The Second World War.

[Rendell]

Khalkhin Gol put paid to any idea of Japan invading Siberia. Besides, they had their hands full with China and then the Pacific...

[scoundrel]

Japan went after the glittering prizes. In 1941 people probably realised there was oil in Siberia, but the well developed oil wells and refineries were to be found in the Dutch East Indies. Japan had started an enormous colonial war in China and needed other peoples money and resources to keep it going.

[Rendell]

A few months ago we discussed the topic of rape in wartime and referenced the French Morrocan Goumiers in Italy. I've also mentioned a particular series on YouTube called the War on Humanity, the companion series to Word War 2: Week by Week. While WoH generally follows the same weekly format, it also does special episodes that deal with a particular topic and obviously that includes rape in wartime.

As always Spartacus Olsen presents an excellently researched and nuanced overview of the subject, comparing differing attitudes to the crime across the combatant nations. The racial component in many cases determining if the crimes are prosecuted or ignored depending on those involved.

Though the episode is titled "The Allied Rape Wave of 1944", it is in fact an examination of the whole subject of rape in wartime, includes the Axis crimes in both the East and the West and compares and contrasts those with Allied attitudes.

Overall a sober and professional examination of the topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WOQuBTccSY

[Budo]

I've just been reading about the death of Hitler. It sure is creepy and ghoulish if you can imagine the scene.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler.

The Nazis seemed to have a dark theatrical, almost "medieval" way of thinking. It shows in a lot of their names for things like "The Wolf's Lair" and "The Eagle's Nest". It's unsurprising that they're so often used as inspiration for villains in media, especially movies, so much so that I've noticed the leaders have almost become mythological on the level of being caricatures to later generations. At first I thought it was just me, but if you look at the bottom of that page under the legacy section you'll see that I'm not the only one to think so. Even JFK could see them becoming legends in their own sinister way. All of the evil we have today are quite bland and boring by comparison. Not long ago I was saying to someone that it's sometimes hard to believe that such people actually existed, because they seem so eccentric and cartoonish! I guess if there's any historical comparisons at all it'd have to be in the form of characters like Henry VIII, Nero, Caligula, Prince John and Richard III.

BTW: Did you know that Himmler had his own "Round Table" in yet another sinister location?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...en-public.html

[Rendell]

I've mentioned before a Mancunian historian on YouTube who goes by the name of Tik but I somehow forgot to mention his greatest work: The complete and exhaustive history of the Battle of Stalingrad.

This thing is 51 episodes long(!) and it's a staggering piece of work - in fact putting this beast together has been a labour of love for I think over two years. It also very nearly broke him mentally and physically.

The final episode deals with the aftermath and goes into the sheer cost in human life in what arguably was the biggest battle of WWII.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iOaf5_8oh4

[KissArmy]

Originally Posted by Rendell

I've mentioned before a Mancunian historian on YouTube who goes by the name of Tik but I somehow forgot to mention his greatest work: The complete and exhaustive history of the Battle of Stalingrad.

This thing is 51 episodes long(!) and it's a staggering piece of work - in fact putting this beast together has been a labour of love for I think over two years. It also very nearly broke him mentally and physically.

The final episode deals with the aftermath and goes into the sheer cost in human life in what arguably was the biggest battle of WWII.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iOaf5_8oh4

Thanks Rendell, just watched that final episode about the aftermath. Very well done, easy to follow, and added new perspectives to the battle, what happened afterwards, and the actual death toll.

[Rendell]

So for the last five and a half years, the Time Ghost team on Youtube have been providing us with as detailed an analysis of the Second World War as one could wish for. The Weekly episodes on a Saturday presented by Indy Neidel cover the war week by week and there are usually monthly episodes presented by Spartacus Olsen called the War on Humanity which covers topics like the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing and other atrocities.

We're now up to February 1945 and the episodes are coming out far more regularly to cover all the events as they unfold. The whirlwind has well and truly arrived for Germany.

This episode covers the events in East Prussia - Operation Hannibal, the flight of civilians in the depth of winter, caught between the Russian's and their own corrupt Gauleiters. An unenviable position to be in...

Most of the subject I'm very familiar with but it's always the personal accounts that really bring the grim reality home - they always add something new, deepen the understanding of what it must have been like to be caught up in those events.

One of the channel's daily posts covered the sinking of the SS General von Steuben and someone in the comments mentioned the account of one young boy down in the depths of the ship who somehow managed to survive the sinking. The boy later related his account to National Geographic magazine, he mentioned that when the torpedoes struck and it became clear that the ship would sink quickly, he was among a crowd of wounded soldiers being evacuated. They knew they didn't have a hope of getting out...

So they began shooting themselves to make it quick.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by Rendell

One of the channel's daily posts covered the sinking of the SS General von Steuben and someone in the comments mentioned the account of one young boy down in the depths of the ship who somehow managed to survive the sinking. The boy later related his account to National Geographic magazine, he mentioned that when the torpedoes struck and it became clear that the ship would sink quickly, he was among a crowd of wounded soldiers being evacuated. They knew they didn't have a hope of getting out...

So they began shooting themselves to make it quick.

I can't say I blame them. Presumably the lights went out as well. They were in their coffin already.

[Gasket the Cat]

Has anyone in this thread seen any videos from UK YouTuber,
"non-Peer of the Realm", Lord Hard Thrasher?

I just recently discovered his unique takes on the Battle Of Britain, and now I'm hooked on his sardonic, witty, tongue in cheek observations of WWII history.

i know quite a bit of WWII history backwards and forwards.
But I find, as a Yank, I still learn things from his unique UK perspective. I have now watched all his videos, more than once.

His first episode on the Battle Of Britain, without any Elgar accompaniments.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC59TwACvC8




And I'd add another big shout-out to Time Ghost and their team.
I especially love Astrid Deinhard's contributions.

[Rendell]

I remember as a kid seeing a Tv movie called Wallenberg: A Hero's Story with Richard Chamberlin in the title role - this was some years before I'd heard of Oskar Schindler and his exploits - and I was amazed by his courage and audacity. The fact that after having achieved so much alongside the other foreign legation hero's, that his good deeds should be rewarded by being arrested by SMERSH agents and disappear into the Soviet Gulag system is something which on the face of it seemed so nonsensical that it bordered on farce. Perhaps SMERSH should have changed their motto from "Death to Spies" to "No good deed goes unpunished"...

Anyway, I type this now after having watched the latest episode of "War Against Humanity" which deals with the end of the Siege of Budapest, The Foreign legations heroism in trying to save as many Jews as possible and the chaos of the Soviet occupation. Frying pan meet fire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RxPhqp5Nk4