45. Temperature's were very abnormal during this time and you are pretty much suggesting the Germans withdraw to positions that are not entrenched. His stand fast order really did help a tattered army although it wasn't just him who made the priority of pushing toward Moscow. I really recommend you read Houses's work because I feel you are again giving a German centric narrative that has been influenced by the Cold War. Are you going to blame Hitler for Stalingrad next? Additionally even with the rasputitsa if the Germans wouldn't have attacked during the rasputitsa they would have encountered a reinforced Mozhaysk line which was not even half way complete in certain areas.

@MrArtbv

6 жыл бұрын

He objected to losing artillery that had lost it's "prime movers" trying to move supplies forward during the "Raputitsa". It's a self-inflicted circular argument. You posit Hitler didn't care about Moscow. Yet the final version of Barbarossa placed the bulk of German forces; 2 Panzer Groups and it's stongest infantry armies 4th and 9th on a direct course for the Smolensk/Vyazma land bridge to Moscow. And his final conception of a deep enveloment of the city was pure fantasy. As you pointed out Guderian at the end had less than 50 tanks, of THOSE only a handful were the critical MK3s and 4s. That's your "southern wing"??? At the start of Typhoon they barely had the fuel TO REACH THE CITY. The infantry formations were basically immobile. Stahel gives an excellent account of the extrordinary problems the infantry formations were having merely to survive, much less advance. You point out that German divisions averaged roughly 3,000 men under establishment.... Who do you think those missing men were??? I can tell you who they weren't... they weren't the cooks, mechanics, supply clerks, driver/drovers and admin types... They were the assault infantry... You make the mistake of many in concluding 80% strength, eh...not TOO bad. Let me share a little factoid with you... out of the entire 12k plus members of the 82nd ABN at full strength, no sick outs, leave, hurt or temporarily lame; less than 5,000 are actual trigger pullers. To have a paper strength of 80% means you're marginally capable of limited offensive operations; that's only if it's evenly spread throughout the division. In this case the missing 3 thousand represented over HALF of the combat strength. Not only that, the ones left were half starved and thoroughly frozen. AND THEY COULD NOT BE REPLACED. In fact they never were. The problem in the south was just as acute not so much in terms of manning strength, but the terrain. The farther east you go the Ukraine opens like a huge reversed funnel. The Germans even with the 6th, 11th and 17th, the largest of the 4 Panzer Groups AND 2 Rumanian Armies the 3rd and 4th... literally couldn't even form a continuous front by the time they reached Stalino... much less Rostov AND trying to take the Crimea. The whole "single season" campaign was a delusion. Hell it was almost a mass psychosis infecting all of OKW/OKH. Robert Citino who's written three pretty good survey level books on the Eastern Front and the Wehrmacht was asked in a Carlyle lecture when he thought Barbarossa "failed"... His answer??? "At conception". You wanaa point a finger at Guderian?? Fine by me. He was insubordinate and routinely falsified his readiness reports to comport with his desired course of action... Wanna blame Halder??? Go ahead, he KNEW better but went along. At least he never wavered in Moscow as the main goal. Whether it would have won the war?? Stalin certainally wasn't going to surrender over the loss of Sevastopol or the entire Donbass. The only way to get him out was the result of an internal coup the loss of Moscow might have triggered. Yet the essential fact remains... the Wehrmacht couldn't get to Moscow in one years campaign. The fact it was an unusually severe winter not withstanding... the damage had already been done. The fighting strengths of the infantry was less than 50% and the logistic tail had been destroyed BEFORE Typhoon ever started. Absent Typhoon the Germans ARE in prepared positions, and while tenuous, a livable supply situation. After Typhoon their were NO OTHER OPTIONS, but "Stand Fast". I've seen figures as high as 500,000 non combat casualties for the Wehrmacht during the 41/42 winter... I think that number is too high. Yet the fact remains that the Germans themselves only rated 25 divisions as capable of sustained offensive operations by spring of 42, and only after giving them absolute priority of re-inforcement and supply. Likewise only two of the 4 panzer groups could be reconstituted for "Fall Blau". We can "play" counter factuals all day long. The fact remains that in WW1, after the Brusilov Offensive of 1916 effectively knocked the Austro-Hungarians out of the war, a refocused Germany took a little less than two years to finish of the Russians. NOT with grand sweeping offensives, but short sharp attacks on positions the Russians would have to fight for... and essentially the German Army fought defensively letting the Russians feed themselves into the woodchipper. Had the Germans stopped aside from minor tactical line adjustment after the Raputitsa... there's no doubt in my mind Stalin would have done the same with the Red Army.... with ultimately the same result. Leaving the Third Reich with it's own version of a new "Treaty of Brest-Litovsk". NOT a permanently gutted Wehrmacht that staggered on another 3/12 blood drenched years. Look, I admire the hell out of the time and effort you put into this...Truly. The only thing I'm really arguing is rather than "Did Hitler Save..." is a more pertinent question and presentation might be... "How in God's name did the Wehrmacht end in that position and need to be "Saved". Best of luck...Art Brogden

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Yes objected to losing artillery that had lost its prime movers after the rapsutitsa because the Germans couldn't produce artillery enough and they would need it to stabilize the front. Supplies would have been an issue even without Hitler because the Officers wanted to prioritize Moscow, not Hitler. Just because the strongest units were placed in Army group center does not mean he defacto cared much about Moscow. Your same source Glantz even said Hitler initially ordered German units to just encircle as many red army units as possible whilst finally making Moscow an objective after Bialystok-Minsk. It is further supported by the fact that he wanted to besiege the city and not just take it. There is the same lack of conviction as with Stalingrad. You cannot conclude Objectives like that based on initial order of battle in June, 1941. ' And his final conception of a deep enveloment of the city was pure fantasy. As you pointed out Guderian at the end had less than 50 tanks, of THOSE only a handful were the critical MK3s and 4s. That's your "southern wing"??? ' It's fantasy in being successful but it was his plan. Is that not why the pincer movements were introduced in the first place? 'You make the mistake of many in concluding 80% strength, eh...not TOO bad.' No I don't because Soviet units were suffering similar shortages. They had less tanks and airplanes in the area of Operations and had more troops over all at one point. You are making the assumption that Soviet units were 100% full strength. Also remember Soviet divisions were also a lot smaller than German ones. 'Not only that, the ones left were half starved and thoroughly frozen. AND THEY COULD NOT BE REPLACED. In fact they never were. ' That is true which is why they couldn't abandon entrenched positions and I stated that they needed replacements and were short 300k in this video. I am not disagreeing. But by spring 1942 the Germans actually increased replacements along the whole front. It is not feasible what you are saying because Stalin did try to negotiate a peace with Hitler, so even without Moscow the Soviet leadership was already contemplating negotiations. I believe Beevor and Peter Kenez stated this. I am not arguing in this video that Hitler saved the Wehrmacht offensively but very much saved them defensively. Plus because of Typhoon German units actually used parts of the Mohaysk line which helped stall things. the Eastern Front could only be one in a blow or none at all as you point so it would be futile to say for the Germans to stay in Smolensk and construct imaginary defensive lines. Moscow was Halders idea. Guderian didn't complain when he attacked in Typhyoon at least in the beginning. Hitler wanted to prioritize the South. Jonathan House has a very good lecture on this. Thank you for your last compliment though.

@MrArtbv

6 жыл бұрын

Just a last amusing antecdote about Germany's chronic artillery shortage... After his release from Spandau Speer gave a series of intervews and in one he was specifically questioned why he could never "Solve" that particular problem. He smiled and replied that Germany after 42 NEVER had a shortage of artillery or artillery ammunition. Period. End of story. The problem he said, was that the vast majority of it was in Germany, pointing straight up.... Further, he estimated it took over 20,000 shells PER BOMBER brought down by "Flak". Interestingly, that's actually a little better than the British admitted to after the war. Probably because the Germans actually got to shoot at the Eigth AF in daylight. There was over 10,000 88, 100, and 120mm guns assigned to Flak units by mid 44.... thats A LOT OF FRICKIN GUNS... jist sayin...

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

That part I do absolutely agree with. An insane amount of flak and art equipment was kept in German from 1943 onward, however the problem is I am mainly speaking more about the early war in this video.

It’s amazing there are young people who have really grasped the significance of WW2 and the Eastern Front in such a comprehensive video. Facts and the truth about the events in this part of WW2 are so important since in the west there was very little recognition of these battles even though their outcome were key to the allies total victory. Thanks and hope you keep your research coming.

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

thank you very much for the compliment. Feel free to subscribe and watch my other videos!

@aetherkamado1322

2 жыл бұрын

its not even per se young ppl the generization is becoming more of a stereotype only a group of ppl do ive heard old and young say that what this guy said in the first few seconds fact is these ppl are wanna be historians that say that to actually grasp the situation and the reality a lot of research and knowledge is required something those ppl dont have

This is too awesome. I love YT, we get TV quality shorts like these for free. Thank you!

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

thank you! Be sure to watch my other videos!

@petereiso5415

3 жыл бұрын

We pay when we watch ads on TV, we pay here when we watch ads. I am interested where you see the difference.

I like your content, you really put an effort into the research of this. Subbed

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

thanks! :)

ur analyses are among the best i have seen on the topics, well done!

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

thank you!

1:32 Unit, right face..... Comrade Pavlovich, your other right.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

interesting observation

@fulcrum2951

5 жыл бұрын

Comrade

@Crusader-tg1wx

3 жыл бұрын

Can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen that in a JROTC formation.

@PavelKahun

3 жыл бұрын

@@Crusader-tg1wx I bet it happens all the time. It's just funny, and awesome that this "fail" reached us some 80 years later, you know what I mean? 😉

@Crusader-tg1wx

3 жыл бұрын

@@PavelKahun Oh yes. Things like this are the secret joy of drill instructors the world over. Gives them a perfect excuse to “straighten them up”.

Why does this video sound artificially slowed down lmao 1.25x speed sounds so natural

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

because people complain that I often go to fast so I tried speaking calmer so people could read what I wrote. Plus it isn't that slow minus the first part.

@CallsignYukiMizuki

6 жыл бұрын

Fair enough. Keep up the good work!

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks. Again I've gotten like 2 or 3 people pointing this out but I also speak slower and put gaps so that people have time to read the information on the screen which is as important as my sexy voice.

@fulcrum2951

5 жыл бұрын

Going too fast as the blitzkrieg to the point that the supply rope snap

Surprisingly accurate video and don't be offended but the age of the narrator seems very young, so double surprise. Congratulations !

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

Don't worry, I will take it as a compliment although I am 26.

@durukanus1

3 жыл бұрын

@@BlitzOfTheReich Hahah, older than me :D

Good work, Oberleutnant!

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

thanks I guess

In October/November of 1941, after Smolensk and Kiev it was time to dig, rebuild the railroads, switch to full wartime mobilization, form the Free Russian Army and the Ukrainian Army, draft the minor axis and make an ultimatum to Japan: either attack the Soviets or relationships will be broken. Also ask the British for terms. It was very clear that a major change was needed.

@erenliebert4576

3 жыл бұрын

wow, you sound like you wanted them to win imao

@andraslibal

3 жыл бұрын

@@erenliebert4576 analyzing strategy is always more interesting on the side of the loser: what would Napoleon need to do different, what would Tsar Nicolas I need to do different in the 1850s, what would Napoleon III need to do, where did Bismarck go wrong (1878), how could the Central Powers have won WW1, what would have been a better strategy for the Whites in Russia, what would a good French plan would have been in 1940, what could Stalin do differently to avoid war (the key is 1940 November), how could the Soviets not lose the cold war, etc. Analyzing how the winners could have won better is not that interesting because ... well, they won - even without interesting ideas, with their existing strategy. A student always learns more from the exams it fails. Come to think of it, I should fail my students a lot more often.

@erenliebert4576

3 жыл бұрын

@@andraslibal yeah, you are right, alternative history is really interesting. It's just sometimes I see so many Nazi apologists on KZread so often, I am very ok with anyone else, - but glorifying the bunch of people who wanted to kill and enslave my nation just because we were not "Aryan", - that makes me kind of sick. But yeah, even though I am Russian, I am a huge fan of Kaiser Germany and often wish they won the war as they planned, so many horrors could have been avoided.

@MonTube2006

2 жыл бұрын

@@erenliebert4576 I sympatize to the suffering that your people had to endure during that terrible war. That beeing said there's way too much "nazi witch hunting" and false assumptions going on nowadays. It's HEAVY. Let's accept that evreybody doesn't have to comply to your sensitive take on the matter and treat the subject on your terms because of your own personnal emotional struggles. ✌️

My mothers uncle was wounded on 6-12-1941in his ankle by a shrapnel at Meshkovo, west of Moscow. he was a grenadier in the 4th Panzer armee, motorized unit. He had a MG-34 and a K98 as weapons. I have his soldiers booklet (Wehrpass) with every day almost written in there. I also have his medals. He gave this al to me in 1990.

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

Wow. Please post if you can. I love reading primary resources.

@gerhard6105

3 жыл бұрын

@@BlitzOfTheReich its still in the Netherlands. I live in Belgium in the Battle of the Bulge area. Almost about every day is written in the Wehrpass. He started with the army group North towards Leningrad. Small sentences like: einnahme von Dunapils. Or: durchbruch durch die Stalinlinie. And then they put the dates with it.

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

@@gerhard6105 Oh that's very cool. I went to Bastogne once.

@igorabasjidze1194

3 жыл бұрын

@@gerhard6105 Leningrad?? He must be a Duch/Belgian volunteer of Waffen SS Westland.

@gerhard6105

3 жыл бұрын

@@igorabasjidze1194 No, he was the brother from my German grandmother. Near Dresden. My grandmother already lived in Holland since 1931 to work. He was at the Panzergruppe 4 from Erich Hoepner as a motorized Grenadier. "vorstoss ueber die alte Reichsgrenze...einnahme von Duenaburg/Pils, etc. Verlegung im Raum zwischen Vjazma und Brjansk, etc..

When i most of the time refereed of Hitler making bad tactic decisions where at the end of the war

Wow, you like, did research. how dareeeee yuo!

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Don't whip me gucci l0rd.

@DrPeterMarsh

5 жыл бұрын

indeed, we cant have the peasants thinking for themselves old boy.

@electrom.1703

4 жыл бұрын

AYYYY I WATCH UR VIDEOS

@TheWoodstock2009

4 жыл бұрын

@@electrom.1703 hello

@jeffclark7888

3 жыл бұрын

Why say, “like”?

thanks for the documentary......this is a new perspective for others since I always thought that Hitler's stupid mistakes were the main reason that the Russians won like moving the army to Stalin grad which gave Moscow some breathing space. anyway, WW II is full of interesting stories and surprises mainly in the eastern front which is rarely told to the world audience.

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

Yes. The idea of this video was to show that not everything was his fault (from the start to the end of the war). Toward the end he definitely got controlling and encouraged mistakes but the idea of this video is to show just one battle where he wasn't entirely wrong. He maybe did it for the wrong reasons, but it was a correct decision.

Love your choice of background music

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Grazie. Glad someone catched on to it.

@woj5924

5 жыл бұрын

Great choice indeed:D

Nice Job in explaining the battle of Moscow in such detail. You did a really good job.

@BlitzOfTheReich

4 жыл бұрын

thank you. be sure to check out my other videos!

This was the only time that Hitler made a military decision himself that actually proved to be very successful. If he had listened to his Generals the Soviet counter attack would have enveloped Army Group Center and destroyed it. By forcing them to dig in he grounded the Soviet's into a stalemate around Rzhev and inflicted heavy casualties on them.

@BlitzOfTheReich

4 жыл бұрын

it's definitely not the only time, but it is one of the only times. The generals were equally as incompetent in certain regards.

What I love about this video is you focus on the Soviets problems and really emphasize them while also stating Germanys problems What I hate about other easter front videos is that they focus way too much on Germanys flaws and barely talk about the Russians problems and sometimes make it seem they have a wild card all the time or make it seem tge russians were 100% problem free when the Winter came

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

this is very very true. thank you for such a nice comment.

Reads title: Now that is highly unusual

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

maybe so.

Pretty decent job. Thanks for posting this.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

thanks!

That was a fantastic quick rundown but I like hearing the diaries to understand how they overcame all the small challenges they faced

Georgy Zhukov: entered the chat Germany: left the chat

@darkknightbatman8269

4 жыл бұрын

Japan: left the chat

Will you make a vid about 1943-1945 I would like to see wtf happend to army group center

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

If it is in reference to Operation Bagration then I might.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev wrote in his autobiography, “Without Spam, we wouldn’t have been able to feed our army.”

Can you please make 'How Hitler Destroyed the Wehrmacht: The Battle of Stalingrad 1942-1943". Thanks.

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

Haha yes I would be more than happy to!

@littlejimmy8744

5 жыл бұрын

@@BlitzOfTheReich Was it his generals who wanted to stay but Hitler at first wanted to leave but he was convicted otherwise.

@carlwilson5339

5 жыл бұрын

Exactly

@jerrywang1749

5 жыл бұрын

LOL he didn't resulting in the destruction of the sixth army

The diagram at ( Time•12:38 ) was the best part of your video. Because it visualizes just exactly where the weak areas had been in the Germans line . And the precise areas that the Soviets had penetrated into the German lines . In which it had made clear the German divisions that had been the weakest and had given up ground to the Soviet offensive. And considering the Germans furthest Eastern point of army group centers frontline didnt really budge at all. The Soviets attempt to encircle Army group Center would have been way more successful if Hitler had NOT ordered Army group center to stand fast . So I'm basically saying ( ich stimme zu ). Good work !

@BlitzOfTheReich

4 жыл бұрын

More than anything Stand fast helped the Germans against the elements. I don't know if the Soviets were in a position to encircle the entire army group.

@realityreichtruthful-histo4046

4 жыл бұрын

Which delayed the German army all completely making it to the outskirts of Moscow before winter had set in.

@realityreichtruthful-histo4046

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the timely response to my comment. And because of your willingness to chat and debate with your viewers is why I subscribed to your page . Becuz i forgot to tap the subscription button after I left my comment .So if you hadn't replied back I would have never remembered that I didnt subscribe. LoL

@BlitzOfTheReich

4 жыл бұрын

Haha thank you very much. Welcome to the channel!

I see lots of effort was gone to making this video, nice! I think a pedagogic improvement would be to don't mix text and speech. It's hard to read and listen at the same time. I had to pause a lot to be able to take in all the information.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

yes the reason I do that in my videos is so people can use my videos like dictionaries and not necessarily as documentaries. I want them to be constant study resources for people to be able to look back and check. If I don't use it like this the video could have easily been 30 minutes.

very well made video and very precise maps and battle details

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

thank you! be sure to watch my other videos.

6:16 the Germans had actually lost air superiority by the start of December because they didn't have the right lubricants to run their engines in the winter. While the Soviets did. It was the first time the Soviets enjoyed air surperiority since the start of Barbarossa

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

I would say it had more to do with runways that were made for the winter.

@teh966

5 жыл бұрын

@@BlitzOfTheReich perhaps that too. I mentioned lubricants because that was a major determinant in the winter for the panzers and German motorized divisons who could not hope to get the engines started because the oil froze. Some would light fires under their truck engines before they could try and start them. On the other hand, contrary to Hitler's rhetoric that the Soviet army was on its last legs too, the soviets had the right sort of oil for their engines. This is a paraphrased excerpt from Antony Beevor's 'The second world war'. But I agree, the runways might have posed a much a greater problem when we talk about the Luftwaffe.

1812 - The perfect match of music for this historical event. ^^

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

on purpose haha

@tsd_ju7084

5 жыл бұрын

@@BlitzOfTheReich Exactly what I thought! xD

That music's reminding me of a certain Patriotic War of 1812. 😃

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

you right though.

@mrPowexistent

4 жыл бұрын

Except this time, way more people died and russia didn’t run away and burn down all their city.

Amazing video keep it up, my great-grandpa served in the 1st Guards Cavalry Corp, very proud of their unit one of the best of WWII, still have his picture with the sword that slayed many Nazis!

@BlitzOfTheReich

4 жыл бұрын

Haha the good old 1st Guards cavalry corp. I am glad you enjoyed it!

Someone read their glantz....

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

I hope that's a compliment but here I give homage to Jonathan House.

@cyberiansailor9741

5 жыл бұрын

Definetly a compliment. I just myself went through some of his books and I can say that this was a very informative video, wich visualized some things. And since I am not a fluent English speaker it cleared many things up!

There was already considerable tension and disagreements between Hitler and his high command about exact strategic and operational goals. This vagueness, vacillation lead to numerous problems. Hitler was indeed not completely stupid, foolish or wrong when it came to the goals of Barbarossa. He understood it was an economic war, he understood (as many of his generals did) that if history was any meaningful reference point, it wouldn't matter how much territory or red army resources were destroyed, they would never surrender. (of course, he took this too far and didn't realise until 1944 that he had had many anti-Soviet resources at his command in '41 and '42 - I speak of Vlasov who commanded an army of a quarter of a million men, and that was just one group) He understood that this war would be a war of control of resources, of economics, and he was correct. The war-winning moment would be when you possess vastly superior resources, production capacity and ability to keep morale high. Further, Hitler wanted army group south to be the most lavishly equipped as capturing all the mineral, food and industrial prizes lay in the south, but the staff planners deliberately stacked army group centre as many of them believed Moscow was the more important prize. After the Battle of France many in the armour design, engineering and production centres realised the panzer arm was seriously under - gunned. Hitler agreed, and ordered the immediate fixing of a longer barreled 50mm gun for the Pz III's. This order was half-heartedly implemented, probably due to over-confidence and complacency. It's certainly a good thing and makes more rational sense that the blame for the failure in the East is to be shared somewhat evenly, in this case it wasn't just the victors who wrote history but those who were defeated and survived.

WAIT WAIT WAIT HOLD UP YOU MEAN GERMANY WAS ATTACKED BY 4 NATIONS ? ENGLAND USA RUSSIAN (EASTERN FRONT) CANADA

This is best shown by the fact that the Allies had broken all German codes,and the Allied generals knew the battle plans,before the Germans.This being said many times the Germans defeated and routed the Russians solely because of better tactics and communication to the line.German Generals led from the front,while the Russian staff stayed in the rear with the gear.The last major offensive by the Israels,was in the 2006 campaign against Hezbollah,Israel planned a lightning attack,and race to the outskirts of Beirut.The TV news Generals all predicted rapid Defeat for Lebanese,After all The Jews had the best battle tank,and the Hezbollah had none ! Israel raced across the border headed for the Capital.Within a few hours it was over.Israel was crushed,25% of all her tanks lay turned over and burning in Lebanon.It seemed thart Hezbollah had been training with modern anti-tank equipment,and most people never heard it.That was the last incusion of Israelis military power.ALso,that's also why American brave soldiers are fighting Israel endless War!

Love your videos, loved you showing your town. Nice to see that you are getting some recognition, ie. views. It seems you live in Europe, yet your English is without an accent, also you look older with the beard, better look. As for the economy, Germany over engineers products while the Soviets made them easier to produce.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Yep I would agree with your last statement. And thanks for the compliment. Yes I do live in Europe. My partner is French so I live in a small French town although I am an American (hence no accent). I've lived in Europe for about 6 years (5 in the England/Scotland and 1 in France). Part of the success of this video was a combo of old subscribers like you supporting me and me marketing on reddit hehe.

Just to mention the German side show in Greece had a timetable effect and equipment wear factor. Also not to throw mud on the Russian officers we have to mention the terrible effect that Stalins purge of the armed forces had, not just in removing so many experienced officers but in the mindset of the remaining officers...pure fear of making a on the spot decision. Thank you for all of your work....well done

Superb. I am 60 (+) yo who has lived on WW2 documentaries all my life (never learned how to read, well, more a problem of chronic cannabinoids), and have been hoping to see a Goddamn Documentary that in a simple way brakes down what happened in front of Moscow in 1941, and, this morning, in the middle of the Goddamn Pandemonium 2020 I got to see one, one that was superb. I want this added to every classic Eastern front documentary, overdubbed on Sir Larry reading the World at WAr! In every goddman language. Each detail that would have (has been) left out was frigging GREAT. Never heard the logistical Front to Army problem. Or the tank problem. And those Soviet rounds. Each detail, superb, engrossing. Loved the graphics, with the pix of the Soviet front generals, was simple, was easy, anyone could have done it, but you did!!!!!!!!!! Thanks man, many many thanx. Really enjoyed it. Will watch a dozen times, and get out my credit card and get (the hell) over to patreon. Never have, and it's time i did.

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

Comments like this one are what keep me doing what I'm doing. Thank you so so much and I hope to continue providing good content.

well done video, tons of info, interesting stuff about Hitler vs Generals 👍

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

thank you

12:03 "Calvary corpse"

Great video - thanks for producing it. You've made good points using good sources. I would work on your pronunciation of some of your words...especially for Cossacks.

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

It's difficult as I speak multiple languages, so I always mix the pronunciation of these languages. For example, in French they pronounce cossack like I do.

Good video overall! but 2 important parts I think you missed was the fact that of the time if the Soviet counter offensive, they outnumbered the Germans by a considerable amount. In addition you didn't mention the fact that the Soviets were only able to produce more because large finacial help from the United States.

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

The financial help in 1941 by the US was minimal. US lend-lease helped the Soviets in the late war, not the early stages. Also, the Soviets did outnumber the Germans in the counter offensive, but it is still impressive how they managed to hold the Germans back while reserve armies were deployed. I mean I'd have to review the exact numbers but I'm 100% sure about lend-lease as I read the actual US government reports.

About half way in and I have to say this is really high quality. I hate that so many people praise Germany while simultaneously slandering the Soviets, and that the Wehrmacht were merely 'stopped' at Moscow instead of being beaten hard

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Lord Meowric you can praise soviet performance without praising Stalin or communism. I view this purely from military technicality. I appreciate your comments on all my content. If you can I would be highly grateful if you can share this video on reddit or other mediums.

@Sheo2049

6 жыл бұрын

Blitz Of The Reich I'll see what Reddit board I can out it on. You and TiK both do history of this war that is hardly covered and are criminally underwatched

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Lord Meowric btw if interested I opened a Patreon. That being said I’m considering a forum or something to invite long term watchers as I am scared of ‘losing touch’ when this channel grows.

@Sheo2049

6 жыл бұрын

Blitz Of The Reich The forum would be interesting. I'll see about Patreon as well I don't have any of that setup yet

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

No pressure at all. It's voluntary but would still help. :)

3:17 actually, General Mud kind of helped Germans because they had half-tracks so they could move while Soviet trucks often got stuck in the mud and lost as the result because army was retreating.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Problem is vast majority of German trucks weren't half tracks and most troops relied on horses. The Germans wouldn't risk isolating advance armored units without sufficient infantry support.

@AlexanderSeven

6 жыл бұрын

You are right it definitely slowed down Germans but it didn't stop them as some people think, and the effect of mud was even worse for Soviets. Also in November it became possible to move at night when temperature drops below zero and mud freezes.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Well in the video I pretty much say the Rasputitsa was in October but you are right that it affected both sides as shown with the Spring Rasputitsa in 1942 where the Soviet offensives ground to a halt. That being said the Soviets were on the defensive in 1941 which negated the Rasputitsa's effects, especially that they wanted to finish building the Mozhaysk line. The Soviets also had a lot of cavalry that could help with mobility. Not too sure about that last point regarding mud though.

@SarevokRegor

6 жыл бұрын

*"Problem is vast majority of German trucks weren't half tracks and most troops relied on horses."* No. Horses pull less weight, less far then a truck in a day. If a truck goes twice as far as a horse and carries twice as much a truck is worth 4 horses, just for example . ~95% of freight output, in terms of tonne km's per day, relied on trucks. Even with a hypothetical 80% fall in truck usability trucks would still generate 80% of the freight capacity. I would recommend you look at Nigel Askey's series on operation Barbarossa, or use incredibly basic logic to derive the essentials of this conclusion.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Please cite the exact page and source of this because you are really downplaying the role of horses in the German military. It didn't matter if horses pulled less wait, it is still very true that the Germans relied primarily on horses. They had at most thousands of trucks, whereas they had millions of horses. Even then horses transported a majority of logistics . ' or use incredibly basic logic to derive the essentials of this conclusion.' This comment sounds incredibly sassy, especially when Germans lacked oil reserves to use trucks efficiently. They had to use horses. Thus, I think it is you that needs to use basic logic.

If Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group was reinforced by Kleist 1st Panzer Group from the southern sector, in a manner like Hoth's 3rd Panzer Army was reinforced with 4th Panzer Group from the northern sector, it would be gg for Tula, and quite possibly even Moscow.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

I am unsure because of the fresh reserve army by Kashira. As this video stated he only had about 50 tanks left at one point. Maybe enough to pass Tula but definitely not Moscow.

@Grondorn

6 жыл бұрын

My reasoning is that the pair of 3rd and 4th Panzer Group performed fairly well initially and had advanced by far the most, but the 2nd was stopped at Tula at offset almost. The Soviet 49th and 50th Army defending Tula would very likely be encircled if a whole another Panzer Group was present, and the 33rd and 43rd Army heavily beaten. It is very difficult to tell if Moscow would have been encircled immediately, but it would definitely present grave problems for Soviets. Their counteroffensive wouldn't be as nearly concentrated as it was in reality.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Remember however the Germans were having difficulty in the South in the Rostov region so sending a Panzer Group from the South would be quite risky especially since the order of battle in that region seemed to favor the Soviets. But yes their counter offensive was relatively weak especially the 2nd phase. The 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies did well too but that is why the Soviets also committed 2/3 reserve armies in that sector. I don't think they would have survived for long especially with pressure from the Kalinin Front. It even goes to say that the Germans barely had any troops at all between Leningrad and Kalinin once the offensives began, so the left flank of 3rd/4th Panzer Armies were already too weak for them to continue advancing.

@Grondorn

6 жыл бұрын

I'm aware of the 1st Panzer Group defeat at Rostov, but that was a best a hastily executed counter-attack at the lone and overextended enemy that produced very little in the terms of casualties. The Soviet forces opposing the 1st Panzer Grop at the Rostov regions were very weak forces from Southwestern and Southern Front which were basically just recreated after they were destroyed at Kiev, Uman, and Mariupol, and were not in a condition to launch any major strategic offensive, since the Southern Front was already very busy to put it mildly at Crimea, and the first Southwestern Front offensive occurred at Kharkov in May the following year. In my opinion, Germans could afford to transfer Kleist armoured group to the Army Group Centar because at best the Soviet could only achieve a relatively shallow penetration at best. I'm also aware the effort Soviets undertook to defeat the panzer duo of the 3rd and 4th group, but in this scenario, Germans would have two equally numerous armored pincers converging at Moscow and Soviets would have very difficult times defeating both. I'm certain that alternative single move would have drastically changed the strategic outlook for 1942.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

It is not necessarily the casualties but the fact that an army corps was nearly encircled. it could have led to a very disastrous situation. I don't think it would have been wise. Also the 44th through to the 47th armies were deployed in the Transcaucasus by July, and in August the 56th army was deployed in Rostov. You also had the 6th and 12th armies reform in Eastern Ukraine in August. In October you had an additional 57th army deployed in Stalingrad as well. And like I said the reformed 10th army was guarding the Ryzan sector. In the Rostov sector you had the 12th, 37th, 18th, and 56th armies stationed by December plus a couple of Armies right to the North. It is true that adjacent to Voronezh the Soviets only had the 21st, 40th, and 13th armies guarding via the SW front, but by these numbers alone the Southern Front was by no means weak. All those Soviet armies were put there for a reason (and arguably why the 1st Panzer Group couldn't withdraw North. It would leave a huge cap for 5 Soviet armies).

It wasnt just Generals but in all of the ranks there were many who were surviving and fighting at the front who totally disagreed with Hitler and the okh.They conveyed in their letters and diaries at great personal risk that Hitlers insisting on holding ground to the last man instead of retreating at the right time,caused excessive death and loss of nearly all motirized equipment

Why doesn't this channel has more subscribers

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

I don't know, but I am still happy to have subscribers like you, who give me all the support I need. :)

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

they are in the description and I can assure you the information is not wrong. All academic.

@jamesdigriz5449

5 жыл бұрын

I know, right! Just subscribed.

C'est fou comme t'as pas d'accent, super boulot continue.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

merci! mais quel accent ? Je suis Americain mais j'habite dans le Sud-ouest de la France. Si tu veux tu peux traduire mes video. ;)

@colkelly8333

6 жыл бұрын

Je viens de me rendre compte en voyant tes autres vidéos... le village ou tu vis m'a induit en erreur. Not sure about the translation but I'll try my best to spread the word ;). I especially enjoyed your video on Jews and Bolshvism. Great analysis of socio-political conditions, of why many were the spearhead of organized labour unions and eventually a natural opponent of conservatism. I wonder if the same pattern exist across Europe and especially in pre WW1 Germany, could go a long way in explaining the rise of german anti-semitism after WW1

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

thank you so much. the reason I live in this village is because my girlfriend is French so it's a living. I am unsure I can explain the rise of antisemitism in Germany because it already existed before WW1, however it was more like a casual antisemitism. Thanks for watching my videos though!

Great video - subbed.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

thanks Man!

Good to see I'm not the only person who uses Powerpoint to this extent :D I believe you when you say this took a lot of time to produce. (The program gets really quirky and fiddly, depending on how you layer stuff) How come you haven't moved on to a different platform like what most people end up doing? (Just curious)

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

I am clueless as to what other platform I could be using. Also I actually have gotten used to powerpoint to the point where It's comfortable to me.

Well done boy!

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

grazzie!

I get increasingly irritated at the way German generals are lauded. Sorry, but in modern warfare, the Nazi German military was woefully INCOMPETENT. Let me explain: In WW2, much of Victory laurels of the Allies should go to two significant generals - George C Marshall, and General Lucius D. Clay. Who was Clay, you ask??? They were the ones that put us in a position to win. If you recall, within months of declaration of war, the US was producing a prodigious amount of war material - planes, tanks, ships, etc. That was the work of Lucius D. Clay. HE WAS AMAZING. And, no one knows about him. The Germans were HORRIBLE at production. They NEVER got mass production down. The lauded Tiger tanks had no effect on the war since they were not built in sufficient quantity (yes they impacted battles, but no contribution to the overall war.) The Panther tank was in larger numbers, but still not near enough. Q: Why did the Germans have no winter gear, or even winter weight oil on the Russian Front come winter?? What idiot let that happen?? That shows incredible incompetence up and down the officer ranks of the German military. I am tired of hearing about their brilliant field maneuvers, when that is only a portion of what victory needs in modern wars.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Thank you thank you thank you thank you for seeing the point to my videos. You are 1000% correct in saying the Germans never got mass production down. They had an economy that was much larger than the Soviet economy yet they produced a fraction of their material. Even taking into account for the needs of the consumer economy this seems rather dubious to me that the Soviets produced at one point around x4 the tanks the Germans produced yet had a smaller economy. People will say the quality was worst which is slightly true, but even then the Soviet tanks were formidable opponents.

@bubbythecuck978

6 жыл бұрын

This is why you don't let 12 year olds discuss history. Both of you are completely off-base, and have your heads 110% up your own asses.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Yes so off base. I'm not 12, I'm 24 and have academic qualifications to at least be talking about things revolving around Russia. I also read plenty of scholarly literature. Instead of insults how bout you prove me wrong? (ps I am sure Craig isn't anywhere near 12)

@christoffelmiddel6663

6 жыл бұрын

Well they lost the war because they didn't have enough OIL! you can make 10000 of tanks and not move them. you can make 20000 planes and not move them. They were in an oil-crisis! And I also agree, the german generals don't have any scope about logistics, fighting is only 2/10 of a war. They prepare for months for an attack and in the meanwhile they're soldiers are dead in the cold! You gotta watch TIK some more.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Me and TIK know each other (not personally).

This is the biggest ,most savage,brutal war ever.Unrelenting offensives by both sides facing tenacious defences that had to be held at all costs. Enemies that hated and feared each other.Terrible but fascinating and epic

He sacrificed more than he saved

It's unfortunate that such great videos attract such asinine comments

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

It is the reality of the anonymity of youtube.

You really need to check your pronunciations!!!

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

I aint a Rusky though :3

More like a broken clock is right twice a day. Manstein was right, Hitler’s WW1 positional command jargon was anachronistic. I wonder what would have happened if Hitler had given Manstein Ober-Ost after the back-hand blow and let him use mobility and C&C superiority to wear down the Soviets. Can’t have been worse than Hitler’s efforts and probably much better.

The vision of the German General Staff has been limited since the unification of Germany, and that is exactly why they have not taken factors such as securing raw materials and the total annihilation of the Soviet military as a whole into account which they should've learned after WWI. Hitler, on the other hand, did possess a somewhat grander view of the entire war rather than seeing them as individual border battles. That was the reason why he insisted on securing "secondary" objectives like Greece and the Caucasus in order to maintain a steady flow of crucial material supply although that somehow ended up damaging the integrity of Operation Barbarossa and led to the failure of Case Blau due to his lack of realization of the limitation of his forces(as did the military elites). However, Hitler really did not have a clue when it comes down to the details of Germany operational-tactical level defenses in particular. As you pointed out that he had the WWI mentality that emphasized on stationary trench warfare, and such mentality led to the issuing of all the halt orders including interfering with tactical operations details as low as battalion level which was absolutely absurd. These conduct restricted the Ostheer leadership to perform a more flexible and less ambitious operational level mobile defense. By doing so, Hitler wished to retain both time and space and he lost both in numerous catastrophes during the following years. Of course, I consider the post-war arguments against Hitler made by all the generals halfly laughable as well. There is a small mistake you made around 14:25 stating that the Soviet start to reintroduce the "Small combine-arm Mechanized Corps" in March, 1942. Those were actually "Tank Corps" which fits your descriptions as "too little even for a Panzer Division". The STAVKA did rebuild the Mechanized Corps later that year after they realized that the Tank Corps lack sufficient stamina due to the disproportionate ratio between tanks and infantry in the unit. The 2nd generation Mechanized Corps had a much healthier combination included around 200 tanks and 14000 personnel in full strength along with powerful artillery/rocket batteries and support units. This formation was widely qualified as a true equal to the German Panzer Divisions. Really nice video. I can see you put a lot of effort into it, keep it up, buddy!

*gasp Are those SOURCES?

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

the choice is yours..

@jesusbrighst6155

6 жыл бұрын

Impossible. But I thought armchair historians don't need sources.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Yes which is why I use 10 other sources on the topic. I focused on Russia in university, so jokes on you.

@jesusbrighst6155

6 жыл бұрын

Oh poo. :(

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

people think any young guy on youtube talking about history is automatically some armchair guy. my channel is about Russia since I studied Russian politics in uni with some history and did my dissertation on Russia.

Great video! Why not do Rzhev next? It's not covered much.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

I have :D I may redo but take a look!

Claro comprensiva gráfico, precisión análisis .Excelente . Thanks a lot

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

Muchas gracias por el comentario. Si te gusto este video tal vez deberias ver la serie Operation Bagration.

Von Runstedt said after the war that Hitler had indeed saved the German Army at this time, but then again, he added, whose fault was it that the army was in this mess, in the first place?

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

Hitler + the Generals. Nobody listened to the logisticians.

@julianmarsh1378

3 жыл бұрын

@@BlitzOfTheReich Actually, there was a recognition that the German forces would need to pause, perhaps around the end of July, to be resupplied. It was assumed that during that respite, the German High Command and Hitler would evaluate the progress to date, and arrive on a unified strategy to follow resupply. I doubt that Hitler, for all his talk, really expected to take Russia out in one campaign (even France had required two campaigns). If he really believed he needed to reach the oil fields a.s.a.p., he did not allot von Runstedt enough forces; Runstedt said in an interview that he started Operation Barbarosa with 700 tanks, of which only 144 were Mark IVs...the army of course wanted to go for Moscow so perhaps more forces might otherwise have gone to von Runstedt. But even so, going for the wells and passing on taking Moscow is tantamount to admitting the war was not going to end in 1941 or perhaps even in 1942. If Hitler felt in his heart of hearts this to be the case, he certainly was not going to announce it to his generals, many of whom were not crazy about this venture into Russia in the first place.

Good content bro

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

🤝Cheers mate!

15:10 what do you mean you own the picture? Like the actual original photograph?

Excellent work

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

danke!

I enjoyed this, hope you do more.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Thank you. I in fact have. You can check my newest video that I uploaded today.

I have never seen anyone really disagree with the idea that the whole thing went off the rails when the German command decided to prioritize the destruction of Soviet forces along Rudstedt's AGS front instead of busting through toward Moskva when there was almost nothing in their way but militia.

One greatest moment of Russia's war: when Stalin watches the troops in Red Square give a mighty shout of defiance against the invaders at Moscow's doorstep. Bone-chilling courage.

@rimshot2270

3 жыл бұрын

It's easy to be brave when you outnumber your enemy and your leader will shoot you and punish your family if you run.

@37Dionysos

3 жыл бұрын

@@rimshot2270 "Easy to be brave"? Don't think so.

@rimshot2270

3 жыл бұрын

@@37Dionysos I was referring to acting brave, not being brave. The average Soviet/Russian soldier was no braver or more motivated than any other soldier on either side of the war.

@37Dionysos

3 жыл бұрын

@@rimshot2270 Whatever you say.

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

The Soviets did not outnumber the Germans in late 1941 Moscow. Did you not see the video?

Good video! But one thing that might really help you is taking the time to learn the Russian alphabet. It's something you can do within 30-60 minutes (look up "read Russian in 30 minutes" or something similar) and it'll help you get your pronunciation on-point. Listening to you pronounce "Mozhaysk" as "Mozz-aysk" when it's spelt with a ж in the middle (Zh, like "Zzhuh") was a bit off-putting. I did laugh at calling Giorgiy Zhukhov "Georgey" though :)

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

It's not as easy as you think. I do know the Greek alphabet and the Cyrillic is quite different. I already speak enough languages as is so I need to perfect the ones I know (English, Spanish, French) before I proceed. :P Thanks for the recommendation though.

Almost every once in a while I see this but the Soviet 44th Cavalry Division was formed in Tashkent. It was Uzbek, not Mongolian. Only a few hundred Mongolians ever served on the eastern front (Save for the 112th Tank Division, which was under 1st Grds. Cav. Corps 6:08 and prevented Tula from getting encircled by the elite GD division. It later became a brigade and received tanks fully funded by Mongolia). I assume this error probably came from the 4th Panzer Group commander Erich Hoepner, who described the cavalry charge as something like how he felt going back to the Middle Ages Mongol invasion, and the subsequent writers interpreted this falsely and people believed the 44th CD was actually Mongolian. It reminds me of Glantz's lecture on Stalingrad where he pointed out that the 76th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) did not take part in the city battle (People thought it did because Soviet intelligence mistakenly believed it was in the city area). It just shows how small misinterpretations and poor fact-checking of sources (Yes, including this channel) can lead to distorted/twisted history. An incredible amount of effort was put into the video indeed.

What to send: ammo, food, fuel, spare parts OR warm clothes? It's tempting to prioritize the first 4 items and to ignore the warm clothes. Especially when you lack the logistic line to bring everything at the same time.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

well they did have warm clothes but the logistics lines got clogged up and they couldn't reach the front.

Damn. Check out that soilder water skiing behind that T-34 at 6:05. That looks way cool. And I have never seen that before ever. Thanks.

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

No problem. Glad you enjoyed it.

@bbbabrock

5 жыл бұрын

@@BlitzOfTheReich TIK turned me on to you just recently. He mentioned like a half dozen military utube channels. And I was already familiar w all of them, other than yours and one other.

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

I saw that. Thank you so much for visiting me!

Very good. Thank you

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Neither the 95th, nor the 45th or 134th german infantry divisions were destroyed at Jelez as you state. They came under inmense pressure and retreated west. They did not have to be rebuilt as it happened to units destroyed at Stalingrad.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

I have various sources proving it including casualty figures. Over 50% of these divisions were virtually wiped out during the battle around Yelets. Before that they were already severely depleted, so it is a question of semantics.

@ebusitanus

6 жыл бұрын

I was not talking about casualty percentages as basically most of german units in the way of Thypoon suffered greatly on top of their previous barbarossa depletions. I just saw your otherwise very good clip and was surprised about this destruction of these three divisions I had not heard about before. I did some digging and all of them kept on being front line units after the Jelez retreat. Surely severely depleted but not written off or reformed behind the front.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

Well the way I used 'destroyed' was in terms of being severely depleted, even more so than other units. In Wray's article on German elastic defense he writes of them being 'partially' destroyed and Glantz writes and the destruction of the corps being one of the few successes of the counter offensive. It constitutes destruction if half of a corps is captured or killed.

This is a very good piece on the Russian front in December 1941. The mistake, in my mind, was in attacking the Soviet Union in 1941. If Hitler had moved 1/6th or at most 1/3rd of the force he used in Barbarossa in an attack on Egypt from Libya he would have taken Egypt, the Suez, and have all the resources the Northern Middle East available to him including the oil producing areas of Southern Iraq and Southwestern Iran (where the Royal Navy got its fuel). So if Hitler had attacked Egypt in late Spring, early Summer, while the British Army was still fighting Germany alone, and had lost all of its equipment at Dunkirk the year before, it would have been a fairly soft target as the British were still recovering and Egypt was a long way away. Hitler could have been in Basra by September, very easily. The Mediterranean Sea would have been a fascist lake. The Germans could have then "undeclared" war on Britain, ie. declare an end to bellicosity with Britain and attempt to suit for peace. With the war effectively over, and if the Japanese had still attacked Pearl Harbor, it would have been impossible to get Americans to declare war on Germany. Hitler then would have been able to wait the British out until they submitted to an armistace. Hitler would have had a head start on lebensraum in Poland. He could have moved ethnic groups from Eastern Europe to Northwest Africa which in 1941 was very underpopulated. If he still wanted to start a war with Russia, Hitler could have waited things out until he had peace with Britain. Then when he finally did attack Russia, both the United States and Britain would have stayed out of it, and maybe even had backed Hitler seeing that both Britain and America valued private property rights. I don't think Russia was ever worth attacking. Its too cold. Nobody really likes Russia but Russians. I'm glad Hitler was defeated. I'd had preferred he'd never had existed at all. And it was the Russians that ultimately defeated him.

So humble and so informative. Sub.

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

thank you so much! be sure to watch my other videos.

@normanprotorczyn5017

5 жыл бұрын

Will do kind Sir! Have a lovely day!

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

@@normanprotorczyn5017 you too!

not a bad analysis, i have read similar accounts from everybody from Manstein to Zhukov. What is not mentioned, but was certainly realized by every German Field Marshall pretty quickly: If the German forces had not won by 1941 they were not going to win at all. It was recognized this was never about territory, it was about destroying the Soviet means to resist, which meant destroying the Red Army and nothing less. So the capture of Moscow, or anything else, would not have made any difference to the outcome. The German forces had one and only one year that was decisive. After 1941 the Germans got weaker while the allies only got stronger (except for the British, who were tapped out on manpower by early 1944). The addition of lend-lease supplies to the Soviets sealed the German's fate, anytime after 1942 the Russians were going to win, the only question was how long would it take them. The Germans STARTED the war with severe shortages of everything, Hitler always gambling on "a short war". The addition of conquered territories during the war by the Germans, changed that situation very little - even when the Germans captured the oil fields in the south of russia they could not use them, since not only were the oil fields completely wrecked by the retreating soviets, the oil was the wrong grade and could not be used to make gasoline.

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

If the German forces had not won by 1941 they were not going to win at all. I 100% agree with this statement. but it seems I triggered a lot of people that think I'm defending Hitler (which I'm not). I am essentially spreading the blame around for the loss of the war.

Faceless hoards in huge enough numbers are pretty mighty.

Thanks.

@BlitzOfTheReich

4 жыл бұрын

for what? :)

I think Hitler is blamed for more than he should be, I sometimes hear people say why go into Russia, he had decent reasons

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

I mean he was no general, but his reasoning was sometimes valid.

The Hitler blame game many German generals plsyed after the war was pretty pathetic - Halder and Guderian being the worst.

The biggest sorrow of history is that Russia was allowed to continue existing.

why music in background? Because of the background music the quality of speech is really distorted and silent. Sad!

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

It avoids a monotone appearance. Also nobody has really complained before and I have always kept it quite low.

maybe if stalin didn't push so much for deep penetration but only focused on the city rzhev for encirclement maybe they would have a better situation for another offensive

There's a long standing debate as to whether Hitler did saved the German army in that first Winter. In the final analysis he imposed his will on the General Staff and the Frontline troops with his firm order. The German Army probably would've survived plus or minus a few divisions, because the Russian counter-Offensive itself lacked momentum....I say so without full confidence because in the German General Staff and Corps Commanders had varying visions of how to extract themselves out of the mess. Frontline generals such as Guderain did withdraw prematurely, which also showed a lack of coordination within the command. So the point is the German Army would've likely survived one way or another, for better or worse, but it survived by Hitler's way. So therefore the real problem was henceforth Hitler saw himself as the saviour of the German Army, and so did his general staff. Up till this point Hitler had left the operational planning to his generals but after the winter of 1941 he felt confident enough to take over from the General Staff, to overide them and to dictate the running of day to day operations on the Eastern Front. The outcome of that was of course Stalingrad in 1942 and Kursk in 1943. I tend to believe that had Hitler not taken over the operational control of the German Army on the Eastern Front, they would still have lost the war, perhaps not through defeat at Stalingrad, or Kursk but eventually the defeat was inevitable. From the day the Soviets managed to throw the Germans back outside Moscow, the morale of the Soviets transformed and the tide had turned. Stalin's own position was solidified because he stayed in Moscow and took credit for the counter-attack. The political capital was gained by Stalin and his control of the Soviet Union firmed...though Stalin made mistakes and the Soviets were defeated several times between 1942-1944 thanks to Stalin's direction of operations, BUT the morale of his commanders turned in that winter of 1941.

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

This is one of the most honest comments I've received in this video. I nearly agree with almost everything you've stated. I find the lack of coordination to be the reason why I find it difficult to see an alternative to his stand fast order. Of course, I also think he has been blamed too much for Kursk and I guess the point of the video is to show that there was shared responsibility for Germany's defeat. It wasn't simply Hitler although he contributed to it.

This is such a weird take. Hitler turned Guderian to the south in July 1940 when they were at the gates of Moscow, an unnecessary shift that delayed the drive on Moscow until the weather turned. R.H.S. Stolfi's book "Hitler's Panzers East" does a very thorough job of explaining this. After OP Typhoon failed, Hitler refused to listen to his generals' arguments for a defense in depth, choosing the "Stand fast" that annihilated entire German divisions. His decisions to invade the USSR and declare war on the United States were clearly the turning points of the war -- Robert Citino argues this point very well in "The German Way of War." Adolf was a horrible commander in chief who inflicted nine million casualties on his own army. Is this some sort of subtle revisionist attempt to rehabilitate him?

@BlitzOfTheReich

3 жыл бұрын

No sane military commander would leave their entire flank wide open, especially since the Southwestern Front was actually doing well and had most of the tanks in the Soviet army. Your argument is just based on hindsight.

@mattosborne2935

3 жыл бұрын

@@BlitzOfTheReich All arguments are based on hindsight. By October 1944, Hitler had been forced to expand his definitions of "German" and "Aryan" so broadly that they were almost meaningless. He needed millions of Romanian, Russian, French, Finnish, Spanish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Croat, Austrian, Polish, Italian, and Ukrainian soldiers to make up for the damage he did to his own army by invading Russia at all. You should read Stolfi and Citino and then get back to me.

@Oliver9402

3 жыл бұрын

@@mattosborne2935 I am not as well read as you are but I do agree with you on this. Hitler in my shallow less in-depth reading of ww2 history left his army sitting ducks in exposed positions against a numerical superior enemy to be mauled or destroyed. As in his front line was a mess after the Russian counter attack in December 1941 and simply needed to be straightened out. Seemed Hitler just wanted to keep every inch of land. i.e the Rzhev meat grinder. Later then the more infamous Stalingrad where he refused to let 200k of an army to withdraw to avoid encirclement.

@mattosborne2935

3 жыл бұрын

@@Oliver9402 Stalingrad is the best known example of Hitler's intransigence, but it also stands as the best example of where his reliance on allied forces took him. The Romanians guarding the flanks of 6th Army were courageous, but he had not equipped them with antitank guns that could penetrate the armor of a T-34.

i love your channel

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

grazzie :D

@BabyDoIIx

6 жыл бұрын

Can I ask you a few books YOU would suggest?? My favorites are, "Barbarossa" by Alan Clark. "Stalingrad" by Antony Beevor. "The Last 100 days" by John Toland ...Is there a book you would say is a "must read"?? Minus "Rise & Fall of the Third Reich" ...I just can't commit to 1,500 pages. Hopefully you reply! I am at kind of a roadblock on what to read now. I am open to memoirs as well. Read Albert Speers books, Tradul Junges (which was AMAZING) and a few others...Memoirs dont interest me AS much though, just because they're so bias from the authors POV.

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

I have Stalingrad but haven't chosen to read it. It would have to depend on whether you want a full grasp of Russian history or just WW2. I really liked 'When titans clashed' by David Glantz & Jonathan House. I would recommend anything from those authors. For general Russian history 'Russia A History' by Gregory Freeze is excellent.

@BabyDoIIx

6 жыл бұрын

Antony Beevor is my favorite, you HAVE to read his "Stalingrad"!!! Dude, you have no idea...I have looked so...so...so...so...sosososossososososossooooo hard for "When Titans Clashed" and it's just not in my area at all! If you'd ever like to do a book swap sometime, I'd totally be down for that! As far as what area I focus my reading/research...I try to stay on the Eastern Front, & I tend to more enjoy a more heavy German side. I find that too much of the Soviet writings are too bias, and too much of it is just Soviet bull crap. In the way so many of Hitlers Generals after the war said it was Hitlers fault, he didn't know what he was doing, etc etc...well they had to say that, duh lol...they were under the boot of the Soviets, what were they gonna say...? Hitler knew what he was doing? So for that reason I avoid memoirs & lots of Soviet leaning especially cold war era works...or read it with a suspicious mind at least. Have you read "Hitler vs Stalin" by John Mosier? I know it's a wonky title, but I really enjoyed how he comes right out and says "much of the history we know is just a step away from Soviet propaganda" ...I don't think it all is...but I do sense a heavy, unjust, unfair Soviet bias in most mainstream work. Any thoughts on that???

@BlitzOfTheReich

6 жыл бұрын

I have Stalingrad on my shelf but have not gotten around to reading it, as I have been focusing less on military history. Here is a link to when titans clashed that I found. --> zodml.org/sites/default/files/%5BDavid_M._Glantz%2C_Jonathan_M._House%5D_When_Titans_C_0.pdf The problem is a lot of German Generals who started the myth about Hitler were actually living in the west. It was just classic scapegoating tactics. And yes Soviet sources by themselves are very biased but when you cross reference with other perspectives they are actually generally okay. For example, I don't rely on Soviet numbers for axis troop strengths but use them to give me an indication of Soviet troop strengths. I also use them more for narrative building. I have not read the book you mentioned but I actually think at least in the West there is much more heavy German bias than Soviet bias.

Very well done.

@BlitzOfTheReich

5 жыл бұрын

thank you!