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00:00February 26, 1945.
00:10Canadian tanks attack Germany's last line of defense west of the Rhine River.
00:16This was one of the heaviest battles on the Western Front during the Second World War.
00:21The Germans are outnumbered and desperate, determined to defend the fatherland at any cost.
00:28I'd rather take a few more enemies with me to the grave. That's what they were saying.
00:33They lure the Canadians into a trap, and the armored advance turns into a fight for survival.
00:40Every move that you make, they can see it, and it is just like shooting fish in a rain barrel.
00:47That stake is nothing less than the fate of Germany, as these two forces fight for control of a patch of farmland, simply known as the Hochwald Gap.
00:56All you knew is that you had to kill them.
00:59The Rhineland. Fertile farm country in Western Germany.
01:02The Rhineland. Fertile farm country in Western Germany.
01:04Today, it's peaceful and serene.
01:09But in the winter of 1945, it's the scene of one of the most ferocious and costly battles of the Second World War.
01:14The Rhineland. Fertile farm country in Western Germany.
01:21The Rhineland. Fertile farm country in Western Germany.
01:26Today, it's peaceful and serene.
01:29But in the winter of 1945, it's the scene of one of the most ferocious and costly battles of the Second World War.
01:42February 1945. The Second World War in Europe enters its final months.
01:49Allied armor rolls into the German Rhineland.
01:54And leading the attack is the First Canadian Army.
01:57Their objective, the Rhine River. And on the other side, Central Germany.
02:03The Canadian mission is to hook up with British forces and push east, capturing bridges across the Rhine of the German town of Zantin.
02:14They've amassed a major strike force.
02:1890,000 troops.
02:211,300 artillery pieces.
02:24And over 1,000 tanks.
02:28Their armored workhorse is the Sherman 5 tank.
02:32This 32-ton version of the Sherman has a short-barreled 75-millimeter gun.
02:37And only 51 millimeters of frontal armor.
02:40That means less firepower and protection, but more maneuverability.
02:45And the Allies are able to produce thousands of them.
02:49Well, the Sherman was a great little tank.
02:54And we had far more of them than the opposition had.
03:00There was lots of them. That was one good thing.
03:03And the other thing was they were pretty rugged.
03:04They didn't require much maintenance.
03:06They were tough.
03:07The Sherman had a short-barreled gun, so they could only damage us at a very close range.
03:16The Sherman wasn't as good as our punter.
03:21He had a long cannon. They couldn't compare it to the Panther.
03:30The Panther is armed with a high-velocity 75-millimeter gun.
03:34And is protected by 80 millimeters of sloping frontal armor.
03:37And with a top speed of 40 kilometers per hour,
03:40the Panther is one of the best-designed tanks of World War II.
03:44But in the winter of 1945, it's numbers that count, and the Germans are at a disadvantage.
03:53The Allies had so much more equipment, so much better supply for gas, food, and ammunition.
04:01We couldn't compete with that, and by 1945, we barely had any tanks left.
04:07There's hardly any tanks left.
04:10To defend the Rhineland, all the Germans are able to field are a handful of Panthers.
04:16Almost a dozen of the heavier Tigers.
04:19And less than 100 anti-tank guns.
04:24It's an enormous disparity in men and firepower.
04:29But the Germans have another weapon.
04:32Sheer determination to stop the invasion of their homeland.
04:37The day the British and Canadian crossed the border to Germany,
04:42the Germans were defending their own country.
04:45Each of these soldiers thought not that he was fighting for Hitler,
04:50or he was fighting for Hitler's regime,
04:52but he was fighting for his country, for his people at home.
04:58It's called the fatherland, you know, in their terminology.
05:02So, you're going to fight a hell of a lot harder than you would under normal circumstances.
05:09I was really amazed at the tenacity of them.
05:12It was just terrible that way, the resistance that they were putting up.
05:17You knew that they were going to be killed.
05:19They knew they were going to be killed.
05:21And they fought all night anyway.
05:23For many of our men, their homes had been destroyed.
05:32And they told themselves, what am I supposed to do at home?
05:46I'd rather take a few more enemies with me to the grave.
05:49That's what they were saying.
05:50The Allied soldiers had to fight around every farm they sold.
05:58Every little forest they sold.
06:02Every little village they sold, they had to fight.
06:10German resistance is ferocious,
06:12and as the battle enters its second bloody week, the assault bogs down.
06:16In 18 days of fighting, the Allies lose over 8,000 men and hundreds of tanks,
06:23while advancing only 25 kilometers.
06:25Allied command sends in Lieutenant General Guy Simmons,
06:30commander of the 2nd Canadian Corps, to get things moving.
06:33He implements Operation Blockbuster, a bold plan for tanks and infantry to attack quickly and at night,
06:42seizing the high ground between the villages of Kalkar and Udum.
06:46This will clear the way for his main force to cross a valley and overwhelm German defenders dug in along the Hochwald Ridge,
06:54their last line of defense before the Rhine River.
07:01The Germans knew the terrain, because it's their terrain.
07:06And so it wasn't so important that they only had 10% of the army of the Allied.
07:15It is very easy to hide soldiers in these forests.
07:22It's very easy to hold up every soldier who's coming, every tank who's coming.
07:29And this made it very difficult to take this ridge and move out.
07:34But this is just the beginning of the Allies' problems.
07:42They also have to deal with the weather, and spring has come early to the Rhineland.
07:51Because of the melting ice, three of the rivers were carrying so much water.
07:56We also destroyed the dams.
07:58And there were two other rivers that were carrying so much water, there was no way for them to get through.
08:05And there was also a lot of mud.
08:09It flowed over all the roads, all the fences, and your maps became useless,
08:14because all you could see was endless, endless mud.
08:21To the left and right of the roads, the ground had turned to swamp.
08:24So they had to stay on the roads.
08:27They couldn't use the fields.
08:29And there, they were easy targets for us.
08:38In the early morning of February 26th, Canadian infantry,
08:42supported by nearly 80 tanks of the 2nd Canadian Armored Brigade,
08:46launched Phase 1 of Operation Blockbuster.
08:49Their mission is to take and hold the German-occupied Kalkar Ridge,
08:54clearing the way for the main attack against the Hochwald on the other side of the valley.
08:58It begins with an artillery barrage by 700 Allied guns.
09:02All those guns broke with just tremendous fire.
09:10The sound of the gunfire, and the tremendous volume of it as we were advancing our own gunfire,
09:19our own gunfire.
09:21It was a sound that was so great, you could feel it on your body.
09:26This constant roar, even inside of the tank, you could feel the guns.
09:32They make a little more noise when you're in front of them than they do when you're behind them.
09:36It was raining very steadily.
09:43The ground was just terrible, absolutely terrible.
09:47We pressed into the minefields, and the first three tanks hit mines.
09:55The teller mine would blow your track off.
10:03And it would buckle the floor under the driver.
10:10And that basically disabled the tank.
10:15We reported that we'd hit the minefield, and the two IC came on the air and said,
10:23press on.
10:25I can recall Butler said, how the hell do you press on when you're in a minefield?
10:30And this is in the dark.
10:32You really don't know what the hell you're doing.
10:34And we found sort of a little track or trail.
10:39And we turned right and went through the minefield, and basically on a country lane.
10:43The Germans hadn't mined it.
10:48The loader operator's job really is, like if they're not firing immediately,
10:52is to pivot your periscope.
10:57And as we progressed, I could see two German tanks off as they passed a burning burn.
11:06And I yelled into the mic, German tanks.
11:13They're Panthers, and they're easily able to outgun Hale's short-barreled Sherman.
11:20I knew you couldn't do anything about it, particularly at a distance.
11:25But the Canadians have some additional firepower.
11:28Each troop of four tanks includes at least one Sherman Firefly, armed with a long-barrel, high-velocity cannon.
11:38It's a tank buster, the so-called 17-pounder, able to penetrate 130 millimeters of armor at ranges of almost 1,000 meters.
11:46With the long-barrel 17, you let him go in.
11:53You're not going to bother using a 75 against the front view of a German Panther.
12:01The first shot from the 17-pounder hits a barn.
12:04And the Panthers retreat in the smoke and confusion.
12:10Typical German tactics, you have the tanks in front, maybe, and as soon as the attack comes in, they fire and fire,
12:15and then they back away and draw you under their anti-tank guns.
12:19Despite the danger, Hale and his squadron push on to the ridge.
12:22We got to the top of the Kalkar Ridge itself, and then all of a sudden, wow, it was daylight.
12:34John Hale and fellow tankers of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers enter the killing zone.
12:39If the Canadians fail to take Kalkar Ridge, Operation Blockbuster and the Allies' big push to the Rhine will be over before it really begins.
12:52February 26, 1945.
12:59Operation Blockbuster is underway.
13:03And the fighting is furious from the very first shots.
13:08Lieutenant General Guy Simmons sends scores of Sherman tanks into the thick of it.
13:14Their mission is to take and hold the heavily defended Kalkar Ridge,
13:18clearing the way for the main attack, aimed at driving the Germans back across the Rhine River.
13:24But even though they're outnumbered, the Germans stubbornly stand their ground.
13:29We got to the top of the ridge, and then all of a sudden, wham, it was daylight and the Germans were shooting.
13:36They were being fired from our left flank and in front.
13:42And I can remember particularly this barn on our left flank.
13:48And the doors were coming open.
13:52And we were yelling at the gunner, the doors, the doors are opening.
13:55What Hale has spotted is the infamous 88, Germany's most powerful anti-tank weapon.
14:02The 88s fire armor-piercing shells, able to penetrate almost 100 millimeters of steel at distances up to 1,500 meters.
14:12And the Canadians are well within range.
14:14I don't know about you or anyone else who's ever looked down the barrel of an 88.
14:22When it fires, you can actually see it coming at you.
14:26It's like a rolling ball, like a fist coming.
14:30You can see the sparks coming off of it.
14:35It passed over our tank and cut off the aerial within a foot of the tank behind us.
14:41Then we instantly fired just as soon as he had fired at us.
14:52Looking behind us, the grenadier guard tank that was liaison, his tank got hit.
15:01There's an immediate fusion of the metal into a cherry red glow where it's hit with a black hole in the middle of it.
15:09And the crew commander was coming out the hatch and the ammunition exploded and he just sort of threw up his arms and then collapsed down into the turret.
15:22There were still six of us left on the top and we were all firing forward and to the left line.
15:30And the Germans started cutting down the farmhouse structure.
15:41They were ripping it down and we were using it for cover.
15:44We were pulling out and shooting and so on.
15:51We couldn't withstand the amount of fire that was coming at us.
15:54We were going to all get knocked out.
15:56The infantry had dug in and could defend their position.
15:59So we fired a smoke shell for five of the other tanks.
16:10One at a time they pulled off the ridge as we blanked on the left flank.
16:14By that time the buildings were nearly gone and just burning rubble and we decided to pull out.
16:32The tank in the heavy mud we put it in first gear and pulled ahead but it sort of snuffled under and stopped.
16:42And a German shell fired right across in front of us.
16:46And then we started moving forward again and then finally there was another shot came at us.
16:56But there was in the turret and he was standing there and he just sort of fell on the floor on his ass.
17:02And it had a strange sound to it, you know, sort of it didn't have the crack and it worked.
17:08And I said, what happened to that?
17:11He said, you wouldn't believe it, but that was coming for us and it hit a hydro pole.
17:16We started out with a squadron and 19 tanks and one liaison tank and we wound up with six.
17:27And that's my first introduction to the Rhineland battle.
17:34More tanks join the attack and the battle goes on into the next day.
17:39Finally, the outnumbered and outgunned Germans are forced to fall back.
17:43And the Canadians take Kalkar Ridge.
17:51With Kalkar Ridge secure, armor from the South Alberta regiment moves forward for the main attack against the next ridge.
17:57It lies across a muddy valley and will give this battle its name, Hochwald.
18:07General Simmons' plan is for infantry supported by the tanks of A Squadron to advance towards the village of Udum and seize the rail embankment.
18:15While B Squadron attacks across the valley into a long gap flanked on either side by thick woods.
18:23The aim is to force the Germans back to the village of Xanten on the Rhine River.
18:28It's a bold plan and it's off to a bad start.
18:33When the time came, we moved out.
18:38I can still remember driving along or slithering along.
18:41It's more like it.
18:43It took hours to go a mile.
18:46It was just unbelievable and very frustrating.
18:49They were up to the Sponson in mud.
18:54And so there we were, supposed to start at 11.30 at night.
19:00And we didn't get there till 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning because of getting stuck, running out of gas, so on.
19:08It was almost daylight by the time they got it started.
19:19And you're going into the worst possible situation.
19:26You try not to have armor go through draws or files.
19:32And here is a wood on both sides loaded with firepower.
19:36And we're leading into this absolute killing zone.
19:46To go into that gap the way we did.
19:49And it was just like shooting fish in a rain barrel.
19:57The Canadian tanks were plowing through deep mud.
20:01We laid our gun on the leading tank.
20:03And by the time we were ready to fire it had already been hit.
20:08And we swung our gun to another but that too stopped.
20:13The third tank at which we aimed fired first.
20:18And the shell burst only yards in front of us.
20:23Quickly we realigned our gun.
20:24The tank seemed to falter and we fired.
20:25We were just moving towards the position.
20:33And the incoming fire was such that you just could not exist there.
20:38To see these soldiers still trying to go forward and being hit is soul destroying.
20:52To see these soldiers.
20:53To see these soldiers.
20:59While B squadron takes a beating at the Hochwald Gap.
21:02A squadron advances towards the rail embankment running through the village of Udum.
21:07It's the only piece of high ground in a sea of mud.
21:11It was what they called a right hook to go around Udum and try and establish a front by the railway crossing.
21:22Supposedly the town was pretty vacant.
21:27But all the time you don't take that for granted.
21:30Anything that moved we were shooting it up.
21:47The terrain was terrible.
21:49It was a real effort to get to our objective.
21:55Then on top of it we had the traps.
21:57If you fell into one of those you were finished right there.
22:08And here we were coming out onto a dike area.
22:13And unknown to us on either side of the dike were big deep ditches.
22:20The way those tank ditches were designed.
22:23As you were coming around you would eventually lock onto one of those roads.
22:28That was a little piece of high ground.
22:30From the mud.
22:32And so we probably chose to take that.
22:34And then when you get on it.
22:37Then of course you can't get off it.
22:40And we just fell right in line.
22:43And that's the worst thing that could ever happen to an armored column.
22:47And they were just waiting for us.
22:57You know we were sitting ducks.
22:58The countryside near the German town of Udum shows little sign today of the ferocious battle that took place here.
23:12But during the final months of the Second World War, this quiet place was a battlefield.
23:26February 27th 1945.
23:30Canadian Sherman tanks avoiding minefields and mud advance along a narrow dike attempting to secure the railway embankment running through the town of Udum.
23:44We just fell right in line.
23:47And that's the worst thing that could ever happen to an armored column.
23:52Is to have your tanks one behind the other.
23:55The Germans had placed a lot of tigers embedded down in the ground area.
24:05And anti-tank guns.
24:07And they were just waiting for us.
24:09Eddie, he was at the front.
24:12Saw the tiger.
24:14And I guess he knew that the tiger was drawing a bead on him.
24:17Eddie loaded up an AP.
24:27And he shot that out.
24:29Burnham says the shell just bombed straight off its hide.
24:36And so he knew that he had to go to stage two, which was get that opening.
24:43The German tiger is a 57-ton monster.
24:47It's built like a battleship, protected in places by more than 100 millimeters of steel plate.
24:53The tiger seems indestructible, but it has a weak point.
24:57A narrow gap in its armor where the turret meets the hull.
25:02A shell strike there can put it out of action.
25:12He did. He managed to jam the tiger.
25:15Tiger.
25:16But it does no good.
25:18The Canadians are caught in a trap.
25:20The Germans have prepared a perfect ambush.
25:23Yeah, it was just very fast.
25:26They just took out the front tank.
25:30They took out the back tank.
25:34They just took every other tank out.
25:36We were hit in the soft spot, like in the back.
25:47It was very abrupt.
25:50Deafening.
25:54Instant.
25:57Right off the bat then, you jump into action.
26:03You've got to get out.
26:04You know that baby is burning.
26:07She's brewing up.
26:09We were fortunate to manage to get out.
26:13Corporal McGevern looked and he saw the old girl burning up pretty bad at the back end.
26:17So he says, we've got to get out of here.
26:19And he looked over and he says, there's a farmhouse.
26:22He says, it's a short distance away.
26:24He says, we'll make a run for it.
26:25They reach the farmhouse only to be captured.
26:38Trooper Gardner and his tank crew spend the final months of the war in a prison camp.
26:44They're the lucky ones.
26:46In the first two days of battle, hundreds of Canadian soldiers die and hundreds more are wounded.
26:52Grim proof of the fierce defense put up by the Germans.
26:59When you were there at the time, you didn't understand why they were fighting so hard.
27:05You didn't know why they were fighting.
27:07You didn't have time to understand what they were doing.
27:10All you knew is that they were fighting.
27:12And they weren't surrendering.
27:15Each of these soldiers believed that each day they could hold their position,
27:21would help their country because it was so close to the industrial center of the German Reich.
27:31Most of the war industry was there.
27:35The army was fighting to prevent any enemy from entering the Farsaland.
27:45That's why we were fighting so hard.
27:48On the morning of February 28th, the Germans strike back at the Canadians most vulnerable point, the Hochwald Gap.
27:58The Canadian tanks and infantry push into the Gap and take ground near the Western End.
28:06An advanced force of Sherman's moves forward to the midpoint in the Gap.
28:13And the Germans pounce with Panther and Tiger tanks and self-propelled guns.
28:17Gunner David Marshall witnesses the attack.
28:26Over the rise in front of us came the snout of two tanks, a Tiger and a Panther heading our way.
28:33When our gunners had them in our sights and before the German tanks could level out to bring their 88s down on us,
28:38our tanks opened fire with all guns blazing.
28:48We stopped the attack, destroying the Panther and forcing the Tiger to retreat.
28:56The Germans strike again and again, and the Canadians struggle to hold their ground.
29:09But just when their situation seems desperate, help comes roaring in from the skies.
29:15The weather started to get better and the fighter bombers came firing rockets.
29:20The Typhoons were dangerous for us.
29:27The Typhoons would range in above you, behind you somewhere.
29:34We have 20mm cannons.
29:36When they're converging on the target, then he lets go his rockets.
29:41And it's just a hell of a noise and all you see is pieces.
29:51It'll break a Tiger or a Panther, break them in pieces.
29:58They were very helpful.
30:02The Typhoons, or Tiffies as the tankers call them, stopped the German advance with their rockets.
30:08But in battlefield chaos, anything can happen, as Canadian tanker Bill Lewton recalls.
30:15The sound was heard overhead unlike anything I ever experienced in battle.
30:20Something like the noise of a high-speed train passing through a tunnel.
30:24I paused in wonderment, and then heard an explosion.
30:29I looked up to see the Tiffy flaring away.
30:39Lewton and his crew are under attack by the deadliest tank killer on the battlefield.
30:44One of their own Typhoon fighter bombers.
30:47The Battle of the Hochwald Gap enters its third bloody day, and it's a standoff.
31:00The Germans won't back down, even though they're outnumbered and under attack by Allied warplanes.
31:08Rockets from Typhoon fighter bombers shred the Germans' dwindling supply of tanks.
31:12They were dangerous, these Typhoons, attacking every tank.
31:21The Typhoons swarm the Hochwald Gap, and in the chaos, one of them targets a Canadian tank.
31:28A sound was heard overhead unlike anything I ever experienced in battle.
31:32I paused in wonderment, and then heard an explosion.
31:42There's nothing Bill Lewton and his tank crew can do but release canisters of yellow smoke to identify themselves as friendly.
31:50Smoke blossomed gloriously on both sides of the tank, and just in time.
31:54But no, he kept coming, and dove directly at us.
32:03I saw a great puff of smoke and instinctively ducked inside.
32:07A futile gesture against a rocket.
32:10Again came the sound of the express train in a tunnel, and again the explosion.
32:14We were still alive to hear it, but Tiffy had missed again.
32:24The Typhoons attack all morning, blunting the German attack.
32:30At noon, Canadian tanks push forward in another attempt to clear the Hochwald Gap.
32:34But again they are stopped by German tanks and artillery.
32:41That night, tanks from the Canadian Grenadier Guards try again.
32:45But the Germans have perfect aiming points on either side of the gap.
32:49Tracer rounds light up the sky, and the guards are caught in a crossfire.
32:54By the time it's over, they have gained no ground, and lost ten tanks.
32:58We had the numbers of troops, weapons, and so on on our side.
33:08But, a very well ensconced enemy on the approaches can make you pay dearly, no matter if you have the odds.
33:24Dawn, March 1st.
33:25The battle enters its fourth day, and the Canadians are still only halfway through the Hochwald Gap.
33:32German tanks and anti-tank guns in the woods on either side of the gap will have to be taken out one by one.
33:39That means attacking with tanks through the trees.
33:44Fighting through two forests is an absurdity. Just an absolute absurdity. You should never do it.
33:51The biggest problem was the Panzerfaust, was the one-shot rockets that they had.
34:03Panzerfaust means tank fist. It's small, highly portable, and lethal.
34:08It fires a 140-millimeter-shaped charge at ranges of up to 60 meters, and can penetrate 200 millimeters of armor, tearing a hole through the tank, and unleashing a devastating explosion inside.
34:22He could hide in the wood. All he needed was an opening. He's got a big target, and once he hits that tank, there's a chance he sets off the ammunition in it, or starts the tank on fire, or he has wounded at least one or a couple of the crew.
34:42He'll knock on a tank just like that, bingo.
34:52I don't think tanks are that useful, but that's what you have.
34:56We were going through with the Fusiliers Montréal into the forest in daytime.
35:06And the four tanks were in line ahead, which is not very effective, instead of being spread out.
35:12The Major of the Fusiliers Montréal wanted us to use HE against this group of Germans in a clearing that was in front of us, which was our objective.
35:26The Sherman V carries two main types of ordnance.
35:30Armor-piercing shells for use against tanks, and HE, or high-explosive rounds, for softer targets.
35:36You'd have to be careful and use the shock action more than the weapon.
35:51The ground shakes like an earthquake.
35:55But the Germans were protected. If you fire on them, they had overhead cover.
36:00And as soon as the shelling stopped, they're back into position, throw the sticks and what have you out of the way, and they're ready for business.
36:17The Field Artillery Observation Officer, he called in a crump of 25-pounders.
36:23And all of a sudden, they came in, and they landed on that clearing.
36:27Just the most magnificent shooting, and they just plastered about 10 or 15 rounds right in front of us.
36:43The heavy artillery clears the Germans, and the battle continues for the next 36 hours,
36:49with tanks and artillery making small gains against fierce German resistance.
36:53Then, on the morning of March 4th, the battlefield is silent.
37:02During the night, the Germans have fallen back, leaving the Hochwald Gap for the Canadians.
37:09The Shermans advance, and their objective, the village of Xanten on the Rhine River, comes into view.
37:14This is where the Germans will make their last stand.
37:20For the exhausted and battered Canadians, the fighting is far from over.
37:29The Hochwald Gap.
37:31A remote patch of farmland in Western Germany.
37:34In February 1945, this was the scene of one of Canada's most brutal and costly battles of the Second World War.
37:47After five days of fighting, the battle comes to a swift and surprising end.
37:52German forces retreat in the night, leaving the Gap and the woods on either side to the Canadians.
38:00This is an art that the Germans have, and we should really basically learn by it.
38:07Because they have a habit of putting on a tremendous show.
38:11So that the last thing you can think of is their withdrawing.
38:17But that's what they do, but they leave people in position who then are very aggressive with their weapons.
38:35And they left two tanks, two Panthers.
38:39One was given the other covering fire.
38:41One would sit there and poke at anybody who showed up on the top of the hill.
38:48The other guy turned around and was going like hell the other way.
38:58My buddy Ed was there.
39:01And Ed looked at the situation because he didn't put his tanks over the top.
39:06He kept them behind the crest, what they call sort of a turret down position.
39:12Because they can kill you.
39:15They can put a shell in the front of a Sherman and it'll come out the back.
39:20And he can do it three miles away.
39:25And Ed looked at the situation and figured out, well, maybe I can get these both if I do it right.
39:32So he give gunner control and the gunner will drop the breech on his gun and look through the gun barrel and watch the gun crest clearance.
39:48And he gets his sight on the tank when he's got crest clearance and then he fires.
39:52The dangerous one was the one that was facing him because it has the heavier plate in the front and it has the gun in the front which still could get him.
40:05And that first tank, he was backing up along a little narrow road with ditches on the side.
40:11And he accidentally backed the back corner over the ditch and it tipped up the next plate.
40:17And it was just a flat plate, not very thick.
40:19The 45 ton Panther has 80 millimeters of sloped frontal armor, making it almost impenetrable.
40:28But its underside is only 30 millimeters thick and very vulnerable.
40:35You could see what was happening and studied the thing and he hit a right bang in the middle of this place.
40:42So he just went, kept firing.
40:45This tank brewed up and I don't know if people get out or not.
40:55But the other one was going the other way and the gun was pointing away from him and the back of the Panther tank is not thick.
41:02It's probably three inches.
41:03But one round at the other, on the other tank and he ricocheted off the deck and took the commander's head off.
41:11Everybody hopped out of that one that could hop out and that tank was left there.
41:15With that, the last remaining obstacle in the Hochwald Gap is out of the way.
41:23And the Canadians push forward to the outskirts of Xanten, their final objective.
41:28This is where the Germans have set up their last line of defense.
41:36But it's just a matter of time before they are overwhelmed.
41:40Allied warplanes mount a series of heavy destructive bombing raids.
41:44Every day, every night, there were bombings of the city.
41:53The city, which was before of that, never attacked, now was destroyed by about 85%.
42:00I remember the bombings very well. We had to go down to the cellar very often.
42:14We heard the alarm, sometimes in the middle of the night, and we were really scared.
42:18It was terrible. We heard the ordnance rumbling and watched the planes dropping bombs.
42:32There was a lot of destruction, and there were dead horses lying all around.
42:39This was a terrible experience for us.
42:42It was a terrible experience for us.
42:47On March 7th, a month after the fighting in the Rhineland began,
42:51and eight days after their costly attack through the Hochwald,
42:55Canadian Sherman tanks roll into Xanten.
42:58They capture the bridges over the Rhine,
43:01and open the way for an all-out allied advance into the German heartland.
43:05Germany will surrender in less than two months.
43:08This battle here in the Rhineland
43:10is one of the forgotten battles of World War II.
43:14It was the Canadian-British army who opened the gate to Berlin.
43:21In the end, the casualties on both sides are appalling.
43:26The Germans lose 40,000 killed and wounded.
43:30And for the Canadians, the fighting in the Rhineland,
43:33including the Battle of the Hochwald Gap,
43:35became their bloodiest campaign in the entire war.
43:38The Rhineland, in terms of casualties,
43:45basically 5,300 dead and wounded in, shall we say, 30 days.
43:53Like, that surpasses D-Day, surpasses the worst of the Shelt.
43:58Strange enough, there isn't a sense of elation.
44:02It's more, thank God it's over.
44:05Because coming to mind is the people that have been lost,
44:10the price paid, and that this is not the end.
44:12And that this is not the end.
44:13And that this is not the end.
44:17And that this is not the end.
44:18And that this is not the end.
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