1 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:06,080 ♪ [theme song plays] ♪ 2 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:49,960 [tank engines] 3 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:58,520 [narrator] Summer 1943, and on the eastern front 4 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:00,840 Hitler's armies were in retreat. 5 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,440 [cannons firing] 6 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,960 Huge Soviet artillery barrages and tank assaults 7 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,200 were shredding the German lines. 8 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:19,760 [cannons firing] 9 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:22,200 [bombs exploding] 10 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:23,720 [guns firing] 11 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,760 Hitler, by now, was fighting a war on two fronts. 12 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,240 In Western Europe and Anglo-American force 13 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:34,000 was moving up through Italy, 14 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:36,200 menacing his southern flank. 15 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:41,520 The Germans had been forced to pull 16 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,840 some of their elite troops back from the eastern front to help. 17 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:50,560 [missiles firing] 18 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:55,320 It left their forces in the east 19 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:57,280 dangerously over-stretched. 20 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:00,480 The exhausted German soldiers were up against 21 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,440 the enormous reserves of the huge Soviet military machine. 22 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:08,120 [guns firing] 23 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,120 The Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, now seized 24 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:13,600 this opportunity to wreak his revenge 25 00:02:13,640 --> 00:02:15,840 and move onto the offensive. 26 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,080 [tank engines] 27 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:25,800 By early August 1943 the Red Army had driven the Germans 28 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:28,920 from the cities of Orel and Belgorod. 29 00:02:29,920 --> 00:02:33,600 [people shouting] 30 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,760 - [bombs exploding] - [cannons firing] 31 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,920 To celebrate the victory, Stalin ordered 12, 32 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:48,280 124-gun salvoes and a barrage of fireworks 33 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:49,560 in Moscow's Red Square. 34 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,920 [fireworks booming] 35 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:55,320 [cannons firing] 36 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,360 He proclaimed, "Eternal glory to the heroes who fell 37 00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:02,880 in the struggle for freedom. Death to the German invaders." 38 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,160 [fireworks booming] 39 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:12,520 In Germany, Hitler's response was to take greater 40 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,320 personal control of all important military decisions. 41 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:21,360 [tank engines] 42 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:25,000 The effects were felt almost immediately by Axis troops 43 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:29,120 occupying the strategically important city of Kharkov. 44 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,720 [machine guns firing] 45 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,720 The Soviet forces approached the city from three sides. 46 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,280 The German commander, Erich von Manstein, 47 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,120 ordered a tactical withdrawal. 48 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:55,720 Hitler immediately countermanded it. 49 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:58,120 [guns firing] 50 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,200 Kharkov should be held at all costs. 51 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:06,880 Hitler would not accept anything that would reduce 52 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,400 what he called, Lebensraum, the land he believed 53 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:13,120 Germany needed to ensure its greatness. 54 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,360 Just as importantly, he also believed Germany 55 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,560 would win the war, if not by numbers, 56 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:23,840 then by the sheer will to win. 57 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:26,560 [tank engine] 58 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:30,840 The Germans dug in. 59 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:36,320 [bombs exploding] 60 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:40,840 At first, it seemed to work. 61 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,080 [bombs exploding] 62 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,920 For several days, repeated Soviet assaults were repulsed. 63 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,600 [bombs exploding] 64 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:58,480 More than 300 Russian T-34 tanks were destroyed. 65 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:03,800 [cannons firing] 66 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:08,800 But by the end of August 1943, 67 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:11,400 the German positions had been overrun. 68 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,520 [guns firing] 69 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,040 Eventually, Manstein went against his Fuhrer. 70 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:24,920 He ordered his men to get out. 71 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,280 [fire crackling] 72 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:37,240 The Red Army drove into the ruins of Kharkov the next day. 73 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,600 It marked the beginning of a massive Soviet offensive 74 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:45,360 along a 1,500 mile front. 75 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:52,640 It stretched from Rostov in the south 76 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:54,920 to Smolensk in the north. 77 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,520 [tank engines roaring] 78 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,400 [distant voices of troops] 79 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:10,400 At the southern end of the front, near Rostov, 80 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:12,520 the Russian breakthrough threatened to trap 81 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:15,280 pockets of German soldiers in the Crimea. 82 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,800 [guns firing] 83 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:26,200 Once again, Manstein asked permission to withdraw. 84 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:30,920 All he got was a message from Hitler, 85 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,880 "Don't do anything. I am coming myself." 86 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:40,360 But he never did. 87 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:42,960 The German military was forced into another 88 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,120 last-minute, chaotic retreat. 89 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:54,960 The withdrawal was made worse by bands 90 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,160 of battle-hardened partisans. 91 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:04,920 Many were former Red Army soldiers 92 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:07,440 who had been cut off behind enemy lines. 93 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:13,320 [train sound] 94 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:15,040 [explosion] 95 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:18,240 They now ambushed the retreating Germans, 96 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:21,560 cutting their communication and supply lines. 97 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:28,600 The Germans responded with predictable ferocity. 98 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:37,760 There was savage reprisals against the civilian population. 99 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,520 The Germans also launched a scorched earth policy. 100 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,000 [fire crackling] 101 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,360 [explosions] 102 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:01,920 Factories, power plants, railways, 103 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,560 and bridges were all blown up. 104 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:07,280 [loud explosion] 105 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:18,000 A massive hydro-electric dam, which provided electricity 106 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:20,720 for the whole of the Ukraine, was wrecked. 107 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,520 [water rushing] 108 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:37,600 Meanwhile, in the centre of the front, 109 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:41,040 the Germans fell back across the River Dnieper. 110 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:48,200 As they fled, they blew up yet more bridges 111 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,720 turning the river into a formidable defensive line. 112 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,120 They then dug in along the west bank. 113 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,840 Stalin's response was to offer the Soviet Union's 114 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:09,920 highest award to the first Red Army soldier 115 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:11,320 to cross the river. 116 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:17,680 By the early autumn 1943 a number of small 117 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:19,600 Soviet bridgeheads had been established 118 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:21,600 on the German controlled west bank. 119 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:27,040 [cannons firing] 120 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,400 - [machine guns firing] - [cannons firing] 121 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:33,920 But they met determined German resistance. 122 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:41,400 Fighting raged along the Dnieper throughout October 1943. 123 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,600 [loud explosion] 124 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:52,840 Finally, at the beginning of November, 125 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:55,360 Soviet troops captured Kiev. 126 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,240 [water splashing] 127 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:03,800 All along the river, the Germans were pushed out 128 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:06,160 of their defensive positions 129 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,120 and forced to retreat still further west. 130 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:22,880 By the end of 1943, the Red Army had virtually cleared 131 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:25,960 the Germans out of Russia's historic home. 132 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,640 They were now moving west across the Ukraine. 133 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:40,560 The countries of Europe were in their sights. 134 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:46,720 [machine guns firing] 135 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:49,680 [tank engines roaring] 136 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:58,960 By Spring 1944, Hitler's armies were in full retreat. 137 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,240 [tank engines roaring] 138 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:08,920 The Soviet leadership now poured in 139 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:12,600 ever greater quantities of men and equipment. 140 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,000 The Germans had two excellent tanks: 141 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:22,880 The Tiger 1 and the Panzer Mark V Panther. 142 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:26,760 Both were well-suited to the sort of mobile 143 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:29,880 defensive warfare, which was the only remaining hope 144 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:32,280 for the German armies on the eastern front. 145 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:38,080 But the Red Army had at least twice as many tanks. 146 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:42,520 Mostly, the battle tried T-34 and armament factories 147 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:47,600 in Siberia were turning out more at a rate of 2,000 a month. 148 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:57,640 While Hitler was forced to divide his forces 149 00:11:57,680 --> 00:11:59,880 between a war on two fronts, 150 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:02,760 Stalin's war machine was working flat out. 151 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:10,040 Six million Soviet troops faced less 152 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:12,360 than three million Germans. 153 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:19,040 [guns firing] 154 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:25,960 In early January 1944, the forces of the first 155 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:29,080 Ukrainian front moved in from the north 156 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:31,840 on the German held town of Korsun. 157 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:38,760 It was the last German toehold on what they'd hoped would be 158 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:42,240 their defensive line along the River Dnieper. 159 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:48,800 Twelve days later, the forces of the second 160 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:52,400 Ukrainian front drove forward on the southern side. 161 00:12:57,360 --> 00:12:59,440 The attack followed a, by now, 162 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:01,520 well-established Soviet pattern. 163 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:04,160 First, there was a build-up 164 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:06,360 of an overwhelming number of troops. 165 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:09,800 The Germans were never quite sure 166 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:12,040 where the first assault would come from. 167 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:17,640 [cannons firing] 168 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,280 Then there was a devastating artillery bombardment. 169 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:26,200 [cannons firing] 170 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:33,400 Next, the mass tanks of the Red Army 171 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,400 would punch a hole through the German defences. 172 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,360 Finally, the infantry poured in. 173 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:46,840 [machine guns firing] 174 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:52,880 In Korsun, it quickly became obvious to the Germans 175 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:54,440 they were about to be overwhelmed. 176 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:57,600 [cannons firing] 177 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,720 The German commander, Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, 178 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,880 flew to Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia to beg, 179 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,400 yet again, for permission to pull out. 180 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,480 But Hitler, once more, refused. 181 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:18,880 [guns firing] 182 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:21,720 [tank engines roaring] 183 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:31,720 After a week of fierce fighting, about 60,000 men 184 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:35,200 were trapped in what became known as the Korsun pocket. 185 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:42,240 The Soviet's called it, "Little Stalingrad." 186 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:47,720 The German forces now attempted to break out. 187 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:50,360 [cannon firing] 188 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:56,240 But the Russians were ready for them. 189 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:05,680 T-34 tanks and Cossack horsemen harried the Germans 190 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:07,400 as they tried to escape. 191 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:09,000 [horses neighing] 192 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:11,600 [machine guns firing] 193 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:14,080 The fighting lasted two days. 194 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:16,720 [loud explosions] 195 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:26,640 By the time Korsun fell, the Germans had lost 196 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:28,360 some 30,000 men. 197 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,920 The Red Army forces were now moving forward at speed. 198 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:50,760 Their advance was made possible by fleets of trucks, 199 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:53,200 mostly provided by the United States, 200 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:55,440 that kept their forces supplied. 201 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:00,720 It was a much faster process than for the Germans, 202 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:03,400 who still relied heavily on horses. 203 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:11,320 The Russians were also dominating the skies. 204 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:13,720 [plane engines roaring] 205 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,400 The Luftwaffe had always been a key part 206 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:29,160 of the German war machine. 207 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,040 But Hitler had been forced to divert many of his aircraft 208 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:36,880 to defend the homeland from a US and British 209 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:38,440 bomber offensive. 210 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:43,720 As a result, Russian planes outnumbered 211 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:45,960 the Luftwaffe five to one. 212 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,120 The Red Air Force's Sturmovik fighter-bombers 213 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:55,920 took a heavy toll on German armour and supply columns. 214 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,120 Yet, Hitler refused to contemplate defeat 215 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:09,520 and now announced a new version of his "no retreat" policy. 216 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:16,520 He ordered the German troops to create what he called 217 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,840 "fortified areas" or "local strongholds." 218 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:26,080 These were to be defended to the bitter end. 219 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:30,360 Only with his personal approval, 220 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:32,960 could any of these fortresses be abandoned. 221 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:38,400 It was a desperate ploy 222 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:40,920 and would come to cost the Germans dearly. 223 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:47,240 One of the first tests of the new strategy 224 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:50,560 was near the Ukrainian town of Kamenets-Podolsky. 225 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,440 Here 20 divisions of Panzers were threatened 226 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:58,120 with being cut off. 227 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:04,680 But Hitler declared it a fortified area 228 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:06,640 and refused to allow a retreat. 229 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:12,680 [loud explosion] 230 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:15,160 [cannons firing] 231 00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:22,120 In the face of bitter fighting, 232 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:25,400 there was a vitriolic argument between Hitler and Manstein, 233 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:27,640 who could see the writing on the wall. 234 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:30,800 [missiles firing] 235 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:38,480 Finally, Manstein got his way 236 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:41,320 and the Panzers were given permission to break out. 237 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:52,560 Ten days later, some 200,000 men of the 1st Panzer Army 238 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:56,560 safely reached the German lines over 100 miles to the west. 239 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:04,160 But they had lost most of their heavy equipment and weapons. 240 00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:11,320 By now, Manstein's requests to retreat 241 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:13,280 had become too much for Hitler. 242 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:16,840 The Field Marshal was sacked. 243 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:20,880 [machine guns firing] 244 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:23,520 [cannons firing] 245 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,120 Further south the Germans attempted to hold back 246 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:33,880 the Soviet torrent on the Yuzhny Bug River. 247 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:37,080 [guns firing] 248 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:52,360 They failed and a large force of Germans was caught 249 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,440 behind Russian lines in the Black Sea port of Odessa. 250 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:00,360 They, too, faced being cut off. 251 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:06,280 In early April 1944, Hitler declared it a fortress. 252 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:11,440 But the German troops ignored him 253 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:13,600 and slipped out of the city. 254 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:22,560 Several days later on April 10th, Odessa was liberated. 255 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:30,960 [cannons firing] 256 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:32,880 Stalin was winning on all fronts. 257 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:38,480 He could now turn his attention to the northern Russian city 258 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:41,480 that had suffered under Nazi assault for years. 259 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:46,160 [bombs exploding] 260 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:50,080 [cannons firing] 261 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:58,280 By the beginning of 1944, the Russian city of Leningrad 262 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:00,440 had been under siege from German forces 263 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:02,760 for nearly two and a half years. 264 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,840 During the first winter, almost half a million people 265 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:11,360 had starved to death. 266 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:22,520 Volunteers struggled to put out fires 267 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:24,360 and construct defences. 268 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,760 But by 1944, life in the city had become almost unbearable. 269 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,120 Several attempts to relieve it had failed. 270 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,960 [fire crackling] 271 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,240 One effort in 1942 led to the capture 272 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,840 of more than 50,000 troops of the Soviet 2nd Shock Army. 273 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:13,040 [tank engines roaring] 274 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,120 Another in 1943, had enabled a trickle 275 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:19,320 of supplies to get into the city. 276 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:24,120 But even so, throughout 1943, up to 20,000 people continued 277 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:28,680 to die of cold, disease, and starvation every month. 278 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:49,760 By January 1944, however, with the Germans 279 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:51,360 in headlong retreat, 280 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:54,880 Stalin now turned his attention to the plight of the city. 281 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,280 That month, Soviet forces secretly infiltrated 282 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:07,360 the neighbouring peninsula around Oranienburg. 283 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:12,400 [cannons firing] 284 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:15,800 The attack on the German position started 285 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:18,320 with a savage, 65 minute bombardment. 286 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:21,120 [cannons firing] 287 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:29,600 Then Russian troops ripped into the startled German lines. 288 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,080 At the same time another Soviet force attacked 289 00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:39,400 from the northeast around the city. 290 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,880 They, too, burst onto the German lines. 291 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:49,080 [cannons firing] 292 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,120 For three days the German commander, 293 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,280 Field Marshal Georg von Kuchler, held out. 294 00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:05,560 Finally, he asked Hitler for permission to fall back. 295 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,240 [machine guns firing] 296 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:12,720 Hitler, as always, refused. 297 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,120 [cannons firing] 298 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,160 Kuchler argued back, telling the Fuhrer 299 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,480 only a swift withdrawal would save his army from a massacre. 300 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:35,440 Hitler sacked him. 301 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:37,560 [explosion] 302 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,160 He was replaced by General Walter Model. 303 00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:46,480 He was known as Hitler's fireman 304 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,960 for his fierce loyalty and avid Nazi outlook. 305 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:52,840 [cannons firing] 306 00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:58,520 But even to Model the danger was obvious. 307 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,720 He now disobeyed Hitler and pulled out. 308 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,760 After two and a half years, the siege of Leningrad 309 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:15,440 was finally lifted. 310 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:20,520 Nearly a million Russian civilians had died. 311 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,440 Relief in the city was overwhelming. 312 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:43,480 The first fallout was in neighbouring, 313 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:45,280 pro-German Finland, 314 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,680 which now feared a Soviet invasion. 315 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:54,160 So in March 1944, a secret Finnish delegation 316 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,400 arrived in Moscow to discuss peace. 317 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:03,480 Stalin's terms were harsh. 318 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:09,680 He demanded the Petsamo region in far north of Finland. 319 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:13,160 An area rich in nickel, an important ingredient 320 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:15,520 in the manufacture of metal alloys. 321 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:24,440 He also demanded reparations of $600 million. 322 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:34,360 The Finns refused and prepared for a Soviet invasion. 323 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:38,400 But Finland could wait. 324 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:44,080 The Soviet High Command, or Stavka, as it was known, 325 00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:46,880 had more pressing business further south. 326 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,800 [tank engines roaring] 327 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:06,040 The Red Army offensives in the Ukraine in late 1943 328 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:10,000 had trapped 120,000 German troops in the Crimea. 329 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:17,120 Hitler, as ever, had refused to allow them to withdraw. 330 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:21,120 They now waited helplessly for the Soviet onslaught. 331 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,800 In early April, two months after the lifting 332 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,760 of the siege on Leningrad, it came. 333 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:40,680 The troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front 334 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:43,160 crashed into the Crimea from the north. 335 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:48,120 [cannons firing] 336 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,680 At the same time, a diversionary attack landed 337 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:53,720 on the eastern end of the peninsula. 338 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,520 In less than a day, the Axis troops in the west 339 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:08,280 had given way. 340 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,920 They fell back on the port of Sebastopol 341 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:19,760 and Hitler ordered Fortress Sebastopol 342 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:21,520 to hold out 'til the last man. 343 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:28,240 They didn't stand a chance. 344 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,640 [cannons firing] 345 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:48,920 Within two weeks of the siege, 346 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,720 German troops were being evacuated by sea. 347 00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:55,600 Forty thousand men escaped. 348 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:01,640 But some 30,000 defenders were still trapped in the port. 349 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:07,760 They retreated to the beaches south of the city 350 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,480 hoping to be rescued by more German ships. 351 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:15,840 It didn't happen. 352 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:21,800 The evacuation was interrupted 353 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:24,120 by a Soviet artillery bombardment. 354 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:27,280 [cannons firing] 355 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:37,880 Three days later, the Germans surrendered. 356 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,760 Meanwhile, back in the northwest of the country, 357 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:50,440 the Germans still occupied much of what is Belarus today. 358 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:55,640 But the Red Army had grabbed a vast bulge of land 359 00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,200 stretching into Poland and Romania. 360 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:04,800 It meant the Germans had to defend a 1,400 mile front. 361 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:10,280 They were hugely over-extended. 362 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:16,800 Military logic suggested it was time for the Germans 363 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:20,400 to withdraw to more manageable defensive positions. 364 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:25,960 But Hitler, still obsessed with territorial gain, 365 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,720 refused to allow any further retreat. 366 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:37,640 The German military would continue to pay a high price 367 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:42,200 for Hitler's constant meddling and unrealistic ambitions. 368 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:49,720 [missiles firing] 369 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:02,240 By the spring of 1944, Hitler's forces 370 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:03,840 were stretched to their limit. 371 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:11,160 All along the eastern front, 372 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,280 there as a desperate need for reinforcements. 373 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:23,680 The problem for the German high command was where to place 374 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:27,880 the few resources it had to maximum advantage. 375 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:34,280 German intelligence reports suggested the next 376 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,920 big Red Army offensive would be into Belarus. 377 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:42,360 But Hitler disagreed. 378 00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:45,000 He was convinced Stalin would strike south 379 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:47,760 and seize the Romanian oil fields. 380 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:53,920 Both were wrong, at least, to begin with. 381 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:57,680 In the early summer, the Red Army Command 382 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,120 finally turned its attention to Finland. 383 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:04,680 [cannons firing] 384 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,240 Russian troops attacked across the Karelian Isthmus. 385 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:13,280 [cannons firing] 386 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:19,120 After two days fighting, the Finns were forced to retreat. 387 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:31,560 [bombs exploding] 388 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:36,360 Slowly, over the next month, 389 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,320 the Red Army advanced north into Finland. 390 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:48,320 By August 1944, it was all over 391 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:50,280 and the Finns sued for peace. 392 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:57,200 [audience applauding] 393 00:32:57,440 --> 00:32:59,880 It was now that Stalin showed the first signs 394 00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:03,520 of a pattern that would be repeated across Europe. 395 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:10,320 He seized land, in this case, areas of Finnish Karelia 396 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,080 and the nickel-rich Petsamo region. 397 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:24,640 Next, Stalin's attention turned to Central Europe. 398 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,840 In the summer of 1944, he launched what he called, 399 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:34,360 Operation Bagration, named after a Russian hero 400 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:36,120 of the Napoleonic Wars. 401 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:44,600 At 5 AM on June 22nd, three years to the day 402 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:47,160 after Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, 403 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:50,440 the guns of the Red Army began a ferocious bombardment 404 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:53,840 of German forces, in what today is Belarus. 405 00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:58,200 [cannons firing] 406 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:02,800 [bombs exploding] 407 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:05,640 [cannons firing] 408 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:10,840 It was exactly where months earlier, 409 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:13,320 German intelligence reports had suggested 410 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,080 a Soviet attack would come. 411 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:20,640 But because Hitler had ignored them, 412 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:22,480 the area was poorly defended. 413 00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:24,760 [cannons firing] 414 00:34:26,720 --> 00:34:28,960 It was another of his mistakes. 415 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:36,000 [bombs exploding] 416 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:47,240 The Germans were now being pounded along a 350 mile front. 417 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:48,920 In some places, the Russians used 418 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:51,720 over 400 guns for every mile. 419 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:57,400 [cannons firing] 420 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,840 The barrage was followed, as always, 421 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:10,960 by a torrent of Soviet tanks 422 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,240 and infantry crashing into the German defences. 423 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:22,920 [plane engines roaring] 424 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:27,360 To make matters worse for the Germans, 425 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:29,600 they had almost no air support. 426 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,240 Much of the Luftwaffe was still tied up 427 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:38,240 defending the German homeland. 428 00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,680 It was now that Hitler's folly of fighting a war 429 00:35:44,720 --> 00:35:48,480 on two fronts became all too apparent. 430 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,640 The Red Air Force could operate almost unopposed. 431 00:35:53,720 --> 00:35:56,360 [bombs exploding] 432 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:07,680 Russian planes struck deep behind German lines, 433 00:36:07,720 --> 00:36:10,480 cutting communications and harassing reinforcements. 434 00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:13,920 [bombs exploding] 435 00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:20,840 Within 36 hours the German Panzers had been swept aside. 436 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:30,080 About 50,000 men faced encirclement 437 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:32,840 in the German held town of Vitebsk. 438 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:37,160 [cannons firing] 439 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,480 Hitler, as had become routine, 440 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:45,320 initially refused to let it retreat. 441 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:47,520 [bombs exploding] 442 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:51,920 Then, when on the following day her relented, 443 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:53,760 it was too late for many of his troops. 444 00:36:57,320 --> 00:36:59,960 Four days later, Vitebsk fell. 445 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:05,800 Twenty thousand Axis troops were killed 446 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:08,360 and 10,000 taken prisoner. 447 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:17,280 Further south, along the Belarus front, 448 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:19,120 the pattern was repeated. 449 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:24,440 Hitler, now furious, sacked his general, 450 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:26,280 Field Marshal Ernst Busch. 451 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,120 Once again, he brought in his favourite, 452 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:33,080 the now promoted Field Marshal, Walter Model. 453 00:37:36,240 --> 00:37:38,120 But it made no difference. 454 00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:40,520 Town after town fell. 455 00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:45,960 [tank engines roaring] 456 00:37:49,720 --> 00:37:53,160 The regional capital of Minsk was now within reach. 457 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:02,400 Two days later, the Red Army encircled it. 458 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:09,160 Over 100,000 German troops were trapped. 459 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:12,920 [cannons firing] 460 00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:16,480 Soviet forces bombarded them. 461 00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:20,400 [cannons firing] 462 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:34,240 Within a week, the German survivors surrendered. 463 00:38:41,240 --> 00:38:44,480 The unstoppable Russian advance now pushed on 464 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:46,280 to the Baltic states. 465 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:55,720 First of all, was the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. 466 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:02,920 Across the entire eastern front, 467 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:04,440 the Germans were in retreat. 468 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:11,760 But they left behind them towns and countryside laid waste. 469 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:13,960 [fire crackling] 470 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:18,120 They committed wide-spread atrocities 471 00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:20,440 against local inhabitants. 472 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:23,480 [woman crying] 473 00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:31,800 Nothing, however, could have prepared the Red Army 474 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:33,920 for what it was about to discover. 475 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:40,400 On July 23rd, 1944 Soviet forces reached 476 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:44,400 the small Polish village of Majdanek near Lublin. 477 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:49,560 Here they came across their first evidence 478 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:51,880 of Hitler's final solution. 479 00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:55,200 The Majdanek extermination camp. 480 00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:01,160 It was a camp designed for the murder of Jews 481 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:03,160 on an industrial scale. 482 00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:07,960 But as the first Soviet reports of what they found leaked out, 483 00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:11,240 the Western Allies simply dismissed them. 484 00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:13,920 [woman crying] 485 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,080 Three days after seizing Majdanek, 486 00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:24,280 the Russians were approaching Warsaw. 487 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:31,200 But here the Red Army paused. 488 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:38,240 Stalin now stood ready to do what Hitler had done before, 489 00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:42,880 grab land, not in the name of Lebensraum, but of communism. 490 00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:49,840 [bombs exploding] 491 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:58,600 By the summer of 1944, Operation Bagration had ripped 492 00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:01,520 the heart out of the German army in the east. 493 00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:09,760 More than 300,000 Axis soldiers had died. 494 00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:18,200 One hundred fifty thousand had been taken prisoner. 495 00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:29,680 The Red Army now paused and dug in 496 00:41:29,720 --> 00:41:32,720 along the River Vistula, south of Warsaw. 497 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:41,200 Stalin was in no hurry to bring the war to an end. 498 00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:46,160 With Europe in turmoil, conditions were ideal 499 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:48,080 for the spread of communism. 500 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:02,560 The first victims of Stalin's political calculations 501 00:42:02,600 --> 00:42:04,000 were the Poles. 502 00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:11,320 On August 1st, 1944 the Polish Home Army rose up in Warsaw 503 00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:13,480 against its Nazi occupiers. 504 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:16,120 [cannons firing] 505 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:20,400 But it desperately needed help. 506 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:29,000 The Red Army, camped just to the south, 507 00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:31,360 was perfectly placed to provide it. 508 00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:37,240 But Stalin regarded the Polish Home Army 509 00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:40,920 as close to the Polish government in exile in London 510 00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:43,040 and hostile to communism. 511 00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:48,480 [cannons firing] 512 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:51,720 So he turned a blind eye to the plight 513 00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:53,520 of the Polish fighters. 514 00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:00,760 They were crushed with terrible brutality. 515 00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:06,680 The Germans wouldn't finally be pushed out of Poland 516 00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:11,080 until the Russian army drove them out in January 1945. 517 00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:20,920 It was the start of a Soviet master plan 518 00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:23,320 that would eventually see communism governments 519 00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:25,480 across most of Eastern Europe. 520 00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:32,640 [cannons firing] 521 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:38,520 To the north, contingents of the Red Army continued 522 00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:41,240 to clear the Germans out of the Baltic states. 523 00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:45,440 These would be incorporated into the Soviet Union. 524 00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:56,520 Near the Latvian capital of Riga, over 200,000 Germans 525 00:43:56,560 --> 00:43:59,320 were trapped behind Russian lines. 526 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:01,920 [plane engine roaring] 527 00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:08,240 But Hitler, still determined to hold on to his Lebensraum, 528 00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:10,440 refused to countenance a retreat. 529 00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:14,040 [cannons firing] 530 00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:22,880 Even so, gradually the German forces 531 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:25,120 were pushed back to the Baltic coast. 532 00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:37,040 By mid-October 1944, the Germans had been squeezed 533 00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:40,480 onto the Courland Peninsula, west of Riga. 534 00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:47,840 They would remain marooned there for the rest of the war 535 00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:51,000 when they eventually surrendered to Soviet forces. 536 00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:56,280 [audience applauding] 537 00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:02,120 Stalin, meanwhile, was already sizing up 538 00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:04,920 other territory in Eastern Europe. 539 00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:09,680 He could have moved directly west towards Germany. 540 00:45:09,720 --> 00:45:12,640 Instead, units of the Red Army moved south 541 00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:15,400 in a vast thrust down through the Balkans. 542 00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:18,760 [tank engines roaring] 543 00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:26,480 Nearly 1,500 tanks and a million men pushed into Romania 544 00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:29,040 in late August 1944. 545 00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:37,600 The defending Axis forces had less than 400 tanks 546 00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:40,080 and just 800,000 troops. 547 00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:46,920 [cannons firing] 548 00:45:57,840 --> 00:46:00,120 Pro-German Romanian troops gave way 549 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:03,200 almost immediately all along the front. 550 00:46:09,080 --> 00:46:12,200 Three days later, large pockets of German troops 551 00:46:12,240 --> 00:46:14,160 were surrounded near Kishinev. 552 00:46:17,600 --> 00:46:21,320 Hitler issued his standard command, "No retreat." 553 00:46:21,720 --> 00:46:24,640 [cannons firing] 554 00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:29,840 For nine days there was bitter fighting. 555 00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:33,720 [cannons firing] 556 00:46:34,240 --> 00:46:36,600 [machine guns firing] 557 00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:48,200 Over 180,000 German troops were killed or taken prisoner. 558 00:46:56,120 --> 00:46:59,080 The remainder beat a belated retreat. 559 00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:08,200 In late August, Romania's pro-German dictator, 560 00:47:08,240 --> 00:47:11,200 Marshal Ion Antonescu, was arrested. 561 00:47:14,080 --> 00:47:15,360 Romania surrendered. 562 00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:25,200 By the end of the month, the Red Army was in Bucharest 563 00:47:25,240 --> 00:47:27,880 and it occupied the strategically important 564 00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:29,800 Romanian oil fields. 565 00:47:32,720 --> 00:47:35,400 It meant Germany had lost its main supply of oil. 566 00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:43,120 Three Soviet armies now moved south into Bulgaria. 567 00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:52,360 Bulgaria had tried to stay neutral but it, too, 568 00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:55,520 would soon be swallowed up by the Soviet Empire. 569 00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:04,800 Meanwhile, the rest of the Russian forces now moved west 570 00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:06,640 towards Yugoslavia. 571 00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:15,520 German troops to the south, in Greece, faced being trapped. 572 00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:25,440 They began a hasty retreat up through Albania 573 00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:27,400 and southern Yugoslavia. 574 00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:33,960 [cannons firing] 575 00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:39,440 They were harried all the way by Albanian 576 00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:41,560 and Yugoslav partisans. 577 00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:47,440 [guns firing] 578 00:48:47,480 --> 00:48:50,320 [missiles firing] 579 00:48:54,520 --> 00:48:58,160 By mid-October 1944, the Red Army had reached 580 00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:01,000 the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade. 581 00:49:07,240 --> 00:49:11,000 Only now did it begin to swing north and west 582 00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:13,280 towards Hungary and then Germany. 583 00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:19,000 German reinforcements poured into Hungary 584 00:49:19,040 --> 00:49:22,160 to support the pro-Nazi puppet government. 585 00:49:22,200 --> 00:49:23,840 But the Red Army ground on. 586 00:49:23,880 --> 00:49:27,040 [tanks firing] 587 00:49:31,040 --> 00:49:34,800 Eight weeks later, it laid siege to Budapest. 588 00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:42,320 [machine guns firing] 589 00:49:42,360 --> 00:49:44,400 The siege lasted over six weeks 590 00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:47,000 before the German puppet government collapsed. 591 00:49:51,320 --> 00:49:55,520 By the end of 1944, most of Eastern Europe 592 00:49:55,560 --> 00:49:57,920 lay in Stalin's grasp. 593 00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:04,160 His troops controlled the Baltic states and Poland, 594 00:50:04,200 --> 00:50:06,440 Romania, and Bulgaria. 595 00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:11,560 Pro-Soviet forces ruled in Yugoslavia and Albania. 596 00:50:12,800 --> 00:50:16,200 Hungary and Czechoslovakia were in his sights. 597 00:50:20,160 --> 00:50:22,720 Stalin had successfully laid the foundations 598 00:50:22,960 --> 00:50:25,000 for the future Soviet block. 599 00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:29,440 He could now, at last, move on to Germany. 600 00:50:32,720 --> 00:50:35,040 But in the west, Allied forces 601 00:50:35,080 --> 00:50:37,320 were also approaching the German border. 602 00:50:39,920 --> 00:50:43,320 The race was on to be the first to take Berlin. 9999 00:00:0,500 --> 00:00:2,00 www.tvsubtitles.net