The Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht

2007, Military and War  -  Playlist 234 Comments
7.89
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Ratings: 7.89/10 from 97 users.

The WehrmachtHitler's army thundered through Europe from 1939 to 1945 and brought needless death and destruction to the continent.

What was it like to serve in this army? To conduct one of the bloodiest wars in history? To occupy half of Europe and yet to suffer total defeat?

This five-part portrait provides long-awaited answers and sheds light on the Wehrmacht's complex bonds of loyalty, conscience and honor.

The thought-provoking story of an army's evolution from defense troops to military force to exterminating power.

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Eric
Eric
7 months ago

May I suggest watching Europa - The Last Battle.
A 10 part series on the REAL events of WWII(and many leading up to it). It debunks the "6,000,000 lives" narrative & provides some insight into who actually did what.
And how Germany & it's people paid a horrific price.
It brings to light the answers to things 'they' don't want you asking.
Funny how you can NOT question the "official" narrative or you'll be called a * denier.
The first casualty of war is the truth.

Bob Dahl
Bob Dahl
6 years ago

The conspiracy true believers that only know 25% of real history and don't understand where alot of the infantile ideas they believe in came from are the ones that will become the new Brownshirts. They don't understand things that seem to complex and because they don't understand and don't want to learn at school they think that the people who do know history are somehow elitists. Most of the conspiracy tripe comes for that bastion of critical thinking the John Birch Society or the Minute men etc. and this has become mainstream were as a couple decades ago you would have been advised to see a shrink and you wouldnt have had friends. Scary but thats America today and in fact me generation the boomers are some of the biggest wingnuts destroying the country. Probably the best history written about WW2 came out about ten years ago. Professor did a fantastic job, readable and correct. You will learn, if you're teachable, of the origins of fascism in the 1860-1870's period and the inevitable slide in fascism. Good stuff (and not based on the conspiracy of Jesus, the illuminati and the planet Nabooboo...though once you're a true believer a type of sickness takes over where every fact you see is scornfully laughed at as part of the elitist attempt to, uh to, uh zzzzzz...uh oh yeah; is turned into a part of your ever widening paranoia).

rufusclyde
rufusclyde
8 years ago

Great synopsis. Thundering across Europe as the last few stragglers sneaked out of Stalingrad in 1943?

VIKINGLORD#1
VIKINGLORD#1
8 years ago

Yet again another KIKE driven piece of trash and lies to make the good hard working germans look bad and evil as always.

John Cox
John Cox
9 years ago

The introduction made this clear that this not a documentary. It is a unvarnished hatchet job on the Wehrmacht and Germans.

SamMoss
SamMoss
9 years ago

One helluva conflict. Hitler was like a blind dog in a meat house. Let's go this way...wait a minute no let's go that way..no no wait a minute..Moscow..no Crimea no no Stalingrad...oops whatta mean we're surrounded by two Siberian Armies? Uh oh did we give 'em too much time to re-arm that's okay just stand and fight. Those western allies will be push overs don't sweat it.

Ryan M
Ryan M
10 years ago

The German generals' acting was a bit funny though at some points. Tremendous documentary no less, really enjoyed it!

Andy F
Andy F
11 years ago

This is a pretty good documentary. Unlike those that bring you lots of actual footage, this one takes the approach of sharing more what was in the Nazi leaders heads, and how many explained and justified various actions. As a WW2 documentary buff, I found this one to be along the lines of "Auschwitz" and "Stalin: behind closed doors" as opposed to say, "World at War" or "The Colour of war" where footage tells as much of the story, in a broader sense, than documentaries like this one, that try to get you into the thinking and often self-serving justiticiation of the men behind various battles and actions. Well done, and well narrated, this is a good production.

Rick Edwards
Rick Edwards
11 years ago

It works!!!

Pete Leclair
Pete Leclair
11 years ago

Oh ya He was a little fukin snot who was only brave while under Hitlers wing Nothing but a loud mouth peg legged idiot.Tell me would you love to pick his brain before murdering his children?

Miguel Arroyo
Miguel Arroyo
11 years ago

I have read a lot of your comments and I think your all a bit F@#*ked in the head especially Sarcastic_Drew people dont want to know your personal views on the war they want to know pros and cons about this documentary. If you want express your views on the war find the right forum and do it there

elvis
elvis
11 years ago

ive watched about 70 documentaries on this site. this one is a prime example of why you should not let people express their opinions in an online forum.
there's 2 minutes of my life i'll never get back. sheesh.

Sarcastic_Drew
Sarcastic_Drew
11 years ago

Mr Mod, did you really have to edit my word "id**t" and let people like Enook say "***hole" even after you edited his comment... lmao wtff?????

Paul Schmider
Paul Schmider
11 years ago

My great grandfather served in the wehrmacht, so did alot of my relatives - my grandfather was inducted to the - compulsory - hitler youth. He also married an Australian Aborigine (my grandmother) when he came to Australia. Don't open your mouths on things you haven't fully thought about.

Sarcastic_Drew
Sarcastic_Drew
11 years ago

Scientifically speaking, Dr. Goebbels was a true social genius. I believe he, and he only, was the mechanism able to sway an entire people. Hitler was an id**t. Judging by his wartime strategies, he could not have been responsible for mass brainwash. Goebbels alone was the true weapon of mass destruction. Boy would I have loved to pick his brain before he passed.

Its so sad that his genius couldn't have been used for the good of humanity. Just a small foreshadowing (imo), that humans are as doomed as dinosaurs.

eldante
eldante
11 years ago

did anyone watch this or jst grammar police and slagging each other? thought it was a good series that highlights the dangers of mass phycological coercion, and manipulation of a nation by relatively few men. playing of diffrent levels of social fear.

Would have been nice to see a bit more about the propaganda and staging of the mass rallies and brainwashing of the children - Hitler youth, schools and chapels had religious effigies removed and replaced with swastickers and images of the Furrher.
Im badly dislexic so undoubtable thick as ****.

Barbara Thurman-Becquiot
Barbara Thurman-Becquiot
11 years ago

So, perhaps a comment about...the documentary? I lived one year in Bavaria and spoke only German. That was back in the '60s, before the reunification. I've been living and teaching here in France ever since. Thank you (to the site) for sharing a video that attempts to show "the inside view" of Hitler's failure to listen to his generals. Like Napoleon, Hitler's deaf ego, more than tactical ignorance, led to his defeat and what the Normandy Invasion owed to Staline and the resistance of the Russian people would change the face of Europe even today. When we reflect on the technical aid Hitler disposed of such as scientists like Werner Von Braun...? To Enook : By the way, I'm US born and totally agree with your comment concerning what we might call...critically inhuman decisions of people become blind with power.

Enook
Enook
11 years ago

The Wehrmact was a seperate entity from the SS. Many Wehrmact officers and soldiers were shot, tricked or refused to follow Hitler and his thugs. Modern history needs to seperate the Wehrmact from the SS and Nazi Germany. As well, robertallen1Collapse, you spelled Canadian wrong. This documentary is supposed to be about how good people and good instutions go bad. Many people should take this doc as a warning of our immedite future, not as a medium to discuss the U.S.A. But should instead take this opportunity to think about what is happening in the U.S.A and many other countries.

truthdigging
truthdigging
11 years ago

After watching this over an hour I realised why Trent Park sounds so familiar. It's part of Middlesex University campus nowadays and I took my last courses in the summer there long ago! I have actually been in that building.

OldVandal
OldVandal
11 years ago

"Reinactments" are 100% hokey and are a total turnoff. Actors in polyester off-the-rack uniforms, disturbing accents, and cookie-cutter props are simply insulting. Stop it.

RileyRampant
RileyRampant
12 years ago

well, maybe we don't see things that differently, Robert. what did you think of truman?

RileyRampant
RileyRampant
12 years ago

thanks for sharing your insight into the many demerits of the kennedys, robert. the nixons, and johnsons, and clintons, and bushes were so much better, morally and cognitively, then those dumb, rich, populist irish guys. context is everything. look into that concept, when you get a minute away from whatever you do besides spouting on the internet.

robertallen1
robertallen1
12 years ago

Further research seems to indicate that it was rumor, probably based on the allegations of Samuel Bronfman, a Canadia distiller of spirits known for running them across the border and Danny Walsh, a gangster, made after the repeal of prohibition--sour grapes, so to speak. So in the absence of hard evidence, I guess old Joe is exonerated of one thing.

I now wonder if he were better than his three awful sons.

RileyRampant
RileyRampant
12 years ago

re: Joseph Kennedy - he was relieved of his duties as ambassador to england because he took the position that germany could not be stopped, that democracy was a losing proposition in europe. fdr took the position that having a defeatist running his key embassy, and perhaps working out ancient and, in context, largely irrelevant 'racial' (if you will) enmities, was not such a good thing. it ended old joe's political career, forever, and jfk doubtless as compensation for his father's missteps, took on a ridiculously belligerent tone towards the communists that landed us in the vietnam soup a few decades later. aint politics great?

RileyRampant
RileyRampant
12 years ago

different words have different precisions of meaning. weather, for example, can signify a lot of different phenomenon.

words like race & breed have taken on so much baggage, whatever use they ever had has been overtaken by misuse, beyond the purely technical, if even that is still not yet under dispute or misapplied in some half-baked social theory or chauvinism. in which case either a de-bunking or a new word is in order.

'species' we have to live with. its fuzzy too, but has not had **** thrown all over it, like the others. but in biology, there must be, as elsewhere, an atom of meaning. the bush of life ensures that atoms don't exist, but too much complexity is beyond us, as a practical matter.

when people start to argue over words, i check out. if you are one inclined to do that (i.e. have some strong proprietary sense of the meaning of a controversial/over-burdened word or concept), i'd work on changing my priorities from words onto the ideas behind the words, and words as guides to meaning. that's all they are good for.

(wish i knew three languages)

dmxi
dmxi
12 years ago

i apologize for my 'ranting' yesterday, especially az(cool cat comment!),epicurus(for taking the time to mediate!) & vlatko,who had absolutly nothing to do with this.robert,i'm tri-lingual & sometimes my fingers are faster than my oxford concise & thanks to my missing education i enjoy my miserable profession of publishing & translating for the hearing-impaired.
true,i'm annoyed with myself when i find mistakes in my grammar ,but i reconcile myself with knowing, that my german is flawless due to it being the language i have mainly been working with for the last 20 years. so excuse my french for calling you a twat,i bet you hear that often enough!
i hope the others accept my apology.

dmxi
dmxi
12 years ago

sometimes intellect is challenged by 'd*ck' ,& i don't mean richard .

robertallen1
robertallen1
12 years ago

Excuse me, but most of the Mexicans (and you're the one who is concentrating on this particular nationality) in this country are products of cross-breeding with Spaniards and hence are part Caucasian, whether you like it or not, whether you acknowledge it or not.

Illegal aliens are illegal aliens, no matter what their origin--and we owe them nothing except deportation.

The ignorant, incoherent way you express yourself justifies my contempt for you and everything you think you stand for, including your Judeo-Christianity and your cheap, vapid form of compassion. I don't need to stoop to empty epithets to make my point because I am in general better than you've shown yourself to be.

So lose it all you want. On second thought you can't lose what you never had, whatever it is.

BeardHero420
BeardHero420
12 years ago

WermachtiLeaks?

Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins
12 years ago

ANYONE who uses this forum for debates is a LOSER...

ProudinUS
ProudinUS
12 years ago

Thanks Robert. I think we got pretty much the same view as most Americans do when it comes to immigration policies. I also respect your intelligent "tell it how it is" method you instill in all your posts. We need more like you ,Lary 9, Achems Razor, J.1952 and in my of course most definitely Waldo. When dumb a$$e$ like me come on here and want to learn, sometimes just from the comments alone, you guys are the ones I and probably most learn from. I know I don't have the best grammer on the world and a lot of my posts are rude and a little to pro American but they come from what I see to be true and are no less ignorant then the disrespectful little chatroom US bashing. I am gratefully for this free site and all the hard work that Vlatko puts in to give a man with very limited education like me a free education.

dmxi
dmxi
12 years ago

nice to see that U.S. immigration politics are discussed under the 'wehrmacht' topic !you should have waited for a SS documentary....more fitting!

ProudinUS
ProudinUS
12 years ago

The US is made up of every race and culture on the face of the Earth. I have no racism toward anyone that was born on US soil. Your place in this country should be valued 1st. I live alongside native land and have good buddies that are Shoshone. Ive got a lot of Hispanic freinds as well. Ive welded side by side with them for years. Im also not going to lie and say I'm not a racists either. I'm as white trash as you can get and make ignorant remarks like ALL races do about others. But that doesn't mean I think I'm more American then the next. I here Americans all the time ad another nationality before American, like I'm Mexican-American...I'm Scottish American....I'm African American...ect..ect. Chances are the mother f**let's never even been there! What's wrong with proudly saying..."I'm American " with your head held high???? If your so dam ashamed of your country.....leave!

Im with Robert on foreigners coming here not learning English. Im also resentful of a lot of middle eastern people coming here as if 9/11 didn't mean sh!t and get free government business loans that could've went to a disabled vet or our children's education system. I'm not racist toward the Arabian race. Just the Muslim religion or any organized religion that is destructive. There's. a big difference between God and the.....pulpit and pews!

TonyIII
TonyIII
12 years ago

Ten minutes of this Hollywood costumer was all I could bear. Perhaps it got better; but the German accents were just too much.

AbdelZ
AbdelZ
12 years ago

Well, history repeats itself : people never seem to learn from history :

The former victims of the nazis are now the new nazis : the zionazis : just switch on your tv to witness that fact

Amazing how formerly persecuted people copy the behavior of their persecutors in relation to other peoples like the fact that abused individuals in their childhood or youth become abusers themselves when they grow up ,unless they get the proper therapy

a_no_n
a_no_n
12 years ago

Oh wow a world war two documentary about the Nazi's...how refreshing, there are hardly any of those!

brian rose
brian rose
12 years ago

@ robertallen1 & rtiom

Quite the debate you two are having. Honestly I haven't read the full script of back and forth (how ignorant am I to comment after admitting that, right!).

There's an excellent (best WWII doc I've ever encountered, personally) doc called "Third Reich: Rise and Fall" on TDF. It focuses purely on the evolution of the German culture during the rise of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. Hitler came to dominate this party after its conception, so Nazi should not be synonymous with Adolf Hitler.

Hitler and his political team were able to use policy to influence, manipulate, and indoctrinate the German people. In fact, Hitler never won an election (it was a democratic state). He became Chancellor because he was vociferous and the minority of Germans that supported him were so belligerent that they gave the impression of being a majority.

I won't go on because the documentary explains it flawlessly. The point is that rtiom, although trying to incite reactivity and anger through emotional rhetoric, is correct in his assessment of modern American history. The U.S. government and its people have willingly participated in brutal acts to preserve its wealth and power. Rtiom's suggestion that this is akin to the acts of the Third Reich are inaccurate, but the fact remains that we (I'm an American) have committed some heinous crimes in our history. His point that we annihilated the indigenous people of this continent while simultaneously "owning" Africans should be an indicator that our founding fathers didn't create a perfect Union, but created a document (The Constitution) that allows for our Union to become more equitable and fair over time.

We must not pretend to be a perfect country. Within the pretentious thought of our country being infallible is a rigidity that would have prevented the Emancipation, prevented the Civil Rights Movement, prevented Women's Rights. The idea that our country has no progress to make currently prevents Gay Rights, encourages the prejudice against Muslims and Mexicans, and ultimately contributes to the false pretense of American Exceptionalism. One of Hitler's most successful tactics in controlling the German people was to convince them they were exceptional whilst other peoples were inferior. Let us not fall for that trap any longer.

I find it laughable that any American can be prejudice against anybody since Americans are by definition foreigners; immigrants sometime after 1492 searching for a better life. Is this not what a Mexican family seeks in leaving a poor country torn apart by internal conflict, drug wars, and a corrupt government. My family came here during the potato famine, and if many modern Americans had it there way my family (and likely their own families) would never have been let into this country.

dmxi
dmxi
12 years ago

have you,gentlemen,ever considered to track down the financiers of both atrocial wars?did you ever track down the benefitors of these dilemma's ?do you even know who financially stood behind every contradicting party? do you comprehend that nazi germany couldn't have enjoyed expansion without u.s. patented synthetic petroleum?do you know that the russian revolution was paid & induced by the same folk(trotzky,look it up),that gave life to the 'fed'?
it's up to everyone ,to find the truth....but at least try???????

docoman
docoman
12 years ago

I wasn't meaning to be degrading to Italy or Italians, just saying their heart wasn't in either of the WW's, and were thus not up for a proper fight. I wish we (Australia) had even 1/10th of their history and culture.

docoman
docoman
12 years ago

I had a major operation a few years ago, by a quality surgeon, that saved my life. I didn't have any insurance at all, but that wasn't an issue. My only cost was to pay for a TV while I was admitted. As I understand it, under the US system that wouldn't be case.
Basically, anyone who gets hurt here, citizen or visitor, 'should' be given good, professional care at little to no cost.
It is going downhill though, more and more the pharmaceutical companies are getting their way. Its probably only a matter of time until we're more or less the same as the US here, regretfully.

docoman
docoman
12 years ago

And why then, be an ally with Japan, as in WWI they were on our side?

docoman
docoman
12 years ago

Payback, with a large dose of interest included.

docoman
docoman
12 years ago

I didn't get past reading that post about the Nazi's only wanting to regain ground and get some payback. I was kind of shocked that someone professing to having read up on the subject would say that.

PLsmscientist
PLsmscientist
12 years ago

Watched the first 3 parts and must say I like it. However the documentary fails to explain why at some point Germany hated the jews. The same tactik was used in the past years to show those bad kamikaze islamist in Palestine who blow themselves up killing civilian jews, forgetting the reason behind these extrem gestures. Once you understand the context of the events you realize that most germans soldiers were gentlemans compared to russians, english, hispanic races and obviously no one is so keen to prepare such a documentary of the sistemic murders by the US army.

rtiom
rtiom
12 years ago

Well if you read as much as you claim you have, then you would know that Hitlers objective was to take back all of the German territory it had lost in WW1, as well as exercise revenge on the countries that contributed to it's horrible state after the War. Not only was Germany not given assistance after the war they were made to pay huge fines. Also Tzar Nickolas-es wife, who happened to be the queen of Russia was of German royal descent. Germany had a long time treaty with Russia until it was broken by Russian interests during WW1. So the Germans pretty much had a reason for a revenge. Okay, so now lets talk about sub-human and stuff. I'm fairly certain all nations have fought for many different beliefs and religions, no matter how outrageous they may have been. Weather you believe in God, the bible, and that the world was created in 7 days. Or maybe you believe that there were many Gods that rule all aspects of life. Or how about not even believing in anything but science and atheism. Well, Hitler believed in a superior race that came from space. It so happens that he has very good reason to believe this as well because as you might know since you read so much that ancient texts dating thousands of years talk about ancient civilizations that left behind mysteries we are baffled about today, have been described as white people. Lastly if you don't like a quote by one Russia's and the worlds greatest Authors maybe you would appreciate the wisdom of Plato who has a quote with the same ideology.

whitecloudboy
whitecloudboy
12 years ago

Well Soros of course history tells us many a country and race have piled atrocities on their fellow man.All are unforgivable.The germans take a lot of beating in the game of inhumanity . Upwards of 50 million dead.As the doco said it would have been half that number if the "Gutless Generals had stepped up 10 moths before the end of the war.So perhaps you should go back to your roots and rethink, Good luck to growing that small moustache maybe you can take rtiom with you, or are you one and the same.Sorry Soros _SS_have a nice day...

dmxi
dmxi
12 years ago

britain ruled the world with less manpower & i believe they latently still do !

dmxi
dmxi
12 years ago

''accidently double posted & this is it's removal!''-by oxymoron

dmxi
dmxi
12 years ago

the borderlines of modern day europe were sketched up in the 1880's,i believe to have read somewhere (have to look up the article again!) & ww1 didn't bring the satisfying results,which made ww2 a necessity !politics had to change more & more to decentralize nations souvereignty & make way for more monopolistic government (EU,NATO,....),et voila (that's french for ta-daah!) & that's where we are today......moving steadily but surely towards a global hegemony!

magarac
magarac
12 years ago

The most important thing here is to learn a lesson from the past.
Given the situation after WW1 with wide spread unemployment, hunger and poverty in an industrial nation it is quite understandable that people were less than happy. And hitler of cause was the right person to use this situation for his own goals. Finding scapegoats for misstakes that have been made by different political leaders was basically all he had to do.

Something that could happen just as easy today in any country.