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 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. 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 so few people over

fascism. in one thousand nine hundred five of. was an anti-tank gun platoon commander he still keeps a map that he got before assaulting berlin if the we're going to this is a map they gave out before the donkey at them when we 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. 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. of the advancing soviet troops with almost no any mission and few. 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 west ward from the forward positions or the six and a half kilometers from us. soviet inge 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. 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 not lead them into a mood which will raise grave and formidable difficulties in the future. because.

britain was aiming to see germany destroy your odds on the other hand it wanted to the soviet union weakened as much as possible i mean by their real concern was to the appearance of a new arrival on the concert of the. 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 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 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 the limb. as a kind of cool would prevent the allies from stopping 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 from a british. twenty nine pages. britain's joint.

the soviet union a month before the war. by the british. 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 the country. for the resistance. some credit is certainly due to the british.

they were clearly aware that. the size of the western forces. would be impossible. he knew that something was brewing. by kim philby was. 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. 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. 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. 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 north of the northern tanks rolled forward and we followed in behind me as a team if then community there were anti-personnel mines on over the place and they do no harm to tanks or to what i had to follow the tank in its tracks void the mines so that they didn't blow my legs off. to achieve greater effect one hundred forty high powered search lights illuminate the german positions

. marshall through 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 river distancing. 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 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. to 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 fallback 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 order. to 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 plot of land the most terrifying thing of all was this people dying venue of the war would be over in a couple of weeks fields but when they read

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 the given 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 homa it occupies a few square kilometers. more than twenty thousand german soldiers are buried here most of them were in an s.s. division coast northland. 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 us soldiers with their they took us for a soviet column and they opened fire on it so the crossing was covered with dead bodies and despite the fight 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 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. no one needs were flying from both sides the

fighting was intense but there were the bakeries now where anti-tank fortifications they prevented soviet tanks from entering the territory from here but also 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 his army managed to leave the circle and fled to the west but during those three days and held up 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. for the full story we've got it first the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers.

the typical german town of torgau on the elbow 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. calm or calm on the day an american patrol came to a door go and climb to taba sixteenth century castle on sand on 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 the commander left an unwilling robertson indeed took a battle in and drew an american flag on it then he climbs to the castle settings on more programmers and looked outside and through the flag out of the window and

that very 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 lift down on how it sounded assad washable three of us who . were still with us so it was a group of people including women that 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 end. it happened when the bulk of the soviet forces in circles berlin and some elements of the red army reached the river . the allies from both sides had decided to celebrate the meeting.

the american. 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. happy to meet each other. we were happy to know that we were the. one thousand nine hundred four when they first agreed back in one thousand nine hundred. nine hundred forty one.

thousand nine hundred forty three past. to relieve. the east. but. that it would be only when it became clear that the russians would. that they were. entering europe. on the balance of forces. 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 foot sooner who scored the goods by the way with another bullet. on april twenty eighth soviet troops encircled the city center and began an assault on the bus stop. the building was protected by bans 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 seven sailors are given the titles of heroes of the soviet union the last summer slender and one of them was nikolai. manzer files a rocket snapped a 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. division. i mean i'm pretty sure they were crying up 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 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 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 be that that's the end of it. but a white sheet. 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. many. but the adults stayed at home the russians had. 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 part i found out that the people who were queuing 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 had 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 through there were you know when we rushed out we saw fireworks going up in celebration of victory so i don't need to tell you that we finished off that bottle it is. 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 you should have fought in europe not just in africa. one 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.

countries making up half of the world's economy for the asia pacific summit in japan seeking to promote free trade in the region. despite its death socialism appears to be making a comeback in countries around the world with many experts predicting the decay of capitalism. shifting ocean currents temperatures going up and down

what's happening to the planet's climate and to what is this world coming to which might transit prices later in the program. and coming off a business update that he may appear to meet his counterparts in bulk area which could signal the start of construction of the south stream gas pipeline we have details in about twenty minutes time. a very warm welcome to you this is our life from moscow well they already account for half of 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 as australia is following the annual apec summit. well we're here in the yokohama japan.