world war two took place. there are ever fewer surviving witnesses to the events of those days soviet veterans will never forget what happened sixty five years ago show us gun fire corpses. that's how the reichstag look by the end of april one thousand nine hundred forty one. pitch. cue german soldiers fought for every piece of footage and really tried to stand to the last minute against soviet troops. more than fifty thousand soldiers and officers. polish and german. russians for their own twenty four hours. lasted for two weeks to the left flank of the braves on the top of the lifestyle game a nine hundred forty five. became a symbol of victory of so few people over fascism.

in one thousand nine hundred five of. was an anti-tank gun platoon commander she still keeps a map that he got before assaulting berlin at the cut the ribbon 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. crossing the river they had covered nearly five hundred kilometers in twenty days. longer offered any serious resistance. just a stone's throw away from berlin the ultimate objective of the offensive.

by measure the distance with the sixty one kilometers to the outskirts of berlin only sixty one kilometers and when the allies bombed the flashes of anti-aircraft shells let the sky like stars. to the plane short. left of the advancing soviet troops with almost no ammunition and fuel. took two months to prepare for the assault. germans also took advantage of the delay. yeah reserves around them were 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 into german forces were being amassed along the

author for the most massive military operation in world history. 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. 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 make us 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 ford most u.s. troops were about one hundred kilometers west of berlin there were almost no battle ready german armies 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 signed on april the twelfth stolen would have agreed to the participation of the western allies forces in the assault. as a kind of toll would prevent the allies from stabbing him in the. roosevelt the soviet command to take a resolute action the assault 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 it. received these documents relating to operation unthinkable from a british. twenty nine pages. britain's joint.

the soviet union a month before the war. by the british implied an attack on the. war 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 will of. the operation. could only be achieved. the occupation of such. a country would be. point for the resistance. some credit is certainly due to the british military

planners they were clearly aware that the soviet army was nearly twice the size of the western forces quick success in any such conflict would be impossible. he knew that something was brewing to say whether he had a clear. britain at the time top officials. 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. 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 so he defensive 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 to. the war's 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 you could dissolve it artillery had overwhelming superiority and if we were gripped with blind fear all we wanted was to hide somewhere from that ferocious fire as if you found. thing was ablaze a logs were flying all around at last for something like thirty five minutes the north of the northern tanks rolled forward and we followed in behind me as 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 phone the tank in its tracks 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 needs the german positions.

marshals to cause idea was to blind the germans to hinder their return fire. you out the skills you had to fire you didn't know where to look because you were blinded by searchlight a scene and we couldn't see any details if all we saw was a blazing bank of the river is to sing. for the germans cielo was the last defensive line before berlin so the german soldiers defended the highlands with deadly determination petri tism aside the german army had still other reasons to keep finding to the bitter end despite the desperate situation. that any soldier of slain 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 are propaganda and 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 vended 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 have never seen so many dead bodies as i sold the sailor heights thousands and thousands of men died in a very small talk of the most terrifying thing of old was those people dying venue of the war would be over in a couple of weeks fields but on the day we had no second. 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 advancing 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 any flak to the west to give in to the americans a meeting caught it in. one of the biggest of 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 s.s. division called nord lambs. 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 homa 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 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. private 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. the four hundred needs were flowing from both sides

the fighting was intense there where the bakery is now tank fortifications they prevented soviet tanks from entering the territory little so they prohibited the germans from running from the battlefield on this street we lost hundreds and hundreds of. the remains of his army managed to leave the circle and fled to the west but during those three 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 good music maybe even a lot of the players but what makes a person powerful and influential maybe it is a combination of numerous factors and forbes magazine sixty eight most powerful. for the full story we've got. the biggest issues get

a human voice face to face with the news makers. wealthy british. writers for the. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy is a report on r.t. the typical german town of torgau on the el the river like in many provincial cities the pace of life is slow here tore down might never have been known to the world if not for the events of april twenty fifth one thousand nine hundred forty five. on the day an american patrol came to the door go and climb to the sixteenth century castle from there they saw

a bridge over the albert river it was blown up by the germans and they saw the soviet soldiers on the eastern about the commander left an unwilling robertson battle in and drew an american flag on it and he climbs to the castles and robbers and looked outside and threw the flag out of the window and every moment he heard the whistle of a shell coming from the eastern bank you find someone trying to shoot the window that was a shell from the soviet left on and i would sign that assad. the group was through with us so it was a group of people including women of that was approaching the river. we knew the german army officers were hiding on the other bank so it was necessary for us to understand the situation did 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 elba. it happened when the bulk of the soviet forces encircled berlin and some elements of the red army reached the edge of the river. the allies from both sides had decided to celebrate the meeting. the american intended million robertson and a soviet lieutenant alexander soon became friends the picture of the two men husband became a symbol of the end of the second world war. we were both illustrating and i was grinning and happy to meet each other with those who were happy to know that we were the victors budgeted the. could have taken place much earlier had the british. one thousand nine hundred four when they first agreed back in one thousand nine hundred.

nine hundred forty one. states and great britain. one thousand nine hundred one thousand nine hundred three passed. to relieve. the east. but. that it would be only when it became clear that the russians would. cross. the british and american response. 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. which we should have got in the fort sooner who discovered 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 white stuff . in the year or seven sailors were given the titles of heroes of the soviet union the last summer slain the 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 thirty donning min 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 men of the scandinavian division nordland and the latvian 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 fuels 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 hoyer.

that. didn't go on. but. on the morning of may second general. commander of the berlin defense area arrived at the soviet headquarters to sign a cease fire order. was the first to read and type out 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. as long as the war. soon after the ceasefire 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 we didn't get out into the open. a surrendering. by the evening of the second of may civilians were out in the streets of berlin. many. 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. i saw my sergeant major skipping something else or the pot i found out that the people who were doing for the food what access from the local theater skinny and hungry they stood with. the russians. they were afraid of us they thought russians were constant acts with a long mustache they were looking us all over thinking where the russians mustaches were your first hand they wanted to know we were wearing field caps 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 why suddenly because there was a deafening noise. 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 i don't need to tell you that we finished off that bottle. ration 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 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. outcome was a result of all casualties and the heroism of off fathers and grandfathers it was the result of self-sacrifice and heroic deeds. sort of force in europe not just in africa. nine hundred thousand victims come to compared to twenty million lives. the bloodiest war in the history of mankind was over sixty five years have passed since now. those who survived still.

live.

did the so-called cars the war stop the talks at the g twenty find out in just a moment with me and you from now a. anybody who supports justice for palestinians and palestinian refugees is an enemy of israel and since pro quo terrorists human rights groups in israel are being forced

underground. withdraw accusations of supporting terrorism. it's a law against tradition in chechnya where customary bride kidnapping doesn't stop some young men from simply taking the woman they want. a very warm welcome to you this is all a lie from moscow the g twenty has agreed to work to prevent currency wars which could threaten global trade growth the summit in seoul was overshadowed by tensions between the u.s. major exporters china and germany the countries have been accusing each other.