1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000 © anoXmous @ http://thepiratebay.sx/user/Zen_Bud 2 00:00:04,001 --> 00:00:08,001 © anoXmous @ http://thepiratebay.sx/user/Zen_Bud 3 00:00:08,002 --> 00:00:12,002 © anoXmous @ http://thepiratebay.sx/user/Zen_Bud 2 00:00:15,306 --> 00:00:19,309 (narrator) Russia. The summer of 1942. 3 00:00:23,648 --> 00:00:26,859 The Germans are on the move... again. 4 00:00:32,824 --> 00:00:36,744 The Sixth Army, Hitler's largest, victorious in France, 5 00:00:36,828 --> 00:00:40,998 almost victorious in the first year of the Russian campaign. 6 00:00:41,082 --> 00:00:42,958 Now it has a new task - 7 00:00:43,043 --> 00:00:47,046 to fight further east than the Wehrmacht has ever fought before, 8 00:00:47,130 --> 00:00:51,675 to cut Russia in two, on the Volga. 9 00:01:50,902 --> 00:01:57,199 The German army's plan to destroy Russia by a blitzkrieg in 1941 had failed. 10 00:01:57,283 --> 00:02:01,245 And, in the attempt, they'd lost a million men. 11 00:02:01,329 --> 00:02:05,415 ln 1942, they were not strong enough - even with the help of their allies - 12 00:02:05,500 --> 00:02:08,043 to attack along the whole front. 13 00:02:08,128 --> 00:02:11,171 Hitler turned south, to the Caucasus. 14 00:02:11,297 --> 00:02:14,967 Three-quarters of Russia's oil was there. 15 00:02:15,051 --> 00:02:18,303 He divided his forces into two groups - 16 00:02:18,388 --> 00:02:23,058 the Sixth Army and the Fourth Panzer Army would move first. 17 00:02:24,394 --> 00:02:30,482 His plan was to encircle and destroy Soviet armies in the Don bend, 18 00:02:30,608 --> 00:02:33,026 drive east towards Stalingrad, 19 00:02:33,111 --> 00:02:37,114 and cut off the Caucasus from the rest of the country. 20 00:02:37,198 --> 00:02:39,074 Then in the main campaign, 21 00:02:39,159 --> 00:02:42,452 the other army group would capture Rostov 22 00:02:42,537 --> 00:02:46,165 and strike south to the oil fields. 23 00:02:47,834 --> 00:02:50,085 The offensive started late. 24 00:02:50,170 --> 00:02:52,921 lt was high summer before the Sixth Army, 25 00:02:53,006 --> 00:02:56,091 under Friedrich von Paulus, began to move. 26 00:02:56,176 --> 00:03:00,012 The armour in front, as usual, 27 00:03:00,096 --> 00:03:03,640 the motorised supply columns close behind. 28 00:03:08,980 --> 00:03:12,649 The foot soldiers slogged along in the rear. 29 00:03:20,825 --> 00:03:24,119 At first, the Russians seemed to melt away. 30 00:03:25,205 --> 00:03:28,290 No matter how far the Germans advanced, 31 00:03:28,374 --> 00:03:31,126 the Red Army always eluded them. 32 00:03:49,687 --> 00:03:52,648 The Germans didn't take many prisoners. 33 00:03:52,732 --> 00:03:55,692 They captured territory and towns. 34 00:04:09,749 --> 00:04:14,711 The army wanted to keep pressing ahead to encircle the Russians, but couldn't. 35 00:04:14,796 --> 00:04:20,300 Time and again, its spearheads had to pause and wait for supplies to catch up. 36 00:04:22,804 --> 00:04:27,975 One soldier, Wilhelm Hoffman, was keeping a diary. 37 00:04:28,059 --> 00:04:30,644 He thought the war might soon be over. 38 00:04:30,728 --> 00:04:34,564 "Perhaps we'll be home by Christmas", he wrote. 39 00:05:07,390 --> 00:05:09,224 (artillery fire) 40 00:05:28,995 --> 00:05:32,998 The Russians had lost a quarter of a million troops in the spring. 41 00:05:33,082 --> 00:05:36,168 Now they could not afford pitched battles, 42 00:05:36,252 --> 00:05:38,712 so they kept retreating. 43 00:05:40,506 --> 00:05:45,427 To the Russian commanders, it was a skilful planned withdrawal. 44 00:05:45,511 --> 00:05:50,474 To the Russian troops, it was a demoralising rout. 45 00:05:50,558 --> 00:05:54,603 To Hitler, it was a crushing victory. 46 00:05:54,687 --> 00:05:58,899 He thought the Russian armies had been wiped out. 47 00:06:00,443 --> 00:06:03,737 So, with the offensive barely two weeks old, 48 00:06:03,821 --> 00:06:06,782 he started to shiff his armies south. 49 00:06:06,866 --> 00:06:09,743 At the end of July his troops entered Rostov, 50 00:06:09,827 --> 00:06:12,746 the key to the Caucasus. 51 00:06:51,702 --> 00:06:57,874 Hitler now gave absolute priority to the thrust towards the oil fields. 52 00:06:57,959 --> 00:07:01,461 He unleashed his fresh, southern armies. 53 00:07:01,546 --> 00:07:04,548 He diverted the Fourth Panzer Army south. 54 00:07:04,632 --> 00:07:08,135 He stripped the Sixth Army of its fuel and most of its armour, 55 00:07:08,219 --> 00:07:10,512 and sent them south, too. 56 00:07:10,638 --> 00:07:15,225 But he still expected the Sixth Army to carry on as before. 57 00:07:16,477 --> 00:07:20,856 By mid-August, the Sixth Army had been on the march for six weeks. 58 00:07:20,940 --> 00:07:22,983 Late in the affernoon of the 23rd, 59 00:07:23,067 --> 00:07:27,112 a panzer column reached the Volga just north of Stagingrad. 60 00:07:27,196 --> 00:07:31,616 lt cut off river traffic and brought the opposite bank under fire. 61 00:07:34,412 --> 00:07:40,250 The infantry dug in along the railway and waited for reinforcements. 62 00:07:49,469 --> 00:07:53,013 Though the Sixth Army's original mission was now accomplished, 63 00:07:53,097 --> 00:07:55,515 Hitler now expected them to take the city. 64 00:07:57,226 --> 00:08:01,563 Stalingrad was built on bluffs overlooking the Volga, 65 00:08:01,647 --> 00:08:05,859 and stretched 15 miles along its western bank. 66 00:08:07,111 --> 00:08:11,114 The old town - log huts and wooden buildings - in the south, 67 00:08:11,199 --> 00:08:14,659 a modern centre, steel and concrete. 68 00:08:14,785 --> 00:08:20,957 To the north, three large factories, with workers' housing nearby. 69 00:08:21,042 --> 00:08:26,713 The whole city lay on hilly ground, scored by deep ravines. 70 00:08:26,797 --> 00:08:31,510 A Soviet showpiece, Stalin had named it for himself. 71 00:08:36,140 --> 00:08:39,518 Stalin had determined to defend the city. 72 00:08:39,602 --> 00:08:43,021 He decided not to evacuate most of the civilians. 73 00:08:43,105 --> 00:08:48,985 The troops would fight better, he said, for a live city than for a dead one. 74 00:08:59,205 --> 00:09:01,623 Air defences were improvised. 75 00:09:01,707 --> 00:09:06,378 Half the anti-aircraff guns in the town had women crews. 76 00:09:06,462 --> 00:09:08,588 A workers' militia was recruited. 77 00:09:08,673 --> 00:09:12,842 Stalin had coined the slogan, "Not one step back." 78 00:09:12,927 --> 00:09:17,305 Troops and security police patrolled the streets. 79 00:09:19,475 --> 00:09:22,102 lt wasn't all coercion. 80 00:09:22,186 --> 00:09:27,732 There was fear of the Germans, and patriotism, and communist zeal. 81 00:09:33,072 --> 00:09:35,740 "Comrades and citizens of Stalingrad, 82 00:09:35,825 --> 00:09:38,326 each of us must apply ourselves 83 00:09:38,411 --> 00:09:41,746 to the task of defending our beloved town, 84 00:09:41,831 --> 00:09:44,624 our homes, and our families." 85 00:09:44,709 --> 00:09:49,045 "Let us barricade every street, transform every district, 86 00:09:49,130 --> 00:09:54,259 every block, every house, into an impregnable fortress." 87 00:10:15,031 --> 00:10:19,326 The Sixth Army had not reached the Volga in enough strength 88 00:10:19,410 --> 00:10:22,454 to take Stalingrad on its own. 89 00:10:23,998 --> 00:10:26,374 (gunfire) 90 00:10:26,459 --> 00:10:30,629 lts reserVes were still far behind. 91 00:10:36,761 --> 00:10:38,845 (siren) 92 00:10:40,890 --> 00:10:44,601 The Luffwaffe was called in to help the ground forces. 93 00:10:48,356 --> 00:10:50,857 For three days, from August 23, 94 00:10:50,941 --> 00:10:55,362 every aircraff available on the Russian Front attacked the city. 95 00:11:01,494 --> 00:11:05,080 Almost the only defence came from the gun boats on the Volga 96 00:11:05,164 --> 00:11:09,250 and from the batteries on the opposite shore. 97 00:11:19,595 --> 00:11:21,805 (man shouts) 98 00:14:29,827 --> 00:14:32,328 The city did not fall to air attack, 99 00:14:32,413 --> 00:14:37,667 and the shattered buildings were transformed into fortresses. 100 00:14:43,257 --> 00:14:45,508 The beginning of September. 101 00:14:45,634 --> 00:14:48,469 Russian artillery could harass the Germans 102 00:14:48,554 --> 00:14:51,347 from the east bank of the Volga. 103 00:14:51,432 --> 00:14:53,600 But the Russian reserVes were useless 104 00:14:53,684 --> 00:14:56,394 unless they could cross the river and get into the city. 105 00:14:57,229 --> 00:14:58,563 There were no bridges 106 00:14:58,647 --> 00:15:03,484 and by day river ferries were under constant Luffwaffe attack. 107 00:15:03,569 --> 00:15:06,613 As long as the Russians held any of the western bank, 108 00:15:06,697 --> 00:15:09,657 they could send troops into the city. 109 00:15:09,742 --> 00:15:13,870 Once across, they could use tunnels dug into the high bluffs 110 00:15:13,954 --> 00:15:18,166 and force the Germans to battle for every foot. 111 00:15:21,879 --> 00:15:25,715 The German armies held the initiative, 112 00:15:25,799 --> 00:15:30,178 but they were at the very end of a precarious supply line. 113 00:15:30,262 --> 00:15:33,181 All their troops were committed to the offensive. 114 00:15:33,265 --> 00:15:37,894 They had no reserVes leff if anything went wrong. 115 00:15:42,149 --> 00:15:47,153 The Germans launched their first attacks early in September. 116 00:15:48,197 --> 00:15:51,115 September 1 1 , Wilhelm Hoffman: 117 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:54,827 "Our battalion is fighting in the suburbs of Stalingrad." 118 00:15:54,954 --> 00:15:57,413 "Firing is going on all the time." 119 00:15:57,498 --> 00:16:00,375 "Wherever you look is fire and flames." 120 00:16:00,459 --> 00:16:04,629 "Russian cannons and machine guns are firing out of the burning city." 121 00:16:04,713 --> 00:16:06,714 "Fanatics!" 122 00:16:06,799 --> 00:16:08,841 (machine-gun fire) 123 00:16:17,142 --> 00:16:19,227 (explosions) 124 00:16:32,992 --> 00:16:35,076 (gunfire continues) 125 00:17:45,564 --> 00:17:47,607 (gunfire) 126 00:17:48,942 --> 00:17:52,153 Hoffman, September 16: 127 00:17:52,237 --> 00:17:56,074 "Our battalion plus tanks is attacking the grain elevator." 128 00:17:56,158 --> 00:17:58,743 "The battalion is suffering heavy losses." 129 00:17:58,827 --> 00:18:01,037 "The elevator is occupied not by men 130 00:18:01,121 --> 00:18:05,333 but by devils that no bullets or flames can destroy." 131 00:18:05,417 --> 00:18:07,502 September 18: 132 00:18:07,586 --> 00:18:10,505 "Fighting is going on inside the elevator." 133 00:18:10,589 --> 00:18:14,050 "lf all the buildings of Stalingrad are defended like this, 134 00:18:14,134 --> 00:18:18,054 then none of our soldiers will get back to Germany." 135 00:18:18,138 --> 00:18:20,139 September 20: 136 00:18:20,224 --> 00:18:23,726 "The battle for the elevator is still going on." 137 00:18:25,521 --> 00:18:27,396 September 22: 138 00:18:27,481 --> 00:18:30,900 "Russian resistance in the elevator has been broken." 139 00:18:30,984 --> 00:18:34,320 "Our troops are advancing towards the Volga." 140 00:18:34,404 --> 00:18:39,992 "We found only about 40 Russians dead in the elevator." 141 00:18:41,453 --> 00:18:44,539 The German army high command, 1 ,000 miles away, 142 00:18:44,623 --> 00:18:47,125 was beginning to have second thoughts. 143 00:18:47,209 --> 00:18:49,877 General Halder, chief of staff, 144 00:18:49,962 --> 00:18:53,798 had not seriously opposed Hitler's directives earlier in the year. 145 00:18:53,882 --> 00:18:57,593 Now, with the original strategic objectives accomplished, 146 00:18:57,678 --> 00:19:01,430 he urged caution - but in vain. 147 00:19:01,515 --> 00:19:04,058 A member of Halder's staff obserVed 148 00:19:04,143 --> 00:19:08,521 that the Führer used to move his hands in big sweeps over the map: 149 00:19:08,605 --> 00:19:10,523 "Push here, push there." 150 00:19:10,607 --> 00:19:14,777 lt was all vague and took no account of practical difficulties. 151 00:19:14,862 --> 00:19:18,573 Halder refused to take responsibility for continuing the advance 152 00:19:18,657 --> 00:19:20,867 with winter approaching. 153 00:19:20,951 --> 00:19:25,746 Hitler said: "We now need National Socialist ardour, 154 00:19:25,831 --> 00:19:29,542 rather than professional ability, to settle matters in the east." 155 00:19:29,626 --> 00:19:33,212 "Obviously l cannot expect this of you." 156 00:19:34,131 --> 00:19:38,092 He sacked Halder and replaced him by General Zeitzler, 157 00:19:38,177 --> 00:19:40,887 who was thought to be a genius at logistics - 158 00:19:41,013 --> 00:19:45,933 a man who would know how to move armies where Hitler wanted them to go. 159 00:19:48,145 --> 00:19:50,229 (explosions) 160 00:19:51,231 --> 00:19:53,858 ln Stalingrad, the Sixth Army's commander 161 00:19:53,942 --> 00:19:55,943 was having second thoughts too. 162 00:19:56,028 --> 00:19:57,612 Von Paulus's troops 163 00:19:57,696 --> 00:20:01,782 were not used to fighting hand to hand in bombed-out cities. 164 00:20:10,876 --> 00:20:13,669 Here, their tanks moved at a snail's pace, 165 00:20:13,754 --> 00:20:18,382 yet Hitler insisted, demanded, that they take the city. 166 00:20:52,417 --> 00:20:55,753 A Russian soldier, Anton Goŝnik: 167 00:20:55,837 --> 00:20:59,882 "We moved back, occupying one building affer another, 168 00:20:59,967 --> 00:21:03,052 turning them into strongholds." 169 00:21:03,136 --> 00:21:06,347 "A soldier would crawl out of an occupied position 170 00:21:06,431 --> 00:21:12,311 only when the ground was on fire beneath him and his clothes were smouldering." 171 00:21:33,917 --> 00:21:39,755 September 26, Hoffman complained about the way the Soviets fought: 172 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,133 "We don't see them at all." 173 00:21:42,217 --> 00:21:46,304 "They've established themselves in houses, in cellars, 174 00:21:46,388 --> 00:21:50,057 and they're firing from all sides, including from our rear." 175 00:21:50,142 --> 00:21:53,936 "Barbarians! They use gangster methods!" 176 00:21:54,021 --> 00:21:56,105 (machine-gun fire) 177 00:22:02,154 --> 00:22:04,697 Zeitzler, Hitler's new chief of staff, 178 00:22:04,781 --> 00:22:07,783 took a long look at the situation and told him: 179 00:22:07,868 --> 00:22:11,037 "The most dangerous positions on the whole Eastern Front 180 00:22:11,121 --> 00:22:13,039 are the north front at Stalingrad 181 00:22:13,123 --> 00:22:15,958 and the eastern flank of the Fourth Panzer Army." 182 00:22:16,043 --> 00:22:19,545 "lf steps are not taken in good time to rectify the situation, 183 00:22:19,629 --> 00:22:21,589 there will be a disaster." 184 00:22:21,673 --> 00:22:25,676 Hitler replied, "You're too pessimistic, Zeitzler." 185 00:22:25,761 --> 00:22:31,515 "We've been through worse periods than this and we've surVived." 186 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:34,935 "We'll get over our present difficulties, too." 187 00:22:35,020 --> 00:22:38,939 The German position was dangerous. 188 00:22:39,024 --> 00:22:42,902 20,000 men a week were being lost in Stalingrad. 189 00:22:42,986 --> 00:22:48,991 They could only be replaced by stripping the army's flanks of German troops. 190 00:22:49,076 --> 00:22:52,870 Romanians were moving in here. 191 00:22:52,954 --> 00:22:55,998 This area was now held by the ltalians. 192 00:22:56,083 --> 00:22:59,377 Next to them were Hungarians. 193 00:22:59,503 --> 00:23:02,338 The most precarious position of all was here, 194 00:23:02,422 --> 00:23:05,633 where the Russians held both banks of the river Don. 195 00:23:05,717 --> 00:23:07,802 They faced the Romanian Third Army, 196 00:23:07,886 --> 00:23:12,431 which had no heavy anti-tank guns and no tanks either. 197 00:23:13,767 --> 00:23:15,726 Hitler wasn't worried. He thought - 198 00:23:15,852 --> 00:23:18,896 and the high command's intelligence confirmed this - 199 00:23:18,980 --> 00:23:23,150 that the Russians had no strategic reserVes leff. 200 00:23:25,195 --> 00:23:29,532 ln October, the Germans attacked again, towards the Volga. 201 00:23:30,367 --> 00:23:33,452 Unless they captured the entire river bank, 202 00:23:33,537 --> 00:23:38,082 the Russians would bring in troops and supplies at night. 203 00:23:41,962 --> 00:23:44,004 (gunfire) 204 00:24:01,815 --> 00:24:04,608 Wilhelm Hoffman, October 4: 205 00:24:04,693 --> 00:24:08,070 "A lot of Russian Tommy-gunners have appeared." 206 00:24:08,155 --> 00:24:11,031 "Where are they bringing them from?" 207 00:24:11,116 --> 00:24:13,033 Another German wondered: 208 00:24:13,118 --> 00:24:18,247 "Were we going to have to fight through another dreadful Russian winter?" 209 00:24:20,167 --> 00:24:23,043 Hoffman, on October 14: 210 00:24:23,128 --> 00:24:25,713 "lt's been fantastic since morning." 211 00:24:25,797 --> 00:24:27,840 "Our aeroplanes and artillery 212 00:24:27,924 --> 00:24:31,469 have been bombing the Russian positions for hours." 213 00:25:04,711 --> 00:25:07,796 A panzer Leutnant, Weiner, wrote: 214 00:25:07,881 --> 00:25:10,883 "Stalingrad is no longer a town." 215 00:25:10,967 --> 00:25:15,763 "By day it is an enormous cloud of burning, blinding smoke." 216 00:25:15,847 --> 00:25:20,768 "lt is a vast furnace, lit by the reflection of the flames." 217 00:25:20,852 --> 00:25:26,649 "And when night arrives - one of those very hot, noisy, bloody nights - 218 00:25:26,733 --> 00:25:28,567 the dogs plunge into the Volga 219 00:25:28,652 --> 00:25:31,487 and swim desperately to gain the other bank." 220 00:25:31,571 --> 00:25:34,949 "The nights of Stalingrad are a terror for them." 221 00:25:35,033 --> 00:25:38,035 "Animals flee from this hell." 222 00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:41,789 "The hardest stones cannot bear it for long." 223 00:25:41,873 --> 00:25:44,208 "Only men endure." 224 00:26:18,201 --> 00:26:21,120 Hoffman's diary, October 22: 225 00:26:21,955 --> 00:26:27,626 "Who would have thought three months ago that instead of the joy of victory 226 00:26:27,711 --> 00:26:31,880 we would have to endure such sacrifices and torture, 227 00:26:31,965 --> 00:26:34,842 the end of which is nowhere in sight?" 228 00:26:34,926 --> 00:26:41,181 "The soldiers are calling Stalingrad 'the mass grave' of the Wehrmacht." 229 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:46,020 From far behind Stalingrad, 230 00:26:46,104 --> 00:26:51,358 long columns of Russian tanks and men came that autumn. 231 00:26:51,443 --> 00:26:57,156 But only a trickle went to Stalingrad - just enough to keep it from coggapsing. 232 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:02,620 The rest went to assembly areas north and south of the city. 233 00:27:02,704 --> 00:27:05,456 (men sing in Russian) 234 00:27:18,178 --> 00:27:21,889 Newsreels told Russians what their leaders wanted them to know - 235 00:27:21,973 --> 00:27:27,853 that small arms factories were working round the clock from Moscow to Georgia. 236 00:27:45,747 --> 00:27:51,710 Sweethearts were writing letters about production quotas, 237 00:27:51,795 --> 00:27:54,546 or wrapping parcels for the front, 238 00:27:54,631 --> 00:27:58,217 and delivering them by special messenger. 239 00:28:04,391 --> 00:28:08,143 Youth groups could adopt their own tanks 240 00:28:08,228 --> 00:28:11,355 and even pose with their crews. 241 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:16,360 Groups of workers could buy their own Stormovik 242 00:28:16,444 --> 00:28:20,155 and send it off to shoot down Hitlerite invaders. 243 00:28:22,158 --> 00:28:26,912 But the underlying message was clear - the terrible days of shortage were over. 244 00:28:26,996 --> 00:28:31,875 Now, at last, the Red Army was getting all it needed. 245 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:33,127 When it seemed likely 246 00:28:33,211 --> 00:28:37,589 that Stalingrad would hold out, its generals were filmed. 247 00:28:42,095 --> 00:28:45,514 General Yeremenko, commander of the Stalingrad front, 248 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,517 found time to distribute medals. 249 00:28:51,896 --> 00:28:55,607 Stalin's speeches were much read to the troops. 250 00:28:57,068 --> 00:28:59,695 There was even a Stalingrad oath: 251 00:28:59,779 --> 00:29:06,160 "lts burnt-out houses, its ruins, its very stones, are sacred." 252 00:29:10,540 --> 00:29:13,333 The war went on. 253 00:29:15,128 --> 00:29:18,839 The Russians ferried their troops across the Volga and the Don 254 00:29:18,923 --> 00:29:23,927 and crammed them into the bridgeheads they had held since the summer. 255 00:29:28,057 --> 00:29:32,186 The Russians dug in and waited. 256 00:29:59,005 --> 00:30:02,549 The Germans now held nine-tenths of the city. 257 00:30:02,634 --> 00:30:07,805 On November 8, Hitler made an affer-dinner speech in Munich. 258 00:30:07,889 --> 00:30:10,349 (Hitler) lch wollte zur Wolga kommen. 259 00:30:10,433 --> 00:30:13,310 (narrator) "l wanted to get to the Volga at a point 260 00:30:13,394 --> 00:30:18,774 where stands a certain town... bears the name of Stalin himself." 261 00:30:18,858 --> 00:30:21,819 "l wanted to take the place and we've done it." 262 00:30:21,903 --> 00:30:27,574 "We've got it really, except for a few enemy positions still holding out." 263 00:30:28,868 --> 00:30:32,663 "People say, 'Why don't they finish the job more quickly?"' 264 00:30:32,747 --> 00:30:36,542 "Well, l prefer to do the job with quite small assault groups." 265 00:30:36,668 --> 00:30:39,962 "Time is of no consequence at all." 266 00:31:14,622 --> 00:31:19,251 But time was creeping up on the Germans. 267 00:31:19,335 --> 00:31:21,795 Even before Hitler's speech, 268 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:25,007 the Russian winter had begun. 269 00:31:25,091 --> 00:31:27,175 (wind howls) 270 00:31:40,106 --> 00:31:42,983 The Germans knew what was coming. 271 00:31:43,067 --> 00:31:49,114 Soon it would be 30, 40, 50 degrees below freezing. 272 00:31:49,198 --> 00:31:52,743 Equipment and men would freeze. 273 00:32:01,252 --> 00:32:03,962 But the Russians would keep going. 274 00:32:16,434 --> 00:32:19,269 The Russians tried to keep their build-up a secret, 275 00:32:19,354 --> 00:32:22,314 but they could neither move all their men by night, 276 00:32:22,398 --> 00:32:26,318 nor hide completely three-quarters of a million new troops. 277 00:32:31,157 --> 00:32:38,121 On November 10, Von Paulus asked Hitler to let him withdraw from Stalingrad. 278 00:32:38,206 --> 00:32:40,499 Hitler told him to keep attacking. 279 00:32:43,753 --> 00:32:46,505 The Russian build-up went on. 280 00:33:04,983 --> 00:33:08,068 On November 19, the Russians struck. 281 00:33:16,202 --> 00:33:18,954 They attacked the Romanians from the north 282 00:33:19,038 --> 00:33:21,999 and, two days later, from the south. 283 00:33:22,083 --> 00:33:27,379 Within hours, the Russian tanks were through. 284 00:33:49,569 --> 00:33:52,112 The Russian plans were ambitious. 285 00:33:52,196 --> 00:33:56,742 Their two pincers would cut through the Romanians and link at Kalach. 286 00:33:56,826 --> 00:34:00,412 That would trap the German Sixth Army. 287 00:34:00,496 --> 00:34:02,998 They would reduce the Stalingrad pocket, 288 00:34:03,082 --> 00:34:06,168 and could then strike south-east towards Rostov. 289 00:34:06,252 --> 00:34:09,463 That would trap all the Germans in the Caucasus. 290 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:15,469 Just four days affer the offensive began, 291 00:34:15,553 --> 00:34:18,388 the two Russian armies did link up. 292 00:34:18,473 --> 00:34:21,892 lt had all gone so quickly there was no time to film it, 293 00:34:21,976 --> 00:34:24,728 so it was re-enacted for the cameras. 294 00:34:26,898 --> 00:34:28,982 (men cheer) 295 00:34:58,763 --> 00:35:02,891 The Russians thought they had trapped 75,000 Germans. 296 00:35:02,975 --> 00:35:06,853 ln fact, 250,000 men were cut off. 297 00:35:06,938 --> 00:35:11,149 All the Sixth Army, some of the Fourth Panzer Army, 298 00:35:11,234 --> 00:35:15,654 Romanians, Croatians, and even Russian volunteers. 299 00:35:15,738 --> 00:35:21,034 The commander on the spot, Von Paulus, asked to be allowed to break out. 300 00:35:21,119 --> 00:35:25,914 Hitler told him to stay put. He would send troops to break in. 301 00:35:25,998 --> 00:35:28,208 And he sent him a cheery message: 302 00:35:28,292 --> 00:35:32,379 "l know the brave Sixth Army and its commander-in-chief, 303 00:35:32,463 --> 00:35:36,216 and l also know that it will do its duty." 304 00:35:44,976 --> 00:35:47,727 But the army still had to eat. 305 00:35:52,066 --> 00:35:56,027 Göring, the Luffwaffe's commander-in-chief. 306 00:35:56,112 --> 00:35:57,946 Earlier that year, his planes 307 00:35:58,030 --> 00:36:00,699 had supplied a whole army cut off for 60 days 308 00:36:00,783 --> 00:36:03,577 with fuel, ammunition and food. 309 00:36:03,661 --> 00:36:06,121 Now he thought they could do it again. 310 00:36:06,205 --> 00:36:10,208 Providing the weather was good and the distances not too great, 311 00:36:10,293 --> 00:36:13,420 they could fly in 500 tons a day. 312 00:36:17,633 --> 00:36:19,593 Hitler thought that would do, 313 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:24,973 though he knew the army said it needed at least 800 tons. 314 00:36:43,034 --> 00:36:45,619 The Russians were waiting. 315 00:36:58,216 --> 00:37:01,509 Bombers were used as transports. 316 00:37:08,643 --> 00:37:10,810 The weather was vile. 317 00:37:16,317 --> 00:37:20,528 The airliff brought in only a tenth of what was needed, 318 00:37:20,613 --> 00:37:23,949 though it did once deliver a planeload of ground pepper 319 00:37:24,033 --> 00:37:27,285 and 12 cases of contraceptives. 320 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:35,669 The Russians did not attack 321 00:37:35,753 --> 00:37:38,672 the 250,000 troops in the pocket directly - 322 00:37:38,756 --> 00:37:40,882 they were not yet strong enough. 323 00:37:40,967 --> 00:37:45,595 lnstead, their armies drove westwards, and the further they drove, 324 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:49,349 the wider grew the gap between the Germans besieged in Stalingrad 325 00:37:49,475 --> 00:37:52,435 and their would-be rescuers. 326 00:37:52,561 --> 00:37:54,646 (gunfire) 327 00:38:32,226 --> 00:38:37,647 German troops inside the pocket were cold and hungry, but confident. 328 00:38:37,732 --> 00:38:42,736 They settled down, ready to move when their rescuers got close enough. 329 00:38:42,820 --> 00:38:44,988 But they never came. 330 00:38:45,072 --> 00:38:48,158 The Germans fighting their way to relieve Stalingrad 331 00:38:48,242 --> 00:38:53,538 turned back to meet a new threat to the entire southern front. 332 00:39:00,713 --> 00:39:04,049 The Germans in the pocket were on their own. 333 00:39:16,395 --> 00:39:19,314 The Russians had the upper hand. 334 00:39:19,398 --> 00:39:22,359 Even the quality of their medical care showed it. 335 00:39:22,443 --> 00:39:25,487 German wounded, except the few airliffed home, 336 00:39:25,571 --> 00:39:27,822 died in their dugouts. 337 00:39:27,907 --> 00:39:29,866 The Russians at Stalingrad 338 00:39:29,950 --> 00:39:34,496 had the best recovery record of any Russian armies. 339 00:39:59,105 --> 00:40:02,065 The Russians now had mastery of the air. 340 00:40:02,149 --> 00:40:06,111 Their bombers were virtually unopposed. 341 00:40:08,572 --> 00:40:11,324 Hitler was obsessed by Stalingrad. 342 00:40:11,409 --> 00:40:13,535 The Russians too. 343 00:40:13,619 --> 00:40:16,663 They could have leff the men there to freeze and starVe. 344 00:40:16,747 --> 00:40:20,291 lnstead, they massed seven armies round the pocket. 345 00:40:28,008 --> 00:40:34,597 ln Stalingrad itself, fighting went on in the same bloody way. 346 00:40:36,350 --> 00:40:38,601 (explosion) 347 00:41:04,587 --> 00:41:06,838 On Christmas Eve in Germany 348 00:41:06,964 --> 00:41:11,176 the radio broadcast this live message from the troops in Stalingrad: 349 00:41:11,260 --> 00:41:15,054 Achtung. lch rufe noch einmal Stalingrad. 350 00:41:15,139 --> 00:41:18,558 Hier ist Stalingrad. Hier ist die Front an der Wolga. 351 00:41:18,642 --> 00:41:20,560 (narrator) But it was a fake. 352 00:41:20,644 --> 00:41:24,606 Broadcasts from Stalingrad had stopped a week before. 353 00:41:39,288 --> 00:41:45,293 On Christmas Day, Radio Moscow broadcast to the Germans in Stalingrad: 354 00:41:45,377 --> 00:41:49,464 "Every seven seconds, a German soldier dies in Russia." 355 00:41:49,548 --> 00:41:52,300 "Stalingrad is a mass grave." 356 00:41:52,384 --> 00:41:54,469 (clock ticking) 357 00:41:57,264 --> 00:42:02,393 The ticking and the message went on all day. 358 00:42:02,478 --> 00:42:05,271 (ticking) 359 00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:33,466 The Germans were now eating raw horse flesh. 360 00:42:33,551 --> 00:42:37,303 On January 8, the Russians offered surrender terms - 361 00:42:37,388 --> 00:42:40,515 warmth, medical care, food. 362 00:42:41,058 --> 00:42:45,019 Officers could even keep their ceremonial daggers. 363 00:42:50,234 --> 00:42:52,110 Hitler refused. 364 00:42:52,194 --> 00:42:55,029 "Every day the Sixth Army holds out", he said, 365 00:42:55,114 --> 00:42:58,783 "helps our situation everywhere else on the front." 366 00:43:02,162 --> 00:43:05,915 January 10. The final Russian assault. 367 00:43:13,632 --> 00:43:18,094 They thought it would take about four days. 368 00:43:40,618 --> 00:43:44,162 But two weeks later, they were still fighting. 369 00:44:02,556 --> 00:44:06,517 On the 24th, Von Paulus signalled Hitler: 370 00:44:06,602 --> 00:44:09,771 "Troops without munitions or food." 371 00:44:09,855 --> 00:44:13,274 "Effective command no longer possible." 372 00:44:13,359 --> 00:44:15,568 "Collapse inevitable." 373 00:44:15,653 --> 00:44:18,571 "Army requests permission to surrender 374 00:44:18,656 --> 00:44:21,866 in order to save lives of remaining troops." 375 00:44:23,202 --> 00:44:26,037 Hitler still forbade surrender. 376 00:44:26,121 --> 00:44:31,626 "The Sixth Army will do its historic duty at Stalingrad until the last man." 377 00:44:36,715 --> 00:44:40,551 But German soldiers and German officers 378 00:44:40,636 --> 00:44:43,805 were already giving themselves up. 379 00:46:06,180 --> 00:46:11,851 On January 31 , Hitler made Von Paulus a field marshal, 380 00:46:11,935 --> 00:46:16,522 knowing no German field marshal had ever been taken alive. 381 00:46:27,493 --> 00:46:31,704 The same day he was promoted, Von Paulus surrendered. 382 00:46:35,584 --> 00:46:40,087 His captors had never seen such a senior German officer before. 383 00:46:40,172 --> 00:46:43,341 General Shumilov, who took the surrender, 384 00:46:43,425 --> 00:46:45,593 didn't quite know what to do, 385 00:46:45,677 --> 00:46:49,555 so he asked Paulus for proof of his identity. 386 00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:54,060 Then for proof that he was commander of the Sixth Army. 387 00:46:54,186 --> 00:46:57,730 Then whether he really was a field marshal. 388 00:47:00,526 --> 00:47:05,488 They talked a while. Von Paulus cheered up. 389 00:47:05,572 --> 00:47:08,866 He even proposed a toast to the Red Army. 390 00:47:10,828 --> 00:47:15,373 Hitler had expected him... to shoot himself. 391 00:47:24,842 --> 00:47:29,345 lt was not an ordinary defeat. lt was a catastrophe. 392 00:48:11,054 --> 00:48:13,014 Two German armies - 393 00:48:13,098 --> 00:48:18,686 24 generals, 2,000 officers, 90,000 soldiers - 394 00:48:18,770 --> 00:48:20,605 prisoners. 395 00:48:20,689 --> 00:48:23,816 And 150,000 dead. 396 00:48:24,860 --> 00:48:30,364 The Romanian, ltalian, and Hungarian armies destroyed. 397 00:48:30,449 --> 00:48:37,204 Enough material lost to equip a quarter of the whole German army. 398 00:48:37,289 --> 00:48:42,543 This was the same Sixth Army which, two years before, 399 00:48:42,628 --> 00:48:44,754 could not imagine defeat. 400 00:49:28,632 --> 00:49:31,676 Prisoners were marched off to camps. 401 00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:37,765 50,000 died within weeks of cold, malnutrition and typhus. 402 00:49:39,184 --> 00:49:45,564 Of all but 100,000, only 6,000 ever returned home. 403 00:51:08,982 --> 00:51:11,317 The people of Stalingrad 404 00:51:11,401 --> 00:51:16,030 came back to look for what was leff of their homes. 405 00:51:33,632 --> 00:51:38,469 When it was all over, a Russian soldier said: 406 00:51:38,553 --> 00:51:40,930 "Germans are funny fellows, 407 00:51:41,014 --> 00:51:45,101 coming to conquer Stalingrad in shiny leather boots." 408 00:51:45,185 --> 00:51:48,270 "They thought it would be a joyride." 409 00:51:48,355 --> 00:51:50,481 (wind howls) 410 00:52:13,755 --> 00:52:17,591 When it was all over, Hitler said: 411 00:52:17,676 --> 00:52:21,637 "What is life? Life is the nation." 412 00:52:21,721 --> 00:52:24,807 "The individual must die anyway." 413 00:52:24,933 --> 00:52:29,061 "Beyond the life of the individual is the nation." 414 00:52:31,314 --> 00:52:34,567 On February 3, 1943, 415 00:52:34,651 --> 00:52:39,113 the German radio announced that Stalingrad had fallen. 416 00:52:39,239 --> 00:52:42,449 The Sixth Army had fought courageously, 417 00:52:42,534 --> 00:52:47,788 but had succumbed to vastly superior enemy forces, 418 00:52:47,873 --> 00:52:52,334 and to unfavourable circumstances. 292 00:52:56,584 --> 00:53:00,212 © anoXmous @ http://thepiratebay.sx/user/Zen_Bud 293 00:53:00,213 --> 00:53:04,213 © anoXmous @ http://thepiratebay.sx/user/Zen_Bud 294 00:53:04,214 --> 00:53:08,214 © anoXmous @ http://thepiratebay.sx/user/Zen_Bud