broadcasting live from moscow this is not the headlines from. russia marks victory day a grand parade in moscow for houses of soldiers marched through red square company bryant more than a hundred military vehicles and they profit. from the. later stages of new attacks against hundred office forces in libya but in the it is all the international coalition are finding a complex cost increasingly hard to bear the fans and critics say america's push for democracy in the middle east is good story botswana to me doesn't seem of

wrong despite promises to withdraw from the west as a means to trying to control the region's resources and information or to move. up next on the port and analogous to military operation of world war two involving millions of troops and tens of thousands of tanks artillery and then across from both sides battling. berlin the rush home to germany's parliament it was right here that the final fight of world war two took place. there ever fewer surviving witnesses to the events of those days soviet veterans will never forget what happened sixty five years ago and it's gunfire corpses flame that's how the right start 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. to more than fifty thousand soldiers and officers russian polish and german each of us four for our own model and the russians for theirs of your own very for ours. last a fortune. the red flag with the raids on the top of the lifestyle game a nine hundred forty five. became the symbol of victory of so few people over fascism. six in one nine hundred forty five of a silly was an anti-tank gun clipped soon commander she still keeps him out that he got before assaulting berlin. if they cut the ribbon at you this is a map they gave out before the gong we were supposed to charge the outskirts of

girl in the dark and before that they gave me a map to go. 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 beyond a 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 he also made objectives of the red army offensive yet really on the map i measured the distance with a ruler of just one kilometers to the outskirts of berlin it only sixty one kilometers or and when the allies bombed the flashes of an aircraft shelves lit the sky like stars on the. stone stumps of 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. meanwhile the germans also took advantage of the delay. of their reserves around berlingo brought south here this was the place where the army's strongest units were concentrated in the was final weeks ago made up of the germans also built a 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. so the pencil of three and a half million troops from both sides some ten thousand tanks in the schools of thousands of assault guns and eleven thousand. of those no other operations of that scale in world war two you know could there be any building was at stake is equally . 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 nine hundred forty 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 may just not lead them into a mood which will raise great and formidable difficulties in the future. and to give above all britain was aiming to see germany destroyed as we should as regards on the other hand it wanted the soviet union weakened as much as possible i knew by their real concern was to call the appearance of a new arrival on the concert of your new and their continued from. in early april the ford most u.s. troops were about a hundred kilometers west of berlin there were almost no battle ready german armies facing them all of them had been moved to treat eastern front to repulse of the

soviet offensive. horizon hours known to have asked general simpson whether u.s. troops could take berlin from star wars last as he expected in that case and that same sense that he expected some thirty thousand casualties or eisenhower sat or that wouldn't do for us troops were to hold their positions i don't know how the russians do the fighting. on april first stalin called a meeting of his supreme command or he decided that the berlin operation should start in mid april. you sleep when you were 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 of calling so roosevelt as a kind of current school would prevent the allies from stabbing him in the by. roosevelt's death prompted in the soviet commands 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 a few years ago. which received these documents relating to operation unthinkable from a british. twenty nine pages tells. britain's joint planning staff started preparations for hostilities against the soviet union a month before the war's end the operation planned by the british implied an attack on the soviet union without declaring war on july first one thousand nine hundred forty five forty seven british and u.s. divisions were to deliver a crushing blow to the soviet army the attack was to have the support of twelve german divisions. they went so to say that russia should be

forced to succumbs to the will of the trait britain and the united states here is just one quote from the plane of the operation. the elimination of the russians could only be achieved as a result of the occupation of such areas of metropolitan russia that the war making the capacity of a country would be reduced to a point and niche for the resistance became impossible. 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 all but impossible. some historians suggest that stalin was wary of something like operation unthinkable prompting me assault on berlin. he knew that something was brewing it's hard to say whether he had a clear knowledge of the details though we now know that our famous firing led by

kim philby was operating in britain at the time and were going to top foreign office officials they were doing a very effective job which if you keep. stefan jordan byrd 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 at those newcomer general this is impossible with we can't possibly give away military secrets. me instead tenons we can have an interest in keeping casualties to me in. the 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. multiple rocket launchers were the first to start up a pounding is so deafening it can't hear a thing of their lives 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. nobody rossiter i thought could we do in that situation got absolutely nothing a quarter of this or that artillery had overwhelming superiority but we were gripped with blind fear all we wanted was to hide somewhere from that ferocious fire as we go for. everything was a blaze

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's a there were anti-personnel mines all really but they do no harm to tanks but 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 searchlights and many of the german positions. marshals to cause idea was to blind the germans to hinder their return fire. if you had to fire as well as though you didn't know where to look because you were blinded by searchlights seen and we couldn't see any details 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 fighting to the bitter end despite the desperate situation. that every soldier fleeing his position might be shot and killed by an officer on the spot i saw many soldiers hanged on poles for attempting to leave their position our 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 frost failed to take the heights soviet troops down flying to the german defenses only even to the defending army led by general to say fall back now nothing stood in the way of the red army stood fans towards berlin.

the cost of the assault was a very high. the soviet forces lost tens of thousands of men in a tiny sector near the otter. noodles i have never seen so many dead bodies as i sold the cellar heights well thousands and thousands of men died in a very small plot of land the most terrifying thing of old will is this people dying venue of the war would be over in a couple of weeks and then they read most of the. after the fall of the seal hides the germans never again offered any organized resistance. some elements of the german army were still trying to fight as advance insurgent army simply swept them away. the rugby towards those with the unstated sanderlin that's because there was nobody who could project. because many people died as

a flag to the west given to the americans a meeting caught it in. one of the biggest german soon to terrorise is situated not far from berlin in a small town of hauled up 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 northlands. private harry from seal heights was retreating with the rest of the night 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 alba it can. seem under heavy fire. the furniture factory was here as the soldiers were they took us for a soviet column and they opened fire on it so the crossing was covered with dead bodies for 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 karbala. private ship again 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. the four hundred needs were flowing from both sides the fighting was intense there were the bakeries now were entertained for sophistication of how they prevented soviet tanks from entering the territory also they prohibited the germans from running from the battlefield on this street we lost hundreds and hundreds of all men from. the remains of bruises army managed to leave the circle and fled to the west but during those three days and how the more than sixty thousand german soldiers died and one hundred twenty thousand we were

taken prisoner. there was just one day left before the capitulation of germany. russia was that so much i was about the feeling of life in the form of a war given real credit for what is happening to the entire war movement there are plenty of wars being fought though with far fewer protesters was the anti-war movement just. fixed for. a few. feet. wealthy british style. market. scandals find out what's really happening to the global economy for

a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause a report. on the typical german town of torgau on the l. 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. call mark carney on the day an american patrol came to torgau. job as sixteenth century castle zaandam there they saw a bridge over the alamo river it was blown up by the germans and they saw the soviet soldiers on a string of the commander lieutenant william robertson begin to do battle in and draw an american flag on it. climbs to the castles and use on more crabbers 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 you thought someone tried to shoot the window that was a shell from the soviet how it sounded a sub washed all three of us. the group was through with us so it was a group of people including women but it was approaching the river i thought 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 forward. but finally the soviet soldiers realized in the styria some men on the foreign bank were actually very american allies what followed would become an iconic moment in the world war two history the meeting at the elbow. it happened when the board of the soviet forces encircled berlin and some elements of the red army reached the on the river. the allies from both sides and decided to celebrate

the meeting. the american lieutenant william robertson and a soviet lieutenant alexander some vanished all became friends ok sure the two men husband became a symbol of the end of the second world war. we were both he was grinning and i was grinning and happy to meet each other. we were happy to know. that we were the villagers. the first link up of american and soviet troops could have taken place much earlier had the british and americans opened for a second front not 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 forty two nine hundred forty three passed with no second front to relieve pressure on the soviet union in the east. plans to open a second from one made. but churchill and roosevelt agreed that it would be launched only when it became clear that the russians were caving into standing on the contrary that they were gay male perhaps by crossing the nineteen thirty nine borders 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 arrangements it makes me want to say look it's absolutely should've gone in the foot sooner who are screwed because whether we were not of war. on april twentieth soviet troops encircled the city center and began an assault on the right stuff. the building was protected by

bans in the scream river and the bridge crossings had been blown up. troops crossed the sprit up or tiny dinghies from one tank 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 a shout all the way stop. them via route seven sailors were given the titles of heroes of the soviet union the last summer slain there's been one of them was nicholai a barrage of the panzerfaust a rocket snapped the control even though there was nothing left for him to do but grip the two ends of the cable with his keys and he died in the matters ition. the race dog was defended by remnants of elite s.s. units hitler's personal bodyguard so. there were also french volunteers from the charlemagne division of the scandinavian division northland and

a latvian battalion of the fifteenth s.s. division. i mean i'm pretty sure they were growing up from the basement haven surrender you where many euro fuels the rules cutoff. but in the. of the first of may they changed their tune yvonne we want to surrender they shot. on april thirtieth hitler committed suicide in the reich chancellery but some s.s. units continued resistance. in the evening soviet troops captured the right stocks top floors for the first time the red flag was hoisted over the building. of a german and seen aircraft on showdown that threat flag was in it as it didn't go on planning for sure that's gone was no tell us but none of my patella. on you your meal. on the morning of may second gen hemant 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 there is an almost exact quote from the initial lines. of has committed suicide not living else to the mercy of fate or boy therefore we are no longer committed to the oath we have taken mooney's considering the situation of the civilian population in berlin and considering the situation of our wounded are hereby order a cease fire and surrender with the consent of the service commander and if i didn't care to change anything in the. hell with him i said to myself say what he likes as long as the war comes to an end. 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. there at ten am there

was complete silence instant it'll be that that's the end of it all yes there it is a white flag not a flag really but the white sheet. of the germans showed us another and yet another the best soon as they start scrambling out of their shelters we to get out into the open who will germans 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 with the russians at communal they'd heard many stories about them. what if they were treated in the same way i did it kids had pill faces they were wearing short pants some had small balls on their hands and knees when they were given some porridge they rushed home was in the way the i wish i saw my sergeant major skipping something else to the cause i found out

that the people who were queuing for the food what access from the local theatre all skinny and hungry they stood there sobbing which element of us me that's the russian soul. you know they actually 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 we were wearing field caps we were just young boys let's have it. on the evening of may eighth marshals you called and representatives of great britain france and the united states signed the pact of germany's unconditional surrender at the headquarters of the soviet fifth army in berlin. you happen leukoma ninth of may we were losing to our hearts content and found a big bottle containing ten liters of apple while suddenly there was a deafening noise. they were firing from all sides and anybody who was

a german break through them with you 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. 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 one thousand four hundred one and. forty five . including civilians a total of twenty seven million soviet people died in the war with germany. losses of the usa and great britain came to nine hundred thousand people. was a result of casualties and the heroism of off all those and grandfathers it was the

result of self-sacrifice and heroic deeds. of force in europe not just in africa. one hundred thousand victims compared to twenty million lives. in the history of mankind it was over sixty five years have passed since now. those who survived still remember the victory like it was yesterday they still live with victory in their hearts.

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