Awesome Megastructures of the Second World War | Full History Hit Series
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 พ.ค. 2024
- A full series of History Hit TH-cam exclusive videos on the most fascinating megastructures of the Second World War. Join presenters Dan Snow and James Rogers as they travel across Europe to discover the monumental physical remains of World War Two.
In episode one, James heads to Normandy to explore shipwrecks left over from the Dunkirk evacuation of 1940. He then sees the huge bunkers of Hitler's Atlantic Wall on a stretch of coastline in Denmark, entering the ruins to see German graffiti and other evidence of the soldiers' daily lives.
Dan Snow then lands in the Channel Islands, exploring the warren of World War Two defences built by the Wehrmacht on Alderney. The concrete bunkers and tunnels even incorporate earlier defences built during the Napoleonic Wars.
James then visits one of the most impressive underground fortresses in the world, Eben-Emael in Belgium. This impressive subterranean megastructure was built to prevent a land invasion, but was captured in one of the first attacks by German paratroopers.
Moving forward to D-Day and Operation Overlord, James views the surviving remnants of the Mulberry Harbours in Normandy, used to unload and embark supplies for the Allied liberation of Europe.
In the final episode, James uncovers the remnants of Hitler's Siegfried Line in Hurtgen Forest, one of the last obstacles the Allies had to negotiate before they entered the German heartlands.
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00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:05 Wrecks of Dunkirk Evacuation
00:10:16 Hitler's Atlantic Wall (Denmark)
00:22:37 Alderney WW2 Defences
00:42:15 Eben-Emael Fortress
00:50:40 Normandy Mulberry Harbours
00:58:03 Hitler's Siegfried Line
Hope you enjoyed guys! Which do you think was the most impressive megastructure we featured? 🤔
I really appreciate the time,effort, and detail in explaining the purposes for every single individual stronghold to make this next generation of kids come to grips that hundreds upon thousands of really good men and women perished so they can play video games that blurs the real meaning of death.
loved seeing Alderney, used to love going there on holiday as a kid, used to go around the island in a golf cart finding the bunkers lol.
The Mulberry Harbours are amazing in so many ways.
Advertisements every 4 minutes......
@@vanitybrittonproductions1302 bro TH-cam gives you alot.
Pay for TH-cam premium and you'll never get an advertisement again.
Worth it.
Definitely needs a segment on the german submarine pens. Must be up there in the ranking of most indestructible buildings ever constructed.
One of the stupidest decisions USAAF & the RAF ever made. They knew the pens were being constructed yet chose to ignore them until they were completed. Then they proceeded to drop many tons of bombs ... and essentially do nothing. The only close call was when a 5 ton Tallboy scored a direct hit, and blew a massive hole in the roof, but failed to crack through the inner wall.
K1, k2, and k3
Barnes Wallis's 6-ton Tallboys, and later 10-ton Grand Slams, DEMOLISHED the submarine pens !!! God bless 617 RAF sqaudron and their Lancasters !
@@gedeon2696 "Demolished" implies that they were destroyed... the 5 that were built in France still stand. In fact I believe the allies found it easier to just destroy the surrounding infrastructure to render the pens inoperative.
Indestructable? 617 put them out of action
The Eben-Emael Fortress was really interesting. That is one bit of history I did not know about. Well done.
I believe it was supposed to be an extansion of the maginot line. You would have the maginot line ending at the 'impregnable' ardennes forrest and the fort system covering the gap between the ardennes and the albert canal. And the plan was that during a german attack the bulk of the french armies would take up defensive positions along the albert canal so you would have a heavily fortified line from the swiss border all the way to the north sea.
The most amazing segment of the vid was the Normandy Mulberry Harbors. Think of all the time and effort to design and build them "then" move all the pieces across the channel, and "then" assemble it. Amazing, hats off to the Greatest Generation ever.
And on top of that, having soldiers drive up to ten miles on a floating bridge in unforgiving vehicles!
@@spinal_capped So true.
@@spinal_capped Better to drive there than march.
@@spinal_capped Can you image driving tanks down those floating, bouncing, shaking, shimming, wiggling....etc, bridges w/ other vehicles/tanks driving down before you and following you, that will make those floating road a little bit more happy to see you and your 35 ton tank approach...I say damn, make me wonder how some of those men could walk.....I mean their balls have got to be SO BIG to do that stuff (not to mention going from the bouncy bridge/roads to combat, in a blink of an eye....damn)lol take it light --KB
During the tow across the channel, they lost one of the caysons in the dark and it was never seen again. That is until two friends of mine bumped into it towing a trawl net one night. It lies as new in seventy meters of water about ten miles North West of Alderney Island. It has since been dived on but there is not a lot to see. Also about fifty miles West of that is a concrete cargo boat that was constructed during the second world war, as steel was in short supply. I believe this vessel was lost position unknown. The American treasure seekers found it a few years ago and we have since fished it with very good results. Also I used a 37 mm flack bunker for a scuba diving shop, they are amazing things with a lot more to them than a passer by would believe. I often got German bunker spotters asking if they could see around it.
It is sad that we are surrounded by history but too many are blind to it. Great video.
Worse yet, it's being torn down in places.
The little boats that came and saved the army stuck on the beaches never forgotten.
The majorityy of little boats were crewed by the Royal Navy sailors who literally just commandered them, though a few were indeed civilians.
That said, they saved about 5-10k men. Which I'm sure those 5-10k are very pleased about
But this does leave some 400k saved by the actual combined navies of Belgium, France and Britain. And they really shouldn't be forgotten.
The little boat is more a propaganda tool meant to create the "dunkirk spirit" which is probably their greatest contribution to the war.
Hats off to the team.
Thank you.
Super documentry...
Really good video! Turned it on randomly as something to help me fall asleep, but it was so interesting that I just couldn't stop watching.
Interesting to see the link between the Romans, the British, and the Germans in that fortification in Alderney. I visited Chateau Beaufort in Lebanon a few times and you can see the obvious Crusader defenses, followed by the PLO defenses, then the Israelis, and latterly Hezbollah. If you look closely you can see the damage that Saladin's army inflicted on the Crusader castle, then the damage from the IDF assault on the castle during their 1982 invasion, the subsequent concrete defenses the Israelis built, and then further damage on the castle during the 2006 war. That it still survives mainly intact is a testimony to the Crusader's skill and building defensive fortifications.
What a brilliant video! So detailed and well presented.
Wonderful video I must say. Five star ***** quality!
Incredible, thank you
Thanks!
As a British man i hope that we never see this again but what with Russia and Ukraine it might change but due to British engineering and ingenuity we prevailed in large part to our cousins the American and we did thank God
Awesome documentary keep putting them out buddy
Love this video and all the interesting facts. I’m fascinated by WW11 and the remnants of the amazing structures built by the Germans. Thank you for sharing. Would love to see what you see in person
II* :))
Built by "Slave labour", NOT by germans.
World war 11?
This is one of the best episodes that you have released on Utube!
main reason Denmark still has so many bunkers left is purely because it costs money to get rid of them and no one wants to pay for it. They made a few different experimental attempts at getting rid of them after the war and into the 1950s, but because the concrete is so thick, back then they didn't have an efficient way of breaking them down, so it took a lot of work just to partially break down one bunker with not much to show for it. They also tried blowing one up, but it took so much explosive just to break it into slightly smaller pieces that it was deemed far too dangerous to do it that way. As the Danish government failed to demand that Germany cleaned up their mess while the allies were still in control, and we don't want to pay for it ourselves, the bunkers were left as they were.
But as the harsh west coast sea and weather has eroded the beaches where the bunkers were built, many of them have become overturned and started floating towards the sea. Over the past 30 or so years some of the overturned bunkers became a serious possible danger, as they had tilted so much it was possible to walk underneath them and there was a risk they'd fall on people. So most of these dangerous ones were cordoned off, and a few were finally demolished for safety. So the majority of the bunkers still remain, and some of them were built on parts of the coast where they're not likely to get eaten by the sea, but with time a fair chunk of the northern ones will be taken away by mother nature
Just leave them to remind us All
Evidentially there to be be seen, (or not, anymore, in places, Royan la Coubre for instance) all along the expansive coastline where once they reigned
Very entertaining to see these places including aerial views. Most interesting to me was the episode abut the Mulberries as to how they were built, concealed , and ultimately used. The entire video program was a very innovative idea, Dan Snow.
trust me, war historians are freaks, who need a study ????
TH-cam JOBS !!!
Dan Snow the man who says this is history for Netflix. You are the most enthusiastic historian ever. They should put you on every single history video. You are the man Dan Snow, love your energy.
its amazing… i love WWII history
As a Dane, clearly most impressed by the Atlantic Wall, being something I get to see every now and then. (No bias :P)
Their little mine adventure isn't gone yet. A part called Skallingen still has an estimated 500 active mines, and oh so many more probably dead. A large part is permanently off limit due to it.
As a granddaughter of holocaust survivors we will always be grateful to the danes for saving their jews... among them Victor borge who was the last man on the last boat in the evacuation and who brought so much joy to my childhood
@@evalevy2909
Actually, Victor Borge already left for USA in 1940. He was in Sweden performing when Denmark was occupied by Nazi Germany. From Sweden, he went to Finland where he secured a space on an American Army ship which was technically the last neutral ship to leave Europe towards USA at the time. USA had not yet entered WWII so was considered neutral at the time.
The move to ensure the Danish Jews were shipped to Sweden first happened in autum 1943.
It may not be known to many people, but the Danish resistance was actually informed by a German diplomat (not a Nazi) about the German plans of rounding up the Danish Jews in order to send them on trains to the extermination camps in Poland. It was based on that information that the resistance started the operation of moving Danish Jews to Sweden.
Like to have a mine in my back yard. Unique decoration.
Kk 14:40
Hydro power infrastructure disguised with military stuff. All Wars are fake.
These are Free energy Hydro power sites from the REAL PAST.
a lot of these big bunkers held out days after D-DAY
I really love the story. Thank you for sharing with us.
I was astounded by the level of detail, and the bread of this video. One suggestion would be for the fellow with the mustache to have a few or shots of him, looking at some thing or other, and more shots of what he was looking at all in all, this was a great video
Great video! Very informative 👍👍
Thanks for watching!
its amazing… i love WWII history. What a brilliant video! So detailed and well presented..
What i think remarkable is the ability of dan snow ,now I realize he's an accomplished military historian. However, I cannot recall a historian who can walk through a completely empty fortress and vividly recreate with words and descriptions the fortresses thru 3 centuries of occupation like he can see something actually there. Remarkable to me.
Thanks so much!!
The Mulberry harbor was something I never heard of. I agree with Albert Speer. Bold and brilliant.
I love these videos! I have to ask, is this a reupload? I feel like I've seen this already?
It was a wonderfully exciting conflict, and produced an abundance of fascinating books etc.
Makes it sound so thrilling and exciting.
Very very interesting in terms of Denmark, thank you for the information.
Great to see details about these old wonders. I saw another 'wonder' years ago: Operation PLUTO (Pipeline Under The Ocean). They must have had geniuses in England on every street corner to come up with such ideas and make them happen. They actually rolled flexible metal pipeline on a massive "spool" and dragged it across the Channel like the Mulberrys. It pumped the Petrol for all the allied vehicles. Churchill pushed for it, too, like the Mulberrys and Radar. Smart. TY!
I really enjoyed this bit of historical information. I am a huge historical enthusiast and I am always trying to incorporate some time every week to learning more about our incredible past events. I like how he narrates this information and does so as he is canvassing the actual ruins , and in many cases still in tact fortifications , from that extremely dismal time. I did happen to experience a bit of levity watching him , in some scenes when he was in an old stronghold held by Axis Powers at the time, he would almost whisper or speak in a very low tone almost as if it were 1944 and he was secretly reporting intelligence back to Allied forces. LOL…. I know that this is not a topic to disrespect or take lightly, for my grandfather was a soldier who stormed the beaches in Normandy, but I just thought that was almost an instinctual response for the change in his vocalizations. Either that or clever narrative techniques. Either way this was very interesting and thank you for making this and posting it.
The bunker museum at Hanstholm in Denmark is v interesting. There's also a good film called Land of Mine, also based in Denmark.
The Atlantikwall was and is incredible 😏👌🏾🇳🇱
Note to self. WWIII, give Dunkirk a wide berth. 👌
Your videos are awesome 👌
Absolutely Epic Video!
Well done Ladies and Gents!
Love the stuff from History Hit and watch it every time I get a chance.
👏👏👏👏
Thank You!
😎👍
Without a doubt, this was the best World War 11 documentary I have ever seen.
Fascinating. Thank you.
I've been in Dunkirk before covid and Vierville-sur-Mer & Calais this year. It is really a big chop of the history. Museums at Caen, Omaha Beach, Overlord are amazing. Rest of Mulberry harbors, bunkers - they deteriorate very fast, pity that they are not protected any way. Near Calais there is another "must see" place: Mimoyecques (London Cannon).
What is interesting in the 20th century is that with the massive increases fire power it was still not possible to make a totally defensive position. The provision of air power and air delivery of troops renders such extremely difficult.
Most WWII documentaries go to great lengths to cause you to wonder how the Allies ever survived while crediting the Soviets with anything even remotely properly done. Truth is a wonderful thing. Thanks for this. Subscribing.
The only reason the Soviet’s were successful in WW2 is because they were armed by NATO before it was called NATO.
Well the Russians do drink way to much vodka so they kinda right lol
For a long time all we heard about was how terrible the soviets were and how they were saved by winter, and how the western allies won the war. There's been more recognition of the soviet resistance in 41. And the importance of lend lease to the soviets. :-)
Also, it's a lot more dramatic to say if we lost this battle, we'd have lost the war. Or to blame Hitler's meddling. Makes a better program.
@@donrobertson4940 The western allies did. I'm not sure that's all we heard. Soldiers that ride horses up to machine gun nests or sit atop a tank do not a brilliant army make. Winter, and Hitler's stupidity saved them.
@@donrobertson4940 Because they were terrible and had literally tens of thousands of tons of materiel given to them by the US because they couldn't do it themselves 😂
It's my dream to take a multi-week, if not multi-month, long vacation to Europe and go on a "WWII megastructure" walking tour, of sorts. There are so many buildings that still exist that I really want to see before they don't anymore. I especially want to see that gigantic submarine pen in France.
Nice to see a current Jeep in a documentary about WWII. Nice touch!
No mention of Rommel's Asparagus? That was technically part of the Atlantic wall.
Amazing this is so informative, I love it ❤
Blimey blighty!
The odds were stacked from the beginning against Germany.
Absolutely fascinating video, what fabulous filming and narration.
Thanks so much for bringing us this part of WW II in so very much detail, well done guys, love this!
That Phoenix project was amazing. I don’t think we that kind of “ can do” ability anymore.
Have you looked at the Defense's in North America? I'm thinking specifically of Halifax Harbor in Nova Scotia. Alot were used from the 1700s right up to the mid 1950s.
It would have been nice to mention that the evacuation of the BEF was necessitated by its abysmal tactics. For the Allies outnumbered the Germans in all important respects, and it was ineptitude in dealing with German combined arms attacks that made their position untenable.
You say "it's" tactics, and then mention the allies outnumbering the Germans. The BEF was a small part of the allied force. It retreated because it was totally outflanked by the collapse at Sedan.
HINDSIGHT is quite interesting!
Important to mention that Fort Eben Emael was severely undermanned and not ready for the attack. Would the fort have been fully manned, the Germans would potentially not have succeeded
For all the bunkers on the beach it would be cool to try and dig them out of the sand in my opinion
I wish they put history plaques by these places
For the aliens ? These structures are pretty hard to miss or misinterpret !
It was informative and enjoyable 0:55
Had to give up and turn it off two thirds of the way through... just too many adverts
nobody: "how many times can you film yourself dramatically looking out into the distance in 1 documentary i wonder" this guy: "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED"
26:08 WILD
The last of the Channel Islands was not liberated until a few weeks after German surrender. It kinda fell through the cracks, forgotten by both the British and German commands.
Having grown up literally on top of the Norwegian Arctic part of Festung Europa, I can verify its insane construction. The Concrete Mixture and Steel Reinforcement was done to such perfection, that they today look like they're just a few years old. It is of course possible to pack these bunkers full of explosives and demolish them, which is the only way, really - but it's so expensive and dangerous, they've simply been left in place. Several of my neighbors' houses are built on top of these extremely tough bunkers. We can marvel at these constructions, but to me they are a daily reminder of the ills of Socialisms. Several of my family members fought against this monstrous Tyranny and some even gave the ultimate sacrifice. What is even more painful, is that we see the same ideologies cropping up again in Chine-Russia and in Nazi led organizations like the World Economic Forum. Even the UN couldn't avoid being swamped in this extremely hazardous ideology.
After all these years, it unfortunately seems like the Lessons are fading away much, much faster than the Physical Reminders of a World gone bloody and dark. Lest we actually want 'A Thousand Years Of Darkness', we cannot forget the driving force behind World War II: -Marxism. If we let this happen again, we won't be as fortunate as those who survived World War II were. The World has gotten considerably smaller since then.
😂😂😂😂😂
33:00 just curious, how did they power those huge lights?
Commercials like crazy 😮
So focused on Western Europe. Lots of such structures exist in Germany, too !
hard to enjoy anything on youtube for the bombardment of ads
And we must remember Germany had 196 Divisions fighting the USSR and it only had 65 Divisions available to defend Western Europe and Italy!
26m+ Russians killed, not sure how many Germans but I assume a lot.
If you cut out all the host centric shots the episode will be more concise, shorter, and enjoyable.
yeah, gonna stop watching - I’ve had enough long loving looks at the host
While driving, keep your eyes and your mind on the road.
The Dunkirk evacuation was quite an extraordinary feat and without it we “western culture” would be living in a much different world.
Which would by now be our "normal"...
A teacher at my school many years ago had been a major ‘in the war’. On ANZAC day he took us through what happened at Gallipoli. He described the final evacuation as ‘probably the most successful exercise of its type historically-except for Dunkirk of course’. That was all he said about it.
50 years later in his obituary it noted he had been in the BEF at Dunkirk. He was there!
@@rogerpattube Those are the type of things our children need to be learning again today. It’s just too bad that we don’t have those same teachers with all that wisdom with us anymore. We still have some great teachers don’t get me wrong but I know we have some issue in that area here in the US at least.
One good thing is the historical stuff on TH-cam I guess
@@rogerpattube That’s true.
28:30 I want to live on that island.
The other Mulberry was located up along Utah beach. This is where the storm broke it up and fragments were caught and incorporated into the Arromanche construction. St Laurent was where the yanks came ashore on Omaha Beach.
So ivve always been led to believe.
We should never forget.
People very soon forget, I export to France and I have been told by the French that it was only Americans that liberated them. Also since Brexit we are not wanted, with some of my French accounts being closed the next day.
I never realised this about the Normany invasion. The Germans hadn't just relied on the Atlantik Wal, but had counted on the Allies not being able to logistically support the invasion effort without taking Cherbourg. But the Brits had out-smarted them with the Mulberry harbours.
We give Brits too little credit for their contributions to WW2.
The Atlantic Wall bunkers were not indestructible. The Nazis built a huge V weapon bunker with massive concrete cap. Near misses from British Tallboy bombs wrecked the foundations and knocked the lid off.
Some Tallboys actually PENETRATED the roofs of submarine pens AND V-1 sites - even when dropped from well below design height.
The German writing on the wall was a warning to close the valve in case of bombing because of the concussion that would be dangerous if open during the bombing.
How many times must it be pointed out that you do not say 'the' before the HMS name of a ship? It is either the Sea Eagle or HMS Sea Eagle
Only wish they would have left all the guns there for historical purposes
Would be a sight to see
At 13:23.... Tell me that's not lee Harvey Aswold?....👀
I wouldn`t call storming a beach with no cover "Spectacular Military Planning"
This is all so terribly sad; it's really quite heavy. God bless.
Very quickly, the allies discovered that all they had to do was go around the back, pour petrol down the air vents and set them on fire. The Germans had no answer to that. It was WW1 tech and anyway, mortar and machine gun positions did most of the damage on D Day because they could be easily relocated. WW2 was won by the side that used mobility against static defences. One British Warrant Officer took out three main gun emplacements threatening Sword and Juno beaches single handedly armed with a sten gun and a dozen grenades. He won the VC.
Already made about the U boat pens
The Nazis certainly wasted huge amounts of concrete that could have been better utilised for other purposes. Overkill for static defences that were bypassed and rendered useless.
The last part of the Duchy of Normandy Jersey saark Gurney
Mulberry harbour an epic scale of british military engineering ,the idea of bringing your own floating harbour,was from Winston Churchill he original thought of this ingenious idea, was during world war one when the british /australian/new zealand disastrous campaign at gallipoli Turkey
Ain't slipping out of my mind anymore than ,Korea or Vietnam ,all gave their best.
Are those pock-marks on the bunkers battle damage? Why do they appear to be so evenly distributed?
part of molding during construction
The Atlantic wall did protect against commando raids and the French harbors remained in Germans hands until end of war
No, Cherbourg fell on the 29th June 1944, Le Havre 12 Sept and Antwerp ( not French) in Nov 1944.
@@jimtitt3571 your right - Germans did have pockets left until the end - but not all. List: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_pockets
The Germans did in Occupied Europe, what the British in India or Russia in Central Asia or USA in America.
They used local resources at no cost.
Occupied France, Netherlands, Belgium etc gave vast resources
In the Movie "Dunkirk" the beaches were clean , there was no military equipment on the beach and oly 400 soldiers and one ship at the dock .
You don't want to be in Dunkirk when there's a world war.
Ft. Drum in the Philippines known as the “Concrete battleship” was never taken by the Japanese. It was only surrendered by U.S. General Wainwright because the Japanese threatened to kill all the 13,000 Philippine and American troops captured on Corregidor. That’s really was a engineering marvel. 🇺🇸🇵🇭
😮
It's important to mention that if it hadn't been for a rear guard action by French & British that held back the German Juggernaut that provided just enough time for the remnants of the French and British troops to escape back to Britain in a ragtag fleet of vessels.
How did the first world war make it all the way to Dunkirk?
It was well within artillery range of the front lines.
I wondered why I un subscribed from hh, oh all the ads. Other wise nice
Il faut pouvoir les faire traduire en français merci beaucoup