When an army is advancing, it has to be kept well supplied. Effectively, the Germans were retreating so fast, the allies couldn't keep up with them without advancing beyond their supply range.
In reality the western front retreat was pretty good overall for the germans, they avoided major encirclement, slowed down the allies, avoided any major breakthrought. Considering how bad their situation was in 1944, they did an excellent job in the west if compared to the east.
Fact: A popular saying at this point in the the war from the German point of view "Enjoy the war while you can becuse the peace is going to be terrible"
@@scootjockey no it is not the governments my disagree with each other but the people of Europe are a lot closer then you think The USA could be head for a rival war if it not to careful
very humanizing video that shows the Germans as individuals with personalities rather than the cliche of the brainwashed drone following orders. Not to absolve people of responsibility for some horrific events, but a reminder that reasonable human beings can easily find themselves aligned with a terrible regime if they are not careful.
Reminds me when I was working at the Department of State under Crooked Hillary’s ‘terrible regime’ while she stumbled about using her illegal 33,000 email server!
@Gazzara5 Hungarians were also ones with "specific" hobbies about activities in the rear. Not to the degree of Japanese, but something notable in comparison with Germans anyway. One of reasons, Soviets pretty soon stopped to capture them as POWs, preferring to "not see" signs of surrender.
This just shows how fantastic this movie was. Von Rundstedt is barely in the film (because of a massive cast) so this guy has just 2 minutes to establish character. I don't know how accurate it is, but it gives the audience a well-defined personality for Rundstedt even though he's essentially out of the film after this point.
Not quite - Von Rundstedt has a planning session with Field Marshal Model where they decide to send the II SS Panzers to Arnhem to rest and rebuild so they can be ready to stop what they thought the main Allied invasion was going to be - Patton pushing into the Saarland. Also a great scene!
@@kazzatermination7867 Rundstedt was in charge of the Western front so he was working on getting Model some supplies, units, etc while Model was taking care of Arnhem. He probably was concerned about Patton and Omar Bradley and such and working on building up the defense of Germany while Model took care of Montgomery.
@@kazzatermination7867 Runstead was commander of the entire western front while Model was a commander of a part of the front line under him. Runstead was basically Eisenhower for the german western front while Model would be a Montgomery or Patton.
"End the war, you fools", one of Rundstetd's most famous phrases. As far as I have read, he told it while talking on the phone with keitel, after the allies managed to succeed in Normandie.
Correct. He said it to the High Command, and that "defeatist" (or realist) attitude was why he was dismissed in the first place before being reappointed here.
Really, Rundstedt, Manstein, Guderian, and Rommel were the best generals Germany had, and I would dare say the best generals in the entire Second World War. I’d those four had free reign in their theatres and didn’t have to answer to Keitel and Hitler, Germany would have won the war.
@@oilersridersbluejays Germany had no chance. They had zero means of knocking the UK out of the war when things were looking so good for Germany. The Nazi ideology of Germany's leadership demanded war of expansion into Russia. They did so despite not being able to get the UK to come to the peace table. While the Germans looked east, the British remained defiant and would cause immense problems. Germany had no chance. Germany then finds itself at war with 2 powerful countries: A defiant UK to the west and the vast open expanses of Russia to the east. Their logistics were stretched past the breaking point. The momentum of their early war successes was lost in Russia, 1941. They were no longer doing lightning war and were instead mired in vast fronts draining away their experienced, trained, pre-war and early war forces. Then, on December 1941, Japan does a sneak attack on the USA at Pearl Harbor. The USA declares war on the Japanese but did not have casus belli against Germany. But Hitler declares war on the USA anyways, with the US returning the favor in kind. This grants Churchill and Stalin a magnificent, early holiday present by making it official that the USA will join them in open war against Germany. Germany is resource starved and fighting against the economic, industrial powerhouses. The USA & USSR also had rather large populations. Between the US, UK, and USSR, there was no shortage of needed resources. Hell, Allies would send a lot of help towards each other. Russia got aid to make sure she did not collapse while dealing with the full brunt of the German military, which is where the majority of German losses would be. The USA would build tons of aircraft, tanks, arms, ships to outfit not only her own armed forces, but anyone in the war against the Axis. Germany had no chance. One of the greatest symbols of cooperation, assistance is a simple late war image of Red Army M4 Shermans. For the Pacific War in 1942, after several deadly Carrier Battles between the US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy, the USA asked the UK to loan an Aircraft Carrier. The UK obliged and HMS Victorious was dispatched and served with USS Saratoga for a while in 1943. The US Navy had also dispatched a bunch of ships to work with the already powerful Royal Navy, to include Battleships and Carriers. Germany had no chance. There's also the matter of Allied generals getting better, finally finding officers they needed. Montgomery righted the ship for the British in North Africa, for example. Red Army generals were getting better in their jobs and operations would be conducted better. Gone is the Russian debacle in Finland and the initial mess of Operation Barbarossa. They'll have their great generals also like Vatutin, Rokosovvsky, etc. Let's also not forget the great boogeyman of the Germans... Zhukov. Zhukov was what the Germans looked for under their beds before they tried to go to sleep. Anyways, as the war got on longer, Germany's enemies became more proficient in their jobs as military leaders. All this while the industrial powerhouses of their enemies continued to churn out arms and materiel to wage war against them. Germany simply had no chance. What should have happened was Germany suing for piece in 1943 when things were falling apart. But that wasn't going to happen because Germany's leadership, knowing the kind of vile stuff they've been doing and had become known for by that time, would be hanged. Instead, they elected to drag the war out longer for millions upon millions of people to die, leaving Germany a smoldering ruin, divided and occupied by foreign powers.
First of all this is just a movie, but higher ranking officers like these would have had orderlies (attendants) to assist them including maintaining their uniforms for them.
Note that Rundsted uses silver collar patches (used by the Oberst) or coronels, and one of his subordinates uses a red (used by the Generals and Generalfeldmarschals). This was a prussian tradition among elder officers like him. In other words, the guy was the Commander in Chief of ALL German forces at the Western front and was still dressed as a prussian knight.
I would like to correct that. It was not a tradition like you can wear uniform whatever you want. Rundstedt was made a honorary commander of Infanterieregiment 18 at the time of his brief retirement in November 1938 and allowed to wear its uniform (often the regiment's number was also on the shoulder boards). He previously commanded that regiment in 1925-1926. Even it was a Colonel's uniform (originally silver shoulder boards), it had a gold shoulder boards (indicating general's rank).
There is a certain warmth and informalness there tho'... They are speaking infront of their general staff aswell, with that in account, they're remarkably candid. It's an excellent scene, Wolfgang Priess was a terrific actor, he is totally convincing.
@flitzo111 I strongly agree. Wolfgang Preiss was the quintessential German Officer, and excellent actor. Is acting delivery is pure joy to watch. And as another poster pointed out, the way he drops his glove as he learned that supplies are minimal and moral is non-existant is very well played.
Gerd von Rundstedt was one of the best German commanders during World War 2. He fought in the war despite having retired to be with his family before its outbreak(he was about 63 years old, and had just become a grandfather). He served with distinction throughout the war although he did suffer from poor health several times, and he did grow increasingly demoralized over its course and frustrated with Hitler's interference, to the extent that he at one point even developed a severe alcohol problem.
No actually, he was far from one of their best generals. He was capable and reliable, but no more than that. He was, more than any other single person, responsible for the failure of the Germans to trap the BEF in 1940- and after the war, he attempted to pass the blame onto the shoulders of Hitler.
Field Marshal von Rundstedt served in the German army from 1892 to 1944, 52 years, by the time of this scene he was 69 years old and at war's end escaped prosecution mainly due to his poor health and age.
When Barbarossa obviously failed Von Rundstedt ordered his Army Group to begin a strategic withdrawal before winter set in and begin earnest work on a defensive line. Hitler found out and countermanded this order. Furious at Hitler's meddling Von Rundstedt resigned. The German Army by the narrowest of margins avoided complete catastrophe freezing out in the open steppe with several encirclements from relentless Soviet attacks.
Personally this is a short 2 minutes that can teach a very important lesson to any one pursuing a career. How I wish I was smart enough to see and learn the wisdom when I first watch this movie.
What possible wisdom did you discern from a movie made by David Attenborough's less talented brother, which was sourced from a notoriously ill-researched book? If you took anything away from this Hollywood depiction of Nazis defeating a poorly planned operation then you're a fool.
@@ohio British appeasement won the war, Britain was not close to ready to fighting WW2 before 1939. Had Britain gone to war in 1938 it would have lost. It would have Germany vs Britain , France had no intrest in defending Czechoslovakia.
Even Hitler deep down knew that the game was up, but he also believed that it would be better for Germany to be completely destroyed than to suffer the indignity of surrendering again. He and many of his generals and soldiers either remembered that fateful day in 1918 so clearly or heard about it so many times that they refused to entertain the idea of surrendering. Even those who wanted a negotiated peace hoped that the Western Allies would then help Germany against the Soviets. Many ordinary German soldiers remained devoted to Hitler up until the very end. They mocked everyone else, but seemed to have hope that their Fuhrer would find a way out, as he had done so many times before.
This is not accurate. The entire German High Command knew that they could not win the war outright. Their goal was an attempt to stall the Allied advance into a stalemate while their Wunderwaffen ("wonder weapons") were able to be developed. The theory was that they would be able to unleash devastating casualties which would force the Allies into peace negotiations. All of their facilities were destroy by massive bombing raids before that could happen, as well as their industrial base (the civilian population).
@Thomas Hardison Never? No, it was almost a German victory. Operation Barberosa was a disaster. Should have put all those troops on the western front. Then, victory.
Both Eisenhower and monty said that Rundstedt was the, quote Eisenhower: "The ablest of the Axis commanders". And monty said: "The greatest german commander i have ever come up against".
Nah. That's Monty trying to excuse his utter failure to execute Market Garden by crediting the Germans with brilliance. He was completely without imagination and only the vast numerical superiority he'd enjoyed up until that point had hidden his lack of suitability for high command.
@@liamweaver2944 haha, Rommel was a good tactician and well respected by the allies, but many other German generals are overlooked nowadays. Rommel is just one of the more famous examples.
I would go along with that and I've done an awful lot of reading/research about WWII. I've often said that he was among the smartest German commanders and we should all be thankful that Hitler wouldn't listen to any of them lol.
Hitler also wanted to "End the War" in 1940, but on his terms, but was refused. He wanted to End the War on a Stalemate in 1943, but was refused. He wanted to end the War in 1944, but the Allies wanted total unconditional surrender. Between 1939-1941, Hitler kinda held the "cards" on ending the war to the original borders of Germany 1914. But after 1942, there was no way the Allies would be satisfied until Nazi Germany was destroyed.
@@nodinitiative Being the alies, I wouldn't have accepted peace either. Hitler was a man calling for peace every time since he took office. He did it while he was secretly training his army in 1935, then in 1936 when he militarised the Rheinland, then throughout 1938 while deciding to march into Austria (and only afterwards organising a referendum, in public, non-secret ballots guarded by soldiers), and then in the same year he claimed the Sudetenland (like 20% of Czechoslovakia), all the while literally screaming that he wanted peace. Then in March 1939 he moved the army into the rest of Czechia to "restore order" (again, calling for peace) while turning Slovakia into a puppet state, then in September he attacked Poland without warning, starting the war. This is not a man I would trust in any deal.
@@nodinitiative Because in 1940, what was left of the Allies (pretty much Britain and the Commonwealth plus the Polish and French governments in exile) refused to except Nazi domination of Europe and thankfully held on against the odds. 1940 was probably the most realistic point that a favorable peace for the Axis could have been achieved. Britain was under siege and virtually alone, and I'm not personally sure if they could have held out indefinitely without the US and USSR entering the war the next year. By 1943 and *especially* by 1944, the Allied response to any German peace offers, rightly, was for them to get fucked. The Germans were losing and everyone knew it, including Hitler, which probably motivated the peace attempts in the first place. No reason for negotiation when the Allies will get to Berlin either way. No one wanted a repeat of World War I, where Germany gets to retain any of its holdings, political or military power, and where the German populace subscribes to any sort of stab in the back theory as a result of not being military crushed. Twice in twenty years was enough for the Allies and they intended to roll over Germany to prevent a third. If Hitler wanted peace, he shouldn't have gone to war.
A while after D-Day, the High Command asked von Rundstedt what to do, and he said "end the war, you fools" and was dismissed. Months later in September, Hitler reappointed him. He was dismissed again after the failure of the Ardennes Offensive during the Battle of the Bulge in December.
If you enjoyed this movie, you will love the book by Cornelius Ryan. Ryan expertly captured this scene and others. His book is multi-layered with historical accuracy but his narrative style and the way he jumps from Allied perspective to German and back to Allied etc throughout the book is also a joy to read.
His book, historically speaking, is mostly nonsense and not to be taken seriously by anyone with a real interest in the battle. The same goes for The Longest Day actually.
Good clip from a great movie, thanks for posting. They found the right actor for von Rundstedt, it's a shame this is his only scene in the whole movie (as far as I can remember).
@@daleadamski3961 He also portrayed Walter von Brauchitsch in both "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance." Had a single but rather memorable scene in "The Boys from Brazil" as well. I'm sure his full list of credits are as long as my arm, but those are the appearances I remember offhand.
They had a couple of big-name German stars in this movie, which makes it a nice, well-rounded cast. There's Maximillian Schell, obviously, and then the other general who, IIRC, was always the cute foreign guy in 1960's beach movies.
Ah, one of my favorite war movies, and probably one of my favorite Peckinpah films. I love the part where Schell barks at the lieutenant. "YOU CALL DAT A SALUTE?!?"
wolfgang pteiss is my favourite german actor.during his acting career, he played 5 german field marshals in varius things. my favourite movie of all time
I grew up in a town where there was a man who fought for the British at Arnhem. He had some serious PTSD issues and alcohol problems. he was a POW and spent the rest of the war in a German POW camp.
Maybe. I'm no Nazi, I just admire good military men. Maybe I should continue studying the man for a more accurate assessment. With that being said, however, I do know somewhat of his personality. That he did not report men he knew where involved in the July 1944 plot, that he joked with his staff and treated his enlisted with kindness.
Sith Lord High Admiral von Rundstedt vigorously cooperated with the Gestapo after the 20 july purged the army of dissidents and was instrumental in expulsion of the conspirators from the army. Which allowed them to be tortured to death at the people's court. His shameful role was the reason he, unlike most generals, even those convicted of war crimes, was never rehabilitated in Germany. You won't even find a plaque with his name.
I'm impressed by the humility of this German commander. Maybe that's how he never lost a battle: he knew his limits, so never over extended himself. And even so, given his grey hairs, promised the others that he was still young, and would begin to lose, given sufficient time. I take my hat off to this man. I can't imagine anything more heroic to do under such desperate circumstances.
Heck yeah. Maximillian Schell played Hamlet in a German version, he was the bad guy in "The Black Hole," and has played other roles as well. Hardy Kruger (I think) used to always play the cute foreign guy in 1950's/60's beach movies.
That is the Reichskriegsflagge (Imperial war flag) which was mainly used by the Kriegsmarine but also by other forces. For instance on wehrmacht buildings and Luftwaffe planes on the ground. ;) More infos on wikipedia ;)
1943-1945 must have been a terrible time to be a general and field marshal in the ranks of the Wehrmacht. Just imagine, all that hard work and equal euphoria they must have felt sweeping through all of those nations (especially France) in such a short period of time with minimal casualties, conjuring what is no less than tactical miracles. At the precipice, with nearly all of Europe in the palms of their hands and quite literally gazing at the gates of Moscow itself... only for all of such hard work to be completely and utterly undone... I couldn’t even begin to imagine how men like von Runstedt felt by 1944 with their world closing in on them... such a tragedy of military history...
Wonder how the denizens of Auschwitz and similar "camps" would feel about that? Kinda doubt they would be sympathetic...Always amazed me how many of those high ranking Nazi cocksuckers in uniform escaped the hangman's noose...
Early war was the time generals had higher impact on military operations. When the tide was turning, somewhere in time around Moscow and Stalingrad, their input in planning was severelly downplayed and that Austrian corporal took basicly over. In 1943 he sacked Guderian, another great commander, and in 1944 he got rid of Rommel, Rundstedt was sacked with Manstein at early 1945
The uniforms are pretty sweet, nothing wrong with liking them. I myself love those huge overcoats officers wear and when they don't put their arms in the sleeves. Very cool XD Love the music in this scene, very militaristic, and epic sounding.
Do you remember what it was? I don't recall deleting it. For the record, I don't delete comments unless they're spambots, flaming, or just being rude in general. I have noticed some older comments seem to be disappearing for some reason.
@specom u r a good observer. Rundstedt was one of the few who was made Regimentschef as a special honour. in his case Infanterieregiments 18. with this honour comes that although a field marshall he doesnt wear the normal generals collar insignia like the other guy. but the collar of an infanty officer. silver lace on white cloth. white being the waffenfarbe of the infantry.
I love how the scene begins with the supposedly cliché "evil cold Nazis" with the soundtrack and the stiff soldiers, but von Rundstedt himself turns out to be a straightforward, "cut the bullshit" professional who is openly against the war.
"Kurz bitte" is correct meaning "short please" in that connection "briefly" is the fully correct translation. ;) "Kommst bitte" would mean "come please" :)
Its a real shame, but you watch Wolfgang Preiss playing Von Rundstedt in this film. Then you watch Paul Hartmann playing him in The Longest Day. Then when you go to Wikipedia and you discover he looked a lot more like Paul Hartmann it leaves you feeling quite disappointed. Love Tom
Yeah wasn't their best, they might've been trying to bite off more than they could chew. I remember "The Black Hole" from when I was a kid, it used to come on the Disney Channel a whole bunch. I should rent it again just to link up with my childhood.
"We have such confidence in your abilities, everyone knows you have never lost a battle" "Give me time, I am still young" von Rudenstedt lost several battles, and was one of the older german commanders at the time.
I'm pretty sure most people understand the "I'm still young" comment was a joke. In fact, the fact he was one of the oldest German commanders is probably why he made the joke, and why everyone in the scene laughs at it. As for the "you've never lost a battle" comment, I'm sure that's an exaggeration, but Rundstedt did have a formidable career, with successes in Poland, France, and Russia (especially at the First Battle of Kiev, where the Russians lost 700,000 men). One of the only real stains on his career at that time was the Battle of Normandy, but Hitler had relieved him as the battle was going south. The point of the comment, in any case, is that everyone had great confidence that Rundstedt's near spotless career would help turn the situation around.
He most certainly did have a formidable career, though he badly blundered the normandy campaign. He also strongly opposed diverting resources towards kiev, which lead to the encirclement. He was part of those that argued for a massive push towards Moscow. Tough to say that his skills lead to the largest encirclement in military history, since he was opposed to it.
Depends on how you define battles in this time period. Was the entire campaign in France one battle? He lost a series of battles during the Normandy Campaign, and his poor planning helped reduce the effectiveness of the panzer divisions at his disposal.
Oh yeah, that's right. You've got lots of interesting clips from war movies... I have some from Gettysburg and a couple of others, but you're way more meticulous :)
Actor Wolfgang Preiss was a movie actor during the Third Reich, having been exempted from military service to do so. He also does a star turn in "The Train."
I’d heard that when out and about he would wear a simple ?private’s great coat, and only one of his decorations; the Iron cross. Despite the fact he was one of, if not the most highly decorated officer in the Wehrmacht.
It's a real testament how fast they reorganized to face the British and Americans. Almost every in the Netherlands was shattered on their westward retreat. Rundstedt and Model reorganized them into Kampfgruppes of mixed Heer and Waffen-SS troops along with supplementing them with Luftwaffe personnel, railway workers and DAK laborer's. The collapse of Market Garden was a testament to the flexibility of the Wehrmacht compared to the more ridged chain of command of the western Allies. If Rundstedt and Rommel had been afforded the same operation freedom in Normandy landings, D-day may have ended a much more costly effort.
a familiar face Preiss, almost too familiar, drafter as it were into many a war film, he was truly capable of anything however, hard to say whether or not I preferred him over Curt Jergens. Both were fantastic.
@peter420guy you r mistaken. if you look closely you can see that he wears the black tank uniform. its a tank man. their uniform was often mistaken with ss. they even wore death heads on their collars.
@peter420guy The SS mainly dropped the black uniforms as early as 1934. These men here are all Wehrmacht officers and amongst themselves they generally didn't use the Hitler salute. As someone else already pointed out the black uniform was probably worn by a member of the Panzerwaffe. They also wore a Totenkopf on their collars but this was an old tradition dating back to the Hussars... the Panzerwaffe "death's head" differed to the SS one because it had no lower jaw!
There is an error in the translation of von Rundstedt's words. He doesn't say: "To end the war, you fools", but "Simply, end the war" ("Ganz einfach, den Krieg beenden"). It's highly unlikely that an officer of his rank would address the Staff members in that manner.
He admired Patton, he was not scared of him. Even Eisenhower said that Rundstedt was the greatest general and field marshal of the axis. I think Patton was more scared of Rundstedt, than the other way. But yes, they did not think of Monty as they thought of Patton.
7 ปีที่แล้ว +2
bullshit. most of the German high command when asked did not even know who Patton was, but they did know Montgomery manly due to him defeating Rommel in north Africa and also being the main person to orchestrate d-day. patton was not even the same rank as Montgomery and thank god. he fucked up way more times then monty.
Von Manstein (Lewinsky) was their greatest general but certainly Guderian, Rommel, Hoth and many other should be mentioned. The problem wasn't the generals or their troops but material and lack of numbers. One has to remember the Germans were almost always outnumbered even in the days of their greatest success. They were not a mechanized juggernaut but in reality a horse drawn army. I recall reading where one German general said that if the whole army had half tracks and proper truck transport the germans would have been in Moscow by August.
@@atoll2453 No, in fact if I recall correctly, the Germans didn't achieve numerical parity on the front until their victory at the battle of the Kiev pocket. That parity lasted but a few months and then the Siberians (30 divisions?) came to defend Moscow. In his book, Panzer Leader, Guderian lists his misgivings about Barbarossa and chief among them was the lack manpower committed to the campaign. People blame Hitler for being over optimistic about the attack on the Soviet Union but to be fair so were many experienced professionals in the OKW and OKH. Germany had just defeated the combined French and British Armies in a matter of weeks. That said there were also many in Germany who were very concerned about attacking the Soviet Union and were against the campaign. Chief among the Nazi leadership against the whole project was Goering.
@@PoppysGuitar Are you counting in overall Axis strength tho? Also I recall OKH had some confusion sent more replenishment troops to north where there's less action and under par to the center where the main decisive battles are.
The entire German High Command knew that they could not win the war outright. Their goal was an attempt to stall the Allied advance into a stalemate while their Wunderwaffen ("wonder weapons") were able to be developed. The theory was that they would be able to unleash devastating casualties which would force the Allies into peace negotiations. All of their facilities were destroy by massive bombing raids before that could happen, as well as their industrial base (the civilian population). Source: My grandfather was the chief propulsion engineer to the V-2 rocket programme.
Von Rundstedt was one of the first to realize Barbarossa had failed. On his own initiative (something old Prussians like himself had been trained to do) he'd ordered his Army Group Center to make a strategic withdrawal in order to shorten supply lines and begin defensive preparations for the upcoming winter. Hitler found out and countermanded Von Rundstedt's orders. Infuriated by this meddling Von Rundstedt resigned and I think saw the writing on the wall. A flurry of forced retirements and promotions of Nazi lackeys to Field Marshals followed as Hitler consolidated power much to the Army's detriment. It was Hitler's attempt to purge the Army of resistance to him yet he was never able to fully purge centuries of Prussian influence.
The one reliably impressive Hollywood trope is the Nazi entranceL Mercedes staff cars with motorcycle escort, rows of German soldiers snapping to attention (are they standing there all day?) accompanied by dramatic, quasi martial music. I figure that's the whole reason this clip is here.
True, but i think they want to make the point that Rundstedt wanted it to end. He may have said it several times, he also made fun of Hitler, Göring and many other nazi-figureheads to his officers.
Actually Rundsted was not charged with the connections of Nazis. Well that was not in the first line. He was a Prussian and never believed in the Nazis truly. He was charged against, that the SS troops under his command made several war cimes, in the Ukrain and during the Battle of Bulge, and he never had any real evidences that he never knew about those crimes.
I wonder what kind of relationship Rundstedt and Model had with the Dutch administration personalities such as ReichKommissar Inquart, HSSPF Rauter, and Wehrmacht Commander Christiansen.
Seyss Inquart was Austrian, not that it really matters, but Bulgaria was the area to watch around this time and Zossen was caught napping because no 13th Army existed in or around Serbia to go up against a Bulgarian force of around 400,000 troops. The Bulgarians pretty much evicted the Germans from Greece with a contingent of German troops left in eastern Crete and on the island of Rhodes. Also 65,000 is far too big a force to throw away in The Crimea in May 1944 in an evacuation that should have begun around March 25 with all sorts of vessels, barges, E boats and S boats included. Pointless holding on there just to intimidate the Turks across the Black Sea after the Perekop Istmus was sealed off in November 1943. Of all the 1944 German victories it was Anzio that proved that the Wehrmacht could still pack a punch not Market Garden. Although the period between the recapture of Mussolini and the fall of Kiev was more indicative of any sort of equilibrium between Allied and Axis powers and that owed much to a successful evacuation of Sicily curtesy of that Stalingrad evacuee Hans Hube.
Well... The Axis forces in the Arnhem area (German troops and a couple of Dutch SS battalions) were well-equipped with fairly high morale and quality (many of them were SS veterans), and they vastly outnumbered the Allied troops. For the first few days, the Luftwaffe had significant presence too.
The way his uniform stated though, he didn't look like a field marshal. The shoulders and collars insignia were wrong, made him like a Lieutenant Colonel or Full Bird.
Rundstedt wore his Generaloberst colors well into his promotion to a field marshal. Being a Colonel General was the last rank he held when he was apart of the Reichswehr, before Hitler took over. One of his small defiant moves against the powers he answered to.
"We're retreating, faster than they can advance"
Powerful line.
do you know what it means?i dont really get it.
When an army is advancing, it has to be kept well supplied. Effectively, the Germans were retreating so fast, the allies couldn't keep up with them without advancing beyond their supply range.
It's meant Krauts were able to avoid an encirclement, Sure Hitler fear of others Stalingrad or Falaise
In reality the western front retreat was pretty good overall for the germans, they avoided major encirclement, slowed down the allies, avoided any major breakthrought. Considering how bad their situation was in 1944, they did an excellent job in the west if compared to the east.
@Andy Blue Yes, but that's after Market Garden and the Ardennes.
Fact: A popular saying at this point in the the war from the German point of view "Enjoy the war while you can becuse the peace is going to be terrible"
The war with the EU is comeing.
Jim Weaver very true.
@Clay Burkhardt Prove it.
Robo Redneck That’s uh, not what they were referring to
@@scootjockey no it is not the governments my disagree with each other but the people of Europe are a lot closer then you think
The USA could be head for a rival war if it not to careful
Rundstedt is wearing his colonels uniform like he supposedly always did, nice historical touch
he is wearing the correct shoulder ranks, generalfieldmarschal
How about General Bittrich, is he in Right Morale Uniform for an Unlucky SS Rest .
Only the collar patches.
@@SDeww Because he was appointed honorary 'Chief' of infantry regiment 18;The number 18 would appear on his shoulder boards above the crossed batons.
Wolfgang Preiss, the actor who played Rundstedt also starred in 'The Longest Day' playing GenLt Max Pemsel, the 7th Army Honcho.
very humanizing video that shows the Germans as individuals with personalities rather than the cliche of the brainwashed drone following orders. Not to absolve people of responsibility for some horrific events, but a reminder that reasonable human beings can easily find themselves aligned with a terrible regime if they are not careful.
Reminds me when I was working at the Department of State under Crooked Hillary’s ‘terrible regime’ while she stumbled about using her illegal 33,000 email server!
Read " Donald trump"!
@@StephenKershaw1 Stand down Steven, you have no place in this world!
There looked to be many job opening above Field Marshal Von Rundstedt soon no doubt!
@Gazzara5 Hungarians were also ones with "specific" hobbies about activities in the rear. Not to the degree of Japanese, but something notable in comparison with Germans anyway. One of reasons, Soviets pretty soon stopped to capture them as POWs, preferring to "not see" signs of surrender.
"Speeches are for victory celebrations."
Commander of their forces in the West
This just shows how fantastic this movie was. Von Rundstedt is barely in the film (because of a massive cast) so this guy has just 2 minutes to establish character. I don't know how accurate it is, but it gives the audience a well-defined personality for Rundstedt even though he's essentially out of the film after this point.
Not quite - Von Rundstedt has a planning session with Field Marshal Model where they decide to send the II SS Panzers to Arnhem to rest and rebuild so they can be ready to stop what they thought the main Allied invasion was going to be - Patton pushing into the Saarland. Also a great scene!
@@cameron120587 apparently model was in command of everything in Arnhem, what happened to runshdeidts command?
True
@@kazzatermination7867 Rundstedt was in charge of the Western front so he was working on getting Model some supplies, units, etc while Model was taking care of Arnhem. He probably was concerned about Patton and Omar Bradley and such and working on building up the defense of Germany while Model took care of Montgomery.
@@kazzatermination7867 Runstead was commander of the entire western front while Model was a commander of a part of the front line under him.
Runstead was basically Eisenhower for the german western front while Model would be a Montgomery or Patton.
"End the war, you fools", one of Rundstetd's most famous phrases. As far as I have read, he told it while talking on the phone with keitel, after the allies managed to succeed in Normandie.
Correct. He said it to the High Command, and that "defeatist" (or realist) attitude was why he was dismissed in the first place before being reappointed here.
At least he got his mind stick on, unlike Keitel, Jodl or Burghdorf
@@apalahartisebuahnama7684 good One😂
Really, Rundstedt, Manstein, Guderian, and Rommel were the best generals Germany had, and I would dare say the best generals in the entire Second World War. I’d those four had free reign in their theatres and didn’t have to answer to Keitel and Hitler, Germany would have won the war.
@@oilersridersbluejays Germany had no chance. They had zero means of knocking the UK out of the war when things were looking so good for Germany. The Nazi ideology of Germany's leadership demanded war of expansion into Russia. They did so despite not being able to get the UK to come to the peace table. While the Germans looked east, the British remained defiant and would cause immense problems.
Germany had no chance.
Germany then finds itself at war with 2 powerful countries: A defiant UK to the west and the vast open expanses of Russia to the east. Their logistics were stretched past the breaking point. The momentum of their early war successes was lost in Russia, 1941. They were no longer doing lightning war and were instead mired in vast fronts draining away their experienced, trained, pre-war and early war forces.
Then, on December 1941, Japan does a sneak attack on the USA at Pearl Harbor. The USA declares war on the Japanese but did not have casus belli against Germany. But Hitler declares war on the USA anyways, with the US returning the favor in kind. This grants Churchill and Stalin a magnificent, early holiday present by making it official that the USA will join them in open war against Germany.
Germany is resource starved and fighting against the economic, industrial powerhouses. The USA & USSR also had rather large populations. Between the US, UK, and USSR, there was no shortage of needed resources. Hell, Allies would send a lot of help towards each other. Russia got aid to make sure she did not collapse while dealing with the full brunt of the German military, which is where the majority of German losses would be. The USA would build tons of aircraft, tanks, arms, ships to outfit not only her own armed forces, but anyone in the war against the Axis.
Germany had no chance.
One of the greatest symbols of cooperation, assistance is a simple late war image of Red Army M4 Shermans. For the Pacific War in 1942, after several deadly Carrier Battles between the US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy, the USA asked the UK to loan an Aircraft Carrier. The UK obliged and HMS Victorious was dispatched and served with USS Saratoga for a while in 1943. The US Navy had also dispatched a bunch of ships to work with the already powerful Royal Navy, to include Battleships and Carriers.
Germany had no chance.
There's also the matter of Allied generals getting better, finally finding officers they needed. Montgomery righted the ship for the British in North Africa, for example. Red Army generals were getting better in their jobs and operations would be conducted better. Gone is the Russian debacle in Finland and the initial mess of Operation Barbarossa. They'll have their great generals also like Vatutin, Rokosovvsky, etc.
Let's also not forget the great boogeyman of the Germans... Zhukov.
Zhukov was what the Germans looked for under their beds before they tried to go to sleep.
Anyways, as the war got on longer, Germany's enemies became more proficient in their jobs as military leaders. All this while the industrial powerhouses of their enemies continued to churn out arms and materiel to wage war against them.
Germany simply had no chance.
What should have happened was Germany suing for piece in 1943 when things were falling apart. But that wasn't going to happen because Germany's leadership, knowing the kind of vile stuff they've been doing and had become known for by that time, would be hanged. Instead, they elected to drag the war out longer for millions upon millions of people to die, leaving Germany a smoldering ruin, divided and occupied by foreign powers.
Wolfgang was such a great character actor. He's really fierce in The Train. I imagine he was fun to work with and had a long happy life.
Also good as a general in "The Longest Day".
The german's always had the best uniforms.
How did they always keep them so clean?
First of all this is just a movie, but higher ranking officers like these would have had orderlies (attendants) to assist them including maintaining their uniforms for them.
Hugo Boss had designed the German Army uniforms before the war thats why their uniforms are classy.
Von Rundstedt has his own uniform, it was due to his affiliation with a specific regiment, a honour.
They were designed by Hugo Boss
You can see how much respect they have for von Rundstedt here. Great acting.
✊
Note that Rundsted uses silver collar patches (used by the Oberst) or coronels, and one of his subordinates uses a red (used by the Generals and Generalfeldmarschals). This was a prussian tradition among elder officers like him. In other words, the guy was the Commander in Chief of ALL German forces at the Western front and was still dressed as a prussian knight.
I would like to correct that. It was not a tradition like you can wear uniform whatever you want. Rundstedt was made a honorary commander of Infanterieregiment 18 at the time of his brief retirement in November 1938 and allowed to wear its uniform (often the regiment's number was also on the shoulder boards). He previously commanded that regiment in 1925-1926. Even it was a Colonel's uniform (originally silver shoulder boards), it had a gold shoulder boards (indicating general's rank).
There is a certain warmth and informalness there tho'... They are speaking infront of their general staff aswell, with that in account, they're remarkably candid. It's an excellent scene, Wolfgang Priess was a terrific actor, he is totally convincing.
@flitzo111 I strongly agree. Wolfgang Preiss was the quintessential German Officer, and excellent actor. Is acting delivery is pure joy to watch. And as another poster pointed out, the way he drops his glove as he learned that supplies are minimal and moral is non-existant is very well played.
Just end the war, that should be done.
Gerd von Rundstedt was one of the best German commanders during World War 2. He fought in the war despite having retired to be with his family before its outbreak(he was about 63 years old, and had just become a grandfather). He served with distinction throughout the war although he did suffer from poor health several times, and he did grow increasingly demoralized over its course and frustrated with Hitler's interference, to the extent that he at one point even developed a severe alcohol problem.
No actually, he was far from one of their best generals. He was capable and reliable, but no more than that. He was, more than any other single person, responsible for the failure of the Germans to trap the BEF in 1940- and after the war, he attempted to pass the blame onto the shoulders of Hitler.
Field Marshal von Rundstedt served in the German army from 1892 to 1944, 52 years, by the time of this scene he was 69 years old and at war's end escaped prosecution mainly due to his poor health and age.
When Barbarossa obviously failed Von Rundstedt ordered his Army Group to begin a strategic withdrawal before winter set in and begin earnest work on a defensive line. Hitler found out and countermanded this order. Furious at Hitler's meddling Von Rundstedt resigned. The German Army by the narrowest of margins avoided complete catastrophe freezing out in the open steppe with several encirclements from relentless Soviet attacks.
Personally this is a short 2 minutes that can teach a very important lesson to any one pursuing a career. How I wish I was smart enough to see and learn the wisdom when I first watch this movie.
What possible wisdom did you discern from a movie made by David Attenborough's less talented brother, which was sourced from a notoriously ill-researched book? If you took anything away from this Hollywood depiction of Nazis defeating a poorly planned operation then you're a fool.
At this point in the war, the top Generals knew they were out of time and material.
@@ohio British appeasement won the war, Britain was not close to ready to fighting WW2 before 1939. Had Britain gone to war in 1938 it would have lost. It would have Germany vs Britain , France had no intrest in defending Czechoslovakia.
Mind you those were the same people who cautioned against invading France in the first place, said it could never be done etc
Even Hitler deep down knew that the game was up, but he also believed that it would be better for Germany to be completely destroyed than to suffer the indignity of surrendering again. He and many of his generals and soldiers either remembered that fateful day in 1918 so clearly or heard about it so many times that they refused to entertain the idea of surrendering. Even those who wanted a negotiated peace hoped that the Western Allies would then help Germany against the Soviets. Many ordinary German soldiers remained devoted to Hitler up until the very end. They mocked everyone else, but seemed to have hope that their Fuhrer would find a way out, as he had done so many times before.
This is not accurate. The entire German High Command knew that they could not win the war outright. Their goal was an attempt to stall the Allied advance into a stalemate while their Wunderwaffen ("wonder weapons") were able to be developed. The theory was that they would be able to unleash devastating casualties which would force the Allies into peace negotiations. All of their facilities were destroy by massive bombing raids before that could happen, as well as their industrial base (the civilian population).
@Thomas Hardison Never? No, it was almost a German victory. Operation Barberosa was a disaster. Should have put all those troops on the western front. Then, victory.
Both Eisenhower and monty said that Rundstedt was the, quote Eisenhower: "The ablest of the Axis commanders". And monty said: "The greatest german commander i have ever come up against".
Nah. That's Monty trying to excuse his utter failure to execute Market Garden by crediting the Germans with brilliance. He was completely without imagination and only the vast numerical superiority he'd enjoyed up until that point had hidden his lack of suitability for high command.
Strange. I always thought it was Rommel.
@@liamweaver2944 haha, Rommel was a good tactician and well respected by the allies, but many other German generals are overlooked nowadays. Rommel is just one of the more famous examples.
I would go along with that and I've done an awful lot of reading/research about WWII. I've often said that he was among the smartest German commanders and we should all be thankful that Hitler wouldn't listen to any of them lol.
@Robo Redneck And he flopped in France in 1940- and was a dickhead to his immediate superiors to boot.
"Why are you laughing"
I bet he told the same thing to the Fuhrer and that's why he ended there.
Hitler also wanted to "End the War" in 1940, but on his terms, but was refused.
He wanted to End the War on a Stalemate in 1943, but was refused.
He wanted to end the War in 1944, but the Allies wanted total unconditional surrender.
Between 1939-1941, Hitler kinda held the "cards" on ending the war to the original borders of Germany 1914.
But after 1942, there was no way the Allies would be satisfied until Nazi Germany was destroyed.
@@nodinitiative Being the alies, I wouldn't have accepted peace either. Hitler was a man calling for peace every time since he took office. He did it while he was secretly training his army in 1935, then in 1936 when he militarised the Rheinland, then throughout 1938 while deciding to march into Austria (and only afterwards organising a referendum, in public, non-secret ballots guarded by soldiers), and then in the same year he claimed the Sudetenland (like 20% of Czechoslovakia), all the while literally screaming that he wanted peace. Then in March 1939 he moved the army into the rest of Czechia to "restore order" (again, calling for peace) while turning Slovakia into a puppet state, then in September he attacked Poland without warning, starting the war.
This is not a man I would trust in any deal.
@@nodinitiative Because in 1940, what was left of the Allies (pretty much Britain and the Commonwealth plus the Polish and French governments in exile) refused to except Nazi domination of Europe and thankfully held on against the odds. 1940 was probably the most realistic point that a favorable peace for the Axis could have been achieved. Britain was under siege and virtually alone, and I'm not personally sure if they could have held out indefinitely without the US and USSR entering the war the next year.
By 1943 and *especially* by 1944, the Allied response to any German peace offers, rightly, was for them to get fucked. The Germans were losing and everyone knew it, including Hitler, which probably motivated the peace attempts in the first place. No reason for negotiation when the Allies will get to Berlin either way. No one wanted a repeat of World War I, where Germany gets to retain any of its holdings, political or military power, and where the German populace subscribes to any sort of stab in the back theory as a result of not being military crushed. Twice in twenty years was enough for the Allies and they intended to roll over Germany to prevent a third.
If Hitler wanted peace, he shouldn't have gone to war.
A while after D-Day, the High Command asked von Rundstedt what to do, and he said "end the war, you fools" and was dismissed. Months later in September, Hitler reappointed him. He was dismissed again after the failure of the Ardennes Offensive during the Battle of the Bulge in December.
With such confidence.
If you enjoyed this movie, you will love the book by Cornelius Ryan. Ryan expertly captured this scene and others. His book is multi-layered with historical accuracy but his narrative style and the way he jumps from Allied perspective to German and back to Allied etc throughout the book is also a joy to read.
His book, historically speaking, is mostly nonsense and not to be taken seriously by anyone with a real interest in the battle. The same goes for The Longest Day actually.
Wolfgang Priess has the uncanny ability to make any movie he appeared in good.
Great acting by Wolfgang Preiss (Von Rundsted)......exempt from military service during World War II for his work with UFA production Die große Liebe.
He's brilliant in 'The Longest Day' too.
Damn! He got lucky
There's also his performance in "The Train" with Paul Schofield and Burt Lancaster.
Field Marshall Von Rundstedt was in his late 70's when they called him back to take command in the Western Front.
No, in his late 60's - he had turned 70 in December 1945
@@konmaj My bad.
Good clip from a great movie, thanks for posting. They found the right actor for von Rundstedt, it's a shame this is his only scene in the whole movie (as far as I can remember).
There's another scene with him and Model
Zappiss same actor played Gen. max pemsel in the longest day. Great actor. Forget his name.
Wolfgang Preiss, great actor!
@@daleadamski3961 He also portrayed Walter von Brauchitsch in both "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance." Had a single but rather memorable scene in "The Boys from Brazil" as well. I'm sure his full list of credits are as long as my arm, but those are the appearances I remember offhand.
@@erikpflueger7502 He was also in a Robert Mitchum picture "Anzio" (1968)
My all time favorite scene in a movie. 🙌
They had a couple of big-name German stars in this movie, which makes it a nice, well-rounded cast. There's Maximillian Schell, obviously, and then the other general who, IIRC, was always the cute foreign guy in 1960's beach movies.
I think he was in one more scene, where he says he's sending the SS unit to Arnhem. I have it on another video, I think "Laying Down the Plans"
Ah, one of my favorite war movies, and probably one of my favorite Peckinpah films.
I love the part where Schell barks at the lieutenant. "YOU CALL DAT A SALUTE?!?"
von runstedt was an unappreciated military genius at the time, given freedom to act freely he might have stood a chance against the allies
Arthur Ghekiere nope - the war was lost in the East and they were outnumbered in the West... it was all over.
Fighting a war on two fronts was their undoing.
wolfgang pteiss is my favourite german actor.during his acting career, he played 5 german field marshals in varius things. my favourite movie of all time
Didn't he play Rommel in one movie?
I grew up in a town where there was a man who fought for the British at Arnhem. He had some serious PTSD issues and alcohol problems. he was a POW and spent the rest of the war in a German POW camp.
Von Rundstedt was a good man. May he rest in peace.
Maybe. I'm no Nazi, I just admire good military men. Maybe I should continue studying the man for a more accurate assessment. With that being said, however, I do know somewhat of his personality. That he did not report men he knew where involved in the July 1944 plot, that he joked with his staff and treated his enlisted with kindness.
Sith Lord High Admiral von Rundstedt vigorously cooperated with the Gestapo after the 20 july purged the army of dissidents and was instrumental in expulsion of the conspirators from the army. Which allowed them to be tortured to death at the people's court. His shameful role was the reason he, unlike most generals, even those convicted of war crimes, was never rehabilitated in Germany. You won't even find a plaque with his name.
@@Jauhl1 Correct. He could have been so much more.
Von Rundstedt was more traditional military man.....but did afterall choose to serve under the Bohemian Corporal.
I don't know why this movie didn't make it really big. It was well done and accurate.
He forgot to ask about the German Navy!
"Below water, mein comandant"
What navy?
@@FranciscoSV81 sub-marine?
Minimal
lol did they have subs operating with the loss of France?
I'm impressed by the humility of this German commander. Maybe that's how he never lost a battle: he knew his limits, so never over extended himself. And even so, given his grey hairs, promised the others that he was still young, and would begin to lose, given sufficient time.
I take my hat off to this man. I can't imagine anything more heroic to do under such desperate circumstances.
😮
Actually he suffered the first defeat in USSR in November 1941, having to abandon Rostov, thereby the Führer dismissing him.
Heck yeah. Maximillian Schell played Hamlet in a German version, he was the bad guy in "The Black Hole," and has played other roles as well. Hardy Kruger (I think) used to always play the cute foreign guy in 1950's/60's beach movies.
More so Prussian than German at that time.
That is the Reichskriegsflagge (Imperial war flag) which was mainly used by the Kriegsmarine but also by other forces. For instance on wehrmacht buildings and Luftwaffe planes on the ground. ;)
More infos on wikipedia ;)
Great ww2 movie with realistic battle scenes, all star cast and collection of ww2 planes tanks and vehicles
None of the German tanks are actually WW2 German tanks
1943-1945 must have been a terrible time to be a general and field marshal in the ranks of the Wehrmacht. Just imagine, all that hard work and equal euphoria they must have felt sweeping through all of those nations (especially France) in such a short period of time with minimal casualties, conjuring what is no less than tactical miracles. At the precipice, with nearly all of Europe in the palms of their hands and quite literally gazing at the gates of Moscow itself... only for all of such hard work to be completely and utterly undone... I couldn’t even begin to imagine how men like von Runstedt felt by 1944 with their world closing in on them... such a tragedy of military history...
Wonder how the denizens of Auschwitz and similar "camps" would feel about that? Kinda doubt they would be sympathetic...Always amazed me how many of those high ranking Nazi cocksuckers in uniform escaped the hangman's noose...
Early war was the time generals had higher impact on military operations. When the tide was turning, somewhere in time around Moscow and Stalingrad, their input in planning was severelly downplayed and that Austrian corporal took basicly over. In 1943 he sacked Guderian, another great commander, and in 1944 he got rid of Rommel, Rundstedt was sacked with Manstein at early 1945
The uniforms are pretty sweet, nothing wrong with liking them. I myself love those huge overcoats officers wear and when they don't put their arms in the sleeves. Very cool XD
Love the music in this scene, very militaristic, and epic sounding.
🆒️
Do you remember what it was? I don't recall deleting it. For the record, I don't delete comments unless they're spambots, flaming, or just being rude in general. I have noticed some older comments seem to be disappearing for some reason.
@specom
u r a good observer. Rundstedt was one of the few who was made Regimentschef as a special honour. in his case Infanterieregiments 18. with this honour comes that although a field marshall he doesnt wear the normal generals collar insignia like the other guy. but the collar of an infanty officer. silver lace on white cloth. white being the waffenfarbe of the infantry.
Ryan's book is exceptional
I love how the scene begins with the supposedly cliché "evil cold Nazis" with the soundtrack and the stiff soldiers, but von Rundstedt himself turns out to be a straightforward, "cut the bullshit" professional who is openly against the war.
W.Preiss an great Actor !
He was on The Longest Day (1962) as General Max Pemsel.
Note the collar rank denoting Colonel-in-Chief of the 18th Infantry Regiment, his tunic of preference with white piping.
"Kurz bitte" is correct meaning "short please" in that connection "briefly" is the fully correct translation. ;)
"Kommst bitte" would mean "come please" :)
Come, please? Kommen, sie.
He got sence of humour lol
I'd be the same ^^
desperate situations demand humor.
I guess Goering had no sense of humor whatsoever.
A famously caustic sense of humor and he wasn't afraid to direct it where needed. Manstein was very similar.
Rundsedt actor played in THE TRAIN and THE LONGEST DAY. Interesting actor and he was really German. He spoke English in THE TRAIN 1964
Its a real shame, but you watch Wolfgang Preiss playing Von Rundstedt in this film.
Then you watch Paul Hartmann playing him in The Longest Day.
Then when you go to Wikipedia and you discover he looked a lot more like Paul Hartmann
it leaves you feeling quite disappointed.
Love
Tom
He's excellent in The Train, he and Paul Scofield make a great villain team.
Agreed, good cop and bad cop.
A pity Paul Scofield made so few films.
This guy should have been strung up after the war. A monster.
I wonder how long it will take for Michael Bay to produce a high budget low quality remake of. Bridge too Far?
He's still young! Give him time.
@@whiteknightcat Well, I'd prefer another Hanks/Spielberg miniseries on HBO that was 10 parts long so 'everything' gets covered.
Filthy Disgusting Ape I want a Mediterranean campaign or CBI campaign miniseries.
Yeah wasn't their best, they might've been trying to bite off more than they could chew.
I remember "The Black Hole" from when I was a kid, it used to come on the Disney Channel a whole bunch. I should rent it again just to link up with my childhood.
He is my favorite Field marshal out of the German Wehrmacht.
Erwin Rommel
@@Frankie-O well him and Von Rundstedt
OH WAIT! Herr Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
Albert Kesselring was a pretty good field commander as well
One of the best WW2 movies
Always loved him.
Germans are always smartest in their uniforn. Preiss was excellent actor
13 fucking years ago and now it comes into my recommended like it's the fucking 90s
I just realized that the gentleman who plays Von Rundsted plays the corrupted German officer in "Hunde wollt Ihr ewig Leben".
Wolfgang Preiss was also thrown off a dam by Walter Gotell in Boys from Brazil.
He usually plays people that you want to throw down a well
An order is an order.
th-cam.com/video/3jFn8FY6QWo/w-d-xo.html
"We have such confidence in your abilities, everyone knows you have never lost a battle"
"Give me time, I am still young"
von Rudenstedt lost several battles, and was one of the older german commanders at the time.
I'm pretty sure most people understand the "I'm still young" comment was a joke. In fact, the fact he was one of the oldest German commanders is probably why he made the joke, and why everyone in the scene laughs at it.
As for the "you've never lost a battle" comment, I'm sure that's an exaggeration, but Rundstedt did have a formidable career, with successes in Poland, France, and Russia (especially at the First Battle of Kiev, where the Russians lost 700,000 men). One of the only real stains on his career at that time was the Battle of Normandy, but Hitler had relieved him as the battle was going south. The point of the comment, in any case, is that everyone had great confidence that Rundstedt's near spotless career would help turn the situation around.
He most certainly did have a formidable career, though he badly blundered the normandy campaign. He also strongly opposed diverting resources towards kiev, which lead to the encirclement. He was part of those that argued for a massive push towards Moscow. Tough to say that his skills lead to the largest encirclement in military history, since he was opposed to it.
That's not the same as "von Rudenstedt lost several battles."
Depends on how you define battles in this time period. Was the entire campaign in France one battle? He lost a series of battles during the Normandy Campaign, and his poor planning helped reduce the effectiveness of the panzer divisions at his disposal.
Name me one battle in the invasion of France which he lost.
He did not say: end the war, you fools, at this point. He said: just simply, end the war!
What did it for them to end World War II?
I think the I'm still young reposte is a direct quote.
Oh yeah, that's right. You've got lots of interesting clips from war movies... I have some from Gettysburg and a couple of others, but you're way more meticulous :)
Right on.
🤘
His arrival looks like Emperor palpatine arriving on the Death Star
Chicken or the egg?
Darth Vader introduction
von Rundstedt General Staff Lt. at the start of WW1 going through that and then through the next world war, a life in war.
Actor Wolfgang Preiss was a movie actor during the Third Reich, having been exempted from military service to do so. He also does a star turn in "The Train."
Damn woah
Yeah I noticed that too. They probably incorporated it into the film because it was well-known more than anything.
I’d heard that when out and about he would wear a simple ?private’s great coat, and only one of his decorations; the Iron cross. Despite the fact he was one of, if not the most highly decorated officer in the Wehrmacht.
It's a real testament how fast they reorganized to face the British and Americans. Almost every in the Netherlands was shattered on their westward retreat. Rundstedt and Model reorganized them into Kampfgruppes of mixed Heer and Waffen-SS troops along with supplementing them with Luftwaffe personnel, railway workers and DAK laborer's. The collapse of Market Garden was a testament to the flexibility of the Wehrmacht compared to the more ridged chain of command of the western Allies.
If Rundstedt and Rommel had been afforded the same operation freedom in Normandy landings, D-day may have ended a much more costly effort.
ルントシュテットに扮した
ヴォルフガング･プライズ
氏
渋い俳優さんでした！
コーネリアス･ライアン
原作
史上最大の作戦にも出演
されていましたね！
a familiar face Preiss, almost too familiar, drafter as it were into many a war film, he was truly capable of anything however, hard to say whether or not I preferred him over Curt Jergens. Both were fantastic.
@peter420guy
you r mistaken. if you look closely you can see that he wears the black tank uniform. its a tank man. their uniform was often mistaken with ss. they even wore death heads on their collars.
@peter420guy The SS mainly dropped the black uniforms as early as 1934. These men here are all Wehrmacht officers and amongst themselves they generally didn't use the Hitler salute. As someone else already pointed out the black uniform was probably worn by a member of the Panzerwaffe. They also wore a Totenkopf on their collars but this was an old tradition dating back to the Hussars... the Panzerwaffe "death's head" differed to the SS one because it had no lower jaw!
There is an error in the translation of von Rundstedt's words. He doesn't say: "To end the war, you fools", but "Simply, end the war" ("Ganz einfach, den Krieg beenden"). It's highly unlikely that an officer of his rank would address the Staff members in that manner.
He was right all along.
We defeated the wrong pig. -General S. Patton. 1945.
Jeffrey Dirksen Patton also said Russians were not Europeans they are Asiatics and therefore deceitful.
He admired Patton, he was not scared of him. Even Eisenhower said that Rundstedt was the greatest general and field marshal of the axis. I think Patton was more scared of Rundstedt, than the other way. But yes, they did not think of Monty as they thought of Patton.
bullshit. most of the German high command when asked did not even know who Patton was, but they did know Montgomery manly due to him defeating Rommel in north Africa and also being the main person to orchestrate d-day. patton was not even the same rank as Montgomery and thank god. he fucked up way more times then monty.
Always wondered if there had been any friction between Rundstedt/Model/ Bittrich and Reichkommissar Seyss-Inquart and HSSPF Rauter.
Quite possibly...
The only battle you HAVE to win is the last one!
He also plays Pemsel in "The Longest Day".
This was 1977. That was 1962.
How about Mannstein?
He was a pretty good general. But as usual the corporal. kept interfering.
Von Manstein (Lewinsky) was their greatest general but certainly Guderian, Rommel, Hoth and many other should be mentioned. The problem wasn't the generals or their troops but material and lack of numbers. One has to remember the Germans were almost always outnumbered even in the days of their greatest success. They were not a mechanized juggernaut but in reality a horse drawn army. I recall reading where one German general said that if the whole army had half tracks and proper truck transport the germans would have been in Moscow by August.
@@PoppysGuitar Didn't Axis have more troops against Russians in opening bouts of Barbarossa?
@@atoll2453 No, in fact if I recall correctly, the Germans didn't achieve numerical parity on the front until their victory at the battle of the Kiev pocket. That parity lasted but a few months and then the Siberians (30 divisions?) came to defend Moscow. In his book, Panzer Leader, Guderian lists his misgivings about Barbarossa and chief among them was the lack manpower committed to the campaign. People blame Hitler for being over optimistic about the attack on the Soviet Union but to be fair so were many experienced professionals in the OKW and OKH. Germany had just defeated the combined French and British Armies in a matter of weeks. That said there were also many in Germany who were very concerned about attacking the Soviet Union and were against the campaign. Chief among the Nazi leadership against the whole project was Goering.
@@PoppysGuitar Are you counting in overall Axis strength tho? Also I recall OKH had some confusion sent more replenishment troops to north where there's less action and under par to the center where the main decisive battles are.
The entire German High Command knew that they could not win the war outright. Their goal was an attempt to stall the Allied advance into a stalemate while their Wunderwaffen ("wonder weapons") were able to be developed. The theory was that they would be able to unleash devastating casualties which would force the Allies into peace negotiations. All of their facilities were destroy by massive bombing raids before that could happen, as well as their industrial base (the civilian population).
Source: My grandfather was the chief propulsion engineer to the V-2 rocket programme.
-Let's get to the point. Air power?
-Air power, Field Marshal?
Minimal.
Von Rundstedt was one of the first to realize Barbarossa had failed. On his own initiative (something old Prussians like himself had been trained to do) he'd ordered his Army Group Center to make a strategic withdrawal in order to shorten supply lines and begin defensive preparations for the upcoming winter. Hitler found out and countermanded Von Rundstedt's orders. Infuriated by this meddling Von Rundstedt resigned and I think saw the writing on the wall.
A flurry of forced retirements and promotions of Nazi lackeys to Field Marshals followed as Hitler consolidated power much to the Army's detriment. It was Hitler's attempt to purge the Army of resistance to him yet he was never able to fully purge centuries of Prussian influence.
Bad News: Allies are advancing. Good News: The French Resistance is still hiding and letting the Allies do all the fighting.
Yeah: unlike YOU, who would have been out in the open, fighting the Germans, eh? Talk is cheap.
Hey Mahmoud, why don't you have a beer, some pork chops. You'll feel much better after that, no lie!
Schell's best role that I've seen was "Cross of Iron" by Sam Peckinpah. Not a big fan of that movie, but his performance was great.
The one reliably impressive Hollywood trope is the Nazi entranceL Mercedes staff cars with motorcycle escort, rows of German soldiers snapping to attention (are they standing there all day?) accompanied by dramatic, quasi martial music. I figure that's the whole reason this clip is here.
That sounds reasonable. But sadly we may never know. But we can still hope for some papers of some kind to pop up one day :)
War had long been lost.
0:45-1:10
Every morning at work when the boss arrives
Glovedrop. love it.
🧤
True, but i think they want to make the point that Rundstedt wanted it to end. He may have said it several times, he also made fun of Hitler, Göring and many other nazi-figureheads to his officers.
Actually Rundsted was not charged with the connections of Nazis. Well that was not in the first line. He was a Prussian and never believed in the Nazis truly. He was charged against, that the SS troops under his command made several war cimes, in the Ukrain and during the Battle of Bulge, and he never had any real evidences that he never knew about those crimes.
Where was the HQ of the Western Front at that time?
I believe near Koblenz, Germany.
I wonder what kind of relationship Rundstedt and Model had with the Dutch administration personalities such as ReichKommissar Inquart, HSSPF Rauter, and Wehrmacht Commander Christiansen.
Seyss Inquart was Austrian, not that it really matters, but Bulgaria was the area to watch around this time and Zossen was caught napping because no 13th Army existed in or around Serbia to go up against a Bulgarian force of around 400,000 troops. The Bulgarians pretty much evicted the Germans from Greece with a contingent of German troops left in eastern Crete and on the island of Rhodes. Also 65,000 is far too big a force to throw away in The Crimea in May 1944 in an evacuation that should have begun around March 25 with all sorts of vessels, barges, E boats and S boats included. Pointless holding on there just to intimidate the Turks across the Black Sea after the Perekop Istmus was sealed off in November 1943. Of all the 1944 German victories it was Anzio that proved that the Wehrmacht could still pack a punch not Market Garden. Although the period between the recapture of Mussolini and the fall of Kiev was more indicative of any sort of equilibrium between Allied and Axis powers and that owed much to a successful evacuation of Sicily curtesy of that Stalingrad evacuee Hans Hube.
Well...
The Axis forces in the Arnhem area (German troops and a couple of Dutch SS battalions) were well-equipped with fairly high morale and quality (many of them were SS veterans), and they vastly outnumbered the Allied troops. For the first few days, the Luftwaffe had significant presence too.
The way his uniform stated though, he didn't look like a field marshal. The shoulders and collars insignia were wrong, made him like a Lieutenant Colonel or Full Bird.
Rundstedt wore his Generaloberst colors well into his promotion to a field marshal. Being a Colonel General was the last rank he held when he was apart of the Reichswehr, before Hitler took over. One of his small defiant moves against the powers he answered to.
Heh heh, I'm thankful for everyone involved that it never came to that. :)
aaaa, correction, this battle took place in september 1944!