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 flame that's how the reich started look by the end of april nine hundred forty one. pip. pip german soldiers fought for every piece of footage in berlin to try to stand to the last minute against soviet troops. more than fifty thousand soldiers and officers and russian polish and german each of us fought for. russians for there's one twenty four hours. it lasted for two months 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 of. it was an anti-tank gun platoon commander she still keeps a map that he got before assaulting berlin. if the river could be this is a map they gave out before the donkey at them when we were supposed to attack the outskirts of carlin at the dawn attack 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 autor river they had covered nearly five hundred kilometers in twenty days the germans no longer offered any serious resistance the soviet line is now just a stone's throw away from berlin the ultimate objective of the army offensive yet

we need a map i measure the distance with a ruler the sixty one kilometers to the outskirts of berlin is only sixty one kilometers or media and when the allies bombed the flashes of anti-aircraft shells let the sky like stars. stone stomp to the plane short. the battle for poland to have left the advancing soviet troops with almost no any mission and fuel the soviet army took two months to prepare for the assault. meanwhile the germans also took advantage of the delay. of the reserves around burley and were brought up here this was the place where the army's strongest units were concentrated in the walls final weeks later made off with the germans also built formidable defenses extending twenty kilometers westward from the forward positions or the six and a half kilometers from us. soviet into german forces were being amassed along the order 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 not lead them into a mood which will raise grave and formidable difficulties in the future.

britain was aiming to see germany destroy. it wanted to the soviet union weakened as much as possible by their real concern was to bobby appearance of a new rival on the consent of the new continue. 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 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 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. i think that if roosevelt hadn't. stolen would have agreed to the participation of the western allies forces in the assault. as a kind of cool would prevent the allies from stabbing him in the. another reason for wanting to take. the british prime minister. operation. the british military declassified documents relating to. received these documents relating to operation unthinkable from a british. twenty nine pages. britain's joint

started preparations for. the soviet union a month before the war. by the british attack on the soviet union. 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 we. just one quote from the plane of the operation. could only be achieved. the occupation of such. a country. 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. he knew that something was brewing it's hard to say whether he had a clear knowledge of the details for. fame aspiring led by kim philby was operating in britain at the time with top foreign office officials they 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 the system in general with this is impossible with we can't possibly give away military secrets. tenant's we can have an interesting 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. launchers were the first to start up the pounding deafening. somebody shows 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 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 does it go for. everything was a blaze 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 phone 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 searchlights and who need the german positions. marshal to 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 a scene we couldn't see any detail as if all we 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 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 arctic. then moved the it's going i have never seen so many dead bodies as on seoul the sailor heights thousands and thousands of men died in a very small plot of land the most terrifying thing of old was those people dying then you had the war would be over in a couple of weeks fields but only then you had no support. 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 many flat to the west the given to the americans a meeting caught it in. one of the biggest of german suna terraces 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 called northland. from seal heights was retreating with the rest of the ninth army led by general who said. 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 can. name under heavy fire. right here the furniture factory was here says 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 and 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 were the bakery is now well into tank fortifications

apart they prevented soviet tanks from entering the territory for a little so they prohibited the germans from running from the battlefield on this street we lost hundreds and hundreds of all 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. wealthy british style stock.

market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report. the typical german town of toronto on the el the 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 door go and climb to taba sixteenth century

castle zaandam there they saw a bridge over the albert river it was blown out by the germans and they saw the soviet soldiers on the eastern of the commander left an unwilling robertson indeed took a battle and drew an american flag on it. climbs 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 left 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 in the styria as men on the far bank were

actually very 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 and some elements of the red army reached the river. the allies from both sides had decided to celebrate the meeting. 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 grinning and i was grinning 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 for a second front in one thousand nine hundred four but when they first agreed back in

one thousand nine hundred two. 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 nine hundred thirty nine. up. the long delay in the british and american response had a significant impact on the balance of forces in post-war europe. in the west

are upset about stalin's power to shape the post-war arrangement it makes me want to say. we should have gone in the fort sooner who. will. soviet troops encircled the city center. the building was protected by. the bridge crossings had been blown up. troops crossed the border. from one bank to the other a distance of several dozen meters. face continuous 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 the silver awesome a slender been 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've done 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 men of the scandinavian division nordland and a latvian battalion of the fifteenth s.s. deficient. green i'm pretty sure they were crying out from the basements hey yvonne surrender you where many you are a fuels the rules cop lot but 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.

at the thrust of 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 not tell it's by a man of my battalion. new yorkers beale. on the morning of may second to general helmet veiling commander of the berlin defense area arrived at the soviet headquarters to sign a cease fire order. lieutenant durenberger 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. side. there are no longer committed to. 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. soviet troops took the city under control the soldiers knew that was the end of the. at ten am there was complete silence be that that's the end of it all yes there it is a white flag not a flag really but a white sheet. of the germans showed us another and yet another as they start scrambling out of their shelters we to get out into the open who will germans a surrendering that's for sure. by the evening of the second of may civilians were out in the streets of berlin. there are many kids but the adults stayed at home we the russians had come you know it was can appreciate heard many stories about them. what if they were treated in the same way

again the kids had pill faces they were wearing short pams some had small balls on their hands and knees when they were given some poor and they rushed home with them . i saw myself skipping something else of the pot i found out that the people who were queuing for the food what access from the local theater all skinny and hungry as they stood which held a man of us that's the russians. you know they were afraid of us they thought russians were cossacks with a long mustache they were looking us all over thinking where the russians mustaches were your first half and they wanted to know if we were wearing field caps we were just young boys with seventy. on the evening of may age 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. i'm a ninth of may we were losing to our hearts content we had found a big bottle of hue containing ten liters of apple while suddenly there was a deafening noise. they were firing from all sides. of the german breakthrough. 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. lasted for sixteen days. up to two hundred thousand. according to. the soviet army lost from eight. between one thousand

nine hundred forty five. a total of twenty seven million soviet people died in the war with germany. and great britain came to nine hundred thousand people. was a result of all casualties and the heroism of 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. history of mankind was over sixty five years have passed since no. survivors still remember the victory like it was yesterday they still live with victory in their hearts.

a group of at least seven people charged with illegal organ trafficking in kosovo fueling speculation of legs to alleged organ theft by the kosovo liberation army during the one thousand nine hundred nine war. after g. twenty gridlock on currency wars the baton is passed at the apec summit in japan and asia pacific nations including russia the u.s.

and china try to map the best way out of the global downturn. was a new year of extreme weather across the world our reporter goes in search of what lies behind it. sifting ocean currents temperatures going up and down what's happening to the planet's climate and to what is this world coming to which right means it simply there in the program. it's two am in moscow i'm mad good to be with you here on r t our top story after years of ignored claims organ trafficking in kosovo has finally reached prosecutors at least seven people have been charged the specter of luring poor people to sell their kidneys with false promises of cash one of the suspects is being linked to the kosovo liberation army which was accused of.