0 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,000 So, let's start. Let's begin by explaining the end of the war in Europe, because liberation 1 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:16,000 in Europe, the liberation in Europe, the liberation from the Nazis was hastened, fue apresurado, 2 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:24,000 by the Normandy landings, which happened on the 6th of June in 1944. So the liberation 3 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:34,000 of Europe, the Allies got the, the Allies, I mean the UK, the United States, got the 4 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:42,000 liberation of Europe, the liberation of Europe was hastened by the Normandy landings, which 5 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:51,000 happened on the 6th of June in 1944. We all know that when the troops from the UK, the 6 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:59,000 United States, and also the Canadian troops, the Canadian troops were part in this important 7 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:15,000 operation, exactly, invaded the coast of France, exactly, and the liberation of Europe began. 8 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:19,000 So the liberation of Europe was hastened by the Normandy landings, which happened on the 9 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:27,000 6th of June in 1944, when the UK, the United States, and the Canadian troops landed in 10 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:35,000 France. But I'm going to explain, I'm going to explain the origin of this operation, which 11 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:44,000 was called Operation Overlord, when the Allies landed in the coast of France. And I'm going 12 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:54,000 to explain very, very quickly the Allied strategy. So how was the Allied strategy? 13 00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:01,000 The strategy, which was designed mainly by the UK and the United States. From the beginning 14 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:14,000 of this war, the Allies tried to involve Yemeni in a two-front war. It was the main weakness 15 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:22,000 in Germany. Hitler tried to avoid, from the beginning of this war, a two-front war, because 16 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:32,000 he knew that if Germany had a two-front war, he would lose the war. And for this reason, 17 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:40,000 from the very beginning, the Allies tried to involve Germany in a two-front war. They 18 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:49,000 tried first in Italy. In Italy, they tried first. When Rommel retreated from Tunisia, 19 00:02:49,000 --> 00:03:00,000 he retreated to Italy. And we explained that the Allies landed in the spring of, from the 20 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:11,000 spring, from the spring to the summer of 1943. The Allies thought that they might advance 21 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:18,000 from the Italian, alongside the Italian peninsula. But actually, they were very, very quickly 22 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:29,000 stuck. Estancados. They were stuck. They couldn't advance. And for this reason, this strategy 23 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:39,000 to involve Yemeni in a two-front war, because the two fronts were here in the Italian peninsula. 24 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:47,000 There was one front of war, and the other front was in the east, exactly, when they 25 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:55,000 were fighting the Nazis against the Soviet Union. So, as this theater of war in Italy 26 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:04,000 ended in failure, because the Allies were not able to advance in the Italian peninsula, 27 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:12,000 they were stuck here. The defenses from the Germans were formidable, paramount. So, as 28 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:20,000 they ended in failure, as the Allies ended in failure, they fought in another front, 29 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:28,000 in another place to land their forces. And at the end of, I would say that at the end 30 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:42,000 of 1943, in the Tehran Conference, at the end of 1943, the Allies very, very quickly 31 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:50,000 changed the theater of war from Italy, and they started to prepare the future landing 32 00:04:50,000 --> 00:05:00,000 in France. I would say, as I said before, at the end of 1943. So, this is the picture 33 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:07,000 of the landing on the 6th of June of 1943, when the troops from the UK, from the United 34 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:15,000 States, and the Canadian troops landed on Normandy beaches. Here we have another picture 35 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:25,000 of the coast of Normandy, when the Allies ended successfully this operation. Who was 36 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:35,000 in charge of this operation? The Supreme Commander was General Eisenhower, from the United States, 37 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:40,000 very important general later on in the Cold War, and he became later on a president in 38 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:50,000 the United States. But the tactical general was General Montgomery, Monty, from the UK. 39 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:59,000 They were planning to land on the Normandy beaches, instead of landing here in the Calais, 40 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:07,000 and over to Calais, which was the narrowest point from Britain to France. The vast majority 41 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:14,000 of the German troops were waiting from here, the invasion, because it was the narrowest 42 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:24,000 point. But the Allies faked them, they tricked them, and they, in the overall operation, 43 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:30,000 they designed the operation to land on the Normandy beaches. So, I'm going to explain 44 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:40,000 in detail the operation in five different steps. We are going to study now in depth 45 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:51,000 the Operation Overlord operation, but we have one question first from Alejandro. Alejandro? 46 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:59,000 Was this kind of attack from Italy what they used in order to... I heard that there was 47 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:09,000 an operation by the British to leave a body next to the coast in Spain, so that the Spanish 48 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:15,000 government would find it and notify it to the Nazi government, and then so that they 49 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:23,000 could think that they were going to land in Italy. Was this the main reason why they did it or not? 50 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:33,000 Yes, yes. Thank you for the question. It was a very famous operation. It was called Operation 51 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:48,000 Mincemeat. Operation Mincemeat. It was designed by the British exactly, and they 52 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:58,000 left a dead body in the coast of Huelva so as to trick the Germans who were in the Iberian 53 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:07,000 Peninsula. Because this dead body contained several papers which gave the information to 54 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:15,000 the Germans that the Allies were planning to land in Greece instead of landing in Sicily, 55 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:22,000 and they tricked the Germans because Hitler expected the landing from North Africa in Greece. 56 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:30,000 But, as you know, Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Italy, took place in the summer. 57 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:39,000 They tricked them, and the Allies thought that they were able to advance alongside the Italian 58 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:47,000 Peninsula, from Sicily alongside the Italian Peninsula. But the Germans built here a very, 59 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:57,000 very strong, formidable defensive network of fortresses which stopped the Allies. 60 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:05,000 And later on, when the Allies managed to land in Rome in the Anzio operation, 61 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:13,000 but it happened in January 1944, the Germans built another network of fortresses. 62 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:21,000 This is the famous Battle of Monte Cassino. The Allies were not able to advance alongside the 63 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:31,000 Italian Peninsula, and for this reason, the Allies finally made the decision to invade France 64 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:41,000 instead of advancing alongside the Italian Peninsula. But this operation of espionage 65 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:49,000 managed to trick the Germans because they were expecting the Allies in Greece instead of in 66 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:57,000 the Italian Peninsula. Thank you so much for the question, and now we are going to explain in 67 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:04,000 detail the Overlord operation in four or five different steps. 68 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:05,000 Luis? 69 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:07,000 Elena? 70 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:14,000 Is that Bruno and Quique are saying through WhatsApp that they are not able to hear you 71 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:18,000 or to see you, so they are not listening to anything. 72 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:20,000 And the rest of you? 73 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,000 Yeah, perfectly, in my case. 74 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,000 All of you except Enrique? 75 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:26,000 And Bruno. 76 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:31,000 And Bruno. So I'm going to record the lesson for them, okay? 77 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:37,000 Actually, I'm recording this lesson for them, and I'm going to upload this lesson in the future 78 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:45,000 platform, and I can send the class after this class, okay? So say to them that they don't have 79 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:53,000 to worry. So let's explain in four different steps the Operation Overlord. This operation 80 00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:02,000 had many, many obstacles because the Allies were preparing an invasion before. Actually, 81 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:17,000 in August in 1942, 5,000 Canadians landed in the famous port of Dieppe. But this campaign, 82 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:27,000 this operation ended in failure. Actually, less than half of the soldiers returned to their 83 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:35,000 positions, and the other half died in this operation. But this operation was really good 84 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:44,000 for the Allies to learn some lessons for the future Overlord operation. For example, they 85 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:56,000 learned that they would rather invade beaches instead of ports. The Dieppe port was a port, 86 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:05,000 and it was extremely fortified. And the Allies learned that it was better to invade an open 87 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:11,000 beach rather than a port. This is the first lesson. The second lesson that they learned, 88 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:21,000 it was that it's better to invade, it was better to invade a place with air superiority, 89 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:27,000 because if you don't have air superiority, if you land many, many troops in a position, 90 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:34,000 you are not going to get this position without air superiority due to the formidable defenses 91 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:37,000 from the Germans. Elisa. 92 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,000 What does shale beaches mean? 93 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:49,000 Playas de esquisto, made of stones. They were made up of stones. 94 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:59,000 Exactly. This is another lesson for the Allies when they landed in Dieppe. The beach in Dieppe 95 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:08,000 was composed of stones, and it was better to land in some beaches instead of landing in shale 96 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:19,000 beaches, made up of stone. I'm going to explain now the Allied plan, the Overlord operation, 97 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:29,000 which displayed 1.5 million soldiers to the coast of France. Incredible, the figure. 98 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:40,000 And the plan was based on the following. The Allies were planning to drop paratroopers, 99 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:57,000 paracaidistas, behind the German line. The Allied plan was based on the following. They were 100 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:05,000 planning to land paratroopers, paracaidistas, behind the German lines. Here we have the German 101 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:13,000 lines. And what was the main goal? The main goal was to land troops here on the beaches, 102 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:23,000 and also to drop paratroopers behind the German lines, because the main goal, the main aim was to 103 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:35,000 reach a beachhead, una cabeza de playa. And once they took the beachhead, they would advance 104 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:45,000 to the interior. In what direction? Up to Paris. But it was very, very difficult because the German 105 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:54,000 defenses were formidable. They built the Atlantic Wall, and General Rommel, who was a successful 106 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:05,000 general from North Africa, was in charge of the Atlantic Wall. Actually, General Rommel laid, 107 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:15,000 pay attention, what amount of mines? General Rommel gave the order to lay. He laid one million 108 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:22,000 mines per month. Incredible. So it was very difficult. I'm going to repeat it again. It was 109 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:31,000 very difficult for the Allies to advance. It was very difficult for them because the German defenses 110 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:42,000 were formidable, were paramount. Rommel gave the order to lay one million mines per month, 111 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:51,000 but it was true that it was impossible to cover 3,000 kilometers of coast. So what was the main 112 00:15:51,000 --> 00:16:00,000 weakness for the Germans? That it was impossible to cover with troops 3,000 kilometers of the French 113 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:11,000 coast. Elisa. The Atlantic Wall? Where was it? Was it like a physical wall or are you referring 114 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:19,000 to all the barriers? I'm referring to all barriers or fortresses which were built by the Germans 115 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:29,000 alongside the French coast. Okay. And also, Hitler gave the order to supervise this operation. 116 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:40,000 Hitler gave the order to supervise the operation. So when the Allies landed on the French coast, 117 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:49,000 Hitler gave the order to command their own troops. But the Allies knew this in advance and they 118 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:59,000 landed during the night when Hitler was sleeping. And the German generals who were close to Hitler 119 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:09,000 decided not to wake him up. So the answer for the Germans when the Allies were landing for this 120 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:17,000 reason was very, very delayed and weak. Actually, as I said before many times, the Allies would 121 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:26,000 prefer to have Hitler in power because he made many, many mistakes in the war. Elisa. 122 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,000 Sorry, but I don't totally understand the second point. What did Hitler say? 123 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:43,000 Hitler gave the order to command himself his own troops if one landing like this would happen. 124 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:53,000 Okay. But due to the intelligence, the Allies knew that and they decided to start the landing during 125 00:17:53,000 --> 00:18:00,000 the night. So Hitler was sleeping and his main generals decided not to wake him up. 126 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:09,000 And for these reasons, the German response was very, very weak because Hitler didn't know 127 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:17,000 about it, didn't know about it up to the morning. And also another mistake was that the Germans 128 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:27,000 were expecting the landing here in the narrowest point from Dover to Calais. And it made sense 129 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:34,000 because it was the narrowest point and if the Allies landed here, they would be close to 130 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:41,000 Brussels and to Germany. And the Germans thought and Hitler thought that the landing would take 131 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:53,000 place here and the Allies made everything to encourage this idea to the Germans. 132 00:18:54,000 --> 00:19:00,000 The Allies made everything to convince the Germans that they would land here. Actually, 133 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:10,000 they did two important things. They built a fake army here in the region of Kent, in the Kent 134 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:19,000 region in the UK and General Patton was in charge of it. It was a fake army because they built 135 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:26,000 tanks and soldiers made up of plastic to trick the Germans and they managed to trick them. 136 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:36,000 And also the famous spy Garbo Juan Pujol from Spain, who was at that time a double agent for 137 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:44,000 the British and for the Germans, but he was working mainly for the Allies. He was in favor 138 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:52,000 of the Allied cause, but he was working also for the Germans. And Garbo gave the idea to Hitler 139 00:19:52,000 --> 00:20:03,000 also that the Allies would land in Calais. And Hitler trusted him. I strongly recommend this 140 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:11,000 documentary about fortress operation and about Garbo if you want to know more about how Garbo 141 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:20,000 managed to trick Hitler at this point. So what happened next? When the Allied troops landed in 142 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:29,000 the Normandy beaches and when the paratroopers reached the beachhead behind the German troops, 143 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:42,000 they advanced through Paris. Actually, they entered in Paris in August 1944. The Germans 144 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:52,000 surrendered and the Allies released Paris in August 1944. Do we have questions? Alejandro was first. 145 00:20:53,000 --> 00:21:02,000 It wasn't the Spanish Volunteers Brigade the ones who liberated Paris? 146 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:13,000 According to the myth, because it was a myth, the Allies gave the chance to the Leclerc 147 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:21,000 Brigade, which took part in the Spanish Civil War, to be the first one to enter in Paris, 148 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:28,000 because they fought against Nazi Germany and against General Franco in the Spanish Civil War. 149 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:35,000 Then they left the country when the Republicans lost the Spanish Civil War. They were in a 150 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:44,000 concentration camp in the southern part of France. This is true. But the French government 151 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:49,000 gave them the chance to join the Allies during the Second World War. Some of them joined the 152 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:58,000 Allies troops. And according to the myth, the Allies, Eisenhower gave the chance to them to 153 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:08,000 enter first in Paris. But it was only a myth because the Allies were very, very mixed at this 154 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:15,000 point of war. All of them entered together. To be honest, it's impossible to know who entered first 155 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:21,000 because they sold us the myth that the Leclerc Brigade from the Spanish Civil War entered first. 156 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:27,000 Thank you for the questions. Do we have more questions? No. 157 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:38,000 So we are about to finish. All of this happened in Paris. The Allies reached the city in August. 158 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:48,000 And after Paris, they went directly to Germany to release Germany. This is the beginning when 159 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:59,000 the Allies were planning to bomb the Yemen cities. So as to force them to surrender. So 160 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:12,000 after Paris, the Allies prepared an operation to bomb the Yemen cities in order to force them to 161 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:19,000 surrender. And the most famous bombing was the bombing of the city of Dresden, the Dresden 162 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:30,000 Bombardment, when in February 1945, more than 100,000 Germans died in this bombing. And as you 163 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:37,000 can see here from the Gothic Cathedral, from the gargoyle, the city was completely destroyed. 164 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:44,000 They were the British who were in charge of this bombing. They destroyed completely the city of 165 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:53,000 Dresden. So as to force the Yemenis to surrender, but they didn't surrender and they carried on 166 00:23:53,000 --> 00:24:05,000 fighting. And what happened in the East? In the East, very, very simple. We're about to finish. 167 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:12,000 After the Battle of Stalingrad, and after the Battle of Kursk, during the summer in July 1943, 168 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:24,000 the Soviet Union carried on advancing from the East to the West. And actually, in August 1944, 169 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:32,000 they were in Warsaw. They released Warsaw, the capital of Poland, Warsaw. And at this point, 170 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:40,000 pay attention because the Soviet Union had 4 million soldiers and 4,000 tanks 171 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:50,000 in order to advance from Poland to Yemen. So you will understand why they managed, 172 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:59,000 they were the ones who managed to conquer first and to release first the city of Berlin. Antonio. 173 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:10,000 So the Soviet Union took back Poland and all the territories that border Germany? 174 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:20,000 Exactly. After the Battle of the Kursk, they released Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, then Poland, 175 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:28,000 and also Romania and Hungary. So I will say that after the Battle of Stalingrad, 176 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:36,000 after the Battle of the Kursk, the Soviet Union or the Russians released Poland, Romania, 177 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:46,000 and Bulgaria. And from this point, they advanced directly to release Berlin. And they had 4 178 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:53,000 million soldiers to release Berlin. That's why they were the first ones to release the capital, 179 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:59,000 which was the capital of Yemen, the capital of Yemen. And what happened with the Allies? 180 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:09,000 The Allies in March in 1943, they were stuck here. They were stuck, they were stuck here 181 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:19,000 in the River Green, in this area between Bonn and Frankfurt. They were stuck here 182 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:27,000 because they couldn't advance. Hitler, on purpose, destroyed all bridges in the River Rhine, 183 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:35,000 the Rio Rin, the River Rhine, and the Allies were stuck around this area. 184 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:42,000 They were fighting in the famous Battle of Riemagen, Riemagen Bridge, in March in 1943. 185 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:49,000 Because they couldn't advance, Hitler destroyed all bridges except this one, but it was very, 186 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:58,000 very difficult for the Allies to advance and to cross the Rhine. That's why the Soviet Union 187 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:08,000 managed to conquer first and to enter first in Berlin. Okay. In April, we were in March, 188 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:17,000 and now we are going to travel to April. In April, Mussolini and Hitler died. They knew that 189 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:26,000 they were about to lose this war, and they decided to kill themselves. Hitler in the bunker, 190 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:36,000 and also Mussolini. Mussolini was caught in the northern part of Italy. He was caught by 191 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:47,000 partisans, Italian people who were against Mussolini. They were mainly communists. 192 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:55,000 They caught him and they hanged him in the main market in Milan. 193 00:27:56,000 --> 00:28:07,000 They caught him with his lover, Clara Petacci, and both of them were hanged in the main market 194 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:18,000 in Milan, and they died in the same month, okay, in April. In April or in May? In April, sorry. 195 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:24,000 Both of them here, as you can see here in the conceptual map, died. Finally, 196 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:41,000 the Soviet Union entered Berlin on the 7th of May. The Soviet Union entered Berlin, 197 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:47,000 and on the 8th of May, it was when Germany surrendered, and it was the end of the war in 198 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:54,000 Europe, but not on the Pacific Ocean. The war carried on on the Pacific Ocean 199 00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:01,000 up to September, but we will explain that tomorrow.