World War 2 Explained | Best WW2 Documentary | Part 1

[Music] ladies and gentlemen permit me please to claim your attention for a moment in the words of Winston Churchill in the Second World War every bond between man and man was to perish crimes were committed by the Germans under the Hitler right domination to which they allowed themselves to be subjected which find no equal in scale and wickedness with any that have darkened the human record the wholesale massacre by systematized processes of six or seven millions of men women and children in the German execution camps exceeds in horror the rough-and-ready butcheries of genghis khan and his scale reduces them to pygmy proportions deliberate extermination of whole populations was contemplated and pursued by both Germany and Russia in the Eastern war the hideous process of bombarding open cities from the air once started by the Germans was repaid 20-fold by the ever mounting power of the Allies and found its culmination in the use of the atomic bombs which are blitter ated hiroshima and nagasaki this video is sponsored by Skillshare the first 500 people to use the link in the description will get their first two months for free Skillshare is an online learning community that you can use to expand your horizons with thousands of classes in design business technology and more Skillshare has something for everyone from how to take the best photographs at night to tips on presenting you will get classes from experts in their fields ensuring you have high quality teaching for the subjects you enjoy with an annual subscription of less than $10 a month Premium Membership gives you unlimited access to these high-quality classes so you can improve your skills unlock new opportunities and do the work you love and since Skillshare is sponsoring this video the first 500 life guide viewers to use the link in the description will get their first two months for free click on the link in the description and start learning today it was a simple and Noble policy to keep Germany disarmed after the struggle of the First World War and the victors sufficiently armed in vigilance but errors were soon made America's failure to enter the League of Nations the weakness and lack of resolution of Western democracies to confront the growing strength of the fascist dictators in Germany Italy and Japan and the economic turmoil that allowed these events to spark and build upon reflection it is all too easy to see and understand how this tragedy could have been avoided but for those in power at the time they failed all too well to see the Gathering Storm that confronted them the origins of the Second World War can be found within the confines of the Palace of Versailles Germany surrender in the first world war was a shock to both the international community as well as to its people militarily Germany had been successful on the Eastern Front troops were deep within France and Germany itself was untouched however on November 11th 1918 at 11:00 a.m. the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month a ceasefire came into effect an armistice had been signed and the war to end all wars had come to an end the proud peoples of Germany had been defeated the Allies victorious after four years of suffering and untold casualties wanted to see Germany pay to ensure something like this would never happen again an international institution was to be established in the hope of bringing about a new world of collective security later seen in the form of the League of Nations in early 1919 the Germans were summoned to Versailles not to negotiate but rather to hear the terms they would have to implement an indoor David Lloyd George of Great Britain Woodrow Wilson of America Georges Clemenceau of France an Orlando of Italy all attended with the aim of weakening Germany World War one had radically altered to the political European map with the defeat of the Central Powers including Austria Hungary Germany Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire the German state that came out of the Great War was also to experience profound change and suffer severe territorial losses Germany was to lose a portion of its eastern land creating a new Polish state and establishing a Polish corridor between Germany and East kasha giving Poland access to the sea the port city of Danzig the largest city on the coast was given to the League of Nations Mabel in the Baltic was handed over to Lithuania alsace-lorraine to France and the mineral-rich Rosalind was to be administered by the League of Nations for a span of 15 years with the Rhineland becoming a demilitarized zone providing France with additional security the German colonies and Africa were distributed to the British in the French and their South Pacific colonies would be given to Japan in addition military clauses were added to the treaty the German army could be no larger than a hundred thousand troops they were allowed no air force no tanks or heavy artillery and the German Navy could have no more than six warships with no u-boats or submarines insult being added to injury a war guilt clause was placed in the treaty making Germany accept full responsibility for the outbreak of the war as it was only on this basis that the Allies could demand reparations France and Britain had begun the war as creditor states but had ended as debtor nations and wanted to be repaid the sums been asked of Germany in reparations were many times more than was possible for them to pay place in a severe burden on their economy which later contributed greatly to economic instability and hyperinflation John Maynard Keynes the primary representative of the British Treasury at the time said I believe that the campaign for securing out of Germany the general costs of the war was one of the most serious acts of political unwisdom for which a statesman have ever been responsible the German people believed there had been bitterly betrayed by the high command and unjustly treated by the international system views that would lead to materialise throughout the 1920s and 30s after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the preceding Great Depression the world was plunged into economic turmoil and Germany was hit hard American banks withdrew the loans they had made to Germany and the economy collapsed overnight due to such large reductions in cash and capital banks struggled to provide money in credit and so in 1931 there were runs on German and Austrian banks with several of them closing business is closed at an alarming rate and by 1933 unemployment had reached 6 million many people were left homeless and thousands of children died from malnutrition a lack of government resolve an out of despair many turned to alternative political leaders and parties in the hope their problems would be solved one man in particular garnered a lot of attention from his rousing speeches and this man was Adolf Hitler Hitler's speeches delivered clear culprits for Germany's problems the November criminals who had signed the Armistice ending World War one the liberals and socialists who had signed the Treaty of Versailles the Communists who threatened revolution in Germany and finally the Jewish bankers who plotted to undermine and destroy the German state the Nazi and communist parties both clashed violently and Hitler claimed to be the only one to bring about order and end the red plague as a powerful and gifted public speaker Hitler was able to capitalize on public discontent his party the National Socialist German Workers Party of the Nazi Party grew to record levels in September of 1930 the Nazi Party had increased its representation in the Reichstag the German parliament almost tenfold winning a hundred and seven seats and only two years later in 1932 they won 230 seats becoming the majority in parliament Hitler had found the failures and misery of the Great Depression to his advantage stating for hard reality has opened the eyes of millions of Germans in the 1932 election Hitler also ran for president and although he lost a decorated war hero paul von hindenburg his rise in popularity gave President Hindenburg no choice but to appoint Hitler on the 30th of January 1933 as Chancellor of Germany head of the German government just one month after Hitler had been sworn in as Chancellor a fire was started in the Reichstag by a young dutch communist who was then used to paint all communists as the enemy of germany using article 48 of the constitution the Reichstag fire decree was passed that abolished civil liberties such as freedom of speech and freedom of the press shortly after Hitler created a secret police known as the Gestapo helping him to suppress any and all opposition as Chancellor he also tripled the size of the German military violating the Treaty of Versailles banned all rival parties killed political opponents and prohibited Jews from working voting and occupying public spaces after the death of president von Hindenburg in 1934 Hitler declared himself Fuehrer of Germany absolute dictator Hitler believed the world to come would be dominated by four main superpowers Germany was to be the main hegemonic power of mainland Europe the British maintaining their international empire the Japanese or the Aryans of the East as Hitler like to call them would be the main power in Southeast Asia and the Pacific and finally America would dominate the Western Hemisphere part of Nazi support was their opposition to the Treaty of Versailles and upon coming to power Hitler promised to return Germany to its rightful place in the world Hitler's objectives were clear the economy needed to be self-sufficient on what the Germans called economic all turkey been able to produce their own goods and not relying too heavily on imports this was critical to withstand a British blockade to trade a policy that had damaged Germany in the First World War Germany would also need Lebensraum or living space that would facilitate the growing German population Lebensraum was to be found in the east and this meant Germany would have to expand into Poland Czechoslovakia Ukraine and agricultural regions of the Soviet Union for Hitler this new German Reich that was to be created was to be racially pure containing only the Aryan race free of Slavs and Jews of whom have to leave or be eliminated and it was also Germany's mission to launch a crusade against Judeo Bolshevism an ideology and enemy that home took the form of the Soviet Union a war he thought would inevitably have to happen the international system that had been envisaged was not able to cope without the support of the British and the United States absent following a policy of non-intervention ISM France was left alone to maintain and enforce the Treaty of Versailles some think it couldn't and didn't want to do alone held in Geneva Switzerland the disarmament conference provided a preview for how Hitler operated and what future Nazi policy would look like Hitler instructed his representatives at the conference to state that Germany would completely disarmed if and only if France Britain Japan and the United States would do the same this was an offer that Hitler correctly assumed would be denied and so he went back to the German people and showed them how this conference was not about disarmament but rather keep in Germany subjugated and so in 1933 Hitler withdrew from the League of Nations and the disarmament conference to the support of his people in 1934 to the surprise of the international community Germany signed a non-aggression pact with Poland taking an ally away from France and weakened in France his military positioning as Germany was now free to the east in March of 1935 Germany revealed it had been built in an air force the Luftwaffe again breaking the Treaty of Versailles with the justification being that Britain France and Poland all had an Air Force and that Germany too needed to defend itself one week later Hitler declared his intentions to introduce conscription to build an army of half a million men once again the League of Nations protested but no action was taken the disarmament Clause is outlined in the Treaty of Versailles had been destroyed then in June of 1935 to Frances horror Britain had entered into a naval agreement with Germany the anglo-german naval agreement in which Britain recognized Germany's right to build up its Navy they were to be allowed up to 35% of Britain surface tonnage submarine fleet up to 60% out of Britain's Britain had struck a deal and in doing so had given up on Versailles given up on Disarmament and began to show Hitler that a policy of appeasement was to be pursued a year later in March 1936 German troops were sent into the demilitarized Rhineland the matter was referred to the League of Nations which once again did nothing remilitarization of the Rhine was the final nail in the coffin for the Treaty of Versailles in the international order the treaty was now officially dead France in response to German occupation of the Rhine constructed a Maginot Line along its eastern border however the fortification stopped at the Ardennes Forest and did not extend across the Belgium frontier the place at which Germany had entered during the Great War the French were preparing for a war of the trenches and were not prepared for the motorized divisions that made German blitzkrieg tactics so effective Stalin at this time threatened by German power and aggression entered the Soviet Union into the League of Nations and also signed an agreement with Czechoslovakia stating he would come to their aid if attacked but only if the Western Allies would come to its defence first this was to stop the West trying to push German aggression eastwards Hitler wanted all german-speaking nations in Europe to be unified especially his native homeland Austria under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles Germany and Austria were forbidden to be unified as the Allies hadn't fought for years to see a large Germany Austrian president Schuschnigg knowing he would receive no help from Italy and that France and Britain would not interfere in Hitler's plans resigned and two days later German troops marched into Austria unopposed Hitler had successfully annexed Austria under the guise of national self-determination as justification after the successful great occupation of the Rhineland and the annexation of Austria Hitler turned to Czechoslovakia of which three million people in this rude Aten Lander of German origin the Czech government hoped that Britain and France would come to its assistance in the event of a German invasion but British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was intent on avoiding war he made two trips to Germany in September and offered Hitler favorable agreements but the Fuhrer kept increasing his demands on the 30th of September 1938 Hitler attended a meeting in Munich accompanied by Britain France and Italy all of whom agreed that Hitler should have the Sudetenland as long as he promised to go no further the Soviets and the Czechs were not represented at the meeting and realizing that no country would come to their aid Czechoslovakia were forced to surrender the Sudetenland to Germany after the meeting Chamberlain went to Hitler and asked him to sign a peace treaty between Great Britain and Germany to which Hitler happily agreed upon his return to Britain Chamberlain delivered his peace in our time speech to cheering crowds to people at the time Neville Chamberlain was a great champion the Munich Agreement had won the peace and war was averted but from this Hitler Saul Europe is weak and unwilling to stand up to his demands Winston Churchill one of Chamberlain's greatest critics said you were given the choice between war and dishonour you chose dishonour and you will have war Churchill was proven right when just half a year later on the 15th of March 1939 German troops marched into Czechoslovakia once again Hitler had broken an agreement France and Britain then guaranteed Poland safety with Britain also beginning to rearm and install a highly secret radar system along its east coast on August 23rd 1939 the Germans and the Soviets signed a non-aggression pact which sent shockwaves across the world's diplomatic community the signing of this pact for Hitler ended the prospect of a two-front war which allowed for a greater taking of Poland but for Stalin this bought him time to rebuild the red army that he had purged as the last days of summer arrived there was a sense in Europe that war was imminent and the sense was right blitzkrieg or lightning war revolutionized warfare and allowed an attacker to destroy an opponent before they were even mobilized through the use of tanks or Panzers German forces were able to quickly smash border defenses and circle enemy troops they were to be supported by tactical airpower the Luftwaffe that provided close aerial support to ground operations using this tactic Germany was able to quickly knock out opponents allowing them to conduct operations without the total mobilisation of the economy and society much like the first world war had required the first world war was one of attrition something Germany wasn't in the current position to win or endure this new mode of warfare therefore was to be one of speed and efficiency on September 1st 1939 Germany with 52 divisions and over 1 million men made their way into Poland attacking through the north in the south destroying the Polish Armed Forces Britain responded with an ultimatum to Germany to cease military operations the ultimatum was ignored and so France Britain Australia and New Zealand all declared war on Germany with Neville Chamberlain broadcasting the announcement on radio the German attack was led by five armored divisions containing 300 tanks apiece followed by four motorized infantry divisions carrying their artillery and equipment with cover provided from the air by the Luftwaffe believing that the invasion would be stopped by British and French intervention the Polish were slow to mobilize and poorly prepared to face the German onslaught upon mobilisation the pole sported 1.3 million men however possessed outdated equipment and only a few tanks with the German armored and motorized divisions outnumber in the Polish 15 to 1 equipment was so scarce and outdated for the polish that cavalry squadrons were seen to be charged in heavily armoured German tank divisions the invasion had worked with greater speed and efficiency than planned and by September 8 the Warsaw the Polish capital had been reached once Germany had broken Polish resistance Stalin moved troops into Poland being keen to regain territory that had once belonged to Russia before the 1970 revolution Poland was now to fight a war on two fronts some Nika couldn't win and so on the 27th of September 1939 Polish commanders negotiated a ceasefire with the last Polish military unit surrendering on October 6th all together Poland's lost 70,000 troops against the German invaders and another 50,000 against the USSR with a hundred and thirty three thousand being wounded the Germans took over 700,000 Polish prisoners and the Soviets another 300,000 150,000 poles managed to escape many coming to Great Britain and enlisting in the armed forces for Hitler the invasion of Poland was his third successful annexation of a foreign country he had got what he wanted and the Western powers had once again done nothing this period became known as the phoney war because Britain and France took no military action despite declaring war on Germany blitzkrieg had been a major success and over the course of the next few months Hitler continuously said that he didn't want a war in the West [Music] three months after the invasion of Poland Stalin was afraid that Finland would fall under German influence as Leningrad was only 20 miles away from the Finnish border the Soviets demanded the Finns succeed territory on the Karelian isthmus as to put Leningrad out of danger the Finns refused and so the Soviet Union launched military action on the 30th of November 1939 the Soviet Army outnumbered the Finns 50 to 1 and in equipment outmatched them in almost every way but the Finns fought with great tenacity where in white uniforms as to blend into the snow and outmaneuver in the Red Army Finland resisted Soviet attacks for more than 2 months and inflicted considerable damage after the Soviet military reorganized itself and adopted different tactics they continued their offensive in February overcoming Finnish defenses the war came to an end in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow peace treaty with Finland surrendering 11 percent of its territory to the Soviet Union the dreadful performance of the Red Army and Finland encouraged Hitler to think that an attack on the Soviet Union would be successful and confirmed the Western powers that the Soviet military was not the best equipped or organized something that wouldn't be fully tested for another 15 months with the German launch of Operation Barbarossa in April of 1940 Adolf Hitler made a huge strategic gamble his plan was to send the whole strength of the German Navy along the Norwegian coast from Oslo to Narvik to protect the coastal waterways Swedish iron ore could then be safely transported to German blast furnaces and German control of Norwegian waters would make an allied blockade of Germany a lot harder British discontent over the Norwegian campaign and an allied withdrawal rule led to the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on the 10th of May 1940 his successor was appointed the same day a man who throughout the 1930s had spoken out regarding German rearmament and Hitler's threat to the world a man who went by the name of Winston Churchill on the 10th of May 1940 Germany launches an attack against France Belgium Luxembourg and the Netherlands French troops quickly position themselves along the Maginot Line and the rest of the Allied soldiers positioned themselves along the Belgium and Luxembourg borders as Belgium was neutral allied soldiers could not enter the country and prepare a defensive position and so would have to wait for Germany to invade Germany began their offensive in the early hours of the morning with more than a thousand fighters bombers and dive bombers they attacked allied airfields destroying their air force on the ground before they could even take flight something that would be crucial in giving the Luftwaffe air superiority for the rest of the offensive just three hours after being attacked Belgium permits Allied troops to enter the country due to the great mobility of German Panzers and motorized infantry divisions that Allied forces never had the time to establish a practical defense and within the day Luxembourg is captured sporting nearly two and a half million men the German invasion worked with great efficiency three army groups were to be used for the invasion army group a B and C Army Group B was tasked with defeating the Netherlands and then advancing into Belgium to keep the Allied forces in place Army Group C were to attack through the Maginot Line keeping those soldiers in place and protecting the flank of Army Group a comprising of 750,000 troops Army Group A was by far the largest they were to push through the Ardennes Forest a naturally fortified area something the French were not expecting to be entered or breached forty-one thousand vehicles successfully made their way through the Ardennes Forest the Germans then crossed the Meuse river and by May fifteenth capture sedan they then head west cutting off and surrounding the entire allied army that had advanced into Belgium this unexpected pursue that our den would force Allied soldiers out of Belgium with them having to withdraw to the port of Dunkirk to protect their flank with the allies completely surrounded by German forces Winston Churchill launches a plan to evacuate the British Expeditionary Force from northern France 400,000 Allied troops are stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk and on May 26 Operation Dynamo begins by air the Luftwaffe constantly attacked the soldiers stranded on the beaches and sink many ships and by land German artillery fires upon the shore the Royal Air Force in response launches a counter-attack to protect the ships and soldiers the beaches at Dunkirk was shallow and even at a high tide destroyers couldn't approach within a mile of the shore and so the troops would have to be ferried out in small craft on the 31st of May hundreds of civilian vessels known as little ships make their way across the English Channel to evacuate the soldiers fishing boats lifeboats saline barges ferries and supply ships all do their part in bringing a soldiers home the British Expeditionary Force had survived but almost all of the heavy artillery and equipment was left behind by the 4th of June 1940 338 thousand troops had been evacuated making the events at Dunkirk a miracle and the largest evacuation in military history the surrender of France followed some three weeks later after Mussolini declared war on France and German troops marched into Paris sealing Frances fate in just six weeks from the 10th of May 1940 German forces conquered France Belgium Luxembourg and the Netherlands by the end of June Hitler dominated the European continent with victory on a scale never seen before what Germany hadn't accomplished in four years in the Great War had taken Hitler just 35 days which has later become known as one of the most remarkable military campaigns in history [Music] the future of the free world hung in the balance Britain faced a perilous situation after the fall of France and all that separated the Germans from yet another victory was the English Channel the isolationist United States was an ocean away which left only one man to make a decision that would change the course of human history with the fighting over Germany began to consider ways of resolving the question of how to deal with Britain Hitler hoped that Churchill would come to his senses and sign a peace treaty but if the British refused Hitler's only option was to invade Churchill then delivered his we will fight on the beaches speech this famous speech transformed Churchill into a world statesman outlining unequivocally he would never make peace with Hitler but war was now to come Germany had to plan an invasion of Great Britain the invasion of France and Poland had taken months to plan with every intricate detail of battle thought through but the invasion of Britain with orders from High Command would have to be ready by August 15th giving them just one month [Music] the British began to dig in coastal defences were constructed across southern England signposts were removed and replaced to confuse invaders fields were laced with barbed wire to deter airborne troops and a home guard was established full of those who were illegible or too old to fight meanwhile Hitler began his plan for the invasion of the British Isles codenamed Operation Sea Lion 20 divisions were to be deployed in Britain south coast through the use of amphibious landing craft however the English Channel wasn't easy to cross the Royal Navy was still the largest in the world and despite Empire commitments Britain's home fleet of ships still far outnumbered the German Navy the German naval chief Admiral Erich Raeder didn't believe he could seize the English Channel for long enough to get the German army across for a successful invasion of Britain therefore Germany would first have to gain control of the sky the Luftwaffe far outnumbered the Royal Air Force in June of 1940 the British had less than 700 operational fighter against 2600 German fighters and bombers the odds were daunting both sides sported some of the most advanced planes of the time the British with their Supermarine Spitfire and the Hawker hurricane which shot down the most German planes these were up against the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 and these were to be used to escort German bombers the use of radar was crucial to the British during the Battle of Britain and was the world's first integrated air defense system placed along the south and east coast of Britain these tall masts could pick up aircraft at a range of 120 miles giving their distance Direction height and numbers this information would then be sent to RAF Fighter Command run by Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding and the closest RAF airfields would then be alerted on the 10th of July 1940 the Luftwaffe began to attack shipping travelling across the English Channel but this was not their main aim general Goering head of the German air force focused the German assault on destroying the RAF in the sky their airfields and aircraft production factories when the initial assault was launched airfields were heavily bombed but none had been put out of action British radar gave them plenty of warning and were able to shoot down the enemy planes in long lasting dogfights that would consume the sky the Luftwaffe had lost 46 aircraft to just 12 British two days later Goering launched the largest attack of the whole battle on August 15th waves of German bombers destroyed British airfields 42 British fighters had been destroyed at the cost of 90 German aircraft over the next 12 days Gowens plan continued and fighters on both sides were suffering the Royal Air Force were exhausted and the German fighters were demoralized as the British seemed to always be waiting for them but British losses soon began to rapidly increase many men died and planes and airfields were being destroyed at an alarming rate if the battle continued along these lines a German victory would be imminent Goering realizing this began to attack at night as well however a major mistake was about to occur on the cloudy night of August 24th a group of German bombers lost their way and accidentally bombed the City of London the following night 81 British bombers made their way to Berlin in retaliation an act that showed Britain could attack as well as defend Hitler was furious and began a campaign of bombing London on the 7th of September German bombers attacked London's East End 450 people died and thousands of homes were destroyed but this was a crucial mistake by focusing on London rather than the airfields our AF bases were relieved of pressure and had the time to repair and rebuild their aircraft one week later on the 15th of September and what became known as the Battle of Britain day the Luftwaffe embarked on an all-out attack against London which they believed would break fighter commands resistance and paved the way for a successful invasion the RAF successfully fought the incoming wave of Luftwaffe formations destroying 61 aircraft the highest losses the Luftwaffe had suffered for over a month with the RAF only losing 31 aircraft the 15th of September can be seen as an overwhelming and decisive defeat for the Luftwaffe they had failed to gain air superiority over Great Britain and on September 17th just two days later Hitler postponed operation sea lion with the help of foreign pilots especially those of Poland France and Czechoslovakia the Royal Air Force were able to repel a Nazi invasion to show his appreciation to all those who fought Churchill said the following never in the field of human country but no much old by no many can cope with the invasion of Britain no longer possible Hitler turned his attention East woods Germany was now to focus on the largest military operation in human history Operation Barbarossa the invasion of the Soviet Union the fighting was not over however the Blitz had now begun British cities were bombed in night raids and London was attacked every night for 57 consecutive nights bar one and on November 10th 1940 a 14th century gothic cathedral in Coventry was obliterated children were evacuated to the countryside and people living in London spent most nights sleeping in air-raid shelters or in the London Underground a blackout was enforced after darkness where all sources of light had to be covered up as to prevent the Germans from scene where towns and homes were located over the course of the Blitz which lasted eight months and five days just under 2 million homes were destroyed and 40,000 civilians were killed with 87,000 being seriously injured but most importantly the bombing had failed to demoralize the British into surrender [Music] the full force of the German war machine was now to be turned against the Soviet Union this war was to be won to the death a clash of two ideologies two forces of civilization in which only one could be victorious Hitler hated communism and victory over the Soviet Union would provide Germany with the abundant natural resources that would enable the German people to finally become the master race Operation Barbarossa was Hitler's greatest gamble unable to defeat Great Britain in the West Germany's armies were deployed to the east luckily for Hitler the Red Army the largest in the world had been devastated by Stalin's purges during the 1930s tens of thousands of officers were shot or imprisoned an inefficiency and a lack of coordination became widespread before the invasion began and to secure Germany's southern flank on April 6 the 1941 Germany invaded the Balkans thirty three divisions entered Yugoslavia and six days later they surrendered Greece then fell and Athens was captured within three weeks Operation Barbarossa could now commence over four million men were to be deployed accompanied by over 3,000 aircraft three divisions were also to be used much like the invasion of France Army Group North would push through the Baltic States and seize Leningrad Army Group center was to advance to Moscow and Army Group South would occupy the Ukraine the Red Army was far larger they had two million men along the Western Front and millions more in reserve they also sported 20,000 tanks against Germany six thousand although they were older and less advanced Germany versus the Soviet Union would therefore be a war between superior technology and speed vers sheer numbers On June 22nd 1941 the operation began at 3:15 a.m. the Luftwaffe attacked Soviet airfields what the ground invasion commenced Hitler's Panzers then pushed forward and within two days had penetrated more than 50 miles the Red Army was no match and tens of thousands of Soviet prisoners were rounded up as July came blitzkrieg was successful as ever within a week the Panzers were Smolensk only a few hundred miles away from Moscow it was here that the tanks would rest so the rest of the army that often relied on horse-drawn carriages could catch up prisoners that had been captured along the way also began heading west to captivity in which two and a half million men would never return meanwhile the German advance in the south was having troubles and so Hitler ordered Army Group North to swing south to Kiev to provide help to which his generals heavily objected it would turn out to be a disastrous decision Soviet manpower seemed to be endless and the halted Smolensk allowed Stalin to mobilize more than 16 million troops and a new Soviet tank was headed towards the front line the t-34 which was faster than the Panzer Mark for the remnants of Army Group North surrounded Leningrad modern-day st. Petersburg but rather than capturing the city the Germans decided to starve it starvation began and more than 11,000 people died in November and another 3700 on one day in December alone the siege lasted for more than two years and by the end in 1944 over a million Soviets had been killed Army Group centre now prepared for an offensive on Moscow and on the 20th of September 1941 they began their assault the pans is advanced and even more Soviet troops were captured but Stalin was determined to defend Moscow to the last on October 8th bad weather halted the German advance and they were still 50 miles from Moscow Hitler would now pay the price for sending troops south rather than advancing on Moscow earlier on in the year speed that gave German blitzkrieg tactics the advantage was now obsolete the Soviet winter arrived German forces thinking the campaign would be over by summer were underprepared tank engines would not start weapons froze and soldiers were frostbitten as they didn't have the proper clothing and on December 5th Germany halted its attack Stalin then moved his armies from Siberia to the West more than 30 divisions made their way who were all well equipped and trained for fighting in the winter by December more than half a million extra men were in place with additional support the Soviets began a counter-attack driving German forces back for the next seven days Soviet troops tore into German forces it's not ordered for there to be no more retreats he told his forces they should fight and if necessary die where they stood the German line held strong for the next four months the two sides fought and Hitler hadn't got the quick results that he had wanted or planned hit in his army then moved south in search for oil and began a campaign of securing Stalingrad and so began one of the longest battles of the Second World War the city had to be taken street-by-street house by house and room by room but the Soviets too began to move troops and equipment southwards more than a million men nine hundred tanks and more than a thousand aircrafts were moved to the battle zone and attacked the German flank it was now the Germans who surrendered in their thousands over a hundred thousand men made their way to captivity with only five thousand eventually returning to Germany Germany lost three hundred thousand men in the Battle of Stalingrad and the Soviets around the same numbers but the tide of the battle had begun to turn the Soviet army continued its success German troops began to withdraw to protect their flank and the Soviet winter offensive saw them gain lots of territory over the course of a few months Germany had lost over a million men the Soviet army mobilized further and drove back the German lines at Kursk never again with the German war machine launched an offensive in the east across the globe on the 26th of November 1941 a Japanese carrier fleet set sail in the Northern Pacific its target was a US naval base in Hawaii which went by the name of Pearl Harbor what had been confined to a mainly European war was now to be transformed into the deadliest global conflict in human history [Music] [Music] you

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Id: yLHPLWDyHio

Length: 40min 19sec (2419 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 04 2019