the. berlin the rush hard to germany's parliament it was right here the final flight 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 you show us the gun fire corpses plane that's how the reichstag looked by the end of april one thousand nine hundred forty one. german soldiers fought for every piece of land didn't really try to stand to the last man against soviet troops. to more than fifty thousand soldiers and officers

died over russian polish and german each of us fought for our own model and you know for the russians for theirs you get one twenty four hours. battle lasted for two weeks 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 vassily used to go off was an anti-tank gun platoon commander he still keeps them out that he got before assaulting berlin get there got the rhythm of going to this is a map they gave out before the dawn get them away and we were supposed to attack the outskirts of girl and that the dawn looked back and before that they gave me a map if you mean you are sure can. 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. longer offered any serious resistance. 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 only sixty one kilometers and when the allies bombed the flashes of anti-aircraft shells let the sky like stars. to the plan short. the battle for poland to have left the advancing soviet troops with almost no ammunition and few. took two months to prepare for the assault. meanwhile the germans also took advantage of the delay. yeah reserves around the broad

south here this was the place where the army's strongest units were concentrated in the wars final weeks after the germans also built a 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. 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 assault on 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 the real concern was to 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 was lost as he expected in that case simpson said he expected some thirty thousand an. hour sadler that wouldn't do us troops were to hold their positions the russians do the fighting. on april first stone called a meeting of his supreme command where he decided that the berlin operation should start. i think that if roosevelt hadn't signed on april the twelfth and would have agreed to the participation of the western allies forces in the assault. as a kind of. prevent the allies from stabbing him in the by. 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 a few years ago. received these documents relating to operation unthinkable from a british. twenty nine pages. britain's joint staff started preparations for hostilities against the soviet union a month before the war and the operation planned by the british implied an attack on the soviet union without declaring war on july first one thousand nine hundred forty seven british divisions were to deliver a crushing blow to the. support. to say that russia should be forced to succumb to the we.

just one quote from the plan of the operation. could only be achieved. the occupation of such. a country would be to a point and 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 allies combined forces quick success in any such conflict would be impossible. he knew that something was brewing to say whether he had a clear knowledge of the. kim philby was operating in britain at the time top officials were doing.

son of a german anti-fascist had joined the soviet army in one thousand nine hundred forty two as a volunteer. in 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 so he defensive in a few hours time. because the system in general with this is impossible 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 you could write this or that 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 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 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 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 needs the german positions. marshals to cause idea was to blind the germans to hinder their return fire. through out the screws you had to fire you didn't know where to look because you were blinded by searchlight a scene we couldn't see any detail as if all we saw was a blazing bank of the river is to see. through 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 flames 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 on the 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. 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 arctic. then move the it's going i have never seen so many dead bodies as i sold the sailor heights now thousands and thousands of men died in a very small talk of the most terrifying thing of all was those people dying venue of the war would be over in a couple of weeks fields but on the day read 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 advancing soviet army simply swept them away. as though we didn't stay to defend berlin because there was nobody who could for data because many people died many flat to the west the given to the americans a meeting caught it in. one of the biggest german suna terri's 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 lands. private harry 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 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. the four hundred needs were flowing from both sides the fighting was intense there where the bakery is now well into tanks 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 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.

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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 door go and climb to dob as 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 of our side the commander left an unwilling robertson you took a battle in and drew an american flag on it and then he climbs to the castle settings on more programmers 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 the far someone trying to shoot the window

that was a shell from the soviet left down on the exam that assad washed all three of us. it was through with that so it was a group of people including women of that was approaching the river thought we knew the german army officers were hiding on the other bank so it was necessary for us to understand the situation didn't 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. and alexander. became friends. became

a symbol of the end of the second world war. and i was. happy to meet each other. we were happy to know that we were the victors. troops could have taken place much earlier had the british. one thousand nine hundred four when they first agreed back in one thousand nine hundred two. thousand nine hundred forty one. the united states and great britain. on the opening of the second. one thousand nine hundred to one thousand nine hundred three passed. to relieve pressure on the soviet union in the east.

but. that it would be only when it became clear that the russians would. that they were. entering europe. and 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 look your judgment was with should have gone in the foot sooner who scored the goods 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 the seven sailors were given the titles of heroes of the soviet union. and then in one of them was nikolai. manzer files a rocket snapped a controlled 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 stand 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 a latvian battalion of the fifteenth s.s. division. i mean i'm pretty sure they were crying out from the basements hey yvonne

surrender you where many you are a fools the roost 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 one. 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 a very. 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. that's the.

flag. but a white sheet. scrambling. to get 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 with the russians and. heard many stories about. what if they were treated in the same way again 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 or. 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 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. 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. 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 fathers 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.

wealthy british scientists i'm told some time to. find. markets why not scandals. find out what's really happening to the global economy in these kinds of reports. in the czech republic is available in a hotel as science central hotel premier and most regal to full stop by you to which i am a taste in bosnia and herzegovina available in who told both me and the children of each. to know to what you know so tell period of time at hotels you're good enough cold air a boutique hotel and you're like toast. in serbia multis available in moscow and hyatt regency.

would be soon which brightened if you knew about someone from phones to impressions . he's fluent stunts on t.v. dot com. the g twenty leaders put that money on the table agreeing not to use currency use as weapons to protect themselves while throwing up trouble for other countries also . an intelligence officer gone to the other side under supervision uncovered after decades of secret work find out the latest twist in the spy ring saga we are in our program and. israel accuses probe. fueling the conflict in the

region and supporting terrorists and revoked supporting them on the ground plus. pressure the economy slows in the third or quarter as a result of the worst drought in fifteen years it had crops in force manufacturers to cut production details in a business problem. global news from the center of moscow this is r.t. welcome to the program the world's richest economies have agreed to try and prevent a currency wars so as not to stifle the much needed global economic recovery but experts say it's more of a ceasefire than a solution as tensions similar between the u.s. and the major exporters such as china and.