propping up the week's top stories here on our team thousands flee syria as deadly clashes continue in the country despite the government claiming it's ready for talks with the opposition meanwhile the u.s. appears ready to declare president assad's rule illegitimate which many say could be the first step toward military intervention. libyan rebels fail to gain washington's reputation as the country's rightful rulers this after an opposition delegation met its case made its case at a meeting in the white house. that of the international monetary fund charged with sexual assault with

a recent poll showing dominic strauss kahn to be the favorite of france's our coming presidential election is arrest is likely to rock the french political arena . thousands of troops parade in russian cities to celebrate victory day but ukrainian veterans had to fend off trashiest once again in a brutal attack by neo nazi nationalism during press dimity. stay with the second world war the battle for berlin lasted two weeks three and a half a million troops from both sides soviet and german took part in the fight what was it like to be part of the battle r t investigates next. berlin the rash dog home to germany's parliament it was right here 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 showed us gun fire corpses flame that's how the right start look

by the end of april nineteen forty five on. the pitch. german soldiers fought for every piece of footage and really tried to stands to the last minute against soviet troops. is it more than fifteen thousand soldiers and officers died over brushing the polish and german polish of us forces for our own model and you know the russians for their zero one twenty four hours. the better class of fortune. 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. see in one nine hundred forty five vassily used to go off was an anti-tank gun

platoon commander she still keeps a map that he got before assaulting berlin. the river this is a map they gave out before the dawn when we were supposed to chart the outskirts of girl in the john back and before that they gave me a map. in late january nine hundred forty five the success of the vistula 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 was now just a stone's throw away from berlin the ultimate objective of the red army offensive yet really on the map i measured the distance with a ruler that's just the one kilometers to the outskirts of berlin is only sixty one kilometers and when the allies bombed the flashes of anti-aircraft shells looked

the sky like stars. stone stump of the plane 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. while the germans also took advantage of the delay. beautified safety for reserves around early and well brought up here this was the place where the army's strongest units were concentrated in the was final weeks you know 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 a. 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 aircraft some of those know of

operation of that scale in world war two you know could there be any belly 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 that they have been the overwhelming contributor to our common victory and duly imprinted on their minds and may does not lead them into a mood which will raise grave and formidable difficulties in the future. super bowl britain was aiming to see germany destroy your odds on the other hand it wanted the soviet union weakened as much as possible i need a real concern with the body appearance of a new arrival on the consulate. 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 loose treaty eastern front to repulse the soviet offensive. horizon ours known to have asked general simpson whether u.s. troops could take berlin farms i was lost as he expected in that case and the same sense that he expected some thirty thousand jesuits asked or eisenhower sat 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. when you were i think that if roosevelt hadn't saw it on april the twelfth stalin would have agreed to the participation of the western allies forces in the assaults on lynn collins so roosevelt was

a kind of current school who would prevent the allies from stabbing him in the final. printed in the soviet commands to take a resolute action 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. was 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 u.s.

divisions were to deliver a crushing blow to the soviet army the attack was to have the support of twelve german divisions. to say that russia should be forced to succumb to the will of the traits of britain and the united states here is just one quote from the plane 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 and 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 historian suggested stalin was wary of something like operation unthinkable prompting him to speak up.

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 firing by kim philby was operating in britain at the time top foreign office officials they were doing a very effective job which you think. stephan goldenberg 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 headquarters he was told to announce to the germans through the loudspeakers the start of the war's final soviet offensive in a few hours time. place it says it was assistant at those newcomers general this is impossible with we can't possibly give away military secrets. mean said tenant's we

can have an interest in keeping casualties to me and. the world's most massive preparatory bombardment kenned 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 as 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 to quote rogers or that artillery had overwhelming

superiority and we were gripped with blind fear all we wanted was to hide somewhere from that ferocious fire does it go for. everything was ablaze a logs were flying all around at last for something like thirty five minutes the north the northern tanks rolled forward and we followed in billings. there were anti-personnel mines all over the place and they do no harm to tanks with land 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 illuminate the german positions. marshal struggles idea was to blind the germans to hinder their return fire. because you had to fire as well as though 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 river to see. through the germans cielo was the last defensive line before berlin so the german soldiers defended the highlands with general determination patriotism aside the german army had still other reasons to keep fighting to the bitter end despite the desperate situation. he did go to so that any soldier flame 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 on the 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. the germans clung to their defenses for nearly three days and nights. after a head on frost failed to take the heights soviet troops out 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 tens of thousands of men in a tiny sector near the arctic. then noodles going i have never seen so many dead bodies as i sold the cellar heights thousands and thousands of men died in a very small plot of land the most terrifying thing of old was those people dying there i knew that 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 advance insurgent army simply swapping them away. a buggy towards those within stated fan

berliner because there was nobody who could project well because many people die and it's got a flag to the west to give in to the americans a meeting caught it in. one of the biggest german cemeteries is situated not far from berlin in a small town of the whole of 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 them like the 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 hall but it could. enough under heavy fire . the furniture factory was here as us soldiers with 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 how about. private you could get 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. so far when aids were flowing from both sides the fighting was intense there where the bakery is now well and to 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. the remains of pussies army managed to

leave the circle and fled to the west but during those three days in out of 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. if.

it was the fourth quarter. here this street still keeps its secrets but now it's time to reveal visions of the soviet files on. the typical german town of torgau on the elbow river like in many provincial cities the pace of life is slow here toward might never have been known to the world if not for the events of april twenty fifth one thousand nine hundred forty five the almost calm or pawn on the day an american patrol came to the door guy i don't climb to dob as sixteenth century castle zaandam there they saw a bridge over the al gore river it was blown up by the germans and they saw the soviet soldiers on the eastern shore side of the commander left an unwilling

robertson and you took a battle in and drew an american flag on it thank you climb to the castle settings on more programmers and look outside and through the flag out of the window also idle and that very moment he heard the whistle of a shell coming from the eastern bank you far someone trying to shoot the window there was a shell from the socialist down on i would sound outside washington three of us. the group was through with us how it was a group of people including women that 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 to do any can shoot or find an alternative way is therefore with. but finally the soviet soldiers realizing the mysterious men on the far bank were actually their american allies what followed would become an iconic moment in the world war two history of the meeting at the elbow. 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 decided to celebrate the meeting. the american intended william 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. we were both illustrating and i was grinning rather 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 opened for a second front not in one thousand nine hundred four but 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 they were gaining the upper hand 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. many in the west are upset about stalin's power to shape the post-war arrangements it makes me want to say look here gentlemen was with should have gone in the fort sooner hoosegow

the other way with another woman. on april twenty eighth soviet troops encircled the city center and began an assault on the right stuff. the building was protected by bands in the sprit river and the bridge crossings had been blown up. troops crossed the sprit other border 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 died in the shadow of the right stuff . in 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 nick ally of iran who panzerfaust a rocket snapped the control even though there was nothing left for him to do the movement gripped the two ends of the cable with his key bernie turning numenta zisha. the race dog was defended by remnants of the elite and says units

pickler's personal bodyguards. there were also french a volunteer is from the charlemagne division of the scandinavian division nordland and a latvian battalion of the fifteenth s.s. the fusion. green and can surely were growing up from the basement haven surrender where many euro fuels the rules a couple lot but in the east. 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. a german and seen a draft gun show down that fresh flag was in your face it didn't go on counting or

show that's gone was not held by a man of my battalion only your meal. on the morning of may second gen helmets very little and commander of the berlin defense area arrived at the soviet headquarters to sign a cease fire order. lieutenant durenberger 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 off europe has committed suicide now living else of in 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 and considering the situation of our wounded are hereby order a cease fire and surrender with the consent of the service. i didn't care to change anything in that's all that he held with him i said to myself the world's press 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. this is just how at ten am there was complete silence will be that that's the end of it all yes there it 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 with germans a surrendering that's for sure. 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. heard many stories about them. what if they were treated in the same way i do the kids had pill faces they were wearing short pants some had small balls in their hands and knees when

they were given some porridge they rushed home was in good mood and yeah winchell's i saw my sergeant major skipping something else of the post i found out that the people who were queuing for the food one access from the local theater all skinny and hungry they stood this holding which held them and all of us me that's the russians. i you know they were afraid of us they thought russians were cossacks but with a long mustache they were looking us all over thinking where the russians mustaches were your first hand they wanted to know we were wearing feel caps we were just young boys at seven. on the evening of may eighth and 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 comma ninth of may we were losing

to our heart's content have found a big bottle and hugh containing ten liters of apple while suddenly it is there was a deafening noise. they 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 for 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. according to various estimates the soviet army lost from eight. hundred forty one and nine hundred forty five. 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 all casualties on 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. hundred thousand victims come to compare to twenty million lives. history of mankind 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.

mom.