1943: Turning Point of WW2 in Europe (Documentary)
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The so-called forgotten year of WW2 sees the Allies push the Germans out of North Africa, Sicily, part of Italy, the Atlantic, and smash the Wehrmacht backwards from the Volga and Kursk in Russia to the Dnipro in Ukraine while Allied bombers begin to relentlessly bomb the Reich itself.
00:00 Intro to 1943
00:47 Tunisia 1943 - Rommel's Last Battle
22:04 U-Boat War 1943 - Hunter to Hunted
38:02 Invasion of Sicily 1943 - Operation Husky
1:06:06 Kursk 1943 - Why Germany Lost
1:27:58 Air War 1943 - Masters of the Air?
1:50:38 Holocaust 1943 - Genocide & Resistance
1:56:41 Conclusion to 1943
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» SOURCES
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Crowe, David. “The Holocaust: Roots, History and Aftermath"
Happe, Katja; Lambauer, Barbare; Maier-Wolthausen, Clemens; Peers, Maja (eds.): “Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden durch das nationalsozialistische Deutschland 1933-1945”
Interview with Selma Wijnberg Engel conducted by Linda Kuzmack on July 16, 1990, on behalf of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Interview with Selma Wijnberg Engel conducted by Linda”
State of Israel, Ministry of Justice. “The Trial of Adolf Eichmann: Record of Proceedings in the District Court of Jerusalem”
Holocaust Encyclopedia. “Sobibor Uprising.”
Bowman, Martin W. “The Mighty Eighth at War”
Caldwell, Donald L. “The Luftwaffe over Germany: Defense of the Reich”
Freeman, Roger Anthony. “Mighty Eighth: A History of the U.S. Eighth Air Force”
Hansen, Randall. “Fire and Fury”
Hawkins, Ian L. “B-17s Over Berlin”
Hawkins, Ian L. “Münster: The Way It Was”
Historischer Verein Markt Werneck, “Luftangriffe auf Schweinfurt und ihre Auswirkungen auf Werneck”
Jacobs, W. A. “Strategic Bombing and American National Strategy, 1941-1943"
Levine, Alan J. “The Strategic Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945"
Ross, Stewart Halsey. “Strategic Bombing by the United States In World War II”
Tooze, J. Adam. “No Room for Miracles. German Industrial Output in World War II Reassessed”
Bessonov, Evgeni. “Tank Rider: Into the Reich with the Red Army”
Glantz, David M. & Orenstein, Harold S, (Eds.). “The Battle for Kursk 1943: The Soviet General Staff Study”
Gorbach, Vitaly G. “Nad Ognennoy Dugoy: Sovyetskaya aviatsiya v Kurskoy bitve”
Tagebuch Gührs, Kopie in Besitz von R. Töppel
Krivosheev, Grigori F. “Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century”
Popjel, Nikolai N. “Panzer greifen an”
Rokossowski, Konstantin K. “Soldatenpflicht. Erinnerungen eines Frontoberbefehlshabers”
Rutherford, Jeff. “Germany’s Total War: Combat and Occupation around the Kursk Salient, 1943”
Stadler, Silvester (Ed.). “Die Offensive gegen Kursk 1943. II. SS-Panzerkorps als Stoßkeil im Großkampf”
Töppel, Roman. “Kursk 1943: “Die größte Schlacht des Zweiten Weltkrieges”
Töppel, Roman. “Kursk 1943: The Greatest Battle of the Second World War”
Waiss, Walter. “Chronik Kampfgeschwader”
Anfora, Domenico. “La Battaglia degli Iblei: 9-16 Luglio 1943”
Clay, Ewart Waide. “The Path of the 50th: The Story of the 50. (Northumbrian) Division in the 2nd World War”
Fielder, Bob. “A Matter of Pride”
Ford, Ken. “Assault on Sicily: Monty and Patton at War”
Klein, Joseph. “Fallschirmjäger. Das Fallschirmpionier Bataillon 1 der 1. Fallschirmjägerdivision im Italienkrieg”
Fitzgerald-Black, Alexander. “Eagles over Husky”
»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Jesse Alexander, Mark Newton
Director: Toni Steller
Editing: Toni Steller
Motion Design: Toni Steller , Phillip Appelt
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: above-zero.com
Research by: Mark Newton, Jesse Alexander, Roman Töppel
Fact checking: Florian Wittig, Mark Newton
Executive Producer: Florian Wittig
Channel Design: Simon Buckmaster
Contains licensed material by getty images, AP and Reuters
Maps: MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors & GEOlayers3
Music Library: Epidemic Sound
All rights reserved - Real Time History GmbH 2024
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How much a year for Nabular ?
@@ramonhernandez3160 Not that much, but I forget.
My profile pic is my great uncle Earl, who was KIA fighting Germans in the “soft underbelly of Europe.” To this day I wonder if he was wearing his “I love you” helmet when charging German positions in the mountains of Italy.
My opa worked in the wolfs lair running the phone switch bord for the furer
Looks like true gentleman! Rip
So what u jew
🫡
RIP Uncle Earl. The world needs more people like him
No narrator is better than you. Perfect amount of detail
I agree jesse is awesome
Thank you!
He pronounces the English, German and Russian names well. Normally the English documentaires butcher German names and the German ones are barely understandable when they speak English.
Could do without the cod British accent. Sounds parodic.
You seem to be confusing the writing and production with the narration. I come from an age when the narrator was Lawrence Olivier, lol. This doesn't hold a candle but millennials are truly broken. Its very difficult for people who know nothing to have skill or taste, lol.
Jesse THE narrator with a master of oratory and a man with ethics. Outstanding effort as usual from all your team mate .
Is this guy a relative of John Travolta, or is it just in my mind?
I hate artificial voices… won’t watch those
@@secretagent86 same.
OMG! This video is the closest to reading a book that I have ever seen. Information dense and professionally narrated in North American English. This channel is gold! 🥇
ÅÅ••…ØØØøøøø …
Honestly, would like to see some videos on Japan and China in 1943. It was rather unique year in both the Pacific and Asia.
well, wouldn't you know where our next video on the Sino-Japanese War is headed.
@@realtimehistory Oh... talk about exciting!
@@realtimehistory Yahoo!
There are Only two Wikipedia articles that Made me throw up. That being the sacking of Nankang and the pillaging of Sbrenica(during the Balkan wars of 1995). Both are pretty mich how the Japanese behaved in China.
@@realtimehistory battle of Changsha would be interesting!
Very well done! This isn’t just a repeat of other documentaries-it is far more detailed.
This channel has taught me how to say so many European place names properly, thank you for that!
All the Italians name were butchered, I can assure you that
“Britain’s Italians” DAMN!!😂😂 shots fired
uummm, maybe that's why us Americans like pizza so much ....?
😂
Wonderful detail. And one of the best narrators that I have ever heard.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I think I speak for everyone here: you're all brilliant at all you do & we all appreciate everything you do. Thank you👍
Excellent video with great research and facts and figures of casualties and equipment. A definitive keeper. Thanks
People, make sure you like an subscribe. This is one of the best, unbiased, concise documentary channels on KZhead.
Biased towards Americans
@@Kim_YoJong can you give an example of how it's biased please.
I love the comparisons between the perception of events at the time and the more recent research. It really demonstrates how biased and innacurate our perception of real time events can get, with different people often making mutually exclusive claims. For that alone, you deserve a huge amount of respect.
What are you talking about "Hollywood" the American history curriculum ?
@@samsungtap4183 ♦Hollywood wasn't there when 198,000 Tommies got tossed into the Channel - Monty was. ♦Hollywood didn't make 81,000 Tommies surrender at Singapore ♦Hollywood didn't make 32,000 Tommies surrender at Tobruk ♦Hollywood didn't sign a deal with The Reich annexing the Czech Republic - Britain did. ♦Hollywood didn't stop Britain from crossing the 30 mile channel for 4 full years - after getting driven into it ♦Hollywood never showed up at Market Garden,neither did Monty ♦Hollywood didn't fill ship after ship with tanks,trucks,,halftracks,men,material,munitions, planes,provisions,food,fuel for the duration of the war to prop up the crown. ♦Hollywood didn't promise that Caen would be taken in D+1,Monty did and finally took it 43 days later. ♦Hollywood didn't promise before Market Garden that they'd go to Berlin then couldn't even make it to Arnhem - Monty did ♦Hollywood didn't give 16 U.S.Divisions to Monty's 21st Army Group,IKE did. Then Bernard was practically the last one to cross over the Rhine with them ♦Monty didn't destroy 90% of German Armor Allied Air Corps did. ♦Hollywood didn't make up stories about Bernard bathing little boys Nigel Hamilton reported them in The Full Monty . ♦Hollwood wasn't "evacuated" from: Norway,Netherlands, Belgium and France,Dunkirk in 1940 Greece, Crete,Hong Kong and Libya in 1941 Tobruk and Dieppe,Singapore in 1942 Want to know who was?
Very interesting. One thing when looking at the maps of the Netherlands: Some parts weren't land in the war, and were only drained in 1955 and 1968 (Flevopolder).
Finished this release. Incredibly thorough.
Seriously a great documentary and the fact we all get it free is amazing. You deserve way more views and subscribers for this amazing research and thorough analysis and work, great 2 hours
Excellent and detailed documentary. I was glued to it throughout. Incidentally, my father participated in the Sicily invasion, third wave. He was antiaircraft and, when there were no more German planes to shoot at, he was converted to military police and guarded German POWs in Belgium.
thank you for the constant effort and great quality of content.
Fantastic video as usual! One of the best history channels on youtube.
It must have been cool to be Italian American in Sicily in your 20s and get to meet old people who knew your grandparents before they moved to America. That must have been frigging intense!
My moms family came from Alia near Palermo in the late 1800's through New Orleans, but all my uncles on that side were in the USAAF in the pacific during the war. Interesting thought though!
I love how realistic Hoi4 lore can get
Another great documentary! Thank you for all the hard work
Great video! One thought: Rommel claiming that the inexperienced Americans did well does not tell us much about the actual American performance. He has an interest in exaggerating his enemy's aptitude. The same phenomenon also explains the origins of the myth of absolute German military superiority. To cover up their own faults, the French, British and Soviet commanders exaggerated the doctrinal, technical and organizational strengths of the Germans. I am not saying people like Rommel and von Manstein weren't gifted commanders, Germans were badly organized or armed. All I am saying is, you don't ask someone who is bruised up and lost a fight how big their opponent was. They are bound to exaggerate.
Rommel was most impressed with the American ability to learn and adapt quickly in Tunisia. He warned his superiors about this in Normandy, but was largely ignored.
When you guys do videos over 1 hour i love this, its a massive win with 2 hour long documentaries. Please cover the rest of the conflict this detailed if you so have the time and supplies, aswell as if you plan it of course. Much Gratidtude, i can't wait to watch this
we will continue with this concept. already started our 1940 coverage and there will be a full version once its done.
@@realtimehistoryVery glad to hear! Thank you
Another excellent production
Maps and real footage is helpful to understand history of this war!
Great video. Very informative.
Epic video thank you
Superb documentary, thanks mate!
Great presentation on an area generally lightly covered. Half way through and will continue tomorrow.
lightly covered? Huh?
5:09 "Britain's Italians" lol
Hahaha
lol, Ya know what's funnier Monty couldn't cross the ENGLISH CHANNEL for 4 full years after getting driven into it. Then ran away 3000 miles in to a Desert
@@bigwoody4704really?
Well June 1940 he along with Commanders Brooke & Gort got driven to dunkirk and they escaped the beach on mostly fishing boats and pleasure craft. Then came back across 4 yrs later with the GIs. After stops in the desert/Sicily/Italy
I thought that was a "cute" statement 😂
EXCELLENT. Very comprhensive description of the WW II. Thanks very much. Greetings from Mexico City.
One of the best documentary...great!!!!
Awesome! Could you do 44 and 45 too?
we have already started with 1940 (our Battle of France video), but we will do the other years in this style as well and hopefully also the other fronts. If you can't wait for 1945, check out our two documentary series "16 Days in Berlin" and "Rhineland 45" on Nebula.
What happens in '44 & '45?
Never realized General Payton was 6' 1&1/2" tall, and President Eisenhower was 5'10" .
FYI : Their height wasn't in this video. I simply saw the picture of them standing side by side and got curious even to look it up.
Great stuff Jesse!
really great doco, thanks
Kiitos!
I read a book in the 1990s where General Model states that "The British are superb with infantry" and "US armour is brave"... i cannot remember the name of the book though sadly.
Excellent video.
Is this new or just a compilation of previous videos?
After watching the entire thing, I can say it’s a mix of both
@@InPriceWeTrust Ty 🙏
the main thing we added here was the chapter about the Holocaust and the conclusion at the end. plus a few smaller things in between like a deeper look at Casablanca, the Western Appraoches Tactical Unit
I was making a bad joke, sorry haha. It just got posted so I thought I’d respond
@@realtimehistory The reason i asked was because i already watched your videos separately, except the napoleon ones, should probably get to those soon. Your videos are always worth the wait, i especially enjoy the soldier diaries you throw in.
One of, if not THE, best documentaries I've ever seen. Excellent German too.
Great video, I'd love one about the turning point being the Moscow Counter-Offensive. An in-depth look at the shattering of german forces along the front that lost them the war and sent them back reeling.
Tooze in Wages of Destruction makes the crucial point that the bombing campaign generally diverted industrial capacity from what they needed to win the war on the ground, comparing for example production of fighters vs tanks. He makes a persuasive case that opportunity cost makes Allied bombing more decisive than the direct cost suggests.
Much Thanks to; Alan Turing and those brilliant cryptographers at Bletchley Park for cracking the 'Enigma' code!
Outstanding documentary. Thank you for sharing.
Your work is up there with Ken Burns & World at War (but MORE detailed.) Thank you Jesse et al👏
Thank you.
you got a new subscriber
50:30 Macky Steinhof! The man was a legend, not only with the Luftwaffe but with the US Air Force. His service after the war with the resurrected Luftwaffe made him many friends in the US. Macky lost his eyelids in the fire from the crash of his Me-262. Slept with a mask for years until a German surgeon crafted eyelids for him. Ask me where he got the skin for the graft.
oh I know where they graft skin like that
In Europe, Stalingrad. In the Pacific, Midway.
Midway was 1942.
My father was one of the Marines ordered to disperse the bonus army. He was in the Corps from 1927 until 1968. He said it was.the.only order he carried out that he was ashamed of.
Amazing video. Idk if you’ve done this but could you touch on or make a video about sonderkommandos?
it's a tough topic to show because of KZhead's advertising guidelines. But we will see if we can
I'm really glad y'all made this series! But also... PLEASE may we have a crumb of new Napoleon content?!
we would love to make more Napoleon. Unfortunately our 1813 videos where unmitigated disasters in terms of views. And we run a business. But if build up a comfortable position where we can take more risks again, Napoleon is back on the menu.
@@realtimehistory alright, I have officially subscribed to y'all on Nebula-- I'd been thinking about it for some time, & this pushed me over the top. Here's hoping this will get you a little closer to the financial cushion needed to make more Napoleon content-- & maybe you might consider doing this as a promotion, like "want more Napoleon videos? Subscribe to Nebula!"
I wish you guys did a 3-4 hour doc on just Kursk
13:43 it's a small thing, but who would have removed the muzzle brake? Was it that technologically significant that it's capture was desired/undesirable, or did Patton want a mighty paperweight?
How do you guys make your history animations.
Everything is done in After Effects. For the maps specifically we use a plugin called Geolayers which is very powerful but also very complex. 3D animations are done with a plugin called Element 3D, though we are on the verge of upgrading to something more full fledged.
@@realtimehistory It must take lots of work to make one history documentary. Thanks for sacrificing lot of your time and effort to teach us more history. The World shall never forget the the it’s past.
My great grandfather fought in the 12th panzer division hitlerjugend and was captured at Normandy he died in frankfurt germany 4 years ago. I miss when he used to tell me some of his war stories rip grandpa😢
What happened to all those German prisoners. What was the cost to handle and detain them? Amazing. Thanks, Thailand Paul
Most died. Five thousand survived to go home in 1955,6,. ✌️ ☘️
~250,000 Axis troops surrounded by the soviet's "Operation Uranus" at Stalingrad ~90,000 Axis troops survived to surrender at the fall of Stalingrad in Feb 1943. ~5000 Axis troops survived soviet imprisonment to return to Germany in the mid 1950s. But for sheer loss of troop numbers the Axis suffered 330,000 troops lost with their collapse in the North African campaign. The difference being that the vast majority of those troops lived to return to italy and Germany after the war.
more like 250,000 and over half of those were Italian. The Afrika Korps was defeated by ULTRA,RAF & RN cutting off german provisions and American supply/logistics
That's wild how many more losses the Red Army sustained in Kursk compared to the Axis, yet they still won the battle. To the Germans at the time it must have really felt like the Soviet reserves in manpower and equipment were endless. 🤷
Jesse has forgotten to mention the Battle of Takrouna on the advance to Enfidaville - The 2nd NZ Division had a hard time taking this hilltop citadel and the 28th Maori Battalion eventually captured the hilltop village - British General Brian Horrocks (XIII Corps) called it "The finest feat of arms I witnessed in the entire war!"
Fantastic ! Kudos to the whole team !
The true turning point in Europe was Kursk July-1943. That battle decided whether Eastern Europe would live under National Socialism or Communisim for the next 50 years.
Nah, battle of Moscow, November '41
Love the work! Y'all are legendary for the historian community!
1943 was when things fell apart but one can hardly call it a turning point...that happened earlier.
It once over once they lost at Stalingrad. Even if they did everything perfectly after this including winning at Kursk which was possible and even if Rommel also had a successful attacking encircling the Americans. It would not matter the Soviets could replace the men and equipment while it would delay the war on eastern front by maybe a year. Even if Rommel had defeated the Americans the British were still coming from Egypt and the Americans could replace the men and equipment. It just delays the inevitable Germany needed the resources of the Soviets once it failed to get the oil it was going to end in defeat. Even if Germany continues to pull amazing victories it would just end in Berlin being nuked and the Allies and Soviets overwhelming the Axis with men and bombing German industry. The Allies were committed they were not going to make a peace with Germany.
Some German African-corps units were dispatched to the southern Russia during summer of the '42. in awake of the battle for Stalingrad. Those nazy units even reached near Grozny
Hannibal will be proud of sicily campaign
Not that all war isn’t brutal However fighting in the desert as an infantry man . Oppressive heat trying to run in sand and dust. Brutal.
The Logistics of war are staggering
If only we put as much effort into peace !!!!
3:25 For the Italians, that's probably a fate worse than death: British food breaks the Geneva convention!
48:02 wait what? "D-Day"? The invasion of Sicily was also called D-Day?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Day_(military_term)
'D-day' and 'H-hour' were simply military terms for 'start time' in a big operation.
Donald Tump's uncle as a civilian worked in Britain on advanced Radar technology and recieved the highst awards a civilian could recieve from the British.
Fall Blau and it’s failure was the turning point. Not after the Germans had already lost the initiative, obviously.
only other time it turned in their favor was Sep 44
The fight between the bomber mafia and fighter advocates like Claire Chennault saw a ban on drop tanks. Companies built them to be able to fly across the US & for export. The P-47 by summer of 43 had British drop tanks made of papier-mâché tanks. Also by the time of the second ball barring raid proper there were tanks with just enough range to get close. A second wave of P-47’s could have held off the Germans. The P-51 was a better plane in many ways but the P-47 was a more rugged and had more firepower. The P-51 was used as an excuse to why the bombers didn’t get through as they built their jobs on.
Any chance you could make a video on commando actions during the war from beginning with the raids on the occupied Norwegian wale oil industry to the end? Probably even cover both sides, like the Brandenburgers and the German use of special SS para units against the Yugoslavian partisans.
problem with these units is that they were rarely if ever accompanied by photographers or camera men. so we could tell you what they did, but not show you.
@@realtimehistory Kinda obvious yeah.
Not forgotten thie well done ✅
"Never have so many been buggered about by so few".
That claim hasn't aged well this last 5 years.
Small calender point, action in North Africa, Moscow, Stalingrad, Coral sea, Midway, Papua NG, and the Solomons largely set the stage for inevitable AXIS downfall during late 1942. 1943 seems more like the Act 1 curtains dropping, and intermission, before Act 2 (1944) began.
Thought Midway was the turning point and Omaha beach was the only engagement in Europe.
I believe that the turning point was the battle of Moscow, November - December 1941, the beginning of the beginning of the end.
I have never heard anyone describe 1943 as a forgotten year.
That's what the Germans called it
I guess forgotten because of the disasters of 1944-45 and the successes of earlier years even though 1943 is the year of Stalingrad and Kursk…
⭐️ A lot of information 👍 Unfortunately it is given in a very big hurry. 🤦♂️ 🙄
They gotta get "Sizzily"!
1:01:03 "the british 3rd division..." I think that's meant to be "U.S." not "British".
The reason Axiss uboat losses were so great, is because of Allied Sonar comming into sevice ! That is why Allied convoys were able to get across the Atlantic. ! Mike.
I like this but it is a things that go bang turning point world view. While military success is important in determining a turning point its not where the turn happened. Take Russia and the battle for Stalingrad its the development of weapons systems ,factories, training of troops and myriad other things that enabled the successful battle of stalingrad that was the turning point. The battle was the cumulation of those things. Not enough attention is paid to logistics and the business of getting ready for war. Its a things that go bang world view. I still really like it but the pointy end of the spear is the cumulation not the cause.
when we talk about 1942, we will spend a bit more time with how the different allies "built the spear"
@@realtimehistory I look forward to that
My grandfather died Stalingrad 1943 Don river
1941 August hitler turning the tanks to the south and taking his foot off the Moscow push was the end
Rommel was not calling America and Britain’s Italians by the time General Patton was there even if he was bringing in green troops! They may have been green out of boot camp, but they were certainly ready for a fight, and they gave it to them. After that, Rommel totally respected them.
cool
What is often forgotten is that Russia had already invaded Finland in 39. France had declared war on GERMANY in 39. Not the other way around Poland had starved German Danzig. Britain had never responded to Hitler's pleas to its ally Poland
The turning point was on the approach to Moscow, and the subsequent Russian counteroffensive; and it was costly and poorly managed but the general staff knew then that they had overreached 😅
The more I look into this war the more it looks like someone went back in time and sabotaged the Germans with poor centralized planning and dismissals of information. 😂😂😂
I agree with your assessment. The sabotagers were Hitler - the high school dropout who dominated his followers back in Berlin. They consistently were no match for the Brits & Americans who were better educated & better organized for grand scale operations. The Germans also seriously underestimated the potential of Russia. Germany bit off more than they could chew!
This is awesome. Second best after Napoleon invasion of Russia.
Great quality in-depth doco thank you
That Encyclopedia Britannica always with the blue misinformation box !
A full telling of MACVSOG. Just like this.
working on it