I just finished watching this YouTube on the diaries of a Nazi tank commander who took part in Barbarossa. It's in two parts:
Part 1 is about an hour and a half; it starts with the invasion of Poland and goes to the winter of 1941.
Part 2 is about an hour; it starts from the end of part 1 and covers the first part of the retreat from Moscow.
The video is all archival scenes, many of which I hadn't seen before, but the most interesting part to me is his change of attitude. He starts out proclaiming that Germany is the world's center of culture and civilization (as the soldiers shoot wounded prisoners and steal food from hungry peasants). He ends up writing that "Hitler used to be one of us, now he's one of them," meaning the "beer hall strategists" who order the soldiers to do impossible tasks while sitting in the warmth and comfort of Berlin.
It's kind of a time commitment, but it's worth the effort. I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of anybody else who watched it.
Part 1 is about an hour and a half; it starts with the invasion of Poland and goes to the winter of 1941.
Part 2 is about an hour; it starts from the end of part 1 and covers the first part of the retreat from Moscow.
The video is all archival scenes, many of which I hadn't seen before, but the most interesting part to me is his change of attitude. He starts out proclaiming that Germany is the world's center of culture and civilization (as the soldiers shoot wounded prisoners and steal food from hungry peasants). He ends up writing that "Hitler used to be one of us, now he's one of them," meaning the "beer hall strategists" who order the soldiers to do impossible tasks while sitting in the warmth and comfort of Berlin.
It's kind of a time commitment, but it's worth the effort. I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of anybody else who watched it.
