@@gingerli5820 The only other narrator for the WW2 series was Jonathan Booth, who was all right but not nearly as good as Tim Piggot-Smith in my opinion. The narrator for the Vietnam war series was Gavin MacFadyen (an American) who was excellent as well.
What I really love about BATTLEFIELD is that they usually start with the clock wound back a year or so from the real topic of the episode so they can explain in depth all the background to the events for better understanding of them. Don't find many other history series that do that.
I always used to wonder: why was Hitler so stupid to attack Stalin, who actually wanted to be friends and even join the axis. But now I understand. 1. The dependence on Soviet resources 2. Their proximity to the Baltic and the Ploiesti oil fields. 3. The fear they would ally with Britain 4. The realization that whenever Germany made a move, the Ussr Would always exploit it and also take some territory - but WITHOUT repercussions from the west. I think Hitler saw Stalin as the treacherous, smiling, bearded guy who could never be trusted, and he was afraid to let this guy exist behind his back
This hints at the weakness in the plan actually...that some "time line" exists in War. Yes time would matter. "Time and again the Germans would close their pincers before the Russians could prevent from being encircled..
As a kid, I was forced to watch these with dad and used to hate it. Than I got older😅now black and white footage is my staple breakfast and dessert😂 dad used to say same thing to his pops when he was a kid I’m told…funny, brutal times back then, but nothing makes up for the better greater kid times of anything is possible with a snap or wave of your imagination, before work/job/grind made them possible but u have to buckle up, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride😂that’s life😊
The narration at 1:51:23 is very well written and delivered by Tim Pigot-Smith: "On Dec. 1st in the center, the German 4th army had launched a final massive effort to smash what defenses remained in front of Moscow. Everything depended on the Russians having no reserves. However, for weeks Zhukov had been denied reinforcements as Stalin had held back increasingly powerful reserve formations, including the bulk of the Siberian divisions and their armor. The strength of the defenders was now up to over half a million. On Dec. 5th, Zhukov launched the reserves in a massive counter-attack. The Russian offensive was launched along a front 600 miles long. To the Germans, whose own offensive was being carried on with the last ounce of their strength, it came as a hideous shock. Along the entire length of the line, German armies were shattered into thousands of isolated units, fighting desperately for survival. The Battle of Moscow was lost and with it the Wehrmacht had lost the Battle for Russia."
"The Red Army was the worst army in history" - so you want to say that the worst army for no reason defeated the army that was the best? I do not see much logic here. "Literally every single defensive and offensive tactics of the Red Army was based on mindlessly killing its own soldiers' - can you quote any soviet order that ignores the value of life of a soviet soldier?
@@Mentol_ Figured you wouldn't concede defeat there lol. As it's written in Russian I shall have to have it translated, but it does direct that each army must create "blocking detachments" at the rear that would shoot "panic-mongers and cowards". It also decreed that soldiers in penal battalions were to be sent to the most dangerous sections of the front lines. Wanna concede? Or are you going to keep asking for quotes? 🤣
that's what all documentaries should be - a continuous stream of relevant footage and a single narrator. I despise all documentaries that have their footage and narration constantly interrupted by a bunch of pretentious self-important professors and experts
YES! Instead of a camera following someone walking in the forest where a soldier might have dropped a bullet 80 years ago. With the camera focusing on the back of the guys head following like a dog. Brilliant. I don't watch that modern crap, won't pay for it, and won't watch it for free in hotels.
So, you think their selfimportance is more important then the knowledge they can give you... Are you sure its not because you dont understand what they are saying ? Making a statement like you just did, indicate a complete dumbass !
His English speaking is so clearly make people feel in love with his documentary, myself I don't remember how many times I had watch it ,sometimes I just listened to it to help me fall in sleep.
Flame, so nice to know I'm not the only one who often uses this series as a sleep aid! The melliferous timbre of his voice is very soothing-even when talking war!
I have watched many documentaries on WWII and this one is far superior in its clear delivery of information. The visuals and clarity of narration and showing of troop movements and maps etc... Give a strong overall sense of the reality of what went down .
I'm watching in2021, if its any use to you. ( As an aside, I was just thinking how this reminds me of my childhood. No, Not the actual war, but watching a programme called 'All Our Yesterdays' on the tv. I'd have been about seven then. Sunday afternoon dinner and All our Yesterdays. I wonder if thats on you tube... hang on... nope. Can't find it. Shame.)
Second Sino-Japanese War of 1935 to 1945. Recapture of France helped, but was a minor part in a much bigger picture. The real contribution the Americans made to defeating Germany was supplying the British and the Russians with ridiculous amounts of material. The Soviets provided the soldiers, the Americans the resources.
+whynot-tomorrow? STALINGRAD was another episode from the 1st season ,1st season has 6 ep and there are the most important battles according to the producer's point of view, i have to admit that he made a good choice for top-6 ( 1-battle of france ,2- battle of britain ,3- midway, 4-stalingrad, 5- normandy, 6- battle of berlin ....a rather good choice ,each episode from a very important phase of the ww2)
I watch this over and over myself as i used to watch it as a kid. I know it's a bit dated and don't care. They paint a very detail picture with the info they had at production. So saying its dated and missing things isn't exactly correct.
Its debatable, this and a documentary series called ww2 the complete history which is a 13 part series that came out in 2000 are the best in my opinion.
thank you so much to the uploader vasile luga these videos have kept me entertained for a while i used to watch this series many years ago on tv and thought it was one of the best ww2 docs im happy to find them here on youtube great job :) !
Never seen so many comments on how they love this series and praise it in every way. My personal favorite... The Narrator for sure. I've seen no less then 500 WWII documentaries and certain ones of those multiple times. None come close to this one. By far. I love how much others feel the same as i do about these MASTERPIECES. It brings comfort to me now more than anything. Never have i felt this was about any show, movie or documentary. Thank you to the ones responsible for bringing it to us all.
All of these wwll documentaries heavily remind me of my Grandad and my GreatGrandad , they were both full-time professional Army officers in the Greek Royal Army. Miss you guys❗
This series of Operation Barbarossa is the most comprehensive and captivating account of the invasion. Presented in great detail and with expert narration. Very informative and entertaining.
Quite interesting! I never realized how screw Germany really was. Everything really did hinge on the Eastern Front. They needed fuel and oil and the Soviet Union was the best source.
Germany was from the get-go in between a rock and a hard place, just as it had been in the first world war. Then, however, Russia collapsed. It could conceivably have happened again.
This series is great in that it gives a detailed breakdown of key battles and offensives of World War II. The political context we know well, but the military aspects are rarely covered so thoroughly, which makes this series special.
how did u write this 3 years ago and said 75 years its only going to be 75 years since its end this year in 2020 in may u some kinda future past comment? this is too next level I AM OUT BREH
No shit. I wish my fucking brother in law understood that. You'd think a wall of stukas was coming ahead of 4th panzer! Love your comment. It is eloquent in its brevity about the problems with modern society.
Everything trump touches, hey shite for brains , we are watching a documentary of an event that happened 79 years ago . Somewhat before Trump was born . Sooo take your political commie / democrat message and shove both that and your head up your backside. In your case the world would be a better place.
At 17:50 Hitler: "you have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down" That's right Hitler, you kicked in Russia's door and your whole rotten structure came crashing down.
@@azazelzel6954 Your ALL WRONG!,Allied Cohesion and working together on a Broad Front actually won this War.You cant just say US producion did it by itself,thats just nonsense and you know it really.
+jdsol1938 Thank you! Finally somebody says it! You sir, or ma'am, understand military strategy: battles are one aspects amongst dozens in a grand strategy for victory in a war or campaign. Morale, economics, logistics, politics, psychology, etc. are all important factors that decide the fate of conflict besides simply the outcome of particular engagements.
My grandfather told me that he remembered when he was a boy how the Catholic priest in his church was ecstatic at the news of Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. All during the summer and fall of 1941 this priest openly cheered on the Nazis against the Russians as if he was supporting his favorite team in the Super Bowl. He says the other clergy and even the bishop had this same attitude. They welcomed Hitler's crusade to wipe out the Communist atheists. What I am curious to know is how prevalent this attitude was in the Church, prior to America's entry in the war December 1941. Did the Catholic Church strongly support the war on the Soviet Union? If it is true, than it's certainly something you don't read in the history books.
Virginia, you've raised a very interesting issue indeed, and sadly, one that is hardly ever addressed. As most of us, including agnostics like myself, would acknowledge, Christian religion has played a positive role up to a certain point in history. But like most well-meaning institutions, it lost its way and was gradually usurped by individuals who had little regard for its (alleged) founder's basic teachings. Consequently, over time, the Church was degraded to the point where it simply became a tool used to promote personal objectives. The Catholic Church, in particular, played an infamus role in enabling Nazi war criminals to escape justice. The reason given by this Church was the principle of Christian forgiveness. But I'm convinced that the reason for allowing all those mass murderers to escape justice and continue to pollute the world with their toxic ideology of hate was far less noble.
Doy Virginia the vatican hsd its own plan east which it conceived with the ustasé in croatia. they held 137 meetings in which the mass murder of serbs, jews, gypsies were fully known & demanded from pope pius, pius also wanted to spread catholicism in the east against the orthodox, heydrich refused the vatican that possibility - the hitory is not widely known but is discussed in detail in cornwell's, 'hitler's pope'
Doy Virginia Stalin was a total enemy of ANY religion. There could only be one religion and it was what Stalin ordered. In early years in Russia he had preists bishops etc rounded up and shot or sent to Gulag , church goods confiscated for the state, taken by force, etc. Basically he wanted to rob every single organisation of any possibly critical voice and the Russian church was a very obvious target. I'm glad Russia has shaken off the awful "communism" they have endured for so long.
My grandmas father and brother faught in the Finnish war. Thats how my grandmother came to Sweden as a refugee at 1 years old and lived here since. I never met the rest of my grandmas finish family but i'm proud of them.
the scope and scale of the Barbarossa Campaign was a complete shock to everybody. All of Europe including Russia expected an invasion of Southern Russia but no one anticipated an outright total invasion of the entire land mass...including the Russians.
Only way to fully invade a nation and win today would be to use tactical nuclear weapons first to destroy the military completely and the industrial production of city targets.
Just the facts . In a clear and concise manner ❤this series No hidden agendas. No wasted words. Education the way it was meant to be. Watch listen 👂 Learn👍🏾
Damnit I can't stop watching these... WW2 was one of the most terrible times in human existence where life was cheap. It hurts me to realize that for the same human and financial cost of WW2, every human need could have been met on the planet for the next 200 years. At the same time, the desperation and the drama of the conflict make it incredible.
I think it took a dictator like Stalin to defeat a dictator like Hitler. The west would have never tolerated the loses that the Soviets endured. Remember 80 percent of German soldiers killed in WW2 were killed by the Soviets but at a very heavy cost to themselves.
It was in spite of Stalin and not because of him the Soviets won. Stalin's stupid moves in the first years of the war allowed the surprise attack and lead to many massive defeats that brought the Germans deep into the USSR. Stalin stupidly trusted Hitler not to attack and his stupid orders to hold fast in different times, when it would have made much more sense to pull back, led to the most massive encirclements in military history, with losses of millions of men and massive quantities of equipment.
geromino97 Perhaps. The one thing you can say in Stalin's credit is that he eventually learned to mostly shut is big, dumb, paranoid mouth and leave it to the generals.
barbarossa was so massive, so violent, so intense, that it is no wonder that it inevitably devolved into the most gigantic battle of all time. it was a colossal war of annihilation. @ 1:16:20, pay particular attention to this very little known battle; most people know that the largest tank battle in history was at kursk. but very few know of the 2nd largest tank battle in history, & that is the battle of dubno & brody. it was a fascinating clash.
bombarderoazul well actually germany was defeated on several fronts. stalin kept begging & pleading for the Americans & british to open a 'second front', to take the pressure off of the eastern front, but what stalin didn't realize, was that the Americans had already opened up a second front; & that was the war in the pacific from early 1942 onwards. had the US not cleaned up the japanese in the pacific, who knows where that 'kwantung' army, over a million strong, would have ended up. they could have attacked cccp from the east, & the bombers that was used at pearl harbor, could have just as easily been used on those soviet factories hiding behind the urals that were churning out t-34's & ppsh machine guns. in addition, the US 'lend lease' program sent cccp over 4000 sherman tanks alone, 4000! that's more tanks than the germans went into, 'barbarossa'. in addition, the US sent cccp over 4 million tons of food & opened a daylight bombing campaign on german industry that reduced their number of tanks & machine guns. all in all, while the eastern front was vital to the final victory, it was by no means the only factor.
stanbrekston In view of the massive aid to the USSR, I find it strange that the USSR did not allow US bombers to operate from Wladivostok and Kamchatka to bomb Japan in return. Some "partnership". If I had been the USA, I would have secured this as a prerequisite before the delivery of Lend Lease equipment and food.
Ralph Bernhard excellent point, sir. even in the midst of a world war when the very existance of the ussr was in question, they displayed conduct that was a prerequisite of their behavior in the 'cold war', like detaining some of our pilots that had to crash land. also i read somewhere, (i think it was either in WW2 or WW2 history magazine), that a russian supply ship, just having left san francisco loaded with 'lend lease' goods from the US, was heading for vladivostock on december 6th 1941. this supply ship actually spotted the japanese task force in the northern pacific, that was about to attack pearl harbor, & they remained silent. maybe they feared that had they sent the US a warning of this force of japanese aircraft carriers arrayed to our northwest, that the japanese would have sunk them. maybe they were correct because that task force let them pass without incident.
@@memento5113 this all looks like an 10-20% component of success. We all see what allies do without USSR. 6-week-France showed us a patetic show. Japan remembered what was in 1935-1939 on a border (lake Хасан and Халкин-Гол) and did not risk again. Allies saved 2-3 mln of soviet people, but they didn't win war.
@@markharrison2544 You compare apples and berries! Just in one battle - the bloody Stalingrad battle - the Soviet Army lost more of it's soldiers and officers than the US and the Britain lost in the WHOLE WWII -COMBINED!
@@memento5113 You are damn wrong: an ignorant and dumb MTF is you! 99% of americans truthfully believe that it was Tom Hanks who saved Private Ryan and together they beat Hitler! You are one of those idiots! Who never heard about Stalingrad and Kursk, Leningrad blockade and operation "Bagration", Mamayev kurgan and Sapun Gora, Zeelov's Hightes and Berlin operation. I can easily beat every you stupid and primitive thesis about "The only reason Soviet survived are the reasons listed below:", but don't want to waste my time. It was all too well known among the serious Western historians that it was the Soviet Army that crashed Hitler's Nazi Europe.
@@markharrison2544 yep there were 3 German divisions in North Africa for most of the fighting their, the max was 7, meanwhile 190 divisions were fighting in the Soviet Union. The African theatre had pretty much no bearing on the outcome of the war.
The best documentary I came across why Hitler actually invaded Russia. It explains really well the need and circumstances under which such a decision must have been taken.
Okay, So Hitler fears a war on 2 Fronts and knows Germany could NEVER beat an alliance of The UK, US and USSR. His answer....Invade USSR while UK fights on AND THEN (for shits and giggles) declare war on US (without plans) simply because Japan bombed Pearl Harbor (without telling him). Gotcha P.S....never blame my video games for violence again
So once Japan bombs Pearl Harbor AND all the British Possessions in the East then the USA and Britain are "fighting on 2 fronts." The 3rd Reich was under no obligation to support Japan...but it did though not immediately. December 7th 1941 is when "World War 2" began in my view but certainly there was already a lot of War going on by then as this remarkable documentary shows.
chris storrier Hitler wasn't bound to declare war on the U.S. If thats the case then why didn't Japan declare war on the whole of Europe AND THEN refuse to open a second front in the East, allowing Stalin to use his many Siberian Divisions to throw the Nazis back from Moscow??
Its called the Tripartie Pact. It was signed Sept. 27,1940. NOT LATE IN THE WAR! It meant nothing because they had different strategic interests, thus Japan refusing to help when it "mattered". Try again.
+Adolf Hitler not true. the Japanese attack did not obligate Germany in any way against the USA. it's not like Japan had declared on Russia with Germany under the gun.
Really how would the RN have been sunk opposing an invasion force mainly comprising converted river barges escorted by a Kriegsmarine destroyer force it outnumbered by more than 10 to 1?.
It is a little known fact that, while about 80% of Germany's army fought on the Eastern Front, in July 1943 only 26% of the Luftwaffe"s total fighter strength was in the east supporting the troops. A further 19% were stationed in the south, in Italy, southern France, Sardinia etc., but a stunning total of 55% were in the west, facing the RAF and the increasing threat of the USAAF. And this was even before D-Day. In July 1943, the western Allies had just invaded Sicily, and in the east the major battle of Kursk was being fought by the Germans with insufficient air support, one of the main reasons for the German defeat during that battle. The growing threat of around the clock bombing by the RAF and USAAF was a major contribution to the defeat of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front, depriving the army of the air cover by the Luftwaffe that it desperately needed. Three quarters of all Luftwaffe aircraft lost in July 1943 were stationed on the Western Front, in the defence of the Reich, and in the South, fighting the British and Americans. Out of 491 operational night fighters in the Luftwaffe, only 30 were stationed on the Eastern Front. Practically all of the most modern weapons, from V1 and V2 rockets, the Me 262 and Me 163 jet and rocket planes, plus others such as gliding bombs, were exclusively used in the west, only ever in small number at the end of the war in the east. These statistics and facts show the great importance that the aiir forces of the western allies played in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
What happened to being able to view all the other episodes of scroched earth? I know previously I wasn't able to view some of them because of the eagle rock or whatever it is blocking some episodes from being viewed in the U.S. Now i can only view like 6 of them. Army group centre, army group south and this one.
He had a point if you just rush to Moscow you risk your Panzers themselves getting cut off and encircled. They likely could of worked out a compromise allowing some panzers & mechanized units to follow. You can’t leave all those millions of encircled Russians behind your lines or you risk them breaking out and joining the fight again.
Yeah me too actually. Imagine if those forces along with the German 30 corp, and first Panzer under von Kliest, as well as Sepp Dietrichs units, were all committed to Moscow, instead of Odessa and the Crimea, they might have won!
I really enjoyed this documentary. It presents a more balanced view of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union than other productions. Judging from the information presented in this documentary, it seems as though the Soviet invasions of Poland and Finland from the East were a sign that Stalin was intent on expanding the borders of his country further westwards. I suspect that sooner or later he was planning to break his peace treaty with Hitler and invade Germany. However, the Nazi dictator beat him to it by invading first, hoping to catch the Soviets off guard, thereby securing a quick victory. Of course, despite a series of initial brilliant victories over a shocked and outclassed enemy, the Germans failed to land the knockout blow to finish the Soviets before the intervention of 'Mother Winter' who froze a large amount of the German invaders to death as well as rendered their trucks, tanks and guns completely useless. The Germans desperately needed a quick victory but it was never going to happen against a fanatically determined enemy that were fighting for the defence of their beloved 'Motherland' and the futures of their families. The Japanese decision not to invade the Soviets from the East was also another critical blow to the Germans as it freed up their crack Siberian troops to take on the invaders and drive back the war weary and exhausted German divisions advancing on Moscow. The defeat of the Germans at Moscow, then Stalingrad and after that at Kursk, spelt the beginning of the end for the once invincible German army. Two years after their defeat at Kursk, the German army was driven all the way back to Berlin where they were almost utterly anniliated, virtually to a man. This was a stunning turn around for the Soviets who at the beginning of the war, seemed completely clueless as how to fight the German invaders. Just a little observation on my part: The Russian pilot at 1:35:16 looks like a dead ringer for the current Mayor of Kiev and ex world heavyweight boxing champ, Vitali Klitchko. 😳
This is a fascinating documentary but there are mistakes. When it comes to the Panzer divisions for the invasion they say the number of tanks in each division was more than a third less than in France, at around 160 each. But in fact it was 195 in each on average, a drop of about 20% per division not more than 33%. And they say there weren't more medium tanks to make up for it while saying the mediums only made up barely half the tank force. But in France mediums had made up only 20% of the tank force while they actually made up over half in Barbarossa, 1800 out of 3300. The Germans had also increased the number of towed guns and truck infantry in each Panzer division compared to in France. The problem was not that the Germans had not greatly increased their strength compared to 1940, they had increased it a lot. It was simply that it still just wasn't enough anyway.
Dont forget history is written by the victor! Most german historians and now American professors are saying that the Soviets downplayed there tank losses tremendously. By tens of thousands also Kursk was not the biggest tank battle of ww2! As I started to research and actually read about the unreported tank battles I was shocked to find out the Germans was handing the Russians there asses but they could not resupply there forces adequately which was one of many problems that plaqued them.
France defeat after 30 DAYS, but Brest castle 2 mounths... it castle size 100 m² and have less people and all die for Motherland. It was when Nazi just invade, it was first German retreat.
+07lubo Logic? No. The USSR forces were producing far more weapons and had far more men, along with the mental aspect of defending their country and being used to the harsh climate.
+Charles Bruh The USSR were producing more weapons and materials, but the point is that the weather stopped the Germans from advancing to Moscow and by the time they could have resumed their attack the Americans already gave massive aid to the Russians. I'm not saying that the Russians couldn't deal with the Germans, but the main things is that they couldn't have done it alone.
+07lubo The thing is is that they could have. Germany invaded Russia without warning or a declaration of war. Russia outnumbered them 10 to one. The weather sucked, yes, but at the same time the russians were able to deal with it because they were used to it. The U.S Didnt aid Russia in the defense of Russia with troops.
Interesting that crucial moments in history can depend on relatively small factors. Weather, military failure in the Balkans by Italy, indesiciveness wether to go for Moscow or oil etc etc. I know that also huge factors played a role. Underestimation of the Russian resolve, underestimation of the number of divisions and not counting on the moving of the heavy industry to the east of Russia etc. All together made the whole thing impossible. As all military acadamies say: Never invade Russia, no good will come of it.
The biggest miscalculation of Hitler was his expectation that Soviet state would quickly disintegrate after few decisive losses inflicted by german armies. Everywhere else - Poland, France, Britain etc - there where inside political fractions and power blocks willing to collaborate with Hitler, but suddenly not in Soviets. Not a single real coup attempt, not a single assassination attempt, not even a slightest sign of opposition to Stalin. Compare it to Hitler with so many attempts on his life, military coups and mutual discontent among the higher ranks of officers. Why so? Ironically, Because of the purges Stalin preemptively executed before the war. He ruthlessly exterminated any slightest possibility of opposition from any branch of the state and population, including army, politic, peasantry, writers, judges, and whatever else relevant part of the society. This saved him and eventually saved Soviets and eventually the world. I am not saying purges were good thing, i am just saying that there was a cold rationale behind it and that, ironically, it was probably the dominant reason why Soviet state never gave up fighting. There just never was a single person who would even dare to say something implying opposition to Stalin. As a result - the so called “colossus on paper feet” never did think to fall, no matter how many humiliating losses Hitler’s army inflicted on them.
+ And as soon as Soviets were not going to surrender (due to the reason i explained above) the war became the one of attrition. Obviously, Germany has little chance to win a war of attrition against Russia.
Now this is a REAL documentary. 1994, wow. They don't make them like this anymore.
th-cam.com/video/JhXKlYnSWjA/w-d-xo.html
Agreed!
Congrats to Luga for making such a fantastic series 👏
visit epic history channel
@@ludaheracles7201 he didn't make it, he only uploaded it.
A few moments of respect for the narrator - Tim Pigot-Smith. A fine Shakespearean and voice artist. RIP
edydon RIP 💐
There has been at least one other narrator in this series - Bob Sessions who I thought was better.
A fine point. It's a VERY well done & narated series.
Tim Piggot Smith done a fantastic job on this and really got me into ww2 history
@@gingerli5820 The only other narrator for the WW2 series was Jonathan Booth, who was all right but not nearly as good as Tim Piggot-Smith in my opinion. The narrator for the Vietnam war series was Gavin MacFadyen (an American) who was excellent as well.
I could watch this series of documentaries all day
I've bought them all on DVD, available on Amazon. Great series.
how much are they.?
IMPOSTER!!!
It's not bad, truly.
This and The World at War
The narrator is one of the best ever. Thank you sir.
I fully agree, a Superb narrator with a gifted voice
marTin Tapia I concur as well! Makes this documentary all the more captivating and interesting.
Yeah apparently his name is vasily, probably a ruski
Blame the weather always underestimating the the Russian tenacity.
@@Jimmybarth Bet you wish you was a Russian boy..
What I really love about BATTLEFIELD is that they usually start with the clock wound back a year or so from the real topic of the episode so they can explain in depth all the background to the events for better understanding of them. Don't find many other history series that do that.
it is unique
I take notes on Battlefield. It’s brilliant.
your mom goes to college
@@aliasunknown7476The f? Hsushsushssh
I always used to wonder: why was Hitler so stupid to attack Stalin, who actually wanted to be friends and even join the axis.
But now I understand.
1. The dependence on Soviet resources
2. Their proximity to the Baltic and the Ploiesti oil fields.
3. The fear they would ally with Britain
4. The realization that whenever Germany made a move, the Ussr Would always exploit it and also take some territory - but WITHOUT repercussions from the west.
I think Hitler saw Stalin as the treacherous, smiling, bearded guy who could never be trusted, and he was afraid to let this guy exist behind his back
I remember getting goosebumps when the opening theme music would start. Best-ever WW2 series. PBS was da shizznit back in the 90s
This hints at the weakness in the plan actually...that some "time line" exists in War. Yes time would matter. "Time and again the Germans would close their pincers before the Russians could prevent from being encircled..
I like you. ⚡⚡
"Best ever WW2 series"
The World At War: "Hold my stein"
I still get it now
Watch “Soviet Storm,” THAT defines a documentary series.
this show is timeless, been watching since I was a young boy.
Myself included
As a kid, I was forced to watch these with dad and used to hate it. Than I got older😅now black and white footage is my staple breakfast and dessert😂 dad used to say same thing to his pops when he was a kid I’m told…funny, brutal times back then, but nothing makes up for the better greater kid times of anything is possible with a snap or wave of your imagination, before work/job/grind made them possible but u have to buckle up, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride😂that’s life😊
Yes sir, I agree this documentary series of a better time in my life . The early 1990s
Yes sir, I agree this documentary series of a better time in my life . The early 1990s
Unreal doc, these were on discovery channel whe we were young😊
I've watched this a hundred times or more
half of views are mine
Me too
@@ToddiusMaximus 🍻
Yip! 🤙🏼
Me too but now every time I hear the opening music I start to doze off because I've taken so many naps with this series on. 😆
The narration at 1:51:23 is very well written and delivered by Tim Pigot-Smith: "On Dec. 1st in the center, the German 4th army had launched a final massive effort to smash what defenses remained in front of Moscow. Everything depended on the Russians having no reserves. However, for weeks Zhukov had been denied reinforcements as Stalin had held back increasingly powerful reserve formations, including the bulk of the Siberian divisions and their armor. The strength of the defenders was now up to over half a million. On Dec. 5th, Zhukov launched the reserves in a massive counter-attack. The Russian offensive was launched along a front 600 miles long. To the Germans, whose own offensive was being carried on with the last ounce of their strength, it came as a hideous shock. Along the entire length of the line, German armies were shattered into thousands of isolated units, fighting desperately for survival. The Battle of Moscow was lost and with it the Wehrmacht had lost the Battle for Russia."
@xellossaxon AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YOU ARE SO FUNNY
"The Red Army was the worst army in history" - so you want to say that the worst army for no reason defeated the army that was the best? I do not see much logic here.
"Literally every single defensive and offensive tactics of the Red Army was based on mindlessly killing its own soldiers' - can you quote any soviet order that ignores the value of life of a soviet soldier?
@@Mentol_ Order No.227
Over to you 🤣
@@HowardHalifax Can you quote a passage from Order 227 that ignores the value of soldiers' lives?
@@Mentol_ Figured you wouldn't concede defeat there lol. As it's written in Russian I shall have to have it translated, but it does direct that each army must create "blocking detachments" at the rear that would shoot "panic-mongers and cowards". It also decreed that soldiers in penal battalions were to be sent to the most dangerous sections of the front lines.
Wanna concede? Or are you going to keep asking for quotes? 🤣
that's what all documentaries should be - a continuous stream of relevant footage and a single narrator. I despise all documentaries that have their footage and narration constantly interrupted by a bunch of pretentious self-important professors and experts
YES! Instead of a camera following someone walking in the forest where a soldier might have dropped a bullet 80 years ago. With the camera focusing on the back of the guys head following like a dog. Brilliant. I don't watch that modern crap, won't pay for it, and won't watch it for free in hotels.
Hear hear
100% agreed, well put sir
Amen.
So, you think their selfimportance is more important then the knowledge they can give you...
Are you sure its not because you dont understand what they are saying ?
Making a statement like you just did, indicate a complete dumbass !
His English speaking is so clearly make people feel in love with his documentary, myself I don't remember how many times I had watch it ,sometimes I just listened to it to help me fall in sleep.
That sir is known as King's/Queen's English. Much better sounding than the cockney's in London.
Flame, so nice to know I'm not the only one who often uses this series as a sleep aid! The melliferous timbre of his voice is very soothing-even when talking war!
Same here.
I often wondered if I was the only one who used this series to fall asleep to.
Absolutely love these documentaries. I play them every night to go to sleep, for four years now.
Thought I was the only one that did that .
Great voice to lull one to sleep for sure!
I do too. Then I have dreams about maps and shapes.
War on your brain 🤷♂️
It’s the music, the voice, the stories…season 1 & 2 just magical
I have watched many documentaries on WWII and this one is far superior in its clear delivery of information. The visuals and clarity of narration and showing of troop movements and maps etc... Give a strong overall sense of the reality of what went down .
Anyone else watch this series more than once or twice and also anytime in 2018?
Yes I’m in 2018
I'm watching in2021, if its any use to you. ( As an aside, I was just thinking how this reminds me of my childhood. No, Not the actual war, but watching a programme called 'All Our Yesterdays' on the tv. I'd have been about seven then. Sunday afternoon dinner and All our Yesterdays. I wonder if thats on you tube... hang on... nope. Can't find it. Shame.)
Yes many times over the years it’s the best !! Yes sir, I agree this documentary series of a better time in my life . The early 1990s
Daily for years now. Seen every one of the European and Russian campaign ones over 100 times
2024 here! Seen it at least 3 times already, magnificent series.
I've seen every episode in this series many times. It's the best series on WWII, imo.
As a WW2 enthusiast and an Army Infantry Veteran I truly appreciate what you have put together here. Great work!!!
Stolen valour . U were dishonourable discharged
😂😂😂😂
WHy can't more documentaries be like this? Not one sided (as far as i could tell) and just giving information on what happened.
Ah yes, the golden age of documentaries... before swamp people and ancient aliens. Those were good days indeed.
Now everyone just wants to make $$$$ off of overly-sensationalized crap.
it really doesn't matter any more....Russia lost many people but at the end they got a hold of a piece Real Estate used to be called Germany.
@@TheHelghast1138 v8
Amen 👍🏾
"Only the dead have truly seen the end of war "
Plato
reading through these comments, try and spot the people who blatantly did not watch the documentary and just want to argue on the internet...
Dave..YOU are *human GARBAGE..*
they call themselves 'web brigades', and any other normal human being using internet calls them "russian trolls"
Blatantly
whynot-tomorrow? Wild
@@abouttocum intellectual pygmy
The eastern front is on a lvl of its own. No other war comes close to the scale of the ost front.
Very true. Sadly most Americans are ignorant of the Ost Front.
Second Sino-Japanese War of 1935 to 1945.
Recapture of France helped, but was a minor part in a much bigger picture. The real contribution the Americans made to defeating Germany was supplying the British and the Russians with ridiculous amounts of material. The Soviets provided the soldiers, the Americans the resources.
Yora you are right. Not enough info about the 2nd Sino-Japanese War is shown thru the regular media. Many people don't know about this.
Real person: I agree.
Actually, over 90% of Soviet war production was domestically produced. There were a few key imports such as toluene.
'In Russia I encountered the fifth element - mud.' Napoleon Bonaparte
Thomas Rambazamba Did he actually say that?
Coco Taveras ☆ It Seems We'll Never Know...
"And it stuck" .. A poor French soldier
Yeah . Course you are... 🤥
@rvd356 no I am a friendly guy
god I love this documentary series!
it's so comprehensive : )
and omg thank you for not talking about Stalingrad!
If I had a dollar, man...
+whynot-tomorrow? But very old and lacks much of the history learned in the past 20 years since the Soviets opened their archives.
+whynot-tomorrow? STALINGRAD was another episode from the 1st season ,1st season has 6 ep and there are the most important battles according to the producer's point of view, i have to admit that he made a good choice for top-6 ( 1-battle of france ,2- battle of britain ,3- midway, 4-stalingrad, 5- normandy, 6- battle of berlin ....a rather good choice ,each episode from a very important phase of the ww2)
I watch this over and over myself as i used to watch it as a kid.
I know it's a bit dated and don't care. They paint a very detail picture with the info they had at production. So saying its dated and missing things isn't exactly correct.
It is good, but since it was released much of the factual info has changed due to research..
One of the best documentary series on WWII that I have ever seen !!!
in my opinion best ww2 documentary series
Its debatable, this and a documentary series called ww2 the complete history which is a 13 part series that came out in 2000 are the best in my opinion.
th-cam.com/channels/P1AejCL4DA7jYkZAELRhHQ.html
Yeh Vasile is a genius for sure, boy. 🇺🇸
god I love this documentary series!
it's so comprehensibleive
A really excellent and most educational documentary providing rich detail of the times, the conflict, leaders and forces involved.
I love this documentary! I became enamored with the Eastern Front since watching this back in the mid 90s on PBS
very well done. the entire series is timeless. I actually prefer the old production value. Thank u Vasile - i wished you lived to see Montana~~!
thank you so much to the uploader vasile luga these videos have kept me entertained for a while i used to watch this series many years ago on tv and thought it was one of the best ww2 docs im happy to find them here on youtube great job :) !
Never seen so many comments on how they love this series and praise it in every way. My personal favorite... The Narrator for sure. I've seen no less then 500 WWII documentaries and certain ones of those multiple times. None come close to this one. By far. I love how much others feel the same as i do about these MASTERPIECES. It brings comfort to me now more than anything. Never have i felt this was about any show, movie or documentary. Thank you to the ones responsible for bringing it to us all.
I love that this series isn't an Industrial Light & Magic CGI wet-dream.
All of these wwll documentaries heavily remind me of my Grandad and my GreatGrandad , they were both full-time professional Army officers in the Greek Royal Army. Miss you guys❗
God Bless and Rest in Peace, Tim Pigot-Smith, a Great Narrator, and Man.
A month moment of silence for a great man
This series of Operation Barbarossa is the most comprehensive and captivating account of the invasion. Presented in great detail and with expert narration. Very informative and entertaining.
Entertaining? What planet were you raised on?
Earth, planet of the Apes.@@craigdylan3953
This is such a great explanation of the battle! Thank you for posting.
Outstanding, bravo!! excellent documentary by an outstanding narrator…Thank you so much.
This is the most comprehensive and unbiased WW2 documentary series ever made...
I never get tired of learning about this. Just so fascinating.
This battlefield series is one of the best I’ve ever come across
is it me or does the english make the best documentaries? I used to watch this on pbs when I was in grammer school.
do the* grammar*
Apparently you weren't paying all that much attention in class..
Yes, we do make the best television programs all-round let alone documentaries:-)
who says grammer school anymore? are you 70 lol
What do you call it? automatic spell check?
Not perfect. The maps are weirdly drawn, showing Transcarpathia as part of the USSR before Barbarossa on every occasion.
Quite interesting! I never realized how screw Germany really was. Everything really did hinge on the Eastern Front. They needed fuel and oil and the Soviet Union was the best source.
Germany was from the get-go in between a rock and a hard place, just as it had been in the first world war. Then, however, Russia collapsed. It could conceivably have happened again.
This series is great in that it gives a detailed breakdown of key battles and offensives of World War II. The political context we know well, but the military aspects are rarely covered so thoroughly, which makes this series special.
75 years since operation babarossa! Wow, the years go by so fast...
man that was a hot summer.
🙃
WAAAAAIIT YOU JUST COMMENTED 20 minutes ago.............
What a coincidence I mean REALLY
how did u write this 3 years ago and said 75 years its only going to be 75 years since its end this year in 2020 in may u some kinda future past comment? this is too next level I AM OUT BREH
It seems like only yesterday!
@@4FYTfa8EjYHNXjChe8xs7xmC5pNEtz For some I guess it did
Great series. VERY THOROUGH, AND INFORMATIVE.
@SuperGragster Thought is was just me. These are truly the best documentaries. Military history and science from a geo-political view. The best!
They are so informative and tell you the straight facts, which is what you want if you want to educate yourself on the military history of ww2.
Battle of Midway is my favorite outta all of these classic episodes.
Wow, Costco being out of coffee filter does not seem like the big of a deal after watching this.
No shit. I wish my fucking brother in law understood that. You'd think a wall of stukas was coming ahead of 4th panzer!
Love your comment. It is eloquent in its brevity about the problems with modern society.
👌
Everything trump touches, hey shite for brains , we are watching a documentary of an event that happened 79 years ago . Somewhat before Trump was born . Sooo take your political commie / democrat message and shove both that and your head up your backside. In your case the world would be a better place.
@@trevorplows7494 Conman in chief is ded.
@@ebannaw Yeah and now we have dimentia moron in chief
They dont come any better than this docu, thankyou..
Great series. Very thorough and well executed. Amazing footage.
War is hell. Let's never repeat it.
We will always have war . It's what we do best .
AMEN.
At 17:50
Hitler: "you have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down"
That's right Hitler, you kicked in Russia's door and your whole rotten structure came crashing down.
@@mehdibouzid4392 Bitch who won the war?
@@ThePhantomStarfish the banks and the government.... Helloooo patriot act!!! Yay!!!
you could argue that Moscow is that "door", and they never managed to kick that in, so...
@@ThePhantomStarfish USA Production won the war.
@@azazelzel6954 Your ALL WRONG!,Allied Cohesion and working together on a Broad Front actually won this War.You cant just say US producion did it by itself,thats just nonsense and you know it really.
These are the kind of documentaries that made me fall in love with history.
it doesn't matter if you win battles , if you lose the war
+jdsol1938 Thank you! Finally somebody says it! You sir, or ma'am, understand military strategy: battles are one aspects amongst dozens in a grand strategy for victory in a war or campaign. Morale, economics, logistics, politics, psychology, etc. are all important factors that decide the fate of conflict besides simply the outcome of particular engagements.
like Hannibal himself
@@paullindley9 Yup or Napoleon.
My grandfather told me that he remembered when he was a boy how the Catholic priest in his church was ecstatic at the news of Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. All during the summer and fall of 1941 this priest openly cheered on the Nazis against the Russians as if he was supporting his favorite team in the Super Bowl. He says the other clergy and even the bishop had this same attitude. They welcomed Hitler's crusade to wipe out the Communist atheists.
What I am curious to know is how prevalent this attitude was in the Church, prior to America's entry in the war December 1941. Did the Catholic Church strongly support the war on the Soviet Union? If it is true, than it's certainly something you don't read in the history books.
Very interesting.
Virginia, you've raised a very interesting issue indeed, and sadly, one that is hardly ever addressed. As most of us, including agnostics like myself, would acknowledge, Christian religion has played a positive role up to a certain point in history. But like most well-meaning institutions, it lost its way and was gradually usurped by individuals who had little regard for its (alleged) founder's basic teachings. Consequently, over time, the Church was degraded to the point where it simply became a tool used to promote personal objectives. The Catholic Church, in particular, played an infamus role in enabling Nazi war criminals to escape justice. The reason given by this Church was the principle of Christian forgiveness. But I'm convinced that the reason for allowing all those mass murderers to escape justice and continue to pollute the world with their toxic ideology of hate was far less noble.
Doy Virginia The catholic church after the war also excommunicated all who partecipate in communist organizations
Doy Virginia the vatican hsd its own plan east which it conceived with the ustasé in croatia. they held 137 meetings in which the mass murder of serbs, jews, gypsies were fully known & demanded from pope pius, pius also wanted to spread catholicism in the east against the orthodox, heydrich refused the vatican that possibility - the hitory is not widely known but is discussed in detail in cornwell's, 'hitler's pope'
Doy Virginia Stalin was a total enemy of ANY religion.
There could only be one religion and it was what Stalin ordered.
In early years in Russia he had preists bishops etc rounded up and shot or sent to Gulag , church goods confiscated for the state, taken by force, etc.
Basically he wanted to rob every single organisation of any possibly critical voice and the Russian church was a very obvious target.
I'm glad Russia has shaken off the awful "communism" they have endured for so long.
Very good presentation. I really enjoyed this. Well done!👍
As far as battles go, it doesn't or won't get any larger than this, with the exception of Armageddon.
this is a great series. Solid narration over archival footage, the way it should always be done.
I do not normally watch a 2 hrs video on youtube, but this was too interesting to forgo.
Because of these i look for 2hr documentaries on wars
My grandmas father and brother faught in the Finnish war. Thats how my grandmother came to Sweden as a refugee at 1 years old and lived here since. I never met the rest of my grandmas finish family but i'm proud of them.
Man it’s so sad to see that we don’t get to see these type of documentaries anymore
the scope and scale of the Barbarossa Campaign was a complete shock to everybody. All of Europe including Russia expected an invasion of Southern Russia but no one anticipated an outright total invasion of the entire land mass...including the Russians.
Only way to fully invade a nation and win today would be to use tactical nuclear weapons first to destroy the military completely and the industrial production of city targets.
Just the facts .
In a clear and concise manner ❤this series No hidden agendas. No wasted words. Education the way it was meant to be. Watch listen 👂 Learn👍🏾
My favorite among all documentaries. Superb quality in every aspect.
Dan Nguyen RT
Cheers to the research and writing staff.
Phase 1 1:07:47
Phase 2 1:22:52
Phase 3 1:29:25
Phase 4 1:35:04
Phase 5 1:43:00
The Battle Won 1:49:39
After the Battle 1:53:02
Best documentary an objective
A lesson of history
Damnit I can't stop watching these... WW2 was one of the most terrible times in human existence where life was cheap. It hurts me to realize that for the same human and financial cost of WW2, every human need could have been met on the planet for the next 200 years. At the same time, the desperation and the drama of the conflict make it incredible.
I just finished Stephen Ambrose's "D-Day." He makes a point in the last chapter that on average 27,000 people died each day for 6 years.
I think it took a dictator like Stalin to defeat a dictator like Hitler. The west would have never tolerated the loses that the Soviets endured. Remember 80 percent of German soldiers killed in WW2 were killed by the Soviets but at a very heavy cost to themselves.
that is true
It was more like 90%, acording to Max Hastings in Inferno: The World At War.
It was in spite of Stalin and not because of him the Soviets won.
Stalin's stupid moves in the first years of the war allowed the surprise attack and lead to many massive defeats that brought the Germans deep into the USSR.
Stalin stupidly trusted Hitler not to attack and his stupid orders to hold fast in different times, when it would have made much more sense to pull back, led to the most massive encirclements in military history, with losses of millions of men and massive quantities of equipment.
Invisible Deity i think Georgy zhukov deserves most of the credit
geromino97
Perhaps. The one thing you can say in Stalin's credit is that he eventually learned to mostly shut is big, dumb, paranoid mouth and leave it to the generals.
Great stuff, lots of factual detail, no pathetic moralising
god I comprehend this documentary series!
it's so loving :)
Yes you do! Yes you do, you wee Irish shrimp. Blessings from Nepal 🇳🇵 🙏
barbarossa was so massive, so violent, so intense, that it is no wonder that it inevitably devolved into the most gigantic battle of all time. it was a colossal war of annihilation. @ 1:16:20, pay particular attention to this very little known battle; most people know that the largest tank battle in history was at kursk. but very few know of the 2nd largest tank battle in history, & that is the battle of dubno & brody. it was a fascinating clash.
The eastern front is not known very well in the west, yet that is where Germany was defeated.
bombarderoazul
That goes for world war 2 in general, actually.
bombarderoazul well actually germany was defeated on several fronts. stalin kept begging & pleading for the Americans & british to open a 'second front', to take the pressure off of the eastern front, but what stalin didn't realize, was that the Americans had already opened up a second front; & that was the war in the pacific from early 1942 onwards. had the US not cleaned up the japanese in the pacific, who knows where that 'kwantung' army, over a million strong, would have ended up. they could have attacked cccp from the east, & the bombers that was used at pearl harbor, could have just as easily been used on those soviet factories hiding behind the urals that were churning out t-34's & ppsh machine guns. in addition, the US 'lend lease' program sent cccp over 4000 sherman tanks alone, 4000! that's more tanks than the germans went into, 'barbarossa'. in addition, the US sent cccp over 4 million tons of food & opened a daylight bombing campaign on german industry that reduced their number of tanks & machine guns. all in all, while the eastern front was vital to the final victory, it was by no means the only factor.
stanbrekston In view of the massive aid to the USSR, I find it strange that the USSR did not allow US bombers to operate from Wladivostok and Kamchatka to bomb Japan in return. Some "partnership". If I had been the USA, I would have secured this as a prerequisite before the delivery of Lend Lease equipment and food.
Ralph Bernhard excellent point, sir. even in the midst of a world war when the very existance of the ussr was in question, they displayed conduct that was a prerequisite of their behavior in the 'cold war', like detaining some of our pilots that had to crash land. also i read somewhere, (i think it was either in WW2 or WW2 history magazine), that a russian supply ship, just having left san francisco loaded with 'lend lease' goods from the US, was heading for vladivostock on december 6th 1941. this supply ship actually spotted the japanese task force in the northern pacific, that was about to attack pearl harbor, & they remained silent. maybe they feared that had they sent the US a warning of this force of japanese aircraft carriers arrayed to our northwest, that the japanese would have sunk them. maybe they were correct because that task force let them pass without incident.
excellent footage.
unbiased and lots to see.
I had to do a bunch of forklift stuff in the yard at work and had this on my headphones for 2 hrs.
Perfect narration.
By the time the allies landed on the Normandy beaches the Red Army had already torn the guts out of the Wehrmacht.
The Allies had already defeated the Axis in North Africa.
@@memento5113 this all looks like an 10-20% component of success. We all see what allies do without USSR. 6-week-France showed us a patetic show.
Japan remembered what was in 1935-1939 on a border (lake Хасан and Халкин-Гол) and did not risk again.
Allies saved 2-3 mln of soviet people, but they didn't win war.
@@markharrison2544 You compare apples and berries! Just in one battle - the bloody Stalingrad battle - the Soviet Army lost more of it's soldiers and officers than the US and the Britain lost in the WHOLE WWII -COMBINED!
@@memento5113 You are damn wrong: an ignorant and dumb MTF is you! 99% of americans truthfully believe that it was Tom Hanks who saved Private Ryan and together they beat Hitler! You are one of those idiots! Who never heard about Stalingrad and Kursk, Leningrad blockade and operation "Bagration", Mamayev kurgan and Sapun Gora, Zeelov's Hightes and Berlin operation. I can easily beat every you stupid and primitive thesis about "The only reason Soviet survived are the reasons listed below:", but don't want to waste my time. It was all too well known among the serious Western historians that it was the Soviet Army that crashed Hitler's Nazi Europe.
@@markharrison2544 yep there were 3 German divisions in North Africa for most of the fighting their, the max was 7, meanwhile 190 divisions were fighting in the Soviet Union. The African theatre had pretty much no bearing on the outcome of the war.
Awesome upload. Thank you!
The best documentary I came across why Hitler actually invaded Russia. It explains really well the need and circumstances under which such a decision must have been taken.
Dharma, you understand the “need” of Nazis? Would be nice to see you and your entire family and friends among those, who had what hitler “needed”.
Okay, So Hitler fears a war on 2 Fronts and knows Germany could NEVER beat an alliance of The UK, US and USSR. His answer....Invade USSR while UK fights on AND THEN (for shits and giggles) declare war on US (without plans) simply because Japan bombed Pearl Harbor (without telling him).
Gotcha
P.S....never blame my video games for violence again
So once Japan bombs Pearl Harbor AND all the British Possessions in the East then the USA and Britain are "fighting on 2 fronts."
The 3rd Reich was under no obligation to support Japan...but it did though not immediately.
December 7th 1941 is when "World War 2" began in my view but certainly there was already a lot of War going on by then as this remarkable documentary shows.
chris storrier Hitler wasn't bound to declare war on the U.S. If thats the case then why didn't Japan declare war on the whole of Europe AND THEN refuse to open a second front in the East, allowing Stalin to use his many Siberian Divisions to throw the Nazis back from Moscow??
Its called the Tripartie Pact. It was signed Sept. 27,1940. NOT LATE IN THE WAR! It meant nothing because they had different strategic interests, thus Japan refusing to help when it "mattered".
Try again.
+Adolf Hitler not true. the Japanese attack did not obligate Germany in any way against the USA. it's not like Japan had declared on Russia with Germany under the gun.
Really how would the RN have been sunk opposing an invasion force mainly comprising converted river barges escorted by a Kriegsmarine destroyer force it outnumbered by more than 10 to 1?.
I remember when I was growing up watching World at War and Victory at Sea. My weekly ritual was making sure I didn’t miss either one.
It is a little known fact that, while about 80% of Germany's army fought on the Eastern Front, in July 1943 only 26% of the Luftwaffe"s total fighter strength was in the east supporting the troops. A further 19% were stationed in the south, in Italy, southern France, Sardinia etc., but a stunning total of 55% were in the west, facing the RAF and the increasing threat of the USAAF. And this was even before D-Day. In July 1943, the western Allies had just invaded Sicily, and in the east the major battle of Kursk was being fought by the Germans with insufficient air support, one of the main reasons for the German defeat during that battle. The growing threat of around the clock bombing by the RAF and USAAF was a major contribution to the defeat of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front, depriving the army of the air cover by the Luftwaffe that it desperately needed. Three quarters of all Luftwaffe aircraft lost in July 1943 were stationed on the Western Front, in the defence of the Reich, and in the South, fighting the British and Americans. Out of 491 operational night fighters in the Luftwaffe, only 30 were stationed on the Eastern Front. Practically all of the most modern weapons, from V1 and V2 rockets, the Me 262 and Me 163 jet and rocket planes, plus others such as gliding bombs, were exclusively used in the west, only ever in small number at the end of the war in the east. These statistics and facts show the great importance that the aiir forces of the western allies played in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Spot on, and something nobody ever mentions.
one of the best series ever
World at War and Battlefield WW2 Documentaries are the best ever made.
The most extensive, comprehensive invasion attempt ever
Never get bored watching this 👌
What happened to being able to view all the other episodes of scroched earth? I know previously I wasn't able to view some of them because of the eagle rock or whatever it is blocking some episodes from being viewed in the U.S. Now i can only view like 6 of them. Army group centre, army group south and this one.
The irony of it all is that Hitler studied Napoleon's Russian invasion, yet he made the same mistake of not equipping his troops with winter gear.
I love these documentaries
That was the best series of ww2 documentary. I never see better than that. I like Apocalipse to but Battlefield are the best of the best
He had a point if you just rush to Moscow you risk your Panzers themselves getting cut off and encircled. They likely could of worked out a compromise allowing some panzers & mechanized units to follow. You can’t leave all those millions of encircled Russians behind your lines or you risk them breaking out and joining the fight again.
Imagine being there in person 45:35 and hearing that crowd scream "Heil", goosebumps!!
Goosebumps from admiration or disgust?
God love you Vasile......History buff here.....Love rhis site!
Battlefield = Best ww2 documentaries ever!
Do you have Battlefield - The Battle of Crimea. It's one of my favorite
Mine too.
Yeah me too actually. Imagine if those forces along with the German 30 corp, and first Panzer under von Kliest, as well as Sepp Dietrichs units, were all committed to Moscow, instead of Odessa and the Crimea, they might have won!
I really enjoyed this documentary. It presents a more balanced view of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union than other productions. Judging from the information presented in this documentary, it seems as though the Soviet invasions of Poland and Finland from the East were a sign that Stalin was intent on expanding the borders of his country further westwards. I suspect that sooner or later he was planning to break his peace treaty with Hitler and invade Germany. However, the Nazi dictator beat him to it by invading first, hoping to catch the Soviets off guard, thereby securing a quick victory. Of course, despite a series of initial brilliant victories over a shocked and outclassed enemy, the Germans failed to land the knockout blow to finish the Soviets before the intervention of 'Mother Winter' who froze a large amount of the German invaders to death as well as rendered their trucks, tanks and guns completely useless. The Germans desperately needed a quick victory but it was never going to happen against a fanatically determined enemy that were fighting for the defence of their beloved 'Motherland' and the futures of their families. The Japanese decision not to invade the Soviets from the East was also another critical blow to the Germans as it freed up their crack Siberian troops to take on the invaders and drive back the war weary and exhausted German divisions advancing on Moscow. The defeat of the Germans at Moscow, then Stalingrad and after that at Kursk, spelt the beginning of the end for the once invincible German army. Two years after their defeat at Kursk, the German army was driven all the way back to Berlin where they were almost utterly anniliated, virtually to a man. This was a stunning turn around for the Soviets who at the beginning of the war, seemed completely clueless as how to fight the German invaders. Just a little observation on my part: The Russian pilot at 1:35:16 looks like a dead ringer for the current Mayor of Kiev and ex world heavyweight boxing champ, Vitali Klitchko. 😳
16:12 "And he was convinced: that soviet communism was a Jewish conspiracy" lost it
To add to your excellent reply, Soviet communism was heavily inspired by the writings of Karl Marx who was a Jew.
+frjoethesecond so what if he had jewish ancestry, marx was never a practicing jew. You are just being a vile anti Semite.
Jews are a race not just a religion. You can't deny this there are Ashkenazi jews its a fact,but the truth is 85% of today's jews belong to a race
Seamus Tobin the soviet leadership was overwhelmingly jewish as were almost all of the original Bolshevik leaders
JJ and ignorance has found a voice....
This is a fascinating documentary but there are mistakes. When it comes to the Panzer divisions for the invasion they say the number of tanks in each division was more than a third less than in France, at around 160 each. But in fact it was 195 in each on average, a drop of about 20% per division not more than 33%. And they say there weren't more medium tanks to make up for it while saying the mediums only made up barely half the tank force. But in France mediums had made up only 20% of the tank force while they actually made up over half in Barbarossa, 1800 out of 3300. The Germans had also increased the number of towed guns and truck infantry in each Panzer division compared to in France.
The problem was not that the Germans had not greatly increased their strength compared to 1940, they had increased it a lot. It was simply that it still just wasn't enough anyway.
Dont forget history is written by the victor! Most german historians and now American professors are saying that the Soviets downplayed there tank losses tremendously. By tens of thousands also Kursk was not the biggest tank battle of ww2! As I started to research and actually read about the unreported tank battles I was shocked to find out the Germans was handing the Russians there asses but they could not resupply there forces adequately which was one of many problems that plaqued them.
Also, the British and French were trying to occupy Norway before Germany, the Germans and Norway for that matter were not going to let that happen.
France defeat after 30 DAYS, but Brest castle 2 mounths... it castle size 100 m² and have less people and all die for Motherland. It was when Nazi just invade, it was first German retreat.
Boo there is nothing wrong with these beauties lol
Content was pretty good 👌 Keep it up
It came down to resources. The USSR simply outproduced and out mobilized The Reich.
+SODMGx Not really. The thing that saved the Russians was the weather and the massive help from the United States.
07lubo Lol not even close.
+07lubo Logic? No. The USSR forces were producing far more weapons and had far more men, along with the mental aspect of defending their country and being used to the harsh climate.
+Charles Bruh The USSR were producing more weapons and materials, but the point is that the weather stopped the Germans from advancing to Moscow and by the time they could have resumed their attack the Americans already gave massive aid to the Russians. I'm not saying that the Russians couldn't deal with the Germans, but the main things is that they couldn't have done it alone.
+07lubo The thing is is that they could have. Germany invaded Russia without warning or a declaration of war. Russia outnumbered them 10 to one. The weather sucked, yes, but at the same time the russians were able to deal with it because they were used to it. The U.S Didnt aid Russia in the defense of Russia with troops.
Interesting that crucial moments in history can depend on relatively small factors. Weather, military failure in the Balkans by Italy, indesiciveness wether to go for Moscow or oil etc etc. I know that also huge factors played a role. Underestimation of the Russian resolve, underestimation of the number of divisions and not counting on the moving of the heavy industry to the east of Russia etc. All together made the whole thing impossible. As all military acadamies say: Never invade Russia, no good will come of it.
very good said - _"As all military acadamies say: Never invade Russia, no good will come of it."_
The biggest miscalculation of Hitler was his expectation that Soviet state would quickly disintegrate after few decisive losses inflicted by german armies. Everywhere else - Poland, France, Britain etc - there where inside political fractions and power blocks willing to collaborate with Hitler, but suddenly not in Soviets. Not a single real coup attempt, not a single assassination attempt, not even a slightest sign of opposition to Stalin. Compare it to Hitler with so many attempts on his life, military coups and mutual discontent among the higher ranks of officers. Why so? Ironically, Because of the purges Stalin preemptively executed before the war. He ruthlessly exterminated any slightest possibility of opposition from any branch of the state and population, including army, politic, peasantry, writers, judges, and whatever else relevant part of the society. This saved him and eventually saved Soviets and eventually the world. I am not saying purges were good thing, i am just saying that there was a cold rationale behind it and that, ironically, it was probably the dominant reason why Soviet state never gave up fighting. There just never was a single person who would even dare to say something implying opposition to Stalin. As a result - the so called “colossus on paper feet” never did think to fall, no matter how many humiliating losses Hitler’s army inflicted on them.
+ And as soon as Soviets were not going to surrender (due to the reason i explained above) the war became the one of attrition. Obviously, Germany has little chance to win a war of attrition against Russia.
Battlefield is THE standard for documentary.
1:35 "After Kiev the red army no longer outnumberred the germans" I presume is a false affirmation.