berlin the ranch dog home to germany's parliament it was right here the final flight of 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 flames that's how the reich started look by the end of april nine hundred forty one. 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 night over russian polish and german each of us fought for all. the russians for theirs you go on twenty four hours. to. last

a 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 a silly was an anti-tank gun platoon commander she still keeps a map that he got before assaulting berlin. it occurred at the river this is a map they gave out before the donkey at them we were supposed to attack the outskirts of carlin at the dawn and before that they gave me a map. in late january nine hundred forty five the success of the fistula other offensive had gained soviet troops a foothold 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 the soviet line was now just a stone's throw away from berlin the ultimate objective of the offensive yeah we need a map i measured 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. stone stomp to the plan short. the battle for poland had left the advancing soviet troops with almost no any mission and fuel the soviet army took two months to prepare for the assault. while the germans also took advantage of the delay. of the reserves around. here this was the place where the army's strongest units were concentrated in the

wars final weeks later made off with the germans also built a formidable defenses extending twenty kilometers westward from the forward positions or the six and a half kilometers from. soviet inch 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. 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. britain was aiming to see germany destroyed on the other hand it wanted to the soviet union weakened as much as possible by their real concern was to all the appearance of a new rival in the consent 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 army facing them all of them had been moved to eastern front to repulse the soviet offensive. horizon hours 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 u.s.

troops were to hold their positions 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. as a kind of. prevent the allies from stabbing him in the by. the soviet command to take action. had yet another reason for wanting to take. the british prime minister the drafting of. 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. 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. support. that russia should be forced to succumb to the we. just one quote from the plan of the operation. only be achieved.

the occupation of such. a country would be produced 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 and quick success in any such conflict would be impossible. just that stalin was wary of something like operation unthinkable. he knew that something was brewing it's hard to say whether he had a clear knowledge of the details we now know that off famous aspiring led by kim philby was operating in britain at the time top foreign office officials were doing a very effective job. 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. because assistant general this is impossible with we can't possibly give away military secrets. tenant's we can have an interest in keeping casualties. to wars 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. is where the first to start up the pounding deafening you can hear. somebody show

something. antonius schneider was a corporal in the opposing army a platoon of heavy machine guns was under his command when they were defending a small railway station near the seal heights at the very outset his platoon lost three out of four machine guns. that 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 here is a commute then community there 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 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 sue cause idea was to blind the germans to hinder their return fire. to out the skies you had to fire you didn't know where to look because you were blinded by searchlight seen and we couldn't see any details if all we saw was a blazing bank of the river system. 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 flees 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 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 autor. then moved to its going i 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 all was that 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 civil rights 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 that's because there was nobody who could for data but because many people died many flat to the west the given to the americans a meeting caught it in. one of the biggest a 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 northland. 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 can. name 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 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. before her needs were flowing from both sides the fighting was intense there where the bakery is now entertain 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 oil men. the remains of his army managed to leave the circle and fled to the west but during those three movies and hello 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.

the typical german town of torgau on the elba 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 sixteenth century castle zaandam 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 took a battle in and drew an american flag on it he climbed to the castle settings on more programmers and looked outside and threw 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 down on how it sounded assad who. doesn't know 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 end. it happened when the bulk of the soviet forces encircled berlin and some elements of the red army reached the river . the allies from both sides had decided to celebrate the meeting. 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 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 open a second front in one thousand nine hundred four but when they first agreed back in one thousand nine hundred two. 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 only when it became clear that the russians would. that they would gain. by crossing the nineteen thirty nine and entering europe but. 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 go in the who. will. soviet troops encircled the city center. the building was protected by. river bridge crossings had been blown up. troops crossed the border. 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 stop . sniffing the seven sailors were given the titles of heroes of the soviet union this is so muslim and then one of them was nikolai. manzer faust

a rocket snapped a controlled so there was nothing left for him to do but grip 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 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 come out of it in the evening of the first of may they changed their tune yvonne we want to surrender they shot it. 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 hoisted over the building. of the thrust with love a german and seen a draft gun show down that threat flag was in it but it didn't go on for sure that's gone was no tell it's by a man of my battalion on new york as bill. on the morning of may second general helmet veiling 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 old order though there isn't. almost exact quote from the initial. has committed suicide. there are no longer committed to the oath we have taken considering the situation of the civilian population in. considering the situation of our wounded. and surrender with the consent of.

said to myself who will say what he likes as long as the war and. 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. flag not a flag really but a white sheet. as they start scrambling out of their shelter to get out into the open. a surrendering that's for sure. by the evening of the second of may civilians were out in the streets of berlin.

many kids but the adults stayed at home the russians had. heard many stories about them. they were treated in the same way the kids had pill faces they were wearing shorts some had small balls and there. 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 skinny and hungry they stood with. the russians. they were afraid of us they thought russians were car sacks with a long moustache. rowsley they were looking us all over thinking where the russians mustaches were your first hand they wanted to know if we were wearing field caps we were just young boys at seventy. on the evening of may eighth

marshals who 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 why suddenly because there was a deafening noise he could hear that it seemed they were firing from all sides that anybody was a german break room 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 no time. i am. 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 norfolk it was the result of self-sacrifice and heroic deeds. sort of force in europe not just in africa. one hundred thousand victims come to compared to twenty million lives what's new. still.

kosovo's organ trade is exposed at least nine are suspected of tricking people into having their kidneys removed them sold it comes after years of ignored claims that serves how they're all going to harvested the ninety nine to. the business of tackling trade troubles moves to the asia pacific summit in japan that after world

leaders failed to agree on concrete measures at the g twenty summit and. sifting ocean currents temperatures going up and down what's happening to the planet's climate and to what is this world coming to with rising answered question later in the program. ten pm saturday night here in moscow you're watching r.t. good to have you company it's kevin owen here with the top story and after years of ignored claims it's all good and trafficking in kosovo has finally reached prosecutors at least seven people have been charged suspected of luring poor people to sell their kidneys with false promises of cash one of the suspects has been linked to the cost of the liberation army which was accused of selling the organs of captured serbs during the one thousand nine hundred war arcee sara firth reports .