Transcripts For DW DocFilm 20240713

Cannot ha ha ha ha. Ha. Ha ha ha ha but. Her. Last. 3945 unluckiest politic coast. For several months the German Army Group north had been encircled by the red army on the coup and peninsula. The immense human and material losses of the past years had left nonsi germanys once dreaded army in a state of collapse. And a chill 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 went out before unfair even you had even if youre right oh well thats what i mean youre. Going to want to pay for me and if youre fully open im a fan from per gallon to 500. 00 if it can get here and if you are fit. To need step just units called folks when it is made up of local home guards at the lessons understands when the break in a soldier is the minimum required to swear an oath to the field even though the military situation was already hopeless. At it. Ha ha. Ha ha. Ha there was. A. Default it was about making an ultimate sacrifice in the idea of sacrificing oneself for this very strong as a very important under National Socialism and a gun thats why hitler also thought the navy was so great because they went down with all hands serving as a toy that impressed him he thought it was great thats what you had to do almost want to smoke. On the 12th of january 945 the red Army Launched a major offensive in east prussia. At 4 45 am the sky turned as bright as day as up to 300. 00 sub it guns per kilometer along the front opened fire on the german positions. Red army cameraman filmed the apocalyptic scenes as the v. M. 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 rush 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 because that was known of an islamist 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 for the money its forget to 1st did. 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 the flute folklore one voted off 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 with them and theyve been worn down by the war. Once isnt it often includes. 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 that exist and platell to fall out. 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 so from where they hoped theyd be able to continue their skate by ship. Ports like goes in half and todays denia was still under german control. Thats where the victim gustav was moored waiting to take on refugees and soldiers named after a senior us was nazi assassinated in 1986 the cruise ship was famous in germany out of hitler had personally attended its 937 village and handed. It over to. Dan for. 4 years the ship served as a holiday vessel for the Nazi Organization tough to wish for it a strength through joy Party Members would relax on its decks as a cruise the mediterranean or the north sea. Now it was supposed to transport evacuees 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 is the captain set course far out into the baltic sea where the soviet navy was also operating. The ship was detected and to peter out by a soviet submarine. At least 9300 people died in this. Country legally it was not a war crime at all because the us law 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 law 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 will jima in 4 course. Cameraman from the us office of war information filmed us 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 sulfur island with lasik form the basis of the documentary born film to the shores of. Writing probably agree there for a point projection for a botched attempt look right down our throat. Besides the cameraman they were also photographers among the wall correspondents on the 23rd of february a few days after the start of the landing operation one of them snapped 2 u. S. Marines raising the stars and stripes on the summits of the extinct suribachi volcano. Although the men were actually replacing the flag raised earlier that day the 1st year 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 5 or 6 that we all know. If you are looking for sting of the flag and he would see most of the reenacted on 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 it would seem unknown continued for weeks up to the picture at the volcano summit was taken the japanese defended this resorted to a particularly bloody tech take to the monument 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. Immense. 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 or so defendants lost then arms and the 216 men surrendered to the enemy and im going to commissary it was asked for the americans were shocked by the japanese willingness to sacrifice themselves which was evident during the defense of he would. Harm the americans hadnt really believed that the japanese would fight quite so tenaciously to the last minute that 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 spin and. The forces of the japanese empire when just fighting doggedly against imminent to fiesole maybe jima since october 944 their commanders had also been relying on a new tactic in the pacific kamikaze flights. Pilots flew their planes 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 do it for commercial cuban for the family car american soldiers of course from the scotland be shocking if they hadnt expected anything like that it was a completely new form of warfare and the clicks feel warm. And i knew that me. And the american side hadnt reckoned with such a willingness to make sacrifices to get the squadrons of these flying bombs before names like morning sun and mountain Cherry Blossom it wasnt difficult to recruit fanatical youngsters to the suicide squads 3 months is this a lot of things from getting 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 midsts on the it was more a shock element. And shock even this element. Images like this also contributed to the shock footage taken on the 21st of january 945 show the consequences of a kamikaze attack on the us s. Ticonderoga near the straits of formosa. Will hit the 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 a goal to have brought together the big 3 allied leaders of the anti hitler coalition. For some years britain the soviet union and the United States had been. Knighted against the nazis and. 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 dictator Joseph Stalin and u. S. President franklin d. Roosevelt focused on concrete planning for the post will future theyve sketched out at the tehran summit more than a year earlier. And talked of equals in point a big 3 met at the alter the 1st issue was the westward shift of poland you just wish theyd already discussed out of toronto now it was decision time and it was clear that there would be occupation some done but for i think when they talked about what to do in the pacific its almost but if you could. Say father sylvia the union had not participated in the fighting in the pacific but roosevelts health was declining and he wanted to bring moscow onside to end the war quickly and avoid further heavy losses. Thoughts roosevelt approached stalin and told him that he needed him in the pacific he negotiated with her mum got him to promise that the red army would attack draw down 3 months after him to 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 7 philologist city which had previously been largely sped and strikes. But these are 2 of 3 women god is the church i wanted something to show stolen but they supported so rich so i go and so the idea took root out. If they flew heritage behind the german lines on the soviet front and caused chaos there so that it would somehow help the red army used to be. The british planes reach dressed in just before half past 10 in the evening and it was a mess a camera filmed the explosives and incendiary bombs dropping from the edge of the attack is 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 was on fire. Just briefly and for the fact that the attack on dresden was so devastating they had to do it the circumstances are and the president have 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 no defenses and the british could go in relatively low and thats fine or could drop its flares accurately in the bombers were able to follow them exactly so it was a textbook attack of. A few hours later on valentines day 945. 00 american bomb is attack dressed in again this time in daylight the u. S. News reports say that. The veteran 1st division to be their force today buried its 200000 ton of bombs to happen are all they have lives in are just normal. The imposing transports had on the album river was hit by a total of 4 waves of attacks. Not much here blasting away for the russians now 45 miles away lynx would give out a large drive from east and west london 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 dresden missing person sent to 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 affan the 1st major german city to be liberated in the previous answer to. 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 reel reported. By being barred car and driver valen from getting both iraq. For their gig not underlined 1st delving harbison and either come on were going to be over on fire from you guys. The german defenders blew up the nearby roy dad so the river levels rose noticeably. In 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. The g. I. s encountered a shocking picture ulicks no longer existed the town had been under fire for months and countless 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 the 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 un id forces in europe came to look at due dates 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 hit with eisenhower was intended to send a clear signal that the entire german rawest could be counted like the centuries old full tryst. Meanwhile in the east the raid on may continue to advance steady in addition to east prussia in the north it was also sweeping further south into side lesia 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 rose in his diary on the 23rd of january they tracked splatting vehicles horses and anything else on the road to the reasons for the red army success named security are seen 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 says 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 not kicked the music its not 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. He was focusing on the west and so turning himself into stalins best allies. Often starting. In the last years many germans had fled to saudi leisure to escape from the western allies bombing salesian 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 early signs and then doesnt enjoy will be terrible because its get beaten or die vi because what we did during the Eastern Campaign especially against soviet civilians but also in poland into a list of often poor in the crimes we committed will return to was as vengeance yes vote. So once took. Those fears often proved to be justified many Red Army Soldiers committed atrocities in revenge for the crimes of the family and the s. S. The harm here. Divided as cuts here we see an escalation of violence against the german civilian population here the shooting of civilians the shooting of women and children. And found on one can the abduction of german civilians. Vilest and the mass rape of women must forgive article one fall on to 6 a while ago by out on door to call on at the Sexual Violence against german women can be explained by various factors some bullish construct as their con the one hand it is said that a womans body and symbolic of the nation which means that any desecration to use the term from that time any desecration or dishonor through Sexual Violence therefore also means the desecration or dishonor of the entire nation and. Nazi on. Nazi propaganda regularly focused on these desecrations and. Continue to feel the climate of fear and hatred among the population this is a news release from january 19th foresee fine. Even from dark in brooklyn to be dealt with in our week of power running to our vampire from blood to provide after the fight. Even got to me when. I found out of the price we have been trying to become offered here right out of politics and theyre not going to be around you dont darken our own you very funny our. Own indeed and to be alone with your friend im going to. Africa go through but ill put you thought good for her. Evo norman. Despite the hopelessness of the situation military capitulation remained to do for the nazi leadership. Instead strategically outdated concepts were constantly advanced to stop the red army. Largest city dogs have become the question for the germans was how to stop this red army onslaught. They had on a concept that had been developed in 1944 in the Eastern Front to set up fixed points of transport hopes that i would later be declared georgia says. Im disappointed to fatahs points would be defended and so act like breakwaters against which the red army as a tax would bring additional breslau in love todays broad swath in poland was one of the brake fortis chosen to stop the russian advanced. Youre going to love me and still miss pleasure with the gig the 1st impressed low in my view that i knew i was going to appear didnt you have a tidy if you army does museums go like the hunger. Yeah he was out somebody referred cornbread last week and from outer feeder bands guys busy or tough men on palm drive me to own the stock then before tried and tried to out. On the 20th of january col hunt. 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 storm damaged and s s to defend the city anyone who refused would be shot. This fruit its was a ups mass 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 or 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. Well the red army was conquering large parts of silence and putting reigning in the east the americans british and canadian swim a king rather slow progress in the west then the next big objective was the rhine river since the end of february us forces had been fighting their way towards. The trying certainly ryan was the big natural border in the west and fighting on its approaches there was a heavy hand washing is relatively current for the war in 1905 was one of the worst march for. Us are back in terms of casualties lots of 50 was. On march the 5th when american units reached the suburbs of cologne the 3rd u. S. On a division and hit through the western districts. Back to. The ordinary citizen of cologne has nothing to fear from the allied troops said leaflets that have been dropped over the city earlier. A de lay said as g. I. s with fighting their way into the city center they encountered a young woman who had apparently got caught in her car 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 me of 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 the target it hits. Only 3 of the 5 men 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 thai command noted many the heap of rubble that was cloned was left to the enemy the us military however 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 have conquered by their humble homburg reply to spur learning munich were still far away. On current or well so it made sense to document the taking of a kilometer to its iconic cathedral in the western part of the rise of the more broadly than say the conquest of the. New phase of the. Cameraman from the u. S. Army air force is a Company Theatre vance in troops as part of special film project 186. 00 and captured the massive destruction on 16 millimeter color film. There footage paints an impressive picture of cologne nearly 3 quarters of which have been destroyed the u. S. High command attach great importance to the film work. So i feel i 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. So you could take your impressions home with you and the good return documentum for the cinemas on the one hand but also for internal use in the military. 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 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 remark unfold strong battalion did not turn up nothing had been there and done a bit of shooting then the small patrol there werent any 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. 1000 u. S. Soldiers were to reach the eastern back of the rhine within the coming 24 what i list 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 structure to actually collapse by then u. S. Plane is had built a pontoon bridge and could continue getting units across the rhine on and off scale it was a heavy blow for the defendants and those responsible suffer the consequences. It looks son of was hitler was furious and he had the bridge commander executed along with some others they could get a hold of 3 or 4 people come i feel daughter and they were Court Martialed convicted of murder got i would say im all out of good song. The dictator had stopped appearing in public on the 20th of march it had himself filmed one last time in the garden of his chancellery hut and hitler realized 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 youve got some doesnt this led him to withdraw more and more blocks in the only dared to face the public when he could announce a victory and leslies new victories were not forthcoming hitler became more and more depressed in time of physical decay set in but of course it was clear to him all of this was going to analyze the gate 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 but the Younger Generation in particular was swept up by this inhuman fanaticism this got into young people with the 3rd reich final reserves especially in this last phase of the war in 40 445. 00 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 needed. To mill finish dont you think. If im not not going to meet people going. By dog until you know. And mama how im like i mean we can conquer. The. Company and break out of the muddy up and up front and you come here. To let these studies in town of log on to bania in present day poland had been taken over by the red army in february 945 at the beginning of march however the damask recaptured it one of the red german Success Stories of those days. The. Propaganda minister use of immediately went there and shortly afterwards gave us a new School Speech in nearby gurlitz it was to be his last appearance on this were. Going to get the client open. Within a quarter hour. I. Retired. I reckon but. Were getting really getting. Out of it or. Oh oh. But again it is all baggage or game. But bill. Oddie got this in particular he is to put it cynically at his best here and gives a speech where he says then they will go into this fight like into a Church Service and go to stings this is a kind of staging of the downfall and also a permanent staging of the will. Not to leave all palin and to insinuate all this mean we will definitely not survive it and thats it actually says. I think hes talking about the turning point about his victory but the underlying motif of the manipulators is actually nazi ideology or nothing. Or mists in january googles had announced a campaign called the peoples sacrifice with the army and home god was in the napoleonic wars the population was to donate towards its own defense. And your own point coming up on because i dont want power for going back to our part defeated gave. Nothing karen for having been there you can bet if you read it and you got it then and. If you hear one of our back in Public Domain up and down the yard. Faced with the stress of collapse 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 your cunt good old orchard young tom pieces from fine prefer to compound some of accomplishment thats going on now and. Its just you know what im poppy is how she. Was put all about another brutal thing was that the range of the sponsor falls was a maximum 100 meters usually 50 or 60 to be really effective i suppose but then those who fired them always paid with their lives due to stop the flood of the of us on tuesday on the moment of need its all as dispositive that was the regimes of cynical calculation one local defense volunteer killed one enemy tank destroyed most of. The areas still under german control was shrinking day by day the nazi leaders now or did they people to sacrifice not only clothes and ion but also themselves. Descended to the him and he was an indication of the regimes lack of restraint and its brute will to destroy everything in the in the end he 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 was hopeless as it was to carry on with it right down to the last of all it still gets them. In the pacific war on the 9th of march us b. 29. 00 super fortress planes were loaded with bombs on site plan 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 Meeting House 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 bombers 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 bonnets. The g. I. s nicknamed them tokyo calling cards. There are no known original photographs of the attack scenes filmed later showed the super fortress bomb is dropping their deadly lead. 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 strong westerly winds fanned the flames into a firestorm up to 100000. 00 people died during the attack and over 40 square kilometers of the city were destroyed its still seen as the most destructive conventional. Strike in history i mean what a man demure pungently signal gods intention was to send a clear message to all of the japanese that they were now in danger. Even guns guns and the japanese war propaganda whipped up the will of japanese soldiers to go on fighting to their deaths. Rootless this in towards again. The fanatical determination of the japanese was once again evident on the smallest of japans 5 main islands the us invasion of iraq you know i 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 had retreated into the interior where they put up a frenzied fight. Event im sure after walking up doing their jobs when we think of the battle of okinawa there were a lot of civilians dug in the caves i mean dramatic hama and the obvious 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 with flour and veil for time from. Sleep. By no means everyone was ready to give up teaches plunged to their deaths from cliffs taking the people who sit 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. The throngs of americans turned out to watch his funeral procession pass through the streets of washington and bid farewell to their wartime leader Vice President harry s. Truman took over the reins in berlin the news caused a sensation. Here is the miracle i always predicted it reposes he shouted when he heard of roosevelts death. Now his rights the war is not lost. The conflicts spike promises to respect to move the law nigerias government stands accused by the International Community of serious human rights abuses i guess this week here in london is live mohammad the countrys information minister how does he defend against the countrys many critics when the evidence of wrongdoing is so compelling 6. 100. Dollars. In the height of climate change. Africas most saves. Whats in store for the town whos going to have for their future good looks e. W. Dot com christian megacities the multimedia insight. Into. This is deja vu news live from berlin the world marks a grim milestone more than 10000 people have died from the corona virus the majority of those deaths are now in italy surpassing china and despite a near total lockdown at the epicenter of europes outbreak cases keep mounting. Meanwhile americas most populous state