it was right here that the final fight for 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 fifty thousand soldiers and officers. polish and german each of us fought for. russians for their own very for hours. left 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 so few people over

fascism. in one thousand nine hundred five of. was an anti-tank gun platoon commander she still keeps him outfit he got before assaulting berlin if the river could do this is a map they gave out before the donkey at them when they were supposed to attack the outskirts of girl in the dawn or 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. 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 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. of the advancing soviet troops with almost no ammunition and few. 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 west ward 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. 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 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. continued. in early april before 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 eastern front to repulse the soviet offensive. horizon ours known to have asked general simpson whether u.s. troops could take berlin if i was lost as he expected in that case simpson said he expected some thirty thousand an. hour said 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 and would have agreed to the participation of the western allies forces in the assault on a limb. 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. received these documents relating to operation from a british. twenty nine pages. britain's joint

started preparations for hostilities against the soviet union a month before the war. by the british 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. 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. for the resistance. some credit is certainly due to the british.

they were clearly aware that the soviet army was nearly twice the size of the western forces. would be impossible. he knew that something was brewing to say whether he had a clear. top officials. 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. 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. 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 the sordid artillery had overwhelming superiority and if we were gripped with blind fear all we wanted was to hide somewhere from that ferocious fire does it go foul. 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 on the reserve please 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 many of the german positions. marshall should 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 it's always saw was a blazing bank of the river. 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 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 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 flank of the german defenses only vended the defending army led by general bruce a 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 sale the heights the thousands and thousands of men died in a very small plot of land the most terrifying thing of all was those people dying

venue of the war would be over in a couple of weeks fields but when they didn't 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 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 the given to the americans a meeting caught it in. one of the biggest german suna terraces 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 mines 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 hall but it came under heavy fire. right here the furniture factory was here as us 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 hell but . private gain 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 fellow who needs were flying from both sides the

fighting was intense there where the bakery is now well into tank fortifications they prevented soviet tanks from entering the territory from here a little so they prohibited the germans from running from the battlefield on this street we lost hundreds and hundreds of oil men from. the remains of bush's army managed to leave the circle and fled to the west but during those three days and how the 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.

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 l. the river like in many provincial cities the pace of life is slow here torgau 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 torgau. as sixteenth century castle from there they saw

a 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 and william robertson took a battle and drew an american flag on it 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 someone trying to shoot the window that was a shell from the soviet how it sounded aside. the group were still with us so it was a group of people including women and lot of that was approaching the river but we knew that german army officers were hiding on the other bank so it was necessary for us to understand the situation as well to do 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 in circles berlin and some elements of the red army reached the yellow river. the allies from both sides had decided to celebrate the meeting. the american intended million robertson 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. we were both illustrating and i was grinning happy to meet each other with those who were happy to know that we were the victors but digital the. troops could have taken place much earlier 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. nine hundred forty three passed. to relieve pressure. in the east. but. only when it became clear that the russians were. entering europe. the british and american response had a significant impact on the balance of forces. many in the west are upset about stalin's power to shape the post-war arrangements it makes me want

to say. which we should have got in the fight sooner who screw the goose by the way with another bullet. 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 . and in the seven sailors were given the titles of heroes of the soviet union this is the last so maslany in one of them was nikolai. manzer files 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 done in that position. the race dog

was defended by remnants of elite s.s. units personal bodyguards. there were also french volunteers from the charlemagne division men of the scandinavian division nordland and a 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 of jewels 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. that that's the. flag not a flag but a white sheet. they start scrambling out of their shelter 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 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 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 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 through and we you know 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 in. the berlin operation lasted for sixteen days the soviet troops lost up to two hundred thousand men according to various estimates 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. 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 then. those who survived still.

live.

the twenty one members of the asia pacific economic cooperation gather here for a two day summit in a yokohama japan and big get down to business. despite its declared socialism appears to be making a comeback in countries across the low many experts predicting the decay of capitalism. to ocean currents and temperatures going up and down so what's

happening to the world's climate and what is this world coming to try to answer that question in just a few. and coming up in business update russia show signs is going green as a stop producing wind turbines in two thousand and twelve we'll have the details in about twenty minutes time. you're watching our t.v. where twenty four hours a day it will straight talk top story though they already account for hoffa all global economic activity but now they want more pacific rim nations are gathering in japan seeking to expand their influence and increase free trade. is following the annual apec summit the twenty one members of the asia pacific economic forum are not gathering here in yokohama japan and.