Eastern Front animated: 1944/1945

In 1944 Germany still refuses to surrender. This means that the Red Army and the Western Allies must move into the Reich to end the war. If before the Germans had to fight on foreign soil with extended supply lines, then now the tables are turned. The Allied numerical superiority of just 2:1 may give Germany a fair chance in conducting a defense.

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Kindle Unlimited:

Against the Odds: Survival on the Russian Front 1944-1945 by John Stieber:

Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945 by Catherine Merridale:

Small Unit Actions During the German Campaign in Russia:

Sources:
David Glantz - When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler.
Karl-Heinz Frieser - Germany and the Second World War - Volume VIII - The Eastern Front 1943-1944

Unit symbols:

Order of Battle:

Map:
Terrain
Europe: Elevation map of Europe - European Environment Agency.

Infrastructure:
USSR: Europa 1: 2,500,000 Deutsche Heereskarte: Europaische Russland. 1943.
Other: British 1944 1:2000,000 maps of Europe.

This video, couldn't have been made without my Patrons:
5kyEye, A kiel, Aaron Clarkson, aBi, Adam Coni, Adam H, alans4488, Aleksei Safronov, Alex Ogier, Alexander G Morgan, Andres, Andrew Gilbert, Anton Kovalev, Anton Yang, Arta Yusa, aserehuehue, Axel Essbaum, Bartlomiej, Binyamin Even, Bogdan Putintsev, Bogdan Sacarea, Bryan Linsley, Burkay Ozturk, Conor Killeen, D G, Daniel Benhardt, David Gervais, David Russell, David Salm, David Weidman, Dingus, Dmitry Zaitcev, Dongbin Zhang, Ehood Garmiza, Eli Krumholz, Elijah Gutman, Eric Strachan, Fabrice Egal, Faust, Federico Peyrani, Frank Scheer, Freddy Woodhouse, Freedom Crusader, gartonschwärt, Georges Chouinard, Grzegorz Szymanski, Gurnik, Håvard Damsberg, Herr Burns, HUAR3Z, hydroxy, Ido Reshef, Imran YT, Ismar Kunic, Ivan Avdeev, Jack VerBrugge, James Fitzpatrick, Jan Bleha, JAY ALAN EDELMAN, Jeff Drasher, Joe Fournier, John Paul, Jonathan Ward, Jordon Long-Lay, Joseph Rosenberg, jovianArchiver, Juan Escobar, Just A Random Contributor, Kaiser Marrero, KB, Kelek72, Kelly-Stephen Soo, Konrad Katic, Kristoffer Angell-Petersen, Kyle Askine, Larry Brown, Leonardo Rivas, Louis Burke, LT Marshall Faulds, malcolm, Marc, Mario Babić, Mark Fabian, Mark Fisher, Marsel Atnyashev, Martin Raadik, Mi Liu, Michael Schneider, Michal Weyer, Michalis Yerakakis, Mikhail Kyurshin, Nate, Nezquik, Nicholas Cubbon, omega21, Omer Glickman, Pace Lowery, Pavel Kuriscak, Peoples Heroes, Peter Doege, Peter M., Philip Brain, PKras, Praeter, Pykrete_O.Sages, Rafael Aguila, Reindeer, Rob H, Robert Fisher, Robert Vroman, Robert Wahl, RocketWrench, RudyH, Ruy Léopold, Ryan Harbottle, Ryan Shelbaugh, Sergio Uribe, SociableG, Stian Martinsen, STRONTJESBERG, SurlyAardvark, swagmasterx420, Sylvester Stalin, Ted Johansson, TheMostEvilCookie, Thomas Dobrenel, Tibor Helienek, Tony DeBias, Vesko Dinev, VonKickass, White Privilege, Will Belford, William Nettles, Wouter Houwer, x5tr3m3, xeioex, Yagee, Yang Wei Feng, yellowLia, Yuri Burchenya, Yury Kuchanov, 창환 김, 唐健, 愛犬, 閎榞 王.

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[zachsfilms]

Germany- "Okay Romania, we really need you to hold the front in the South!"
Romania- "I don't even know who you are"

[ioka]

Bulgaria, Finland and Romania be like “I’ve never met this Germany in my life”

[daboyz]

Play the video in reverse if you wanna see Steiner's glorious counter-attack.

[Tjd]

I learned about Army Group Center from my grandfather who was stationed in Germany at the end/after the war.
He had met a german survivor of the encirclement, who told him about the Eastern front.
Combined with my grandfathers Normandy stories and "I was hunted house by house" Dutch stories, it's a miracle I was ever born.

[kellerkornegayswag]

Finally, the best series on YouTube completed.

[DouglasEdward]

This is truly your Magnum Opus, fantastic work on this Eastory.

[oilersridersbluejays]

1941: The Soviets won't last long.
1942: The end of the Soviets will be complete.
1943: Damn Soviets. Eliminate the Kursk salient and we will be rolling like last year.
1944: I wish we eliminated the Kursk salient.
1945: I wish we didn't invade the USSR.

[minddecomp]

Grandpa came home in 1946. Machine gunner. Mentally unstable and hard alcoholic. I remember, when drunk he spoke random German phrases. Me and my brother used to ask him: How many germans did you kill, grandpa? He was like: "Why should I kill humans, are you crazy?"

[smetanadvorak]

And today is the 22nd of June, the day Germany started the war against USSR.
Previous video was February the 2nd, the day the battle for Stalingrad was won.
Thank you for sticking to these dates, you’re the best!

[LibertyMapper]

15:05 for those wondering: The 3rd SS Panzerkorps that you can see north of Berlin is the "Kampfgruppe Steiner". The same Kampfgruppe that Hitler ordered to relieve Berlin but failed to do so, resulting in a rage of Hitler best remembered in the movie "Downfall".

[shmickpingo]

as an Australian we were taught about the western front and the pacific war, the eastern front was barely mentioned as a tiny little footnote. its shocking to see a video like this and realize how important the soviet offensive was.
i guess with the Cold War they wanted to downplay the communist share of the victory

[andreidragan]

This guy teached me in 20 minutes more than my history teacher could in 4 years

[gentil]

80% of the German army was destroyed in the eastern front..I just can't imagine what would have happened
if the Russian lost in the east. I would be probably writing this in German

[kyEye]

Great finale! Was looking forward to seeing who would win! :D

[bi-shop]

5:19 There was some funny story about gaining acces to Baltic sea. One general decided to take glass of water from Baltic sea and deliver it personaly to Stalin. When soldier, who literaly spent few days on plane with that glass, finaly came to Stalin he said:"Glass of water from reconquered Baltic States!" by that time they lost this part. Stalin and other people laughed and then he said to soldier:"Go back to your general and tell him to return water where he took it"

[alexandererickssen]

Far more people should see this... Brilliant series, you've earned my subscription and so many more, Eastory, I'm sure you medal's lost in the post. This is probably the best video about the Eastern Front on YouTube.

[bbenjoe]

17:05 - Steiner's glorious attack begins.

[JDthegamer]

I learned practically nothing about the eastern front of World War 2 in my history class. They really just mentioned Stalingrad and the fall of Berlin in 1945 and that was it. But while our history teacher spent altogether maybe 10 minutes explaining the Eastern Front, we spent at least 80% of the time we spent learning about World War 2 talking about D Day, Pearl Harbor and the use of the atomic bombs on Japan. Talk about downplaying the greatest global conflict in human history by only teaching half the story.

[GuardianMilsim]

Steiner's counter attack will commence any minute now



Update: The 9th Army is encircled

[jktrader]

Thank you - this covers so much !! It would have taken me dozens of hours to have learned this. The scope and ferocity of fighting on the Eastern front is impossible for most to even begin to imagine..,