Quotulatiousness

September 29, 2020

Frederick the Great – A First Glance

Filed under: Germany, History, Military — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Military History not Visualized
Published 22 May 2018

» patreon – https://www.patreon.com/mhv

Frederick the Great – Friedrich der Große – is a very controversial figure. Regarded by many as one of the great field commanders of his time, enlightened, strict, aggressive and militaristic. For a long time he was the example and icon of the Prussian general staff. What were his characteristics, traits, his background and his views on various military issues? After all, he wrote about the principles of war and other aspects.

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Military History for Adults is a support channel to Military History Visualized with a focus personal accounts, answering questions that arose on the main channel and showcasing events like visiting museums, using equipment or military hardware.

» SOURCES «

Showalter, Dennis: Frederick the Great. A Military History. Frontline Books: London, 2016.

Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Hrsg.): Friedrich der Große und das Militärwesen seiner Zeit. Vorträge zur Militärgeschichte – Band 8. E. S. Mittler & Sohn: Herford – Bonn, 1987.

Clark, Christopher: The Iron Kingdom. The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947. Penguin Books: London, 2007.

Citino, Robert M.: The German Way of War. From the Thirty Years’ War to the Third Reich. University Press of Kansas: USA, 2005.

Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Hrsg.): Deutsche Militärgeschichte 1648-1939 in sechs Bänden – Band 6. Bernard & Graefe Verlag; München, 1983.

Browing, Peter: The Changing Nature of Warfare. The Development of Land Warfare from 1792 to 1945. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2002.

Margiotta, Franklin D.: (Executive Editor): Brassey’s Encyclopedia of Military History and Biography. Brassey’s, Inc.: USA, 1994.

» CREDITS & SPECIAL THX «
Song: Ethan Meixsell – “Demilitarized Zone”

September 27, 2020

Free from the Nazi Occupation – but for how long can it last? WW2 – 109 – September 26, 1941

Filed under: China, Germany, History, Japan, Military, Russia, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 26 Sep 2020

In former Yugoslavia, the Republic of Uzice breaks free from the German occupation, even as the Germans are mopping up the masses of shattered Soviet Armies after last week’s capture of Kiev. In the north, it really looks as if Leningrad will hold out for the time being, and German troops from both north and south converge on the center for the coming drive on Moscow.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @ww2_day_by_day –https://www.instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
– Olga Shirnina, a.k.a. Klimbim – https://klimbim2014.wordpress.com/
– Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/
– Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/
– Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations – https://www.instagram.com/blaucolorizations
– Mikołaj Uchman
– Jaris Almazani (Artistic Man) – https://instagram.com/artistic.man?ig…

Sources:
– Bundesarchiv, CC-BY-SA 3.0: Bild_146-2005-0176, Bild_183-J21813,
– Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe

Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

September 26, 2020

Resistance is Futile in Nazi Europe – War Against Humanity 018 – September 1941, Part 1

Filed under: Europe, Germany, History, Military, Russia, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 25 Sep 2020

In the first half of September, Nazi murder campaigns in Vilnius and the Pripet Marshes continue. In the rest of Europe, the Germans tighten their grip on the occupied countries, taking away media privileges and further restricting the freedoms of Jewish populations.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @ww2_day_by_day – https://www.instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Written by: Joram Appel
Hosted by: Spartacus Olsson
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Joram Appel
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Karolina Dołęga & Mikołaj Cackowski

Colorizations by:
– Spartacus Olsson
– Daniel Weiss
– Jaris Almazani (Artistic Man), https://instagram.com/artistic.man?ig…
– Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations, https://www.instagram.com/blaucolorizations

Visual Sources:
– Bundesarchiv
– Yad Vashem: 7283-146, 4331-14), 3150-122, 4613-1055, 10470-23, 97, 03-198, 1044-148, 2725_22A, 4788_71
– United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
– Library of Congress
– Imperial War Museums: H6550
– Deutsche Fotothek: 0000149 003
– Picture of Lavrentiy Beria in court courtesy of: Фотограф – Ист.доки https://cutt.ly/Lavrentiy_Beria-
Picture of Cathedral Square and Nikolskaya Street in from Saratov from RusDeutsch
National Archives NARA

Music:
– “Endlessness” – Flouw
– “Weapon of Choice” – Fabien Tell
– “Last Minute Reaction” – Phoenix Tail
– “Moving to Disturbia” – Experia
– “Potential Redemption” – Max Anson
– “Flight Path” – Cobby Costa
– “Break Free” – Fabien Tell
– “Never Forget” – Fabien Tell
– “It’s Not a Game” – Philip Ayers

The Icons from Noun Project: Bar by priyanka, beach by Studio GLD, Bicycle by Henry Haolong Yin, cabaret by Smalllike, Cafe by Eucalyp, Calendar by iconsphere, Children by Sarah Rudkin, curfew by supalerk laipawat, finish line by Luis Prado, Fruit by Eucalyp, guest house by ProSymbols, Helmet by Daniel Turner, Hotel by Nociconist, Immigrants by Luis Prado, Info by Flatart, Library by Jaime Serra, Man by Milinda Courey, Museum by Justicon, Skull by Muhamad Ulum, onion by Jellycons, Park by Made by Made, Passenger Wagon by Peter van Driel, person and house by Rflor, Phone by Leona Grande, potato by Vectors Point, Restaurant by Adrien Coquet, singer by Luis Prado, Store by Fahmi, street by Vadim Solomakhin, Swimming Pool by Vectors Point, Theater by Susannanova, Town Square Clock by Graphic Enginer, Vegetable by Eucalyp, vintage motorcycle by Justine Hammernik, Woman and boy by Studio Het Mes & Zoo by Eugene Dobrik

Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

World War Two
2 hours ago
A new month and more carnage — we get the question about why so much about the Jews? Why only about the Eastern Front? Well, this is September 1941, many of the things that befell other ethnicities have not yet begun. When they do we will cover them. You’ll also see that some of this is “more of the same” — and in fact, sometimes it’s difficult for us to find a way to not let the tragedy that all this death really represents become trivial through the sheer size and repetition of the drama, yet we feel that it is important to keep it coming, week after week. Recent surveys in several countries show that a majority of people under 30 don’t know the full extent, or sometimes even the existence of the Holocaust. Using YouTube to document how it evolved, step by gruesome step is therefore in our opinion all the more important.

September 25, 2020

From Normandy To The Rhine – Jesse’s Grandfather in WW2 I RHINELAND 45

Filed under: Cancon, Germany, History, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

The Great War
Published 23 Sep 2020

Back Rhineland 45: https://realtimehistory.net/rhineland45

Jesse shares the service history of his grandfather James who fought in the Canadian Army.

Contains licensed material by getty images
All rights reserved – Real Time History GmbH 2020

September 20, 2020

Another week, another half million for the Germans – WW2 – 108 – September 19, 1941

Filed under: China, Germany, History, Japan, Military, Russia, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 19 Sep 2020

Kiev falls to the Germans, yielding hundreds of thousands of prisoners as whole armies are surrounded, but behind the lines all over German-occupied territories, partisan movements are gaining steam. Meanwhile, in China, Japan launches another campaign against Changsha.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @ww2_day_by_day – https://www.instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Monika Worona
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
– Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/
– Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations – https://www.instagram.com/blaucolorizations
– Olga Shirnina, a.k.a. Klimbim – https://klimbim2014.wordpress.com/
– Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/
– Jaris Almazani (Artistic Man) – https://instagram.com/artistic.man?ig…
– Daniel Weiss

Sources:
– Ra Boe / Wikipedia / Lizenz: Creative Commons CC-by-sa-3.0 de
– Mil. ru
– Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
– Estonica

Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

September 18, 2020

Édith Piaf during World War Two, Kerensky, & the German Journey to N. Africa – WW2 – OOTF 017

Filed under: Africa, France, Germany, History, Military, Russia, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

World War Two
Published 17 Sep 2020

How did Alexander Kerensky react towards the invasion of the Soviet Union? How were French musicians working during the war? How did Germans get to Africa in 1940? Find out from Indy the answers to all these questions in Out of the Foxholes!

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @ww2_day_by_day – https://www.instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Rune Væver Hartvig
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Rune Væver Hartvig
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Karolina Dołęga

Colorizations by:
– Mikołaj Uchman
– Klimbim
– Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations – https://www.instagram.com/blaucolorizations
– Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/

Visual Sources:
– Bundesarchive
– Fortepan: 146645
– Library of Congress
– United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
– US National Archive
– B. Huber from German Wikipedia
– Tigidoulaïlaï from Wikimedia
– Picture of Jacques Prévert courtesy of Ruth Bessoudo Courvoisier
– Icons from The Noun Project by: iconsphere, Luke Anthony, Jordan
Alfarishy, Gan Khoon Lay , Alice Design, ProSymbols & Hada Arkanda.

Music:
“The Inspector 4” – Johannes Bornlöf
“Moving to Disturbia” – Experia
“Castles of France” – Cercles Nouvelles
“Memories of Paris” – Trabant 33
“March Of The Brave 10” – Rannar Sillard

Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

“The Last Battle” – The Strangest Fight of WWII – Sabaton History 085 [Official]

Filed under: Germany, History, Media, Military, USA, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Sabaton History
Published 17 Sep 2020

On the 5th of May 1945, the Second World War in Europe is literally in its final days. As the German lines and Nazi state collapse into free fall, some Nazi hardliners remain fighting until the very moment surrender is announced. At Castle Itter, the lines are blurred as US and German soldiers fight side by side in a medieval castle, home to some of the highest profile prisoners of the war.

Support Sabaton History on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sabatonhistory

Listen to “The Last Battle” on the album The Last Stand:
https://music.sabaton.net/TheLastStand

Watch the Official Lyric Video of “The Last Battle” here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwfJs…

Listen to Sabaton on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/SabatonSpotify
Official Sabaton Merchandise Shop: http://bit.ly/SabatonOfficialShop

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke and Indy Neidell
Directed by: Astrid Deinhard and Wieke Kapteijns
Produced by: Pär Sundström, Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Brodén, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Community Manager: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Editor: Iryna Dulka
Sound Editor: Marek Kaminski
Maps by: Eastory – https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory
Archive: Reuters/Screenocean – https://www.screenocean.com
Sources:
– Photos of the Itter Castle: Sammlung Risch-Lau, Vorarlberger Landesbibliothek
All music by: Sabaton

An OnLion Entertainment GmbH and Raging Beaver Publishing AB co-Production.

© Raging Beaver Publishing AB, 2019 – all rights reserved.

Germany’s Not-So-Light 5cm LeGrW 36 Light Mortar

Filed under: Germany, History, Military, Weapons, WW2 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published 2 Sep 2018

Sold for $18,400

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg…

The 5cm 5CM Leichter Granatwerfer 36 was the standard German light infantry mortar going into World War Two. It was designed by Rheinmetall-Borsig in the mid 1930s and adopted in 1936. It fired a 0.9kg / 2 pound mortar bomb with a range of up to 550 meters. In theory, it occupied the same role as the French Mle 1937 50mm light mortar — except it was far heavier than was practical, and substantially more complex to use. The LeGrW 36 weighed in at a hefty 31 pounds (14kg) – nearly four times as much as its French counterpart.

It was a striker fired design, with a trigger lever and thus did not fire immediately upon a round being loaded. It used adjustments in angle to determine range, with a constant projectile velocity (as opposed to venting a varying amount of propellent gas to adjust range). By the middle of the war, it was being pulled out of front-line use, as its weight and relative complexity made it impractical for its intended role.

If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow

September 17, 2020

Britain’s technological edge in the Battle of Britain

Filed under: Britain, Germany, History, Military, Technology, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Over at The Register, Gareth Corfield lists some of the advanced technological kit the Royal Air Force had access to during the Battle of Britain in 1940:

Restored Battle of Britain operations room in an underground bunker at former RAF station Uxbridge.
Photo by Ian Mansfield via Wikimedia Commons.

Technology played its part, mostly behind the scenes – yes, we mean the backroom boffins – in equipping Britain to hold firm and defeat the Germans. As today’s commemorations focus on the pilots and ground crew who saw off the Luftwaffe, spare a thought for the technologists whose efforts also saved the western world.

The Chain Home Tower in Great Baddow Chelmsford.
Photo by Stuart166axe via Wikimedia Commons.

Radar and radio

Chief among the technological innovations that gave the RAF the edge was radar. In the 1930s Britain was one of the world leaders in radar (thanks in part to a bizarre and unsuccessful experiment to kill sheep with a death ray) leading to the building of radar stations all around the British coast.

Sir Robert Watson-Watt, today regarded as the father of radar, was instrumental in devising a method of bouncing radio waves off a flying aeroplane to figure out its location. He turned that 1935 concept into the fully operational Chain Home and Chain Home Low air defence networks inside four years.

Without radar, the RAF was totally reliant on humans with binoculars spotting incoming formations of German bombers; radar gave the air force an early warning capability as hostile aircraft formed up over France before crossing the Channel.

Before radar came radio direction-finding. The RAF’s Home Defence Units were first established in the 1920s and mastered the art of pinpointing an aeroplane’s location from radio transmissions made by its pilots. Though less high profile than radar, the HDUs’ activities allowed the RAF to “see” beyond the range of radar as Luftwaffe bomber formations, transmitting to each other over France, formed up ready for a raid over British soil.

Signals intelligence and compsci

Not far behind radar was the crucial role of what was then the Government Communications and Cipher School (GC&CS), based at Bletchley Park. Today the site is home to the National Museum of Computing but in the dark days of the 1940s it was where codebreakers deciphered German military communications.

Breaking Nazi Germany’s encryption was a vast task, and in the days before computers extremely labour intensive; between 9,000 and 12,000 personnel worked at Bletchley during the Second World War. The demands of RAF and other military commanders for speedy decryption of enemy messages directly contributed to the development of early computer science; Alan Turing worked at Bletchley Park, helping devise improvements to electromechanical crypto-breaking machines that resulted in the Bombe, a very early computer.

September 13, 2020

Victory for the Red Army! – WW2 – 107 – September 12, 1941

Filed under: Germany, History, Japan, Military, Russia, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 12 Sep 2020

The German invasion of the Soviet Union has taken enormous amounts of territory, but this week the Red Army not only stops the Germans, they score a ringing victory. However, Leningrad comes under siege and Kiev is in great danger, and Adolf Hitler is issuing directives for the next phase of the operation.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @ww2_day_by_day – https://www.instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
– Jaris Almazani (Artistic Man), https://instagram.com/artistic.man?ig…
– Olga Shirnina, a.k.a. Klimbim – https://klimbim2014.wordpress.com/
– Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/
– Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations, https://www.instagram.com/blaucolorizations
– Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/
– Daniel Weiss

Sources:
– Mil.ru
– Bundesarchiv, CC-BY-SA 3.0: Bild_102-08824
– Imperial War Museum: CR 165

Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

September 12, 2020

Shooting the ZB-26: A Jewel of an Interwar Light Machine Gun

Filed under: Europe, Germany, History, Military, Weapons, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published 27 Oct 2017

Sold for $34,500 (transferrable).

Today we have a chance to do some shooting with a ZB-26, a German-occupation 8mm light machine gun made at Brno in Czechoslovakia. The ZB-26 does not get nearly as much attention as LMGs made by the better known powers during the war, but it is an excellent weapon. In addition to being adopted by the Czech military, the gun was sold to about two dozen other countries and used in significant numbers by the Waffen SS.

As one would expect form its reputation, the ZB was smooth, reliable, and very controllable. For all the reasons discussed in yesterday’s history and disassembly video [here], it is a top notch firearm.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg…

If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow

September 11, 2020

Without the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, European history would have been radically different

Filed under: Europe, Germany, History, Military — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 03:00

The folks at UnHerd are starting a series of “alt histories” to help explore the inflection points of history that may have led to a very different world, like the outcome of the Imperial Roman disaster in Germany’s Teutoburger Wald in 9AD:

Map showing a tactical overview of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest including troop movement.
Map by Cristiano64 originally for a non-English Wikipedia page, which explains the weird translated captioning.

If history teaches us anything it’s that we should expect the unexpected. But history, unlike the news, is something that’s already happened. Historians, unlike journalists, see events in the rearview mirror. As a result, they’re rather prone to deterministic explanations. For instance, there’s the Whig view of history with its narratives of ever-increasing freedom. Marxists, meanwhile, situate historical events within an overarching process of class struggle. Indeed, from millenarians to environmentalists to the friends and foes of the Anglosphere, everyone’s trying to bend the arc of history.

[…]

For instance, why didn’t the Roman Empire conquer the German lands beyond the Rhine? A determinist might reach for some geographical explanation — the territory was inhospitable and the locals scary. And yet similar obstacles didn’t stop the the Romans from assimilating Britannia, so why not Germania too?

Well, because three Roman legions were wiped out at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, that’s why — and there was nothing pre-determined about that catastrophe. It required the mother of all ambushes, made possible by the extreme cunning of the German chieftain Arminius and the extreme gullibility of the Roman commander Varus. It could easily not have happened – and thus, untraumatised by such an unexpected and total defeat, the Romans might have extended the northern frontier to the Elbe or beyond.

What would a Romanised Germania have meant for the rest of history? It’s impossible to say, but we can imagine an unRomanised Gaul. The existence of France (and the French language) as we know it today depends on the fact that, two thousand years ago, the Romans conquered Gaul, but not Germania. Had things gone differently, French (and therefore British and therefore American) history would have developed along a very different path.

What this example also tells us is just how much of history depends on the character, abilities and decisions of particular individuals (contrast the ruthless brilliance of Julius Caesar in the case of Gaul with the trusting foolishness of Varus in the case of Germania). There’s something called the great man theory of history. It was a 19th Century idea and deeply unfashionable today, but while the individuals who change the course of history aren’t necessarily “great” or, indeed, men — there’s no doubting their existence.

They don’t have to be heroes or villains. In fact, they don’t have to have much authority of any kind. Their impact doesn’t even have to be the result of a deliberate decision. They just have to do the right (wrong) thing in the right (wrong) place at the right (wrong) time. For instance, someone, somewhere, did something that introduced the Covid-19 virus to the human population. Whether that was eating a bowl of bat soup or dropping a test tube in a laboratory we’ll probably never know; but whatever it was, it made all the difference.

That’s why we can’t leave alt history to the historians alone. While some of them might see merit in exploring counterfactuals, their commitment to academic rigour acts as a constraint upon their speculations. Quite right too, but there’s also a case for letting our imaginations run riot — and for that we need story-tellers.

September 10, 2020

Could a Tankgewehr Really Take Out a British MkIV Tank?

Filed under: Germany, History, Military, Weapons, WW1 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published 6 May 2017

The Tankgewehr antitank rifle was developed by the Mauser company and adopted by the Imperial German military as an emergency measure to counter the introduction of tanks to the WW1 battlefield. The question is, did they really work? Could a 13.2mm AP bullet from a Tankgewehr really perforate the armor of a British tank? Well today we find out!

The armor on a British tank was steel plate of 6mm, 8mm, and 12mm thickness, through-hardened to Brinell 440-480. We have replicated this with a plate of AR450 (ie, Brinell 450) armor, which we will be shooting at a distance of 50 yards. The ammunition we are using is original 1918 production German AP, and the rifle is a Tankgewehr captured by Allied troops late in the war and brought home as a souvenir.

This video was only made possible with help from three very helpful folks:

MOA Targets provided the steel (and on short notice!): https://www.moatargets.com

Mike Carrick of Arms Heritage Magazine provided use of the T-Gewehr: https://armsheritagemagazine.com

Hayes Otoupalik provided the original ammunition: http://www.hayesotoupalik.com

Cool Forgotten Weapons merchandise! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg…

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow

September 6, 2020

The war is two years old – WW2 – 106 – September 5, 1941

Filed under: Germany, History, Military, Russia, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 5 Sep 2020

It is two years this week since Germany invaded Poland. That European conflict soon became a global one. Japan’s invasion of China began two years before that, but with Japan allied to the Axis Powers, they are now the same conflict. Those Axis are all fighting together now to try and defeat the Soviet Union, but the war has grown not just in the scale of the armies fighting, but also in the scale of man’s inhumanity to man. We see that this week in German occupied territory.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @ww2_day_by_day – https://www.instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
– Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/
– Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/
– Carlos Ortega Pereira – BlauColorizations, https://www.instagram.com/blaucoloriz…

Sources:
– Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
– Yad Vashem: 2725_22A, 1044-148
– SA-Kuva
– Bundesarchiv, CC-BY-SA 3.0: N_1603_Bild-030
– FORTEPAN – Csorba Dániel
– Marit Larsen on Wikimedia Commons

Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

September 4, 2020

The ϟϟ and Wehrmacht Murder Inc. – War Against Humanity 017 – August 1941, Part 2

Filed under: Europe, Germany, History, Military, Russia, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

World War Two
Published 3 Sep 2020

Fegelein’s and Himmler’s actions to ‘comb’ the Pripet Marshes for Jews continues. The largest mass-murder yet is committed in Kamianets-Podilskyi, while new methods to commit genocide on an industrial scale are being devised.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory
Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv

Follow WW2 day by day on Instagram @ww2_day_by_day – https://www.instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day
Between 2 Wars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sources

Hosted by: Spartacus Olsson
Written by: Spartacus Olsson and Joram Appel
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Joram Appel
Edited by: Miki Cackowski
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)

Colorizations by:
Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations – https://www.instagram.com/blaucoloriz…
Jaris Almazani (Artistic Man) – https://instagram.com/artistic.man?ig…
Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/
Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/
Spartacus Olsson
Mikolaj Uchman
Klimbim – https://www.flickr.com/photos/2215569…

Sources:
Bundesarchiv
Yad Vashem 4220/2, 9292/17, 1570, 4248/20, 953, 4788/72, 75EO4, 3150/122, 48AO4, 4220/3, 10470/23, 4572/3, 4613/1055, 7283/146, 5705/48, 4216/18, 94DO1, 90FO3, 4613/625
National Parliament Library of Georgia
Bildersammlung des Bistumsarchivs Münster, des Erbnehmers der Urheberrechte
USHMM
Corpses of Auschwitz prisoners in block 11 (Auschwitz I) February 1945, USHMM, courtesy of Instytut Pamięci Narodowej
Lithuanian militia force Jewish women to undress before execution in the Pajuoste Forest 1941-1942, USHMM, courtesy of Saulius Berzinis
www.auschwitz.org
Bletchley Park Trust
Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
From the Noun Project: Skull by Muhamad Ulum from the Noun Project

Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
Johan Hynynen – “Dark Beginning”
Andreas Jamsheree – “Guilty Shadows 4”
Farell Wooten – “Blunt Object”
Fabien Tell – “Last Point of Safe Return”
Skrya – “First Responders”
Wendel Scherer – “Growing Doubt”
Jon Bjork – “For the Many”
Gunnar Johnsen – “Not Safe Yet”
Cobby Costa – “Flight Path”

Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

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