the rushed home to germany's parliament it was right here the final fight of world war two took place. there ever fewer surviving witnesses to the events of those days soviet veterans will never forget what happened sixty five years ago show us the fire corpses. that's how the reichstag look by the end of april nine hundred forty one. pitch. cue german soldiers fought for every piece of clay and didn't really try to stand to the last minute against soviet troops. more than fifteen thousand soldiers and officers. russian polish and german. russians for their own twenty four hours. or less to fortune. the red flag was raised on the top of the lifestyle game

a nine hundred forty five. became the symbol of victory of soviet people over fascism. in one thousand nine hundred five and vassily was an anti-tank gun platoon commander and still keeps a map that he got before assaulting berlin with the current the river this is a map they gave out before the donkey at them when they were supposed to attack the outskirts of girl in that the don't look back and before that they gave me a map. in late january nine hundred forty five the success of the offensive had gained soviet troops a foot deep in german territory. crossing the river they had covered nearly five hundred kilometers in twenty days the germans no longer offered any serious

resistance. is now just a stone's throw away from berlin the ultimate objective of the offensive. by measure the distance with a ruler the sixty one kilometers to the outskirts of berlin is only sixty one kilometers and when the allies bombed the flashes of anti-aircraft shells let the sky like stars. stone stomp to the plane short. the battle for poland had left the advancing soviet troops with almost no ammunition and fuel the soviet army took two months to prepare for the assault. meanwhile the germans also took advantage of the delay. yeah reserves around brought up here this was the place where the army's strongest units were concentrated in the wars final weeks after the germans also built formidable defenses extending twenty kilometers westward from the forward positions or six and a half kilometers from us. soviet and german forces were being amassed along the

author for the most massive military operation in world history. then so till of three and a half million troops from both sides some ten thousand tanks schools of thousands of assault guns and eleven thousand some of those know all the operation of that scale in world war two you know could there be any building was at stake you see. meanwhile the leaders of the soviet union the united states and britain had not yet agreed on which army would take the german capital the british prime minister winston churchill called on the us president franklin d. roosevelt to start the sultan berlin in a letter addressed to roosevelt on april first one thousand nine hundred five churchill wrote the following if the russians also take berlin it will not their impression that they have been the overwhelming contributor to our common victory unduly imprinted on their minds and may just not lead them into

a mood which will raise grave and formidable difficulties in the future. britain was aiming to see germany destroy on the other hand it wanted to the soviet union weakened as much as possible i mean by their real concern was to all the appearance of a new arrival on the concert of the new continued. in early april the fourth most u.s. troops were about one hundred kilometers west of berlin there were almost no battle ready german army facing them all of them had been moved to the eastern front to repulse the soviet offensive. horizon ours known to have asked general simpson whether u.s. troops could take berlin from sky was lost as he expected in that case simpson said he expected some thirty thousand an. hour sadler that wouldn't do for us troops were to hold their positions at the russians do the fighting. on

april first stalin called a meeting of his supreme command where he decided that the berlin operation should start in mid april. i think that if roosevelt hadn't. stolen would have agreed to the participation of the western allies forces in the assault on lin. as a kind of cool would prevent the allies from stopping him in the by. the soviet command to take a resolute action was set for april sixteenth stalin may have had yet another reason for wanting to take berlin without delay in early april the british prime minister ordered the drafting of operation unthinkable. the british military declassified documents relating to. what. received the. british. twenty nine pages.

britain. a month before the war. by the british. on july first one thousand nine hundred forty seven british. were to deliver a crushing blow to the. say that russia should be forced to succumb to the we. could only be achieved. the occupation. of the country. for the resistance. some

credit is certainly due to the british. they were clearly. the size of the western forces. that something was brewing. of the. top officials they were doing. son of a german anti-fascist had joined the soviet army in one thousand nine hundred forty two as a volunteer. in april of one thousand nine hundred five he was a propaganda officer. at the early hours of april sixteenth he was summoned to

headquarters he was told to announce to the germans through the loudspeakers the start of the war's final defense of in a few hours time. general with this isn't possible with we can't possibly give away military secrets. tenant's we can have an interest in keeping casualties. as most massive preparatory bombardment began at five o'clock in the morning of april sixteenth. thousands of artillery pieces shelled german positions for half an hour. were the first to start up the pounding. somebody showed something. antonius schneider was

a corporal in the opposing army. tune of heavy machine guns was under his command when they were defending a small railway station near the sea heights at the very outset his platoon lost three out of four machine guns. i thought could we do in that situation got absolutely nothing a quarter of this or that artillery had overwhelming superiority and if we were gripped with blind fear as well as all we wanted was to hide somewhere from that ferocious fire as if you found. was a blaze a logs were flying all around at last for something like thirty five minutes the nor the northern tanks rolled forward and we followed in behind me here is a commute then commuter were anti-personnel mines all over the place and they do no harm to tanks or to what i had to follow the tank in its tracks was void the mines would be so that they didn't blow my legs off. to achieve greater effect

one hundred forty high powered searchlights and who need to determine positions. marshals to cause idea was to blind the germans to hinder their return fire. through out the skies you had to fire you didn't know where to look because you were blinded by searchlight and we couldn't see any detail as if all we saw was a blazing bank of the reverse to see. through the germans cielo was the last defensive line before berlin so the german soldiers defended the highlands with general determination petri tism aside the german army had still other reasons to keep fighting to the bitter end despite the desperate situation. that any soldier fleeing his position might be shot in killed by an officer on the spot so many soldiers hanged on poles for attempting to leave their position our propaganda had hammered into our heads that we must avoid being taken prisoner by the soviets

at all cost and. the soviet forces expected to overrun the seal heights in a matter of hours. the germans clung to their defenses for nearly three days and nights. after a head on thrust failed to take the heights soviet troops fly into the german defenses only then did the defending army led by general boo say fall back now nothing stood in the way of the red army's advance towards berlin. the cost of the assault was a very high. the soviet forces lost tens of thousands of men in a tiny center near the author. who knew the rules going on i've never seen so many dead bodies as i sold the sale the heights the thousands and thousands of men died in a very small plot of land the most terrifying thing of old was that people dying

venue of the war would be over in a couple of weeks fields but only then you had a message. after the fall of the seal heights the germans never again offered any organized resistance. some elements of the german army were still trying to fight as we advance and soviet army simply swept them away. as though we didn't stay to defend berlin because there was nobody who could protect but because many people died many flat to the west to give in to the americans a meeting caught it in. one of the biggest german cemeteries is situated not far from berlin in a small town of hama it occupies a few square kilometers. more than twenty thousand german soldiers are buried here most of them were in an ancestor vision called nord land. from seal heights

was retreating with the rest of the ninth army led by general who say. he was running from the advancing soviet army with just one gun in his hands. when his column was entering the town of hulda it came under heavy fire. right here the furniture factory was here as soldiers with they took us for a soviet column and they opened fire on it so the crossing was covered with dead bodies and despite the fact the fight was going on between two german divisions and . when the germans realized they were shooting their own people they stopped the fire but by that time the soviet troops had already approached the town of how about. his german column turned out to be in a circle of fire on the one side of the street the soviet soldiers were shooting. and on the other side v.s.s. soldiers were fighting back. her for her needs were flowing from both sides the

fighting was intense there were the bakery is now well into tank fortifications apart they prevented soviet tanks from entering the territory for very little so they prohibited the germans from running from the battlefield on this street we lost hundreds and hundreds of. the remains of bush his army managed to leave the circle and fled to the west but during those three movies and more than sixty thousand german soldiers died and one hundred twenty thousand were taken prisoner there was just one day left before the capitulation of germany. sure is that so much abuse going to be made if you get a lot of people a year yeah but what makes a person powerful and influential maybe it is a combination of numerous factors and forbes magazine sixty most powerful. wealthy

british. markets. find out what's really happening to the global economy for no holds barred look at the global financial headline news. to report. the typical german town of torgau on the el the river like in many provincial cities the pace of life is slow here. might never have been known to the world if not for the events of april twenty fifth one thousand nine hundred forty five. day an american patrol came to the door go. as sixteenth century castle on their

bridge over the alamo river it was blown up by the germans and they saw the soviet soldiers on the eastern of the commander left an unwilling robertson battle in and draw an american flag on it he climbs to the castles and robbers and looked through the flag out of the window and every moment he heard the whistle of a shell coming from the eastern bank someone trying to shoot the window that was a shell from the soviet left on an alexander assault. that's how it was a group of people including women was approaching the river. we knew that german army officers were hiding on the other bank so it was necessary for us to understand the situation we need to shoot or find an alternative way. but finally the soviet soldiers realized that the mysterious men on the far bank

were actually their american allies what followed would become an iconic moment in the world war two history the meeting at the. it happened when the bulk of the soviet forces encircled berlin and some elements of the red army reached the yellow river. the allies from both sides decided to celebrate the meeting. the americans. and the soviet lieutenant alexander soon became friends the picture of the two men hugging became a symbol of the end of the second world war. were both grinning and i was grinning and happy to meet each other. we were happy to know that we were the victors. the first link up of american and soviet troops could have taken place much earlier had the british and americans opened the second front in one thousand nine hundred four but when they first agreed back in one

thousand nine hundred two. talks on the establishment of an anti hitler coalition began on june twenty seventh one thousand nine hundred forty one a year later the soviet union the united states and great britain signed a declaration on the opening of the second front in europe. one thousand nine hundred two one thousand nine hundred three passed with no second front to relieve pressure on the soviet union in the east. plans to open a second front were made but churchill and roosevelt agreed that it would be launched only when it became clear that the russians would cave in. on the contrary that they would gain by crossing the nineteen thirty nine borders and entering europe. the long delay in the british and american response had a significant impact on the balance of forces in post-war europe. many in the west

are upset about stalin's power to shape the post-war arrangement it makes me want to say. we should have gone in the foot sooner who screw the goose by the way with another woman. on april twenty eighth soviet troops encircled the city center and began an assault on the way stop. the building was protected by bands in the spring river and the bridge crossings had been blown up. troops crossed the sprit aboard tiny dinghies from one bank to the other a distance of several dozen meters. they face continuous german fire half of the sailors who were there to secure the crossing died in the shadow of the right stuff . in them via seven sailors were given the titles of heroes of the soviet union the lost so mostly and then one of them was nikolai. manzer faust a rocket snapped the control gave him a zero so there was nothing left for him to do the movement gripped the two ends of

the cable with his teasing you turn he done in that position. the race dog was defended by remnants of elite s.s. units hitler's personal bodyguards. there were also french volunteers from the charlemagne division. of the scandinavian division nordland and the levin battalion of the fifteenth s.s. deficient. i mean i'm pretty sure they were crying out from the basement hey yvonne surrender you where many you are a fool knows the rules cup lot but in the evening of the first of may they changed their tune yvonne we want to surrender they shouted. on april thirtieth hitler committed suicide in the reich chancellery but some s.s. units continued resistance. in the evening soviet troops captured to the right stocks top floors for the first time the red flag was hot.

it. didn't go on. but. on the morning of may second general. commander of the defense area arrived at the soviet headquarters to sign a cease fire order. was the first to read that order. frankly i thought it was. exact quote from the initial. considering the situation of the civilian population in. considering the situation of our wounded. and surrender with the consent of.

said to myself. the war. soon after the cease fire order silence fell over central berlin soviet troops took the city under control the soldiers knew that was the end of the war. at ten am there was complete silence. but a white sheet. scrambling out of their shelters out into the open. a surrendering. by the evening of the second of may civilians were out in the streets of berlin. but the adults stayed at home the russians had. heard many stories about. what

if they were treated in the same way the kids had pill faces they were wearing shorts some had small bowls on their hand when they were given some poor and they rushed home with. skipping something else or the part i found out that the people who were queuing for the food what access from the local theater. hungry they stood with. the russians. they were afraid of us they thought russians were constant x. with a long mustache they were looking us all over thinking where the russians mustaches were your first they wanted to know we were wearing field camps we were just a young boy is authentic. on the evening of may eighth marshals you called and representatives of great britain france and the united states signed the act of germany's unconditional surrender at the headquarters of the soviet fifth army in

berlin. on the ninth of may we were losing to our hearts content of lead found a big bottle containing ten liters of apple while suddenly because there was a deafening noise he could hear that. they were firing from all sides that anybody was a german break room with you when we rushed out we saw fireworks going up in celebration of victory so there you go i don't need to tell you that we finished off that bottle in. the berlin operation lasted for sixteen days the soviet troops lost up to two hundred thousand men according to various estimates of the soviet army lost from eight and a half to eleven million men between nine hundred forty one and nine hundred forty

five. including civilians a total of twenty seven million soviet people died in the war with germany the combined losses of the usa and great britain came to nine hundred thousand people. who thought the way it was outcome was a result of all casualties and the heroism of off all those and grandfathers it was the result of self-sacrifice and heroic deeds. of force in europe not just in africa. nine hundred thousand victims come to compared to twenty million lives what's. the bloodiest war in the history of mankind was over sixty five years have passed since now. those who survived still.

live.

talking continues at the g. twenty summit here soldiers need to censor second day of negotiations on the table currency who was global trade imbalances and topping protection for. anybody who supports justice for palestinians and health in the refugee is is an

enemy of israel and syncro terrorists human rights groups in israel are being forced underground as their limits are withdrawn or accusations of supporting terrorism. and they know it's healthy and costly for georgian smokers choose to stick to their habit with some prefer to spend their last money on cigarettes instead of food. though they're around the clock and indeed around the world this is r.t. the g twenty summit of the world's leading economies is in its second day with serious tensions between china and the united states threatening global trade growth the two countries accuse each other of manipulating currency rates to make exports cheaper and build up foreign exchange reserves.