History Documentary Channel Secret of World War 2 Hitler escape
In all history there has never been a war and in its scale of destruction, the war on the Eastern Front was unique; Leningrad to the Crimea, from Kiev to Stalingrad, the Soviet Union was devastated - at least 25 million Soviet citizens died, and in the end what made the German aggressors have to show for it.
Broken, divided country, which had lost much of its territory and a people burdened by the knowledge they had launched a racist war of annihilation and, in the process, gave birth to the Holocaust But cancer at the time of the attack, there were a lot of people - not just the Germans - who thought that the decision to invade the Soviet Union was a rational act in pursuit of German interests and, moreover, that was a war, the Germans would win.
In the summer of 1940 Adolf Hitler, despite its rapid and dramatic victory over France, facing a major military and political problem The British do not do what seemed logical that the planned Führer - they would not make peace yet Hitler was frustrated by geography - in the form of Channel - to follow his immediate instincts and quickly crush the British as he had the French.
Hitler did in fact control preparations necessary for an invasion of England, but he was always shy in his desire to mount a large landing by sea Germany, unlike Britain, has not been a maritime power and the Channel was a formidable obstacle Although air superiority could be acquired, it remained the powerful British navy and there was another, ideological, why Hitler was not fully committed to invade Great Brittany for him, he would have been a distraction Britain contained neither the space nor the raw materials, which he believed the new German Empire needed and he admired the English - Hitler often noticed how he envied their achievement in subjugate India.
Worse, if the Germans were lured into an amphibious operation at risk against a country Hitler never intended as an enemy, every day the potential threat of its biggest ideological opponent would be increasingly strong it was ironic that he was not yet at war with the perceived enemy, since 1939, Germany in August and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact.
All this means that, from the perspective of Hitler, there was an alternative to invade Britain, it could invade the Soviet Union Hitler and his military planners knew that the best chance to win in Germany was for the war in Europe ended quickly.
Hubert Menzel was a commander in the Department of General Operations of OKH Oberkommando of Heers, the German army general area, and for him the idea of invading the Soviet Union in 1941 had the smack of cold logic, clear , we knew that in two years time, which is at the end of 1942, early 1943, the British would be ready, the Americans would be ready, the Russians would also be ready, and we would have to face all three at the same time we had to try to remove the biggest threat is when it seemed possible the above paragraphs are taken from the first chapter of the war of the century by Laurence Rees, published by BBC Publications 1999.
Russian soldier The Germans invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, and sought poised to take Moscow in October this year with hindsight, the popular opinion marked Hitler almost as crazy to invade the Soviet Union, but at the time many people - including those influential in the great Britain and America - thought his decision was his purpose, Hitler came much closer off his great plan that the Soviet Union was willing to admit .
The German Blitzkrieg technique was as devastating in Russia as it was in the rest of Europe the scene was set for a war of annihilation waged by the Nazis against the Soviets ruthlessly shown by both parties to a week in the German invasion, 150,000 Soviet soldiers were dead or wounded - more than during the five months of the battle of the Somme.
While the German armies swept further into the heart of Russia, one million Soviet soldiers were drafted to protect Kiev But despite Stalin's ruthless order prohibiting city to surrender, Kiev fell to 600,000 soldiers Soviets were captured by October 1941, three million Soviet soldiers prisoners of war new testimony and documentary evidence can now reveal that Stalin was seriously considering asking for peace and had even organized a train trip to take him to the security as the German guns began pounding Moscow's decision to stay and fight was a turning point in the war.
Russian prisoner of war Stalin and Hitler were together responsible for the leitmotif of the ruthless brutality that has prevailed throughout the hostilities between Russia and Germany at the Battle of Moscow, where 8000 Soviet citizens were executed for cowardice perceived the Russian armies were forced to stand their ground, despite the cold conditions perishingly 43 degrees below zero.
To prevent his soldiers deserting the front lines around the capital, Stalin ordered special detachments lock to shoot all deserters Soviet leaders also asked the Soviet partisans operating in the country to kill anyone they suspected disloyal in the result was a white card for effective supporters of abusing their power and extract all they wanted of defenseless villagers.
A report of a partisan division shows that rape, murder and beatings were common for villagers increasingly hellish lives, in some areas, particularly the occupied Ukraine, nationalist supporters, as opposed to Soviet partisans, who bent on freedom of the Soviet regime also began their own brutal operations in the country were villagers now face violence in three different fighting forces.
Russians suffer only their side of Nazi domination over the territories they captured Russia was draconian Erich Koch, Reich Commissioner of the occupied Ukraine said that the lowliest German worker is a thousand times more valuable than the whole of the population of Ukraine Famine was widespread, with Soviet civilians forced to eat dogs - until the dog has failed and people were forced to turn to the rats, crows and birch bark in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov, which was administered by the German army, 100,000 people died of hunger and disease.
The German army, facing a growing partisan threat, became more and more complete, in their opinion on what constitutes a document supporter An army list 1,900 supporters and aides, killed by the Germans in a single action, but only 30 rifles and a handful of other weapons were found with them - more than 90 people killed by the Germans had no weapons.
And yet, people still managed to survive Gavrilchenko Inna tells how lucky she was to get a job in a slaughter house during the occupation of Kharkov He gave her access to the blood, and she secretly baked in an omelette blood.
The Battle of Stalingrad The tables were turned when Hitler set in motion one of the most bitter conflicts of the 20th century - the Battle of Stalingrad in spring 1942, he launched an attack on two fronts in what he thought was his final offensive is.
A set of troops headed for Baku and is rich oil resources, while a second group pushed towards Stalingrad and the Volga After more than a year of bitter defeats, the Soviet army was exhausted and demoralized, but he started using a new tactic - combat retirement - which put pressure on the German soldiers Soviet supply lines are not taught by their generals to hold their ground at all costs instead they retreated - to avoid capture and keep fighting.
The Germans quickly overrun forward, reaching the shores of the Volga German soldiers of the Army Group B had one last important task - to take the city of Stalingrad on the west bank of the Volga.
Thus began the bitter and bloody battle More than 1,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the city, but Stalin banned any first evacuation of the city, even children of Soviet reinforcements had to cross the Volga from the east and many them drowned under the weight of their clothes and weapons the life of the average expectancy of a Soviet soldier during the battle of Stalingrad was only 24 penalty units infamous - some of them, including political prisoners - have participated in suicidal mission as a way to atone for their sins by the end of the siege, one million Soviet soldiers died on the Stalingrad front.
The ferocity of the fighting in Stalingrad shocked the Germans, who were accustomed to the relative ease of their tactics Blitzkrieg Suddenly they were confronted by hand-to-hand, often just yards from the enemy Our principle was seize the enemy and not let go; to hold it very close - like you to keep a loved one, said Anatoly Mersko, who served under General Chuikov.
Soviet veteran Suren Mirzoyan remembers the bloodlust of the time, I was like a beast I wanted only one thing - to kill, you know how it looks when you press a tomato juice and doing well, it seemed that when I stabbed blood everywhere every stage of Stalingrad meant death death was in our pockets death was walking with us.
As the battle raged, it was also a time of terror for ethnic minorities on both sides of the dispute in Germany, the final solution Hitler achieved, it is horrible climax in the death camps, as the expectation of Auschwitz-Birkenau life for many on arrival could be measured in hours.
In the USSR, meanwhile, Stalin ruthless approach to punish the ethnic people in the Soviet Union meant that ethnic entire nations were exiled to Siberia as punishment for the small number of employees among them one of the ethnic groups that suffered most are the Kalmyks of southern steppes of Stalingrad Stalin ordered all ethnic Kalmyks, including women and children, to be transferred to more remote areas of the Soviet Union.
Entire families were crammed into transport streams Many unhealthy didn t survive the long journey Officially, 93,000 Kalmyks, 68,000 Karachai, 500,000 Chechens, Balkars and 340,000 180,000 Tatars were deported figures are almost certainly underestimates.
Stalin and the chief of his secret police, Lavrenti Beria In spring 1944, a Soviet invasion of Germany became a real possibility, as Soviet troops pursued the retreating German army, Hitler ordered the citizens of Germany to destroy everything that the enemy could put to good use by bitter defeats, he later against the Germans themselves if the German people are losing the war, when they proved unworthy of me.
Hitler suffered its biggest military setback of the war in the summer of 1944 by far more destructive landing of day, Stalin's Operation Bagration Belorussia eliminated three times more divisions of the German army that the Allies did in Normandy Hitler retaliated by requiring specific divisions of the German army to hold on last man - the same tactic that Stalin had deployed so disastrously in the early days of the defeat of the war for Germany was only a few months.
The final victory came to Russia when the Soviet soldiers hoisted the red flag over the Reichstag in Berlin in April 1945. The occupation troops celebrated, some engage in rape and murder of German citizens when Stalin said how some soldiers of the Red Army dealt the German refugees, he is reported to say that we lecture them too our soldiers; they leave some initiative.
Vladlen Anchishkin, commander of the Soviet battery of the 1st Ukrainian Front, summarizes the horror of the event, when he tells how he took his personal revenge on the German soldiers, I can admit it now, I'm in such state I was in a frenzy that I said: Bring them here for questioning and I had a knife, and I cut I cut a lot of them I thought, You wanted to kill me now your turn.
War of the Century - When Hitler Fought Stalin by Laurence Rees BBC Publications.
BBC World History Wars Hitler's Invasion of Russia in World War II, history, hitler, invasion.