Here David Willey discusses the Sturmgeschütz III Self-Propelled Assault Gun, better known as the StuG III, Germany’s most numerously produced fully tracked Armoured Fighting Vehicle of the Second World War.
Santa Fe presents, Loaded for War. This WWII era color film presents the power of the Santa Fe railroad. While speaking of the mighty effort the trains and its myriad workers achieved during wartime, the footage is all modern and in color. The film does a great job of showing how integral our railroad system has been to the growth of these United States. “With grateful appreciation to the Office of Defense Transportation, the Army, Navy, Maritime Commission, and the shipping and traveling public, for the cooperation and genuine understanding which has made the service record here presented possible …” The film opens with a steam locomotive bearing down on the camera 1:03. The narrator speaks as the train crosses a trestle 1:10. News headlines of December 7, 1941 11:25. Steam and diesel locomotives are transformed into machines of war 1:40. Smoke fills a train yard as trains enter and are washed 2:08. A train signal shows a green light 2:25. Workers are seen in the factory 2:36. Civilians exit trains volunteering for service 2:45. A telegram is shown stating that the trainmen should, “move all available equipment to military stations without delay” 2:54. Four locomotives are shown 3:03. Crews are assigned and men work double shifts 3:45. Rail equipment is loaded by military personnel, ready to move 4:13. Flatcars are loaded with tanks and military trucks 4:52. Divisions of fighting men aboard the trains 5:09. The tanks roll down the tracks on flatcars 5:35. The wheels of war are rolling 6:14. The day by day mass movement of freight is shown at the train yard 6:48. Trains crossing country on railroad tracks 7:40. Trains service the shipyards as men work building military ships 8:00. A ship is launched 8:15. Cattle and pigs are delivered throughout the 48 states 8:37. Potatoes are tilled in the field with heavy equipment 9:00. Oranges are picked and packed in southern states 9:13. Military bombers soar through the air 9:23. Heavy machinery workers in the factories 9:48. Factories and men building artillery shells 9:55. Tanks roll off the product line and onto the railroad tracks 10:10. Locomotive struggles up a hill 10:25. Miners and their lamp hats head down the tunnels by rail 10:38. Oil fields are shown 11:15. Oil is loaded onto railway tankers 11:38. Machines digging the copper mines 12:08. The big diggers pick up 8 cubic yards of copper at a time 12:18. The railroad moves the copper to the smelters 12:31. Sulfur mines using forced steam 12:50. Sulfur is moved by train to the gunpowder makers 13:25. Logging industry is served with the railroads 14:00. Cotton and scrap metal industries are also served by rail 14:18. Old cars are being called back into use for the war effort 15:30. Locomotive number 3723 comes out of retirement by the trainmen 15:48. Various train parts are marked and taken away for repair or replacement 16:07. Men work in factories with fine-tuned machines to retool and refine old parts for new use 16:26. Old firebrick is removed and replaced 16:43. Acetylene torches are used inside the huge boilers 16:49. Huge wheels are cleaned and dipped and sprayed ready for use 17:08. Heat is used to expand the metals 17:18. Locomotive number 3723 is fully refurbished and ready for the tracks 18:05. All types of equipment need to be refurbished for the war effort 18:46. The men use heat and molten metal to reshape old parts for new use 19:00. Gears are ground with precision 19:13. The railroads motto, “let’s keep ‘em rolling” 19:24. The men work on building new track 19:35. Men using hammers to straighten out tracks 19:53. The towermen, bridge crews, conductors, station men, ticket men, dispatchers, signalmen and to the other thousands of men – give the railroad men their due 20:44. Women are also an integral part of the success of the railroad 21:07. The women work in offices but also in factories with heavy machinery and molten metal 21:21. Two women wash down a train 21:30. The wheels of war are rolling 21:40. Military men march in unison 21:47. Train caboose pulls away from the camera 22:52. A flag with 8057 turns into the American flag and waves in the breeze 23:06. The End. Santa Fe.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
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Rangoon in Burma falls to the invaders without a shot, the Dutch East Indies surrender 100,000 men to them at Batavia, and the Japanese land on New Guinea and begin their advance on Port Moresby. The first phase of their offensives is now over. The Philippines still hold out, their armies under siege at Bataan, but Douglas MacArthur, Allied commander there, has made his getaway, one day to hopefully return. American troops do begin landings on New Caledonia, to build a base there to begin the fight back.
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: Maria Kyhle
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)
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered
Published 12 Mar 2021
Sponsored by Blinkist. The first 100 people who go to https://www.blinkist.com/thehistoryguy are going to get unlimited access for one week to try it out. You’ll also get 25% off if you want the full membership.
Today, the most popular book format in the world is not a traditional hardcover book, nor an ebook, but a paperback — a format that changed the what, how, when and how much the world reads. It is history that deserves to be remembered.
This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered is the place to find short snippets of forgotten history from five to fifteen minutes long. If you like history too, this is the channel for you.
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Italy was the first major adopter of the Maxim heavy machine gun and had several hundred by 1914 — but wanted to have a domestic design in production as well. The Italian government and military put a lot of resources into the Perino machine gun, but kept it so secret that it was never properly tested and development was very slow. By the time war broke out, the Perino was clearly not ready for field use — and Maxims (along with other foreign designs) were no longer available for commercial sale as production was being taken up by warring nations. This led Italy to adopt a private design of Bethel Revelli in partnership with the FIAT company.
Adopted as the Modello 1914, Revelli’s machine gun was a delayed blowback system with a wedge under mechanical disadvantage holding the bolt closed long enough to safely cycle. Its most unique element was the 50-round mousetrap-type box magazine that used 10 independent stacks of 5 rounds each (a 100-round version was also made). This was a very complex magazine to produce, and much more delicate than the other machine gun feed systems in use at the time. The Revelli is also notable for being the only major machine gun of the period to have a circulating water jacket, operated by a small hand-cranked pump on the condensing tank.
The FIAT-Revelli would see service as both and aircraft and ground gun through World War 1, and was updated in 1935 to an air cooled pattern that would serve through World War 2. These guns are very scarce in the United States today, and I am grateful to the collector who owns this one for providing access to it!
Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
6281 N. Oracle #36270
Tucson, AZ 85740
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West Point and Annapolis are two of the most iconic military academies in America — maybe even the world. The two institutions have produced the men who are leading America’s fight against the Axis powers.
Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke & Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Markus Linke
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Sources:
United States Military Academy Library Digital Collection
United States Naval Academy Digital Collections
Library of Congress
New York Public Library
West Point Museum Art Collection
Imperial War Museums: IWM NYF 19427
Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “Ominous” – Philip Ayers
– “The Inspector 4” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “London” – Howard Harper-Barnes
– “Please Hear Me Out STEMS INSTRUMENTS” – Philip Ayers
– “First Responders” – Skrya
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
20 hours ago
This episode goes back to our roots of good old-fashioned military history. It’s something we’d like to start doing more of. Of course, West Point and Annapolis are the most famous, but we think that diving into the officer training of forces like the Wehrmacht or Red Army could tell us a lot about their histories. There is also a whole bunch of options for military history topics that we’d like to get into. Let us know in the comments if you have any suggestions.
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The Japanese advance in Burma continues, threatening Rangoon, and also make landings on Java and New Guinea. They even go so far as an air raid on Broome, Australia. The British are making raids of their own this week, Operation Biting against Bruneval in German-occupied France. As for the Germans themselves, 100,000 of them are still surrounded by the Red Army at Demyansk, and Hitler is told that the Soviets might have enough reserves to defend against a renewed summer offensive.
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: Maria Kyhle
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)
Sources:
– IWM: O1962, CH 16518, IWM A 9580, IWM A 9584
– Arrow by 4B Icons from the Noun Project
Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
– Rannar Sillard – “Easy Target”
– Jo Wandrini – “Dragon King”
– Howard Harper-Barnes – “Underlying Truth”
– Fabien Tell – “Last Point of Safe Return”
– Phoenix Tail – “At the Front”
– Howard Harper-Barnes – “London”
– Flouw – “A Far Cry”
– Johan Hynynen – “Dark Beginning”
– Wendel Scherer – “Out the Window”
Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
3 days ago (edited)
CORRECTION: In this episode, Indy says that Franz Halder estimates German losses in the USSR to be up 1.5 million by March 1st. In actuality, Halder estimated them to be 1 million. A simple brain freeze when Indy was writing the script meant that he read out the incorrect statistics on the teleprompter. The vast majority of the time, our fact-checkers ensure this doesn’t happen — unfortunately, this one slipped through the cracks.
MAIN COMMENT: The Japanese are still advancing seemingly everywhere, even raiding Australia. In Europe, the German death camp system sees new facilities open this month and kicks into a higher gear.
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Without the incredible support and sacrifice of troops from British and French colonies, the Allies would be having an even harder time withstanding the Axis onslaught. This episode looks at their formation and their fighting style.
Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke and Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Markus Linke
Edited by: Miki Cackowski
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Miki Cackowski, Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)
Colorizations by:
Daniel Weiss
Mikołaj Uchman
Sources:
Photo of French Saharan troops (1932), courtesy of Acln https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi…
Archives du département du Rhône et de la métropole de Lyon
The New York Public Library – Digital Collections
USMC Archives
IWM E 11584, CBM 2264, E 6605, IND 2864, IND 2290, K 1385
Picture of Sudanese Defense Force near Kufra Oasis, courtesy of Major PJ Hurman
Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound
Johannes Bornlof – “Deviation In Time”
Hakan Eriksson – “Epic Adventure Theme 3”
Phoenix Tail – “At the Front”
Philip Ayers – “The Unexplored”
Johannes Bornlof – “The Inspector 4”
Fabien Tell – “Weapon of Choice”
Reynard Seidel – “Deflection”
Fabien Tell – “Other Sides of Glory”
Philip Ayers – “Please Hear Me Out”
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
9 hours ago
As regular viewers will know, we try to give the most complete picture of World War Two possible by diving into the multitude of people that took part and seeing it from their unique perspective.
This episode is part of that effort, looking at the colonial troops who fought on the side of their imperial administrators. In a different way, our On the Homefront series is also part of that effort, and we are happy to announce that we have just got started with it again. Check out the latest episode here where Anna looks at the changing role of the Geisha in wartime Japanese society: https://youtu.be/7Y3IYsNC1WM
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The geisha class has long been a feature of Japanese society. In the 1920s, they were caught between the struggle for women’s liberation and the rising sexual demand of powerful men. This crossfire only becomes more intense as war sweeps the Pacific.
Hosted by: Anna Deinhard
Written by: Spartacus Olsson and Fiona Rachel
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Fiona Rachel
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Portrait Colorizations by:
Mikołaj Uchmann
Sources:
– Metropolitan Museum of Art
– Rijksmuseum
– Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
– Library of Congress
– National Archives NARA
– Nationaal Archief
– The Burns Archive
– Woman and Child in Kimono courtesy of Vintage Japan-esque from Flickr
– Five musicians courtesy of Adolfo Farsari
Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “Paths of a Samurai” – Mandala Dreams
– “Across the Sea of Japan” – Mandala Dreams
– “Secrets Of A Geisha” – Mandala Dreams
– “Watchman” – Yi Nantiro
– “The Unexplored” – Philip Ayers
– “Heavenly Feathers” – Deskant
– “Ode To The Moon” – Joseph Beg
– “Moving to Disturbia” – Experia
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
World War Two
17 hours ago (edited)
With this rather dramatic topic, we are happy to revive the On the Homefront series! Considering the popular opinion on geisha in America after the Second World War, it is not surprising at all, that the first association with the word is sex. But when we looked a little further into the topic, it got clearer and clearer that originally the job of a geisha meant no such thing. Still, with the social and political tension of the early 20th century, the job of the geisha evolved further and further to prostitution. This shows once again how the war influenced many different aspects of life and how important it is to shed light on these side stages of the war in order to understand its full impact. What would interest you to know about the different Homefronts of World War II?
Cheers, Fiona
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Here David Willey discusses the Panzer II, a German tank which was instrumental in the early days of the Second World War, especially during the Blitzkrieg.
Among all the antitank rifles developed between the World Wars, the highest quality and most sophisticated was the Solothurn S18-1000. It fires the 20x138B cartridge which was also used in the Finnish Lahti L-39 and the German 20mm Flak guns, and it does so using a semiautomatic action and an 8-round box magazine. It is a short-recoil system, with a rotating bolt rather similar to that of the MG-34 machine gun.
The recoil-operated action of the Solothurn helps dampen its recoil more than the Lahti, and is definitely a more comfortable gun to shoot. The Solothurn is equipped with both iron sights and an optical sight (we used the irons in this shooting, because the rubber eye cup on the scope is fairly hard and brittle on this example). Remarkably for its 100+ pound weight, the gun definitely jumps back a few inches when fired unless one has firmly sunk the bipod feet into the earth. However, the recoil force is really more of a push than a sharp impact, and combined with the large surface area of the shoulder pad it is not at all a bad experience.
A number of different countries bought the S18-1000 (and many others bought the smaller S18-100), including the Italians and Hungarians. The only combat account I was able to find was from a Dutch antitank gun team that used one to successfully engage several German armored cars during the invasion of the Netherlands in 1940.
The Japanese are advancing in the Dutch East Indies and Burma, brushing aside defenders, but their biggest victory this week is at sea, when they not only brush aside the ABDA Fleet, but literally wipe it out of existence. Meanwhile Italian and German submarines are patrolling the Caribbean, sinking any Allied merchant shipping they find. It is yet another week of Axis successes.
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: Maria Kyhle
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)
Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an order to intern all Japanese-American citizens on the West Coast of the United States, while the Italians open up new concentration camps to deal with their ethnic enemies in the Balkans. At the same time, a large group of Jews attempts to escape Europe by boat, with disastrous consequences.
Sources:
Yad Vashem 143BO2, 5344/2, 6263, 9744/1, 15000/14187511, 15000/14258277, 15000/14088811
Martyr’s path to freedom (Mučeniška pot k svobodi), Ljubljana, 1946
USHMM
View of the Struma in the Istanbul harbor, February 1942, courtesy of USHMM, David Stoliar
From the Noun Project: Ship by kareemovic1000
Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
Cobby Costa – “Flight Path”
Fabien Tell – “Break Free”
Philip Ayers – “It’s Not a Game”
Fabien Tell – “Last Point of Safe Return”
Fabien Tell – “Remembrance”
Rannar Sillard – “Split Decision”
Skrya – “First Responders”
As one of the few nations during World War Two, Japan made expensive use of biological and chemical weapons, both on and off the battlefield. Unit 731 is their special bio-warfare department, which conducts testing on living human civilians.
Sources:
– National Archive NARA
– Imperial War Museums: D 3162, HU67224, HU 44941, Q 114057
– Bundesarchiv
Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “For the Many STEMS INSTRUMENTS” – Jon Bjork
– “Weapon of Choice” – Fabien Tell.
– “Moving to Disturbia” – Experia
– “Symphony of the Cold-Blooded” – Christian Andersen
– “It’s Not a Game” – Philip Ayers
– “Please Hear Me Out STEMS INSTRUMENTS” – Philip Ayers
– “London” – Howard Harper-Barnes
– “Break Free” – Fabien Tell
– “Not Safe Yet” – Gunnar Johnsen
A review of Education for Death, a WW2 propaganda film. This video was sponsored by the Great Courses Plus! Start your free trial today by clicking here: http://ow.ly/az9m30rkCKF
During the World War II, Disney made a number of cartoons to boost public support for the Allies and denounce Germany. This one, about Little Hans, has always been my favorite.
