Original subtitles

[Music]

all our issues in the east can be traced

to treachery nothing else but treachery

steiner steiner and his troops are to

attack immediately from their positions

in the ebersvalde on the flank of

montreufel's third panzer army

it had been decided at the furore's

conference to turn general bank's 12th

army away from its positions on the

western front

bank will launch an attack toward the

east and berlin relieving the pressure

for ninth army

you cannot sacrifice these children for

a cause that is already lost

i will not use them and i want you to

cancel this order

steiner does not have the strength to

make such an attack i reject this order

i insist on the witch role of the ninth

army now i tell you if this final

request is not approved then i must

demand to be released from my post can i

have an appointment with a viewer to

discuss the situation

[Music]

[Music]

so

[Music]

the heavy fighting on the oda in april

1945

was the last german strategic engagement

on the eastern front

and it literally resulted in the opening

of the road to berlin for the red army

in the last episode we detailed the

difficulties encountered by zhukov's

first biello russian front to break

through the german lines at zelo

and his subsequent decision to commit

the tank armies ahead of time in order

to bulldoze his way to berlin

although this decision was criticized by

many including stalin it nevertheless

achieved its objective

the german defense at zillow began to

crumble away

now let's investigate this key event

from the german perspective we already

know about hitler's belief that the main

soviet offensive was aimed at prague not

at berlin

and for this reason he refused to

provide heinrichy

with the strategic reserves he requested

for the older front

we've also learned that buses ninth army

could only hold its positions and resist

the soviet onslaught for three days

before finally collapsing

let's detail these three days as seen

from a german point of view with a

particular focus on the panzer divisions

that played a key role in this final

stage of the war

for ninth army the first day of fighting

was already hard

two important issues arose at once

the premature commitment of almost all

its reserves and the very high losses

suffered by the infantry units

yet busa resisted the first assault and

zhukov ended up extremely disappointed

he fell into the trap set by heinrichy

he wasted his artillery barrage on

almost empty positions his spotlight

idea was a fiasco his losses were

appalling in men and tanks

so that if the first day was a hard one

for the germans it was a disaster for

the soviets

both sides feverishly regrouped forces

for what was to come next

facing this difficult situation the okw

was forced to release from reserve the

18th and 25th panzer grenadier divisions

which left in the evening for

mitchenberg to join general veidling's

56 panzer corps

heinrichy wanted to use these forces to

counter-attack the russians ahead of

muntenberg

hitler decided otherwise and directed

the first towards zelo and the second to

world written

but even more important than infantry

were the armored units busa desperately

called for panzers to counter the

looming soviet breakthrough initially

reluctant hitler eventually agreed to

give all he had left the ss panzer

grenadier divisions nederland and

nordland along with the tank destroyer

brigades pirate and dawn

in addition around 10 alarm battalions

comprising 50 of hitler youth teenagers

were transported by bus from berlin to

the munchenberg region

on the night of the 18th of april the

two ss divisions began to head south

there were no more than 60 kilometers to

cover on small roads but the destroyed

bridges the intense traffic and the lack

of fuel explained the piecemeal arrival

of the ss near mitchenburg only in the

morning

of these two units the nodland division

led by griffin fiora ziegler although

badly mauled in pomerania was the most

able or rather the less weak

it had three thousand men

twenty-four stern geschutz and ten

jagged panzer four

but its best asset was the heavy

battalion 503

the unit which possesses the highest

number of hits per day of the entire war

despite its recent creation

only four months ago

its leader stumban fiore herzig had 12

koenigs diggers at his disposal covered

by half a dozen verbal wind with

quadruple 20 millimeter flat guns

these two weapons each in their category

were unparalleled in the armies of the

time

as for the netherland division it was

actually a kampf group of a thousand men

made from general zifat's 48th ss panzer

grenadier regiment

with its heavy weapons sturm kashutsa

and yagpunzers

at 56 panzer corps headquarters general

vitaling was bewildered the

reinforcements he had expected did not

show up during the night in early

morning one man from the northland

division did show up the commander major

general ziegler he announced calmly that

his division was still miles away he had

run out of fuel vitaling was delivered

every panzer division carried reserves

for such emergencies but ziegler who

disliked fighting under vermont officers

apparently did not consider his

division's arrival urgent

now 20 precious hours had been lost in

refueling and ziegler was not in

position and the setbacks continued

the 18th panzer grenadier division which

should have reached vitaling the day

before on the 17th had just arrived

the counter-attacks that had been

planned for this force would not take

place the division had arrived just in

time to retreat but the greatest

disaster was linked to goring's ninth

parachute division

this unit had worried heinrichy even

before the fighting

and when zhukov's column surged out from

zelo heights guring's paratroopers

panicked and broke as the russian tank's

guns blazing smashed into their lines

colonel verlamann vitaling's artillery

commander witnessed the route that

followed everywhere soldiers were

running away like mad men drawing my

pistol did not help stems a tide i found

the division's commander utterly alone

and completely downcast by the flight of

his men trying to hold back whatever

there was left to hold back

eventually the headlong flight was

contained but these much wanted power

troopers remain a threat to the rest of

the fighting as for heinrichy when he

heard the news he rang guring directly

he said acidly i have something to tell

you

those casino troops of yours those

famous paratroopers

well they have run away although veiling

tried desperately to stem the russian

armored assaults his front could not

hold his chief of staff fonduffing

reported the russians are beginning to

force us back by applying terrific

pressure in a kind of horseshoe-like

maneuver

hitting us from both sides then

encircling us again and again

the car is also subjected to heavy

aviation attacks

vitaling had lost communication with

buses headquarters

at night four the leader of the hitler

youth arthur axeman arrived he bought

news he was sure would please vitaling

his youngsters he announced were ready

to fight and were even now manning the

roads in 56 panzer corps rear area my

youngsters are ready to fight right now

they're already manning the roads in the

rear of 56 panzer corps veidling's

reaction to the news was not what oxman

had expected he was so enraged that for

a moment he was almost inarticulate then

using extremely coarse language he said

angrily you cannot sacrifice these

children for a cause that is already

lost i will not use them and i want you

to cancel this order the pudgy axeman

hurriedly gave vitaling his word that

the order would be counterminded

now that we've seen the details of the

red army's breakthrough on the order

from april 16 to 19 let's develop the

three days that followed

from april 20 to 23 the troops of the

first bialorrussian front

and the first ukrainian front managed to

encircle the german forces of army group

vistala southeast of berlin

we'll see what desperate measures the

german high command took to try and save

the situation

we'll hear the names of steiner and venk

during a famous hitler conference

then

in the next episode we'll concentrate on

the capture of berlin itself in the last

days of april and the 1st of may

thus completing our series

the 20th of april

as the other front was ripped apart

goebbels propaganda ministry could not

ignore the threat any longer

the nazi party newspaper worker shabir

bhakta said

a new and heavy trial

perhaps the heaviest of all is before us

each square meter of territory which the

enemy has to fight for its soviet tank

which a grenadier a rockstrom man or a

hitler lad destroys

bears more weight today than at any

other time in this war

the word for the day is

clench your teeth

fight like the devil

do not give up one foot of soil easily

the hour of decision demands the last

the greatest effort

on the afternoon of the 18th

general raymond chief of the berlin

garrison received an order from the

reich's council eye later confirmed by a

personal call from goebbels that all

forces available including folksterm

have been requested by the ninth army to

hold the second line positions

in other words the city was to be

stripped to man the outer defences

reinman was astounded

hurriedly ten folk storm battalions were

rounded up along with a regiment of

anti-aircraft defense units of the gross

deutschland guard regiment

after hours of search and requisition a

miscellaneous collection of vehicles was

assembled and the force headed east

as he watched them go raymond turned to

goebbels deputy

tell gobbles that it is no longer

possible to defend the right capital the

inhabitants are defenseless

under the present circumstances

heinrichy knew berlin could not be

defended he had no intention of allowing

his armies to fall back into the city

tanks would not be able to maneuver

there because of the buildings artillery

could not be used they would have no

field of fire

at all costs heinrichy hoped to avoid

the horror of block to block street to

street fighting his main concern at the

moment was busa's army he was sure that

if he was not pulled back quickly it

will be encircled

after a visit to the front this same day

he notified krebs at the german high

command

i have driven all over the front signs

of disintegration are everywhere roads

are covered with the vehicles of

refugees often with military transport

among them for the first time i ran into

troops who were obviously retreating

on the way to ebersvalde i didn't find

one soldier who didn't claim to have

orders to get munitions fuel or

something else from the rear it was

appalling south of ebersfalde the road

was jammed with civilians and soldiers i

had to order the ncos to turn their men

around

at shunholz i saw younger officers

inactive and just looking around they

had to be energetically ordered to build

a line and catch scattered troops the

forest between there and trampe are

filled with groups of soldiers either

resting or retreating no one claimed to

have any orders or assignments in

another area there was a tank

renaissance section resting next to its

parked vehicles i ordered the unit to

move on bees and towel at once and

recapture this critical crossroads there

was so much confusion around ebersvalde

that no one could tell me if a front

existed at all i cannot accept

responsibility or direct this situation

if pussy's army is not withdrawn

immediately i'm asking you to tell that

to the viewer

21st of april in the fiera bunker

hitler's nightly military conference

broke up at zero 300 hours

during the meeting hitler had blamed the

fourth army

that had been crushed by konov's attack

in the very first day of his offensive

for all the problems that had since

arisen

he accused the army of treason the

attendees were taken back krebs asked

my fuhrer do you really believe that the

command committed treason

hitler looked at him with pitying eyes

as if only a fool could ask such a

stupid question all our issues in the

east can be traced to treachery nothing

else but treachery

his fingers stabbing the map he shouted

steiner steiner steiner

for hitler the answer to this situation

was obvious

ss general felix steiner

steiner and his troops are to attack

immediately from their positions in the

ebersvalde on the flank of mantriple's

third panzer army

then they are to heads out cutting off

the russians drive on berlin

steiner's attack will close the gap that

had opened on the northern flank of

pussy's army on hitler's map it appeared

a brilliant move zhukov's drive now

looked like an arrowhead it's based on

the oda its tip pointing directly at

berlin

along zhukov's northern flank was the

little flag that said group steiner

hitler was confident once more steiner's

attack would re-establish contact

between the third and ninth armies

there was only one thing wrong with the

fuhrer's scheme

steiner had virtually no men

earlier heinrichy had decided to place

under steiner the ninth army troops that

had been shoved to the north by the

russian drive

unfortunately the widespread confusion

at the front and the lack of time had

made it impossible to gather sufficient

forces to make the group steiner

operational

in effect there was no group stoner but

the name had stuck and so had the little

flag on hitler's map

now hitler phone steiner

the general remembered his exact words

steiner are you aware that the reich's

marshal has a private army at karen hall

this is to be disbanded at once and sent

into battle whilst steiner tried to

figure out what that was supposed to

mean hitler continued every available

man between berlin and the baltic sea up

to stetten and hamburg is to be drawn

into this attack i have ordered

steiner vainly tried to protest saying

that the troops at his disposal were

inexperienced and when asked precisely

where the attack was to take place

hitler gave him no answer he simply

ended the conversation

steiner then called krebs telling he had

no idea where or when or with what he

was to attack but when he began to

explain that his troops were totally

inexperienced and without heavy weapons

hitler suddenly cut in on the

conversation you will see steiner you

will see so russians will suffer their

greatest defeat before the gates of

berlin

shortly thereafter steiner received the

official order to attack the last

paragraph read

it is expressly forbidden to fall back

to sevest

officers who do not comply

unconditionally with this order are to

be shot right away you steiner are

liable with your head for the execution

of this order the fate of the right

capital depends on the success of your

mission this was signed adolf hitler

after his conversation with steiner

hitler called the luftwaffe's chief of

staff general kola and said

threateningly all air force personnel in

the northern zone who can be made

available are to be placed at the

disposal of steiner and brought to him

any commanding officer who keeps back

personnel will be shot she must be told

of this you yourself will guarantee with

your own head that absolutely every man

is employed caller was dumbfounded it

was the first he had heard of

grubsteiner he called krebs and asked

where steiner was the chief of staff

cryptically answered i can't tell you at

this moment but i promise to find out as

quickly as possible

[Music]

[Music]

throughout this frantic period heinrichy

knew nothing at all about this game when

he finally heard he called krebs at once

steiner does not have the strength to

make such an attack i reject this order

i insist on the witch role of the ninth

army otherwise krebs the only troop unit

still in position to defend hitler and

berlin will be lost

now i tell you if this final request is

not approved then i must demand to be

released from my post can i have an

appointment with the fjord to discuss

the situation

it's just not possible the furore is

overworked

i appeal to the highest officials to

bear in mind the responsibilities they

bore to the troops

that responsibility is borne by the

fuhrer you need to know that ninth army

would be split into several parts by

nightfall

don't worry

sherna would write the situation by

driving north to link up with bruce

it will take sherna several days to

mount an attack by saint the ninth will

no longer exist

you nail my forces down while you tell

me that i must do all i can to avoid the

shame of the few have been encircled in

berlin against my will in spite of my

request to be relieved of my duties i am

being prevented from pulling out the

only forces that can be used for the

protection of the fjord and berlin it is

my conviction that this is the last

moment to withdraw the ninth army

it had been decided at the furious

conference to turn general bank's

twelfth army away from its positions on

the western front bank will launch an

attack toward the east and berlin

relieving the pressure for ninth army

they will be most welcome

just told me that army venk is to turn

around and march in your direction you

should pull out your strongest division

break through the russians and head vest

to meet venk but that would lose me the

bulk of my forces

no arguing this is the order for ninth

army pull out one division and get it

underway to join with wink

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

you