Hardly. That's like saying Jack Nicholson and Robert Downey Jr sound alike. Granted they are both male and New Yorkers but that's it. Here both Military History not Visualized and Military History Visualized are obviously Germans - both with accents so thick they make Heinrich, the sausage merchant sound like a native of Cork, Yorkshire or South Carolina.
@@emilsinclair4190 Military History not Visualized might be Austrian, but I would have to hear him speak more German. I would be surprised however. Damn that accent is thick "Odder" vs other "Schtalin" vs Stalin and levy pronounced like you would the jeans label or even lee-fy like some hi-fi stereo system invented by General Lee 6:40
As a shut-in, disabled vet I want to say how much I appreciate your fine programs. I love studying history and it's channels like yours that help bring the classroom to my bedside. Keep up the superb work!
Many thanks to you, sir!My brother served with 101st LRRPs in Vietnam, 1967-69.He died 10 years ago from cancer caused by Agent Orange exposure. My hero...
You might also appreciate this then th-cam.com/channels/TYmTYuan0fSGccYXBxc8cA.htmlplaylists or the plain podcasts history-podcasts.com/flashpoint-history
Regarding soviet manpower.a collegue of mine found his grandpa grave few years ago. It was on soviet war cementary. Grandpa was a Pole living in central Poland, in 1944r when front came he was over 50. Since he was conscripted in tsarist imperial army he was probably drafted on the go, using former tsarist recruit list. Conclusion - soviets took everybody they could in ranks. Family had no clue what happened to their relative till late 2000.
As for scarcity of manpower for the Soviets at the end of the war - it's an open secret. Only Nazi propaganda then and Western propaganda now tell about Judo-Monghol-Bolshevik hordes. The reality was meagre: Red Army rifle divisions never were of regular strength of 12000-14000 men at the end of the war. It considered good if they were 5000 men, but very often they were only 3000-4000 men. So only in fairy tails of German generals Soviet generals could allow themselves "fill up with meat" enemy resistance. Second, as for Poles in the Red Army. That's a misunderstanding. The reality was that Stalin had his answer for Polish emigre government in London and its so called Home Army. He formed his own Polish Army - the so called Armiya Ludowa (you may call it People's Army). Unlike Polish Home Army which was essentially a clandestine organisation, ruled by amateurs in military affairs (although they were generals and colonels!), Stalin's Polish army was a regular Army formation, equipped and armed by Red Army standards. And once in Poland, of course, the Poles were conscripted in this Army. How they say now: Polish emigre government in London tried to outperform Stalin with "we are the Government! We have an army and a major city! - what was the true purpose of Warsaw uprising". But Stalin wasn't "a political baby" and could very cold bloodedly answer: OK, I also have a government (Polish National Committee), a Polish Army and a major city (Lublin), so what's the matter?
Thanks so much for clearing up some questions I've always had about my grandfather, Wilhelm Busching (1895-1967). He survived combat on the western front in WWI as a German infantryman. In 1921 he got his abitur and went to work as a teacher in the tiny village of Probach near Limburg. Eventually he moved to the larger village of Villmar and - as a teacher - joined the Nazi party. For a short time he was called up to train infantry but that didn't last very long. In April 1945, in view of the U.S. 3rd Army advance, he temporarily "disappeared" from Villmar and now I gather that he was called up into the Volkssturm. While he was away, American tanks roared into Villmar, shot up his home and killed his wife, while his daughter (my mom) cowered in the cellar. Interestingly enough, my grandfather and my three uncles (who all served in combat) all survived WWII.
@@paulvonhindenburg4727 Civilians are usuallly given enough warning to evacuate ahead of time but they always wait until the last minute to leave. They have their reasons, some logical, some not and they all make sense right up to the moment a 155mm shell blows up their house. She was definitely lucky.
@@readhistory2023 Pfffwah! Even during the fighting in Normandy, Allied tank formations would rapidly advance using 'recon by fire.' This involved shooting up and strafing any house that looked suspicious or was on a good position, while driving at cruising speed. Nobody warned people in occupied countries to evacuate/ take cover before the bombing of an important target (like Philips radioworks in Eindhoven, Operation Oyster). There are loads of guncamera footage from American fighterbombers who randomly targeted single houses and shot up horse-carts. American veteran and later famous test pilot Chuck Yaeger mentioned this in his memoirs: atrocities were committed by both sides. We as fighters were ordered to fly low over the German country side and shoot up anything that moved.
@@AudieHolland Sad truth, which makes it that much worse to realise the how much worse the magnitude of German war crimes were that we often choose not to talk about Allied ones.
@@zexal4217 Way to spin the truth, Dr. Goebbels! A warcrime is a warcrime. An atrocity is an atrocity. It does not matter which side committed it. Oh, it's understandable we killed your innocent civilians during the firebombings of Germany cities (Hamburg, Cologne, Dresden) because, after all, you killed our innocent citizens at the start of the war when you bombed Warsaw, Rotterdam, Coventry, etc. I'm sure RAF Bomber commander 'Butcher' Harris went to the graves of those killed Allied citizens and swore on their graves: Don't worry, we will bomb and kill tens of thousands more women and children and elderly people on the enemy side!
Hi, thanks for what you guys are doing on TGW. And I imagine we'll be hearing more about the volksturm during our 16 days in Berlin, eh? Looking forward to it
My father, a Western POW, mentioned seeing a group of young teenagers armed with rifles and manning a blockade made from logs which they had built across a road to stop the Russian tanks. The uniforms were to big and were folded back at the ankles and wrists. Dad said they had no chance of stopping anything let alone a tank. The Army believed the British Home Guard only became an effective force well after the threat of an invasion was over.
@@bobsemple7660 Not even meant to shoot German pilots (especially whilst they're parachuting) let alone British one's. The Home Guard was never truly a military fighting force so much as it was meant to free up the actual army from the menial jobs required to keep security at home.
@@bobsemple7660 Not even meant to shoot German pilots (especially whilst they're parachuting) let alone British one's. The Home Guard was never truly a military fighting force so much as it was meant to free up the actual army from the menial jobs required to keep security at home.
There would've been a massive difference in quality & quantity needed to defend from a landing invasion who had to supply anything across the channel which might be very hard, compared to fending off someone who's got a land supply line over atleast a quarter of Europe and are currently on a steamroll.
@@Robbini0 its a moot point the Germans never had the logistical capability to invade the British Isles without a navy and without air supremacy it would be impossible to pull off
@@cyberpunkfalangist2899 They would've had enough of logistics to get across some troops, but whether that would be enough and if they could keep them supplied is pretty unknowable, and doing it all without atleast aerial supremacy and/or naval supremacy (aerial is probably more important in this case) would at the least be extremely inefficient at at worst suicidal waste of goods and troops.
The defence of Breslau is perhaps the best example of how the Volkssturm should have been employed. Used strictly in manning defensive positions, with any localized counterattacks being conducted by the regular units of Wehrmacht and Waffen SS. It is interesting to note, that despite it being besieged long before Berlin, Breslau held out until after Berlin surrendered.
Imagine the Chinese running out of manpower 😳😂 You cant. Error code: Impossible. We believe there is a portal somewhere that spawns them in infinite numbers.
@@charris5700 Actually its very possible for China to have a major logistics failure. Which is why they aren't really challenging the US in the pacific yet. Japan suffered the same issue.
@@PugilistCactus That's not what i was referring too. I work in logistics for past 13 years and it is not solely based on manpower but communication, multitasking, structure and competent management. I get what your saying bud I was just more so making a joke 😀
13:48 they had those rifles on Forgotten Weapons, comparing to pre and mid-war kar98k. I'll just say it's not a good feeling if you get issued a rifle with no cleaning rod
king: where are your peasants, the Danes are on their raid our village! nobleman visablely confused: Sire, if being attacked why did you order that the peasants wear blue jeans? peasant in background: thanks m'lord these trousers fantastic!
Can you make video about what was german high command thought on recruiting foreigners into service? For example French peoples into SS or Russians in wehrmacht?
That they were unreliable and not as well trained. In fact, it was a foreign SS division that led to the encirclement at Stalingrad through an unauthorized retreat whilst under pressure. They were Romanian I think? They were expecting an easy push - an end of war scenario - but got the shock of their life instead.
@@redrumtm3435 There were no Romanian SS divisions. You are probably thinking of the Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies. However, there was the 8th SS-Kavallerie Division 'Florian Geyer', which recruited 40% of its manpower from the Volksdeutsche of Banat (southeast Vojvodina) and Transylvania. But they did not fight in Stalingrad, being assigned to anti-partisan duties in Bobruisk, Belarus, and surrounding areas.
@@redrumtm3435 I think it's a little more complicated than that. The Dutch, Belgian and Finnish Waffen SS volunteers were overall highly thought of -though they weren't in numbers to qualify as individual "divisions" . I would also point out that the "Charlemagne" so-called division (more of a Regimental Kampfgruppe) were some of the last holdouts in the Battle of Berlin.
You know, some people like I find the Volkssturm fascinating but why? Is it because they had such a big variation in uniforms and weaponry. Or is it something in us that admires the fact that even if you're regime is at the brink of destruction you keep fight on with everything you have left? And let's zoom in a bit. Let's say you were born at the end of the 19th century and you fought as a young men in the First World War. Witnessing the horrors of trench warfare and see many of your comrades fall. But you survive. And then another war breaks out. At the end you find yourself in the middle of it and then you have to report for duty. And there you stand, in your 50s with a rifle that brings back memories of the previous war you fought in. Just bitter irony...
The East Germans had a similar organization. Under Party control instead of the military, organized around local factories and towns. The Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse, Combat Groups of the Working Class. Probably meant more to serve as a check on the military which all ideological totalitarian regimes distrust and seek to counter with a party paramilitary. But also intended as a last ditch defensive militia.
As a sidenote: In 1944 when the western allies liberated Belgium, Flemish collaborators took refuge in Germany. The Germans recruited some of them for military service. These were for the most part transferred to the Flemish SS Langemarck division. (Division in name only. Only regimental/brigade size.) The SS created a jugendbataillon consisting of Flemish teenagers and children. This batallion was also part of the Langemarck. This unit saw combat against the Soviets in april 1944 around Stettin and Prenzlau. They were shot up pretty badly by Soviet armoured units. Pieter Jan Verstraete wrote a book about them titled 'Jugenbataillon Langemarck'. Only available in Dutch, I think.
I remember looking at COD WAW deleted contents and saw that Volkssturm were deleted. I just realize that COD WAW would be a disturbing game if they add them in the final product.
FreeBird0964 yea the Berlin missions were supposed to have you fighting them but they felt that shooting kids would be too much. The game was already brutal
lol what a disappointment that would have been awesome. that game needs to be remade and I'd prefer it if it was made to be as violent as possible. Hate the last COD WW2 game fucking sugar coating the conflict. I believe any depiction of world war 2 or war in general in media should be as brutal and horrific as possible otherwise you're doing a disservice to everyone who died and suffered in that war. Traumatizing kids in a ww2 game is a good way to remove any romanticized notions they may have about war.
The Volksturm were still referenced in one of the cutscenes, the narration went; “The Fuhrer demands all to shed every last drop of blood in its (Germany) defense; the old, the young, the weak”
Volksturm platoon with a Blitz bus is my favorite unit in Fall of the Reich. Great place to use all my spare miniatures with some head swaps. Mix of gear with Bren guns and BARs (aka. vz. 26s and wz. 1928s) as light machine guns and fatigues painted as a mix of uniforms and civilian clothes gives them a nice ad hoc feel.
To be fair English speakers tend to butcher pronounciation of all other languages - and are seen as pretentious if they don't, even if they know better. Hence why Americans call the great German composer Bakk :D
@@avienated Don't remind me, it's especially irritating when they make a whole ww2 audio or video series and they pronounce von like "fann" through the whole damn thing.
My English accent is similar, only worse. At university, other German students were impressed by my fluency in English, but still mentioned my bad accent.
My Greatgrandfather was the leader of a Volkssturm detachment in our local area in northern Bavaria (Frankonia) who was choosen to lead the formation because his extensive experience during the whole of WWI and even the first 2 years of WW2. They prepared to defend our small towns and village areas some 50km south of Nuremberg city by cutting down trees on main roads and building some strongpoints allong important positions. But theyre equipment would have stand no chance against the advancing forces of the US Army. They were only issued bolt action Rifles (many of foreign production with no fitting ammunition for them) with often only 5 rounds per man and around a dozen Grenades for around 60 men at arms. On the day when the Americans arrived it was a foggy morning but the spoters allready informed my greatgrandfather that around 12 Tanks supported by Infantry were advancing on their positions and crushed easily every ditch and obstacles they faced. His Volksturm forces had around 1/3 children of the HJ-organisation in their ranks and 5 of his own sons were part of that. So he decided this battle would be suicide - they had not even one single Panzerfaust or anything that could face against the US Armored Vehicles - and he met the US Troops under the white flag to discuss our countys surrender. The Americans agreed but after the Volkssturm disarmed themselfes they were treathed very harshly and they even discussed to shoot my GreatGranpa but he was saved by Polish POWs who were sent to his village to work as farmlabourers who talked the Americans out of it because my Grandgranddad always treated them well what wasnt common and he never informed his supperiors when the Poles stole some food from the villagers because they were in such a bad shape - if he had reported them they would have faced very very harsh punishments. A farmer in our neighbor village was shoot the same Day by G.I.s from the same unit.
But in vanilla a 'militia' division would probably just be a couple regiments of infantry with engineers and maybe anti tank capability + marked as reserve, I'd say that was a pretty shabby.
@@thetrippedup9322 I mean, anything is better than nothing if you're plugging holes in lines and surrounding spearheads. Imagine for instance if the USSR had one of those on every tile in the early war. It's just not going to be all coordinated irl like there's some omnipotent sky god giving orders, or concentrated enough, or enough to stop Germany from getting flattened.
@@farmerboy916 suggest you read up on breslau between the battle for the city(which held out til the end) and the Soviet practices of pows and Nazi enforcement of service the estimates range between 80000 to 110000 dead a lot of blood for next to nothing
On the whole focusing on children rather than old men thing, both the very young and very old what made up the final defense lines of Germany. From what I can recall, the volkssturm was desribed as "old men and children thrown into battle" as a last ditch attempt to save the 3rd reich.
I heard about the Volkssturm from a soldier that my father commanded during the capture of Bruyeres, France. He said he captured an older man and a thirteen year old boy. The young man asked to keep his wallet and that is found out the age of the young man. The two were captured and put into a POW camp. The soldier was seriously wounded trying to disable a Tiger 1 using a bazooka. I have gathered information from speaking with WWII veterans.
An interesting fact that the Volkssturm was a party force rather than something attached to the military. In a sense not that different than the Waffen SS which was also separate from the military and had their own commanders not tied or controlled by the military. Having separate commands makes things difficult; no unity of command. Incidentally, it was formed in September of 1944 and that was the same time the opposite force the British Home Guard was told to stand down. In a sense the British Home Guard was more unified and trained; they had their own manuals, some of which influenced the manuals on street fighting the British Army would later employ.
Ok then. What? There are many errors in your description. The Waffen SS was created by the SS. They wore little SS indignia. Besides that, they were (pretty much) armed with the same weapons as the Heer, under command of the Heer, etc. It's really not different from the US Marines, which were often directly under Army control. The only real question was, should that command be at the Army level, the Corps level, the Division level? I'm not sure where you got the idea that the Waffen SS was a separate command from the Heer. It certainly was not.
I like to imagine a group of 50 year old ex Stormtrooper veterans from ww1, with massive moustaches and scars, giving advice to the young kids, and then donning their old stahlhelm, and adjusting their iron crosses, dusting off the old Mp18 and Kar98AZ, before sipping a toast to the fatherland and raising the battle flag one last time...
Different battle flag though. And statistically a lot of them would have been in the Western front in 1918 when that started going bad, with mass Allied tank attacks, overwhelming Allied air superiority, demoralizingly numerous, well fed and well equipped Allied troops, endless retreats amid heavy losses. It would have been familiar all right but a lot less glorious than your portrayal
Promptly half of them have a heart attack, most of the remainder are obliterated by Allied artillery, aircraft and armour, and the rest encounter what the person above me wrote
@@hastekulvaati9681 Well any nation would do the same, we don’t point the finger at Russia when they used women and children partisans. Also majority of Volksturm were volunteers who like any sane person wanted to defend their families
From August, 1944 the US Army transported on average 50,000 German PoWs a month back to the United States, in the previous 3 years, the United States had captured and shipped back a total of 1,990 Japanese prisoners of war.
Same in Italy honestly: "Our spirit and determination will wi-hey, what are you doing, HEY, NO, STOP Leave that gun alone, I'm your leader, you can't just overthrow me!"
what was the higher command structure above battalion? were they simply given as supplemental battalions to the wehrmacht, organized into their own higher VS structures under party officials who doubled as commanders, purely ad-hoc territorial defense units or something else?
these were units meant for local i.e. neighborhood defense. they were never intended to be field units like the volksgrenadiers. So likely no higher tactical organization than BN.
We have already concluded that spain was a lot more worth to germany as a passive ally than as a axis member for various reasons Could you please do a video on if germany wouldve been better of if italy had the same role as spain? Considering the amout of problems and resource shortages italy created for germany I think that they wouldve indeed been better of
Comrade Slane well but consideringhow italy REALLY disnt want to join the war and only joined once they were sure that germany would succeed in sealion(which they obv didnt) Italy couldve very likely not joined the war
Was the training more extensive for non-veteran members? I can imagine, that veteran from first world war would already have enough knowledge and mastery of the rifle and grenade to deal some damage.
I'd imagine they'd need training on new weapons like Panzerfausts, but I cant imagine anything more than basic remedial training for anything more basic than that
The very young teenagers had in HJ a paramilitary training. A former coworker of me was from Eastern Germany, born 1970, and for the troubles of 1989/1990 he had no ,real' military training. But he was member of FDJ ( Freie deutsche Jugend/ free german youth), basicly HJ painted in communist red. He told me , that in 8.year of school education ,Vormilitärische Ausbildung' started, this was during the rest of his school education and during his job training ( in german Lehre). There had been from time to time one or two weeks of military training camps, including throwing handgrenades or shooting Kalaschnikows in .22 lr. The instructors had been Offiziersschüler/ officers aspirants of Volksarmee.
English pronunciation tidbit: "cc" is usually pronounced like "ks" such as success, or access But it's English so there are exceptions, like accommodate which is "kk"
It is worth emphasizing that Der volksturm Had its roots in Preussens "Befreiungskrieg" 1813. In Sweden we were inspired by Germany And set up landstormen where older year classes served (1885-1942). It was replaced by hemvärnet (the Homeguard,) which still today consists of localdefense forces.
Which due to the massive cut-downs during the past 30 years means that the Home Guard is a very major part of the modern Swedish military, it is literally half of the Army...
@@user-yr5nv2gv7m The oldest known meaning of "knecht" or "cniht" is not serf but a boy or male servant or assistant. In English it came to mean a military assistant of a baron, a knight, although in Middle English the other, older meanings were still used as well. In German one of the main meanings came to be a personal assistant to a heavy cavalryman or "Ritter" in the Middle Ages (later "Ritter" became a class of nobility, but that's another story), which meant about the same as a "knight" or "men-at-arms" in modern English. The Renaissance era "Landsknecht" were therefore an assistant class of (mercenary) soldiers to the knights (Ritter).
This is what this joke is about. The leadership somehow hope that these men would be able to turn the tide of the war, like the other retaliatory weapons.
The Volkssturm are the primary example of how *not* to create a militia - do not restrict the access of it members to arms, do not recruit old people and children with little or no training and do not rely on the state to furbish them with equipment (as the state will give them the scraps - if it gives them any equipment at all...). Any effective militia requires the members to be able to furbish their own weaponry, drill on their own time regularly (at least once a month) and is capable of functioning as its own unit independent of anything other than the local community in order to provide a common defense for the community. Anyone that tells you otherwise is selling you something.
Gamma Raygun I don’t know how they would have faired in the event of an (improbable) invasion by the German forces, but the doctrine behind them was certainly more sound.
Probably not gonna happen unless I get a interview partner for this, since the topic means 1) very likely demonetization by youtube since war crimes all over the place 2) the comment section usually turns into a freak show, e.g., the Great War had to turn off the comment section a few times on topics from that region, 3) I have no books and knowledge on the subject, 4) I have so many other topics on which I have already books and which don't fulfill 1) nor 2) and in some cases I already have some knowledge.
I think also there is a tradition in that region of this type of military organization. When you reach back to the Napoleonic wars and get things like the Freikorps(sp?) in Prussia and maybe Austria as well or maybe I'm thinking Landwehr? Either way, this concept of low-trained, either conscripted or volunteer, units who supplement the more heavily trained units and are frequently employed for garrison duties and other low-combat deployments. So, I wonder if that past tradition had any impact on the choice to form these units or perhaps on the response of the populace to participate in them.
Not only in Europe same in the war of independence in the becoming US besides the continental army which was pure militia in the beginning till the end militias serve side by side with regulars
Depended on the unit. Some were actual crack units made up by veteran soldiers with the very best equipment and preferential treatment by the Generals, but most were second line at best that were political in nature rather then any badge of elite status. It was very ad-hoc, unlike the other elite German units like the Fallschirmjäger or Mountaineers who were pretty much all hardnuts.
@@zexal4217 yea but you have to remember that the SS were basically all crappy at the start of the war as they were not true soldiers. But as the war progressed they became more effective
The Volksturm was Hitler's type of group, perfect fit for him. A ragtag group of old timers from the WW1 days. I blew the dust off my old gewehr, oiled up the ol needle gun and FrancoPrussian ammo satchel. Come on Hans hand me my walkin stick, let's go show em we still got it... 6hours later...Oldman Fritz & Hans make it out the front door and down the 3 stairs to the street. Mmmm which way is the front line? I can't see far, whips out monocle to notice town in flames and small groups of soldiers walking, some of them kids. Mmmm excuze me young man which way is the front line trench?... Huhhh? No response because Fritz was talking to a lamp pole. Dammit these disrespectful youngins these days Hans.. Back in our day... i tell ya..Falls asleep for a few seconds until a bomb explosion a street over wakes ol Fritz back up. Ahhhh take that you damned Franks! We got em Hans! All these soldiers must be the victory parade! We won Hans!! I knew we still had it in us to win a war.. See if you can spot Kaiser Wilhelm. I know we earned an iron cross at least. We beat em even quicker this time Hans and I still got all my powder charges. Heil Prussia!
MHV, could you do a review regarding how the Italians and Japanese viewed each other during the war, or the Italo-Japanese relations during WW2 in general? If you could not find enough information within the archives for what seems a scarce topic then it's okay.
Back in the 80s, I met a man who’d been in the Hitler Youth, and served on the Eastern Front in 1944/45 - it was a fascinating conversation - among other things he told me how the Soviets would motivate their troops prior to an attack - a tanker truck would pull up, and the soldiers would form a line, with little buckets or containers. The truck gave each soldier vodka - typically within 1-2 hours, the attack would begin. He also mentioned that the extent of firing that “green” recruits on the Soviet side would do corresponded to the number of cartridges their magazines would hold - as they’d not been trained on how to reload their rifles.
jurisprudens I don’t mind the question at all. In a word - YES. He directly witnessed the vodka truck, line-up, and under equipped soldiers. On the under training side.....that was his assumption. But it’s generally supported by some information in this, as well as other videos, and many sources. It’s certainly possible that he was “fibbing” I suppose, however.
@@Alsemenor He was definitely German - my grandmother, alive at the time had a Austrian-German father and spoke to him in a bit of German, which she'd learned while growing up - and he could observe the Soviets from his defensive lines, at least some of the time - from a distance he said he could see a "tanker truck" (his words) driving up to the Soviet Positions, and a line form (I have to assume he was hunkered down, waiting for something to happen).
I wish you would cover other wars more often. You have so many options. I would be very glad to see you cover more obscure wars not taught in West-centic history books and courses, like the Lybian- Chadian wars, or the "La Violencia" civil war in Columbia. World War 2 has been discussed and examined to death. There's too much saturation, while there are other wars that most people don't even know about.
On other conflicts I usually get less views, I have very limited resources in both time and books, it takes for longer for non-ww2 stuff to do videos on, since I want to understand the conflict and context around it better.
@@MilitaryHistoryNotVisualized I would argue that doing a video on other conflicts might expose your channel to those who aren't regulars, as your videos may appear to searches related to South East Asia or South America, for example. However, while I still wish for videos on other conflicts, I understand your logic. Hopefully you get to the point some day where you can afford to branch out. Good luck bro.
It should be noted that the provisional French army, or the free French forces, used allied equipment. They wore American uniforms, used Sherman tanks, American bucket helms, M1 rifles and bars, you get the ides. That’s how the confusion comes in. Also, they weren’t the official French army, they were provisional, as the official French army was under Vichy France
How the hell did they make these old guys fight? I'm in my early 50's and everything hurts in the morning. Can you imagine trying to hunt down IS 2' s with a panzerfaust when you desperately need to take a bathroom break? War is a game for young men.
There are 60+ yr olds running marathons or doing triathlons. People back then were much less sedentary on average. Also, if you had arthritis bad, they'd probably just had you wait in a hole with a panzerfaust. No need to march far.
@@fazole Yeah, granted, but even then, it seems to me that a lot of these guys were city dwellers with desk jobs. Their diet wasn't anything spectacular, especially in Germany at the end of the war. And, let's face it, old is old, and the life expectancy was lower at the time. In the final analysis they didn't stop the Soviets anyway. It just really seems to suck to be marched out to be sacrificed in your golden years and throw your body at Stalin's boys. I wouldn't do it.
@@zakutheferret8182 there was a video (damned if I can find it though) that was a CoH x BoB x Downfall mashup. The 'it's a trap' line was the scene late in bob with the polish ss, following that battle someone informed hitler in his bunker about 160 volks getting turned into about 40 grenadiers and he seemed pleased with his progress
I learned that an hour maximum for a walk is where you should put your militia training centers and that if you want to them to be effective even with your low materiel supply having actually army trainers there to train the people will pay dividends in actually effective redoubt.
Sehr gutes Video mein deutsch-sprachiger Freund! Always wanted to know what's up with the Volkssturm cuz ain't no one knows shit about it except you so thank you very much mein Freund
Always amazed me how these outlandish and risky plans were made with the idea that the enemy would do what they thought they would do. Don't assume in war. If you aren't certain, attain certainty. Don't lie and hope.
Whatever they would have done, they were fighting the three mightiest armies in the world with limitless ressources and manpower, willing to break every rule in the book, on two fronts, after 4 very difficult years with shortages in everything... They were amazing fighters no doubt about that but by September 1944, pretty much all they had left were hopes, dreams and Goebbels. Perfect explanations, thanks.
This is an interesting analysis. Good details etc. It's quite obvious that the Nazis were quick to blame their own people, especially civilians, for Germany losing the war, rather than themselves being responsible for Germany being conquered.
The same word was used in Sweden and was referring to lightly armed soldiers with outdated eq. I Dont know if the notion came first in Sweden or some other place and time. I believe the name Landstorm was used earlier
In Germany in 19th century and german Empire Landsturm was the term for regular reserve units formed by elderly men with full training , but the oldest equipment. In the one or two centuries before, Landsturm was used for non regular soldiers in fightable age and health, but with old equipment and rather few training. The old equipment and few training had reasons: 1) Weaponry was expensive, and most of the 300 states of HRE had been small and not rich. 2) The rulers knew after 1600 that the age of levies(?)/Aufgebote was over. 3) The absolutistic german rulers did not want wellarmed and welltrained citizens.
The Volkssturm ( German Home Guards ) fought the British, Americans, and Russians in Germany during the end of the Second World War. They fought against the Red Army in Berlin, Germany. They were German civilians consisted of young men, women, and old men. However, the trained German Home Guards couldn`t defend Berlin, Germany, after the Red Army captured the Reichstag.
Its hard to say anything specific since no real data exists but I think its safe to say that the performance was mediocre and depended on the unit. Especially in the west most simply threw away the weapons. Look for "Die Brücke (1959)"
Well the Hitlerjugend Volssturm soldiers were in general more "fanatic" in carrying out their duties do to political indoctrination their hole live and as said most Hitlerjugend soldiers already served in the AA defense of the reich, so they had a basic bit of combat experience (not combat itself, but battlefield, bombardment sounds, working under huge stress, etc.). Most Hitlerjugend soldiers (AA) would have been drafted as emergency units when the front reached their villages to the Volkssturm. Berlin is propably the most famous example of Hitlerjugend soldiers fighting on the ground. The old people would most likely be veterans of some sort. A good amount of them would have been WW1 veterans and had a basic battlefield understanding considering static city/trench defenses. I guess they were more combat effective then the Hitlerjugend soldiers, but their moral was definitly lower. They werent indoctrinated for that long considering the nazis were only in power for 12 years in total. This is only me making an educated guess on my WW2 knowledge, because im not researching this specific topic at the moment.
The first thought that comes to my mind is that it (as always, but maybe even more in this case) depends on the assigned task. If you keep them in reserve and then decides to throw them in to counter attack and retake a location, they would probably not be that effective. If you however use them for rear echelon guard duties and thereby free up better units, then they will be just as effective as the units they free up.
That thumbnail alone sent shivers down my spine. Just imagine: you aren't a fan of the regime and think it's soon over and then: I'm too old for this sh!t Nope, you join the Volkssturm. Cute. How old are you? Can you hold this rifle?
I basically never read or heard of "folk" being used in English in like 20-30 years for anything that it would be used in German. Just one example, the "Volksrepublik China" is not the "Folk Republic of China" but the "People's Republic of China". "Sturm" in a military context is generally the short form for "Sturmangriff" which is assault, e.g., Sturmgeschütz = Assault Gun not "Storm Gun".
Yeah, it's weird that the Volkssturm is associated with kids,, considering that most youngsters seem to have been regular Wehrmacht soldiers or even Waffen SS. It should be noted that, late in the war, the Waffen SS included not only volunteers but also draftees, due to manpower shortages. An example is the novelist Günter Grass, who was drafted into the SS in November 1944 at the age of 17.
We all know anecdotal examples of HJ soldiers. But it would be interesting to know What the HJ expectations were for boy and girl soldiers. Thanks for the interesting subject.
@@goldenhawk352 I mean HJ as a over all organization..Not the 12thSS . Girls served as Flak crews, Communication specialists, nurses and some other jobs. Not sure where the distinction from BM and military service is.
Would a high Hitler Youth ranking member be the same rank and authority than its Wehrmacht counterpart or would they still be lower thsn a Wehrmacht private?
Could i ask, Is it true that there were men with mild handicaps in Volkssturm? I don't talk about permanently wounded invalids, i mean like people for example with Some mild illness.
well, since some of them were still working in the arms industry etc. likely yes. The Germans in late-war had special battalions that consisted (almost) solely of men with digestive problems I think they were called "Magen-Bataillone" (Stomache Battalions) since they were rather low on manpower.
@@MilitaryHistoryNotVisualized do you think its possible there could be individuals with some mental ilness in Volkssturm? Also some who were considered physically or mentally unfit for service in wehrmacht before war?
You sound a lot like the narrator of Military History Visualized
Yeah. But I just cant figure it out...
Hardly. That's like saying Jack Nicholson and Robert Downey Jr sound alike. Granted they are both male and New Yorkers but that's it. Here both Military History not Visualized and Military History Visualized are obviously Germans - both with accents so thick they make Heinrich, the sausage merchant sound like a native of Cork, Yorkshire or South Carolina.
@@simonfrederiksen104 not Austria?
@@emilsinclair4190
Military History not Visualized might be Austrian, but I would have to hear him speak more German. I would be surprised however. Damn that accent is thick "Odder" vs other "Schtalin" vs Stalin and levy pronounced like you would the jeans label or even lee-fy like some hi-fi stereo system invented by General Lee 6:40
@@simonfrederiksen104 Austrian speak German
As a shut-in, disabled vet I want to say how much I appreciate your fine programs. I love studying history and it's channels like yours that help bring the classroom to my bedside.
Keep up the superb work!
God bless you, my friend!
Are you still in the Carlisle area?
No sir, I reside currently in Sunbury, PA.
Many thanks to you, sir!My brother served with 101st LRRPs in Vietnam, 1967-69.He died 10 years ago from cancer caused by Agent Orange exposure. My hero...
You might also appreciate this then
th-cam.com/channels/TYmTYuan0fSGccYXBxc8cA.htmlplaylists
or the plain podcasts
history-podcasts.com/flashpoint-history
Regarding soviet manpower.a collegue of mine found his grandpa grave few years ago. It was on soviet war cementary. Grandpa was a Pole living in central Poland, in 1944r when front came he was over 50. Since he was conscripted in tsarist imperial army he was probably drafted on the go, using former tsarist recruit list. Conclusion - soviets took everybody they could in ranks.
Family had no clue what happened to their relative till late 2000.
Scraping the barrel: -150 political power
Interesting! Where exactly in central Poland was that?
As for scarcity of manpower for the Soviets at the end of the war - it's an open secret. Only Nazi propaganda then and Western propaganda now tell about Judo-Monghol-Bolshevik hordes. The reality was meagre: Red Army rifle divisions never were of regular strength of 12000-14000 men at the end of the war. It considered good if they were 5000 men, but very often they were only 3000-4000 men. So only in fairy tails of German generals Soviet generals could allow themselves "fill up with meat" enemy resistance. Second, as for Poles in the Red Army. That's a misunderstanding. The reality was that Stalin had his answer for Polish emigre government in London and its so called Home Army. He formed his own Polish Army - the so called Armiya Ludowa (you may call it People's Army). Unlike Polish Home Army which was essentially a clandestine organisation, ruled by amateurs in military affairs (although they were generals and colonels!), Stalin's Polish army was a regular Army formation, equipped and armed by Red Army standards. And once in Poland, of course, the Poles were conscripted in this Army. How they say now: Polish emigre government in London tried to outperform Stalin with "we are the Government! We have an army and a major city! - what was the true purpose of Warsaw uprising". But Stalin wasn't "a political baby" and could very cold bloodedly answer: OK, I also have a government (Polish National Committee), a Polish Army and a major city (Lublin), so what's the matter?
Thanks so much for clearing up some questions I've always had about my grandfather, Wilhelm Busching (1895-1967). He survived combat on the western front in WWI as a German infantryman. In 1921 he got his abitur and went to work as a teacher in the tiny village of Probach near Limburg. Eventually he moved to the larger village of Villmar and - as a teacher - joined the Nazi party. For a short time he was called up to train infantry but that didn't last very long. In April 1945, in view of the U.S. 3rd Army advance, he temporarily "disappeared" from Villmar and now I gather that he was called up into the Volkssturm. While he was away, American tanks roared into Villmar, shot up his home and killed his wife, while his daughter (my mom) cowered in the cellar. Interestingly enough, my grandfather and my three uncles (who all served in combat) all survived WWII.
@Wyatt Earp At least mom got lucky
@@paulvonhindenburg4727 Civilians are usuallly given enough warning to evacuate ahead of time but they always wait until the last minute to leave. They have their reasons, some logical, some not and they all make sense right up to the moment a 155mm shell blows up their house. She was definitely lucky.
@@readhistory2023 Pfffwah! Even during the fighting in Normandy, Allied tank formations would rapidly advance using 'recon by fire.' This involved shooting up and strafing any house that looked suspicious or was on a good position, while driving at cruising speed. Nobody warned people in occupied countries to evacuate/ take cover before the bombing of an important target (like Philips radioworks in Eindhoven, Operation Oyster).
There are loads of guncamera footage from American fighterbombers who randomly targeted single houses and shot up horse-carts. American veteran and later famous test pilot Chuck Yaeger mentioned this in his memoirs: atrocities were committed by both sides. We as fighters were ordered to fly low over the German country side and shoot up anything that moved.
@@AudieHolland Sad truth, which makes it that much worse to realise the how much worse the magnitude of German war crimes were that we often choose not to talk about Allied ones.
@@zexal4217 Way to spin the truth, Dr. Goebbels!
A warcrime is a warcrime.
An atrocity is an atrocity.
It does not matter which side committed it.
Oh, it's understandable we killed your innocent civilians during the firebombings of Germany cities (Hamburg, Cologne, Dresden) because, after all, you killed our innocent citizens at the start of the war when you bombed Warsaw, Rotterdam, Coventry, etc.
I'm sure RAF Bomber commander 'Butcher' Harris went to the graves of those killed Allied citizens and swore on their graves: Don't worry, we will bomb and kill tens of thousands more women and children and elderly people on the enemy side!
around 16:45 - I said "low" but it should be "far". Thx to Galtur for pointing that out.
Literally unwatchable
@@lovablesnowman what this Video?
A great overview, Bernhard. Thanks for that.
Hi, thanks for what you guys are doing on TGW. And I imagine we'll be hearing more about the volksturm during our 16 days in Berlin, eh? Looking forward to it
@@Arbiter099 :) No spoilers!
My father, a Western POW, mentioned seeing a group of young teenagers armed with rifles and manning a blockade made from logs which they had built across a road to stop the Russian tanks. The uniforms were to big and were folded back at the ankles and wrists. Dad said they had no chance of stopping anything let alone a tank.
The Army believed the British Home Guard only became an effective force well after the threat of an invasion was over.
@@bobsemple7660 Not even meant to shoot German pilots (especially whilst they're parachuting) let alone British one's. The Home Guard was never truly a military fighting force so much as it was meant to free up the actual army from the menial jobs required to keep security at home.
@@bobsemple7660 Not even meant to shoot German pilots (especially whilst they're parachuting) let alone British one's. The Home Guard was never truly a military fighting force so much as it was meant to free up the actual army from the menial jobs required to keep security at home.
There would've been a massive difference in quality & quantity needed to defend from a landing invasion who had to supply anything across the channel which might be very hard, compared to fending off someone who's got a land supply line over atleast a quarter of Europe and are currently on a steamroll.
@@Robbini0 its a moot point the Germans never had the logistical capability to invade the British Isles without a navy and without air supremacy it would be impossible to pull off
@@cyberpunkfalangist2899 They would've had enough of logistics to get across some troops, but whether that would be enough and if they could keep them supplied is pretty unknowable, and doing it all without atleast aerial supremacy and/or naval supremacy (aerial is probably more important in this case) would at the least be extremely inefficient at at worst suicidal waste of goods and troops.
The defence of Breslau is perhaps the best example of how the Volkssturm should have been employed. Used strictly in manning defensive positions, with any localized counterattacks being conducted by the regular units of Wehrmacht and Waffen SS. It is interesting to note, that despite it being besieged long before Berlin, Breslau held out until after Berlin surrendered.
MHV catchphrase: Let's take a short look at
*video is 55 minutes long*
@Mialisus
The long -schlong- summer sausage?
Soviets, running out of manpower?
Wait, that's illegal!
Imagine the Chinese running out of manpower 😳😂 You cant. Error code: Impossible. We believe there is a portal somewhere that spawns them in infinite numbers.
@@charris5700 Integer underflow.
British Raj is crazy with the manpower too
@@charris5700 Actually its very possible for China to have a major logistics failure. Which is why they aren't really challenging the US in the pacific yet.
Japan suffered the same issue.
@@PugilistCactus That's not what i was referring too. I work in logistics for past 13 years and it is not solely based on manpower but communication, multitasking, structure and competent management. I get what your saying bud I was just more so making a joke 😀
13:48 they had those rifles on Forgotten Weapons, comparing to pre and mid-war kar98k. I'll just say it's not a good feeling if you get issued a rifle with no cleaning rod
The Denim Draft. (5:50)
king: where are your peasants, the Danes are on their raid our village!
nobleman visablely confused: Sire, if being attacked why did you order that the peasants wear blue jeans?
peasant in background: thanks m'lord these trousers fantastic!
this is outrageous, our people are now buying your blue jeans and listening to your music
Can you make video about what was german high command thought on recruiting foreigners into service? For example French peoples into SS or Russians in wehrmacht?
That they were unreliable and not as well trained. In fact, it was a foreign SS division that led to the encirclement at Stalingrad through an unauthorized retreat whilst under pressure. They were Romanian I think? They were expecting an easy push - an end of war scenario - but got the shock of their life instead.
they took everyone they could get.
@@redrumtm3435 No rumanian SS division fought near Stalingrad.
@@redrumtm3435 There were no Romanian SS divisions. You are probably thinking of the Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies. However, there was the 8th SS-Kavallerie Division 'Florian Geyer', which recruited 40% of its manpower from the Volksdeutsche of Banat (southeast Vojvodina) and Transylvania. But they did not fight in Stalingrad, being assigned to anti-partisan duties in Bobruisk, Belarus, and surrounding areas.
@@redrumtm3435 I think it's a little more complicated than that. The Dutch, Belgian and Finnish Waffen SS volunteers were overall highly thought of -though they weren't in numbers to qualify as individual "divisions" . I would also point out that the "Charlemagne" so-called division (more of a Regimental Kampfgruppe) were some of the last holdouts in the Battle of Berlin.
You know, some people like I find the Volkssturm fascinating but why? Is it because they had such a big variation in uniforms and weaponry. Or is it something in us that admires the fact that even if you're regime is at the brink of destruction you keep fight on with everything you have left? And let's zoom in a bit. Let's say you were born at the end of the 19th century and you fought as a young men in the First World War. Witnessing the horrors of trench warfare and see many of your comrades fall. But you survive. And then another war breaks out. At the end you find yourself in the middle of it and then you have to report for duty. And there you stand, in your 50s with a rifle that brings back memories of the previous war you fought in. Just bitter irony...
>french 3shot rifle that is, and you have 5 rounds for it
You shouldn't admire anyone that fought for Nazi Germany.
@@SpaceGhost1701 why?
@@tedarcher9120 Because they fought for Nazi Germany.
@@SpaceGhost1701 and?
Merry Christmas and a metal new year to you too!
The East Germans had a similar organization. Under Party control instead of the military, organized around local factories and towns. The Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse, Combat Groups of the Working Class. Probably meant more to serve as a check on the military which all ideological totalitarian regimes distrust and seek to counter with a party paramilitary. But also intended as a last ditch defensive militia.
When you hit the final conscription law in hearts of iron IV...
It's also one of the techs in land doctrine.
Scraping the barrel intensitys
Scraping the Barrel Recruitable Population Factor 50.00%
@@ChanceKearns I thought it a was 25
@@kj_heichou I think it’s because I play with a 2x mod it’s probably 25% yeah
As a sidenote: In 1944 when the western allies liberated Belgium, Flemish collaborators took refuge in Germany. The Germans recruited some of them for military service. These were for the most part transferred to the Flemish SS Langemarck division. (Division in name only. Only regimental/brigade size.) The SS created a jugendbataillon consisting of Flemish teenagers and children. This batallion was also part of the Langemarck. This unit saw combat against the Soviets in april 1944 around Stettin and Prenzlau. They were shot up pretty badly by Soviet armoured units. Pieter Jan Verstraete wrote a book about them titled 'Jugenbataillon Langemarck'. Only available in Dutch, I think.
I remember looking at COD WAW deleted contents and saw that Volkssturm were deleted. I just realize that COD WAW would be a disturbing game if they add them in the final product.
FreeBird0964 yea the Berlin missions were supposed to have you fighting them but they felt that shooting kids would be too much. The game was already brutal
lol what a disappointment that would have been awesome. that game needs to be remade and I'd prefer it if it was made to be as violent as possible. Hate the last COD WW2 game fucking sugar coating the conflict. I believe any depiction of world war 2 or war in general in media should be as brutal and horrific as possible otherwise you're doing a disservice to everyone who died and suffered in that war. Traumatizing kids in a ww2 game is a good way to remove any romanticized notions they may have about war.
The Volksturm were still referenced in one of the cutscenes, the narration went; “The Fuhrer demands all to shed every last drop of blood in its (Germany) defense; the old, the young, the weak”
Pop over to Forgotten Weapons channel to see examples of the "last ditch" weapons built in late war Germany. Scary.
Meh if IT shoots its good thats what i always say
For no one but the user
@@Potato79207 Yeah, who needs the nuiances of gunsmithing, am I right?
I mean, they at least had some, the last ditch defense guns the japanese intended to use were mostly just wooden planks with a barrel strapped ontop.
Volksturm platoon with a Blitz bus is my favorite unit in Fall of the Reich. Great place to use all my spare miniatures with some head swaps. Mix of gear with Bren guns and BARs (aka. vz. 26s and wz. 1928s) as light machine guns and fatigues painted as a mix of uniforms and civilian clothes gives them a nice ad hoc feel.
There's the right way to pronounce something, there's the wrong way, and there's the MHV way. I will always prefer the MHV way.
To be fair English speakers tend to butcher pronounciation of all other languages - and are seen as pretentious if they don't, even if they know better. Hence why Americans call the great German composer Bakk :D
@@avienated Don't remind me, it's especially irritating when they make a whole ww2 audio or video series and they pronounce von like "fann" through the whole damn thing.
My English accent is similar, only worse. At university, other German students were impressed by my fluency in English, but still mentioned my bad accent.
My Greatgrandfather was the leader of a Volkssturm detachment in our local area in northern Bavaria (Frankonia) who was choosen to lead the formation because his extensive experience during the whole of WWI and even the first 2 years of WW2. They prepared to defend our small towns and village areas some 50km south of Nuremberg city by cutting down trees on main roads and building some strongpoints allong important positions. But theyre equipment would have stand no chance against the advancing forces of the US Army. They were only issued bolt action Rifles (many of foreign production with no fitting ammunition for them) with often only 5 rounds per man and around a dozen Grenades for around 60 men at arms.
On the day when the Americans arrived it was a foggy morning but the spoters allready informed my greatgrandfather that around 12 Tanks supported by Infantry were advancing on their positions and crushed easily every ditch and obstacles they faced. His Volksturm forces had around 1/3 children of the HJ-organisation in their ranks and 5 of his own sons were part of that. So he decided this battle would be suicide - they had not even one single Panzerfaust or anything that could face against the US Armored Vehicles - and he met the US Troops under the white flag to discuss our countys surrender. The Americans agreed but after the Volkssturm disarmed themselfes they were treathed very harshly and they even discussed to shoot my GreatGranpa but he was saved by Polish POWs who were sent to his village to work as farmlabourers who talked the Americans out of it because my Grandgranddad always treated them well what wasnt common and he never informed his supperiors when the Poles stole some food from the villagers because they were in such a bad shape - if he had reported them they would have faced very very harsh punishments. A farmer in our neighbor village was shoot the same Day by G.I.s from the same unit.
I have always been fascinated by the volksturm, thank you for the video
This really changes my hearts of iron game. 650,000 volksturm would be like having 65 militia divisions. Not too shabby even against the soviets!
But in vanilla a 'militia' division would probably just be a couple regiments of infantry with engineers and maybe anti tank capability + marked as reserve, I'd say that was a pretty shabby.
@@thetrippedup9322 I mean, anything is better than nothing if you're plugging holes in lines and surrounding spearheads. Imagine for instance if the USSR had one of those on every tile in the early war. It's just not going to be all coordinated irl like there's some omnipotent sky god giving orders, or concentrated enough, or enough to stop Germany from getting flattened.
@@farmerboy916 suggest you read up on breslau between the battle for the city(which held out til the end) and the Soviet practices of pows and Nazi enforcement of service the estimates range between 80000 to 110000 dead a lot of blood for next to nothing
On the whole focusing on children rather than old men thing, both the very young and very old what made up the final defense lines of Germany. From what I can recall, the volkssturm was desribed as "old men and children thrown into battle" as a last ditch attempt to save the 3rd reich.
I heard about the Volkssturm from a soldier that my father commanded during the capture of Bruyeres, France. He said he captured an older man and a thirteen year old boy. The young man asked to keep his wallet and that is found out the age of the young man. The two were captured and put into a POW camp. The soldier was seriously wounded trying to disable a Tiger 1 using a bazooka. I have gathered information from speaking with WWII veterans.
An interesting fact that the Volkssturm was a party force rather than something attached to the military. In a sense not that different than the Waffen SS which was also separate from the military and had their own commanders not tied or controlled by the military. Having separate commands makes things difficult; no unity of command. Incidentally, it was formed in September of 1944 and that was the same time the opposite force the British Home Guard was told to stand down. In a sense the British Home Guard was more unified and trained; they had their own manuals, some of which influenced the manuals on street fighting the British Army would later employ.
Ok then. What? There are many errors in your description. The Waffen SS was created by the SS. They wore little SS indignia. Besides that, they were (pretty much) armed with the same weapons as the Heer, under command of the Heer, etc. It's really not different from the US Marines, which were often directly under Army control. The only real question was, should that command be at the Army level, the Corps level, the Division level? I'm not sure where you got the idea that the Waffen SS was a separate command from the Heer. It certainly was not.
lol iam 60 years old and ride a wheel chair hand me a panzer Faust :)
Dustin Cordell I’ll wheel you around and carry the spare Panzerfausts. Let’s go bag us some reds
@@stuglife5514 nothing would make me more happy then to kills some reds before i die
Lock your wheels before shooting !!!
How'd you like a nice kettenkrad?
@@pedrolopez8057 Sd.Kfz. 2 perfect :)
Thank you for all these videos!
Happy Holidays from Guam!🏝
Excellent information. I really appreciate the citing of sources you provide. Also, my "Cat Person" T shirt came last week. Thanks!
I like to imagine a group of 50 year old ex Stormtrooper veterans from ww1, with massive moustaches and scars, giving advice to the young kids, and then donning their old stahlhelm, and adjusting their iron crosses, dusting off the old Mp18 and Kar98AZ, before sipping a toast to the fatherland and raising the battle flag one last time...
Different battle flag though. And statistically a lot of them would have been in the Western front in 1918 when that started going bad, with mass Allied tank attacks, overwhelming Allied air superiority, demoralizingly numerous, well fed and well equipped Allied troops, endless retreats amid heavy losses. It would have been familiar all right but a lot less glorious than your portrayal
Promptly half of them have a heart attack, most of the remainder are obliterated by Allied artillery, aircraft and armour, and the rest encounter what the person above me wrote
Well thats a highly romanticised view of forced conscription on pain of death.
@@hastekulvaati9681
Well any nation would do the same, we don’t point the finger at Russia when they used women and children partisans. Also majority of Volksturm were volunteers who like any sane person wanted to defend their families
Oddly enough, the rhetoric was a lot like Japan: "Our SPIRIT will win!"
They told themselves that when they were fighting in 39 and 41 when they were winning, why would their mindset change when they were losing?
@@inkedseahear I don't think retired milkmen and mailmen were saying that in 39 and 41!
From August, 1944 the US Army transported on average 50,000 German PoWs a month back to the United States, in the previous 3 years, the United States had captured and shipped back a total of 1,990 Japanese prisoners of war.
Same in Italy honestly: "Our spirit and determination will wi-hey, what are you doing, HEY, NO, STOP Leave that gun alone, I'm your leader, you can't just overthrow me!"
what was the higher command structure above battalion? were they simply given as supplemental battalions to the wehrmacht, organized into their own higher VS structures under party officials who doubled as commanders, purely ad-hoc territorial defense units or something else?
The Wehrmacht lost all trust by Hitler after the 20th Juli 1944 so the Volkssturm was under direkt controle of the Gauleiter/Party leaders.
@@comsubpac so just as assemblages of battalions or were there higher echelons such as brigades, divisions, corps? or was it every Gau for themselves?
@@b.griffin317 No. even the Wehrmacht would have been troubled to get a full division together in 1945.
@@comsubpac Yeah- the whole thing was a trainwreck by that time.
these were units meant for local i.e. neighborhood defense. they were never intended to be field units like the volksgrenadiers. So likely no higher tactical organization than BN.
We have already concluded that spain was a lot more worth to germany as a passive ally than as a axis member for various reasons
Could you please do a video on if germany wouldve been better of if italy had the same role as spain?
Considering the amout of problems and resource shortages italy created for germany I think that they wouldve indeed been better of
Comrade Slane well but consideringhow italy REALLY disnt want to join the war and only joined once they were sure that germany would succeed in sealion(which they obv didnt)
Italy couldve very likely not joined the war
@Ich mache bessere Videos als Apored well the Italians had a decent navy and the best cavalry defeating the Soviets with them multiple times
@@goldenhawk352 those where Italian infantry or armored infantry. Not the Italian navy or cavalry
Was the training more extensive for non-veteran members? I can imagine, that veteran from first world war would already have enough knowledge and mastery of the rifle and grenade to deal some damage.
I'd imagine they'd need training on new weapons like Panzerfausts, but I cant imagine anything more than basic remedial training for anything more basic than that
It was most likely expected that the veterans would teach the younger members the more substantial skills.
The very young teenagers had in HJ a paramilitary training. A former coworker of me was from Eastern Germany, born 1970, and for the troubles of 1989/1990 he had no ,real' military training. But he was member of FDJ ( Freie deutsche Jugend/ free german youth), basicly HJ painted in communist red. He told me , that in 8.year of school education ,Vormilitärische Ausbildung' started, this was during the rest of his school education and during his job training ( in german Lehre). There had been from time to time one or two weeks of military training camps, including throwing handgrenades or shooting Kalaschnikows in .22 lr. The instructors had been Offiziersschüler/ officers aspirants of Volksarmee.
English pronunciation tidbit: "cc" is usually pronounced like "ks" such as success, or access
But it's English so there are exceptions, like accommodate which is "kk"
I would like to know more about these handfuls of successful volkssturm units. Surprising given the lack of training and materiel support.
It is worth emphasizing that Der volksturm Had its roots in Preussens "Befreiungskrieg" 1813. In Sweden we were inspired by Germany And set up landstormen where older year classes served (1885-1942). It was replaced by hemvärnet (the Homeguard,) which still today consists of localdefense forces.
Yes, the title derives from the "Landsturm," composed of older men serving in Germany as a backup to frontline forces abroad.
Which due to the massive cut-downs during the past 30 years means that the Home Guard is a very major part of the modern Swedish military, it is literally half of the Army...
@@user-yr5nv2gv7m No. A Landsknecht is a trained, professional mercenary - the complete contradiction to the Landsturm.
@@user-yr5nv2gv7m The oldest known meaning of "knecht" or "cniht" is not serf but a boy or male servant or assistant. In English it came to mean a military assistant of a baron, a knight, although in Middle English the other, older meanings were still used as well. In German one of the main meanings came to be a personal assistant to a heavy cavalryman or "Ritter" in the Middle Ages (later "Ritter" became a class of nobility, but that's another story), which meant about the same as a "knight" or "men-at-arms" in modern English. The Renaissance era "Landsknecht" were therefore an assistant class of (mercenary) soldiers to the knights (Ritter).
happy Christmass Bern Hard, lets take time to entrench with family for the season
One joke called the Volkssturm V3, Vergeltungswaffe 3.
I'm missing the German Joke "Vergeltungswaffe 3. = retaliatory weapon model 3"? I suppose it's a play on words.
This is what this joke is about. The leadership somehow hope that these men would be able to turn the tide of the war, like the other retaliatory weapons.
Good info, well narrated. Also nice background.
The Volkssturm are the primary example of how *not* to create a militia - do not restrict the access of it members to arms, do not recruit old people and children with little or no training and do not rely on the state to furbish them with equipment (as the state will give them the scraps - if it gives them any equipment at all...).
Any effective militia requires the members to be able to furbish their own weaponry, drill on their own time regularly (at least once a month) and is capable of functioning as its own unit independent of anything other than the local community in order to provide a common defense for the community. Anyone that tells you otherwise is selling you something.
Gamma Raygun I don’t know how they would have faired in the event of an (improbable) invasion by the German forces, but the doctrine behind them was certainly more sound.
So glad to see some new volkssturm content
It would be great to see a video on Jugoslavian partisans, thair strategies and tactics and also on what German commanders thought about them
Probably not gonna happen unless I get a interview partner for this, since the topic means 1) very likely demonetization by youtube since war crimes all over the place 2) the comment section usually turns into a freak show, e.g., the Great War had to turn off the comment section a few times on topics from that region, 3) I have no books and knowledge on the subject, 4) I have so many other topics on which I have already books and which don't fulfill 1) nor 2) and in some cases I already have some knowledge.
Thanks for an informative presentation. Perhaps you can do one in the near future about the Volksgrenadiers. Merry Christmas🎄!
Thanks again Bernhard! Concise!
I think also there is a tradition in that region of this type of military organization. When you reach back to the Napoleonic wars and get things like the Freikorps(sp?) in Prussia and maybe Austria as well or maybe I'm thinking Landwehr? Either way, this concept of low-trained, either conscripted or volunteer, units who supplement the more heavily trained units and are frequently employed for garrison duties and other low-combat deployments. So, I wonder if that past tradition had any impact on the choice to form these units or perhaps on the response of the populace to participate in them.
Not only in Europe same in the war of independence in the becoming US besides the continental army which was pure militia in the beginning till the end militias serve side by side with regulars
Thanks for the video! theres not very much information on youtube (at least in English) on the volkssturm
Do a video on Iwo Jima and Okinawa!
Merry Christmas and a Good New Year 20 to you too.
A metal new year to you too
A Merry Christmas to everyone!
excellent as always
Could you do an analysis of the SS Panzer Div’s combat effectiveness compared to those of the Heer? Were they truly elite or is that propaganda?
Depended on the unit. Some were actual crack units made up by veteran soldiers with the very best equipment and preferential treatment by the Generals, but most were second line at best that were political in nature rather then any badge of elite status. It was very ad-hoc, unlike the other elite German units like the Fallschirmjäger or Mountaineers who were pretty much all hardnuts.
@@andromidius Yeah, the Totenkopf for example fared pretty poorly during the Battle of France which doesn't say a lot about it's effectiveness...
@@zexal4217 yea but you have to remember that the SS were basically all crappy at the start of the war as they were not true soldiers. But as the war progressed they became more effective
The Volksturm was Hitler's type of group, perfect fit for him. A ragtag group of old timers from the WW1 days. I blew the dust off my old gewehr, oiled up the ol needle gun and FrancoPrussian ammo satchel. Come on Hans hand me my walkin stick, let's go show em we still got it...
6hours later...Oldman Fritz & Hans make it out the front door and down the 3 stairs to the street.
Mmmm which way is the front line? I can't see far, whips out monocle to notice town in flames and small groups of soldiers walking, some of them kids.
Mmmm excuze me young man which way is the front line trench?... Huhhh?
No response because Fritz was talking to a lamp pole. Dammit these disrespectful youngins these days Hans.. Back in our day... i tell ya..Falls asleep for a few seconds until a bomb explosion a street over wakes ol Fritz back up. Ahhhh take that you damned Franks! We got em Hans! All these soldiers must be the victory parade! We won Hans!! I knew we still had it in us to win a war.. See if you can spot Kaiser Wilhelm. I know we earned an iron cross at least. We beat em even quicker this time Hans and I still got all my powder charges. Heil Prussia!
Awesome video, thank you.
I had no idea the Volkssturm came so late!
Awesome video my friend! #People's STORM o7
Can you make video about Wehrwolf?
MHV, could you do a review regarding how the Italians and Japanese viewed each other during the war, or the Italo-Japanese relations during WW2 in general? If you could not find enough information within the archives for what seems a scarce topic then it's okay.
great video. so how do i sign up for the Volkssturm?
You don't sign up for the Volkssturm. The Volkssturm signs you up.
@@the82spartans62 yes please
@@siggyidkidc7847 -- Viel Glück
Back in the 80s, I met a man who’d been in the Hitler Youth, and served on the Eastern Front in 1944/45 - it was a fascinating conversation - among other things he told me how the Soviets would motivate their troops prior to an attack - a tanker truck would pull up, and the soldiers would form a line, with little buckets or containers. The truck gave each soldier vodka - typically within 1-2 hours, the attack would begin. He also mentioned that the extent of firing that “green” recruits on the Soviet side would do corresponded to the number of cartridges their magazines would hold - as they’d not been trained on how to reload their rifles.
With all respect, how did he know all that? Saw it with his own eyes? ;)
jurisprudens I don’t mind the question at all. In a word - YES. He directly witnessed the vodka truck, line-up, and under equipped soldiers. On the under training side.....that was his assumption. But it’s generally supported by some information in this, as well as other videos, and many sources. It’s certainly possible that he was “fibbing” I suppose, however.
@@jimtalbott9535 But he was German? How could he witness Soviet troop preparations?
@David Parry Thats a bit of a myth, though.
@@Alsemenor He was definitely German - my grandmother, alive at the time had a Austrian-German father and spoke to him in a bit of German, which she'd learned while growing up - and he could observe the Soviets from his defensive lines, at least some of the time - from a distance he said he could see a "tanker truck" (his words) driving up to the Soviet Positions, and a line form (I have to assume he was hunkered down, waiting for something to happen).
Excellent.Thanks.
I wish you would cover other wars more often. You have so many options. I would be very glad to see you cover more obscure wars not taught in West-centic history books and courses, like the Lybian- Chadian wars, or the "La Violencia" civil war in Columbia.
World War 2 has been discussed and examined to death. There's too much saturation, while there are other wars that most people don't even know about.
On other conflicts I usually get less views, I have very limited resources in both time and books, it takes for longer for non-ww2 stuff to do videos on, since I want to understand the conflict and context around it better.
@@MilitaryHistoryNotVisualized I would argue that doing a video on other conflicts might expose your channel to those who aren't regulars, as your videos may appear to searches related to South East Asia or South America, for example. However, while I still wish for videos on other conflicts, I understand your logic. Hopefully you get to the point some day where you can afford to branch out. Good luck bro.
It's pretty hard to have comprehensive knowledge about everything, that's why i watch many channels by theme.
@@Sofus. That's a good point. Specialization is almost always better.
@@c7zr179Kings and Generals is a channel covering many different wars try them out.
Please note , not only Anglo-american invaded germany in 45
French army also invaded germany in 45
@me hee The first thing , the général de Gaulle ...do ...in August 44
The Army of National Liberation
@me hee Auxilliary ...this is a bit insulting .
I don't understood , even the Polish have their army ..
OR are you just call them "Auxiliary "
@Jagdpanther
French army occupied Berlin for 50 years !
Germany army occupied Paris for 4 years !
@Jagdpanther By the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, France had 1,250,000 troops, 10 divisions of which were fighting in Germany.
It should be noted that the provisional French army, or the free French forces, used allied equipment. They wore American uniforms, used Sherman tanks, American bucket helms, M1 rifles and bars, you get the ides. That’s how the confusion comes in. Also, they weren’t the official French army, they were provisional, as the official French army was under Vichy France
Very interesting and well made.
How the hell did they make these old guys fight? I'm in my early 50's and everything hurts in the morning. Can you imagine trying to hunt down IS 2' s with a panzerfaust when you desperately need to take a bathroom break?
War is a game for young men.
Pee in your pants i guess ? And i do know what your talking about.
There are 60+ yr olds running marathons or doing triathlons. People back then were much less sedentary on average. Also, if you had arthritis bad, they'd probably just had you wait in a hole with a panzerfaust. No need to march far.
@@fazole Yeah, granted, but even then, it seems to me that a lot of these guys were city dwellers with desk jobs. Their diet wasn't anything spectacular, especially in Germany at the end of the war. And, let's face it, old is old, and the life expectancy was lower at the time.
In the final analysis they didn't stop the Soviets anyway. It just really seems to suck to be marched out to be sacrificed in your golden years and throw your body at Stalin's boys. I wouldn't do it.
@@bohica3264 I'm sure those old men would rather throw their lives at the Soviets than the lives of their young.
same way the taliban stopped the opium trade in 2001 - shootings will continue until morale improves
it's a trap! they have a medic bunker, we're volks!
oh wait, that was volksgrenadiers
Ja, you'll do... fall in line...
Is this a CoH reference?
@@zakutheferret8182 there was a video (damned if I can find it though) that was a CoH x BoB x Downfall mashup. The 'it's a trap' line was the scene late in bob with the polish ss, following that battle someone informed hitler in his bunker about 160 volks getting turned into about 40 grenadiers and he seemed pleased with his progress
I learned that an hour maximum for a walk is where you should put your militia training centers and that if you want to them to be effective even with your low materiel supply having actually army trainers there to train the people will pay dividends in actually effective redoubt.
Sehr gutes Video mein deutsch-sprachiger Freund! Always wanted to know what's up with the Volkssturm cuz ain't no one knows shit about it except you so thank you very much mein Freund
Always amazed me how these outlandish and risky plans were made with the idea that the enemy would do what they thought they would do. Don't assume in war. If you aren't certain, attain certainty. Don't lie and hope.
Whatever they would have done, they were fighting the three mightiest armies in the world with limitless ressources and manpower, willing to break every rule in the book, on two fronts, after 4 very difficult years with shortages in everything... They were amazing fighters no doubt about that but by September 1944, pretty much all they had left were hopes, dreams and Goebbels. Perfect explanations, thanks.
Are there records about the Performance in combat by Volkssturm man?
Yes.
Mass succes in getting killed.
Compare the numbers on the western front with those on the eastern! to see where the war really went
This is an interesting analysis. Good details etc. It's quite obvious that the Nazis were quick to blame their own people, especially civilians, for Germany losing the war, rather than themselves being responsible for Germany being conquered.
The same word was used in Sweden and was referring to lightly armed soldiers with outdated eq. I Dont know if the notion came first in Sweden or some other place and time. I believe the name Landstorm was used earlier
In Germany in 19th century and german Empire Landsturm was the term for regular reserve units formed by elderly men with full training , but the oldest equipment. In the one or two centuries before, Landsturm was used for non regular soldiers in fightable age and health, but with old equipment and rather few training. The old equipment and few training had reasons: 1) Weaponry was expensive, and most of the 300 states of HRE had been small and not rich. 2) The rulers knew after 1600 that the age of levies(?)/Aufgebote was over. 3) The absolutistic german rulers did not want wellarmed and welltrained citizens.
The Volkssturm ( German Home Guards ) fought the British, Americans, and Russians in Germany during the end of the Second World War. They fought against the Red Army in Berlin, Germany. They were German civilians consisted of young men, women, and old men. However, the trained German Home Guards couldn`t defend Berlin, Germany, after the Red Army captured the Reichstag.
You know a game or movie on these guys would be interesting to see
Can you do a video about the Volksgrenadierdivisionen?
Nice one.
Can you make a video specifically about Hitlerjugend folkschturm batallion effectiveness?
Its hard to say anything specific since no real data exists but I think its safe to say that the performance was mediocre and depended on the unit. Especially in the west most simply threw away the weapons.
Look for "Die Brücke (1959)"
@@comsubpac yeah, I've read it, but that's just a tale, who knows how accurate
Well the Hitlerjugend Volssturm soldiers were in general more "fanatic" in carrying out their duties do to political indoctrination their hole live and as said most Hitlerjugend soldiers already served in the AA defense of the reich, so they had a basic bit of combat experience (not combat itself, but battlefield, bombardment sounds, working under huge stress, etc.). Most Hitlerjugend soldiers (AA) would have been drafted as emergency units when the front reached their villages to the Volkssturm. Berlin is propably the most famous example of Hitlerjugend soldiers fighting on the ground.
The old people would most likely be veterans of some sort. A good amount of them would have been WW1 veterans and had a basic battlefield understanding considering static city/trench defenses. I guess they were more combat effective then the Hitlerjugend soldiers, but their moral was definitly lower. They werent indoctrinated for that long considering the nazis were only in power for 12 years in total.
This is only me making an educated guess on my WW2 knowledge, because im not researching this specific topic at the moment.
The first thought that comes to my mind is that it (as always, but maybe even more in this case) depends on the assigned task. If you keep them in reserve and then decides to throw them in to counter attack and retake a location, they would probably not be that effective. If you however use them for rear echelon guard duties and thereby free up better units, then they will be just as effective as the units they free up.
@@noobster4779 The Flakhelfer were not part of the Volkssturm.
Virgin Volkssturm
VS
Chad Soviet Partisans
That thumbnail alone sent shivers down my spine. Just imagine: you aren't a fan of the regime and think it's soon over and then:
I'm too old for this sh!t Nope, you join the Volkssturm.
Cute. How old are you? Can you hold this rifle?
Why is folkstorm not offered as the right overset? Being that folk has more “us” feeling in English and storm is Sturm.
I basically never read or heard of "folk" being used in English in like 20-30 years for anything that it would be used in German. Just one example, the "Volksrepublik China" is not the "Folk Republic of China" but the "People's Republic of China".
"Sturm" in a military context is generally the short form for "Sturmangriff" which is assault, e.g., Sturmgeschütz = Assault Gun not "Storm Gun".
when in front line conditions the VS unit fell under Wehrmacht command... NS party command was only in daily control and armement ..
Yeah, it's weird that the Volkssturm is associated with kids,, considering that most youngsters seem to have been regular Wehrmacht soldiers or even Waffen SS. It should be noted that, late in the war, the Waffen SS included not only volunteers but also draftees, due to manpower shortages. An example is the novelist Günter Grass, who was drafted into the SS in November 1944 at the age of 17.
We all know anecdotal examples of HJ soldiers. But it would be interesting to know What the HJ expectations were for boy and girl soldiers. Thanks for the interesting subject.
About the same - to throw their lives away to buy the Reich a few extra minutes of time to do nothing but sit in the bunkers and wait for death.
@@goldenhawk352 Same difference.
@@goldenhawk352 I mean HJ as a over all organization..Not the 12thSS . Girls served as Flak crews, Communication specialists, nurses and some other jobs. Not sure where the distinction from BM and military service is.
Happy New Year everyone!
Astute observations on the use of the demographic to earn political points. Good work.
As always there is a ton of information here & I am thrilled for all of it. Does the Volkssturm include the Vehrwolf?
Would a high Hitler Youth ranking member be the same rank and authority than its Wehrmacht counterpart or would they still be lower thsn a Wehrmacht private?
Merry Christmas to all!
Hast du dem ZDF die Guido Knopp Beleuchtung günstig abgekauft?
Hey, I don't always pronounce "Skilaufen" correctly either, so it's OK.
14:59
I calculated it and 78 hours a week is more than 12 hours a day on average. Jesus.
Could i ask, Is it true that there were men with mild handicaps in Volkssturm? I don't talk about permanently wounded invalids, i mean like people for example with Some mild illness.
well, since some of them were still working in the arms industry etc. likely yes. The Germans in late-war had special battalions that consisted (almost) solely of men with digestive problems I think they were called "Magen-Bataillone" (Stomache Battalions) since they were rather low on manpower.
@@MilitaryHistoryNotVisualized thanks for answer. At least now i know that not all handicapped were killed by T4 programme.
@@MilitaryHistoryNotVisualized do you think its possible there could be individuals with some mental ilness in Volkssturm? Also some who were considered physically or mentally unfit for service in wehrmacht before war?
@David Valenta you stated "mild illness" not "handicapped", stop drawing conclusions like that.
@@MilitaryHistoryNotVisualized sorry, my Mistake, i meant handicap.
I too wish you a metal new year.
"Die Brücke" (the original of course) certainly hasn't helped with how the VS is seen...
Mind you. it still is a really good movie.
The _Boomersturm._
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Gazzitas that pun is terrible. I love it
To the gulag!
Boomers weren't even born -_-