France: that will show the krauts not to mess with France again France (later): we surrender... Damn bloody Belgians are to blame... England and Germany: (FACEPALM)
@@truthseeker8483 : Untrue. The Italian Army did launch an offensive into the French Alps in 1940. It went very badly for them, the French successfully held them off.
@@RebeccaCampbell1969 They actually are to blame for the utter fuckup. The plan with the maginot was to create a bottleneck in Belgium's open fields, which would basically put the Germans in a killing field, but because Belgians backed out of the defensive pact, the whole plan was instantly killed.
@@sergeantmarcusstackerM1903 correct the building instructions of that LEGO wall were drawn by the French. Thats the worst nightmare of the Germans unclear/illogical construction plans 😱
I honestly thought that everyone knew about the Moletov Ribbentrop pact and the fact that it was not just a non aggression pact but also also a deal to split Poland and the Baltic states.
They teach anything that doesn't offend pmsl although have got to say its bit unfair to say Russia invades Poland that's bit of tabloid propaganda. Unbelievable as this may sound but Stalin did actually communicate with the Polish government to allow the red army in to try an halt the german advance obviously he could see this eventually reaching Russia which it did but the Polish for what ever reason chose to deny entry so Stalin appealed again to get his troops in an again the Polish denied, Stalin then gave his typical scorched response of let us in now or eat lead
France: "Sacre Bleu! Their forces must all be in Poland! There's no one here to surrender to! Let's go back home to wait for them. I'd rather drink good French wine than that nasty German beer!" Germany: Invades France the following spring France: "It's about time you got here! Where have you been? We've been waiting for months to surrender to you!"
@Jasta Two Correct, Stalin previously had been warning the west of Germany's rise and Churchhill was still working with FDR to wake us up although he at this time was on the fence as well. After WW1 nobody in their right mind wanted people stacked like wood again.
Well, kind of, but actually not at all... Even by WW1 trench war standards, which wasn't the case in 39, that would have just been a tactical foray onto basically empty land (that would've taken superior troops at best a few hours to retake) to test the enemy and would have meant absolutely nothing. Only a deluded moron would have thought this was of any value in that situation, no matter if WW1 or WW2 (and I don't believe anyone in the French military thought about it in that way), the German Red Zone was being preemptively evacuated and the French didn't take any important topographical feature or cities or even attempt a serious attack on parts of the Westwall.
French General: Let's invade the Saarland! **invades with little to no resistance** French Soldiers: Now what? French General: I don't know, I never thought we'd make it this far
Actually, these exact tactical manicure attacks, are still taught in USA military schools today in 2020 Let's face it Hitler's strategy was a huge gamble, he won.
French:" We have taken 2 villages. Victory is near..." *literally one single machine firing back* French: "Mon Dieu! the German panzer divisions are here. Retreat!
Making fun of France is easy. It was known that the Wehrmacht was uncomplete, short of ammunition. Or it should have be known by the allied secret services. Think, that the leading politicans were interested in a longlasting war. Without that, submission of Germany (unconditinal surrender) as it happend 1945 until 1948 could not be justified.
America was bolstered with confidence after WW1, having joined late, with victory already certain, and lost only 120,000 men (half of whom died not from combat but from the 1918 pandemic). France, in contrast, had been in the war from the get-go and lost some 1,330,000 men. Naturally, they had a different level of enthusiasm about the prospect of another war.
@@otyliciu im not sure how that is relevant to this scenario. The French are already in a war by this point. They were so cautious they decided they were going to set up for another ww1 tearing up their countryside rather than try to force a quick end. Completely illogical to what you are saying.
@@otyliciu Thats, and the cheap plan to beat Germany in a two front war. The fear of a new Verdun was allways present, as you mentioned. After it came out, Ribbentropp and Molotov signed a none agression pact and turned both against Poland, what could France do? Attack into Germany and face after 2 or 3 days a fierce counterattack on unprepared ground, meahnwhile the Soviets finishing off Poland? Or wait for more German casualities in Poland and sit in the Maginot-line, stockpiling ammo and baguetts in tin cans and wait here for the "possible" upcoming attack?.....:)
.... that is nothing. The French were cautious and did not want to advance anyway. Meanwhile when Germany was pressing desperately into Greece, in a side-battle, 3 Greek soldiers held a whole German battalion for a day. Germans lost more than 300 soldiers, 200 of whom were killed by the machine gun operated by sergeant Dimitrios Itsios. The Germans failed to pass through and managed only to call out the defenders when their ammunition had been consumed. The 3 Greeks came out and the German general Schorner leading the German attack showed to Itsios all what he had done telling him "he wiped out more than 200 of the best men of his troops". Itsios simply replied "I did my duty". And Schorner killed him on the spot making it the first German crime of war against Greeks, one of the 100s of 1000s that would ensue.
Well, who is "they"? Granted, I literally grew up in the Saarland, playing next to Siegfried line forrifications all over the place, but it does not exactly feel like "swept under the rug" for us, and more common knowledge.
@@drsnova7313 they refers to France mostly. If you were in the Saar region you were much closer to this event which is the likely cause of it being such common knowledge where you live. However, for someone who does not live anywhere near Europe such as myself, this is very new and exciting knowledge to learn.
@@денисбаженов-щ1б There is no narratives this way from France... If any this is applicable to Russia as well. We didn't have 6000 kms to run from the pierced front line like you did... But no offense of course.🙄
The French do their version of the Grand Ole Duke of York. They had 10000 men. They marched them up to the Siegfried Line and marched them back down again.
@@wannabus7094 Well, we only attacked to get our territory in the east back. At first, that is. But sadly H. was a lunatic on meds. He got a little megalomanic and started wars everywhere. Even with our germanic brothers in the north... And the brits and french waited just so long, that they could justify their Plans to forever kick the new german Empire out of the game, with a proclamated fight against faschist expansion. And sadly in their fanatic blindness the nazis sealed the fate of the german Empire forever... In the end Britain and france kicked out their biggest rival out of the game, even though it ment, that europe would become the Potential battlefield of the reds in the east and the muricans in the west, forever deminishing the influence of central europe in the world. Just so they could get their little "victory" against their superior competitor, that rose in 1871...
Still not a good idea of the Poles to rely on guarantees by allies who are seperated by a military giant from their border and especially considering that mobilisation takes time.
@@wolfsoldner9029 What other choices did Poland have? It isn't like Poland is a massive country with huge resources and they could not ally with anyone of use around them.
@@Schmidty1 Ally with Germany in the first half of 1930s and later invade USSR, in that time Hitler still had a lot of respect towards Poland and would actually cooperate
It was commonly called the Phony War in the west because neither side made advances on the other. Both sides were hoping for a negotiated peace, but Germany was the only willing to go to full war if the negotiations failed. The French and British paid the price for all those months of sitting instead of deciding they were really prepared to go to war.
@@binaway Yes, Senator Albert Borah, a strange combination of Republican, FDR supporter, strict isolationist, and progressive, although that term didn't mean the same in 1920 as it does now.
There was funny anecdote. German did deliver France with electricity from own power plants. When they cut of the supply, French start shooting at Germans who was in trenches. Usually there was no any damage by this shooting. But once again, power supply from german side went down, French start shooting again like always in such case. Until Germans made phone call asking French to stop shooting, the reason why is there no electricity is technical reason and they need a bit time to repair it...
I think the french and british were so emotionally scarred by WW1, that they were ready to risk everything to avoid a full-blown conflict. This was a dreadful misunderstanding of Hitler's motives. He didn't possess ideas, but was possessed by them.
The allies were dreadfully unaware how far they had pushed the opposition. The German ideology beast had greatly outsized anything the allies had in store at that point. It was their balls vs yours.
They were so emotionally scarred so they brought Germany to collapse after WW1 and extremist Nazis came to power. If they were not trying to humiliate the countries lost WW1 probably countless lives would have been saved because Nazis probably would have never come to power.
@@BoyanZhelyazkov_theDoctor As an Anglo I can only agree. A stupid war between inbred monarchs. 10m dead in Ukr due to the Communists, countless m's due to the nazi invasion. Europe on it's knees !
French Army couldn't do more. They didn't have plans to any major offensive, no military logistics, the French strategy was a defensive one, behind Maginot line.
The two-month Soviet siege of 1944 and 1945 in Budapest is always forgotten by Western history books and the failed "Frühlingserwache" action that followed in Hungary. They always deal only with the Western front, usually the Battle of the Bulge Although before the battle of Berlin the last great city siege in World War II was the siege of the Hungarian capital Budapest, where fierce fighting lasted for two months. Unfortunately, not much footage about the fighting in Budapest survived from the axis side, because it was destroyed during the siege of the city. Only a few film footage from Russian news is available.
@@dannya1854 it was also known that most of the german army was sent to Poland and the Poles were hoping that France would invade the weak Western flank of Germany while they hold the line against the full assault of the Wermacht. France literally outnumbered the defenders 5 to one and could have reached as far as Hamburg but for some reason the French military and command was so incompetent and disorganized to not push further.
@@toledochristianmatthew9919 I dont think it was a problem of incompetence. The french high command had a plan. A logic and reasonable plan. A plan based on their ww1 experiencies and the geopolitical Situation during de interwar period. And this plan didnt include an early offesive into Germany. Of course, they were wrong (and they excecuted it poorly). But they were no stupids. Maybe the problem whit the french was that they didnt had the chance (the Time) to learn from their mistakes, like the british, the soviets and the americans had.
@@toledochristianmatthew9919 Outnumbering was hardly enough to make such wild, hamburgering predictions. If it was, Germans would have never been able to shuffle their forces in 1915 , leaving Western front undermanned, vulnerable to French/British attacks, while pushing Russians out of Galicia following a large offensive. But they _were_ able and not even a slight punishment in the West followed. What's that? It was WW1? Well, so? French army in 1939 was certainly stuck in WW1 (in more than one aspect) - and Germans were more than ready to re-enact WW1 too, using narrow border gap, Rhine and whatever defensive measures they already built.
@@toledochristianmatthew9919 Think, surprise was soviet invasion. In this moment was clear, Poland does not stand a chance, even if France and British continue attack to Germany. So, one of main reason, to protect Poland from occupation failed. France and British was still trusting numbers thinking, Hitler would not dare attacking french and british armies. In the fact, Hitler had less and even weaker armour and a bit less soldiers. On the paper, no one would try invasion if he have weaker force. Poland was at this moment lost and Brits and French did not believe in german invasion of France...
Many thanks for covering this essential topic: the Allies had a real chance to crush Hitler right at the beginning and to spare millions of lives that were lost during the long years of WWII. In fact, Stalin was waiting to see what the western allies of Poland would do - although pressed by Hitler to get involved asap, Stalin joined him in invading Poland only when he became sure that the Allies wouldn't do anything.
that von Witzleben guy is the guy Ive always used on the french border in hearts of iron IV and I didnt even know he was actually the guy that defended it irl. dats craaaazy
Pretty much anybody who has noteworthy knowledge of world war one and two knows frightened France dared, yet barely, to step inside the Deutsche Reich during WW2. Afraid of provoking a massive counteroffensive more than anything else.
I was so surprised Mark, that you knew this as well, i knew France attack germany, i knew this invasion, but i didn't know some facts, thank you for info Mark Felton
It's pretty amazing of the French blunders, they had over 100 divisions vs about 23 German divisions with a huge portion of material and manpower dedicated to the Polish campaign. History will always poke fun at France for it's incompetent military commanders at the time.
@@thejsffenix6365 well I'll be damned, I would never thought they would survive a battle, let alone actually won THAT many wars, i wonder why did they perform so poorly in ww2
@Peter Laughton while before the great war France did antagonize Germany, German was also pretty aggressive, I mean who in their right mind would declare war on THREE major power and invade a neutral country so Germany is just as warmongering as France is
This story proves that the motto of the SAS is correct: "Who dares wins". To bad they didn't press their invasion, millions of lives might have been saved. One other thing bothers me; why were the UK and France so worried about what Germany did to Poland, but mute on the Soviets invading what was left of Polish territory. Calling out the Soviets on their aggression would have at least kept the allies consistent in standing up for democracy. Of course it could have driven the Soviets into an alliance with Germany for the war. I figure the United States would have still joined the allies on the side of Britain & France, but if the Soviets had been on the side of Germany and Italy, that would have been a hell of a fight.
The British and French had plans to send forces to help Finland via northern Norway. Before Stalin seized Finish territory there was a common border. Fortunately, for Britain in particular, the Winter War ended before they were anywhere near ready. The Narvik landings used the allied troops originally intended for Finland.
The western allies were already making plans for war with the USSR. Churchill even had plans to bomb Soviet oil fields, though it was kind of kooky. The western allies were scared enough of Nazi Germany without dragging the USSR into it
my GF is Romanian and I tease her about this all the time, apparently a popular Romanian meme at the moment is Romania plan to switch sides against the coronavirus :D
Mark Felton these productions are quite simply incredibly well done. Informative, educational, and often eye-opening. They rival if not surpass the World at War series for detail.
Wow I really love your intro music, you always know you’re going to get a good dose of war, thank you Mark fantastic job as ever, keep them coming Sir, love to you and your family from England 🏴💞👍🤪😛💞
Im confused, by the rate you are going we will see somekind of insanity that happened in 1941 or something You are an amazing historian Wish you were my history teacher 😅 Quick question Have you written other books other than the Yanagi, i am interested in ww2 and cold war books
GiGi Zero Night, Ghost Riders, Castle of the Eagles, The Sea Devils, Japan’s Gestapo. There are quite a few others as well, these are just Mark Felton books I can see from my couch on the bookshelf 🤣😂
Even though his books have great reviews there’s always someone in there giving a 3 star review saying “too much detail” 😂. When someone’s looking at my architecture drawings and say that I always say “if they make you feel like that then these drawings are not for you”
France is that one kid in class who gets a 99% test, but then decides to retake the test to get 100%... Then gets a 40% EDIT: Can I make one joke without stuff getting heated in the replies please? Edit 2: What have I created?
Another lost gem ! I have learned more military history watching Dr. Felton's videos, the last few months, than I did in 8 years of military school and R.O.T.C. ! Bravo
I watched it as a kid, the "Why We Fight" films from the 40s. There was no mention of Russian atrocities in Poland because the films were an Allied propaganda project.
@@craftpaint1644 also allied countries forgot tabout hte fact that soviets terrorized and occupied baltic states, killing hundrends of thousands of people by exile in siberia, they ignored the atrocities they've done in eastern block, soviets were as bad as germans if not worse... if soviet plan would succeed ( they planned to support germany at war with france at brits, and then conquer the whole war devastated europe with ease) we would definetly be fucked but to some extent we have to be gratefull that germans made a mistake by attacking USSR and at the end didn't have enough recources to fight at both fronts
I was taught it in 'O' level history, though not in great detail, just that Hitler made a deal with Stalin and they carved up Poland between them (Just as Prussia, Russia and Austria did in 1772 in the first partition) and that Hitler then made the major tactical blunder of attacking Russia and fighting on two fronts.
The real culprit here is the fact that the study of history has been cut back drastically in public schools, and what's left is deeply bowdlerised to avoid offending anybody, right or left. Today it's all STEM-this and STEM-that, with a heavy interest in "the needs of employers". (The needs of students or the nation are never addressed.) And a weak-kneed administration in charge of the lot. I learned things in high school that I was forbidden to teach as a history teacher in the same school. (Forget the stuff I learned at uni.)
A thorough and inspiring material as always. Though Polish pespecive of it was: wtf did you guarantee help if you're in no position to provide immediate help (both British and French) . Poland could have set things straight both with Germany or USSR if needed had they known that -both unlikely retrospectively, but it could have prevented mass civilian manslaughter unknown in history up to that point.
Yes there was proposition made by Germany to make Ribbentrop-Beck pact but Poland didn't wanted be on Hitler's side, therefore Germany made pact Ribbentrop-Molotov with Russia (their second choice).
Poland at that point was virtually isolated & stuck in between two great powers at the time. Poland had always been sandwiched between Germany & Russia so nothing was ever going to change that. The polish French alliance counted on the fact that the French & possibly British support together with Poland would defeat the Germans. France & Britain failed in this aspect horribly & thus they suffered a much prelonged war for this. Poland ceased to exist after this point.
well, cuz brits couldn't allow Poland allying with Germany, thus making false promises to keep it away from such ideas, giving Poles false hopes for military support and buying more time for French and Britain. Poland was simply sold out, not once, not twice, but trice. Don't forget that Soviet's invaded Poland on 17 IX 1939, and both France and Britain agreed that Poland is beyond saving on 12 IX 1939 and left their ally for death.
@@michaelweston409 Sure, but if not false treaty of "mutual help" from Britain and France, Poland would have to same stuff that Hungary did and join Germany alliance proposal. After receiving help offer from France and Britain, Poland was in position to refuse it, not realising that West needed her only as a coin to buy more time for themself. Who needs enemies with such allies?
@@thethirdman225 ah yes that time Germany almost reached Paris and would have if it were not for the British, and the fact that they were also preoccupied defeating Russia. Then the Americans also came in to help. The first world war would have ended very differently if Britain hadn't joined.
I'm sure I've watched this Mark Felton short history video before, look I just lost my Mum too cancer last Saturday, I'm trying to draft my Rock's eulogy, but this video could have been used in one of, Robert Crowley's, what if book's, brilliant and thought provoking xxx, happy Christmas and have a great new year xxx ❤️
Walter Schumann exactly & the Polish territory that Slovakia received was also compensation for losing both its southern regions and Carpathian Rus’ to Hungary
@@TheLocalLt Nope. Slovakia received those territories because Poles stole them year before. Territories named Spiš and Orava had huge Slovak population, yet Poland saw Hitler dissolving Czechoslovakia and stole them. We took them back
Also by the way, Slovak State Army progressed deeper into Poland but we refused those territories when we´ve been offered because of Polish being majority there.
Too bad the 90000 dead french soldiers of may-june 1940 could never ear the ''joke'' maybe you would not even have the balls to tell it in front of a french service man.
Je n'ai jamais vu une telle concentration de conneries,de clichés et d'idées reçues sur l'armée française; Il faut croire que tous les idiots qui ne savent rien sur la France et son armée se sont donné rendez-vous sur ce site!!
i hate anime Americans didn’t even had a pledge to protect Poland and Britain can’t help as they are still on a island where most of their budget went to Navy and Planes.
@i hate anime the brittish were starting land in france what were u expecting, and the US couldnt get into a war at that time they had a worst army than poland at that time
i hate anime because they just got out of a depression, and you realize that Germans could easily swat any air attack and sending out the Navy can leave their land vulnerable. Also news flash, it takes time to send a fleet over. Again, it’s not America’s problem to fight something they have no business in. Wars are natural in Europe like last World War. Unless Germany was actively telling the world that they were committing Genocide then America has no reason to be in another war to let their men die in, it’ll be like Vietnam War all over again. Remember that America when fighting Japan had to use films to keep the public from not giving up support. Imagine that but with not even a reason.
that's what I thought and the 1939 threw me a bit... Nice hook though.. got me right off.. Oh this just breaks your heart.. all those losses could have been stopped.. the most dreaded words in history .. "what if".... Thanks Mark..
the problem of the french army in 1939 it was the high command ! with good generals and tactics the outcome of the war would have been quite different !!
I want to do some research into this and write a wargaming scenario. I already have the terrain and miniatures because I have gamed some 1940 scenarios.Can't wait to get my gaming buddies together to game this historical encounter. When they say "Ahhh, France 1940" and the response is "No, Germany 1939" the look on their faces will be priceless. Whoever plays as the Germans will be shocked at the lack of tanks and anti-tank guns I'm sure. Thanks Mark. Once again you have come across with something interesting and obscure.
@@electrobolt9962 At least and contrary to the British the French had not forgotten to first build up ground forces before declaring war over a conflict somewhere in Eastern Europe...
@@electrobolt9962 French gave up easily? Tell that to the BEF when they retreat without warning their French "allies" and let them take the fight when they were running back to England.
@@TOMCATnbr The only real counter-attack was by the British during this time as they were the only fully mechanised army. The French fought valiantly and well (especially during the Dunkirk evacuation (and the Free-French afterwards)) but to say the British were "running back to England" is a distortion of a lie.
noone likes to discuss about the phoney war because their was high level discussions, deals and playing for time going on between the nazis and allied governments. We will never know the full details, but the Hess flight seems to be related to them.
Hi, Loved the video! I can't help myself though, have to point out that the tanks on 8:28 aren't Char B1s , those are Char d'Assault D-2)) Keep it up! Hope to see more interesting videos!
Same with the French, Belgians, Brits, Dutch, Americans, and pretty much everyone else except the Germans, Soviets, and Japanese (and I'm not so sure about the Soviets).
@@TheLocalLt That's what German generals said to excuse their failure. From 1943 on, Soviets lacked men and used massively materials to spare lives. Their success from 1942 to 1945 were by attacking specific sectors, and, instead of trying encirclement like Germans did, they keep on moving in the far rear on the ennemy, creating havoc in logistic and commandment, on successive sectors. That's the winning strategy against the German army which concentrated its best resources in very few units, making all the other highly vulnerable (by the way, the same principle was applied by French CinC Foch at the end of WW1 : keep attacking where the elite stosstruppen are not). .
They just did not want a war. They built the Maginot Line as a deterrent in the hope that no war would start. And they were terrified of bombing raids on cities.
hahaha oh you're such a comedian you should do stand up, i cant breath hahahaha oh it's so funny to make fun of 2000 brave french soldiers who died in the beginning of world war 2, genius comical skills hahahaha youtube comments are so funny and original
who appointed those french generals etc? and why on earth couldn't they see blitzkrieg coming? i mean spain? poland? 4 years of attrition on french territory in ww1... so lets go on the defence in ww2?? I simply don't understand the French tactics
@@t.echieecho3480 Really? The US saw what the corona virus was doing in Italy and spain..yet no lockdown not mandatory use of mask, and who elected that president? I think now you can understand that some world leader are not as smart and prepared as we hoped for...some of them actually are extraordinaryly dumb. The Chinese comunist party has dealt a monumental blow to western economy and many leaders cant even catch up with what they are dealing with. Its easy to judge the french army generals now...but look at the Us president..he has the CIA, the NSA, the CDC and yet he didnt see it coming. What this video ponders and forgets its the political and economical times in France. not all was as clear logical or easy
@@t.echieecho3480 basically, they were fighting the last war.The battle of Verdun left a huge scar on France and it's army,it has not healed to this day.The Maginot line was created to force such a battle of attrition on any invading German army. After great expense building it,the Grmans simply went round it.Why the French High Command didn't consider the possibility is another matter.
@Olaf G. Nein, in der Realschule sind wir überhaupt nicht zum 2. Weltkrieg gekommen. Damals war aber auch meine Geschichtslehrerin einfach mal ein 3/4 Jahr krank. Ersatz gab es nicht und die ganze Klasse musste trotzdem jeden Donnerstag die ersten beiden Stunden zur Schule kommen, obwohl klar war, dass der Geschichtsunterricht nicht stattfindet. Ach ja, was man sich als Beamter so alles erlauben kann. In der Oberstufe sind wir dann auch nicht darauf zu sprechen gekommen, obwohl ich dort eine sehr gute Geschichtslehrerin hatte.
Stupid: the Maginot Line was able to fire at 360°...but the germans doest never pass the Maginot line (Maginot line was discontinued along the Belgian border...)
What would have happened to relations between the Fuhrer and the German Generals if the French and English had driven through the Siegfried Line (which was still relatively weak), and taken a large swathe of German territory? Perhaps they would have been less inclined to defer to the military genius. And morale among the English and French populations would have risen while German morale, and support for the Nazis, would have declined. A great lost opportunity.
Difficult to say. I don't think France had enough logistic strengh to get along with such offensive anyway. But a more resolute one could have made Germany waiver for a time. To my view the real opportunity missed to stop WW2 was by choosing not to counter Hitler's reoccupation of the Ruhr. This was the absolute moment to kill the beast inside its egg...
@@vermicelledecheval5219 With British support they could have overrun German manufacturing and mining areas. Then Hitler's army would not get any resupplies and game over. But Anglo-French still wanted to negotiate with Hitler after he invaded Poland rather than hurt him.
@@blasterelforg7276 Well it seems the frenchs were more aware and wars of Hitler's motives than the brits. Maybe because Germany was more of a concern to France than Britain, at least on paper.
@Charles Incline. Without potential help from the USA, the French and British had no chance against the Germans, let alone the capability to break through the Siegfried line. Had they attacked in force, the Germans would have quickly switched some Divisions from Poland, where they were no longer needed for mopping up the pockets of remnants of the Polish army. One look at the situation map as of 7th September 1939 leaves no doubt about that.
@@jasonweaver6524 The Wehrmacht needed months to recover and resupply from the invasion of Poland and they had very low reserves of ammunition. I doubt that they would have been able to divert more than 70/80% of their forces to the West and the odds in an engagement battle or one against semi-prepared British and French positions would probably have been significantly lower than those they had in their carefully prepared invasion through the low countries in 1940. The Czechs may have also revolted and Mussolini would have been highly unlikely to get involved, who knows what would have happened....
Thank you Mark. I've been obsessed with WW2 since I was a child (both of my grandfathers having served) but I never knew the French tip-toed into Germany in 1939.
At this point in the war, there were many British Members Of Parliament who said that German factories shouldn't be bombed by the RAF because it would be an attack on 'private property'. Not really the right kind of mindset to effectively tackle Hitler.
There were also strikes and other industrial action in Britain at this time. The Britush MPs didn't want to be seen to be targeting civilians at this point of the war.
Your point is quite interesting - one of the problems of France at that time is that was entirely following Britain's diplomacy... Even not knowing how to clearly take a decision with Belgium on the strategic level. Either we incoporate the belgians into a prolongation of the Maginot line (which they refused because they didn't want to upset Hitler) or to pursue the Maginot line on the french belgian border (rejected by Belgium too which feared to be abandoned by the allies to Hitler). In a normal situation France would have pressed Belgium to make up its mind and make a choice...This didn't happened.
Bombing German factories at that point would have led to a potential Soviet offensive that would have swept Europe and saw an even bigger menace holding the continent. With access to German and French scientists - but with a much harsher societal doctrine - the Soviets would have amassed an unstoppable force in no time.
"Well I was going to attack the French in 1944 after stockpiling more armaments, but after they came over uninvited and threw pebbles at us like little fraulein's we knew they were complete vaginas so I attacked immediately." ―Adolf Hitler
@A C H some people need to learn history they were told not to start the calls to arms in early 1939. The poles were the first to break the german codes. In august they started mobilizing slowly not to anger france and great britian the whole defense on the border was because that england and france were to attack right away there was a defensive plan on the rivers. They started making a line on the bog river but the soviets attacked cant fight a 2v1. And a large genocide was started
This video brought me back to the controversial documentary "Hitler's War: What Historians Neglect to Mention", in which I saw a map concocted between Poland and France intended to devour German territory between the two countries. What else is not in the official History of the World?...
France army: Takes one step into Germany.
France army: well boys, we did it. Germany is no more.
They found out they couldn't buy baguettes so they made a hasty retreat back to France.
Hej
#3 act
France: we surrender!
England: uy, and I am allied to these?
😂
It wasn't the same the same France as it was in 1914
the cheese eaters didn't surrender?
*France marches 5 miles*
France: Ahhh, the spoils of war.
France: that will show the krauts not to mess with France again
France (later): we surrender... Damn bloody Belgians are to blame...
England and Germany: (FACEPALM)
At least they had a go..not like the spineless Italians who helped Hitler..."Don't toucha ma face"
@@truthseeker8483 : Untrue. The Italian Army did launch an offensive into the French Alps in 1940. It went very badly for them, the French successfully held them off.
@@RebeccaCampbell1969 They actually are to blame for the utter fuckup. The plan with the maginot was to create a bottleneck in Belgium's open fields, which would basically put the Germans in a killing field, but because Belgians backed out of the defensive pact, the whole plan was instantly killed.
@@timonsolus "Don't toucha ma face!"
It looks like the French plan at 6:44 is to build a lego wall along the border.
Thought the same
yep and then they went on strike during the construction and operation LEGO colapsed
The Germans wouldn’t have even been able to take a step on that border
@@sergeantmarcusstackerM1903 correct the building instructions of that LEGO wall were drawn by the French.
Thats the worst nightmare of the Germans unclear/illogical construction plans 😱
Hahahhaan lol XD
Napolean is rolling in his grave when he heard of this wasted initiative
And then he was rolling again for being outmaneuvered via the Arden. So he is actually in the right position again.
@@philippkoch662 but still he has so many won battles, he would roll in grave if he heard about France in ww2
He was spinning in his grave
@All Knowing 369 Napoleon came from corsica
@Uncle Ivan French? there was no france...
"in a move not widely known today, the soviet union attacked poland" - what the hell are are people learning in history these days then?
Mainly revisionist nonsense from reality deniers & conspiracy theorists. It's become a real problem.
correct. soviet union invaded poland but british empire and french republic declared war only on germany
@Stxr KillerX false
I honestly thought that everyone knew about the Moletov Ribbentrop pact and the fact that it was not just a non aggression pact but also also a deal to split Poland and the Baltic states.
They teach anything that doesn't offend pmsl although have got to say its bit unfair to say Russia invades Poland that's bit of tabloid propaganda. Unbelievable as this may sound but Stalin did actually communicate with the Polish government to allow the red army in to try an halt the german advance obviously he could see this eventually reaching Russia which it did but the Polish for what ever reason chose to deny entry so Stalin appealed again to get his troops in an again the Polish denied, Stalin then gave his typical scorched response of let us in now or eat lead
France: *Invades Germany*
Also France: "You know what I'm just not feeling it"
What the hell
France: "Sacre Bleu! Their forces must all be in Poland! There's no one here to surrender to! Let's go back home to wait for them. I'd rather drink good French wine than that nasty German beer!"
Germany: Invades France the following spring
France: "It's about time you got here! Where have you been? We've been waiting for months to surrender to you!"
@Jasta Two Correct, Stalin previously had been warning the west of Germany's rise and Churchhill was still working with FDR to wake us up although he at this time was on the fence as well.
After WW1 nobody in their right mind wanted people stacked like wood again.
@Jasta Yildirim j
Just what I needed during this “quarantine”.
Why the ""?
Eric Simmons where are you from?
ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ ΣΑΜΑΡΤΖΗΣ where ever he is, he needs to stay put. Hopefully it isn’t, but it could be a global war all over again.
I'm with you brother...haven't seen a soul in 10 days.
Talk of quarentein coming in USA?
"They paid a heavy price for their inaction" that has to be the all time understatement!
France, after advancing a mile into Germany: "I don't know what to do, I never expected to make it this far."
It's like being married,you advance for some action,,,then pay for it till the day you die,,
Cambrea 1917.
@@roadwary56 I think it will be the EU
Sounds like Diepe.
police in every nation now dress like gestapo not just for decoration. UNIDROIT. UNITED NATIONS PTY LTD. NWO is already here man. that's why.
Those gains would have been absolutely fabulous just 20 years prior. I’m sure the French thought they had done a lot at the time.
Good point.
If the French were even in Alsace Lorraine it would be brilliant in WWI.
@@markhenley3097 The French *did* invade Alsace-Lorraine in 1914, and even managed to hold onto a bit of German territory for the duration of the war.
Also, read Mosier
Well, kind of, but actually not at all... Even by WW1 trench war standards, which wasn't the case in 39, that would have just been a tactical foray onto basically empty land (that would've taken superior troops at best a few hours to retake) to test the enemy and would have meant absolutely nothing. Only a deluded moron would have thought this was of any value in that situation, no matter if WW1 or WW2 (and I don't believe anyone in the French military thought about it in that way), the German Red Zone was being preemptively evacuated and the French didn't take any important topographical feature or cities or even attempt a serious attack on parts of the Westwall.
Germany Saarland defences: The French are invading!
German Central CMD: Hold the Line at all costs!
German Saarland Forces: They just stopped!
French General: Let's invade the Saarland!
**invades with little to no resistance**
French Soldiers: Now what?
French General: I don't know, I never thought we'd make it this far
lol true
"Dunno, but be careful of that one guy over there with a machine gun"
@@morgs456 *WW1 PTSD*
LMAO
😂
This guy has the narration style and enunciation of an old fashioned BBC reporter. Absolutely love it.
I appreciate more his kind of neutrality, we have had enough propaganda we need more truth.
"Largely unknown" is right, because I never knew about this! Time to learn something new :)
That's because you never open a book or look for a new subject to learn something new :)
@@Mr_Fancypants you ok?
Actually, these exact tactical manicure attacks, are still taught in USA military schools today in 2020
Let's face it Hitler's strategy was a huge gamble, he won.
@@zacharyjackson6776 i'm great! You?
It USED to be part of school curriculum....long ago.
"A single machine gun held the French army for an entire day"
Imagine if they had a mortar..
@@bergssprangare or if there was a person using said machine gun
@@bergssprangare Paris would have fallen.
This brought an acid comment from one French veteran of the Great War; "Imagine if we had been held back by just one machine gun!"
Imagine they had tanks
I can’t get over the quality of the content on this channel. It’s probably the most accurate and unbiased source of historical information on TH-cam.
There are one or 2 others check out kings and generals for example
France: "We're winning, let's fall back"
🤣🤣
"Let's retreat!"
Arrrrtillllerrriiiiieeeeee!!!!
like: if we do nothing long enough, we can win
No one:
France: we’re making progress, screw it
LTrain 45 freezing cold take my guy
@LTrain 45 she has a far too crappy of a child in you, ignorant, mean spirited, and possessing absolutely no humor
French:" We have taken 2 villages. Victory is near..."
*literally one single machine firing back*
French: "Mon Dieu! the German panzer divisions are here. Retreat!
@LTrain 45 nah. Never was interested in skank
Making fun of France is easy. It was known that the Wehrmacht was uncomplete, short of ammunition. Or it should have be known by the allied secret services.
Think, that the leading politicans were interested in a longlasting war.
Without that, submission of Germany (unconditinal surrender) as it happend 1945 until 1948 could not be justified.
“the cautiousness of the French Army was almost comical” yep
America was bolstered with confidence after WW1, having joined late, with victory already certain, and lost only 120,000 men (half of whom died not from combat but from the 1918 pandemic). France, in contrast, had been in the war from the get-go and lost some 1,330,000 men. Naturally, they had a different level of enthusiasm about the prospect of another war.
@@otyliciu im not sure how that is relevant to this scenario. The French are already in a war by this point. They were so cautious they decided they were going to set up for another ww1 tearing up their countryside rather than try to force a quick end. Completely illogical to what you are saying.
@@otyliciu Thats, and the cheap plan to beat Germany in a two front war. The fear of a new Verdun was allways present, as you mentioned. After it came out, Ribbentropp and Molotov signed a none agression pact and turned both against Poland, what could France do? Attack into Germany and face after 2 or 3 days a fierce counterattack on unprepared ground, meahnwhile the Soviets finishing off Poland? Or wait for more German casualities in Poland and sit in the Maginot-line, stockpiling ammo and baguetts in tin cans and wait here for the "possible" upcoming attack?.....:)
The french army is comical
@@beaublackford3697 Apart from the fact that they were, by far, the land army that won World War 1.
5:25 "a single German machine gun held up the French for a whole day" LOL
.... that is nothing. The French were cautious and did not want to advance anyway. Meanwhile when Germany was pressing desperately into Greece, in a side-battle, 3 Greek soldiers held a whole German battalion for a day. Germans lost more than 300 soldiers, 200 of whom were killed by the machine gun operated by sergeant Dimitrios Itsios. The Germans failed to pass through and managed only to call out the defenders when their ammunition had been consumed. The 3 Greeks came out and the German general Schorner leading the German attack showed to Itsios all what he had done telling him "he wiped out more than 200 of the best men of his troops". Itsios simply replied "I did my duty". And Schorner killed him on the spot making it the first German crime of war against Greeks, one of the 100s of 1000s that would ensue.
@Gabryjel wtf are you talking about
Another Greek fairytale
No wonder they never talk about it, World War Two would have been even more humiliating for France if this knowledge had been more widespread
It also ruins the victim narrative of France.
@@trumpocalypsenow4654 Exactly,its what i wanted to say!
Well, who is "they"? Granted, I literally grew up in the Saarland, playing next to Siegfried line forrifications all over the place, but it does not exactly feel like "swept under the rug" for us, and more common knowledge.
@@drsnova7313 they refers to France mostly. If you were in the Saar region you were much closer to this event which is the likely cause of it being such common knowledge where you live. However, for someone who does not live anywhere near Europe such as myself, this is very new and exciting knowledge to learn.
@@денисбаженов-щ1б There is no narratives this way from France... If any this is applicable to Russia as well. We didn't have 6000 kms to run from the pierced front line like you did... But no offense of course.🙄
The French do their version of the Grand Ole Duke of York. They had 10000 men. They marched them up to the Siegfried Line and marched them back down again.
Lol...and that's why General Patton stated: “I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me.”
😂😂 lol
Aparently, Patton had some problems with his backtracks...
Too bad for Patton there was a windshield in front of him.
I guess that is why he was assassinated by his own country that bankrolled the nazi's
What about Romanian Division?
The "forgotten" Invasion. Well, I wonder why people seemed to forget about it after all...
Its almost as if Germany wasn’t the aggressor that attacked first....and almost as if the history we have been taught is wrong
@@wannabus7094 Well, we only attacked to get our territory in the east back. At first, that is. But sadly H. was a lunatic on meds. He got a little megalomanic and started wars everywhere. Even with our germanic brothers in the north... And the brits and french waited just so long, that they could justify their Plans to forever kick the new german Empire out of the game, with a proclamated fight against faschist expansion. And sadly in their fanatic blindness the nazis sealed the fate of the german Empire forever... In the end Britain and france kicked out their biggest rival out of the game, even though it ment, that europe would become the Potential battlefield of the reds in the east and the muricans in the west, forever deminishing the influence of central europe in the world. Just so they could get their little "victory" against their superior competitor, that rose in 1871...
@@leone.6190 Hitler didn't start any wars. Our northern brethren were threatened with invasion by Britain. Why should Germany permit this to happen?
France: they will need an OVERWHELMING force to destroy our divisions!
Some German dudes with a machine gun: hold Mein bier
Tim Webb the “hold my beer” and “observe” memes are basically the same format, just different wording
Atomic Spartan yeah well in this context “hold my beer” should’ve been used because we’re talking about Germans!
Hans made a great job
Two germans visit a bar in Las Vegas:
Germans:"two martinis please"
Barkeeper:"dry?"
Germans:"NEIN ZWEI !!!"
Should be "Halte mein Bier", but funny anyway.
In other words, the time when France gave Poland a small glimmer of hope, before giving them a hard slap in the face
Still not a good idea of the Poles to rely on guarantees by allies who are seperated by a military giant from their border and especially considering that mobilisation takes time.
And Britain gave one slap more.
Der Alman'ach well it’s not like they had many options
@@wolfsoldner9029 What other choices did Poland have? It isn't like Poland is a massive country with huge resources and they could not ally with anyone of use around them.
@@Schmidty1 Ally with Germany in the first half of 1930s and later invade USSR, in that time Hitler still had a lot of respect towards Poland and would actually cooperate
In german, this time period in the west is called the "Sitzkrieg"- the "sitting war".
It was commonly called the Phony War in the west because neither side made advances on the other. Both sides were hoping for a negotiated peace, but Germany was the only willing to go to full war if the negotiations failed. The French and British paid the price for all those months of sitting instead of deciding they were really prepared to go to war.
@@sarjim4381 Only in the English language and the term is credited to an American Senator. The French called it The funny war.
@@binaway Yes, Senator Albert Borah, a strange combination of Republican, FDR supporter, strict isolationist, and progressive, although that term didn't mean the same in 1920 as it does now.
There was funny anecdote. German did deliver France with electricity from own power plants. When they cut of the supply, French start shooting at Germans who was in trenches. Usually there was no any damage by this shooting. But once again, power supply from german side went down, French start shooting again like always in such case. Until Germans made phone call asking French to stop shooting, the reason why is there no electricity is technical reason and they need a bit time to repair it...
sitzkrieg = me during quarantine
I think the french and british were so emotionally scarred by WW1, that they were ready to risk everything to avoid a full-blown conflict. This was a dreadful misunderstanding of Hitler's motives. He didn't possess ideas, but was possessed by them.
The allies were dreadfully unaware how far they had pushed the opposition. The German ideology beast had greatly outsized anything the allies had in store at that point. It was their balls vs yours.
We shouldn't of even gone to war.
@Nicolas d'Avout actually the germans declared war in the us
They were so emotionally scarred so they brought Germany to collapse after WW1 and extremist Nazis came to power. If they were not trying to humiliate the countries lost WW1 probably countless lives would have been saved because Nazis probably would have never come to power.
@@BoyanZhelyazkov_theDoctor As an Anglo I can only agree. A stupid war between inbred monarchs. 10m dead in Ukr due to the Communists, countless m's due to the nazi invasion. Europe on it's knees !
French Army couldn't do more. They didn't have plans to any major offensive, no military logistics, the French strategy was a defensive one, behind Maginot line.
Yes indeed - with the lovely result of France being conquered a few months later!
lmao yeah sick defense
@@bosareva but you know what ? maginot line is still there, not nazi germany.
@@bosareva Few WEEKS (5)
@@2dlamb Yes sick defense. The French got invaded cuz they attacked in Belgium to save the Belgians, leaving their defensive line partly empty.
The French practically won at this stage. 5 whole miles? That's enough, time to stop the advance.
5 miles felt like all of western Europe to the WW1 era French army so they must have been happy... lol
By WW1 standards that was a huge advance for the French. And they were fighting as if it was still WW1.
That was basically farther than they got in the great war.
@@bigblue6917 > Yeah !!! A big overwhelming French military FART )))))
Well thats a years worth of work by Great War standards.
I would like to know more about the badass who single handedly held off the entire French army.
Probably it was just an mg34 with a long belt and the trigger locked in fire position 😁
Probably a bunch of firecrackers from some local kids playing in the yard.
Her name was Adele. She was 10 years old and had one arm after battling polio.
The machinegun was unmaned! Sorry bro
You will never know his story. He fought for the losing side, you see
The two-month Soviet siege of 1944 and 1945 in Budapest is always forgotten by Western history books and the failed "Frühlingserwache" action that followed in Hungary.
They always deal only with the Western front, usually the Battle of the Bulge
Although before the battle of Berlin the last great city siege in World War II was the siege of the Hungarian capital Budapest, where fierce fighting lasted for two months.
Unfortunately, not much footage about the fighting in Budapest survived from the axis side, because it was destroyed during the siege of the city.
Only a few film footage from Russian news is available.
All good points, but probably under the wrong video.
@@watching99134 𝗅𝗈𝗅 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍? 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗌 𝗌𝖾𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝖽𝗈𝖾𝗌𝗇'𝗍 𝗇𝖾𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗒 𝗈𝗇-𝗉𝗈𝗂𝗇𝗍 𝗁𝖺𝗁𝖺-𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝗂𝗌 𝗐𝖾𝗅𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾, 𝖻𝖾𝖼𝖺𝗎𝗌𝖾 𝗂𝗍 𝗂𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝖾𝗑𝖺𝗆𝗉𝗅𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗋𝗂𝖽𝗂𝖼𝗎𝗅𝗈𝗎𝗌 𝗉𝗂𝖼𝗍𝗎𝗋𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗐𝖺𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗀𝖾𝗍𝗌 𝗉𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗂𝗇 𝖶𝖾𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗇 𝖾𝖽𝗎𝖼𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇.
I was in the middle of watching another video when yours popped up. I’ll finish that video later 😉
Didn't hitler gamble, with the idea of "One does not build the maginot line and then go on the offense"
Apparently he was right for underestimating the French, another reason why they're the butt of so many WW2 jokes.
@@dannya1854 it was also known that most of the german army was sent to Poland and the Poles were hoping that France would invade the weak Western flank of Germany while they hold the line against the full assault of the Wermacht. France literally outnumbered the defenders 5 to one and could have reached as far as Hamburg but for some reason the French military and command was so incompetent and disorganized to not push further.
@@toledochristianmatthew9919 I dont think it was a problem of incompetence. The french high command had a plan. A logic and reasonable plan. A plan based on their ww1 experiencies and the geopolitical Situation during de interwar period. And this plan didnt include an early offesive into Germany. Of course, they were wrong (and they excecuted it poorly). But they were no stupids. Maybe the problem whit the french was that they didnt had the chance (the Time) to learn from their mistakes, like the british, the soviets and the americans had.
@@toledochristianmatthew9919 Outnumbering was hardly enough to make such wild, hamburgering predictions. If it was, Germans would have never been able to shuffle their forces in 1915 , leaving Western front undermanned, vulnerable to French/British attacks, while pushing Russians out of Galicia following a large offensive. But they _were_ able and not even a slight punishment in the West followed.
What's that? It was WW1?
Well, so? French army in 1939 was certainly stuck in WW1 (in more than one aspect) - and Germans were more than ready to re-enact WW1 too, using narrow border gap, Rhine and whatever defensive measures they already built.
@@toledochristianmatthew9919 Think, surprise was soviet invasion. In this moment was clear, Poland does not stand a chance, even if France and British continue attack to Germany. So, one of main reason, to protect Poland from occupation failed. France and British was still trusting numbers thinking, Hitler would not dare attacking french and british armies. In the fact, Hitler had less and even weaker armour and a bit less soldiers. On the paper, no one would try invasion if he have weaker force. Poland was at this moment lost and Brits and French did not believe in german invasion of France...
French Army: *Marches 5 miles*
also French Army: "We're in too deep. Lines are overstretched, we need to fall back"
Probably the best history channel on TH-cam Mark, congratulations!
Outstanding I read the wrong history books when I was young.
Thanks Mark.
Hmm, I wonder why we all read the wrong books
@@Endremael because of the lefties
@@huisbaasbob9844 for me : because of french school program
@@lc1138 pas faux, mais lire d'autres livres n'est pas interdit
this is first time I knew about this invasion. The voice of the person who was speaking in the video was awesome
Many thanks for covering this essential topic: the Allies had a real chance to crush Hitler right at the beginning and to spare millions of lives that were lost during the long years of WWII. In fact, Stalin was waiting to see what the western allies of Poland would do - although pressed by Hitler to get involved asap, Stalin joined him in invading Poland only when he became sure that the Allies wouldn't do anything.
@1WildlandFirefighter But they didn't remain there did they.
Yup, Poland might actually have remained independent and the Baltic States as well! Although, Stalin probably would've annexed those regardless O.o
@Mark Young Yeah, the same about Stalin.
He didnt touched Roumania and Poland untill he was sure that the allies wouldnt come to catch his ass.
Unlike Stalin Hitler only killed people that deserves it, while Stalin is murderer of white christian
that von Witzleben guy is the guy Ive always used on the french border in hearts of iron IV and I didnt even know he was actually the guy that defended it irl. dats craaaazy
My eyes literally opened up wide in bewilderment when I saw the notification for this video.
Finally a Saar offensive video.
"Largely Unknown"
Oversimplefied Viewer: So I'm a expert
Pretty much anybody who has noteworthy knowledge of world war one and two knows frightened France dared, yet barely, to step inside the Deutsche Reich during WW2. Afraid of provoking a massive counteroffensive more than anything else.
Yes jus going to mention that good to know they are other oversimplified viewers here
Exactly
This is why we tell the joke :"How many gears does a frensh tank have ? "
Answer:"Six, five backwards and one forward for parades" hahahahaha
One forward in case they attack from the rear.
LMAO!
Copied comment?
Also works for Italians
Babaju Baako imagine the french border in 1940. There will be no troops as they think grass is human
I heard about this French action years ago but never in as much detail as you presented it.
Excellent !!
I was so surprised Mark, that you knew this as well, i knew France attack germany, i knew this invasion, but i didn't know some facts, thank you for info Mark Felton
Yeah, same, I was really hoping he’d make a video on it.
@@Vaterlandstreuer i know right
It's pretty amazing of the French blunders, they had over 100 divisions vs about 23 German divisions with a huge portion of material and manpower dedicated to the Polish campaign. History will always poke fun at France for it's incompetent military commanders at the time.
And it's completly justified
@@Seriona1 yeah I mean since when those frog muncher ever win a war anyway?
@@thejsffenix6365 well I'll be damned, I would never thought they would survive a battle, let alone actually won THAT many wars, i wonder why did they perform so poorly in ww2
@Peter Laughton while before the great war France did antagonize Germany, German was also pretty aggressive, I mean who in their right mind would declare war on THREE major power and invade a neutral country so Germany is just as warmongering as France is
@@thejsffenix6365 In 1936 britain said thay they'd declare war on France if the French declared war on Germany...
There’s an important lesson for us to learn here if we’re willing... Inaction when you should be proactive will always come back to haunt you.
Of all the words that known to man
None are as sad
As "could have been"
Being proactive, always preemptively striking just justifies everyone to do the same to you and ever increases the stakes.
@@ShrekMeBe Then proactive with wisdom and the best intelligence unlike what the United States did to Iraq.
This story proves that the motto of the SAS is correct: "Who dares wins". To bad they didn't press their invasion, millions of lives might have been saved. One other thing bothers me; why were the UK and France so worried about what Germany did to Poland, but mute on the Soviets invading what was left of Polish territory. Calling out the Soviets on their aggression would have at least kept the allies consistent in standing up for democracy. Of course it could have driven the Soviets into an alliance with Germany for the war. I figure the United States would have still joined the allies on the side of Britain & France, but if the Soviets had been on the side of Germany and Italy, that would have been a hell of a fight.
Germany japan and ussr vs france britain usa? It would have been a slaughter.
I don't get this argument, Poland was essentially finished by this point, Germany would have been able to transfer its forces to the west...
The British and French had plans to send forces to help Finland via northern Norway. Before Stalin seized Finish territory there was a common border. Fortunately, for Britain in particular, the Winter War ended before they were anywhere near ready. The Narvik landings used the allied troops originally intended for Finland.
The western allies were already making plans for war with the USSR. Churchill even had plans to bomb Soviet oil fields, though it was kind of kooky. The western allies were scared enough of Nazi Germany without dragging the USSR into it
I often ponder what were the fearless French foreign legion 2cv battalion doing when this chin dig was kicking off .Mark can you help?
I never knew about this military invasion of Germany . A big thank you to mark Felton for sharing this with us.
Clicked faster than Romania switching sides in WW2.
How many times did Romania switch sides? 1 or 2? Vote down below!!!
When you're sandwiched between Germany and Russia during ww2.
You too would flip flop or you'd involuntarily do that on the ground.
Faster? 4 years of fighting on eastern front wouldn't seem fast
actually a better comparisson would be, clicked faster than the french offensive advance in germany
my GF is Romanian and I tease her about this all the time, apparently a popular Romanian meme at the moment is Romania plan to switch sides against the coronavirus :D
Mark Felton these productions are quite simply incredibly well done. Informative, educational, and often eye-opening. They rival if not surpass the World at War series for detail.
6:41 The French: Our Lego-line will definitely keep the nazis at bay...
I mean legos are effective landmines
Wow, I didn’t know Denmark was involved in this conflict.
Wow I really love your intro music, you always know you’re going to get a good dose of war, thank you Mark fantastic job as ever, keep them coming Sir, love to you and your family from England 🏴💞👍🤪😛💞
Im confused, by the rate you are going we will see somekind of insanity that happened in 1941 or something
You are an amazing historian
Wish you were my history teacher 😅
Quick question
Have you written other books other than the Yanagi, i am interested in ww2 and cold war books
GiGi Zero Night, Ghost Riders, Castle of the Eagles, The Sea Devils, Japan’s Gestapo. There are quite a few others as well, these are just Mark Felton books I can see from my couch on the bookshelf 🤣😂
Type Mark Felton in the search bar on Amazon, to see the collection of books he has written.
Even though his books have great reviews there’s always someone in there giving a 3 star review saying “too much detail” 😂. When someone’s looking at my architecture drawings and say that I always say “if they make you feel like that then these drawings are not for you”
@@patjohn775 Your into architecture?
Thanks for 'filling in the gaps' Mark.
A great Channel for students of WW2.
France is that one kid in class who gets a 99% test, but then decides to retake the test to get 100%...
Then gets a 40%
EDIT: Can I make one joke without stuff getting heated in the replies please?
Edit 2: What have I created?
Lmao
That's me, I'm France
xDDD
That doesnt make sense
So much stereotype 😂
I love your videos, Mark! They are so informative and absolutely fascinating!
Wow, thank you!
Another lost gem ! I have learned more military history watching Dr. Felton's videos, the last few months, than I did in 8 years of military school and R.O.T.C. ! Bravo
The Russian invasion of Poland - another event "not widely known today." Thank you, "educators"!
I watched it as a kid, the "Why We Fight" films from the 40s. There was no mention of Russian atrocities in Poland because the films were an Allied propaganda project.
@@craftpaint1644 also allied countries forgot tabout hte fact that soviets terrorized and occupied baltic states, killing hundrends of thousands of people by exile in siberia, they ignored the atrocities they've done in eastern block, soviets were as bad as germans if not worse... if soviet plan would succeed ( they planned to support germany at war with france at brits, and then conquer the whole war devastated europe with ease) we would definetly be fucked but to some extent we have to be gratefull that germans made a mistake by attacking USSR and at the end didn't have enough recources to fight at both fronts
I was taught it in 'O' level history, though not in great detail, just that Hitler made a deal with Stalin and they carved up Poland between them (Just as Prussia, Russia and Austria did in 1772 in the first partition) and that Hitler then made the major tactical blunder of attacking Russia and fighting on two fronts.
@@craftpaint1644
It’s literally mentioned in every world war documentary I’ve watched. Stop pretending it’s something hidden.
The real culprit here is the fact that the study of history has been cut back drastically in public schools, and what's left is deeply bowdlerised to avoid offending anybody, right or left. Today it's all STEM-this and STEM-that, with a heavy interest in "the needs of employers". (The needs of students or the nation are never addressed.) And a weak-kneed administration in charge of the lot. I learned things in high school that I was forbidden to teach as a history teacher in the same school. (Forget the stuff I learned at uni.)
A thorough and inspiring material as always. Though Polish pespecive of it was: wtf did you guarantee help if you're in no position to provide immediate help (both British and French) . Poland could have set things straight both with Germany or USSR if needed had they known that
-both unlikely retrospectively, but it could have prevented mass civilian manslaughter unknown in history up to that point.
Yes there was proposition made by Germany to make Ribbentrop-Beck pact but Poland didn't wanted be on Hitler's side, therefore Germany made pact Ribbentrop-Molotov with Russia (their second choice).
Poland at that point was virtually isolated & stuck in between two great powers at the time. Poland had always been sandwiched between Germany & Russia so nothing was ever going to change that. The polish French alliance counted on the fact that the French & possibly British support together with Poland would defeat the Germans. France & Britain failed in this aspect horribly & thus they suffered a much prelonged war for this. Poland ceased to exist after this point.
snowy the snowman your ideas are fringe. You do not know more history than the average conspiracist. Where’s your facts at?
well, cuz brits couldn't allow Poland allying with Germany, thus making false promises to keep it away from such ideas, giving Poles false hopes for military support and buying more time for French and Britain. Poland was simply sold out, not once, not twice, but trice. Don't forget that Soviet's invaded Poland on 17 IX 1939, and both France and Britain agreed that Poland is beyond saving on 12 IX 1939 and left their ally for death.
@@michaelweston409 Sure, but if not false treaty of "mutual help" from Britain and France, Poland would have to same stuff that Hungary did and join Germany alliance proposal. After receiving help offer from France and Britain, Poland was in position to refuse it, not realising that West needed her only as a coin to buy more time for themself. Who needs enemies with such allies?
Since Napoleon died, the French has always been a war behind.
@@laynaTheLobster Don't know from which source you base this... "Statement". You really seen convinced though of this...🤪🙃
ever heard of the Crimean war or ww1?
The greatest French general wasn't even ethnically French.
i hate anime He did lead them tho if he didn’t lead them then the soldiers would be nothing.
@@thethirdman225 ah yes that time Germany almost reached Paris and would have if it were not for the British, and the fact that they were also preoccupied defeating Russia. Then the Americans also came in to help. The first world war would have ended very differently if Britain hadn't joined.
Would love to see a video on the Maginot line! Also thanks for creating this great content, I thoroughly enjoy every video you make.
I'm sure I've watched this Mark Felton short history video before, look I just lost my Mum too cancer last Saturday, I'm trying to draft my Rock's eulogy, but this video could have been used in one of, Robert Crowley's, what if book's, brilliant and thought provoking xxx, happy Christmas and have a great new year xxx ❤️
" France had begun to mobilise " ( 53 seconds ) and wine is being poured. Superb!
It wasn't just Germany and the Soviet Union that invaded Poland - Slovakia did too. Perhaps a subject for a future video...
Why not, After all Poland grabbed some Czech territory when Germany took over all of Czechoslovakia in 1938.
@@walterschumann2476 So true... Teschen...
Walter Schumann exactly & the Polish territory that Slovakia received was also compensation for losing both its southern regions and Carpathian Rus’ to Hungary
@@TheLocalLt Nope. Slovakia received those territories because Poles stole them year before. Territories named Spiš and Orava had huge Slovak population, yet Poland saw Hitler dissolving Czechoslovakia and stole them. We took them back
Also by the way, Slovak State Army progressed deeper into Poland but we refused those territories when we´ve been offered because of Polish being majority there.
France invaded 5 miles by accident because they were looking for someone to surrender to
pcojedi LMAO
Too bad the 90000 dead french soldiers of may-june 1940 could never ear the ''joke'' maybe you would not even have the balls to tell it in front of a french service man.
@@Balrog2005 I have the balls to tell the French they were cowards in 1939 and nothing changed in 1940. To their faces.
@@tomk3732 yeah whatever keyboard hero...
@ Oh man ! You're german ? Remind me how many world wars you guys won ? What ? None of them? Who's the real loser ? France or Germany ?
Well done, another very interesting look at a forgotten war history.
Keep up the good work Mark.
🙂
Je n'ai jamais vu une telle concentration de conneries,de clichés et d'idées reçues sur l'armée française;
Il faut croire que tous les idiots qui ne savent rien sur la France et son armée se sont donné rendez-vous sur ce site!!
I honestly didn't know this and I don't think I would have ever had you not made this video.
Germany attack Poland.
France: Lets make a mini invasion of 5km.
Soviets invade Poland.
France: Oh Poland was the bad guy. Retreat.
i hate anime Americans didn’t even had a pledge to protect Poland and Britain can’t help as they are still on a island where most of their budget went to Navy and Planes.
@i hate anime the brittish were starting land in france what were u expecting, and the US couldnt get into a war at that time they had a worst army than poland at that time
Maybe they feared a Soviet German attack in Western Europe. Stalin motives for Europe were the same as Hitler.
i hate anime because they just got out of a depression, and you realize that Germans could easily swat any air attack and sending out the Navy can leave their land vulnerable. Also news flash, it takes time to send a fleet over.
Again, it’s not America’s problem to fight something they have no business in. Wars are natural in Europe like last World War. Unless Germany was actively telling the world that they were committing Genocide then America has no reason to be in another war to let their men die in, it’ll be like Vietnam War all over again. Remember that America when fighting Japan had to use films to keep the public from not giving up support. Imagine that but with not even a reason.
Oh ! And the 13 divisions of UK expeditionary corps sent to France to keep the Germans as far away from Britain as possible, failed spectaculary,,,
that's what I thought and the 1939 threw me a bit... Nice hook though.. got me right off.. Oh this just breaks your heart.. all those losses could have been stopped.. the most dreaded words in history .. "what if".... Thanks Mark..
tinkmarshino Yes. "What if", and his good friend, "if only"...
@@robertkopp873 Oh yeah Robert.. that is a big 10/4!!
France: *walks 5 miles into germany*
also france: "Who wants to turn around and go home?"
Literally everyone: 🙋
the problem of the french army in 1939 it was the high command ! with good generals and tactics
the outcome of the war would have been quite different !!
Oversimplified?
There are so many small events that have gone unnoticed throughout World War Two, there’s always new stuff to learn
I want to do some research into this and write a wargaming scenario. I already have the terrain and miniatures because I have gamed some 1940 scenarios.Can't wait to get my gaming buddies together to game this historical encounter. When they say "Ahhh, France 1940" and the response is "No, Germany 1939" the look on their faces will be priceless. Whoever plays as the Germans will be shocked at the lack of tanks and anti-tank guns I'm sure. Thanks Mark. Once again you have come across with something interesting and obscure.
Hey, thats exactly where i live. And i've never heard about it. Thank you for making such excellent content. :)
Yo great video man. You always cover story’s that almost nobody knows about, you gained my sub.
French army: *Invades 3 feet into Germany*
French army: HOLY JESUS A GERMAN MACHINE GUN EVERYONE RETREAT
Well, the British and Polish invading Germany at the same time didn't get much deeper than the French, isn't it?
Maxim Kretsch the French pretty much screwed the British over 1939. The French had few telephones in high command and obviously gave up to easily.
@@electrobolt9962 At least and contrary to the British the French had not forgotten to first build up ground forces before declaring war over a conflict somewhere in Eastern Europe...
@@electrobolt9962 French gave up easily? Tell that to the BEF when they retreat without warning their French "allies" and let them take the fight when they were running back to England.
@@TOMCATnbr The only real counter-attack was by the British during this time as they were the only fully mechanised army. The French fought valiantly and well (especially during the Dunkirk evacuation (and the Free-French afterwards)) but to say the British were "running back to England" is a distortion of a lie.
Thank you Mark I’ve always wanted to learn more about the French Invasion!
Also known as "The Phony War."
I read about the Phony War long ago, in a few different books. It’s not recently surfaced news.
Actually it lead to the stalemate which was known as the "phoney war"....
noone likes to discuss about the phoney war because their was high level discussions, deals and playing for time going on between the nazis and allied governments. We will never know the full details, but the Hess flight seems to be related to them.
Hi,
Loved the video!
I can't help myself though, have to point out that the tanks on 8:28 aren't Char B1s , those are Char d'Assault D-2))
Keep it up! Hope to see more interesting videos!
French military leaders didn't realize how much warfare had changed from 1918 to 1939. They were stuck in the past.
Same with the French, Belgians, Brits, Dutch, Americans, and pretty much everyone else except the Germans, Soviets, and Japanese (and I'm not so sure about the Soviets).
CaptainDuckman definitely not the Soviets. They were still conducting frontal offensives in 1945.
@@TheLocalLt That's what German generals said to excuse their failure. From 1943 on, Soviets lacked men and used massively materials to spare lives. Their success from 1942 to 1945 were by attacking specific sectors, and, instead of trying encirclement like Germans did, they keep on moving in the far rear on the ennemy, creating havoc in logistic and commandment, on successive sectors. That's the winning strategy against the German army which concentrated its best resources in very few units, making all the other highly vulnerable (by the way, the same principle was applied by French CinC Foch at the end of WW1 : keep attacking where the elite stosstruppen are not). .
They just did not want a war. They built the Maginot Line as a deterrent in the hope that no war would start. And they were terrified of bombing raids on cities.
@@jwenting you're right except for the Soviets
Imagine if there were some crazy French general that decides to rush his force for Berlin.
There probably were lower ranking officers who called for it, but most of the chain of command were veterans and old men from WW1.
HoI in a nutshell
@@unitynoob4437 HoI you mean HOI4
Why did French army enter Germany? IDK They drove backwards
@@polishrepublic5055 I'm i a boomer because i don't understand the joke.
“They have 22 divisions we have 110”. “Wait! They also have a machine gun” everyone back to France we need more men!😀
hahaha oh you're such a comedian you should do stand up, i cant breath hahahaha oh it's so funny to make fun of 2000 brave french soldiers who died in the beginning of world war 2, genius comical skills hahahaha youtube comments are so funny and original
@Serbon Resurrected It's not being butthurt it's having enough of the same joke repeated over and over again like we GOT IT MATE WE'RE COWARDS OK
who appointed those french generals etc? and why on earth couldn't they see blitzkrieg coming? i mean spain? poland? 4 years of attrition on french territory in ww1... so lets go on the defence in ww2?? I simply don't understand the French tactics
@@t.echieecho3480 Really? The US saw what the corona virus was doing in Italy and spain..yet no lockdown not mandatory use of mask, and who elected that president? I think now you can understand that some world leader are not as smart and prepared as we hoped for...some of them actually are extraordinaryly dumb. The Chinese comunist party has dealt a monumental blow to western economy and many leaders cant even catch up with what they are dealing with. Its easy to judge the french army generals now...but look at the Us president..he has the CIA, the NSA, the CDC and yet he didnt see it coming. What this video ponders and forgets its the political and economical times in France. not all was as clear logical or easy
@@t.echieecho3480 basically, they were fighting the last war.The battle of Verdun left a huge scar on France and it's army,it has not healed to this day.The Maginot line was created to force such a battle of attrition on any invading German army. After great expense building it,the Grmans simply went round it.Why the French High Command didn't consider the possibility is another matter.
Great information! I had almost forgotten about this invasion! Thanks!
Don’t think we will be seeing any movies about this story any near future
“Come on France, I’ve seen snails with club-feet advance faster than you”- Poland.
Who would win:
110 allied divisions or Hans with a MG34?
Greetings from the Saarland, I never ever heard of this in my 23 years on this earth!
Wurde das nicht mehr im Geschichtsunterricht besprochen? Also in meiner Schulzeit war das noch ein ganzes Kapitel wert.
@Olaf G. Nein, in der Realschule sind wir überhaupt nicht zum 2. Weltkrieg gekommen. Damals war aber auch meine Geschichtslehrerin einfach mal ein 3/4 Jahr krank. Ersatz gab es nicht und die ganze Klasse musste trotzdem jeden Donnerstag die ersten beiden Stunden zur Schule kommen, obwohl klar war, dass der Geschichtsunterricht nicht stattfindet. Ach ja, was man sich als Beamter so alles erlauben kann.
In der Oberstufe sind wir dann auch nicht darauf zu sprechen gekommen, obwohl ich dort eine sehr gute Geschichtslehrerin hatte.
You teach me so many things about World War 2 that I didn’t know, thanks so much!!
That moment when the french did reversed maginot
And failed miserably
Stupid: the Maginot Line was able to fire at 360°...but the germans doest never pass the Maginot line (Maginot line was discontinued along the Belgian border...)
Mark, are you a teacher or college professor? You are a very good educator, and create such interesting content.
What would have happened to relations between the Fuhrer and the German Generals if the French and English had driven through the Siegfried Line (which was still relatively weak), and taken a large swathe of German territory? Perhaps they would have been less inclined to defer to the military genius. And morale among the English and French populations would have risen while German morale, and support for the Nazis, would have declined. A great lost opportunity.
Difficult to say. I don't think France had enough logistic strengh to get along with such offensive anyway. But a more resolute one could have made Germany waiver for a time. To my view the real opportunity missed to stop WW2 was by choosing not to counter Hitler's reoccupation of the Ruhr. This was the absolute moment to kill the beast inside its egg...
@@vermicelledecheval5219 With British support they could have overrun German manufacturing and mining areas. Then Hitler's army would not get any resupplies and game over. But Anglo-French still wanted to negotiate with Hitler after he invaded Poland rather than hurt him.
@@blasterelforg7276 Well it seems the frenchs were more aware and wars of Hitler's motives than the brits. Maybe because Germany was more of a concern to France than Britain, at least on paper.
@Charles Incline. Without potential help from the USA, the French and British had no chance against the Germans, let alone the capability to break through the Siegfried line. Had they attacked in force, the Germans would have quickly switched some Divisions from Poland, where they were no longer needed for mopping up the pockets of remnants of the Polish army. One look at the situation map as of 7th September 1939 leaves no doubt about that.
@@jasonweaver6524 The Wehrmacht needed months to recover and resupply from the invasion of Poland and they had very low reserves of ammunition. I doubt that they would have been able to divert more than 70/80% of their forces to the West and the odds in an engagement battle or one against semi-prepared British and French positions would probably have been significantly lower than those they had in their carefully prepared invasion through the low countries in 1940. The Czechs may have also revolted and Mussolini would have been highly unlikely to get involved, who knows what would have happened....
Thank you Mark. I've been obsessed with WW2 since I was a child (both of my grandfathers having served) but I never knew the French tip-toed into Germany in 1939.
Lol last time I was this early this was actually happening
At this point in the war, there were many British Members Of Parliament who said that German factories shouldn't be bombed by the RAF because it would be an attack on 'private property'. Not really the right kind of mindset to effectively tackle Hitler.
There were also strikes and other industrial action in Britain at this time.
The Britush MPs didn't want to be seen to be targeting civilians at this point of the war.
Your point is quite interesting - one of the problems of France at that time is that was entirely following Britain's diplomacy... Even not knowing how to clearly take a decision with Belgium on the strategic level. Either we incoporate the belgians into a prolongation of the Maginot line (which they refused because they didn't want to upset Hitler) or to pursue the Maginot line on the french belgian border (rejected by Belgium too which feared to be abandoned by the allies to Hitler). In a normal situation France would have pressed Belgium to make up its mind and make a choice...This didn't happened.
I never heard that one before but it wouldn't surprise me.
Another, more important, point was the fear of potential retaliation bombings by the german air force.
Bombing German factories at that point would have led to a potential Soviet offensive that would have swept Europe and saw an even bigger menace holding the continent.
With access to German and French scientists - but with a much harsher societal doctrine - the Soviets would have amassed an unstoppable force in no time.
"The French had lied to the Poles in saying they are going to attack. There is no idea of it" - General Edmund Ironside
"Well I was going to attack the French in 1944 after stockpiling more armaments, but after they came over uninvited and threw pebbles at us like little fraulein's we knew they were complete vaginas so I attacked immediately." ―Adolf Hitler
@A C H some people need to learn history they were told not to start the calls to arms in early 1939. The poles were the first to break the german codes. In august they started mobilizing slowly not to anger france and great britian the whole defense on the border was because that england and france were to attack right away there was a defensive plan on the rivers. They started making a line on the bog river but the soviets attacked cant fight a 2v1. And a large genocide was started
No one expected the Poland to lose so fast, Germany strategy was way too effective by its time.
@A C H duh
He was proud of his country
@@spiriel59 it was supposed to fall faster.
This video partly inspired Panzer Corps 2 game DLC to explore and cover the Saar Offensive of 1939. Thanks for all the great historical videos!
Who would win:
An entire French offensive with troops, tanks and Artillery
Or
A machine gun
except that they didnt have tanks and artillery
so the machinegun
*A German machine guy
This video brought me back to the controversial documentary "Hitler's War: What Historians Neglect to Mention", in which I saw a map concocted between Poland and France intended to devour German territory between the two countries. What else is not in the official History of the World?...
If you really want to know what Germany was fighting, read the books "Germany Must Perish", and the "Morgenthau Plan".
@@BasementEngineer I'll be on it, thanks!
France: We're making surprisingly good progress.
France: Lets surrender.
nope ...
"lets stop this joke and wait them, they should have speck with our baguettes"
Britain: We had to leave because ahem, the milk man is coming in the morning.
Lmao
Thank you for another amazingly informative article.