the rushed 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. it's the fire corpses flame that's how the reichstag look by the end of april nine hundred forty one. pitch. german soldiers fought for every piece of flame didn't really try to stand to the last minute against soviet troops. more than fifty thousand soldiers and officers and russian polish and german. 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 so few people over fascism. in one thousand nine hundred five of. 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 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 red army 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 look the sky like stars. stone stump to the plan 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 the broad south this was the place where the army's strongest units were concentrated in the wars final weeks ago made off with the germans also built formidable defenses extending twenty kilometers west ward from the forward positions or six and a half kilometers from

a. soviet inge 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 may 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 to the soviet union weakened as much as possible by their real concern was to all the appearance of a new rival on the consent of the. continued. 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 from sky 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 in mid april. i think that if roosevelt hadn't pulled a twelfth stolen 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. to take. 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. 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 plan of the operation. could only be achieved. the occupation of such. a country would. 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. some historians suggest 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. famous by kim philby was operating in britain at the time were 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. at the 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 with this is impossible we can't possibly give away military secrets. tenant's we can have an interest in 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. multiple rocket launchers were the first to start up the pounding deafening you can hear. 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 nothing. had overwhelming superiority we were gripped with blind fear all we wanted was to hide somewhere from that ferocious. everything was ablaze. just something like thirty five minutes the nor the northern tanks rolled forward and we. commute 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 of knowing it that way. to achieve greater effect one hundred forty high powered

search lights illuminate the german positions. marshall through gobs idea was to blind the germans to hinder their return fire. you out the screws 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 is to see. 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 flame 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 on the propaganda had hammered into our heads that we must avoid being taken prisoner by

the soviets at all cost and cool 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 armies 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 author. of the new needles i have never seen so many dead bodies as i sold the sale the 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 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 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 lands. 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 houma it came under heavy fire. right here the furniture factory was here says soldiers with that they took us for a soviet column and they opened one and so the crossing was covered with dead bodies through 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. and already approached the town of hell but. private 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 yes the fighting was intense there were the bakeries now and to take 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. the remains of his army managed to leave the circle and fled to the west but during those three movies and 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

roles in. markets finance scandals. find out what's really happening to the global economy in the cause a report on r.t. . 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 dob as sixteenth century castle zhan 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. the commander left an unwilling robertson indeed

took a battle in 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 lift on and how it sounded assad. doesn't know it was a group of people including women that 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 we need to shoot or find an alternative way. finally the soviet soldiers realized in the styria smen 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 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 troops could have taken place much earlier had the british open the 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 say. that they were. crossing the nine hundred 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 have gotten the.

soviet troops encircled the city center. on the right. 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. and then in one of them was nikolai. mansour faust 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 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 men of the scandinavian division northland 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 pulled 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 right 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 in encino drove gone show down that threat flag was in it but it didn't go on for sure that gun was not tell it's by a man of my battalion. new yorkers beal. 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. 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. 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. flag not a flag really but a white sheet. they start scrambling out of their shelters we 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 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 bows on their hands are 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 were afraid of us they thought russians were cossacks along moustache. recently 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 seven. 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 get through. there were firing from all sides that anybody was a german break room with you 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 in no time. 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 norfolk it was the result of self-sacrifice and heroic deeds often sort of force in europe not just in africa the one hundred thousand victims come to compared to twenty million lives what's new. still.

the week's top stories. president obama assures russian leader. this comes as they meet on the sidelines of the asia pacific summit. and the leaders of the world's richest economies agree to

a currency conflict but real measures to tackle deep trade. and investigation into a. trafficking network brings the spotlight on claims that hundreds of. russian claims senior intelligence officer is to blame for the exposure of ten russian agents in the u.s. this summer. with the top stories of today and all of this week you're with. russia and the u.s. have reaffirmed their commitment to slashing their country's nuclear arsenals president obama says ratifying the start treaty will be a top senate prior.