Huge thanks to Simon Clark for reading that radio announcement last minute yesterday. The original version of this video on Nebula has the original radio speech, but some American music label seems to think they own the rights to BBC speech from 1944...
Go see Tom Scott’s recent video on copyright, it’s enlightening. I just hope that me using Kevin MacLeod’s royalty-free music in my videos won’t give me trouble later.
You left out one of the key reason for Normandy being picked, The french resistance captured plans for defense construction for Normandy, which made it a prime location for consideration.
@@Crashed131963 They had plenty partisan support, however trauma and underfeeding and secret police really helps keeping occupied territories under control. Any "Mayor" enmassing would also instantly alert of D-Day. The ironly about the American "Cultural" dislike of the french is that their culture very much looks like the USA one. We will leave you to figure out why they are the same :P
I'm from Guernsey (shown quite a lot in this video but not mentioned) and we had a lot of the atlantic wall built here, being the only british soil occupied by the Nazi's during the war they wanted to hold onto us, "Almost 10% of all the concrete used in the Atlantic Wall was used in the Channel Islands"
Oh man, if not the island's brutal immigration policy I would have moved long time ago! But now with brexit and all - sigh, I guess I'll settle on being a tourist!
The two swimmers mentioned were one of several beach reconnaissance teams. I seem to recall in the history of the SBS, Special Boat Service [but it might have been the early days of the Commands], teams were landed from midget submarines. Carrying no guns but survey equipment they stood on the sandy beach in the dead of night using drills to take core samples of the sand which was used to assess the maximum weight of vehicles the sand would support without bogging down and becoming stuck. Tanks obviously spread their great weight over the foot print of the tank tracks. Lorries, while much lighter, might only have six wheels and a much smaller foot print of rubber tyre to spread their weight. So the assumption that "If its alright for tanks it will be fine for lorry carrying a ton or two of supplies" isn't as clear an assumption as it might first appear. Thus any beach the allies were seriously interested in using, this assessment had to be made for each beach. These were high risk missions because if the team were discovered their presence would indicate a clear higher than normal interest in that beach. If the technicians back at base weren't able to get satisfactory core samples the team were sent back again. This information was critical to the allies. Further the gradient of the beach wasn't the only consideration.Often a false foreshore, or sand bar was formed in the sand some yards off the real beach. The effect of this was to stop the landing craft short of the real beach thinking they had touched down in shallow water. When the vehicles were discharged they'd soon find themselves completely submerged on the shore side of the sand bar and still way off the real beach. Of course this all sounds tricky enough while carrying no mention of the mined obstacles littering the beaches foreshore, all of which had to be negotiated to get teams on to and off the beach with this vital information., Midget submarines were in place off the D-Day beaches atleast the night before [more likely several days before] as they acted as marker buoys or navigation lights pointing only out to sea to guide the landing teams into the right corridors towards the beaches. In part this small but vital role was afforded to them in recognition of many missions they had made collecting information in the run up to D-Day.
Most of the beach surveying was done by the COPP (combined ops pilotage parties) and where they were not able to survey for whatever reason, it was done by the Royal Navy Beach Commandos AS they landed in the first wave, to see if it could continue. This was however more relevant to the Italy campaign rather than DDay that was done by COPP. Many of the Combined ops units get lost to history or modern day units. LCOCU Royal Navy Beach Commandos Royal Airforce Servicing Commandos Army Commandos Royal Navy Beach Signal Section Combined Ops Signal Parties
You're right and you're wrong. The SHINGLE was a SHOCK to the Americans at Omaha. This is actually quite amazing because MANY of the British officers -- at the top, BTW -- used to take vacations in Normandy! This specifically includes Allen Brooke! Even Patton (during WWI) knew all about the terrain in Western France. That's why he knew EXACTLY where the famous ford-in-the river was during the BreakOut. Patton actually planned the stunt, knowing that it'd get all around 3rd Army. What a jolly joker. This event was pushed into Coppola's "Patton" script. But in the film, the ford was relocated to Sicily. Heh. The fact is that the Allies are putting you on about performing solid engineering. The British DID have de Gaulle's boys to spell out everything -- if only they were asked. But, if you're well read, you'll know that the British simply did NOT ask for what the Dutch, French or Belgians could tell them. The USMC didn't listen to the Aussies before screwing up Tarawa, either. They wouldn't listen even if the Aussies were shouting at the top of their lungs. The fact that the sands at Omaha could support Victory ships, Liberty ships was NEWS. It was only realized when Americans were walking on that sand. All stories of getting solid engineering are just that. Now I can easily believe that recon troops really did pull samples -- which were then not relayed to the armies about to land. Such SNAFUs are what has made the US Army legendary. As the USMC explains: the first to go; last to know.
@@davidhimmelsbach557 Thank you, David Himmelsbach, for helpful/illuminating background information. I (born 1951) can recall meeting with two older acquaintances (one a participant with USMC 'island hopping') around 1990 to discuss a recent publication which documented a number of 'information failures' which led to heavy troop losses during amphibious attacks due to tides not cooperating, etc.
@Zach Bell the allies did not invade greece, greece was of no use to nor thenazis or the allies so it was pretty much abandoned since any troops there were gonna be cut off by the red army, only the aegean islands were controlled by them but it surrendered when germany did
@@dbkarman yeah mate, tell the 14 thousand dead. I'm sure they will tell you Greece was totally abandoned. Any foothold in your territory is a threat, the germans did defend greece to the best of their ability at the time.
That doesn't change the fact that the Allies never executed a large scale naval landing in Greece, like they did in North Africa, Italy (3 times) and France (twice). Greece was never liberated by them either - the Germans just evacuated the country in October 1944 (with the exception of the island garrisons which held out until May 1945) when the Red Army's advance threatened to cut them off. Besides a number of small scale British raids and the disastrous Dodecanese Campaign during the autumn of 1943, the Allies never had much interest in Greece. Of course they were trying their hardest to make the Germans think the opposite in order to tie down as many of their troops as possible. So yes, despite the 400,000 casualties suffered by Greece during the war, it was , sadly, rather unimportant.
Bear in mind that all along the Western European coastline, the Germans had constructed the "Atlantik Wall," a German copy of the French Maginot Line. The coastal defenses in North Africa and Sicily were either non-existent or very small.
"led by britain and america." Canada cries every night lol Edit: I appear to to have started a war. All I remember from grade 10 history is Canada decided on its own to join the war, so for this instance, it was technically “independent” in its decision making.
Plenty of countries get that treatment, times have changed and many tens of countries no longer refer to themselves as part of Great Britain. Only a WW2 novice would hear Britain and think British Isles, sadly that is the trend. In 100 years imagine how many people would not realise the liberation of Europe was the work of Africans, Egyptians, Indians, Bangladeshis, Samoans and so many more.
@@ericcartmann Canada was independent by 1931 with the Statute of Westminster, which resulted in the UK not being able to call the dominions into the war, they declared war by themselves
Loved this video. I went to Normandy when I was 16. Going there is a strange and sombre experience. You can still see the war there with the floating harbour being a stark reminder that no matter how long ago the war was, the struggle of those men will never leave those beaches.
@@markitgeek The Russians didn't have much choice. If Russia had used their manpower like the western allies they'd have been obliterated, and Russian soldiers were willing because they knew how bad they'd been treated by Germany during operation Barbarossa
@@markitgeek Russians were also fighting to defend their land, German expansion to the east was not an option. Americans were not defending their homeland as they never were, that is the difference in "little regard for causalities".
Im such a fan of how this is basically a verbal essay on why they chose that particular beach. Laying out the reasons, proving them, then recapping. So satisfying to listen to.
I am gonna give the guy a partial pass because of the accent but there is little doubt that from a North American English point of view , it sounds A LOT like power-troopers.
Who knew that Normandy had many upsides to the Allies during D-day; had it been different, Normandy wouldn't been the primary contender and wouldn't been remembered. Also, its really amazing how much work and time the surveyors put in to give the High Command much needed information about Normandy, good job🍻
@JHyun - French resistance sabotaged a lot of their infrastructue before, during and after D-Day which probably contributed a lot to slowing down Allied advance
@JHyun - Because the infrastructure in Yugoslavia was even WORSE than the Infrastructure in Normandy, which you have stated was a long term downside. The main supply bottleneck was not the roads, it was the fact that until they got a fully operational Port all the supplies for all those troops and vehicles was still coming across the Beach and the single surviving Mulberry Harbour. Infarstructure damage is 'relatively' easy to repair as well, if labour intensive. The French supplied the entire Verdun battle in 1916 down one road remember. While the French Road system was generally narrow, its rail system was amongst the best in the world, second to only Germany, and while, like the roads, the rail network had been hammerred again, it is relatively easy to repair railways. Its really the bridges and railyards that are the hard parts to put back together! It was that lack of Ports that was the real issue, every kilo of supplies and every litre of fuel was coming across a couple of beaches and a single mulberry harbour. The fact that they had as few Logistical issues as they did was a materpiece of Logistical planning and operations.
@JHyun - Good info. Good points, good logic. Not many people know about Churchill's plan to forestall the Cold War. FDR rejected it, but it sounds logistically unrealistic any way. After the War all FDR's people were purged from the 'civil service' on the suspicion they were communists. In fact this was the start of the McCarthy witch hunt.
@@alganhar1 How many times to I have to post? Omaha beach turned out to be MUCH BETTER than the Mulberries ever could be. Monty was brining HALF of all his stuff via Omaha Beach. Yup! Omaha beach turned out to be capable of 'lifting' 35,000 tons per day without breaking a sweat. Consequently, if the British Mulberry were lost, Monty wouldn't have missed it, not really. With each tide, Omaha Beach turned into a ship's parking lot with THOUSANDS of GMC trucks and British lorries swarming them as the tide fell away. When the water was too high, the DUKW fleet went into high gear. BTW, you'll struggle to find ANY photos of the British lorries at Omaha. Their use of that beach was deemed politically incorrect at the time. The British dependence upon the Americans had already become a sore spot.
@@M18-o3q those are the people who lived on towns in Normandy. They are a special kind of "French" people due to their ancestors are Vikings, and Normans literally shaped the Anglo-Saxons' (the stereotypical British) History as they took their throne, and shaped the English Language as well (Look for Oversimplified's video about the Battle of Hastings) Thanks for coming to my TEd talk
@@M18-o3q no probs c: try Oversimplified, Armchair Historian, Kings&Generals, PotentialHistory, SimpleHistory and SabatonHistory (that is a Band's Channel, the band's songs topics are mostly wars, try to listen to Sabaton if you got time) and their videos if you want to binge-watch something about History. Cheers fr. the Philippines
Brian, I dont know who had an extra hand in this video or if all Nebula videos get this treatment. There's something extra about this. It might be the subtle soundtrack, or extra editing of the script but this is a special video. There's no fluff. Honestly videos like this will make me sign up for Nebula. Seriously this is good stuff. No clickbaity title, quality, sourced content. Great job!
Each of these take me about a month to make. Nebula allows me to take my time, which is the main reason for the increased production quality. TH-cam just needs constant uploads that can result in some rushed content at times.
This is what I subscribed for, entertaining and informitive videos about engineering from the past. I cannot explain how happy it makes me that you are doing videos like this again.
As someone whose visited Normandy, I can say it’s very very impressive.... the amount of Cemeteries and graves inside of those really is not normal. I’d love to visit again, to see a little more.... right now this isn’t possible (due to the pandemic) ;(
Canadian Soldiers were victim of poor communication and planing and got badly defeated at Dieppe. But we got a second chance a Juno and we were (with Sword, i think) the best. Proud of our soldiers!🇨🇦 Fier de nos soldat!🇨🇦
Jakub Amin it was a Typhoon, the Tempest Mk V never was apart of the invasion and thus never bore invasion stripes. Also the nose slips down and the wings are more curved on the typhoon which we see in the clip.
Great stuff! I have been planning to watch these for a a while. The good news is that I already subscribed for Nebula a few months ago, so you have my support. Thanks again for these high quality materials!
A year or so ago the Dieppe plans were released to the public. The public reason that it was a practice run for D-Day, were part of the cover for the original reason of the operation . The Dieppe landing was called operation “Pinch” (pinch is slang for ‘to steal”), it operational goal was to capture the latest Enigma machine, and the operation failed. The UK forces needed to keep the intention for the raid secret to protect the ongoing decryption work being done at Bletchley Park.
3:41 I strongly disagree with this statement over the years and personally I find it's just another myth. Dieppe was a raid, not a invasions, the Allies knew how to handle an invasion force, just look at Operation Torch that would happen 3 months later, which by the way involved two raids on Vichy French ports that ended in pretty much the same way as Dieppe. There will also be Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and plenty of other Pacific island, Operation Husky, Salerno and Anzio. These landings should be considered the lessens to the Normandy landings not a singular raid.
Excellent video. I used to be an armor (armour for my friends across the pond. And up north. And of course, down under. Actually for most of the world except the U.S. But I digress. Oops) and cavalry officer, and at first I didn't think too much about logistics, other than my own immediate combat support. When I called for fuel, for ammo, etc, it was always there. As I rose through the ranks, I began to gain a real appreciation for the amount of planning that was needed to ensure that what I needed was actually available. While the focus of most military study is on tactics, equipment, etc, many don't realize that in order to be successful, you need more people supplying everyone than actually fighting. Thanks again for a very interesting series of videos!
Dude hearing the radio broadcast at the beginning gave me chills I can’t imagine turning on the radio and hearing that happening live that would have been so intense
@Brian you and the fantastic content and the enormous work you put in producing those amazing videos are the reason why I just subscribed to curiosity stream ;-)
Thank you, so much, for this informative video. I've often wondered why the Allies chose to assault a cliff when the terrain was relatively flat just three miles to the east.
Real Engineering. Thank you so much for your time and effort in making this video possible. I for one really appreciate it. This video is so insightful/interesting. I can't wait for the others to come out.
Used to go to church with this old man, I knew he was there at D-day, but he never talked much about it. I asked the preacher once about him, he retold a story the old man had shared with him. This story takes place late in the day after the beach was taken. At the time he was a young soldier who was driving a transport for officers to get them to the top of beach. He said one trip up the beach the jeep came under fire from Germans. They made it to the top ok, passenger got out and went about his business. The soldier took the time to inspect his jeep. He said he counted 101 bullet holes..... This was just one story from one man at Normandy. Think of all the stories from that day. There's a reason they're known as the greatest generation.
@@chuckbizzert9098 That’s BS. There are plenty of cases in which soldiers take actions that are above and beyond. Those cases deserve appropriate recognition.
@John McKay they can also... you know... just go ahead and unsubscribe quietly or stop being spoiled brats who want everything for free at the expense of other people's hard work
Very good detail, including learning from our mistakes at Dieppe. Learning the lessons of the importance of history. Not to repeat those earlier mistakes. Strong example of why studying history is important.
Hey I know TH-cam algorithm has not been kind to you lately, but just know that you're doing an amazing job man. Your contents deserve a lot of views. But it's okay, we, your fans, are with you. Sending sanitized love your way.
As usual, an absolutely superb video with incredible detail. As a geologist who's researched this topic, have to congratulate you on showing the importance of this topic, which is often neglected from the story of D-Day. (Only tiny error is on the aviation side - those RAF "PR Spitfires" at ~07:30 are I believe ground-attack Tempests).
I have always admired the quality of your videos and the effort you put into making them, but this one has truly blown me away. Utterly fantastic. Time for me to figure out how to get a curiosity stream subscription.
Sure, it's interesting, but I feel like these videos are missing the main point of why your channel got so successful: meaningful, interesting engineering breakdowns.
What a tease, you got me all worked up and interested in this subject which I thought I knew all about already, and now I have to come up with some cold hard cash to see the rest of the series and get some satisfaction. I would ante up and get that Curiosity Stream thing but I am now out of work, for the time being anyway, and am having to pinch pennies.
In al honesty, if I had the capital to get the curiosity stream, nebula bundle, I so freaking would. The nebula originals I’ve seen so far are so freaking good. Keep up the good work.
Them: "These new streaming sites are not trying to replace youtube. They work along side it" You: "The next episode is available exclusively on Nebula, and the best way to watch future videos is on Curiosity Stream. Only $12 per month!" Me: :(
Really annoying that TH-cam won’t recommend me your videos. I am sick and tired of actually good, non-click bait, genuine content getting pushed out of my field of view. This being said, I have finally gotten a video from you, and it is nice.
exactly. how very British it would have been from the British to attack Calais anyways. "Aha! You thought it was a ruse but it wasn't!" I mean.... that's what they did at El Alamein.
Excellent. I’m a D-Day geek/nerd but some of this was new to me. Using ‘bobbins’ over barbed wire fences and the utilisation of terrain of sand over fast draining limestone.
"Americans pushed up from the south in Italy." You should have told my Grandfather that because he told me he was one of thousands and thousands of British troops advancing through Italy. Come to think of it, he also told me about the Canadians, South Africans and Indian troops too. I'm sorry, he must have been mistaken.
It was an operation proposed by the Americans. Hell, one of the main reasons Italy surrendered was because American cousins of Italians were fighting in Italy. There were obviously other countries there, but America made the bulk of the forces. That's like saying "Hitler's Central Asian forces pushed into Soviet Territory."
Green Man The task was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander’s 15the army group and he was British. The American forces during the invasion then that of the British army
You wrote a post a few days ago saying that you are losing views. And even tho I like your vids like this one, with ones like that you will. For example, now you could make a video about how Respirators work which would probably get more views
My grandad served with Bowden and Smith, he was in the unit that surveyed luc ser mer. I have several letters he wrote my grandma including a redacted one that heavily implied he was on the beaches a few weeks before D-Day.
You asked a few weeks ago why you are getting less views. This is the case for me: I'm here for engineering. Sure these videos are interesting for a lot of people but i think a big part of your subscriber basis is interested in the engineering stuff. for example, my favorite videos are "Why do windmills have 3 blades" and your video on electric planes. These are strict engineering subjects with formulas, math, visulizations and all that sweet stuff. I don't wanna say that this content is bad, of course not, all iI'm saying is, that maybe, this stuff doesn't interest your subscribers as much as other topics.
I think it should be mentioned: It would be called "The allied forces." combined strenght: Americans, British, Canadian, French, Irish, Native American, Norwegian, Polish and Scottish.
Irish were neutral during the war and those from Northern Ireland fought under the British name, same with the scots.The Indians, Aussies and New Zealand troops fought under the Commonwealth name.
Adam carreras-neal yeah, they fought as British soldiers and so are covered to be called British soldiers. Many were shunned because there had been an ongoing trade war between the UK and Ireland and tensions were high up north.
such good quality content. don't understand how this young guy produces such good stuff with expertise from so many different fields. veritable polymath.
Rommel noted that Normandy was the most likely Place simply because it looked an awful lot like the same Beach at Sicily where we had landed previously. There was a lot of experience. On both sides.
To be fair, the Nazis were already defeated by the time D-day came around, the German war machine's backbone was broken when they lost the battle of Stalingrad in early 1943. From that point on, the Soviet forces moved westwards at an ever increasing rate and by the time of D-day, German forces were in constant retreat, in some cases being encircled and captured or wiped out using the same tactics the Germans previously employed against their enemies. The real point of D-day was to prevent the Soviet Union from capturing the whole of Europe... doesn't sound quite as heroic though.
@@assassin_rk42 You don't win a war with aircraft, you win it with boots on the ground. The devastation of German Cities slowed down German industry, but asside from a lack of winter clothing, the German troops sent to fight on the Eastern front had all the supplies they needed except oil, German infrastructure wouldn't have helped them with that.
"As the AMERICANS pushed up from the south in Italy." I wish someone had told Wilson, I'm sure the British troops would have loved to have known they didn't need to bother fighting given how the Americans had it in the bag....
Huge thanks to Simon Clark for reading that radio announcement last minute yesterday. The original version of this video on Nebula has the original radio speech, but some American music label seems to think they own the rights to BBC speech from 1944...
Go see Tom Scott’s recent video on copyright, it’s enlightening. I just hope that me using Kevin MacLeod’s royalty-free music in my videos won’t give me trouble later.
Thank you for putting this on TH-cam.
Can you do a video about the bf109?
Dang! But it's great to finally see this here, thanks!
The quality and editing in this video got me on nebula and curiosity stream.
Because the English wanted to get back on the Normans from 1066
😂
dude, uncool
@@NKG416 this angered his father, who punished him severely
Lmao
Aren't Normans the ancestors of British Royalty?
You left out one of the key reason for Normandy being picked, The french resistance captured plans for defense construction for Normandy, which made it a prime location for consideration.
Are you related to Vladimir Horowitz?
@TurnTimeTable I Always wondered why the 40 million French did not attack from the rear on D-Day.
@@Crashed131963 too busy eating cheese
@@Crashed131963 They had plenty partisan support, however trauma and underfeeding and secret police really helps keeping occupied territories under control. Any "Mayor" enmassing would also instantly alert of D-Day. The ironly about the American "Cultural" dislike of the french is that their culture very much looks like the USA one. We will leave you to figure out why they are the same :P
John Smith I wonder why the 60 million Germans didn’t attack from the rear in the battle of Berlin
As oversimplified said
“Because it was less defended, and the beaches were nicer.”
A man of Oversimplified I see.
@@NoOneAlive_ huzzah! Men of quality and oversimplification
Because the beaches were less fortified and the beaches were nicer
@@NoOneAlive_ That's what he said
We are all culture men here.
I'm from Guernsey (shown quite a lot in this video but not mentioned) and we had a lot of the atlantic wall built here, being the only british soil occupied by the Nazi's during the war they wanted to hold onto us, "Almost 10% of all the concrete used in the Atlantic Wall was used in the Channel Islands"
Oh man, if not the island's brutal immigration policy I would have moved long time ago! But now with brexit and all - sigh, I guess I'll settle on being a tourist!
No wonder Wroetoshaw is so good at dodging questions
I have always wondered, i there is anything left of it nowadays? Also how long/how hard was it to demolish it?
@michael wittmann twat.
@michael wittmann Haha, what a 'funny' edgy comment, well done!
The two swimmers mentioned were one of several beach reconnaissance teams. I seem to recall in the history of the SBS, Special Boat Service [but it might have been the early days of the Commands], teams were landed from midget submarines. Carrying no guns but survey equipment they stood on the sandy beach in the dead of night using drills to take core samples of the sand which was used to assess the maximum weight of vehicles the sand would support without bogging down and becoming stuck.
Tanks obviously spread their great weight over the foot print of the tank tracks. Lorries, while much lighter, might only have six wheels and a much smaller foot print of rubber tyre to spread their weight. So the assumption that "If its alright for tanks it will be fine for lorry carrying a ton or two of supplies" isn't as clear an assumption as it might first appear.
Thus any beach the allies were seriously interested in using, this assessment had to be made for each beach. These were high risk missions because if the team were discovered their presence would indicate a clear higher than normal interest in that beach. If the technicians back at base weren't able to get satisfactory core samples the team were sent back again. This information was critical to the allies.
Further the gradient of the beach wasn't the only consideration.Often a false foreshore, or sand bar was formed in the sand some yards off the real beach. The effect of this was to stop the landing craft short of the real beach thinking they had touched down in shallow water. When the vehicles were discharged they'd soon find themselves completely submerged on the shore side of the sand bar and still way off the real beach.
Of course this all sounds tricky enough while carrying no mention of the mined obstacles littering the beaches foreshore, all of which had to be negotiated to get teams on to and off the beach with this vital information.,
Midget submarines were in place off the D-Day beaches atleast the night before [more likely several days before] as they acted as marker buoys or navigation lights pointing only out to sea to guide the landing teams into the right corridors towards the beaches. In part this small but vital role was afforded to them in recognition of many missions they had made collecting information in the run up to D-Day.
Most of the beach surveying was done by the COPP (combined ops pilotage parties)
and where they were not able to survey for whatever reason, it was done by the Royal Navy Beach Commandos AS they landed in the first wave, to see if it could continue. This was however more relevant to the Italy campaign rather than DDay that was done by COPP.
Many of the Combined ops units get lost to history or modern day units.
LCOCU
Royal Navy Beach Commandos
Royal Airforce Servicing Commandos
Army Commandos
Royal Navy Beach Signal Section
Combined Ops Signal Parties
You're right and you're wrong. The SHINGLE was a SHOCK to the Americans at Omaha. This is actually quite amazing because MANY of the British officers -- at the top, BTW -- used to take vacations in Normandy! This specifically includes Allen Brooke! Even Patton (during WWI) knew all about the terrain in Western France. That's why he knew EXACTLY where the famous ford-in-the river was during the BreakOut. Patton actually planned the stunt, knowing that it'd get all around 3rd Army. What a jolly joker. This event was pushed into Coppola's "Patton" script. But in the film, the ford was relocated to Sicily. Heh. The fact is that the Allies are putting you on about performing solid engineering.
The British DID have de Gaulle's boys to spell out everything -- if only they were asked. But, if you're well read, you'll know that the British simply did NOT ask for what the Dutch, French or Belgians could tell them. The USMC didn't listen to the Aussies before screwing up Tarawa, either. They wouldn't listen even if the Aussies were shouting at the top of their lungs.
The fact that the sands at Omaha could support Victory ships, Liberty ships was NEWS. It was only realized when Americans were walking on that sand. All stories of getting solid engineering are just that.
Now I can easily believe that recon troops really did pull samples -- which were then not relayed to the armies about to land. Such SNAFUs are what has made the US Army legendary.
As the USMC explains: the first to go; last to know.
@@Arcmor1 . Excellent info provided.
@@davidhimmelsbach557 Thank you, David Himmelsbach, for helpful/illuminating background information.
I (born 1951) can recall meeting with two older acquaintances (one a participant with USMC 'island hopping')
around 1990 to discuss a recent publication which documented a number of 'information failures' which led to
heavy troop losses during amphibious attacks due to tides not cooperating, etc.
The allies also invaded North Africa and Italy, so it’s not like they didn’t have experience with naval landings.
@Zach Bell the allies did not invade greece, greece was of no use to nor thenazis or the allies so it was pretty much abandoned since any troops there were gonna be cut off by the red army, only the aegean islands were controlled by them but it surrendered when germany did
And by D-Day the USA had been island hopping in the Pacific for 2 years.
@@dbkarman yeah mate, tell the 14 thousand dead.
I'm sure they will tell you Greece was totally abandoned.
Any foothold in your territory is a threat, the germans did defend greece to the best of their ability at the time.
That doesn't change the fact that the Allies never executed a large scale naval landing in Greece, like they did in North Africa, Italy (3 times) and France (twice). Greece was never liberated by them either - the Germans just evacuated the country in October 1944 (with the exception of the island garrisons which held out until May 1945) when the Red Army's advance threatened to cut them off. Besides a number of small scale British raids and the disastrous Dodecanese Campaign during the autumn of 1943, the Allies never had much interest in Greece. Of course they were trying their hardest to make the Germans think the opposite in order to tie down as many of their troops as possible. So yes, despite the 400,000 casualties suffered by Greece during the war, it was , sadly, rather unimportant.
Bear in mind that all along the Western European coastline, the Germans had constructed the "Atlantik Wall," a German copy of the French Maginot Line.
The coastal defenses in North Africa and Sicily were either non-existent or very small.
because landing in berlin directly through the spree-channel was deemed a tad cocky by high command
"led by britain and america."
Canada cries every night lol
Edit: I appear to to have started a war. All I remember from grade 10 history is Canada decided on its own to join the war, so for this instance, it was technically “independent” in its decision making.
Technically Canada was a British colony at the time. Canada didn't get independence until 1982.
Plenty of countries get that treatment, times have changed and many tens of countries no longer refer to themselves as part of Great Britain. Only a WW2 novice would hear Britain and think British Isles, sadly that is the trend. In 100 years imagine how many people would not realise the liberation of Europe was the work of Africans, Egyptians, Indians, Bangladeshis, Samoans and so many more.
@@ericcartmann so wrong. independent since 1867.
There was Australian as well
Even Free French Troops (a very few, and under the British army)
@@ericcartmann Canada was independent by 1931 with the Statute of Westminster, which resulted in the UK not being able to call the dominions into the war, they declared war by themselves
Loved this video. I went to Normandy when I was 16. Going there is a strange and sombre experience. You can still see the war there with the floating harbour being a stark reminder that no matter how long ago the war was, the struggle of those men will never leave those beaches.
Soviets: Why did the Soviets pick everywhere.
Because they had the manpower, disregard for human life and terror dicipline necessary to do so.
WHat FoRTResse EuROPE ?!
@@markitgeek The Russians didn't have much choice. If Russia had used their manpower like the western allies they'd have been obliterated, and Russian soldiers were willing because they knew how bad they'd been treated by Germany during operation Barbarossa
@@ze_rubenator That's simply not true
@@markitgeek Russians were also fighting to defend their land, German expansion to the east was not an option. Americans were not defending their homeland as they never were, that is the difference in "little regard for causalities".
Wait a minute, I know that voice
Congratulations your marriage.
yeah I counted 3 BUTS
Hitler?
Who do you think it is?
general eisenhower
"because it was less fortified, and the beaches were a lot nicer"
oversimplified reference
@@justachannel6612 i see you are a man of culture
Parthib Pandit with the best soft ice-creams according to the GI’s, and terrain largely unsuitable for donkey rides
Nice restaurants and bars with ocean views!
@@paulorchard7960 there was a very good drink called mg34 every allied soldiers whould die for one of those
Im such a fan of how this is basically a verbal essay on why they chose that particular beach. Laying out the reasons, proving them, then recapping. So satisfying to listen to.
I first read "Why Did The Aliens Pick Normandy?" :D
Gotta like this quick
”Is such a thing even possible?”
Masa when I first read this comment I read “why did the allies pick Normandy” and got really confused because that’s the title of the video...
we'll bang, okay?
this is CMDR Shepard and this is my favorite comment on the citadel
Can we talk about the fact that he definitely says “power troopers” rather than “paratroopers” at 4:58
I think he meant that but to me it sounds more like “powatroopers”
I am gonna give the guy a partial pass because of the accent but there is little doubt that from a North American English point of view , it sounds A LOT like power-troopers.
And why does he say something like "bush" instead of "but"?
It's called an accent
@@timothygordon958 Thank you Captain Obvious!
I'm curious which place is this accent from?
Who knew that Normandy had many upsides to the Allies during D-day; had it been different, Normandy wouldn't been the primary contender and wouldn't been remembered. Also, its really amazing how much work and time the surveyors put in to give the High Command much needed information about Normandy, good job🍻
@JHyun - French resistance sabotaged a lot of their infrastructue before, during and after D-Day which probably contributed a lot to slowing down Allied advance
@JHyun - Because the infrastructure in Yugoslavia was even WORSE than the Infrastructure in Normandy, which you have stated was a long term downside. The main supply bottleneck was not the roads, it was the fact that until they got a fully operational Port all the supplies for all those troops and vehicles was still coming across the Beach and the single surviving Mulberry Harbour.
Infarstructure damage is 'relatively' easy to repair as well, if labour intensive. The French supplied the entire Verdun battle in 1916 down one road remember. While the French Road system was generally narrow, its rail system was amongst the best in the world, second to only Germany, and while, like the roads, the rail network had been hammerred again, it is relatively easy to repair railways. Its really the bridges and railyards that are the hard parts to put back together!
It was that lack of Ports that was the real issue, every kilo of supplies and every litre of fuel was coming across a couple of beaches and a single mulberry harbour. The fact that they had as few Logistical issues as they did was a materpiece of Logistical planning and operations.
@JHyun - Good info. Good points, good logic. Not many people know about Churchill's plan to forestall the Cold War. FDR rejected it, but it sounds logistically unrealistic any way. After the War all FDR's people were purged from the 'civil service' on the suspicion they were communists. In fact this was the start of the McCarthy witch hunt.
@@alganhar1Sounds accurate as far as I know, but it was very risky.
@@alganhar1 How many times to I have to post? Omaha beach turned out to be MUCH BETTER than the Mulberries ever could be. Monty was brining HALF of all his stuff via Omaha Beach. Yup! Omaha beach turned out to be capable of 'lifting' 35,000 tons per day without breaking a sweat. Consequently, if the British Mulberry were lost, Monty wouldn't have missed it, not really. With each tide, Omaha Beach turned into a ship's parking lot with THOUSANDS of GMC trucks and British lorries swarming them as the tide fell away. When the water was too high, the DUKW fleet went into high gear.
BTW, you'll struggle to find ANY photos of the British lorries at Omaha. Their use of that beach was deemed politically incorrect at the time. The British dependence upon the Americans had already become a sore spot.
Normans: invade Britain in the old times
WWII Britain: *well well well, look how the tables turned*
Exu *turnes tables*
What are the Norman's?
@@M18-o3q those are the people who lived on towns in Normandy. They are a special kind of "French" people due to their ancestors are Vikings, and Normans literally shaped the Anglo-Saxons' (the stereotypical British) History as they took their throne, and shaped the English Language as well (Look for Oversimplified's video about the Battle of Hastings)
Thanks for coming to my TEd talk
@@exudeku Thank you. So much history in Europe I wanna learn.
@@M18-o3q no probs c:
try Oversimplified, Armchair Historian, Kings&Generals, PotentialHistory, SimpleHistory and SabatonHistory (that is a Band's Channel, the band's songs topics are mostly wars, try to listen to Sabaton if you got time) and their videos if you want to binge-watch something about History.
Cheers fr. the Philippines
This video has next level editing. Well done!
Except the Hawker Typhoon used as a Spitfire
Brian, I dont know who had an extra hand in this video or if all Nebula videos get this treatment. There's something extra about this. It might be the subtle soundtrack, or extra editing of the script but this is a special video. There's no fluff. Honestly videos like this will make me sign up for Nebula. Seriously this is good stuff. No clickbaity title, quality, sourced content. Great job!
Each of these take me about a month to make. Nebula allows me to take my time, which is the main reason for the increased production quality. TH-cam just needs constant uploads that can result in some rushed content at times.
It's amazing to see how your channel has progressed. The production quality and information is great. Very happy for you.
for the detailed video on the dieppe invasion, check the mark felton production. he got a lot of historical stories that aren't well known
Mark Felton Productions presents a ton of crazy stuff I've *never* heard before!
Support his channel, too.
One of the best channels
I absolutely love Felton's channel, which as noted, has a great many videos on the obscure aspects of the war. An absolute gem.
This is what I subscribed for, entertaining and informitive videos about engineering from the past. I cannot explain how happy it makes me that you are doing videos like this again.
But you have to pay to see the rest
As someone whose visited Normandy, I can say it’s very very impressive.... the amount of Cemeteries and graves inside of those really is not normal. I’d love to visit again, to see a little more.... right now this isn’t possible (due to the pandemic) ;(
Canadian Soldiers were victim of poor communication and planing and got badly defeated at Dieppe. But we got a second chance a Juno and we were (with Sword, i think) the best.
Proud of our soldiers!🇨🇦
Fier de nos soldat!🇨🇦
Yes they shouldn't have been sent,Montgomery and MacArthur made quite a few mistakes like this.Brave Men,RIP
7:36 "Equipped with Spitfires, modified with F 52 cameras"
*Shows footage of a Typhoon*
1944 it could have been a tempest, but i could be wrong.
@@jakubamin6006 True, but mistaking a spitfire for a tempest/typhoon is a bit questionable.
Jakub Amin it was a Typhoon, the Tempest Mk V never was apart of the invasion and thus never bore invasion stripes. Also the nose slips down and the wings are more curved on the typhoon which we see in the clip.
Tempest Mk II were there though
I already know why but it’s just fun and it feels good to learn about this.
A few German Officers realised Normandy was the landing target 6 months before. But their warnings were ignored by Hitler !
Damn the editting on this video is insane
Great stuff! I have been planning to watch these for a a while. The good news is that I already subscribed for Nebula a few months ago, so you have my support. Thanks again for these high quality materials!
A year or so ago the Dieppe plans were released to the public. The public reason that it was a practice run for D-Day, were part of the cover for the original reason of the operation . The Dieppe landing was called operation “Pinch” (pinch is slang for ‘to steal”), it operational goal was to capture the latest Enigma machine, and the operation failed. The UK forces needed to keep the intention for the raid secret to protect the ongoing decryption work being done at Bletchley Park.
Thank you for putting this on TH-cam.
3:41 I strongly disagree with this statement over the years and personally I find it's just another myth.
Dieppe was a raid, not a invasions, the Allies knew how to handle an invasion force, just look at Operation Torch that would happen 3 months later, which by the way involved two raids on Vichy French ports that ended in pretty much the same way as Dieppe.
There will also be Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and plenty of other Pacific island, Operation Husky, Salerno and Anzio. These landings should be considered the lessens to the Normandy landings not a singular raid.
6:02 to 6:20 speaking in Rhyming couplets
@@linyenchin6773 big brain
Excellent video. I used to be an armor (armour for my friends across the pond. And up north. And of course, down under. Actually for most of the world except the U.S. But I digress. Oops) and cavalry officer, and at first I didn't think too much about logistics, other than my own immediate combat support. When I called for fuel, for ammo, etc, it was always there. As I rose through the ranks, I began to gain a real appreciation for the amount of planning that was needed to ensure that what I needed was actually available. While the focus of most military study is on tactics, equipment, etc, many don't realize that in order to be successful, you need more people supplying everyone than actually fighting. Thanks again for a very interesting series of videos!
Dude hearing the radio broadcast at the beginning gave me chills I can’t imagine turning on the radio and hearing that happening live that would have been so intense
@Brian you and the fantastic content and the enormous work you put in producing those amazing videos are the reason why I just subscribed to curiosity stream ;-)
0:48 "Innit." - D. Eisenhower, 1944, before he drove off with his '01 Ford Focus.
Thank you, so much, for this informative video. I've often wondered why the Allies chose to assault a cliff when the terrain was relatively flat just three miles to the east.
Please do more videos like this! I don’t like war, despite having been in it, but I’ve always found the logistics of it to be awe inspiring
Real Engineering. Thank you so much for your time and effort in making this video possible. I for one really appreciate it. This video is so insightful/interesting. I can't wait for the others to come out.
Used to go to church with this old man, I knew he was there at D-day, but he never talked much about it.
I asked the preacher once about him, he retold a story the old man had shared with him. This story takes place late in the day after the beach was taken.
At the time he was a young soldier who was driving a transport for officers to get them to the top of beach. He said one trip up the beach the jeep came under fire from Germans. They made it to the top ok, passenger got out and went about his business. The soldier took the time to inspect his jeep. He said he counted 101 bullet holes.....
This was just one story from one man at Normandy. Think of all the stories from that day.
There's a reason they're known as the greatest generation.
Downright inhospitable.
My Grandfather stormed the beaches of Normandy. He was given a Silver Star for his actions that day.
Thank his family.
Military awards mean nothing! They are political. Real soldiers know who the heroes are!
@@chuckbizzert9098 That’s BS. There are plenty of cases in which soldiers take actions that are above and beyond. Those cases deserve appropriate recognition.
Are the following episodes gonna be on youtube aswell
Not any time soon. I may upload them sometime next year when I start season 2 on the pacific war.
@@RealEngineering can't wait for season two of this, I personally love this side of military operations, I find it absolutely fascinating
@@RealEngineering aaaaaand unsubscribe
@@deathcamel :( call your mommy and tell her all about it
@John McKay they can also... you know... just go ahead and unsubscribe quietly or stop being spoiled brats who want everything for free at the expense of other people's hard work
This episode passed so fast... Thank you so much for this production! (Breathtaking)
Very good detail, including learning from our mistakes at Dieppe. Learning the lessons of the importance of history. Not to repeat those earlier mistakes. Strong example of why studying history is important.
Didn't know there was this much geology involved
isn't it Geography?
Both actually, not only does where the place is located that mattered but also what natural features are in the place they will land
@@kiel_3222 Because of Dieppe . All the tank tracks broke because the beach was made of large stones.
Geo physics as well...
Civil Engineers study Geology as part of their college Courses.
Hey I know TH-cam algorithm has not been kind to you lately, but just know that you're doing an amazing job man. Your contents deserve a lot of views. But it's okay, we, your fans, are with you. Sending sanitized love your way.
Stay Healthy and keep up the good work! we appreciate you.
As usual, an absolutely superb video with incredible detail. As a geologist who's researched this topic, have to congratulate you on showing the importance of this topic, which is often neglected from the story of D-Day. (Only tiny error is on the aviation side - those RAF "PR Spitfires" at ~07:30 are I believe ground-attack Tempests).
I have always admired the quality of your videos and the effort you put into making them, but this one has truly blown me away. Utterly fantastic. Time for me to figure out how to get a curiosity stream subscription.
Brilliant video... excellent history of the analysis that went on prior to the invasion. Thank you so much.
Sure, it's interesting, but I feel like these videos are missing the main point of why your channel got so successful: meaningful, interesting engineering breakdowns.
Have you ever heard of CIVIL ENGINEERING?
nice vid, this is the content ive been waiting for. my friends and i like your accent and pronunciations
Absolutely fascinating this is the type of thing you could mak a history mini series out of excellent work
1:08 those are Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne. I marched to songs/cadences about these men at bootcamp in 1993.
there was a time you talked specifically about Real Engineering
The last time I was this early, they haven't even completed the Atlantic Wall
Last I was this early, the "last time I was this early" types of comments were original.
the last time i was here early it was D-DAY minus 420
they never completed it
@@Carthodon Hey-Oh!
Love your ww2 videos so much, thank you! As soon as I'm back in work I'll be subscribing on patreon.
What a tease, you got me all worked up and interested in this subject which I thought I knew all about already, and now I have to come up with some cold hard cash to see the rest of the series and get some satisfaction. I would ante up and get that Curiosity Stream thing but I am now out of work, for the time being anyway, and am having to pinch pennies.
In al honesty, if I had the capital to get the curiosity stream, nebula bundle, I so freaking would. The nebula originals I’ve seen so far are so freaking good. Keep up the good work.
Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Plans are worthless, planning is everything."
Great videos
Them: "These new streaming sites are not trying to replace youtube. They work along side it"
You: "The next episode is available exclusively on Nebula, and the best way to watch future videos is on Curiosity Stream. Only $12 per month!"
Me: :(
Wasn't that for a year?
@@Marczking yes
Real Engineering made a post and apparently the TH-cam algorithm makes it so that any video mentioning war gets a lot less views.
Had I known this was an ad for some off site I'm never going to, I would have skipped this video entirely.
Really annoying that TH-cam won’t recommend me your videos. I am sick and tired of actually good, non-click bait, genuine content getting pushed out of my field of view. This being said, I have finally gotten a video from you, and it is nice.
Before watching, my guess: the Allies didn’t do what the Germans thought the Allies thought the Germans would do if they were the Allies.
exactly.
how very British it would have been from the British to attack Calais anyways.
"Aha! You thought it was a ruse but it wasn't!"
I mean.... that's what they did at El Alamein.
"Powertroopers" - intriguing...
Glad I'm not the only one who heard this.
@@DomWeasel Might have been that "Sturmtruppen" got translated somewhere into English.
@@JJsAutomotive
Which wouldn't surprise me, even though the German for paratrooper is of course fallschirmjäger.
Canada was there too! Canadian soldiers always meet their responsibilities and are humble heroes. Then and now!🇨🇦
Much better video than the past couple! Love this kind of stuff!
Excellent. I’m a D-Day geek/nerd but some of this was new to me.
Using ‘bobbins’ over barbed wire fences and the utilisation of terrain of sand over fast draining limestone.
Hmmm. This sounds tactical
The cheeky allied inventions are engineering are they not? I get what you are saying though. As someone who enjoys both, I like this!!
"Americans pushed up from the south in Italy." You should have told my Grandfather that because he told me he was one of thousands and thousands of British troops advancing through Italy. Come to think of it, he also told me about the Canadians, South Africans and Indian troops too. I'm sorry, he must have been mistaken.
There were also Poles with their bear.
There were also brazillians
It was an operation proposed by the Americans. Hell, one of the main reasons Italy surrendered was because American cousins of Italians were fighting in Italy. There were obviously other countries there, but America made the bulk of the forces.
That's like saying "Hitler's Central Asian forces pushed into Soviet Territory."
Green Man actually they were not the main force
Green Man The task was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander’s 15the army group and he was British. The American forces during the invasion then that of the British army
You wrote a post a few days ago saying that you are losing views. And even tho I like your vids like this one, with ones like that you will.
For example, now you could make a video about how Respirators work which would probably get more views
Man great job! Keep it up- I love the effort you put into this ( I’m not sure if you work solo or not but if not great team)
My grandad served with Bowden and Smith, he was in the unit that surveyed luc ser mer. I have several letters he wrote my grandma including a redacted one that heavily implied he was on the beaches a few weeks before D-Day.
The Dieppe Raid was intended to be a recon-in-force, not a second front, but it was a costly CF of a lesson in amphibious landings.
10:29 - "I hate sand."
The amazing bulk references lool
You asked a few weeks ago why you are getting less views. This is the case for me: I'm here for engineering. Sure these videos are interesting for a lot of people but i think a big part of your subscriber basis is interested in the engineering stuff. for example, my favorite videos are "Why do windmills have 3 blades" and your video on electric planes. These are strict engineering subjects with formulas, math, visulizations and all that sweet stuff.
I don't wanna say that this content is bad, of course not, all iI'm saying is, that maybe, this stuff doesn't interest your subscribers as much as other topics.
Ever heard of CIVIL ENGINEERING?
Respect engineers because I could never be one. I can’t think like an engineer
When you made the poll about falling views I was scared you ran out of ideas, then I saw this, and It’s like pure gold
Well... the future videos aren't on TH-cam. You have to buy a nebula subscription
Thanks for the info and review,have a nice day
When you said 'led my Britain and America" you forgot to mention Canada, that was responsible for Juno.
No, he didn't forget anything. The US and the UK *LED* the invasion. Canada took part but they didn't lead.
I think it should be mentioned: It would be called "The allied forces." combined strenght: Americans, British, Canadian, French, Irish, Native American, Norwegian, Polish and Scottish.
Irish were neutral during the war and those from Northern Ireland fought under the British name, same with the scots.The Indians, Aussies and New Zealand troops fought under the Commonwealth name.
@@OCinneide they were, but there many from the south joined the British army to fight the Nazis and where shunned when they returned
Shut up
@@kingucrimson5383 no u
Adam carreras-neal yeah, they fought as British soldiers and so are covered to be called British soldiers. Many were shunned because there had been an ongoing trade war between the UK and Ireland and tensions were high up north.
Ok mate, the British and Americans were pushing up from Italy and had even taken Rome just a day before D-Day
such good quality content. don't understand how this young guy produces such good stuff with expertise from so many different fields. veritable polymath.
Rommel noted that Normandy was the most likely Place simply because it looked an awful lot like the same Beach at Sicily where we had landed previously. There was a lot of experience. On both sides.
"Because it was less fortified, and the beaches are nice"
Rommel suggested the Allies would land in Normandy because he thought it looked like the beaches they landed on in Sicily.
Rommel was never involved in the Sicilian nor Italian campaigns
@@andresmartinezramos7513 didn't say he was but that's what he apparently said.
Doing part one of a series without telling me until the end that I need to go to another platform to see the rest is shitty.
being watching this D-Day stuff for the past week and its good to see a video about this
The heavy metal band Sabaton recorded a song about D-Day called "Primo Victoria". It can be found on their album of the same title.
The true genius here is those people who planned everything carefully and neatly
*RESPECT +*
This was informative.
And Canadians at Juno. Not just the Brits and Americans helped defeat the Nazi's
To be fair, the Nazis were already defeated by the time D-day came around, the German war machine's backbone was broken when they lost the battle of Stalingrad in early 1943. From that point on, the Soviet forces moved westwards at an ever increasing rate and by the time of D-day, German forces were in constant retreat, in some cases being encircled and captured or wiped out using the same tactics the Germans previously employed against their enemies.
The real point of D-day was to prevent the Soviet Union from capturing the whole of Europe... doesn't sound quite as heroic though.
@@ericlanglois9194 The Allies literally bombed out German cities in 1942-1945 but okay.
@@assassin_rk42 You don't win a war with aircraft, you win it with boots on the ground. The devastation of German Cities slowed down German industry, but asside from a lack of winter clothing, the German troops sent to fight on the Eastern front had all the supplies they needed except oil, German infrastructure wouldn't have helped them with that.
You did a good job on episode one. Will be sure to catch the rest. Thanks.
The amount of geographical and tactical research is inspiring
“Alright boys, where we dropping?”
Normandy?? *player left
Soldiers of the Regiment! TONAAAAGHT is the NAAAAGHT.... of nights.
"As the AMERICANS pushed up from the south in Italy."
I wish someone had told Wilson, I'm sure the British troops would have loved to have known they didn't need to bother fighting given how the Americans had it in the bag....
Same for the Canadians. I'm sure we would have been more than happy to let them take Ortona for us.
And the French. See Montecassino
Its absolutely amazing how much planning went into the landing.
2:20 - Dieppe is actually also in Normandy -> can't say "135 km away from the beaches of Normandy".
The style level on the one is off the chart, and the content is amazing as always, I think the title could be more interesting