1 00:00:01,560 --> 00:00:04,360 [ominous music] 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,280 ♪ 3 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:09,600 - July 1942. 4 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:12,200 It's been over a year since Adolf Hitler 5 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:16,200 launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union. 6 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:17,680 After initial success, 7 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,120 the German campaign bogs down across all fronts, 8 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,080 so Hitler prepares to launch another offensive. 9 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:28,680 One of his objectives is capturing Stalingrad, 10 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:31,600 a city of great strategic and symbolic value, 11 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:36,120 particularly to the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin. 12 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:42,120 One of the titanic battles of World War II is about to erupt. 13 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:43,240 [dramatic music] 14 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:45,400 - All wars change the world. 15 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:47,000 But none of them changed the world 16 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:49,320 like the Second World War did. 17 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,680 - Japan's on the march, Germany's on the march. 18 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:55,080 - No one can imagine 19 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:57,520 the nightmare they're about to unleash. 20 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,280 The most destructive war in human history. 21 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,080 - Suddenly, the world is turned upside down, 22 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:04,519 and all hell is let loose. 23 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:06,760 ♪ 24 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:11,080 - The West is stunned by the speed of the advance. 25 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,160 - You get the Allies led by the big three-- 26 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,960 Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin. 27 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:18,800 - Men who were dealing with 28 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,960 immensely complicated questions. 29 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,520 - It's the biggest military operation of human history. 30 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:28,000 -The Allies have to come together 31 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:29,400 not just militarily, 32 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:30,880 but industrial scale 33 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:33,120 it's a global perspective. 34 00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:35,080 - They have to fight in every climate 35 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,520 from the Arctic to the jungles of the Pacific 36 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:42,120 to the deserts of Africa and the depths of the ocean. 37 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:44,800 ♪ 38 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:47,680 - But there was no certainty of victory. 39 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:51,120 It was going to be a horrific bloodbath. 40 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,160 - We see humans at their absolute worst, 41 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:55,640 how they treat other human beings. 42 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:57,280 And we see them at their absolute best, 43 00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:59,640 willing to give their lives that others might live. 44 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,680 - World War II was a struggle in which there could be 45 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,120 one victor and one vanquished. 46 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,520 ♪ 47 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:13,960 [air-raid siren blaring] 48 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:26,680 [tense music] 49 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:34,040 ♪ 50 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,280 - June 1942. 51 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:41,960 Adolf Hitler travels to Finland to meet 52 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,920 with Finnish military leader Carl Gustaf Mannerheim. 53 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:48,560 ♪ 54 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:50,280 The Germans are about to launch 55 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:54,040 another major offensive against the Soviet Union. 56 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:59,240 But to do so, the Wehrmacht needs access to more oil. 57 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,840 - [speaking German] 58 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:15,600 - Hitler's main supply of oil is from his ally Romania, 59 00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:17,840 but he confesses to Mannerheim 60 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:22,400 how dependent Germany is on that one source of fuel. 61 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,400 ♪ 62 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,160 - Hitler's also concerned the Romanian oil fields 63 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,760 are vulnerable to Allied air attacks. 64 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:42,600 ♪ 65 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:44,480 - Oil is always a problem for Hitler. 66 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:46,000 Unlike the United States or Russia, 67 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:48,800 Germany doesn't have an internal source of oil 68 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:50,360 or petroleum that it can tap into. 69 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:52,920 It must go get it from somewhere else. 70 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:54,320 ♪ 71 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:56,280 - The Caucasus, the mountainous region 72 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:58,840 of the Soviet Union's southwest, 73 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,680 contains some of the richest oil fields in the world. 74 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,000 If the Germans can seize them, 75 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:07,400 the Wehrmacht will have all the oil it needs 76 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:10,800 as well as depriving the Soviets' access. 77 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,160 ♪ 78 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:16,800 - The Caucasus is a vast mountain range 79 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:20,399 that spans Europe and Asia 750 miles. 80 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:22,560 This is going to be a serious obstacle 81 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,800 for any army that tries to traverse it. 82 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:28,120 - Hitler and his generals prepare a plan 83 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:33,120 to conquer the Caucasus: Operation Blue. 84 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,120 The southern army group first head towards the Volga River 85 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,560 to secure this vital supply route 86 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:42,760 and prevent the Soviets from moving in reinforcements. 87 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,000 Next, capture the fields. 88 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:49,080 - Can they get there? 89 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:50,880 If they could, could they go ahead 90 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:52,920 and pull all that oil out of there? 91 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:54,960 Do they have the logistical means necessary 92 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,760 to get it back to Germany? 93 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,240 This is Hitler's idea. It has to be successful. 94 00:05:02,280 --> 00:05:04,720 ♪ 95 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:08,640 - Until now, Hitler's campaign against the Soviet Union 96 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:10,280 has proven to be far more difficult 97 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,320 than he and the German High Command anticipated. 98 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:15,480 ♪ 99 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,480 - In June of 1941, the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa, 100 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:22,000 the invasion of the Soviet Union, 101 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,600 the biggest military operation of all time. 102 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:28,040 Hitler's banking on a quick win. 103 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:30,720 The Germans take tens of thousands of square miles 104 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:34,160 and capture millions of Soviet soldiers, 105 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:35,720 but they don't take Moscow. 106 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:37,680 They don't get the quick win. 107 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,440 The war goes on into 1942. 108 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,520 ♪ 109 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:45,560 - Barbarossa did not meet its objectives 110 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:46,880 set by Adolf Hitler, 111 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:48,800 which was to capture vast amounts of land, 112 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:52,800 to get raw materials, also to wreck Bolshevism, 113 00:05:52,840 --> 00:05:55,240 which needed the collapse of the Soviet Union 114 00:05:55,280 --> 00:05:57,800 to happen rapidly, none of which happened. 115 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:00,000 ♪ 116 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,080 - Hitler is concerned he's gotten himself in trouble 117 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:04,440 in the Soviet Union, but he's convinced 118 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:07,040 that the situation can be righted. 119 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,280 He can continue this war forever 120 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:13,160 as long as he has a sufficient supply of oil. 121 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:15,440 And that's what the 1942 strike 122 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:16,880 is going to take care of, 123 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,920 a strike for the oil fields of the Soviet Union. 124 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:23,480 This is the world's first war for oil. 125 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:27,640 ♪ 126 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:29,720 - June 1942. 127 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:31,720 German forces begin their push south 128 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,280 towards the Volga as planned. 129 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,600 - Hitler is impatient and desperate 130 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:41,160 to get the oil fields as soon as he can. 131 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:43,480 ♪ 132 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:45,240 - But then he splits 133 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:47,800 the southern army group in two. 134 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:49,560 ♪ 135 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,760 - For Hitler, Operation Blue is an exercise in frustration. 136 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:54,440 The armies aren't moving fast enough, 137 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:56,280 they're not meeting the objectives. 138 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:57,640 And for that reason, 139 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:00,160 he decides to split them into two big groups. 140 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:03,120 ♪ 141 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:04,520 - It's a measure of his arrogance 142 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:05,960 that he thought he was just simply 143 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:08,360 going to be able to divide this force, 144 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:10,840 and in some of the most difficult 145 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:13,080 fighting terrain of Europe. 146 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:14,840 ♪ 147 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:17,200 - Hitler orders most of the southern army group 148 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,040 to push directly for the oil fields. 149 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:22,000 The job of seizing the Volga 150 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,200 will now be left to a single combat force, 151 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:30,200 one of the biggest and most experienced... 152 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:34,240 the 6th Army. 153 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:37,120 - The German 6th Army is the largest army 154 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:39,880 in the German order of battle. 155 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:41,400 At the beginning of the campaign, 156 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:44,480 the 6th Army had over 300,000 men in it. 157 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:46,320 ♪ 158 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:48,240 - By the middle of August, 159 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:49,880 they're closing in on the Volga 160 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:53,360 and the city that guards it, Stalingrad. 161 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,000 ♪ 162 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,720 - Stalingrad is named after Adolf Hitler's personal rival 163 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:04,320 and the personification of Bolshevism, Joseph Stalin. 164 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:06,320 ♪ 165 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:08,480 - It's Stalin's city. 166 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:11,000 It was named to commemorate a great victory he won 167 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:15,000 over the Whites in the Russian Civil War. 168 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,560 He doesn't want to surrender a city named after himself. 169 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:20,400 ♪ 170 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:23,960 - Stalingrad itself is also a major industrial center 171 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:27,440 which produces something like 20% of Soviet tanks, 172 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:29,800 including the famous T-34. 173 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,320 Along with a lot of other products 174 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:34,280 critical to the war economy, 175 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,679 Stalingrad is a prize in its own right. 176 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:39,320 ♪ 177 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:40,640 - Once again, 178 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:42,559 the Red Army is forced to retreat 179 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:44,600 by the Wehrmacht. 180 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:46,520 ♪ 181 00:08:46,560 --> 00:08:48,920 - The German forces with their shirts off. 182 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:50,400 It's summer. 183 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:52,760 And they're just racing across the steppes, 184 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,400 and the Red Army is just collapsing. 185 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:56,720 ♪ 186 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:58,120 - Stalin understands that 187 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:00,400 if Hitler controls the Volga River, 188 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,920 that he will control the supply lines, 189 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:04,120 and therefore, there's a chance 190 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:06,840 he can defeat the Soviet Red Army. 191 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:11,920 - Stalin goes into a free fall panic. 192 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:13,440 ♪ 193 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:15,080 - Stalin is determined 194 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:19,600 that this is where Hitler must finally be stopped. 195 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:21,880 In late July 1942, 196 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:25,680 as the German 6th Army advances on Stalingrad, 197 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:30,560 he issues a directive from Moscow, Order 227. 198 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:32,240 ♪ 199 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:34,200 - As the Germans are advancing 200 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:38,640 and getting ever closer to Stalingrad in July 1942, 201 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:40,800 Stalin issues Order 227. 202 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:43,560 This is the so-called Not a Step Back 203 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:45,400 or Ni Shagu Nazad order. 204 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,360 No more retreat will be tolerated. 205 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:50,800 - He's reading a lot of Roman history 206 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:52,240 about how the Roman army 207 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,000 punished units for surrendering. 208 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:57,840 Stalin says, we've lost too many provinces. 209 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:00,360 We've lost all of European Russia. 210 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:02,480 The retreat must stop now. 211 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:05,440 Not one more step back. 212 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:08,440 Anyone who retreats in any shape or form 213 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:10,640 will be instantly executed. 214 00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:14,080 ♪ 215 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:15,800 - There are going to be blocking units 216 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:20,040 made up of the secret police, NKVD, commissars, 217 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:21,920 people like that whose job it is 218 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:26,440 to kill soldiers that are coming back towards them. 219 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:30,760 - The reason Stalin gives this order, however, is revealing. 220 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:34,240 The Soviets were presumed at the beginning of the war 221 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:37,320 to have had these vast and almost endless 222 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:41,240 stores of manpower, of grain, of wheat, 223 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:42,640 a big country, after all, 224 00:10:42,680 --> 00:10:46,360 a much bigger country than Nazi Germany. 225 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:49,840 But as many as 70 million former Soviet subjects 226 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:53,000 are now behind German lines. 227 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:54,600 And we shouldn't forget, of course, 228 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:56,840 that Nazi Germany is now drawing on the resources 229 00:10:56,880 --> 00:10:58,680 of occupied Europe as well. 230 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:03,120 And in Stalin's calculations, Stalin no longer thinks 231 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,240 the Soviets have a manpower advantage. 232 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:09,160 So the essence of this order, Not a Step Back, 233 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:12,160 is that if they withdraw any further, 234 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:16,840 they will forfeit any possible material or manpower advantage 235 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:19,080 over the German armies. 236 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:23,040 - Both Hitler and Stalin understand the symbolic power 237 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:24,320 of Stalingrad. 238 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:25,960 ♪ 239 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,640 - Hitler gets fixated on Stalingrad, you know? 240 00:11:28,680 --> 00:11:30,880 It bears Stalin's name. 241 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:32,840 Why don't I take Stalingrad? 242 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:34,800 And this will be just a, you know, 243 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,600 an unspeakable humiliation to Stalin 244 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:39,560 and it'll be, you know, a sign of, you know, 245 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:40,720 of German supremacy. 246 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:43,200 ♪ 247 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:45,080 - Stalin, he's under no illusions 248 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,440 that if Stalingrad is reached by the German forces, 249 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:49,760 this is going to be 250 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:51,760 an existential battle of annihilation. 251 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,240 ♪ 252 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:58,600 - The German 6th Army surrounds Stalingrad. 253 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:02,480 [tense music] 254 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:05,480 - Stalingrad, a city of 800,000, 255 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:09,280 is spread along 30 miles of the Volga River. 256 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:11,240 [tense music] 257 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:14,800 It has modern apartment blocks, 258 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:20,120 parks, and heavy industrial factories. 259 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:23,320 [air-raid sirens blaring] 260 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:30,600 ♪ 261 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:37,520 On August 23, the Luftwaffe bombardment begins. 262 00:12:37,560 --> 00:12:44,880 ♪ 263 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:51,240 In the first 24 hours, thousands are killed. 264 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:54,520 [fires crackling] 265 00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:57,840 Still, Stalin orders all survivors 266 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:01,480 to remain in the ravaged city. 267 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:03,640 - Stalin deliberately makes no organized attempt 268 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:07,080 to evacuate the civilian inhabitants. 269 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:09,680 Have the Germans attack, shell, bomb. 270 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,840 He wants to showcase German barbarism. 271 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:14,320 But he also figures that 272 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:16,640 this will stiffen the resistance of Stalingrad. 273 00:13:16,680 --> 00:13:19,080 ♪ 274 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:20,960 - His thinking at this point is that 275 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,520 if I leave a Russian population in a city center, 276 00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:26,240 that Soviet soldiers will fight 277 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:29,880 all that more heroically in their defense. 278 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,280 ♪ 279 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:34,080 - Stalingrad has been destroyed. 280 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,400 There is devastation everywhere. 281 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:40,440 But the German 6th Army, 1/4 million men, 500 tanks, 282 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,760 is ready to push in the city and conquer it. 283 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:45,640 ♪ 284 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:50,000 - Germany's 6th Army is led by General Friedrich Paulus. 285 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:52,000 ♪ 286 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:55,240 - Paulus as a character is quite weak. 287 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:57,040 He doesn't have the self-confidence 288 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:01,720 of a Manstein or a Rommel or anybody like that. 289 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:05,120 - Friedrich Paulus is one of Hitler's less able generals. 290 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:08,160 He doesn't have a lot of experience in battle. 291 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,680 He's a technocrat who's going to get the job done, 292 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:12,680 and Hitler doesn't think the job's going to be 293 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:14,600 particularly difficult. 294 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:17,480 [explosions and gunfire] 295 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:19,080 ♪ 296 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:21,600 - After two weeks of constant bombardment, 297 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,360 General Paulus orders the 6th Army 298 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:26,400 to enter Stalingrad. 299 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:30,440 ♪ 300 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:32,800 There, the German troops are confronted 301 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,360 with a unique battered landscape 302 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:39,080 that provides cover for thousands of Soviet soldiers. 303 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,920 [gunfire] 304 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,040 ♪ 305 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:48,000 - Imagine an urban warfare campaign in New York. 306 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:50,800 ♪ 307 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:53,360 Or London. 308 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:58,680 It's a partially destroyed, nightmarish ruin. 309 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:01,880 There's actually civilians still running around 310 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:03,880 and living, like, in little caves 311 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:05,360 that they've dug out of the rubble. 312 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:07,560 ♪ 313 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:10,040 The environment is surreal. 314 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:11,760 [gunfire] 315 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:15,800 - The Germans describe this savage close-quarter combat 316 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:19,280 as Rattenkrieg, war of the rats. 317 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:21,480 ♪ 318 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:23,440 - The German notion of Rattenkrieg, 319 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:25,480 rats scurrying between rubble, 320 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:28,400 soldiers maneuvering in and out of sewers, 321 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:30,400 it's open a door, there's an enemy. 322 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:32,760 Now all of a sudden, you're fighting with fists, 323 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,160 not with artillery and not with tanks. 324 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:37,800 It is a very face-to-face, personal, 325 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,720 and infantry energy-intensive battle. 326 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:43,440 [explosion] 327 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:46,560 - The Germans push through the mangled industrial debris 328 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:48,840 of factories and oil depots. 329 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:53,720 ♪ 330 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:55,440 Hiding within the ruins... 331 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:56,920 [gunshot] 332 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:00,560 Soviet snipers pick off individual soldiers... 333 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:04,240 [gunfire] 334 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:07,880 Sowing a sense of random terror. 335 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:09,240 [gunshot] 336 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:13,520 The most skilled marksmen become legends. 337 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,360 Men like Vasiliy Zaytsev, 338 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,320 who becomes a hero throughout the Soviet Union. 339 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:21,080 ♪ 340 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:25,720 Everyone, young and old, is expected to fight, 341 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:27,920 including women. 342 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:31,080 - Women are very much part of the Red Army effort anyway. 343 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,360 But in Stalingrad, they're trapped in the city. 344 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:35,880 And so they would just get in there 345 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,680 and start to fight equally with the men. 346 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,240 They dig tank traps, they learn how to shoot, 347 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:42,880 they become snipers. 348 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:45,640 ♪ 349 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:49,200 - But despite the Red Army's gallant defense of Stalingrad, 350 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:52,160 street by street, yard by yard, 351 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:54,080 the Germans are gaining ground. 352 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:56,000 ♪ 353 00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:57,600 By the second week of fighting, 354 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,960 the Soviets are in danger of losing the city. 355 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:02,720 [explosion] 356 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:06,319 At the same time, German forces are closing in 357 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:08,760 on the oil fields in the Caucasus. 358 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:15,760 ♪ 359 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:17,680 - The Battle of Stalingrad is going badly. 360 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:21,000 The entire Soviet Union seems to be staring down the barrel. 361 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:23,800 Stalin decides he has to do something dramatic 362 00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:25,640 to save the city. 363 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:29,080 - Stalin summons his first deputy commander-in-chief, 364 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:30,800 Georgy Zhukov, 365 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:34,800 who successfully defended Leningrad and Moscow. 366 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:36,520 At a meeting in the Kremlin, 367 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:41,560 Stalin confers with Zhukov on military strategy. 368 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,480 - Stalin had always wanted to be a military commander. 369 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:47,680 Long before World War II, 370 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,760 he dressed as a military commander. 371 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:52,360 But he's not a commander, 372 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,080 he's not a brilliantly talented strategist, 373 00:17:55,120 --> 00:17:58,760 and he's still constantly overruling his generals, 374 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:01,240 ordering offensives that are unnecessary, 375 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:03,040 that are unprepared. 376 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:08,480 But now, Stalin begins to learn to listen to people he trusts. 377 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:10,600 - He's starting to find talented people. 378 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:14,040 Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov, who helped defend Moscow, 379 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:18,240 he's now going, hey, that guy, I think he knows how to win. 380 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:23,120 - Zhukov is broad-shouldered, he's short, he's muscular. 381 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:25,720 He's an incredibly tough person. 382 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:28,080 He literally clears minefields 383 00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:30,840 by sending troops running across them. 384 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,320 The quintessential Stalinist general. 385 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:35,560 ♪ 386 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:39,480 - Zhukov presents Stalin with a new plan: 387 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:43,440 lure the 6th Army deeper into Stalingrad, 388 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,160 then surround them and counterattack 389 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:48,360 from the rear of the city. 390 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:50,000 - At the end of the meeting, 391 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:54,200 Stalin shakes hands for the first time with Zhukov, 392 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:56,840 something he's never done before, 393 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,120 because he realizes that if this works, 394 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:01,520 the tide of the war will change. 395 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,360 [tense music] 396 00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:09,880 ♪ 397 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:12,280 [indistinct chatter] 398 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:16,000 - In September 1942, Soviet General Zhukov 399 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:19,760 had designed a new strategy to defend Stalingrad. 400 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,880 Relying largely on deception, 401 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:26,280 he opens up misleading radio channels, 402 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:28,640 orders fake defenses, 403 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:33,080 and starts construction on 17 false bridges. 404 00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:36,160 - The Soviets are starting to learn the art of war. 405 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,880 This is not the Soviet army of 1941. 406 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:42,120 - Zhukov, a chess player, 407 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:45,560 is known for meticulous planning. 408 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,160 - Zhukov's plans for the operation are elaborate, 409 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,440 and they take weeks to prepare. 410 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:53,960 [explosions and gunfire] 411 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,400 - The army inside Stalingrad is completely unaware 412 00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:58,960 of what its real role is. 413 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,000 Its role is to be the bait in the trap. 414 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:05,000 Their commander knows that the only way he can do it 415 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:07,920 is by sacrificing more and more men. 416 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:10,000 [gunfire] 417 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:13,400 ♪ 418 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:15,120 - By October, 419 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:19,280 both armies combined lose nearly 6,000 troops a day. 420 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:22,840 ♪ 421 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:27,320 And both sides are equally ruthless in their tactics. 422 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:29,080 ♪ 423 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:32,640 - German soldiers would bribe these poor orphans 424 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:34,880 to go and fill their water bottles in the Volga 425 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:36,560 with a crust of bread. 426 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:38,080 Soviet snipers were ordered 427 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:39,960 to shoot down the Russian children who were starving. 428 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,920 This was the pitilessness of the battle. 429 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:49,920 ♪ 430 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:53,120 - At his headquarters, Adolf Hitler is informed 431 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:54,560 that his army won't be able 432 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,560 to take the oil fields in the Caucasus. 433 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:01,720 His earlier decision to split his forces 434 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:03,960 has doomed the operation. 435 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:05,240 ♪ 436 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:07,000 - Hitler is told that actually, 437 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:10,680 we haven't got enough troops to seize the oil fields. 438 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,040 He explodes in rage. 439 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:14,680 He says he's been lied to. 440 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:16,400 He blames his generals. 441 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:18,760 So it completely changes the atmosphere 442 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:20,840 at Fuehrer headquarters. 443 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:22,520 ♪ 444 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:27,120 - Hitler shifts his focus to one goal: 445 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:29,320 capturing Stalingrad. 446 00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:31,040 [gunfire] 447 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:34,760 By mid-November, it appears the 6th Army might just do it. 448 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:39,200 ♪ 449 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:40,600 They make their final push 450 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:44,520 to encircle Soviet troops on the Volga. 451 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:45,960 - The Germans are feeling confident 452 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:47,760 about the Battle of Stalingrad. 453 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:50,240 They already hold 90% of the city. 454 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,240 Hitler is getting reports from his commanders on the site 455 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:55,400 that the city is about to fall. 456 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:57,000 ♪ 457 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,160 - They're starting to fly swastika flags. 458 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:01,920 Hitler is boasting to his buddies 459 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:04,960 that Stalingrad's about to be mine. 460 00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:18,000 [cheering] 461 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:19,840 ♪ 462 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,320 - Hitler seems confident that the Wehrmacht 463 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:24,960 is on the verge of victory. 464 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:29,200 ♪ 465 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,280 As fighting continues around Stalingrad, 466 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:35,360 the Red Army unleashes a deafening fusillade 467 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:38,160 from over 3,000 Soviet heavy artillery 468 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:40,280 and Katyusha rockets. 469 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:46,720 ♪ 470 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:51,040 - Katyusha rockets are one of the great weapons 471 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:52,440 invented by the Red Army. 472 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:56,680 They could fire these terrifying salvos. 473 00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,520 The scream is completely unearthly. 474 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,240 [rockets wailing] 475 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:03,960 - The 6th Army's flanks 476 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:08,320 are defended by badly-equipped Romanian troops. 477 00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:12,800 This is where Zhukov focuses his attack. 478 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:14,800 - They were whipped by their own officers. 479 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,280 They received virtually no pay at all. 480 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,600 Their morale was rock-bottom. 481 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:23,200 Why should they die for Germany? 482 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:28,440 ♪ 483 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:30,600 - The Romanians are quickly overrun. 484 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:35,520 ♪ 485 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:38,960 Hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers 486 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:43,760 encircle the 6th Army in a pincer movement. 487 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:48,000 On November 22, Soviet forces link up 488 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:52,720 in the town of Kalach on the Don River. 489 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,440 The 6th Army is now surrounded 490 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:58,920 and cut off from its supply lines. 491 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:03,160 General Paulus is in a desperate position. 492 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:04,720 - One of the most shocking documents 493 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:07,440 in the German command of the Second World War 494 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,120 is the memo that General Paulus writes back 495 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:10,960 to Fuehrer headquarters. 496 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,040 ♪ 497 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:15,120 It opens with two words. 498 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:20,520 [speaks German] The army is surrounded. 499 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,360 Words that no German commander ever believed 500 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:25,920 they would ever have to write. 501 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,880 - Hitler, when he hears about this, 502 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:31,000 is absolutely speechless with rage. 503 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:32,800 ♪ 504 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:34,640 As far as Hitler was concerned, 505 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:37,560 the capture of Stalingrad had been proclaimed as a victory. 506 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:41,760 It was only a few days before the great Soviet encirclement. 507 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:45,920 He could not admit that they had lost it. 508 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:47,400 - This crucial battle 509 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:51,600 has altered Stalin's approach to leadership. 510 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,160 - Stalin had been the headstrong, clumsy, 511 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:57,080 and obstinate commander 512 00:24:57,120 --> 00:25:00,680 who constantly makes colossal mistakes 513 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:03,240 with catastrophic effects. 514 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:08,040 Stalin by now has learned to listen to generals, 515 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,800 to recognize the limits of his expertise, 516 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:12,520 and to let them plan the detail 517 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,320 while he sets the larger strategy. 518 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:16,920 ♪ 519 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:18,640 - You start to see this transition 520 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:20,720 of Joseph Stalin into political leader 521 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,040 and letting his military professionals 522 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:24,320 fight the battles. 523 00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:25,520 Joseph Stalin is indeed 524 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:27,200 maturing as a war leader. 525 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:28,800 [gunfire] 526 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:29,840 - Stalin's forces have Paulus's 6th Army surrounded. 527 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,720 - Stalin's forces have Paulus's 6th Army surrounded. 528 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:38,480 The Russian winter is closing in. 529 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:42,960 [wind howling] 530 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:44,920 - November 1942. 531 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:46,760 [tense music] 532 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:51,680 Winter descends over the Eastern front. 533 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:53,960 What remains of the German 6th Army 534 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:56,560 is trapped in the city of Stalingrad. 535 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:01,840 250,000 men are completely surrounded by Soviet troops. 536 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,080 ♪ 537 00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:09,200 General Paulus asks permission to attempt a breakout. 538 00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:11,400 ♪ 539 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,440 Hitler refuses. 540 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,000 - Hitler is linked with the stand fast order. 541 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,200 Where the German soldier sets foot, there he stays. 542 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:23,240 Not taking Stalingrad is not an option. 543 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:25,560 It has to do with public opinion. 544 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:29,640 But Hitler knows the degree of the predicament he's in. 545 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:33,320 [wind howling] 546 00:26:33,360 --> 00:26:36,600 - The Wehrmacht is now going to face not only a Soviet army 547 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,800 that is growing in capability, capacity, and credibility, 548 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:43,280 they're also going to have to face the Russian winter. 549 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:44,920 Soldiers don't have the right gear, 550 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:47,600 supplies become harder, vehicles are harder to start, 551 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:48,800 maintenance is harder to do. 552 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:50,200 Everything that should be easy 553 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,600 becomes more difficult because people are cold. 554 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,600 ♪ 555 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,160 - How long till the ammunition runs out? 556 00:26:57,200 --> 00:26:59,400 How long till the medical supplies run out? 557 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:04,600 ♪ 558 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,320 - The Germans are hit by the full force 559 00:27:07,360 --> 00:27:09,920 of the Russian winter. 560 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:12,960 - You're talking about bitterly cold weather, 561 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:14,520 people suffering from frostbite. 562 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:16,520 ♪ 563 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:20,200 - People are literally dying of cold where they stand. 564 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:22,400 The bodies are frozen solid. 565 00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:24,680 ♪ 566 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,000 You could break off their arm, they're so frozen. 567 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:29,560 ♪ 568 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:31,920 - Soldiers are dying of dysentery, 569 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:33,720 typhoid, and tuberculosis. 570 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:35,640 ♪ 571 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,440 By the end of December, their daily food intake 572 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:42,360 is less than a handful of bread with weak, watery soup. 573 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:44,080 ♪ 574 00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:46,640 The troops are starving. 575 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:48,960 - There are dead men lying everywhere. 576 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:50,320 There are rats everywhere. 577 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:53,160 There's no fuel. There's nothing to burn. 578 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,760 There's absolutely no thought of fighting anymore. 579 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,680 Even hanging on to life has become almost impossible. 580 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:01,840 - You see German soldiers and officers 581 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:05,880 asking the doctors for pills so that they could commit suicide. 582 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,160 - They are frozen. 583 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,440 They are desperate. 584 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,680 It's a scene of hell on Earth. 585 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:16,640 [somber music] 586 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:18,760 ♪ 587 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:21,800 - Back in Germany, the public is largely unaware 588 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,520 of how serious the situation has become. 589 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:27,280 ♪ 590 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:29,840 But now some are getting letters from their loved ones 591 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,400 detailing the horrors unfolding 592 00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:34,760 in the ruins of Stalingrad. 593 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:36,640 ♪ 594 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:38,880 - Try to put yourself in the place 595 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:40,880 of these German troops. 596 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:42,800 You're very far away from home, right? 597 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:44,240 It's Christmas season 598 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,040 and you're listening to the radio 599 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:47,680 and they're playing "Silent Night." 600 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:49,800 At a certain point, you realize 601 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:52,280 that they're basically writing you off. 602 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:53,560 ♪ 603 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:55,000 - Again and again, 604 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:57,480 Paulus asked for permission to break out. 605 00:28:57,520 --> 00:28:59,120 [wind howling] 606 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:03,680 Each time, Hitler's answer is no. 607 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:07,000 ♪ 608 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:08,880 - General Paulus's men are dying 609 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:11,080 in the thousands every day. 610 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:15,520 Any sense of military utility had long departed. 611 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,760 And yet, Paulus chose loyalty to Hitler 612 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:20,960 over loyalty to the men under his command. 613 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:22,560 ♪ 614 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:24,360 - Hitler has created a command culture 615 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:27,160 in which his commanders can't use their professionalism 616 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:28,600 and their expertise on the ground 617 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:30,400 to do what's best for their forces, 618 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:33,640 and so this is also a failure of Hitler's management 619 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:35,360 of his commanders. 620 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:37,160 ♪ 621 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:38,720 - By the end of January, 622 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:42,480 Paulus informs Hitler that they cannot fight on. 623 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:44,480 Hitler responds with a radio message 624 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:47,560 promoting Paulus to field marshal 625 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:51,040 and congratulating him on his new position. 626 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:53,160 - Hitler does this not out of any great love 627 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,400 or admiration from Paulus. 628 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:57,480 He does it because no field marshal 629 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,880 has ever surrendered in the field in German history. 630 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,320 - He feels that this is one way of basically 631 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:05,840 making Paulus commit suicide. 632 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:10,240 ♪ 633 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:12,560 - The next day, Paulus goes 634 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:16,120 to Red Army headquarters outside Stalingrad. 635 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:20,040 150,000 of his men are dead. 636 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:23,600 ♪ 637 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:25,800 - Paulus is trapped. 638 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,880 He faces an impossible choice. 639 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:33,560 - Paulus surrenders what is left of the 6th Army. 640 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,560 The remaining 90,000 German troops 641 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:39,240 are led away as prisoners of war. 642 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:43,400 Only a small number of them will ever see Germany again. 643 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:45,560 ♪ 644 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:48,400 - It really was a shock to the Nazi elite, 645 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:50,720 but also to the people of Germany. 646 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:54,960 Psychologically, it really was the turning point. 647 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,080 - All of the sudden, the unthinkable, 648 00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,320 the idea that you might lose this war, 649 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:01,720 is right there in your face. 650 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:03,720 And everyone back at home would have known about it. 651 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:06,680 The morale is going to suffer. 652 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:09,360 That's a turn-the-tables moment. 653 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:11,240 ♪ 654 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,680 - There's very few families in Germany that didn't have 655 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:15,520 some tie to the 6th Army-- 656 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:18,680 a son, a father, a neighbor's son. 657 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:20,320 The 6th Army was the largest army 658 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:21,760 in the German order of battle, 659 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:23,960 and now it's been completely destroyed. 660 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,600 ♪ 661 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:27,920 - When Hitler receives the news 662 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:29,160 of Paulus's surrender, 663 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:31,280 he's silent for several hours. 664 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:32,560 ♪ 665 00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:34,840 Then he explodes. 666 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:36,200 - He actually says, 667 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:38,920 why didn't Paulus put a bullet in his brain? 668 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:40,320 It only takes a second, 669 00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:43,080 and he would have been immortal from then on. 670 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:44,520 But instead, he chose 671 00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:48,640 what Hitler said was the coward's way out. 672 00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:52,360 But Hitler knows the gravity of this defeat. 673 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:54,600 ♪ 674 00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:59,600 - To lose 250,000 men in a moment, essentially, 675 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,480 in other words, to have that military force 676 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:04,320 wiped off your ledger, 677 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:07,680 that hadn't happened to the Germans in the war. 678 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,800 It changes the political calculation entirely, 679 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:13,720 and this myth of invincibility is going to be shattered. 680 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:16,600 ♪ 681 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,000 - In a single campaign, Hitler has lost an army 682 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,240 - In a single campaign, Hitler has lost an army 683 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:26,520 and began to lose the faith of the German people. 684 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:33,000 [tense music] 685 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:37,080 ♪ 686 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:39,320 - Following the defeat of Stalingrad, 687 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:44,760 Adolf Hitler withdraws to his mountain retreat in Bavaria. 688 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:48,480 On April 20, 1943, his inner circle 689 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:52,040 throws a party to mark his 54th birthday. 690 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:55,320 ♪ 691 00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:56,920 - After Stalingrad, 692 00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:59,960 all the indicators are running against Germany. 693 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,720 The campaign in North Africa has clearly gone bad. 694 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:07,720 Increasingly, Hitler is losing control of himself. 695 00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:10,960 The entire 1942 campaign had been marked 696 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:15,040 by gigantic tantrums against his officers. 697 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:17,520 He is no longer up to the stress 698 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:19,520 of running a global war. 699 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:20,920 But Hitler knows 700 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,720 that he has to launch an offensive in 1943 701 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:29,160 or he risks losing control of the war completely. 702 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:32,200 - The Germans have enough armor 703 00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:34,320 and enough energy and enough manpower 704 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:37,920 to mount one final offensive on the Eastern Front. 705 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:42,600 - The Soviets have advanced into an area to the south, 706 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:43,920 creating a salient 707 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:46,560 around a region called Kursk. 708 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:53,560 Hitler sees an opportunity to seize the initiative. 709 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:56,600 - The salient around Kursk in 1943 710 00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:58,960 was such an obvious target that basically, 711 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:03,280 both sides knew some type of offensive was coming. 712 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:08,320 - Hitler is basically putting all of his chips on the table. 713 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:10,960 - But his resources are already stretched 714 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:12,360 across Europe. 715 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:15,639 ♪ 716 00:34:15,679 --> 00:34:18,040 - Everything is getting harder by 1943. 717 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:19,840 The Soviet artillery is better, 718 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:22,560 their tanks are better, their leadership is better. 719 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:24,679 So it will take a lot of resources, 720 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:25,880 it'll take a lot of armor, 721 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:27,760 and it will cost in order to do this. 722 00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:29,760 ♪ 723 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:33,120 - Considering the resources of Nazi Germany at this point, 724 00:34:33,159 --> 00:34:35,480 its economic reserves, its soldiers, 725 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:40,239 this is a ridiculous thing to attempt. 726 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:43,239 - Hitler is particularly excited about his giant tanks, 727 00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:44,760 the Tigers and Panthers, 728 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:46,520 which he thinks are game-changers. 729 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:49,679 ♪ 730 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:51,280 - In Moscow, 731 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:54,120 the Soviet High Command is receiving intelligence 732 00:34:54,159 --> 00:34:56,760 about the Germans' upcoming offensive. 733 00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:58,640 ♪ 734 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:00,480 Unlike earlier in the war, 735 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:05,320 Stalin is now utilizing the intelligence he receives. 736 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:07,480 - Stalin's instincts are always just attack now, 737 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,600 attack on all fronts, attack at any cost. 738 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,480 By the time of Kursk, he's learned that actually, 739 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:15,520 this is not the way to win a war. 740 00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:18,880 Now he's taking the intelligence on board. 741 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:20,160 He's trusting it. 742 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:22,440 The German attack is going to be massive. 743 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:25,840 Zhukov persuades Stalin, we're going to dig in, 744 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:27,200 we're going to prepare, 745 00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:29,160 and we're going to draw the Germans in. 746 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:31,320 ♪ 747 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:34,360 - As Zhukov prepares for the coming offensive, 748 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:38,000 Soviet factories increase their production. 749 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:40,960 ♪ 750 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,480 - By this stage of the war, the Soviet economy 751 00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:48,160 is vastly outproducing the German economy. 752 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:52,720 Stalin was now producing massive amounts of weaponry. 753 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:56,080 - The United States has also been sending military supplies 754 00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:59,400 to the Soviets through its Lend-Lease plan, 755 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:01,760 which was designed to get American materials 756 00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,920 to Great Britain and the Soviet Union. 757 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:08,120 By 1943, tons of military hardware 758 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:11,040 are rolling off Allied ships each month. 759 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:13,520 ♪ 760 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:15,560 - The Soviets were especially impressed 761 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:19,920 with the Willys Jeeps, the American Sherman tanks, 762 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:23,480 along with more than 12,000 warplanes. 763 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:27,880 ♪ 764 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:29,520 - The Soviets are also receiving 765 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:32,200 hundreds of thousands of tons of food. 766 00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:35,800 ♪ 767 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:38,680 - The Soviet army is actually being fed 768 00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:41,520 by the American economy in 1943, 769 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:44,640 everything from the famous tushonka pork 770 00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:46,160 Americans refer to as Spam 771 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:50,880 to millions of packets of dehydrated borscht. 772 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:54,120 - One of the ways that Hitler wants to defeat these people 773 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:56,680 and whittle down their numbers is through starvation. 774 00:36:56,720 --> 00:36:58,800 But if they're being fed from outside sources, 775 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:00,120 you can't do that. 776 00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:02,360 ♪ 777 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:04,280 - The supplies help the Soviets build 778 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:07,840 one of the largest defensive forces ever seen, 779 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,600 1.3 million troops. 780 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:13,360 ♪ 781 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:14,880 At Zhukov's command, 782 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:17,760 civilians dig several thousand miles of trenches 783 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:22,280 and tank traps outside Kursk. 784 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:26,440 Nearly one million mines are laid. 785 00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:29,320 - It's the most densely defended area 786 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:30,720 of the whole Earth 787 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:32,720 in the course of the Second World War. 788 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:35,520 [explosions and gunfire] 789 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:37,800 ♪ 790 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:38,560 - The Soviets are prepared 791 00:37:38,720 --> 00:37:40,240 - The Soviets are prepared 792 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:44,520 for the full weight of the German Wehrmacht. 793 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:51,000 [tense music] 794 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:52,880 ♪ 795 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:55,320 - July 1943. 796 00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:57,720 ♪ 797 00:37:57,760 --> 00:37:59,760 The Germans launch their colossal offensive 798 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:02,800 against the Red Army in the Kursk salient. 799 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:03,960 ♪ 800 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,000 [gunfire] 801 00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:08,400 ♪ 802 00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:10,360 Quickly, the German advance 803 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:13,240 runs into Zhukov's fortifications. 804 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:18,520 ♪ 805 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:22,120 - It's the countermove to the idea of blitzkrieg. 806 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:23,600 ♪ 807 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:25,280 If you break through the front line, 808 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:26,960 there's another line behind there 809 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,320 with antitank efforts and trenches and men. 810 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,520 If you break through that one, there's another one. 811 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:39,600 ♪ 812 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:41,640 Your forces as the German Wehrmacht 813 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:44,240 are getting smaller and weaker and damaged. 814 00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:46,560 And eventually, you just sort of 815 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,440 whittle away the spear point here. 816 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:53,680 - For eight days, the Germans grind against Soviet defenses. 817 00:38:53,720 --> 00:38:59,280 ♪ 818 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,840 Two vast tank armies collide. 819 00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:10,200 ♪ 820 00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:15,680 - Astonishing intensity. 821 00:39:15,720 --> 00:39:18,000 ♪ 822 00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,960 Tanks helm-to-helm, hull-to-hull. 823 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:28,800 ♪ 824 00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:31,040 - The German tanks are better built, 825 00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:33,080 have bigger guns, better armor. 826 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:34,720 But if you've only got a few of them 827 00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:38,280 and you've got a mass of T-34s coming at you, 828 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:39,440 you have a big problem. 829 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:41,040 ♪ 830 00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:42,600 - Hitler's miracle weapons, 831 00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:44,160 the Tigers and Panthers, 832 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:48,040 which are these giant, diabolical metal machines, 833 00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:49,920 actually don't work too well. 834 00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:54,400 ♪ 835 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:55,960 - Hitler's tanks are destroyed 836 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:59,280 by the more maneuverable Soviet tanks. 837 00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:01,400 ♪ 838 00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:06,240 After two days, the Wehrmacht is forced to withdraw. 839 00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:07,840 - Hitler has failed. 840 00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:11,360 He's rolled the dice three times inside the Soviet Union, 841 00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:16,160 Operation Barbarossa in '41, Operation Blue in '42, 842 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:18,400 and now, the great offensive at Kursk, 843 00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:21,200 and he's failed each time. 844 00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:23,840 Hitler's final gamble on the Eastern Front 845 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:25,080 has been crushed. 846 00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:27,240 ♪ 847 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:29,120 - They get nothing out of the Battle of Kursk. 848 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:30,760 It's a huge defeat for the Germans. 849 00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:32,560 They're always going to be going backwards 850 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:34,040 from this point on. 851 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:37,600 - Kursk destroys enough of the German combat power 852 00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:38,880 that they can never take the offensive 853 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:39,920 for the rest of the war. 854 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:41,680 Therefore, the Soviets maintain 855 00:40:41,720 --> 00:40:43,920 the initiative to pick the time and place of the choosing 856 00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:47,080 where they're going to take their next act. 857 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:50,040 - This is a decisive moment in Stalin's development 858 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:51,960 as a supreme commander. 859 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:57,600 Hitler is undergoing precisely the opposite transformation. 860 00:40:57,640 --> 00:40:58,920 - By this point in the war, 861 00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:01,880 Hitler is really losing his grip on reality. 862 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:06,520 And people thought he made some madcap moves in 1940, 863 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:08,240 but they paid off. 864 00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:09,920 As the war lengthens, 865 00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:13,720 his decisions become more and more suspect. 866 00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:15,440 - The two great warlords of World War II 867 00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:20,240 are passing each other as one develops and one deteriorates. 868 00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:27,480 ♪ 869 00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:31,840 - In November 1943, Joseph Stalin meets 870 00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:33,880 with Prime Minister Winston Churchill 871 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:36,760 and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 872 00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:39,680 ♪ 873 00:41:39,720 --> 00:41:41,480 It's the first meeting of the group 874 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:45,080 that would become known as The Big Three. 875 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:50,080 ♪ 876 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:52,720 - The Big Three sat down in Tehran, 877 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:54,960 around the table with their teams. 878 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:59,240 Each of them said something, and Stalin really put it best. 879 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:02,800 He said, history has spoiled us. 880 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:07,840 Never have three men had the vast and massive powers 881 00:42:07,880 --> 00:42:09,960 that we have today. 882 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:11,920 Let's get to work. 883 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:14,280 ♪ 884 00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:18,840 - Stalingrad creates a tradition 885 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:22,400 that eventually spreads to the rest of the Red Army. 886 00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:25,040 Soviet soldiers passing each other in the street 887 00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:29,320 say blind swap, and exchange the items in their pockets 888 00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:30,720 without looking. 889 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:33,640 Soldiers swap a single cigarette for a watch 890 00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:36,520 or money or a scrap of paper. 891 00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:39,200 In Stalingrad, life is so uncertain, 892 00:42:39,240 --> 00:42:41,200 soldiers could be dead in an instant, 893 00:42:41,240 --> 00:42:44,440 that nothing has any value at all. 894 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:48,080 The battle for Stalingrad is the turning point of the war 895 00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:49,920 on the Eastern Front. 896 00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:54,600 Never again would the Wehrmacht take the offensive in the East. 897 00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:56,240 And in the West, 898 00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:59,760 the Allies prepare to cross the Mediterranean, 899 00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:04,200 the next step in their attack against the Third Reich.