Why Did the German Army Fight to the End?

Comments · 3.2K

• AL

  @alexbowman7582 · 3 years ago

  That typically grim German contemporary late war joke, “enjoy the war whilst you can, the peace will be worse”.

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• TO

  @Torgo1001 · 5 years ago

  "Enjoy the war -- the peace will be terrible." -- Graffiti left on walls in Berlin in early 1945.

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• CJ

  @CJinsoo · 6 years ago

  “Huge bribes at the top, and bullets at the bottom.”  Classic!

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• BR

  @bradleyeric14 · 8 years ago

  &apos;People should know when they are conquered.&apos;<br>&apos;Would you Quintus, would I?&apos;

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• RA

  @ramicohen1536 · 3 years ago

  I love Dr Robert Citino! He is just so gripping in his story telling of WWII. His enthusiasm is infectious. Thank you.

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• BC

  @bcvetkov8534 · 3 years ago

  More people need to say this. Thank you for leaving the comment section up so people can actually share their own opinions with this video.

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• JV

  @jvincent6548 · 7 years ago (edited)

  As a young graduate I began my first job in Germany (West Germany, back then). I was 25 years old. I stayed at a small family run hotel opposite the railway station. The family had run it for years. It was a fine old building and I had estimated that it was built around 1880, judging from the style of its architecture. &nbsp;I spoke fluent German and got on with the family well. Herr Ralf Dommershausen would invite me up to the family&apos;s apartments to drink beer and to watch football: West Germany were on their way that year to winning a World Cup. Ralf was a very handsome and engaging man and we laughed a lot together as I listened to his stories. He had been aged just 10 years at the very end of the war. He told me that he and his friends used to &apos;shimmy up&apos; to the loudspeakers attached high on lamp posts in the town to stuff old socks into them in order to muffle the recorded rantings of the Führer which were broadcast incessantly from them. He also told me that the Nazis had told the population that black US soldiers would eat captured German children. Herr Dommershausen had two older brothers. I can not remember their names. One evening I was invited to dinner with the family and there I met Ralf&apos;s brothers. Both were grim, tough, hard looking men, unsmiling with etched skin taught over their angular features. Both strikingly handsome and both tall, lithe and fit, though both would have been well into their seventies at the time. Both had been soldiers - and at least one, I think, an &apos;offizier&apos; - in the Waffen SS. Still, today I get a shiver and a thrill when I recall that evening. &nbsp;I did not dare to ask them about their time fighting during the war. The company I worked for was founded by a young highly gifted physicist who had walked back to Germany after his release from a Russian POW camp sometime in the late 1940s. His company became, and still is, part of the world-famous German Mittelstand. I do look back fondly at my 10 years in Germany.

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• SO

  @sophigenitor · 3 years ago

  One of those soldiers senselessly killed in the last year of the war was my Granddad, my Dad was 4 at that time and never new his father.

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• GE

  @gerryconstant4914 · 2 years ago (edited)

  My grandson was fortunate to take a high school Advanced WWII History Class from a teacher who works at the speaker&apos;s museum during the summer.<br>His class was able to do research there &amp; attend several conferences for university professors from all over the world.<br>They even did podcasts about campaigns called Tigers By The Fire on Apple Podcasts. His was on Operation Torch &amp; he compared it to modern events.

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• JH

  @jhb1493 · 5 years ago

  It&apos;s very nice to see a long term academic of this caliber being engaged in a Q&amp;A session like this. He was asked some very interesting questions, and clearly loved the chance to share his knowledge with an appreciative audience. I have no real interest in the high res history of WWII, but the enthusiasm, scope and ability to extract and share lessons fellows like this have to offer is fascinating.

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• JO

  @josephr.gainey2079 · 6 years ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI72BLrwqR0&amp;t=1611">26:51</a> &nbsp;&quot;You act in haste and, of course, you have leisure time to repent.&quot; Life in a nutshell!!!! &nbsp;A WONDERFUL QUOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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• DA

  @davidswift7776 · 7 years ago

  Citino’s passion is undeniable, he really conveys a confidence that he truly knows what he explains. I’m sure he was very close to being insanely involved in his research. Doctorates take you to &nbsp;this next level. Well done, very comprehensive. Thanks for the post 👍

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