The Role Of Oil In The Real Downfall Of Nazi Germany | Battlefield | War Stories

[Music] the collapse of the German campaign in Russia leading to the occupation of much of Eastern Europe and the Balkans by Soviet forces in 1945 had its roots in events occurring some years earlier Hitler had studied his history even though he was inclined to draw fatally unbalanced conclusions from what he read in the end it was his intuitive rather than educated guidance of German strategy that lost him the war he had long known that the bulans had always spelt trouble and initially held back from involvement in that glue pot in 1939 after the conquest and dismemberment of Poland he entered into the infamous pact with Stalin and turned his attention to France and Britain his enemies in the West by Midsummer of 1940 it seemed that Nazi Germany had all but won the war and achieved all Hitler's strategic objectives the swastika flag flew from the North Cape to the Spanish border and the axis of Germany Italy and Japan appeared firmly in the ascendant but even as he received the rapturous plaudits of the crowds in Berlin following the defeat of France Belgium and Holland and the expulsion of the British Expedition force from the continent Hitler was already nursing his wish to exterminate the forces of bolshevism and the only way to do that was to conquer the Soviet Union once this had been achieved by the destruction of the Red Army Germany would have achieved a long-cherished ambition the acquisition of vast tracts of territory that could be colonized by Germans who would work the land and develop its industrial and economic potential using masses of slave labor provided by the Russian rural masses for this Hitler needed a secure Southern flank as well as the oil resources of Romania and Hungary initially good German diplomacy seemed to be securing the alliances in southeast Europe that would guarantee a bloodless campaign whereby German influence could be firmly secured in the Balkans but when musolini hoping to match the success of the German March into Czechoslovakia in 1939 sent his army across the Albanian border into Greece in October 1940 Hitler's plans collapsed the Italians were ignominiously hurled back and British ground and Air elements arrived in Mainland Greece C and the aan islands within weeks to support the Greeks British bombers on Greek airfields were now within range of the vast Romanian oil fields and refineries at plesi one of Hitler's main strategic objectives something had to be done a furious Hitler gave orders for German forces to invade Greece this was impossible in the face of approaching winter so Hitler had to turn to emergency diplomacy to buy time as his forces redeployed to southern Europe for a campaign in the spring of 1941 Hungary and Romania were signed up as members of the axis in November 1940 Bulgaria took more persuasion being that much closer to the Soviet Union already rumbling menacingly at the threat of an axis bullwark on its Southwestern approaches German patients paid off and the bulgarians agreed to the entry of German support troops during the winter months their Engineers were busily preparing assembly areas in southern Bulgaria from which the Greek Invasion would be [Music] launched as spring approached numerous military Bridges were thrown across the danu and Bulgaria finally signed into the axis on the 1st of March 1941 as German combat troops entered the country across the Romanian border formed up in their deployment areas and awaited the order to advance into Greece until now Yugoslavia had remained neutral and outside the axis although its large Catholic croat population was inclined to be Pro German up to a point Hitler accepted its government's stance but demanded unlimited use by the verar of the key strategic Rail Link from Belgrade to salonica a reluctant Yugoslav government signed into the axis on the 25th of March but a few days later a coup by officers sympathetic to the Allies forced the pro German Regent Prince Paul into Exile and placed the 18-year-old King Peter II on the throne declaring him to be of age the new prime minister General simovich refused to ratify the signature of his predecessor on the axis treaty and a furious Hitler announced on the 27th of March that he would destroy Yugoslavia as both military power and sovereign state simovich called on Russia traditional protector of the slaves for help but received only a bland Assurance of friendship and non-aggression [Music] on the 6th of April the Germans simultaneous ly invaded Greece and Yugoslavia which from the start was a divided nation the Orthodox serbs loathed the Catholic croats and both detested the Muslim bosnians once the country had been occupied by the Germans these age-old hatreds continued to affect the subsequent Guerilla campaign making it extremely difficult for the S soe Special Operations executive in London to determine which faction whether royalist liberal Democrat or communist was actually fighting the Germans and which was preparing to seize political power once the war had ended the German Blitz Creek devastatingly supported from the air quickly overwhelmed Yugoslavia pro-german cowat units of the royal Yugoslav Army mutinied at once and some actually began to fight serbs an Armistice was signed on the 17th of April the Germans had conquered Yugoslavia for the loss of less than 500 men King Peter and his supporters fled into Exile from which they emerged briefly in 1945 only to be expelled Once More by Tito's communist government the exhausted Greek army that had fought so valiantly against the Italians was forced to capitulate within days of the German intervention and the British and Empire troops sent to its Aid were forced out of Mainland Greece then creit with heavy losses of men ships and material German troops entered Athens on the 27th of April Hitler had now secured his Southern flank but the delay caused by the need to invade Yugoslavia and then Greece had fatally interfered with the timetable for invading Russia the brilliant staff work for which the German Army had long been famous was not in itself enough to beat the clock the invasion of Russia began on the 21st of June following the major redeployment of forces necessary to bring the conquerors of the Balkans up to the Soviet border the events of the following 3 years were to prove that Hitler's judgment in launching his forces against the Soviet Union at least a month after they would have stood a good chance of forcing their way through to Moscow in the summer of 1941 proved his and his country's downfall as it was the German Army came within an ace of taking Moscow but they arrived on the outskirts of the sprawling city as the grip of winter seized the land they had not bargained for a winter campaign and their clothing and Equipment were nowhere near adequate for the savagery of the climate Hitler remarked Winston Churchill had failed to notice that Russia had a winter by 1944 it was clear that Germany could not hope to win the war the seemingly Limitless Manpower and Industrial resources of the Soviet Union aided by Massive of support from the Western allies the United States in particular had grounded down the Nazi war machine within Germany itself the adverse trend of the war was beginning to make itself felt one German eyewitness described a typical scene on a Mainline railway station as the troops left for the Netherlands Belgium and France carrying cheerful drafts back from home Le and others departed Bound for the Eastern front for those leaving on the west bound trains there was laughter affectionate farewells instructions as to what gifts were to be brought back from Paris on the next lead for the men departing for the Eastern Front there was a tense silence and an aura of Gloom and for boing as wives mothers and sweethearts bade tearful farewells to Men Who felt there was scant chance of return discover the past with exclusive military history documentaries AdFree podcast presented by world-renowned historians all on History hit watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device download the app now to watch everything from the gripping story of the Band of Brothers to operation Barbarosa and D-Day immerse yourself in the dramatic stories of this remarkable era by signing up via the link in the description those left at home faced increasing shortages from mid1 1944 as the copia supplies from Normandy and the low countries dried up with a steady Allied advance from the Normandy Beach heads by Night the RAF pursued its inexorable bombing campaign against the German cities and by day massed formations of American bombers pounded away at pinpoint targets aiming to destroy the transport and Industrial infrastructure of the third RI until early in 1944 the L Buffer's Fighters had been able to shoot down hundreds of American bombers but with the introduction of the long-range Mustang air superiority fighter whose drop tanks rolls Packard engine and Powerful Armament enabled it to accompany the lumbering bomber formations into the very heart of the Third Reich the German Fighters were outclassed and driven from the sky but although the Allied proponents of this remorseless bombardment claimed that it would result in a collapse of German National morale nothing of the sort happened a weary populace dug itself out of the ruins every morning and continued to obey the will of the furer whose Ambitions had created this dire situation as the allies rested Mastery of the air from the LT buffer the bombing offensive intensified it was not directed solely at the German cities battered as these had become by 1943 other important strategic targets competed for attention prominent among these were the enormous Refinery and oil well complexes around the town of plesi in Romania upon which much of the German war economy depended Germany had no oil supplies of its own and was reliant on what could be obtained from Russia and the occupied territories particularly Romania these provided a third of Germany's oil requirements even when running at half capacity of a million refined tons a month their sheer area posed a problem for they could not be destroyed in a single attack but had to be totally flattened and put permanently out of commission as the Allied Airmen discovered to their cost this was virtually impossible possible bombing attacks as early as 1942 had been ineffectual and it was not until the following year that a considerable force of longrange heavy bombers was available to prosecute a major [Music] attack on the 1st of August 1943 a force of B24 liberators based in North Africa took off for plesi this was a heavily defended ended Target surrounded by batteries of guns and protected Aloft by four groups of me 109 Fighters some 200 Italian Fighters were based on airfields as stride the likely bomber rots to and from the [Music] target casualties reduced the force as it flew towards Romania poor navigation led many aircraft to drift and one formation is said to have flown low over the capital Bucharest one bomber flying low up the city's main Thor Affair chaos rained over the target as different bomber groups tried desperately to avoid midair collisions the anti-aircraft defenses were alert and ready and a tornado of fire greeted the lumbering bombers as they fought their way into the refinery area many flying at maximum speed no more than 30 ft above the ground were brought down by other aircraft's Delayed Action bombs harried by Fighters and riddled with shot bombers crashed in all directions five congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to air crew in this desperate attempt to destroy the plesi complex of the original force over 57 were shot down and another 11 had to turn back without bombing little lasting damage was done to the refineries the Allied air commanders meeting in 1944 had tabulated their list of bombing priorities in order to give maximum support for Overlord the invasion of the continent the prime target here remained plesi as the single largest source of oil fuels the task was assigned to the American 15th Air Force which reopened the plesi attacks in April 1944 after Berlin and the ru this was the most heavily defended Target in Europe and became known as the graveyard of the 15th whose Crews bravely went back again and again despite appalling losses four times in April and May the bombers struck in broad daylight great damage was done persistence paid off plesi was subjected to further raid through the summer and finally after four huge attacks in August each by more than a thousand bombers the defenses were overwhelmed and production of refined fuels ended over 300 heavy bombers had been lost together with their 10-man crews in the end sheer weight of numbers the presence of P-51 Mustang fighter escorts and the waning power of the LT vaffa depleted fighter Force enabled the Americans to win this desperate aerial battle battle from now on Germany had to rely on its synthetic oil plants the raf's bomber command turned its attention to these small targets difficult enough to hit by day even more so at night despite heavy casualties for the air defenses over Germany were still as formidable as ever these attacks were continued to the end of the war the winter of 1943 44 had seen a series of defeats for the verar having been driven Out of Africa it was fighting a dogged rear guard action up the spine of Italy where musolini had been ousted following Italy's capitulation on the 8th of September 19 43 but where a prompt reaction by the Germans had seen their forces occupying most of the country within hours of the Italian defection on the Eastern Front a series of devastating thrusts by the Red Army following their destruction of the German fourth and Ninth Panzer armies in the gigantic battle around kusk in July 1943 had steadily forced the Germans back despite Hitler's insistence that every bit of Russian soil must be held and no retreat permitted ksk was a landmark probably the greatest tank battle of all time and the last great effort by the Germans to break the Soviets by means of massed armored formations in setpiece battles at the same time Hitler faced with Allied Landings in Sicily then Italy found that the nightmare of War on several fronts was a reality furthermore the impending threat of an Allied invasion of Europe the second front was tying down yet more troops high quality divisions had been moved to southern Europe to fight the campaign in Italy and more forces were deployed in Scandinavia the low countries and the Balkans on occupation duties that frequently involved pitched battles with ever increasing numbers of assorted partisans and guerillas in spite of this drain on their resources the German Generals in the East continued to fight with great skill inflicting heavy losses on their opponents as they slowly yielded ground but even after the Allied invasion of France in June 1944 and the subsequent Advance towards the Rind Hitler was curiously undismayed he sensed that the Western allies were finding it hard to agree on the terms demanded in the event of a final victory that now seemed increasingly certain certain in January 1943 an anglo-american Summit conference had been held at Casablanca where Churchill and Roosevelt had declared themselves in favor of unconditional surrender by Germany and its then allies Italy and Japan although this kept Stalin the Soviet leader happy he repeatedly voiced his anger that the promised anglo-american Landings in France had not taken place by the end of 19 43 he had grounds for this the Red Army was undeniably bearing the brunt of the [Music] war on the Eastern Front the numerical odds now favored the Russians three German Army groups were confronted by eight Russian each more or less the equivalent of an army group the earlier superiority in equipment enjoyed by the Germans had gone the Soviet t34 tank mass produced was designed for operation by hastily trained crws simple in construction it combined armored protection with high mobility and Firepower its original 76 mm gun had been replaced in later marks by a potent 85 mm Cannon although the German tiger tank was heavier and carried an even bigger 88 mm gun it was heavily outnumbered and prone to Mechanical breakdown although nowhere near to the extent that unreliability was to dog the lighter and more mobile Panther which entered service from 1943 the earlier German Mark III and four tanks were now no match for the t34 the German military logistics system its Achilles heel much of it being still horsedrawn was under extreme strain operating over extended distances on primitive roads that readily broke up turning into deeply rutted quog Meyers in the Thor these roads and the rickety rail system in the USSR were also under constant risk of attack from partisan forces operating deep in the German rear areas the Russian pressure was maintained on all sectors of the huge Eastern front in January 1944 Leningrad was finally relieved a great psychological as well as military Triumph for Moscow the was to be no letup in the face of remorseless pressure the whole of the German Army Group North fell back along the Baltic Coast Hitler alarmed by the turn of events and desperate to keep a hold on the Baltic training ground for the new generation of OTS and their Crews sacked and replaced the northern Army group's Commander General KLA his successor Field Marshal valta mle had begun his campaigning in Russia in 1941 as a divisional Commander but had gained accelerated promotion through personal bravery professional competence and loyalty to his [Music] furer although he had experienced serious reverses notably at kusk in 1943 his reputation as the fur's fireman and shield and sword still held good and he enjoyed the confidence of the troops under his command thanks to his efforts the Soviet Advance was stemmed at least temporarily on the Polish border giving time for the Germans to regroup at the same time in the South the Russian first and second Ukrainian fronts broke out across the river denipa to Savage manin Army group South further south with its right flank on the Black Sea K's Army group a was assailed by the second third and fourth Ukrainian fronts under the formidable Marshals KF malinowski and tobkin [Music] Odessa fell on the 10th of April 1944 the Russians were now ready to cross into Poland and were already deep into Romania the last Germans were ejected from the Crimea and sevastopol fell on the 12th of May field Marshals manin and K who had conducted brilliant fighting withdrawals were sacked in March 1944 for their pains by an infuriated Hitler in the case of Eric Von manstein Hitler made a potentially fatal error the Germans now reorganized their forces in the southern fronts into Army groups North and South Ukraine under the respective commands of field Marshals myle and shaer both regarded as safe Nazi Apostles neither however was in the class of manstein whose ability amounted to genius as with depleted forces he had fought the road back from Stalingrad inflicting devastating losses on his numerically superior but professionally inferior opponents three Hammer blows delivered by the Russians in 1943 had not only cost the Germans huge losses of tanks and other military equipment but had seriously eroded the morale of their troops the incidence of self-inflicted wounds and of what is now known as post-traumatic stress Rose alarmingly despite Draconian disciplinary measures imposed on Hitler's personal orders such as drumhead courts Marshal with mandatory death sentences curiously there is little evidence to show that Russian soldiers were similarly affected it seems that they and their officers were more frightened of the consequences of failure than of the enemy the German General von meltin attributed this to a mixture of iron discipline ruthlessly enforced by officers and political commissars one cause of the loss of German morale was the self-evident fact that the Soviets appeared to have inexhaustible Manpower resources coupled with the ability to mass produce Munitions of War particularly tanks aircraft and artillery the factories and arsenals producing them were far to the east far beyond the range of any German bomber in many cases behind the Euro mountains where they had been relocated shortly after the German invasion of 1941 of the Soviet artillery weapons the most feared were the katushka multiple rocket launcher or Stalin organ and the widespread use of mortars one German Soldier describing what it was like to come under Fire from a Stalin organ said that it started with the Roar of an infuriated beast in the distance a dull groaning noise unlike anything else in the world then came the creaking of a badly tuned organ paralysis descended on the front line and the rattle of machine guns fell silent then hell was let loose as nearly a 100 shells burst in the trees or on the ground creating a deafening Thunder Flames gunpowder and pieces of copper as big as a fist Hitler's obsession over not yielding ground had now cost his country dear instead of using the spring of 1944 to disengage from the Russians and fall well back to a shorter prepared defensive line buying time whilst his array of war-winning secret Weaponry came online he persisted in issuing directives denying his able generals the chance to use their Superior tactical skills time and time again the superior fighting skills of the Germans defeated the stolidly executed attacks of the Soviet armor and infantry whose tactics were consistently predictable being the result of training based on a largely semi- literate peasantry incapable of mastering complex tactical Doctrine and limited by the need to follow easily assimilated drills the new weapons on which Hitler now placed his faith were indeed formidable at least on paper the V1 pilotless aircraft V2 ballistic rocket jet fighter aircraft and a new generation of fast OTS would have created immense problems for the Allies had they entered service in quantity in 1944 as it was delays caused by Hitler's personal intervention in their design and deployment proved fatal for [Music] Germany one example is that of the MMI 262 the first operational jet fighter in the world an outstanding potential interceptor vastly Superior in speed to the American P-51 Mustang it offered a last minute reprieve in the air defense of Germany but Hitler's insistence that it be redesigned for the light bomber role led to many months of delay in its entry into service once launched at the American bomber formations it performed sensationally in the hands of Aces such as Colonel galand who describing the new sensation of flying with jet propulsion felt it was as though Angels were pushing galand who was one of the outstanding fighter pilots of all time and subsequently staunch friend of many against whom he had flown flew the me262 successfully against the American bombers but it was too late by the spring of 1945 the LT buffa's fuel supplies were virtually exhausted and even though the Jets could fly on inferior fuel similar to diesel there was a Dar of even that in any case the short range and endurance of the me262 rendered it useless for support of the army above the battlefield and in this respect the Soviets had long held the upper [Music] hand the summer of 1944 saw no easing of the red Army's pressure on the 6th of June the British and Americans had landed in Normandy drawing further ver marked resources westwards the 1200 mile Frontage in the East was now held by dangerously thinned out forces and at the end of June the Russians resumed the offensive Hitler continued to ignore the generals who advised a retirement that would enable the Germans to hold a shorter and stronger line General Bush of army group Center faced the assault of no less than three Soviet fronts under command of the Soviet Deputy Supreme Commander Marshall zukov on a frontage of some 350 mil in order to achieve overwhelming Firepower at the main points of attack the Russians had massed a staggering 4 100 guns per mile of front behind the German forward positions thousands of gorillas attacked administrative units headquarters and airfields not all of these were fighting for Stalin and communism there were numerous bands of dissident Russians ukrainians Red Army deserters and cacs who had initially greeted the Germans invasion of 1941 as a Liberation but who had rapidly become disillusioned by The conqueror's Savage treatment of the Civil population to one such band of gorillas fell the Soviet Marshall vatutin mortally wounded in an ambush when in command of the first Ukrainian [Music] front the LT buffer now short of aircraft trained air crew and aviation fuel was shot out of the sky by overwhelming numbers of Russian fighter aircraft advancing Red Army troops were closely supported by masses of fighter bombers operating as flying artillery to overwhelm any points of resistance the uian il2 known as the stor ofic was one of the most significant war planes to emerge in World War II heavily armored against ground fire and with a two-man crew it could carry a formidable War load of Cannon rockets and bombs almost 25,000 of them were built and by sheer weight of numbers they swamped the German Ground Forces when Unleashed against them formerly the LT buffer had enjoyed air superiority destroying hundreds of stor ofs the tables had been turned earlier in the campaign yuna's 87 stooker dive bombers fitted with powerful Cannon had wrought great execution on Soviet tanks by attacking their vulnerable upper surface armor with cannon fire but the cumbersome stokers needed conditions of air superiority and plentiful fighter cover in which to operate lacking the close protection of their escorting Fighters they vanished from above the troops who had relied on their support at the end of August zukov was within easy reach of Warsaw on the central front where the Polish home Army loyal to the government in Exile in London Rose against the German occupiers in the mistaken belief that the Russians were about to arrive elsewhere in Poland this 300,000 strong Army well organized had been fighting earlier in the year in support of the Russian Advance its Commander General Bor kovski issued a proclamation on the 1st of August copies of which were printed by the Thousand addressing the people as soldiers of the city he issued orders for everyone to fight against the German Invader to take up arms openly to restore the freedom of their country and to punish the German criminals for the terror and bestiality they had committed within their Frontiers he did so in the belief that the Russians already within field artillery range would join in the fight and help in the liberation of the capital it would have been easy for them to do so for the Germans in warsa were initially taken by surprise and the home Army captured many key buildings instead in an act of cynical treachery almost beyond belief the Russians halted before the gates of the Polish Capital ostensibly to replenish as the SS and gapo went into Warsaw to settle with more komarov's Gallant citizen soldiers who as non-communists were left to fight to the death general b had provisioned for no more than a week's fighting on the assumption that once it started the Russians would come to his rescue there is abundant evidence that whilst the fighting in Warsaw went on a degree of fraternization existed between German units defending the line of the river Vistula and the Russians on the far Bank it should also be borne in mind that the latter were exhausted by several months of unremitting combat a great completely overstretched their Logistics system and needed up to a month's resite in which to service worn out equipment obtain badly needed reinforcements and rehearse the inevitable River crossings that lay ahead in war Sor itself the battle reached new levels of savagery when it became clear to the poles that their allies were not going to help them the German officer in charge of the ruthless Street clearing operation gr and furer Eric vonmar zaleski of the SS had his orders the polls were to be exterminated offers by the British and Americans to fly supplies to the bed poles were refused by the Soviets who denied the RAF and the US Air Force the use of airfields on which to refuel balesi assumed command when the wara Rebellion had been underway for nearly a week and the poles were almost it seemed on the point of vanquishing the German Garrison so confident indeed that the various political factions within the home Army gleefully using much captured German equipment were already beginning to fight each other the decision to deploy the SS was a conscious one it freed conventional Army units to deploy on the line of the Vistula to face the impending Russian assault and it was an ominous sign that No Quarter was to be given to bore komarov's Army baral's SS men were an unsavory mix of Russian ex prisoners and other turn coats and convicts from German jails taking the chance of winning remission through Good Conduct in battle they pitched into the home army with merciless Gusto the hellish battle took place in the midst of the luckless civilian population who had been unable to escape in the city atrocities sanctioned personally by Hinrich himler were committed freely against any pole unlucky enough to get in the way even so the SS found the going tough the poles had already been supplied with British weapons and ammunition air dropped earlier in the year and they now had much captured German equipment despite the Russians bloody-minded refusal to Grant refueling facilities a few RAF air craft managed to reach warsa with small loads and drop them by night to the poles as the battle continued reports of the atrocious behavior of the SS were circulating in the general [Applause] staff several senior generals notably Hein Garian actually remonstrated to the furer in itself an act of moral courage even bar seski was uneasy over the barbarism of some of his subordinates well made he have been for it was Dawning on many of his kind that the Allies were going to win and would be calling to account any German officers who had been involved with offenses against the rules of War he therefore agreed to meet general b and a truce was agreed the fighting had lasted for 2 months in addition to 15,000 home Army dead at least 200,000 civilians had perished on surrendering the surviving polls were strangely enough granted prisoner of war status by the Germans and marched off into prison camps that all too soon would be in Russian hands and from which only a handful would emerge alive as the poles fought in vain for their Capital the Russian Advance continued to the South until the beginning of August 1944 the German Army group South Ukraine had been granted a quiet summer it was however only a shadow of its former strength five armored and four infantry divisions had been transferred elsewhere and the remainder had been badly affected by casualties to men and material to make matters worse Germany's weaker Partners in the axis were beginning to fall the Romanians were contemplating changing sides joining the Russians and suing the Allies for acceptable peace terms on the 20th of August the storm broke the Russian second Ukrainian front struck South as the fourth Ukrainian front headed west from its Bridge heads on the river denista near kishinev the first and fourth Ukrainian fronts drove West towards the river Vistula which they reached at the end of the month halting on its banks as their logistic tail left far behind in the precipitate Advance caught [Music] up the rest fite offered little Comfort to what remained of army group Center defending the river line behind them lay 250 Mi of the Plains of Poland offering little or no Comfort to The Defenders but ideal country for the advancing Russians where massed formations of armored vehicles could range freely the next River defense line available to the Germans was that of the odor and behind that a bare 50 m distant Berlin itself the German Army was now a shadow of its former self in dead wounded sick and captured it was to suffer almost 2 million casualties in the year ending December 1944 and the supply of fit men to replace these seasoned troops had dried up whole divisions had actually disappeared from the German Army order of battle but Hitler who refused to acknowledge facts that displeased him insisted Ed that newly raised divisions of so-called people's grenadiers bore the designations of those that had been effectively destroyed mostly in the East the new formations lacking heavy weapons or armor and well below the Manning levels of those they replaced were assigned to the German home Army under command of Hinrich himler chief of the Gestapo or secret police and now minister of the Interior to which post he was appointed after the failure of the assassination attempt on Hitler in July 1944 after his narrow escape from the bomb placed under the conference table at rastenberg Hitler became even more paranoid insisting that only the Nazi salute was to be given and the old one abolished despite their growing unease at the way in which the war was being directed by the furer and his Close Associates the general staff including Germany's proven soldiers like Garian manstein and their contemporaries conformed they were warned of The Perils of doing otherwise by the fate of field Marshal wiwin roml who suspected of implication in the assassination attempt was given the choice of facing a People's Court and a degrading execution or suicide and a solders funeral he took the latter Hitler still relied for military advice on field Marshals kitle and yodel respectively Chief and Chief of Staff of the German armed forces or okw these Lackey were despised by the rest of the general staff whose allegiance to the Nazi party had long been questionable but whose failure to curb Hitler and the Nazi party in the 1930s remains one of the Prime causes of what befell their nation and the rest of Europe in the years that [Music] followed as the certainty of eventual German defeat became clear Hitler's Bulan allies shakily held together by the tripartite pacts of 1940 and 1941 faltered the Romanians were the first to crack between between the wars they had appeared to be under French influence but the increasing strength of Neo military far-right parties shifted the allegiance towards Germany King Carol was deposed in 1940 and power was seized by the pro-german Marshall antonescu who took his country into war against Russia in 1941 and continued unlike some of the other axis Allied Leaders to enjoy the confidence even respect of Hitler to the end Romania's contribution in the Eastern campaign exceeded those of Germany's other Southern satellites Hungary and Bulgaria Romanian casualties were enormous particularly in the Stalingrad operations where the Germans cynically used them as cannon fodder of the 600,000 Romanians who served in the axis Armed Forces over half were killed by Midsummer 1944 the survivors had been forced back to their own Eastern Frontier and at the beginning of August August the Russians were pouring into their country on the 23rd of August a coup led by Prince Michael who assumed the crown overthrew antonescu who was subsequently executed by the Russians and Romania immediately changed [Music] sides the LT vafer bombed Bucharest on the following day as the remnants of the Romanian Army invaded Hungary in order to recover Transylvanian territory lost in 1940 as the result of the tripartite pact a total of 14 Romanian divisions in varying states of military Effectiveness were now placed at the disposal of the Russians who formed two further divisions from their Romanian prisoners and used them much as had the Germans as cannon fodder for their Advance into the German [Applause] Heartland the Russian army entered Bucharest in Triumph on the 30th of August 1944 the Romanians were allowed to retain Transylvania but had to give the Russians back the provinces of bessarabia and brovina given to them as part of the German Russian pact of 1939 as a result of these Balan convulsions all German forces in that theater were now placed at risk especially those comprising the garrisons of Greece and Yugoslavia whose Escape Routes back to Germany were increasingly under attack by partisan [Music] forces the bulgarians were the next German Ally to fall they had not as good slaves actually fought against the Russian but had allowed the Germans to use their country as a staging area for operations elsewhere in the Balkans and against Russia their new provisional government asked Russia for terms in September declared war on Germany and a left-wing Fatherland front seized power the Red Army marched into Sophia on the 18th of October the hitherto inactive Bulgarian Army now deployed in the field alongside the Red Army as it headed off into Yugoslavia whose capital Belgrade was liberated on the 20th of [Applause] [Music] October Hungary had been ruled by an authoritarian conservative regime under the region Admiral hay since 1920 having commanded the old ostroh Hungarian Navy in World War I he was naturally inclined towards Germany and had readily allowed Hitler's troops into his country on their way to attack Yugoslavia in 1941 thus committed to the axis cause he agreed to send an initially small Detachment to fight the Soviet Union when Hitler invaded the USSR in June that year it was not long before Hitler demanded further Hungarian troops these were forthcoming but lack experience and Equipment the hungarians suffered heavily at vorv in 1943 and further semi-trained levies were dispatched to the slaughter almost half the 350,000 Hungarian troops committed to the Eastern Front were killed [Music] e

Channel: War Stories

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Id: PhJ_fxLZdIg

Length: 53min 1sec (3181 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 21 2024