Scorched Earth S4/E3 - Army Group South

I never tire of good, detailed, astute war documentaries; been watching them since I was a child. It is far more entertaining to me than fictional history. KZhead has a fine collection, much of which I already own.

What truly amazed me is the hardship that soldier,sailors and airmen endured, without faltering. All military suffer in some way, but combat can become a defining moment in your life. Times that you will never forget and sometimes you wish you could.

I love this series so much. Some of my favorites besides the battlefields narrated by Tim Piggott Smith.

It must have been absolute hell fighting on the frontline. The winter would have been unbearable. The rain making your clothes all wet. The long nights with no sleep. Lack of food. The Eastern Front was horrific.

John Erickson, great South Shields accent and hosted Soviet and NATO little get together of generals in his university quarters during the Cold War

German army was built for mobility. Forcing them into "hold to the last man" situations and taking away their power to maneuver was one of the biggest blunders of the war.

Army Group South had the support of Luftflotte 4 under Generaloberst Alexander Löhr not Luftflotte 1

Excellent. Objective. Most of the film footage actually matches the narrative. Good series...thumbs up.

THIS SERIES SHOULD BE IN COLOUR

I just recently talked to a friend of mine who told me she just had 3 boys born and presented them first time to her great grandmother in law. The reaction of old granny was and I quote. "Gut! Sehr gut, dann haben wir bald wieder neue Soldaten. Good, very good, then we will have new soldiers soon." My friend was shoked to hear that reaction in an rather admitting tone. It shows the spirit put into the people during the NS-Regime and how it prevails in them.

Thanks for posting this interesting documentary.

Take a shot of vodka (or schnapps) every time Hitler refuses a request to withdraw.

Outstanding documentary!! Thank you for sharing.

Thanks for posting these awesome videos

The thing with a mobile anything is that it requires oil. And the Germans were running on fumes.

Great series of clips Vasile- much obliged (Y)

This was a really good series of documentaries

Hitler told his generals that he expected the campaign against Russia to be concluded in 13 weeks. It was therefore supposed to be finished by the end of September 1941. Instead, it lasted almost 4 years. Hitler attacked southern Russia in 1942 not because he wanted to surprise Stalin, but because Germany was running out of petroleum. German troops marched in Russia (instead of being carried by trucks) because there wasn't enough fuel to move them. Likewise, much of the German army's supplies were transported by horse because there wasn't enough fuel to move them otherwise.

Hitler played into Soviet's strength by attempting to hold ground. It's analogous to a quick boxer who tries to outwrestle a sumo.

An excellent and informative documentary.

Your videos are the best. I'm now a subscriber

splendid lecturer from Sandhurst..

Stalingrad was the craziest battle ever fought.... hats off to the toughness of those that defended the city.... amazing

One of the best military formations to walk a battlefield these guys fought to the bitter end.

Fantastic documentary.

really top shelf documentary, just fascinating...

Currently studying Stalingrad...thanks for timely upload !!

Very thanks for the upload

The German Wehrmacht of WW2 was certainly a truly formidable force and the German soldiers, officers, NCO's and rankers were some of the best soldiers in human history.....but, one must never, ever forget that the Wehrmacht had prior to the war sold its soul and honour to a devilish regime intent on world domination and genocide. Many German soldiers were extremely courageous and honourable individuals but the cause they fought and died for so tenaciously up to the very end was not worth one iota of their loyalty - they had truly been led to the gates of hell.

walsh must put them to sleep at sandhurst

When you know that your going to be destroyed if you don’t move.... then move .... if not... it’s the same as helping the enemy. So..... screw orders from people who aren’t there.....

This is lovely stuff..

Very well done!

This video is very good!!

Great dokumentin on east front 😉!!!...

Noticed a glaring mistake: Army Group South had Luftflotte 4 under Alexander Löhr, Luftflotte 1 under Keller was part of Army Group North (check the other video).

I would not say AG South was the least successful initially... The battle for Brody was the largest Tank battle in history even dwarfing Kursk in terms of time and disposition of forces and AG South was up against truly some of the best formations the Russians had at the time.

How interesting is that Hitler forbade city fighting in 1941 in Leningrad because of the lessons of Kiev but then committed to Stalingrad ... there was no need to take that city, just half-encircle it and secure the flank on the Volga down to Astrakhan and secure the main objective: the oil fields. Withdrawing from the Rhzev salient and shortening the lines in the center could have given the extra troops (especially if Halder was replaced sooner). The Germans in 1942 still did not understand that this was the very last slim chance to win the war - all SS troops and all reserves should have been thrown into this and even then it was a dubious adventure, pushing 800 km more on an overstretched supply line securing a 400 km flank on the Volga and taking the oil fields. Had they cut off the oil that would have seriously changed the war. But the Germans are still not fighting a total war at this point all their economy is still not mobilized and 42 is when the Soviets are in full swing and the land-lease arrives is significant amounts.

At 30:00... who made that map, showing Stalingrad on the wrong side of the river? :-/

The other more prominent problem experienced by German forces in the East was the inadequate supply of Panzers especially the Tigers and Panthers which were desperate in need to reinforce the weakening lines encountering Soviet counter-assaults on all fronts. Although Schwere Panzer-Abteilung divisions were present, it was never going to be enough to halt the inevitable defeat of the Third Reich since the disastrous Battle of Kursk in Operation Zitadel.

Never understood what Hitler considered victory at Stalingrad. The city had been bombed to rubble. The Soviets could continue to ferry troops across the Volga river because they controlled it's east bank.

I really enjoy the way that the two experts can disagree with each other but it's done respectfully. It's hard to remember when differing opinions were allowed to coexist respectfully.

This KZhead channel rules

31:05 Ogareva boulevard seen from the Cannery's (apartment) House of Specialists on Raboche-Krestyanskaya Ulitsa. 31:08 A view west from near the Tram Car Barn south of the Tsaritsa.

does anyone know where I can find this series on DVD?

All Germany had to do is send Army Group A to encircled Stalingrad from the southwest and just completely cut off the Russians. Thank the lord Hilter didn't understand anything about war... and wars single greatest commodity above anything, is Time. He did the same thing in the battle of Britain.

poor van Kleist, every time I see his name they call him "Kliest" XD

Where didyou get the scorched earth series?

Dialog from a Russian or German soldier." Karkov was total hell. At least we won't be coming back here again."

Does anybody know what year this was made? Mid to late 90s?

von Rundstedt told Hitler he wanted to give up ground and stage a defensive front for the winter,Hitler refused him so Rundstedt told Hitler if he didn't have confidence in his leadership and judgment that he would like to offer his resignation,Hitler accepted his resignation and took his command.Hitler didn't just sack Rundstedt .

Tell Ericson that Paulus wasn't a "von."

"You wouldn't have had much fun in Stalingrad, would you... I said, you wouldn't have had much fun in Stalingrad, would you, ha, ha, ha?"

IMO, the battle of Stalingrad was lost before it even started by bombing the city into a wasteland. They took away Army group A's air cover which left them exposed to the Russian Air Force slowing down their drive into the Caucasus. By destroying Stalingrad they turned it into a hellish maze of bomb craters and debris which limited tanks, instead of looking for the enemy in windows & doorways now they can come out of anywhere.

Maikop is now spelled "Maykop." (@ 22:35) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maykop

The Russians attributed the intelligence gained for Kursk from the Lucy Spy Ring but it could have been a cover for the Ring of Five (SpyCatcher Fame), the Cambridge Spy Ring.

It's far-fetched to call the battle of Kursk a turning point. By that time the German army had already suffered enormous casualties it couldn't possibly replace, it was overtaken by the Soviet Union in industrial output, while the Allied invasion of Sicily was imminent. What is often overlooked, perhaps because of Manstein's naivety, who claimed that he could have secured victory had Hitler not canceled the offensive, is that the Soviet army had massive reserves behind Kursk, which were readily available to immediately mitigate the -supposedly within reach- German encirclement of the Kursk salient, as well as the really massive casualties suffered by the Germans in Kursk as long as the operation lasted. And when I say massive, I don't refer to numbers per se, but to the percentage of casualties suffered by the actual combat troops, not the tens of thousands of men in supporting roles. The combat troops suffered casualties in some cases exceeding 50%. Therefore even if the Germans had succeeded in completing the encirclement of the salient, their immediate prospects were bleak to say the least.

Pegasus produce a good documents!!.

Just.. :(. My grandfather was fighting at odessa. The other one grandfather, was comunist and also supposed to fight against soviet on western front. Were funny to see both of them arguing about ww2 "truth" and events.. before AND then after 1990, when comunist regime at least in theory.. was replaced with a democratic one. But back to ww2 eastern front events, one of the final blow for brave german army, was my nation betrayal caused by a puppet king which took soviet promises as good and arrested (then killed) the Great Romanian and Great Army Commander which was Marshal Ion Antonescu!

"dividing his forces." don't know what Bock was thinking but he certainly wasn't very concerned about his flanks. if he had surrounded Stalingrad they probably would have have created another envelopment and mass surrender. The Crimean offensive was needless and could have been avoided. Strangely it was never fortified for defense after Von Manstein's brilliant if costly Victory.

At 28:05 the map shows Stalingrad EAST of the Volga, lol!!

no discussion on "staging areas". this is fully mechanized War requiring a vast battlespace just to organize.

Where is episode 1 for Army Group North.

Good show

Since the weather played a key role in stopping the German advance into Russia, one cannot help but wonder how things might have played out had the Germans initiated Barbarossa in early April rather than June 22. They wasted several months of good weather by delaying it until June.

19:18 Oh, I will argue you a lot right there. The Soviet Union was not yet the superpower it would be and it ultimately became, even though it had help. But the mere fact that it did become a superpower and managed to stop the German Army while the rest of the world prepared or simply watched. That means they were at least equal, if not an even more immediate and powerful threat to Germany than the Anglo Allies. Specially, since the American and British armies were also very far from what they would become. In many ways, by 1942, the Soviets were the only real threat to the Germans. Even more argument is how little Germany worried about the "besieged" British and the still far away USA. Hitler mistake was not declaring war in a "pre emptive strike". It was thinking he had a chance to start with. So, I call complete and transparent Western bias.

"Greeted as Liberators." Important part too..

I've got to commend this production, it is very objective and doesn't have the usual bile associated with British accounts of WWII.

It's hard to get your head around the numbers involved eg 250k 6th army surrender or 600k Russian prisoners early on. This was very big stuff. Though when you consider 8 billion people now on the earth then perhaps peanuts.

Stephen Walsh looks like his voice is putting his face to asleep 🙃 no disrespect obviously - great historical insight

I would send army group center and group south too Moscow, and have group north cover their flank. Then have group south breakoff towards the oil fields after the capital was sacked. I believe those two groups could have got to Moscow probably 2 months earlier. All that being said, if Hitler would have let his general's fight without his input they would have beat Russia in 41

They spelled the names of General von Schubert and General von Kleist incorrectly... I wonder what else was not looked up by the makers of this documentary

Who forgot to set the sound at at a level it could be heard?

28:15 stalingrad is wrong side of river.. but little mistake.

was that a guy falling at 4:17?

Idiomatic phrase "Captive Romanian" has deeply rooted into Russian language as a synonym for "poor and hungry". Those POWs literally built some of city's factories, roads and other infrostructure, I am talking about Oskemen, Kazakhstan. We still have wasteland called "romanian cemetery". I was a small kid when my father was once mentioned this, it implies that not much of them returned back home, if any realy did. What I think, and I am sure my opinion tallies with thise of the rest of USSR citizens, they have washed away their blood guilt, as well as the rest of German POWs which worked for benefit of soviet industrialization in Sabirea. It might sound too cynical, but they got what they came for - 2 meters of soviet land for each.

In Antony Beevor's "Berlin: The Downfall 1945" the author recounts stories of German soldiers retreating into the nation's capital, following a several year's long retreat from Soviet occupied territory in the East. Some of these Wehrmacht soldiers would have invariably come from the detritus of Army Group South. Beevor states that many of these Wehrmacht soldiers had to deal with incredible privation. Soldiers simply did not have the opportunity to change their under clothing for months. Many of us here stateside have dreamed of a hot shower after dealing with a hard day's slog taming the overgrowth within our suburban property, and changing into clean whites after exiting a benevolent bath. To not be afforded the opportunity of showering after months of combat, and when the opportunity arose, if it ever did, to not have a single clean pair of underwear seems beyond unbearable. But when you are dodging bullets. grenades, artillery, air strikes, katusha rocket hits and all other manner of destruction, a day without showering doing gardening work is a plight soldiers on both sides would have gladly substituted into.

Stain forbid red cross help to red army prisoners who were captured,a thing that is never talked about is that a portion of ussr citizens hated Stalin,their was a large collaboration with the Germans, especially in baltics, Ukraine

Its the same theme over and over , SUPPLY and more RE SUPPLY constantly is what wins or looses the Germans were always over their heads in that aspect in every theatre they were in

rumananian. ? were they from? lol

Hitler raised Germany , but buried at same time , great video.

The boats the Germans we're using for river crossings...... Are those BMW motorcycle engines ? As outbourd engine

The trapped Germans were in no shape to break out. They were starving.

why the fuk is walsh whispering in all these vids???

"and the Red Army was fleeing into Hell, too." *AND THEY BOTH DECIDED TO DIE TOGETHER THE END.* Move along..

Hitler never paid a visit to the Region so he knew nothing about Southern Russia. Same said be true of Coastal France oddly enough.

Is stephan Walsh on Valium?

If Army Group South had to face much more stronger resistance, why Army Group South had less men than Army Group Centre, while Army Group Centre fought with ease till of Moscow

Can anyone tell me the music starting at 11:47?

28:41 What aircraft is that? Does anybody know?

I don't think that the soldiers who fought in the battle of the bulge would consider operations citadel to be the last great German offensive. It was bigger but everything was bigger on that front. I think Hitler's offensive at the end of 1944 in the Ardennes was incredibly important though inevitably it was opposed and defeated by the allies and it's spelled the death knell for the Wermacht on the Western front

'Outcome of WW2 was decided here', ehm, not entirely, as it did not do anything for the war in the Pacific.

One mistake, they know now that the Battle of Prokhorovka was mostly a myth.

Stalingrad exposed what was the fatal flaw in Hitler's plans..What is not ever talked about is that in fact, Von Manstein needed Paulus to breakout was because he lost a good part of his army because of the battle of Rhezev, had he had the Panzers, it is possible that Operation Thunder would have succeeded..

Main problem is that without Teboil mobile det enda is not possibly....

Orealy? An objective of Army Group South was Baku during the war gaming? Hardy Har Har. Anyone who dared state that would’ve been beaten to a pulp in 1941.

Man... that group of mountaineers at 25:00 that planted the flag are lucky as hell... sure their mission was dangerous but at least they were fighting the elements instead of the Russians AND the elements... the Eastern Front such as Stalingrad must be some of the worst fighting humankind has ever had to endure. Hell must be a more welcoming place then Stalingrad was during World War II

Micahs daddy was annihilated by the German waffen ss spearhead

Not one of these German soldiers was wearing a Santa hat

21:54 what that statue mean a crocodile around the kids ?