he would r.t. as a rundown the latest news of the week or so while the u.s. moves to hold the syrian regime accountable for violent crackdowns on protesters much like it did with colonel gadhafi just before launching air strikes over libya . libyan rebels meantime suffered a crucial second failing to secure official recognition. from washington.

over the recent influx of refugees from the arab world the breeds of mistrust between europeans the e.u. the president didn't want to control measures. because russia and the world commemorate sixty six years of victory over the nazis but fascist thought it was in ukraine tarnished the anniversary by its more pressing. rather battle for the last two weeks three million troops from both sides all took part in the fight so what was it like to be in that battle the investigates next. berlin the rush dogs 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 gun fire corpses flame that's how the

rock star globe 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. using more than fifty thousand soldiers and officers died over brushing the polish and german polish of us forces for our own model lying about the russians for theirs go on twenty four hours. lasted for two months the red flag with the raids on the top of the lifestyle game a nine hundred forty five. became a symbol of victory of so few people over fascism. say in one nine hundred forty five vassily was an anti-tank gun platoon commander

she still keeps them outfit he got before assaulting berlin. at the core of the river this is a map they gave out before the dawn and we were supposed to chart the outskirts of girl in 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 other 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 just the one kilometers to the outskirts of berlin it only sixty one kilometers or muti and when the allies bombed the flashes of an aircraft shells let

the sky like stars. stone stomp to the planned 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. beautified sixty four reserves around the broad south here this was the place where the army's strongest units were concentrated in the walls final weeks were made after the germans also built a formidable defenses extending twenty kilometers westward from the forward positions within 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. and 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 their trials to some of those no

other operations of that scale in world war two you know could there be any building 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 songs 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 unduly imprinted on their minds and a does not lead them into a mood which will raise grave and formidable difficulties in the future. is above all britain was aiming to see germany destroyed as we said as he was on the other hand it wanted the soviet union weakened as much as possible and he brought a real concern was to all the appearance of a new rival in the comfort of 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 armies facing them all of them had been moved to eastern front to repulse the soviet offensive. horizon ours known to have asked general simpson whether u.s. troops could take berlin from star wars losses he expected in that case and that same sense that he expected some thirty thousand jesuit tests or eisenhower sat there that wouldn't do for us troops were to hold their positions 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. you said when you were and i think that if roosevelt hadn't signed on april the twelfth stolen would have agreed to the participation of the western allies forces in the assault on lynn calling seoul resembles

a kind of karen school would prevent the allies from starting here in the final. roosevelt's death prompted the soviet commands to take a resolute action 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 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. when so to say that's russia should be forced to succumb to the will of the great britain and the united states here's just one quote from the plane of the operation. 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 wish 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 and.

he knew that something was brewing it's hard to say whether he had a clear knowledge of the details although we now know that off famous spy ring led by kim philby was operating in britain at the time top foreign office officials they were doing a very effective job. steffen gotten word 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 summons to chicago's headquarters he was told to announce to the germans through the loudspeakers the start of the wars final so he defensive in a few hours time. place it says it was assistant at the new comer general with this isn't possible with we can't possibly give away military secrets. mean said tenons

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 table if 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 you could write this or that artillery had

overwhelming superiority unleashed but we were grit with blind fear by all we wanted was to hide somewhere from that ferocious fire signifies. everything was ablaze a logs were flying all around at last for something like thirty five minutes the north of the northern tanks rolled forward and we folded behind me. there were anti-personnel mines on religiously 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 who need to trim and positions. marshal to cause ideal was to blind the germans to hinder their return fire. to out the screws you had to fire as well as though you didn't know where to look because you were blinded by searchlight seeing it we couldn't

see any detail as if all we saw was a blazing bank of the reverse to see. through the germans cielo was the last defensive line before berlin so the german soldiers defending 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. that any soldier fleeing 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 had hammered into our heads that we must avoid being taken prisoner by the soviets at all cost and that. 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 thrust fail to take the heights soviet troops down flank of the german

defenses only vended 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 very high. the soviet forces lost chens of thousands of men in a tiny sector near the otter. noodles i have never seen so many dead bodies as on sold the sale heights now thousands and thousands of men died in a very small plot of land or the most terrifying thing of old will is those people dying then you have the war would be over in a couple of weeks it was better than they were now second. 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 advance and soviet army

simply swept them away. but people it is those within stated it fanned berlin because there was nobody who could project but because many people died it's got a flat to the west and even to the americans a meeting caught it in. one of the biggest german cinema terrorises 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 ancestor vision coast nord lands. private from seal heights was retreating with the rest of them like 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 hull but it can. i am under heavy fire. right here the furniture factory was here as soldiers but they took us for

a soviet column and they opened fire on it so the crossing was covered with their bodies and 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 approached the town hall but. private should put in 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 when aides were flying from both saw it's the fighting was intense there where the bakery is now to entertain fortifications 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 men. the remains of bruises army

managed to leave the circle and fled to the west but during those three days in and out of 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. which brightened if you knew no bounds wrong from phones to impressions.

who phones totty dot com. 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 torgau. a sixteenth century castle zaandam there they saw a bridge over the alba river it was blown up by the germans and they saw the soviet soldiers on the eastern of the commander left an unwilling robertson took a battle in and drew an american flag on it then he climbs to the castle settings on more crabbers and looked outside in 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's someone trying to shoot the window that was a shell from the soviet lift on and i would sign that assad watched all three of us . the group were 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 to do we need to shoot or find an alternative way. but 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 elba. it happened when the book 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 internet million robertson and the soviet lieutenant alexander's who vanished became friends a 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 and 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 in one thousand nine hundred four when they first agreed back in one nine hundred forty two. thoughts 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 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 agreed that it would be launched only when it became clear that the russians were caving into standing on the contrary that they were gaming of the happens by crossing the nineteen thirty nine borders and entering europe would be. 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 with should have gotten the for it soon of course the other way with another woman. on the april twenty eighth soviet troops encircled the city center and began an assault on the much stop. the building was

protected by vans in the spring river and the bridge crossings had been blown up. troops crossed the sprit up or tiny dinghies 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 tide in the shadow of the white star . and them via seven sailors are a given the titles of the heroes of the soviet union lost so muscling in the in one of them was nikolai. panzerfaust a rocket snapped the control even though there was nothing left for him to do but grip the two ends of a cable with his keys bernie dunning numenta zisha. the race dog was defended by remnants of elite s.s. units killers personal bodyguards. there were also french volunteers from the charlemagne division of the scandinavian division nordland and the levin battalion

of the fifteenth s.s. division. green i'm pretty sure they were crying up from the basement hey one surrender you're aware many you're a fuels the rules a couple lot but in the e.u. . 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 bow. of the love a german an unseen aircraft can show down that trashed flag. as it didn't go on planning for sure that's gone was no tells by a man of my battalion. the new york bill. on the morning of may second general helms commander of the berlin defense area arrived at the

soviet headquarters to sign a cease fire order. lieutenant gorenberg was the first to read and type out that order. frankly i thought it was a very odd order there is an almost exact quote from the initial lines. of has committed suicide not living else of 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 berlin yan considering the situation of our wounded here by order a cease fire and surrender with the consent of the service command. i think and to change anything in that soldier to hell with him i said to myself who will bless him 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. this isn't just oh at ten am there

was complete silence be that that's the end of it all yes there really is a white flag not a flag really but a white sheet in the germans show that another and yet another lesson as they start scrambling out of their shelters we didn't get out into the open who were with germans 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 the russians have come you know. heard many stories about them. what if they were treated in the same way i think kids had pill faces they were wearing short pams some had small balls on their hands and knees when they were given some porridge they rushed home was in the war and you know whistles what i saw my sergeant major skipping something else of the cause i found out that

the people who were queuing for the food what access from the local theater skinny and hungry as they stood there solving which held them and others that's the russians. you know they were afraid of us they thought russians were cossacks with a long mustache asli they were looking us all over thinking where the russians mustaches were your first hand they wanted to know if we were wearing feel caps if we were just young boys at seventy. on the evening of may eighth marshals who cough 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 heart's content have found a big bottle containing ten liters of apple while suddenly there was a deafening noise and you have liver firing from all sides and he was

a german breakroom when we rushed out we saw fireworks going up in celebration of victory i don't need to tell you that we finished off that bottle in. 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 losses of the usa and great britain 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. and hundred thousand victims compared 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 victory in their hearts.

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