All language subtitles for World.War.II.In.HD.Colour.S01E04.1080p.BluRay.x264-ijH.en

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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 later 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 neighbouring 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, the
Yugoslav government,

sympathetic to Germany,

was overthrown by
pro-British forces.

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

So, on April the 6th, 1941,

the German army
invaded the Balkans.

Thirty-three German divisions
moved into Yugoslavia.

They swiftly tore
its defences apart.

The capital Belgrade
surrendered on April the 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 Centre 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 3:15 A.M.

on June the 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-coordinated 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 paralysed

by the German onrush.

On June the 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 the 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 the 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 two
hundred 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 counter-
attacking 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 mobilised.

And the Red Army now had some

formidable new weapons.

In particular, a new tank,

the 37-ton T-34.

It had a 76 mm 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 the 23rd, 1941.

The Panzers of Army Group South

struck north three weeks later.

The pincers met east of
Kiev on September the 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 Centre

now prepared for the
final assault on Moscow.

Guderian's Panzers
had re-joined 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 the 20th, 1941.

Once again Guderian's Panzers

slashed deep through
the Red Army.

By October the 7th,

yet more Soviet troops
were surrounded.

But Stalin was determined
to defend Moscow

to the last.

He appointed Marshal
Georgy Zhukov

to organise the
defence of the city.

The people of Moscow
were mobilised

to dig a series of
defensive lines.

But the real obstacle
to German advance

would be the weather.

On October the 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 Centre was
still some fifty 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
the 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 Centre was now
beginning its final push

to capture the Soviet capital.

By December the 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 the 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 the 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-34's

crashed through the
German defences.

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 the 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 the 7th, 1941,

Germany's ally Japan
attacked the United States

without warning.

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

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 retake 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 Sevastopol
in the Crimea.

For eight months the
defenders had been

under constant bombardment
from German artillery

including a massive
400-mm railway gun.

In late June 1942,

Sevastopol finally
fell to the Germans.

It was now safe to head
for the oilfields.

On June the 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 the 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 Fuehrer 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 misjudgement.

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 the 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
arch-enemy had begun.

It would be one of the
most crucial battles

of World War 2.

On August the 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 centre.

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 2.

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 the 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

overextended.

By mid-November,

the Soviet army was
bringing in reinforcements.

More than a million troops,
13,500 guns, 900 tanks

and over one thousand aircraft

were secretly moved
to the battle zone.

On November the 19th,

they attacked the
German's northern flank.

After a massive
artillery barrage,

the T-34's 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 the 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 Fuehrer 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 the 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 the 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 master plan.

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 the 8th,

the Soviet's called on the
Germans to surrender.

They refused.

On January the 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.

But it wouldn't be the last.

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
Germany's 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
skilful rear-guard action.

Hundreds of thousands
of troops withdrew.

Then on January the 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.

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

especially designed to
combat the formidable

Russian T-34.

The massive but
slow 55-ton Tiger

had a lethal 88 mm gun

and its frontal armour
made it almost impervious

to Soviet tank guns.

And then there was the
faster 43-ton Panther

with a new 75 mm gun,

also capable of
knocking out the T-34.

These tanks were so new,

Hitler was forced
to delay the attack

while 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 the 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 defences.

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 the 12th, 1943,

900 tanks charged into
the German flank.

Almost 2,000 tanks now engaged

in what was the largest
armoured battle

of World War 2.

The Soviet T-34's 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 Sturmovik tank killers.

By July the 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.