All language subtitles for Hitlers.Teen.Killers.2020.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

♪ ♪

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NARRATOR: Spring 1944.

Official YIFY movies site:
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A German armored division
is speeding towards Normandy.

Like all soldiers
of the Reich,

they know the battle they are
about to enter will be decisive.

But this division is different:

The troops are
just 17 years old.

Conditioned to kill,
they will inflict hell
on the Allied troops,

who had just landed on
the Normandy beaches.

And in doing so,

they would break all accepted
rules of warfare and humanity.

These teenage soldiers left
a trail of blood in their wake,

executing both
prisoners of war and civilians.

They pledged to lay down
their lives for Hitler.

They were the product
of a totalitarian logic.

How can a group of
teenagers be turned
into a killing machine?

HITLER: For Germany: Heil...

NARRATOR: Of the
20,000 soldiers in what became
known as the Baby Division,

some of them became
war criminals.

Those who have agreed
to speak openly about
their role,

using their true identity,
reject this title.

But all of them did
follow the ruthless path
which, step by step,

turned them from
a bunch of teens into
a fearsome killing machine,

a two-year
indoctrination in evil.

♪ ♪

(cheering).

NARRATOR: The story of
this teenage division
begins at the start of 1943.

This is a key moment for Hitler.

After four years of war,

Germany has lost
millions of soldiers.

The Führer knows that
a decisive battle against

the Allies will soon
commence in the west.

He is in desperate need of fresh
blood to reinforce his armies.

Among the SS, the Third Reich's
elite political soldiers,

led by Heinrich Himmler,

some officers come up
with a radical suggestion.

Future soldiers can
be found in the ranks
of the Hitler Youth,

formed in 1936
to indoctrinate children and
teenagers in Nazi Germany.

They propose to create
an SS Division entirely
composed of young recruits.

20,000 soldiers,
all 17 years old.

In a letter to
the Hitler Youth leader,

Himmler wrote that
the Führer was thrilled

and asked for an advertisement
for volunteers.

The propaganda
was well targeted.

Posters went up in
towns across Germany,

with a slogan directly
appealing to its youth:

"You too!"

ERICH (off-screen):
I saw those posters!

"You too!"

They spoke to
your sense of honor.

"Why don't you join
the Waffen SS too?"

That's the meaning
of: "You too"

NARRATOR: Erich Bissoir
is among those who
responded to this appeal.

He had been groomed for
this all his young life.

He grew up under Nazism
and its glorification

of the German people.

Aged 14, he learned
to march in step as part
of the Hitler Youth.

At 17, his idol Hitler
had just called him to arms.

ERICH: That's how
we were brought up.

We are the German
people, afraid of no one.

That is also why, in
the end, I volunteered
for the Waffen-SS.

NARRATOR: The first stage of
indoctrination is seduction,

and it had worked
its magic on Erich,

just as it did on his parents,

the generation which
brought Hitler to power.

But the adults no longer
have any say over the fate
of their teenage offspring:

A new law gives
the SS the right
to enlist 17-year-olds

who volunteer for its ranks.

ERICH: While my father
was somewhat proud,

my mother was
not happy at all!

But they couldn't stop me.

NARRATOR: The first
recruits embark on training
in the spring of 1943.

From that moment on,
they are no longer
children in a family,

but members of
an elite fighting force.

Their fond farewells, played
out in front of the cameras

like a cheerful departure
for an adventure,

would serve to feed
the propaganda machine
yet more.

So far, recruitment numbers
among Germany's youths

are falling well short of
the 20,000 soldiers the SS need.

The Nazi leadership will have
to find alternative methods,

and enroll youngsters who
are rather less willing.

Where seduction isn't
working, they try cunning.

Hans Baumann
fell into the trap.

He had not planned to
sign up for the Waffen SS,

the military arm of the SS.

But one can be naïve at 17.

HANS (off-screen):
The police launched
the recruiting campaign.

So I went.

And I said, "Hello, I would
like to join the police"...

And they answered,
"If this is your wish,

then you must first serve
for four and a half years
in the Waffen SS."

I thought, "Ok sure,
I'll do that."

It was bait, to attract
the youth.

MAN (over TV): Here are our
Hitler Youth war volunteers!

NARRATOR: On 29 May 1943,
Himmler inspects
the first contingents.

This unit of youngsters
will soon become known as
the 12th SS Panzer Division.

MAN (over TV):
SS leader Himmler urges
these young volunteers:

"You will fight to become the
most loyal, courageous

and aggressive of us all."

NARRATOR: On this day,
the teenagers are still
living out their dream.

They have been dressed
in uniforms and lined up,

just like real soldiers.

But it's only now that
their transformation
will actually begin.

A year from now, they
will have become wolves.

To carry out this metamorphosis,

the Nazis have a
formidable tool:

The Waffen-SS training centers.

These youths have just entered
the realm of brutality.

It is the first step on
a journey of no return.

(speaking in native language)

ERICH (off-screen): Our
trainers were diehards!

And they put us to the test.

We really hated them!

(speaking in native language)

EBERHARD: They had
this wonderful tradition.

They'd fill our
backpacks with bricks.

It sure did weigh a bit!

I think we screamed out
the worse curses ever.

NARRATOR: Eberhard Wenzl
follows in the footsteps of

his father, who
had joined the SS.

Upon arrival, he
discovers a regime where
harassment is the rule,

and where any sign of weakness
is mercilessly punished.

EBERHARD (off-screen):
Lie down! Stand up! Crawl!

After a few hours, we
looked like wild boar!

Filthy, with mud
caked everywhere.

Soaked.

No matter the weather.

Still today, I don't know how
I managed to get through it.

NARRATOR: What these
young recruits don't know

is that this harshness
is part of a carefully
calibrated strategy

on the part of the Nazis.

Subjected to daily
bullying and aggression,

the teenagers will end up
like their tormentors.

Indoctrinated and fanaticized,
the apprentice-soldiers

gradually adopt the
firmly-held belief

that hatred for, and a will
to destroy one's enemy,

is the only way to wage war.

(speaking native labguage)

Their minds and bodies
are no longer their own.

The SS has been training its
members like this for years.

It is the trademark
of this elite corps,

renowned for its
combativeness, its loyalty,

and its cruelty.

(slapping, laughing).

But in this instance,
the indoctrination machine

is not as effective as usual.

Nazi theory is not proving
so easy to apply to a group

made up solely of youngsters.

The teenage mind has its
own way of functioning,

and one of its characteristics
is to challenge authority,

sometimes to the point
of total rejection.

(singing)

EBERHARD: We had
a suicide in Berlin.

One of our comrades
shot himself because

he could no longer bear
all these ordeals.

NARRATOR: Six months
after the arrival of
the first recruits,

SS reports find that

"the physical condition of the
young men is below average,

and the division
is not operational".

The intrepid and valiant army
of adolescent Aryans

which Himmler dreamed of
remains elusive.

In the fall of 1943,
the SS is at an impasse

and must desperately find
a now method to build up

the 12th Panzer Division.

NARRATOR: November 1943.

In Berlin, Hitler
is growing impatient.

The promised creation of
this Waffen-SS youth division

has not lived up
to expectations.

And rumors of a massive
Allied offensive are growing.

The Führer issues
an urgent order.

HITLER: A danger looms in the
West: the Anglo-Saxon landing!

To that end,

I hereby order to accelerate
the supply of armament

of the 12th SS Division.

NARRATOR:
The 12th SS Panzer Division:

An armored division made
up of very young soldiers

and equipped with
the best possible weapons

to act as the front line
of defense to halt
the Allied advance,

that is the project.

The countdown has begun.

While the Panzers
of the 12th Division
are being assembled,

SS officers have a problem.

They must find a way to shape
these youths into an army,

in which every soldier
is prepared to fight
to the death.

One of the men entrusted
with this task is Kurt Meyer,

a leading figure
among the Waffen-SS.

He has tasted combat
on all fronts:

Holland, Greece, Russia.

His battleground feats
are the stuff of legend.

He is a role-model
for the young troops,

who know him by the
nickname of "Panzer-Meyer".

ERICH (off-screen):
"Panzer-Meyer" was a hothead.

He wasn't someone who sat
behind a desk and gave orders.

He led "from the front",
as they say.

EBERHARD: In German,
we say "an adventurer"!

A soldier who strikes
without asking how or why...

He just hits!
That was Kurt Meyer.

NARRATOR: Kurt Meyer and
the other 12th Division leaders
adopt a surprising tactic

to subdue these rebellious
teenagers, opting for
a softer approach.

They issue orders for
instructors to employ

a radical change in behavior.

From one day to the next,
the iron grip is relaxed.

Disheveled clothing
and less closely-cropped
hair are now tolerated.

Even bullying becomes
less commonplace,

an unprecedented state of
affairs in the Waffen-SS.

EBERHARD (off-screen):
It was more relaxed.

There was more
team spirit.

When the relationship is
warm and full of goodwill,

the soldiers feel it.

It's the same thing between
a parent and a child!

NARRATOR: Kurt Meyer realizes
that these teenagers, having
been taken from their families,

lack emotional ties.

He states this clearly
in his post-war writings.

MEYER (off-screen):
Officers should recreate
a family-like relationship.

And they should be mentors
to their young soldiers.

NARRATOR: A degree of
affection, it was thought,
would overcome fear.

The officers become
protective older brothers.

The youngsters
become submissive.

EBERHARD (off-screen):
They just had to say,

"Do this, then do that."

And we did it!
No questions asked.

(explosion).

Because we truly cared
about these model men.

We weren't just pretending!

NARRATOR: Winter 1944,
the SS have won.

And the young recruits are
now marching to the orders

of a particularly cruel breed.

One year earlier, on
the Ukrainian front,

Kurt Meyer razed a village,
ordering his men to slaughter

the inhabitants:
872 were killed.

The idol of these youths
is a war criminal.

And he is now in charge
of 20,000 loyal followers.

MAN: Lieutenant, the men
are ready to take oath.

MAN: Thank you.

NARRATOR: The Nazi regime
now gives them what all
disciples dream of:

An initiation rite.

MAN: Waffen SS volunteers,
stand up!

Attention!

ERICH: They told us that
being sworn in was when
"half-soldiers" became "whole."

Yes, I was proud.

NARRATOR: For this key turning
point in their engagement,

the youths are inducted into the
holy of holies in SS mythology,

a mass of the Black Order.

With its Nazi flags
its dark uniforms,

and the symbolism
of Gothic lettering,

the whole macabre staging
is designed to make sacrifice

seem like a noble goal.

MAN: I swear allegiance to you,
Adolf Hitler...

(speaking in native language)

...until death.

(speaking in native language)

NARRATOR: The teenagers
take the oath, and now wear

the distinctive insignia of
the elite corps they joined:

That of the SS warrior.

They wear a skull
on their caps,

and have their blood group
tattooed on their arms.

ERICH: A nurse cleaned
it with a bit of alcohol.

Then a male nurse
stamped you with it.

It was a little piece
of wood with sharp
points sticking out.

It took just a few seconds.

NARRATOR: This is
a precaution in case
a transfusion is required

on the battlefield,
but one that only the

Waffen-SS employ during
the Second World War.

ERICH (off-screen):
Blood type A.

NARRATOR: The teenagers
are branded for life

with the seal of the Waffen-SS.

Spring 1944: It is time
to head into combat.

The 12th Waffen-SS
Division is ready.

With its 148 Panzers
and 330 armored vehicles,

it is one of the best equipped
units in the Third Reich.

And by far the youngest.

Hitler's gamble has paid off.

From their training camps,
the regiments of the 12th SS

all converge on the coast
of northern France,

where the Germans are
expecting an Allied landing.

Along the way, the SS officers
will have the chance to test

the loyalty of the young
soldiers they have trained.

NARRATOR: On the way
to the French coast,

where the Allies
are preparing to invade,

some of the young wolves of
the Waffen-SS 12th Division

have the opportunity to show
what they are capable of.

Several hundred make up a
reconnaissance battalion,

advancing by train
to fulfill their mission.

Night has fallen when they
arrive in the village of Ascq,

northern France.

It is April 1st
1944, at 10:45pm.

(explosion).

A bomb explodes on
the rails in front of them.

No soldiers are wounded
in this attack by
the French resistance.

And yet, the villagers
will pay with their lives

for this affront to
the Panzer Division.

Karl Münter is one of
the young SS troops who
took part in the massacre.

In 2018, German journalists
tracked him down.

KARL: I was in the train
and I told my superior
what had happened.

He told me, ‘Take a
few soldiers and go
clean up the street...'

‘Clean up the street,' meant
even inside the houses.

NARRATOR: "Clean up"...
the tone has been set.

Karl Munter and his
comrades in arms carry
out their orders.

They round up the men
in the village

and take them to
the place of execution.

25 years after the
events, in 1969,

survivors of the Ascq
massacre recount the
horrors they witnessed.

MAN: There were
four or five of them.

A big one and a small one,
kids aged 17 or 18.

Just then, one head-butted me,
and the other kicked me in
groin.

MAN: They finished off
the wounded on the field.

Two were right next to me.

They came and finished
them off with a revolver.

And each corpse got a kick, a
rifle but and the coup de grace!

(bells tolling).

NARRATOR: That night,
the adolescents trained
by the Waffen-SS,

confident they are
acting on good grounds,

murder 86 civilians,
all men, aged 15 to 74.

TO MY DARLING SON WHO
WAS KILLED SO BRUTALLY

NARRATOR: Even
several decades after,

Karl Münter says he was
only carrying out orders.

KARL: When I arrest civilians,
they better stay calm.

If they run off, they must
not have a clear conscience.

As a soldier, I have
a duty to shoot.

It's their bad luck
to have run into me.

NARRATOR: The shocking
event shows how tightly
the young soldiers

have embraced Nazi ideology.

One of them even
recorded his jubilation
in the regiment's logbook.

MAN (off-screen):
"You want goose bumps?

Come spend the night in Ascq.
Success guaranteed."

NARRATOR: The 12th Division
officers are equally elated:

they now have proof
that their teen unit

is ready to face the enemy.

(cannon fire).

(shouting).

On June 6th 1944,
at 6:30 in the morning,

the D-Day landings begin
on the Normandy beaches.

General Montgomery, who has
scored a number of victories

over the Germans a year
earlier in North Africa,

is commanding the land forces:

over 150,000 soldiers from
across the Allied armies.

He puts the Americans
on the western front,

heading for the
Cotentin peninsula.

And he assigns two
strategic objectives

to the Anglo-Canadians
to the east:

The city of Caen and
the airfield of Carpiquet.

At this point, Montgomery
gives them 24 hours
to achieve these goals.

But he does not know
who he is up against.

In the opposite camp,
Kurt Meyer has positioned

his 20,000 young men
northwest of Caen
to defend the city.

On this 15-kilometer
wide strip of land,

the battle of Normandy will
play out between two men

experienced in warfare,
one of whom is in command of

several thousand
apprentice-soldiers.

The day after D-Day, Canadian
forces advance towards Caen

without meeting
any opposition.

Meyer has set up his
headquarters in an
abbey on high ground,

from where he observes
their progress.

He orders his soldiers
to hide their tanks

on the edge of the
village of Authie.

The trap is set.

The teenagers prepare for
their baptism of fire.

They have dreamt of
this since childhood,

eagerly awaiting this
moment ever since they
finished training;

now they will have their
first taste of real war!

MAN: On my command, fire!

(gunfire).

NARRATOR: On June 7th 1944,
the day after the Allied
landings,

the teenagers of
the 12th armored Division
of the Waffen-SS

give the Canadians
a demonstration of
their firepower.

(explosion)

Then it is the turn
of the foot soldiers.

For the past eight months,
these young Germans

have been groomed for combat.

In Authie, they
are now unleashed.

(gunfire).

ERICH (off-screen): We
stopped the attack there.

At that point, the Canadians
had suffered huge losses.

They already wanted
to pull back.

NARRATOR: During
the fighting in Authie,

the Canadians lose 400 men.

The young wolves of
the 12th SS Division

stop the Allied advance
in its tracks.

They have more than
lived up to the expectations
of their superiors.

After their first victory,
the teenagers take

captured enemy troops
back to their headquarters.

There, they see the grim face
of their idol, Kurt Meyer.

A hardened veteran
of the eastern front,

Meyer gives no quarter.

He orders his young troops
to execute the prisoners.

And those who did not
receive this order,

today acknowledge that
they were simply lucky.

ERICH: It was a war
crime, no doubt about it!

But if I had been given
the order and said no,

I would have been severely
punished, even shot.

HANS: It was impossible
to refuse an order.

This meant that anything
that was ordered was done.

ERICH: I am glad not to have
found myself in that situation.

Even today, I still wonder
what I would have done.

NARRATOR: On the 7th
and 8th of June 1944,

around 100 prisoners of war
are executed by the teenagers.

Fed on Nazi propaganda
claiming the Allies would kill

or castrate them if
they surrendered,

the 12th SS Division turns
into a killing machine.

This orgy of violence
alarms Allied command.

Montgomery is wrong-footed by
this unit of fanatical kids,

which his troops have
nicknamed the Baby Division.

RICHARD: The worst
were Hitler youth.

Yeah, they were good,
and they were fanatics.

So, every day was a
potential disaster day.

KENNETH (off-screen): A Canadian
unit had taken over an orchard.

And as you know,
in all the farmhouses
outside there was always

a big vat of Calvados, cider.

Well the Canadians,
they got well-wined.

Not allowing to the fact
that Jerry counterattacked.

And they found them in their
things incapable of fighting.

And there they were shot or
bayoneted and so many of them.

And that's how they
dealt with the Canadians.

Very frightening.

NARRATOR: Two
days after D-Day,

while they wait for
the next battle,

the 12th Division
camouflages its tanks.

Kurt Meyer has come
up with a new plan.

He sends 250 soldiers to
the village of Bretteville.

Convinced his young wolves
can easily take the village,

the SS commander
even imagines

they can drive the
Allies back into the sea,

arrogantly treating
them as "small fry".

Fired up by their first
victory, the teenagers head
into battle in high spirits.

♪ We march for Hitler ♪

♪ Through night
and through danger ♪

♪ Carrying the flag of youth ♪

♪ Our flag flutters
at the fore, ♪

♪ Yes, the flag means
more than death ♪ ♪

NARRATOR: But this time,
the tables are turned.

In Bretteville, it
is the Canadians
who are lying in wait.

The teenagers will suffer
their first defeat,

and the toll will be high.

NARRATOR: Two days after
the D-Day landings.

The Canadians have
set an ambush.

They have four times
as many troops as the
teenagers of the 12th SS.

Eberhard Wenzl was
inside one of the Panzers
advancing on Bretteville.

EBERHARD: The first tank
reached the village road.

It was hit immediately!

(explosion).

The tank turret exploded
and the tank caught fire.

Everyone died.

The commander says,

"Butterfly 2, destroy
the cannon to the right
of the church. Now."

The panzer starts moving.

Then the commander sticks
his head out of the tank

to look through binoculars
at the enemy.

(gunfire).

A grenade tears his head off.

All gone!

The body falls
back into the tank,

onto my friend Hans Rohrbach.

All the gushing blood from
the arteries splattered on him,

on his head, his
body, his uniform.

Everything was
splattered with blood.

He was so devastated that
all he could do was tremble.

NARRATOR: The day
ends in carnage.

Of the 250 Germans who went
into battle, 150 are dead.

The Panzers were these
teenagers' play things.

Now, they become
their coffins.

On that day in Bretteville,
Hitler's teen soldiers realize

they are mere mortals.

EBERHARD: I cannot tell you
how badly my stomach hurt.

NARRATOR: This is a key
moment in the history
of the Baby Division.

The teenagers believed
in a lightning victory,

but they now know was
this was an illusion
fueled by their elders.

Now that the Allies have got
the measure of this young army,

they call in the
resources to defeat it.

Aerial strikes rain down
on these young soldiers.

HANS (off-screen): One morning,
we were returning to the unit.

I was driving.

Our commander said,
"You, look out on the left.
I'll look out on the right."

Everything was fine for
the first few kilometers...

And then, we started
getting shot at...

(gunfire).

I opened the door
and I threw myself out.

(gunfire).

NARRATOR: The young
SS troops have been left
to fend for themselves.

The Luftwaffe pilots, few in
number and poorly trained,

were overwhelmed
by Allied aviation.

(explosion).

In Normandy, the 12th Divisions
gets no equipment

supplies nor reinforcements;

the imbalance of power
is growing every day.

ERICH: And the Allies,
they would leave their
broken-down tanks behind

and the next day they
had 20 new ones.

And we never received
any backup or equipment.

When a tank was destroyed,

we had to go back
to get it at night

and repair it at the camp.

That was the difference.

This is when we first
started to think,

"We aren't going to make it."

We told ourselves,
"We cannot win this war."

NARRATOR: But there
is no room for doubt.

They believe the survival of
the Reich depends on them.

The SS command decides to
counter any dip in morale

by handing out medals
for heroism.

This flatters the teenagers,

shoring up the image
they have of themselves.

Such values are exalted
by Kurt Meyer in a speech.

KURT (over radio): A young
soldier sacrifices himself

by jumping on a tank.

Sadly, he was torn to pieces
along with tank.

But his gesture enabled

several of his
surrounded comrades

to escape to freedom.

NARRATOR: The call for
sacrifice finds a deep
resonance in these teenagers.

Nazism has groomed them
for this from a young age.

The cult of personality
combined with childhood dreams,

has created an explosive
totalitarian cocktail.

They each nurture a powerful
image of the idealized father.

An idealized father who
can ask anything of them.

ERICH: Of course, it was
upsetting when you came back at
the end of the day and asked,

"Where's Heiner?"
or "Where's Karl?"

and we were told,
"He fell in combat"

or "We don't know where he is"
or "He was wounded".

Until the same thing
happened to you.

We had sworn to Adolf Hitler
that we'd die for our homeland
if need be,

and that is what we did.

EBERHARD: I had promised
I wouldn't run away.

I had to continue
fighting in this war.

I had to go on.

(canon fire)

NARRATOR: The words
of their oath take on
their full meaning.

The teenagers must
fight to the death.

They have one single obsession:
To eliminate the enemy.

KENNETH: We had lots
of trouble with snipers.

They were youngsters,
lashed to branches with trees.

RICHARD: And they would wait
for the opportunity

to shoot someone in the back
more than anything,

rather than the front.

(gunfire).

NARRATOR: General Montgomery
is about to take a decision

which will have
grave consequences.

He wanted to take Caen within
24 hours, but one month later,

the city has still not fallen,

due to the relentless resistance
of the Germans,

including a band of
17-year-old kids.

On July 7th 1944, he launches
a vast aerial operation.

The mission is to pound
the German positions

ahead of a decisive
land offensive.

Several units of
the 12th SS Division

are hiding in Caen,

hoping they will be safe
among the civilian population.

The Royal Air Force drops
more than 2,500 tons of bombs.

Montgomery has reached
his objectives:

he has taken Carpiquet airfield
and now he enters the city.

Despite being outnumbered,

the teenagers put up
a dogged resistance.

(explosions, gunfire).

After two days of
fierce fighting,

they receive orders
to withdraw from Caen.

ERICH: I was wounded when
I was out riding a motorcycle.

I got shot by a Canadian
reconnaissance group.

I was hit with shrapnel
in the chest and arm.

For me the Battle of
Normandy was over.

NARRATOR: For many
young Waffen-SS troops,

the journey finally ends here
in the Normandy countryside,

which has turned into
the antechamber of hell.

The German defeat in Normandy
is a decisive moment

in the Second World War.

It opens the way
for the Allies,

who can now move on
and liberate the rest
of western Europe.

(cheering).

But the survivors of the
12th SS Division do not give up.

During their withdrawal
they will take revenge

on the civilian population.

NARRATOR: Of the
20,000 young Germans

recruited by the Baby Division,
only 14,000 remain.

They have tasted defeat.

And their vengeance
will be terrible.

As the young men retreat,

they leave a trail of civilian
victims in their wake.

They kill some as an example,
in reprisal for attacks by

the French resistance
on their convoys.

And they act with
even greater savagery

than in the village of Ascq
at the start of their campaign.

On August 30th in Tavaux,
they torch houses and
murder 20 civilians,

this time including
women and children.

Two days later in Plomion,
they kill 14 inhabitants.

And on the 4th of September,
they kill 23 people,

rape two women and burn down
houses in Belgian villages

in the valley of the Meuse.

The killing machine
is on the rampage.

These teenagers are prepared
to do anything and have
nothing left to lose:

Exactly what Hitler
needs as Nazi Germany

teeters on the
brink of collapse.

Autumn 1944.

His generals no longer
believe that the war can be won,

but he still does.

He tries one final
roll of the dice.

And he draws on the
irrational faith in victory

that was inculcated
into the Hitler Youth.

Hans Baumann, the boy who
just wanted to be a policeman,

now finds himself clinging to
his belief to the bitter end.

HANS: I must admit that I was
among those who believed

that a miracle would happen.

(gunfire and explosion)

NARRATOR: On
December 16th, 1944,

Hitler launches
the counter-offensive
in the Ardennes.

The teen-soldiers are
still dazzled by his aura,

and head back into combat.

In icy conditions,
and poorly equipped,

they advance head-long
into the abyss.

HANS: When I think of the
conditions under which we left

for the Ardennes...

it was criminal.

Ultimately, we had to stop
because we ran out of gas.

NARRATOR: Weakened by
their latest failure,

the teenagers of the
12th Division

now find themselves transferred
to the 6th panzer army,

trying to shore up breaches
in Hungary and Austria.

Laying down their weapons
is never an option for them.

That is, until their symbolic
father, Adolf Hitler,

takes his own life
on April 30th, 1945.

The parallel universe
in which they have
lived since childhood

suddenly evaporates.

HANS: It wasn't
so easy to accept.

It was as though something
had been taken from us.

Some of us cried.

I can definitely say that
all of us were bereft.

What would happen now?

NARRATOR: On May 8th 1945, the
capitulation of Nazi Germany

comes down like a hammer.

The world of the
12th Division's teen
soldiers collapses,

but their story
is not yet over.

Now comes the
time of reckoning.

EBERHARD: The Americans
were screaming,

"You, SS, hands up!"
We had to raise our hands.

They looked up our blood type.

Naturally, they sorted us
out: "You, SS, over there!"

NARRATOR: Identified
by their tattoos,

the SS were separated from
other prisoners of war.

The leaders who incited
them to commit war
crimes will stand trial.

In December 1945, Kurt Meyer,

the idol of the youngsters
in the 12th Division,

is tried before
a Canadian court.

He is sentenced to death
for executing prisoners
of war in Normandy.

In France, the trial of those
accused of the Ascq massacre

takes place in August 1949.

The members of the
reconnaissance unit

responsible for
killing 86 villagers

are also sentenced
to capital punishment.

But all the death sentences will
be commuted to prison terms.

This is the price for
reconciliation with Germany,
and therefore peace.

Kurt Meyer would be
released after ten years.

Despite being sentenced to
death in France for his part

in the massacre at Ascq,

Karl Münter lived free
until his death in 2019.

And yet, behind this apparent
immunity, lies another truth.

That of the teenagers who
have had to bear the burden

of their enlistment for
the rest of their lives.

HANS (off-screen): By
the time the war was over,
we were a few years older,

and we had thought
things through a bit.

As teenagers, we considered
certain things good,

when in fact they were not.

ERICH (off-screen):
At the time,
I believed in it,

and I took part
enthusiastically.

But now, I can see
it was a mistake.

We no longer knew
right from wrong.

EBERHARD (off-screen):
I think it was a tragedy,

and one which should
never be repeated.

(yelling)

NARRATOR: By forming a
teenage armored division,

Hitler and his
right-hand man, Himmler,

had created a monster.

And yet, Nazi barbarity
did not immunize humanity

against the folly
of totalitarianism.

This story of
indoctrination of young,
impressionable minds,

far from being consigned to
the past, is repeating itself.

Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.