The WW2 Truth Russia Wanted to Keep Secret
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- For decades after it happened, Operation Mars would be taught in Soviet History books as a brilliant and effective diversion scheme that masterfully deceived the Germans.
The official story claimed that Operation Uranus, the ambitious Soviet thrust to encircle Stalingrad, was the cornerstone of the Red Army's offensive, while operation Mars was merely a secondary diversion assault aimed at keeping the Germans near Rzhev from reinforcing the embattled city.
But as Operation Uranus unfolded, the Soviets launched a second pincer maneuver on a salient located in the northern town of Rzhev.
The tumultuous assault kept the German 9th Army engaged, leading a desperate defensive effort and prohibiting the soldiers from reinforcing their comrades in Stalingrad as they were being besieged.
Nevertheless, another version of the events would emerge five decades later, portraying Operation Mars not as a clever distraction that fooled the German armies but as a massive, botched assault aimed to be even more significant than Uranus.
The operation was filled with reckless actions and appalling mistakes that would lead to one of the most ruinous Soviet defeats in the war, earning the name of "The Rzhev Meat Grinder"…
- As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Docs sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. I do my best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Docs is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas. -
"Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake".
Napoleon at Waterloo?
@@gracemanock2471 Oui, monsieur! 😁
@@gracemanock2471 Originally Tsun Tzu, but Napoleon also said it.
Bad manners
"Thats some wet azz puzzy"
-Albert Einstein
I'm loving these ~10 minute history snippets. If World History wasn't a 2 hour class, I would have payed attention in school!
impressed that most the video clips appear to match the time frame and situation discussed in the video...a rarity for some of the video's by dark docs or related channels
Some do...there were no Kingtigers in 1942 though...
@@guidor.4161 also no stg 44.. that archived footage was taken from the ardennes offensive i believe
hey i said most.. lol.better than the one about an m3 stuart w/o ANY footage of the m3 stuart other than a very short image
@@BRANFED Lets agree on more than average, i.e. 5% LOL
@@guidor.4161 agreed.. lol
In my experience, an extreme rarity. With weapons and aircraft and even soldiers often so mismatched historically, they may as well be scenes from the Battle of little big horn, overlaid on the bombing of Ploesti.
The first time I raised the matter years ago, I was attacked by vicious channel supporters??
The ghosts of Caesar, Alexander the Great, and Napoleon observed a military parade in Red square. Caesar said if I had Soviet planes I could conquer the world. Alexander said if I had Soviet tanks I'd be invincible. Napoleon said if I had Pravda the world would've never heard about Waterloo.
Source please?
@@amazingfantasy7879 😅🤣😂
@@amazingfantasy7879 I'm sure it's somewhere nestled away in the Reagan archives
I actually just googled Soviet jokes and this was the best one. For such a historically repressed people their sense of humor remained intact.
And then they encountered the Mujahadeen and then the Ukrainian soldier......All the conquerers mentioned where unnoble leaders that were motivated by greed and inhumane land(grösse lebenraum) grabs without concern for collateral damage or indecent inhumanities. All were doomed for eventual demises that were poetic justice as the Great Alexander slaughter armys as far as the human eye can see succumbed to an invisible bug! The man whose men followed him half way around the world and conquered it for Roman, also had men that stabbed him in the back literally! And finally the little General who had not one but two chances to be the greatest French leader in history but justifiably became it's scape goat on Elba and dies a lonely, bitter, and regretful sorry ass end that he and everyone who thinks they can rule the world deserve! Z NVYOM ROKOM! SLAVA UKRAINI 🇺🇦!!!
@@jeromedavid7944 that run on was epic
Love all the kv1 footage, 10/10, would ride
Numbers alone don't win wars but, it does help that the opposing forces have to put so much into fighting the numbers that resources lag in other locations.
What that through paper clip effectively regrouped arguably and never went away
But what do you say to this:
Just discovered it in Anthony Beevor's book.
"Although Zhukov was responsible for supervising this operation as a Stavka representative, he devoted far more time to planning Uranus than Mars. Zhukov spent the first nineteen days in Moscow, just eight and a half days on the Kalinin sector of the front, and no fewer than fifty-two days on the Stalingrad axis. This alone indicates that Mars was an ancillary operation, despite its deployment of six armies."
Man you just gotta love a bit of dark docs perfect to put on in the evening after work spot on bruv
This perfectly illustrates the difference between having Paulus in charge and not having Paulus in charge.
That picture with the guy on his skis depicts a German guy as he has a Schmeisser around his neck.
I'm so glad that you discover The Secret.
Rzhev. aka The Meatgrinder
Some German Soldiers had to cry, watching Soviet prisoner battalions getting blown up, after being forced to walk hand in hand, to clear German minefields.
When they ran out of men, the Soviets send in cows.
Try to fully deplete German ammo, was a simple tactic to gain advantage, by sending in wave after wave.
Because the Soviets constantly kept attacking at Rzhev, the Germans were not able to send reinforcements to Stalingrad.
While also putting extreme pressure on German east front logistics.
Logistics that were already facing huge troubles, because of constant Partisan sabotages and attacks, on trains, railways, depots etc., far behind the frontline.
The poem "I'm killed near Rzhev" was written by the famous poet A. T. Twardovsky in 1945-46. It has a tragic real basis.
I WAS KILLED NEAR RZHEV
I was killed near Rzhev
In a nameless bog,
In fifth company,
On the Left flank,
In a cruel air raid
I didn’t hear explosions
And did not see the flash
Down to an abyss from a cliff
No start, no end
And in this whole world
To the end of its days -
Neither patches, nor badges
From my tunic you’ll find
I am where the blind roots
Seek for food in the dark
I am where the rye waves
On a hill in the dust
I am where the cockerel cries
In the dew of the dawn
I am where your cars
Tear the air on highways
Where - small stalk to small stalk -
River’s weaving its grass
Where for the remembrance
Even my mother won’t come
In a bitter year’s summer
I was killed. And for me
Neither news nor bulletins
Will come after this day
Would you, the living, count
How long before that
For the first time in front news
They named Stalingrad
The front burned without stopping
Like a scab on the flesh
I was killed and I don’t know
Is Rzhev ours at last?
Have ours held their ground
There, on the Middle Don?
This was the month of horror
Everything was at stake
Could it be that by autumn
He already took Don?
And he broke through to Volga
Riding onto its bank?
No, it’s not true! That mission
He could never complete.
No way I say, no! Even for the dead
It would be too terrible to hear
Even the dead and voiceless
Have one last single joy
We have fallen for the Motherland
But it’s finally saved.
Our eyes have faded
Out is the flame of our hearts
And up there, at roll calls
They are not calling us.
We’re like bumps or stones
Even darker and dumber.
Our memory eternal -
Who is jealous to it?
Our ashes are rightfully
Owned by black earth
Our eternal glory
Is of little delight.
We shall not wear our
Battle awards
This is all for you, the living,
We have just one last joy
That we didn’t fight in vain
For our Motherland
Let our voice be inaudible
You’ve got to know it now.
And you had to, my brothers,
Stand fast like a wall
For the curse of the dead
Is a terrible wrath
We are forever given
This bitter right
And it is forever ours
This bitter right
In the summer of forty-two
I was buried without a grave
Everything what came later
Was taken by the death
All, what has been for many
So clear and common
But then may it all be
In accord with our belief
Brothers, maybe you didn’t
Lose the Don battlefield only
And were dying in battles
Fighting behind Moscow
And in steppes behind Volga
Dug your trenches in haste
And in battles you marched
To the limits of Europe
For us it would suffice
To know for sure
There was that last inch
On the road of war -
That very last inch:
If it is abandoned,
There’s nowhere to put
The foot that had stepped behind
And you drove the enemy
Back to the West
May it be so, my brethren
And Smolensk’s now ours
And you’re crushing the enemy
On the other front,
And maybe it’s the border
Your are nearing now?
May it be… Let the holy oath’s
Words be fulfilled :
For Berlin, if you remember
Was named near Moscow
Brothers, who now trample
The stronghold of enemy land
If the dead and the fallen
Could only cry!
If only victory salvoes could
Resurrect us for an instant,
Us, deaf and numb,
Us, who rest in eternity
O, my faithful comrades,
Only then at this war
Your limitless happiness
You would realise!
In this happiness there is
Our inalienable part,
Our, severed by the death,
Faith and hatred and passion.
All is ours! We did not cheat,
In this cruel fight,
We have given all ours
And left nothing to ourselves
Everything is bequeathed to you
For all time, not for a term
And this mental voice of ours
Is no reproach to the living.
For we had no distinction
In this war at all:
Those living and those fallen -
We were all equal.
And no one of the living
Is indebted to us
Those, who took up the colours
From us on the run
Only to fall one step later
For the holy cause,
For the Soviet power,
Like all of us.
I was killed at Rzhev,
And he - somewhere near Moscow…
Where are you, warriors, where,
Is there anyone alive?!
In the million-large cities
In the villages, at family homes?
At the military garrisons,
On a foreign land?
Ah, does it really matter
If it’s foreign or ours
If it’s snow-covered or blossoming…
I bequeath you to live -
What more can I do?
I bequeath you to be happy
In your life over there
And to serve your Motherland
With honour for long.
When in sorrow - be proud,
Do not bend down your head
When rejoicing - don’t boast
In the victory hour.
And to safeguard, brothers, this victory,
The happiness of yours, -
In the memory of your warrior-brother
Who has fallen for it.
So 30,000 Germans against 1,300,000 fresh Russians troops.
I'ld be embarrassed too.
Love your vids bro
Are you kidding? So many errors!
@@kennethobrien6537 ...Soo... What videos did you post??
dark thinking - yet the nature of attrition warfare means giving up more of your forces in order to 'wear down' your opponent
something that the Russians and Soviets fully understand
My understanding was that the Germans eventually withdrew, of their own accord, from Rzhev, in order to shorten the line, and to create reserves. But this happened *before* the operation that surrounded the Germans at Stalingrad, and it was thus withdrawal that allowed the Soviets to transfer the necessary forces to the Stalingrad theater.
Well the name of the assault says it all.
history is written by the victor
In this case they seem to be named after the planets and not gods.
Or bodily orifices.
Soviet commanders spent soldiers like bullets, until the Germans were overwhelmed. The Soviets did not care about casualties, only victory.
Ce documentaire est tendancieux. Il est vrai que l'opération Mars
était destinée à éliminer le saillant de Rjev( qui aurait permis à
l'armée allemande de lancer une nouvelle offensive sur Moscou)
et que cette opération Mars fut un échec mais il est aussi vrai qu'elle
a bloqué de nombreuses unités de réserve allemandes dans le nord
et empêché que ces unités soient envoyées au front sud pour
colmater l'énorme trou dans le front allemand ( les armées hongroises,
roumaines et italiennes n'ayant pu contenir les attaques russes).
A l'heure actuelle est-ce vraiment important de savoir si la version
russe (Mars étant une diversion) est vraie ou fausse, il n'en reste
pas moins vrai que Berlin a été occupé par la troupes russes et que
Moscou ne l'a pas été par les troupes allemandes. Heureusement
pour nous les occidentaux d'ailleurs.!!!!!
A military expert stated that the Sovjet army caused twice the death needed due to bad decisions and meatgrinder strategys.
0:39 GRANPPA!!!
1:06-1:07 A little help here comrades...a screiwit..sukkaaa! I just got a hernia!
I never realized. I always believed the official Soviet propaganda that it had been a diversion
Quantity has a quality of it's own. Quantity of dead men.
Now do the one we're all thinking but it's illegal to talk about in some countries
nothing's changed
Russian / German war story's i liked.
Russian military success always goes hand in hand with mountains of their dead.
The stories of Russia's crossing the river in Ukraine last year despite futile bombardment is a perfect example of this.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
The question is, could such tactics still work if used by todays russia, after decades of decline under putin, low birth rates, modern weapons etc.
@@abraham2172it would seem not
Ukraine might find out.
I really appreciate your videos. They are well done. One suggestion- the inclusion off occasional maps would be helpful.
2:02
@@TheRealBatCave lol
Dark Docs half the time uses wrong clips for his topic you expect him to present maps? If you want battlefield movements and tactics check out the TH-cam channel "TIK" he has maps and order of battle and movements. If you watch a TIK video series about a WW2 battle you know more about that battle than 99% of the general public.
@@Wallyworld30
I'm assuming your video uploads are superior?
F off.
@@thedude3291 I don't make a career on TH-cam if I did I would hold myself to these standards. I enjoy this channel enough to watch his content but like many others still get annoyed about the terrible video clips he uses when talking about a completely different battle.
Your war videos are awesome as always. May I give you some constructive criticism? Please include maps of the battlefield along with arrows of attack and lines of defense. That way, we can better relate to the battle and how the two sides interacted during the event. Thank you.
Yes please.
Send monney ! You'll get the maps !
I suppose it's all about editing costs.
For maps... please :
Watch Eastory in English.
Watch Soviet Storm... in Eglish ... good enough even for TIK.
Watch TIK TH-cam channel.
Definitely, please.
Ditto what he said!!
I was thinking the same thing
TH-cam needs to take the scam commercial down about the "$5,200 Healthcare Stimulus " Don't be dumb & give a third party website your SS#
It’s all mind over matter….the Russian generals don’t mind and their soldiers don’t matter…..the same in Ukraine today…😂
Thanks. Interesting and informative. German historians have been saying this for years. I remember Paul Carrell's books on the War in the East discussing this in the 1960's when I was a small boy.
When we hear that the Soviets had 100.000 dead in the battle and several hundreds of their tanks knocked out, as opposed to the 40.000 casualties of the German defenders, we can see the reason why they lied for decades about this huge Red Army defeat.
@@rainbowseeker5930 Nobody lies more than germans or french, making myths about russians doing human waves attacks and being defeated by the winter instead of russian/soviet army :) Butthurt "superior "westerners can't admit that they are outsmarted and outfought by russians every time, just like now in ukraine
Thank you for sharing
🤗🙏🇺🇲
Thank you for telling this story. It would have been even better with some maps to back up your narrative.
Günther von Kluge was an interesting person to read about.
You cannot describe a battle without a map.
polka23dot - Well, he just did... 🤷♂
LOL you remind me of a friendly Sgt 'b'. Although he was screaming it. For no reason whatsoever. The man was a dick. An utter waste of a perfectly good uniform.
And then there was the fun of carrying little coloured ribbons and plastic markers around. During combat. In the rain. At freezing.
It was dis big!!!
In hindsight it is not always easy to understand 'intent', but 'outcomes' are rather easier to identify.
That would also look good in "'French"'
A fine video (although I find the breathless voice of the narrator annoying) on a battle I had known nothing about. Here are two reports on it, both of which agree with this Dark Docs take, one Russian, the second the Glantz book on which the video is based:
#######################################
The Rzhev Slaughterhouse: The Red Army's Forgotten 15-Month Campaign Against Army Group Center, 1942-1943 Paperback - March 22, 2016
by Svetlana Gerasimova (Author), Stuart Britton (Translator)
Historians consider the Battle of Rzhev "one of the bloodiest in the history of the Great Patriotic War" and "Zhukov's greatest defeat". Veterans called this colossal battle, which continued for a total of 15 months, "the Rzhev slaughterhouse" or "the Massacre", while the German generals named this city "the cornerstone of the Eastern Front" and "the gateway to Berlin". By their territorial scale, number of participating troops, length and casualties, the military operations in the area of the Rzhev - Viaz'ma salient are not only comparable to the Stalingrad battle, but to a great extent surpass it. The total losses of the Red Army around Rzhev amounted to 2,000,000 men; the Wehrmacht's total losses are still unknown precisely to the present day.
Why was one of the greatest battles of the Second World War consigned to oblivion in the Soviet Union? Why were the forces of the German Army Group Center in the Rzhev - Viaz'ma salient not encircled and destroyed? Whose fault is it that the German forces were able to withdraw from a pocket that was never fully sealed? Indeed, are there justifications for blaming this "lost victory" on G.K. Zhukov? In this book, which has been recognized in Russia as one of the best domestic studies of the Rzhev battle, answers to all these questions have been given. The author, Svetlana Gerasimova, has lived and worked amidst the still extant signs of this colossal battle, the tens of thousands of unmarked graves and the now silent bunkers and pillboxes, and has dedicated herself to the study of its history.
######################################
Zhukov's Greatest Defeat: The Red Army's Epic Disaster in Operation Mars, 1942 (Modern War Studies) Paperback - Illustrated, April 28, 1999
by David M. Glantz (Author)
One of the least-known stories of World War II, Operation Mars was an epic military disaster. Designed to dislodge the German Army from its position west of Moscow, Mars cost the Soviets an estimated 335,000 dead, missing, and wounded men and over 1,600 tanks. But in Russian history books, it was a battle that never happened-a historical debacle sacrificed to Stalin's postwar censorship.
David Glantz now offers the first definitive account of this forgotten catastrophe, revealing the key players and detailing the major events of Operation Mars. Using neglected sources in both German and Russian archives, he reconstructs the historical context of Mars and reviews the entire operation from High Command to platoon level.
Orchestrated and led by Marshal Georgi Kostantinovich Zhukov, one of the Soviet Union's great military heroes, the twin operations Mars and Uranus formed the centerpiece of Soviet strategic efforts in the fall of 1942. Launched in tandem with Operation Uranus, the successful counteroffensive at Stalingrad, Mars proved a monumental setback. Fought in bad weather and on impossible terrain, the ambitious offensive faltered despite spectacular initial success in some sectors: Zhukov kept sending in more troops and tanks only to see them decimated by the entrenched Germans.
Illuminating the painful progress of Operation Mars with vivid battle scenes and numerous maps and illustrations, Glantz presents Mars as a major failure of Zhukov's renowned command. Yet, both during and after the war, that failure was masked from public view by the successful Stalingrad operation, thus eliminating any stain from Zhukov's public image as a hero of the Great Patriotic War.
For three grueling weeks, Operation Mars was one of the most tragic and agonizing episodes in Soviet military history. Glantz's reconstruction of that failed offensive fills a major gap in our knowledge of World War II, even as it raises important questions about the reputations of national military heroes.
Thanks for sharing this story about Operation Mars. I wasn’t familiar with it so it’s time to do some additional homework!
WTF is “operation ur-in-iz” ? 😂😂😂😂😂
Check out TIK for WW2 history.
The one thing Russia had that Germany didn't was a massive manpower advantage.
They had 14 million trained reservists, and were less industrialized than Germany (which meant more men for fighting vs working)
Russia also had a vastly larger territory to defend.
The human waves of Red Army against a much smaller German professional army thing was a myth created by German commanders to excuse getting kerb stomped.
There were similar numbers deployed on the eastern front for most of the conflict. At key moments the Red Army had massive local superiorities, but that was because they got their act together and frankly out generalled the Germans. Bagration was possibly the best organised and executed offensive of the war.
Russia has never had a problem sacrificing men for "victory". There tactics haven't changed much in centuries. Just keep sending wave after wave until you run out of men or the enemy runs out of ammo 😬
@@stephen4121 You are joking right? Maybe at the start of Barbarossa the numbers were very much similar to each other. From August 41’ to Soviets fighting in streets of Berlin.
Germans were outmanned, outgunned, logistic numbers everything from Armor vehicles, to Motorized Trucks, to US sending 2,000 Locomotives and about 11,000 rail cars that equaled to 92% of the Soviets Railroad equipment and locomotives.
By 1945 a third of the Soviets trucks were American Built.
I can keep going on. The list is long.
USA was only reason Soviets were able to maintain its position in the war. Zhukov said it himself.
So let’s back the statement up about numbers being somewhat even throughout the eastern front.
What the Germans did in the time with Barbarossa is the greatest feat in history. Yes it was a failure, but it was a campaign to conquer the Soviet Union.
Bagration was an offensive.
From the time of the Sixth Army’s surrender to end of the war. In which Germany was waging a defensive war on Eastern Front. What the Germans were able to inflict on the Soviets despite all odds stacked against them.
Tells you everything you need to know. About the Germans.
It took the whole world to take down one nation (Germany). Remember that
When the Red Army stopped Nazi^s outside Moscow Stalin was asked how he would defeat them and expel them from Western Russia he said ^........we will Bury them with Russian dead^ and they did, 4 Mil dead Germans and 14 Mil dead Russians.
After reading the title to this, all I could think is "it could be ANYTHING" . The red's have done so many horrible and unspeaking things that the list is SO much longer than I wish it was.
It's amazing that we have all the film footage from the heat of battle from all sides. The cameramen really deserve some credit for their bravery and professionalism.
a lot of these films were staged....not real fighting...and most of what we see here has nothing to do with Russia...lots of film is from France in 1944!
@@chadhaire1711 Russian, yes. German, sometimes. They had embedded propaganda camera groups in several divisions. Now... were they from actual frontline action? Rarely. As an example, only one photo exists of a massed human assault wave you read about in all of the history books (especially those written by ex-german generals). So did they actually happen?
@@chadhaire1711 This channel will use out of place clips for his video's. Wrong plane wrong army wrong country. As long as it's WW2 close enough for Dark Docs.
@@Wallyworld30
And there you go again. Complaining. You must be a lonely little fella.
@@Wallyworld30 That's why there is a disclaimer.
Thanks again for shining a light on this nearly forgotten/misremembered event!
Thanks for sharing another great story on an often overlooked piece of eastern front history ❤
David M. Glantz's deeply researched book Zhukov's Greatest Defeat came out in 1999 on this campaign. Incredible book w/minute maps on the actions down often to company level.
Always the best content and the narration!
From the same ppl that do dark skies? This content isn't even fact checked.
@@kennethobrien6537 it's U Tube...its entertainment
They're excellent starting points to tell many people about important events, and can be used as a launching point to start research.
@@vvr881 so one watches documentaries for "entertainment" and not for information now?
@@BlutUndEhre88 well u don't get it on U Tube. Try reading and going to archives
Mars was the Red Army's first real attempt at Movement warfare in an attempt to counter the Whermachts Advances
David glantz had a neat book about this, I read it around a decade ago, called "zhukovs greatest defeat"
For those wondering like I was, Rzhev is located West of Moscow, roughly in center between Moscow and the border with Belarus. Also, it's spelled Rzhev.
No. It is spelled it.
The german propaganda spelled it wrong „Resch“.
Correctly spelled it sounds like: „Scheb“
how to be a marksman: shoot first... anything you hit call it the target
Anyone runnin is a V.C….
Anyone standin still is a well disciplined V.C..
@@BillyBob-wq9fl Too true!
Russia still doing this in Ukraine.
Hit an apartment block or hospital? Call it a barracks or command centre.
Hit a shopping centre? Call it a warehouse for weapons.
And so on.
Balck and the 11th Panzer Division saved so many German forces. He thwarted the Russians at every stage on the Chir River.
Yes. Balck and the 11th PzDiv. prevented the collapse of the whole Southern Front. I guess you have read that defensive battle in detail. The more you know about it the more you are in awe at what these guys achieved.
Great, a chapter I knew nothing about. Your research, analysis and objectivity make for an inspiring and satisfying experiemce, thank you.
The Rzhev salient was defended by all German troops. Does that tell you something?
No... Do you mean to point out that there were no other Axis troops involved in the battle ?
Another great presentation of the history of WW2 combat. Dark Docs is quickly becoming me favorite source of historical view. Thank you for your hard work and I look forward to more. BTW the narrating voice is easy on the ear and straight forward with little pause for criticism that could deviate from the topic.
I like your stuff, respect
Repeat after me "Any loss is a feint to draw out the enemy, or blah blah blah" The more things change... Seeing information on the other end of the war is always enlightening. Thanks for catching the spelling error @nedludd7622
"feint". No reason to repeat after you.
@@nedludd7622 he credited you lol
Why no maps?
At least, maps would improve the understanding of how operations developed.
Instead, only unrelated images to the Operation Mars are shown.
I would love to see some stories about the current Soviet bungles in Ukraine. Seems like they have't lost their (lack of) touch. Great to have such detailed analysis of what is now the distant past. It would be perhaps more meaningful to detail the fresh "darkness" that we are immersed in now.
Have a look at Perun, he’s also really good
*current soviet* 🤣
@@lloydchristmas1086 I read right over that! LOL!
Bitter experiences. One does not learn experiences one learns lessons.
And how not to repeat bad ones
Excellent narrative of real events uncovering Soviet tomfoolery.
For those wondering, most of the footage in this video is from the 1941 documentary, "Moscow Strikes Back".
Minor pronunciation correction: The Marshal's name is pronounced not Zu-kov, but ZHu-kov.
I've been reading Glantz's Stalingrad trilogy for a year (it's SO dry). The Germans won just about every encounter but for Stalingrad, yet that one loss cost the war. IMHO, Germany went to war against an empty shell that solidified once the German "bias" was determined. Better the Devil you know then the one you don't and both Stalin and Hitler were devils.
Nazism, AND Communism, are BOTH CREATIONS of the Global Ruling Elites, & Global Banksters....as was America....
The Germans lost for numerous reasons, Stalingrad is not necessarily one of them. They also lost huge numbers of troops in Africa, when Tunisia was captured.
Lack of manpower and limited strategic resources (like oil), meant that at an economic level they were always going to be in trouble once the USA entered the war.
@@JohnSmith-gd2fg disagree! Germany kept ground troops out of Stalingrad, while they bombed it into rubble, -ideal for defenders. Thus, they failed to take Stalingrad, and incurred irreplaceable losses. Stalingrad was only 1 of several deliberate failures Hitler personally oversaw....which added up to Germany's overall "failure". Thus, postwar, Nazis were taken to Russia, the U.S. in Project Paperclip, and escaped to Ukraine. All leading to the current false-flag conflict around Crimea & the Black Sea.....
No matter what , you had to get ivan to come out and play .
This is not entirely correct. Rzhev meat grinder was a series of battles that started in January 1942 and lasted for 15 months. Operation Mars, which was one of the Rzhev battles, lasted all but a month starting in November 1942 and with some justification can be considered a diversionary operation, particularly that it ended with German victory.
Russians unwilling to face the truth?
....and the beat goes on......
Love your channel, usually watch each all the way through but TH-cam content is increasingly getting run over by annoying TH-cam commercials. When their adds cut in, i close the tab.
From the theme song from MASH, "...and you can do the same thing if you please."
A so big Soviet Russian offensive was no diversion, that's for sure. They failed, big time, but tried to conseal it afterwards. Classic behavior from them.
Russian's don't lose,they just change the story 🤫
Thank you and God bless you for properly pronouncing the name of the seventh planet. 🙏
These operations, from a Russian perspective, were actually insignificant if it hadn't been for the massive amounts of lend-lease aid they got from the USA, mainly food, fuel and trucks. Without it, they would have "lost" or forced to make peace anyway, with or without Zhukov or anyone else.
For your information till the time of the battle the so called "massive amounts of lend-lease aid" for 1941 and 1942 was only 15% of the total lend-lease amount. Actually the deliveries started after it was obvious the Hitler was losing the war.
@@secutecheood4601 I don't need to read up on anything. You do. Stalin's War by Sean McMeekin states clearly from archival sources that the Soviet Union would have starved themselves into submission, including the military, already by the summer of 42, without all the SPAM they received. They didn't produce nearly enough food by themselves and Germany was in control of the Ukraine. And that is just the food. Whether those percentages may be true because it escalated to abnormous levels later, is besides the point.
@@secutecheood4601 "so called" man, your brainwashed.
Gotta do a video on the USA arming the Russians from the north in ww2
There are teams of people who look for the fallen. The Russians didn't care about their own dead. They were left were they fell.
The Russians will try that tactic agin in Ukraine in the spring, they r gearing up
Think 2nd Kharkov was a similar disaster.
The Russians always fight in an Eastern state manner with mass armies, completely immune to the loss of their own human lives. Experiences from WW1, the Finnish Winter War, Stalingrad, Ukraine etc. show how to overwhelm the enemy like ants often with only small arms. A very costly tactic that is only possible in the absence of journalists and a free press that can analyze and report on the outcome of the battles.
Was US lend lease a factor yet in this stage of the war?
Interesting to hear about it. A correction: the term is "thorn in the side" not on the side
Why does the German defense of the Regev salient remind me of the Soviet defense of the Kursk salient?
Because it was.well,the name is rzhev and it was a meat grinder for both sides involved.
@@amazingfantasy7879 Mmm ... Also, which I guess I was driving at, the Germans at Rzhev at the Soviets at Kursk both seized the chance to build meat-grinding defenses in such depth as to turn any assault upon them to so much hamburger. I wonder if the Soviets got any hints from the Germans?
Very different. In scale, depth and preparations to begin with, or in the differences between German and Soviet defensive doctrines. You might be interested in learning about Walter Model's "shield and sword" tacticts
So OP. Mars was Zugov's greatest failure while Uranus was his greatest success?
Who is Zugov? Do you mean Zhukov?
Кто такой Zugov? Вы имеете в виду Жукова (Zhukov)?
Interesting choice of words. An "ambitious Soviet THRUST" was called Uranus
Poor choice of words may be why I didn't make full colonel. Following is a quote completely circled in red from my paper at the war college in Ft Leavenworth.
" Comparing the failure at mars With two hard but misaimed thrusts , we look even deeper into Uranus"
No computers back then, just an old brother word processor.
@@blueliesmatter2 You had a word processor?!?! I remember hearing about those. From what I understand the Commodore 64 didn't offer a word processing feature. But, again, even the Commodore 64 was a rumor in my neighborhood
I like these videos because they are like…bite sized morsels. Just the right length and amount of info.
What are the people who makes these video's sources?
There are things in these video's that I think are wrong, but I will defer to the best sources to settle them.
In war the truth is the first causality
Operation Uranus, the ambitious soviet thrust...
Interesting, when describing tanks destroyed you showed an image at like the 12:15 minute mark. It is a photo of a destroyed M-4 Sherman medium tank. I wonder what the Russians thought about the M-4 Sherman?
Actually the Soviets used the M4 Sherman in the Second World War due to the “Lend Least” between the Soviets and Western Allies. As for what the Soviets thought of the Sherman I cannot say anything for sure because I’ve not read much about the Sherman in Soviet usage, however I would imagine they put the Sherman’s to use like what they did for all their other tanks as well.
They had a whole army corps of them. The US sent huge amounts to the USSR
@@kiwifruit27 huge by the standards of the western front maybe. It was negligible in the context of the eastern front though.
But then to be honest the western front was a sideshow in comparison the the east (over 80% of Axis forces were facing the USSR from 1941 onwards and over 80% of their casualties were suffered there)
@@stephen4121 Without the USA, the USSR would not have existed anymore.
There should be a rule whenever a country goes to war the People who decide that should be the first on the Frontlines on both sides.
Not good. Grade: D-. Maps maps maps maps. See TIKhistory for reference.
WW2 Truth Russia Wanted to Keep Secret - without massive loses in the allied delivery of material (mostly from the US) to Murmansk, it is questionable if the Red Army would have been able to continue fighting.
This is false.
Yes, the American lend-lease no doubt contributed to the Soviet war effort, but in reality only around 3% of total Soviet equipment used was American.
Additionally most of the aid started pouring in only after Stalingrad, that is, after the tide already turned.
They would have been fine and yes, indeed, won without it. Albeit with bigger casualties and perhaps taking longer. But win they would. As they have.
Britain on the other hand...
@@ineshvaladolenc6559 Americans just want to take the glory from Russia because they destroyed most of Axis forces plus took Berlin
It’s the truth
classic ameritard trying to make themselves as important as possible in the eastern front, where was the lend lease during battle of Moscow, Kursk, Stalingrad, Operation Bagration huh? ameritard provide help too little too late, Perhaps stop learning history from McDonald
The casualty numbers are staggering
Model was an excellent General that no one has heard of...
Not heard of, just belittled and ignored because the victors choose to do so. Zhukov was wasteful and overrated. Stalin should have purged his ass while he had him in his sights.
Almost unbelievable how the Red Army could take such horrendous losses, yet still eventually gain the strategic advantage. What a horrific war.
Horrific war, yes, but it was also horrible military planning on behalf of the soviet leadership. Rather than use tactics, they used numbers to overwhelm the enemy. Russia's pre-war population was roughly 200,000,000 so they had a giant pool of manpower to pull from.
Germany had around 13.6m soldiers over the course of the war compared to around 34m in Russia. There was simply no way Russia could lose with that numeric superiority and the US lend/lease program providing them with vehicles and supplies.
The Germans had maps, didn’t you see them? 😂
The ghost of kev killed a million Russians 🤣
Yes maps would be nice and please take out the battle of the bulge images! King tigers and the sturmgeweher44 were not born yet!
Close your eyes and pretend it's radio
Informative video on a controversial battle. The looses suffered by the Soviet Union in both men and machinery. This was a battle that went down in history as a German victory.💪🏻🙏🏻✨
And what are you happy about? The victory of the Nazis? Are you a fool or a Nazi?
И чему вы радуетесь? Победе нацистов? Вы дурак или нацист?
German victory 💪🏻 ✌🏻 ✨ Deutschland Uber Alles 🇩🇪 🇺🇸
@@Дмитрий_Тихомиров I never said I was happy ? I watched this video and agreed it was a loss for the Soviet forces. I am from England originally and my immediate family fought against the Germans and Axis forces in WW2. My late Father RIP was born in June 1921. The outbreak of WW2 my Dad just had turned 18 yrs old. He immediately signed up with the British Eighth Army and was gone until 1946. One served the duration of the war plus 6 months. My late Mother Born Dec 1925 signed up as a Wireless Operator for the British Army in 1943. Her Father my Grandfather was a Warrant Officer in WW1. His name was John Edington OBE, MBE. Who in WW2 worked for MI6. So I definetly have a strong family history of fighting the Nazi regime. My comment only stated a fact that the Germans were victorious in this particular battle. I don't particularly like how you stated what you did about my comment. I only stated the truth about one battle in WW2. 💪🏻🙏🏻✨
The Soviet Union managed to defeat the Nazis. They cleared Europe with German and Axis forces. If you say that the Soviet Union has more forces but they are not so modern and well trained. This is directly proportional to the Germans. A 1 German soldier is equivalent to 2 Soviet soldiers. That is why you see many casualties in the Soviet side. But apart from it, the bravery and determination plus strategies helped win the war for the Soviets.
One small complaint, the German losses were listed as "causalities" and only included one number. I assume that the term included wounded, killed, captured, sick and so on. Can that be verified, can we estimate the number of Germans killed in operation Mars I wonder.
You always do a great vid after watching one its binge time with lots of bowls watching from Scotland peace and love to all