All language subtitles for The Road to Berlin Part I

general i've been in the wilds of

hungary

i know almost nothing about amigo

vestila what it's composed of

and what the situation is on the order

these have to be thrown back no matter

what happens elsewhere

the russians must be contained on the

odor

it's our only hope who prepared this

rubbishy road

whoever he is he should be committed to

a lunatic asylum

the troops of the first belorussian

front are ready to march in two weeks

and it is obvious that konya's first

ukrainian front will finish its

preparations for the same time we will

take berlin

and we will take it before the allies

when is it planned to launch an

offensive in the berlin direction

germany 1945 many things have been said

about the deteriorated state

of the german war machine in the last

months of the war

but a closer look shows that the

situation was not altogether

catastrophic

some aspects were bad indeed while

others

were not so manpower

was obviously the main concern

the losses in 1944 had surpassed by far

all previous years only eight hundred

thousand conscripts

could be incorporated into the army this

year the lowest number since the

beginning of the war

whereas twice that number was necessary

to replenish to full strength

the divisions already deployed at the

front

the deficit is not only in quantity

but also in quality not only are the new

recruits either under aged or overaged

but they are also completely

inexperienced

more foreign nationals are also

incorporated into the vermont

and since it is hardly possible to fill

up the ranks in the army

there is no way to do so for the

interior troops either

other than to raise a national militia

the folk storm of people aged

18 to 65 officially and reality

even beyond that age range

a frenchman of a german mother who

served in the gross deutschland division

describes the first battalion of the

volksterm he met

some of them stooped with arched legs

and profuse wrinkles

well over their 60 years or the felgra

with a mauser on their shoulder

but even more surprising were the young

people it was really about children

who rub shoulders with these old men

with sad looks

children the eldest of which was barely

16

but i'm not lying when i say that some

were barely 13 years old

they had been hastily dressed in used

uniforms intended for men

and armed with a rifle sometimes as

large as themselves

some laughed and heckled completely

forgetting the military education

impossible given their age that they had

been taught in barely three weeks

many of them carried in their school bag

recently emptied of all school items

some provisions or clothes stuffed

inside by other mother's hand

sakura and sweets were even exchanged

granted by the food distribution

to those under 13.

between 5 and 10 million people are

theoretically eligible for the

volkswagen

but far fewer actually end up being

recruited

about 400 000 yet who knows what could

have happened had hitler's government

been allowed to pursue his criminal

policies for a longer time

so yes it is true that in 1945 manpower

is scarcer than ever

and yes it is also true that the entire

german economy is on the brink of

collapse

the reich is severely lacking resources

for most of all

the okw reported in january we have

50 000 tonnes of gasoline fuel against

185

000 tons last august down to 28 percent

there are 12 000 tons of aircraft fuel

compared to 200

000 tons in the previous may

the numbers say it all and yet

despite the shortages on the rampant

disorganization

weapons remain relatively abundant and

are of excellent quality

these levels could only be maintained by

extensive use of slave labor

an enormous quantity of young men and

women from all over europe

most of all from the soviet union forced

to work in harsh conditions in german

factory

just like industry agriculture is also

relying on forced labor

french pows have become a usual site in

german farms

since 1940 and goods and raw materials

continue coming in

from all still occupied countries

as a result by the beginning of 1945

the here german ground forces has

over four thousand stern geschutz one

thousand six hundred mark fours

two thousand panthers four hundred

tigers and one thousand four hundred

yard panzer

even the luftwaffe is nowhere near as

badly off

as has often been written on january 10

it still has 2500 fighters and 1 000

ground attack aircraft

these figures will allow the valmak to

perform relatively well

in this prelude to the last stage of the

war but then

very quickly the deficit in pilots and

fuel

was to ground all the remaining aircraft

and to immobilize the brand new heavy

panzers

so let's have a closer look at the

composition of first and infantry

division

and then a panzer division at this time

and to compare it

to what it was before when the velmat

was at its best

firstly a typical infantry division

in early 1945 it was composed like this

the headquarters and headquarter company

three

infantry regiments each with two

infantry battalions

instead of three as they were in 41

each of three companies plus a machine

gun company a pioneer company an

anti-tank company

and a heavy weapons company an anti-tank

battalion with eight

towed 75 millimeter pack guns plus a

flat company

eight anti-aircraft guns a tank

destroyer company with 10 hectare

a rifle battalion with heavy machine

guns and mortars

an artillery regiment with 40

horse-drawn howitzers

a communications battalion a pioneer

battalion with two companies

one of them motorized and the usual

replacement

battalion medical services logistics etc

there were about 1 300 men per regiment

30 offices and 300 ncos

in total a significant thoughts of ten

thousand men

six thousand of whom would actually

fight around five hundred machine guns

sixty field guns forty eighty tank guns

sixty heavy mortars

thirty six punch of shreks antique

aircraft guns

30 tank destroyers and around 2 000

horses

the last part is important for in the

last stage of the war the german

infantry divisions

still relied above all on horses for

logistics

even more than the first stage in 1939

january 1945 sees a record figure of one

million horses used directly at the

front

and the divisions of the last waves

formed between january and april 1945

each have more non-motorized transport

3600 horses 1 600 carts

and 1 500 bicycles whereas there are

fewer motor vehicles

130 motorcycles 150 light vehicles and

200 trucks

now let's consider a typical panzer

division

there are 15 000 men including 380

officers

and 3200 ncos an exceptionally high

staff

ratio compared to that of the infantry

a headquarters and headquarters company

one regiment of tanks two regiments of

grenadiers

one regiment of artillery with 105 on

150 millimeter guns

communications battalion a pioneer

battalion

these were equipped with 45 mark ivs

45 panthers 20 hetzer

30 pack 75 millimeter guns 12 pack

88 millimeter flat guns 60 flat

30 millimeter 50 heavy mortars 40 field

guns of 105 on 155 millimeter

one of the grenadier regiments is

carried on half tracks the other on

trucks

a terrible firepower in theory but for

how long will this strength remain in

reality

strategic situation in 1941.

on january 1st 1945 both the western

allies on the rhine

and the red army on the vistula are the

same distance from berlin

about 500 kilometers but then

on 12 january the red army launches two

of the most gigantic military operations

in human history

never equalled in scale before or since

within three weeks three soviet fronts

seized east prussia

destroying army group center for the

second time six months

after the operation bhagaratian had

already done it once

and advanced through poland from the

vistula to the oda

shattering army group a in the process

by 15

february the gigantic soviet offensive

has propelled the red army to the oda

50 kilometers from the capital whereas

american and british troops are still

struggling in the far reaches of germany

pressed by his generals hitler finally

agrees to perform a dramatic shift of

forces

from the western to the eastern front

by 15 march the situation changed from a

relatively well balanced one

between western and eastern fronts to a

completely different one

where the better part of the german

forces are deployed on the order front

facing the soviets

so let's have a closer look at the

situation in the east at the time

our series on the final battle begins

four german army groups including 12

armies

hold a two thousand kilometer front

extending from kurland in the baltic

to lake balaton in hungary these forces

are about half those available

for the invasion of the ussr four years

previously

they are now totaling one million six

hundred thousand men

one thousand tanks two thousand assault

guns and less than one thousand aircraft

only half this strength in manpower is

facing west

the main part of the german forces in

the east is regrouped

in an army group on the vistula german

here's grupaviksel

formed in late january from elements

that could be saved

from destruction in army group a army

group centre

and from an assortment of rebuilt and

new units

army group distiller was to become

germany's last major force

and the reich's last line of defense at

first

guderian who was by now head of okh

intended to propose field marshal font

vikes as commander of the new army group

however hitler's desire to transfer

control of the conflict

from the vermont to the ss prompted him

to appoint

reichsfield himmler as commander instead

himmler who lacked any military

knowledge proved inadequate to the task

and was replaced by general heinrichy on

the 20th of march

contrary to himmler who excelled only in

crimes against humanity haritzi was a

highly experienced officer

and among the most humane commanders in

the wehrmacht

although he was forced to withdraw his

first panzer army from hungary into

czechoslovakia

heinrich had contested the ground so

tenaciously that on three march he was

informed

that he had been decorated with the

swords to the oak leaves of his night's

cross

a remarkable accomplishment for a man

who was disliked so intensely by hitler

and now he was rushing to zosin the army

group headquarters with orders to take

over command

of the strategically important army

group vestila

the meeting between guderian and

heinrich at zoten

berlin region 20 march 1945.

the meeting between heinrich and

gadarian at zotsun has been depicted in

detail

by cornelius ryan in the last battle

it is extremely informative and

revealing of the psychological climate

of those days

in the high spheres of german power the

supreme headquarters of the german army

a few kilometers south of berlin had

been recently bombed and some buildings

were badly damaged

the first person hainochi saw was

general krebs gadarian's chief of staff

who had been injured in the raid monocle

rammed in his right eye he sat behind a

desk in an office

close to gadarians his head wrapped in a

large white turban of bandages

heinrichy did not care much for cribs

though the chief of staff was extremely

intelligent

heinrichy saw him as a man who refused

to believe the truth

who could change black to white so as to

minimize the true situation for hitler

heinrichy looked at him forgoing the

niceties and asked abruptly

what happened to you krebs shrugged oh

it was nothing

he replied nothing krebs had always been

unperturbable

before the war he had been military

attache at the german embassy in moscow

and he spoke near perfect russian after

the signing of the rosso

japanese neutrality pact in 1941 which

the german diplomat

helped to achieve stalin had embraced

cribs saying we shall always be friends

krebs mentioned to heinrichy that he was

still learning russian

every morning he said i place a

dictionary on a shelf beneath the mirror

and while shaving

learn a few more russian words heinrichy

nodded

krebs might find his russian useful soon

everyone seemed immaculately dressed in

shining high boots

well-cut and well-pressed field gray

uniforms

with red tabs of star frank at the

collar among them heinrichy seemed out

of place

with the fur collar sheepskin that never

left him

as heinrichy entered the office kaderian

rose from his desk

warmly greeted the visitor and offered

him a chair

heinrichy saw that gadarian was tense

and edgy

broad-shouldered with thinning grey hair

and a straggling mustache

he seemed much older than his 56 years

the creator of hitless panzer forces the

general whose armored techniques had

brought about the capture of france

and who had nearly succeeded in

accomplishing as much in russia

found himself almost completely

powerless now

even as chief of the general staff he

had virtually no influence over hitler

a hot-tempered officer at the best of

times gadarian was now so thwarted

that he was subject to violent rages as

they talked heinrich looked about him

the office was spartan a large map table

several straight back chairs

two phones a green lampshade on the desk

and nothing on the yellow beige walls

except the usual frame picture of hitler

over the map table

the chief of the general staff did not

even have an easy chair

though gadarian and heinrichy were not

intimate friends

they had known each other for years

respected each other's professional

competence

and were close enough to converse freely

and informally

as soon as they got down to business

heinrichy spoke

frankly general i've been in the wilds

of hungary

i know almost nothing about amigo

vestila what it's composed of

and what the situation is on the order

gadarin was equally blunt

briskly he replied i should tell you

heinrichy

that hitler didn't want to give you this

command he had somebody else in mind

i was responsible i told hitler that you

were the one man needed

at first he wouldn't consider you at all

finally i got him to agree

gadarian spoke in a business-like

matter-of-fact fashion

but as he warmed to his subject the tone

of his voice

changed himmler that was the biggest

problem

getting rid of the manual to replace

himmler

bitterly gadarian recounted how in

january as the polish front began to

collapse before the tidal weight of the

red army

he had desperately urged the formation

of army gravistula

to command the group gadarian had

suggested field marshall von vikes

at that time vikes was just the man for

the situation

so what happened hitler said vikes was

too

old yodel was present at the conference

and i expected him to support me but

he made some remark about vice's

religious feelings

that ended the matter then whom did we

get

hitler appointed himmler of all people

himmler gadarian had argued and pleaded

against the appalling and preposterous

appointment

of this man who had no military

knowledge but hitler remained adamant

gadarian went on thundering on the

himmler

the front had all but collapsed the red

army had moved exactly as was

predictable

once the russians were across the

vistula part of their forces swung

north reached the baltic at danzig

cutting off and encircling over 20

divisions

in east prussia alone the remaining

soviet army

sliced through pomerania silesia then

they reached the older and nicer rivers

everywhere along the eastern front our

line was overwhelmed but

no sector had collapsed so fast as

himmler's

his incompetence had opened the gates to

the main drive across

germany and it had placed berlin in

jeopardy

hitler finally relieved the overworked

overburdened reich's flora but only

after

a lot of grumbling and with obvious

reluctance

gadarian paused but only for a moment

his acrimonious recital of disaster had

been punctuated by bursts of anger

now he fled again the mess we're in is

fantastic

the way the war is being run is

unbelievable unbelievable

through the previous months we had tried

to get hitler to understand that the

real danger lay on the eastern front

and that drastic measures were necessary

we urged a series of strategic

withdrawals from the baltic particularly

from

kirland and from the balkans and even

suggested abandoning norway and

italy everywhere lines needed shortening

each division relieved could be sped

to the russian front according to

intelligence the russians had twice as

many divisions as the western

allies yet there were fewer german

divisions fighting in the east and the

west

and the best divisions were fighting

eisenhower but hitler refused to go on

the defensive he would not believe the

facts

and figures on january 9 gadarian had

told hitler that the russians could be

expected to launch their attack from the

baltic

to the balkans with a great force

totaling some 225 divisions

and 22 armored corps the situation

estimate had been

prepared by general galen the chief of

intelligence

it indicated that the russians would

outnumber the germans in infantry by

11 to 1 in armor by 7 to 1

in both artillery and aircraft by at

least

twenty to one hitler hit the table and

denounced in a frenzy

the author of the report who prepared

this rubbishy road

whoever he is he should be committed to

a lunatic asylum

retorted angrily saying that since he

personally

fully trusts this data then he should be

sent for a psychiatric examination

hitler categorically refused all

requests to withdraw the troops meaning

the defenses at the vistula

and east prussia fronts to more

advantageous positions

he also insisted that 200 000 german

soldiers

trapped in the kurland peninsula stay

there and did not allow their evacuation

by sea

to protect the borders of the reich

gadarium who was disgusted with this

ostrich strategy of hitler's

headquarters

asked for a vacation the eastern front

the fuhrer suddenly said trying to calm

him down

has never before had such powerful

reserves as it does now

this is your merit and i thank you for

that gadarian objected

the eastern front looks like a house of

cards and if the front is broken in one

place then everything else will collapse

the irony of this situation was that

goebbels said the same thing in 1941

about the red army

three days later the red army attacked

and galen was proved right

gadarian told henry t the front

virtually collapsed simply because most

of our panzer forces were tied down in

the west

finally hitler agreed to shift some of

the armor but he would not let me use

the tanks to attack the russian

spearheads

east of berlin where did he send them to

hungary

where they were thrown into a perfectly

useless attack to recapture the oil

fields why even now there are 18

divisions sitting in curling tied down

doing nothing they are needed here not

in the baltics

if we're going to survive everything has

got to be on the odor front

galerion paused and with an effort

calmed himself

then he said the russians are looking

down our throats

they've halted their offensive to

reorganize and regroup

we estimate that you'll have three to

four weeks to prepare until the floods

go again

in that time the russians will try to

establish new bridgeheads on the western

bank and broaden those

they already have these have to be

thrown back

no matter what happens elsewhere the

russians must be contained

on the odor it's our only hope

we've reviewed the situation of the

fermat in 1945

we've also had an overview of the soviet

strategic operations that ended up on

the oda

at the gates of berlin and finally we

saw how the german command prepared the

last line of defence

now let's review the state of the red

army at this time

and see what kind of troops were used in

those giant operations

that ended up so successfully but first

a word about a 50 year old legend that

will try to debunk

the controversies of the german defeat

history is written by the victors as the

saying goes

and yet the german soviet war

contradicts this fact

in the west it was the defeated germans

who wrote the history of their fight

against the red army their prejudices

their unending search for excuses and

alibis have shaped the perception

and judgment of westerners on the real

value of the red army

the defeated generals of the austria

have always

emphasized their tactical superiority

which isn't generally fair

but which also shows that they did not

grasp

the reasons for their defeat in the east

what good is it to have one after

another of tactical victories

to see the results ultimately swallowed

up in strategic disasters

it was not until the end of the cold war

that a new generation of western

historians

bought out a hidden reality what the

germans believed to be their strength

was actually their weakness and the

weakness which they found in their enemy

actually hid a formidable revolution for

leading modern war operations

the performances of the vermont in the

initial period of the war

seemed so extraordinary that they went

straight into the books of military

legends

and thus there's now a paradox even as

hitler's army suffered total defeat in

the second world war

it still remains to this day in the eyes

of a large public

the credit of having bought up new and

almost magical form of warfare called

the blitzkrieg

on the other hand the soviets are placed

by common opinion in the opposite

situation

they may well have won the war they may

have won 20 major battles since

stalingrad and yet

doubt suspicion or even contempt still

too often cling to their military

performance

in this commonly accepted version the

soviet achievements

would be characterized by brutal orders

since of tactical skill

primacy of numbers and raw firepower in

reality

if this was true in the beginning of the

war it was certainly not

at the end

the world's most powerful army

the red army of 1945 has little in

common

with that of the red army of 1941.

gone are the frustrations of the

beginning of the war when soldiers and

commanders despaired

over complete helplessness when troops

and material were wasted in vain despite

the strong will to fight back

when entire soviet armored cores were

immobilized for lack of fuel

and technical deficiencies when they

were heading in the wrong direction

for lack of communication or when they

were wiped out before reaching the

battlefield

mauled by german aviation acting with

complete immunity

gone are the days when soviet pilots

could do nothing but ram themselves into

enemy fighters to take them down

the sky is no longer swarming with

yonkers and meshes smiths

but with yaks migs and stumovics the

lands are now full of thundering stalin

tanks

and super heavy assault artillery and

the soviet soldiers morale

is at its highest but just imagine

from where they've come from what an

incredible comeback for the soviet army

since the summer of 1942 soviet industry

has already won the arms race against

germany

with incomparable production levels

by 1945 it has matured beyond

expectations

for over two years now the euro

factories are releasing enormous

quantities of high quality material

that perfectly suits the needs of the

troops at the front

tank men and pilots are now totally

confident in the machines they received

which was not always the case before

they have nothing to envy from their

german opponents

they know they are as powerful as them

not only in terms of technical abilities

but also in training they are fully

mastering their

tanks and aircraft they have at least as

many aces as their enemy

and they have all the necessary

resources in fuel and ammunition

to operate them american deliveries

bring a large complement

of ammunition food supplies and in

particular transport equipment

the structures of the units have also

been completely redesigned

and the fighting tactics brought closer

to the doctrines of the 1930s

after three and a half years of an

abominable struggle

the soviet generals have risen to the

level of their adversaries

for the first time in the war the losses

in the austria

exceed that of the red army by about a

quarter from june to september 1944

then by a third between january and may

1945

not to mention the number of prisoners

although the red army tactics

remain less flexible when it comes to

lower level formations

and if the infantry still does not have

the same training as the austria

the soviet leaders perform better than

the germans in leading strategic

operations

and nothing can compare to the red

artillery

and still these achievements must not

hide the deficiencies of the red army

that remain even in the late stages of

the war

so let's continue busting some of the

most popular myths

and legends about the red army and have

a closer look

at the alleged sheer numbers and the

waves of men

that submerge their opponents since 1944

the most serious problem of the red army

was undoubtedly that of manpower in this

respect

it is similar to the problem faced by

germany

the losses since 1941 have been so heavy

that there are no longer enough men who

can populate the 450 infantry divisions

deployed at the front in 1945

out of about 12 000 authorized strength

a soviet division usually counts five

thousand to seven thousand at best

a soviet infantry corps has hardly the

strength in numbers

of a british or an american division

just like in the veil act

the gaps in the red army are compensated

by underage or overage recruits

without real military training or by

formations hastily raised

in the re-conquered territories with

liberated prisoners of war

and forced laborers freed from german

bonds

the appearance of the infantry divisions

varies a lot

whereas the guards keep a martial look

the ordinary divisions are often in bad

shape

the uniforms are dirty in tatters and

patched up

the units are followed by picturesque

herds of cows and sheep

horses donkeys camels carts loaded with

a motley booty and still this relative

weakness is compensated by first-rate

equipment

a standard 1945 soviet rifle division

has a battalion of 16 su-76 assault guns

attached as well as an anti-tank

battalion of 66 guns

it's also very well equipped in

automatic weapons 1500 submachine guns

the excellent pps 43 and the ppsh-41

500 decked yard of light machine guns

150 gordy unoff

sg43 heavy machine guns and 200

anti-tank rifles

the second major problem with the soviet

inventory

in the last stage of the war is its low

mobility

there are not enough trucks despite the

lend lease deliveries

there are 665 000 trucks available to

the army

including 427 000 of american origin

for more than six million men for

comparison

the 1.5 million men of the u.s army can

count

on one million vehicles of all types

soviet infantrymen go on foot artillery

and supplies are largely horse drawn

we are far from the 100 motorized

british and american divisions

able to cover 300 kilometers in one day

like its german counterpart the soviet

rifle division cannot be asked for more

than 20 kilometers a day

another problem not solved in 1945 the

soviet infantry has nothing to compare

to the german panzerfaust

or panzer shrek the american bazooka

or even the british piet its anti-tank

rifles have never shown great efficiency

and finally if field communications had

greatly improved since 1941

they are still lagging behind those of

the western armies

during the offensive there is a radio

link between the regiment and the

division

as well as between the regiment and the

battalions

but below that level the situation is

still as bad as before

the battalions and companies communicate

by couriers

and the company commander uses hand

signals to lead his platoons

stalin moscow meeting

1st of april 1945.

at about the time heinrichsie met

guderian

in late march preparations for the

berlin operation were ending in moscow

a tense atmosphere reigned in the

kremlin stalin was convinced that the

germans would do everything possible

to reach an agreement with the west

while fighting like mad in the east

the negotiations in switzerland between

the americans and general wolf

on a ceasefire in northern italy only

confirmed the worst suspicions

zhukov who was entrusted with the

capture of the german capital

also shared stalin's fears that the

germans would open the front to the

western allies

on march 27 two days before he flew to

moscow

a reuters correspondent noted that the

british and american units advancing

into germany

were encountering virtually no

resistance this report caused great

alarm in moscow

stalin argued

unfolded the map he had bought with the

intelligence data on the opposing forces

after stalin carefully studied it he

asked when is it planned to launch an

offensive in the berlin direction

zhukov replied the troops of the first

belorussian front are ready to march in

two weeks

and it is obvious that konya's first

ukrainian front will finish its

preparations for the same time

however rokosovsky's second belarussian

front is still engaged in heavy fighting

against the german strongholds in poland

stalin replied well we'll have to begin

the operation

without waiting for rokosovsky's front

then he went to his desk took a piece of

paper and handed it to his interlocutor

according to zhukov it was a letter from

a foreign source sympathetic to the ussr

which warned the soviet leadership about

secret negotiations between the western

allies and the germans

and although the source's information

also said that the americans and the

british rejected the german proposals

for a separate piece nevertheless the

possibility remained

that the germans would open the front to

the western allies

stalin asked zhukov zhukov

what do you think about this matter but

without waiting for an answer he went on

roosevelt is unlikely to violate the

altar agreements

as for churchill you can expect anything

from this man

two days later on april 1 a decisive

meeting was held

at the large table in the kremlin office

over which were hung the portraits of

suvrdov

and kututsov marshall's zhukov and konov

were invited

as well as the chief of general staff

general antonoff

and his deputy general schlemenka

stalin asked both marshals if they were

aware of how acute the situation was

zhukov and konef prudently replied that

they were only as informed as the

information at their disposal

then the soviet leader asked tamenka to

read a letter to them

this was a message most likely from

soviet military representatives

at the headquarters of the allied forces

it said that both montgomery's forces

and general patton's third army

would attack berlin after capturing

leipzig

and dresden one cannot discount the

possibility that there was in reality

no such letter and that stalin simply

ordered a falsified text

and read it to the marshals in order to

spur their efforts for the operation

stalin carefully looked at the two

marshals and asked

so who will take berlin we

are the allies

kind of immediately reply we will take

berlin

and we will take it before the allies

stalin looked at konaf with a smile and

asked him

very welcome rod konyev how are you

going to prepare your troops for this

since it's necessary for the first

ukrainian front to carry out a large

regrouping of forces

there is no need to worry about this

comrade stalin the front is definitely

able to carry out all the necessary

measures in time

stalin's eyes could not escape konef's

frank desire

to get ahead of zhukov and take berlin

first

the soviet leader was satisfied he never

missed an opportunity

to create an atmosphere of rivalry

between his subordinates

and if this could win the war even

quicker for him all the better

this set the stage for the last act of

the war

the capture of berlin to follow in the

next

episode

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