1 00:00:10,658 --> 00:00:12,702 (birdsong) 2 00:00:15,413 --> 00:00:19,417 (narrator) Russia. The summer of 1942. 3 00:00:23,755 --> 00:00:26,966 The Germans are on the move... again. 4 00:00:32,930 --> 00:00:36,851 The Sixth Army, Hitler's largest, victorious in France, 5 00:00:36,934 --> 00:00:41,105 almost victorious in the first year of the Russian campaign. 6 00:00:41,189 --> 00:00:43,066 Now it has a new task - 7 00:00:43,149 --> 00:00:47,153 to fight further east than the Wehrmacht has ever fought before, 8 00:00:47,236 --> 00:00:51,783 to cut Russia in two, on the Volga. 9 00:01:51,008 --> 00:01:57,306 The German army's plan to destroy Russia by a blitzkrieg in 1941 had failed. 10 00:01:57,390 --> 00:02:01,352 And, in the attempt, they'd lost a million men. 11 00:02:01,436 --> 00:02:05,523 In 1942, they were not strong enough - even with the help of their allies - 12 00:02:05,606 --> 00:02:08,151 to attack along the whole front. 13 00:02:08,234 --> 00:02:11,279 Hitler turned south, to the Caucasus. 14 00:02:11,404 --> 00:02:15,074 Three-quarters of Russia's oil was there. 15 00:02:15,158 --> 00:02:18,411 He divided his forces into two groups - 16 00:02:18,494 --> 00:02:23,166 the Sixth Army and the Fourth Panzer Army would move first. 17 00:02:24,500 --> 00:02:30,590 His plan was to encircle and destroy Soviet armies in the Don bend, 18 00:02:30,715 --> 00:02:33,134 drive east towards Stalingrad, 19 00:02:33,217 --> 00:02:37,221 and cut off the Caucasus from the rest of the country. 20 00:02:37,305 --> 00:02:39,182 Then in the main campaign, 21 00:02:39,265 --> 00:02:42,560 the other army group would capture Rostov 22 00:02:42,643 --> 00:02:46,272 and strike south to the oil fields. 23 00:02:47,940 --> 00:02:50,193 The offensive started late. 24 00:02:50,276 --> 00:02:53,029 It was high summer before the Sixth Army, 25 00:02:53,112 --> 00:02:56,199 under Friedrich von Paulus, began to move. 26 00:02:56,282 --> 00:03:00,119 The armour in front, as usual, 27 00:03:00,203 --> 00:03:03,748 the motorised supply columns close behind. 28 00:03:09,086 --> 00:03:12,757 The foot soldiers slogged along in the rear. 29 00:03:20,932 --> 00:03:24,227 At first, the Russians seemed to melt away. 30 00:03:25,311 --> 00:03:28,397 No matter how far the Germans advanced, 31 00:03:28,481 --> 00:03:31,234 the Red Army always eluded them. 32 00:03:49,794 --> 00:03:52,755 The Germans didn't take many prisoners. 33 00:03:52,839 --> 00:03:55,800 They captured territory and towns. 34 00:04:09,856 --> 00:04:14,819 The army wanted to keep pressing ahead to encircle the Russians, but couldn't. 35 00:04:14,902 --> 00:04:20,408 Time and again, its spearheads had to pause and wait for supplies to catch up. 36 00:04:22,910 --> 00:04:28,082 One soldier, Wilhelm Hoffman, was keeping a diary. 37 00:04:28,165 --> 00:04:30,751 He thought the war might soon be over. 38 00:04:30,835 --> 00:04:34,672 "Perhaps we'll be home by Christmas", he wrote. 39 00:05:07,496 --> 00:05:09,332 (artillery fire) 40 00:05:29,101 --> 00:05:33,105 The Russians had lost a quarter of a million troops in the spring. 41 00:05:33,189 --> 00:05:36,275 Now they could not afford pitched battles, 42 00:05:36,359 --> 00:05:38,819 so they kept retreating. 43 00:05:40,613 --> 00:05:45,534 To the Russian commanders, it was a skilful planned withdrawal. 44 00:05:45,618 --> 00:05:50,581 To the Russian troops, it was a demoralising rout. 45 00:05:50,665 --> 00:05:54,710 To Hitler, it was a crushing victory. 46 00:05:54,794 --> 00:05:59,006 He thought the Russian armies had been wiped out. 47 00:06:00,549 --> 00:06:03,844 So, with the offensive barely two weeks old, 48 00:06:03,928 --> 00:06:06,889 he started to shift his armies south. 49 00:06:06,973 --> 00:06:09,850 At the end of July his troops entered Rostov, 50 00:06:09,934 --> 00:06:12,853 the key to the Caucasus. 51 00:06:51,809 --> 00:06:57,982 Hitler now gave absolute priority to the thrust towards the oil fields. 52 00:06:58,065 --> 00:07:01,569 He unleashed his fresh, southern armies. 53 00:07:01,652 --> 00:07:04,655 He diverted the Fourth Panzer Army south. 54 00:07:04,739 --> 00:07:08,242 He stripped the Sixth Army of its fuel and most of its armour, 55 00:07:08,325 --> 00:07:10,619 and sent them south, too. 56 00:07:10,745 --> 00:07:15,332 But he still expected the Sixth Army to carry on as before. 57 00:07:16,584 --> 00:07:20,963 By mid-August, the Sixth Army had been on the march for six weeks. 58 00:07:21,047 --> 00:07:23,090 Late in the afternoon of the 23rd, 59 00:07:23,174 --> 00:07:27,219 a panzer column reached the Volga just north of Stalingrad. 60 00:07:27,303 --> 00:07:31,724 It cut off river traffic and brought the opposite bank under fire. 61 00:07:34,518 --> 00:07:40,357 The infantry dug in along the railway and waited for reinforcements. 62 00:07:49,575 --> 00:07:53,120 Though the Sixth Army's original mission was now accomplished, 63 00:07:53,204 --> 00:07:55,623 Hitler now expected them to take the city. 64 00:07:57,333 --> 00:08:01,670 Stalingrad was built on bluffs overlooking the Volga, 65 00:08:01,754 --> 00:08:05,966 and stretched 15 miles along its western bank. 66 00:08:07,218 --> 00:08:11,222 The old town - log huts and wooden buildings - in the south, 67 00:08:11,305 --> 00:08:14,767 a modern centre, steel and concrete. 68 00:08:14,892 --> 00:08:21,065 To the north, three large factories, with workers' housing nearby. 69 00:08:21,148 --> 00:08:26,821 The whole city lay on hilly ground, scored by deep ravines. 70 00:08:26,904 --> 00:08:31,617 A Soviet showpiece, Stalin had named it for himself. 71 00:08:36,247 --> 00:08:39,625 Stalin had determined to defend the city. 72 00:08:39,708 --> 00:08:43,129 He decided not to evacuate most of the civilians. 73 00:08:43,212 --> 00:08:49,093 The troops would fight better, he said, for a live city than for a dead one. 74 00:08:59,311 --> 00:09:01,730 Air defences were improvised. 75 00:09:01,814 --> 00:09:06,485 Half the anti-aircraft guns in the town had women crews. 76 00:09:06,569 --> 00:09:08,696 A workers' militia was recruited. 77 00:09:08,779 --> 00:09:12,950 Stalin had coined the slogan, "Not one step back." 78 00:09:13,033 --> 00:09:17,413 Troops and security police patrolled the streets. 79 00:09:19,582 --> 00:09:22,209 It wasn't all coercion. 80 00:09:22,293 --> 00:09:27,840 There was fear of the Germans, and patriotism, and communist zeal. 81 00:09:33,179 --> 00:09:35,848 "Comrades and citizens of Stalingrad, 82 00:09:35,931 --> 00:09:38,434 each of us must apply ourselves 83 00:09:38,517 --> 00:09:41,854 to the task of defending our beloved town, 84 00:09:41,937 --> 00:09:44,732 our homes, and our families." 85 00:09:44,815 --> 00:09:49,153 "Let us barricade every street, transform every district, 86 00:09:49,236 --> 00:09:54,366 every block, every house, into an impregnable fortress." 87 00:10:15,137 --> 00:10:19,433 The Sixth Army had not reached the Volga in enough strength 88 00:10:19,516 --> 00:10:22,561 to take Stalingrad on its own. 89 00:10:24,104 --> 00:10:26,482 (gunfire) 90 00:10:26,565 --> 00:10:30,736 Its reserves were still far behind. 91 00:10:36,867 --> 00:10:38,953 (Siren) 92 00:10:40,996 --> 00:10:44,708 The Luftwaffe was called in to help the ground forces. 93 00:10:48,462 --> 00:10:50,965 For three days, from August 23, 94 00:10:51,048 --> 00:10:55,469 every aircraft available on the Russian Front attacked the city. 95 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:05,187 Almost the only defence came from the gun boats on the Volga 96 00:11:05,271 --> 00:11:09,358 and from the batteries on the opposite shore. 97 00:11:19,702 --> 00:11:21,912 (man shouts) 98 00:14:29,933 --> 00:14:32,436 The city did not fall to air attack, 99 00:14:32,519 --> 00:14:37,774 and the shattered buildings were transformed into fortresses. 100 00:14:43,363 --> 00:14:45,616 The beginning of September. 101 00:14:45,741 --> 00:14:48,577 Russian artillery could harass the Germans 102 00:14:48,660 --> 00:14:51,455 from the east bank of the Volga. 103 00:14:51,538 --> 00:14:53,707 But the Russian reserves were useless 104 00:14:53,790 --> 00:14:56,502 unless they could cross the river and get into the city. 105 00:14:57,336 --> 00:14:58,670 There were no bridges 106 00:14:58,754 --> 00:15:03,592 and by day river ferries were under constant Luftwaffe attack. 107 00:15:03,675 --> 00:15:06,720 As long as the Russians held any of the western bank, 108 00:15:06,803 --> 00:15:09,765 they could send troops into the city. 109 00:15:09,848 --> 00:15:13,977 Once across, they could use tunnels dug into the high bluffs 110 00:15:14,061 --> 00:15:18,273 and force the Germans to battle for every foot. 111 00:15:21,985 --> 00:15:25,822 The German armies held the initiative, 112 00:15:25,906 --> 00:15:30,285 but they were at the very end of a precarious supply line. 113 00:15:30,369 --> 00:15:33,288 All their troops were committed to the offensive. 114 00:15:33,372 --> 00:15:38,001 They had no reserves left if anything went wrong. 115 00:15:42,256 --> 00:15:47,261 The Germans launched their first attacks early in September. 116 00:15:48,303 --> 00:15:51,223 September 11, Wilhelm Hoffman: 117 00:15:51,306 --> 00:15:54,935 "Our battalion is fighting in the suburbs of Stalingrad." 118 00:15:55,060 --> 00:15:57,521 "Firing is going on all the time." 119 00:15:57,604 --> 00:16:00,482 "Wherever you look is fire and flames." 120 00:16:00,566 --> 00:16:04,736 "Russian cannons and machine guns are firing out of the burning city." 121 00:16:04,820 --> 00:16:06,822 "Fanatics!" 122 00:16:06,905 --> 00:16:08,949 (machine-gun fire) 123 00:16:17,249 --> 00:16:19,334 (explosions) 124 00:16:33,098 --> 00:16:35,183 (gunfire continues) 125 00:17:45,671 --> 00:17:47,714 (gunfire) 126 00:17:49,049 --> 00:17:52,260 Hoffman, September 16: 127 00:17:52,344 --> 00:17:56,181 "Our battalion plus tanks is attacking the grain elevator." 128 00:17:56,264 --> 00:17:58,850 "The battalion is suffering heavy losses." 129 00:17:58,934 --> 00:18:01,144 "The elevator is occupied not by men 130 00:18:01,228 --> 00:18:05,440 but by devils that no bullets or flames can destroy." 131 00:18:05,524 --> 00:18:07,609 September 18: 132 00:18:07,693 --> 00:18:10,612 "Fighting is going on inside the elevator." 133 00:18:10,696 --> 00:18:14,157 "If all the buildings of Stalingrad are defended like this, 134 00:18:14,241 --> 00:18:18,161 then none of our soldiers will get back to Germany." 135 00:18:18,245 --> 00:18:20,247 September 20: 136 00:18:20,330 --> 00:18:23,834 "The battle for the elevator is still going on." 137 00:18:25,627 --> 00:18:27,504 September 22: 138 00:18:27,587 --> 00:18:31,007 "Russian resistance in the elevator has been broken." 139 00:18:31,091 --> 00:18:34,428 "Our troops are advancing towards the Volga." 140 00:18:34,511 --> 00:18:40,100 "We found only about 40 Russians dead in the elevator." 141 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:44,646 The German army high command, 1,000 miles away, 142 00:18:44,730 --> 00:18:47,232 was beginning to have second thoughts. 143 00:18:47,315 --> 00:18:49,985 General Halder, chief of staff, 144 00:18:50,068 --> 00:18:53,905 had not seriously opposed Hitler's directives earlier in the year. 145 00:18:53,989 --> 00:18:57,701 Now, with the original strategic objectives accomplished, 146 00:18:57,784 --> 00:19:01,538 he urged caution - but in vain. 147 00:19:01,621 --> 00:19:04,166 A member of Halder's staff observed 148 00:19:04,249 --> 00:19:08,628 that the Fiihrer used to move his hands in big sweeps over the map: 149 00:19:08,712 --> 00:19:10,630 "Push here, push there." 150 00:19:10,714 --> 00:19:14,885 It was all vague and took no account of practical difficulties. 151 00:19:14,968 --> 00:19:18,680 Halder refused to take responsibility for continuing the advance 152 00:19:18,764 --> 00:19:20,974 with winter approaching. 153 00:19:21,057 --> 00:19:25,854 Hitler said: "We now need National Socialist ardour, 154 00:19:25,937 --> 00:19:29,649 rather than professional ability, to settle matters in the east." 155 00:19:29,733 --> 00:19:33,320 "Obviously I cannot expect this of you." 156 00:19:34,237 --> 00:19:38,200 He sacked Halder and replaced him by General Zeitzler, 157 00:19:38,283 --> 00:19:40,994 who was thought to be a genius at logistics - 158 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:46,041 a man who would know how to move armies where Hitler wanted them to go. 159 00:19:48,251 --> 00:19:50,337 (explosions) 160 00:19:51,338 --> 00:19:53,965 In Stalingrad, the Sixth Army's commander 161 00:19:54,049 --> 00:19:56,051 was having second thoughts too. 162 00:19:56,134 --> 00:19:57,719 Von Paulus's troops 163 00:19:57,803 --> 00:20:01,890 were not used to fighting hand to hand in bombed-out cities. 164 00:20:10,982 --> 00:20:13,777 Here, their tanks moved at a snail's pace, 165 00:20:13,860 --> 00:20:18,490 yet Hitler insisted, demanded, that they take the city. 166 00:20:52,524 --> 00:20:55,861 A Russian soldier, Anton Gosnik: 167 00:20:55,944 --> 00:20:59,990 "We moved back, occupying one building after another, 168 00:21:00,073 --> 00:21:03,159 turning them into strongholds." 169 00:21:03,243 --> 00:21:06,454 "A soldier would crawl out of an occupied position 170 00:21:06,538 --> 00:21:12,419 only when the ground was on fire beneath him and his clothes were smouldering." 171 00:21:34,024 --> 00:21:39,863 September 26, Hoffman complained about the way the Soviets fought: 172 00:21:39,946 --> 00:21:42,240 "We don't see them at all." 173 00:21:42,324 --> 00:21:46,411 "They've established themselves in houses, in cellars, 174 00:21:46,494 --> 00:21:50,165 and they're firing from all sides, including from our rear." 175 00:21:50,248 --> 00:21:54,044 "Barbarians! They use gangster methods!" 176 00:21:54,127 --> 00:21:56,212 (machine-gun fire) 177 00:22:02,260 --> 00:22:04,804 Zeitzler, Hitler's new chief of staff, 178 00:22:04,888 --> 00:22:07,891 took a long look at the situation and told him: 179 00:22:07,974 --> 00:22:11,144 "The most dangerous positions on the whole Eastern Front 180 00:22:11,227 --> 00:22:13,146 are the north front at Stalingrad 181 00:22:13,229 --> 00:22:16,066 and the eastern flank of the Fourth Panzer Army." 182 00:22:16,149 --> 00:22:19,653 "if steps are not taken in good time to rectify the situation, 183 00:22:19,736 --> 00:22:21,696 there will be a disaster." 184 00:22:21,780 --> 00:22:25,784 Hitler replied, "You're too pessimistic, Zeitzler." 185 00:22:25,867 --> 00:22:31,623 "We've been through worse periods than this and we've survived." 186 00:22:31,706 --> 00:22:35,043 "We'll get over our present difficulties, too." 187 00:22:35,126 --> 00:22:39,047 The German position was dangerous. 188 00:22:39,130 --> 00:22:43,009 20,000 men a week were being lost in Stalingrad. 189 00:22:43,093 --> 00:22:49,099 They could only be replaced by stripping the army's flanks of German troops. 190 00:22:49,182 --> 00:22:52,978 Romanians were moving in here. 191 00:22:53,061 --> 00:22:56,106 This area was now held by the Italians. 192 00:22:56,189 --> 00:22:59,484 Next to them were Hungarians. 193 00:22:59,609 --> 00:23:02,445 The most precarious position of all was here, 194 00:23:02,529 --> 00:23:05,740 where the Russians held both banks of the river Don. 195 00:23:05,824 --> 00:23:07,909 They faced the Romanian Third Army, 196 00:23:07,993 --> 00:23:12,539 which had no heavy anti-tank guns and no tanks either. 197 00:23:13,873 --> 00:23:15,834 Hitler wasn't worried. He thought - 198 00:23:15,959 --> 00:23:19,004 and the high command's intelligence confirmed this - 199 00:23:19,087 --> 00:23:23,258 that the Russians had no strategic reserves left. 200 00:23:25,301 --> 00:23:29,639 In October, the Germans attacked again, towards the Volga. 201 00:23:30,473 --> 00:23:33,560 Unless they captured the entire river bank, 202 00:23:33,643 --> 00:23:38,189 the Russians would bring in troops and supplies at night. 203 00:23:42,068 --> 00:23:44,112 (gunfire) 204 00:24:01,921 --> 00:24:04,716 Wilhelm Hoffman, October 4: 205 00:24:04,799 --> 00:24:08,178 "A lot of Russian Tommy-gunners have appeared." 206 00:24:08,261 --> 00:24:11,139 "Where are they bringing them from?" 207 00:24:11,222 --> 00:24:13,141 Another German wondered: 208 00:24:13,224 --> 00:24:18,354 "Were we going to have to fight through another dreadful Russian winter?" 209 00:24:20,273 --> 00:24:23,151 Hoffman, on October 14: 210 00:24:23,234 --> 00:24:25,820 "it's been fantastic since morning." 211 00:24:25,904 --> 00:24:27,947 "Our aeroplanes and artillery 212 00:24:28,031 --> 00:24:31,576 have been bombing the Russian positions for hours." 213 00:25:04,818 --> 00:25:07,904 A panzer Leutnant, Weiner, wrote: 214 00:25:07,987 --> 00:25:10,990 "Stalingrad is no longer a town." 215 00:25:11,074 --> 00:25:15,870 "By day it is an enormous cloud of burning, blinding smoke." 216 00:25:15,954 --> 00:25:20,875 "It is a vast furnace, lit by the reflection of the flames." 217 00:25:20,959 --> 00:25:26,756 "And when night arrives - one of those very hot, noisy, bloody nights - 218 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:28,675 the dogs plunge into the Volga 219 00:25:28,758 --> 00:25:31,594 and swim desperately to gain the other bank." 220 00:25:31,678 --> 00:25:35,056 "The nights of Stalingrad are a terror for them." 221 00:25:35,140 --> 00:25:38,143 "Animals flee from this hell." 222 00:25:38,226 --> 00:25:41,896 "The hardest stones cannot hear it for long." 223 00:25:41,980 --> 00:25:44,315 "Only men endure." 224 00:26:18,308 --> 00:26:21,227 Hoffman's diary, October 22: 225 00:26:22,061 --> 00:26:27,734 "Who would have thought three months ago that instead of the joy of victory 226 00:26:27,817 --> 00:26:31,988 we would have to endure such sacrifices and torture, 227 00:26:32,071 --> 00:26:34,949 the end of which is nowhere in sight?" 228 00:26:35,033 --> 00:26:41,289 "The soldiers are calling Stalingrad 'the mass grave' of the Wehrmacht." 229 00:26:43,666 --> 00:26:46,127 From far behind Stalingrad, 230 00:26:46,211 --> 00:26:51,466 long columns of Russian tanks and men came that autumn. 231 00:26:51,549 --> 00:26:57,263 But only a trickle went to Stalingrad - just enough to keep it from collapsing. 232 00:26:57,347 --> 00:27:02,727 The rest went to assembly areas north and south of the city. 233 00:27:02,810 --> 00:27:05,563 (men sing in Russian) 234 00:27:18,284 --> 00:27:21,996 Newsreels told Russians what their leaders wanted them to know - 235 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:27,961 that small arms factories were working round the clock from Moscow to Georgia. 236 00:27:45,853 --> 00:27:51,818 Sweethearts were writing letters about production quotas, 237 00:27:51,901 --> 00:27:54,654 or wrapping parcels for the front, 238 00:27:54,737 --> 00:27:58,324 and delivering them by special messenger. 239 00:28:04,497 --> 00:28:08,251 Youth groups could adopt their own tanks 240 00:28:08,334 --> 00:28:11,462 and even pose with their crews. 241 00:28:12,547 --> 00:28:16,467 Groups of workers could buy their own Stormovik 242 00:28:16,551 --> 00:28:20,263 and send it off to shoot down Hitlerite invaders. 243 00:28:22,265 --> 00:28:27,020 But the underlying message was clear - the terrible days of shortage were over. 244 00:28:27,103 --> 00:28:31,983 Now, at last, the Red Army was getting all it needed. 245 00:28:32,066 --> 00:28:33,234 When it seemed likely 246 00:28:33,318 --> 00:28:37,697 that Stalingrad would hold out, its generals were filmed. 247 00:28:42,201 --> 00:28:45,621 General Yeremenko, commander of the Stalingrad front, 248 00:28:45,747 --> 00:28:48,624 found time to distribute medals. 249 00:28:52,003 --> 00:28:55,715 Stalin's speeches were much read to the troops. 250 00:28:57,175 --> 00:28:59,802 There was even a Stalingrad oath: 251 00:28:59,886 --> 00:29:06,267 "lts burnt-out houses, its ruins, its very stones, are sacred." 252 00:29:10,646 --> 00:29:13,441 The war went on. 253 00:29:15,234 --> 00:29:18,946 The Russians ferried their troops across the Volga and the Don 254 00:29:19,030 --> 00:29:24,035 and crammed them into the bridgeheads they had held since the summer. 255 00:29:28,164 --> 00:29:32,293 The Russians dug in and waited. 256 00:29:59,112 --> 00:30:02,657 The Germans now held nine-tenths of the city. 257 00:30:02,740 --> 00:30:07,912 On November 8, Hitler made an after-dinner speech in Munich. 258 00:30:07,995 --> 00:30:10,456 (Hitler) lch wollte zur Wolga kommen. 259 00:30:10,540 --> 00:30:13,418 (narrator) "I wanted to get to the Volga at a point 260 00:30:13,501 --> 00:30:18,881 where stands a certain town... bears the name of Stalin himself." 261 00:30:18,965 --> 00:30:21,926 "I wanted to take the place and we've done it." 262 00:30:22,009 --> 00:30:27,682 "We've got it really, except for a few enemy positions still holding out." 263 00:30:28,975 --> 00:30:32,770 "People say, 'Why don't they finish the job more quickly?"' 264 00:30:32,854 --> 00:30:36,649 "Well, I prefer to do the job with quite small assault groups." 265 00:30:36,774 --> 00:30:40,069 "Time is of no consequence at all." 266 00:31:14,729 --> 00:31:19,358 But time was creeping up on the Germans. 267 00:31:19,442 --> 00:31:21,903 Even before Hitler's speech, 268 00:31:21,986 --> 00:31:25,114 the Russian winter had begun. 269 00:31:25,198 --> 00:31:27,283 (wind howls) 270 00:31:40,213 --> 00:31:43,090 The Germans knew what was coming. 271 00:31:43,174 --> 00:31:49,222 Soon it would be 30, 40, 50 degrees below freezing. 272 00:31:49,305 --> 00:31:52,850 Equipment and men would freeze. 273 00:32:01,359 --> 00:32:04,070 But the Russians would keep going. 274 00:32:16,541 --> 00:32:19,377 The Russians tried to keep their build-up a secret, 275 00:32:19,460 --> 00:32:22,421 but they could neither move all their men by night, 276 00:32:22,505 --> 00:32:26,425 nor hide completely three-quarters of a million new troops. 277 00:32:31,264 --> 00:32:38,229 On November 10, Von Paulus asked Hitler to let him withdraw from Stalingrad. 278 00:32:38,312 --> 00:32:40,606 Hitler told him to keep attacking. 279 00:32:43,859 --> 00:32:46,612 The Russian build-up went on. 280 00:33:05,089 --> 00:33:08,175 On November 19, the Russians struck. 281 00:33:16,309 --> 00:33:19,061 They attacked the Romanians from the north 282 00:33:19,145 --> 00:33:22,106 and, two days later, from the south. 283 00:33:22,189 --> 00:33:27,486 Within hours, the Russian tanks were through. 284 00:33:49,675 --> 00:33:52,219 The Russian plans were ambitious. 285 00:33:52,303 --> 00:33:56,849 Their two pincers would cut through the Romanians and link at Kalach. 286 00:33:56,932 --> 00:34:00,519 That would trap the German Sixth Army. 287 00:34:00,603 --> 00:34:03,105 They would reduce the Stalingrad pocket, 288 00:34:03,189 --> 00:34:06,275 and could then strike south-east towards Rostov. 289 00:34:06,359 --> 00:34:09,570 That would trap all the Germans in the Caucasus. 290 00:34:12,907 --> 00:34:15,576 Just four days after the offensive began, 291 00:34:15,660 --> 00:34:18,496 the two Russian armies did link up. 292 00:34:18,579 --> 00:34:21,999 It had all gone so quickly there was no time to film it, 293 00:34:22,083 --> 00:34:24,835 so it was re-enacted for the cameras. 294 00:34:27,004 --> 00:34:29,090 (men cheer) 295 00:34:58,869 --> 00:35:02,998 The Russians thought they had trapped 75,000 Germans. 296 00:35:03,082 --> 00:35:06,961 In fact, 250,000 men were cut off. 297 00:35:07,044 --> 00:35:11,257 All the Sixth Army, some of the Fourth Panzer Army, 298 00:35:11,340 --> 00:35:15,761 Romanians, Croatians, and even Russian volunteers. 299 00:35:15,845 --> 00:35:21,142 The commander on the spot, Von Paulus, asked to be allowed to break out. 300 00:35:21,225 --> 00:35:26,021 Hitler told him to stay put. He would send troops to break in. 301 00:35:26,105 --> 00:35:28,315 And he sent him a cheery message: 302 00:35:28,399 --> 00:35:32,486 "I know the brave Sixth Army and its commander-in-chief, 303 00:35:32,570 --> 00:35:36,323 and I also know that it will do its duty." 304 00:35:45,082 --> 00:35:47,835 But the army still had to eat. 305 00:35:52,173 --> 00:35:56,135 Goring, the Luftwaffe's commander-in-chief. 306 00:35:56,218 --> 00:35:58,053 Earlier that year, his planes 307 00:35:58,137 --> 00:36:00,806 had supplied a whole army cut off for 60 days 308 00:36:00,890 --> 00:36:03,684 with fuel, ammunition and food. 309 00:36:03,768 --> 00:36:06,228 Now he thought they could do it again. 310 00:36:06,312 --> 00:36:10,316 Providing the weather was good and the distances not too great, 311 00:36:10,399 --> 00:36:13,527 they could fly in 500 tons a day. 312 00:36:17,740 --> 00:36:19,700 Hitler thought that would do, 313 00:36:19,825 --> 00:36:25,080 though he knew the army said it needed at least 800 tons. 314 00:36:43,140 --> 00:36:45,726 The Russians were waiting. 315 00:36:58,322 --> 00:37:01,617 Bombers were used as transports. 316 00:37:08,749 --> 00:37:10,918 The weather was vile. 317 00:37:16,423 --> 00:37:20,636 The airlift brought in only a tenth of what was needed, 318 00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:24,056 though it did once deliver a planeload of ground pepper 319 00:37:24,139 --> 00:37:27,393 and 12 cases of contraceptives. 320 00:37:34,066 --> 00:37:35,776 The Russians did not attack 321 00:37:35,860 --> 00:37:38,779 the 250,000 troops in the pocket directly - 322 00:37:38,863 --> 00:37:40,990 they were not yet strong enough. 323 00:37:41,073 --> 00:37:45,703 Instead, their armies drove westwards, and the further they drove, 324 00:37:45,786 --> 00:37:49,456 the wider grew the gap between the Germans besieged in Stalingrad 325 00:37:49,582 --> 00:37:52,543 and their would-be rescuers. 326 00:37:52,668 --> 00:37:54,753 (gunfire) 327 00:38:32,333 --> 00:38:37,755 German troops inside the pocket were cold and hungry, but confident. 328 00:38:37,838 --> 00:38:42,843 They settled down, ready to move when their rescuers got close enough. 329 00:38:42,927 --> 00:38:45,095 But they never came. 330 00:38:45,179 --> 00:38:48,265 The Germans fighting their way to relieve Stalingrad 331 00:38:48,349 --> 00:38:53,646 turned back to meet a new threat to the entire southern front. 332 00:39:00,819 --> 00:39:04,156 The Germans in the pocket were on their own. 333 00:39:16,502 --> 00:39:19,421 The Russians had the upper hand. 334 00:39:19,505 --> 00:39:22,466 Even the quality of their medical care showed it. 335 00:39:22,549 --> 00:39:25,594 German wounded, except the few airlifted home, 336 00:39:25,678 --> 00:39:27,930 died in their dugouts. 337 00:39:28,013 --> 00:39:29,974 The Russians at Stalingrad 338 00:39:30,057 --> 00:39:34,603 had the best recovery record of any Russian armies. 339 00:39:59,211 --> 00:40:02,172 The Russians now had mastery of the air. 340 00:40:02,256 --> 00:40:06,218 Their bombers were virtually unopposed. 341 00:40:08,679 --> 00:40:11,432 Hitler was obsessed by Stalingrad. 342 00:40:11,515 --> 00:40:13,642 The Russians too. 343 00:40:13,726 --> 00:40:16,770 They could have left the men there to freeze and starve. 344 00:40:16,854 --> 00:40:20,399 Instead, they massed seven armies round the pocket. 345 00:40:28,115 --> 00:40:34,705 In Stalingrad itself, fighting went on in the same bloody way. 346 00:40:36,457 --> 00:40:38,709 (explosion) 347 00:41:04,693 --> 00:41:06,945 On Christmas Eve in Germany 348 00:41:07,071 --> 00:41:11,283 the radio broadcast this live message from the troops in Stalingrad: 349 00:41:11,366 --> 00:41:15,162 Achtung. lch rufe noch einmal Stalingrad. 350 00:41:15,245 --> 00:41:18,665 Hier ist Stalingrad. Hier ist die Front an der Wolga. 351 00:41:18,749 --> 00:41:20,667 (narrator) But it was a fake. 352 00:41:20,751 --> 00:41:24,713 Broadcasts from Stalingrad had stopped a week before. 353 00:41:39,394 --> 00:41:45,400 On Christmas Day, Radio Moscow broadcast to the Germans in Stalingrad: 354 00:41:45,484 --> 00:41:49,571 "Every seven seconds, a German soldier dies in Russia." 355 00:41:49,655 --> 00:41:52,407 "Stalingrad is a mass grave." 356 00:41:52,491 --> 00:41:54,576 (clock ticking) 357 00:41:57,371 --> 00:42:02,501 The ticking and the message went on all day. 358 00:42:02,584 --> 00:42:05,379 (ticking) 359 00:42:29,987 --> 00:42:33,574 The Germans were now eating raw horse flesh. 360 00:42:33,657 --> 00:42:37,411 On January 8, the Russians offered surrender terms - 361 00:42:37,494 --> 00:42:40,622 warmth, medical care, food. 362 00:42:41,165 --> 00:42:45,127 Officers could even keep their ceremonial daggers. 363 00:42:50,340 --> 00:42:52,217 Hitler refused. 364 00:42:52,301 --> 00:42:55,137 "Every day the Sixth Army holds out", he said, 365 00:42:55,220 --> 00:42:58,891 "helps our situation everywhere else on the front." 366 00:43:02,269 --> 00:43:06,023 January 10. The final Russian assault. 367 00:43:13,739 --> 00:43:18,202 They thought it would take about four days. 368 00:43:40,724 --> 00:43:44,269 But two weeks later, they were still fighting. 369 00:44:02,663 --> 00:44:06,625 On the 24th, Von Paulus signalled Hitler: 370 00:44:06,708 --> 00:44:09,878 "Troops without munitions or food." 371 00:44:09,962 --> 00:44:13,382 "Effective command no longer possible." 372 00:44:13,465 --> 00:44:15,676 "Collapse inevitable." 373 00:44:15,759 --> 00:44:18,679 "Army requests permission to surrender 374 00:44:18,762 --> 00:44:21,974 in order to save lives of remaining troops." 375 00:44:23,308 --> 00:44:26,144 Hitler still forbade surrender. 376 00:44:26,228 --> 00:44:31,733 "The Sixth Army will do its historic duty at Stalingrad until the last man." 377 00:44:36,822 --> 00:44:40,659 But German soldiers and German officers 378 00:44:40,742 --> 00:44:43,912 were already giving themselves up. 379 00:46:06,286 --> 00:46:11,958 On January 31, Hitler made Von Paulus a field marshal, 380 00:46:12,042 --> 00:46:16,630 knowing no German field marshal had ever been taken alive. 381 00:46:27,599 --> 00:46:31,812 The same day he was promoted, Von Paulus surrendered. 382 00:46:35,690 --> 00:46:40,195 His captors had never seen such a senior German officer before. 383 00:46:40,278 --> 00:46:43,448 General Shumilov, who took the surrender, 384 00:46:43,532 --> 00:46:45,700 didn't quite know what to do, 385 00:46:45,784 --> 00:46:49,663 so he asked Paulus for proof of his identity. 386 00:46:49,746 --> 00:46:54,167 Then for proof that he was commander of the Sixth Army. 387 00:46:54,292 --> 00:46:57,838 Then whether he really was a field marshal. 388 00:47:00,632 --> 00:47:05,595 They talked a while. Von Paulus cheered up. 389 00:47:05,679 --> 00:47:08,974 He even proposed a toast to the Red Army. 390 00:47:10,934 --> 00:47:15,480 Hitler had expected him... to shoot himself. 391 00:47:24,948 --> 00:47:29,453 It was not an ordinary defeat. It was a catastrophe. 392 00:48:11,161 --> 00:48:13,121 Two German armies - 393 00:48:13,205 --> 00:48:18,793 24 generals, 2,000 officers, 90,000 soldiers - 394 00:48:18,877 --> 00:48:20,712 prisoners. 395 00:48:20,795 --> 00:48:23,924 And 150,000 dead. 396 00:48:24,966 --> 00:48:30,472 The Romanian, Italian, and Hungarian armies destroyed. 397 00:48:30,555 --> 00:48:37,312 Enough material lost to equip a quarter of the whole German army. 398 00:48:37,395 --> 00:48:42,651 This was the same Sixth Army which, two years before, 399 00:48:42,734 --> 00:48:44,861 could not imagine defeat. 400 00:49:28,738 --> 00:49:31,783 Prisoners were marched off to camps. 401 00:49:31,866 --> 00:49:37,872 50,000 died within weeks of cold, malnutrition and typhus. 402 00:49:39,291 --> 00:49:45,672 Of all but 100,000, only 6,000 ever returned home. 403 00:51:09,089 --> 00:51:11,424 The people of Stalingrad 404 00:51:11,508 --> 00:51:16,137 came back to look for what was left of their homes. 405 00:51:33,738 --> 00:51:38,576 When it was all over, a Russian soldier said: 406 00:51:38,660 --> 00:51:41,037 "Germans are funny fellows, 407 00:51:41,121 --> 00:51:45,208 coming to conquer Stalingrad in shiny leather boots." 408 00:51:45,291 --> 00:51:48,378 "They thought it would be a joyride." 409 00:51:48,461 --> 00:51:50,588 (wind howls) 410 00:52:13,862 --> 00:52:17,699 When it was all over, Hitler said: 411 00:52:17,782 --> 00:52:21,745 "What is life? Life is the nation." 412 00:52:21,828 --> 00:52:24,914 "The individual must die anyway." 413 00:52:25,039 --> 00:52:29,169 "Beyond the life of the individual is the nation." 414 00:52:31,421 --> 00:52:34,674 On February 3, 1943, 415 00:52:34,758 --> 00:52:39,220 the German radio announced that Stalingrad had fallen. 416 00:52:39,345 --> 00:52:42,557 The Sixth Army had fought courageously, 417 00:52:42,640 --> 00:52:47,896 but had succumbed to vastly superior enemy forces, 418 00:52:47,979 --> 00:52:52,442 and to unfavourable circumstances.