I talked to a German veteran who was shot down in this flight. Eventually he got captured when the Africa corps surrendered. He ended up living in the state of Wisconsin going to German fests through the 90's . Panzer IV machine gunner who fought on the eastern front and volunteered for Africa. I asked why he did that. He said that he never saw anyone freeze to death in the desert .
The irony is the desert is freezing at night not in the absolute sense but after climatizing during the day the night feels like a harsh winter even know it's still hot.
Felix Santosa Ahoy's style should be more well known, since it is very pleasant to look at, be it there or here. Ahoy has not been doing too badly, producing several hours of actual documentaries and still not delivering on the series that turned him from XboxAhoy to Ahoy.
I have an old (out of print) book called "The Fatal Decisions" which was written by surviving German commanders from significant battles during WWII. The segment on North Africa (specifically the Battle for El Alamein) was written by Rommel's Chief of Staff. In that segment of the book, the key point of their struggles was about supplies logistics, and sending request after request to German HQ to resupply his troops to an adequate level or North Africa would be lost. I grabbed my book after watching this video (great job) and read a portion about Rommel, indicating to German HQ that he couldn't hold his position, got a coded message from Hitler himself to 'Hold with all means necessary'. Rommel's statement was, "What we needed were guns, fuel, planes; what we did not need were orders to hold fast."
Those "Hold fast" orders kept on coming too in other areas Germany fought. Especially in the Eastern Front when a lot of the generals pleaded to be able to withdraw.
I am from Tunisia, from the south precisely. My grandma told me when she was 7, "tall soldiers", probably Germans were knocking doors of villagers asking for food and water. They were starving and she felt bad for them. Later they found a lot of body parts of dead soldiers and they buried then close to the village. Lots of ghost stories later..kids were telling. Btw, lots of Tunisians were supporting Germans..not because they were nazis, but because Germans told them we will liberate you from the French
هتلر خلاهم منغير امدادات خاطر قرر يحشدها كلها عالجبهة الشرقية ضد السوفيات لين وفا عليهم الماء و الماكلة و الذخيرة و هذا سبب خسارة ألمانيا في شمال افريقيا
My Father was part of this as pilot. His words "They painted military gear in desert colors in Germany to cover up the losses in Africa' No one should recognize back at home that this was a disaster ... He got out of Tunis, one of the last planes that left it successfully.
Very nicely done. My father was in JG 27 Ended up as a Pow Arrived in the US aboard the Queen Mary first sight of America was Statue of Liberty.. Then shipped by train to Nebraska.. he had spoken to me about the supply and logistical hell that North Africa was..( tea colored water from the rust inside the tanker trucks) but until now I never really understood the backstory to it. Thank you. Sadly with the passage of time those that can tell the stories are lost.
There was this German army POW that was taken prisoner by the Americans in Tunisia, Georg Gärtner. He was in a POW camp in the United States, escaped captivity and lived in the US for decades before finally turning himself in during the 1980s. He wrote a book about his time. Specifically when he was taken prisoner in Tunisia, he was taken to an American camp. He observed how well supplied, well equipped the American soldiers were. The most alarming thing he saw was how the American soldiers casually left their idle engines running. Burning fuel without a care in the world. Anyone familiar with the German military's plight of fuel shortage should appreciate that. Gärtner said when he saw the total absence of fuel conservation practices with the Americans, "I knew we were going to lose the war." TheHistoryGuy has a video on this man.
Great video except that it was almost completely forgotten in the video that also the Regia Aeronautica (old name for ITAF) did its own share of the air bridge and paid the relative price. At the end they were loading cargo on the SM79 bombers that had a slightly better chance of surviving due to their higher speed (and less cargo) towards the similar but fatter ans slower SM82 cargoes. My uncle was serving in the italin af as a motorist and gunner on the SM79 bombers, and was shot down by a P38. Italian Navy had some patrol boats on duty to recover the surviving aircrew and the lucky crew (nobody died in the ditching) were pulled up after around 12 hours. So not only Luftwaffe.
Thank you.... my dad was a trainee transport pilot ( Dakotas ) in North Africa at this time. He was horrified by what happened to evacuation attempt. He was 20.... really disliked Germans ( after being bombed out of his home in 1940 ) but disgusted by the triumphalism of some of the fighter aircrews. It feels very strange and sad to find "the full story" 60 years after he told me about it.
Probably not revisionist. There is only me and my 60 year old memory left to make this particular call and going by what else he had to say about his time in the RAF I reckon he was probably telling ti like it was. He was also distressed by some tankers sad stories of murdering surrendering enemy when there were no supporting infantry to make sure they didn't pick up their weapons after the tanks had pushed on...... but couldn't think what else could have been done. He actually thought he had just been lucky to get to be a medevac pilot and never have to confront the possibility of killing someone directly.
I'd agree that butchering a bunch of troop-laden transports is a dirty job, but one which had to be done. I can see why your father, who seems to have had some empathy with the JU52s and their passengers because a transport pilot on the other side, would abhor their triumphalism and apparent mocking blood-lust. Possibly, some experienced fighter pilots on our side may have also felt disgust for them, even if expressing it cautiously..that they behaved, or chattered, like a bunch of crazed seagulls with a shoal of beached fish. anyway, the Germans at Arnhem effectively did the same to our paratroop transports in at least one case, even if doing it with AAA instead of fighters.. Like revenge for this, and like revenge for Crete, where the JU52s and occupants had gotten messed up pretty bad previously.
mmm..when you really cannot take prisoners, when there is no physical avenue to hold them or direct them even, exactly what does one do with them.. Look at the mistake the Yank SEALs made sparing that young Afghan that blundered into them when they were stalking a village containing Taliban leaders..look at the cost of that error.
Some time before this Major Popski led a small force operating well behind German/Italian lines. On one occasion he was near an airfeld and he noticed large numbers of Ju52 would fly in in the morning and away in the afternoon. I think he discovered they were ferrying men and supplies in from Crete and wounded out. He passed the information on. A few days later a large force of Beaufighters made a decisive interception. For some reason this hardly ever gets mentioned.
I remember reading an account of a British fighter pilot opening up a Gigant with his guns. He threw up in his cockpit as he watched scores of troops fall out of the disintegrating wreckage.
Thank you Sir! I had no idea of this action until your video. It makes me very sad that these events are not better known. Brave men died on both sides and they should be honoured and remembered.
Being a Tunisian, I can say people might have heard of "Kasserine" but the real battles were on the coast , some bombs were dropped on the sea and the holes left are so deep that an entire ecosystem changed between the biggest islands in the Kerkennah Archipelago , strong sea currents where only the most adventurous could sail. The areal battles were brutal on the ports and the people.
The whole episode gets overlooked and I must say that I had never read of it being called Operation Flax. Part of the problem is that it came just prior to the Victory in Tunisia and then the Invasion of Sicily. The focus of the war moved on.
I remeber one of the prisoners escaped from their prison camp in some us desert and escaped his life their as a POW and lived a secret new life as an american.
Yes, the Soviets should have treated the Axis POWs better despite how the Axis treated them, but the Soviets were starving themselves, so keeping the moral high ground was the very low on their priorities list.
Mein guter Herr, this was one fantastic video ! I'm blown away by it's brilliance :D May I ask you to create a similar video about the Swiss Air Force's battles against the Luftwaffe in 1940 ? (if you can spare the time in the next few month or years)
You didn't mention the losses in the Netherlands. In most literature that I read lost between 250 and 300 Ju-52. Although the Netherlands capitulated after 4 days, because of the bombartment of Rotterdam, the Luftwaffe lost more than 500 planes in the attack, more than on all other fronts combined. But thanks for all the great videos.
Well done the Netherlands but now you must deal with the evil government you have who are colluding with The World Economic Forum to destroy your farms and food supplies and then bring in it's place millions of immigrants in the space from different cultures to weaken the country and eventually the whole west so that marxism can dictate to the west.
Honestly, even though Mussolini was still a dictator, the difference between him and Hitler is clear here, at 16:22 No Stalingrad like forbidding of surrender and demand to fight to the death, just respect to the men, and mercy for their lives
The casualty and loss rates of air crew from all sides and services of the war, was and still is, alarming and terrifying to consider. Having lived it could only have been exponentially more so. Thanks for your content. It is of extremely high quality, as is your research. Particularly your presentation of information gathered from German war archival documentation, is outstanding.
Wow, this is a really great video! The moving infographic style of representation was at some points so flashy I needed to rewind to not miss what you where actually saying. I guess a lot of time goes into making these but the result is simply stunning. Keep up the good work Bismarck!
I do not think it needs slowing down really. I have ADD so I get easily distracted :) And all the other comments about the graphics (and there are a lot of them) are nothing but praise.
My dad was lucky...trainee transport pilot ( Dakotas) he got to Tunisia just after the surrender.... all he recalled from North Africa was the overwhelming heat of Fez and getting dysentery in Sicily.
Ww2 was basically the movie "There will be blood". Axis are the mentalist boy hitting jackpot and Allies are the prospector. On absolutely every level. Especially the beginning, the middle and the end.
Excellent presentation! Just read the section in Guy Gibson's Enemy Coast Ahead where he recounts 106 Sqn activities bombing Italian ports from England, in support of the Tunisian campaign.
italy should have just invaded france in 1937 before france had done the "go with britain" national focus and then annexed all their land (leaving one state puppeted so you can get that sweet navy nom nom) and then they would have had a massive industrial base
While they had some early success the Luftwaffe failed at every battle. It didn't win in the west. It failed at Dunkirk and the battle of Britain . It failed in the east at Stalingrad , it failed at knocking out the Soviets air force and it failed to stop the round the clock bombing of Germany.
It failed against the Dutch, when they lost 1300 specially trained Fallschirmjager paratroopers and about 100 not easy replaceable transport aircraft in 1 day against an enemy who surrendered 4 days later.
Developed the modern supersonic and stealth aeroplanes.The Horton flying wing.The rocketry to get into outer space.The first into space.Yeah, didn't win a war on a battle field.But otherwise.
@@lancesecrest7577 They didn't develop the flying wing aircraft. That was first flown in the US by Nortrop. None of their jets could even come close to the speed of sound. The faster rocket plane ME 163 was more dangerous to it's pilots than the allied bombers and was a dead end. While the V-2 could reach outer space launched straight up it didn't when used to hit London . Great Britain had jet fighters before the end of the war too. The Allies could have developed anything the Germans did but used their resources more wisely. The time and resources the Germans wasted could have been put to better use but If Germany held out 6 more months there is every likelihood the atomic bombs would be dropped there a technology the Germans never even came close to.
Great vid. I recall reading somewhere that B-26 Marauders with forward-firing "package" guns (four .50 cal MG) were also involved, and did great slaughter among the Luftwaffe transport aircraft.
The Marauder was an exceptional example - she was fast as bombers go, even if she was nowhere near Mosquito territory, and with the package guns plus her own nose guns (possibly supplemented by the mid upper turret firing forward), she had as heavy a punch as many fighters. In essence she was a _Zerstorer_ against opponents so unmanoeuvrable that her own relatively poor manoeuvrability didn't count against her. Had the transports' fighter cover been better, things might have been different.
I wonder why Germany wanted North Africa, and that instead of committing all its forces against Russia to quickly take them out of the war, it pointlessly divided them. They could've always returned to North Africa later. It almost seems like they wanted to lose.
the italians asked for help... and if italia fell, the allies had a highway wide open to split germany from it's romanian refineries. i personnally dont understand why the germans never tried to extend their fuel production. or went for the utterly idiotic idea to attack the russians.
@Côme Thiburs The germans had no choice but to attack russia (war was inevitable with them regardless). the growing involvement of america led hitler to believe that war was inevitable and the only way to realistically survive that, let alone win, was with the USSR's resources (especially food and oil/fuel). also you gotta look at the invasion from that period's perspective; russia was incredibly weak (stalin had a nervous breakdown because the red army wouldn't have been ready for another couple years), almost everyone believed they stood no chance (something about hindsight). had the nazi party not been so... nazi... i believe they would've been in a strong position to have won the war. instead they sort of lost all support from the occupied territories that originally hailed them as liberators which severely exacerbated the partisan and supply issues.
There is a Ju52 on display at Munich airport. You can climb inside it. Trying to supply an army with Ju52s is like trying to supply an army with pickup trucks. It's never going to happen.
My cousin was Charles Earnhardt. 1st. Lt. USAAC flying P38s in Tunisia. He was credited with over 7 kills making him an ace. Jimmy Doolittle personally decorated him. Charles was shot down twice, and captured by the Germans. after the war,in 1974 2 thugs came to his pharmacy(northern Ohio) looking for drugs and killed him. We are related to the racing Earnhardt's of NASCAR fame. Dale #3 is my 7th cousin.
Very good presentation, and the duel screen English and german text was a good format. Over all, good job! I subscribed and will be watching your channel.
Being summer; that metaphor comparing a radar screen to Bluefish in a frenzy evokes a truly haunting image…. When baitfish jump into the boat to avoid being eaten, is that like bailing out at the first sign of marauding fighters?
I believe South Africa was also involved in this, as they were known for downing the German heavy transports Messerschmitt Me-323 Gigants as well as the Ju-52s. This is a familiar area for South Africa. In Greece, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia fought the Germans in 1941. Well done video.
+Howar G Indeed. SAAF downed a good number of Italian and German aircraft between 19th and 22nd April 1943. It is often forgotten that the SAAF made up a third of the Desert Air Force and made a substantial contribution in the North Africa Campaign.
158 reported vs 24 actual. That conforms nicely to the 7:1 results reporting ratio that prevailed throughout the war. I wonder when or if commanders became aware of the 7:1 rule.
You mentioned Dunkirk. The French army saved the British at Dunkirk, which shows that even in the face of total defeat of their country (in 1940) with supplies low or cut off, individual French army battalions could still fight with skill, tenacity and elan, causing high casualties against (German) attacking infantry attempting to penetrate or outflank them.
Winston Smith. It’s depends on what you mean by “saved”. The British army was one tenth the size of the French and under French command. The Germans attacked Belgium and the French commanders ordered the British and some French to move forward to meet the Germans. Unfortunately the Germans then attacked further south against the French. The French Line was breached almost immediately and the Germans turned north behind the British and French who had moved forward into Belgium. Everything then depended on the French stopping the German breakthrough and the advance north behind the British and French now in Belgium. At this time there was little the British could do to stop being surrounded on three sides with the sea on the forth. The French might have been the bravest of the brave but the Germans very quickly advanced against all opposition and completed their plan. Almost the entire British Expeditionary Force had been cut-off in a matter or days. Their situation hopeless. And it’s not true that all the defence work inside the surrounded area was French. The French shouldn’t be blamed too much. None of the allied armies were anywhere near as good as the Germans. The Americans in North Africa were much worse than the French and the British concentrated on their navy and airforce.
If WW2 was a RTS/TBS, by this time I'd say the Allies used hackz and trainers. Also, they modded the difficulty from realistic to arcade. Joking aside, such a depressing loose of life. Great video, also.
Consider The paratroopers of the Folgore Division and the armored division Ariete: a division of Italian paratroopers, during the battle of El Alamein they were ordered to cover the retreat of the Africa Korps for 24 h. They held for 72 h against a superior allied force. Another area of the front was held by the Ariete, The last radio message from the commander said “We have three tanks left, we are counter-attacking”. The MAS flotilla and the Italian manned torpedoes that sunk the British battleships in Alexandia.
Allies had the inside scoop on every move the Germans made, having broken the Enigma code.Thanks for your good job in describing this battle in great detail.
Also, nice presentation BTW. ===== February 2, 1943, German forces at Stalingrad surrender to the Soviets. Massive loss of life and materiel. May 13, 1943, Army Group Afrika surrenders to the Allies in Tunisia. Also a substantial loss of men and materiel, veterans lost for Germany's cause. And in July 1943, the Germans lose the titanic struggle in Kursk against the Soviet Union. The first 7 months of 1943 broke the back of Germany, the rest was prolonged misery as people were dying for a war that was clearly decided. Any single one of these events were terrible, in particular Stalingrad and Tunisia. But all 3 happened in the same year. Absolute disaster. The saving grace I guess for the German prisoners from Africa was they were all kept as prisoners in Western Allied countries and treated well. Their war was over. Their comrades still in arms, or will enter service after them, will face about 2 more years of horror with many being kept prisoners by the Soviets.
This video is nicely put together and very informative. It also proves the well known saying amongst the military on all sides. If you over streach your supply lines over areas where do not have total control, you only make your enemies job easy. The Germans were still very tenacious and in my humble opinion, one of the world's greatest of all modern warriors.
Germany produced less than 5000 Ju-52s. By comparison the USA produced over 10,000 C-47s, a plane that could carry 50% more, cruise 50% faster, and had about 50% greater range. Douglas had licensed the DC-3 to Russia and during the war they produced 5000 of their version of the C-47 (they also had licensed Japan who built 500 - their most numerous transport). Germany only produced about 200 Gigants, Me-323 using French 800 hp radial engines. They also produced a small number of other types like the Ju-252/352 (15/50). The USA produced 3,000 of the C-46 (half again as big as the C-47), and about 1,000 of the 4 engine C-54 (DC-4). Germany was hopelessly outclassed in transport aircraft. At any point in time the numbers of Ju-52s available numbered in the hundreds.
As a self taught, self titled, World War 2 “expert” I had never heard of this battle. I was aware that the Axis supply lines were being destroyed, while Monty sat in his HQ until the advantages in tanks and aircraft were in the 100 to 1 odds. It was clear that Hitler’s huge mistakes included trying to save the Italians face in North Africa, when good judgement dictated he stay the hell out and let the Italians fall on their great empire dreams. But for maybe 90 degrees difference in temperature Stalingrad and this campaign are twins. Oh yes, pilots lie oh boy do they lie. Later some attention was paid to only counting kills that were documented on film, but I’m sure cheating still went on. Excellent video, super commentary and video effects.
As a self taught, self titled, World War 2 "expert" you forgot that Germany was fighting against the British Empire ... if the British weren't engaged in Africa they could land in the Balkans and attack Germany from the south, or , if they had been free from any conflict in Africa the allies could land in Normandy and attack Germany from the West (and they did it in 1944 when they no longer had to fight in North Africa! ... Without the war in Africa started by the Italians, the allies could have landed in France as early as 1942). In short, the Germans did not commit themselves in the Balkans and in Africa just to "help" the Italians, simply the Italians and the Germans were fighting a war against the allies on many fronts.
Miyazaki's film Nausica of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and the manga of the same name included a scene which troop transports were intercepted and slaughtered. Miyazaki's has incorporated real military aviation events and equipment into many of his films. I always believed that that scene was "inspired" by this event. The troop transports even look like the Giant.
![ALLY - OH MY! [ REACTION ] 'Amarin Nitibhon' #ALLY_OHMY #ALLY #allynitibhon #แอลลี่](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nX9qpHjVfbQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I talked to a German veteran who was shot down in this flight. Eventually he got captured when the Africa corps surrendered. He ended up living in the state of Wisconsin going to German fests through the 90's . Panzer IV machine gunner who fought on the eastern front and volunteered for Africa. I asked why he did that. He said that he never saw anyone freeze to death in the desert .
The irony is the desert is freezing at night not in the absolute sense but after climatizing during the day the night feels like a harsh winter even know it's still hot.
@@Ziggletooth Relative to a Russian winter it is nothing at all. Heck, relative to a Wisconsin winter, it is nothing at all.
The "Ahoy" like artstyle is very well done. very nice job bismarck
Glad I'm not the only person to notice. Now I have a desire to see "Iconic Arms" return (or maybe "Iconic Planes" as collab?) - we were promised.
Huh, go figure, didn't know Ahoy's style is well known
Haven't seen how he's been doing recently tho, so yeh
Felix Santosa
Ahoy's style should be more well known, since it is very pleasant to look at, be it there or here. Ahoy has not been doing too badly, producing several hours of actual documentaries and still not delivering on the series that turned him from XboxAhoy to Ahoy.
This is a great video about an overlooked part of the war. I learned something, thanks Bismark.
only the Nazis could possibly screw up so badly with something as basic as this.
@@JeanLucCaptain The same nazis who managed to get control of most of europe and completely ignore the treaty of versailes with no repercussions.
Oh and also America managed to lose 2500 people during pearl harbor,as well as the fact they had to refloat most of their battleship force...
@@jamessquires7662 that was a surprise attack, you know that right?
@@JeanLucCaptain there are endless problems to condemn the nazis for, I’ve got to say military inability is not one of them.
There is an old adage, "Soldiers win battles, logistics win wars."
Excelente saying !!! 👍👍👍
@David Parry 😂😂😂😂😂👍👍👍
@David Parry G-o-e-r-i-n-g!
Napoleon pretty much said the same thing. He said, "An army fights on its stomach."
The graphics are awesome in this video
I agree. They remind me of Ahoy's videos. And that's a great thing.
ahoy ? link ?
That's a Wombat in your photo? So is the bike in my photo, a Hodaka "Wombat", and it's parked in front of a wombat sign.
I thought too. Excellent sense of design.
...and that added to ignorance: "spitfires tangling with messerschmitts" ?
RIP for all fallen solders in Tunisia
(from TUNISIA)
I have an old (out of print) book called "The Fatal Decisions" which was written by surviving German commanders from significant battles during WWII. The segment on North Africa (specifically the Battle for El Alamein) was written by Rommel's Chief of Staff. In that segment of the book, the key point of their struggles was about supplies logistics, and sending request after request to German HQ to resupply his troops to an adequate level or North Africa would be lost. I grabbed my book after watching this video (great job) and read a portion about Rommel, indicating to German HQ that he couldn't hold his position, got a coded message from Hitler himself to 'Hold with all means necessary'. Rommel's statement was, "What we needed were guns, fuel, planes; what we did not need were orders to hold fast."
At least Rommel died with honour trying to get rid of Hitler.
Those "Hold fast" orders kept on coming too in other areas Germany fought. Especially in the Eastern Front when a lot of the generals pleaded to be able to withdraw.
I am from Tunisia, from the south precisely. My grandma told me when she was 7, "tall soldiers", probably Germans were knocking doors of villagers asking for food and water. They were starving and she felt bad for them. Later they found a lot of body parts of dead soldiers and they buried then close to the village. Lots of ghost stories later..kids were telling. Btw, lots of Tunisians were supporting Germans..not because they were nazis, but because Germans told them we will liberate you from the French
هتلر خلاهم منغير امدادات خاطر قرر يحشدها كلها عالجبهة الشرقية ضد السوفيات لين وفا عليهم الماء و الماكلة و الذخيرة و هذا سبب خسارة ألمانيا في شمال افريقيا
Your efforts shine yet again. A Simply fantastic video. The animations and information blend are most worthy of an Iron Cross.
or better yet a knights cross
Thank you very much, glad to hear that you enjoyed it!
Its good for what it covers but isn't the complete story :)
not bad man
Military Aviation History :) Ich finde das Video echt ganz toll !
My Father was part of this as pilot. His words "They painted military gear in desert colors in Germany to cover up the losses in Africa' No one should recognize back at home that this was a disaster ...
He got out of Tunis, one of the last planes that left it successfully.
Very nicely done.
My father was in JG 27
Ended up as a Pow
Arrived in the US aboard the Queen Mary first sight of America was Statue of Liberty..
Then shipped by train to Nebraska.. he had spoken to me about the supply and logistical hell that North Africa was..( tea colored water from the rust inside the tanker trucks) but until now I never really understood the backstory to it. Thank you.
Sadly with the passage of time those that can tell the stories are lost.
There was this German army POW that was taken prisoner by the Americans in Tunisia, Georg Gärtner. He was in a POW camp in the United States, escaped captivity and lived in the US for decades before finally turning himself in during the 1980s. He wrote a book about his time. Specifically when he was taken prisoner in Tunisia, he was taken to an American camp. He observed how well supplied, well equipped the American soldiers were. The most alarming thing he saw was how the American soldiers casually left their idle engines running. Burning fuel without a care in the world. Anyone familiar with the German military's plight of fuel shortage should appreciate that. Gärtner said when he saw the total absence of fuel conservation practices with the Americans, "I knew we were going to lose the war."
TheHistoryGuy has a video on this man.
Great video except that it was almost completely forgotten in the video that also the Regia Aeronautica (old name for ITAF) did its own share of the air bridge and paid the relative price. At the end they were loading cargo on the SM79 bombers that had a slightly better chance of surviving due to their higher speed (and less cargo) towards the similar but fatter ans slower SM82 cargoes.
My uncle was serving in the italin af as a motorist and gunner on the SM79 bombers, and was shot down by a P38. Italian Navy had some patrol boats on duty to recover the surviving aircrew and the lucky crew (nobody died in the ditching) were pulled up after around 12 hours.
So not only Luftwaffe.
Thank you.... my dad was a trainee transport pilot ( Dakotas ) in North Africa at this time. He was horrified by what happened to evacuation attempt. He was 20.... really disliked Germans ( after being bombed out of his home in 1940 ) but disgusted by the triumphalism of some of the fighter aircrews.
It feels very strange and sad to find "the full story" 60 years after he told me about it.
@@Squarehead2008Absolutely, this is revisionist history to me.
But what if the German soldier surrendered?
Probably not revisionist. There is only me and my 60 year old memory left to make this particular call and going by what else he had to say about his time in the RAF I reckon he was probably telling ti like it was. He was also distressed by some tankers sad stories of murdering surrendering enemy when there were no supporting infantry to make sure they didn't pick up their weapons after the tanks had pushed on...... but couldn't think what else could have been done. He actually thought he had just been lucky to get to be a medevac pilot and never have to confront the possibility of killing someone directly.
I'd agree that butchering a bunch of troop-laden transports is a dirty job, but one which had to be done.
I can see why your father, who seems to have had some empathy with the JU52s and their passengers because a transport pilot on the other side, would abhor their triumphalism and apparent mocking blood-lust.
Possibly, some experienced fighter pilots on our side may have also felt disgust for them, even if expressing it cautiously..that they behaved, or chattered, like a bunch of crazed seagulls with a shoal of beached fish.
anyway, the Germans at Arnhem effectively did the same to our paratroop transports in at least one case, even if doing it with AAA instead of fighters..
Like revenge for this, and like revenge for Crete, where the JU52s and occupants had gotten messed up pretty bad previously.
mmm..when you really cannot take prisoners, when there is no physical avenue to hold them or direct them even, exactly what does one do with them..
Look at the mistake the Yank SEALs made sparing that young Afghan that blundered into them when they were stalking a village containing Taliban leaders..look at the cost of that error.
I love the style of this video!!
Reuben Smart Exciting and very engaging
The editing and narration in this video was an absolute treat. Keep this up Bismarck, it's truly incredible.
Some time before this Major Popski led a small force operating well behind German/Italian lines.
On one occasion he was near an airfeld and he noticed large numbers of Ju52 would fly in in the morning and away in the afternoon. I think he discovered they were ferrying men and supplies in from Crete and wounded out.
He passed the information on.
A few days later a large force of Beaufighters made a decisive interception.
For some reason this hardly ever gets mentioned.
I remember reading an account of a British fighter pilot opening up a Gigant with his guns. He threw up in his cockpit as he watched scores of troops fall out of the disintegrating wreckage.
I watched the video now 2 times. I always gives me a gowling feeling on my spine!
Remembering that my greant pa flew with a Me 323 to africa
Thank you Sir! I had no idea of this action until your video. It makes me very sad that these events are not better known. Brave men died on both sides and they should be honoured and
remembered.
Being a Tunisian, I can say people might have heard of "Kasserine" but the real battles were on the coast , some bombs were dropped on the sea and the holes left are so deep that an entire ecosystem changed between the biggest islands in the Kerkennah Archipelago , strong sea currents where only the most adventurous could sail. The areal battles were brutal on the ports and the people.
Very well done. Had never heard of Operation Flax and its easy to see why. Always love learning something new like this.
The whole episode gets overlooked and I must say that I had never read of it being called Operation Flax. Part of the problem is that it came just prior to the Victory in Tunisia and then the Invasion of Sicily. The focus of the war moved on.
I actually never knew that last bit about Mussolini promoting the last Italian commander and ordering him not to waste the lives of his men.
An act of decency.
Thanks for putting this up! WW2 was a huge conflict. There are many events like this that need to be brought to light.
The prisoners of the African Stalingrad survived.
I think most of the German's were white. I am afraid the German's did not treat their non-white POW very well.
I remeber one of the prisoners escaped from their prison camp in some us desert and escaped his life their as a POW and lived a secret new life as an american.
Desmond Able
Source?
Yes, the Soviets should have treated the Axis POWs better despite how the Axis treated them, but the Soviets were starving themselves, so keeping the moral high ground was the very low on their priorities list.
they shot them...
Mein guter Herr, this was one fantastic video ! I'm blown away by it's brilliance :D
May I ask you to create a similar video about the Swiss Air Force's battles against the Luftwaffe in 1940 ? (if you can spare the time in the next few month or years)
Switzerland ostensibly was neutral, so where did you learn about these battles?
You didn't mention the losses in the Netherlands. In most literature that I read lost between 250 and 300 Ju-52. Although the Netherlands capitulated after 4 days, because of the bombartment of Rotterdam, the Luftwaffe lost more than 500 planes in the attack, more than on all other fronts combined.
But thanks for all the great videos.
Well done the Netherlands but now you must deal with the evil government you have who are colluding with The World Economic Forum to destroy your farms and food supplies and then bring in it's place millions of immigrants in the space from different cultures to weaken the country and eventually the whole west so that marxism can dictate to the west.
'smashing into the cold grave of the sea' .......vaguely poetic and given germanic accented urgency. More sir more!!
Honestly, even though Mussolini was still a dictator, the difference between him and Hitler is clear here, at 16:22 No Stalingrad like forbidding of surrender and demand to fight to the death, just respect to the men, and mercy for their lives
Thanks for producing such an interesting and well created video, it raised my awareness to a part of WW2 I had heard little about.
The casualty and loss rates of air crew from all sides and services of the war, was and still is, alarming and terrifying to consider.
Having lived it could only have been exponentially more so.
Thanks for your content. It is of extremely high quality, as is your research.
Particularly your presentation of information gathered from German war archival documentation, is outstanding.
this video is so good. thoroughly researched, and simulator visuals to bring it to life. you clearly put so much work into this, I love it
Wow, this is a really great video! The moving infographic style of representation was at some points so flashy I needed to rewind to not miss what you where actually saying. I guess a lot of time goes into making these but the result is simply stunning. Keep up the good work Bismarck!
Thanks for the feedback, will slow things down a bit.
I do not think it needs slowing down really. I have ADD so I get easily distracted :) And all the other comments about the graphics (and there are a lot of them) are nothing but praise.
My dad was lucky...trainee transport pilot ( Dakotas) he got to Tunisia just after the surrender.... all he recalled from North Africa was the overwhelming heat of Fez and getting dysentery in Sicily.
Italy's "colonial aspirations" were discarded a long time before Tunisia fell.
Maybe not, but all that was required was to push off, but No, so Dear Old Rommel was able to train our American Allies in blood.
Giovanni Messe: a forgotten talented commander
New band name - "Rommel and the Italians"
My grandfather was a pilot for the British over there and he told me there wasn’t any Americans when the British won the Africa’s campaign
We thank him for his service
Ww2 was basically the movie "There will be blood". Axis are the mentalist boy hitting jackpot and Allies are the prospector. On absolutely every level. Especially the beginning, the middle and the end.
Excellent video. Clear, concise and informative about an event I was ignorant of until now.
Excellent presentation! Just read the section in Guy Gibson's Enemy Coast Ahead where he recounts 106 Sqn activities bombing Italian ports from England, in support of the Tunisian campaign.
This is why you always research Fighter II.
italy should have just invaded france in 1937 before france had done the "go with britain" national focus and then annexed all their land (leaving one state puppeted so you can get that sweet navy nom nom) and then they would have had a massive industrial base
A thoroughly researched, very detailed summary; analysis is excellent. This report is a tour de force, Bismarck - very well done!!
While they had some early success the Luftwaffe failed at every battle. It didn't win in the west. It failed at Dunkirk and the battle of Britain . It failed in the east at Stalingrad , it failed at knocking out the Soviets air force and it failed to stop the round the clock bombing of Germany.
It failed against the Dutch, when they lost 1300 specially trained Fallschirmjager paratroopers and about 100 not easy replaceable transport aircraft in 1 day against an enemy who surrendered 4 days later.
After the early weeks of Barbarossa, the Luftwaffe was not decisive.
Crete would be an exception.
@@douglasstrother6584
See TIKs latest vid. The Luftwaffe was very decisive against the Soviets.
Developed the modern supersonic and stealth aeroplanes.The Horton flying wing.The rocketry to get into outer space.The first into space.Yeah, didn't win a war on a battle field.But otherwise.
@@lancesecrest7577 They didn't develop the flying wing aircraft. That was first flown in the US by Nortrop. None of their jets could even come close to the speed of sound. The faster rocket plane ME 163 was more dangerous to it's pilots than the allied bombers and was a dead end. While the V-2 could reach outer space launched straight up it didn't when used to hit London . Great Britain had jet fighters before the end of the war too. The Allies could have developed anything the Germans did but used their resources more wisely. The time and resources the Germans wasted could have been put to better use but If Germany held out 6 more months there is every likelihood the atomic bombs would be dropped there a technology the Germans never even came close to.
Great vid. I recall reading somewhere that B-26 Marauders with forward-firing "package" guns (four .50 cal MG) were also involved, and did great slaughter among the Luftwaffe transport aircraft.
The Marauder was an exceptional example - she was fast as bombers go, even if she was nowhere near Mosquito territory, and with the package guns plus her own nose guns (possibly supplemented by the mid upper turret firing forward), she had as heavy a punch as many fighters. In essence she was a _Zerstorer_ against opponents so unmanoeuvrable that her own relatively poor manoeuvrability didn't count against her. Had the transports' fighter cover been better, things might have been different.
I wonder why Germany wanted North Africa, and that instead of committing all its forces against Russia to quickly take them out of the war, it pointlessly divided them. They could've always returned to North Africa later. It almost seems like they wanted to lose.
the italians asked for help... and if italia fell, the allies had a highway wide open to split germany from it's romanian refineries.
i personnally dont understand why the germans never tried to extend their fuel production. or went for the utterly idiotic idea to attack the russians.
@Côme Thiburs
The germans had no choice but to attack russia (war was inevitable with them regardless). the growing involvement of america led hitler to believe that war was inevitable and the only way to realistically survive that, let alone win, was with the USSR's resources (especially food and oil/fuel). also you gotta look at the invasion from that period's perspective; russia was incredibly weak (stalin had a nervous breakdown because the red army wouldn't have been ready for another couple years), almost everyone believed they stood no chance (something about hindsight). had the nazi party not been so... nazi... i believe they would've been in a strong position to have won the war. instead they sort of lost all support from the occupied territories that originally hailed them as liberators which severely exacerbated the partisan and supply issues.
Probably had a very nice range also, as compared to a fighter.
There is a Ju52 on display at Munich airport. You can climb inside it. Trying to supply an army with Ju52s is like trying to supply an army with pickup trucks. It's never going to happen.
Outstanding. I was completely unaware of these events. Thank you for filling that gap in my knowledge base.
Very informative with the stats and details which are usually bypassed in the general history. Great work.
I really enjoyed the art style in this. A+ on all scores, another top drawer effort!
One of your best videos yet. Love the visuals and quotations.
Really good segment. As always, thank you for sharing.
Steve
these new graphics are great
Thank you!
This is an amazing video, thank you for this!
What a beautiful design! The colour palette is very pleasant to my eye.
Now, back to watching the video!
Amazing quality in this video, cant imagine how much work it must've took, well done!
My cousin was Charles Earnhardt. 1st. Lt. USAAC flying P38s in Tunisia. He was credited with over 7 kills making him an ace.
Jimmy Doolittle personally decorated him.
Charles was shot down twice, and captured by the Germans. after the war,in 1974 2 thugs came to his pharmacy(northern Ohio) looking for drugs and killed him.
We are related to the racing Earnhardt's of NASCAR fame. Dale #3 is my 7th cousin.
These animations remind me so much of "AHOY's" videos.
Very good presentation, and the duel screen English and german text was a good format.
Over all, good job!
I subscribed and will be watching your channel.
Being summer; that metaphor comparing a radar screen to Bluefish in a frenzy evokes a truly haunting image….
When baitfish jump into the boat to avoid being eaten, is that like bailing out at the first sign of marauding fighters?
That’s quite nice video yoput together, lots of facts and great Graphics!!!
Love the new graphics
your animations in this video are just beyond amazing! really really good job!
Good research, great presentation of the graphics and I like the ending air battle scenes - WELL DONE!!!!
These videos are awesome and very ilustrative, thank you.
I believe South Africa was also involved in this, as they were known for downing the German heavy transports Messerschmitt Me-323 Gigants as well as the Ju-52s. This is a familiar area for South Africa. In Greece, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia fought the Germans in 1941. Well done video.
Howard G - huge respect from the UK to all the Commonwealth forces.
+Howar G Indeed. SAAF downed a good number of Italian and German aircraft between 19th and 22nd April 1943. It is often forgotten that the SAAF made up a third of the Desert Air Force and made a substantial contribution in the North Africa Campaign.
Fabulous dissection of the engagements. Very informative.
158 reported vs 24 actual. That conforms nicely to the 7:1 results reporting ratio that prevailed throughout the war. I wonder when or if commanders became aware of the 7:1 rule.
You mentioned Dunkirk. The French army saved the British at Dunkirk, which shows that even in the face of total defeat of their country (in 1940) with supplies low or cut off, individual French army battalions could still fight with skill, tenacity and elan, causing high casualties against (German) attacking infantry attempting to penetrate or outflank them.
Your comment is claptrap.
Right on! Only Brits fought on! FROGS bugged out!!!!!!
Winston Smith. It’s depends on what you mean by “saved”.
The British army was one tenth the size of the French and under French command.
The Germans attacked Belgium and the French commanders ordered the British and some French to move forward to meet the Germans.
Unfortunately the Germans then attacked further south against the French. The French Line was breached almost immediately and the Germans turned north behind the British and French who had moved forward into Belgium.
Everything then depended on the French stopping the German breakthrough and the advance north behind the British and French now in Belgium. At this time there was little the British could do to stop being surrounded on three sides with the sea on the forth.
The French might have been the bravest of the brave but the Germans very quickly advanced against all opposition and completed their plan. Almost the entire British Expeditionary Force had been cut-off in a matter or days. Their situation hopeless.
And it’s not true that all the defence work inside the surrounded area was French.
The French shouldn’t be blamed too much. None of the allied armies were anywhere near as good as the Germans. The Americans in North Africa were much worse than the French and the British concentrated on their navy and airforce.
This was excellent. Your reports get better and better.
Really impressive production value. Well done!
If WW2 was a RTS/TBS, by this time I'd say the Allies used hackz and trainers. Also, they modded the difficulty from realistic to arcade. Joking aside, such a depressing loose of life. Great video, also.
oberstul axis are just rushing noobs that don't have a clue what to do mid-late game.
and that's cuz they spent all their OPed special attacks during the tutorial missions
Brilliant commentary. Thank you.
Outstanding work. Thank you!
The graphics in this video are really well realized. The tale is also very engaging too.
A old guy I know was 16 at this time and had to supply North Africa as part of a merchant ships crew. He had to swim 4 times...
The massive P-40 attack on the Gigantes was described in the book "Damned to Glory".
As always, great job, and especially good narrative.
Appreciate the effort put into this!
Consider The paratroopers of the Folgore Division and the armored division Ariete: a division of Italian paratroopers, during the battle of El Alamein they were ordered to cover the retreat of the Africa Korps for 24 h. They held for 72 h against a superior allied force. Another area of the front was held by the Ariete, The last radio message from the commander said “We have three tanks left, we are counter-attacking”.
The MAS flotilla and the Italian manned torpedoes that sunk the British battleships in Alexandia.
Thank you very, very much for making these literate and interesting videos.
Allies had the inside scoop on every move the Germans made, having broken the Enigma code.Thanks for your good job in describing this battle in great detail.
Always interesting, thank you.
Awesome graphics.
Also, nice presentation BTW.
=====
February 2, 1943, German forces at Stalingrad surrender to the Soviets. Massive loss of life and materiel.
May 13, 1943, Army Group Afrika surrenders to the Allies in Tunisia. Also a substantial loss of men and materiel, veterans lost for Germany's cause.
And in July 1943, the Germans lose the titanic struggle in Kursk against the Soviet Union.
The first 7 months of 1943 broke the back of Germany, the rest was prolonged misery as people were dying for a war that was clearly decided. Any single one of these events were terrible, in particular Stalingrad and Tunisia. But all 3 happened in the same year. Absolute disaster.
The saving grace I guess for the German prisoners from Africa was they were all kept as prisoners in Western Allied countries and treated well. Their war was over. Their comrades still in arms, or will enter service after them, will face about 2 more years of horror with many being kept prisoners by the Soviets.
Specifically, German POW's from North Africa were shipped to Canada and the USA. Many have spoken of those years in North America as being good years.
Nice! I love this new animation style!
This video is nicely put together and very informative. It also proves the well known saying amongst the military on all sides. If you over streach your supply lines over areas where do not have total control, you only make your enemies job easy. The Germans were still very tenacious and in my humble opinion, one of the world's greatest of all modern warriors.
There could be a really cool movie about this. Great video!
I didn't think the P-40 was still in use in 1943. I guess in this Turkey Shoot the capability of the fighter really wasn't important.
Fantastic work Bismarck! Bravo!
To be called an Ace after shooting down poorly armed , slow flying transport aircraft has got to be a downer.
Why ? .
Germany produced less than 5000 Ju-52s. By comparison the USA produced over 10,000 C-47s, a plane that could carry 50% more, cruise 50% faster, and had about 50% greater range. Douglas had licensed the DC-3 to Russia and during the war they produced 5000 of their version of the C-47 (they also had licensed Japan who built 500 - their most numerous transport). Germany only produced about 200 Gigants, Me-323 using French 800 hp radial engines. They also produced a small number of other types like the Ju-252/352 (15/50). The USA produced 3,000 of the C-46 (half again as big as the C-47), and about 1,000 of the 4 engine C-54 (DC-4). Germany was hopelessly outclassed in transport aircraft. At any point in time the numbers of Ju-52s available numbered in the hundreds.
An episode about Royal Navy submarines in the Mediterranean is in order. They sunk a huge amount of Axis supplies going to Africa
Subs don't have wings so maybe something for MHV.
Excellent video. Thanks.
5:13 "Once again Germany underestimated just how little the word "overkill" meant for their adversaries." Well put.
As a self taught, self titled, World War 2 “expert” I had never heard of this battle. I was aware that the Axis supply lines were being destroyed, while Monty sat in his HQ until the advantages in tanks and aircraft were in the 100 to 1 odds. It was clear that Hitler’s huge mistakes included trying to save the Italians face in North Africa, when good judgement dictated he stay the hell out and let the Italians fall on their great empire dreams. But for maybe 90 degrees difference in temperature Stalingrad and this campaign are twins.
Oh yes, pilots lie oh boy do they lie. Later some attention was paid to only counting kills that were documented on film, but I’m sure cheating still went on.
Excellent video, super commentary and video effects.
As a self taught, self titled, World War 2 "expert" you forgot that Germany was fighting against the British Empire ... if the British weren't engaged in Africa they could land in the Balkans and attack Germany from the south, or , if they had been free from any conflict in Africa the allies could land in Normandy and attack Germany from the West (and they did it in 1944 when they no longer had to fight in North Africa! ... Without the war in Africa started by the Italians, the allies could have landed in France as early as 1942). In short, the Germans did not commit themselves in the Balkans and in Africa just to "help" the Italians, simply the Italians and the Germans were fighting a war against the allies on many fronts.
You get the award for the most stupid post ever!
those were some great edits
I never knew about this. Awesome video!
Great WarThunder footage Bismarck!
Miyazaki's film Nausica of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and the manga of the same name included a scene which troop transports were intercepted and slaughtered. Miyazaki's has incorporated real military aviation events and equipment into many of his films. I always believed that that scene was "inspired" by this event. The troop transports even look like the Giant.
Fantastically informative, great video.
Your videos Get betterer and betterer.
Fantastiche.