I remember one old spook telling me "If you see a basket ball pitch in satellite images of an 'advisors' camp it means Cubans, if you see a football pitch it's East Germans."
I spoke to several ex east German soldiers and echoed exactly what you said and considered one of the best eastern bloc armies. They all found this highly amusing and said most of their army life was drinking heavily and hiding from duties just to pass the time before demobbing.
I know also some of them. One told me, he was on the border unit and some soldiers came back from the patrol, aimed for joke weapon on him and he did push the Ak rifle in the last moment, there was bullet in the chamber. Looks not so much serious for me, because even this border troops had to be better as normal troops
My dad was in the “Luftsturmregiment 40”, the paratrooper special force unit of the east german army. He said they laughed abt the discipline at the regular “Mot.-Schützen”, mentioned “fun fights” with soviet soldiers shooting jam jars with their tanks. But also that it was extremely rough, the higher private ranks severely bullied the newcomers into submission to the point that my dad tried saving some before the higher ups could get into their bedrooms and night and beat them up. Otherwise he also mentioned a lot of doing bs to wait until service was over on the day. But still a highly trained force. Several estimates by military experts suggest that if war had broken out, the warsaw pact would’ve overrun west germany in large parts due to the state of the east german army.
This was not true for the whole army. Alcohol was strictly forbidden in military objects. In 1990 when the Bundeswehr took over the NVA, they were impressed with the readiness and fast response time of the troops during drills.
I am from Berlin and personally know an former east german "Fallschirmjäger" (Airborne) who was an advisor in Angola and was involved in some heavy fighting. He still has ptsd to this day, but since east Germany never went to war officially, he never gets any help from the government.
My ex father-in-law was a member of south African army for 10 years. He always said that some of the units they were fighting were led by white guys with blacked up faces.
I used to serve from 1987 to 90 at the officer school of the GDR air defense forces in the town of Kamenz near Dresden. I remember that there were always students from Mocambique, Angola, North Korea and other nations outside the Warsaw Pact within our compound. Contact with them was actively discouraged but occasionally happened nevertheless. I remember taking one N. Korean student out with our group for some Saturday night enjoyment. It completely unsettled the guy's world view. He was appealing to us to stop this 'capitalist decadence'. But I think he secretly enjoyed. Probably went straight into a 're-education' camp upon his return to his country...
My father served in the US army from 85 to about 89 and was stationed close to the east west border. He has always said if he went back to Germany he would rather see the east because he wasn't able to. I've aways been curious about east Germany, especially having grown up after the wall came down it still is weird to know there where 2 different geman nations just a hand full of years before I was born in 1997. Also thank you for your story I definitely found it very enjoyable I'll have to tell my dad, he will get a kick out of it.
I was in the SADF and fought in Angola in the 80's...All the equipment we captured was east German supplied. .I even have a east German helmet as a souvenir...
The comments on this video are absolutely amazing and are as good or better than the video itself adding eye witness accounts and personal experience that are incredibly fascinating!
I feel bad for the South Africans and Rhodesians that got fucked up by East and West collectively just because neither of them knew that there was no chance of political stability and economic prosperity under majority rule
I've read that during the "Prague Spring" of 1968 the Russians considered sending East German troops into Czechoslovakia to assist in crushing Alexander Dubchek's freedom movement but decided against it. They were concerned over what the Czech "Look who's back!" reaction to German troops was likely to be so forgot about that option pretty quickly.
I saw a video of what turned out to be East Germany's 40th and last military parade on 7th October 1989 and noticed the number of African leaders on the reviewing stand along with the Inner circle of those who worked with the General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, SED, Eric Honecker. I did wonder why when I first saw it, this video has provided some explanation of this, thanks Dr Felton 👍
I was at that parade...active duty Army Officer in full class A uniform...videotaping it! It was incredible seeing all the scumbag Commie leaders in the stands...most/all dead now
In that video you can also clearly see Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega, who are still in power (Castro's dead but his system lives on). They are the curse of Latin America
*That video is the most watched on TH-cam. East Germany had one of the most memorable /perfectionists military parades ever (only behind North Korea).*
They also had a large presence in Zanzibar, the Stazi having trained the local secret police and the East German government having a consulate/embassy on the island. I believe some of the earlier patrol boats of the revolutionary Zanzibar government were from East Germany. Even today there are strong ties between Tanzania and Germany in regards to military training and support.
@Peter T yes East Germany offered aid to Zanzibar from 1964 till 1971 when they were pushed out by the government of the mainland which had close ties to West Germany.
My neighbor down the street was a Brigadier General in the Old South African Army and was part of many military operations in Angola and told me that there were many East Germans and other Eastern European soldiers who they were fighting against in Angola during the Bush War.
@@mathiasbarkow8147 Hallo Mathias, ich habe persoenlich einen DDR gefangenen nach Pretoria begleitet. Ich wurde wohl ausgesucht, weil ich als deutsch Staemiger die Sprache beherschte. Es gab allerdings keine Unterhaltung. Es ist mir auch nicht bekannt wo und unter welchen Umstaenden er in Gefangenschaft kam. Ich bin laedglich im laetzten Moment zum Flughafen in Grootfontein im norden von Namibia gebracht worden
To: @@joanaherold6320 It is most likely that you transferred a single East-German (even a military) person. We indeed had advisors there but never whole UNITS or TROOPS. This little country of the GDR could never effort to do so, see my comments recently (March 2024) above. While the civilian support in the Southern countries of Africa was really large, the military (personnel) support was quite small - besides other factors the GDR and its NVA lacked simply the resources. However, what happen to this person, was he returned to the GDR? Do you know? Peace! from Dresden / Germany
Unfortunately in America history lessons will soon be abolished, as the fascist right ends our democracy and abolishes public education leaving it up to the parents to teach their kids everything. The US is on a one way path back to the 1800s, and these fascist Christian extremist will control the most powerful military in the world and use them to commit mass genocide in the states then other countries.
Many years ago I read something to the effect that the Russian advisors in Africa, especially when they were drunk, would cause great offense to the Africans with tactless and often blatantly racist comments. So the Eastern Bloc policy became one of sending East Germans instead who were specially trained so as not to offend African sensibilities.
@@vladimirnikolskiy Listen up, cheeki breeki...I read this in one of England's most serious and respected newspapers 'The Daily Telegraph'. A long time ago now, but I find it entirely plausible. I also read that black African students who tried to date Russian girls were given a hard time of it by the KGB. Facts don't stop being facts just because they offend some people.'
When i was in the Bundeswehr, we faced a lot of East German troops, Soviet bloc troops. The Sargent told us not to worry about thd Polish troopers, they would start shooting RUSSIANS the minute they got live ammo in their guns.. but in 1984 our life expectancy was only minutes if they DID NOT USE NUKES.. Panzergrenadier...
There's a great book by Markus Wolf, who was the head of East German Intelligence services for 34 years, titled The Man Without a Face. Besides the spy versus spy action during the Cold War, he also writes extensively about the DDR's role in African and Middle Eastern countries. He doesn't shy away from harsh truths and provides a unique perspective on life behind the Iron Curtain.
But if you read this, you have to consider that he was a former member of the ministry of state security. And in this position, not all of them he had written/told is "true" or completely believable. Wolf wasn't a historian, that writes as objective and crtitcal as possible about this topic.
They were the East German version of the KGB. Current Russian President Vladimir Putin was a KGB Liaison Officer stationed to advise and observe with the Stasi. The Stasi were granted independence from direct Moscow control in 1957. Very few policy changes Moscow sent out, the Stasi usually followed through with as well. During the occupation of Berlin after the war, the KGB actively recruited former Nazi Gestapo agents to the Stasi. Most accepted, as there was very little work available to them.
Well Gestapo agents were unemployed after the end of Nazi Germany. I could imagine they were possibly hired in the beginning, yet later a de-Nazification started in the NVA, removing former Wehrmacht Generals. General Paulus still taught at Dresden Military academy, but many others had to quit. It is only logical that the same process took place in the Ministry of State Security.
An acquaintance of mine was a former South African Air Force pilot who was involved in the South African covert operations in Angola and he said most of the Mig 21s were flown by Cuban "volunteers " who were utterly incompetent. However, the South Africans had to always be on guard as when flying missions deep in Angola they came up against very competent and aggressive Mig 21 pilots who if you weren't very careful would blow you out of the sky. It turned out that these Mig 21 pilots were East Germans.
One of my friends is a veteran of 32 Battalion in the SADF. He was a lieutenant back then. According to him, they did sometimes encounter East German and Soviet soldiers in ambushes they laid for the Angolans, behind enemy lines. (This unit was responsible for 50% of the casualties South Africa inflicted during the war). He now owns a restored UAZ 4x4. Says he shot up so many of them, he started wanting to get one. Edit: Correction, he bought a GAZ 69.
@freebeerfordworkers It interests me to read another story which mentions the fact the Cuban's were in Angola before the Portuguese withdrawal. The Cuban's, and others, have always claimed they intervened only after the South African "invasion" of 75 know as Op's Savannah. When in fact evidence has proven the new leftist Portuguese government had invited the Cuban's in to prop up the MPLA who the Portuguese wanted in power after they withdrew. Even though the MPLA was not the most popular party.
Wow! Spent three years in the Berlin Brigade in 4/502nd Infantry Regiment and never knew this about East Germans Afrikan Corps! As always very informative and well done!
Hey Brother! I was B Co 4/502d Feb 89 to Dec 90 then went back Oct 91 to Jun 94 with C Co 6/502nd, went on the Operation Able-Sentry UNPROFOR deployment.
@@SGobuck depended upon if you were doing ceremonies, in the field training, on the range qualifying, Spandau Prison rotation guarding Hess for a month, Clay Headquarters guard detail, Quick Reaction Platoon, there was a myrid of things on a regular timeframe of when you did all of these things.. It was an outstanding assignment.
@@adlerarmory8382 small world! I left in March of 1988, pcs'd stateside to Ft. Myer. I could have extended my tour in Berlin, and didnt then the wall came down in 1989, would have been a great time to have been in Berlin to see that happen.
In the 1978 war movie 'The Wild Geese', as Richard Burton's mercenaries seize the Zembala airport they encounter an East German army officer. As General Ndofa's 'Simbas' hunt them down, they are guided by East German instructors.
@@jamesfields2916 That was probably the smallest napalm bomb ever created for an airplane. Amazing how they made about 5 - 10 gallons blow up like 100 gallons.
The song "They walk in line" by the band Joy Division was inspired by a photo of a group of armed East German military advisors in Angola in the late 70s or early 80s.
The first and only time the GDR participated in an international peace keeping mission under UN supervision was in Namibia 1989/90. A unit of 30 East German police observers was sent to support the Civil Police Component of UNTAG. West Germany also sent a contingent, and for a few months they served side-by-side with the East Germans at the police station in Ombalantu.
My dad said that when he took the train from West Germany to East Germany, it would stop for 2 hours while they went through everyone's stuff. Then an announcement was made, "Those who wish to move their residence from West Germany to East Germany are now asked to step off the train." Everyone looked! :D But nobody ever got off :
Except Angela Merkel's family, and her, aged 2, lol. They were amongst a very small minority of West Germans who defected to the East. There was a actually a centre in the GDR where they were held for a couple of months to run security checks (to ensure they were not BND agents) before they commenced their new life in the workers' paradise.
I once saw a docu about West Germans moving to East Germany. In most cases it was ideology or simply love that moved them east. The procedure for those immigrants was that they got locked up in an estate, regular interview by detectives of the Kripo and in the end by the Stasi. They lost their possessions to the state, such as their cars. The East Germans were very afraid that they imported problem cases, such as criminals or people in debt.
@@liammeech3702 Haha, that is good one. No. there allowed by the East German Authorities to wear their cloths, but I am talking about West Marks and cars that the East Germans took away from them.
The name was nicked from a 1980s „Der Spiegel“ cover story, although the various training missions were never formally organized into one unit like the actual Afrika Korps.
Was part of a signals unit that was made up of German and Portuguese speakers. Our main task was radio signal interception, disinformation and jamming. We were well aware of the heavy involvement of East Germany in Angola. The majority of Angolan MIG pilots trained in East Germany and radio comms was in German. There was no flight of MIGs that took off in Angola that we did not intercept radio comms including information about intended targets. Must have been frustrating to never find the convoys they were sent to bomb.
One of our neighbours is a second generation German. He fought at Cuito in the same role - among Portuguese refugees doing national service like him, sitting in an EV Ratel with a fake turret, listening in on enemy frequencies.
@@henrykeyter53 We used state-of-the-art equipment from Siemens. I was in equipment logistics and was tasked with making sure vehicles were properly equipped. There were various projects with interesting names, the only one I can remember now is "Beargrip". We use Ratels, Samil50 box-bodies and even Toyota Landcruisers - all stuffed to the gills with radios and towing their own gennies.
@@JulianBeams Oom Jörn said that their Ratel had a fibreglass turret so they had to be careful not to get shot at. Guess they tried to hide the fact that it was an Electronic Warfare vehicle by camouflaging it as a normal Ratel 90? I wouldn't know. But apparently they intercepted and translated enemy communications, the Portuguese guys translated the Angolan and Cuban messages and he was there in case they intercepted anything in German.
@@henrykeyter53 Our vehicles had no turret so that's interesting. The Ratels made a good platform though. Good grounding for the antennae. You couldn't miss them, they had antennae sticking up all over. There was also a hydraulic antenna bolted to the side that was raised as needed and the whole covered in camo net. That's exactly how I got into the unit, 5 Signals, BTW - I could speak really bad schoolboy German. When they realised I would make a bad translator, I was sent off to the office and ended up as a logistics NCO. Many friends from my sqaudron did rotations to Cuito and back. Usually for a specific op.
It is my understanding that the East Germans were mostly in a training capacity relating to Intelligence, Russians in a military advisory role (which resulted that some were in the vicinity where military action occurred and therefore some casualties on their side), and the Cubans were heavily participating in military action with by far the highest of number of participants from the Communist Block countries.
@@wolfgollnitz899 i recently meet a former russian sniper of the sowjet army who was working in angola when he was 19 ... they where mainly training local militia but also involved in gathering intelligence and monitoring the chokepoints of the conflict back then ... Officially they where not allowed to participate in any fighting - he told me there where several incendents involving russian troops when they whitnessed massacres on the local population in small remote villages while monitoring a area of military interest - he and his collegues killed several attackers from far away just because they couldnt hold back anymore after beeing witness to such atrocities for months without beeing allowed to do anything - obviously this resulted in severe punishment for him and his comrades including several months of military prison and dishonorable discharge.
As a South African who fought the war in Angola and again on the Zimbabwe border, this video really hit home. It might be worthwhile exploring the SADF at the time, one of the best armies in the world during that specific bush War.
Yes during that time, the South African Military was considered top notch effective and capable. Even today, the South African mobile wheeled Howitzers are considered to be amongst the most effective, best in the world.
@@dannya1854 I don't really think it's fair to say that. It was ended with negotiations. The South Africans got the Cubans to leave Angola and they let Namibia go independent. Strangely the South African negotiators were supposed to be on the Lockerbie Pan Am flight that got shot down, but they decided to take an earlier flight.
@@dannya1854 Before you say that South Africa lost the war maybe you should have a deeper look at what South Africa wanted to achieve in Angola and maybe that will change your opinion
@@dannya1854 I don't remember the Angolans MPLA walking into South Africa, or that they defeated Unita? It was a stalemate and everybody decided it was too expensive to keep fighting the battle.
Little errata: Erich Honnecker was not the president of the GDR. He was (among other things) the "President of the Council of State" for over 20 years. The only one who got the title "President" was Wilhelm Pieck.
@@dpt6849 The SV ('Sportvereinigung') Dynamo was led by Erich Mielke. He (not Honecker) was President of this umbrella sports organisation. The SV comprised several clubs, such as SC Dynamo Berlin - the biggest of them all -, SG Dynamo Dresden (football), FSC Dynamo Eilenburg (parachuting) and many more.
I think that surviving officers of the Stasi would be absolutely ideologically outraged to hear their organisation described as an extension of the wartime Gestapo!
Fair enough. One "Sicherheitsdienst" lieutenant was interrogated in Finland in 1950. Probably, nothing was found because the Allied Commission had left in 1947. Also, recidivism was unlikely, so he was released. This person is interesting because his photo cannot be found on the internet. Maybe it's in the National Archives or with relatives. Later, he became wealthy as the CEO of the Private Entrepreneurs Insurance Company.
I live in Dresden Germany. Recently i was sitting at a bar, and i was spinning a Military challenge coin in my hand. The old man next to me saw it and showed me his East German/Soviet Dog Tag hanging on his neck, and he said Afrika. It confussed me, i didn't think they went anywhere. Thank You for this vid, it explanes a bit. A funny note, i have alot of nerve damage and i shake a bit. At one point i was spinning my coin in my hand (an excercise for fine motor control) and i dropped it. Those coins certainly make a sound lol. That old soldier pointed to the STRING around his kneck holding his dog tags, and i told him (in German) "I don't need those, I know my name"...
Really nice story, its a shame we don’t hear allot about some veterans from lesser known conflicts as they unfortunately grow older. Would love to hear his story for example. Also i was in Dresden (neustadt) for a few weeks keeping company to a very sick friend. Its an incredibly nice and peaceful city. My friend called it and the german saxony the pearl of the east.
You should watch the Deutschland 83/86/89 series. It's a TV show revolving around an east german spy in those respective years, each year representing one season of the show. Though the last season certainly suffers in quality, it is entertaining in showing different east german governmental involvement in these years, and weaves historic events into the story. in Deutschland 86, they actually depict the East German involvement in Angola, and South African Apartheid movement. That's when I first heard about their involvement.
Mr Felton, lately I have been learning about the Rhodesian bush wars, finding it plentiful of interesting stories. It would be awesome to see you creating content about that conflict. thank you and keep up the great work.
I agree with this, under the proviso that it’s done correctly, accurately and sensitively as it’s still a very fresh thing to many families and the worldwide reporting on this more often incorrect than not.
I doubt you'll get any decent history from Mark, he just lumped Rhodesia in with Apartheid south Africa as being an international pariah, I thought this was a historian? that's the kind mistake people who have no interest in history mame, thinking Rhodesia was an Apartheid country.
@@heybabycometobutthead to be fair to Mark, outsiders have a difficult time understanding the differences between South Africa and Zimbabwe nowadays and the interest of the average person in the politics of Rhodesia and the SA back in the day is limited to whatever emotive response can be elicited at the time or from what they've been shown before. The fact is Rhodesia WAS tarred with the same brush as South Africa by the world's media and governments and so it was an international pariah, (ironically) even more so than South Africa. Then you consider the reinforcement of this with 40+ years of ZANU propaganda. You can't convince some modern day Westerner in 10 minutes that a bunch of Rhodies fresh out of a war would look at elements of South African society with a side eye, or that the RAR okes were initially suspicious of the Parabats before forming a close working relationship with them. Similarly, trying to convince a foreigner with a deep interest in the bush war that most Rhodies were solely interested in dopping, jolling and having a good time rather than being like Dennis Croukamp and the like is an effort.
Many of the comments on Mark Felton's WWII videos begin with "My grandfather was there," or "My father was there." As Dr. Felton increasingly posts clips that encroach on a more contemporary timeline, many comments now begin with, "I was there."
Well done! That's the most accurate description of Africa's 'transition' in a nutshell. Naturally, East Germany was acting in close harmony of her Master, Russia. Many people confuse Africa's wars against Communism with liberation struggles. Neither is absolute. In post colonial Africa, corruption and self enrichment by political leaders (former guerillas), flourish to the detrient of the citizens. In many many instances Africans themselves admit that infrastrucrure as well as government services, were more efficient prior to liberation. One's NOT referring to civil liberties. Anyway, thank you ,Mark, you have hit the nail on the head.
Africa was better off before the Communistic terrorists started making a mess. The ANC was and will always be a terrorist organization set up by the Communist's to weaken South Africa and make it vulnerable to exploitation by foreign powers.
There's a very interesting TH-cam channel called "Military History Visualized." One of their videos concerns deaths in African post-colonial wars, that is Africans killing Africans. Look for it, it's shocking to say the least. I won't post a link, it'll probably be dropped.
Any travel in west Africa quickly reveals the after effects of Soviet / East German presence. We in the west politely ignore these chronically poor,, corrupt and AK infested regions . My some spent good time working as a medic there and the stories are depressing and acutely horrific. No services, roads, sewage or garbage collection, gross incompetence and graft running the countries. Dr Felton has gone gently on the ruzzian after effects, in his professional and learned manner, I respect that. I don't have to. Don't believe me, go there yourself and you will quickly be disabused of any notions you may have of communist ' clinics and cultural exchange efforts' It's a **it-hole any way you look at these places. Thank you again Mark, wonderful to see 2 of your books I own, are in Hollywood. I hope they are done justice, a bit skeptical about the American treatment, might prefer Netflix or an independent to do the films. Nonetheless it's a tribute to your excellent writing and research ! Best Wishes !!
@@als1023 very interesting. I assume then by your comment that the African countries which were aligned with the west, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, must be much better off...
This is so cool. A good friend of mine’s father was ex south africak koevoet. And he told us that East germany supplied SWAPO with boots and webbing. And also uniforms. It was one of south africas most successful units in the buch war
There was an FDJ adviser in the Party Youth centrale in Bamako, Mali, in 1989. He drove the only Trabant in the country. And there was a shoe shining boy with an FDJ shirt. Also once a guy everybody in that bar called "Captain" once told me a poem by Goethe - well learned in the GDR.
Absolutely vital point. These foreign scholarships in Warsaw Pact countries created enormous goodwill in Africa - and also networks of affiliation and cooperation. The West should be educating the elite / future leadership of the developing nations as deliberate policy.
Hey Mark! I love seeing you give the lesser known history of the Cold War on the African front. I would love to see more about the South African Bush War (developed and an extendsion of the Angolan Civil War). Some nice topics: •The extensive use and development of Mine resistant vehicles, of which the companies' and their technology, are still employed and contracted to this very day for the MRAP market. • The first time the West got hold of and captured the most sophisticated Russian SAM system (SA-8) by South African troops, to which was traded/sold to the USA for analysis. • The first developed and operational Helmet Mounted Displays for Pilots to shoot off-bore. (A whole 10~20 years, before the Soviet 'claimed to be first' system was unveiled) (SA shared technology program with Israeli, from which Soviet spies got hold of the technology) • The general topic of Air superiority over Angola skies. (And the tactics developed)
Love that list! Would certainly watch those. South Africa never had radar coverage over Angola. Know this because my uncle was a senior radar tech at Rundu. What we did do is to intercept chatter from MIG pilots when they took off. Usually laden with bombs which made them heavy. If I remember the MIG-21 was not designed for bombing. This allowed the Mirages to scramble and be guided into the general area of the MIG's. Usually flying at treetop level. To engage the MIG's had to jettison their bombs, usually unarmed. Lost a friend this way when an armed jettisoned bomb fell near their positions. Completely unintentional as the chatter from the pilot had indicated he had no target.
@@JulianBeams Yes! I've heard about this! It is honestly astonishing till this day for me, how they managed to perform their intercepts like that. If im not mistaken (either 1 of these 2) wasn't the 'no radar coverage', more so applicable for the late stages of the war due to range? or, was it in beginning stages of the war, where South Africa was still developing or deploying radar systems Reason i'm saying this is, because ive seen video footage of SADF radar quarters and such. Secondly, the 'Angolan' pilots (Let's be honest, most were Cuban, with Soviet Pilots being debated til this day) but, the 'Red' pilots, also had to fly low level (to avoid the SADF's radar systems). This is how and why, the Impalas were able to, and be credited with some bizarre gun kill victories. But yea regardless of which it is, the facts still stay the same regarding the radio interception and low flying. Oh waw I'm really sorry to hear that about a friend of yours 😓 I have always wondered, if there ever is any 'collateral' (Can't find the right word, my apologies) collateral damage on ground forces, when an Airplane jettisons external fuel tanks, and/or, its payload (bombs).... I guess, the worst of my fears to that question is answered there... That is really unfortunate, sorry.
@@armablign - an old school friend of mine was in the RSA army doing his national service (1985 to 1987) serving as a comms officer (non com) listening in to the Cuban pilots speaking Spanish on open mikes. The Cuban's were confident that no South African could possibly understand them. My friend is the son of Portuguese refugees from Mozambique. The Cuban airbase was under direct observation by the Recces (South African SAS equivalent) who would call in artillery strikes to catch the Migs on the runways. They were very effective.
There is this tv series called Deutschland 83 (also 86 and 89) and it tells about this topic (86 in particular). Very interesting show, one of my favourites.
"Kongo Otto" would be a nice topic for an episode. The German Democratic Rebublic was desperately looking for cheap coffee to import and oranges, bananas etc. for the east german population, that demanded it urgently, especially during christmas time.
@@filippos13 True. The issue with Cuito is, however, that both sides claimed victory. When one assesses the losses of both sides one would say that the SADF/UNITA coalition won. The MPLA/Cuban/SWAPO side claims they won, however, because the SADF was unable to take Cuito itself, even though the South African aim was to merely prevent the MPLA from reaching Jamba and thus destroying UNITA. Truth is that Cuito, like Cassinga and Smokeshell was a clusterf---
Your videos are EXCELLENT Mark, have been enjoying your content for years. Far better than what is currently found on The History Channel and elsewhere. Best wishes on your continued success.
Awesome video Mark!!! These topics are rarely covered!! I knew that East Germany had some involvement in Africa but not to such a degree! They certainly had an Afrika corps. Thank you!!!
Your research was quite profound and in-depth. Yet I must contradict that the comparison between Ministry of State Security (Stasi) and Gestapo is by far not adequate. We know what MfS did and we learned at school how cruel and feared Gestapo was.
The more i learn about history. The more i think it should be taught backwards in schools. From the present day all the way back to the stone age. Not the other way around. How are young people supposed to make sense of the world they live in if they don't know what happened 30-40 years ago.
Would be confusing as hell, half if not all the action that the various countries took that lead to WW2 was in result of WW1, you can't comprehend the motives behind WW2 without previous knowledge of WW1
30-40 years is even too recent. I listened to a history of the Anglo-Zulu war and the events (ie up to 200 years prior to that) and the perspective it showed on modern day events in South Africa was incredible. The problem is, where to stop? We can't all be historians.
Wow! Hidden history I was aware that Cuba & The Soviets were assisting colonial resistance movements in Africa but had no idea East Germany was so instrumental as well
I worked with many ex NVA officers during my service and I was really impressed by their skills. The thought of fighting against those guys was very sobering. They had a pretty low opinion of the Russian army though, looks like they were correct.
A small nitpick: Neither Ulbricht nor Honecker were ever Presidents of East Germany. Kinda like in the Soviet Union the head of government of the GDR was the General Secretary of the party. The only President of East Germany in history was Wilhelm Pieck, who held the office for 11 years before it was abolished following his death.
3:59 These helmets were a very late German WW2 design, supposedly to be used by the Waffen-SS. As for Imperial German genocides in Africa: Germany made "good" use of colonial troops. It was literally black people (under white command) killing other black people. This has been a well proven concept for all imperial powers around the globe. Black colonial soldiers saw themselves proudly as "the Kaiser's soldiers" and at one point (in the 1960s or 70s ???) the surviving veterans received a small one-time pension by the BRD. Stasi wasn't an extension of Gestapo; it was an heir. Another proven concept ...
The Herero and Nama genocide was not done by local troops. Those were losing against the rebelling Herero so Lothar von Trotha was dispatched from Germany, he and his troops did most of the killing including driving all Herero into the desert and placing machine guns at water holes.
Bravo, another real insightful history lesson by Dr. Mark Felton seldom covered elsewhere. Wow, while I knew there were East German NVA Advisors, I did not realize about the larger numbers, in the thousands of East German NVA Soldiers depolyed to the various parts of Africa. Such high numbers of NVA Soldiers probably did partake in some combat engaugments. As well as also possibly supported or corroborated with Castro's Communist Cuban forces.
My mom was born in Rhodesia and left age 18 after the war was lost. Many of her friends was killed by the guerillas ( she calls them terrorist ). Very interesting Video dr felton
Uiuiui There were some inaccuracies involved: - Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker had never been presidents of the GDR. The only president of the GDR was Wilhelm Pieck who served from 1949 to 1960. After that the function of the "head of state" became a collective one of the Staatsrat (state council). Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker were chairmen of this council. - I doubt the numbers of 2,500 to 5,000 regular NVA troups on the African continent. The GDR didn't need that. The military education happened for example in Prora/Rügen. - 5:59 These are not East German uniforms. Nobody in the Warsaw Treaty wore baseball caps and sunglasses, never ever. These are western troups. The tank rolls too fast for recognition, but I have doubts that it is a T64 or T72 of Soviet production.
it is very hard for a "westerner" with no experience of commie country to understand that the title of "president" or "minister" is much less than "general secretary of the communist party". at 6:00, those are probably executive outcomes guys
@@uncletimo6059 Titles in a dictionary system (right or left) are a chapter of its own. 😂 Yes, some are title collectors. Erich Honecker was one of them. LOL But what do you mean with "executive outcome guys"? English isn't my native language. 🤪
Thank you for making these corrections. I saw the video and i doubt the accuracy of some key points of mr. Felton too. (Unfortunatly, this is not the first time that he has done less accurate research and create some lurid stories like the "BILD"-Newspaper. I'm thinking of the case with the Tiger and the german tank museum in munster for example)
One of my former co-workers was an East German defector who had been a "volunteer" fighting in South Sudan. Another was an Ethiopian immigrant who was a "volunteer" fighting on the opposite side. They actually got along fine and would sometimes exchange war stories.
I remember one old spook telling me "If you see a basket ball pitch in satellite images of an 'advisors' camp it means Cubans, if you see a football pitch it's East Germans."
Mark Felton liked this comment how based is that 😎
Cubans don’t like basketball too much..They love volleyball.
@@zepter00 probably misspelt baseball
Cubans play baseball. I think you got that confused.
Spook is a little outdated, you should say person of color now
I spoke to several ex east German soldiers and echoed exactly what you said and considered one of the best eastern bloc armies. They all found this highly amusing and said most of their army life was drinking heavily and hiding from duties just to pass the time before demobbing.
I know also some of them. One told me, he was on the border unit and some soldiers came back from the patrol, aimed for joke weapon on him and he did push the Ak rifle in the last moment, there was bullet in the chamber. Looks not so much serious for me, because even this border troops had to be better as normal troops
It was high quality for the second world, that doesn't mean it wouldn't have been low tier for the first world.
My dad was in the “Luftsturmregiment 40”, the paratrooper special force unit of the east german army. He said they laughed abt the discipline at the regular “Mot.-Schützen”, mentioned “fun fights” with soviet soldiers shooting jam jars with their tanks. But also that it was extremely rough, the higher private ranks severely bullied the newcomers into submission to the point that my dad tried saving some before the higher ups could get into their bedrooms and night and beat them up. Otherwise he also mentioned a lot of doing bs to wait until service was over on the day. But still a highly trained force. Several estimates by military experts suggest that if war had broken out, the warsaw pact would’ve overrun west germany in large parts due to the state of the east german army.
This was not true for the whole army. Alcohol was strictly forbidden in military objects. In 1990 when the Bundeswehr took over the NVA, they were impressed with the readiness and fast response time of the troops during drills.
@@Farukino Mit ihren 300 000 Mann war die NVA eine reine Verteidigungsarmee. Es gab keine "nach vorne Verteidigung" wie bei der Bundeswehr.
I am from Berlin and personally know an former east german "Fallschirmjäger" (Airborne) who was an advisor in Angola and was involved in some heavy fighting. He still has ptsd to this day, but since east Germany never went to war officially, he never gets any help from the government.
A friend of old told me the same. He was very nervous for a very long time.
My ex father-in-law was a member of south African army for 10 years.
He always said that some of the units they were fighting were led by white guys with blacked up faces.
Since the ddr no longer exists, it's not obligated to take care of communist veterans.
Good, he should be deported to Africa.
I'm so glad the US government would never do such a thing to our veterans! Oh, wait.
I used to serve from 1987 to 90 at the officer school of the GDR air defense forces in the town of Kamenz near Dresden. I remember that there were always students from Mocambique, Angola, North Korea and other nations outside the Warsaw Pact within our compound. Contact with them was actively discouraged but occasionally happened nevertheless. I remember taking one N. Korean student out with our group for some Saturday night enjoyment. It completely unsettled the guy's world view. He was appealing to us to stop this 'capitalist decadence'. But I think he secretly enjoyed. Probably went straight into a 're-education' camp upon his return to his country...
Krasse Geschichte! Danke fürs teilen
@@magr7424 Gern. Das war Ende 89. Die Nordkoreaner haben damals ihren Lehrgang nicht beendet und wurden vorzeitig repatriiert.
My father served in the US army from 85 to about 89 and was stationed close to the east west border. He has always said if he went back to Germany he would rather see the east because he wasn't able to. I've aways been curious about east Germany, especially having grown up after the wall came down it still is weird to know there where 2 different geman nations just a hand full of years before I was born in 1997.
Also thank you for your story I definitely found it very enjoyable I'll have to tell my dad, he will get a kick out of it.
Concentration camp, say it
Fascinating stuff. Thanks for sharing!
I was in the SADF and fought in Angola in the 80's...All the equipment we captured was east German supplied. .I even have a east German helmet as a souvenir...
Were east german ak 47s better than other variants of ak??
Quite the find
Wonder what the helmet would be worth . I saw a soviet helmet the otherday in a local store for 900 zar
The communist and socialist won and are in control of the western nations today re-named woke liberalism..
Did you know breytenbach? My old swaar was in 32 buffalo.
The comments on this video are absolutely amazing and are as good or better than the video itself adding eye witness accounts and personal experience that are incredibly fascinating!
The Cold War in Africa was one big mess that most of us in the West know little about.
They still going,maybe even more than before..
I feel bad for the South Africans and Rhodesians that got fucked up by East and West collectively just because neither of them knew that there was no chance of political stability and economic prosperity under majority rule
@@Tom-uk2ow with chinese debt trap
@@pawelnowak9440 cmon,they own to west for thousand years,keep been indoctrinated....China give something,what shitty west left..Nothing
@@pawelnowak9440 as opposed to the jevvish debt trap?
Lol
I've read that during the "Prague Spring" of 1968 the Russians considered sending East German troops into Czechoslovakia to assist in crushing Alexander Dubchek's freedom movement but decided against it. They were concerned over what the Czech "Look who's back!" reaction to German troops was likely to be so forgot about that option pretty quickly.
Yes, GDR troups were there, as I was told by someone who was there. As he told me, only medical units participated.
@@holgere. Interesting! This is the first I've heard of that! Thanks!
@@aranos6269 Thanks! I didn't know that!
@@aranos6269 Yep.. especially their 1960s police force. Looks exactly like a Wehrmacht uniform
Correct. Also they were concerned about Polish sentiments as well since the DDR troops were massing on that border.
I saw a video of what turned out to be East Germany's 40th and last military parade on 7th October 1989 and noticed the number of African leaders on the reviewing stand along with the Inner circle of those who worked with the General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, SED, Eric Honecker. I did wonder why when I first saw it, this video has provided some explanation of this, thanks Dr Felton 👍
Quite a few African dictators experimented with socialism/communism. That's why they were invited.
Im the 3rd comment....YT is at their communist best again deleting free speech comments...well done You tube!
I was at that parade...active duty Army Officer in full class A uniform...videotaping it! It was incredible seeing all the scumbag Commie leaders in the stands...most/all dead now
In that video you can also clearly see Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega, who are still in power (Castro's dead but his system lives on). They are the curse of Latin America
*That video is the most watched on TH-cam. East Germany had one of the most memorable /perfectionists military parades ever (only behind North Korea).*
They also had a large presence in Zanzibar, the Stazi having trained the local secret police and the East German government having a consulate/embassy on the island. I believe some of the earlier patrol boats of the revolutionary Zanzibar government were from East Germany. Even today there are strong ties between Tanzania and Germany in regards to military training and support.
Deutsch-Ostafrika
They use to be a German colony
@@tomhenry897 Tanganyika was Zanzibar never was German.
@Peter T yes East Germany offered aid to Zanzibar from 1964 till 1971 when they were pushed out by the government of the mainland which had close ties to West Germany.
*stasi
My neighbor down the street was a Brigadier General in the Old South African Army and was part of many military operations in Angola and told me that there were many East Germans and other Eastern European soldiers who they were fighting against in Angola during the Bush War.
There was only Personal from Cuba in Afrika in Military Action, Not one easter German Unit!
@@mathiasbarkow8147 Hallo Mathias, ich habe persoenlich einen DDR gefangenen nach Pretoria begleitet. Ich wurde wohl ausgesucht, weil ich als deutsch Staemiger die Sprache beherschte. Es gab allerdings keine Unterhaltung. Es ist mir auch nicht bekannt wo und unter welchen Umstaenden er in Gefangenschaft kam. Ich bin laedglich im laetzten Moment zum Flughafen in Grootfontein im norden von Namibia gebracht worden
To: @@joanaherold6320 It is most likely that you transferred a single East-German (even a military) person. We indeed had advisors there but never whole UNITS or TROOPS. This little country of the GDR could never effort to do so, see my comments recently (March 2024) above. While the civilian support in the Southern countries of Africa was really large, the military (personnel) support was quite small - besides other factors the GDR and its NVA lacked simply the resources.
However, what happen to this person, was he returned to the GDR? Do you know?
Peace! from Dresden / Germany
Armchair Historian and Mark Felton doing Africa on back to back days. What a win for all history enthusiasts!
Would be the hat trick if you did one on them too. Love the China stuff!
I know right!!!!
He’s far from being an armchair historian.
I wonder how dr Felton went in his school cross country?
Unfortunately in America history lessons will soon be abolished, as the fascist right ends our democracy and abolishes public education leaving it up to the parents to teach their kids everything.
The US is on a one way path back to the 1800s, and these fascist Christian extremist will control the most powerful military in the world and use them to commit mass genocide in the states then other countries.
Many years ago I read something to the effect that the Russian advisors in Africa, especially when they were drunk, would cause great offense to the Africans with tactless and often blatantly racist comments. So the Eastern Bloc policy became one of sending East Germans instead who were specially trained so as not to offend African sensibilities.
They couldn't find a single polite, Russian officer? Sounds like a joke in the making.
Oh,. My,.
My God, what nonsense! You've probably watched Hollywood Rambo movies too often.
@@vladimirnikolskiy Listen up, cheeki breeki...I read this in one of England's most serious and respected newspapers 'The Daily Telegraph'. A long time ago now, but I find it entirely plausible. I also read that black African students who tried to date Russian girls were given a hard time of it by the KGB. Facts don't stop being facts just because they offend some people.'
@@atticlight9048i hope your being ironic about the torygraph
When i was in the Bundeswehr, we faced a lot of East German troops, Soviet bloc troops. The Sargent told us not to worry about thd Polish troopers, they would start shooting RUSSIANS the minute they got live ammo in their guns.. but in 1984 our life expectancy was only minutes if they DID NOT USE NUKES.. Panzergrenadier...
That’s amazing. . . I don’t doubt it one bit
Well, I heard the internal German border shootings were conducted by the soviet troops inEast German uniforms. Just heard.
Dran drauf drüber
They ( the polish) would had done it too!
I remember it was estimated that NATO troops would have lasted only 2 weeks during a conventional war with the Warsaw Pact.
There's a great book by Markus Wolf, who was the head of East German Intelligence services for 34 years, titled The Man Without a Face. Besides the spy versus spy action during the Cold War, he also writes extensively about the DDR's role in African and Middle Eastern countries. He doesn't shy away from harsh truths and provides a unique perspective on life behind the Iron Curtain.
But if you read this, you have to consider that he was a former member of the ministry of state security. And in this position, not all of them he had written/told is "true" or completely believable. Wolf wasn't a historian, that writes as objective and crtitcal as possible about this topic.
@@einbucherwurm8039 yes, only trust the official sources. Anything else has to be propaganda
Ah yes, I actually read the book!
I will order that book and read it. Thanks for the info.
Oh,. My,.
Köszönjük!
the Stasi was not an extension of the Gestapo. Many of the founders of the Stasi were veterans of the Spanish civil war who fought the nazis.
INSULTING orthodox Western BS about the DDR & the Stasi!
AT least the DDR was not like (West) GERMany today, about to be placed under martial law.
Kurt Schumacher, an early politician in west Germany said that a communist is nothing more than a Nazi painted red.
They were the East German version of the KGB. Current Russian President Vladimir Putin was a KGB Liaison Officer stationed to advise and observe with the Stasi.
The Stasi were granted independence from direct Moscow control in 1957. Very few policy changes Moscow sent out, the Stasi usually followed through with as well.
During the occupation of Berlin after the war, the KGB actively recruited former Nazi Gestapo agents to the Stasi. Most accepted, as there was very little work available to them.
They learned from Gestapo and NKVD/KGB
Well Gestapo agents were unemployed after the end of Nazi Germany. I could imagine they were possibly hired in the beginning, yet later a de-Nazification started in the NVA, removing former Wehrmacht Generals. General Paulus still taught at Dresden Military academy, but many others had to quit. It is only logical that the same process took place in the Ministry of State Security.
An acquaintance of mine was a former South African Air Force pilot who was involved in the South African covert operations in Angola and he said most of the Mig 21s were flown by Cuban "volunteers " who were utterly incompetent. However, the South Africans had to always be on guard as when flying missions deep in Angola they came up against very competent and aggressive Mig 21 pilots who if you weren't very careful would blow you out of the sky. It turned out that these Mig 21 pilots were East Germans.
One of my friends is a veteran of 32 Battalion in the SADF. He was a lieutenant back then. According to him, they did sometimes encounter East German and Soviet soldiers in ambushes they laid for the Angolans, behind enemy lines. (This unit was responsible for 50% of the casualties South Africa inflicted during the war). He now owns a restored UAZ 4x4. Says he shot up so many of them, he started wanting to get one.
Edit: Correction, he bought a GAZ 69.
@freebeerfordworkers It interests me to read another story which mentions the fact the Cuban's were in Angola before the Portuguese withdrawal.
The Cuban's, and others, have always claimed they intervened only after the South African "invasion" of 75 know as Op's Savannah. When in fact evidence has proven the new leftist Portuguese government had invited the Cuban's in to prop up the MPLA who the Portuguese wanted in power after they withdrew. Even though the MPLA was not the most popular party.
Wow! Spent three years in the Berlin Brigade in 4/502nd Infantry Regiment and never knew this about East Germans Afrikan Corps! As always very informative and well done!
Hey Brother! I was B Co 4/502d Feb 89 to Dec 90 then went back Oct 91 to Jun 94 with C Co 6/502nd, went on the Operation Able-Sentry UNPROFOR deployment.
So what was a typical day for the Berlin brigade?
@@SGobuck depended upon if you were doing ceremonies, in the field training, on the range qualifying, Spandau Prison rotation guarding Hess for a month, Clay Headquarters guard detail, Quick Reaction Platoon, there was a myrid of things on a regular timeframe of when you did all of these things.. It was an outstanding assignment.
@@adlerarmory8382 small world! I left in March of 1988, pcs'd stateside to Ft. Myer. I could have extended my tour in Berlin, and didnt then the wall came down in 1989, would have been a great time to have been in Berlin to see that happen.
@@VileFemboy you were worth it my friend!
In the 1978 war movie 'The Wild Geese', as Richard Burton's mercenaries seize the Zembala airport they encounter an East German army officer. As General Ndofa's 'Simbas' hunt them down, they are guided by East German instructors.
Cuban instructors
@@sm70911 there’s one Cuban instructor and two East German.
Awesome movie. Don't forget Roger Moore telling his guy to check the Cuban for keys.
That napalm bomb bouncing down the dry river bed was a great scene.
@@jamesfields2916 That was probably the smallest napalm bomb ever created for an airplane. Amazing how they made about 5 - 10 gallons blow up like 100 gallons.
The song "They walk in line" by the band Joy Division was inspired by a photo of a group of armed East German military advisors in Angola in the late 70s or early 80s.
I did not know that.
Where did you hear that? I can't find that anywhere
The first and only time the GDR participated in an international peace keeping mission under UN supervision was in Namibia 1989/90. A unit of 30 East German police observers was sent to support the Civil Police Component of UNTAG. West Germany also sent a contingent, and for a few months they served side-by-side with the East Germans at the police station in Ombalantu.
Did they get along?
@ Liam: brothers and cousins in arms
Interesting part of history, I herd briefly about this before.
@@liammeech3702 add good beer and that will happen everywhere
This is the subject that I have no knowledge of. I've learned something new today. Thank you Dr. Felton!!
It's always a pleasure to hear Mark Felton's voice.
My dad said that when he took the train from West Germany to East Germany, it would stop for 2 hours while they went through everyone's stuff.
Then an announcement was made, "Those who wish to move their residence from West Germany to East Germany are now asked to step off the train."
Everyone looked! :D
But nobody ever got off :
Except Angela Merkel's family, and her, aged 2, lol. They were amongst a very small minority of West Germans who defected to the East. There was a actually a centre in the GDR where they were held for a couple of months to run security checks (to ensure they were not BND agents) before they commenced their new life in the workers' paradise.
I once saw a docu about West Germans moving to East Germany. In most cases it was ideology or simply love that moved them east.
The procedure for those immigrants was that they got locked up in an estate, regular interview by detectives of the Kripo and in the end by the Stasi. They lost their possessions to the state, such as their cars.
The East Germans were very afraid that they imported problem cases, such as criminals or people in debt.
@@mardiffv.8775 Where possible the East German Foreign Intelligence services used their identity and documents for agents it sent into the West.
@@mardiffv.8775 what, including their clothes as well?
@@liammeech3702 Haha, that is good one. No. there allowed by the East German Authorities to wear their cloths, but I am talking about West Marks and cars that the East Germans took away from them.
East German Africa Korps, I am German and I was not aware of this historical detail, greetings from Berlin Germany 🇩🇪
The name was nicked from a 1980s „Der Spiegel“ cover story, although the various training missions were never formally organized into one unit like the actual Afrika Korps.
Dr. Felton, WWII history is fascinating but so is this. Videos like this one fill in a lot of gaps in my world understanding. Thank you.
The best part of waking up...
Dr. Felton in your cup.
Was part of a signals unit that was made up of German and Portuguese speakers. Our main task was radio signal interception, disinformation and jamming. We were well aware of the heavy involvement of East Germany in Angola. The majority of Angolan MIG pilots trained in East Germany and radio comms was in German. There was no flight of MIGs that took off in Angola that we did not intercept radio comms including information about intended targets. Must have been frustrating to never find the convoys they were sent to bomb.
One of our neighbours is a second generation German. He fought at Cuito in the same role - among Portuguese refugees doing national service like him, sitting in an EV Ratel with a fake turret, listening in on enemy frequencies.
@@henrykeyter53 We used state-of-the-art equipment from Siemens. I was in equipment logistics and was tasked with making sure vehicles were properly equipped. There were various projects with interesting names, the only one I can remember now is "Beargrip". We use Ratels, Samil50 box-bodies and even Toyota Landcruisers - all stuffed to the gills with radios and towing their own gennies.
@@JulianBeams Oom Jörn said that their Ratel had a fibreglass turret so they had to be careful not to get shot at. Guess they tried to hide the fact that it was an Electronic Warfare vehicle by camouflaging it as a normal Ratel 90? I wouldn't know. But apparently they intercepted and translated enemy communications, the Portuguese guys translated the Angolan and Cuban messages and he was there in case they intercepted anything in German.
@@henrykeyter53 Our vehicles had no turret so that's interesting. The Ratels made a good platform though. Good grounding for the antennae. You couldn't miss them, they had antennae sticking up all over. There was also a hydraulic antenna bolted to the side that was raised as needed and the whole covered in camo net. That's exactly how I got into the unit, 5 Signals, BTW - I could speak really bad schoolboy German. When they realised I would make a bad translator, I was sent off to the office and ended up as a logistics NCO. Many friends from my sqaudron did rotations to Cuito and back. Usually for a specific op.
@@JulianBeams Thank you for your service , from a Portuguese citizen.
Love the content. Would like to see more about East Germany. Thanks
Yes, me too
You should do more videos on the East German NVA.
In fact Mark Felton already did a couple of videos about the military legacy of Nazi Germany - the Bundeswehr and the NVA.
MORE Cold War stuff period!
As far as I know there were both russian and east german advisors with cuban combat troops in angola during the SWA /RSA bush war.
It is my understanding that the East Germans were mostly in a training capacity relating to Intelligence, Russians in a military advisory role (which resulted that some were in the vicinity where military action occurred and therefore some casualties on their side), and the Cubans were heavily participating in military action with by far the highest of number of participants from the Communist Block countries.
@@wolfgollnitz899 i recently meet a former russian sniper of the sowjet army who was working in angola when he was 19 ... they where mainly training local militia but also involved in gathering intelligence and monitoring the chokepoints of the conflict back then ... Officially they where not allowed to participate in any fighting - he told me there where several incendents involving russian troops when they whitnessed massacres on the local population in small remote villages while monitoring a area of military interest - he and his collegues killed several attackers from far away just because they couldnt hold back anymore after beeing witness to such atrocities for months without beeing allowed to do anything - obviously this resulted in severe punishment for him and his comrades including several months of military prison and dishonorable discharge.
@@wolfgollnitz899 The South africans kicked the cubans asses, in spite of cuban propaganda.
@@willemventer3935 the South Africans withdraw from Angola and gave up control of Namibia. Clearly the actions of a victorious military power 🙄
Not exactly what happened. South Africa successfully defended its borders but had a new internal threat, the commie Mandela and his terrorist friends.
Dr. Felton’s videos may not cure Alzheimer’s, but it can’t hurt. Thanks for Monday’s history lesson!
As a South African who fought the war in Angola and again on the Zimbabwe border, this video really hit home. It might be worthwhile exploring the SADF at the time, one of the best armies in the world during that specific bush War.
Yes during that time, the South African Military was considered top notch effective and capable.
Even today, the South African mobile wheeled Howitzers are considered to be amongst the most effective, best in the world.
Pretty sure South Africa lost that war against Angola.
@@dannya1854 I don't really think it's fair to say that. It was ended with negotiations. The South Africans got the Cubans to leave Angola and they let Namibia go independent. Strangely the South African negotiators were supposed to be on the Lockerbie Pan Am flight that got shot down, but they decided to take an earlier flight.
@@dannya1854 Before you say that South Africa lost the war maybe you should have a deeper look at what South Africa wanted to achieve in Angola and maybe that will change your opinion
@@dannya1854 I don't remember the Angolans MPLA walking into South Africa, or that they defeated Unita? It was a stalemate and everybody decided it was too expensive to keep fighting the battle.
Not to forget that East Germany also printed the banknotes for Angola and Mocambique.
It’s always a good day when there is a new Mark Felton video 😎😎 the work manship on these videos is incredible
In the wild Geese I was always wondering why there are random Germans running round for Roger Moore to machine gun
Nostalgia.
To call the Stasi an extension of the Gestapo is quite wrong, although it sounds sensational. The Stasi was much more an extension of the KGB.
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact part II.
they were all birds of a feather ,TYRANTS
DAIL WAIL & the Daily Express Cold War BS...
Indeed. The MfS was a TSHEKA extension. They worshipped the murderer Tshershinsky.
Little errata: Erich Honnecker was not the president of the GDR. He was (among other things) the "President of the Council of State" for over 20 years. The only one who got the title "President" was Wilhelm Pieck.
And boss of Dynamo Berlin.
@@dpt6849 that was mielke
@@dpt6849 The SV ('Sportvereinigung') Dynamo was led by Erich Mielke. He (not Honecker) was President of this umbrella sports organisation. The SV comprised several clubs, such as SC Dynamo Berlin - the biggest of them all -, SG Dynamo Dresden (football), FSC Dynamo Eilenburg (parachuting) and many more.
@@bomeesc7480 thanks
@@hanno-erdmanntietz8424 thanks
Thanks Dr. Felton!
Hey Mark!
I think that surviving officers of the Stasi would be absolutely ideologically outraged to hear their organisation described as an extension of the wartime Gestapo!
You don't have to be a veteran, or even from the GDR, to think it was ridiculous to describe the Stasi as an extension of the Gestapo.
Fair enough. One "Sicherheitsdienst" lieutenant was interrogated in Finland in 1950. Probably, nothing was found because the Allied Commission had left in 1947. Also, recidivism was unlikely, so he was released. This person is interesting because his photo cannot be found on the internet. Maybe it's in the National Archives or with relatives. Later, he became wealthy as the CEO of the Private Entrepreneurs Insurance Company.
In the early stages of forming the MfS (stasi) it was strictly out of bounds for former gestapo or personnel with an NSDAP background.
@@johnkingeef855 That doesn't surprise me. Of course, it had to be composed strictly of true believers.
@@juniatapark54 They were not really that different when you look at what they did.
Keep 'em coming Mark!
I live in Dresden Germany. Recently i was sitting at a bar, and i was spinning a Military challenge coin in my hand. The old man next to me saw it and showed me his East German/Soviet Dog Tag hanging on his neck, and he said Afrika. It confussed me, i didn't think they went anywhere. Thank You for this vid, it explanes a bit.
A funny note, i have alot of nerve damage and i shake a bit. At one point i was spinning my coin in my hand (an excercise for fine motor control) and i dropped it. Those coins certainly make a sound lol. That old soldier pointed to the STRING around his kneck holding his dog tags, and i told him (in German) "I don't need those, I know my name"...
Really nice story, its a shame we don’t hear allot about some veterans from lesser known conflicts as they unfortunately grow older. Would love to hear his story for example. Also i was in Dresden (neustadt) for a few weeks keeping company to a very sick friend. Its an incredibly nice and peaceful city. My friend called it and the german saxony the pearl of the east.
Its for your body when you cant say your name man hahaha
@@jelicadujmovic9781 It was an example of american arrogance, but what can be expected from americans?
You should watch the Deutschland 83/86/89 series. It's a TV show revolving around an east german spy in those respective years, each year representing one season of the show. Though the last season certainly suffers in quality, it is entertaining in showing different east german governmental involvement in these years, and weaves historic events into the story. in Deutschland 86, they actually depict the East German involvement in Angola, and South African Apartheid movement. That's when I first heard about their involvement.
@@abderu.6947 Probably the more interesting part of his story would be growing up gay in the DDR
First time I have been able to get one so quickly. Great day to you all and good morning to you all.
Mr Felton, lately I have been learning about the Rhodesian bush wars, finding it plentiful of interesting stories. It would be awesome to see you creating content about that conflict. thank you and keep up the great work.
I agree with this, under the proviso that it’s done correctly, accurately and sensitively as it’s still a very fresh thing to many families and the worldwide reporting on this more often incorrect than not.
I doubt you'll get any decent history from Mark, he just lumped Rhodesia in with Apartheid south Africa as being an international pariah, I thought this was a historian? that's the kind mistake people who have no interest in history mame, thinking Rhodesia was an Apartheid country.
Majorsamm has short but good videos.
@@heybabycometobutthead to be fair to Mark, outsiders have a difficult time understanding the differences between South Africa and Zimbabwe nowadays and the interest of the average person in the politics of Rhodesia and the SA back in the day is limited to whatever emotive response can be elicited at the time or from what they've been shown before. The fact is Rhodesia WAS tarred with the same brush as South Africa by the world's media and governments and so it was an international pariah, (ironically) even more so than South Africa. Then you consider the reinforcement of this with 40+ years of ZANU propaganda. You can't convince some modern day Westerner in 10 minutes that a bunch of Rhodies fresh out of a war would look at elements of South African society with a side eye, or that the RAR okes were initially suspicious of the Parabats before forming a close working relationship with them. Similarly, trying to convince a foreigner with a deep interest in the bush war that most Rhodies were solely interested in dopping, jolling and having a good time rather than being like Dennis Croukamp and the like is an effort.
@@camdavey5073 The facts need to be stated, not 'sensitively' for those easily offended, this is a military history channel!
I'm literally in former East Germany right now for two days and you upload this video. Nice.
Never change the opening tune. *btw, thanks for all you do
Another top notch video, thank you.
Man those East German Army uniforms and helmets are really cool got a couple of them in my collection.
@Alexander Capanov got the helmet for 40 bucks at my local pawnshop. The raindrop camo pattern uniform was like 20 bucks for the blouse and pants.
Many of the comments on Mark Felton's WWII videos begin with "My grandfather was there," or "My father was there." As Dr. Felton increasingly posts clips that encroach on a more contemporary timeline, many comments now begin with, "I was there."
Well done! That's the most accurate description of Africa's 'transition' in a nutshell. Naturally, East Germany was acting in close harmony of her Master, Russia. Many people confuse Africa's wars against Communism with liberation struggles. Neither is absolute. In post colonial Africa, corruption and self enrichment by political leaders (former guerillas), flourish to the detrient of the citizens.
In many many instances Africans themselves admit that infrastrucrure as well as government services, were more efficient prior to liberation. One's NOT referring to civil liberties. Anyway, thank you ,Mark, you have hit the nail on the head.
Africa was better off before the Communistic terrorists started making a mess.
The ANC was and will always be a terrorist organization set up by the Communist's to weaken South Africa and make it vulnerable to exploitation by foreign powers.
There's a very interesting TH-cam channel called "Military History Visualized." One of their videos concerns deaths in African post-colonial wars, that is Africans killing Africans. Look for it, it's shocking to say the least. I won't post a link, it'll probably be dropped.
Any travel in west Africa quickly reveals the after effects of Soviet / East German presence. We in the west politely ignore these chronically poor,, corrupt and AK infested regions .
My some spent good time working as a medic there and the stories are depressing and acutely horrific. No services, roads, sewage or garbage collection, gross incompetence and graft running the countries.
Dr Felton has gone gently on the ruzzian after effects, in his professional and learned manner, I respect that.
I don't have to.
Don't believe me, go there yourself and you will quickly be disabused of any notions you may have of communist ' clinics and cultural exchange efforts'
It's a **it-hole any way you look at these places.
Thank you again Mark, wonderful to see 2 of your books I own, are in Hollywood. I hope they are done justice, a bit skeptical about the American treatment, might prefer Netflix or an independent to do the films.
Nonetheless it's a tribute to your excellent writing and research !
Best Wishes !!
Back then it was the USSR .
@@als1023 very interesting. I assume then by your comment that the African countries which were aligned with the west, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, must be much better off...
This is so cool. A good friend of mine’s father was ex south africak koevoet. And he told us that East germany supplied SWAPO with boots and webbing. And also uniforms. It was one of south africas most successful units in the buch war
He wears green boots and he's coming to get you.
Interesting to see Raisa Gorbachev in the shot behind and to Honecker's left at 2:12.
Thanks for the video 👍👍👍
There was an FDJ adviser in the Party Youth centrale in Bamako, Mali, in 1989. He drove the only Trabant in the country. And there was a shoe shining boy with an FDJ shirt. Also once a guy everybody in that bar called "Captain" once told me a poem by Goethe - well learned in the GDR.
FDJ? we are talking NVA here dude
I didn't knew about this piece of history, very interesting. Thanks for enlightening us unknowning, Mark.
There were also African civilian students and trainees studying in the GDR. In large cities like Berlin and Dresden and even in Harz mountain towns.
Absolutely vital point. These foreign scholarships in Warsaw Pact countries created enormous goodwill in Africa - and also networks of affiliation and cooperation. The West should be educating the elite / future leadership of the developing nations as deliberate policy.
Great video Mark. On a unknown subject to me and I'm sure alot of others.
Finally someone talking about this. Literally the first video about this topic, on TH-cam. 👍
Always awesome by this world class master historian and author!!
Hey Mark!
I love seeing you give the lesser known history of the Cold War on the African front.
I would love to see more about the South African Bush War (developed and an extendsion of the Angolan Civil War).
Some nice topics:
•The extensive use and development of Mine resistant vehicles, of which the companies' and their technology, are still employed and contracted to this very day for the MRAP market.
• The first time the West got hold of and captured the most sophisticated Russian SAM system (SA-8) by South African troops, to which was traded/sold to the USA for analysis.
• The first developed and operational Helmet Mounted Displays for Pilots to shoot off-bore. (A whole 10~20 years, before the Soviet 'claimed to be first' system was unveiled) (SA shared technology program with Israeli, from which Soviet spies got hold of the technology)
• The general topic of Air superiority over Angola skies. (And the tactics developed)
Love that list! Would certainly watch those. South Africa never had radar coverage over Angola. Know this because my uncle was a senior radar tech at Rundu. What we did do is to intercept chatter from MIG pilots when they took off. Usually laden with bombs which made them heavy. If I remember the MIG-21 was not designed for bombing. This allowed the Mirages to scramble and be guided into the general area of the MIG's. Usually flying at treetop level. To engage the MIG's had to jettison their bombs, usually unarmed. Lost a friend this way when an armed jettisoned bomb fell near their positions. Completely unintentional as the chatter from the pilot had indicated he had no target.
@@JulianBeams
Yes! I've heard about this!
It is honestly astonishing till this day for me, how they managed to perform their intercepts like that.
If im not mistaken (either 1 of these 2)
wasn't the 'no radar coverage', more so applicable for the late stages of the war due to range?
or,
was it in beginning stages of the war, where South Africa was still developing or deploying radar systems
Reason i'm saying this is, because ive seen video footage of SADF radar quarters and such.
Secondly, the 'Angolan' pilots (Let's be honest, most were Cuban, with Soviet Pilots being debated til this day)
but, the 'Red' pilots, also had to fly low level (to avoid the SADF's radar systems).
This is how and why, the Impalas were able to, and be credited with some bizarre gun kill victories.
But yea regardless of which it is, the facts still stay the same regarding the radio interception and low flying.
Oh waw
I'm really sorry to hear that about a friend of yours 😓
I have always wondered, if there ever is any 'collateral' (Can't find the right word, my apologies) collateral damage on ground forces, when an Airplane jettisons external fuel tanks, and/or, its payload (bombs)....
I guess, the worst of my fears to that question is answered there...
That is really unfortunate, sorry.
@@armablign - an old school friend of mine was in the RSA army doing his national service (1985 to 1987) serving as a comms officer (non com) listening in to the Cuban pilots speaking Spanish on open mikes. The Cuban's were confident that no South African could possibly understand them. My friend is the son of Portuguese refugees from Mozambique. The Cuban airbase was under direct observation by the Recces (South African SAS equivalent) who would call in artillery strikes to catch the Migs on the runways. They were very effective.
I must say, I had forgotten a lot of the details in your account and it’s kickstarted a renewal in interest. Thank you for a very interesting video.
There is this tv series called Deutschland 83 (also 86 and 89) and it tells about this topic (86 in particular). Very interesting show, one of my favourites.
@Gefreiter Carter služili su ali su im činovi smanjeni za dva tri stupnja
It was very good
Truly unexpected and well done video, as always 👍🏻
"Kongo Otto" would be a nice topic for an episode.
The German Democratic Rebublic was desperately looking for cheap coffee to import and oranges, bananas etc. for the east german population, that demanded it urgently, especially during christmas time.
Congratulations on almost hitting 1.75 million subscribers Dr. Felton
The mausoleum of Neto in Luanda is one of the weirdest monuments I've ever seen.
You feel like you've landed on another planet.
he shared with Algeria's Bumedienne the same forgotten soviet surgical knife in the stomach.
Outstanding video!!!
You must do an episode about the Cubans and the Battle of Cuito Canavale
It's a bit controversial, don't you think?
@@henrykeyter53 Studying history means overcoming controversies
@@filippos13 True. The issue with Cuito is, however, that both sides claimed victory. When one assesses the losses of both sides one would say that the SADF/UNITA coalition won. The MPLA/Cuban/SWAPO side claims they won, however, because the SADF was unable to take Cuito itself, even though the South African aim was to merely prevent the MPLA from reaching Jamba and thus destroying UNITA. Truth is that Cuito, like Cassinga and Smokeshell was a clusterf---
@@henrykeyter53 I think we can all agree that it was a South African tactical victory but a Cuban strategic victory, albeit a short lived one
Your videos are EXCELLENT Mark, have been enjoying your content for years. Far better than what is currently found on The History Channel and elsewhere. Best wishes on your continued success.
Well done. Please cover more topics post-World War II.
Awesome video Mark!!! These topics are rarely covered!! I knew that East Germany had some involvement in Africa but not to such a degree! They certainly had an Afrika corps. Thank you!!!
Your research was quite profound and in-depth. Yet I must contradict that the comparison between Ministry of State Security (Stasi) and Gestapo is by far not adequate. We know what MfS did and we learned at school how cruel and feared Gestapo was.
The more i learn about history. The more i think it should be taught backwards in schools. From the present day all the way back to the stone age. Not the other way around. How are young people supposed to make sense of the world they live in if they don't know what happened 30-40 years ago.
Would be confusing as hell, half if not all the action that the various countries took that lead to WW2 was in result of WW1, you can't comprehend the motives behind WW2 without previous knowledge of WW1
30-40 years is even too recent. I listened to a history of the Anglo-Zulu war and the events (ie up to 200 years prior to that) and the perspective it showed on modern day events in South Africa was incredible. The problem is, where to stop? We can't all be historians.
Very interesting topic, Mark!
Wow!
Hidden history
I was aware that Cuba & The Soviets were assisting colonial resistance movements in Africa but had no idea East Germany was so instrumental as well
Fascinating, Dr Felton,. So many important histories I need to follow. On balance, the GDR goes up in my estimation.
I worked with many ex NVA officers during my service and I was really impressed by their skills. The thought of fighting against those guys was very sobering.
They had a pretty low opinion of the Russian army though, looks like they were correct.
I first thought you meant the 'North Vietnamese Army', good thing i held my tongue till I watched further on, hah
Privet hohol
@@simonriley4131 north vietnam based GI removers
@@barbarapitenthusiast7103 omegabased freedom fighters and liberators of Cambodia
Low opinion on what? Russia today or USSR? Both are not the same. Also, The comment of yours does not age well. Lol
Love your video's, keep up the great work
A small nitpick: Neither Ulbricht nor Honecker were ever Presidents of East Germany. Kinda like in the Soviet Union the head of government of the GDR was the General Secretary of the party.
The only President of East Germany in history was Wilhelm Pieck, who held the office for 11 years before it was abolished following his death.
Korrekt, Genosse Kamerad 😉✊
In the west we feel our prime Ministers and presidents are puppets too! (Or Muppets in satire!)
lets goo! I HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THIS THE WHOLE TIME! I KNEW IT!
I never heard about this , thanks for the knowledge Mr. Felton 🙏
This and coffee makes a good morning
3:59 These helmets were a very late German WW2 design, supposedly to be used by the Waffen-SS.
As for Imperial German genocides in Africa: Germany made "good" use of colonial troops. It was literally black people (under white command) killing other black people. This has been a well proven concept for all imperial powers around the globe. Black colonial soldiers saw themselves proudly as "the Kaiser's soldiers" and at one point (in the 1960s or 70s ???) the surviving veterans received a small one-time pension by the BRD.
Stasi wasn't an extension of Gestapo; it was an heir. Another proven concept ...
Germany got all the blame for imperialism and colonialism. Nobody cares that the british exploited 2/3 of the world.
The Herero and Nama genocide was not done by local troops. Those were losing against the rebelling Herero so Lothar von Trotha was dispatched from Germany, he and his troops did most of the killing including driving all Herero into the desert and placing machine guns at water holes.
When touring Mozambique, we found quite a few Mozambicans who had been educated in East Germany and could chat to our friends in German.
Bravo, another real insightful history lesson by Dr. Mark Felton seldom covered elsewhere.
Wow, while I knew there were East German NVA Advisors, I did not realize about the larger numbers, in the thousands of East German NVA Soldiers depolyed to the various parts of Africa.
Such high numbers of NVA Soldiers probably did partake in some combat engaugments.
As well as also possibly supported or corroborated with Castro's Communist Cuban forces.
yet another incredible video
My mom was born in Rhodesia and left age 18 after the war was lost. Many of her friends was killed by the guerillas ( she calls them terrorist ). Very interesting Video dr felton
The Rhodesians called them terrs. My neighbour in Ireland is Rhodesian and I love listening to his stories over a beer.
They were terrorists. They fought a war of terror.
They were terrorists and shot down civilian airliners shooting the survivors.
They were terrorists. Long live Rhodesia.
That's because they were terrorists.
After watching your videos about historical moments of the German army, it's incredible how german and prussian Chilean army looks like.
As always Mark, you produce highly educational videos!
👍🏿👌Thanks for sharing
Uiuiui There were some inaccuracies involved:
- Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker had never been presidents of the GDR. The only president of the GDR was Wilhelm Pieck who served from 1949 to 1960. After that the function of the "head of state" became a collective one of the Staatsrat (state council). Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker were chairmen of this council.
- I doubt the numbers of 2,500 to 5,000 regular NVA troups on the African continent. The GDR didn't need that. The military education happened for example in Prora/Rügen.
- 5:59 These are not East German uniforms. Nobody in the Warsaw Treaty wore baseball caps and sunglasses, never ever. These are western troups. The tank rolls too fast for recognition, but I have doubts that it is a T64 or T72 of Soviet production.
it is very hard for a "westerner" with no experience of commie country to understand that the title of "president" or "minister" is much less than "general secretary of the communist party".
at 6:00, those are probably executive outcomes guys
@@uncletimo6059 Titles in a dictionary system (right or left) are a chapter of its own. 😂 Yes, some are title collectors. Erich Honecker was one of them. LOL
But what do you mean with "executive outcome guys"? English isn't my native language. 🤪
@@u.e.u.e. executive outcomes was a south african private military company i.e. mercenaries. very famous.
@@uncletimo6059 That's rather possible than NVA troups. 😉
Thank you for making these corrections. I saw the video and i doubt the accuracy of some key points of mr. Felton too. (Unfortunatly, this is not the first time that he has done less accurate research and create some lurid stories like the "BILD"-Newspaper. I'm thinking of the case with the Tiger and the german tank museum in munster for example)
Always interesting, thank you.
Die Deutschen waren schon immer sehr intelligente, fortschrittliche und disziplinierte Menschen. Ich bewundere dich sehr, Respekt aus Kanada.
Wow! Intriguing insight Mark. All news to me.
Love the lesser known history mixed with the more known topics, great job Mark!
Mark. Thanks for providing my Monday night entertainment!
Yeah..we definitely want to see more about the East Germans. Great video too
One of my former co-workers was an East German defector who had been a "volunteer" fighting in South Sudan. Another was an Ethiopian immigrant who was a "volunteer" fighting on the opposite side. They actually got along fine and would sometimes exchange war stories.