Stalingrad Holdouts - German Resistance After the Surrender
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2020
- Think the German 6th Army surrendered at Stalingrad on 2 February 1943? Well, not all of it - over 11,000 German troops fought on for weeks afterwards! This is the largely unknown story of the Stalingrad Holdouts.
Dr. Mark Felton is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers 'Zero Night' and 'Castle of the Eagles', both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Fe...
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My uncle was fighting in Stalingrad with Italian Bersaglieri. He was captured by the Soviets and put in a prison camp somewhere East and South of Moscow. Previously he had fought in the African campaign. He came from Gorizia, in Northern Italy and many people there, including my uncle, spoke Italian, German and Slovenian. Once in Russia, he quickly learned that language and, at the camp, was put to work as a translator. According to him, conditions at the camp were terrible and even the Russians didn’t have much to eat. The Italians got less much less but got some food since they, unlike the Germans, had also fed Russian prisoners their own rations. The Germans got little food, no compassion and simply died off. When my uncle was finally released, one of the last to be let go, he was given a letter of safe passage and pointed in the right direction. Nothing else. He was forever grateful for the help he received from Russian peasants, who treated him kindly as he made his long walk home to Italy where he arrived several months later. He was starving, without his teeth, suffering from the malaria he picked up in Africa and forever changed both physically and mentally. Thank you for the excellent episode as otherwise I would not have thought of him, his travails and the strength of the human spirit.
That was a cool story, thanks for sharing!
Twice he invaded a foreign country.
Buena historia..saludos a Italia.
Both you, Bob L, and Tepes Voda have relatives possibly gone now who fought the great evil of Bolshevism. You should be proud!!!
what a wonderful story. Germans were too brutal to the locals. Me being of latin heritage i have sympathy for our fellow humans. Maybe im wrong but maybe the Catholic teachings provided decency and compansion .
History Channel: Aliens
Mark Felton: 100% History.
98% No one is perfect
Hahahaha, I know right Budd. By the way Love the Red Ensign. Cheers from Manitoba Bro.
@@danielb7117 xD Cheers from Manchester.
@HistoryFan 88 God save the Queen. And Me
@@trekker4254 Fucken eh!!! Bro. I love Manchester, great Football town, that's always a good place for a Damn Good Piss Up too My Friend. Cheers.
My former boss knew I'm a history buff. He told me he had an uncle from Austria who was in the 6th Army. He survived and retreated into the encirclement. He was wounded so was evacuated early on by one of the supply aircraft flying out. Very, very lucky man.
VERY lucky
My grandma told me her dad fought in ww2 and reached Odessa. Her was to go to Stalingrad, but he got apendicitis and had to be sent back home. He lived because of that.
My Austrian Grandfather (as I also have a Bulgarian one) also fought in the Eastern Front and survived
Is there an Emmy Award category for online content?? Dr. Felton's work would certainly be a good candidate if one does exist, brilliant storytelling
"The railway station changed hands fourteen times over six hours of fighting." Fascinating research Mark as always! Thanks for sharing!
That means that slightly more than every half hour it changed hands.
Similar to the kinda fighting that would take place in SouthEast asia just 15yrs later.
You gotta admit, fighting over a train depot makes alot more strategic sense than hills with Numbers instead of names.
And I thought Red Orchestra 2 was a bit far fetched in that regard. More the fool me.
@@im1who84u cheers Einstein, plus that is a mean average,(maths jokes),it could have changed hands 10 times in the first hour, you don't know...
@@DanceySteveYNWA Thanks
When you consider that most of the Germans that were captured at Stalingrad never returned home, putting up a resistance probably wasn't the worst idea.
Indeed
but its beacuse in moment of capitulation there were 200k soldiers, if they would surrender earlier im sure that more soldiers would return home
@@Sven-ql3ch with the soviet treatment of POWs what it was that's doubtful A better idea would have been for Paulus to ignore Hitler and attempt a breakout
But if he ignored hitler he would have been shot as a traitor
Any dead communist is a good communist after all. I'd rather fight communism with bayonet and shovel than give in to their folly...
I read in a German memoir that the worst impact of Stalingrad was on moral. German troops had always believed they would never be left in the lurch. That if they were cut off every effort would be made to rescue them. After Stalingrad they knew that the German high command could no longer be trusted.
Yep it was a "double edged sword ". When hitler condemned the 6th army-turned out to be a very bad decision ,.But hey hitler didnt " sweet it ".
The Germans tried very hard to break through and relieve the encircled troops. The Russians stopped them. The Germans even tried air resupply, but this was wholly insufficient.
Sounds like Russian high command.
@@connorbrownrigg Not really.
@@howardsimpson489what are you even talking about?
My father worked with a German architect in the 60s. He invited his German friend and family to come skiing with us. He said he d seen enough ice and snow in Russia. He came on a picnic with us and while we we swimming I noticed he had an incredible amount of scarring on his body from bullet and shrapnel wounds. They were a nice family. I was 8 yo at the time. His name was Karl Schmidt.
Was it spelled Carl Schmitt? That guy was a very prominent nazi
My grandfather was there, with the Romanian 4th Army, 30th inf regiment, at the river Don's bend. Out of a regiment of 3.200 nominal strenght, there were only 185 survivors that made it back to their lines, after walking more than 200 km, in the Russian winter. All the rest became KIA or MIA. Walking at night, hiding by day from the prowling Russians, scavenging what they could. He arrived in the town of Rostov in mid march 1943, and was sent straight home, as unfit for front duty. Weighed just 50 kg, was 1.65 m tall. He was 32 years old, had 3 children home.
In august 1944, after Romania left the Axis and joined the Allies, he was recalled (he had 4 children home now) and sent westward, to fight the Germans and the Hungarians. He went through the liberation of Transylvania and the siege of Budapest, VE Day found him in the Banka Bistriza area, present day in Slovakia.
He arrived back home, to his village outside Bucharest in late September 1945, after WALKING all the way from Slovakia (, 1.100 km, the Russians didn't allow them to use the trains and have confiscated their vehicles, because they were of German make and considered war spoils!). He tried to get back to his farming, only to see his land and wares confiscated by the communists, who forced him to work in a collective farm. He died in 1991, delighted to see the fall of the communist regime in Romania.
From his scant stories, ( he would only talk after a couple of glasses of plum brandy) I got the details above and from the regiment's archives I tried retracing his steps and came up with the mindboggling distance of some 5.000 km, on foot, with countless engagements and fights against the Russian and the Germans
Here is one story, from so many untold ones.
Thanks for sharing :) Mulțumesc
You should write a collection of them all
Thank you very much! Amazing
As a Romanian, I am proud of your grandfather.👍
Good german propaganda buddy
When you hear the number of casualties that came out of Stalingrad, D-Day seems like barely a blip on the German radar.
not only d-day...
the US lost about 300.000 soldiers from june 44 to may 45 (6th german army alone had about 200.000 soldiers)
about 130.000 in the pacific
thats pretty few compared to eastern europe, where we talk about millions
@@Abensberg 27 million russians alone
@@42033 Russia and China had the biggest death toll by far. And both also tied up the bulk of the German and Japanese army.
@@42033 Before the war, the “Holodomor” (1932/33) killed at least 3.5 million Ukrainians, under Stalin.
@@dotarsojat7725 no ones leader was a princess at that time
Personally I'd like to thank all commenters here who gave a personal report of their relatives who survived the incredible suffering during and after this monumental battle.
No physical evidence for battle of stalingrad
@Derk Dicerk what?
The battles in Stalingrad created so many scars that the city may never heal them. No physical evidence of the bloodiest battle in ww2? Okay I feed a troll 😅
Dr. Felton, I am a Black 71 yr old man and have watching you for two years! Thank You so very much
In my small hometown near Hamburg , northern Germany , there used to be a pub during the 1970s and 1980s run by a Stalingrad survivor.
This landlord's name was Adolf L. , everybody called him "Addi" , but out of his presence we youngsters just nicknamed him , and accordingly also his place , "Einachser"(German technical slang that translates to about "single axle trailer" ), as he was one of the last severely wounded German soldiers to be flown out of the Stalingrad pocket with one of his legs severed above the knee.
He had put wooden pallets all around behind his bar , where we often used to sit for a beer or two back then , as this more elastic underground was easier and less painful for his stump and wooden leg attached to walk and stand on rather than on the hard floor.
61diemai good story!
He could have told you what Hell was like!
Anywhere near embsen?
@@KatyaLishch When you stare into the abyss...
There is an excellent book, survivors of Stalingrad by rheinhold Busch, that details many such stories, fascinating but tragic.
My great grandpa fought in Stalingrad and was one of the fortunate 6000 German soldiers in the cauldron who returned home. He was sent to a prison in Siberia and forced to mine coal. They didn't receive any food besides raw herring and onions. The mere smell of onions made him have flashbacks even when he was 97 years old. They didn't get medical supplies, attention or work breaks. He had scars all over himself black as night, from all the coal dust accumulating in the wounds. On a lighter note, he made the best waffles i ever had.
Wow, amazing he lived to such an age after living through the labour death camps. They say the winter cold wore them down; a lot of them knew they wouldn't survive the Winter after experiencing perhaps only a couple of weeks of such conditions.
If russian cruelty didn’t kill him, nothing else but age would.
That is so sweet! 😪
My grandmother was rapped by German soldiers 2 years in the row Sometimes 10 times a day. She was 14-16 yo at that time. She had 3 pregnancies from German soldiers and 2 miscarriage. My aunt were suffering from hunger until Red army came back. Grandma wasn't able to find husband because she had a German daughter until people forgot about war in a 60ies. She was suffering all her youth years.
Your garndfather came with gun to break my grandma life. Do not even dare to moan about "mean Russia". You are lucky to even able to speak German.
@@yannikoloff7659 There are plenty of reports of German soldiers being executed for rape. Are there any from russian forces? It was tolerated and encouraged. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to weigh crime vs. crime.
I love how detailed and informative the old news programs are. I absolutely love the animated drawing of maps and the front line.
My wife's maternal grandfather was a Romanian cavalry reconnaissance soldier in the Fall Blau campaign in 1942; not sure if he was attached to the 3rd or 4th Romanian Army. He was captured sometime in September or October 1942 on a recon mission east of the Don. It probably saved his life since he avoided becoming a casualty when the Red Army launched its counterattack. He spent years in a POW camp in present-day Moldova, worked in a literal salt mine, and only returned to Romania in '48 or '49. Quite a story, but all too common for Eastern Europe at that time.
One of the times "youve been promoted" means death.
Whenever I'm working outside in the summer or winter I always just remind myself I never had to go through what these men went through. Doesn't seem so bad then.
Me too god rest their souls
Me too. Me too
A friend of mine, who is native German (who moved to US as a boy with his family but still has ties in Germany) told me about an uncle who fought in Stalingrad and who got back. The uncle said that in order to get through the German lines they killed more fellow Germans than Russians.
My mother was there, she was a 22 year old Ukrainian woman who had been employed by the Wehrmacht as an interpreter in the Poltava region of Ukraine way West of Stalingrad. She was transferred to Stalingrad because she was fluent in Russian and German. The Germans were sending Hospital trains crammed with terribly wounded soldiers out of the battle which were routinely attacked by Russian partisans. My mother was asked (ordered) to accompany a German officer and one well armed Soldier on a Railway 'Shunt', a small open platform powered by a small motor which would precede the Hospital Train by some distance. They would set off at night and proceed to the locations where attacks had occurred. She told me 'when the little shunt came to a bend it would slow right down and its noisy engine was turned off the soldier would propel us along manually. In eerie silence I would use the Hailer device to appeal to the Partisans who may or may not have been lurking in wait for the Train. Loudly speaking in Russian, she would say, 'Comrades, comrades, I appeal to you to consider this, behind me is a HOSPITAL Train with severely wounded German soldiers. They are going away and never to return! I beg of you to let go! Please do not attack the Train! If the Train is attacked you know the Germans will go to the nearest Town or Village from here and will stand 10 Men and Boys up against a wall and shoot them. That is their practise. I beg you let the train pass, spassiva! She was in Stalingrad until the last Train left with all German Females in January 1943.
Fascinating 🤨
I am surprised a functional rail was still there
Wow..u must be pretty old then..more than 70 years old..and for a 70+ year old Ukrainian u speak very good English.
Also what happenedto your mother? Did she go back to Germany or Ukraine?
@@bewarsu it is clear that if she was on the German side and a woman she probably ended up in one of the 4 options - US/UK/CAN/AUS
Sorry , but in January no trains could leave Stalingrad anymore . May be , Your mother was evacuated by plane like the other women in German service .
The part about units of German soldiers escaping Stalingrad and getting back to German territory would make a great movie. Especially how they snuck through Russian territory.
Murdering and stealing all along the way.
@@garypulliam3740 makes sense. not.
There is a movie about Stalingrad that has this. Called Stalingrad, watch the 1993 version. Do not watch the remake
@Number #2 Vacuum Salesman of Marrakesh the remake just feels like a normal action movie. The 1993 version was serious and grim. The remake was all about big explosions and a big romance subplot
The Cross of Iron is kinda-sorta the closest thing to that, I think?
Mark Felton definitely has the best historical channel , period.
I think you might be close to being right. Quality interrogative content.
Suicide is forbidden.
@@nilepax8168 "Anyone caught committing suicide will be..............shot?"
100%
such incredible off the beaten track world war two history. Well done Mr Felton... as usual.
Only the videos are too short...
"This part of the battle of Stalingrad has been completely ignored by historians..." that is, until now. Mr. Felton, I am always amazed at the depth of your research. I learn something new every time👍
I love stories about Stalingrad. I just can’t imagine the struggle both sides dealt with. It had to have been hell on earth or worse.
Yes it must’ve been a better, it was hell on earth. My 18 year old father has been killed by a snipers head shot in January 1944.
Абсолютно верно это было величайшее в истории напряжение двух сил евразийского СССР и европейского из стран бывшей священной римской средневековой империи где были швабы хорваты саксы, баварцы, бельгийцы французы итальянцы австрийцы итд итп а те кто не приехали в сталинград помогали промышленностью чехи, голландцы и датчане засветились в легионах. А также их союзники венгры и румыны. А со стороны ссср помогали союзники по ленд лизу а степная монголия все свое национальное богатство отдала за эти годы весь скот все запасы
One can only imagine the terrible suffering on both sides..
In my mind this was hell on earth. Probably the most violent and brutal battle in human history. Cold, without supplies and ended up in cases of cannibalism.
Pain and suffering caused by the nazis and soviets on other nations. They deserved the pain and suffering they inflicted on each other.
@@tbrowniscool Not even close to the bloodiest or most miserable unfortunatley
@@UltmateKngofNothngthest true. Sadly, genocide, mass rape, and conquest have been part of human culture since the stone age.
@@UltmateKngofNothngthest oh really... What's your pick?
Operation Uranus, what a fitting name for an encirclement offensive in the rear lines.
LOL.
Yeah, it sure hurt.
They got them in the end.
You might say the Soviets intended to tear the Wehrmacht a new one.
I'm addicted to these things I've exhausted all documentary's I can find n these are keeping my addiction for knowledge about this conflict going.
Oft forgotten. Hats off to the cameraman who got in the thick of this to bring us incredible footage, sometime within feet, no protection.
This is one of the things that makes this channel so great. Common sense tells you that not all Germans would have surrendered when Paulus did, but I have never seen, heard or read any other historical source that even mentioned 11,000 men remaining under arms of their own accord after the surrender. Thanks once again Mark for providing the service of not letting important history be forgotten. As usual, you’re information and presentation are second to none. Best history channel on TH-cam.
This is the first I’ve heard of it too....
Agreed. I've studied WWII for 40 years. First time I have ever heard this.
@John The soviets didn't tortured or starve mass numbers of germans like the nazis did. I know suicidal bravery is impressive at one level let's not distort history while admiring it. This was evil vs evil
It was always well known... Cant understando why so many people are saying it wasnt... Hitler asked then to never surrender, so they were following Hitler's orders.
Carlos Pinto - It may have been well known but it definitely is not talked or written about enough. Common sense would assume that some Germans escaped the surrender but not thousands as we are now learning
Mark thank you for telling the side stories of WW2, as useal I was not aware of this, so keep telling th stories, so we all can learn
That's a good summary of Mark's channel. Here we find all the history that we didn't know we didn't know.
but why they did not encircle the city than assault
Do not learn from propaganda, find your own way understanding a conflict or war. Political views are rubbish who kills people
@@borninwashingmachine4582 political views are always rubbish, 90% of the time they are exaggerated or outright modified and 99% of the time biased, self questioning, investigation and a critic, skeptical mindset seems to be the only reasonable way to actually learn history
You wouldn't have as the old saying goes, "the victor writes history, the lower is forgotten". I love Marks channel and hearing the German side. We only ever hear about the 'glorious' allied feats and the Germans defeat after defeat
Thank you Mark for reporting on WWII. I'm a war history buff, but you are a Master at one of my favorite subjects.
“The street is no longer measured by meters but by corpses ... Stalingrad is no longer a town. By day it is an enormous cloud of burning, blinding smoke; it is a vast furnace lit by the reflection of the flames. And when night arrives, one of those scorching howling bleeding nights, the dogs plunge into the Volga and swim desperately to gain the other bank. The nights of Stalingrad are a terror for them. Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure.”
Max Hastings
What a horrible hopeless situation to find yourself in.
The place is still crap today
Kind of asked for it though XD.
@@ruairimonophthalmos5458 As a whole I agree but think about being a 17 or 18 year old kid who signed up with his buddies and is now in a Russian cellar with no food in minus 30degree weather just waiting to die.
You mean service in German army during ww2?
This is the real war for you. Not the summer walking along bombing some unequipped locals.
I'd always heard that Stalingrad was important, but I never really knew how important until that old film explained its strategic importance. Thanks for finding those bits of film.
True. I always heard it was a vanity project for Hitler. Wow, the city really was important for Hitler to take as a route to the Caucus oil fields off the Caspian Sea.
Thanks, again to Dr. Felton!
Same
Essentially when Stalingrad was lost, Germany lost the war at that point.
@@murphy6700 Its pretty insane to think, that german frontline was stretched in that point to over 3000 kilometres long, in the middle was Moscow what could have been invaded. But as history tells us uncle addi made huge mistake against suggestions of his generals.
Я очень рад что показали видео про Сталинград, ведь мой прадед и я сам родились в этом чудесном городе, мой прадед воевал под Сталинградом и я скажу вам, он не был готов к такой мясорубке ведь каждый дом был в трупах по его расказам он говорил мне что видел немца который был вовсе без глаз и пол лица у него небыло, у него до сихпор остались эти жуткие моменты в его памяти, из его расказов я помню то как он делал переправу через Волгу вместе с его младшим братом чтобы укрепиться на позиции.
Потом немецкие истребители начинали пикировать на их плот
Цетирую:
-Я видел как мой брат лежал в воде без ног и постепенно умерал..
Сразу наворачивались слёзы
У моего деда.
Прежде, он не видел такой жестокости и кровопролития за всю свою жизнь, ведь он УБИВАЛ!!! ЛЮДЕЙ, ему было 17 лет как он уже в армии помню он мне говорил что один раз когда шли рукапашные бои он убил деда которому было на вид 50 лет и тот дед смотрел на него с улыбкой и со слезами со взглядом непонимания и боли умирая с ножом в печени.
Я очень боюсь войны потому что мой дед пережил то что и врагу не пожилаешь
Google has translated your story for me. I hope you can read this reaction. What you tell about your grandfather is very impressive. I'm sure he fought bravely. He must have witnessed both the worst and hopefully the best mankind has to offer. God bless him.
@@qgde3rty8uiojh90 да, надеюсь что война никогда не начнётся ведь мы все люди, а люди это общество которое сохранилось до сих пор, США, Европа и Азия это просто места где живут люди со своими интересами и историями, по этому нужно сохранить этот мир, а не уничтожать
He weak and a coward. My uncle killed over 200 Nazis .
,,цИтирую,,..через И.И, кое где ещё...
боялся ты или не боялся, Путька всё решил за нас
My dad was at Stalingrad, was badly wounded and evacuated before it’s down fall.
Ur lying
I love these documentaries cos they're just the facts. Thats it. Not a stupid reality series. Just the facts. Thank you Mark!
Soviet Union 90% Won in WW2...
El CUCUY russia was needed for the defeat of germany, i dont believe americans would sacrifice millions for victory
Not only that but also Mark's storytelling is great and he keeps you interested.
& lots of BS, Glory for what ????????
And lots of ignoring of facts as well. He says that history largely ignored these events even though history teachers whose students felt they had better things to do than stay awake in order to graduate high school have been teaching these events for more than 50 years!
An uncle of mine was in Stalingrad as a blacksmith. The German army had many horses and , therefore, also many blacksmith. He had much luck, caught a frost bite and was flown out. He was a very calm man not talking about it all. A grandfather of my wife was as a "Sanitäter" i. e. a medic (not a doctor) in Stalingrad and lighly wounded. He should not be flown out. The doctor saw him and asked him how many children he had. 6 was the answer. The doctor thought ... and then covererd arms and legs with bandages so that he looked like a severe wounded soldier ... and was flown out and survided the war. He, too, never talked about Stalingrad
My Grandfather was also a WW2 veteran, he never spoke about it.
that's a kind doctor who allowed the medic to leave. Sad not to know any stories, but it probably is a horrifying experience, so they kept quiet.
@Duke of Istria Definitly based
Their military codes had been cracked by then. The allies knew most of their moves way ahead of time.
@Duke of Istria you seem to have a very poor understanding of WWII if you think the entire Soviet Army were true fanatical Communists and I'm shocked by your praise for the killing of them. They were people like you and I and a people that had been deeply persecuted by the Nazi and Axis forces and were in many circumstances fighting for their lives. The mass liquidation of towns in Belarus and Russia and the millions of people who died there and fighting Hitler especially those from the Soviet Union means the freedom of speech you now have the pleasure having here is a bi-product of the many sacrifices they made.
My ex-father-in-law was a young German soldier in the Panzers. One night when we were both drinking some honey schnapps in his Man-cave (his shed), he told me that in the first battle his unit was in, the whole unit was wiped out and he was the only survivor and was taken prisoner by the Red Army. I’ve read many books about how the Russians treated the Germans and it was nearly always bad, but for some reason my ex father-in-law had nothing but nice things to say about Russians. He wasn’t released from the POW camp until about 1949 or 1950, and when he got back to Wanne Eickel (near Dortmund) and met my ex-mother-in-law he was emaciated and sick. He passed away in the 90’s I believe, but I have always wondered why he spoke of the Russians so favourably - re-education/brain washing possibly? I will never know now. It makes me wish I’d asked him more about it. But as with all war veterans, speaking about it can be a touchy subject. Love your channel @Mark Felton. Always something interesting to learn about the history of World War 2.
Probably because he knew the horrors executed by the German army and had little reason to believe he would return alive.
Perhaps One of them befriended and took up for him.They are people too
Maybe what we hear about the Red Army was a product of the Cold War….
Maybe after hearing a first hand account that entirely contradicts the second and third and fourth hand accounts, you should think about the idea that maybe you're the one who's been brainwashed.
I'll take things that never happened for 500
One of the best channels I've discovered on TH-cam. I appreciate your work a lot.
Never heard of the holdout German units before. Thanks for bringing this to light.
Iuiip
You’re not going to hear about that after, neither. The guy is full of crap.
@@TRYOK mini and you)kllpp
@@pot_kivach160 How is he full of crap?
@@patrickmorrissey3084 Read my other 2 posts below.
Mark Felton a real Historian and not someone who thinks they know history. I respect that
I can't stand most of the youtubers and book writers today, all they want to do is grind their axe or promote their pet theories that 'debunk' everyone else ie actual historians who lived at the time of the war.
I like watching these old videos..Mark does a great job bringing them back to life!
The History Channel V Mark Felton = no contest. He is a master. Thanks for all the little treasures!
i lived in Germany in the 70`s, the old veterans never wanted to talk about the war. back then anybody over 40 seemed to me to be bitter and miserable. i went to a school in Euskirchen, we had a teacher in his late 30`s, one day he suddenly talked about a war experience , he was nine years old when he was shot at by an american fighter plane strafing the town at anything that moved, i was the only foreigner in the class, he looked at me several times while telling his story....Ironically, the first German book i ever read was entitled ; Das Herz der 6`er Armee ...detailed account of a German medical unit in Stalingrad and what the doctors witnessed.
My Uncle Rudi (1921-2000) lost his right lower leg at Stalingrad trying to take the high ground over seeing the last air field. They placed him away from the aid station in the cold and he watched lice leave the cooling bodies and head toward warmer ones.
Suddenly a light "Storche" landed and he waved to the pilot and said "Wie gehts!" The pilot pointed at him and he was loaded into the back. After they took off, a number of holes appeared and he passed out. Several days later he woke up on a train headed back to Germany.
I did not get some of his stories until the mid 1970s. Prior all I knew was that he lost his leg during the war.
My mother lost a brother, my uncle Wilhelm "Willie" who went M.I.A., Vistula, Arch, Poland. His Name is recorded at the Pulawy German War Cemetery, Polesie Duze, Pulawy, Poland.
My father was a brand new US Army replacement at the end of the war and saw his first dead bodies near then at Dachau. He was a guard for the concentration camp guards trials. After his first enlistment he returned home then later re-enlisted and was sent back to Germany in time to serve two rotations as a guard at Nuremberg.
In time he met my mother and later they married. Before we left Germany in 1965 and he retired from active duty, he took us to Dachau and told us what he saw. After that he did not say much about it. I do remember his admonition, "Never forget this."
@@jrcrin001 My grandfathers were veterans of WW2, and they taught my father, mother, and in turn us grandchildren to never forget, either. What is despicable is there are comments in this very video from people who were not there that it all never happened. And this is how such atrocities repeat themselves throughout history.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Did the book describe how German soldiers rounded up Russian civilians - men, women, and children - and sent the healthy ones to work camps and executed those that couldn't work?
@Revolting Peasant I hope I would at least have the courage to mention these4 inhumanities and not put everything on the Russians. By the way, an ad hominem argument is the refuge of the incompetent.
In May 1990 I went to Volgograd (Stalingrad was re-named in 1961) with a group of students. We visited the museum and walked around the sites of urban warfare around the ruins of the factories. Our tourist guides were old Russian men in their 70s, veterans of the battle, the chests of their suits plated with medals. What I found remarkable was their friendly attitude toward us. To be honest I never met any Russians (or Americans, for that matter) who held a grudge against us, despite the atrocities of the war.
At that difficult times German soldiers were pressured under insane leadership, sent by an self-rewarded coward, into, obviously -deadly outcome. Stalin was a battle hero, not a good leader for his people. Killing own troops is a treason. Name WWI and WWII requires research on how it happened, what makes it repetitive, initiated, attacking citizens, children, without any purpose.
I think up to the 1960s were different. I knew some American students who traveled in East Europe and were at first mistaken for Germans.
Oh c'mon the Reds were worse than nazis
@@daniellap.stewart6839 you dumb sheep, he said about the German and Russian peoples, not about reds and nazis🤦
@@daniellap.stewart6839 yeah... Like Treblinka-worse?
Nazis and Soviets were criminals. But when it comes to WW2, the soviets had the right to defend themselves. Eye for an eye.
And thanks for a fresh presentation of a subject endlessly explored. With rarely-seen footage too. Brilliant!
Hello there from Poland, I am impressed by your films, which I regularly watch with great pleasure. Excellent job! However, let me make one remark here. The scene in 14.47 shows the facade of the Polish post office in Gdańsk under assault by the German troops in September 1939, and not a building in Stalingrad. Best wishes and greetings - Krzysztof
14:47
Many YT creators use stock footage that is freely available and free to use under copyright law.
Speaking of Poland, Konstantin Rokossovsky, who was briefly shown in the video was of Polish descent. That general was briefly imprisoned by Stalin, who was famously murderous towards Polish officers but Rokossovsky’s life was spared, and he was released due to the shortage of experienced officers. Rokossovsky’s audacity and military acumen eventually propelled him to the rank of Marshall of the Soviet Union and at the end of the war, he was given the honor of organizing the victory parade with Marshal Zhukov inspecting.
@@Anonymous-by5jp Rokossovsky became Polish officer only in 1949, before that he was officer of Russian Empire and USSR.
Mark: "...at least that is what the history books tell us."
Me: *heavy breathing*
An unbelievably dark time in history.
germens once said this in ww2
Hitlers come and go but germens stay the same
Robert Trindade i think he is talking about the reality that AfD is getting stronger everyday in Germany
Evil almost prevailed.
@@javirivera4395 The soviets were and are evil.
@@robreke Soviets don't exist anymore.
Did any of the hold outs make it back to German lines?
Damn Mark. I really thought I knew EVERYTHING about this particular battle. Until now. Fantastic work once again!
I'm alive today living under great stress and loneliness.
Nothing compared to what those men went through. This video gives me strength
👍🏼⛓️
a year later and I hope you are doing well, Jo Jo..............
goodluck
Remember what your ancestors have lived through and try to make them proud
There’s no such thing as loneliness if you have a higher power, whatever your ego will allow yourself to see as “above oneself” it doesn’t have to be a religious thing.
If Mark Felton would've been my teacher at school I wouldn't have such a hard life I reckon. Mark thankyou.
My grandfather was one of those only 5000 Germans who made it back to Germany. He was captured outside Stalingrad by the Soviets and held in a temporary small PoW camp at a farm where escape, although difficult, was still possible. He urged his comrades to make an attempt to flee because according to justified rumors they were supposed to be force-marched or transported into Siberian labor camps shortly. But nobody wanted to follow him because conditions at this farm PoW camp were kind of acceptable compared to a gruesome thousands of miles long escape march back to Germany. He made it in a year-long solitude stealth march where he had to steal food and clothes from farms and even kill some civilians or Soviet soldiers in order to survive. For example when he had to cross some river one night there apparently was no other choice than to kill the ferryman. He was always very reluctant to talk in detail about this ordeal but one fact he mentioned was that he never heard anything of his friends from the PoW camp ever again. The more I learn about the fate of German soldiers in Soviet captivity the more proud I am of my grandfather.
Worthy of a book or movie. Seriously.
Он убил МИРНОГО жителя. Что еще можно ждать от немецкого солдата.
I read a good book on this subject back in the 60s called ,AS FAR AS MY FEET WILL CARRY ME.about a German prisoner escaping from a Siberian prison camp and was eventually made into a film
They should have attempted escape as soon as Operation Uranus started but a really stubborn guy said no.
A certain Mr.Mustache got in the way.
True, but the entire soviet campaign was doomed to failure from the outset. Should never have followed the stubborn guy!
Breakout was impossible so if they tried they would all just get killed.
MaTeS breakouts when an enemies defence of the encirclement is weak is possible, if you attack with a coordinated push with air cover and maybe support from a relief attempt, then you might be able to save most of the pocket
@@jacoblee8989 There was no way that the 6th army breakout was possible germans were outnumbered, supplies were missing, thousands of wounded and hard russian winter.
The looks in the eyes of these men from history just sends me the chills.
I think I would have committed suicide rather than be captured or surrender.
@@DRILL-SGT.HARTMAN Back in America in the old wild west days, if you were fighting Indians, you never used up all your amo. You always saved one bullet for yourself.
Being captured by American Indians was not a good thing. How would you like being "scalped" while still alive?
I know it wasn't the Indians that started that tradition, but they sure did pick it up and run with it.
Being dead, they couldn't take their frustrations out on me. Or use me for any work in their atrocious camps. Where your chance of survival was next to nothing.
@@im1who84u Yup, not even a joke. You'll live for about 4-5 days after being scalped before dying from infection it's a slow death. Another one of their methods was creating an incision in the abdomen and letting the individuals guts hang out to be eaten by ants / crows etc. You'd live for about 2 days of complete agony in that circumstance. They had some fairly... creative ways of making people suffer. My favorite (in a macabre way) was cutting a hole in ice, putting the person in the water up to their knees and the water would freeze over and crush / cut their knees off before hypothermia could take hold and kill the person.
@@DigitalRX2r No thanks, I'll save a bullet for myself. Maybe two in case the first one is a dud.
I usually don't watch m felton productions , but when i do, it's ones like this one , lets hope if things in Mariupol become dire, a similar scenario will occur .
One of my Opa's brothers died at Stalingrad in February of '43. We don't know how or why, my family simply got a death notice with the date. It also makes me wonder how his death notice went through official channels out of that hellish place.
One thing about Germans is they are known to be good at keeping records.
"Enjoy the war while you can," a common joke in the ranks went, "because the peace will be terrible!"
Sadly this is still true for many veterans
My grandpa’s brother was a Red Army soldier who died in Stalingrad
I love Mark Felton ww2 stories!
I love how paulus got promoted to field marshal and straight up said, "nah bro, im not killing myself and my men for nothing". But I bet he would have fought on if he knew that only 5 thousand of his men would ever see home again... I know I would have literally fought to the last man if I had knowledge that basically non of us would go home anyways.
Mark, once again you find a bit of obscure forgotten history and weave it into a great story. Well done as you are brilliant at it.
Nah, i'm upset that there's not enough ancient aliens in these
@@FunnyCallsPrank Careful. The Pawn Shop and Junk Store Channel formerly known as The History Channel will try to hire you.
Everybody quiet, I'm watching Mark felton productions.
My grandmother was German, and there are many tales of her side of the family, including an uncle who was a doctor drafted to the Russian front with the 6th army. After capture heescaped from a freight train to Siberia and made it back through the winter to German lines, but none of his comrades joined him and went to their silent deaths. He was one of the lucky 5,000. Thank you for filling in some of the gaps!
At last I now understand why the Germans fought so long and hard at Stalingrad. For the longest time I thought why didn't they just go around, or bypass the place and go to capture the Oilfields.
Dr. Feldman your explanations are the very Best.
That news reel at the beginning made the Stalingrad decision make a lot more sense. What a great clip to give context.
No German Field Marshall has ever surrendered.
Paulus:"Well, first time for everything."
@Hugo Holesch It was meant as a joke. Think a bit and you´ll see the difference.
Plus, Paulus joined anti-Hitler group in Soviet captivity.
@Hugo Holesch Its the same thing. He could have tried to fight them, but I'm pretty sure when the put a gun in his face he put his hands up and went with them. That is surrendering. He could have fought to the end and been killed by them. I doubt they dragged him out there kicking and screaming; and even if he did there probably was a gun laying around somewhere. He could have used it to shoot the soviets, but he didn't. Therefore he is showing a preference towards being captured, rather than death.
@dwiggins01 True. He did most likely know he would get special treatment. I do wonder how he felt about the was situation immediately after stalingrad. Interesting thought.
Excellent as always!
I hate I missed this when it came out, awesome content as usual as I never fail to learn something from the good Doctor.
Saying the Luftwaffe failed to supply 6th army gives Göring too much credit, because it implies that there was a possibility for them to succeed in the first place lol.
Exactly, Going was too focused on desperately trying to keep/regain Hitler's favour.
@parklawnz He lost more planes than he had due to damage and repair and he was still supplying demyansk by air since it was some what precarious.
Im actually surprised they provided what they did
DUNKIRK
Hermann Goeoring; “ my luftwaffe will take care of that”
BATTE OF BRITAIN
Hermann Goeoring; “ my luftwaffe will take care of that”
RUSSIA
Hermann Goeoring; “ my luftwaffe will take care of that”
dammn was Goering actually an allied spy?
All hitlers fault.
He was advised to heavily invest in very long range bombers and transports in the 30s years before war broke out.
He didn’t listen.
@@thesnoopmeistersnoops5167 We can't just blame Hitler, we have to blame the Luftwaffe.
1. The Luftwaffe FAILED to supply 6th army not because of bombers, but because of the losses.
2. The Red air force managed to destroy a lot of the transports to the Germans.
I swear Mark Felton, The History Guy, and The Engineer Guy are like educational ASMR
And Hardcore History by Dan Carlin
Andy Niedel (sp?), Invictus, and 10 Minute History need to be on that list, too.
Don't forget Drachinifel
My favorites are TIK and Mark Felton.
If you like those you might also like Project Farm!
My father was a mechanic,he had to maintain the panzers and other vehicles,he was 20 km in front of Moscow when the had to retreat,
Maps of the city had been previously handed out to each soldier…but the supply lines were cut of which caused the final downfall
Он был нацистом? Рассказывал как убивал русских, украинцев, белорусов?
А как людей жгли в печи в ваших лагерях он рассказывал?
Не приходите к нам больше никогда!
Job twoja maty
My Grandfather Richard was in the Wehrmacht and part of the 6.Armee and fought in Stalingrad. He was one of the first group of soldiers what arrived there in late summer. He told that it was from the beginning horrible. The things what they did.
When the winter came they took the weapons and clothing of the dead or heavy wounded Russian soldiers and a quote from him was: „that just here and there in a hole or broken building was laying a Landser (the german short therm for ground forces) and fighting for something what was already lost.“ His toes was almost falling of from frostbite and he was sendet home just a few days before the Stalingrad pocket was completely closed. His luck was that a befriended owner of a kaolin mine in Sudeten Germany near Karlsbad wrote a letter to the Wehrmacht, that he need him to work in this mine to build the tunnels. He don’t had to go back and that guy saved him from are almost guaranteed death. I still get the shivers when I think about his stories.
Every army field manual: Never fight a battle in a city.
And if you must, don't bomb it to pieces first.
Just nuke ot
Yeah but the manuel was write after stalingrad
Not true. A city can be very advantageous for a defensive army and as you see in Stalingrad it more or less swallowed a whole army. There is also a reason, why most armies go around cities and only start attacking it after encirclement. Cities a pretty much a huge bunker complex for defenders.
Unless it must be taken.
At this time my grandpa was a motorcycle courier in the Hungarian Royal Army. (Signal unit's motorcycle courier)
He was not in the first line of the front until when this is really happened. 6:56
An officer won't let them flee, but commanded his reserve small signal unit to a machine gun nest where the Solothrun 31M Light machinegun should be manned.
The light machine gun just jammed for bad condition and the officer changed his mind and ordered them to get the hell outta there.
Lucky man
Good officer. Smart officer
That shot of the statues of dancing children with the carnage of Stalingrad behind them was brutal.
A tragedy; the villains won.
aliens: 0%
secret Antarctic bases: 0%
logging: 0%
ice road trucking: 0%
_History: 100%_
FOR THE SOVIET UNION, I CHARGE FORWARD
@@donsly375
KOMUNISTAAAAAANNN!!!
@@aleembaksh1880 Do you serve the Union, cumrade
I know what you mean. To see what the History Channel in Canada has become, breaks my heart. So many stories to tell but all they show is just trash.
Well, Mr. Felton did do a video on the theory of "Secret Nazi Antarctic Base - Fact or Fiction?"
One of my great grandfathers fought in Stalingrad and managed to escape - as far as I know with some of his comrades.
My grandfather told me, that he never talked about the war in his whole life except for one time,
where he accidentally broke silence by saying about Stalingrad "If we did not have our MPs, we wouldn't be alive today."
I cant imagine what he had gone through and was too young when he was still alive to know about what the war actually meant.
what's MP?
@@ente866 Maschine Pistol - referring to the MP40
So he must have been an officer or something, because MPs weren't handed out to regular soldiers. MPs were in very short supply, so the regular German unit outfit consisted of Kar98s and the all important MG.
I wonder how the war would have went if the StGs were avalible at the start of the war, or just many more MPs.
@@vitman2409 I honestly can't tell you. My great grandfather died around 2005, when I was like 10 years old. So I never really could have talked with him about serious stuff. Also like I said, he never really mentioned the war and I did not often talk with my grandfather about him, as he a bad relationship with him.
So the only thing I know is this thing I mentioned in the original comment and also I think that my grandfather mentioned, that my great grandfather also was in Berlin '45. But it's just very vague from this point on.
General consensus is apart from about 40 men who actually escaped Stalingrad after air relief stopped (most whom were killed in the train they were in when it was attacked by russian airplanes), no-one else escaped except by plane (est-30/40k wounded and 2000 essential personnel).
Then there's the units that were cut-off from the 6th army all together (but belonged to the 6th army), a lot of these did make it back (but did fight at Stalingrad).
Over the years I too heard stories of individual smaller units, so-called kampfgruppe's (cobbled-together units of all types and arms), units actually stuck inside of the pocket, punching back to German lines, they were small enough that they weren't given much notice (if any) by Soviet pursuers.
The Nazi's certainly never would have made any official mention of it, their stance was that anyone left in the pocket = Fight to the last man, I'd imagine the leaders of these kampfgruppe's (having ordered the breakthrough of their group, against standing orders to fight to the last man) to be in deep sh*t.
Historians in general have taken the stance that absolutely no-one, apart from those 40 men, ever made it back.
Issue is, said historians only ever relied on official records, but official Nazi stance was the soldiers at Stalingrad fought to the last... So there's that.
We don't know the full picture.
This was a fascinating video. Thanks for all your hard work.
That statue... Probably in a former children's playground, maybe a town center..
They dance in a circle, hands clasped.. eyes on each other's happy faces.. Except for the boy on the far left of the pic.
He stares at the engulfed, battered & burning building not far behind him. He seems confused, or unsure about what is happening to the world that surrounds him.. Haunting.
Much like the stone apostle, perched high above the wasted city of Dresden up in the church belfry.. looking down with that outstretched hand.. As if only wishing he could offer mercy & assistance where there is none. War truly is hell
A Russian in an interview in the 1980's stated that in lulls in the fighting he could hear the Germans talking and smell their food and cigarette smoke. It then occurred to him that they could hear smell him and his comrades as well.
In WWI the minimum distance of the French and German trenches was 8m. So close that using the artillery was not possible, because it would most certainly hit the own men.
@@janbosenberg107 That's within hand grenade distance though
Imagine. First Floor hold by Germans. Second Floor hold by Russians. Third Floor hold by Germans and fourth Floor hold by Russians. Crazy.
@@maverickwsv And the polish and checks and othe easter europeans bringing supplies to the Germans..
@@maverickwsv Maneuver the 1st and 3rd floor to take the second (as the second is cut off), and then get back down to the first floor and demolish the building.
I recall in another's historic video that some of these "holdouts" actually fired upon a Red Army ceremonial formation in the days after the official surrender. But I had not known that there were 11,000 of them. 11,000 dead men walking.
11000 german survivors or 11000 soviets?
Probably germans, but wow.
Better dead than red.
@@MrMalicious5 OK boomer
Those renegade German soldiers had to resort to cannibalism to survive the winter ...
@@MrMalicious5 better dead than feel the wrath of men whose family was killed by your comrades
Makes you wonder if treating POW's more decently is actually a good strategy. Maybe they'd be less reluctant to surrender.
My grandfather's friend was flown out of the Kessel sick with jaundice where they met at the military hospital where my grandfather served, becoming lifelong friends. I asked him once to tell me about his experiences in Stalingrad, but he wouldn't share anything. The memories were obviously too painful even years later.
Земля стекловатой твоему прадеду
My Grandpa lost his Leg in Stalingrad after a direct Artillery hit. Good bless the Pilot who flew him out before the 6. Army surrendered.
That artillery hit should be thanked as well!. It got him on the plane.
How long did your grandpa live?
@@wakeup8052 He died 2008. Next week i'll get my grandpas archived documents from the WASt in Berlin.
@@maverickwsv damn man you must be so proud your grandfather was a true MAN
@@atlaskaiser693 I'm not really sure what you are seems to be?
Was he forced or did he volunteer to join the Wehrmacht?
Historically, it's a fascinating place to visit. I was there in September 2014. Incredible museum and many sites throughout the city, from the flour mill to Pavlov's house to the grain elevator. Paulus' headquarters is still there in the basement of the former GUM department store. It's virtually intact and is surprisingly free admission. His kubelwagon is there too. The Motherland statue at night is breathtaking. We then flew from Volgograd to St. Petersburg which would be roughly the length of the eastern front in the summer of 1942. A vast country. Great video Mark.
Have you seen the "Bald and Baulder"(?) travel TH-cam series? He visited and it was fascinating. Lots of drunks laying about. Something tells me it's never been a great place where to live. There's a book written back in the 90's after the fall of the USSR where the author was able to travel outside the city limits and find bone fragments sticking out of the ground!
@@christopherfritz3840 "never been a great place to live"? Especially not under a bloody nazi siege.. something telling me someone is butthurt
He was only Paulus didn’t have the Von
The story of Mamaev Kurgan was one that particularly grabbed me, although there are many interesting facets of the stalingrad story.
@@jameseadie7145 That's significant, as you're likely aware, with a "Von" before his name Hitler may not have taken to Paulus as readily as he did, and thus may not have risen to such exalted if doomed heights.
no one ever provides the extreme detail that felton does, truly impressive, it would do the youth of today well to watch these videos
You should do one about the Stalingrad underground war, or the " war in the sewers" after the surrender. That would be an interesting video.
Contrary to popular opinion, Stalingrad clearly had great strategic value for the Germans.
The Germans reached their goal by destroying the Industrial section of the city.
I've learned that there's always an underlying economic or strategic reason for wars and battles. Nationalism and religion are merely used for rallying troops and civilians or justifying the cause.
@@Charlesputnam-bn9zy that was not their main goal. Their main goal was to control the city and cut off supplies that russia was receiving from the allies through the Volga.
@@Charlesputnam-bn9zy Not really, as shown in this video their strategic goal was to secure the entire city and then use it as a hub to supply operations in the south (the Volga river would also form a formidable barrier for the coming Soviet winter counter-offensive). If their goal was to reduce its industrial output, they would've just bombed the crap out of it and by-passed it.
@@solomonsudi8657 symbolic- stalin name
Strategic- like you said plus oil
And set up the invasion of the middle east to meet with rommel
I can’t imagine what these men went through on both sides but I have worked at an Amazon Fulfillment Center before.
I always learn something new from Mark Felton. Thank you.
Incredibly well done report. Thank you!
My great grandfather fought with the ARMIR Italian division in the Stalingrad operations of Barbarossa. He lost most of his hand in a skirmish with soviet forces and was eventually captured. Though, he managed to escape travelling through rural eastern Europe, scavenging whatever he could, sometimes eating from pig troughs. He eventually made it back to Italy alive. When he arrived in his village he was apparently unrecognisable with a dishevelled appearance, extremely thin, and a great beard.
Message from England. Your Great Grandfather is a top man. Hope he had a long and easier life afterwards,
Твой дед сбежал с поля боя как трус
@@zelex112 Ya dumayu on molodets
An uncle of mine who was injured at the hospital in Romania in WW2 told me half of the patients in the hospital lounge,were injured italian soldiers.Greetings from Romania.
The moral of the story is that if the enemy thinks he will be killed, tortured or treated badly upon capture, he will fight on, killing more of your own men.
That's only really a problem if you value your own troops' lives above killing the enemy. Not sure that Stalin did. Also, it encourages the enemy to run away rather than risk capture.
That's actually one of best, but rarely used war strategies. Reduce the enemy's morale to fight, without great damage.
Yep. I saw this in Iraq and Afghanistan.
@@mosulman7773 thank you for your service. ❤🇺🇲🙏
I would say that the moral of the story is dont start a war with more enemies you can handle, or your country will end up leveled and in debt, besides milliones of dead, missing, raped and traumatised(again)
Nice reminder of a little known part of a horrific struggle. Thx.
The statue of children playing was outside the "Voksal" train station. Russian railway engineers, visiting London in 19th century, asked for the word for "train station" in English. "Vauxhall" was the reply.