Elbe Day, April 25, 1945, is the day Soviet and American troops met at the Elbe River, near Torgau in Germany, marking an important step toward the end of World War II in Europe. This contact between the Soviets, advancing from the east, and the Americans, advancing from the west, meant that the two powers had effectively cut Germany in two. And recording the events: a film crew.
Which would eventually bring about East and West Germany…East being communist and West being capitalist… It wouldn’t be until 1989 when east Germany fell and the Berlin Wall came down…
Dont blur these pieces of footage!! That is just decreasing the impact of them...and that is just the thing what makes these documentaries so important .They are warnings for future generations.
yes i agree ive seen thousands of these over the years since the 1970s and this series has some footage ive never seen before and thats saying something
Dude right? I've watched pretty much every WW2 documentary out there and somehow this popped up in my feed and it's full of footage I've never seen! I love watching documentaries focusing on small German factions STILL fighting even after the German surrender due to communication lines being disabled.
I was stationed in Germany during the Cold War. Our German hosts were glad we were there as well as those who lived in the Low Countries and France. The Germans would say, “Thank goodness you’re here, otherwise the Soviets would be.” When we visited Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, they would say, “Thank goodness you’re here, otherwise the Germans would be.” Much truth to both statements! Many patriot lives were lost ensuring we could maintain the peace for over 40 years!
I too was stationed in West Germany in 1972. I rented a house from an old German gentleman and he remarked "I'd just as soon rent to you as a Russian." I thought that was a strange comment.
My father was an officer with the US occupation forces in France I saw Germany in unbelievable destruction. These pictures vividly portray what we saw then of the landscape. However, there was no real grasp then of the concentration camps but I was only a child then. I remember the child of a German soldier left behind with the mother in France. The hatred of both of them is hard to describe. I agree the pictures should not be blurred out. This is what war does to people.
@33:38 My dad was in this unit; The 104th Inf Div Timberwolves. He told me about their time in Holland. This was an absolutely stunning documentary! Many thanks for sharing this!
Un unchi al meu a luptat contra Germaniei, pina în Munții Tatra😊❤ în Armata Română ❤❤❤ Now,i am Retired Master Sergeant Romanian Air Force Academy Brașov 😊❤GREAT RESPECT FROM ALL HEROES❤❤❤😊
My grandfather (Army) was in the second wave at Normandy, and the first to scale the cliffs to the top. He was shot, kept climbing and took out the Germans enough for everyone else to scale. He earned a Purple Heart, 3 bronze stars, and 2 silver stars. My father (Marine) fought in Vietnam, he earned 2 silver stars. My husband (AF) fought in OIF and OEF. Our son (Army) swears in, in 2 weeks. There are still millions of patriots here, ready at any moment to take up arms.
@@therabidsquirrelsage3388 Yeah, this is true about the TH-cam policy. We also see the contradicting use of this policy where TH-cam saturates videos supporting the war in Ukraine with Trump ads begging for money. Trump is the greatest threat to the US as a nation and the world as a whole. Other than his buddy Putin that is.
@@VictorC107 You are expecting/looking for "trouble." Without condescension, I was seven months on the front line without seeing any black soldier; except for a truck driver or two. The ratio of white to black placed "blacks" as a small (invisible) minority. I assume there were "blacks" out there performing just as many "heroic acts" as their "white" counterparts. I am sure they performed magnificently in the Red Ball thing. and they were probably featured in "Stars and Stripes! This is not a "social exercise." It is a war documentary and subject to editorial requirements.
@@badmonkey2222 This one was a film for the public in 1945, where they didn't usually show graphic scenes of dead bodies. This was not filmed by the military but by a private company for the public. So, it is not the typical war film you are used to seeing that is uncensored. Are you not going to play a graphic version in a theater? They didn't have TV that day, and kids were usually with their parents.
I was a Air Force Brat... 7:27 My father was stationed at Rhien 7:27 MainAir Force base in Frankfurt. I was ten years old.... I still remember the smell of wet concrete and diesel exhaust... The germans were doing a miraculous job of reconstructing and rebuilding their country. We were advised that the germans were no longer our enemy, but our ally. The rebuilding was miraculous. Much the same rebuilding Has taken place in vietnam, Where I flew twenty one consecutive months as an Air Force pilot in vietnam. I am very happy that the economy turned around for the people of vietnam.
It is unfortunate that the worst scenes of death have been blurred by TH-cam. The young who know so little could benefit from a dose of reality. Without such lessons, we are more likely to repeat these atrocities, rather than avoid them.
There are plenty of places to see the unedited versions of the film or others like it. If someone watching this needs to see the dead in order to appreciate the horrors of the Third Reich, they can research and easily find it. Not every documentary has to be the one to show corpses. Restraint and respect of those who were killed can be honored without losing sight of the awful things that happened.
@@kekzoet7487, You mean the same youngsters who are protesting the world over in support of Hamas, a terrorist organization? You mean the youngsters who have lived a sheltered life and have no real life experience?
@jcalene, Remember back in the day at drivers ed class in high school? When they would show the uncensored films " Red Asphalt"? Those films showed us what could happen in real life while driving. The youngsters today are too soft, too spoiled and never been told " No" and entitled. Hell they have a meltdown if you tell them there are only 2 genders or call them by the wrong pronoun.
Absolutely brilliant footage from a time which should not be forgotten. Germany is a special place to visit with morals and respect for the allied forces during my time in Germany I was overwhelmed with the generosity and kindness of the good German people 🇬🇧🇩🇪❤️
They want to monetize this obviously, as I have seen videos of concentration camps on TH-cam that weren’t censored. I’m guessing they censored this so they could monetize it.
My uncle was a rifleman in the 104th Infantry Div. He was at the liberation of Nordhausen. He said very little about it, but what he did say was enough!
I was in GERMANY from 1976 to 1998 and met MANY nice German people. My Father-in-law was with ROMMEL in Africa till 1943 then was a POW ENDING up in America. I met MANY FRIENDLY Germans , especially farmers. When you made them a friend they were a friend for life!
I am 74 live in Canada, i enjoy these war documents,, for any one who was part of this , and survived , no matter what national flag,,, you lived an amazing life
@@peter2023 And these experiences belong to all of us, we are one in the spiritual realm. This is why we always have the need to connect with each other, even on the opposing sides. The war experience has brought humanity closer together, at least from the comments here.
You know I am a Gulf War veteran and I remember having British on our ship and visiting them, it was awkward. I tried talking to them about the music and things but they were just a little stuck up it seemed, or the few I tried to talk to, so I just kind of gave up, but the other people I met all over the world French people in Egypt, Egyptians Indians, Indian military, Russian girls in Egypt they were so friendly, we just talked for hours about little things, because of our language barrier was so great, but we had a great time and this seems like the same. Makes me really proud to see the Russian people and Americans and the French in the British all celebrating the victory. No doubt they'd probably seen a lot of Horrors before that day...
🤔strange that others of your countrymen who fought in the gulf, that I have personally spoken too seem to have had a very different experience of British troops. But you were there, I was not. As a Brit, I thank you for your service, sir. And I'm glad you made it home safe.
@orwellboy1958 thank you it was my pleasure and honor to serve I appreciate all the people that I've met that have served, or haven't served. Probably the interaction was more my fault, I just couldn't understand them, and I didn't put a lot of effort into it so I just kind of walked away pretty quick into it. Probably had a little to do with me being shy I'm friendly but I couldn't understand them and it made me feel a little awkward, I still remember that. Hell who knows they could have been embarrassed for me! Lol I gave it an attempt and then just walked it off we are having barbecue on the Helo pad they had games that I didn't participate in like tug of war and I don't remember it's more about it than that.
So sad that there is war at all. It is astounding how abhorrent and sickening war is, considering what it does to people who get caught in the fighting. Not only that but war is destructive to infrastructure, including buildings, homes, etc. The sight of buildings reduced to piles of rubble, the silence of dead people, and the deprivation and suffering of the survivors of war as they lost family members and friends in the shelling of cities and towns in the path of war. Thank you for this poignant video of the last days of World War 2.
Unfortunately, war & violence are a part of the human condition & I don't believe we'll ever overcome it. I fear that the world is becoming ripe for another major conflict. In other words, a world war. I truly believe that the human species will, sooner or later, become extinct through either, a war involving nuclear weapons or climate collapse. I hope like hell that I'm wrong.
Thank you for releasing these films. However, please do not obscure the scenes of death. This is the whole point of capturing this period of time. Generations need to understand the reality of war.
I really enjoyed this historically important video record. I lived in Germany for 7 years and gained a personal insight into modern post war Germany and its people and culture.
So much tragedy and agony. I visited Germany in the 70's as a teen. They were lovely, cultured and more civilized than us Americans. I care about Germans deeply. Crazy that Germany and Japan were so brutal and maniacal in war.
And after all that sacrifice, Europe and to a great extent America as well, is keeling over to a new invader almost without a fight. I'm African but it bleeds my heart to see what is happening to the western world. Your forefathers truly died in vain, and may God have mercy on your souls.
I agree, and I consider all of them to be corrupt lying evil cowards. My uncles seemed to have fought for nothing if that's the way its gonna turn out. LedHed Pb 207.20 🎶 🎸 🎹
We have the right of free information, so censorship like the blurring should be not allowed.The truth needs to be shown so that these cruelties never happen again.
Just to be sure we are all clear. Regardless of any attempt to assign some kind of blame to the Americans for the way they were held, only 0.15% of German prisoners of war held by the Americans ever died. 35.8% 0f German ROW's held by the Russians died. 2.58% held by the French died. Only the Brits did better at 0.03% of the Greman POWs they held died. I get really tired and somewhat depressed by the people trying to blame the Americans for Germ,an POW's that were treated badly or died. America set a shining example.
The day of my father’s funeral I found out that he had helped liberate two of these camps. I was told he came home a different man. I watch these hoping to catch a glimpse of him. This is very important for all to see and never forget!
My Great Grandfather was captured by the Americans at that time and kept in one of those Rhine Meadows camps until the autumn. (My Grandfather had been wounded out of the war in Russia in 1943). My Great Grandfather was not a young man by that time. He managed to escape and then stole a bicycle and cycled all the way home to Hannover. When he got back apparently his legs were massively swollen by oedema (a sign of severe malnutrition). They tried to nurse him back to health but he never made a recovery and died 3 months later as a result.
Probably got clots that broke off into his lungs. I get severe swelling in my legs from time to time and twice have been hospitalized for massive clots in my lungs (pulmonary emboli). Without immediate medical attention and even with it, there’s a high chance of death.
A lot of this film is Kodachrome, and that is pretty much not shifting in colour. If anything the colour shifts while transferred from the film itself to TV tape or digital file.
The US forces were using common sense and sensible tactics when approaching towns and villages in Germany. Why lose men and material when you get to a town where defenders are firing on you when you can call in artillery and air strikes to destroy the defenders with little loss to your own side. I remember a guy years ago saying the US would approach a town or village, and even if white flags were being hung out they would not hesitate to hit it with artillery at the first sign of resistance. On some occasions they would hit the local church spire or tallest building deliberately just to show there was no point in resisting the US advance. Some may say that was too aggressive but it also saved many lives that would otherwise have been lost in full artillery strikes and infantry battles to take villages.
My mother was a 10-year-old girl that was starving and freezing in Paris because of what the Germans did, do you think I feel sorry for the German soldiers starving in those prisoner of war camps????? Let me check, no. Hundreds of thousands of kids died after the war because the infrastructure was destroyed. I feel sorry for what the kids went through, I don't give one iota of sympathy to the German soldiers. Just like the Confederate soldiers in 1861, they made a poor choice and have to live with it.
And sorrow, and wounds that will never quite heal...all in our collective consciousness, whether each individual can access it or not in this 3D physical vessel.
Yes I am old enough I have seen all of the footage from world war II and I have heard the war correspondents talk in the footage. I have never heard any commentary like this one.
A fascinating video which was ruined for me by TH-cam blanking out all images of the dead of WWII. I'm not a ghoul, but the imagery of war is part of its documentation.
I'm sure my dear Mother and Father would have been transfixed by this narration. My father went to England from Canada near the beginning, when he met and married my mother. My two elder sisters were born in England during the war.
I remember slogging in a spiral when my outfit entered the Ruhr. The three hundred thousand Germans that surrendered were being driven out in trucks; raising clouds of dust we had do walk in. Most of them were still armed. The damn Germans were making fun of us as we swallowed their dust! (5th Inf, Div.)
My Grandpa said they shot everything. A couple times a German would pretend to surrender and then kill a couple guys. After this happened a couple times they shot everyone. He said they were 15-18 year old kids many times. 3rd Infantry Div.
In the 3rd Army was when they went into a town and fighting had ceased, there would the occasionalsniper that would start firing at the US troops. The building would be located by the civilians in the town because if not, the troops would level the city block where the sniper was located.
General Wenck of the Twelfth Army located to the west of Berlin to guard against the advancing American and British forces. But, as the Western Front moved eastwards and the Eastern Front moved westwards, the German armies making up both backed towards each other. As a result, the area of control of Wenck's army to his rear and east of the Elbe River had become a vast refugee camp for Germans fleeing from the approaching Soviet Army.
A Great produced video ~n excellent BUT WHAT WITH BLURRING out of fallen / dead.. For goodness sake this was war and it should NEVER be be forgotten ~ grimaces and horrors!
A great Doc only to be ruined by blurred images that must be shown in all its gory detail so the message gets through displaying the horrors of war.!!!
One of the sad things about the Red Army occupation of Eastern Germany and the creation of the East German State was that after the Wall came down and we in the West were allowed to visit those former East German cities such as Leipzig, we found that the city still looked like much of what you see here. There were still masses of rubble left over from the WWII bombings that had never been cleaned up. I remember that all construction and infrastructure maintenance projects in the Western part of Germany ceased at that time so that money and labor were reassigned to cleanup the mess that was left in the Eastern part of the country.
I saw that myself. In the early 2,000's, I visited Germany several times, and the difference between eastern and western Berlin was quite noticeable. In the former East Berlin, everything seemed brand new and modern. No doubt due to the immense amount of money that Germany spent to renovate that part of the city.
I don't agree with censorship on historical film documentation, they full horror should be shown however awful it is. Only way to educate people. Harsh though it may be.
It’s a shame that certain hard-to-view portions of the documentary have been blurred out (censored) by TH-cam. Only by being confronted by the full reality can future atrocities be avoided. Why not give viewers the choice of viewing sensitive material???
Believe me, the kids are watching enough brazilian beheadings and shootings online. Sadly it does not prevent these things, rather desensitizes people to it. In that sense, its better to save those views for the rare occasion, so that they dont lose their shock. Otherwise we become used to it, and accepting of it. The russians in bucha likely had a lot of violence back home, so the front and the civilians were just new playthings and now they had rifles. While western forces try to save casualties because they still have humanity on their side.
Brilliant footage. Never seen before in my 40 years of WW2 interest. But why blurring footage of gruesome images? It only shows the real horror of war...
Anyone can search hundreds of websites that will show dead bodies from all the wars uncensored. So what are people complaining about. If kids want to see the truth they should have enough brains to search other websites that show everything.
always makes me wonder. what did the germans think they were gonna get? a 3 room suite at the local spa with massages at 1 and drinks at 3? yes. camp was hell but at least they werent being gassed or shot.
Why block out the scenes of dead bodies? People need to see the horrors of war to remind them it is not some abstract concept. To see the fast and terrible outcome of such savagery is to remind us why it is something to be avoided at almost all costs.
I think the population understood that “relocation” occurred…very clearly. What they only dared to contemplate was that relocation meant the worst…to death.
Elbe Day, April 25, 1945, is the day Soviet and American troops met at the Elbe River, near Torgau in Germany, marking an important step toward the end of World War II in Europe. This contact between the Soviets, advancing from the east, and the Americans, advancing from the west, meant that the two powers had effectively cut Germany in two. And recording the events: a film crew.
Has this been uploaded to another platform that doesn't have the strict censoring that YT has? I'd like to view the documentary without the blurring.
Ok but the time line you suggest! AI would have worked out this footage as being real. Being film.
P
I’m 😅😅
P
It was the start of the cold war
Which would eventually bring about East and West Germany…East being communist and West being capitalist… It wouldn’t be until 1989 when east Germany fell and the Berlin Wall came down…
Dont blur these pieces of footage!! That is just decreasing the impact of them...and that is just the thing what makes these documentaries so important .They are warnings for future generations.
TH-cam has given them no choice. Blur or get deleted.
Yes, it's worse than silly
Germans and Russians need to watch this so that their self appointed leaders cannot lead them into war for hidden agendas.
@@terrib627 What has been blurred?
some aren't blurred and that was enough for me, (i'd say where but that might be the end of them)
This is why you never want to forget your history ,you never want to pretend it can never happen
Brilliant doc! I’m a self-proclaimed armchair historian that’s watched countless ww2 videos and this has footage I’ve never seen before. 👍
Seen all 5 parts?❤
Same here mate, I thought I had seen nearly all WW2 footage, but there's lot's of new stuff here.
I'm a legend in my own mind too about World War II history it's tough to find some really good footage like this!
yes i agree ive seen thousands of these over the years since the 1970s and this series has some footage ive never seen before and thats saying something
Dude right? I've watched pretty much every WW2 documentary out there and somehow this popped up in my feed and it's full of footage I've never seen! I love watching documentaries focusing on small German factions STILL fighting even after the German surrender due to communication lines being disabled.
I was stationed in Germany during the Cold War. Our German hosts were glad we were there as well as those who lived in the Low Countries and France. The Germans would say, “Thank goodness you’re here, otherwise the Soviets would be.” When we visited Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, they would say, “Thank goodness you’re here, otherwise the Germans would be.” Much truth to both statements! Many patriot lives were lost ensuring we could maintain the peace for over 40 years!
I too was stationed in West Germany in 1972. I rented a house from an old German gentleman and he remarked "I'd just as soon rent to you as a Russian."
I thought that was a strange comment.
drraybenedetto2064 Do you suppose it ever occurred to the Germans that if they hadn't started a war we wouldn't have had to be there?
Thank you for your service. Thank God for the greatest generation!
@@GregDaniels-yo4odthe Germans and Russians have a long standing dislike for each other's.
My father was an officer with the US occupation forces in France I saw Germany in unbelievable destruction. These pictures vividly portray what we saw then of the landscape. However, there was no real grasp then of the concentration camps but I was only a child then. I remember the child of a German soldier left behind with the mother in France. The hatred of both of them is hard to describe.
I agree the pictures should not be blurred out. This is what war does to people.
Every time I watch any of these historical documentary’s I learn something new
Yes and that includes our culture today. Our cancel culture.
@33:38 My dad was in this unit; The 104th Inf Div Timberwolves. He told me about their time in Holland. This was an absolutely stunning documentary! Many thanks for sharing this!
Pretty amazing! I would have thought it would have been your grandfather, no disrespect
My Dad was there to with the Canadians
Un unchi al meu a luptat contra Germaniei, pina în Munții Tatra😊❤ în Armata Română ❤❤❤ Now,i am Retired Master Sergeant Romanian Air Force Academy Brașov 😊❤GREAT RESPECT FROM ALL HEROES❤❤❤😊
My grandfather (Army) was in the second wave at Normandy, and the first to scale the cliffs to the top. He was shot, kept climbing and took out the Germans enough for everyone else to scale. He earned a Purple Heart, 3 bronze stars, and 2 silver stars. My father (Marine) fought in Vietnam, he earned 2 silver stars. My husband (AF) fought in OIF and OEF. Our son (Army) swears in, in 2 weeks. There are still millions of patriots here, ready at any moment to take up arms.
It's criminal that they blurred out all of those scenes !!! Its very critical that EVERYONE gets to see those PICTURES !!!
TH-cam policy. If you don't like it start your own video sharing company.
@@therabidsquirrelsage3388 Yeah, this is true about the TH-cam policy. We also see the contradicting use of this policy where TH-cam saturates videos supporting the war in Ukraine with Trump ads begging for money. Trump is the greatest threat to the US as a nation and the world as a whole. Other than his buddy Putin that is.
Notice the absence of photos of Black soldiers. This was a deliberate act to diminish their participation and credit for their heroism
@@VictorC107 You are expecting/looking for "trouble."
Without condescension, I was seven months on the front line without seeing any black soldier; except for a truck driver or two.
The ratio of white to black placed "blacks" as a small (invisible) minority. I assume there were "blacks" out there performing just as many "heroic acts" as their "white" counterparts. I am sure they performed magnificently in the Red Ball thing. and they were probably featured in "Stars and Stripes!
This is not a "social exercise." It is a war documentary and subject to editorial requirements.
Something wrong with you , if you get off on seeing dead bodies laying in the gutter
Great pictures....i was born in october 1945....i am 78 now, didnt realise how lucky we were to have missed the war.
Hey Einstein! 😂 You didn't realize that? Hard to believe!
Whoever blurred out the scenes should be punished. These images need to be seen so the viewers get the real story, not this.
Unfortunately that’s prob due to YT. They’ll take vids down with dead bodies, even historical ones.
Yes, due to YT. Yet YT allow videos of American civilians playing around with guns today despite the mass-shootings that happen there all the time.
100% 🎯
I agree totally. It’s all TH-cam
TH-cam did
As an amateur historian I have seen countless war documentaries! This was one of the better documentaries I have seen!
Have you seen The War by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick?
@@wk6291 Yes I have seen these documentaries and they were also very good!
If you look past the censored scenes off dead bodies which I think is important for people to see.
I grew up on WWll as they were always on the TV in my childhood home in the 1970s. This series blows them all away.
@@badmonkey2222 This one was a film for the public in 1945, where they didn't usually show graphic scenes of dead bodies. This was not filmed by the military but by a private company for the public.
So, it is not the typical war film you are used to seeing that is uncensored. Are you not going to play a graphic version in a theater? They didn't have TV that day, and kids were usually with their parents.
I was a Air Force Brat... 7:27 My father was stationed at Rhien 7:27 MainAir Force base in Frankfurt. I was ten years old.... I still remember the smell of wet concrete and diesel exhaust... The germans were doing a miraculous job of reconstructing and rebuilding their country. We were advised that the germans were no longer our enemy, but our ally. The rebuilding was miraculous. Much the same rebuilding Has taken place in vietnam, Where I flew twenty one consecutive months as an Air Force pilot in vietnam. I am very happy that the economy turned around for the people of vietnam.
It is unfortunate that the worst scenes of death have been blurred by TH-cam. The young who know so little could benefit from a dose of reality. Without such lessons, we are more likely to repeat these atrocities, rather than avoid them.
So you would prefer that youngsters see all those dead bodies? Never heard of civilization?
@@kekzoet7487 Yes. The second question is a non-sequitur.
There are plenty of places to see the unedited versions of the film or others like it. If someone watching this needs to see the dead in order to appreciate the horrors of the Third Reich, they can research and easily find it. Not every documentary has to be the one to show corpses. Restraint and respect of those who were killed can be honored without losing sight of the awful things that happened.
@@kekzoet7487, You mean the same youngsters who are protesting the world over in support of Hamas, a terrorist organization? You mean the youngsters who have lived a sheltered life and have no real life experience?
@jcalene, Remember back in the day at drivers ed class in high school? When they would show the uncensored films " Red Asphalt"? Those films showed us what could happen in real life while driving. The youngsters today are too soft, too spoiled and never been told " No" and entitled. Hell they have a meltdown if you tell them there are only 2 genders or call them by the wrong pronoun.
Absolutely stunning footage. Outstanding job. Thanks for sharing. I'm hoping this film will be apart of the education system.
Apart is very different from a part.
News
Absolutely brilliant footage from a time which should not be forgotten. Germany is a special place to visit with morals and respect for the allied forces during my time in Germany I was overwhelmed with the generosity and kindness of the good German people 🇬🇧🇩🇪❤️
Berlin greatest city in Europe. If you haven’t been you must !! You will need several days there.People so friendly. 🇬🇧
Blurring the images is doing a tremendous disservice to young people who will not get a true picture of what really happened. Shameful !
I agree. A policy of arrogance, we know better the viewers.
They want to monetize this obviously, as I have seen videos of concentration camps on TH-cam that weren’t censored. I’m guessing they censored this so they could monetize it.
Well said. We are treated like children. I saw the unedited versions of some of these pictures in the 1960's.
Well said Sir.
Agree. I keep coming back to this in my mind. How can the young know the truth if the horrors of war are hidden away.
My uncle was a rifleman in the 104th Infantry Div. He was at the liberation of Nordhausen. He said very little about it, but what he did say was enough!
Did he tell you that Nordhausen was bombed and that this was what killed the people?
My granddad was in the RAF and thank goodness he servied. He was the best ❤️
Brilliant colour film didn't want it to end I was enjoying it thanks Paul from england 🇬🇧
I was in GERMANY from 1976 to 1998 and met MANY nice German people. My Father-in-law was with ROMMEL in Africa till 1943 then was a POW ENDING up in America. I met MANY FRIENDLY Germans , especially farmers. When you made them a friend they were a friend for life!
I am 74 live in Canada, i enjoy these war documents,, for any one who was part of this , and survived , no matter what national flag,,, you lived an amazing life
@@peter2023 And these experiences belong to all of us, we are one in the spiritual realm. This is why we always have the need to connect with each other, even on the opposing sides. The war experience has brought humanity closer together, at least from the comments here.
You know I am a Gulf War veteran and I remember having British on our ship and visiting them, it was awkward. I tried talking to them about the music and things but they were just a little stuck up it seemed, or the few I tried to talk to, so I just kind of gave up, but the other people I met all over the world French people in Egypt, Egyptians Indians, Indian military, Russian girls in Egypt they were so friendly, we just talked for hours about little things, because of our language barrier was so great, but we had a great time and this seems like the same. Makes me really proud to see the Russian people and Americans and the French in the British all celebrating the victory. No doubt they'd probably seen a lot of Horrors before that day...
🤔strange that others of your countrymen who fought in the gulf, that I have personally spoken too seem to have had a very different experience of British troops. But you were there, I was not. As a Brit, I thank you for your service, sir. And I'm glad you made it home safe.
@orwellboy1958 thank you it was my pleasure and honor to serve I appreciate all the people that I've met that have served, or haven't served. Probably the interaction was more my fault, I just couldn't understand them, and I didn't put a lot of effort into it so I just kind of walked away pretty quick into it. Probably had a little to do with me being shy I'm friendly but I couldn't understand them and it made me feel a little awkward, I still remember that. Hell who knows they could have been embarrassed for me! Lol I gave it an attempt and then just walked it off we are having barbecue on the Helo pad they had games that I didn't participate in like tug of war and I don't remember it's more about it than that.
So sad that there is war at all. It is astounding how abhorrent and sickening war is, considering what it does to people who get caught in the fighting. Not only that but war is destructive to infrastructure, including buildings, homes, etc. The sight of buildings reduced to piles of rubble, the silence of dead people, and the deprivation and suffering of the survivors of war as they lost family members and friends in the shelling of cities and towns in the path of war. Thank you for this poignant video of the last days of World War 2.
I agree. War is the singular most horrible thing. Over and over a d over again.
Unfortunately, war & violence are a part of the human condition & I don't believe we'll ever overcome it. I fear that the world is becoming ripe for another major conflict. In other words, a world war. I truly believe that the human species will, sooner or later, become extinct through either, a war involving nuclear weapons or climate collapse. I hope like hell that I'm wrong.
Замечательный комментарий.Благодарю.
Thank you so much for the new films. Great narrations. 😊❤
Thank you for releasing these films.
However, please do not obscure the scenes of death. This is the whole point of capturing this period of time. Generations need to understand the reality of war.
I was born in '47. Visited Berlin in my early 20s, when it was divided into East and West. I love Germany and the German people.
the footage of this series is incredible
I really enjoyed this historically important video record. I lived in Germany for 7 years and gained a personal insight into modern post war Germany and its people and culture.
amazing footage... Thank you for the upload.
This is back when the United States was largely AGAINST authoritarianism. And being a deplorable person was still considered a BAD thing.
If it could ever be said that America was great, this time period was it.
LedHed Pb 207.20 🎶 🎸 🎹
One person's deplorable person is another's saint! That's the consequence of declining moral principles!
and now high tech and the Dems are pushing for increasing censorship and racial segregation
Ironically enough, here in this footage are communist and US troops shaking hand's and sharing laugh's!
So much tragedy and agony. I visited Germany in the 70's as a teen. They were lovely, cultured and more civilized than us Americans. I care about Germans deeply. Crazy that Germany and Japan were so brutal and maniacal in war.
And after all that sacrifice, Europe and to a great extent America as well, is keeling over to a new invader almost without a fight. I'm African but it bleeds my heart to see what is happening to the western world. Your forefathers truly died in vain, and may God have mercy on your souls.
I agree, and I consider all of them to be corrupt lying evil cowards. My uncles seemed to have fought for nothing if that's the way its gonna turn out.
LedHed Pb 207.20 🎶 🎸 🎹
We have the right of free information, so censorship like the blurring should be not allowed.The truth needs to be shown so that these cruelties never happen again.
I agree, though even with the truth widely disseminated, I suspect cruelties will still be a part of human history.
This really is fantastic footage. The images of the kids smoking, priceless
wtf , damn those kids were made tough to just smoke like that like as it’s nothing 😂
Of course it’s war .
I believe blurring violent or gory images in true-life depictions has a detrimental impact on society.
Agreed
Garbage
It's because of you tube.
Complain to them.
Just to be sure we are all clear. Regardless of any attempt to assign some kind of blame to the Americans for the way they were held, only 0.15% of German prisoners of war held by the Americans ever died. 35.8% 0f German ROW's held by the Russians died. 2.58% held by the French died. Only the Brits did better at 0.03% of the Greman POWs they held died. I get really tired and somewhat depressed by the people trying to blame the Americans for Germ,an POW's that were treated badly or died. America set a shining example.
Before talking you should look at germans did in the USSR and France before they were themselves occupied
The day of my father’s funeral I found out that he had helped liberate two of these camps. I was told he came home a different man. I watch these hoping to catch a glimpse of him. This is very important for all to see and never forget!
I was waiting for the part 2 - thanks so much for uploading! keep it up, your chan is awesome!
My Great Grandfather was captured by the Americans at that time and kept in one of those Rhine Meadows camps until the autumn. (My Grandfather had been wounded out of the war in Russia in 1943).
My Great Grandfather was not a young man by that time. He managed to escape and then stole a bicycle and cycled all the way home to Hannover.
When he got back apparently his legs were massively swollen by oedema (a sign of severe malnutrition). They tried to nurse him back to health but he never made a recovery and died 3 months later as a result.
Probably got clots that broke off into his lungs. I get severe swelling in my legs from time to time and twice have been hospitalized for massive clots in my lungs (pulmonary emboli). Without immediate medical attention and even with it, there’s a high chance of death.
Se hubiera quedado donde estaba.
what a story! we can only winder that had he not escaped he may have received medical attention that could have ultimately avoided this tragic end
Heart Breaking............
Even allowing for the possibility of 'colour shift' over time, film like this is a real gem for modern-day model makers.
A lot of this film is Kodachrome, and that is pretty much not shifting in colour.
If anything the colour shifts while transferred from the film itself to TV tape or digital file.
From PANAMÁ🇵🇦🤝👍👏 is an excelent documentary 🏆🎖
This video was done fantastically!
The US forces were using common sense and sensible tactics when approaching towns and villages in Germany.
Why lose men and material when you get to a town where defenders are firing on you when you can call in artillery and air strikes to destroy the defenders with little loss to your own side.
I remember a guy years ago saying the US would approach a town or village, and even if white flags were being hung out they would not hesitate to hit it with artillery at the first sign of resistance.
On some occasions they would hit the local church spire or tallest building deliberately just to show there was no point in resisting the US advance.
Some may say that was too aggressive but it also saved many lives that would otherwise have been lost in full artillery strikes and infantry battles to take villages.
Church towers were often used for sniping and recon by the enemy.
My mother was a 10-year-old girl that was starving and freezing in Paris because of what the Germans did, do you think I feel sorry for the German soldiers starving in those prisoner of war camps????? Let me check, no. Hundreds of thousands of kids died after the war because the infrastructure was destroyed. I feel sorry for what the kids went through, I don't give one iota of sympathy to the German soldiers. Just like the Confederate soldiers in 1861, they made a poor choice and have to live with it.
Why blaming the Germans? they were white in color.
Fascinating photography. Thanks
Thank you for posting this excellent documentary.
It kept my attention so strongly that I forgot about the pizza cooking in the oven.
Thank you for posting this.
But can you imagine the relief that you can wake up the next day and know you might see the sunset after god knows how long ?
No
It is absolutely shameful that these films are censored.
Thank you for sharing …….The Greatest Generation may they RIP ! Freedom is not Free !
The war is over. the joy that cannot be described in words
Yeah, and now we have wars all over the place
@@opoxious1592 Lets pray for peace.
@@emmanuelzozobrado5981 capitalism is not about peace it's about revenue )))
And sorrow, and wounds that will never quite heal...all in our collective consciousness, whether each individual can access it or not in this 3D physical vessel.
@@TrueChannelFor1 that is the military industrial complex of america. a sad reality
Very good documentary. Extremely informative and eye-opening.
The censorship of this documentary is very unfortunate.
Yes I am old enough I have seen all of the footage from world war II and I have heard the war correspondents talk in the footage. I have never heard any commentary like this one.
This was not censored, that was the rule they had when filming it. They were to show no dead bodies.
@@stephenludlum9746oh no. The blurring is done and/or ordered by TH-cam. TH-cam doesn't like the truth. It wants to spare our delicate sensibilities.
its not "unfortunate" ------------> it is CENSORSHIP
A fascinating video which was ruined for me by TH-cam blanking out all images of the dead of WWII. I'm not a ghoul, but the imagery of war is part of its documentation.
Buy the dvd then , what do you want for nothing
I'm sure my dear Mother and Father would have been transfixed by this narration. My father went to England from Canada near the beginning, when he met and married my mother. My two elder sisters were born in England during the war.
I am glad you got to see this.
These films are excellent. Thank you.
I remember slogging in a spiral when my outfit entered the Ruhr.
The three hundred thousand Germans that surrendered were being driven out in trucks; raising clouds of dust we had do walk in. Most of them were still armed. The damn Germans were making fun of us as we swallowed their dust! (5th Inf, Div.)
Most of the Germans that surrendered were still armed?
Thank you for sharing this with us, such a new take on the war. Can I ask though why they have to mention special film crew 186 so often?
My Grandpa said they shot everything. A couple times a German would pretend to surrender and then kill a couple guys. After this happened a couple times they shot everyone. He said they were 15-18 year old kids many times. 3rd Infantry Div.
In the 3rd Army was when they went into a town and fighting had ceased, there would the occasionalsniper that would start firing at the US troops. The building would be located by the civilians in the town because if not, the troops would level the city block where the sniper was located.
General Wenck of the Twelfth Army located to the west of Berlin to guard against the advancing American and British forces. But, as the Western Front moved eastwards and the Eastern Front moved westwards, the German armies making up both backed towards each other. As a result, the area of control of Wenck's army to his rear and east of the Elbe River had become a vast refugee camp for Germans fleeing from the approaching Soviet Army.
A Great produced video ~n excellent BUT WHAT WITH BLURRING out of fallen / dead.. For goodness sake this was war and it should NEVER be be forgotten ~ grimaces and horrors!
Please
Spellbinding! Thank you.
Excellent video ! Bless all of them.
Thank you for an amazing documentary!
Thank you for this poignant video.The first time I have seen WWll end days portrayed ,great work!
Great video, thank you for sharing!
It is sad humans never learn.
A great Doc only to be ruined by blurred images that must be shown in all its gory detail so the message gets through displaying the horrors of war.!!!
Blame youtube.
Typical that all the commercials during these documentaries are all fighting games.
My Dad was there. He told me about guarding prisoners near Berlin. Purple Heart, Bronze Star for Valor! Harry Rhorer, the very best.
There is nothing like old school film. Beautiful!
0
One of the sad things about the Red Army occupation of Eastern Germany and the creation of the East German State was that after the Wall came down and we in the West were allowed to visit those former East German cities such as Leipzig, we found that the city still looked like much of what you see here. There were still masses of rubble left over from the WWII bombings that had never been cleaned up. I remember that all construction and infrastructure maintenance projects in the Western part of Germany ceased at that time so that money and labor were reassigned to cleanup the mess that was left in the Eastern part of the country.
Lies!
I saw that myself. In the early 2,000's, I visited Germany several times, and the difference between eastern and western Berlin was quite noticeable. In the former East Berlin, everything seemed brand new and modern. No doubt due to the immense amount of money that Germany spent to renovate that part of the city.
No Potemkin Cities?
Excellent Presentation Thankyou
I don't agree with censorship on historical film documentation, they full horror should be shown however awful it is. Only way to educate people. Harsh though it may be.
These are brilliant documentaries, but is there a reason why the phrase "Special film project 186" is repeated every time that a camera is mentioned??
It’s a shame that certain hard-to-view portions of the documentary have been blurred out (censored) by TH-cam. Only by being confronted by the full reality can future atrocities be avoided. Why not give viewers the choice of viewing sensitive material???
Believe me, the kids are watching enough brazilian beheadings and shootings online. Sadly it does not prevent these things, rather desensitizes people to it.
In that sense, its better to save those views for the rare occasion, so that they dont lose their shock. Otherwise we become used to it, and accepting of it.
The russians in bucha likely had a lot of violence back home, so the front and the civilians were just new playthings and now they had rifles. While western forces try to save casualties because they still have humanity on their side.
Excellent footage and narration
Excellent footage, unfortunately i had to give it a thumbs down due to blurred footage.
Prachtige documentaire in kleur over een periode die we hopelijk nooit moeten meemaken
War IS hell.
I've been to Torgau on the anniversary of the meeting. Impressive.
This should be shown in schools !. Marvellous footage and commentry. 😮😢😅😂😊❤ Thanks all. Dave
Good doc. but why are the dead bodies censored and blurred out?
Just an amazing document of a mad time.
Brilliant footage. Never seen before in my 40 years of WW2 interest. But why blurring footage of gruesome images? It only shows the real horror of war...
Anyone can search hundreds of websites that will show dead bodies from all the wars uncensored. So what are people complaining about. If kids want to see the truth they should have enough brains to search other websites that show everything.
Thank youtube for that.
Enemy or not, it's pitiful seeing those young German boys forced into war, all those young lives destroyed.
Historical authenticity, context, or other auspices should permit every frame to be viewable in it’s entirety.
Great video
Love the GI smoking in a haystack at 5:58
man was this good so much of that meeting I had not seen b 4, thank you & thank you GS! & team now I want to watch SHANE AGAIN
always makes me wonder. what did the germans think they were gonna get? a 3 room suite at the local spa with massages at 1 and drinks at 3? yes. camp was hell but at least they werent being gassed or shot.
Chilling, revelatory and breathtaking in equal measure. It's a wow out of ten tbqfhwy.
This was the end of the war in Europe but Japan continued to fight on until the atomic bombs were dropped some months later.
Thank you
yes ,excellent
I Love your documentaries. Yeah, I’m of the mindset that the film should not be blurred, but it is what it is.
Troops in Uniform are EASIER TO HANDLE THAN THOSE COWARDS IN CIVILIAN ATTIRE
Don't rely on TH-cam to keep this memory alive. We, 😢we must keep this memory alive 😢😢😢
Why block out the scenes of dead bodies? People need to see the horrors of war to remind them it is not some abstract concept. To see the fast and terrible outcome of such savagery is to remind us why it is something to be avoided at almost all costs.
That was the rule the filmmakers had. They were a private company doing the filming, not the military.
@@stephenludlum9746No. I’ve seen the unedited film numerous times. The blocked out scenes are to comply with TH-cam guidelines.
I think the population understood that “relocation” occurred…very clearly. What they only dared to contemplate was that relocation meant the worst…to death.