kempinski twenty two looking. now so it's. russia lifts the final state of emergency after rains help douse the wildfires that are arriving much of the country the flames driven by a record heat wave claimed fifty four lives and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage the government's promised to provide aid and rebuild more than two thousand homes before when. the turkish community in germany may soon be policed by officers from their homeland with more than two million ethnic turks in the country domestic police force says it needs a new approach to tackling violence within the country's largest minority. the world is changing the us isn't this isn't a problem just for latin america but rather for the entire world this country has military in the konami power in the same time it's not changing its expansionary

and imperialistic policy speaking exclusively with our team nicaraguan president daniel ortega calls on latin america to unite against the us. you can watch the full or take interview now on our website r.t. dot com or a little later in the day next that we bring you the story of the biggest tank battle of world war two curse as russia continues to mark the sixty fifth anniversary of the defeat of nazi germany. did she knowingly as a modern day take it's taken a coin come back capabilities make it one of the world's best illustrated access

plant in the city of mission to kill in the urals is the only manufacturer of the t. ninety in russia each year new tanks are tried out a special proving ground. the t. ninety is a descendant of the t. thirty four the legendary world war two era tank one of the last operating tanks of this kind is still officially in the service of the plant's guards it also perform ceremonial duties in the town streets during celebrations marking the victory over fascist germany. it was the t. thirty four that played a key role in the battle of curse the biggest tank battle of the second world war. when british prime minister winston churchill was summarizing the outcome of world war two at a press conference in one thousand forty five he singled out three types of weapons that it showed the best performance during the war the british artillery the german

messerschmitt aircraft and the russian teeth thirty four tank he said he understood how the first two weapons and been made but he couldn't possibly understand how the team thirty four had come into being. and how to get into the german had quarters failed to forecast the t. thirty four tank appearance of choice as it was an evident blunder of the german intelligence of course it should be considered that it was extremely difficult to arrange intelligence against the soviet union not just as it was a closed state to. on the other hand germans failed because of their pride and then it's enforced but after swift victories in europe they trust in their forces so much they couldn't even suggest that such a fighting machine as the teeth thirty four would appear in the soviet union. russian ten cruise referred to the t. thirty four is their work course this combat vehicle has been recognised as the best medium tank of world war two on the basis of three key characteristics its firepower its armor protection and its mobility. the teacher before was designed at

a plant in the city of kut. in one nine hundred forty one after hitler's germany violated the non-aggression pact and attacked the soviet union the plant was moved east and with greater urgency on the eve of the battle of curse in one nine hundred forty three a train load of t. thirty force was dispatched to the front on a daily basis some one thousand tanks in a month. the germans knew they could not produce as many tanks as their phones it's a ball and therefore they focus not on the quantity but on the quality of the thus the german tanks tiger and the bouncer tanks of a new class your palm are better than the t. thirty four but it took much longer to produce such tanks on the team thirty four tank. the world's first tank and very built was launched in the soviet union in mid one nine hundred forty three at

a top secret plant known only as number one hundred eighty three war time conditions then were specially hard one shift lasted for twelve hours and work continued around the clock put your life was very hard indeed there is some people even died of hunger. in winter time most people preferred to stay of the plant around the clock what a job he spent the night at the plant and you once one of the workers curled up next to a pile of warm cinder woodroof when he saw he was. asleep. but when we checked he was already dead and. have survived the war during those years he worked in the factories an assistant steelmaker. showed up at the factory. you know quit i had no special skills. i hadn't been trained to anyone. the silly often visits the college to trains workers for the tank plant today's students even have the chance to feel like tank commanders by using special simulators they get all

the necessary skills after five years of training them back in one thousand nine hundred three everybody was welcome to work at the plant with or without education regardless of age at that time worker study tank design examining real life german combat tanks. cannot know the what sometimes. german tanks were brought to our planet. when we were young then ludwig zan in them and even rotate in the turret. in this simple manner of. my early nine hundred forty three the german tanks had all but raced the advantages of the t. tourney for the tiger heavy tank was expected to be the main striking force in the battle of turkish. the tigers driver mechanic had no difficulty guiding the tank using a steering wheel with

a booster tank was convenient and comfortable for combat. by contrast it took both the commander in the mechanic to steer a russian team thirty four and they did employing a far less sophisticated method. of the robot going to method was it is about using the commanding officer have only what he saw through the slit to go by in the car so if you want to the time to turn to the left he hit the driver mechanic on the left solo work drive the mechanic knew he should turn to the left and be on horsepower also when the come on the want to the time to turn to the right support to hit the mechanic on the right shoulder. the teacher before had good speed and maneuverability and required no overly complicated skills to assemble but he couldn't compete in open battle with the tiger heavy tank. tiger could hit any soviet tank of the day from a distance of two thousand meters but soviet tanks crews only had a range of five to six hundred meters. more than himself along with so that we all

still sells how we can cheat the geminids course there were two thoughts problems with that in some instances a teeth that are falling when suddenly rush to the right at full speed archer with the ball in the what the us is the german tiger slowly turned around to allow it's going to take aim not another teeth thirty four would rush to the taiga in his it reminded me of a solid if you put the word to with. the tiger was mainly designed to break through enemy defenses this rare footage shows the german army cid vance and the curse of. tiger's move slowly at the head of the offensive the mere look of tires and a strong psychological effect on russian troops. bunk you can see a big hulk of a turn to produce. machine gunners on to. other machine gunners or trailing behind. if we lead them through will be destroyed. where not supposed to have been

the line of defense is no good or anything but a retreat near di ok but hold your position. a. world war two veteran varsity shifts off lives in the village of profit of near cursed in one thousand nine hundred three he was nineteen years old can on july fourth he and other soldiers from his battalion were waiting for their first taste of combat in this revealing. the men had reason to believe they were unlikely to survive the battle. when we were told to load our weapons and replenish ammunition or secure everything to your body to give you maximum ability. we were told to leave our personal belongings behind. google no longer need to. read you. very much was also making thorough preparations for the battle tank units were reinforced with

specially trained cadets. carl gales dorf was one of them. this is a photograph from his private archive as part of a detached attack company of twenty two tiger tanks he first arrived at the eastern front in early july nine hundred forty three a few days before the battle his company received orders to immediately abandon their deployment position in a small village near cursed. mom the rip off when we were leaving your officers were rummaging through houses where we had launched it from destroying all traces of our presidents bits of documents and even paper left over from letter writing. moreover learned it shortly before the battle to soviet command knew not only all our deployment areas for you but also our plans for an offensive we reasoned then why get embroiled at all over. the battle of

curse tell great importance for the german high command after a failed advance on moscow and having suffered complete defeat at stalingrad the very must was keen to take revenge they hope to successful operation and curse might again give them the strategic upper hand that would allow the germans to launch yet another offensive against moscow and strike in the direction of the caucasus if there was well aware of the importance of the battle forthcoming. an excerpt from hitler's order of july fourth one thousand forty. today your embarking on a major offensive operation was calm may decide the course of the war their victory must reinforce the certainty everywhere in the world that any resistance to the german army will be pointless in the end you must know that everything may depend on the success of this combat. the cursed bolts took shape on the eastern front in the course of the fighting in spring nine hundred forty three to great threat to

the german verma soviet troops might launch a major offensive from that springboard and after a long period of hesitation the german command decided to forestall the red army the plan was to cut russian troops off from the main forces to pave the way for wider operations. in turn thirteen on the eve of the battle of curse the germans had occupied the village of a chevy it's where he lived with his parents just before the battle broke out yvonne and other boys took up positions nearby tack to scouts watching the movements of german and russian troops. r t thirty four tanks came from there. but it is i'm sorry tanks altogether. visited there was no advance intelligence. the germans had what we called their menagerie is niggers panther. in the village.

who secured to keep thirty four tanks came under massive shelling. they were forced to pull back one of the soviet tanks hid in a small gully by the roadside yvon noticed the spot but couldn't make it to the tank before massive bombing and shelling said in from all sides. us i was hell sheer hell enough an inferno there's no other word for it they were shell fragments all over the place was walking there was a lot of the question of the us quote being a jag and shrapnel was very sharp. relief no. through early july nine hundred forty three military action at the cursed boards was mostly limited to small air raids or ground force reconnaissance missions. witnessed one of these local clashes he set out to look for the t.

thirty four four days after the russian tanks came under fire. the air was literally scorching with heat and tension soviet troops were anticipating an offensive operation but the germans were still biding their time by july fourth one thousand nine hundred three the war's longest lall had already lasted a hundred days.

a massive german offensive begin in the early morning of july fifth one thousand nine hundred forty three. the fighting goes first from the sides. of the first line of soviet defenses the germans advance by ten to twelve kilometers in four days although under their citadel playin the germans were to

have encircled soviet troops on the fourth day of the offensive one yet since german had quarters believe that it was possible to circle troops on the course cars chopstick new plan to do it at the beginning of nine hundred forty three however the coast guard battle began six months later for those six months the soviet army had made titanic of birds who managed to thorley prepared salvo on that front line to mome a chemist sat near course can the world's strongest antitank defense was organized . the battle of curse once again demonstrated to the germans that dogged heroism of russian soldiers but they were also up against a staggering a ray of ditches minefields an anti-tank barriers a total of eight entrenched defensive lines. on the first day my company was committed with twenty two tanks and gooden pa two days later we had only ten combat capable tanks left twelve tanks were disabled soley by land and supplied.

resist system of defenses unique in the entire history of world war two soldiers and local civilians built it with speeds and shovels. are you kidding of is given of a was twenty years old at the time shortly before the battle she and hundreds of other young women were building a railway while military men ensured their security. after the war and became part of a railway leading to profit of cars station. in one thousand nine hundred three it was constructed in conditions of total secrecy. tracks were laid across all of the defensive lines. during the battle the railway carried heavy artillery and ammunition to forward positions t. thirty four tanks with the most important part of the cargo. it isn't going to do this israel kill three eight one ready to go to the full. got it but you're the

first guy to military rail resection is now open permission to proceed because if you'll go here god bless let's go. there was a tourist around the railway the builders lived under shelter of branches set up on the construction site they cooked food by camp fire and they followed a rigid schedule. the air raids during the first day i did with a shovel full and a. two wheel barrow and. on to the railway that. quoting the plan the railway was to be completed in ninety days the builders worked tirelessly from dawn till sunset the first train was gone when the last spike was set just thirty one days after the start of construction the work went on even under constant bombardment.

we were. out in june and reconnaissance plane would come around on this trip and. everybody would try to find shelter over it with a good sound which tied to behind things down command. but it turned out to be and all of us. did manage to reach that t. thirty four tank which he saw stuck in the ravine for four days following the german shelling of a convoy of soviet tanks. dunk they yell they knocked out turning but he was right here brought you what one german sappers came there. they wanted to blow the tank but the mechanic was hiding there in the swamp all the while there was a submachine gun underneath with him he would have let them blow it up front if they tried to i was inspecting the tank when suddenly somebody was

a bird. what was a boy come here i went into that direction yup and saw soldier who told me one hundred eighty my look i had nothing to eat for four days will you bring me something that you would put in. as long as the germans remained in the village the boy secretly supplied them with food. at the time of was just fourteen but after helping us commit to join the soviet tanks unit he carried our reconnaissance throughout the rest of the war. but he never saw such bitter fighting as he did it to curse culch. few who can imagine how we were able to survive in that hell in defies description words fail me to the fighting it was a nightmare the noise was deafening. this was how most

. one side began firing shells into and the other shelled in response. visibility was very poor i couldn't see the tanks all we can see was a burst of fire. very first engagement would not last long he survived along with the rest of his tiger screwed but they were disengaged from the battle and sent to the rear. of my tank. as we pushed forward. i can a pillar was damaged. the tank was no longer combat keep. up with me didn't even come within sight of the first line of soviet defenses the. eleven the germans broke through to defense a fine spin the village of. the soviet realized did nothing but

a cultural counter strike to hold them. they would have to launch a head on attack against the positions of the cancer division. on the morning of july twelfth the soviet tanks were ordered to move in my. some speed to get within effective firing range as soon as possible. to use knew they were facing almost certain death but there was simply no other option. this is one of tuchman did a new soldier the enemy positions exposing themselves to german falling sometimes soviet tanks rammed german tanks on his fields when they couldn't hit them by firing their guns such acts certainly speak about heroism and great self-sacrifice on obviously it produced a strong psychological pressure in germany the saudi tank crews went to their deaths honorably in that final. soviet tanks fought literally to the last shell approach there would be no miracle

the remnants of the army's fifth armor guards retreated to their original positions . still they slowed to germany and france there were only one and a half kilometers separating them from but the germans never covered that distance only the battlefield itself fell under their control. the. troops that exhausted them had suffered such huge losses that they could never recover after the battle of course was too heavy that is to say from a strategic standpoint we'd won it. after many consecutive days fighting on the defensive but silly shifts so it's battalion finally went on the counter offensive. a c.

fears of what fighting is all about but there is no fear what would you become a wild beast you have to kill them off or you'll be killed we just had no time to worry about survival and you're not all. vassily shift so for often visits familiar battlefields he survived in one thousand nine hundred three only because he was wounded it was thanks to that injury that he sat out his battalions final action in which nearly all of his comrades were killed. or it was a point of no return. as a lie in bed i still can't believe i. knew who were there at the general leave it even now. this church has been built to commemorate to soviet soldiers who died in the

village of pro. it's the world's only orthodox church which was completely covered in the names of soldiers who gave their lives in battle. there's a bell tower in the field near prophet of god every twenty minutes the bell tolls to honor the dead. on july seventeenth one thousand nine hundred three to begin an organized retreat from the cursed bolch leaving behind piles of twisted military hardware and thousands of dead bodies. operation citadel had been

a failure i tunes troops were always on the defensive after the battle of cursed it was a turning point not only in the german soviet standoff but also in the course of the entire second world war. it's from that moment and became clear not only for german generals and officers the war was lost but even average soldiers of the german army under students that if russians could fight in severe winter and take advantage of their weather and also we know in summer the war was lost indeed. on this third one thousand nine hundred three the red army launched a massive off fence of operation all along the front line on aug fifth to germans were ousted from audio limbo going to those events were marked by the war's first gun salute.

each passing year sees the death of more and more world war two veterans vassily shifts off the infantry men. who saved a russian tank commander and. the woman who helped build the crucial railway they gathered less and less frequently at this memorial they have a drink from a soldier's bowl to honor those who died in the battle of curse. the tank minima regiment. because those who are dead and those who are alive. can't test the same strength rest in peace.

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