I knew a guy who made this jump. He was shot in the foot. He was a Communications officer. He was captured at Nijmegen later in the war and sent to the US as a POW and came back to the US and became a citizen in the 50's.
@@Cheeki_breeki6 yes he was an SS- UnterStrumfuhrer.His name was Gerhard Franzky. He wrote a book called learning to walk He was shot in the foot while coming down in his chute and had to learn how to walk again hence the title.
@@mikebrase5161 fantastic piece of additional info, thankyou sir! it is always worth reading comments under Dr Feltons videos, there are quite often little beautys of additional info on the videos subject.
Stane Dolanc one of Yugoslav high officials and close Tito's aides was asked once by a journalist about rumors that Yugoslavia would disintegrate after Tito's death. He said: "If someone attacks us they will see how united we are." The journalist then asked: "What if no one attacks you?"
@@AA-bz1pr problem is it was an artificial creation so many issues. I did 3 tours there, beautiful country and people were great, just no to each other
Tačno, a i Staljinu je poslao pismo posle ne znam koliko pokušaja staljina da ubije tita..." nemoj vise slati ljude da me ubiju jee cu biti prinudjen da ja posaljem agente pri cemu necu imati potrebu dabih saljem drugi put" Opasan Tito bio pravi diplomata.
@@richardm3023 It's Tito's famous letter to Stalin. “Stalin. Stop sending people to kill me. We've already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle… If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send another.”
Please put some flowers on this sacred ground. I was marriedcto a Serbian and her pop survived until 1945 wgere he died from kidney disease.hiswife was tortured and spent the next 60 term in an institution. My exwifes mum was looked after in in orphanage and was a very cold and strange woman. Its the aftermath of the war that affects generations to this day. My ex never had a childhood either but a fantastic mother to our children. The best thing her parents did was to immigrate to Australia where we have a large population of Serbian people.
Piss in the cave, just a bunch of communist, that bled the fake made up country called Yugoslavia, right up till the end of 1990s war country was poor, look at Croatia now… land of gold
@@edwardcuruvijapenrose5081 Good answer and he forget to mention enormous emigration to europe to find work, Yugoslavia had a economy in the 80 s a lot of countrys wish for. And in time of big earthquake a lot of coastline was destroyed Yugoslavia build it up again. People that post these comment are usually the ones that don't live in ex Yugoslavia anymore.
You're good Dr. Felton! When you said "elite SS paratroopers" I remember reading that they were a penal battalion and therefore not very motivated, but you addressed that point and clarified further their combat quality. Kudos to you, sir!
Their command left quite a bit to be desired, but the entire plan was flawed. Deeply so. The Nazis consistently underestimated the reaction time of the partisans but also their ability to hold a battle line.
maybe-this was the some kind part of eastern front..In YUG there was 10 german divissions, 122 divission on Russia and 12 divission in western europe..So Balkan was good mess
Mark very accurate view on the particular offensive by Germans, the only thing that needs to be corrected is that initial partisan position was stormed for there was only 3 companies ( 300 men or so) guarding the perimeter, plus at that time there was a military school in Drvar, with teachers roughly (80 to 100 man) , main partisan force came from place called Trubari wich is some 20 km away from Drvar. The unit that stopped the Germans is 3. Lika Proleterian Brigade, unit that really distinguished itself during that battle. In a 15-hour battle it nearly destroyed entire SS regiment. They fought a good fight that day, I think they deserve to be mentioned.
More eye-opening revelations from TH-cam's premier authority on the fascinating insights into the history that nobody else knows about the Second World War. Keep 'em coming, Mark!
Thank you .My grand grand father fought with him . His name was Josip Surname Broz , Tito .We engaged 33 German divisions during the war .And we won despite all odds. Ideas and longing for freedom are bulletproof .Respect from Beograd mr Felton.
Stalin hated Tito, he tried to take Tito out few times but after 3rd attempt Tito said that 'somebody in Moscow tried to do-away with me but failed thrice, but If, I have to take out somebody in Moscow than I can assure you I will only try once & will be successful' The message was received & understood to the concerned quarters in Moscow and Tito lived till his natural death 1980.
As a Canadian stationed in Lahr Germany I ended up in Yugoslavia in 1991 after Tito died and the civil war broke out. As a young Captain I was deeply affected by the cruelty show by both sides against each other. My mission changed from a cease fire monitor to a cease fire violator monitor very quickly and I left there with a completely different perspective on humanity. To this day I think about my time there and how proud I was to have tried to help the people who suffered there. Thanks Mark for showing me how this all came about. 🇨🇦
@@romanlesjak3844 I mean 200 000 rats who sowed all the death and destruction on Croatia and bosnia in the 90s. They just escaped scott free when they should've been hanged by their guts
Though pretty ballsy to jump into such an environment, whoever approved the use of paratroopers in such a fashion should've been drop-kicked. WTF? Jumping into a mountainous area, no real DZ to speak of, not to mention crap LZs for the gliders. Then, to top it off, two daylight jumps with one at mid-day when the enemy is alerted to the assault. Rather amazing the 500th had anyone survive.
Same thing in Crete. The German intel on Crete was so off the mark that I wonder if it was a deliberate attempt at sabotage. If not, it was sheer stupidity.
The video didn’t really get into it much, however the 5XX series was officially a penal battalion, (mostly what would be considered.low level infractions today - gambling, falling asleep, etc). Nonetheless expendable and if they failed it wouldn’t be a large issue. The volunteers were NCO’s, Comms, etc. German drops were low level chute pops and you are on the ground (the chutes didn’t offer any options for navigating). The intel on the drop zone from aerial recon turned out to be bad, what was thought to be a stronghold turned out to be a walled cemetery. The good - the walls offered some protection throughout the battle, however Titos forces had the high ground and Tito was not in the immediate area. The unit was reformed after this operation, and ultimately was no longer a penal unit as the 600th.
This timing is impeccable, I just finished reading Eugene Systems post about their ongoing work for the Nemesis: Raid on Drvar DLC for Steel Division Two. This gives some nice context! Great video as always Mark.
4:00 Tito is on the right side of the picture , left of him with the hand in the back is Edvard Kardelj the main brain behind Tito's way of socialisms, which was quite different than Soviets or Chinese. Yugoslavia had semi free market, citizens could freely travel, small private business wasn't unusual, etc.
@@andro7862 i dont know the exact unit. But i can tell you stories of my other great grandfathers. One was forced to go to the Italian army, he participated in the Battle of El Alamein, (he was an ethnic Slovene) then, he was captured by the French foreign legion. He was then given to the British and was trained by them. And sent into a prekomorska partisan brigade, and went to Yugoslavia. The 3rd great grandfather was in the Ustaše, in 1942 he went to the Partisans. He joined the ustaše because he was a Croatian patriot, he was later sent to goli otok.... The 4th was a Croatian who served in the Dalmatinska udarna brigada, he fought in battles from Split all the way to Trieste
@@okm8750 Wow that's an amazing family history. I'm sure with more details I can find their units. My grandpa never told us his unit name, but we later deduced he was in the in the 11th Udarna. The Slovene one could possibly have been in the 5th Prekomorska. Did he ever mention spending time in London, England? If he was there then he was in the 5th. The 4th great-grandfather then fought the same battles as my grandpa, though not sure if he was also in the 11th brigade.
@@andro7862 It is possible he spent his time in England. He was trained as the Airplane signaler guy. I don't know that much about the 4th great grandfather. The only thing i know is that he was in a udarna brigada, and was present during the liberation of Trieste. The only person i have a lot of details about is the great grandfather that served in the Ustaše. He first served in the Peasent's (Maček's) civil protection. Paramilitary wing of HSS, he was a officer of the Ustaše. Upon realising that Pavelić was a brutal, bad man. As i said, joined the Partisans in 1942.
Thank you Mark sincerely for posting this material..my grandad was there -The Third Licka Proletarian brigade ..our beloved former Yugoslavia ❤️warm greetings from Montenegro 🇲🇪
Thanks so much for your films Dr. Felton. There is so much that I thought I knew but you find bits and pieces of history that make the other parts all fit together. After watching these videos I do a little more research that I couldn't do without having the information that you supply. I hope the History Channel pays attention to your channel. It is woeful these days with pseudo-science and fantasy masquerading as history, but the aliens ... I guess they were right about them. LOL
Mark did leave out the fact that Germany and Yugoslavia had formed an alliance(the pact of steel) but then the Yugoslav government was overthrown in a coup and the new government broke the treaty. The coup was supported by Britain and with possible assistance from the USSR.
Grandfather participated in this. He was cadre with the flight training unit SG151 in the area with flight cadets (and cadre) provided air support with their JU87s and newly issued FW190s. It was an emergency order, but they had tactical capabilities, but not for sustained yearly missions.
Thanks heaps ! We Croats are proud of the Partisan movement and condemn the Pavelic Nazi puppet "state" . My grandfather was a 14 year old partisan scout. Please make a video about the Battle at river Neretva. Or about the battle for Sutjeska.
I didn't think I would ever have a criticism to make about any of your videos, but here we are. The Raid to rescue Mussolini was conducted by regular Fallschirmjagers and the only SS man there was Otto Skorzeny himself. He did not command the raid and was only along as an observer and armed only with a pistol. Luckily for him, the Italian soldiers didn't fire a shot. However he got himself in the front of the photos as if he had done it all by himself. He then insisted on going on the Feisler Storch plane with Mussolini and badly overloaded it with his bulk. The pilot managed to make a successful takeoff, despite this great handicap and once back in Berlin, Skorzeny made the most of the story to better his position.But, if it hadn't been for the skill of the pilot, Skorzeny would have gone down in history as the dead weight that killed Mussolini.
When He died, there was a world gathering event on the funeral. Almost every country had a representative that day. Can't think of any leader today that would have the same thing.
Another good one Mark. Bugger jumping into that terrain. Fractured a vertebrae after the airforce dropped us 400m off the dz into rocky ground. Battalion had 40 percent casualties and we weren't being shot at like those fallschirmjager.
Thank you for this fascinating episode. It would take days to talk about numerous examples of self sacrifices made by the partisans on the day to keep the German attack in check. My fathers uncle was a member of the escort battalion and many years ago spoke about hellish hand to hand combat between the partisan young men and women in Drvar against the invading SS paratroopers.
The logistics of putting that amount of resources together must have been a difficult endeavor considering that Germany was being bled by the fighting with the Soviets on the East front.
you forgot all about how the western allies had almost total air superiority by this point. most of the luftwaffe was engaged to western allies and the likes of prinz eugen division was fighting againt british backed partizans from the begining, not against the soviets
@@andrewweninger1059 there was a book I've read when i was younger about that very short read but it said as the british were handing them over the soviets were shooting them behind a building in same area
Found others... Judenburg, AustriaEdit On 1-2 June 18,000 Cossacks were handed over to the Soviets near the town of Judenburg, Austria; of those in custody, some ten officers and 50-60 Cossacks escaped the guards' cordon with hand grenades, and hid in a nearby wood.[4] Near Graz, AustriaEdit The Russian Cossacks of XV Cossack Cavalry Corps, stationed in Yugoslavia since 1943, were part of the column headed for Austria that would take part in the Bleiburg repatriations, and they are estimated to have numbered in the thousands.[20] Nikolai Tolstoy quotes a telegram by General Harold Alexander, sent to the Combined Chiefs of Staff, noting "50,000 Cossacks including 11,000 women, children and old men".[21] At a location near Graz, British forces repatriated around 40,000 Cossacks to SMERSH.[22] Fort Dix, New Jersey, United StatesEdit Although repatriations mainly occurred in Europe, 154 Cossacks were repatriated to the USSR from Fort Dix, New Jersey, in the United States; three committed suicide in the US and seven were injured.[23][24] Epstein states that the prisoners put up considerable resistance: First, they refused to leave their barracks when ordered to do so. The military police then used tear gas, and, half-dazed, the prisoners were driven under heavy guard to the harbor where they were forced to board a Soviet vessel. Here the two hundred immediately started to fight. They fought with their bare hands. They started - with considerable success - to destroy the ship's engines. ... A sergeant ... mixed barbiturates into their coffee. Soon, all of the prisoners fell into a deep, coma-like sleep. It was in this condition that the prisoners were brought to another Soviet boat for a speedy return to Stalin's hangmen.[18] Marseilles, FranceEdit Cossacks were included in the hundreds who were repatriated to the Soviet Union from Marseilles in 1946.[25] Rimini and Bologna, ItalyEdit Several hundred Cossacks were repatriated to the Soviet Union from camps close to Venice in 1947. Some 100 Cossacks perished in resistance to forcible repatriations at Rimini and Bologna.[26] Liverpool, EnglandEdit Thousands of Russians, many of them Cossacks, were transported at the height of armed hostilities in 1944 to Murmansk in an operation that also led to the sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz.[27]
Fitzroy Maclean was a man so highly respected in communist Croatia that he was allowed to buy a large house on Korčula island after the war. The only foreigner ever to do so.
Always learn about some of the most interesting stuff from your videos. And I always think of myself as pretty well read up on goings-on during wartime. Keep up the great work, always gonna come back for more. Cheers!
Tito was an exceptionally shrewd leader. I remember that when he died in 1980 he was considered the last of the great WW2 statesmen. Not a bad career for a guy from humble farm-boy beginnings who never attended a university but learned the trade of a metalworker. Before WW1, Josip Broz worked briefly for both Daimler and Skoda, which are still among Europe's auto-makers 110 years later.
@@peterbowie7347 That's the most cringeworthy serb-revisionist conspiracy theory ever. And there are many serb-revisionist conspiracy theories out there
"shrewd leader" the only thing he cared about is his own skin and luxury life he had as a dictator, while ordinary ppl drove shitty cars unable to buy a normal washing detergent, he was driving expensive mercedes cars, living in mansions, and smoking fat cigars like some kind of a south american narco boss/banana dictator. He never made any plans to secure yugoslavias stable future after his death, so when he died the country was doomed, a problem with any dictatorial regime with a cult of personality.
Great video. Using basic round canopy parachutes to deploy troops during the day into rugged terrain was a recipe for disaster. It’s a surprise the SS didn’t loose more men.
Я в гдр служил и видел немецкого ветерана десантника - это ребята был настоящий волк!.. Мы советские десантники очень хотели с ним поговорить но наш командир отогнал нас и сказал-Вы слышали выражение «руки по локоть в крови»?!.. так вот он и такие как он не просто-«по локоть..» - а по колено!.. - ПО ПОЯС В КРОВИ ХОДИЛИ!!!..
Well, they would've been the real butt end of a joke if the actual elite, the 1st Luftlande Regiment, would've dropped instead -- the real "Green devils".
I wish you would show the Brazilian FEB fighting along with the US 5th Army in 1945, especially the battle for Fornovo against the battle-hardened Germans - and the surrender of the German 149th Division and the Italian Bersagliere Division to one single Brazilian division in April,1945.
One little corection: Tito wasn't Yugoslav sargent. He was actually Austro-Hungaryan NCO and he fought in Serbia in 1914. and later in Russia where he got captured.
May 1944... Yugoslavia.... and you are there................. thanks, Mark.... Tito has always been an interesting leader though under reported and not well understood..................... Bill in Vermont
My History teacher was an Vietnam veteran in High School. He said he thought he had the safest job. Being an air traffic controller. The tower took a direct hit from a rocket.
How come US GOV are so scare to show Vietnamese president letter he wrote to US that time He was in respect of US but US and profit are evil for all Planet Unfortunately not US people GOV and rich profit maggots
Good job, how do you decide what topics to cover in your videos? Do you have specific themes or historical truths you want to convey over the course of your videos, or is it more interesting bits you’ve uncovered through your broader research?
Just two small corrections: 1.Josip Broz Tito wasn't Yugoslav army officer of any kind (because I assume that the video refers to his career predating WW2). He was in fact an ex Austro-Hungarian corporal. He was captured on the eastern front in WW1, and returned post war to lead the communist party in Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and later Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As such, he wasn't part of Kingdom's armed forces. 2. Dinaric Mountains are not part of the Alps, but consist their own range.
My grandpa was there in partizans.He told me that the ss killed civilians and especialy children in town drvar and vilages. When they found the bodies after that they had no mercy for ss . He told me when he fired at paratroopers it was like falling rain only it was bloody rain.
The guys in your thumbnail looks like they are dresses in 80/90s style US woodland Camouflage (BDU) I'm always impressed with the sophistication of the Germans with Camouflage during this era.
I think, think mind you, that if you notice the German parachutes were drawn/deployed out of the pack/tray and were attached to the back of the jumper. US parachutes were also deployed out of a pack/tray on the back, but were attached to the jumper at the shoulders, by risors. The difference meant that the jumpers assumed different body positions upon exiting the aircraft to allow better deployment of the chute. German chutes also did not allow any control because the chutes were attached to the back, out of reach. I say again, I think that. I never jumped a parachute like that and I WELCOME any corrections by more experienced jumpers. Thanks!
@@Gronk79 Yeah, if you watch German FJ coming down in training videos they dangle from a big ring at the back between the shoulder blades, They have no directional control and they just kind of windmill around waving arms and legs trying to gain some kind of control, especially if there's any kind of breeze. Also due to the crappy parachute design, they jumped armed with nothing but a pistol, with all other weapons and ammo carried in those canisters you see being dropped from the JU-52s in this video (No kidding! Dropping into a combat zone with nothing but a pistol requires either balls of steel or a death wish). As a consequence, they were easy meat from the time they hit the ground until they could reach a weapons pack.
Hey Mark, any chance you could talk about when the Royal navy fired at French ships in WW2? I've only just learned about it and I'm both shocked and intrigued!
I knew a guy who made this jump. He was shot in the foot. He was a Communications officer. He was captured at Nijmegen later in the war and sent to the US as a POW and came back to the US and became a citizen in the 50's.
ended up good for him, I'd say!!
He was an SS man?
@@Cheeki_breeki6 yes he was an SS- UnterStrumfuhrer.His name was Gerhard Franzky. He wrote a book called learning to walk He was shot in the foot while coming down in his chute and had to learn how to walk again hence the title.
@@mikebrase5161 fantastic piece of additional info, thankyou sir!
it is always worth reading comments under Dr Feltons videos, there are quite often little beautys of additional info on the videos subject.
@@dannythomson5239 and from a generous and generally polite group of commenters
Nobody messes with Yugoslava. We prefer to do it ourselves.
Yugoslavia was bored of no one being able to destroy them... so they did it themselves
A sad truth
Stane Dolanc one of Yugoslav high officials and close Tito's aides was asked once by a journalist about rumors that Yugoslavia would disintegrate after Tito's death. He said: "If someone attacks us they will see how united we are." The journalist then asked: "What if no one attacks you?"
@@AA-bz1pr problem is it was an artificial creation so many issues. I did 3 tours there, beautiful country and people were great, just no to each other
@@kieranlillis7121 Its a shame we cant all get along really, but it is what it is
Tito has SS and Stalin coming for his head and he outlived both.
Tačno, a i Staljinu je poslao pismo posle ne znam koliko pokušaja staljina da ubije tita..." nemoj vise slati ljude da me ubiju jee cu biti prinudjen da ja posaljem agente pri cemu necu imati potrebu dabih saljem drugi put" Opasan Tito bio pravi diplomata.
@@LoFiOAS1S Talk American! Ya heathen Frenchman.
And Tito outlived Michael.
@Andrija Garovic He was being sardonic
@@richardm3023 It's Tito's famous letter to Stalin.
“Stalin. Stop sending people to kill me. We've already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle… If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send another.”
I'm in Drvar right now visiting family and Tito's cave is a massive tourist attraction here. Its a pain to climb up there though.
Please put some flowers on this sacred ground. I was marriedcto a Serbian and her pop survived until 1945 wgere he died from kidney disease.hiswife was tortured and spent the next 60 term in an institution. My exwifes mum was looked after in in orphanage and was a very cold and strange woman. Its the aftermath of the war that affects generations to this day. My ex never had a childhood either but a fantastic mother to our children. The best thing her parents did was to immigrate to Australia where we have a large population of Serbian people.
Piss in the cave, just a bunch of communist, that bled the fake made up country called Yugoslavia, right up till the end of 1990s war country was poor, look at Croatia now… land of gold
@@hercg1967 70.73% debt to GDP, what a land of gold genius.
@@edwardcuruvijapenrose5081 I was referring to the beauty of the country
@@edwardcuruvijapenrose5081 Good answer and he forget to mention enormous emigration to europe to find work, Yugoslavia had a economy in the 80 s a lot of countrys wish for.
And in time of big earthquake a lot of coastline was destroyed Yugoslavia build it up again.
People that post these comment are usually the ones that don't live in ex Yugoslavia anymore.
I wouldve stayed awake in history class if Mark was my teacher
Yes mark is the best
U probably wouldn't. Wisdom and interest with things that matter come with age.
You're right,,!!! the video would had helped alot,good day!!
It helps Mark only does WW2, alot of people cant handle 3 hour talks about the Celts.
i killed the pedo historiy teacher
You're good Dr. Felton! When you said "elite SS paratroopers" I remember reading that they were a penal battalion and therefore not very motivated, but you addressed that point and clarified further their combat quality. Kudos to you, sir!
Their command left quite a bit to be desired, but the entire plan was flawed. Deeply so. The Nazis consistently underestimated the reaction time of the partisans but also their ability to hold a battle line.
maybe-this was the some kind part of eastern front..In YUG there was 10 german divissions, 122 divission on Russia and 12 divission in western europe..So Balkan was good mess
And yet another interesting example of history I knew nothing about until now. Thanks as always for the lesson.
Mark very accurate view on the particular offensive by Germans, the only thing that needs to be corrected is that initial partisan position was stormed for there was only 3 companies ( 300 men or so) guarding the perimeter, plus at that time there was a military school in Drvar, with teachers roughly (80 to 100 man) , main partisan force came from place called Trubari wich is some 20 km away from Drvar. The unit that stopped the Germans is 3. Lika Proleterian Brigade, unit that really distinguished itself during that battle. In a 15-hour battle it nearly destroyed entire SS regiment. They fought a good fight that day, I think they deserve to be mentioned.
More eye-opening revelations from TH-cam's premier authority on the fascinating insights into the history that nobody else knows about the Second World War. Keep 'em coming, Mark!
>tfw you're so feared by the enemy that they send multiple special forces units to take you out
he lived chad life indeed
They failed and he lived. That's some achievement
I'd drink to that ... if I weren't such a Tito-taler.
I'll show myself out now.
Thank you .My grand grand father fought with him . His name was Josip Surname Broz , Tito .We engaged 33 German divisions during the war .And we won despite all odds. Ideas and longing for freedom are bulletproof .Respect from Beograd mr Felton.
Tito the man who Hitler and Stalin couldn’t kill.
Stalin hated Tito, he tried to take Tito out few times but after 3rd attempt Tito said that 'somebody in Moscow tried to do-away with me but failed thrice, but If, I have to take out somebody in Moscow than I can assure you I will only try once & will be successful'
The message was received & understood to the concerned quarters in Moscow and Tito lived till his natural death 1980.
@@exploreradverturer8396 thats badass lol
@@exploreradverturer8396 this didn't happen btw. It's just old bullshit story
A very accurate description of Tito.
@@NoNoseProductionyou are funny
As a Canadian stationed in Lahr Germany I ended up in Yugoslavia in 1991 after Tito died and the civil war broke out. As a young Captain I was deeply affected by the cruelty show by both sides against each other. My mission changed from a cease fire monitor to a cease fire violator monitor very quickly and I left there with a completely different perspective on humanity. To this day I think about my time there and how proud I was to have tried to help the people who suffered there. Thanks Mark for showing me how this all came about. 🇨🇦
Stop equalizing victims and mourders
@@borisfilipovic5253 aha, so you are trying to tell the Croats were angels and all the yugoslav/serbian troops murders?
@@romanlesjak3844 we were to merciful. We shouldn't have let 200 000 rats escape without proper punishment
@@josephcro2138 you mean Ustasa or who you referr to this 200.000?
@@romanlesjak3844 I mean 200 000 rats who sowed all the death and destruction on Croatia and bosnia in the 90s. They just escaped scott free when they should've been hanged by their guts
Great video again. The history of Yugoslavia is my field of interest. Thank you, Dr. Felton.
He's a historian, not a medic, you dummy.
I remember reading about this operation as a kid, thank you for the video Dr. Felton.
I missed this history lesson, thanks again Dr. Felton.
4.24 Mark answers my previous question. What a guy.
Though pretty ballsy to jump into such an environment, whoever approved the use of paratroopers in such a fashion should've been drop-kicked. WTF? Jumping into a mountainous area, no real DZ to speak of, not to mention crap LZs for the gliders. Then, to top it off, two daylight jumps with one at mid-day when the enemy is alerted to the assault. Rather amazing the 500th had anyone survive.
To the risk-takers go the rewards
@@zefallafez Mass casualties and numerous unmarked graves from a nearly forgotten mission?
@@zefallafez Yeah, an early death and a failed mission lol
Same thing in Crete. The German intel on Crete was so off the mark that I wonder if it was a deliberate attempt at sabotage. If not, it was sheer stupidity.
The video didn’t really get into it much, however the 5XX series was officially a penal battalion, (mostly what would be considered.low level infractions today - gambling, falling asleep, etc). Nonetheless expendable and if they failed it wouldn’t be a large issue. The volunteers were NCO’s, Comms, etc. German drops were low level chute pops and you are on the ground (the chutes didn’t offer any options for navigating). The intel on the drop zone from aerial recon turned out to be bad, what was thought to be a stronghold turned out to be a walled cemetery. The good - the walls offered some protection throughout the battle, however Titos forces had the high ground and Tito was not in the immediate area. The unit was reformed after this operation, and ultimately was no longer a penal unit as the 600th.
This timing is impeccable, I just finished reading Eugene Systems post about their ongoing work for the Nemesis: Raid on Drvar DLC for Steel Division Two. This gives some nice context! Great video as always Mark.
I am happy to listen to M. Felton, because his videos remind me oldschool documentaries used to be aired on tv once upon the time.
It would be nice if Mark felton could make an episode about South Africa's and other Commonwealth nations involvement in WW2
Yes please
Maybe!
the South African border war and the SADF in the 60's would also be very good.
If your going to do all of these could you do a vid on when Britain colonised 25% of the worlds land mass.
PLEASE!
I'd love to see one about the Desert Rats of Tobruk. As an Australian I really like their story.
4:00 Tito is on the right side of the picture , left of him with the hand in the back is Edvard Kardelj the main brain behind Tito's way of socialisms, which was quite different than Soviets or Chinese. Yugoslavia had semi free market, citizens could freely travel, small private business wasn't unusual, etc.
Great cultural scene as well! Fantastic movies, music, rock groups etc....
Don`t forget they had "Goli Otok "( Barren Island) gulag for those people who couldn`t keep their mouth shut all the time.
@@northernstar4811 You ate fake news
@@northernstar4811 nope, Goli otok was reserved for psychopats and corrupt civil parasites. Thats whats lacking today
Traveled through there twice in '73-'74. Cheap wine, unbelievably littered highways and beaches, but the mountains were fabulous, as was Dubrovnik.
Again, thank you for your programs, Mark.
My great grandfather participated in this event. He was in the partisans, he survived.
Which unit?
My grandfather too!
It was partisan unit named- VI lička division.They was located 5-6 kilometers away from Drvar.
@@andro7862 i dont know the exact unit. But i can tell you stories of my other great grandfathers. One was forced to go to the Italian army, he participated in the Battle of El Alamein, (he was an ethnic Slovene) then, he was captured by the French foreign legion. He was then given to the British and was trained by them. And sent into a prekomorska partisan brigade, and went to Yugoslavia. The 3rd great grandfather was in the Ustaše, in 1942 he went to the Partisans. He joined the ustaše because he was a Croatian patriot, he was later sent to goli otok.... The 4th was a Croatian who served in the Dalmatinska udarna brigada, he fought in battles from Split all the way to Trieste
@@okm8750 Wow that's an amazing family history. I'm sure with more details I can find their units. My grandpa never told us his unit name, but we later deduced he was in the in the 11th Udarna.
The Slovene one could possibly have been in the 5th Prekomorska. Did he ever mention spending time in London, England? If he was there then he was in the 5th.
The 4th great-grandfather then fought the same battles as my grandpa, though not sure if he was also in the 11th brigade.
@@andro7862 It is possible he spent his time in England. He was trained as the Airplane signaler guy.
I don't know that much about the 4th great grandfather. The only thing i know is that he was in a udarna brigada, and was present during the liberation of Trieste.
The only person i have a lot of details about is the great grandfather that served in the Ustaše. He first served in the Peasent's (Maček's) civil protection. Paramilitary wing of HSS, he was a officer of the Ustaše. Upon realising that Pavelić was a brutal, bad man. As i said, joined the Partisans in 1942.
Great content! You're making lots of people happy.
Tito or This That, This video is exactly what I have come to expect from That genius Dr Felton
Thank you Mark sincerely for posting this material..my grandad was there -The Third Licka Proletarian brigade ..our beloved former Yugoslavia ❤️warm greetings from Montenegro 🇲🇪
6th, he thanked them very well by forbidding in 1970 last Serb cultural society "Prosveta" , bunch of idiots anyway ha ha
I had never heard of Tito until now. Thanks once again for educating me Dr Felton!
o_O
bruh
Double bruh.
Check out Sterling Hayden, he has a few words about Tito...
Triple bruh
Thanks so much for your films Dr. Felton. There is so much that I thought I knew but you find bits and pieces of history that make the other parts all fit together. After watching these videos I do a little more research that I couldn't do without having the information that you supply. I hope the History Channel pays attention to your channel. It is woeful these days with pseudo-science and fantasy masquerading as history, but the aliens ... I guess they were right about them. LOL
Mark did leave out the fact that Germany and Yugoslavia had formed an alliance(the pact of steel) but then the Yugoslav government was overthrown in a coup and the new government broke the treaty. The coup was supported by Britain and with possible assistance from the USSR.
Great story and information. Thank you Dr. Felton!
Mark, you should do a whole video about Tito himself.
Tito married a minor. She was only 14 years old and he was like 23. That's why he rose to become so powerful.
Thanks Doctor Felton, are amazing these Pictures from bootcamp .. Interesting the amount of record of the WWII
Great video, this is by far the best history channel on TH-cam.
Could you please do Yugoslavia’s pre war years and the beginning of the war?
Grandfather participated in this. He was cadre with the flight training unit SG151 in the area with flight cadets (and cadre) provided air support with their JU87s and newly issued FW190s. It was an emergency order, but they had tactical capabilities, but not for sustained yearly missions.
I saw Tito once. It was in Dubrovnik, at the “Libertas” hotel in 1978. I was 6. He walked in and all the kids ran toward him.
This battle would make a good movie, with a good script and the right director and cast.
Hi Felton, I am watching regularly your 's short clips of WW11, really liked getting historical information. Thanks for your efforts and dedication.
Thanks heaps !
We Croats are proud of the Partisan movement and condemn the Pavelic Nazi puppet "state" .
My grandfather was a 14 year old partisan scout.
Please make a video about the Battle at river Neretva.
Or about the battle for Sutjeska.
Some of the parachute jumpers came out at really crazy angles
I didn't think I would ever have a criticism to make about any of your videos, but here we are. The Raid to rescue Mussolini was conducted by regular Fallschirmjagers and the only SS man there was Otto Skorzeny himself. He did not command the raid and was only along as an observer and armed only with a pistol. Luckily for him, the Italian soldiers didn't fire a shot. However he got himself in the front of the photos as if he had done it all by himself. He then insisted on going on the Feisler Storch plane with Mussolini and badly overloaded it with his bulk. The pilot managed to make a successful takeoff, despite this great handicap and once back in Berlin, Skorzeny made the most of the story to better his position.But, if it hadn't been for the skill of the pilot, Skorzeny would have gone down in history as the dead weight that killed Mussolini.
When He died, there was a world gathering event on the funeral.
Almost every country had a representative that day.
Can't think of any leader today that would have the same thing.
Pa da. I ja bih, da se osiguram da je stvarno mrtav. Mnogo je dugovao.
@Billy B
Omg 🤦🏻. Comparing an historic figure like Tito, to a drugged out common criminal like Floyd. Excellent comparison.. 🙄.
@@LegendLength
Biden cant even spell fascism.
HM the Queen I would suggest
@Billy B Over 100 world leaders , how many world leaders beside americans were there ??
Another good one Mark. Bugger jumping into that terrain. Fractured a vertebrae after the airforce dropped us 400m off the dz into rocky ground. Battalion had 40 percent casualties and we weren't being shot at like those fallschirmjager.
Thank you for this fascinating episode. It would take days to talk about numerous examples of self sacrifices made by the partisans on the day to keep the German attack in check. My fathers uncle was a member of the escort battalion and many years ago spoke about hellish hand to hand combat between the partisan young men and women in Drvar against the invading SS paratroopers.
The logistics of putting that amount of resources together must have been a difficult endeavor considering that Germany was being bled by the fighting with the Soviets on the East front.
you forgot all about how the western allies had almost total air superiority by this point. most of the luftwaffe was engaged to western allies and the likes of prinz eugen division was fighting againt british backed partizans from the begining, not against the soviets
I really like your programs, they are over the average. All of them, thank you. Keep posting, it does make sense.
U finally did video of yugo, bravo.
Do a video where the british tricked the cossacks at the end of the second world war and handed them over to the soviets
@@andrewweninger1059 there was a book I've read when i was younger about that very short read but it said as the british were handing them over the soviets were shooting them behind a building in same area
Was Alec Trevelyan's parents one of those Cossacks? 😉
some British soldiers knowing what would happen to the cossacks looked the other way whilst the cossacks escaped
@@CH-qw8gb or i wouldn't mind a video about how eastern concentration camps came under new management at the end of the war to house the vanquished
Found others...
Judenburg, AustriaEdit
On 1-2 June 18,000 Cossacks were handed over to the Soviets near the town of Judenburg, Austria; of those in custody, some ten officers and 50-60 Cossacks escaped the guards' cordon with hand grenades, and hid in a nearby wood.[4]
Near Graz, AustriaEdit
The Russian Cossacks of XV Cossack Cavalry Corps, stationed in Yugoslavia since 1943, were part of the column headed for Austria that would take part in the Bleiburg repatriations, and they are estimated to have numbered in the thousands.[20] Nikolai Tolstoy quotes a telegram by General Harold Alexander, sent to the Combined Chiefs of Staff, noting "50,000 Cossacks including 11,000 women, children and old men".[21] At a location near Graz, British forces repatriated around 40,000 Cossacks to SMERSH.[22]
Fort Dix, New Jersey, United StatesEdit
Although repatriations mainly occurred in Europe, 154 Cossacks were repatriated to the USSR from Fort Dix, New Jersey, in the United States; three committed suicide in the US and seven were injured.[23][24] Epstein states that the prisoners put up considerable resistance:
First, they refused to leave their barracks when ordered to do so. The military police then used tear gas, and, half-dazed, the prisoners were driven under heavy guard to the harbor where they were forced to board a Soviet vessel. Here the two hundred immediately started to fight. They fought with their bare hands. They started - with considerable success - to destroy the ship's engines. ... A sergeant ... mixed barbiturates into their coffee. Soon, all of the prisoners fell into a deep, coma-like sleep. It was in this condition that the prisoners were brought to another Soviet boat for a speedy return to Stalin's hangmen.[18]
Marseilles, FranceEdit
Cossacks were included in the hundreds who were repatriated to the Soviet Union from Marseilles in 1946.[25]
Rimini and Bologna, ItalyEdit
Several hundred Cossacks were repatriated to the Soviet Union from camps close to Venice in 1947. Some 100 Cossacks perished in resistance to forcible repatriations at Rimini and Bologna.[26]
Liverpool, EnglandEdit
Thousands of Russians, many of them Cossacks, were transported at the height of armed hostilities in 1944 to Murmansk in an operation that also led to the sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz.[27]
Nice work Mark Felton.
Well done mr. Felton. Greetings from Croatia
4:59: Max Schmeling shows how it´s done.
Fitzroy Maclean was a man so highly respected in communist Croatia that he was allowed to buy a large house on Korčula island after the war. The only foreigner ever to do so.
Always learn about some of the most interesting stuff from your videos. And I always think of myself as pretty well read up on goings-on during wartime. Keep up the great work, always gonna come back for more. Cheers!
Another amazing hidden story pulled from the depths of unknown-to-most WW2 history! Totally new information to me!
Tito was an exceptionally shrewd leader. I remember that when he died in 1980 he was considered the last of the great WW2 statesmen. Not a bad career for a guy from humble farm-boy beginnings who never attended a university but learned the trade of a metalworker. Before WW1, Josip Broz worked briefly for both Daimler and Skoda, which are still among Europe's auto-makers 110 years later.
Nobody knows his real identity .
@@peterbowie7347 That's the most cringeworthy serb-revisionist conspiracy theory ever. And there are many serb-revisionist conspiracy theories out there
"shrewd leader" the only thing he cared about is his own skin and luxury life he had as a dictator, while ordinary ppl drove shitty cars unable to buy a normal washing detergent, he was driving expensive mercedes cars, living in mansions, and smoking fat cigars like some kind of a south american narco boss/banana dictator.
He never made any plans to secure yugoslavias stable future after his death, so when he died the country was doomed, a problem with any dictatorial regime with a cult of personality.
@@peterbowie7347He was Russian mole, not real JB
@@Ado555555Nonsense read NSA analyse of his speech, he was Russian mole originating from border between Belarus and Poland
Thanks for another great vid Mark.
Thanks Mr. Felton .
Great video. Using basic round canopy parachutes to deploy troops during the day into rugged terrain was a recipe for disaster. It’s a surprise the SS didn’t loose more men.
I so enjoy you history videos!! Please don't stop!
Я в гдр служил и видел немецкого ветерана десантника - это ребята был настоящий волк!.. Мы советские десантники очень хотели с ним поговорить но наш командир отогнал нас и сказал-Вы слышали выражение «руки по локоть в крови»?!.. так вот он и такие как он не просто-«по локоть..» - а по колено!.. - ПО ПОЯС В КРОВИ ХОДИЛИ!!!..
Mark thanks for covering this part of the world and WWII stories. Perhaps Bihać Republic might be the next topic. Great work as always.
Those parachutes seem horrible.
Without Mark would would know any of this history, these old timers are all but gone now, thank god Mark is not letting them be forgotten
Mark Feltons the Goat of History
Force 10 from Navarone , this was the inspiration for the film
Wow someone as old as me..maybe..I remember seeing that on the original "Big Screen".
A film which, incidentally, is available free on TH-cam right now.
@@browngreen933 Seriously???
I'm going to watch it tonight!
@@timg2088
I'll watch it too.
PS: Another TH-cam freebie right now is "The Train" (1964). A top notch WW2 flick with REAL train crashes. Epic!
Yeah, it was alright. One of those movies that didn't live up to its talented cast.
That dude training in the parachute school was Max Schmeling 4:57
My father's uncle (my great uncle) was on this raid. He claimed to have had Tito's coat in his hands and felt that he was close to having caught him.
Paratroopers did capture Tito's uniform, there is actually a photograph with couple of paratroopers posing for the camera and holding that uniform.
If only he did capture him….
Imagine beeing assaulted by SS paras and mountains in early 44. No jokes were told this day.
Believe there were quite a few jokes, Bosnians take things with a laugh.
Well, they would've been the real butt end of a joke if the actual elite, the 1st Luftlande Regiment, would've dropped instead -- the real "Green devils".
Mark, you are a really great narrator and historian. I look forward to seeing your every post.
* tapamapampapapammm * best ww2 history facts on yt
I wish you would show the Brazilian FEB fighting along with the US 5th Army in 1945, especially the battle for Fornovo against the battle-hardened Germans - and the surrender of the German 149th Division and the Italian Bersagliere Division to one single Brazilian division in April,1945.
We visited this place near Drvar and also Tito hideout during my second deployment to Former Yougoslavia. Pretty cool to hear more about it.
Thank you Mark!
Again, another part of WWII history I have never heard of, thanks!
One little corection: Tito wasn't Yugoslav sargent. He was actually Austro-Hungaryan NCO and he fought in Serbia in 1914. and later in Russia where he got captured.
Explains why he didn't want Russian liberation..lols
@@Sreng444 yeah he very well knew what will happen.
Had a chance to visit The Cave , though it was long time ago
Does the partisan set up remind anyone else of Force 10 from Navarone? The movie.
May 1944... Yugoslavia.... and you are there................. thanks, Mark.... Tito has always been an interesting leader though under reported and not well understood..................... Bill in Vermont
Thanks for the video !
Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
I was visiting with a veteran (Canadian) who said he almost shot Tito by mistake! Those were confused, fog of civil and all out war.
He would probably survive. He was stabbed with a lance and survived.
@@shadowcat0201 ah yes was it when russian cavalry men atacked his unit in ww1?
@@baki4341 Yes, he was stabbed close to the heart.
CANT TOUCH THIS NA NA NA NA!
lol, word!
My History teacher was an Vietnam veteran in High School. He said he thought he had the safest job. Being an air traffic controller. The tower took a direct hit from a rocket.
How come US GOV are so scare to show Vietnamese president letter he wrote to US that time He was in respect of US but US and profit are evil for all Planet Unfortunately not US people GOV and rich profit maggots
Good job, how do you decide what topics to cover in your videos? Do you have specific themes or historical truths you want to convey over the course of your videos, or is it more interesting bits you’ve uncovered through your broader research?
Just two small corrections:
1.Josip Broz Tito wasn't Yugoslav army officer of any kind (because I assume that the video refers to his career predating WW2). He was in fact an ex Austro-Hungarian corporal. He was captured on the eastern front in WW1, and returned post war to lead the communist party in Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and later Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As such, he wasn't part of Kingdom's armed forces.
2. Dinaric Mountains are not part of the Alps, but consist their own range.
Keep the uploads coming please
Just that musical intro and I’m wherever Mark Felton is taking me.
Fallschirmjäger were elite. Just look up Monte Cassino battles.
or Carentan when pitted against American paratroopers.
@Mark Felton Production how parachute did so many injuries , they landed 7 am is bright . They could see the landscape
This story can also be read in "After the battle magazine" issue 165.
My grandpa was there in partizans.He told me that the ss killed civilians and especialy children in town drvar and vilages. When they found the bodies after that they had no mercy for ss . He told me when he fired at paratroopers it was like falling rain only it was bloody rain.
Thank you very much.
Tito= One of the more interesting men of the twentieth century
The guys in your thumbnail looks like they are dresses in 80/90s style US woodland Camouflage (BDU) I'm always impressed with the sophistication of the Germans with Camouflage during this era.
Thank you Mark for your amazing work.
Why did the Germans exit the aircraft like a leap of death, vs. US’s feet first?
Different parachute rigging.
I think, think mind you, that if you notice the German parachutes were drawn/deployed out of the pack/tray and were attached to the back of the jumper. US parachutes were also deployed out of a pack/tray on the back, but were attached to the jumper at the shoulders, by risors. The difference meant that the jumpers assumed different body positions upon exiting the aircraft to allow better deployment of the chute. German chutes also did not allow any control because the chutes were attached to the back, out of reach. I say again, I think that. I never jumped a parachute like that and I WELCOME any corrections by more experienced jumpers. Thanks!
@@Gronk79 good answer. I’m going with it
@@Gronk79 Yeah, if you watch German FJ coming down in training videos they dangle from a big ring at the back between the shoulder blades, They have no directional control and they just kind of windmill around waving arms and legs trying to gain some kind of control, especially if there's any kind of breeze. Also due to the crappy parachute design, they jumped armed with nothing but a pistol, with all other weapons and ammo carried in those canisters you see being dropped from the JU-52s in this video (No kidding! Dropping into a combat zone with nothing but a pistol requires either balls of steel or a death wish). As a consequence, they were easy meat from the time they hit the ground until they could reach a weapons pack.
Crappy parachute
Please do a Update of that M8 vs Tiger 2 thing. There are many Arguments against it happening like that
you get great images mark good work
Hey Mark, any chance you could talk about when the Royal navy fired at French ships in WW2?
I've only just learned about it and I'm both shocked and intrigued!
Tito was an inspiration not only to his countrymen
Tito je evropski Al Kapone.