WWII Then & Now: British Troops Meet American Troops in the Ardennes
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ต.ค. 2024
- In this episode we will be focusing on the town of La Roche in the Ardennes where several incredible photo’s were taken during the Battle of the Bulge. The Belgian town La Roche didn’t see a lot of combat during the Battle of the Bulge. The strategic crossroad town is situated in a valley making it hard to defend. From December 20, 1944 and January 10, 1945, the Germans used the town’s road network. The Americans knew of its importance and hammered the German troops who used the town, with their artillery. Furthermore on December 26 and 27, 1944, The American high command decided to Bomb La Roche, destroying most of it and killing 114 civilians.
Finally on January 11, units of the British 51st Highland Division managed to recapture the town with slight opposition and link up with the American Troops. Today La Roche is a center for World War II History with many monuments including two tanks and a Tank Destroyer.
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We would like to point out that we could've covered the British attack on La Roche a bit more in-depthly. The video was shot during a last-minute decision, leaving us with no time to properly research the town before going there. Nevertheless, we hope you enjoyed watching this video and I would love to do another video solely on the British during the Battle of the Bulge. As for the unforms at the end. The US Army wanted to standardize all army uniforms with the M43 Uniforms. This resulted in Paratroopers getting rid of their M42 Jump Outfits after Normandy. Most of the airborne units that were dropped for Market Garden had their M42 uniforms replaced with regular M43 uniforms. That is why it is uncommon to see a person with an M42 Jump Jacket during the Battle of the Bulge.
Also thank you to all who commented about the British 'officer' being in fact the tank driver and not an officer. Our appologies, this was stupid mistake! We're all learning here :)
You should consider doing a separate video later down the line. Here in the UK, unless people do some digging, when someone mentions Ardennes WW2 they will only know about USA/GERMANY being there.
Thanks for the additional information. There's no perfection. Saying that, you're doing a fine job with this. Thank you.
I'm 58 yrs old and I had NO clue the british were in the area. Just to show you not many has been written on it. I love reading WW2 stuff.
I would also like to mention, you probably already know.. the black watch was a Canadian unit. Thanks great walk through history.
@@johnwayne6501 Nothings new, the British were written out of Korea, give it another 30 years and they will be written out of Iraq and Afghanistan too.
As an English man, may I thank you for taking the time and interest in paying respect to those brave guys, especially as you are young guys yourself. I’m in my 60s and growing up I knew many guys in my town that took part in various theatres of WW2, in all three Services, many of whom were my relatives, aunts and uncles.
It’s nice to see the younger generation taking interest in the events of WW2.Great research,keep up the good work.
It's great watching this! Summer of 2019 me and my wife were walking a wonderful trail starting at La Roche and ending in Bouillon. We encountered many memory signs of WW2 along the trail; I remember one sign in the middle of nowhere telling something like "At this spot a few soldiers bravely managed to hold back the Germans, but was ultimately outnumbered and killed". Makes you stop and think of how it was then.
Ive watched your videos before and the "then and now" WW2 format is top stuff. Long may it continue in 2021.
You bet!!
@@SNAFUDOCS Some of my reply's have disappeared, was it you or TH-cam?
@@nickdanger3802 Definitely not my friend
@@SNAFUDOCS 2nd attempt
The Ardennes Offensive Part 1 - A Calculated Risk
British Army Documentaries
th-cam.com/video/ArtVmlqEeho/w-d-xo.html
I have visited Bastogne and the Ardennes several times. And twice during the "Battle of the Bulge" memorial weekend. I love that part of the world. I enjoy your videos, and I appreciate all the work that you put into them. Thank You!
Thanks for sharing and watching!
My Grandad was in that, got sent home for a bit after it as it completely screwed him up for a little while, my dad remembers him coming home looking rough and completely changed, after some rest he went back into action and survived the war
@Jennine Lataquin
I don't think anybody cares
Bless him! I hope he fully recovered and had a good life
.
@@vivians9392
Oh he did, give you some idea of what he was like, once my dad and my grandmother were walking through town during the war and they bumped into him thinking he was on the continent at war they asked what he was doing and he said he was home on leave, they asked why they hadn't seen him and he replied that he wanted some peace and quiet away from the war and was taking his leave elsewhere
Your channel certainly helps me with my 65 year study of WWII. My desire to learn more shall never end, it seems.
My dad, who was a gunner with the British Army was at The Bulge, he used to tell me about the cold and frost bite, which I think caused more casualties than the Germans.
Can you imagin Stalingrad in the winter?
that wasn't worse because of low humidity. My uncle from winnipeg told me it was -40 there but he never felt so cold as over here in the netherlands
I stumbled on to your channel by pure luck. This video touched my heart because my Dad (Sergeant Harold L. Gaskins) was there. He was in the 84th Infantry Division (Railsplitters). Thank you for your work and for posting this video.
That's some great research and knowledge guys. Thank you. La Roche looks like a beautiful place now and looks to be well worth a visit once these lockdowns are finished. Fantastic work lads. Well done. 👏👏👏👏
Thank you for the work you do to keep this history alive, and hopefully inspire some appreciation in current generations of the enormous sacrifices made by such young soldiers.
My father Bill Hutchison was a combat sapper with the 51st Highland Division from Africa to Bremerhaven. He rarely spoke of the war so great to see this clip and thank you for sharing it. These memories mean a lot to me,
Jst imagine how this two great nation Soldiers met up on the same town ,,, this must be an overwhelming reaction n happiness to meet your friend ,allied during this moment of struggle...
Please keep your amazing footage to remain the memory for further generations
That is our goal, thank you!
Another brilliant video guys. Amazing information & footage. The before and after bring us right back to their footsteps. 👍
Thankyou for being one of the first people to tell the story of every nationally that died in a major battle
Great video about a tragic time in a beautiful part of Belgium. Thank you for this wonderful mini tour.
Thank you so much for this outstanding video of La Roche. My mother's first husband was killed in action there during the Battle of the Bulge. I was able to visit La Roche in 1984. It will always be a special place.
My Dad was with the 10tth Mountain Division in Italy at the same time and I enjoyed the photo below the castle at the monument. I love this kind of stuff and try to find these views on my own sometimes. I went to Venice Italy and compared painting of St. Mark's Square with different views and positions in real life. I find that type of thing exhilarating. The closer you come to getting it "right" the more it feels like you are there and time has been suspended. Thanks so much for doing what I wish I were young enough to do for myself. Great thing that you guys do!
I came across La Roche purely by chance, on a trip in my campervan back in 2018 and i stayed at a great camp site very close to the town.
I am a fan of the "Band of Brothers" tv series and i have visited a few of the locations from the series, but La Roche was a wonderful town to visit and it will certainly be on my itenerary for my next visit hopefully this year.
Well done to these younger lads providing us with such interesting footage and information on these sites.
I wonderr if you lads realize that 76 years from now the children and grandchildren of those watching this video today will be watching and it will serve as great a purpose then as it serves now, if not greater. You are doing a good thing. Thanks.
Thank You so much for Your Hard Work. Much Respect! My father was in WWII and my Mother worked in the Factories here in the U.S. during the War. So Happy to see Your Work, it's really Good. I like All of Your photos, I am a History Buff and really enjoy all of this. Thank You.
Just subscribed and binge watching. I love this stuff, before and after shots are amazing. To just stand there and to know there was a tank shooting down the street is insane! It's crazy how many places are still almost the exact same. Seeing all these men going though hell is very sad. God bless them all.🙏😥
You guys are amazing. Thankyou for keeping the memory of these men going. It’s great what you do 👍🇬🇧
Just discovered your channel ... excellent...will subscribe immediately. I've visited Normandy many times but feel a trip to the Ardennes is on the cards post this lockdown. I'll bring my Jeep GPW or Bedford MW. Yes please ...more pics of the British. Thanks again for your excellent channel. Love from the UK.
Fascinating video both, I for one would love to see more content on the British forces during BOTB. Keep up the great work
Great to hear about the British in the Bulge, fascinating stuff, great images then and now. Keep the videos and pictures coming. Subscribed. 👍
Many thanks for this excellent video and all the background research which has gone into it. The meeting of US and British troops was the most impressive photo for me
Glad you’ve done a video on the British contribution to the battle. Doing a then and now comparison is good to.
One thing though the 51st Highland Division was infantry and British infantry divisions had no armour units within it. They had either armoured brigades or tank brigades attached to them when needed. The Sherman’s are either the 33rd Armoured Brigade which was independent of any divisions and attached to infantry divisions as needed or the 29th Armoured Brigade which was part of the 11th Armoured Division. Both of these units had Sherman’s. It’s hard to see any markings on the front of the tank which could tell which unit it was. The 34th Tank Brigade which also participated in the battle had Churchill tanks.
Keep up the good work. You’ve made me want to visit the Ardennes the first chance I get.
Listen, your stuff about then and now is so good that I want you to continue this quest as long as possible. Great stuff.
Good work. History dictates the future. Let us never forget the sacrifice for freedom. Thankyou for what you do.
We want the same! We have incredible stuff planned for 2021. Thank you for watching
Loved the video. I had a relation thst served in the British 9 para C Coy. I know he was dropped on D Day and he was part of C and B coy thst were tasked to take the Merville gun battery on sword beach. A lot of the guys were dropped in the wrong place but he was part of the force that eventually took the battery allowing the landings to take place on June 6.
He was very reserved about what he did and where he was but I know he went on to fight in the battle of the bulge. He told me a couple of short stories but that's about it. He hated the boots he was issued with and eventually took the boots off a dead German and said they were the most comfortable he had ever worn. After the war he used to wear them in his job as a builder, had them for years he said. He also had a run in with some SS somewhere but thats all he would say other than they were evil.
Can you guys please try and find out where and what 9 para C coy went on to do after the D Day landings. I would love to find out so I can pass the info onto his surviving nephew. You guys do a wonderful job keeping the memories of the heroes alive. Don't ever stop.
Go here: www.pegasusarchive.org
9th Battalion were part of 3rd Parachute Brigade, which was in the 6th Airborne Division. On the link you want the entries for Normandy, Ardennes and Rhine Crossing and it should include links to war diaries and some personal accounts.
Within one parachute battalion you had three rifle companies, A, B & C plus a support company of heavier weapons (mortars, MGs etc). So the war diary will include mention of C Company.
Also for more on 9th Battalion & D-Day I recommend the excellent book “The Day the Devils Dropped In” by Neil Barber.
@@HydroSnips thank you so much
Literally 30 seconds to find en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9th_(Eastern_and_Home_Counties)_Parachute_Battalion
Outstanding documentary ! My father and grandfather were WWII and WWI , U.S.Army . I became a Marine due to who they were . That was in ‘72 . Thank you for helping to keep history alive . Yes , we must never forget !
Lest We Forget.
Thank you fellas for sharing this.
Amazing video and I absolutely love your detail and knowledge. That’s dedication. Keep it up. This is stuff you don’t find on TV
I appreciate that! We will continue!
Excellent video. Thank you. RS. Canada
Good job guys! Thanks for featuring the British as well. I remember passing through La Roche in 2016 and now it will be a must see when I get back. -Bronson
Thank you Bronson, hope to see you soon!
THANK YOU........My uncle died in a tank, with the 4th Armored that first attacked the southern flank of the Germans near Bastogne. Buried in same cemetery as Patton.
I paused the video at 3:55 and looked at the 'then and now' comparison. So little has changed - remarkable!
Been there often in the past with veterans of 6th AB. Thank you for the wonderful video.
Absolutely love your childish passion about WWII. It´s them war-buffs like you who are doing the most for keeping the memory alive about those tragic and epic years.
You guys are doing an amazing job with your then and now pictures
Joey and Florent- I just started reading Peter Caddick-Adams' "Snow and Steel" and have been watching your videos about the BOTB. Great stuff. Your video's really help when reading about the battle.
Glad you like them!
You boys are superstars. I know you enjoy what your doing and passionate about it but still requires hard work. What people did for our freedom can never be forgotten. Everyone who contributed in beating the Nazi deserves that. Thank you.
Very interesting! Thank you for sharing pics and information. ❤
The comparison pictures are great, thank you for this video
I love history, not only the history of my own nation, USA, but the history of WW1 and WW2 because my ancestors not only faught in our US battles, with only one escaping the Andersonville Prison Camp here but I've got great grandfather's who faught in WW1 and 2 grandfather's who faught in WW2. Sadly, one passed in 2001 and my other passed in 2018. Neither talked about their experiences only that they served. I love seeing how things have chand between back then and now. On my father's father's side of the family we came from France. My 6X greats last name was Michel later changed to Tailon by his son, since that was his Uncle's last name on his mother's side. I'm not sure but I believe my family in France could have fought in WW1 as well as WW2. I've not dug any deeper into that side of my family as of yet. Keep uploading those then and now's they are a great part of all our past history.
Thank you, brother!!!
You're doing an amazing job!!!
More content like this would be great!!!
Anything, WW2.
My beloved uncle was badly wounded in late December 1944 at Stavelot, Belgium. He spent about a year recovering in hospital in the USA and died in 1995. He was part of the USA 517th PIR, which wasn’t deployed to that area, but apparently he had been reassigned to the 507th. He made two combat jumps during the war. Like so many other veterans, he rarely spoke of his experiences, and we children were always instructed not to ask him about it.
I visited Bastogne about 5 years ago. I could only spend a day there.,Watching your videos is showing me a lot I missed. Thank you for what you are doing. Hopefully one day, I can make it back to Europe.
Excellent Young Man,keep up the Great Work.👍🇬🇧
Nice cool thanks for the before and after pictures and video !
Brilliant. Well done 👍🏻👏🏻
Great details lads. Much appreciated. I rode down to Bastogne from Liege (obvs!) a couple of years ago and was surprised to see how heavily involved the Brits were, on the field maps. Visited La Roche to. Keep at it hey
Thanks buddy! More coming!
Thank you guys for keeping these memories alive. Great job.
Excellent again. Loved all photos. Thank you so much for your hard work into presenting this.
Thank you guys ...as always excellent video
Very well done my friend!! I am a subscriber fan!!
I'm so glad you value the great sacrifices of these men and the heroic nature of what they did for all freedom loving people.
Great job! Thanks for sharing.
My Dad was flying P51 Recon over the Bulge during the initial breakout of the Germans. Unfortunately his Intel was too late to help warn the Allied Command.
It's nice to see young guys so interested and knowledgeable about the war, nice work! Rob (UK).
All photos are good I don’t want to ever forget. I was born in an era where these men fought for what I have and all generations after like vitamin and so on thanks for your work. This is interesting to me to learn about. Heck my dad was born in 44
You blokes are doing a great thing here. I love these videos.
Interesting to see an Achilles on a plinth but the real OMG moment was about 5:44 where there is a Jagdpanzer 38(t) parked in the street.
Have only stumbled across your channel today - please keep going the effort you put in is amazing.
Hey bedankt mannen. Voor de knappe video. Was november 2021 nog daar. Grtz 👍🏻
Gentlemen - excellent video. I really enjoy the then v. now photos. It keeps history alive.
Great knowledge guys really good you keep these memories alive, outstanding.
Wow thank you for making this video, it's so important to tell their stories. Bravo!
fantastic research, fantastic photos thank you.
interesting also something new to me this is the first time I have seen magazines 'taped' together for a quick changeover (on the Thompson to the left) always thought that was a thing that was done way after WW2
just shows we can still learn new things about our favorite subjects :)
great video guys :)
Fascinating stuff. Always been a passion of mine to read books, photographs, videos etc from both wars. In hospital once I spoke to 3 elderly gentlemen. One was at Monte Cassino, one was part of the Normandy landings and the 3rd was a Japanese prisoner of war. I was truly humbled and grateful for these gentlemen to tell me their stories. I salute them.
Yes, more! I wish one day i could have the privilege of visiting the areas in your videos. Thanks for showing us.
Maybe one day!
Thank you for this. Extremely interesting and very well done, and yes, may we never forget.
What a good job these 2 young film makers do in preserving the history of these important events
We are glad you think so. Thank you for watching!
I live in Brussels:) I love to go at La Roche, Bastogne etc in the forest.. The atmoshpere is incredible and this video.... Just amazing brother !
Thank you!
You look at their faces and think how young they were
It's hard to grasp as I am probably their age, probably older
Yeahhhhh!! You can see that some clearly have Italian heritage.
at times I think they are older...late 20's....but been told they are 19...22....war can make a young man look old.
@@johnwayne6501 I was thinking the same thing war aged then.
The horrible things they witnessed changed a lot of them forever. My mom said that my dad was very much changed when he returned. He would never talk to us about what he saw overseas of course. He always said we wouldn't understand.
Hoi ,ik lig ziek in bed en ben op TH-cam filmpjes aan het bekijken toen ik jou kanaal tegen kwam mooi om de bevrijders te eren en mooi beelden en verhalen greetz Erwin
Thanks for good video. La Roche is on the list now. Love you to make more videos from the British actions In the Ardennes.
Glad you like them!
i find the before and now shots more than fascinating,brilliant!...keep it up.
Fantastic as usual ...thank you
Excellent job guys. You are exceptionally well informed about even the smallest details.
A valuable addition to the story of WW2, well done...and thank you.
Love this video! I’m also coming to La Roche since 1990. I think the building on the photo at 4:25 is located across from the current day museum.
Loved this video. Thank you very much. My dad was in 3 battles in WW2. Not the budge.
THANK YOU.....VERY SPECIAL, My Uncle died in a Tank Battle while with the 4th Armored, buried in the same cemetery, Patton is buried in.
Awesome job lads.....keep up,can't stop watching
Another stunning then and now video, very informative. Keep it coming SNAFU.
Spr gr8 video tq 4 upload👏👏👏👍
Excellent! I love the then and now perspective!
I enjoyed the different approach of your video; fresh.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Love your knowledge of the detail!
Your videos are awesome...it amazing to see the before and after...looking forward to more videos....greetings from NW Michigan
love your videos! i subscribed and put on all notices! waiting the next one, greetings from Greece
new subscriber from TN: GREAT vid & thanx so much for all of the research & work to produce these vids; and perhaps more importantly, thanx for ur interest in preserving the history
My favourite picture is the memorial one. Brilliant video. Thank you.
Excellent up load =thanks .
Thank you for watching!
Well done, brilliant comp
Brilliant compared photos. Yes do more. Cheers guys. Mickietoobad.
Thanks my friend!
Weer een geweldige reportage zo mooi wat jullie doen
Great pictures and narrative, keep up the good work lads, the children of today need to know about this stuff. My own grandad fought the Axis forces throughout WW2 coming back to my grandma in 1945 and to me he was a hero
Never forget...
Good job on the then and now!
Fascinating video guys, thanks for going to the effort and sharing it with us.