HowAreUNow
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a little bit of a lesser known fact of WWII
Is it just me or... forsenE?
WalksWithNoFear
#1 “And now for you I play the acoustic version of ‘Shoot To Thrill’
bumbl3b33
#6 He didn't die even after they shot him in the fucking head.
thisisnodrill
I see a lot of old myth that it was Winter that defeated the NAZIs in Russia. The bigger factor was the scorched earth strategy.
eldieron24
The first WW wasn't exactly Germany's fault, and forcing the blame on them is part of what led to WWII
Rifneno
BSPlissken
Asteroidrules
YourLocalSatanist
Me the whole time
MoltarsGhost
I smell a russian circlejerk.
BlueCat1
Does anyone else think it’s kind of ironic to colorize historic photos of the KKK? 1/3
BlueCat1
Especially since they’re going to be black and white either way?... Sorry, I’m a terrible person. 2/2
Sephiyevon
We living in the golden age of the internet. Enjoy these memes, the future is dark and full of terrors. Also spicy wind got a laugh from me.
auscaliber
Probably the least accurate history meme dump I've seen so far, but still a good laf
daniePandaSmasher
Please upvote my other comments in this thread to spread non-biased historical awareness.
auscaliber
1) no such thing as non-biased history. thinking otherwise is a very scary axiom to believe. 2) Wow. no, not after reading that drivel
ToxynceScares
Austria started ww1 Not Germany.
PrussianFox
#1 - lacking Roumania, and Hungary did a heck of a lot for the Axis forces.
mizcs
Croatia was also involved after the allied coup in Yugoslavia after Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite pact
frostherz
Germany didn‘t start WW 1.
Lobuttomize
People talk about the Winter War like the USSR got crushed but if Stalin really wanted to keep going Finland would've lost
ratfinkfuck
like I know it's a bit of a memerino but there's a lot of legit western propaganda there
tumppu
At the same time, soviet union / russia is nothing BUT propaganda. And finland did lose, as people always seem to forget.
turpasauna
They certainly were humiliated and their poor performance was seen by the germans as a sign of weakness, increasing willingness to attack.
SarminBandit
Just to be that guy. Germany didnt start WWI. There were desperate attempts towards Russia to prevent it even.
0masuk0
Nikolay proposed that he will stop mobilisation if wilhelm does too and let international court deal with franz case. Wilhem declared war.
QuintusAureliusSymmachus
Germany declared war after the Russians failed to respond to a telegram, which gave them 24 hours to suspend mobilization against Austria.
0masuk0
Lol, they are mobilizing and demand that Russia one-sidedly don't, no way that was reasonalble. N. demanded gurantees and W. didn't provide.
QuintusAureliusSymmachus
Exactly. As Sidney Fay said: "Germany did not plot a European war, did not want one and made genuine, though belated efforts to avert one".
QuintusAureliusSymmachus
#37 Third picture is Dresden, not Berlin.
OddOod
I feel like it takes a lot to notice the difference. Like, it could have been minneapolis for all I could tell
QuintusAureliusSymmachus
Well it was quite easy to tell, as a German. The "Frauenkirche" on the very left of the picture is the hallmark of Dresden. Worth a visit.
ryan30z
Another place I wouldnt want to be in the war
A2DY79
These make my soul hurt.
Doumdidoum
The Germans always underrated the Americans. It was in their blindspot I guess. It took the Bulge in 45 to make them understand.
DoGoodSeeGood
The Germans seemed to underestimate most enemies during WWII. USA, GB and USSR most of all.
Doumdidoum
Even in WWI, Germans couldn't understand what happened at Belleau Woods. But for some reason, they overestimated the french and Canadians
DoGoodSeeGood
Uh.. I wouldn’t say they overestimated anyone at all. The French were the toughest enemy they faced in WWI and commonwealth troops were
DoGoodSeeGood
Amazing shocktroops. The Americans didn’t make great soldiers in WWI although they were quite brave.
Missfoster
USSR never surrendered, check your facts bro. ;)
LexiClarke
It’s referring to the Brest-Litovsk treaty which may as well have been a surrender as Russia was collapsing at the time anyhow.
Camelspotting
That's why it says Russia?
suzkon
When they surrendered, it wasn't called USSR yet, so technically you're both right.
PunIshErnest
That is, if he can show where it was stated that USSR surrendered
ConfuMeister
Yes. But the Russian empire was crippled by ww2 and they lost to Japan. Then came the Red Wave to summon up the Soviet Union.
ConfuMeister
ww1*
TransylvanianSkullCarver
the meme is about ww1, the guy you see is bismarck
QuintusAureliusSymmachus
Bismarck died in 1898, 16 years before WW1. The Pickelhaube is symbolic for the Prussian/WW1 German military.
mizcs
not Bismarck, Bismarck was long dead before ww1, its just a german wearing a Pickelhaube, possibly Ludendorff or Hindenburg
SpaceballsTheComment
#4 While I doubt he said that, I must admit I wasn't there, so he might as well have said that.
Counterfit
Sounds totally like something he would have said
fistthemwithfire
Yeah but he was German, so probably something more along the lines of "Auschwutz und Auschwitz, du bist jetzt mein Besitz".
IllegalDuckling
*Laughs in German*
DiogenesPendergast
Whenever someone mentions the Normandy attack I imagine it was planned by Zapp Brannigan, just throw people at them 0 strategy
MidlandRedux
You should read a good book about the Normandy invasion. It took two years to organize, and the deception plan worked beautifully . . .
MidlandRedux
. . . Most of German army was 200 miles away from Normandy. Half the German generals took the day off figuring the weather was too bad.
DiogenesPendergast
Reading a good propaganda book vs learning history in school about what a poor choice it was. I'll take the later
MidlandRedux
Okay, you learned that story in a school? Which one? And what does "propaganda" have to do with planning amphibious landings?
DiogenesPendergast
After the soviet colapse history in eu had some review.The nazis had everything on the E front losing to USSr so attacking a mined and 1\2
DiogenesPendergast
2\3 fortified beach like normandy was a bad choice for the same us soldiers, same thing about the 2 A bombs an "exagerated" response to PH.
MidlandRedux
Someone needs to review again. All the beaches in Northern France were "fortified and mined." Normandy beaches were less so than elsewhere.
tuggytooter
Amazing how much propaganda can exist in an "ole history meme dump"
DickDastardly404
Did you expect historical accuracy? If so, i feel I must ask why?
PunIshErnest
Because jokes require references and you can't just make them up...
DickDastardly404
I mean... these jokes play on layman understanding of history, so that's good enough isn't it?
DeviousWay
The H-Bomb won the war was the biggest.
DoGoodSeeGood
Like what? The only thing sticking out to me is the “cowardly French” trope.
PunIshErnest
Too many to count, even if ignoring all of misleading or idioticly incorrect ones. Germans starting WW1 is one propagandish ones.
DavosSeaworthTheOnionKnight
Ya..honestly Germany just defended their ally
bart2pl
the "brave and hard working russians", is sticking point ot me, in wwII they were savage hordes for whoom the idea of a clock was magic,
bart2pl
the strategy was laughable and won preety much just by sheer numbers alone, for the 1st week of the germany offensive stalin
bart2pl
closed himself in his room while his generals tried to squeez out of him what to do
DoGoodSeeGood
How’s it feel to parrot Nazi propaganda? Are you doing it intentionally?
Cralus
Amusingly the idea of the russians as "savage hordes" was started as German propoganda.
IdHaveSexualIntercourseWithHerIfSheLegallyConsentedToDoSoWithMe
DearAtlas
Spontaneus explosion ?
TheLastBaboon
Then Mulder and Scully would probably get a call.
KonaDrogokiin
mostdefinitelynotaduck
TrebuchetLaunchingFeces
speaking of that image, 3 fast boys
Counterfit
And also faster than the depicted boy
zombiefuton
My god...you solved it...
kerms
Really annoyed they used a 9mm pistol cartridge for this pic. JFK was shot by a rifle.
ItaloColombianAdventuresInJapan
BACK AND TO THE LEFT. BACK AND TO THE LEFT. BACK AND TO THE LEFT. BACK AND TO THE LEFT. BACK AND TO THE LEFT. BACK AND TO THE LEFT.
scotthunts
That movie: “There was smoke from the grassy knoll” Because smokeless powder is too mainstream for an assassination, so you use a musket
ISISKrieger
The location of the Kennedy section in the Presidential Library?
BunnieWigglesworth
Finkle and Einhorn!!
valembrossa9000
If that happened my head would explode. Along with a lot of other people. Chain reaction and what not.
AhritheFoxx
What if i told you that finland lost to russia...?
imnotryan
A million dead to fail to reach your objectives. By this measure the U.S. won in Vietnam.
turpasauna
What if i told you that soviet union (not russia) never reached main objectives and lost a shitload of men etc. against a piss-poor nation.
tumppu
You'd be wrong. Finland lost to the soviet union.
Asteroidrules
They won in the same sense Poland won the Polish-Soviet war: they were standing at the end of it so Russia didn't get what they wanted.
AhritheFoxx
But they did get what they wanted... all of it
utts
American presence was not really important during ww2 prussia collapsed due to internal problems mostly
MidlandRedux
Uh . . . dude, Prussia wasn't a combatant in either world war. Best read a book or two.
utts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Prussia it was, at least make sure youre right before correcting someone
MidlandRedux
Yeah, as I was saying, Prussia became part of the German Empire in 1871. So, do Ohio and Lincolnshire also get separate billing in the wars?
utts
oh so ohio did not take part in 2nd world war? good to know
MidlandRedux
Ohio not only took part in World War II, they produced more steel, grain, aircraft, and tires than Prussia.
ino84
Prussia was the dominant part (especially military) of the German Kaiserreich
ino84
You mean ww1, otherwise correct. Their tanks did help though, mainly for everyone to realize how important they’d be for the next war
utts
yea i do, miss clicked and cant edit on imgur
rookiefdb
USA didn't do shit in the world wars cept genocide japan abit. but if you count waiting till it was too late and not letting jews in
PunIshErnest
Ww1 - kinda yes. Ww2 - no, they send a lot of help to allies D-day wouldn't happened. Also they did most of the work against Japanese empire
rookiefdb
hitler would have won with out USA!
PunIshErnest
More like Stalin winning Europe, if we count troops only. With support, it could've went both ways
CyborgScribe
You mean other than the hundreds of millions of tons of stuff they gave their allies.
CyborgScribe
And in WW2 that whole campaign in Europe and helping liberate France. And fighting a war across the entirety of the Pacific.
CyborgScribe
With half a million soldiers across the two wars giving their lives.
rookiefdb
sold* they didn;t do it out of the kindness of their hearts.
MidlandRedux
No, the 80 billion in Lend Lease was basically direct aid. The US taxpayer covered the tab.
CyborgScribe
Are you familiar with the Lend Lease Act? We gave gear for later benefits or sold at a huge loss. The motive wasn't profit
lurker314
To be fair, El Mustache Man knew about Russia & the winter. The original plan was to invade sooner, but the conquest of the Balkans 1/
causality
Yeah but he made fuckstupid decisions like not distributing winter uniforms because he thought it'd hurt morale.
lurker314
Hadn't heard about that one. Buhahahahahahaha! He made a lot of mistakes. But these posts imply he invaded in winter. He knew better.
KongBjoern
IIRC it was also a wet spring, meaning that the nazis were delayed additionally 5 weeks, and then the winter of 42 was the worst in 50 years
lurker314
took too long. He then decided to invade with his tanks out of place. He would have almost certainly taken Leningrad otherwise. Not at 2/
SIngemeister
He didn't want to take Leningrad. He wanted to starve the people to death, and then flatten it.
lurker314
He wanted control of the World Island. Getting bogged down at Leningrad was something he most certainly did NOT want.
lurker314
all clear that this would have been enough to break Stalin, however. 3/3
catapulter
considering russia kept fighting napoleon after losing moscow, idoubt it woud have made a difference.and it wouldnt solve germany oilproblem
lurker314
If he had gotten Leningrad & Moscow before winter, it would have made it a lot easier to sustain his army while figuring out how to 1/
lurker314
winterize. It would have made a big difference. Probably not enough to win, though. 2/2
Comradesjeltonarmy
Didn't help that as Germany was pushing through conquering the Soviets Hitler started cleansing immediately instead ofusing the people who
Comradesjeltonarmy
Hated how Stalin treated them to his advantage then cleansed them after he won. Hitler was just dumb all around when it came to fighting
Comradesjeltonarmy
The Russians. Also didn't help that Japan fucked up and attacked the us instead of Russia. Russia then took all their Eastern front troops
joc101
His tactics were always that of Zapp Brannigan, send wave after wave of his own men until the nazis reached their kill limit and shut down
imnotryan
While instances of dumbassery did occur early on... The Russians as a whole fought well from the word "go" and only got better as it went.
UglyHorribleGrouchyOldMan
Ironically that was Russia's and China's main tactic as well. Quantity is a quality all its own.- J.S.
GlitterInTheDarkNearTheTannhauserGate
Mao Ze Dong had a famous saying: "the more people, the easier things are"
catapulter
thats is actually challenged in todays academic thought. hitler wanted to push for caucasus oil, but the generals wanted to push north.
imnotryan
There was never a clear consensus among the generals. Everyone had their own ideas. Hitler was swayed in all directions by them.
lurker314
That came later. The original plan was to take Leningrad & Moscow before winter.
IcelandBestland
This is common myth about the Soviet Union, and although they did have superior manpower, they did not simply throw men into the German
lurker314
I know that they did not JUST throw men at the line, but I need sources for the rest of your claims.
IcelandBestland
lines, this tactic was suicide after WW1. The Soviet Union had a sophisticated "Deep Battle" Doctrine, and by using massed tanks, airplanes
trismegist
Nobody was dumb enough to attack Russia during the winter, pretty much everyone attacked in the summer thinking they can win by winter time.
Vyshinsky
Which is arguably an even dumber strategy.
thisisnodrill
Also, Russia has been invaded successfully in all seasons. It is more to do with strategy and politics.
BarbedWireCatheter
To be fair, Russia attacked Russia in the winter and Russia won.
elbowdeepinagoose
Defend Russia using this one weird trick!
lukacko
Germany destroyed like 30k tanks. Hitler was flabbergasted at this fact, and the ruskies just kept making tanks at an incredible rate.
HoneNathan
Also if hitler had waited for Russia to be ready it probly would have gone worse for him.
MaverickEsq
maybe then the trick is to attack in the winter, fully prepared for winter combat and try to win by winter time. MILITARY GENIUS
o4kill
Russia's "backwardness" (aka mud roads") played a major factor every time this happened.
MidlandRedux
Shhhh . . . you're undermining a fun fact that allows anyone to think they understand military strategy.
TheAngryBear
Batu Khan would like a word.
kuba913
Zygmunt III Waza too
9gagjpeg
What about Australia during the summer
CyborgScribe
Turns out Russia is big
fuckthisshitwebsite
The Mongols attacked in winter and destroyed the whole country. Mud freezes in winter, and it's the mud that gets ya.
lon3wolf86
there is actually one country that taken over Moscow for 2 years.... tho Russia doing everything to cover it up
FurtiveGlancer
Sauce?
kuba913
Polsko sos
lon3wolf86
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Muscovite_War_(1605%E2%80%9318)
FurtiveGlancer
Hindsight is 20/20 hilter was on a roll, can blame him for being over confident - he was occuping at a very fast pace
imnotryan
Mechanization and waging a total war had changed war so much. It was reasonable for them to think the old rules of warfare could be overcome
mkelter
Tell that to the mongols
kuba913
Anyone remember Poland? We were in Moscow.
SweetSweetMemes
They were like 500km from Moscow before the rains hit and halted everything.... Then winter came.... Then they froze...
seentoomuchdeath
small SS unit made it to suburbs of Moscow, claimed able to see Red Square. Would've made it if Barbarossa not delayed by Yugo invasion
SweetSweetMemes
Thank fuck for that
imnotryan
More like 25-30km from Moscow
YouKnowThatRandomGuyWhoLikesVikingsNamedBerzerkerlord
The only people who could attack Russia in the winter are the Finnish.
Tbkssom
Just wear a coat lmao
Biteenplatre
Russia has been successfully invaded in winter. The real problem is invading Russia when every russian would die before giving up.
GuardsmanMiku
Except the Martians in Aldnoah.Zero
Suariotheweird
The mongols did
TestingMonkey
Yeah but they're the exception.
kuba913
And Poland?
MidlandRedux
Interesting fact: it wasn't Hitler who didn't order winter uniforms for German troops. It was the much-vaunted German general staff . . .
MidlandRedux
. . . The German army's operational skill obscures, for most people, their history of bungling most of their strategic planning.
imnotryan
When its so politically charged around a cult of personality.. Caution (such as bringing winter clothes for a "summer op") is career suicide
imnotryan
I'm sure exactly what DID happen was on the minds of every German general. But that doesn't mean they could do anything about it.
sneaker2
Maybe so. SHOULD invade in winter to reach Moscow by summer? Vote for me and find out whether or not I'm the greatest strategist of all time
RogueLanguageModel
The circle is complete.
Counterfit
Well, there's that whole "mud" issue when all the snow melts.
IncorrektGramerNazi
.. or if you just wont even get started since you will start with a loss against the Russian winter and back-track to your country
TooDumbToCare
Germany's problem wasn't winter. It was spring when the frost thawed and all their gear got stuck in the mud. 1/
RussainBot
I would argue getting their teeth kicked in that winter wasn't helpful.
TooDumbToCare
They did OK in the Winter. Not great, but OK.
RussainBot
Getting pushed back 200 miles and loosing thousands of troops to preventable things like frostbite is doing "OK"?
TooDumbToCare
If you ask me, apparently it is.
TooDumbToCare
Before then the russian army was crap with no real training. A new general who trained tankdrivers to be fix their tanks didn't help Nazis.
hyenan786
Exactly. They wasnt well prepared for winter but spring had them dreaming of those lax days
cspinasdf
If hitler had just gone straight after Moscow instead of dicking around, he would have cut off the West from the East, due to the railroads.
RussainBot
This man types wisdom.
Comradesjeltonarmy
But he had to help Italy with their stupid shit. Pushing his invasion of Russia back from May to late June. He almost had Moscow.
seentoomuchdeath
It was a delay to invade Yugislavia because of his bruised ego when they threw out a Nazi appeasing government.
seentoomuchdeath
He dicked around invading Yugoslavia because his ego got a boo boo. Delayed Barbarossa. Would have made Moscow if not for that.
HypoMix
I think he went for oil instead, they were running out.
hyenan786
Agreed. But that would probaly have made little difference. Germany didnt have any real use for moscow but craved the resources in the south
hyenan786
Napoleon did exactly that and it kinda ended the exact same way
cspinasdf
Yeah but the rail lines from the east ran through Moscow. It would have limited Russian reinforcements.
trismegist
They were wrong.
Vizreki
Pootisborn
Russia is a big place.
imnotryan
Mostly useless. Even more so then. The Russians couldn't live/fight in siberia forever with their farmlands gone. They'd eventually starve.
catapulter
but they are about to find out that winning a land war in russia... ain't so easy.
Draevan13
Hitler: "I can beat the Russians before Winter!" Narrator: "He did not".
brujahenforcer
So the trick is to prepare and attack during winter?
Mackeroy
or just wear furry little hats, like mongolians
ZombieZooZombieZoo
Seemed to work for them. That, and an unceasing desire to conquer all before them.
Mackeroy
yeah but hitler and napolean had that bit, but not the furry hats
ZombieZooZombieZoo
Hendlton
Kind of, yes. Fight close to home in winter so the supplies can easily reach you and then by the time you're far away, it's summer again.