Soviet Offensive: The Desperate German Retreat From Russia To Berlin | Battlefield | War Stories

[Music] [Music] by 1944 the Balkans were in the front line as the Red Army Advanced into Eastern Europe the complex politics of the region partisan factions and the involvement of British s soe agents all played their part in the battle the eventual fate of the Balkans was to have repercussions for the rest of the 20th century when the British expeditionary Force had been forced back to home Shores in the summer of 1940 it looked as though Hitler had achieved his strategic objectives France Belgium and Holland had all fallen and the division of Poland had cemented the German Soviet pact however it soon became clear that Hitler's long-held hatred of bolshevism and his desire to acquire the rich grain reserves of Southern Russia would drive him to attempt the unthinkable an invasion of the Soviet Union and the opening of a huge Eastern front it was clear to Hitler that in order to achieve his objectives he would have to secure his Southern flank and this meant neutralizing the Balkans persuasive German diplomacy secured the allegiance of Hungary Romania and the rather reluctant Bulgaria on the 6th of April 1941 Germany simultaneously invaded Greece and the bitterly divided Yugoslavia with the Armistice signed on the 17th of April Yugoslavia was in German hands and on the 27th of April German troops marched into Athens the capitulation of the Balkans had given Hitler the Southern Security Manpower and natural resources he needed for an invasion of the Soviet Union operation Barbarosa was launched on the 21st of June 1941 the events of the next 3 years proved it to be a fatal decision after a lightning Advance which had almost seen the swastika flying over Moscow by the beginning of 1943 Hitler's forces were being thrown back by a combination of bad weather mechanical superiority and a seemingly endless supply of Russian Manpower the German tide was on the E the stage was now set for the final battles to expel the Germans from the Balkans the German Army group South Ukraine squeezed into territory south of a huge Russian Salient now risked complete Severance from the rest of the German armies to the north and of being isolated together with the remaining garrisons in the Balkans from their Homeland Hitler delayed in ordering a withdrawal until it was almost too late as it was the Russian offensive began on the 20th of August 1944 swept like an avalanche against Army group South Ukraine malinowski until bukin with the second and third Ukrainian fronts reached the danu in a week trapping the German 6th and Romanian third armies for the latter it was the end within a month all Romania was in Russian hands the next Ally to defect was Bulgaria as the Russian third Ukrainian front crossed the danu heading south from constanza on the 28th of August the Bulgarian government decided to follow the Romanian example declaring war on Germany on the 4th of September the results of the collapse of the Romanians and bulgarians were calamitous for the Germans their Southeastern front was disintegrating the vital oil supplies essential to the Nazi war effort had been irretrievably lost Soviet forces commanded by Marshall malinowski surged into Hungary at the end of September linking with the fourth Ukrainian front under Marshall Petro hathy realizing too late that he'd been hoodwinked by Hitler and used as a porn sought an Armistice with the Russians in October 1944 on Hitler's orders German agents kidnapped his son as a hostage and hathy himself was deposed arrested and carried off to Germany as a a prisoner to be released by the Allies in 1945 meanwhile the Russians closed in on budapes defended vigorously by General frner and what was left of the once formidable army group South bitter street fighting ensued by the end of January 1945 the Garrison's Food Supplies were exhausted after dark on the 11th of February there was a last desperate attempt to break out but of more than 16,000 would be escapers only a few hundred made it on the 13th of February the Russians took the surrender of over 30,000 Haggard survivors Army group South had ceased to exist [Music] only in one sphere could Hitler derive comfort despite the Allied aerial bombardment war production had soared under the inspired direction of Albert spier the former architect appointed by Hitler as minister of armament aged only 38 in 1942 appreciating the threat posed by the steadily growing weight of the Allied bombing offensive against the heavy industry of the Reich he set about dispersing what he could chiefly the light Industries engaged in the production of components and electronics around the countryside where area bombing was ineffectual the heavy Industries based on the ru Valley had indeed suffered heavily from the bombing but alternative factories for the pre-fabrication of major assemblies for aircraft submarines and fighting Vehicles many of them deeply buried underground in caves came online in 1943 until September 1944 coal and steel production continued at levels as high as as in the previous year but the loss of the silesian coal Fields was significant in the first 3 months of 1944 over 71 million tons of coal were mined in Germany but in the last quarter of the year the figure had fallen to less than 50 million despite the bombing the foundaries and forges of the RAR continued to produce quantities of the drop forgings and castings that could only be produced there the Allied planners were slow to realize that the highly developed German Rail and Canal system still reasonably intact and run with customary efficiency was the key to continued German production and distribution as an example of success in this direction the US Air Force repeatedly bombed the tank Factory at Castle where the Tiger tank was produced in Midsummer 1944 it had turned out over a 100 a month but production fell to a trickle of under 40 incredibly Asar redep employed his workers and adapted his industrial strategy to the situation many factories were still turning out consumer goods for the domestic Market the Nazi party organization used propaganda freely to convince the German people and the neutrals that life was going on perfectly normally within the re as the war Drew into its final year the aim was to unite the masses and create a national Spirit of resistance to the Allies once they had set foot on the sacred soil of the Fatherland [Music] this policy was directed and coordinated sedulously by Dr ysf Geral the minister of propaganda whereas the German people had previously been taught from childhood that the German Army was the German people underarms they now had to realize in gal's words that the German people under arms has become the German Army a slogan widely used in conscripting elderly and very young into the vogm divisions whose hopeless task was to arrest the Soviet Avalanche fast approaching from the East News reels aimed at the non-competent Nations continued to show Happy groups of school children on winter sports holidays and Factory workers cheerfully turning out copious supplies of consumer goods although Allied propaganda had long proclaimed that Germans were living at starvation level they were remarkably wellfed as long as the produce of the occupied lands in the west was available dairy products from the Netherlands and Denmark food and wines of All Sorts from France fish and seafood from Norway it mattered little that the populations of most of these countries having parted with the best of their produce were quickly reduced to starvation as the American and British forces began to close in from the West the German population had to face a number of displeasing realities that became Stark as the German borders were crossed by the Invader the Food Supplies from the occupied lands dried up and as the Americans moved relentlessly into Germany itself fire was automatically opened up on any house not displaying White flags any desire to conform with Dr gerold's calls for resistance to the death evaporated when even a single gunshot aimed near Allied troops resulted in immediate artillery response and the destruction of all buildings and sight [Applause] [Music] the German Army groups E and F deployed in Greece and Yugoslavia now risk being cut off from home as the Russians headed into Hungary and towards the glittering prize of Budapest both had to run the gauntlet if they were to make it back to Germany their painful march to Temporary safety was harried all the way through Greece Albania and Yugoslavia by partisans now well supplied with arms and Equipment largely through the good offices of the S soe and the British military Mission discover the past with exclusive military history documentaries and adree podcasts presented by world-renowned historians all on History hit watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device download the app now to watch everything from the gripping story of the Band of Brothers to operation Barbarosa and D-Day immerse yourself in the dramatic stories of this remarkable era by signing up via the link in the description the royalist Yugoslav Guerilla leader General movich who had started as the favorite for Allied sponsorship back in 1941 had long since fallen from Grace as the result of his inactivity and strong suspicions that he dered at a compact with the German occupying forces at the end of the war his former backers made little or no attempt to save him from Tito's Vengeance standing by impotently as movich stood trial for his life at the hands of a People's Court and was duly executed movich his rival for leadership of the Yugoslav partisan movement was one of the most remarkable figures to emerge onto the world stage in the war yosip BRZ born in 1892 into a poor Croatian family abandoned the Catholicism of his childhood for communism at an early age he' served in the austr Hungarian army during during World War I but after being captured by the Imperial Russian army on the Eastern front in 1915 he was fired by the revolution joined the Red Army and stayed in Russia until 1920 where he received a thorough grounding in Marxist Doctrine such was his talent that he spent the interwar years as a faithful agent of Moscow Broz was now known universally by his nickname Tito when the Germans invaded Yugoslavia and 1941 he was living in Zagreb and immediately complied with party instructions to resist the Invader once these had been approved as he took to the hills to create a partisan Army owing allegiance to Moscow so did movich whose loyalties lay with his exiled King his partisans were known as chetniks and initially it seemed that they were operating effectively against the Germans and their allies the two partisan leaders met in September 1941 one and again in the following month but it was immediately apparent that their respective agendas were mutually hostile soon their activities were known to the allies and British officers were inserted into Yugoslavia in order to contact the partisans and coordinate their [Music] activities these officers came under the British Special Operations executive or soe which continued to involve itself with varying degrees of success in the ever increasingly complex politics of the Yugoslav resistance movich as a career officer of the old royalist army and a rabid Serb nationalist detested socialism and was temperamentally incapable of working alongside Tito's Communists nevertheless he continued to receive support from soe in the form of Weaponry Munitions and the services of training and liaison officers until it became apparent that the Technics were devoting more energy to fighting Tito's partisan organization than the Germans in the summer of 1942 there was a disturbing report from the S soe liaison officer with the chetniks indicating that the partisans were carrying out far more effective anti-german operations and that the chetniks were also engaged in a running quarrel with a Croatian organization the Ard that was actively collaborating with the Italian occupation forces [Music] these numbered some 20 divisions deployed in Yugoslavia and Albania but withdrawn following Italy's surrender in September 1943 it was also discovered that the chetniks were accepting supplies of arms and ammunitions from the Germans for use against the Communists British support for them was therefore withheld in 1944 causing them to lean more than ever towards the Germans meanwhile Tito's guerillas were stepping up their activities at the same time bidding against movich for British Aid in May 1943 a team of British officers parachuted into Croatia with the aim of contacting Tito and assessing his partisan capabilities they reported favorably and the decision was made to concentrate s soe support on [Music] Tito their arrival came at an opportune moment for the Germans had embarked on a camp campaign of extermination against the partisans aided by Italian and Bulgarian troops as well as chetniks this was the fifth and most aggressive anti-g gorilla operation and the British officers found themselves with Tito's headquarters as fugitives in the wild Croatian Mountain fastnesses chased into Montenegro in June the partisans and their British advisers had to fight their way out of a huge trap losing 8,000 partisans men and women in the process Winston Churchill greatly impressed by Tito's performance appointed Brigadier Fitzroy mlan a former Diplomat as his personal representative to the partisan leader mlan was duly parachuted into Tito's headquarters and his subsequent report resulted in a considerable increase in British support the German pressure was was maintained some 13 German and four Bulgarian divisions being deployed in anti-g gorilla operations at one stage Tito had to be spirited out of the country by the British and taken to Italy he was then installed on the offshore island of Vis to which he was taken in a British Destroyer whose young Captain was fascinated when Tito recited The Owl and the Pussycat in the wardr after dinner the British Bulan Air Force was now dedicated to supporting the partisans apart from hundreds of supply drops its bow fighter aircraft ranged far and wide to engage German positions and harass their lines of communication from the island of Vis Tito went to Moscow for an audience with Stalin among subjects discussed was the delicate matter of the entry of Soviet forces into Yugoslavia for which Tito Poss POS ly tongue and cheek granted permission on Stalin's promise which curiously was kept that the Soviet forces would be withdrawn as soon as they were no longer required for military purposes elements of the Red Army crossed the border from Romania in September 1944 this had an instant effect on the German High command as it threatened the withdrawal routs of their army group E along the Adriatic Coast the Capital Belgrade fell to a combined entry of Red Army and partisans on the 20th of October up in the hills of slavonia in eastern Croatia a party of British liazon officers watched developments with interest as winter Drew in their aim in life was to impede the passage of army group E Captain Morris sutliffe of the royal Irish fusers kept watch on the road and rail links between Bel grade and Zagreb his instructions were to arrange supply drops and help escaping air crew and former prisoners of war and gather intelligence identify targets for air strikes and generally help the partisans this partisan group had Rich pickings on this vital communication route and their sabur partisans the divit Sante made the most of it armed with explosive coal an soe nasty which was placed in the railway coard Stacks their elimination became a matter of urgency for the German High command sliff had other diversions too his Hideout area was under the path of British and American bombers based in Italy Bound for targets further north in Austria and Romania a number of these were shot down over Yugoslavia by Fighters or groundfire and those of their Crews who bailed out found themselves adding to the strength of partisan groups sliff was augmented in November 1944 by the crew of a Wellington bomber as he recounted guests such as the Wellington crew were ever welcome in our tiny Hut in the Hills we gave them some food and a few items of warm clothing and reported to the soe base in Italy that they were safe arranging a pickup was not always easy since opportunities for night pickups were very limited and we were forever vulnerable to Rapid penetration of our area by the Germans normally one had some warning but on this occasion almost none no time to prepare a ruck sack with food only time to grab our radio crystals and codes and head straight into the higher Hills and forests the Wellington crew had no warm clothing only battle dress Su Cliff's group were pretty fit after a long spell in the mountains but the RAF crew found the going of the next 24 hours pretty exhausting the partisan Commander a veteran since 1941 when the German Army invaded knew the local Hills well which enabled them to keep a step ahead of their pursuers enduring extreme cold and hunger they eventually reached an Old Logging Camp using their suitcase radio an soe speciality sutliff's party were able to contact their headquarters at Bari in southern Italy and after Further Adventures the Wellington crew were picked up off a snow covered ad hoc air Strip by a Dakota with a fighter escort and flown to safety by the end of October 1944 most of Hungary was in Russian hands the hapless horthy was a captive of the Germans and at the end of the year Budapest was under siege the German Garrison was under Hitler's orders to fight to the end for its early capture would allow the Russians to pour across the Hungarian plane and on into Vienna tkin third Ukrainian front had already bypassed Budapest and was heading for Vienna but its flanks were imperiled and on orders from Moscow he turned back to deal with the Resolute Defenders of the Hungarian Capital such was the German High command's appreciation of the crisis that they had heavily reinforced the Hungarian front Army group South though battered still had plenty of fight left and counterattacked against malinowski's second Ukrainian front as it started its attack on Budapest in mid October 1944 the Russians were temporarily halted and when their attack resumed at the end of the month they found themselves confronted by 12 German divisions their Advance towards the city center was contested every inch of the way and in mid November they had still not taken the city now largely in ruins the Defenders were however now isolated as the main German front line along the river draver had recoiled over 100 miles to the West with one flank on the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains and the other anchored on Lake [Music] Balaton the seege of Budapest continued into the new year its Defenders continued to resist fiercely and held out until mid-February 1945 the line of the Carpathian Mountains divided the main Russian front in two sectors and effectively created two separate campaigns to the South the battle for the remainder of Hungary while to the north the Red Army headed purposefully for Berlin if the Russians in Hungary thought that victory was within sight they were to be cruy disillusioned the Germans showed that even when short of fuel and with heavily depleted tank forces they could still outfight their clumsier opponents skillfully using roads and rail ways to shift their pressure from flank to Flank In order to save precious Fuel and track mileage on their tanks a final Counterattack aimed at relieving The Budapest Defenders got to within 15 Mi of the city in late January 1945 but Hitler forbade a breakout attempt and sheer fatigue and fuel shortage brought the rescue bid to a standstill the Russians now deployed a Siege train of heavy artillery to batter the defense into submission as in Yugoslavia s soe had sent British liaison officers into Greece early in the German occupation indeed some British soldiers cut off from their units in the retreat of 1941 spent the entire War among the Greek and cre partisans the liaison officers had to be prepared for almost anything once they were parachuted into occupied Greece all were aware of the Hitler directive ordering the execution of any Allied Personnel caught whilst working with guillas and many found that the internal political divisions in occupied Greece could result in their being betrayed at any moment typical of them was a 35-year-old Cambridge Classic's Dawn Nicholas Hammond before the war as a fellow of Clare College he' visited Greece many times to explore archaeological sites and knew the country intimately as well as being fluent in modern as well as classical Greek Hammond's linguistic skills as well as his knowledge of Greece and Albania were duly recognized and after what he described as minimal training in the use of explosives he was sent to Athens in Midsummer 1940 with the aim of raising a rebellion against the Italians in Albania the Greek orth ities promptly expelled him and he went on to Palestine where he trained a mly band of Greek dissidents mostly Communists in the Arts of Demolition and sabotage in October 1940 melini's ultimatum to Greece led to Invasion and Hammond returned to Greece and continued to train Greek recruits the arrival of the Germans early in April 1941 in support of the flagging Italian invasion turned the scales decisively the Greek army was outflanked and laid down its Arms 2 weeks later when the British and Empire forces were forced from the mainland then cre Hammond's sabotage Academy moved to Palestine from where beginning in 1942 he and others were dropped by Parachute into Greece arriving in February 1943 Hammond would spend the next 12 months closely involved in a particularly unpleasant War all part partisans or andares captured were summarily shot often after prolonged torture to extract information the partisans whether the communist elas or the edes loyal to the Greek government in Exile in Egypt were equally ruthless it soon became alarmingly clear to Hammond and his colleagues that elas while professing unqualified loyalty to the Allied cause were in fact hostile towards British interference in what they saw as Greek Internal Affairs they had their own own agenda which was nothing less than the seizure of power once the Germans had been dealt with the British liaison officers with the partisans redoubled their efforts to bring the Rival groups together edas who were now taking on German Garrison units and beating them had generally performed better and with higher morale than elas by now it was clear that many elas partisans who were joined as patriotic Greeks were disillusioned by the political slant of the movement and wished to Desert and join with the British in fighting the Germans Hammond therefore recommended that regular Greek army units should be infiltrated into elas and idas controlled areas in order to bring the two groups together in a common cause meanwhile the war in the Balkans approached its den numo Hammond asked to be relieved and flew out of Greece he had already concluded that the Affairs of were being directed by officials with strong left-wing leanings and that this had adversely affected policy with regard to clandestine Warfare throughout the Balkans in mid-september 1944 the Germans began to pull out of Greece first from the pelones and by the end of the month from Macedonia British forces returned to Greece in the same month and were in Athens by mid October where a provisional government of national Unity was installed pending general elections and a pleite on the return of the monarchy but trouble was at hand the Greek Premier in Exile George Pap andreo had come to an agreement with the diverse partisan groups that they would operate under the British general scobby to restore order on the departure of the Germans British Commandos and airborne troops therefore occupied Athens in mid October to discover that elas and eam were militantly opposed to Pap Andre's government and about to rise in a military coup to fill the political vacuum General scobby sensed impending disaster and was hurriedly reinforced by an armored Brigade and the arrival at the end of November of the fourth Indian division almost at once elas attempted to take over a number of key towns as well as the city of aens open fighting broke out on the 5th of December and at first elas appeared to be gaining ground but in mid December a British division arrived British and Indian troops were soon active throughout the country restoring order and dealing with outbreaks of armed Insurrection it was a bitter and at times Savage campaign the rebels wore no uniform and on many occasions Advanced behind screens of women and children in the final stages of the battle in Athens over 200 Rebels were killed or wounded and 500 taken prisoner though many more escaped the cost was high in the fifth parachute Battalion there were over a 100 casualties and the sixth Battalion lost all its company commanders killed or wounded a ceasefire was negotiated and month later the Greek central government and the representatives of e and elas signed an agreement leading to the disarming of all revolutionary forces the release of hostages and the creation of a new National Army British forces then went ahead with the reoccupation of the whole country [Music] elsewhere in the Vulcans Warfare continued on a Titanic scale even now the Germans were fighting hard despite the certainty of final defeat kev's first Ukrainian front now swung North to join in the final killing session the fall of Berlin where the Russians began their final assault on the 15th of [Music] April the German collapse on the Eastern Front was due to a number of factors any one of which could have lost them the war Hitler's Obsession of never losing an inch of ground his faith in secret Weaponry much of which could have been in service months before it actually came online because of his continually interference over design and employment the fuel shortage arising from the loss of the Strategic oil fields of Russia and Romania the Allied Air Force's destruction of 90% of Germany's synthetic oil plant by January 1945 and the dilution of effort caused by what had long been Hitler's nightmare the need to fight on multiple [Music] fronts at the end of 1944 one 100 German divisions were tied down in Northwest Europe and Italy 10 holding the tenuous lines of communication in Yugoslavia and a further 17 garrisoning Denmark and Norway the 157 German divisions deployed in Russia at the time of the Normandy Landings in June 1944 had dwindled to 133 50 of these were powerless to intervene in the defense of German territory being trapped with their backs to the Baltic [Music] the main fighting strength of the LT buffer had been redeployed in a desperate effort to stem the Allied strategic bomber campaign official German records show that on the 31st of December 1944 1,756 out of a total day fighter strength of 2,276 and 1242 out of 1289 night Fighters were defending the western front or the Reich [Music] itself at last the Allied bomber offensive was reaping strategic results as the Superhuman industrial effort led by Albert Shar began to crumble under the remorseless aerial bombardment the stage was set for the climactic battles those for the final defense of the German Heartland General Garian appointed chief of the general staff after the July bomb plot of 1944 was the inspired professional Whose advice had been cast aside by Hitler and his military cronies field Marshals kitle and yodel he had long prophesied that the decisive battles would be fought along an extended front stretching from the Carpathian Mountains in the South to the shores of the Baltic on such a strong line he considered that the Superior Tactics and fighting skills of the German Army would compensate for the soviet's overwhelming predominance in Manpower and material his advice should have been heeded after all he had pioneered the creation of Germany's armored forces having closely studied the works of British military profets such as Basel little Hart and general bony Fuller Garian was an able writer and P fler and his book Akon Panza went into numerous editions put into practice in 1940 it was instrumental in the destruction of the angl French forces nothing he could say would Prevail however in council with Hitler and he was sacked in March 1945 after a particularly heated argument with the furer his theories had not been neglected however by the Russian generals realizing that their tank Crews were ill-educated compared to those of the vmark and incapable of sophisticated Battle Tactics they geared their equipment and doctrines accordingly relying on weight of numbers and simplicity of tank [Music] design having discovered the advantage of the American designed Christy suspension using large road wheels instead of a complex suspension as in most early Allied tanks they developed the t34 and its crude but lethal anti-tank derivative the Su 100 they added a super heavy tank with the aim of outgunning the German Tiger all these were so designed that they could be driven away from the factory if necessary straight into battle as was actually done at [Music] Stalin as the Red Army bore down on them a mere 75 German divisions weakened by months of hard campaigning were deployed on a front of 600 mi in East Prussia and across the Polish plain the drive for Berlin had begun on the 12th of January 1945 as Marshall cone's first Ukrainian front threw itself over the upper Vistula Berlin was now a bare 300 miles distant the land was in the gri of a Savage winter underg goinging rock hard for the thousands of Soviet tanks pouring through the gaping Gap in the already thin German defenses 180 Red Army divisions were put into the fight Marshall zov's first Bellar Russian front enveloped Warsaw and took the ruined City on the 17th of January [Music] Hitler had now moved back to Berlin he was never to leave the city again and set up his headquarters in the bunker under the reich's chancell from where he continued to issue increasingly unrealistic directives to his field commanders although fighting continued in Hungary after the fall of budapes the country whose government had thrown in its lot with Nazi Germany now drifted away from its protective Alliance and towards the Communist block one of its generals miklos the former commander of the Hungarian first Army saw which way the wind was blowing and was duly set up with Soviet backing as head of a provisional government in Waiting prepared to seize power once the fighting was over Hitler still believed that the situation along the danu valley could be retrieved and ordered the remnants of the vears uncommitted armor some 600 tanks to the southern front following the failure of the Arden offensive in a desperate attempt M to regain Budapest it was doomed to failure from the start Garian had to brief Hitler with the unpalatable information that his chief of intelligence Colonel Galen had forecast a resumption of the red Army's onward surge across the whole of the Eastern front and that it would begin on the 12th of January 1945 adding that the Defenders of the Reich would be outnumbered 11:1 in infantry 7 to1 in armor and 20 to1 in artillery Hitler never ready to accept adverse news ordered garan to sack Galen to which he replied that he might as well sack his chief of staff as well the Soviet Advance had now acquired so much impetus that it was Unstoppable Budapest had in fact gone beyond Redemption its 16,000 surviving Garrison virtually wiped out as they attempted to break out west despite this Hitler ordered one final offensive launching his last 600 tanks and 31 exhausted divisions many down to skeletal strengths into a foror hope along the shores of Lake Balaton in charge of this operation code named Fring of Arin was the commander of sixth SS Panzer Army the redoutable SS obest Groupon fura sep Dietrich fresh from the disastrous Battle of the Bulge in the Arden although the spring Thor was setting in little or no attempt was made to test the going for the tanks and in the swampy plane the 60 ton Royal Tigers bogged down many to their turrets once off the roads but the SS fighting spirit was still evident and dietrix was an elite formation however ravaged by casualties the Russians reeled before the ferocity of the German attack until bukin called for backup from ninth guard's tank Army but the Germans fuel ran out and sheer battle fatigue brought the attack to a halt leaving hundreds of stalled tanks on the battlefield six Panzer Army recoiled up the danu valley towards Vienna [Applause] Panic now seized the whole German populace as the Russians entered the borders of the Reich refugees in their hundreds of thousands clogged the roads heading west their worst fears already fed by gal's propaganda were realized in the appalling conduct of the triumphant Red Army rape was emic and few of the women who were unable to escape avoided it no matter what their age this had been a war in which both sides were fired by bitter racial [Music] hatred as the German Army recoiled within its National borders thousands of former slave laborers sought to Revenge themselves on their Earth while cap readily armed by the Russians they became a hideous rabble of undisciplined drink Soden Irregulars massacring women and children indiscriminately General garan later described the experience of his own family on the 20th of January the enemy set foot on German soil this was the beginning of the last act early that morning I learned that the Russians have reached the German Frontier at a point east of hensal my wife left deepen Hoff in Naga a half hour before the first shells began to fall she had had to stay until the last possible moment since her earlier departure would have been the signal for the civilian population to flee she was under continual supervision by the Party 6 million Russian troops were now heading towards Berlin and by the beginning of March we on the banks of the Elba a bare 60 miles from their goal Garian who had continued to enjoy the respect if not the Friendship of Hitler was finally sacked after yet another confrontation with the fura on the 21st of March and thankfully made his way Westward where he was taken prisoner by The Americans on the 10th of May 5 years to the day from the start of his first great campaign in France days before he was dismissed Garian recalled that whilst Hitler intended to arrange for the destruction of all factories water and electrical installations Railways and bridges Shier had rightly pointed out that such a crazy deed must result in Mass misery and death to the population on a scale never before seen in history Garian immediately drafted orders laying down defense lines throughout Germany which were to be held only in front of these were Hitler's demolition to be implemented nothing else whatever in Germany was to be destroyed all installations that served to feed the populace and to provide it with work were to remain untouched garan took his draft to yodel who had to be informed of its contents since it dealt with a matter concerning all parts of the Armed Forces when he saw him again on the following day and asked him what Hitler's reaction had been yodel gave him an order of Hitler to read which was the exact contrary of shar's and Garian intentions it read if the war should be lost then the nation too will be lost that would be the nation's unalterable fate there is no need to consider the basic requirements that a people needs in order to continue A Primitive life on the contrary it is better ourselves to destroy such things for this nation will have proved itself the weaker and the future will belong exclusively to the stronger Eastern Nations those who are alive after the battles are over are in any case only inferior persons since the best will have fallen the Nazi hierarchy was coming apart as Hitler penned this memorandum he continued to pin his faith in a mythical last minute Deliverance issuing strings of wild orders redeploying non-existent armies and raging against any who like good Garian and Shia dared question his decisions garan's replacement as Army Chief of Staff Colonel General Hans Krebs was also a level-headed realist who like his predecessor issued orders countering the demolitions and enough of the national infrastructure survived to support the defeated Nation after the final surrender when Hitler committed suicide on the 30th of April most of his closest Associates had distanced themselves from him as they sought individually to make their own surrender terms guring and himler were already in Allied hands sh's open opposition to Hitler in the final months of the war together with his Readiness to admit his share of guilt for the transgressions of the Third Reich when put on trial at nurenberg saved him from The Gallows and he served 20 years of imprisonment before emerging from Spandau jail in 1966 to pursue a writer's career until his death in 1981 the fall of Vienna in mid April spelt the virtual end of the campaign that had swept through the Balkans the German Army group South had all but disintegrated but Army group Center under General Sherer an unregenerate Nazi was still in the field and holding out in Czechoslovakia as Berlin fell it was thus the only sizable German force in B and had to be dealt with Sherer was aware of Hitler's well-known intention to form a national redout in the mountains on the Czech German border and his loyalty to the furer would have driven him to this extremity given the chance however his position was hopeless the Russians who had taken Vienna headed Northwest towards Prague and other Russian armies converged from all directions as Army group Center contracted its perimeter until it was completely surrounded Northeast of Prague much of which was in the hands of Czech partisans by the sixth of of May 3 Days Later Prague was in Russian hands Sherer faced with total Annihilation decided that the game was up and surrendered on the 11th of May the war in Europe was over some 2 million German soldiers were streaming westward in a desperate attempt to avert imprisonment by the Russians they were turned back and fell into the hands of the Red Army elsewhere in the Balkans the Allies discovered that amongst the thousands of surrendered Personnel in their hands were whole formations made up from Renegade cacs White Russians and ukrainians who' been recruited into ethnic units of the German Army to fight bolshevism in one of the most discreditable episodes of British diplomacy and to the general disgust of the British officers and soldiers order to supervise the operation these people together with their families were also handed over to the Russians at whose hands they faced certain [Music] execution in Yugoslavia power was assumed by Tito who managed to retain his independence from Moscow first as prime minister then president until his death in 1980 while he lived he managed to sustain a fair degree of unity amongst his widely disperate people but this quickly evaporated leading to a state of near Anarchy and Civil War as ancient emities were rekindled between Orthodox and Catholic Christian and Muslim elsewhere in the Balkans it would be over 40 years before the iron grip of Moscow was prized loose and the countries of the former wara pact recovered their independence [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e

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Id: ORBZtl2rWH0

Length: 52min 22sec (3142 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 28 2024