Cherbourg 1944

🔥PREVIEW ALL YOUTUBE VIDEOS www.Patreon.com/Military1945 Episode 253 Be sure to give this video a THUMBS UP! Best way to support the channel! SUBSCRIBE to M1945 ORIGINALS for sale... https://www.militaria1945.com Europa Woche Nr 87 24.10.1944 1:22 - Professor Friedrich Bergius in his laboratory 2:27 - Extraction of juice from rowan fruits 3:54 - Infant home in Salamanca 4:54 - Youth roller skating training 5:27 - Road cycling race in Vienna 6:37 - Mountain gymnastics festival of gymnasts from Salzburg 7:55 - Symphony concert in the royal palace of Würzburg 9:32 - Fighting in the southern front area --- 11:34 - BONUS: US footage of the assault on Brest, France 8.1944, Reel 3 Operation COBRA, the American breakout from Normandy at the end of July 1944, completely changed the dynamics of the fighting in western Europe. In its aftermath, Allied forces would partially encircle and almost completely destroy German forces in Normandy; and American tanks under General George S. Patton would drive across France to the German border, leading to the liberation of Paris. With all of these dramatic events taking place, few noticed that one of the war’s bloodiest and most important operations was taking place far to the west, at the French port city of Brest. The success of Operation COBRA was followed in short order by the penetration of American mobile forces into Brittany. Their primary objective was to capture the peninsula’s several important harbor facilities. Although General “Lightning” Joe Collins’s VII Corps had captured Cherbourg a month earlier, the Germans had so thoroughly demolished the port that months would pass before it was again operational. Securing another port, hopefully intact, would do a great deal to reduce the supply bottleneck still running through the Normandy beaches, and hopefully fuel Patton’s tanks. The Germans knew this as well, however, and had done a great deal to fortify and garrison the most important harbors in Brittany—especially Brest. Paratroop General Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, a wily veteran who had served under General Erwin Rommel in North Africa, commanded the 40,000-man garrison in Brest, which Adolf Hitler had declared a fortress to be defended to the last bullet. Two infantry divisions and one parachute division with associated elements, including ample artillery and machine guns, defended a formidable network of bunkers, pillboxes, emplacements, and trenches, all placed for mutual support. These were arrayed in exterior and interior lines, with the intention of eventually drawing any attackers into the city for house-to-house fighting and heavy casualties. To ensure that the garrison would be able to hold on to the city almost indefinitely, without having to feed civilians, the Germans had forcibly evacuated the population. When American forces entered Brittany, Patton ordered his 6th Armored Division to rush ahead and capture Brest, hoping that a lightning strike would find the Germans unprepared. This bid failed, as the Americans reached the outer defensive lines on August 7 and found them far too formidable to penetrate. The next two weeks passed slowly as American forces slowly encircled the city and the Germans further improved their defenses. Finally, General Omar Bradley dispatched General Troy Middleton’s VIII Corps, with the 2nd, 8th, and 29th infantry divisions and Ranger detachments to storm the city. After some preliminary attacks, the full assault, backed by artillery and strikes by aircraft using bombs, rockets, and napalm, began on August 26. American infantrymen found the German defenses incredibly difficult to crack, and the fighting was brutal. Far from lying supine in their defenses, the Germans struck back ferociously wherever possible. Sergeant John McVeigh, a native of Philadelphia and draftee with the 2nd Division’s 23rd Infantry Regiment, fought for three days before his platoon took up positions behind a hedge just after dusk on August 29. Before the Americans had time to dig in, German infantry suddenly counterattacked and came close to overrunning the position. Rallying his men, McVeigh stood up in view of the enemy and directed accurate fire against them. Then, drawing a knife, he charged the attacking Germans, killing one of them before the enemy shot him down. McVeigh’s action gave his men time to reorganize and hold off the enemy attack, and earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor. Heavy casualties soon forced Middleton to shift from all-out assaults on the German positions to small but intense bite-and-hold operations, in which infantry took out one strongpoint at a time and then held on grimly against German counterattacks. American infantry used flamethrowers, satchel charges, and concentrated small-arms fire to move slowly from point to point.

🔥PREVIEW ALL YOUTUBE VIDEOS www.Patreon.com/Military1945 Episode 267 Be sure to give this video a THUMBS UP! Best way to support the channel! SUBSCRIBE to M1945 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN2UQVe6Xaqz5rLFaWq8-mw?sub_confirmation=1 This footage was taken in the French city of Cherbourg in 1944 just after its liberation. It shows some of the reprisals taken against French women who were seen to have collaborated with the enemy. At the end I’ve added some related color German footage taken in occupied France in 1940, so stick around it’s worth it, I promise. In the aftermath of World War II, particularly following the liberation of France in 1944, the atmosphere was charged with anger, and many felt betrayed by those who had sided with the occupiers. As a result there were widespread reprisals against such individuals. This phenomenon was particularly visible in towns such as Cherbourg, which saw significant collaboration during the German occupation. Cherbourg, strategically located in Normandy was a key port city and a strategic military location. Its position made it important for both the German military and Allied forces which heightened the stakes of collaboration. The German occupation authorities ran large propaganda campaigns aiming to encourage economic cooperation and feelings of friendship. But the policy towards their soldiers regarding fraternization with French civilians was complex and often contradictory. Initially, following the fall of France in 1940, there was some encouragement for German soldiers to interact with the local population in order to foster a sense of cooperation and to maintain order. However, this was highly contextual and varied over time and by location. As the occupation progressed, the official policy became more restrictive, reflecting concerns about the implications of fraternization. The German command feared that close relationships between soldiers and French civilians could undermine morale among troops, lead to mixed relationships that could cause complications, or even foster resistance against the occupation. With the occupiers having disrupted the traditional economic structures, some individuals found opportunities to profit through black market activities, provisioning German troops, or gaining employment within the occupation administration. This scene shows the rounding up of French civil servants who had been working for the German occupational regime. Often those who had more before the occupation were more willing to work within the new German system because they had more to lose and more to gain. One example was the introduced system of Aryianization which involved the systematic dispossession of Jewish individuals and the transfer of their property and businesses to non-Jewish ownership. French civilians who were willing to cooperate with the authorities could gain possession of such assets. During the occupation approximately 90,000 French jews were killed which was made possible by the cooperation of French nationals. On an individual level, willing women were able to gained access to a more secure and comfortable lifestyle if they managed to pair up with the right “protector”. It was common for German soldiers to have a wives back home in Germany and French mistresses. Many women who had been accused of collaborating with the enemy, often referred to as "collabos,” faced brutal treatment from the local populace, fueled by a collective desire for retribution and justice which led to public humiliation, violence, and even execution in some cases. These acts were not only physical but also a means of symbolically cleansing the community from the stain of collaboration. Of course taking part in such public reprisals was a way for individuals to point their finger at another, and thus claim themselves to be innocent. Those of weak moral character were more susceptible to collaborate with the enemy and also to be those involved in such public reprisals. The phenomenon of reprisals against collaborationists extended beyond physical violence and shaming. Some faced formal judicial processes where they could be sentenced for their actions during the occupation. Many faced social ostracism, and found it difficult to reintegrate into their communities.

🔥PREVIEW ALL YOUTUBE VIDEOS www.Patreon.com/Military1945 Episode 273 Be sure to give this video a THUMBS UP! Best way to support the channel! SUBSCRIBE to M1945 The V2 (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit. 'Vengeance Weapon 2'), with the technical name Aggregat 4 (A4), was the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the Second World War in Nazi Germany as a "vengeance weapon" and assigned to attack Allied cities as retaliation for the Allied bombings of German cities. The V2 rocket also became the first artificial object to travel into space by crossing the Kármán line (edge of space) with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944. Research of military use of long-range rockets began when the graduate studies of Wernher von Braun were noticed by the German Army. A series of prototypes culminated in the A4, which went to war as the V2. Beginning in September 1944, more than 3,000 V2s were launched by the Wehrmacht against Allied targets, first London and later Antwerp and Liège. According to a 2011 BBC documentary, the attacks from V-2s resulted in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 civilians and military personnel, while a further 12,000 laborers and concentration camp prisoners died as a result of their forced participation in the production of the weapons. The rockets travelled at supersonic speeds, impacted without audible warning, and proved unstoppable. No effective defense existed. Teams from the Allied forces—the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union—raced to seize major German manufacturing facilities, procure the Germans' missile technology, and capture the V-2s' launching sites. Von Braun and more than 100 core R&D V-2 personnel surrendered to the Americans, and many of the original V-2 team transferred their work to the Redstone Arsenal, where they were relocated as part of Operation Paperclip. The US also captured enough V-2 hardware to build approximately 80 of the missiles. The Soviets gained possession of the V-2 manufacturing facilities after the war, re-established V-2 production, and moved it to the Soviet Union. The first successful test flight was on 3 October 1942, reaching an altitude of 84.5 kilometres (52.5 miles). On that day, Walter Dornberger declared in a meeting at Peenemünde: This third day of October, 1942, is the first of a new era in transportation, that of space travel... Two test launches were recovered by the Allies: the Bäckebo rocket, the remnants of which landed in Sweden on 13 June 1944, and one recovered by the Polish resistance on 30 May 1944[42] from the Blizna V-2 missile launch site and transported to the UK during Operation Most III. The highest altitude reached during the war was 174.6 kilometres (108.5 miles) (20 June 1944). Test launches of V-2 rockets were made at Peenemünde, Blizna and Tuchola Forest  and after the war, at Cuxhaven by the British, White Sands Proving Grounds and Cape Canaveral by the U.S., and Kapustin Yar by the USSR.