1 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:40,120 July 1942. One year after Hitler s invasion of the Soviet Union, 2 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,560 the Germans launch a great offensive in southern Russia. 3 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:44,800 Their goal is the Soviet oil fields of the Caucasus. 4 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,360 Originally produced for Russian television in 2011, 5 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:52,480 this is the story of Russia s Great Patriotic War and the Red Army s long road 6 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:54,160 from defeat to victory. 7 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:02,560 In a guardhouse in southern Russia, 8 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:08,760 two men in Red Army uniforms talked casually to each other in German. 9 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,960 A third man, wearing the uniform of a German combat engineer, listened in closely. 10 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:26,280 They were men of the Brandenburg Regiment an elite German special forces unit 11 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:31,280 that often dressed in enemy uniform to carry out its missions. 12 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,480 They had just prevented Russian engineers from destroying the dam on the River Manich. 13 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:45,960 They thought the operation had been successfully completed. 14 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:48,160 But suddenly a stranger appeared in the doorway. 15 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:16,160 The unknown soldier blew up the Veselovskoye Reservoir Dam on 27th July 1942. 16 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:19,840 It caused a sudden and dramatic rise in the water level down-river, 17 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,480 and placed a major obstacle in the path of the German advance. 18 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,520 The River Manich had been transformed from a 40 metre-wide river, 19 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,000 to a huge lake, 4 kilometres across. 20 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,880 German tanks, that would have driven straight across the dam, 21 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,000 now had to be ferried across the lake one by one. 22 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,640 It bought some much-needed time for the retreating Red Army. 23 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,960 But this was only a small, local victory. Three days previously, 24 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:58,880 Germans Army Group A had captured Rostov-on-Don, the gateway to the Caucasus. 25 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,920 The main German attack came from that direction, further to the west. 26 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,760 The only good news was that the German Fourth Panzer Army 27 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,000 would soon be redirected from the Caucasus to support the attack on Stalingrad. 28 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,320 The same day the dam was blown, Stalin received a report 29 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,560 from the Commander of the North Caucasus Front, 30 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:27,400 Marshal Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny. He recommended an immediate withdrawal 31 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,760 of his forces to the line of the Terek river and the Caucasus Mountains. 32 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,800 After recent Soviet defeats in the Crimea, at Kharkov and in the Donbas, 33 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:41,760 the Germans possessed a significant numerical advantage 34 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:43,400 over the Soviets in the Caucasus. 35 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,120 Budyonny believed the only way to stabilize the situation 36 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:51,880 was an immediate withdrawal south. 37 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:59,680 The next day, Stalin signed the famous Order Number 227, "Not a Step Back!". 38 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,440 At the same time, he approved Budyonny s plan of retreat. 39 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,480 It seemed a contradiction. But in the Caucasus, 40 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:12,840 military logic dictated just one course of action. 41 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:19,000 The Terek River and the Caucasus Mountains comprised a formidable natural defence. 42 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,760 The troops would withdraw to this line immediately, 43 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:26,000 before the Germans could encircle and destroy them. 44 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:32,040 All Soviet reserves were being sent to Stalingrad, 45 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:33,920 where one of the decisive battles of the war was unfolding. 46 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,760 There were no troops to spare for the North Caucasus Front. 47 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,920 And so Budyonny s troops began to dig in along the Terek. 48 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,360 The great German summer offensive of 1942 was underway. 49 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:59,040 Army Group B was advancing on Stalingrad, from where it could protect 50 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:03,040 the northern flank of Army Group A bound for the Soviet oil fields of the Caucasus. 51 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:19,320 Before the war, 70% of all Soviet oil came from the Baku oil fields of the Caucasus. 52 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:23,960 About a quarter came from the area around Grozny and Maykop. 53 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,800 Their capture would be a disaster, and leave the Red Army without fuel. 54 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:38,440 Hitler believed the war would be decided by the control of oil supplies. 55 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:44,400 He was obsessed by oil, and had even studied how it was drilled, and refined. 56 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:53,400 As Case Blue began, Army Group A breached Soviet defences 57 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,480 and began a rapid advance towards these vital oil fields. 58 00:05:57,800 --> 00:05:59,920 Von Kleist s First Panzer Army led the way. 59 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:07,000 In 1941, von Kleist had commanded 1st Panzer Group in Ukraine. 60 00:06:08,840 --> 00:06:13,000 In the first week of the war he had won a giant four day tank battle at Brody. 61 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,480 Now he had been entrusted with the capture of the Caucasus oil fields. 62 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:25,320 Marshal Budyonny, by contrast, had experienced only defeat. 63 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,640 Now he oversaw his forces retreat to the mountains. 64 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,720 The Caucasus Mountains stretched 1,300 km from the Caspian to the Black Sea. 65 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:40,800 The range is divided into three parts. 66 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,840 The Eastern Caucasus runs from the Absheron peninsula to Mount Kazbek; 67 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:48,560 The Central Caucasus from Kazbek to Mount Elbrus, 68 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,480 and the Western Caucasus from Elbrus to Anapa. 69 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:58,120 Snow and ice cover the highest peaks all year round, and to reach Grozny, 70 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:00,480 one must also cross the fast-flowing Terek River. 71 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:07,120 Von Kleist planned to advance straight to Ordzhonikidze, 72 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:11,680 and follow the old Georgian Military road straight to Tbilisi. 73 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:14,560 He would ignore the mountain passes of the Western Caucasus, 74 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:16,120 in order to concentrate his forces. 75 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:20,400 But Hitler rejected this plan, 76 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,800 and the 49th Mountain Corps was diverted to the Western Caucasus. 77 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:31,520 Hitler was adding another objective to Army Group A s ambitious list of goals. 78 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:38,000 He now also demanded that it capture the Soviet naval bases on the Black Sea coast. 79 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:46,640 Budyonny had very few tanks at his disposal. 80 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:50,080 But because of his static positions, he did have the advantage in heavy artillery. 81 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,760 He was also supported by powerful air units. 82 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,880 The summer of 1942 saw an important change 83 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:03,520 in the organization of the Red Army Air Force. 84 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,200 Air armies were now assigned to Red Army fronts. 85 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,600 It was a similar system to the one used by the Luftwaffe. 86 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:18,000 It meant air force command was now more centralized, allowing concerted action. 87 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,640 Previously, Soviet air units had been parceled out 88 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:24,760 into small ineffective formations. 89 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:30,760 Soviet air strength in the Caucasus 90 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:32,560 comprised the naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet, 91 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:37,040 5th Air Army under Lieutenant General Goryunov, 92 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:39,720 and 4th Air Army under Major General Vershinin. 93 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:47,680 Konstantin Andreevich Vershinin began his military career in the infantry, 94 00:08:47,680 --> 00:08:49,000 during the Russian Civil War. 95 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,400 He only learned to fly in his thirties after he was transferred to the Air Force Academy. 96 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:58,160 Initially he wasn t enthusiastic about the air force. 97 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,880 But his infantry background helped him to appreciate 98 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,520 how air power could be used to support ground troops. 99 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:15,080 In August 1942, the survival of Budyonny s Front depended on Vershinin s pilots. 100 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:21,880 They constantly harried the advancing German columns with bombs and rockets. 101 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:45,120 The air force was also the eyes of the retreating Red Army. 102 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:48,520 Reconnaissance aircraft tracked the southern progress of von Kleist s Panzer Army. 103 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:03,880 Following in the footsteps of the retreating Soviet troops, 104 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:07,080 came soldiers of the German 1st and 4th Mountain Divisions. 105 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,040 These men were mountain warfare specialist 106 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:20,640 from the Austrian Tyrol and the Bavarian Alps. 107 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:28,760 They travelled with climbing gear, pack animals and specialized equipment, 108 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:31,920 including lightweight artillery that could be disassembled, 109 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:34,400 and carried in sections on the backs of mules. 110 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:41,680 The mountain infantry were ordered to fight their way 111 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:44,920 through the mountains passes west of Elbrus, and advance on Tbilisi. 112 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:49,000 They only had a few weeks to get through the mountains 113 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:50,520 before winter weather made them impassable. 114 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:53,760 If they did break through, here and to the west, 115 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,360 they could also capture the last Soviet naval bases on the Black Sea. 116 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:06,480 The local Soviet commanders believed the mountains posed such a formidable obstacle, 117 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:09,280 that the passes only needed to be held by small detachments. 118 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:15,320 But they had not counted on the expertise of the German mountain divisions 119 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:27,360 The German mountain troops began their advance 120 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:29,600 through the Western Caucasus Mountains on 15th August. 121 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:34,040 They planned a bold flanking movement of the Klukhov pass. 122 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,760 Two squads armed with machine guns and mortars climbed for hours. 123 00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:46,800 The Soviet defenders suddenly found the enemy was behind them. 124 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:04,560 Poor communications added to the crisis. 125 00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:12,320 Soviet Headquarters only found out about the battle two days after it happened. 126 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,240 Reserves were immediately sent in, 127 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:20,440 including NKVD troops and cadets from the Sukhumi Military Academy. 128 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:23,120 The Stavka High Command radioed an urgent warning: 129 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:29,320 The enemy has specially trained mountain troops, and will use every road 130 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,080 and path in the Caucasus mountains to reach the South Caucasus. 131 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:37,640 Commanders who believe the mountains to be an impassable obstacle 132 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:39,000 are gravely mistaken. 133 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,400 Only a skillfully-prepared and well-defended line is impassable . 134 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:54,880 But the warning had come too late for the defenders of the Klukhov pass. 135 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:07,440 Soviet reserves reached the Klukhov pass a week after the initial attack. 136 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:11,640 By then the Germans were already on the southern slopes. 137 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:17,000 Though they were prevented from advancing any further, they could not be dislodged. 138 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:24,720 The Germans meanwhile had sent a detachment to Mount Elbrus, 139 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:26,600 the highest peak in the Caucasus. 140 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:32,000 On 18th August they reached "The Refuge of 11" tourist camp. 141 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:39,120 At 4,130 metres above sea level, 142 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:42,280 The Refuge of 11 has been described as the highest hotel in the world. 143 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:49,520 The first wooden shelter was erected in 1932. Six years later, 144 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:53,040 a three-story shelter, coated in metal and resembling an airship, 145 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:54,600 was built in its place. 146 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:00,560 From this shelter, the Germans set off for the summit. 147 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:08,040 On 21st August, soldiers of the German 1st Mountain Division 148 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:11,920 raised the Swastika flag over Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe. 149 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:20,920 It was a propaganda triumph, though Hitler himself 150 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:24,720 was said to have been furious at what he regarded as a mere stunt. 151 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:31,920 Meanwhile in Moscow, events in the Caucasus were causing serious alarm. 152 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:39,720 The feared head of the NKVD secret police Lavrenty Beria 153 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,040 flew personally to Sukhumi his hometown 154 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:46,360 and sacked the Commander of the 46th Army General Sergatskov. 155 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:54,720 In the eastern Caucasus, von Kleist s 1st Panzer Army 156 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:56,680 had secured a toehold across the Terek River. 157 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:00,280 But they encountered fierce resistance from Soviet units, 158 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,920 which contained many local men who knew the mountains like the back of their hand. 159 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:13,480 Artillery observers on the high ground were able to direct accurate fire from Katyushas 160 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:17,240 and howitzers onto German pontoons across the Terek. 161 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:34,040 The Germans were also confronted with a novel form of anti-tank barrier. 162 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:40,160 Soviet soldiers filled ditches with oil, then set fire to them with flamethrowers. 163 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:46,160 It created an impenetrable wall of fire, and thick, noxious black smoke. 164 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:01,960 Villages around Malgobek changed hands several times. 165 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:08,120 It was not until the Germans secretly moved the 13th Panzer Division south 166 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,800 across the Terek that they were able to secure the area. 167 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,840 They were reinforced by the SS Motorized Division "Viking". 168 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:25,800 On 27th September, the Germans captured Elkhotovo, 169 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:28,320 but were forced back onto the defensive the next day. 170 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:34,320 Meanwhile Luftwaffe units in the Caucasus had been sent north to Stalingrad, 171 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:37,560 giving the Soviet Air Force a free hand. 172 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:44,400 Vershinin s aircraft targeted the German pontoon bridges across the Terek. 173 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:51,280 Vershinin always emphasized to his men the importance of supporting the ground forces. 174 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:57,240 We exist for them, he told his pilots, not the other way around . 175 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:12,120 It was difficult to get tanks from factories in Russia to the troops in the Caucasus. 176 00:17:12,120 --> 00:17:15,520 But an Allied lend-lease supply route came up through the Caucasus from Iran. 177 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:21,760 As a result, many Soviet tanks on this front were British and American models. 178 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:28,440 By October 1942, the Caucasus Front had a total of 300 tanks. 179 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:30,440 British and American types made up 42%. 180 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:36,600 T-34 medium tanks made up 20% and heavy KV tanks just 2%. 181 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:41,520 The remaining 36% were various types of Soviet light tank. 182 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,120 The American M3 Stuart and the British Valentine 183 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:51,640 were inferior to the T-34 and most German tanks. 184 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:55,240 But they were an improvement on the Soviet light tanks, 185 00:17:55,240 --> 00:18:00,400 such as the T-26 and the BT-7, which were poorly armoured, and seriously undergunned. 186 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:07,640 Vershinin s 4th Air Army also received Lend Lease equipment. 187 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:12,960 Its pilots were among the first to master the American twin-engined Boston bomber. 188 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:20,120 They particularly liked its navigational instruments, which made it safer 189 00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:23,000 than most aircraft to fly through the mountains in unpredictable weather. 190 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:33,200 Another aircraft that thrived in the mountains was the I-153 Seagull biplane. 191 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:37,920 Low speeds and superb maneuverability 192 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:40,960 made it an effective fighter-bomber amid the ravines and passes. 193 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:47,480 Rocket-attacks by low-flying seagulls were a common sight 194 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:49,520 in these high-altitude battles. 195 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:03,800 On the ground, special NKVD units with alpine training were formed. 196 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:10,000 They carried the fight back to the Germans, with their own deep, outflanking maneuvers. 197 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,920 Their gear was a strange mix of pre-war sportswear, 198 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:20,640 military uniform and captured German kit. 199 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:29,240 Painstaking reconnaissance was the bedrock of these units operations. 200 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:45,320 In early September, one of these units was able to turn the tables 201 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:48,880 on the Germans in the Klukhov pass, the scene of their earlier defeat. 202 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:07,440 Soviet mountain troops spotted a long caravan of German soldiers 203 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:09,600 and pack animals heading up to the pass. 204 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:13,520 They were a long way off beyond rifle range. 205 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:19,400 Just then three aircraft marked with the Red Star zoomed overhead. 206 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:29,720 Gusev, a section commander of engineers, described what happened: 207 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:36,960 Our pilots weren t only skilled, they also knew the mountains. 208 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:39,520 First they attacked the convoy itself, but the results weren t great. 209 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:43,720 So then they bombed the slopes above the road. 210 00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:52,400 Huge chunks of stone fell right on top of Hitler s convoy. 211 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:58,360 The slope disappeared in a thick cloud of dust, and when it cleared, 212 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:00,800 we saw the convoy had been devastated. 213 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:10,320 By September 1942, 214 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:12,920 a stalemate had been reached in the mountain passes of the Caucasus. 215 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,280 German mountain infantry couldn t build on their initial success 216 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:25,920 and break through to the coast. 217 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,320 But nor were Soviet forces strong enough 218 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:36,080 to recapture the high passes they d lost in August. 219 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:03,000 On 28th September, one of the most unusual battles of the Second World War took place, 220 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,160 at more than 4,000 metres above sea level. 221 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:15,320 The Soviets had formed a special NKVD detachment, about 100 strong, 222 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:19,640 to recapture the "Refuge of the 11", near the summit of Mount Elbrus. 223 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,640 They were led by Lieutenant Grigoryants, 224 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:25,720 and armed with machineguns, mortars, and sniper rifles. 225 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:07,520 The German mountain troops were stunned by the audacity of the Soviet attack. 226 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:09,880 But they quickly rallied. 227 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,840 Machinegun fire echoed across the mountains for several hours. 228 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:24,840 Slowly, the tide of battle turned against Lieutenant Grigoryants and his men. 229 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:37,440 Only 4 men from his detachment made it back alive. 230 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:42,680 The Lieutenant s body was one of many that littered the mountain slope. 231 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:50,720 A few days later, the temperature in the mountains plummeted. 232 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:57,160 Soon both sides were losing more men to frostbite and avalanches 233 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:00,680 than they were from combat. It was impossible to fight in such conditions. 234 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,120 There would be no German breakthrough in the mountains in 1942. 235 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:34,280 In the Caucasus, the Germans found some support from nationalists 236 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,160 and anti-Communists amongst the local population. 237 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,160 The strong history of nationalism in the Caucasus 238 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,240 made it fertile recruiting ground for the Wehrmacht. 239 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:52,040 They had captured many conscripts from Georgia, Chechnya, 240 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,080 Armenia and Azerbaijan, some of whom were prepared to fight against the Soviet Union. 241 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:01,320 They were formed into the so-called Eastern Legions. 242 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,360 But many of these units turned out to be deeply unreliable. 243 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:14,040 In October, the 23rd Panzer Division was informed 244 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:18,160 that a battalion of Georgian volunteers planned to go over to the Soviet side. 245 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:21,720 The Germans immediately made arrangements to disarm the unit 246 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:24,440 and take if off the front line. 247 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,240 But after a shoot-out with the Germans, 248 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,000 some of the Georgians did manage to slip over to the Soviet lines. 249 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,520 The German bridgehead across the Terek River 250 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:45,560 was of continuing concern to the Soviet Front Command. 251 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,040 In November it was decided to eliminate this foothold 252 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:52,480 with an overwhelming infantry and tank assault. 253 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,160 But before it could begin, von Kleist, 254 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,960 using the last of his fuel and ammunition reserves, launched his own assault. 255 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:07,640 He had decided to try and fight his way through to Ordzhonikidze 256 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,920 along a new route, which lay through the towns of Baksan and Nalchick. 257 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:22,400 Tanks of the 1st Panzer Army, supported by air strikes, made a rapid advance. 258 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,640 The Germans, it seemed, had rediscovered the blitzkrieg spirit. 259 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,600 Soon they had reached the outskirts of Ordzhonikidze. 260 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:43,200 But their success was short-lived. 261 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:50,040 Forces from the South Caucasus front were sent to crush the Terek bridgehead. 262 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:54,920 Two German Panzer divisions were surrounded near the village of Gizel. 263 00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:59,800 The Germans were forced to abandon their vehicles and heavy weapons, 264 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:01,600 and fight their way out on foot. 265 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:12,440 For the Germans, reaching Tbilisi was now out of the question. 266 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:21,200 In 2007, President Putin would award both Malgobeck and Ordzhonikidze 267 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:24,440 today known as Vladikavkaz the title "City of Military Glory", 268 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:26,880 for their wartime heroism. 269 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:32,320 In November the encirclement of 6th Army 270 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:33,680 at Stalingrad turned the campaign on its head. 271 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:38,800 If the Germans did not immediately evacuate the Caucasus, 272 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:42,640 the Red Army might reach Rostov, and cut off the entire Army Group A. 273 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:57,320 On 22nd November, von Kleist was promoted to command of Army Group A. 274 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:04,000 He immediately ordered the 1st Panzer Army to withdraw to Rostov, 275 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,360 while 17th Army retreated to the Kuban Bridgehead. 276 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:14,200 The only way to keep the Kuban Bridgehead supplied was by air. 277 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,400 It would have been impossible if 6th Army had still been holding out at Stalingrad. 278 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,600 But its surrender freed up enough Luftwaffe transport aircraft 279 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:27,240 to establish an air bridge to Kuban. 280 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:45,320 On 13th March, Army Group A received new orders 281 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:50,520 from the Army High Command hold the Kuban Bridgehead and the Crimea at all costs. 282 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:57,920 Von Kleist made his own report to the Army High Command 283 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,440 about the value of the Kuban Bridgehead: Advantages of the position: 284 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:06,120 a considerable number of Russian forces it tied up; 285 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:09,280 the enemy Black Sea Fleet is unable to conducting defence operations; 286 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:11,200 the defence of the Crimea is facilitated. 287 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:21,440 In the spring of 1943, most of the Eastern Front was quiet, 288 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:23,240 as both sides geared up for the Battle of Kursk. 289 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:26,680 But at Kuban the fighting rumbled on. 290 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,520 Vershinin ordered the construction of an air force command post near the front line. 291 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:40,240 The battlefield was small here. 292 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:44,360 Air raids and fighter patrols could be observed from the ground, 293 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:47,400 and information relayed back to the squadrons. 294 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:15,320 Dogfights above the Kuban Bridgehead 295 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:17,760 frequently involved 30 to 40 aircraft on each side. 296 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:23,040 Vershinin had demanded that his fighters keep enemy bombers away 297 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:25,000 from their infantry lines at all costs. 298 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:30,360 The air battle over Kuban became one of the most famous of the Eastern Front. 299 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,760 Under unrelenting pressure from the Red Army, 300 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:48,120 the Kuban Bridgehead finally began to buckle in August 1943. 301 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:51,960 The Germans were outflanked by Soviet advances to the north, 302 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:55,120 and by amphibious landings at Novorossiysk. 303 00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,600 In October the 17th Army was evacuated to the Crimea. 304 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:05,520 Hitler s quest for oil had proved to be a disaster. 305 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:24,240 A Soviet artillery officer studied enemy positions on the Perekop Isthmus 306 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,160 the gateway to the Crimea. 307 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,920 He was looking for targets for the 280 millimetre mortars. 308 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:45,120 Their 200 kilogram shells could smash through the thickest walls. 309 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:51,440 Preparations for the Crimea offensive were underway. 310 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:55,680 The Red army s advance through Ukraine 311 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,480 had isolated German and Romanian forces in the peninsula. 312 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,240 But only three narrow strips of land connect the Crimea to the mainland. 313 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,880 At Perekop, the isthmus is just 14 kilometres wide. 314 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:12,000 There would be no room to maneuver. 315 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:18,280 German and Romanian troops of the 17th Army 316 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,240 had had 5 months to fortify the Perekop Isthmus. 317 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:29,520 Machine gun crews stood ready to mow down advancing Soviet infantry. 318 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:32,960 Howitzers were hidden in the valleys. 319 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:40,520 Romanian dictator Marshal Antonescu wanted Hitler to evacuate the Crimea, 320 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:42,440 where 7 Romanian divisions were stationed. 321 00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:46,880 But the Fuehrer feared the Soviets would use Crimean airfields 322 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:48,480 to bomb Romanian oil fields. 323 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,840 Germany s chrome supplies from Turkey would also be threatened. 324 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:01,720 Admiral Doenitz assured Hitler that, if required, 325 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:03,960 the navy could evacuate 17th Army by sea. 326 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,280 But he was counting on the Germans holding on to the port of Odessa. 327 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:14,480 And on 10th April 1944, Odessa fell to the Red Army. 328 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:29,160 Ten days earlier, Hitler had fired von Kleist from command of Army Group A. 329 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,440 His replacement was Colonel General Ferdinand Scörner. 330 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:38,400 After arriving in the Crimea, Scörner reported back to Hitler, 331 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:41,920 telling him the situation was stable, and the Crimea could hold out for many months. 332 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:50,840 On 8th April 1944, at Perekop, Sivash and Kerch, the Soviet guns roared into life. 333 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,000 Timber gun emplacements were turned into matchwood. 334 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:04,880 Buildings were reduced to rubble. 335 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:18,840 Finally uniformed men sprang up from the Red Army trenches. 336 00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:23,960 Shouts of "Ura!", the Russian battle cry, could be heard, 337 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:25,560 and the squeal of tank tracks. 338 00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:31,920 The Germans raced from their dugouts to their fighting positions. 339 00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:41,720 Concealed guns opened fire. It was an old trick. 340 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:48,760 A Soviet forward artillery observer was meticulously noting the muzzle flashes, 341 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,720 and sending their co-ordinates back to the batteries by telephone. 342 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:02,920 Soviet artillery pummelled the German positions 343 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:04,120 that had just given themselves away. 344 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:16,000 The dummies were cut to ribbons. But they had served their purpose. 345 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:24,840 Now the soldiers took them down, and prepared for the real attack. 346 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,440 They were supported by T-34s of the 2nd Guards Army. 347 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:52,520 Amongst them, the feared OT-34 flamethrower tanks. 348 00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:05,600 The Red Army onslaught proved irresistible. 349 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:13,480 The assault was supported by amphibious landings 350 00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:15,560 that outflanked the German defences at Perekop. 351 00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:22,200 The Commander of the 17th Army, General Jaenecke, received permission to retreat. 352 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:25,680 The Germans began a swift withdrawal towards Sevastopol, 353 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:29,600 where Hitler expected them to hold out for many months 354 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,120 as the Soviets had in 1942. 355 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:57,920 The evacuation of German and Romanian troops from Sevastopol began. 356 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:01,120 The transports would be highly exposed. 357 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,560 But after losing a battleship and two destroyers to airattack the previous year, 358 00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:11,840 the Stavka ordered the big ships of the Black Sea Fleet 359 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:13,200 to stay out of range of the Luftwaffe. 360 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,800 Soviet submarines had also suffered heavy losses. 361 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:24,160 It would primarily fall to the air force to prevent the evacuation. 362 00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:33,880 By 1944, navy pilots of the Black Sea Fleet 363 00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:37,960 had mastered a lethal new form of attack. It was known as skip-bombing. 364 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:48,720 Skip-bombing attacks had to be made at high speed and low altitude. 365 00:37:48,720 --> 00:37:51,200 When the bomb was released, it would skip like a pebble across the surface of a lake, 366 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:56,240 and strike the side of the ship. Meanwhile the pilot climbed hard 367 00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:57,800 to avoid the ship s superstructure. 368 00:37:59,920 --> 00:38:02,760 Skip-bombing had several advantages over aerial torpedo attacks. 369 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:08,520 Firstly, it was effective against ships with very shallow drafts, like landing craft. 370 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:15,320 Secondly, a ship could spot a torpedo and dodge it with evasive action 371 00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:18,480 but the bomb was on them in just seconds. 372 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:26,440 Thirdly, torpedoes were expensive and in high demand. 373 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:29,280 By comparison, bombs were plentiful and cheap. 374 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:34,640 Boston bombers proved the most effective skip-bombers, 375 00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:38,120 but the new tactic was also successfully employed by Lavochkin-5 fighters, 376 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:40,440 Ilyushin 2s and Ilyushin 4s. 377 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:49,920 Units of the 4th Ukrainian Front pursued the enemy to the gates of Sevastopol. 378 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:54,440 The heavy artillery was brought up in preparation for a long siege. 379 00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:09,480 On 5th May 1944, after a 90 minute barrage, the Soviet infantry began their assault. 380 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:16,840 In 1941 the Red Army had held Sevastopol for 9 months against the Germans. 381 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:19,680 But this time, it would not be such a drawn-out affair. 382 00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:24,560 Sevastopol s Northern Shore fell to the Red Army within three days, 383 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:28,000 putting the harbour in range of Soviet artillery. 384 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:34,160 German ships arriving from the Romanian port of Constanta 385 00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:36,920 had to run a gauntlet of air attacks, and shelling at the landings stages. 386 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:49,120 Admiral Oktyabryski, Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, 387 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:52,640 requested permission to send his cruisers to attack the German and Romanian transports. 388 00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:58,640 But the Stavka refused. The big warships were not to be exposed to air attack. 389 00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:03,000 This was a job for the submarines, and the air force. 390 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:11,440 In the small hours of 10th May, 391 00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:14,840 the German transport ships Totila and Teja arrived off Sevastopol. 392 00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:20,920 It was too dangerous for them to approach the harbour 393 00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:26,000 so the ships anchored two miles off-shore, while 10,000 soldiers 394 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:29,080 were ferried out to them in assault boats from the southwestern docks of Chersonese. 395 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:36,120 As the embarkation was underway, 396 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:39,160 more than twenty Ilyushin 2 Shturmoviks appeared overhead. 397 00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:46,800 The Totila was hit by three bombs and sank in minutes. 398 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:51,920 The second transport, Teja, weighed anchor and headed for the open sea. 399 00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:55,320 But the Soviet air force soon caught up with her. 400 00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:05,360 The Teja was hit by no fewer than six 100 kilogram bombs. 401 00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:09,360 She lost steering and engine power, 402 00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:11,520 before eleven Boston bombers arrived to finish her off. 403 00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:17,040 Two bombs hit the Teja near the water line. These were the fatal blows. 404 00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:22,880 The loss of both transports cost up to 8,000 lives. 405 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:26,880 These were by far the greatest losses of the evacuation. 406 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:31,360 In all about two-thirds of 17th Army were evacuated, 407 00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:35,760 including its commander General Allmendinger, 408 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:38,920 who reached Constanta by torpedo boat on the night of the 11th. 409 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,200 General Hartmann was left in charge at Sevastopol. 410 00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:47,680 But without heavy weapons, 411 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:50,000 there was no chance of holding off the Red Army for more than a few hours. 412 00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:57,880 The remnants of 17th Army were overrun the next day, 12th May 1944. 413 00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:02,360 British war correspondent Alexander Werth 414 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:04,480 visited Sevastopol when the fighting was over: 415 00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:12,160 Around Chersonese it was gruesome. All the area in front of the earthworks 416 00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:13,960 and beyond was ploughed up by thousands of shells, 417 00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:17,120 and scorched by the fire of Katyushas. 418 00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:22,040 The ground was littered with thousands of German helmets, rifles, 419 00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:24,040 bayonets, and other arms and ammunition. 420 00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:29,280 Nearly all the dead had been buried, but around the shattered lighthouse 421 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:33,080 dead Germans and rafts were bobbing in the water. 422 00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:39,920 The German 17th Army had been effectively destroyed in the Crimea. 423 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:46,440 In the month-long campaign, it had suffered nearly 70,000 men killed or captured. 424 00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:51,280 Soviet dead and captured totaled approximately 18,000. 425 00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:59,400 The Wehrmacht was suffering a series of devastating defeats on the Eastern front. 426 00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:06,320 After his dismissal by Hitler, Field Marshal von Kleist went into enforced retirement. 427 00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:10,640 At the end of the war, he was arrested by the Americans 428 00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:13,680 and later extradited to Yugoslavia. 429 00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:16,920 There he was sentenced to 15 years for war crimes. 430 00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:21,240 But he was also wanted in the Soviet Union, 431 00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:30,040 and in 1948, Marshal Tito agreed to extradite von Kleist to the USSR. 432 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:35,520 In 1952, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR 433 00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:40,440 sentenced him to 25 years. 434 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:45,080 Von Kleist died in a Soviet P.O.W. camp from ill health two years later. 435 00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:53,320 After the liberation of the Crimea, the 4th Air Army was sent to Byelorussia. 436 00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:56,160 There, its squadrons would support Operation Bagration, 437 00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:00,840 as the war in the east turned decisively against Nazi Germany. 438 00:44:09,120 --> 00:44:11,600 They would pursue the Wehrmacht across the battlefields of East Prussia 439 00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:17,200 and Pomerania, and on to the very streets of Berlin.