Transcripts For DW DocFilm 20240713

Was up. Close and i did it. All. Picked up. On the ticket i. Thought i. Was. Heading. 945 on latvias baltic coast for several months the German Army Group north had been encircled by the red army on the couldnt peninsula. The immense human and material losses of the past years had left nonsi germanys once dreaded army in a state of collapse. And which of photographs reveal the sorry state of the trapped units. In contrast nazi propaganda was still clinging to the myth of military strength in newsreel showed the swearing in of home defense units. If you know what are you going to make even you have had even if youre right oh well thats what i mean youre. Going to want to pay for me and if youre fully open i mean im from perth and i dont know. If it can get here if you are. Denise stablished units called folks when it is made up of local home guards adolescence understands ring of regular soldiers is the men are required to swear an oath to the field but even though the military situation was already hopeless. At it. It. Was a tough. Talk. That was hit. By a. Force the longest it was about making an ultimate sacrifice your idea of sacrificing oneself for this very strong is very important under National Socialism and again thats why hitler also thought the navy was so great because they went down with all hands or that impressed and he thought that was great thats what you had to do almost once more. On the 12th of january 945. 00 the raid on. We launched a major offensive in east prussia. At 4 45 am the sky turned as bright his day as up to 300. 00 salvage guns per kilometer and on the front opened fire on the german positions. Red army cameraman filmed the apocalyptic scenes as the vam off lines of defense rapidly collapsed. Over the previous years German Forces had waged a campaign of destruction against the people of the soviet union the nazi ideology painted as racially inferior. Now the war on the east front was shifting onto the territory of the right. Many germans feared the soviet red army would exact a terrible revenge. To mention how much. They were simply afraid they had been told that the subhuman russians are coming and they were afraid of the red army that of course they also knew about the atrocities the German Forces had committed in the soviet union but that was known as the Solar Mission to that extent it was a mixture of prejudice against the russian subhumans had a realistic assessment that the red army would not be squeamish and its advance and a clear recognition of the mass crimes that germany had committed and a fear of vengeance the money its forget to 1st that. Many of the roughly 2 and a half 1000000 People Living in east prussia at the time wanted to flee their homes as fast as possible and head west but most of them couldnt. You know its an odd sort of a fluke for one boy to die for a long time the nazis had forbidden people to flee or they wanted them to stay put and oppose the advancing soviet army colonel and this was certainly one reason why the escape was later so chaotic and violent. People didnt leave until the last minute they could only take the bare necessities. And theyve been worn down by the war once is and often includes. Their fleet of these attacks middle went on his tracks mothers and their children and old man as always and your the weakest to get hit the hardest. They were left to fend for themselves and also made to suffer for the failure of an entire nation including the lack of evacuation plans exist and plan all to fight for it. Because the soviet forces had largely blocked the road to the west many people trying to flee across the frozen lagoon but coastal waters could be every bit as dangerous. Many were aiming for the baltic coast near done such from where they hoped theyd be able to continue their escape by ship. Coats like goes in half and todays news was nazi assassinated in 1986 the cruise ship was famous in germany out of hitler had personally attended its 937. 00 georgia hand. If culver did after. Fish for. 4 years the ship served as a holiday vessel for the Nazi Organization top jewish boy to strength through joy Party Members would relax on its decks as a cruise the mediterranean or the north sea. Now it was supposed to transpose evacuated refugees and soldiers westwards thousands of people were crammed together on board as it set sail and this overloading proved fatal. To avoid running aground in Shallow Water has the captain said course far out into the baltic sea where the soviet navy was also up racing. The ship was detected and so peter by a soviet submarine. At least 9300 people died in this. Siblings kind legally it was not a war crime at all because the ghost for the sailing without lights in a conflict zone and was armed and carrying soldiers. As also in a sense if you look at the laws of war the attack on the ghost loft was legal. Well there is a lot of legitimate is another question and you know you can decide for yourself but for. On the other side of the globe the war was continuing unabated the u. S. Navy was cruising off the strategically important japanese island of. About 1200 kilometers south of tokyo. In mid february 945. 00 battleships opened fire on the island which is only 21 square kilometers in size they had support from u. S. Bomb is based in the mariana islands. Evil commies are. These all kind of cargo family was operationally important because it had air bases that the money goes to escort bombers or has an Emergency Landing site for them so they sell their sights on the wall jima in 4 course. Cameraman from the us office of war information filmed as several tens of thousands of u. S. Marines landed on the island shortly before 9 in the morning 3 days after the attack had begun. Their footage of the fierce fighting over the socalled sulfa island with lacey form the basis of the documentary wolf film to the shores of. Probably green bay here for a point position for a body that kept looking right down our throat. Besides the cameraman theyve also photographers among the wall correspondents on the 23rd of february a few days after the start of the landing operation one of them snap 2 u. S. Marines raising the stars and stripes on the summit of the extinct suribachi volcano. Although the men were actually replacing the flag raised earlier that day the photo was to go down in history. Thats why the vacant is on the 2nd world war was also a war of images and symbols of the millions of photos we have from world war 2 there are not 5 or 6 that we all know. You are looking for sting of the flag and he would say most of the reenacted honest it symbolizes the american victory in the pacific. The conscience zicam puts a few. Dollars it would be several months before the americans could really claim victory in the pacific the fighting around a would jima known continued for weeks up to the picture at the volcano summit was taken the japanese defended is resorted to a particularly bloody tech take to come argument is for the japanese commander was fully aware that he could not defend the island against the americans no one was to inflict the highest possible number of losses on the americans so that the war would become unpopular and would be stopped for political reasons really not didnt work but still the number of americans just was here which you were kind of. Humans. And more than 6800 u. S. Marines were killed taking the island and almost 20000 u. S. Servicemen were wounded. On the japanese side most of the 20000. 00 or so defendants lost their lives and the 216. 00 men surrendered to the enemy is going to commissary it will cost for americans were shocked by the japanese willingness to sacrifice themselves which was evident during the defense of he would. The americans hadnt really believed that the japanese would fight quite so tenaciously to the last minute it developed that played a very big role in the fact that at some point the americans changed their minds and said we have to find another way to end the war on the span. The forces of the japanese empire when just fighting doggedly against imminent defeat so maybe gina since october 944 day commanders had also been relying on a new tactic in the pacific kamikaze flights. Pilots flew their canes directly into enemy warships usually killing themselves in the process vice admiral techie jiro nishi commander of the Japanese Naval air force had developed the idea. Just wanted to look for commercial cuban for the family car american soldiers of course found this completely shocking they hadnt expected anything like that it was a completely new form of warfare and the clicks feel warm. And i knew that. The american side hadnt reckoned with such a willingness to make sacrifices to get the squadrons of these flying bombs but when names like morning sun and mountain Cherry Blossom it wasnt difficult to recruit fanatical youngsters to the suicide squads much as does a lot things from prison tata on short if you look at the results though you have to say these attacks werent very efficient. They didnt really do much good at all. More than the americans shut down a lot of those planes before they could even reach their targets and even those that did hit the often didnt have much effect mists on the it was more a shock element. And shook even this element. Images like this also contributed to the shock footage taken of the 21st of january 945 show the consequences of a kamikaze attack on the us s. Ticonderoga near the straits of almost. All Navy Aircraft carrier survived the attack more than a 100 men on board didnt and the death toll of american troops in the pacific climbed further. Less than 2 weeks later a summit in the soviet seaside result of the altar brought together the big 3 allied leaders of the anti hitler coalition. For some years bush and the soviet union and the United States had been. Night against the nazis. Now as their forces moved into germany itself the end of the war in europe seemed only a matter of time british Prime Minister Winston Churchill and soviet dictated Joseph Stalin and u. S. President franklin d. Roosevelt focused on concrete planning for the post will future they had sketched out at the tehran summit more than a year earlier. And i think it was important to big 3 met at the altar the 1st issue was the westward shift of poland to this for sure theyd already discussed out of tehran now it was decision time and it was clear that there would be occupation sons dont vote for i think when they talked about what to do in the pacific its almost but if you could she. Said father son the union had not participated in the fighting in the pacific but roosevelts health was declining and he wanted to bring moscow on signed to end the war quickly and avoid further heavy losses. Balts roosevelt approached stalin and told him that he needed him in the pacific he negotiated with them and got him to promise that the red army was attacked truck around 3 months after the end of the war in europe well you know what i mean stalin kept a promise to the day talk and all and. In return the western allies pledged to expand their support for the red army by bombing the german rush 2 days after the summits they trained their sights on the city of dresden. On the 13th of february 945 some 800 british lancaster bomber is took off for what was then germanys 7th largest city which had previously been largely sped air strikes. And this is it towards you wouldnt the church i wanted something to show stalin got the support of the so much so i come and so the idea took root out. They flew harriets behind the german lines on the soviet front and caused chaos there so that it would somehow help the red army but hes just. The british planes reached dressed in just before half past 10 in the evening it was a mess a camera film to explosives and incendiary bombs dropping from the edge of the attack has made no attempt to hit specific targets large areas of the says he were to be destroyed within 15 minutes 3 courses of the city center with some fine. Dust bunnies and for the fact that the attack on dresden was so devastating they had to do what the circumstances are and the president had no antiaircraft defenses its antiaircraft guns are taken to the Eastern Front but sometimes you know many of its night fighters couldnt take off all of a target it was a clear night and no defenses and the british could go in relatively low the last minute or drop it flares accurately in the bombers were able to follow them exactly so it was a textbook attack on. A few hours later on valentines day 945. 00 and then we can bomb is attack dressed in again this time in daylight the u. S. News reports it. Leader and 1st division of the airports today gave its 200000. 00 tons of bombs to happen in our lovely at least in part is the way. The imposing transport hub on the album river was hit by a total of 4 waves of attacks. Here blasting away for the russians now 45 miles away lynx would give out a large drive from east to west monday when. The Anglo American air strikes devastated the city and killed up to 25000 people. I could never have believed that an officer of the dressed in missing person santa that death could ever take people in so many different ways and. Dismembered apparently sleeping peacefully distorted by pain completely cold up dressed naked or as a miserable heap of ashes. And above all this the pungent smoke and the m. Bearable smell of decay. Pictures taken months after the attacks still give an impression of the extent of the catastrophe. On the western front the very last was now being pushed further onto the defensive the allies had occupied athan the 1st major german city to be liberated in the previous also. The surprise german offensive in the battle of the bulge in december had slowed down the us British Advance and it would be another month before the americans could start moving east again. Just over the border and yearly they met with fierce resistance. The german news real reported. I believe in barter and driver valen compete in both iraq. For their good night and i 1st felt incompetent and either from point are going to be over on 5 home youve got. The german defenders blew up the nearby river dam so the river levels rose noticeably. And the u. S. Forces had to wait until the floods had subsided before they could cross the river on the 23rd of february and enter the center of healing. The g. I. s encountered a shocking picture hewletts no longer existed the town had been under fire for months and compass artillery shells and bombs had rained down on it. The last inhabitants had been evacuated in december of the previous years. What remained was a field of rubble where the german defenders had dug in and with fighting a pointless and those who battle in the ruins against the american occupiers at the beginning of march why diaz and how it the Supreme Commander of the allied forces in europe came to look at you that for himself one of the places he visited was the historic citadel for a long time it had been considered impregnable and no enemy soldier had entered it since the napoleonic wars the footage shows he it with eisenhower was intended to send a clear signal that the entire german reich could be conquered like the same trees old fortress. Meanwhile in the east the raid on the continue to advance steady in addition to east prussia in the north it was also sweeping further south into side lisa a region in present day code and that was of great strategic importance because of its industrial base. Our tanks ran everything down a Red Army Soldier wrote in his diary on the 23rd of january day tracks class in vehicles horses and anything else on the road the reasons for the red army success name is a cheery r. C. In both men and material as well as serious tactical mistakes made by hitler that no one had called into question for years so i remember that armed forces since november 1043 hitler had been putting his priorities on the west a lot was going wrong there in june july and august 1940 but he stuck to his vision he said i have to give these western allies who kicked us out of france another major blow now kicked the music its like well and thats just so and so at a time when the red army was mounting one of the biggest offensives ever on the west till he was focusing on the west and so turning himself into stalins best allies. Part of what started. In the years many germans had fled to say leisure to escape from the western allies bombing. Had been largely spared from aerial bombardment but now the soviet advance put them right in the middle of the war. Like in east prussia most people here only had one goal to escape from the red. Of it 1st delish saw and then doesnt enjoy will be terrible as it could be in order vi because what we did during the Eastern Campaign especially against soviet civilians but also in poland in titians have a list of often poor in the crimes we committed will return to washington as vengeance yes vote. So on so what kiran. Those fear is often proved to be justified many Red Army Soldiers committed atrocities in revenge for the crimes of the family and the s. S. Divide as cadets who will see an escalation of violence against the german civilian population here the shooting of civilians the shooting of women and children. This issue some found on one can the abduction of german civilians. In 2 vilest and the mass reap of women must forgive article from fall one dislikes a while ago by don gotten caught on at the Sexual Violence against german women can be explained by various factors. Does there come on the one hand it is said that a womans body in symbolic of the nation which means that any desecration to use the term from that time so many desecration or dishonor through Sexual Violence therefore also means the desecration or dishonor of the entire nation and. Not see on. Nazi propaganda regularly focused on these desecrations and. Continue to feel the climate of fear and hatred among the population this is a new israel from january 945. Even from dark in brooklyn to be doubting our leaders our running god im tired and wanted to come out of there to fight. Even weve been going to high only i found out of it quite we have been trying to become an officer here a lot of politics and theyre not an individual dont you dont darken their own you very funny our lord our indeed and to be a lower income youre from holland im pretty far from. Africa to go on but i hope that you thought good for her daughter eve on a whim. Despite the hopelessness of the situation military capitulation remained had to do for the nazi leadership. Instead strategically outdated concepts would constantly advance to stop the read on me. Charges for the dog should become the question for the germans was how to stop this red army onslaught. They had on a concept that had been developed in 1904 in the Eastern Front to set up fixed points of transport hopes that i would later be declared fortresses as one decent point of fatahs points would be defended and so act like breakwaters against which the red army as a tax would bring the breslau in love aside todays smart stuff in poland was one of the brake fortis chosen to stop the aggression and violence. Yet one of the amounts done with pleasure was the getting us out the 1st impressed low in my view that i knew i was on a good deal and you know what i do if you are leaders reasons go like a hunger. Yeah he was out from what he referred call breslow behind him from outer feeder bands guys busy or tough men on power on dr mchugh on the stock standard for typing but i tried. It. On the 20th of january col hunt. Lisa ordered the civilian population to leave the city. However due to a lack of organization and fear of the dangerous 200000 people remained military untrained civilians were to join units of the fog 2 of them aft and s. S. To defend the city anyone who refused would be shot. Those fruits was a ups this led to some absurd measures runways were built inside the city and people tried to defend it in a kind of urban warfare that massively raised the death toll among the german civilian population. Not. On other sections of the front while breslow was still under siege the red army was advancing to the order River Building bridgeheads on the west bank near christine nevertheless the nazi leadership appeared unimpressed. In the middle of the month googles wrote in his diary as for the east the fear is no longer too concerned he has the impression that we have slowly regained if 1st. One of the red army was conquering large parts of silence and polar raining in the east the americans british and canadian swim aching rather slow progress in the west their next big objective was the rhine river since the end of february u. S. Forces had been fighting their way towards kind of. The right he said in the right words the big natural border in the west and fighting on its approaches or was heavy and washingtons relatively current of the war in 1905 was one of the worst march for. U. S. Army in terms of casualties lots of 50 was. On march the 5th american units reached the suburbs of cologne the 3rd u. S. Army division entered through the western districts. The ordinary citizen of cologne has nothing to fear from the allied troops said leaflets that had been dropped over the city earlier. That day they said as g. I. s with fighting their way into the city center they encountered a young woman who had apparently got caught in have come between the lines. She was seriously injured but they were able to rescue. A few 100 meters away the americans encountered and longs german resistance nest near the cathedral. The panther tank was blocking the way to the rhine but even that couldnt hold up the offensive for long and it was taken out with a targeted hit. Only 3 of the 5 man crew escaped from the burning brick the last significant resistance had been broken. By Late Afternoon on the 6th of march fighting had stopped the 2nd world war was over in the city districts on the left bank of the rhine the next day the dam of time cmon noted me and the heap of rubble that was cologne was left to the enemy the u. S. Military how at the reported in more detail. Occurring by the end of the cologne was a major german city manned by far the largest city that the allies had conquered by their humble homburg would like to learn munich were still far away. On current always so it made sense to document to taking over the long march 2000 iconic cathedral in the western part of the right of the more broadly than say the conquest of the. Faisal a. Cameraman from the u. S. Army air forces accompanied the at dancing troops as part of special film project 186. 00 and captured the massive destruction on 16 millimeter color film. Their footage paints an impressive picture of cologne nearly 3 quarters of which have been destroyed the us high command attached great importance to the film was deaf eames so i feel it played a major role in the 2nd world war not only from a documentary purposes but also for propaganda and a competition in portable unpractical Camera Technology and they used color fellow americans filmed in color of course on show you could take your impressions home with you and talk and we talked about them for the cinemas on the one hand but also for internal use in the military or. Before they were crushed 2 colognes defenders have managed to blow up the bridges over the rhine which meant the allies would not be able to cross the river for the time being. Then just a day after the conquest of downtown cologne the americans pulled off another military coup about 55 kilometers upstream. A small advance patrol from the us 9th Army Division reached the luton doff bridge which spans the rhine at remagen. To the great surprise the structure had not been blown up and there was little resistance from enemy troops. Very much for the remarketing folkestone battalion did not turn up after having been there and done a bit of shooting then the small patrol there were very american soldiers would not have been able to reach the bridge and the bridge across was so easily. The bridge was captured in a surprise attack the action was reenacted for propaganda units a few days later. More than ever. 1000 u. S. Soldiers were to reach the eastern back of the rhine within the coming 24 what are always them most units try to correct a mistake and destroy the bridge with air attacks and out to refine it however it took 10 days for the struck to actually conduct. By then the u. S. Plane is had built a plantin bridge and could continue getting units across the rhine on a large scale it was a heavy blow for the defend is and those responsible suffer the consequences. Could look the son of almost headless furious and he had the bridge commander executed along with some others they could get a hold of 3 or 4 people i feel a lot of and other thought they were Court Martialed convicted of murder got i would say im a lot of. The dictator had stopped appearing in public on the 20th of march he just had himself filmed one last time in the garden of his chance every hut he drowned in jail you thirdly realize that the worlds lost and if so when did he realize and one argument is that hitler was of course not stupid hunt and it soon realized how bad the situation was through the war but you got some does but this led him to withdraw more and more blocks and only dared to face the public when he could announce a victory which is it was not a hand lesleys new victories were not forthcoming hitler became more and more depressed in kind of physical decay set in but of course it was clear to him all this was going to analyze it. On the day he gave medals to members of the hitler youth who had distinguished themselves in the fighting the fact that the war was lost didnt have solved germans from the duty to defend their homeland the Younger Generation of particular was swept up by this inhuman fanaticism is caught in these are young people or the 3rd hikes final reserves especially in this last phase of the war in 4445 they were the law. Last reserves each and every one of them was a disposable mass to be used as cannon fodder the 1st fuel for the final battle its been comfy. And. I feel like i need it. Finished dont think. If im not not going to miss going. By the door. And mama how im like. Company and break out of the mommy of my. Comfy weve got. To listen these in town of low bon dieu bania in present day poland had been taken over by the red army in february 945 at the beginning of march however the van those 3 captured it one of the red german Success Stories of those days. The. Propaganda minister he was a phyllis immediately went there and shortly afterwards gave us a new 2nd speech in nearby kill us it was to be his last appearance on this week. Yet. Within a quarter hour. I. Retired. I thought that. Were really going to. Run. Out of it. Oh oh. That ill be a candidate. Or game that i ducked out but bill i brought it up its good in particular is to put it cynically at his best here and gives this speech where he says then they will go into this fight like into a Church Service you know and got us things this is a kind of staging of the downfall and also a permanent staging of the will. Not tell me all he pal my name to insinuate all this we will definitely not survive and thats it actually says is that hes talking about a turning point about victory but the underlying motif of the manipulators is actually like nazi ideology or nothing and if he did oki order mists in january googles had announced a campaign called the peoples sacrifice for the army and. Us in the napoleonic wars the population was to donate towards its own defense. And you know one point coming up now because i dont want to go back but are part of your opinion do you. Think current i mean sitting there thinking back if any of them is going to. Give you whatever back in Public Domain are going to be your wife. Faced with the stress of canucks the regime was desperately trying to compensate for its huge losses putting women into the fight. On top post season in im not going to stop you cunt good old orchard you know im talkin pieces from fine prefer to compound some other came from smith its going to noun and. Its just you know as im poppy is how she. Was put all about another brutal thing was that the range of the sponsor falls its was a maximum 100. 00 i mean. Usually 50 or 60 to be really effective. But then those who fired them always paid with their lives due to stop the flood of the of us onto it on the moment of need but as it is followed that was the regimes cynical calculation one local defense volunteer kill one enemy tank destroyed the pando. The area is still under german control was shrinking day by day the nazi leaders now audit their people to sacrifice not only clothes and ion but also themselves. Designed to him suppose he was an indication of the regimes lack of restraint and its brute will to destroy everything in the end it was ready to open all the floodgates to throw off every form of responsibility and to do everything in its power to continue this war as hopeless as it was to carry on with it right down to the last of all it still gets torn up in the pacific war on the 9th of march us the 29. 00 super fortress planes were loaded with bombs on cycling on the main island of the northern marianas the destination of the long range bonus was the japanese capital the Mission Commander and Major General curtis even they had decided on a radical change of tactics as part of operation meetinghouse tokyo was to be attacked not only with explosives but also within sanjay rebalanced these were also to be dropped everybodys attention areas. An armada of bomb is took off from the 3 island airfields in the afternoon of the 9th of march each of the more than 300. 00 aircraft was carrying 40 cluster bombs with a total of 1500 napalm bomb units. The g. I. s nicknamed them tokyo cooling costs. Down no no no real. Photographs of the attack seems filmed later showed the super fortress bombers dropping their deadly net. More than 1600. 00 tons of bombs were released over the city at low altitude japanese houses were mostly made of wood and paper and immediately went up in flames and strong westerly winds fanned the flames into a firestorm up to 100000 people died during the attack and over 40 square kilometers of the city were destroyed its still seen as the most destructive conventional air strike in history that it was among. The intention was to send a clear message to all of the japanese that they were now in danger. Had even guns guns and the japanese war propaganda whipped up the will of japanese soldiers to go on fighting to their deaths. Rootless be seen in towards. The fanatical determination of the japanese was once again evident on the smallest of japans 5 main islands the us invasion of okinawa began on the 1st of april when 180000 troops moved into position around the island and began to land. At 1st they were met with little resistance but the defenders have retreated into the interior where they put up a frenzied fight. With. A vendor im sure the walking are doing their jobs when we think of the battle of okinawa there are a lot of civilians dug in the caves and of a comma and up as americans were used to deliver the message in japanese the message come out of the caves surrender i mean there is no sense in killing yourselves or willing to die by flame throwers or hand grenades your reflection of raeford has come from. Sleep. By no means everyone was ready to give up teaches plunged to their deaths from cliffs taking. People use with them all to escape life under american occupation. It took months before okinawa was completely under u. S. Control. On the 12th of april 945. 00 u. S. President franklin d. Roosevelt dies at the age of 63. 00. Throngs of americans turned out to watch his funeral procession pass through the streets of washington and bid farewell to their war time the day Vice President harry s. Truman took over the reins in berlin the news caused a sensation here is the miracle i always predicted hitler reportedly shouted when he heard of roosevelts death. Now whos right the war is not lost. So. Close to. The rhythm of the markets. The momentum of the morning world. News magazine made in germany. 30 minutes on t. W. How does a virus spread. Why do we panic and when will all this tremendous through the tax and weekly radio show is called spectrum if you like and the information on the chrono laroche or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you go you. Podcasts you can also find us and. Science. Ringback the be. The best. This is the w. News live from berlin german chancellor Angela Merkel makes an unprecedented call for solidarity in the fight against the coronavirus. The situation is serious take it seriously since german unification note since the 2nd world war there has been no challenge to our nation that has demanded such a degree of common and united action. Im going to medical calls on everyone to protect the most vulnerable. Also coming