the rush home to germany's parliament it was right here the final fight 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 the fire corpses flame that's how the reich started look by the end of april nine hundred forty one. pitch. german soldiers fought for every piece of footage in berlin they tried to stand to the last minute against soviet troops. using more than fifty thousand soldiers and officers. polish and german each of us fought for. russians for theirs of their own twenty four hours. 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 him out 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 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 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 offensive yet really on the map i measure the distance with a ruler the sixty one kilometers to the outskirts of berlin is 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 ammunition 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. this was the place where the army's strongest units were concentrated in the was final weeks ago made off with the germans also built a formidable defenses extending twenty kilometers westward from the forward positions or 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 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 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 arrival on the consulate. in early april the ford 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 was lost as he expected in that case simpson said he expected some thirty thousand of. our sad 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 signed on april the twelfth stalin would have agreed to the participation of the western allies forces in the assault on the limb. as a kind of toll would prevent the allies from stabbing him in the by. another reason for wanting to take. the british prime minister. the british military declassified documents relating to. received. british.

pages. britain. the soviet union a month before the war. by the british. on july first one thousand nine hundred forty seven british. were to deliver a crushing blow to the. force to the we. could only be achieved. the occupation. of 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 unthinkable. he knew that something was brewing it's hard to say whether he had a clear knowledge of the. famous. by kim philby was operating in britain at the time with top foreign office officials they were doing a very effective job. steffen daughter 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 at those newcomer 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 it five o'clock in the morning of april sixteenth. thousands of artillery pieces shelled german positions for half an hour. multiple rocket launchers were the first to start up the pounding deafening you can hear that somebody shows something into your ear . 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. could we do in that situation absolutely not. artillery had overwhelming superiority we were gripped with blind fear all we wanted was to hide somewhere from that ferocious. everything was ablaze. something like thirty five minutes the nor the northern tanks rolled forward and we. 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 void the mines so that they didn't blow my legs off looking at that. to achieve greater effect one hundred forty high powered search lights

illuminating the german positions. marshals to cause idea was to blind to 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 he 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 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 cooper 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 out 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 advance towards berlin. the cost of the assault was very high. the soviet forces lost tens of thousands of men in a tiny center near the arctic. then you needles have never seen so many dead bodies as i sold the sailor heights 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 on the day we had 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 lieutenants 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 to 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 nord lambs. 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 a soldiers with they took us for a soviet column and they opened one and so the crossing was covered with dead bodies for 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. he approached the town of hell but. private 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 saw us 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. 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. hungary for the full story we've got it first hand the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on. wealthy british style

polls and. markets finance scandals find out what's really happening to the global economy with max kaiser for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kaiser report on our. the typical german town of toronto 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. 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 battle in and drew an american flag on it. climb 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 lift down on how it sounded assad. doesn't know it was a group of people including women it was approaching the river. we knew the german army officers were hiding on the other bank so it was necessary for us to understand the situation. 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 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 husband 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 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 cave. on the contrary that they were. crossing the nineteen thirty nine. up by. 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 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 stuff . in the seven sailors were given the titles of heroes of the soviet union this is the awesome a slender in one of them was nikolai. manzer files a rocket snapped a control gave him a 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 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 haven surrender you where many 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 hoisted over the bull's eye.

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. was built. on the morning of may second to general helm 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 is a. almost exact quote from the initial. has committed suicide. there are no longer committed to. considering the situation of the civilian population in. considering the situation of our wounded here by order a cease fire and surrender with the consent of.

said to myself. 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 end of. a white 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. evening of the second of may civilians were out in the streets of berlin. many kids but the adults stayed at home with the russians and. heard many stories

about them. they were treated in the same way the kids had pill faces they were wearing shorts some had small bowls on their hand they were given some poor and they rushed home with. the. skipping something else or the pot 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 cossacks along moustache. see they were looking us all over thinking where the russians mustaches were your fur hats they wanted to know that 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 of we had 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 room you know when we rushed out we saw fireworks going up in celebration of victory so there you go 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 fathers and grandfathers 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.

rubber stamping the treaty a nuclear arms cuts dominates talks of the u.s. and russian presence on the sidelines of the apec summit in japan. president obama has assured president medvedev that he has communicated to the u.s. congress that the start treaty is the top priority. a group of at least seven

people charged with illegal organ trafficking in kosovo fueling speculation of links to the alleged organ that the kosovo liberation army during the one thousand nine hundred ninety. plus a year of extreme weather across the world parties reporter goes in search of what's behind of the. sifting ocean currents temperatures going up and down what's happening to the planet's climate and what is this world coming to which rise pensive quite simply there in the program. six am in moscow i'm mad treasurer good to be with you here on r t our top story barack obama has told me to made better that he hopes the senate will ratify the start treaty on nuclear cards.