doesn't number one hits and sold over 50000000 albums in the u.s. alone will leave you now with these images and one of his biggest hits the gambler thanks for watching us. on a warm summer's evening on the train bound though. where the family . both to chad to sleep so we took turns to stare out the window at the darkness the boredom. and speed. stand for. language courses. video. anytime anywhere. w.

o n i'm. told that i'm going to. follow. when i come. back.

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. and a chill photographs reveal the sorry state of the trapped units. in contrast nazi propaganda was still clinging to the myth of military strength in newsreel shows the swearing in of home defense units. if you order before anybody even the i pad even in fear i might all wonder what i mean you are. going to want to pay for me and if you're fully open i mean i'm fair ok i don't

care if it can get the f.b.i. if it. needs stuff just units called folks when it is we're made up of local home guards adolescence understands when the break it is so it is the men are required to swear an oath to the field but even though the military situation was already hopeless. it. was. caught. by. a. force to look to see if it was about making an ultimate sacrifice. their idea of sacrificing oneself or you're a 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. 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 bright as day as up to $300.00 solve it guns per kilometer and on the front open fire on the german positions. red army cameraman filmed the apocalyptic scenes as the v.m.s. 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 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 did. 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 a fluke for one boy to die 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 soaked. arctic 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 once is and often includes. their fleet of these attacks middle went on his tracks mothers and their children and 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 that exist and. to find 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 safe from where they hoped they'd be able to continue their escape by ship. ports like goes in half and

today's denia was still under german control. that's where the very good stuff was moored waiting to take on refugees and soldiers named after a senior space nazi assassinated in 1986 the cruise ship was famous in germany out of hitler had personally attended its 937 village and hand. it over to you. can for. 4 years the ship served as a holiday vessel for the nazi organization craft wished for the strength through joy party members would relax on its decks as a cruise the mediterranean or the north sea. now it was supposed to transpose evacuees refugees and soldiers west wittes 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 said course far out into the by. all

taxi with his soviet navy was also up racing. his ship was detected until peta by soviet submarine. at least 9300 people died in the sinking. siblings kind click legally it was not a war crime at all because the ghost law for 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. well there is a lot of legitimate is another question and you know you can decide for yourself bud for. on the other side of the globe the war was continuing on a base it the us 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 kilometers in size they had is support from us bomb is based in the mariana islands. hebrew commons or you would you know these volcanic island her family was operationally important as the because it had air bases that the money goes to escort bombers to war 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. their footage of the fierce fighting over the so-called self the island would later form the basis of the documentary born film to the shores of.

probably green bay there for a point protection from the robot to the camp for bright dark souls. besides the cameraman they've 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 2 u.s. 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 decompose if you. thought it would be several months before the americans could really claim victory in the pacific the fighting around he would seem unknown

continued for weeks after the picture of the volcano summit was taken the japanese defend is resorted to a particularly bloody tech take. more of your minutes for the japanese commander was fully aware that he could not defend the island against the american no one 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 really not didn't work but still the number of americans just was here which your comment ought to put in means. 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 defenders lost their minds and the 216 men surrendered to the enemy of the commissary it was lost for the americans were shocked by the japanese willingness to sacrifice themselves

which was evident during the defense of i'm the americans hadn't really believed that the japanese would fight quite so tenaciously to the last minute at the altar but 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 spin and. the forces of the japanese empire when just fighting doggedly against imminent to feast on even jima since october $944.00 they commanders had also been relying on a new tactic in the pacific kamikaze flights where 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. was monitored for commercial cuban for the american american soldiers of course from the scholarly shocking they hadn't expected anything like that it was a completely new form of warfare and the cliques feel warm. and i knew that me. 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 a lot things from 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 often didn't have much effect midsts on that it was more a shock element. and shook even this element. images like this also contributed to the shark 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. although

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 a goal to have brought together the big 3 allied leaders of the anti hitler coalition. for some years bush and 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 dictated 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 earlier. and i don't think it was important to big 3 met at the altar the

1st issue was the westward shift of poland you just wish they'd already discussed out of tehran now it was decision time and it was clear that there would be occupation sums done but for i think when they talked about what to do in the pacific us almost but sufficient. itself on the soviet union had not participated in the fighting in the pacific but reza tells 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 him and got him to promise that the red army would attack truck and train 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 and. in return the western allies pledged to expand their support for the red army by bombing the german rice 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 as took off for what was then germany's 7th largest city which had previously been largely sped and strikes. and this is the thoughts you women god as a church i wanted something to show stalin got out they supported the so rich so i go and so the idea took root out if they flew heritage behind the german lines on the soviet front and caused chaos there so that it would somehow help the red army from but used to be the. the british planes reached dressed in just before half past 10 in the evening and also met a camera to film 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 briefly bunzl 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 are 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 air force today they needed to 100000 tons of bombs to happen in our lovely at least in part is that. the imposing transport hub on the album river was hit by

a total of 4 waves of attacks. here blasting away for the russians now 45 miles away links to defraud a large drive from east in 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 person center that death could overtake people in so many different ways and. dismembered it 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 empirical 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 us and 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 in your list they met with fierce resistance. the german news reel reported. i believe in god and driver valen from being in both iraq. for their good not under yourself in population and either companies are going to be or on fire from you guys. determined defenders blew up the

nearby river dam so the river levels rose noticeably. if 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 you wish. the g i's encountered a shocking picture hewlett's 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. 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 if the supreme commander of the un i'd forces in europe came to look at cutest for himself one of the places he visited 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 shows here it was eisenhower was intended to send a clear signal that the entire german reich could be conquered like the centuries old full tryst. meanwhile in the east the raid on a continue to advance steadily in addition to east prussia in the north it was also sweeping further south into solution 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 their tracks flattened vehicles horses and anything else on the road the reasons for the red army success namely security are seen 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

armed forces since november 1043 have been putting his priorities on the west a lot was going wrong there in june july and august on 944 but he stuck to his vision he said i have to give these western allies who kicked us out of france another major blow no kick to 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 . best part of a start. in this year's many germans had fled to saudi leisure to escape from the western allies bombing solutia 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 read all.

of it 1st delicious song and then doesn't enjoy will be terrible as it could be in order v.i. because what we did during the eastern campaign especially against soviet civilians but also in poland in titian's have a list of all 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 family and the s. s. . the home here. 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. as she said falling falling one can the abduction of german civilians. vilest and the mass reap of women must fight the fire to confront hone desex a while ago borrowed on door to call on at the sexual violence against german women

can be explained by various factors. act as their car 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 any desecration or dishonor through sexual violence therefore also means the desecration or dishonor of the entire nation and. nazi 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. from dark in brooklyn to beat out. the the power running god i'm tired from blood dripping from out of the cot if i. even got in here in the harley i've backed out of sight we have been trying to become an officer here right out of politics and they're not going to be found you

don't darken own you very funny our. own indeed and to be a lower income you're from the heart of an open book farm. in africa go through hope that you thought good for her. be born a woman. 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 raid on me. largest city dogs have become the question for the germans was how to stop the red army onslaught. they had on a concept that had been developed in 1944 in the eastern front to set up fixed

points of 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 as a tax would bring the fish to breslau in love aside least it today's broad swath in poland was one of the break for tis you know what i do if you are me those reasons go like a hunka he does not somebody before i go in breslau i was behind him from out the feeder funds guys busier top men don't pound i've met through on these top 10 before typing but i try. on the 20th of january col hunt karthick. leisure ordered the civilian population to leave the city. however due to a lack of organization and fear of the dangerous 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. those fruits was

a ups or mass this led to some absurd measures runways were built inside the city and people tried to defend it in a kind of urban warfare but 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 reclaimed a firm footing. while the red army was conquering large parts of salesian and pomerania 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 color. dryness and ryan was the big natural border in the west where the fighting on its approach is or was heavy and relatively dry and the voters there were $945.00 was one of the worst march for us are back in terms of casualties lots of 50 was. on march the 5th american units reached the suburbs of cologne the 30. us on a division entered through the western districts. the ordinary citizen of cologne has nothing to fear from the allied troops said leaflets that had been dropped over the city earlier. a day later as g.i.'s were 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 and counted among german resistance nest near the cathedral. a 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 a target it 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 most high command noted many the heap of rubble that was cologne was left to the enemy the u.s. military however reported in more detail. occurring by the end of the cologne was

a major german city and by far the largest city that the allies had conquered by their homework homburg reply to spur learn munich were still far away. on colonel well so it made sense to document the taking of a long iconic cathedral in the western part of the right of the more broadly than say the conquest of the town of faisal. cameraman from the us on the air forces accompanied the advancing troops as part of special film project $100.00. $86.00 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 in portable unpractical camera technology and they used color film

american children color of course on show you could take your impressions home with you and to commit to talking melton for the cinemas on the one hand and also for internal use in the military or. before they were crushed 2 colognes defenders had 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 division reached the luton doff bridge which spans the rhine at remagen . to the great surprise the structure had not been blown up and there was little resistance from enemy troops. very much focused strong battalion did not

turn up nothing had been there and done a bit of shooting on the small patrol that there weren't any american soldiers would not have been able to reach the bridge and the bridge across was so easily. the bridge was captured in a surprise attack the action was reenacted for propaganda units a few days later. more than $8000.00 u.s. soldiers were to reach the eastern back of the rhine within the coming 24 hours then most units try to correct a mistake and destroy the brig. it's with aaron tuts and out to refine it however it took 10 days for the struck to actually conduct. by then us plenty is had built a plantin bridge and could continue getting units across the rhine on and off scale it was a heavy blow for the defend is 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 i feel ought to and as it's all they were court martialed convicted of murder got i would say i'm ordered to 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 chancellor me how to. tell you to realise that the world's lost and if so when did he realise and it's one argument is that hitler was of course not stupid hunt and it soon realised how bad the situation was through the war but you've got some doesn't but this led him to withdraw more and more blocks and he only got there deface the public when he could announce a victory and says it was not a handle these new victories were not forthcoming hitler became more and more depressed in a kind of physical decay set in but of course it was clear to him all this was going to him. 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 demonspawn they duty to defend the homeland the younger generation of particular was swept up by this inhuman fanaticism is caught in the young people who are the 3rd of its final reserves especially in this last phase of the war in 4445 they were the last reserves each and every one of them guns are disposable mass to be used as cannon fodder defense fuel for the final battle hides and come. if you're on the field and feel like i need to. finish don't think. if i'm going off not going to be doing that i'm fine. and i'm not i'm not. in contact.

company thanks to the break out of the money up and up front you have come here. to listen listen ton of lobaton do bania in present day poland had been taken over by the red army in february 945 at the beginning of march however the van those 3 captured it's one of the red german success stories of those days. the. propaganda minister use of immediately went there and shortly afterwards davis a new school speech in nearby tell us it was to be his last appearance on this we. go over them yet you know they. didn't want out. i.

retired. i thought they. were really getting. pumped up out. of it or. oh oh oh oh. oh or. that the bill. oddie cup it's. in particular he is to put it cynically at his best here gives this speech where he says then they will go into this fight like into a church service and get this things this is a kind of staging of the downfall and also a permanent staging of the will. not tell the all pal men and in sydney all this mean we will definitely not survive it and that's it actually says. i think he's talking about the turning point about victory but the underlying motif of the

manipulators is actually nazi ideology or nothing and order mists in january google's had announced a campaign called the people's sacrifice for the army and home got us in the napoleonic wars the population was to donate towards its own defense. and of your own point coming up now because i don't want to go back but are part european and gave. my grandparents i mean that in their thinking back believe it and even if they don't. if you are one of our back one point. one family your wife. faced with the stress of canucks the regime was desperately trying to compensate for its huge losses putting women into the fight. on top post season in i'm not going to stop your country you

don't torture you i'm tom peters from frank referred to pounce on the victim from smith its going on now and. it's just you know what i'm poppy is how she. was for talk 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 just enough to float on the of the scientists on the money to maybe it's all of this father today that was the regimes of cynical calculation one local defense volunteer killed 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 him and he was an indication of the

regime's lack of restraint and its brute will to destroy everything in the in the end he was ready to open all the floodgates to throw off every form of responsibility 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 stood it's. in the pacific war on the 9th of march us b. 29 super fortress planes were loaded with bombs on psychopath the main island of the northern marianas the destination of the long range bonus was the japanese capital the mission commander major general curtis even they had decided on a radical change of tactics as part of operation meeting house tokyo was to be attacked not only with explosives but also with incendiary bombs these were also to be dropped over residential areas. an armada of bomb is took

off from the 3 island airfields in the afternoon of the 9th of march each of the more than $300.00 aircraft was carrying 40 cluster bombs with a total of 1500 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 bomb is dropping their deadly lead. more than $1600.00 tons of bombs were released over the city at low altitude japanese houses were mostly made of wood and paper and immediately went up in flames strong westerly winds fanned the flames into a firestorm 210-0000 people died during the attack and over a 40 square kilometers of the city were destroyed it's still seen as the most destructive conventional. strike in history what i'm on. the intention was to

send a clear message to all of the japanese that they were now in danger of cliques propaganda 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 towards again. the fanatical determination of the japanese was once again evident on okinawa the smallest of japan's 5 main islands the us invasion of iraq you know what 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. event i'm sure not the walking up acting jobs when we think of the battle of okinawa there were a lot of civilians dug in the caves i mean i'm a comma and we are because americans were used to deliver the message in japanese

the message come out of the caves surrender i mean there is no sense in killing yourselves or waiting to die by flame throwers or hand grenades with florida where ford has come from. sleep. by no means everyone was ready to give up teaches plunged to their deaths from cliffs taking their people's 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 wartime 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 who's right the war is not lost. corona and are. canceled. and clubs to. livelihoods are under threat. but the crisis is also a catalyst for creativity. new directions while the arts take in response to lock downs and fierce. forms 20 more. than 30 minutes on d w. each

still tells my story. of the people who planned to me built dedicated to me. i am not to dumb to playing. on this question of mine. in the centuries they built me they created something truly it was hard to watch as i was destroyed. i have mocked to my cities days for centuries and the company of my country transformed our lives until the day i mean a value. not tied down to believe stands a full and. a

lamb . this is d. w. news live from berlin and corona virus claims more lives in italy europe's worst hit country were its forces deadliest day ever as the virus kills some 800 people will go to rome for the latest also coming up is day one of a near total shutdown of public life into.