markets why not. why not what's really happening to the global economy with much stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars report. broadcasting live from moscow this is r.t. certainly glad to have you with us let's take a look at your top headlines and a stay of expectation the libyan opposition on the boys in paris hope france has a more doha offer than washington after they left empty handed and without official recognition of the rebels are said to be in desperate need of food and medical supplies and of a siege the city of benghazi. while back in washington nato and the u.s. call time on cut off its war as they push forward with the stall their campaign but could offer himself remains defiant this comes as more airstrikes hit the capital

tripoli although the libyan leader says he is beyond the reach of coalition bombs. under starters orders russia begins the official countdown to the next winter olympics which will kick off in just under one thousand days and it is at the biggest sporting event to be hosted by the country since of the moscow summer olympic games in one thousand made. the battle for berlin lasted for two weeks three and a half million troops from both sides soviet and german took part in a fight what was it like to be in the battle r t investigates that's on the up next . early in the rush dogs 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 show us the gun fire

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 fiction didn't believe they tried to stand to the last minute against soviet troops. using more than fifty thousand soldiers and officers night over brushing the polish and german each of us for for. the russians for theirs of their own very for ours. lasted four to move. the red flag the raids on the top of the lifestyle game a nine hundred forty five. became the symbol of victory of soviet people over fascism.

in one nine hundred forty five a silly was an anti-tank gun platoon commander she still keeps him outfit he got before assaulting berlin. it occurred the river and you this is a map they gave out before the gun we were supposed to attack the outskirts of girl in the dark 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 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 the ultimate objective of the army offensive yet we need a map i measured the distance with a ruler of just one kilometers to the outskirts of berlin it only sixty one kilometers or muted and when the allies bombed the flashes of anti-aircraft shells

look the sky like stars in the. stone stance 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. while the germans also took advantage of the delay. of their reserves around early and what brought south here this was the place where the army's strongest units were concentrated in the was final weeks were made after the germans also built a formidable defenses extending twenty kilometers west ward from the forward positions within six and a half kilometers from us and then he came for. soviet and german forces were being amassed along the order for the most massive military operation in world history. then social 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 exiles to some of those no other operations of that scale in world war two you know could there be any billing was at stake is secret. 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 salt on 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 that they have been the overwhelming contributor to our common victory he unduly imprinted on their minds and may does not lead them into a mood which will raise great and formidable difficulties in the future. of all britain was aiming to see germany destroyed is on the other hand it wanted the soviet union weakened as much as possible i need by the real concern was to bob

the appearance of a new rival mickelson and the continued from. 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. and eisenhower's 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 sad that wouldn't do for us troops were to hold their positions at the russians do the fighting. on april first stone cold a meeting of his supreme command where he decided that the berlin operation should start in mid april. you sleep when you were here and i think that if roosevelt hadn't signed on april the twelfth and would have agreed to the participation of

the western allies forces in the assault on the limb in seoul residents as a kind of care and school would prevent the allies from stopping him and by. roosevelt's death prompted the soviet commands to take the 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. 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 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 far as to say that's russia should be forced to succumbs to the will of the traitor 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 use 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 almost impossible. some historians suggest that stalin

was wary of something like operation unthinkable prompting him to speed up early i'm. sure 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 led by kim philby was operating in britain at the time and with top foreign office officials they were doing a very effective job which in effect. stefan dalton 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 defensive in a few hours time. i said susie because assistant at the new comer general this is impossible with we can't possibly give away military secrets. mean said the tenants

we can have an interest in keeping casualties to. 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 where the first to start up a pounding is so deafening you can't hear or think of palest 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 c.l.o. 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 you could right this or that artillery had overwhelming superiority and if we were grid with blind fear all we wanted was to hide somewhere from that ferocious fire is a good. thing was ablaze a lot were flying all around at last for something like thirty five minutes the north of the northern tanks rolled forward and we followed in the hollings. there were anti-personnel mines all religiously and 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 search lights illuminating the german positions. martial to cause idea was to blind to the germans to hinder their return fire. to our place because you had to fire as well as though you

didn't know where to look because you were blinded by searchlight seeing and we couldn't see any detail as if all we saw was a blazing bank of the river seen. through the germans cielo was the last defensive line before berlin so the german soldiers defended the highlands with general determination patriotism inside the german army had still other reasons to keep fighting to the bitter end despite the desperate situation. that every soldier flamed 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 saudis 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 flank of the german defenses only vended the defending army led by general blum 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. game oodles of 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 with the most terrifying thing of all was that people dying then i knew that the war would be over in a couple of weeks it was but only they were adolescent. 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 an advance and soviet army simply swept them away. as though we didn't stay to defend berlin at south because there was nobody who could project well because many people died it's got to be flat to the west and you give into the americans a meeting got it in. one of the biggest german cemeteries is situated not far from berlin in a small town of hall but it occupies a few square kilometers. more than twenty thousand german soldiers are buried here most of them were in an ancestor vision coast northland. private hair each from seal heights was retreating with the rest of the night the 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 homa it could. team under heavy fire. right here the furniture factory was here

as a soldier. they took us for a soviet column and they opened fire on this 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 called the. private pool gain his german column turned out to be in a circle of fire on the one side of the street and soviet soldiers were shooting. and on the other side v.s.s. soldiers were fighting back. to her needs were flowing from both saw us the fighting was intense there where the bakeries now were entertained fortifications they prevented soviet tanks from entering the territory for a little so they prohibited the germans from running from the battlefield it was on

this street we lost hundreds and hundreds of. the remains of bush his army managed to leave the circle and fled to the west but during those three movies and hollow 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. download the official autopsy application to your i phone or i pod touch from the i

can. zaps to. watch on t.v. lights on the go. video on demand parties my gold coast's and all recess feeds now in the palm of your. question. call. the typical german town of torgau on the elbow river like in many provincial cities the pace of life is slow here toward el might never have been known to the world as 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 torgau i don't climb to dob as sixteenth century castle on sand on there they saw a bridge over the alley the river there was blown up by the germans and they saw the soviet soldiers on the eastern of our side of the commander left an unwilling

robertson he knew do battle in and drew an american flag on its own model to the end he climbs to the castle settings on more programmers 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 far as someone trying to shoot the window there was a shell from the soviet left on and i would sound outside washington with three of us. the group was here with us so it was a group of people including women but it was approaching the river but we knew that german army officers were hiding on the other bank so it was necessary for us to understand the situation you know 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 of 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 on the river. the allies from both sides decided to celebrate the meeting. the american lieutenant william robertson and a 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. we were both illustrating and i was grinning rather happy to meet each other. we were happy to know that we were the victors provided. 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 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 nine hundred forty two thousand nine hundred forty 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 agree that it would be launched only when it became clear that the russians were caving into thank you all on the contrary they were gaming up the happened by crossing the nine hundred 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. such as many in the west are upset about stalin's power to shape the post-war arrangements it makes me want to say look here judgment was and should go in the foot soon of course the

good by the way with another woman. on april twenty eighth soviet troops encircled the city center and began an assault on the white stuff. the building was protected by bands in history river and the bridge crossings had been blown up. troops crossed the spree of four 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 the shadow of the white star . in the room seven sailors were given the titles of heroes of the soviet union last summer slain the then one of them was nikolai purana panzerfaust a rocket snapped the controller so there was nothing left for him to do the movement gripped the two ends of the cable with his keys any turning mementos of. the race dog was defended by remnants of elite s.s.

units killers personal bodyguards. there were also french and all in tears 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 one surrender you where many you are fuels the rules cup lot but in the ear. of the first of may change 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 to the right stocks top floors for the first time the red flag was hoisted over the. love a german in encino drove gone show down that fresh leg was in it as it didn't go on honeymoon or show that's gone was knocked out by

a man of my battalion not only your meal. on the morning of may second 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 there is an almost exact quote from the initial lines. of has committed suicide now living else to the mercy of fate or boy therefore we are no longer committed to the oath we have taken in these considering the situation of the civilian population in the many young considering the situation of our wounded i hereby order a cease fire and surrender with the consent of the service. i don't care to change anything in that sold it to hell with him i said to myself the world first you 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. then at ten am there was complete silence instantly be that that's the end of it all yes there really 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 move germans a surrendering that's for sure. by the evening of the second of may civilians were out in the streets of berlin. where there are many kids but the adults stayed at home with the russians and korean it was keeping faith heard many stories about them. what if they were treated in the same way again the kids had pill faces and they were wearing short pants some had small

balls on their hands and knees when they were given some for and they rushed home was using them or. i saw myself in from ages skipping something else of the pot i found out that the people who were queuing for the food one access from the local theater skinny and hungry they stood this holding which held them and of us me that's the russians or. i you know they were afraid of us they thought russians were cossacks there with a long mustache or three they were looking us all over thinking where the russians mustaches were your fur hats they wanted to know with me if we were wearing field camps we were just young boys but seven. 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. the weapon route i'm a ninth of may we were losing to our heart's content have found

a big bottle and hugh containing ten liters of apple washing suddenly there was a deafening noise he seems you know we were firing from all sides that he was a german break through him when we rushed out we saw fireworks going up in celebration of victory don't need to tell you that we finished off that bottle in. the berlin operation lasted for sixteen days the. two hundred thousand. according to various estimates lost from eight. hundred forty nine hundred forty five. including civilians a total of twenty seven million soviet people died in the war with. the losses of

the usa and great britain hundred thousand people. was a result of the casualties and the heroism of off all those and grandfathers it was the result of self-sacrifice and heroic deeds. sort of force in europe not just in africa. hundred thousand victims come to compare to twenty million lives. history of mankind was over sixty five years have passed since. those who survived still remember the victory like it was yesterday they still live with a victory in their hearts.