Operation Werewolf - Sonderkommando Elbe Ram Attacks 1945
2019 ж. 28 Қаз.
1 057 991 Рет қаралды
Discover the disturbing story of Sonderkommando Elbe, the German's last ditch ramming squadron that tried to stop the American bomber streams in April 1945.
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11:20 "LOOK HE IS BAILING OUT" "Damit dont yell on that intercom!"
His fair but firm cadence reminds me of my buddy's dad telling us off when we were kids
His fair but firm cadence reminds me of my buddy's dad telling us off when we were kids
ground control probably or some colonel in a b17, I'm sure managing 1300 bombers on a mission is not easy to do, so keep the damn radio clear!
Sounded a lot like Hank Hill.
DAMN IT DON'T YELL ON THAT INTERCOM
Damn it! Don't post a comment about "not yelling on the intercom", an hour before I think of doing the same thing!
I was watching the actual video of that the other day. Poor guy was just excited lol.
Hollywood military communications; frantic emotional profanity laced screaming Real life military communications; disciplined cool calm collected short & to the point
@@richiecuzzz1 "DAMN IT DON'T CUSS WHEN I'M YELLING!"
Cares about his hearing when men are losing their lives around them
"I'm a WW2 expert yawl!" *discovers this channel "I don't know anything"
Well now you know that communist ' s are trash😉
GamingAlimonda same mate
Lol. You're not alone. 😂
Me too.
I knowed because of my Luftwaffe fetish.
My father was in the 389th BG flying "Lucky Lady Bette" a B-24J during the mission described. So excited to hear the story from Mark Felton. Dad's description was that the 109 was trailing smoke and made a wide circle back and hit the windshield of the lead ship and then the deputy lead. He was on the other side of the lead. I do not believe he knew this was a designated ramming squadron or that the German pilot bailed out and survived. One of the lead planes crew's brother came to Dad a couple of days later and asked if he had seen any chutes. Dad had to tell him no,. Would be so great to be able to watch this with Dad but he passed away in 2006. Thank's Mark!
That pilot who actually managed to take down the two most important planes in the entire formation on his own...you just can't make up stuff like that and expect it to happen
and he survived too. Pretty good and lucky.
I have a feeling that a fighter made a special effort to gun him up on the descent. Probably was mincemeat when he hit the ground.
And lived to be an old man
@@gothamgoon4237 I'd rather be lucky than good any day. He was both.
Yes but 4 Luftwaffe pilots were murdered in their chutes by US gunfire as well.
I can’t help but notice the class and calmness of those b17 pilots.
My great uncle was a Liberator pilot and was shot down over Germany in the latter months of the war. Villagers were going to kill the surviving crew when the Wehrmacht showed up at the last moment and rescued them. Spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp until the Soviets freed them. Even had a reunion (70’s?) with the German pilot who shot him down.
I learned more history from the channel than I learned from school
The victors write the history books..
I learned quite a bit of history at school, especially as the last two years covered the 20th century. And I carried on my interests after leaving, so I have quite a good knowledge base. Having said that like you I greatly enjoy this channel. And he has on the odd occasion come up with something I knew nothing about. Always fun
@@pauly5421 True, but nowadays we want to know about the other side as well. So I think this does not apply in the way it once did.
Pauly Ya, I have heard that from someone.
**Heaven only knows what "version" of history is being taught in schools these days.... I'm sure there's a LOT of cultural Marxist revisionist history being taught, where "the Soviet Union was a happy, friendly and always fun place to live, or to visit"! Maybe the Berlin wall story has been 'revised', so as to claim that the wall was built by the US, in order to stop the hordes of miserable, capitalist, West German citizens from desperately trying to cross the border, to the wealthy, socialist East German utopia!** American "history" classes likely include lessons about how Richard Nixon got us into the Vietnam War, after colluding with Russia to defeat LBJ in the 1968 election! Maybe it was a young Donald Trump hiding in the grassy knoll in Dallas, with a bolt action, Italian Carcano rifle... No, wait... I meant, an AR-15, which he used to assassinate JFK! As exaggerated as that revisionism sounds, it's not that far off from the revisionism and false, politically motivated narratives we are bombarded with day in and day out, by our unbelievably corrupt, hyper-partisan "news" and entertainment media(and many of our "educators")....
The last time I was this early, Goring still had petrol for his car.
Or better yet "The last time I was this early, Goring still could tie his own boots."
The last time I was this early Goring was making paper airplanes in grade school.
The last time I was this early Hermann Goering wasn't a drug addict yet.
@@uio890138 no good for ramming...!👊🏼🤣
Mark, your content is so compelling, well researched and fantastically delivered. Thanks for giving your time to create these priceless stories.
At the Military Aircraft Preservation Society (MAPS) museum attached to the Akron/Canton (Ohio) airport, they have a "Hall of Heroes" with many great displays. One of them deals with this German 'suicide' squadron and has a video which recounts a BF-109 ramming a B-17 in the tail. The German pilot managed to bail out after the crash, the American pilot managed to limp his aircraft back to England and both managed to survive the war. While the video uses some great CGI to recreate the incident, the really amazing part is that whoever made the video actually located the German and American pilots and interviewed both of them regarding what happened that day. Fascinating to hear what they both had to say all those years later.
This is honestly the "New Old" *History Channel* ... Never have I seen a media source consistently provide such entertaining yet educational & informationally accurate ww2 content as this channel. Even more impressive is the fact that your content manages to maintain such professionalism, in historical integrity, but also in entertainment value, with such amazing & refreshing coverage of many widely unknown WW2 Battles, all of which, despite being mostly unheard of by even the most enthusiastic WW2 Historians, still manages to provide us with something new about WW2 with equally thrilling & accurate depictions of real events. I am thoroughly impressed... & I assume I speak for most of us when I say this channel is truly unique, as it provides us with all the new & exciting yet surprisingly accurate, Historical documentaries about WW2, which we all have been craving so much ever since the "Original History Channel" died & its WW2 docs were replaced with god knows what... Thanks, Mark Felton. these videos are amazing & I honestly get so excited every time I get a notification for a new *Mark Felton Productions* Video that I can watch it. Keep up the good work man! We all really appreciate your videos & what you do!
Hauptmann Joachim Totenkopf And thanks to his staff for all the hard work they do. I’m sure he doesn’t find all these never before seen clips alone!
The constant rattling of the bones while firing of the 50 cal and fearing for your life must have put incredible stress on a young man
Actually they slide back and forth in a cradle but I'm sure they still feel it.
I couldn't imagine being in one of those bombers during a raid. Such heroes these men were
And we have become a nation of (too many) pansies** that need coloring books and safe spaces for their hurt feelings. **I dont think you're allowed to say pu$$ies PFFFFFFT
Underfire131 bombing civilians isn’t heroic
Many used drugs against it.
I was watching a Mark Felton video when the notification of a new one popped up. Synchronicity.
Me too
The Gods have spoken
The B-17 at 12:20 that you caption as being "almost cut in half by Elbe rammer" was actually heavily damaged by an accidental collision with a German fighter over Tunisia in 1943. Note the fuselage insignia without the blue and white bars on each side of the circle. Also note the lack of chin turret which was standard by 1945. See William Hess, "B-17 Flying Fortress", Ballantine Books, 1974, pp. 145-46.
That last image of a B-17 is amazing.
This incident happened in North Africa.
"Theo, Heinrich here. Have just shot down two bombers. No more ammunition. I'm going to ram. Auf Wiedersehen, see you in Valhalla!"- Last Words of Heinrich Ehler, Major, 7th JG (Fighter Wing)
Artjom Koslow hoi4?
That's quoted on the hoi4 loading screen!
www.pilotenbunker.de/Jagdflieger/Luftwaffe/Ehrler_Heinrich/ehrler.htm also www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:193831/mmsi:255806191/vessel:HEINRICH%20EHLER
@@potterendergaming5335 Really? Never had it... Get it from a Book about the 7th Jagdgeschwader and translated it roughly. When i play HoI4 i always get Patton or Churchill-Quotes.
Little did they know, they all wasted their life. Rip. Let us never fight and die for an inhuman ideology.
This has to be the best history channel you should do a video on German women test pilots
mr hamburger he has
mr hamburger dreaming of Beate Uhse?
mr hamburger : the Hanna Reitsch story is fascinating...
The footage and intercom chatter made me hold my breath!
The footage is from a WW2 documentary-propaganda American film Memphis Belle, actual mission footage. Check it, is on Netflix along with other films from the war
Was this from the crew of the Memphis Belle recorded when they were sent back to the US after 25 missions. I know they did such a recording to add to the film footage.
There is a great 1960's TV series I grew up on called "12-o'clock High". It is worth looking up on youtube. Some great combat footage, although they inevitably call out a "109!" and show a Focke Wulf...every episode, like an inside joke.
@@terraflow__bryanburdo4547 I remember that series ... and I could never understand what the aircrew were saying to each other. When I saw the movie, I could never watch the series again.
Not as bad as The Rat Patrol where the Germans fly P-51s and use Churchill tanks.
The image at 12:23 is of the B-17 “All-American” which was hit by a German fighter with a dead/dying pilot sometime in 1943 over Tunisia. It wasn’t a victim of an intentional ramming attack.
I remember watching the dogfights episode on this. Thanks for posting
Me too. But there is often information they did not cover. Plus I have found that the Dogfights series tended to be a bit to Gung-ho at times . I saw the one about the F111 Raven in the Gulf War being chased by an Iraqi jet. and how the Raven dealt with it until another aircraft shot the Iraqi aircraft down. It wasn't until I saw Mark's video that I fully appreciated the skill of the Raven's crew. and the peril they were actually in.
Me to. I still remember watching the Bf 109 take two in one hit
Mark Felton covers way more details than any history book or history show on a big media service. The precious details he provides could easily be lost to history.
Desperate times desperate measures Did Goering ever volunteered for such mission? Incredible post, thanks mark
Dr. Felton never fails to deliver. Phenomenal as always, in content and production Just had to slip in that last image of the B-17 almost cut in half for only several seconds and intentionally without commentary to leave us all hitting pause with mouths agape. My god what an invincible airframe... it was a fortress in more ways than it guns Timstamp to get you back with just a tap - 12:19. Ps. That's now gonna be my new phone wallpaper
Awesome video as usual, but there is one issue towards the end. The famous photo of a B-17 that was rammed occurred during a mission from Algeria and it was believed the pilot that did the ramming was either wounded or dead. The plane was a B-17F called "All American" and did make it back to base and was restored to flight status though not for bombing. I found that photo and others in a section of my dad's book on the AAF he was issued during the war.
Love getting my daily dose of history from this channel
These ww2 mini docs is truly a gem and certainly the best of its kind out there. Mark Felton should be knighted for his work! :)
"Theo, I have run out of ammunition. I’m going to ram this one. Goodbye. We’ll see each other in Valhalla." Heinrich Ehrler
While Sabaton is playing on the radio.
i see someone played hoi4
Felton is a true historical GOD!! address 22 years off studying WW2...He has awoken untold samples I've never heard of. I salute the brit.
I can imagine my reaction when Goering's letter was read out: "Errm- actually sir, I feel my skill-set is, ahh... better suited to a more conventional aviation role..."
The combat footage is impressive
No "H" in "Werwolf", because it is not derived from "defense" = "Wehr", but from the Germanic "wer" (see lat. "vir"), which means "man".
That last picture brought this right to home! My mum used to do radar piloting in RAF and she said it was difficult hearing all the talking over the loud speaker at times! Sadly my mum died on the 27th of September 2019 to all those brave souls thank you, just wish they could hear it!
I had never heard of that German ramming plane. Once again, you've presented facts I've never learned before now.
Your upload times are always perfectly timed for me haha
After talking to several bomber crews at the VFW I can tell you they were never that calm when calling out targets. They said they cursed up a storm.
It was from a movie, I recognize Ernest Borgnine's voice.
Gunner: Look, he’s bailing out! Pilot: Great kid, don’t get cocky.
German desperation to win the war produced some of the best stories and tried inventions in military history.
And some of the most depraved horrible things.
You grow stronger under adversity.
Hands down my favorite channel on KZhead. Please keep up the good work. And "Many Thanks", to you too Mark.
Indeed, the best aviation video I have found on KZhead up to now. Thanks for your great job.
Being in one of those bombers had to be one of the most nerve racking jobs of the war, I'd never want to do something like that.
Walter Cronkite went out with a B17 once on a mission over Germany. As a reporter, he put his ass on the line and I respect that a lot.
Thank You Dr. Felton for this excellent video! Amazed to see that bomber near the end that was nearly cut in half and seemed to still be flying!
You uploaded this at the perfect time for me, not to mention on this very interesting subject :)
Thank you for reviving my memory with all great videos and info, I don’t think anyone else shows or tells all these unmentioned things we hardly learnt in history !
Excellent as usual - let's just say the "Gold Standard" in research and delivered impeccably - thank you....
I now anticipate these extremely informative videos from you Mark! WW2 history was always my favorite and now that I hear all these interesting stories makes it all that much better! I also brought up one of your videos in my American history class as well!
Great video mark. I think its interesting that you mentioned 4 German pilots were killed while parachuting. I understand german pilots were dead against shooting parachuting airmen and could be courtmatialed if they did and Goering forbade it as he had been a pilot. I had heard of Americans doing this yet popular Hollywood versions are it was a German thing. I love your ability to come up with the lesser known parts of history. Look forward to the next segment. Thanks
A gripping and masterful 12.5 minute documentary. Mark you have outdone yourself this time.
Thanks for an amazing show mr Felton, appreciate
Each episode just gets better and better!
I've been waiting for you to make a video on Sonderkommando Elbe, I'm thankful that you made a video on this!
I love your channel mark! It always is a joy when you upload
Another great mark Felton production. It’s a fun way to get ready for work.
If the “History Channel” was still a History Channel I would suggest working for them.
Thank you for the great videos!!
So, 4 Sonderkomando pilots were shot while drifting away in their parachutes ? I thought this was a very rare practise during WW2 . Really sad .
It was extremely rare, and probably didn't happen in this instance. I don't know why he didn't mention it, but the German's basically found 4 pilots dead after parachuting to earth. It's much more likely that they were shot up, bailed out, and just died before they got to the ground or before being discovered mortally wounded on the ground. I have no idea why Mark would state that in the way Nazi propaganda would have by claiming they were all shot while floating down.
They were shot in response to German pilots shooting Allied airmen while parachuting down. Payback.
I though so too, but so is ramming with aircraft, so I'd say you get what comes at ya.
I've read about some occasions of this. I've also read that Göring wanted this as regular practice but Adolf Galland refused.
Probably happened more often than either side would've liked to admit. Still a war crime though.
Knew a little bit about this, but lots of extra information from you as usual Mark. Great video, thank you. 👍🏼
Mark, your videos are very interesting, not to mention so much better than anything on television. Honestly
Incredible research and footage Mark. Thanks for sharing!
I find it odd that the unit used relatively new, late Bf-109 G/K models that could have been used as fighters . I would think it would be better to equip them with obsolete 109F or even Bf-109G-2s To be fair it probably didn’t really matter seeing as Germany’s major problem was a fuel shortage and it wasn’t the lack of aircraft but fuel and personal that was a more severe problem for the Luftwaffe
Your work is severely appreciated i love it
Great, informative video. Once again, thank you for sharing!
The B-17 at 12:20 is called the "All American". It was in fact hit by a BF 109 with a dead pilot but it happened in 1943 over Sicily. You can tell the time period by the yellow outline around the star. All American made a successful landing back in Tunisia and broke in half shortly thereafter. Mark should do a video on this incident.
I have red dozens of WWII books and watched dozens of documentaries about this war, but never have I learned anything about these actions of these komandos. Brilliant vídeo,thanks Mark
Sonderkommando Elbe, finally! This is easily the best video I've seen on the subject. 😁
Fantastic! Your videos keep getting better!
I love the starting and end music so much. It really has a very militaristic charm in it. Loved all your episodes from the very beginning. Wish I could had that as ring tone. Love for you mark felton from Bangladesh
All American plane crews have southern accents when talking on their radios.
zacktube100 That’s because they trained at Kelly, Lackland, Brooks and Randolph airfields in San Antonio, plus over a dozen more all over Texas. Either picked it up through osmosis or survived school via regional good ol’ boys favoritism.
An amazing operation and some pilots actually survived to volunteer again. Thanks Mark for another very interesting video.
I learn a lot from your videos thank you Mark. I didn't realise the Zeppelin Company were still going in WW2
Been wating for this one!
This channel is great! i've been studying WW2 for more than 35 years, read countless books, visited museums both on the former westernfront and easternfront, documentaries, movies as well as many, many former battlefields, but this channel gives me every time surprising new facts. i love it!
Mark, Your videos are that good that I always hit the like button even before I watch the video. Thanks and all the best from Australia.
Thanks again mark!
excellent video, i learn something everytime
Great watch. Absolutely brilliant, as always!
Great history lesson as always👍😃 Thank you Mark
Thank you for this informative and interesting video professor felton :)
The footage from the bombers is so cool to see. Thanks for these great videos!
Imagine being an experienced fighter pilot having survived 1+ years of the war and the being assigned to a ramming squadron...
Scheiss Hermann Goring! (Damned Heman Goring!)
Patriots in uniform, I've got no problem with it.
Another excellent presentation, thanks Mark👌👌👌👏👏👌
Ever time I see old B-17 film footage from over Europe I think of my Poppa and wonder if one of those planes might be his.
The true measure of a man is when he lays down his life, knowing that the people whom he saved, will never know!
It's nearly 70 years since as a kid I saw that great film '12 O'Clock High' with Gregory Peck but I am pretty sure the intercom exchanges are from the film and a lot of the action photography seemed familiar too. Don't miss it if you haven't already seen it.
There's a great book called the last flight of the Luftwaffe about sonderkommando Elbe I did a project on it in university I think You can still get it great video
loved listening to the intercom conversation. what an interesting story !
steyr proof , recorded in a studio. Those man would not swear in combat you think😁?
Eons ago I read the memoirs of a fighter pilot who said that they would fly over a bomber squadron and drop a bomb with a timed fuse to produce shrapnel.
Heinz Knoke, I believe. An absolute madman - shot down more times than most people have had hot dinners, survive landmines, machineguns, crashing, the French resistance... How he survived the war is anyone's guess.
@@WanderlustZero read his autobiography as a teen ..... I flew for tge furer I think. I quoted him in my Leaving Cert ( Irish A levels) History exam.
@@WanderlustZero I loved the quote from the American friend that interrogated him .. 'We would have lively discussions. some quite heated only resolved when I reminded him who actually won the war!!' 🤣🤣
Absolutely incredible intercom and archival footage!
Hi, I really like Your channel and watch a lot of Your vids. Referring this vid, let me kindly mention that there is a little orthogaphic mistake in the title. It must be "Werwolf". Do not worry, it's a mistake that, I bet, surely 80% of German native speakers would have made too. "Wehr" in German means "Defense, Counter,against", e.g. the "Wehrmacht". The Prefix "Wer" is old native German language and means "Man", so a Werwolf is a "Man Wolf". Im looking forward for more amazingly interesting vids. Thank You. Greetings from Germany!
So much respect for all of these brave men who were just fighting for their country. Hard to fathom what they actually went thru. They truly are the greatest generation!
Fantastic videos Mark!
B-17’s were tough to kill. Often requiring multiple 20 or 30mm hits to take em down. The picture at the end is amazing, tail sliced open and still flying.
Love your videos!
Great video. Thanks.
"last ditch warthunder player ram attack"
Great Post as always Dr Mark thank you very interesting
Good job as always
I am always impressed, how calm the bomber crew talks on radio!
The audio on this is amazing.
Your channel is my favorite. Its just like watching a documentary. Yank from georgia here. God save the queen