Hi ladies and gentleman this is part 7. Playlist in description. Please check out this new channel ive made for fun (looking for feedback!) th-cam.com/video/VIFE0rIqxeY/w-d-xo.html
In 1947 my Grandfather was the president of the American Shoe Manufacturers Association. He solicited all of the members to contribute all their surplus machinery and shoe making tools. These machines and tools were shipped to Germany and divided among the few remaining German shoe manufacturers. As a small child in the early 1960's I would get a package at Christmas time from the Salamander Shoe Company with sturdy hiking shoes. After almost 20 years the German shoe manufacturers still appreciated what had been done for them after the war.
Visiting a Salamander Shoe Store is one of the fond moments of anyone who was a child in post war Germany. (Not least because of their famos Lurchi comic books, that they gave away as gifts). Your. grand father did much good in helping this company survive.
@@florianlipp5452 My grandfather eventually managed a company called Florsheim Shoes. The owners were Jewish and I believe the original owners of the Salamander Shoe company were Jewish as well. I remember treasuring several small books of the adventures of the Salamander while wearing his sturdy Salamander Shoes. My grandmother spoke German as her parents were from the border area between Switzerland and Bavaria. She would go with my Grandfather on his post war trips to Germany. They spoke of both the difficulties and kindnesses of their friendship with their German hosts. My grandmother lost two brothers killed fighting on the American side in WW1. They were both medics and they spoke fluent German. Life, and war, are so complicated.
I loved Florsheim shoes! As a young man in the 1950s, I bought them even though they cost more. Another brand was Jarman which was not quite as expensive. I lived in Memphis and I remember that both had stores where their shoes were sold exclusively.
My dad was a camp guard for German POWs in America. He said they were hardworking and industrious. They liked working on the local farms and they were always making things out of scraps. Some made all wood coo-coo clocks that they sold to camp personnel or the locals they work for. They almost ran the camp themselves and needed very little supervision.
I think most of them were glad to be out of the war and were starting to see what the third Reich really was. I'm from Guernsey in the channel isles we were occupied by the Germans there's still loads of fortifications there never fired in battle. By the end they were starving. Locals weren't much better of until a red cross ship arrived early 1945. A lot of german soldiers returned to the island after the war.
This guy was in the Balkans, Crete, Moscow, Sicily, Italy, France, and the western German front...he must have a pile of frequent flyer miles. That he survived is a major miracle.
A "miracle" for whom, exactly? The millions of poor, innocent peasants whose food was stolen and whose houses were destroyed by the glorious, "clean" Wehrmacht (the careful plans for which were worked out as early as 1935)?
@@robertmoffett3486My dad’s prison was the Bataan Death March. Not a walk in the park. The Japanese were the worst to their prisoners. 650 American & 16,500 Filipino soldiers died in Bataan. All in all 33% of Japanese prisoners died twice the number in Europe. I didn’t know the Japanese had a resort prison in the Pacific theatre.
I interviewed a paratrooper who jumped into the Rhur. He and his platoon landed on a clearing and dug i. He and 2 others dug a deep foxhole with tree limbs overhead. They were the only survivors of the heavy shelling of the first night. He then fought his way east until the end of the war. He was on a tank hit by a rocket, coming to in a ditch. "I thought I was dead. It wasn't an altogether bad feeling," said the man became a high school principal.
@richardmontgomery4704 I did the interview 28 years ago when I was the editor of a community paper in Sabetha Ks. His was one of a series to note the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII. His name was Irwin Figgs. Great guy. Died about 10 years ago. Unfortunately the paper didn't have a web presence b.ack then. Somehow he found himself in Berlin shortly after the war, where he saw a large Russian female soldier dragging a German woman down the street by her long blonde hair.
Don’t forget the arch the Germans forced allied POWs to make through East Prussia in January 1945. No food unable to take extra clothing or luggage. Many died. I have little sympathy for German soldiers they were treated better than the Germans treated their captives and slave Labour. As Arthur Harris said. ‘ They sowed the wind. “ Now they must reap the Whirlwind.”
Thats not what I meant , read again . If he was a prisoner of the Soviets , the last thing he would be concerned about would be politics , he would be too busy , just trying to stay alive . @@jamesg8203
As a kid, I remember having an Italian POW as a visitor in our house in Hawaii. How he got to Hawaii, I don't know, but he should consider himself lucky.
My uncle fought with the Canadians in Netherlands. Some very tough battles over there -- they were up against very able German troops. This man was very lucky to be taken prisoner -- most were shot because the allies had to keep moving and were not able to take prisoners in the heat of battle.
A lot of German POWs were sent to Memphis Army Depot in Tennessee. Italians also were sent there but they hated each other and there was constant warfare. The Italians were moved to Como, Mississippi. The depot was huge and covered many acres, and it even had a rail line into it. It was completely enclosed by a 10-foot-high, heavy metal fence with barbed wire at the top. It still stands today. Interestingly enough, goats were kept to maintain the grassy areas. I went to work there in 1961 and worked with several people, both male and female, who worked at the depot during the war. I learned many things about the POWs. It was a fact that there were "blacks" and "whites" and that was a problem. As the grounds were secured with the fence, the prisoners had free access to most areas without being under guard. They worked in the warehouses along with depot personnel and some worked in the large cafeteria. The whites got along with employees and actually seemed to enjoy their lives. A lot of young women worked at the depot, living in their own barracks. They sometimes worked 10-hour days, 7 days a week. They had postal and banking services, as well as a beauty parlor, and access to a cafeteria which stayed open all the time because the depot worked around the clock! I guess you think this has nothing to do with POWs, but it did! Just remember that the Germans were young and healthy men living behind barbed wire and the women were living in just about the same conditions! Enough said. The blacks, mostly ranking SS officers, who were nazis, ordered no fraternization. It seems they wound up "banding" some of the POWs, but the medics found out and saved the young men from this fate! Many American-German friendships were made. One man returned to Memphis every year on his vacation and brought his wife. He was always well-received, and once was given a key to the city!
@17:48 What does "Nibelungen" loyalty mean? I searched & came up with "Nibelung (plural Nibelungs or Nibelungen) (Germanic mythology) A member of a supernatural underground race that guarded treasures and gold searched for and eventually seized by Siegfried." but I don't see how that is germane to the conversation
My brother in law was the captain of a machine company. He was captured in the summer of 1943 in Oreal. He was sent to Archangel to unload ships coming from the US. Since he was an officer, the Geneva Convention stated that h did not have to work. When he arrived in the final pow camp he stated this to the commandant. The answer was “If you do not work, you will receive no food”. So he had to determine how to survive as it was obvious that prisoners were dying and terribly mistreated by the Russian masters. When the Russians asked what skills each prisoner had he stated that he could cook. His friends knew otherwise. The only thing they knew he could do was boil water. Later it turned out to be a wise decision as he was near food while others died from hard labor and starvation. He once mentioned about how the kitchen cat fell into the cooking pot. It was hard work to remove the fur, but no one knew that they were having cat for dinner but no one complained as the meal was not the usual watery broth with a little cabbage that was the usual fare! When he returned to Germany years later, there were few professions he could train for as he was too old to train in most professions. He studied a night and finally was able to land a position in a bank. Many could not get good jobs because th😊y were investigated for was crimes or being a member of the Hitlers party. Many of the SS soon knew they would never have a job and left for South America.
So this is one of those "what if" scenarios I've been thinking over. As far as WWII, I think maybe best case scenario for Hitler and Germany would have been stopping after the conquest of France and renegotiating treaties with allies in regard to WWI. Also persecution of people was a bad idea across the board.. especially for an international European nation. Hitler pushed his luck and took a huge gamble attacking England & Russia.
@barryb7682 Your 'What if" scenarios - Germany did indeed expect and did de-mobilise a number of armoured divisions during 1940 after the fall of France. Hitler was again and again and again trying to make peace with England prior to WW2. The famous 'stop' order as the British BMF force was rolled up as Germany crossed France, forcing the British force to be evacuated from the beaches of Dunquirk. Germany could have just captured or killed all the British Forces which they did not, possibly because Hitler as he said again and again "England is not an enemy of Germany." Remember after war was declared, September 1939, we entered what was called The Phoney War because until the summer of 1940 with the commencement of the Battle of Britain, the only 'war' that was really happening after the evacuation of the BEF from France was the continual bombing of....Berlin by the RAF [instigated by Churchill - bombing civilians] which eventually caused Hitler to end up bombing London in retaliation - not because he was mad. During 1940 or 41, Rudolph Hess on a 'one man peace mission' flew to England and bailed out of his aircraft. He hoped to create peace between Germany and England. Instead, due to Priminister Chamberlain being replaced by Churchill, Churchill put Hess in a British prison until the end of the war in 1945. Then Hess was taken to the Neuremburg trials where he was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to life in prison. He served this prison sentence until his death in something like 1980's, paid for in turn by British, American and French forces and costs, until he died. Every other convicted Nazi in the Nueremburg trials were either executed or served around ten years or less in prison. Since Hess spent most of the war in a British prison, why was he kept in prison until his death ? Some forty odd years when everyone else had been released ? The only option Germany had to renegotiate the terms of surrender of WW1 was, after much total financial trouble and the invasion of the Rhur Industrial Area's by France for failing to pay their war reparations, prior to WW2 at the time Germany was trying to rebuild herself from WW1, was to go to war again. This is why Hitler had France sign their surrender in the exact same railway carriage Germany had been forced to surrender in at the end of WW1, totally under other peoples terms, with no room to negotiate the completely unworkable terms which ended WW1 that ensured WW2 twenty years later. Let us remember Britain went to war against Germany to aid Poland, whom had been invaded by Germany. When Russia invaded Poland some twelve days later, Britain did not declare war on Russia in support of Poland, but took Russia as an ally of Britain against Germany. Why was this double standard permitted ? Just a note that after all the war and all the deaths of millions of people, Russia held Poland and Britain said "Oh Ok." and Poland was absorbed into the Communist USSR. So what was all the fighting about 'to support Poland' and support her independence when in the end Poland lost her independence not to Germany but to Communist Russia and Britain didn't care any more ? When German forces crossed the Russian borders [Operation Barbarossa] they found millions of Russian soldiers poised and preparing to invade Germany. Both Germany and Russia signed 'non aggression packs' and both countries used this peace time to build up forces to invade the other. Millions of the Russian soldiers were taken prisoners when Germany got their invasion going first. British, French and others had signed the Geneva Convention for the protection of war prisoners, and so had Germany. Therefore these European prisoners had a fairly easy time, but not the Russian prisoners. That was because Stalin did not sign the Geneva Convention and therefore treated German prisoners with contempt, and so in turn Germany treated Russians. This is why Russian prisoners had such a hard time in Germany. Many German prisoners were worked to death or just perished, Some survivors were returned to Germany I think in the mid 1950's. In contrast the surviving Russian prisoners were returned to Russia at the end of the war, were shipped straight to camps in Seberia where they were worked or starved to death on the basis of Stalin view that having been in captivity 'in the west' they were now impure and not fit for integration back in the USSR. So the Russian prisoners were all killed in the end by the Russians themselves. Meanwhile in Europe the German forces that surrendered to the Americans decided, possibly because of food supply issues, that there were too many Germany POW's to feed, so they were herded into some fields and guarded where because of the Geneva Convention and Prisoner of War status, the American's reclassified them all as 'disarmed combatants' and because of this change of legal status allowed 100,000 or more of the Germans to starve to death in American captivity and after the wars end. Because the American's care about people, i'm sure you know America cares because they keep bombing and blowing people up around the world even today. I hope this sheds some light on your What if scenarios since mostly they did actually happen.
Hitler would have loved that. He clearly wanted peace with Britain. There was no way Britain would make peace with Germany. That would be suicidal. Hitler's regime in free possession of France would be invincible, and a constant threat. That's why they stood alone against Germany. Hitler didn't make that decision. Britain did. They thought it over more than you did, thank God. Nothing personal, lots of people have thought the same thing, probably myself as well. It's a pipe dream, though.
As someone who has studied WW2 for over forty-five years, I also have wondered about some of the good pointed questioned you raised. In your next comment could you explain the difficulties the Americans had in feeding and housing the millions of German prisoners all captured in a short few months while still having to fight a war, and how most of the new German POWs were half starved when they came into captivity. I would also like to see five paragraphs on how the Marshall Plan saved Western Europe from starving to death, not to mention saving them from civil wars and Communism. I would also like for you to tell us about the difficulties in living life while avoiding all those American bombs. It must be hell.
All the agreements Hitler made with Britain and France before the start of WWII, he broke. He couldn't be trusted and his rapid victories in Poland and France only emboldened him. As one WWI veteran told a group of young German soldiers in a bar at the beginning of WWII, "Hitler is a gambler, and gamblers only stop when they have lost everything." (From one of the WWII books I have read, I forget which one)
These stories are definitely interesting to listen to. But I'm curious if you ever plan on creating videos based on the other side of the world. Perhaps from the perspective of captured Japanese soldiers or the struggles of the millions of people under axis oppression. I'm certain there are numerous accounts that you could come across.
My father's unit was in Kunming, China. Among the pictures he brought home were freshly caught Japanese who were in transit. They were starved, and forlorn. They were housed in tents identical to US personnel. Another picture is later, of them sitting outside my father's tent, playing cards or dice, (I forget which), and smoking cigarettes, fat and happy, with one smiling and waving to the camera. They never had it so good in their own camps.
@TheButchersApron I am aware. I meant if the guy running this channel intends on uploading stories from other fronts or on the opposing side. He did a couple from the Soviet pov, for example.
@@toker6664 it's a English man writing. The memories are of german paratrooper it's called heaven and hell the diary of a German paratrooper by Martin Poppel
There are so many pecu;iar mispronunciations in the many English transcriptions of German war diaries that this narrator delivers. He's evidently English, so how can he say ''....we mustn't talk about it dither...'' when the word ''dither'' should obviously be ''either''? There are innumerable such howlers.
Hi ladies and gentleman this is part 7. Playlist in description.
Please check out this new channel ive made for fun (looking for feedback!) th-cam.com/video/VIFE0rIqxeY/w-d-xo.html
This material would make such a great podcast.
In 1947 my Grandfather was the president of the American Shoe Manufacturers Association. He solicited all of the members to contribute all their surplus machinery and shoe making tools. These machines and tools were shipped to Germany and divided among the few remaining German shoe manufacturers. As a small child in the early 1960's I would get a package at Christmas time from the Salamander Shoe Company with sturdy hiking shoes. After almost 20 years the German shoe manufacturers still appreciated what had been done for them after the war.
👍👍👍👍👍....we need more of that willingness to help , today.....great story to begin my day !
Visiting a Salamander Shoe Store is one of the fond moments of anyone who was a child in post war Germany. (Not least because of their famos Lurchi comic books, that they gave away as gifts). Your. grand father did much good in helping this company survive.
@@florianlipp5452 My grandfather eventually managed a company called Florsheim Shoes. The owners were Jewish and I believe the original owners of the Salamander Shoe company were Jewish as well. I remember treasuring several small books of the adventures of the Salamander while wearing his sturdy Salamander Shoes. My grandmother spoke German as her parents were from the border area between Switzerland and Bavaria. She would go with my Grandfather on his post war trips to Germany. They spoke of both the difficulties and kindnesses of their friendship with their German hosts. My grandmother lost two brothers killed fighting on the American side in WW1. They were both medics and they spoke fluent German. Life, and war, are so complicated.
I loved Florsheim shoes! As a young man in the 1950s, I bought them even though they cost more. Another brand was Jarman which was not quite as expensive. I lived in Memphis and I remember that both had stores where their shoes were sold exclusively.
My dad was a camp guard for German POWs in America. He said they were hardworking and industrious. They liked working on the local farms and they were always making things out of scraps. Some made all wood coo-coo clocks that they sold to camp personnel or the locals they work for. They almost ran the camp themselves and needed very little supervision.
Good people.
I think most of them were glad to be out of the war and were starting to see what the third Reich really was. I'm from Guernsey in the channel isles we were occupied by the Germans there's still loads of fortifications there never fired in battle. By the end they were starving. Locals weren't much better of until a red cross ship arrived early 1945. A lot of german soldiers returned to the island after the war.
" on both sides". See how it sounds? My wife is half Jewish and my daughter is one quarter, I'm a US vet. A nazi is a nazi.
This guy was in the Balkans, Crete, Moscow, Sicily, Italy, France, and the western German front...he must have a pile of frequent flyer miles. That he survived is a major miracle.
Frequent Fighter miles😊
A "miracle" for whom, exactly? The millions of poor, innocent peasants whose food was stolen and whose houses were destroyed by the glorious, "clean" Wehrmacht (the careful plans for which were worked out as early as 1935)?
It's not real bro
He was wounded or injured at fortuitous times
Holland aswell
Being an American POW helped many to survive the war.
A American POW means they are under Nazis, Nazis massacred Americans too
Surrendering to the Russians, not so much.
The Japanese were certainly treated well in my father's camp
@@robertmoffett3486My dad’s prison was the Bataan Death March. Not a walk in the park. The Japanese were the worst to their prisoners. 650 American & 16,500 Filipino soldiers died in Bataan. All in all 33% of Japanese prisoners died twice the number in Europe. I didn’t know the Japanese had a resort prison in the Pacific theatre.
Sure 800,000 German pow’s starved to death in American pow camps
I interviewed a paratrooper who jumped into the Rhur. He and his platoon landed on a clearing and dug i. He and 2 others dug a deep foxhole with tree limbs overhead. They were the only survivors of the heavy shelling of the first night.
He then fought his way east until the end of the war. He was on a tank hit by a rocket, coming to in a ditch. "I thought I was dead. It wasn't an altogether bad feeling," said the man became a high school principal.
Wow, incredible. Could you provide a name or a link to the interview please?
@richardmontgomery4704 I did the interview 28 years ago when I was the editor of a community paper in Sabetha Ks. His was one of a series to note the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII. His name was Irwin Figgs. Great guy. Died about 10 years ago.
Unfortunately the paper didn't have a web presence b.ack then.
Somehow he found himself in Berlin shortly after the war, where he saw a large Russian female soldier dragging a German woman down the street by her long blonde hair.
❗Astoundingly good, this series ! The 2nd time in my life I've binged watched 🤪. Enjoyed every minute !
Don’t forget the arch the Germans forced allied POWs to make through East Prussia in January 1945. No food unable to take extra clothing or luggage. Many died. I have little sympathy for German soldiers they were treated better than the Germans treated their captives and slave Labour. As Arthur Harris said. ‘ They sowed the wind. “ Now they must reap the Whirlwind.”
These records/diaries are invaluable.
If it were the Russians , ideology would be the last thing you would be worried about .
Thats not what I meant , read again . If he was a prisoner of the Soviets , the last thing he would be concerned about would be politics , he would be too busy , just trying to stay alive . @@jamesg8203
As a kid, I remember having an Italian POW as a visitor in our house in Hawaii. How he got to Hawaii, I don't know, but he should consider himself lucky.
Perhaps the man telling this and Germany in general would have done better no to have started a war in the first place?
@1:02 The Commander refers to Herr Pöppel - so is this book Martin Pöppel 's "Heaven and Hell: The War Diary of a German Paratrooper" ?
Yes
Fascinating insight into the life of German PoWs
Im happy his batman disappeared with this guy's precious rucksack.
My uncle fought with the Canadians in Netherlands. Some very tough battles over there -- they were up against very able German troops. This man was very lucky to be taken prisoner -- most were shot because the allies had to keep moving and were not able to take prisoners in the heat of battle.
Awesome content, thanks
A lot of German POWs were sent to Memphis Army Depot in Tennessee. Italians also were sent there but they hated each other and there was constant warfare. The Italians were moved to Como, Mississippi. The depot was huge and covered many acres, and it even had a rail line into it. It was completely enclosed by a 10-foot-high, heavy metal fence with barbed wire at the top. It still stands today. Interestingly enough, goats were kept to maintain the grassy areas. I went to work there in 1961 and worked with several people, both male and female, who worked at the depot during the war. I learned many things about the POWs. It was a fact that there were "blacks" and "whites" and that was a problem. As the grounds were secured with the fence, the prisoners had free access to most areas without being under guard. They worked in the warehouses along with depot personnel and some worked in the large cafeteria. The whites got along with employees and actually seemed to enjoy their lives. A lot of young women worked at the depot, living in their own barracks. They sometimes worked 10-hour days, 7 days a week. They had postal and banking services, as well as a beauty parlor, and access to a cafeteria which stayed open all the time because the depot worked around the clock! I guess you think this has nothing to do with POWs, but it did! Just remember that the Germans were young and healthy men living behind barbed wire and the women were living in just about the same conditions! Enough said. The blacks, mostly ranking SS officers, who were nazis, ordered no fraternization. It seems they wound up "banding" some of the POWs, but the medics found out and saved the young men from this fate! Many American-German friendships were made. One man returned to Memphis every year on his vacation and brought his wife. He was always well-received, and once was given a key to the city!
@17:48 What does "Nibelungen" loyalty mean? I searched & came up with "Nibelung (plural Nibelungs or Nibelungen) (Germanic mythology) A member of a supernatural underground race that guarded treasures and gold searched for and eventually seized by Siegfried." but I don't see how that is germane to the conversation
Try looking up "Der Ring des Nibelungen".
"Nibelungentreue" means a very deep loyalty that leads the one holding it to his downfall. The term Nibelungen itself goes back to the Siegfried Saga.
My brother in law was the captain of a machine company. He was captured in the summer of 1943 in Oreal. He was sent to Archangel to unload ships coming from the US. Since he was an officer, the Geneva Convention stated that h did not have to work. When he arrived in the final pow camp he stated this to the commandant. The answer was “If you do not work, you will receive no food”. So he had to determine how to survive as it was obvious that prisoners were dying and terribly mistreated by the Russian masters. When the Russians asked what skills each prisoner had he stated that he could cook. His friends knew otherwise. The only thing they knew he could do was boil water. Later it turned out to be a wise decision as he was near food while others died from hard labor and starvation. He once mentioned about how the kitchen cat fell into the cooking pot. It was hard work to remove the fur, but no one knew that they were having cat for dinner but no one complained as the meal was not the usual watery broth with a little cabbage that was the usual fare! When he returned to Germany years later, there were few professions he could train for as he was too old to train in most professions. He studied a night and finally was able to land a position in a bank. Many could not get good jobs because th😊y were investigated for was crimes or being a member of the Hitlers party. Many of the SS soon knew they would never have a job and left for South America.
Fascinating. I'd like to hear more of their story.
Please let us know if there are any more episodes
👍👍👍!!!
Fabulous
It would be interesting to hear some stories from pilots too.
PLEASE ADVISE WHICH BOOK AND AUTHOR IS SPEAKING OR WRITING IN TITLES - THESE ARE VERY CONFUSING
Just found this site love the stories thx
Can you share what books these audios are from?
So this is one of those "what if" scenarios I've been thinking over.
As far as WWII, I think maybe best case scenario for Hitler and Germany would have been stopping after the conquest of France and renegotiating treaties with allies in regard to WWI. Also persecution of people was a bad idea across the board.. especially for an international European nation.
Hitler pushed his luck and took a huge gamble attacking England & Russia.
@barryb7682 Your 'What if" scenarios -
Germany did indeed expect and did de-mobilise a number of armoured divisions during 1940 after the fall of France.
Hitler was again and again and again trying to make peace with England prior to WW2. The famous 'stop' order as the British BMF force was rolled up as Germany crossed France, forcing the British force to be evacuated from the beaches of Dunquirk. Germany could have just captured or killed all the British Forces which they did not, possibly because Hitler as he said again and again "England is not an enemy of Germany."
Remember after war was declared, September 1939, we entered what was called The Phoney War because until the summer of 1940 with the commencement of the Battle of Britain, the only 'war' that was really happening after the evacuation of the BEF from France was the continual bombing of....Berlin by the RAF [instigated by Churchill - bombing civilians] which eventually caused Hitler to end up bombing London in retaliation - not because he was mad.
During 1940 or 41, Rudolph Hess on a 'one man peace mission' flew to England and bailed out of his aircraft. He hoped to create peace between Germany and England. Instead, due to Priminister Chamberlain being replaced by Churchill, Churchill put Hess in a British prison until the end of the war in 1945. Then Hess was taken to the Neuremburg trials where he was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to life in prison. He served this prison sentence until his death in something like 1980's, paid for in turn by British, American and French forces and costs, until he died. Every other convicted Nazi in the Nueremburg trials were either executed or served around ten years or less in prison. Since Hess spent most of the war in a British prison, why was he kept in prison until his death ? Some forty odd years when everyone else had been released ?
The only option Germany had to renegotiate the terms of surrender of WW1 was, after much total financial trouble and the invasion of the Rhur Industrial Area's by France for failing to pay their war reparations, prior to WW2 at the time Germany was trying to rebuild herself from WW1, was to go to war again. This is why Hitler had France sign their surrender in the exact same railway carriage Germany had been forced to surrender in at the end of WW1, totally under other peoples terms, with no room to negotiate the completely unworkable terms which ended WW1 that ensured WW2 twenty years later.
Let us remember Britain went to war against Germany to aid Poland, whom had been invaded by Germany. When Russia invaded Poland some twelve days later, Britain did not declare war on Russia in support of Poland, but took Russia as an ally of Britain against Germany. Why was this double standard permitted ? Just a note that after all the war and all the deaths of millions of people, Russia held Poland and Britain said "Oh Ok." and Poland was absorbed into the Communist USSR. So what was all the fighting about 'to support Poland' and support her independence when in the end Poland lost her independence not to Germany but to Communist Russia and Britain didn't care any more ?
When German forces crossed the Russian borders [Operation Barbarossa] they found millions of Russian soldiers poised and preparing to invade Germany. Both Germany and Russia signed 'non aggression packs' and both countries used this peace time to build up forces to invade the other. Millions of the Russian soldiers were taken prisoners when Germany got their invasion going first. British, French and others had signed the Geneva Convention for the protection of war prisoners, and so had Germany. Therefore these European prisoners had a fairly easy time, but not the Russian prisoners. That was because Stalin did not sign the Geneva Convention and therefore treated German prisoners with contempt, and so in turn Germany treated Russians. This is why Russian prisoners had such a hard time in Germany.
Many German prisoners were worked to death or just perished, Some survivors were returned to Germany I think in the mid 1950's. In contrast the surviving Russian prisoners were returned to Russia at the end of the war, were shipped straight to camps in Seberia where they were worked or starved to death on the basis of Stalin view that having been in captivity 'in the west' they were now impure and not fit for integration back in the USSR. So the Russian prisoners were all killed in the end by the Russians themselves.
Meanwhile in Europe the German forces that surrendered to the Americans decided, possibly because of food supply issues, that there were too many Germany POW's to feed, so they were herded into some fields and guarded where because of the Geneva Convention and Prisoner of War status, the American's reclassified them all as 'disarmed combatants' and because of this change of legal status allowed 100,000 or more of the Germans to starve to death in American captivity and after the wars end. Because the American's care about people, i'm sure you know America cares because they keep bombing and blowing people up around the world even today.
I hope this sheds some light on your What if scenarios since mostly they did actually happen.
Hitler wasn’t mad, but he was a fanatic with non negotiable goals.
Hitler would have loved that. He clearly wanted peace with Britain. There was no way Britain would make peace with Germany. That would be suicidal. Hitler's regime in free possession of France would be invincible, and a constant threat. That's why they stood alone against Germany. Hitler didn't make that decision. Britain did. They thought it over more than you did, thank God. Nothing personal, lots of people have thought the same thing, probably myself as well. It's a pipe dream, though.
As someone who has studied WW2 for over forty-five years, I also have wondered about some of the good pointed questioned you raised. In your next comment could you explain the difficulties the Americans had in feeding and housing the millions of German prisoners all captured in a short few months while still having to fight a war, and how most of the new German POWs were half starved when they came into captivity. I would also like to see five paragraphs on how the Marshall Plan saved Western Europe from starving to death, not to mention saving them from civil wars and Communism. I would also like for you to tell us about the difficulties in living life while avoiding all those American bombs. It must be hell.
All the agreements Hitler made with Britain and France before the start of WWII, he broke. He couldn't be trusted and his rapid victories in Poland and France only emboldened him. As one WWI veteran told a group of young German soldiers in a bar at the beginning of WWII, "Hitler is a gambler, and gamblers only stop when they have lost everything." (From one of the WWII books I have read, I forget which one)
Idk what his hands look like but Stein was looking svelte when he took his shirt off a few episodes back.
When he said "Somebody else let off a fart like thunder" I lost it 53:35
These stories are definitely interesting to listen to. But I'm curious if you ever plan on creating videos based on the other side of the world. Perhaps from the perspective of captured Japanese soldiers or the struggles of the millions of people under axis oppression. I'm certain there are numerous accounts that you could come across.
Accounts by Japanese prisoners would be interesting indeed.Probably the most unusual experience from the outset
My father's unit was in Kunming, China. Among the pictures he brought home were freshly caught Japanese who were in transit. They were starved, and forlorn. They were housed in tents identical to US personnel. Another picture is later, of them sitting outside my father's tent, playing cards or dice, (I forget which), and smoking cigarettes, fat and happy, with one smiling and waving to the camera. They never had it so good in their own camps.
@TheButchersApron I am aware. I meant if the guy running this channel intends on uploading stories from other fronts or on the opposing side. He did a couple from the Soviet pov, for example.
He mentioned blacks and it was confising “ african American?” But i think he’s talking about black ss uniform
Who are "the blacks" he refers to?
He's not talking about color. He's talking about the true Nazi believers, the more hardcore ones.
Danteesque.
Diary of Alfred Ingelhoffer
It’s a computer 💻 generated voice. So it doesn’t differentiate the close sounds of letters
Can you be sure the story isn't wholly AI?
@@toker6664yeh I'm sure 😃
@FrederikJolle what nazi knows uncle Tom's cabin?
Some references is just wrong
@@toker6664It's read from book
@@toker6664 it's a English man writing. The memories are of german paratrooper it's called heaven and hell the diary of a German paratrooper by Martin Poppel
The thumbnail pictured as this video plays shows a solider as though he may be sighting down a target but the belt’s not fed into the weapon.
Looks like an American Browning 30 cal machine gun
@@barryrammer7906 It is, with the pistol grip.
Probably setting up the position. We would always "ghost engage" a platoon of fake enemies as we set up, to really get a FEEL for your lanes of fire.
@@stillcantbesilencedevennow 👍 Makes sense.
There are so many pecu;iar mispronunciations in the many English transcriptions of German war diaries that this narrator delivers. He's evidently English, so how can he say ''....we mustn't talk about it dither...'' when the word ''dither'' should obviously be ''either''? There are innumerable such howlers.
It's computer generated. Numbers are often read in very awkward ways.
But it's really good. Audio book narrators must be very nervous.
The voice is AI generated.
It is a rather excellent ai voice, almost indistinguishable from a real man
It's more odd that references that no Nazi would know like uncle Toms cabin, its not real, why would a racist read it?
Twice during this episode, the AI voice said "translator's note". I've listened to several of these videos and haven't heard it say that before.
I thought was real until it said “onest” for 1st.
In my neck of the woods, a lot of the old people used to say "onest" for "once".
Computer voice reading memoirs
It's proper English.
"I Was Still Indoctrinated It Took Years To Change My Views"
To become indoctrinated by the victors worldview.
You like wise have been brainwashed just like those in the Hitler youth.
Sadly you don't know it.
Who wrote these?? British or American propaganda??? Lol
Go ahead and explain why it can't be genuine, wehraboo.