[Chapter] Bloody Ruhr 1945

[Mat]

Beside my Project The Battle of Heilbronn which is in work ive started historical Researches about the Ruhr Pocket 1945 some Months ago, US Infantrymen who fought there called it the "Bloody Ruhr"

As always i dont use Propagandamaterials for this and ive found a german Documentary where they used only Materials taken by US Signal Corps Cameramen.
It is in german Language, BUT i suggest everyone whos interested in to watch it. Whats spoken describes the situations to the seen Materials with a bit Background.
The important is the Pictures. There is no Fake, everything is documented as seen at the Frontline in the last days of WW2.

The winter of 1944 had spent in heavy fighting in the Ardennes and in Hürthgenwald the American troops. In February 1945, they began a major offensive that would bring the end of the "Third Reich".
Also present were 40 cameramen of the US Signal Corps. They documented the downfall of Nazi Germany on 35mm celluloid: liberation and collapse, death and despair, joy and relief. The documentary reconstructs the American advance.

All in all there are 4 Parts each running 45mins "Als der Krieg nach Deutschland kam"
Its the best Documentary about 1945 ive ever found on youtube about 1945 and the Westfront.
PART1:
"When the War came to Germany - The Way to Cologne"

[Mat]

PART2
"Above the Rhine"

[Deleted]

Very interesting footage! Thanks for sharing!

[Mat]

This is something not to forget
The Liberation of the first Death Camps by Allied Soldiers
"Die Befreiung der Lager"

[Mat]

Part 4
Meeting with the Red Army
Fights in Halle and Leipzig
Execution of an SS Officer

[Deleted]

Great series and always astonishing to see history comes alive,rare and never seen before battle footage. I think most of us, after war generations can just not comprehent the enormous scale of missery that took place over the world during that time, not in this extend that is. Now there are games about it; harmless,and at the same time surreal. Who would thought in the fourties that a few decades later many would replay the terrible events in games, paint German tanks and try to make it look real..I'm one of those fools...

[Mat]

Youre so right about this.
I was talking to my Grandfather asking him about WW2 Time and his Life as a Soldier.
He told me about situation on battlefield how cruel it has been and that this was a black time for everyone who lived there.
He is 95 Years old but still having very bad nightmares that keep following him not only while he sleeps.

For my Maps i read many Books, and in some cases (About the 17. SS Götz von Berlichingen) there is not even written the half of what really happened.
Thats why its so important not to forget Death Camps.
With my class in School we read the Diary of Anne Frank first and visited Auschwitz after which is a hard Travel in History for young people as we were.
And what i think about today is that everyone who joined some Neo-Fascist Ideology doesnt have a clue about what this time meant to those who lived in this Time.
What War itself means you will not realize until Bullets fly beside your head that you feel the difference of pressure in the air.
It happened to me, and every imagination about War i had before was gone that Moment.

What we are doing here is to work on optimizing a Strategy Game, the best Game of the World. This has nothing to do with Reality.

There was a good statement about in a credits (i believe it was Panzewrkrieg) when finished the campaign by the Makers.
They stated that that Game has been made by People of many different countries which were once enemies and a bit more about that the enemies of once are friends today. I enjoy it until today when playing/modding BK.

[Mat]

With English Speech and as US-Citizens saw it in the States

[Mat]

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March 1945: Duel at the Cathedral - The human stories lost in the spectacle.
Witness the US troops first hand on their advance from the outskirts of the city to the banks of the Rhine and the fascinating research on one of the most famous pieces of newsreel film taken during World War 2. VoD & Download in Full HD: march1945.rheindvd.de
a Documentation by Herrmann Rheindorf - English Speech
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Witness the US troops first hand on their advance from the outskirts of the city to the banks of the Rhine and the fascinating research on one of the most famous pieces of newsreel film taken during World War 2. VoD & Download in Full HD: march1945.rheindvd.de Also available on DVD for the first time in the US. railtrailsvideo.weebly.com/mar... .

70th anniversary of VE-Day - special edition 2015:
Cologne, Germany, the famous Cathedral city in March 1945. Eight months after D-Day, the US troops are now on the cusp of a long-awaited milestone. Cologne is the largest city that the G.I.s will take during the war. Nazi propaganda has declared the city to be defended to the last cartridge. The impending battle has dominated the headlines of the world press for days. Dozens of correspondents, photographers, and cameramen have followed the US troops in order to report in detail on the event. Some of the shots taken by the cameramen of the US military are still perceived in the USA as the most famous scenes of World War II. The battle for Cologne ends with a final, dramatic tank duel at the base of the Cathedral. The film footage makes the engagement the most famous tank duel in the world. However, who the people in those scenes were still remains unknown. Based on several years of research into the background and contemporary witnesses, this documentary reconstructs the advance of US troops into Cologne and shows crucial moments of the battle for the city in March 5 -7, 1945.

among the long facebook threads of comments Douglas Rivela wrote:
"This looks absolutely fascinating. Too rarely do we really take one incident in a long conflict and pick it apart to find the profoundly human stories lost in all the spectacle. The film makers here, go to the archives to find out who the people were - German as well as American - in one of the most famous pieces of newsreal taken during World War II, a deadly personal battle between two tanks in front of a Cathedaral in Cologne, Germany in March 1945. What they irreverently end up doing in their research is uncover an amazing mystery where what we were told happened may well of not happened anywhere near as reported and thus one of the most famous incidents of World War II becomes an investigation as the film makers track down and find the man who may of been the commander of the tank in this photo, who was reported dead at the time but has lived a long life since. Absolutely fascinating research that puts a human face on what otherwise would of remained grainy old newsreal footage in an achive."

Featured eye witnesses: Andy Rooney (correspondent "The Starts&Stripes"), Clarence Smoyer (3rd Armored Division), Francis Wilber (104th Infantry Division), James Bates (U.S. Signal corps cameraman), Robert Ziller (RAF-cameraman), Manfred Bockhoff (9.Panzerdivision), Gustav Schäfer (Panzerbrigade 106), Günther Müller (360 Volksgrenadier-Division) and many others.

Now available as VoD on vimeo.com.
part 1: the attack on Cologne (80min.)
part 2: battle for Cathedral & Rhine (60min.)
extra1: Cologne tank duel: the factual pictures (30min.)
extra2: battle of the peace - 100 days of U.S. military government in Cologne (18min.)



Und hier die Deutsche Original Version (its the better one)

[Mat]

now that my Mapping Times for BK will start ive packed and sorted all the Research Materials.
zipping "Als der Krieg nach Deutschland kam" right now for download.
It contains all Parts as MP4 in HD 720p

[Mat]

Download:

Als der Krieg nach Deutschland kam_All Parts_MP4_HD720plink

[redeye]

Oct 6, 2016 18:05:28 GMT 1 Mat said:

Download:

Als der Krieg nach Deutschland kam_All Parts_MP4_HD720plink

Download link only reloads the page.