My grandfather, who was born 1921, was one of the prisoners at the Rheinwiesen Camp Remagen; one of the camps mentioned in this highly interesting video by Mark Felton. My grandfather (not often and without too much detail) sometimes spoke about the several month he had spent near Remagen in 1945 without shelter and with little food and how starved he had been when finally coming home again after being released. When he finally fell mortally sick in 1992 (he died in 1993) I still remember him saying that this illness was as bad an experience as his time at Remagen. This was his way to express that it was really really cruel. But on the other side I do not remember him speaking ill about the Americans or the British and as far as I remember he never expressed anything in the line that it was some kind of deathcamp intentionally starving the prisoners systematically. There was just not enough food, not only in the camps but everywhere. So the information provided by Mark Felton here fits perfectly with what I remember from my grandfathers telling. - It was, on a personal level, touching for me to see pictures from those Rheinwiesen Camps for the first time. I did not know that such pictures existed and I wondered if somewhere there in the crowd behind the wire there might be a glimpse of my young grandfather in 1945. It is a pity I cannot ask him anymore. Thanks for this video!

@xxvvkx9312

3 жыл бұрын

That poor man💔🇾🇪

@Marshal_Dunnik

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, food/supply was an issue for all Germans in the immediate post-war period, including civilians.

@clazy8

3 жыл бұрын

Great comment

@DaveSCameron

3 жыл бұрын

Appalling and so unnecessary when we have explicit evidence that food and shelter was more than available!

@xxvvkx9312

3 жыл бұрын

@@DaveSCameron : Yes, they were deliberately tortured & its so shameful its Disgusting. Those poor men💔💔💔💔💔💔🇾🇪

My dad at 16 was forced into the German army in Latvia , he decided it was better to keep going west and not east, that’s why iam here

@johnnyoverpour

3 жыл бұрын

Manifest destiny 😎

@danrook5757

3 жыл бұрын

@@johnnyoverpour : FYI I live in Canada Toronto, best country in the world

@johnnyoverpour

3 жыл бұрын

@@danrook5757 congratulations. Southern United States here. Canada has always sounded nice

@mannarmylie4195

3 жыл бұрын

@@johnnyoverpour they at least have healthcare figured out. So does pretty much the rest of the 1st and 2nd world countries for that matter...🤔

@karlmuller3690

3 жыл бұрын

Dan Rook - And a very wise Man he was, your Father. Latvia, as you might know, had "requested to join" the Soviet Union, making you Father (technically) a Soviet Citizen, and I think we ALL know what happened to any and all Soviet Citizens, found or even thought to have aided the enemy, not to mention, worn the Uniform. Stalin was a total bastard !!

My father, a Polish reserve officer, was made a prisoner of the Germans in 1939 and kept in the Woldenberg camp for the entire war. The camp was under the control of the German army, not the SS. While conditions were very unpleasant, he was not mistreated. The prisoners ran the camp under German supervision. They observed Polish military discipline, had a university, an orchestra, theatre and arts groups. They received packages via the Red Cross. As the war was ending, there was the real threat of being killed as the whole system fell apart, but it didn't happen. My father, a wonderful man, became a prominent diplomat after the war, but he almost never talked about his experiences at Woldenberg. I learned about it later, on my own.

@BasementEngineer

2 жыл бұрын

If your father, and my hat's off to him, had spoken truthfully about his experiences, he would have lost his job and probably killed as a "traitor" to communism. Germany bad, communism good. That is today's religion.

@stefan2292

2 жыл бұрын

@@BasementEngineer Thank you for your comment, but the truth is quite a bit more complex than you imagine. Many of the Woldenberg prisoners became prominent individuals in Soviet-dominated Poland, for example, in the arts, academia, government. Mostly, they were leftist individuals, not communists. Their wartime experiences were common knowledge. There was a steady tension between them and the communists, who were in control, but not total control, especially after Stalin died. Thus, for example, the Prime Minister, Cyrankiewicz, and the Foreign Minister, Rapacki, were Socialists, and men of learning, tolerance and humanity. Their influence was significant, but limited. It was a permanent, unsteady equilibrium. It's a vast, subtle subject, and this is not the place. There are many books about it.

@BasementEngineer

2 жыл бұрын

@@stefan2292 Thanks for your reply. I was surprised to read that Poland and N-S Germany actually had very cordial relations until the death of a prominent Polish head of government, whose name I forgot. Hitler respected him so much that he attended that Poles funeral in person. I'm reading the book "Germany's War" by John Wear, that has a number of Polish ambassador's official communiques printed in them. The author went to great length to prove their authenticity. It would have prevented much suffering had the Polish government heeded their ambassador's advice.

@evemarie1605

4 ай бұрын

Where is it possible to find information about Polish POWs captured in 1939? My young uncle apparently was a junior Polish officer in 1939 who was taken POW and my mother (his sister) was later deported for slave labour and ended up at Schwabish-Gmund post-1945 and mentioned that she had found and visited his grave but I was much younger then and never recorded these details (to my later great regret!)

@stefan2292

4 ай бұрын

@@BasementEngineer You may be thinking about Jozef Pilsudski. who almost singlehandedly resurrected Poland after WWI. When he died, Goering attended his funeral.

My grandfather surrendered to the British in Italy. He said that they used it for a tea break and gave them tea and biscuits, plus the best and worst cigarette he had in his life, he hadn't had a smoke for two weeks. He spoke very highly of the " harassment " by allied forces behind the lines, calling them the ' mountain ghosts '. He never spoke much of the war and went very quiet if anyone mentioned the Americans. He was eventually shipped to England ( Gloucestershire), then he was moved to Lincolnshire and saw the rest of his life here calling it ' his paradise '.

@cklg88

Жыл бұрын

I go quiet myself when anyone talks about Americans and I didn't even go to war.

@michaelj1552

12 күн бұрын

So was he scared of the Americans? Or did he hear and see Americans doing bad things?

@Womble-freestation66

11 күн бұрын

@michaelj1552 he wasn't scared of the Americans. He saw what some Americans were up to. He said they were sick in the head just like the Axis who took part in such things.

I had a nice chat with an old German woman years ago .She said she met her Scottish husband when a tank pulled up outside their house.The hatch opened and he jumped down .Politely asked if they could fill his kettle to make a pot of tea .They got chatting and the rest is history .Got married further down the line and they settled in Scotland for the rest of their lives...

@Charlesputnam-bn9zy

3 жыл бұрын

@@alexk7046 All I can say is that she was lucky to NOT be East of The Elbe.

@crafter170

3 жыл бұрын

@@alexk7046 Bit of a bad loser eh? On the plus side my place is full of lovely Eastern European women now .Something good always comes out of something bad .....I hope your arm is sore just from writing ????

@alien7161

3 жыл бұрын

The Mennonites felt the same way about German soldiers, who rescued them from the Soviets.

@petrusinvictus3603

3 жыл бұрын

That is the stoic briton we outsiders like to hear! Joly good now go on!

@crafter170

3 жыл бұрын

@@petrusinvictus3603 Yes a fresh pair of underpants and a nip of whisky and you can attack even the biggest sink full of dirty dishes ....

My grandfather was 17 years old when he was captured by british soldiers in early 1945. To his surprise they treated him as a human beeing, giving him tea and cookies. He had to work in a coal mine in Belgium for two years after the war. It was a hard time for him, but he didn't have to starve and he was rather happy that he got captured by the Brits and not by Soviets!

@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-

3 жыл бұрын

@Arnold Squirrel Better than frozen stiff bread to be fair lol

@mastercheif3071

3 жыл бұрын

Was your grandfather a nazi? Just curious

@silasmarner7586

3 жыл бұрын

@Arnold Squirrel tea and crumpet, as Benny Hill says...

@MyRetroJourney

3 жыл бұрын

@@mastercheif3071 No he was never a member of the NSDAP (the Nazi party) and he disliked them in general. But he basically had no choice, especially not at this age. He volunteered to the Kriegsmarine (german navy) when he was only 16 years old, because he knew that he most probably would have to fight on the eastern front if they would put him into the Wehrmacht. Everyone knew that the war was lost at this time. But instead of serving on a naval vessel they put him into marine infantry as a machine gunner.

@Charlesputnam-bn9zy

3 жыл бұрын

@Arnold Squirrel Typically British !

My grandfather who was a farmer was task to watch over German POW's in Mississippi working in the fields. According to my grandfather and my mother who was a young girl at the time, the POW's live in barracks with no fences or barb wire and even though they worked hard in the fields they were treated well. My grandfather said they weren't concern about them escaping because where would they go? I remember a story my grandfather told about one English speaking POW asking if another young POW could ride on a tractor for his birthday. Supposedly many of them stayed after the war because Europe was in shambles and they just stayed and integrated in US society.

@jenniferjohnston4403

2 жыл бұрын

What a cool story. Reading all the comments is icing on the cake.

@truth4618

Жыл бұрын

and many of them have subverted the true American constitution and became the racist white men and woman of today's America who has taken over the US government. and are also the ones attacking the British and the Russian. how ironic? The Children of the vanquished taking revenges on the children of the victors ...

@cchrizzy219

Жыл бұрын

Wow. I wonder what was going on in Louisiana regarding these POW camps.

@philippeceline984

Жыл бұрын

@@jenniferjohnston4403 Last week, i got "the icing on the cake", is it the same meanin' to the cherry on top ? So could i say : crisis war prevention is the icing on the cake of all political debates cuz' prevention is better than cure ... it's just a question without any wrong ideas , i just like to learn some new expression(sss) (for Me alone those New expressions!) and That's it ! Merci Madame ...

@forgottenknowledge8917

Жыл бұрын

I heard people starved to death?

I was at Catholic mass one Sunday about 25 years ago. The priest, of Filippino descent, described how as a 10 year old boy in the Philippines he watched as the Japanese executed his father. He never said a harsh word about the Japanese. I have never forgotten that church service.

@ericsilver9401

2 ай бұрын

Eye for an eye, and the world goes blind

@curtgomes

2 ай бұрын

@@ericsilver9401A blind world is a peaceful world.....

@ericsilver9401

2 ай бұрын

@@curtgomes I was saying your comment is one of peace and the priest reminded me of the saying. Love thy enemy and such

@curtgomes

2 ай бұрын

@@ericsilver9401I understand and I agree. The problem is that some see this as a weakness. In the end, unfortunately, strong action sometimes has to be taken. And yes, 'revenge is a dish best served cold'....

This is what history sounds like when presented by someone with a doctorate in history- not the "Curse of Oak Island" tripe we are used to being fed.. Well done sir.

@tomminton5512

3 жыл бұрын

Amen!

@robertsettle2590

3 жыл бұрын

Then stop watching it, DUMMY!!!

@ramixnudles7958

3 жыл бұрын

Wait... The tripe from Oak Island was cursed? It gave me a devil of a time! I was puking for what seemed like hours, add was laid up in bed for over a day afterward! At least that explains it at last.

@brickalbert7031

3 жыл бұрын

@@robertsettle2590 ehm what? Did u get the content?

@donottakeseriously326

3 жыл бұрын

“Could it be?” “And if so”

No special effects, no animations and no sound effects. Just the raw facts explained to you by one and only Mark Felton!

@scottwebster3209

3 жыл бұрын

Careful about your appeal to 'raw facts' as if such things existed. History which is reported as 'fact' is full of propaganda. We must question what is questioned and what is censored. For example, I am still waiting for Mark to do a program on Operation Keelhaul which, contrary to his other productions, doesn't portray the allies in such a good light.

@CocoCrispy_

3 жыл бұрын

@@scottwebster3209 very true. Compared to most channels on youtube i would say Mark is one of the most trustworthy though

@jameshammons2354

3 жыл бұрын

Facts vs “novel” fiction, something the internet is grappling with

@aberamagold7509

3 жыл бұрын

@@scottwebster3209 I thought kingsofserbia's... was talking more about the style of the video (production?) and how it was more enjoyable to watch than some others that use fancy special effects etc. to make their shows entertaining. Although I'm usually wrong about these things

@pballplayu94

3 жыл бұрын

@@scottwebster3209 wow you are so deep. youre a hero brother. guess the comment went over your head. either present facts to disprove this as propaganda (as you stated) or stop trying to sound like some historical genius... mark feltons reputation is strong and you just sound like a babbling idiot who just discovered the internet.

The hills at 6:07 look familiar, as I spent three years stationed near them. I met some Germans at a pub who took me to a place outside a little village starting with a "W," about 2 kilometers West outside of Bad Kreuznach. There is a plaque there in front of a field (farm?). They told me that this is where the German POW's were kept. They were enclosed with barbed wire. They had to dig holes to live in; they had to use their rations lids sown together as any kind of roof from the elements. The place was called, I believe, The Field of Sorrows (Feld die Jammers)? I went there in 1999 when I first was stationed there in B.K. Thanks for reading.

@kellytyner1260

Жыл бұрын

I came to find out that it was Bretzenheim, about 2 kilometers from Bad Kreuznach. I posted this fact after I realized that the town did not start with a "W."

One of my grandfather's lifelong best friends was actually a German soldier his unit had captured. Both where machinist and struck up a friendship talking about their jobs.

@jurgenjung4302

Жыл бұрын

KZread KANAL von:'Die Zuversicht' mit dem Video="ORIGINALE GELÖSCHTE ZITATE DIE BELEGEN, DASS DEUTSCHLAND IN DEN 2.WK..." Genauso eingeben und anhören, sind nur ein paar Minuten.

@kevinbrennan-ji1so

3 ай бұрын

That’s a cool story.

@jurgenjung4302

2 ай бұрын

KZread:"DIE VERBORGENE GESCHICHTE" TEIL1//// Der 1WK wurde in England geplant.

I genuinely love how much this man's voice reminds me of older WW2 documentaries I watched as a child

@michaeldunne338

3 жыл бұрын

Though hard to beat Laurence Olivier with the World At War ...

@noway57

3 жыл бұрын

About to say that ^^

@timumbra2476

3 жыл бұрын

@@michaeldunne338 so true

@michaeldunne338

3 жыл бұрын

​@@timumbra2476 and when he said the tag line at the introduction of each segment - "in a world .. at war" - followed by the signature music, was just riveting ...

@WhatsCookingTime

3 жыл бұрын

Come to think of it that's completely true. I noticed people from that time frame tens speak much clearer. With proper inflection and pronunciation

Honestly one of the best channels on KZread. Literally what the History Channel should be.

@Charles_Anthony

3 жыл бұрын

What it used to be twenty years ago.

@LuFelipe2000

3 жыл бұрын

HC: aliens in us pow camps.

@gangisspawn1

3 жыл бұрын

No joke, the history channel is full of drama garbage now, like every other channel. They should have maintained their monopoly as being the only HISTORY channel!

@fchanMSI

3 жыл бұрын

It is pawn shop now

@1987ZerO

3 жыл бұрын

Well there are many other sources than the history channel. It always depends if you want real history or entertainment. I think Marc does a really good job in describing interesting events regarding ww2 in a compressed but well researched manner.

One of the issues with the book, Other Losses, is it's steeped in hyperbole, and oversells its thesis. Somehow the scant support for Baque's hypothesis is spun out into an entire book, complete with padding, suggestion, inference, but little in the way of compelling evidence.

@Dman3827

9 күн бұрын

The film footage clearly shows the pows in a plain field like farm animals. Few tents, and many holes dug.

@bw6524

7 күн бұрын

​@@Dman3827and that's all it shows. What it doesn't show is any actual proof of a million deaths in these camps as James Bacque asserts.

I was shocked more didn't die. Going from a war machine to a caretaker of that many people? That's a total logistic nightmare.

My grandfather was there and he told my father that it was a horrible and chaotic place. He was a printer and got a position in the administration where he printed for himself a letter of discharge and just walked out of the camp with it.

@gottjaman5139

Жыл бұрын

Haha wow he walked out there like a legend.

@jovanniecastillo6208

Жыл бұрын

My grandfather is the father of my father and his sister. And basically they are no one.

@forgottenknowledge8917

Жыл бұрын

My great grandfather fought in the war. He was Irish by blood

@Texan96

Жыл бұрын

Bull

@cobraferrariwars

Жыл бұрын

Met former German Me-109 pilot who immigrated to U.S. 1946. When arrived clerk told him his host family had backed out and he had to return to Germany. Another clerk told him to just find the largest family in the building and walk out the front door in the middle of that family. George Zebelin -- he is probably deceased now. He became a successful engineer in the U.S. civil aviation industry. Nice guy. No war.

You're a gift to the world. We sorely need more fact-based, non-sensationalist channels like this.

@DaveSCameron

3 жыл бұрын

It's a single opinion, stylish and well researched, even entertaining, however such uploads as this count for a single individuals view..

@eypick6987

3 жыл бұрын

Ja

@anthonybrummett9231

3 жыл бұрын

I agree

@fooleanperspective1426

3 жыл бұрын

Gay

@paulgaskins7713

3 жыл бұрын

@@DaveSCameron that’s the thing I really like. Me Felton is a legitimate historian and rarely are these opinions but facts, and well researched as you said

I would love it if you covered the Dutch Famine (1944-5). My Mother’s family barely survived it. She told me it was such a severe winter that there was ice on the ground until May.

@purpleranger5987

2 жыл бұрын

The videos are incredibly sad almost akin to the Jewish ghettos with children eating from trash cans

@W123W116

Жыл бұрын

the famine was caused by the dutch railway strike, summoned from London for the impending Marked garden attack. The strike continued till the end of war causing a lot af civilian casualties

@Dr.Pancho.Tortilla

Жыл бұрын

God is very good, isn't it

@ErikWouda

Жыл бұрын

I remember horrible stories in which people went thru a lot to get food hundreds of kilometers from there home and dying.

@Dr.Pancho.Tortilla

Жыл бұрын

@@ErikWouda 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I have also heard of Sherman POWs sent to the Midwest to work on US farms and they were overjoyed at good honest work outside then they would sit down with the farm families and eat with all their meals with the families and they said they were fed more than they could eat at the farm meals which they loved.

@liammadden7572

2 ай бұрын

I believe one remarked that it was better than his cold-water flat back in Germany

@SuperStella1111

2 ай бұрын

Yes. Meanwhile, American servicemen with black skin were denied service in shops.

My father, a WWII vet, worked with a man who was a veteran of the German Army. After the war this fellow emigrated to the U.S. and joined the U.S. Army and saw action during the Korean War.

@wittelsbacher27cameron16

Жыл бұрын

They didn’t I migrated they slaves the Germans ! F USA

@Mortablunt

Жыл бұрын

Sounds like a real die side-by-side with a friend story.

@padraig6200

9 ай бұрын

​@@Mortabluntnot surprising, a lot of former Heer and SS men joined the French Foreign Legion (though officially SS men were barred) and served in Indochina and Algeria. The Famous "Kepi Blanc" song was written to the tune of Panzerlied and the 2nd Foreign Parachute actually gives some of its commands in German such is the ingrained legacy of German service

my great-grandfather had received a German prisoner to help him on his farm, he hadn't eaten much but he regained his strength by eating cooked chestnuts. He explained to him that he had been part of the last flight of the stalingrad pocket.

@empe3332

3 жыл бұрын

Which country was it?

@alfredjodl7422

3 жыл бұрын

@@empe3332 France

@MrBrookcantdance

3 жыл бұрын

What bullshit.

@alfredjodl7422

3 жыл бұрын

@@MrBrookcantdance that's history man, it's not hollywood bullshit movies

@Ultimatepanzer

3 жыл бұрын

@@MrBrookcantdance Lmao dude the video literally just said the French used German POWs as labour for years after the war

This is a real, valuable contribution to the record, not the revisionist garbage that seems to be overflowing these days. Thanks for putting it together, Mark.

@ajaysidhu471

6 күн бұрын

Well some aspects of history need revising

Thank you, Mr Felton. This clears a lot of things up. My father was a prisoner in one of Rheinwiesenlager camps after WWII. He was a Hungarian, affiliated / folded into a German unit during and after the conquest of Budapest. His unit actually was fighting a rear-guard action into the Western part of Austria as it retreated from the oncoming Soviets. He eventually surrendered some days before the end of WW2 to an American platoon outside Linz. This would be some time around May 4th, 1945. He told me a number of anecdotes about his time in the prison camp. He said the guards were harsh - I was very young, and I don't recall if he said the guards were actually Germans - but I do know he did not care for the Americans, either. He didn't hate them; he just didn't like them. His anecdotes were mostly about exposure and the lack of food.

@mymaster416

Жыл бұрын

Good thing he was laughing about it. Hundreds (if not thousands) of German guards were executed for doing the same thing Americans did to Germans prisoners.

@MikeyPaper

8 ай бұрын

How long was he in the camps for? Im Hungarian and my grandfather was captured by the Soviets and sent to Siberia for 4 years.

Both my grandfathers were in two different French POW camps. The French darn near starved them to death. The Americans finally stepped in and saved them. One was released after 18 months. The other in 1948. Both were plain Wehrmacht infantry and of no importance. The atrocities committed by the allies rarely get told.

@hardnox6655

3 жыл бұрын

@Eternal Peace Exactly correct! On a side note: By a miracle, my grandmother, mother, and uncle (refugees from Konigsberg) left Dresden the day before the bombing. I wouldn't be here had my grandmother chose to leave with her two young kids.

@georgepreston3033

3 жыл бұрын

True, they rarely get told but it just points out the reality that if you start a war then don't be surprised what happens if you don't win. Good motivation to not start them in the first place.

@drsnova7313

3 жыл бұрын

​@Rozen 678 "But the Nazis did evil things first!" is always a really dumb point to make to excuse Allied missteps, because it lowers the Allies from "morally superior" to "morally equal". And you don't want that. Maybe think about what societies currently exist where killing someone is morally and legally acceptable because their family killed someone from your family first. Is it yours? Probably not. We should not aim to emulate them, we should aim to be better than that.

@PrimalRage-om8uz

Жыл бұрын

you got to remember, Germany, UK, France, Russia and the rest of Europe was bomb and blown to smithereens, there was nobody out there farming to feed the country, the whole continent of Europe was starving, not just the prisoners of war, the only country that didn't get bomb was main land USA, it was untouch except Pearl Harbor. at the end of war, the US gave food, resources, lend/lease and money to Germany and the rest of Europe to restart the economy back up it nearly bankrupt the country. the U.S didn't go to war to commit crimes against anybody, it didn't wanna have anything to do with Europe but was drag in.

@hannahdyson7129

9 ай бұрын

​@@victorsong8416You mean the Germans didnt do it to the British ? My grandad told me stories of crashing German planes shooting at civllians on the street as they went down They used cluster ammunitions on civllians too

Sir Felton's calm demeanor and cold facts disarming novelists and revisionists like it's '45.

My Dad spent 4 years in German occupied Lille France as a youngster age 12 to 16. Food was always scarce. Sometimes the family ate cats. In 1951 he immigrated to Texas, then New York, and then to California where he died in 2007 at age 79, with a French/California accent (Yes, I was always amused by that). He drove VW's Bug all his life. He had no hard feeling toward the Germans. We should all be so fortunate in life!

The war changed my grandad he was lovely before he went in then came home as an alcoholic and beating my grandma his mind had gone completely and died 3 years after getting home there was no reason for him to die and doctor said it was probably due to what he had seen and died of a broken heart and stress. The worst thing about war is not only do you fight on the battlefield but your own war starts when you get home.

@jegsthewegs

Жыл бұрын

My Father was in the Royal Navy during WW2. He saw some horrendous things. Was in the sea in the harbour of Valletta, Malta after his ship was bombed during the Siege of Malta, rescued after 24 hours with a head injury(shrapnel). My Father died aged just 54 years PTSD was part of his life after the war, he never really recovered. No care for Veterans (unless military personnel see action I don't believe they should be classed as Veterans, they've not earned the right)

@xScooterAZx

6 ай бұрын

This would have been on both sides. German soldiers often committed suicide during the war due to the things they saw or were forced to do.

@evemarie1605

4 ай бұрын

They have a word for it now = PTSD but there was no real word for it back then. My father was Polish, deported to USSR at age 12, ran away from a kolkhoz and crossed into Persia, lied about his age to join the Polish army, saw a lot of combat in Italy, he was only 17 when WW2 ended, and had many psych problems later along with his many young friends who were the same and died by age 46 from the usual soldier's "remedies" = booze and "ciggies", they never wanted to tell us about this stuff so now my generation is painfully learning about their lives from the Internet, it's a bummer and very sad, we could have helped them more if we had known more when we were younger. Btw, he did tell us that his mother was dead except I found out recently she survived the war and apparently returned to Poland later but the stupid Polish government will not help me or others find these missing kinfolk although I have located an online deposition from another Polish lady who were family friends and apparently she attended school with my father but now she's passed away so whom do I talk to? 🙁

My grandfather was there, he landed on the beach 6-8-44 as a young M.P. , I remember him telling us they weren't allowed to touch their prisoners much less abuse or treat them harshly, according to him, he had to march them to the same mess hall that the US soldiers used after our solders finished, he stated they were always unrestrained very polite and obedient and never cause any trouble for the most part, he was only 5'7" but one hell of a young man back then, I don't remember which region he said he was stationed at and sadly I lost him almost two years ago just before his 96th birthday, he outlived 3 of his 4 children and his wife of 72 years, always honest and truthful even if it hurt his cause, so I will continue to believe his version of events concerning that terrible time in history.

@jamesburns2232

3 жыл бұрын

I like it when you say your grandfather was always honest and truthful even if it hurt his cause. My Dad was like that as well. He said: "This is America. Truth is Coin of the Realm."

@thebobs9343

3 жыл бұрын

@@jamesburns2232 Normal damn people!

@ivorbiggun710

3 жыл бұрын

My grandad was in command of a POW camp in North Africa for a while. He said the German prisoners were very disciplined. Apparently one prisoner murdered another and the Germans set up their own military court within the prison. He was found guilty, court-martialled and hanged. A completely German affair.

@silkeborowski8749

3 жыл бұрын

My father was a POW in one of the Rhine Meadow Camps. He is actually in the footage above. I remember him telling me that it was terrible at first without food and shelter and that many POWs died. But he was sure that happened because the Americans had captured so many Germans in a short time and were not prepared for that. After a while, they got enough food, dessert even. He never spoke ill of the American soldiers he knew, liked their accent, liked American music. He had bitter-sweet memories connected with the song "Don't Fence Me In". He and your grandfather might have met.

@annaschmidt6410

3 жыл бұрын

Believe it. The truth is, that many Germans were tortured by the allies. My uncle was lashed in a French camp, his back was full of scars. They had to work in a quarry and got so little food, that they were too weak to work. The prisoners of Malmedy were hit by Americans, they broke their teeth and squeezed their balls. One could hear their screams every day and night. Not all were honest and truthful but you were never told about it.

Mark my friends father was in the camp in Passau Germany and escaped with another , he was a soldaten in the Galicia Div. Waffen SS. A natural born Ukrainian he joined up in an Opera house in Lviv after the Russians entered his village killing all including his parents. When he escaped a German farmer took them in and told them that his sons were killed in the war and they were welcome to stay, work the farm and it's theirs after he dies. His father stayed until 1950 and found his way to Phila. Pa. until his passing just a few yrs. ago.

@lassmirandadennsiewillja2235

3 жыл бұрын

Wow! My grandpa fought in the war, and i'm rather old, you must be extremely old, wow!

@LeoPlaw

3 жыл бұрын

@@MrCarpelan Soldat(en) is German for soldier.

@ottomeyer6928

3 жыл бұрын

@@MrCarpelan not to worry

@hansgruber650

3 жыл бұрын

@@MrCarpelan Thanks Georgie boy, now give a thumbs up.

@hansgruber650

3 жыл бұрын

@@lassmirandadennsiewillja2235 Old enough that I would have shortened that name you brought here.

Not the last time a novelist will make up a human atrocity that’s today taken as fact

If this was true it would have surfaced long before 1989.

My uncle was a medic in WW2 and at the end of the war his unit was in Germany. He told me that Germany was wrecked, there was no electricity, no water, no fuel and the roads pitted with shell holes and the bridges were wrecked. Things had been bleak even before the war ended, and then it got worse. Everything was in short supply; trucks, tents, stoves, blankets, food and of course his main concern: medical supplies. Added to this was the question of would they go home or to the Pacific to invade Japan. The American officers were thinking that there was a possibility of die hard soldiers still wanting to fight, plus they had to guard against thief. That it was all eventually sorted out has been compared to the planning of D-Day!

My grandfather survived the Rhein-Camps. He survived but walked away weighing only 50kg at 1,90m height. The reason he survived was because he and some comrades managed to „build“ a burrow in the ground, covering it with a tent plane. They managed to find a Cook pot and survived by boiling their water ration. He wrote that per day they got one tablespoon of milk powder and one tablespoon of egg powder. Because of the relatively clean water they had, they survived on these rations, while others died of diarrhea

@ianw5464

3 жыл бұрын

Your grandfather must have been a great survivor! I hope you can do him proud, live a full life and continue the family line.

@Aelinnia

3 жыл бұрын

Erik Weiß: Thank you for telling your grandfather's story. Personal experiences contribute a lot to our understanding of history.

@Charlesputnam-bn9zy

3 жыл бұрын

Oh the poor dear !

@poshmark381

3 жыл бұрын

Oh no did the poor Nazi soldiers die of malnutrition? Not enough of them.

@smartys303

3 жыл бұрын

@@poshmark381 stop Writing bullsh**. All you knew about this time is from schoolbooks and Hollywoodmovies, Pictures from Allied- Military etc.

As per usual Mr. Felton, you've brought such an interesting topic forward, through a very well polished piece. Your documentaries continue to teach me an immense amount of facts about the war. Thank you for your hard work!

@lenalarose2555

11 ай бұрын

🤣

My Great Uncle was an officer in the German army and was captured by the Americans. He was latter turned over to the Russians and spent 2 years after the war had ended in a Russian POW camp. He had a deep hatred of the Russians not only from his imprisonment but how they destroyed everything when they got to Germany.

@Mgt461

Жыл бұрын

I expect the Russians had a similar deep hatred for the German invaders who murdered, raped and pillaged their way across Russia. Over 3 and a half MILLION Russian soldiers died in cruel and brutal circumstances in German p.o.w. camps. Over 26 Million Russians died in the German invasion and over half of those who died were innocent civilians, old men ,women and children. When the Russians got to Berlin they regarded it as payback time. The Germans reaped what they sowed.

@cklg88

Жыл бұрын

Yep!

@dwight4626

8 ай бұрын

Tit for tat.

@stevekern7235

Ай бұрын

He must have known about the Hellstorm where 1 million German women and children were raped and butchered by the Soviets.

I remember reading a quote from a German officer at the end of the war when his men knew it was all lost and they saw no reason to keep fighting. He knew that what was coming after the surrender was going to be potentially far worse than what they were currently going thru, due to the chaos and lack of any organization in the aftermath of the end of the great conflict. I may be paraphrasing but he said something along the lines of, “enjoy the war boys, because the peace is going to be hell”. It sounds like he wasn’t far off.

@jacquesdeburgo2878

3 жыл бұрын

who started the war again? just curious

@at6686

3 жыл бұрын

@@jacquesdeburgo2878 As I understand things if you are civilized country you treat your vanquished foes according to some agreed upon rules. Most of these troops were not war criminals but ordinary guys. Plus, sooner or later unless you’re going to stay there forever you’re going to need these guys to become part of a functioning country you can depend on. I think overall we did a pretty good job with Germany and Japan in that respect, but it was going to be a rough go for awhile and it appears it was.

@jacquesdeburgo2878

3 жыл бұрын

@@at6686 the allies provided for POWs as best they could, food shortages in Europe at the time were a direct consequence of the Germans' insane genocidal war

@ratlord4086

3 жыл бұрын

@@jacquesdeburgo2878 poland did. after ww1 poland was given part of germany by france in the treaty of versailles. instead of deporting the germans left in the land, the polish began slaughtering them

@jacquesdeburgo2878

3 жыл бұрын

@@ratlord4086 care to cite any sources for that claim that aren't from German ethnonationalists in the 1930s?

Unfortunately we live in an ‘alternative fact’ world now, this channel is a rare and valuable resource now.

@johnghudjars3496

3 жыл бұрын

@@bradleyunknown319 Actually simply requires research.

@orlaklassen6355

3 жыл бұрын

THIS IS TRUE. HISTORY IS OFTEN WRITTEN BY THE CONQUERORS AND THE VANQUISHED'S PROPERTY AND STORIES ARE LOST... AS AN ASIDE I STILL WONDER WHERE ALL THE VALUABLES STOLEN BY THE NAZI'S ARE NOW....LIKELY IN SOUTH AMERICA WHERE THEY RAN. COUNTRIES THAT TOOK THEM IN STOOD TO GAIN A LOT BY ALLOWING THEM REFUGE. Sorry for the capitals I pressed the wrong button. There is also another way history is changed. What becomes "politically correct" becomes history even though it is not true...for example the fact that the Americans had slaves is touted as a horrible American scourge when it was a practiced throughout the world, even in Africa in the distant past. (i.e. no one people has the worst record for sin..."we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God")

@startledmilk6670

3 жыл бұрын

@@orlaklassen6355 a big reason why it’s talked about so much with the US is because we were the last powerful country to get rid of slavery and fought a war over slavery. I understand your point though, many Africans also sold other Africans to slave traders

@orlaklassen6355

3 жыл бұрын

@@startledmilk6670 I understand now, I hadn't thought of that. It shows me as a Canadian the lack of understanding I have for the true significance of the Civil war. i knew it was mainly over slavery but i failed to recognize the GREAT amount of attendant pain that still is due to that horrific occurrence. My bad.

@oscarcom4539

3 жыл бұрын

A world with poor grammar as well, lol

War is beyond horrible. My friend, James Forsythe, was in the 106th division when they were overrun by the Germans on Dec.16th, 1944 at the start of the Battle of the Bulge. He is gone now but he did write his memoirs of that time for me. He was one of only 12 men from his company that survived the initial assault. He watched as German soldiers systematically shot any American prisoner who was not ambulatory. And yes, many begged for their lives or cried for their mothers. When finally liberated in May he weighed less than 100 lbs. His conditions of confinement were horrific. He held no grudges against the Germans although some were very brutal. I personally knew some American soldiers that were outraged by the German treatment of people in concentration camps they liberated. They outright killed any guards they could find. War is hell. I am a student of WWII history and I've never heard of any ex-soldier speak of starving or seeing 1 million German prisoners to starved death. On the Russian side that is very different and with good cause. The Russians lost 17 millions citizens to the Germans and were not too happy with the German invaders. Over a million died in prison camps in Siberia.

@hannahdyson7129

Жыл бұрын

War isn't hell. No innocents in war , lots in hell I wish Amercains would stop saying that

@RevLeigh55

6 ай бұрын

You have a typo in the year of the Battle of the Bulge. The war was over by Dec 1945.

@curtgomes

6 ай бұрын

@@RevLeigh55 Thnank you the year was 1944 of course.

You never fail to deliver with substantive history, Mark Felton. Well done.

My Grandfather was a German soldier. He surrendered to U.S. troops at the end of the war. He spoke of hardships, disease, and shortages of food for all. Soldiers and civilians alike. Many did die, but not like that. He said even U.S. troops were hungry and shared some of their own rations with the prisoners sometimes, but he made no mention of being treated badly or tortured at the hands of the U.S. Just the opposite. He immigrated here (USA) in 1951 with his wife and kids. One being my 5 yr old father.

@huntclanhunt9697

3 жыл бұрын

Unfortunately we didn't have enough food for half the population of Germany...

@Smudgeroon74

3 жыл бұрын

There was abundant supplies of food in warehouses in Switzerland. It was a US order not to distribute these food packages.

@DenverLoveless

3 жыл бұрын

@@Smudgeroon74 What was the reason for that?

@theojobse3341

3 жыл бұрын

Ahhh, you really were a twinkle in your father's eye.

@Smudgeroon74

3 жыл бұрын

@@DenverLoveless because Eisenhower was in charge of the post war situation. He had the most extreme anti-German attitude you could possibly imagine. You don't believe me, then I invite you to look it up.

“Note I say novelist and not historian.” As well as being a history expert, Dr. Felton is also an expert at throwing shade

@mrhamburger6936

3 жыл бұрын

Well the guy wrote a book on this was the book fact or fiction how would a library classify it?

@scottwebster3209

3 жыл бұрын

Yes this comment of Mark's attempts to slander the source rather than engage directly with the argument. Bacque's book is now in its 3rd edition and makes for an interesting read in relation to "Eisenhower and the German POWs" edited by Bischof and Ambrose.

@chadkingoffuckmountain970

3 жыл бұрын

@@mrhamburger6936 It would be classified as a Secondary Source: document or recording that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere.

@NickFrom1228

3 жыл бұрын

@@scottwebster3209 Considering that his claims have been examined by numerous sources and all of them found his claims to be highly erroneous, I'd say that about covers all we need to know about Mr Bacque's book. If he is so wrong on this issue it casts doubt on the rest of his book. As for attempting to slander the source, I'd say you should first crack a dictionary and understand what slander is, then understand that Mark is not trying to "slander" him. He is emphasizing that Mr Bacque is not an historian so he is likely not well trained in cross referencing facts etc., which was proved out oh so well in all the reviews of his "work".

@theprofiler8531

3 жыл бұрын

@@scottwebster3209 I disagree that Dr. Felton intent was to slander. I believe he was making sure that we were aware of the source.

My father was a POW in one of these camps at the end of the war. He was drafted into the Wehrmacht in Dec 44 at 18 years old, basically in time to join the retreat. He caught pneumonia because they spent a lot of time in cold damp cellars and gardens, because they were bombed constantly, and was in hospital in Leipzig at wars end. Once he recovered, he was taken to one of these camps, he never said a lot about it, other than there was not a lot of food, but clarified that by saying there wasn't enough food anywhere after the war. They noticed that groups of 5 men were often instructed to take papers to an office a distance from the camp unguarded, and that these men never returned. One day he was selected, upon delivering the papers, they decided not to return. He found civilian clothes, burned his papers, and didn't go back. I think its understandable; the Americans didn't have enough supplies to care for them all properly, and could see that the younger soldiers were unlikely to be war criminals. They probably wanted to go home and get on with their lives as much as the germans did. So they essentially just released them. Whether he was recorded as released or not I don't know. I wish I had asked him more about it, he didn't talk a lot about it, probably thinking it would be upsetting.

My dad was in a British POW camp in Italy. He was assigned to help out in the kitchen and used his position to steal food. One day the commander of the camp had him taken to his office and my father knew the jig was up. He had him strip and then placed the food on his desk. Then he divided it up and gave some back to him and said next time he was to go straight to his office. Seemed food must of been scarce enough for both the prisoners and the commander.

My grandfather was there (Lager Heilbronn) when he was 18 years old. He almost died because of a sickenss he got in there. He told his sons only one time in life very emotional about the conditions in the Rheinwiesenlager. There was way too less water and it was very hot and no shelter. All the big strong men were ahead in queues for especially water. The weaker ones, like my grandfather, almost died of thirst when it got hotter and hotter in summer of '45. One day, the authorities said they would let all under the age of 18 go home. My grandfather already was very sick at this moment, and he tricked the gurdians by scratching a part of a number on his ID so he appeared to be 17, not 18 (and he was always looking younger). A friend from Reicharbeitsdienst took him home to northern bavaria and he said, without this friend bringing him home he probably would have died. It was a different time back then, but my father and his brothers remind my grandfather of having heavy social anxietys and developed anxiety disorder all his life; he only once told his boys about that incident in the Rheinwiesenlager and he was so emotional during his tale that the boys back then were quite confused, but they all remembered this situation. My grandfather was a quite but tough guy, as all men of this generation, but my father and uncles think, that his expierence in Rheinwiesenlager left deep scars on my grandfather. (My grandfather apart from that was no soldier, he was too young and was forced to labour in Reichsarbeitsdienst).

@xxvvkx9312

3 жыл бұрын

The poor man💔🇾🇪

@shauntemplar.26

3 жыл бұрын

well, did he die? NO he did not and if communists got a hold of him.. he never have seen daylight again. dont start wars and murder millions of men women and children. Think them selves so lucky Russians did not get them. Dont get me wrong. Not ever German was Nazi but they all knew what was going on, they must have?

@alanwhite7127

3 жыл бұрын

@@shauntemplar.26 do u know what the government are doing behind your back???

@alanwhite7127

3 жыл бұрын

Off course all germans arent nazis thats like saying every american soldier voted biden

@russianbot8557

3 жыл бұрын

@@shauntemplar.26 I'm sorry, but I don't see your point. I didn't say other crimes were less cruel or anything. They were. But my grandfather was just a kid, forced to labour and almost died. What the heck did he has to do with politics? As I said, he was no soldier. I wish you all the best, nonetheless

My grandfather was at one of the Rheinwiesen Camps, not sure which. When he heard there would be some early releases for those soldiers from Baden & Württemberg (largely agrarian regions at the time) so they could work in their fields, he told an American soldier where he was from. The GI looked at a map that clearly showed my grandfather's home town being right on the border, but actually in Hesse, disqualifying him for an early release. He always said he was not sure if the GI didn't see it or didn't want to see it, but he issued him release papers and he could go home. He always wondered if it was a random act of kindness or an honest mistake. Either way, he was glad to be out of there, as he described it as the most miserable time of his life. He never mentioned a huge death toll, just awful conditions and a terrible stench. Anyway, he was incredibly happy to finally go home and never wear a uniform again.

@robevans8629

3 жыл бұрын

Hmm, could of gave that speil because his superiors were listening and didn't want to get in trouble for not following the protocol, so he gave the discharge papers under the cuff.

@rlosable

3 жыл бұрын

@@robevans8629 something like that probably

@crafter170

3 жыл бұрын

You would like to think he released him out of daring kindness .Decent humans enjoy doing these things .I tooted my horn once at 2am in pouring rain to attract the attention of a tramp trudging along soaked to the skin in Glasgow years ago .He came over to the window and I handed him a ten pound note .Put my window up and drove away .Don't know to this day why i did it .It just made me feel good for the rest of my journey home in my nice hot dry car.....

We can literally see there are no living quarters.

@mitchrichards1532

5 ай бұрын

You can also see food and water and no one looks to be starving. Missed that, eh?

@AndroidJackson

3 ай бұрын

@@mitchrichards1532 The only water I saw was in puddles. What did the prisoners look like upon exiting the camp? I doubt the survivors looked great after being dispossessed of all their gear (including coats) and scraping out holes in the cold earth with their fingernails to escape the wind.

@mitchrichards1532

3 ай бұрын

@@AndroidJackson Dispossessed of their gear? No, they weren't. They literally brought field hospitals, field kitchens, whatever personal gear they had, etc. The enclosures were next to the Rhine, water was not an issue (heavily chlorinated), though clean water was because the prisoners managed to foul their own supplies. Not enough sanitation was provided for the overcrowding, so water got contaminated and men got dysentery. Every part of these operations are in the US Army Medical Corps history of the ETO published in the 1960's. It was informational and internal to the Army, its AAR type stuff, just the facts. Recommend you find it, read it.

@curtkoehn3906

Ай бұрын

You'd have thought that the Allies would have planned ahead and built POW camps in Germany before they fought their way into Germany. Yes, think about it.

@mitchrichards1532

Ай бұрын

@@curtkoehn3906 There's nothing to "think" about since it was all captured at the time and published later. They estimated the number of POWs and they're numbers were off. No one accounted for all of the Germans that headed West to escape the Soviets. No one accounted for all of the millions of concentrat ion ca mp inmates and sla ve laborer that were released. Also, no one accounted for the French, Belgians, Danes, Norwegians, etc. squabbling for months over how many POWs they wanted for clean up of German minefields, obstacles, rebuilding ports and bridges, etc. The Germans left a mess and they (formerly occupied nations) wanted it cleaned up. The POWs had to be interviewed for war crimes first, and as they say.... "Its a process". That's why they sat there all Summer of 1945.

The amount of research that Mark must do is truly amazing. Almost every story he tells, is one I haven’t heard. And I always thought of myself as a fan of WWII information. Please keep up the great work.

@guidototh6091

2 жыл бұрын

He is one of the best.

@BasementEngineer

2 жыл бұрын

@@guidototh6091 He's certainly good a propagating lies. Read the book "Germany's War" by John Weir.

@guidototh6091

2 жыл бұрын

@@BasementEngineer What "lies?"

@BasementEngineer

2 жыл бұрын

@@guidototh6091 Wrong information?

My Grandfather was born in 1926 (died 1987) and was after the end of the war a prisoner in Bad Kreuznach, he nearly died there only a few months after he survived the destruction of Dresden. He later wrote everything down in a small book. I found that book when we moved into a new house, after just reading a few minutes i was crying like i never did before, i couldnt stop, i was feeling so empty inside. Then my Dad came in and asked whats wrong with me, when he saw the book he was shocked like he saw a ghost or something like that. He took it from me and said "You will never read this again as long as im alive, forget about it." Its 20 years later now and he is still keeping his promise, i never saw it again. Dr. Felton, as much as i love and most of the time enjoy your videos, i wasnt able to enjoy this one. It just hurts... Besides that i still want to thank you that you bring things like this up and keep them away from being forgotten.

@CODELIRIOUS-sy8xz

3 жыл бұрын

r/thathappened

@VinoLoco

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing that; first hand experiences are very important and I hope you can share that with a historical society someday.

@1Fracino

3 жыл бұрын

@Last chance Cowboy If there were nearly 1 million dead then why not go out and find the mass graves ?

@VinoLoco

3 жыл бұрын

@Blesava Konjina I am sure your evidence of this would be happily reviewed by many scholars and historical researchers.

@TheFaderland

3 жыл бұрын

@@1Fracino It is till today strictly forbidden!!! And you know why!

Not long after D-Day my grandfather was captured by the British troops in Normandy. As a Fallschirmjäger he and his comrades were kept in several camps in the UK. The Brits didn't want them to have enough time to plan and execute an escape, so they were always sent to another camp after a short stretch of time. However, in 1945 he and his comrades were handed to the US troops and kept in one of the "Rheinwiesenlager". As far as I can remember it was the one in Remagen or Sinzig. I still don't know why this happened. He was happy as a POW in the UK and he was thinking of trying to stay, like his famous comrade Bert Trautmann. His view of the Americans wasn't overly positive, since they didn't have shelter and were often fed rotten potatoes the first couple of weeks, but he NEVER said that there were 1,000,000 deads. The number he talked about was similar to what you stated in this video. He also knew that German civilians didn't have more or better food, so he wasn't that furious anymore once he was released. His time in the Rhine meadow camp made him appreciate good and a lot of food for the rest of his life. He died aged 91 in 2006.

@nbandpinportugal

3 жыл бұрын

I was born in 1950 when Britain was practically bankrupt. Many Brits suffered deprivation and there was precious little food on our table. Can you imagine how we would have felt if German prisoners had been better fed than us ?

@mesolithicman164

3 жыл бұрын

Finding enough food for so many people in wartime was always going to be a logistical challenge. That's just another sad fact of war. Either way, I'd bet it was still preferable to a Russian or Japanese prison camp.

@thedogfatherjt2243

3 жыл бұрын

@@nbandpinportugal I don't need to imagine that. I watched a documentary about just that a couple of years ago. You simply can't feed POWs better than the population. It would lead to riots.

@thedogfatherjt2243

3 жыл бұрын

@@mesolithicman164 I think so. Of the 3,6 million German POWs in the Soviet Union only 1.11 million returned. You can't expect to be treated like "guests" after invading a country and killing millions of people. EDIT: I'm sorry, I misred that. 1.11 million POWs died, almost 2.5 million returned.

@KenHumphrey1

3 жыл бұрын

@@nbandpinportugal They were also refused water, whilst Russians took German POW camps in Poland holding American GI's and imprisoned them in inhumane conditions many of whom died whilst being held hostage for money by Stalin and Eisenhower did nothing but at least the Russians gave them food

Are there something about Hamburg and Dresden bombing by the allied forces?

In this age of ubiquitous and constant misinformation and disinformation we need more Mark Feltons.

My father served in Northern Europe from 44-46, I remember him telling me that that towards the End there were so many Germans surrendering that they didn't know what to do with them. he also said that in regards to food they didn't have enough food everyone. The amount of prisoners, displaced persons, Germans, POWs was unbelievable. They didn't even have rations from themselves.

@NoogDeNoog

3 жыл бұрын

ive read many stories that say the opposite, soldiers stating the months after the war ended where the best times of their lives. if they didn't have any food to eat how is it that they were getting sex from german females for chocolate bars and ration packs. it seems like someone is changing the narrative.

@tonybarnes3858

3 жыл бұрын

These are the wages of war.

@miloblue2052

3 жыл бұрын

yet they locked them up so that they couldn't escape the ensuing disease, the elements, and the starvation.

@vonal67

3 жыл бұрын

@@NoogDeNoog Maybe it just seemed better than worrying you would get killed... knowing you probably wont get shot in the head can deliver a sense of euphoria...

@tonybarnes3858

3 жыл бұрын

@@miloblue2052 Probably a little vengeful taste of their own medicine. Two wrongs don't make a right, though. War is hell, especially if you ask for it.

Great video, thanks. My late father worked in a German POW camp in Ontario one winter. As low German was his first language Dad was able to listen to their conversations and converse with the men. He said that many if not most wanted to stay in Canada after the war, but it's my understanding they had to return first to Germany and then many came here. As well I worked with two German POW's in the early '80's. Herman had been held first by the US, then the French and said the French treated them worse than the US troops. They were used as labor to rebuild France for several years after the war. Bill - Wilhelm - was captured by the Russians and spent 5 years in Russian camps after the war. He would tell me horrific stories sometimes of what he'd survived. When he was released to Germany, he found his wife and left for Canada as soon as he was able to. Anyways, a couple stories from men who are now all gone. Thanks again for your well researched videos.

@blackinpublic4193

3 жыл бұрын

Boo Hoo

@phyrr2

3 жыл бұрын

Nothing compares to the horror the Russians imposed on literally everyone they came across back then.

@benoitmandelbrot2206

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing this. I hope someone was able to record their testimonies before their deaths. This type of information is historically important. Again, thank you.

@Lawofimprobability

2 жыл бұрын

Yup, the French tended to be a bit harsher towards any Germans than the Brits or Americans.

@dickvarga6908

2 жыл бұрын

@@jimmydean1689 Same story here on the Prairies. German POW's were better housed ,better paid, better cared for than Japanese-Canadians "evacuated" from West Coast. Evacuated? Deported, ethnically-cleansed would be more appropriate terms. My father was an enemy alien as a Hungarian citizen working in Canada during the war and he travelled freely in Canada into USA until 1942, worked for normal rate of pay, He was allowed to remain after war with no restrictions. J-C's were prohibited for years from moving back to West Coast. Many were sent back to Japan if born there even if they had lived here for decades since childhood. Germans/Axis "anti-communist" NAZIs , SS, war criminals were welcome in Canada.

my grandfather described his stay in a few words to me. he said that every day thousands starved or died of thirst. They dug into the ground to escape the weather and there was no hope. he said that the allies wanted to destroy all the germans.

@jeffjones3040

Жыл бұрын

It is the Germans that wanted to destroy everyone who wasn't "White". May you burn in Hell with your evil God that appeared in the flesh as "Adolph Hitler". Your evil and IGNORANT grandpa deserved far worse than what he got. Your EVIL GOD started the war. Then you are going to complain about it! That is the "Master Race"?!?!? Absolutely and ridiculously asinine!

@Mgt461

Жыл бұрын

Do you mean like the Germans wanted to destroy all the Russians?More than 3,500,000 Russian p.o.w.’s were killed in German p.o.w. camps. Over 26,000,000 Russians died because of the German invasion of Russia. More than half of those who died because of the Germans were innocent civilians, old men, women and children.

@He-Man_Master_of_the_Universe

Жыл бұрын

​@@jeffjones3040 Destroy everyone that is not white? Do you know about the 13 Gebirgsjägerdivision Handschar and what people they was? Or the african volunteer regiments of the Wehrmacht?

@redditsucksyo

5 ай бұрын

They still do. Not only all germans, but all western-europeans.

@davidforbes7772

2 ай бұрын

What did he expect after what he and his comrades had done to Europe? He is lucky he wasn't treated in the way the Germans treated Russian POWs or Jews. No sympathy from me.

I would also mention that the allies had to feed, provide medical treatment and, if needed, repatriation to concentration camp survivors and, given shortage of resources, it made sense to prioritise them.

@mitchrichards1532

Жыл бұрын

I think those numbers are topped by the 7 million forced labor agricultural workers released without fanfare in May.

@MikayeYakovlev

Жыл бұрын

@@mitchrichards1532 ? I don't get your point, since the treatment of forced agricultural labourers and the general population in occupied countries was far better than the treatment of concentration camp prisoners. Not to mention, that I don't really know where you get that figure of 3 million. And, a lot of forced agricultural labour actually came from concentration camp prisoners?

@williamwallace410

Ай бұрын

That’s the lie. There was no shortage. The Red Cross rations were stocked in warehouses, but were refused to the German pow’s to starve any many as they could. They were also purposely kept outside of the supervision of the Red Cross. This was a conspiracy of mass murder at the highest levels of American power.

I'm a 49 year old American who lives in Holland, MI. Some German POW's were sent to our town to work at the Heinz Pickle Co. After the War, they were told they could return to Germany but they refused to go back sighting there was nothing to go back too.

@Mostrichkugel

3 жыл бұрын

This was the case with many young German soldiers who had lost their homes and their families, they were virtually homeless. My father who was a POW in France told me about the Foreign Legion coming to the camps to recruit soldiers, and many joined them.

@Mostrichkugel

3 жыл бұрын

@@jayman7752 Oh yes, they would have. Vietnam was a French colony.

@mitchmiller2382

3 жыл бұрын

@@jayman7752 I think that's because Vietnam had probably been a French colony, and the Vietnamese were fighting for their independence. That's when they starting developing their tunnel system, which was later unfortunately utilized by the Vietcong.

@Mostrichkugel

3 жыл бұрын

@@jayman7752 Do you know the name of this island?

@burninglass

3 жыл бұрын

@@jayman7752 Go Tell The Spartans. Are you familiar with that movie from the 70s ???

I recently watched a documentary where Mark Felton was a key historical source. TBH I screamed with joy. Thank you for all of the incredible knowledge you share with us, Mark

@FloydAtema

2 жыл бұрын

What’s it called?

@pollyrabbits1

2 жыл бұрын

Screamed with joy?? Why?

@jeff-gl1yx

2 жыл бұрын

then i wouldnt trust that documentary very much lmfao. he is far from a reliable source

@Nuts117

2 жыл бұрын

@@jeff-gl1yx how?

@jeff-gl1yx

2 жыл бұрын

@@Nuts117 He is a youtuber, he gets his information from other places. He never states his sources, so therefore he is not a reliable source.

There’s only one person responsible for this crime He hated the Germans Eisenhower

My grandfather was in one of the German POW camps ran by the Americans and he noted in his diary while life was not great or it had its downsides he did survive. He was sent into France in one of the labor groups where him and a few other guys escaped since they were Waffen SS and wanted to avoid being caught. When he surrendered him and a few others were wearing Wehrmacht uniforms. For several years after the war he lived in the south of France and later returned back to Germany under a new name.

@heaterpistol6067

Жыл бұрын

Was he a Nazi war criminal ?

@cklg88

Жыл бұрын

That's great!!!

Getting food and equipment to our own troops was difficult. Thanksgiving Day, 1944 before the battle ensued that seriously injured my Dad, they got one piece of bread and one cup of coffee before the battle began. The wars were living hell for everyone who fought them, and the civilians caught up in the ugly web.

@minkagoldstein9228

3 жыл бұрын

WHY DIDNT THE SOLDIERS JUST GO HOME? I dont get this. Also russia captured many and they were sent to siberia and died.

@onyxdragon1179

3 жыл бұрын

@@minkagoldstein9228 How could they go home? Are you saying they should all have deserted or something?

@AudieHolland

3 жыл бұрын

@@minkagoldstein9228 Out of 3 million German POWs on the Eastern Front, in between 300,000 to 1 million died in Soviet captivity. In contrast, around 3.5 million Soviet POWs died in Germany captivity. Which was well over half of all Soviet POWs in Germany captivity.

@Event_LUNAE_Horizon

3 жыл бұрын

@@AudieHolland and where do you get these numbers, from soviet documents?

@kjragg1099

3 жыл бұрын

@@Event_LUNAE_Horizon prove those numbers are wrong then. It’s no secret that Soviet POWs were treat terribly in German captivity. The Wehrmacht had to live off the lands they conquered in the east. As far as Germany was concerned, feeding the astronomical amount of captured Soviet POWs and the civilians of occupied Eastern territories was pretty far down in the list of priorities. Feeding the army was always the first priority and Germany heavily lacked resources to begin with.

Thanks for setting that particular record straight Mark. That is without a doubt the most anger I have ever heard in your voice, and with good reason. Excellent work.

@bartonstano9327

3 жыл бұрын

His last two lines are the best summary.

@DaveSCameron

3 жыл бұрын

If you swallow this individual statement as gospel you don't deserve a comment here...

@GhostRanger5060

3 жыл бұрын

@@maxiphoenix5968 A very British anger.

@LukeBunyip

3 жыл бұрын

I think we have to credit our host with more nuance than that; I think he's merely exasperated.

@livethefuture2492

3 жыл бұрын

its not necessarily anger, its more like Assertive and definitive, no-nonsense kind of tone, just setting the facts straight in a definitive manner.

Thank you, Mark. The only way to battle wrong ideas and revisionist history is with the facts and with logic. I hope you will dispel other historical myths.

Spoke with my downstairs neighbor in Fulda (German) one day, and he brought this up. A survivor of Stalingrad (Pioneer) and the Western Front, he was sent to the one of the Rheinwiesen camps after his capture and described his treatment there as "Nicht Korrekt". That one term told me everything about the situation there.

@fanroche8573

3 жыл бұрын

Well, it wasn't a holiday camp.

@ues5587

3 жыл бұрын

your neighbor probably thinks the wrong side won the war. do you know what the survival rate was for Soviet prisoners in the hands of the Germans? under 50%. anyone who believes this rhine meadow crap is a nazi sympathizer.

@rickcastellione2267

3 жыл бұрын

@@ues5587 you must know the nature of these camps better than the guy who was actually there. I'm sure you are 'korrekt' and not that dreamer

@mountainguyed67

3 жыл бұрын

@@rickcastellione2267 Well lets see, the Germans gave Russian prisoners broth twice a day, and no housing, they were just fenced in a field. So, that was korrekt?

@miloblue2052

3 жыл бұрын

@@mountainguyed67 Yes, also not korrect to do for longer than necessary. As will be the next one.

Oh this is a tough one. Thanks for not shying away from it Mark.

@Simon_Nonymous

3 жыл бұрын

@Cal Dev maybe the opinions of the 404 people who have downvoted the video as it didn't tell them what they wanted to hear? Maybe (speaking as an Englishman) we are not very good at admitting our own faults in WWII, and shy away from talking about them?

@martinreynolds6027

3 жыл бұрын

A tough one? Scandalous if true.

@nmelkhunter1

3 жыл бұрын

@@martinreynolds6027 Thus the reason it would be tough. SMH.

@roadrunner6474

3 жыл бұрын

@@Simon_Nonymous the video actually points out that the Rhine camps were NOT as horrible as the internet story suggests

@zogzog1063

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, Grim stuff. Not sure.

The Germans were "starved" with only 1500 calories per day, for 2 months. Then think of the Jews who received just 300-600 calories per day...for years.

@stevekern7235

Ай бұрын

Awful, but it`s a harder sell in 2024when you look at Palestine.

My grandfather was in a US POW camp for five years.He got tv and was released. My dad said he was no longer himself. Just sat in the livingroom not saying much. Died 6 months after he was released. He was forced to go and my grandmother ended up hiding in the woods with another family. Apartment was bombed, she had no money and 2 kids. They were starving and the US Army fed them. They later became us citizens and my dad was in the Army national guard for 10 years. Spoke no English.

@bubiruski8067

Жыл бұрын

May be tb instead of tv ?

These episodes of World War II need told in a professional manner. Who better than Dr Felton to deliver this tale from the early post war days of Germany.

My father was a Colonel in the U.S. Army Infantry, and at the end of the war, was a county governor in an area of Germany near Cologne. He told me substantially the same stories as Mark Felton. Mr. Felton is, in the broad sense, correct.

@ottovonbismarck2443

3 жыл бұрын

Where exactly was he ? Just asking out of curiosity because I live in the region

@DaveSCameron

3 жыл бұрын

Did he really, did he explain why on earth the huge Fordwerke in Koln managed 6 years strategic bomb loads (Including the 1k Bomber raid!) without a scratch?

@ottovonbismarck2443

3 жыл бұрын

@@DaveSCameron The Ford plant was not the primary target in Cologne; it just produced trucks and was not the huge factory it is today. Check out as many wartime fotos as you can and count the number of ford trucks you see; not many I can tell you. Klöckner-Deutz on the other side of the Rhine was the main strategic target because they built U-Boot Diesels and other ship engines. To be honest, RAF precision at night was a joke. A big city, they could hit roughly, but the Ford works were only as big as a village. They became somewhat bigger way after the war. To be fair, the USAAF wasn't much better during daylight. And finally to be correct, the strategic bombing (RAF) didn't really kick off until 1941; and the USAAF wouldn't show up over Germany en masse until 1943; that's four years maximum in my book. The Fordwerke were somewhat destroyed and the Ford company tried to sue the US government after war. Boeing tried the same since the USAAF destroyed the Focke-Wulf works in Bremen, in which Boeing had shares.

@DaveSCameron

3 жыл бұрын

@@ottovonbismarck2443 Sure, I say again that it was bombed for Six years, Six, andI must add that I worked there and am also aware of the Ford/Opel wartime behaviour along with post war claims... Need we go further..

@ottovonbismarck2443

3 жыл бұрын

@@DaveSCameron Just saying that WW2 strategic bombing couldn't hit the broadside of a barn from the inside. It wouldn't be the only German factory never to be hit. First ever bombing of Cologne was on 18 June 1940, so can we agree on 5 years ?

Imagine the world where people shouted less and cited more of Mark Felton

There is a lot more to be uncovered than what we see here. The truth will eventually prevail.

@georgebenson6330

Ай бұрын

Exactly and it is impossible to even start on a totally Partial Platform.

I am constantly amazed by your ability to produce such high quality content, and so bloody often! Thank you Mark! I’m pleased to count myself among your Patreons!

@rogerkeeling9869

3 жыл бұрын

Great observation, Mr. Graversen. I wish I'd mentioned this also, in my own comment earlier. Mark is a hell of a workhorse, producing terrific content at a sometimes torrid pace.

@roadgent7921

3 жыл бұрын

Such quality and so often suggests organised backing. I suspect this channel has mainstream backing. Certainly has a mainstream bias.

The running gag that Mark Felton should take over the History channel is well known but on a serious note you really should be getting a lot more recognition, your content & presentation is top notch. Also Q & A video coming soon?

@ivorbiggun710

3 жыл бұрын

Does the History Channel actually have any history on it these days? I was under the impression its all about space aliens now.

@j3dwin

3 жыл бұрын

@@ivorbiggun710 and pawn shops

@MisterMooo

3 жыл бұрын

Felton needs to ANNEX the History Channel

@j3dwin

3 жыл бұрын

@@MisterMooo Where's Neville Chamberlain when you need him?

@phbrinsden

3 жыл бұрын

I would be devastated if Mark took over the History Channel. He would be immediately hemmed in by mindless executives with weirder agendas and especially to dumb stuff down to the lowest common denominator of poorly educated viewers so they could increase viewer numbers and get more advertising dollars. Mark is where he needs to be so HE is in charge. To keep him doing this I encourage a buck or two from more Patreon supporters. ;-)

You produce some fantastically brilliant documentaries. Always very informative and well researched.

" what choice did eisenhower have" where have i heard that before?

I have watched many of Mark Felton Productions. They are always balanced and facts-based. The reason why they are so accurate and balanced is because Mark Felton has a very good philosophy and fundamental understanding on the history and justice, I believe. Thanks a lot to Mark.

@torstens2632

3 жыл бұрын

Well, usually Mark is doing a very good job. But this Video is disappointing. Why Mark talks so bad about Baque? Whether someone calls himself a historian, military researcher or whatever, I don’t care, as long he does a profound research. And Baque knew, when publishing his findings he could get problems. We all know, what happens to authors not complying with the "official narrative" (they were put in jail, or were mentally and economically destroyed. Cannot give names, would be filtered and censored right away.) Baque obviously is very courageous. Mark, treat him with respect, as you want to be respected!

@benjaminallen5824

3 жыл бұрын

@@torstens2632 why treat him with respect when his "facts" are demonstrably incorrect and motivated by Nazi sympathy?

My favourite WW2 History Teacher...I wish he could be my History teacher ❤️

Never stop making content Mr. Felton. You actually use legitimate sources unlike a lot of history channels on here who spread half-truths and misinformation

People are stupid, wanting to believe the dumbest stories. One million soldiers starved to death. That would be a HUGE story, just for the shear number. Now, there's a very good chance that each soldier has parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, girlfriends/wives and acquaintances. People talk and they would surely had talked about the missing soldiers. So you can take that 1M and multiply it by the number of people who knew them....so you're looking at at least 50M+ people affected by this story. And of 50M+ people potentially affected by this story, only ONE person came up with it.....in Canada....and he's a professional storyteller.

@BasementEngineer

2 жыл бұрын

Well, the US military agreed with him and formally apologized to the German military. I doubt very much that they did this just to have a beer bash.

My grandfather fought with the 78th Lightning division and was stationed in Germany in the Ruhr after the war until the unit was deactivated in May, 1946. He told many war stories, but I never remember him harboring any hatred toward the Germans.

@Hartleymolly

3 жыл бұрын

My grandfather is 95, and won’t talk about the war. He went to mental hospital for a year after the war. He went on to become a highly successful businessman. His will to survive amazes me, much different than my generation who is weak and entitled brats.

@norselore3091

2 жыл бұрын

I don't believe the Allied version of WW2.

@lashlarue7924

2 жыл бұрын

@@norselore3091 … and I don’t believe you’re an intelligent life form.

Thank you for this video. To all those with a ww2 ancestor, I'm one of you. Here in the Philippines, both my grandparents -not just grandfathers- were ww2 veterans.

@johnharris7353

3 жыл бұрын

Enrico glad to see you, welcome!

@thomasv.cantwell1254

3 жыл бұрын

The Phillipines truly has there own "Greatest Generation "

@danielfronc4304

3 жыл бұрын

I had to have a heated "teachable point" lesson with my 19 year old son yesterday, when he disrespected an elderly senior citizen who held a different opinion about the Corona virus than his own. He made fun of the man not just because of his opposing opinion, but also because of his advanced age. I love my sons and they're pretty well grounded in common sense however I very heatedly had to dress down my older son for his making fun of the senior citizen just for his being elderly, as though that made him a crack pot. I read him the riot act, telling him that you can disagree with someone over a differing opinion but you automatically give any elderly person great respect just for their having survived the great difficulties inherent in getting to the age of any senior citizen. Life in itself is rarely easy. Respect those able to have survived life's hardest times. I am aware of how those in the Phillipines rightfully rever their elders. Your grandparents have my greatest respect for their service.Thank you. Peace!

@normajacob4821

3 жыл бұрын

My Father fought in the Philippines

@guusberkhof8429

3 жыл бұрын

@@danielfronc4304 you’re one great father!

While stationed with the U.S. Air Force in Germany in the 1980s, one of my neighbors, an elderly gentleman, told me that he turned himself and his squad into American forces at war's end, as apparently instructed by his C/O. He said the American officer took their names, asked some basic questions about their service, held them for only a day, then released them; telling them to return to their family homes, because they couldnt accept them into the camp system due to overcrowding of supply shortages. However, the Americans fed them prior to release, which he said was surprising, considering they were only held for a day. No camp at all. They all simply hitched a ride back their home city, believing they'd be picked up at some point by American or Brittish forces, but concerned that it could also be Russian forces, who they knew would be much less accomodating. He said that the conversation with the American officer was the very last contact he ever had with anyone concerning the war. He got a job, married, and settled into his postwar life I cant vouch for the veracity of his claims. He seemed a nice gentleman (in his late 60s at the time I knew him). His English was fluent and sort of ironically, his wife was Jewish, so probably not likely to have been a card-carrying member of the Nazi party or Einsatzgruppen... We maintained contact via letters for several years following my tour there, but typically, we eventually lost contact. I can only assume he has since passed away.

if 1M prisoners were starved out of 2.8M that would have left 1.8M people to say "Hey! They starved a bunch of us to Death!" and that didn't happen.

My great grandfather was a Luftwaffe soldier during the war. He was silesian, so when Germans took over and annex Silesia he was forced to declare german nationality and serve in their armed forces. He served as a blacksmith, because german logistics were run mainly by horses. He avoid service on the eastern front as Fallschirmjäger by his luck and german beaurocracy. Later, he survived fighting in Normandy when his division was nearly entirely wiped out by american air force. When Germany surrender, he became a POW in a french camp. There were fed by one can for four men a day and treated badly by guards to force them to join into French Foreign Legion. Some of the younger guys joined, but he already had a family and kids, so he returned to Poland after the war. As a result of his captivity until his death he hated blacks because how french colonial guards treated them. He also never took money from german pension despite having right to do so, which was a ridiculous amount of money by the polish standards of the time. Unfortunately, he passed away two years before I was born, so I never had a chance to know him. All of the information I have about him is from my father who, of course, never listened when he was speaking about the war.

@ExVeritateLibertas

3 жыл бұрын

Silesia was not annexed by Germany...well unless you go back to the middle ages. Were there Poles living there? Yes, but a minority from what I understand. It was annexed by Poland post-1945.

@BatMan-xr8gg

3 жыл бұрын

He may have hated the Blacks, but they probably hated him even more as they would have seen him as a Nazi, and we all know how Nazis treated Blacks.

@krazownik3139

3 жыл бұрын

@@ExVeritateLibertas It's more complicated than that. Lower Silesia was germanized at the beginning of the 19th century and Poles were a minority there. On the other hand the Upper Silesia was a border region with both ethnicities. As a result there were no clear border between the two and both Poles and Germans fight against themselves when German Empire cease to exist after the first world war. My family actually comes from southern part of the Silesia where Germans were insignificant minority and ethnic tensions were between Poles and Czechs. It was still considered a part of Silesia, so Germans annexed it and gave local population a choice between signing a Volkslist and deportation to the Generalgouvernment.

@ExVeritateLibertas

3 жыл бұрын

@@krazownik3139 yes, I am sure the history in terms of ethnicity and culture is complex. Thanks for the info.

@Karelwolfpup

3 жыл бұрын

@@BatMan-xr8gg which ones? there was a large minority of blacks of colonial origin in Hamburg during WWII numbering roughly 2,000. There were also blacks serving with the Afrika Korps, he German merchant marine and "black" Muslims in the SS Handschar division. Or are we talking specifically those blacks in French, formal and irregular, and American service fighting against the Wehrmacht and SS?

Mark Felton: uploads Me: clicks video before even reading the title because I know I'm about to learn something awesome

@gordoncavis1374

3 жыл бұрын

Might not be 'awesome,' but one is *certain* to be informed & entertained ! Best channel on KZread . . . by a *wide* margin.

@davidcockayne3381

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, me too. Never been disappointed yet.

Thanks for your remarkable work you do. What I’ve learned from your videos is amazing. ♥️⭐️💙

Living in Germany I can tell you that I heard about the Rheinwiesenlager in school from a schoolfriend in 1985 and he heard it from his grandfather at home.

99%, of this footage I never seen before. Amazing simply amazing

@mistrikusilaminasi2079

3 жыл бұрын

Yeahh this mark felton guy is really somebody.

@livethefuture2492

3 жыл бұрын

merk really knows how to find obscure pieces of footage, on even the most secretive of topics.

@StevenKeery

3 жыл бұрын

@Jasta 2 : Not so much of the Master Race on display huh? Just hungry people, wondering where their next meal was coming from. Pity they didn't think of that, before starting a war with their neighbours.

@StevenKeery

3 жыл бұрын

@Jasta 2 : Why not, other Germans did. Research Dietrich Bonhoffer and his brother. By the way, I'm not American.

@StevenKeery

3 жыл бұрын

@Jasta 2 : Ever hear of Oskar Schindler? It is you assuming this event was a war crime. I look at the photos in this video and don't see too much resemblance between the thin soldiers and the emaciated rag and bones that were concentration camp victims. The Americans processed these Germans through the system in a few short months, between May and September of 1945. Life in the death camps was much more brutal than the events depicted in this video. SS volunteers were imprisoned for longer as the SS was held to be a criminal organisation. These were grown men, who knew they would hopefully be released to go back to their homes and towns to rebuild Germany. The men, women and children herded into the death camps had no such hope. Just unremitting, brutality and sadism as their daily diet. The fact that you can try to claim war crimes against Europeans, I consider very ironic, given Nazi Germany's history toward its European neighbours in this regard. It would be more apt, for you and like-minded Neo-Nazis to get down on your knees and beg God for forgiveness for the atrocities the Nazis committed, rather than lauding them in these comment sections.

I was a career military man. I went to war twice and was wounded once. War crimes happen because combatants are drawn into a state of hopeless despair. Soldiers will often go weeks or sometimes even months, without any relief from the rigors of combat. Feelings of despair often bring about (collective) feelings of hopelessness, anger and even thoughts of suicide, as a means of escaping the painful existence of life on the battlefield. I have seen soldiers perform acts of tremendous courage, simply because they were too exhausted to do anything else. People sometimes commit war crimes, not so much because they are bad people, but rather because their day to day existence becomes one of pain, sorrow, fear and hopeless despair.

@NotThatGuyPal.

2 жыл бұрын

Very, very well said!

@samsayonara7788

2 жыл бұрын

Wow That's an excuse if i ever seen one. All good for the victims now I'll bet they understand now

@timfoote6919

2 жыл бұрын

Not exactly certain that comes even remotely close to genocide. If you ARE in a military and see genocide and do nothing you are as guilty as the worst of them. To not be enraged is a lack of humanity. War is hell. But it should not be turned onto civilians. EVER

@temitoluwani5000

2 жыл бұрын

Good of you to share. Only an ex soldier like yourself could explain that in such understandable terms Tganks

@luckycharm4623

2 жыл бұрын

War crimes happened on a massive scale in WWII right off the bat in Poland when Germany was winning easily and the German soldiers were very comfortable. Same with the Japanese committing atrocities as they dominated in the Eastern pacific and China. Both countries taught their cultures that the countries they were conquering were populated by subhumans.

I was born & raised very close to one of the largest of these former camps. So close in fact, I go out running through the area sometimes. Many soldiers did probably die, but 1 million dead bodies (and efforts to dispose of them) would have been noticed - and they weren't by any of the german people who lived around those camps. There's no way this figure is even remotely true.

@BasementEngineer

2 жыл бұрын

You counted them, right? Read the book Other Losses.

@BasementEngineer

2 жыл бұрын

Or check up why the US military apologized to the German military in a very low-key ceremony in Washington.

@davidforbes7772

2 ай бұрын

@@BasementEngineer You are either kidding or a complete moron. This video is a total rebuttal of the bizarre, outlandish, and non-factual claims made in the book Other Losses.

Thank you Mark Felton. As the expression goes, "the truth usually lies somewhere in between". I'm glad to understand better that the American High Command weren't exactly barbaric if overly concerned about conditions

My German great-aunt's husband was taken by France and starved to death in October 1946 in a French POW camp. My great-aunt heard the POWs were so starved they resorted to eating grass.

@islandlife6591

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the testimony. These war crimes will not be forgotten.

@arcticwolf4029

2 жыл бұрын

There were widespread food shortages in France, but civilians' deaths by malnutrition are not reported.

@ConCon75

2 жыл бұрын

My heart bleeds.

@LuvBorderCollies

2 жыл бұрын

Just as North Korean civilians have been doing for years, and still are.

@PrimalRage-om8uz

Жыл бұрын

at least there's grass to eat. in the cold Russia, there was no grass, some had to resort to cannibalism, eating other human beings.

What really happened? I dont know Mr. Dr. Felton, that's why I'm here!

Certain atrocities indeed took place,but it is hard to believe that 1 mil German pow were starved to death. The matter would have been spread around and definitely would have been mentioned in war crime courts by German defendants. A great number of pow was kept longer than expected as a non costly labor force.

@ElCid48

Жыл бұрын

also if they were than all that happen is that they got a taste of what they did to the jewish people, the disabled people and the roma people who they viewed as not worth living. they should be happy they were not captured by the Russians who seemed to hate everyone who is not russian but especially the german

@kevingarth6682

Жыл бұрын

@@ElCid48 that's what I'm saying. It's wild to see people btch about this when they were literally... trump gets more hate then literal nazi's do. If you ask me they should've all be stuffed in a gas chambers. Locked in with the vents open naked. That way they'd suffer. I'm for combating love with hate but this goes beyond hate. They ended millions.... anyone on that side needs to suffer.

@kevingarth6682

Жыл бұрын

Anything that happened to them isn't sht to the suffering the germans inflicted on entire populations. I hope we did commit war crimes to those people and I hope the world covered it up because fxk them. They deserve no sympathy. They deserve to be enslaved and given to the remaining Jews. And even that is letting them off easy.

@huckleberryfinn6868

Жыл бұрын

LOL the winners write the history. Repeat after me.

@candykane4271

Жыл бұрын

@@huckleberryfinn6868 my German uncle lived through the forced labor and claimed food was utterly impossible to find and a bare minimum was given out. His brother was an American farmer, we have the letters.

3:08 a very sad face. German POW's in America had it pretty good, some even dated American women with so much freedom. Americans have many German-Americans and there was quite a bit of sympathy by some US soldiers for German soldiers. My father was in the Army Air Corps in 1944 in Torretta, Italy in the 484th. He did his 50 missions and luckily came home. His plane was the Ol: 45 which was shot down a few months after he left. There was a German American who was setting off bombs on some of the B-24's. He was caught, given a short trial and faced the firing squad. That incident probably cannot be found in any Army historical records. My father came home that same year, and his only job his last year was giving out weekend passes to new recruits in Madison, WI. He came home on a Friday, and went back to work in a factory the following Monday. Many soldiers to readjust took the 20/50, which was 20 dollars a week for 50 weeks. He became a toolmaker, raised 5 children, and when he passed in 2008 he might have been the last survivor from his plane, still the wisest person I ever knew.

Something tells me those who complained about harsh treatment at the hands of the Allies would have likely slit thier own throats as opposed to being in the hands of the Soviets.

@ludaMerlin69

3 жыл бұрын

Some killed themselves to avoid the western allies. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@scutumfidelis1436

3 жыл бұрын

Ehh, while one rapes your body the other destroys your soil.

@mountainguyed67

3 жыл бұрын

@@scutumfidelis1436 Body, not blood.

@cwdrock

3 жыл бұрын

@@ludaMerlin69 not nearly enough.

@ludaMerlin69

3 жыл бұрын

@@cwdrock why's that?

My grandfather was in such a camp. He had to lay on the bare ground, very little food...(what he said didnt sound like 1500 calories). He was sick afterwards for all his life. He never complained about it, but you could tell that it changed him, broke him. The camp from the french. Other grandfather was forced to work in a mine for years. Soviet zone.

@mitchrichards1532

3 жыл бұрын

Sounds very plausible, sorry to hear. What people here need to take away from your comment is the obvious implication; the camps were horrible, then the men went home.

@karlashmeedavlasta6365

3 жыл бұрын

@@mitchrichards1532 it caused a lot of problems in the families. My father was born during war, and he didnt know that the stranger who moved in when he was 7 yo was his father. So he got a beating for welcome, because he yelled at his father that he should go away. Second grandpa never said anything afterwards. All he did was sitting in his chair and smoking heavily.

@karlashmeedavlasta6365

3 жыл бұрын

@@mitchrichards1532 let me add this: It is not serving anybody to compare one evil with another. Talking about the hardships in these camps doesnt take anything away from the horrors of the concentration camps. All the wrong doings have to be aknowledged. I had relatives that went to concentration camps for political reasons. The other part of my family lived for generations in now poland and had to give up home, friends and family. My mother was only 1 year, when they had to flee from there. She was forcefully pottietrained ahead of this, because a wet baby diaper could mean death on this cold winter trip. After that there were years of starvation. My mother has always had little hair on her head compaired to her later born siblings, because of starvation. In our family there never was much talking about all this years. But with time one realizes the reasons for this and that behaviour.

@islandlife6591

3 жыл бұрын

@@mitchrichards1532 that's correct, the dead German soldiers have no story to tell

@chelseagruenwald

Жыл бұрын

my grandfather was fucked post-WWII too. but he had the balls to turn on the nazis and helped the allies and was admitted into the US army in 1942. liberated 3 concentration camps in germany and gave most of his food to the starved prisoners he had to carry to safety bc they couldn’t walk. my sympathy for germans is lacking. especially with the atrocities in their backyard they decided to ignore.

My Grandmother was a wet nurse in one of these camps. She had just weaned her twins off her milk so there was plenty of milk but not enough for everyone. War is hell.

One Canadian novelist shat on the fan and internet threw it all over the walls. Ridiculous.

My grandfather remembers the harsh conditions, the Red Cross visit and his subsequent freedom.

@printolive5512

3 жыл бұрын

What do you do when you suddenly wind up with 3MM POW's? No way to prepare for anything like that. 99% went home within months , except for those with an SS tag which was understandable.

@destubae3271

3 жыл бұрын

@@finitatem The Waffen did out of desperation. Which part of the SS are you referring to?

@destubae3271

3 жыл бұрын

@@finitatem I don't think the Allies would've been kind to anyone with an SS pin. Maybe case by case, but all of them most likely were considered a red flag during the war and taken in for questioning, even late-stage.

@slome815

3 жыл бұрын

​@@destubae3271 The Waffen SS literally became a partial conscript army after 1943. By the end of the war there barely was any distinction between the majority of the waffen SS and the wehrmacht. It was important for germany to make the distinction after the war, since then they could look at the werhmacht as a "blemish free" force, while the waffen SS could be seen as the evil army. It took away a great deal of feelings of shame for a nation where everyone had family that fought on the losing side of the war.

@AndrewPfannkuche

3 жыл бұрын

And he deserved the treatment, the damn Nazi