NARRATOR: Berlin,
the capital of Nazi Germany and Hitler's power base,
a gleaming city at the heart of the Fuehrer's plan
for an empire to outshine the Romans.
Adolf Hitler fancied himself as an architect.
NARRATOR: But then the Russians arrive
and Hitler must prepare Berlin for battle.
DAVIES: It was all about elevating
the most powerful cannons above the city rooftops.
NARRATOR: The city becomes a fortress.
Buried at its center, the indestructible Fuehrerbunker.
This is where Hitler's going to make his last stand.
(SPEAKS GERMAN)
NARRATOR: One million Russian soldiers,
five layers of Nazi defenses
and a battle to decide the future of the world.
This is the story of Fortress Berlin.
(EXPLOSION)
The biggest construction projects of World War II,
ordered by Hitler to secure world domination.
Now they survive as dark reminders
of the Fuehrer's fanatical military ambitions.
These are the secrets of the Nazi megastructures.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
April the 28, 1945,
the tanks of the Soviet Red Army
roll through the streets of war-torn Berlin.
German troops, many just children,
lie in wait to defend their city from the Russian hordes.
18-year-old soldier Dieter Borkowski
will be an eyewitness to these unfolding events.
All over the city are haunting reminders
of these last days of the Nazi capital.
(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)
Historian and World War II expert Michael Dempsey
has spent years piecing together the evidence.
The Battle of Berlin was of a scale we can scarcely imagine.
Over a million Soviet Red Army soldiers are entering the city,
less than 100,000 are defending it.
The scale, the intensity, the brutality
of this Battle of Berlin would beggar belief,
but for the evidence.
NARRATOR: Just ten years earlier in 1935,
the picture was very different.
Berlin was the seat of Nazi power,
a cosmopolitan world city
and one of the cultural capitals of Europe.
Hitler and his chief architect, Albert Speer,
had embarked on an ambitious construction program
to transform the skyline of Berlin.
Adolf Hitler always fancied himself
as something of an artist, as perhaps an architect,
a man with high cultural pretension.
NARRATOR: Colossal government buildings,
airports and stadiums
all showcased at the 1936 Olympic Games.
Hitler had even greater plans for the capital,
to make it the center of a thousand-year Reich
that would match the Roman Empire in scale and longevity.
Hitler's new created Berlin with its vast domes,
huge streets, massive, giant outsize edifices,
this is very much part of the German psyche.
NARRATOR: Hitler lays the foundation
for his thousand-year Reich
by conquering large swathes of Europe.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
But in 1944, British and American troops land
on the French coast and advance from the West.
In the East, the Russians push back from Stalingrad,
until they cross the frozen River Oder,
bringing them to within 48 kilometers of Berlin and Hitler.
The Allies are on the verge of ending World War II in Europe.
The battle along this river could decide the fate of Germany.
All the weapons you have are the last we have,
you must fight fanatically to stop the Russian offensive.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Hitler will never surrender.
He's a man of extremes, so it's the thousand-year Reich
or it's collapsing in Armageddon. There's no middle ground.
It's always one or the other in his mind.
NARRATOR: The Fuehrer clings to the hope
that one of his wonder weapons
might yet turn the war back in his favor.
To buy time, he holds out in Berlin,
creating a castle of concrete and steel
and ordering every last German to defend it to the death.
Berlin, of course, is going to become a fortress
because it's the capital of the Third Reich.
This is where Hitler's going to make his last stand.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Hitler's plan is to encircle Berlin
in five layers of formidable structures,
starting with the first obstacle,
59 kilometers of tank traps at Seelow Heights.
An outer ring of defense including the Teltow Canal,
an inner ring at the stronghold of Tempelhof Airport,
three enormous flak towers,
a final layer of waterways
and the core of the Fortress, the Citadel.
It is here that the Reichstag and Hitler's bunker are located.
DEMPSEY: This is a car park in the middle of Berlin,
probably the most interesting car park in the world,
given that it is the authentic historical site of Hitler's bunker.
NARRATOR: 8 meters beneath this car park
are the remains of the infamous Fuehrer bunker.
After the war, the Allies tried to demolish it
to prevent it becoming a Nazi shrine, but it was too strong.
DEMPSEY: It wasn't until 1988 that the lid of that concrete case
was actually destroyed over a 6-month period.
NARRATOR: The story of its construction
and the start of Fortress Berlin
begins with Allied bombing raids over the capital.
The Fuehrer no longer feels safe.
From the outset, Hitler has always been a bit obsessed
with being underground.
It goes back to his experiences in the trenches in the First World War.
You find a lot of people who've lived through the First World War,
they feel secure underground.
NARRATOR: The Nazis bury the Fuehrerbunker
deep beneath the chancellery gardens.
There are 30 small rooms distributed over 2 levels
and Hitler's room is in the deepest section
with the most protection.
25 miles south of Berlin, in the town of Zossen,
are the remains of another Nazi complex
that gives a unique insight into Hitler's bunker.
Former armored squadron leader Nigel Dunkley
is an expert in the fall of Berlin.
DUNKLEY: Right, here we are in the Zossen Wunsdorf bunker complex.
This bunker complex was built by the same company
that also built Hitler's bunker,
so it's the last thing that we've got anywhere near or in Berlin,
which is pretty well identical
in construction and in atmosphere to Hitler's bunker.
NARRATOR: These bunkers cover an area
of nearly 5,000 square meters.
(SOMBRE MUSIC PLAYING)
It was the German military communication nerve center,
the Nazi equivalent of the Pentagon.
To protect it from Allied air attack,
the engineers didn't just bury it 11 meters below ground.
They also gave it an impenetrable roof,
something Hitler wanted in his bunker, too.
(GRUNTS)
DUNKLEY: This is 3 meters of reinforced concrete,
reinforced with steel rods.
Now, over Hitler's bunker,
he had 4.5 meters of reinforced concrete
designed to protect him from anything
that either the Soviets or anybody else could throw at him.
NARRATOR: Hitler's bunker is in the middle of the fortress.
Like a castle, it is surrounded with water.
The river Spree and the Landwehr Canal
encircle the Citadel in a natural moat.
The next layer is the three flak towers,
fortresses 15 meters high,
each bristling with 20 anti-aircraft weapons.
Only one still exists
and access to its extraordinary interior is limited.
Local guide Sion Davies is an expert on their construction.
DAVIES: We're standing on the only side of the building
that still survives, the north face of the flak tower
and it really gives us an idea of the scale of the building.
NARRATOR: These flak towers will soon become
the most important defensive structures in the whole of Berlin.
But they get their start
when Allied forces begin to bomb the city.
(WHISTLING, EXPLOSIONS)
DAVIES: The first British bombing raid
found Berlin relatively lightly protected.
The reason is very simple,
the Nazis had traditionally not thought
that the British and indeed any other Air Force
would successfully bomb Germany.
NARRATOR: Hitler needs to protect Berlin,
to preserve it for its future as the capital of his Empire.
The Nazis immediately embarked on a building program
to create air-raid shelters and fortresses to protect the cities
from future bombing raids
and that's what Hitler was involved in.
NARRATOR: The flak-tower design is Hitler's brain-child
and he employs his favorite architect
to oversee the project, Albert Speer.
This is how I see the new flak towers.
Are they a viable design?
Of course, they are impregnable,
and they will be guarding this new fabulous city of ours for centuries.
Good.
HOLLAND: Well, Albert Speer is a very interesting character
because he's an architect and he buys into Hitler
and he buys into what the Nazis represent,
but he's a hugely capable, clever, highly motivated individual.
NARRATOR: Hitler's design requires over 100,000 tons
of tough concrete and steel.
Every day 3,700 tons is shipped to the capital
just to build the flak towers.
The railway timetable is changed to accommodate
a never-ending stream of material.
Despite their scale, each of these bastions of Fortress Berlin
are constructed in just eight months.
DAVIES: The flak tower was all about elevating
the most powerful cannons in the German arsenal
above the city rooftops, giving them a perfect field of fire.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The square tower has four turrets,
each with dual 128mm flak guns,
powerful weapons designed to bring down Allied bombers.
But when the Russians arrive,
these guns will be pointed down the streets.
One of the soldiers tasked with manning
these flak-tower guns is 18-year-old Dieter Borkowski,
who kept a diary recounting his exploits.
-MAN: Achtung! -Heil Hitler!
NARRATOR: By 1945, teenagers like Dieter
are typical of the inexperienced troops
left to defend Hitler's capital.
Can I help you?
Um, please may I apply for a weekend-leave pass
to see my mother?
Your name, please?
BORKOWSKI: Dieter Borkowski.
Ah, similar to mine.
Dombrovski, Inge.
Where are you from?
I'm from Berlin.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: At just 18,
Nazi Germany is all Dieter has known.
He will soon have to defend his family,
his Fuehrer and his nation.
February 1945,
the Soviet forces camped on the River Oder
plan their attack on Berlin
as their army grows with reinforcements from Russia.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
The Allies send their bombers
to flatten Berlin and ease the way for the Russians to invade.
DAVIES: From this height, we can look out straight over
the northern approach to Berlin.
And, of course, from the anti-aircraft guns
would have had absolutely no problem turning and facing in any direction
that the enemy bombers were using to fly in to Berlin.
(AIR RAID SIRENS BLARING)
NARRATOR: On top of the flak towers,
anti-aircraft gunners battle to bring down the Allied planes.
With guns capable of firing 13 kilometers,
they can create 360 degrees of cover.
(WHISTLING)
(EXPLOSION)
And the sheer power of these weapons must be calculated
into the building's design.
DAVIES: Every time a shot was fired,
it created somewhere in the region of 40 tons
that punched down onto the building.
NARRATOR: The Allied bombers directly hit
the flak towers numerous times,
but Albert Speer's design is working.
The sheer volume of material in the structures
makes them indestructible.
The man responsible for what remains of these flak towers
is Sascha Kiel.
This is a very good point to show you how thick the wall was.
We have here 2 meters of steel concrete
and I am standing in the wall.
You have to imagine that the ceiling is double,
4 meters of steel concrete and more.
NARRATOR: The bombing of the city is relentless.
Berliners turn to the enormous flak towers for protection.
Over 15,000 crowd into each one.
(EXPLOSIONS)
In the Citadel, Hitler also seeks shelter.
He has no choice but to move his command center underground,
into the safety of his bunker.
(EXPLOSION, RUMBLING)
HOLLAND: Hitler is determined to fight to the end,
to fight for every yard and he's not going to leave Berlin.
He's going to hunker down in his bunker
and stay there till the bitter end.
NARRATOR: And the Nazi elite have access
to other purpose-built shelters.
DEMPSEY: So here we are in a Luftestrain,
an air-protection room, an air-raid shelter.
This is actually quite a small shelter,
but it would have been packed,
especially towards the end of the war.
We've got some sort of light comedy on the wall around me.
It's enough perhaps just to make this place seem more homely.
NARRATOR: After every raid, Berliners like Dieter Borkowski emerge
to find their magnificent city bombed into oblivion.
HOLLAND: When you look at pictures of Berlin
by the Spring of 1945, this is a post-apocalyptic world,
it's a world of shattered buildings,
of barely a single pane of glass still intact.
There's rubble everywhere,
there's gaunt, thin, emaciated people,
there's disease, there's open sewage.
This is a town, a city that has already been destroyed
before the Soviets have got within artillery range of the capital.
NARRATOR: Berliners are terrified of the advancing Russians,
They have a fearsome reputation.
Earlier in the war, the Nazi army had marched all the way
to the gates of Moscow,
inflicting brutal atrocities on the people who stood in their way.
But when the war turned, the Russians fought all the way back
to the edge of the German capital, with one thing on their minds.
The Soviet army had fought relentlessly through areas
that, uh, extended from Stalingrad all the way to the gates of Berlin.
They'd seen horrific things.
They had seen what Nazi soldiers had done
as they progressed through the occupied territories
where the Reich had been, and they arrived
at the gate ready to take revenge.
NARRATOR: Refugees fleeing from the East
arrive in the city with tales of the treatment
Berliners can expect from the Soviets.
Silence!
-What did she say? -Nothing.
Don't lie!
She said... when the Russians come,
they'll take us to the mines in Siberia.
And our women will all be turned into prostitutes.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(SS OFFICER YELLING IN GERMAN)
NARRATOR: March 1945.
After camping on the River Oder for two months,
the Soviets have stockpiled over 7 million shells
ready to fire at Berlin.
The Allies in the west have crossed the River Rhine.
Against the advice of his generals,
Hitler is determined to defend his capital
even without his promised wonder weapons.
DR. PEARSON: Albert Speer, his architect, came to him and said
"Listen, we need to do something in order to protect
German industry so that we can rebuild properly after the defeat."
Hitler said, "After the defeat? Are you kidding?
There will be no defeat."
And the next day issued his Nero order, scorched earth policy,
that Berlin would not be left standing
with anything of value that Soviets could use.
HITLER: The enemy will leave us nothing
but scorched earth when he withdraws
without paying the slightest regard to our population.
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
I order anything of value which could in any way
be used by the enemy to be destroyed.
Nothing should be left. Nothing!
NARRATOR: In a stunning turn, Hitler proposes
demolishing industrial complexes,
strategic railways and ancient bridges.
Destroying priceless architectural wonders
is something that horrifies his chief architect.
At this stage of the war,
it makes no sense for us to undertake demolitions
which may strike at the very life of the nation.
We must leave nothing for the Russians.
But by destroying everything...
If you could believe that the war can still be won,
if you could at least have faith in that, all would be well.
Do you?
SPEER: I cannot, with the best will in the world.
I do not want to be another swine in your entourage
who tells you they believe in victory when I don't.
You have 24 hours to think over your answer.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: March 30, 1945, Albert Speer bends to Hitler's will.
He starts the strategic demolition of the Nazi industrial machine.
48 kilometers away, the Soviet forces
are camped on the west bank of the River Oder,
16 kilometers from the first line of defense, Seelow Heights,
ready to attack.
They have now assembled 41 heavily armored divisions
and over 9,000 assault guns.
The Russians weren't even considering attacking
unless they had 10 to 1
and preferably 40 to 1 at least at the main point of attack.
In other words, overwhelming numbers.
NARRATOR: One million Russian troops,
2,500 tanks and 1,500 rocket launchers.
Hitler's generals know they are hugely outnumbered,
but the Fuehrer won't listen to their concerns.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
These generals, they tell me this is not possible
and that is not possible.
Unbelievable.
The army must hold the Russians at the Oder.
HOLLAND: The sort of 30 miles to Berlin between
the River Oder and the capital, is open,
so this is your sort of last defense
before the Red Army reaches the capital,
the heart of the Third Reich.
NARRATOR: The German generals
know the only way to hold back the Red Army
is to take advantage of natural terrain
between the Soviet camp on the river and the capital.
DEMPSEY: So we are standing on the Seelow Heights
and this is the last high ground before you get to the city itself
making this an ideal position for the Germans to then defend.
NARRATOR: From Seelow Heights,
the Germans will see the enemy's 2,500 tanks advance.
The Nazis need to reduce Russian tank numbers
and even the odds.
Ingeniously they exploit what already exists
in the German countryside.
DEMPSEY: So they are going to adapt the irrigation ditches
that criss-crossed this landscape
and they're going to adapt them to form anti-tank ditches.
NARRATOR: An anti-tank ditch must be wider
than the length of the tank tracks so it can't drive over the top.
The ditch edge is angled to 70 degrees,
gentle enough for the tank to drive straight into the trap.
So they will have to be bridged by engineers,
that will cause the tanks to stop.
A static tank is easier to hit than a moving tank
and again around these obstacles,
you can concentrate anti-tank weapons.
NARRATOR: The German create over 58 kilometers of trenches
and anti-tank ditches to defend Seelow Heights.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
The final battle, the fight for Berlin,
begins at 3:00 a.m. on April 16, 1945.
(EXPLOSIONS)
At first light, Russian tanks and infantry surge forward.
DUNKLEY: The Soviets were in a rush at this point.
They wanted to make their way
as fast as possible into Fortress Berlin.
NARRATOR: But at the end of the first day,
the Russians still haven't taken Seelow Heights.
DUNKLEY: To their horror, they discovered that
the German defenses were much more effective
than they had imagined.
NARRATOR: Amazingly, even though they are outnumbered 10 to 1,
the Germans hold back the mighty Red Army for four days.
DUNKLEY: No amount of German ingenuity
and solid determined defense was going to last forever.
It really was only a question of time before sheer weight of numbers
and dogged determination on the Soviet side won the day.
NARRATOR: Eventually Russian engineers bridge the tank traps
and, on April 19th, the Soviets overcome Seelow Heights.
They have lost over 30,000 men and 700 tanks
but are one step closer to Berlin.
At the Fuehrerbunker, Hitler is celebrating his 56th Birthday.
In what will be his last public appearance
and the last footage of him,
he greets a selection of the Hitler Youth
who survived Seelow Heights.
DEMPSEY: Adolf Hitler is congratulating
and indeed decorating boys with medals of honor,
the Iron Cross for their courage in taking on Soviet tanks,
in many cases, at close range.
NARRATOR: Outside Berlin, nearly 2,000 Russian tanks
are storming towards the outer defense ring of the city.
To combat these tanks,
the Nazis have a revolutionary weapon,
a lightweight anti-tank missile launcher, the Panzerfaust.
No, no, no, stupid. You have to keep it down!
Have a look. I'll show you.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
NARRATOR: This ground-breaking missile
can pierce nearly 10 centimeters of armor
at a range of 100 meters.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(EXPLOSIONS)
DEMPSEY: The Panzerfaust, literally the tank fist,
was ahead of its time. It was very simple technology.
In fact, you could give this to a young boy
or an old man, and they would fire it with confidence
because this is a recoilless weapon.
There is no kick, and indeed, uh,
if you can get close enough to the tank,
you can be confident that the war head will do its work.
NARRATOR: In the city, Berliners old and young
train with this latest in Nazi weapon engineering.
And soon they will be tested.
The Soviets reach the Teltow Canal.
DEMPSEY: 25th of April, the Soviet Red Army
manage to cross this canal.
Somehow they get inflatable boats across here,
they then establish a bridgehead and then their bringing up barges
to create improvised pontoon bridges
to bring more infantry and more Soviet armor,
more tanks, uh, in their wake.
They are then moving and moving fast
up to the next concentric ring within Berlin's defense system,
the inner ring.
NARRATOR: The Teltow Canal, Berlin's outer defense ring,
crumbles in just four days.
(EXPLOSION)
The Soviets are now less than 6 kilometers from the Fuehrerbunker.
Hitler's generals want to flee and he is furious.
You all offer me cowardice and baseness.
All around me is disloyalty.
For years, you, my generals, have resisted me
constantly, for years!
You are traitors! Traitors!
I can no longer lead you villains,
every order, waste of my breath.
But, gentlemen,
if you believe that I will leave Berlin...
...you are sorely mistaken!
I'd rather put a bullet through my head.
NARRATOR: Hitler is going nowhere.
He still believes his Fortress Berlin
will not fall to the Soviets.
But they are closing in fast
and have reached one of the most formidable structures
in the inner defense ring, Tempelhof Airport.
DEMPSEY: As a command post, this is where you've got food stored,
ammunition stored,
everything that's required for a defense
is going to be concentrated
in this particular kind of a building,
in this fortress within a fortress.
NARRATOR: It's an important prize for the Soviets,
as they desperately need an airport
to resupply their exhausted army.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
But the Germans have turned the airport into a stronghold.
(EXPLOSIONS)
So what you've got here is a series of towers behind me.
It's like a castle in that respect.
Call it the Great Wall of China in a way.
You've got these flak towers,
where you can sight artillery without a problem,
and indeed this is a raised trench war in a way.
You can sight artillery behind this visual screen
that could fire then at higher elevation
and take on, uh, the Soviets.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The fighting is intense and evidence of it can still be seen
in the burnt-out tunnels under Tempelhof.
DEMPSEY: This would have been a really confusing,
chaotic environment, lots of noise, people shouting orders to and fro.
When you are coming into these spaces
with the electricity out, filled with smoke,
and dust, brick dust, and what have you.
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Eventually, the sheer volume
of troops in the Red Army wins out
and by April 27th,
the Soviets have control of Tempelhof.
It is a massive strategic victory.
DEMPSEY: Just 36 hours after the battle ends
in this particular place,
they're actually flying biplanes into this particular part of Berlin
to get Soviet casualties out, resupply,
fighter aircraft are coming in.
(EXPLOSION)
NARRATOR: The Soviets resupply and push on.
They face strong resistance from the remaining Berliners
defending the city.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Berlin has been hit with over 2 million artillery rounds
and the resulting debris forms natural tank obstacles
and barricades.
DEMPSEY: The more confusing the terrain for the tank,
the better chance I have of catching that tank,
at close range and take out the turret
and then take out the main armament in the process.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Russian tank superiority
counts for little as the Hitler Youth,
with their portable panzerfaust, adopt hit-and-run tactics.
(EXPLOSION)
Every hour, the Red Army inches closer
to the Fuehrerbunker and Hitler.
Berliners driven back by the advancing tanks,
seek refuge in the indestructible flak towers.
DAVIES: Somewhere in the region of 15,000 civilians
should have come inside.
The key word there is, of course, "should,"
because we know that people were crowding into these buildings.
Three to four times the official number of civilians
pushing their way inside.
NARRATOR: Up to 60,000 citizens cower
in each of the three flak towers,
relying on the mass of concrete for survival.
Outside, the Red Army throw everything they have
at these last great Nazi structures.
(FIRES)
The Russian tanks stood over there, some 300 meters.
Um, and they tried to blast through the 3-meter strong concrete,
steel concrete wall, but they didn't manage.
(EXPLOSIONS)
NARRATOR: Despite the entire might of the Soviet army
being turned on the flak towers, they are still standing.
DAVIES: They were able to resist the Soviets.
They couldn't do anything about the Soviets
swallowing up the rest of Berlin,
which simply meant, of course,
that the Soviets, uh, just had to wait.
At some point, the people inside would have to give up.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The Russians simply leave the flak towers
and flood past towards Hitler's bunker and the Reischtag.
The next defensive line is the water surrounding the Citadel.
The Germans have blown every bridge across, except one.
The outer ring of defense has been broken,
the inner ring of defense has been broken
and now we are at the defense line for the Citadel itself,
the Citadel on the other side of the water here.
But German Army engineers have failed to break,
destroy the Moltke bridge.
NARRATOR: This bridge
is the last major defensive strongpoint
between the Soviet Army and Hitler's bunker itself.
(EXPLOSIONS)
April 28, 1945.
At dusk, the Soviets launch their attack
on Berlin's Citadel.
If they can seize control of the Moltke bridge,
the city will fall.
This bridge was heavily and bitterly defended.
The closer that you got to the Citadel, the more desperate
and the more fanatical the troops would become.
NARRATOR: Defending this bridge is the last hope for the Nazis.
If the Soviets cross, they are within touching distance
of their ultimate prize, Hitler in his bunker.
It was extremely important for the Soviets
to get the body of Hitler, to be able to show it to their public.
They fought so hard against him, against a regime
that was a top-down regime with Hitler
as the leader, the Fuehrer.
(EXPLOSIONS)
NARRATOR: The Soviets secure the bridge by midnight.
They are at last in the Citadel.
There is now only the Fuehrerbunker between the Soviets and Hitler.
He puts his last plan into action.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
DEMPSEY: On the 29th, he marries Eva Braun,
his long-term mistress,
rewarding her for her misplaced loyalty.
On the 30th of April, at approximately 3:30 p.m.,
he will commit suicide with her in the bunker itself.
(GUNSHOT)
Hitler knew what had happened to Mussolini in Italy.
He had been urinated on in public.
He had been taken and hung in the main square in Milan.
Hitler had his body incinerated in order to avoid that fate.
(SOMBRE MUSIC PLAYING)
MAN ON RADIO: From the Fuehrer's Headquarters,
it is announced that our Fuehrer Adolf Hitler
this afternoon,
at his command post in the Reich Chancellery,
fighting till his last breath
against Bolshevism,
fell for Germany.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
DEMPSEY: After the news of Hitler's death,
Berliners felt abandoned and betrayed by the man
who had set himself up as their leader,
as if you like the father of the nation.
NARRATOR: Inside the flak tower, Dieter discovers tragic casualties.
Nearly 4,000 Berliners decide to end their lives during the battle,
instead of surrendering to the Soviets.
BORKOWSKI: Uh, Sergeant...
have you seen Inge Dombrovski?
SERGEANT: She is dead.
Lieutenant Seidler shot her.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(MACHINE-GUN FIRING)
NARRATOR: The Soviets are outside
the government buildings and the Reichstag.
Three attempted assaults are held off with heavy Soviet losses.
They have to blast their way in through the bricked-up entrances
and resume hand-to-hand fighting.
DEMPSEY: Eventually by 22:40 hours on the 30th April, 1945,
the red flag of the Soviet Union is raised above this building.
That means that systematically, every line of defense
put in their way by the Germans defending
has been broken by the Soviet Red Army.
Beyond that, Nazi Germany is shown to be defeated
and the war in Europe is all but over.
(EXPLOSION)
(SOMBRE MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: A modern city, revered just a few years earlier,
has been reduced to rubble.
Just seven hours after Hitler's suicide,
Fortress Berlin has fallen.
DR. PEARSON: A quarter of the city lay in ruins.
500,000 apartments were destroyed.
The infrastructure of a very modern city was in tatters.
There was no safe drinking water.
You had women forced into slave labor moving stones
from this rubble to clear streets.
And more than anything else, the stench,
the stench of collapsed buildings with bodies
that were rotting under it.
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The Soviet forces lost over 80,000 men
in the Battle of Berlin.
German casualties number close to double that.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
DEMPSEY: I think we should remember
that the Battle of Berlin should never have been fought,
and that the only reason it was fought
was because Adolf Hitler,
the man who could always have surrendered
and bowed to the inevitable, didn't
and the whole of this city and much more besides
would then be sacrificed on the altar of his ego.
NARRATOR: Albert Speer serves 20 years in jail
for his role in Nazi war crimes.
When released in 1966, he writes about his experience
as the architect of the Third Reich.
Dieter studies history at Berlin University
and becomes a journalist.
He dies of natural causes in 2000, aged 71.
After Berlin falls, Nazi Germany officially surrenders
one week later on May 8, 1945,
and victory in Europe is declared.
With the Japanese surrender nearly four months later,
World War II is at an end.
Despite all the military technology and megastructures
pioneered by the Nazis,
Hitler's Third Reich has ultimately failed
and over 60 million people have lost their lives
in the deadliest conflict in history.