Smithsonian Channel. WW2

[HarleyDog]

I'm not sure if most of you get this channel. I have a streaming package that gets me a ton of channels. This weekend, I watched this one. 

Good Lord! I will start off by saying this channel shows actual footage of wars and nothing but. The destruction, death, pain, and agony. The strategies and agonies of our military during it's most trying times. The achievements and failures. The lives lost. 

I started watching the channel and within 15 minutes was hooked. As a veteran, I am so intrigued and more proud of my brothers/sisters than ever. I learned things I never knew. 

In WW2 alone. The death count was anywhere from 70-85 million deaths. However, 6 million of those deaths were Jewish, which I think some people thought was the majority of fatalities during the war. It was a brutal war between nations. There have been many who have sacrificed their lives for freedom and humanity.

May GOD hold you close.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(05-26-2025, 07:54 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: I'm not sure if most of you get this channel. I have a streaming package that gets me a ton of channels. This weekend, I watched this one. 

Good Lord! I will start off by saying this channel shows actual footage of wars and nothing but. The destruction, death, pain, and agony. The strategies and agonies of our military during it's most trying times. The achievements and failures. The lives lost. 

I started watching the channel and within 15 minutes was hooked. As a veteran, I am so intrigued and more proud of my brothers/sisters than ever. I learned things I never knew. 

In WW2 alone. The death count was anywhere from 70-85 million deaths. However, 6 million of those deaths were Jewish, which I think some people thought was the majority of fatalities during the war. It was a brutal war between nations. There have been many who have sacrificed their lives for freedom and humanity.

May GOD hold you close.

The civilian deaths in Russia and China overwhelm pretty much every other category. We talk about the Nazi/Russian front a bit more because it was still the European part of the war, but Japan was truly awful in mainland Asia. We weren't as involved there so I feel like it doesn't get covered here quite as much, but some serious atrocities that globally they didn't get quite the same stigma from as the Germans did.

I think while the 6 million Jewish deaths aren't the largest number, it's perhaps the % that potentially makes it such a larger tragedy than some of the others. The Jewish population in 1939 was 16.5m globally, and then 6 million (or 36.4%) were killed in 6 years. So while China lost 15-20m people in WW2 which is a staggeringly large number and a ton of loss, that was out of a 1939 population of 517.5m people or 2.9-3.9%. The global Jewish population still hasn't actually returned to pre-WW2 numbers yet, even 80 years later.

[HarleyDog]

(06-01-2025, 01:13 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: The civilian deaths in Russia and China overwhelm pretty much every other category. We talk about the Nazi/Russian front a bit more because it was still the European part of the war, but Japan was truly awful in mainland Asia. We weren't as involved there so I feel like it doesn't get covered here quite as much, but some serious atrocities that globally they didn't get quite the same stigma from as the Germans did.

I think while the 6 million Jewish deaths aren't the largest number, it's perhaps the % that potentially makes it such a larger tragedy than some of the others. The Jewish population in 1939 was 16.5m globally, and then 6 million (or 36.4%) were killed in 6 years. So while China lost 15-20m people in WW2 which is a staggeringly large number and a ton of loss, that was out of a 1939 population of 517.5m people or 2.9-3.9%. The global Jewish population still hasn't actually returned to pre-WW2 numbers yet, even 80 years later.

Holy Cow. That was some interesting information. TSC (the smithsonian channel) showed several epides of our Navy and Marines island jumping Japan to take over territories for military interest. There were some unexpected battles and some that should have been easy, were not. Japanese soldiers and citizens would fight to the death because of honor. And, instead of being captured, they would commit suicide (seen some pretty disturbing military footage of such). 

[StoneTheCrow]

If you all are podcast listeners (or even if you’re not) you MUST listen to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History series “Supernova in the East”, which covers WW2 in the Pacific Theater in insane detail.

I’ll have to check out the Smithsonian channel.

[wcu]

I just got back from the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans. If you're interested in this, the museum is definitely worth a trip. You could easily spend a couple of days in there and it is all done so well.

[HarleyDog]

(6 minutes ago)wcu Wrote: I just got back from the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans.  If you're interested in this, the museum is definitely worth a trip.  You could easily spend a couple of days in there and it is all done so well.

My daughter went to Pearl Harbor a few months ago. She said it was one of the most humbling experiences of her life. She left with a heavy heart and a new admiration for our service men and women.