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berlin the rush dog pack to germany's parliament it was right here the final fight of world war two mm 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 lane that's how the right started look by the end of april nine hundred forty one.

german soldiers fought for everything simply didn't believe they tried to stamps to the last men against soviet troops. using more than fifty thousand soldiers and officers night over brush and polish and german each of us forty for our own model and the russians for their super ones we four hours. of them a lesson fortunately 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. seen one hundred forty five of vassily was an anti-tank gun platoon commander she still keeps him out that he got before assaulting berlin. it's

a card the river this is a map they gave out before the donkey at them way and we were supposed to track the outskirts of girl in the john and before that they gave me a map. in late january nine hundred forty five the success of the few still other offensives had gained soviet troops a foothold deep in german territory. crossing the audit 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 you need a map and measure the distance with a ruler that's just one kilometers to the outskirts of berlin it only sixty one kilometers a meter and when the allies bombed the flashes of an aircraft shells look the sky like stars. stone stands on the plain 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 reserves around berlingo brought south here this was the place where the army's strongest units were concentrated in the walls final weeks ago made off with the germans also built a formidable defenses extending twenty kilometers westward from the forward positions of six and a half kilometers from us and then became for. soviet and german forces were being amassed along the order for the most massive military operation in world history. then so little 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 said cross to some of those know of operation of that scale in world war two you know could there be any billing 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 the sultan berlin 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 but they have been the overwhelming contributor to our common victory unduly imprinted on their minds and made us not lead them into a move which will raise grave and formidable difficulties in the future. super bowl britain was aiming to see germany destroy those rods on the other hand it wanted to the soviet union weakened as much as possible i knew by their real concern with the buggy appearance of a new arrival in the consulate. in early april the ford most u.s. troops were about one hundred kilometers of western berlin there were almost no

battle ready german army is facing them all of them had been loosed treat the 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 and the same sense that he expected some thirty thousand jesuit tests or eisenhower sat there wouldn't do for us troops were to hold their positions at the russians do the fighting. on april first stone called a meeting of his supreme command where he decided that the berlin operation should start in mid april. 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 by a limb calling seoul residents as a kind of guarantee school would prevent the allies from stabbing him in the final

. 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 operational thinkable from a british. twenty nine pages. britain's joint planning staff started preparations for hostilities against the soviet union a month before the wars and 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 us 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 succumb to the will of the great britain and the united states here's just one quote from the plan of the operation. the elimination of russians could only be achieved as a result of. the occupation of such areas of metropolitan russia the war making 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 impossible. some historians suggest that stalin was wary of something like operation unthinkable prompting him to speed up. when.

he knew that something was brewing it's hard to say whether he had a clear knowledge of the details for although we now know that off famous firing by kim philby it was operating in britain at the time we were told foreign office officials they were doing a very effective job which and you think. stephan dorn were 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 wars final so defensive in a few hours time. i said sousa because assistant newcomer general this is impossible with we can't possibly give away military secrets personalized me and said tenants we can have an interest in keeping casualties to minimal.

towards 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. but you sure multiple rocket launchers were the first to start up the pounding is so deafening you can't hear a single payor 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. that waddy rossiter i thought could we do in that situation got absolutely nothing you're quite right the sordid artillery had overwhelming superiority and if we were gripped with blind fear by all we wanted

was to hide somewhere from that ferocious fire as a good. thing was ablaze a logs were flying all around the world at last for something like thirty five minutes the north with the northern tanks rolled forward and we followed in the lines. there were anti-personnel mines on over the place but they do no harm to tanks with and 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 who need the german positions. marshals to cause idea was to blind the germans to hinder their return fire. because you had to fire if you didn't know where to look because you were blinded by searching like a scene and we couldn't see any details if all we saw was a blazing bank of the reserves to see. through the germans cielo was the last

defensive line before berlin so the german soldiers defended the highlands with general determination petri tism aside the german army had still other reasons to keep fighting to the bitter end despite the desperate situation. didn't go it is so that any soldier fleeing his position might be shot and killed by an officer on the spot so 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 into. 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 flank of the german defenses only vent to the defending army led by general to 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 order. game oodles 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 plot of land and most terrifying thing of old will is this people dying venue of the war would be over in a couple of weeks fields but only if there were 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 striking them away at. the buggy though it is those within stated it fanned

berliner because there was nobody who could project but make as many people die and it's got puzzle a flag to the west to give in to the americans a meeting caught it in that. one of the biggest german cemeteries is situated not far from berlin in a small town of holed up in occupies a few square kilometers. more than twenty thousand german soldiers are buried here most of them were any man says division coast nordland. private harry from seal heights was retreating with the rest of the life 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. team under heavy fire. right here the furniture factory was here as the soldiers were there they took us for a soviet column and they opened fire on it so the crossing was covered with dead

bodies and 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 how about. private gain his german colony 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 before and from both saw it's the fighting was intense there were the bakeries now take 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 male. the remains of bruises army managed to leave the circle and fled to the west but during those three movies and

now the 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 science. market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with months concert for a no holds barred look of the global financial headlines tune into cars

a report. download the official antti obligation chobani phone oh i pod touch from the i.q. stops to. one shall see life on the go. video on demand all season long full costs and all residents features now in the palm of your. question on the call. the typical german town of torgau 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. on the day an american patrol came to a door go and climbed into a sixteenth century castle zaandam there they saw

a bridge over the algorithm it was blown up 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 then he climbs to the castles and he was 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 you far's someone trying to shoot the window that was a shell from the soviet union i would sound a sub washable three of us. we were through with us so it was a group of people including women but it was approaching the river. we knew that german army officers were hiding on the other bank leave so it was necessary for us to understand the situation to do any can shoot or find an alternative way. but finally the soviet soldiers realized in the styria as 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 elba. it happened when the bulk of the soviet forces encircled berlin and some elements of the red army reached the yellow river. the allies from both sides had decided to celebrate the meeting. the american internet million robertson and the soviet lieutenant alexander soon vanished became friends the picture of the two men hugging became a symbol of the end of the second world war. the row for it was raining 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 and americans opens the second front not in nine hundred forty four but when they first agreed back in one nine

hundred forty two. talks 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. but one thousand nine hundred two n's one nine hundred forty three passed with no second french to relieve pressure on the soviet union in the east. plans to open a second front war made. but churchill and roosevelt agree that it would be launched only when it became clear that the russians were caving into thank you or on the contrary they were gay male pounds by crossing the nineteen thirty nine borders and entering europe. 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 here's the villain was with should have gotten the point sooner hoosegow the goods by the way were it not the will. call the eight hundred twenty eight soviet troops encircled the city center and began an assault on the right stuff. the building was protected by bans in spree river and the bridge crossings had been blown up. troops crossed the sprit aboard a 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 tide in the shadow of the white star . nimbly a room seven sailors were given the titles of heroes of the soviet union the last summer slain they'd been one of them was nikolai purana who panzerfaust a rocket snapped a control here so there was nothing left for him to do to have a grip the two ends of the cable with his g.'s any dining room 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 of the scandinavian division nordland and the latvian battalion of the fifteenth s.s. division. i mean i'm pretty sure they were crying up from the basement hey if one surrender you where many you're a fuels the rules carpooled but in the. 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 the right stocks top floors for the first time the red flag was hoisted over the building.

a german man seen a showdown that fresh leg was in it but it didn't go on that's gone was not jealous but the telly and not only 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 his committee as you saw it not giving us of a face for a boy therefore we are no longer committed to the oath we have taken 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 the command to me i didn't care to change anything in that's all that he held with him i said to myself the wolf let

him say what she 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. this is just at ten am there was complete silence instant it will be that that's the end of it all yes there is a white flag not a flag really but the white sheet. of the germans showed us another and yet another dozen 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 the russians have come you know. heard many stories about them. what if they were treated in the same way i did

a 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 morning. i saw myself in from a just 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 at these they stood there sobbing which element of us me that's the russians or. i you know they were afraid of us they thought russians were cossacks with a long moustache recently they were looking us all over thinking where the russians mustaches were your first hand they want to know with the if we were wearing field caps we were just young boys at seventy. on the evening of may eighth marshals you caught 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. comma ninth of may we were losing to our hearts content and found a big bottle in hugo containing ten liters of rattle while suddenly there was a deafening noise the same live were firing from all sides that really before was a german break room 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. according to various estimates of the soviet army lost from eight and a half to eleven million men between one thousand four hundred one one and. hundred

forty five. including civilians a total of twenty seven million soviet people died in the war with germany the losses of the usa and great britain nine hundred thousand people. was a result of all casualties and the heroism of all 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 compare to twenty million lives. in the history of mankind was over sixty five years have passed since. survive still remember the victory like it was yesterday they still live with victory in their hearts.

a charming here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture.