this is keep your severe circle small and. it took that the more selfless let me do the quicker we can get a release and it will be big at some point. for fans the concerts are a welcome distraction at a time when home confinement is becoming the new normal they feel. good no good you're watching it at the in is from our land i'm sarah kelly thank you so much for joining us for this part of your day and we hope that all of the of allow folks. of the cars were all set. to go beyond beyond belief so that. we're all about the stories that matter to. us. whatever it takes. a running nut. but nothing else

d.w. made for minds. for not. my problem that i am. going to put up. right place. at about. 5.

3945 on latvia's baltic coast for several months the german army group north had been encircled by the red army on the cool and peninsula. the immense human and material losses of the past years had left non-si germany's once dreaded army in a state of collapse. amateur photographs reveal the sorry state of the trapped units. in contrast nazi propaganda was still clinging to the myth of military strength and newsreel showed the swearing in of home defense units. if you went out before in anything but even the high had not even. fear i might also wonder what i mean you are. going to want to pay for me and if you please open i mean i'm

from perth i'm gathering them to find out if it can get here if you are fit. to needy established units called folks when it is made up of local home guards adolescence understands when the break in the soldier is the men are required to swear an oath to the field even though the military situation was already hopeless . at it. ha ha. ha ha ha ha. ha. de force democracy it was about making an ultimate sacrifice. their idea of sacrificing oneself for this 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 gray. that's what you had to do almost

once more. on the 12th of january 945 the red army launched a major offensive in east prussia. at 4 45 am the sky turned as prices day as up to $378.00 guns per kilometer along the front opened fire on the german positions. red army cameraman filmed the apocalyptic scenes as the vam 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. they 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 of an islamist to that extent it was a mixture of prejudice against the russian subhumans 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 finish 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. the fruit for one boy to go 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 skates was later so. chaotic and violent. and 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 once is and often will include. their fleet of these attacks middle went on his tracks mothers and their children and old man as always and more 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 and extend platell to fall out. because the soviet forces had largely blocked the road to the west many people trying to flee across the frozen lagoon but coastal waters could be every bit as dangerous. many were aiming for the baltic coast near done such from where they hoped they'd be able to continue their skate by ship. ports like goes in half and

today's denia was still under german control. that's where the very him good stuff was moored waiting to take on refugees and soldiers 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 georgia hand. be comforted to. fish for. 4 years the ship served as a holiday vessel for the nazi organization craft which floyd 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 waters the captain set course far out into the. baltic sea with the

soviet navy was also up racing. the ship was detected until peta by a soviet submarine. at least 9300 people died in the sinking. siblings kind of legally it was not a war crime at all because the ghost law for the sailing without lights in a conflict zone man 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 it's not legitimate is another question and you know you can decide for yourself blood 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 jima about 1200 kilometers south of tokyo. in mid february $945.00 battleships opened fire on

the island which is only 21 square kilometer his in size they had support from u.s. bomb is based in the mariana islands. as evil commies or you would you know these volcanic island or family was operationally important as the because it had air bases taking money documents to escort bombers or as an emergency landing site for them. so they sold their sights on the will jima in 4 course. cameraman from the us 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. this footage of the fierce fighting of the so-called self the island would later form the basis of the documentary film to the shores of.

probably green 3 or 4 or 5 positions for a bunch of the japs look right down our throat. besides the cameraman they were also photographers among the wall correspondents on the 23rd of february a few days after the start of the landing operation one of them snapped us marines raising the stars and stripes on the summit of the extinct suribachi volcano. the men who actually replacing the flag raised earlier that day the 1st year was to go down in history. that's why the victory because of the 2nd world war was also a war of images and symbols 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 seem the reenacted one symbolizes the american victory in the pacific. the conscience he can put if you. lost it would be several months before the americans could really claim victory in the pacific the fighting around known continued for weeks after the

picture at the volcano summit was taken the japanese defend this resorted to a particularly bloody tactic. the monument is for the japanese commander was fully aware that he could not defend the island against the americans no one was to inflict the highest possible number of losses on the american so that the war would become unpopular and would be stopped for political reasons really not didn't work but still the number of americans just was here which your comment ought to humans . more than 6800 u.s. marines were killed taking me on end and almost 20000 u.s. servicemen were wounded. on the japanese side most of the 20000 or so defenders lost their lives and the 216 men surrendered to the enemy of the commissaire it was asked for americans were shocked by the japanese willingness to sacrifice themselves which was evident during the defense of. the americans hadn't really

believed that the japanese would fight quite so tenaciously to the last it did alter 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 span. the forces of the japanese empire when just fighting doggedly against imminent to fiesole maybe jima since october $944.00 their commanders 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 tuckey jiro nishi commander of the japanese naval air force had to build a. the idea. of just one attribute for conscious human for the american american soldiers of course from the scuttling it was shocking if they hadn't expected anything like that it was a completely new form of warfare and the clicks feel warm. and i knew that me. and

me american side hadn't reckoned with such a willingness to make sacrifices to get the squadrons of these flying bombs full names like morning sun and mountain cherry blossom it wasn't difficult to recruit fanatical youngsters to the suicide squads their message does a lot things for getting 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 shut down a lot of those planes before they could even reach their targets and even those that did hit the often didn't have much effect mists on the it was more a shock element. and shook even the 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 full most of.

the aircraft carrier survived the attack more than a 100 men on board didn't and the death toll of american troops in the pacific climbed further. less than 2 weeks later a summit in the soviet seaside result of the yalta 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 and 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 post will future they had sketched out at the tehran summit more than a year. and i think you goals in point of big 3 medically alter the 1st

issue was the westward shift of poland they'd already discussed out of tehran now it was decision time and it was clear that there would be occupation sums done but fighting when they talked about what to do in the pacific was so much but the fiction. said father sufi union had not participated in the fighting in the pacific but roosevelt's health was declining and he wanted to bring moscow on side to end the war quickly and avoid further heavy losses. faults roosevelt approached stalin and told him that he needed him in the pacific he negotiated with him and got him to promise that the red army would attack struck down 3 months after the hand of the war in europe well you know what i mean stalin kept a promise to the day talk and all i got. in return the waste and allies pledged to expand their support for the red army by bombing the german rice 2 days after the

summit they trained 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 largely sped and strikes. and this is a 2 or 3 women church i wanted something to show stall and growth a supporter of the so rich 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 would somehow help the red army from bunch used to be the. the british planes reached dressed in just before half past 10 in the evening and automatic cameras filmed the explosives and incendiary bombs dropping from the edge of the attack is 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 east and bones and for the fact that the attack on dresden was so devastating had to do it the circumstances are wonderful for president you have no anti-aircraft defenses it's anti-aircraft guns and taken to the eastern front the center of the show many of its 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 and that's fine or could drop its flares accurately in the bombers were able to follow them exactly so it was a textbook attack of. a few hours later on valentine's day 1945 american bombers attacked dressed in again this time in daylight the u.s. news reported. the veteran 1st division of the their force today buried its 200000 ton of bombs to happen and are all they have been used in part is the most. imposing transport hub on the album river was hit by

a total of 4 waves of attacks. on the boats here blasting away for the russians not 45 miles away links to defraud a large drive from east and west london when. the anglo american air strikes devastated the city and killed up to 25000 people. i could never have believed that an officer of the dressed in missing persons center that death could overtake 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 van must was now

being pushed further onto the defensive the allies had occupied affan the 1st major german city to be liberated and the previous force and. the surprise german offensive in the battle of the bulge and december had slowed down the u.s. british had vance and it would be another month before the americans could start moving east again. just over the border in huge they met with fierce resistance. the german news reel reported. i believe in god and gave a valiant compete in both iraq. for their big night undying 1st delving for peace and indeed our companies are going to be over on fire from you guys. the german defenders blew up the nearby rodin so the river levels rose noticeably. the

u.s. forces had to wait until the floods had subsided before they could cross the river on the 23rd of february and enter the center of. the g.i.'s encountered a shocking picture. no longer existed the town had been under fire for months and countless artillery shells and bombs had rained down on it. the last inhabitants had been evacuated in december of the previous year. and 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 diaz and how it the supreme commander of the allied forces in europe came to look at cuba's for himself one of the places he visited was the historic city del for a long time it had been considered impregnable and no enemy soldier had entered it

since the napoleonic wars the footage shot hit with eisenhower was intended to send a clear signal that the entire german rice could be counted 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 side lesia 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 detracts class from vehicles horses and anything else on the road the reasons for the red army success namely superiority in 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

arm for since november 1043 hitler had been putting his priorities on the west a lot was going wrong there in june july and august 1940 but he stuck to his vision from what he said i have to give these western allies who kicked us out of france another major blow no kicked the music it's not well and that's just so and so at a time when the red army was mounting one of the biggest offensives ever on the west. he was focusing on the west and so turning himself into stalin's best allies . it's part of what started. in this years many germans had fled to saudi leisure to escape from the western allies bombing. had been largely spared from aerial bombardment but now the soviet advance put them right in the middle of the wall. like in east prussia most people here only had one goal to escape from the read all. of it 1st early

signs and then doesn't enjoy terrible because it's get beaten or die via because what we did during the eastern campaign especially against soviet civilians but also in poland into a list of often poor in the crimes we committed will return to was as vengeance yes vote. to one super kiran. those fears often proved to be justified many red army soldiers committed atrocities in revenge for the crimes of the vam of to and the s.s. . the home here. divide as that's what we 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 fallen on can the abduction of german civilians. on the 2 vilest and the mass rape of women last 5 of article on fall on the 6 out on door to call on at the sexual violence against

german women can be explained by various factors so does there come on 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 reader from january 19th foresee fine. even from dark and open beat out you need a power running goddamn high from god to provide that their god if i. even got to be in one of the high golly i've backed out of the price we have been trying to become after here right out of politics and they're not going to be gone you don't

darken our own you very funny our. own indeed and to be a lower income you're from holland i'm pretty far from. africa go through but i'll put you thought good for her. even on a whim. despite the hopelessness of the situation military capitulation remained to do for the nazi leadership. instead strategically outdated concepts would constantly advance to stop the red army. largest city dogs to become a question for the germans was how to stop the red army onslaught. they had on a concept that had been developed in 1904 in the eastern front to set up fixed

points to transport hopes to would later be declared fortresses. disappoint the photogs 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 stuff in poland was one of the brake fortis chosen to stop the russian advance. yet one of the above national displeasure with the bigness of the 1st impressed low in my view that i knew i was on a good deal and you have a tidy if you are on the those reasons go like a hunger. when he was out somebody referred call breslov behind him from outer feeder trance guys busy or tough men don't follow him guide me through on the stock then to what i do with what i threw out. 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 to have them up 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. out. 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 1st.

well the red army was conquering large parts of side and putting reigning in the east the americans british and canadians when they can rather slow progress in the west the next big objective was the rhine river since the end of february us forces had been fighting their way towards. the rhine certainly ryan was the big natural border in the west and fighting on its approaches there was a heavy hand washing is relatively high and the war in 1905 was one of the worst much for. you are sorry but in terms of casualties one of the 50 was. on march the 5th american units reached the suburbs of cologne the 3rd u.s. on a division entered through the western districts. 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 were fighting their way into the city center they encountered a young woman who had apparently got caught in her car between the lines. she was seriously injured but they were able to rescue. a few 100 meters away the americans and counted and longs german resistance n'est me of 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 target it hits. only 3 of the 5 man 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 district something left bank of the rhine the next day the dam of

thai command noted me and the heap of rubble that was cologne was left to the enemy the us military how at the 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 had conquered by their humble walk homburg would like to see her learn munich were still far away. on current oh well so it made sense to document the taking of kilometers iconic cathedral in the western part of the right of the more broadly than say the conquest of the. charlie faisal. cameraman from the u.s. army air forces 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 for played a major role in the 2nd world war not only from a documentary purposes but also for propaganda and a competition in portable.