US vs. German Hedgerow Tactics - Stuck in Normandy
This video is sponsored by Battlefront Miniatures and their table-top miniature game Flames of War. Check out their products here: www.flamesofwar.com
German hedgerow tactics delayed the Allies advance after D-Day for several weeks. US troops had a hard-time fighting in the Bocage area that was well-known for its hedgerows. It took a while since US Forces overcame they various obstacles that the terrain provided and the well-prepared German defenses that exploited the terrain. This video covers the setup of a typical German position, US Infantry Division tactics and also US Armored Division in overcoming the German defenses.
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» SOURCES «
Doubler, Michael D.: Busting the Bocage: American Combined Arms Operations in France, 6 June-31 July 1944. Combat Studies Institute: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Harrison, Gordon A.: Cross-Channel Attack. United States army in World War II. Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington D.C., 1993
Blumenson, Martin: Breakout and Pursuit. United States army in World War II. Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington D.C., 1993
Combat Lessons: Number 4. U. S. Government Printing Office, 1944.
Lieb, Peter: Unternehmen Overlord. Die Invasion in der Normandie und die Befreiung Westeuropas. C.H. Beck: München, 2014.
Kruse, Kurt: Artilleristischer Ratgeber auf dem Gefechtsfeld. 8. neubearbeitete Auflage. Barbara-Verlag Hugo Weiler, München, 1942.
Citino, Robert M.: The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943. University Press Kansas, USA, 2012.
Cambridge History of the Second World War. Volume I: Fighting the War. Cambridge University Press: UK, 2015.
Horst Boog, Gerhard Krebs, Detlef Vogel: Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg. Band 7. Das Deutsche Reich in der Defensive - Strategischer Luftkrieg in Europa, Krieg im Westen und in Ostasien 1943 bis 1944/45, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 2001.
Germany and the Second World War. Volume 7. The Strategic Air War in Europe and the War in the West and East Asia 1943-1944/5. 2006.
Fennell, Jonathan: Fighting the People’s War. The British and Commonwealth Armies and the Second World War. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2019
Messenger, Charles: The D-Day Atlas. Anatomy of the Normandy Campaign, Thames & Hudson: London, 2014 (2004).
Penrose, Jane (ed.): The D-Day Companion. Leading Historians explore history’s greatest amphibious assault. Osprey Publishing: Oxford 2009 (2004).
Mehner, Kurt (Hrsg.): Die geheimen Tagesberichte der Deutschen Wehrmachtführung im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945. Band 10: 1. März 1944 - 31. August 1944, Biblio Verlag: Osnabrück, 1985.
Schramm, Percy E.: (Hrsg.): Kriegstagebuch des OKW 1944-1945. Teilband I. Eine Dokumentation. Bechtermünz: 2005.
#ad #sponsored #HedgerowTactics
This video is sponsored by Battlefront Miniatures and their table-top miniature game Flames of War. Check out their products here: www.flamesofwar.com
What scale are the figures dave?
Personally I just am on the hunt for figures, as I build dioramas for fun. Thanks for the other game, I can now look at their figures too, do you know the scale they are?
$50 for that starter set is extremely good value in table top terms.
G W 15mm
G W but some part of the mini are bigger like gun of tank or other thing ti make them stronger
An American hears the word hedge and thinks a small decorative row of shrubbery, not a several hundred year old structure designed to keep cows in a field, a possible source of the oversight.
That's pretty accurate. When I first saw the tile I was thinking "a Sherman is like 40 tons just smash through". I was not thinking of a big hard packed dirt wall. That kind of changes the situation.
same way a European hears forest and thinks of a few acrers of manicured tree land not thousands acres of dense trees with fallen undergrowth that only have 20 yard field of view that few have tread on in years.
@@Sir_Godz You do realise that forests covered huge swathes of Europe at one point. There aren't many Europeans who would call a "few acres" of woodland a forest.
@@ianmacfarlane1241 Yes, but out side of places like the Carpathians and Eastern Europe most modern Europeans have never seen the dense forests common in that part of world 500 or 1000 years ago.
PEEPER57 I'm fully aware of that, but it's still pretty idiotic to assume that Europeans don't understand what a forest is, whether they've seen one or not.
Im glad you used these models to demostrate, it adds value and understanding please use this format more often.
@M Tavner The thing about tabletop game models is that you dont need to be a kid to own them.
For real: excellent commercial for the product
I liked the representation as well
You can try wargaming things out in context of contemporary doctrine
I would love some arrows and other small guides in overlay to aid people watching on mobile. After all we are dealing with camouflaged models on backgrounds with natural colours.
Probably the coolest sponsorship yet.
Definitely
@WerstInternetUser I already built flames of war kits. There great.
Yea
@@callumsmodellingcentre6902 Great 'here' too!
Today I learned that hedgerows are not just hedges. This makes so much more sense
Mfw the hedges are speaking german
@me bromkovsky they are still there. Google maps.
Do a Google search for Normandy hedgerows. Some of the appear like almost solid walls of green. Others have overhanging overgrowth, turning them into almost tunnels of green. Overall, if you're an infantryman stuck in Normandy hedgerows during combat, it soon becomes a hell of green.
@@AudieHolland It's even worse if you are there on the ground, not even a good sattelite photo will really show how bad it was for attacking troops in the Bocage. I was in one of the few remaining areas of Bocage a number of years ago. In short, that terrain is a nightmare for the attackers, and a defenders wet dream. The hedgerows are rarely more than 100m apart, they boundry every field on all sides, limited points of entrance, all known of beforehand by the defenders, terrible visibility for attacking troops. If you want to advance a mile you may well have to make 20 or so small assaults, clearing each field one by one. Nasty, nasty terrain to have to take.
@@alganhar1 I was there too, a long time ago. Like I said, some are solid walls of green, even if you're standing next to one. I was only advising to search for images for people who have never seen them and think that you could easily go through them as in "Band of Brothers" but of course all the scenes were shot in England.
You should play a battle against Lindybeige finally settle the questions about the power of the MG42 vs Bren. Panzer III vs Churchill Kar 98 vs No. 4. Have Bismark and Squire come in and make plane noises with his mouths in the backgound.
Lindybeige somehow just talkes shit because of bias
Yes Lloyd does have a bit of a biased position, most of his reading sources tend to be from British memoirs. A different style of video for sure, one that's built on a foundation of character presentation and story telling. Though I suppose I brought him up as an example for two folds. 1. Because Bernhard & Lloyd have had some friendly banter back and forth from time to time (primarily over the MG42 video.) And 2. Because Lloyd has done a number of videos on miniature war gaming and tabletop games in general. Frankly I expect nothing to ever come out of these comments. But hey if anyone ever wants to try to play some tabletop wargames that would be fun. And it would have been fun if FoW or another game could have sponsored some history based channels to fighter off against one another. I also know Lloyd and Scholagladiatoria filmed a pilot episode for some game show that was lost to time.
Mean don’t get me wrong I like lindybeige but true he’s really biased by everything British lol
I'd definately like tosee that game.
But make Lindy play Jerries and MHV will play the Tommies. Then make them say a phrase like "Jahwhol mein obergruppenfuher !" and "Tophole Chaps !" each turn or else they lose points.
" Haha they are just some bushes. Our tanks will smash trough them! " French hedgerows: *I'm about to deztroy this man's entire tactical plan.*
Hahah same
hon hon hon yiz
The vetter was very vet and vindy. (The accent is but a small reason why I love this channel.)
RonJohn63 what’s the reason for German accent and the v’s?
@@kstreet7438 Austrian accent. In most Germanic languages W is a double vv.
@@kstreet7438 the uu sound is extremely rare in German language...the further south you go the rarer it becomes... and it doesn't exist as it's own letter but as the transition between u and e or u and a...these vowel exist next to each other in only a few words...so that ue works as alternative script for ü. A word where the English uu happens is for example "Frauen" . And I'm pretty sure in southern Germany or Austria that's spoken like "Fraun". They Austrians even lack the month "Januar"(=January) ! As they can't do a uu they replaced the entire word "Januar" in speaking and writing with "Jänner".
@@TremereTT Februar => Feber
Höhöhöhöhöhö.
"At first Glantz seems correct." Your puns are top-notch!
That last quote! Hell yes MHV
Little known fact: Hitler used the Flames of War German Starter Force to rebuild the German army. The vehicles and soldiers were even pre-painted.
Common misconception. He actually painted them himself over a couple nights while on a meth binge.
@@Halinspark I stand corrected.
Wish the soldiers were, there a bugger to paint.
Flames of War, where my Italian bicycle companies can roll over the Red Army.
My Dad was in an Aviation engineering battalion. He drove heavy equipment (bulldozers and shovels) to build forward fighter airstrips. He came ashore on Omaha beach on June 12th along with the rest of his battalion. He was in the hedgerow country for a little while. He described a technique they tried one day. They had crates of hand grenades available. The ground troops would start the assault by throwing a BUNCH of grenades over the top to suppress the defenders and to generate smoke. Then my Dad would drive a bulldozer up to the hedge and try to punch through. The blade was set at the sharpest angle they could set it to try and make it punch through easier. If the hedge gave way, the plan was to leave the bulldozer in gear and let it crawl across the field ahead while the driver bailed off just before getting through the hedge. They tried that on one hedge and it worked! Dad managed to punch through and bailed off just in time. The bulldozer continued on across the field and eventually ground to a halt at the next hedge. A couple of tanks ran through and supporting infantry and that assault was quickly over. The next hedge they tried it at a panzerfaust was fired at the bulldozer and blew off the mount for the cables that raised and lowered the blade. That was the end of Dad's hedge hopping career. Captain wasn't happy about the damage to his bulldozer. Another group tried to remote control a bulldozer with some cables hanging off the levers that controlled left and right turns. Kinda worked, but not well. The cables got hung up a lot and the bulldozer either stopped going or turned off in the wrong direction. They quickly decided it wasn't worth the cost in lost bulldozers - they were worth as much or more as a tank in many situations, but that is another story.
Do you know if he worked on A-4 at Deux Jumeaux?
When the Hedges start speaking German and the Trees start speaking vietnamese
Guess i'll die. -American soldier
*Spams M1 Garand*
Sounds like a Spanish camping
Local plantlife 2 - Mighty US Army 0... The real reason for all these Mid-Eastern wars. They can't get outwitted by plants in the desert. :)
@@jocktheripper2073 but in deserts its the hills that speak arab so they still get outwitted.
Great video! I played a bocage scenario in Flames of War and it was utter hell for my Canadians to get through! The American 2nd Armoured Division had its own approach by improving its tank-infantry co-operation by briefly training the infantry in Russian style tank riding. It was considered to be quite effective and reduced road congestion since the half-tracks weren't needed. The training was as followed, quoted from Panzergrenadier vs US Armoured Infantryman by Steven J. Zaloga, page 40: "The first step taken was to "marry-up" one infantry company and one tank company in a common bivouac area where maximum personal contact between tank and doughboy was physically possible and highly encouraged. Infantrymen were quickly familiarized with as many characteristic and capabilities of the tanks as the limited training time permitted. Among the means used to orient the attached infantry were scheduled, supervised practice rides on the back deck of tanks, tank performance demonstrations, and conferences at which company and platoon level tank-infantry tactics were stressed. At the end of the planning phase, each infantryman knew the name of his tank commander and knew the name of the tank they were riding upon which he was to ride and give his support in the ensuing action, as well as what he could expect in the way of support, and just how the team was to function."
Yes. I remember reading that. The Russian tank descent was quite effective. It is surprising that it never caught on much with the British and U.S. armies. Actually the Germans probably would have benefited as they never had enough APCs. The infantry hopped off when it was too dangerous to ride. ... so it seems exposure was more theoretical than common.
So you’re saying America’s weakness is plants that speak foreign languages
Usually for the other it's when the night speaks english and clearly.
*VIETNAM FLASHFORWARDS*
I'mma use this next time the neighboor's kid tries retrieving the ball he kicked into my backyard
Calling a pre-arranged artillery strike on children you are machine-gunning MIGHT be regarded as a bit extreme, old chap. :-D
Heavy machine guns? Seems reasonable, but since its just infantry trying to invade your garden i dont think you need the Anti Tank weapons. Place them near your driveway so you can defend from people who try to park there.
@@Ensign_Cthulhu So by your logic me gunning down a kid with a ball with an mg42 is perfectly fine? shit okay booboo
10.000 Subs With No Videos pretty sure he was joking, like you. Sensitive much??
Aaron Last time I checked I got 52 likes and you got 2 so yea, fuck off ya wankstain :)
I always laugh at "first Glantz" and the have to back up to see what I missed. But don't stop with the Saint David references.
While mainstream TV channels are broadcastings loads of run-of-the-mill american praising documentaries, I'm glad I can enjoy quality tactical content on MHV.
Um....they don’t even run those anymore. Where have you been for the like decade?? It’s all pawn stars and bullshit. Also, I think it’s pretty unfair to say documentaries do just “American praising”. Lots of them criticize the hell out of their tactics and officers. If anything we give the Wehrmacht too much credit in most areas. Hence all the wehraboos and their invincible army.
Sure, they are a few of those that offers more than decent content. A thing about me is that I'm from France. And I can tell you that here they've been talking about the 75th anniversary every day for more than a week (wich may be a good thing I guess). And broadcasting basically, the same thing again and again. Things that everyone knows (or should, a least) already, about the landings (they only mention Omaha and Utah, by the way), the "Devoir de mémoire" a locution that would translate as "memory of duty", and some classic things about the Americans. On the other hand, I don't expect mainstream TV to go into tactical details neither. But I mean they could be talking about Stalingrad, El Alamein or lot of other desicive events that not everyone knows about. But they don't do it. I feel that the D-Day commemoration became more like some sort of political tool than anything else.
@@bastienmichel3097 nice spoken, it is political to say the least...
Bastien Michel I’m almost a pacifist and definitely a non interventionist unless provoked or to save allies, but there is basically one week every year that culminates to Memorial Day - in the states - where we show our appreciation for the U.S. and Allied troops that saved the French from the Germans. More and more but history fades into obscurity as time passes and kids, teenagers and young adults are increasingly oblivious to the importance of this time. They are more fascinated with their technological devices. Our History Channel doesn’t even show history anymore but rather reality TV shows and ancient alien bullshit. As such, I think that the French - and all of Europe - for this matter can withstand a week of repetitive “mainstream” hero-worship memorializing D-day history. Especially, given that it literally say your countries. If it weren’t for those Americans you would be writing this message to me in German. Lest we not forget, 125,847 from the US ground troops on D-Day died fighting on foreign soil.
@@bastienmichel3097 I looked for war film or documenteries yesterday on my cable and found nothing but south park, naked and afraid, and ancient aliens. Rare to find actual ww2 videos on cable these days in the states but it shoud be expected to see a lot of things when the 75th anniversary comes up, and a little out there to be comparing Stalingrad and talking about it on the anniversary of d day when stalingrad happend in Augest if I remember correctly. Sounds like you are wanting people to celebrate Mothers Day on Fathers Day though they have their own day...
Nice sponsor. They do provide a really effective means of visual examples.
I think theres an issue around 2:55 There dosnt seem to be anything inside the "Excellent Camouflage circle" but im sure i looked there
Welcome to invisibility classes I'm very sad seeing so many of you
@@NoNameAtAll2 Who said that?
Its called camouflage for a reason. If you can see it, then its not working lol.
Illuminating video. Thank you. My father walked across Omaha beach with the 83 Infantry division a week after D-Day and his introduction to combat was to form up and be ordered to "take the hedgerows". They were at it for weeks and it was apparently slow and bloody work. Tactics were improvised because training had consisted primarily of long marches with full backpacks. Germans were professional soldiers who started with the Hitler youth. Dad, like many of the guys, had been given an honorary diploma when he dropped out of high school to enlist. Dad didn't tell too many stories, but he said it was quite shocking when they realized after the first day that the Lieutenant was ordering privates to walk across the middle of the small fields. One of the older privates figured out that, if all 3 of them got to the next hedgerow, it was safe to order the company across because none of them had been dropped by snipers. Like I said, tactics were "improvised". And combat was close quarters. Dad said that they learned early to stagger their reloads. The Germans were often close enough to hear the distinctive PING as their M-1 Garand would lock open on the last round and use the moment to counter. There was a lot yelling to find out if the troops on the other side of the hedge were on your side as you threw grenades or poked your head thru a bush. Being part of an "every man" army that defeated professional soldiers was a great point of pride for him.
interesting that you omitted mentioning the Cullen Hedgerow Cutter that according to many sources was the best and most expedient solution to the hedgerow problem. Prior to it's use, tanks would expose their vulnerable underside too long and be knocked out easily. Most hedges were too tall for tanks sitting behind them to shoot in to the corners, or any where else in the objective field. Once fitted with hedgerow cutters, tanks could knock their way through and provide the necessary fire support using their main gun and coaxial, assuming that someone wasn't able to hit them with rocket grenade. Close coordination between not only tanks and infantry, but often with tanks teams as well served to finally overwhelm the defenders immediately upon the assault commening, with the mentioned motor teams spreading havoc behind the objective hedgerow. This was still casualty intensive, nasty work with enemies often shooting at each other from what would normally be considered pistol range. I had a good grounding in this from my late father, who was there.
That's the "rhino" Sherman he mentioned.
@@immikeurnot Oh? My understanding of the Rhino was basically a Sherman with a modified bangalore torpedo attached.
His name was actually, Sgt. Curtis Grubb Culin III. He fashioned the "hedge cutters" from Normandy German beach obstacles that were to keep the landing craft or tanks from coming ashore.
There has been alot of debate of whether the Cullen Hedgerow Cutters were really effective. It was an ad-hoc modification done on the field. There were other ways to cut through the hedges.
@@BHuang92 It was very effective. My Grand Uncle, who was there, said so. AND... it's spelled Culin.
I'd heard a bit about tactics surrounding hedgerows, but this was very informative. Keep up the good work.
Yes, the actual tactics used helped me understand better.
@Alexander Challis Even with the specialized anti hedgerow tactics the casualties were roughly 1:1 for both sides until the time of the breakout. Meaning that it was basically old fashioned attritional warfare with more tanks, and with more accurate artillery and air support.
0:28 "ohama beach" that's close enough, I'll accept it
I lol'd. Is there anything more recognizable about the WW2 other than the Tiger tank and Omaha beach? Is there anything else more iconic for the two warring factions other than a stupid obsession with feline predators, and a word that got stolen as much as the eponymous land, almost an apologetic eulogy for the wiped out Omaha people... Oh and then slapped onto an unnamed beach in France by some military personnel, because they assumed it was probably just called La Plage 36. How can any historian mispronounce such a thing is beyond me... Maybe if it was in Chinese I'd be more forgiving.
Hell, most Americans can’t pronounce Native American words. I can’t imagine what an Austrian must think when seeing one.
@@soldat2501 Buddy, I'm from Serbia. My mother language is nowhere near English, let alone native American. I get what you're saying, but Omaha has to be the most easily to pronounce, and the most renown native-American word in existence (after Manhattan). There is no excuse. Or let me phrase it differently, because this isn't just my precious opinion: As with any armchair historian on yt -- such a capital mispronunciation violates a principle of trust. It's just like saying Eileff Tower. That's another weird word that has no common meaning, yet it is part of the world heritage, even kids know how to pronounce it correctly (once they hear it). If anyone wants to claim authority on haute cuisine and Champs-Élysées, I cannot take them seriously if I hear Eileff. It's a trivial mistake to make, but the one that makes no sense when you really think about it. It's like talking about the alphabet, but you're not really acquainted with all the letters, so you call the first letter Alf. What that signifies to me is that you've never spoke to anyone else about it, and that you've never listened to anyone speaking about it, thus you're definitely pushing too much of your own viewpoint. Sometimes that's a good thing, but sometimes it's not, especially when it's about something that has to be as objective as possible, like history. In other words, even if you do know a lot about the alphabet or whatever, and you make fantastic observations, I'm not sure I can trust you anymore. And there's even more important question: If you've misread Omaha, and tbf that's not terrible in itself, it's a genuine mistake that might happen to anyone -- what else have you misread in your research? And how did you persist with the misread word, did you read it only once (impossible)? And that's the crux of this problem, for me at least. You have to ignore so many instances of the word, not only in literature, but in geography (I mean c'mon you don't know about Nebraska), as well as popular media (I couldn't care less about sports and I've heard about Omaha Mavericks), and that to me is a red flag. Not to mention that he could've watched Band of Brothers (1) or played Company of Heroes (1) campaign and that would also resolve his dilemma once and for all. Truly so many instances of it, and if you can say Wehrmacht you can say Omaha as well, it has all the same phonemes. I'm sorry but I expect the KZheadrs I watch to be better than myself, or at least just as good, just like you would expect from a restaurant to cook better food than what you could scramble at home. I am willing, however, to let this slip, it's not the end of the world, and I like the guy, but still, I think my arguments are valid. He should get his facts straight, and his pronunciation should be impeccable, at least where it matters. It's not about the accent.
@@milanstevic8424 r/iamverysmart
Get over yourself
Germany right before the war: *No really, these are tractors, honest* America: *Sherman Dozer*
I like this sponsership, It seems like something that actually fits your channel and helps with demonstration
Wonderful use of the models to explain the tactical level of action.
I lived in Normandy for 10 years and I can guarantee that even after watching this video you're still underestimating the "Bocage". They aren't hedgerows, not even close, they're essentially walls of earth held together by tree roots, in some cases (especially either side of country roads) they can be several metres high and extremely steep. Think something like this: __ / \ / \______ _____ / \__/ You're on the road (on the left) then there's a drainage ditch 2 foot deep in front of a sloped wall covered in long grass and weeds topped with thick hedges or trees that's anywhere from 4-12 foot high, followed by a sharp drop on the other side into an open field with little to no cover (Mostly grazing fields for livestock in Normandy). On top of this much of the countryside is rolling hills as opposed to the flat field shown in the video. I honestly can't imagine a worse place to attack since you're essentially fighting field by field whilst your enemy has natural defensive walls behind them every few hundred yards that they can retreat to. You don't even need to set up minefields because the enemy armour can hardly ever get into position. It's an ambush-setters wet dream. The only good side is that the terrain also allowed the allies to maintain a foothold in Normandy and prevent a german counterattack.
Really quality content you have been putting out around the Normandy invasion anniversary. Top-notch, you put such an incredible amount of work into this, I just wanted to commend you and say thanks! Keep it up.
@Military History Visualized I have always enjoyed your video presentations and found them well researched and informative. However, I cannot fail to comment , after you called the beach where the allied losses were the greatest - Ohama! Other than that, thankyou for all your sterling efforts thus far. 😊
Excellent use of visual props to explain the details of the tactics used by the troops and infantry in the hedgerow country.
I'm honestly surprised at how few people actually grasped the concept of these natural walls. Thank you for making this video, everything about it was fun to watch AND educational. Great sponsor too btw!
Very nice! This video reminds me a lot the tactical game "Close Combat". Some of the series take place in the bocages area. By the way, you need to paint more yellow or ocre in your German tanks. Green, brown and yellow.
I prefer the board game Avalon Hill Squad Leader Series. A classic.
You do good work man. I really enjoy your videos. I particularly like the detail on tactics. Great stuff.
This...was a cool idea. Well done sir👏😃
I love the dioramas that shows us who it was done in practice.
Thank you for posting this video so close to the anniversary of the Normandy invasion. Very timely!
Great video! Love these shows! I use the Flames of War models for Chain of Command table top game for a more historical WW2 skirmish
The product placement for the sponsor actually makes sense in this video.
the products are actually following tactical doctrine and supporting one another... oh you meant the 'commercial' placement
I love the usages of the Flames of War stuff :)
Really great video man. Keep it up
Top notch work mate👌
I love table top miniatures; I paint and collect them as a source of relaxation. Your videos provide excellent background entertainment while hobby-tasking. Keep up the proper work.
So do I. Do you paint the infantry as well?
Super das du jetzt auch bei Tabletop Sachen unterwegs bist. Gefällt mir sehr gut.
Oh, I remmeber those Hedgerows from the "Bridge to Far" games. Espeecially with my brother playing as the germans.
Thanks for posting this, MHV. I sure hate how the hedgerows keep immobilizing my tanks and taking them out of my forcepool, it's good that I can now watch this video to know how to best eliminate them. Never mind, I seem to have confused "Hedgerow tactics" with "anti-hedgerow tactics".
He talked about both. German use of hedgerows as defenses and US tactics in countering them
A very good cooperation between the purpose of your channel/your lessons and your sponsorship! Very well!
Glad you like them!
Awesome. Well done as always.
I love the little icons you use in all your videos
Very well explained! Awesome video!
Close Combat originally from Microsoft has a lot of this kind of fighting in it. It's really fun & very accurate regarding sound effects etc. Great video.
So you’re telling me that neither the French nor the British bothered to remark about the reality of hedgerow country? To be honest, thank you for answering this question in your video.
I think that also explains why the Americans were so slow and cautious about the whole thing. We were out of our depth and didn't want to get all those soldiers we spent months landing murdered in the span of a week.
American military did not have such a high disregard for its soldiers as the Russians did.
Not sure about the rare flatter regions of the country like East Anglia but much of the UK is rather hilly and rich in stone so it's common to see livestock paddocks like these being traditionally enclosed by dry stone walls with hedgerows being used as dividers for crop fields and those really were just lines of shrubs often along a simple post and rail fence or similar. There is a big difference between a hedgerow like that which barely presents any resistance to a car let alone a tank and the earthworks presented in the video.
Thanks for the wonderful coverage of the problems surrounding Hedgerow Hell. I'd found similar info and turned it into a small document, including an altered formula used by the 2d Division and the effects of the combined arms teams in combat: '… spent the next weeks trying to solve the problem of assaulting through the hedgerows; insidious 4-8 foot-high hedges built atop thick stone walls which formed "Hedgerow Hell"--the Bocage. These small fields and high hedges made coordinated attacks difficult and precluded the adjustment of artillery fire as a man could see no further than the hedge opposite his own. Attached tank units could not assist the infantry, as cresting a hedge exposed the underside of the tank to anti-tank fire. Narrow roads constricted maneuver; a single knocked out tank would block the small single-lane avenues and a single MG would close these same lanes to infantry. A combined arms solution was needed, and thus the idea of the tank-infantry-engineer team was formulated. 29th Div teams opted to have a dozer or rhino tank breach a hedge, closely followed by a supporting rifle squad, an engineer team, an MG, and a 60 mm mortar. During rehearsals, cal .30 MGs were found to be too cumbersome to take into these attacks; infantrymen instead took to scrounging extra B.A.R.s to supplement the single such weapon a squad was usually issued. Some squads likely managed to hoard as many as three or four, though two was the norm. The 2d Div altered this formula, dispensing with 60 mm mortars entirely and instead proceeded with a rifle squad and a tank, with one engineer team attached to each. The rifle squad would enter a field and take the opposing hedge under fire, attempting to suppress it. The accompanying engineer team would "gap" their own hedge with explosives. With an M4 medium tank-sized hole now present, the tank would rumble into the field with its own engineer team clearing any mines they found from its path. On 11 July the 38th Infantry (with the 23d Infantry directly to the west) was ordered capture Hill 192. To soften up enemy positions, a 50-minute preparatory barrage was lain down with a second 25,000-round rolling artillery barrage initiated in its wake. Following no more than 100 yd behind this barrage were the assault-infantry companies and their new tank-infantry-engineer teams. E/2/38 initiated an attack at 0600; at 0620 the attack of the 38th’s 1st battalion (1/38) was stopped cold at its starting line by intense direct fire, including successive Panzerfaust attacks that put 6 tanks out of action before 0720. 2/38 to the right (west) attacked at 0630 and made steady progress up the hill. It captured parts of it and proceeded south toward D792, a departmental road that led to Bayeux. 1/38 kept steady pressure on the enemy (of 3. Fallschirmjägerdivision); remaining fanatic defenders around the hamlet of Cloville (nicknamed "Kraut Corner") refused to surrender and were buried alive by a dozer tank of the accompanying 741st Tk Bn. Having had their flank turned by 2/38, the Germans opted to retreat and abandoned the hill to the Americans, who captured the summit by 1330. The advance continued, with artillery called down on any perceived German positions. German gun emplacements survived in the wake of such an earth-shattering barrage, even from direct hits; the German paratroops fought like dogs and had to be sought out and gunned down at close range. By nightfall (1900 hours), the hill was fully-secured and the two battalions of the 38th dug in a mere 200 m north of D792 to defend their newly-won territory against major counterattacks that never materialized; only one small, ineffectual attack was launched by the German paratroops. Of the mere 200 German prisoners taken, many were curious about the diabolical new American artillery, which they assumed had to be fully-automatic.'
I wish those figure came pre painted. Love the use of them in the video.
"...at first Glantz....", I see what you did there.
Look forward to playing some hedgerow tactics games with my son over the summer holidays.
cool to see Battlefront / FOW as the sponsor. I've been into their stuff since beta.
Big shout out to the Cullen Hedgerow Cutter
0:20 "On the 6th of june, 1944..." My brain: *THE ALLIES ARE TURNING THE WAR!*
So goood explanation.. Easy to understand. Nice keep it good works 🤗🤗
You should do more videos on battles for amateur history buffs with these models. These models are super cool.
The miniatures were a very significant improvement to your visuals.
Please keep on using the miniature figures for future videos grüße aus dem Odenwald!
Outstanding review.
0:28 "Ohama means family" :P Great video as always. :)
It's 'ohana' ;)
Also, if they had done extensive training for fighting in the Bocage Country it would have been possible for the Germans to hear about that and know where the attack was coming.
Where would they do such training? Some of those hedge lines were approaching a thousand years old, and had been gradually building up throughout that entire time. Even the youngest boundrys were centuries old, almost no where else in the world had that type of terrain. Chances are few people even realised how bad it is to fight in Bocage, so few probably even realised that specialised training and equipment would be required to tackle the terrain.
It seems to me that it was assumed that the Bocage was similar to the British countryside and that the maneuvers conducted in the UK would be adequate training for the hedgerows. I think this assumption was rooted in arrogance by some allied leadership. As already noted, British hedgerows pale in comparison to the Bocage. I think MHV is remiss to brush off the "should have known" argument. With the amount of detail the allies knew about the beaches, tides, weather, and their many French contacts, the hedgerow issue is an EXTREME oversight.
Love the use of miniatures.
The thing about infantry used cautiously is also what my grandfather experienced. He was 17 years old when he was drafted to the german army and became 18 shortly before the war ended. He told be a story about his squad getting bombarded by artillery and mortars for hours without any infantry engaging. They took cover in ruined buildings. When the bombardement stopped the infantry made it's move to look if they are still capable of fighting. When my grandfathers squad opened fire the infantry retreated instantly and the artillery started to bomb their positions again. My grandfathers squad made a fall-back as well when they realized they couldn't do anything except getting bombed to pieces. That's also one reason the americans had so (comparable) few casualties. They had more than enough ammunition and ressources and had no need to manage them. If an attack wasn't succesful they could simply restock and try again. They also had every time of the world knowing that germany was the one running out of time. That's why they had the luxury to watch closely over their soldiers. Also their wounded soldiers mostly survived because the medical support was very good. Wounded german soldiers had a much higher chance to succumb to their wounds because of the lack of medics and ressources at this stage of war. Overall the war was lost for germany when they failed to capture moscow and were on retreat. If they would have managed to bring the soviet union down, as unlikely as it might seem, they would have had access to huge reservoirs of ressources and equipment and they could have started to focus on the western theatre. And that would have made it several times harder to succesfully get a grasp on normandy after the landing. Maybe they wouldn't have tried it at all under these circumstances.
Very good points. Although Napoleon conquered and burnt down Moscow & the Russians never surrendered. What might have been had the Germans treated the Poles & Ukrainians well enough to have them fully participate with the Germans?
@@brianjonker510 That's true. But the german invasion of the Soviet Union was very different and the Soviets almost at their breaking point due to extreme civilian and military losses. Only extreme punishments for retreating and desertion was able to hold the red army together. If the germans would have captured Stalin, the man the soviet soldiers feared as much as the they feared the germans, the red army might have been collapsed. Well, germany did a lot of stupid things during this war. And most of it came from above. Especially the racial ideology prevented the german army to enlist countless of soldiers that opposed Stalin. Especially russians. Eventually the sheer number of them would have made a difference. In the first world war quite many poles (or poles with german citizenship) served in the german army. And while germany had many volunteers from all over europe during world war 2 those weren't enough to make a difference.
Great video as alvvays MHV ! It vvas nice to see a video completely dedicated to just this aspect of the D-Day invasion ( though it technically happend after the invasion & further inland ). Also it vvas nice seeing that you vvere sponsered by a miniature vvargame company rather than a video game company . I actually got the Open Fire box set from Flames of VVar about 4yrs ago & have found FoVV to be a really good miniatures system that has decent realism & allovvs players to re-create any of the various armies @ vvhatever time during the vvar & the rules for tanks seem both fair & accurate vvhen comparing their strengths & vveaknesses. But back to the topic I appreciate that you included the German tactics for defending the hedgrovvs as most history books make little mention ofit & concentrate on the Allies efforts to overcome them. TY for a great video & my appologies for my broken Double You key.
That was an excellent talk about the hedge groves. Seriously, thank you. I've always been frustrated on how so many "historians" fail to adequately explain the fighting there. I would point out that American infantry quite probably didn't take advantage of artillery barrages because they didn't know if they were effective enough to exploit. Thanks again.
Very interesting to me, as my Dad fought at Falaise as a member of an American armored Cavalry unit he joined pre-war. He crewed an M8 armored car. He told one story about his unit having to drive across an intersection lined with hedgerow. They went one by one, while the Germans had an 88 shooting down the road. He never told much detail about his war service, but he did say the Canister round for his M8’s 37mm cannon was useful there, as was the .50 Browning. He also became a lifetime fan of the M1 Garand. One thing you seem to have missed... It wasn’t so much a “dozer Sherman”... American ingenuity came into play, and locally fabricated hedge blades were made and mounted on Sherman’s and Stuart’s.
Good stuff. Just the way Uncle ED described it.
I love the way u say weather. The Vedther
It is particular interesting to hear the stories about the difference between working in bocage cause. For example, our Recce Sqn vets remember how bocage caused a change in crest drills from something recognizable as a crest drill into: Driver will pull out manual throttle to a level that is just past the point that the veh will just make the crest. Then crew bails out of the truck, and if the enemy doesn't shoot the gas tank, you run after the truck, get into a spot where you jump into your truck in a position to continue your Recce. Trouble is the crucial bits, such as setting the throttle, is rife with problems. Facta non verba.
Nice use of models to illustrate the tactical issues. I actually went to their web-site to order something, but gave up in frustration after a few minutes.
I can't beleive you were sponsored by Flames of War! 😁 I love that game.
On the "hindsight warrior" I read a book about WW2 (maybe luck and a lancaster?) That said at least the glider pilots *did* train in hedgerows but that the ones in England were very different from the ones in france, leading to excessive crashes on landing. This suggests that maybe some of the infantry did train for hedgerows but the wrong kind, or that the reason they didn't train was because the ones in England lead command to believe they weren't an obstacle in need of additional special training.
this is the absolute first time i actually clicked on an youtube promotion. I love wings of glory, but never heard about flames of war.
The Bocage was HELL. Two of my Mom's uncles were in the 29th infantry, Omaha Beach / D-Day plus one. One of them was awarded the Bronze Star and Silver Star during the break out in the Bocage and in the Battle for St. Lo. My Mom still remembers when he came home (Roanoke Va) in 1945. He took her fishing one summer day, so he had shorts on. She said his legs were covered with scar tissue from where he had been wounded by shrapnel.
Wow what hell! I knew about the hedgerows, but never really thought about how terrible it was to fight through them
I like that you use FOW models to demonstrate, I just started to collecting Flames of war models, so its great for me (i wanted earlyer but i waited for New starter box).
Do you have hit the beach? 11 tanks and infantry for £30!
Great video, I really love the minis tie-in. Would love to see similiar content, but totally get if tabletop wargaming not your thing ;)
"pipe device" Bangalores! Sounds much cooler. Great use of a sponsor to make an informative video. Well done.
nope, those were not bangladores.
and thank you!
huh, the description of it made me instantly think of bangalores. So like larger pipe bomb devices? Since there was a lot of ground to move to instead of mostly barbed wire?
it was just a huge pipe actually 2 and they rammed them into the ground, moved back and then put explosives into those areas. This was after they tried blowing up the hedges regularly and figured out that digging does not work. Sadly, there is no clear description nor did I find any photos of the "Sherman pipe". From my understanding a bangalore would be too long, the hedges were strong and thick.
Thanks, never even knew that was a thing. Makes sense. You're doing good work, I love the videos.
I read the accounts of a German infantryman that the fighting in Normandy was much harder on the German soldiers and caused a lot more shell-shock than the fighting on the Eastern front.This correlates with your description that the Western Allies would rather use up a lot of ammunition and send in the infantry cautiously rather than trying to exploit any gap that was formed with disregard to high losses, as the Soviets did.
Thanks for this video and the sponsor. Im pleased to see a quality sponsor like that.
The tabletop miniatures are a good addition to your visuals. I hope you use them more often. Try shooting them from a lower angle though to get that eyeball line of sight.
Basically the Allies had secure supply lines and the resources to outlast and overwhelm the Nazis who were short of both men and materials so there was no need for the Allies to risk men as they also had time on their side (e.g. could dictate the tempo of the fight). **Credit to Lindybeige's recent video on Arty bombardments**
Really nice video. You could have used used papper or wool to symbolise fire and smoke/phosporus in the stop-motion sequences. a simple computer animation would also work to clarifie where infantry, tanks and arty fire.
@8:25 I've served in the Swiss Infantry and we still use "sections" today. The names are a bit complicated, since we mix our diffrent languages (Italian, German and French) in Military jargon. We just call the Platoon "Zug" (50- 70 Men), which consists of four groups "uno" "due" "tre" and "quattro". The Section is called "Halbzug" and is often refered to as "12" or "34" during radio communication (12 = uno + due / 34 = tre + quattro). The Platoon leader will often use this during manouvers where there is no external support available. In that case 12 is the attacking force which will assault an enemy position, while 34 provides covering fire.
thanks, I know the "Halbzug" but only from Tanks so far; interestingly the section is mentioned in the US Army TM from 1944 for both Halbzug (Inf) but also as a "squad" for cavalry.
Excited to see me favourite miniatures game interacting with KZhead historians ☺️
Because the breakout was supposed to be at Caen. The US troops were there to secure the flank, and take one or two major ports. When the British bogged down, the US troops had no choice but to attack in the worse terrain this side of the Pripet Marsh.
Those are great looking miniatures man! I really think you should keep using them for your videos. Also as a side note are you into Team Yankee as well or just traditional Flames of War?
3:06 ! "God loves the infantry!" And since my USMC mos was 0311, I couldn't be more enthusiastic in my approval of the saying. My Grandfather's and my Father's generations, The Great War and WW2 veterans, pushed the bar pretty high. As a Cold War vet, I can only be awed by their bravery. (Notice I referred to their generations. My Grandfather did not serve, and my Father served Navy after end of hostilities. But my Uncle was one of the Frozen Chosin!) I always thought that Air & Naval power, along with Armor & Artillery, were there to support the boots on the ground. But, of course I am biased!
I was in Normandy last year for D-Day celebration and just driving in the Edgerow is sketchy as hell !
The 15mms models and terrain really illustrated the hedgerow tactics. Both defensive and offensive tactics are completely explained.
Dammit! You beat me to it. I've had a similar video on the back burner for a while. I'm hoping to have it finished by the 80th anniversary...
;)
i am still not sure how to react the term "legendary kitties" hmm
meow?
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized Meow, Boom!!, Meow??!! Puuuuurrrrr.
Meow.
I thought it was a reference to breasts.
She did the laundry in Portsmouth
I remember when I was in high school, we had guest speaker who was a Sherman tank commander that landed on d-day. I remember him talking about the hedgerows and how terrifying they were to American tankers. You could be driving next to another tank or German infantry and have no idea you were doing so. He said often times once the hedgerows were broken, all hell would let loose on the infantry and tanks coming through it.
Surprised no mention of the Cullins Hedgerow Device.
Looks like a great game! And great job with the visuals! Very cool way to make it new and interesting.