Mark December 7th in your calendars, for that day we have five hours of material- ten half-hour episodes- coming out to tell you the story of Pearl Harbor minute by minute in real time, starting 0610 local Hawaiian time. And in addition to specials like that and our regular week by week coverage here on TH-cam, we also cover the war day by day on Instagram, filling in things we don't have time to cover here. It's a perfect complement to this. Check it out at: instagram.com/world_war_two_realtime/ ...and please read our rules of conduct before you comment, it saves everyone a hassle: community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518
It actually was one of the coldest winters in European Russia in decades. Temperatures of -40 are no joke. The Germans had had glorious weather for their Polish campaign, but their weather luck is about to run out.
LOL,yeah, everytime an army invade Russia,those apologist would always say that the army are being defeated by tHe cOldEst wInTer oF tHe cEntUry,trying to undermining the Russian own war effort
They had specific target and objectives locations, but the main objective was to lure the Germans out from behind their defensive lines into open combat.
@@watcherzero5256 that's the thing, they depend on something that really hard to predict. If Rommel does what they fear, what British does will be similar with combing the desert or roam aimlessly.
@@watcherzero5256 Well they did comb out for a reason as they where under the ill advised notion that a grand armor vs armor battle was the way to go! But no that is terrible idea! mind it was early days & so you can excuse them for fighting fire with fire! as the saying go's Alan learn't quick that this was a bad idea but Norrie & most other tank command in that British theater beside Oliver did not learn that lesson easily The British will learn their strength later to take out tanks. well positioned artillery & anti tank gun dug in with armor as bait! The German where weird using 88mm AA as a anti tank weapon to be re positioned regularly to where needed in an aggressive role. Repositioning is hard enough in a defensive role but with such a big gun that required calibration on set up! kind of insane but worked?
By November 9 Count Ciano , Italian Foreign Minister and Mussolini's son in law was writing sadly in his diary: "Since September 19 we had given up trying to get convoys through to Libya; every attempt had been paid for at a high price… Tonight we tried it again. A convoy of seven ships left, accompanied by two ten-thousand-ton cruisers and ten destroyers… All-I mean all -our ships were sunk… The British returned to their ports [at Malta] after having slaughtered us." Ciano Diaries
Before hearing about all these disasters I had no idea how low Italian morale had fallen in the course of war. During the darkest days of the Yugoslav resistance the highest pressure was placed on engaging the Italian-held positions, and now it makes much more sense as I suppose that Tito was very well informed of all the Italian disasters ever since 1940.
Is this your first visit? If so welcome and sit back with a bag of popcorn and enjoy the show. Just remember to check out the 4 years worth of WW1 they have already done.
@@WorldWarTwo And thanks for not playing music in the background. My 50 year old ears ain't what they used to be, and the competing sounds get jumbled sometimes.
You're going to wear a waistcoat like that and expect me to talk about your tie?? Well you're damn right. There appears to be some nice subtle patterning going on, but it's completely lost in the splendour of that coat. 3/5 tie, and 5/5 waistcoat. This is "Indonesian War of Independence" levels of excellent
The German spies should have released millions of rabbits via U-Boat onto the British Isles. They'd breed like crazy, eat all the English carrots, viola - victory in the Mediterranean! And don't act like that's any crazier than some of the plans they tried in real life.....
@@Raskolnikov70 with the food rationing going on at the time; the Brits and Scotts would have been eating the rabbits as fast as they were being released and breeding. During the Great Depression, the white tail deer in the USA were almost killed to extinction.
@@stevekaczynski3793 I don’t know if chocolate helps one’s vision but the calories would be wanted when flying at 30K feet, even with the electrically heated flight suits!!! Chocolate bars and candies were and still are an important ration in every war.
Timestamps: 0:50 Action at Sea This Week 2:28 Operation Typhoon - German AG Center Actions Against Tula 3:13 Germans Change Attack Plans, Soviets Make Defense Plans 6:08 Soviets Plan Attack in the South 6:43 German Actions in the North This Week 7:07 Phone Call Reference - The Double Cross 7:31 North Africa - Battle Plans for Operation Crusader 12:21 Summary of the Week 12:31 Halder's Thoughts on the Upcoming Offensive
I like how the germans were like: "you don't need winter clothes we'll be done before winter" and at the same time:"oh we'll have to wait till rasputitsa is over and the ground is frozen to regain our mobility"
4:59 The 16th Army is currently led by Konstantin Rokkossovski, and despite the term "Army" it has the size of an Army Corps: two (decimated) cavalry divisions that managed to fly from the encirclement a few weeks ago, one infantry division that came as reinforcement from Kazakhstan and some minor units. Nonetheless, they will fight really harshly the incoming German offensive.
These videos take up an hour of my day. Ten minutes to watch the video, fifty to scavenge for bonus information in the comments section. Thanks for the extra context!
I think that this is the case for most of the russian armies at the moment, on paper they have more than twice than the germans, but in terms of men, they are still under numerical inferiority.
Good Allied luck? The British were not so well informed about Rommel's travel arrangements, despite cracking Enigma. SPOILER A British Commando attempt to assassinate Rommel will fail - it will attack a building that he not only was not using at the time, but may never have used.
The amount of high quality videos being turned out by this team is insane. I was blown away with the effort and quality when they were just doing The Great War series. The dedication is inspiring. I think it's time I open my wallet and help out in what little way I can. Is Patreon the best way to do that?
Thank you for these incredibly kind words. Patreon is by far the easiest way, but directly on timeghost.tv is good too - for us the fees we pay the platforms are roughly the same.
@@neilbuckley1613 No, he is referring to the First Battle of Savo Island. Very costly for the USN and RAN (Royal Australian Navy) as the IJN were much better trained in Night Gunnery.
It's more the fact you can find and aim at all than with range; as testing in 1944 with the Iowas showed, at around 30,000 yards or more even radar wasn't enough for capital ships to hit enemy capital ships reliably (which could have been a problem as the Iowas were intended to engage targets BEYOND that distance, except that since the entire battleship concept was outdated this was irrelevant and the real issue was with them existing; and even at closer ranges the 16"/50 was still very powerful, though it could have been better)
I have heard that one half of everything sent to Rommel got sunk. The Brits would fly a plane over a convoy to make them think that's how it got spotted. When in truth because of Enigma, the Brits knew exactly where and when convoys would be. Thus they could send that plane to "spot" that convoy. Cracking the Italian's codes was a big help too.
Rommel caused his logistical problems in first place actually by extending his rear supply lines with constantly advancing attacking maneuvering in action...his mission was to protect Italian assets in Libya and his logistics and forces arranged accordingly but he always over extended and overtaxed his forces demanding more logistical supplies..a requirement even if Italians or Germans had enough merchant ships in Mediterranean (they did not) could not fullfill due to extension of supply route from Tripoli to Tobruk to Egypt , and limited unload capacity of Tripoli and Benghazi harbours (not to metion RAF air raids on them and coastal road via Balbia)
Rommel: hey, where's all the stuff I told you to send me last week instead of sending it to Russia for obliteration?!?! Italian Navy: um, uh, we'd rather not say, if you don't mind... Rommel: *eyes roll*
The Japanese Navy did pretty well in night-fights using Fujinon 150mm giant binoculars, which are still being made and I have used and are AWESOME, like twin six-inch telescopes. For astronomy they give an unbelievably bright view and were used to discover the Great Comet Hyukutake in the '90s. Not cheap, however.
Military intelligence certainly helps but if you don't have tanks and soldiers or you can't get them to where they are needed you certainly won't win the battle.
A bit of a modification of the Battle of the Duisburg Convoy, the Italian heavy cruisers Trieste and Trento with their escorts were a few hours away. Despite knowing of the danger when a strange signal is intercepted by Trieste, it is too late, and no signal could be sent to warn the convoy as the British had jammed the air-waves. Also destroyer Fulmine gave a valiant last stand in defense of the convoy, although it was in vain Edit: Thx Strategos for catching that mistake
They jammed the air*waves* i.e. the radio bands/ radio frequencies. Air *ways* are either your trachea and lungs (and their parts) or flight paths for airplanes.
@@sse_weston4138 It's a matter of spelling not grammar ;) At least in this case there are no horses being crucified, as above... Seriously though, these are totally different things and I just see them mistaken so very often. No offense meant, just wanted to clarify for other viewers. Thank you for correcting it
@@zolafuckass8606 fair. Everyone remembers the Canadians and the Australians, but rarely anyone else. (I don't believe the South Africans preformed well)
War has been about logistics for as long as its been around as a concept. It just far easily to see how ships sinking here on the map effect the soldiers over here on the map.
It's fascinating to learn more about where my grandfather served. He was an officer in the Royal Corp of Signals and one of the few non-humorous stories he was willing to talk about was having to leave a motorbike messenger in Tobruk just before it was besieged.
@@stevekaczynski3793 My grandfather got commissioned before the war (he had a Edward VIII sword). He even wrote a book of his time during the war, but it was only the light-hearted stories he had. I almost never heard him talk about anything negative and there were huge gaps in his storytelling so he must have left an awful lot out. For anyone interested: to my grandfather's (happy) surprise the messenger survived the seige. He'd had to leave him there, well, to be available to send a message but that plan obviously got scuppered.
Hi Indy and The Team, I want to share a family story for your “Across The Airwaves” section. As my father and grandfather have told me throughout the years, my great grandfather happened to work on The Manhattan Project. First, some background that I’ve picked up. Firstly, my last name is a common German last name, so we have some German heritage. My great grandfather in 1936-ish was studying at the University of Berlin. I don’t know exactly for what, but it was probably engineering. When the situation started to get bad, my guess is the Anschluß Österreichsin 1938, he came back to America. Somehow, he was recruited for The Manhattan Project to make the fuse for the bomb, which detected the altitude of the bomb and then detonated it. I don’t know for which bomb it was for, but it was one of them dropped on Japan. He was subscribed to a children’s science magazine to turn off his brain and give it to one of his sons. When reading it, he came across an equation nearly similar to his work. He called the FBI field office and every single copy of the magazine was confiscated from every subscriber. They eventually went to the editor of the article and questioned him. In the end, it turned out to be a conscience, but it is nearly similar to the Daily Telegram Crossword Incident in 1944. That is the only story I know about my great grand father involving ww2 and I thought it would be interesting to share. Good luck with the rest of the project.
Cavalry... most mispronounced word in military terminology. Only this time Indie pronounces it correctly but the person doing the graphics overlay misspelled it! LOL! For the person who misspelled it... CALVARY is actually the hill in Jerusalem where Christ was crucified aka Golgotha.
I love hearing about the preparations for plans in North Africa, while remembering last week how the British armor doctrine is focused on massed tanks while the German doctrine is very flexible with lots of supporting units. Boy will this be an exciting engagement to see unfold...
11:04 3.5L per person per day, while in battle. it might be easier to just find where ze germans and the italians are getting their water from and shoot that
Fighting tended to grind to a halt at the height of the North African summer, although this was not invariably the case - heat exhaustion, sunstroke and the inability to function without troops drinking a lot of water were big inhibitions. Even in winter troops needed to drink a lot of water.
There was a degree of civility between the Axis & Allies in the desert. Post combat actions they would both search for wounded from both sides to reduce the risk of them dying to the desert conditions. Fact, or myth, who knows, but it has been often written in various books on the North Africa campaign.
@@OneLeatherBoot There was a tendency in North Africa not to fire on enemy tank crew when they were exiting a damaged or burning vehicle. But this sort of inhibition was not present on the Eastern Front, or in the west after D-Day.
Both sides were reluctant to shoot up water supplies. It's value in the Desert is manifold. Germans marked Wehmachtkannisters with water with a big White Cross. Brits, likewise used a White X on their jerry cans for water.
Your English isn't bad, I'd suggest 'could' instead of 'can', 'your' instead of 'you' and a capital E for English. What you wrote was perfectly understandable though :-)
I find it interesting that it is only now, after 5 months, that it seems to be finally dawning on Halder and some of the Front and Divisional commanders that this isn't going to be a cake walk. You would think with the unit attrition and supply issues they might have figured it out a bit sooner.
On November 10, 1941, some warships under the command of Admiral Chūichi Nagumo begin leaving the Kure Naval Base in Japan. At this time the destination of these warships are unknown, but it seems that the American base at Pearl Harbor is rumored to be one of these destinations. Only time will tell in the coming weeks...
The Japanese would never strike Pearl Harbor. It has the US fleet there with 8 Battleships and 2 Aircraft Carriers, and everybody knows that Battleships are the kings of the waves
Yeah, that 1941 winter was really something - as if some mystical power helped us (for comparison - it`s +4 right now in Moscow, and temperatures below -15 are quite rare here even in January). On the other hand, russian troops don`t have that fabled extra frost resistance, we freeze just like everyone else, so it must`ve been hell to dig the trenches and defend them for months all while suffering terrible casualties and shortages of supplies.
@@mayaburak93 A German visitor to Moscow in the 17th century wrote memoirs, among other things noting that it was not unusual for locals to get drunk outdoors in the winter, collapse or fall asleep and freeze to death.
Having experience with the cold helps though. Took me a couple of winters to really get used to it when I moved to Minnesota, after living in the south for most of my life previously. Of course it still sucks and it's dangerous as hell if you don't know how to dress and keep warm, but at least those Russian troops weren't learning how to do it on the fly.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Sounds like my town every winter. At least one or two drunk college students die or lose all their digits because they underestimated it.
Yes-no. They had far better adjusted clothing - their shoes and caps were better isolation than even German winter clothing and steel helmets which actually acted as heat radiators.
Operation crusader. I do hope you remember all the funny incidents. There was so much confusion its hilarious. German and british convoys merging due to confusion. Armour asking enemy infantry for directions until they realize their mistakes.. etc.
"Mutt" and "Jeff." ---> A joke on: "Mutton Jeff." ---> Which is slang for: "Deaf." For any non-British wanting to know the meaning of those nicknames. We really do have a silly sense of humor.
Rommel and one of his staff officers wearing overcoats at 11:54. In the African winter Rommel often wore a leather overcoat. He also wore captured British "gas goggles" on his cap, to protect his eyes in sandstorms. He stuck fairly close to uniform regulations, as did Wavell. A lot of commanders in North Africa wore pretty much whatever was comfortable, and this habit was even more common among their troops. Montgomery for example favoured a khaki pullover in cold weather.
Small nitpickery piece of advice: "Erwin" is pronounced as "air-win". Love this series, by the way. One of the best things I've discovered on TH-cam in years!
I am afraid you confused Desert Air Force commander RAF Vice Air Marshal Arhur "Conningham" with 8th Army commander General Alan "Cunningham" (who is also brother of Royal Navy Mediterrnean Fleet commander Admiral Andrew Cunningham , it confusing I know ) whose picture you put instead in 11:34 - 11:48
Ahhhhh! Douglas Jardine! Interestingly, he was on the BEF staff at Dunkirk as a captain. He was evacuated from Dunkirk, aboard HMS Verity! Cricket fans will, of course, understand the connection. Non cricketers will be perplexed.
1:01 Ouhh that naval ship paint job is always cool. I knew that in modern naval warfare those paintjob doesn't bring any advantage, but it will be cool for alot of modern ship with that camo
"The seven merchant ships Duisberg Convoy are protected by two Italian heavy cruisers, and ten destroyers" - or rather they aren't! Clearly the British had been eating their carrots. And Mutt and Jeff is rhyming slang.
From those of us who know a fair bit about Crusader.... Oh boy, things are going to get rather sticky.* *Translation from classic-British-understatement: all hell is about to break loose in the craziest way imaginable.
If your wondering why they thought the attacks where from air it was probably influenced by the Swordfishes at Malta who are sinking an average of 50,000 tons of axis shipping per month
While winter is so feared on the Russian front, it is much welcomed on the Cyrenaïc front: no crushing heat during the day but nights can be a little cold, mild temperature for tough guys...
Indy, I love you dearly, but Tim Gunn and I talked it over and we agreed that vest is a no-go. It looks like there was an air raid on Jackson Pollack's house.
It's a gift to know where the offensive terminal point is. It's kind of easy to tell afterwards, like in Russia. Of course, it's another thing to have the political permission to act on it, and the courage to do so. Admiral Spruance comes to mind. Unfortunately, admitting this is the offensive terminal point is pretty scary, because it's like admitting there's a war of attrition coming, which Germany doesn't have the geopolitical position to win. And their two enemies have attrition as their middle name.
Going from the Russian or Chinese theatres of war back to North Africa is so strange. It's such a wholly different type of war, feeling more like two gangs duking it out.
Great job guys! May I suggest you to check Stalin's speech on the "permanently operating factors" of the war, and the literature that has been written about it. Perhaps it can help you to analyze the coming months of the war on the Eastern Front. Cheers from Argentina!
I have been working outside at -40 in my youth. If you haven't experienced how cold that is, it is almost impossible to understand. -40 is dangerous all in itself. Move to fast, and you will get frost bite. Move to little, and you get frost bite. And that is humans. Machinery is even worse: at -40 steel is brittle like glass. Engines freezes. Engine oil don't flow untill its warmed up, wish wreck the engines if you do not heat the oil before startup. -40 is very, very difficult - almost impossible - if you haven't planned and set up your troops in advance.
Mark December 7th in your calendars, for that day we have five hours of material- ten half-hour episodes- coming out to tell you the story of Pearl Harbor minute by minute in real time, starting 0610 local Hawaiian time.
And in addition to specials like that and our regular week by week coverage here on TH-cam, we also cover the war day by day on Instagram, filling in things we don't have time to cover here. It's a perfect complement to this. Check it out at: instagram.com/world_war_two_realtime/
...and please read our rules of conduct before you comment, it saves everyone a hassle: community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518
Jesus Christ the Eastern Front is huge!
"attack heinz guderian's advancing panzer SHPEARHEADS" 2:37
Either we have a traitor in our midst
OR an expert troll!
7:14 does agent OK stand for ... OLSSON'S KNOWLEDGE?
Cant wait for the special on pearl harbour
Operation Crusader doesn't get enough attention so I look forward to it, it is kind of hilarious at times.
"This winter is another one of those coldest winters of the century that you hear about in every single winter battle ever fought" - exactly :)
"the height of the cold war" - everything between Japan's surrender in ww2 and the fall of the berlin wall in 1989
@@pnutz_2 Probably because it was consistantly insane.
It actually was one of the coldest winters in European Russia in decades. Temperatures of -40 are no joke.
The Germans had had glorious weather for their Polish campaign, but their weather luck is about to run out.
LOL,yeah, everytime an army invade Russia,those apologist would always say that the army are being defeated by tHe cOldEst wInTer oF tHe cEntUry,trying to undermining the Russian own war effort
@@MarshallEubanks Polish roads were not great, often unmetalled, but the weather was good in September 1939 and this favoured the Germans.
Cunningham: "Let's roam aimlessly around the desert and see what Rommel does."
''comb the desert''!
trooper: ''We ain't fond sh*t''!
merchandising!
They had specific target and objectives locations, but the main objective was to lure the Germans out from behind their defensive lines into open combat.
@@watcherzero5256 that's the thing, they depend on something that really hard to predict. If Rommel does what they fear, what British does will be similar with combing the desert or roam aimlessly.
@@watcherzero5256 Well they did comb out for a reason as they where under the ill advised notion that a grand armor vs armor battle was the way to go!
But no that is terrible idea! mind it was early days & so you can excuse them for fighting fire with fire! as the saying go's Alan learn't quick that this was a bad idea but Norrie & most other tank command in that British theater beside Oliver did not learn that lesson easily
The British will learn their strength later to take out tanks. well positioned artillery & anti tank gun dug in with armor as bait!
The German where weird using 88mm AA as a anti tank weapon to be re positioned regularly to where needed in an aggressive role.
Repositioning is hard enough in a defensive role but with such a big gun that required calibration on set up! kind of insane but worked?
What? The comment says. 2 days Ago But The Video was relased 1 hour ago?!!?
Can we all take a moment to acknowledge Indy's vest today
is it considered Paisley?
it's beautiful but anachronistic; no way they could make those patterns or that material back then.
Claude Monet's sock drawer.
Annacotta could model that with style
Looks more like a lining for his waistcoat
By November 9 Count Ciano , Italian Foreign Minister and Mussolini's son in law was writing sadly in his diary:
"Since September 19 we had given up trying to get convoys through to Libya; every attempt had been paid for at a high price… Tonight we tried it again. A convoy of seven ships left, accompanied by two ten-thousand-ton cruisers and ten destroyers… All-I mean all -our ships were sunk… The British returned to their ports [at Malta] after having slaughtered us."
Ciano Diaries
I doubt whether the Italian press or radio were reporting this kind of thing. Presumably Ciano had a clearer picture from confidential briefings.
So sad 1 like = 1 convoy ship successfully reaching Libya
His diaries are a very good read the book is available still
@Berto The Brits would send planes over a convoy, making the ships think that is how they got spotted. RE my comment above. ^
Before hearing about all these disasters I had no idea how low Italian morale had fallen in the course of war. During the darkest days of the Yugoslav resistance the highest pressure was placed on engaging the Italian-held positions, and now it makes much more sense as I suppose that Tito was very well informed of all the Italian disasters ever since 1940.
The content of these guys is just incredible never seen anything like it
Thanks!
Is this your first visit? If so welcome and sit back with a bag of popcorn and enjoy the show. Just remember to check out the 4 years worth of WW1 they have already done.
Check out The Great War channel
@@WorldWarTwo
And thanks for not playing music in the background.
My 50 year old ears ain't what they used to be, and the competing sounds get jumbled sometimes.
You're going to wear a waistcoat like that and expect me to talk about your tie??
Well you're damn right. There appears to be some nice subtle patterning going on, but it's completely lost in the splendour of that coat. 3/5 tie, and 5/5 waistcoat. This is "Indonesian War of Independence" levels of excellent
omg! GENERAL Von Scheuerdenn is going for Indiana's soft underbelly!
That's what all the soldiers who were freezing and dying in the foxholes talked about: freakin fashion tips.
@@yourstruly4817 does this bedsheet i am using for winter camouflage make my ass look big?
@@QuizmasterLaw "Ohhh noooooo, your winter jacket doesn't fit with your uniform! How undelightful!"
@@yourstruly4817 sorry can't hear you too busy stripping boots off of nazi and wrapping my feet in rags krasnaya armiya vsekh silney.
We do eat a lot of carrots on our humble island.
And blueberries for your aircrews!!
The German spies should have released millions of rabbits via U-Boat onto the British Isles. They'd breed like crazy, eat all the English carrots, viola - victory in the Mediterranean! And don't act like that's any crazier than some of the plans they tried in real life.....
@@edieboswiney6901 Fry's chocolate bars were often part of the flight ration - whether it helped eyesight is not recorded.
@@Raskolnikov70 with the food rationing going on at the time; the Brits and Scotts would have been eating the rabbits as fast as they were being released and breeding.
During the Great Depression, the white tail deer in the USA were almost killed to extinction.
@@stevekaczynski3793 I don’t know if chocolate helps one’s vision but the calories would be wanted when flying at 30K feet, even with the electrically heated flight suits!!!
Chocolate bars and candies were and still are an important ration in every war.
Churchill is jamming out to the sound of radar
Lo-fi beats to sink Axis convoys to ft. Winston Churchill
Churchill is jamming? Where can I get tickets?
@@nicholasconder4703I heard he was playing at Bletchley Park.
@@comradethalia5491 😂
Timestamps:
0:50 Action at Sea This Week
2:28 Operation Typhoon - German AG Center Actions Against Tula
3:13 Germans Change Attack Plans, Soviets Make Defense Plans
6:08 Soviets Plan Attack in the South
6:43 German Actions in the North This Week
7:07 Phone Call Reference - The Double Cross
7:31 North Africa - Battle Plans for Operation Crusader
12:21 Summary of the Week
12:31 Halder's Thoughts on the Upcoming Offensive
👍
Thanks!
Thank you
@Spicyleaves Patrons and TimeGhost Army members get early access.
@@howardbrandon11 I just thought that Indy's phone allowed him to time travel.
I like how the germans were like: "you don't need winter clothes we'll be done before winter" and at the same time:"oh we'll have to wait till rasputitsa is over and the ground is frozen to regain our mobility"
11:42 Indy said "Arthur coningham" as commander of British air forces in Africa, but a picture of Alan Cunningham was shown
Thanks for the feedback, we'll try to fix that
The closed captions read "Coningham" as well... Is Indy channeling his inner Ron Burgundy and just reading whatever pops up on the teleprompter?
History nerds at work lmao
@@devinlastnamenotneeded8521 You say that like it's a bad thing :p
Luckily, Indy didn't need to mention Andrew Cunningham this week, otherwise there would be more confusion.
4:59 The 16th Army is currently led by Konstantin Rokkossovski, and despite the term "Army" it has the size of an Army Corps: two (decimated) cavalry divisions that managed to fly from the encirclement a few weeks ago, one infantry division that came as reinforcement from Kazakhstan and some minor units. Nonetheless, they will fight really harshly the incoming German offensive.
These videos take up an hour of my day. Ten minutes to watch the video, fifty to scavenge for bonus information in the comments section.
Thanks for the extra context!
@@TotallyNotRedneckYall Thank you for reading.
Wait Konstantin wasn't still arrested?
@@felps1917 He was released in 1940...
I think that this is the case for most of the russian armies at the moment, on paper they have more than twice than the germans, but in terms of men, they are still under numerical inferiority.
Why every time there is a allies offence Rommel is on leave ????🤔🤔🤔🤔
Hmmmm
He’s refusing to concede and going for a round of golf.
Dang it Rommel, hope he doesn't keep that behaviour in the future.
as if by MAGIC!
Good Allied luck? The British were not so well informed about Rommel's travel arrangements, despite cracking Enigma.
SPOILER
A British Commando attempt to assassinate Rommel will fail - it will attack a building that he not only was not using at the time, but may never have used.
The amount of high quality videos being turned out by this team is insane. I was blown away with the effort and quality when they were just doing The Great War series. The dedication is inspiring. I think it's time I open my wallet and help out in what little way I can. Is Patreon the best way to do that?
Thank you for these incredibly kind words. Patreon is by far the easiest way, but directly on timeghost.tv is good too - for us the fees we pay the platforms are roughly the same.
radar-based gunnery to outrange your opponent at night seems like it could be of more use in the future
It certainly did at Cape Matapan earlier in March.
@@mattep74 and your name is not Willis Lee.
@@mattep74Not American but I thought the US won the sea battle of Guadalcanal and sank two Japanese Battlecruisers?
@@neilbuckley1613 No, he is referring to the First Battle of Savo Island. Very costly for the USN and RAN (Royal Australian Navy) as the IJN were much better trained in Night Gunnery.
It's more the fact you can find and aim at all than with range; as testing in 1944 with the Iowas showed, at around 30,000 yards or more even radar wasn't enough for capital ships to hit enemy capital ships reliably (which could have been a problem as the Iowas were intended to engage targets BEYOND that distance, except that since the entire battleship concept was outdated this was irrelevant and the real issue was with them existing; and even at closer ranges the 16"/50 was still very powerful, though it could have been better)
When you mentioned the 2 pounder anti-tank gun, you showed a 5.5 inch gun, a very different and powerful beast!
I also thought that thing looks too long to be useless against mere panzers II-IV
This guy gets more compelling each week
Abd this for years.. Where could he go on from here
I am thinking about Christopher Lee, riding with the LRDG behind enemy lines in North Africa.
There needs to be an episode covering the LRDG
I have heard that one half of everything sent to Rommel got sunk. The Brits would fly a plane over a convoy to make them think that's how it got spotted. When in truth because of Enigma, the Brits knew exactly where and when convoys would be. Thus they could send that plane to "spot" that convoy. Cracking the Italian's codes was a big help too.
Life must be hard for Rommel
Rommel caused his logistical problems in first place actually by extending his rear supply lines with constantly advancing attacking maneuvering in action...his mission was to protect Italian assets in Libya and his logistics and forces arranged accordingly but he always over extended and overtaxed his forces demanding more logistical supplies..a requirement even if Italians or Germans had enough merchant ships in Mediterranean (they did not) could not fullfill due to extension of supply route from Tripoli to Tobruk to Egypt , and limited unload capacity of Tripoli and Benghazi harbours (not to metion RAF air raids on them and coastal road via Balbia)
Rommel: hey, where's all the stuff I told you to send me last week instead of sending it to Russia for obliteration?!?!
Italian Navy: um, uh, we'd rather not say, if you don't mind...
Rommel: *eyes roll*
"Happy to show you. By the way, how long can your divers hold their breath?"
@@Raskolnikov70 Rommel: maybe just a little longer than you can hold your own.
Royal Navy: "Sorry, Not Sorry."
@@speedydb55 Rommel: it's not your fault, my friends. *Salutes then turns away and rolls eyes*
@magicblanket Hitler: that plan does not happen to please me at this very moment. Tell me again tomorrow.
Mutt and Geoff were fantastic source of information. They really had their ears open
We see what you did there... 🥁
@12:55 Look at Napoleon being all smug about Halders predicament
Well he at least got into Moscow!
The Japanese Navy did pretty well in night-fights using Fujinon 150mm giant binoculars, which are still being made and I have used and are AWESOME, like twin six-inch telescopes. For astronomy they give an unbelievably bright view and were used to discover the Great Comet Hyukutake in the '90s. Not cheap, however.
It's proven time and time again that having the best tanks and troops does not guarantee victory, but military intelligence and espionage does!
Logistics, my friend, logistics... :)
@@gardreropa Also not going into a panic mode just because the other guy did a mad dash helps too.
@@gardreropa True, logistic is always main problem for good generals in this war.
Or in some cases, just having enough water to drink.
Military intelligence certainly helps but if you don't have tanks and soldiers or you can't get them to where they are needed you certainly won't win the battle.
World War 2: One Big Logistical Nightmare
The origin of operational research study.
Amateurs discuss tactics, professionals talk about logistics.
A proposition to rename Ww2 to
Logistics and some shooty things 2
@@MarshallEubanks yess
World War 2: Logistics Boogaloo
A bit of a modification of the Battle of the Duisburg Convoy, the Italian heavy cruisers Trieste and Trento with their escorts were a few hours away. Despite knowing of the danger when a strange signal is intercepted by Trieste, it is too late, and no signal could be sent to warn the convoy as the British had jammed the air-waves. Also destroyer Fulmine gave a valiant last stand in defense of the convoy, although it was in vain
Edit: Thx Strategos for catching that mistake
They jammed the air*waves* i.e. the radio bands/ radio frequencies. Air *ways* are either your trachea and lungs (and their parts) or flight paths for airplanes.
@@StrategosKakos are... are you the fabled grammar nazi? o.O
@@sse_weston4138 It's a matter of spelling not grammar ;) At least in this case there are no horses being crucified, as above...
Seriously though, these are totally different things and I just see them mistaken so very often. No offense meant, just wanted to clarify for other viewers. Thank you for correcting it
@@StrategosKakos Yeah totally, I was just joking in that reply to it, sorry if it sounded furreal >_
I really enjoyed reading about Operation Crusader, and the overall role New Zealanders played in it.
You mean outside of the creation of the greatest weapon of war ever created, the Bob Semple tank, right?
Kiwis were probably the most underrated Commonwealth troops of the war
@@ethanhatcher5533 I'd argue the same for Indian soldiers.
@@zolafuckass8606 fair. Everyone remembers the Canadians and the Australians, but rarely anyone else. (I don't believe the South Africans preformed well)
@@ethanhatcher5533 There will be a South African commander in Tobruk next year - I will say no more...
That's the earliest I've ever been to one of these videos
Me too
Why does it say 2 days ago
@@johncairns1987 because some users get to watch earlier as a perk if they donate
WW2.....logistics, logistics, logistics.....having great generals and brave soldiers is no longer enough.....
War has been about logistics for as long as its been around as a concept. It just far easily to see how ships sinking here on the map effect the soldiers over here on the map.
It's fascinating to learn more about where my grandfather served.
He was an officer in the Royal Corp of Signals and one of the few non-humorous stories he was willing to talk about was having to leave a motorbike messenger in Tobruk just before it was besieged.
I had a grandfather (on the Scottish side of the family) in the same corps in WW2 but he was a junior NCO or private.
@@stevekaczynski3793 My grandfather got commissioned before the war (he had a Edward VIII sword).
He even wrote a book of his time during the war, but it was only the light-hearted stories he had. I almost never heard him talk about anything negative and there were huge gaps in his storytelling so he must have left an awful lot out.
For anyone interested: to my grandfather's (happy) surprise the messenger survived the seige. He'd had to leave him there, well, to be available to send a message but that plan obviously got scuppered.
Hi Indy and The Team,
I want to share a family story for your “Across The Airwaves” section. As my father and grandfather have told me throughout the years, my great grandfather happened to work on The Manhattan Project. First, some background that I’ve picked up. Firstly, my last name is a common German last name, so we have some German heritage. My great grandfather in 1936-ish was studying at the University of Berlin. I don’t know exactly for what, but it was probably engineering. When the situation started to get bad, my guess is the Anschluß Österreichsin 1938, he came back to America.
Somehow, he was recruited for The Manhattan Project to make the fuse for the bomb, which detected the altitude of the bomb and then detonated it. I don’t know for which bomb it was for, but it was one of them dropped on Japan. He was subscribed to a children’s science magazine to turn off his brain and give it to one of his sons. When reading it, he came across an equation nearly similar to his work. He called the FBI field office and every single copy of the magazine was confiscated from every subscriber. They eventually went to the editor of the article and questioned him. In the end, it turned out to be a conscience, but it is nearly similar to the Daily Telegram Crossword Incident in 1944.
That is the only story I know about my great grand father involving ww2 and I thought it would be interesting to share. Good luck with the rest of the project.
Cavalry... most mispronounced word in military terminology. Only this time Indie pronounces it correctly but the person doing the graphics overlay misspelled it! LOL!
For the person who misspelled it... CALVARY is actually the hill in Jerusalem where Christ was crucified aka Golgotha.
In my language is cavalerie is more easy to pronounce
And you spelled "work" incorrectly, lol!
@@Pirusiandres Muphry's law.
A close victory over nuclear and nucular.
whenever I got dragged into someone's chapel service people sang that jesus was lead out to die on cavalry...
I love hearing about the preparations for plans in North Africa, while remembering last week how the British armor doctrine is focused on massed tanks while the German doctrine is very flexible with lots of supporting units. Boy will this be an exciting engagement to see unfold...
Fun fact: Alan Cunningham is the brother of Admiral Cunningham who is in charge of the mediterean fleet
I love how Napoleon has just been chilling in the background. Silently forshadowing things to come.
Hi Guys, Just wanted to say massive thanks for all the content! I'm loving it! Keep up the amazing work.
Thank you for your kind words Tom!
Something tells me that this December will be the decisive month of the war...
Keep it up Indy Amazing Work
Rommel leaving the front only to be surprised by an offensive. I bet that won’t happen to him again.
I love this channel and Indy so much I don’t want WW2 to end
11:04 3.5L per person per day, while in battle.
it might be easier to just find where ze germans and the italians are getting their water from and shoot that
Fighting tended to grind to a halt at the height of the North African summer, although this was not invariably the case - heat exhaustion, sunstroke and the inability to function without troops drinking a lot of water were big inhibitions. Even in winter troops needed to drink a lot of water.
There was a degree of civility between the Axis & Allies in the desert.
Post combat actions they would both search for wounded from both sides to reduce the risk of them dying to the desert conditions.
Fact, or myth, who knows, but it has been often written in various books on the North Africa campaign.
@@OneLeatherBoot There was a tendency in North Africa not to fire on enemy tank crew when they were exiting a damaged or burning vehicle. But this sort of inhibition was not present on the Eastern Front, or in the west after D-Day.
Both sides were reluctant to shoot up water supplies. It's value in the Desert is manifold.
Germans marked Wehmachtkannisters with water with a big White Cross. Brits, likewise used a White X on their jerry cans for water.
Good idea! SHOOT THE WATER
-15, -20 in Russia: Wow that's cold!! In Canada: The winter is sweet this year.
Memories of Edmonton and -30C inclines me to give a like
Great episode as always, but wanted to let you guys know that the cut at 0:50 feels pretty weird.
I've never been so happy to watch an ad. You deserve monetization.
9:50 "2pounder anti-tank guns" Shows picture of 5.5inch howitzer
Churchill with headphones looks epic
Excellent thank you for keeping history and our legacy alive.
Thank you for remembering with us, Edmund
Years ago my German friend said to me you stopped us dealing with the Russians. Very true.
FYI the current logistical planning factor for water in the desert is 5gallons man/day
4:15 that Molotov picture looks like it could have been taken last month.
This episode of the series is one of the best birthday presents i can get today, thanks for you awesome work guys :)
(Sorry for the bad english)
Happy Birthday! And your English is fine. :-)
Happy Birthday!
Your English isn't bad, I'd suggest 'could' instead of 'can', 'your' instead of 'you' and a capital E for English. What you wrote was perfectly understandable though :-)
@@WorldWarTwo OMG THANKSSS!! this comment make my dayy
Keep up your good work guys :)
@@billd.iniowa2263 thanks :)
Outstanding presentation Indy.
I find it interesting that it is only now, after 5 months, that it seems to be finally dawning on Halder and some of the Front and Divisional commanders that this isn't going to be a cake walk. You would think with the unit attrition and supply issues they might have figured it out a bit sooner.
Last week Halder seemed gung-ho, this week he is starting to panic.
On November 10, 1941, some warships under the command of Admiral Chūichi Nagumo begin leaving the Kure Naval Base in Japan. At this time the destination of these warships are unknown, but it seems that the American base at Pearl Harbor is rumored to be one of these destinations. Only time will tell in the coming weeks...
The Japanese would never strike Pearl Harbor. It has the US fleet there with 8 Battleships and 2 Aircraft Carriers, and everybody knows that Battleships are the kings of the waves
and yet the Philippine's are left defenseless or very least not reinforced. Need an easy target somewhere to open the door for war.
No way its Pearl Harbor lol. That would be absurd.
Heading for Etorofu Bay in the Kuriles, but that will just be the real departure point.
Yeah, that 1941 winter was really something - as if some mystical power helped us (for comparison - it`s +4 right now in Moscow, and temperatures below -15 are quite rare here even in January).
On the other hand, russian troops don`t have that fabled extra frost resistance, we freeze just like everyone else, so it must`ve been hell to dig the trenches and defend them for months all while suffering terrible casualties and shortages of supplies.
@@mayaburak93 A German visitor to Moscow in the 17th century wrote memoirs, among other things noting that it was not unusual for locals to get drunk outdoors in the winter, collapse or fall asleep and freeze to death.
Big cities are warmer, however. It must have been hellishly cold in the countryside.
Having experience with the cold helps though. Took me a couple of winters to really get used to it when I moved to Minnesota, after living in the south for most of my life previously. Of course it still sucks and it's dangerous as hell if you don't know how to dress and keep warm, but at least those Russian troops weren't learning how to do it on the fly.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Sounds like my town every winter. At least one or two drunk college students die or lose all their digits because they underestimated it.
Yes-no. They had far better adjusted clothing - their shoes and caps were better isolation than even German winter clothing and steel helmets which actually acted as heat radiators.
Rommel really enjoys leaving the front before allied offensives
Zhukov's spoiler attack:
*Zhukov* - Hey Guderian .... DARTH VADER IS THE DAD OF LUKE!
*Guderian* - Oh no! Retreat!! Retreat!!
Wow, looks like we're due for a lot of action next week!
Love this channel and the phenomenal work you do!
Operation crusader.
I do hope you remember all the funny incidents. There was so much confusion its hilarious.
German and british convoys merging due to confusion.
Armour asking enemy infantry for directions until they realize their mistakes.. etc.
This series will be going until 2024. I am super happy about this.
My birthday is on November 17th, really interesting looking at the events happening around this time.
"Mutt" and "Jeff." ---> A joke on: "Mutton Jeff." ---> Which is slang for: "Deaf."
For any non-British wanting to know the meaning of those nicknames. We really do have a silly sense of humor.
Thank you, great piece of Cockney lore.
Rommel and one of his staff officers wearing overcoats at 11:54. In the African winter Rommel often wore a leather overcoat. He also wore captured British "gas goggles" on his cap, to protect his eyes in sandstorms. He stuck fairly close to uniform regulations, as did Wavell. A lot of commanders in North Africa wore pretty much whatever was comfortable, and this habit was even more common among their troops. Montgomery for example favoured a khaki pullover in cold weather.
Nice vest you were wearing Indy. Great job with the video.
Note: Error at 11:36. Photo of Alan Cunningham (BEF) is used for Arthur Coningham (RAF)
Small nitpickery piece of advice: "Erwin" is pronounced as "air-win".
Love this series, by the way. One of the best things I've discovered on TH-cam in years!
It's not pronounced that way in German, and he was very much German. forvo.com/word/erwin_rommel/
The W is a V sound in German.
@@Southsideindy I was referring to the first syllable: "air" instead of "ur".
I'm starting to think that there's not actually anyone on the other end of that phone line
I am afraid you confused Desert Air Force commander RAF Vice Air Marshal Arhur "Conningham" with 8th Army commander General Alan "Cunningham" (who is also brother of Royal Navy Mediterrnean Fleet commander Admiral Andrew Cunningham , it confusing I know ) whose picture you put instead in 11:34 - 11:48
Thanks for the feedback. We'll try to fix that
Once again thankyou for an excellent show you keep it flowing well and its totally engaging Brilliant concept 😱
Thanks!
About time The British Empire strikes back
Their has been a disturbance in the force. The Italians are trying to ship supplies to Africa.
1:30 am here in Melbourne. Indy, why do you do this to me
Greetings from Greece. Always wanted to visit Australia :)
@@elmo9991 If you're Greek, you will be right at home in Australia; especially in Melbourne and Sydney. :)
@@Toranaboy634 ikr. There's a pretty big greek settlement in Australia since the 50s!I even have relatives there(I think I'm not sure)
@@elmo9991 Your relatives probably have a gyros shop in Marrickville ;)
Great and compelling contain as always. Editing not at par with the quality that your team has accustomed us to, though.
Eat your carrots kids, and take no mind of the giant metal towers that have been popping up on the coast.
Radar was the original 5G
Chain Home towers were originally made of timber to avoid interfering with the radar pulses.
Sport between two wars? I feel a Bodyline episode coming on.
Ahhhhh! Douglas Jardine! Interestingly, he was on the BEF staff at Dunkirk as a captain. He was evacuated from Dunkirk, aboard HMS Verity!
Cricket fans will, of course, understand the connection. Non cricketers will be perplexed.
"This is another one of those "coldest winter of the century" you hear about in every single winter battle ever fought"
1:01 Ouhh that naval ship paint job is always cool. I knew that in modern naval warfare those paintjob doesn't bring any advantage, but it will be cool for alot of modern ship with that camo
Coldest winter of the century. -20 degrees.We have it on an ordinary winter day
I love that they use the metric system
"The seven merchant ships Duisberg Convoy are protected by two Italian heavy cruisers, and ten destroyers" - or rather they aren't!
Clearly the British had been eating their carrots.
And Mutt and Jeff is rhyming slang.
3 more weeks and you get to join us in this hell
Great series.
Thank you Nick
From those of us who know a fair bit about Crusader.... Oh boy, things are going to get rather sticky.*
*Translation from classic-British-understatement: all hell is about to break loose in the craziest way imaginable.
And I thought you were talking about the use of sticky bombs :)
I like the Napoleon portait in the background
As soon as the axis codes were cracked it was all over except for the fighting, strangely enough.
If your wondering why they thought the attacks where from air it was probably influenced by the Swordfishes at Malta who are sinking an average of 50,000 tons of axis shipping per month
Smashing stuff, keep it up!
Thanks!
Loved seeing Napoleon in the background
While winter is so feared on the Russian front, it is much welcomed on the Cyrenaïc front: no crushing heat during the day but nights can be a little cold, mild temperature for tough guys...
Especially in that season photos often show soldiers on both sides with pullovers and even greatcoats, which is a little unexpected in the desert.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Agree
3:56 why is this so true
Don't forget that Italian troups use more water per turn as they have to cook there pasta
11:34 you said Arthur Corningham, but the photo says Alan Cunningham
You are good at what you do.
Thanks!
Indy, I love you dearly, but Tim Gunn and I talked it over and we agreed that vest is a no-go. It looks like there was an air raid on Jackson Pollack's house.
It's a gift to know where the offensive terminal point is. It's kind of easy to tell afterwards, like in Russia. Of course, it's another thing to have the political permission to act on it, and the courage to do so. Admiral Spruance comes to mind. Unfortunately, admitting this is the offensive terminal point is pretty scary, because it's like admitting there's a war of attrition coming, which Germany doesn't have the geopolitical position to win. And their two enemies have attrition as their middle name.
Going from the Russian or Chinese theatres of war back to North Africa is so strange. It's such a wholly different type of war, feeling more like two gangs duking it out.
Great job guys! May I suggest you to check Stalin's speech on the "permanently operating factors" of the war, and the literature that has been written about it. Perhaps it can help you to analyze the coming months of the war on the Eastern Front. Cheers from Argentina!
I have been working outside at -40 in my youth. If you haven't experienced how cold that is, it is almost impossible to understand. -40 is dangerous all in itself. Move to fast, and you will get frost bite. Move to little, and you get frost bite. And that is humans. Machinery is even worse: at -40 steel is brittle like glass. Engines freezes. Engine oil don't flow untill its warmed up, wish wreck the engines if you do not heat the oil before startup. -40 is very, very difficult - almost impossible - if you haven't planned and set up your troops in advance.
Naval operations in the Med feel downright claustrophobic.