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No country, no people
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00:00:14,765 --> 00:00:18,978
suffered so terribly in the war
as the Soviet Union.
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00:00:19,603 --> 00:00:23,315
Nowhere else are
the memories of war so alive today,
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00:00:23,399 --> 00:00:25,985
and so profound.
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00:00:26,068 --> 00:00:28,654
The German invasion
brought about a catastrophe
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00:00:28,738 --> 00:00:32,742
which it seemed at first
no nation could survive.
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00:00:32,825 --> 00:00:37,913
In the siege of Leningrad alone,
which lasted for over two years,
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00:00:37,997 --> 00:00:40,249
more human beings died
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00:00:40,332 --> 00:00:45,546
than the total war dead of Britain
and the United States combined.
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00:00:47,006 --> 00:00:50,134
Yet it was here that Hitler was broken.
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00:00:51,177 --> 00:00:55,890
The Russian people faced
the possibility that they might perish,
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00:00:55,973 --> 00:00:58,434
and overcame it.
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00:00:58,559 --> 00:01:00,227
We are hoping for the victory.
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00:01:00,311 --> 00:01:05,357
We are quite sure
that the victory will come sometime,
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00:01:05,441 --> 00:01:10,446
and we hoped that
our hardships would end.
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00:02:09,421 --> 00:02:13,259
Kharkov, under German occupation, 1942.
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00:02:17,930 --> 00:02:19,849
Hitler had written in Mein Kampf:
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00:02:19,974 --> 00:02:24,311
"The colossal empire in the east
is ripe for dissolution."
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00:02:24,395 --> 00:02:27,148
"And the end of Jewish domination
in Russia
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00:02:27,231 --> 00:02:30,401
will also be the end of Russia
as a state."
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00:02:32,194 --> 00:02:35,447
The Soviet system was to be demolished.
22
00:02:37,449 --> 00:02:42,955
But there was more. It was in Russia
that Hitler would find Lebensraum -
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00:02:43,038 --> 00:02:45,916
new territory for German colonisation.
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00:02:49,753 --> 00:02:52,715
The Soviet peoples
would be treated as mere natives
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00:02:52,798 --> 00:02:55,050
in a German colonial empire.
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00:02:55,134 --> 00:02:58,971
Their cities would be Germanised
or razed to the ground.
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00:03:00,014 --> 00:03:03,142
They would be pedlars,
backward peasants,
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00:03:03,225 --> 00:03:05,561
domestic servants, labourers.
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00:03:26,665 --> 00:03:30,169
Communists and intellectuals
were exterminated.
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00:03:30,252 --> 00:03:34,632
The least sign of defiance
brought instant reprisal.
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00:03:38,219 --> 00:03:42,181
The occupiers
were harsh, very harsh,
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00:03:42,264 --> 00:03:46,894
especially in those areas
where the partisans were active.
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00:03:46,977 --> 00:03:51,982
In the Ukraine, 511 villages
were burnt down by the Nazis
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00:03:52,066 --> 00:03:54,902
before the population could escape.
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00:03:55,945 --> 00:03:59,281
In one village, Pisk, near Kiev,
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00:03:59,365 --> 00:04:02,660
which was totally razed to the ground,
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00:04:02,785 --> 00:04:05,788
babies were thrown into the fire.
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00:04:11,543 --> 00:04:13,087
Before the war,
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00:04:13,170 --> 00:04:15,339
the regions now occupied by the Germans
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00:04:15,422 --> 00:04:17,424
had produced nearly three quarters
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00:04:17,508 --> 00:04:19,260
of the country's coal and iron,
42
00:04:19,343 --> 00:04:21,595
a third of its beef and grain,
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almost all its sugar.
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00:04:24,807 --> 00:04:27,726
By autumn 1941, the Germans controlled
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00:04:27,810 --> 00:04:32,940
what had been the industrial and
agricultural heart of the Soviet Union.
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00:04:40,864 --> 00:04:44,034
The invaders found that
the Russians had tried to destroy
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00:04:44,118 --> 00:04:46,287
everything they had to leave behind.
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00:04:46,370 --> 00:04:51,792
Villages burned, the summer harvest
flamed in the fields around them.
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00:04:52,251 --> 00:04:55,504
By that autumn,
the Germans had advanced for 600 miles
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00:04:55,587 --> 00:04:58,507
over scorched earth.
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00:05:01,427 --> 00:05:03,387
In some of the Baltic republics,
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00:05:03,470 --> 00:05:06,932
which had only been annexed
by the Soviet Union a year before,
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00:05:07,057 --> 00:05:11,103
the Germans were made welcome
by local nationalists.
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00:05:13,188 --> 00:05:14,648
In parts of the Ukraine,
55
00:05:14,732 --> 00:05:19,403
some of the peasants made the
traditional offering of bread and salt.
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00:05:24,074 --> 00:05:28,245
The bodies of nationalists shot by
Soviet security at the last moment
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00:05:28,370 --> 00:05:31,415
were brought out
and carried through the streets.
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00:05:36,003 --> 00:05:39,965
For a brief moment, it seemed to some
that these submerged nations
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00:05:40,049 --> 00:05:43,177
might become
willing partners of the Nazis.
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00:05:45,304 --> 00:05:47,556
Communists were hunted down.
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00:05:49,391 --> 00:05:51,977
And in all the places
the Nazis occupied,
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00:05:52,061 --> 00:05:54,521
the round-up of the Jews began.
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00:06:16,627 --> 00:06:21,840
In the path of the German,
Russia seemed to be crumbling away.
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00:06:21,924 --> 00:06:27,137
Stalin had the defeated commander
of the Western Front and his staff
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00:06:27,221 --> 00:06:29,556
arrested and shot.
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00:06:35,437 --> 00:06:38,857
Monuments of Soviet construction,
even the Dnieper Dam,
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00:06:38,941 --> 00:06:41,360
the very symbol of the Five-Year Plans,
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00:06:41,443 --> 00:06:44,113
had to be blown up and abandoned.
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00:06:50,411 --> 00:06:54,415
Locomotives were wrecked,
though they were needed as never before,
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00:06:54,498 --> 00:06:58,794
for there now began an evacuation
which in the end was to save Russia
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00:06:58,919 --> 00:07:02,297
and change the course of the war.
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00:07:11,932 --> 00:07:17,479
1500 factories moved on 18,000 trains
with over a million workers
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00:07:17,563 --> 00:07:21,525
to the safety of eastern Russia
and the Urals.
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00:07:21,608 --> 00:07:23,527
One witness said:
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00:07:23,610 --> 00:07:26,697
"It was as if the earth tilted up
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00:07:26,780 --> 00:07:31,201
and everything human or mechanical
rolled from west to east."
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There was no factory when we arrived.
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00:07:38,333 --> 00:07:42,296
There were only storehouses
where materials were kept.
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00:07:45,132 --> 00:07:50,053
We began by emptying the stores
and clearing the land around it.
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00:07:53,515 --> 00:07:56,518
We were working up to 14 hours a day.
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00:07:57,936 --> 00:08:00,606
In bleak places,
lacking food or sleep,
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00:08:00,689 --> 00:08:06,528
the Russians reconstructed a new war
industry beyond the reach of the Nazis.
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00:08:09,490 --> 00:08:11,658
When we emptied the storehouses,
84
00:08:11,742 --> 00:08:14,119
the machinery arrived.
85
00:08:15,162 --> 00:08:18,457
Where the warehouses used to be,
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00:08:18,540 --> 00:08:20,542
we built a new factory.
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00:08:36,266 --> 00:08:39,895
Unlike the Germans,
the Russians, from the first hour,
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00:08:39,978 --> 00:08:42,523
waged a total war.
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00:08:42,606 --> 00:08:45,234
Every pair of hands
was set to the machines
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00:08:45,317 --> 00:08:48,862
as the men were drafted
into the battles of the west.
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00:08:48,987 --> 00:08:51,740
War work strained everyone to the heart.
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00:08:52,699 --> 00:08:55,577
11 to 15 hours a day, rations short,
93
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worry about a husband or a son
at the front,
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00:08:58,247 --> 00:09:01,291
exhaustion like a permanent illness.
95
00:09:08,131 --> 00:09:12,511
But for the camera,
they wore a cheerful, determined face.
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00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:19,518
Now the Germans
were breaking through to Leningrad,
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00:09:19,601 --> 00:09:23,814
Russia's second city
and capital of the revolution.
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00:09:36,410 --> 00:09:38,662
The workers were given rifles.
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00:09:38,745 --> 00:09:40,914
Harking back to the days of revolution,
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00:09:40,998 --> 00:09:45,168
Leningrad's leaders encouraged
the whole city to stand and fight.
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00:09:45,252 --> 00:09:48,964
Untrained,
they marched out to face the panzers
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00:09:49,089 --> 00:09:52,342
within sight
of their own factory chimneys.
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00:09:54,386 --> 00:09:58,015
The chance to get non-combatants
out of Leningrad was missed.
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00:09:58,098 --> 00:10:01,935
Anyway, most families preferred to stay.
105
00:10:02,019 --> 00:10:06,940
My husband,
he got two places on a plane,
106
00:10:07,024 --> 00:10:12,362
and he asked me suddenly
to take the child and go with him,
107
00:10:12,487 --> 00:10:16,700
but I refused because
I couldn't leave my mother
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00:10:16,783 --> 00:10:23,248
and his mother, my mother-in-law,
here in the besieged city.
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00:10:23,332 --> 00:10:25,876
So I told him
to take the old lady with him
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00:10:25,959 --> 00:10:29,671
and I remained in Leningrad
with my mother and child.
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00:10:30,631 --> 00:10:34,259
In September,
the German ring closed.
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00:10:34,343 --> 00:10:37,638
Over two and half million people
were trapped in the city,
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400,000 of them children.
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00:10:40,807 --> 00:10:44,102
Leningrad's only link with Russia
was across Lake Ladoga.
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The greatest of all sieges
was beginning.
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00:10:47,773 --> 00:10:50,108
Now Stalin intervened.
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00:10:50,192 --> 00:10:53,528
Marshal Voroshilov,
in command of Leningrad, was sacked.
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00:10:53,612 --> 00:10:56,365
In his place was sent
Marshal Georgi Zhukov,
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00:10:56,448 --> 00:10:59,451
who was to become
one of the great commanders of the war.
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00:10:59,534 --> 00:11:03,872
His deputy was the hard and resourceful
Andrei Zhdanov,
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00:11:03,955 --> 00:11:06,583
Leningrad's Communist Party chief.
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00:11:09,753 --> 00:11:14,174
Leningrad soon felt
the new team's determination.
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00:11:14,257 --> 00:11:15,759
Outside the city,
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Zhukov threatened that anyone
who retreated further would be shot.
125
00:11:20,514 --> 00:11:25,185
Inside, the security forces
hunted down spies and defeatists.
126
00:11:25,268 --> 00:11:27,896
Zhdanov's men ended the wastage of food,
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00:11:27,979 --> 00:11:31,316
mobilising everybody
for the city's defence.
128
00:11:37,447 --> 00:11:41,618
Every major building was mined
in case the Germans broke in.
129
00:11:43,870 --> 00:11:48,250
But the German attempt
to take Leningrad by storm failed.
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00:11:55,006 --> 00:11:59,428
Berlin ordered: "The Führer has decided
to raze the city of Petersburg
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00:11:59,511 --> 00:12:01,555
from the face of the earth."
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00:12:01,638 --> 00:12:05,726
"There is no reason for the
future existence of this large city."
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00:12:08,895 --> 00:12:13,525
The Leningraders were to be bombarded
and starved to death.
134
00:12:20,198 --> 00:12:22,701
Day after day, the bombers came over.
135
00:13:14,711 --> 00:13:18,548
German gunners could see the spires
of Leningrad from their lines.
136
00:13:18,632 --> 00:13:22,969
Their shells could strike
every district, every street.
137
00:13:41,822 --> 00:13:45,909
Lake Ladoga remained
the only gap in the enemy ring.
138
00:13:45,992 --> 00:13:51,832
When it froze, an ice road for supplies
was built across its surface.
139
00:14:01,842 --> 00:14:06,555
Trucks fell through the ice
or were destroyed by air attack.
140
00:14:16,857 --> 00:14:21,444
The ice road could bring too little in
and take too few civilians out
141
00:14:21,528 --> 00:14:24,948
to keep Leningrad
from the onset of starvation.
142
00:14:26,157 --> 00:14:30,120
Everything was running out.
The trams and buses stopped.
143
00:14:30,203 --> 00:14:34,291
In the darkness and intense cold
of the North Russian winter,
144
00:14:34,374 --> 00:14:37,502
there was no longer heating
or electric light.
145
00:14:37,586 --> 00:14:40,755
Workers, half-conscious with hunger,
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00:14:40,839 --> 00:14:43,174
kept the arms factories turning,
147
00:14:43,300 --> 00:14:46,595
even when shells had torn off the roof.
148
00:14:54,019 --> 00:14:59,399
Tanks of raw, unpainted steel drove
out of the factory into the front line.
149
00:15:00,817 --> 00:15:05,572
Bread was now made with
sweepings, cattle-cake, sawdust.
150
00:15:05,655 --> 00:15:08,825
People ate soap, linseed oil,
151
00:15:08,909 --> 00:15:11,077
the paste for wallpaper.
152
00:15:11,161 --> 00:15:12,704
Housewives and children
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00:15:12,787 --> 00:15:17,626
got only four and half ounces
of this "bread" a day.
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00:15:30,931 --> 00:15:33,266
Frozen and silent,
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00:15:33,350 --> 00:15:35,769
Leningrad refused to die.
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00:15:36,811 --> 00:15:39,022
The libraries stayed open.
157
00:15:39,105 --> 00:15:44,235
People took inspiration
from the new literature of the blockade.
158
00:15:45,445 --> 00:15:47,697
Poetry was, for us,
159
00:15:47,781 --> 00:15:51,159
a great force that kept us alive.
160
00:15:51,242 --> 00:15:54,162
"if what they say of Leningrad is true,
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00:15:54,245 --> 00:15:56,623
the tears have frozen
in the people's eyes."
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00:15:56,706 --> 00:16:01,461
"We cry no longer, for no tears
could quench our burning hate."
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00:16:01,544 --> 00:16:04,422
"And hate is our only course."
164
00:16:04,506 --> 00:16:07,884
"The guarantee of life,
the cure for grief,
165
00:16:07,968 --> 00:16:11,680
the one uniting,
warming, guiding force."
166
00:16:12,722 --> 00:16:16,518
And the end of November,
December and January
167
00:16:16,601 --> 00:16:19,437
were the most tragic of times.
168
00:16:19,521 --> 00:16:23,274
Firstly, it was cold - minus 40.
169
00:16:23,358 --> 00:16:27,612
Then the famine, the hunger, began to...
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00:16:27,696 --> 00:16:31,241
to... to be felt.
171
00:16:31,324 --> 00:16:33,868
And people began to starve
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00:16:33,952 --> 00:16:35,996
and to die from cold.
173
00:16:38,289 --> 00:16:41,042
The siege went on.
174
00:16:42,877 --> 00:16:45,839
There were few ways
to hit back at the Germans.
175
00:16:46,464 --> 00:16:50,343
One was with naval guns
from the warships trapped in the port.
176
00:16:51,553 --> 00:16:57,475
On land, small raiding parties
penetrated behind the German trenches.
177
00:17:04,357 --> 00:17:06,443
They cut supply lines,
178
00:17:06,526 --> 00:17:08,653
they captured prisoners
179
00:17:08,737 --> 00:17:11,406
and collected information.
180
00:17:18,830 --> 00:17:23,251
They descended on collaborators
and tried them on the spot.
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00:17:33,678 --> 00:17:36,222
January 1942.
182
00:17:36,347 --> 00:17:41,811
About 4,000 people
were dying in Leningrad each day.
183
00:18:10,131 --> 00:18:13,343
When I went to the shops
184
00:18:13,426 --> 00:18:16,638
to receive my ration for my family,
185
00:18:16,721 --> 00:18:19,641
if I passed on the way there two bodies,
186
00:18:19,724 --> 00:18:22,435
on the way back there were four.
187
00:19:06,938 --> 00:19:11,359
Outside the ring, the
Russians fought to loosen the blockade
188
00:19:11,442 --> 00:19:15,280
and to speed up the pitifully slow
convoys across the frozen lake.
189
00:19:15,363 --> 00:19:20,869
But there was no major offensive
to break the siege ring, and no airlift.
190
00:19:22,078 --> 00:19:27,917
The battles before Moscow
had first call on men and equipment.
191
00:19:33,965 --> 00:19:37,177
Spring brought new fears.
192
00:19:37,260 --> 00:19:39,304
The murderous cold slackened,
193
00:19:39,387 --> 00:19:43,057
but melting snowdrifts
revealed thousands of corpses
194
00:19:43,141 --> 00:19:45,894
in the streets and yards.
195
00:19:49,689 --> 00:19:53,026
A campaign was launched
to clean up the city.
196
00:20:01,659 --> 00:20:03,870
There was no epidemic.
197
00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:17,800
Now the ice road was melting.
198
00:20:17,884 --> 00:20:22,722
Although there would be a difficult time
before the lake was clear for ships,
199
00:20:22,805 --> 00:20:25,183
the mood in Leningrad
was turning confident.
200
00:20:25,767 --> 00:20:30,688
When the sun began to shine,
then we began to clean
201
00:20:30,772 --> 00:20:33,066
and to wash.
202
00:20:33,149 --> 00:20:36,569
Of course,
now we had water in our homes.
203
00:20:36,694 --> 00:20:39,822
We began to feel normal again.
204
00:20:40,823 --> 00:20:45,245
The city council dared
to send a few trams back on the streets.
205
00:20:45,328 --> 00:20:51,000
We greeted the tram as an
old forgotten friend coming back to us.
206
00:20:51,084 --> 00:20:56,547
I remember I clapped my hands when
I saw the tram running along Liteiny.
207
00:21:22,490 --> 00:21:25,451
The survivors felt stronger.
208
00:21:25,576 --> 00:21:28,371
Their rations were increased.
209
00:21:42,343 --> 00:21:46,431
Squads of volunteers went from
house to house bringing help to families
210
00:21:46,514 --> 00:21:51,060
who, in the winter, had almost
lost contact with the city outside.
211
00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:02,572
Children who should have been evacuated
eight months before
212
00:22:02,655 --> 00:22:05,366
were taken by ship across Lake Ladoga.
213
00:22:12,915 --> 00:22:15,460
The ships brought back
troops and munitions
214
00:22:15,543 --> 00:22:18,212
to relieve the gaunt men
in the trenches.
215
00:22:18,296 --> 00:22:21,924
Leningrad began to look more like
a military base.
216
00:22:25,470 --> 00:22:27,889
The worst of the siege was over.
217
00:22:27,972 --> 00:22:32,560
Though the bombardment went on,
it now made sense to repair the damage.
218
00:22:34,145 --> 00:22:37,273
Peat was dug for fuel
against the next winter.
219
00:22:39,484 --> 00:22:42,445
Schoolchildren and professors of botany
220
00:22:42,528 --> 00:22:46,199
helped to plant every open space
with vegetables.
221
00:22:53,623 --> 00:22:56,376
There were no worries
about food for the Germans
222
00:22:56,459 --> 00:22:58,711
occupying the prairies of the Ukraine.
223
00:22:58,795 --> 00:23:02,382
For 50 years, German expansionists
had looked to this region
224
00:23:02,465 --> 00:23:05,885
to free Germany
from dependence on imports by sea.
225
00:23:08,721 --> 00:23:14,143
General Manstein said, "A large part of
the population will have to go hungry."
226
00:23:14,227 --> 00:23:17,647
"Nothing, out of
a misguided sense of humanity,
227
00:23:17,730 --> 00:23:19,565
may be given to the population,
228
00:23:19,649 --> 00:23:23,194
unless they are in the service
of the German Wehrmacht."
229
00:23:51,013 --> 00:23:55,435
In Kiev, the Ukrainian capital,
plans to win over local nationalists
230
00:23:55,518 --> 00:23:59,981
with the promise of an anti-Russian
puppet state never got off the ground.
231
00:24:00,064 --> 00:24:03,776
They were brushed aside
by the army and the SS.
232
00:24:03,860 --> 00:24:08,281
The reality was
work under German overseers
233
00:24:08,406 --> 00:24:10,825
or deportation to the Reich.
234
00:24:14,537 --> 00:24:17,874
Each village
learned the price of defiance.
235
00:24:25,047 --> 00:24:27,884
In Moscow in early 1942
there was confidence.
236
00:24:27,967 --> 00:24:29,844
The winter fighting had revealed
237
00:24:29,927 --> 00:24:33,347
that the Germans were no more invincible
than Napoleon had been.
238
00:24:33,431 --> 00:24:34,807
But it seemed to Russians
239
00:24:34,932 --> 00:24:38,060
that they bore the burden
of the war against Fascism alone
240
00:24:38,144 --> 00:24:41,355
and that the West was not doing enough.
241
00:24:43,691 --> 00:24:47,862
When Stalin began to call for
a second front, a landing in the west,
242
00:24:47,945 --> 00:24:52,241
the people joined willingly
in the meetings organised to support it.
243
00:24:52,575 --> 00:24:55,870
Molotov, the foreign minister,
was told by Western diplomats
244
00:24:55,953 --> 00:24:59,332
that though they admired
the heroism of the Red Army,
245
00:24:59,415 --> 00:25:02,960
a second front was not yet practical.
246
00:25:03,044 --> 00:25:05,129
Stalin didn't believe them.
247
00:25:10,218 --> 00:25:12,303
Stalin was in direct command of an army
248
00:25:12,386 --> 00:25:15,890
becoming harder and more formidable
every day.
249
00:25:18,142 --> 00:25:21,854
But the Russians did not pretend
to be immune to grief.
250
00:25:21,938 --> 00:25:24,941
Tens of thousands
knew this poem by heart...
251
00:25:25,983 --> 00:25:28,986
"Wait for me, and I'll return."
252
00:25:29,070 --> 00:25:31,572
"Only, wait very hard."
253
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:36,536
"Wait when you are filled with sorrow
as you watch the yellow rain."
254
00:25:36,619 --> 00:25:39,205
"Wait when the winds
sweep the snowdrifts."
255
00:25:39,956 --> 00:25:41,832
"Wait in the sweltering heat."
256
00:25:41,916 --> 00:25:46,671
"Wait when others have stopped waiting,
forgetting their yesterdays."
257
00:25:46,754 --> 00:25:51,008
"Wait even when from afar
no letters come to you."
258
00:25:51,092 --> 00:25:54,428
"Wait even when
others are tired of waiting."
259
00:25:54,512 --> 00:25:58,516
"Wait even when
my mother and son think I am no more,
260
00:25:58,599 --> 00:26:02,270
and when friends sit around the fire
drinking to my memory."
261
00:26:02,353 --> 00:26:07,108
"Wait, and do not hurry
to drink to my memory too."
262
00:26:07,191 --> 00:26:11,195
"Wait, for I'll return,
263
00:26:11,279 --> 00:26:13,531
defying every death."
264
00:26:13,656 --> 00:26:17,910
"And let those who do not wait
say that I was lucky."
265
00:26:17,994 --> 00:26:21,414
"They never will understand
that in the midst of death
266
00:26:21,497 --> 00:26:25,042
you with your waiting saved me."
267
00:26:25,501 --> 00:26:28,504
"Only you and I will know
how I survived."
268
00:26:28,588 --> 00:26:32,800
"It's because you waited,
as no one else did."
269
00:26:35,970 --> 00:26:38,389
There were still disasters to come.
270
00:26:38,472 --> 00:26:43,102
In May, the Germans beat off
a Russian offensive near Kharkov.
271
00:26:43,185 --> 00:26:47,315
As the Red Army advanced,
the panzers cut round its flanks.
272
00:26:57,867 --> 00:27:00,828
The Soviet commanders
begged to be allowed to pull back
273
00:27:00,911 --> 00:27:02,913
before it was too late,
274
00:27:02,997 --> 00:27:07,627
but Stalin, pushing advice aside,
forbade them to retreat.
275
00:27:07,752 --> 00:27:10,046
The German pincers closed.
276
00:27:10,129 --> 00:27:14,675
Most of the men of three Russian armies
were forced to lay down their arms.
277
00:27:38,032 --> 00:27:43,371
In the whole war, over five million
Russian soldiers were taken prisoner.
278
00:27:44,747 --> 00:27:48,084
Less than two million survived.
279
00:27:53,047 --> 00:27:55,299
For the British especially,
280
00:27:55,383 --> 00:27:59,470
the Russians were now
"Our gallant Soviet ally."
281
00:28:00,554 --> 00:28:05,142
But, at first, help could only come
through the Arctic convoys
282
00:28:05,226 --> 00:28:07,853
heading for Murmansk and Archangel
283
00:28:07,937 --> 00:28:13,192
through the killing ground of the
German U-boats, bombers and warships.
284
00:28:18,656 --> 00:28:24,120
In July 1942,
this one convoy lost 80% of its ships.
285
00:28:27,248 --> 00:28:31,335
But the courage of British seamen
could not make the convoys carry enough
286
00:28:31,419 --> 00:28:34,088
for Russia's gigantic needs.
287
00:28:34,964 --> 00:28:39,468
1942 was the year of deep war -
288
00:28:39,552 --> 00:28:43,514
defeat fought off,
but as yet no sign of victory.
289
00:28:44,140 --> 00:28:46,809
This was a time of bitter endurance,
290
00:28:46,892 --> 00:28:50,938
a season for learning to bear
disappointment and loss.
291
00:28:53,107 --> 00:28:55,651
Once, it seemed possible
that German soldiers
292
00:28:55,735 --> 00:28:57,862
were only brother workers in uniform,
293
00:28:57,945 --> 00:29:01,782
but now Soviet writers
spoke in words of hate.
294
00:29:02,867 --> 00:29:06,662
"One can bear anything -
the plague, hunger and death -
295
00:29:06,787 --> 00:29:09,123
but one cannot bear the Germans."
296
00:29:09,206 --> 00:29:11,917
"One cannot bear these fish-eyed oafs
297
00:29:12,001 --> 00:29:14,795
contemptuously snorting
at everything Russian."
298
00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:18,674
"We cannot live as long
as these grey-green slugs are alive."
299
00:29:18,758 --> 00:29:23,262
"Today there are no books,
today there are no stars in the sky."
300
00:29:23,345 --> 00:29:27,308
"Today there is only one thought -
kill the Germans."
301
00:29:27,391 --> 00:29:30,561
"Kill them all
and dig them into the earth."
302
00:29:30,644 --> 00:29:32,772
"Then we can go to sleep."
303
00:29:32,855 --> 00:29:36,275
"Then we can think again
of life and books
304
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,028
and girls and happiness."
305
00:29:42,448 --> 00:29:44,033
"We shall kill them all,
306
00:29:44,116 --> 00:29:47,870
but we must do it quickly or
they will desecrate the whole of Russia
307
00:29:47,953 --> 00:29:50,790
and torture to death
millions more people."
308
00:30:03,010 --> 00:30:05,221
As the Soviet soldiers advanced,
309
00:30:05,304 --> 00:30:09,850
they found what Germans
had been doing to civilians.
310
00:31:03,737 --> 00:31:06,615
The churches were full once more.
311
00:31:16,250 --> 00:31:19,503
The priesthood was invited
to pray for the life of holy Russia
312
00:31:19,587 --> 00:31:22,673
to work on the patriotism
of the worshippers.
313
00:31:26,218 --> 00:31:28,721
The icons were honoured again.
314
00:31:28,804 --> 00:31:32,016
The public campaign for atheism
was dropped.
315
00:31:59,043 --> 00:32:03,088
The Germans murdered
Jews and Communists.
316
00:32:03,172 --> 00:32:07,217
They murdered those
suspected of supporting the partisans.
317
00:32:07,301 --> 00:32:09,803
They murdered hostages.
318
00:32:18,479 --> 00:32:20,856
After battle, in retreat,
319
00:32:20,940 --> 00:32:23,484
they just murdered.
320
00:32:37,373 --> 00:32:42,503
To the north, the Russians prepared to
attack the German ring round Leningrad.
321
00:32:42,628 --> 00:32:44,838
As they waited, runners brought the news
322
00:32:44,922 --> 00:32:48,884
of the surrender of the German armies
at Stalingrad.
323
00:32:50,427 --> 00:32:55,224
For army and people, this was the sudden
glow of victory at the tunnel's end.
324
00:32:55,307 --> 00:32:59,186
Now they knew they would win.
325
00:33:25,963 --> 00:33:30,217
At Leningrad,
the relieving troops broke through.
326
00:33:41,687 --> 00:33:47,109
They forced open a land route.
The 16-month blockade was over.
327
00:33:47,192 --> 00:33:49,445
But they did not break the siege.
328
00:33:49,528 --> 00:33:53,157
The Germans and Finns
still lay around the city.
329
00:33:56,994 --> 00:33:59,496
It was such a feeling
I can't relate it.
330
00:33:59,580 --> 00:34:02,791
I went to my neighbour across the yard,
331
00:34:02,875 --> 00:34:05,377
and we kissed each other
and told each other:
332
00:34:05,461 --> 00:34:08,380
"Now we shall live. There is a way out."
333
00:34:09,006 --> 00:34:12,301
In a fortnight,
a railway was laid through the gap.
334
00:34:12,843 --> 00:34:16,346
Food and fuel
began to roll into Leningrad.
335
00:34:22,269 --> 00:34:24,396
The symbols of old Russian honour
336
00:34:24,521 --> 00:34:27,524
were restored to the army
as they had been to the church.
337
00:34:31,653 --> 00:34:35,616
Propaganda
united Lenin with Alexander Nevski...
338
00:34:39,495 --> 00:34:42,498
...the 18th century hero, Suvorov...
339
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:49,838
...heroes of the Red cavalry,
340
00:34:49,963 --> 00:34:54,093
mighty ghosts cheering forward
the avengers of the Soviet motherland.
341
00:34:58,639 --> 00:35:03,685
The insignia of a traditional and
professional army were brought back.
342
00:35:05,979 --> 00:35:08,482
Gold braid was imported from Britain.
343
00:35:08,565 --> 00:35:11,860
Political commissars lost rank.
344
00:35:13,570 --> 00:35:17,574
The years of the purges were forgotten.
345
00:35:57,030 --> 00:36:01,785
Every Soviet citizen felt
himself a part of the common struggle.
346
00:36:01,869 --> 00:36:04,538
Some people say
it was the Fascists' cruelty
347
00:36:04,621 --> 00:36:09,751
which led to resistance
in the Ukraine and other occupied lands.
348
00:36:09,835 --> 00:36:11,920
No.
349
00:36:15,215 --> 00:36:18,177
I believe resistance was inevitable.
350
00:36:23,765 --> 00:36:28,937
Soviet people in the rear could not
hold themselves back from the struggle.
351
00:36:40,032 --> 00:36:45,454
In 1941, behind the lines
partisan bands began to form.
352
00:36:45,537 --> 00:36:47,623
At first, they lacked arms.
353
00:36:47,706 --> 00:36:50,167
They grew slowly.
354
00:36:56,757 --> 00:37:00,677
German deportations for forced labour
made thousands flee to the forests,
355
00:37:00,761 --> 00:37:04,723
where they joined the partisans.
356
00:37:18,820 --> 00:37:21,323
Soon the partisans
became a formidable army
357
00:37:21,406 --> 00:37:25,410
operating against
the enemy lines of communication.
358
00:37:56,191 --> 00:37:58,944
The penalty for collaboration was death.
359
00:37:59,027 --> 00:38:01,613
On a mere suspicion
of sympathy for the enemy,
360
00:38:01,697 --> 00:38:05,701
whole national groups,
the Volga Germans, the Crimean Tatars,
361
00:38:05,784 --> 00:38:07,953
were deported to central Asia.
362
00:38:08,036 --> 00:38:11,456
For individual collaborators, no mercy.
363
00:38:21,008 --> 00:38:23,927
As German prisoners
were paraded through Leningrad,
364
00:38:24,011 --> 00:38:27,514
people struck out at an enemy
they could reach.
365
00:38:44,448 --> 00:38:49,077
In the steppes of Soviet Asia, in
the new factories and mines of Siberia,
366
00:38:49,161 --> 00:38:54,583
the most desperate production effort of
modern times was coming to its climax.
367
00:39:42,672 --> 00:39:45,759
Russia has been caught
with obsolete aircraft,
368
00:39:45,842 --> 00:39:48,595
unfit for close battle support.
369
00:39:48,678 --> 00:39:53,141
Now the plants turned out
9,000 modern aircraft every month.
370
00:39:53,225 --> 00:39:58,063
In 1943, military output
finally outstripped Germany's.
371
00:40:08,740 --> 00:40:10,992
Above all, it was the tank.
372
00:40:11,076 --> 00:40:15,705
In 1943,
the factories built 24,000 of them.
373
00:40:17,541 --> 00:40:20,377
More than any other weapon,
it was the tank,
374
00:40:20,460 --> 00:40:23,171
especially the famous T-34,
375
00:40:23,255 --> 00:40:26,425
which won the battle
on the Eastern Front.
376
00:40:40,564 --> 00:40:43,483
With the American trucks
now streaming in from Persia,
377
00:40:43,567 --> 00:40:47,237
this torrent of armour
moved up to the line.
378
00:40:49,239 --> 00:40:52,159
The Russians knew that in July 1943
379
00:40:52,242 --> 00:40:57,497
the Germans would launch their
full strength against them once more.
380
00:40:57,622 --> 00:41:00,625
They knew too
that the blow would fall at Kursk.
381
00:41:00,709 --> 00:41:03,336
They must hold firm.
382
00:41:03,420 --> 00:41:07,674
Then the Red Army, now
the biggest land force ever seen in war,
383
00:41:07,757 --> 00:41:09,843
would strike back.
384
00:41:11,970 --> 00:41:13,638
The Germans planned to drive
385
00:41:13,763 --> 00:41:15,974
into the shoulders of the Kursk bulge,
386
00:41:16,057 --> 00:41:18,768
hoping to cut off the huge Soviet army,
387
00:41:18,852 --> 00:41:21,229
then hit at Moscow.
388
00:41:28,570 --> 00:41:31,781
They brought up 70 divisions -
almost a million men -
389
00:41:31,865 --> 00:41:34,701
with the new Tiger tanks
and Ferdinand guns.
390
00:41:34,784 --> 00:41:36,870
Hitler had intended to strike in May,
391
00:41:36,953 --> 00:41:40,916
but there were delays in production
and building up reserves.
392
00:41:48,089 --> 00:41:49,966
Weeks passed.
393
00:41:50,050 --> 00:41:55,764
When the German were ready to attack,
the Russians were waiting for them.
394
00:42:01,853 --> 00:42:03,897
We were all prepared.
395
00:42:03,980 --> 00:42:07,484
We were more than ready
to meet Hitler's attack.
396
00:42:07,567 --> 00:42:09,110
We knew we had enough armour
397
00:42:09,194 --> 00:42:12,155
to stop the Fascists
breaking through our defences.
398
00:42:20,747 --> 00:42:24,376
Our reconnaissance patrols
had captured prisoners.
399
00:42:27,003 --> 00:42:29,714
From them
we learned that Hitler's troops
400
00:42:29,798 --> 00:42:35,011
planned to start the attack
at 2:30 in the morning on July 5.
401
00:42:36,096 --> 00:42:39,140
The news was given to our troops.
402
00:42:41,142 --> 00:42:45,063
The commander
sits in the observation post,
403
00:42:45,146 --> 00:42:47,607
the soldiers are in the trenches,
404
00:42:47,691 --> 00:42:51,152
and tomorrow
the enemy is expected to attack.
405
00:42:54,030 --> 00:42:57,909
You can imagine
what thoughts are in his mind.
406
00:43:06,167 --> 00:43:10,255
There were more than
a hundred tanks every kilometre.
407
00:43:10,338 --> 00:43:14,050
When tanks are moving,
the whole earth trembles.
408
00:43:14,134 --> 00:43:16,344
And the guns fire,
409
00:43:16,428 --> 00:43:19,472
but the soldier just sits.
410
00:43:28,940 --> 00:43:31,318
Soviet aircraft took off at dawn
411
00:43:31,401 --> 00:43:35,196
to wreck the German bombers
waiting on their airfields.
412
00:43:46,958 --> 00:43:49,336
The Germans kept to the timetable.
413
00:43:51,338 --> 00:43:56,217
On the morning of July 5,
the panzer divisions moved forward.
414
00:44:26,873 --> 00:44:31,044
Kursk was the biggest tank battle
in history.
415
00:44:31,127 --> 00:44:35,882
In the north, the German pincer
made ten miles in five days, and halted,
416
00:44:35,965 --> 00:44:39,886
with 50,000 dead
and 400 tanks destroyed.
417
00:44:41,763 --> 00:44:43,932
In the south, in an even vaster battle,
418
00:44:44,015 --> 00:44:47,060
a 20-mile dent
was made in the Russian defences,
419
00:44:47,143 --> 00:44:49,896
but the Germans were spent.
420
00:44:49,979 --> 00:44:54,526
On July 15,
Hitler called off the Kursk offensive.
421
00:44:59,322 --> 00:45:02,826
The Red Army went over to the attack.
422
00:45:47,370 --> 00:45:49,664
Under bombardment,
the sappers went ahead
423
00:45:49,789 --> 00:45:53,543
to cut a path into the German defences.
424
00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:08,475
Through the gap,
the tanks plunged forward,
425
00:46:08,558 --> 00:46:11,436
the troops riding on their sides.
426
00:46:33,333 --> 00:46:35,418
These were the new Russian soldiers,
427
00:46:35,502 --> 00:46:38,838
very different
from the defeated masses of 1941.
428
00:46:39,923 --> 00:46:43,259
Their clothes were shabby,
but their weapons were clean.
429
00:46:43,343 --> 00:46:48,014
They were tough, chasing the enemy
into close-quarter battle.
430
00:46:48,097 --> 00:46:49,432
They were resourceful,
431
00:46:49,516 --> 00:46:54,437
trained to live off the land
and to cross rivers on their own.
432
00:46:57,148 --> 00:47:00,652
If there was no boat,
a bench or a log would do.
433
00:47:05,949 --> 00:47:09,410
They went without regular leave or pay,
434
00:47:09,494 --> 00:47:12,455
but now their morale
was fierce and high.
435
00:47:16,709 --> 00:47:22,423
In military terms, it was Kursk which
decided how the European war would end.
436
00:47:23,633 --> 00:47:27,679
When this supreme German effort failed,
the Soviet victory began.
437
00:47:29,681 --> 00:47:33,476
The fighting to break through
German positions was hard and slow,
438
00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:36,396
but after nine days
the Red Army had recaptured
439
00:47:36,479 --> 00:47:40,483
all the ground lost
in this last German offensive.
440
00:48:05,383 --> 00:48:10,638
The Germans began to fall back,
destroying everything as they went.
441
00:48:10,722 --> 00:48:14,684
Now they were under constant attack
by Soviet fighters.
442
00:48:17,478 --> 00:48:21,107
The Luftwaffe
had lost command of the air.
443
00:48:33,286 --> 00:48:38,875
Suddenly, the towns of occupied Russia
were full of armour moving west.
444
00:48:39,918 --> 00:48:44,380
After two years,
the conquerors were pulling out.
445
00:48:49,344 --> 00:48:52,555
At Leningrad,
the Germans were still at the outskirts,
446
00:48:52,639 --> 00:48:54,891
the city still under shellfire.
447
00:49:02,273 --> 00:49:07,278
The siege was not to be finally broken
until January the following year.
448
00:49:12,575 --> 00:49:17,747
The strength of Russia, like a gigantic
spring compressed back to its limit,
449
00:49:17,830 --> 00:49:20,291
was now bursting forward.
450
00:49:20,375 --> 00:49:23,753
The first cities were liberated.
451
00:49:41,479 --> 00:49:44,273
On August 5, 1943,
452
00:49:44,357 --> 00:49:47,735
Orel and Belgorod were freed.
453
00:49:50,113 --> 00:49:54,534
In each town, those who had died
in battle were buried.
454
00:49:57,620 --> 00:50:00,707
"Do not call me, Father,
do not seek me."
455
00:50:00,790 --> 00:50:04,293
"Do not call me, do not wish me back."
456
00:50:04,419 --> 00:50:08,756
"We're on a route uncharted,
Fire and blood erase our track."
457
00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:13,177
"On we fly on wings of thunder,
Nevermore to sheath our swords."
458
00:50:13,261 --> 00:50:18,016
"All of us in battle fallen,
Not to be brought back by words."
459
00:50:19,058 --> 00:50:22,061
"Will there be a rendezvous?
I know not."
460
00:50:22,145 --> 00:50:24,480
"I only know we still must fight."
461
00:50:24,564 --> 00:50:27,233
"We are sand grains in infinity,
462
00:50:27,316 --> 00:50:30,987
Never to meet, nevermore see light."
463
00:50:34,198 --> 00:50:38,119
"Farewell then, my son,
farewell then, my conscience,
464
00:50:38,202 --> 00:50:40,079
My youth and my solace,
465
00:50:40,163 --> 00:50:42,582
My one and my only."
466
00:50:42,665 --> 00:50:45,376
"And let this farewell
be the end of a story
467
00:50:45,460 --> 00:50:48,921
Of solitude vast,
and which none is more lonely,
468
00:50:49,005 --> 00:50:51,799
In which you remain barred
forever and ever
469
00:50:51,883 --> 00:50:53,301
From light and from air,
470
00:50:53,384 --> 00:50:55,678
with your death pangs untold."
471
00:50:55,762 --> 00:50:58,347
"Untold and unsoothed,
472
00:50:58,431 --> 00:51:03,269
not to be resurrected,
Forever and ever an 18-year-old."
473
00:51:03,352 --> 00:51:06,856
"Farewell, then.
No trains ever come from those regions,
474
00:51:06,939 --> 00:51:10,318
Unscheduled or scheduled,
no aeroplanes fly there."
475
00:51:11,069 --> 00:51:14,405
"Farewell then, my son,
for no miracles happen,
476
00:51:14,489 --> 00:51:18,367
As in this world
dreams do not come true."
477
00:51:18,451 --> 00:51:22,371
"Farewell.
I will dream of you still as a baby,
478
00:51:22,455 --> 00:51:25,625
Treading the earth
with little, strong toes."
479
00:51:25,708 --> 00:51:28,628
"The earth
where already so many lie buried."
480
00:51:28,711 --> 00:51:33,049
"This song to my son, then,
is come to its close."
481
00:51:38,429 --> 00:51:40,681
In Moscow, Stalin announced:
482
00:51:40,765 --> 00:51:46,229
"Tonight at 2400 hours on August 5,
the capital of our country, Moscow,
483
00:51:46,312 --> 00:51:50,066
will salute the valiant troops
who liberated Orel and Belgorod."
484
00:51:56,447 --> 00:51:58,407
"Eternal glory to the heroes who fell
485
00:51:58,491 --> 00:52:00,952
in the struggle for the freedom
of our country."
486
00:52:01,035 --> 00:52:03,037
"Death to the German invaders."
487
00:52:09,627 --> 00:52:12,755
In November, Kiev was freed.
488
00:53:37,757 --> 00:53:41,761
Russia was saved by its soldiers
and by its people.
489
00:53:42,803 --> 00:53:47,225
But in the earth,
never to welcome the coming of peace,
490
00:53:47,350 --> 00:53:50,228
lay 20 million dead.
55955
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