This format of combining your organisational analysis and talking about a battle is amazing. Your map animations are also very good. Keep up the good work and do more of this format please
I am a huge WW2 military tactics fanboy. Watched a lotta documentaries, mini docs like urs. You did a very very good job with visual representation. For me battlefield TV series is the peak, u did something even better visually than that TV series.
Enjoy this style of video a lot. It seems to have a large amount of research behind it which is great! the videos editing really is enjoyable to watch. Keep up the great work!
It s so good to see a video in English about the French during ww2 which isn't just "French bad French surrender" and it touched me especially because I live in those towns and this battlefield is very familiar to me
Those who know, know. If someone makes stupid jokes about surrender and white flags you instantly know they have no idea about WWII and can freely ignore them
@@czwarty7878 Too bad this part of the population (even in france to some extent) is the vast majority and shapes the culture with movies, stories, songs, and even youtube videos. And in the part that knows, there is a big portion that don't really care. For example, Dunkirk movie from Nolan silently aknowledges the French with... only one scene with French guys holding a line. Then, the main French representation is a soldier trying to pass as English to flee. And the whole movie, while being in France and being symbolically the last battle before French surrender (yes there were others but you get what I mean), finds a way to only be about the Brits escaping (which is also a great story, and something to be proud for the anglos of course). The movie covers the theme of sacrifice (to save others), but does not talk about the "pointless" sacrifice of the French forces who are now fighting a lost war (for France, of course Britain is still in the game) only for pride / honor at that point. I think this is the biggest "missed opportunity" to rehabilitate the French in anglo medias in recent years.
My great-grandfather was in the 5th free french armored division, as a shooter in a sherman tank, he was wounded at Verlans while all the tank crew died, he passed away recently, I would like to thank you for talking about the free french forces of the late war and the conquest of germany, this being a fascinating but uknown subject. Thanks a lot
Wait, the tactical group Billotte... commanded by Pierre Billotte, THE Pierre Billotte of Stonne? Whose B1 Bis destroyed 13Panzers in a single engagement in 1940? You ought to have mentioned that..
The French 2nd Armoured is actually a great story. Not just the military aspect, but the political one as well. Those boys fought just as hard as any, and that formation deserves every bit of credit they get.
French troops have been extremely efficient during the entire war. Hitler called them second to germans only in combat. The caricatural view most americans have of the french in ww2 requires decades of omissions and falsehoods when recalling history.
One thing I would like to point out that this was actually the first battle for Panzer Brigade 112 and many, many of its soldiers. Formation of Panzer Brigades 111, 112 and 113 begun on 2.9.44 by forming from 3 training centers. They begun transfer to front on the 5th. This battle took place in 11-13.9. Unit was formed, equipped and destroyed in less then 2 weeks!
just like the French in the invasion of France, conscripts were drafted and given a B1bis then sent to the front without training to speak of some tanks were scuttled after running out of fuel on transit because they weren't told that the fuel wouldn't go to the auxiliary tank until you toped up the main tank, cutting the autonomy by 3 or so other tank would break down due to maintenance mistakes for the same reasons.
@Marcelo Henrique Soares da Silva Panzer Lehr was mostly destroyed by Allied bombing around D-Day. It was attached to the I SS-Panzerkorps. Destroyed in naval and aerial bombardment along with them was the 12 SS-Panzer Division 'Hitlerjugend'. Fritz Witt and most of the division leadership staff were also killed. Plus, the French did not face any good German units. They either had been destroyed or were on the eastern front. Even the Waffen-SS units were rebuilds after having lost most of the panzers at Tarnopol, Western Poland or during Bagration. So this video is a misnomer. Examples: 1 and 2 SS-Panzer, both were in France for rest and re-fitting. 9 and 10 SS-Panzer had relieved Tarnopol and desperately needed re-fitting. 21 Panzer was understrength and poorly led. 2 and 9 Panzer had not received their allotments.
As the germans in 1940. They always faced the easier picks, and got praised for their efficiency. The frenchs, in the other hand, had no air superiority so they fought without supplies, without proper communications, outnumbered on every attack without recon...
It’s cool to hear of battles like this from the French’s perspective instead of just the American or British battles. I’m an American saying this as well. I’m not naive and know that they too played a crucial role in liberating their own country and helping with the offensive into Germany. Unfortunately, you just don’t hear much about what they did in American history classes growing up lol. Respect to the French military on such a decisive victory.
Sidenote, the naval infantry-crewed tank destroyers had excellent range estimation...Having installed a few scavenged naval rangefinders on their wolverines; And the p47s efficiency was reinforced by the french tanks which, on top of direct radio link with the french commander, were shooting coloured smoke shells to indicate german tanks positions.
From France....Many thanks to you for this beautiful page of the French army. After years of "French bashing" it is worth recalling that the Germans suffered more human and material losses in May-June 40 than during the first 6 months of the Russian War, and also the 3 months that followed the D-Day. (156,000 dead and wounded, 1,000 aircraft and 1,800 tanks). Our soldiers did not surrender. They lowered their arms in obedience to the power in place, desiring the armistice. Thanks again. Vive la France !
Absolutly right. Loss in 1940 was mainly tactical and then political. But all tactics then in 1940 where still inherited from previous war. Only some generals on each side believed in regrouping tanks in one sole division and using air + armor full coordination to pierce. on french side, you had General Estienne, and De Gaulle of course. On German side, Guderian ! the difference is that on the german side, GHQ and Hitler decided to follow this way. Not to forget neither that the first german plan in 1940, was to push through Belgium. And it's because the plans where discovered by the allies, that Hitler changed and adopted Manstein's plan to go through the Ardennes, and gained a major tactical surprise ! Things would have been different otherwise. And as you said, even though, the campaign of France was a harsh one for germans, on wehrmacht side and as well on luftwaffe side. The loss of many aircraft will be very usefull for the battle of britain.
As a former battery commander of 2nd battery / 40th Artillery, which supported Subgroup Minjonnet, it's a pleasure to watch this kind of video ! Kudos to the Battle Order team. Edit : I meant as a recent former Bty commander. I wasn't there, and not that old 😉. This battle is actually not well known even to my regiment. I'm proud Battle Order chose it for a video.
@@IoachimSavianPopovici Read the edit, he wasn't there. From what i understand of his comment, i think he means that he was the commander of that unit after the war.
I'm kinda surprised that the 2nd Blindée and the French and French colonial forces in general don't get much recognition from this battle, the lesser known Colmar pocket or their combat actions in Italy. Specially the mentioned Regiment du Marche du Tchad, which became specially notorious for being the first allied unit to enter Paris with their 9th company, formed by Spanish republican exiles (and ended the war alonside the 101sr AB division in the Eagle's Nest). Good video my dude.
@@austerlitz7344 Yep, the Vichy regime was nazi. No, the french weren’t cowards in 1941, but the victims of a highly incompetent (right-wing) government who had been unable (or unwilling…) to take the measure of the german threat and to arm the country accordingly.
No, Vichy wasn't exactly nazi per se. It had some fascists political parties but its governance, as Francoist Spain, was more centered around ultraconservatives than fascists.
This is brilliantly presented. I can’t imagine the amount of work that went into this, but clearly it’s well researched and professionally presented. Congratulations!
Absolute 10/10 production quality! Providing breakdowns of what units were involved, highlighting territory and defense lines on satellite maps, and using models to shows where the fighting actually happened.
Yep and this.. China’s resistance to Japan is one of the great untold stories of World War II. Though China was the first Allied power to fight the Axis, it has received far less credit for its role in the Pacific theater than the United States, Britain or even the Soviet Union, which only joined the war in Asia in August 1945. The Chinese contribution was pushed aside soon after the conflict, as an inconvenient story in the neat ideological narrative of the Cold War. Though far weaker and poorer than the mighty United States or the British Empire, China played a major role in the war. Some 40,000 Chinese soldiers fought in Burma alongside American and British troops in 1944, helping to secure the Stilwell Road linking Lashio to Assam in India. In China itself, they held down some 800,000 Japanese soldiers. The costs were great. At least 14 million Chinese were killed and some 80 million became refugees over the course of the war. The atrocities were many: the Rape of Nanking, in 1937, is the most notorious, but there were other, equally searing but less well-known, massacres: the bloody capture in 1938 of Xuzhou in the east, which threatened Chiang’s ability to control central China; the 1939 carpet bombing of Chongqing, the temporary capital, which killed more than 4,000 people in two days of air raids that a survivor described as “a sea of fire”; and the “three alls” campaign (“Burn all, loot all, kill all”) of 1941, which devastated the Communist-held areas in the north. Maybe you will say “oh that’s all the contribution of China in the war? The US killed over 74% of all the Japanese forces during the war. It’s like comparing an elephant to a mouse.” Well, don’t forget this was China’s naval forces during the war: The Chinese navy in 1937, on the eve of the Japan Invasion only had Ping Hai and Ning Hai, two cruisers that were considered “powerful” and “modern” while the rest all consisted of gunboats. Ironically, these two sister ships, were designed and built by the Japanese navy. They were defeated by the IJN during the Japanese assault on Kiangyin Fortress, during the battle of Shanghai. And don’t forget this was the army of China during the war: But what did China gain from that contribution? At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked for Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin’s participation in the Pacific War, and promised to recognize Soviet gains in Asia, which included military basing rights, a railroad across the Chinese northeast, and the “status quo” in Mongolia - by which Stalin meant its final separation from China. Chiang Kai-Shek was furious when he learned the terms in the agreement. China was not only not recognized as a great power of the world, but it was humiliated by the so-called allies. Chiang was reported to write down “It’s an insult; they really see China as their vassal” in his diary. There is an entire White Paper written on U.S.-Sino relations during 1918-1945, and F.D.R.’s blinder eye toward Chiang Kai-Shek’s persistent requests for aid. During the civil war between KMT and CCP, the US keeps sending aids to both sides to balance out their powers and numbers so they could fight a longer war while the US benefited from the money made in military purchases. -Wendi Qiu Side note: Japan invaded China in 1937 and brought World War II to the Far East and the pacific theaters. The US waited until 1941 to official send aids to help China after the bombing of the Pearl Harbor that took place in the same year and directly sent troops to China in 1945, a total 9 years after the invasion started. China had been fighting the war longer than any other country, as well as the difference in the nature of the war for the Chinese from them: for the Chinese, it was a war to liberate their homeland from invading forces who had a larger number of modern weaponries and well-trained troops. The contribution of the Chinese to the pacific theater was immense, and was disproportionate to the recognition it gained at the end of the war. --Wendi Qiu
@The_Jaguar_ Knight Or that he is a perfectly normal and reasonable human being that does not drop his wits that you clearly lack of when discussing history. The mere fact that you lack the mental capacity to add something even remotely relevant to an excerpt of history beyond political hatred based off off-topic points that's never been relevant until the most decades' power rivalry between China and the West, all the while calling a random person in the comments of a video about WWII France a communist shows that you are probably someone completely inept at discussing history and should instead keep focusing on playing Hearts of Iron IV instead of trying to be relevant. Bring your politics elsewhere, as for once this is about history, not stupidity.
Sadly, almost no one in France knows about this feat of arms. Nowadays, French schools focus the "France during WW2" segment of history classes on how evil the Vichy Regime was, while treating the Résistance and Free French Forces as footnotes.
I'd say the Resistance definitely isn't treated as a footnote. An entire chapter in the standard curriculum in 1ère and Terminale is dedicated to "the memory of the resistance", although yes it's a much more societal and political analysis of how the resistance was perceived, rather than their wartime actions
Bir Hakeim, the defense of Syria by Vichy forces, etc etc etc. It's a popular trope amongst anglophile armchair generals to make disparaging comments about "The French!", but this very battle demonstrates that the Gauls are capable warriors. Je les salue.
Personally I'd say that the resistance is overrated while the Free French army and French forces fighting alongside the Allies especially in 44-45 are underrated. By the end of the war France fielded 1.3M soldiers despite still reeling from four years of occupation and semi-civil war.
We get the same I the States, to some degree. Instead of studying the course and facts of the war we study societal perceptions and reinforce stereotypes.
The finest use of cartography I've seen so far on this type of channel. Instant sub. If you ever consider narrating other engagements in France, know that you can use aerial pictures (IGN's geoservices WMS/WFS links) from the '50s and 60s to get rid of the unsightly postwar-built highways. There are even some visible trenches remaining around Arracourt (hint hint).
Yes dozens of tank wrecks are still visible in 1947 at Hatten/Rittershoffen. Panthers, M3, M10 ... The biggest tank battle on the western front. Operation Nordwind: after Patton moved north to stop german offensive in the Ardennes, germans attacked Strasbourg the french decided to hold it. At Reipertswiller an entire US bataillon (800 soldiers) surrendered; will this be the next video?
The commander of the navy fusilliers tank destroyer battalion (11ieme RBFM) under Massu was a great uncle of mine. I read about this battle in his war memoirs. Great to see this laid out on a map. His batallion ended the war with a 10-1 kill:loss ratio, the highest in the war for any armoured batallion. The secret: he’d had surplus navy cruiser gunsights fitted to his tanks!
@@76MUTiger He means the optical sights of the cruiser's guns, probably 90 mm or 75mm AA modèle 1924. Could these be mounted in place of the gunsight of the 3-inch M7? This tank gun is too a version of an AA gun, the 3-inch M1918.
Not AA but antiship guns Jean-Pascal though I’m not sure about the exact models. It’s possible the models used were not homogeneous from tank to tank. @76MUTiger The 11th RBFM was batallion created in algeria in ‘43, equipped with “second hand” tank destroyers. These were in effect fast, lightweight tanks with big guns. The RBFM was assembled from sailors who no longer had ships (most French navy ships were destroyed by a british surprise attack in Mers El Kebir in 1940 or scuttled in Toulon in 42 to avoid capture the unfuelled ships being captured by the Germans) but were keen to fight. The sailors assigned to fire the tank guns were trained and experienced at firing artillery from moving ships at other moving ships at further distances than what they were being asked to do with their tanks. On their ships, they had optical sights to aim at their targets. This allowed to offset for distances and movement as well as terrain for the traied user. The “Low end” tanks they were given had simpler sights with no optics. Getting the surplus optical sights on to these tanks (with trained gunners!) was like putting a lens/scope on a rifle you’ve just given to a trained sniper. They picked off German tigers and panthers from beyond their enemy’s firing range. Earlier in ‘44 when the second French armoured division liberated Paris a tank destroyer from the 11th RBFM took out a tiger at the foot of the obelisk on place de la concorde from the Lido in one shot. This detail is one of many that made the French 2nd Armoured Division so successful.
Group Billotte was led by Pierre Bilotte, who commanded the B1 Bis that destroyed 13 PZs in one day in 1940. Edit: I also think french actor Jean Gabin was among the fusiliers marins in this battle, as he served with them in an M10 in the 2e DB
The 2nd DB is a legend. I must emphasise though that it's not only french individuals who helped the French soldiers with intelligence but also the entire french administration. The mayors and their deputies, the employees of the post and telephone administration, public servants etc. At that point of the war, the French Republic is back in power in Paris and has contacted all the local administration to restaure legality and authority. The municipalities still under german occupation were contacted by phone when the lines still worked or by the resistance. Every public servant was willing to demonstrate it's loyalty to de Gaulle and patriotism. Among the true patriots there where also those who served Petain with too much enthousiasm before the wind turned and tried to end the war as members of the resistance.
My great grandfather was part of the 2nd armored or 2emeDB ! He was wounded in the very first combats that they encountered in Normandy getting shrapnel in his back and being the sole survivor of his vehicule. Thanks for acknowledging their feats in battle
Jesus fucking christ your work is the best view of any battle on youtube i have ever seen. Never before have i felt so clearly the strategic and tactical situations presented in any medium showcasing any battle. Keep up the work, and i hope you will find major success with this channel.
Brilliant content fellas. Very concise, very gripping, very informative. You have certainly found a great balance of information density, rate, visual aids and vocabulary. Well done as always!
This is a really good video sir ! Being French, the battle of Dompaire is not really known ! Good job ! General Leclerc (real name Philippe de Hauteclocque) was one of the best general for the French during ww2. Prisonner in battle of France, he escape, and join De Gaulle. The first blow he won, was the battle of Koufra, where he take a fortress with 1 truck (not made for desert landscape), 400 guy with WW1 Weapon, 1 75mm canon also from WW1, and win this battle, mainly by ruse and bluff. But there is some other great general in WW2, you have Koenig, in Bir Hakeim, he fought at 1v10 for 15 days, against Rommel and the Africakorps, without Bir Hakeim, El alamein would have been lost. And you have General Juin who won the battle of Monte-Cassino with Polish troop with him.
I think this is the perfect example on how important recon is. The French had the upper hand in tracking German movements and planned accordingly. Also, the Germans did not know what they were up against because of poor recon during the initial stages of the battle
Amazing, you make this so clear! The sattelite map really help to understand how the terrain was. And the detail of all the emblem of the bataillon added, great idea. Greeting from France
Please do that more, it was really great and interesting. As a French I also thank you for sharing this part of our history. But as you explained in the end of the video, the result of this battle is unsurprising and not really honorable. Those poor unexperienced Germans were send directly against the most experienced French division of the war, plus they didn't had any kind of AA. It's look like more a German strategic mistake than a French tactical ingenuity. Still very interesting case to study. .
Amasing job ! One of the best tactical representation of a battle i've seen so far on YT and on a not well known battle on top of that. Please continue.
Great video! Really like the combination of animation and photo maps. Great example of how battles are a series of platoon and company sized engagements.
Historically the French get a bad rap. In 2010 I was with the 82nd 1st/504th in Afghanistan and we worked closely with a number of French elements. They were squared away soldiers and extremely competent shooters who were a pleasure to work alongside with.
Commandant Massu would go on to become a very famous paratroop General and would fight in the Suez campaign and the Algerian War. He would be involved in the toppling of the 4th Republic and the return of de Gaulle to power as President. However, the venerable leader of the Free French would remove him from his post as Commander in Chief of French forces in Algeria in January 1960 after Massu openly criticised his Algerian policy in an interview with a German newspaper. De Gaulle would later ask for Massu's help during the May 1968 student protests, wanting to ensure the loyalty of the Army (with Massu being commander of French forces in Germany at the time).
My grandfather was the "Champagne" n°55 driver .... fun fact about his engagement, he told me: they left a big Swiss cheese wheel inside the burning tank .. they escaped with "mirabelle' alcool bottles which they drunk while watching the tank burning for many hours . Glory to this now dead man .
i'm from vosges, the aera of this battle, i pass by dompaire almost every day, it's a city on a hill with free vision on the 10 miles around, it is really pure genius that they managed to take this town this way, especially then it was one of the most heavily defended position after Epinal and 'moselle valley'.
Outstanding treatment of the battle, very effective use of graphics. Would be nice to see some other battles from Zaloga's Patton vs. the Panzers covering the Lorraine actions this was a part of.
I think it would be grand if you continue doing your conventional videos on TO&E coupled with such tactical scenarios hypothetical or historical AND also formations from ancient history all the way to today provided there's enough information of course.
Thanks for covering this battle. I have been really curious of the French forces during the liberation period in 1944-45, since I heard that eventually they had over half a million in their ranks. I also heard that part of the frontline was solely their responsibility.
@VoltigeurFR But how? The Germans made around 2.2 million men prisoner in 1940, and released only half of them in the following years, all the while taking others for STO. Where did France find the manpower?
L'idéal, ce serait quelques sous-titres francophones car tout le monde ne maîtrise pas forcément l'anglais, ce en dépit de la qualité absolument parfaite des schémas et de la présentation. Un grand merci à vous !
Excellent vid BO - More like this one. Great explanation of how this fight went down. Excellent graphics to illustrate the moves both the Germans and French made.
Dompaire, battle of stonne, Dunkerque, battle of bir harkeim, travel pf Gustave line. French have also many importante in this war often forgotten by their allies
This was a great video. Most history of the western front of WW2 only makes a passing mention of the contributions of the French post D-Day. I actually learned something new, never heard that the French 2nd Armored was screening Patton. As a former Cav Scout, I appreciate a good screening of a main body.
That's a lot of losses in armor that the German army in 1944 can ill afford to take. A few weeks later, the US Army faced a heavy panzer attack at Arracourt in September 18-29, 1944, and inflicted heavy losses against the Germans. Together, that's a lot of armor losses for the Germans in a theater that was falling apart already.
Well, we see this a lot with the Germans, armoured units being thrown in haphazardly against the advancing Allies in a desperate attempt to stall their advance. But the units are plaued with all sorts of problems that just doom the unit the moment it advances.
The Dompaire battle is a great example of the efficiency of French soldiers when they're equipped with the right equipment and are able to coordinate at the best of their capacity.
Lol I grew up in the Vosges and I know every town mentionned in the video, it's a strange feeling and hard to imagine such battles took place in my home region. No wonder why metal detecting is so popular here.
This is great content. You were spot on on every name and their pronunciation, which is a relief when lots of people butcher French nouns and cities when talking about the French theater.
For years after the battle, two of the three captured Panthers stood as gate guards to Les Invalides, growing up in Paris, I was fascinated by them. Sometime ago, they were removed to Samur and belong to the French Tank /Calvary Museum where they still can be seen today, and are in excellent restored mechanical condition. Anyone know what happened to the third captured Panther?
I love your latest video detailing the Battle of Dompaire! My salute to the French 2nd Armored Division! And how the heck the German infantry could get stopped by two machine-gun jeeps.....
Thank you so much for this video ! Yes French forces fought bravely during WW2. I think we lost in 40 mostly because our politicians were blind and naive after the WW1 (known as The last of the last).
What a battle, brilliantly fought by the French. The way that the French had their tanks in concealed positions and destroyed all advances by the Nazis, reminds me of what the British and Canadians were up against in Normandy, just a few months earlier. The advancing tanks can't even see the enemy and so are easy pickings.
This gave a really good sense of how important information and coordination are in these battles. Under the threat of air attack, the Germans needed to conduct their assaults on a short time table. But there was a disparity in reconnaissance from air units, and the Germans were unable to supplement that with high quality infantry. As a result, the Germans would never have the right forces in the right terrain at the right time. And then at a tactical level, the inexperienced troops would tend to perform poorly in firefights. The French on the other hand could use their advantage in information and initiative to shuffle around forces, so they could achieve a favorable local balance of force.
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Wow
This format of combining your organisational analysis and talking about a battle is amazing. Your map animations are also very good. Keep up the good work and do more of this format please
Amazing dude
I am a huge WW2 military tactics fanboy.
Watched a lotta documentaries, mini docs like urs.
You did a very very good job with visual representation.
For me battlefield TV series is the peak, u did something even better visually than that TV series.
Enjoy this style of video a lot. It seems to have a large amount of research behind it which is great! the videos editing really is enjoyable to watch. Keep up the great work!
It s so good to see a video in English about the French during ww2 which isn't just "French bad French surrender" and it touched me especially because I live in those towns and this battlefield is very familiar to me
Those who know, know. If someone makes stupid jokes about surrender and white flags you instantly know they have no idea about WWII and can freely ignore them
@@czwarty7878 Too bad this part of the population (even in france to some extent) is the vast majority and shapes the culture with movies, stories, songs, and even youtube videos. And in the part that knows, there is a big portion that don't really care. For example, Dunkirk movie from Nolan silently aknowledges the French with... only one scene with French guys holding a line. Then, the main French representation is a soldier trying to pass as English to flee. And the whole movie, while being in France and being symbolically the last battle before French surrender (yes there were others but you get what I mean), finds a way to only be about the Brits escaping (which is also a great story, and something to be proud for the anglos of course). The movie covers the theme of sacrifice (to save others), but does not talk about the "pointless" sacrifice of the French forces who are now fighting a lost war (for France, of course Britain is still in the game) only for pride / honor at that point. I think this is the biggest "missed opportunity" to rehabilitate the French in anglo medias in recent years.
@@mythicdawn9574 i agree 100%
@@mythicdawn9574 You said everything. I refused to watch that movie when I knew there was nothing about French fights.
@Jules Indeed, and a pretty good video at that. (I grew up in Charmes ;) )
My great-grandfather was in the 5th free french armored division, as a shooter in a sherman tank, he was wounded at Verlans while all the tank crew died, he passed away recently, I would like to thank you for talking about the free french forces of the late war and the conquest of germany, this being a fascinating but uknown subject. Thanks a lot
Verlans ? Postal code in France ?
@@tosstony6631 70400
I live au 5 minute thàn verlans,im french ! Send me a private message and i go to verlans take a picture of the monument of the death !
@@tosstony6631 he doesn’t died in verlans, he fought in verlans but he passed away this year
In English it’s great grandfather
Wait, the tactical group Billotte... commanded by Pierre Billotte, THE Pierre Billotte of Stonne? Whose B1 Bis destroyed 13Panzers in a single engagement in 1940?
You ought to have mentioned that..
Yes it is him.
Billote looking at the germans : Guess who's back? And with new toys to kick your ass!
Proof this dude was a great tank commander
@@vic_r023 This guy is a legend !
I think Pierre Billotte had left the 2nd DB at that point and was general of another infantry brigade. The group kept his name.
The French 2nd Armoured is actually a great story. Not just the military aspect, but the political one as well.
Those boys fought just as hard as any, and that formation deserves every bit of credit they get.
Only thing france ever destroyed in war is their reverse gear.
@@herpderp3131 Not a student of history, huh?
@@williamballangarry2995 What did they say? It got erased.
And began the fought from the french equatorial africa in 1940 (yes in 1940 and never ceased fight) till 1945 in berchtesgaden...
Yeah not a single french XDD morocans argelians and spanish civil war veterans
This is a incredible example of battle, i am amazed by the efficiency shown by the french forces here.
well, they surely had some pent up anger to channel into focusing on winning with great efficiency.
With air superiority by the USAF
@Marcelo Henrique Soares da Silva who wants to die when they know the yare going to lose the war at this point?
French troops have been extremely efficient during the entire war. Hitler called them second to germans only in combat. The caricatural view most americans have of the french in ww2 requires decades of omissions and falsehoods when recalling history.
@Marcelo Henrique Soares da Silva and with the allied air superiority, the result is a foregone conclusion
One thing I would like to point out that this was actually the first battle for Panzer Brigade 112 and many, many of its soldiers. Formation of Panzer Brigades 111, 112 and 113 begun on 2.9.44 by forming from 3 training centers. They begun transfer to front on the 5th. This battle took place in 11-13.9.
Unit was formed, equipped and destroyed in less then 2 weeks!
The germans were whipping out these units by wars end, soldiers from anywhere, brand new vehicles, infantry in tanks
just like the French in the invasion of France, conscripts were drafted and given a B1bis then sent to the front without training to speak of some tanks were scuttled after running out of fuel on transit because they weren't told that the fuel wouldn't go to the auxiliary tank until you toped up the main tank, cutting the autonomy by 3 or so other tank would break down due to maintenance mistakes for the same reasons.
@Marcelo Henrique Soares da Silva Panzer Lehr was mostly destroyed by Allied bombing around D-Day. It was attached to the I SS-Panzerkorps. Destroyed in naval and aerial bombardment along with them was the 12 SS-Panzer Division 'Hitlerjugend'. Fritz Witt and most of the division leadership staff were also killed.
Plus, the French did not face any good German units. They either had been destroyed or were on the eastern front. Even the Waffen-SS units were rebuilds after having lost most of the panzers at Tarnopol, Western Poland or during Bagration. So this video is a misnomer. Examples: 1 and 2 SS-Panzer, both were in France for rest and re-fitting. 9 and 10 SS-Panzer had relieved Tarnopol and desperately needed re-fitting. 21 Panzer was understrength and poorly led. 2 and 9 Panzer had not received their allotments.
As the germans in 1940. They always faced the easier picks, and got praised for their efficiency.
The frenchs, in the other hand, had no air superiority so they fought without supplies, without proper communications, outnumbered on every attack without recon...
@@flo__60 no it's completly different, you should read the meory of Charles De Gaulle, it allows to avoid saying bullshit :-)
It’s cool to hear of battles like this from the French’s perspective instead of just the American or British battles. I’m an American saying this as well. I’m not naive and know that they too played a crucial role in liberating their own country and helping with the offensive into Germany. Unfortunately, you just don’t hear much about what they did in American history classes growing up lol. Respect to the French military on such a decisive victory.
Thank you for France 🇨🇵♥️🇺🇸
My grandfather fought for the free french forces. He was part of the invasion of Southern France. He was proud to be French. Vive la France!
Sidenote, the naval infantry-crewed tank destroyers had excellent range estimation...Having installed a few scavenged naval rangefinders on their wolverines; And the p47s efficiency was reinforced by the french tanks which, on top of direct radio link with the french commander, were shooting coloured smoke shells to indicate german tanks positions.
I fly flight Sims and gotta admit. Colored shells make life 500x easier for CAS.
World of tanks need this kind of feature.
We're train to chase after red HP bar on the screens to much, like a cat chase after a red laser pointer 😂
Glouton ???
@@sergevandyck Oui, le m10 glouton pour nos amis québécois.
Didn't know about the naval range finders, genius move
From France....Many thanks to you for this beautiful page of the French army. After years of "French bashing" it is worth recalling that the Germans suffered more human and material losses in May-June 40 than during the first 6 months of the Russian War, and also the 3 months that followed the D-Day. (156,000 dead and wounded, 1,000 aircraft and 1,800 tanks). Our soldiers did not surrender. They lowered their arms in obedience to the power in place, desiring the armistice.
Thanks again. Vive la France !
Absolutly right. Loss in 1940 was mainly tactical and then political. But all tactics then in 1940 where still inherited from previous war. Only some generals on each side believed in regrouping tanks in one sole division and using air + armor full coordination to pierce. on french side, you had General Estienne, and De Gaulle of course. On German side, Guderian ! the difference is that on the german side, GHQ and Hitler decided to follow this way. Not to forget neither that the first german plan in 1940, was to push through Belgium. And it's because the plans where discovered by the allies, that Hitler changed and adopted Manstein's plan to go through the Ardennes, and gained a major tactical surprise ! Things would have been different otherwise. And as you said, even though, the campaign of France was a harsh one for germans, on wehrmacht side and as well on luftwaffe side. The loss of many aircraft will be very usefull for the battle of britain.
As a former battery commander of 2nd battery / 40th Artillery, which supported Subgroup Minjonnet, it's a pleasure to watch this kind of video ! Kudos to the Battle Order team.
Edit : I meant as a recent former Bty commander. I wasn't there, and not that old 😉. This battle is actually not well known even to my regiment. I'm proud Battle Order chose it for a video.
Someone from the actual battle... Amazing!
@@IoachimSavianPopovici Read the edit, he wasn't there. From what i understand of his comment, i think he means that he was the commander of that unit after the war.
@@visegradi Thank you for the heads up - I think he edited it after my comment
You are Armenian who served in the US Army?
J'ai passé 6 ans en B2, c'est vrai qu'on en a jamais entendu parler !
I'm kinda surprised that the 2nd Blindée and the French and French colonial forces in general don't get much recognition from this battle, the lesser known Colmar pocket or their combat actions in Italy.
Specially the mentioned Regiment du Marche du Tchad, which became specially notorious for being the first allied unit to enter Paris with their 9th company, formed by Spanish republican exiles (and ended the war alonside the 101sr AB division in the Eagle's Nest).
Good video my dude.
They had in France by a part of the population, but the gouvernement and leftist prefer to call us nazi with vichy régime and coward with 1940 defeat
@@austerlitz7344
Yep, the Vichy regime was nazi.
No, the french weren’t cowards in 1941, but the victims of a highly incompetent (right-wing) government who had been unable (or unwilling…) to take the measure of the german threat and to arm the country accordingly.
@@pw6002 they wasnt nazi, nazi is a doctrine
No, Vichy wasn't exactly nazi per se. It had some fascists political parties but its governance, as Francoist Spain, was more centered around ultraconservatives than fascists.
@@pw6002 Vichy was a lot less "Nazi" than Parisian Nazi sympathizers...
This is brilliantly presented. I can’t imagine the amount of work that went into this, but clearly it’s well researched and professionally presented. Congratulations!
I am French and I would like to thank you for explaining this battle so well ! Thanks to you, history is not forgotten !
Absolute 10/10 production quality! Providing breakdowns of what units were involved, highlighting territory and defense lines on satellite maps, and using models to shows where the fighting actually happened.
We need more videos like this that showcase that the Soviets, British, and Americans weren't the only ones fighting the Axis as often portray
Well for 3/4 of the war they kinda were….
Yep and this..
China’s resistance to Japan is one of the great untold stories of World War II. Though China was the first Allied power to fight the Axis, it has received far less credit for its role in the Pacific theater than the United States, Britain or even the Soviet Union, which only joined the war in Asia in August 1945. The Chinese contribution was pushed aside soon after the conflict, as an inconvenient story in the neat ideological narrative of the Cold War.
Though far weaker and poorer than the mighty United States or the British Empire, China played a major role in the war. Some 40,000 Chinese soldiers fought in Burma alongside American and British troops in 1944, helping to secure the Stilwell Road linking Lashio to Assam in India. In China itself, they held down some 800,000 Japanese soldiers.
The costs were great. At least 14 million Chinese were killed and some 80 million became refugees over the course of the war. The atrocities were many: the Rape of Nanking, in 1937, is the most notorious, but there were other, equally searing but less well-known, massacres: the bloody capture in 1938 of Xuzhou in the east, which threatened Chiang’s ability to control central China; the 1939 carpet bombing of Chongqing, the temporary capital, which killed more than 4,000 people in two days of air raids that a survivor described as “a sea of fire”; and the “three alls” campaign (“Burn all, loot all, kill all”) of 1941, which devastated the Communist-held areas in the north.
Maybe you will say “oh that’s all the contribution of China in the war? The US killed over 74% of all the Japanese forces during the war. It’s like comparing an elephant to a mouse.”
Well, don’t forget this was China’s naval forces during the war:
The Chinese navy in 1937, on the eve of the Japan Invasion only had Ping Hai and Ning Hai, two cruisers that were considered “powerful” and “modern” while the rest all consisted of gunboats. Ironically, these two sister ships, were designed and built by the Japanese navy. They were defeated by the IJN during the Japanese assault on Kiangyin Fortress, during the battle of Shanghai.
And don’t forget this was the army of China during the war:
But what did China gain from that contribution?
At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked for Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin’s participation in the Pacific War, and promised to recognize Soviet gains in Asia, which included military basing rights, a railroad across the Chinese northeast, and the “status quo” in Mongolia - by which Stalin meant its final separation from China. Chiang Kai-Shek was furious when he learned the terms in the agreement. China was not only not recognized as a great power of the world, but it was humiliated by the so-called allies. Chiang was reported to write down “It’s an insult; they really see China as their vassal” in his diary. There is an entire White Paper written on U.S.-Sino relations during 1918-1945, and F.D.R.’s blinder eye toward Chiang Kai-Shek’s persistent requests for aid.
During the civil war between KMT and CCP, the US keeps sending aids to both sides to balance out their powers and numbers so they could fight a longer war while the US benefited from the money made in military purchases. -Wendi Qiu
Side note: Japan invaded China in 1937 and brought World War II to the Far East and the pacific theaters. The US waited until 1941 to official send aids to help China after the bombing of the Pearl Harbor that took place in the same year and directly sent troops to China in 1945, a total 9 years after the invasion started.
China had been fighting the war longer than any other country, as well as the difference in the nature of the war for the Chinese from them: for the Chinese, it was a war to liberate their homeland from invading forces who had a larger number of modern weaponries and well-trained troops. The contribution of the Chinese to the pacific theater was immense, and was disproportionate to the recognition it gained at the end of the war.
--Wendi Qiu
@The_Jaguar_ Knight Or that he is a perfectly normal and reasonable human being that does not drop his wits that you clearly lack of when discussing history. The mere fact that you lack the mental capacity to add something even remotely relevant to an excerpt of history beyond political hatred based off off-topic points that's never been relevant until the most decades' power rivalry between China and the West, all the while calling a random person in the comments of a video about WWII France a communist shows that you are probably someone completely inept at discussing history and should instead keep focusing on playing Hearts of Iron IV instead of trying to be relevant.
Bring your politics elsewhere, as for once this is about history, not stupidity.
@@ncblizzard1527 very well said
well they are big winners they can say any shit in the history
Sadly, almost no one in France knows about this feat of arms. Nowadays, French schools focus the "France during WW2" segment of history classes on how evil the Vichy Regime was, while treating the Résistance and Free French Forces as footnotes.
I'd say the Resistance definitely isn't treated as a footnote. An entire chapter in the standard curriculum in 1ère and Terminale is dedicated to "the memory of the resistance", although yes it's a much more societal and political analysis of how the resistance was perceived, rather than their wartime actions
Bir Hakeim, the defense of Syria by Vichy forces, etc etc etc. It's a popular trope amongst anglophile armchair generals to make disparaging comments about "The French!", but this very battle demonstrates that the Gauls are capable warriors. Je les salue.
Personally I'd say that the resistance is overrated while the Free French army and French forces fighting alongside the Allies especially in 44-45 are underrated. By the end of the war France fielded 1.3M soldiers despite still reeling from four years of occupation and semi-civil war.
We get the same I the States, to some degree. Instead of studying the course and facts of the war we study societal perceptions and reinforce stereotypes.
Amazing. The resistance should be celebrated. Good people.
The finest use of cartography I've seen so far on this type of channel. Instant sub. If you ever consider narrating other engagements in France, know that you can use aerial pictures (IGN's geoservices WMS/WFS links) from the '50s and 60s to get rid of the unsightly postwar-built highways. There are even some visible trenches remaining around Arracourt (hint hint).
Battle of Arracourt was sick
Yes dozens of tank wrecks are still visible in 1947 at Hatten/Rittershoffen. Panthers, M3, M10 ... The biggest tank battle on the western front.
Operation Nordwind: after Patton moved north to stop german offensive in the Ardennes, germans attacked Strasbourg the french decided to hold it. At Reipertswiller an entire US bataillon (800 soldiers) surrendered; will this be the next video?
dude your use of satellite imagery to describe the battle is top notch!
Thanks mate!
The amount of work, the level of details, the quality of the writing and of production are insane.
Congratulations!
The commander of the navy fusilliers tank destroyer battalion (11ieme RBFM) under Massu was a great uncle of mine. I read about this battle in his war memoirs. Great to see this laid out on a map. His batallion ended the war with a 10-1 kill:loss ratio, the highest in the war for any armoured batallion. The secret: he’d had surplus navy cruiser gunsights fitted to his tanks!
What is a Navy Cruiser Gunsight? How would it be applied to a tank cannon (if you know)?
@@76MUTiger He means the optical sights of the cruiser's guns, probably 90 mm or 75mm AA modèle 1924. Could these be mounted in place of the gunsight of the 3-inch M7? This tank gun is too a version of an AA gun, the 3-inch M1918.
Not AA but antiship guns Jean-Pascal though I’m not sure about the exact models. It’s possible the models used were not homogeneous from tank to tank. @76MUTiger The 11th RBFM was batallion created in algeria in ‘43, equipped with “second hand” tank destroyers. These were in effect fast, lightweight tanks with big guns. The RBFM was assembled from sailors who no longer had ships (most French navy ships were destroyed by a british surprise attack in Mers El Kebir in 1940 or scuttled in Toulon in 42 to avoid capture the unfuelled ships being captured by the Germans) but were keen to fight. The sailors assigned to fire the tank guns were trained and experienced at firing artillery from moving ships at other moving ships at further distances than what they were being asked to do with their tanks. On their ships, they had optical sights to aim at their targets. This allowed to offset for distances and movement as well as terrain for the traied user. The “Low end” tanks they were given had simpler sights with no optics. Getting the surplus optical sights on to these tanks (with trained gunners!) was like putting a lens/scope on a rifle you’ve just given to a trained sniper. They picked off German tigers and panthers from beyond their enemy’s firing range.
Earlier in ‘44 when the second French armoured division liberated Paris a tank destroyer from the 11th RBFM took out a tiger at the foot of the obelisk on place de la concorde from the Lido in one shot. This detail is one of many that made the French 2nd Armoured Division so successful.
@@louisvieille-cessay6782 so he took old naval range finders and used them on the tanks?
Group Billotte was led by Pierre Bilotte, who commanded the B1 Bis that destroyed 13 PZs in one day in 1940.
Edit: I also think french actor Jean Gabin was among the fusiliers marins in this battle, as he served with them in an M10 in the 2e DB
Yup, he knew a thing or two.
The 2nd DB is a legend. I must emphasise though that it's not only french individuals who helped the French soldiers with intelligence but also the entire french administration. The mayors and their deputies, the employees of the post and telephone administration, public servants etc. At that point of the war, the French Republic is back in power in Paris and has contacted all the local administration to restaure legality and authority. The municipalities still under german occupation were contacted by phone when the lines still worked or by the resistance. Every public servant was willing to demonstrate it's loyalty to de Gaulle and patriotism. Among the true patriots there where also those who served Petain with too much enthousiasm before the wind turned and tried to end the war as members of the resistance.
My great grandfather was part of the 2nd armored or 2emeDB ! He was wounded in the very first combats that they encountered in Normandy getting shrapnel in his back and being the sole survivor of his vehicule. Thanks for acknowledging their feats in battle
OMG he was the sole survivor??
Jesus fucking christ your work is the best view of any battle on youtube i have ever seen. Never before have i felt so clearly the strategic and tactical situations presented in any medium showcasing any battle.
Keep up the work, and i hope you will find major success with this channel.
Brilliant content fellas. Very concise, very gripping, very informative. You have certainly found a great balance of information density, rate, visual aids and vocabulary. Well done as always!
This is a really good video sir ! Being French, the battle of Dompaire is not really known ! Good job !
General Leclerc (real name Philippe de Hauteclocque) was one of the best general for the French during ww2. Prisonner in battle of France, he escape, and join De Gaulle.
The first blow he won, was the battle of Koufra, where he take a fortress with 1 truck (not made for desert landscape), 400 guy with WW1 Weapon, 1 75mm canon also from WW1, and win this battle, mainly by ruse and bluff.
But there is some other great general in WW2, you have Koenig, in Bir Hakeim, he fought at 1v10 for 15 days, against Rommel and the Africakorps, without Bir Hakeim, El alamein would have been lost.
And you have General Juin who won the battle of Monte-Cassino with Polish troop with him.
However the French inflicted exactly the defeat you would expect against such opposition.
I think this is the perfect example on how important recon is. The French had the upper hand in tracking German movements and planned accordingly. Also, the Germans did not know what they were up against because of poor recon during the initial stages of the battle
The French deployed their recon units very well. And it didn't hurt that they had the local civilians keeping an eye, too.
It is pretty clear that the Wehrmacht units in this battle were of inferior training and not really capable of good recon and intelligence.
@@terraflow__bryanburdo4547 u should add to ur sentence "at the end of the war" 😀
@@stania3814 Edited, thanks.
@@terraflow__bryanburdo4547 u are welcome! ...from Russia with love! 😀
Amazing, you make this so clear! The sattelite map really help to understand how the terrain was. And the detail of all the emblem of the bataillon added, great idea.
Greeting from France
I'd love a video about the Normandie-Niemen Squadron a Franco-Russian squadron that fought on the eastern front !
Please do that more, it was really great and interesting.
As a French I also thank you for sharing this part of our history.
But as you explained in the end of the video, the result of this battle is unsurprising and not really honorable.
Those poor unexperienced Germans were send directly against the most experienced French division of the war, plus they didn't had any kind of AA.
It's look like more a German strategic mistake than a French tactical ingenuity.
Still very interesting case to study. .
Ah, but you should never interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake. Those Panthers were terrible losses for the Germans.
Amasing job ! One of the best tactical representation of a battle i've seen so far on YT and on a not well known battle on top of that. Please continue.
Thanks mate we appreciate it
This channel may be the highest quality battle breakdown content on TH-cam. Very well done. Immediately subbed.
Great video! Really like the combination of animation and photo maps. Great example of how battles are a series of platoon and company sized engagements.
I've never seen a battle so thoroughly explained. Loved it
Very pleasant and complete presentation of this battle, with units, their positions and moves on cards...Great job!
Historically the French get a bad rap. In 2010 I was with the 82nd 1st/504th in Afghanistan and we worked closely with a number of French elements. They were squared away soldiers and extremely competent shooters who were a pleasure to work alongside with.
Commandant Massu would go on to become a very famous paratroop General and would fight in the Suez campaign and the Algerian War. He would be involved in the toppling of the 4th Republic and the return of de Gaulle to power as President. However, the venerable leader of the Free French would remove him from his post as Commander in Chief of French forces in Algeria in January 1960 after Massu openly criticised his Algerian policy in an interview with a German newspaper. De Gaulle would later ask for Massu's help during the May 1968 student protests, wanting to ensure the loyalty of the Army (with Massu being commander of French forces in Germany at the time).
So close to 100K, early congrats. Also would you do something about Turkish/Greek militaries and how they face off in the Mediterranean/Aegean?
Yeah! Do turkish army!!
Both military bad
The "Corse" and "Champagne" Sherman tanks are still over there, as monuments to the battle of Dompaire.
preserved or left to the elements?
@@seanmac1793 preserved ;)
I loved this type of content the down and dirty unit movements fascinate me keep these coming!
Im guessing this is similar to how modern French forces perform today. Great video man.
My grandfather was the "Champagne" n°55 driver .... fun fact about his engagement, he told me: they left a big Swiss cheese wheel inside the burning tank .. they escaped with "mirabelle' alcool bottles which they drunk while watching the tank burning for many hours . Glory to this now dead man .
Great job, love this video! Thank you for that.
Glad you enjoyed it!
i'm from vosges, the aera of this battle, i pass by dompaire almost every day, it's a city on a hill with free vision on the 10 miles around, it is really pure genius that they managed to take this town this way, especially then it was one of the most heavily defended position after Epinal and 'moselle valley'.
Top notch stuff. Always loved your videos, but covering a battle this way was really nice.
Really good content, great graphics and a good way to convey tactics. Would definitely want to see more of this
Congratulations for this quality content !
Vous ici? Ça ne m'étonne pas 😉
@@mrjohnbrush Ce doit être mon "French flair" ^^
This is a great combination of maps and force composition that combine to tell a great story! More of these! Suggestion: Battle of Crete 1941
Outstanding treatment of the battle, very effective use of graphics. Would be nice to see some other battles from Zaloga's Patton vs. the Panzers covering the Lorraine actions this was a part of.
I think it would be grand if you continue doing your conventional videos on TO&E coupled with such tactical scenarios hypothetical or historical AND also formations from ancient history all the way to today provided there's enough information of course.
This... This was so good... I hope for many more like this, especially from more recent conflicts
Excellent video on a WW2 battle of the many I've ever seen. Top!
this is why we need historians, thanks for this amazing job, in memory to those who gave their life
This is exquisitely done. Thank you!
Thanks for covering this battle. I have been really curious of the French forces during the liberation period in 1944-45, since I heard that eventually they had over half a million in their ranks. I also heard that part of the frontline was solely their responsibility.
Well... In reality the French army went from around 500k men by the time of D-Day to 1,3 million men by the 8th may 1945.
@@rollolol6053 Really? Impressive buildup.
@@epa901 Yeah, I don't know the specifics, but I suspect that a lot of them were still in training by the end of the war
@VoltigeurFR But how? The Germans made around 2.2 million men prisoner in 1940, and released only half of them in the following years, all the while taking others for STO. Where did France find the manpower?
@@rollolol6053 The youth (those who were still under 16 years old when the war broke out) and the colonies.
Please do more of these! I’d love to see one about Operation Anaconda, Thunder Run and the Chasseurs Ardennais in WWII
Quality content right here, would love to see more tactical breakdowns (especially armored ones).
Excellent historical recount with great visuals to match. NEW SUB.
I love the old Thunderbolts. Those things, like the new ones, wrecked absolute destruction on enemy ground troops.
with devastating effects on the moral
Extraordinarily well done! Really shows that even on a tactical level the Germans had drastically declined by this point of the war.
L'idéal, ce serait quelques sous-titres francophones car tout le monde ne maîtrise pas forcément l'anglais, ce en dépit de la qualité absolument parfaite des schémas et de la présentation. Un grand merci à vous !
Really cool. I'd like to see more of these for Normandy tank battles. The maps and movements are very cool. Even have the vehicle names, well done!
1:18 you know you lost the war when your air force is fighting on foot.
Excellent vid BO - More like this one. Great explanation of how this fight went down. Excellent graphics to illustrate the moves both the Germans and French made.
Dompaire, battle of stonne, Dunkerque, battle of bir harkeim, travel pf Gustave line. French have also many importante in this war often forgotten by their allies
Kudos for not butchering French and German names. So rare!
I love this new style of op detail briefings
Please do more of it
@@TheCoolCucumber I have, I know OR
This is a superb content, thank you! Probably the best-presented mini doc on a battle I've seen
Thanks mate!
The initial losing of the German commander was pretty key.
The replacement was an inexperienced officer.
Great job! I had only seen your OOB videos before.
This was a great video. Most history of the western front of WW2 only makes a passing mention of the contributions of the French post D-Day. I actually learned something new, never heard that the French 2nd Armored was screening Patton. As a former Cav Scout, I appreciate a good screening of a main body.
Never heard of this battle before, ever. Thanks for sharing. That's why I love you tube, we learn new stuff every day.
That's a lot of losses in armor that the German army in 1944 can ill afford to take. A few weeks later, the US Army faced a heavy panzer attack at Arracourt in September 18-29, 1944, and inflicted heavy losses against the Germans. Together, that's a lot of armor losses for the Germans in a theater that was falling apart already.
Well, we see this a lot with the Germans, armoured units being thrown in haphazardly against the advancing Allies in a desperate attempt to stall their advance. But the units are plaued with all sorts of problems that just doom the unit the moment it advances.
The Dompaire battle is a great example of the efficiency of French soldiers when they're equipped with the right equipment and are able to coordinate at the best of their capacity.
Lol I grew up in the Vosges and I know every town mentionned in the video, it's a strange feeling and hard to imagine such battles took place in my home region. No wonder why metal detecting is so popular here.
Same here :P
Beware of unexploded ammo, though. My dad found a hand grenade once :s
This is great content. You were spot on on every name and their pronunciation, which is a relief when lots of people butcher French nouns and cities when talking about the French theater.
The French are severely underestimated.
Excellent video. This battle is very exciting and highly documented, yet last time I checked it doesn't even have its own wikipedia page. Merci Bien!
For years after the battle, two of the three captured Panthers stood as gate guards to Les Invalides, growing up in Paris, I was fascinated by them. Sometime ago, they were removed to Samur and belong to the French Tank /Calvary Museum where they still can be seen today, and are in excellent restored mechanical condition. Anyone know what happened to the third captured Panther?
I've only read about this battle a tiny bit, thanks for explaining it in such a clear and detailed manner!
I love your latest video detailing the Battle of Dompaire! My salute to the French 2nd Armored Division!
And how the heck the German infantry could get stopped by two machine-gun jeeps.....
the fact they're brand new and probably haven't got any training
Its actually called battlefield perception where the troops in contact believe that they are fighting a much bigger force than what it actually is.
Have you ever been shot at by a .50 cal?
@@chaosXP3RT good point but the germans had their own machine guns too, and they were bloody famous: MG42
Maybe because the jeeps were concealed and the germans didn't see who were shooting them like the video stated
Wow that is stupid high quality. I love this formatting and presentation
How long does it take to research and produce an episode like this? Outstanding presentation...
This one probably took around 3 weeks to make and research was being conducted throughout the production right up to the end. And thanks!
Outstanding work in terms of precision, clarity and presentation... congratulations!
The importance of proper reconnaissance and situational awareness, a thing i've learnt the hard way in Wargame and R.U.S.E
Thanks for putting this one together, love hearing about the "junior" partners in ww2
Great video. One battle you should definitely checkout is the battle of Asal Uttar, one of the biggest tank battles after ww2
Abdul Hamid. Tank killer
Great video.....great description and even better tactical explanation....just great !
You can't lose when you go into battle with a Chad Regiment.
Thank you for these insanely quality videos. I love to see it.
the chad 2nd infantry battalion
TCHAD
Pure epic. I now have a desire to go play old MOH because of the music in the background
It do be a classic
wehraboos be malding hard
Hello Battle order .
Merci beaucoup !
Thank you very much !
A great work ! A very good video !
Idem for Your fabulous videos .
Cordialy
To France .
Thank you so much for this video ! Yes French forces fought bravely during WW2. I think we lost in 40 mostly because our politicians were blind and naive after the WW1 (known as The last of the last).
What a battle, brilliantly fought by the French. The way that the French had their tanks in concealed positions and destroyed all advances by the Nazis, reminds me of what the British and Canadians were up against in Normandy, just a few months earlier. The advancing tanks can't even see the enemy and so are easy pickings.
This gave a really good sense of how important information and coordination are in these battles. Under the threat of air attack, the Germans needed to conduct their assaults on a short time table. But there was a disparity in reconnaissance from air units, and the Germans were unable to supplement that with high quality infantry. As a result, the Germans would never have the right forces in the right terrain at the right time. And then at a tactical level, the inexperienced troops would tend to perform poorly in firefights. The French on the other hand could use their advantage in information and initiative to shuffle around forces, so they could achieve a favorable local balance of force.
This is really great! would love to see more video's about engagements in WW2