All language subtitles for wwii.battles.in.color.s01e04.1080p.web.h264-cbfm_Subtitles01_Unnamed

[dramatic music]

[Narrator] 1943.

New Nazi superweapons
power east,

Hitler's last chance
to win the war.

-[explosions blasting]
-[whistle shrills]

The Red Army scrambles to
defend the Soviet Union,

throwing hundreds of T-34 tanks

at the gargantuan German Tigers

in the greatest tank
battle ever seen.

Now, rare home movies show
life behind the lines.

While newly colorized footage

takes us to the
heart of the action.

-[explosion booms]
-[gun blasting]

Audacious raids, sabotage,
and aerial combat.

[airplane engines whirring]

-As fanatical SS units attack,
-[gun blasting]

the Soviet people must rise up
to protect their motherland.

[gun blasting]

Kursk, the ultimate
clash of the titans.

[suspenseful music]

[upbeat pensive music]

German soldier Gotz Hirt-Reger

has been shooting film
throughout the war,

[gun blasting]

and is now assigned
to a Ministry of Propaganda

camera crew.

It's an itinerant lifestyle.
Wake up. Wash up.

Then check your equipment

and head out to
capture the latest news

-from the Eastern Front.
-[tense music]

Like the arrival of one of a
new generation of Nazi tanks.

A Tiger.

[tank engine revving]

-Hirt-Reger rolls film
-[gun blasting]

as its 88-millimeter
gun test fires.

[gun blasting]

-It's a powerful demonstration.
-[gun blasting]

Cotton balls in the ears
provide essential protection.

[guns blasting]

[suspenseful music]

This Tiger is one of 2,700
German armored vehicles

assigned to a vast new
offensive in the Soviet Union.

900,000 veteran soldiers
prepare for the attack.

They'll be covered by 1,700
Luftwaffe fighters and bombers.

[Matthias] The Germans are
building up a massive force.

They hope that this offensive

will regain them the initiative
on the Eastern Front.

[Narrator] The driving force
behind the German operation

is none other than
Adolf Hitler.

He's counting on
his elite units,

and the cameramen
following them,

to deliver some desperately
needed good news.

[tense music]

By mid-1943, the Nazis have
seized a vast area of Europe.

But the previous six months

have seen the German
advance stall,

and the Allied forces
push back.

-[guns blasting]
-[dramatic music]

Far in the frozen north,

the Red Army breaks the
German Siege of Leningrad.

In the central Soviet Union,

[explosion blasts]

a doomed attempt
to take Stalingrad

sees almost one million German

and Italian Axis troops
killed or captured.

And to the south, American
and British armies

have blown the Axis forces
out of North Africa.

[gun blasting]

Buoyed by the recent
Allied victories,

US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt

and British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill

meet in Casablanca, Morocco.

To turn the screws on Hitler,

they announce that the
Allies will now accept

nothing less than his
unconditional surrender.

And plan a joint
invasion of Italy.

By stretching the Germans

as far as possible in
North Africa, in Italy,

and potentially,
also, in France,

it would give Stalin and
the Red Army an opportunity

to finally make the
decisive breakthrough

on the Eastern Front,
and push towards Berlin.

[ominous music]

[Narrator] The string of
defeats dents Hitler's swagger.

[Matthias] The Third Reich's
expansion has stalled

and the Germans know that they
need to change their strategy

if they want to win, or perhaps,
even just survive this war.

[Narrator] Hitler is
determined to seize back

the initiative with a major
new military offensive.

But first, he must ramp
up enthusiasm at home.

[dramatic music]

So the Nazis hold a rally,
at Berlin's Sportpalast arena.

German newsreel cameras
cover every angle

as propaganda minister,
Josef Goebbels,

whips a 14,000 strong,
carefully selected crowd

into a frenzy.

[Josef speaks in German]

[crowd cheers]

[Narrator] He announces
total war,

the full mobilization
of the German economy

to support the military effort.

Senior Nazi Albert
Speer is watching.

[Albert] Except for Hitler's

most successful
public meetings,

I had never seen an audience

so effectively
roused to fanaticism.

[Josef speaks in German]

[crowd cheering]

[Narrator] Energized
workers across the Reich

rush to build a new
generation of superweapons.

The Panther medium tank
has advanced sloping armor,

a 75-millimeter gun, and a
top speed of 34 miles an hour.

It sets a new standard
for an all-round tank.

[dramatic rock music]

The heavy Tiger is
slow but powerful.

Early demonstrations see the
57-ton machine take on trees

-[tank engine whirring]
-[house crashing]

and houses, destroying
everything in its path.

[Matthias] When the
Tiger tank appears,

its combination of
a very powerful gun,

together with heavy armament,

means that it can outclass

any Soviet tank on
the battlefield.

[guns blasting]

[Narrator] The Ferdinand
self-propelled gun

is a tank killer.

Named after its designer,

the car manufacturer
Ferdinand Porsche,

its 88-millimeter gun is
even longer than the Tigers.

This gives its armor-piercing
shells increased velocity

and a range of nearly
two miles.

The new wonder weapons are
up-armored and up-gunned,

and gave the Germans

a great tactical advantage
on the battlefield,

as well as a great psychological
advantage over the enemy.

[Narrator] Hitler is convinced

these devastating new
machines will put the Reich

back on the path to
European domination.

He must now pick the spot
to unleash their power.

[majestic music]

280 miles south of Moscow
is the city of Kursk,

a major population
center and transport hub.

In early 1943 the city is
newly liberated by the Soviets

after nearly a year of
brutal Nazi occupation.

Roughly 10,000 inhabitants
of the city of Kursk

died from malnutrition
in the 18 months

that the Germans were there.

[Narrator] Land mines
and ruined buildings

are the Germans' legacy.

The city's devastation
is obvious.

But the Nazis
still want it back.

By the summer of 1943,

the Germans are finding
it increasingly difficult

to sustain a very long
front in the Soviet Union.

[Narrator] Kursk sits in
the center of a large bulge

or salient, protruding 100
miles into German territory.

The Germans' ambition
is to remove that bulge

so they can release resources
by flattening the line.

[Narrator] In Operation Citadel

Hitler plans attacks
to the north and south

that will link up,
reclaim the entire area,

and stabilize the front lines.

[suspenseful music]

His military advisers
are keen to attack

as soon as the weather allows.

But the Fuhrer decides
to wait until early July,

to allow the new
generation of tanks

time to reach the front line.

Kursk is do or die
for the Germans.

They're really laying
everything they have,

all their new weaponry on
a single throw of the dice.

If this doesn't work,
they're done.

[tense music]

[Narrator] At the Kremlin,
Soviet leader Josef Stalin

considers how to react
to the impending attack.

In the first two
years of the war

the most significant successes
that the Red Army enjoy

were at the point
where a German advance

had exhausted itself.

And then the Red Army
was able to carry out

a large counteroffensive
on weaker flanks.

[Narrator] Stalin decides
to use Kursk as bait

in a giant trap.

[dramatic music]

The Red Army will build
defenses

to stop the Nazis
once and for all,

then unleash a
massive counterstrike.

Soviet civilians in the area
now become a vital resource.

Just two months after being
liberated from Nazi rule,

300,000 Kursk residents
are pressed into service

for the Red Army

and begin to turn
farmland into a fortress.

But trench digging is just
the tip of the iceberg.

The Red Army is now becoming

an army, for all intents
and purposes, of occupation,

not occupation in the same way

that the Germans occupy
the territory, mind you,

but it still needs to be fed.

It still needs to be cared for.

[Narrator] Propaganda films
show the civilian population

taking on all aspects of
Red Army rear services,

from food supply
to medical care.

They build a brand
new 60-mile railroad,

to speed hundreds of
tanks to the front lines.

It's German Totaler Krieg
versus Soviet Total'Naya Voyna.

The total war of half a
continent focused on Kursk.

[tank engine whirring]

After two months of
concentrated effort,

the fields around
Kursk are transformed

into a fortified defensive
network of trenches,

gun emplacements,
even dugouts for tanks.

One declares "For
Stalin" on its side.

The earthworks
are so substantial

that they are still
visible to this day,

as jagged lines of trees,
or shadows in the fields.

Over 3,000 miles of
trenches are arranged

in a zig-zag pattern,

to protect defenders from
flanking fire and explosions.

Soviet defenses are developed
like a spider's web,

in which the Germans would
struggle, exhaust themselves,

and then leave themselves
open to a counterattack.

[Narrator] On top of
1.3 million soldiers

waiting in the web of trenches,

two massive Soviet
armies hold position

to the north and south,

ready to counterstrike,
if they get the chance.

The danger of the Soviet plan,

is that if the Germans
manage to break through

the Soviet defensive positions,

the Wehrmacht will be able
to encircle a large amount

of Soviet troops, and
completely annihilate them.

[Narrator] 2/5 of
the entire Red Army

now waits for the arrival of
the new German superweapons.

The stage is set for one
of the biggest battles

the world has ever seen.

[gentle accordion music]

[tense music]

The Red Army braces for a new
German offensive at Kursk.

The Nazis are gathering on
the edge of the open fields.

Stalin sends
political commissar,

and future Soviet leader

Nikita Khrushchev to keep
an eye on his generals.

[Nikita] The events unfolding
were extremely important.

The outcome of the
war was being decided,

along with the fate
of our country.

[Narrator] Later that evening,

Khrushchev meets
a German deserter,

who claims he has
just been issued

with a ration of schnapps.

[suspenseful music]

It's a German
military tradition.

Boxes labeled "For
front line fighters

"in large-scale combat,"

contain candy, chocolate,
cigarettes, and matches.

They are distributed
on the eve of battle.

Khrushchev leaves convinced

the German offensive
is imminent.

So the Red Army
sends a greeting.

-[dramatic music]
-[rockets whooshing]

Thousands of Katyusha
rockets leave their rails

at 780 miles an hour, with
a distinctive metallic howl,

that adds a shock factor
to the bombardment.

The Germans are
caught by surprise.

[Bernard] The scene
was chaotic.

Vehicles were on fire

and there were several
corpses lying in the grass,

but we soon recovered.

[Narrator] The attack
delays the Germans

but does not stop them.

[guns blasting]

They send a massive
artillery and rocket barrage

right back at the Soviets.

[rockets whooshing]

Operation Citadel has begun.

[dramatic music]

To the north of the salient,

the German 9th Army moves out.

Their aim is to
penetrate the defenses

and head towards Kursk.

In command is
General Walter Model.

He favors defensive tactics,
so decides his tanks

and Ferdinand self-propelled
guns will initially hold back.

Having seen the sophistication
of the Soviet defenses

that he was up against, Model
decides to use the infantry

to create the breach,

and then for the tanks
to exploit that breach,

and hopefully,
break through to victory.

[Narrator] Thousands of
infantry push forward,

right into a Soviet minefield.

[explosion blasts]

[Henri] The Soviets had sown

thousands upon
thousands of mines,

we could never
remove all of them

and those that we
removed were replaced.

[explosion blasts]

[Narrator] Red Army
crews have it down

to a white knuckle science.

[explosion blasts]

Get to a gap in
the line and dig.

Fast.

[explosion blasts]

Drop in an anti-tank mine,
cover your tracks, and get out

[explosion booms]

before a German shell
finds you.

[explosion blasts]

The Red Army can lay hundreds
of thousands of mines an hour.

They use the extensive
trench network

to replenish the fields
behind the advancing Germans

and swarm at them
from all angles.

If you stick your hand
into a fire ant mound,

the ants will attack
you all the way in.

As you keep penetrating, your
entire limb will be attacked,

and so this is the idea.

You absorb the attack and
then you destroy the elements

that have made the penetration.

[gun blasting]

[Soviet Observer]
The soldiers were deafened

by the thunder of
guns and mortars

and the creaking of tracks.

All of the weapons
of the infantry

entered the battle to
repel the enemy blows.

Such was the sophistication
of the Soviet defensive plan,

the German infantry
found it very difficult

to bludgeon a hole
in the defenses,

and therefore, the armor
couldn't exploit it.

[fire whooshes]

-[explosions booming]
-[suspenseful music]

[Narrator]
The Soviet swarm begins

to bleed the attacking Germans.

Newly restored footage
reveals a scouting party,

led by Captain
Dmitry Zakrevsky,

returning from an
overnight raid.

They're celebrating the capture

of one of the feared
Nazi tanks.

[Ilya] We found in the tank
secret papers, documents.

There was also a working radio.

[Narrator] The German
officers in the north

sense their momentum stalling.

[gun blasting]

[explosion booms]

But they maintain
the offensive,

to keep the pressure on.

[guns blasting]

To the south of Kursk,

Field Marshal
Erich von Manstein

takes a different approach.

He leads with tanks.

-[dramatic music]
-[tank engines whirring]

Brand new, heavy Tigers
form up into spearheads,

flanked by the medium Panthers

and an array of older Panzers.

Manstein had seen the
very great success

that could be achieved
by fast-moving armor,

creating a psychological impact

and a shock impact
on enemy defenses,

no matter how
sophisticated they are.

[Narrator] Many of
Manstein's tank crews

are drawn from the
most experienced

and fanatical
soldiers Germany has.

The military wing of
Hitler's personal guard,

the Waffen-SS.

The SS is the most fanatical

and feared organization
in Nazi Germany.

They'll stop at nothing

to enact Hitler's
vision for a new Europe.

[tank rumbles]

[Narrator] In early 1943,

newsreel cameras are permitted
into the SS training school

at Bad Tolz, south of Munich.

Here, new recruits are groomed
for life in the Waffen-SS,

a military organization
that fights alongside

the regular German Army, but
reports directly to Hitler.

Hitler doesn't really
trust the old elites

that he can see within Germany,

for example, also, the
old-established officer corps

of the normal armed forces.

[Narrator] SS indoctrination

emphasizes Hitler's dark
vision of European domination,

and physical conformity,

to mold a fanatically
loyal fighting force.

[Matthias] The fact that Hitler
builds up the SS,

means that he has an extremely
loyal group of people,

up to 900,000 that are loyal
to him and to no one else.

[Narrator] SS Section
Leader Johannes Schumacher

carries a personal film
camera throughout the war.

He is a member of the Totenkopf
or Death's Head division.

The skull and crossbones
on their collars

symbolize a willingness
to sacrifice their lives

for the Nazi cause.

Schumacher travels
to the Eastern Front.

He records the devastation
wrought by the SS divisions

tasked with controlling
the occupied Soviet Union.

As villages burn, Soviet
civilians forced from the area

carry children too
small for the march.

[solemn music]

The SS are always training,
ready to wreak destruction.

The SS carry out
countless war crimes.

They're responsible
for atrocities

and massacres across Europe.

They aren't really soldiering,

they're fighting a war of
annihilation, of extermination.

They're probably
as close to evil

as the modern world has seen.

[Narrator] As the tanks
of the Totenkopf Division

arrive at the Kursk
battlefield,

Schumacher uses his
home movie camera

to film the 57 ton
Tigers in close-up.

The fanatical SS divisions
now intend to use

these Nazi superweapons to
crack the Soviet defenses.

[tank rattles]

-[dramatic music]
-[gun blasting]

The SS Panzer Corps
will spearhead

the attack to the
south of Kursk.

The initial target

is a small Russian
village named Prokhorovka.

42 Tigers are followed
by a further 450 tanks

and assault guns across
an eight-mile front.

It's a slow,
methodical advance.

But they can take their time.

The five-man crews
inside the Tigers

are protected by four
inches of steel armor.

To the Soviets, the
tanks appear unstoppable.

[Vassily] Shells hit them
but bounced off like peas.

There have been cases
where artillerymen

went insane after seeing this.

[Narrator] The
tanks plow forward

and reach the Soviet trenches.

They deliberately
use their weight

to collapse the earthworks
and crush the defenders.

German infantry and engineers

follow to clear
the fortifications.

[Stefan] Dropping
into a trench system,

my section threw grenades
around the corners

and into dug-outs which
were then cleared out by men

with sub-machine guns.

[Narrator] Soviet
footage reveals

the Red Army's
defensive network

beginning to buckle
under the attack.

[explosion blasts]

[Mykhailo] Every time
they moved, we shot them.

But then we saw that
they had a mortar

and before I could open
fire, we had been hit.

I was a mess.

Deaf, confused,
and unable to stand.

I can still recall the
mixture of damp earth,

cordite, and blood which
filled my nostrils.

-[mortar shell thuds]
-[explosion blasts]

The German tank
advance is relentless.

-[gun blasting]
-[explosion booms]

The new models
slowly chew their way

through the Soviet lines.

Soviet losses are huge.

Six, seven, eight to one
in favor of the Germans.

[suspenseful music]

[Narrator] As the German tanks
identify enemy positions,

they radio for
supporting airstrikes.

Waves of Junkers Ju 87 dive
bombers, known as Stukas,

bear down on their targets.

[bombs blasting]

Carrying a 550-pound bomb,

they drop into an
almost vertical dive

before releasing with
pinpoint accuracy.

[bombs booming]

But to make a dent
on the hundreds

of Soviet tanks at Kursk

the Stukas need more than
just one bomb per run.

[airplane engine whirring]

German newsreel cameras
follow Hans-Ulrich Rudel,

a Luftwaffe fighter ace

who trials a new way
of using the aircraft.

His custom Stuka is fitted

with twin 37-millimeter
anti-tank guns.

[dramatic music]

They'll skim the battlefield
at a much shallower angle,

to fire into the vulnerable
side armor of the Soviet tanks.

[Hans-Ulrich] In
the first attack,

four tanks explode under the
hammer blows of my cannons.

-[airplane screaming]
-[guns blasting]

In this aircraft
we possess a weapon

which is capable
of knocking out

a formidable number
of Soviet tanks.

[airplane engine whirring]

[guns blasting]

[Narrator] At Kursk,

Rudel claims 12 Soviet
tanks in one day.

He goes on to become the
most highly decorated

German service member
of the entire war.

[tense music]

After four days of
intense fighting,

[gun blasting]

the methodical approach of
the SS Panzer Corps pays off.

Their tanks have broken
through three lines

of Soviet defenses

and now approach the
village of Prokhorovka.

Soon, they will be in the
clear, able to circle back

and destroy the remaining
Red Army around Kursk.

[tank engine whirring]

1,500 miles away, the Allies
activate their long-held plan

to open a second front
against a German Army

distracted by
events in the East.

[dramatic music]

American Army film cameras roll

as the long-awaited
invasion of Sicily,

Operation Husky, begins.

160,000 American, Canadian,
and British troops

will land on the island,

and attempt to snatch it from
German and Italian forces.

[gun blasting]

As American cruisers
soften up the defenses,

landing craft speed
to the beaches.

Most make the troops
jump the last yards

but some are DUKW
amphibious trucks.

These make a fast, rough
landing on the beaches,

[trunk engine rumbling]

allowing troops quick access
to the Sicilian streets.

[Soldier] This was indeed
an auspicious beginning

for the Allied assault upon
Hitler's Fortress Europa.

[truck engine whirring]

[Narrator] As US infantry clears
the fishing town of Gela,

it becomes obvious that
German and Italian forces

do not have the strength
to hold the island.

The Allies make plans to move
onto the Italian mainland.

[tense brooding music]

At his Eastern Front
headquarters, the Wolf's Lair,

Hitler searches for answers.

Operation Husky provides
Hitler with a huge dilemma.

He could feel his troops

being stretched
further and further.

And he would not only be
fighting offensive action

by Stalin's Red
Army in the East,

he would also be
fighting the Allies

in the soft underbelly
of Europe, Italy,

and also, potentially,
in France, the next year.

[Narrator] But Sicily is
a long way from Kursk,

where the Red Army can
still see the German forces

moving toward their
jagged defensive lines.

They activate their
armored reserve.

Over 800 Soviet tanks head out,

to try and halt
the mighty Tigers.

[dramatic music]

The greatest tank battle
of the Second World War

is about to begin.

[tank engine whirring]

[suspenseful music]

Embedded camera crews film

as German tanks approach
the town of Prokhorovka,

on the outskirts of Kursk.

They have blasted
most of the way

through the spiderweb
of Red Army defenses.

But what they don't know

is that they are now
entering a giant trap.

[Lloyd] Prokhorovka was an
ideal place

where the Soviets could
unleash their armored reserve.

It is some way behind
the lines,

where the exhausted Germans

could be engaged by
fresh armored forces.

[Narrator] As the
Germans advance,

their scouts send
up purple flares

to warn of enemy armor ahead.

Suddenly, over 400 Red
Army tanks break cover.

They accelerate straight
towards the German lines.

[Rudolf] What I saw
left me speechless.

From beyond the shallow rise
in front of me appeared 15,

then 30, then 40 tanks.

Finally, there were
too many to count.

[Narrator] The Soviet T-34 tank

is the backbone of the
Red Army.

It has sloping armor,
a powerful V12 engine,

and a formidable
76.2-millimeter gun.

But its main strength
lies in numbers.

But its main strength
lies in numbers.
[machinery whirring]

[machinery whirring]

By 1943, the Soviet Union's
own version of total war

sees giant factories
far behind the lines

churn out hundreds
of T-34s every week.

They are driven straight
onto long trains

and sent to the front,

a constant stream of armor
heading for the battlefield.

[Lloyd] By this stage, the
Soviet total war industry

is easily replacing all losses,

and indeed, increasing the
number of tanks, day-on-day,

that Stalin had
available to him.

The reverse was true
in Germany.

Every single German
tank that was lost

would be very
difficult to replace.

[Narrator] At Kursk,

the Red Army now tries to
use strength in numbers.

-[dramatic music]
-[guns blasting]

The T-34 tank commanders
know that they can't compete

at long range with
the German tanks.

So they rush towards the German
tanks as quickly as possible

to fire at point-blank range,

because then they know
they stand a chance

of knocking out a tank.

[dramatic music]

[Wilhelm] The T34s came
straight for us at full speed

with hardly time even to fire,
as though they had gone mad.

I had the feeling
of being suffocated,

suffocated by the
sheer number of tanks.

[airplane engines roaring]

[Narrator] As the
tanks blast away,

the roar of aerial
combat fills the sky.

[guns blasting]

[airplane engines whirring]

Red Air Force fighter, bomber,

and ground-attack aircraft
assault the German lines.

The Battle of Kursk is not
just an armored battle,

it is an air-ground
confrontation

that sees a huge
amount of air assets

used to gain this
massive strategic victory

that both sides are hoping for.

[Mansur] All day
long planes fired

at each other in the sky.

There was a hail of
splinters and bullets.

Watch out!

You might get killed
by a falling aircraft!.

[airplane screaming]

[explosion blasts]

-[gentle tense music]
-[airplane engines whirring]

[Narrator] One Soviet
pilot above Kursk

is a pioneer of the skies.

21-year-old Lydia Litvyak
is the first woman

to shoot down an enemy
aircraft in her Yak-1 fighter,

and the first woman
to claim five kills

and the title of fighter ace.

She's perfect for propaganda.

[Lydia] When I see a plane
with crosses and a swastika,

I have only one feeling,
hatred.

This feeling makes
my hands harder

when they are lying on the
trigger of machine guns.

[gun blasting]

[airplane engine roaring]

[gun blasting]

[suspenseful music]

[Narrator] The Soviet Union
is the only Allied nation

to allow women to fly
in combat.

They are eager to show
they pass inspection.

And have a fighting spirit.

They'll need it.

The 46th Guards
Night Bomber Regiment

are only given wood and
canvas biplanes, crop dusters,

but they make the most of them.

As they made their approach,
they would cut their engine

and fly low to the ground,

and the Germans could
hear the whistling

through the guy-wires and
supposedly they struck fear

into the hearts of
those German soldiers.

[Serafina] We were bombing
the German positions

nearly every night, and none
of us were ever shot down,

so the Germans began saying
these are night witches.

[Narrator] The name sticks.

The Night Witches
go down in legend

as a fiercely
effective bombing unit.

[airplane engine whirring]

[gentle thoughtful music]

Two other regiments
also engage women.

As pilots, navigators, gunners,

mechanics, and
armament specialists.

[Valentina] The regiment
consisted

of very intelligent girls,

graduates of universities
and institutes.

We danced a lot, made fun,
teased each other, and laughed.

All of us were obsessed

by the idea that our
land must be liberated.

[Narrator] Soviet women
pilots fly more than 30,000

wartime sorties, a vital
contribution to the war effort.

All the women who
served in the Red Army,

they fought in very much
the same way as the men.

They were dedicated patriots,

they were Soviet soldiers
first and foremost.

They were doing what
was expected of them.

[Narrator] At
Kursk, Lydia Litvyak

commands her own squadron

and takes down at least
three more German aircraft.

-[gun blasting]
-[airplane engines whirring]

But during the later
stages of the battle,

she comes under
Luftwaffe attack.

Her Yak-1 is last
spotted pouring smoke,

pursued by enemy
Messerschmitts.

Her fate is unknown until 1979

when her remains are
identified in a remote village.

She is posthumously
awarded the title

Hero of the Soviet Union.

[dramatic music]

Soviet pilots give
vital support

to the Red Army's
massive attempt

to stop the Germans
at Prokhorovka.

[gun blasting]

The clash is often described
as the greatest tank battle

of the Second World War,
perhaps of all time.

[Pavel] The T-34s were
knocking out Tigers

at extremely close range.

On the black, scorched earth

the gutted tanks
burnt like torches.

[dramatic music]

[Narrator] The
battle enters legend.

Films show recreated
and exaggerated scenes

of T-34s storming
the German positions.

The Soviets claim to destroy
hundreds of German tanks.

However, the reality
is far more one-sided.

The elite SS tank crews keep
their cool amidst the chaos.

They utilize a
well-practiced routine.

Stop, identify a
target and fire.

-[guns blasting]
-[suspenseful music]

Reposition, identify
a target, fire.

[gun blasting]

Cold-blooded tactics
that decimate the T-34s.

Sure, there are
losses on both sides,

but Soviet losses are far
higher than the Germans.

The Germans essentially
shot up the Soviets.

[Vasily] It was a
slaughterhouse of tanks.

Everything was enveloped
in smoke, dust, and fire

so it looked as if
it was twilight.

Tanks were burning,
trucks were burning.

[Narrator] By the
end of the day,

Soviet forces fall back to
their starting positions.

The Germans reset their lines,
retrieving many damaged,

but intact tanks
from the battlefield.

[Narrator] High-resolution
photographs

taken by German
reconnaissance planes

before and after the battle,

show the impact on the
fields around Prokhorovka.

[tense music]

Craters scar the landscape.

German soldiers pose
for the newsreels

among piles of
destroyed Soviet tanks.

They took out nearly
200 Russian tanks

but only lost 16.

Nearly 4,000 Red Army
soldiers are taken prisoner,

wounded, or killed.

From a tactical point of view,
the Battle of Prokhorovka

is a complete German
success and victory.

The Germans only lose
a handful of tanks

but manage to inflict very
heavy and severe casualties

on the Soviet forces.

[Narrator] Hitler is still
deciding how to react

to the Allied invasion
of Italy.

But General Erich von
Manstein wants to push on.

He is convinced
that another attack

will shatter what remains
of the Soviet defenses.

Kursk is within his grasp.

But to the north, the
other German pincer

has advanced just seven miles.

It is still stuck in the Red
Army's web of fortifications.

And the Soviet generals still
have an army in reserve.

Now they plot a counterattack,

to crush the invaders
once and for all.

The Soviet counterstrike
starts at dawn.

[guns booming]

Operation Kutuzov is
directed north of Kursk.

A substantial Soviet force

aims to cut behind
the German 9th Army

and trap them in
the town of Orel.

[whistle shrilling]

Over a million fresh
troops follow 2,400 tanks,

while shells from 26,000 guns,

[guns blasting]

and 3,000 aircraft
roar overhead.

[airplane engines rumbling]

Part of the Soviet plan,
was to husband resources

around the northern
salient shoulder at Orel.

So, when the time was right,

they could unleash those
forces and create a dramatic

and decisive counter-attack

that the Germans would
find very difficult

to defend against.

[rockets whooshing]

[Narrator] The Nazis still have

their superweapons
on their side.

[explosion blasts]

But the sheer scale of the
Soviet attack stuns them.

The overwhelmed Germans
get little mercy.

[Nikolai] How should
we treat the Germans?

We treated them in
the natural way,

we gave them a proper beating.

We hated them bitterly.

[Soviet Officer] There
were piles of dead Germans

with map holders and all
their stuff still on them.

I saw tanks drive
over their bodies.

[suspenseful music]

[Narrator] In Germany,

Hitler faces the massive
Soviet counter-offensive

as well as the Allied
invasion of Sicily.

He calls off the Kursk attack

and orders his SS tank
divisions to make for Italy.

[tank engines whirring]

The Germans have taken
their best shot at Kursk

and it hasn't had any impact.

And now there's a
Soviet counteroffensive.

The Germans have to
transition from the offensive

into suddenly scrambling
for their lives.

[Narrator] As the
Germans retreat,

they film the enaction of
a scorched earth policy.

[explosion booming]

Blowing bridges

-[explosion blasting]
-and telephone lines.

-[explosion blasting]
-[wooden pole crunching]

Metal plows bolted onto trains
raze the tracks behind them.

The primary reason to
cause all this destruction

is to slow the advance
of the enemy force.

[explosion blasts]

You want to deny your
enemy military viability.

[explosions blasting]

[fire crackling]

[Narrator] Nazi Germany
is now on the defensive.

[gentle upbeat music]

Soviet cameras capture
the ecstatic reaction

of the local population,

as the Red Army sweep
into the town of Orel

and shred the
remnants of Nazi rule.

It's been a painful
breakthrough.

Over the six months
since Stalingrad,

the Red Army has lost
almost as many soldiers

as the United States and
Britain do in the entire war.

The civilian population has
been right on the front lines.

The home front is
usually construed,

certainly in the West,
as Rosie the Riveter

or rationing cards.

But the people of Kursk,
they're in this liminal zone

between home front
and fighting front

and they make significant
direct contributions

to the military efficacy
of the Red Army.

[Narrator] The Soviet Unions'
vast industrial resources

and enormous population
have been sorely tested.

But the Eastern Front

withstands the
German onslaught.

It's a game-changer for
the Allied war effort.

[guns blasting]

Kursk marks the point
where the Germans

lost the initiative
on the Eastern Front.

You want the initiative,
you decide what to do.

The enemy dances to your tune.

But for the rest of this war,

the Germans are the ones who
are gonna be doing the dancing.

-[dramatic music]
-[tank engine whirring]

[Narrator] The Red
Army now sweeps west,

in its own
blitzkrieg-style attack.

[guns blasting]

[Lloyd] The Germans were
being pushed back

into an attritional-type
total war

that they hadn't prepared for,

and mentally, weren't
particularly well-suited to.

They didn't have the assets,
nor the psychology

to fight in a defensive manner.

[Narrator] As Soviet armies
take back their homeland,

they film every town.

The footage proves
to the Western Allies

that Germany itself
is threatened.

The goal of a German
unconditional surrender

can now be taken seriously.

The fight for Europe continues.