i'm just overseen by. the relay practice underway and anticipation of the flames arrival whether it will light the olympic cauldron as planned on july 24th depends on the iowa seas ability to weather some of the heaviest criticism it has ever faced over. this is the dublin years live from berlin we have much more coverage of the corona virus pandemic on our website including information of what to do if you think you've been infected at some d.w. dot com thanks for such. love. were all set. to go beyond beyond june so that. was all about the stories that matter to. whatever it takes. to run enough. to change their lives nothing.

made for minds. we're not. going to. come back we're going to pick up. the plane. ticket worth about.

$3945.00 an latvia's balticon sed for several months the german army group north had been encircled by the red army on the couldn't peninsula. the immense human and material losses of the pie. had left nazi germany's once dreaded army in a state of collapse. amateur affairs across reveal the sorry state of the trapped units. in contrast nazi propaganda was still clinging to the myth of military strength in newsreel showed the swearing in of home defense units. if you know it out before anybody even the high 5 even. fear i might wonder what i mean you don't. seem to want to pay for any and if you please you for open i made them come per

gallon to find out if it can get here to be our. knees stablished units called folks when it is were made up of local home gods adolescence and the scattering of regular soldier is the men are required to swear an oath to the field but even though the military situation was already hopeless. i think. ha ha. ha ha ha ha. that was. a. divorced legacy it was about making an ultimate sacrifice in your idea of sacrificing oneself for you very strong is a very important under national socialism and a gun that's why hitler also thought the navy was so great because they went down with all hands serving as a toy that impressed him he thought it was great for you that's what you had to do

almost one was more. on the 12th of january 945 the red army launched a major offensive in east prussia. at full $45.00 day and the sky turned as prices day as up to $378.00 guns per kilometer and on the front open fire on the jet. physicians'. red army cameraman filmed the apocalyptic scenes as the v.m. off lines of defense rapidly collapsed. over the previous years german forces had waged a campaign of destruction against the people of the soviet union the nazi ideology painted as racially inferior. now the war on the east front was shifting onto the territory of the rush many germans feared the soviet red army would exact a terrible revenge. to mention how much. that's had a couple who were simply afraid they had been told that the subhuman russians are

coming and they were afraid of the red army that of course they also knew about the atrocities the german forces had committed in the soviet union because that was known for the sun a misnomer to that extent it was a mixture of prejudice against the russian subhumans had a realistic assessment that the red army would not be squeamish and its advance and a clear recognition of the mass crimes that germany had committed and a fear of vengeance the money it's forget to 1st that. many of the roughly 2 and a half 1000000 people living in east prussia at the time wanted to flee their homes as fast as possible and head west but most of them couldn't. you know it's an odd sort of lundy flawed folk what one voted off for a long time the nazis had forbidden people to flee or they wanted them to stay put and oppose the advancing soviet army colonel and this was certainly one reason why the escape was later so chaotic and violent. people didn't leave until the last

minute they could only take the bare necessities with them and they've been worn down by the war. and often. they have sex with went on these tracks mothers and their children and. the old man as always in war the weakest to get hit the hardest. they were left to fend for themselves and also made to suffer for the failure of an entire nation including the lack of evacuation plans exist and plan all to find out. because the soviet forces had largely blocked the road to the west many people trying to flee across the frozen libyan but coastal waters could be every bit as dangerous. many were aiming for the baltic coast needed done so from where they hoped they'd be able to continue their skate by ship. coats like goes in half and

today's denia was still in the german control. that's where the very good stuff was moored waiting to take on refugees and sultanas named after a senior as was nazi assassinated in 1986 the cruise ship was famous in germany out of hitler had personally attended its 937 voyage and hand. it over to take off in my van for. 4 years the ship served as a holiday vessel for the nazi organization tough to wish for it a strength through joy party members would relax on its decks as a cruise the mediterranean or the north sea. now it was supposed to transport evacuated refugees and soldiers westwards thousands of people were crammed together on board as it set sail and this overloading proved fatal. to avoid running aground in shallow water says the captain said course far out into the baltic sea where the

soviet navy was also operating. the ship was detected and to peter by a soviet submarine. at least 9300 people died in the sinking. crank legally it was not a war crime at all because the ghost law for sailing without lights in a conflict zone and was armed and carrying soldiers. as well so in a sense if you look at the laws of war the attack on the ghost life was legal. whether as a legitimate is another question and you know you can decide for yourself but for. on the other side of the globe the war was continuing on a base it the u.s. navy was cruising off the strategically important japanese island of. about 1200 kilometers south of tokyo in mid february $945.00 battleships opened fire on the

island and which is only 21 square kilometers in size they had is support from us bomb is based in the mariana islands. as evil commies or you would you know these all kind of cargo family was operationally important stuff because it had air bases that the money goes to escort bombers or has an emergency landing site for them so they sell their sights on the will jima in 4 course. cameraman from the u.s. office of war information filmed as several tens of thousands of u.s. marines landed on the island shortly before 9 in the morning 3 days after the attack had begun. their footage of the fierce fighting of the so-called self the island would later form the basis of the documentary film to the shores if he would . probably

agree or fortified positions for a body that kept looking right down our throat. besides the cameraman they were also photographer is among the will correspondents on the 23rd of february a few days off to the start of the landing operation one of them snapped 2 u.s. marines raising the stars and stripes on the summit of the extinct suribachi volcano. although the men were actually replacing the flag raised earlier that day the photo was to go down in history. that's why the vague because of the 2nd world war was also a war of images and symbols are millions of photos we have from world war 2 there are 5 or 6 that we all know. if you are looking for sting of the flagon he would say most of the reenacted are symbolizes the american victory in the pacific. the conscience decompose if you. lost it would be several months before the americans could really claim victory in the pacific the fighting around it would seem unknown

continued for weeks after the picture of the volcano summit was taken the japanese defend is resorted to a particularly bloody tactic to come up during this for the japanese commander was fully aware that he could not defend the island against the americans you know what point was to inflict the highest possible number of losses on the americans so that the war would become unpopular and would be stopped for political reasons no it didn't work but still the number of american gas was here which your comment about it's pretty immense. more than 6800 u.s. marines were killed taking the island and almost 20000 u.s. servicemen were wounded on the japanese side most of the 20000 or so defend his last day in arms and the $216.00 men surrendered to the enemy in the commissary was asked for the americans were shocked by the japanese willingness to sacrifice themselves which was evident during the defense of he would. the americans hadn't

really believed that the japanese would fight quite so tenaciously to the last me that played a very big role in the fact that at some point the americans changed their minds and said we have to find another way to end the war on the spend. the forces of the japanese empire when just fighting doggedly against imminent to feast on evil jima since october $944.00 they command is had also been relying on a new tactic in the pacific kamikaze flights pilots flew their planes directly into enemy warships usually killing themselves in the process vice admiral techie jiro nishi commander of the japanese naval air force develop. the idea. just wanted to do it for commercial cuban for the american american soldiers of course from the scholarly shocking if they hadn't expected anything like that it was a completely new form of warfare and the cliques feel warm. and the american

side hadn't reckoned with such a willingness to make sacrifices to get the squadrons of these flying bombs but when names like morning sun and mountain cherry blossom it wasn't difficult to recruit fanatical youngsters to the suicide squads their mentors does all of things from prison tata on short if you look at the results though you have to say these attacks weren't very efficient. they didn't really do much good at all. more than the americans shot down a lot of those planes before they could even reach their targets and even those that did hit often didn't have much effect mists on but it was more a shock element. element. images like this also contributed to the shock footage taken on the 21st of january 945 show the consequences of a kamikaze attack on the us s. ticonderoga near the straits of formosa.

the aircraft carrier survived the attack more than a 100 men on board didn't and the death toll of american troops as summits in the soviet seaside result of the alter brought together the big 3 allied leaders of the anti hitler coalition. for some years britain the soviet union and the united states had been united against the nazis and. now as their forces moved into germany itself the end of the war in europe seemed only a matter of time british prime minister winston churchill soviet dictator joseph stalin and u.s. president franklin d. roosevelt focused on concrete planning for the postwar future they had sketched out at the tehran so. i'm at more than a year. and jack doesn't because in point of big 3 met at the altar the 1st issue was the westward shift of poland to this for sure they'd already discussed out of tehran now it was decision time and it was clear that there would be

occupation some done but fighting when they talked about what to do in the pacific musselman but if you could. send father soviet union had not participated in the fighting in the pacific but roosevelt's health was declining and he wanted to bring moscow onside to end the war quickly and avoid further heavy losses. thoughts roosevelt approached stalin and told him that he needed him in the pacific he negotiated with them them got him to promise that the red army would attack truck and 3 months after the end of the war in europe well you know what i mean stalin kept a promise to the day talk and all i know. in return the western allies plates to expand their support for the red army by bombing the german rush 2 days after the summits they train their sights on the city of dresden. on the 13th of february 945 some 800 british lancaster bomber is took off for what

was then germany's 7 philologist city which had previously been a notch he sped and strikes. and uses it to its you women god as a church i wanted something to show stalin but they supported the soviets so i come and so the idea took root out if they flew arrogance behind the german lines on the soviet front and caused chaos there it's it would somehow help the red army from been here to do what the british planes reach stressed in just before half past 10 in the evening and it was a messy cameras filmed the explosives and incendiary bombs dropping from the end. the attackers made no attempt to hit specific targets large areas of the city were to be destroyed within 15 minutes 3 courses of the city center was on fire. just priests and bombs all and for the fact that the attack on dresden was so

devastating had to do it the circumstances are and the president have no anti-aircraft defenses its anti-aircraft guns are taken to the eastern front the ones i'm told to share many of it's night fighters couldn't take off all of a target it was a clear night and no defenses and the british could go in relatively low the last fighter could drop its flares accurately in the bombers were able to follow them exactly so it was a textbook attack on. a few hours later on valentine's day $945.00 american bombers attacked dressed in again this time in daylight the u.s. news reported. the veteran 1st edition of the airports today gave it's 200000 tons of bombs to happen are all they have been used in part is the most. imposing transports had on the album river was hit by a total of 4 waves of attacks. but here blasting away for the russians now 45 miles away lynx would give out

a large drive from east to west monday when. the anglo american air strikes devastated the city and killed up to 25000 people. i could never have believed said an officer of the dresden missing person center that death could ever take people in so many different ways and. dismembered apparently sleeping peacefully distorted by pain completely cold up dressed naked or as a miserable heap of ashes. and above all this the pungent smoke and the unbearable smell of decay. pictures taken months after the attacks. still give an impression of the extent of the catastrophe. on the western front the very last was now being pushed further on to the defense of the allies had occupied often the 1st major german city to be liberated in the previous also. the surprise german

offensive in the battle of the bulge in december had slowed down the us british advance and it would be another month before the americans could start moving east again. just over the border and huge they met with fierce resistance. the german news reel reported. i believe in barter and die for that one from being in both iraq. and. for their big not undying yourself impervious to them either from one of our going to be a on fire from you guys. the german defenders blew up the nearby roy dad so the river levels rose noticeably. if the us forces had to wait until the floods had subsided before they could cross the river

on the 23rd of february and into the center of healing. the g.i.'s encountered a shocking picture. no longer existed the town had been under fire for months and compass artillery shells and bombs had rained down on it. the last inhabitants had been evacuated in december of the previous year. what remained was a field of rubble where the german defenders had dug in and with fighting a pointless and basic battle in the ruins against the american occupiers at the beginning of march why do you eisenhower the supreme commander of the allied forces in europe came to look at you dish for himself one of the places he visited. it was the historic citadel for a long time it had been considered impregnable and no enemy soldier had entered it since the napoleonic wars the footage shot here with eisenhower was intended to send a clear signal that the entire german rawest could be conquered like the centuries

old full tryst. meanwhile in the east the raid on the continue to advance steadily in addition to east prussia in the north it was also sweeping further south into solutia a region in present day code and that was of great strategic importance because of its industrial base. our tanks ran everything down a red army soldier rose in his diary on the 23rd of january day trucks flattened vehicles horses and anything else on the road and the reasons for the red army success names so here we are seeing both men and materiel as well as serious tactical mistakes made by hitler that no one had called into question for years so i remember that our folks a sense november 1043 had had been putting his priorities on the west a lot was going wrong there in june july and august 1944 but he stuck to his vision

he said i have to give these western allies who kicked us out of france another major blow not kicked the music it's not. subtle at a time when the red army was mounting one of the biggest offensives ever on the west till he was focusing on the west and so turning himself into stalin's best allies. awful start. in there is he is many germans had fled to say leisure to escape from the western allies bombing salesian had been largely spared from aerial bombardment but now the soviet advance put them right in the middle of the war. like in east prussia most people here only had one goal to escape from the red al. yankovic 1st early summer and then doesn't enjoy will be terrible because it's get beaten or die vi because what we did during the eastern campaign especially against soviet civilians but also in poland in titian's have

a list of often poor in the crimes we committed will return to washington as vengeance yes vote. to once took on. those fears often proved to be justified many red army soldiers committed atrocities in revenge for the crimes of the vanished and the s.s. . divide as cuts you will see an escalation of violence against the german civilian population here the shooting of civilians the shooting of women and children. this issue some found on one can the abduction of german civilians. on the 2 vilest and the mass reap of women must fight the fire to confront hone desex out on door to call on at the sexual violence against german women can be explained by various factors. act as their con the one hand it is said that

a woman's body in symbolic of the nation which means that any desecration to use the term from that time so many desecration or dishonor through sexual violence therefore also means the desecration or dishonor of the entire nation and. not see on. nazi propaganda regularly focused on these desecrations and so. continue to feel the climate of fear and hatred among the population this is a news release from january 945. even from dark in brooklyn to beat out working on the power running god i'm tired from blood dripping from out of their car park. even got to me when going to harley i passed out of rehab in front buffy come out here right out of college and they're not going to be found you don't darken my own you very funny farm nor. indeed indeed be a lower income you're from harvard i'm pretty far.

in africa to go on but i'll put you thought good for her daughter even one on one. despite the hopelessness of the situation military capitulation remained to do for the nazi leadership. instead strategically outdated concepts were constantly advanced to stop the red army. largest city dog should become a question for the germans was how to stop the red army onslaught. they had a concept that had been developed in 1944 in the eastern front to set up fixed points to transport hopes to would later be declared fortresses. disappoint the fatah his points would be defended and so act like breakwaters against which the

red army is attacked would bring the breslau in love aside least it today's about swath in poland was one of the breakwaters chosen to stop the russian advance. you're going to love national news much of it doesn't dig out the 1st impressed i don't try to get my beat up i knew i was on a good deal and you know what i do if you are he does museums go like the hunger. there he was out somebody referred call breslov behind him from outer feeder trance guys busy or tough men on pound dr mchugh on the stock then before typing but i tried. on the 20th of january col hunt. ordered the civilian population to leave the city. however due to a lack of organization and fear of the dangers 200000 people remained military untrained civilians were to join units of the fog storm damaged and s s to defend the city anyone who refused would be shot. as fruits was

a ups this led to some absurd measures runways were built inside the city and people tried to defend it in a kind of urban warfare that massively raised the death toll among the german civilian population. not. on other sections of the front while breslow was still under siege the red army was advancing to the order river building bridgeheads on the west bank near christine nevertheless the nazi leadership appeared unimpressed. in the middle of the month google's wrote in his diary as for the east the fear is no longer too concerned he has the impression that we have slowly regained if erm 1st. one of the red army was conquering large parts of salesian and polar reigning in the east the americans british and canadian swim

a king rather slow progress in the west their next big objective was the rhine river since the end of february u.s. forces had been fighting their way towards. the rhine is in the rhine was the big natural border in the west and fighting on its approaches or was heavy and washington's relatively current of shrubbery in 1945 was one of the worst march for . us are back in terms of casualties lots of 50 was. on march the 5th when american units reached the suburbs of cologne the 3rd u.s. on a division entered through the western districts. back to. the ordinary citizen of cologne has nothing to fear from the allied troops said leaflets that had been dropped over the city earlier. that day they said as g.i.'s with fighting their way into the city center they encountered a young woman who had apparently got caught in

a car between the lines. she was seriously injured but they were able to rescue. a few 100 meters away the americans encountered and nonce german resistance n'est near the cathedral. the panther tank was blocking the way to the rhine but even that couldn't hold up the offensive for long and it was taken out with the targeted hits. only 3 of the 5 men crew escaped from the burning brick the last significant resistance had been broken. by late afternoon on the 6th of march fighting had stopped the 2nd world war was over in the city districts on the left bank of the rhine the next day the dam of time command noted nearly the heap of rubble that was cologne was left to the enemy the u.s. military how it a reported in more detail. current by the end of the cologne was

a major german city and by far the largest city that the allies have conquered by their humble homburg would like to see her learn munich were still far away. on current or well so it made sense to document to taking over the long march its iconic cathedral in the western part of iraq of the more broadly than say the conquest of the. now a new phase of the. cameraman from the u.s. army air force is accompanied the advancing troops as part of special film project $186.00 and captured the massive destruction on 16 millimeter color film. their footage paints an impressive picture of cologne nearly 3 quarters of which have been destroyed the us high command attach great importance to the film work the fields so i feel it played a major role in the 2nd world war not only from a documentary purposes but also for propaganda and a competition and they had horrible unpractical camera technology and they used

color felt like an american film can color of course on show you could take your impressions home with you and talk a bit to the documentum for the cinemas on the one hand but also for internal use in the military or. before they were crushed 2 colognes defenders have managed to blow up the bridges over the rhine which meant the allies would not be able to cross the river for the time being. then just a day after the conquest of downtown cologne the americans pulled off another military coup about 55 kilometers upstream. a small advance patrol from the us 9th army division reached the luton doff bridge which spans the rhine at remagen. to their great surprise the structure had not been blown up and there was little resistance from enemy troops. very much for the remark and folks storm

battalion did not turn up enough to have been there and done a bit of shooting then the small patrol there were very american soldiers would not have been able to reach the bridge and the bridge across was so easily. the bridge was kept it in a surprise attack the action was reenacted for propaganda units a few days later. more than a. 1000 u.s. soldiers were to reach the eastern back of the rhine within the coming 24 hour winds then most units try to correct a mistake and destroy the bridge with area tanks and out to refine it however it took 10 days for the struck to actually conduct. by then u.s. plane is had built a pontoon bridge and could continue getting units across the rhine on and off scale it was a heavy blow for the defenders and those responsible suffer the consequences. it looks son of almost hitler was furious and he had the bridge commander executed

along with some others they could get a hold of 3 or 4 people come i feel daughter and others thought they were court martialed convicted for you know not murder got i would say i'm a lot of good song. the dictator had stopped appearing in public on the 20th of march which i had himself filmed one last time in the garden of his chancery he is relatively realize that the world's lost and if so when did he realize and is one argument is that hitler was of course not stupid hunt and it soon realized how bad the situation was the food will buy him dogs and does but this led him to withdraw more and more lots and only dared to face the public when he could announce a victory and say it was not a handle sleeze knew victories were not forthcoming hitler became more and more depressed in kind of physical decay set in but of course it was clear to him all this was going to analyze it. on the day he gave medals to members of the hitler

youth who had distinguished themselves in the fighting the fact that the war was lost didn't have solved germans when they duty to defend the homeland the younger generation of particular was swept up by this inhuman fanaticism is caught in these are young people who are the 3rd of ike's final reserves especially in this last phase of the war in 4445 years they were the law. last reserves each and every one of them was a disposable mass to be used as cannon fodder the 1st fuel for the final battle it's been comfy spot. on the field i feel like i needed. to milk it is don't you think. if i'm not off not on time it isn't going to. find it all went through. and i'm not i'm not. income coming. on in. company and. over the money of my.

company gave up. in town of low bond bania in present day poland had been taken over by the red army in february 945 at the beginning of march however the van most recaptured it one of the red german success stories of those days. the. propaganda minister he was a immediately went there and shortly afterwards gave the financing to speech in nearby gurlitz it was to be his last appearance on this week. yet you know. within a quarter mile. i

. thought that we. were really going to. when you're a problem for about 5 or. that it. wasn't it no one ever oh oh that one guy. that. oh i get all of that find out that the bill i brought it up it's in particular is to put it cynically at his best here and gives a speech where he says then they will go into this fight like into a church service you know and go to stings this is a kind of staging of the downfall and also a permanent staging of the will. not to leave all he palin and to insinuate all this we will definitely not survive and that's it actually says. he's talking about a turning point about victory but the underlying motif of the manipulators is

actually nazi ideology or nothing and if he did okey or mists in january google's had announced a campaign called the people's sacrifice with the army and home government as in the napoleonic wars the population was to donate towards its own defense. and europe and put them in a power because i don't want to go back but they are part european and even. my bank accounts to be put in there you can bet if you leave it and you've done it then. you are one of our back when president men are going to be your i. faced with the stress of canucks the regime was desperately trying to compensate for its huge losses putting women into the fight. from top post season in i've got some stopped your cunt good old orchard young tom pieces

from fine prefer to compound some novocain from smith that's been a noun and. he's just you know is a fine poppy is how she. this pitot about another brutal thing was that the range of the sponsor frost's was maximum 100 meters usually 50 or 60 to be really effective. but then those who fired them always paid with their lives due to stop the flood of the us onto it and it will be to me if it's all as dispositive that was the regime's cynical calculation one local defense volunteer kill one enemy tank destroyed most of. the areas still under german control was shrinking day by day the nazi leaders now audit their people to sacrifice not only clothes and ion but also themselves.

descended to the him he was an indication of the regime's lack of restraint and its brute will to destroy everything in the end it was ready to open all the floodgates to throw off every form of responsibility and to do everything in its power to continue this war as hopeless as it was to carry on with it right down to the last of all it. in the pacific war on the 9th of march us b. 29 super fortress planes with loaded with bombs on side the main island of the northern marianas the destination of the long range bonus was the japanese capital the mission commander and major general cases even they had decided on a radical change of tactics as cost of operation meetinghouse tokyo was to be attacked not only with explosives but also within same theory bombs these were also to be dropped everybody's attention areas. an armada of bomb is took

off from the 3 island it feels in the afternoon of the 9th of march each of the more than $300.00 aircraft was carrying 40. esteban's with a total of $1500.00 napalm bonnets. the g.i.'s nicknamed them tokyo calling cards. there are no known original photographs of the attack scenes filmed later showed the super fortress bombers dropping their deadly legs. more than $1600.00 tons of bombs were released over the city at low altitude japanese towns as we mostly made of wood and paper and immediately went up in flames strong westerly winds fanned the flames into a firestorm up to 100000 people died during the attack and over 40 square kilometers of the city were destroyed it's still seen as the most destructive conventional air strike in history. the man demure pungently stigmatizing intention

was to send a clear message to all of the japanese that they were now in danger. had even guns guns and the japanese war propaganda whipped up the will of japanese soldiers to go on fighting to their deaths. rootless this in imports again. the fanatical determination of the japanese was once again evident on the smallest of japan's 5 main islands the us invasion of okinawa began on the 1st of april when 180000 troops moved into position around the island and began to land. at 1st they were met with little resistance but the defenders have retreated into the interior where they put up a frenzied fight. a vendor i'm schlock the walking are doing their jobs when we think of the battle of okinawa there are a lot of civilians dug in the caves i mean there are a comma and we are but as americans we're used to deliver the message in japanese

the message come out of the caves surrender i mean there is no sense in killing yourselves are willing to die by flame through. ours are hand grenades with flour and veil for the time from. sleep. by no means everyone was ready to give up teaches plunged to their deaths from cliffs taking their pupils with them all to escape life under american occupation. it took months before okinawa was completely under u.s. control. on the 12th of april $945.00 u.s. president franklin d. roosevelt dies at the age of $63.00. throngs of americans turned out to watch his funeral procession pass through the streets of washington and bid farewell to their war time leader vice president harry s. truman took over the reins in berlin the news caused a sensation here is the miracle i always predicted hitler reportedly shouted when

he heard of roosevelt's death. now his right the war is not lost. more. folks. are trying. to revive the markets while. the momentum of the mortaring world. newsmagazine made in germany. and 30 minutes d.w.

. conflicts far from a sister's fresh food law nigeria's government stands accused by the international community of serious. human rights abuses i guess this week here in london is dr mohammed the country's information minister how does he defend against the country's many critics for me ever to surrender is so compelling. to 30 minutes. or. stories that people the world over d.w. on facebook and twitter up to date and in touch follow us.

that. this is news and these are our top stories german chancellor angela merkel has called for corona virus the greatest challenge germany has faced since world war 2 and a prime time address she asked germans to do their part to help slow the spread of the pathogen she also said the government would do all it could to save jobs. the number of global coronavirus cases has now exceeded 200000 more than 1200 people have died from.