All language subtitles for World.War.II.in.Colour.S01E04.Hitler.Strikes.East.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

Adolf Hitler had
never disguised his belief

that the Soviet Union
would be his regime's

ultimate enemy.

He hated communism,

and saw the vast open spaces
and abundant natural resources

of Soviet Russia as the prize

which would finally
enable the German people

to become the master race.

Throughout the early months
of 1941,

as he stayed at the Berghof,

his country retreat
in the Bavarian Alps,

Hitler planned
his greatest gamble,

Operation Barbarossa,
the assault on the Soviet Union.

Steadily, his armies were
redeployed to the east

and re-equipped for what would
be their greatest challenge.

In theory, Stalin's Soviet
Union was still Hitler's ally

and Stalin was keen
to keep it that way,

for his country was
woefully unprepared for war.

The mighty Red Army,
once the largest

and most technologically
advanced in the world,

had been devastated by Stalin's
purges in the late 1930s.

Some three-quarters
of its senior officers

had been shot or imprisoned.

Despite appearances there had
been a catastrophic collapse

in morale and efficiency.

As German soldiers now flooded
into neighboring Poland,

Stalin, desperate
to maintain the peace,

gave orders that nothing
should be done to offend Hitler.

But Hitler had one
other task to perform

before he could
push on to Russia.

He needed to secure
his southern flank.

Rumania, Bulgaria and Hungary
were Germany's firm allies.

But in March 1941,
a Yugoslav government

sympathetic to Germany,
was overthrown by
pro-British forces.

It's next door neighbor
Greece was also pro-British.

So, on April 6th, 1941, the
German army invaded the Balkans.

33 German divisions
moved into Yugoslavia.

They swiftly
tore its defenses apart.

The capital, Belgrade,
surrendered on April 12th.

Greece fell almost as quickly.

Despite British help,

Athens was captured in
less than three weeks.

The way was now clear
for Operation Barbarossa.

Over 4 million men
were to be deployed.

They were supported by
more than 3,000 aircraft.

The plan called for
three simultaneous thrusts.

Army Group North would
overrun the Baltic states

and seize Leningrad.

Army Group Center
was to advance to Moscow.

And Army Group South
would occupy the Ukraine.

Hitler's Generals went silent
when he showed them the plan.

They were worried
it was too ambitious

and would spread
their forces too thinly.

But none dared
voice their doubts.

The Red Army was much bigger.

It had nearly two million men
within striking distance

of the western front and
millions more in reserve.

The Russians also had
more than 20,000 tanks,

far outnumbering
Germany's 6,000.

They were older
and less powerful,

but they were still
a formidable fighting force.

The issue for Germany was,

could its superior
technology and speed

overwhelm the Russians
before the Red Army's

vast numbers ground them down?

Operation Barbarossa began
at 3:15am on June 22nd, 1941.

The Luftwaffe
joined in at dawn,

targeting Soviet airfields.

Simultaneously,
the ground attack began.

The Germans swiftly
crossed the River Bug

on the border between
Poland and the Soviet Union.

Hitler's Panzers
were soon thrusting deep

into Soviet territory.

Within two days the Panzers had
penetrated more than 50 miles.

Ill co-ordinated
Red Army counterattacks

were swiftly brushed aside.

Tens of thousands of Soviet
prisoners were rounded up.

Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe had
total domination of the air.

The Red Army's leadership
seemed paralyzed
by the German onrush.

On June 29th, seven days after
the start of the assault,

two Panzer thrusts
met up near Minsk,

surrounding huge pockets
of Soviet troops.

As the follow-up
infantry arrived

more than 300,000
prisoners were taken.

Often the Germans found
themselves welcomed
as liberators,

particularly in the Ukraine,

where anti-Russian
feeling was widespread.

In Moscow, Stalin appeared
to have suffered

a near-breakdown at the news
of his betrayal by Hitler.

He remained silent
for more than a week.

Not until July 3rd, did he
appeal to his people's
patriotism

to save the Motherland.

In Britain, the Prime Minister,
Winston Churchill,

received the news
of Operation Barbarossa

with very different feelings.

It meant the country
no longer stood alone.

He announced that
any enemy of Nazi Germany

was a friend of Britain's,

no matter what the political
differences in the past.

He then sent a mission to Moscow

to sign a treaty
of mutual assistance

with Soviet Foreign Minister
Vyacheslav Molotov.

But apart from
sending aid by sea,

there was little Britain
could do immediately

to help the Soviet Union.

As June turned to July,

the German Blitzkrieg slashed
deeper into Soviet territory.

It was beginning to look as
if nothing could stop Hitler.

But he was about to make his
first major strategic blunder.

In early July 1941,

over 300,000 Red Army troops
were surrounded west of Minsk.

Hitler's Panzer commanders,

in particular
General Heinz Guderian,

begged to be allowed to race on.

Operation Barbarossa
was working like clockwork.

Within a week the Panzers
were at Smolensk,

deep inside Russia

and only a couple of
hundred miles from Moscow.

On July 22nd,
a Panzer pincer movement

met to the east of Smolensk,

trapping another
310,000 Soviet troops.

Here there was a brief pause

while the rest of the army
caught up.

Though the tanks could
move at spectacular speed,

most of the army
still had to walk

or rely on horse-drawn
transport.

But it still
only took them five days

before they arrived
and began mopping up.

The operation was completed
in just nine more days.

Vast columns of Soviet prisoners

began trudging west
to captivity.

Over two and a half million
never returned.

Moscow was now only 200 miles
away and the road lay open.

It seemed certain it would fall
by the end of the summer,
as planned.

But elsewhere,
the German advance

was finding
the going more difficult.

The Red Army
was counterattacking

more effectively, and
by mid-July Army Group South

was still more
than 50 miles from Kiev.

Hitler decided
Guderian's Panzers

should delay
their advance on Moscow

and swing south
to Kiev to provide help.

Guderian objected strongly,
but Hitler was adamant.

There should be no
further advance on Moscow

until Kiev had fallen.

It would turn out to be
a fateful decision.

There were already
worrying signs the Red Army

was not going to be the pushover
Hitler had been expecting.

Soviet manpower seemed endless.

More than 16 million troops
were now mobilized.

And the Red Army now had
some formidable new weapons.

In particular,
a new tank, the 37-ton T-34.

It had a 76mm gun
and was faster

and better cross-country
than the Panzer Mark IV.

Yet as the Blitzkrieg continued,
it was easy to miss

the warning signs.

Guderian's Panzer group
began its thrust south
on August 23rd, 1941.

The Panzers of Army Group South
struck north three weeks later.

The pincers met east of Kiev
on September 16th.

Two more Soviet armies
were utterly destroyed.

Half-a-million men
were killed or captured.

On the same day,

more than a thousand miles
to the north,

Army Group North surrounded
the city of Leningrad,

today's St Petersburg.

It was immediately cut off from
the rest of the Soviet Union.

The city was besieged.

Hitler decided not to storm it

and the German troops settled
down to starve it into
surrender.

Conditions in the city
became dire.

The only link to
the rest of the Soviet Union

was across
Lake Ladoga to the east,

but only a small amount
of food could come in by water.

Starvation set in.

Over 11,000 people
died in November.

Not until December could
an ice road be opened

across the lake and there was
a slight increase in rations.

But 3,700 people
died of starvation

on one day in December alone.

Meanwhile, Army Group Center

now prepared for
the final assault on Moscow.

Guderian's Panzers had rejoined
it to lead the Blitzkrieg.

The Germans had a two
to one superiority in tanks

and men at the front,
and three to one in aircraft.

The assault started
on September 20th, 1941.

Once again Guderian's Panzers

slashed deep
through the Red Army.

By October 7th, yet more
Soviet troops were surrounded.

But Stalin was determined
to defend Moscow to the last.

He appointed
Marshal Georgi Zhukov

to organize
the defense of the city.

The people of
Moscow were mobilized

to dig a series
of defensive lines.

But the real obstacle to German
advance would be the weather.

On October 8th,
heavy rains set in.

German vehicles soon became
bogged down in a sea of mud.

By late October,
appalling weather

and an increasingly
stubborn Soviet resistance

meant Army Group Center was
still some 50 miles
short of Moscow.

Hitler was finally paying
the price for his decision

earlier in the year to delay
his advance on Moscow.

At around the same time,
Army Group South

reached the Black Sea,

trapping yet
more Soviet soldiers.

Another 100,000
prisoners were taken.

But they too were
hampered by the weather.

Even so the city of Kharkov was
captured on October 24th, 1941.

But the weather was
now starting to freeze.

The German forces, confident
the campaign would be
over by the summer,

were caught unprepared.

With no winter clothing
they now suffered terribly.

On the Moscow front,
Army Group Center was now

beginning its final push
to capture the Soviet capital.

By December 4th,
its leading units

were just 19 miles
from Red Square.

Some reconnaissance patrols
claimed they could see

the golden domes of the Kremlin
glinting in the distance.

But that night
the temperature plunged again.

Tank engines would not start,
weapons froze.

Many soldiers were
severely frostbitten.

On December 5th,
the Germans halted the attack.

Winter had come to
the rescue of the Red Army.

But the Germans were confident

that come the spring
they could finish the job.

For much of autumn 1941,

Stalin's armies reeled
under the German onslaught.

But all the while
he had another worry,

that the Japanese would
attack his forces in Siberia.

But in November, the Soviet
dictator received a message

from his top spy in Japan

assuring him the Japanese
had no such intention.

Immediately, more than
30 divisions began moving west

along the Trans-Siberian
railway to Moscow.

They were well-equipped and
well-trained in winter fighting.

By early December, more than
half a million extra men

were in position
near the capital.

On December 5th, just as
the Germans were abandoning

their attempt to capture Moscow,

they were hit by
a savage Russian attack.

First came a massive
Soviet artillery barrage.

Then swarms of Soviet T-34s

crashed through
the German defenses.

Stunned by the savagery
of the attack by an enemy

they had assumed was on the
ropes, the Germans fell back.

For the next seven days,

the Soviet troops tore
into the German forces.

For Hitler, who had
only reluctantly agreed

to halt the attack on Moscow,
it was a terrible blow.

On December 19th, he sacked

his overall commander-in-chief,
Field-Marshal Walther
von Brauchitsch,

and assumed command himself.

Heinz Guderian was also sacked,

along with
35 other senior officers.

Hitler now ordered that there
would be no more retreats.

The German troops should fight

and, if necessary,
die where they stood.

It worked.

The German line
gradually steadied.

But Stalin, elated by
the Red Army's success,

now demanded a massive advance
across the whole front.

Marshal Zhukov, one of Stalin's
most trusted commanders,

tried to dissuade him,
but Stalin was determined.

For the next four months
fighting swirled inconclusively

around the German
defensive positions.

For Hitler this was
a very uncomfortable situation.

He was used to,
and expected, quick results.

Now he was dangerously bogged
down in the Soviet Union

and facing an enemy
that never seemed to give up.

Nor was Russia
his only headache.

On December 7th, 1941,
Germany's ally Japan

attacked the United States
without warning.

Hitler, with almost no thought,
also declared war on the US.

With no advanced planning he had
taken on a massive new enemy.

As 1941 became 1942,

Hitler remained determined
to go on the offensive
again in Russia.

But he needed a new strategy.

The original plan of
fighting across the whole front

was no longer tenable.

Moreover, as his economic
advisers told him,

Germany's oil supplies
were running low.

So he decided to halt
the attacks in the north

and instead head for
Russia's oilfields in the south.

The initial plan for Operation
Blue, as it was called,

envisaged an assault
south of Kharkov

with Army Group A swinging
down to seize the oilfields,

while Army Group B covered
its flank along the River Don.

Straight away there
was a brutal encounter

with Soviet forces
trying to re-take Kharkov.

Another 200,000 Soviet
troops were captured.

70,000 were killed.

As part of the same operation
the German's tightened

their siege of the Port
of Sebastopol in the Crimea.

For eight months
the defenders had been under

constant bombardment
from German artillery,

including a massive
400mm railway gun.

In late June 1942, Sebastopol
finally fell to the Germans.

It was now safe to
head for the oilfields.

On June 28th,
the offensive began.

Army Group B forced its way
through to the River Don

and advanced
along its western bank.

Army Group A faced
stronger resistance.

But by July 9th,
it was close to Rostov.

Hitler now made a series
of what would turn out

to be serious
strategic blunders.

As Army Group B made
its way along the Don,

the Fuhrer ordered it
to capture Stalingrad,

even though the city had
no immediate strategic
significance.

The army had suddenly
been given a massive new task.

Two weeks later, Hitler
compounded his misjudgment.

Frustrated by the slow
progress of the campaign
in the Caucasus,

he diverted
the bulk of his Panzers

down to the mountains.

The march on Stalingrad
slowed noticeably.

The reinforced Army Group A
now raced across the Caucasus

to within 70 miles
of the Caspian,

threatening to cut off all
the Soviet Armies in the area.

But then Hitler
changed his mind again.

Enraged by Army Group B's
slow progress to Stalingrad,

he now ordered
the Panzers back up north.

On August 9th, Army Group A

seized the first of the
southern oilfields at Maikop.

It found them
comprehensively trashed.

But without reinforcements
it could get no further

and the huge oilfields
in the central Caucasus

and those near the Caspian Sea
remained beyond its grasp.

But by now Hitler's attention
had shifted again.

In late August,
German forces were

within striking
distance of Stalingrad.

The assault on the city
which bore the name

of Hitler's archenemy had begun.

It would be one of
the most crucial battles
of World War Two.

On August 17th, 1942,

General Friedrich Paulus's
Sixth Army crossed the Don

and began a final push
on Stalingrad.

Six days later,
one Panzer thrust

had reached the Volga River
just north of the city,

and German forces were
fighting in the outer suburbs.

Hitler seemed poised
for a famous victory.

Stalingrad was
an important industrial center.

It straggled
for more than 12 miles

along the west bank
of the river.

Its factories produced over
a quarter of the Soviet Union's

tractors and trucks,
as well as tanks and guns.

The Russian people had turned
it into a formidable fortress.

They had been helped
by Hitler's decision

to send Army Group B's
Panzers to the south.

This had given them
another two weeks to prepare.

The German plan was to make
a direct assault on the city.

Now began one
of the most prolonged

and intense battles
of World War Two.

Slowly the Germans edged
forward street by street

with Stuka dive-bombers
blitzing just ahead of them.

The fighting was savage -
house-to-house, room by room.

The Soviet defenders
used the sewers for shelter

and communications,
and the ruins above for sniping.

Russian reinforcements had
to be brought across the river.

Often they were under
assault from the air.

But even so,
thousands got through.

By late September,
the Germans had pushed their way

through most of the city,
almost to the Volga.

For Hitler the capture of
Stalingrad was now an obsession.

On October 4th, 1942,
General Paulus launched

what was meant to be
the final assault on Stalingrad.

Tanks led the way,
grinding over the rubble

and firing point blank
into courtyards.

One German officer said,

"The advance is measured
in corpses not meters."

German victory seemed certain.

But in fact, the Germans
were dangerously over-extended.

By mid-November the Soviet army
was bringing in reinforcements.

More than a million troops,
13,500 guns,

900 tanks and over
1,000 aircraft

were secretly
moved to the battle zone.

On November 19th, they attacked
the German's northern flank.

After a massive
artillery barrage,

the T-34s and assault infantry

burst through
the German positions.

Now it was the Germans who
surrendered in their thousands.

The next day,
a Soviet assault in the south

was equally successful.

And on November 23rd,
these pincer movements

met west of Stalingrad cutting
off the German Sixth Army.

General Paulus,
in charge of the German forces,

could have broken out.

But Hitler ordered him
to stand and fight.

The Fuhrer had been
assured by the Luftwaffe

that sufficient supplies could
be airlifted into Stalingrad.

This was enough for him
to announce

that the German positions
must hold out until relieved.

To help Paulus, Field-Marshal
Erich von Manstein,

the overall German commander
in the region,

launched Operation Winter Storm
on December 12th.

It was an attempt
by the German Panzers

to break the Soviet
encirclement of the city.

For two days it went well.

But then Red Army
resistance increased.

By December 23rd,
the German rescue attempt

had ground to a halt
about 30 miles from the city.

Manstein advised
the beleaguered Paulus

to attempt to
break out of Stalingrad.

But Paulus wanted
Hitler's permission.

This was refused.

It was probably too late anyway.

Marshal Zhukov now unleashed

the next stage
of his masterplan.

It was a massive assault
on the Panzer relief operation.

The Panzers were pushed back,
away from the city,

and by the end of December,
all hope of relieving

the German forces
in Stalingrad had gone.

Worse still, plans to airlift
aid into the city were a fiasco.

The German troops needed
700 tons of supplies a day
to survive.

They never
received more than 80.

The weather was too bad
and the Red Air Force

now commanded the skies.

Steadily,
the Soviet troops squeezed in

on the encircled Germans.

200,000 men were trapped.

On January 8th,
the Soviet's called on
the Germans to surrender.

They refused.

On January 31st, 1943,
Paulus was forced to surrender.

Over a 100,000 men
stumbled off into captivity.

Only 5,000 would
ever return to Germany.

Stalingrad had
been a bloody battle.

The Germans had been savaged.

They had lost some
300,000 of their men

and at least as
many of their allies.

The Russians had lost
about the same number,

including thousands
of civilians.

It was Germany's greatest
catastrophe in the war so far.

The Red Army was now
inflicting massive defeats

on Hitler's forces across
the whole Eastern Front.

Stalingrad had been a great
triumph for the Soviet army.

Now, its operational
commander, Marshal Zhukov,

set his sights on
the German Army Group A,

still camped in the Caucasus.

Soviet troops thrust
their way west of Stalingrad

and by early December 1942
were within 120 miles of Rostov.

There was a real possibility

all the German forces in
the south would be cut off.

With little
choice Hitler reluctantly

gave Army Group A
permission to fall back.

Over the next month,
the Germans fought

a skillful rearguard action.

Hundreds of thousands
of troops withdrew.

Then on January 12th, 1943,

Zhukov launched
an all-out assault.

The Soviets attacked
along a 500 mile front.

Outnumbered seven to one,
Von Manstein,

the overall commander of
German forces in the region,

fought a brilliant
mobile retreat.

But by the end of February,
the Red Army had recaptured

both Kursk and
the nearby city of Kharkov.

This Russian winter offensive

had struck a crippling blow
to German power.

Over a matter of months,
it had lost a million men

and vast numbers
of tanks and guns.

The Red Army still had
enormous reserves of manpower.

It was also benefiting
from a huge increase
in weapons production

and aid from
the United States and Britain.

The Germans also no longer had
the technological upper hand.

The T-34 tank was more than
a match for the Panzer Mark IV.

And they also had
the terrifying Katyusha

multiple rocket system
which shattered German troops.

Yet Hitler
refused to give up hope.

He still dreamed of
a pre-emptive summer assault

that would throw
the Soviet Union off balance

and regain the initiative.

The city of Kursk seemed
the obvious place to start.

Here the Soviet assault
had pushed a bulge

deep into the German lines.

It looked temptingly exposed.

Hitler decided it should
be cut off and annihilated.

He also had
an ace up his sleeve.

The German
counter-attack would be led

by a new generation
of German tanks

specially designed to combat
the formidable Russian T-34.

The massive but slow 55-ton
Tiger had a lethal 88mm gun

and its frontal armor
made it almost impervious
to Soviet tank guns.

And then there was
the faster 43-ton Panther

with a new 75mm gun,

also capable of
knocking out the T-34.

These tanks were so new,

Hitler was forced
to delay the attack

whilst sufficient numbers
were manufactured

and delivered to the front.

But even as the German forces
began to assemble,

the Soviet commander,
Marshal Zhukov,

guessed what was
about to happen.

Soon afterwards
he received information

from a Soviet spy-ring
inside the German High Command

confirming
the site of the attack.

Zhukov ordered the construction
of a series of defensive lines

with anti-tank ditches,
minefields

and deep belts
of barbed wire.

He also massively built up
Soviet forces in the area,

pulling in troops and tanks

from less vulnerable
parts of the front.

By the eve
of the assault on Kursk,

the Germans were hugely
outnumbered by Soviet defenders,

who also knew exactly
when the Germans would attack.

On July 5th, 1943,

just as the German troops
prepared to assault,

they were hit by a huge
Soviet artillery bombardment.

Even so, the next morning, the
Panzers still rolled forward.

But this time they were up
against a well-entrenched enemy.

There was no realistic chance
of a lightning Blitzkrieg
breakthrough.

The results were disastrous.

In the north, the German army
gained a mere six miles

for the loss of 25,000 men
and more than 200 tanks.

In the south, the Germans
fared a little better.

A wedge 25 miles deep was
driven into the Soviet defenses.

But it also
came at a high price.

10,000 men were killed
and 350 tanks destroyed.

But for a brief moment,

it looked as if a German
breakthrough might be possible.

Then Zhukov threw in
his reserves.

On July 12th, 1943, 900 tanks
charged into the German flank.

Almost 2,000 tanks now engaged

in what was the largest armored
battle of World War Two.

The Soviet T-34s
drove into the German lines

and opened fire
at point-blank range.

After a single day
of brutal combat,

the Germans had lost a further
350 tanks and were retreating.

Meanwhile, overhead
there was an epic air battle.

Eventually the Soviet
air force established

supremacy over the Luftwaffe.

Now the Russians could
unleash their formidable

Ilyushin IL-2 Stormovik
tank killers.

By July 23rd, the Germans
had lost any ground

they had gained and with it
the cream of their army.

Hitler's adventure at Kursk

had cost him at least 50,000
troops and more than 700 tanks.

Never again would the Germans
launch a major offensive

on the Eastern Front.

The Russians had
turned the tide of the war.