Original subtitles

July 1943 [music]

the Eastern Front

Hitler launches an unprecedented Panzer

Blitzkrieg against Stalin's formidable

Red Army.

>> We were more and more convinced that we

could do it.

>> Two armored giants go turret to turret

in the biggest tank battle in history.

>> It's just as if two bulls would run into

each other.

>> Defeat is not an option.

At stake is nothing less than the fate

of the Second World War.

>> By Hitler

>> My soul, I knew one thing and one thing

only, whether or not I die, I would

stand on the spot till death and I would

win.

>> This is tank warfare at its bloodiest.

This is the Battle of Kursk.

Brooding across the vast steps of

Southern Russia this bell tower stands

guard over the killing fields of

Prokhorovka.

A sentinel at the epicenter of what was

the biggest and bloodiest tank battle

ever.

>> Operation Citadel, Hitler's last gamble

to turn the tide of the war on the

Eastern Front.

Since the beginning of 1943, [music]

Germany's once unstoppable advance into

the Soviet Union has come crashing to a

halt and the Red Army is on the

offensive.

They've pushed the Germans back 300 km.

Hitler's hopes of ultimate victory on

the Eastern Front seem to have vanished.

In the spring of that year, he prepares

for a [music] massive counteroffensive

code named Operation Citadel.

His plan is to launch a large-scale

pincer maneuver to cut off the Soviet

held salient centered on the industrial

town of Kursk.

The goal, encircle and destroy more than

half a million Soviet forces in the

Kursk Bulge.

Leading the attack for the first time

are the elite troops of Hitler's

Praetorian Guard, three Panzer Grenadier

divisions of the infamous SS including

the Death's Heads.

>> We were all under 20 or 25 when we were

all faithfully German who believed in

the fatherland.

>> [cheering]

>> For the attack, the Germans have amassed

780,000 men,

close to 10,000 guns, and 2,500 tanks.

But the delay gives Stalin the time he

needs to prepare.

His strategy is to build strength in

depth.

To meet the expected panzer onslaught,

they begin to lay mines, and thousands

of conscripts dig anti-tank ditches and

trenches.

Their plan to absorb [music] wave after

wave of attacks and bleed the German

Blitzkrieg dry.

>> In my soul, I knew one thing and one

thing only.

Whether or not I die, I would stay on

this spot till death, and I will win.

I would only be in one mood. To kill as

many Germans as possible.

>> To meet the impending German attack, the

Soviets mobilize almost 2 million men,

25,000 guns,

and more than 5,000 tanks.

The Soviet war machine goes into

overdrive in the months leading up to

the battle.

What the T-34s may lack in firepower

compared to the newer German rivals,

they'll make up for in sheer scale of

numbers.

>> And we had many of those tanks, many.

>> I did not just like the T-34. I was in

love with the [music] T-34. Why?

Because there was no tank out there that

[music] was better.

>> I love it.

I'm in love with that tank.

>> The T-34 is the backbone of the Soviet

armored corps. Equipped with a 76 mm

main cannon and 47 mm of sloping frontal

armor, the T-34 is a perfect balance of

firepower and protection.

By the early summer of 1943,

the Red Army has dug in thousands of

tanks and across the vast Kursk Salient,

they've laid more than 400,000 mines

>> [music]

>> and have prepared over 4,000 km of

trenches.

Finally, they are ready for the Germans

to attack. And at midnight on July 5th,

that's exactly what the Germans do.

>> What happened was a sea of fire,

constant fire, constant shooting,

constant explosions.

The sound was intense to the point of

blocking your hearing.

Everyone, all of us are scared of dying.

That's clear to everyone.

But it's important to overpower that

feeling.

Overpower it.

>> In the southern sector, the German

Blitzkrieg is spearheaded by the SS

Panzer Grenadier Divisions. Their

mission to drive straight through the

Soviet defensive lines to Kursk, their

right flank protected by the Third

Panzer Corps, whose first objective is

to secure a vital bridgehead across the

Donets River and to do it at first light

in the face of murderous fire.

>> We knew that we were the first who had

to cross the Donets River, a water

obstruction which we knew had steep

shores and it was quite swampy.

In front of us were the infantry and the

sappers who had already crossed the

river

and who had suffered a lot of losses.

The Russians knew our intentions and had

positioned their artillery

and we were met with huge artillery

fire.

In the tank,

we closed our hatches and we were safe.

The sappers were sitting there only with

steel helmets and a whistle in their

mouths.

The water was as if it were boiling.

That's how strong the explosions were.

And they just kept doing their work and

we crossed the bridge. That was no

problem.

Immediately after the bridge was a

minefield.

There were anti-personnel mines that

couldn't harm the tanks. They simply

shattered.

But the infantry wasn't able to follow

us anymore.

Our second company was to our right side

and they drove over a field of anti-tank

mines and the tracks of all 10 or 12

Tigers got damaged, and the tanks

couldn't continue.

>> On the right flank, the Germans suffer

heavy losses, but nothing can stop the

SS in the center. They punch a hole 20

km wide and 15 deep into the Soviet

defensive line.

>> When you told SS Skullheads came, say if

you're afraid. We had good soldiers.

We just had their reputations that we

were just breaking through everywhere.

That we were marching and attacking

regardless of the consequences.

>> And across the vast open steppes, the

gunners and tankers of the Red Army must

face the onslaught of the Tigers

head-on.

>> I was a commander of the third artillery

company.

In order to battle with the tanks, we

would create special anti-tank defense

[music] location that were faced toward

the dangerous zones.

Of course, we always had to watch out

for the Tigers.

From my own observing station, we

spotted a Tiger that was stationed on a

high point on the field and was firing

away at our tanks.

It just stood there, and it would not

let any of our tanks come close.

No matter what we did, how we tried to

go in from right or left in order to

blow it up.

>> The Tiger tank is the Germans ultimate

armored weapon.

Encased in over 100 mm of armor, it is

practically impervious to frontal

attack.

But it is a Tiger's 88 mm cannon with a

range of more than 2,000 m that makes it

the most deadly weapon on the vast and

sprawling battlefields of the Russian

steppes.

>> The soldiers in the Tiger were very

proud. They had the best equipment that

existed.

It was the best equipment. It was a good

tank.

It was the very first time we were head

and shoulders

>> [music]

>> above the Russian tanks.

The order for our tanks to get Tigers or

Panthers

We had to get a minimum of 300-400 m and

get them on their side. Uh,

you see the type of the situation we

were put in.

>> And as the Tiger tanks continued their

seemingly unstoppable advance, it's not

only Kursk that is now at stake, but the

fate of the entire Russian motherland.

>> We had a heavy feeling on our souls.

We were contemplating whether or not we

would be able to hold them off and hold

the territory.

>> [music]

>> This is the modern-day city of Kursk, an

unremarkable relic of the Soviet era in

the middle of the vast Russian steppes.

But in 1943, it stands at the epicenter

of a titanic clash of arms.

This is where the world holds its

[music] breath and the fate of two

mighty empires is decided.

July 5th,

Hitler launches Operation Citadel.

His elite Panzer divisions slam into the

Soviet defenses and the Eastern Front is

set ablaze.

In a classic pincer maneuver, Hitler

launches simultaneous attacks on the

Kursk salient. His goal, to encircle and

destroy the Red Army.

The tankers of the Red Army's T-34s are

given orders to advance to meet the

German onslaught and shore up a

desperate rear guard defense.

Their task [music] is daunting. Stop the

relentless flow of Panzers any way they

can.

>> We were headed from north to south

and in the river Psel

where the small streams flow into it

after it rains

and created mini valleys.

We call [music] it laga.

Well, my tank went into one of those

mini valleys.

It's like a naturally made trench.

When I decided to drive over the edge of

the trench, as I was driving my tank up,

I saw a German tank directly above

heading down towards me.

I don't think I had any emotions.

Maybe somewhat of a fear,

but I'm not sure.

It was so sudden, the tank just showed

up.

The only overwhelming feeling I had was

to get rid of it.

To wipe it out or get wiped out.

Every tanker knows the best place to

shoot at is side armor.

And also at the bottom of the tank.

And only then, when I got him with the

second shot,

did the smoke start fuming out.

As soon as he wanted to descend, I got

him.

That saved me.

But you know,

there was always fear. You can't take

that away.

>> For a full week, the Battle of Korsun

rages.

Although outgunned by the tiger, the

Soviets have a seemingly [music]

inexhaustible supply of T-34s,

and Hitler's master plan is beginning to

falter.

The tigers of the SS continue their

dogged advance towards Kursk.

And the third Panzer Corps has been

unable to break out of its bridgehead at

the Donets River.

Leaving the right flank of the SS

perilously exposed.

With urgent orders to advance, what they

haven't been able to achieve by brute

force, they now attempt by trickery.

A secret midnight thrust straight

through the Soviet defenses.

It's the bold and daring plan of Major

Franz Becker of the 6th Panzer [music]

Division.

>> He was famous, well-known, and a valued

[music] tank commander who had a seventh

sense for everything that was eventually

going to happen.

Becker's goal was to win over as much

territory as possible to reach our

targets.

Others said,

"Let's wait for the daylight."

But he said, "This is a perfect time for

us to attack."

And he did it.

Two captured T-34s were placed at the

front as a sound camouflage.

According to martial law, they had been

marked [music] with the German

Balkenkreuz,

but they had been covered with blankets.

I had ordered radio silence and no

firing.

Silently, we passed the first enemy

barricade, moving by the deadly

anti-tank guns, which remained silent,

believing us to be one of their own

units.

>> We were able to fool the Russians with

the bubbling noise of the T-34s.

>> Everything was going according to plan,

but suddenly a column of 22 tanks

appeared heading in the opposite

direction.

These passed my unit almost track for

track.

But then six or seven pulled out of the

column, turned and pulled in behind us.

I ordered the rest to continue and

placed my command tank, which was

equipped only with a dummy gun, across

the road in order to force the enemy

tanks to halt.

>> Evacuate.

>> He was bold. He was a good commander.

>> We slipped out of our tank unseen by the

Russians. Sneaking up to the tanks, we

put magnetic charges on two T-34s

and jumped into cover.

The detonations rang through the night.

We fetched two more magnetic charges and

put them in place.

>> I'll see them there.

>> The blankets were taken away.

And we started firing at them.

It was a great success for us there.

We brought down a lot of Russians.

>> Becker's gamble pays off.

With their flank now secure, the SS

swing right to mop up one of the last

lines of defense at the the of

Prokhorovka before their final advance

on Kursk.

But what the Germans [music] don't yet

know is that 500 tanks of the Soviet 5th

Guards Tank Army are blocking their way.

And the biggest battle in the history of

armored warfare is about to begin.

>> [music]

>> The steps of southern Russia.

Today, [music] a gently rolling

landscape of wheat and rye fields.

In 1943, [music]

a battlefield offering little cover and

no place to hide for a 60-ton tank.

July 11th, 1943.

Day seven of Operation Citadel.

The SS Panzer Grenadier divisions

[music] have blasted a hole 50 km

through the Soviet defenses.

And the Battle of Kursk is about to come

to a climax of unbelievable violence.

The Soviet 5th [music] Guards Tank Army

has been held in reserve more than 100

km behind the front lines.

But fearing that all might be lost in

[music] the face of the German

onslaught, they are now rushed into

action to the south of Kursk.

And prepare to launch a [music] massive

counteroffensive on the Germans' right

flank from the village of Prokhorovka.

At precisely the same moment, the SS

swings east, also towards Prokhorovka.

Neither side is aware of what the other

one is doing. And almost by accident,

the stage is set for the deciding tank

battle of the Eastern Front.

Evening, July 11th.

From his command post at Prokhorovka,

Soviet Lieutenant General Rotmistrov,

commander of the Fifth Guards Tank Army,

spies tanks in the distance.

At first, he thinks they are advanced

units of his own Soviet T-34s.

But then, he gets a surprise.

>> He took binoculars and saw that those

were German tanks.

It turns out that the Germans decided to

carry out their offensive through

Prokhorovka.

>> Events have outpaced the Soviet plans

for a counterattack. Now, they must

prepare to meet the German SS head-on.

>> We had a very heavy feeling on our

souls.

By the order of the main commander

general, we were to stay and fight to

the death and not let the enemy take

over Prokhorovka.

>> July 12th, dawn.

The rumbling of tanks engines [music]

can be heard from miles around as 300

German tanks and 500 Soviet [music]

T-34s prepare for battle.

From behind a railway embankment [music]

on the Russian left flank, Savely Ilyich

commands a Soviet anti-tank gun

emplacement.

And at 08:30 hours, is one of the first

to spot the massed ranks of the SS

[music] advancing.

>> The entire field of Prokhorovka was

covered with moving tanks.

We aimed at the bottom of the tank or

towards the lead of the tank.

If the little cross mark was resting on

either of those points,

then the missile would go directly where

it's aimed.

It won't sway to the right or left.

It'll go directly to the target.

The 76 mm gun would have 25 shots per

minute.

And that's how you could battle with the

tanks through direct aiming.

>> You were learning quickly during this

war.

For example, we were all able to tell

the difference whether it was a heavy

artillery or light artillery firing at

us.

We were able to hear if anti-tank guns

were fired.

Every projectile made a different noise.

It was very important to recognize what

was [music] firing and where it was

coming from.

And And

piercing ammo [music] had a special mass

inside it.

When it collided with armor, it would

burn through.

Burn through and through.

>> The Soviet armor piercing shell has a

high explosive filler designed to pierce

55 mm of armor plating at a distance of

1,000 m

exploding on impact and destroying the

enemy tank from

>> The tank would go up in flames.

Fire would burn and that's what would

happen.

>> When several of our tanks had been shot,

men suffered terrible burns.

A tank on my left side caught fire

and they were screaming terribly.

>> The the

>> The tankers who made it out had terrible

burns on the upper body down to the

belt.

It was frightful.

>> North of the railway embankment in the

center of the battlefield, tank

commander Rudolf von Ribbentrop is in

the first wave of the German advance

towards Prokhorovka when the Soviets

take the extraordinary and reckless

decision to meet them head-on.

>> What I saw left me speechless.

From beyond the shallow rise about 150

to 200 m in front of me, appeared tank

after tank.

Wave after wave.

There were too many to count.

It was a simply unimaginable assembly

and it was moving at a very high speed.

>> And suddenly we're on the same path,

face to face.

They didn't expect us to come upon them

so fast and we didn't expect them

either.

>> The SS adopt the panzer kyle, a

wedge-shaped formation with tigers at

the point and lighter panzer fours at

the side.

Their aim to use their heavy armor to

bulldoze straight through the enemy

lines.

Soviet T-34s lead a cavalry charge

across the open fields to meet the

deadly panzer kyle.

Outgunned by the tigers, their only hope

is to get as close as possible as

quickly as possible.

>> They probably thought we would be

farther off, but no. Here there were two

huge masses colliding.

And at first everyone was sort of

confused and dumbfounded.

>> At that second I said to myself, "It's

all over now."

>> We started killing each other head-on.

>> July 12th, 1943.

In his pursuit [music] of victory on the

eastern front, Hitler has gambled

everything on the success of operation

citadel

and the metal of his feared panzer

divisions is put to the test on steps of

southern Russia.

In the In the sector, the advance of the

German 9th Army has ground to a halt,

still 80 km short of its objective of

Kursk.

Everything now [music] hinges on success

in the south, where the SS have come up

against the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army

on the fields of Prokhorovka.

Needing to get within range, the Soviet

T-34s charge at full throttle against

the advancing SS.

It's an all-out fight for survival

point-blank range.

>> They probably thought we would be

farther off, but no.

Here there were two huge masses

colliding.

And at first everyone was sort of

confused

and dumbfounded.

>> In the first wave of the German advance

is SS tank commander Rudolf von

Ribbentrop.

>> My driver called over the intercom,

"Sir, traverse right! Right!"

The gunner traversed right.

Soon the first round was on its way, and

with its impact the T-34 began to burn.

At the same instant, the tank [music]

next to me took a direct hit and went up

in flames.

His neighbor was also hit.

We had no time to take up defensive

positions. All we could do was fire.

From this range, every round was a hit.

I realized there was no chance of

escape.

All we could do was take care of what

was at hand.

>> The battlefield is a chaotic mass of

tanks firing at point-blank range.

For the tankers on both sides, it's kill

or be killed.

>> And so it began, shooting at each other

practically point-blank.

100 yards, 200 yards.

You did not need a long-range gun.

You can just shoot head-on.

No one knew the situation.

Not the army generals,

not battalion generals, not any of the

commanders of brigades.

>> We were prepared. We were young guys.

Order is order, and attack is attack.

But we couldn't know such a battle like

this would develop. And we were just

unimportant grunts.

Maybe some generals might have known

this,

but I don't think they knew that it

might degenerate in this way.

>> It was a test of nerves for people.

That's why at that age I got my silver

hair early.

Became silver-headed.

>> By midday, [music] the entire

battlefield has been set ablaze and

become a hellish inferno.

>> The fires were burning,

the cars were burning, and tanks were

burning.

The field crops were burning.

Everything was ablaze.

It was a horrid battle.

There were clouds of smoke,

as if it was a dark evening.

>> There's slaughter in the fields below,

and from the skies above, death rains

down in torrents.

>> Everyone was bombing.

We were bombing.

Germans were bombing.

The Germans, I don't think they had

targets.

And that's all.

>> The carnage is indiscriminate. Death

comes from every angle. And it's the

tankers who are caught in the middle.

>> A person is scared of death.

No one wants to die.

I still cannot understand [music] how my

tank got hit.

Either it was a bomb

or it was artillery.

It burned, and that's a fact.

And it burned because it was totally

loaded with ammunition and such.

And we had extra gas. All of that burns.

All of it is fire. Fire consumes

everything.

I decided to evacuate that tank.

I said we [music] need to evacuate the

lieutenant.

The lieutenant was burning up, so he

couldn't say a word.

My comrade that was sitting beside me

opened the lid of the tank ahead of me.

Then when I was taken out of it, all I

heard was the explosion.

>> I still remember this battle.

Still remember it.

>> Only two members of Pavel's crew escape

alive.

Tank losses are reaching catastrophic

[music]

proportions on both sides.

But it's clear the Soviets are losing

more.

With defeat not an option, the Soviet

T-34s attempt to block the German

advance in whatever way they [music]

can.

Including a desperate tactic of last

resort, never before witnessed in

armored warfare.

>> Some of them had probably received the

order to drive onto our tanks.

It's just as if two bullets would run

into each other.

>> July 12th, 1943.

The Battle of [music] Kursk has raged

for 7 days, and Operation Citadel,

Hitler's last-ditch gamble to snatch

victory on the Eastern Front, is about

to come to a bloody climax on the fields

of Prokhorovka.

300 tanks of the SS Panzer Grenadier

divisions and 500 tanks of the Soviet

Red Army clash head-to-head on a

battlefield measuring just 4 km by 6.

It's the greatest concentration of

armored firepower ever yet assembled,

and a desperate fight to the death.

The tankers of the elite SS have been

prepared for the bloodiest of battles,

but this is warfare like no one has ever

seen before, and nothing could have

prepared them for the kind of tank

carnage now heading their way.

>> You have to imagine tank beside tank.

One big chain of tanks. One on the other

side were T-34s.

When some of them probably received the

order to drive onto our tanks.

Each one wants to be stronger than the

other. That's exactly how it was there.

It's just as if two bulls would run into

each other.

Suddenly our tanks were disabled. They

themselves couldn't do anything anymore

either,

because they had disabled our tanks.

Because once they were on them, you

couldn't move the turret or anything.

We had never experienced that. It was

the first time that the Russians had

driven onto our tanks.

That was their showstopper.

They thought of some crazy things. Also

stuff that they thought of.

>> With just an hour's daylight remaining,

[music] whoever wins on this battlefield

will win Kursk.

And it's the German tankers who in the

bloodbath now sense victory is within

their grasp.

>> We want

>> We were more and more convinced that we

could do it.

I want to tell you something.

We weren't afraid.

So we just kept attacking once

attacking.

>> The SS advances relentlessly into the

fire zone.

The Soviet tank divisions are pushed

back almost to the edge of Prokhorovka

and panic now sweeps through the Russian

ranks.

>> And we just said, just like that, the

lines are splitting, battalions are

splitting,

army is backing.

And we were backing up the fifth army.

>> But the Red Army generals won't give up.

They send wave after wave of T-34s into

the fight. No matter how many T-34s the

Germans destroy, more and more keep

appearing to take their place.

Rudolf von Ribbentrop is overtaken by

the avalanche of Soviet T-34s.

>> At this point, remaining stationary was

the surest means of being destroyed by

the Russian tanks.

Just then, a T-34 halted about 30 m off

to our right. I saw the tank rock

slightly on its suspension and traverse

its turret in our direction.

I was looking right down the muzzle of

its gun.

"Step on it now!" I shouted into the

microphone.

My driver had already put it into gear.

We moved past the T-34.

The Russian tried to turn his turret to

follow us, but was unable to do so.

We halted 10 m behind the stationary

T-34 and turned.

My gunner scored a direct hit on the

Russian's turret.

T-34 exploded

and its turret flew about 3 m through

the air, almost striking my tank's gun.

While all of this was going on, other

T-34s were rolling past us.

>> At day's end, after 11 hours of

butchery, neither side has gained any

ground at all. The Germans and Soviets

are back, literally, where they first

started.

The battlefield belongs to neither and

Prokhorovka is strewn with the

burned-out corpses [music] of their

tanks.

>> The battlefield seemed like a cemetery

of armored tanks and technology.

On the entire field, on the ravines, on

the edges of the forest, lay hundreds of

damaged German and Soviet tanks.

>> At Kursk, the German Blitzkrieg on the

Eastern Front has hit its brick wall.

In the face of fierce Soviet resistance,

neither arm of Hitler's pincer has come

anywhere near to reaching its target and

Kursk itself [music] remains unscathed.

Losses on both sides are enormous.

Operation Citadel has taken the lives of

80,000 men and destroyed nearly 3,000

tanks.

But the Soviets have held off the

Germans.

For the Red Army, it will be remembered

as a great victory.

>> [music]

>> The day after Prokhorovka, with news of

the Allied invasion of Southern Italy,

Hitler calls off Operation Citadel

altogether to deal with a war which is

now on two fronts.

The battle for Kursk is over, and for

the Germans, it represents a massive and

[music] irreparable failure.

From these fields of Prokhorovka, they

begin a retreat which within [music] 2

years will take them all the way back to

Berlin.

>> For our morale, it was really upsetting

[music] for everybody.

What? They're going back? That doesn't

happen to us.

We didn't shout hooray anymore.

>> In a single day on these killing fields

of Prokhorovka, death harvested

thousands of soldiers' lives. For many,

it is a place of sacred memory where the

heroism of the Red Army's tank crews

saved the Russian motherland.

>> This was the turning point for the Red

Army.

I remember my friends who have passed

away.

I'm always remembering them.

Always. Always will be remembering them.

My friends.

May they rest in peace, [music] as they

say, in heaven.

>> Woo!

>> [music]